//BLOG: Wednesday Afternoon Schmackdown
Madness on the Block
Posted Wed - August 29, 2007 by Billy Gragasin
Categories » Magic: the Gathering
Whew! It's been a while since I've never wrote anything for my supposed to be last week's "schmackdown." We've been so busy in the Nationals coverage. You know, compiling every match report, proofreading struggles, more decklists, and so forth. But so much for that.
Time to move forward.
Last Saturday was the final installment of PTQ Valencia. Impact from outside tournaments was really noticeable. If you want to know what I mean just take a look at the metagame breakdown below:
Mono Blue Pickles and Red Deck Wins seemed to dominate any other archetypes by numbers. But Tarmogoyf decks combined are even greater. Relic-Teachings control was present but didn’t perform well. Few only used Predator.dec, opposite from the US PTQ results from which this deck is superior. Mono Black Aggro is used more by players rather than its control build. And hey, Slivers are crashing the party! It's viability was proven when Virulent Slivers were realized as potential turn 3 killers. Adding to that, Dormant Sliver combined with Firewake Sliver indulges you to a nasty card drawing, sliver popping, and game ending combo. TarmoRack, one of the deadliest deck ever made in Standard was inferior in TS Block due to the absence of Dark Confidant and Cry of Contrition. Mana Ramp, whether B/G or R/G or R/G/B, was still in the mainstream. Other decks appeared were rogue-ish and out-of-the-box.
Speaking of rogue decks, JT Porter slipped into the Top 8 last Saturday with his Madness deck. Let's take a look at the deck:
I really like the innovations of this deck. Magus of the Bazaar is being abused to dig deeper through the library and play madness cards like Reckless Wurm and Fiery Temper. Gathan Raiders and Looter Il-kor add up to the synergy. The presence of VSS is really useful against Mono Blue Pickles where you can beat them in their own game. Greater Gargadon works also not only as the largest creature, but acts as a sacrifice outlet to dodge Tendrils of Corruption. The only off-color card, Bridge from Below, is actually tech against control decks that run Damnation or removals, and even works great with a suspended Gargadon. Keldon Megaliths becomes handy here whenever you ran out of cards in hand, which is at most beneficial to Gathan Raiders.
Sideboard, Willbender is very helpful in every deck that runs blue. One thing that I really like about 'bender is you can actually divert Careful Consideration to yourself. Drawing four cards at your opponents expense is really a smack in the face! Fortune Thief is against any G/W or U/G, where removals are less present, giving you time to draw plans in a critical mode. Dead // Gone and Snapback are necessary against any creature-heavy opponent. Word of Seizing will stop any Teferi in a split-second.
Zero Level 3 Players? Who the hell you think you are?
My word for that dude who made comments about Pinoy Magic in some other forums, "Criticisms are good, but insults are not. It sucks to be you!"
Coming Up
This Saturday will mark the start of Limited season in Magic, kicking off with GPT Bangkok. It would be good time for us to consider playing Limited and improve in formats other than constructed. I'm really looking forward playing in Bangkok and in Kuala Lumpur next year.
Also, Lorwyn starts to reveal itself. So exciting, I wonder how does planeswalker work? Loyalty? Tribal? Champion? Hmm, we'll find them out starting September.
Plus, interviews starting off with this year's champion Jose Marie Sabale.
So that wraps up the last article for the month of August. Wait a minute, September? Whoa, time flies so fast! Should I say advanced Merry Christmas! ;)
Time to move forward.
Last Saturday was the final installment of PTQ Valencia. Impact from outside tournaments was really noticeable. If you want to know what I mean just take a look at the metagame breakdown below:
| Deck | No. of Players | % |
| Mono Blue Pickles | 17 | 13.9 |
| Red Deck Wins | 15 | 12.3 |
| U/G Tarmogoyf (Donkey Pong) | 8 | 6.6 |
| U/B/x Relic-Teachings Control | 8 | 6.6 |
| White Weenie | 8 | 6.6 |
| Mana Ramp Variants | 8 | 6.6 |
| Poison Slivers | 6 | 4.9 |
| Mono Black Aggro | 6 | 4.9 |
| U/W Blink Tempo | 6 | 4.9 |
| Wild Pair Slivers | 5 | 4.1 |
| Mono Black Control | 5 | 4.1 |
| U/B Teferi Control | 5 | 4.1 |
| G/W Tarmogoyf Aggro | 5 | 4.1 |
| Predator.dec | 4 | 3.3 |
| UWR Blink Riders | 4 | 3.3 |
| U/B Reanimator | 3 | 2.5 |
| B/G TarmoRack | 3 | 2.5 |
| Mono Green Aggro | 1 | 2.5 |
| Others | 5 | 4.1 |
Mono Blue Pickles and Red Deck Wins seemed to dominate any other archetypes by numbers. But Tarmogoyf decks combined are even greater. Relic-Teachings control was present but didn’t perform well. Few only used Predator.dec, opposite from the US PTQ results from which this deck is superior. Mono Black Aggro is used more by players rather than its control build. And hey, Slivers are crashing the party! It's viability was proven when Virulent Slivers were realized as potential turn 3 killers. Adding to that, Dormant Sliver combined with Firewake Sliver indulges you to a nasty card drawing, sliver popping, and game ending combo. TarmoRack, one of the deadliest deck ever made in Standard was inferior in TS Block due to the absence of Dark Confidant and Cry of Contrition. Mana Ramp, whether B/G or R/G or R/G/B, was still in the mainstream. Other decks appeared were rogue-ish and out-of-the-box.
Speaking of rogue decks, JT Porter slipped into the Top 8 last Saturday with his Madness deck. Let's take a look at the deck:
| JT Porter "This is madness. THIS IS SPARTA!" Top 8 - PTQ Valencia II |
|||
| Maindeck |
Sideboard |
||
| Lands: 12 Island 8 Mountain 2 Keldon Megaliths 1 Gemstone Mine --- 23 Lands |
Creatures: 4 Looter Il-Kor 4 Magus of the Bazaar 4 Riftwing Cloudskate 3 Vesuvan Shapeshifter 3 Venser, Shaper Savant 3 Greater Gargadon 4 Gathan Raiders 4 Reckless Wurm --- 29 Creatures Other Spells: 4 Fiery Temper 4 Bridge from Below --- 8 Other Spells |
4 Willbender 3 Word of Seizing 3 Dead // Gone 3 Fortune Thief 2 Snapback --- 15 Cards |
|
I really like the innovations of this deck. Magus of the Bazaar is being abused to dig deeper through the library and play madness cards like Reckless Wurm and Fiery Temper. Gathan Raiders and Looter Il-kor add up to the synergy. The presence of VSS is really useful against Mono Blue Pickles where you can beat them in their own game. Greater Gargadon works also not only as the largest creature, but acts as a sacrifice outlet to dodge Tendrils of Corruption. The only off-color card, Bridge from Below, is actually tech against control decks that run Damnation or removals, and even works great with a suspended Gargadon. Keldon Megaliths becomes handy here whenever you ran out of cards in hand, which is at most beneficial to Gathan Raiders.
Sideboard, Willbender is very helpful in every deck that runs blue. One thing that I really like about 'bender is you can actually divert Careful Consideration to yourself. Drawing four cards at your opponents expense is really a smack in the face! Fortune Thief is against any G/W or U/G, where removals are less present, giving you time to draw plans in a critical mode. Dead // Gone and Snapback are necessary against any creature-heavy opponent. Word of Seizing will stop any Teferi in a split-second.
Zero Level 3 Players? Who the hell you think you are?
My word for that dude who made comments about Pinoy Magic in some other forums, "Criticisms are good, but insults are not. It sucks to be you!"
Coming Up
This Saturday will mark the start of Limited season in Magic, kicking off with GPT Bangkok. It would be good time for us to consider playing Limited and improve in formats other than constructed. I'm really looking forward playing in Bangkok and in Kuala Lumpur next year.
Also, Lorwyn starts to reveal itself. So exciting, I wonder how does planeswalker work? Loyalty? Tribal? Champion? Hmm, we'll find them out starting September.
Plus, interviews starting off with this year's champion Jose Marie Sabale.
So that wraps up the last article for the month of August. Wait a minute, September? Whoa, time flies so fast! Should I say advanced Merry Christmas! ;)
