The first pro Modern tournament, Pro Tour Philadelphia, wrapped up recently. Wizards' coverage of the event includes complete lists for all decks scoring 18 points or better. From those lists I compiled the most used cards including the total count for each (excludes basic land). Perhaps this is the defining moment for some Modern staples?
1) Misty Rainforest (199)
2) Scalding Tarn (171)
3) Preordain (148)
4) Lightning Bolt (144)
5) Ponder (144)
6) Green Sun's Zenith (112)
7) Tarmogoyf (110)
8) Path to Exile (105)
9) Steam Vents (102)
10) Verdant Catacombs (100)
11) Remand (98)
12) Noble Hierarch (90)
13) Arid Mesa (83)
14) Knight of the Reliquary (80)
15) Deceiver Exarch (74)
16) Splinter Twin (71)
17) Spellskite (69)
18) Wild Nacatl (68)
19) Firespout (66)
20) Thoughtseize (64)
21) Vendilion Clique (60)
22) Grove of the Burnwillows (58)
23) Stomping Ground (58)
24) Rite of Flame (57)
25) Gitaxian Probe (57)
26) Manamorphose (56)
27) Blood Moon (55)
28) Pact of Negation (54)
29) Cascade Bluffs (53)
30) Pestermite (53)
31) Qasali Pridemage (51)
32) Kitchen Finks (50)
33) Inkmoth Nexus (49)
34) Aven Mindcensor (48)
35) Dispel (45)
36) Seething Song (44)
37) Ancient Grudge (44)
38) Lightning Helix (43)
39) Punishing Fire (42)
40) Ethersworn Canonist (41)
41) Temple Garden (41)
42) Primeval Titan (40)
43) Cloudpost (40)
44) Peer Through Depths (39)
45) Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker (37)
46) Explore (35)
47) Glimmerpost (35)
48) Vesuva (35)
49) Simian Spirit Guide (35)
50) Dark Confidant (34)
51) Gaddock Teeg (34)
52) Spell Pierce (33)
53) Serum Visions (33)
54) Ornithopter (32)
55) Cranial Plating (32)
56) Memnite (32)
57) Mox Opal (32)
58) Darksteel Citadel (32)
59) Flashfreeze (32)
60) Breeding Pool (32)
61) Desperate Ritual (32)
62) Dryad Arbor (31)
63) Slagstorm (30)
64) Springleaf Drum (30)
65) Tectonic Edge (30)
66) Wall of Roots (29)
67) Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (29)
68) Mindbreak Trap (28)
69) Gemstone Mine (28)
70) Birds of Paradise (27)
71) Pyromancer Ascension (27)
72) Through the Breach (27)
73) Echoing Truth (27)
74) Signal Pest (27)
75) Beast Within (27)
76) Spell Snare (27)
77) Blinkmoth Nexus (27)
78) Slaughter Pact (26)
79) City of Brass (26)
80) Bribery (26)
81) Marsh Flats (25)
82) Sakura-Tribe Elder (25)
83) Sacred Foundry (25)
84) Molten Rain (24)
85) Shivan Reef (24)
86) Bant Charm (24)
87) Blazing Shoal (24)
88) Horizon Canopy (24)
89) Vault Skirge (23)
90) Amulet of Vigor (23)
91) Scapeshift (22)
92) Elspeth, Knight-Errant (22)
93) Empty the Warrens (22)
94) Galvanic Blast (22)
95) Rule of Law (21)
96) Duress (21)
97) Seal of Primordium (21)
98) Arcbound Ravager (20)
99) Frogmite (20)
100) Grapeshot (19)
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Pauper Top Deck Averages
I'm starting to think about playing competitively. Unlike casual where focus on your deck's general effectiveness, competitive play is all about understanding the metagame. Competitive play also tends to be more expensive than casual because everybody wants the same (best) cards. For this reason I decided to start with Classic Pauper; I don't want to be able to to use cost as an excuse for me losing. I shall spare no expense! As long as it's common.
I started studying the Classic Pauper Metagame. I found these threads over at pdcmagic very helpful:
Official Classic Deck Index
Pauper Dailies: Metagame Analysis
Reading through the second thread I learned that the top decks of each Daily Event are recorded here.
Clicking through a few of the event records gives you a good feel for the format, but partially because I thought it would be useful and partially because writing code over the three day weekend seemed liked a good idea (for some reason), I wrote some scripts which mine this data and run analysis over it.
Once I got all the data into a clean format I wanted to identify the different types. How many Affinity, how many Infect, etc. My first thought was to add rules to identify each deck like "If deck has 4 couldposts then it's a post deck". But I decided instead to just group by deck similarity based on cards in common. If two decks have more than 50 cards in common (counting main and sideboard) then I consider them to be the same type. This ended up working pretty well and I used this to form groups.
Once I had groups I wanted to see what those groups were. The first take was just dump out all the decklists or a representative decklist, but I realized what I really wanted was an average of the decks. I remember Magic Pro Frank Karsten talking about Deck Averages before.
From July 1st to Sept 7th (just over two months) there were 273 Pauper Daily Events. Each deck finishing 3-1 or better was recorded - 2652 in all. Here are the 16 most common deck types and their average cardlists.
#1: Mono White
count: 390 (14.7%)
-- main --
20.9 Plains
3.0 Benevolent Bodyguard
3.4 Icatian Javelineers
3.9 Kor Skyfisher
2.2 Lone Missionary
1.5 Order of Leitbur
3.9 Razor Golem
0.9 Shade of Trokair
3.3 Squadron Hawk
3.3 Bonesplitter
3.4 Journey to Nowhere
0.4 Mana Tithe
1.5 Unmake
2.1 Guardian of the Guildpact
1.3 Knight of Sursi
2.6 Leonin Skyhunter
0.9 Prismatic Strands
0.6 Aven Riftwatcher
0.2 Porcelain Legionnaire
-- sideboard --
2.3 Dust to Dust
0.4 Guardian of the Guildpact
2.6 Holy Light
0.5 Lone Missionary
1.5 Prismatic Strands
0.2 Benevolent Unicorn
1.4 Crimson Acolyte
0.4 Obsidian Acolyte
2.1 Standard Bearer
1.0 Kor Sanctifiers
0.3 Divine Offering
0.3 Circle of Protection: Black
0.3 Serrated Arrows
0.2 Suture Priest
#2: UR Post
count: 334 (12.6%)
-- main --
4.0 Cloudpost
4.0 Glimmerpost
7.3 Island
5.7 Mountain
1.4 Terramorphic Expanse
2.1 Mulldrifter
1.3 Steamcore Weird
1.2 Capsize
3.3 Compulsive Research
2.5 Condescend
0.7 Deep Analysis
2.5 Flame Slash
2.6 Lightning Bolt
1.4 Mana Leak
0.7 Mysteries of the Deep
1.7 Mystical Teachings
0.6 Negate
3.1 Preordain
3.2 Prophetic Prism
1.2 Rolling Thunder
0.3 Shattering Pulse
0.9 Staggershock
0.9 Ulamog's Crusher
0.4 Counterspell
1.3 Prohibit
1.0 Firebolt
0.3 Seismic Shudder
0.3 Bojuka Bog
0.4 Izzet Boilerworks
0.4 Mnemonic Wall
0.9 Expedition Map
0.2 Evolving Wilds
0.3 Wayfarer's Bauble
0.6 Serrated Arrows
-- sideboard --
0.8 Ancient Grudge
2.0 Hydroblast
2.5 Pyroblast
0.8 Shattering Pulse
2.1 Stone Rain
0.4 Negate
1.9 Earth Rift
1.1 Gorilla Shaman
1.0 Seismic Shudder
0.3 Deep Analysis
0.3 Snapback
#3: Infect
count: 327 (12.3%)
-- main --
15.8 Forest
4.0 Blight Mamba
1.0 Cystbearer
4.0 Glistener Elf
4.0 Ichorclaw Myr
1.7 Apostle's Blessing
0.5 Giant Growth
2.0 Gitaxian Probe
3.9 Invigorate
2.3 Lotus Petal
3.3 Mutagenic Growth
2.0 Predator's Strike
4.0 Rancor
3.9 Vines of Vastwood
3.3 Groundswell
1.6 Rot Wolf
0.5 Llanowar Augur
1.1 Tranquil Thicket
-- sideboard --
2.1 Fog
3.1 Hornet Sting
2.4 Nature's Claim
1.0 Nourish
2.2 Sandstorm
1.2 Apostle's Blessing
0.4 Predator's Strike
1.1 Corpse Cur
#4: Affinity
count: 277 (10.4%)
-- main --
1.2 Darksteel Citadel
4.0 Great Furnace
4.0 Seat of the Synod
3.6 Tree of Tales
3.9 Vault of Whispers
3.9 Atog
3.6 Carapace Forger
3.7 Disciple of the Vault
3.8 Frogmite
1.0 Krark-Clan Shaman
4.0 Myr Enforcer
4.0 Chromatic Star
1.3 Fling
3.9 Galvanic Blast
3.6 Springleaf Drum
1.1 Terrarion
4.0 Thoughtcast
0.9 Chromatic Sphere
0.5 Pyrite Spellbomb
0.9 Lotus Petal
0.3 Duress
0.8 Ancient Den
0.5 Flight Spellbomb
0.4 Auriok Sunchaser
0.3 Prophetic Prism
0.3 Somber Hoverguard
-- sideboard --
1.3 Ancient Grudge
0.4 Doom Blade
2.0 Hydroblast
1.6 Krark-Clan Shaman
1.8 Pyroblast
0.9 Duress
1.0 Gorilla Shaman
1.5 Raze
0.7 Relic of Progenitus
0.4 Circle of Protection: Red
0.4 Circle of Protection: Black
0.5 Spell Pierce
0.4 Scar
#5: MBC
count: 159 (6.0%)
-- main --
1.6 Barren Moor
21.3 Swamp
3.9 Chittering Rats
2.3 Crypt Rats
1.3 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
3.9 Phyrexian Rager
3.8 Ravenous Rats
3.1 Corrupt
0.8 Doom Blade
2.3 Geth's Verdict
2.0 Grasp of Darkness
3.8 Sign in Blood
3.3 Tendrils of Corruption
1.0 Liliana's Specter
0.8 Echoing Decay
0.8 Disfigure
0.3 Duress
1.4 Unearth
0.7 Wrench Mind
-- sideboard --
0.6 Doom Blade
2.8 Duress
1.6 Echoing Decay
0.5 Geth's Verdict
1.6 Relic of Progenitus
0.3 Crypt Rats
1.5 Wrench Mind
0.7 Disfigure
0.4 Distress
0.3 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
0.4 Tendrils of Corruption
0.2 Nihil Spellbomb
0.6 Serrated Arrows
0.3 Diabolic Edict
0.3 Choking Sands
0.3 Icequake
0.2 Hideous End
0.4 Rancid Earth
#6: Goblins
count: 156 (5.9%)
-- main --
15.8 Mountain
0.8 Teetering Peaks
1.8 Goblin Arsonist
4.0 Goblin Bushwhacker
4.0 Goblin Cohort
4.0 Goblin Sledder
3.9 Mogg Conscripts
2.8 Mogg Flunkies
3.8 Mogg Raider
4.0 Mogg War Marshal
2.6 Sparksmith
3.0 Chain Lightning
1.0 Death Spark
4.0 Lightning Bolt
1.1 Jackal Familiar
0.4 Fireblast
0.3 Porcelain Legionnaire
0.3 Sylvok Lifestaff
0.3 Great Furnace
0.3 Kuldotha Rebirth
0.6 Goblin Matron
0.3 Snow-Covered Mountain
-- sideboard --
1.6 Flaring Pain
3.0 Pyroblast
1.9 Seismic Shudder
1.1 Smash to Smithereens
0.7 Sylvok Lifestaff
2.5 Gorilla Shaman
0.3 Sparksmith
0.8 Death Spark
1.1 Flame Slash
0.4 Raze
0.4 Relic of Progenitus
#7: Storm
count: 152 (5.7%)
-- main --
3.4 Ancient Spring
2.6 Geothermal Crevice
2.3 Irrigation Ditch
0.2 Island
3.9 Sulfur Vent
3.8 Cabal Ritual
2.3 Chromatic Sphere
3.7 Chromatic Star
0.6 Compulsive Research
4.0 Dark Ritual
4.0 Grapeshot
3.3 Ideas Unbound
4.0 Lotus Petal
4.0 Manamorphose
1.8 Preordain
4.0 Rite of Flame
0.6 Shred Memory
3.8 Sign in Blood
0.3 Goblin Bushwhacker
2.6 Empty the Warrens
2.4 Gitaxian Probe
0.9 Ponder
0.5 Seething Song
-- sideboard --
2.2 Deep Analysis
3.1 Duress
1.4 Flaring Pain
0.9 Shred Memory
0.6 Echoing Truth
1.1 Empty the Warrens
0.3 Pyroblast
0.6 Echoing Decay
0.8 Goblin Bushwhacker
0.3 Irrigation Ditch
0.4 Ponder
0.3 Swamp
0.3 Compulsive Research
0.4 Preordain
0.2 Hydroblast
#8: Familiar Storm
count: 134 (5.1%)
-- main --
3.0 Azorius Chancery
3.0 Dimir Aqueduct
2.6 Evolving Wilds
6.3 Island
1.8 Plains
1.5 Swamp
3.3 Terramorphic Expanse
4.0 Cloud of Faeries
1.0 Mnemonic Wall
3.1 Mulldrifter
4.0 Nightscape Familiar
2.4 Sea Gate Oracle
4.0 Sunscape Familiar
4.0 Compulsive Research
3.2 Deep Analysis
2.0 Foresee
4.0 Snap
3.0 Temporal Fissure
0.5 Toils of Night and Day
0.4 Lotus Petal
0.9 Probe
1.3 Scarscale Ritual
0.4 Preordain
-- sideboard --
2.4 Hydroblast
2.8 Lone Missionary
1.9 Prismatic Strands
1.3 Vedalken Outlander
0.4 Circle of Protection: Red
0.4 Galina's Knight
0.3 Benevolent Unicorn
0.8 Diabolic Edict
0.6 Echoing Truth
0.3 Mana Leak
0.3 Duress
0.6 Snuff Out
1.0 Standard Bearer
0.5 Echoing Decay
#9: RDW
count: 121 (4.6%)
-- main --
3.2 Forgotten Cave
16.7 Mountain
3.7 Keldon Marauders
2.2 Kiln Fiend
4.0 Chain Lightning
3.9 Fireblast
3.4 Incinerate
4.0 Lava Spike
4.0 Lightning Bolt
3.6 Needle Drop
4.0 Rift Bolt
3.5 Searing Blaze
0.9 Staggershock
1.2 Firebolt
0.3 Seal of Fire
0.3 Volcanic Hammer
0.2 Scent of Cinder
-- sideboard --
3.0 Martyr of Ashes
1.5 Pyroblast
2.8 Molten Rain
2.8 Smash to Smithereens
0.6 Relic of Progenitus
0.5 Raze
0.4 Seismic Shudder
0.3 Gorilla Shaman
0.9 Flaring Pain
0.3 Kiln Fiend
0.2 Searing Blaze
0.2 Staggershock
#10: GB Tortured Existence
count: 79 (3.0%)
-- main --
8.1 Forest
1.9 Golgari Rot Farm
10.0 Swamp
2.6 Terramorphic Expanse
3.0 Basking Rootwalla
0.9 Crypt Rats
3.1 Fume Spitter
2.4 Golgari Brownscale
3.1 Grave Scrabbler
4.0 Putrid Leech
4.0 Stinkweed Imp
3.0 Vampire Hounds
4.0 Wild Mongrel
0.5 Yavimaya Elder
1.6 Echoing Decay
0.4 Raven's Crime
4.0 Tortured Existence
0.8 Sylvok Replica
0.7 Brindle Boar
0.4 Festercreep
0.3 Evolving Wilds
0.6 Diabolic Edict
0.2 Gathan Raiders
-- sideboard --
0.8 Augur of Skulls
0.8 Brindle Boar
1.2 Diabolic Edict
2.3 Duress
2.0 Echoing Decay
1.1 Festercreep
0.8 Fume Spitter
0.7 Golgari Brownscale
1.7 Snuff Out
1.1 Sylvok Replica
0.4 Raven's Crime
0.3 Yavimaya Elder
0.3 Doom Blade
0.2 Grasp of Darkness
0.5 Nature's Claim
#11: MUC Type1
count: 66 (2.5%)
-- main --
18.8 Island
3.9 Cloud of Faeries
3.4 Mulldrifter
3.9 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4.0 Spellstutter Sprite
4.0 Counterspell
3.2 Exclude
3.8 Force Spike
2.8 Gitaxian Probe
3.1 Opt
1.0 Rune Snag
3.5 Snap
0.5 Brainstorm
1.2 Quicksand
0.5 Spire Golem
0.7 Preordain
0.3 Mana Leak
0.3 Think Twice
-- sideboard --
3.6 Echoing Truth
0.4 Exclude
3.5 Sea Sprite
0.9 Steel Sabotage
0.9 Hydroblast
1.5 Bonesplitter
2.0 Relic of Progenitus
0.3 Serrated Arrows
0.2 Spire Golem
0.5 Dispel
#12: MUC Type 2
count: 55 (2.1%)
-- main --
18.6 Island
3.9 Quicksand
1.6 Mulldrifter
3.1 Ninja of the Deep Hours
3.7 Pestermite
0.8 Sentinels of Glen Elendra
4.0 Spellstutter Sprite
3.9 Spire Golem
0.3 Boomerang
4.0 Counterspell
0.9 Dispel
1.9 Exclude
0.7 Mana Leak
0.4 Repeal
1.7 Rune Snag
1.0 Serrated Arrows
3.6 Think Twice
1.1 Condescend
0.3 Deprive
0.3 Errant Ephemeron
0.6 Preordain
0.4 Cloud of Faeries
0.3 Force Spike
1.0 Echoing Truth
0.2 Prohibit
-- sideboard --
0.6 Boomerang
0.6 Deep Analysis
1.4 Dispel
2.8 Hydroblast
0.2 Repeal
1.4 Serrated Arrows
0.5 Mulldrifter
0.9 Unsummon
0.6 Echoing Truth
1.3 Oona's Gatewarden
0.5 Relic of Progenitus
0.9 Sea Sprite
0.5 Steel Sabotage
0.2 Annul
0.6 Negate
0.3 Curse of Chains
0.2 Errant Ephemeron
#13: MUC type 3
count: 34 (1.3%)
-- main --
19.9 Island
3.8 Quicksand
0.3 Sea Gate Oracle
4.0 Spellstutter Sprite
4.0 Spire Golem
4.0 Counterspell
0.3 Deprive
0.7 Exclude
0.8 Oona's Grace
0.5 Piracy Charm
2.8 Think Twice
2.4 Mulldrifter
3.3 Ninja of the Deep Hours
3.4 Pestermite
0.2 Sentinels of Glen Elendra
2.9 Condescend
0.5 Dispel
1.4 Echoing Truth
0.5 Cloud of Faeries
1.5 Errant Ephemeron
0.3 Preordain
0.4 Force Spike
0.4 Serrated Arrows
0.3 Memory Lapse
-- sideboard --
2.4 Dispel
1.1 Errant Ephemeron
0.2 Faerie Trickery
1.3 Hydroblast
3.2 Oona's Gatewarden
0.9 Serrated Arrows
0.5 Deep Analysis
1.0 Echoing Truth
0.7 Mulldrifter
0.3 Unsummon
0.6 Vapor Snag
0.4 Boomerang
0.2 Trinket Mage
0.9 Negate
0.2 Sea Sprite
0.3 Relic of Progenitus
#14: R Storm
count: 38 (1.4%)
-- main --
3.7 Forgotten Cave
11.6 Mountain
4.0 Goblin Bushwhacker
4.0 Kiln Fiend
3.8 Crimson Wisps
3.9 Desperate Ritual
4.0 Empty the Warrens
4.0 Gitaxian Probe
4.0 Lava Dart
3.8 Lotus Petal
4.0 Manamorphose
4.0 Rite of Flame
4.0 Spark Spray
0.6 Pyretic Ritual
0.4 Seething Song
-- sideboard --
2.6 Flaring Pain
3.3 Martyr of Ashes
3.3 Pyroblast
0.2 Raze
2.2 Gorilla Shaman
1.8 Mogg Raider
0.7 Flame Slash
#15: G Post
count: 37 (1.4%)
-- main --
4.0 Cloudpost
10.7 Forest
4.0 Glimmerpost
2.2 Tranquil Thicket
4.0 Aurochs Herd
0.9 Fangren Marauder
3.1 Fierce Empath
3.4 Llanowar Elves
3.9 Overgrown Battlement
0.6 Thundering Tanadon
2.2 Ulamog's Crusher
4.0 Wall of Roots
3.2 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
3.9 Reap and Sow
2.2 Thermokarst
0.2 Citanul Woodreaders
0.9 Krosan Tusker
2.0 Crop Rotation
0.9 Tree of Tales
0.9 Halimar Depths
0.2 Sejiri Steppe
1.1 Serrated Arrows
-- sideboard --
0.8 Fangren Marauder
2.4 Moment's Peace
0.5 Nature's Claim
3.0 Sandstorm
1.2 Serrated Arrows
0.9 Gleeful Sabotage
0.4 Penumbra Spider
0.2 Lignify
0.5 Drain the Well
1.3 Wickerbough Elder
1.3 Thermokarst
0.6 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
0.4 Fog
0.3 Deadly Recluse
#16: GW Cloak
count: 35 (1.3%)
-- main --
7.2 Forest
8.2 Plains
3.4 Terramorphic Expanse
4.0 Bant Sureblade
4.0 Guardian of the Guildpact
2.7 Llanowar Knight
4.0 Qasali Pridemage
3.1 Safehold Elite
3.9 Steward of Valeron
4.0 Armadillo Cloak
2.9 Journey to Nowhere
3.9 Shield of the Oversoul
0.8 Prismatic Strands
3.5 Vines of Vastwood
2.6 Wildfield Borderpost
0.3 Snow-Covered Forest
0.4 Valeron Outlander
0.5 Evolving Wilds
-- sideboard --
3.8 Dust to Dust
2.9 Circle of Protection: Red
3.0 Holy Light
0.7 Journey to Nowhere
1.2 Obsidian Acolyte
1.8 Prismatic Strands
0.5 Relic of Progenitus
Interestingly, MUC was split into three different "sub-groups". All the other decks seem to fit within the same group. If a card's average was less than 0.2 it was omitted.
Those were the most common decks that win in Daily Events, but what I didn't show were the least common. Who was able to 3-1 a Daily Event vs the usual suspects with something different? Join me next week for an Ode to Rouge!
Bonus section!
Top 100 cards excluding basic land:
1) Pyroblast (2277)
2) Lightning Bolt (2125)
3) Hydroblast (2096)
4) Mulldrifter (1913)
5) Lotus Petal (1905)
6) Duress (1856)
7) Compulsive Research (1820)
8) Chromatic Star (1712)
9) Preordain (1706)
10) Terramorphic Expanse (1635)
11) Cloudpost (1584)
12) Journey to Nowhere (1584)
13) Glimmerpost (1584)
14) Kor Skyfisher (1558)
15) Razor Golem (1530)
16) Gitaxian Probe (1526)
17) Vines of Vastwood (1520)
18) Lone Missionary (1503)
19) Bonesplitter (1459)
20) Rancor (1396)
21) Prismatic Strands (1392)
22) Squadron Hawk (1360)
23) Icatian Javelineers (1353)
24) Glistener Elf (1332)
25) Ichorclaw Myr (1327)
26) Sign in Blood (1322)
27) Blight Mamba (1319)
28) Deep Analysis (1317)
29) Invigorate (1274)
30) Gorilla Shaman (1227)
31) Guardian of the Guildpact (1225)
32) Benevolent Bodyguard (1193)
33) Great Furnace (1189)
34) Prophetic Prism (1186)
35) Groundswell (1165)
36) Holy Light (1152)
37) Seat of the Synod (1145)
38) Thoughtcast (1119)
39) Myr Enforcer (1116)
40) Mutagenic Growth (1104)
41) Galvanic Blast (1101)
42) Echoing Decay (1099)
43) Atog (1093)
44) Dust to Dust (1088)
45) Vault of Whispers (1086)
46) Flame Slash (1074)
47) Condescend (1064)
48) Frogmite (1060)
49) Standard Bearer (1059)
50) Disciple of the Vault (1045)
51) Tree of Tales (1039)
52) Hornet Sting (1035)
53) Goblin Bushwhacker (1026)
54) Springleaf Drum (1025)
55) Chain Lightning (1009)
56) Leonin Skyhunter (1000)
57) Carapace Forger (1000)
58) Relic of Progenitus (987)
59) Counterspell (965)
60) Apostle's Blessing (956)
61) Sandstorm (935)
62) Serrated Arrows (930)
63) Seismic Shudder (883)
64) Nature's Claim (871)
65) Cloud of Faeries (868)
66) Manamorphose (862)
67) Rite of Flame (856)
68) Chittering Rats (848)
69) Empty the Warrens (837)
70) Echoing Truth (799)
71) Predator's Strike (783)
72) Snap (781)
73) Fog (781)
74) Phyrexian Rager (758)
75) Ravenous Rats (750)
76) Evolving Wilds (740)
77) Krark-Clan Shaman (726)
78) Tendrils of Corruption (723)
79) Stone Rain (720)
80) Mystical Teachings (719)
81) Flaring Pain (718)
82) Unmake (687)
83) Spellstutter Sprite (683)
84) Grapeshot (674)
85) Ancient Grudge (667)
86) Mogg Raider (667)
87) Crypt Rats (665)
88) Earth Rift (658)
89) Chromatic Sphere (655)
90) Goblin Sledder (653)
91) Mogg War Marshal (651)
92) Order of Leitbur (641)
93) Mana Leak (639)
94) Dark Ritual (634)
95) Corrupt (629)
96) Goblin Cohort (627)
97) Sulfur Vent (616)
98) Ninja of the Deep Hours (607)
99) Mogg Conscripts (606)
100) Cabal Ritual (605)
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Enchantress Control
4 Guard Duty
4 Journey to Nowhere
4 Oblivion Ring
2 Lightmine Field
2 Luminarch Ascension
4 Day of Judgment
4 Wall of Omens
4 Mesa Enchantress
4 Sun Titan
4 Steel Hellkite
4 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
20 Plains
Last week was mono white aggro, this week is the other end of the spectrum - mono white control. Besides control, the theme here is the lovely Mesa Enchantress. The enchantress wants you to cast enchantments and that's just what you're going to do. This deck features 16 enchants. Twelve of them are removal: Journey to Nowhere, Oblivion Ring, and Guard Duty. Two Lightmine Fields provide some defense and two Luminarch Ascensions provide some offense.
As far as creatures go, Wall of Omens buys you time and the "kill team" consists of Sun Titans and Steel Hellkites. A full set of Day of Judgements gives you time and card advantage, and a full set of Emerias work great in mono white control providing long term inevitability.
I usually build aggro decks so this is a bit of a departure for me. I'm used to trying to end the game before my opponent can cast his biggest spells, but as the control player I'm really just trying to make the game go as long as possible. If I can survive by constantly removing my opponent's permanents (enchantress drawing cards along the way) and wiping the battlefield at key moments with Day, then it should be only a matter of time before my Sun Titans and Hellkites clean up. The Sun Titan can dig up Enchantresses or Wall of Omens from the graveyard, or any of the enchants that have been destroyed. Steel Hellkite is one of my absolute favorite finishers. I cannot tell you how many times he's soared over some scary ground dwellers, dealt 5 damage, then blew up said ground dwellers.
I eventually arrived at this deck by reading a Modern Mono White Control thread over at mtgsalvation. I was impressed with the list and built a more budget friendly version (but the lack of extremely expensive cards was one of the reasons I liked it). I added the enchantress because the list had so many enchantments, then I realized it had a ton of standard legal cards so I made some substitutions (including more enchants) and this is the result.
I played ten games in the causal room.
Game 1: Vs Eldrazi spawn, Beastmaster Ascension, Furnace Celebration. I don't remember much about this game except right away I recognized the usefulness of Oblivion Ring (in this deck it hits non-creatures more than creatures) and I thought that this enchantress theme might actually work. Cantripping o-rings and journeys is serious. He concedes after my Sun Titan returns an enchantress and says "no mana", but he had four lands.
Game 2: Vs Treasure Hunt / Zombie Infestation. Seems a little goofy, but I o-ring a Quest for Ancient Secrets. I didn't think I wanted him recurring the treasure hunts, and I had plenty of creature removal. Eventually I got enough mana to cast titans and hellkites. Emeria was firing too.
Again, I'm thinking enchantress is for real. Last game I had two in play and I was just throwing down journeys and o-rings on zombie tokens to draw cards. Divination stapled to o-ring...
Game 3: Mulligan'd to five. Lost to red bloodthirst/aggro deck. I got too greedy with my Day of Judgement. I should've got a two for one on turn four, but I held it and kept taking hits. Then he plays a Chandra, the Firebrand, which I o-ringed (still taking hits). By the time I Day I had taken too much damage. Remember Day is more than card advantage but also is supposed to keep you alive. A good lesson.
Game 4: Beat a green ramp deck: Lotus Cobra, Garruk Wildspeaker, a huge Hydra. Two key Days allow me to survive long enough to get out two Sun Titans who revive a few enchantress. I top deck another enchantress to make three on the battlefield. Guard duty becomes Ancestral Recall. I throw one on his creature, draw three, throw down another on the same creature and he concedes.
Game 5: An early enchantress puts me off to a good start. I get two lightmine fields out, but they aren't doing too much. He o-rings my enchantress, I o-ring his o-ring (was worried the universe would implode, but I think it takes three o-rings to do that). I get a hellkite. He casts Liliana Vess and tutors up his best. The hellkite hits him and blows up liliana. Next turn we see his card of choice was Day of Judgement, but my two Emerias bring back the hellkite and an enchantress on my next upkeep. He concedes.
Game 6: I get a turn two Luminarch Ascension while he stumbles out of the gate. A wall of omens and guard duty let me get four counters on the ascension. He concedes when I start making angels.
Game 7: Vs red/blue bounce I'm stuck on three lands with four six drops in my hand...Finally I get the fourth land and Day of Judgements flow. I'm down to eight life and have an enchantress and titan in play. He casts Act of Treason on the titan. I'm saying goodbye to the enchantress except the attack trigger on my (his) titan digs up an Aether Adept out of his yard which bounces my blocker. I'm down to two and am just waiting on the burn to finish me, but inexplicably he concedes. You gotta draw for the burn in that case. He had at least a few turns.
Game 8: Beat some kind of artifact deck. The key moment was when hellkite flew over an army of golem tokens then obliterated them all for zero mana.
Game 9: Lost on turn 17 vs zombies. Call to the Grave was killing me. Only got one enchantress and she was immediately Doom Bladed. O-ring and Day should be able to handle Call to the Grave, but he drew more calls then I drew answers.
Game 10: One land in my opening hand. This deck can basically never keep one land hand. Mull to six: one land. Mull to five: one land. Mull to four: one land. OK then. Sometimes you keep a one land hand. Vs super aggressive mono white I almost stabilized. Needed a Day bad, but no luck.
7-3. I hate losing the last two. Ah well.
I really like this deck. We got a month or two before standard rotation. A decent chunk of the deck rotates out, but a lot sticks around so we'll see what Innistrad has to offer.
Some potential improvements may be to work in some enchantment life gain via Sunspring Expedition and maybe cutting down on some of the six drops? I feel there may be one or two too many. Timely Reinforcements would work well in this deck. Also Lightmine Field did almost nothing for me over ten games.
I hope you like it! This will be my last standard deck before the rotation, but I don't think this is the last we've seen of Enchantress Control.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Honor Pledge
4 Soul's Attendant
4 Elite Vanguard
4 Accorder Paladin
4 Leonin Skyhunter
4 Porcelain Legionnaire
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Honor of the Pure
4 Guardians' Pledge
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Brave the Elements
2 Tumble Magnet
22 Plains
This week I want to talk about a Standard "white weenie" build inspired by similar pauper deck I put together recently.Guardian's Pledge was the starting point for the pauper deck, and here I add Honor of the Pure to form the core of the Standard version.
Classic Pauper features many excellent ways to generate white token creatures, but in the current Standard environment we aren't so lucky. I felt Conqueror's Pledge, Nomad's Assembly, and White Sun's Zenith cost too much mana (for an aggro deck), and Hero of Bladehold cost too much money (for me). Timely Reinforcements looked interesting for a second until I realized I plan on running out hordes of creatures starting on turn one.
So instead of tokens I focused on small, aggressive creatures and this proved much more fruitful. Squadron Hawk is the best creature in the deck. It provides huge value when combined with Honor or Pledge. Accorder Paladin may claim the second rank featuring an excellent power to mana ratio, but also providing power boosts to all attacking creatures through its Battle Cry ability. One Squadon Hawk (and by one I mean four) combines with Honor, Pledge, or the Paladin to form a very strong early threat.The vanguards, legionnaries and skyhunters form the rest of the aggro army and Soul Attendant provides some lifegain but also isn't afraid to hit somebody when properly boosted.
Oblivion Ring and Tumble Magnet provide a bit of aggressive removal and Brave the Elements qualifies as an All-Star countering removal, countering Pyroclasms, and allowing your creatures to get through unblocked. With every card in the deck under four mana we can easily run only 22 plains.
The gameplan with this deck is to start swinging from turn two, doing as much early damage as possible, then finish the game with Honor or Pledge before your opponent's biggest threats hit the battlefield.
I played ten games in the casual room online. Note the first version of the deck had 21 plains and zero Brave the Elements (I just forgot about it). I think I also had a random Alabaster Mage.
Game 1: He mulligans down to four. He plays an elf and a Joraga Treespeaker. I play a T1 attendant, T2 honor, T3 legionnare. T4 I o-ring the leveled treespeaker and he concedes.
Game 2: I win a close one vs tokens/Fresh Meat/Warstorm Surge. Two attendants must have gained me 50 life, and the fliers are the only way I could get damage through due to his army of Kozilek's Predators. I wanted a pledge the whole game, but one Honor of the Pure enabled me to win without it.
Game 3: Vs mono red, he burns my T2 and T3 paladin then plays two Maniac Vandals (one caught my Tumble Magnet). I'm doing fine with Squadron Hawks then top deck Honor. This is when I start to realize Squadron Hawk plus Honor is really good: two cards for eight flying power.
Game 4: I honestly must have had 15 of my creatures burned this game. He blasted me with two Whipflares, and seriously, like eight other burn spells. I drew a lot of land, then drew into three honors (all my creatures are in the graveyard). Note this was before the Brave the Elements which still didn't cross my mind.
Game 5: Lost vs Golems. I was stuck on two lands the entire game, and I might have won anyway if wasn't for his "gain 10 life" War Report.
Game 6: He mulligans to five and quits. Cool.
Game 7: My notes are sparse on this one: "Beat an Arachnus Spinner deck. Squadron Hawk is so strong in this deck". I think this game involved a Tumble Magnet locking down the Super Giant Spider to make way for the boosted hawks.
After playing seven games I, for some reason, remember I need Brave the Elements, but I can only find room for two. I fear hands full of Honor, Pledge, Elements, and no creatures. I can't bring myself to reduce the number of Honors or Pledges.
Game 8: A very close one vs Goblins. I'm at 12 and busts out a double Goblin Grenade! I thought for sure he had a bolt to finish me, but he just passes the turn. I have one honor on the table and swing with Soul Attendant, a paladin, and a legionnaire. He's at 13, has one Goblin Guide left, and doesn't block. I pledge for the win.
Game 9: A guy quits on me around turn two. So i'll make it 11 games.
Game 10: Lose to Birthing Pod. Multiple Inquisition of Kozileks terrorized me. I still managed to get him down to 2, but too little too late against the insane Birthing Pod chain of Skinrender into Acidic Slime into Massacre Wurm (it was a massacre) into Sheoldred, Whispering One.
Game 11: Beat some kind of ramp deck. A key Oblivion Ring exiled a Chandra, the Firebrand. He didn't get too much besides that. Squadron Hawks and Skyhunter team up with Honor and Pledge.
By no means is this a completely optimized list. I'm wondering if maybe Conqueror's Pledge may work as a two-of at the high end of curve. Also, depending on options for white weenie post-rotation, I may reevaluate whether to fork over the cash for a few Heroes.
I happy with the performance of the deck. I know its just the casual room, but this deck has four rares (and they're cheap). Try it out online, at FNM, or at the kitchen table. I love to hear how it went.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Modern is the Future
Wizards of the Coast announced the Modern format a few weeks ago, and last Friday changed the format of the upcoming Pro Tour Philadelphia from Extended to Modern.
There has been some of backlash about what some feel is a heavy handed ban list, and the short notice for the Pro Tour change, but these are smallish, temporary problems. The main contention has been over the ban list, but as Tom LaPille pointed out in his announcement, the ban list can be changed.
I'm excited about Modern and I think this is going to be a major format. In fact, I think it will become the eternal format at some point in the not too distant future.
Modern was created because the Vintage and Legacy formats are becoming too expensive. Due to Wizards' long-standing and unfortunate reprint policy they have no power to control the pricing of some of the eternal format staples. Vintage has long since been an "enthusiast only" format. With extremely expensive cards like Black Lotus a competitive deck can easily cost thousands of dollars. Legacy doesn't allow the ridiculously powerful and expensive "Power Nine", but supply and demand with no reprints is driving the price of Legacy staples up also. You'll be hard pressed to find an Underground Sea for under $100 (and that's just one of your twenty something lands).
Modern is a new eternal format starting not from Beta, but from the original Mirrodin block (2003) going forward. This new set conveniently excludes every card protected by the reprint policy.
Wizards' has said multiple times they wish the reprint policy never happened, but it's a promise they intend to keep. Some people think they should break their promise "for the benefit of the game", but I disagree. Whether or not they broke a promise they made many years ago is only part of the problem. The other problem is related to what the reprint policy was actually trying to do: protect collectors.
Imagine if you wanted to play vintage and you finally saved up $2000 and bought a set of moxen (you got a really good deal). Then you find out Wizards decided to break their reprint policy and sell a special edition, from the vault, tournament legal box product with the same set for $100. What a slap in the face. Doing this for the legacy staples would have a similar (though not as severe) effect. Disrespecting your most die-hard fans and breaking a promise you said you intend to keep multiple times does not seem like the best thing for Magic.
Now for "Modern Magic" the reprint policy is behind them. Reprints are fair game. Of course the ability to reprint a card doesn't decrease its value, you have to actually reprint it. Can we count on Wizards to reprint the Modern staples which are becoming too expensive? Take Tarmogoyf for example. This guy is listed on Star City Games for $80 (and sold out). To me, that's already too expensive, but over time the price will only go up. Will Wizard's reprint Tarmogoyf?
I'm no expert on the trading card business, but I suspect the longer a card is out of print, the less money Wizards makes off it. Most constructed players buy their cards individually from retailers, but every card purchased ultimately comes from a product sold by Wizards of the Coast. So when players buy cards for their Standard decks this increases the demand for sets currently for sale. Wizards sells mass amount of booster boxes to re-sellers who then sell the boxes or open them and sell the cards individually. However, the second, third, fourth, and fifth re-sales of those cards bring zero money to Wizards. Wizards isn't selling any more boxes of Future Sight so as the demand for Tarmogoyf goes up, there are no more boxes to sell - only secondary price skyrocket.
If, however, Wizards added the mighty Tarmogoyf to the next core set as a mythic rare, you now have extra demand on the new core set which sells more cards for Wizards, and since there are now more goyfs in the world now, its price drops. Interestingly, the fairly recent of invention of the mythic rare can be used in this case to have a more controlled price drop of a reprinted card (as opposed to reprinting at rare). This is a win-win situation: Wizards makes money off a high demand reprint and players have access to cheaper cards.
From a business point of view it makes sense, but what about for the game? What would happen to Standard if Tarmogoyf was reprinted in a core set? The new yearly core set release schedule allows for reprints to be Standard legal for one year instead of two. This would make it less risky to introduce a questionably powerful card into Standard and allow for dominant cards to get in and out quicker.
Then again, Standard is the main format of Magic. I doubt many risks would be taken with Standard for Modern's sake. You could imagine a situation where Modern needs a card reprinted but it would harm standard so the card would not get reprinted. The solution here, and probably the best solution overall for supporting an eternal format, is to reprint cards that aren't Standard legal. I think the best way to do this is with something like event decks. You can put very clearly on the front of the package "Modern Format". This should minimize the unpleasant situation of players buying the product then finding out it's not legal for Standard. Event decks, box sets, or from the vault sets can contain key Modern reprints without affecting Standard. Wizards could price each product to engineer the price of the card post-reprint. I imagine they would aim to drop the price of an expensive card but not tank it. Controlled price drops protect the investment people have already made in their product. Again it's a win-win situation. Wizards prints cardboard and sells it for insane profit while players feel like they're getting a steal.
Modern, free from the shackles of the reprint policy, is a solid foundation on which to build an eternal format. Right now it's a far cry from the madness of Vintage and Legacy, but over time, as more and more sets are released the difference between Modern and its father formats will decrease. Eventually Modern will become the eternal format and Legacy will join Vintage as an "enthusiast only" format featuring ancient artifacts of immense power and extreme cost.
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