Before anything else, I would like to again extend by utmost thanks to AliasV and associates for hosting the Super Spiffy TournamentII. I just received the best prize I got from said tournament (posted here)
which I will certainly treasure. While I was eliminated in the quarters (which
happened to me two weeks in a row as I also lost in the top 8 quarters of the
Pauper Challenge the week before), it was certainly a wonderful experience and I look forward to joining the next one.Doing well in a tournament is not just about playing as tightly as you can. A big part of making it is in choosing the right deck. For the Super Spiffy II where there were over 230 competitors, I chose Esper Control with a ton of graveyard hate in the sideboard for Izzet Phoenix and Dreadhorde. Both of those decks are now absent from the meta due to the rise of Scapeshift which was still undeveloped as a contender at the time. With the MCQ weekend qualifiers happening in 2 weeks’ time, it is definitely time to start narrowing down one’s deck choices for the event.
In this article, I lay out my process for selecting which deck to use for a tournament. This involves looking at what is known to be working, making decisions based on practical and playstyle issues, and testing.
Step 1: Identify the candidates
Using the list from MTG Goldfish of decks that did well on paper tournaments and MTGO leagues/tournaments, the following candidates were identified.
Bant Scapeshift
BW Vampires
Esper Tempo
Esper Control
Mono Red Aggro
Simic Flash
Feather variants (Boros/Naya)
Simic/Temur Ramp/Elementals
Simic Nexus
Mono U Tempo
Jund Dinosaurs/ RG Aggro
Each of these decks have been proven to be competitive enough to potentially do well in any tournament in the current global meta. However, I still need to narrow down the list.
Step 2: Remove decks that I cannot/will not craft to complete
There are decks that require too many cards from rotating sets that I do not have. These are Nexus, Vampires and Dinosaurs. While it is still important to include these decks as part of the next step, they are removed from decks that I will end up choosing.
Step 3: Size up Pre and Post Sideboard matchups
I did this by doing BO3 matches on the ranked ladder using some of the decks I had access to. Specifically, I used Bant Scapeshift, Esper Tempo, Esper Control, Mono Red Aggro, and Simic Flash. Ideally, one should test all of the decks one has access to, but my playstyle and feel about the meta steered me towards testing these first. If I am wrong, it should show in me getting consistently beaten by the decks I did not choose to try.
I summarized my experience in the following table. Note that the assessments I made (Good, Bad, Even) are based only on my experience and may differ from your assessment of the matchups. The point is that this step is a good way to organize one’s experience in order to identify decks that stand out in testing. As shown from the table, Pre SB Bant Scapeshift just dominates games. There are times when it draws poorly and just dies to fast, aggressive starts, but usually Arboreal Grazer and Elvish Rejuvenator work hard enough to stem the tide and get you to zombie production mode. However, one bad matchup I identified was versus Nexus decks. Nexus decks, especially dedicated ones that do not have an elemental package, are faster at going off than a Scapeshift deck with a turn 2 Growth Spiral to a turn 3 Wilderness Reclamation. Our only hope is to land 3feri in order to bounce reclamation and keep them from using reclamation mana when they recast it. Post board it gets worse, because the Nexus deck can sideboard effectively against us with Ashiok while we have Dovin’s Veto. The problem is that Veto naturally forces us to play slower by holding mana up. They can drop Ashiok and forget about it.
Another issue is that while Scapeshift does very well in pre boarded games, Esper variants can sideboard well against it to turn the tide. Unmoored Ego can take away Field of the Dead. Decks that have red can also use Alpine Moon. True, we can 3feri this away, but the fact that we didn’t have to in Game 1 is what gave us a huge advantage in the game. With it to consider in sideboarded games, the matchups feels even.
Pre SB
|
Opponent's
Deck
|
|||||||||||
Your Deck
|
Bant Scapeshift
|
Simic Nexus
|
BW Vampires
|
Esper Tempo
|
Esper Control
|
Mono Red Aggro
|
Simic Flash
|
Feather variants (Boros/Naya)
|
Simic/Temur Ramp/Elementals
|
Mono U Tempo
|
Jund Dinosaurs/ RG Aggro
|
% Good
|
Bant Scapeshift
|
Even
|
Bad
|
Good
|
Good
|
Good
|
Good
|
Good
|
Good
|
Good
|
Good
|
Good
|
82%
|
Esper Tempo
|
Bad
|
Bad
|
Good
|
Even
|
Good
|
Good
|
Good
|
Even
|
Bad
|
Good
|
Even
|
45%
|
Esper Control
|
Bad
|
Even
|
Good
|
Bad
|
Even
|
Good
|
Good
|
Good
|
Even
|
Good
|
Good
|
55%
|
Mono Red Aggro
|
Bad
|
Even
|
Even
|
Bad
|
Bad
|
Even
|
Even
|
Even
|
Good
|
Good
|
Even
|
18%
|
Simic Flash
|
Bad
|
Good
|
Even
|
Bad
|
Bad
|
Good
|
Even
|
Even
|
Bad
|
Even
|
Good
|
27%
|
Post SB
|
Opponent's
Deck
|
|||||||||||
Your Deck
|
Bant Scapeshift
|
Simic Nexus
|
BW Vampires
|
Esper Tempo
|
Esper Control
|
Mono Red Aggro
|
Simic Flash
|
Feather variants (Boros/Naya)
|
Simic/Temur Ramp/Elementals
|
Mono U Tempo
|
Jund Dinosaurs/ RG Aggro
|
% Good
|
Bant Scapeshift
|
Even
|
Bad
|
Good
|
Bad
|
Bad
|
Even
|
Good
|
Even
|
Even
|
Good
|
Good
|
36%
|
Esper Tempo
|
Good
|
Good
|
Good
|
Even
|
Even
|
Good
|
Good
|
Good
|
Even
|
Good
|
Good
|
73%
|
Esper Control
|
Good
|
Good
|
Good
|
Even
|
Even
|
Good
|
Good
|
Good
|
Even
|
Good
|
Good
|
73%
|
Mono Red Aggro
|
Even
|
Bad
|
Bad
|
Bad
|
Bad
|
Even
|
Bad
|
Bad
|
Bad
|
Even
|
Bad
|
0%
|
Simic Flash
|
Good
|
Good
|
Good
|
Bad
|
Bad
|
Good
|
Even
|
Bad
|
Bad
|
Even
|
Even
|
36%
|
Esper decks are the opposite of Scapeshift decks in that they become considerably stronger post board. Both Tempo and Control decks have enough tools to counter any existing tier 1 archetype. However, the tricky part is that Esper Tempo is favored versus Esper Control, but Control is better versus Nexus and even the Scapeshift matchup preboard because it can at least hope to ultimate Big Teferi for the win while wrathing away the first few armies of zombies raised against them.
At the end of this step, I’ve come to the decision of focusing on three decks: Scapeshift, Esper Tempo, and Esper Control.
Step 4: Fiddle with the builds and test, test, test…
Now that I have three decks to choose from instead of the initial 11, I can focus on testing how well different builds and different sideboard cards do. I’ve still yet to pick the deck I will actually run on the day, but I feel confident that the best deck for the job is among these three.
May the shuffler be with you.
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