There were 60-some Jund decks at Illinois States...but, playing Spread 'Em, I didn't see any of them. All I got to play against were Harrow decks. *sob*
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A mere ten days after the Mending, a young knight of Valeron and a young ranger of Eos made a discovery that would change Alara forever.
I went to the New York one and surprisingly....not alot of Jund. maybe at best 5-6 decks from what I've seen? There were bunch of Nayas, Boros, a few Xmas decks but none of them made it to top 8 from what I heard. A few RDWs.
Played Grixis Control, expecting to see a lot of Jund... and then didn't get paired against Jund until 5th round. Overall, went 1-4, drop. Obviously not nearly as well as I had planned on doing, but certainly had a good time. Both myself and my opponent couldn't stop laughing when, in the control mirror, he hit me with Telemin Perfomance while the only two creatures in my deck were in my hand.
I think some people don't understand that the Mirrans are the bad guys. Arcbound Ravager is Mirran. Phyrexia are the good guys coming in to conquer an evil, evil world.
I went 0-3 and dropped, which was lulzy. There was a large amount of Jund and a large amount of Turbofog. The highlight of the tournament had to be Conley Woods' double-Cruel Ultimatum on turn 5 lawl.
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Legacy: UBRGW T.E.S. UUUSpiral Tide
Modern: UBR Grixis Control
EDH: UB Oona, Queen of the Fae
Combo is a part of magic. If you cant deal with combo then your not a magic player.
I went 1-3 and dropped, winning my first game and then taking 5 Color Control, Esper Control, and White Weenie beatings. I had particularly bad MUs for Jund, my lands manascrewed, and every single round I played went to 3 games. It was agonizing.
The best part of my day? Playing Dominion The worst part? Getting lost multiple times on the way there AND back.
Played in MA today. Went 5-2. Mine was among the very few Jacerator decks. Not too much Jund (maybe 20%, tops); saw a very wide array of decks: Naya, Boros, Cruel, WW, a good Summoner's Trap deck, etc.
Anyone got results from Orlando or Atlanta and what decks were popular?
Orlando.
Went 5-3 with BloodQuake... should have gone 6-2, mana screw bites, eh?
60% of a 120 ish pool were running Jund.
-
Odd highlight? The all-star deck was a VAMPIRE deck... yeah, it went 6-0-0 with the pilot drawing his last two rounds to head to top 8. I didn't stay for the Top 8, but it'll be posted and I won't be too surprised if he wins. He's got the luck genie on his side... that and hand destruction that helps him greatly against Jund. He's running midrange, all the low-mana drops seem to have been replace with far more relevant cards.
Anyone got results from Orlando or Atlanta and what decks were popular?
Atlanta had Jund all over the top 8. Jund was really top-heavy here. Everyone who played it did well, apparently (other than the ones who played against me, I was too busy Spreading 'Em!).
I went 4-3, wins against 2 Jund, 1 Naya, GWB. Losses to Naya, White Weenie, Vampires.
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"That's the funny thing about free will. You don't feel any different without it."
EDH: RWU Zedruu, the Greathearted BUG Damia, Sage of Stone
Manitoba had 78 players, biggest champs yet afaik in MB.
Went 5-1-1 with Saito Jund and lost in the top 4 to RDW.
Top 8 had;
Saito Jund
Jund with Lotus Cobra
Jund with Master of Wild Hunt
Naya Lightsaber
Naya Lightsaber
RDW
Vampires
Bant
Jund was probably 50% of the field, turbo fog second most played deck with like no good results ;they were basically duking it out on the lower tables all day long.
Very few Baneslayers in the room; just wasn't any to be had :/
Played 4C Cascade, went 2-5. Lots of Jund, but lots of Bant and Naya, too.
Saw the odd Elfdrazi and Vamps, not a lot of really odd decks like Warp World or anything though.
my meta was jund, naya, turbo fog, and a bunch of other decks being mostly 1-3 of's. Jund own first, naya second. i my self did terrible thanking to bad MU's and consistent mana screw.
Just got back from my states event. There were a number of Jund decks, but I also spotted some Boros Bushwhacker (of course), Jacerator, plenty of Naya, G/W midrange decks, U/W/r and straight U/W control, Vampires, Bant midrange, and RDW. That's just what I saw, but I'm sure there were more archetypes than that.
I myself went 4-2 (though I really feel I should have won my second round) with this gem:
I finished 14th, though I believe that had I won my second round I would have been in top 8. I decided to keep a lid on this deck until this event (granted, I've been playing it at FNM for almost a month and a half now), but here it is. It's essentially a U/W reanimator that draws a metric ton of cards and uses Sphinx, Looter, and just the overloading of cards in your hand to dump Steel Wind and Angel into play and win.
I took very light notes on my score sheet, basically only going for life totals, mulligans, wins, and infractions.
Round 1 vs Naya Lightsaber - W 2-1
Game one I manage to hold off his army long enough with a few Paths and a DoJ to start laying down Sphinx of Lost Truths and shortly after, Open the Vaults. When Vaults brings me from 13 to 55 he basically has no chance and loses to a bunch of gigantic fliers.
Game two I fumble on mana and light action and he sticks Baneslayer, for which I have no answer.
Game three he keeps a bad two-lander and proceeds to draw no land. He has Rootbound Crag and Sunpetal Grove as his only lands on turn four when I turn the Grove into an Island with Spreading Seas, drawing... Spreading Seas. Shortly the Crag follows suit and he dies to Deft Duelist/Lost Truths beatdown.
Round 2 vs Naya - L 2-1
He spends his first few turns playing Lotus Cobra, Harrow, and CiPT lands while I answer them by sweeping the board and removing everything else with Path. I take enough to go to 7, but once Vaults hits I skyrocket up to 52. He takes at least 16 on my next attack to finish him off.
I have to mulligan down to 5 and keep a very 'meh' hand. He has turn one Noble Hierarch followed shortly by turn two Goblin Guide. Once Wooly Thoctar hits the table and I have nothing during my turn, I scoop 'em.
Game three I keep Plains, Plains, Glacial Fortress, Jace, Lost Truths, and a couple other irrelevant cards. Hoping to draw into any blue source by turn five, I proceed to draw the other 3 plains in my deck when I do draw land and when turn five yields a Spreading Seas, I am forced to use it on my own land just for a second blue source. I have turn 6 AND 7 Lost Truths with turn 8 Vaults ready for the win. I'm at 6 and pass the turn. He has Goblin Guide and Thoctar on the board with two cards in hand. Path sends one of my sphinxes packing. He attacks and I think for a minute, trying to figure out what kills me. He's playing Colossal Might so I leave him with the fewest outs and of course block Thoctar. Vines of Vastwood ftw. Hadn't seen it all match, but it ended up killing me. Good thing for him, too, as next turn I would have gained at least 42 life and had enough to kill him the turn after.
Round 3 vs U/W Control - W 2-0
Game one goes reasonably long with him O-Ringing, Pathing, and Journeying basically everything I play. He landed an Elspeth early on and I was able to keep the token menace under control with a Deft Duelist attack her each turn. He finally makes all his stuff invincible, but loses his planeswalker next turn to Bob Marley (aka Lost Truths). Fortunately, this has given me time to set up the big guns and though I have to play Vaults twice to get my team to stick, I manage to get him in three attacks.
We both decide to mulligan, but accidentally draw seven cards each. We call a judge over and he gives us two cards from our hands to shuffle in and that if we want to mulligan again, to go to 4. My oppnent keeps, but I can't keep my hand and go to four. This makes for a long and perilous game. No Elspeth this time, but he lays down a Sigil of the Empty Throne and puts those Journeys and O-Rings to good use. He actually only manages to get three angels total from it, due to my Kor Sanctifiers blowing the enchantment awaya time or two and I find the time to recover from some angel hits by Vaulting angels of my own into play. I went from 12 to 156 in one reanimation, but had the board swept the next turn thanks to Day of Judgment. He was able to return his Empty Throne, so he O-Rings an O-Ring of his to make an angel. He repeats this with a couple Journeys, but stays on the defensive. Time is called on his turn which means I have three turns to win. I draw like a madman and reanimate 3 Glassdust Hulks, among other things. I go up to 300 life. I pop three Capsules at his EoT, play and pop one from my hand, and Open the Vaults to give my Hulks +4/+4 and unblockability, hitting him for 21 and winning a loooong game.
Round 4 vs Naya Midrange - L 2-0
This round matches me up with my buddy Bryan Greer. He lands the first threat in the form of Great Sable Stag. beating me down once before it becomes RFG. We both trade for a turn or two more before I run out of removal and his Baneslayer slays me in short order.
Game two I mulligan a one-lander (Gargoyle castle... not going to get there) and have to keep a shaky six. He flies out of the gate with Stage and back to back Bloodbraid. I stand no chance and we finish our round about twenty minutes in.
Round 5 vs G/W Beats - W 2-1
I'm squaring off against Garruk, Knight of the Reliquary, Mycoid Shepherd, Qasali Pridemage, Behemoth Sledge... more or less just standard G/W stuff. He tries to apply some pressure, but I patch the bleeding with Paths until I can 'combo off'. The first time I do it it's only for one Angel, a couple capsules, and 15 life, but it's enough to buy me time to take a couple sledge hits from a Garruk token. When I fire off Vault number two it's for exponentially more than the first and my opponent concedes in the interest of saving time.
Game two isn't much to speak of. I keep a hand I probably shouldn't have and get beat to death with a Qasali Pridemage. The finishing blow comes from the cat and his hierarch buddy overrunning for 8 exactly.
Game three is another arduous game. It's a tug of war between him creating tokens off of Garruk and me dropping Lost Truths and Vaults ASAP. Eventually the game boils down to him strapping up three tokens with a sledge apiece and trying to trample through, but unfortunately for him I have a Steel Wind in play and a number of other fatties in play. This game also goes to time and ends with me sending two Steel Wind and a couple unblockable hulks over two times after bringing him from 46 to 34 with my long Steel Wind earlier.
Round 6 vs Bant Midrange - W 2-1
This game could have ended a lot sooner than it did, what with a gigantic KotR, backed with a Rafiq, beating on my door for several turns. I had to shove a lot of troops in the way of that thing, but I eventually managed to sweep the board and reload with Vaults. I started my ascent at 12 and before the game was out I ended up at 126, taking a few Rafiq'd Baneslayers along the way. Willingly. No big deal.
Game two I sit there with my thumb in my ass while KotR get's buffed by Noble Hierarch and kills me in three hits. My score sheet reads 20, 16, 10, death. The last four points are delivered via Vines of Vastwood on his third attack.
The final game of the Swiss rounds. He has to mulligan to five and keeps what I assume to be two fetches and not a whole lot else. Reasonable at five, though. Noble flicks my face for one before helping power our KotR, who takes me to 14 next turn. Fortunately for me, this is much too late to matter as I have enough in the graveyard to stabalize and start beating down. We go to turns. Again. My opponent get's hit to 17 (thanks to some War Monk life earlier in the game putting him above 20) and I DoJ and Open the Vaults in the same turn, clearing his position and setting me up for the win next turn. He draws something irrelevant and passes, dying during my next attack.
Top 8 decks (I believe):
Jund
Jund
Jund
Jund
Naya
RDW
U/W/r Control
Boros Bushwhacker
Overall I feel my deck performed really well and I just got unlucky a few times with my opening hands. If you're looking for something different to play, but infinitely fun (I mean c'mon, you draw cards like no one's business and get to beat down with a creature scarier than Baneslayer!) then I suggest trying my deck out.
My post-states deck is slightly different, but not by much:
I didnt go
We will not miss another tourny that is for sure.
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To Counter a Spell Jon Finkel Simply Taps Two Islands and Says No!
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:symw::symu::symb::symr::symg:
•●«It's Pronounced Duh Mah Juh»●•
G Daniel Gelon Craw Wurm Count: 759
R It's Lightning Helix!!
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
Went 3-4-1 (started 3-0-1, then lost hard).
I bought an alarm clock today instead.
My Facebook Page
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To Counter a Spell Jon Finkel Simply Taps Two Islands and Says No!
My Twitch Streaming Account
My Youtube Channel
:symw::symu::symb::symr::symg:
•●«It's Pronounced Duh Mah Juh»●•
Same.
Sleep 1-0
tell wizards this format is retarded.
UBRGW T.E.S.
UUUSpiral Tide
Modern:
UBR Grixis Control
EDH:
UB Oona, Queen of the Fae
Combo is a part of magic. If you cant deal with combo then your not a magic player.
The best part of my day? Playing Dominion The worst part? Getting lost multiple times on the way there AND back.
Orlando.
Went 5-3 with BloodQuake... should have gone 6-2, mana screw bites, eh?
60% of a 120 ish pool were running Jund.
-
Odd highlight? The all-star deck was a VAMPIRE deck... yeah, it went 6-0-0 with the pilot drawing his last two rounds to head to top 8. I didn't stay for the Top 8, but it'll be posted and I won't be too surprised if he wins. He's got the luck genie on his side... that and hand destruction that helps him greatly against Jund. He's running midrange, all the low-mana drops seem to have been replace with far more relevant cards.
Spike School
Spike doesn't think. Spike doesn't feel. Spike doesn't laugh or cry. All Spike does from dusk till dawn is make the Johnnys die
Atlanta had Jund all over the top 8. Jund was really top-heavy here. Everyone who played it did well, apparently (other than the ones who played against me, I was too busy Spreading 'Em!).
I went 4-3, wins against 2 Jund, 1 Naya, GWB. Losses to Naya, White Weenie, Vampires.
EDH:
RWU Zedruu, the Greathearted
BUG Damia, Sage of Stone
My Trade Thread
Went 5-1-1 with Saito Jund and lost in the top 4 to RDW.
Top 8 had;
Saito Jund
Jund with Lotus Cobra
Jund with Master of Wild Hunt
Naya Lightsaber
Naya Lightsaber
RDW
Vampires
Bant
Jund was probably 50% of the field, turbo fog second most played deck with like no good results ;they were basically duking it out on the lower tables all day long.
Very few Baneslayers in the room; just wasn't any to be had :/
Round One: Boros Bushwhacker - 2-0.
Round Two: Jund - 2-0.
Round Three: Jund - 2-0.
Round Four: Mono Red Aggro - 2-1.
Round Five: Valakut Combo - 2-0.
Round Six: Eldrazi Elves - 2-0.
Round Seven: Boros Bushwhacker - 1-2.
Round Eight: Jund - 2-0.
An end result of 7-1; ninth place.
Saw the odd Elfdrazi and Vamps, not a lot of really odd decks like Warp World or anything though.
9th place with 7 and 1? holy brutal.
my meta was jund, naya, turbo fog, and a bunch of other decks being mostly 1-3 of's. Jund own first, naya second. i my self did terrible thanking to bad MU's and consistent mana screw.
he lost in the 7th round so the guy was doing good. not sure how that works
I myself went 4-2 (though I really feel I should have won my second round) with this gem:
2 Arcane Sanctum
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Gargoyle Castle
7 Island
5 Plains
Creatures
3 Merfolk Looter
3 Deft Duelist
4 Sphinx of Lost Truths
4 Glassdust Hulk
3 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
4 Filigree Angel
Spells
4 Path to Exile
4 Courier's Capsule
2 Fieldmist Borderpost
2 Day of Judgment
4 Open the Vaults
3 Jace Beleren
Sideboard
2 Day of Judgment
1 Spell Pierce
2 Quest for Ancient Secrets
4 Negate
3 Spreading Seas
3 Kor Sanctifiers
I finished 14th, though I believe that had I won my second round I would have been in top 8. I decided to keep a lid on this deck until this event (granted, I've been playing it at FNM for almost a month and a half now), but here it is. It's essentially a U/W reanimator that draws a metric ton of cards and uses Sphinx, Looter, and just the overloading of cards in your hand to dump Steel Wind and Angel into play and win.
I took very light notes on my score sheet, basically only going for life totals, mulligans, wins, and infractions.
Round 1 vs Naya Lightsaber - W 2-1
Game one I manage to hold off his army long enough with a few Paths and a DoJ to start laying down Sphinx of Lost Truths and shortly after, Open the Vaults. When Vaults brings me from 13 to 55 he basically has no chance and loses to a bunch of gigantic fliers.
Game two I fumble on mana and light action and he sticks Baneslayer, for which I have no answer.
Game three he keeps a bad two-lander and proceeds to draw no land. He has Rootbound Crag and Sunpetal Grove as his only lands on turn four when I turn the Grove into an Island with Spreading Seas, drawing... Spreading Seas. Shortly the Crag follows suit and he dies to Deft Duelist/Lost Truths beatdown.
Round 2 vs Naya - L 2-1
He spends his first few turns playing Lotus Cobra, Harrow, and CiPT lands while I answer them by sweeping the board and removing everything else with Path. I take enough to go to 7, but once Vaults hits I skyrocket up to 52. He takes at least 16 on my next attack to finish him off.
I have to mulligan down to 5 and keep a very 'meh' hand. He has turn one Noble Hierarch followed shortly by turn two Goblin Guide. Once Wooly Thoctar hits the table and I have nothing during my turn, I scoop 'em.
Game three I keep Plains, Plains, Glacial Fortress, Jace, Lost Truths, and a couple other irrelevant cards. Hoping to draw into any blue source by turn five, I proceed to draw the other 3 plains in my deck when I do draw land and when turn five yields a Spreading Seas, I am forced to use it on my own land just for a second blue source. I have turn 6 AND 7 Lost Truths with turn 8 Vaults ready for the win. I'm at 6 and pass the turn. He has Goblin Guide and Thoctar on the board with two cards in hand. Path sends one of my sphinxes packing. He attacks and I think for a minute, trying to figure out what kills me. He's playing Colossal Might so I leave him with the fewest outs and of course block Thoctar. Vines of Vastwood ftw. Hadn't seen it all match, but it ended up killing me. Good thing for him, too, as next turn I would have gained at least 42 life and had enough to kill him the turn after.
Round 3 vs U/W Control - W 2-0
Game one goes reasonably long with him O-Ringing, Pathing, and Journeying basically everything I play. He landed an Elspeth early on and I was able to keep the token menace under control with a Deft Duelist attack her each turn. He finally makes all his stuff invincible, but loses his planeswalker next turn to Bob Marley (aka Lost Truths). Fortunately, this has given me time to set up the big guns and though I have to play Vaults twice to get my team to stick, I manage to get him in three attacks.
We both decide to mulligan, but accidentally draw seven cards each. We call a judge over and he gives us two cards from our hands to shuffle in and that if we want to mulligan again, to go to 4. My oppnent keeps, but I can't keep my hand and go to four. This makes for a long and perilous game. No Elspeth this time, but he lays down a Sigil of the Empty Throne and puts those Journeys and O-Rings to good use. He actually only manages to get three angels total from it, due to my Kor Sanctifiers blowing the enchantment awaya time or two and I find the time to recover from some angel hits by Vaulting angels of my own into play. I went from 12 to 156 in one reanimation, but had the board swept the next turn thanks to Day of Judgment. He was able to return his Empty Throne, so he O-Rings an O-Ring of his to make an angel. He repeats this with a couple Journeys, but stays on the defensive. Time is called on his turn which means I have three turns to win. I draw like a madman and reanimate 3 Glassdust Hulks, among other things. I go up to 300 life. I pop three Capsules at his EoT, play and pop one from my hand, and Open the Vaults to give my Hulks +4/+4 and unblockability, hitting him for 21 and winning a loooong game.
Round 4 vs Naya Midrange - L 2-0
This round matches me up with my buddy Bryan Greer. He lands the first threat in the form of Great Sable Stag. beating me down once before it becomes RFG. We both trade for a turn or two more before I run out of removal and his Baneslayer slays me in short order.
Game two I mulligan a one-lander (Gargoyle castle... not going to get there) and have to keep a shaky six. He flies out of the gate with Stage and back to back Bloodbraid. I stand no chance and we finish our round about twenty minutes in.
Round 5 vs G/W Beats - W 2-1
I'm squaring off against Garruk, Knight of the Reliquary, Mycoid Shepherd, Qasali Pridemage, Behemoth Sledge... more or less just standard G/W stuff. He tries to apply some pressure, but I patch the bleeding with Paths until I can 'combo off'. The first time I do it it's only for one Angel, a couple capsules, and 15 life, but it's enough to buy me time to take a couple sledge hits from a Garruk token. When I fire off Vault number two it's for exponentially more than the first and my opponent concedes in the interest of saving time.
Game two isn't much to speak of. I keep a hand I probably shouldn't have and get beat to death with a Qasali Pridemage. The finishing blow comes from the cat and his hierarch buddy overrunning for 8 exactly.
Game three is another arduous game. It's a tug of war between him creating tokens off of Garruk and me dropping Lost Truths and Vaults ASAP. Eventually the game boils down to him strapping up three tokens with a sledge apiece and trying to trample through, but unfortunately for him I have a Steel Wind in play and a number of other fatties in play. This game also goes to time and ends with me sending two Steel Wind and a couple unblockable hulks over two times after bringing him from 46 to 34 with my long Steel Wind earlier.
Round 6 vs Bant Midrange - W 2-1
This game could have ended a lot sooner than it did, what with a gigantic KotR, backed with a Rafiq, beating on my door for several turns. I had to shove a lot of troops in the way of that thing, but I eventually managed to sweep the board and reload with Vaults. I started my ascent at 12 and before the game was out I ended up at 126, taking a few Rafiq'd Baneslayers along the way. Willingly. No big deal.
Game two I sit there with my thumb in my ass while KotR get's buffed by Noble Hierarch and kills me in three hits. My score sheet reads 20, 16, 10, death. The last four points are delivered via Vines of Vastwood on his third attack.
The final game of the Swiss rounds. He has to mulligan to five and keeps what I assume to be two fetches and not a whole lot else. Reasonable at five, though. Noble flicks my face for one before helping power our KotR, who takes me to 14 next turn. Fortunately for me, this is much too late to matter as I have enough in the graveyard to stabalize and start beating down. We go to turns. Again. My opponent get's hit to 17 (thanks to some War Monk life earlier in the game putting him above 20) and I DoJ and Open the Vaults in the same turn, clearing his position and setting me up for the win next turn. He draws something irrelevant and passes, dying during my next attack.
Top 8 decks (I believe):
Jund
Jund
Jund
Jund
Naya
RDW
U/W/r Control
Boros Bushwhacker
Overall I feel my deck performed really well and I just got unlucky a few times with my opening hands. If you're looking for something different to play, but infinitely fun (I mean c'mon, you draw cards like no one's business and get to beat down with a creature scarier than Baneslayer!) then I suggest trying my deck out.
My post-states deck is slightly different, but not by much:
3 Arcane Sanctum
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Gargoyle Castle
5 Island
5 Plains
1 Swamp
Creatures
3 Architects of Will
3 Deft Duelist
4 Sphinx of Lost Truths
3 Glassdust Hulk
3 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
4 Filigree Angel
Spells
4 Path to Exile
4 Courier's Capsule
2 Fieldmist Borderpost
2 Day of Judgment
4 Open the Vaults
3 Jace Beleren
1 Sanguine Bond
Sideboard
2 Day of Judgment
1 Spell Pierce
2 Quest for Ancient Secrets
4 Negate
3 Spreading Seas
3 Kor Sanctifiers
States '09: 14th place. Aiming for better next year.
States '10: 12th place. Aiming for better next year.
Idaho State Champ: 2011
States '12: 5th place.