Swimming in the Seine

By Brian David-Marshall

Brian David-Marshall is a New York–based game designer who has been involved with Magic since 1994, when he started organizing tournaments and ran a Manhattan game store. Since then, he has been a judge, a player, and one of the longest-tenured columnists on DailyMTG.com, as he enters his second decade writing for the site. He is also the Pro Tour Historian and one of the commentators for the Pro Tour.

Welcome to my second go-round for The Past Returns Week. I have written more columns for this site than anyone else, so it only fair that I get to go twice. This week I am returning, as close to live and direct as this column ever gets, from Paris, France at the conclusion of Day One of the 2006 Magic: The Gathering World Championships to break down the results from the Standard format at the conclusion of six rounds of play. Not only will I be bringing you the freshest decklists straight from the oven, but I will be stacking them on top of each other – in old SWS fashion – taking them from first to worst.

The field was pretty diverse, and players not only had a hard time figuring out what to play but what to prepare to play against. The only decks that people seemed sure they would face were Izzetron decks, with the Hellkite/Whelk tandem, and Dragonstorm. After that the field was wide open for anything from the Angel deck to Zoo variants with stops at virtually every letter in between. Feel free to do a metagame alphabet in the forums if you want some extra credit.

I am fighting against the clock to get this done so there may not be as much material as you might typically get in SWS during a less hectic, less racing-against-the-deadline, less Randy-is-tapping-his-toes-waiting-to-do-the-end-of-day-wrap-up, and generally less hyphenated day.

Boros Deck Wins was both one of the most played and most successful decks for the Day One field. Thirty-three players chose the popular red-white archetype with its parade of efficient beaters and downpour of burn. At least three different players took the deck to perfect 6-0 records. There should be little surprise from the readers at home that Tsuyoshi Fujita righted his ship with his favorite archetype. Back-to-back Pro Tour finalist Willy Edel also built a version for the Brazilian National team to use. It has carried him (although he is not on the team) and captain Paulo Vitor Damo De Rosa to sterling records.

Boros Deck Wins – Standard – 2006 World Championship

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (23)

4 Giant Solifuge 4 Knight of the Holy Nimbus 4 Savannah Lions 4 Icatian Javelineers 4 Soltari Priest 3 Scorched Rusalka

Sorcery (8)

4 Rift Bolt 4 Volcanic Hammer

Instant (8)

4 Char 4 Lightning Helix

Land (21)

3 Snow-Covered Plains 2 Snow-Covered Mountain 4 Sacred Foundry 4 Battlefield Forge 2 Gemstone Mine 3 Boros Garrison 3 Flagstones of Trokair

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

2 Paladin en-Vec 2 Worship 3 Honorable Passage 4 Ronom Unicorn 4 Cryoclasm

Deal Another Hand

Fujita’s version of the deck opted for fewer Knights and more X spells:

Boros Deck Wins – Standard – 2006 World Championship

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (13)

4 Soltari Priest 4 Savannah Lions 4 Icatian Javelineers 1 Knight of the Holy Nimbus

Sorcery (11)

4 Volcanic Hammer 4 Rift Bolt 3 Demonfire

Instant (8)

4 Lightning Helix 4 Char

Enchantment (4)

4 Seal of Fire

Land (24)

4 Battlefield Forge 4 Sacred Foundry 4 Flagstones of Trokair 4 Gemstone Mine 3 Mountain 1 Godless Shrine 4 Plains

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

4 Paladin en-Vec 4 Cloudchaser Kestrel 2 Rain of Gore 3 Giant Solifuge 2 Honorable Passage

Deal Another Hand

One of the more interesting takes on the Boros Deck was by Welsh National team member Nicolas Lovett, who took this build to 6-0 as well.

Boros Deck Wins – Standard – 2006 World Championship

Decklist Stats Sample Hand