Coming off of last week I was curious to see if MUC was going to bounce back and take its trophy for Classic PDC for the fourth time this season. We had a smaller crowd turn out this week, but the defending deck was back. Would the result be the same?
Writers Note: If I happen to talk about your deck and you want to clarify something about how it works or its classification, you can email me at davebarone@aol.com and explain. Also, if you want your deck to be discussed then you have to post it in the event thread (note: this doesn’t guarantee I’m going to) I can’t really talk about a deck if I don’t know what’s in it.
Tournament Overview:
Event – Classic PDC, 7.06
Format – Classic, Matches
With eleven entrants on Saturday and no Angel Stompy, I don’t want to draw an enormous amount out of the results for this past week. However, it is impressive for a deck to come out and win back to back with MUC in the field both weeks. About seven of the decks in the field were what I would think of as consistent or “solid” decks. This is something I want to watch more closely. I may even look over past tournament results to check as well for the % of rogue decks. I imagine or hope that over time this number will decrease and more will play “accepted” archetypes. I don’t think it has been a trend previous Classic seasons so I wonder if it will develop this year. The following decks represented the field:
Control – 3: Rats & Removal, MUC (2)
Aggro – 5: RB Husk (2), UB Aggro, WG Aggro, WR Aggrolition
Midrange (aggro control) – 1: Xombies
Combo – 0:
Aggro Combo – 2: Merfolk/Elf, RWB Kami Lock
Top 4 (top 8) Analysis:
Our Top 4 this past Saturday was made up of some familiar faces. Each deck had made the elimination rounds at another tournament this season. MUC, RW Aggrolition, Rats & Removal, and RB Husk were the respective combatants, two aggro and two control. The MUC vs RnR semifinal was important because if Rats is able to stay in this matchup consistently (note: it lost to another MUC in the swiss) it may create new problems for MUC in the metagame as now not only does it have to contend with Aggro, but Control as well. This could lead to difficult build decisions on the MUC player’s part and I am interested to see if there will be any build changes in reaction to the recent tournament results. In the other Semi, RW Aggrolition defeated RB Husk. I keep thinking about RB Husk as I mentioned last week. This is probably because I like the color combo so much and because I find the deck interesting. I am curious if one of the pilots could post what their current matchup problems are with the deck. I’ll have to look into the trends myself, but like I have said before it is right on the cusp and I am curious what it is running into that is keeping it away. In the Final RW Aggrolition faced RnR. I would expect RW to have a good sideboard for this matchup, but in practice, I’m not surprised RnR won as it gains too many cards over RW in the end and can typically answer the hosers. RW however, is a deck that continues to have possibilities in my mind. It has access to Lifegain, Artifact/Enchantment Destruction, Fast & Aggressive Creatures, and Effective Hosers for Red, Blue & Black, Burn, Removal and Protection. The only real element it lacks is consistent card advantage sources. I have been suggesting a RW aggro deck for much of the season as a threat to MUC and think it would cause trouble for other aggro and if built properly may be a problem for Red and/or Black removal decks. It has been little played thus far to different results in different builds, so I am still waiting for a firm design to emerge. I do think it has somewhere to go though.
The Field Analysis:
The remaining 7 decks of the field fell into the categories like so: three Aggro, one Control, two Aggro Combo, and one Aggro Control. The Kami Lock deck doesn’t seem to have it in this metagame. RB Husk is capable as one made the elimination rounds and the same goes for MUC. The Merfolk/Elf Aggro Combo Deck has possibilities, but I’m not sure if it has been solidified yet.
Season Tracking & Head to Heads:
I have been waiting to look at some of the season trends for the first few weeks and I think I finally have some data worth looking at. Its not going to be in the form of charts and graphs really, but I just have taken a grasp of a few deck statistics that I have seen so far and think are important to take note of and will toss them out below:
This week I wanted to give players a look at the top match records for the different Classic Archtypes so far this season. Please note, I used 20 matches played as a minimum for any type (not including mirrors), so there will be ones missing, but I did want a more suitable sample size.
Angel Stompy 22-8
MUC 32-13
RG 17-13
GW Cloak 10-10
RB Husk 17-18
Orzhov Blink 17-21
Burn Range 8-12
Innovations, Changes, New Decks:
I expect next week will be the time of where we see some new decks or at least some cards get integrated into current Classic Decks with Weatherlight coming out tomorrow. I have fond memories of playing Weatherlight in paper, so I have been looking forward to this release myself. I browsed the list the other day checking for cards I will want to acquire to at least test out. I’m going to leave a best cards for each deck review to someone else, but I do want to see what is tried come next weekend and if any new ideas are born.
Final Thoughts:
Things can change very quickly even in the Classic metagame. A couple of weeks ago the season had been awash in Blue. Now there are some other decks in on the action. The thing I am watching for now is how if at all will MUC adjust at this moment? Are changes in order now that another control deck is present and Aggro has finally broken through? Will another Archetype emerge if MUC falters that will feed on the other strong decks? What about RW, does it have a place? A lot of questions to be answered, and the season is in full gear.
Hope you enjoyed reading.
Jaknife/Dave
I have been playing RB husk the past few weeks and i play against the field really well.
My most notable matchup problems are against Stompy. Stompy usually is too fast in its first few turns that it puts my deck on the defensive too early. Also a cloaked ledgewalker is problems pre-board.
The only other match ups i have had issues with is Orzhov. The life loss/ Life gain is what hurts the most. These games usually go in to the teens and twenty of turns. without life gain to stablize i often will lose on the back of 1 too many Hunters.
The Deck plays well against Burn range, MUC, and other Husk style decks. The only matchups that really hasn’t been tested have been Cloak and deep dog.
Cloak i think would create a problem, The deck can play through some lifegain, but when it gets silly then it can be problematic, but other than the Ledgewalker, the creature suite isnt a problem. And deepdog i have no clue.
I think the big reason why you haven’t seen it in elimination is that i only play 1-2 rounds in Classic PDC. And i don’t think Boremark has enough of certain cards to make it as powerful (lightning bolt). Other than us 2 no one else really runs it with consistency, so there is no innovation going on.