Messages

Regarding to the discussion on un/banning tutors:

I wouldn't like to see Demonic Tutor and/or Tainted Pact on the banned list. This will not improve the situation of the current meta, which is shaped by the strong results of Combo Decks - namely Scapeshift and Reanimator. Imho it would be better practise to ban/watchlist the specific tutors, which are only played by the dominating decks. This would be Bring to Light (Scapeshift) and Entomb (Reanimator). Banning Demonic Tutor and/or Tainted Pact will punish the midrange decks even more, because they have a smaller variety of strong tutors to choose from.

just to collect the availabble data (all listed events were held during last 12 month):

MGM #11
After Swiss: Scapeshift on 1 and 2
Winner: Reanimator

MGM #10
Winner: Scapeshift
Runner-Up: Reanimator

Big Kahuna
Winner: Scapeshift
Runner-Up: Buried-Alive Combo

Volcano Cup:
Winner: Oath-Emrakul-Combo

Cloudpost Bratislava HL Cup:
Winner: Helm-Combo

Cloudpost Bratislava HL Cup (Nationals Sideevent):
Winner: Reanimator
Runner-Up: RDW
Third: Helm-Combo

Tiki-Cup:
Finals: Scapeshift vs RDW (Split)

Oulu, Finland:
1. 4c bring to light *DECKLIST* (Scapeshift)
2. 5c oath reanimator
3. grixis reanimator
4. tendrils oath *DECKLIST*
https://deckstats.net/decks/71151/932956-4c-scapeshift-3-3-2018-tournam

.... feel free to add

Big Kahuna
Winner: Scapeshift
Runner-Up: Buried-Alive Combo
3rd: UB-Control
4th: Reanimator

Volcano Cup:
Winner: Oath-Emrakul-Combo
Runner-Up: UB-Control

Hula Cup:
Winner: Esper Control
Runner-Up: RDW

Before beeing crucified because of my opinion: I'm also playing blue cards and I'm not a desperate 4cBlood player.  

I added some additional results and want to point out that that the Mannheim Meta is recently dominated by Combo and Control decks, which all have one thing in common: They use blue cards. So in my opinion the council should consider to weaken blue in general, by banning either Treasure Cruise or Dig through Time. However I see no reason to ban both (yet). Non-blue decks like 4cBlood, GreenRamp, GruulBeats, etc. do have really hard times keeping up with the card advantage and have disappeared from the top of the standings recently. So imho the dominance of blue leads to an unhealthy meta (at least in Mannheim).

The unban of Entomb and Imperial Seal lead to the rise of Reanimator. I'm not sure if the unban took the deck to the next level or just encouraged players to give it another shot. I would give the meta some additional time to adapt and would not consider banning either of these cards right now. If it keeps dominating the council may reconsider bannning Entomb in the next banning period.

In addition I would consider to weaken Scapeshift, since it is just a dumb one card combo, which needs no specific build around like Oath of Druids for instance. Bring to Light or Scapeshift itself should be at least added to the watchlist to make a potential ban possible if the deck keeps dominating.

So for the upcomming bannings:

Ban: Treasure Cruise or Dig Through Time (I would prefer to see Treasure Cruise banned)
Unban: nothing
Add to watchlist: Bring to Light and/or Scapeshift

I'm really interested in the BigRed List. May it be posted? Thanks in advance.

Thanks for sharing this information. Looking forward to see some decklists.

I'm wondering about the outcome of the event. Two decks in the finals that (ab)used Mystical Tutor. Maybe the ban was not enough to punish blue as dominating color and the Council should consider to ban more blue cards (Mana Drain, DTT, ...).

Thank you

Since I have no facebook account I appreciate any discussion here in the forum.

As stated above any highlander player should know it.

Imho raging does not help here. And according to the rumors I heared about the facebook "discussion" that's what is happening on facebook.

Hello.
Is it possible to post Steffen's RDW decklist?
Thanks in advance.

Thank you for sharing the RDW decklist.

Is Hellrider still delivering? I played it for some time but was not satisfied by the damage output.

Same question for Boros Reckoner. He seemed to "slow" when I played it last time because he has no direct impact on the board. Maybe just a metagame call?

Would it be possible to post the decklists of the RDW decks from the recent tournaments? I'm really interested in the card choices.
Thanks in advance.

I agree with Maqi.

We should consider to dismiss the free mulligan and go back to the official mulligan rules.

on Prowling Serpopard:
I agree with Georg here. In general Smiter > Serpopard. In addition I think the most decks will not have slots for both.

on Harsh Mentor:
I would not consider it trash, but it might look better than it really is. I will give it a try in RDW.

Thoughts on other cards:

Cast Out - unplayable. O-Ring isn't even played anymore and this card is just a cmc 4 version of it. The "upside" of growing a Goyf, reaching threshold/delirium earlier or cheapen your delve spells doesn't make this card worth considering.

Liliana, Death's Majesty - overcosted at 5 mana.

Soul-Scar Mage - worth considering for RDW I think.

I will not compete as well.

If you just attend to play Highlander you basically pay 35€ and only 15€ are added to the price pool. Really disappointing.

Side note: You are paying 65€ entry fee for a constructed GP these days.

I do not really care about deck names. But I expected a new build after reading "4cCascade" or "5cValueCascade". Something built to abuse the cascade mechanic.

I didn't want to offend and I really appreciate your effort to post standings and decklists.

Why is this deck called "4cCascade"?

Looks like another 4c Goodstuff deck to me. Similar to "4c Blood" but with Blue instead of Red.
So I see no need to create a new deck name for this already well known archetype.

If I am missing something please let me know.

Regarding "Pia and Kiran" I agree with Kenshin. The card looks good but will hardly see play in the top tier decks.

4cBlood: will not play it, because of mana requirements (red is just the "splash" color in good builds)
UWR: will not play it, because it is outclassed by the other 4cc drops (several Planeswalkers, FTK, Venser, RestoAngel).
MonoR: will not play a card that costs 4 mana, deals no damage immediately, can be handled easily
UR: will not tap out for that level of thread