Bulk is pretty good at draft, but Vidi and Ryan have the edge.

But since Bulk is really Gems/EdgeWorld, you can borrow him to make it interesting.

I have to say it though....

WWWEEESSSSSAAAAYYYEEEEDDD!

I'm going to have to give shout out props to two of my teammates in the top 25. Forget East West.... North side has fair representation for Day 2. Go Team!!

I'm guessing that this is supposed to be sarcasm, but let us analyse the PC anyway and see what we find.

Firstly, allow me to point out that there are basically two major strategies seeing success in the PC. Play Curve Sentinels, or play a strategy that doesn't involve attacking, at least until it has control of the game. The fact that almost nobody is able to be successful with a combat oriented deck without it including SNO (I'm sure there are a scattered few exceptions, though they do not invalidate my point) and, in an overwhelmingly large number of cases, Bastion does tend to indicate stagnation.

I'm not sure what David Bauer and Roy St. Clair are playing, so I cannot give you an exact number, but I can say that there are at least 11 Curve Sentinel decks in the top 20. That's over 50%! Keep in mind that 42% of the entrants decks were CS, so it's not just force of numbers, people playing CS are dominating the field (indicated by the increasing representation amongst the population).

Looking at known statistics we see that 63% of the top 16 are CS and 50% of the top 10 are CS. These numbers are far too high to indicate a healthy metagame. And the fact that CS has been dominating for so long indicates to us that it is a continuing trend.

How many Fantastic Burn (fantastic fun is soooo dumb) are there on top 20 ??? I think that this deck can crush CS consistently enough. If people knew how to play it without mistakes CS would not be so dominant.

not that im saying that I can play it with no mistakes ...

You caught me. As thrilling as the "Number One Dream" deck is to me, the metagame was simply Beat 'Em or Join 'Em. It made for a messy scrap to get to the top though, and Realmworx West teched up quite nicely.

Okay erick, Bulk and John versus Vidi and Ryan... although I will hereby humbly bow to your Westside genius. Until Indy, of course.

Go team.

Hey guys, this is Gary Wise posting from Justin Gary's computer:

I just wanted to report that Tim Willoughby is dead. Last night, after reading through this forum, we arranged for a barbed-wire lumberjack fight with 16 blades of varying shapes and sizes lying around the ring. Tim, as he suggested earlier, grabbed the first one he could, threw it and charged. I stood my ground, threw four back (hitting with three) as his awkward, flailing arms came for my throat, then took his head off with a machete. Sorry for you Willow fans.

Despite the tragedy, I've had a great time this weekend. I think testing for and playing the event will prove an invaluable experience in my future writing, and despite missing day two, I'm fairly pleased with my performance, especially since i beat reigning all-time money leader Adam Horvath. I played X-Stall because I've been playing it with some success recently in local Toronto tournaments and its the only deck I felt i could play optimally. Hope you're enjoying the coverage,

Gary

RIP Tim Willoughby
1982-2005

Check out Ted's blog... it gives a rundown of the top decks and shows how dominant the shiny purple really is at this point. Great job.

In fact, the entire Metagame coverage has been magnificent so far... fast and fun and I can't wait for two more days of such top notch entertainment. I feel like a kid in a candy store, and everything is free. Please continue.

There is only one in the top 10/top 16. Keep in mind that this is actually a minor improvement in representation from it's original 5% of the entrants, though there aren't that many numbers to go on, so it's worth taking with a grain of salt.

The thing is that CS players are now including measures to defeat FFun. Cards such as Microsentinels and Flame Trap don't make life easy for the FFun player.

Since all the Metagame slaves seem to be looking here for some breakfast hints... let's see if we can get Michael Barnes' deck to be known as "Number One Dream". Okay?

Thanks.

You call that optimal? At least you looked good.

Congrats on the coverage, all that was missing was a pic of Big Spooky. (That's prolly what put him over the edge for 11 wins, the mystery factor. The deck is just stupid.)

That's a great idea, Stu. Then we can say we are playing NOD.

I'm glad John Rich made it, I like John. I've known him for years through Decipher games. I wish Matt Meyer had made it, poor Matt. If you've never met him, I swear to you, there is no one more dedicated than him. He's a really fun and enthusiastic guy.

Hey, who ever is doing those updates, if you are interested, Colin Rodriguez is part of team decktech. He's Erik Cabby's buddy, joined about 2 months ago. He did really well, 8-4, good tie breakers.

Ahem, EXCUSE ME...
but...
How could this have happened?:

60 Bell, Chuck vs ** BYE **
61 Boccio, Matthew vs ** BYE **
62 Gates, Brian vs ** BYE **

Source: Metagame.com Round 13 pairings

It's in the blog. Boccio was late for the draft and becomes a bye. Check your PM box too, my friend. And good morning to all.

Ok, so I'm going to list the things I like, and the things I don't like about this PC right now.

Likes
- People are playing a 5 team deck, and it's winning. 8O, I love you Jason Hager
- An Xavier's Dream deck has the top record, and BigSpooky is piloting it. BigSpooky for president, or PC champ if that fails.
- Witching Hour, F4/New Gods, and LoA/Doom saw play. I don't know how they did, but they saw play, which is awesome.
-Metagame's coverage has been flat-out amazing, nice work guys.
-Dave Spears sporting the gray mullet, sickness.

Dislike
-42% CS, ick
-Gamma Doom's prevalence, I've never liked that deck. Don't know why, just never have.
-Tim's death, I'll mourn him for at least a minute.
-Only 3 people representing the NC crowd, oh well.
-I'm not there.

DOWN WITH THE SHINY PURPLE DICTATORSHIP!!!!! BAN ALL SENTINEL DECKS THAT DON'T INCLUDE LONGHOT!!!!! DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM MUST REIGN!!!!!

ok, so maybe not. Honestly, I just wish we saw more decks like New School, which is so bizarre that it actaully works, who would have thought?