About Grand Prix Baltimore and the real top decks of Pro Tour Dark Ascension

GP Baltimore Day 1 Undefeated Decks
GP Baltimore Top 8 Decklists

Comments: What happen to all the Birthing Pods, Wolf Run Ramp/Delver Spirits(in top 8) decks!? I think the reasoning will be perhaps that the Birthing Pod is not good enough and the people had hate out for Wolf Run and Spirits after that strong showing in the Pro Tour. Corrosive Gales answers Spirits while UB Control will triumph Wolf Run according to Paulo Victor Damo da Rosa.

PT DKA's "real" Top Standard Decks

Comments: dgschess pointed out that the Pro Tour scores consisted of constructed and draft matches, thus there may be players who did not do well in draft but had a solid constructed showing with their decks. His list shows the top performing decks.

Dark Ascension Event Decks unboxing!

I managed to get my hands on both Dark Ascension Event Decks, SGD$39.90 from Comics Connection. It is higher priced than the Innistrad ones, SGD$29.90 (Deathfed) to SGD$32.90 (Hold the Line) and I'm guessing it is due to the pair of good rare-s in both decks: Inkmoth Nexus and Birthing Pods.

I've always wondered how they manage to squeeze a cupboard box into the packaging and it turns out the front of the box is actually just a cover and you slide the box containing all the contents. I've measured the box and it can fit 60 cards with sleeves but there is little space left for the sideboard cards with sleeves. I think you might be able to fit them in but it can get stuck, thus I think they are only useful for storing spare cards and you are better off with a third-party deck box like the ones from UltraPro. The 20-sided dice are nicely made but I think the green one is clearer.

Update: I'm able to fit in all 75 sleeved cards along with the cardboard divider provided and the box will be fully filled.

Pro Tour Dark Ascension Top 8 Deck-lists are out!

Here.

Some of my notes on the list:
- No Planeswalker in any decks, especially Sorin.
- 4 Delver decks, 3 Wolf-Run decks and a Birthing Pod deck
- Huntmaster of the Fells, Drogskol Captain, Lingering Souls and Evolving Wilds are the Dark Ascension Cards that are very popular, and in that particular order, in my opinion.

I missed out choosing Huntmaster of the Fells for the Magic Fantasy Pro Tour Card Roster. It is definitely looking to be the Most Valuable Card of the tournament and of Dark Ascension. The Top 8 matches have not been played at this time of writing and I'm rooting for Jon Finkel to win as I'm heard of him since the yesteryears of Magic!

Dark Ascensions Event Deck List revealed + Pod Strategy Resources

Here for the Event Deck Lists.

Gleeful Flames
I was waiting to see if Stormkirk Noble will be making an appearance but he didn't. You can get him and quite a lot of other good red spells in the various set's Intro Packs. Unless you need the Inkmoth Nexus or want to make a red deck, the other cards in the deck are not very expensive inclusions. Therefore, I'm guessing most people will most likely just buy one of it.

To improve the deck, you will want to add cards used in David Caplan's World 2011 Top 8 Red Deck here. The Torpor Orb is added to hose the other Event Deck just like how Nihil Spellbomb was included against the Spinterfright Graveyard theme Event Deck. Unfortunately, this hose card takes up 3 rare slots out of 7.

Spiraling Doom
This is basically a Black-Green (B/G) Birthing Pod deck that looks fun. Since Dark Ascension introduced undying mechanic which combos well with Birthing Pod, there have been quite a number of articles on the deck:

channelfireball.com's article by Carrie Oliver

Which version of Pod by Mark Ian Alonso

Ramp Pod by Reid Duke, the only top Pod deck in recent times I think, and this one is a combination with Wolf-Run Ramp.

Dark Ascension Review Part 1 and 2 by Chingsung Chang. More in Part 2 than part 1 but overall, a good read about Dark Ascension. Interestingly, he states that Birthing Pod decks will not take off as the offensive is ground-based.

The main idea is to use 187/"Enter the Battlefield" (ETB) effect creatures and Birthing Pod is a great way to tutor them out. Creatures that get an effect when the die also works well and I think Morbid mechanic is going to be good in this deck too.

There are quite a few combination of colors you can take for the Pod decks and it will be fun experimenting. Unfortunately, no B/G enemy dual land here but given the color combination possible for Pod, you might not be playing green with black. This is a deck you will still want to get at least 2-of for the Birthing Pod play-set.