The Norwegian Nationals was won by Lars Engelberg, my roommate, with our tuned version of GUw blink. The main thing we did with the decklist was tune the curve to a lower explosion point. The resulting decklist was:
The original was a UGw blink deck from US nationals, but in testing I wasn't very impressed with it. After we'd updated GR aggro the matchup was close to a 50/50 with a slight edge to blink prior to sideboarding. After sideboarding it was the other way around. Not what you want. We did like the deck, though, and felt there were several cards that simply didn't cut the cheese against aggro. We cut snakes from the main deck along with a blink and chroniclers. We added Spell Snare and Compulsive Research. This made the deck a lot more stable and turned the aggro matchup around instantly. With the new version we had a walkover against all the aggro decks we testetd, them being GR aggro, BR aggro with Gargadons and without Gargadons (and thus several other cards as well) and RW aggro (our best aggro deck). The RW was a result of a reflection on the metagame on my part. Basically it was Mono red with Lightning Helix and Jötun Grunt instead of green for Tarmogoyf and Treetop Village. It was simply better against aggro and the amount of burn made it better against our blink decks. It was still not good enough to deal with GUw blink well enough. The blink deck had a slight edge.
Anyhow, after we'd updated the UGw blink deck it performed well against all the aggro decks that we correctly anticipated and in full matches with sideboard it also had a comfortable edge against blinktouch, UWR blink and control and mono green aggro. It gave away walkovers to BG rack, bridge and more dedicated control decks like Dralnu. I felt it was useless to try to even get a small grip on those matchups and rather play the field with a rather solid glass cannon, and I was right. In the end they all agreed with me (dodecapod should've been sunlance, the rest of the sideboard is fine), but they discarded parts of my fine sideboard for pods right before the tournament. One even added two Tormod's Crypt. Come on! That was useless. Anyhow, the Moats on the other hand proved solid, and that was Lars' idea. Draw a Moat and mono green was gone. Crovax is just awesome against most aggro decks out there. He shuts down Solifuge, both Moggs, most of the creatures of GB rack, Bob and Rakdos' Guildmage's dangerous ability. Oh, and he's near unkillable.
Of all the matches played with the deck it went 4-0-2 (Lars) and he felt that was rather fair (he punted one game on a mistake and won another on a mistake). Åsmund, my other friend who played the deck, felt he should've been 5-1 with the same matchups, but he punted two games. Like me. I played a different deck, though.
The tournament started with three rounds of standard, in which I scored a silly 1-2. Honestly. That was horrible. Both my losses were to my own misplays. One of them I lost 2-0 (I got mana screwed in the first and stalled on three lands against RBg aggro), so that would only make me 1-1, but I had a seriously strong edge against the deck. My deck was a RUW control deck with 12 counters (Remand, Spell Snare and Rune Snag) and the last loss I had with it came to 4(!) main deck Detrivores. I had no way to deal with that pre sideboard and promptly lost, and lost the match 2-1 all in all.
After my horrible start in standard I pulled myself together and drafted a solid UW deck that went 2-1. Which was fine. It was nothing broken and didn't have a single bomb card. Not one. Just solid cards all over, like most UW decks end up with. I could've gone 3-0 in that pod, though, as the pool of cards was weaker than most.
After that we had another draft and I went 2-1 again with a broken UR deck. It's one of the best decks I've ever had in draft. I lost the last round of that pod to one of the guys in the top 8. I could possibly have won with a different play, and while I probably should've made that play, it was a difficult judgement call. I stalled on lands in all three games, but in the middle one I was still able to run him over with goblins (I had 2 Empty the Warrens) after 3 suspended creatures resolved.
After that I went 2-1 in standard again. I didn't notice any major misplays. I noticed one play I may have done differently, but that I think would've been wrong anyway (sometimes it's wrong to do the winning play). However, I had no chance. His hand was full of hate. A mulligan (to 5) may have been in order, though, but I'm not sure if the odds were good after that either.
Oh, and most of you probably think I'm a poor player after pointing out the fact that I've lost 4 games throughout the tournament on bad plays, and that I probably don't lose as much to poor luck as some of you seem to judging on a lot of people's whining. Just so you know; I mulliganed 7 times in the first 3 rounds of standard (24 lands). 6 due to too little land and once because my hand had nothing useful until turn 6 and five lands to boot(I could've top decked a Compulsive Research, but I didn't want to take that chance against aggro). My mulliganing went down as the weekend progressed, and so did my misplays. In the end here's my summary:
Biggest dissapointment:
2 consecutive rounds of bad plays due to low levels of concentration
Personal highlight:
Making 14 goblins on turn 6 in draft round 5 (round 8 total).
Non-personal highlight:
My roommate winning the entire thing (he's a better player than me). Oh, and it's a bit personal. He won with the deck I tuned for him.
We've run into a problem we didn't anticipate. We're low on cards. Suddenly three people are looking to play the same deck, and thus we're low on cards for it. It's too late to go on Ebay (Norway is far away from most stores and people there).
Hopefully we'll be able to fix it, but it might be a problem. Maybe I'll have to trade or buy from people in Oslo the day before. That might pose a problem as well. Crap.
Anyone know of any European stores that do quick delivery (ups/fedex etc.)?
The Norwegian nationals are coming up and my local playgroup, which basically consists of everyone going to nationals from Bergen, have been testing decks.
Mostly we've been testing decks from US and UK nationals. The top decks from the swiss and top 8:
4cTeachings (Chapin) with the updates from his Starcitygames' article RG aggro (Jones) with updates from Dan Paskins' article on Starcitygames. UGw blink (Thompson) RWU BlinkTouch (Drake) RWU AngelBlink (Janiszewski) Dralnu (Ruben) A local guy has been playing Dralnu since it emerged, so I suppose this is his version. GB Discard (Orsini-Jones) GUw Chord of Calling (Scott Vargas)
I don't believe in matchup percentages, they hardly mean anything, but I do believe in testing to find out what the matchup feels like, and I believe in practicing in order to get an edge.
Some notes:
I don't like Chapin's teachings deck. I like the look of it, and the type of deck, but it needs a huge change for me to play it and it's too close to nationals (leave in about a week) for it to be possible to do that. It's off.
I didn't like RWU BlinkTouch. Unstable. Not viable. Doesn't feel like a top deck at all. Janiszewski's deck feels better, but we've done some minor changes and it's more to our liking now. It's viable.
GUw blink is my favorite. The version from US Nationals I did not like. It was a minor favorite versus RG aggro (tuned) and that wasn't good enough as it felt like had an unfavorable, but not by far, matchup versus most control decks we've tried. We changed it around a bit, and it's way better. It doesn't like Teferi, though. The sideboard have been entirely rewamped.
GB Rack is very good. It rolls over several decks and lots of rogue decks are typically built in a way that makes them walkover matchups. It looses to aggro, but not as much as in the beginning. We changed this around as well.
Dralnu has problems with lots of the aggro decks and a favorable matchup versus a lot of other stuff. I think one can gamble on this. Have the blink decks beat aggro, and get in position to beat the ones that beat aggro. The metagame will be weird, though, as the tournament goes like this standard-draft-standard-draft-top8.
Oh, and we have two rogueish decks. One aggro and one control, that both are viable options. I'm very likely to bring something based on mountains and something based on islands. UGw blink + some form of aggroburn. I'll decide when I get there.
Oh, and don't ask for decklists. The ones we used as skeletons are available on MagictheGathering.com, and our versions are unavailable until after nationals. No point in giving away our ideas just yet.
I had no idea I was this good at valuing cards, but after some luck in buying good cards early at a low price in Planar Chaos (Aeon Chronicler at 1.5 tix a piece, Detrivore at 1 tix a piece, Wild Pair at 6 tix for 4 copies) I looked through Future Sight and wondered which cards I'd like to play myself. What looks powerful here?
Most of these prices seem inflated or a bit absurd, but they are driven by the fact that TSP block constructed is in the middle of it's season now. I'll explain a bit why I thought what I did, and why I didn't buy lots and save for later.
Korlash is awesome in standard due to the fact that Dimir House Guard can transmute for him. I made a similar deck out of the synergy of Fleshwrither and Korlash in block. Oh, that reminds me; Fleshwrither is currently underrated, but it won't last long. Being an uncommon he'll never get a high price tag, though. If don't have the possibility of tutoring for Korlash his grandeur becomes less strong, but with Dimir House Guard around it's pretty great. With Rise/Fall in the same deck it's almost silly. Korlash may lose value depending on the standard card pool, but not for a long time. I predict you'll see Korlash control much more often online soon.
The first time I saw Coalition Relic I thought it was just another too expencive mana fixer, but it isn't. It gives any colour, which is the fixing part, but more importantly; it accellerates out huge spells. I realized it's power in the first FNM draft with FS at my local store. An opponent played the relic and then he started powering out stuff that was way bigger than mine. Online I bought four and started playing RUw Angelfire in block. A deck that feels a bit underpowered when I don't have the relics early. Right now I don't think the deck is good enough, but I also have a feeling there's something I'm missing here. The deck can be good enough. Not sure how, yet. Will get back to you on that. Anyhow, Coalition Relic may drop in value. I thought it'd go up to 3-4 tix and it may still fall down to that once the initial post GP Montreal rush passes.
Everybody knew that Tarmogoyf was good, nobody knew how good until they tried it in a deck that was designed to use him to his full potential. I realized how good he was after reading about Supergro in the forums on this very site. I made the GWU version of supergro that was presented into a GW version that was pretty close to the ones that rule TSP Block constructed right now and Tarmogoyf would smash face seriously every time he hit the board. Oh, and he won't go down much in value. He's so good he'll be used in extended and standard as well. You might as well get the bugger right now. Thank you MTGsalvation forums.
Horizon Canopy has gotten it's current boost due to Tarmogoyf and Mystic Enforcer, but it won't drop. It's an awesome land in so many decks. Everybody knew that it was the best of the FS lands, but nobody knew how good it was right now. The other lands are all good as well.
Take Possession was just absurdly underrated due to it's casting cost, but the fact that it's an uncounterable answer to anything made me get four right from the start. Honestly...why would it not be awesome?
Anyhow, as everybody and their dog is playing GW Supergro/Tarmogoyf right now I've stopped working on my version. There are tons of versions and tons of options around, but it's not as fun as it was when I first looked at the lists in the forums. I've started looking at other cards now.
I'm really amazed at this deck, but apparently I'm not alone. A similar deck, that is; similar in idea, but not in card choices, just won a TSP Block constructed on modo.
The version I'm running has had awesome results. I think I've lost one in 15 matches. That's not very much. The mulligans work well, too. There are some once in a while, but not enough for this deck to rack up losses due to it.
If you wish to try my version, and I'll post results as I test it, here it is:
A couple of notes: Riftsweeper started in the sideboard, but I boarder him in against almost all opponents so I shifted his position to main deck. I've never looked back. He's been awesome the entire time. He picks off Greater Gargadon, Search for Tomorrow, Ancestral Vision, Riftwing Cloudskate and Aeon Chronicler. There are others occasionally, but those are the main reasons why he's there. Mono black is the only deck that doesn't care about him, and in my opinion they can't get better than 50/50 without some form of card draw, so I'm expecting them to splash for Chronicler soon anyway.
Chromatic Star doesn't do all that much in some matches. Sometimes it helps Tarmogoyf and Mystic Enforcer just enough, and sometimes it doesn't. I'm not entirely certain it deserves a place, but for now it's been there the entire time.
Saffi Eriksdotter is a bit situational. Perhaps she should be put in the sideboard, but her spot is mostly defended by her place on the curve.
Hedge Troll is awesome against all creature decks. Mono black isn't too happy about it, in the mirror it rocks and against mono red it almost single handedly wins the game. Sometimes you get burned out against mono red, but that's why you have Aven Riftwatcher in the sideboard. After that pops it's life gaining head in the odds go from something like 60/40 to 80/20. With all the mono red around this deck is a great metagame choice.
Stonewood Invocation used to be Griffin Guide but it was bad against too many decks. Smart opponents with creature removal don't tap out versus you so Dead/Gone, Snapback and the occasional Tendrils of Despair makes Griffin Guide too risky. It's true that is sometimes wins you the game when it's resolved successfully, but not often enough for me. I prefer Stonewood. It has the same effect on the game sometimes, and it's a pain the ass for UB teachings, Mono Black or Mono Red. Four is a bit much in general, though, as the 4 CC is sort of high for this deck.
So, what are my playtest results?
I haven't started writing them down yet because I started with too many different configurations that I didn't like too much. It's just the versions that resembles the current one that I really like. Actually, I love this one. This is why I'll post playtest reports from now on.
Tuesday 19th of June:
Vs. Mono Green aggro:
2-1
He wins the first one by trampling in some silly damage (I could've played better and kept a few more life points, but I misjudged the game as a tempo game that I was leading). The next two he loses as I play Temporal Isolation on his blockers so that I can hit him over the head with too much damage. This is tempo oriented, but you have to figure out who's beating down who.
Someone else was playing a UGw version of the deck. The idea is to play the most cost efficient creatures of the format. It's not too far from the RG decks, but the difference is that they play the bigger creatures, like Spectral Force and Bogardan Hellkite and make sure they power them out with Mwonvuli Acid-Moss, Wall of Roots, Search for Tomorrow and possibly other accellerants. The Supergro deck, who's name I don't know where came from, is about cost efficient creatures. This means Tarmogoyf and Mystic Enforcer are the most essential creatures.
In the right deck they are both awesome. I wouldn't mind having Werebear in this deck, but Mystic Enforcer will do nicely. One added bonus of the enforcer is his protection. He's not dying to Slaughter Pact, a current favorite of many control decks, and he flies right by most creatures for a whopping 6 points of damage.
Tarmogoyf on the other hand is just silly in the right deck. Both creatures are awesome when their full potential are realized. The decks low mana curve means that tempo decks like UG or mono blue control won't be able to keep up, and mono red just can't compete as your creatures are way bigger for the same cost. Once you have a 5/6 Tarmogoyf, or a 6/6 Enforce you're free to swing.
There's a lot of customization that's possible, and I'm playing a straight GW version, which may be have more problems with UB than the one using blue, but that is extremely consistent and fast.
If you like the deck type you can follow the discussion in the thread or just read this blog. As I test the deck, and I'll play it in PEs when I can, I'll post results and advice so you all can build on my gained insights.
If you haven't gotten your two championship qualifiers yet here's a few tips on how to get them:
1. Play 17 or 18 lands. There are exceptions, but they are very rare, and you'll know when you see it. As an example:2 Edge of Autumn, 1 Search for Tomorrow, 1 Prismatic Lens and 1 Wall of Roots. That's a 16 land deck. Why do you play 17 lands? Because this format is blazing fast. Two-drops are rampant, evasion is frequent and removal and tempo is cheap and common.
2. Play only two colours. Play the most consistent deck you can find in your pool. With 3 booster, all from the powerful Future Sight, you'll always, and I mean always, have a decent two-colour deck.
3. Play the agressive deck. There's usually two deck options. One goes for card advantage and long term, the other for aggression. Both can work, but play a deck with a curve and some removal and/or bounce. This will let you curve out and beat your opponent over the head while he plays Foresee and other too expencive card drawers in order to fix his shaky mana base. However, DO include card advantage wherever possible.
Follow these rules and you'll be rewarded with ample top 8s!
Everybody and their younger brother are voicing their opinions on Future Sight these days. I figured it was time I did the same.
Most of my considerations are based on block constructed, as this is the format that takes up 90% of my constructed time these days, but I'll start playing standard soon (to prepare for regionals and hopefully nationals) so I won't ignore the card's impact there either.
I'm not going to go through all the cards, but I'll post my thoughts on a few that I've noticed and plan to test and/or build decks around.
Now, I'm not sure about the sideboard, but Slaughter Pact is an option (Tolaria West is a nice way to search for pacts) that is tempting, but the rest depends on the metagame.
I know people haven't been pouring over Sprout Swarm for constructed, but for me this seems very sensible. It combos very well with Wall of Roots, Thelonite Hermit and Deathspore Thallid. You've got reusable removal (that gets cheaper/or makes larger creatures), and it's an instant to it's pretty, freaking annoying to control. They better counter it fast (and get something else in their face on your turn) or you'll have free tokens and delay as backup.
Now, I'm partial to blue, but you could also loose the blue and go for a more GB-disruption package in Mwonwuli Acid-Moss and Stupor. Both of which are solid options. Which version is better depends on the metagame. If people keep playing pickles Vesuvan is too tempting to pass up, and the Tolaria West is nice, if slow, but the deck might have more punch in a purely GB-The Rock-ish form.
The possibilities are near endless, but for those who've been trying saproling decks this should be a better starting point. It's possible, by the way, that Spectral Force shouldn't be here, but I like his big, beafy, trampling body. He sometimes just finishes games all by himself, and with dread return you can get him back (twice!). The deck above looks better on paper, but I think that's mostly because decks with more tricks and colours tend to look better, but seldom are.
Oh, and it's possible to make a UG Control deck that wins with Sprout Swarm as well:
Oh, the beauty of a purely streamlined deck. Honestly. What can go wrong? Oh, a lot of things, of course, but not many enough. In this deck you can answer just about anything, and that in itself is a thing of beauty. And I don't mind playing 18 counterspells. It's still "far" from the 26 of Sturla Bingen's European Championship winning deck, but it's enough to make a counter freak like myself happy as a dog on sausage day. Is there such a thing? There should be.
For those who've never tried this purely countering route before. Here are the rules:
1. You life is a resource. Use it.
2. If you can stop it with a saproling, do so.
3. If Wall of Roots can stop it, let it.
4. Don't be afraid to counter.
5. Bounce - then counter - if needed.
The idea is simply to counter, block, soak up damage and bounce until you can slowly gain control through card advantage with card draw, Dismal Failre and Spell Burst. Eventually they will run out of threats and you'll stabilize at 2 life. They'll be staring at your 7-card hand and 20-land mana while slowly dying to tokens, be them saprolings or workers knowing they've got a snowflake's chance in the furnaces of Hell.
Possible problems:
Creatures with evasion. They must be countered unless they die to Desert (and you have Desert or Tolaria West).
Things with Split Second.
Quagnoth isn't too much of a problem thanks to Wall of Roots and Saprolings that will happily end their lives for your cause. Just block it and leave it be.
Molten Disaster is a pain in the **s. We need life gain or a way to kill them before they can get enough mana. It should certainly be possible, but sometimes you'll just die anyway. Sometimes they'll have two, in which case they can kill you and your win conditions over two turns. Not fair.
Sudden Shock. Just don't get low enough on life to die from it. This may prove problematic, but this should make every match versus mono red a thrill. Not for the faint of heart.
Post board we'll have the tools to deal with them all, but it's probably not worth it in game one. There's too many slowish decks we'll just beat the way it is, and diluting your deck versus those UB Teachings-guys isn't worth it.
Now you should all go and have fun with Sprout Swarm just like I will. Oh, and do tell me how you do. It'll be interesting to see what happens to the TSP metagame post FS.
BTW: Did I mention that Logic Knot is good? No? Well, it is. It's a three mana counter early, and a two mana counter mid game. That's fine by me. Thank you Wizards.
I did poorly in the main event. Just so you know. I did well in side events, but any idiot can do that. Which you probably know.
Here's what I learned through side events, non-sanctioned drafts, the main event and in Stockholm in general:
1. Set an alarm on your phone if you go to relax and test your deck before your first non-bye round. Getting game losses for arriving late doesn't do anyone any good.
2. The women in Stockholm are beautiful. I already knew this, but it's an impression that's been reinforced.
3. Remember to put counters on your thallids, and point it out if your opponent forgets it on his. You're both responsible, and will both get a warning if you forget (and a judge sees it).
4. Always call a judge if someone plays slowly. Most people are nice and fair, but more people than you might think will play slowly to get a draw (or 3 points sometimes). Call a judge and have them watch the game.
5. Red - blue is as good in TPF draft as it was in TTP draft.
6. Green is exceptionally deep in Future Sight.
7. Counterspells are much better now, than they were, and the best one is a common from Future Sight.
8. The format is getting more like Onslaught now. Morphs are dominating the board. Very few of them will die to Dead/Gone (the dead part) if they have the option of morphing up. Two of the commons even morph up for free.
In todays TSP Block Constructed Premier Event on Magic The Gathering Online (I felt like writing the entire name for once) the metagame is nothing like it was before PT Yokohama.
Nobody expected it to stay the same, and I was one of those that said White Weenie wouldn't do well at PT Yokohama. I was right there, and wrong on a few other minor details. For example: I said Browbeat was no good and would never be played by the pros. It was featured in the top 8 by Mr. Beatdown himself these days, Raphaël Lévy.
The UB(RW) control decks changed from Teferi-control to silver-bullet types with four teachings and lots of 1-ofs to fetch. Also, most changed their card draw from Think Twice to Careful Considerations. For a deck that plays so many silver bullets Careful Considerations is surely worth it.
The biggest change PT Yokohama brought around was the change to the Modo metage. It's not surprise that people copy the decks they like from the Pros, and unless you allready have a deck that can compete with them, you're probably right in doing so. What I don't get though, is that the online metagame changed so much. I thought that some White Weenie would be left online, and that the main deck hate wouldn't be as present as it was in Yokohama, but that's another mistake of mine.
Yokohama proved that White Weenie couldn't compete with the current metagame so people dropped it all together. Here's the field from todays Premier Event online:
Mono Red Aggro: 7
UB(rw) Control: 15
RG(u) Big mana with or without landkill: 13
RG Burn: 5
RGB Good Stuff: 1
RGU Wild Pair: 1
Mono Blue Teferi: 1
White Weenie: 1(!)
Those decks are more or less like their equivalents from PT Yokohama. Here's the decks that weren't:
RUW Rogue Aggro: 1
RUB Rogue Aggro: 1
Mono Blue Weenie Rogue: 1
RW Boros: 1
UG Force: 1
Mono Black Gauntlet Rogue: 1
Currently we're at round 2 and it's not obvious which decks will do best, but time will tell and I'll be back with more info.