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By: whiffy, Georgios Efelis
Aug 26 2010 11:43am
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     Hello all, We actually managed to fire the Classic event on 8/21/10. To the best of my knowledge this is the first one to hit since before Urza's Legacy was printed. I thought that I would take the time to dissect the event because Classic is still my favorite format and I thought that maybe we could get some momentum rolling with the format if I gave it some exposure. I wrote this article as I played in the event in between rounds and hope you enjoy this intimate look at what information on the format is available. 

     I built my deck 15 minutes before the event was suppose to start. I had to start from scratch as I do not have any of my decks saved on the new computer which replaced the one I had been using for a few years. I pretty much went in blind as there is no metagame at all. I built Oath cause I know it well and I tried to target the mirror, Dredge, and artifact decks, with a token resistance to Storm and completely ignoring Merfolk. I honestly didn’t think it would fire so I just put in a bunch of cards that I thought would be fun to play with if I drew them. After seeing the results of the event, the deck can be better tuned to what’s really going on. 

             

 

     I decided that I would go with another picture grouping the cards in the deck by functionality like I did the last time I wrote about Oath. I like seeing things in picture form and I think you get a better feel of what the deck does this way. Plus I'm vain and want to show off my foils. There will be a list later as well as how I would build the deck if there were to be another event next week. On to the event!

 Archetype break down

6x Oath
5x Dredge
3x Merfolk
1x Burn
1x Storm
1x Grim Welder
1x Suicide Black
6x Drop

     Six brave souls joined just to start this event and I thank you for your dedication to the format. So with 18 players we have 33% Oath 27% Dredge 15% Merfolk and 15% for the three singleton decks. On to my report of the rounds.
 
Rd 1 - Bye
I would just like to thank the following people who only joined to make sure the event would fire.
Dangerlinto
No_1
Menace13 
Fiatlux
Spreadingbull
Onetrickpony
You guys rock! 
 
Rd 2 -  Oath
Game 1
I had the good fortune of getting a bye so he didn't know what I was playing. He destroyed my early lands with Waste and Strip, and ran out a naked Oath. I eventually got Orchard before he did and attacked with giant fatties, off his Oath.
Sideboard- 3 Oath -1 Leyline of the Void - 1 Petal  + 2 Claim +1 Terastodon  +1 Bribery + 1 Spawning Pit
Game 2 
I start with double Orchard and Imp Seal for Oath on turn 2. He gets Gargadon and double Orchard, I get Spawning but he counters. He gets an Oath and I Claim it when he gives me a token. I then assemble Show and Tell/Emrakul while he’s empty. Two bashes and its over.
 
Rd 3 - Oath 
Game 1
I lead with land Top, so does she. I filter and seal for Show and Tell for the Emrakul in my hand with a matching Orchard. She assembles Counter/Top but taps out. I sneak in Emrakul. I attack her to four and then she gets Oath and uses Vamp to get Emrakul to legend rule them.  This brings her to two and I attack for lethal with my 2 spirit tokens and Force of Will her Swords to Plowshares.
Sideboard +2 Claim +1 Terastodon  +1 Spawning Pit  +1 Bribery -3 Oath -1 Blessing -1 Leyline of the Void
GAME 2
We play the orchard game for a very long time and I eventually get up to 3. I get to activate Oath once for Iona, that she had played. I named white and then she tutored up a Gargadon to start Oathing up fatties. I luckily enough drew a Terastodon and hard cast it to kill her Oath and two of my lands. Which let me smash with Iona for the win.
 
Rd 4 -  Oath
Game 1
He gets an early Orchard advantage and stops my Jace with Mana Drain. His resolves and is dealt with, but then Oath comes up and I cant stop the fatties.
Sideboard- 3 Oath -2 Leyline of the Void -1 Helm + 2claim +1 Terastodon  +1 Bribery + 1 Spawning Pit  +1 needle
Game 2
We trade Jaces and build up Orchards, until I get 5 land to play Bribery and Steel his Sphinx . I then top deck a Spell Pierce for his second Jace.
Game 3
I mull to 4 and he goes Orchard Oath. I then don’t activate my own Orchard and he drops another one. I scoop.
 
Rd 5 -  2nd place in Swiss -  Merfolk
Game 1
I open on the nuts, Mana Crypt, Lotus Petal, Orchard, Thoughtseize, Oath. I clear out his Force and then play Oath with 1 mana up for his Daze. He plays an Adept and passes. I mill down to 5 cards with out hitting Blessing. Flip Sphinx, and draw Iona. I play a second Oath and then flip Emrakul, and then shuffle my library. He dies to fatties.
Sideboard  -2 Leyline of the Void -1 Helm +1 Needle +1 Terastodon +1 Spell Pierce
I mull to 6 and keep a lose hand of Seat, Waste, Tezz, Jace, Blessing, and Brainstorm. I draw into a fetch and he makes a Wasteland and a Lord of Atlantis. I try a Crucible and he Daze’s it. I drew a Lotus Petal to allow me to Seize him and drop Oath. I ripped out his Sower of Temptation and left him with 3 Swords to Plowshares. I Wasted his Tundra and then flipped up Terastodon offing an island walking Mutavault, which allowed me to flip Iona on white. He played a dude and I flipped Emrakul. On the next turn I attacked for 22 in the air killing him in one swing. If he hadn't been mana shy, I think his Waste would have crippled me this game.
 
Top 8 -  1st in the Swiss -  Dredge
Game 1
I double  mulligan single mana hands  into a turn 2 Oath he goes crazy with double Bazaar, and dredges me out on turn 3.
Sideboard -3 Pierce -2 Force of Will -1  Tezzeret + 2 needle +1 Trap, +1 Tormod's Crypt, +2 Leyline of the Void
I triple mulligan worthless, no mana hands into 2 fetch lands Sea and Vamp. I Vamp for Needle on Bazaar but I draw nothing while he was able to set up a slow dredge and Ichorid me to death.
 
That’s that for my event but lets look at some other statistics.
 

 The Top 8 was 4 Oath 2 Dredge 2 Merfolk and the top 8 played out like this.

Oath vs. Dredge- Dredge wins
Oath vs. Dredge- Oath wins
Oath vs. Merfolk- Oath wins
Oath vs. Merfolk- Oath wins

Oath vs. Oath- Oath wins
Oath vs Dredge- Dredge wins

Dredge beats Oath for the win.

And now lets take a look at how each of the decks made it to their final standings.

 
Rd1 Oath 2-0
Rd2 Oath 1-2
Rd3 Merfolk 1-2
Rd4 Suicide Black 2-0
Rd5 Dredge 2-0
Top8 Oath 2-0
Top4 Oath 2-0
Finals Oath 2-0


Rd1 Merfolk 2-0
Rd2 Dredge 2-1
Rd3 Oath 0-2
Rd4 Dredge 2-1
Rd5 Oath 2-0
Top 8 Dredge 2-0
Top 4 Oath 2-0
Finals Dredge 0-2


Rd1 Bye
Rd2 Suicide Black 2-1
Rd3 Merfolk 2-0
Rd4 Oath 2-1
Rd5 Oath 0-2
Top8 Merfolk 2-1
Top 4 Oath 0-2


Rd1 Dredge 2-1
Rd2 Oath 0-2
Rd3 Suicide Black 2-1
Rd4 Dredge 2-1
Rd5 Oath 2-0
Top8 Merfolk 2-1
Top4 Dredge 0-2

 
Rd1 Bye
Rd2 Oath 2-0
Rd3 Oath 2-0
Rd4 Oath1-2
Rd5 Merfolk 2-0
Top8 Dredge 0-2

 
Rd1 Dredge 2-1
Rd2 Dredge 1-2
Rd3 Dredge 2-1
Rd4 Oath 2-1
Rd5 Grim Welder 2-0
Top8 Oath 1-2


Rd1 Bye
Rd2 Grim Welder 2-1
Rd3 Oath 0-2
Rd4 Oath 2-1
Rd5 Oath 0-2
Top8 Oath 1-2

 

Rd1 Storm 2-0
Rd2 Merfolk 2-1
Rd3 Oath 0-2
Rd4 Oath 1-2
Rd5 Dredge 2-0
Top8 Oath 0-2 

 So after digesting all of this information it's time to try and brew something that can attack the metagame, which is nearly all Oath and Dredge. Ideally you would try to bring something that consistently beats these two decks like Storm, which is faster then they are. I like Oath though so I'll start by using everything we all agreed on.

 

Composite Oath deck of the 4 placing lists
What everyone can agree on.
Creatures
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 cards

Other Spells
4 Oath of Druids
4 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric tutor
4 Force of Will
1 Gaea's Blessing
3 Spell Pierce
2 Lotus Petal
20 cards
Lands
4 Forbidden orchard
1 Wasteland
2 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Strip Mine
2 Polluted Delta
12 cards
 
Iona, Shield of Emeria


Other then the fact that all the decks have these 33 spells they all have at least 24 mana sources. There is of course a second creature in each deck but people can't decide which is better, Emrakul or Platinum Angel. Given the current metagame and where I think it would shift based on these results I would flesh this deck out like this...


As you can see I liked a lot about my first stab but incorporated a little of some of the other decks. I added Mystical because I feel like secondary options in Show and Tell, and Tinker are very strong. As well as the traps and Life from the Loam out of the board. I also wanted a main deck Claim because it would have been fantastic in every match on Saturday. The obvious thing is Sol Ring but I'm pretty sure that gets released in Relics with in 10 days of this event.
 
Until next time guys, whiffy out

Georgios Efelis
whiffy penguin on Modo
Member of Clan Magic Eternal

12 Comments

What I forgot... sigh by whiffy at Sun, 08/22/2010 - 17:40
whiffy's picture

Archetype win loss percentages of top 8 participants

Oath total 34-25
vs. Dredge 10-10
vs. Merfolk 10-2
vs. Suicide Black 4-1
vs. Oath 13-9

Dredge total 21-11
vs. Oath 10-7
vs. Dredge 4-0
vs. Merfolk 3-3
vs. Storm 2-0
vs. Suicide Black 2-0

Merfolk total 15-15
vs. Oath 6-10
vs. Dredge 5-4
vs. Grim Welder 4-1

Whiffy! I was hoping you'd by Westane at Thu, 08/26/2010 - 12:14
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Whiffy! I was hoping you'd post an article soon because I wanted your opinion on something. I think I'm about at the point where I'm ready to shed this Standard coil and start focusing on eternal formats. I cut my teeth on Vintage so naturally Classic has an appeal for me. Legacy is also something I very much want to play.

My only concern before I sell off most of my red-symbol abominations, is who's going to be waiting for me on the other end. I'd hate to shake up my investment so much only to be struggling to find people to play with. Do DE's have a lot of trouble firing? What are UZ/UL packs selling for? Is the magic Necropotence number still 11?

Basically, am I worried over nothing or will I really be downsizing in my playtime?

in a nut shell by whiffy at Thu, 08/26/2010 - 12:25
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Legacy is pretty healthy in terms of eternal. it fires 5-7 de's a week. It has a hard time making a pe fire though.

there is almost always event players in the tp room, although the tp room does not nessicerrally reflect the de meta game.

Urzas packs are not great at all. you can sell the 6 packs u get from 3-1ing a de for about 10-14 tiks, and the uuu drafts dont fire often.

Classic is an inigma. all week the tp room has been active with the people who love the format. Been playing pick up games and against players i know who are good. Its hard to tell u to get mana drains, oaths, and black tutors when i know that we fired 1 event in 2 and a half months. I just hope that the exposure i am giving, and going to continue giving it, plus sol ring and possibly mox diamond will help to make it fire a bit more.

As for necro, well im not in the know in vintage but if im playing with fow the magic number is like 15. If im not i might go for a maximum hand size of 12 when i discard.

Forgot to rate, I love this by Westane at Thu, 08/26/2010 - 12:15
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5

Forgot to rate, I love this sort of thing!

Thank, very enjoyable read. by LOurs at Thu, 08/26/2010 - 19:37
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5

Thank, very enjoyable read.

Classic is an awesome format. I like it very much, no other format provide to me a similar feeling of powered card, tricky plays & freedom to build. That said, I think that one of the main reason why classic doesnt fire a lot is that the format is difficult to understand (i dont know if that wording is correct). I mean, a so large choice of power card involves that the format requires deep playing skills to perform. That's why I like it a lot btw - i am not especialy skilled myself, but like to put me in danger zone (private joke). But if it is so interesting, it is also a bit scary to enter into. Classic exists only on mtgo, and players cant find easly supports like decks lists or meta analysis ... (except ClassicQuarter.com which is a reference for that). And a new player in the format could find it frustating sometime to pratice as you have to deal with crazy powerful deck ... and without well knowing how these decks work, it is much more complicate and extremly difficult to deal with. I spoke with a player in TP room about that after he tried and said he will stay in legacy for these reasons.
So thank you for these articles, and thank you to players encouraging the format (dangerlinto as well who did/'s doing so much for the format, and some other writers here & there) because it needs work and provide a precious help to many players, inclunding me as well. Just go on and hurra for classic!

For me that's the draw! I by Westane at Thu, 08/26/2010 - 19:50
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For me that's the draw! I remember my first experience was when some guy I met at the local card shop loaned me a deck to play with a couple other guys. It was Grow-a-tog. I'd never seen cards like Mana Drain and Force of Will before, let alone the moxen flying around the table. It was pretty amazing. After that I was asked if this was more fun than Standard to which I replied with an emphatic YES. So, the guy who invited me talked to me for a bit and told me there was a 15-proxy Vintage event up in Gilbert for which the prize was a playset of Force of Wills, and that if I were to continue playing these kinds of formats I'd need them. He gave me a deck full of proxies and told me to take it home and goldfish. He told me the basic idea, followed by knife threats and whatnot. It was Long.dec.

A week later I had a new love for combo and a new set of Force of Wills!

To the point, it's really not that scary once you scratch the surface, and I think Classic/Vintage splits into archetypes very easily. Combo IS Combo, Control IS Control and Aggro IS Aggro, with few exceptions. Most deck types draw from the same card pool and after that it' just a matter of learning their nuances.

If MED4 doesn't bring P9 and Vintage support with it... I'm eating my shoe. The left one.

I hear ketchup goes well with by Paul Leicht at Thu, 08/26/2010 - 21:09
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I hear ketchup goes well with shoe leather...not sure what to tell you if your left shoes got plastic/rubber in it though. That stuff sticks in the craw.

@ lours by whiffy at Thu, 08/26/2010 - 21:46
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Lours i agree with everything you said. The format is so skill intensive its not even funny. You can eaisly lose the game on turn 1 from putting down the wrong land or tapping your land against certain decks. That being said though it is a skill intensive format for everyone! So were all on an even footing. besides being skill intensive the decks are very powerful and few of them are so unforgiving that simple misclicks or mistimed plays end the game.

The reason I love classic is the busted plays and intracate lines of thought behind each play. I mean what other format can you go
land
petal
dark ritual
darkritual
liliana's caress
windfall.
You take 14 damage from discarding your hand i draw 7 new cards and play out 3 more mana and a second windfall or even a memory jar?

Yea, thats just so much better then khalni garden go... or
forest Noble hiearch.

As for new players, yea its intimidating, but anybody with a serious interest in the format will inquire or watch and learn. Sure oath of druids is crazy to some one who dosent know and goes t1 savannah lions. but he will learn fast. and then when he brings a control deck and the oath player lays out a forbiddan orchard, he will learn another valuable lesson. I already have 2 classic articles in my head, and want to have them out over the next two weeks.

Classic is addictive once your in the inner circle and realize how the format works. I will go so far as to say that classic is the perfect metagame format. Decks exist as teir 1 stratgeys for months to years at a time, so learning there weakness and playing a rouge deck has more benefit in this format then any other.

Looking to play classic? Intimidated? by dangerlinto at Fri, 08/27/2010 - 08:03
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Watch classic games in TP involving at least one person you know. Seriously. If you are unsure of whether or not they are aware of what is good, come msg me and I'll be glad to help anyone- ANYONE who's new and has questions. One of the things I know I asked regulars to do was to stop making unwatchable classic games - that doesn't help (unless you think you have super secret tech - and lets be fair - you don't).

I'm sure the above goes for people like Whiffy and Many other regulars, but I'm not going to speak for everyone in that regard. We are *much* happier letting you know that your Soldier/Honor of the Pure deck isn't going to play out well than to trounce it with a Tier 1 classic deck.

And since most people have questions about which cards to buy for classic or what deck to play, I would also like to shill that CQs website has a tournaments section which will tell you under no uncertain terms the answers to both those questions with a little research.

On your decklist whiffy by dangerlinto at Fri, 08/27/2010 - 08:19
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Maindeck
-1 Helm
-2 Leyline

+ 1 Yawgmoth's Will
+ 1 Balance
+ 1 Echoing Truth

If your alt win is going to be helmline, you need to run Drain and you aren't running drains. If you are going to run Mystical Tutor, you need to run the best sorcery's in the game - and echoing truth!

Running Mystical just to get Tinker so you can hopefully tinker out a Helm and get 4 more mana to try to merge to form Devastator is way too mana intensive for a deck like Oath

Sideboard
I like terestradon but he can't be tinkered - Steel Wind can - and he can win your random aggro match up. Tough meta choice but I like Steel wind right now as the 4th.

You also need to put 2 more leylines in there, so I would go with -1 Show and Tell and -1 Claim. I know you wnt 4 Claim, but Oath already beats down on Stax (especially Classic Stax).

the mysticals are not in by whiffy at Fri, 08/27/2010 - 10:25
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the mysticals are not in there purely for tinker they are to get that tinker or show and tell, a lot of decks will side in enchantment hate and having two more ways to plop out a fattie are why i like the mystical.

i have the helm line package purely as a misers out and to give me a small edge against dredge.

i also think terastodon is superioor if the metagame looks this way. sphinx has almost 0 application in my rounds for the event, while the don one me 2 matches. that sphinx would have lost me.

Either way by dangerlinto at Fri, 08/27/2010 - 19:46
dangerlinto's picture

Mystical to get Show and Tell so on the off change you have 1 of 3 creatures in hand is also a bad alt play.

Terastodon is wicked in a Workshop meta. I guess it's good in the mirror which happens a LOT :), so I will agree that is a good call.