Right after the end of the third quarter it is perfect time to look at the current deck statistics and dive into them. Honestly the end of this quarter saw some true shakeup in the top decks, with the bottom not changing too much but possibly some bottom trend. Let’s get into it.
Top Deck’s in the Meta
#4: Obuun
Currently sitting at 5-7, a very nice 41.67% win rate, is the Naya landfall machine. This deck was the honorable mention of the last month, but it is no shock to see it breaking into the top. Alela shared the same number of wins, but one more loss so I Obuun took this spot.
Honestly Obuun has been on a bit of a losing streak, with the last win coming in Week 11. This is not due to the decks power, but in my opinion due to the known speed and power at the table. There has been a couple weird mana issues, which is very peculiar in a 40 land deck, but honestly that is just part of the randomness of the game.
This deck has not had a huge change since the last writeup, so go ahead and look here for that. But my call for an a tutor + Hoof/End-Raze package is still out. I think that would help end the game on the spot for the deck, being the true over the edge push to help it close out before it gets beat down.
#3: Kami
This deck, regardless of the actual record, was going to get a spotlight as the most improved deck. It is currently sitting at 6-6 50% win rate. But the wild thing is that since the previous quarter it went 5-1. Before I dive into it fully, this deck is not a difficult one to shut down in the meta because of it wanting to mill. Having two shuffle in pieces, like an Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger or a Gaea’s Blessing can help mitigate the mill. You could always draw them, but holding to discard aint impossible. But honestly, I really dislike building to beat a certain deck in the meta, so I don’t add these pieces into decks they shouldn’t be in.
Now though, let us get into the thick of this beast. It is built around Kami of the Crescent Moon, which is a howling mine in the command zone. This fast, ass hanging out, spirit is a piece that never gets removed by the table due to everyone being a fiend for card draw. It aims to mill out opponents, and normally targets a single person to put the nail in the coffin. Cards like Maddening Cacophony, Psychic Corrosion, and Teferi’s Tutelage help push that agenda.
All of the deck is backed up by a nice suite of counter magic, which aides in protecting the key pieces needed for the game plan. But the other half of Kami is somehow more infuriating than the mill. It only runs 12 creatures, so it relies on it’s opponents to play creatures to protect it. A couple examples are Lullmage’s Domination, Stolen Goods, and Corrupted Conscious. As a group, we have not yet learnt to remove these stolen items, cause we always want them back. So often times we see one of our commanders beating the hell out of us for the entire game. This cheeky nudist is a serious threat in our current meta, and one that we will never be dealt with appropriately.
#2: The Locust God
Still in the top 4 of the meta is the God, who was our #1 last quarter. Currently he sits at 7-4 63.64% win rate. Honestly there is not much to say from the last writeup. The commander is a house, and it has great bones around it. I think that there is still some tuning upgrades that can be done to optimize the mana value on cards to help speed up the deck, and get double spelling online earlier. But truly, the deck does not need much if any. The record speaks for itself.
Honorable Mention: Atla
Atla is a deck that made it’s appearance this quarter, but already is posting a 4-4 50% win rate. It showed up a lot off the rolls, and made it’s presence very well known to the table. This deck was one that Keegan had originally built, but traded it away which left him with some salt on his wounds. He decided to rebuild it for league, and he did a very fucked up job on it.
Atla Palani, Nest Tender is the engine for the deck. It wants to create eggs, crack eggs, and portal out some nasty creatures wayyyy before they would hit on the curve. Let’s start with the engine enablers in this deck. Magewright’s Stone is a very narrow card but is perfect in this deck, and both Thousand-Year Elixer and Samut, Voice of Dissent are easy ways to untap Atla (Elixer gives her haste lololol).
Once he has the eggs though he needs to get rid of them, and he has an abundance of options for that. The most recognizable is Goblin Bombardment, but Martyr’s Cause and Blasting Station are two very awesome pieces that help enable the egg death’s. The deck also has all of the token doublers, but those are normal to see and I won’t go into them.
The coolest part of this deck is that it only runs 23 creatures + Atla, so it relies heavily on the portal. To me, this is amazing cause you rarely draw them, and the deck is built solely around the commander which I love. The creatures here are a toolbox assortment. Magus of the Tabernacle eats up token decks and is a sac outlet for the eggs. Realm Razer halts the game and looks to win through mana rocks and bigger and fatter creatures. Living Hive is rarely seen, but produces tokens out the ass when it shows up. And the last one I want to highlight is Blazing Archon, which throws a hugeeee wrench in the beatdown gameplan everyone has for her.
Truthfully, Atla is a broken commander like many of Keegan’s builds. She is inherently powerful, but it really needs the deck around her perform well. And this where Keegan’s katana level dedication to his builds shine. I am not dickeating here, the dude just puts way more time than the rest of the group combined into building his decks right. So yes Atla is powerful, but Keegan’s fucked up mind really makes her the house she is.
#1: Walls
Walls is currently posting an 8-6 57.14% win rate. It was very strong early quarter, but has been on a bit of a losing streak like it’s owner was. The deck is almost identical to previous, with a couple of upgrades in one mana tutors and a better mana base to support it’s demanding colors. If you want a more in-depth look it is here.
Bottom of Our Meta
#4: Kemba
Although not seeing play in ages, this deck has a posted 1-5 record, putting it at a 16.67% win rate. There is a lot of 1-x decks in our meta, but this one posted the largest number of losses in it’s time. This deck will get zero feedback or improvements from me. Honestly equipment/voltron is not at all my area of knowledge, so my input would be like Nami telling me how to setup a forecasting spreadsheet.
I assume we will see a rebuilt and rehauled version of her soon, and funny enough I look forward to it. Kemba is one of the few voltron I can say that I really enjoy.
#3: Kodama
The top 3 are honestly the same as last quarter, which is a positive for our meta. Means that we have not been building as shitty of decks lol. Well everyone but Alex truly (I am looking at you Sygg).
But this deck has already had all that needed to be said about it. It will not be returning, for it is dismantled and pieced into other decks / binders.
Honorable Mention: None
The only deck I could mention here would be Zur at 0-3. But honestly, Alex sucks ass at playing this deck and accounts for 2/3 games. The deck is good, Alex just sucks lmfao.
#2 & #1: Lathril and Zombies
Being in the Mana Addicts 0-7 club is like being in the 27 club, you gain infamy for the wrong reasons. Lathril is a deck I still believe in and hope Ryan builds right. It has potential to be a mean mamma jamma. Zombies on the other hand is exiled. It was disassembled and saw a lot of pieces sold. The undead will stay away from this meta.