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Vintage Metagame Breakdown: March

The reason I wanted to wait an extra week or so on describing the March data was to find some continuity between Trinisphere and post-Trinisphere metagames. Fortunately, the connection isn’t “games are over on turn 1”. The connection is Mana Drain. Any look at the March tournaments begs the question of what will now disappear from the Vintage metagame, and what will be playable that wasn’t before.

The reason I wanted to wait an extra week or so on describing the March data was to find some continuity between Trinisphere and post-Trinisphere metagames. Fortunately, the connection isn’t “games are over on turn 1”. The connection is Mana Drain. Any look at the March tournaments begs the question of what will disappear, and what will be playable that wasn’t before.


I’m saying this kinda ex post facto, but the answer to the former is clearly reliance on Trinisphere, and the latter is: not much. Basically, as decks evolved to coexist with Trinisphere, they became much better, leaner decks. Anything that was outclassed by Trinisphere was also outclassed by these decks. The widespread concern was that combo decks would gain greatly, and that thesis may yet be proven if enough skilled players pick up those decks, but for now combo is at about the place it was before Trinisphere’s restriction.


About this time in 2004, hybridization of archetypes was a hot topic, because it was becoming more apparent that plain control decks without a combo finish were facing tougher times, and Marc Perez’s success with Fish highlighted the strength of playing both aggro and control. Presently, the theme is less categorical-hybridization and more hybridization amongst individual cards. Decks running more of the biggest-effect cards win more. This was not always true in the past because fewer decks had ways to use as many of them in the same strategy.


As an illustration, Landstill is an older-school deck. Its biggest abuses come from Mana Drain mana fueling a Nevinyrral’s Disk. It stays in the bounds of the control category, winning at a genuinely glacial pace. An example category-hybridizing deck would be Fish, the strategic merits of which have been discussed extensively by others. A deck which has rapidly turned into a card-hybridizing deck is Control Slaver.


CS has the characteristics to make it adaptable to as many unrestricted power cards as possible: it plays large quantities of both blue and artifact cards, and thanks to its wide range of accelerants and recursion, it can use resources from all over the map. CS has natural room for all of the following: Mana Drain, Force of Will, Goblin Welder, Intuition (or Thirst for Knowledge), and Brainstorm. On top of that, Welder pushes the deck in a way that it also has the cards for Tinker, and the graveyard focus that benefits Yawgmoth’s Will. When you think about power cards that it doesn’t run, the most important gaps are accelerants that are only debatably on par with what the deck already has (Ritual and Workshop).


Mishra’s Workshops force their player into a huge artifact commitment. Even after Mirrodin block this is not a choice without drawbacks. Rituals force a huge focus on early turns and Black spells, which is again, not without drawbacks. But there is no real drawback to being a Blue mage. When you look at it through this lens, it becomes obvious why Control Slaver has persisted while Workshop Slaver has all but disappeared.


7 tournaments totaled (51,63,66,70,71,86,116 players)

7 Trinistax* (U/R) (1,1,5,6,7,7,8)

7 TPS (2,3,3,4,4,7,8)

6 Control Slaver** (1,2,4,5,5,5)

5 U/B/R Psychatog (1,3,4,5,6)

5 4C Control (2,3,4,6,7)

5 Cerebral Assassin (2,5,6,6,7)

3 U/W/R Landstill (4,6,8)

2 Monoblue (1,3)

2 5/3*** (1,8)

2 Fish (5,7)

2 Oath of Druids (8,8)

1 Mud (Monobrown) (1)

1 3C Control (2)

1 Gifts Ungiven (Drain) (2)

1 Rector Tendrils (2)

1 B/U/G Skullclamp (3)

1 Sensei, Sensei (3)

1 R/U/G Control Madness (4)

1 Sligh (6)

1 Food Chain Goblins (8)

1 ? (7)


* : 6 U/R, 1 Rainbow

** : 2 AK, 4 non-AK

*** : 1 Monobrown, 1 Rainbow


These results have the noteworthy exclusion of all April data including SCG Chicago.


And here I thought Bizarro World was a Vs. card.

Returning to my original point about what’s disappearing, the surprise answer is “not Stax”. Kevin Cron got the dreaded ninth place at SCG Chicago with his latest Stax creation, and Robert Vroman played a Bizarro World variant of the deck based on Uba Mask into the quarterfinals, proving that the archetype is still a contender. The decks that are really suffering are those that leaned on Trinisphere too much, like 5/3. Unlike Stax, other lock cards are not interchangeable for 5/3, so the Workshop aggro player loses a primary plan, while Trinistax simply mutates into a better version of its pre-Darksteel self, with Crucible of Worlds added in. To fill the vacuum, expect Workshop players to upgrade to 7/10s (or 1/1s, if you play Ravager), or try to play the more complicated Smokestack strategy.


Here’s the overall metagame divided by engine card.


Metagame Occurrence (by percentage of all T8 decks)

(Decks appearing once or twice in the course of 14 months are generally excluded.)


Mar., Apr., May., Jun., Jul., Aug., Sep., O-N., D-J., Feb., Mar.

_1.4, _0.0, _0.0, _1.8, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.3, _2.5, _0.0, _1.8 3C Control

_9.7, _9.7, 14.6, 19.6, _9.7, _7.5, 10.9, _1.3, _1.3, _5.7, _8.9 4C Control

_2.8, _4.2, _6.3, _1.8, _1.4, _7.5, _7.8, 10.0, _7.5, _8.0, 10.7 Control Slaver

_0.0, _1.4, _6.3, _5.4, _2.8, _2.5, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 GAT

12.5, _8.5, 10.4, 10.7, _8.3, _2.5, _9.4, _5.0, 12.5, _4.6, _8.9 Psychatog

_2.8, _4.2, _4.2, _0.0, _2.8, _0.0, _6.3, _1.3, _2.5, _8.0, _5.4 Landstill

_0.0, _1.4, _2.1, _0.0, _0.0, _5.0, _6.3, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _3.6 Monoblue

_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, 12.5, 12.5, _8.0, _3.6 Oath of Druids

_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.3, _2.5, _0.0, _0.0 Salvagers

_2.8, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 SuperGro

_1.4, _1.4, _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, _0.0, _1.8 Sensei, Sensei

_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.8 Gifts Ungiven (Drain)

33.4, 30.8, 43.9, 39.3, 25.0, 25.0, 40.7, 32.4, 38.8, 34.3, 46.5 TOTAL Drain archetypes


Mar., Apr., May., Jun., Jul., Aug., Sep., O-N., D-J., Feb., Mar.

_4.2, _8.5, _8.3, _8.9, 11.1, 15.0, 12.5, _5.0, 13.8, 11.4, 12.5 TPS

_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.3, _1.3, _0.0, _0.0 Doomsday

_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _2.5, _1.6, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 DeathLong

_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.3, _0.0, _0.0 Meandeck Tendrils

_2.8, _1.4, _2.1, _5.4, _1.4, _2.5, _0.0, _2.6, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 Belcher

_5.6, _4.2, _2.1, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _2.5, _0.0, _1.8 Rector

12.6, 14.1, 12.5, 14.3, 12.5, 20.0, 14.1, _8.9, 17.7, 11.4, 14.3 TOTAL Ritual Archetypes


Mar., Apr., May., Jun., Jul., Aug., Sep., O-N., D-J., Feb., Mar.

_2.8, _1.4, _2.1, _7.2, _2.8, 12.5, _6.3, 10.0, _1.3, _2.2, _3.6 5/3

_0.0, _0.0, _2.1, _1.8, _0.0, _2.5, _0.0, _1.3, _2.5, _0.0, _0.0 7/10 Split

_1.4, _2.8, _2.1, _0.0, 13.9, _2.5, _6.3, _7.5, _6.3, _8.0, _1.8 MUD / wMUD

_2.8, _4.2, _2.1, _3.6, _6.9, 10.0, _4.7, 10.0, 10.0, 11.4, 12.5 Stax

_2.8, _5.6, _4.2, _1.8, _0.0, _2.5, _0.0, _1.3, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 TnT

_1.4, _5.6, _2.1, _3.6, _4.2, _2.5, _1.6, _0.0, _1.3, _4.6, _0.0 Workshop Slaver

11.2, 19.6, 14.7, 18.0, 27.8, 32.5, 18.9, 30.2, 21.4, 26.2, 17.9 TOTAL Workshop Archetypes


Mar., Apr., May., Jun., Jul., Aug., Sep., O-N., D-J., Feb., Mar.

_2.8, _4.2, _6.3, _5.4, _6.9, _0.0, _4.7, _3.8, _0.0, _0.0, _1.8 Bazaar Madness

_5.6, _6.9, _4.2, _8.9, _5.6, _2.5, _6.3, _6.3, _6.3, _5.7, _0.0 Dragon

_1.4, _0.0, _2.1, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.6, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 Oshawa Stompy

_2.8, _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, _0.0, _8.9 Cerebral Assassin

12.6, 11.1, 12.6, 14.3, 12.5, _2.5, 12.6, 10.1, _6.3, _5.7, 10.7 TOTAL Bazaar Archetypes


Mar., Apr., May., Jun., Jul., Aug., Sep., O-N., D-J., Feb., Mar.

_5.6, _2.8, _6.3, _0.0, _6.9, 10.0, _4.7, _3.8, _1.3, _5.7, _3.6 Fish

_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _2.8, _0.0, _0.0, _1.3, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 Kiodo CounterBurn

_0.0, _0.0, _2.1, _0.0, _0.0, _2.5, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 U/G Madness

_5.6, _2.8, _8.4, _0.0, _9.7, 12.5, _4.7, _5.1, _1.3, _5.7, _3.6 TOTAL Null Rod Archetypes


Mar., Apr., May., Jun., Jul., Aug., Sep., O-N., D-J., Feb., Mar.

_5.6, _1.4, _4.2, _7.2, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _3.8, _2.5, _1.1, _1.8 FCG / Gobvantage

_2.8, _4.2, _0.0, _1.8, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.3, _0.0, _1.1, _0.0 Vengeur Masque

_1.4, _1.4, _0.0, _0.0, _1.4, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 Goblin Sligh

_0.0, _4.2, _0.0, _5.4, _4.2, _0.0, _0.0, _1.3, _0.0, _1.1, _0.0 Affinity

_2.8, _1.4, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.1, _1.8 Sligh

_0.0, _4.2, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _3.1, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0 Modular

_2.8, _0.0, _4.2, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _1.3, _1.3, _0.0, _0.0 R/G Beats

15.4, 16.8, _8.4, 14.4, _5.6, _0.0, _3.1, _7.7, _3.8, _4.4, _3.6 TOTAL Other Archetypes


Workshops are at an almost all-time low, and they will probably go down further in months where Trinisphere is out of the picture. Since we’ve already seen SCG Chicago’s results, we know that Workshops are still in the picture, but we also know that Mana Drain is the card to beat, especially outside the Workshop-heavy Midwest. Considering the reshuffling of Mana Drain-based strategies, there’s an interesting phenomenon going on, since most of the new combo decks are also Drain-based. Since Drain is the best unrestricted card besides Force of Will, my theory is that it actually defines its own little metagame food chain without regard for the other archetypes in the field:


Classic Card Advantage Control < Board-based Drain Combo < Drain Board Control < Hard Drain Combo


So to clarify: Card Advantage means 3/4C Control, Psychatog, or Mono-Blue. Board-based combo is Control Slaver or Oath, Board Control is Landstill, and hard combo is Sensei, Sensei or Gifts Ungiven. That’s not to say that this food chain is always true, in fact sometimes the “worse” decks may be the right choice, but in general that’s the flow. This works because each deck’s skeleton of counters and draw mostly cancels out, but each step in the chain has strategy superiority over the step below – Oath and CS are just much better at being the beatdown than Psychatog can be at playing control, and I’ve previously explained how those two don’t have a prayer against the Disk.


I don’t have overwhelming results to back this theory up, but it is endorsed by Vintage expert and professional hobo Ben Kowal. As more and more people play more and more Mana Drains (and we get more SCG event matchup results from Ferrett’s wizardry), we’ll see whether or not it pans out. I can hardly wait for the day when Mana Drain is conceived as primarily a combo deck accelerant.


Mar., Apr., May., Jun., Jul., Aug., Sep., O-N., D-J., Feb., Mar.

_1.6, _2.6, _1.7, _2.9, _3.2, _2.4, _3.3, _3.4, _1.2, _3.9, _3.3 Ancient Tomb

_3.6, _3.6, _4.0, _4.6, _4.9, _0.8, _3.9, _3.5, _2.4, _2.2, _3.4 Bazaar of Baghdad

_0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.0, _0.4, _0.0, _0.2, _0.5, _0.0, _0.0 Cabal Ritual

____, ____, ____, _0.4, _4.6, _8.2, _7.3, _7.3, _5.6, _8.0, _7.9 Crucible of Worlds

_4.0, _4.7, _4.0, _4.6, _4.8, _6.4, _4.6, _3.9, _7.1, _5.5, _4.6 Dark Ritual

_3.0, _1.3, _1.8, _1.9, _0.4, _1.8, _2.0, _2.2, _0.6, _1.0, _0.0 Elvish Spirit Guide

_4.8, _7.8, _6.0, _7.7, _6.9, 12.0, _7.0, 12.3, _7.4, _9.8, 10.3 Goblin Welder

____, ____, ____, ____, ____, ____, ____, _0.3, _1.4, _1.8, _1.4 Gifts Ungiven

_3.2, _2.1, _4.5, _2.9, _3.2, _0.8, _4.5, _6.5, _8.3, _4.8, _5.9 Intuition

_0.9, _0.9, _0.7, _1.7, _0.4, _0.8, _0.0, _0.8, _0.4, _0.0, _0.0 Land Grant

_9.8, _9.3, 13.8, _9.1, _8.0, _8.6, 13.3, _9.5, 11.7, 11.9, 15.0 Mana Drain

_4.2, _8.9, _4.2, _6.6, _9.8, 11.4, _7.5, _9.8, _7.1, _9.1, _5.7 Mishra’s Workshop

_1.3, _3.8, _3.2, _5.1, _3.8, _7.6, _4.8, _7.9, _5.3, _6.4, 10.0 Thirst for Knowledge

_0.9, _0.4, _0.7, _1.7, _0.4, _0.8, _0.0, _0.8, _0.0, _0.0, _0.4 Tinder Wall

10.7, 12.1, 17.0, 11.7, 17.4, 16.2, 19.1, 16.5, 12.6, 16.0, 14.0 Wasteland

_1.1, _2.3, _1.7, _2.3, _2.1, _4.0, _2.9, _3.3, _3.1, _3.6, _5.0 Tinker

_3.0, _3.3, _4.0, _3.7, _3.1, _3.6, _3.4, _2.0, _3.6, _3.1, _4.3 Yawgmoth’s Will


Speaking of accelerants and otherwise offensive cards, the cards at all-time highs are Thirst for Knowledge, Mana Drain, Tinker, and Yawgmoth’s Will. These again show the push for keeping a great deal of defensive power while accelerating the combo kills that Vintage decks thrive on. TPS’s continued strength could be viewed as it acting much like a Drain combo deck (before there was such a thing), but one that splits Mana Drain’s functions into Duress and Dark Ritual.


Post-Trinisphere, everyone has fortunately seen fit to catch their breath about restrictions and stop writing epic-length rebuttals of rebuttals. In this spirit, TMD’s Spanish ambassador, Gaby van Dinteren a.k.a. “Gabethebabe”, started the silent auction equivalent of a restriction shouting match here, with each poster basically voting for or against a restriction each day. Enough people voting either way would make that card either restricted or immune to restriction. By the time the thread degenerated into the tongue-in-cheek restriction of Force of Will, it had the following victims:


OMG, Yawg actually tore a [card name=

Dark Ritual Restricted 1st

Goblin Welder Restricted 2nd

Grim Tutor Restricted 3rd

Oath of Druids Restricted 4th

Yawgmoth’s Will Banned

Mana Drain Unrestrictable

Gifts Ungiven Restricted 5th


I found this fascinating. The thread was going roughly as I expected up until Oath got so many down votes. For the purposes of metagame analysis, to me all of these choices say that people feel very vulnerable to decks that can just go off in their faces. Even with virtually every deck packing first-turn Force of Will defense (28 copies per Top 8, a new record), this feeling persists, and even a higher-mana spell like Gifts attracts the concern. Since in competitive T1 the answer to combo is combo-control, the wise metagamer should probably consider packing Arcane Laboratory for all the people who will stifle their fears with another dose of Drain-fuelled combo.


By far the most interesting part of this thread though, was seeing the split between pro- and anti-Drain votes. It went back and forth for days, but eventually the timing and certain voters shifting to other targets brought about the declaration of Mana Drain as a sacred cow. The thread’s dearth of words only made it seem more vehement to have a dozen people continuously change one little number on a list, and I could see much truth in this caricature of a real debate. When Mana Drain hits 60% or 70% of all Top 8 decks (you heard me, I said “when”), I’m not looking forward to the acrimony. Until then, play Mana Drain – prove my prophecies correct!


Philip Stanton

prstanto at gmail.com


(Tables in this article only go back one year; consult your local librarian* if you’re interested in older information.


* : That’d be me, in this case.)


Appendix: Card Counts From Jeek

48 Sol Ring

47 Ancestral Recall

47 Mox Sapphire

46 Black Lotus

46 Mox Pearl

46 Mox Ruby

45 Mox Emerald

45 Mox Jet

42 Time Walk

35 Tinker

34 Mana Crypt

33 Demonic Tutor

33 Strip Mine

30 Yawgmoth’s Will

29 Mystical Tutor

29 Tolarian Academy

24 Vampiric Tutor

23 Mana Vault

19 Fact or Fiction

15 Lotus Petal

14 Library of Alexandria

13 Memory Jar

12 Timetwister

11 Mind Twist

10 Balance

8 Mind’s Desire

8 Necropotence

8 Yawgmoth’s Bargain

6 Wheel of Fortune

3 Enlightened Tutor

3 Entomb

3 Time Spiral

2 Burning Wish

2 Crop Rotation

2 Frantic Search

2 Gush

1 Chrome Mox

1 Lion’s Eye Diamond

1 Regrowth


172 Force of Will

120 Brainstorm

116 Island

105 Mana Drain

103 Polluted Delta

100 Volcanic Island

98 Wasteland

78 Underground Sea

76 Flooded Strand

76 Rack and Ruin

72 Goblin Welder

71 Red Elemental Blast

70 Thirst for Knowledge

61 Duress

55 Chalice of the Void

55 Crucible of Worlds

52 Tormod’s Crypt

51 Cunning Wish

50 Fire / Ice

43 Intuition

40 Mishra’s Workshop

38 Accumulated Knowledge

37 Trinisphere

37 Tundra

35 Smokestack

35 Tangle Wire

35 Triskelion

34 Swords to Plowshares

32 Dark Ritual

31 Gemstone Mine

30 City of Brass

30 Stifle

29 Blue Elemental Blast

26 Energy Flux

25 Skeletal Scrying

25 Sundering Titan

24 Arcane Laboratory

24 Bazaar of Baghdad

23 Ancient Tomb

23 Squee, Goblin Nabob

21 Deep Analysis

21 Duplicant

20 Animate Dead

20 Echoing Truth

20 Mishra’s Factory

20 Pyrostatic Pillar

19 Misdirection

19 Platinum Angel

19 Standstill

18 Lava Dart

18 Rebuild

17 Hydroblast

17 Null Rod

16 Chain of Vapor

16 Darksteel Colossus

16 Impulse

16 Pyroblast

14 Annul

14 Claws of Gix

14 Decree of Justice

14 Engineered Explosives

14 Tendrils of Agony

14 Tropical Island

12 Cloud of Faeries

12 Metalworker

12 Mountain

12 Rushing River

11 Grim Lavamancer

11 Swamp

10 Coffin Purge

10 Gifts Ungiven

10 Hurkyl’s Recall

10 Jester’s Cap

10 Karn, Silver Golem

10 Meddling Mage

10 Mindslaver

10 Oath of Druids

10 Psychatog

10 Shattering Pulse

9 Forbidden Orchard

9 Gorilla Shaman

8 Disenchant

8 Exalted Angel

8 Juggernaut

8 Powder Keg

8 Ray of Revelation

7 Bloodstained Mire

7 Brain Freeze

7 Defense Grid

7 Eternal Witness

7 Ground Seal

7 Mana Leak

7 Wooded Foothills

7 Worldgorger Dragon

7 Xantid Swarm

6 Back to Basics

6 Curiosity

6 Damping Matrix

6 Daze

6 Seal of Cleansing

6 Seat of the Synod

6 Taiga

5 Chill

5 City of Traitors

5 Control Magic

5 Disrupting Shoal

5 Firestorm

5 Future Sight

5 Morphling

5 Naturalize

5 Nevinyrral’s Disk

5 Pentavus

5 Shivan Reef

4 Academy Rector

4 Artifact Mutation

4 Basking Rootwalla

4 Blood Moon

4 Cabal Therapy

4 Chain Lightning

4 Circular Logic

4 Dandân – WTF of the Month

4 Darksteel Citadel

4 Fling

4 Food Chain

4 Gaea’s Blessing

4 Goblin Lackey

4 Goblin Piledriver

4 Goblin Recruiter

4 Goblin Ringleader

4 Goblin Warchief

4 Jackal Pup

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Mogg Fanatic

4 Night of Souls’ Betrayal

4 Ophidian

4 Orb of Dreams

4 Orim’s Chant

4 Possessed Portal

4 Skullclamp

4 Spiketail Hatchling

4 Trinket Mage

4 Viashino Heretic

4 Wild Mongrel

4 Æther Spellbomb

3 Bayou

3 Cranial Extraction

3 Diabolic Edict

3 Gempalm Incinerator

3 Goblin Bombardment

3 Goblin Matron

3 Helm of Awakening

3 Maze of Ith

3 Plains

3 Propaganda

3 Razormane Masticore

3 Roar of the Wurm

3 Sensei’s Divining Top

3 Skirk Prospector

3 Snuff Out

3 Spawning Pit

3 Sphere of Resistance

3 Su-Chi

3 Suq’Ata Firewalker

3 Tinder Wall

3 Underground River

3 Waterfront Bouncer

3 Winter Orb

2 Berserk

2 Careful Study

2 Death Spark

2 Engineered Plague

2 Flametongue Kavu

2 Goblin Cadets

2 Hanna’s Custody

2 Hearth Kami

2 Magma Jet

2 Masticore

2 Merchant Scroll

2 Old Man of the Sea

2 Pernicious Deed

2 Price of Progress

2 Pyrokinesis

2 Read the Runes

2 Recoup

2 Recurring Nightmare

2 Sacred Ground

2 Siege-Gang Commander

2 Snow-Covered Swamp

2 Tendo Ice Bridge

2 Windfall

2 Woodripper

1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath

1 Anger

1 Aura Fracture

1 Badlands

1 Bosh, Iron Golem

1 Circle of Protection: Red

1 Counterspell

1 Decree of Silence

1 Dismantling Blow

1 Ebony Charm

1 Engulfing Flames

1 Ensnaring Bridge

1 Eon Hub

1 Faerie Conclave

1 Forest

1 Form of the Dragon

1 Glimmervoid

1 Goblin Sharpshooter

1 Humility

1 Incinerate

1 Innocent Blood

1 Lim-Dûl’s Vault

1 Mind’s Eye

1 Moat

1 Mogg Salvage

1 Myr Moonvessel

1 Oxidize

1 Palinchron

1 Panoptic Mirror

1 Petrified Field

1 Phantom Nishoba

1 Primitive Justice

1 Reflecting Pool

1 Smother

1 Spirit of the Night

1 Stroke of Genius

1 Sword of Fire and Ice

1 Terminate

1 Urza’s Rage

1 Wail of the Nim

1 Wonder


Appendix 2: Raw Data

2005-02-26 Barcelona (http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=22113.0)(51 players)

1. Trinistax (U/R)

2. Cerebral Assassin

3. Monoblue

4. 4C Control

5. Control Slaver

6. Trinistax (4C)

7. Trinistax (U/R)

8. Food Chain Goblins



1. Jordi Misse

2. Xavi Bernat

3. Felix Vegas

4. Abraham Ureña

5. Marc Parellada

6. Pablo Ambrojo

7. David Pla

8. Sergio Millanes


2005-03-06 Leiden (http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=22265.0)(71 players)

1. 5/3 (4C)

2. Gifts Ungiven (Drain)

3. Sensei, Sensei

4. Control Slaver (AK)

5. Control Slaver

6. Cerebral Assassin

7. ?

8. TPS


1. Jaap brouwer

2. Daniel Paardekooper [daniel_112]

3. Rudy van Soest [rvs]

4. Wouter Dhondt [eddie]

5. Steffen

6. Stefan gussenhoven

7. Goswin Zeeman

8. Floris Dirkse


2005-03-13 Padova (http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=22356.0)(66 players)

1. U/B/R Psychatog

2. 3C Control

3. TPS

4. TPS

5. U/B/R Psychatog

6. Sligh

7. U/R Fish

8. U/W/R Landstill


1. Oppo, Alessandro

2. Larcher, Mario

3. Dalvit, Sandro

4. Olivi, Simone

5. Baxter, Nicholas

6. Zanon, Francesco

7. Meschie, Alessio

8. Scoz, Cristiano



2005-03-13 Turin (http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=22356.0)(86 players)

1. Mud (Monobrown)

2. Control Slaver (AK)

3. U/B/R Psychatog

4. U/B/R Psychatog

5. U/R/W Fish

6. U/B/R Psychatog

7. 4C Control

8. Oath of Druids


1. Gigi Buonaiuto

2. Andrea Garella

3. Marco Monchiero

4. Damien Levet

5. Davide Annunziata

6. Davide Savini

7. Daniele Verra

8. Alessandro Navone


2005-03-19 Igualada (http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=22390.0)(70 players)

1. Trinistax (U/R)

2. 4C Control

3. TPS

4. R/U/G Control Madness

5. Trinistax (U/R)

6. U/W/R Landstill

7. Trinistax (U/R)

8. Trinistax (U/R)


1. Ruben Lanzaco a.k.a. “Zent”

2. Roberto Lopez a.k.a. “Rober”

3. Miguel Angel Diaz a.k.a. “Wette”

4. Ruben Xicota a.k.a. “Xicota”

5. Oscar Hernandez a.k.a. “Osk”

6. Francisco Ibañez a.k.a. “Tyron”

7. Jordi Misse

8. David Pla a.k.a. “Kender”



2005-03-20 Iserlohn (http://www.morphling.de/top8decks.php?id=250)(116 players)

1. Control Slaver

2. TPS

3. 4C Control*

4. U/W/R Landstill

5. Cerebral Assassin

6. Cerebral Assassin

7. Cerebral Assassin

8. 5/3 (Monobrown)


1. Florian Grund

2. Dennis Rosinski

3. Patrick Richter

4. Johannes Jaspersen

5. Ole Krieger

6. Bjoern Ortmann

7. Oliver Salten

8. Fabian Moyschewitz


2005-03-24 Sweden (http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=22618.0)(63 players)

1. Monoblue

2. Rector Tendrils

3. B/U/G Skullclamp

4. TPS

5. Control Slaver

6. 4C Control

7. TPS

8. Oath of Druids

1-8. ?


* : This list contains an erroneous extra Tinker, which has been removed from the overall total.