The big surprise of the day, aside from the lack of dominance of Demise OTK, was the sudden rise in the number of burn decks. It makes sense in a way, seeing that one of the things that most combo decks need to go off is 2000 life points to pay for their explosive effect of choice. Out of all the burn decks I’ve seen so far, there’s one that I found quite interesting, and it’s currently very nearly a lock on Day 2. Check out Michael Sherkin’s monster-less burn build that he built with help and guidance from his friends and Cardmasters:
Spells:
3 Restructer Revolution
1 Scapegoat
2 Dark Room of Nightmare
3 Poison of the Old Man
2 Chain Energy
3 Ookazi
3 Meteor of Destruction
3 Tremendous Fire
1 Chain Strike
Traps:
3 Dimension Wall
3 Fire Darts
2 Reckless Greed
1 Mirror Force
3 Secret Barrel
3 Just Desserts
1 Ceasefire
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Magic Cylinder
1 Torrential Tribute
This deck is especially interesting not just because of the lack of monsters, but also because of the theory it works on. The theory is that if you can deal at least 1000 damage with each card you draw, you’ll win on your turn 4 every game unless your opponent can beat you before then. How does this work? Well, you draw 4 cards at the start of the game and one each turn thereafter. Thus, on your 4th turn you’ll have seen 8 cards that each dealt 1000+ damage, for a total of at least 8000. That’s the theory, but how does it stand up in reality? At the start of the final round, Michael Sherkin is 6-1 with the only opponent he lost to at 7-0 currently. He’s basically got a lock on Day 2, and it would take a reverse miracle for him to miss the cut.
Sherkin’s deck is essentially a big pile of cards that all deal damage. No real “removal” to speak of other than Torrential Tribute and Ring of Destruction, but even Ring still does damage. The only cards in the deck that can’t take away an opponent’s life points are Scapegoat, Mirror Force, and Torrential Tribute, and I highly suspect that the only reason they’re in there is because he’d be crazy not to include them. Still, the lack of Snatch Steal, Heavy Storm, and the rest of the traditional stall or burn cards, really distinguishes Sherkin’s deck from all the rest. It makes you wonder why more people don’t try things like this and insist instead on hoarding every card they can get their hands on. This deck relies on a completely different mentality than the competitive game is used to dealing with right now, and that’s given Michael a huge advantage throughout the day. It’s working for some of the same reasons that the combo decks of Columbus worked. People just aren’t ready for it. As time goes by, expect more and more people to be running decks that defy conventional standards as the most diverse metagame we’ve had in years continues to evolve.