2011-12 Precon Championships: Round 5 and the Leaderboard
What is it that makes people vote for ‘lesser’ teams? Is it blind loyalty to a childhood favourite? A stubborn and unwavering devotion? Perhaps faith that winning days may come back around someday? Surely, there is something in the fact that every organised sports team anywhere has at least a handful of fans, and many have more. Perhaps instead, they’re waiting for that one glorious day where the stars aline and the gods of competition smile on them, and they become the David to another’s Goliath.
This is precisely what happened in the climactic finish to the Tinsman Division this past weekend. Everyone’s favourite juggernaut, Graveborn, was unanimously picked for victory, and it did not disappoint as it put paid to Blood and Fire. But then a funny thing happened. Innistrad’s humble Intro Pack, Spectral Legions, managed to outmaneuver the favourite, Deathfed. It then stunned the preconstructed world by standing up to Graveborn, and clinching the division!
Does it have it in it to pull off a third upset in a row? With another top-flight deck waiting for it from the Nagle Division in the form of Hold the Line, it’s going to have to if it wants to advance to the finals and content for immortality. We won’t know for awhile, however, as we now shift our focus over to the Turian Division in the Forsythe Conference.
For our Prediction League, we’ve had a little bumping around at the top, with a couple of the leaders claiming two points out of the three on offer through canny picking of Spectral Legion. Here’s the updated leaderboard:
Next up, this weekend’s matches! For those participating in the League, let us know your picks in the comments below. The matches go live this Sunday, so you’ll have until then to tender your calls.
Finally, here’s some information about each of this season’s Turian contenders.
Death’s Encroach
Colours: Black
Set: Avacyn Restored
Rares: Cemetery Reaper, Geralf’s Messenger, Gloom Surgeon, Gravecrawler, 2x Lashwrithe, Surgical Extraction
Detail: The last of the mono-coloured, aggressive Event Decks to date, this was the Zombies’ chance to shine. It was a reasonable result, workable if not glamourous, though it boasts a solid removal suite and a lot of inexpensive creatures. It faces a tough challenge right out of the gate, with another Event Deck head-to-head against Illusionary Might! (Reviews)
Eldritch Onslaught
Colours: Blue, Red
Set: Innistrad
Rares: Charmbreaker Devils, Sturmgeist
Detail: Red/Blue decks have been offering some intriguing lines of play as late, and Eldritch Onslaught is no exception. With a pair of Burning Vengeances build right in and flashback spells galore, this is a deck a little light on creatures but heavy on spells and effects! (Reviews)
Grab for Power
Colours: Blue, Black
Set: Magic 2012
Rares: Rune-Scarred Demon, Throne of Empires
Detail: Forget the Rune-Scarred Demon for a moment, strong as it is, and let’s look at the most memorable thing about this deck: the three-card combo. Playing off a cycle in Magic 2012, it contains a trio of artifacts that are utilitarian on their own, but supercharge once you’ve landed the three. Of course, with one of these a rare, it can take a bit of doing to put it all in place, but once you do there’s not a lot that can stand in your way! (Reviews)
Heavenly Inferno
Colours: White, Black, Red
Set: Commander
Rares: Akroma Angel of Fury, Akroma’s Vengeance, Angel of Despair, Angelic Arbiter, Avatar of Slaughter, Basandra Battle Seraph, Bladewing the Risen, Comet Storm, Dread Cacodemon, Earthquake, Fallen Angel, Kaalia of the Vast, Malfegor, Mana-Charged Demon, Master Warcraft, Oros the Avenger, Reiver Demon, Stranglehold, Tariel Reckoner of Souls, Voice of All
Details: The Commander decks thus far have been a very mixed bag, though none have advanced very far in the rankings. Perhaps Kaalia can succeed where the others have failed? In our playtesting, she was consistently the fastest of the series, often risking emptying her hand before the game was through. No doubt part of this was due to her role as a Commander, cheating fat Angels, Demons, and Dragons from hand to the board. Can the deck thrive with her in the library? (Reviews)
Illusionary Might
Colours: White, Blue
Set: Magic 2012
Rares: Glacial Fortress, 2x Grand Architect, Lord of the Unreal, Phantasmal Image, Precursor Golem, Steel Hellkite
Detail: Effectively mono-Blue, this Event Deck presents an aggro archetype in a colour not often known for them. By harnessing the power of Illusions- cheap but powerful creatures with a fatal drawback- the deck looks to overwhelm in the red zone and crush its opponent behind an unstoppable tide of momentum. (Reviews)
Koth’s Deck
Colours: Red
Set: Duel Decks: Venser vs Koth
Rares: Bloodfire Colossus, Journeyer’s Kite, Koth of the Hammer, Lithophage, Torchling, Volley of Boulders
Detail: Named ‘Erupt and Overwhelm,’ the deck anchored by Koth of the Hammer is filled with Mountains and the mages who love them. Designed to be the speed and power pitted against Venser’s trickery and guile, Koth has a very real possibility of putting some of the deck’s opponent’s between the hammer and the anvil. (Reviews)
Monstrous Surprise
Colours: Red, Green
Set: Dark Ascension
Rares: Flayer of the Hatebound, Gutter Grime
Detail: One of many decks that takes a set-specific mechanic and builds around it, Monstrous Surprise embodies that moment in the horror movie when you think the monster is dead, only to have it rise up for one last moment of horror. With undying, not only do they come back, but they come back even bigger than before! (Reviews)
Spiraling Doom
Colours: Black, Green
Set: Dark Ascension
Rares: 2x Birthing Pod, Bloodgift Demon, Grim Backwoods, Hex Parasite, Myr Battlesphere, Solemn Simulacrum
Detail: One of the most exciting Event Decks to have come down the pike, Spiraling Doom builds around Birthing Pod, letting you work your way up a toolbox chain of creatures to get the right solution at the right time. Although perhaps a Pod short of Standard spec, the deck puts the pedal to the metal once you land your first one, and it only gets worse for your opponent from there! (Reviews)
Good luck to all participants, in both the Preconstructed Championship as well as the Prediction League! We’ll be back with exciting precon action this weekend- until then, enjoy the Return to Ravnica and Onslaught deck reviews!
Ertai's Lament 
1) Death’s Encroach – I love black more than blue…
2) Monstrous Surprise – No faith in commanders đŸ˜›
3) Eldritch Onslaught – Personal bias don’t fail me now…
4) Spiraling Doom – Two toolbox decks, but Spiraling Doom isn’t as reliant on what its searching for.
Death’s Encroach: I like this deck becuese of the removel, although the other deck might win of Porcalain Legioner. Still, if Blue is the color of thought, what better way of beating it then with a deck that eats brains.
Monstrous Suprise: this deck is slow true, but I think it has what it needs to take it past Heavenly Inferno. Its alive
Koth: It looks pretty close but I think that this deck has the removel to take out all the few creatures of Eldritch Onslaught. Lets see if Koth can hammer the opposition.
Spiraling Doom: this deck deck is the one I’m most confident about, since it has so many answers to its opponents deck. Pod people, Attack!!
9: Illusionary Might
10: Heavenly Inferno
11: Eldritch Onslaught
12: Spiraling Doom
Game 9: Death’s Encroach
Game 10: Heavenly Inferno
Game 11: Koth’s Deck
Game 12: Spiraling Doom
1 – Illusionary Might
2 – Heavenly Inferno
3 – Eldritch Onslaught
4 – Spiralling Doom
Illusionary Might: It’s going to be a great match. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it was close. Time to out think those pesky zombies!
Monstrous Surprise: The problem with Heavenly is it that it needs it’s commander. Then we have 2 colors vs 3. Surprise has some ramp. Heavenly lacks green. I’ll put it another way. Of all the commander decks I’ve seen in this tournament so far, this is the last one I’d expect to see win. Plenty of great cards in it with some nice removal, but I just don’t see it pulling through as built without access to Kaalia on demand. Plus I’m afraid that removal might just play into undying.
Koth: Think Koth can pull this off and one up Venser to make it to the next round.
Spiraling Doom: Victor will be Doom. That whole Empire cycle of artifacts is interesting, but Doom is more versatile.
9 – Illusionary Might : Just a feeling…
10 – Monstrous Surprise : I can see Heavenly getting a good draw and taking a game, but I don’t think it’s going to be consistent enough without Kaalia on call.
11 – Koth : Close, but I think Koth can take it.
12 – Spiraling Doom : Everyone is picking Doom, which is just ASKING for an upset, but I don’t think I see it happening here…
9: Illusory Might. Both decks have a good early game; Blue has a late game.
10: Monstrous Surprise. Curve aside, the red-green deck is capable of some fast starts, and I don’t see Kaalia’s glut of expensive cards getting there.
11: Koth’s deck. As much as I like Eldritch Onslaught, in a battle of burn the efficiency of Koth’s mountains should carry the day.
12: Spiraling Doom. Even if Grab for Power wasn’t a three-card combo crippled by its restriction to core set cards, the Event Deck has both beatdowns and artifact removal on its side.
Death’s encroach: removal, reclusion, and SOLID agro. It could go either way tbh, but I want black to win(my best deck is a black Vamp deck)
Mounstrous Surprise: one of my favorite intro decks of all time, it punishes your opponent if they are slow, can trade happily with agro, and best of all can blow up you opponent in a single turn(flayer blocked by a 2/2, wild hunger, fling, gg)
Eldritch Onslaught: It lacks crucial flashback tools, but my second best deck is a creatureless flashback deck. This has the potential to win, but it is tricky to play so it’ll come down to who is piloting it.
Spiriling Doom: Event vs intro, plus if the other deck ever gets 2/3 of the pieces, pop goes the artifact đŸ˜›
death’s encroach
heavenly inferno
koth
spiraling doom
9) Death’s Encroach
10) Monstrous Surprise
11) Eldritch Onslaught
12) Spiraling Doom
9
Tough one. Uh I’ll go Illusionary might. I haven’t used Death’s encroach enough to know if it is good, but I know that Illusionary Might is decent.
10
Another toughy. 2 Commander decks eliminated already, and monstrous surprise kind of stinks (I’ve used this deck too), but I’ll go for Monstrous Surprise anyway.
11
Koth, cause Eldritch Onslaught is teh stank (I’ve used this before and it sucks)
12
Spiralling Doom, cause I don’t think that Grab for Power can get it’s 3 artifacts on time., and without them, I don’t think it stands a chance against spiralling doom. And besides, Spiralling Doom has “Doom” in it’s name. I mean, it’s Doom.
I predict that Spiralling Doom will win the division just because it has “Doom” in its name. This prediction may change come time when we actually get the predictions for the next and final round of this division.
If my predictions are wrong, it would be pure luck. Also do people get more points if they predict the underdog to win?
Death’s Encroach: The main way Illusions can win is with Porcelain Legionnaires. Otherwise, the zombies have so much targeted removal it’s not even funny.
Monstrous Surprise: lol commander decks
Koth: It went 6 for 0 against Venser’s, either Venser’s really sucked or this one has got some strength to it.
Spiraling Doom: It’s got artifact removal. Tutorable artifact removal.
9: Illusionary Might
10: Monstrous Surprise
11: Koth’s Deck
12: Spiraling Doom
1 illusionary might
2 monstrous surprisee
3 koth
4 spiralling doom
1. Illusionary Might: I think this is the closest of the four matches. Throwing my money down on the deck with the better endgame.
2. Monstrous Surprise: Heavenly Inferno is just too reliant on its Commander.
3. Koth: No comment.
4. Spiraling Doom: This should be a cakewalk. A bit disappointing for me, since Grab for Power is probably my favorite core set Intro Pack to date, but it just doesn’t match up well.
Illusionary Might
Monstrous Surprise
Koth
Spiraling Doom
I’m not putting my prediction up quite yet, but I don’t see quite the obvious picks as we did last time. Especially not with the way matches are going. You could literally pick any deck and it could likely be the right one. I’m interested to see what happens.
Ok, here we go, trying to jump up two spots after dropping one!
Game 9, Death’s Encroach. The removal suite is what is going to break the Illusory Might.
Game 10 Monstorus Surprise- I can’t see the Commander Deck doing that well here.
Game 11- Koth-[ i went back and reread the Eldritch Onslaught and It looked and played weak.
Game 12 Spiraling Doom- This is a pretty powerful deck and with undying, the Intro Deck Grab for power(with the Throne , no power here!) won’t get it done.
1. Death’s Encroach
2. Monstrous Surprise
3. Koth
4. Spiraling Doom
Ok, I’ll continue to follow my instinct in pure Jedi way!
9) Ilusory Might. When I bought it I was sceptical because is kind of a mix between two different strategies (illusion aggro and artifact). Now is one of my favourite event deck and play surprisingly well.
10) Monstrous Surprise. Commander products are pretty random, maybe Heavenly Inferno can win one out of three, but consistency will win in the end and that means Monstrous Surprise.
11) Eldritch Onslaught. I think that Koth deck is one of the worst duel deck ever made. I hope my feeling is right.
12) Spiraling Doom. What to do? I love both decks and I meddled with both of them but Spiraling Doom has the highest quality being an event deck. I’m sorry Grab for Power!
9) Death’s Encroach
10) Monstrous Surprise
11) Koth
12) Spiraling Doom
1. Death’s Enroach
2. Heavenly Inferno
3. Koth’s deck
4. Spiraling Doom
9) Death’s Encroach
10) Monstrous Surprise
11) Koth of the Hammer
12) Spiraling Doom
1. Illusory Might. Phantasmal Image seems to be the answer to anything.
2. Heavenly Inferno. Based purely on my desire to see angels, dragons, and demons come to life. Even with undying, if one lands, it doesn’t mean anything when you’re facing a one-sided beatdown.
3. Koth. This deck is consistent. It’s also able to finish off its opponent easily. I think it will be the same.
4. Spiraling Doom. This decks is solid even if you can’t find Birthing Pod. Get that engine rolling and the opponent is done.
9: Illusionary Might
10: Monstrous Surprise
11: Koth
12: Spiraling Doom
1. Death’s Encroach
Black has better removal, which is Illusionary Might’s bane, although its a bit slower.
2. Monstrous Surprise
3. Eldritch Onslaught
I have no faith in DvK DD, they both seemed horrible and slow when I played them. Inconsistent, but flavorful is the only compliment I can give.
4. Spiraling Doom
Sorry for the late response and little writeup, I am not home and visitng a friend and only had a small chance to use a PC. Predictions had to go quickly and instinctively this time, I wish I had more time to write a better analysis like last time, alas, it couldn’t be.
For Match 4 I support eldritch Onsluaght because the flashback engine seems very effective, backed with plenty of removal spells with flashback. In the reviews it proved its weight, winning by removing threats. Against koth it will win if Koth doesn’t get the planeswalker card or another of the big bombs while Onslaught may just grab small burn cards. Both deck have their weaknesses, but Koth relies too much on landfall and inneficient creatures, and too little mana-sinks. Sometimes It will just sit and watch with a lot of mana but nothing to use it on.