A Stoneforge Mistake? Pyromancer Ascension in GP Dallas

Hello

I forgot to update here when the second half of my trip report went live last night – A Stoneforge Mistake? Pyromancer Ascension in GP Dallas.

Thanks for reading, and do be sure to check out the rest of my work here at The Brewery and on Quiet Speculation!

Thanks,

Dylan

Stoneforge What? Pyromancer Ascension for GP: Dallas

GP Dallas is going to be my first Grand Prix since Atlanta in 2004 and my first major B&M event since PT Columbus in 2005. Yeah, it’s been a while. Yes, I’m fucking excited! The plan was to start testing at the beginning of last month for a really cool Standard format. PT Paris had shown the power of CawBlade and the format was finally less awful (Valakut makes me ). So of course I started my GP Dallas testing quite late Thursday night with the following decklist:

Decklist

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Burst Lightning
3 Arc Trail
4 Preordain
4 See Beyond
4 Mana Leak
4 Into the Roil
3 Unsummon
4 Pyromancer Ascension
3 Jace’s Ingenuity

4 Scalding Tarn
4 Halimar Depths
8 Island
7 Mountain

Sideboard:
3 Combust
4 Spell Pierce
3 Trinket Mage
1 Darksteel Axe
3 Shape Anew
1 Darksteel Colossus

Versus U/W CawBlade:
+3 Combust, +4 Spell Pierce
-3 Unsummon, -3 Arc Trail, -1 Burst Lightning

Versus Darkblade:
+3 Combust, +4 Spell Pierce
-3 Unsummon, -3 Arc Trail, -1 Burst Lightning

Versus Valakut:
+4 Spell Pierce, +3 Trinket Mage, +1 Darksteel Axe, +1 Blightsteel Colossus, +3 Shape Anew
-3 Unsummon, -3 Arc Trail, -1 Jace’s Ingenuity, -4 Pyromancer Ascension, -1 Into the Roil

Versus G/W Aggro:
+3 Trinket Mage, +1 Darksteel Axe, +1 Blightsteel Colossus, +3 Shape Anew
-4 Mana Leak, -4 Pyromancer Ascension

Versus RUG:
-X Arc Trail, -(4-X) Unsummon
+4 Spell Pierce

Versus Boros:
+3 Trinket Mage, +1 Darksteel Axe, +3 Shape Anew, +1 Blightsteel Colossus
-4 Mana Leak, -4 Pyromancer Ascension
Versus RDW:
+3 Trinket Mage, +1 Darksteel Axe, +3 Shape Anew, +1 Blightsteel Colossus
-4 Mana Leak, -4 Pyromancer Ascension

Versus U/B Control:
+4 Spell Pierce
-3 Arc Trail, -1 Unsummon

Versus U/B Infect:
*

Versus Eldrazi Green:
+3 Spell Pierce, +3 Trinket Mage, +1 Darksteel Axe, +3 Shape Anew, +1 Blightsteel Colossus
-3 Unsummon, -1 Jace’s Ingenuity, -3 Arc Trail, -4 Pyromancer Ascension

*I don’t really know. My brain is kind of fried. Any thoughts here? I <3 your comments.

Those were the Sideboard plans. One match win in the Tournament Practice room against Vampires and another win in the 2-man queues against Eldrazi Green, and I was ready to metaphorically scribble all over my decklist and rebuild it from scratch.

So of course I changed 4 cards.

Decklist

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Burst Lightning
4 Arc Trail
4 Preordain
4 See Beyond
4 Mana Leak
4 Into the Roil
3 Jace Beleren
4 Pyromancer Ascension
2 Jace’s Ingenuity

4 Scalding Tarn
4 Halimar Depths
8 Island
7 Mountain

Sideboard:
3 Combust
4 Spell Pierce
3 Trinket Mage
1 Darksteel Axe
3 Shape Anew
1 Darksteel Colossus

I’m not going to redo the sideboarding plans on principle. If you take a look at what comes in and what comes out above, you should be able to expand that to the second decklist. A quick explanation of the changes:

Cutting Jace’s Ingenuity for Arc Trail

Over my gigantic sample size of 5 games, I drew too many of them. Adding Arc Trail to the maindeck makes my Aggro matchup slightly better, tightens up the decklist a little with another 4-of (and a 2-of) instead of two 3-ofs. I haven’t done the math on that but I have to imagine it’s at least a tiny bit better for triggering Pyromancer Ascension.

Cutting 3 Unsummon for 3 Jace Beleren

My first thought when Chad Havas (@torerotutor) shared this decklist with me was that the large removal suite (4 Lightning Bolt, 4 Burst Lightning, 4 Arc Trail, 4 Into the Roil), Jace Beleren would be extremely easy to protect against most deck. Even Aggro decks should struggle to keep threats on the board long enough for Jace to provide as many (or more!) cards for you as the more expensive Instant bearing his name.

Unsummon was the spottiest card in the deck. It was originally Treasure Hunt, a card that I’ve never been fond of, but the addition of Jace Beleren makes me excited to continue testing. And hey, if I bomb out of the Grand Prix, at least it won’t be with Unsummon in my deck.

On the Transformational Sideboard

This is definitely the way to go with a Pyromancer Ascension sideboard today. Boarding into Titans isn’t sustainable with the versatile removal in Standard right now, and they simply aren’t the powerful game-ending effects that Pyromancer needs them to be to make that plan worthwhile. Similarly, treating Pyromancer as a high-powered U/R Control shell and boarding into more Counterspell effects, more board sweepers, etc. doesn’t seem worthwhile.

However, blanking your opponent’s Game 2 plan (however gimmicky it may seem) is an extremely powerful effect. Again, small sample size, but my 2-man Queue opponent boarded in Ratchet Bomb and kept an opener with the artifact. As awesome as you imagine it is to see your opponent cast a sideboard card that is 100% irrelevant, it’s even more awesome than that. Really. I hope I don’t have to take Chad’s word on how amusing it is to see someone whiff on a Memoricide.

Think of it as turning a card your opponent thinks is powerful into a virtual mulligan. Awesome, right? On a much smaller scale, it reminds me of the game-breaking rules in playing postboard with or against Dredge in Legacy.

Plus you get to fuck with your opponent for Game 3. Should they board back in their Gatekeepers of Malakir? What about Enchantment hate? Unfortunately, Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Into the Roil have tons of game against you and are unlikely to come out of an opponent’s deck for Games 2 or 3. The downside to having this particular transformation is that I’ll be left with a 7-card sideboard (3 Combust & 4 Spell Pierce) against CawBlade, RUG, and most other Blue-based decks.

CawBlade

Like I could actually get through writing anything on Standard today and not include a separate section for CawBlade in some way. Well, as of 2:30 AM on Friday morning, I still haven’t played the matchup. Seriously. I’m banking on bumping into it on MTGO at some point and finding someone in the hotel room to test against Friday night.

I’m banking on having a pair of gameplans to make the matchup as winnable as the traditional UW Control match.

Lightning Bolt, Burst Lightning, and Arc Trail

Before CawBlade, I played a Pyromancer Ascension deck that got away with a removal suite of simply 4 Lightning Bolt, 2 Burst Lightning, and 3 Pyroclasm. Before that, 4 Lightning Bolt & 4 Burst Lightning was the standard. All of this was supplemented, of course, with Call to Mind.

Now, I’ll be working with 12 removal spells for CawBlades 1/1s and 1/2s. I’ll have 4 Into the Roil to answer Swords, albeit to minimal effect. Eight of those removal spells, as well as the Into the Roils, are Instant-speed to battle equipment. The only cards that should truly scare me are going to be Gideon Jura and Jace, the Mind Sculptor. This is the main matchup that encourages me to play Jace Beleren instead of Unsummon.

Second, I’ll have the Pyromancer Ascension over-the-top plan to beat the UW Control element of the CawBlade deck. CawBlade is such a dominant force in part because it can play a very solid Control game, or a very solid Aggro game, and it can switch back and forth with relative ease with the help of Sword of Feast & Famine. That Control element though is pretty lacking in its ability to stop a 1R enchantment. My hope is that I can keep the board clear of a swordbearer long enough to set up inevitability through Pyromancer Ascension

So, there you have it. The insomniac ramblings of an overly excited Mage. Please be sure to check out Quiet Speculation all weekend long, as long as I’m not too overwhelmed by the Grand Prix experience, I intend to do some weekend updates from Dallas, TX!

Dylan

@dtlerch on Twitter

PS: If you can name this decklist something awesome in the comments, I’ll credit you here and ship some MTGO tix or something. I don’t want to register a deck with a boring, lame name.

PPS: If you’re going to be at GP: Dallas, I want to meet you. Email me (dtlerch at gmail dot com) or something. I haven’t gone on a road trip in ages and could use an epic fun time.

PPPS: If you plan on playing against me in the Grand Prix, boo on you for reading about my deck.

More Jund Videos!

More MTGO playtest videos with Jund, this time against UW Control. Pardon the slightly boring audio commentary – it was extremely late, and these matchups against Control decks can be a little bit grueling at time. Check back soon for more videos, as well as more written content, in the coming days! There is a MTGO PTQ on Friday night that I intend to play in, and if all goes well, the whole entire thing will be recorded for your viewing pleasure.

Thanks for watching, and please don’t be shy about commenting on play errors! That’s a big part of why I’m doing these

Also, please check out my YouTube channel for tons more videos.

Dylan

Jund Another Bitterblossom Deck, and More Jund Too

Hi! Welcome back to The Brewery, and I hope you enjoy another Brewery exclusive This time, the topic in question is Jund & Bitterblossom.

My attempts to combine Bitterblossom and Jund date back a week or two when @Grant_champion on Twitter lent me some MTGO Jund cards and showed me his list featuring Bitterblossom and Goblin Assault. I thought it was pretty slick. For reference:

Bitterblossom
1B : Tribal Enchantment – Faerie
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life and put a 1/1 black Faerie Rogue creature token with flying onto the battlefield.

Typically, Bitterblossom has been the focal point of arguable Top deck UB Faeries. Even though the Faeries deck gets to play some of the format’s most powerful and defining cards (Cryptic Command, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Mistbind Clique, Spellstutter Sprite, and Vendilion Clique being most notable), it’s undeniable that Bitterblossom is the most important card in the entire 75.

Polymorph aside, why then has Bitterblossom never crossed lines into the other Black decks of the format?

Jundblossom

Enter Jundblosom:

4 Putrid Leech
4 Bitterblossom
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Anathemancer
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Demigod of Revenge

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Blightning
2 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Terminate

2 Forest
2 Swamp
1 Mountain
4 Savage Lands
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Twilight Mire
3 Copperline Gorge
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Raging Ravine
1 Lavaclaw Reaches

The numbers should look very familiar, as most of the deck comes straight from my conclusions in Piecing Jund Together on Quiet Speculation. The “supporting cast” for the deck should remain fairly close to a more typical Jund deck, with Bitterblossom in this case replacing Fauna Shaman and Shriekmaw. The change should be obvious on the surface; swapping one set of 2-drops for another, and when decreasing the overall creature count by adding Bitterblossom, Fauna Shaman itself gets a lot less exciting.

The Maelstrom Pulses are to be partially replaced by Terminate, as Pulse loses value against opposing Bitterblossoms when Bitterblossom is such a huge part of your own gameplan now too. This could perhaps be overstating the dilemma though, and extra Maelstrom Pulses could live in the Sideboard or Maindeck as needed.

The rest of the choices seem rather elementary, and the baseline Jund list should work quite well with the Bitterblossom addition.

Kitchen Finks helps negate the life lost from Bitterblossom, as well as being an exceptional card in almost all non-Combo matchups.

Anathemancer provides extra damage straight to the face, essentially functioning as an evasive threat with haste, and should work very well in conjunction with Bitterblossom’s aggressive tendencies.

Putrid Leech and Bloodbraid Elf are, in my opinion, Jund’s most important cards. There is such a huge correlation between casting Putrid Leech on turn 2 and winning games, especially in certain matchups, and Bloodbraid Elf is extraordinarily powerful in any deck that features it.

Demigod of Revenge rounds out the creature core, as every single top-8 Jund list this season has so far run 4 of the card. Two new lists from Roanoke, Virginia over the last weekend (played by Lauren Lee and Ken Adams, decklists to follow) further confirmed that trend, even as Adams’ decklist in particular ventured from the consensus list in many notable ways.

Jund, played by Lauren Lee, 4th Place PTQ: Nagoya, Roanoke, Virginia, 01-08-2011

3 Anathemancer
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Demigod of Revenge
3 Fauna Shaman
3 Kitchen Finks
4 Putrid Leech
1 Shriekmaw

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Thoughtseize

2 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
3 Copperline Gorge
2 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Graven Cairns
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Raging Ravine
3 Savage Lands
3 Twilight Mire
2 Verdant Catacombs

Sideboard:
2 Obstinate Baloth
3 Nature’s Claim
1 Terminate
4 Volcanic Fallout
3 Blightning
2 Deathmark

Lee’s decklist is mostly consensus, though there is one glaring difference: Thoughtseize replaces Blightning in the maindeck, and this is a change that I can certainly get behind. In fact, on paper, I love it. Blightning sits in a very strange position in the Jund mana curve, and it can be summed up in a very simple question: On turn 3, if you have no threats on the board, do you cast Blightning or Kitchen Finks? Blightning or Anathemancer? The 3-drop spot on the Jund mana curve is packed, especially when you add Maelstrom Pulse into the mix or, post Sideboard, when you add Great Sable Stag or Volcanic Fallout.

Lauren Lee solved that problem with 4 Thoughtseize instead. Thoughtseize should keep Bitterblossom off the board far better than Blightning ever could, although Faeries is the one matchup in particular that Blightning thrived in, and Thoughtseize does much more to fight most decks in the format than the 1RB Super Sorcery.

In short, I like it. Note too that 3 Blightning reside in the Sideboard here.

If you were to netdeck a Jund list for your next tournament, I would highly recommend looking at this list (as well as my list from Piecing Jund Together) to start with.

Jund, played by Ken Adams, 2nd Place PTQ: Nagoya, Roanoke, Virginia, 01-09-2011

2 Anathemancer
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Boggart Ram-Gang
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Fauna Shaman
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Master of the Wild Hunt
4 Putrid Leech
1 Shriekmaw
3 Sprouting Thrinax

2 Lightning Bolt
1 Terminate
2 Maelstrom Pulse

1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
3 Copperline Gorge
2 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Raging Ravine
4 Reflecting Pool
3 Savage Lands
3 Twilight Mire

Sideboard:
2 Anathemancer
2 Great Sable Stag
2 Shriekmaw
2 Deglamer
1 Terminate
3 Volcanic Fallout
1 Sarkhan Vol
2 Thoughtseize

Ken Adams leaned on Fauna Shaman to an extreme, playing 4 of the Elf Shaman and an extra suite of creatures to replace even Lightning Bolt. Boggart Ram-Gang makes its first appearance of the season in a Jund top-8 list, as does Zendikar Standard all-star Sprouting Thrinax, and Master of the Wild Hunt shows up as a 1-of as well. I especially like that last point, and I think Master of the Wild Hunt should be showing up in more Sideboards as Naya Shaman decks (and other creature-based strategies) start gaining in popularity. MotWH can take over a board like few other cards in Jund can.

It appears as if Adams made room for Boggart Ram-Gang mostly by cutting Kitchen Finks, a change I’m not sure I agree with. If Path to Exile’s stock rose (likely at Lightning Bolt’s expense), I could see Boggart Ram-Gang being more appealing; however, most decks have to burn through multiple cards to deal with Kitchen Finks, and against an Aggressive deck especially, Finks can be an absolute backbreaker by soaking up so much damage.

All in all, the Jund lists are starting to show more and more coherence, at least as far as creating a “core” of the deck is concerned.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ve all enjoyed the recent focus on Extended Jund! Best of luck at any PTQs or tournaments that you game in, no matter what the deck choice!

Dylan

Piecing Jund Together

Here’s my take on Jund at Quiet Speculation.

Piecing Jund Together

I hope you enjoy it

More playtest videos with the new list to come!

Dissecting Standard Caw-Go, Worlds 2010

Worlds 2010 is underway!

I slipped onto the computer late last night, and I had no plans of doing anything except binging on MTG Worlds content. Imagine my surprise when I saw this awesome deck in the video coverage!

Dissecting Standard Caw-Go, Worlds 2010

Caw-Go, as played by Brian Kibler at Standard Worlds 2010, 6-0
4 Squadron Hawk
3 Day of Judgment
2 Condemn
3 Journey to Nowhere
3 Gideon Jura
2 Stoic Rebuttal
1 Deprive
2 Mana Leak
4 Spell Pierce
1 Jace Beleren
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Preordain
1 Spreading Seas
4 Plains
4 Island
3 Tectonic Edge
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Glacial Fortress
1 Arid Mesa
2 Scalding Tarn

Sideboard:
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Day of Judgment
1 Jace Beleren
1 Deprive
3 Spreading Seas
2 Condemn
3 Celestial Purge
2 Flashfreeze
1 Elspeth Tirel

The Brewery on QS: Building a Better Pyromancer Sideboard

Hello again

Just in time (hopefully!) for the SCG Invitational, here is my latest article on Pyromancer Ascension.

Building a Better Pyromancer Sideboard

As always, comment here or on QS and I’ll be sure to respond!

And like I wrote in the article, Tweeting, Facebooking, StumbleUponing (okay, that one’s a stretch, but you get the idea) are the best ways to give thanks to your favorite writers out there. Please don’t be shy It takes a couple of moments, a handful of clicks, and it would warm my heart

Thanks again and good luck!
Dylan

“There is a lot more in him than you guess…

…and a deal more than he has any idea of himself.”

-Gandalf the Grey, The Hobbit

I feel like I’ve been saying this every week for weeks, but there are big things in the works for The Brewery.

One of my biggest peeves when reading Magic, the Gathering writing on the internet is a lack of good autocard popups. Well, now that I’m finally exploring all that WordPress has to offer, I can safely say: The Brewery will soon be joining the rest of the 21st Century and should become much, much, much more readable.

As always, if you ever have comments or questions, concerns, criticisms, suggestions, or feedback, you can always find me at dtlerch at gmail dot com. I also make it a point to respond to every comment left on any page here at The Brewery – and the more intelligent the comment, the more intelligent my response will be.

In the meantime, browse around and see what you’ve missed. A few of my favorites:

The Pyromancer Ascension Compendium
MTG Combined Power Rankings
GA States: Metal Red Redux
W/u Tempered Steel
Building “OozeVine”

Browse around, comment often, and enjoy the rest of your Saturday!

2010 Kentucky Open Standard Top 8 decklists!

Finally!

Thanks to @Chosler88 and MTGPulse.com, here are the Top 8 decklists for the 2010 Kentucky Open

1st Place, BUG Control by Donnie Noland (cool name )
1 Sphinx of Lost Truths
3 Oracle of Mul Daya
3 Frost Titan
1 Avenger of Zendikar
4 Lotus Cobra
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Doom Blade
4 Mana Leak
1 Jace’s Ingenuity
4 Explore
4 Preordain
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Drowned Catacomb
5 Forest
3 Island
1 Halimar Depths
2 Swamp

Sideboard:
1 Molten-Tail Masticore
2 Obstinate Baloth
1 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Acidic Slime
2 Flashfreeze
3 Consume the Meek
3 Memoricide

2nd Place, RUG Control by Chris Anderson
4 Lotus Cobra
3 Oracle of Mul Daya
2 Frost Titan
2 Avenger of Zendikar
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Deprive
3 Mana Leak
1 Pyroclasm
4 Preordain
4 Explore
1 Volition Reins
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Mountain
4 Raging Ravine
5 Island
3 Forest
3 Copperline Gorge
2 Halimar Depths

Sideboard:
1 Frost Titan
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Obstinate Baloth
2 Nature’s Claim
3 Pyroclasm
1 Ratchet Bomb

3rd Place, UB Vat Control by Thomas Graves
2 Grave Titan
2 Sea Gate Oracle
3 Abyssal Persecutor
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Jace Beleren
4 Doom Blade
2 Into the Roil
2 Disfigure
4 Mana Leak
1 Consuming Vapors
4 Preordain
1 Mimic Vat
2 Everflowing Chalice
1 Volition Reins
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Darkslick Shores
5 Island
3 Swamp
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Tectonic Edge

Sideboard:
2 Disfigure
3 Consume the Meek
2 Spell Pierce
1 Negate
1 Consuming Vapors
3 Memoricide
2 Duress
1 Volition Reins

4th Place, UB Elixir by E. McKenzie
3 Abyssal Persecutor
3 Trinket Mage
2 Frost Titan
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Jace Beleren
4 Doom Blade
2 Into the Roil
4 Mana Leak
4 Preordain
2 Consuming Vapors
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Brittle Effigy
2 Everflowing Chalice
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Tectonic Edge
1 Scalding Tarn
5 Island
3 Swamp

Sideboard:
3 Consume the Meek
4 Disfigure
2 Flashfreeze
2 Negate
3 Memoricide
1 Nihil Spellbomb

5th Place, RUG Control by Corey Waugh
4 Lotus Cobra
3 Oracle of Mul Daya
3 Frost Titan
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Mana Leak
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Preordain
4 Explore
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Raging Ravine
2 Mountain
3 Forest
3 Copperline Gorge
4 Scalding Tarn
6 Island
1 Halimar Depths

Sideboard:
3 Obstinate Baloth
1 Goblin Ruinblaster
2 Flashfreeze
2 Spell Pierce
4 Pyroclasm
1 Arc Trail
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Volition Reins

6th Place, Boros by Jon Robinson
4 Plated Geopede
4 Goblin Guide
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Spikeshot Elder
4 Kor Skyfisher
2 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Burst Lightning
3 Adventuring Gear
3 Journey to Nowhere
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Marsh Flats
1 Teetering Peaks
5 Plains
5 Mountain

Sideboard:
2 Tunnel Ignus
2 Cunning Sparkmage
1 Pyroclasm
2 Revoke Existence
2 Mark of Mutiny
1 Act of Treason
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Sword of Body and Mind
3 Koth of the Hammer

7th Place, RUG Control by Bernie Wen
2 Frost Titan
2 Avenger of Zendikar
2 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Lotus Cobra
3 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mana Leak
4 Explore
4 Preordain
5 Island
3 Forest
2 Mountain
2 Halimar Depths
4 Raging Ravine
3 Copperline Gorge
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest

Sideboard:
2 Goblin Ruinblaster
2 Gaea’s Revenge
2 Spell Pierce
2 Flashfreeze
2 Nature’s Claim
4 Pyroclasm
1 Ratchet Bomb

8th Place, RUG Control by Ben Weinburg
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Frost Titan
3 Oracle of Mul Daya
2 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mana Leak
4 Preordain
4 Explore
4 Island
3 Forest
2 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Raging Ravine
2 Halimar Depths
4 Copperline Gorge

Sideboard:
2 Goblin Ruinblaster
3 Obstinate Baloth
2 Spell Pierce
2 Into the Roil
4 Pyroclasm
1 Flame Slash
1 Ratchet Bomb

Analysis to come!

Standard Power Rankings

My first attempt at a crude Power Ranking for the Standard format is complete! For now, this only includes Magic Online Daily and Premier Events.

Since November 7th, 2010:
1. Valakut Ramp (239)
2. B/r Vampires (117)
3. Quest WW (109)
4. Boros (84)
5. RUG (82)
5. UB Control (82)
7. UW Control (72)
8. Eldrazi Green (33)
9. RDW (24)
10. Vampires (21)
11. Metal Red (15)
12. Elf Aggro (10)
13. UWR Control (9)
14. Black Aggro (7)
14. Pyromancer Ascension (7)
14. UG Fauna Shaman (7)
14. UR Control (7)
18. Quest WW/u (5)
19. Bant Fauna Shaman (4)
19. Stompy (4)

These are ordered based on their finishes in MTGO events. Crude calculations are as follows: 1 point for going 3-1 in a Daily, 2 points for going 4-0, and 4 points for a Premier Event Top 8. Like I said, very crude. My spreadsheet has the results broken down by deck, event, and date, so I hope to do some more interesting things with these in the coming days.

You should note that this does not reflect which decks are best, but simply which decks put up the most top finishes. Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle is everywhere. Considering all the information above, what would you all like to see most? I can do graphs and charts breaking down results by date, weighted power rankings based on date, and pretty much anything else that Excel can do. Please let me know in the comments!

A couple of interesting decklists that I found during this process:

Naya Quest, by PDiddy (3-1 Standard Daily #1733795, 11-10-2010)
4 Arid Mesa
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Forest
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Mountain
2 Plains
2 Raging Ravine
4 Razorverge Thicket
1 Sunpetal Grove
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Cunning Sparkmage
4 Fauna Shaman
4 Llanowar Elves
1 Lotus Cobra
2 Molten-Tail Masticore
2 Mul Daya Channelers
4 Squadron hawk
1 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Vengevine
2 Argentum Armor
1 Basilisk Collar
3 Quest for the Holy Relic

Sideboard:
1 Flame Slash
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
1 Journey to Nowhere
2 Koth of the Hammer
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Manic Vandal
2 Mark of Mutiny
2 Obstinate Baloth
2 War Priest of Thune

Jund, by mbrolin (3-1 Standard Daily #1758321, 11-16-2010)
1 Dragonskull Summit
4 Forest
4 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Mountain
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
4 Raging Ravine
4 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Bloodghast
2 Grave Titan
4 Nest Invader
4 Sylvan Ranger
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Chandra Nalaar
4 Consuming Vapors
4 Doom Blade
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Sarkhan the Mad

Sideboard:
4 Consume the Meek
4 Duress
3 Memoricide
4 Naturalize