Honorable Mention

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EricBess

Guest
Check out the link here

Rosewater explained the little "Auction of the People" thing. Personally, I still stand by my opinions about how this whole thing came about. I've been told by a couple of sources that names had nothing to do with it.
"The second complaint was that this deck was designed by a name player. Four of the seventeen decks selected were designed by name players. Three of these players (Taylor, Cuneo and Omerod) are mainly name players known for their deck building skills. This contest was the Auction of the People which includes all Magic players, even famous ones. The committee selected deck lists based on their own merit. The familiarity (or lack thereof) of the deck builder was not a factor."
Click to expand...
Whatever. These players are known for their deckbuilding perhaps, but I can't help but think they might have been chosen in part because this would be a convenient excuse. Anyway, for the most part, Rosewater does a decent job of explaining why the chosen decks were chosen. Personally, some of this comes off as rationalization, but at least he is answering to some of the complaints. My biggest problem is still that fact that I think that the participants should have been ineligible to participate.

Anyway, scroll down a bit. There are a number of honorable mentions. Personally, I didn't think that my swarm deck was the best of the 3 decks that I submitted, but I suppose I had to overcome the competition in the creature types before even being considered. I suppose I should feel good that I actually had a deck considered. ;)
 
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theorgg

Guest
Well, John O' at least had a fun deck. Spys looks like it came from my "Millitant Themedecking" article I wrote several years ago for this site...

:)

It's somthing that I'd build...

:{ D

Sadly, there were decks that could've been better... The Dwarf deck could have had some better selections and STILL have been a "Dwarf Dwarf" deck.

But then again, there CERTANLY Dwarves.

But what did that wall deck do to win? I still can't figure it out...
 
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EricBess

Guest
As far as I can tell, it drops Necropotence to avoid decking itself.
 
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Apollo

Guest
Well. I was thoroughly unimpressed by his explanations. It sounds to me like he was just trying to come up with something to explain those silly selections.

I like when he says "See, it's a Dwarf Dwarf deck. Cause it's small, and it has Dwarves. We thought that was clever, and quite funny. I don't know if some people didn't get the joke..." So... basically what he's saying is "We're not biased. We're just idiots."

I can see it now... they're sitting around a conference table, slapping their thighs... Rosewater: "Hahaha! Cause it's small and it's a dwarf deck! AHAHAHAHA! Dwarf! And it's small! HAHAHAHAHA! DWARF!!!" *Wipes tears from his eyes* "DWARF! SMALL! AHAHAHAHA!"

Then, 2 1/2 hours later: "Oh, shi(tocki mushrooms). I've gotta get these things done... oh, the heck with it. I'll just pick all the names I recognize. Hehe. Dwarf."

And his explanation about the Plague Rats deck: well, yeah, there were tons of Plague Rats deck, but this was the only one with Black Lotuses in it. And because Lotuses are central to the Plague Rats theme, we picked Wise's.
 
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Istanbul

Guest
Allow me to scream "Bulls***".

A deck with Plague Rats and Lotuses and that's it? Man, I'm from back in the day when a pack of Unlimited cost $2.45, and I can tell you two things...first, nobody had eight Lotuses. Having four of ANY rare was pretty unusual, actually. And anyone who was degenerate and dumb enough to actually MAKE a deck with that many Plague Rats quickly discovered that they didn't want to play it anymore...not only was it *dull as dishwater* to play, totally lacking in any tricks or spells or anything more than 'Rat, attack, go', but it was dull to play AGAINST. One well-timed Prodigal Sorceror shuts the deck down cold.

Speaking as someone who's played casually since the game's inception, I can honestly tell you that that is NOT a deck of the people. It's not funny, it's not cute, and I strongly suspect that it's *not* better than 99% of the decks submitted.
 
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Gizmo

Guest
Ive been thinking. I should have done a deck based around about 10-12 Welkin Hawks, you could build some very interesting tricks into that engine.
 
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rkoelsch

Guest
I just want to say congratulation Eric on at least getting an honorable mention. I read the 2 reports that they posted of pros using auction decks and they were terrible matches. I can't think of anyone that would have enjoyed them. I am anxious to see what the pros have to say about them.
 
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Zadok001

Guest
I suppose congradulations are in order. :) I actually thought the Swarm was pretty friggin' cool, but as is my habit, I didn't look at the name attached to it 'til I saw this thread. *grin*

As for Maro's explanations, I believe I've flamed the guy enough about his choices already. I will his writing in no way changes my rather poor opinion of the Auction, but I've already gone over that too many times to count.

[Btw, Giz, that's brilliant. :) --Zadok001]
 
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Sammy Dead-O

Guest
I was quite glad to see another CPA name on there! You and John'O done us proud!
 
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HumanError

Guest
Here's how the Wall deck works...

Uses Infinite Hourglass to pump up all of its walls...

Sacrifices them to Sword of the Ages, swinging for 20+ to the opponent's dome.

And yeah, a lot of Rosewater's choices were absolutely ridiculous and seriously damaged his credibility. He starts off the article by whining about how many submissions they got, and then has the nerve to rationalize choosing BS decks like the Homarid deck and Wise's "ha ha funny inside joke" deck.

Wise's deck's title was an inside joke. If that doesn't scream favoritism, I don't know what does.

And no, I'm not bitter because my deck didn't get chosen - I didn't submit a deck - I just think it's BS like everyone else does.

And I'm sorry, but I imagine there were better, more interesting choices for that Chimera deck and they never popped up. The Abyss has synergy with creatures that have to sacrifice themselves to be useful...? Okay...someone explain that to me, please.

I still think the most horrific selection was probably the Homarid deck, though.
 
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Zadok001

Guest
Agree with HumanError. From MaRo:

"These were powerful cards that seemed tailor made to work with Chimeras: ... The Abyss..."

Riiiight... The Abyss has GREAT synergy with Chimeras! Really! I AGREE, MaRo! :p
 
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Gizmo

Guest
Ahem, amid all the accusations and I admit some of the deck choices look a bit... suspect. Abyss/Chimera a classic example.

One thing needs remembering.

The judges were trying to produce 16 decks that were on a roughly level playing field. If a deck was beatifully themed but too good, or too bad, then it was useless. Probably a few decks they really liked defined the power level at which the decks would be forced to operate, and that strictly limited what other decks they could consider for inclusion.

Im not offering an excuse, I simply think its a relevent factor that Ive not heard anybody take into account yet.

Still, Lotus/Rats. :( I understand you need to make a turn 1 Rat to keep pace, but surely there were better cards, not even necessarily Rats, to fill the early turns with. Its not good is it.


Zad: my Welkin Hawks might be genius, but its genius a month too late. Thats barely genius.
 
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Mikeymike

Guest
What is wrong with this guy? His head must way up his own butt for him to actually believe his own BS. The Abyss reference he makes perfectly reinforces exactly what we've been saying for the past 2 weeks.

All I have to say is that I'm very grateful I didn't submit a decklist, b/c if I'm this mad now I would have driven myself crazy with anger.

"Did I say 'Auction of the People?' I'm sorry I meant 'Auction of our people'."

EDIT: In regards to Gizmo's thought.

Valid point, but look at that Homarid deck (I can't remember the exact decklist) that was a converted Recur deck. That one definitely isn't soft on the power curve.

Yeah, with the rat deck. You know what the funniest thing about it was in Wise and Maro's eyes? The fact that in this deck Dark Rituals would have been just as productive as Black Lotuses in there...Well kick me in the crotch and call me Suzie! What a riot these guys are!
 
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Zadok001

Guest
"The judges were trying to produce 16 decks that were on a roughly level playing field."

On the contrary! That's the beauty of the Auction deckbuilding theory - If a deck exceeds the power curve, then its cost at the Auction will increase until it is back right where it should be. A deck went for 5 cards and 5 life. Why? Because as the deck stood, it would annihilate everything that got in its way (and because someone didn't know the Auction rules, but that's another matter). The bidding put it back on the level of the power curve.

That's why the Auction can even HAPPEN. If a deck's too good, it's offset right away by the very nature of the format.
 
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EricBess

Guest
Darn it Zadok, you beat me to the punch again. I was going to point that out. The whole idea of the auction is to have different powers so that the bidding has to balance them out.

The Abyss and Chimeras? The Abyss made for Chimeras? Well, The Abyss won't affect the Chimeras because it only affects "...target non-artifact creature..." At least the Bear deck had the decency to include a card that would affect his own creatures instead of just being randomly powerful (Drop of Honey). Plus, Drop of Honey actually fit the, what was that word again? Oh yeah, the theme.

BTW, I think the Dwarf Dwarf thing was actually kind of clever. I don't hold that one against them.
 
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EricBess

Guest
Okay, I just looked up Sword of the Ages. I was thinking of a different card and I was wondering how that fit the deck.

Anyway, I guess I now see how it wins and it is total cheese, much like The Abyss. At least Sword of the Ages actually fits the theme of the deck in that.... well, it's.... Crap, another random kill card just for kicks and giggles.

Hey, but at least that wall deck didn't play Rolling Stones or Animate Wall :rolleyes:
 
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Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Well, I didn't submit any decks and though some look suspect, I say until you've seen all 3000+ entries to see what kind of field it was, maybe these were the "best" or fulfilled the criteria the best. Maybe some of those "name" players submitted more than one deck like many others, and some are known for their deck skills besides their playing, which is why they're name players to begin with. So who knows...

Side note: Apollo: Did you see Spy Kids? :D
 
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HumanError

Guest
The Abyss, does, in fact, have no synergy whatsoever and even goes against the grain with the Chimeras.

The Oracle text is as follows:

At the beginning of each player’s upkeep, that player sacrifices a creature.

Boy, guess that makes it a hell of a lot less useful. It probably would have worked by the original text, but the way the Oracle has it, it's a bad bad card with Chimeras.

Let's face it, Maro chose his buddies. Say nothing about the power curve. I think we could have had a more interesting playing field if he hadn't picked outright stupid decks like Wise's "Jeff Donais Is Gonna Love Me" or that ridiculous Homarid deck.
 
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