What is the definitive Type I Gauntlet for deck testing?
I was thinking:
Keeper
Sui-Black
Mono-blue
Sligh
Some sort of Combo (possibly Academy)
Additionally, what are the standard (non-metagamed, i.e. chocked full of keeper hate) versions of these decks? I know Keeper decklists are readily available, but what about the others?
Here are the good ones I test against:
Academy
Enchantress
Keeper
Monoblue
Nether Void
Oath
OSE
Pox
Sligh
Stacker
Suicide
Zoo
Enchantress maindecks anti-blue enchantments. Monoblue has four Back to Basics between maindeck and sideboard. Sligh maindecks Price of Progress and sideboards 8 blasts. While Zoo doesn't really have hate, B/U/R does have enough creatures, disenchants, and counters to give a good fight.
My Guantlet:
Top Left: Keeper
Top Right: Mono Blue, Forbiddian Style
2nd From Top left: Miracle Grow
2nd from Top right: OSE
3rd from top left: Sligh
3rd from top right: Oath
4th from top left: Sui Black
4th from top right: Soso's UB (becuase I wanted to test against that deck)
5th from top left: Academy
5th from top right: Stompy
Bottom left: Stacker 2
Bottom Right: Illusionary Mask, mono Black version
Stephen Menendian
FBI Gauntlet:
Control:
5 color Keeper (w/land grants natch )
rOSE
Counter-Phid (unless someone can prove that standstill is in anyway better...)
U/G/b/r Oath (sometimes just U/G)
Parfait
G/W Enchantress (i.e. less Keeper hate)
Agrro/Aggro-Control:
Suicide
Stompy
Sligh
Stacker
Zoo (think Funker-like w/o some of the pet cards)
Nether Void
Combo
Academy
Turbo-Land (running counters and oath for creature control)
Other Combos: Pandeburst, Reap Lace, Mask (mono-b), G/W SquirrelCraft
Most of these are unrefined so my builds are likely far from optimal however.
No Pox, Trix or WW simply because I don't think they're competitive. However, if you think they will see play regarless, you should test against them. U/B Finkel/Spectre might be worth testing against but I guess I'll take a wait-and-see attitude on that one.
NB I will never test my stompy against WW EVER. Mainly bc I'm not masochistic
I'm not interested in testing against every played type I deck. I'm looking for at most 6 decks that typify the whole environment. Maybe 2 solid control types (Keeper & likely Forbiddian), (1-2 aggro type decks), a disruption based deck and a combo deck. And preferrably the best available in those various categories.
The thing is, you can't just qualify Type One like that. Each control deck does it in a different way; same with each aggro deck and even each combo deck. When you see a gauntlet of 30 decks, that's because you basically have to be prepared for most of them.
Keeper (control you can mana-screw)
Monoblue (control that can mana-screw you)
Zoo (how I've learned to hate Meddling Mage)
Sligh (has the "Oops, I won" factor)
Academy (best combo deck around)
Pox (12 discard, 13 landkill)
I would never take a deck into a serious field without testing against the three prominent beatdown decks (Sligh, Stompy, Suicide), the three prominent control decks (Keeper, OSE, Mono-U), and Academy.
have a look at my gauntlet at
http://zongo.be/t1/gauntlet.php
Control decks
* The Keeper
* Deck parfait
* Land destruction
* Survival of the Fittest
Aggro-control decks
* Old School Expulsion
Beatdown decks
* Red beatdown
* Worshop deck
* Suicide black
Combo decks
* Academy
* Pandeburst
I'd be interested in your feedback (deck missing, improve the decklists, etc).