Revolution, October 2024

The second tournament of Revolution’s twelfth rotation concluded this past month at Grand Prix Skophos! A lengthy slate of balance changes and card redesigns in the wake of last month's GP brought further innovation and discovery to revolution this month; exploring archetypes new and old as players readied themselves for GP Skophos!

Twenty players signed up for the GP, playing 17 different decks that ranged from the fastest of aggro decks to the slowest and most ponderous of control decks. Some exciting new contenders emerged, including UB Theft-Control; a virtually winconless control deck that won by stealing your opponent's threats (or slowly grinding them out of cards) and Mono-Red Heroic Aggro (using Efimia of the Horse to achieve some lightning-fast wins, in some cases by turn 3)! We also saw the reinterpretation and reimagining of some older archetypes, including RB Ruins making use of Programmed Pursuer to ensure a steady flow of cards and Esper Ephara Enchantress Control.

The most popular deck in the tournament was CB Tithe, a controlling prison deck that uses Rooftop Slink and Tithe to Machine to grind the opponent out of answers, Xiv and Glauna to establish board presence, and Data Weaver to provide a consistent flow of card advantage. CB Tithe was by far the most played deck in the tournament, and all three of its pilots made the top 8. The finals came down to a match between Splitmoon and Kayiu, both of whom were on CB Tithe. After three well-fought, very close games that came down to a single life-point difference on both sides, Splitmoon emerged victorious!

When asked about the deck's matchups, Splitmoon submits that the deck shines best against aggressive, creature-based strategies, which line up poorly into the deck's removal and which are easier for the deck to grind down. More controlling strategies that rely on noncreature permanents are resilient to the deck's removal and harder to deal with. When asked about strategies to break the mirror, Splitmoon highlighted Kayiu's choice of Court of Miracles as an extra colorless source that provided a lategame threat in resource-light environments like CB Tithe both creates and thrives in.