Open your mouth and say “ahhhh”. If you make your mouth wider and the “ahhh” louder, you will be approximating my reaction to the whopping twenty-six post-Trinisphere archetypes adorning my screen from just seven Top 8s. Keep in mind that almost all of the recurring archetypes have substantial variants and twenty-six seems like a condensed count to some who divide archetypes more finely.
Identifying archetypes has never been harder. Is a deck really Transmute-Chi if it only has two Transmutes? How can it be 7/10 with just one Sundering Titan? Renowned pontiff JP Meyer labeled a deck in the SCG Chicago Top 8 “Affinity” upon sighting Ravagers, even though none of the cards in the deck have Affinity, and only the Ravagers have Modular – I went with “Ravager” due to the substantial difference of focus between it and the two mechanic-based decks. Eli Kassis T8’d with a cross between Academy Rector combo and Sensei’s Divining Top combo. Oath Salvagers is wickedly close to being like other Oath decks, but it’s a more “hard combo” deck as opposed to a combo-control deck like Akroma-based Oath.
7 tournaments totaled (50,54,66,85,111,140,152)
6 Gifts Ungiven* (1,1,3,3,6,8)
6 TPS (2,2,4,4,5,5)
4 Oath of Druids (2,6,7,7)
3 Fish (1,1,5)
3 Dragon (1,2,5)
3 Mud** (1,3,4)
3 Stax*** (1,6,7)
3 Oath Salvagers (2,7,8)
2 U/W Landstill (3,3)
2 4C Control (2,5)
2 Bazaar Replenish (2,6)
2 Control Slaver (3,7)
2 7/10 Split (4,7)
2 Belcher (4,8)
2 U/G Madness (8,8)
1 Suicide Black (3)
1 Ravager (4)
1 Sensei Sensei (4)
1 Rector Sensei (5)
1 U/B Masknought (5)
1 Cerebral Assassin (6)
1 Psychatog (6)
1 Workshop Slaver (6)
1 U/B Control (7)
1 MonoBlue (8)
1 Reanimator (8)
* : 3 Charbelcher, 2 Colossus, 1 Salvagers
** : 2 Welder, 1 Monobrown
*** : 2 5C, 1 U/R
All of this convinced me that my point about March’s data was growing more and more correct: “Presently, the theme is less categorical-hybridization and more hybridization amongst individual cards. Decks running more of the biggest-effect cards win more.” No deck makes this clearer than today’s star, Gifts Ungiven. Gifts basically dictates that with a small pile of mana, you can give your opponent an impossible set of options, letting you resolve Magic’s most apoplexy-inducing spells.
There are several win tactics for a Gifts deck, including Goblin Charbelcher, Darksteel Colossus, and Auriok Salvagers. TPS, the only archetype besides Gifts to break 10% of this month’s results, is coincidentally also driven by Gifts Ungiven; it just uses Dark Ritual instead of Mana Drain. This means you might want to count Tendrils of Agony as another Gifts kill option. There are a lot of subtleties in between the shades, but all the Drain versions are the same archetype. What they do, in short, is maximize Type One’s cardpool.
Type One gives its players lots of mana and easy tutoring. There are also cards that provide some disincentives to playing this way (Sphere of Resistance, Null Rod, Chains of Mephistopheles, etc.), but David Price aphorism applies: answers are weak. The Gifts players have it right, abusing everything that they can. The restricted list’s one-copy limit means that the natural abuse of Gifts’ “different name” supposedly disadvantageous drawback is to use the abundance of unfair cards to get two somewhat-less-unfair cards. No matter what, any idiot who has a viable Vintage deck in his hands isn’t going to give you Tinker or Yawgmoth’s Will*, so the deck design goal is then to have cards that are able to win anyway.
* : Okay, I guess if he’s looked through your library and Jester’s Capped all the artifacts, he won’t care about Tinker. And if he’s got Tormod’s Crypt in play he might give you Will. You get the point, though.
You can easily force someone to give you Will with other recursion cards. Red is better than Green, so Recoup is the natural choice, and it can just as easily give you Tinker. Gifts Ungiven single-handedly neuters the effect of restriction for these cards, and, returning to my earlier notion, it makes hybridizing them as natural as having three mana on turn one. In most Gifts decks, it’s already down to two copies (fourteen decks used them, averaging 1.64 copies), so restricting would be a minor impediment at best. Think back to the mighty Homelands expansion, and remember that Gifts is an instant. A single Merchant Scroll would be just a hiccup in the efficiency of the deck. These days it’s not hard to talk about decks playing four or more virtual Tinkers, and we’ve all seen how that goes.
Metagame Occurrence (by percentage of all T8 decks)
(Decks appearing once or twice in the course of the year are sometimes excluded.)
Apr, May., Jun, Jul., Aug, Sep., O-N, D-J., Feb, Mar., Apr.
_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.8 U/B Control
_0.0, _0.0, _1.8, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.3, _2.5, _0.0, _1.8, _0.0 3C Control
_9.7, 14.6, 19.6, _9.7, _7.5, 10.9, _1.3, _1.3, _5.7, _8.9, _3.6 4C Control
_4.2, _6.3, _1.8, _1.4, _7.5, _7.8, 10.0, _7.5, _8.0, 10.7, _3.6 Control Slaver
_1.4, _6.3, _5.4, _2.8, _2.5, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 GAT
_8.5, 10.4, 10.7, _8.3, _2.5, _9.4, _5.0, 12.5, _4.6, _8.9, _1.8 Psychatog
_4.2, _4.2, _0.0, _2.8, _0.0, _6.3, _1.3, _2.5, _8.0, _5.4, _3.6 Landstill
_1.4, _2.1, _0.0, _0.0, _5.0, _6.3, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _3.6, _1.8 Monoblue
_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, 12.5, 12.5, _8.0, _3.6, _7.1 Oath of Druids
_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _3.6 Oath Salvagers (Drain)
_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.3, _2.5, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 Salvagers
_1.4, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 U/rPhid
_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.8, _1.8 Sensei, Sensei
_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.8, 10.7 Gifts Ungiven (Drain)
30.8, 43.9, 39.3, 25.0, 25.0, 40.7, 32.4, 38.8, 34.3, 46.5, 39.4 TOTAL Drain archetypes*
Apr, May., Jun, Jul., Aug, Sep., O-N, D-J., Feb, Mar., Apr.
_8.5, _8.3, _8.9, 11.1, 15.0, 12.5, _5.0, 13.8, 11.4, 12.5, 10.7 TPS
_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.3, _1.3, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 Doomsday
_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _2.5, _1.6, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 DeathLong
_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.3, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 Meandeck Tendrils
_1.4, _2.1, _5.4, _1.4, _2.5, _0.0, _2.6, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _3.6 Belcher
_4.2, _2.1, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _2.5, _0.0, _1.8, _0.0 Rector
14.1, 12.5, 14.3, 12.5, 20.0, 14.1, _8.9, 17.7, 11.4, 14.3, 17.9 TOTAL Ritual Archetypes
Apr, May., Jun, Jul., Aug, Sep., O-N, D-J., Feb, Mar., Apr.
_1.4, _2.1, _7.2, _2.8, 12.5, _6.3, 10.0, _1.3, _2.2, _3.6, _0.0 5/3
_0.0, _2.1, _1.8, _0.0, _2.5, _0.0, _1.3, _2.5, _0.0, _0.0, _3.6 7/10 Split
_2.8, _2.1, _0.0, 13.9, _2.5, _6.3, _7.5, _6.3, _8.0, _1.8, _5.4 MUD / wMUD
_4.2, _2.1, _3.6, _6.9, 10.0, _4.7, 10.0, 10.0, 11.4, 12.5, _5.4 Stax
_5.6, _4.2, _1.8, _0.0, _2.5, _0.0, _1.3, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 TnT
_5.6, _2.1, _3.6, _4.2, _2.5, _1.6, _0.0, _1.3, _4.6, _0.0, _1.8 Workshop Slaver
19.6, 14.7, 18.0, 27.8, 32.5, 18.9, 30.2, 21.4, 26.2, 17.9, 18.0 TOTAL Workshop Archetypes
Apr, May., Jun, Jul., Aug, Sep., O-N, D-J., Feb, Mar., Apr.
_4.2, _6.3, _5.4, _6.9, _0.0, _4.7, _3.8, _0.0, _0.0, _1.8, _1.8 Bazaar Madness
_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _3.6 Bazaar Replenish
_6.9, _4.2, _8.9, _5.6, _2.5, _6.3, _6.3, _6.3, _5.7, _0.0, _5.4 Dragon
_0.0, _2.1, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.6, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 Oshawa Stompy
_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 MadDragon
_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _8.9, _1.8 Cerebral Assassin
11.1, 12.6, 14.3, 12.5, _2.5, 12.6, 10.1, _6.3, _5.7, 10.7, 14.4 TOTAL Bazaar Archetypes
Apr, May., Jun, Jul., Aug, Sep., O-N, D-J., Feb, Mar., Apr.
_2.8, _6.3, _0.0, _6.9, 10.0, _4.7, _3.8, _1.3, _5.7, _3.6, _5.4 Fish
_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _2.8, _0.0, _0.0, _1.3, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 Kiodo CounterBurn
_0.0, _2.1, _0.0, _0.0, _2.5, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.8 U/G Madness
_2.8, _8.4, _0.0, _9.7, 12.5, _4.7, _5.1, _1.3, _5.7, _3.6, _7.2 TOTAL Null Rod Archetypes
Apr, May., Jun, Jul., Aug, Sep., O-N, D-J., Feb, Mar., Apr.
_1.4, _4.2, _7.2, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _3.8, _2.5, _1.1, _1.8, _0.0 FCG / Gobvantage
_4.2, _0.0, _1.8, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.3, _0.0, _1.1, _0.0, _0.0 Vengeur Masque
_1.4, _0.0, _0.0, _1.4, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 Goblin Sligh
_4.2, _0.0, _5.4, _4.2, _0.0, _0.0, _1.3, _0.0, _1.1, _0.0, _0.0 Affinity
_1.4, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.1, _1.8, _0.0 Sligh
_4.2, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _3.1, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 Modular
_0.0, _4.2, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.3, _1.3, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 R/G Beats
_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.8 Oath Salvagers (no Drain)
_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.8 Rector Sensei (no Drain, no Ritual)
16.8, _8.4, 14.4, _5.6, _0.0, _3.1, _7.7, _3.8, _4.4, _3.6, _3.6 TOTAL Other Archetypes
* : Bazaar Replenish is a Drain-using archetype, but is counted as Bazaar-driven because, well, Bazaar made it into the name.
Despite the surfeit of Gifts decks, Mana Drain had a somewhat lower percentage than it did in March. Remembering that Bazaar Replenish has Drains in it makes the difference in overall occurrence rather negligible, though. I was especially intrigued by the reduced power of Control Slaver, probably because the Charbelcher version of the Gifts archetype has such close overlap with the archetype. The other shift that stands out is the reduced popularity of Cerebral Assassin. Barring a sudden rebound, my read on it is that the deck finished well a few times on the strength of surprise*, but is now petering out as more people have been exposed to it. You’ll also notice that Dragon didn’t appear in March while Bazaar players flirted with Goblin Welder, but now as Assassin declines, Dragon returns.
* : Even those who read David Lawrence a.k.a. Eastman’s thread on TMD may not remember much of what it does the first time that they see it.
Also worth watching is the long-absent Belcher combo deck returning in Northern Europe. Since North American players have a longstanding aversion to Dark Ritual decks (moreso if they can win a turn later off a Mana Drain), I’m not expecting an outbreak, but Northern Europeans may continue to play it, trying to capitalize on its huge variance to win before Gifts decks get a chance to wipe them out with superior resources.
The Type One Watch List (number of copies per Top 8 by month)
Apr, May., Jun, Jul., Aug, Sep., O-N, D-J., Feb, Mar., Apr.
_2.6, _1.7, _2.9, _3.2, _2.4, _3.3, _3.4, _1.2, _3.9, _3.3, _2.0 Ancient Tomb
_3.6, _4.0, _4.6, _4.9, _0.8, _3.9, _3.5, _2.4, _2.2, _3.4, _5.1 Bazaar of Baghdad
_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.4, _0.0, _0.2, _0.5, _0.0, _0.0, _1.0 Cabal Ritual
____, ____, _0.4, _4.6, _8.2, _7.3, _7.3, _5.6, _8.0, _7.9, _5.0 Crucible of Worlds
_4.7, _4.0, _4.6, _4.8, _6.4, _4.6, _3.9, _7.1, _5.5, _4.6, _5.7 Dark Ritual
_1.3, _1.8, _1.9, _0.4, _1.8, _2.0, _2.2, _0.6, _1.0, _0.0, _1.7 Elvish Spirit Guide
_7.8, _6.0, _7.7, _6.9, 12.0, _7.0, 12.3, _7.4, _9.8, 10.3, _7.4 Goblin Welder
____, ____, ____, ____, ____, ____, _0.3, _1.4, _1.8, _1.4, _3.3 Gifts Ungiven
_2.1, _4.5, _2.9, _3.2, _0.8, _4.5, _6.5, _8.3, _4.8, _5.9, _6.0 Intuition
_0.9, _0.7, _1.7, _0.4, _0.8, _0.0, _0.8, _0.4, _0.0, _0.0, _1.1 Land Grant
_9.3, 13.8, _9.1, _8.0, _8.6, 13.3, _9.5, 11.7, 11.9, 15.0, 13.0 Mana Drain
_8.9, _4.2, _6.6, _9.8, 11.4, _7.5, _9.8, _7.1, _9.1, _5.7, _5.7 Mishra’s Workshop
_3.8, _3.2, _5.1, _3.8, _7.6, _4.8, _7.9, _5.3, _6.4, 10.0, _9.9 Thirst for Knowledge
_0.4, _0.7, _1.7, _0.4, _0.8, _0.0, _0.8, _0.0, _0.0, _0.4, _0.6 Tinder Wall
12.1, 17.0, 11.7, 17.4, 16.2, 19.1, 16.5, 12.6, 16.0, 14.0, 10.9 Wasteland
_2.3, _1.7, _2.3, _2.1, _4.0, _2.9, _3.3, _3.1, _3.6, _5.0, _4.6 Tinker
_3.3, _4.0, _3.7, _3.1, _3.6, _3.4, _2.0, _3.6, _3.1, _4.3, _4.3 Yawgmoth’s Will
I think the key dynamic of the month was somewhat more diversity thanks to the absence of Trinisphere’s stifling power. May will likely put us back on track to ever-increasing Mana Drain dominance. Tinker and Will also took slight bumps this month because of the diversity level, but once we shed weaker decks like Mono-Blue and U/G Madness, I expect more of those two.
One of the less-noted shifts is the twelve-month low in Wastelands. Island is now the most-played land, and at almost seventeen copies per Top 8, nearly everyone is packing. This is what leads me to believe Fish’s success is more flash-in-the-pan than returning metagame genius, because manabases are much less vulnerable to shenanigans than they were last summer, and control decks now play considerably faster game plans, cutting short the time 1/1s need to win. U/G Madness is little better, because of its high-cost creatures in a high-Drain environment. Draining any Wurm into a Gifts turn is an extremely likely win.
Another subtle shift you might not have noticed is the collapse of Fire / Ice numbers – this month there was an average of just one copy per Top 8. If you’ve got Welder tech begging for a comeback, now is the time (I add this to the laundry list of reasons Fish was a fine choice for the multiple-Waterbury winner Jason Zheng to bring).
Swords to Plowshares is at roughly the same level it historically has been at, despite the dropoff in conventional control, and I attribute this to people playing it as an Oath-breaker. Darksteel Colossus was a mere one copy away from being the most-played Artifact Creature, and it is in more decks than Triskelion, so its match impact is broader; this card alone can drive Swords into nearly perpetual use, and demonstrates how influential Tinker’s 60% metagame presence is. A well-prepared player will walk into an event with an instant-speed solution to the Akroma/Colossus class of threats immune to regular removal, and it should really be instant speed to compensate for the Time Walk replays the often come part-and-parcel with Gifts deck Colossi.
You might notice that answering power plays is full of lameness and fraught with opportunities to lose the game, so I think the wiser path is to just give in and play the popular toys until they’re finally so dominant they get the no-ban limit lifted. Plus, I hear Kowal and Menendian both love playing eleven mirror matches in a row at events. Why not give the people what they want good and hard? (Speaking of them, I’ve had enough requests about the North American Type One Pro Points to append the current totals here. I’m sure there will be a good time to go over the European information around the time the European GenCon events start pouring in.)
Philip Stanton
prstanto at gmail.com
(Tables in this article only go back one year; email me if you’re interested in older information.)
Appendix One: Card Counts for April
54 Mox Sapphire
49 Black Lotus
48 Ancestral Recall
48 Mox Emerald
47 Mox Pearl
46 Mox Jet
46 Mox Ruby
43 Sol Ring
42 Time Walk
37 Demonic Tutor
33 Mana Crypt
32 Tinker
30 Tolarian Academy
30 Yawgmoth’s Will
28 Mana Vault
28 Vampiric Tutor
26 Mystical Tutor
25 Strip Mine
21 Library of Alexandria
17 Fact or Fiction
16 Lotus Petal
16 Timetwister
15 Memory Jar
11 Trinisphere (including one 4-of deck from March 19th)
11 Yawgmoth’s Bargain
10 Balance
9 Necropotence
7 Mind’s Desire
7 Wheel of Fortune
6 Mind Twist
5 Enlightened Tutor
5 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Frantic Search
4 Time Spiral
3 Burning Wish
3 Chrome Mox
2 Channel
2 Entomb
2 Grim Monolith
2 Gush
1 Crop Rotation
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Fastbond
1 Living Wish
1 Mox Diamond
1 Regrowth
176 Force of Will
138 Brainstorm
118 Island
102 Polluted Delta
91 Mana Drain
91 Underground Sea
88 Flooded Strand
87 Duress
80 Chalice of the Void
76 Wasteland
69 Thirst for Knowledge
52 Goblin Welder
52 Tormod’s Crypt
49 Volcanic Island
44 Tundra
42 Intuition
41 Rack and Ruin
41 Red Elemental Blast
40 Dark Ritual
40 Mishra’s Workshop
36 Bazaar of Baghdad
36 Swamp
35 Crucible of Worlds
34 Stifle
32 Forbidden Orchard
32 Oath of Druids
30 Swords to Plowshares
29 Cunning Wish
29 Energy Flux
29 Squee, Goblin Nabob
28 Null Rod
24 Arcane Laboratory
24 Tropical Island
23 Blue Elemental Blast
23 Gifts Ungiven
22 Smokestack
22 Sphere of Resistance
22 Triskelion
21 Darksteel Colossus
21 Ground Seal
21 Phyrexian Furnace
21 Tangle Wire
20 Chain of Vapor
20 Misdirection
20 Rebuild
20 Skeletal Scrying
20 Tendrils of Agony
19 City of Brass
18 Deep Analysis
18 Mana Leak
18 Mishra’s Factory
17 Sundering Titan
16 Accumulated Knowledge
16 Echoing Truth
16 Metalworker
16 Rushing River
15 Coffin Purge
15 Hurkyl’s Recall
15 Standstill
14 Ancient Tomb
14 Gemstone Mine
12 Animate Dead
12 Disenchant
12 Duplicant
12 Elvish Spirit Guide
12 Engineered Explosives
12 Goblin Charbelcher
12 Platinum Angel
12 Seal of Cleansing
11 Mindslaver
11 Worldgorger Dragon
10 Daze
10 Decree of Justice
10 Meddling Mage
10 Mountain
10 Necromancy
9 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
9 Annul
9 City of Traitors
9 Defense Grid
9 Gilded Lotus
9 Hydroblast
9 Karn, Silver Golem
9 Pernicious Deed
8 Auriok Salvagers
8 Basking Rootwalla
8 Cloud of Faeries
8 Curiosity
8 Damping Matrix
8 Jester’s Cap
8 Land Grant
8 Orb of Dreams
8 Pristine Angel
8 Propaganda
8 Replenish
8 Sensei’s Divining Top
8 Spiketail Hatchling
8 Su-Chi
8 Underground River
8 Wild Mongrel
8 Xantid Swarm
7 Cabal Ritual
7 Chill
7 Chromatic Sphere
7 Circular Logic
7 Fire/Ice
7 Masticore
7 Naturalize
7 Pyroblast
7 Waterfront Bouncer
6 Brain Freeze
6 Eon Hub
6 Forest
6 Lava Dart
6 Maze of Ith
6 Ninja of the Deep Hours
6 Pentavus
6 Plains
6 Pyrite Spellbomb
6 Recoup
6 Verdant Force
6 Windfall
6 Wooded Foothills
5 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
5 Cabal Therapy
5 Diabolic Edict
5 Exalted Angel
5 Future Sight
5 Gaea’s Blessing
5 Helm of Awakening
5 Impulse
5 Memnarch
5 Merchant Scroll
5 Old Man of the Sea
5 Powder Keg
5 Razormane Masticore
4 Academy Rector
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Carnophage
4 Claws of Gix
4 Counterspell
4 Dance of the Dead
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Engineered Plague
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Exhume
4 Flying Men
4 Form of the Dragon
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Icatian Javelineers
4 Illusionary Mask
4 Mana Severance
4 Mind’s Eye
4 Myr Retriever
4 Myr Servitor
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Nether Void
4 Ophidian
4 Orim’s Chant
4 Oxidize
4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
4 Pyrostatic Pillar
4 Sacred Ground
4 Sinkhole
4 Skullclamp
4 Spawning Pit
4 Spirit of the Night
4 Tinder Wall
4 Uba Mask
3 Aquamoeba
3 Arrogant Wurm
3 Back to Basics
3 Bayou
3 Careful Study
3 Chains of Mephistopheles
3 Faerie Conclave
3 Great Furnace
3 Grim Lavamancer
3 Hatred
3 Humility
3 Iridescent Angel
3 Morphling
3 Nevinyrral’s Disk
3 Phyrexian Negator
3 Planar Void
3 Ray of Revelation
3 Reanimate
3 Rule of Law
3 Sarcomancy
3 Serrated Arrows
3 Shivan Reef
3 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
3 Voidmage Prodigy
2 Ambassador Laquatus
2 Aura Fracture
2 Badlands
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Caller of the Claw
2 Erase
2 Exploration
2 Firestorm
2 Flametongue Kavu
2 Genju of the Falls
2 Gilded Drake
2 Glimmervoid
2 Gorilla Shaman
2 Hidden Herd
2 Lim-Dul’s Vault
2 Night of Soul’s Betrayal
2 Phantom Nishoba
2 Psychatog
2 Pyroclasm
2 Silent Arbiter
2 Snow-Covered Island
2 Solitary Confinement
2 Staff of Domination
2 Stroke of Genius
2 Transmute Artifact
2 Wonder
2 Woodripper
1 Ancient Hydra
1 Artificer’s Intuition
1 Bosh, Iron Golem
1 Candelabra of Tawnos
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Citanul Flute
1 Compulsion
1 Coretapper
1 Cranial Extraction
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Disrupting Shoal
1 Ebony Charm
1 Elvish Lyrist
1 Elvish Scrapper
1 Eternal Witness
1 Flash Counter
1 Fling
1 Granite Shard
1 Innocent Blood
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Mana Cylix
1 Meloku, the Clouded Mirror
1 Nezumi, Graverobber
1 Overload
1 Pentad Prism
1 Plated Slagwurm
1 Political Trickery
1 Possessed Portal
1 Primitive Justice
1 Riftstone Portal
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Shallow Grave
1 Shattering Pulse
1 Slice and Dice
1 Snuff Out
1 Viashino Heretic
1 Windswept Heath
Appendix Two: North American Type One Pro Points 2004 through April, 2005
North America
[points] [name] [team and alias if applicable/known] [number of Top 8s]
28 Ben Kowal (Short Bus)(6)
17 Scott Limoges (4)
15 Eli Kassis (4)
15 Jason Zheng a.k.a. Nantuko Rice (3)
15 Rich Shay a.k.a. The Atog Lord (3)
14 Jacob Orlove (Meandeck)(3)
14 Eric Miller (Short Bus)(3)
13 Stephen Menendian a.k.a. Smmenen (Meandeck)(4)
13 Carl Winter a.k.a. CrazyCarl (Meandeck)(3)
12 Jeffrey Tussi (3)
11 Ashok Chitturi a.k.a. M.E.T.H.O.D. (3)
11 David Allen a.k.a. thorme (Short Bus)(2)
10 Marc Perez a.k.a. Phantom Tape Worm (Short Bus)(2)
9 Andrew Probasco a.k.a. Brass Man (3)
9 Kevin Cron a.k.a. CHA1N5 (Meandeck)(2)
9 Matt Jendro (2)
8 Dan Emmons (2)
8 John Blake a.k.a. Ultima (2)
8 Justin Walters a.k.a. Saucemaster (Meandeck)(2)
8 Luke Ojala (8)
8 Seth Levy (2)
8 Stephen Houdlette a.k.a. Grand Inquisitor (2)
8 Jim Gaffney (2)
7 Jeff Anand a.k.a. Samite Healer (2)
7 Justin Timoney (2)
7 Travis LaPlante (2)
6 Andrew Stokinger (2)
6 Craig Olson a.k.a. Milton (2)
6 Keith Johnson a.k.a. ctthespian (2)
6 Brad Ojala
6 Bryan Finch
6 Jarad Mann
6 Jason Schikli
6 Jean-Philippe Keable
6 Jim Demarsico
6 Joe Oginsky
6 Joshua Roughley
6 Mark Biller a.k.a. Windfall
6 Mike Panas
6 Mike Vraa
6 Raymond Robillard a.k.a. iamfishman
6 Ross Wolf
5 Bob Kochis
5 Brian Cox
5 Brian Demars
5 Brian Fisher
5 Chris Buker
5 Dan Rosu
5 Darek Flaten
5 Glenn Bliss
5 James Coffman
5 Jay Coffman
5 Joe Carroll
5 Justin Bramsfield
5 Lany Chabot Laroche
5 Richard Mattiuzzo a.k.a. Shock Wave
5 Steve Capsuras
5 Wayne Oickle
4 Aaron LeKarz a.k.a. snoop
4 Adam Bowers a.k.a. iLL_Dawg
4 Alan Koxlien
4 Chris Byrnes
4 Corey Canfield a.k.a. Diaonic
4 Darren Bennett
4 Frankson Lee
4 Geoff Zeiger a.k.a. gzeiger
4 Giovanni Conedera
4 Guillaume Ouimet
4 Guillaume Ranville
4 I@n DeGraff a.k.a. I@n
4 Ian Smith
4 Jason Henke
4 Jeff Urich
4 Jeffrey Greene
4 Jeremy Zwirn
4 Jesse River
4 John Moore
4 Josh Zwadlo
4 Justin Bransfield
4 Koskal Karakus
4 Lam Phan
4 Luke Smith
4 Mark Sadowski a.k.a. Mark Pharoah
4 Michael Simister
4 Pat Kolson
4 Ray Mitchell a.k.a. Razor
4 Rich Herbert
4 Rocky McCumbee
4 Roland Chang
4 Sean Brownlee
4 Shane Knepshield
4 Shawn Ahern
4 Steven Stoots a.k.a. Triple_S (Short Bus)
3 Adam Hartzler
3 Adrian Dziergowski
3 Alex Hughes
3 Andrew Oyen
3 Andrew Petkovics
3 Bob Dash
3 Brian Phelon a.k.a. hulk3rules
3 Brian Rozzero
3 Charles P. Kruginator
3 Chris Hufnagel
3 Chris Janjigian
3 Chris Leather
3 Chris Marchand
3 Chris McDaniel
3 Chris Phillips
3 Clarence Li
3 Cody Vinci
3 Crossman Wilkins
3 Dan Carp
3 Dan Richardson a.k.a. pern
3 David Feinstein
3 Doug Linn a.k.a. Hi-Val (Meandeck)
3 Drew Fisher
3 Eric Dupuis
3 Eric Wilkinson
3 Ethan Lippett
3 Guillaume Baril
3 James Beltz
3 James Kreinbihl
3 Jason Stinnett (Meandeck)
3 Jeff Rieck a.k.a. methuselahn
3 Jim Phillips
3 Joe Bushman (Meandeck)
3 John J. Wolfensberger
3 Jon Tschida a.k.a. Frost
3 Josh Franklin
3 Josh Ochse
3 Josh Rayden
3 Justin Koprek
3 Lee Hall
3 Luc Tremblay
3 Marc Sims
3 Martin Bonneville
3 Matt Brandt
3 Matt Gronke (Short Bus)
3 Matt Kadilak
3 Matt Smith a.k.a. Mr. Channel–Fireball
3 Matthew Kershaw
3 Mike Gumbinger
3 Nick Trudeau a.k.a. nickvos
3 Noam Benavi
3 Ralph Parsinite
3 Phil Doyle
3 Philip Schmitt
3 Preston Honey
3 Ray Clavette
3 Rob Raven
3 Robert O’Leary
3 Robert Vroman
3 Ryan Lorenz
3 Ryan Quick
3 Sam Antill a.k.a. abhorsen105
3 Scott Britschock
3 Shannon O’Meara a.k.a. MuzzonoAmi
3 Simon Cliche-Lamoureux
3 Stephan Rakovich
3 Steve Reinertz
3 Steven Brown
3 Tom Rotchadl
3 Travis Lee
3 Taylor Hustad
3 Thomas Lee
3 Tony Blue
3 Wilson Kan
3 Zach Gable a.k.a. Green Knight
Appendix Three: The Results
2004-03-19 Tours (http://solomoxen.com/?page=7&id=18&menu=1)(66 players)
1. Dragon
2. Dragon
3. U/W Landstill
4. Welder Mud (Metalworker/Staff of Domination)
5. TPS
6. U/B/R Psychatog
7. U/B Control
8. Gifts Ungiven (Salvagers)
1. Frédéric Courtois
2. Stéphane Tichadou aka. despon
3. Yann Levet
4. Davide Cohen
5. Mickaël Lellouche
6. Jean-Marc Seguin
7. Florian Faucheux
8. Pierrick Mode aka. CwaM
2004-04-03 Castricum (http://www.morphling.de/top8decks.php?id=254)(54 players)
1. Stax (5C)
2. 4C Control
3. Suicide Black
4. Belcher
5. 4C Control
6. Bazaar Replenish
7. Oath of Druids
8. Reanimator
1. Stefan Gordijn
2. Daniel Paardekooper
3. David Martinez
4. Jos Scheurs
5. Koen Moerman
6. Hugo van Dijke
7. Barrie Sattink
8. Nico van der Hoeven
2005-04-24 Iserlohn (http://www.morphling.de/top8decks.php?id=256)(111 players)
1. Welder Mud
2. TPS
3. U/W Landstill
4. TPS
5. U/B Masknought (Ritual)
6. Workshop Slaver
7. Oath of Druids
8. Belcher
1. Michael Stys
2. Dennis Rosinski
3. Christian Höttgen
4. Christopher Wilhelm
5. Oliver Schultheis
6. Torben Schröder
7. Thomas Pittner
8. Aurel Bokermann
2004-04-16 SCG P9 VI Chicago (http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/event/9446.html)(152 players)
1. Gifts Ungiven (Charbelcher)
2. Oath of Druids
3. Control Slaver
4. Ravager (Workshop)
5. TPS
6. Stax (U/R)
7. 7/10 Split
8. Oath Salvagers (no Drain)
1. Ben Kowal
2. Brian Demars
3. Jeff Anand
4. Jesse River
5. Luke Ojala
6. Robert Vroman
7. Dan Carp
8. Thomas Lee
2004-04-30 Barcelona (http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=22976.0)(85 players)
1. Gifts Ungiven (Colossus)
2. Bazaar Replenish
3. Mud (Monobrown)
4. TPS
5. Dragon
6. Oath of Druids
7. Stax (5C)
8. MonoBlue
1. Miguel Angel Rodriguez
2. Jordi Monraba
3. Sergio Perez
4. Javi Rubio
5. Daniel Gomez
6. Jorge Pinazo
7. Pablo Ambrojo
8. Alex Cruz
2004-04-30 Waterbury (http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=23004.0)(140 players)
1. U/W Fish
2. TPS
3. Gifts Ungiven (Colossus)
4. 7/10 Split
5. Rector Sensei (no Ritual, no Drain)
6. Gifts Ungiven (Charbelcher)
7. Oath Salvagers (Drain)
8. U/G Madness
1. Jason Zheng
2. Justin Bramsfield
3. Carl Winter
4. Travis LaPlante
5. Eli Kassis
6. Rich Shay
7. Dan Emmons
8. Brian Rozzero
2004-05-01 Waterbury (http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=23004.0)(50 players)
1. U/R Fish
2. Oath Salvagers (Drain)
3. Gifts Ungiven (Charbelcher)
4. Sensei Sensei
5. U/W Fish
6. Cerebral Assassin
7. Control Slaver
8. U/G Madness (Bazaar)
1. Jarad Mann
2. Dan Emmons
3. Ben Kowal
4. Justin Timoney
5. Crossman Wilkins
6. Ralph Parsinite
7. Jeff Tussi
8. Preston Honey