this is a call to all those who work and play in a well developed T1.5 environment. according to your local metegame what are the current competitive decks? I assume that WW, LGSligh, Stacker, and some reject extended decks (sorry, I hate combo!) will be in the top tiers. you can give me statistical breakdowns if you want, but I prefer that you just call it like you see it. thanx.
Ufactor, the Restricted
By Brian Epstein (Briane) on Monday, January 28, 2002 - 11:43 pm: Well...
I think WW is Tier 2 right-at-this-moment. I think Vengeful Dreams will single-handedly make WW a force again, though. Honestly, a lot of WW's strength is in being able to Tax (and Rack) and in the ability to 'Geddon. In a fast 1.5 environment, this won't happen as much as necessary. I would splash a color (probably red) until Torment becomes legal.
The much-heralded Taiga.dec is more like a creature deck with burn. If I were designing it, I would add Basking Rootwallas over the Albino Trolls. Of course, I would also lose at least one Treetop for a Karplusan. I recently obtained 4 Taigas, so I'll be working on my own R/G deck which will be closer to Land Grant Sligh.
My Workshop deck is looking less and less like Stacker (though that is certainly the original inspiration). It really plays more like a control deck, though I haven't seen the most recent builds of Stacker. Of course, I'm in the process of making it more aggressive, so we'll see.
Trix is strong. I don't know that it's Tier 1, but I do think that it's a reasonable metagame call.
Stasis is probably Tier 1, but I've only seen it play a few times.
I think that Pox might be Tier 1, but we'll see soon, since someone (the Stasis player, actually) seems to be planning to bring it to tournament on Wednesday. I'll keep you posted.
I'm fairly certain that Survival is Tier 1 in 1.5, but I have yet to see it run.
I think PandeBurst is Tier 2, since it always seems to win one turn too late. That being said, I could say the same about a friend's Pyromancy/Sneak Attack deck, so take that as you will.
I think a metagamed monoblack deck could win a tournament. That being said, you'd want something like Kezzerdrix over Flesh Reaver.
I think that Nether Void is also Tier 1, but I don't think that our most recent winner's version is as good as it seems.
I'm fairly sure Oath would be Tier 1.
I'm currently working on a UWG deck. It seems to be pretty solid. There's also some work being done on a RWU deck, though that seems to be less focused.
By Ufactor (Ufactor) on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 09:52 am: please no growth decks!! for the love of God and Magic!!
By Ufactor (Ufactor) on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 12:24 pm: vengeful dreams is a nice card, but it's not revolutionary since firestorm's been used in tax/rack decks since the beginning.
By Brian Epstein (Briane) on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 06:30 pm: Don't worry; it's not a Grow deck. ;)
Vengeful Dreams is different than Firestorm. For starters, you no longer need to splash a color. Furthermore, it's not toughness-based removal, and it trades 1-for-1 beyond the initial card (which can also be a negative). It can't finish your opponent like Firestorm can, though. And it also can't remove non-attacking creatures.
By Ufactor (Ufactor) on Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 11:29 am: how about this?
Tier 1
Taiga.dec
Stacker 1.5
Stasis
Null and Void
Oath
Tier2
WWeenie
B/G/r Void
SRB
Trix
Tier 3
Stompy
Pox
Turbo Land (either w/ or without Oath)
Pandeburst
By Matt Caplan (Caplan) on Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 12:25 pm: Well-built classic U/W control decks (FoW, Mana Drain, WoG, Morphling) have done very well in my metagame. I would consider them to be at least Tier 2.
By Brian Epstein (Briane) on Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 01:09 pm: As you'll see from my coming tournament report, I took third again. And that makes me question whether Stacker 1.5 is as good as I thought it was. It's solid, and it could still use some minor tweaks, but it's still a bit too inconsistent. Maybe it's Tier 2 after all. 
I'd put BGr Void where you did, though I think it could be tweaked up to Tier 1. It's surprisingly solid, at least, against our weenie based metagame.
I'd probably put SRB down at Tier 3 (as a guess) and place a solid Goblin Burn deck at (high) Tier 2. It may even be Tier 1. Sometimes, you just win. A lot.
I think a properly metagamed Trix deck is a reasonable call, though it's still probably Tier 2.
I *think* a UW control deck would be Tier 2, as well. My only concern is that you need a good draw *every* game. It's perfectly reasonable (though unlikely) for you to die before you play a fourth land; I've been on both the giving and receiving end of that in tournament. You'd probably need to get some early 2-for-1s, which seems difficult in 1.5. You'd also want some form of mana acceleration.
I'd feel more comfortable with an Energy Field up. 