Cactus Game Design Message Boards

So all states have wrapped up, I believe, and there is one more regional tournament before Nationals. With that being said, I have made it to a few tournaments and in different states. I have yet to find anything similar this year in type 1 2 player or type 2 2 player. Without saying any names or decklists, what have you all been seeing or having success with? At this time last year the Children of Light deck was running rampant getting playtested by JD dozens and dozens of times, I believe he playtested that deck over 100 times. Other than CoL, Martyrs seemed to be number 2 when it came to how many people were playing and winning with it. This year, specifically in t1, I have not seen much, other than a couple throne variants, that are being consistently played by people. Mind you, the Southeast Regional T1 2P competition included: Justin Alstad, JD, Daniel H., John Gomez, Jay and Jeremy Chambers, Nic and Luke Marshall, myself, and Brian Jones for a grand total of 7 national winning or ranking participants. With all these great players, there wasn't a single deck that was similar and the meta wasn't even a meta, it was all over the place. Are you guys seeing this, and what do you think is consistent enough to win, or to get through some many different styles of decks at Nationals?

For T2 I know Flood Survivors are going to be played this year it's just a matter of how much. Throne variants are always around, and maybe some Music Leader stuff. I suspect red warriors will be used too, it's just a matter of classifying that under Throne or however you play them. Anything else that I am missing that is seeing play, or anything cool?

Do you think there is a meta this year and if so, what is it?

Also, thoughts on what will win Nationals in T1?

The lack of a standard list doesn't mean Throne is not meta
 After all, two of them were 2nd and 3rd at East Central.

I'll post my Job deck. It won TN state. I personally believe it was a block away from winning another game and that does not discredit Jay's win at all, he played perfectly, it was just a toss up of how to block and I chose poorly. Cue the Indiana Jones old dude. I got rocked by Nic Marshall but other than that my Job deck went 5-2-1 and the time came against a Flood Survivor deck when I didn't add in Rubble and Dust yet. What's crazy is had I blocked Jay successfully I would not have had to play against Nic Marshall who's offense should be able to handle my Job defense 11 times out of ten. So I would include Job right in tier 2, but I didn't win regionals win it, so I don't think it's tier 1.
I agree with you Jay, a lack of a standard list doesn't make Throne non-meta. That's why I didn't say that  I was saying there are numerous variants in Throne, and I included it as a general meta. I believe Throne variants are the meta, then martyrs and white which would be clay variants. With Flood Survivors I think they are not the meta, but more so fun to play but when it comes down to who will actually play with them at nationals, it will not be the meta. That doesn't mean they are not strong because I can see Josiah running them and winning but that doesn't make it the meta. Musicians I group under clay white. Clay variants, music clay, martyrs clay, they're all the same to me.
John is right about Mayhem though.

Straight Silver homie... 

#Truth #Testify #Revelation #ShoopDaWhoop

As far as i can tell, there is no clear cut meta. And I don't think that's a bad thing at all. I think flood survivors may be the closest thing to the new meta as we will get. It's a pretty straight forward offense with not much variability, super strong, fairly fast, and very popular right now. It's the only offense I see consistently talked about on the boards.
I could be totally wrong about this though, as I've only been to one local tournament this season, so I'm probably not the best person to say where the meta is going.   

There are a number of offenses that can set up extremely fast. Throne is one of them. Music Leader + Martyrs is another. Flood Survivors, Auto+Sam Judges, Colossi, Fortelling Angel (Daniel) and Revelation angels are a few others that set up really quick. Any deck that can run a fast setup engine has the potential to do well. It really comes down to finding a defense that works really well with one of those offenses and making good use of the Reserve.

A lot of Redemption players don't take the time to put in the work to come up with new stuff. Instead they just tweak and adjust what they already know. For that reason I expect that things like Throne, white/clay, Judges and FS will make up the meta.

My guess is the winner of T1-2P at Nats will be someone who puts in the work to figure out how to beat the meta, the way John E and Josiah have in the past.

A lot of Redemption players don't take the time to put in the work to come up with new stuff. Instead they just tweak and adjust what they already know. For that reason I expect that things like Throne, white/clay, Judges and FS will make up the meta.

My guess is the winner of T1-2P at Nats will be someone who puts in the work to figure out how to beat the meta, the way John E and Josiah have in the past.

I agree with this assessment, and I strongly believe that there is a Judges/Ezekiel/Babylonians/Demons antimeta deck that can compete with tier 1 decks.  Babylonians got 2 new shiny toys in Wages of Sin and Anthropophobia, already have access to animal chumps and the beast that is Nebuchadnezzar, and have strong enhancements.  The durability of Orange's standalone ECs and battle-extension via Gates of Hell (which can conveniently sit in Reserve, to be retrieved by Abaddon or Wages) is the perfect pairing for Babs.  An AotL used on KoT or Red Dragon is an AotL not used on Nergalsharezar.  The versatility of the Zeke enhancements have been proven for years, and the Judges/Zeke offense has so many CBN ways to win souls. 

Sooooo....FBTN banding with minimal cards needed to hold in hand (plus Wanderer and Covet)? Sounds good. 

Sooooo....FBTN banding with minimal cards needed to hold in hand (plus Wanderer and Covet)? Sounds good. 

Fly Martin back from China this is his year apparently 

I'm still a very new player - but in the 2 regionals I played in, I didn't see a consistent theme. Just for what it's worth