hi guys, this is my first post here on the mana drain!
i am an italian player, unfortunately i wasn't at Valencia. it was a pity, as everyone here is talking about that like something very special, not only the tournament but also city and spanish people.

talking about the differences in our metagame compared with spain or usa, it seems quite clear that the main fact is to have or not to have proxies.
in italy, before starting a tournament, you have to think if your deck can beat not only workshops decks,control and combo, but also aggro and aggro control decks, in different shapes. this is obviously due to the lack of proxies, and surely alterates the metagame.

the result is that some deck in italy is just viable and in usa it is a tier1 and vice versa.
also, in our country people LOVE some card, eg mana drain, which is heavily played in md.gift like builds with dark confidant, and that makes it a tier1 here; while in other countries they just think "hey, this deck is insane! let's dump the old one and try something new!". we are more conservative and we look with suspect at the new builds, also looking at the "aesthetical" side of the game.

the typical italian player wants to play control, or, if he plays combo, he will probably choose storm combo or something like that, nearly no one thinks at combo like "turn one kill" decks.

so...no-one plays flash, while everybody fear it and add more sideboard cards against it
same for ichorid, even if somebody play that
we have many drain or control decks
some gat, many workshop decks
and of course aggro and aggro control, in a remarkable quantity.
storm combo as well

this ends my little detour on the italian metagame, hoping not to have bored you ^^'

btw, i really like Eric's list, playing with 8 pitch seems very funny!

i beg your pardon for any english mistake i've done!
bye