2005-07 Precon Championships: Round 8 and the Leaderboard
We’re in the home stretch of the 2005-07 season, just one more round away from determining a winner of the Lauer Division and then on to our final day’s big event- the semi-finals, then the championship match! We had three matches on the ticket this past week, thanks to a bye given to Rakdos Bloodsport by random fortune. That means while three decks would be advancing, three still were heading to the showers.
In our opener, Army of Justice pushed Sliver Evolution to three games before falling before the tribal might of the Time Spiral deck. Said Jay Chong, “Pacifism doesn’t play well against slivers. The only way slivers will lose is if it stumbles on mana. Betting on the opposition to get unlucky is not a winning game plan.” Indeed, the Ninth Edition deck couldn’t find enough solutions, and when it tried to stall out the ground game, the Slivers simply went over the top in a match-clenching alpha strike!
In the second game, Golgari Deathcreep turned in a commanding performance to advance past Kjeldoran Cunning. Lia called this one: “Minimal removal and limited creatures against a deck that has removal and recurring creatures fixes the match. Mana problems notwithstanding, of course.” This was a fair summary of the match, as the Golgari were able to dredge answer after answer.
What’s a game day without a surprise? The underdog Dead Again managed to pull off the unthinkable against heavy favourite Code of the Orzhov. Although he bet against them, Jacopo Sassi had this insight: “The only hope for Dead Again is to start with a good opening hand, keep the pressure high and destabilize the Orzhov, denying them the opportunity of a successfull stall.” With the mono-Black sticking to its game plan, it was able to overcome its natural disadvantage and get there!
There was some movement at the top of the table this week, while errtu shot into contention with the day’s only 3-for-3 performance. Here’s how the new leaderboard looks:
As for this Saturday’s matches, we have the following on schedule:
Predictors, please leave your picks in the comments below. We’re looking at three matches- the result of each of the two above, as well as the winner of the game between them to determine the winner of the Lauer Division. Best of luck!
Ertai's Lament 
1. Sliver Evolution (this deck is just awesome)
2. Dead Again (I’m hoping the lifegain and speed will prevail)
3. Sliver Evolution (nobody beats the Silvers!)
Sliver Evolution
Golgari deathcreep
Golgari for the win
Sliver Evolution
Golgari Deathcreep
Sliver Evolution
Sliver Evolution – Love the removal of the rakdos, but the creatures are so below the curve: and that’s after the hellbent boost.
Golgari – Dredge is a bomb of a mechanic and the Dead Again will once again find its removal supbar.
Sliver Evolution – There’s not enough removal from the golgari to keep the silver horde in check and the golgari look like they need set up time. Sliver evolution has the better end game though, so time is not on the golgari side.
Sliver Evolution
Golgari Deathcreep
Sliver Evolution
Sliver Evolution
Dead Again
Sliver Evolution
Game 23: Sliver Evolution.
Game 24: Golgari Deathcreep
Game 28: Sliver Evolution
Silver
Golgari
Silver
It’s one thing to vote against the Borg once, but I’m not going to do it again. Borg for the win, I mean Slivers. They’ll adapt Golgari and nibble on their bones. Still think that last match is going to be fun.
23. Sliver Evolution
24. Golgari Deathcreep
28. Sliver Evolution
Game 23 – Rakdos Bloodsport
Game 24 – Dead Again
Game 28 – Rakdos Bloodsport
23. Rakdos Bloodsport – Slivers’ weakness is removal, and Rakdos has a lot of it. Even around the higher toughness Slivers, Rakdos’s weenies should be able to squeek out a win. Guess I’m in the minority on this match.
24. Golgari Deathcreep – It has answers to everything Dead Again has. It can ignore Underworld Dreams by Dredging. It can slay a recurring Nightmare with a recurring Stinkweed Imp. Oh, and Dead Again’s removal is, well…”dead again.”
28. Golgari Deathcreep – Unlike Slivers, Deathcreep can keep mid and high toughness creatures coming. Its opponent will eventually draw a land and then lose in a downward spiral.
sliver
golgari
sliver
Game 23: Rakdos Bloodsport. A good starting hand on the slivers player can be enough to finish the game, but if that doesn’t happen, the many removal cards that Rakdos have will stabiz the game, enough to grind the victory while the slivers keep drawing lands.
Game 24: Golgari Deathcreep. While the Golgari can start putting thread after thread on the table, Dead Again will mainly play chumblockers, and some aerial menace that will be quickly destroyed by the Golgary. Futhermore, Dead Again removal is lacking against a black deck, even if they can survive to the late game using a Demon’s Horn.
Game 28:Golgari Deathcreep. The Rakdos have removal and some discard, but that isn’t going to be enough when facing the many regenerating and self-sacrificing creatures that the Deathcreep can play.
I’m in a hurry, so no time for detailed comments:
23: Rakdos
24: Golgari
28: Golgari
I hope in a heavy removal-based play by Rakdos and I think that dredge is overall the best mechanic in the division.
23: Sliver Evolution (TSP)
24: Golgari Deathcreep (RAV)
28: Sliver Evolution (TSP)
Game 23: Sliver Evolution (TSP)
Game 24: Golgari Deathcreep (RAV)
Game 28: Golgari Deathcreep (RAV)
Will this round continue to be where I stumble? I wish I had the time to dig out the precons I have the are in this round and do some playtesting (which would require someone to play with…alas).
23. Sliver Evolution
24. Golgari Deathcreep
28. Sliver Evolution
May the odds be ever in your favor.
23. Sliver
24. Golgari
28. Golgari
Almost missed this week’s predictions!
Game 23: Rakdos Bloodsport (DIS)
Game 24: Dead Again (9ED)
Game 28: Rakdos Bloodsport (DIS)
I’ve lost so many matches to Cackling flames…
23. Rakdos Bloodsport
24. Dead Again
28. Dead Again