DTBF Philosophy & Deck Selection

**Peter_Rotten** · 09-02-2008 10:49 AM

September 2008 Update

In Legacy news: First, you may notice the relatively “low” number of Thresh decks. Only 14 for this month :;):. What you may find more interesting, though, is that the second most Top8ing deck is NOT Landstill or Goblins but AggroLoam! Next – from out of nowhere – everyone and his brother top8ed with GoyfSligh. That deck is propelled to DtB status for at least month. Also, those darn Europeans finally stopped playing TheRock and its presence is almost unseen in August T8s. The most popular combo deck for August is Painter while Ichorid, Belcher, and Aluren make a small blip on the radar; however, I have noticed NO storm combo! Lastly, you may notice that Little Blue Men and Women are running rampant in many forms – from Merfolk to Fairies to Fish.

August had 14 recorded Legacy tournaments of 33 or more players. A deck needed to top-8 7 times for DTB status and 4 times for DTW status.

8/3/08 – Iserlohn, Germany
8/8/08 - Hassloch / Germany
8/9/08 - Milford 500, Connecticut
8/9/08 - Magic Corporation, Paris, France
8/15/08 - GenCon 08, Indy
8/16/08 - Off the Wall Games, Hadley, Mass
8/16/08 - UK Legacy, Gloucester (UK)
8/17/08 - Sommerferien-Legacy, Rostock (Germany)
8/24/08 - AMC #39, Japan
8/24/08 - Trader-Liga Legacy, Germany
8/24/08 - Dragonsleague Cividale, Cividale del Friuli, (UD) - Italy
8/30/08 - Tropical Summer Event, Syracuse, NY
8/31/08 - German Legacy Champs, Hannover, Germany
8/31/08 - Legacy Italia #2, Piacenza

Germany – 5
USA – 4
Italy - 2
Japan - 1
UK - 1
France – 1
Spain – 0??
Belgium – 0

* as always, changes in italics.

IN
DTB
Threshold – 15 (variants include 5 Ugr, 3 Ugw, 5 Ugb, Ugbw, NQGw)
Aggro Loam – 10 (8 Rgb, Rgbw, Gbw)
Landstill – 9 (colors include 4C, 4 UWb, Vorosh, 2 Uwg)
Goblins– 8 (splashes include 2 mono-colored, 2w, b, 2g, bgw)
GoyfSligh - 7 (includes 1 creature heavy version, 1 Confidant version, and 5 more traditional builds)
Little Blue men and women – 10 (although this is not even a true archetype, I think it may be important to note that between, Merfolk, Fairies, and Fish, we have 10 top8 decks. Maybe we can create a Little Blue Tempo thead :;):)

DTW
DreadStill & StifleNaught Variants – 6 (3 Ug, Ugr, Uw, Ubw Fish, Ubg Fish)
Painter Varients – 5 (2 UBg, UR, Imperial, UBgr Trinket) We could use some good threads for the other variants besides Imperial, no?

ATW
Landstill – 9

OUT
Elf Variants – 3 (Elves!, Elf Staff, Gw)
Survival – 3
Ichorid - 3
BWG Rock Variants – 2
Aluren – 2
Storm Variants – 0!
Sui Variants – 2
Belcher – 1
DragonStompy - 2
MUC - 1
RG Beats – 1 (+7 Goyf Sligh)
Enchantress - 1

**Peter_Rotten** · 10-05-2008 10:58 AM

October 2008 Update

Oh little blue men! You’re giving me a headache. What’s the difference between Fish, Merfolk, and Faeries? Is it all in the name or are those decks really playing a different game-plan? Either way, you should note that Fish decks are making a big splash in non-USA tournies. If we count Fish, Merfolk, and Faeries as the same deck, then we have a total of 11 Top 8s. Add in the two DreadedFish, then we have 13 – which almost rivals Threshold’s numbers! To continue this thinking, we have roughly 25% of the Top 8s starting with a basic shell similar to this: Brainstorm, Ponder, FoW, and Daze. And then likely STP, Counterbalance, Top. I’d love to see someone crunch those numbers for the past month’s tournies.

In other news, FairyStompy put a blip on the radar again while GoyfSligh seemed to nearly disappear. Ichorid numbers are up while Landstill numbers are down. AggroLoam and Goblins are both holding strong. Painter variants present us with our last conundrum. Right now, Painter reminds me of last year’s Loam lists: they were very diverse. I wonder if eventually, like with AggroLoam, one Painter list will prove dominant.

September had 13 recorded Legacy tournaments of 33 or more players. A deck needed to top-8 7 times for DTB status and 4 times for DTW status.

9/06/08 Torneig de les 12 Tropicals, Breda, Spain
9/07/08 Iserlohn, Germany
9/07/08 Magic Corporation Paris, France
9/07/08 Moscow Legacy Open Russia
9/20/08 Bazaar of Moxen #2 Annecy, French Alps
9/20/08 Off the Wall Games, Hadley, Ma
9/21/08 Hassloch, Germany
9/21/08 Liga de Legacy de Madrid, Spain
9/21/08 DragonsLeague, Trieste, Italy
9/21/08 Legacy Italia, Piacenza, Italy
9/27/08 1k Binghamton, NY
9/28/08 Finale Emilia, Italy
9/28/08 Ancient Memory Convention, Akihabara, Japan
9/30/08 Magic League Online Tourney (not counted towards the DTBF)

Italy – 3
Germany – 2
USA – 2
France – 2
Spain – 2
Japan - 1
Russia - 1
Online - 1
UK - 0
Belgium – 0

* as always, changes in italics.

IN
DTB
Threshold – 14 (variants include 8 Ugr, 3 Ugw, 2 Ugb, 1 Ubr)
Aggro Loam – 9 (8 Rgb, 1 Rgbw)
Painter Varients – 8 (UBg, UR, Imperial, UB, 2 EPIC, U, URB) We could use some good threads for the other variants besides Imperial, no?
Goblins– 7 (splashes include 1 mono-colored, 3w, 2b, 1bg)
Little Blue men and women – 11 (includes Merfolk, Fairies, and Fish. I have Dreaded Fish as a DreadStill variant.)

DTW
Fish – 6 (colors include 2UGr, 3UBw, 1UW)
Landstill – 6 (colors include 1UR, 2 Uwb, 3UWBG)
Ichorid – 5
DreadStill & StifleNaught Variants – 4 (2Ugr, 2 DreadedFish-sans Standstill)
Fairy Stompy - 4

ATW
Landstill – 6
Survival – 5
Little Blue Men/Tempo - 11

OUT
Elf Variants – 3
BWG Rock Variants – 1
Storm Variants – 1
Sui Variants – 2
Belcher – 2
DragonStompy - 1
MUC – 2
Goyf Sligh -2
Slivers – 3
Boros – 2
Trinket Stalker - 2

**Peter_Rotten** · 11-07-2008 10:45 AM

November 2008 Update

ANT and Dreadstill? WOW! Dreadstill makes it to DTB status and was the 2nd most T8ing deck beat only by one top 8 from Threshold! ANT had 6 placements but those placements do not accurately gauge Ad Nauseam’s influence. Keep in mind that TES and FT, which are both running that card, have 4 and 2 T8 appearances respectively. That’s a total of 12 Ad Nauseam decks in the T8s of October! Landstill misses DTB status for the second month in a row and AggroLoam drops down also. Must be all those Extirpates running around. Lastly, GoyfSligh jumps up to DTB for October.

October had 13 recorded Legacy tournaments of 33 or more players. A deck needed to top-8 7 times for DTB status and 4 times for DTW status. Please keep in that although we post data from online tournies of 33+ players, we do not count them for the DTBF.

10/4/08 - Denkcentrum Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
10/5/08 - Iserlohn, Germany
10/8/08 - Quiemada Paris
10/12/08 – Tarmogeddon, Asti, Italy
10/12/08 - Bourgoin Jallieu, France
10/12/08 - Trader-Liga Duelmen, Germany
10/18/08 - 5 Year Source Anniversary
10/18/08 - La Maquina del Temps
10/19/08 - Dragons League
10/19/08 - GP Paris 2008 Legacy Side Event.
10/19/08 - Legacy League Moscow, Russia
10/19/08 - Hassloch / Germany
10/26/08 - Ancient Memory Convention, Akihabara, Japan
10/26/08 - Liga Valenciana de Legacy, Spain

France – 3
Germany – 3
Italy – 2
Spain – 2
USA – 1
Japan - 1
Russia - 1
Netherlands – 1
UK - 0

* as always, changes in italics.

IN
DTB
Threshold – 10 (variants include 1 Ugr, 5 Ugw, 1 Ugb, Ugr Swan 1, 1 4c)
DreadStill & StifleNaught Variants – 9 (5Ugr, 1 DreadedFish-sans Standstill, 1 no Standstill, 1 Ugb, 1 Ur)
Goblins– 8 (splashes include 4 mono-colored, 3w, 1b)
Goyf Sligh - 7

DTW
ANT – 6 (if we count TES and FT as ANT decks, then we have a total of 12 ANT decks making it a DTB)
Ichorid – 6
Landstill – 6 (colors include 1UW, 2 4C, 2 4C Goyf, 1 UWB)
Aggro Loam – 5 (3 Rgb, 1 Rgbw, 1 5c with Intuition)
TES – 4 (see ANT)

ATW
Landstill – 6
Survival – 4

OUT
Intuition Control – 3 (If we consider IFT as an Intuition Control deck, then we have 5 T8s making it a DTW)
BWG Rock Variants – 3
Fish – 3
Burn - 3
MUC – 3
Stax – 3 (2W, 1U)
ITF -2 (See Intuition Control)
Fetchland Tendrils 2 – (See ANT)
Trinket Stalker – 2
Elf Variants – 2
Team America – 2
Painter Varients – 1 (Epic)
Sui Variants – 1
Belcher – 1
DragonStompy - 1
Slivers – 1
Fairy Stompy – 0

**Nihil Credo** · 12-16-2008 09:58 PM

December 2008 Update

Holy Pikula, has Legacy been active this last month! A full 20 six-round or bigger tournaments establishes a new record for the format. This also puts a LOT more pressure on decks to emerge as DTB/DTW: this month it takes 6 placements for a deck to qualify as DTW/ATW and a goddamn 10 to qualify as a DTB.

With such strict requirements, it’s no wonder that only the classic Threshold and Landstill manage to achieve the most coveted status. Threshold in particular has had an exceptionally strong showing, with its UGW Counterbalance version able to qualify for DTB on its lonesome; I have taken the opportunity to finally count separately the CounterTop versions and the more tempo-oriented StifleWaste lists – a useful piece of information to have, although there will be no practical effects for now (since the tempo lists are still discussed in the same thread as their more successful brothers). It’s also worth noting that if one were to cumulate ANT and TES as a single deck, he would get a third DTB– so don’t be too quick to pick up board control decks!

One placement short of full DTB rank we find the classic Goblins and Aggro Loam as well as the newcomer Team America, whose meteoric rise is nevertheless absolutely phenomenal. Somewhat less impressive is the reappearance in the DTW category of the Rock, whose six placements come from a variety of different lists that interpret the classic “disruption + board sweep + fatties” in strikingly different ways (and I did not count a few sweeper-less aggro lists). One rank higher the Dreadnought family limits its losses and manages to stay within the top forum. Finally, for the could-have-been category, we notice that Zoo and Goyf Sligh, separated by the number of creatures and colours played, would jump into DTW status if counted together, something certainly to keep in mind.

As for those who fell from grace, Survival leaves the DTBF no matter how generously one were to count its many variants, and with that the ATW label can disappear (at least for this month). In addition to Goyf Sligh’s jump from DTB status to just two placements (which is easily explained as phagocytising by Zoo), Ichorid seems to have taken a month off, with a single Top 8 appearance to its name – but we doubt it will be missing for long.

(indexed by day of November)

8 - Magic Corporation 8th Nov 2008. Paris, France
8 - MagicKeller Legacy Hannover, Germany
9 - Legacy Iserlohn, Germany
11 - 2º Torneo Liga de Legacy de Madrid, Spain
15 - Lliga Catalana de Legacy (LCL), 8th Tournament, Spain
16 - Dutch Legacy Championschip, Zwolle, The Netherlands
16 - Dragonsleague Piazzola, Italy
16 - Hassloch, Germany
22 - Torneo Clandestino, Alcobendas (Madrid), Spain
22 - Danish Legacy Champs, Denmark
23 - Legacy in Provincia, Italy
23 - Finnish Legacy Championships, Helsinki, Finland
23 - Grand Prix Okayama - Side Event, Japan
23 - Ancient Memory Convention 42nd, Japan
23 - Bondeno Games Winter Edition, Italy
29 - The Mana Leak Open 2008 Day 1, USA
30 - Trilogy Tournament #1/3, Italy
30 - 3er Torneo Liga de Legacy de Madrid, Spain
30 - Magiccardmarket.eu Legacy Rostock, Germany
30 - Time to Kill, Cerro Maggiore (MI), Italy

Italy - 5
Germany - 4
Spain - 4
Japan - 2
USA - 1
Netherlands - 1
France - 1
Denmark - 1
Finland - 1

IN:
DTB:
Counterbalance Threshold - 15 (10 UGW, 1 UGB, 2 UGR, 1 UBGW, 1 UGWR)
Landstill - 12 (5 4C, 1 UW, 5 UWb, 1 UGB)

DTW
Vial Goblins - 9 (1 RGB, 2 RGW, 2 RB, 3 RW, 1 RG)
Aggro Loam – 9
Team America - 9
Dreadstill & StifleNought Variants - 7 (4 URG, 2 UGB, 1 UBGW)
Tempo Threshold - 6 (1 UG, 3 UGB, 1 UGW, 1 UGR)
The Rock - 6 (1 BG, 5 BGW)
ANT – 6

OUT:
Burn – 5
TES – 4
Affinity - 4
Zoo - 4 (1 5C, 2 RGW, 1 RGWB)
Merfolk – 4
Belcher - 3
Enchantress – 3
Dreaded MUC – 2
Dragon Stompy - 2
Goyf Sligh - 2
Pikula - 2 (1 BGW, 1 BW)
Pox – 2
Meathooks - 2
MUC - 2
UWB Fish - 2
White Stax – 2
AfFOWnity - 1
Aluren - 1
Baseruption - 1
Eva Green – 1
Elves Survival – 1
Eternal Garden - 1
Faeries – 1
Full English Breakfast - 1
Ichorid - 1
It's the Fear - 1
Not Quite Survival - 1
Painter/Stone – 1
Suicide Black - 1
Survival – 1
Togless – 1
Train Wreck - 1
Welder Survival - 1

UGB Goodstuff Aggrocontrol - 1
UB Control - 1
GRU Sea Stompy - 1
Mono-U Aggro Fish - 1
UG Gifts Loam - 1
Rogues - 1
BGW Aggro - 1
BGR Aggro - 1
BR Aggro - 1

Missing - 10

**Nihil Credo** · 02-06-2009 06:24 PM

February 2009 Update

We emerge on the other side of the regrettable winter black hole to find a rather unexpected intruder at the top of our list - one which I personally am happy to see, and had been waiting for a while to see recognised.

That's right, kids: the Merfolk deck, long relegated to dark horse and occasional metagame spoiler, has finally realised its potential and shown everybody what it can do with its unique combination of Threshold's clock and free countermagic and Goblins' swarming, Æther Vials and mana denial - not to mention an assortment of cool tricks ranging from sneaky Mutavaults to game-ending Back to Basics. Alongside evergreen Landstill and Counterbalance Thresh, the little blue guys have raged across Germany, Italy and Spain to take their spot in the elite, 9-placement club called the Decks to Beat. Will they stick to their place, or will they they go down in flames as quickly as they rose?

Balancing Merfolk's impressive performance, ANT, the Rock and Team America lose DTW status - the former by a paltry 0.1 placements, the latters by larger and more significant margins. Also, with regards to the usual "shuffling the same decks in and out" the DTBF is notorious for, Survival sneaks back in the big leagues thanks to a new base list and a moderately successful Elves-flavoured spinoff.

Finally, an interesting tidbit: there's a nice total of eleven placements around between Goyf Sligh, Zoo, Boros and Burn. Considering that the Lightning Bolt decks are well-placed to prey on the new Merfolk menace, I would assess aggro as alive and well in the current and future Legacy format.

(Thanks to T for Tool and Sanguine Voyeur for their contributions)

3 - Beta Tundra Winter Wonderland, USA
4 - Iserlohn, Germany
4 - Legacy League Moscow 6, Russia
4 - I Torneo Foso de Aquilon, Spain
10 - Paris MC, France
10 - Mox Emerald Hadley Tournament, USA
11 - MagicLairLeague, Italy
11 - WinterMercadiade Legacy, Germany
11 - Bourgoin Jallieu, France
18 - Hassloch, Germany
18 - Utrecht GPT for Chicago, Netherlands
18 - Dragonsleague Trieste, Italy
18 - Milano Game Academy, Italy
24 - LegacyLeague Moscow 8, Russia
25 - Magiccardmarket.eu Legacy Liga, Germany
25 - Trilogy #3, Italy
25 - Liga Madrileña de Legacy #5, Spain
* - MTGSalvation Legacy Tournament #7, online (not counted)

Germany - 4
Italy - 4
France - 2
Spain - 2
USA - 2
Russia - 2
Netherlands - 1

IN:

DTB:

Landstill - 14 (2 UWR, 9 UWB, 1 UGW, 2 4C)
Counterbalance Threshold - 11 (5 UGW, 1 UGB, 2 UGWB, 3 UGR)
Merfolk - 10 (3 U, 4 Uw, 3 Ug)

DTW:

Thrash - 8 (7 UGR, 1 UGB)
Aggro Loam - 7 (5 BGR, 2 BGWR)
Dreadstill - 6 (2 UR, 1 UGR, 1 UGR, 1 U, 1 UGW)
Goblins - 6 (3 RGB, 1 R, 1 RG, 1 RW)
ATW:
Survival (4 Survival + 3 Survival Elves + 1 Survival Rock)

OUT:

ANT - 5
Goyf Sligh - 5

Faerie Stompy - 4
Fish - 4 (3 UW, 1 UWB)
Survival - 4 (1 GBR, 3 GBWR)

Affinity - 3 (1 AfFOWnity)
Burn - 3
CounterSlivers - 3 (3 UGWB, 1 5C)
Ichorid - 3
Stax - 3 (1 Dutch, 1 Armageddon, 1 UW)
The Rock - 3 (1 BG, 2 BGW)
Survival Elves - 3 (2 GWR, 1 G)

SlighStill - 2 (1 URG, 1 URB)
TES - 2
Team America - 2
Trinket Stalker - 2 (1 UGB, 1 UBR)
Togless - 2
Zoo - 2 (1 4C, 1 5C)

Belcher - 1
Boros - 1
BW Weenie - 1
Doran Rock - 1
Elves Combo - 1
Elves Aggro-Prison - 1
EPIC Painter - 1
Faeries - 1
Faeries Landstill - 1
Life - 1
MUC - 1
Survival Rock - 1
UBGW Bob&Goyf Control - 1
UBGW Control - 1
UGB Dreaded Fish - 1
UW Control - 1
Zur - 1

**Nihil Credo** · 03-04-2009 05:50 PM

March 2009 Update

18 tournaments this month, so it takes 9 placements to be DTB and 6 to be DTW.

I'll be quick this time. Here are the important news this month:

Go blue men! Merfolk is still the third DTB alongside CB-Thresh and Landstill.
Ichorid is back! After three months of absence, it has unsurprisingly returned and claimed a nice eight placements this month.
Dreadstill has suddenly disappeared, with only a single showing. Most of the Dreadnoughts in this month's lists were singletons to be fetched by Trinket Mage in various blue-based rogue lists.

7 - 1er Torneo de la Liga Legacy, Spain
8 - Liga Valenciana de Legacy, Spain
14 - GPT Chicago in Madrid, Spain
14 - 2do Torneo de la Liga Legacy, Spain
14 - Magickeller Legacy Hannover, Germany
15 - Dreamwizards Legacy #2, USA
15 - CASH Tournament @ The GRID, USA
15 - Dragonsleague Vicenza, Italy
15 - Legacy Hassloch, Germany
21 - Grosses Legacy Turnier im Spieleland, Germany
21 - Duel for Duals, USA
21 - Legacy-Walk @ Enjeux, Canada
21 - Liga Catalana de Legacy #2, Spain
22 - Ancient Memory Convention #44, Japan
22 - Bondeno, Italy
23 - Moscow Legacy Open, Russia
28 - 4er Torneo de la Liga de Legacy, Spain
28 - Faraos Cigarer Legacy, Denmark

Spain - 6
Germany - 3
USA - 3
Italy - 2
Canada - 1
Russia - 1
Japan - 1
Denmark - 1

DTB:
Counterbalance Threshold - 12 (4 UGW, 4 UGR, 1 UGWB, 2 Progenitus, 1 Survithresh)
Landstill - 10 (3 4C, 1 4C Goyf, 6 UWB)
Merfolk - 9 (1 /w, 1 /g, 7 U)
---------------
DTW:
Ichorid - 8
Aggro Loam - 8 (5 BGR, 1 GWR, 1 BGWR, 1 Surviloam)
Goblins - 6 (2 R, 4 RGB)
ANT - 6
ATW:
Survival - 7 (1 RGW, 1 BGR, 1 BGRW, 1 Surviloam, 2 Elves, 1 Survithresh)
---------------

Affinity - 5
Goyf Sligh - 5 (1 /b)

Burn - 4 (1 /w)
Painter - 4 (3 EPIC, 1 Imperial)
Tempo Threshold - 4 (3 UGR, 1 UGB)
Zoo - 4 (2 Domain, 1 RGW, 1 RG)

Bob-Goyf-Nought - 3
Faeries - 3 (1 UBG, 1 UGW, 1 UGR)
Rock - 3
Team America - 3

Belcher - 2
Eva Green - 2
Intuition/Demigod - 2
MUC - 2 (1 Dreaded)
Suicide Black - 2
White Weenie - 2 (1 /Goyf)
Zur Control - 2

Berserk Stompy - 1
Boros - 1
Cephalid Breakfast - 1
CounterSlivers - 1
Dreadstill - 1 (1 UGW)
Doran Rock - 1
Dragon Stompy - 1
Dutch Stax /b - 1
Enchantress - 1
It's the Fear - 1
Mighty Quinn - 1
Pikula - 1
Pox - 1
Progenitus Combo - 1
Rifter - 1
Spanish Inquisition - 1
Train Wreck - 1

FaerieStalker - 1
UGB Aggro-Control - 1
Ninja Aggro-Control - 1
BGUW Aggro-Control - 2
PandeBurst + Fires - 1
UGW Bant Aggro - 1
BGWu Gifts Aggro-Control - 1
UGW Aggro - 1
Red Death w/ Helm-Leyline - 1
Dreaded Fish - 1

**Nihil Credo** · 05-17-2009 12:51 PM

May 2009 Update

In light of both Grand Prix: Chicago and the third Bazaar of Moxen tournament, it has been decided to switch to a slightly more sophisticated system for determining deck scores, so that placements in larger tournaments receive an appropriately heavier weighting:

Points per placement = {Number of Swiss rounds} + {Number of Top 8 rounds won}

NOTE: I am aware that some tournaments (mostly German) do not play out their Top 8s, but taking that into account would have been a significant pain in the ass (either use a separate calculation or add three fictional tournaments for every real one). Since decks are still listed in order of Swiss performance, the distortion is limited.

NOTE: In the score card below I have also reported how many points come from some specific sub-category of each deck. Those numbers do not always add up, because some decklists may belong to more than one category or to none.

A second important change involves how Threshold decks are counted; in the last year the archetype has evolved to the point that the old categorisation by their splash colour (or lack thereof) makes little sense.

Today, the one clear split is between decks packing the maindeck Counterbalance/Top combination and those favouring an aggressive, tempo-driver approach with Daze, Stifle, and Wasteland. The latter decks are quite well established, with only a few secondary choices being discussed (mostly additional threats such as Dreadnought or Alara Reborn creatures) and splashing exclusively either Red or Black.

Counterbalance decks, on the other side, exist in a continuum, from the classic Mongoose builds to the Chicago lists to those incorporating additional tricks (Survival, Natural Order, etc.); they also exist in pretty much every possible colour combination that includes Blue and Green, from two to four colours.
If some clear division in approaches emerges, this will eventually be adopted in both thread organisation and tournament tallies. For the time being, all CounterTop decks that do not fall into any established category, i.e. that follow the game plan of "establish the Balance soft-lock and play good creatures", will get dumped into one format-leading cauldron.

List of tournaments for this period

Spain - 10
Germany - 6
Italy - 6
France - 3
USA - 2
Russia - 2
Belgium - 2
Sweden - 1
Netherlands - 1

DECKS TO BEAT:

CounterTop - 269 points in 34 placements (of which 61 UGW, 97 4C, 34 with some number of Dreadnoughts, 38 with Natural Order)
Zoo - 130 points in 18 placements (of which 49 RGW, 34 RG, 26 5C, 7 RGB)
Tempo Thresh - 124 points in 15 placements (of which 103 UGR, 21 UGB, 14 with some number of Dreadnoughts)
Landstill - 121 points in 17 placements (of which 80 UWB, 26 UW, 7 UWR, 8 UGB)

DECKS/ARCHETYPES TO WATCH:

Merfolk - 109 points in 15 placements (of which 73 MonoU, 15 UW, 6 UG)
Goblins - 106 points in 15 placements (of which 22 RG, 23 MonoR, 41 RGB, 6 RW)
Survival - 101 points in 15 placements (of which 13 Elves, 35 BGW, 7 Welder, 12 with Order)
Suicide - 96 points in 12 placements (of which 69 BG, 7 MonoB, 6 BR, 6 BW, 8 BGW)
Aggro Loam - 90 points in 13 placements (of which 54 RGB, 20 4C, 16 BGW)

OTHERS:

ANT - 61 in 6 placements
Ichorid - 59 in 8 placements
Faeries - 58 in 8 placements
Dreadstill - 51 in 7 placements
Order - 50 in 7 placements
Enchantress - 49 in 6 placements
Affinity - 47 in 6 placements
Rock - 46 in 7 placements
Pikula - 42 in 5 placements
Sligh - 36 in 5 placements
Team America - 30 in 4 placements
Dragon Stompy - 28 in 2 placements
Burn - 27 in 4 placements
Elves - 25 in 4 placements
Zur - 23 in 3 placements
It's The Fear - 19 in 3 placements
Stax - 15 in 2 placements
CounterSliver - 15 in 2 placements
Lands - 9 in 1 placements
Faerie Stompy - 6 in 1 placements
Solidarity - 6 in 1 placements

**Nihil Credo** · 08-15-2009 08:14 PM

August 2009 Update

Here is how we can sum up the state of Legacy as of mid-summer:

1) Spain is clearly the capital of the format. Fourteen six-round-plus tournaments? Whoa. Plenty of big ones in there, too.

2) The format is consolidating around a half-dozen decks. Last time we checked there was a clear dominator in CounterTop, with everyone else having less than half as many points and more or less linearly decreasing in score. Now, however, there's a glut of performers at the top, all rather close to each other, and then a clear dropoff to Tier 1.5 land.

CounterTop is still one of the best decks, but no longer THE best deck: Merfolk has nearly the same score, but its lists are much more uniform, unlike CounterTop which remains a kitchen-sink archetype.
After those two, the top of the list is populated by unchanging Tempo Thresh (although many have been experimenting with Lorescale Coatl and whatnot in the Mongoose slot) and then the aggro contingent in Zoo, powered to new heights on the back of Pridemage, and Goblins which barely squeaks by the DTB requirement of 148 points.
Conversely, old Landstill falls just under that limit, and ANT follows a handful of points behind; both lone representatives of two out of three heads of the old Aggro/Control/Combo trifecta, whereas the rest of the DTBF is made entirely of shades of aggro and aggro-control.

What about the aforementioned Tier 1.5 land? These are decks that collected approximately half as many points as the typical DTB/DTW. There are staples on likely temporary vacation, such as Ichorid, AggroLoam, Survival and Dreadstill (note that a few Noughts showed up within Tempo Thresh shells, too). Then there are a couple of archetypes which got a burst of popularity in certain areas and placed enough to show up on the radar: they are Enchantress (Spain) and Faeries (Italy), at which lists you may want to take a look, though you probably need not worry about facing them.

Most interesting, however, is the newcomer Bant, an UGW deck eschewing both Counterbalance and Stifle in favour of good ~~old~~ Exalted creatures and - in one case - the planeswalker Elspeth. Some may say that it's tiresome to have yet another FoW/Brainstorm/Goyf archetype in the format, but I'd like to point out the nice aspect that a combat-focused mechanic like Exalted should be much more appealing to Legacy newcomers than the often-annoying Balance lock or Stifle/Waste manascrew (although a few Bant lists have been known to plop surprise Hydras out of nowhere...)

List of tournaments for this period

Germany - 4
Italy - 8
Spain - 14
USA - 4
France - 2
Netherlands - 2
Belgium - 1
Finland - 1
Japan - 4

DECKS TO BEAT:
CounterTop - 247 points in 34 placements (of which 92 UGBW, 76 UGW, 39 UGR, 38 playing NO/Prog, 28 UGB)
Merfolk - 236 points in 30 placements (of which 201 U, 35 UG)
Tempo Thresh - 219 points in 31 placements (of which 206 UGR)
Zoo - 187 points in 25 placements (of which 137 RGW, 28 5C)
Goblins - 151 points in 20 placements (of which 51 RGB, 22 R, 39 RG, 32 RW, 7 RB)

DECKS TO WATCH:
Landstill - 138 points in 19 placements (of which 90 UWB, 35 UWBG)
ANT - 121 points in 16 placements

OTHERS:
Ichorid - 88 points in 12 placements
Faeries - 85 points in 12 placements (35 points from "pure" Faeries, in the others they are mixed with other archetypes, from Tempo Thresh to Ninjas)
AggroLoam - 84 points in 11 placements (33 points from builds splashing White for Knight of the Reliquary)
Bant - 73 points in 10 placements
Dreadstill - 69 points in 9 placements
Survival - 66 points in 10 placements
Enchantress - 46 points in 6 placements
Rock - 46 points in 6 placements
Burn - 44 points in 6 placements
Elves - 42 points in 6 placements
Suicide - 34 points in 5 placements
White Weenie - 33 points in 5 placements
Stax - 24 points in 4 placements
Sligh - 22 points in 3 placements
Affinity - 18 points in 3 placements
TES - 16 points in 2 placements
Dragon Stompy - 14 points in 2 placements
Pikula - 9 points in 1 placements
Berserk Stompy - 8 points in 1 placements
Elephant Stompy - 7 points in 1 placements
40Lands - 7 points in 1 placements
Faerie Stompy - 6 points in 1 placements

BONUS STATS!
Total playing Stifle/Nought - 99 points in 13 placements
Total playing NO/Prog - 59 points in 8 placements
Approximate total of Loam decks - 128 points in 17 placements
Approximate total playing Force of Will - 1111 points in 151 placements

**Nihil Credo** · 01-27-2010 11:02 PM

January/February 2010 Update

You didn't think it would ever come, did you? Well, here it is, and let's get straight down to the numbers. First, the number of tournaments by country; this should cover, if not all, a very large majority of tournaments played since August last year.

Germany 24
Spain 20
Italy 16
USA 16
France 7
Japan 5
Netherlands 3
Philippines 3 Canada 2
Denmark 1
Russia 1
Belgium 1
Finland 1
Czech Republic 1
Sweden 1

After being more or less absent from the Legacy scene for a while, the USA have finally started running tournaments again! The Philippines have also seen the birth of a solid Legacy community, which is pretty damn cool.

The complete tournament list will be published shortly in the sister thread. Now let's get to the meat of the post.

Total performance points: 5747 in 782 placements
Points required to become DTB: 359
Points required to become DTW: 215

DECKS TO BEAT:

CounterTop - 499 points in 66 placements
Subsets: CounterTop Bant - 169 in 22; Supreme Blue - 101 in 14
Also related: Dreadstill - 82 in 11; CounterTop Painter - 47 in 6; CounterTop Depths - 20 in 3

No surprise there. CounterTop is a huge archetype ranging from builds with Noble Hierarch and Rhox War Monk to ones with Dark Confidant and Tombstalker, and the influence of its namesake extends further to various less creature- and more combo-oriented lists. CounterTop is very much here to stay.

Merfolk - 474 points in 64 placements
Subsets: Green splash - 49 in 6; White splash - 50 in 7

The predator chases the prey.

Tempo Thresh - 439 points in 59 placements
Subsets: Team America - 51 in 6
Also related: Various UGR lists - 76 in 10; NinjaFaeries - 52 in 8

The day Canadian Thrash is obsolete will mark the end of an era.

ANT - 409 points in 54 placements
Also related: TES - 15 in 2

"The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated". The boogeyman of everybody not playing Force of Will or Chalice of the Void, storm combo has been called dead or dying for quite a while now due to the predominance of the Merfolk vs. CounterTop battle at the top of the metagame. Well, guess what: while you talked shit behind its back, ANT has been happily joyriding your car and sleeping with your significant other. Go hug a Mindbreak Trap.

Zoo - 397 points in 53 placements
Also related: Sligh - 151 in 21

Before you ask, yes, I still believe separating Zoo and Sligh is appropriate, and I think that if you were to read those 70+ list you'd agree with me that decks playing Goblin Guide and Hellspark Elemental don't belong together with decks playing Qasali Pridemage and Path to Exile.

That shouldn't stop you from keeping very clear in your mind that 397+151=548. In the average metagame, you're roughly as likely to run into Fireblast and Price of Progress as to run into Counterbalance and Sensei's Divining Top. Have a plan for both.

DECKS TO WATCH:

Dredge - 340 points in 46 placements
Subsets: with LED, Bloodghast and Ichorid - none
with Bloodghast and Ichorid - 59 in 8
with LED and Ichorid - 162 in 22
with LED and Bloodghast - 7 in 1
with Bloodghast only - 32 in 4
with Ichorid only - 73 in 10
with LED only - none
with none - 7 in 1

I hope the breakdown is appreciated (although it usefulness is limited by the few months that this update stretches before Zendikar).

Goblins - 331 points in 46 placements
Subsets: MonoR - 124 in 18; Black splash - 120 in 16; Green splash - 79 in 10; Both - 32 in 4; White splash - 49 in 7

Survival - 267 points in 37 placements
Subsets: Bant - 111 in 15; Elves - 43 in 6

The broad category of "decks packing 4x Survival" has finally been finding some focus. I suspect that by the time the next update rolls in, the archetype will see some reorganisation.

Aggro Loam - 261 points in 35 placements
Subsets: White splash - 124 in 16

OTHERS:

Faeries - 209 points in 29 placements
Enchantress - 165 in 22
Sligh - 151 in 21
Rock - 145 in 22
Landstill - 134 in 19
Lands! - 107 in 14
Stax - 95 in 13
Reanimator - 92 in 12
Dreadstill - 82 in 11
Belcher - 70 in 9
Pox - 62 in 9
Dragon Stompy - 59 in 8
Goodstuff decks - 56 in 8
Hexmage Depths - 53 in 8
Eva Green - 50 in 7
Painter Combo - 47 in 6
Dream Halls - 35 in 4
Suicide - 30 in 4
Affinity - 24 in 4
Burn - 20 in 3
Imperial Painter - 16 in 2
NoGoyf - 16 in 2
Quinn - 15 in 2
Soldiers - 13 in 2
Berserk Stompy - 7 in 1

Anything with Progenitus - 274 in 36
Anything with Noble Hierarch - 519 in 69
Anything with Life from the Loam - 474 in 63

Note: Let me know if I missed something in the above list. With the current system I have to remember every name to then ask the file how it placed, and it's like trying to name all the seven dwarves of Sleeping Beauty, except there's a few dozen of them and no thinly veiled sexual undertones.

Observation 1: You could say that Landstill is dead, but I just think it's in its periodic search for a form that fits the current format (like it did about a year or two ago when the two-colour Elspeth lists were developed). On the other side, Dreadstill ist kaput.

Observation 2: As open as it still is, Legacy is definitely coalescing around a much smaller metagame of fixed poles, and the Tier 2 decks that emerge do so because they have something to offer against them and not just because some people get infatuated. Scroll up and compare this update with the previous ones: quite a bit of older favourites that used to still gather a placement here and there, no matter how mispositioned against the meta, have now completely disappeared.

APPENDIX - DARK HORSES:

No, we haven't added a third category the DTBF forum: I'm simply taking the chance to spotlight a few decks, new and old, that I think show metagame promise to various degrees.

Bitter Stalker (aka Faerie Thrash) - 79 points in 10 placements

Originally built by kikkofrio and later popularised by spiritofthewretch, it replaces Canadian Thresh's green beaters and burn with Bitterblossom and Spellstutter Sprite to grab the pace of the game, and Tombstalker for a quick finisher. It reminds me of Enchantress and Aggro Loam in that if you haven't previously tested against it and observed how it works, you're going to find yourself nearly hopeless when you run into it even though your deck may have the tools to fight it.

Pox Loam - 43 points in 6 placements

To put it plainly, (Small)-Pox has historically sucked and met roughly as much success as Burn (while not being quite as cheap to build). But I see a decent chance that the winning formula has been found, since the black/green lists that have placed of late have all been so similar. And what Loam and Tranquil Thicket provide - consistency and card advantage - is a major part of what Pox was direly missing.

**Bardo** · 06-16-2010 10:50 PM

June 2010 Update

Confession time: doing the number crunching to keep the DTB current is a lot of work. Painfully so. In an effort to get that forum current to what you should reasonably be testing against, we tried a new approach this update that was much easier and produced results that feel right.

Instead of aggregating the huge volume of T8s we typically analyze, I aggregated seven random Legacy tournaments deciding in advance that any deck that took at least 5% of the slots would get in; anything falling below 5% would get pushed out.

Fifty-six (56) total slots:

Reanimator - 111111111 (9) - 16%
Zoo - 11111111111 (11) - 20%
CB Top - 111111 (6) - 11%
Merfolk - 1111111 (7) - 13 %
ANT - 1111 (4) - 7%
New Horizons - 1111 (4) - 7%
Gobs - 111 (3)
Lands - 11 (2)
Team America - 1
MBC - 1
Survival - 1
Landstill - 1
Tezzerator - 1
Aggro Loam - 1
Aggro Bant - 1
CT Thopter - 1
B/W Aggro - 1
Belcher - 1

Added to the DTB this update:
New Horizons
U/B Reanimator

Remaining in the DTB:
Zoo
Counter-Top
Merfolk
ANT

Removed from the DTB:
Aggro Loam
Dredge
Tempo Thresh
Goblins
Survival

From its creation on this website, the DTB forum has always been a collection of decks that you should/could use the basis of a testing gauntlet. If you think Lands, Gobilns, etc. should be in your testing gauntlet, by all means, add them.

I'll admit we could have a more sophisticated approach to determing what should be in the DTB, but I feel some change is better than no change since it hasn't been updated in months. I'm hoping we'll have the brainpower to do a more thorough analysis for the next update.

**Jander78** · 08-25-2010 05:50 PM

August 2010 Update

This time around it looks like Zoo is a force to be reckoned with.

What's new:

Goblins is back! It's been a little while, but since the banning of Mystical Tutor, Goblins has been showing up in quite a few Top 8's.
Bant is a DTW. This U/w/g aggro deck has been performing well recently and displaying it's strength through tournament success.
TES is a DTW. This may have to do with the banning of Mystical, but all of the Tendrils decks that have placed in Top8's in the past month and a half have chosen to run red and Burning Wish. The power of this deck is really starting to show across multiple environments.
Landstill is in as a DTW. Surprising to myself as well, but many Standstills were seen in Top 8 appearences outside of Merfolk decks.

What's old:

New Horizons was just short of holding its position in this forum.
Reanimator didn't cut it any more since the loss of its favorite tutor.
ANT has been edged out by the favored combo deck in the new environment, TES.

What's different:

CounterTop drops down to a DTW.

Here is a chart of decks and their Top 8 Performances:

26 tournaments
208 decks

Percentages:

**Jander78** · 10-04-2010 09:41 AM

September 2010 Update

What's new:

Out of its great performance at GP Columbus, Vengevine is sprouting up everywhere in Top 8's pushing Zoo down in the standings.
Dredge is back with some excellent performances this time around.
New Horizons is back as a DTW.
Bant makes it in as a DTW

22 tournaments
175 decks

Points:

**Nihil Credo** · 06-01-2011 09:21 AM

June 2011 Update

Yes, you're not dreaming. The DTB forum is actually being updated again. We're even returning to a monthly update schedule!

Where's the trick? you ask. You guys were too busy raising videogames and playing kids to do any update at all for the better part of a year, and now you promise monthly updates? Did you suddenly start getting a salary or something?

Not at all! It simply happens that the guys from The Council are doing a truly awesome job keeping a tally of Legacy tournaments from all over the world, filtering them into sensible categories, and plotting all of that into a nice chart, so we have agreed - until further notice - to just refer to their data for our own DTB forum.

The rule we have agreed upon is straightforward: each deck making up 4% of the total Top 8 placements for the past month will be a DTB for the next. Looking at ' data, this will usually put between 5 and 10 decks in the top forum.

So, without further ado, here is The Council's metagame tally for May (follow the link to browse the decklists and support these guys):

The cutoff comes at 14,8 Top 8s, meaning the following are the DTBs for June:

Merfolk
Team America
Maverick
Zoo
Painter-Stone

The Americans will probably be wondering "what the heck is Maverick?" - well, except for at least Marsh Usary, Chris Elrod and that old fart Alix Hatfield, who piloted the no-nonsense G/W Aggro deck to three SCG Top 8s. To all the others, check it out. It's pretty sweet.

One final notice: from now on, we strongly encourage you all to submit the decklists from your local tournaments to The Council. This is the best way to guarantee that they will count towards DTB statistics.

**Nihil Credo** · 07-10-2011 07:59 PM

July 2011 Update

Slight change in methodology: Pablo (the guy behind TCDecks) let me know that he has actually programmed a more sophisticated version of his metagame ranking, not yet publicly linked from his homepage, which weighs placements according to the number of rounds won - meaning that placing in bigger tournaments counts for more. It only makes sense to switch to this system; the point cutoff will be set at 3.4% (again, this was chosen by looking at the previous months and picking a number that would usually give between 6 and 10 DTBs).

So, the basic metagame count:

The weighted tier placements is:

The cutoff is 90.74 points, making Bant Aggro the last DTB.

Now, Pablo splits the various Stoneforge Mystic decks into two categories: "Blade Control" and "Patriot". Roughly speaking, Patriot is an UWR or UWGR aggro-control deck that plays around a dozen creatures and little if any card drawing beyond a couple of Jaces, while Blade Control is usually UW or UWx, plays about a half-dozen creatures and often features the Landstill card advantage engine, sometimes replaced by Ancestral Visions.

**Nihil Credo** · 08-08-2011 07:26 AM

August 2011 Update

Not much to report here. There's just a fresh addition to the DTBF that will surprise absolutely nobody.

Basic metagame count:

Weight-adjusted scores:

The cutoff falls at 92,14. Team America and Reanimator miss the DTB by a whiff, the following make it in:

Maverick
Blade Control
Hive Mind
Zoo
Merfolk
Bant Aggro
NO RUG
Dredge

See you in September!

**Nihil Credo** · 09-13-2011 03:50 PM

September 2011 Update

It's that time of the month again... no, not that. Check out The Council's metagame tally for August:

Which, weight-adjusted, becomes:

The cutoff falls at 71.26 points, giving us the following DTB:

RUG Order
Blade Control
Merfolks
Zoo
Team America
Maverick
Reanimator
The Rock

Oh, and while Dredge has left the DTB, a special shoutout to 4eak who just won the SCG Open: Atlanta with it!

**Nihil Credo** · 10-15-2011 07:46 AM

October 2011 Update

This month brings a surprising fall. Let's look at the metagame tally:

A little top-heavy, but not that weird. But let's let the folks at The Council adjust it by tournament weight:

The cutoff ends up falling at 94.45 points, meaning that for the first time in fuck-ever, Zoo falls out of the DTBF! By a mere two points, but still.

The Decks to Beat of October are then:

Maverick
Blade Control
RUG Order
Merfolks
Reanimator
Team America
Dredge

**Nihil Credo** · 11-16-2011 07:21 AM

November 2011 Update

A little late, here's the November update:

The cutoff is at 132.94 points, leading to the following DTB:

Maverick
UGR Threshold
Team America
Blade Control
Reanimator
Dredge
Zoo
Merfolk
ANT

Yup - Delver of Secrets pushed UGR/Canadian Threshold almost to the top (and straight to the top for unweighted placements) in just one month! It pretty much neatly replaced RUG Order, which has fallen wayyyy down.

**Nihil Credo** · 12-15-2011 04:36 PM

December 2011 Update

Wow, that's one sharp curve we got there. The cutoff is at 110.6 points, giving the following DTBs:

UGR Threshold
Maverick
Blade Control
ANT
Reanimator
Bant Aggro
Team America
Merfolk

with Zoo and Dredge falling out for this month.

**Nihil Credo** · 01-17-2012 05:49 PM

Yeah, I'm late.

January 2012 Update

The cutoff falls at 118 points, leading to this DTB:

Maverick
Blade Control
Threshold UGR
Reanimator
UR Burn (aka U/R Delver)
Dredge
Team America -> it's been pointed out that TCDecks mixes together tempo and control lists in here, so this gets two threads until the trend solidifies somewhere
Zoo
ANT

Wow. Bye bye Merfolk. Been a long while since they hadn't been in the DTBF.

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