With four Rounds of competition left in Day 1, we’re doing our first Top Table Update of the tournament – and the results are not what many expected!

 

For the uninitiated: when you compete in a Swiss Tournament and keep winning, you’re slowly sifted closer and closer to Table 1.  The Duelists with the best records play off at the lowest table numbers, fighting for that coveted Table 1 position.  So the coverage team looks at Tables 1 through 10 to find out who’s playing what Decks with X-0 (undefeated) and X-1 records.  That helps us get a feel for what strategies are doing the best at any given moment in the tournament.

 

With that in mind, check this out…

 

Table 1:

Patrick Owen James with Sylvans

Versus

Ali Yassine with Infernities

 

Table 2:

Victor Vuong with Hand Traptrix

Versus

David Green with Lightsworn Ruler

 

Table 3:

Steven Veit-Quiles with Lightsworn Rulers

Versus

Tahmid Zaman with Mythic Rulers

 

Table 4:

Luis Alberto Andrade with Bujins

Versus

Martin Duran Alcala with Traptrix Hand Artifacts

 

Table 5:

Travis Hillard with Evilswarm

Versus

Matthew Wrona with Reversal Quiz OTK

 

Table 6:

Brandon Wong with Hieratic Rulers

Versus

Simon Trottier-Lacasse with Infernities

 

Table 7:

Lenard Hill with Mermails

Versus

Andre Wright with Bujins

 

Table 8:

David Arzate-Ochoa Jr. with Geargia

Versus

Korey McDuffie with Traptrix Hand Artifacts

 

Table 9:

Joseph Ponticello with Infernities

Versus

Wassim Yassine with Evilswarm

 

Table 10:

Nikos Onapolis with Infernities

Versus

James Huang with Traptrix Hand Artifacts

 

So yeah, you’re not crazy.  That really does break down as follows:

 

Infernities: 4

Traptrix Hand Artifacts: 3

Lightsworn: 2

Bujins: 2

Evilswarm: 2

Sylvans: 1

Hand Traptrix: 1

Mythic Rulers: 1

Reversal Quiz OTK: 1

Hieratic Rulers: 1

Mermails: 1

Geargia: 1

 

Infernities, outpacing everything else at the top tables.  Which begs one question: how?

 

Infernities have a strong Lightsworn match-up, which seems relevant as we’ve seen plenty of Lightsworn Ruler decks at top tables all day and sure enough, two are in the Top 10 right now.  But on top of that the deck has relatively strong match-ups almost everywhere else too, and perhaps most importantly: nobody’s Side Decking the cards that stop it.  This wasn’t a match-up that’s been doing well in recent Regionals or WCQ’s, and though the deck was a big factor toward the end of the last format at YCS Chicago, it was marginalized in the eyes of most competitors after Infernity Barrier was Limited on April 1^st.  A number of proponents stated that the Deck was still playable, and that was backed up by a handful of tournament finishes, but the strategy faded from competition anyways.

 

Now Infernities are back with a vengeance, while Decks like Mermails and Geargia seem to be struggling.  Still, we’ve got twelve different strategies in the Top 10 tables right now – the field today’s been even more varied than anyone suspected it possibly could be.  Will that hold up through to Day 2?  We don’t know, but we’re certainly going to find out over the next few Rounds!