SCG Chicago Top 8 Decklists

[Smmenen]

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/event/10148.html

Top 8 was three different Stax variants - traditional, Uba, and Cron stax,
3 Control Slaver
1 Meandeck Gifts piloted by Godot
and 1 Dragon

Two of the control slaver lists have maindeck Tormod's Crypt. 
It looks like this is the opposite of the last SCG Chicago in that ALL of the Workshop decks made top 4.  Wow. 

I expect the same at Gencon: lots of workshops and lots of control slaver.

Let the games begin!

[Dante]

to expand on that, all 3 Stax decks were seeds 1-3 after Swiss.

Roland ran traditional 5c Stax (welders, tangle wires), Matt ran Cron stax, and Rob Vroman ran Uba Mask Stax.  Roland didn't lose a game throughout the swiss or his top 8 match.  His 2 losses to Vroman in the quarterfinals were his only game losses all day.


also, in the top 8 profiles, roland says his worst matchup is "gifts, by far", but Matt says his best matchup is Gifts....hmmmmm

Bill

[Matt]

Congratulations to Team Refelction's own Brad Granberry (Rico Suave)!

[Kowal]

Similarly, congrats to free agent Jesus Roxas, who finally shook the curse of going 3-2 in Chicago events with a 6th (I think?) place finish and a shiny new Mox Ruby.

Also, congrats to Jim Gaffney.  Not only did he top eight again, but he's also a ninja.

[Smmenen]

to expand on that, all 3 Stax decks were seeds 1-3 after Swiss.

Roland ran traditional 5c Stax (welders, tangle wires), Matt ran Cron stax, and Rob Vroman ran Uba Mask Stax.  Roland didn't lose a game throughout the swiss or his top 8 match.  His 2 losses to Vroman in the quarterfinals were his only game losses all day.


also, in the top 8 profiles, roland says his worst matchup is "gifts, by far", but Matt says his best matchup is Gifts....hmmmmm

Bill

That's based on Roland's testing against me   Matt is correct though that Cron Stax should probably maul most Gifts players.  Roland is playing more traditional stax.

It looks like the two decks to beat at Gencon are going to be Control Slaver (good god, 3 in the top 8) and Workshop Stax. 

[b-tings]

Congrats, Robbie. I imagine with so much Control Slaver running around, my Barbarian Ring was spicy for you all day    If Smmenen is right about Gencon, I'd imagine that adding another one to the maindeck would be quite the hotsex. Yours is definately the deck I'd be running in that environment, purely for it's ability to demolish the Welder war on the back of Bazaar + Ring.

[Smmenen]

Yeah Ring should now be standard in Stax.  I'm not taking away from your suggestion - b-ring was very good, but Kevin has also been testing that for over a month - and vroman thought of it too apparently. 

Let the Welders return!  Wowzor!  So much shop!

[Roxas]

I'll post my mini-report here, since it's not really long or high-quality enough to stand alone. 

Round 1 - Travis playing Doomsday

This was a fairly interesting match.  Game 1, he gets a pretty big storm count, resolves a Timetwister. It gave me three brainstorms and some other decent stuff, while he managed to get something like four mana sources, and I end up drawing into enough counters to force him to stall.  Game two, Doomsday actually resolves; he had some odd doomsday stack, which included Will, Tinker, DSC, and two other cards.  Unfortunately for him, I had Welder in play.

Matches 1-0-0, games 2-0-0


Round 2 - Jeff playing mono-U (Rico's feature match opponent)

I won game two because I resolved an early Tinker for Sundering Titan.  Games one and three I lost due to the combination of Back to Basics, Wasteland, and Chalice.  Game 1 was particularly bad for me because, not knowing what he was packing, I kept a land with a single Volcanic Island and Brainstorm that netted me three cards that do not produce mana.

Matches 1-1-0, games 3-2-0


Round 3 - Matt playing U/w Fish

Game one has me going about the usual business, getting rid of a very small number of threats and drawing lots of cards.  I eventually activate Mindslaver, seeing three Meddling Mages sitting worthlessly in his hand due to a lack of white mana.  He topdecks a Jitte that turn as well, which I play to get rid of the one on the table.  Game two is easily summarized by a single card: Rack and Ruin.

Matches 2-1-0, games  5-2-0


Round 4 - Nick playing a U/g threshold

I lose game 1 to hard beats while failing to draw business spells; game two is won by Triskelion and Pyroclasm, and game three by a Yawgmoth's Will with around 75% of my deck in the graveyard as well as some major misplays on his part.

Matches 3-1-0, games 7-3-0


Round 5 - Nick playing Dragon (the same guy who ended up in the top 8)

I win games one and three mostly by going about the deck's normal game plan; nothing particularly interesting.  He won game two because I prematurely used a Tormod's Crypt to RFG the squees he was abusing Bazaar with during my turn; he won after his next untap.  Sundering Titan and the maindeck Tormod's Crypt were MVP's here - Titan especially had a large part in winning game three by reducing his board to Bazaar, Mox Sapphire, and Null Rod.

Matches 4-1-0, games 9-4-0


Round 6 - David playing FCG

He wins game 1 because I fail to find a solution to his beatdown.  I win game two because, for several turns, all he did was swing with two Goblin Vandals with nothing to destroy; eventually I Pyroclasm, play Goblin Welder and some artifacts, and slowly gain and keep complete control of the game, eventually getting a Mindslaver lock.  Game three went to time; it was a long game in which I had to Pyroclasm away my own Welders a couple times, and even had to Will for Pyroclasm and Brainstorm in order to prevent death; he was eventually reduced to topdecks and I was swinging with Pentavus.  His life total was high enough that I couldn't finish him off, though.  Gifts Ungiven was amazing here; it was the card that made me survive games two and three.

Matches 4-1-1, games 10-5-1


Round 7 - Wayne playing some sort of deck with Welders and counters (probably CS, but I didn't see enough cards to be able to tell)

Both games, I get an active LoA turn 1 and simply overwhelm him.  I felt sort of bad for the guy, since it looked like his deck just completely farted on him.

Matches 5-1-1, games 12-5-1


Round 8 - read the Feature Match coverage on SCG.  Sundering Titan was definitely the MVP here - I don't think I'd have won this match had it been a Colossus.

Matches 6-1-1, games 14-5-1


Top 8 - Jim Earlinger

Game one has him simply overpowering me, drawing more cards and resolving more threats.  Game two was the same, except with me being the overwhelming victor.  Game three was closer; he had a more explosive opening, but I had a first-turn active LoA with two red blasts and a drain in hand.   However, I made a rather bad blunder. 

After a while, I was at ten life, and he had two Goblin Welders and Triskelion on the board.  I played a land to go up to six mana; I had a choice of casting either Triskelion or Mindslaver with counter backup, and I unthinkingly played the Mindslaver.  He swung and shot me to death after untapping.  I can't say for sure that I'd have won the game after clearing out his Welders, but the game certainly would have gone on longer.


Overall, the deck was very good to me over the course of the day.  I don't think I would really change anything other than the two sideboarded Duress, which I don't think I ever used.  They would probably have been more useful as extra Trisks or Arcane Labs.

Lessons learned:
1)  Sundering Titan > DSC
Ummm, I can't think of any more right now, I'll edit more in later.

Massive props and thanks to Jim Gaffney (godot) and Bob Yu (Clown of Tresserhorn) for lending me cards, Bob for bringing an awesome Type 4 stack, and JP for lending me sleeves (and pimping my set of ninjas). 

[Smmenen]

How are Control Slavers going to adapt to the fact that ALL THREE Stax variants beat control slaver in the top 8?  HOw are they going to deal with Ring and all the updated Stax technology? 

[Roxas]

Energy Flux is the first possible solution that comes to mind.  It's even a permanent, so it doesn't suck as much to draw it while Uba Mask is in play.  It could also use another Chalice solution after Rack and Ruin and Echoing Truth, but I can't think of any at the moment.

[Dozer]

What was up with that first P9 pick? Why did Vroman take the Ancestral? I heard the Lotus was in bad shape, but was it so bad that it wouldn't have payed for an Ancestral and more?

[vroman]

morrison and I arranged a split before hand where the winner would choose either A) lotus or B) ancestral + twister.
thus less financial pressure to win.

I started running barbarian ring on the suggestion of someone on the forum here a week ago. I dont know their real name

[Komatteru]

Congrats to Jim for playing Meandeck Gifts and smashing face, and to Roland for representin' hardcore by not losing a game!!

[Whatever Works]

How are Control Slavers going to adapt to the fact that ALL THREE Stax variants beat control slaver in the top 8?  HOw are they going to deal with Ring and all the updated Stax technology? 

The best answer is... It wont... However, I wouldnt be suprised to see Control Slaver run 1 maindeck Rack and Ruin (I tried and liked it), or maybe it will take all the fish hate out of the board, and change it to stax hate. Though, at gencon that could be a fatal mistake.

Also is Stax really that good vs. CS??? I agree that Cron Stax has a good matchup, and uba stax has a good matchup, but regular stax never seemed to be amazing vs. CS (or at least in my experiences).

[Smmenen]

At Origins, I watched Roland and Rich Shay play.   Roland won game two and lost game three but he would have won game one if he had played this right:
His board is:
Wasteland, Gemstone Mine, City of Brass, a tapped Mana Vault, Crucible of Worlds, and Sphere of Resistence.
Rolands hand is Smokestack, Tangle Wire, Karn, Titan, etc

Rich's board is: Mox Pearl, Island, Welder and he has two cards in hand and he has played two FOWS this game already.

Roland draws Wasteland and plays it and passes the turn so that he can untap his mana vault. Rich eot played Mystical tutor for Brainstorm and Brianstormed and then passed the turn. Roland untapped the Mana Vault and passed. Rich then eot bounced the Sphere of Resistence and then dropped Lotus, welded it back in and played Yawg Will. GG.

If Roland had played the Tangle Wire the turn he drew the Wasteland, then he would have been able to stack the wire and float mana and untap the Vault after the Wire resolved and shut Rich out and follow it up with Smokestack next turn which definately would have won him the game without a doubt.

I'm looking forward to reading Roland's report, but I know he learned from that lesson and I'm betting he played more than one Control Slaver player all day.  If regular stax can beat control slaver, then

[cssamerican]

How are Control Slavers going to adapt to the fact that ALL THREE Stax variants beat control slaver in the top 8?  HOw are they going to deal with Ring and all the updated Stax technology? 

In the Top 8, CS decks had 4 Goblin Welders game one and an additional 3 Rack and Ruins for post sideboard games, but yet none of them could win a match versus Stax . That is a lot of ways to deal with artifacts, especially when you consider those decks run 8 counterspells as well. Was this an anomaly or was this the status quo for these matches? Because I really can't see Control Slaver doing much more than what it did.

[Changster]

Thanks for an awesome weekend guys!

I'll bust out some report sometime soon... but to show that Control Slaver is NOT my worst matchup... I went 3-0 in matches and 6-0 in games against Control Slaver decks last night 

-Roland

[Moxlotus]

Congrats to Matt Morrison and all the rest of the top 8.

I think the lesson to be learned is that Tendo Ice Bridge has broken Stax   I mean, its wasteland proof.  Plus it sacks to Smokestack!!!

The Dragon player squeaked in with a lucky topdeck that put me (playing Oath) out of the top 8.  But I'm not complaining since I had a lucky topdeck in round 8 that put the would-be Stax deck #4 into the top 8.

[absolute]

How are Control Slavers going to adapt to the fact that ALL THREE Stax variants beat control slaver in the top 8?  HOw are they going to deal with Ring and all the updated Stax technology? 

Blood moon is the first thing that comes to mind, with it's ability to hate on the current gifts lists as well as stax.

[Ivantheterrible]

If Roland had played the Tangle Wire the turn he drew the Wasteland, then he would have been able to stack the wire and float mana and untap the Vault after the Wire resolved and shut Rich out and follow it up with Smokestack next turn which definately would have won him the game without a doubt.

It dose seem like not playing the wire was a mistake but you didn't mention the graveyard at all. If roland had mox/lotus or just anything rich didn't care about in his yard then the wire would just get welded out by rich and possibly also the stack next turn. Maybe things have changed but it seems relavent as in all my expeirences the matchup boils down to wining the welder war. For example I was once in a game with yokomoto where I had a good stax hand with like early welder and smokestack but yokomoto off a one land hand cast turn 1 welder turn 2 welder and turn 3 welder. Needless to say my one was far outmatched and I didn't draw waste strip or trisk ans promptly lost cause despite playing properly he just ran my board.

Blood moon is the first thing that comes to mind, with it's ability to hate on the current gifts lists as well as stax.

I dont know how much youve tested/played with or aginast meandeck gifts but thus far it seems to me that aslong as there is just once island in play for gifts they can win through moon just fine. OF course thats assuming they have the artifact accelrants but they always will. I suppose sometimes both that and welder would make it hard for collosus or tendrils wins but both can still happen easier then you might believe.

[absolute]

If Roland had played the Tangle Wire the turn he drew the Wasteland, then he would have been able to stack the wire and float mana and untap the Vault after the Wire resolved and shut Rich out and follow it up with Smokestack next turn which definately would have won him the game without a doubt.

It dose seem like not playing the wire was a mistake but you didn't mention the graveyard at all. If roland had mox/lotus or just anything rich didn't care about in his yard then the wire would just get welded out by rich and possibly also the stack next turn. Maybe things have changed but it seems relavent as in all my expeirences the matchup boils down to wining the welder war. For example I was once in a game with yokomoto where I had a good stax hand with like early welder and smokestack but yokomoto off a one land hand cast turn 1 welder turn 2 welder and turn 3 welder. Needless to say my one was far outmatched and I didn't draw waste strip or trisk ans promptly lost cause despite playing properly he just ran my board.

Blood moon is the first thing that comes to mind, with it's ability to hate on the current gifts lists as well as stax.

I dont know how much youve tested/played with or aginast meandeck gifts but thus far it seems to me that aslong as there is just once island in play for gifts they can win through moon just fine. OF course thats assuming they have the artifact accelrants but they always will. I suppose sometimes both that and welder would make it hard for collosus or tendrils wins but both can still happen easier then you might believe.

The result of putting moon in play would be Jet, Lotus and/or Petal needing to be in play in order to cast tendrils. The tinker win is the most logical route, but again, bouncing welder or the moon would be the gifts main advantage in this situation (also noting that the gifts player has the distinct advantage at 7 counters to 4 with the moon in play). I've played with both gifts and slaver, but haven't personally tested with the moon, so there is no way to give a definitive answer. The only thing that I can say is that moon is good against workshops/bazaar/ring, and is a reasonable solution.

[seer]

The biggest problem I can see around blood moon is if the CS player drops it very early the gifts player will be in a bad situation if he had not already played some fetchlands. Thus all the fetchalnds he draws will be mountains.

[Smmenen]

Gifts should have 5 islands, 5 Fetch, and 4 Duals + Academy.  But is Blood Moon really good enough versus these Stax decks?  That's the real question. 

[Lou]

Gifts should have 5 islands, 5 Fetch, and 4 Duals + Academy.  But is Blood Moon really good enough versus these Stax decks?  That's the real question. 

Vroman's Uba Stax, while taking a hit against his Bazaars and Workshops, is mono red, so I can't see it hurting it that bad.  Against Cron Stax, all they will need is one white for the maindeck Seal of Cleansings.  I think that Blood Moon would hurt the list that Roland ran, but I doubt that it would cripple it.  All these lists would more than likely have some type of lock piece down before a Blood Moon would hit the table.  Slow them down, no doubt.  Help win games?  IMO, Blood Moon = Crap.

[Whatever Works]

Gifts should have 5 islands, 5 Fetch, and 4 Duals + Academy.  But is Blood Moon really good enough versus these Stax decks?  That's the real question. 

I think the answer is no... It slows down the accelleration, and stops wasteland, but most decks even with it out lose the permanent battle, and the usually result is the board being cleared by smokestack. B2B is just 10x better... To bad its unplayable in any of the top decks, because it should be a house in this current metagame.

[b-tings]

I started running barbarian ring on the suggestion of someone on the forum here a week ago. I dont know their real name

That would be me. My real name is Ben Wilinofsky, not that that means anything. I'm stuck on the West Coast of Canada, where there are precisely 0 tournaments, ever. Between Hockey and Nazi Parents, I've made it down to the states for one tournament. We'll see what sort of name I can make for myself when I move to the East in the fall for school.

@Smmenen: I don't think of Kevin testing the same innovation as me as taking away from my development, I think of it as a good sign that I'm working in the right direction.

[The Atog Lord]

How are Control Slavers going to adapt to the fact that ALL THREE Stax variants beat control slaver in the top 8?  HOw are they going to deal with Ring and all the updated Stax technology?

Don't worry. I'll think of something

[Smmenen]

I started running barbarian ring on the suggestion of someone on the forum here a week ago. I dont know their real name

That would be me. My real name is Ben Wilinofsky, not that that means anything. I'm stuck on the West Coast of Canada, where there are precisely 0 tournaments, ever. Between Hockey and Nazi Parents, I've made it down to the states for one tournament. We'll see what sort of name I can make for myself when I move to the East in the fall for school.

@Smmenen: I don't think of Kevin testing the same innovation as me as taking away from my development, I think of it as a good sign that I'm working in the right direction.

I agree - good job. 

[Revvik]

Plus it sacks to Smokestack!!!

Is this the new "Pitches to Force of Will", or "Discards to Thirst for Knowledge"?

[Moxlotus]

Plus it sacks to Smokestack!!!

Is this the new "Pitches to Force of Will", or "Discards to Thirst for Knowledge"?

Don't forget "sits in the 'other' Fact or Fiction pile."
The best part about it is the card is protected from Wasteland.  Nobody wants to blow a wasteland or Strip Mine on that shitter.