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Hello again, loyal Star City readers! Like many of you, I spent this weekend learning all about the new Type 2 at my State Championships. I saw lots of fun decks, had a great time, and even saw a Legendary Dragon or two in play. Most importantly, Rob Dougherty, the T.O. for Massachusetts States, owner of Your Move Games, and one heck of a great guy, let me have access to the decklists of all 93 players for analysis. I spent this morning drinking tea, rummaging through decklists, and furiously making all sorts of tables and charts. The result was a first look at the Standard metagame after the format's big debut. These insights (and other musings) are the subject of this week's Magic Diva.
First of all, let me say that I had a fantastic time at States. That means a lot, considering that I'm someone who generally doesn't play much Type 2 and only made her deck the day before the tournament. There's something about this format that is just, well... fun! I played a Blazing Specter deck (more on that later). How fun is it to Ritual out that guy on turn 2, smack your opponent upside the head with it, and take a card with you? How great is it to Void for four, kill a Blastoderm on the table, and knock another Blastoderm, a Defender en-Vec, and two Armageddons out of their hand? (Yes, that really happened.) How fun is it to see Evil Fish decks in the Top 8, to hear people Tsabo's Decree for "Rebels," and to see the guy next to you with a Darigaaz, the Igniter in play? How fun is it to see all these blue-white Millstone decks running around?
Hey, wait a minute... that part isn't fun at all.
But for the most part, this format is a throwback to long lost archetypes, like discard and "Ernie 'Geddon" and "Erhn-'em and Burn-'em." It's full of ridiculous gold cards, big fat creatures, and lots of attack phases in which said big fat creatures turn sideways. I found myself enjoying the game more than I have in quite some time. Maybe it's just because it's a new format, or maybe it's because I finally get to Ritual out a Specter again after all these years. Whatever the reason, I liked it. I hope it lasts.
Now, down to business. There were 93 people at the Mass State Championship, which was run by Your Move Games and hosted at TJ Collectibles in Milford, MA. The decklists for the Top 8 and other interesting decklists can be found at the YMG website here: www.yourmovegames.com (The YMG webmistress, my roommate Helen, is a very busy lady. If the decklists aren't up yet when you look, please cut her some slack and look again later!)
The breakdown was as follows:
15
1
12
3
8
0
9
0
8
3
6
0
5
0
4
1
4
0
3
0
3
0
3
0
3
0
2
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
What can we learn from this? The most popular decks are Blue White control, Red Green Beats, Green White Fatty 'Geddon, Blazing Specter Discard, and Rebels. Two decks had very impressive win percentages: 3/8 Fires of Yavimaya decks (37.5%) and 3/5 Mono White Rebel decks (a whopping 60%) played their way to the Top 8. Based on that alone, I'd expect to see a lot more of these decks in the weeks to come. I also always find it interesting to notice the number of "rogue" decks (i.e., decks played by three or fewer people.) I've done deck breakdowns like this before, and that's always the case. No matter how much it may seem like an environment is dominated by a handful of archetypes, there is always more variety than you'd think.
More interesting trivia: In a surprising turn of events, there were no Rising Waters decks. Some of the Blue Skies decks had the oh-so-annoying enchantment in their sideboards, but none maindecked it. And finally, my pick for card of the tournament is Fact or Fiction. It appeared in 36 of the 93 decks at states (38.7%). Personally, every time one of my opponents cast it, I wanted to run around the room screaming "EOTFOFYL!" (End of Turn Fact or Fiction, You Lose!) Or perhaps in my case, it was more like "EOTFOFIL!"
I promised in the beginning that I'd come back to my Blazing Specter deck, and here it is. I have to give credit to my friend Leslie Turek of The Charm School, who got me started thinking about Blazing Specter decks to begin with, to Nicolas Labarre, whose deck here on Star City influenced me very heavily after I went searching for lists, (Thanks, Nicolas!) and to Darwin Kastle, who helped me with the fine tuning. I went 5-2 with it, placing 11th.
4x Blazing Specter
4x Chimeric Idol (a way around Story Circle)
4x Ravenous Rats (Addle might be better, I'm not sure)
2x Pyre Zombie
4x Stupor
4x Seal of Fire
4x Vampiric Tutor
3x Void
1x Thrashing Wumpus
1x Earthquake
1x Perish (I love the 1-of and Vamp Tutor mechanic)
4x Dark Ritual
4x Sulfurous Springs
4x Urborg Volcano
6x Mountains
10x Swamps
Sideboard:
2x Scorching Lava (for Pyre Zombies and Nether Spirits)
2x Perish
4x Snuff Out
2x Flashfires (another way around Story Circle, sort of)
2x Boil
1x Earthquake
1x Tsabo's Decree
1x Marauding Knight
Even though no decks like this made the Top 8, I enjoyed playing the it immensely, and I'd play it again. The Boils and Flashfires in the sideboard weren't as good as I'd hoped because people had so many non-basic lands. I'd probably keep the Flashfires, but take out the Boils. I felt like I needed more help against the Fires of Yavimaya deck... maybe I could use something like Wall of Vipers to kill their ground fatties. I also should have had a burn spell in the deck that could do three damage, instead of the Seals of Fire. I didn't have any Urza's Rages, but I could have used Rhystic Lightning or something. I liked the main deck how it was, except for when I cast a Ravenous Rat and my opponent threw a Nether Spirit into his graveyard. Dammit!
That's it for this time. May good luck and smooth mana draws be with you.
Michelle Bush
The Magic Diva
