The n00bcon top8, part 2

Time to round up the n00bcon top8! While UR Eel decks dominated the top tables last year, recently The Deck seems to have reclaimed its place as the prime tier1 Deck to beat. It might be that fewer people are prepared for its raw power, skip a little on the sideboard cards, and instead opt for cards against UR Burn or Monoblack. Whatever the case, The Deck is back in style, and claimed no less than four spots in the Top8 (five if you count Sehl's The Burn Deck, though Sehl would probably have top8'd with any random pile of 75 cards). I actually kind of like that The Deck is a monster in this format when piloted by a skilled player. It wouldn't feel "old school" if it wasn't ;)

Top8 players: Jocke, Artelas, Kalle, and MrSinclair.

So, yeah, Jocke Almelund. You'll pretty much always see Jocke Almelund here. The latest (and so far only) Pimpvitational winner has top8'd n00bcon five out of six times, only narrowly missing the elimination rounds at n00bcon 6 last year. He is also mine and Myfz's nemesis, having something like a 100% match win against us in the format. His latest take on The Deck is pretty interesting; playing no less than three Amnesia in the main and sideboard. This time he also cut Moat and Time Vault, but plays maindeck Fork. He got to use it dreamcrush my own hopes of a top8 in the swiss with Fork+Timewalk, Recall for Fork+Time Walk. It's a pretty sweet play.

Surprisingly many wincons for a Jocke Deck.

Tommy "Artelas" Aaen is a Vintage and 93/94 player from Karlstad, not that far from Arvika. He is a pretty new player to the format, having started just last year. Arteleas picked up his first top8 at his first BSK last November, and followed up with his first top8 at his first n00bcon. He can hence brag about a 100% top8 ratio in Shark tournaments, not a feat to be taken lightly. At BSK, he was seen piloting Monoblack, and at Stabcon in late February a Monored Atog took him to the top4. This time his decision landed on a monoblue deck. Well, monoblue maindeck at least. With his set of fellwar stones, transmute artifacts and jewellery, he can fairly easily find a single colored mana source for the other four colors. He caught a lot of unexpecting players off guard, having them stare down at a Blood Moon or a Balance post sideboard.

Brutal and tricky at the same time.

Then we have Kalle "egget" Nord. Kalle is the epitome of a lucksack with all the charm of a grease fire. If he would have been an actual troll, no one would build bridges. And also obviously a great friend. Kalle and I were the first to start playing 93/94 back in 2007, and now he finally got to claim his title as world champion. His deck is pretty techy, with e.g. three Lightning Bolts main deck. It is also a jaw-droppingly gorgeous pile of cards.

Picking up his second Giant Shark :)

For our last player, I must unfortunately leave it pretty much blank for now. Emil "MrSinclair" Klintbäck claimed the last spot in the top8. This was his first tournament in the format, but I don't know what he played or much about his background as a magic player at this time. If you're reading this Emil, you are very welcome to send me a decklist and a small presentation!

Also, retronick.com just posted an interview with cutter of cards and Forker of Mind Twists Danny Friedman about old school Magic. I highly recommend giving it a read!