Wednesday, October 29, 2008

StarCityGames $5,000 Standard Open Top 16

Title Finish Player Event Date Location
Cruel Control1st placeChris WoltereckStarCityGames.com $5,000 Standard Open2008-10-26Richmond, Virginia, United States
White Weenie2nd placeDaniel SamsonMiscellaneous2008-10-26Richmond, Virginia, United States
Faeries3rd placeAlex BertonciniMiscellaneous2008-10-26Richmond, Virginia, United States
Kithkin Backlash4th placeJustin BartlettMiscellaneous2008-10-26Richmond, Virginia, United States
Merfolk5th placeJarrett TaylorMiscellaneous2008-10-26Richmond, Virginia, United States
Faeries6th placeDan BoucherMiscellaneous2008-10-26Richmond, Virginia, United States
Reveillark7th placeMichael ScheffenackerMiscellaneous2008-10-26Richmond, Virginia, United States
Cruel Control8th placeOliver RussMiscellaneous2008-10-26Richmond, Virginia, United States
Quillspike Combo9th placeJustin ParnellMiscellaneous2008-10-26Richmond, Virginia, United States
Vengeant Weenie10th placeDavid RussMiscellaneous2008-10-26Richmond, Virginia, United States
Vengeant Weenie11th placeJames HessMiscellaneous2008-10-26Richmond, Virginia, United States
Reveillark12th placePatrick Wadsack-StewartMiscellaneous2008-10-26Richmond, Virginia, United States
Token Aggro13th placeMichael RooksMiscellaneous2008-10-26Richmond, Virginia, United States
Elves14th placeYang ZhouMiscellaneous2008-10-26Richmond, Virginia, United States
Elves15th placeJarvis YuMiscellaneous2008-10-26Richmond, Virginia, United States
Red Deck Wins16th placeChristian SachseMiscellaneous2008-10-26Richmond, Virginia, United States

Info on State Championships

From MTGChamps.com

2008 States/Champs



All Universal Tournament Rules and Magic: the Gathering Floor Rules are in effect for this event unless specifically overruled by information in this Format Document

Format

* Standard-constructed format
* Deck lists are required

Cost

* The entry fee for the 2008 Magic: The Gathering® State/Provincial Championships is $25.00.

Tournament Length

* 50 minutes per round
* Number of Swiss rounds based on attendance according to the following chart:

Attendance


Number of Swiss rounds

9-16


4

17 - 32


5

33 - 64


6

65 - 128


7

129 - 226


8

227 - 409


9

410 or higher


10

Advancement

* All players may participate in all Swiss rounds

Top 8

* Top 8 matches will be best 2 of 3
* Top 8 matches will have no time limit. Players are expected to play at a reasonable pace and finish their matches within 50 minutes.
* Where necessary, the standings after the Swiss rounds will still be used to determine final order in the standings

Notes

* 24K, REL Competitive
* Players are responsible for knowing all DCI rules
* Players must bring pen, paper, card sleeves and appropriate counters

Prizes

* Special foil cards and are given to each participant while supplies last.
* Top 8 players each receive a commemorative States/Champs Play mat
* Champions receive 2008 Champion Plaque, Free entry into all Premier level constructed events for 1 year by all participating Organizers, Specialty DCI Card (to be mailed later).
* Product prizes to be determined by the organizer

Registration Information

* Players who want more specific local tournament or registration information should call their local contact phone number.

Residence Requirements

* Players must be residents of the State or Province where they wish to play. Exceptions include military on temporary assignments or students with valid local ID's. In general a local proof of ID (utility bill in your name for example) is sufficient to prove residence.

==================

In a nutshell?

Entry Prize - Foil Dauntless Dourbark. Wait, WHAT? One free copy of... Poorlash? Can I just have another Imperious Perfect?

Top 8 Prize - Playmats

First Place Prize - FREE entry into EVERY Premiere-level tournament (Regionals, Grand Prix, Pro Tour Qualifier, etc.) held by EVERY Tournament Organizer in North America that also held a State/Provincial Championships. And to put it this way: Every Tournament Organizer who ran a State/Provincial Championships is like 99% likely to hold Pro Tour Qualifiers for every season.

So! Time to go playtest against Cruel Control like crazy right?

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Monday, October 13, 2008

The Post-Shards Metagame

Hey guys! Are you ready for some new Post-Shards Standard? I am! So this weekend we were treated to a ton of new decklists from both the Game in the Gulf qualifier event that took place at Roanoke, VA and a ton of Magic-League Standard tournament results! So without further ado, let's look at some of the things that were played!

First, we're going to examine the October 2nd Magic-League Standard trial. The top three decks were:
  1. Kithkin WW
  2. UB Faeries
  3. UB Faeries
Hm. Okay. Looks like the Block metagame to me. Let's look at the decklist for Kithkin:
Kithkin WW, 1st Place @ Magic-League Standard Trial 10/02/2008 [Xth-Lorwyn-Shards]

enchantment [5]

3 Glorious Anthem

2 Oblivion Ring

land [25]

3 Mutavault

14 Plains

4 Rustic Clachan

4 Windbrisk Heights

60 cards

Nothing too special here. The only Shards addition is the sideboarded Knight of the White Orchid. Not an update whatsoever. Absolutely boring... next! Let's look at UB Faeries.

UB Faeries, 2nd Place @ Magic-League Standard Trial 10/02/2008 [Xth-Lorwyn-Shards]

That's it? Shards of Alara comes out and you decide to just go +4 Agony Warp? Next! I'm skipping the third-place Faeries list since it literally rocks the same archetype. The only difference in that list? Three Infest in the Sideboard.

Okay, let's look at the Magic-League Standard Trial.

Wow! Four Toast decks, one Rock, one Doran, one Reveillark, and one Kithkin? I have a feeling none of these decks added anything more than Bant/Esper Charm in Toast, Infest in the Rock/Doran decks, Knight of the White Orchid in the Kithkin list, and for Reveillark... well, it actually added Knight-Captain of Eos in the mainboard while siding Infest as well, along with Gather Specimens.

Let's look at the Game in the Gulf Top 16! This should be exciting.

Title Finish Player Event Date Location
Faeries1st placeTim FurrowMiscellaneous2008-10-12Roanoke, Virginia, United States
Cruel Control2nd placeChris WoltereckMiscellaneous2008-10-12Roanoke, Virginia, United States
Cruel Control3rd placeJoseph KeavenyMiscellaneous2008-10-12Roanoke, Virginia, United States
Merfolk4th placeJustin PerdueMiscellaneous2008-10-12Roanoke, Virginia, United States
Kithkin Backlash5th placeMarsh UsaryMiscellaneous2008-10-12Roanoke, Virginia, United States
Reveillark6th placeRandy WilliamsMiscellaneous2008-10-12Roanoke, Virginia, United States
Justice Toast7th placeAli AintraziMiscellaneous2008-10-12Roanoke, Virginia, United States
Red Deck Wins8th placeJoshua DrumMiscellaneous2008-10-12Roanoke, Virginia, United States
Cruel Control9th placeJosh CopeMiscellaneous2008-10-12Roanoke, Virginia, United States
Vengeant Control10th placeKen AdamsMiscellaneous2008-10-12Roanoke, Virginia, United States
Faeries11th placeChristopher BarfieldMiscellaneous2008-10-12Roanoke, Virginia, United States
Bant Control12th placeJoshua OwensMiscellaneous2008-10-12Roanoke, Virginia, United States
Blightning Aggro13th placeRichard LovernMiscellaneous2008-10-12Roanoke, Virginia, United States
Faeries14th placeTroy DoyleMiscellaneous2008-10-12Roanoke, Virginia, United States
Cruel Control15th placeChris WallaceMiscellaneous2008-10-12Roanoke, Virginia, United States
Quillspike Combo16th placeMatthew ThorntonMiscellaneous2008-10-12Roanoke, Virginia, United States


Wow, look at that! Let's just get some stuff out of the way:

Cruel Control"is essentially a Quick and Toast update rocking Cruel Ultimatum, Nucklavee (great for recursion), and still plays the Bant/Esper charms, Cryptic Commands, and five-color manabase that we've come to expect.

Bant Control is a very cool gem here. It rocks a brand-new three color archetype with Chameleon Colossus, Kitchen Finks, Rhox War Monk, and Stoic Angel. It also plays a singleton Elspeth, Knight-errant. Ponder is in here as well, a card that is seeing a lot of play.

Vengeant Control is also your new five-color Ajani Vengeant-oriented control deck that looks pretty cool as well. Merfolk are now running Firespout.

The Kithkin Backlash list is a very original, new take on Kithkin: Painter's Servant, Oversoul of Dusk, and Mr. Win-Condition Chaotic Backlash. Very original, very fun. I'd love to have a crack at playtesting that list.

Mr. #1 Faeries is playing Esper Charm, nothing more to really report on. Justice Toast is a Quick and Toast variant running Archon of Justice. As for Blightning Aggro? Red/Black (with Blightning!). Looks solid to me.

And at 16th place, something that caught my eye: Quillspike Combo. Why, how could you pull such a thing off? Rite of Consumption with Persist! That's how! This deck is amazing.

That's all for right now. Later.