Ranks in the Dissension

I've been playing Wizards Of The Coast's collectible card game Magic: The Gathering since December, 1993. Somewhere along the line, WOTC began releasing what they call pre-constructed decks with each new expansion set. These self-contained decks focus on one or two of the five colours of magic, demonstrate the concepts introduced in the set and allow the player to discover some of the card interactions. They're also very evenly matched, which is I why I buy every batch (of three-five) and use them in round-robin tournaments with mates. Well, I used to do that, only with people moving, marrying and making babies, it became too hard to organise the get-togethers. Nowadays, I purchase the pre-cons then play them against myself. Sad as that may sound, it's quite fun - when switching between the two hands, I actually move to the other side of the table, sit down and try to put myself in the position of someone who doesn't know what cards his opponent is holding. (In rare situations where it's impossible for me to be objective when making a decision, I toss a coin.)

Over the past few days, I've been putting the Dissension pre-constructeds through their paces. Rakdos Bloodsport is a black/red deck that utilises the new concept of "Hellbent" - spells that grow in power when the player has no cards in hand. It relies on beating the opponent down quickly. Azorius Ascendant is a blue/white deck utilising "Forecast" - cards that can be temporarily revealed from your hand to give some minor effect (for a small cost, during your upkeep). It plays for the long game, with strong defence and card-drawing combos. Simic Mutology is a blue/green deck utilising "Graft" - creatures with +1/+1 counters that can be moved between each other to provide additional abilites as well as a power/toughness boost. It can function as a beatdown deck or a long-game fortress.

The results of my (best of five) round-robin were as follows:
1st - Azorius Ascendant (2 match wins, 6 game wins)
2nd - Rakdos Bloodsport (1 match win, 5 game wins)
3rd - Simic Mutology (0 match wins, 4 game wins)

Note: None of the victories were due to the loser being "mana screwed". My solo tourney rule is that an opening hand must contain a minimum of two lands, with there being at least one more to come in the next three cards. Otherwise, I redeal (without reducing the hand size as you would in a real match-up). Ditto if all the mana is of one type and the majority of the spells are of another.