A 100th Celebration

I wanted to take a moment this evening to commemorate Chris's 100th official game during tracked Magic Monday play.

In the spirit of the game, and the competitive nature and all around good clean fun, I thought it might be nice to delve into our record archives and see what kinds of interesting information there is to learn.

Which deck has the all around best record with at least 10 games played?

Which deck has the most wins all time?

Which deck has the best free for all records in three and four way games?

Which deck has the most free for all wins all time?

Which player has the most wins in heads-up matches? The best win% in heads-up?

Which player has the best free for all wins? The best win% in free for all?

There are so many fun categories to track! So much data has been gathered about so many decks and players over the months. It is very exciting to me. Do keep in mind that I have tracked all games played in any capacity during Magic Monday gatherings except for two occasions that I was not present, and no one recorded wins and losses, so these are fairly comprehensive records. Also, it is worth noting as well that these totals include decks that no longer exist because they have been changed, or deconstructed.

Before I get into the individual records, and answer the questions I posed above, lets look at each of the players who make up this fine group of Magic: the Gathering players.

First we have Chris. Chris joined Magic Mondays towards the end of the summer in 2010. He currently has 4 constructed decks that he wields on any given night, and he seems to favor Red-based spells after gaining a feel for the game. I think the single greatest accomplishment Chris has had since he started was winning a sealed booster draft tournament. I still remember the look on his face when he won. It was truly the look of pure excitement. We should also all give Chris a giant rounds of thanks for creating the "Magic Monday" official shirt! Wow.

Matt had never played Magic: the Gathering before he joined Magic Mondays and now he sports two constructed decks, which have slowly but surely gotten more and more lethal. He seems to favor Black-based spells. I recently had my eyes opened to the new power of his mono-black deck when he beat me down in five turns flat.

Felix, like both Chris and Matt, had also never played Magic before joining up with the Magic Monday group. He was quick to have an affinity towards Green-based spells but has slowly gravitated towards a more control-based approach and seeing Blue-based spells as very powerful when combined with the right elements. Although he has had up to 5 decks at various times he currently has stripped down to 2 decks and has primarily been focused on his Blue/Black infect deck.

Lowell is not new to Magic, but had not play in quite some time when he came to his first Magic Monday. For a long time Lowell focused his energy on a single powerful mono-white deck, but more recently has branched out to make a Blue and Black deck as well. Lowell obviously operates under the assumption quality over quantity.

Don is the newest member, and is a former Magic player that has been reunited with the game. Don quickly jumped back into the swing of it, and has found a nice niche with his Green and White based deck. If it was not for Paul building an incredible powerful black deck during a draft Don might have won the very first draft he ever participated in. We are glad to have Don in our group.

Halo was new to Magic when he started but he has blossomed into a very competent and wily player. He had an affinity for White-based spells for a long time, but has slowly been taking to Blue-based spells on account of the Storm-Tide Leviathan. I think Halo had his single greatest accomplishment when he won his first game versus Snape. Now Halo is in double-digit wins and is a regular threat in any game.

Snape is one of the three founding Magic Monday members. He was there for the first gathering in the Summer of 2010. He has a penchant for Black-based spells and PBR. Snape is by far the most prolific among the group in deck building. I sometimes think that Snape may even enjoy building the decks themselves more than playing them. In total he has about 50 playable decks plus another 15-20 that are built but just need land added to them. Holy crap! How can you even keep track!? It boggles my feeble underdeveloped mind.

Paul is another of the three founding Magic Monday members. He was gracious enough to offer up the comforts of his home to accommodate a gathering of nerds. I can still remember the look on Natalia's face the first few times we came over. Paul has his predilections about older cards, but has more recently started to see value in cards printed outside of the 1990's. Paul's single greatest accomplishment has got to be that he is the only player to lose a game without the other player even getting a turn. Kudos on that.

I am James. I was the one responsible for creating all of this madness when I phoned Paul and convinced him to start playing again. I love Black-based spells the best because I think the artwork is awesome, and I like the black mana symbol the best. (Do I need a more complex reason?) I played Magic for the first time in 1995 and I was terrible at it. Magic Monday is my obsession, and I'm sure I put far more energy and effort into it than I should, but I am having too much fun to take a step backwards at this point!

So which deck has the best record with at least 10 games played? "Fear of a White Planet" by Paul. It is a very good White Weenie archetype legacy deck. It will kick your ass a lot. It is currently 11-2 (0.846) and sure to remain strong.

Which deck has the most wins all-time? "Invitation to a Decking" by me. The Blue/Black mill deck you all love to play. It currently has a record of 32-25 (0.561). It is my oldest deck, and the deck I have changed the most. Though at its core it stays a mill deck. It is also worth noting, that this deck benefits from longevity, having been around since the first week we played. There are many decks with over 20 wins, which is quite a feat in the time we've played. Felix's "Unbeatable" has 21. Chris's "Face Destroyer!" has 21. Lowell's "So Fast" has 20, and those are all much newer for perspective.

Which deck has the best 3-way free for all record? "Mana Whore" by Paul. It is 6-0 (1.000) in 3-way games. Serious stuff.

Which deck has the best 4-way free for all record? "A Tale of Two Mimics" by me. "Bruiser" by Snape, and "Face Destroyer!" by Chris are all undefeated in 4-way games. In the same order they are 3-0, 1-0, and 1-0.

Which deck has the most free for all wins all-time? "A Tale of Two Mimics" by me, with 8 wins just barely edged out "Crayola" by Paul with 7 wins.

Which players have the highest heads-up winning percentages? I have the highest at 63%, followed by Felix at 57%. Paul has a 55% win rate and Chris clocks in at 50% in heads-up. Hey! That's tough work to win 50% or more! Good work you guys!

Which players have the highest free for all winning percentages? Paul has the highest at 51%, and is the only player to keep his win% in FFA games over 50%. Wow!

That's some serious Magic.

Since the inception of this group last Summer we have logged 1424 games between all of the players and between all formats.

That's a lot of Magic!

Stay Tuned for more good stuff!