FakeMews Play to Earn League #3 champions postmortem
Introduction
Greetings Hive! It's been so long I feel like I should do another "introduction post". However, prior to the event described in this article I've been in a slump and quite frankly haven't had anything to brag about recently. This changed last weekend with one of my biggest wins in my GU career. This article will detail my journey accompanied by my postmortem YouTube video (below) which goes in to depth on the individual games from top 16 onwards.
Tournament format:
The tournament format for the Play to earn league events is generally really simple. Its best of 1’s until the round of 32 (I’m usually knocked out at this stage). Best of 3’s beginning at the round of 32 (must win with 2 different domains) and Best of 5 for the championship match (must win with 3 different domains) All cards are legal in this tournament except for Dralamar which was banned because it was deemed "bugged" at the time.
Decks featured section:
Zoo Light
Deck code: GU_1_3_CBKCBKCABCABIChIChBEpBEpCBNCBNCBuCBuHAFHAFCFfCFfCDoCDoCCsCCsGBbCEdCEdCFaCFaBDlBDlICbBGPBGP
Notes on list
This will be my ride or die deck throughout the tournament. The main list I ran from a 20 win weekend the day of the tournament for weekend ranked I feel this can compete nicely into the meta with no real hard counters currently. The list I played in this tournament is a hyper-aggro light a littlle more aggressive than most versions around. This gives this list a little bit of a better chance at coming back from early deficits by going second but weakens late game outs (no Zealous March) Overall a hard list to exploit even if you know its coming because this is probably favored against anything if it goes first.
Control Nature
Deck Code
GU_1_5_CCoCCoGAwIDNIDNCAuCAuCEyCEyCATCATCCOBCeBCeCAvCAvBCCBCCCBxCBxGAbBHDCCGCAxCAxIDFIDFBBqBBqBAf
Notes on list
This list is a modified list from my weekend ranked two weeks prior. Its a solid list overall that went 21 wins on weekend ranked. Its designed to counter hyper-aggro lists (ex Light, Slayer meta) overall the greed gives it an edge vs most nature however the biggest weakness is it will not be able to consistently beat control lists as we lack the speed to run them over and lack the value to win the long game. A classical mid-range+ nature list I think is still a solid meta play and very versatile.
Aggro Nature
Deck code
GU_1_5_CDGCDGCCoCCoGAwCAuCAuCEyCEyHAEHAECATCATIASBEXBEXBCCBCCCBxCBxCAzIALIALCAtCAtGAbCByCByCAxCAx
Notes on list
This was a one-time specific designed counter for the championship match modified from an old aggro list I used to play. I teched in staff of roots for FaeFlame because my opponents light list didnt have Vexing Viccar. I don't recommend this exact list for ladder, but a variant of this list can still be viable.
Control War
Deck Code
GU_1_6_CDCCDCBDyBDyBFvBFvBDoBDoCDqCDqIDkHAcHAcIDmDAFDAFCCjCCjCACCACCAXCAXIDgIDgGBTIDrIDrBBqBBqGBQ
Notes on list
A little bit of a flashback to the January meta this is an old-school style list not super on meta however in certain situations can still be an impactful counter. All situations where this was played was in spots I didnt think my opponent could exploit the list in their range. The reactive nature of this decks makes a great option if you are unfortunate enough to go second and need to play from behind. Of course the way I was running this tournament this was not necessary for me.
Aggro Viking War
Deck Code
GU_1_6_CBZCBZCGHIAVIAVBAaBAaHAFHAFBDoBDoCDqCDqIDjIDjCDzCDzCClCClBEDBEDIDkIAcIAcCGOBBUBBUCAXCAXIDr
Notes on the list
One of my least favorite archetypes in the meta leading to uninteresting games mostly decided by who goes first. Unfortunately, nothing really hard counters this if this deck goes first however, if this list goes second then it isnt great at coming from behind either. Despite my displeasure about the deack in the meta this is still a must-have in everyone's tournament arsenal of potential decks to play.
Pre-video background:
Before reaching the round of 16 I had to win 2 best of 1 matches in the first two rounds of the tournament. My first round was against [TeamFR] Many and my 2nd matchup was against Trov. In both of these matchups my scouting report didn’t provide anything “definite” so I just played light as it was my most confident deck on that day. In round 3 I had a best of 3 against Lordcru. Against them I lead with light riding the “hot hand” and in game 2 I played control nature as my scouting report noticed they were mostly budget without BWD in their range. Not a huge deal of scheming in the first 3 rounds but the 4 games had to go my way to advance to the round of 16 where this video starts.
Round of 16 matchup: [OCTOPUS] Geno
Background on the matchup:
Personally, I’ve not had much success in tournament situations vs team Octopus (I believe they are the only GU team with a + score against me as a team). Coming into this matchup I knew it would be a challenge but also wanted to settle a score of past defeats dating back to the Community Tour (Lost twice to V2 and twice to Aldoc in the community tour). Geno is not far removed from winning the biggest tournament in GU history (in terms of prize money) which vaulted him up to #1 on the all-time earnings listing. Naturally with an entire day to think about the matchup this can lead to over-thinking ands this matchup proves exactly that.
Scouting report and matchup:
My scouting report showed Geno leaning heavily on aggro magic playing that in all 3 of his prior matchups before reaching the top 16. In the round of 32 (best of 3 matchup) Geno lead with Magic and played a control deception list in game 2. This is the data I had going into this matchup. My original gut instinct was to queue hidden rush deception (this matches up well against both of his prior queueing’s in this tournament). However, with my tournament history vs team Octopus and a feel that they can read my mind I felt queueing deception was way too risky Octopus has a history of queueing nature into my deception list (hard counter). With that in mind my next thought was to queue control nature (a special build with 2x photogenesis). I felt my build could outvalue his control list long term and that I had too much heals for his magic list to burn me out (2x Compost charm, Avatar of nature, Demos, Valewardens LOTS of healing oh and randomly generated cards which can lead to more). When I went to sleep on Saturday night my plan was to queue this special tech nature list. I wake up in the morning and casually look at what Geno is doing and I see he has played 3 games for weekend ranked all 3 with BWD. Knowing that he is playing BWD on ladder I was curious if that was prep for our matchup. While I felt like it was a bad queue into my range (which included light and deception decks favored vs BWD). I got a bad feeling that BWD may have been his plan so after all of that crazy meta-analysis for game number one I queue: Light. The EXACT deck I queued for game 1 in all of my other 3 matchups. Geno queues magic I was expecting nature or BWD however incorrectly guessed the matchup. On the fortunate side for me I got to go first. Light going first vs magic is still a positive matchup for me and was able to deliver the win in game 1. This sets the stage for game 2 where I once again don’t really know what he is thinking. Is Geno going to stick with Magic (I highly doubted this) I was expecting a switch to a control deck (most likely BWD to hard-counter nature which I played in the round of 32). With that in mind I thought aggro slayer war was strong into his range. Once again, my guess was incorrect however critically I won the coin flip to go first again and fast slayer decks are hard to beat if you’re going second. We get the win and advance to the top 8. Overall in this round I put a lot of thought into it then just queue light for the 4th time in a row (very risky can get hard countered). Then play a deck I call “Coin flip slayer” as so many games are decided by who goes first. The key in this matchup: Going first with light and aggro slayer the two decks which best capitalize on that advantage.
Round of 8 matchup: Kz4589
Background and scouting report:
I basically know nothing about my opponent no prior history and had not heard of them until our matchup. Also keep in mind in this tournament its live with little time to prepare as all the matchups are played one after another. My assumption based on the limited data I had were they were mostly budget friendly decks highly likely to play Nature/Light (did not have a read on order felt like they mix it up on that). With this in mind in the back of my head I’m psyched out queueing light first in 4 consecutive matchups I want to break this trend.
Matchup decisions:
I decide that my control war and control nature lists work well into his range with BWD non-existent I felt both lists could react nicely against the likely potential matchups. In game number one I queue in with control war. What I like about this decision is how tricky it is. In the final game vs [OCTOPUS] Geno I queued with aggro slayer war knowing that my opponent (may or may not) know this information queueing control war is a sneaky play and this sneaky play pays off in the god power selection phase. My opponent opens with nature (as one of my two decks I expected him to play) he elects to go with Selena’s Mark instead of Animal Bond. While this is technically the first mistake of the game for my opponent it’s a very understandable mistake and quite honestly most likely the best decision for my opponent. The only data available to my opponent would have not shown control war in a long time my GU decks page was filled with only aggro slayer war and in this tournament the only war deck I showed was aggro slayer. With his version of nature you want to pick animal bond vs control war and Selena’s mark vs slayer. While I think his decision was likely correct my tricky queueing got maximum value forcing a mistake by my opposition (This shows the value of a wide range). After a grueling 21 minute affair I was able to squeak out a game one win. Heading into game 2 I didn’t know if he would queue same or switch. I figured he would play light or nature and I had the most belief in my control nature against his range. Game number two features the first time on the day I go second after going first in the first 3 games of day two of the tournament. My opponent queued light which is arguably the best deck going first in this meta. Unfortunately for my opponent 2x Underbrush and an arrow of rage opening hand is absolute insane. I won the battle of the board control early and light has no comeback mechanisms. Underbrush Boar is truly a great equalizer but drawing one is never guaranteed two is quite bad RNG for my opponent.
Round of 4 matchup: [NVS] Vlozkill
Background and scouting report:
Vlozkill a former member of team Octopus and active member of the tournament scene. Earlier in the week we had a battle in the championship match of Jomigloy’s first ever hosted tournament this match was won by Vlozkill as my hidden rush deception deck fell just short vs his deception list. Coming into this matchup I know Vlozkill is a seasoned tournament player basically capable of playing anything. The one thing I felt he was likely to do was come at me with control (either the control deception list he beat me in Jomigloy’s tournament or BWD which he was playing on ladder for weekend ranked). Also worth noting this is the Play to Earn League event #3 and Vlozkill already won one of the prior events in this format and tournament structure he has proven to be a force to be reckoned with and quite the serious contender.
Matchup decisions:
Since I queued hidden rush deception against him less than a week ago prior to this matchup in the championship game of another tournament I felt that queue was way too risky. His range was wide but my gut instinct had Vlozkills likely range for our match to be: BWD, Nature (midrange) and Control Deception. With this in mind I go back to old reliable light which was slightly less predictable given that I kept light on the sideline the prior matchup. Vlozkill queues Nature (my gut instinct targeting Deception but still strong in the meta). I go first in this game win board early and dominate. Heading into game two I have Vlozkills range as the same as game one my expectation was for him to queue BWD for game two as light is now banned for me. Needing a deck that works nicely into BWD I queue slayer war. I also like this as a sneaky play because if he spied my prior match in the round of 8 for preparation for this match he would have seen control war so we could end up in a similar situation as last match where the opposition picked the wrong godpower due to my trickery. Vlozkill ends up picking slayer war which catches me by surprise I did not have “coin flip war” as a likely pick in Vlozkills range. Unfortunately for Vlozkill I end up going first which is everything in the aggro slayer mirror matchup nothing Vlozkill ultimately could have done in this matchup going second vs light and war but that’s a part of the tournament RNG. I felt like I had a good feel for game one and made a critical decision leaving deception on the sideline (I likely queue deception right into nature if we had not played in Jomigloys tournament). It looks like the loss two days prior steered me on the correct course in this tournament.
Championship Matchup: Mepo2000
Background:
On to the championship match where my brand is known for getting a lot of second place finishes (partially wrongly so I’ve won 11 BonkThatBonk tournaments and have two tournament wins in 2022 already winning the BattleFactions IMX tournament and 8M Discord Appreciation tournaments). However, if you are a prominent streamer and have a two week span where you finish second in four different tournaments (this happened last year) then you will have a reputation for the rest of your life.
Scouting report:
Mepo2000 is an interesting character he was the Cinderella story as a streamer and really IMO the Sewlie show MVP of the tournament night broadcast. Sitting back enjoying GU with his wine and submitting every game for content (even day one which I was too lazy to record). His matchups and overall tournament journey was more entertaining than anyone in this tournament (including myself). This tournament was really the coming out party for Mepo2000 and his Twitch (at least in my eyes) however in the finals I get to play the role as the Goliath that the tournaments David needs to take down to complete his character arc. Mepo2000’s range is really unique for a finals opponent as he is a one-deck player (Nature) in the tournament he has added a second deck (light) I also have no idea what he has for his range for a third deck.
Championship Finals matchup (best of 5)
In game one I queue with control war. Again I feel “tricky” as I just played in the final game vs Vlozkill with aggro war. Knowing my opponent might be expecting this I hope to bait him into some questionable early game piloting decisions not knowing the matchup. Mepo2000 queues in with aggro slayer war which caught me a little by surprise. Most importantly I went first in this game and slayer struggles without the initiative. We take game one and also gain information about Mepo’s range. In game two I elect to go back to my dependable relationship this tournament my light list which has been my ride or die. I felt like I was likely playing light/nature the next two games at this point and flipped a coin to decide which got to go next. Light was my choice Mepo queues Nature which is his most confident domain and he goes first. This was a critical game psychologically for Mepo in this match as he gets the going first advantage with his most reliable deck. Unfortunately for Mepo he was unable to capitalize on the good spot and I got the win in game two. In game three I stuck with my original gameplan which was an aggro nature list. My nature list ran staff of roots instead of FaeFlame blade as I knew he didn’t own Vexing Viccars. I almost played BWD expecting nature however he showed slayer and I already knew light was in his range. Luckily for me I kept things simple and didn’t try the hard counter. I decided to play and aggro nature lists which was designed as a counter to his light list (and under the assumption I could outrace his other nature list). I ended up queueing into Zombie Death which is one of the worst performing decks in the meta. In game three I not only got to go first I had a superior deck in the matchup this game was one-sided and we cruised to our third major tournament victory in 2022!
Conclusion:
Overall I think there are a few notes to take from this: My piloting was decent overall. There were a few mistakes made (I’m pretty critical of in the video) One almost cost me a game. Overall in this tournament going first in 10/13 games is very lucky however we took the positive RNG and did not waste it I can hear the reddit warriors coming out now but most would not have been able to capitalize on the situation in front of them. This is my first positive meta experience since CSR came out and had been in a slump for a while (on the ladder and tournaments). Its always nice to take down a major tournament to put yourself back on the map. Also with this win I get my first P2E season points (as I failed to do anything in the first two events). The 5 points earned puts me in a good situation to qualify for the 16 player invitational playoff with a $4000 prize pool ($250 EV in a single tournament I think is the highest EV in GU history). As a participant in the 16 player community tour playoff I would love to add this to my GU resume.