Hello everyone, I'm a first time poster but a looooong time lurker of MTGS. I think I started following this site around the time Timespiral was being spoiled, so... mh, I'm not even sure, but probably that's about 10 to 15 years ago. Having started playing around the time Ice Age came up, I have been around since more or less the beginning and seen the game grow up and evolve through time. That's probably the reason I fell in love with Battle of the Sets (BOTS) the moment I first read about it. What's Battle of the Sets? An event that was held here on MTGS quite some time ago. A thing for Magic nerds if there ever was one, and at the same time, a very entertaining experience. I'll get back to the details in a few moments, but first I'll talk a little more about how this thread came to be and what I plan to do. The original BOTS I got to know was run by an user nicknamed Alfred, and was ran up to its eighth edition before closing up. Back then, I liked the idea so much that through the years I ran four tournaments of BOTS with my friends. I always thought that it was a pity that the thing died as it did, and would have been great if someone resurrected it and got it going again. Since I plan on starting my fifth tournament in a short time, I thought: "Well, what the hell, you might be the one to resurrect it on MTGS and post it as you go". And so here I am.
For the mods: I hope this is the right forum, feel free to move this topic if you have to
I'll copy some parts, since the work is already done, no reason to do it again
- TOURNAMENT FORMAT: Each set fields its best possible deck to square off
against the other sets for the coveted title of Battle
of the Sets Champion - tournament is single-elimination
- MATCH FORMAT: Each match is best 3 out of 5
- SEEDINGS AND PAIRINGS: there will be 76 decks participating (more on them later). I plan on having 4 groups of 16 decks each, then the group winners will face off in the semifinals and finals. A preliminary elimination phase will be held to reduce the number of decks from 76 to 64. While this is a sort of reboot, I would have liked to keep every deck on the same level and same starting position, but it looks difficult to handle, and God knows this thing has already grown much bigger since the time there were only 30 or 40 sets around. Since I more or less know which decks are good and which bad, I'll pick the worst decks and have them face-off in this phase, then the best (of the worst) will advance to the actual tournament.
- DECKS: I will provide all the current decklists below. I am open to input and willing to change some of the lists if a better alternative is provided. This is actually the best part for all you deckbuilders around.
- PARTICIPATION: you are encouraged to participate by following the game reports I'll post and commenting on them, rooting for the decks you like, and so on. You can also send me alternative decklists for some sets if you don't like the one I came up with, I'll test them and use them if they actually prove to be better (the final judgment on the matter will be mine). I would like this to be a community experience, since this is the funny part of the whole thing. I'm going to do this anyway, but the more the merrier
- MATCH REPORTS: I'll write up match reports for all the games. Some brief summaries, some in-depth coverage for the most interesting matches. You can enjoy making predictions, reading the reports, and then commenting on the matches.
- ELIGIBILITY: originally, only expansion sets were allowed in Battle of the Sets. Over the years, I allowed also the yearly core sets to participate, starting from M2010. The reason is that these sets feature some unique and interesting cards that would otherwise be lost. So it's basically all the expansion sets plus M10-M15 and Magic Origins. The last set considered will be Oath of the Gatewatch, since Shadows over Innistrad would make the number of participants odd.
- BANNINGS: No cards are banned or restricted. Dealing with such
card pools means the potential for outrageous degeneracy is capped to a reasonable extent. Yes, this means 4 Libraries of Alexandria, 4 Academies, 4 Skullclamps, etc. etc.
- TIMELINE: I will introduce the decklists in the next couple of weeks and then plan on posting weekly with around 4 matches for each update. This means that it will take around 5-6 months to complete the whole thing. I would like to make it faster, but it is a LARGE number of matches to be played and I don't have all the time I used to have. You're invited to stick with me to the end, even though it might take some time
And that's all for now. I will add the decklists in the coming days by editing this post. Feel free to comment, posts alternative decklists, send them via PM to me, whatever you want. I hope everybody has as much fun as I had the first time I discovered BOTS
Description: as far as old sets go, Arabian Nights fares reasonably well. This UB Suicide Aggro deck has a decent burst potential, and can keep its hand full with the broken Library of Alexandria. A Flying Men + Unstable Mutation + Serendib Efreet start is something most BOTS decks would have problems dealing with. Utility cards like Oubliette and Sorceress Queen can allow the deck to push in those last few damage it needs to close the deal.
The most obvious weakness of this deck is the Suicide part. Against more modern and effective aggro decks, losing as much life as Arabian Nights does is simply not an option. Also, there are decks on BOTS that play on a higher level than just beating the opponent with creatures, and against those decks, Arabian Nights has very few options.
Description: one of the powerhouses of BOTS, simply reading Antiquities's decklist is enough to understand just how powerful and broken this deck is. Simply put, if this deck gets a quick start, there is practically no deck in BOTS that can rival with it. All thanks to Mishra's Workshop, that can fuel some insane starts (like a turn 2 Triskelion, for example). But not only that: UrzaTron + Candelabra + Rocket Launcher is one hell of a funny combo for Antiquities (not so much for the opponent). This deck has basically no weak point, except for its habit of being its worst opponent. If Antiquities has bad luck with the first draw and the first mulligan, things can get ugly real fast, as it gets swamped with high-cc cards and no mana to cast them.
Description: I like decks with a clear strategy in mind, and Legends sure is one of them. Lock down the game with Moat, then finish the opponent with a Land Tax-fueled Land's Edge onslaught. Simple and clean. Now, the major problem is that Legends is heavily anti-aggro oriented. There are some decks in BOTS that will simply laugh at its strategy and proceed to win. Or decks that can remove the key pieces of Legends strategy. Or more simply, aggro decks that are simply too fast or too resilient for Legends. Still, Legends has a fair chance to win when faced with most low-tier decks, or simply with slow aggro decks that do not pack flying creature or ways to remove Moat.
Description: probably the best example of just how poor old sets can be (if you thought Kamigawa was bad), The Dark is possibly the weakest deck in the tournament. There's not much to do with this underwhelming set, honestly, but GW seems to be the best combination of colors it can go with. That said, let's move on as quickly as possible.
Description: another very sub-par deck, Fallen Empires is a black aggro deck that packs only one card of relevance: Hymn to Tourach. The rest is a bunch of creatures ranging from not-particularly-good to decent. While the decks is objectively weak, I've seen it pull out some unexpected wins, especially against slow combo decks that can be punished from a lucky Hymn to Tourach. I also moderately like the whole concept of a Thrull deck because... well, Thrulls, duh. Who has ever played a Thrull deck?
Description: ah, Ice Age, one of my favorite decks from BOTS. Not because of its strength, mind you. No, the real flavor of Ice Age comes from its clunkiness. Play Necropotence, keep your hand full, hold your opponent at bay until you can play a Jokulhaups... and then do it. Wipe the board. Sacrifice all your lands to Zuran Orb to fuel Necropotence and then... start the game again. Only this time you have a full hand, and your opponent doesn't. It's a terrible deck, slow, unreliable, easy to disrupt. And yet it's madly brilliant. A deck that could be conceived only for an environment like BOTS, and the reason why I love this tournament.
Description: so here it is, the infamous Homelands. Is this the worst deck in BOTS? Well, I'd put my money on The Dark, but Homelands is a strong contender as well. This deck is a sort of WG Midrange that tries to survive until it can play its best creatures (Abbey Gargoyles and Autumn Willow) and try to win the game. Does it work? Not against many opponents, unfortunately. Still, it's sort of cute.
Description: as most decks coming from an old set, Alliances feature some creatures that would nowadays be seen as garbage (but, at the time, weren't). This is a major weakness, when you rely on creatures to win the game. Still, if it manages to land a couple of attacks from its high-power beaters, Alliances can become dangerous. Pyrokinesis, Death Spark and Guerilla Tactics can help clear the way of opponent creatures and chump-blockers. Finally, Primitive Justice is a devastating metagame card against some of the top decks of the tournament. All in all, while no one would ever consider Alliances an high-tier deck, it makes for some entertaining games and may grasp some really unexpected victories.
Description: Mirage is a deck that doesn't look particularly good on paper. In reality, it's not bad at all. It has a clear strategy: get rid of the opponent's creatures and bring back the best ones under Mirage's control with Ashen Powder. Simple, and yet effective. I've seen Mirage getting close to eliminating the almighty Antiquities, which is something you would never guess by reading the two decklists.
Mirage packs many ways to fill the opponent's graveyard with creatures: removals, discard and "deathtouch" creatures. Even counterspells (would you guess how much the color pie was screwed back then?). The result is a decent Mono-black control deck, even when Ashen Powder doesn't turn out. Also, a Dark Ritual + Choking Sands start is something that can be very effective, especially in a BOTS environment. And finally, Spirit of the Night was Akroma before Akroma was Akroma.
Description: the infamous Sandipoise deck, one of the most dreadful Combo decks of the format. Visions's deck is good, very good. First of all, the combo explained: drop Equipoise, watch the opponent's permanents phase out, then lock them into oblivion with Sands of Time. After the lock is enforced, use Wand of Denial to ensure that the opponent never draws a removal for your lock pieces, or simply close the game with a Forbidden Ritual. The combo pieces can be more easily located with Vampiric Tutor and Impulse.
So, what could go wrong? Well, first of all, mana fixing is sort of a problem for Visions. Fast aggro decks can also try to race Visions (top-tier aggro decks in BOTS can reasonably have a turn 4 clock). Control decks packing a lot of removal can also deal with Visions. And finally, in recent times, Planeswalkers happened. Equipoise does nothing against them, and there are a few walkers that can win a game on their own.
Still, Visions is a ruthless and relentless deck, and a serious contender for the final victory.
Description: Weatherlight is another deck running for the title of Worst Deck in BOTS. There are a few saving graces to the deck, to be fair. The deck revolves around a clear design and has some synergy going on among the cards. It can also lands some decent creatures at a decent price. But at its core, it's a deck that revolves around card disadvantage, and that's never a good thing.
Description: another powerhouse in the BOTS metagame, Tempest is a very effective control deck with an answer to almost any deck. Against decks that rely on creatures to win, it will just drop its lock pieces, Humility + Orim's Prayer, then cover it with counterspells. Against combo decks, it can either counter their win conditions or remove key pieces with Disenchant. Disenchant also works very well in removing Auras and Equipments, which are the only way most decks have to overcome the lock once it's in place. Once Tempest has enough mana available (and it usually will last enough to have it), Capsize can remove multiple threats at once, or even remove all the lands from the opponent's boards. Intuition works very well for finding the combo pieces.
Overall, Tempest is a very effective and well-rounded deck. For many decks, finding Tempest equals to a 100% loss without any chance of fight back. But it has some weaknesses. First of all, two decks have an almost guaranteed win with Tempest: Judgment and Darksteel. Apart from these two, other control decks featuring many counterspells and/or removals can start and maybe win an attrition war. Finally, the fastest aggro decks in the format can effectively race Tempest and kill it before it can get the game under control. Still, dealing with Tempest is nightmarish for almost every deck in the format.
Description: Strongold is lucky enough to pack one of the wrongest card in Magic history: Dream Halls. The basic idea is, then, to cast Dream Halls and then immediately get the upper hand over the opponent with high-cc spells like Flame Wave and Sliver Queen. Shard Phoenix allows recursion and keeps the fuel coming for Dream Halls, while Sift offers more chances of drawing Dream Halls. Stronghold still suffers from the lack of direct deck search and, more importantly, it would need a better finisher. As it stands, it's not enough to really threaten the top tier decks.
Description: well, what to say? Having both Survival of the Fittest and Recurring Nightmare in the same set makes things easy. Exodus's deck is clearly a RecSur build, wishing to abuse creature recursion to win the game. Mainly, considering the BOTS metagame, this means a Spike Weaver recursion to shut down the opponent's combat phase. Once the soft lock is achieved, the game can be leisurely win with Dauthi Jackal, which is a practically unblockable creature for the rest of the tournament. It's quite hard to deal with this deck, mainly because of its capability to endlessly recur creatures. The main problem for Exodus is facing those decks that do not rely on creatures to win, and that's the main show stopper for this otherwise very effective deck.
Description: aaahhh, Urza's Saga. What to say about this deck? The set it comes from it's one of the most broken sets ever released, possibly the MOST broken set ever released. And it shows. The mere possibility of building a deck like this from a single set is testament to the absurd power level of Urza's Saga. Windfall, Time Spiral, Turnabout, but most of all, Tolarian's Academy, all together. What could you ask for more?
The strategy is simple: generate absurd quantities of mana by playing Turnabout and Time Spiral, all the while sifting through your deck with Windfall and cycle cards, watching your opponent getting bored and progressively worried on the other side of the table. Then, a single 50+ mana Genius of Stroke, and that's it. See you next year.
So, we can close down BOTS, right? Not quite. While devastating on paper, Urza's Saga is, in my opinion, not really a serious contender to the final win. First of all, there are a handful of aggro decks in BOTS that can reliably race Urza's Saga (that usually cannot combo earlier than turn 5). Also, decks with disruption, or counterspells, can effectively shut down Urza's Saga. Finally, unfortunately, this deck is fully capable to shut down itself, if a bad hand or bad draws should happen. Still, it's an opponent that should not be underestimated, being one of the few decks in BOTS that can win against any opponent.
Description: it says a lot that the weakest deck from the Urza block still features cards like Rancor, Mother of Runes, Deranged Hermit and Defense of the Heart. Urza's Legacy concept is simple: get past the enemy's defenses with a Might of the Oaks-boosted creature. That can be done by exploiting Mother of the Runes ability, or with a trample creature like Weatherseed Treefolk, by swarming the opponent with enough squirrels, or lastly with a sneaky Lone Wolf.
While not being a bad deck at all, Urza's Legacy falls into the range of average decks that can bully the oldest and weakest sets in BOTS, but are simply not equipped for dealing with the strongest decks in the tournament. Any lock deck in the format can easily deal with Legacy, along with any deck capable of wiping the board, or simply faster aggro decks.
Description: a very fast and effective green ramp deck, Urza's Destiny relies on Rofellos to quickly produce tons of mana and play creatures like Ancient Silverback and Thorn Elemental by turn 3 and 4. Later on, the mana produced by Rofellos can be used to fuel Masticore and take out even high-toughness target. The deck also has a secret trump card in Plow Under that, if casted from an advantage position, can definitely close a game in Destiny's favor. Even without Rofellos, the deck behaves like a common green ramp deck with Yavimaya Elder and Heart Warden. These two cards work particularly well when paired with Pattern of Rebirth, giving Destiny another strategy to put a big creature on the board from early game. The main weakness of Urza's Destiny are obviously control decks packed with removals, especially if they can kill an early Rofellos.
Description: I used to play a Rebels deck back in the day, so I have a soft spot for Mercadian Masques. This deck lacks a few key pieces of that deck (most notably, Lin Sivvi), but the core parts are still there and they still interact very well. Mercadian Masques works pretty much like your average White Weenie deck, except for the "recruitment" mechanic that guarantees that the creature will keep coming on your side of the board. After a critical mass is achieved, Reverent Mantra allows your creatures to strike for the kill. Simple and reliable. The main drawback of this strategy is that Mercadian Masques is an aggro deck that trades speed for resiliency and versatility. In some matchups, this is a good trade. In others, like most lock decks in the format, it's a death knell for this deck.
Description: Nemesis features some interesting cards like Blastoderm, Rhox and Saproling Burst, but in my opinion, the card that gives this deck a real boost is Parallax Tide. While Nemesis is decently equipped to deal with opposing aggro decks, Parallax Tide gives it a shot at taking down slower control and combo decks, simply by removing their lands for the time it takes Blastoderm to crush them. While I'm not particularly fond of Fading creatures, they're actually capable of putting some pressure on the opponent, although arguably a 2/3 for one mana was much better back then than it is now. Blastoderm is still as good as ever, though, mostly thanks to its Shroud ability. While Nemesis plan is quite clear and the deck is capable of executing it well, at the end of the day there are decks in BOTS that are simply... better. But look at Nemesis as the underdog that can snatch an unexpected victory against the odds.
Description: to keep it simple, Prophecy is bad, really bad. Not The Dark-level bad, but still bad. The whole set relies on the concept of tapped/untapped lands, mostly allowing your opponent to pay mana to reduce the effectiveness of your own spells. Design-wise, it's quite bad, and it works even worse. So, i came up with a BW deck mostly focused on disrupting your opponent's strategies. Glittering Lynx and Glittering Lion are mildly annoying creatures in the early game, and can later sacrificed to a Mageta mass removal effect and used as fuel for the best creature in the deck: Avatar of Woe. Still quite weak overall, but it stands a chance against most low-tier aggro decks in BOTS.
Description: Invasion, my favorite block ever Theoretically, Invasion has a bunch of very good cards to build a UWB Control deck (Dromar, Recoil, Rout, Undermine, Repulse, Absorb, etc.). In practice, that deck just doesn't click. That sort of baffles me, and I can't really pinpoint WHY it doesn't work (my best guesses are a lack of 2cc counter and/or removal and/or good creature to arrest the first onslaught of aggro decks). Fact is,I've tried multiple times, and it's just meh. Another option is a RB aggro/discard build, but it doesn't look that appealing or competitive. So I ended up with this Domain build that looks promising. The main idea here is using Elfhame Palace and Harrow to have all the 5 kinds of basic lands on the board quickly, then use Collective Restraint to block the enemy creatures. Once the situation is under control, Ghitu Fire and Tribal Flames can quickly chip away the opponent's life points (perhaps with the help of some birds from Ordered Migration). Global Ruin is the finishing strike for aggro decks after Collective Restraint is in place, but it can also work well against combo or control decks to try and slow them down.
Description: there is not much to say about Planeshift, since it's a very simple deck. Drop the Familiars, then the bigger creatures, attack, win. Planeshift packs a few good cards (Terminate, Shivan Wurm, Phyrexian Scuta - sort of), but overall lacks that fearsome drop that sets great aggro decks apart from the rest. There's no MVP card in this deck, and in some matchups, it shows. Also, the deck has occasional mana problems, as it packs 3 colors without dual lands.
Description: my personal favorite deck in BOTS. Apocalypse was a former powerhouse of the tournament, featuring some of the deadliest cards printed in the old days of Magic: Pernicious Deed, Vindicate, Spiritmonger, Death Grasp, Phyrexian Arena, and so on. A lots of quality stuff that combines into a deadly Junk deck with an answer to almost anything. As strong as this deck is in some matchups, Apocalypse is definitely weak to fast aggro decks, considering that the deck tends to consume its own life points quite easily (Arena, but also the dual lands). As more and more quality aggro decks appeared in modern sets, the relative power level of Apocalypse started to decline. It's still an opponent to be feared, just not as much as it used to be.
Description: Odyssey fields an interesting deck that is based on the (almost) infinite recursion allowed by Holistic Wisdom. When combined with large quantities of mana, Mirari and Time Stretch, this easily tranlastes into an (almost) infinite number of turns and, following shortly, an easy win. While this condition is not quickly achieved, Moment's Peace grants (hopefully) enough time to ramp mana. The main problem of Odyssey is that his combo is easily disrupted, and the deck has not many ways to protect the key pieces.
Description: Torment is a black-hearted beast, one of the most fearful opponents one can face in the whole BOTS. This deck features almost anything one can ask from a monoblack control build, including many cards that are incredibly effective in the BOTS environment (like Shambling Swarm and Laquatus's Champion). Torment is versatile enough to deal with any kind of opponent, and has no bad matchups I can think of. You can rightfully place Torment in the top 5 deck of BOTS.
Description: Judgment is an incredibly annoying deck to deal with for most BOTS decks. Phantom creatures are among the most resilient ever printed, especially if coupled with auras like Elephant Guide and Unquestioned Authority. Most opponents simply cannot deal with this kind of opposition, and are eventually outlasted by Judgment. Thanks to the early drops and cards like Chastise, it is also quite difficult for aggro decks to rush enough damage before Judgment can stabilize the board. Jusgment's main weakness? Control decks, especially those than can wipe the board and deal with Mirari's Wake.
Description: one of the most loved and hated control decks ever, Onslaught's Slide needs no introduction. Even with the limited card selection from a single set, Onslaught manages to build up a pretty solid deck, featuring some impressive cards like Exalted Angel, Akroma's Vengeance, Lightning Rift and (obviously) Astral Slide. Onslaught can deal with practically any aggro deck in the format. On the other hand, it has more troubles against control decks, especially does that feature any kind of lock (Tempest comes to mind as an example).
Description: poor Legions is the only set ever to be composed of only creatures. And to make things worse, those are not even good creatures. So, the deck tries to achieve some level of synergy by relying on Slivers, which are in good variety but unfortunately not really good in terms of quality. In particular, Legions can not really try to rush opposing control decks, since there is no real burst damage potential in the deck. As such, the deck can practically concede right away to any control deck featuring any kind of mass removal. That said, the matchup is not particularly better even against other aggro decks, that can usually put in enough early pressure and crush Legions while the slivers are still weak. Practically speaking, Legions has some chances of winning only against low-tier aggro and midrange decks. Pretty poor, but then again, it's Legions we are talking about.
Description: a very conventional monowhite control deck, Scourge fares actually quite well against a large segment of BOTS decks. Dawn Elemental and Silver Knight can be very annoying for many aggro decks, while Eternal Dragon and Decree of Justice are excellent finishers against control builds. The main problems of the deck are the relative lack of card advantage and also of direct removal spells (although Wing Shards is very goos against Haste creatures, it cannot be targeted).
Description: one of the most fearsome decks in BOTS, Mirrodin's blazing fast Affinity deck is a deadly effective, well-oiled machine. First, cast undercosted creatures and press the offensive. If not contrasted properly, Affinity can close the game by turn 4 with an oversized Atog, plus maybe one Shrapnel Blast for good measure. Game drags on? No problem, enters Disciple of the Vault, slowly chipping away the opponent's life points. There are very few decks that can match Mirrodin in terms of speed, so it's not strange that so far Mirrodin's road in BOTS has been stopped by control builds (Onslaught and Tempest just to name two), although only the best decks are actually capable of handling Mirrodin's pressure.
Description: after Mirrodin itself, another fearsome deck coming from Mirrodin's block. While definitely less explosive than Mirrodin, Darksteel brings to the table a combination of cards that creates one of the most incredible card advantage engines of BOTS, namely Skullclamp and Genesys Chamber. Not only that, the whole "Modular" concept allows the deck to sacrifice creatures to Skullclamp (or Ravager) and build up +1/+1 counters until the opponent is overwhelmed. Finally, Sword of Fire and Ice is one of the best equipments ever printed, and fits perfectly in this build. Looking at possible weaknesses, it must be noted that Darksteel, while being possibly the most resilient aggro deck in the format, cannot really match the speed of other decks and can therefore lose the damage race if pressed hard enough.
Description: Fifth Dawn's bringers deck is at simple as it get. Gather multicolored mana, play a bringer, profit. The deck is very reliable and can regularly play a bringer by turn 3-4, which is not bad at all in the BOTS environment. On the other hand, that's more or less it. If the opponent can remove a couple of bringers before they can make too much damage, Fifth Dawn is not really left with much.
Description: the Kamigawa block has a long history of hate and mocking jokes from the Magic community, but perhaps unjustly so. Its bad luck came from following Mirrodin, but arguably, almost any block would have looked ridiculously weak after Mirrodin. Moving on to the Champions of Kamigawa BOTS deck, it's a very elegant deck, one of my favorite from the tournament. At its core, there's a soft-lock, the so-called Hazelock, obtained combining Kami Hana + Soulless Revival + Ethereal Haze. With these three cards and six mana, you can repeatedly prevent all combat damage, basically sealing the game against most decks in BOTS. While this is the main feature of the deck, the deck can actually recycle indefinitely and Arcane spell, and as such it can be a pain in the ass for control and combo decks too (Cranial Extraction, Wear Away). Add in the mix a good combination of deck manipulation (Gifts Ungiven, Eerie Procession, Sensei's Divining Top) and you got a well-rounded and extremely effective deck.
Description: after Champions comes Betrayers, and starts the decline. While this set features a powerhouse card like Umezawa's Jitte, it unfortunately lacks the creatures to make the best of it. Still, Betrayer's deck is a strongly-focused anti-aggro deck that deals its job surprisingly well (went very close to eliminating Mirrodin in a match, losing 3-2 at the end of a very close fifth game). All its creatures are very good against aggro decks, and its best removal card, the nice Final Judgment, works very well with the genjus. Now, the main problem here is obviously one: not all the decks in BOTS are aggro decks, far from it. And against control build, Betrayers is in for a long and painful death.
Description: Savior's white weenie deck is certainly full of flavor, but lacking in power. While some of the cards in it are certainly good, it lacks a true MVP and it's not fast, not reliable enough to aim for the win. The game plan is very simple here: play creatures, then Charge Across the Araba, and hope that's enough.
Description: originally, Ravnica was a GW deck centered on Galre of Subdual, but that performed very poorly. Then came a WR Boros build, which was somewhat better, but still very poor when compared with the best aggro decks in BOTS. So, I switched to this radically different build, centered on the insane card advantaged from Dark Confidant, and a very low mana curve that caps at 4. The deck features many low cc interesting creatures and a large number of removals, acting like an hybrid aggro/rock build that works extremely well against a wide range of BOTS decks. The main problem is that the deck relies a lot on Dark Confidant, so if that doesn't show, it might be in trouble.
Description: a nice little panda control deck, Guildpact relies on a relatively classic control build that can, with a good hand and good draws, deal with practically any opponent. That said, the deck doesn't really shine against any opponent in particular and can end up with cards in hand that are practically useless against the opponent they're currently facing. And that's a problem, since the deck lacks reliable card advantage engines and deck manipulation.
Description: enter Dissension, winner of the second edition of the BOTS I held. A victory that came as a surprise, since no one was really expecting Dissensione to perform *that* well. This deck can completely destroy almost all the control and combo decks in the format, while at the same time performing as a fast aggro deck capable of beating most aggro decks on the race to the 20 points. Dissension features many strong cards, but the MVP is definitely Lyzolda, capable of dishing out damage and fueling the offensive with card draw. Demonfire is an excellent finisher against blue control decks. Who can deal effectively with Dissension? Mostly midrange decks with life gain, but there are also aggro decks that can effectively outperform Dissension. Should it happen to face mostly control and combo decks, even top tier one, Dissension could easily reach the finals and win it. A deck to keep an eye on.
Description: a lovely monoblue build focused on countermagic and snow permanents, Coldsnap places itself in the upper part of the low-tier. It cannot really deal with most other decks, especially those equipped to deal with control decks, but it's solid enough to handle most of the weakest aggro decks in the format. And that's more or less it.
Description: I really loved Timespiral block, back in the day, but unfortunately it doesn't perform strongly in the BOTS metagame. Until the previous tournament, Timespiral entered the competition with a UG Morph deck that planned on abusing Vesuvan Shapeshifter to keep copying Thelonite Hermit and other effect-when-morphed cards. Fact is, a deck like that it's really too slow for BOTS, and simply concedes to any deck featuring a mass removal. So came this UWR Blink Riders deck. A nice metagame deck back in the day, I hope that it can work as an unpredictable silver bullet in the current BOTS metagame as well. The other deck I considered was a Teferi control, but it lacks two cards that came later in the block, Delay and Damnation, that are key for a deck like that.
Description: Planar Chaos's RG aggro deck is... not particularly good, unfortunately. The key here is rushing in with a Fatal Frenzy-powered Groundbreaker or Timbermare, and hope that the opponent cannot remove it at instant speed. The alternative plan, well, there isn't really any, but I guess that Radha + Akroma makes for an interesting synergy. Still, we're looking at a weak deck overall.
Description: arguably the strangest set ever printed, Future Sight relies on its strongest card to be any good at all. The whole deck is built around Tarmogoyf, trying to bring the most different types of cards in the graveyard as quickly as possible. Does it work? Well, Future Sight is sort of an average deck unfortunately. If the opponent can deal with an early Tarmogoyf, it can probably deal with Future Sight quite easily.
Description: the Faeries deck was perhaps the most dominant deck ever legal in Standard, dominating 2008 World Championship and many more events in those years. It is easy to see why - fast, efficient creatures with Flash and comes-into-play effects. Counterspell. Card draw. Removal. Discard. The deck had everything. The BOTS version misses one key piece, Vendillion Clique, but still, it's a very competitive and efficient deck, a clear contender to final victory.
Description: while there is a clear power level drop passing from Lorwyn to Morningtide, this warrior deck is still powerful and can field some very interesting cards, the most powerful one being Chameleon Colossus. The deck is strongly tribal in a block that pushed the tribal mechanics, so a high level of synergy is guaranteed, and Morningtide makes the most of it. While it cannot be considered a top-tier contender, is still a troublesome opponent for the majority of BOTS decks, featuring a strong mid-game and some clear finishers like Titan's Revenge, Vengeful Firebrand and, obviously, an oversized Chameleon Colossus.
Description: one of the most successful, quick and reliable aggro decks in the format, Shadowmoor is a red beast that exemplifies the best qualities of red aggro decks. It's quick off the gates with Tattermunge Maniac and Mudbrawler Cohort, pushes the offensive with Ashenmoor Gouger and Boggart Ram-Gang, finishes the opponent with Demigod of Revenge and Flame Javelin. It's fast, very fast. And lethal, very lethal.
Description: and yet another fearsome deck coming from the Lorwyn block. Eventide is a very fast aggro deck, much as Shadowmoor is, but brings more utility to the table. Unmake and Deathbringer Liege are excellent removals, while a few Lifelink creatures help in the damage race against opposing aggro decks. Unlike Shadowmoor, though, Eventide lacks direct damage and is in general uncapable of unseating a control deck that should manage to stabilize the board. Apart from this relative weakness, we're looking once again at an extremely strong contender to the final win.
Description: Shards of Alara features an interesting Naya deck built around two strong planeswalker (Ajani Vengeant and the first Elspeth), supported by a series of other very good cards (Woolly Thoctar, Naya Charm, Knight-captain of Eos). The decks work as a standard midrange deck, gaining steam as it goes while abusing two of the best planeswalker ever created. These two cards, if unanswered, are more than enough to win any matchup, so the rest of the deck is mainly focused on protecting them. Overall, it's a deck that performs very well and has very few bad matchups in the whole tournament.
Description: well, I love Conflux. It's the sort of deck that can find an answer to anything, and while it is definitely not a top tier deck, it's always funny to play and to watch. The core idea of the deck is build up mana to cast Conflux, search for the bombs you need to close the game, and then finish the opponent. There are very few decks that cannot be beaten by Conflux after having resolved a... well, a Conflux. The main problem is, therefore, getting there. Against aggro decks, Conflux relies on Path to Exile and Wall of Reverence to control the initial onslaught. Thornling is, on the other hand, a very good card against other control or midrange builds. Conflux is the very definition of "jack of all trades".
Rating: poor Alara Reborn is a set full of multicolored cards, with no dual lands. This makes up for a shaky manabase that relies on Trace of Abundance to work. So, this turns out to be the core card around which to build the deck. The rest is more or less a matter of preferences, but I've found Behemoth Sledge to be a very good card in the BOTS environment, and the one that made me choose this color's combination over a Jund build (in the same way that Maesltrom Pulse sort of pushed out a Naya build). All in all, anyway, Alara Reborn is a relatively weak deck that is probably destined to quickly leave the tournament.
Description: Zendikar is, simply put, the best deck in BOTS. It swooped a complete victory on my third and fourth edition of BOTS, destroying any opponent on the way. Why? Well, first of all, it can reliably kill its opponent on turn 4, thanks to its landfall-powered creatures. Want to block these creatures with creatures of your own? You'll be met with Journey to Nowhere and Kor Hookamster. Finally managed to stabilize the board with a mass removal? Get ready to deal with an Adventuring Gear-powered Goblin Guide, or maybe just a kicked Burst Lighting to the face. Zendikar is too fast for almost any control deck in the tournament, can hit from different directions, and can outrace any other aggro deck. How do you stop it? Well, two decks got close enough to success. One was Ravnica: loads of cheap spot removal, take out the landfall creatures before they can even attack. The other one was Magic 2012: *****loads of token to chump block and some lifegain. Still, not even these two decks managed to stop Zendikar. Will someone be able to do it this time?
Description: so far, Worldwake has entered BOTS with a UW control build heavily oriented towards destroying aggro decks - and quite successful at it. But that's not nearly enough to win BOTS, unfortunately. I decided then to work again on this deck, and decided to focus on two cards that are definitely extremely powerful, and more so in an environment like BOTS: Avenger of Zendikar and Terastodon. And this UG ramp deck was born. Needless to say, Worldwake features the card that is possibly the strongest card printed in modern magic: Jace, the Mind Sculptor, an incredible mix of control and card advantage. I'm curious to see how this new Worldwake will fare in the tournament.
Description: well, there are few decks as straightforward as Rise of the Eldrazi. Ramp mana, play some big guys, win the game. And the strategy actually works, mainly thanks to the high quality of the Eldrazis as late game beaters. Cards like Ondu Giant, Overgrown Battlement and Momentous Fall help the deck deal with aggro decks, extending the game up to the late game, where Rise of the Eldrazi is an absolute killer.
Description: Scars of Mirrodin features a Big Red deck, an archetype that was quite common in those years's Standard, thanks to cards like Kuldotha Phoenix and Koth of the Hammer. Overall, this is a very strong deck, with a very nice interaction between Liquimetal Coating + Shatter and Hoard-Smelter Dragon. The deck has the tools to play defensively against aggro to get to the late game, and offensively against control decks, putting them under pressure with the recursion of Kuldotha Phoenix. Overall, an interesting and well-rounded deck with interesting potential.
Description: one of the most effective midrange decks in BOTS, Mirrodin Besieged relies on the greatest cheat in Magic, that is, Infect. Even if the deck is not as explosive as a true aggro deck, having to deal only 10 damage means that it can quickly pressure opposing decks, even with a slow start. If needs be, though, it can also play on the defensive, featuring a good number of removal spells, both spot and mass. Consecrated Sphinx is absolutely nuts in this format and, needless to say, so is Inkmoth Nexus, a broken card and the real MVP of the deck.
Description: while in theory a Splicer deck would also be interesting, I've tried it and it sort of feels lackluster, relatively slow and unable to deal with most control decks. This Suicide Aggro is faster, packs some removal and most of all features Phyrexian Obliterator, which needless to say is a beast in the BOTS environment. That said, as previously mentioned when talking about Arabian Nights, self-dealing lots of damage is not a good idea when facing some of the best aggro decks in the tournament.
Description: as an avalanche, Innistrad is a deck that gains strength as the game goes on. More cards in the graveyard, bigger creatures, more resources available. Either you deal with it quickly, or you'll get slowly and hopelessly overpowered.
Its main weakness? Being very slow and featuring no removal whatsoever, Innistrad is condemned to certainly lose against any lock deck in the tournament - and unfortunately, that includesse many top tier decks.
Description: this is a deck I really like. While not godly good, it is a solid deck that's pretty fun to play. Stack +1/+1 counters on creatures, then fling them at the opponent. The opponent wants to play a mass removal spell? That's fine, you have undying creatures (and Predator Ooze). Also, if Flayer of the Hatebound is on the pitch... well, things can get messy. Finally, Huntmaster of the Fells is a real powerhouse, as most of you probably already know.
Description: I've tried many different decks for Avacyn Restored, but anything that comes out of it it's plain bad. In the end, the best possible build seems to be this WR Humans aggro deck, which is really nothing special. Barring some interesting starts (like Lightning Mauler followed by Silverblade Paladin), or a strike of luck with a Miracle card, the deck is not particularly fast, resilient and/or reliable. As it stands, it falls neatly in the lower side of the bracket.
Description: I really like Return to Ravnica, a sort of "old-style" control deck. Some counterspell, some mass removal, some card draw, some spot removal and a few nice quality finishers. With Wizards severely nerfing counterspells in the last years (well, actually, since Cancel became the staple instead of Counterspell), control decks moved towards board control, but since Return to Ravnica features some interesting counterspells, I decided to make use of them. The rest of the deck more or less built itself, and it looks rather solid.
Description: well, there is much in common here with the Guildpact deck, and at the same time a lot is different. This deck lacks card discard, which is bad in control matchups, but compensates with a series of cards that horribly disrupts aggro decks (and in some cases, like Boros Reckoner, are simply very good). Obzedat is a very good card and fits very well in the theme of the deck, that is victory by attrition (Basilica Guards, Spark Trooper). All in all, the MVP for the deck is Merciless Eviction. A really strong card in this format, that in the end puts this deck a step ahead its little brother Guildpact.
Description: sort of like Apocalypse, put together all the strongest cards in the set and you get Dragon's Maze. And well, there are some very good cards here. Putrefy, Varolz, Ruric Thar (a beast in this format) even Skylasher is gold in some matchups. The main problem is an overall lack of synergy and card advantage, but sometimes raw power is all you need.
Description: I don't really like the Theros block. While the ancient Greece theme is cool, and some cards are flavorful, I don't like the mechanics and the overall design of the block. Anyway, looking at the Theros set itself, three keywords come to mind: Devotion, Heroic and Monstrosity. Devotion feels overall too slow and there is not enough choice of cards in this set alone. Heroic works decently in a WR build, but it's focused on casting auras and spells on creatures, and therefore feels too easy to disrupt (and in general weaker than other top tier aggro decks). So, the choice in the end falls on Monstrosity, a nice GRW build that ramps mana and can field some very interesting creatures and planeswalkers. While probably unable to deal with strongly combo-oriented decks, Theros seems able to hold its own against most of the other contenders.
Description: a relatively classic BR aggro build, Born of the Gods unfortunately is not very fast, and that is not a great thing for an aggro deck. Luckily, it makes up for this with a lot of burn and removal, and two nice card advantage engines (Satyr Firedancer and Pain Seer). I don't really like the Tribute cards, since they leave the choice to your opponents, but overall they work decently in the BOTS environment. Born of the Gods is not a bad deck, but it's relatively easy to stop and lacks the tools to deal with the best decks in the tournament (to understand what I mean, just look at the Dissension decklist).
Description: an interesting Rock deck built around the Constellation mechanic, Journey into Nyx features some interesting cards and a nice midgame (not so much a lategame compared to other rock or control builds). Extinguish all Hope is basically a unidirectional wipe, while Eidolon Blossom and Kruphix's Insight provides some degree of card advantage. The deck does everything fine, but lacks a real finisher, and this can hurt a lot. Also, it can be in big trouble against some lock decks like Exodus or Visions.
Description: Khans of Tarkir fields a relatively standard Abzan Beasts build. There are many ways this deck can go, so I tuned it as much as possible towards the BOTS environment. This deck packs a lot of quality cards, like Sorin, Siege Rhino, Rakshasa Deathdealer, Wingmate Roc and so on. There is some nice creature removal to deal with aggro, Utter End and Naturalize help against some combo and lock decks. Abzan Charm is really versatile and helpful in many different matchups. Overall, this is a very solid Rock build and I feel it can do really well in this tournament.
Description: Fate Reforged is a deck I seriously underestimated on his first appearance. In reality, it is a very good midrange deck, probably one of the best midrange decks in BOTS. This is thanks to some very good cards like Warden of the First Tree, Whisperwood Elemental, Monastery Mentor and Temur War Shaman. All these are extremely good against 95% of the decks in BOTS. The problem unfortunately, is the remaining 5%. There are a certain number of decks in BOTS that are specifically built to shut down decks that win by attacking with creatures, and against those decks, Fate Reforged is virtually helpless.
Dscription: I tried 3 different builds for Dragons of Tarkir. A UW control-ish build with Ojutai, a BR build with Kolaghan's Command, and this Collected Company build. To be completely honest, all three sort of sucks. While the set surely has some good cards (the aforementioned Kolaghan's Command and Collected Company above all), the overall quality is not stellar and I feel that the set is lacking in internal synergy. In the end, I chose the Collected Company build, since I think it might have slightly better matchups in BOTS, being able to fill the board with creatures at instant speed and trigger multiple instances of Bolster. That said, I wouldn't expect much from this deck.
Description: first of all, I've not considered the expedition lands are playable for this set (and the following). Two main reasons for this choice: first of all, these lands were printed but were not legal; second reason: Oath of the Gatewatch with Eye of Ugin, Ancient Tomb and Strip Mine would be something I'd rather not dare in an environment like BOTS. Now, moving on to Battle for Zendikar, it's an interesting deck that slightly resembles the Rise of Eldrazi deck. Ramp mana, then more mana (Oblivion Sower is a blast), then play Ulamog or a huge Endless One and proceed to win. Kiora adds some versatility to the deck, while Presence of the Titan is a very good creature removal. I look forward to playing thi deck in the tournament.
Rating: and there goes again an Eldrazi deck. This time, though, it's a brutal monoblack aggro deck. There were really many ways to build an Eldrazi deck in this set, but I feel that this version is the best. This is thanks to cards like Eldrazi Mimin, Thought-Knot Seer and Reality Smasher, that are very good by themselves and interact extremely well together. This deck can dish out damage decently fast, while at the same time adding some elements of control (Thought-Knot Seer obviously, but also Oblivion Strike and Bearer of Silence). Sea Gate Wreckage guarantees that the deck will not run out of gas, while Mirrorpool is the unexpected joker.
Description: a vanilla monoblack control deck, Magic 2010 features a good amount of discard to try and disrupt combo decks, and at the same time a decent amount of creature removal to keep aggro decks in check. The finisher of choice is a huge Nightmare, but even Liliana's final ability can surely close a game. The main problem of the deck is, quite simply, an overall lack of quality.
Description: M2011 is an interesting deck, being one of the very few decks in BOTS featuring land destruction, and probably the only one to use land destruction as its key strategy. The main idea here is obviously ramp up mana, play a Titan followed by a Destructive Force, and close the game. This is a simple strategy that could work on practically any deck, and since M11 could theoretically play Destructive Force by turn 5, it's in line with the pace of the best decks in the format. Unfortunately, you can't rely on always finding a destructive force, and while the backup strategy is decent (Titans + Fireball, mostly), it's not quite as effective.
Description: possibly the most irritating pain in the ass for aggro decks in the tournament, Magic 2012 is true "rock", being really hard to damage for even the most deadly contenders in BOTS. The deck is very anti-aggro oriented, with cards like Timely Reinforcements, Giden Jura and the wild card Skinshifter. At the same time, it works as a very good midrange decks with Grave Titan and Garruk, and it can also fight against control and combo decks (although it lacks a card like Thoughtseize, that could really push this deck forward in the top 5 of BOTS). A very solid deck and certainly a contender to final victory.
Description: this is one nasty deck. Similarly to Exodus, the deck enforces a soft-lock by playing spells like Sleep and Fog, and recycling them over and over again. While the lock is not eternal as is the case for Exodus, it still lasts long enough to allow you to win (hopefully). The win condition is mill the opponent's deck with Jace, which is a more reliable win condition than just attacking with creatures. The main problem here is obviously finding Jace quickly, and that's not guaranteed, although the deck packs some card draw to find his win condition more reliably.
Description: like Legions, Magic 2014 fields a Sliver deck. Unlike Legions, Magic 2014 is actually good. First of all, the slivers are much better and it can also count on Manavault to survive a mass removal. Also, the presence of Garruk allows the deck to find a lot of slivers, and to recover more quickly from a board wipe. As is the case with most decks that rely on creature to win, and are not blazing fast (Magic 2014 is not), this deck has a few very bad matchups in BOTS, but apart from that, is an effective and fun deck to play.
Description: well, what can I say, I love Scuttling Doom Engine. And in BOTS, it's actually good. Now, this list may seem more than a little strange at first sight, but well, believe when I say it's surprisingly effective. Keep in mind that a Shrapnel Blast on a Scuttling Doom Engine are 11 damage to the opponent. I mean, ELEVEN. And not much he can do about it. Apart from this, the deck curves very nicely into midgame and then lategame. Chief Engineers allow some interesting plays like a turn 4 Doom Engine, or a turn 3 Haunted Plate Mail. Aeronaut Tinkerer and Scrapyard Mongrel will practically always benefit from having an artifact on the board (also thanks to Darksteel Citadel) and will therefore be more effective than you'd expect. Phyerexian Revoker is extremely good in a format like this where versatility is more valued than anything else. I cannot quite tell how well this deck will do, but surely it's worth keeping an eye on.
Description: beware the thopters. Magic Origins has proven to be a deck to be feared, being able to overrun most midrange and control decks under a swarm of thopters, generating insane card advantage with Thopter Sky Network, dealing with dangerous creatures with Turn to Frog. Hangarback Walker is insanely good, and so is Pia and Kiran Nalaar. The main weakness of Magic Origins are fast aggro decks, as they can storm this deck before it can stabilize the board, and there are no real countermeasure available.
Rating: A-
In the eliminatory phase, 24 decks will meet each other head-on in 12 matches. The winners will advance to the group phase, the losers will be eliminated from the tournament. The 24 decks will be chosen amongst the weakest decks in the tournament, then paired randomly. At the end of the eliminatory phase, the number of participants will drop from 76 to 64, which will be divided in 4 groups of 16 decks.
The 12 matches of the eliminatory phases are:
The Dark - Planeshift
Stronghold - Saviors of Kamigawa
Legends - Timespiral
New Phyrexia - Dragons of Tarkir
Weatherlight - Prophecy
Homelands - Coldsnap
Guildpact - Avacyn Restored
Fallen Empires - Alara Reborn
Betrayers of Kamigawa - Future Sight
Planar Chaos - Magic 2010
Ice Age - Alliances
Urza's Legacy - Legions
BOTS was excellent. I look forward to anything you share. Even anow update of the gauntlet would be very cool.
Hello there Yes, I have a BOTS decklist for all the sets up to the most recent ones, and I'll post them in the coming days. I'm still open to suggestions on them, so feel free to comment or propose alternative decklists
Hello Xyx, thank you for the decklists Keep in mind that these decks must face decks coming from other sets, not decks coming from the same set. That's why the Antiquities deck that you proposed, while could be interesting in an artifact-heavy environment, it's not fit for BOTS, where the artifact-heavy decks are just a handful. I'll try out the Dark and Arabian Nights lists you posted, though, and see how they fare Hope to see you around in the coming weeks
Hello there Unfortunately, I have no idea. I did not personally know any of the organizers of the old battle of the sets.
I'll try my best to make this an entertaining event, though. You're welcome to join and follow
Legend would know. Is he on this board?
BotS requires some work, not just in playing the matches, but also in refining decks, rebuilding consistently bad ones, and making decks for new sets. I recall we had a long discussion about rebuilding Odyssey many years ago.
BotS requires some work, not just in playing the matches, but also in refining decks, rebuilding consistently bad ones, and making decks for new sets. I recall we had a long discussion about rebuilding Odyssey many years ago.
Yes, I remember the Odyssey remake, it's actually the list I'm using for Odyssey. I've created the BOTS decks for recent sets over the years, playing with my friends. It's actually the fifth BOTS I handle (of course the other ones I just played with my friends), so I have a good idea of how things works and have spent some time thinking on the decklists and refining them. That said, I happily accept any input on the decks, including modifications and alternative decklists. I've posted the decks up to Journey into Nyx in the first post, feel free to let me know what you think about them
So, all the decklists are finally up. Any feedback or comment on them is welcome. I plan on starting the eliminatory phase nex week
Also, updated the The Dark list to a GW. It still sucks, but it's probably a little better than the monored. Probably gonna go out in the first match anyway.
updated the The Dark list to a GW. It still sucks, but it's probably a little better than the monored.
Haha, that is almost exactly the deck I'm playing right now, except I have Diabolic Engines and Fellwar Stones. I think the red deck is better, though. The aggro deck might be more inconsistent, but it has nut draw potential whereas the grindy deck is "consistently mediocre".
Thanks for the tip, I'll find a place for it since it adds some level of synergy to the deck, and that's always a good thing.
The red deck has Ball Lightning and Blood Moon that are two very good cards, but unfortunately Blood Moon is quite poor in BOTS (unless you meet Antiquities), so overall I definitely think the GW works (slightly) better.
Games 1-4 of the eliminatory phase are here! Check the first post for the complete program of the eliminatory phase.
The Dark vs. Planeshift
The opening game of this edition of BOTS looks like an easy win on paper for Planeshift. While Planeshift is definitely not a powerhouse, The Dark is just *that* bad, and it's hard to imagine a different outcome. Planeshift should be able to outpower The Dark through its superior creatures and removal (Terminate, Flametongue Kavu, Darigaaz's Charm).
Game 1
After Planehift takes a mulligan, The Dark plays first, and it starts quickly. Elves of Deep Shadow are quickly followed by two Land Leeches, while Planeshift is still stacking up mana. Spitting Slug and Scavenger Folk joins the fray for The Dark, then Planeshift finally takes the counteroffensive. A Darigaaz Charm takes care of a Land Leeches, then a Phyrexian Scuta (kicked) finally hits the board on Planeshift's side, towering on The Dark's small creatures. The Dark adds a Wormwood Treefolk and decides to wait. Planeshift realizes that the Treefolk can easily gain Forestwalk and slides past the Scuta, and that is definitely going to become a problem soon, with Planeshift sitting at 11 life points. Attacking with the Scuta is not really an option, though, since The Dark would just chump-block and then attack with even more creatures. So Planeshift plays a Thunderscape Familiar and passes. The Dark feels the sweet scent of victory and strikes for 4 with the treefolk, adding a Scarwood Bandits to its little army of creatures. Planeshift falls at 7 and draws another Scuta, conceding after a quick glance at the board.
Game 2
Luck is definitely not on Planeshift's side as it has to mulligan twice. The second game procedes more or less like the first, with The Dark starting fast and Planeshift failing to catch up – this time even more miserably so than the previous one. The Dark gets ahead 2-0 and sees the final victory as a concrete possibility. Could it be that we will witness the first surprise of the tournament in its very first game?
Game 3
Third game starts better for Planeshift as a Thornscape Familiar is followed by a Flametongue Kavu, removing a lonely Elves of Deep Shadow on The Dark's side. Planeshift's offensive continues with The Dark stuck with only one forest in play and Scarwood Bandits and Wormwood Treefolk in hand. A Knights of Thorn finally finds it way on the table, but it's too late. Planeshift gets his first victory in the match.
Game 4
Both decks keep their hand and start playing lands. A turn two Thornscape Familiar for Planeshift is answered by a turn 3 Land Leeches for The Dark, followed immediately by a turn four Knights of Thorn. The Dark attacks with Land Leeches and Planeshift chooses not to block. Plane***** still keeps playing lands, apparently having mana flood troubles. The Dark joins Knights of Thorn and Land Leeches with the (infamous) Banding ability, but a Darigaaz Charm hits the Leeches and the Familiar then trades with the Knight. A Witch Hunter hits the table on The Dark's side, followed by another Thornscape Familiar for Planeshift.
The Witch Hunter taps for one damage, then a Land Leeches hits the field. But it's Planeshift that hits harder, with a kicked Thunderscape Battlemage, that forces The Dark to discard two Scavenger Folk – not a terrible loss, but still two creatures less for Planeshift to worry about. Unfortunately, a Wormwood Treefolk is the next creature played by The Dark, and Planeshift is forced once again to deal with the damned Forestwalk.
Is it going to end like this? The Dark pays the mana and the two life points, then decides to attack with the Treefolk alone, leaving the Leeches in defense. Planeshift smiles an evil smile and shows a Terminate – and to the graveyard goes the fearsome treefolk. Witch Hunter pings for one, but the inertia of the game seems to be moving towards Planeshift.
Still, only more mana seems to reach Planeshift's hand. The Land Leeches attack and are blocked by Planeshift's two creatures, trading for the Battlemage, then another Land Leeches hits the board on The Dark's side.
Planeshift knows the next draw is crucial... a Darigaaz's Charm. How could it be best used? Planeshift decides to pick the Battlemage back from the graveyard and play it again – kicked! The Dark discards a Witch Hunter and a Knights of Thorn, and remains with an empty hand. Furthermore, now the Battlemage is ready once again to face the Leeches – if only The Dark had chosen to kill the Familiar!
Next turn brings a Preacher to The Dark's side – definitely good news. Witch Hunter pings for one more damage and The Dark passes the turn. Planeshift draws even more lands, and the Battlemage is stolen by the Preacher, opening the way to the Leeches. The situation looks dire for Planeshift, now. A Scuta hits the board on Planeshift's side, finally, but it's quickly bounced by a Witch Hunter, and that's how it ends.
In a surprising development, The Dark defeats Planeshift and advances out of the eliminatory phase, taking advantage of the mana troubles of its opponent. Better luck next time, Planeshift!
The Dark 3 - Planeshift 1
Saviors of Kamigawa vs Stronghold
An interesting matchup against two really different decks: Saviors's White Weenie versus Stronghold's Dream Halls combo. The outcome will probably depend on Stronghold's capability to resolve a Flame Wave at the right time.
Game 1
Stronghold wins the roll to play first and begins with an Island. Saviors answers with a Plains and a Ghost-Lit Redemeer. Second turn sees Stronghold playing a mountain, while Saviors tries to add a Hand of Honor, but the brave samurai is answered with a Mana Leak from Stronghold. Saviors then attacks with the Redeemer and passes.
As another land comes in for Stronghold, Saviors add a Kataki, War's Wage and another Redeemer to the board, hitting again for one. With Stronhold stuck for now at three lands, Saviors plays another plains, hit for 4, then adds a Kitsune Lorewever to its harm of weenies. Stronghold needs to react fast, before losing too many life points.
Unfortunately, Stronghold remains stuck with 3 lands, as Saviors strikes again and again until its opponent hits 0 life points.
Game 2
Stronghold smiles when seeing 4 lands in its opening hand. But Saviors it's not just gonna watch idly. A second turn Hand of Honor is followed by a third turn Descendant of Kiyomaro, but this one is hit by a Mana Leak. After Saviors attacks with Hand of Honor and passes, Stronghold plays a Sift and discards a Mox Diamond. Does Stronghold have the fifth land and a Dream Halls? Saviors attakcs with the Hand of Honor, plays Kataki, then passes and waits to know its destiny. Dream Halls hit the board, then a Flowstone Mauler is discarded to allow an immediate play of Sliver Queen. Things are looking well for Stronghold this time. Saviors responds right away with a Pithing Needle targeted at Sliver Queen to stop the Sliver onslaught. Saviors has two Charge Across the Araba in its hand, but could not yet deal a killing blow and would remain without lands in play. So it decides to pass, for the moment.
Now it's time for Stronghold to press the offensive, and he doesn't lose a second. A Sliver Queen is discarded to fuel a Flame Wave that wipes Savior's board and allows the Sliver Queen to attack uncontested. As Saviors draws a Plains, it's clear there's not much more he can do, and concedes.
Game 3
Saviors gets to start first. His second turn Kataki is met by and end of turn Shock from Stronghold, that as usual keeps stacking lands. Saviors knows that it has to hit as hard and fast as it can, so it plays a Descendant of Kiyomaro followed by a Promise of Bunrei – a good safeguard against Flame Wave. Stronghold is still passive, and Saviors adds a Kataki and another Promise of Bunrei to the board, hitting for 2 with Descendant of Kiyomaro.
Stronghold hits the 5 mana mark, but there's no Dream Halls this time, luckily for Saviors, that can continue the offensive with another Descendant of Kiyomaro. It also plays a Pithing Needle, directly aimed at Sliver Queen – better safe than sorry. Stronghold plays a Sift, discards a Diamond Mox, then pass again. Another turn and another Sift, and again Stronghold is unable to find a copy of Dream Halls. Finally, the army of Samurai manages to deal the killing blow, bringing the second victory to Saviors.
The game starts as usual. A Ghost-Lit Redeemer is played on turn one, then a Kataki on turn two, but a Mana Leak leads the legendary creature directly to the graveyard. The following turn, a Promise of Bunrei is met by another Mana Leak. Stronghold stands at 18, and he's entering the fourth turn. Not good news for Saviors.
Stronghold looks at his hand: two Dream Halls, a Diamond Mox, a Sliver Queen and a Mountain. On the board, one Island and two Mountains. Not bad, all considered. He plays the Mox to get the second blue, discarding the Mountain, then pass. If he could draw a land in the coming turn, the game should be set. Saviors adds an Eiganjo Free-Riders to the board, hits again with the Redeemer , and passes.
Stronghold draw... a Sift. Good enough. Draw three cards, discard a Flowstone Mauler, and passes. Almost there. Comes the following turn, Stronghold plays Dream Halls, discards the second Dream Halls and plays the Sliver Queen. Saviors knows the situation will quickly become unsustainable, but loyal to the spirit of the samurai, keeps attacking with Eiganjo Free-Riders as Ghost-Lit keeps hitting the board and then being bounced back at every upkeep. On Saviors' hand, two Plains and a Charge Across the Araba – six plains already in play.
Stronghold adds two tokens to the board and attacks, then passes. As Saviors draws a Kataki, Stronghold stands with 11 life points, Saviors with 13. Kataki and the Redeemer hit the board, the Free-Riders hit for 3 (Stronghold at 8), then Saviors passes. Next time, if nothing changes, Saviors can deliver the killing blow – but Stronghold does not know that yet.
And then, as many times happen, the topdeck decides the game. Stronghold draws a Flame Wave, cleans the board, and proceeds to win. Saviors curses the unfair destiny, and the two decks move on to the fifth and decisive game.
Game 5
Saviors starts fast. By turn 4, it has a Redeemmer, a Kitsune Loreweaver and a Descendant of Kiyomaro on the board, plus a Pithing Needle targeted at Sliver Queen. As it attacks to bring Stronghold down to 11, he feels that this could become an easy win.
But will things really be this easy? Unfortunately not. Stronghold plays a Diamond Mox, discarding a Mountain, then plays a Mountain, reaching five mana. Dream Halls hits the board and then a Flame Wave to clear the board (a Flowstone Mauler gets discarded). Saviors responds with a Kataki and another Pithing Needle targeted at Shard Phoenix. Stronghold decides to sacrifice the Mox rather than paying two mana, then draws and passes. Dream Halls sits there, for now, inactive. Kataki hits for two, then Saviors tries to add an Eiganjo Free-Riders to the fray, but it's met with a Mana Leak. Still Stronghold draws and passes, while Saviors keeps attacking with Kataki, bringing down Stronghold to seven life points.
And still Stronghold draws and passes. Saviors draws a Hand of Honor, then looks at the Charge Across the Araba in his hand. With the five plains in game, that would allow Kataki to deal 7 damages... and kill Stronghold. Time to go for the win, then. Saviors shows the Charge... but Stronghold answers with another Mana Leak to the disbelieving Saviors. Only two more damage from Kataki then, and the Charge hits the graveyard.
Stronghold draws a Flame Wave. Doesn't look wise to waste the spell on Kataki alone, and yet that Kataki is most definitely killing Stronghold. But there's also a Flowstone Mauler on Stronghold's hand... the right guy in the right place at the right time. Flame Wave goes to the graveyard, and the Mauler joins the fight. Saviors responds with a Hand of Honor, but it definitely cannot attack at the moment, so it passes.
Stronghold plays Sift, trying to refill his hand and find some card to close the game. He draws a Shock, another Sift and a Mox Diamond, that gets quickly discarded. Saviors plays an Eiganjo Free-Riders and passes. That could be dangerous. Stronghold plays a Sift, then discards a Dream Halls to fuel a second Sift. Stronghold's hand right now is: Mountain, Mountain, Shock, Shock, Shard Phoenix, Sliver Queen. The Shard Phoenix would be good news against that Free-Riders, but unfortunately the Pithing Needle still stands there, preventing the recursion ability from being activated. Deciding that those flying soldier needs to be dealt with, Stronghold plays a Mountain, then a Shock on the Riders, then another Shock discarding the Phoenix. The Riders dies, and the balance of power is for now maintained.
A couple of turn passes with the two contenders drawing lands, then Saviors finally draws and plays a Descendant of Kiyomaro. But that's it – Stronghold draws a Flame Wave. The choice is tough, but with a Pithing Needle still disabling the Queen, Stronghold decides to clean the board with the Flame Wave, and then immediately hits with the Mauler. Saviors plays one last Redemeer to slow the Mauler, but it's worth only one more turn of life. Stronghold wins the game and proceeds to the group phase, the power of Flame Wave too devastating for the little white weenie deck.
Saviors of Kamigawa 2 - Stronghold 3
Legends vs Timespiral
While Legends tried its best to put up a fight, stalling each game for as long as possible, in the end this pairing was brutally one-sided. Timespiral was able to bounce back (with Riftwing Cloudskate), or directly remove from the game (with Mangara of Corondor) all the key pieces of Legends's defense. And thanks to Momentary Blink, it was able to do so repeatedly, leaving no chance whatsoever to Legends.
Timespiral wins and proceeds to the group phase.
Legends 0 - Timespiral 3
New Phyrexia vs Dragons of Tarkir
The two newest and possibly "best" decks chosen for the eliminatory phase face off in a match that it's hard to predict. My money would be on Dragons though, thanks to its capability of swarming the board with Collected Company and possibly survive New Phyrexia's early onslaught. Dragons should definitely watch our for the Phyrexian Obliterator, since Dragons has few answers to that card.
Game 1
Dragons wins the roll and gets first turn. New Phyrexia takes a mulligan, keeping a hand of six and starting immediately fast with a Vault Skirge followed by a Porcelain Legionnaire. Dragons responds on turn three with a Dromoka Captain, but it is immediately stolen with an Act of Aggression, and used to bolster the Legionnaire! Dragons gets back the Captain, draws, plays its fourth land and passes. New Phyrexia plays a Geth's Verdict, removing the captain, then attacks again... and Dragons answers with a Collected Company. Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit and a Deathmist Raptor join the battle, blocking the Legionnaire. New Phyrexia decides to kill Anafenza.
Dragons plays a Sandcrafter Mage that bolsters himself, then attacks with the Raptor. New Phyrexia adds another Vault Skirge, then passes. Dragons responds with another Sandcrafter Mage and a Shaman of Forgotten Ways. Things are looking dire for New Phyrexia, that sits with two Phyrexian Obliterator in hand and can't find the fourth mana needed to cast them. As it draws a Moltensteel Dragon, New Phyrexia is forced to concede. Dragons gets the first game.
Game 2
New Phyrexia starts and plays a turn 1 Vault Skirge. Dragons responds with a turn 2 Anafenza. New Phyrexia seems short on creatures, as it only plays lands and attacks with the Skirge. Dragons plays a Shaman of Forgotten Ways, bolsts Anafenza and attacks for 3. New Phyrexia plays its fourth land and finally plays a Moltensteel Dragon, while it keeps attacking with the Skirge. Unfortunately, using the mana from the Shaman, Dragons manages to play a Hidden Dragonslayer and Megamorph it, destroying the Moltensteel Dragon immediately - you can always count on a dragonslayer to do his job! Also, the Dragonslayer, thanks to the bolster ability from Anafenza, is now a 4/2 lifesteal. Not a good situation for New Phyrexia.
Luckily, New Phyrexia draws and plays a Phyrexian Obliterator. With the Dragonslayer already spent on the Dragon, the black beast poses a huge threat to Dragons of Tharkir. But the balance of power is ready to flip again, as Dragons draws and plays a Dragonlord Dromoka. But it's not over! New Phyrexia plays a Phyrexian Metamorph, copying Dromoka and evening the odds, then passes.
Dragons is ready to react: a Sunscorch Regent and a Sandcrafter Mage hit the board in a festival of bolster triggers. Dragons is almost ready to go for the kill – Obliterator or not. But for now, it just passes. New Phyrexia plays a Sword of War and Peace and passes (not enough mana to play and equip in the same turn). Dragons of Tharkir responds with a second Sunscorch Regent, then do the math and decides it cannot yet kill New Phyrexia in one blow – and he would lose a lot of permanents to the Obliterator. So, for now, it passes.
New Phyrexia equips the Sword to the Metamorph and attacks. Since all the flying creatures on Dragon's side are white, the Metamporph (Dromoka) can pass without opposition and deal 7 damage, while at the same time healing New Phyrexia for 10 (7 + 3 cards in hand). Dragons must now move forward its own attack, or will soon fall behind. And so it does. Dragons's Dromoka and the two Regents hit for 14 damages, healing Dragons for 5. New Phyrexia falls at 5, with Dragons at 15.
New Phyrexia is definitely in trouble. It's losing the damage race, and anything it plays would only end up boosting the Regents – and Dragon's life points. Once again, the copied Dromoka attacks, raising New Phyrexia's life points. But then, the next turn is the final one, as Dragons lines up its creatures for a massive attack - two regents, Dromoka, the Shaman, a twice bolstered Anafenza and Sandcrafter Mage, a thrice bolstered Hidden Dragonslayer. The math is simple. Dragons wins the second game and moves on to the third (and final?) game.
Game 3
New Phyrexia takes a mulligan, but seems off to a good start with a turn 2 Porcellain Legionnaire. Dragons responds with a turn 2 Anafenza. New Phyrexia attacks with the Legionnaire, Dragons decides to take the three damage, not wanting to lose Anafenza. Knowing from the previous game how dangerous she could be, New Phyrexia decides to Dismemeber her immediately. Dragons then plays a Shaman of Forgotten ways, but he's met by another Dismember, while the Legionnaire keeps attacking. Coould this be the start of new Phyrexia's comaback?
Dragons plays a morphed creature. Dragonslyer or Raptor? New Phyrexia looks at the Moltensteel Dragon in its hand and evaluates its options. Finally, it decides to risk and plays the dragon.
Dragons does not un-morph the creature, instead decides to play a Sunscorch Regent – more bad news for New Phyrexia.
But then, with an evil smile, New Phyrexia shows an Act of Aggression, takes possession of the Regent and attacks with all creatures – enough to kill Dragons, that is then forced to lose the morphed creature to the Legionnaire and still fall down to 3 life points. Dragons breathes a sigh of relief, thinking to be safe – but it's not! New Phyrexia spend 6 life points to give +3/+0 to the Moltensteel Dragon, and win the game! Dragons has a shocked look on its face as the match moves on to game 4.
Game 4
Dragons starts, but it's New Phyrexia to make the first plays, with a turn 1 Vault Skirge followed by a turn 2 Porcellain Legionnaire. Dragons gets its first play with a Sandcrafter Mage. New Phyrexia plays a second Vault Skirge, then attacks again, and Dragons decides not to block. Dragons seems to be stuck at 3 mana and plays a morphed creature, planning to at least kill the Legionnaire in the following turn. But New Phyrexia has different plans, as it plays a Geth's Verdict (Dragons decides to sacrifice the Mage), then attacks again with all its creatures. Dragons takes the full damage and falls down to 9 life points.
Dragons would sorely need a fourth land, but still nothing. Dragons decides to play a Shaman of Forgotten Ways – too important to sacrifice for blocking the Legionnaire, but at least it will allow Dragons some more play options in the coming turns. New Phyrexia plays a Moltensteel Dragon and attacks with the Legionnarie and the two Skirges – Dragons take the damage and falls down to 4. Then finally, Dragons draws the fourth lands, and with the two mana from the Shaman plays a Dromoka – this should stall the game, and give Dragons a chance to come back.
New Phyrexia plays a Metamorph, copying Dromoka, then attacks with all its creatures. Dragons is forced to block the Moltensteel Dragon with Dromoka, allowing the other creatures in. New Phyrexia pays 6 life points to boost the Dragon and kill Dromoka.
Things look grim for Dragons now. It has an Enduring Victory in hand, and could remove the enemy copied Dromoka, but it cannot play it while Dromoka is attacking, and New Phyrexia would surely not fall into any trick and block with it. So it just plays a Sunscorch Regent and passes. And then it's over – an Act of Aggression steals the Regent and New Phyrexia is able to deal the killing blow. Two-two, the match is now completely open. Who will grasp the final victory?
Game 5
After being up 2-0, Dragons is now facing a possible elimination – but not everything is lost. The final game starts as usual, with a turn 1 Vault Skirge from New Phyrexia, followed by a second Vault Skirge on turn two. Dragons answers with a turn 3 Sandcrafter Mage. New Phyrexia adds a Porcellain Legionnaire to the board and attacks again with the two Skirges. Dragons plays its fourth land and passes – this probably means a Collected Company is arriving. Still, New Phyrexia must keep pressing the offensive, or else be lost. So, it declares an attack with all its creatures.
The foreseen Collected Company is then played, putting a Shaman of Forgotten Ways and a Dromoka Captain on the board. The Mage and the Shaman team up to bring down the Legionnaire, and New Phyrexia obviously decides to kill the Shaman. Then, New Phyrexia plays a Phyrexian Obliterator – and now it's again Dragons of Tharkir that must search for answers. Still, Dragons only plays its fifth land and passes, despite having a full hand.
Sensing the trap, New Phyrexia attacks only with the two skirges, then plays a Sword of War and Peace – and now things look really grim for Dragons! Dragons attacks with the Dromoka Captain and the Sandcrafter Mage, but New Phyrexia calmly takes the damage. With the Obliterator soon gaining protection from white, Dragons has no real way to stop it anymore, so it decides to play the all-out offensive strategy, casting a Sunscorch Regent.
But again! An Act of Aggression steal the Regent, the Obliterator picks up the sword with its... tentacles, allowing New Phyrexia to attack with all its creatures, none of which can be blocked by the Sandcrafter Mage or Dromoka Captain. Dragons has 4 cards in hand, which means the Obliterator alone deals 11 damage, adding in the damage from the Regent and the Skirges, is more than enough to kill Dragons of Tarkir.
New Phyrexia wins the fifth game and the whole match with an incredible comeback, gaining access to the group phase! MVP of the match is surprisingly Act of Aggression, that allowed New Phyrexia to snatch some incredibly unexpected victories. All hail the power of Phyrexia!
Going on with the eliminatory phase, four more games for you. Next week will complete this part and by the end of the month we'll start with the group phase
Weatherlight vs Prophecy
So bad it's good - this could be the motto for this match. These two decks are two of the worst decks in BOTS, but they're so bad it might actually be funny to see them struggle for the win. I'd say Prophecy is likely going to win, being tuned towards this kind of matchup. Also, Weatherlight wants to full the graveyard with creatures - and that's perfectly fine for Avatar of Woe.
Game 1
Prophecy wins the roll and starts immediately with a turn 1 Glittering Lynx. Weatherlight quickly answers with a Straw Golem, but the Golem is immediately destroyed as a Plague Fiend joins the battle on Prophecy's side, allowing the Lynx to strike for one damage. The Golem in the graveyard is not bad news for Weatherlight, though, as it allows a second turn Barrow Ghoul, which as a 4/4 is definitely threatening for Prophecy. Still, as it adds a Mine Bearer to the board, it's clear Prophecy's intention to stall the game until it can play its better pieces. Plague Fiend attacks for one more damage, and Weatherlight, not having two mana available, wisely decides not to block.
Weatherlight's main priority is removing the Mine Bearer, so for now it only plays a Serrated Biskelion and passes. With all Weatherlight's mana tapped, Prophecy seizes the occasion and plays a Rhystic Tutor, then attacks again with the Plague Fiend, and passes.
On Weatherlight's turn, the Biskelion gets rid of the annoying Mine Bearer, then the Ghoul is finally free to attack. The Lynx sacrifices itself to block it, and weatherlight pays the two mana required to kill the cat. The remaining two mana go to cast a Fledgling Djinn. Things are looking good for Weatherlight.
Then we discover which card was tutored by Prophecy – a Mageta the Lion. While it cannot yet wipe the board, Weatherlight knows it's only a matter of time. Better deal as much damage as possible, then. Weatherlight removes the Plague Fiend by sacrificing the Biskelion, then hits for a total of 6 damage with the Ghoul and the Djinn, then finally passes. Prophecy discards two Abolish and activates Mageta's ability, then passes. Weatherlight adds only a Serrated Biskelion to the board, and passes. The game has slowed down, exactly how Prophecy wanted.
On its turn, Prophecy plays a Plague Fiend, attacks with Mageta, and passes. Weatherlight responds with a Circling Vultures, then removes the Fiend with the Biskelion. Prophecy, on its side, simply clears the board again with Mageta. But Weatherlight it's not finished yet – another Biskelion and a Barrow Ghoul join the board, emptying Weatherlight's hand. No more cards in hand for the two opponents, but Prophecy seems stable in control – after all, it's hard for Weatherlight to gain momentum when Prophecy can simply clear the board every other turn.
And that's what happens. Mageta clears the board, then Weatherlight fails to draw any consistent threat, and it's finally forced to conced when Prophecy plays an Avatar of Woe.
Game 2
Weatherlight starts, but it's Prophecy that makes the first move with a Glittering Lynx. Second turn, Weatherlight discards a Circling Vultures and then casts a Barrow Ghoul. Prophecy responds with a Plague Fiend. Weatherlight attacks with the ghoul, and Prophecy decides not to block, since Weatherlight could easily pay two mana to save the Ghoul from the Fiend, and kill it. Weatherlight then plays a Fledgling Djinn and passes.
Prophecy's answer is a Chimeric Idol, that should stabilize the situation, at least on the ground, while for now not much can be done about the Djinn. Weatherlight decides not to attack with the ghoul, but instead deals two damage with the Djinn, plays a second Djinn, and passes. Prophecy draws and plays a Mine Bearer, attacks with the Plague Fiend, then passes.
After attacksing with the two Djinns, it's time for Prophecy to drop a bomb: a Necratog! While there are not that many creature cards in Weatherlight's graveyard yet, considering the deck and the board situation, things are clearly going to change soon. Prophecy definitely needs to find an answer or get overrun soon. Unfortunately, there's only one more Lynx to join the battle.
Weatherlight plays a Buried Alive to put three Straw Golem to the graveyard, then evaluates the situation. After thinking a few seconds, decides to attack with all creatures. Prophecy sacrifices the Mine Bearer to remove the Necratog, that it's now the most troubling creature on Wethaerlight's side, then block the Ghoul with an Idol and a Lynx. Wetherlight pays two mana and trades two for one. Right now, Weatherlight has the two Djinns in play and has 14 life points, Prophecy has a Lynx and a Plague Fiend, and has 10 life points.
The game seems to be moving in Weatherlight's favor, but things are destined to change again, as Prophecy draws and plays a Rhystic Tutor! Weatherlight cannot see which card was tutored by Prophecy, but almost surely it's one of Mageta or the Avatar. Prophecy attacks with its two creatures and passes. It's now a race against the clock for both decks. Weatherlight attacks with the Djinns, putting Prophecy down at 6, realizes that will never be able to kill the opponent quickly enough, and decides to play the Necratog in its hand.
Then it's Prophecy's turn, that plays a Mageta and passes. Weatherlight attacks with all its creatures, bring prophecy down to 2 life points as a Lynx gives its life to block the Necratog. Prophecy attacks with the Plague Fiend, then passes, waits for the Djinns to deal two more damage to Weatherlight, then discards an Abolish and a Plains to wipe the board. The game it's not yet over, though, as Weatherlight plays a Barrow Ghoul and passes. Prophecy just wipes the board again, discarding a Chimeric Idol and a Glittering Lion. As Weatherlight has an empty hand, it's now all left to the draw. Weatherlight draws a Swamp and it's over! Prophecy comes back from a dire situation and win game 2!
Game 3
Weatherlight starts with a Straw Golem, but Prophecy answers with the usual Glittering Lynx and sends it straight away to the graveyard. Prophecy adds a Plague Fiend and a Glittering Lion to its growing army of creatures, with Weatherlight just playing creatures and passing. Finally, on turn 4, Weatherlight plays a Barrow Ghoul, keeping two mana open. Prophecy adds a Chimeric Idol to the board and passes as well. Weatherlight decides not to attack and plays a Morinfen. While the flying creature is surely threatening, things seems to go once again in Prophecy's way as it plays a Mageta and passes.
Weatherlight must sacrifice the Ghoul, as it's unable to ecile creatures from the graveyard, then strikes for 5 with the Morinfen, plays a Straw Golem, and passes.
Weatherlight certainly expected Prophecy to clear the board now, but Prophecy actually decides for another strategy. Playing Plague Fiend to remove the Straw Golem, Prophecy attacks with all its creatures for a whopping total of 10 damage. Weatherlight makes a grim face as it's forced to sacrifice the Morinfen,then plays a Barrow Ghoul and a Necratog.
And now Weatherlight has only one mana open. Prophecy shows a Rhystic Syphon, then attacks with all its creatures, and like that, it's over! Prophecy advances to the group stage.
Weatherlight 0 - Prophecy 3
Homelands vs Coldsnap
Coldsnap can rely on a simple strategy against slow decks like Homelands: stall the game with countermagic, Phyrexian Ironfoot and Rimewind Taskmage, make card advantage with Scrying Sheets until a larger threat like Vexing Sphinx and Rimefeather Owl can be played. Homelands has no possible answer to Coldsnap, and was thoroughly crushed 3-0 by the snowy decks. Coldsnap advances to the group stage.
Homelands 0 - Coldsnap 3
Guildpact vs Avacyn Restored
An interesting, classic matchup - a pure control against a pure aggro. Also, these two decks are actually decent, which makes the pairing more interesting than your average eliminatory phase game. I'd see Guildpact as slightly favorite, being able to control the board with Mortify and Teysa, Orzhov Scion, until a Skeletal Vampire or Angel of Despair can seal the game later on. Avacyn Restored can cause troubles with its soulbind creatures and the occasional Miracle card, should luck be on its side.
Game 1
Guildpact wins the roll to go first, but as could be expected, for the first couple of turns it's only playing lands. The news is that Avacyn Restored is just as slow, so the first play is actually a Shrieking Grotesque on turn 3 by Guildpact, with Avacyn Restored discarding a Mountain. Avacyn Restored's answer is quick and threatenting: a Silverblade Paladin. Guildpacy would like to remove it immediately, if possible, but lacking a proper spell, decides that a Pillory of the Sleepless will have to do. While it will block the Paladin itself, it will not prevent him from giving Double Strike to the opponent's creatures. Guildpact attacks with the Grotesque and passes.
Avacyn Restored presses the offensive with a Riders of Gavony, soulbound to the paladin, and ganining protection from Vampires (to avoid being endlessly blocked by a Skeletal Vampire later on). Then, it's Guildpact turn again. The Grotesque hits for two more damage, then it's joined on the board by a Ghost Council of Orzhova.
Avacyn Restored plays a second Riders of Gavony, this time giving Protection from Spirits (and thus from the Ghost Council), allowing the other Riders to hit for 6 damage. Guildpact must find an answer – quickly. Unfortunately, for now, it can only play a Teysa, Orzhov Scion. It attacks again with the Grotesque, then passes. Avacyn Restored plays a Thatcher Revolt followed by a Kessig Malcontent hitting Guildpact for 7 (!) damage, and then as half a dozen humans turn sideways to attack, it's clear to everyone that the game is over.
Game 2
Guildpact starts with a turn 2 Orzhov Signet, Avacyn Restored answers with a turn 2 Nearheath Pilgrim. Still, it's Guildpact that takes the advantage with a turn 3 Ghost Council of Orzhova. Avacyn Restored can only answer with a Kessig Malcontents, dealing two damage to Guildpact, then pass. That Ghost Council is gonna be trouble for Avacyn Restored.
Guildpact seems to be short on mana, though, but luckily it has another Signet and adds a Teysa, Orzhov Scion to the defense line. For now, Guildpact decides to pass. But things are going to change very quickly: a Riders of Gavony comes into play, giving all Humans protection from spirits, and making the Ghost Council as useful as a chocolate fireguard. Kessig Malcontents attacks and Guildpact decides not to sacrifice Teysa, taking the damage.
But Guildpact is not going down without a fight – the fourth land is drawn and a Skeletal Vampire is played. This annoying creature could block Avacyn Restored for days. That would be the plan, at least – but Avacyn Restored is not worried. Next turn an Angel of Jubilation comes into play – and suddenly the Skeletal Vampire is neutralized! How quickly things change... and Guildpact realizes that Avacyn Restored has all the tools it needs to put Guildpact in troubles, to the point that some cards look like direct counters. Avacyn Restored decides to attack with the Malcontents only, and Guildpact blocks with the two Bats to bring him down. The two bats becomes Spirits thanks to Teysa, and Guildpact can still feel safe from his board position. Guildpact then plays a Blind Hunter and passes. Avacyn Restored plays a Riot Ringleader, binds it to the Nearheath Pilgrim, and passes.
Guildpact only plays a land, then Avacyn Restored reveals a Thunderous Wrath, activates the miracle ability and blasts away the Skeletal Vampire, proceeding to attack with all its creatures.
Guildpact prioritizes killing the Riders, trading Teysa and the Blind Hunter, and takes the rest of the damage. The Blind Hunter goes haunting the Riot Ringleader.
Being able to use the Ghost Council again, Guildpact plays a second Teysa and then an Orzhov Guildmage. Things seem to be getting better, but Guildpact has no answers to the Angel for now – and only 9 life points. The life points quickly go down to 6 as another Kessig Malcontents is played by Avacyn Restored, that then attacks with the Angel. Guildpact blocks with a spirit token.
Then Guildpact draws a land and a useless Castigate, while Avacyn Restored plays its second Angel of Jubilation. The game is quickly over, and Avacyn Restored seems set for a complete victory.
Game 3
With the chances of a comeback that seems slim, Guildpact's obbjective is at least losing honourably – but as it is forced to mulligan, the third game seems likely to be an uphill one. Still, Guildpact's first play, a Castigate, looks likely to hurt Avacyn Restored, as it removes a Nearheath Pilgrim, revealing an hand full of creatures with two white mana in the CC, and only mountain. Avacyn Restored's only source of white mana is a Cavern of Souls (set to human). With some luck, if Avacyn Restored doesn't draw a Plains quickly, Guildpact could get ahead.
A second Castigate the following turn removes a Riot Ringleader, just drawn by Avacyn Restored – then Guildpact crosses its fingers. Avacyn Restored plays a second mountain, then passes. Things seems to look good for Guildpact, as it plays a Ghost Council of Orzhova and passes.
But luck has not completely abandones Avacyn Restored, as it shows a Thunderous Wrath, pays its miracle cost, and removes the Ghost Council. Guildpact stares blankly at the red spell for a couple of seconds, then shakes its head and moves the Ghost Council to the graveyard. Definitely a bad day for Guildpact.
Out of plays for the moment, Guildpact puts two Signets on the board, then passes. Avacyn Restored draws another Thunderous Wrath, and without much more to do, throws it at Guildpact for 5 damage. Guildpact plays one more land, then passes.
Finally Avacyn Restored draws the Plains and plays a Silverblade Paladin. Guildpact Mortify-es it at end of turn, but knows that all hell is about to break loose soon. And as a matter of fact, it does. Two Riders of Gavony, one Silverblade Paladin and one Nearheath Pilgrim come into play for Avacyn Restored, with Guildpact unable to find a proper answer. With that the game is quickly over, and Avacyn Restored nets an overbearing and somewhat surprising 3-0 win, advancing to the group stage.
Guildpact 0 - Avacyn Restored 3
Fallen Empires vs Alara Reborn
Fallen Empires is a deck that can only hope to trouble slow control and combo decks thanks to cards like Hymn to Tourach and Mindstab Thrull. Midrange decks like Alara Reborn are its worst matchups, and also considering that Alara Reborn features better cards than Fallen Empires, I think it's more than likely that the more modern deck will easily win this pairing.
Game 1
Fallen Empires wins the roll and starts the game, while Alara Reborn takes a mulligan. Fallen Empires makes the first play of the game with a turn 2 Hymn to Tourach – two lands are discarded. Does it mean that Alara Reborn will get stuck with mana screw? Apparently not, as it keeps playing lands as usual. Seems that Fallen Empires's powerful discard spell just hit a mana flooded opponent. Bad luck is, well... bad luck.
But still, Alara Reborn keeps only playing lands, so Fallen Empires can push the offensive (well, sort of) with a Necrite followed by an Armor Thrull. Then it's finally Alara Reborn's turn to answer, as it plays a Marisi's Twinclaws – who is definitely waaay better than anithing Fallen Empires can hope to field.
But when you can't rely on quality, you can rely on teamwork! A Thrull Champion hits the board, pumping the Necrite up to 3/3. With the sacrifice of the Armor Thrull, that could become a 4/5 – enough to take down the Twinclaws, and survive! Necrite attacks and, after thinking about it for a few seconds, Alara reborn decides not to block. Fallen Empires sacrifices the Necrite to kill the Twinclaws, leaving Alara Reborn once again with an empty board. But not for long, as a Mycoid Shephard hits the board next turn.
Fallen Empires starts to feel a little overwhelmed, but it adds a second Armor Thrull and an Aeolipile to the board – combined, this should be enough to kill the Mycoid Shephard. But it is not meant to be. Alara Reborn plays a Trace of Abundance, getting the black mana it needed to cast Maelstrom Pulse on one Armor Thrull, eliminating both of them at once. Then it attacks with the Mycoid Shephard. Fallen Empires blocks with the Thrull Champion and activates the Aeolipile, sacrificing itself to kill the Shephard. End of turn 6, the two decks face off across an empty board. One card in hand for Alara Reborn, zero for Fallen Empires.
Fallen Empires plays an Order of the Ebon Hand, that is quickly removed by a second Maelstrom Pulse. Alara Reborn then plays a Qasali Pridemage and passes. Fallen Empires draws a Hymn to Tourach, not very useful since Alara Reborn is now with an empty hand, and is forced to pass. Alara reborn plays a second Qasali Pridemage, attacks and passes. Two turns later, a Lord of Extinction joins the battle on Alara Reborn's side. The 13/13 beats is way too much for Fallen Empires to handle, so it concedes, moving on to Game 2.
Game 2
Game 2 starts slow as both decks play lands (and a turn 2 Trace of Abundance for Alara Reborn). Finally a Mindstab Thrull hits the board for Fallen Empires. But Alara Reborn just sneers at it as it plays a large Mycoid Shephard. Way too much for the poor thrull to handle. But then – boom! Fallen Empires plays a double Hymn to Tourach, forcing Alara Reborn to discard two Qasali Pridemage and two lands. This is a huge hit – four cards for two. But the board still favors Alara Reborn, that draws a second Shephard and plays it, then attacks with the other one. Fallen Empires takes the damage and on its turn plays a Derelor, the only creature in its decks capable of trading with a Shephard. But Alara Reborn relentelessly removes it with a Maesltrom Pulse, then hits for 5 more damage.
Things are getting bad for Fallen Empires, but it gets lucky as it draws a Order of the Ebon Hand. His protection from white should keep the Shephards at bay. Next turn, though, Alara Reborn plays its fourth land, plus Trace of Abundance that makes 5 mana, and a 8/8 Lord of Extinction joins the two Shephards. As the huge horror stalks over the poor thrulls, the game reaches a quick conclusion with the second win for Alara Reborn.
Game 3
Fallen Empires starts again with a turn 2 Hymn to Tourach, removing a Qasali Pridemage and a Forest. That is a very lucky strike, as Alara Reborn is lacking green mana sources and is forced to pass without playing anything. But it's not for long. After Fallen Empires gets a Necrite on the board, Alara Reborn draws a Forest and plays Trace of Abundance. Fallen Empires adds a Mindstab Thrull, but before it gets the chance to attacks, Alara Reborn plays a Marisi Twinclaws.
Still, Fallen Empires attacks with both creatures. Alara Reborn is forced to block the Mindstab Thrull (not wanting to discard three cards), but this allows the Necrite to sacrifice itself to kill the Twinclaws. After having removed the troublesome Double Strike creatures, Fallen Empires plays a Order of the Ebon Hand and passes. Perhaps, Fallen Empires can win this time?
Another Lord of Extinction enter the board to crush Fallen Empires's hopes. Incredibly so, it managed to appear in all three games. Fallen Empires plays a Necrite and passes. Alara Reborn plays a Behemoth Sledge and equips it to the Lord of Extinction. This is, obviously, a huge problem for Fallen Empires, but Alara Reborn, considering the presence of the Necrite, decides to pass without attacking. Fallen Empires plays a Thrull Retainer on Order of the Ebon Hand, an Armor Thrull, then considers the situation. It's unlikely that Alara Reborn will allow the Necrite to kill the Lord of Extinction, probably preferring to sacrifice the two cards in hand to the Mindstab Thrull. The lifelink on the Lord of Extintion guarantees that Fallen Empires will never be able to kill Alara Reborn with combat damage. Its only hope is drawing a second Necrite and use it to kill the Lord of Extinction. Unlikely to happen, but there's no other way. Fallen Empires passes for now.
But the second Necrite is not destined to appear. As the turns pass, Alara Reborn's advantage increases and increases again, until Fallen Empires is forced to admit defeat.
Alara Reborn gets an easy 3-0 win and proceeds to the group phase. The overbearing presence of the Lord of Extinction, drawn by Alara Reborn in all three games (despite it being only a 2x), was key to this complete victory, although Alara Reborn would probably have won anyway thanks to its superior (at least relatively speaking) deck.
Two things: should Weatherlight be modified, because Straw Golem is just terrible in modern times? Second, in game 2 of Guildpact V. Avacyn Restored you sacced 2 bats with Angel of Jubilation in play. Mistake in game play or transcription?
Two things: should Weatherlight be modified, because Straw Golem is just terrible in modern times? Second, in game 2 of Guildpact V. Avacyn Restored you sacced 2 bats with Angel of Jubilation in play. Mistake in game play or transcription?
Yeah, Weatherlight is pretty bad. It could be argued that having the Straw Golem go to the graveyard is not *that* bad, considering the way the deck works with creatures in its own graveyard, but still, it remains a suboptimal creature. I don't know if there's anything better, though.
Regarding the Guildpact vs AR matchup, I meant that he blocked the Kaessig Malcontents (that were a 4/2 due to the angel) with the two bats to kill it with combat damage - in that sense, Guildpact sacrificed them as blockers. I didn't mean sacrifice as actual "sacrifice" wording to activate an ability
Yeah, Weatherlight is pretty bad. It could be argued that having the Straw Golem go to the graveyard is not *that* bad, considering the way the deck works with creatures in its own graveyard, but still, it remains a suboptimal creature. I don't know if there's anything better, though.
Well, if it wants dudes in the yard, Firestorm is a "power" card from the set, and there is no need to be mono-black. It could easily be B/r.
Regarding the Guildpact vs AR matchup, I meant that he blocked the Kaessig Malcontents (that were a 4/2 due to the angel) with the two bats to kill it with combat damage - in that sense, Guildpact sacrificed them as blockers. I didn't mean sacrifice as actual "sacrifice" wording to activate an ability
Changed the choice of words to avoid misunderstandings
I guess alternative decks for Weatherlight can be explored, although it's one of those sets that are so bad, no one would want to invest time on them
I'm not sure about Firestorm, though. Early in the game, you wouldn't have enough targets, later on you wouldn't have enough creatures to discard. Unfortunately, Weatherlight totally lacks card advantage (in fact, it relies on card disadvantage), and it doesn't do any crazy graveyard combo that could exploit a discard outlet like Firestorm.
I guess alternative decks for Weatherlight can be explored, although it's one of those sets that are so bad, no one would want to invest time on them
Funny you should say that...
I think a base green multicolor deck is possible with Veteran Explorer plus Gemstone Mine. However, I cannot find a reason to go three color. The original BoTS deck was U/W IIRC. Might be worth looking back on. How about G/R? It might mise some wins:
Obviously, this is very rough and is definitely still terrible. Is it more or less terrible, thought? Humorously it would have likely done worse in the Prophecy matchup because of all the taxing cards. Anyway, I considered a singleton Bosium Strip; it might be worth a try. I also tried to make Orcish Settler work. It is sloooow. Cone of Flame and Dense Foliage are possibilities, I guess. You should re-consider Null Rod. Hoping for the, unlikely, lucky matchup where it is solid might be the best Weatherlight can do.
Re: Firestorm. Goldfishing with this deck I many times discarded something akin to a land, a Hurloon Shaman, and a Thundermare for 3 Lightning Bolts. 4 cards for three bolts isn't so very bad when you consider the very little the set has to offer! I know that Firestorm historically set up reanimator, but you can discard anything and most Weatherlight cards are best when not played! Anyway, thanks again for bringing back BoTS!
The very first deck I tried for Weatherlight in my BOTS was in fact a RG aggro. It had Thundermare, Lava Hounds and some other stuff I don't remember. Originally it also had Null Rod. In the end the black list seemed to work better, and it's also built around a design philosophy, which is something I like a lot when deckbuilding.
Obviously, I spent lots of time on BOTS, trying different decks for each set. Back in the day I even worked on sets like Homelands (a monoB with Baron Sengir) or Fallen Empires (green list with Thallid and Nightsoil). It's just, it feels with those sets your efforts are never rewarded.
But I'm interested in any alternative decklists, so post them if you like, I'll gladly read and test them (although I probably will not do another BOTS after this one).
I guess alternative decks for Weatherlight can be explored, although it's one of those sets that are so bad, no one would want to invest time on them
Funny you should say that...
I think a base green multicolor deck is possible with Veteran Explorer plus Gemstone Mine. However, I cannot find a reason to go three color. The original BoTS deck was U/W IIRC. Might be worth looking back on. How about G/R? It might mise some wins:
Obviously, this is very rough and is definitely still terrible. Is it more or less terrible, thought? Humorously it would have likely done worse in the Prophecy matchup because of all the taxing cards. Anyway, I considered a singleton Bosium Strip; it might be worth a try. I also tried to make Orcish Settler work. It is sloooow. Cone of Flame and Dense Foliage are possibilities, I guess. You should re-consider Null Rod. Hoping for the, unlikely, lucky matchup where it is solid might be the best Weatherlight can do.
Re: Firestorm. Goldfishing with this deck I many times discarded something akin to a land, a Hurloon Shaman, and a Thundermare for 3 Lightning Bolts. 4 cards for three bolts isn't so very bad when you consider the very little the set has to offer! I know that Firestorm historically set up reanimator, but you can discard anything and most Weatherlight cards are best when not played! Anyway, thanks again for bringing back BoTS!
Sorry for the double post, I didn't have much time yesterday. I checked again the cards from Weatherlight today and remembered the cards I used in my old RG aggro. There were a lot of aggro cards that could easily go to the GY (our dear Straw Golem, Uktabi Efreet, Aboroth, and so on), then Nature's Resurgence to fill up your hand. I think Nature's Resurgence might be used to build something interesting, perhaps with Buried Alive? It's probably very slow though, and definitely relying way too much on drawing Nature's Resurgence.
If we could go 3-colors (don't know if the mana base would allow that), Firestorm could be used more effectively. Imagine drawing 5-6 cards from a Nature's Resurgence and being abile to use them on a Firestorm - for an environment like BOTS, that could be very effective. I'll think about it and see if I can come up with a decent list.
The games 9-12 from the eliminatory phase, that is now concluded. Coming on, the group phase!
Betrayers of Kamigawa vs Future Sight
Future Sight is a bad deck with some objectively good cards (Tarmogoyf, Tombstalker, Slaughter Pact). Betrayers of Kamigawa is a strange WR control that focuses on dealing with aggro decks. On paper, it should be able to deal efficiently with Future Sight, but then again, this one is not exactly an aggro deck, but more a sort of rock/midrange build. In my opinion, this is a very open matchup that could go either way.
Game 1
Betrayers wins the roll to start first, while Future Sight is forced to take a mulligan. Betrayers starts with a Genju of the Fields, while Future Sight answers with a suspended Nihilith. The following turn, Betrayers animates the Genju and strikes for two, healing for two at the same time. There's not much that Future Sight can do to answer immediately, so it just plays an Augur of Skulls and passes. The target is clearly getting that Nihilith into play as fast as possible.
Betrayers does not look particularly worried, and it just animates the Genju again for two more damage and two more life gain. Comes Future Sight's turn, and the Augur sacrifices to force Betrayers to discard a Terashi's Verdict and a Terashi's Grasp. Future Sight then cycles a Street Wraith and passes.
Betrayers is gaining a large advantage and in no hurry to change things. It animates the Genju again, and attacks – but this time Future Sight reveals a Slaughter Pact! The Genju of the Fields is played again and quickly followed by a Genju of the Spires, but the main problem for Betrayers is that now the Nihiith stands with only one counter and ready to enter into play the coming turn. As the Nihilith comes into play, Future Sight pays the mana for the Slaughter, attacks with the Nihilith and passes.
Betrayers decides to play an Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo and pass. Future Sight plays a Tombstalker and attacks with the Nihilith. The situation is not looking so good anymore for betrayers - but the game is still long. Betrayers just passes, playing the waiting game – its specialty.
Next turn, Future Sight attacks with both the Nihilith and the Tombstalker. The faithful Yojimbo takes on the damage from the Nihlith, then prevents one to survive, and finally sacrifices itself to fuel a Patron of the Kitsune.
On Betrayer's turn, it attacks with the the Patron – and an animated Genju of the Spires, for a grand total of 11 damage! Future Sight falls down to 3, and suddenly it must focus on its survival. A land is unfortunately drawn by Future Sight, that keeps its creature on the defensive. Betrayers attacks again with the Patron and an animated Genju of the Spires. Sitting at three life points, Future Sight is forced to block them both, sacrificing the Tombstalker and the Nihilith. The Genju dies and goes back to Betrayer's hand, that plays it again on the remaining Mountain.
The situation is clearly more than desperate, and as Future Sight draws another Swamp, it's forced to concede. Betrayers wins first game.
Game 2
The game starts badly for Future Sight, as it's forced to mulligan twice. Moreover, Betrayers open the game with an annoying Genju of the Fields. Future Sight answers suspending a Nihilith, much like game one. Betrayers plays a Genju of the Spires, a Kami of False Hope, and passes. Again, as game one, Future Sight plays an Augus or Skulls and passes. Knowing that the Nihilith is going to come into play relatively quickly, Betrayers plays an Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo to counter it and then passes. Future Sight sacrifices the Augur and Future Sight discards a Terashi's Verdict and a Genju of the Spires. While not being able to draw a fourth land, Future Sight draws and plays an Edge of Autumn, preparing to cast – hopefully – something good from its hand. And if only a Tarmogoyf would show up...
Betrayers is stuck at three mana, but it can still hit for 7 with the Genju and the Kami - except Future Sight shows a Slaughter Pact! Again, as game one, except this time Betrayers is facing a severe lack of mana, and so the loss of a Mountain it's gonna hurt much more. On Future Sight's turn, the Nihilith comes into play and attack. With all mana tapped, Betrayers is forced to choose whether to sacrifice or not the Kami – finally, it decides to take the damage and keep it alive. On its turn, Betrayers plays a Tendo Ice Bridge and attack with the Kami... after thinking for a second, it decides to attack with the Genju as well.
Then Future Sight plays an Imperiosaur, gaining a definite advantage in terms of board situation. The Nihilith strikes for 4 more damage, then passes. There's not much that Betrayers can do for now, but luckily it gets a fourth land into play. The only plan available for now is a defensive one, so Betrayers just passes.
Future Sight attcks with all its creatures, and finally Betrayers is forced to sacrifice the Kami. Future Sight has now five lands and three cards in the graveyard - enough to cast a Tombstalker! Future Sight is definitely overpowering its opponent, and with Betrayers sitting at 10 life points, the game could be over very soon. For now, though, Betrayers just play a Mountain and passes. Clearly its hopes rely on the faithful Opal-Eye, but Future Sight shows an end-of-turn Slaughter Pact, enjoying the look of despair on Betrayer's face.
Future Sight attacks with all its three big creatures, and Betrayers is forced to sacrifice a Plains to block the dinosaur and gain 2 life. But then, with only four lands and no less than three Final Judgment in hand, there's nothing that Betrayers can do to survive any longer, and the two opponents move on to game 3 with a 1-1 result.
Game 3
Betrayers starts with the usual turn one Genju of the Fields, while Future Sight shows a suspended Nihilith on turn two – talk about deja-vu! As Betrayers attacks with the Genju, Future Sight answers by suspending a second Nihilith. The upcoming army of shadows scares Betrayers a little, but for now it can still push the offensive. After playing a second mountain, it enchants the first one with a Genju of the Spires and attacks for six. While Future Sight seems set on playing the long game, Betrayers is... well, betraying... its nature of control deck and trying to rush damage to its opponent.
Future Sight is stuck at three mana, and decides to play an Augur of Skulls, that should at least stop the big 6/1 Genju from attacking. Betrayers smiles and plays a Fumiko the Lowblood – and there goes the defensive utility of the Augur! Instead of losing her in combat phase, Future Sight decides to sacrifice her, but not much damage is done – Betrayers discards two Terashi's Verdict. Still stuck at 3 lands, Future Sight plays a Tarmogoyf and passes.
Knoing full well that it will be able to eliminate that Goyf in the coming turn, Betrayers just draws, plays another land, and passes. Future Sight gets its fourth land and plays an Augur of Skulls and a Quiet Disrepair on Genju of the Spires. The Tarmogoyf, still a non-threatening 2/3, is forced to attack and is quickly disposed of.
Knowing full well that it's going to lose the Genju in the coming turn, Betrayers decides to leave all prudence aside and attacks with all its creatures: Fumiko and the two animated Genjus. Sitting at 12 life points, Future Sight is forced to sacrifice the Augur to kill the Genju of the Spires, and unfortunately it has no mana to regenerate. But now, at least, the two Nihilith will enter the battlefield.
Along with the two horrors, a second Tarmogoyf is played, and this time is a respectable 4/5. Future Sight then attacks with the two unblockable Nihilith and passes. On its turn, Betrayers plays an Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo and passes.
As it plays yet another Tarmogoyf, Future Sight also shows a Slaughter Pact on Fumiko, then attacks with the two Nihilith and one of the Goyfs. With Opal-Eye still unable to tap, Betrayers is forced to take the full damage – and fall down to 6 life points. Betrayers prays to all the Kami it can think of as it draws a card on the new turn... and it's not a land. Showing once again a Final Judgment in its hand and only five lands in play, Betrayers can only curse its bad luck and move on to game 4.
Game 4
Both decks are forced to mulligan and this time, strangely, Betrayers has no Genju of the Fields to play on turn one. But a Genju-less game cannot last long, and in fact a Genju of the Spires is drawn and played on turn two. As Future Sight seems stuck with only Forests, Betrayers can then animate the genju and hit for 6 in the following turn. The next turn, Future Sight is forced to play an Edge of Autumn to finally bring the black mana it needs into play. Betrayers decides to grasp the chance and hits for six more – some heavy damage is now piling up on Future Sight.
Finally, Future Sight is able to play something – an Imperiosaur. Betrayers, knowing all too well how bad it is to miss lands in a crucial moment, decides to safeguard the Genju-enchanted Mountain and instead plays an Umezawa's Jitte and a Kami of False Hope. Future Sight answers by playing a Stronghold Rats, and attacking with them. The damage is taken and Future Sight discards a Nihilith, while Betrayers discards an Opal-Eye.
Betrayers just draws and passes. Future Sight plays two Tarmogoyf at once and attacks again with the Rats, discarding a Tombstalker, while Betrayers discards a Terashi's Grasp. The Goyfs are only 2/3 for now, but luckily Betrayers is missing creatures to block with, so Future Sight decides to attack with the Imperiosaur and one of the Goyfs – and not the Rats. While the shadow rats cannot block, it seems clear that the two cards in Future Sight's hand must be very good, and that's a troubling thought for Betrayers. For now, though, it sacrifices the Kami to prevent all combat damage. Once again, though, luck doesn't seem to shine on Betrayers, as it only draws and passes. An answer must be found, and quickly.
Future Sight draws and attacks with the Imperiosaur, the Rats and a Goyf. Betrayers shows a Terashi's Verdict to remove the Goyf, then discards a Terashi's Grasp to the Rats (Future Sight discards a Forest). And then, finally, the sixth land is played by Betrayers! A Final Judgment quickly follows, removing all Future Sight dangerous creatures from the board (and more importantly, keeping the Genju exactly where it is). Betrayers can finally breathe a little more calmly.
Still, Future Sight had some tricks up its sleeve (and that's why it hadn't attacked earlier with the Rats). A new Tarmogoyf comes into play, and this time it's a 4/5. On its turn, Betrayers animates the Genju, equips it with the Jitte, and attacks. Future Sight just shows a Slaught Pact and shrugs. Not much for Betrayers to do, except play again the Genju and pass.
Future Sight pays the mana for the Pact, draws, attacks with the Goyf for 4 damage and passes. This turn could be the decisive one. Future Sight has two open mana and two cards in hand. Betrayers has a bad feeling, but it can only hope as it animates the Genju, equips it with the Jitte and attacks. But then – again! - Future Sight has an answer. A Death Rattle this time, fueled by Delve, destroys again the Genju. And to make it worse, Betrayers has no more Mountains – only Plains.
Future Sight plays a Quiet Disrepair on the Jitte, then attacks with the Goyf – 4 damage, and Betrayers fall down to 1 life point! Could it be that, for the first time, Betrayers will draw exactly the card it needs to survive? Definitely not – Betrayers's bad luck continues with a Fumiko the Lowblood, and Future Sight proceeds to win the fourth game and qualify for the group stage.
Betrayers of Kamigawa 1 - Future Sight 3
Planar Chaos vs Magic 2010
This was a very brutal match, with M10 completely destroying its opponent thanks to discard and, most importantly, instant speed removal. For M10, it is way too easy to deal with a deck that relies heavily on cards like Fatal Frenzy and Brute Force. Also, Liliana Vess played an important role, allowing M10 to search for the cards it needed most, and in one occasion forcing Planar Chaos to "waste" a Timbermare just for the cause of removing her.
Planar Chaos 0 - Magic 2010 3
Ice Age vs Alliances
Get ready for some crazy Magic guys. It doesn't get any more weird than this, with the clunky combo deck from Ice Age, and the unpredictable metagame bullet that is Alliances. Who will win? All bets are open.
Game 1
Ice Age wins the roll and starts, beginning immediately with a Demonic Consultation aimed at a Dark Ritual. The following turn, the Dark Ritual is used to fuel a Necropotence, immediately allowing Ice Age to draw 5 cards. There's not much that Alliances can do for now, except watch Ice Age get its diabiolic and clunky engine of destruction in movement. The following turn, Ice Age plays a Foul Familiar and passes.
Alliances can't yet mount an offensive, but at least decides to throw a Guerilla Tactics at Ice Age – anything that can lower its life points and make Ice Age less likely to keep drawing cards. But that's not the case, at least for now. Ice Age attacks with the Familiar and draws 4 more cards, then passes. Alliances doesn't know the situation in Ice Age's hand, but it seems likely that its opponent is near to closing its combo.
It's now or never, then. Alliances shows a copy of Yavimaya Ants and play them. The Ants start skittering towards Ice Age – but then a blast of fire Incinerates them. Nothing to do for now, Alliances will have to wait and hope.
Luckily for Alliances, Ice Age seems to be having trouble finding its second red mana. So it plays a Zuran Orb, sacrifices two swamps, and uses that 4 life points to draw 4 cards. Then, the ball once again passes to Alliances, that destroys the Zuran Orb with a Primitive Justice and passes. Will it be enough?
Unfortunately not. Ice Age gets its second mountain on the board, plays a second Zuran Orb, taps its lands for mana, then sacrifices them and reveals a Dark Ritual from its hand. The six mana are there, and so is the Jokulhaups! As the wave of destruction wipes the board almost completely clean, Alliances concedes and the match moves on to game 2.
Game 2
Alliances gets first turn, but it's still Ice Age to open the dance with a Demonic Consultation aimed at Necropotence. The good news for Alliances is that, to find the powerful enchantment, Ice Age has to remove from the game 18 (!) cards, including 3 (!) Jokulhaups. As Alliances keeps only playing lands, Ice Age plays a Dark Ritual and then its Necropotence, drawing 4 cards.
Determining on preventing Ice Age from casting Jokulhaups, Alliances plays a Pillage on the opponent's Mountain – will it be a successful strategy? For now, Ice Age plays another mountain and passes. Alliances pushes the offensive with a Balduvian Horde, discarding a... Guerilla Tactics! 4 more damage flies towards Ice Age, that now also has to worry about the big 5/5.
But nor for long, apparently. Ice Age gets a Sulfurous Springs in play and then reveals a Dark Banishing from its hand. Finally, Ice Age draws 2 more cards. Alliances play one more Guerilla Tactics, this time directly from its hand, to deal two more damage to Ice Age, then passes. Ice Age gets its fourth land, plays an Abyssal Specter, and passes. Alliances's answer is somewhat more threatening, as it gets its fifth land and plays a Deadly Insect. Ice Age, at the moment, stands at 8 life points, and next turn it will have 6 lands in play. It has to endure until that moment.
Alliances plays a Pyrokinesis (paying its mana cost) from its hand to remove the Abyssal Specter, then hits for 6 damage to bring Ice Age down to 2. The situation is absolutely dire for Ice Age now. Nevertheless, it has no choice. After getting its sixth land on the board, it taps for mana and plays Jokulhaups – but no Zuran Orb to fix the life points this time. And more than that, it has to tap Sulfurous Springs for the second red mana, dropping down to one life points. And yet, there was no choice - it was this or die at the hand of the Deadly Insect.
But there's one more twist to follow immediately. Alliances smiles as it shows a Mountain and... a Death Spark! And there goes the game! 1-1, and moving on to the third game .
Game 3
Ice Age has to take a mulligan, but then it gets its best start: Dark Ritual + Necropotence, on turn one, immediately drawing 4 cards. Alliances plays immediately a Death Spark, hoping perhaps to recycle it later on. The next play is by Alliances on turn 3, with a Foul Familiar. Alliances answers with an Elvish Ranger. Ice Age keeps playing lands, but for now there is only one source of red mana (a Sulfurous Springs), and that gives some hope to Alliances, that attacks with the Ranger, trading with the Familiar, then Pillages the Springs. Necropotence is forced to draw three more cards to hopefully find a red mana, as for now it's stuck with 4 Swamps.
Alliances plays a Deadly Insect, and things seem to be getting really bad for Ice Age - the three Dark Banishing in its hand can't save the combo deck from the Shrouded insect. But more than that, Ice Age doesn't have any red mana source in hand, and should pay life to draw. But sitting at 8 life points, even if it could draw a Mpuntain, Ice Age would be forced to tap Sulfurous Springs to play Jokulhaups, and that would equal to committing suicide. Math doesn't lie. Ice Age concedes and moves on to game 4.
Game 4
Again Ice Age is forced to mulligan, but again it gets to start with Dark Ritual + Necropotence! It draws 4, as usual, then passes. Alliances is once again very slow, so by turn 3 it's Ice Age that gets to play a Foul Familiar as first creature on the board. Alliances responds by Pillage-ing a Mountain, continuing with the same strategy that has proven so effective so far.
Ice Age attacks with the Familiar, plays another Mountain, then draws 4 more cards. Alliances smiles an evil smile and shows another Pillage to remove even that Mountain.
Despairing to ever get its combo into place, Ice Age doesn't have many more options than trying to win with its creatures. After attacking with the Familiar, it gets an Abyssal Specter into play thanks to a second Dark Ritual, then draws 3 more cards. End of turn, though, Alliances exiles a Primitive Justice to fuel a Pyrokinesis and remove both the Familiar and the Specter.
Next turn, Alliances incredibly Pillage-s again! A Sulfurous Springs go to the graveyard. Ice Age can't do much more than play a Foul familiar and pass. Then Alliances finally gets its first creature in play, a Deadly Insect. Ice Age must immediately get a blocker into play, and luckily has one more Abyssal Specter in hand. The Familiar also attacks for 3 damage. Ice Age draws two more cards, then passes.
On Alliances's turn, the Deadly Insect attacks, trading with the Specter, then a second Deadly Insect hits the board. Luckily for Ice Age, the last two cards from Necropotence had brought a Zuran Orb. Ice Age plays it, sacrifices two Swamps and draw two cards, netting +2 life points to go back up to 9. Then it plays a Demonic Consultation aimed at Abyssal Specter, that it's immediately played thanks to a Dark Ritual. Then Ice Age attacks with the Familiar. Alliances thinks about trading the Familiar with the Insect, then prefers to force Ice Age to trade the Specter.
And that's exactly what happens the following turn... and then Alliances shows a third Deadly Insect! There is no end to them. As Ice Age makes a mental note of ordering some tons of pesticide for next game, it attacks with the Familiar, bringing Alliances down to 5, then plays a second Foul Familiar and passes.
Alliances attacks with the insect, bringing Ice Age down to 3, then plays an Elvish Ranger and a Pillage on the Zuran Orb. Ice Age sacrifices a Swamp to gain two points before losing the Orb, going up to 5. Just a precaution, because on its next turn, an Incinerate removes the ranger, allowing the two Foul Familiar to strike for 6 and kill Alliances! Feeling an aggro deck for the first time in its life, Ice Age gets the fourth game and moves on to game 5.
Game 5
Alliances plays first, but the big move is once again from Ice Age: yet again a first turn Dark Ritual + Necropotence. Alliances shakes its head at its opponent luck, and answers two turns later with an Elvish Ranger, that is unfortunately brutally removed with an end of turn Incinerate. Ice Age then plays a Demonic Consultation to find a Jokulhaups, having to exile 21 cards to get to it! Ice Age then draws 4 more cards, and passes.
Alliances seems to be going very slow this time, and this gives Ice Age hope that it should be able to finalize its combo and win. And then finally Alliances gets a Deadly Insect into play. With Ice Age at 10 life points, this will become... well, actually deadly very soon. Ice Age plays its fifth land, then thinks about the situation before deciding to pass. Alliances attacks for 6, plays a seconds Deadly Insect, then passes and crosses its fingers.
Ice Age gets its sixth land and then plays Jokulhaups – but again this time, no Zuran Orb. The situation is bad for Alliances, but not as bad as it might be. Ice Age draws two more cards, not wanting to fall to 1 in fear of a Death Spark, then passes. Unfortunately, even after drawing, Ice Age has only two Sulfurous Springs in hand! At this point, there's only one hope: drawing a Zuran Orb with that single card draw that Ice Age has available.
But Alliances has a Mountain play: will it also have a Death Spark? Maybe, but Ice Age is forced to make the play. Ice Age declares that it will spend one life point to draw one card... and Alliances shows the Death Spark! Just for curiosity, Ice Age looks at the card it would have drawn... a Foul Familiar! Nothing to do then. Alliances wins and advances to the group stage.
Ice Age 2 - Alliances 3
Urza's Legacy vs Legions
Legions is definitely a terrible deck, but there's one matchup where it can hope to shine: against slow midrange decks featuring little creature removal. And that's, unfortunately, the exact description of Urza's Legacy. Legacy was able to grab one win after being able of putting into play multiple Deranged Hermit, but with that exception, the remaining three games were utterly dominated by Legions, especially thanks to the two MVPs of the game: Shifting Sliver and Ward Sliver. Those two allowed the slivers to easily get past Legacy's defenses, resulting in huge card advantage (Synapse Sliver) or life gain (Essence Sliver). Legions advances to the group stage.
Urza's Legacy 1 - Legions 3
1) Arabian Nights
2) Antiquities
3) The Dark
4) Alliances
5) Mirage
6) Visions
7) Tempest
8) Stronghold
9) Exodus
10) Urza's Saga
11) Urza's Destiny
12) Mercadian Masques
13) Nemesis
14) Prophecy
15) Invasion
16) Apocalypse
17) Odyssey
18) Torment
19) Judgment
20) Onslaught
21) Legions
22) Scourge
23) Mirrodin
24) Darksteel
25) Fifth Dawn
26) Champions of Kamigawa
27) Ravnica
28) Dissension
29) Coldsnap
30) Timespiral
31) Future Sight
32) Llorwyn
33) Morningtide
34) Shadowmoor
35) Eventide
36) Shards of Alara
37) Conflux
38) Alara Reborn
39) Zendikar
40) Worldwake
41) Rise of the Eldrazi
42) Scars of Mirrodin
43) Mirrodin Besieged
44) New Phyrexia
45) Innistrad
46) Dark Ascension
47) Avacyn Restored
48) Return to Ravnica
49) Gatecrash
50) Dragon's Maze
51) Theros
52) Born of the Gods
53) Journey into Nyx
54) Khans of Tarkir
55) Fate Reforged
56) Battle for Zendikar
57) Oath of the Gatewatch
58) M10
59) M11
60) M12
61) M13
62) M14
63) M15
64) Magic Origins
Alliances pushes the offensive with a Balduvian Horde, discarding a... Guerilla Tactics! 4 more damage flies towards Ice Age, that now also has to worry about the big 5/5.
ARGH! Now I'll have to make you disappear before you tell anyone else... oh wait, you already did?
OK, regarding the Foul Familiar blocking, that game was already in Alliances favor and would have ended even earlier with the Ranger attacking.
The other one is more open for debate, since with 4 more life points Ice Age *might* have drawn something good. I'll decide whether to have a rematch for that game.
So, I decided to have a rematch between Ice Age and Alliances. Not all the five games, just one. The two decks start from 2-2, and Ice Age starts.
The two opponents walk into the arena. Ice Age fights for justice, wanting to avenge the error that caused its unjust defeat. Alliances wishes to show everyone who's the boss, and obviously keep the access to the group phase. Who will win?
Both decks start slow, playing lands. On turn three, Ice Age gets its third Swamp and then finally a Necropotence, drawing 4. Alliances answers with an Elvish Ranger. Ice Age gets a fourth Swamp, then plays an Abyssal Specter, and finally draws 3 more cards. The clunky combo deck seems low on red mana. Will it be able to find the two mountains required for the Jokulhaups?
But Ice Age is going to find out that the Mountains will soon be the last of its problem. A Pyrokinesis is played by exiling a Balduvian Horde, removing the Specter, then Alliances adds a Yavimaya Ants to the board and strikes for 9! Ice Age is brought down to 4 life points and forced to fight for its own survival!
Ice Age plays a Demonic Consultation aimed at a Mountain, plays the land, then a Zuran Orb - the tapped Swamp is immediately sacrificed. It doesn't look like it's enough to survive, but certainly Ice Age has some instant-speed trick ready. Alliances pays the upkeep for the Ants and attacks with both creatures. The Ants are met with a Dark Banishing, while the Ranger can deal 4 damage and bring Ice Age down to 2. Then Alliances plays a second Mountain and Pillages the opponent's mountain.
On its turn, Ice Age plays a second Dark Banishing on the Ranger, sacrifices a swamp and draws two cards, getting a Sulfurous Springs in play before passing.
Alliances draws and plays a Guerrilla Tactics, forcing Ice Age to sacrifice another Swamp to survive, then it also plays an Elvish Ranger. What will Ice Age do? The choice is hard, but there's actually no other option for Ice Age. It taps its two lands for mana and throws an Incinerate at the Ranger, falling down to 1 life point for the damage from the Springs. Then the Springs are sacrificed to draw two. A Swamp is drawn and played, but it looks clear that this game cannot go on for long.
And in fact, it's over the following turn : Alliances draws and shows a Yavimaya Ants, and it's game over. Alliances is still the champion, and the pass for the group phase it's firmly in its grip! Ice Age could not hold out against the perfect storm of an incredibly good hand from Alliances, and it's forced to bow down its head to the winner.
For the mods: I hope this is the right forum, feel free to move this topic if you have to
Now, a little introduction. This is the original BOTS thread: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/casual-related-formats/147093-battle-of-the-sets
I'll copy some parts, since the work is already done, no reason to do it again
- TOURNAMENT FORMAT: Each set fields its best possible deck to square off
against the other sets for the coveted title of Battle
of the Sets Champion - tournament is single-elimination
- MATCH FORMAT: Each match is best 3 out of 5
- SEEDINGS AND PAIRINGS: there will be 76 decks participating (more on them later). I plan on having 4 groups of 16 decks each, then the group winners will face off in the semifinals and finals. A preliminary elimination phase will be held to reduce the number of decks from 76 to 64. While this is a sort of reboot, I would have liked to keep every deck on the same level and same starting position, but it looks difficult to handle, and God knows this thing has already grown much bigger since the time there were only 30 or 40 sets around. Since I more or less know which decks are good and which bad, I'll pick the worst decks and have them face-off in this phase, then the best (of the worst) will advance to the actual tournament.
- DECKS: I will provide all the current decklists below. I am open to input and willing to change some of the lists if a better alternative is provided. This is actually the best part for all you deckbuilders around.
- PARTICIPATION: you are encouraged to participate by following the game reports I'll post and commenting on them, rooting for the decks you like, and so on. You can also send me alternative decklists for some sets if you don't like the one I came up with, I'll test them and use them if they actually prove to be better (the final judgment on the matter will be mine). I would like this to be a community experience, since this is the funny part of the whole thing. I'm going to do this anyway, but the more the merrier
- MATCH REPORTS: I'll write up match reports for all the games. Some brief summaries, some in-depth coverage for the most interesting matches. You can enjoy making predictions, reading the reports, and then commenting on the matches.
- ELIGIBILITY: originally, only expansion sets were allowed in Battle of the Sets. Over the years, I allowed also the yearly core sets to participate, starting from M2010. The reason is that these sets feature some unique and interesting cards that would otherwise be lost. So it's basically all the expansion sets plus M10-M15 and Magic Origins. The last set considered will be Oath of the Gatewatch, since Shadows over Innistrad would make the number of participants odd.
- BANNINGS: No cards are banned or restricted. Dealing with such
card pools means the potential for outrageous degeneracy is capped to a reasonable extent. Yes, this means 4 Libraries of Alexandria, 4 Academies, 4 Skullclamps, etc. etc.
- TIMELINE: I will introduce the decklists in the next couple of weeks and then plan on posting weekly with around 4 matches for each update. This means that it will take around 5-6 months to complete the whole thing. I would like to make it faster, but it is a LARGE number of matches to be played and I don't have all the time I used to have. You're invited to stick with me to the end, even though it might take some time
And that's all for now. I will add the decklists in the coming days by editing this post. Feel free to comment, posts alternative decklists, send them via PM to me, whatever you want. I hope everybody has as much fun as I had the first time I discovered BOTS
4 Oubliette
4 Juzam Djinn
4 Unstable Mutation
4 Flying Men
4 Erg Raiders
4 Serendib Djinn
4 Sorceress Queen
4 Library of Alexandria
12 Island
12 Swamp
Description: as far as old sets go, Arabian Nights fares reasonably well. This UB Suicide Aggro deck has a decent burst potential, and can keep its hand full with the broken Library of Alexandria. A Flying Men + Unstable Mutation + Serendib Efreet start is something most BOTS decks would have problems dealing with. Utility cards like Oubliette and Sorceress Queen can allow the deck to push in those last few damage it needs to close the deal.
The most obvious weakness of this deck is the Suicide part. Against more modern and effective aggro decks, losing as much life as Arabian Nights does is simply not an option. Also, there are decks on BOTS that play on a higher level than just beating the opponent with creatures, and against those decks, Arabian Nights has very few options.
Rating: B-
4 Triskelion
4 Tetravus
4 Onulet
4 Candelabra of Tawnos
4 Rocket Launcher
4 Tawnos's Coffin
4 Clockwork Avian
4 Primal Clay
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Strip Mine
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Tower
4 Urza's Power Plant
Description: one of the powerhouses of BOTS, simply reading Antiquities's decklist is enough to understand just how powerful and broken this deck is. Simply put, if this deck gets a quick start, there is practically no deck in BOTS that can rival with it. All thanks to Mishra's Workshop, that can fuel some insane starts (like a turn 2 Triskelion, for example). But not only that: UrzaTron + Candelabra + Rocket Launcher is one hell of a funny combo for Antiquities (not so much for the opponent). This deck has basically no weak point, except for its habit of being its worst opponent. If Antiquities has bad luck with the first draw and the first mulligan, things can get ugly real fast, as it gets swamped with high-cc cards and no mana to cast them.
Rating: A+
4 Thunder Spirit
3 Gravity Sphere
3 Greater Realm of Preservation
4 Land Tax
3 Land’s Edge
4 Moat
4 Chain Lightning
4 Pyrotechnics
3 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
12 Mountain
13 Plains
Description: I like decks with a clear strategy in mind, and Legends sure is one of them. Lock down the game with Moat, then finish the opponent with a Land Tax-fueled Land's Edge onslaught. Simple and clean. Now, the major problem is that Legends is heavily anti-aggro oriented. There are some decks in BOTS that will simply laugh at its strategy and proceed to win. Or decks that can remove the key pieces of Legends strategy. Or more simply, aggro decks that are simply too fast or too resilient for Legends. Still, Legends has a fair chance to win when faced with most low-tier decks, or simply with slow aggro decks that do not pack flying creature or ways to remove Moat.
Rating: D+
4 Wormwood Treefolk
3 Spitting Slug
4 Scavenger Folk
3 Scarwood Bandits
4 Elves of Deep Shadow
4 Preacher
4 Knights of Thorn
4 Witch Hunter
2 City of Shadows
14 Forest
10 Plains
Description: probably the best example of just how poor old sets can be (if you thought Kamigawa was bad), The Dark is possibly the weakest deck in the tournament. There's not much to do with this underwhelming set, honestly, but GW seems to be the best combination of colors it can go with. That said, let's move on as quickly as possible.
Rating: F
4 Derelor
4 Armor Thrull
4 Mindstab Thrull
4 Necrite
4 Order of the Ebon Hand
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Aelopile
4 Thrull Retainer
24 Swamp
Description: another very sub-par deck, Fallen Empires is a black aggro deck that packs only one card of relevance: Hymn to Tourach. The rest is a bunch of creatures ranging from not-particularly-good to decent. While the decks is objectively weak, I've seen it pull out some unexpected wins, especially against slow combo decks that can be punished from a lucky Hymn to Tourach. I also moderately like the whole concept of a Thrull deck because... well, Thrulls, duh. Who has ever played a Thrull deck?
Rating: D-
4 Jokulhaups
4 Abyssal Specter
4 Necropotence
4 Dark Banishing
4 Dark Ritual
3 Demonic Consultation
4 Foul Familiar
4 Incinerate
4 Sulfurous Springs
8 Mountain
13 Swamp
Description: ah, Ice Age, one of my favorite decks from BOTS. Not because of its strength, mind you. No, the real flavor of Ice Age comes from its clunkiness. Play Necropotence, keep your hand full, hold your opponent at bay until you can play a Jokulhaups... and then do it. Wipe the board. Sacrifice all your lands to Zuran Orb to fuel Necropotence and then... start the game again. Only this time you have a full hand, and your opponent doesn't. It's a terrible deck, slow, unreliable, easy to disrupt. And yet it's madly brilliant. A deck that could be conceived only for an environment like BOTS, and the reason why I love this tournament.
Rating: E
4 Abbey Matron
4 Aysen Bureaucrats
4 Death Speakers
3 Autumn Willow
4 Roots
4 Leaping Lizard
4 Spectral Bears
4 Serrated Arrows
11 Forest
14 Plains
Description: so here it is, the infamous Homelands. Is this the worst deck in BOTS? Well, I'd put my money on The Dark, but Homelands is a strong contender as well. This deck is a sort of WG Midrange that tries to survive until it can play its best creatures (Abbey Gargoyles and Autumn Willow) and try to win the game. Does it work? Not against many opponents, unfortunately. Still, it's sort of cute.
Rating: F
4 Pillage
4 Primitive Justice
4 Guerilla Tactics
4 Death Spark
4 Pyrokinesis
4 Deadly Insect
4 Yavimaya Ants
4 Elvish Ranger
11 Forest
13 Mountain
Description: as most decks coming from an old set, Alliances feature some creatures that would nowadays be seen as garbage (but, at the time, weren't). This is a major weakness, when you rely on creatures to win the game. Still, if it manages to land a couple of attacks from its high-power beaters, Alliances can become dangerous. Pyrokinesis, Death Spark and Guerilla Tactics can help clear the way of opponent creatures and chump-blockers. Finally, Primitive Justice is a devastating metagame card against some of the top decks of the tournament. All in all, while no one would ever consider Alliances an high-tier deck, it makes for some entertaining games and may grasp some really unexpected victories.
Rating: C-
3 Spirit of the Night
4 Choking Sands
4 Dark Ritual
4 Drain Life
4 Dread Specter
4 Dark Banishing
4 Ashen Powder
3 Wall of Corpses
2 Withering Boon
24 Swamp
Description: Mirage is a deck that doesn't look particularly good on paper. In reality, it's not bad at all. It has a clear strategy: get rid of the opponent's creatures and bring back the best ones under Mirage's control with Ashen Powder. Simple, and yet effective. I've seen Mirage getting close to eliminating the almighty Antiquities, which is something you would never guess by reading the two decklists.
Mirage packs many ways to fill the opponent's graveyard with creatures: removals, discard and "deathtouch" creatures. Even counterspells (would you guess how much the color pie was screwed back then?). The result is a decent Mono-black control deck, even when Ashen Powder doesn't turn out. Also, a Dark Ritual + Choking Sands start is something that can be very effective, especially in a BOTS environment. And finally, Spirit of the Night was Akroma before Akroma was Akroma.
Rating : B-
4 Equipoise
4 Impulse
4 Vision Charm
4 Sands of Time
3 Wand of Denial
4 Coercion
4 Vampiric Tutor
3 Forbidden Ritual
2 Undiscovered Paradise
8 Island
8 Swamp
8 Plains
Description: the infamous Sandipoise deck, one of the most dreadful Combo decks of the format. Visions's deck is good, very good. First of all, the combo explained: drop Equipoise, watch the opponent's permanents phase out, then lock them into oblivion with Sands of Time. After the lock is enforced, use Wand of Denial to ensure that the opponent never draws a removal for your lock pieces, or simply close the game with a Forbidden Ritual. The combo pieces can be more easily located with Vampiric Tutor and Impulse.
So, what could go wrong? Well, first of all, mana fixing is sort of a problem for Visions. Fast aggro decks can also try to race Visions (top-tier aggro decks in BOTS can reasonably have a turn 4 clock). Control decks packing a lot of removal can also deal with Visions. And finally, in recent times, Planeswalkers happened. Equipoise does nothing against them, and there are a few walkers that can win a game on their own.
Still, Visions is a ruthless and relentless deck, and a serious contender for the final victory.
Rating: A
2 Gallowbraid
4 Morinfen
4 Hidden Horror
4 Necratog
4 Serrated Biskelion
4 Barrow Ghoul
4 Fledgling Djinn
4 Circling Vultures
4 Straw Golem
22 Swamp
Description: Weatherlight is another deck running for the title of Worst Deck in BOTS. There are a few saving graces to the deck, to be fair. The deck revolves around a clear design and has some synergy going on among the cards. It can also lands some decent creatures at a decent price. But at its core, it's a deck that revolves around card disadvantage, and that's never a good thing.
Rating: E
4 Orim's Prayer
3 Grindstone
4 Counterspell
4 Dismiss
3 Disenchant
3 Lotus Petal
4 Whispers of the Muse
4 Intuition
4 Capsize
3 Reflecting Poll
10 Plains
10 Island
Description: another powerhouse in the BOTS metagame, Tempest is a very effective control deck with an answer to almost any deck. Against decks that rely on creatures to win, it will just drop its lock pieces, Humility + Orim's Prayer, then cover it with counterspells. Against combo decks, it can either counter their win conditions or remove key pieces with Disenchant. Disenchant also works very well in removing Auras and Equipments, which are the only way most decks have to overcome the lock once it's in place. Once Tempest has enough mana available (and it usually will last enough to have it), Capsize can remove multiple threats at once, or even remove all the lands from the opponent's boards. Intuition works very well for finding the combo pieces.
Overall, Tempest is a very effective and well-rounded deck. For many decks, finding Tempest equals to a 100% loss without any chance of fight back. But it has some weaknesses. First of all, two decks have an almost guaranteed win with Tempest: Judgment and Darksteel. Apart from these two, other control decks featuring many counterspells and/or removals can start and maybe win an attrition war. Finally, the fastest aggro decks in the format can effectively race Tempest and kill it before it can get the game under control. Still, dealing with Tempest is nightmarish for almost every deck in the format.
Rating: A+
4 Flame Wave
4 Flowstone Mauler
4 Shard Phoenix
4 Shock
4 Dream Halls
4 Sift
4 Mana Leak
4 Mox Diamond
11 Island
13 Mountain
Description: Strongold is lucky enough to pack one of the wrongest card in Magic history: Dream Halls. The basic idea is, then, to cast Dream Halls and then immediately get the upper hand over the opponent with high-cc spells like Flame Wave and Sliver Queen. Shard Phoenix allows recursion and keeps the fuel coming for Dream Halls, while Sift offers more chances of drawing Dream Halls. Stronghold still suffers from the lack of direct deck search and, more importantly, it would need a better finisher. As it stands, it's not enough to really threaten the top tier decks.
Rating: D+
4 Recurring Nightmare
4 Oath of Ghouls
4 Spike Weaver
1 Pit Spawn
4 Slaughter
2 Dauthi Jackal
4 Pigmy Troll
3 Keeper of the Dead
1 Plaguebearer
4 Thrull Surgeon
1 Thopter Squadron
13 Forest
11 Swamp
Description: well, what to say? Having both Survival of the Fittest and Recurring Nightmare in the same set makes things easy. Exodus's deck is clearly a RecSur build, wishing to abuse creature recursion to win the game. Mainly, considering the BOTS metagame, this means a Spike Weaver recursion to shut down the opponent's combat phase. Once the soft lock is achieved, the game can be leisurely win with Dauthi Jackal, which is a practically unblockable creature for the rest of the tournament. It's quite hard to deal with this deck, mainly because of its capability to endlessly recur creatures. The main problem for Exodus is facing those decks that do not rely on creatures to win, and that's the main show stopper for this otherwise very effective deck.
Rating: B+
4 Fluctuator
3 Stroke of Genius
4 Thran Turbine
4 Time Spiral
4 Turnabout
4 Voltaic Key
4 Windfall
4 Worn Powerstone
3 Temporal Aperture
4 Blasted Landscape
4 Remote Isle
4 Tolarian Academy
10 Island
Description: aaahhh, Urza's Saga. What to say about this deck? The set it comes from it's one of the most broken sets ever released, possibly the MOST broken set ever released. And it shows. The mere possibility of building a deck like this from a single set is testament to the absurd power level of Urza's Saga. Windfall, Time Spiral, Turnabout, but most of all, Tolarian's Academy, all together. What could you ask for more?
The strategy is simple: generate absurd quantities of mana by playing Turnabout and Time Spiral, all the while sifting through your deck with Windfall and cycle cards, watching your opponent getting bored and progressively worried on the other side of the table. Then, a single 50+ mana Genius of Stroke, and that's it. See you next year.
So, we can close down BOTS, right? Not quite. While devastating on paper, Urza's Saga is, in my opinion, not really a serious contender to the final win. First of all, there are a handful of aggro decks in BOTS that can reliably race Urza's Saga (that usually cannot combo earlier than turn 5). Also, decks with disruption, or counterspells, can effectively shut down Urza's Saga. Finally, unfortunately, this deck is fully capable to shut down itself, if a bad hand or bad draws should happen. Still, it's an opponent that should not be underestimated, being one of the few decks in BOTS that can win against any opponent.
Rating: A-
4 Mother of Runes
4 Might of Oaks
4 Deranged Hermit
4 Yavimaya Granger
3 Weatherseed Treefolk
2 Karmic Guide
4 Lone Wolf
4 Defense of the Heart
3 Radiant's Judgment
4 Forbidding Watchtower
4 Treetop Village
6 Plains
10 Forest
Description: it says a lot that the weakest deck from the Urza block still features cards like Rancor, Mother of Runes, Deranged Hermit and Defense of the Heart. Urza's Legacy concept is simple: get past the enemy's defenses with a Might of the Oaks-boosted creature. That can be done by exploiting Mother of the Runes ability, or with a trample creature like Weatherseed Treefolk, by swarming the opponent with enough squirrels, or lastly with a sneaky Lone Wolf.
While not being a bad deck at all, Urza's Legacy falls into the range of average decks that can bully the oldest and weakest sets in BOTS, but are simply not equipped for dealing with the strongest decks in the tournament. Any lock deck in the format can easily deal with Legacy, along with any deck capable of wiping the board, or simply faster aggro decks.
Rating: C+
4 Yavimaya Elder
4 Pattern of Rebirth
4 Emperor Crocodile
4 Heart Warden
4 Thorn Elemental
4 Plow Under
4 Masticore
4 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
3 Yavimaya Hollow
21 Forest
Description: a very fast and effective green ramp deck, Urza's Destiny relies on Rofellos to quickly produce tons of mana and play creatures like Ancient Silverback and Thorn Elemental by turn 3 and 4. Later on, the mana produced by Rofellos can be used to fuel Masticore and take out even high-toughness target. The deck also has a secret trump card in Plow Under that, if casted from an advantage position, can definitely close a game in Destiny's favor. Even without Rofellos, the deck behaves like a common green ramp deck with Yavimaya Elder and Heart Warden. These two cards work particularly well when paired with Pattern of Rebirth, giving Destiny another strategy to put a big creature on the board from early game. The main weakness of Urza's Destiny are obviously control decks packed with removals, especially if they can kill an early Rofellos.
Rating: A-
4 Ramosian Lieutenant
4 Ramosian Captain
2 Ramosian Commander
1 Ramosian Sky Marshal
1 Cho-Manno, Revolutionary
3 Thermal Glider
3 Nightwind Glider
1 Ballista Squad
3 Story Circle
4 Afterlife
3 Disenchant
4 Reverent Mantra
4 Rishadan Port
19 Plains
Description: I used to play a Rebels deck back in the day, so I have a soft spot for Mercadian Masques. This deck lacks a few key pieces of that deck (most notably, Lin Sivvi), but the core parts are still there and they still interact very well. Mercadian Masques works pretty much like your average White Weenie deck, except for the "recruitment" mechanic that guarantees that the creature will keep coming on your side of the board. After a critical mass is achieved, Reverent Mantra allows your creatures to strike for the kill. Simple and reliable. The main drawback of this strategy is that Mercadian Masques is an aggro deck that trades speed for resiliency and versatility. In some matchups, this is a good trade. In others, like most lock decks in the format, it's a death knell for this deck.
Rating: B
4 Blastoderm
4 Saproling Burst
4 Parallax Tide
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Cloudskate
4 Seal of Removal
3 Daze
4 Skyshroud Ridgeback
1 Rath's Edge
3 Terrain Generator
10 Forest
11 Island
Description: Nemesis features some interesting cards like Blastoderm, Rhox and Saproling Burst, but in my opinion, the card that gives this deck a real boost is Parallax Tide. While Nemesis is decently equipped to deal with opposing aggro decks, Parallax Tide gives it a shot at taking down slower control and combo decks, simply by removing their lands for the time it takes Blastoderm to crush them. While I'm not particularly fond of Fading creatures, they're actually capable of putting some pressure on the opponent, although arguably a 2/3 for one mana was much better back then than it is now. Blastoderm is still as good as ever, though, mostly thanks to its Shroud ability. While Nemesis plan is quite clear and the deck is capable of executing it well, at the end of the day there are decks in BOTS that are simply... better. But look at Nemesis as the underdog that can snatch an unexpected victory against the odds.
Rating: B
4 Glittering Lynx
4 Glittering Lion
4 Plague Fiend
4 Chimeric Idol
4 Mageta, The Lion
2 Avatar of Woe
4 Rhystic Tutor
3 Abolish
3 Rhystic Syphon
10 Swamp
14 Plains
Description: to keep it simple, Prophecy is bad, really bad. Not The Dark-level bad, but still bad. The whole set relies on the concept of tapped/untapped lands, mostly allowing your opponent to pay mana to reduce the effectiveness of your own spells. Design-wise, it's quite bad, and it works even worse. So, i came up with a BW deck mostly focused on disrupting your opponent's strategies. Glittering Lynx and Glittering Lion are mildly annoying creatures in the early game, and can later sacrificed to a Mageta mass removal effect and used as fuel for the best creature in the deck: Avatar of Woe. Still quite weak overall, but it stands a chance against most low-tier aggro decks in BOTS.
Rating: D+
4 Tribal Flames
4 Ordered Migration
4 Elfhame Sactuary
4 Fact or Fiction
3 Tangle
4 Harrow
3 Collective Restraint
3 Probe
2 Rout
3 Ghitu Fire
3 Island
3 Mountain
3 Plains
2 Swamp
12 Forest
Description: Invasion, my favorite block ever Theoretically, Invasion has a bunch of very good cards to build a UWB Control deck (Dromar, Recoil, Rout, Undermine, Repulse, Absorb, etc.). In practice, that deck just doesn't click. That sort of baffles me, and I can't really pinpoint WHY it doesn't work (my best guesses are a lack of 2cc counter and/or removal and/or good creature to arrest the first onslaught of aggro decks). Fact is,I've tried multiple times, and it's just meh. Another option is a RB aggro/discard build, but it doesn't look that appealing or competitive. So I ended up with this Domain build that looks promising. The main idea here is using Elfhame Palace and Harrow to have all the 5 kinds of basic lands on the board quickly, then use Collective Restraint to block the enemy creatures. Once the situation is under control, Ghitu Fire and Tribal Flames can quickly chip away the opponent's life points (perhaps with the help of some birds from Ordered Migration). Global Ruin is the finishing strike for aggro decks after Collective Restraint is in place, but it can also work well against combo or control decks to try and slow them down.
Rating: B+
4 Terminate
4 Flametongue Kavu
4 Phyrexian Scuta
2 Hull Breach
4 Thunderscape Familiar
4 Shivan Wurm
3 Thunderscape Battlemage
3 Mana Cylix
4 Darigaaz's Charm
4 Terminal Moraine
9 Mountain
6 Swamp
5 Forest
Description: there is not much to say about Planeshift, since it's a very simple deck. Drop the Familiars, then the bigger creatures, attack, win. Planeshift packs a few good cards (Terminate, Shivan Wurm, Phyrexian Scuta - sort of), but overall lacks that fearsome drop that sets great aggro decks apart from the rest. There's no MVP card in this deck, and in some matchups, it shows. Also, the deck has occasional mana problems, as it packs 3 colors without dual lands.
Rating: C
4 Spiritmonger
4 Vindicate
4 Phyrexian Arena
4 Death Grasp
4 Gerrard's Verdict
4 Spectral Lynx
4 Necravolver
3 Penumbra Wurm
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Caves of Koilos
5 Swamp
6 Forest
6 Plains
Description: my personal favorite deck in BOTS. Apocalypse was a former powerhouse of the tournament, featuring some of the deadliest cards printed in the old days of Magic: Pernicious Deed, Vindicate, Spiritmonger, Death Grasp, Phyrexian Arena, and so on. A lots of quality stuff that combines into a deadly Junk deck with an answer to almost anything. As strong as this deck is in some matchups, Apocalypse is definitely weak to fast aggro decks, considering that the deck tends to consume its own life points quite easily (Arena, but also the dual lands). As more and more quality aggro decks appeared in modern sets, the relative power level of Apocalypse started to decline. It's still an opponent to be feared, just not as much as it used to be.
Rating: A-
4 Diligent Farmhand
2 Iridescent Angel
2 Words of Wisdom
4 Holistic Wisdom
4 Moment's Peace
4 Concentrate
4 Deep Reconnaissance
4 New Frontiers
4 Time Stretch
2 Mirari
1 Ray of Distortion
1 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Skycloud Expanse
1 Plains
5 Island
13 Forest
Description: Odyssey fields an interesting deck that is based on the (almost) infinite recursion allowed by Holistic Wisdom. When combined with large quantities of mana, Mirari and Time Stretch, this easily tranlastes into an (almost) infinite number of turns and, following shortly, an easy win. While this condition is not quickly achieved, Moment's Peace grants (hopefully) enough time to ramp mana. The main problem of Odyssey is that his combo is easily disrupted, and the deck has not many ways to protect the key pieces.
Rating: B-
4 Mind Sludge
4 Mesmeric Fiend
4 Chainer's Edict
4 Mutilate
4 Shambling Swarm
4 Faceless Butcher
4 Sengir Vampire
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Cabal Coffers
20 Swamp
Description: Torment is a black-hearted beast, one of the most fearful opponents one can face in the whole BOTS. This deck features almost anything one can ask from a monoblack control build, including many cards that are incredibly effective in the BOTS environment (like Shambling Swarm and Laquatus's Champion). Torment is versatile enough to deal with any kind of opponent, and has no bad matchups I can think of. You can rightfully place Torment in the top 5 deck of BOTS.
Rating: A+
4 Phantom Nantuko
3 Phantom Flock
3 Phantom Centaur
3 Phantom Nishoba
4 Mirari's Wake
4 Elephant Guide
4 Chastise
3 Ray of Revelation
2 Phantom Tiger
2 Unquestioned Authority
4 Krosan Verge
10 Plains
10 Forest
Description: Judgment is an incredibly annoying deck to deal with for most BOTS decks. Phantom creatures are among the most resilient ever printed, especially if coupled with auras like Elephant Guide and Unquestioned Authority. Most opponents simply cannot deal with this kind of opposition, and are eventually outlasted by Judgment. Thanks to the early drops and cards like Chastise, it is also quite difficult for aggro decks to rush enough damage before Judgment can stabilize the board. Jusgment's main weakness? Control decks, especially those than can wipe the board and deal with Mirari's Wake.
Rating: B+
4 Astral Slide
4 Exalted Angel
4 Renewed Faith
4 Akroma's Vengeance
4 Starstorm
4 Akroma's Blessing
4 Shock
4 Secluded Steppe
4 Forgotten Cave
9 Mountain
11 Plains
Description: one of the most loved and hated control decks ever, Onslaught's Slide needs no introduction. Even with the limited card selection from a single set, Onslaught manages to build up a pretty solid deck, featuring some impressive cards like Exalted Angel, Akroma's Vengeance, Lightning Rift and (obviously) Astral Slide. Onslaught can deal with practically any aggro deck in the format. On the other hand, it has more troubles against control decks, especially does that feature any kind of lock (Tempest comes to mind as an example).
Rating: A
4 Essence Sliver
4 Glowrider
4 Plated Sliver
4 Shifting Sliver
4 Spectral Sliver
4 Synapse Sliver
4 Toxin Sliver
4 Ward Sliver
8 Swamp
8 Island
8 Plains
Description: poor Legions is the only set ever to be composed of only creatures. And to make things worse, those are not even good creatures. So, the deck tries to achieve some level of synergy by relying on Slivers, which are in good variety but unfortunately not really good in terms of quality. In particular, Legions can not really try to rush opposing control decks, since there is no real burst damage potential in the deck. As such, the deck can practically concede right away to any control deck featuring any kind of mass removal. That said, the matchup is not particularly better even against other aggro decks, that can usually put in enough early pressure and crush Legions while the slivers are still weak. Practically speaking, Legions has some chances of winning only against low-tier aggro and midrange decks. Pretty poor, but then again, it's Legions we are talking about.
Rating: E+
4 Guilty Conscience
4 Daru Warchief
4 Dawn Elemental
4 Decree of Justice
4 Wing Shards
4 Wipe Clean
4 Silver Knight
2 Noble Templar
4 Temple of the False God
22 Plains
Description: a very conventional monowhite control deck, Scourge fares actually quite well against a large segment of BOTS decks. Dawn Elemental and Silver Knight can be very annoying for many aggro decks, while Eternal Dragon and Decree of Justice are excellent finishers against control builds. The main problems of the deck are the relative lack of card advantage and also of direct removal spells (although Wing Shards is very goos against Haste creatures, it cannot be targeted).
Rating: B
4 Disciple of the Vault
4 Myr Enforcer
4 Frogmite
4 Orbithopter
4 Thoughtcast
4 Shrapnel Blast
4 Bonesplitter
4 Chromatic Sphere
3 Somber Hoverguard
3 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Glimmervoid
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Great Furnace
4 Vault of Whispers
1 Ancient Den
1 Tree of Tales
Description: one of the most fearsome decks in BOTS, Mirrodin's blazing fast Affinity deck is a deadly effective, well-oiled machine. First, cast undercosted creatures and press the offensive. If not contrasted properly, Affinity can close the game by turn 4 with an oversized Atog, plus maybe one Shrapnel Blast for good measure. Game drags on? No problem, enters Disciple of the Vault, slowly chipping away the opponent's life points. There are very few decks that can match Mirrodin in terms of speed, so it's not strange that so far Mirrodin's road in BOTS has been stopped by control builds (Onslaught and Tempest just to name two), although only the best decks are actually capable of handling Mirrodin's pressure.
Rating: A+
3 Arcbound Crusher
4 Arcbound Stinger
4 Arcbound Slith
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Genesys Chamber
4 Skullclamp
4 Sword of Fire and Ice
3 Viridian Zealot
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
14 Forest
Description: after Mirrodin itself, another fearsome deck coming from Mirrodin's block. While definitely less explosive than Mirrodin, Darksteel brings to the table a combination of cards that creates one of the most incredible card advantage engines of BOTS, namely Skullclamp and Genesys Chamber. Not only that, the whole "Modular" concept allows the deck to sacrifice creatures to Skullclamp (or Ravager) and build up +1/+1 counters until the opponent is overwhelmed. Finally, Sword of Fire and Ice is one of the best equipments ever printed, and fits perfectly in this build. Looking at possible weaknesses, it must be noted that Darksteel, while being possibly the most resilient aggro deck in the format, cannot really match the speed of other decks and can therefore lose the damage race if pressed hard enough.
Rating: A
4 Pentad Prism
3 Bringer of the Green Dawn
4 Bringer of the Blue Dawn
3 Bringer of the Red Dawn
4 Etched Oracle
4 Channel the Suns
4 Engineered Explosives
4 Joiner Adept
2 Rude Awakening
3 Swamp
3 Island
3 Plains
3 Mountain
12 Forest
Description: Fifth Dawn's bringers deck is at simple as it get. Gather multicolored mana, play a bringer, profit. The deck is very reliable and can regularly play a bringer by turn 3-4, which is not bad at all in the BOTS environment. On the other hand, that's more or less it. If the opponent can remove a couple of bringers before they can make too much damage, Fifth Dawn is not really left with much.
Rating: B
4 Kodama's Reach
1 Joyous Respite
2 Soulless Revival
4 Hana Kami
4 Rend Flesh
4 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Cranial Extraction
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
1 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
3 Ethereal Haze
1 Wear Away
3 Eerie Procession
3 Gifts Ungiven
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
4 Island
3 Swamp
4 Plains
11 Forest
Description: the Kamigawa block has a long history of hate and mocking jokes from the Magic community, but perhaps unjustly so. Its bad luck came from following Mirrodin, but arguably, almost any block would have looked ridiculously weak after Mirrodin. Moving on to the Champions of Kamigawa BOTS deck, it's a very elegant deck, one of my favorite from the tournament. At its core, there's a soft-lock, the so-called Hazelock, obtained combining Kami Hana + Soulless Revival + Ethereal Haze. With these three cards and six mana, you can repeatedly prevent all combat damage, basically sealing the game against most decks in BOTS. While this is the main feature of the deck, the deck can actually recycle indefinitely and Arcane spell, and as such it can be a pain in the ass for control and combo decks too (Cranial Extraction, Wear Away). Add in the mix a good combination of deck manipulation (Gifts Ungiven, Eerie Procession, Sensei's Divining Top) and you got a well-rounded and extremely effective deck.
Rating: A
4 Genju of the Spires
3 Patron of the Kitsune
4 Final Judgment
4 Terashi's Verdict
4 Kami of False Hope
4 Terashi's Grasp
3 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Fumiko the Lowblood
4 Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo
2 Tendo Ice Bridge
12 Plains
10 Mountain
Description: after Champions comes Betrayers, and starts the decline. While this set features a powerhouse card like Umezawa's Jitte, it unfortunately lacks the creatures to make the best of it. Still, Betrayer's deck is a strongly-focused anti-aggro deck that deals its job surprisingly well (went very close to eliminating Mirrodin in a match, losing 3-2 at the end of a very close fifth game). All its creatures are very good against aggro decks, and its best removal card, the nice Final Judgment, works very well with the genjus. Now, the main problem here is obviously one: not all the decks in BOTS are aggro decks, far from it. And against control build, Betrayers is in for a long and painful death.
Rating: C+
4 Eiganjo Free-Riders
4 Promise of Bunrei
4 Descendant of Kiyomaro
4 Pithing Needle
4 Hand of Honor
4 Kitsune Loreweaver
4 Kataki, War's Wage
4 Ghost-Lit Redeemer
24 Plains
Description: Savior's white weenie deck is certainly full of flavor, but lacking in power. While some of the cards in it are certainly good, it lacks a true MVP and it's not fast, not reliable enough to aim for the win. The game plan is very simple here: play creatures, then Charge Across the Araba, and hope that's enough.
Rating: C
4 Selesnya Guildmage
4 Watchwolf
4 Loxodon Hierarch
4 Devouring Light
4 Last Gasp
4 Vigor Mortis
4 Faith's Fetters
4 Putrefy
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Temple Garden
1 Svogthos, The Restless Tomb
1 Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree
6 Swamp
6 Plains
2 Forest
Description: originally, Ravnica was a GW deck centered on Galre of Subdual, but that performed very poorly. Then came a WR Boros build, which was somewhat better, but still very poor when compared with the best aggro decks in BOTS. So, I switched to this radically different build, centered on the insane card advantaged from Dark Confidant, and a very low mana curve that caps at 4. The deck features many low cc interesting creatures and a large number of removals, acting like an hybrid aggro/rock build that works extremely well against a wide range of BOTS decks. The main problem is that the deck relies a lot on Dark Confidant, so if that doesn't show, it might be in trouble.
Rating: B+
2 Skeletal Vampire
4 Orzhov Signet
2 Angel of Despair
4 Castigate
2 Pillory of the Sleepless
3 Teysa, Orzhov Scion
4 Mortify
4 Ghost Council of Orzhova
3 Blind Hunter
4 Orzhov Guildmage
2 Orzhov Basilica
4 Godless Shrine
2 Orzhova, the Church of Deals
8 Plains
8 Swamp
Description: a nice little panda control deck, Guildpact relies on a relatively classic control build that can, with a good hand and good draws, deal with practically any opponent. That said, the deck doesn't really shine against any opponent in particular and can end up with cards in hand that are practically useless against the opponent they're currently facing. And that's a problem, since the deck lacks reliable card advantage engines and deck manipulation.
Rating: C+
2 Gobhobbler Rats
4 Hit // Run
4 Rise // Fall
4 Lyzolda, the Blood Witch
4 Squealing Devil
4 Rakdos Augermage
4 Rakdos Guildmage
2 Rakdos Pit Dragon
4 Demonfire
4 Blood Crypt
3 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
10 Mountain
7 Swamp
Description: enter Dissension, winner of the second edition of the BOTS I held. A victory that came as a surprise, since no one was really expecting Dissensione to perform *that* well. This deck can completely destroy almost all the control and combo decks in the format, while at the same time performing as a fast aggro deck capable of beating most aggro decks on the race to the 20 points. Dissension features many strong cards, but the MVP is definitely Lyzolda, capable of dishing out damage and fueling the offensive with card draw. Demonfire is an excellent finisher against blue control decks. Who can deal effectively with Dissension? Mostly midrange decks with life gain, but there are also aggro decks that can effectively outperform Dissension. Should it happen to face mostly control and combo decks, even top tier one, Dissension could easily reach the finals and win it. A deck to keep an eye on.
Rating: A
4 Vexing Sphinx
4 Martyr of Frost
4 Rimewind Taskmage
4 Phyrexian Ironfoot
4 Controvert
2 Heidar, Rimewind Master
3 Rimefeather Owl
4 Surging Æther
3 Commandeer
4 Scrying Sheets
4 Mouth of Ronom
16 Snow-covered Island
Description: a lovely monoblue build focused on countermagic and snow permanents, Coldsnap places itself in the upper part of the low-tier. It cannot really deal with most other decks, especially those equipped to deal with control decks, but it's solid enough to handle most of the weakest aggro decks in the format. And that's more or less it.
Rating: C
4 Lightning Angel
3 Bogardan Hellkite
4 Riftwing Cloudskate
1 Mangara of Corondor
4 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
2 Disintegrate
4 Momentary Blink
4 Prismatic Lens
3 Temporal Isolation
4 Ancestral Vision
2 Calciform Pools
4 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Gemstone Mine
4 Island
5 Plains
7 Mountain
Description: I really loved Timespiral block, back in the day, but unfortunately it doesn't perform strongly in the BOTS metagame. Until the previous tournament, Timespiral entered the competition with a UG Morph deck that planned on abusing Vesuvan Shapeshifter to keep copying Thelonite Hermit and other effect-when-morphed cards. Fact is, a deck like that it's really too slow for BOTS, and simply concedes to any deck featuring a mass removal. So came this UWR Blink Riders deck. A nice metagame deck back in the day, I hope that it can work as an unpredictable silver bullet in the current BOTS metagame as well. The other deck I considered was a Teferi control, but it lacks two cards that came later in the block, Delay and Damnation, that are key for a deck like that.
Rating: C+
3 Akroma, Angel of Fury
3 Groundbreaker
4 Timbermare
4 Radha, Heir to Keld
4 Brute Force
3 Fatal Frenzy
4 Kavu Predator
4 Evolution Charm
4 Keldon Marauders
13 Forest
10 Mountain
Description: Planar Chaos's RG aggro deck is... not particularly good, unfortunately. The key here is rushing in with a Fatal Frenzy-powered Groundbreaker or Timbermare, and hope that the opponent cannot remove it at instant speed. The alternative plan, well, there isn't really any, but I guess that Radha + Akroma makes for an interesting synergy. Still, we're looking at a weak deck overall.
Rating: C
4 Imperiosaur
4 Augur of Skulls
4 Nihilith
4 Slaughter Pact
4 Stronghold Rats
3 Tombstalker
3 Street Wraith
4 Edge of Autumn
3 Quiet Disrepair
1 Death Rattle
11 Swamp
11 Forest
Description: arguably the strangest set ever printed, Future Sight relies on its strongest card to be any good at all. The whole deck is built around Tarmogoyf, trying to bring the most different types of cards in the graveyard as quickly as possible. Does it work? Well, Future Sight is sort of an average deck unfortunately. If the opponent can deal with an early Tarmogoyf, it can probably deal with Future Sight quite easily.
Rating: C
4 Broken Ambitions
4 Ponder
4 Mistbind Clique
4 Pestermite
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Nameless Inversion
4 Scion of Oona
4 Thoughtseize
4 Secluded Glen
12 Island
8 Swamp
Description: the Faeries deck was perhaps the most dominant deck ever legal in Standard, dominating 2008 World Championship and many more events in those years. It is easy to see why - fast, efficient creatures with Flash and comes-into-play effects. Counterspell. Card draw. Removal. Discard. The deck had everything. The BOTS version misses one key piece, Vendillion Clique, but still, it's a very competitive and efficient deck, a clear contender to final victory.
Rating: A
4 Obsidian Battle Axe
4 Bramblewood Paragon
4 Brightheart Banneret
4 Vengeful Firebrand
4 Mudbutton Clanger
4 Titan's Revenge
4 Taurean Mauler
4 Game-trail Changeling
4 Mutavault
10 Mountain
10 Forest
Description: while there is a clear power level drop passing from Lorwyn to Morningtide, this warrior deck is still powerful and can field some very interesting cards, the most powerful one being Chameleon Colossus. The deck is strongly tribal in a block that pushed the tribal mechanics, so a high level of synergy is guaranteed, and Morningtide makes the most of it. While it cannot be considered a top-tier contender, is still a troublesome opponent for the majority of BOTS decks, featuring a strong mid-game and some clear finishers like Titan's Revenge, Vengeful Firebrand and, obviously, an oversized Chameleon Colossus.
Rating: B
4 Murderous Redcap
4 Burn Trail
4 Ashenmoor Gouger
4 Boggart Ram-Gang
4 Falme Javelin
4 Vexing Shusher
4 Mudbrawler Cohort
4 Tattermunge Maniac
24 Mountain
Description: one of the most successful, quick and reliable aggro decks in the format, Shadowmoor is a red beast that exemplifies the best qualities of red aggro decks. It's quick off the gates with Tattermunge Maniac and Mudbrawler Cohort, pushes the offensive with Ashenmoor Gouger and Boggart Ram-Gang, finishes the opponent with Demigod of Revenge and Flame Javelin. It's fast, very fast. And lethal, very lethal.
Rating: A+
4 Voracious Hatchling
4 Stillmoon Cavalier
4 Restless Apparition
4 Unmake
4 Nightsky Mimic
4 Nip Gwyllion
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Edge of Divinity
24 Plains
Description: and yet another fearsome deck coming from the Lorwyn block. Eventide is a very fast aggro deck, much as Shadowmoor is, but brings more utility to the table. Unmake and Deathbringer Liege are excellent removals, while a few Lifelink creatures help in the damage race against opposing aggro decks. Unlike Shadowmoor, though, Eventide lacks direct damage and is in general uncapable of unseating a control deck that should manage to stabilize the board. Apart from this relative weakness, we're looking once again at an extremely strong contender to the final win.
Rating: A
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Druid of the Anima
4 Ajani Vengeant
4 Steward of Valeron
4 Woolly Thoctar
4 Naya Charm
4 Magma Spray
4 Knight-captain of Eos
2 Spearbreaker Behemoth
2 Savage Lands
2 Seaside Citadel
4 Jungle Shrine
4 Forest
3 Mountain
7 Plains
Description: Shards of Alara features an interesting Naya deck built around two strong planeswalker (Ajani Vengeant and the first Elspeth), supported by a series of other very good cards (Woolly Thoctar, Naya Charm, Knight-captain of Eos). The decks work as a standard midrange deck, gaining steam as it goes while abusing two of the best planeswalker ever created. These two cards, if unanswered, are more than enough to win any matchup, so the rest of the deck is mainly focused on protecting them. Overall, it's a deck that performs very well and has very few bad matchups in the whole tournament.
Rating: B+
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Filigree Fracture
2 Conflux
1 Shard Convergence
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
4 Path to Exile
1 Martial Coup
4 Thornling
1 Ethersworn Adjudicator
2 Kaleidostone
4 Cylian Sunsinger
3 Wall of Reverence
1 Magister Sphinx
2 Exotic Orchard
2 Rupture Spire
2 Reliquiary Tower
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Island
6 Plains
10 Forest
Description: well, I love Conflux. It's the sort of deck that can find an answer to anything, and while it is definitely not a top tier deck, it's always funny to play and to watch. The core idea of the deck is build up mana to cast Conflux, search for the bombs you need to close the game, and then finish the opponent. There are very few decks that cannot be beaten by Conflux after having resolved a... well, a Conflux. The main problem is, therefore, getting there. Against aggro decks, Conflux relies on Path to Exile and Wall of Reverence to control the initial onslaught. Thornling is, on the other hand, a very good card against other control or midrange builds. Conflux is the very definition of "jack of all trades".
Rating: B
4 Trace of Abundance
4 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Lord of Extinction
2 Reborn Hope
4 Grizzled Leotau
4 Knight of New Alara
4 Behemoth Sledge
4 Mycoid Shepherd
4 Marisi's Twinclaws
4 Swamp
10 Forest
10 Plains
Rating: poor Alara Reborn is a set full of multicolored cards, with no dual lands. This makes up for a shaky manabase that relies on Trace of Abundance to work. So, this turns out to be the core card around which to build the deck. The rest is more or less a matter of preferences, but I've found Behemoth Sledge to be a very good card in the BOTS environment, and the one that made me choose this color's combination over a Jund build (in the same way that Maesltrom Pulse sort of pushed out a Naya build). All in all, anyway, Alara Reborn is a relatively weak deck that is probably destined to quickly leave the tournament.
Rating: C
4 Plated Geopede
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Journey to Nowhere
4 Adventuring Gear
4 Burst Lightning
4 Kor Skyfisher
3 Kor Hookmaster
4 Punishing Fire
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Marsh Flat
3 Teetering Peaks
4 Mountain
6 Plains
Description: Zendikar is, simply put, the best deck in BOTS. It swooped a complete victory on my third and fourth edition of BOTS, destroying any opponent on the way. Why? Well, first of all, it can reliably kill its opponent on turn 4, thanks to its landfall-powered creatures. Want to block these creatures with creatures of your own? You'll be met with Journey to Nowhere and Kor Hookamster. Finally managed to stabilize the board with a mass removal? Get ready to deal with an Adventuring Gear-powered Goblin Guide, or maybe just a kicked Burst Lighting to the face. Zendikar is too fast for almost any control deck in the tournament, can hit from different directions, and can outrace any other aggro deck. How do you stop it? Well, two decks got close enough to success. One was Ravnica: loads of cheap spot removal, take out the landfall creatures before they can even attack. The other one was Magic 2012: *****loads of token to chump block and some lifegain. Still, not even these two decks managed to stop Zendikar. Will someone be able to do it this time?
Rating: A+
4 Everflowing Chalice
2 Basilisk Collar
4 Treasure Hunt
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Avenger of Zendikar
4 Calcite Snapper
3 Terastodon
4 Arbor Elf
4 Leatherback Baloth
4 Khalni Garden
10 Forest
9 Island
Description: so far, Worldwake has entered BOTS with a UW control build heavily oriented towards destroying aggro decks - and quite successful at it. But that's not nearly enough to win BOTS, unfortunately. I decided then to work again on this deck, and decided to focus on two cards that are definitely extremely powerful, and more so in an environment like BOTS: Avenger of Zendikar and Terastodon. And this UG ramp deck was born. Needless to say, Worldwake features the card that is possibly the strongest card printed in modern magic: Jace, the Mind Sculptor, an incredible mix of control and card advantage. I'm curious to see how this new Worldwake will fare in the tournament.
Rating: B
4 Overgrown Battlement
3 Ancient Stirrings
4 Ondu Giant
3 Momentous Fall
3 Eldrazi Conscription
4 Joraga Treespeaker
4 Mul Daya Channelers
2 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
2 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
3 Pelakka Wurm
4 Eldrazi Temple
20 Forest
Description: well, there are few decks as straightforward as Rise of the Eldrazi. Ramp mana, play some big guys, win the game. And the strategy actually works, mainly thanks to the high quality of the Eldrazis as late game beaters. Cards like Ondu Giant, Overgrown Battlement and Momentous Fall help the deck deal with aggro decks, extending the game up to the late game, where Rise of the Eldrazi is an absolute killer.
Rating: B
4 Shatter
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Tumble Magnet
4 Liquimetal Coating
3 Contagion Clasp
2 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Kuldotha Phoenix
4 Iron Myr
2 Hoard-Smelter Dragon
25 Mountain
Description: Scars of Mirrodin features a Big Red deck, an archetype that was quite common in those years's Standard, thanks to cards like Kuldotha Phoenix and Koth of the Hammer. Overall, this is a very strong deck, with a very nice interaction between Liquimetal Coating + Shatter and Hoard-Smelter Dragon. The deck has the tools to play defensively against aggro to get to the late game, and offensively against control decks, putting them under pressure with the recursion of Kuldotha Phoenix. Overall, an interesting and well-rounded deck with interesting potential.
Rating: A-
4 Phyrexian Crusader
4 Corrupted Conscience
4 Consecrated Sphinx
4 Sword of Feast and Famine
4 Sphere of the Suns
3 Black Sun's Zenith
4 Phyrexian Vatmother
2 Spread the Sickness
2 Blue Sun's Zenith
4 Inkmoth Nexus
11 Swamp
10 Island
Description: one of the most effective midrange decks in BOTS, Mirrodin Besieged relies on the greatest cheat in Magic, that is, Infect. Even if the deck is not as explosive as a true aggro deck, having to deal only 10 damage means that it can quickly pressure opposing decks, even with a slow start. If needs be, though, it can also play on the defensive, featuring a good number of removal spells, both spot and mass. Consecrated Sphinx is absolutely nuts in this format and, needless to say, so is Inkmoth Nexus, a broken card and the real MVP of the deck.
Rating: A
4 Porcelain Legionnaire
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Moltensteel Dragon
4 Geth's Verdict
4 Phyrexian Obliterator
4 Sword of War and Peace
4 Act of Aggression
4 Spined Thopter
4 Dismember
20 Swamp
Description: while in theory a Splicer deck would also be interesting, I've tried it and it sort of feels lackluster, relatively slow and unable to deal with most control decks. This Suicide Aggro is faster, packs some removal and most of all features Phyrexian Obliterator, which needless to say is a beast in the BOTS environment. That said, as previously mentioned when talking about Arabian Nights, self-dealing lots of damage is not a good idea when facing some of the best aggro decks in the tournament.
Rating: C+
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Boneyard Wurm
4 Deranged Assistant
3 Kessig Cagebreakers
4 Splinterfright
4 Dream Twist
3 Gnaw to the Bone
4 Mulch
4 Spider Spawning
2 Silent Departure
1 Unburial Rites
4 Hinterland Harbor
4 Shimmering Grotto
2 Woodland Cemetery
3 Island
6 Forest
Description: as an avalanche, Innistrad is a deck that gains strength as the game goes on. More cards in the graveyard, bigger creatures, more resources available. Either you deal with it quickly, or you'll get slowly and hopelessly overpowered.
Its main weakness? Being very slow and featuring no removal whatsoever, Innistrad is condemned to certainly lose against any lock deck in the tournament - and unfortunately, that includesse many top tier decks.
Rating: A-
4 Wolfbitten Captive
4 Dawntreader Elk
4 Increasing Savagery
3 Vorapede
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
3 Fling
3 Flayer of the Hatebound
4 Hunger of the Howlpack
4 Predator Ooze
4 Evolving Wilds
12 Forest
7 Mountain
Description: this is a deck I really like. While not godly good, it is a solid deck that's pretty fun to play. Stack +1/+1 counters on creatures, then fling them at the opponent. The opponent wants to play a mass removal spell? That's fine, you have undying creatures (and Predator Ooze). Also, if Flayer of the Hatebound is on the pitch... well, things can get messy. Finally, Huntmaster of the Fells is a real powerhouse, as most of you probably already know.
Rating: B+
4 Kessig Malcontents
4 Lightning Mauler
4 Nearheath Pilgrim
4 Riders of Gavony
4 Riot Ringleader
4 Silverblade Paladin
4 Thunderous Wrath
1 Entreat the Angels
4 Thatcher Revolt
3 Cavern of Souls
2 Slayers' Stronghold
9 Mountain
9 Plains
Description: I've tried many different decks for Avacyn Restored, but anything that comes out of it it's plain bad. In the end, the best possible build seems to be this WR Humans aggro deck, which is really nothing special. Barring some interesting starts (like Lightning Mauler followed by Silverblade Paladin), or a strike of luck with a Miracle card, the deck is not particularly fast, resilient and/or reliable. As it stands, it falls neatly in the lower side of the bracket.
Rating: C
2 Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
4 Frostburn Weird
2 Counterflux
4 Izzet Charm
4 Syncopate
4 Detention Sphere
3 Supreme Verdict
3 Chromatic Lantern
2 Cyclonic Rift
4 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Steam Vents
2 Azorius Guildgate
2 Izzet Guildgate
4 Island
4 Mountain
4 Plains
Description: I really like Return to Ravnica, a sort of "old-style" control deck. Some counterspell, some mass removal, some card draw, some spot removal and a few nice quality finishers. With Wizards severely nerfing counterspells in the last years (well, actually, since Cancel became the staple instead of Counterspell), control decks moved towards board control, but since Return to Ravnica features some interesting counterspells, I decided to make use of them. The rest of the deck more or less built itself, and it looks rather solid.
Rating: B+
4 Boros Reckoner
4 High Priest of Penance
4 Obzedat, Ghost Council
4 Spark Trooper
2 Assemble the Legion
2 Gideon, Champion of Justice
4 Merciless Eviction
2 One Thousand Lashes
2 Orzhov Keyrune
4 Truefire Paladin
3 Boros Guildgate
4 Godless Shrine
1 Orzhov Guildgate
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Mountain
4 Swamp
4 Plains
Description: well, there is much in common here with the Guildpact deck, and at the same time a lot is different. This deck lacks card discard, which is bad in control matchups, but compensates with a series of cards that horribly disrupts aggro decks (and in some cases, like Boros Reckoner, are simply very good). Obzedat is a very good card and fits very well in the theme of the deck, that is victory by attrition (Basilica Guards, Spark Trooper). All in all, the MVP for the deck is Merciless Eviction. A really strong card in this format, that in the end puts this deck a step ahead its little brother Guildpact.
Rating: B-
4 Skylasher
4 Varolz, the Scar-striped
4 Putrefy
3 Flesh // Blood
4 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
4 Zhur-taa Druid
4 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
3 Rot Farm Skeleton
2 Savageborn Hydra
4 Blood Crypt
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Stomping Grounds
4 Mountain
4 Forest
4 Swamp
Description: sort of like Apocalypse, put together all the strongest cards in the set and you get Dragon's Maze. And well, there are some very good cards here. Putrefy, Varolz, Ruric Thar (a beast in this format) even Skylasher is gold in some matchups. The main problem is an overall lack of synergy and card advantage, but sometimes raw power is all you need.
Rating: B
4 Voyaging Satyr
3 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Arbor Colossus
4 Polis Crusher
4 Fleecemane Lion
4 Xenagos, the Reveler
4 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Destructive Revelry
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Temple of Triumph
3 Mountain
5 Plains
8 Forest
Description: I don't really like the Theros block. While the ancient Greece theme is cool, and some cards are flavorful, I don't like the mechanics and the overall design of the block. Anyway, looking at the Theros set itself, three keywords come to mind: Devotion, Heroic and Monstrosity. Devotion feels overall too slow and there is not enough choice of cards in this set alone. Heroic works decently in a WR build, but it's focused on casting auras and spells on creatures, and therefore feels too easy to disrupt (and in general weaker than other top tier aggro decks). So, the choice in the end falls on Monstrosity, a nice GRW build that ramps mana and can field some very interesting creatures and planeswalkers. While probably unable to deal with strongly combo-oriented decks, Theros seems able to hold its own against most of the other contenders.
Rating: B+
4 Fated Conflagration
4 Flame-wreathed Phoenix
3 Mogis, God of Slaughter
4 Asphyxiate
4 Bolt of Keranos
4 Gild
4 Satyr Firedancer
4 Oracle of Bones
3 Searing Blood
4 Temple of Malice
8 Swamp
10 Mountain
Description: a relatively classic BR aggro build, Born of the Gods unfortunately is not very fast, and that is not a great thing for an aggro deck. Luckily, it makes up for this with a lot of burn and removal, and two nice card advantage engines (Satyr Firedancer and Pain Seer). I don't really like the Tribute cards, since they leave the choice to your opponents, but overall they work decently in the BOTS environment. Born of the Gods is not a bad deck, but it's relatively easy to stop and lacks the tools to deal with the best decks in the tournament (to understand what I mean, just look at the Dissension decklist).
Rating: C+
4 Eidolon Blossom
3 Kruphix's Insight
4 Banishing Light
3 Extinguish all Hope
3 Dictate of Heliod
4 Aegis of the Gods
4 Brain Maggot
3 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
4 Grim Guardian
4 Temople of Malady
2 Mana Confluence
5 Forest
5 Swamp
8 Plains
Description: an interesting Rock deck built around the Constellation mechanic, Journey into Nyx features some interesting cards and a nice midgame (not so much a lategame compared to other rock or control builds). Extinguish all Hope is basically a unidirectional wipe, while Eidolon Blossom and Kruphix's Insight provides some degree of card advantage. The deck does everything fine, but lacks a real finisher, and this can hurt a lot. Also, it can be in big trouble against some lock decks like Exodus or Visions.
Rating: B
4 Siege Rhino
3 Wingmate Roc
4 Abzan Charm
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
3 Utter End
4 Rakshasa Deathdealer
1 Abzan Ascendancy
4 Heir of the Wilds
2 Debilitating Injury
2 Naturalize
3 Feat of Resistance
4 Windswept Heath
3 Jungle Hollow
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
3 Scoured Barrens
2 Blossoming Sands
2 Forest
3 Plains
3 Swamp
Description: Khans of Tarkir fields a relatively standard Abzan Beasts build. There are many ways this deck can go, so I tuned it as much as possible towards the BOTS environment. This deck packs a lot of quality cards, like Sorin, Siege Rhino, Rakshasa Deathdealer, Wingmate Roc and so on. There is some nice creature removal to deal with aggro, Utter End and Naturalize help against some combo and lock decks. Abzan Charm is really versatile and helpful in many different matchups. Overall, this is a very solid Rock build and I feel it can do really well in this tournament.
Rating: A
4 Map the Wastes
4 Monastery Mentor
4 Soul Summons
3 Return to Earth
4 Temur War Shaman
3 Wildcall
4 Whisperwood Elemental
2 Sandsteppe Mastodon
4 Whisperer of the Wilds
4 Blossoming Sands
12 Forest
8 Plains
Description: Fate Reforged is a deck I seriously underestimated on his first appearance. In reality, it is a very good midrange deck, probably one of the best midrange decks in BOTS. This is thanks to some very good cards like Warden of the First Tree, Whisperwood Elemental, Monastery Mentor and Temur War Shaman. All these are extremely good against 95% of the decks in BOTS. The problem unfortunately, is the remaining 5%. There are a certain number of decks in BOTS that are specifically built to shut down decks that win by attacking with creatures, and against those decks, Fate Reforged is virtually helpless.
Rating: B+
3 Inspiring Call
3 Enduring Victory
4 Deathmist Raptor
3 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
4 Sandcrafter Mage
3 Dragonlord Dromoka
3 Sunscorch Regent
4 Shaman of Forgotten Ways
2 Hidden Dragonslayer
3 Dromoka Captain
2 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
4 Evolving Wilds
9 Plains
9 Forest
Dscription: I tried 3 different builds for Dragons of Tarkir. A UW control-ish build with Ojutai, a BR build with Kolaghan's Command, and this Collected Company build. To be completely honest, all three sort of sucks. While the set surely has some good cards (the aforementioned Kolaghan's Command and Collected Company above all), the overall quality is not stellar and I feel that the set is lacking in internal synergy. In the end, I chose the Collected Company build, since I think it might have slightly better matchups in BOTS, being able to fill the board with creatures at instant speed and trigger multiple instances of Bolster. That said, I wouldn't expect much from this deck.
Rating: C
4 Endless One
3 Kiora, Master of the Depths
4 Mist Intruder
3 Murk Strider
4 Oblivion Sower
4 Ruination Guide
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
4 Call the Scions
4 Titan's Presence
2 Blighted Cataract
4 Lumbering Falls
2 Blighted Woodland
2 Fertile Thicket
7 Forest
7 Island
Description: first of all, I've not considered the expedition lands are playable for this set (and the following). Two main reasons for this choice: first of all, these lands were printed but were not legal; second reason: Oath of the Gatewatch with Eye of Ugin, Ancient Tomb and Strip Mine would be something I'd rather not dare in an environment like BOTS. Now, moving on to Battle for Zendikar, it's an interesting deck that slightly resembles the Rise of Eldrazi deck. Ramp mana, then more mana (Oblivion Sower is a blast), then play Ulamog or a huge Endless One and proceed to win. Kiora adds some versatility to the deck, while Presence of the Titan is a very good creature removal. I look forward to playing thi deck in the tournament.
Rating: B
4 Oblivion Strike
4 Eldrazi Mimic
4 Reality Smasher
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Slaughter Drone
4 Bearer of Silence
4 Reaver Drone
4 Sea Gate Wreckage
4 Mirrorpool
4 Crumbling Vestige
12 Swamp
Rating: and there goes again an Eldrazi deck. This time, though, it's a brutal monoblack aggro deck. There were really many ways to build an Eldrazi deck in this set, but I feel that this version is the best. This is thanks to cards like Eldrazi Mimin, Thought-Knot Seer and Reality Smasher, that are very good by themselves and interact extremely well together. This deck can dish out damage decently fast, while at the same time adding some elements of control (Thought-Knot Seer obviously, but also Oblivion Strike and Bearer of Silence). Sea Gate Wreckage guarantees that the deck will not run out of gas, while Mirrorpool is the unexpected joker.
Rating: B
2 Nihgtmare
4 Hypnotic Specter
3 Liliana Vess
2 Gorgon Flail
4 Doom Blade
4 Mind Rot
4 Tendrils of Corruption
4 Sign in Blood
4 Duress
25 Swamp
Description: a vanilla monoblack control deck, Magic 2010 features a good amount of discard to try and disrupt combo decks, and at the same time a decent amount of creature removal to keep aggro decks in check. The finisher of choice is a huge Nightmare, but even Liliana's final ability can surely close a game. The main problem of the deck is, quite simply, an overall lack of quality.
Rating: C
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Cultivate
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Primeval Titan
4 Inferno Titan
4 Obstinate Baloth
4 Fireball
4 Sylvan Ranger
4 Rootbound Crag
2 Mystifying Maze
10 Forest
8 Mountain
Description: M2011 is an interesting deck, being one of the very few decks in BOTS featuring land destruction, and probably the only one to use land destruction as its key strategy. The main idea here is obviously ramp up mana, play a Titan followed by a Destructive Force, and close the game. This is a simple strategy that could work on practically any deck, and since M11 could theoretically play Destructive Force by turn 5, it's in line with the pace of the best decks in the format. Unfortunately, you can't rely on always finding a destructive force, and while the backup strategy is decent (Titans + Fireball, mostly), it's not quite as effective.
Rating: C+
4 Solemn Simulacrum
2 Naturalize
4 Skinshifter
4 Grave Titan
4 Garruk, Primal Hunter
4 Gideon Jura
4 Oblivion Ring
2 Doom Blade
4 Rampant Growth
4 Sunpetal Grove
7 Forest
6 Plains
7 Swamp
Description: possibly the most irritating pain in the ass for aggro decks in the tournament, Magic 2012 is true "rock", being really hard to damage for even the most deadly contenders in BOTS. The deck is very anti-aggro oriented, with cards like Timely Reinforcements, Giden Jura and the wild card Skinshifter. At the same time, it works as a very good midrange decks with Grave Titan and Garruk, and it can also fight against control and combo decks (although it lacks a card like Thoughtseize, that could really push this deck forward in the top 5 of BOTS). A very solid deck and certainly a contender to final victory.
Rating: A
3 Sphinx of Uthuun
2 Ranger's Path
4 Jace, Memory Adept
3 Sleep
3 Rewind
4 Revive
4 Divination
4 Farseek
4 Fog
1 Naturalize
3 Reliquiary Tower
2 Evolving Wilds
10 Island
9 Forest
Description: this is one nasty deck. Similarly to Exodus, the deck enforces a soft-lock by playing spells like Sleep and Fog, and recycling them over and over again. While the lock is not eternal as is the case for Exodus, it still lasts long enough to allow you to win (hopefully). The win condition is mill the opponent's deck with Jace, which is a more reliable win condition than just attacking with creatures. The main problem here is obviously finding Jace quickly, and that's not guaranteed, although the deck packs some card draw to find his win condition more reliably.
Rating: B+
4 Megantic Sliver
4 Predatory Sliver
4 Bonsescythe Sliver
4 Hive Stirrings
4 Bramblecrush
4 Garruk, Caller of Beasts
4 Groundshaker Sliver
4 Sentinel Sliver
4 Mutavault
2 Encroaching Wastes
10 Forest
8 Plains
Description: like Legions, Magic 2014 fields a Sliver deck. Unlike Legions, Magic 2014 is actually good. First of all, the slivers are much better and it can also count on Manavault to survive a mass removal. Also, the presence of Garruk allows the deck to find a lot of slivers, and to recover more quickly from a board wipe. As is the case with most decks that rely on creature to win, and are not blazing fast (Magic 2014 is not), this deck has a few very bad matchups in BOTS, but apart from that, is an effective and fun deck to play.
Rating: B-
4 Shrapnel Blast
4 Haunted Plate Mail
4 Chief Engineer
4 Scuttling Doom Engine
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Scrapyard Mongrel
4 Aeronaut Tinkerer
4 Hoarding Dragon
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Shivan Reef
8 Mountain
8 Island
Description: well, what can I say, I love Scuttling Doom Engine. And in BOTS, it's actually good. Now, this list may seem more than a little strange at first sight, but well, believe when I say it's surprisingly effective. Keep in mind that a Shrapnel Blast on a Scuttling Doom Engine are 11 damage to the opponent. I mean, ELEVEN. And not much he can do about it. Apart from this, the deck curves very nicely into midgame and then lategame. Chief Engineers allow some interesting plays like a turn 4 Doom Engine, or a turn 3 Haunted Plate Mail. Aeronaut Tinkerer and Scrapyard Mongrel will practically always benefit from having an artifact on the board (also thanks to Darksteel Citadel) and will therefore be more effective than you'd expect. Phyerexian Revoker is extremely good in a format like this where versatility is more valued than anything else. I cannot quite tell how well this deck will do, but surely it's worth keeping an eye on.
Rating: B
4 Exquisite Firecraft
4 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
4 Thopter Engineer
4 Chief of the Foundry
4 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Thopter Spy Network
4 Turn to Frog
4 Hangarback Walker
4 Foundry of the Consuls
4 Shivan Reef
4 Evolving Wilds
6 Island
6 Mountain
Description: beware the thopters. Magic Origins has proven to be a deck to be feared, being able to overrun most midrange and control decks under a swarm of thopters, generating insane card advantage with Thopter Sky Network, dealing with dangerous creatures with Turn to Frog. Hangarback Walker is insanely good, and so is Pia and Kiran Nalaar. The main weakness of Magic Origins are fast aggro decks, as they can storm this deck before it can stabilize the board, and there are no real countermeasure available.
Rating: A-
The 12 matches of the eliminatory phases are:
The Dark - Planeshift
Stronghold - Saviors of Kamigawa
Legends - Timespiral
New Phyrexia - Dragons of Tarkir
Weatherlight - Prophecy
Homelands - Coldsnap
Guildpact - Avacyn Restored
Fallen Empires - Alara Reborn
Betrayers of Kamigawa - Future Sight
Planar Chaos - Magic 2010
Ice Age - Alliances
Urza's Legacy - Legions
Hello there Yes, I have a BOTS decklist for all the sets up to the most recent ones, and I'll post them in the coming days. I'm still open to suggestions on them, so feel free to comment or propose alternative decklists
May I ask where Alfred is?
Hello there Unfortunately, I have no idea. I did not personally know any of the organizers of the old battle of the sets.
I'll try my best to make this an entertaining event, though. You're welcome to join and follow
Legend would know. Is he on this board?
BotS requires some work, not just in playing the matches, but also in refining decks, rebuilding consistently bad ones, and making decks for new sets. I recall we had a long discussion about rebuilding Odyssey many years ago.
Yes, I remember the Odyssey remake, it's actually the list I'm using for Odyssey. I've created the BOTS decks for recent sets over the years, playing with my friends. It's actually the fifth BOTS I handle (of course the other ones I just played with my friends), so I have a good idea of how things works and have spent some time thinking on the decklists and refining them. That said, I happily accept any input on the decks, including modifications and alternative decklists. I've posted the decks up to Journey into Nyx in the first post, feel free to let me know what you think about them
Also, updated the The Dark list to a GW. It still sucks, but it's probably a little better than the monored. Probably gonna go out in the first match anyway.
Thanks for the tip, I'll find a place for it since it adds some level of synergy to the deck, and that's always a good thing.
The red deck has Ball Lightning and Blood Moon that are two very good cards, but unfortunately Blood Moon is quite poor in BOTS (unless you meet Antiquities), so overall I definitely think the GW works (slightly) better.
The Dark vs. Planeshift
The opening game of this edition of BOTS looks like an easy win on paper for Planeshift. While Planeshift is definitely not a powerhouse, The Dark is just *that* bad, and it's hard to imagine a different outcome. Planeshift should be able to outpower The Dark through its superior creatures and removal (Terminate, Flametongue Kavu, Darigaaz's Charm).
Game 1
After Planehift takes a mulligan, The Dark plays first, and it starts quickly. Elves of Deep Shadow are quickly followed by two Land Leeches, while Planeshift is still stacking up mana. Spitting Slug and Scavenger Folk joins the fray for The Dark, then Planeshift finally takes the counteroffensive. A Darigaaz Charm takes care of a Land Leeches, then a Phyrexian Scuta (kicked) finally hits the board on Planeshift's side, towering on The Dark's small creatures. The Dark adds a Wormwood Treefolk and decides to wait. Planeshift realizes that the Treefolk can easily gain Forestwalk and slides past the Scuta, and that is definitely going to become a problem soon, with Planeshift sitting at 11 life points. Attacking with the Scuta is not really an option, though, since The Dark would just chump-block and then attack with even more creatures. So Planeshift plays a Thunderscape Familiar and passes. The Dark feels the sweet scent of victory and strikes for 4 with the treefolk, adding a Scarwood Bandits to its little army of creatures. Planeshift falls at 7 and draws another Scuta, conceding after a quick glance at the board.
Game 2
Luck is definitely not on Planeshift's side as it has to mulligan twice. The second game procedes more or less like the first, with The Dark starting fast and Planeshift failing to catch up – this time even more miserably so than the previous one. The Dark gets ahead 2-0 and sees the final victory as a concrete possibility. Could it be that we will witness the first surprise of the tournament in its very first game?
Game 3
Third game starts better for Planeshift as a Thornscape Familiar is followed by a Flametongue Kavu, removing a lonely Elves of Deep Shadow on The Dark's side. Planeshift's offensive continues with The Dark stuck with only one forest in play and Scarwood Bandits and Wormwood Treefolk in hand. A Knights of Thorn finally finds it way on the table, but it's too late. Planeshift gets his first victory in the match.
Game 4
Both decks keep their hand and start playing lands. A turn two Thornscape Familiar for Planeshift is answered by a turn 3 Land Leeches for The Dark, followed immediately by a turn four Knights of Thorn. The Dark attacks with Land Leeches and Planeshift chooses not to block. Plane***** still keeps playing lands, apparently having mana flood troubles. The Dark joins Knights of Thorn and Land Leeches with the (infamous) Banding ability, but a Darigaaz Charm hits the Leeches and the Familiar then trades with the Knight. A Witch Hunter hits the table on The Dark's side, followed by another Thornscape Familiar for Planeshift.
The Witch Hunter taps for one damage, then a Land Leeches hits the field. But it's Planeshift that hits harder, with a kicked Thunderscape Battlemage, that forces The Dark to discard two Scavenger Folk – not a terrible loss, but still two creatures less for Planeshift to worry about. Unfortunately, a Wormwood Treefolk is the next creature played by The Dark, and Planeshift is forced once again to deal with the damned Forestwalk.
Is it going to end like this? The Dark pays the mana and the two life points, then decides to attack with the Treefolk alone, leaving the Leeches in defense. Planeshift smiles an evil smile and shows a Terminate – and to the graveyard goes the fearsome treefolk. Witch Hunter pings for one, but the inertia of the game seems to be moving towards Planeshift.
Still, only more mana seems to reach Planeshift's hand. The Land Leeches attack and are blocked by Planeshift's two creatures, trading for the Battlemage, then another Land Leeches hits the board on The Dark's side.
Planeshift knows the next draw is crucial... a Darigaaz's Charm. How could it be best used? Planeshift decides to pick the Battlemage back from the graveyard and play it again – kicked! The Dark discards a Witch Hunter and a Knights of Thorn, and remains with an empty hand. Furthermore, now the Battlemage is ready once again to face the Leeches – if only The Dark had chosen to kill the Familiar!
Next turn brings a Preacher to The Dark's side – definitely good news. Witch Hunter pings for one more damage and The Dark passes the turn. Planeshift draws even more lands, and the Battlemage is stolen by the Preacher, opening the way to the Leeches. The situation looks dire for Planeshift, now. A Scuta hits the board on Planeshift's side, finally, but it's quickly bounced by a Witch Hunter, and that's how it ends.
In a surprising development, The Dark defeats Planeshift and advances out of the eliminatory phase, taking advantage of the mana troubles of its opponent. Better luck next time, Planeshift!
The Dark 3 - Planeshift 1
Saviors of Kamigawa vs Stronghold
An interesting matchup against two really different decks: Saviors's White Weenie versus Stronghold's Dream Halls combo. The outcome will probably depend on Stronghold's capability to resolve a Flame Wave at the right time.
Game 1
Stronghold wins the roll to play first and begins with an Island. Saviors answers with a Plains and a Ghost-Lit Redemeer. Second turn sees Stronghold playing a mountain, while Saviors tries to add a Hand of Honor, but the brave samurai is answered with a Mana Leak from Stronghold. Saviors then attacks with the Redeemer and passes.
As another land comes in for Stronghold, Saviors add a Kataki, War's Wage and another Redeemer to the board, hitting again for one. With Stronhold stuck for now at three lands, Saviors plays another plains, hit for 4, then adds a Kitsune Lorewever to its harm of weenies. Stronghold needs to react fast, before losing too many life points.
Unfortunately, Stronghold remains stuck with 3 lands, as Saviors strikes again and again until its opponent hits 0 life points.
Game 2
Stronghold smiles when seeing 4 lands in its opening hand. But Saviors it's not just gonna watch idly. A second turn Hand of Honor is followed by a third turn Descendant of Kiyomaro, but this one is hit by a Mana Leak. After Saviors attacks with Hand of Honor and passes, Stronghold plays a Sift and discards a Mox Diamond. Does Stronghold have the fifth land and a Dream Halls? Saviors attakcs with the Hand of Honor, plays Kataki, then passes and waits to know its destiny.
Dream Halls hit the board, then a Flowstone Mauler is discarded to allow an immediate play of Sliver Queen. Things are looking well for Stronghold this time. Saviors responds right away with a Pithing Needle targeted at Sliver Queen to stop the Sliver onslaught. Saviors has two Charge Across the Araba in its hand, but could not yet deal a killing blow and would remain without lands in play. So it decides to pass, for the moment.
Now it's time for Stronghold to press the offensive, and he doesn't lose a second. A Sliver Queen is discarded to fuel a Flame Wave that wipes Savior's board and allows the Sliver Queen to attack uncontested. As Saviors draws a Plains, it's clear there's not much more he can do, and concedes.
Game 3
Saviors gets to start first. His second turn Kataki is met by and end of turn Shock from Stronghold, that as usual keeps stacking lands. Saviors knows that it has to hit as hard and fast as it can, so it plays a Descendant of Kiyomaro followed by a Promise of Bunrei – a good safeguard against Flame Wave. Stronghold is still passive, and Saviors adds a Kataki and another Promise of Bunrei to the board, hitting for 2 with Descendant of Kiyomaro.
Stronghold hits the 5 mana mark, but there's no Dream Halls this time, luckily for Saviors, that can continue the offensive with another Descendant of Kiyomaro. It also plays a Pithing Needle, directly aimed at Sliver Queen – better safe than sorry. Stronghold plays a Sift, discards a Diamond Mox, then pass again. Another turn and another Sift, and again Stronghold is unable to find a copy of Dream Halls. Finally, the army of Samurai manages to deal the killing blow, bringing the second victory to Saviors.
Game 4
The game starts as usual. A Ghost-Lit Redeemer is played on turn one, then a Kataki on turn two, but a Mana Leak leads the legendary creature directly to the graveyard. The following turn, a Promise of Bunrei is met by another Mana Leak. Stronghold stands at 18, and he's entering the fourth turn. Not good news for Saviors.
Stronghold looks at his hand: two Dream Halls, a Diamond Mox, a Sliver Queen and a Mountain. On the board, one Island and two Mountains. Not bad, all considered. He plays the Mox to get the second blue, discarding the Mountain, then pass. If he could draw a land in the coming turn, the game should be set. Saviors adds an Eiganjo Free-Riders to the board, hits again with the Redeemer , and passes.
Stronghold draw... a Sift. Good enough. Draw three cards, discard a Flowstone Mauler, and passes. Almost there. Comes the following turn, Stronghold plays Dream Halls, discards the second Dream Halls and plays the Sliver Queen. Saviors knows the situation will quickly become unsustainable, but loyal to the spirit of the samurai, keeps attacking with Eiganjo Free-Riders as Ghost-Lit keeps hitting the board and then being bounced back at every upkeep. On Saviors' hand, two Plains and a Charge Across the Araba – six plains already in play.
Stronghold adds two tokens to the board and attacks, then passes. As Saviors draws a Kataki, Stronghold stands with 11 life points, Saviors with 13. Kataki and the Redeemer hit the board, the Free-Riders hit for 3 (Stronghold at 8), then Saviors passes. Next time, if nothing changes, Saviors can deliver the killing blow – but Stronghold does not know that yet.
And then, as many times happen, the topdeck decides the game. Stronghold draws a Flame Wave, cleans the board, and proceeds to win. Saviors curses the unfair destiny, and the two decks move on to the fifth and decisive game.
Game 5
Saviors starts fast. By turn 4, it has a Redeemmer, a Kitsune Loreweaver and a Descendant of Kiyomaro on the board, plus a Pithing Needle targeted at Sliver Queen. As it attacks to bring Stronghold down to 11, he feels that this could become an easy win.
But will things really be this easy? Unfortunately not. Stronghold plays a Diamond Mox, discarding a Mountain, then plays a Mountain, reaching five mana. Dream Halls hits the board and then a Flame Wave to clear the board (a Flowstone Mauler gets discarded). Saviors responds with a Kataki and another Pithing Needle targeted at Shard Phoenix. Stronghold decides to sacrifice the Mox rather than paying two mana, then draws and passes. Dream Halls sits there, for now, inactive. Kataki hits for two, then Saviors tries to add an Eiganjo Free-Riders to the fray, but it's met with a Mana Leak. Still Stronghold draws and passes, while Saviors keeps attacking with Kataki, bringing down Stronghold to seven life points.
And still Stronghold draws and passes. Saviors draws a Hand of Honor, then looks at the Charge Across the Araba in his hand. With the five plains in game, that would allow Kataki to deal 7 damages... and kill Stronghold. Time to go for the win, then. Saviors shows the Charge... but Stronghold answers with another Mana Leak to the disbelieving Saviors. Only two more damage from Kataki then, and the Charge hits the graveyard.
Stronghold draws a Flame Wave. Doesn't look wise to waste the spell on Kataki alone, and yet that Kataki is most definitely killing Stronghold. But there's also a Flowstone Mauler on Stronghold's hand... the right guy in the right place at the right time. Flame Wave goes to the graveyard, and the Mauler joins the fight. Saviors responds with a Hand of Honor, but it definitely cannot attack at the moment, so it passes.
Stronghold plays Sift, trying to refill his hand and find some card to close the game. He draws a Shock, another Sift and a Mox Diamond, that gets quickly discarded. Saviors plays an Eiganjo Free-Riders and passes. That could be dangerous. Stronghold plays a Sift, then discards a Dream Halls to fuel a second Sift. Stronghold's hand right now is: Mountain, Mountain, Shock, Shock, Shard Phoenix, Sliver Queen. The Shard Phoenix would be good news against that Free-Riders, but unfortunately the Pithing Needle still stands there, preventing the recursion ability from being activated. Deciding that those flying soldier needs to be dealt with, Stronghold plays a Mountain, then a Shock on the Riders, then another Shock discarding the Phoenix. The Riders dies, and the balance of power is for now maintained.
A couple of turn passes with the two contenders drawing lands, then Saviors finally draws and plays a Descendant of Kiyomaro. But that's it – Stronghold draws a Flame Wave. The choice is tough, but with a Pithing Needle still disabling the Queen, Stronghold decides to clean the board with the Flame Wave, and then immediately hits with the Mauler. Saviors plays one last Redemeer to slow the Mauler, but it's worth only one more turn of life. Stronghold wins the game and proceeds to the group phase, the power of Flame Wave too devastating for the little white weenie deck.
Saviors of Kamigawa 2 - Stronghold 3
Legends vs Timespiral
While Legends tried its best to put up a fight, stalling each game for as long as possible, in the end this pairing was brutally one-sided. Timespiral was able to bounce back (with Riftwing Cloudskate), or directly remove from the game (with Mangara of Corondor) all the key pieces of Legends's defense. And thanks to Momentary Blink, it was able to do so repeatedly, leaving no chance whatsoever to Legends.
Timespiral wins and proceeds to the group phase.
Legends 0 - Timespiral 3
New Phyrexia vs Dragons of Tarkir
The two newest and possibly "best" decks chosen for the eliminatory phase face off in a match that it's hard to predict. My money would be on Dragons though, thanks to its capability of swarming the board with Collected Company and possibly survive New Phyrexia's early onslaught. Dragons should definitely watch our for the Phyrexian Obliterator, since Dragons has few answers to that card.
Game 1
Dragons wins the roll and gets first turn. New Phyrexia takes a mulligan, keeping a hand of six and starting immediately fast with a Vault Skirge followed by a Porcelain Legionnaire. Dragons responds on turn three with a Dromoka Captain, but it is immediately stolen with an Act of Aggression, and used to bolster the Legionnaire! Dragons gets back the Captain, draws, plays its fourth land and passes. New Phyrexia plays a Geth's Verdict, removing the captain, then attacks again... and Dragons answers with a Collected Company. Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit and a Deathmist Raptor join the battle, blocking the Legionnaire. New Phyrexia decides to kill Anafenza.
Dragons plays a Sandcrafter Mage that bolsters himself, then attacks with the Raptor. New Phyrexia adds another Vault Skirge, then passes. Dragons responds with another Sandcrafter Mage and a Shaman of Forgotten Ways. Things are looking dire for New Phyrexia, that sits with two Phyrexian Obliterator in hand and can't find the fourth mana needed to cast them. As it draws a Moltensteel Dragon, New Phyrexia is forced to concede. Dragons gets the first game.
Game 2
New Phyrexia starts and plays a turn 1 Vault Skirge. Dragons responds with a turn 2 Anafenza. New Phyrexia seems short on creatures, as it only plays lands and attacks with the Skirge. Dragons plays a Shaman of Forgotten Ways, bolsts Anafenza and attacks for 3. New Phyrexia plays its fourth land and finally plays a Moltensteel Dragon, while it keeps attacking with the Skirge. Unfortunately, using the mana from the Shaman, Dragons manages to play a Hidden Dragonslayer and Megamorph it, destroying the Moltensteel Dragon immediately - you can always count on a dragonslayer to do his job! Also, the Dragonslayer, thanks to the bolster ability from Anafenza, is now a 4/2 lifesteal. Not a good situation for New Phyrexia.
Luckily, New Phyrexia draws and plays a Phyrexian Obliterator. With the Dragonslayer already spent on the Dragon, the black beast poses a huge threat to Dragons of Tharkir. But the balance of power is ready to flip again, as Dragons draws and plays a Dragonlord Dromoka. But it's not over! New Phyrexia plays a Phyrexian Metamorph, copying Dromoka and evening the odds, then passes.
Dragons is ready to react: a Sunscorch Regent and a Sandcrafter Mage hit the board in a festival of bolster triggers. Dragons is almost ready to go for the kill – Obliterator or not. But for now, it just passes. New Phyrexia plays a Sword of War and Peace and passes (not enough mana to play and equip in the same turn). Dragons of Tharkir responds with a second Sunscorch Regent, then do the math and decides it cannot yet kill New Phyrexia in one blow – and he would lose a lot of permanents to the Obliterator. So, for now, it passes.
New Phyrexia equips the Sword to the Metamorph and attacks. Since all the flying creatures on Dragon's side are white, the Metamporph (Dromoka) can pass without opposition and deal 7 damage, while at the same time healing New Phyrexia for 10 (7 + 3 cards in hand). Dragons must now move forward its own attack, or will soon fall behind. And so it does. Dragons's Dromoka and the two Regents hit for 14 damages, healing Dragons for 5. New Phyrexia falls at 5, with Dragons at 15.
New Phyrexia is definitely in trouble. It's losing the damage race, and anything it plays would only end up boosting the Regents – and Dragon's life points. Once again, the copied Dromoka attacks, raising New Phyrexia's life points. But then, the next turn is the final one, as Dragons lines up its creatures for a massive attack - two regents, Dromoka, the Shaman, a twice bolstered Anafenza and Sandcrafter Mage, a thrice bolstered Hidden Dragonslayer. The math is simple. Dragons wins the second game and moves on to the third (and final?) game.
Game 3
New Phyrexia takes a mulligan, but seems off to a good start with a turn 2 Porcellain Legionnaire. Dragons responds with a turn 2 Anafenza. New Phyrexia attacks with the Legionnaire, Dragons decides to take the three damage, not wanting to lose Anafenza. Knowing from the previous game how dangerous she could be, New Phyrexia decides to Dismemeber her immediately. Dragons then plays a Shaman of Forgotten ways, but he's met by another Dismember, while the Legionnaire keeps attacking. Coould this be the start of new Phyrexia's comaback?
Dragons plays a morphed creature. Dragonslyer or Raptor? New Phyrexia looks at the Moltensteel Dragon in its hand and evaluates its options. Finally, it decides to risk and plays the dragon.
Dragons does not un-morph the creature, instead decides to play a Sunscorch Regent – more bad news for New Phyrexia.
But then, with an evil smile, New Phyrexia shows an Act of Aggression, takes possession of the Regent and attacks with all creatures – enough to kill Dragons, that is then forced to lose the morphed creature to the Legionnaire and still fall down to 3 life points. Dragons breathes a sigh of relief, thinking to be safe – but it's not! New Phyrexia spend 6 life points to give +3/+0 to the Moltensteel Dragon, and win the game! Dragons has a shocked look on its face as the match moves on to game 4.
Game 4
Dragons starts, but it's New Phyrexia to make the first plays, with a turn 1 Vault Skirge followed by a turn 2 Porcellain Legionnaire. Dragons gets its first play with a Sandcrafter Mage. New Phyrexia plays a second Vault Skirge, then attacks again, and Dragons decides not to block. Dragons seems to be stuck at 3 mana and plays a morphed creature, planning to at least kill the Legionnaire in the following turn. But New Phyrexia has different plans, as it plays a Geth's Verdict (Dragons decides to sacrifice the Mage), then attacks again with all its creatures. Dragons takes the full damage and falls down to 9 life points.
Dragons would sorely need a fourth land, but still nothing. Dragons decides to play a Shaman of Forgotten Ways – too important to sacrifice for blocking the Legionnaire, but at least it will allow Dragons some more play options in the coming turns. New Phyrexia plays a Moltensteel Dragon and attacks with the Legionnarie and the two Skirges – Dragons take the damage and falls down to 4. Then finally, Dragons draws the fourth lands, and with the two mana from the Shaman plays a Dromoka – this should stall the game, and give Dragons a chance to come back.
New Phyrexia plays a Metamorph, copying Dromoka, then attacks with all its creatures. Dragons is forced to block the Moltensteel Dragon with Dromoka, allowing the other creatures in. New Phyrexia pays 6 life points to boost the Dragon and kill Dromoka.
Things look grim for Dragons now. It has an Enduring Victory in hand, and could remove the enemy copied Dromoka, but it cannot play it while Dromoka is attacking, and New Phyrexia would surely not fall into any trick and block with it. So it just plays a Sunscorch Regent and passes. And then it's over – an Act of Aggression steals the Regent and New Phyrexia is able to deal the killing blow. Two-two, the match is now completely open. Who will grasp the final victory?
Game 5
After being up 2-0, Dragons is now facing a possible elimination – but not everything is lost. The final game starts as usual, with a turn 1 Vault Skirge from New Phyrexia, followed by a second Vault Skirge on turn two. Dragons answers with a turn 3 Sandcrafter Mage. New Phyrexia adds a Porcellain Legionnaire to the board and attacks again with the two Skirges. Dragons plays its fourth land and passes – this probably means a Collected Company is arriving. Still, New Phyrexia must keep pressing the offensive, or else be lost. So, it declares an attack with all its creatures.
The foreseen Collected Company is then played, putting a Shaman of Forgotten Ways and a Dromoka Captain on the board. The Mage and the Shaman team up to bring down the Legionnaire, and New Phyrexia obviously decides to kill the Shaman. Then, New Phyrexia plays a Phyrexian Obliterator – and now it's again Dragons of Tharkir that must search for answers. Still, Dragons only plays its fifth land and passes, despite having a full hand.
Sensing the trap, New Phyrexia attacks only with the two skirges, then plays a Sword of War and Peace – and now things look really grim for Dragons! Dragons attacks with the Dromoka Captain and the Sandcrafter Mage, but New Phyrexia calmly takes the damage. With the Obliterator soon gaining protection from white, Dragons has no real way to stop it anymore, so it decides to play the all-out offensive strategy, casting a Sunscorch Regent.
But again! An Act of Aggression steal the Regent, the Obliterator picks up the sword with its... tentacles, allowing New Phyrexia to attack with all its creatures, none of which can be blocked by the Sandcrafter Mage or Dromoka Captain. Dragons has 4 cards in hand, which means the Obliterator alone deals 11 damage, adding in the damage from the Regent and the Skirges, is more than enough to kill Dragons of Tarkir.
New Phyrexia wins the fifth game and the whole match with an incredible comeback, gaining access to the group phase! MVP of the match is surprisingly Act of Aggression, that allowed New Phyrexia to snatch some incredibly unexpected victories. All hail the power of Phyrexia!
New Phyrexia 3 - Dragons of Tarkir 2
Weatherlight vs Prophecy
So bad it's good - this could be the motto for this match. These two decks are two of the worst decks in BOTS, but they're so bad it might actually be funny to see them struggle for the win. I'd say Prophecy is likely going to win, being tuned towards this kind of matchup. Also, Weatherlight wants to full the graveyard with creatures - and that's perfectly fine for Avatar of Woe.
Game 1
Prophecy wins the roll and starts immediately with a turn 1 Glittering Lynx. Weatherlight quickly answers with a Straw Golem, but the Golem is immediately destroyed as a Plague Fiend joins the battle on Prophecy's side, allowing the Lynx to strike for one damage. The Golem in the graveyard is not bad news for Weatherlight, though, as it allows a second turn Barrow Ghoul, which as a 4/4 is definitely threatening for Prophecy. Still, as it adds a Mine Bearer to the board, it's clear Prophecy's intention to stall the game until it can play its better pieces. Plague Fiend attacks for one more damage, and Weatherlight, not having two mana available, wisely decides not to block.
Weatherlight's main priority is removing the Mine Bearer, so for now it only plays a Serrated Biskelion and passes. With all Weatherlight's mana tapped, Prophecy seizes the occasion and plays a Rhystic Tutor, then attacks again with the Plague Fiend, and passes.
On Weatherlight's turn, the Biskelion gets rid of the annoying Mine Bearer, then the Ghoul is finally free to attack. The Lynx sacrifices itself to block it, and weatherlight pays the two mana required to kill the cat. The remaining two mana go to cast a Fledgling Djinn. Things are looking good for Weatherlight.
Then we discover which card was tutored by Prophecy – a Mageta the Lion. While it cannot yet wipe the board, Weatherlight knows it's only a matter of time. Better deal as much damage as possible, then. Weatherlight removes the Plague Fiend by sacrificing the Biskelion, then hits for a total of 6 damage with the Ghoul and the Djinn, then finally passes. Prophecy discards two Abolish and activates Mageta's ability, then passes. Weatherlight adds only a Serrated Biskelion to the board, and passes. The game has slowed down, exactly how Prophecy wanted.
On its turn, Prophecy plays a Plague Fiend, attacks with Mageta, and passes. Weatherlight responds with a Circling Vultures, then removes the Fiend with the Biskelion. Prophecy, on its side, simply clears the board again with Mageta. But Weatherlight it's not finished yet – another Biskelion and a Barrow Ghoul join the board, emptying Weatherlight's hand. No more cards in hand for the two opponents, but Prophecy seems stable in control – after all, it's hard for Weatherlight to gain momentum when Prophecy can simply clear the board every other turn.
And that's what happens. Mageta clears the board, then Weatherlight fails to draw any consistent threat, and it's finally forced to conced when Prophecy plays an Avatar of Woe.
Game 2
Weatherlight starts, but it's Prophecy that makes the first move with a Glittering Lynx. Second turn, Weatherlight discards a Circling Vultures and then casts a Barrow Ghoul. Prophecy responds with a Plague Fiend. Weatherlight attacks with the ghoul, and Prophecy decides not to block, since Weatherlight could easily pay two mana to save the Ghoul from the Fiend, and kill it. Weatherlight then plays a Fledgling Djinn and passes.
Prophecy's answer is a Chimeric Idol, that should stabilize the situation, at least on the ground, while for now not much can be done about the Djinn. Weatherlight decides not to attack with the ghoul, but instead deals two damage with the Djinn, plays a second Djinn, and passes. Prophecy draws and plays a Mine Bearer, attacks with the Plague Fiend, then passes.
After attacksing with the two Djinns, it's time for Prophecy to drop a bomb: a Necratog! While there are not that many creature cards in Weatherlight's graveyard yet, considering the deck and the board situation, things are clearly going to change soon. Prophecy definitely needs to find an answer or get overrun soon. Unfortunately, there's only one more Lynx to join the battle.
Weatherlight plays a Buried Alive to put three Straw Golem to the graveyard, then evaluates the situation. After thinking a few seconds, decides to attack with all creatures. Prophecy sacrifices the Mine Bearer to remove the Necratog, that it's now the most troubling creature on Wethaerlight's side, then block the Ghoul with an Idol and a Lynx. Wetherlight pays two mana and trades two for one. Right now, Weatherlight has the two Djinns in play and has 14 life points, Prophecy has a Lynx and a Plague Fiend, and has 10 life points.
The game seems to be moving in Weatherlight's favor, but things are destined to change again, as Prophecy draws and plays a Rhystic Tutor! Weatherlight cannot see which card was tutored by Prophecy, but almost surely it's one of Mageta or the Avatar. Prophecy attacks with its two creatures and passes. It's now a race against the clock for both decks. Weatherlight attacks with the Djinns, putting Prophecy down at 6, realizes that will never be able to kill the opponent quickly enough, and decides to play the Necratog in its hand.
Then it's Prophecy's turn, that plays a Mageta and passes. Weatherlight attacks with all its creatures, bring prophecy down to 2 life points as a Lynx gives its life to block the Necratog. Prophecy attacks with the Plague Fiend, then passes, waits for the Djinns to deal two more damage to Weatherlight, then discards an Abolish and a Plains to wipe the board. The game it's not yet over, though, as Weatherlight plays a Barrow Ghoul and passes. Prophecy just wipes the board again, discarding a Chimeric Idol and a Glittering Lion. As Weatherlight has an empty hand, it's now all left to the draw. Weatherlight draws a Swamp and it's over! Prophecy comes back from a dire situation and win game 2!
Game 3
Weatherlight starts with a Straw Golem, but Prophecy answers with the usual Glittering Lynx and sends it straight away to the graveyard. Prophecy adds a Plague Fiend and a Glittering Lion to its growing army of creatures, with Weatherlight just playing creatures and passing. Finally, on turn 4, Weatherlight plays a Barrow Ghoul, keeping two mana open. Prophecy adds a Chimeric Idol to the board and passes as well. Weatherlight decides not to attack and plays a Morinfen. While the flying creature is surely threatening, things seems to go once again in Prophecy's way as it plays a Mageta and passes.
Weatherlight must sacrifice the Ghoul, as it's unable to ecile creatures from the graveyard, then strikes for 5 with the Morinfen, plays a Straw Golem, and passes.
Weatherlight certainly expected Prophecy to clear the board now, but Prophecy actually decides for another strategy. Playing Plague Fiend to remove the Straw Golem, Prophecy attacks with all its creatures for a whopping total of 10 damage. Weatherlight makes a grim face as it's forced to sacrifice the Morinfen,then plays a Barrow Ghoul and a Necratog.
And now Weatherlight has only one mana open. Prophecy shows a Rhystic Syphon, then attacks with all its creatures, and like that, it's over! Prophecy advances to the group stage.
Weatherlight 0 - Prophecy 3
Homelands vs Coldsnap
Coldsnap can rely on a simple strategy against slow decks like Homelands: stall the game with countermagic, Phyrexian Ironfoot and Rimewind Taskmage, make card advantage with Scrying Sheets until a larger threat like Vexing Sphinx and Rimefeather Owl can be played. Homelands has no possible answer to Coldsnap, and was thoroughly crushed 3-0 by the snowy decks. Coldsnap advances to the group stage.
Homelands 0 - Coldsnap 3
Guildpact vs Avacyn Restored
An interesting, classic matchup - a pure control against a pure aggro. Also, these two decks are actually decent, which makes the pairing more interesting than your average eliminatory phase game. I'd see Guildpact as slightly favorite, being able to control the board with Mortify and Teysa, Orzhov Scion, until a Skeletal Vampire or Angel of Despair can seal the game later on. Avacyn Restored can cause troubles with its soulbind creatures and the occasional Miracle card, should luck be on its side.
Game 1
Guildpact wins the roll to go first, but as could be expected, for the first couple of turns it's only playing lands. The news is that Avacyn Restored is just as slow, so the first play is actually a Shrieking Grotesque on turn 3 by Guildpact, with Avacyn Restored discarding a Mountain. Avacyn Restored's answer is quick and threatenting: a Silverblade Paladin. Guildpacy would like to remove it immediately, if possible, but lacking a proper spell, decides that a Pillory of the Sleepless will have to do. While it will block the Paladin itself, it will not prevent him from giving Double Strike to the opponent's creatures. Guildpact attacks with the Grotesque and passes.
Avacyn Restored presses the offensive with a Riders of Gavony, soulbound to the paladin, and ganining protection from Vampires (to avoid being endlessly blocked by a Skeletal Vampire later on). Then, it's Guildpact turn again. The Grotesque hits for two more damage, then it's joined on the board by a Ghost Council of Orzhova.
Avacyn Restored plays a second Riders of Gavony, this time giving Protection from Spirits (and thus from the Ghost Council), allowing the other Riders to hit for 6 damage. Guildpact must find an answer – quickly. Unfortunately, for now, it can only play a Teysa, Orzhov Scion. It attacks again with the Grotesque, then passes. Avacyn Restored plays a Thatcher Revolt followed by a Kessig Malcontent hitting Guildpact for 7 (!) damage, and then as half a dozen humans turn sideways to attack, it's clear to everyone that the game is over.
Game 2
Guildpact starts with a turn 2 Orzhov Signet, Avacyn Restored answers with a turn 2 Nearheath Pilgrim. Still, it's Guildpact that takes the advantage with a turn 3 Ghost Council of Orzhova. Avacyn Restored can only answer with a Kessig Malcontents, dealing two damage to Guildpact, then pass. That Ghost Council is gonna be trouble for Avacyn Restored.
Guildpact seems to be short on mana, though, but luckily it has another Signet and adds a Teysa, Orzhov Scion to the defense line. For now, Guildpact decides to pass. But things are going to change very quickly: a Riders of Gavony comes into play, giving all Humans protection from spirits, and making the Ghost Council as useful as a chocolate fireguard. Kessig Malcontents attacks and Guildpact decides not to sacrifice Teysa, taking the damage.
But Guildpact is not going down without a fight – the fourth land is drawn and a Skeletal Vampire is played. This annoying creature could block Avacyn Restored for days. That would be the plan, at least – but Avacyn Restored is not worried. Next turn an Angel of Jubilation comes into play – and suddenly the Skeletal Vampire is neutralized! How quickly things change... and Guildpact realizes that Avacyn Restored has all the tools it needs to put Guildpact in troubles, to the point that some cards look like direct counters. Avacyn Restored decides to attack with the Malcontents only, and Guildpact blocks with the two Bats to bring him down. The two bats becomes Spirits thanks to Teysa, and Guildpact can still feel safe from his board position. Guildpact then plays a Blind Hunter and passes. Avacyn Restored plays a Riot Ringleader, binds it to the Nearheath Pilgrim, and passes.
Guildpact only plays a land, then Avacyn Restored reveals a Thunderous Wrath, activates the miracle ability and blasts away the Skeletal Vampire, proceeding to attack with all its creatures.
Guildpact prioritizes killing the Riders, trading Teysa and the Blind Hunter, and takes the rest of the damage. The Blind Hunter goes haunting the Riot Ringleader.
Being able to use the Ghost Council again, Guildpact plays a second Teysa and then an Orzhov Guildmage. Things seem to be getting better, but Guildpact has no answers to the Angel for now – and only 9 life points. The life points quickly go down to 6 as another Kessig Malcontents is played by Avacyn Restored, that then attacks with the Angel. Guildpact blocks with a spirit token.
Then Guildpact draws a land and a useless Castigate, while Avacyn Restored plays its second Angel of Jubilation. The game is quickly over, and Avacyn Restored seems set for a complete victory.
Game 3
With the chances of a comeback that seems slim, Guildpact's obbjective is at least losing honourably – but as it is forced to mulligan, the third game seems likely to be an uphill one. Still, Guildpact's first play, a Castigate, looks likely to hurt Avacyn Restored, as it removes a Nearheath Pilgrim, revealing an hand full of creatures with two white mana in the CC, and only mountain. Avacyn Restored's only source of white mana is a Cavern of Souls (set to human). With some luck, if Avacyn Restored doesn't draw a Plains quickly, Guildpact could get ahead.
A second Castigate the following turn removes a Riot Ringleader, just drawn by Avacyn Restored – then Guildpact crosses its fingers. Avacyn Restored plays a second mountain, then passes. Things seems to look good for Guildpact, as it plays a Ghost Council of Orzhova and passes.
But luck has not completely abandones Avacyn Restored, as it shows a Thunderous Wrath, pays its miracle cost, and removes the Ghost Council. Guildpact stares blankly at the red spell for a couple of seconds, then shakes its head and moves the Ghost Council to the graveyard. Definitely a bad day for Guildpact.
Out of plays for the moment, Guildpact puts two Signets on the board, then passes. Avacyn Restored draws another Thunderous Wrath, and without much more to do, throws it at Guildpact for 5 damage. Guildpact plays one more land, then passes.
Finally Avacyn Restored draws the Plains and plays a Silverblade Paladin. Guildpact Mortify-es it at end of turn, but knows that all hell is about to break loose soon. And as a matter of fact, it does. Two Riders of Gavony, one Silverblade Paladin and one Nearheath Pilgrim come into play for Avacyn Restored, with Guildpact unable to find a proper answer. With that the game is quickly over, and Avacyn Restored nets an overbearing and somewhat surprising 3-0 win, advancing to the group stage.
Guildpact 0 - Avacyn Restored 3
Fallen Empires vs Alara Reborn
Fallen Empires is a deck that can only hope to trouble slow control and combo decks thanks to cards like Hymn to Tourach and Mindstab Thrull. Midrange decks like Alara Reborn are its worst matchups, and also considering that Alara Reborn features better cards than Fallen Empires, I think it's more than likely that the more modern deck will easily win this pairing.
Game 1
Fallen Empires wins the roll and starts the game, while Alara Reborn takes a mulligan. Fallen Empires makes the first play of the game with a turn 2 Hymn to Tourach – two lands are discarded. Does it mean that Alara Reborn will get stuck with mana screw? Apparently not, as it keeps playing lands as usual. Seems that Fallen Empires's powerful discard spell just hit a mana flooded opponent. Bad luck is, well... bad luck.
But still, Alara Reborn keeps only playing lands, so Fallen Empires can push the offensive (well, sort of) with a Necrite followed by an Armor Thrull. Then it's finally Alara Reborn's turn to answer, as it plays a Marisi's Twinclaws – who is definitely waaay better than anithing Fallen Empires can hope to field.
But when you can't rely on quality, you can rely on teamwork! A Thrull Champion hits the board, pumping the Necrite up to 3/3. With the sacrifice of the Armor Thrull, that could become a 4/5 – enough to take down the Twinclaws, and survive! Necrite attacks and, after thinking about it for a few seconds, Alara reborn decides not to block. Fallen Empires sacrifices the Necrite to kill the Twinclaws, leaving Alara Reborn once again with an empty board. But not for long, as a Mycoid Shephard hits the board next turn.
Fallen Empires starts to feel a little overwhelmed, but it adds a second Armor Thrull and an Aeolipile to the board – combined, this should be enough to kill the Mycoid Shephard. But it is not meant to be. Alara Reborn plays a Trace of Abundance, getting the black mana it needed to cast Maelstrom Pulse on one Armor Thrull, eliminating both of them at once. Then it attacks with the Mycoid Shephard. Fallen Empires blocks with the Thrull Champion and activates the Aeolipile, sacrificing itself to kill the Shephard. End of turn 6, the two decks face off across an empty board. One card in hand for Alara Reborn, zero for Fallen Empires.
Fallen Empires plays an Order of the Ebon Hand, that is quickly removed by a second Maelstrom Pulse. Alara Reborn then plays a Qasali Pridemage and passes. Fallen Empires draws a Hymn to Tourach, not very useful since Alara Reborn is now with an empty hand, and is forced to pass. Alara reborn plays a second Qasali Pridemage, attacks and passes. Two turns later, a Lord of Extinction joins the battle on Alara Reborn's side. The 13/13 beats is way too much for Fallen Empires to handle, so it concedes, moving on to Game 2.
Game 2
Game 2 starts slow as both decks play lands (and a turn 2 Trace of Abundance for Alara Reborn). Finally a Mindstab Thrull hits the board for Fallen Empires. But Alara Reborn just sneers at it as it plays a large Mycoid Shephard. Way too much for the poor thrull to handle. But then – boom! Fallen Empires plays a double Hymn to Tourach, forcing Alara Reborn to discard two Qasali Pridemage and two lands. This is a huge hit – four cards for two. But the board still favors Alara Reborn, that draws a second Shephard and plays it, then attacks with the other one. Fallen Empires takes the damage and on its turn plays a Derelor, the only creature in its decks capable of trading with a Shephard. But Alara Reborn relentelessly removes it with a Maesltrom Pulse, then hits for 5 more damage.
Things are getting bad for Fallen Empires, but it gets lucky as it draws a Order of the Ebon Hand. His protection from white should keep the Shephards at bay. Next turn, though, Alara Reborn plays its fourth land, plus Trace of Abundance that makes 5 mana, and a 8/8 Lord of Extinction joins the two Shephards. As the huge horror stalks over the poor thrulls, the game reaches a quick conclusion with the second win for Alara Reborn.
Game 3
Fallen Empires starts again with a turn 2 Hymn to Tourach, removing a Qasali Pridemage and a Forest. That is a very lucky strike, as Alara Reborn is lacking green mana sources and is forced to pass without playing anything. But it's not for long. After Fallen Empires gets a Necrite on the board, Alara Reborn draws a Forest and plays Trace of Abundance. Fallen Empires adds a Mindstab Thrull, but before it gets the chance to attacks, Alara Reborn plays a Marisi Twinclaws.
Still, Fallen Empires attacks with both creatures. Alara Reborn is forced to block the Mindstab Thrull (not wanting to discard three cards), but this allows the Necrite to sacrifice itself to kill the Twinclaws. After having removed the troublesome Double Strike creatures, Fallen Empires plays a Order of the Ebon Hand and passes. Perhaps, Fallen Empires can win this time?
Another Lord of Extinction enter the board to crush Fallen Empires's hopes. Incredibly so, it managed to appear in all three games. Fallen Empires plays a Necrite and passes. Alara Reborn plays a Behemoth Sledge and equips it to the Lord of Extinction. This is, obviously, a huge problem for Fallen Empires, but Alara Reborn, considering the presence of the Necrite, decides to pass without attacking. Fallen Empires plays a Thrull Retainer on Order of the Ebon Hand, an Armor Thrull, then considers the situation. It's unlikely that Alara Reborn will allow the Necrite to kill the Lord of Extinction, probably preferring to sacrifice the two cards in hand to the Mindstab Thrull. The lifelink on the Lord of Extintion guarantees that Fallen Empires will never be able to kill Alara Reborn with combat damage. Its only hope is drawing a second Necrite and use it to kill the Lord of Extinction. Unlikely to happen, but there's no other way. Fallen Empires passes for now.
But the second Necrite is not destined to appear. As the turns pass, Alara Reborn's advantage increases and increases again, until Fallen Empires is forced to admit defeat.
Alara Reborn gets an easy 3-0 win and proceeds to the group phase. The overbearing presence of the Lord of Extinction, drawn by Alara Reborn in all three games (despite it being only a 2x), was key to this complete victory, although Alara Reborn would probably have won anyway thanks to its superior (at least relatively speaking) deck.
Fallen Empires 0 - Alara Reborn 3
Two things: should Weatherlight be modified, because Straw Golem is just terrible in modern times? Second, in game 2 of Guildpact V. Avacyn Restored you sacced 2 bats with Angel of Jubilation in play. Mistake in game play or transcription?
Yeah, Weatherlight is pretty bad. It could be argued that having the Straw Golem go to the graveyard is not *that* bad, considering the way the deck works with creatures in its own graveyard, but still, it remains a suboptimal creature. I don't know if there's anything better, though.
Regarding the Guildpact vs AR matchup, I meant that he blocked the Kaessig Malcontents (that were a 4/2 due to the angel) with the two bats to kill it with combat damage - in that sense, Guildpact sacrificed them as blockers. I didn't mean sacrifice as actual "sacrifice" wording to activate an ability
Maybe change to chump-blocked?
I guess alternative decks for Weatherlight can be explored, although it's one of those sets that are so bad, no one would want to invest time on them
I'm not sure about Firestorm, though. Early in the game, you wouldn't have enough targets, later on you wouldn't have enough creatures to discard. Unfortunately, Weatherlight totally lacks card advantage (in fact, it relies on card disadvantage), and it doesn't do any crazy graveyard combo that could exploit a discard outlet like Firestorm.
Funny you should say that...
I think a base green multicolor deck is possible with Veteran Explorer plus Gemstone Mine. However, I cannot find a reason to go three color. The original BoTS deck was U/W IIRC. Might be worth looking back on. How about G/R? It might mise some wins:
15 Forest
10 Mountain
3 Firestorm
4 Rogue Elephant
4 Harvest Wurm
4 Mind Stone
4 Serrated Biskelion
4 Thunderbolt
4 Hurloon Shaman
4 Fallow Wurm
4 Thundermare
Obviously, this is very rough and is definitely still terrible. Is it more or less terrible, thought? Humorously it would have likely done worse in the Prophecy matchup because of all the taxing cards. Anyway, I considered a singleton Bosium Strip; it might be worth a try. I also tried to make Orcish Settler work. It is sloooow. Cone of Flame and Dense Foliage are possibilities, I guess. You should re-consider Null Rod. Hoping for the, unlikely, lucky matchup where it is solid might be the best Weatherlight can do.
Re: Firestorm. Goldfishing with this deck I many times discarded something akin to a land, a Hurloon Shaman, and a Thundermare for 3 Lightning Bolts. 4 cards for three bolts isn't so very bad when you consider the very little the set has to offer! I know that Firestorm historically set up reanimator, but you can discard anything and most Weatherlight cards are best when not played! Anyway, thanks again for bringing back BoTS!
Obviously, I spent lots of time on BOTS, trying different decks for each set. Back in the day I even worked on sets like Homelands (a monoB with Baron Sengir) or Fallen Empires (green list with Thallid and Nightsoil). It's just, it feels with those sets your efforts are never rewarded.
But I'm interested in any alternative decklists, so post them if you like, I'll gladly read and test them (although I probably will not do another BOTS after this one).
Sorry for the double post, I didn't have much time yesterday. I checked again the cards from Weatherlight today and remembered the cards I used in my old RG aggro. There were a lot of aggro cards that could easily go to the GY (our dear Straw Golem, Uktabi Efreet, Aboroth, and so on), then Nature's Resurgence to fill up your hand. I think Nature's Resurgence might be used to build something interesting, perhaps with Buried Alive? It's probably very slow though, and definitely relying way too much on drawing Nature's Resurgence.
If we could go 3-colors (don't know if the mana base would allow that), Firestorm could be used more effectively. Imagine drawing 5-6 cards from a Nature's Resurgence and being abile to use them on a Firestorm - for an environment like BOTS, that could be very effective. I'll think about it and see if I can come up with a decent list.
Betrayers of Kamigawa vs Future Sight
Future Sight is a bad deck with some objectively good cards (Tarmogoyf, Tombstalker, Slaughter Pact). Betrayers of Kamigawa is a strange WR control that focuses on dealing with aggro decks. On paper, it should be able to deal efficiently with Future Sight, but then again, this one is not exactly an aggro deck, but more a sort of rock/midrange build. In my opinion, this is a very open matchup that could go either way.
Game 1
Betrayers wins the roll to start first, while Future Sight is forced to take a mulligan. Betrayers starts with a Genju of the Fields, while Future Sight answers with a suspended Nihilith. The following turn, Betrayers animates the Genju and strikes for two, healing for two at the same time. There's not much that Future Sight can do to answer immediately, so it just plays an Augur of Skulls and passes. The target is clearly getting that Nihilith into play as fast as possible.
Betrayers does not look particularly worried, and it just animates the Genju again for two more damage and two more life gain. Comes Future Sight's turn, and the Augur sacrifices to force Betrayers to discard a Terashi's Verdict and a Terashi's Grasp. Future Sight then cycles a Street Wraith and passes.
Betrayers is gaining a large advantage and in no hurry to change things. It animates the Genju again, and attacks – but this time Future Sight reveals a Slaughter Pact! The Genju of the Fields is played again and quickly followed by a Genju of the Spires, but the main problem for Betrayers is that now the Nihiith stands with only one counter and ready to enter into play the coming turn. As the Nihilith comes into play, Future Sight pays the mana for the Slaughter, attacks with the Nihilith and passes.
Betrayers decides to play an Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo and pass. Future Sight plays a Tombstalker and attacks with the Nihilith. The situation is not looking so good anymore for betrayers - but the game is still long. Betrayers just passes, playing the waiting game – its specialty.
Next turn, Future Sight attacks with both the Nihilith and the Tombstalker. The faithful Yojimbo takes on the damage from the Nihlith, then prevents one to survive, and finally sacrifices itself to fuel a Patron of the Kitsune.
On Betrayer's turn, it attacks with the the Patron – and an animated Genju of the Spires, for a grand total of 11 damage! Future Sight falls down to 3, and suddenly it must focus on its survival. A land is unfortunately drawn by Future Sight, that keeps its creature on the defensive. Betrayers attacks again with the Patron and an animated Genju of the Spires. Sitting at three life points, Future Sight is forced to block them both, sacrificing the Tombstalker and the Nihilith. The Genju dies and goes back to Betrayer's hand, that plays it again on the remaining Mountain.
The situation is clearly more than desperate, and as Future Sight draws another Swamp, it's forced to concede. Betrayers wins first game.
Game 2
The game starts badly for Future Sight, as it's forced to mulligan twice. Moreover, Betrayers open the game with an annoying Genju of the Fields. Future Sight answers suspending a Nihilith, much like game one. Betrayers plays a Genju of the Spires, a Kami of False Hope, and passes. Again, as game one, Future Sight plays an Augus or Skulls and passes. Knowing that the Nihilith is going to come into play relatively quickly, Betrayers plays an Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo to counter it and then passes. Future Sight sacrifices the Augur and Future Sight discards a Terashi's Verdict and a Genju of the Spires. While not being able to draw a fourth land, Future Sight draws and plays an Edge of Autumn, preparing to cast – hopefully – something good from its hand. And if only a Tarmogoyf would show up...
Betrayers is stuck at three mana, but it can still hit for 7 with the Genju and the Kami - except Future Sight shows a Slaughter Pact! Again, as game one, except this time Betrayers is facing a severe lack of mana, and so the loss of a Mountain it's gonna hurt much more. On Future Sight's turn, the Nihilith comes into play and attack. With all mana tapped, Betrayers is forced to choose whether to sacrifice or not the Kami – finally, it decides to take the damage and keep it alive. On its turn, Betrayers plays a Tendo Ice Bridge and attack with the Kami... after thinking for a second, it decides to attack with the Genju as well.
Then Future Sight plays an Imperiosaur, gaining a definite advantage in terms of board situation. The Nihilith strikes for 4 more damage, then passes. There's not much that Betrayers can do for now, but luckily it gets a fourth land into play. The only plan available for now is a defensive one, so Betrayers just passes.
Future Sight attcks with all its creatures, and finally Betrayers is forced to sacrifice the Kami. Future Sight has now five lands and three cards in the graveyard - enough to cast a Tombstalker! Future Sight is definitely overpowering its opponent, and with Betrayers sitting at 10 life points, the game could be over very soon. For now, though, Betrayers just play a Mountain and passes. Clearly its hopes rely on the faithful Opal-Eye, but Future Sight shows an end-of-turn Slaughter Pact, enjoying the look of despair on Betrayer's face.
Future Sight attacks with all its three big creatures, and Betrayers is forced to sacrifice a Plains to block the dinosaur and gain 2 life. But then, with only four lands and no less than three Final Judgment in hand, there's nothing that Betrayers can do to survive any longer, and the two opponents move on to game 3 with a 1-1 result.
Game 3
Betrayers starts with the usual turn one Genju of the Fields, while Future Sight shows a suspended Nihilith on turn two – talk about deja-vu! As Betrayers attacks with the Genju, Future Sight answers by suspending a second Nihilith. The upcoming army of shadows scares Betrayers a little, but for now it can still push the offensive. After playing a second mountain, it enchants the first one with a Genju of the Spires and attacks for six. While Future Sight seems set on playing the long game, Betrayers is... well, betraying... its nature of control deck and trying to rush damage to its opponent.
Future Sight is stuck at three mana, and decides to play an Augur of Skulls, that should at least stop the big 6/1 Genju from attacking. Betrayers smiles and plays a Fumiko the Lowblood – and there goes the defensive utility of the Augur! Instead of losing her in combat phase, Future Sight decides to sacrifice her, but not much damage is done – Betrayers discards two Terashi's Verdict. Still stuck at 3 lands, Future Sight plays a Tarmogoyf and passes.
Knoing full well that it will be able to eliminate that Goyf in the coming turn, Betrayers just draws, plays another land, and passes. Future Sight gets its fourth land and plays an Augur of Skulls and a Quiet Disrepair on Genju of the Spires. The Tarmogoyf, still a non-threatening 2/3, is forced to attack and is quickly disposed of.
Knowing full well that it's going to lose the Genju in the coming turn, Betrayers decides to leave all prudence aside and attacks with all its creatures: Fumiko and the two animated Genjus. Sitting at 12 life points, Future Sight is forced to sacrifice the Augur to kill the Genju of the Spires, and unfortunately it has no mana to regenerate. But now, at least, the two Nihilith will enter the battlefield.
Along with the two horrors, a second Tarmogoyf is played, and this time is a respectable 4/5. Future Sight then attacks with the two unblockable Nihilith and passes. On its turn, Betrayers plays an Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo and passes.
As it plays yet another Tarmogoyf, Future Sight also shows a Slaughter Pact on Fumiko, then attacks with the two Nihilith and one of the Goyfs. With Opal-Eye still unable to tap, Betrayers is forced to take the full damage – and fall down to 6 life points. Betrayers prays to all the Kami it can think of as it draws a card on the new turn... and it's not a land. Showing once again a Final Judgment in its hand and only five lands in play, Betrayers can only curse its bad luck and move on to game 4.
Game 4
Both decks are forced to mulligan and this time, strangely, Betrayers has no Genju of the Fields to play on turn one. But a Genju-less game cannot last long, and in fact a Genju of the Spires is drawn and played on turn two. As Future Sight seems stuck with only Forests, Betrayers can then animate the genju and hit for 6 in the following turn. The next turn, Future Sight is forced to play an Edge of Autumn to finally bring the black mana it needs into play. Betrayers decides to grasp the chance and hits for six more – some heavy damage is now piling up on Future Sight.
Finally, Future Sight is able to play something – an Imperiosaur. Betrayers, knowing all too well how bad it is to miss lands in a crucial moment, decides to safeguard the Genju-enchanted Mountain and instead plays an Umezawa's Jitte and a Kami of False Hope. Future Sight answers by playing a Stronghold Rats, and attacking with them. The damage is taken and Future Sight discards a Nihilith, while Betrayers discards an Opal-Eye.
Betrayers just draws and passes. Future Sight plays two Tarmogoyf at once and attacks again with the Rats, discarding a Tombstalker, while Betrayers discards a Terashi's Grasp. The Goyfs are only 2/3 for now, but luckily Betrayers is missing creatures to block with, so Future Sight decides to attack with the Imperiosaur and one of the Goyfs – and not the Rats. While the shadow rats cannot block, it seems clear that the two cards in Future Sight's hand must be very good, and that's a troubling thought for Betrayers. For now, though, it sacrifices the Kami to prevent all combat damage. Once again, though, luck doesn't seem to shine on Betrayers, as it only draws and passes. An answer must be found, and quickly.
Future Sight draws and attacks with the Imperiosaur, the Rats and a Goyf. Betrayers shows a Terashi's Verdict to remove the Goyf, then discards a Terashi's Grasp to the Rats (Future Sight discards a Forest). And then, finally, the sixth land is played by Betrayers! A Final Judgment quickly follows, removing all Future Sight dangerous creatures from the board (and more importantly, keeping the Genju exactly where it is). Betrayers can finally breathe a little more calmly.
Still, Future Sight had some tricks up its sleeve (and that's why it hadn't attacked earlier with the Rats). A new Tarmogoyf comes into play, and this time it's a 4/5. On its turn, Betrayers animates the Genju, equips it with the Jitte, and attacks. Future Sight just shows a Slaught Pact and shrugs. Not much for Betrayers to do, except play again the Genju and pass.
Future Sight pays the mana for the Pact, draws, attacks with the Goyf for 4 damage and passes. This turn could be the decisive one. Future Sight has two open mana and two cards in hand. Betrayers has a bad feeling, but it can only hope as it animates the Genju, equips it with the Jitte and attacks. But then – again! - Future Sight has an answer. A Death Rattle this time, fueled by Delve, destroys again the Genju. And to make it worse, Betrayers has no more Mountains – only Plains.
Future Sight plays a Quiet Disrepair on the Jitte, then attacks with the Goyf – 4 damage, and Betrayers fall down to 1 life point! Could it be that, for the first time, Betrayers will draw exactly the card it needs to survive? Definitely not – Betrayers's bad luck continues with a Fumiko the Lowblood, and Future Sight proceeds to win the fourth game and qualify for the group stage.
Betrayers of Kamigawa 1 - Future Sight 3
Planar Chaos vs Magic 2010
This was a very brutal match, with M10 completely destroying its opponent thanks to discard and, most importantly, instant speed removal. For M10, it is way too easy to deal with a deck that relies heavily on cards like Fatal Frenzy and Brute Force. Also, Liliana Vess played an important role, allowing M10 to search for the cards it needed most, and in one occasion forcing Planar Chaos to "waste" a Timbermare just for the cause of removing her.
Planar Chaos 0 - Magic 2010 3
Ice Age vs Alliances
Get ready for some crazy Magic guys. It doesn't get any more weird than this, with the clunky combo deck from Ice Age, and the unpredictable metagame bullet that is Alliances. Who will win? All bets are open.
Game 1
Ice Age wins the roll and starts, beginning immediately with a Demonic Consultation aimed at a Dark Ritual. The following turn, the Dark Ritual is used to fuel a Necropotence, immediately allowing Ice Age to draw 5 cards. There's not much that Alliances can do for now, except watch Ice Age get its diabiolic and clunky engine of destruction in movement. The following turn, Ice Age plays a Foul Familiar and passes.
Alliances can't yet mount an offensive, but at least decides to throw a Guerilla Tactics at Ice Age – anything that can lower its life points and make Ice Age less likely to keep drawing cards. But that's not the case, at least for now. Ice Age attacks with the Familiar and draws 4 more cards, then passes. Alliances doesn't know the situation in Ice Age's hand, but it seems likely that its opponent is near to closing its combo.
It's now or never, then. Alliances shows a copy of Yavimaya Ants and play them. The Ants start skittering towards Ice Age – but then a blast of fire Incinerates them. Nothing to do for now, Alliances will have to wait and hope.
Luckily for Alliances, Ice Age seems to be having trouble finding its second red mana. So it plays a Zuran Orb, sacrifices two swamps, and uses that 4 life points to draw 4 cards. Then, the ball once again passes to Alliances, that destroys the Zuran Orb with a Primitive Justice and passes. Will it be enough?
Unfortunately not. Ice Age gets its second mountain on the board, plays a second Zuran Orb, taps its lands for mana, then sacrifices them and reveals a Dark Ritual from its hand. The six mana are there, and so is the Jokulhaups! As the wave of destruction wipes the board almost completely clean, Alliances concedes and the match moves on to game 2.
Game 2
Alliances gets first turn, but it's still Ice Age to open the dance with a Demonic Consultation aimed at Necropotence. The good news for Alliances is that, to find the powerful enchantment, Ice Age has to remove from the game 18 (!) cards, including 3 (!) Jokulhaups. As Alliances keeps only playing lands, Ice Age plays a Dark Ritual and then its Necropotence, drawing 4 cards.
Determining on preventing Ice Age from casting Jokulhaups, Alliances plays a Pillage on the opponent's Mountain – will it be a successful strategy? For now, Ice Age plays another mountain and passes. Alliances pushes the offensive with a Balduvian Horde, discarding a... Guerilla Tactics! 4 more damage flies towards Ice Age, that now also has to worry about the big 5/5.
But nor for long, apparently. Ice Age gets a Sulfurous Springs in play and then reveals a Dark Banishing from its hand. Finally, Ice Age draws 2 more cards. Alliances play one more Guerilla Tactics, this time directly from its hand, to deal two more damage to Ice Age, then passes. Ice Age gets its fourth land, plays an Abyssal Specter, and passes. Alliances's answer is somewhat more threatening, as it gets its fifth land and plays a Deadly Insect. Ice Age, at the moment, stands at 8 life points, and next turn it will have 6 lands in play. It has to endure until that moment.
Alliances plays a Pyrokinesis (paying its mana cost) from its hand to remove the Abyssal Specter, then hits for 6 damage to bring Ice Age down to 2. The situation is absolutely dire for Ice Age now. Nevertheless, it has no choice. After getting its sixth land on the board, it taps for mana and plays Jokulhaups – but no Zuran Orb to fix the life points this time. And more than that, it has to tap Sulfurous Springs for the second red mana, dropping down to one life points. And yet, there was no choice - it was this or die at the hand of the Deadly Insect.
But there's one more twist to follow immediately. Alliances smiles as it shows a Mountain and... a Death Spark! And there goes the game! 1-1, and moving on to the third game .
Game 3
Ice Age has to take a mulligan, but then it gets its best start: Dark Ritual + Necropotence, on turn one, immediately drawing 4 cards. Alliances plays immediately a Death Spark, hoping perhaps to recycle it later on. The next play is by Alliances on turn 3, with a Foul Familiar. Alliances answers with an Elvish Ranger. Ice Age keeps playing lands, but for now there is only one source of red mana (a Sulfurous Springs), and that gives some hope to Alliances, that attacks with the Ranger, trading with the Familiar, then Pillages the Springs. Necropotence is forced to draw three more cards to hopefully find a red mana, as for now it's stuck with 4 Swamps.
Alliances plays a Deadly Insect, and things seem to be getting really bad for Ice Age - the three Dark Banishing in its hand can't save the combo deck from the Shrouded insect. But more than that, Ice Age doesn't have any red mana source in hand, and should pay life to draw. But sitting at 8 life points, even if it could draw a Mpuntain, Ice Age would be forced to tap Sulfurous Springs to play Jokulhaups, and that would equal to committing suicide. Math doesn't lie. Ice Age concedes and moves on to game 4.
Game 4
Again Ice Age is forced to mulligan, but again it gets to start with Dark Ritual + Necropotence! It draws 4, as usual, then passes. Alliances is once again very slow, so by turn 3 it's Ice Age that gets to play a Foul Familiar as first creature on the board. Alliances responds by Pillage-ing a Mountain, continuing with the same strategy that has proven so effective so far.
Ice Age attacks with the Familiar, plays another Mountain, then draws 4 more cards. Alliances smiles an evil smile and shows another Pillage to remove even that Mountain.
Despairing to ever get its combo into place, Ice Age doesn't have many more options than trying to win with its creatures. After attacking with the Familiar, it gets an Abyssal Specter into play thanks to a second Dark Ritual, then draws 3 more cards. End of turn, though, Alliances exiles a Primitive Justice to fuel a Pyrokinesis and remove both the Familiar and the Specter.
Next turn, Alliances incredibly Pillage-s again! A Sulfurous Springs go to the graveyard. Ice Age can't do much more than play a Foul familiar and pass. Then Alliances finally gets its first creature in play, a Deadly Insect. Ice Age must immediately get a blocker into play, and luckily has one more Abyssal Specter in hand. The Familiar also attacks for 3 damage. Ice Age draws two more cards, then passes.
On Alliances's turn, the Deadly Insect attacks, trading with the Specter, then a second Deadly Insect hits the board. Luckily for Ice Age, the last two cards from Necropotence had brought a Zuran Orb. Ice Age plays it, sacrifices two Swamps and draw two cards, netting +2 life points to go back up to 9. Then it plays a Demonic Consultation aimed at Abyssal Specter, that it's immediately played thanks to a Dark Ritual. Then Ice Age attacks with the Familiar. Alliances thinks about trading the Familiar with the Insect, then prefers to force Ice Age to trade the Specter.
And that's exactly what happens the following turn... and then Alliances shows a third Deadly Insect! There is no end to them. As Ice Age makes a mental note of ordering some tons of pesticide for next game, it attacks with the Familiar, bringing Alliances down to 5, then plays a second Foul Familiar and passes.
Alliances attacks with the insect, bringing Ice Age down to 3, then plays an Elvish Ranger and a Pillage on the Zuran Orb. Ice Age sacrifices a Swamp to gain two points before losing the Orb, going up to 5. Just a precaution, because on its next turn, an Incinerate removes the ranger, allowing the two Foul Familiar to strike for 6 and kill Alliances! Feeling an aggro deck for the first time in its life, Ice Age gets the fourth game and moves on to game 5.
Game 5
Alliances plays first, but the big move is once again from Ice Age: yet again a first turn Dark Ritual + Necropotence. Alliances shakes its head at its opponent luck, and answers two turns later with an Elvish Ranger, that is unfortunately brutally removed with an end of turn Incinerate. Ice Age then plays a Demonic Consultation to find a Jokulhaups, having to exile 21 cards to get to it! Ice Age then draws 4 more cards, and passes.
Alliances seems to be going very slow this time, and this gives Ice Age hope that it should be able to finalize its combo and win. And then finally Alliances gets a Deadly Insect into play. With Ice Age at 10 life points, this will become... well, actually deadly very soon. Ice Age plays its fifth land, then thinks about the situation before deciding to pass. Alliances attacks for 6, plays a seconds Deadly Insect, then passes and crosses its fingers.
Ice Age gets its sixth land and then plays Jokulhaups – but again this time, no Zuran Orb. The situation is bad for Alliances, but not as bad as it might be. Ice Age draws two more cards, not wanting to fall to 1 in fear of a Death Spark, then passes. Unfortunately, even after drawing, Ice Age has only two Sulfurous Springs in hand! At this point, there's only one hope: drawing a Zuran Orb with that single card draw that Ice Age has available.
But Alliances has a Mountain play: will it also have a Death Spark? Maybe, but Ice Age is forced to make the play. Ice Age declares that it will spend one life point to draw one card... and Alliances shows the Death Spark! Just for curiosity, Ice Age looks at the card it would have drawn... a Foul Familiar! Nothing to do then. Alliances wins and advances to the group stage.
Ice Age 2 - Alliances 3
Urza's Legacy vs Legions
Legions is definitely a terrible deck, but there's one matchup where it can hope to shine: against slow midrange decks featuring little creature removal. And that's, unfortunately, the exact description of Urza's Legacy. Legacy was able to grab one win after being able of putting into play multiple Deranged Hermit, but with that exception, the remaining three games were utterly dominated by Legions, especially thanks to the two MVPs of the game: Shifting Sliver and Ward Sliver. Those two allowed the slivers to easily get past Legacy's defenses, resulting in huge card advantage (Synapse Sliver) or life gain (Essence Sliver). Legions advances to the group stage.
Urza's Legacy 1 - Legions 3
1) Arabian Nights
2) Antiquities
3) The Dark
4) Alliances
5) Mirage
6) Visions
7) Tempest
8) Stronghold
9) Exodus
10) Urza's Saga
11) Urza's Destiny
12) Mercadian Masques
13) Nemesis
14) Prophecy
15) Invasion
16) Apocalypse
17) Odyssey
18) Torment
19) Judgment
20) Onslaught
21) Legions
22) Scourge
23) Mirrodin
24) Darksteel
25) Fifth Dawn
26) Champions of Kamigawa
27) Ravnica
28) Dissension
29) Coldsnap
30) Timespiral
31) Future Sight
32) Llorwyn
33) Morningtide
34) Shadowmoor
35) Eventide
36) Shards of Alara
37) Conflux
38) Alara Reborn
39) Zendikar
40) Worldwake
41) Rise of the Eldrazi
42) Scars of Mirrodin
43) Mirrodin Besieged
44) New Phyrexia
45) Innistrad
46) Dark Ascension
47) Avacyn Restored
48) Return to Ravnica
49) Gatecrash
50) Dragon's Maze
51) Theros
52) Born of the Gods
53) Journey into Nyx
54) Khans of Tarkir
55) Fate Reforged
56) Battle for Zendikar
57) Oath of the Gatewatch
58) M10
59) M11
60) M12
61) M13
62) M14
63) M15
64) Magic Origins
ARGH! Now I'll have to make you disappear before you tell anyone else... oh wait, you already did?
OK, regarding the Foul Familiar blocking, that game was already in Alliances favor and would have ended even earlier with the Ranger attacking.
The other one is more open for debate, since with 4 more life points Ice Age *might* have drawn something good. I'll decide whether to have a rematch for that game.
Both decks start slow, playing lands. On turn three, Ice Age gets its third Swamp and then finally a Necropotence, drawing 4. Alliances answers with an Elvish Ranger. Ice Age gets a fourth Swamp, then plays an Abyssal Specter, and finally draws 3 more cards. The clunky combo deck seems low on red mana. Will it be able to find the two mountains required for the Jokulhaups?
But Ice Age is going to find out that the Mountains will soon be the last of its problem. A Pyrokinesis is played by exiling a Balduvian Horde, removing the Specter, then Alliances adds a Yavimaya Ants to the board and strikes for 9! Ice Age is brought down to 4 life points and forced to fight for its own survival!
Ice Age plays a Demonic Consultation aimed at a Mountain, plays the land, then a Zuran Orb - the tapped Swamp is immediately sacrificed. It doesn't look like it's enough to survive, but certainly Ice Age has some instant-speed trick ready. Alliances pays the upkeep for the Ants and attacks with both creatures. The Ants are met with a Dark Banishing, while the Ranger can deal 4 damage and bring Ice Age down to 2. Then Alliances plays a second Mountain and Pillages the opponent's mountain.
On its turn, Ice Age plays a second Dark Banishing on the Ranger, sacrifices a swamp and draws two cards, getting a Sulfurous Springs in play before passing.
Alliances draws and plays a Guerrilla Tactics, forcing Ice Age to sacrifice another Swamp to survive, then it also plays an Elvish Ranger. What will Ice Age do? The choice is hard, but there's actually no other option for Ice Age. It taps its two lands for mana and throws an Incinerate at the Ranger, falling down to 1 life point for the damage from the Springs. Then the Springs are sacrificed to draw two. A Swamp is drawn and played, but it looks clear that this game cannot go on for long.
And in fact, it's over the following turn : Alliances draws and shows a Yavimaya Ants, and it's game over. Alliances is still the champion, and the pass for the group phase it's firmly in its grip! Ice Age could not hold out against the perfect storm of an incredibly good hand from Alliances, and it's forced to bow down its head to the winner.