BPC 2.02, 2.03, and Thoughts on the Meta

BPDC 2.02 and the Reign of the Control
After a first week of Merfolk and other tribal synergy, BPDC 2.02 turned to the control side. Many successful decks either ran B/U or B/U/r control, relying on sheer card advantage in the form of Mulldrifter + Warren Pilfers. I don't have exact deck lists in front of me, but I know that it was not a good week for creatures, especially tribes that relied a lot on several weaker creatures to function. This is not to say that non-control decks did not do well, but I feel many games were definitely won through this way.

BPDC 2.03, Solid Creatures For the Win!
I came prepared for a slow, grinding war of attrition, sporting an anti-control control deck, and I was (mostly pleasantly) surprised at the change in the meta. Thanks go out to Polyjak for hosting and the brave 6 that competed. The 2.03 meta was quite a bit different from past weeks. Winner GravespwnGoddess had the following R/G warriors build:

1st Place: RW Warriors
4 Winnower Patrol
4 Woodland Changeling
4 Brighthearth Banneret
4 Ambassador Oak
2 Cloudcrown Oak
4 Inner-Flame Acolyte
4 Adder-Staff Boggart
2 Game-Trail Changeling

4 Lash Out
2 Shard Volley
4 Earthbrawn

11 Mountain
11 Forest

Sideboard
2 Cloudcrown Oak
4 Hurly-Burly
3 Spring Cleaning
2 Shard Volley
4 Tarfire

This deck relied on a steady procession of solid creatures and burn to clear the way. Earthbrawn acted as a "counter" to most removal, and Hurly-Burly wiped the board of smaller creatures. Especially useful were the 2 Cloudcrown Oaks, which almost single-handedly won the third game of the finals. Expect to see this Treefolk Warrior more in the future.

I interviewed GravespwnGoddess after the finals:

LordSanada: Ok, first, congratulations on your victory. Could you tell me a little about your deck?
GravespwnGoddess: Well it's a basic RG Warriors deck. I chose to play it since I like aggro decks and I felt it was the best one in the format (the only other aggro deck I really know of is WW). Like many aggro decks before it, it wants to play guys and use burn as removal, or sometimes just to win the game right there. I chose to play 2 Cloudcrown Oaks main since I figured that Mulldrifter would be popular. If I could play this again I might put another one or two main, but I'm not sure.

LordSanada: Do you have any thoughts about the best decks in the meta right now?
GravespwnGoddess: Lost Symphonies's UR deck was really good and beat me in the Swiss. I just managed to have a better draw in that match, but it could go either way. This is the first PDC event I've played in this season, and this was a VERY small event so I'm not sure what else is good. Also there probably could be some changes in the RG deck since there a lot of options for the deck.

LordSanada: Do you have any thoughts on the recent decrease in attendance in PDC events?
GravespwnGoddess: I think people are avoiding V3 a little, but also it's a busy time right now for students. I have finals this week and so do a lot of people. Since I had most of mine on Monday I figured I'd play and then study for my Wednesday finals tomorrow. I think in June attendance will go back up.

I want to also take a look at LostSymphonies' runner up deck list. As GravespwnGoddess mentioned, it did well in Swiss. Indeed, both of my losses for the night were against this deck, and it kept its creatures alive despite both GravespwnGoddess' Hurly Burly and my Festercreep!

2nd Place: Aggro Faeries
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Latchkey Faerie
4 Pestermite
4 Mudbutton Torchrunner
4 Mulldrifter

4 Broken Ambitions
4 Tarfire
4 Lash Out
4 Ponder

14 Island
10 Mountain

Sideboard
4 Negate
4 Faerie Trickery
4 Hurly-Burly
3 Sentinels of Glen Elendra

I think that this deck has a lot of potential. I was surprised with the effectiveness of Broken Ambitions, which is often a hard counter for 2 early on (and sometimes later!). Also, the tempo that you gain with Pestermite and Spellstutter Sprite is hard to deny. Post 'board, it can turn into a countering nightmare, with an additional 8 counters added to the 8 main deck.

Fire Starter: What Archetype Will Win Out?
So far, in three weeks, I have seen three different successful archetypes. BPDC 2.01 was the home of tribal decks, 2.02 sported control, and 2.03 had more mid-range. What will we see in 2.04? Am I analyzing the metas wrong? Will 2.04 be cancelled due to lack of attendance? What do you think? This is LordSanada... signing out.