Top8Magic Fans,
BDM, Flores, Sadin, Will, Gabe, myself and the rest of the Top8Magic crew wish you and yours a Happy Holiday!
We have tons of posts that will slowly be uploaded over the holidays. Expect two to three every 24 to 48 hours.
Happy Holidays,
Top8Magic Crew
Getting the friends list #1 in Encounter Percentage was pretty hard with Will Price of Progress posting such a strong percentage, but the #1 on the global leader board… I thought it was impossible because of all the failed Ironman players. But nothing is impossible for a Halfling with a Dancing Shiv!
It looks like I peaked 
Here are my suggestions:
1) Play Halfling Rogue (I have played DI Halfling Rogue and Human Rogue, and Halfling Rogue always seems to be better).
2) Pass the Shiv. I passed the Mithral Coat so many times, admittedly with some nice results, but this breakout finish was with the Shiv (per the character’s name).
3) Use potions aggressively. I didn’t use a single healing potion on ShivAn Draggin. I only k-o’d one time. It probably sounds stupid / greedy considering the insane Encounter Percentage but I didn’t realize I was going to retire and I had a Prismatic Elixir LEFT. Really, don’t ever think about “wasting” potions on early dungeons. Just use them. You will have enough if you are doubling up gold as a Rogue and passing gold, etc.
4) Maximize your Encounters in Forest. Rogues kick butt in Forests if you have the Shiv or the Mithral Coat. Use Quick Fingers and Pick Pockets in the Forest every single time. If you can’t pay close attention, use Quick Fingers and Pick Pockets at the beginning of every Tiny Adventure.
Everyone keep playing and supporting Tiny Adventures. It’s great!
LOVE
MIKE
Last time I wrote I was confessing to missing top 8 of a sealed ptq with an absolutely insane pool. At that tournament, as often happens for a seat-all-players, I was sitting near Chris Calcano for the sealed build. Before we opened our pools to get started, I had offered him the blind-trades, and he had turned me down, poor fellow.
Well, fate had his back this weekend. Chris opened up a sealed pool which allowed him to play 1 Mountain and all plains and forests for basics, splashing 1 red card, 1 blue card (off 2 obelisks) and still playing 6 rares. Yes, 6. Included in those six were 2 battlegrace angels, a stoic angel, and a sigil of distinction. Unlike myself, Calcano was able to parlay his insane pool into a top 8. I draft-capped him, and here’s approximately what happened. Relevant cards are listed, bold is what he picked, and discussion follows in italics with me (GCB), Matt Ferrando (MF) (who also watched Chris’s draft as it progressed) and Chris Calcano (CC).
–Pack 1–
1: Arcane Sanctum, Sharding Sphynx, Soul’s Fire, Kathari Screecher
GCB: I guess I can see it as a forceful choice, but at this table I would take the bomb. True, you pass 3 blue cards which is better signaling, but Sharding Sphynx can win games by itself and I like to draft a little more passively.
MF: Sharding Sphinx is definitely my pick, its not easy to deal with and unlike “dragons” it starts to take effect immediately if you have other artifact men in play.
CC: I think Soul’s Fire is one of the top red commons in shards draft, i figured with it being the lone red card in the pack my neighbor would pick up on that and make my draft go smoother. I later discussed the pick with GCB and Matt F and we all came to the conclusion that I was dumb and should’ve taken the Sphinx lol.
Round 14 of the World Chanpionships saw a titanic matchup between Hall of Famer Olivier Ruel and certain Hall of Famer — once he becomes eligible in two years — Masashi Oiso.
Olivier was playing Gifts Rock with Loam while Oiso was playing a Faeries deck that was not playing any Bitterblossoms. Instead he was sporting full sets of Vendillion Clique and Glen Elendra Archmage and a singleton Azami Lady of Scrolls.
That Lady of Scrolls was the difference maker in the deciding game of the match as Olivier disruption could not outpace the card advantage of Azami.
With four rounds left to play Oiso was 11-3 and in great shape to make a run at his 7th Top 8. Hot on his heels — and also in the Feature Match area –was Kenji Tsumura looking to secure his 6th Top 8. Perhaps they could also settle the debate as to the identity of the best Japanese player in the history of the game.
I have to admit I was pretty stunned to see Finkel sit down for the first round of Extended play on Saturday. Over the latter course of his career Jon has made no secret of his distaste for Constructed. At 5-7 in the first two legs of the event I would have assumed it was time for him to hit the team draft circuit with fellow Hall of Famer Dirk Baberowski.
Instead there he was, handing in a decklist and shuffling up a sixty.
“I can still win money,” Jon said defiantly. Apparently he is within shooting distance of passing Kai on the lifetime winnings list. “Besides someone gave me a deck that is a lot of fun.”
I didn’t need much more than that to settle in and see what was in store. What Island based monstrosity could it be? I couldn’t imagine Jon calling Faeries fun. Maybe the Tezerator?
I almost lost my grip on reality when Jon dropped a Mountain and sent Spark Elemental hurtling into the red zone for absolutely zero card advantage. He then proceeded to follow up with another, Lava Spike, and a suspended Rift Bolt over the next couple of turns. Up was down, right was wrong, and blue was red.
Jon could not comprehend my surprise.
“I played a monored deck to a Top 8 at Worlds.”
In 1998.
A crowd gathered last night under the skull of the black themed Feature Match area to watch Jon Finkel square off with none other than Mike Long in the semifinal round of the I Came to Game Invitational.
Lan D. Ho, Eric Atwood, and Dan Burdick pulled the exhibition tournament together for their documentary I Came to Game. They selected 8 of the Pro Tour’s biggest stars from the last decade plus to take part in a single elimination tournament using the Top 8 decks from Pro Tour 1.
The lineup included Paul Cheon vs. Jon Finkel, Kenji Tsumura vs. Mike Long, Mark Herberholz vs. Mike Turian, and Gab Nassif vs. Patrick Chapin. The latter player won each matchup on Friday with Finkel putting on a Prison primer with Baxter’s deck against Cheon. Paul seemed pretty surprised when Jon tapped his own Winter Orb with an Icy and paroled all of his own mana while Cheon languished in solitary.
The decks were redrawn randomly on Saturday. Chapin had Baxter’s deck while Turian had Poulter’s. Chapin took the seat in the finals by winning the mind numbing battle of wills over Turian’s Land Tax.
“He wasn’t willing to discard,” laughed Patrick who was willing to sit on one land all day before giving his opponent the card adantage and mana advantage from the Legends enchantment.
The headline battle was the match between Finkel playing the Lestree deck against Long with Hammer’s Millstone deck. By all accounts Finkel was at a large disadvantage but he managed to emerged victorious — attacking with an Elf and a Factory in game one — to square off with Chapin for the trophy this evening.
For those still interested in T2, here are a couple of decks that two friends of mine played to a 7-2 finish at the 5k last weekend. The first is a GRB Jund Elves deck that was piloted by David Chau.
Jund Elves
4 Bramblewood Paragon
4 Chameleon Colossus
4 Imperious Perfect
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Taurean Mauler
4 Wren’s Run Vanquisher
3 Jund Charm
4 Puncture Blast
4 Shock
2 Profane Command
3 Obsidian Battle-axe
4 Fire-lit Thicket
4 Gilt-leaf Palace
4 Karplusan Forest
2 Llanowar Wastes
2 Reflecting Pool
2 Treetop Village
2 Twilight Mire
Sideboard
1 Wickerbough Elder
3 Wilt-leaf Liege
2 Raking Canopy
1 Jund Charm
2 Naturalize
2 Infest
3 Thoughtseize
1 Obsidian Battle-axe
This deck plays equally off of the Elf and Warrior creature types of its creatures. Imperious Perfect and Bramblewood Paragon pump everything in the deck (except Treetop Village) and David chose to push the Warrior synergy further by including the much acclaimed but seldom used Obsidian Battle-axe. Battle-axe gives the deck the potential for some very sick turns, especially when combined with Perfect and Paragon. It also allows the deck to put more pressure against Wrath decks as any creature you play post Wrath becomes an instant threat. Jund Charm is also a major player in this deck, giving you a main deck sweeper against pesky Spectral Processions, graveyard removal to counter Lark and Mannequin, as well as the +2/+2 blowout with Paragon (giving your Creature the pump plus the surprise Trample to ruin your opponent’s combat math).
The two things I miss from this deck are Thoughtsieze and Garruk. David told me that he prefers Shock because he likes to have the extra reach while I would prefer to main deck Thoughtsieze (which would be especially good against Faeries, the deck David lost to twice) and put some other form of burn in the sideboard. I love Garruk in Elf decks because most of the time your opponent is dead on the board the turn after you play him. Garruk also gives you a difficult to answer threat in the 5C matchup. I would consider playing Garruk over either the Profane Commands or Taurean Maulers, but would want to test a lot before making either change. Greedy player that I am, I would also be tempted to try and squeeze in two more Treetop Village, most likely in the place of Savage Lands or a couple of the pain lands.
Connecticut Old Tymer and good friend Curtis Fox played his version of UW Merfolk, also to a 7-2 finish. Here is his list (avert your eyes if you are offended by singletons):
Merfolk
1 Glen Elandra Archmage
3 Merfolk Looter
4 Merrow Reejerey
3 Reveillark
4 Silvergil Adept
3 Sower of Temptation
3 Stonybrook Banneret
3 Wake Thrasher
3 Sygg, River Guide
4 Cryptic Commant
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Sage’s Dousing
1 Loxodon Warhammer
3 Island
4 Adarkar Wastes
2 Faerie Conclave
4 Mutavault
4 Mystic Gate
4 Wanderwine Hub
3 Windbrisk Heights
Sideboard
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Glen Elandra Archmage
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Negate
1 Remove Soul
2 Jace Beleren
3 Wrath of God
1 Negate
2 Wispmare
Anyone familiar with Merfolk will see that Curt is playing a very unique build. Curt has his build tuned to be better against aggro decks. He cut three of the Sage’s Dousing, which he says were really only good against 5C since in most other matchups he was tapping out almost every turn. To compensate he has cards like Sower of Temptation in the main deck, as well as the misers Loxodon Warhammer. Merfolk Looter and Glen Elendra Archmage were added in place of the Knight of the Meadowgrain. Looter can cycle through a ton of cards if you have a Reejerey in play, and in general keeps the deck from running out of gas in the mid game. Glen Elendra Archmage was so good throughout the day that Curt is considering moving another to the main deck.
Although I personally object to a lot of the changes that Curt made (I love Sage’s Dousing and Curse Catcher), I can’t deny his record. Despite the aggro-heavy meta, Curt was still able to post a 7-2 record beating fellow Top 8 author Michael J along the way.
For anyone who is heading off to FNM soon I would highly recommend trying either of these out. I watched both these guys finish out after I dropped and was pretty impressed with how these decks looked.
WillPoP
Maybe scrubbing is too strong a word.
I ended up dropping after a 3-3 performance at the 5k last weekend. As promised, I stuck with the Greedy Grixis deck I have been posting the past few weeks. I still really like the deck but it ended up being a bad choice for the tournament. I was expecting to see a lot of 5C Control, Faeries and Kithkin (aka the Metagame). I don’t have official numbers, but from looking around the most popular deck in the room appeared to be Red Deck Wins. I didn’t think that RDW would be that bad of a matchup, but the lists I played against had two cards that were very difficult for me to beat: Stigma Lasher and Magma Spray. Stigma Lasher made Ajani awful and Magma Spray made my Shriekmaws and Sowers much worse. I never ever got to play a Makeshift Mannequin the two times I played against Red.
Here is a quick rundown of my tournament by round.
Round 1 v Tom with Faeries
I beat Tom 2-1 this round. Essentially, I won the two games where I got my Bitterblossom (games 1 and 3) and he won game 2 when he got his Bitterblossom and I didn’t draw a Wispmare for it.
1-0
Round 2 v Dave with RDW
Dave was a really nice guy and he crushed me 2-0 with Turn 2 Stigma Lasher (with me having Ajani in hand) both games. I got a couple of good Firespouts against him but it wasn’t enough since I could not gain my life back and he would eventually burn me out. Dave and I got lunch after this round, it was delicious! Dave went on to top 8 the tournament, unfortunately I did not stick around to see how he finished.
1-1
Round 3 v Kenny with BW Tokens
When I realized what Kenny was playing I got very worried because I had not tested the matchup and BDM had been telling me how good the BW tokens deck was for several days before the tournament. I managed to win this one 2-1, winning game 1 where Kenny was short on lands, losing game 2 to multiple Spectral Processions + Ajani (Goldmane) and winning game three with Thoughtseize into multiple Siege-Gang Commanders.
2-1
Round 4 v Gil with Faeries
Faeries again. I figured I had blown all my luck beating Faeries the first round but I somehow managed to beat Gil in three games. I mulliganed to 5 game 1 but it was still very close; I ended up dying to my Bitterblossom the turn I would kill him. Game 2 I found an opening to resolve a Siege-Gang and was able to win off of that. Game 3 I think Gil could have won if he had used his Thoughtseize to get rid of my Wispmare instead of my Thoughtseize. I am not sure if he realized that all of my lands came into play tapped and that I would not be able to Seize away his Bitterblossom before he could play it. Anyways, he made a turn 2 Blossom, which i disenchanted with an evoked Wispmare. A few turns later I found my own Bitterblossom and that was game.
Round 5 v Gerard Fabiano with GR Elves
It was unfortunate to get paired with Gerard as one of us would be eliminated from top 8 contention with a loss this round. Gerard is a really fun guy to play against and even though I lost I enjoyed our match. Since we both knew each others decks we were sideboarding face up and Gerard gave me advice on plays. This behavior was confusing to the people playing on either side of us. Gerard’s deck can get some very explosive draws and he blew me out completely game 1. Game 2 his draw was slower but he had triple Treetop Village which made it difficult for me to stabilize after Firespouting. I sided out Grixis charm here, which in retrospect was bad because it is my only real answer to the Treetop. Oh well.
3-2
Round 6 v Avery with RDW
I decided to keep playing to shoot for top 16, which paid out $100. Unfortunately I got paired against RDW again with all the same cards I can’t beat. Avery 2-0′d me and I dropped.
Despite my mediocre-to-poor performance I still think the experiment with Greedy Grixis was a success. After rounds my opponents usually asked to see my deck and told me that they were sideboarding all wrong because they couldn’t figure out what I was playing. This deck probably would have been much better positioned a few weeks ago when the metagame was less RDW heavy. If I could do it all over again I would probably pick a deck better suited for the field, probably something very similar to an elf list a friend of mine piloted to 7-2 or Merfolk. I will be posting the elf list soon for anyone who is still interested in T2.
WillPoP
Its funny. I was talking to Andre Coimbra yesterday and he was lamenting the loss of Frank Karsten from the rolls of active authors as he was agonizing over his deck choices and pick orders prior to departing for Memphis. Then links to these two illuminating pieces appeared in my inbox courtesy of ManaMaze publisher Sven Djit of the Netherlands.
Have you ever wondered how a Pro player arrives at a decision about what deck to play in a given tournament? Well, I am not sure the linked article will provide any insight into how most people arrive at that decision but it does show you how Mad Genius Frank Karsten can grind numbers and data mine to not only arrive at the deck he wants to play but the exact configuration of the 75 cards in the deck. This is an excellent metagame overview from the much-missed Frank Karsten with a bonus link to his triple Shards pick order for all commons and uncommons in the first pack of a draft. There are a lot of surprises in here such as Resounding Thunder over Oblivion Ring, Corpse Connesieur being as high as fourth, and Branching Bolt being as low as he has it.
Ummm…are all the Elves decks hiding? There were none in the Top 8 of the GPT we posted awhile back and now the 83 person field at the Winter King has churned exactly zero Elves decks into the Top 8 of their $3,000 extravaganza. And it is not like they did not show up in force according to Alex Stambaugh who worked the event as a judge. He said early on Saturday via Facebook that the field was dominated by Elves and red decks. I was not sure if that meant All-In Red or Goblins or Burn. Two of those three archetypes moved into the Top 8 so…still not clear on that one. I am also not clear on the decision to feature Dominus of Fealty in Casey Miller’s All-In build. Any readers out there have an idea why you would want to inlcude that over the tramply, land-eating Deus of Calamity?
You can find all the Top 8 lists here over on TCGplayer.com.
I am guessing that having decks like the ones played by Robert Graves and Brandon Burk sporting maindeck Night of Soul’s Betrayal went a long way to keeping the green men in check. Here is the winning list:
Gifts Rock
Robert Graves — Winner
2008 $3000 Winter King
1 Etched Oracle
1 Eternal Witness
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Ravenous Baloth
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Selkie Hedge-Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Chrome Mox
4 Engineered Explosives
1 Firespout
4 Gifts Ungiven
2 Night of Souls’ Betrayal
2 Putrefy
1 Reclaim
1 Smother
4 Spell Snare
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Academy Ruins
1 Blood Crypt
2 Breeding Pool
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
4 Polluted Delta
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp
2 Twilight Mire
1 Watery Grave
4 Wooded Foothills
Sideboard:
3 Ancient Grudge
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Clearwater Goblet
1 Deathmark
1 Firespout
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Jund Charm
1 Putrefy
1 Ravenous Baloth
1 Smother
2 Vedalken Shackles
