SCG Open Series
| Top 8 | Top 16 | |
| Merfolk | 11 | 22 |
| Zoo | 11 | 17 |
| Reanimator | 8 | 13 |
| Counter-top Goyf | 6 | 14 |
| Ad Nauseam Tendrils | 4 | 6 |
| Blue Lands | 5 | 6 |
| Thopter Swords | 2 | 4 |
| Landstill | 1 | 2 |
| Others | 24 | 60 |
SCG Seattle (June 13th 2010) 13th UBg Landstill – Charles Gordon
Mana (24)1 Island
4 Flooded Strand
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Polluted Delta
3 Tropical Island
4 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland
Disruption (24)
4 Pernicious Deed
4 Innocent Blood
2 Ghastly Demise
3 Spell Pierce
3 Spell Snare
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
Win (4)
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Others (8)
4 Standstill
4 Brainstorm
Sideboard (15)
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
3 Engineered Plague
3 Blue Elemental Blast
3 Extirpate
2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Perish
SCG Indianapolis (Mar 14th 2010) 6th UWr Landstill – Michael Bernat
Mana (24)1 Island
1 Plains
2 Faerie Conclave
4 Flooded Strand
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Polluted Delta
1 Tolaria West
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
3 Wasteland
1 Academy Ruins
Disruption (23)
3 Engineered Explosives
1 Path to Exile
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Fire//Ice
2 Orim's Chant
3 Isochron Scepter
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
Win (2)
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Others (11)
2 Crucible Of Worlds
4 Standstill
4 Brainstorm
1 Fact or Fiction
Sideboard (15)
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Descendant of Kiyomaro
4 Meddling Mage
3 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Red Elemental Blast
In contrast, UW control seemed to be doing well in large scale Legacy events in Europe. In the 498-player Bazar of Moxen 4 event held in France, there were 3 UW control decks in the top-8, none of them packing the Thopter-Sword combo.
Bazaar of Moxen IV (15th May 2010) Top4 - Guillaume Wafo-Tapa - UWg Landstill
Mana (23)4 Mishra's Factory
1 Glacial Fortress
2 Plains
2 Island
2 Tropical Island
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
4 Misty Rainforest
Disruption (22)
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
3 Spell Snare
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Humility
1 Wrath of God
1 Day of Judgment
3 Engineered Explosives
Win (5)
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Others (10)
4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill
2 Sensei's Divining Top
Sideboard (15)
3 Faerie Macabre
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Meddling Mage
3 Spell Pierce
1 Day of Judgment
3 Krosan Grip
Bazaar of Moxen IV (15th May 2010) Top8 - Martin Usoansky - UWr Landstill
Mana (24)1 Academy Ruins
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Plains
1 Island
1 Plateau
2 Volcanic Island
4 Tundra
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
Disruption (21)
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Snare
3 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Engineered Explosives
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
Win (3)
1 Eternal Dragon
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Others (12)
4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill
2 Fact or Fiction
2 Crucible of Worlds
Sideboard (15)
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Sower of Temptation
1 Echoing Truth
3 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Disenchant
2 Pyroclasm
Bazaar of Moxen IV (15th May 2010) Top8 - Benito Hernández - Baneslayer Control
Mana (22)1 Karakas
1 Scrubland
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Swamp
3 Plains
6 Island
2 Marsh Flats
2 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
Disruption (25)
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Force of Will
3 Counterspell
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Wrath of God
4 Esper Charm
3 Engineered Explosives
3 Relic of Progenitus
Win (6)
4 Baneslayer Angel
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Others (7)
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
Sideboard (15)
4 Perimeter Captain
4 Meddling Mage
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Ravenous Trap
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Perish
1 Path to Exile
The top 16 decklists can be found here.
Amazingly, an almost identical UW Baneslayer Control deck top-8-ed D-Day 3, a 178-players event in Italy. You can find the rest of the Top-8 decks here.
D-Day 3 (15th March 2010) Top 4 UW Baneslayer Control - Jaime Cano Garcia
Mana (22)1 Karakas
1 Scrubland
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Swamp
3 Plains
6 Island
2 Marsh Flats
2 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
Disruption (25)
4 Force of Will
3 Counterspell
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Wrath of God
4 Esper Charm
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Engineered Explosives
Win (6)
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Baneslayer Angel
Others (7)
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
Sideboard (15)
4 Perimeter Captain
4 Meddling Mage
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Ravenous Trap
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Perish
1 Ray of Distortion
Just why is there such a difference in performance of UW control in the 2 regions?
Immediate Board Control
Note that all of the European UW control decks focus heavily on immediate board control. With the exception of the UWr Landstill deck, all of the European UW control decks pack 2 Wraths, 3 Engineered Explosives, and 4 Swords to Plowshares in the maindeck. Jace, the Mind Sculptor helps in the board control are by bouncing creatures the turn it lands and fatesealing future threats away. The idea of board control to brought to an extreme by Wafo-Tapa who added 2 more Humility to drastically reduce the damage dealt by opposing creatures. This combos with the soldier tokens that Elspeth, Knight-Errant generates. Even Baneslayer Angel creates such a dominating board presence that attacks are nulled by the lifegain. Adopting a broader sense of board control to include planeswalkers and Baneslayer Angel, this brings the total number of cards that have an immediate effect on the board to the range of 12 (UWr) – 16 (Wafo-Tapa) in European lists.
The 2 American Landstill lists that reached top 16 pack a significantly lower amount of immediate board control package that spreads across UWBR. Qualitatively, the Fire side of Fire//Ice in the American UWr list is significantly weaker than the Lightning Bolt in the European UWr list as it cannot kill fast 1 drops like Loam Lion/Kird Ape/Wild Nacatl. Isochron Scepter generates loss of tempo as it acts as the removal spell imprinted only if you can spare 2 more mana for its activation. Moreover, Pernicious Deed lands turn 3 and wipes out the board a turn later, much like a Wrath of God does on turn 4 but without the tempo lost. Engineered Explosives also compares favourably to Deed as it fulfils the “Destroy target Aether Vial/Counterbalance” command of Deed at a comparable or faster rate. In total, the American Landstill decks pack 10 – 12 immediate board control (12 – 14 if you consider Pernicious Deed as immediate).
Mana Stability
The abundance of Wasteland meant that Landstill has to pack some amounts of basic lands to avoid being screwed. Here again, we see that the European lists pack 2 – 10 basics, with 6 or 8 fetchlands to get them. The American lists have only 1 or 2 basics and 6 or 8 fetchlands.
Crucially, both American lists pack Wasteland of their own in an attempt to screw with the opponent's manabase. I think that this is a serious mistake. Wasteland works best when you can color-screw the opponent. With virtually all decks using fetchlands and basics for mana stability, this is unlikely to occur. In the vast majority of the time, it functions as a tempo gain as you exchange 1 land drop with your opponent's. In this scenario, you're behind a mana as they can tap their wasted land for spells but you can't. If you cannot make use of the tempo gained (via creatures on board or otherwise), Wasteland just presents you with a scenario where you're behind.
Landstill is fundamentally not a tempo deck. It controls the pace of the game with disruption and lands a bomb while protecting it with counterspells. It needs its mana more than to gamble on the the unlikely situation of color-screwing the opponent. The Wasteland should be replaced with basic lands for greater mana stability.
Adapting Standard for Legacy
Impressively, the Baneslayer control decklists for both BoM iv and D-Day 3 differed by only 1 card in the sideboard! Apart from the manabase, Force of Will and Engineered Explosives, the rest of the deck should be easily accessible to standard players of UW control. Dual lands can be replaced by quality substitutes such as Glacial Fortress, just like what control master Wafo-Tapa did. Moreover, Misty Rainforest is easily acquired and acts as a pseudo-substitute for Flooded Strand in combination with the M10 duals. Engineered Explosives is more difficult, but a combination of Spell Pierce and Path to Exile, combined with good decision making skills should do the trick.
Standard to Legacy UW Baneslayer Control
Mana (22)2 Drowned Catacomb
3 Glacial Fortress
1 Swamp
3 Plains
5 Island
4 Marsh Flats
4 Misty Rainforest
Disruption (25)
4 Force of Will
3 Counterspell
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Wrath of God
4 Esper Charm
3 Spell Pierce
3 Path to Exile
Win (6)
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Baneslayer Angel
Others (7)
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
Sideboard (15)
4 Perimeter Captain
4 Meddling Mage
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Ravenous Trap
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Perish
1 Ray of Distortion
There is no effective replacement for Force of Will, as it deals with all sorts of nasty first turn plays and broken combo decks. However, if you must, you might find it beneficial to leave mana open in the first few turns for your plows and Spell snare/Spell Pierce. Oh, and remember to pray to your personal deity. It might help.
Appendix
SCG Open Statistics| Top 8 | Top 16 | |
| Merfolk | 11 | 22 |
| Zoo | 11 | 17 |
| Reanimator | 8 | 13 |
| Counter-top Goyf | 6 | 14 |
| Blue Lands | 5 | 6 |
| Ad Nauseam Tendrils | 4 | 6 |
| New Horizons | 4 | 5 |
| Aggro Loam | 3 | 7 |
| Goblins | 3 | 6 |
| Thopter Swords | 2 | 4 |
| Belcher | 2 | 4 |
| Canadian Threshold | 2 | 3 |
| UW Tempo | 2 | 3 |
| Dredge | 1 | 6 |
| Painter Grindstone | 1 | 3 |
| Bant | 1 | 3 |
| Team America | 1 | 3 |
| Survival of the Fittest | 1 | 2 |
| Landstill | 1 | 2 |
| Mono-Black Control | 1 | 2 |
| Deadguy Ale | 1 | 1 |
| Enchantress | 1 | 1 |
| Eva Green | 0 | 3 |
| White Stax | 0 | 1 |
| Scapeshift | 0 | 1 |
| Helm of the Void | 0 | 1 |
| Show and Tell Eureka | 0 | 1 |
| Mono-Blue Control | 0 | 1 |
| Red-Deck Wins | 0 | 1 |
| Death and Taxes | 0 | 1 |
| BGw Junk | 0 | 1 |
| 72 | 144 |
June 13th 2010 SCG Open Seattle
1st New Horizons2nd Zoo
3rd Zoo
4th Merfolk
5th Reanimator
6th Zoo
7th Survival of the Fittest
8th Deadguy Ale (BW Aggro)
9th Merfolk
10th Goblins
11th Mono-White Stax
12th Reanimator
13th Landstill
14th Aggro Loam
15th Ad Nauseam
16th Thopter Sword
June 6th 2010 SCG Open Philadelphia
1st Zoo2nd NO Pro Counter-top
3rd New Horizons
4th New Horizons
5th Zoo
6th Ad Nauseam Tendrils
7th Zoo
8th Blue Lands
9th Uw Merfolk
10th New Horizons
11th Zoo
12th Enlightened Counter-top Thopter Swords Control
13th Merfolk
14th Zoo
15th Scapeshift
16th Blue Lands
May 2nd 2010 SCG Open Atlanta
1st Ad Nauseam Tendrils2nd Reanimator
3rd New Horizons
4th Belcher
5th Goblins
6th Reanimator
7th Zoo
8th Reanimator
9th UW Tempo
10th Goblins
11th NO Pro Counter Top
12th Reanimator
13th Helm of the Void
14th UR Painter Grindstone
15th Merfolk
16th Show and Tell + Eureka
March 28th 2010 SCG Open Orlando
1st Goblins2nd Naya Aggro Loam
3rd Merfolk
4th Bant Counter-top
5th Bant
6th Uw Merfolk
7th Reanimator
8th Enlightened Counter-top Thopter Swords Control
9th Mono-Black Control
10th Counter-top Dark Bant
11th Merfolk
12th Dredge
13th Mono-Blue Control
14th Death and Taxes (White Weenie)
15th NO-Pro Counter-top
16th Eva Green + W
March 14th 2010 SCG Open Indianapolis
1st Blue Lands2nd Goblins
3rd Team America
4th Ug Merfolk
5th Mono-Black Control
6th Landstill
7th Reanimator
8th Tezzerator
9th Merfolk
10th Counter-top Survival
11th Belcher
12th Eva Green
13th Reanimator
14th NO Pro Counter-top
15th Ug Merfolk
16th Team America
Feb 28th 2010 SCG Open Richmond
1st Ug Merfolk2nd Reanimator
3rd NO Pro Counter-top
4th Ad Nauseam Tendrils
5th Zoo
6th Merfolk
7th Reanimator
8th Ad Nauseam Tendrils
9th NO Pro Counter-top
10th Reanimator
11th NO Pro Counter-top
12th Zoo
13th Zoo
14th NO Pro Counter-top
15th Merfolk
16th Zoo
Jan 10th 2010 SCG Open Dallas/Fort Worth
1st Zoo2nd Blue Lands
3rd Ug Merfolk
4th Imperial Painter
5th Merfolk
6th Merfolk
7th Canadian Threshold
8th UW Tempo
9th Imperial Painter
10th Dredge
11th Merfolk
12th Merfolk
13th Aggro Loam
14th Dark Zoo
15th Ad Nauseam Tendrils
16th Ugb Counter-top
Jan 3rd 2010 SCG Open Los Angeles
1st Enchantress2nd Zoo
3rd UW Tempo
4th NO Pro Counter-top
5th Counter-top Trinket Goyf
6th Dredge
7th Canadian Threshold
8th Belcher
9th Aggro Loam
10th Bant
11th Goblins
12th Dredge
13th Eva Green
14th Bant
15th Merfolk
16th Belcher
Dec 13th 2009 SCG Open St Louis
1st Aggro Loam2nd Blue Lands
3rd Merfolk
4th Zoo
5th Merfolk
6th Aggro Loam
7th Blue Lands
8th NO Pro Counter-top
9th Reanimator
10th Canadian Threshold
11th BGw Junk
12th Team America
13th Dredge
14th Aggro Loam
15th Red Deck Wins
16th Dredge Tweet this!
No comments:
Post a Comment