When White Winnies is absent, Blinkdrifter shines and dances.
NOTE: This event is known as SPDC 4.XMAS at the moment (in gatherling). When Icarodx comes back, we will either make it officially 4.XMAS or 4.07. I will treat the event as 4.07 in this article.
It is very hard to understand why barely anyone played WW last Thursday, considering it won all the tournaments these past few weeks. Only 2 WW decks were present and they could simply not face all the hate that was thrown at them. Perhaps everyone expected a lot of WW and/or WW hate. In any case, pretty much everyone got it wrong, because the deck that won the event is the one deck that can’t beat WW. I find this incredibly ironic, but I love it!
Kudos to Bluedragon for playing Blinkdrifter. It’s hard to say whether he correctly predicted the metagame or if he just got lucky. What’s sure, however, is that his stellar play got him the Gold without dropping a single match.
Event Thread
The metagame
SPDC 4.07 Metagame is also available in the forums.
Metagame
Thanks to Me5794 for the metagame data
:1st: – First place
:2nd: – Second place
:t4: – Top 4
:t8: – Top 8
Aggro
Karakusk-> WW
Iguana123-> WW
bazzer-> Red Deck Storms
Rancorous Fool-> RDW – :t4:
hokusai22-> RDW
Nuklear Cooper ->RWG Slivers
White_Djinn-> MGA – :t8:
Mid-Range
CP70-> Blinkdrifter
bluedragon123-> Blinkdrifter – :1st:
53N531-> Dark Hulk
Hurriboy-> Sticks N’ Stones – :t8:
Control
stiffdiddypinky -> DS Rock
Colakim3-> DS Rock
Krosanbeast9359-> DS Rock
HWolverin83-> DS Rock – :t8:
jamuraa -> DS Rock w/Skred
RobE-> Grimdrifter
StiLLiRise-> Uber Teachings – :t8:
Aggro Control
Me5794 -> UR Illusions – :2nd:
Combo Control
dracon_ian -> Burnt Storm
Baron_Sengir6989-> Storm Control – :t4:
kehmesis-> Storm Control
—-
WW :dot: :dot:
RDW :t4: :dot: :dot:
Slivers :dot:
MGA :t8:
Blinkdrifter :1st: :dot:
Dark Hulk :dot:
Sticks N’ Stones :t8:
DS Rock :t8: :dot: :dot: :dot: :dot:
Grimdrifter :dot:
Uber Teachings :t8:
UR Illusions :2nd:
UR Storm :t4: :dot: :dot:
Playoffs
TOP 8:
——————————–
(1) Still I Rise (Uber Teachings)
(8) Rancorous Fool (RDW)
——————————–
(5) Me5794 (UR Illusions)
(4) White Djinn (MGA)
——————————–
(3) HWolverine (DS Rock)
(6) Baron Sengir (UR Storm Control)
——————————–
(7) Hurriboy (Stick N’ Stones)
(2) BlueDragon (Blinkdrifter)
——————————–
TOP 4:
——————————–
(8) Rancorous Fool (RDW)
(5) Me5794 (UR Illusions)
——————————–
(6) Baron Sengir (UR Storm Control)
(2) BlueDragon (Blinkdrifter)
——————————–
Final:
——————————–
(5) Me5794 (UR Illusions)
(2) BlueDragon (Blinkdrifter)
——————————–
Metagame Breakdown
You can always access the standard Top 8 metagame at PDCMagic’s Forums.
Standard Top 8 Metagame
Includes all Standard (SPDC and MPDC) events to date.
Blinkdrifter adds a win to its long resume, keeping fight for the top deck’s title with WW alive. Thanks in part to WW which failed to show up in good numbers this week.
What’s really interesting is the sudden popularity of DS Rock. It’s supposed to have a good match against WW, but that seems to be to the profit of other decks that can actually win against the rest of the field. DS Rock’s results are less than stellar, not to say pretty much inexistent, which makes it a very odd choice in the current meta, despite it’s “favorable” match up against WW.
A new deck appears in the metagame this week with a win and a top 4: Storm Control. It is a pretty strong metagame choice right now, in my opinion. It has a strong match up against WW, about 50/50 with Blinkdrifter and it’s pretty strong against random decks. It is vulnerable against discard, however, but discard isn’t very popular at the moment.
The other “new” deck that starts getting attention is Buffeting Boggarts. The BR Goblin recursion deck has been doing pretty well despite the lack of backers. It has won a few matches against both WW and Blinkdrifter, but it is lacking the dominating factor that players usually like to see.
And meanwhile, Uber Teachings keeps on racking up playoff performances despite showing up once every two events or so. It is still looking for its first final table, but it would take no time if anyone actually played the deck. It’s very strong and versatile, but grossly underplayed. Perhaps one game against RDW is reason enough to not play the deck, however.
Finally, Me5794 has been playing a UR Illusions deck lately that is doing extremely well. I can’t wait to see how it will fit in the metagame in the future because it is showing very strong potential. It does have a hard time against Blinkdrifter, but it’s pretty strong against the rest of the field.
Kehm’s personal top 5 decks:
1- WW
2- Blinkdrifter
3- Uber Teachings
4- RDW
5- Grimdrifter
Up and coming: UR Illusions, Storm Control, Buffeting Boggarts, Dark Hulk.
(Post your list!)
Power Rankings
Here’s how the power ratings are calculated:
Each event, players gain points depending on the final standings:
1st – 10 points
2nd – 7 points
T4 – 4 points
T8 – 2 points
Other – 0 point
The power rating of a player is the point average for the current season. (By adding all points accumulated and dividing the total by the number of event participations, we get the average/power rating)
Players who play in less than 40% (2/5) of the events will suffer a small penalty.
There are 37 ranked players out of 86. To be ranked you need to reach the playoff rounds once.
The number of events played serve as first tie breakers, followed by the best finishes.
Thanks to Eegag for the top 5 Icons
Rank
1 
Subliminal man (4.75) – :1st: :2nd: :t8:
2 
Boin (3.75) – :1st: :t8:
3 
Krosanbeast (3.43) – :1st: :t4: :t4: :t4: :t8:
4 
Baron Sengir (3.40) – :2nd: :t4: :t8: :t8: :t8:
5 
Kingritz (3.13) – :1st:
6 Bluedragon (3.13) – :1st:
6 Cecilia Jupe (3.13) – :1st:
6 Eegag (3.13) – :1st:
9 Khirareq (2.81) – :2nd: :t8:
10 Evu (2.75) – :2nd: :t4:
11 Icarodx (2.50)
12 Karakusk (2.50)
13 GravespwnGoddess (2.19)
14 Death Knight (1.88)
14 Hurriboy (1.88)
14 Kehmesis (1.88)
14 Rancorous Fool (1.88)
18 Serra Monk (1.88)
19 Robe (1.75)
20 Plainstrider (1.50)
21 StillIRise (1.50)
22 Me5794 (1.29)
23 Cp70 (1.25)
24 Cadaeic (1.25)
25 Kaityson (1.20)
26 LostSymphonies (1.00)
27 Jtamaro (0.63)
27 WoCoNation (0.63)
29 ZechMaples (0.63)
30 Brokn990 (0.63)
30 Leadwing Coachman (0.63)
30 Redleg (0.63)
30 White Djinn (0.63)
34 HWolverine (0.50)
35 Jamuraa (0.40)
35 Lysandar (0.40)
37 Carinon (0.29)
Most Events Played: Krosanbeast (8)
Most Playoffs: Krosanbeast, Baron Sengir (5)
Most wins: Cecilia Jupe, Eegag, Karakusk, Subliminal Man, Kingritz, Krosanbeast, Boin, BlueDragon (1)
Most Points: Krosanbeast (24)
Best Playoff %: Baron Sengir (100%) (Most events played as tie breaker)
Decklist
1st place deck – Blinkdrifter – Piloted by Bluedragon
Creatures
4 Aven Riftwatcher
4 Errant Ephemeron
4 Knight of Sursi
4 Mulldrifter
2 Aethersnipe
Spells
4 Momentary Blink
4 Rune Snag
3 Faerie Trickery
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Ponder
2 Remove Soul
Lands
12 Island
9 Plains
2 Terramorphic Expanse
SIDEBOARD
3 Sunlance
2 Remove Soul
2 Ronom Unicorn
2 Temporal Isolation
2 Wings of Velis Vel
1 Augur il-Vec
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Judge Unworthy
1 Oblivion Ring
I think we’ve said enough about blinkdrifter 
Congrats!
—
2nd place deck – UR Illusions – Piloted by Me5794
Creatures
4 Dream Stalker
4 Errant Ephemeron
4 Krovikan Mist
4 Mulldrifter
3 Fathom Seer
3 Shaper Parasite
Spells
4 Incinerate
4 Lash Out
4 Skred
4 Tarfire
Lands
11 Snow-Covered Island
8 Snow-Covered Mountain
3 Terramorphic Expanse
SIDEBOARD
4 Faerie Trickery
4 Martyr of Ashes
4 Rune Snag
3 Hurly-Burly
This deck is the perfect example of a good Aggro-Control deck. It has cheap creatures that can be very aggressive, backed up with burn for reach. Or it can simply play control using defensive creatures and removal.
The EE’s and Mists are the obvious win conditions when playing the control game. The rest of the creatures may serve as card advantage. There is some nice synergy between dream stalker and the morph creatures and mulldrifter giving the deck a pretty strong late game.
The high toughness/defensive creatures make sure it can survive the early game against other aggro decks, but they can also put pressure on control decks, especially with a mist in play, growing with every creature hitting the table.
Congrats!
—
Top 4 deck – Storm Control – Piloted by Baron Sengir
3 Island
7 Snow-Covered Island
9 Snow-Covered Mountain
4 Empty the Warrens
4 Errant Ephemeron
3 Foresee
4 Grapeshot
3 Martyr of Ashes
4 Ponder
4 Rift Bolt
4 Rite of Flame
4 Skred
4 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Think Twice
Sideboard
4 Remove Soul
4 Faerie Trickery
1 Foresee
1 Martyr of Ashes
4 Rune Snag
1 Think Twice
This is a combo-control deck. It tries to survive as long as possible before going off with a big Empty the Warrens or simply beating face with EEs. The rest of the deck is either red control (main deck) or blue control (sideboard). It uses suspend and cheap cards to boost the storm count, controlling the board with removal, Grapeshot and Martyr of Ashes.
The sideboard is transformative, turning the deck into a UR control deck. This is important when facing token hate, discard or land destruction.
Congrats!
If anyone would like to write for MPDC, please contact Polyjak. If you would like to have any data I have gathered or my article templates, contact me. (You can PM us in the forums)
Last Monday was MPDC 1.08 and Baron Sengir won with Storm Control.
No one was able to gather the metagame information this week.
But here’s the Event Thread
Is there something you would like to see in these reports? Post a comment!
Thanks for baring with me during the Holidays. I was busy with work and parties and the free time I did get I spent it hosting SPDC 4.07.
See you next week!
Kehm.
Its true.. DS Rock has a good matchup with white weenies but pretty much gets trumped by everything else.
it is fairly sad that Kehm has been asking for a voulenteer to write articles for MPDC all season and no one from the pool of Standard players has stepped up. MPDC is a consistently attended event ant it would be nice to see it receive the same support and exposure as other events.
I think that, with the coming of Gatherling metagame reports and the deck database, these types of articles are going to shift their focus. I don’t necessarily think it’s [i]sad[/i] that MPDC hasn’t gotten coverage. The fact that it’s consistently attended proves that an event doesn’t need weekly coverage to survive.
That said, we certainly do appreciate having a regular flow of metagame writeups. That style of article accounts for probably 99.9% of our article content!
wow, thats even more disappointing.
to think that a database will make these writings obsolete. I find it nice to read an event summary and come comments, not just cold decklists with no analysis offered. and I think I chose the right word. Standard has the largest pool of active players and yet nary a one has stepped up. I’m not saying that the point of writing them is to get poeple to attend. That not why I write. We can get by without alot of things that we do. Apathy is very sad to me.
I’m also not suggesting that the articles stop, jaknife. I said these types of articles are going to shift their focus. That is, we will be able to get MORE of the commentary you love, because writers will have to spend less of their time doing math and formatting, and more of it coming up with interesting things to say.
to bring back to my original point, no one is writing anything for MPDC. Someone should. I was trying to bring more attention to it. Thats all.
Well. Congrats to BlueDragon for the win. MPDC…hmmm.