Magic: The Gathering,GO TEAM MS!

[Shanba]

Ari with the sick topdecks into the finals

[hasdgfas]

Wow. That was a heck of a final game. A joy to watch, and Armlx is 3 wins away.

[Thestatusquo]

Thiago played very very well.

Testiment to his skill that he was even in that position, but elspeth off the top is probably just unbeatable in that board state

[diginova]

Why is Twitch chat so vitriolic towards Armlx?

[Thestatusquo]

Because hes seen as kind of a douche sometimes. Known for being openly expressive when he wins/talkative in games, is seen as a little bit arrogant.

I don't know why this draws as much hate as he does

[Natirasha]

Because, Magic, as opposed to every other new-age 'e-sports'-esque community, really hates emotion. It's seen as rude as opposed to hype. I think we need more Ari's--these payers are fun to build stories and create emotional narratives around.

[InflatablePie]

Dat Thoughtseize taking Stoke over Rabble

And letting a Rabble through the next turn

At least I'm pretty sure Ari is favored in the finals, woohoo

[hasdgfas]

Yeah. I saw people complaining about Lee Shi Tian's excitement after winning in round 16 yesterday, which is absolutely ridiculous. The excitement and emotion is great to see. Did anyone not love Owen Turtenwald jumping up and down and hugging Huey Jensen when T8 was announced at PT M15?

Also, turns out Rabblemaster is a good card.

[chamber]

I don't know who to cheer on.

[Natirasha]

I hate Jeskai!

[Natirasha]

They keep saying that Dig Through Time is the breakout card of the tournament, but it's so very clearly Siege Rhino.

[chamber]

Nearly Everyone already thought siege rhino was good, fewer people thought dig through time was good I think? (or course I was wrong about rhino and right about dig so~)

[hasdgfas]

Well. Serve broken by Ari Lax there.

They keep saying that Dig Through Time is the breakout card of the tournament, but it's so very clearly Siege Rhino.

I'm not sure it's a "breakout card" when everyone knew it was great. I don't think anyone knew

just

how good Dig Through Time was until this tournament. It was clearly good, but this good? I think its existence is what brought McLaren above the other Jeskai decks to the finals here.

[hasdgfas]

Lax runs over McLaren in game 3 to go up 2-1.

[Sudo_Nym]

And the Ari Victory Countdown is at 1.

[InflatablePie]

"I pick Jeskai to win. All the highest seeds have won - it's number math!"

MATH IS HARD BITCHES

[Natirasha]

Woo!

Such hype!

[hasdgfas]

That was a very good match.

Congrats to Armlx!

[Chevre]

Wow that's so cool!

Does this make armlx the most famous scummer?

[Natirasha]

Either him or David Parker AKA Godz of Beyond the Summit(probably the most famous Dota 2 casting group) would be my guess, although chamber or someone would know better than me.

[chamber]

I have no idea. People that stick around the longest tend not to be famous by default.

[Thestatusquo]

BRUTAL ASS SEX was also pretty well known in gamer circles through being a pro gamer with the team Violent By Instinct.

I haven't heard anything about him on pro gaming circles lately, but then again I don't pay much attention to them.

I would imagine its possible we have some legitimately famous people on the site, but I would expect such people to be fairly quiet about their fame.

[Anatole Kuragin]

Godz hasn't posted in a few years. Guess I won't be able to harass him about his enchantress cosplay as a means of discrediting his scumread on me at some point.

[Natirasha]

Spoiler: Adaptable Abzan

4 Fleecemane Lion
3 Rakshasa Deathdealer
3 Anafenza, the Foremost
4 Siege Rhino
--
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Whip of Erebos
1 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
--
1 Bile Blight
4 Abzan Charm
2 Utter End
1 Murderous Cut
4 Hero's Downfall
3 Thoughtseize
--
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
3 Temple of Malady
1 Temple of Silence
4 Windswept Heath
2 Plains
3 Forest
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Llanowar Wastes
2 Caves of Koilos
3 Swamp
----
SB: 2 Drown in Sorrow
SB: 1 Garruk, Apex Predator
SB: 2 Bile Blight
SB: 1 Utter End
SB: 2 Glare of Heresy
SB: 1 Duneblast
SB: 1 Liliana Vess
SB: 1 Silence the Believers
SB: 1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
SB: 2 End Hostilities
SB: 1 Erebos, God of the Dead

So, I got to jam a bunch of games with this today vs most of the PT lists and it's pretty much my standard going further. It's at it's core the same Abzan stuff I've been peddling since Siege Rhino was spoiled, but it kinda cuts the middle between the ramp lists and the aggro lists. I've yet to lose a mirror with it(admittedly, 5 matches and they all went to three games).

Pretty much, the aggro deck preys on most of the format--it ended up losing to McLaren 'plays two maindeck Anger of the Gods in my 4x Rabblemaster 4x Mantis Rider' Jeskai list, and I think it's matchup vs the heavier Abzan lists comes down to Siege Rhinos.

Early on in the format, I was finding Caryatid was just very weak. It was horrible in the long game and didn't do much vs aggro decks. Courser fared a little better, but I was reminded recently of a quote from Dendi, a Dota Pro, who famously advocates winning fast--dota is different from Magic on a bunch of levels, but the endgames of dota matches and midrange mirrors are similar--as we saw in Ari's semifinals, it's stupid random and really just comes down to who topdecks Elspeth on an empty board first. Courser, well, is weak in those situations because it's not actually a business card. I'm rambling a little here, but what it came down to was that Courser was weak, whereas Anafenza was sweet and pushed some major board presence while continuing to be a brick wall vs the smaller decks in the format(usually better, too, easily trading with Rakshasas and Seekers where Courser wouldn't). What I'm saying is, I don't feel doing some slow as caryatid->courser is where you really want to be in the format.

So, anyways, this is the list. The worst part is the manabase--it really could use the additional land, but then I feel it loses some oomph in the late game. Barring the worst of draws(which, with a heavy midrange v midrange format, just happens sometimes), you will always get to six land in the mirror, and you board down your CMC in the other matchups so *shrug*.

This deck does have a semi-transformative sideboard. Postboard in the mirror, we become a true control deck, boarding out all the non-Fleecemane/Rhino creatures, the whip, Bile Blight and Thoughtseize(bad topdecks lategame) for the planeswalker package, the 4cmc removal, Erebos, and all the boardwipes/Glares, then just go heavy control.

vs Jeskai, I actually cut some of the top end for Sorin, Glares and Bile Blight--they literally have no way of dealing with resolved Siege Rhinos.

vs UB, well, I don't know! Despite doing alright, no one is playing this deck. I mean, I don't think the deck is super hot, but it should show up in some numbers more than it is.

[bv310]

So thanks to Todd Anderson's deck tech at the PT, I'm planning to put this together:

4 Ornithopter
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Ghostfire Blade
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Ensoul Artifact
4 Hero of Iroas
4 Heliod's Pilgrim
1 Ajani Steadfast
4 Gods Willing
4 Stratus Walk
1 Spectra Ward
1 Singing Bell Strike
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Flooded Strand
4 Temple of Enlightenment
2 Mana Confluence
4 Island
3 Plains
SB: 4 Master of Waves
SB: 4 Stubborn Denial
SB: 3 Suspension Field
SB: 2 Erase
SB: 1 Ordeal of Heliod
SB: 1 Mortal Obstinacy

It looks really fun, and can definitely win enough to be worth it. Not sure if it's better than the Red version with Shrapnel Blast, but Heliod's Pilgrim is super good.