Day 2 Deck Breakdown

Nothing clarifies a field of competition like a little by-the-numbers arranging. Our scientists have cracked the alphanumeric code that hides the contents of the Day 2 players' decks, and as a companion piece to their full lists provide this breakdown.

Mono-Black Control - 24

You want to talk dominance? Consider the fact that a third of the successful players are running the same deck. There's a lot of posturing going on, mixing up numbers of swamps and Cabal Coffers, and switching of key cards between the main deck and sideboard. There's a trend to a more creature-heavy build that takes advantage of Faceless Butcher during Game 1, and this is taken to its logical conclusion by Paul Rietzl's deck, which pre-boards Braids.

Blue-Green Madness - 7

These decks share the same core of madness dudes and enablers, but differ over finesse cards like Envelop, Compulsion, and Quiet Speculation.

Upheaval-Infestation - 7

Most of the disagreement between these powerhouses is over the mana base. There's a lot of spells that need to be played early on, so balancing Swamps, Darkwater Catacombs, Tainted Isles and islands is of utmost importance. Beyond the backbone of the combo and the tools to survive to get there you'll find narrower cards like Compulsion, Coffin Purge, and Kenny Hsiung's Cabal Therapy - Peek duo.

Blue-Green Speculation - 5

Fronted by Canadian strongarm pair Gab "The Juggernaut" Tsang and the irrepressible David Rood and their no-nonsense version, these decks range to decks more dedicated to threshold and Grizzly Fate. All of them draw strength from the raw tutoring power that is Quiet Speculation.

Green-White Madness - 4

Amateur Matthew Schempp ripped up the field with his Gloried beasties, abusing the speed at which his deck churns out the pain. Weenies ensure that mono-black won't have enough Edicts to stop Phantom Centaur.

Three-Color Mirari's Wake - 3

Eugene Harvey heads up the group that took OBC's king combo deck forward to greatness. Patrick Chapin and his four-color version had to watch from the sidelines.

Blue-Green Threshold - 3

Ultra-fast and efficient beats leave little room for grace in this tight little package.

Punisher - 2

The Scandanavian powerhouse fell flat this weekend, outshined by newer designs

Hybrid Blue-Green - 2

These decks sit on the fence between madness and Speculation.

And The Rest - 5

The under-represented amounted to a Blue-Black Braids, Huey's Red-Black Sorcery Special, Red-Green Beatdown (!), White-Red Beatdown (!!), and Dave Williams, running the Pirates deck from Grand Prix - London. Williams, in particular, seems set up to run the field.