Are these really 'decks to beat'?

[rozetta]

I suppose this is part of the fact that innovation has just started booming in Type 1 again. Back when things were a little more "stagnant" and there were a lot fewer people playing, we tended to innovate more as a community. I suppose if the level of innovation drops to where there is an established set of decks (granted, this may be a long time off), people will maybe start innovating as a community again.

[Dr. Sylvan]

This thread is getting into repetitive territory about how much "innovation" there really is and teams, etc. Post carefully so it doesn't have to be locked for going in circles.[/color]

[andrewpate]

It stands to reason, at least to me, that the metagame would be picking up at a time like this.  Wizards has finally started giving some attention to Vintage--cleaning the cobwebs out of the B&R list, splitting the T1/T1.5 lists, even bringing out some articles on magicthegathering.com--and more players have been attracted to the format.  Combine that with the mass exodus of Standard players sick of Ravager vs. Oxidize, and you have a big group of talented, dedicated players coming into a format they used to think of as "elitist" or "antiquated."  They are obviously going to have ideas, and they are obviously going to force the veterans to have ideas, too.  If we tried to hide behind Keeper all the time like the Vintage players of Ages Yore, we'd get killed by these guys, so we are moving forward.  Our metagame changes completely after every major tournament:  can you imagine a deck being as good as Fish was going into Gencon becoming as bad as Fish is today this fast two years ago?  With the exception of surprise, easy to hate decks such as Dragon, this just isn't something we've seen before.  AND it's what keeps me goldfishing my latest pet Storm deck instead of Cephalid Breakfast.

But wait, wasn't this thread about the list?  I think that's an obvious symptom of this period, as well.  Many, if not most, Standard players netdeck like none other.  Used to a format where they print off the latest Ravager list, drink a cup of coffee, and go win States, they going to be scrabbling for a list they can build (U/G Madness, Fish, Landstill, even Sui!), and if you can't beat that stuff, you are going to be in trouble given the large numbers of these players turning out.  At SCG 2, I talked to at least as many players at their first real Vintage tourney as I talked to players with TMD accounts.

[verduran]

Personally, I reckon Team Meandeck has earned the right to be arrogant. Winning fairly and all. In the end, the victor is always right, right?

On the gauntlet thing; maybe a few more statistis should be added on each deck. Like number of t8's in large tournaments over the last month.

[Rico Suave]

Personally, I reckon Team Meandeck has earned the right to be arrogant. Winning fairly and all. In the end, the victor is always right, right?

Maybe my system of values is different than yours, but arrogance is rude and a sign of immaturity.  I guess people have the right to be immature, but that's not something we should promote.

[GUnit]

Call me crazy but, as a person who actively lives a normal life and plays magic only on occasion, rather than vice versa, I'd be pretty upset to have a deck widely known by my name. Then again, I'm not quite as hopelessly arrogant as some of the members of these boards seem to be. I suppose this means I'm biased twofold; first, for going outside once in a while, interacting with the opposite sex, getting exercise and having a social life that doesn't involve FNM, and second, for not being a dick. Thus, my point is hardly fair and should probably just be ignored.

[Zherbus]

1) This is WAY off-topic. CLOSED.

2) Aiming accusations of arrogance at an entire group is really old. You know what I'm talking about.

3) I guess I disagree GUnit. I don't really care what my decks are called, I don't get upset if something has my name or my team name appended to it. It has absolutely nothing to do with me regularly hitting the gym, recently getting married, never playing FNM, and spending more on nights out than magic (that includes the site costs for TMD).

You might be proud to be yet another type 1 player with a life (most type 1 players have a life, which is why they play a format that isn't as hard to keep up with), but it's hardly conductive of our conversation here.