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2 years ago ::
Jun 19, 2011 - 6:10PM
#51
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Date Joined:
Jul 19, 2009
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I'd divide them into three tiers, where each deck is pretty close together:
Top Tier:
Jace
Gideon
Chandra
Sorin
Kiora
Mid Tier:
Tezzeret
Sarkhan
Nissa
Bottom Tier:
Koth
Garruk
The difference between top and bottom tier is noticeable but not huge. Imo the decks are pretty close in terms of power.
I agree with this except for one exception... I would exchange Garruk with Sarkhan. Green is a lot more consistent than the Dragons... has better creatures too.
The more I use Machines, the more I dislike it. Originally had that deck ranked top 3.
Much more balanced game this time around though. There were some pretty terrible decks in 09.
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2 years ago ::
Jun 19, 2011 - 6:10PM
#52
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Date Joined:
Jun 12, 2011
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I'd divide them into three tiers, where each deck is pretty close together:
Top Tier:
Jace
Gideon
Chandra
Sorin
Kiora
Mid Tier:
Tezzeret
Sarkhan
Nissa
Bottom Tier:
Koth
Garruk
The difference between top and bottom tier is noticeable but not huge. Imo the decks are pretty close in terms of power.
I agree with this categorization. But I think Koth (Strength of Stone) either deserves its own tier, or Garruk (Apex Predator) should be moved to mid-tier. Strength of Stone can't beat any of the top tier decks with any consistency. Garruk is at least has some very powerful creatures like Dungrove Elder  and Thrun, the Last Troll  .
Within mid-tier, I think Nissa (Elves) is noticeably better than Tezzeret (Artifacts) and Sarkhan (Dragons).
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2 years ago ::
Jun 19, 2011 - 11:17PM
#53
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U/G Ramp is definitely my favorite. DoTP is by default a much slower-paced version of Magic than you see in most real life events so you can usually end up getting at least one or two big guys out. Hard casting Eldrazi is so much fun.
I also really like the mono white equipment deck.
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2 years ago ::
Jun 19, 2011 - 11:23PM
#54
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Date Joined:
Jan 14, 2011
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...
The difference between top and bottom tier is noticeable but not huge. Imo the decks are pretty close in terms of power.
So after some playing now I feel able to rank the decks, too. In spite of earlier lists Gegliosch's one comes pretty close to my suggestion. I also agree with your conclusion.
Top:
1. Blood Hunger (Has no counter deck. Yeah, burn seems to counter it from its decklist, but compared to Chandra's match-up against Jace and Gideon, Sorin's still at 50:50 at least from my experience. Blue seems to be a not so good match-up, but at least 50:50 again. Flying is a match-winning ability, that not many decks have access to.)
2. Realms of Illusion (very strong, but countered easily by White and Burn)
3. Wielding Steel (very strong, but problematic when you either have no equipment, or no creatures (and a lot of useless equipment out), so removal (Vamps, Burn) or artifact removal can cause serious trouble)
4. Ancient Depth (good deck against the lower ranked decks, but the other top decks are often faster and have ways to deal with the fatties later on)
Mid:
5. Unquenchable Fire (Pretty good against the top decks - especially blue and white - but with problems against bottom tier decks
6. Guardian of the Woods (Not so sure about this one. Good removal and fast. As in the old game no chance against Vamps)
7. Dragon's Roar (A little too unreliable. One time you come out with a huge dragon on turn 4, the other time you are not able to do anything until finished off. Maybe I can improve my decklist here. But definitely one of the most funny decks to play.)
8. Machinations (I'm not sure on this. Good and crap unique cards. Both counters and removal, but it happens you have counters when you need removal and the other way round. 3 colours can be problematic. A little unreliable imo, but haven't played much. Maybe slightly better, but maybe even bottom tier.)
Bottom:
9. Apex Predators (No good removal, not that fast, no access to fliers. If the opponent has a bad draw and gives you enough time it can rock, but against a good starting hand of Sorin, Jace or Gideon it's Game Over).
10. Strength of Stone (Can cause serious trouble with combinations like Spikeshot Elder  with Claws of Valakut  , the right answers - Oxidda Scrapmelter  against white - or helpful removal spells - unfortunately without instant speed -. Maybe I would rank it over Machinations and Green, if there hadn't been so much hate against it. Right, consistency is missing and the early game is too weak against the top decks.)
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2 years ago ::
Jun 20, 2011 - 3:02AM
#55
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Date Joined:
Mar 30, 2010
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Consistency plays a huge role in these rankings, so I assumed that Sarkhan plays mono-red and Tezzeret plays B/U. It really makes these decks better. Yes the black removal would be great at times for dragons, but the number of times you'd lack the right mana outweights this benefit. Same thing with the white stuff for machinations.
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2 years ago ::
Jun 20, 2011 - 3:17AM
#56
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Consistency plays a huge role in these rankings, so I assumed that Sarkhan plays mono-red and Tezzeret plays B/U. It really makes these decks better. Yes the black removal would be great at times for dragons, but the number of times you'd lack the right mana outweights this benefit. Same thing with the white stuff for machinations.
I disagree in regards to Machinations. The difference being Terramorphic Expanse  and the flying Artifact as Land Fetch which the dragon deck lacks. Played around 40 matches with it over the weekend and never ever was starved for a colour. The deck plays better with white in it due to the more durable flyer, removal and extra graveyard digging, although I would like an extra card of each (or at least another white instead of the Sphinx).
The good part about the white stuff is that they are mid/lategame spells, which gives you enough time to get the land out before you need it. Reviving a Wyrmcoil engine, or sniping 2 of his attacking createres is a gamewinner. If the white spells were early game material and you need a white land early game, I'd probably agree.
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2 years ago ::
Jun 20, 2011 - 3:28AM
#57
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Date Joined:
Jan 14, 2011
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2 years ago ::
Jun 20, 2011 - 12:36PM
#58
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Date Joined:
Nov 30, 2008
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New Respect for Mono Green....hmmmm Just finished up playing 2 games against a guy online he was mono green and i played white and blue each game. And lost each game. First game I was sort of mana screwed but it went ok until he dropped 2 Regen creatures and overwhelmed me. Second game I played an aggressive mono blue and countered an early 3/2 which my only questionable decision. I had 3 unblockables out but his hexproof creature with */* equal to forests proved to be too much, and I couldn't reace him and had to block. He broke the stale mate with an overrun and won the game. I'm not saying he wasn't lucky or that I played flawlessly but the deck looked a lot better than I expect to be honest. Just food for thought 
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2 years ago ::
Jun 20, 2011 - 1:30PM
#59
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Date Joined:
Mar 30, 2010
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Consistency plays a huge role in these rankings, so I assumed that Sarkhan plays mono-red and Tezzeret plays B/U. It really makes these decks better. Yes the black removal would be great at times for dragons, but the number of times you'd lack the right mana outweights this benefit. Same thing with the white stuff for machinations.
I disagree in regards to Machinations. The difference being Terramorphic Expanse and the flying Artifact as Land Fetch which the dragon deck lacks. Played around 40 matches with it over the weekend and never ever was starved for a colour. The deck plays better with white in it due to the more durable flyer, removal and extra graveyard digging, although I would like an extra card of each (or at least another white instead of the Sphinx).
The good part about the white stuff is that they are mid/lategame spells, which gives you enough time to get the land out before you need it. Reviving a Wyrmcoil engine, or sniping 2 of his attacking createres is a gamewinner. If the white spells were early game material and you need a white land early game, I'd probably agree.
The white stuff is good, no doubt about it. The fact that they're late game cards makes it easier to fetch the Plains  , that's also true. However, I still have opening hands with 1 Terramorphic Expanse and 1 Swamp  , which is barely playable. If one of them was a plains, I could be slowed down considerably and would be forced to mulligan.
Sarkhan doesn't even have any land fetching cards and the number of games you auto-lose due to mana issues should exceed the number of games you barely survived because you had an early Disfigure  . To use this early you need the Swamp in your opening hand along with it. You also need at least 2 Mountains if you want to cast a dragon any time soon, so that's already 4 cards. You simply won't have them every game.
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2 years ago ::
Jun 20, 2011 - 3:22PM
#60
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Date Joined:
Oct 13, 2010
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