Top Eight Deck List for StarCityGames.com Invitational Qualifier - 6/18

[Chase]

Top Eight Deck List for StarCityGames.com Invitational Qualifier at Battleground Games & Hobbies in Plainville MA – 6/18/2011




1st Place:
Melissa DeTora

4x Stone Forge Mystic
4x Squadron Hawk
1x Consecrated Sphinx
2x Emeria Angel
4x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2x Batterskull
1x Sword of Feast fnad Famine
2x Spell Pierce
3x Mana Leak
2x Divine Offering
2x Dismember
4x Preordain
2x Gideon Jura
4x Glacial fortress
4x Tectonic Edge
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Celestial Colonnade
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Arid Mesa
2x Inkmoth Nexus
3x Island
4x Plains


Sideboard:
1x Sword of War and Peace
1x Divine Offering
1x Sun Titan
2x Flashfreeze
3x Kor Firewalker
2x Spellskite
2x Day of Judgment
3x Oust



2nd Place:
Micah Greenbaum

4x Squadron Hawk
4x Stoneforge Mystic
2x Emeria Angel
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Gideon Jura
4x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2x Day of Judgment
4x Preordain
3x Mana Leak
3x spell Pierce
3x Dismember
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of War and Peace
1x Batterskull
4x Celestial Collonade
4x Seacrome Coast
2x Scalding Tarn
4xTectonic Edge
3x Glacial Fortress
1x Marsh Flats
5x Island
4x Plain

Sideboard:
1x Flash Freeze
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
3x Condemn
1x Jace Beleren
2x Mental Misstep
1x Gideon Jura
1x Sun Titan
1x Batterskull
1x Celestial Purge
1x Dismember
2x Divine Offering



3rd Place
Jeremy Dombek

4x Birds of Paradise
4x Lotus Cobra
4x Fauna Shaman
4x Nest Invader
3x Phyrexian Metamorph
4x Vengevine
2x Frost Titan
1x Consecrated Sphinx
3x Acidic Slime
2x Spellskite
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
4x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Scalding Tarn
4x Evolving Wilds
1x Halimar Depths
4x Islands
9x Forest

Sideboard:
3x Perilous Myr
2x Into the Roil
3x Nature’s Claim
4x Obstinate Baloth
2x Dismember
1x Wurmcoil Engine



4th Place:
Luke Bardsley

4x Stoneforge Mystic
4x Deceiver Exarch
3x Spellskite
4x Preordain
4x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3x Gitaxian Probe
3x Into the Roil
3x Mana Leak
3x Splinter Twin
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of War and Peace
1x Batterskull
4x Arid Mesa
4x Scalding Tarn
1x Terramorphic Expanse
4x Celestial Colonnade
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Island
3x Mountain
2x Plain

Sideboard:
3x Lightning Bolt
3x Pyroclasm
3x Divine Offering
2x Combust
2x Negate
1x Spellskite
1x Splinter Twin



5th Place
David Snow

4x Preordain
4x Into the Roil
4x Deceiver Exarch
4x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4x Mana Leak
3x Gitaxian Probe
2x Inferno Titan
2x Jace Beleren
2x Spell Pierce
1x Dismember
1x Consecrated Sphinx
4x Splinter Twin
4x Tectonic Edge
4x Scalding Tarn
10x Island
7x Mountain

Sideboard:
3x Spell Skite
3x Pyroclasm
1x Jace Beleren
2x Spellpierce
2x Manic Vandal
2x Shatter
1x Trinket Mage
1x Elixer of Immortality



6th Place:
Dustin Smith

3x Sun Titan
4x Squadron Hawk
4x Stoneforge Mystic
3x Kor Sanctifiers
3x Pilgrims Eye
3x Journey to Nowhere
3x Day of Judgment
2x Elspeth Tirel
1x Gideon Jura
2x Batterskull
1x Mortapod
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of War and Peace
1x Sword of Body and Mind
3x Tumble Magnet
4x Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4x Tectonic Edge
2x Arid Mesa
2x Marsh Flats
13x Plain

Sideboard:
4x Dismember
4x Celestial Purge
1x Gideon Jura
3x Kor Firewalker
3x Divine Offering



7th Place:
James Pirkey

2x Gideon Jura
4x Stoneforge Mystic
3x Mirran Crusader
2x Spellskite
1x Sun Titan
4x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3x Dismember
4x Mana Leak
1x Divine Offering
4x Preordain
2x Day of Judgment
1x Jace Beleren
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of War and Peace
1x Batterskull
4x Celestial Colonnade
4x Seachrome Coast
3x Glacial Fortress
4x Tectonic Edge
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Arid Mesa
1x Inkmoth Nexus
4x Island
4x Plain

Sideboard:
1x Deprive
2x Flashfreeze
1x Consecrated Sphinx
3x Celestial Purge
1x Kor Sanctifiers
2x Divine Offering
1x Spellskite
2x Condemn
2x Mental Misstep



8th Place:
Chris Carty

4x Preordain
4x Mana Leak
4x Squadron Hawk
4x Stoneforge Mystic
4x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3x Into the Roil
2x Spell Pierce
2x Gitaxian Probe
2x Dismember
2x Batterskull
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of War and Peace
1x Phrexian Metamorph
1x Divine Offering
4x Tectonic Edge
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Celestial Colonade
4x Clacial Fortress
1x Inkmoth Nexus
5x Islan
3x Plain

Sideboard:
1x Sun Titan
2x Flashfreeze
2x Divine Offering
2x Oust
2x Day of Judgment
2x Journey to Nowhere
2x Celestial Purge
2x Condemn

[Sekacnap]

JACE! JACE EVERYWHERE!

[Benjamin]

So much for success through creativity.

[Ian Mulligan]

So much for success through creativity.

Who cares? Its a tournament. Creativity only matters if it generates match wins.

[GossWeapon]

What will magic do without them?

[Benjamin]

Who cares? Its a tournament. Creativity only matters if it generates match wins.

If everyone runs the same or highly similar decks, it becomes a game of who shuffles best.

[Ian Mulligan]

Who cares? Its a tournament. Creativity only matters if it generates match wins.

If everyone runs the same or highly similar decks, it becomes a game of who shuffles best.

First, an honest question: Have you ever played Magic competitively? If so, to what levels?

Second, if you were to ask the players in the top 8 of this event if that were the case, I imagine you'd hear very differently. Knowing Melissa personally, I can assure you the player with the most skill came out on top. There's a reason you always see her name at the top of events like this and it has nothing to do with her skills at shuffling.

EDIT (more explanations):

There's no reason that a homogeneous metagame would be devoid of skill. In fact, many player will attest that your skills and knowledge are put to the test more in a mirror match. Your knowledge of the deck becomes paramount. The player who has a better knowledge of fundamentals like tempo and card advantage will be more likely to win.

In fact, in their banning announcement, Wizards explicitly stated that the bannings were not because the format was devoid of skill, but because it was stagnant. They acknowledge that the format is incredibly skill testing and that the better players were being rewarded, it just didn't have the diversity they, and mostly the players, would like to see.

I can absolutely understand how this kind of hyperbole can seem true to someone without higher level tournament experience, but as someone who played competitively for years, often in metagames where mirrors were rampant, I can without hesitation say that unless the degenerate deck is a combo deck, skill is almost always a factor.

[Benjamin]

Who cares? Its a tournament. Creativity only matters if it generates match wins.

In fact, in their banning announcement, Wizards explicitly stated that the bannings were not because the format was devoid of skill, but because it was stagnant. They acknowledge that the format is incredibly skill testing and that the better players were being rewarded, it just didn't have the diversity they, and mostly the players, would like to see.

Question gets an answer.

[Ian Mulligan]

You're an excellent cherry picker. My post was clearly directed at your assertion that there was no skill involved in the games. Wizards' position on how diverse they want a metagame is entirely unrelated.

[Benjamin]

You pick cherries too. You dismissed my first idea by asking "who cares?" That rudeness and the obvious answer that I care aside, you then provide an answer yourself. It's clear why that's not about what you want to argue.

This is the part in which you usually get frustrated, proclaim yourself better than a conversation with someone who refuses to understand your wisdom, and walk away with your head held high and your nose a little higher.

[Ian Mulligan]

I genuinely didn't mean to be rude. Sorry if you took it that way. But when it comes to competitive Magic, that's kind of how creativity is looked at. In the next few months there will be a new decklist everyone plays, probably Valakut. Same bullshit.

I was only responding to your proclamation that shuffling is all that matters at that point. If you didn't intend for that to be something that was responded to, you probably shouldn't have posted it. I don't really know what else to say.

I've tried really hard to be as focused on developing my arguments as I can be. I don't see how I overlooked anything, but if I did and that bothers you, sorry. I'm just not seeing it. I've also done my best to show you some respect during this and don't really understand the hostility. If I'm so easily dismissed for my arrogance, why bother responding to me?

[GossWeapon]

You boys just needs to calm down and take a run through the sprinkler.  Looking at both sides of this, you both are misinterpreting each other and the confusion is what caused the hostility.

Now who want which powerpuff girl from the ice cream man.  I know bubbles always cheers me up, especially with a side of spiderman.

[Ian Mulligan]

Now I can say with absolute conviction that I have absolutely no idea what is going on.

[Benjamin]

Looking at both sides of this, you both are misinterpreting each other and the confusion is what caused the hostility.

Says the King of Confusion. 

I'll have a Mojo Jojo to go.

[Chase]

Looking at both sides of this, you both are misinterpreting each other and the confusion is what caused the hostility.

Reading through this just now I've got to say that I agree with Goss, which is horrifying.  I was pretty confused up until about 2/3rds of the way through the thread.  I definitely said, "Huh?" to myself a time or two.


Anyways, Caw Blade mirrors seem to be widely considered as some of the most skill intensive MtG in recent history.  Unfortunately, that's only fun for the people that "get it" "have it" and "like it".

There is certainly some luck element, just like there is in any game with a variable component, but it's probably not a coincidence that the player with the most pro points in the room, and probably the most experience in the room won the day.

The recent banning took place because of how long the deck has been dominant, among other things.  The creative, innovative minds have had months to work through the "problem" and have come up short.  WotC has given them tools to combat the problem that haven't been able to.  Several of the most famous deck builders and the games greatest minds have written articles titled something to the effect of, "If You Can't Beat Em, Join Em."  It's not even easy to put together 75 cards specifically designed to beat the deck, let alone play against the rest of a (not so) diverse field.  Getting cute and trying to change things up in an event like this is basically guaranteeing you'll lose.  WotC speaks about some reasons for this in their article (or maybe it was The Magic Show).  Massive amounts of data, professional articles, live streaming video of large, professional events on a weekly basis, etc. all play into the fact that we KNOW it's the best and KNOW you should play it.

(Magic) Tournaments for big prizes attract people that are absolutely trying to win... Not just trying to win with what they have or what they own, just plain old trying to win.  I asked a few people I know what they were playing before the event started... They told me they were sleeving up Jace, Stoneforge, and co. because they were looking to win the event.  Simple, no self imposed handicap, nothing.

Blah.