Every once in a while a game needs some special attention... a bragging rights finals seems reason enough, right? Either way, let's get to...
Walter Alvarado's upset of the undefeated Ankit Kavi is a familiar throwback to days gone by. An angry brotherhood list fighting angry robots. However in the finals, This Ultimates variant list has to succeed in doing it just one last time.
Walter Alvarado is no stranger to the post-apocalyptic (as it were) VS System meta, and with the benefit of a unique format to help shake things up, his application of some imaginative tech options opens the team anew. Here is my take on what he needs to do to lock in one final win and bragging rights immortality (for at least 6 weeks anyway)
Strengths:
Dude, it's TNB, and it hasn't gone anywhere, Looking at his badass DECKLIST, we immediately see some intuitive edits to the classic. Opting to include Pyro, hot topic at 3, sets the tone for the burn options we see included. More-so, don't be fooled, Misappropriation isn't a tech option, as much as an easy, on-team means to shimmy his own equipment from stunned characters to be doubly useful.
But lets get the the obvious edits, A full suite of brotherhood Ultimates characters breathes a remarkable life into this list. Scarlet Witch, with clutch mill for any looking to topstack. Quicksilver will literally refuse to die and with a solid back row, can upswing for massive swings, and an untargetable, unstunnable Juggernaut as the main 4 promises to bring the pain. To land success, Walter will need to see solid row options early, and look to maximize the Juggernaut outplays.
Weaknesses:
Any early wiffs will hurt this list in a bad way against the robot hordes. (Be it TNB, or drop wiffs). It absolutely, does NOT want to ever see turn 7.
Seb D Aigle, has a surprising roster of notable wins to his credit, even if it was mostly in the sideline events. Case and point: Did you ever wonder who won the secondary worlds event in Columbus Ohio? You know, that golden age event? No? Did you even know there was one? It was Seb. So I suppose, it should be no surprise for me to see his name pop up at the final tables again. Since it's a bragging rights, smaller format. OF COURSE he is in the god damn final.
Strengths:
It's M'F-in Curve Sents! Seb's DECKLIST doubles down on KO options: Running a suite of Total Anarchy AND maxxed out copies of Micro-Sentinels could prove to be problematic for the early stages of a Brotherhood rush. his imaginative use of Avalon (discarding magneto to refetch it AND net himself a robot for essentially a 0 cost soul world) is not lost on me as well. If he can weather the early game DPS, the sentinels naturally love to swing the game on the back of Nimrod bricks and massively out-valued mid to late game trades.
Weaknesses:
If UNB rips 2 The New Brotherhoods in the first 3 turns, it is pretty much over. If Walter manages to make a Total Anarchy work for him more efficiently than Seb using it against him, It's probably over.
Sebs list inherently looks to "set the table" with large payoff effects after you have set up ideal conditions. Walter's list looks to disrupt as fast as possible and burn for decent damage on off intiatives. Fact is: turn 5, may just be too slow to solidify the sentinel goal.
The finals match plays out over the next week! Good luck to our fighters!
And for the rest of you, Have you practiced your Dual Legend event deck yet? GET ON THAT!
