late regional wrap up

LordHawk · Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Posts: 17

Canada, USA and Great Britain Regional’s Wrap-up

Today I’m going to cover the regional’s results, its effects on the metagame, voice a few opinions and point out interesting deck lists.
First off here is the breakdown that I did by going through the deck lists:

Deck Top 8'd Q'd for Nats 1st Place Total Q'd
Gruul 9-26-5-31
Dragonstorm 14-15-7-22
Project X 4-11-1-12
Zoogofy 4-10-1-11
Korlash (R/B/u) Control 5-9-1-10
Solar Flare 5-8-2-9
Angelfire 6-6-2-8
Aggro Rack (all splashes) 3-3-3-6
Narcolepsy (combo) 9-6-0-6
Blue Pickles (with and without B splash) 0-6-0-6
Perilous Storm 1-3-2-5
U/B/W Control (no Reanimation) 0-4-1-5
Dralnu 8-5-0-5
Izzetron 1-2-2-4
RDW 5-3-1-4
Fader 3-4-0-4
W/B/R Sliver's 1-1-2-3
Shiny Rock 2-2-1-3
Satanic Sligh 1-1-1-2
Panda 2-2-0-2
Mono-Black Control 0-2-0-2
Glare (including U and R splash) 2-0-1-1
MGA 0-0-1-1
U/G/w Aggro 0-0-1-1
U/R Magnivore 1-1-0-1
Soggy Pickles 1-1-0-1
B/G Aggro 0-1-0-1
Flores Teachings 0-1-0-1
G/B Dredge (no combo) 0-1-0-1
G/B/u Teachings 0-1-0-1
Mono Blue Snow Control 0-1-0-1
U/G Aggro-Control 0-1-0-1
U/R/W Control (not midrange Angelfire) 0-1-0-1
W/R/B Firemane 0-1-0-1
Scryb and Force 0-1-0-1
Zoo no gofy 0-1-0-1
Blink Rider's 0-1-0-1
MBA 0-1-0-1
Boros 0-1-0-1
Blink! 0-1-0-1
U/W Control 2-0-0-0
Goblinstorm 1-0-0-0
R/G/W Anti-Aggro 1-0-0-0
U/B/r Tron 1-0-0-0
U/R No Vore 1-0-0-0
Mono Red Storm 1-0-0-0
White Weenie 1-0-0-0
Snow White 1-0-0-0
Sea Stompy 1-0-0-0

First of all let me explain how I sorted in case you were a little unsure about the numbers. Top 8 means decks that top 8’d in a place where there were less then 8 invitations available. Qualified for Nationals are decks that got invites that didn’t finish first . First place finishes are obviously winners and total qualified is qualified plus winners.

Next is looking at how the deck types split up :

Combo: 45 Q'd – 25.14%
Aggro: 70 Q'd-39.11%
Control: 64 Q'd- 35.75

Combining these two lists we can draw a few quick conclusions:
1. Aggro was out in force hence it took the most spots – though less then 40% still
2. Control decks that beat aggro also placed well
3. There are less combo decks in the format but Dragonstorm is far from dead and Project X was the second best.
4. Dredge decks (Narcolepsy and otherwise) cannot handle the hate like Dragonstorm can.
5. Is Dralnu dying?

Let’s examine that last comment. I think the reason why Dralnu posted a lacklustre 6 qualifications is in a few reasons. Firstly, the time limit – there are only 50 minutes in a round meaning that Dralnu will have a lot more draws then other decks. Secondly, the metagame was not in its favour – Dralnu feeds on other control decks and slower aggro decks not doing so well versus Gruul. Lastly, because of the above two factors, not many people were running Dralnu lowering the amount of decks that could qualify. So no, I don’t think Dralnu is dead – I just think that Regional’s was the wrong place for it to shine. Though I very well could be wrong on that count.

On the Narcolepsy count, I think the deck will need to adapt to better survive though I think that many players will be removing hate from the board allowing it to flourish for a tournament or two until the hate comes back.

There seem to be a lot of different midrange control decks that showed decently at Regional’s and I personally don’t know which one is the best though there is a pretty clear division the top 3 midrange and control decks in the Regional’s metagame were Korlash, Solar Flare and Angelfire. This all though you can read anywhere so lets go to:

The Last Home of Creativity

Well with competitive Magic being dominated by netdecking I think that those who went out on a limb and either made significant steps to standard netdecks or were successful with there own creation need to be honoured for their contribution and their decks examined most closely. I’m going to start at the top of the chart and work my way down the list.

First up is a Dragonstorm list:
Tony Sears 5th Place - Illinois – Chicago

Main Deck 60 cards
4 Steam Vents
4 Shivan Reef
4 Blood Crypt
3 Molten Slagheap
1 Dreadship Reef
4 Island
20 land

2 Martyr of Ashes
4 Bogardan Hellkite
2 Hunted Dragon
3 Sulfur Elemental
11 creatures

4 Telling Time
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Rite of Flame
4 Dragonstorm
4 Lotus Bloom
2 Empty the Warrens
1 Infernal Tutor
1 Remand
4 Seething Song
1 Mana Leak
29 other spells

4 Ignorant Bliss
3 Sulfurous Blast
3 Extirpate
2 Detritivore
2 Shadow of Doubt
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
15 sideboard cards

Well let’s dissect this list – first up by looking at the lands we see the deck is playing black – from that you can immediately surmise that Infernal Tutor will likely be somewhere in the list as early lists splashed black for it. Next up is the most innovative part of the deck the creature base. It fits in the usual complement of 4 Hellkite’s and 2 Hunted as well as squeezing in 3 Sulfur Elemental and 2 Martyr of Ashes. Sulfur Elementals improve the counter match up, and any match with Martyr of Sands in it. Martyr of Ashes helps with any aggro match as well as the Narcolepsy match up. The spells have Telling Time, Sleigh of Hand, Rite of Flame, Seething Song, Lotus Bloom and Dragonstorm to start off with. Then 2 Empty the Warrens as backup win conditions… most decks that run it normally run 1 but he wants to be able to bring out an army of goblins and expected a lot of hate. He also runs 1 Infernal Tutor, Remand and Mana Leak. Interesting is the choice of a single Mana Leak over a second Remand, I personally disagree as rarely needs to hard (er) counter and wants to delay and dig. For a hard counter while going off Pact of Negation is generally better - but maybe that’s why he nearly qualified and I didn’t. In the side we see Extirpate, which I’m guessing is the main reason he splashed black, to help the Narcolepsy and Dralnu matches. Sulfurous Blast is another unusual choice but I guess with martyr’s main he wanted a different way to kill critters.

Next up is Korlash Control (R/B/u). First let me clear up a couple things about R/B/U control. There are 3 types of R/B/U control: Flores teachings – which uses the teaching’s and plays closer to Dralnu with Suspend critter’s as win conditions and is more B/U/r. This deck doesn’t generally use Korlash. Next is Chapin style Korlash which is B/R/u which uses Dimir House Guard and Rise/Fall to keep getting Korlash’s. It tap’s out on its turn a lot to play threats or spells. Lastly is Flores other version of R/B/U – does anyone have the name for it as I don’t have Star City Games (SCG) Premium? Flore’s uses Mishra and artifacts as a big part of his deck. So here I’ll cover both Flore’s and Chapin’s deck though Chapin’s is pretty close to standard decks running around for its archetype but it deserves its day in the sun (like if more then 5-10 people read this I’ll be shocked so it’s a very small day in the sun).

Patrick Chapin1st Place - Michigan – Detroit

Main Deck 60 cards
4 Watery Grave
4 Blood Crypt
3 Graven Cairns
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Snow-Covered Island
9 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Urza's Factory
24 land

4 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
3 Dimir House Guard
4 Aeon Chronicler
1 Detritivore
12 creatures

4 Rise // Fall
4 Damnation
3 Tendrils of Corruption
1 Persecute
4 Compulsive Research
1 Foresee
4 Dimir Signet
2 Prismatic Lens
1 Last Gasp
24 other spells

3 Last Gasp
3 Extirpate
2 Detritivore
2 Volcanic Hammer
1 Tendrils of Corruption
1 Shadow of Doubt
1 Leyline of the Void
1 Persecute
1 Nightmare Void
15 sideboard cards

Pretty standard Korlash Control list. Using Dimir House Guard to transmute Korlash for beats, foresee for card selection, persecute for hand destruction and Detritivore for annoying control decks. Rise//Fall either hits the other guy’s hand or resurrects discarded Korlash’s and unsummons an opponent’s creature. 1 Leyline of the Void in the board is something rarely seen but it is an answer to dredge – I think he’s getting too techy as you need leyline early for it to be of help. The rest of the deck pretty much talks for itself.

Flores list is pretty unique as he was the only running it… Here it is:

Michael Flores 7th Place - New Jersey – Edison

Main Deck 60 cards
1 Urza's Factory
1 Academy Ruins
4 Blood Crypt
4 Graven Cairns
6 Swamp
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Watery Grave
22 land

4 Epochrasite
3 Dimir House Guard
4 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
4 Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
1 Detritivore
16 creatures

3 Rise // Fall
3 Bottled Cloister
3 Chromatic Star
4 Dimir Signet
2 Rakdos Signet
3 Serrated Arrows
1 Damnation
1 Persecute
2 Tendrils of Corruption
22 other spells

1 Serrated Arrows
1 Leyline of the Void
2 Persecute
2 Tendrils of Corruption
3 Detritivore
1 Academy Ruins
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Tormod's Crypt
15 sideboard cards

This deck is a deviant of Korlash Control using Mishra and a ton of artifacts. Epochrasite chumps and comes back bigger, Cloister for card advantage, Chromatic Star for mana fixing and cantripping, Serrated Arrows for creature kill. As well it runs many of the spells that make the Chapin version good. Mishra and the deck changes it focus a little to ending the game a little quicker.

Well Gruul isn’t the only red based aggro, Red Deck Wins (RDW) has always been popular in formats where it’s playable. It’s less popular then Gruul and posted 4 Qualifications

William Wong 1st Place - Ontario – Scarborough

Main Deck 60 cards
3 Keldon Megaliths
1 Pendelhaven
3 Stomping Ground
14 Mountain
21 land

3 Gathan Raiders
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Emberwilde Augur
4 Scorched Rusalka
4 Martyr of Ashes
19 creatures
4 Rift Bolt
4 Seal of Fire
4 Char
4 Browbeat
4 Fiery Temper
20 other spells

2 Giant Solifuge
4 Cryoclasm
3 Magus of the Moon
2 Krosan Grip
4 Sulfur Elemental
15 sideboard cards

I choose this list as it is not the standard (not because it was at the regional’s I was at…. not at all). This list runs more spells and splashes green for some Krosan Grips in the sideboard. More unique is the fact that almost every one of the creatures main can sacrifice themselves for a beneficial effect. Gathan Raiders is a neat choice main comboing with Fiery Temper to do large amounts of damage. Browbeat is there but personally I am thinking that some combination of Thunderblade Charge to replace the card advantage and Ghostfire might be more effective. In the board it can bring out the more usual threats of Giant Solifuge and Sulfur Elemental.

Sliver’s are always a fan favourite when printed in standard. Currently the best colours are White, Black and Red for Aggro Sliver’s.

Patrick Bush 1st Place - Germany – Malsch

Main Deck 60 cards
4 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Godless Shrine
7 Mountain
6 Plains
5 Swamp
23 land

4 Sedge Sliver
4 Sidewinder Sliver
4 Sinew Sliver
4 Cautery Sliver
4 Essence Sliver
2 Necrotic Sliver
22 creatures

4 Lightning Helix
4 Mortify
4 Seal of Fire
3 Griffin Guide
15 other spells

4 Volcanic Hammer
4 Sudden Death
4 Sudden Spoiling
1 Disintegrate
2 Hide // Seek
15 sideboard

I choose this list for a few reasons. Firstly the mana base is very budget and should give hope after Ravnica leaves to being able to have multicolour decks. Next I would like to point out the deck unlike most Sliver decks runs more then 14 Sliver’s and curves nicely from 1 to 4 ending with Essence Sliver. The spells are standard though and well chosen though I would split the Mortify and Sudden Death count. The sideboard shows some creativity with the choice of Sudden Spoiling – the least played of the Split Second cards. I would suppose that it is to give his creatures an advantage versus other aggro decks.

Mono-Black Control is a time old strategy. Lots of mana, creature kill and a few big finishers’ form the deck.

Daniel Seewald 2nd Place - Manitoba – Winnipeg

Main Deck 60 cards
2 Urza's Factory
22 Swamp
24 land

3 Nekrataal
4 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
7 creatures

4 Sudden Death
4 Last Gasp
4 Damnation
4 Extirpate
2 Loxodon Warhammer
3 Phyrexian Arena4 Tendrils of Corruption
4 Consume Spirit
29 other spells

4 Persecute
4 Shadow of Doubt
4 Coercion
3 Will-o'-the-Wisp
15 sideboard cards

This was the best finishing list of MBC that I could find. It is fairly standard but worth bringing up as in the multi-colour world of Ravnica it is rare to see successful mono-colour decks.

Once before there was Planar Chaos Dralnu du Louvre was the deck of choice. Aggro budget player’s grouped together to form a deck that would fight against Dralnu. Hence Mono-Green Aggro was created and since then has been a decent budget choice with the ability to win against other decks.

Nathaniel Kadir 1st Place - Florida - Orlando

Main Deck 60 cards
1 Pendelhaven
4 Stomping Ground
13 Forest
18 land

2 Spike Feeder
4 Silhana Ledgewalker
3 Magus of the Moon
3 Spectral Force
3 Wood Elves
3 Boreal Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Scryb Ranger
3 Groundbreaker
3 Giant Solifuge
32 creatures

2 Moldervine Cloak
3 Might of Old Krosa
1 Demonfire
1 Loxodon Warhammer
3 Stonewood Invocation
10 other spells

1 Loxodon Warhammer
2 Serrated Arrows
3 Riftsweeper
3 Krosan Grip
3 Leyline of Lifeforce
3 Tormod's Crypt
15 sideboard cards

The only top8 MGA won in Orlando. The deck itself though is fairly unique in that it has a small splash of red for Magus of the Moon and Demonfire. Regardless this is not a Gruul deck and is more of Mono Green splash Red Aggro. The deck has some more, unique choices. Spike Feeder is a choice rarely seen, as it isn’t best at pure aggro but its solid at slowing other aggro desk. Magus of the Moon hoses control even more, important in a metagame with 2 wraths. It runs 18 lands but Nathaniel must have decided that that and 7 mana elves plus Wood elves were enough to support the Scryb and Force combo.

In all formats Black and Green are popular choices. As Shiny Rock is pretty much strictly better then B/G control it falls to Black Green Aggro to hold up this sacred colour combination.

Steve Collett 3rd Place - Michigan – Detroit

Main Deck 60 cards
2 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
3 Golgari Rot Farm
4 Overgrown Tomb
1 Pendelhaven
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
9 Swamp
20 land

4 Tarmogoyf
2 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
3 Withered Wretch
4 Plagued Rusalka
4 Dark Confidant
4 Augur of Skulls
21 creatures

2 Putrefy
2 Moldervine Cloak
3 Cry of Contrition
3 Smallpox
3 Sudden Death
3 Stupor
3 Tendrils of Corruption
19 other spells

1 Putrefy
3 Shadow of Doubt
3 Krosan Grip
2 Extirpate
3 Deathmark
3 Phyrexian Arena
15 sideboard cards

The deck runs as more of an Aggro-Control deck. The creature choices that interest me are Tarmogofy and running 2 Korlash. The virtues of Tarmogofy have been discussed elsewhere as well as its vices but I don’t know if a deck like this can run it. I can see it getting to 2/3 or 3/4 but I have trouble seeing it getting much larger unless you are lucky with your discard. I see limited problems getting Creatures, and instant and sorceries but beyond that I don’t see Tarmogofy getting much bigger. As for Korlash I am not sure with only 13 swamps plus urborg he is the right choice especially with only 2 slots available at the 4 drop. Giant Solifuge (if you use some more green), Mirri, The Cursed, Plagued Sliver might all be better choices.

Teferi and Mystical Teachings have been running around together in standard for quite a while now. Teferi has proven playable without Teachings but could Teferi’s friend prove it could it an run alone? From the mind of Miguel Gutierrez may I present to you a G/B/u Midrange Teachings Deck?

Miguel Gutierrez 4th Place - New Mexico – Albuquerque

Main Deck 61 cards
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
7 Forest
6 Swamp
1 Island
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Watery Grave
2 Ghost Quarter
24 land

4 Darkheart Sliver
2 Wall of Roots
2 Dimir House Guard
1 Deadwood Treefolk
4 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
1 Vorosh, the Hunter
14 creatures

4 Search for Tomorrow
3 Damnation
1 Persecute
4 Phyrexian Arena
2 Extirpate
3 Putrefy
1 Mystic Melting
3 Tendrils of Corruption
2 Mystical Teachings
23 other spells

2 Spell Burst
1 Extirpate
1 Damnation
2 Leyline of the Void
3 Riftsweeper
2 Krosan Grip
2 Quagnoth
2 Sudden Death
15 sideboard cards

This deck as you can tell has some fairly unique choices. Firstly the build of the deck itself is fairly unique as B/G is a combination that we don’t see often, especially without white to make a Beach House. Darkheart Sliver is a solid creature not getting enough attention for its quality – it trades with aggro’s 2 drop and gives you 3 life to spare. 2 Wall of Roots is odd as I would have thought he would have run 4 of this card but obviously he didn’t need too much more acceleration with 24 lands and 4 Search for Tommorrow. 3 Damnation and 3 Tendrils means he needs it less for aggro so I guess it’s not as needed as normal. Deadwood Treefolk is another neat choice that has been played in this point mostly in U/G pickles though the acceleration makes it easily playable to resurrect threats such as Korlash. Vorosh also makes a showing as 6/6 flying terror. The most interesting spell choice of Mystic Melting showing up as Naturalize. It’s double tutorable with Dimir House Guard and Mystical Teachings and it even cantrips.

Always people will play decks with a ton of counters and answers. While Dralnu is the most popular there are always those who go back to the roots of control. Mono-Blue Snow Control is the current iteration of mono-blue control.

Aaron Prieto 4th Place - Texas – Houston

Main Deck 60 cards Sideboard
2 Urza's Factory
1 Academy Ruins
16 Snow-Covered Island
4 Scrying Sheets
3 Mouth of Ronom
26 land

4 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
4 Aeon Chronicler
4 Phyrexian Ironfoot
2 Rimefeather Owl
14 creatures

4 Spell Snare
4 Remand
4 Telling Time
4 Repeal
4 Rewind
20 other spells

1 Academy Ruins
4 Bottle Gnomes
4 Riptide Pilferer
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Shadow of Doubt
15 sideboard cards

This deck runs a high number of creatures for a pure control decks but the creatures in it draw cards (Aeon Chronicler), stop aggro cold (Phyrexian Ironfoot), disrupt opponents game plans (Teferi) or provide a huge flying threat (Rimefeather Owl). The 3 Re’s (Remand, Repeal and Rewind) are standard for blue as is Spell Snare. Telling Time is a bit puzzling but it provides card selection at instant speed.

Only two more decks to go, the next one is a metagame choice to kill aggro and harkens to the days of Fungus Fires. It is R/G/W Anti-Aggro a deck meant to destroy all those little evil Red creatures.

Sterling Savage 5th Place - Texas – Houston

Main Deck 60 cards
2 Stomping Ground
2 Forest
4 Mountain
4 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Plains
4 Flagstones of Trokair
3 Sacred Foundry
3 Temple Garden
24 land

2 Firemane Angel
3 Loxodon Hierarch
3 Mystic Enforcer
8 creatures

2 Boom // Bust
3 Faith's Fetters
3 Call of the Herd
4 Life from the Loam
4 Harmonize
4 Stormbind
4 Lightning Helix
4 Wrath of God
28 other spells

3 Pull from Eternity
3 Akroma, Angel of Fury
3 Sulfur Elemental
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Krosan Grip
15 sideboard cards

The card choices are all solid and well known so I won’t bore you describing all the pieces in it. The deck has many synergies with Stormbind and Life from the Loam allowing it to generate card advantage.

Last but not least is yet another rogue deck. Storm decks have pounded formats of all types since its release but normally it’s R/U in standard. Enter Mono-Red Storm a deck that can cycle through its library and play plenty of cards for a high storm count.

Matt Hay 5th Place - Scotland – Glasgow

Main Deck 60 cards
3 Kher Keep
3 Keldon Megaliths
15 Mountain
21 land

3 Greater Gargadon
3 creatures
3 Wheel of Fate
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Rite of Flame
3 Seething Song
4 Fury Charm
4 Empty the Warrens
4 Rift Bolt
3 Grapeshot
4 Seal of Fire
3 Volcanic Hammer
36 other spells

3 Ignite Memories
4 Defense Grid
4 Bottle Gnomes
4 Martyr of Ashes
15 sideboard cards

The deck, I’ve also heard called Firestorm, burns quickly and generates mana to create a large storm count. Then you don’t need me to tell you how this deck works, as it’s fairly obvious.

lennin · Guest

wats the point of this, the format isnt the same anymore with 10th coming in so y even bother doing all this, for a format that doesnt exist anymore, seems to me like u wasted ur time