[Results] Crazy T8 from Iserlohn

[Dozer]

91 people duked it out in a powered field for a Timetwister last Sunday, and this was the result:

1. MaskNought w/ Shapeshifters
2. Salvagers Oath
3. Uba Stax w/ Tangle Wire instead of Sphere of Resistance
4. B/g Sui w/ Deed
5. FCG
6. Meandeck Gifts w/ SB Balance
7. TPS w/ Recoup + a single Gifts MD
8. TPS w/ Recoup + a single Gifts MD

The metagame looked like this (in the linked table, the different Stax, Oath and Tendrils decks are listed separately):

11 Stax (4 old, 4 Uba, 3 5c)
8 Oath (4 Salvagers)
8 Tendrils-based decks (4 TPS)
6 Bird Shit
6 Landstill
5 Affinity
5 R/G Beatz
4 Gifts
4 Dragon
3 each: Fish, FCG, Mono-U, Slaver, Sui Black, Tog
2 each: Keeper, WW, Mask
+ assorted one-of's


Weird. Just weird. So many people opting for a TPS-style deck and Gifts falling by the wayside, Slaver virtually not present, Oath in numbers and with a finish, and MaskNought taking the tournament? Even though there was -- as always -- no T8 playoff, just after Swiss this still looks weird to me.

Dozer

[Moxlotus]

Is there any explanation for the lack of Control Slaver?

[moses2k]

6 Bird Shit
6 Landstill
5 R/G Beatz

cs doesnt like these kind of decks..

thats the only explanation that makes sense to me..

[Jacob Orlove]

Yeah, a non-proxy environment can be very rough for CS. The rest I guess we'll just blame on pairings. ;)

[Dozer]

Is there any explanation for the lack of Control Slaver?

No. Other than what Jacob said, I can't see a reason that only 3 players chose CS. Then again, only 4 players chose to play Gifts, too. To get behind this, the no-proxy factor is probably a big influence. Also, players might have thought that in the expected aggro field, these two decks are not strong enough, since they run next to no removal besides their respective combos. The logical choice for these players would be a switch to Oath or to a pure combo deck, which is what the numbers indicate. If I had been there, I'd have played either U/W control or Oath (maybe with Gifts), too.

Dozer

[rvs]

There's also the fact that a lot of players tend to play more 'fun' decks, especially in the enviroment of Iserlohn (comparable to Castricum for us dutchies, where even DracoPlosion can win!), or at the very least, play their signature deck. More serious decks are usually reserved for events like Eindhoven and Bram-tournaments(for us dutchies, anyway). I assume it's similar in Germany.