Starcitygames Open Atlanta 2012 - Top 8

[Fl0do]

It seems that the metagame settled down after Misstep and Delver and Snapcaster Mage pushed blue in popularity. 6 out of 8 and 10 out of 16 decks aren't playing any brainstorms.

Feel free to discuss

[Koby]

It seems to me that the SCG metagame is finally starting to pick up Maverick as a "beats on blue" deck du jour. The metagame report from the Hatfields wrote also corraborated this fact and may have played into people's decision. I was not at the tournament - can someone who attended confirm your impressions?

[Philipp2293]

I think that's a pretty interesting and diverse T16. 2 Pox? Check. Affinity? Check. 2 Different GY based strategies? Check. Aggro/Tribal Decks? Check. Still would love to see Nic Fit pop up.

[Tammit67]

Why the hell aren't people playing good old dark ritual?

[atropos]

I think that's a pretty interesting and diverse T16. 2 Pox? Check. Affinity? Check. 2 Different GY based strategies? Check. Aggro/Tribal Decks? Check. Still would love to see Nic Fit pop up.

I agree, it was definitely a diverse meta, which is nice to see. I'm totally with you on Nic Fit. It's such a cool new deck despite its terrible name.

[nedleeds]

I agree, it was definitely a diverse meta, which is nice to see. I'm totally with you on Nic Fit. It's such a cool new deck despite its terrible name.

Pretty sure it's a pretty old deck, with pretty old cards. Deed, Recurring Nightmare, Stronghold, Veteran Explorer rock decks have been around for a looooooooooooooooooooooooong time. I think you have just replaced Survival with GSZ, and upgraded some of the surrounding creatures.

[snappingbowls | ಠ_ಠ]

Oh. So, the sky isn't falling? Everyone and their grandmother was losing their shit over Brainstorm dominating everything and taking no prisoners, well guess what? The metagame adapted! Can we please put a little more stock in the format and realize that for the most part it is self correcting? This was a great top 8 and there were some cool decks, I like legacy more than ever these past few months.

[joemauer]

Things about the top 16 that made me laugh:

Top 2 decks were still blue decks.

Four of the decks were from the legacy budget article posted last week: goblins,affinity,POX(x2) and dredge. Thats four out of six, not too bad. Just missing elves and hypergenesis.

[majikal]

Things about the top 16 that made me laugh:

Top 2 decks were still blue decks.

Geist Maverick scooped UW Stoneblade into the finals. It easily would have crushed it.

[joemauer]

Geist Maverick scooped UW Stoneblade into the finals. It easily would have crushed it.

:really:

I see.

[majikal]

:really:

I see.
These events have top 8's full of people who know each other and do each other favors. I wouldn't put too much stock in the finals to determine which decks are actually doing the best.

[Finn]

Four of the decks were from the legacy budget article posted last week: goblins,affinity,POX(x2) and dredge. Thats four out of six, not too bad. Just missing elves and hypergenesis. Well, the Pox decks had a grand total of one Pox between them. Mono-black control is decent to very good against nonblue aggro decks, so it makes sense that we would see this sort of thing pop up. Also, Death and Taxes is a pretty cheap deck to build.

Blue stuff has the advantage of having a good plan against nonlinear strategies, of which there were few here. As long as combo remains relegated to Reanimator, we should continue to see interesting decks duke it out in the top spots.

[atropos]

Pretty sure it's a pretty old deck, with pretty old cards. Deed, Recurring Nightmare, Stronghold, Veteran Explorer rock decks have been around for a looooooooooooooooooooooooong time. I think you have just replaced Survival with GSZ, and upgraded some of the surrounding creatures.

You're right, I should have been more specific. Thanks for catching that. Older deck, new inane name.

[xfxf]

I've been defending blue's non-dominance and how players didn't play enough anti-blue decks like Maverick since before the ban on Mental Misstep. I still believe that even if MM was still in the format the top 8s would look similar to this because of the self-correction. Blue decks always have Achiles heels. What we don't have is enough combo. I wonder how the meta will be in LA with the popularity of Combo there and the general popularity of GW decks as of late.

[Koby]

I've been defending blue's non-dominance and how players didn't play enough anti-blue decks like Maverick since before the ban on Mental Misstep. I still believe that even if MM was still in the format the top 8s would look similar to this because of the self-correction. Blue decks always have Achiles heels. What we don't have is enough combo. I wonder how the meta will be in LA with the popularity of Combo there and the general popularity of GW decks as of late.

My prediction for the metagame at SCG:LA: (no particular order)

* Burn / :u::r: Delver
* UW(/x) SnapBlade
* Reanimator
* Merfolk (still a crowd favorite for some reason)
* RUG Tempo
* Maverick-esque decks (basic GW and other 3c variations like Junk, Bant, Naya)

I predict a top eight of:

1 Belcher
1 Merfolk
1 Brainstorm based combo
1 Dredge
2 Maverick-esque
1 UW SnapBlade
1 RUG Tempo

[UnderwaterGuy]

:really:

I see.

Yeah he scooped because the UW player was his friend.

[lorddotm]

Why the hell aren't people playing good old dark ritual?

Wait till Sunday.


My prediction for the metagame at SCG:LA: (no particular order)

* Burn / :u::r: Delver
* UW(/x) SnapBlade
* Reanimator
* Merfolk (still a crowd favorite for some reason)
* RUG Tempo
* Maverick-esque decks (basic GW and other 3c variations like Junk, Bant, Naya)

I predict a top eight of:

1 Belcher
1 Merfolk
1 Brainstorm based combo
1 Dredge
2 Maverick-esque
1 UW SnapBlade
1 RUG Tempo

Are you saying I'm not Top 8ing?

[Tammit67]

Wait till Sunday.


Gladly.

[Pulp_Fiction]

I unfortunately couldn't play, had to work, which is a total shame, Burning Baggs would have TORN up the meta. All of my buddies who went up there said it was just a field of morons playing UW(x) Stoneblade ...

Given, there was a ton of archetypes there, but when walking around the tables apparently all you heard was "counter, counter, fetch Batterskull". Pretty boring.

I totally agree about Nic Fit, I don't keep up with the format 2 much anymore but I played against it on wednesday and was SOOO excited to lose to a hardcast Deranged Hermit!! Then I came to find out the list was ripped directly off the internet ... really hurt me, I thought people in my meta were getting creative (crazy Shawn excluded) ... fail. That deck has a ton of potential though and I think it abuses GSZ better than Maverick, or maybe I just think it is more exciting cause Maverick is boring as hell. Plus is plays Hermit ... thats just cool.

[Koby]

1 Brainstorm-based Combo



Are you saying I'm not Top 8ing?

Read more closely bro!

[lorddotm]

Read more closely bro!

I assumed that was Harduvel since he's been raping and pillaging like his grandfather did in Paris.

[Harduvel]

I predict a top eight of:

1 Belcher


You know Ben is in Michigan, right?

[Koby]

You know Ben is in Michigan, right?

Mwuhahaha ok, replace that with Reanimator, and we're golden.