The Top 8 London Champs lists have been posted on MTGChamps.co.UK and it has Faeries and Merfolk on the top of the heap. The Faeries list that won is sporting some unusual maindeck cards including Peppersmoke and Tidings. The former seems like it would be dreadful against 5Color but if you are expecting a field full of Faeries and Stonybrook Bannerets it makes a lot more sense. Tidings, on the other hand, is something of a mystery but I will certainly be building this tonight on MTGO and trying it on myself.

Faeries
Carlos Moral - Winner
London Champs 2008

4 Bitterblossum
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Mistbind Clique
4 Scion of Oona
4 Cryptic Command
4 Agony Warp
3 Thoughtseize
2 Peppersmoke
2 Tidings
2 Broken Ambitions
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Oona’s Grace
2 Faerie Conclave
3 Swamp
4 Island
4 Underground River
4 Sunken Ruins
4 Secluded Glen
4 Mutavault

Sideboard:
2 Razormane Masticore
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Oona’s Grace
2 Peppersmoke
2 Flashfreeze
3 Infest
2 Jace Beleren
2 Persuasion

The second place list was the Merfolk deck that is becoming a metagame fixture with Stonybrook Banneret into Sage’s Dousing giving the aggro deck up to eight Dismiss-like counterspells. This feels a lot  like an old school fish deck and can be incredibly frustrating to play against when they counter everything you try and draw a card each time. This list is incredibly straightforward and eschews the Knights of Meadowgrain that are in some of the other lists I have seen of late. Many people have written this archetype off in Standard with the rotation of Lord of Atlantis but Wake Thrasher has stepped in and gets plenty large all on his own.

Dissmisive Merfolk
London Champs 2008
Charlie Grover - Finalist

4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Stonybrook Banneret
4 Sygg, River Guide
4 Wake Thrasher
4 Merfolk Rejerey
4 Sower of Temptation
4 Sage’s Dowsing
4 Cryptic Command
8 Island
4 Mutavault
4 Wanderwine Hub
4 Mystic Gate
4 Adarkar Wastes

Sideboard:
3 Pollen Lullaby
4 Deft Duelist
4 Burrenton Forge Tender
4 Reveillark

The semifinals were rounded out by a pair of MonoRed Aggro decks and the bottom half of the elimination bracket featured four different archetypes; Elementals, 5-Color Planeswalker, Elves, and an EsperLark deck:Mono Red Aggro
London Champs 2008
Russ Davis - Semi-Finalist

4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Boggart Ram Gang
4 Flame Javelin
4 Incinerate
4 Stigma Lasher
3 Hell’s Thunder
1 Lash Out
4 Magma Spray
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Ghitu Encampment
20 Mountain

Sideboard:
3 Gutteral Response
3 Unwilling Recruit
4 Manabarbs
2 Lash Out
3 Pyroclasm

Mono Red Aggro
London Champs 2008
Sean McNally - Semi-Finalist

4 Figure of Destiny
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Goblin Assault
4 Boggart Ram Gang
4 Ashenmoor Gouger
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Magma Spray
4 Incinerate
4 Flame Javelin
21 Mountain
3 Ghitu Encampment

Sideboard:
4 Gutteral Response
4 Unwilling Recruit
3 Wild Richochet
4 Fulminator Mage

Elementals
London Champs 2008
Matt Brown - Quarterfinalist

4 Primal Beyond
4 Reflecting Pool
3 Vivid Crag
3 Vivid Marsh
2 Vivid Grove
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Flooded Grove
1 Twilight Mire
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Graven Cairns
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Fetid Heath
1 Rugged Prairie
4 Flamekin Harbinger
4 Smokebraider
4 Bloom Tender
4 Mulldrifter
4 Fulminator Mage
3 Horde of Nations
3 Reveillark
2 Shriekmaw
3 Nameless Inversion
1 Crib Swap
3 Makeshift Mannequin
1 Cloudthresher

Sideboard:
4 Firesprout
3 Primal Command
2 Shriekmaw
2 Cloudthresher
2 Crib Swap
1 Wispmare
1 Arbitor of Knowledge

Elves
London Champs 2008
Mick Wright - Quarterfinalist

3 Civic Wayfinder
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Imperious Perfect
2 Shriekmaw
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
4 Treetop Village
5 Forest
3 Kitchen Finks
4 Nameless Inversion
4 Llanowar Wastes
3 Swamp
3 Chameleon Colossus
4 Wren’s Run Vanquisher
3 Profane Command
3 Mutavault
4 Thoughtseize
3 Garruk Wildspeaker

Sideboard:
3 Mind Shatter
4 Infest
3 Cloudthresher
1 Kitchen Finks
2 Primal Command
2 Faerie Macabre

5-Color Planeswalker
London Champs 2008
Robert Stanjer - Quarterfinalist

3 Esper Charm
3 Jund Charm
3 Condemn
4 Cryptic Command
2 Remove Soul
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Jace Beleren
3 Elspeth, Knight Errant
4 Ajani Vengeant
4 Wrath of God
2 Realm Razer
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Vivid Creek
2 Vivid Grove
4 Vivid Meadow
3 Mystic Gate
2 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Flooded Grove
1 Sunken Ruin
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Battlefield Forge
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Negate

Sideboard:
1 Esper Charm
1 Condemn
3 Negate
3 Gutteral Response
3 Pyroclasm
3 Grove Thresher
1 Realm Razer

Esper Lark
London Champs 2008
Steven Nemeth - Quarterfinalist

3 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Tidehollow Sculler
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
3 Sower of Temptation
4 Mulldrifter
3 Reveillark
3 Condemn
2 Negate
3 Esper Charm
4 Cryptic Command
3 Wrath of God
4 Arcane Sanctum
2 Adarkar Wastes
2 Fetid Heath
1 Island
3 Mystic Gate
3 Plains
3 Sunken Ruins
2 Vivid Creek
3 Vivid Meadow
1 Vivid Marsh

Sideboard:
1 Knight of Meadowgrain
2 Stillmoon Cavalier
3 Story Circle
3 Infest
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Mind Shatter
2 Elspeth, Knight Errant