So, this past weekend, there's been a slew of Nationals tournaments (U.S., France, Italy, and Canada), and with those comes the best decks that these tournaments have yielded. Let's dissect/discuss the results:
For the U.S, Michael Jacob took down Sam Black's Elves in the finals to become the U.S. champion with the following list:
So it looks like Red Deck still does Win. The RDW archetype really surprised me this weekend, proving that it's still competitive in Standard, largely due to Magus of the Moon. This list looks pretty standard, with a more creature-heavy base than burn, which looks more popular as the archetype evolves. The biggest inclusion that Eventide gave to this deck is Figure of Destiny, maybe the most influential card for Standard that Eventide has given us despite lands. An interesting deviation is the addition of the snow lands to take advantage of the creature-clearing Skred, where other lists would use a 1 mana 2 damage spell. It obviously worked out pretty good for him.
Meanwhile, in France, Christophe Peyronnel beat Pro Olivier Ruel's innovative and unusual Quick n' Toast decklist in the finals using, you guessed it, RDW. Here's the list:
If this list looks familiar, it's because it's almost exactly the same as the U.S. Champion Michael Jacob's list. Trade the snow lands for regulars and Encampments, the Magus of the Scrolls for Mogg Fanatics, the Skreds for Shocks and switch up the sideboard a little, and you have the deck. Again, this creature based RDW looks to be the new building model of the archetype, because its power is obvious.
Moving a little southwest to Italy, William Cavaglieri beat Fllippo Kratter's Faeries (with 3 Murderous Redcap main) with a very interesting R/B Tokens list featuring one standout card: Torrent of Souls.
And I thought R/B tokens itself was an under-the-radar deck...the inclusion of the Torrent of Souls and the lack of Greater Gargadon are the two big stories here. Gargadon seems like it'd be the sole reason to play this deck, cause it can eat so many creatures so quickly and can run over an opponent, so why is it missing? Anyway, I just love the inclusion of Torrent of Souls in this deck, cause bringing back a Marsh Flitter or Shriekmaw or even Mogg War Marshal is extremely synergistic to the deck's theme. And having 4 maindeck Magus of the Moon doesn't hurt either. Interestingly enough, all 3 National Champions had this guy maindecked so far, proving he is the best answer to the most popular deck, Faeries.
Lastly, up in the Frozen Tundra, we saw (or didn't see, cause there was no Wizards coverage up there) Dan Lanthier's Reveiliark trump Steve Wolfman's RDW. Unfortunately, that's all we know about the finals, seeing as the coverage in Canada doesn't seem to want to release any decklists, or even what the players were playing (I only found out Lanthier was playing Lark because he said so in his T8 profile). As soon as results and lists for Canadian nats come in, I'll edit this.
So there you have it. 4 National champions, 3 aggro decks, and 1 control/combo. If anything is to be learned from this past weekend's national championships, it's that Magus of the Moon and Figure of Destiny are in full force. RDW is reborn and better than ever, so sideboard accordingly.
I'll probably have to start using my Flashfreezes and bottle gnomes. At least they wont pick up dust anymore. Or maybe I'll start playing RDW since I can afford and it wins.
Magus of the Moon is such a powerful card in T2 because so many decks rely HEAVILY on nonbasics. If you don't believe me, just look at the top 8 for US nationals. A lot of times you drop MotM and your opponent is boned because their mana is 90% nonbasics.
Yeah, this kind of suprised me too. It changes most of my opinions on standard. I was already testing RDW, but this just encourages me to keep on playing it.
More like "cheap" Magus of the Moon ($10 now)>Fae's mana base
I don't understand why people just don't use basics to combat Magus. If you have about 2 basics of the colors you're using, Magus is just a dumb Gray Ogre. Instead, they try for sideboarded answers like Razormane Masticore and Redcap, some of which they won't draw in time.
More like "cheap" Magus of the Moon ($10 now)>Fae's mana base
I don't understand why people just don't use basics to combat Magus. If you have about 2 basics of the colors you're using, Magus is just a dumb Gray Ogre. Instead, they try for sideboarded answers like Razormane Masticore and Redcap, some of which they won't draw in time.
So what's your method of switching out the manabase of a faerie deck? The logic here seems just as illogical as the masticore and redcaps, but they actually have their purposes.
Some lark an faerie players watch out for merfolk and try not to have islands.
Eventide has already had a huge impact on standard. It dropped the Figure of Destiny bomb and now we are looking at the aftermath. Grab your playsets while they are still cheap folks!
I just realized. Mycoloth perfectly demonstrates the devour mechanic.
Mycoloth: NOMNOMNOM on Dragon Fodder.
One turn later, 1/1 turds come out.
Quote from kalkris »
btw i did it because i could. i was bored and decided to let my little med-free spree go ahead. I am bipolar, explaining all the drama that ensued after. I have problems.
Quote from ShadowWaveInc. »
Jon Finkel can simply walk into Mordor.
"When an artist dies the world loses two lives, that of the artist and that of his unfinished work."
Original quote byTacosnape "All ideas that give me knowledge without any effort involved on my part are good ideas. Chop chop, my dear fellow."
DCI L2 Judge GP:Madrid 2010 45th GP:Amsterdam 2011 74th GP:London 2013 67th Bazaar of Moxen 2013 32nd
The best thing about magus of the moon is that it has been there the whole time. All the new sets have printed tons of Fae hate, and nothing good for them since Bitterblossom (they didn't need anything else). Suddenly after being in the format so long. None of the new hate is as good, they should stop wasting cards on it.
Where are the B/W decks that people are talking about? I haven't seen them anywhere!
While it's easy to get excited about new archetypes when a set comes out, I'm venturing to guess that B/W decks were simply hype. As you can see, the cutthroat world of Standard probably won't allow the Lifelinked Gwiliyon+Edge of the Divinity combo to take place where a simple Mogg Fanatic can stop it, and Divinity of Pride looks a lot less impressive when it can get taken down by a Flame Javelin.
Thanks to Anime1 and PhanTom_It for providing the T8 for Finland and Estonia, even if we can't tell what decks were used in Estonia, and why they were used(Rogues? Really??). And Redcap Harmony, do you know what country your "Angels and All Stars" list was used in, and what other decks were in the T8?
Well, the 1st place Lark list looks pretty standard, even though I don't play with or against Lark that much. He was probably really familiar with all its matchups.
The RDW list looks kinda odd to me. 12 1 drops, Boggart Ram Gang, no non-basics? What, this guy couldn't find any Keldon Megaliths before the event or something?
And I guess the elf deck is pretty normal, almost boringly so. This one looks really similar to the one that won PT-Hollywood.
Twelve 1 drops is defensible because of Figure of Destiny (you want mana open to pump and yet drop another creature). I'd still rather have Stigma Lasher or Blood Knight than, say, Tattermunge Maniac. But it's not a completly wrong choice.
I personally think that RDW deck is terrible. Maniac is an awful card, 24 lands is too much for RDW if theyre not running megaliths (and you can definitely afford to run 2-3 megaliths and STILL run skred). Not sure how i feel about fanatic vs. magus of the scroll. I think gouger > ram-gang, but thats very arguable so i wont question it
In what universe? If you build a deck like that, and ever draw that hand, I will personally come to wherever you live, perform complicated acts of awestruck *********, then disembowel myself to escape the world that allowed something like to to occur and validate you.
24 lands is too much for RDW if theyre not running megaliths (and you can definitely afford to run 2-3 megaliths and STILL run skred)
How is 24 land too much? You need to hit 5 mana pretty consistently for Demigod, and Figure of Destiny is a good mana dump (and hitting 6 mana with it in play is really neat).
Megaliths are terrible. I'd sooner play Ghitu Encampment over it. They come into play tapped, are barely ever activated, and even if you do get to activate them you do 1 damage for 3 mana (half as much as Magus, who at least is a 1/1 body even when you don't get to activate him). And they screw up your Skreds. You really want 4 snow lands out there ASAP.
I grinded into this Nats with the same list -4 Mogg Fanatic, +4 Stigma Lasher, and a completly different sideboard (3 Siege-Gang, 4 Murderous Redcap, 4 Pithing Needle, 4 Puncture Blast).
My main event list was -4 Tattermunge, +4 Stigma Lasher. (SB 2 Siege-Gang, 4 Redcaps, 3 Pithing Needle, 3 Puncture Blast, 3 Manabarbs.) Went 1-2 with it, so take it with a grain of salt. For one, I'd remove a Manabarbs to put back in the 4th Puncture Blast. Stigma Lasher is also a bit of a gamble maindeck, kinda like maindeck Magus of the Moon. It's inferior in some matchups to Blood Knight or Keldon Marauders, though not that much, and will be a blowout against some decks.
Original quote byTacosnape "All ideas that give me knowledge without any effort involved on my part are good ideas. Chop chop, my dear fellow."
DCI L2 Judge GP:Madrid 2010 45th GP:Amsterdam 2011 74th GP:London 2013 67th Bazaar of Moxen 2013 32nd
I think the infiltrator is probably a big help. Having an early unblockable makes the prowl thing a lot more viable when faeries stops flyers and fear.
For the U.S, Michael Jacob took down Sam Black's Elves in the finals to become the U.S. champion with the following list:
2 Keldon Megaliths
22 Snow-Covered Mountain
Creatures:24
4 Ashenmoor Gouger
4 Blood Knight
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Magus of the Scroll
4 Flame Javelin
4 Incinerate
4 Skred
4 Murderous Redcap
2 Pithing Needle
3 Spitebellows
4 Sulfurous Blast
2 Unwilling Recruit
So it looks like Red Deck still does Win. The RDW archetype really surprised me this weekend, proving that it's still competitive in Standard, largely due to Magus of the Moon. This list looks pretty standard, with a more creature-heavy base than burn, which looks more popular as the archetype evolves. The biggest inclusion that Eventide gave to this deck is Figure of Destiny, maybe the most influential card for Standard that Eventide has given us despite lands. An interesting deviation is the addition of the snow lands to take advantage of the creature-clearing Skred, where other lists would use a 1 mana 2 damage spell. It obviously worked out pretty good for him.
Meanwhile, in France, Christophe Peyronnel beat Pro Olivier Ruel's innovative and unusual Quick n' Toast decklist in the finals using, you guessed it, RDW. Here's the list:
2 Ghitu Encampment
3 Keldon Megaliths
19 Mountain
Creatures:24
4 Ashenmoor Gouger
4 Blood Knight
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Flame Javelin
4 Incinerate
4 Shock
3 Faerie Macabre
3 Lash Out
3 Manabarbs
3 Puncture Blast
3 Sulfur Elemental
If this list looks familiar, it's because it's almost exactly the same as the U.S. Champion Michael Jacob's list. Trade the snow lands for regulars and Encampments, the Magus of the Scrolls for Mogg Fanatics, the Skreds for Shocks and switch up the sideboard a little, and you have the deck. Again, this creature based RDW looks to be the new building model of the archetype, because its power is obvious.
Moving a little southwest to Italy, William Cavaglieri beat Fllippo Kratter's Faeries (with 3 Murderous Redcap main) with a very interesting R/B Tokens list featuring one standout card: Torrent of Souls.
3 Auntie's Hovel
4 Graven Cairns
1 Kher Keep
4 Mountain
1 Pendelhaven
4 Sulfurous Springs
7 Swamp
Creatures:24
4 Magus of the Moon
3 Marsh Flitter
3 Mogg Fanatic
4 Mogg War Marshal
4 Nantuko Husk
4 Shadow Guildmage
2 Shriekmaw
4 Bitterblossom
4 Thoughtseize
4 Torrent of Souls
4 Avalanche Riders
4 Fulminator Mage
3 Grave Pact
2 Sudden Death
2 Terror
And I thought R/B tokens itself was an under-the-radar deck...the inclusion of the Torrent of Souls and the lack of Greater Gargadon are the two big stories here. Gargadon seems like it'd be the sole reason to play this deck, cause it can eat so many creatures so quickly and can run over an opponent, so why is it missing? Anyway, I just love the inclusion of Torrent of Souls in this deck, cause bringing back a Marsh Flitter or Shriekmaw or even Mogg War Marshal is extremely synergistic to the deck's theme. And having 4 maindeck Magus of the Moon doesn't hurt either. Interestingly enough, all 3 National Champions had this guy maindecked so far, proving he is the best answer to the most popular deck, Faeries.
Lastly, up in the Frozen Tundra, we saw (or didn't see, cause there was no Wizards coverage up there) Dan Lanthier's Reveiliark trump Steve Wolfman's RDW. Unfortunately, that's all we know about the finals, seeing as the coverage in Canada doesn't seem to want to release any decklists, or even what the players were playing (I only found out Lanthier was playing Lark because he said so in his T8 profile). As soon as results and lists for Canadian nats come in, I'll edit this.
So there you have it. 4 National champions, 3 aggro decks, and 1 control/combo. If anything is to be learned from this past weekend's national championships, it's that Magus of the Moon and Figure of Destiny are in full force. RDW is reborn and better than ever, so sideboard accordingly.
Here's links to the Top 8 Decklists:
U.S.: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?
x=mtgevent/usnat08/top8dl
France:http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/frnat08/welcome
Italy: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/itnat08/top8decklists
Canada: http://www.spellkeeper.com/ws/index.php?module=article&view=50
Akuma will wreck you.
Magus of the Moon is such a powerful card in T2 because so many decks rely HEAVILY on nonbasics. If you don't believe me, just look at the top 8 for US nationals. A lot of times you drop MotM and your opponent is boned because their mana is 90% nonbasics.
Awesome banner and avatar thanks to spiderboy4 from highlight studios!
More like "cheap" Magus of the Moon ($10 now)>Fae's mana base
I don't understand why people just don't use basics to combat Magus. If you have about 2 basics of the colors you're using, Magus is just a dumb Gray Ogre. Instead, they try for sideboarded answers like Razormane Masticore and Redcap, some of which they won't draw in time.
Akuma will wreck you.
So what's your method of switching out the manabase of a faerie deck? The logic here seems just as illogical as the masticore and redcaps, but they actually have their purposes.
Some lark an faerie players watch out for merfolk and try not to have islands.
Awesome banner and avatar thanks to spiderboy4 from highlight studios!
I like this pattern. It's about freaking time.
All hail RDW, slayer of Tribal.
Anyways, the r/b tokens looks awesome with Torrent of Souls, but I wish Murderous Redcap or Greater Gargadon were somewhere in there too.
All hail Magus of the Moon, butchering nearly every top deck in the format.
Thanks to spiderboy4 for the great avatar and sig from High Light Studios!
Also, what is this "Angels and All Stars" deck that shows up in the Canadian metagame breakdown?
1 Forest
2 Wooded Bastion
3 Firelit Thicket
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Battlefield Forge
2 Shivan Reef
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Vivid Grove
4 Vivid Crag
4 Rune Snag
4 Flame Javelin
4 Lash Out
4 Wall of Roots
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Lightning Angel
3 Cloudthresher
3 Firespout
2 Chameleon Colossus
2 Harmonize
2 Brion Stoutarm
1 Momentary Blink
Sideboard
3 Faerie Macabre
3 Krosan Grip
1 Firespout
2 Honorable Passage
1 Cloudthresher
3 Recumbent Bliss
2 Flashfreeze
Now Playing:
T2: WBG Junk
EDH: GWSaffi, UBOoonartifacts, BMikaeus,UG Zegana Draw.
1.Hannes Kerem-swansi pakk
2.Vahur-Peeter Liin-RDW
3.Erkki Sisask-Rogue
4.Joonas Orav-RDW
5-8.Kaur Kohv-QnT,vist
5-8.Raul Kask-lark
5-8.Aare Klooster-merfolk
5-8.Mart Pechter-Zuri pakk
You can make out the deck names yourselves
DCI L2 Judge
GP:Madrid 2010 45th
GP:Amsterdam 2011 74th
GP:London 2013 67th
Bazaar of Moxen 2013 32nd
Great thx to Zaphod from HighLight studio for this GREAT banner.
If you fail your promise Shinjutsei, i will send ninja on you!!
Well, that's stupid, considering they're only in Standard for another couple months, and they're only about $10 on Ebay.
While it's easy to get excited about new archetypes when a set comes out, I'm venturing to guess that B/W decks were simply hype. As you can see, the cutthroat world of Standard probably won't allow the Lifelinked Gwiliyon+Edge of the Divinity combo to take place where a simple Mogg Fanatic can stop it, and Divinity of Pride looks a lot less impressive when it can get taken down by a Flame Javelin.
Thanks to Anime1 and PhanTom_It for providing the T8 for Finland and Estonia, even if we can't tell what decks were used in Estonia, and why they were used(Rogues? Really??). And Redcap Harmony, do you know what country your "Angels and All Stars" list was used in, and what other decks were in the T8?
Akuma will wreck you.
Well, the 1st place Lark list looks pretty standard, even though I don't play with or against Lark that much. He was probably really familiar with all its matchups.
The RDW list looks kinda odd to me. 12 1 drops, Boggart Ram Gang, no non-basics? What, this guy couldn't find any Keldon Megaliths before the event or something?
And I guess the elf deck is pretty normal, almost boringly so. This one looks really similar to the one that won PT-Hollywood.
Akuma will wreck you.
Hmm, Skred much?
Twelve 1 drops is defensible because of Figure of Destiny (you want mana open to pump and yet drop another creature). I'd still rather have Stigma Lasher or Blood Knight than, say, Tattermunge Maniac. But it's not a completly wrong choice.
As for Boggart Ram-Gang VS Ashenmoor Gouger... it's a matter of taste. I personally prefer the Ram-Gang because of Haste.
Netdecking is Rightdecking
My latest data-driven Magic the Gathering strategy article
(TLDR: Analysis of the Valakut matchups. UB rising in the rankings. Aggro correspondingly taking a dive.)
How is 24 land too much? You need to hit 5 mana pretty consistently for Demigod, and Figure of Destiny is a good mana dump (and hitting 6 mana with it in play is really neat).
Megaliths are terrible. I'd sooner play Ghitu Encampment over it. They come into play tapped, are barely ever activated, and even if you do get to activate them you do 1 damage for 3 mana (half as much as Magus, who at least is a 1/1 body even when you don't get to activate him). And they screw up your Skreds. You really want 4 snow lands out there ASAP.
I grinded into this Nats with the same list -4 Mogg Fanatic, +4 Stigma Lasher, and a completly different sideboard (3 Siege-Gang, 4 Murderous Redcap, 4 Pithing Needle, 4 Puncture Blast).
My main event list was -4 Tattermunge, +4 Stigma Lasher. (SB 2 Siege-Gang, 4 Redcaps, 3 Pithing Needle, 3 Puncture Blast, 3 Manabarbs.) Went 1-2 with it, so take it with a grain of salt. For one, I'd remove a Manabarbs to put back in the 4th Puncture Blast. Stigma Lasher is also a bit of a gamble maindeck, kinda like maindeck Magus of the Moon. It's inferior in some matchups to Blood Knight or Keldon Marauders, though not that much, and will be a blowout against some decks.
Netdecking is Rightdecking
My latest data-driven Magic the Gathering strategy article
(TLDR: Analysis of the Valakut matchups. UB rising in the rankings. Aggro correspondingly taking a dive.)
DCI L2 Judge
GP:Madrid 2010 45th
GP:Amsterdam 2011 74th
GP:London 2013 67th
Bazaar of Moxen 2013 32nd
I think the infiltrator is probably a big help. Having an early unblockable makes the prowl thing a lot more viable when faeries stops flyers and fear.
Thanks to the guys at Highlight Studios for the great banner and avatar.
Trade with me http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=101483&highlight=" rel="nofollow"here.
“(Z–>)90º – (E–N²W)90ºt = 1”
skRed Deck Wins
4 Tattermunge Maniac
4 [card]Figure of Destiny
[/card]4 [card]Stigma Lasher
[/card]4 Boggart Ram Gang
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Demigod of Revenge(OMD)
4 Skred
4 Incinerate
4 Flame Javelin
24 Snow-Covered Mountain
sb
4 Pithing Needle
4 Murderous Redcap
2 Siege-Gang Commander
2 Everlasting Torment
3 Vexing Shusher