As you have probably already heard, the StarCityGames.com Legacy Open had a record turnout in Indianapolis. 286 players played 831 matches; a full 150 more matches than were played in Richmond! To start, let’s take a look at the field breakdown followed by the spreadsheet:
I included Team America and Tezzerator in the breakdown since both archetypes showed up in the Top 16 and had very strong (if limited) records on the day.
Here is the spreadsheet… enjoy!
Let’s take a look at some of the poplar decks in Indy and how they did compared to Richmond.
Merfolk continues to be one of the most successful archetypes and Tarmogoyf improves everything, so, of course, Merfolk had even more success with the little Green giant added to the list. (Sean Gray — 4th and Thomas Farrer — 15th) Winning almost 55% of your matches against the rest of the field is pretty good, but the version with Tarmogoyf pushed it to taking almost two thirds of the matches it played. Those are pretty good numbers to have on your side.
One set of numbers turned around in Indy as the Reanimator match-up evened out. With the success of Reanimator in Richmond and at GP: Madrid, you would have to believe that the fish brought some extra sideboard hate. Ad Nauseam went from a good match-up in Richmond to a perfect match-up on the day, and Charbelcher remains the deck that you want to sit across from as a Merfolk player.
Reanimator put up sub-standard numbers in Indianapolis after breakout performances in Richmond and Madrid. Let’s take a look.
There is clearly less data on Reanimator than Merfolk, but it still shows a trend toward match-ups that were favorable in Richmond evening out. While Reanimator has proved that it is one of the most powerful archetypes in the format, the strategy has shown in format after format that it is easily disrupted. With four major cards to deal with graveyards that are essentially free and colorless, (Tormod’s Crypt, Leyline of the Void, Ravenous Trap and Bojuka Bog) it is easy for any deck to find an appropriate sideboard answer and be prepared for Reanimator. Looking at the top decks, it is quickly apparent that dealing with the opponent’s graveyard is one of the main functions of the sideboards.
Today’s bonus deck is Tommy Kolowith’s 18th place Dredge list. Out of the major archetypes, (10 or more players) no other deck has as high a win percentage against the rest of the field. Extending down to 5 or more decks, Merfolk with Tarmogoyf and Survival builds squeak past it, but it was still one of the top performers on the day despite not posting any money finishes. Dredge posted a dominating 6-0-0 record against Reanimator, very strong numbers against Counter-Top (9-4-0, 69.23%) and showed a respectable game against Merfolk (4-5-1, 45.00%) and Ad Nauseam (3-3-0, 50.00%). Zoo looks to be its weakest mainstream match-up at 3-5-0 (37.50%).
With Counter-Top’s pervasiveness in the format and Reanimator an increasingly popular deck, Dredge is pretty well situated in the current metagame.
Creatures (26)
- 4 Hapless Researcher
- 4 Putrid Imp
- 3 Ichorid
- 1 Flame-Kin Zealot
- 4 Golgari Grave-Troll
- 1 Golgari Thug
- 4 Stinkweed Imp
- 4 Narcomoeba
- 1 Sphinx of Lost Truths
Lands (13)
Spells (21)
I am really excited about our event in Orlando this weekend and I hope to see a lot of you there. Remember that we will be at Phoenix Games for their special $500 Friday Night Magic, buying cards and taking preregistration for the Open Weekend. Sign up early and beat the rush!