Shedding light on "Shadowmoor"

Kudos to the Wallabies and Swans and kudos to me for finishing playtesting the five theme decks for "Magic: The Gathering - Shadowmoor". This set adds the mechanics "conspire" (tap two creatures of a matching colour to copy a spell with conspire), "persist" (critters possessing said ability return from the graveyard if they don't have any -1/-1 counters, but bringing them back adds one), "wither" (wither-ing monsters deal -1/-1 counters instead of damage) and, MOST POTENTIALLY GAME-CHANGINGLY, "untap" (abilities whose costs include untapping a creature. Oh, the synergies!). It took me 15-20 hours and much faffing with dice and glass bleads to conduct my round-robin "Shadowmoor" tourney, piloting each deck as objectively and skilfully as I could. The leaderboard below may seem to indicate a bias on my part towards beatdown. In fact, I'm a control player by nature, but "Turnabout" and "Aura Mastery" were just plain weaker. How it ended (m/g = matches/games):

1st - Overkill (G/R fast, beefy creatures; wither and direct damage) - 3m/8g
2nd - Mortal Coil (B/U evasive critters, persist, tricks with counters) - 2m/6g
3rd* - Army Of Entropy (B/R cross between Overkill and Mortal Coil) - 2m/5g
4th - Aura Mastery (U/W bolster your limited monsters, hamper theirs) - 2m/5g
5th - Turnabout (G/W token makers, power-ups, life gain. Too slow) - 1m/6g
*On countback


Listening: "Snakes & Arrows - Live" (2008) - Rush. Double CD recorded in Rotterdam and comprising 9/13 tracks from "S&A" plus 18 others. Some curious selections/juxtapositions; old songs made new and even more wonderful! "A gentle hand, a secret touch on the heart..."