Top 8 Decks
Standard forum
Posted on Oct. 15, 2013, 2:21 a.m. by Unforgivn_II
I suppose this can be a resource for those who want to find their next netdeck. But really, it's for those of us to practice against so we can beat your netdeck.
Anyway, I entered the Top 8 decks from the Pro Tour last weekend. I figured, rather than keeping this to myself, I can just put it here for all of you. (And I know this isn't a crazy task. But I know you all. The easier the better.) You can use this list to practice and be prepared for what you might be seeing in the near future. As a sidenote, the best way to use these is to make a copy of it, so you can do sideboarding with it in your playtesting.
Dezani's Mono-Blue - (1st Place)
Black's Mono-Blue
Wafo-Tapa's Epser
Mihara's Gruul
Rietzl's Orzhov
Dagen's Mono-Blue
Yamamoto's Mono-Black
Cornelissen's Mono-Red
Exiistential says... #3
Thank you very much! Very useful for getting ready for FNM at my local shop...lots of netdecking going on there. lol
October 15, 2013 3:15 a.m.
pretty sweet, I alrdy copied the top contenders and will be play testing them, thanks for this, it really is a useful resource and it saved me time I probably wouldn't have spent to do this and therefore wouldn't be otherwise.
October 15, 2013 3:57 a.m.
And to think, I made that mono-black deck weeks ago... (well I didn't think to add scry lands, but the rest was almost identical...)
October 15, 2013 5:01 a.m.
gnarlicide says... #6
Thank you, I just posted a thread about this last night. You're an angel.
October 15, 2013 7:57 a.m.
The Doctor says... #8
You guy's know that pretty much every player from StarCity ran the same exact deck (pretty much) [Mono-Blue] simply to drive the prices for the shitty cards up, right?
Those decks are complete jokes, but they won because the players who played them are amazing, and there were about 12 or more people running it.
October 15, 2013 11:08 a.m.
Not really jokes... even though the players playing them were good theres a lot of good players at pro tours and decks actually need to be good to win.
October 15, 2013 11:17 a.m.
The Doctor says... #10
You can give an amazing player a bad/decent deck, and they will still do good.
October 15, 2013 11:23 a.m.
So you say Makihito Mihara (World Champion 2006, 5 PT Top 8s) is a bad player - at least he lost to super-amazing Jeremy Dezani 3-0 who used a deck that's a complete joke. Or is Mihara's deck also a complete joke? Or am I overlooking something?
October 15, 2013 12:46 p.m.
Well regardless of whether the cards are crappy or not, the pros have proven that cards like Master of Waves can be very good.
It doesn't matter whether or not we think a card is good or not, all it takes is for that card to make 1st in a PT and that will spike the price. I was one of the people who thought Master of Waves was really bad, and I am still of the opinion that it is bad, but now I know I may have to meta against it.
On a side note, I find it odd how more than half of these decks are mono-color, in a standard where we have an entire multicolor block to use. I can't say I'm a fan of it, but it's a vast change from the previous standard.
October 15, 2013 1:54 p.m.
The Doctor says... #13
Like I was saying, they had A TON of people try to break these (bad) cards to drive their prices up. A couple of people managed to do it, but that doesn't mean that the deck is good.
October 15, 2013 1:56 p.m.
Well the deck is good. It's an incredible amount of synergy that takes advantage of RTR block's hybrid mana as well a bunch of cards that were previously overlooked.
I'm sure I'm not the only one kicking myself for not seeing it before, but it's a good deck. And that drives up the price of the cards in the deck, solely because someone else has been able to prove that the deck works. The price hike is obnoxious, but it's justified.
October 15, 2013 2:02 p.m.
I could understand your argument of saying it was basically luck compared with skill. But if the deck is as crappy as you say. How do you explain that the Top 3 basically played the same deck?
Here is a quick overview from the most played cards, of decks that made at least 6-2 in the 8 Standard rounds:
Number of copies of cards in all 6-2 or better decks:
Basic Lands
618 Island
298 Mountain
297 Forest
196 Plains
167 Swamp
Top 10 Nonbasic Lands
184 Mutavault
128 Stomping Ground
119 Temple of Abandon
99 Temple Garden
74 Temple of Silence
72 Godless Shrine
68 Sacred Foundry
66 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
56 Hallowed Fountain
48 Blood Crypt
Top 20 Nonlands
151 Frostburn Weird
144 Jace, Architect of Thought
127 Stormbreath Dragon
125 Thoughtseize
124 Master of Waves
122 Mizzium Mortars
120 Domri Rade
119 Tidebinder Mage
111 Thassa, God of the Sea
107 Cloudfin Raptor
104 Judge's Familiar
103 Boros Reckoner
101 Elvish Mystic
99 Doom Blade
95 Voice of Resurgence
93 Negate
88 Boon Satyr
82 Nightveil Specter
80 Scavenging Ooze
79 Burning-Tree Emissary
79 Fleecemane Lion
Mono Blu was one of the most played decks. But there was also Gruul as you can see from the 120 Domri Rade, still 3 Mono Blu made the Top3 and only on Gruul was amongst the Top8. This should prove the absolute power-level of this deck!
The most notable thing might be, that only 66 Shrine to Nyx were played in all the decks. Clearly one of the best cards right now in Standard.
October 15, 2013 2:10 p.m.
Unforgivn_II says... #16
@strateupjee - Wizards posts them on their website after a pro tour.
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/ptths13/Top_8_Decks
October 15, 2013 3:12 p.m.
Arachnarchist says... #18
I think the decks success can in large part be attributed to good matchups. Early in every format aggro decks are heavily played before control can really get its footing. And those mono-blue decks had a very good matchup against aggro. Tidebinder Mage is a huge roadblock to any aggro deck, and two of the more popular aggro archetypes, Gruul and RDW, simply can't deal with a Master of Waves .
The deck also has a decent matchup against control, thanks to Judge's Familiar , Thassa, God of the Sea , and Mutavault . Thus, the deck can play more midrange against aggro, and more aggro against control.
However, with this deck in the spotlight now, I wouldn't expect it to place nearly as well in upcoming events.
Unforgivn_II says... #2
Dag nabbit. I edited this thing 3 times and still messed it up. I meant to say that you should make copies of the decks in that last sentence. Not the list.
October 15, 2013 2:22 a.m.