Gearing up for Gameday Avacyn Restored: A look at the Nagoya Metagame
I’m deeply sorry I haven’t posted more lately. Luckily I’ve gotten some more work as of late (I need the money), and haven’t been able to attend all of the tournaments I’d like to. I was working today (Saturday), and was unable to go to any of the Saturday Gamedays in Nagoya, but I’m looking forward to playing Sunday. If you are planning on doing Gameday tomorrow in Nagoya, there are 3 venues.
- I will be attending Gameday at Card Brunch in Kanayama. This will be the most casual of the 3, but most likely you won’t win as much as the other places. Gameday starts at 1pm, but they are letting people register at 11am. There are only 24 spots available.
- Another venue for Gameday is at Hobby Station Meitetsu Eki. I’m not sure on the time, so I would get there around the same time (11am-12pm) and register asap. You can always walk around the station to kill time afterwards. I’m unsure about how many players can play. The prizes should be decent here, and the level of players will be higher than Card Brunch as well.
- Big Magic is the last venue. Most likely there Gameday will start at 11am, so get there early if you want to play. They were taking reservations a week before, so they might be full, but if you want the most difficult challenge and want to play the best players in Nagoya, go here. You can always go to Card Brunch as your fall back.
Another reason why I haven’t been feeling like posting as of late is because I just can’t seem to put up a fight in this current metagame. I tried a BR control deck for a few days, a Grixis Burn deck, and even my life gain deck, and I’ve suffered defeat after heartbreaking defeat. My record for the last 3 weeks is probably 3-25 (that’s out of matches, not each game that’s part of the match). I’m distraught, I’m angry, I want to kill somebody . . . but I have nobody to blame but myself for not properly reading the metagame.
The Metagame
For those of you interested in what the metagame has looked like in the past few weeks, here’s a list I compiled of a few decks I’ve seen.
Friday, 5/18: GB control, GB Pod, WB Tokens, UW delver, Bant Aggro
Saturday, 5/19 – Esper Control, WB tokens, UW Human Delver, mono red, mono green soulbound, Esper control, UB control, WR Humans, UW delver, RWB Humans (Bladehold/lightning mauler), UW delver, UW Humans, WR Humans, Bant control (Tide/Entreat), WBG tokens (blood artist), BGR JUND ramp, WG Soulbound, GR Beatdown
Sunday, 5/20 – UW Venser blink, RBW frites, BANT aggro, Esper control, WB Aggro/control, WR human aggro, Esper control
Monday, 5/21 – BR control, UB control (Tamiyo, Lilliana, Jace), Venser blink, Naya pod, mono white spirits, UW delver, GR kessig Beatdown, GW human
Tuesday, 5/22 – Naya pod, Grixis burn, Esper control, UW delver, mono white humans, RW humans
Friday, 5/25 – UB zombie, human frites, Bant pod, mono white humans, Esper control
There is a little bit of overlap, but as you can see, there has been a definite increase in human based decks, as well as Esper control decks. Control players are still running Mana Leaks despite everybody running Cavern of Souls, and the availability of Day of Judgement and Oblivion Ring are very nice. I’ve also seen a lot of control players switching to a library destruction theme with multiple Jace’s and Nephalia Drownyard’s as the backbone.
Humans have just been plain nasty. I think red is the best way to deal with them (Whipflare, Slagstorm, etc), especially when these decks are usually running 4 Mirran Crusaders. Overload your deck with Ratchet Bombs and board wipes if you’re going up against one! Pod has also show some resurgence, with Naya Pod being the most popular. Take out that Birthing Pod asap! Another card to look out for is Blood Artist. I personally love it, but it can quickly kill you if you’re not careful. If you have 4 in play and kill them at the same time, the other player loses 16 life and you gain 16! How crazy is that?!?! He’s definitely going to find his way into some other decks in the coming weeks (I have 4 in my suicide deck that I’ll post later).
“Cockatrice”
If any of you use deck testing software for your computer, I have just downloaded Cockatrice. My handle on there is TheJapanHobbyist. If you ever see me on there, lets play a game! Be patient with me though, I’m still learning how to use all of it’s functions.
Modern Tournament
Upcoming Modern tournament
To anybody playing Modern, Mishimaya (the store in Ozone) will be hosting a tournament from 1:30-whenever on June 2nd, next Saturday. If you have a deck and want to get some practice in before GP Yokohama, here’s a good place to do it! Only 500 yen! Well that will do it for this update, but I will be sure to return with deck ideas and results from Gameday after tomorrow. I want to thank you again for your patience and I look forward to posting some more for your pleasure in the future!