Top decks are exactly as expected going into the Open from States... except for Affinity! We already heard on stream that it had only two representatives going into Day 2, but it's fascinating to see that in the standings. Blue decks are around (the Scapeshift stat splits the Titan and Temur/BtL versions) too, but are hardly dominating. Looking at all the decks which might represent AV and/or Snapcaster decks, and including only half the Scapeshift decks, here's what we see:
4 Scapeshift
4 Jeskai Control
3 Grixis Control
2 Blue Moon
1 Jeskai Flash
1 Jeskai Black
1 Temur Control
1 Jeskai Thopter
That's 17 decks, or just over 12% of the field. Aggro is clearly in a better place than these blue-based decks, at least heading into the Top 32.
I'm really surprised about the low metagame share of Affinity (anybody has an idea why this is the case?), but otherwise it looks roughly as I though it will look like.
Greetings,
Kathal
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
What I play or have:
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
I'm really surprised about the low metagame share of Affinity (anybody has an idea why this is the case?), but otherwise it looks roughly as I though it will look like.
Greetings,
Kathal
I was wondering this as well, as it has been nonexistent at tournaments I've gone to recently. Here's my theories. There is more hate for Affinity because of Thopter/Sword. Affinity players are scared of the Thopters from that deck. The 2nd is unlikely to be true though, especially with so few Thopter/Sword decks.
I think it could make a comeback. It should do decently vs. Scapeshift, Abzan Company, and Tron. Maybe I'm wrong here?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Kalitas putting in serious work in this matchup. Love watching headcrab man in action. In fact, love watching this Majors comeback (admittedly, after a probable Podwika misplay) at 1 life.
I'm really surprised about the low metagame share of Affinity (anybody has an idea why this is the case?), but otherwise it looks roughly as I though it will look like.
Greetings,
Kathal
It is hard to tell without seeing the breakdown of the day 1 metagame. Perhaps people came with a lot of affinity hate, or perhaps there were more decks day 1 with good affinity matchups.
Also there are a ton of Jund + Abzan in the day 2 breakdown; so perhaps they got there by stepping on the dreams of robot players.
TBH I mostly put it down to a mixture of coincidences. Affinity is just too strong and consistent at what it does, regardless of the hate going on.
AV and or thopter sword still not breaking through in numbers. I still put this down to incorrect deck building, but that excuse will only last for so long.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
Kalitas putting in serious work in this matchup. Love watching headcrab man in action. In fact, love watching this Majors comeback (admittedly, after a probable Podwika misplay) at 1 life.
I think it was another showcase of how the deck lacks good answers and timely threats and can only win matchups like that with unbelievable draw luck and opponent misplays. I mean that game 1 was fantastic to watch, but it's hardly representative of what should normally happen. Games 2 and 3 showed the harsh weaknesses of Grixis.
Kalitas putting in serious work in this matchup. Love watching headcrab man in action. In fact, love watching this Majors comeback (admittedly, after a probable Podwika misplay) at 1 life.
I think it was another showcase of how the deck lacks good answers and timely threats and can only win matchups like that with unbelievable draw luck and opponent misplays. I mean that game 1 was fantastic to watch, but it's hardly representative of what should normally happen. Games 2 and 3 showed the harsh weaknesses of Grixis.
We all knew Living End was a terrible Grixis matchup. That's not exactly a new metagame development, and it's probably fine: Living End is always going to be a good choice against these kinds of decks. It's still nice seeing Kalitas do work and the new ways to try and build Grixis.
Thanks for compiling the number of AV decks in the field, I came into this thread just to ask about this.
Loving that Jund still puts up the highest numbers of any single deck after all predictions of its demise, even I didn't expect for it to do this well in a modern format with AV and no BBE.
Format's looking good.
TBH, not surprised at all. AV looks ridiculous, but it is soooooooo slow in a rather aggressive format like Modern. No wonder, it struggles to show good results. Same is true for Thopter-Sword.
Greetings,
Kathal
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
What I play or have:
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
I'm really surprised about the low metagame share of Affinity (anybody has an idea why this is the case?), but otherwise it looks roughly as I though it will look like.
Greetings,
Kathal
i dont know how many travelled to this event, but affinity is not a very popular deck in the minnesota/wisconsin area, i think ive played against 1 affinity deck ever
Let's wait until we get the Top 16 to cry foul on the lack of blue control just yet. We might end up having all the reason in the world to be unhappy about blue at this event: maybe there are 0 blue-based controlling decks in the Top 16 either. But if we had, say, a Jeskai and a Grixis in the Top 16 that just missed T8, that would change how we interpreted the results. I'm happy to wait for a more complete picture to start analyzing and making sweeping conclusions.
lol. No, Teysa, that isn't what we're calling "virtual wins."
I'm just sayin.
I think Infect has 1 Twisted Image in the side. Go Blue! (feel like a Dodger's fan now)
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
http://www.starcitygames.com/events/coverage/3757_day_2_metagame_breakdown_.html
Top decks are exactly as expected going into the Open from States... except for Affinity! We already heard on stream that it had only two representatives going into Day 2, but it's fascinating to see that in the standings. Blue decks are around (the Scapeshift stat splits the Titan and Temur/BtL versions) too, but are hardly dominating. Looking at all the decks which might represent AV and/or Snapcaster decks, and including only half the Scapeshift decks, here's what we see:
4 Scapeshift
4 Jeskai Control
3 Grixis Control
2 Blue Moon
1 Jeskai Flash
1 Jeskai Black
1 Temur Control
1 Jeskai Thopter
That's 17 decks, or just over 12% of the field. Aggro is clearly in a better place than these blue-based decks, at least heading into the Top 32.
Greetings,
Kathal
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
I was wondering this as well, as it has been nonexistent at tournaments I've gone to recently. Here's my theories. There is more hate for Affinity because of Thopter/Sword. Affinity players are scared of the Thopters from that deck. The 2nd is unlikely to be true though, especially with so few Thopter/Sword decks.
I think it could make a comeback. It should do decently vs. Scapeshift, Abzan Company, and Tron. Maybe I'm wrong here?
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)It is hard to tell without seeing the breakdown of the day 1 metagame. Perhaps people came with a lot of affinity hate, or perhaps there were more decks day 1 with good affinity matchups.
Also there are a ton of Jund + Abzan in the day 2 breakdown; so perhaps they got there by stepping on the dreams of robot players.
TBH I mostly put it down to a mixture of coincidences. Affinity is just too strong and consistent at what it does, regardless of the hate going on.
AV and or thopter sword still not breaking through in numbers. I still put this down to incorrect deck building, but that excuse will only last for so long.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)I think it was another showcase of how the deck lacks good answers and timely threats and can only win matchups like that with unbelievable draw luck and opponent misplays. I mean that game 1 was fantastic to watch, but it's hardly representative of what should normally happen. Games 2 and 3 showed the harsh weaknesses of Grixis.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
We all knew Living End was a terrible Grixis matchup. That's not exactly a new metagame development, and it's probably fine: Living End is always going to be a good choice against these kinds of decks. It's still nice seeing Kalitas do work and the new ways to try and build Grixis.
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
According to Gatherer, CMC = 2.
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=silvergill adept
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
TBH, not surprised at all. AV looks ridiculous, but it is soooooooo slow in a rather aggressive format like Modern. No wonder, it struggles to show good results. Same is true for Thopter-Sword.
Greetings,
Kathal
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
3x Abzan CoCo
1x Jund
1x GR Tron
1x Zooicide
1x Burn
1x Infect
Thopter Sword rekt Modern as a format.
DECKS:
UB Faeries [Midrange/Tempo]
RWUGB Affinity[Aggro]
FAERIES TOO STRONK!!!1111
- Fae Prophecy, 201
5678i dont know how many travelled to this event, but affinity is not a very popular deck in the minnesota/wisconsin area, i think ive played against 1 affinity deck ever
UWRjeskai nahiri UWR
UBRgrixis titi UBR
UBRgrixis delverUBR
UR ur kikimite UR
EDH
RUG Riku of Two Reflections RUG
UBR Marchesa, the Black Rose UBR
UBRGYidris, Maelstrom Wielder UBRG
UBRJeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeUBR
He got DQ'ed. They can't say why.
URW Control
WBG Abzan
GRW Burn
EDH
GR Rosheen Meanderer
disqualified
UWRjeskai nahiri UWR
UBRgrixis titi UBR
UBRgrixis delverUBR
UR ur kikimite UR
EDH
RUG Riku of Two Reflections RUG
UBR Marchesa, the Black Rose UBR
UBRGYidris, Maelstrom Wielder UBRG
UBRJeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeUBR
got DQ, but no reason named yet.
Greetings,
Kathal
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
UWRjeskai nahiri UWR
UBRgrixis titi UBR
UBRgrixis delverUBR
UR ur kikimite UR
EDH
RUG Riku of Two Reflections RUG
UBR Marchesa, the Black Rose UBR
UBRGYidris, Maelstrom Wielder UBRG
UBRJeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeUBR
Standard: lol no
Modern: BG/x, UR/x, Burn, Merfolk, Zoo, Storm
Legacy: Shardless BUG, Delver (BUG, RUG, Grixis), Landstill, Depths Combo, Merfolk
Vintage: Dark Times, BUG Fish, Merfolk
EDH: Teysa, Orzhov Scion / Krenko, Mob Boss / Stonebrow, Krosan Hero
Those blue decks are really shining. Glad they banned Twin.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Standard: lol no
Modern: BG/x, UR/x, Burn, Merfolk, Zoo, Storm
Legacy: Shardless BUG, Delver (BUG, RUG, Grixis), Landstill, Depths Combo, Merfolk
Vintage: Dark Times, BUG Fish, Merfolk
EDH: Teysa, Orzhov Scion / Krenko, Mob Boss / Stonebrow, Krosan Hero
Don't forget Blighted Agent!
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Standard: lol no
Modern: BG/x, UR/x, Burn, Merfolk, Zoo, Storm
Legacy: Shardless BUG, Delver (BUG, RUG, Grixis), Landstill, Depths Combo, Merfolk
Vintage: Dark Times, BUG Fish, Merfolk
EDH: Teysa, Orzhov Scion / Krenko, Mob Boss / Stonebrow, Krosan Hero
I'm just sayin.
I think Infect has 1 Twisted Image in the side. Go Blue! (feel like a Dodger's fan now)
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)