 | Date Posted: 5/21/2009
Posted By: Ben Warren
Member Since: 3/18/2008
Number of Replies: 23
Last Post: 5/30/2009 |
| | The State of Standard | In my boredom, I decided to take all of the results from all of the Regionals that StarCityGames has posted and tallied how many of each deck that were in the top 8. The results are as follows:
B/W Tokens-64
G/W Overrun-28
Boat Brew-18
R/B Aggro-18
G/B Elves-15
5CC-14
Jund Ramp-14
U/W Reveillark-12
Bant Aggro-10
Faeries-9
Jund Aggro-8
White Weenie-6
B/W Kithkin-5
G/W Little Kid-4
5C Bloodbraid-4
Turbofog-4
Esperlark-4
G/R Aggro-3
Swan Combo-3
Naya Aggro-3
Doran Aggro-2
Sanity Grinding-2
Dark Bant-2
Blightning Aggro-2
Naya Mana Ramp-2
Countryside Dreamcrusher- 1
Esper Aggro-1
Cascade Swans-1
Doran Rock-1
Esper Control-1
RDW-1
Merfolk-1
Grixis Control-1
4C Ramp Control-1
Elementals-1
Planeswalkers Control-1
Creakwood Rock-1
B/W Nyxathid Aggro-1
The first thing that I noticed when I was reviewing this was B/W Tokens. Ridiculous. 64 Top 8s during Regionals. The next best deck was G/W Overrun, which is pretty much B/W Tokens without Bitterblossom and hand disruption. With the exception of some top 8 lists missing(stupid StarCityGames), there were 269 decklists posted. 34% of the field is running the combination of Windbrisk Heights and Spectral Procession. The combination of those two cards is incredible, and just about the only thing that stops these cards from wrecking your day is a counter or Volcanic Fallout. Combine Spectral Procession with Glorious Anthem and Bitterblossom and you're looking pretty good. This isn't even mentioning Cloudgoat Ranger, Ajani Goldmane, etc. If you're not playing this deck, you better be playing to beat it, or else you WILL lose.
One thing I did notice about these decks is the absence of really good control. The majority of decks in the format are aggro-based. On top of that, these aggro decks can "evolve" with their sideboard to become a more control-oriented deck. Ridiculous. How do you beat a deck that has all the answers? Volcanic Fallout, Wrath of God, Cryptic Command. Those seem to be the keys to stopping the massive creature hoards that almost every single one of these top decks produce. Hell, even control is becoming increasingly more aggro-oriented.
Now on to the good news. There were 38 different decks that made the top 8. I don't know about you, but I can't ever remember a time in which 38 "different" decks can all be viable contenders in a format. But we already know this if you follow Magic at all. This format is so wide open it's ridiculous. Something is going to break. I can feel it. Some deck is going to come out of the woodwork and absolutely smash apart everything.
Speaking of unpopular decks that I think will soon be popular.....has anyone noticed those Swans decks? Remember when Swans was really popular in Time Spiral Standard? Well, it's looking like Swans can make a comeback, especially since with the new Cascade spells you can easily get to your combo pieces by turn five and go off.
Another deck that I believe is going to have to be dealt with or you'll lose to is Turbofog. It didn't make a ton of top 8's, but it just recently showed it's face and when players start to realize it's potential, it's going to get big. It absolutely demolishes B/W Tokens and any aggro strategy. It usually runs about 14-18 "fog" effects including Cyptic Command, Holy Day, Angelsong, etc. With the combination of card draw with Howling Mine and Font of Mythos, and the ability to make never-ending fog effects with Elspeth combined with Knight-Captain of Eos really puts a damper to any aggro strategy. Make sure you're packing Wheel of Sun and Moon. That card makes Turbofog cry. Primal Command doesn't hurt either.
One cool thing that I saw that actually got somebody first place in a Regionals was a deck called Countryside Dreamcrusher. That deck used the combination of Countryside Crusher and Knight of the Reliquary to smash their opponents faces in. Along with that awesome combination of cards, they also ran 4 Volcanic Fallout and 2 Wrath of God to wipe the board before they played their "big" guys. This deck has a lot of potential, and I expect it to become the new Naya midrange deck.
What really disappointed me was the fact that 9 Faeries players actually managed to top 8. Thats sickening. Even with all of the hate, they can still win. But we all know how to beat them don't we?
In conclusion, you should really make sure that you're running a ton of board sweepers in the future. B/W Tokens is the new Faeries, and it's sickening. I'm looking forward to the time when there isn't one deck mucking up the format, and if everyone started playing smart, I think that B/W Tokens can be easily beaten.
Good luck with this format. You'll need it.
Pwn'd. |
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 | Date Posted: 5/21/2009
Posted By: Martin Stanley
Member Since: 2/29/2008
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| Wizards website has a article today about B/W tokens and they mention the Turbo Fog deck has about a 80% of beating it at least before sideboards. I hadn't seen that Crusher/Reliquary deck but that sounds cool.
Terry Hoitz: I'm like a peacock, you gotta let me fly! |
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| Pulp Fiction. Too easy Martin.
"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read." - Pliny the Elder |
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| Date Posted: 5/21/2009
Posted By: Martin Stanley
Member Since: 2/29/2008
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| I will try to make it a little tougher tomorrow Tony, maybe something older.
Terry Hoitz: I'm like a peacock, you gotta let me fly! |
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| Shane come back.
"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read." - Pliny the Elder |
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| Date Posted: 5/22/2009
Posted By: Martin Stanley
Member Since: 2/29/2008
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| Damn you Tony, did you know this one from a couple weeks ago:Mark Stiggs: Loud, real loud. It has to generate a terrifyingly seismic field of noise. If we could combine really loud noise with the ugliness of poverty, we'd have the ideal car. The entire dialogue goes like this:Mark Stiggs: [specifying the Gila Monster car to Ms Bunny] OK, Ms. Bunny! Number 1, we want zero miles to the gallon.
Oliver Cromwell 'O.C.' Ogilvie: Right. No MPGs. It has to be a vulgarlay inefficient mode of trasnportation.
Mark Stiggs: Loud, real loud. It has to generate a terrifyingly seismic field of noise. If we could combine really loud noise with the ugliness of poverty, we'd have the ideal car.
Mark Stiggs: ...making people think that you're poor, so they know you've got nothing to loose if they crash into your car....
Mark Stiggs: Here's a list of places I want this car to be totally unwelcome. Number one: funerals. Number two: affairs of state, you know, real formal ones...ones with...chamber music. Number three: wet golf greens. Number four: the acropolis.
Oliver Cromwell 'O.C.' Ogilvie: Ah, yes. Driving this car right in the acropolis should be completely horrifying to every civilized guy on earth.
Terry Hoitz: I'm like a peacock, you gotta let me fly! |
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| No Idea.
"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read." - Pliny the Elder |
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| How about this one:
"Dear Mr. Bickle, I can't say how happy Mrs. Steensma and I were to hear that you are well and recuperating. We tried to visit you at the hospital when we were in New York to pick up Iris. But you were still in a coma."
"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read." - Pliny the Elder |
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| How's about this one:
"Meet mister acherontia styx... Somebody grew this guy. Fed him honey and nightshade. Kept him warm. Somebody loved him."
"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read." - Pliny the Elder |
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| One more:
"Of her acting it is absolutely impossible to say anything except that, in the opinion of this reviewer, it represents a new low."
"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read." - Pliny the Elder |
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| O.K. I'm on a roll:
"The day I take you is when you've got everything you want, when you're happy, when you have nothing to gain and everything to lose."
"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read." - Pliny the Elder |
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| "But a king should be afraid, always, of the enemy waiting everywhere in the corridors of his castle, on the deer paths of his forest or in a more tangled forest in here. {taps skullcap}"
"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read." - Pliny the Elder |
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| Date Posted: 5/22/2009
Posted By: Martin Stanley
Member Since: 2/29/2008
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| First one has to be Taxi Driver and the second is Silence of the Lambs I think, the last three I'm not sure.
Terry Hoitz: I'm like a peacock, you gotta let me fly! |
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| "Well, what are we gonna do now?"
"Ass to ass."
"Put your spineless back into it."
"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read." - Pliny the Elder |
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| "Dad told us that there were moments in everyone's life when they could just suddendly disappear without anyone knowing where they went or why. He said those were the moments when god's hands could take you. According to dad, nothing, not even a camera, could catch us. We were invisible when we were god's hands."
"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read." - Pliny the Elder |
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| "You put poison in your veins, and now that you're breathing again you can't wait to say "Thank You," and get back out to poison shopping. Well, since we saved your life, could you do us a favor and stop breathing in another city next time?"
"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read." - Pliny the Elder |
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| "We could have a woman sent to your quarters? A boy? Perhaps a duck?"
"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read." - Pliny the Elder |
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| "Undisciplined. Unpunctual. Untidy. Several Languages. Knowledge of music. Literature. Knowledge of... Knowledge of... You're an interesting man, there's no doubt about it... I'm promoting you major."
"I don't think that's a very good idea."
"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read." - Pliny the Elder |
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| "We could have a woman sent to your quarters? A boy? Perhaps a duck?" is from Shogun.
The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. - Friedrich Nietzsche |
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 | Date Posted: 5/25/2009
Posted By: Travis Peifer
Joined before August '08
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| I doubt anyone will get this one
"Strength through discipline. Strength through community. Strength through action!"
Hampton: "Can you read, my son?" Bubbles: "Well, that depends, can you go fuck yourself?" |
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| Date Posted: 5/29/2009
Posted By: Martin Stanley
Member Since: 2/29/2008
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| Oh the acting one is from Citizen Kane isn't it? The king thing is from Excalibur a Merlin quote perhaps?
Terry Hoitz: I'm like a peacock, you gotta let me fly! |
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| "Dear Mr. Bickle, I can't say how happy Mrs. Steensma and I were to hear that you are well and recuperating. We tried to visit you at the hospital when we were in New York to pick up Iris. But you were still in a coma." - Taxi Driver
"Meet mister acherontia styx... Somebody grew this guy. Fed him honey and nightshade. Kept him warm. Somebody loved him."
- The Silence Of The Lambs
"Of her acting it is absolutely impossible to say anything except that, in the opinion of this reviewer, it represents a new low." - Citizen Kane
"The day I take you is when you've got everything you want, when you're happy, when you have nothing to gain and everything to lose." - The Carpetbaggers (Jonas is talking about having sex with his step-mother)
"But a king should be afraid, always, of the enemy waiting everywhere in the corridors of his castle, on the deer paths of his forest or in a more tangled forest in here. {taps skullcap}" - Excalibur
"Well, what are we gonna do now?"
"Ass to ass."
"Put your spineless back into it." - Requiem For A Dream (yes this quote is referring to two women a double intruder)
"Dad told us that there were moments in everyone's life when they could just suddenly disappear without anyone knowing where they went or why. He said those were the moments when god's hands could take you. According to dad, nothing, not even a camera, could catch us. We were invisible when we were god's hands." - Frailty
"You put poison in your veins, and now that you're breathing again you can't wait to say "Thank You," and get back out to poison shopping. Well, since we saved your life, could you do us a favor and stop breathing in another city next time?" - Bringing Out The Dead
"We could have a woman sent to your quarters? A boy? Perhaps a duck?" - Shogun
"Undisciplined. Unpunctual. Untidy. Several Languages. Knowledge of music. Literature. Knowledge of... Knowledge of... You're an interesting man, there's no doubt about it... I'm promoting you major."
"I don't think that's a very good idea." - Lawrence Of Arabia
"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read." - Pliny the Elder |
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| Date Posted: 5/29/2009
Posted By: Martin Stanley
Member Since: 2/29/2008
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| Ah I was going to guess Requiem for a Dream, I should have known!
Terry Hoitz: I'm like a peacock, you gotta let me fly! |
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 | Date Posted: 5/30/2009
Posted By: Zack Strait
Member Since: 4/9/2008
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| Lol, why have you hijacked two threads for movies?
"The shit look like ya hand when you be doin a shadow puppet for a duck n shit nahmean. Shit be lookin like it jus caught a pop fly in center field n whatever whatever nahmean." re: Ghostface Killa on lil' kim's vagina. |
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