DTB forum's current decks discussion

[Amon Amarth]

Oh hell yes. When I was a kid, my parents promised me so much stuff when hell froze over. Looks like it's finally time to collect on that!

[Einherjer]

Burn.....may.......not...................be..........deck............to..............beat...............................................aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...............play......................more.......................counterbalances...................

[from Cairo]

I'm honestly really liking the meta right now.

It doesn't feel like there's a best deck, a bunch of tier 1-1.5 strategies can be adjusted to have game against the expected field. A bunch of the Established decks are well positioned against some of the DTBs. To me it just seems like a really healthy time to play, tune/metagame and develop legacy strategies.

[kwelts]

I'm honestly really liking the meta right now.

It doesn't feel like there's a best deck, a bunch of tier 1-1.5 strategies can be adjusted to have game against the expected field. A bunch of the Established decks are well positioned against some of the DTBs. To me it just seems like a really healthy time to play, tune/metagame and develop legacy strategies.

i agree 100% i have a colorless MUD deck and with proper sideboarding, it has no guaranteed losses to certain decks.

[Gui]

I'm honestly really liking the meta right now.

It doesn't feel like there's a best deck, a bunch of tier 1-1.5 strategies can be adjusted to have game against the expected field. A bunch of the Established decks are well positioned against some of the DTBs. To me it just seems like a really healthy time to play, tune/metagame and develop legacy strategies.

I also think it this way, and it's good to know that a lot of decks have stable and viable strategies.

[Rekk]

I've been wondering peoples opinions on the current legacy metagame.
It appears that the trio of top teir has begun to shape (esper stoneblade g/w and rug) with a few combo decks (high tide, tendrils and dredge) as well as others coming into the scene. My main question was do you guys see g/w as becoming the dominate deck?
I ask this because with thalia is appears to have a good game against both stoneblade and rug, as well as helping out g/w in its typically poor combo matchups.

[baghdadbob]

Well according to DI who is a moderator on this site, combo is well positioned in this meta. In my opinion the decks to beat are as follows...

-Storm
-Maverick
-Aggro (Goblins? Merfolk?)

I have been playing my monoblack deck in this same sort of environment (check it out if you get a chance) and think that it is also well positioned.

[Koby]

Maverick didn't need Thalia to help beat RUG and Stoneblade, but she doesn't hurt either.

There are plenty of decks that can attack Maverick successfully, but are often soft to the rest of the field. I think the key to the metagame at this point is to either ignore interaction (Storm) or overload on attrition (black denial decks).

[Einherjer]

You think that Goblins+Merfolk is a DtB?
Honestly I havnt seen these decks since snow has fallen...

If we say that there are 4 DtB we see that all great archetypes are represented

Aggro Control Tempo Combo
Maverick Stoneblade Canadian HighTide

[Vacrix]

Yeah sorry but Maverick does Merfolks job only better, and now with Thalia for some maindeck storm hate. And GSZ? Storm better have that turn 1 or 2 win or else they'll find themselves paying quite a lot for their spells.

I actually feel like Goblins could do well again. It still shows up here and there but the majority of the creatures you're dealing with against Maverick are within Tarfire range so maybe it will come back.

[Hanni]

Maverick doesn't necessarily do Merfolk's job better, it's just better against the current blue metagame (i.e Stoneblade). If people remember correctly, Merfolk was a metagame deck that became dominant during the CounterTop era because it destroyed blue control decks.

Board control decks, meaning spells like Wrath of God and Pernicious Deed, have a good matchup against Maverick, while having a bad matchup against Merfolk.

The problem right now is that few people have realized that this is the answer to the metagame (board control).

[Vacrix]

Thats what I meant. Merfolk beat up bluedecks and had a reasonable combo matchup. Maverick has filled Merfolk's roll of beating up blue decks and now that UR Delver/RUG Tempo variants are running around, Maverick has gotten away with just playing hatebears to beat combo (and Moms). That and GSZ. Mean you are always going to have a turn 3 bear, and often post-board you have access to Teeg/Cannonist ontop of maindeck Thalia.


I agree that Deed is definitely good right now. I attribute Nic Fit's DTB status partly to that fact.

[Gui]

Ok, so, for the first time since December 2011 Maverick is not the highest performing deck in DTB, for 18 points (out of four hundred), behind UGr Threshold, that was the second deck since then. Yeah sure, ban Show and Tell, let the GW and the UGr Brainstorm decks keep on ruling free.

[feline]

Out of the starcity legacy events open series & invitational's, at least out of the past 2 months or so, April 2012 -to- As of this posting, -RUG has put out the most numbers by far, showing up in the top 16's well more than any other deck (48 times)
Show and tell has been on the move up thanks to griselbrand (16 times)
Maverick is still pushing (15 showings)
UR Delver, RUG's weaker cousin, has also been increasing it's showings (15 times)
Stoneblade has been on a decline in comparison to where it was a while ago, most showings now being Esper stoneblade over the old U/W (8 placings, 2 as U/W, 6 as esper)
Dredge will never go away, winning first on a couple of events (out of 8 total high placings in this time period)
Elves has actually been on a slight increase (6 top 16's)
MUD has also been on a slight increase (6 top 16/s)
NIC FIT is another one (6 top 16's)
Reanimator has also been on an increase thanks to griselbrand (5 top 16's)
Belcher, including 1 list with no sideboard (15 islands) has shown up more than usual (5 top 16's)
& even Hive mind has been on an increase after going months without any top 16 performances, showing up now 4 times in the past 2 months or so worth of starcity events.
---
Other decks have had regular showings, just enough to say they are around, like BANT, BUG, Burn, Goblins, Affinity, High Tide, TES, Dream halls, Hypergenesis, UW Miracles.
---
On the other side of the coin, so to speak however, is this:
ANT has had no showings in the top 16's in the past 2 months going back to mid April from now, mid June
Zoo has had 1 top 16 showing in the past 2 months, and has really been on the decline when you compare how it performed during mental misstep & pre-mental misstep events.
Merfolk (only 1 top 16 in the past 2 months) is another deck that declined, like zoo, but has been dead for even longer, at least as far as the big starcity legacy events go.
Liliana pox was running around for a bit earlier this year, that seem's to have stopped
I haven't seen a painter's stone list of either Mono red -or- UR in quite a while.

All in all, the format is ever changing, and at least according to the starcitygame metagames, RUG has been the deck to beat more steadily than any other deck since the mental misstep banning, Maverick had a weekend where it went nuts and had like 50% top showings, and the further you go back, the better stoneblade decks seemed to be doing.

It is nice to see decks that aren't performing as well here, performing on a higher level in other metagames, whether it's a 20 person event or a 200 person event. I myself will always have most all of the type 1.5 decks I own whether they decline or increase in numbers wherever! though if a deck becomes totally horrible, i might have to part with it if i figured i'd never play it ever again.

[thefringthing]

All roads lead to Thoughtseize.

[f|i[p]]

As soon as Maverick is out of the DTB, it will be an all blue dtb meta...
Mav is not even placing high enough even with their outrageous numbers...

so... an all blue meta, filled with combo, control and aggro control... (aggro blue?)

What is a non blue player supposed to do...

[Awaclus]

What is a non blue player supposed to do...

Play Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast.

[Humphrey]

ban Brainstorm

[f|i[p]]

I'm sometimes not even sure if its even brainstorm anymore...

It may have gone beyond brainstorm...I don't know anymore...

Its usually easier for blue to do so many things... splashing, scuplting hands, digging, flying threats, free spells, protecting threats,running less lands,deck construction.. just so many options, even if they still have to splash a color or 2.

but anyway, blue was always the top color, and I only see blue on the rise for each set that comes out...just like how they said, survival would only be more powerful for each set that comes out(Yes, I still think vengevines killed survival)...