Main Menu

The 50 most successful cards since the banning of SotF

Started by Maqi, 10-12-2014, 04:23:40 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Maqi

Thanks to ZeSword's effort of uploading our winning decklists on mtgtop8.com we can compile a list of the most played cards within our top performing decks.

I chose to omit lands whose sole purpose is to fix mana (no fetches, no duals etc.). Here is the list:


   Rank      Card Name      Decks   
   1      Wasteland      93.0 %   
   2      Kitchen Finks      66.7 %   
   3      Swords to Plowshares      64.5 %   
   4      Path to Exile      57.0 %   
   5      Sensei's Divining Top      56.5 %   
   6      Lightning Bolt      53.2 %   
   7      Noble Hierarch      51.1 %   
   8      Green Sun's Zenith      51.1 %   
   9      Birds of Paradise      50.0 %   
   10      Demonic Tutor      48.9 %   
   11      Scavenging Ooze      48.9 %   
   12      Tarmogoyf      47.8 %   
   13      Flametongue Kavu      47.3 %   
   14      Brainstorm      46.8 %   
   15      Sword of Fire and Ice      46.2 %   
   16      Jace, the Mind Sculptor      45.7 %   
   17      Sylvan Library      45.7 %   
   18      Mana Drain      45.2 %   
   19      Elspeth, Knight-Errant      44.1 %   
   20      Treetop Village      44.1 %   
   21      Oblivion Ring      43.5 %   
   22      Karakas      43.5 %   
   23      Preordain      43.0 %   
   24      Qasali Pridemage      43.0 %   
   25      Arc Trail      42.5 %   
   26      Force of Will      42.5 %   
   27      Fauna Shaman      41.4 %   
   28      Eternal Witness      41.4 %   
   29      Mana Leak      40.3 %   
   30      Vendilion Clique      39.8 %   
   31      Ponder      39.2 %   
   32      Knight of the Reliquary      39.2 %   
   33      Garruk Wildspeaker      38.7 %   
   34      Eladamri's Call      38.7 %   
   35      Grim Lavamancer      37.6 %   
   36      Snapcaster Mage      37.6 %   
   37      Fact or Fiction      37.1 %   
   38      Maze of Ith      36.6 %   
   39      Chain Lightning      36.0 %   
   40      Aven Mindcensor      36.0 %   
   41      Lotus Cobra      36.0 %   
   42      Llanowar Elves      35.5 %   
   43      Venser, Shaper Savant      35.5 %   
   44      Lightning Helix      34.4 %   
   45      Counterspell      33.9 %   
   46      Horizon Canopy      33.3 %   
   47      Phyrexian Metamorph      33.3 %   
   48      Thrun, the Last Troll      32.8 %   
   49      Daze      32.3 %   
   50      Tectonic Edge      32.3 %   

NerfHerder

The big question is: Why does "Wasteland" only have 93%, where are the missing 7%-points? Even if your manabase is greedy, the Wasteland is an autoinclude.
Could we say for the sake of it, that those people are not owning a "Wasteland"? :)

Interesting fact the places 2 to 4 are all white, followed by a bunch of green cards, which means GW is the way to go, right?

Maqi

I'd be hesitant to read too much out of this data since it is aggregated from a rather lengthy timespan.

There are decks where wasteland doesn't belong imo. High tide for example. But those are few and far between.

NerfHerder

I wouldn't underestimate those numbers. For example you get some clear infos:

Swords to Plowshares > Path to Exile
Noble Hierach > Birds of Paradise

Of course those things are easy to judge on.

Another intersting observation could be that 64% of all Decks are playing white, 53% are playing red, 48% black, 46% blue. Taking in account that those Swords to Plowshares, Lightning Bolt, Demonic Tutor and Brainstorm are auto-includes.

tonytahiti

its data thats nice to look at (and it surely is appreciated) but its rather useless. my 3 month old chimpanzee knows that swords is superior to path etc.
Winner - Pro HL Cup, Prague 2002
Winner - Highlander Regional Masters, Phuket 2006
Winner - Sunrise Trophy Run, Hawaii 2006
Winner - North Dakota HL Championships 2007
Winner - Tahiti "One And Only"-Cup #3, 2009
Winner - Gio di Gio Seria, Florenz, 2016
Winner - Jail or be Jailed, Berlin, 2017

Maqi

@tony: I somewhat agree with you. It is kind of a who is who of our format. Like, if someone asked you what cards HL is about, you could show him that list. New insight is hardly to be gained from the data.

Doks

This is interesting, thank you. But I wonder how this list will look in the future.

For example, if you look at the Top 15 cards, most of them indicate a creature based strategy (these cards are either creatures themselves, an equipment, a tutor for creatures or creature-only removal spells). Wasteland, SDT, Demonic and Brainstorm are only up there because of their sheer power level, but are all run both in creature based and non-creature based archetypes.

Then, if you have a look at the following 15 spots, it's more about permission, disruption, flexible removal spells and harder to answer win options (Planeswalkers and Manlands).

Now, like Maqi said, this data has been collected over a longer period of time. In the recent past (old mulligan rule, 'greedy mana base'-discussion) I can imagine that, with the relatively new changes (new mulligan rule, unbanning of Mystical Tutor, the addition of the recent editions), the basic tendency of this list might change to a more diverse look within the next months.

berlinballz

Cool list! Thanks for the effort. I would really like to see this list for successful decks since the mulligan change.

ZeSword

Everyone seems interested in data since the mulligan rule change. No problem, here you go :

http://www.mtgtop8.com/format?f=HIGH

Maqi

I looked at two time periods and where the individual cards went. Here are the tables:                                                                                                
                                                                                                

   Spoils+Free-Mulligan                                    Only Free-Mulligan                                 
         Rank         Card Name      Deck-%      Trend                  Rank      Card Name      Deck-%            Trend   
         1      Wasteland      93.0 %      0                  1      Wasteland      89.5 %            0   
         2      Kitchen Finks      66.7 %      0                  2      Kitchen Finks      60.5 %            0   
         3      Swords to Plowshares      64.5 %      0                  3      Swords to Plowshares      58.1 %            0   
         4      Path to Exile      57.0 %      -3                  4      Demonic Tutor      57.0 %            +6   
         5      Sensei's Divining Top      56.5 %      -1                  5      Lightning Bolt      54.7 %            +1   
         6      Lightning Bolt      53.2 %      +1                  6      Sensei's Divining Top      53.5 %            -1   
         7      Noble Hierarch      51.1 %      -16                  7      Path to Exile      51.2 %            -3   
         8      Green Sun's Zenith      51.1 %      -6                  8      Sylvan Library      51.2 %            +9   
         9      Birds of Paradise      50.0 %      -9                  9      Preordain      50.0 %            +14   
         10      Demonic Tutor      48.9 %      +6                  10      Brainstorm      48.8 %            +4   
         11      Scavenging Ooze      48.9 %      -2                  11      Ponder      50.0 %            +20   
         12      Tarmogoyf      47.8 %      -12                  12      Flametongue Kavu      47.7 %            +1   
         13      Flametongue Kavu      47.3 %      +1                  13      Scavenging Ooze      47.7 %            -2   
         14      Brainstorm      46.8 %      +4                  14      Green Sun's Zenith      47.7 %            -6   
         15      Sword of Fire and Ice      46.2 %      [fallen from list]                  15      Deathrite Shaman      46.5 %            [new entry]   
         16      Jace, the Mind Sculptor      45.7 %      -1                  16      Arc Trail      46.5 %            +9   
         17      Sylvan Library      45.7 %      +9                  17      Jace, the Mind Sculptor      45.3 %            -1   
         18      Mana Drain      45.2 %      -1                  18      Birds of Paradise      45.3 %            -9   
         19      Elspeth, Knight-Errant      44.1 %      -1                  19      Mana Drain      43.0 %            -1   
         20      Treetop Village      44.1 %      -1                  20      Elspeth, Knight-Errant      43.0 %            -1   
         21      Oblivion Ring      43.5 %      [fallen from list]                  21      Treetop Village      43.0 %            -1   
         22      Karakas      43.5 %      [fallen from list]                  22      Eternal Witness      43.0 %            +6   
         23      Preordain      43.0 %      +14                  23      Noble Hierarch      43.0 %            -16   
         24      Qasali Pridemage      43.0 %      [fallen from list]                  24      Tarmogoyf      41.9 %            -12   
         25      Arc Trail      42.5 %      +9                  25      Mana Leak      40.7 %            +4   
         26      Force of Will      42.5 %      -7                  26      Restoration Angel      40.7 %            [new entry]   
         27      Fauna Shaman      41.4 %      -1                  27      Fact or Fiction      39.5 %            +10   
         28      Eternal Witness      41.4 %      +6                  28      Fauna Shaman      39.5 %            -1   
         29      Mana Leak      40.3 %      +4                  29      Snapcaster Mage      38.4 %            +7   
         30      Vendilion Clique      39.8 %      -5                  30      Garruk Wildspeaker      38.4 %            +3   
         31      Ponder      39.2 %      +20                  31      Counterspell      38.4 %            +14   
         32      Knight of the Reliquary      39.2 %      [fallen from list]                  32      Remand      37.2 %            [new entry]   
         33      Garruk Wildspeaker      38.7 %      +3                  33      Force of Will      37.2 %            -7   
         34      Eladamri's Call      38.7 %      [fallen from list]                  34      True-Name Nemesis      37.2 %            [new entry]   
         35      Grim Lavamancer      37.6 %      -15                  35      Vendilion Clique      36.0 %            -5   
         36      Snapcaster Mage      37.6 %      +7                  36      Lotus Cobra      36.0 %            +5   
         37      Fact or Fiction      37.1 %      +10                  37      Chain Lightning      34.9 %            +2   
         38      Maze of Ith      36.6 %      -4                  38      Thoughtseize      34.9 %            [new entry]   
         39      Chain Lightning      36.0 %      +2                  39      Tectonic Edge      34.9 %            +11   
         40      Aven Mindcensor      36.0 %      [fallen from list]                  40      Thrun, the Last Troll      34.9 %            +8   
         41      Lotus Cobra      36.0 %      +5                  41      Abrupt Decay      33.7 %            [new entry]   
         42      Llanowar Elves      35.5 %      [fallen from list]                  42      Maze of Ith      33.7 %            -4   
         43      Venser, Shaper Savant      35.5 %      [fallen from list]                  43      Garruk Relentless      32.6 %            [new entry]   
         44      Lightning Helix      34.4 %      [fallen from list]                  44      Spell Pierce      31.8 %            [new entry]   
         45      Counterspell      33.9 %      +14                  45      Miscalculation      31.8 %            [new entry]   
         46      Horizon Canopy      33.3 %      [fallen from list]                  46      Thundermaw Hellkite      31.8 %            [new entry]   
         47      Phyrexian Metamorph      33.3 %      [fallen from list]                  47      Inquisition of Kozilek      31.8 %            [new entry]   
         48      Thrun, the Last Troll      32.8 %      +8                  48      Garruk Relentless      31.8 %            [new entry]   
         49      Daze      32.3 %      [fallen from list]                  49      Spell Snare      31.8 %            [new entry]   
         50      Tectonic Edge      32.3 %      +11                  50      Grim Lavamancer      31.8 %            -15   

EDIT: Added trending data for table 1.                                                                              

Maqi

Some agglomerations:                                 
                                 

   Winners      Losers      New kids on the block      Fallen from Grace   
   Sylvan Library      Noble Hierarch      Deathrite Shaman      Sword of Fire and Ice   
   Arc Trail      Grim Lavamancer      Restoration Angel      Oblivion Ring   
   Fact or Fiction      Tarmogoyf      Remand      Karakas   
   Tectonic Edge      Birds of Paradise      True-Name Nemesis      Qasali Pridemage   
   Preordain      Force of Will      Thoughtseize      Knight of the Reliquary   
   Counterspell      Green Sun's Zenith      Abrupt Decay      Eladamri's Call   
   Ponder      Vendilion Clique      Garruk Relentless      Aven Mindcensor   
               Spell Pierce      Llanowar Elves   
               Miscalculation      Venser, Shaper Savant   
               Thundermaw Hellkite      Lightning Helix   
               Inquisition of Kozilek      Horizon Canopy   
               Garruk Relentless      Phyrexian Metamorph   
               Spell Snare      Daze   
                        

Peddy Frost

Does anyone have any new Data? the Link only shows events from 2014.
best regards

Maqi

If I find time next week, I will try and update the stats. Could very well be next month since the datamining is daunting.

Peddy Frost

if u need some help for this just let me know.
greetz