It was a meta deck, that preyed specifically on the current meta. He made a lot of interesting maindeck choices that were rewarded multuple times (like turn 2 Medling Mage getting a concession from Storm). It *could* be a real deck and a mainstay in the format, or it could be another random spike deck that took down an SCG Open under ideal conditions with a competent pilot. We'll see going forward which it is.
He main-decked Thalias and Meddling Mages in a field of Storm and other glass cannons. All of which backed up by a quick aggressive clock. Of course he was going to do well.
It's a culmination of observations about linear decks allowing sloppy play, but still giving "free" wins. It felt like a poster child match to see a 7-0 Storm player stumble and bumble to a loss. What happened in those other matches? Were they just as sloppy and opponents just didn't have the right kind of interaction? To me it showcases the biggest problem I have with Modern right now, when decks like Storm are among the top, but don't even require tight play to do well in a tournament. Just good matchups where other people leave you alone.
Nope. You're collating stuff in a way that doesn't logically follow, whether your own anecdotal experience leads you down that path or not it's still not a thing.
Ok. Sure. I'll concede the point. My own biases and experiences shape that opinion. My personal hatred for Storm probably doesn't help.
Yes, because the all Sainted Twin, may Lord have Mercy on her URx name, never gave people free wins.
Twin punished attempted free wins hard and punished sloppy play. That punishment for most of the top decks today doesn't seem to exist. The only decks that seem hugely punished for poor play are the fair decks sitting in Tier 2+ or in the GDS mirror.
It's a culmination of observations about linear decks allowing sloppy play, but still giving "free" wins. It felt like a poster child match to see a 7-0 Storm player stumble and bumble to a loss. What happened in those other matches? Were they just as sloppy and opponents just didn't have the right kind of interaction? To me it showcases the biggest problem I have with Modern right now, when decks like Storm are among the top, but don't even require tight play to do well in a tournament. Just good matchups where other people leave you alone.
Just saw one of the sloppiest Storm players on camera. Even though they lost that match, they entered the match 7-0. That tells you everything you need to know about Modern right now.
Top 8 for the Invitational (remember, half the record is from Standard)
Lantern Control
Eldrazi Tron
Eldrazi Tron
Grixis Death's Shadow
Grixis Death's Shadow
Abzan (with Knight of the Reliquary and Bitterblossom??)
Burn
Death & Taxes
The morning opener Shadow mirror was extremely painful to watch. Slow plays abound, watching Jessup and Ross stare at each other for 45 minutes because neither can attack and then watching Ross die to bricking for 7 turns while dealing himself 18 damage isn't exactly what I would call "enjoyable."
10 minutes of ads tells us viewers to close the window and do something else while waiting for the next round. At least that's what I did. Although, the plethora of boring matches between Company, Dredge, Eldrazi, and Shadow didn't exactly pull me in to want to watch more anyway.
So Top 8 looks like this:
Burn
Burn
Death's Shadow
Death's Shadow
Bant Eldrazi
Merfolk
Ad Nauseam
GW Company
6 aggro decks, a linear combo, and an aggro/combo. "Diversity."
That's disingenuous.
Burn, burn. Yup, two linear aggro combo.
Death's shadow--This is honestly just barely aggro, it's like an in-between aggro-midrange, and it's incredibly interactive and can grind. Not fair to just call it linear aggro
Bant Eldrazi is midrange, and people need to stop calling it linear, I messed with it a little bit on mtgo, it was surprisingly more interactive than I thought, I had just assumed it was turning creatures sideways based on the games I viewed
Merfolk is tempo, not aggro. It is linear, yes.
Ad Nauseam is a linear combo
GW Company is a combo deck with a grindy backup fair plan
Sorry, Cfusion, you're being ridiculous, and this is coming from someone who wants to see blue do well
Burn is linear and aggressive, Merfolk is linear and aggressive, Bant Eldrazi and Death's Shadow are somewhere in between "Midrange" and "Aggro." Maybe it's a stretch to call them strictly "aggro," but let's be honest about what they want to do: both want to kill you relatively quickly by powering out undercosted, high value creatures and turn them sideways. Ad Nauseam is a linear combo and GW Company is a creature beatdown deck with combo. I'd say that original classification isn't too far off at all.
Another thing of interest: I saw Jim Davis had an 11-2 record in Round 14, but wound up with an 11-2-2 record in round 16 (while still playing). He lost on camera to Friedman playing Bant Eldrazi in game 3 but the official score is 1-1 Draw. So I guess they mutually decided to draw in order to benefit Jim with no harm to Friedman? How is that legal? Looking at the following round, it seems like the same thing happened when he was paired up with Jacob Baugh on Dredge. The official record was 1-1 Draw (which was different notation from intentional draws of D-D Draw). I guess Jim would have rather been gifted a spot in the top 8 than have to actually beat his two worst matchups with Grixis Delver. Either way, this gracious gesture saved him from having to report the real results of his matches and guaranteed him a spot in the Top 8 that he might not have had otherwise.
Somehow, there are only 4 decks on the 7-1 or better list in the entire event (a Jund, a Burn, a 20-creature Jeskai Prowess, and an Amulet Titan Azusa). None of which made Top 8. There were 15 Standard decks 7-1 or better. Take that as you will for format consistency and competitiveness.
Then you look at the top 8 for Standard and see 5 Aetherwork decks, and 3 aggro decks. I'm sure that's the type of consistency we should be aiming for.
Top 8s are irrelevant because it's made up of 8 rounds each of two different formats. It's even less meaningful since they aren't even playing Modern in the finals rounds. I'm referencing specifically the lists of 7-1 decks. There were 4 in Modern and 15 in Standard, meaning there is way more volatility and variance luck in Modern than there is in Standard. Doesn't matter how good you are if you don't draw well or are paired up with an unwinnable matchup. The four 7-1 or better records in Modern were Jund and 3 linear aggressive decks, which is a pretty good snapshot to describe the format.
This tells me that the last round of the tournament must have been modern, and a lot of x-1 modern players decided to draw
Then that makes whatever few numbers from this event even more irrelevant. Someone must have scratched their head and shrugged when their update only listed 4 Modern decks; as if posting the 6-2 or better decks was way too much hassle.
Somehow, there are only 4 decks on the 7-1 or better list in the entire event (a Jund, a Burn, a 20-creature Jeskai Prowess, and an Amulet Titan Azusa). None of which made Top 8. There were 15 Standard decks 7-1 or better. Take that as you will for format consistency and competitiveness.
Then you look at the top 8 for Standard and see 5 Aetherwork decks, and 3 aggro decks. I'm sure that's the type of consistency we should be aiming for.
Top 8s are irrelevant because it's made up of 8 rounds each of two different formats. It's even less meaningful since they aren't even playing Modern in the finals rounds. I'm referencing specifically the lists of 7-1 decks. There were 4 in Modern and 15 in Standard, meaning there is way more volatility and variance luck in Modern than there is in Standard. Doesn't matter how good you are if you don't draw well or are paired up with an unwinnable matchup. The four 7-1 or better records in Modern were Jund and 3 linear aggressive decks, which is a pretty good snapshot to describe the format.
Probably not as long as Titanshift and Storm are top decks in the format. Never mind that Eldrazi refuses to go away.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
He main-decked Thalias and Meddling Mages in a field of Storm and other glass cannons. All of which backed up by a quick aggressive clock. Of course he was going to do well.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Ok. Sure. I'll concede the point. My own biases and experiences shape that opinion. My personal hatred for Storm probably doesn't help.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Top 8 for the Invitational (remember, half the record is from Standard)
Lantern Control
Eldrazi Tron
Eldrazi Tron
Grixis Death's Shadow
Grixis Death's Shadow
Abzan (with Knight of the Reliquary and Bitterblossom??)
Burn
Death & Taxes
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/deckshow.php?&t[C1]=28&start_date=06/30/2017&end_date=07/01/2017&start=1&finish=8&event_ID=21
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Burn is linear and aggressive, Merfolk is linear and aggressive, Bant Eldrazi and Death's Shadow are somewhere in between "Midrange" and "Aggro." Maybe it's a stretch to call them strictly "aggro," but let's be honest about what they want to do: both want to kill you relatively quickly by powering out undercosted, high value creatures and turn them sideways. Ad Nauseam is a linear combo and GW Company is a creature beatdown deck with combo. I'd say that original classification isn't too far off at all.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Burn
Burn
Death's Shadow
Death's Shadow
Bant Eldrazi
Merfolk
Ad Nauseam
GW Company
6 aggro decks, a linear combo, and an aggro/combo. "Diversity."
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Then that makes whatever few numbers from this event even more irrelevant. Someone must have scratched their head and shrugged when their update only listed 4 Modern decks; as if posting the 6-2 or better decks was way too much hassle.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Top 8s are irrelevant because it's made up of 8 rounds each of two different formats. It's even less meaningful since they aren't even playing Modern in the finals rounds. I'm referencing specifically the lists of 7-1 decks. There were 4 in Modern and 15 in Standard, meaning there is way more volatility and variance luck in Modern than there is in Standard. Doesn't matter how good you are if you don't draw well or are paired up with an unwinnable matchup. The four 7-1 or better records in Modern were Jund and 3 linear aggressive decks, which is a pretty good snapshot to describe the format.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate