I have double checked and I think am correct: Two people made Top8 with belcher on the 12th October (which happens to be the World Qualifer). Both Romp Romp Romp and Blade made Top8 of the same event and the version in the Top10 decks to beat is that of Blade from this event. Let me know if you still disagree. But I am happy that both of the statements are correct as written.
You wrote " It is interesting that the 2 Top8 appearances for this deck both came in the same event." while you featured the Belcher list which made T8 in the WQ one week later, in your Top10 decks article. So either that sentence is wrong or you missed the Qualifier tourney for this article.
Hi Whiffy, Great article. I also really hope the Jace half of the new duel decks delivers something tasty for classic. I really enjoy reading your tournament reports and congratulations for the success in the 4 Man Queues. It is interesting that you have bad numbers against the mirror match is this because you cannot mulligan as aggressively with such a low land count? Good job and a great read. Under_the_hammer
Hi Bazaar of Badhdad, It was always my intention to cover your Dark Zoo list in the 1st Main Article. I appreciate that being under the radar can be an advantage but you have already made a successful Top8 appearance so your list is already public. If the deck continues to put up the the numbers (which I beleive it will) then look for the decklist to make the Top10 Decks to Beat update at the end of November. I agree with the problems of the mana base for enemy colors and this kind of situation is why I personally feel Wizards were wrong to split the Dual lands across MED2 and MED3. PS I left you a msg on the CQ two days ago ; _) Thanks for reading UTH
Thanks for the mention this time - I probably should have kept my mouth shut, as being under the radar has its advantages. I never really considered the dual aspect with the zoo deck, but even trying to get any kind of good manabase with the b/w aggro control deck I've been working on is torture.
Thank you for the Support there Hippo. I will be back with the 2nd article in 4 weeks time. If anyone has suggestions on how they would like the series to progress let me know by posting in the comments section. I hope to make this a valuable resource and am more than happy to listen to ideas from the readers and classic community.
I am still learning of the wisdom of the many different lands in the set so looko for that to be different in the upcoming drafts. As to why I didn't branch out, I can only say that I tried a four color deck in my last draft and the results were less than satisfactory so I wanted to try sticking with a shard and following it to the end.
I think a 1st pick Ranger of Eos into the Oblivion Ring would've been a much stronger and more flexible start to the draft. I haven't ever seen a deck deal with Ranger into two Nacatls. The first pack would've ended up along the lines of:
P1P1) Ranger
P1P2) Oblivion Ring (which is much stronger than the ogre)
P1P3) Naya Panorama over Squire (in preparation for Nacatls; I could see people arguing for the Squire, but I'm pretty sure you will end up in Naya or Bant with a splash of mountain for Nacatl/burn and I would value the panorama higher in this case)
P1P4) Vithian Stinger (much better than most give it credit for)
P1P5) Savage Lands (free fixing)
P1P6) Bant Panorama (only a bunch of mediocrecards otherwise)
P1P7) bleh, probably the plowbeast
P1P8) Sigil Blessing (very late mind you)
P1P9) Guardians
P1P10) Obelisk of Bant
In the next pack you probably would take Warmonk over the Knight (since it's just that much more powerful and you can credibly assume the Sigil Blessing was some form of signal), then gobble up that Nacatl. The rest of that pack would likely look different since you would have taken the Ranger & Ring that would push people into white on your left. You also would've gotten the Naya Battlemage out of the third pack.
All in all, the ogres are probably not worth committing to a shard for since Shards can really screw you for not being flexible. The key signal of this draft that 8th pick Sigil Blessing.
Congratulations to the winner but boo for there not being any lotus petal in the winning deck ! Good job on running the competition and I look forward to wizards involving the community in future projects.
Tap lands are first picks!! People in 4322s don't seem to get this. I rolled over my opponents last night with four. Granted I had six including two foil ones in a a paper draft once... (2-0 there clearly).
Hi Harlod, I hope you are enjoying classic. Thank you for your kind words. The first report is written and submitted so expect it to be available within the week. UTH
You also took marginal commons early (Shore Snapper pick 5) when you could have been taking dual lands (Savage lands). You were already in two of the colours (so it's already good) and it would have opened up Jund. Packs 2 and 3 you stuck on theme when nuts Jund cards (branching bolt, battlemage, charms, etc) were coming around that would probably have been alot more powerful.
Maybe I just have too much sway towards multi coloured deck :)
I have submitted the first article of the Eternal Wisdom deck today. In addtion to referencing the decks in this article I also include 3 other complete decklists in the main article. One of which is your DarkZoo deck, I talk about the merits of this deck post MED2 and go on to say that I feel this deck will be a strong contender in coming weeks. The reason it did not make the Top10 decks is that the deck has not produced success in the hands of others or with frequency. For completeness the other two decks listed in the main article are a Black Blue Dreadnought deck and a Rock deck by RenatoAmado. I hope that all will make sense when the first article is published hopefully it will be up within the week. I wish you success with your deck and I am interested to see it posting future Top8s and making its way into the Top10 decks to beat article. Thanks for the feedback UTH.
Thank you for your feedback. The Top10 Decks to Beat article is only to supplement the main articles for the new classic-related series called "Eternal Wisdom" (rather than have the main articles cluttered with the same/similar decklists each month. In the main article there will be coverage of the decks. The 1st installement should be up within the week. If you have any specific questions which are not covered in that article please leave another message and I will try and answer as best I can. Thanks UTH
This is really useful, it would be great to keep updated with new archetypes, as and when they arise, as well as changes with new sets. Could be a really usefull resource!
I have double checked and I think am correct: Two people made Top8 with belcher on the 12th October (which happens to be the World Qualifer). Both Romp Romp Romp and Blade made Top8 of the same event and the version in the Top10 decks to beat is that of Blade from this event. Let me know if you still disagree. But I am happy that both of the statements are correct as written.
You wrote " It is interesting that the 2 Top8 appearances for this deck both came in the same event." while you featured the Belcher list which made T8 in the WQ one week later, in your Top10 decks article. So either that sentence is wrong or you missed the Qualifier tourney for this article.
Hi Whiffy,
Great article. I also really hope the Jace half of the new duel decks delivers something tasty for classic.
I really enjoy reading your tournament reports and congratulations for the success in the 4 Man Queues. It is interesting that you have bad numbers against the mirror match is this because you cannot mulligan as aggressively with such a low land count?
Good job and a great read.
Under_the_hammer
Hi Bazaar of Badhdad,
It was always my intention to cover your Dark Zoo list in the 1st Main Article. I appreciate that being under the radar can be an advantage but you have already made a successful Top8 appearance so your list is already public. If the deck continues to put up the the numbers (which I beleive it will) then look for the decklist to make the Top10 Decks to Beat update at the end of November.
I agree with the problems of the mana base for enemy colors and this kind of situation is why I personally feel Wizards were wrong to split the Dual lands across MED2 and MED3.
PS I left you a msg on the CQ two days ago ; _)
Thanks for reading
UTH
Thanks for the mention this time - I probably should have kept my mouth shut, as being under the radar has its advantages. I never really considered the dual aspect with the zoo deck, but even trying to get any kind of good manabase with the b/w aggro control deck I've been working on is torture.
Thank you for the Support there Hippo. I will be back with the 2nd article in 4 weeks time. If anyone has suggestions on how they would like the series to progress let me know by posting in the comments section. I hope to make this a valuable resource and am more than happy to listen to ideas from the readers and classic community.
Onyx Goblet is awesome take them more highly.
I am still learning of the wisdom of the many different lands in the set so looko for that to be different in the upcoming drafts. As to why I didn't branch out, I can only say that I tried a four color deck in my last draft and the results were less than satisfactory so I wanted to try sticking with a shard and following it to the end.
I think a 1st pick Ranger of Eos into the Oblivion Ring would've been a much stronger and more flexible start to the draft. I haven't ever seen a deck deal with Ranger into two Nacatls. The first pack would've ended up along the lines of:
P1P1) Ranger
P1P2) Oblivion Ring (which is much stronger than the ogre)
P1P3) Naya Panorama over Squire (in preparation for Nacatls; I could see people arguing for the Squire, but I'm pretty sure you will end up in Naya or Bant with a splash of mountain for Nacatl/burn and I would value the panorama higher in this case)
P1P4) Vithian Stinger (much better than most give it credit for)
P1P5) Savage Lands (free fixing)
P1P6) Bant Panorama (only a bunch of mediocrecards otherwise)
P1P7) bleh, probably the plowbeast
P1P8) Sigil Blessing (very late mind you)
P1P9) Guardians
P1P10) Obelisk of Bant
In the next pack you probably would take Warmonk over the Knight (since it's just that much more powerful and you can credibly assume the Sigil Blessing was some form of signal), then gobble up that Nacatl. The rest of that pack would likely look different since you would have taken the Ranger & Ring that would push people into white on your left. You also would've gotten the Naya Battlemage out of the third pack.
All in all, the ogres are probably not worth committing to a shard for since Shards can really screw you for not being flexible. The key signal of this draft that 8th pick Sigil Blessing.
Thanks for the feedback man, let me know if there anything you want to see more/less of in the future!
I really like this series of articles. Keep up the good work!
Congratulations to the winner but boo for there not being any lotus petal in the winning deck !
Good job on running the competition and I look forward to wizards involving the community in future projects.
Tap lands are first picks!! People in 4322s don't seem to get this. I rolled over my opponents last night with four. Granted I had six including two foil ones in a a paper draft once... (2-0 there clearly).
The decklist winner is Pi Zhan 83. Thanks to all that participated and hopefully we can do these again soon.
Hi Harlod,
I hope you are enjoying classic. Thank you for your kind words.
The first report is written and submitted so expect it to be available within the week.
UTH
Looking forward to the first report!
Also, i think the "Top 10 Classic decs to beat" section was a good idea for those who are getting into the format (like myself).
Pick 7 Pack 1 - why not the couriers capsule?
You also took marginal commons early (Shore Snapper pick 5) when you could have been taking dual lands (Savage lands). You were already in two of the colours (so it's already good) and it would have opened up Jund. Packs 2 and 3 you stuck on theme when nuts Jund cards (branching bolt, battlemage, charms, etc) were coming around that would probably have been alot more powerful.
Maybe I just have too much sway towards multi coloured deck :)
Hi Bazaar of Baghdad.
I have submitted the first article of the Eternal Wisdom deck today. In addtion to referencing the decks in this article I also include 3 other complete decklists in the main article. One of which is your DarkZoo deck, I talk about the merits of this deck post MED2 and go on to say that I feel this deck will be a strong contender in coming weeks. The reason it did not make the Top10 decks is that the deck has not produced success in the hands of others or with frequency. For completeness the other two decks listed in the main article are a Black Blue Dreadnought deck and a Rock deck by RenatoAmado. I hope that all will make sense when the first article is published hopefully it will be up within the week. I wish you success with your deck and I am interested to see it posting future Top8s and making its way into the Top10 decks to beat article. Thanks for the feedback UTH.
The only two times I've run Zoo in the last two months of PEs (one post-ME2), I got a perfect score first and a finals loss.
Hi Grozathia
Thank you for your feedback. The Top10 Decks to Beat article is only to supplement the main articles for the new classic-related series called "Eternal Wisdom" (rather than have the main articles cluttered with the same/similar decklists each month. In the main article there will be coverage of the decks. The 1st installement should be up within the week. If you have any specific questions which are not covered in that article please leave another message and I will try and answer as best I can. Thanks UTH
Some analysis of the decks would be nice. I like seeing the views and opinions of the authors in these articles.
This is really useful, it would be great to keep updated with new archetypes, as and when they arise, as well as changes with new sets. Could be a really usefull resource!
Excellent article, more please!
For anyone looking for what to test against - gj UTH
Looks like some quality work! I shall be checking this out on a weekly basis.