KrazyCaley's Deckbuilders' Challenge- Battlegrounds (And results from Elder Dragon Everyman!)

Deck Challenges

KrazyCaley

24 June 2010

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Update! - Priest of Titania is now in the legal cards list for this challenge!

Sorry it took me so long, folks. Here we go with the results from the EDE challenge! And incidentally, I wish I had a dollar for every time I read someone in the comments saying "You know your general has to be legendary, right?" Apologies to all the challengegoers, but thanks to all the non-challengegoers who were trying to be helpful! People like that are why Tappedout is one of the coolest places for MTG I know of on the intertubes.

Results!

10th Place (tie) - zerotimestatechamp - Common General EDH-Beast Draw & Dr. McMeen - A Good, Hard Sparking

Score- 19.5

zerotimestatechamp is now at least a one-time worldwide Tappedout finalist. His deck is simple. It is filled, you might say, with beastly gameplay. Or, if you're still playing Modern Warfare 2, some BEASTLY GAMEPLAY. It's filled with beasts and a few non-beast supporters, including the general, Wirewood Savage. The deck just keeps coming- it's tough because you need to save your kill spell for Wirewood Savage or you'll just die, but the beasts are so nasty by themselves. Great deck, and Zerotime's on the board with 1 top ten!

Dr. McMeen weighs in with a deck that explodes if it goes slower than 55mph. Spark Elemental is the general, and it sets the tone for the rest of the deck- haste. Everything in the deck has had eight cans of Red Bull, and they're all coming at your face. This deck did really well because a lot of EDH decks take a little time to get much of anything going, but not this one. Turn 1, pow, 3 to your face, guaranteed. And 3 general damage, at that. And it only gets crazier from there. The good doctor claims his third top-ten appearance, and has the longest active streak of top-10s, having appeared in the last three, all the way back to the Sadism challenge.

9th Place - Jarrod_0067 - Gargantuan Overrun

Score- 20

Jarrod is fortunate that I was slow this week, as he was one of our late entry waiver decks. It's all Naya all the time with this deck, and in particular Jarrod takes big advantage of Naya's "5 power matters" cards. You know, Paleoloth, Mayael the Anima, that sort of thing. Our general is Rakeclaw Gargantuan. This deck could get insane pretty quickly once it got enough mana out. It was a bit slower than many of our other decks, but on the occasions when it could keep Omnath, Locus of Mana out or otherwise survive long enough to get good amounts of mana, it was lights out. Jarrod's got his first top 10 with this deck.

8th Place - guitarhero - Pridemage Tokens EDE

Score- 20.5

Don't let the name fool you. This deck is more about tokens than it is about General Qasali Pridemage. Token-generators and wrath fill this deck, as do a few helpers like Dauntless Escort and a solid assortment of backup cards and answers. Hour of Reckoning works miracles for the deck, and the inclusion of Skullclamp in this token deck will remind you why that card was banned in certain other formats. An excellent and consistent entry from guitarhero, who also makes a premiere appearance in the top-10.

7th Place - birdseed - One Wurm, Many Plants.

Score- 21.5

Master Deckbuilder birdseed, who last week nailed 1st place on his very first try, comes back with a solid showing in this challenge. Featuring Golgari Rotwurm, this deck is mainly fungus deck. The general has many, many opportunities to use its activated abililty, and just when you think that fungus is all you have to worry about, birdseed hits you over the head with a Troll Ascetic or a Creakwood Liege. Oh, and Primalcrux. And Khalni Hydra. So you know, that's fun. This is birdseed's second top-10, and his second consecutive appearance.

6th Place - blueclay - Gnarlid

Score- 23

blueclay had the best "General damage, I win" deck. General Aura Gnarlid is the deck's only serious threat, but what a threat. No less than 42 enchantments grace this deck, and more or less all of them are going on Aura Gnarlid. This deck can swing for game before turn 10 quite easily, and caught many slower decks by surprise. The key was to destroy Aura Gnarlid before it could get enchanted, but that wasn't always a possibility. Blueclay has previously only appeared in every other challenge's top-10, dating back all the way to Mono-Blue Aggro, but with this appearance, his sixth, he breaks the streak and has two consecutive appearances.

5th Place - Selsenay - You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you.

Score- 23.5

Hello, General Soltari Trooper. You have shadow, that's cute, so maybe you'll eventually do 21 general damage, huh? And also OH GOD YOU BROUGHT A WHOLE SHADOW ARMY WITH YOU. WHAT'S THIS? HORSEMANSHIP? PROTECTION FROM CREATURES? AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! Yeah, good look blocking ANY of this deck's creatures. You'll need it. Selsenay earns a second overall and second consecutive top-10 appearance.

4th Place - squire1 - wall-e...dh

Score - 25

Let's take a trip back to about six months ago, when I was grading the winning entry of a challenge.

KrazyCaley - "...the deckbuilder could possibly have been under the influence of an illegal substance."

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, squire1 has a flair for the unexpected and unconventional. His General is no less than Vent Sentinel. And the rest of the deck can probably be inferred from the general. A bunch of "deal x damage to every creature" effects help immensely with Squire's high-toughness wall arsenal, and the usual means for victory was just Vent Sentinel's activated ability. Defense, as you might imagine, was not a problem. squire1 marches on and posts his record eleventh top-10 appearance....

3rd Place - TAMA - Combo Unleashed

Score- 26

....but squire1 is outduelled this time by constant rival TAMA, who edges in ahead with this insane entry. Combo Unleashed is exactly what it says on the tin. TAMA, in his deck commentary, highlights seven of the nastier combos, but at least twice that many came out during playtesting that are comparably nasty. General Winged Coatl is only there to provide defense and be a Skullclamp target on occasion. The deck wins with its filthy combos, which can mill you out in an instant, cast Eldrazi with ease, and so forth. And one time it won with Great Whale. Which was HILARIOUS. TAMA has his ninth top-10 appearance, and keeps pace with leader squire1 .

2nd Place - SocialistElite - Land Ho!

Score- 26.5

Land matters for this deck. It matters a lot. Allosaurus Rider, Gaea's Liege, Scute Mob, Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer, and more landfall than you can shake a stick at. And oh, it does it have ways to get land on the battlefield. Start with General Sakura-Tribe Elder. Continue on to a bunch of land-fetch spells and creatures, and proceed through to effects like Oracle of Mul Daya and Azusa, Lost but Seeking. The deck will not lack for land, and it will punch you very dramatically in the face as a result. And don't forget about Kamahl, Fist of Krosa in case things bog down. That'll end a game pretty quickly. SocialistElite makes a power debut in 2nd Place with this premiere top-10 appearance.

1st Place - blueclay - Thornwind

Score- 28.5

Thornwind Faeries. Just a flying Tim, you say, sure, sure. But let's put a Pemmin's Aura on it. And maybe a Charisma for never-ending theft. And a Curiosity. And a Basilisk Collar. Sigil of Sleep. And while we're at it, let's put in an incredibly devastating array of other effects. Old Man of the Sea when you least expect it, along with a bunch of other thievery. Platinum Angel with Alexi's Cloak on it won a game for this deck. And Jace, the Mind Sculptor, just to keep you on your toes. And take note for this trend continued by blueclay, would-be Master Deckbuilders- every deck that has ever been entered into a Deckbuilders' Challenge that had Pongify in it has won 1st place. Coincidence? Well....yes, almost certainly a coincidence. But in any case, longtime top-10 fixture Blueclay finally earns the title of Master Deckbuilder with this entry, which is also his seventh top-10 appearance. Congratulations!

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Leaderboard

To reduce clutter, you now have to have THREE top-10s to appear on the Leaderboard. Here we go.

1st Place - squire1 - 11 top-10 finishes, 2 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 6.00

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

7th Place - I_Call_BS - 4 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 6.75

8th Place - luckyfirefox16 - 3 top-10 finishes, 1 Master Deckbuilder title, average finish of 2.67

9th Place - Siegfried - 3 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 4.67

10th Place - Dr. McMeen - 3 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 7.67

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

37 users have less than 3 top-10 finishes.

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Next challenge

And now, onto the next competition. Generally I like to keep my first challenge after an Interim challenge free, creative, and easy, while the second one is masochistic, frustrating, and horrible. This one is no exception.

The Rules

1. Your deck must contain exactly 60 cards.

2. Your deck may contain only basic lands.

3. Your deck may not have more than two colors.

4. There is no duplicates rule; you may use as many copies of a card in a deck as you like.

5. Your deck may only contain cards that are listed in the appendix following these rules.

6. Your deck will be judged solely on effectiveness against other decks entered in the competition; creativity and theme adhesion are out the window this week, as is general effectiveness.

7. Deadline is the end of July 7, 2010, U.S. Pacific Daylight Time.

Allowable cards appendix

You may ONLY use these cards:

Good luck

And no, Akroma, Angel of Wrath, Arcanis the Omnipotent, Ihsan's Shade, Maraxus of Keld, Multani, Maro-Sorcerer, Tsabo Tavoc, and Mishra, Artificer Prodigy are NOT legal.