I played at Northern Regionals. I took my modification of Josh Silvestri rework of Evan Erwin Glittering Control deck. My highlights included a turn 3 kill. The lowlights included a couple play errors that cost me Top 8. I’ve also included the Top 8 decklists, and a breakdown of all the Regionals Top 8 decks across the U.S. and the world. Enjoy.
Regionals is badly timed, for me at least*. Thanks to Auction, planting season and so forth, I hadn’t playtested for Regionals at all. For some of the truly gifted players out there, that would not be a problem. For me – problem.
I’ve always loved decks like G/B Survival, The Rock. and similar creature-based, mid-range control decks. I always look for a similar deck for events like Regionals. The choice, this year, was between Project X and Glittering Wish Control. Since Project X is, in effect, a mix of toolbox and combo deck, and since playing a combo deck completely cold is a bad idea, I sleeved up Glittering Wish Control.
The other downside of choosing my deck at the last moment was that I didn’t leave enough time to order cards I needed (from StarCityGames.com, of course.) Instead, I pulled the deck together Friday – and realized that I was short three Wishes, two Leylines of the Void, and a Teneb. Teneb was easy – I found one in my five-color highlander fun deck, while digging for duals. The Glittering Wishes I bought: I find myself playing the other Wishes in casual and multiplayer decks all the time, and I figure that Glittering Wish will be no different. (The value of Glittering Wishes may fall, however, once Ravnica rotates. Just fire up Gatherer and check out the list of multicolor cards in Time Spiral block, Coldsnap, and Tenth. It’s Slivers – and nothing else. We’ll miss Ravnica when it goes.)
I picked up one Leyline of the Void, bringing me to three, but decided not to spend money (or waste time begging from friends) to get the fourth. Instead, I added one Giant Solifuge to the sideboard in its place. I figured this was Evan Erwin deck, so I’d play Cap’n Tickles in his honor.
Cap’n Tickles won me a match, so it’s all good.
Here’s the deck.
Creatures (10)
Lands (24)
Spells (26)
If you are thinking of playing the deck, watch this episode of The Magic Show which covers Evan’s 4th place finish in the StarCityGames.com $1k tourney, read the forum comments (especially Richard Feldman), and then Josh Silvestri article on reworking the deck.
Overall, I was reasonably happy with the deck – to the extent that I am putting it together for online play. The only changes I will be making are to replace the Putrefy in the board with a Mortify (there are far more enchantments that need killing than artifacts) and the Orzhov Pontiff might be better off as Crime/Punishment (since both can wipe out a hoard of goblins, but the Pontiff isn’t much use against a bunch of 2/2 zombies or factory tokens.) I will also work on putting Angel of Despair back in – the 5/5 flying Vindicate is just necessary sometimes. I just have to decide what to cut.
I also have some concerns about the manabase – but I’ll talk about that in Round 4. And Round 5. The short and sweet – too many mana sources that get drawn too often.
Round 1: Kirk J. / Ghazi-Glare
I had a turn 2 Castigate, revealing Spectral Force, Watchwolf, and Glare of Subdual. I took Glare, and had to blow a Mortify on the Spectral Force. He ripped another Glare, and I killed that, and a third that I killed with Harmonic Sliver. By then I had Damned his forces to hell and had a Phyrexian Arena working. Over the next nine turns, I drew lands, Search for Tomorrows, and multiple Persecutes – which I threw at my empty-handed opponent out of sheer frustration. Arena damage and a Llanowar Elf killed me.
Game 2 I mulliganed some, but still managed a turn 4 Teneb. Kirk managed a Glare on turns 4, 5, and 6 – the last two ripped right off the top. I couldn’t kill the last Glare fast enough. The nail in my coffin, however, was his Vitu-Ghazi, the City Tree. If I had had an Angel of Despair in the sideboard, I could have killed it and won, but instead I started in the 0-1 bracket. (I should note that Kirk also brought in two Mystic Enforcers, and my only answer to those bad boys is Damnation. If Korlash Control gets any more popular, Mystic Enforcer might appear in my sideboard, too.)
Nationwide, versions of Ghazi-Glare made the Top 8 in three different Regionals. If you add Canada and the UK to the mix, then the count rises to four. That’s not a lot, considering that the U.S., UK, and Canadian Regionals lists – at least those I can find – include 253 decks.
Round 2: Gabe J. / Reanimator
Gabe was a nice kid, but turn 2 Undertaker, turn 3 Royal Assassin didn’t exactly fill me with dread. It also didn’t look good for my tiebreakers going forward. He was also playing Cruel Edict, and Avatar of Discord (mainly as a way to discard Angel of Despair, Avatar of Woe and so forth.) I made a lot of mana, some Walls, then drew a Glittering Wish with nine mana available. Debtors’ Knell proved pretty useful against him, once I killed the Undertaker. Whatever. He was a nice kid, but it was a casual deck at best.
No decks featuring the Undertaker / Zombify combo made Top 8 either in the U.S., the UK or Canada.
Round 3: Mark H. / Solar Flare
He had a reasonably typical Solar Flare build, with a Body Double, but also featuring at least one copy of Take Possession and a pair of Akroma, Angel of Wrath. We both accelerated our mana early, but I managed to resolve a Phyrexian Arena quickly. (Okay, “managed to resolve” against a deck with nothing but Remand to stop you isn’t that tough.) I also managed to resolve a Debtors’ Knell and won with the Akroma he pitched early on to Compulsive Research. Game 2 was similar – the only damage I took was from my own Arena. I wished for Grave-Shelled Scarab, and he could not deal with it as often as I could cast it.
Solar Flare is not Undertaker/Zombify. Solar Flare was the third most common deck in Top 8s, both in the U.S. (with 14 of the 158 decks reporting) and in the U.S. / UK / Canada combined stats, where it managed 18 appearances. The exact mix will vary, but this U/W/B deck usually features the following:
Compulsive Research plus Careful Consideration and/or Court Hussar
Wrath of God and Damnation
Castigate and Persecute
Mortify / Sudden Death
Angel of Despair / Akroma, Angel of Wrath / Skeletal Vampire, etc.
Body Double
Signets and Phyrexian Totem
Lands, including at least one Urza’s Factory
This deck is solid. Expect to see a lot more of it online and in FNM Standard tournaments.
Round 4: Scott A. / Mono-Blue Pickles
Mono-Blue Pickles runs a ton of counters, plus the Brine Elemental / Vesuvan Shapeshifter combo. It does have a lot of counterspells, but I have a lot of must-counter cards. I test-spelled a lot: Castigate (Remand), Castigate (Rewind), Persecute (Rewind) – then Phyrexian Arena stuck, and soon drew me the cards to force a Persecute through. However, the Arena only managed to ensure that I hit my first eleven land drops – and my regular draws gave me Walls of Roots and Search for Tomorrows. In two out of three games I was badly mana flooded, and had no pressure at all. My only “threat” was the Church of Deals.
I will need to experiment with the mana. Twenty-eight mana sources is too many. If only Night’s Whisper, or something like that, was legal. (And waiting for Tenth Edition won’t help, even if Night’s Whisper were reprinted. The word on the street is that it will lose Phyrexian Arena when XE arrives.)
Exactly one Pickles deck made a Top 8 nationwide, or worldwide, for that matter, on that day.
Round 5: Anthony G. / White Weenie
At 2-2, I was playing in the dead-and-should-be-gone brackets, a.k.a. the people just playing for fun. My opponent had a true White Weenie deck – and a nearly 100% foil White Weenie deck at that. He hadn’t seen a Sulfur Elemental all day. One game Orzhov Pontiff stood in for Sulfy and offed a couple Priests and Javelineers, but I ended up drawing lands and mana sources when he drew threats, and I ended up on the bad side of a 1-2 result. It was close (life totals were 2-0 in game 3) but close isn’t a win.
White Weenie did not make Top 8 anywhere. The closest thing to pale beats was Dark Boros (which had three slots) and a single two-color Boros deck.
Round 6: Mark S. / Mono-Green Beats
The 2-3 bracket is populated by those who are playing for fun or who are too dumb or stubborn to drop. Since Ingrid was judging, I wasn’t going to leave early, and Constructed is more fun than draft, I don’t have to try to decide which group I fit.
The main reason for mentioning this round is that I got my turn 3 kill in this match.
This deck has little problem with aggro deck, in general. Mark’s deck, however, had a lot of hasty creatures, so Damnations and discard really didn’t help all that much. Nor did Loxodon Hierarchs, when they keep falling over when the Timbermare’s attack. Despite all that, you pretty much win if you don’t get mana flooded.
My turn 3 win happened like this.
Him: Forest, Birds
Me: Overgrown Tomb, tapped
Him: Forest, Llanowar Elves, Llanowar Elves
Me: Forest, Wall of Roots, suspend Search for Tomorrow.
Him: Forest, spend some time in thinking phase, Summoner’s Pact for Cap’n Tickles, Cap’n Tickles, beat for 7.
Me: Overgrown Tomb untapped, Damnation
With only three Forests in play, he could not pay Pact upkeep, and lost. Pacts kill.
What, you think I beat down with turn 1 Teneb or something? It’s a frikkin’ control deck. To win on turn 3, you need a whole lot of help from your opponent.
Moving on.
Rounds 7 & 8: Another Glare (w/ Red) and a Blue-heavy Dralnu deck.
More adventures from the far tables: my problems with Glare seem to come from mana flood, so I want to test the deck further with one less land and one more removal spell. The Glare deck splashed Red for Detritivore. The low point of my day was Castigating him on turn 3 and seeing three in his hand – and once I had dealt with all of those, he topdecked the fourth about turn 7. Despite losing all my non-basics to Detritivores, I still had eight mana available, and would have won if I had had an Angel of Despair in the sideboard.
The mono-Blue matchup was all about the turn 3 Persecutes – that were Commandeered. I still won, but the games were very long, drawn out affairs. The high point: Cap’n Tickles swung for the final two points in game 2. (Well, he would have, but I mistapped early on, and couldn’t activate the Church one turn. My opponent actually finished that game at one life.)
Conclusions about the Deck
I like the deck a lot. The manabase may need some tuning. I want to cut a land or two, then try a lot of test games. Otherwise, this deck fits my style nicely, and I will try it out on MTGO. I just need to get the Wishes. (I made a couple Top 8s in release event PEs, won a couple dozen packs of Future Sight and drafted them away – and I have seen zero Wishes. I have close to a double playset of Barren Glories (after trading some away early), but no Wishes. I’ll get some, though. The deck is too much fun not to build.
I am also not sure about the sideboarding for Gruul and NarcoDredge. I didn’t face either deck, so I’m not sure how critical the Last Gasps and Leylines are. The online testing I have done so far (with a badly constructed version using the cards I have so far) is inconclusive. I’ve played against badly constructed Dredge decks, so my results don’t mean squat.
I’m not yet expert with the deck, so watch / read the articles listed above for full information on playing this deck. Let’s move on to what matters.
Breakdown of U.S. Regionals Top 8 Results
The decklists are on the flagship site, and over here on the right-hand sidebar. I went through every decklist, and compiled these stats**. The big two are pretty obvious: Gruul and Dragonstorm. The rest of the bunch are pretty varied – and some really unusual decks did quite well. For example – check out the winner in LA. The very first deck in the very first list features Loxodon Warhammer. I didn’t see that coming.
U.S. Regionals Breakdown (158 decks)
Dragonstorm: 24
Gruul: 22
Solar Flare: 14
Dredge / Bridge: 12
Project X: 12
Korlash Control: 9
Dralnu: 9
Black Rack / Korlash Beats: 8
Lightning Angel Control: 7
Zoo: 6
B/W Crovax: 4
Glittering Wish Control: 3
G/W Glare: 3
U/W Control: 3
Wildfire: 3
Hatching Plans: 2
Rakdos: 2
Sea Stompy: 2
Dark Boros: 2
Not a ton of surprises there. I did track a lot of one-off decks: everything from Stormbind to mono-White Martyr decks, but all of them made only a single Top 8.
Adding Canada and the UK brings the total of listed decks to 253. (A few events only reported seven decklists.)
U.S., UK, and Canada Regionals Breakdown (253 decks)
Gruul: 41
Dragonstorm: 35
Solar Flare: 18
Korlash Control: 16
Dredge / Bridge: 15
Dralnu: 15
Project X: 14
Lightning Angel Control: 13
Zoo: 13
Black Rack / Korlash Beatdown: 10
Mono-Blue Pickles: 6
Glittering Wish Control: 5
Izzetron: 5
G/W Glare: 4
Hatching Plans: 4
B/W Crovax: 4
Mono-Red : 4
U/W Control: 3
Wildfire: 3
Dark Boros: 3
B/W Martyr: 3
Green Beats: 2
Rakdos: 2
Sea Stompy: 2
Northern Regionals
Our Regionals had a few interesting lists, in addition to the fairly standard Dragonstorm and Project X lists. Check these out:
Creatures (32)
- 4 Thought Courier
- 2 Flame-Kin Zealot
- 4 Golgari Grave-Troll
- 1 Lore Broker
- 4 Stinkweed Imp
- 4 Drowned Rusalka
- 4 Magus of the Bazaar
- 4 Simian Spirit Guide
- 1 Bonded Fetch
- 4 Narcomoeba
Lands (19)
Spells (9)
Sideboard
Lands (16)
Spells (44)
- 4 Sleight of Hand
- 4 Seething Song
- 4 Claws of Gix
- 4 Remand
- 4 Hatching Plans
- 2 Repeal
- 4 Perilous Research
- 4 Rite of Flame
- 3 Chromatic Star
- 4 Empty the Warrens
- 3 Ignite Memories
- 4 Lotus Bloom
Sideboard
Creatures (12)
Lands (24)
Spells (24)
Spells (27)
Sideboard
I’ll have to try these out on MTGO sometime. I already own the cards for the Black Rack and Hatching Plans decks. Getting the Korlashes and Bridges from Below with be trickier, but these decks all work on MTGO (unlike Project X.) I expect to see a lot of them, as people begin practicing for U.S. Nationals.
U.S. Nationals, on the other hand, may be a little different. Tenth Edition will be legal for that event – and rumor has it that Phyrexian Arena will not be in Tenth. That pretty much eliminates Glittering Wish control. Tenth Edition may affect the other decks as well. The biggest question is Seething Song. If it’s out, then Dragonstorm and Hatching Plans need to find replacements or die. Of lesser concern to those decks, although the painlands have been confirmed, Sleight of Hand has not. Neither have some of the pieces of the Black Rack deck, like Ravenous Rats and Blackmail.
Tenth Edition will make the world more interesting.
PRJ
“one million words” on MTGO
* Badly timed enough that last week, for the first time in a long time, I couldn’t finish an article.
** I did my best to classify these, but they all have variations. For a with, I separated the Korlash control and Korlash aggro decks, but the two ends kept getting closer to the middle, and in the end I lumped them together. The same thing happened with Dralnu splashing White and Solar Flare and U/W Control splashing Black: they form a continuum, and classifying them is as much art as science. No matter how you classify, however, these should be pretty close to correct, within a confidence intervals of about plus or minus one.