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The April Type One Metagame Breakdown

This month is a watershed in data collection, because for the first time in 2004 I’ve gone a whole month with just one missing decklist (FCG). I know some of you don’t get the major physical stimulation I do from that knowledge, but I’m sure there are some of you that feel the same. I feel vindicated for my efforts to harass and torment the decklist underreporting of the world. This cajolery yielded fruit such as two Frenchie decklists that they still don’t want published, but are in the totals anyway.

This month is a watershed in data collection, because for the first time in 2004 I’ve gone a whole month with just one missing decklist (FCG). I know some of you don’t get the major physical stimulation I do from that knowledge, but I’m sure there are some of you that feel the same. I feel vindicated for my efforts to harass and torment the decklist underreporting of the world. This cajolery yielded fruit such as two Frenchie decklists that they still don’t want published, but are in the totals anyway.


One very significant note is that the Waterbury Top 8 lists have not gone up as of me typing this, so I’m bumping that to May. I don’t think adding it in would make any difference to B&R-policy-minded observers, so no worries. (Steve Menendian thinks I should delay the whole metagame article each month until I’m sure I’ve got all the relevant tournaments. I say it’s better to just delay what’s reported late, on the grounds that it doesn’t influence the metagame choices of others until the individual tournament is published. Smmennycakes had some other perspective on my methodology in #TheManaDrain, which I will be addressing in a near-future article.)


April Top 8s

2004-03-28 Milan (71 players)

1. Keeper

2. Rector Tendrils

3. Affinity

4. Hulk Smash

5. Dragon

6. Madness

7. TnT

8. Dragon


2004-03-28 Faraos Cigarer (74 players)

1. U/R Landstill

2. Rector Trix

3. Workshop Slavery

4. Affinity

5. IsoKeeper

6. Modular

7. TnT

8. Ankh Sligh


2004-04-04 Mol (60 players)

1. B/W Nether Void

2. Workshop Slavery

3. U/R Fish

4. Control Slavery

5. Modular

6. Draw7.dec

7. R/W Trinistax

8. Control Slavery


2004-04-04 Pavia (61 players)(Missing #3 FCG)

1. MUD

2. Keeper

3. Food Chain Goblins

4. Dragon

5. TPS

6. MUD

7. U/rPhid

8. 12-land Stompy


2004-04-18 Dulmen (128 players)

1. Control Slavery

2. Hulk Smash

3. IsoKeeper

4. Vengeur Masque

5. U/W Landstill

6. Keeper

7. Charbelcher

8. Workshop Slavery


2004-04-18 Milan (69 players)

1. Affinity

2. TPS

3. Keeper

4. Hulk Smash

5. Madness

6. TPS

7. Rector Tendrils

8. Goblin Sligh


2004-04-18 Washington, DC (82 players)

1. U/R Fish

2. Hulk Smash

3. Dragon

4. 7/10 Split

5. Hulk Smash

6. Landstill

7. Hulk Smash

8. U/R Fish


2004-04-25 Paris (68 players)

1. Workshop Slavery

2. Modular

3. Vengeur Masque

4. TnT

5. TnT

6. TriniStax

7. Walamies

8. TriniStax


2004-04-25 Turin (91 players)

1. Madness

2. Stacker

3. TPS

4. Keeper

5. TPS

6. MonoBlue Control

7. Vengeur Masque

8. Dragon


Nine tournaments totaled (60,61,68,70,71,74,82,91,128 = 705 players; Average of 78 players)

6 Hulk Smash (2,2,4,4,5,7)

5 Keeper (1,2,3,4,6)

5 TPS (2,3,5,5,6)

5 Dragon (3,4,5,8,8)

4 Workshop Slavery (1,2,3,8)

4 TnT (4,5,7,7)

3 Affinity (1,3,4)

3 Rector (2,2,7)

3 Landstill (1,5,6)

3 Madness (1,5,6)

3 Control Slavery (1,4,8)

3 Modular (2,5,6)

3 Vengeur Masque (3,4,7)

3 Trinistax (6,7,8)

2 Fish (1,3)

2 MUD (1,6)

2 IsoKeeper (3,5)

1 Nether Void (1)

1 Stacker (2)

1 Food Chain Goblins (3)

1 7/10 Split (4)

1 Draw7.dec (6)

1 MonoBlue Control (6)

1 Charbelcher (7)

1 U/rPhid (7)

1 Walamies (7)

1 12-land Stompy (8)

1 Ankh Sligh (8)

1 Goblin Sligh (8)


(1) Open or closed universe?


Type One is having a little trouble demonstrating the theory of Constructed that only a few decks are really viable at a given time. It’s rare to find a segment of Magic history where a competitive Constructed metagame was close to as scattered as this, and I for one think this is a phenomenon indicating that people are playing bad decks for personal reasons. (Or worse, reasons of under-playtesting.) The weird news, though, about being a closed-universe Constructed theorist these days is that there are numbers showing your case and disproving it almost simultaneously. Check this out:


2003-09&10 – 20 archetypes (4.0 / T8) 6,8,5,7,8 = 6.8


—–Mirrodin legal

2003-11&12 – 20 archetypes (4.0 / T8) 4,7,5,6,8 = 6.0


—–Restriction: Burning Wish, Chrome Mox, Lion’s Eye Diamond

2004-Janu. – 26 archetypes (4.4 / T8) 6,8,7,7,7 = 7.0


2004-Febr. – 19 archetypes (3.8 / T8) 6,7,7,7,7 = 6.8


—–Darksteel legal

2004-Marc. – 34 archetypes (3.8 / T8) 6,8,8,7,7,6,7,6,7 = 6.9


2004-Apri. – 28 archetypes (3.1 / T8) 7,8,7,7,8,8,5,6,7 = 7.0


The first way I looked at it (which I posted about on TMD) was to divide the number of archetypes in a given month (or two-month groups as in 2003) by the number of tournaments in that group. This is tilted toward March and April, though, because they each have nine tournaments to five in all the other periods, and as the number of tournaments goes up, there’s a diminishing return on the number of different decks added to the month. (In other words, if you had a thousand tournaments, you wouldn’t expect four thousand decks, so the decks-per-T8 measure is artificially lower in larger samples.) However, this comparison does show a tightening of the number of played archetypes over time.


Unfortunately, the more accurate way is to look at each individual Top 8 and count the number of archetypes, then average it. At the end of each line, you can see how well this went. By the end, I was actually surprised that the recent Washington DC tournament had a mere five archetypes in the Top 8. Other formats would think that mana was pelting their foreheads from heaven if they could be so diverse over such a long period of time. In Type One, however, we recognize the mixed blessing of a diverse metagame. (For starters, your sideboard isn’t big enough. For the rest, I think Smmenen is covering it soon or covered it between this writing and the time it’s posted. I’ll leave him as much of his thunder as possible.)


I’ve been so mystified by this difference from other formats (despite the high pressure to leave out mid-power-level cards because of restricted bombs), that I tried the following analysis-by-percent-appearance of the data since I started this gig.


Average Showing – Monthly Showings (Q4 2003 through April) [Deck Name]


_8.5% – _1.3, _7.5, 12.5, 12.5, _8.5 Hulk Smash

_7.5% – 17.5, _2.5, _5.0, _5.6, _6.9 Dragon

_6.3% – _2.5, 10.0, _5.0, _6.9, _6.9 Keeper

_6.3% – 11.3, _2.5, _5.0, _4.2, _8.5 Storm Combo

_6.1% – _3.8, 12.5, _7.5, _2.8, _4.2 Madness

_6.0% – _7.5, _0.0, 12.5, _5.6, _4.2 Rector

_5.7% – _6.3, _7.5, _7.5, _2.8, _4.2 Stax*

_4.7% – _5.0, _5.0, _5.0, _2.8, _5.6 TnT

_3.9% – _6.3, _2.5, _5.0, _2.8, _2.8 IsoKeeper

_3.8% – _2.5, _7.5, _5.0, _2.8, _1.4 Stacker

_3.4% – _0.0, _5.0, _5.0, _5.6, _1.4 FCG / Gobvantage

_2.9% – _3.8, _2.5, _0.0, _5.6, _2.8 Fish

_2.9% – _0.0, _5.0, _2.5, _2.8, _4.2 Landstill

_2.8% – _3.8, _5.0, _2.5, _1.4, _1.4 Goblin Sligh

_2.7% – _1.3, _2.5, _2.5, _2.8, _4.2 Control Slavery

_2.7% – _5.0, _2.5, _5.0, _0.0, _1.4 GAT (includes IsoGAT, Grostill)

_2.4% – _2.5, _0.0, _2.5, _2.8, _4.2 Vengeur Masque

_2.4% – _0.0, _2.5, _2.5, _1.4, _5.6 Workshop Slavery*

_1.8% – _0.0, _2.5, _2.5, _1.4, _2.8 MUD / wMUD

_1.6% – _2.5, _0.0, _2.5, _2.8, _0.0 SuperGro

_1.3% – _0.0, _5.0, _0.0, _1.4, _0.0 Oshawa Stompy

_1.1% – _1.3, _0.0, _0.0, _2.8, _1.4 Sligh

_1.1% – _0.0, _0.0, _2.5, _2.8, _0.0 MadDragon

_1.1% – _0.0, _2.5, _0.0, _2.8, _0.0 R/G Beatz

_1.1% – _0.0, _2.5, _0.0, _1.4, _1.4 U/rPhid

_0.8% – _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _4.2 Affinity

_0.8% – _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _2.8, _1.4 Charbelcher

_0.8% – _0.0, _2.5, _0.0, _1.4, _0.0 EBA

_0.8% – _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _4.2 Modular

_0.8% – _2.5, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.4 Monoblue


(Less than 0.5% of a couple dozen – I’m not exaggerating on that – archetypes appeared. These are not listed.)


*: One January deck classified as Workshop Slavery, upon reexamining the decklist, is more of”Stax with two Mindslaver,” and was moved to count as such. Another was called Stax and yet was actually a Workshop-Mana DrainIsochron Scepter deck (which, by the way, still makes no sense).


First of all, you can see how ridiculous that is. I’ve been looking at some Regionals stuff (which may or may not end up in an article; SCG has writers who cover that pretty well and I don’t like to rehash topics), and while there’s a bunch of Standard decks that appear in minute percentages of the qualifying slots, there are mostly decks you can count on one hand that are worth paying significant attention to. Going by the above table, there’s no possible way to express serious confidence in your gauntlet until you get down to the 2% average-appearance line. Otherwise you leave out important decks like Slavery. And for as long as that table is, there are plenty I’ve left off with even smaller pie shares.*


*: Suicide, Void, Oath, Secret Force, Snake-Tongue, White Weenie, 12-land Stompy, The Rock, BUG Funk, Zoo, Terravore LD, Walamies, Ankh Sligh, The Shining, Old School Expulsion, Reanimator… (sixteen right there, staggeringly enough)


Personally, even though there’s plenty to be said about Mana Drain distorting the environment, I think everything should be left alone just to give the overpowered decks more time to hammer into bad players’ heads that they should be playing something broken, not something weak and silly. It seems odd to hope for reduced diversity, as this type of free-for-all is the subject of frequent wet dreams by rogue deckbuilders, but really, it’s not realistic when people are winning with bad, underwhelming aggro. I’m fine with the theory that Vintage is inherently more diverse than Standard or even Extended, but I shouldn’t have to list upwards of thirty archetypes just to be remotely thorough.


(2) There’s always room for Type One.

In March, I had nine 50+ player tournaments because almost half were from February. This time, seven of nine were from the actual month of April, a marked increase which shows no sign of waning. For as much growth as the format has had since Oscar Tan and his generation (he’s what, five years older than me?) started forcing everyone to notice it, we’ve still got room for more.


(3) Pip’s Watch List

Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr.

_2.8, _3.4, _3.1, _3.0 – 27 Yawgmoth’s Will

10.4, _8.5, 10.2, _9.3 – 84 Mana Drain

_7.8, _6.4, _4.7, _8.9 – 80 Mishra’s Workshop

_5.2, _7.4, _6.3, _6.3 – 57 Cunning Wish

_1.6, _5.6, _4.0, _4.7 – 42 Dark Ritual

_2.4, _3.4, _1.3, _3.8 – 34 Thirst for Knowledge

_6.4, _4.0, _4.0, _3.6 – 32 Bazaar of Baghdad

_3.0, _3.2, _3.4, _2.1 – 19 Intuition

_2.2, _3.8, _3.0, _2.1 – 19 Psychatog

_1.6, _0.0, _3.0, _1.3 – 12 Elvish Spirit Guide


The French – possibly under mind controlling influences from the Workshop-decklist-producing supercomputer Matthieu Durand a.k.a. Toad -managed to sneak twenty-four Workshops into the results in one lonely Top 8. Most of them were in aggro decks, so I don’t take the”most Workshops ever” as a bad sign at all. Nothing stands out as dangerous, especially with the lack of a high-performing deck making the environment unworkable. This is the last one of these reports before the June 1 DCI announcement, and I can safely say nothing deserves to get axed.


As usual, here is the full list of played cards. This month, I managed to save a lot of time counting thanks to automation from Jeek, the script monkey.


(Missing 1 Food Chain Goblins list.)


76 Island

39 Forest

30 Mountain

15 Swamp

3 Plains

56 Mox Sapphire

56 Black Lotus

56 Ancestral Recall

52 Sol Ring

51 Mox Jet

50 Time Walk

50 Mox Pearl

49 Mox Ruby

47 Mox Emerald

40 Mana Crypt

38 Strip Mine

35 Demonic Tutor

28 Tolarian Academy

28 Mana Vault

27 Yawgmoth’s Will

25 Vampiric Tutor

23 Library of Alexandria

21 Memory Jar

21 Tinker

20 Timetwister

20 Mystical Tutor

19 Fact or Fiction

16 Lotus Petal

14 Wheel of Fortune

16 Mind Twist

13 Balance

10 Necropotence

9 Yawgmoth’s Bargain

8 Windfall

7 Frantic Search

7 Enlightened Tutor

7 Crop Rotation

6 Stroke of Genius

6 Mind’s Desire

5 Moxen

5 Lion’s Eye Diamond

5 Gush

4 Entomb

4 Burning Wish

4 Grim Monolith

3 Yawgmoth’s Will

2 Voltaic Key

2 Time Spiral

2 Mox Diamond

2 Fork

2 Chrome Mox

1 Fastbond

1 Demonic Consultation

1 Channel

1 Black Vise


184 Force of Will – Wins the Prize… again!

139 Brainstorm

119 Polluted Delta

109 Wasteland

108 Volcanic Island

105 Underground Sea

86 Red Elemental Blast – Highest Red

84 Mana Drain

82 Rack and Ruin

80 Mishra’s Workshop

72 Chalice of the Void – Highest Artifact

70 Goblin Welder

66 Stifle

63 Fire/Ice – Highest Gold

62 Tormod’s Crypt

58 Duress – Highest Black

57 Trinisphere

57 Cunning Wish

56 Flooded Strand

51 Tropical Island

47 Naturalize – Highest Green

46 Blue Elemental Blast

45 Triskelion

42 Dark Ritual

40 Accumulated Knowledge

39 Squee, Goblin Nabob

36 Wooded Foothills

35 Tundra

35 Survival of the Fittest

34 Thirst for Knowledge

33 Null Rod

32 Bazaar of Baghdad

31 Tangle Wire

31 Misdirection

31 Metalworker

30 Mishra’s Factory

29 Swords to Plowshares – Highest White

28 Juggernaut

27 City of Brass

26 Xantid Swarm

26 Taiga

26 Glimmervoid

26 Arcbound Ravager

23 Standstill

23 Hurkyl’s Recall

23 Ancient Tomb

22 Smokestack

22 Pyrostatic Pillar

22 Pyroblast

22 Pernicious Deed

22 Gorilla Shaman

21 Mindslaver

21 Blood Moon

20 Sphere of Resistance

20 Gemstone Mine

19 Psychatog

19 Maze of Ith

19 Intuition

19 Coffin Purge

19 Chain of Vapor

19 Birds of Paradise

18 Tendrils of Agony

18 Skullclamp

18 Defense Grid

18 Deep Analysis

17 Worldgorger Dragon

17 Decree of Justice

16 Scrubland[/author]“][author name="Scrubland"]Scrubland[/author]

16 Platinum Angel

16 Animate Dead

15 Skeletal Scrying

15 Seat of the Synod

15 Necromancy

15 Faerie Conclave

15 Disenchant

14 Nevinyrral’s Disk

14 Karn, Silver Golem

14 Counterspell

14 Arcbound Worker

13 Oxidize

13 Gilded Lotus

13 Cabal Therapy

12 Windswept Heath

12 Wild Mongrel

12 Thoughtcast

12 Shivan Reef

12 Rebuild

12 Quirion Ranger

12 Phyrexian Dreadnought

12 Orim’s Chant

12 Illusionary Mask

12 Frogmite

12 Elvish Spirit Guide

12 Disciple of the Vault

12 Cloud of Faeries

12 Basking Rootwalla

12 Arcbound Crusher

12 Academy Rector

12 Anger

11 Volrath’s Shapeshifter

11 Spiketail Hatchling

11 Powder Keg

11 Myr Enforcer

10 Sundering Titan

10 Lightning Bolt

10 Hydroblast

10 Ground Seal

10 Grim Lavamancer

10 Energy Flux

10 Curiosity

10 Artifact Mutation

9 Su-Chi

9 Petrified Field

9 Ophidian

9 Future Sight

9 Exalted Angel

9 Duplicant

9 City of Traitors

9 Chill

9 Bayou

8 Pentavus

8 Mogg Fanatic

8 Land Grant

8 Impulse

8 Gaea’s Blessing

8 Fiery Temper

8 Daze

8 Chain Lightning

8 Bloodstained Mire

8 Arrogant Wurm

7 Verdant Force

7 Roar of the Wurm

7 Pyrokinesis

7 Price of Progress

7 Phyrexian Negator

7 Oath of Druids

7 Morphling

7 Echoing Truth

7 Berserk

6 Violet Eruption

6 Uktabi Orangutan

6 Sword of Fire and Ice

6 Solemn Simulacrum

6 Scald

6 Memnarch

6 Isochron Scepter

6 Goblin Vandal

6 Flametongue Kavu

6 Dance of the Dead

6 Arcane Laboratory

6 Ambassador Laquatus

5 Vault of Whispers

5 The Abyss

5 Sylvan Library

5 Sphere of Law

5 Rushing River

5 Meltdown

5 Lightning Greaves

5 Great Furnace

5 Genesis Chamber

5 Firestorm

4 Waterfront Bouncer

4 Tinder Wall

4 Teferi’s Response

4 Sylvan Safekeeper

4 Skyshroud Elite

4 Sinkhole

4 Shrapnel Blast

4 Shattering Pulse

4 Seal of Cleansing

4 Scrivener

4 Savannah

4 Rushwood Legate

4 Rogue Elephant

4 River Boa

4 Rancor

4 Propaganda

4 Plateau

4 Nantuko Shade

4 Myr Retriever

4 Jackal Pup

4 Incinerate

4 Hidden Stag

4 Hidden Gibbons

4 Goblin Piledriver

4 Goblin Lackey

4 Goblin Charbelcher

4 Goblin Cadets

4 Giant Growth

4 Ghazban Ogre

4 Ensnaring Bridge

4 Druid Lyrist

4 Diabolic Edict

4 Cursed Scroll

4 Circular Logic

4 Circle of Protection: Red

4 Chromatic Sphere

4 Bounty of the Hunt

4 Annul

4 Ankh of Mishra

3 Well of Knowledge – WTF of the Month

3 Viashino Heretic

3 Siege-Gang Commander

3 Shadowmage Infiltrator

3 Seal of Removal

3 Sacred Ground

3 Rootwater Thief

3 Reckless Charge

3 Ray of Revelation

3 Phage the Untouchable

3 Oblivion Stone

3 Mind’s Eye

3 Merchant Scroll

3 Lim-Dul’s Vault

3 Leonin Abunas

3 Illusions of Grandeur

3 Goblin Goon

3 Emerald Charm

3 Dwarven Miner

3 Dust to Dust

3 Donate

3 Diminishing Returns

3 Darksteel Colossus

3 Damping Matrix

3 Brain Freeze

3 Barbarian Ring

3 Arcbound Stinger

3 Abeyance

2 Wonder

2 Withered Wretch

2 Winter Orb

2 Wall of Roots

2 Voidmage Prodigy

2 Vindicate

2 True Believer

2 Terminate

2 Talisman of Dominance

2 Smother

2 Riftstone Portal

2 Pyrite Spellbomb

2 Nether Void

2 Moment’s Peace

2 Moat

2 Meddling Mage

2 Masticore

2 Mana Leak

2 Living Wish

2 Karplusan Forest

2 Goblin Sharpshooter

2 Gilded Drake

2 Geth’s Grimoire

2 Genesis

2 Elf Replica

2 Crash (inferred from”Crush”)

2 Compulsion

2 Careful Study

2 Bind

2 Forge[/author]“]Battlefield [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]

2 Badlands

1 Viridian Zealot

1 Viridian Shaman

1 Unsummon

1 Underground River

1 Tradewind Rider

1 Spoils of the Vault

1 Spike Weaver

1 Sliver Queen

1 Renounce

1 Pulse of the Fields

1 Primitive Justice

1 Meditate

1 Karplusan Forest

1 Humility

1 Gigapede

1 Gemini Engine

1 Flash Flood

1 Elvish Scrapper

1 Elvish Lyrist

1 Ebony Charm

1 Divert

1 Dismiss

1 Deconstruct

1 Darksteel Citadel

1 Boneshredder

1 Aura Fracture

1 Armageddon

1 Arcbound Overseer

1 Adarkar Wastes


That’s all for now, faithful reader.


Philip Stanton

a.k.a.”Dr. Sylvan”, Moderator on TheManaDrain.com

prstanto at uiuc.edu