OnBC: The August Metagame

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Rakamir

Guest
AggroZombies beat ZombieBidding in the latest E-League Championships, the Top 8 decks of which can be found here:

http://www.e-league.com/decks.php?view=35

Semifinalists were a Bad Form and RW Control deck, and quarterfinalists were three RW Control and 1 MWC, a deck whose demise has been greatly exaggerated, apparently, but I still don't like it.

If you like MWC, splash red for Rifts and Starstorms main, and Decrees of Annihilations and Shocks side, and you're on the road to the Maher deck, which seems much better. But, people will continue to play MWC throughout the seson. Maybe it's Dawn Elemental, or maybe it's because kids just like the name "Teen Girl Squad." Whatever, I just think there are better decks.

What say ye? Has Zvi's "War on Evil" (i.e., War on Goblins) come to fruition? Maybe so. Rumor has it Goblins went to the freezer, found it packed with Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream, and ate the whole thing.

More likely, my good buddy Will Reiffer's metagame shift predictions have come true. With everyone predicting the GODness of Goblins, RW Control came to the fore "in response," and wily veterens of metagame shifts saw the opportunity to crush THAT deck with Zombies.

That, and people just shamelessly netdeck Champion's decks. Why not?

Not in Top 8: Slide. Why not? Possibly, it's too difficult to play, or was unpopular in this event. It's not Wildfire/Tinker difficult, but we'd be crazy to ignore it. Back around the turn of the 19th century, I would lose to Slide with Goony Goblins first game, then I brought in my board of 3 Vortex and 4 Stabilizers and games 2 and 3 were easily won.

As for me, I still lean to BW Control. There is no such thing as "the mirror" with it (I hate mirror matches), considering the wildly different builds we're seeing. Methinks it will have it's time in the sun around mid-season (but ... is that time now? ... already?) when people stray away from Goblins, then come back to Gobbos toward season's end, as sideboards ignore them.

Ignore them? Maybe, but, Starstorms, Knights of Silver, Decrees of Pain, Infests, and Vengeances do very bad things to Goblins, and I don't see any of those cards disappearing off the radar throughout the season.

Congrats, Gen'l Zvi, your War seems to be going very well. :)

Rakamir
T-3 days before the OnBC PT New Orleans (Sin City!) PTQ season begins
July 30, 2003

Good luck, everyone!
 
T

train

Guest
dcrees of annihilation need to be main - as do carbonizes...

Carbonizes are great for finishing off an eternal dragon...

The decrees let you get a creature advantage, and then clear the board... just like armageddon...
 
M

Mr_Pestilence

Guest
Geez, I just read all the "tricks" I spent the past few days developing.

This is a real problem. The card uses are so obvious that just about anyone (even me, apparently) can figure them out with enough time. I guess there won't be any surprises in this block after all.

Too bad...
 
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Rakamir

Guest
What card are you talking about, Dec Annihil ? Carbonize?

Any deck can be tweaked to beat any other deck, but the more you tweak it to beat, say, Goblins, the worse your first game will be vs Control, and vice versa.

And the law of averages dictates you will occasionally lose to the deck you most want to be paired against too, given the one out of four chance you get mana screwed/flooded (see: Game Theory), and opponent doesn't. In reverse, never assume you'll lose to ZombieBidding if you're playing RW Control. You might get lucky in your draws, and he might get terrible stuff. Winning vs your worse pairing, I believe, is one of the charms of our game, like a weekend golf duffer who actually hits two of his 18 drives straight, true, and far. Those two shots out of the, say, one hundred he hits that day will keep him coming back. :)

I still want to know why RW Control doesn't run RAKAvolver's little white cousin Exalted Angel for that matchup, BTW. No room? Not enough to beat Bidding? The card is excellent vs Gobbos and any Zombie deck. Don't know why not.

BW DOES have a problem with the RR5 cycled Geddon, but I've actually won games after they Geddoned, in each case because they took a risk that I didn't have a Cruel Revival, or in the event they cycled Dec Justice, that I didn't have a cyclable Dec Pain or Infest, and in each case they lost that gamble.
 
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train

Guest
I still want to know why RW Control doesn't run RAKAvolver's little white cousin Exalted Angel for that matchup, BTW. No room? Not enough to beat Bidding? The card is excellent vs Gobbos and any Zombie deck. Don't know why not.
There are 2 angels in my deck...
;)

Some serious changes have been made - but it's still R/W...;)
 
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Rakamir

Guest
I would think in lieu of Detroit, you have made serious changes, and yah, you're smart to include Angels.

For those who feel badly they're not on Brainburst Premium, fret not. The latest offerings re OnBC are a deep analysis of Beasts vs MonoWhite. Um, sure. Those will win.

Seriously, I'm glad I got into this format early. I tried warning people that thanks to R&D, the colors are very balanced, save Blue, and you're in a somewhat fatal position if you're just now trying to find the "best" deck.

train, try to educate the masses as to why you HOPE to face Beasts decks all day... what your RW can do to that deck. I grow tired of explaining stuff, is all.
 
T

train

Guest
I didn't make the change sin lieu of detroit - just because they make the deck better...

Took out the lightning rifts and put in Carbonizes - this picks off the 5 toughness beasts first strike, it also removes zombies form the game, or eternal dragons... Running an extra vengeance main now... Akroma is the toughest critic - I deal with her by using the wing shards if necessary...

goblins are meeting up with rain of blades - and as the zombies rush over because I only have 1 White mana open - the first strike finishes them off... if not a wing shards...

running against beasts - half of my critters are pro red - zombies - half pro black... Jareth is a beatstick...

I also am running 2 temples now to increase mana production - before a beast deck really gets going - I can usually cycle the decree of annihilation while the goblin goons run over and smack for 6...

against teen "hoars" I have no problem playing the short, or long game with them... with the wipe cleans main - their only answer to goons is to vengeance... with the 2nd turn drops I usually beat them down pretty good - and the angels don't get to morph thanks to carbonizes, shocks, starstorms, etc... then I smack with silver knights...

against gobbos - the silver knights, rain of blades, white knights, shocks, starstorms, carbonizes, and wing shards usually provide a tempo for me to draw into victory... Funny watching gobbos look at Jareth or Akroma... Sometimes she lands 5th turn...

Greatest tech of all - Slate of Ancestry... there is no draw advantage in the meta... but I have one...;) :D :cool:
 
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