Results from Battlegrounds! (And Call for User Challenges!)

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KrazyCaley

13 July 2010

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Up front- for everyone who doesn't know what this challenge is about, Wizards made what can only be described as a real-time Magic game for various consoles and the PC back in 2003 called MTG Battlegrounds. It was actually really fun to play and a pretty damn good representation of what Magic would be like if it were real-time. The trick was that you could keep casting the same spell over and over, but you only had a limited number of spells to choose from, specifically the ones I've given you to use in this challenge. Thus, I thought I would see what would happen if I forced that format back into cards, and the result has been EXTREMELY cool.

This has been a very unique experience, folks. There were 59 entries, and I had every deck play against EVERY OTHER DECK because I am KRAZY (So krazy I spell it with a k, but not enough so that I incorrectly spell my OWN name, Caley, with a k). By my count, my dozens of Magical conscripts have played over a thousand games of Magic over about a week or so, and come to various wins and losses, and even six draws. It has generated vast reams of data. But all you care about is results, and that's what I'm going to bring you.

I'm actually going to give the record and brief comments on EVERY deck, even those that didn't make it into the top 10. A couple of decks will get honorable mentions. In cases where decks had identical records, there will be a tiebreaker based on most head-to-head victories against decks with the same record. If that's all identical, then it'll just be a straight-up tie. Ready? BEGIN.

59th Place - deck challenge - Akillics - 4-54

Akillics' deck is not as bad as its record would indicate. It has a crazy fun "steal stuff" concept that actually kept it close in half the games it played, believe it or not. But the lack of any win condition of its own really hurt it. It did manage to beat four decks, those that should show respect to 59th place in the wake of defeat at its hands are Zanven , merubhanot, nep33, and um, me.

58th Place - Battleground challenge 2 - DeckBuilder345 - 6-52

All Juzam Djinn all the time. The problems that really hurt it were 1. Nothing to do until turn 4, and 2. Juzam Djinn HURTS.

57th Place - Goblin smash - komar - 8-50

There were many Raging Goblin rush decks. None of them did very well. This one had the worst luck.

56th Place - DEFIANT - blueclay - 10-48

Poor Defiant Elf just isn't enough to win on his own, even when backed up by tons of Giant Growth. There are just too many ways for the poor lad to die. There were some hilarious moments with this deck though, including a 22/22 Defiant Elf swinging for game on turn 3 against guitarhero's CounterDjinn deck.

55th Place - death is ugly - Blueclay - 11-47 (lost tiebreaker)

Ironically, this deck lost the tiebreaker BECAUSE it used Reckless Charge, which helped against other decks, but actually hurt it against the 54th-place deck, which ran ALL Raging Goblin.

54th Place - GOBLINS WEEEEEE - quiller - 11-47 (won tiebreaker)

This deck is actually identical to komar's deck. But it got luckier.

53rd Place - TAKE THAT C-SPELL - Xander574 - 14-44

Mission accomplished, Xander, you beat ALL the decks that were super counterspell-heavy. Alas, not many others.

52nd Place - The Best Deck Ever - KrazyCaley - 15-43

Incomprehensible. My plan was perfect. But at least I got one more win than the anti-counterspell deck.

51st Place HONORABLE MENTION - Alberon's Announcer - TridenT - 17-41

TridenT's deck started well and then just hit a rash of losing streaks. Still, he gets an honorable mention for making a deck that actually is pretty representative of one of the computer duelists in the Battlegrounds game.

50th Place - Agrobeats - cheetos - 19-39

This deck couldn't draw its Overruns consistently enough to win, and much of the time when it did, it either didn't have enough creatures out, or didn't have the right mana. Still, it produced some dramatic finishes, like all of our Overrun-based decks.

49th Place - KrazyCaley Tribute Band - SocialistElite - 20-38

Yes, you got five more wins than I did by including an actual creature, Socialist. But you've sold your counterspell soul to do it. FOR SHAME.

48th Place - Djinn in a Box - guitarhero - 20-37-1

Another all-Juzam Djinn, all the time deck, but it eked out a good number more wins against aggro decks thanks to its use of Infest.

47th Place - Control King - Battleground Challenge - Zanven 22-35-1 - (lost tiebreaker)

I thought this deck was going to do a lot better. But it just didn't have enough creatures to bring things home consistently.

46th Place - Battleground challenge version 3 - DeckBuilder345 - 22-35-1 (won tiebreaker)

Hilariously, this deck, which was marred by some notoriously bad luck among our playtesters, drew its one game by what can only be described as "entirely too much mana and a hand full of Inferno."

45th Place - Llanowar Zealots - landot - 24-34 (lost tiebreaker)

Good deck, stayed alive a long time. Not enough power to push through for wins a lot of the time. Still did fairly well.

44th Place - Dance A Jig - Battlecry1986 - 24-34 (split tiebreaker)

One of the more original decks- no one else thought of Juzam Djinn and Overrun. This created some victories in VERY short order. It had some trouble against control decks and really any deck that had a solid late game, though, plus of course it was vulnerable to aggro.

43rd Place - goblin face raping - halogod989 - 24-34 (won tiebreaker)

The least lucky of the decks to combine Raging Goblin with Goblin King.

42nd Place HONORABLE MENTION - Scalding Water - nep33 - 25-33

This deck came in third place for the ultimate griefer award, behind my own entry and SocialistElite's variant of my entry. This one did it in an entirely different (and more effective) way- with Mana Short. Over and over again. And it won lots of games by using Raging Goblin plus Goblin King. Then Mana Short. Lots and lots of Mana Short. People DID threaten to punch you in the face for creating this, nep33, and for that, you get a proud honorable mention and a tip of the cap from me.

41st Place - Hello there. Slow going? - Selsenay - 27-31 (lost all tiebreakers)

This unique Izzet deck was innovative, but a little inconsistent. It had trouble drawing the creature it needed at the right times on occasion.

40th Place - Carrot and Stick - nep33 - 27-31 (won 1 tiebreaker)

Good use of Juzam Djinn - pair it with boosting instants and try to keep down the chop-blockers with Infest. Suffered from the same problems as the other Juzam Djinn-only decks.

39th Place - Flying Nibblers - shaistyone - 27-31 (won 2 tiebreakers)

Suntail Hawk aggro! Flying helped out big time, and Thunder Spirit packed some heavy punch on defense and offense. Still, dying to Infest and Vicious Hunger hurt a lot sometimes.

38th Place - Mother May I?(Battlegrounds) - Dracog - 27-31 (won all tiebreakers)

A more sane and balanced take on the "severe control" idea which netted far more wins than the sillier versions.

37th Place - Goblin Counters! - luckyfirefox16 - 28-30 (lost tiebreaker)

Another Goblin King + Raging Goblin deck. But having Counterspell helped! HAVING COUNTERSPELL ALWAYS HELPS.

36th Place - Bouncers - nep33 - 28-30 (split tiebreaker)

Yet another Juzam Djinn killer. This one had a balanced suite of other spells, including Infest, Vicious Hunger, and notably, Threaten, which allowed it to win a few games the other Juzam decks couldn't.

35th Place - I just want you to feel you're doing well. - Selsenay - 28-30 (won tiebreaker)

Selsenay's balanced green beats deck ALSO used a touch of Threaten to finish against decks with big bombs, and had pretty good success doing so. It barely had a losing record in the end, but it was the best deck WITH a losing record.

34th Place - Super Limited Deck 1 - TAMA - 29-29 (lost tiebreaker)

The first deck we've seen that relies on what has to be the card of the competition- Soul Feast. Soul Feast was an absolute killer in this competition. TAMA's carefully-crafted deck actually couldn't draw it ENOUGH.

33rd Place - Might - blueclay - 29-29 (won tiebreaker)

Priest of Titania. Avatar of Might. Lather, rinse, repeat. For such a simple deck, it sure did work pretty well. Avatar is just nasty.

32nd Place - RAGING CAJUN - Xander574 - 29-28-1

I don't know why this deck did so well where other Raging Goblin + Goblin King decks didn't. Either luck, or carefully-crafted balance between the two cards.

31st Place - Short Missiles - honeymomo - 31-27 (lost tiebreaker)

The question with this deck was usually whether Unsummon, Counterspell, and Mana Short could keep honeymomo alive long enough for her opponent to enter Scorching Missile hell. More often than not, the answer was yes.

30th Place - CounterDjinn - guitarhero - 31-27 (won tiebreaker)

THIS Juzam Djinn deck had a few copies of Infest, yes, but it also made extensive use of Counterspell, which as we all know is the best spell in Magic, which is why I'm still scratching my head as to how my deck could have won only 15 games.

29th Place - Green Thumb - jerot - 32-26 (lost tiebreaker)

Now we're getting serious. These are the big boys in the top 50th percentile of the decks. jerot's green beats deck was, critically, well-balanced. Surprisingly, decks with a lot of different cards tended to do pretty well because they had answers for more different types of stuff.

28th Place - Counterphage - Anowon - 32-26 (split tiebreaker)

Carnophage by itself wins you all the games against the Raging Goblin rushers. And when you add in Counterspell and Unsummon to control the board and buy you time against big dudes, you get a very simple, but very effective deck.

27th Place - I C Wut U Djinn Thar! - jerot - 32-26 (won tiebreaker)

One of the better Juzam Djinn decks, this one uses Pendrell Mists to defeat aggro, Vicious Hunger to stay alive short-term, Counterspell for general purpose control, and of course Juzam Djinn to finish. A well-rounded midgame deck.

26th Place - GG Green - MDragoon423 - 32-25-1

Another well-balanced green deck with multiple paths to victory, including Overrun and Avatar of Might, plus the ever-popular Defiant Elf + Giant Growth.

25th Place - Rage - Jarrod_0067 - 33-25

Red-green midgame deck with lots of different options. Ancient Silverback helped a LOT to survive wrath effects, and Gratuitous Violence did really important work, as it did in every deck that ran it. There were NO decks that ran that card that were bad.

24th Place - Liability Insurance - landot - 33-24-1

A creative black-white deck that used combat tricks, the Liability-No Mercy combo, two black ground beaters (Carnophage and Juzam), and Warrior Angel. Well-rounded = success.

23rd Place - OVerrun of the masses - Xander574 - 34-24 (lost tiebreaker)

Another Overrun deck that used apes to survive wrath, and which backed itself up with Counterspell. Good solid formula.

22nd Place - Super Limited Deck 2 - TAMA - 34-24 (split tiebreaker)

Another solid Overrun deck that could produce Overrun in very short amounts of time thanks to Priest of Titania, and which actually made positive use of Tranquility on more than one occasion.

21st Place - Limited Blue Beats - Dr. McMeen - 34-24 (won tiebreaker)

Pendrell Mists + Mahamoti Djinn works pretty well, actually, especially when backed up by a bunch of other blue shenanigans.

20th Place - First Challenge Deck... - smitty73 - 35-23 (lost all tiebreakers)

Well, smitty, for your first challenge deck, you done good. This was a VERY well-balanced red-green deck whose versatility helped it immensely. It won more than one creature standoff thanks to Scorching Missile.

19th Place - clear blue skies - landot - 35-23 (won 1 tiebreaker)

One of the few U/G decks, this one could kill you in the air or with Overrun, or both. Again, very versatile.

18th Place - My way's not very sportsman-like. - Selsenay - 35-23 (won 2 tiebreakers)

Air Raid! Incoming! IIIINNNCOMMINNNNNGGGG!

17th Place - Bruise 'Em With Counters - SocialistElite - 35-23 (won all tiebreakers)

Soul Feast, I'm telling you. The nasty control pieces didn't hurt either. Dude got hit with an Avatar of Might, but thanks to No Mercy he was fine. Next one would have killed him but he Counterspelled it.

16th Place - Rushwood Ramp - merubhanot - 35-22-1

More complex than the title suggests, this thing is really a green zoo, but you better believe it can get out a turn 3 Rushwood Elemental. And it did.

15th Place - B/W Beats - MDragoon423 - 36-22 (lost tiebreaker)

Dragoon caps off a very solid performance with this fearful black/white deck, full of most of the awful spells allowed in those two colors.

14th Place - Blue Bruiser - luckyfirefox16 - 36-22 (split tiebreaker)

The Master Deckbuilder got really close to the top 10 of this difficult challenge episode with this deck, which is again a controlly + direct damage nightmare.

13th Place - UW control "legal designer analogue" - Panda 36-22 (won tiebreaker)

Made good use of Wrath of God, another big winner spell, along with Counterspell. Finished with Warrior Angel, and where possible, Clone.

12th Place - evasion tactics - squire1 - 37-21

Yes, squire1 entered three decks. Yes, this green/white powerhouse of a deck was the worst one in 12th place of 59. What did you expect from the reigning challenge champion?

11th Place - No pain, no fear, no mercy - majikman111 - 37-20-1

Newcomer Majikman narrowly misses a top-10 in this extremely competitive challenge by a single tantalizing win. He used the black -x creatures: Death's-Head Buzzard and Harbinger of Night for control along with a suite of nasty black and blue spells. Liability won a LOT of games. So did the big beater, Sengir Vampire. So close!

And now, on to the top 10. Mad props to the absolutely sick decks that managed to crack the top 10 of this challenge, which was packed full of great decks.

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10th Place - Gratuitous Amounts of Energy - Phantos - 38-19-1

First, if you haven't seen the Powerthirst ads, go to youtube, type in "powerthirst," and find them. Then come back and look at this absolutely horrifying red and green deck, which DID in fact put up over 200 points of damage on a single attack during the round robin. (The unfortunate recipient was the Green Thumb deck of jerot ). Go look at the decklist, and you will know pain. This is Phantos' first top-10, and it was well-earned.

9th Place - juzam control - squire1 - 39-19

A deceptively simple deck that uses an array of carefully-selected black and blue creatures, plus strategically-placed counterspells and unsummons. Outraced a LOT of good decks. Also, yes, this isn't even squire1 's best deck yet! Sheesh. This is his 12th top-10.

8th Place - Im gon.. No your not. - halogod989 - 39-18-1

Nasty, nasty late game deck. Wrath over and over, then smash you with Angel of Retribution and Mahamoti Djinn backed up by Counterspells. It was a really nice winning formula, although Divine Presence seemed out of place and even lost a couple of games for the deck. Halogod has his first top 10 with this entry.

7th Place - having FUN - komar - 40-18

"Just for kicks," says Komar, but his double-Djinn action deck (with both Mahamoti and Juzam variety) was the one doing the kicking, with the djinn, Mr. Sengir Vampire, Horned Turtle for a very important defensive role, and Counterspell for defense. The Liability-No Mercy combo rounded things out nicely. This is also Komar's first top-10 appearance.

6th Place - BW Something - Sem48 - 41-17 (lost tiebreaker)

All-around solid black/white deck. Wrath, soul feast, life-gaining creatures, and No Mercy. This was a really tough one to beat; it only lost to the best decks, or decks that could be described as "janky" that finished much lower. As with the last two, sem48 is appearing in the top 10 for the first time.

5th Place - pendrell control - squire1 - 41-17 (won tiebreaker)

squire1 shows us all how to use Pendrell Mists. When you add it in with a bunch of killer creatures like Death's-Head Buzzard and Havoc Demon, and throw in a couple of other control pieces and a Mahamoti Djinn finisher, you almost never lose. Plus, who doesn't love Spelljack? Squire's three decks together are the best combined effort by a single deckbuilder, but Squire doesn't quite get to win another title, finishing highest here at 5th; his two top-10s push him all the way to an amazing 13 top 10 finishes.

4th Place - Orzhov Battleground - Dr. McMeen - 42-16

The Doctor's prescription for B/W awfulness is familiar, but more well-balanced and with better quantity selection than our other Orzhov entries. This B/W nastiness was just consistently soul-crushing for its opponents. This is the good doctor's fourth top-10. But probably won't see him again soon.

3rd Place - Izzet a battleground? - Dr. McMeen - 42-14-2

Sheesh, fine, good to see you again. The best of any of the goblin decks, this one uses the goblins (including, critically, Goblin Sky Raider ), but backs it up with Inferno, Counterspell, and the always-hilarious Spelljack. Other players accused this deck of having massive luck, but I say that any deck that goes 43-15 is not just lucky. The doc gets top-10 appearance number 5, establishing himself as one of the rising stars of the leaderboard.

2nd Place - wrathDjinn - guitarhero - 45-13

guitarhero proves that he can play on Expert. It's a very simple deck for one that did so well- Suntail Hawk does early damage. Mahamoti Djinn finishes. Counterspell does its thing, and Wrath of God helps if things get out of hand. By cutting out miscellany, this deck was able to control the pace and usually had the tool it needed when it needed it. This is guitarhero's second top-10, and his second in a row as well. Great finish by our runner up! But it still lost by a considerable margin to....

1st Place - Soul of God - SocialistElite - 48-10

A deck needs serious chops to rampage to a 48-10 record against this field, and SocialistElite delivers. The deck has a slim few copies of No Mercy, but other than that, it's ALL Soul Feast and Wrath of God. No Mercy helped on occasion, but I think that if those no mercies had been more wraths and feasts, the deck would have done just as well. An impressive victory from a creatureless deck! This is SocialistElite's second top-10; he premiered last week in the #2 spot, and beats that this week by becoming a Master Deckbuilder. Well done!

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Leaderboard

Minimum 3 top-10 finishes

1st Place - squire1 - 13 top-10 finishes, 2 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 6.33

2nd Place - TAMA - 9 top-10 finishes, 1 Master Deckbuilder title, average finish of 3.89

3rd Place - blueclay - 7 top-10 finishes, 1 Master Deckbuilder title, average finish of 5.43

4th Place - Zanven - 6 top-10 finishes, 1 Master Deckbuilder title, average finish of 6.00

5th Place - Illiad - 5 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 5.60

6th Place - Dr. McMeen - 5 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average inish of 6.00

7th Place - $ªmHεiπ - 5 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 6.20

8th Place - I_Call_BS - 4 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 6.75

9th Place - luckyfirefox16 - 3 top-10 finishes, 1 Master Deckbuilder title, average finish of 2.67

10th Place - Siegfried - 3 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 4.67

11th Place - Darkness1835 - 3 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 7.67

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Phew! Would YOU like to run a challenge?

I need a break! I've got a few proposals for interim challenges, but I'd like a few more, especially from folks who haven't gotten a chance yet. If you have an idea for a challenge and want to judge some decks according to your own very exacting crtieria, then e-mail me!

I'm at [email protected]!

I'll post a new challenge once I choose among the interim proposals; then you'll get your week off in the hands of a user-judge. Thanks to everyone who submitted to this incredible challenge!