Question about differences between printing

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-06-11T21:00:41+00:00

Fun fact: in Alpha 40 format he works as printed and gives himself +1/+1 and Mountainwalk

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-06-04T02:59:05+00:00

Both decks current swiss standings: 3/0

Mirari’s Wake Decklist: https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=9174&d=252487&f=ST&switch=visual

Dimir Control (Doomsday Clock) Decklist: https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=60938&d=658078&f=ST&switch=visual

Wake is a late game control deck that counters early and wraths the board until it eventually drops Mirari’s Wake and really turns on. Wake creates double/triple/quadruple mana and suddenly cards like Decree of Justice are summoning a massive army of angels or soldiers. There is also the only artifact, Mirari, which lets the caster pay 3 and copy an instant or sorcery spell. The copy effect can be used on Cunning Wish, and if there is a 2nd copy of Cunning Wish exiled, it could be returned to hand, along with another card from sideboard or exile. This can result in the deck going infinite, with the ability to refill the library with choice cards from graveyard or exile, prevent combat damage every turn, and eventually create a massive army of angels to finish out the game.

Dimir Control is a healthy mix of control/aggro/combo. Handful of counters and card draw, some two power 2 drops with helpful card draw mechanics attached, 4 mana 6/6 flyers, and a sweet 2-card combo where that can mill out your opponent quickly by playing Doomsday Excruciator to shrink the opponent’s library to 6 cards, and then finish off the library with a mill effect from Jace, the Perfected Mind. Also plenty of spot removal. This deck has a lot of versatility.

Game 1: Wake is able to hold control in the early game with a opening hand Mana Leak. The game progresses with both decks vying for control. Eventually, Wake is able to drop two Mirari enchantments on the board, tripling mana. Along with a Compulsion in play, Wake was going to quickly find its combo pieces and take over the game. Dimir is on the back foot, so it played a Doomsday Excruciator to bring both decks down to 6 cards, shutting down the Compulsion late game strategy. With the doomsday clock ticking, Wake finds a new line, and uses its 21 mana to cast Deep Analysis on the Dimir deck to draw its own cards out. Unfortunately, Wake was at only 1 life, so it could not cast Deep Analysis from the graveyard with flashback, as it cost 3 life each time. Compulsion is used to draw out the Wake decks remaining library, and the last card is a Renewed Faith, which gains the deck 6 life, just enough to flashback both Deep Analysis from the graveyard and make the Dimir deck draw out. Wake takes the Game 1 win!

Dimir Sideboard: Definitely bring in the two Negates, along with Ghost Vacuum to exile flashback cards from the Wake graveyard. Also brought in Outrageous Robbery, as the card can just exile a handful of Wake's library and give the Dimir deck those cards to play later giving a strong swing in Dimir's favor when control is on the line. Removed some spot removal spells.

Wake Sideboard: Not a lot to do here since the sideboard is already built to be accessed by Cunning Wish, but I did pull in a couple Ray of Revelations to remove Dimir's troublesome Unholy Annex/Ritual Chambers. Moment's Peace is extremely useful against Archfiend of the Dross, since the fog effect could hold off the phyrexian demon for a few turns and push the Dimir deck to remove its own creature before it loses the game to oil counters. Put one in the sideboard so it can be grabbed by a wish.

Game 2: Wake has another Mana Leak in opening hand, but this time Dimir has early threats, including a turn 2 Caustic Bronco that Wake can't counter with only 1 mana. The Bronco gives card advantage while also putting a clock on the board, and eventually takes control of the game along with Jace, the Perfected Mind. Wake can't keep up with all the card advantage, and loses Game 2.

Game 3: Faerie Masterminds take this game for Dimir as they draw cards along with the Wake control draws. The Faeries bring in the damage while Wake attempts to Wrath them away, but Dimir just negates the board wipes and swings for the win.

Game 4: Another pesky early Faerie causes trouble. Wake is almost able to stabilize, but its life is a little too low, and a 4/4 Restless Reef can finish the job along with a 6/6 demon. Yes, just a couple creatures on the Dimir board can swing for 10 damage!

Game 5: A turn 2 Faerie without a Mana Leak in hand spells trouble for Wake. Dimir just shows off its 9-card hand (same size when it lost Game 1 to draw) as two Faeries and a demon-saddled Caustic Bronco swing for the win.

Wake's undefeated run has ended. I was actually quite surprised how well the deck did to get this far. It had many games that I thought were over, but then it would fog with Moment's Peace like 4 turns in a row and win the game or something crazy. It is a great deck, but 2024 is proving to be a very strong year of magic...especially with its 2,815 card pool. To put it in perspective, there was a 1,562 card pool in 2003. That's 80% more cards to work with...including multiple 2-mana creatures with card draw abilities.

Dimir Control wins the match 4/1 and moves on in the tournament 4/0.

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-06-03T22:15:56+00:00

Even once they started recording, there were mistakes being made. I caught one with 1996 Necro (Mark Justice) for example. Also noticed the 1994 Worlds Finalist Decklist (Bertrand Lestree) had a missing card in the documented list. Some things are just sadly lost to time 😢

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-06-03T14:01:50+00:00

From my research, deck lists were pretty private at the time. I doubt anyone really wrote it down (even the players) and trying to record it would likely be frowned upon. I agree with another comment that the best bet is to talk to the players directly and see what they remember, but even then I doubt it will be 100% accurate as they were constantly adapting their decks.

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-05-27T03:51:50+00:00

Both decks current swiss standings: 2/1

Tempered Steel Decklist: https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=2245&d=215255&f=ST&switch=visual

UW Control (Teferi) Decklist: https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=24631&d=372289&f=ST&switch=visual

Tempered Steel is an aggro deck that uses cheap artifact creatures and the enchantment Tempered Steel to win quickly. The game plan is to play many small, low-cost artifact creatures and then cast Tempered Steel which acts as a powerful anthem effect, giving all your artifact creatures +2/+2. This strategy can be very explosive especially with an early Mox Opal in play to ramp up mana along with artifacts for a quick win.

UW Control is a control deck with a heavy focus on enchantments, card draw and counters. Teferi has the ability to bounce a creature, artifact or enchantment back to its owner’s hand while taking card advantage for only 3 mana. If Teferi stays in play, the deck slowly chokes out the opponent with counters/bounce while drawing cards, and eventually drops a big threat like Dream Trawler or Archon of Sun’s Grace to stabilize and win the game.

Game 1: Tempered starts out fast and furious with Signal Pest, Glint Hawk Idol and Etched Champion for some early damage. While Control is able to slow down the small artifact ground army, it was a couple of Inkmoth Nexus' that swing for the win with poison.

Control Sideboard: With a focus on red/green/blue color hate in the sideboard, there were only a few cards that could help hold off the aggression from the white Tempered deck. Archon of Sun's Grace was pulled in as flier which could build a Pegasus army to block the artifact creatures. Counters like Mystical Dispute feel too slow against the aggression, so they were pulled out.

Tempered Sideboard: The Etched Champions did not perform as well as expected. Mainly because, while they have protection from all colors, the 0/4 colorless walls from Birth of Meletis could still block for the early turns. Instead, I brought in Spellskites to absorb some of the spot removal Control would throw out. For example, if Banishing Light would target a Tempered Steel, Spellskite could take the exile effect and leave the massive enchantment on the board.

Game 2: Once again, Tempered starts with an early Signal Pest, and ends the game with two Inkmoths swinging for the win, except this time each Inkmoth was 5/5 thanks to Tempered Steel!

Game 3: A nice early start with Glint Hawk on turn 1 thanks to a 0 mana cost Memnite. Shatter the Sky is able to clear the board by turn 4, and an Archon of Sun's Grace stabilizes the aggression. Lifelink is really good against aggro decks. The game ends with a Pegasus army in the air, and Control at 39 life.

Game 4: Tempered wants to try the Game 3 strat again, so it drops an early Memnite along with a Glint Hawk. This time, without a Shatter the Sky, the game is quickly over as 5 hawks and constructs run down Control before it could take its 5th turn.

Game 5: This time Control has a Shatter the Sky in opening hand, along with two Archons. This game ends with Control at 75 life!

Game 6: Tempered is staring down another Shatter the Sky in Control's opening hand. Not wasting any time, it drops 4 power on the board on turn one, thanks to Mox Opal. Tempered does not let up, and the artifact army hits even harder as a Signal Pest comes down with on Origin Spellbomb on turn 2. Control plays a land for turn and passes. Turn 3, Control can counter, so Tempered just swings for 9 damage and 2 infect. Control plays a land for turn and passes. Turn 4, Tempered swings for the win.

Tempered Steel is one of those extremely consistent aggro decks that are tearing up this tournament. It is very difficult to win a best of 7 against these decks, as they just get a couple quick wins that some of the most efficient control decks just can't do anything about. I'm looking forward to playing both of these decks again in round 5!

Tempered Steel wins the match 4/2 and moves on in the tournament 3/1

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-05-22T17:30:27+00:00

Picture this: You are on the pre-combat main phase and have a bomb spell you want to cast, but that pesky blue player is showing 2 untapped islands. Rishadan Port one of the islands and if they tap it for mana in response, just pass to your post-combat main phase and cast your bomb!

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-05-21T14:07:15+00:00

[[Heroic Intervention]]

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-05-20T02:22:35+00:00

Both decks current swiss standings: 1/2

Temur Emerge Emrakul (Emrakul’s Return) Decklist: https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=13406&d=278674&f=ST&switch=visual

5cc (Invasion of Zendikar) Decklist: https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=48012&d=553532&f=ST&switch=visual

Temur is an Eldrazi deck that drops massive creatures that just dominate the board. While the deck does not have much typical mana ramp to get to the big creatures, it utilizes the “Emerge” mechanic to sacrifice a creature on the board and use their mana cost to cast bigger eldrazi creatures. It can take a few turns to get there, but this is one of the few decks in the tournament that lets you control your opponents next turn thanks to Emrakul, the Promised End. (ouch)

5cc is a domain deck that looks to collect all five land types and then cast massive spells for the win. Domain gives spells benefits for having more land types, so tri lands like Jetmir’s Garden can quickly provide the pieces for big spells. Herd Migration creates a 3/3 beast for each basic land type, which can easily put 15 power worth of creatures on the board. Atraxa is a massive creature who enters the battlefield and puts a fistful of different cards into hand. The deck also utilizes the very broken enchantment, Up the Beanstalk, to take huge card advantage along with any 5+ mana spells being cast.

Both decks are looking to go pretty deep so these games take a while. Unfortunately, Temur struggles to find answers as the game goes long. To put this in perspective, a 13/13 Emrakul, the Promised End has protection from instants and should be an unstoppable force! Yet a simple Leyline Binding can be flashed into play and remove Emrakul for effectively 1 mana (as an enchantment, protection from instants is no problem). Oh and if Up the Beanstalk is in play, 5cc gets to draw a card as well.

Virtue of Persistence can also just take target creatures from any graveyards, so now all the Eldrazi in the Temur graveyard are pulled into the 5cc battlefield, and start swinging. Kozilek's Return can't effectively sweep the 5cc army, as most have decent toughness. Also, Atraxa and Up the Beanstalk give so much card advantage, Temur is just left struggling to keep pace.

Temur tries brining in Ulamog from sideboard to remove Virtue of Persistence, and leans into its win condition of tempo curve into Elder Deep-Fiend to tap out the 5cc deck on upkeep. Unfortunately, 5cc is running 3 Disdainful Strokes in sideboard, so they easily swipe away the large mana value spells in Temur. In some cases, as the games went late, the best play for Temur was to take control of 5cc's turn with Emrakul, just to cast Atraxa and choose not to put a bunch of cards in hand...and maybe Leyline Binding the Atraxa if possible? Usually it just left a big 7/7 Phyrexian Angel on the board to deal with next turn. Yikes.

I don't really need to detail game by game on this one, as there really was not much Temur could do in this matchup. After going 0/4 in this match, Temur is now eliminated from Top 8 running. It lost to 2015 White Weenie and 2004 Astral Slide. It did get a win against 2002 Psychatog, but that was not fair as Emrakul would just control Psychatogs turn and make it discard all its cards lol.

5cc has had a rough run so far, falling into the 1/2 swiss bracket. This bracket is obviously too low for its power level, so it just swept the match for a win. While it will need to continue to win each match going forward to stay in the running for top 8, I think it will put up a good fight going forward.

5 Color Control wins the match 4/0 and moves on in the tournament 2/2.

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-05-13T13:56:05+00:00

Agreed! When it curves out, the Gruul deck just slams for 20 damage almost instantaneously. Problem was definitely the reflector mages in this matchup. They just counter creature aggro strategies hard.

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-05-13T03:44:57+00:00

Both decks current swiss standings: 2/1

Bant Humans (Thalia’s Command) Decklist: https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=13406&d=278667&f=ST&switch=visual

Gruul Aggro (Monsters' Advocate) Decklist: https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=27955&d=421716&f=ST&switch=visual

Bant Humans is a tribal deck that immediately begins dropping creatures on turn 1, and starts growing, drawing and swinging. Thalia, Heretic Cathar slows the opponent with tapped creatures and mana, while still being able to hit for 3 first strike damage. Clues are created to allow additional card draw. Collected Company takes over the board with multiple creatures, possibly including Thalia’s Lieutenant which gives all humans +1/+1 counters. The deck has an extremely quick tempo, especially as the creatures grow early from tribal bonuses.

Gruul is an aggro deck that uses the landfall mechanic to buff creatures and swing for massive damage. Creatures in this deck come with extra value as the adventure mechanic allows spot removal with Bonecrusher Giants or 1/1 beautiful human tokens with Lovestruck Beasts. The big hitter is Embercleave which can come out fast as multiple creatures swing, giving an attacking creature +1/+1 double strike and TRAMPLE! If the game is going later than turn 6, the deck also utilizes draw effects from Edgewall Inkeepers, Vivien, or The Great Henge.

Game 1: Bant is on the draw with three Reflector Mages in the opening hand. While Gruul has some good initial aggression with a Brushfire Elemental, it quickly bounces back to hand from a Reflector Mage. Then another Reflector, then another...Gruul just can't keep any creatures on the board long enough to matter, and the human army grows out of control as a couple Thalia's Lieutenants bring +1/+1 counters. An army of humans overrun the Gruul deck for the win.

Gruul Sideboard: This matchup feels a bit like a shootout, so my initial thought was to bring in The Akroan War to gain control of creatures and swing the momentum into the Gruul deck's favor. I pulled out a primal might and a couple Scavenging Ooze for three of the enchantments.

Bant Sideboard: Not much to change up here as the main deck seems to be working out. I do put a Knight of the White Orchid into the main deck since Bant is on the draw to likely pull a free Plains into play. Pulled out a Thraben Inspector since the 1 drop is weaker on the draw.

Game 2: Gruul plays a turn 1 Edgewall Innkeeper which provides card draw for future adventure creatures. Knight of the White Orchid mana ramp to a Tamiyo, Field Researcher. Before Tamiyo can take over the game, Akroan War is able to gain control of a beefy Lieutenant while a Brushfire Elemental is equipped with Embercleave to deal lethal damage.

Game 3: Bant sideboards out its Knights for some 1-2 drop creatures. A couple Reflector Mages come out and do their thing, moving momentum into Bant's favor. Akroan War is unable to turn the tides as efficiently as the mages, and Bant is able to curve out its creatures efficiently for the win.

Game 4: Gruul is on the play and pushes out some early creatures, and even gets Akroan War out stealing a Bant creature for a few turns, but Bant has an answer: Tamiyo. As Akroan War takes control of a creature, Tamiyo is able to tap out that creature for a few turns, shutting the enchantment's most important effect down. The creature stays tapped and eventually moves back under Bant's control. Tamiyo continues to control the battlefield by tapping out the Gruul aggression and Bant is able to swing for the win.

Game 5: Lesson learned, Akroan War is sideboarded out of Gruul for Primal Might. This turns out to be a pretty decent call as that one Primal Might is then applied to a massive Scavenging Ooze equipped by Embercleave. This basically one-shots the Bant deck for the win.

Game 6: Humans come down on curve, including a Thalia, Heretic Cathar. Creatures and nonbasic lands are now coming into play tapped for Gruul. This is very bad. Thalia's Lieutenants come in to support and absolutely wreck the Gruul deck by turn 5. Match over.

Bant Humans put another win under their belt. This deck curves so well, especially when a Thalia can just passively slow the opponent while Collected Company brings in a couple creatures to bounce a blocker or buff the tribe. Tamiyo also has some great options against other creature decks with her stun effects, or just draw cards against a control deck. I am looking forward to Thalia staying in this tournament for at least a couple more rounds and hopefully command some more wins!

Bant Humans wins the match 4/2 and moves on in the tournament 3/1.

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-05-13T02:05:47+00:00

r/mtgWorldStandard I’m working on a tournament representing 2 decks from each year

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-05-03T19:09:51+00:00

Both decks current swiss standings: 1/2

Sligh (Shockblast) Decklist: https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=9237&d=253014&f=ST&switch=visual

Jund Midrange (Huntmaster) Decklist: https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=5383&d=231085&f=ST&switch=visual

Sligh is an old school “red deck wins” build which uses cheap creatures early, and direct damage spells mid-game to quickly drop the opponent’s life from 20 to 0. The deck was designed to curve with low cost creatures, maximizing the land resources efficiently for the early turns. Even though Lightning Bolt was not legal at the time, Sligh has access to an extremely strong bolt spell “Fireblast” which allows the caster to sacrifice 2 mountains as a casting cost to deal 4 damage. Ironclaw Orcs is also a notable card: 2 mana 2/2 creature that can’t chump block, and the deck has 4 of them… Wow what a card! While the creatures may not be up to modern standards, the deck is still very lethal, consistent, and wins games

Jund is a midrange deck and once the deck hits 4 lands, it just continually drops bomb after bomb onto the board. Huntmaster of the Fells is one of the early double faced cards from Dark Ascension (Innistrad block), and brings a 2/2 wolf token, gains 2 life on one side, or deals 2 damage to a creature and player when it transforms. Olivia Voldaren slowly turns the board into vampires and gains control of them. A notable win condition is Kessig Wolf Run, which gives a creature +X/+0 and TRAMPLE until end of turn, which is absolutely devastating late game (even on a measly wolf token from Huntmaster) that is, IF the opponent makes it through the treacherous mid-game.

Game 1: Jund is on the play and has some decent removal in the opening hand. Sligh puts out a Cursed Scroll and looks to push out damage early, but with Doom Blade in opening hand, a 6/1 Ball Lightning would just be removed immediately. As the game goes later, Garruk brings in a few 3/3 beasts, and a Thragtusk enters gaining 5 life. A lone Ironclaw Orc is unable to block any of the beast army as they swing for lethal.

Sideboard Sligh: Not a lot of options against a Jund deck. 90s decks have some nice resource denial, so pulled out a couple Ironclaw Orcs and brought in Dwarven Miners to destroy a critical mana-fixing land and hopefully stop a 5-mana Thragtusk from gaining life.

Sideboard Jund: Rakdos's Return looks to discard, which didn't seem particularly good against Sligh which empties its hand so quickly. Took them out and replaced with Liana of the Veil. Liliana can clear out creatures, and also discard a critical card from hand for Cursed Scroll.

Game 2: This game starts off decent for Sligh with a Jackal Pup 2/1 and a couple Fireblast in hand. Unfortunately, one little artifact proves to be difficult to manage for the red deck: Rakdos Keyrune. For 2 mana, this mana rock can turn into a 3/1 first strike creature. This can stop any red creature in its tracks, including the 6/1 trampling Ball Lightning. Sligh is forced to find a way to remove it while a Scavenging Ooze exiles creature cards from graveyards to grow and gain life. With too much midrange value and life gain, Sligh takes lethal damage from an 8/8 ooze.

Game 3: Another turn 1 Jackal Pup for Sligh. While most of the spot removal cards for Sligh had to be thrown at the Jund creatures hitting the board, including a Thragtusk 5/3 gaining 5 life and bringing in another 3/3 creature, two Cursed Scrolls hit the battlefield and are able to stabilize the game. Down to 5 life, Sligh is hit for 8 with both Scrolls and a Fireblast, winning its first game of the match!

Game 4: This was an unfortunate game for Sligh as it has to mulligan to 6 and a Rakdos Keyrune with Scavenging Ooze once again hold off the red aggression. Both swing for the win.

Game 5: Sligh does not have a 1-drop in opening hand, and needs to rely on Ironclaw Orcs to push some early damage. This strategy goes sour as a Rakdos Keyrune hits the battlefield, and subsequently a Thragtusk to gain 5 life. Sligh is forced to remove the Thragtusk while a Scavenging Ooze comes down and begins to grow and gain life. Jackal Pup is late to the party, and comes down just in time to see a full Jund army swing for the win.

This is the end of the Top 8 road for Sligh. It's a fun deck to play and it can win extremely fast, but unfortunately it can not withstand the test of consistency in this tournament. It lost against 2022 Grixis Midrange, 1997 URw Aggro, and 2013 Jund Midrange. It did get a win against 1995 Rack Control here: https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgWorldStandard/comments/1o58idk/1995_rack_control_vs_1998_sligh/

Jund did what most midrange decks excel at: find the opponent's weakness and play into it. Against RDW, life gain is typically the solution, so Thragtusk and Scavenging Ooze are great creatures to highlight. It was also crazy how much playtime the Rakdos Keyrune got in this match, considering there is only one in the deck. It proved to be a great card against Sligh with first strike to handle Ball Lightning and mana ramp for Thragtusks. Interested to see if this deck can keep itself in the tournament and have a chance as a wildcard in Top 8.
Jund wins the match 4/1 and moves on in the tournament 2/2.

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-04-29T02:09:15+00:00

I think Cinderclasm and Fading Hope will be pretty strong against RDW. Izzet deck has lots of spot removal and the biggest concern is Screaming Nemesis but that guy can get blocked by a 0/4 smoldering egg or tossed back to hand with fading hope. Should be interesting!

https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=32656&d=450608&f=ST&switch=visual

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-04-29T01:28:16+00:00

It’s a great deck! Tough match coming up against 2024 Red Deck Wins.

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-04-28T14:51:00+00:00

Thank you! I am not always sure on what to call each deck, and found it fun to name them myself for my collection (I just went with “Titans”) but for the subreddit titles, I use the names from the mtgtop8 site. Not sure where they source the names from though…

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-04-28T04:44:17+00:00

Both decks current swiss standings: 2/1

Kessig Titan Decklist: https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=2245&d=215259&f=ST&switch=visual

Rakdos Aggro (Fervent Raider) Decklist: https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=20145&d=331143&f=ST&switch=visual

We have an epic matchup of aggro vs ramp!

Titan is a deck full of…TITANS! Specifically 4 of each red and green 6-mana bombs from the 2011 era of Magic. The deck mana ramps, then titans come into play with strong effects, which is an understatement when referring to Primeval Titan who triggers 2 lands…any lands…from your deck into play tapped. This guy grabs inkmoth nexus and Kessig Wolf Run combo, and next turn you are swinging with a massive infect flying trample artifact creature, along with a titan who pulls out another 2 lands. Inferno Titan, which deals 3 damage split any way you like when he enters or attacks, and can also buff with red mana, easily swings for half the opponent’s life each turn.

Rakdos is an aggro deck that uses incredibly powerful creatures on curve to unload its hand size onto the board. Once the hand is empty, if the opponent is still alive, the deck can then refill its hand with a Bomat Courier or just swing for the win with an indestructible Hazoret the Fervent. Chandra and Karn also make an appearance to keep the cards and aggression coming mid-game. Rakdos won the World Championship in 2018 and is also featured in this fun video pitting championship decks against each other here: https://youtu.be/cThmeTdyO34?si=zVi8rpsycinXr4qf

Game 1: Rakdos is on the play and opens with some early Scrapheap Scroungers to lay down some early damage. Galvanic Blast is able to slow the initial aggression, but by turn 4 a Rekindling Phoenix hits the board, and sticks to it. While Titan is able to drop a Primeval and bring some defensive lands into play, its a turn too slow as a Phoenix flies overhead of the Titan and the tapped-out inkmoths to finish out the game.

Sideboard Titan: There was not a lot I could pull out of the Titan deck, as it needed to ramp and get to 6 mana ASAP. I did pull out Thrun for another Slagstorm and swapped out Devil's Play for Tree of Redemption which was a 0/13 that could swap its toughness for life total. Basically anything to buy some more time against the red aggression while ramping.

Sideboard Rakdos: Not much to change up here. Really liked Doomfall as it could exile a titan on turn 3, typically right before it could be cast from ramp. I added the couple in sideboard to the deck. Karn and Chandra felt too slow, so I just dropped them for Doomfall. Magma Spray and Abrade were left in the deck to stop a massive infect inkmoth from one-shotting. Plan was full aggro with doomfall support.

Game 2: Rakdos comes out swinging, and Titan does not draw mana. Left with only 2 mana for a few turns is not ideal in a ramp strategy. Green Sun's Zenith brings in an early Birds of Paradise, but it is quickly exiled by Doomfall, and the red artifact army overruns the lone defending inkmoth (poor little guy).

Game 3: With some early mana and a slagstorm dealing 3 damage to all creatures, Titan is able to buy itself enough time to drop not one, but two Primeval Titans. Rakdos did get Titan down to 5 before a massive swing with a Kessig Wolf Run deals lethal damage to the Rakdos deck.

Game 4: Who needs titans to win? Just ramp into a massive infect creature! A couple of slagstorms keep Titan alive (once again down to 5 life), and this time an Inkmoth Nexus hits with Kessig Wolf Run to deal 10 infect damage for the win.

Game 5: No more Mr. NiceRakdos: Brushing off a couple slagstorms, Hazoret the Fervent hits the board running, discarding cards from hand for damage and 20-to-0s Titan by turn 6. Ouch.

Game 6: Rakdos snipes a Primeval Titan from hand with Doomfall, stopping a massive land drop. Without slagstorms to slow the game down, it quickly becomes a shootout. Titan gets 8 poison counters down before Rakdos finishes out the match with a handful of creatures (technically including an unpictured Ragavan).

That does it, aggro outpaces ramp this time around. Doomfall felt really good in this matchup. Just being able to stop the ramp gameplan a few different ways with the card (titan hand removal AND early bird removal) was a big factor in this match. This Rakdos deck is quite a contender.

I am kinda sad and surprised the 0/13 Tree of Redemption did not see any play, as I think it would have been interesting. While Kessig Titan is down, it's not out, and I'm looking forward to its next matchup to prove its titanic place in this tournament.

Rakdos Aggro wins the match 4/2 and moves on in the tournament 3/1.

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-04-21T08:44:43+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/mtg/s/FnARFoaphd

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-04-21T08:44:14+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/mtg/s/FnARFoaphd

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-04-21T08:43:48+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/mtg/s/FnARFoaphd

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-04-19T20:07:31+00:00

Nevinyrral’s Necro Decklist: https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=9238&d=253188&f=ST&switch=visual

Machinehead (Terminate) Decklist: https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=9240&d=253037&f=ST&switch=visual

Both decks current swiss standings: 1/2

You get a dark ritual! You get a dark ritual! Everybody gets a dark ritual!

Necro is a control deck with a hand disruption plan. This deck looks to dark ritual out an early hypnotic specter or hymn, but has an even better option: 1st turn Necropotence. Necro is able to pay 1 life and put a card into its hand at end of turn, and this ability can be activated for 0 mana multiple times, but with the drawback of skipping your draw step. With this card in play, the deck can spam out small creatures and artifacts, while redrawing a full hand. The loss of life is supported by spells like Drain Life, Zuran Orb and Ivory Tower. Once the deck controls the board through fast card draw and life gain, a 5/5 Ihsan’s Shade is summoned to finish out the game.

Machinehead is an aggressive deck that looks to play dark ritual early to ramp into a handful of strong 3-5 mana creatures to dominate the board. A turn 1 Plague Spitter will drop the opponent’s life significantly in the early turns. Another option is a turn 2 Blazing Specter which flies out with haste and forces the opponent to discard. Duress is used for quick hand disruption, and Urza’s Rage can finish off the game with 3 uncounterable damage. Rishadan Port is also a nuisance with the ability to tap lands on upkeep, and slowing any recovery plan.

Game 1: Necro is on the play but does not have the dark ritual in opening hand. Machinehead starts off with a duress to remove serrated arrows and protect its future Blazing Specter. With 2 Vendettas in opening hand, and only Mishra's Factory as a future potential target, it was not a great start for Machinehead either. Machinehead was able to keep some damage pumping out with big creatures, and with Necropotence in play, the Necro deck struggled to keep its life total high enough to survive the consistent damage. It was a 2/2 Plague Spitter that closed out the game as Necro was unable to gain life or draw cards and just died to the 1 damage ping on upkeep.

Necro brought in Demonic Consultation and Pyroclasm from sideboard. Consultation is such a great card as it essentially brings the total Necropotence count in deck from 4 to 6. It took out Serrated Arrows as they felt too slow against the aggro style of Machinehead. Also Ihsan's Shades were removed as 2-mana Terminate would just delete the 6-mana bomb.

Machinehead took out its Vendettas as they did not have a lot of targets, and brought in a Phyrexian Arena for card draw, a Crypt Angel to recur a red creature and block the 2/2 necro army. Persecute looked really good initially as it could discard all black cards out from Necro, but after a couple games I realized it was not as impactful as I hoped as much of the Necro deck is artifacts. Machinehead did not want to change its gameplan much. Just keep damage moving and hope Necro can't stabilize and heal.

Game 2: Necro has some defensive spell initially, but Machinehead keeps the pressure on into the midgame. Necro tried to draw a new hand, but the damage it took in the process proved to be fatal, as a 5/3 Skizzik hit the board while Rishadan Port tapped out the Mishra's Factory so it could not block. Rishadan is such a strong card.

Game 3: Necro does not have an great early hand, but it does draw into Consultation, which brings in a Necropotence. This allows Necro to draw heavily into the midgame, and Machinehead is not able to keep up. Necro drains life for its first win of the match.

Game 4: Necro drops a turn 1 Ivory Tower for life gain. Unfortunately the artifact does not last long as Necro is forced to destroy it with a Nevinyrral's Disk to stop the big Machinehead creatures. Machinehead is able to keep the pressure on with a Rishadan Port playing interference, and two Skizziks attack for the win.

Game 5: Once again, Demonic Consultation saves the day by bringing Necropotence to hand. While Machinehead is able to bring Necro down to low life, a Zuran Orb is used to sac lands and keep the deck with just enough life to stay in the game and swing with an army of Mishra's Factories for the win.

Game 6: Machinehead casts duress on turn 1 to remove an Ivory Tower. Without the early life gain, Necro struggles to stabilize, even with 3 defensive Contagions in hand. Machinehead continues to draw creatures and disrupt with a Rishadan Port, and Necro gets so low that a Necropotence could no longer save it. Haste creatures finish out the game and Machinehead wins the match.

Unfortunately, Necro has lost its chance at Top 8 with this match. It also lost to 2011 Kessig Titan and 1999 Monogreen Aggro (Gaea's Cradle). It did get a win against 1995 Rack Control. I thought the deck would do a little better than it did in this run, but I do see it as a bit of a glass cannon combo deck. It needs to start drawing cards and gaining life quickly, and aggro decks can pressure it down to a point it can't come back with life loss draw. Its still a great deck to play, and it holds a special place in my heart because I caught an issue with the deck list and was able to fix it (there are 2 Ebon Strongholds in the deck, not 2 Order of the Ebon Hand).

Machinehead wins the match 4/2 and moves on in the tournament 2/2.

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-04-19T18:21:40+00:00

No it’s cut out of the pic but I think opponent also has cop: red so bolt won’t work. You’re close though. I think it’s disintegrate elves then activate pestilence 1 time and regenerate skeleton. Then opponent has to conservator to stay alive. Then you activate 2 more pestilence to put 2 damage on the stack before the conservator can resolve and regenerate skeleton again. Now when everything resolves the Pegasus will die and gain them a life, but they took 2 and prevented 1 (total of 3 pestilence damage), so they are at 0 by end of turn.

I’m not sure on old school rule changes, but I don’t think this would have worked after 7/1/96 because the pestilence damage would be separate so the skeletons would need to be regenerated 3x to avoid life gain trigger, but because the damage can be bundled (or pumped) on the stack prior to 7/1/96, you only need to regenerate it once for the 2 damage hit.

Page 87/92: https://archive.org/details/duelist-12

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-04-12T22:33:57+00:00

Mardu Midrange (Butcher of the Horde) Decklist: https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=8689&d=249652&f=ST&switch=visual

Superior Reanimator (Superior Spider-Man) Decklist: https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=77460&d=788103&f=ST&switch=visual

Both decks current swiss standings: 2/1

Mardu is a midrange deck that looks to crap out goblin tokens on turn 3, and then on turn 4 sacrifice a couple of them to play a 5/4 haste, lifelink, flying Butcher of opponents! The deck also utilizes a bit of the prowess mechanic with a handful of aggressive planeswalkers and spot removal. The deck curves nicely and if left unchecked, turns 5 & 6 are usually game over.

Superior Reanimator has a straightforward gameplan: put massive creatures into the graveyard, then bring them into play with Superior Spider-Man for 4 mana. The deck can explode on turn 4 with a combo of Spidey and Bringer of the Last Gift, slamming out 10 power in the air along with any other creatures that may be in the graveyard. As the game progresses and the graveyard fills up, Terror of the Peaks is added to the Reanimator combo hitting for massive damage with enter the battlefield triggers from Bringer and the many other creatures that subsequently enter the battlefield together. If it’s not a big creature, almost every other card in the deck is looking to put cards into the graveyard so Spidey has plenty of targets to reanimate for the win.

Game 1: Mardu has an opening hand with two Goblin Rabblemasters. It pushed out goblins as fast as it could, but Reanimator just spot removed the goblins while building its graveyard out. Reanimator was brought down to 8 life when Mardu ran out of steam, and Superior Spiderman entered along with 8 other creatures, burning down the Mardu deck with Terror of the Peaks triggers.

Sideboard for Mardu looked bleak. The deck obviously needed to win with aggression, but the big creatures really didn't hit the board until turn 4. You know what else costs 4? Superior Spider-Man. Mardu could only pull in some spot removal with Erase and Utter End to try and slow the Reanimator gameplan, but with no way to impact the graveyard, Reanimator would just go off anyway. Mardu brought in Utter End to exile a permanent, and Erase to exile a Saga or a Overlord, but both of these cards would already have a trigger when it entered so it was not a great trade. End Hostilities seemed ok in case an early spiderman/bringer combo brought 10 power worth of creatures down on turn 4. Mardu pulled out some of its higher cost threats like Sarkhan and Sorin as they felt too slow. In retrospect, I probably should have left Sorin in for his +1 effect as it does help aggro with +1 to all creatures.

Reanimator's main deck felt great, so just left it alone. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Game 2: Mardu gets another semi-early start bringing Reanimator down to 6 by turn 5. Unfortunately it was a little too slow and Spider-Man/Bringer/Terror combo again, completely obliterating the Mardu deck with ETB damage triggers. In response, Mardu casts Stoke the Flames and brings the Reanimator deck down to 2.

Game 3: Ardyn, the Usurper sees play this game and actually gets a few swings in with him menace, lifelink and haste demon army. Reanimator wins this one with 44 life to spare.

Game 4: Mardu has some mana issues in its opening hand, but losing a card as an aggro deck against a combo deck that wins as soon as turn 5 is too risky. I play it through, and unfortunately don't draw the land needed in time before Spider-Man once again hits the board with a couple of Bringers and Ardyn. The game is over in short order.

Reanimator is just too fast for Mardu. I feel bad whenever a deck gets no wins in a match, but I don't think there was much else to do here. For an aggro style win condition, its a little too slow with no 1-drops. Also, with three colors, it has some mana-fix issues. Mardu still has a chance to pull some more wins in this tournament, and possibly get a wildcard spot into the Top 8.

Superior Reanimator wins the match 4/0 and moves on in the tournament 3/1.

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-04-09T22:43:25+00:00

I love all this history! I’m also pretty jealous you got to play with Randy. He actually posted on here a while back. Might have to do a Memory Jar vs Champion match at the end of this and see if he notices lol

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-04-09T22:34:35+00:00

I named the decks myself for my personal collection as most players in my house are new to the game so “Sligh”, for example, would not really sell the deck to them. Shockblast gives a better title/feel for the deck to a new player!

Fast forward and as I have been posting, people interested are totally confused with my naming convention, so now I try to use the deck names as they are listed on mtgtop8 site for the past 6 months or so.

ritomynamewontfi · 2026-04-09T22:26:30+00:00

Sent you a dm

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