2014-15 Precon Championships: Round 6 and the Leaderboard
And it’s another week of exciting precon action in the books, folks! Four matches this past Saturday whittled the Turian Division down to four, and there were some real surprises in the arena! How did they fare- and how did our predictors do?
First, the Magic 2015 Intro Pack Will of the Masses took on the Green Sample Deck from M15. When you talk about the “wisdom of the crowds,” this is a shining example- not one predictor picked the Green Sample Deck to win. League leader icehawk had a simple rationale:
Looks like a fun deck to me.
And it was! Every predictor had the fun of taking a point in the standings off this match, and Will of the Masses advanced to this Saturday’s divisional finals.
Next up, the Fate Reforged Clash Pack Deck, Power, went up against Speed, a Duel Deck. Opinion was more split here, with only two-thirds thinking the Duel Deck would be able to go the distance.
Here’s what Jeskai_angel had to say.
I pick Speed to win. It looks like a solid aggro / token deck. Speed does have some weak cards, but they still do something, whereas Power has durdly chaff like Annul and Taigam’s Scheming that does next to nothing. Also, Power Versus Speed totally sounds like the name of a Duel Deck product.
Next up was one of the two Commander 2014 decks, Guided by Nature which got far less popular support against Khans of Tarkir’s Temur Avalanche. Interesting fact: the top four players on the standings all picked this one correctly- and everyone else went the other way. Again with Jeskai_angel:
I pick Guided by Nature to win. I think Guided by Nature is likely to play out as an aggro deck, with more and better sources of ramp and card advantage than the Temur will be able to muster (notwithstanding their cool Morph cards – shoutout to my buddy Woolly Loxodon!).
Finally, the most underdog win of the day was the mono-Blue Peer through Time, contending against Fate Reforged’s Unflinching Assault Intro Pack. Only one predictor, ubur, picked the mono-Blue deck for the win. In fact, ubur got all four games correct, the only one to do so this week, and vaulted up the standings into real contention. Proof that one good week can keep you in the hunt, even if you’re lower in the pack!
Alas, no good quote here, as ubur didn’t expound on the pick, but here’s the current standings!
As always, if you feel there’s a discrepancy, please let me know and I’ll be happy to fix it. As for this week’s games, here are the ones to pick. You’ll want to predict the winner of each game, and THEN pick the winner of the division as the two winners face off.
Game One: Will of the Masses versus Speed
Game Two: Guided by Nature versus Peer through Time
Game Three: Winner of Game One versus Winner of Game Two
Leave your predictions below, and best of luck!
Ertai's Lament 
1.) Speed. The masses may beat out the speed, but it’s the duel deck. So I must stand by it, and I think it has a real shot at this. It’s got some wicked cards.
2.) Guided by Nature. Peer got lucky. Nature will rise up against it.
Now, this is where things get tricky. My love for the duel decks says go Speed go! My love of EDH says give in to that nature. I could really flip the coin and will be happy no matter which one wins. Problem is its a 60 card deck vs a 100 singles. Can’t count green out. Its 3 color vs mono, but… >< Why you make me choose!
3.) Speed. The goblins will act like gremlins and goof green to goo. *shrugs*
I had 7 points last week, so I should have 8 this week, not 9.
Time to hedge my bets here:
1) Will of the Masses
2) Guided by Nature
3) Speed
I want GW to take the division, but my gut doubts that will happen.
Got it, thank you! That’s what I get for updating while I’m podcasting..
Speed can’t take game 3, if Will and nature take games 1 & 2. 😛 Or has Speed become the Flash?
Oh! I see what ya did there. Being a smarty pants. xD
1) Will of the Masses
2) Guided by Nature
3) Guided by Nature.
Speed
Peer through Time
Will of the Masses
The masses can’t take game 3, if Speed and Peer take games 1 & 2. 😛
Oh! I see what ya did there. Being one of those smarty pants. xD
Okay, I went back and triple-checked and I should be on *10* points, not 8. I’m starting to get a mite worried about overall result-counting accuracy, sorry!
G1: Will of the Masses
G2: Peer Through Time.
G3: Peer Through Time.
I have no clever deck insights. I’m just being willfully contrary.
Hmm, that’s concerning. Something like this is pointless without accuracy, and I’m not sure if it’s something to do with the spreadsheet, or a PEBKAC error. Thanks for the head’s up! I’ll do a full audit this week, if I can’t find the issue I’ll just go to paper tracking.
Thank you 🙂
Hrm. I’m still doing a full teardown audit, but here’s what I’m seeing for your score.
In week one, you got 3 points, picking Red, Kiora, and Fate/Fury. You missed Cruel Plots.
In week two, you got zero points.
In week three, you went 50/50. Points for picking Power/Profit and White, but missing Mardu and Sultai.
Then in week four, you picked up two of three possible points. You correctly guessed Power/Profit and White, but thought White would come out on top.
Then last week, you picked Will of the Masses to win, and picked up a point.
SUM: 3 + 0 + 2 + 2 + 1 = 8
In which week(s) are you seeing a discrepancy? That would help me pinpoint it.
Thanks!!
Adjaha. The discrepancy lies between the keyboard and the chair >_<. I'm sorry, *I* was reading the wrong column. I have 8 points and need to shut up before I make any more of a fool of myself. My apologies.
G1: Okay, so after being so chastened, I will choose Speed. I actually think this is a fairly even match conceptually, since Will of the Masses has great synergy and Speed, contrary to my expectations, turns out to be about as fast as its name suggests. They both have related goals, with tokens being generated, but I guess I choose Speed because it had better removal and its bombs are a bit better, although if Will of the Masses resolves a Hornet Queen or enough Triplicate Spirits, the game could turn around. But mostly since I’ve been punished for doubting on three color aggro, I’ll give it the nod this time (even though I personally like Will of the Masses playstyle better).
G2: Guided by Nature. It’s the faster deck and while I was punished by picking Unflinching Assault last time for this reason, I think Guided By Nature’s tribal strategy will get past Peer Through Time especially with the lower life totals not giving Peer as much space to stabilize with its higher curve.
G3: Speed. I still think the Commander decks can be too slow and Speed is even more aggressive than Unflinching Assault and while Guided by Nature might be the faster of the Commander decks, I think if it can get past Will of the Masses, it will also get past Guided by Nature and its somewhat similar game plan.
G1 – Speed
G2 – Guided by Nature
G3 – Guided by Nature
G1 – Speed
G2 – Guided by Nature
G3 – Speed
Game One: This is a tough choice. It could go either way, with Will capable of dream starts, two decisive rares, good air presence and Speed may get mana problems as a tricolour deck. But in terms of quality, Speed has the better cards, a single Krenko can create an unanswerable Goblin swarm, and both Fury of the Horde and Banefire can be potent finishers. I think Speed can win, but maybe it will have to be patient and rely on time. Also, the Duel decks really make a good showing in the tournament. Go Speed!
Game Two: A clash of titans. Who would have thought to have two Commander decks in the second round. To be fair, Peer through Time only won because its opponent got mana problems (Ertai, are you purposely avoiding the “standard” term “mana s***w” for mana problems to keep the site family friendly?) in two successive games, but sometimes Magic is a game of luck, and that´s what makes it unpredictable and fun. That said, I don´t think Peer can pull that stunt again, so Guided by Nature will win.
Game Three: Whoever wins Game One will probably win Game Three as well… so some of my fellow predictors actually made conflicting predictions above. Nice idea! Not wanting to steal their idea, I stick for Speed. It would be too nice to have two duel decks in the finals…
That’s hilarious, just caught the embedded question. I typed “mana screw” into the site’s search engine, and was rather surprised at the results! https://ertaislament.com//?s=%22mana+screw%22
Oops. Rather surprisng, indeed.
I read almost all of your articles and didn´t notice this? I´m blushing…
I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing with any of these picks.
G1: Two aggro token decks. Huh. Bah, I don’t have the mental energy this week to analyze these matchups. I’ll choose Speed, I guess. Perhaps it will hum along a little more reliably than WoM, which could get stuck with expensive cards it struggles to cast.
G2: I’m still annoyed that Peer Through Time won in last round, plus Freyalise is way cooler than Teferi, so on those grounds I pick Guided By Nature to win.
G3: I’m going to vote Guided by Nature for the final. It has enough 1, 2, and 3 CMC spells that maybe it can survive the initial onslaught, then take over the long game. Or something.
1. Speed will have the will to win (please don’t quote that haha!). Seriously though, Speed will beat Will.
2. Peer Through Time’s glass slipper won’t fit anymore after this match. I think they got lucky last match and Nature will show why it isn’t to be messed with. Guided by Nature wins this in 2.
3. I think Speed vs. Nature will be a battle. I think Speed will live up to its name in the first game and score the win but I think Nature’s wrath will come down hard in game two. But in the third and deciding game… Speed will get out to its typical start and just get across the finish line before Nature can stabilize. Speed takes it.
Speed
Peer Through Time
Peer Through Time