3CB Tournament #33 Results and Discussion

[wonkey_donkey]

I’d like to congratulate Kowal as the winner of 3CB#33.
Nothing too complicated (with one or two exceptions).
Despite 2 attempts, there were no winners of the mise-prize.

The rules for this competition were: Anything Goes!

Banned list:
Black Lotus
Mesmeric Fiend
Blackmail
Chain of Smog
Hymn to Tourach
Cabal Therapy
Encroach
Mind Swords
Forget
Anvil of Bogarden
Strip Mine
Wasteland
Raze
The Rack
Wheel of Torture
Balance
Meddling Mage
Show and Tell
Isochron Scepter
Phrexian Dreadnaught
Lion's Eye Diamond
Evil Presence
Sea's Claim

Entrant – Deck Name – Deck

1. wonkey_donkey – The Bear Necessities – Forest, Eladmiri’s Vineyard, Words of Wilding
2. combo_dude – WMD – Mercadian Bazaar, Starstorm, Form of the Dragon
3. Lhyrrus – Sundaze – Island, Daze, Sun Droplet
4. Lockdown – Pleasedon’tplayremoval.dec – Hickory Woodlot, Channel, Platinum Angel
5. r_x_ - Burn the forest down! – Taiga, Orcish Lumberjack, Lavaborn Muse
6. Kowal – (No Name) – Mishra’s Factory, Sphere of Resistance, Mox Jet
7. Tempe - (No Name) – Saprazzan Skerry, Phantasmal Terrain, Imaginary Pet
8. Ephraim – 3-card Hate – Savannah, Scavenger Folk, Funeral Pyre
9. Zelc – Da Bears – City of Traitors, Mox Emerald, Words of Wilding
10. Tenebrozo – Elephant’s Funeral – Bayou, Rogue Elephant, Funeral Charm
11. Tristal - (No Name) – Sand Silos, Sand Silos, Confiscate
12. Virtual – The Green Knight – Savannah, Thallid, Swords to Plowshares
13. CmdrSam – Anti-Indiana Jones.dec – Hickory Woodlot, Channel, Snake Basket

14. wonkey_donkey – rockfish – Volcanic Island, Roc Hatchling, Daze
15. Kowal - (No Name) – City of Traitors, Sol Ring, Phyrexian Processor
16. Tristal - (No Name) – City of Traitors, Grim Monolith, Leveler
17. r_x_ - The Shining – City of Traitors, Mox Pearl, Glowrider

How to read the table:
Match the deck# on the left with the deck # on top. Append a 1 for the last 7 decks. The #s on the right of that deck correspond to how many points that deck received versus the deck on top. (Once again append a 1 for the last 7. The 1's are missing to make the table more clear)

0  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7   Total
1| x 6 2 0 0 0 6 6 2 0 6 6 0 0 0 2 0     36
2| 0 x 6 0 0 6 0 6 0 4 2 6 0 6 0 0 6     42
3| 2 0 x 2 1 0 0 0 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 1     18
4| 6 6 2 x 6 0 3 0 6 0 2 0 6 0 6 6 0     49
5| 6 6 4 0 x 0 3 6 6 0 4 0 6 0 6 0 6     53
6| 6 0 6 6 6 x 6 4 3 3 2 3 6 3 6 6 3     69
7| 0 6 6 3 3 0 x 6 0 2 6 6 3 6 6 3 0     56
8| 0 0 6 6 0 1 0 x 0 0 2 0 0 0 6 6 2     29
9| 2 6 4 0 0 3 6 6 x 4 6 6 0 3 0 6 3     55
0| 6 1 4 6 6 3 2 6 1 x 2 2 6 1 6 6 6     64
1| 0 2 2 2 1 2 0 2 0 2 x 0 0 2 0 0 2     17
2| 0 0 4 6 6 3 0 6 0 2 6 x 0 3 0 6 6     48
3| 6 6 2 0 0 0 3 6 6 0 6 6 x 0 6 6 0     53
4| 6 0 4 6 6 3 0 6 3 4 2 3 6 x 6 6 6     67
5| 6 6 2 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 6 6 0 0 x 4 0     36
6| 2 6 2 0 6 0 3 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 1 x 3     29
7| 6 0 4 6 0 3 6 2 3 0 2 0 6 0 6 3 x     47

Final Standings:

1: Kowal 69
2: wonkey_donkey 67
3: Tenebrozo 64
4: Tempe 56
5: Zelc 55
6: CmdrSam 53
     r_x_
8: Lockdown 49
9: Virtual 48
10: r_x_ 47
11: combo_dude 42
12: Kowal 36
      wonkey_donkey
14: Ephraim 29
      Tristal
16: Lhyrrus 18
17: Tristal 17

Well, having now done an old-style 3CB again, what do people think? It’s a well-balanced metagame, with no dominant deck as of yet – when I received Kowal’s entries, I didn’t think the winning deck would be as powerful as it turned out to be – however, the massive amount of decks that needed a turn to get going meant that it was very, very strong. Combo_dude’s storage-land deck beat the daze/sphere decks, but suffered due to turn2.dec’s strong showing.

I was disappointed that my vineyard deck didn’t do better – I thought it might get somewhere on the merit of having 2 sources of damage, but the vineyard didn’t kill anyone at all! Ah well, such is life I suppose. Discard was underplayed this time round, Tenebrozo being the only one. However, his high finish may lead to a greater showing next tournament. I was also pleased to see that the mise-prize wasn’t anywhere near being won – it is so hard to obtain when there is such great diversity that it ought to discourage all but the very best mise-decks.

Is this worth doing again? Does anything need the axe yet?
Please correct results if necessary – otherwise, discuss!

Tom

EDIT: Added in rules for the competition on demand

[combo_dude]

Tom, I DID submit Earthquake over Starstorm you know...

...but no matter. I'd have done pretty awfully anyway.

[wonkey_donkey]

Tom, I DID submit Earthquake over Starstorm you know...

...but no matter. I'd have done pretty awfully anyway.

I'm sure you didn't.... never mind though. I can recalculate if you want, but does it make a difference, as a matter of interest? It may mean you can kill something slightly sooner, but also you'd be taking damage.

Tom

[Lyhrrus]

Haha, I should read the casting cost on cards.  I thought Sun Droplet was like Tanglebloom.

[Tempe]

Well, I did decently well for my first time in about 25 3CBs playing. With the amount of LD on the banned list, I thought LD might be pretty good. Phantasmal Terrain is tech, although Sinkhole would have done just as well.

I like it as this simple format. I think it would be good to do it again.

--Tempe

[combo_dude]

I'm amazed that NOBODY played Lumbercrack! Still - almost more amazingly - it would only score 41 points (I think). This format is FAST.

[Jacob Orlove]

It's interesting that Kowal's Processor deck would have gotten about 20 more points if he ran mana crypt over sol ring. Speed is key. Of course, that would have meant figuring out the processor/crypt vs channel/basket matchup, but basket clearly wins every time.

[AggressiveDude]

damm I wonder how I would to with my workshop mana crypt leveler deck :S

[combo_dude]

What do we think for any amendments to the banned list?

Have we got Sinkhole and/or Phantasmal Terrain banned? If not, do you think we need to?

[rvs]

Why does Kowal have 2 entries?

[Kowal]

I submitted two, with the one that won as my favored one.  When he decided he would accept double entries to make it more interesting, he took in my second, which was the known and loved Processor deck.

[wonkey_donkey]

Why does Kowal have 2 entries?

When interest was diminishing (see 3CB#30 or thereabouts) Matt asked me (leading to me then asking the community) whether entering 2 decks would be ok when there was about a day or so to go in order that the tournament might become more interesting. I think it has been a good suggestion, in general, as the more highish-standard entries there are, the more a deck is tested. As a result, this time round, kowal, tristal, r_x_ and I have got 2 decks to play with. This won't happen if I get 15 entries from different people, but that hasn't happened since the introduction of the 2-deck idea!

What do we think for any amendments to the banned list?

At the moment, I'm tempted to leave it. There are several decks that can overcome the 2cc of sinkhole and phantasmal terrain, and a lot of decks can 3-3 these at the very least. I'm not banning them on the evidence of 1 tournament, however - if a dominant deck emerges, then maybe.

Oh, and still no results corrections so far? That could be a first   .

Tom

[Tristal]

I wasn't trying to win the mise prize, I apparently just suck :(

[wonkey_donkey]

I wasn't trying to win the mise prize, I apparently just suck

There is the small problem that you can only win if your opponent tries to win, but other than this difficulty there are no problems   .

Anyway, isn't something like that best not admitted to, out of interest?  

Tom