The first day of competition has ended here at $10K Atlanta, and the initial 99 players have been pared down to the final eight. The format had a few surprises in store for us—not the least of which was that it appeared to be very balanced. The Top 8 consists of three Sentinels decks, two Teen Titans decks, two Marvel Knights decks, and one Lost Kang build. We’re all familiar with Sentinels, but even though the deck claimed three spots in the Top 8, one can hardly call it dominating today. There were 26 people playing the deck, and the three who made Day 2 constitute a very small percentage of the Sentinel field as a whole. Another old standby, Teen Titans, reasserted its dominance, although many speculate that it will fade fast as Null Time Zone becomes more prevalent.

Neither of those decks was at the top of the standings, though. Those spaces were reserved for the two Marvel Knights decks, which came completely out of left field. Builds only a few cards different from either of these decks have been around since PC Amsterdam, but until now, the metagame has not been ripe for them to dominate. David Leader and David De Michele recognized the potential of this oft-maligned team and navigated them to unprecedented success. The final deck in Top 8 was likely the most talked about deck today—a nifty little number that uses Kang and Lost City in a combo that everyone saw coming. Joe Carey, who finished ninth on second tiebreakers, was also running this . . . it looks like we might have a new tier 1 competitor here, straight out of The Avengers.

To the question of which of these decks is the favorite, I can only say that you should check back tomorrow. This new metagame has produced a number of previously untested matchups, and the results should be exciting, to say the least. Stay tuned to Metagame.com to see who walks away with the ultimate prize here at $10K Atlanta!