The early results are starting to roll in

Before I get going, thanks to savagedpuck and Ome for sending in the results for their Regionals. For anyone who doesn't check very often, you can use the UDE tournament locator to find Regionals tournaments near you. I checked it this morning and found there are already events scheduled all the way into August.

This weekend, we had 4 events not counting Sydney. There were Regionals in Colorado, San Diego, New York, and Alabama. I've got the results from all but the Alabama event. I've still only managed to get the winning decks from the previous weekend in St. Louis. By the schedule at UDE's site, it looks like there won't be waves of Regionals anymore, just constant events until Nationals. As a result, I'm planning on breaking down the numbers in a little different way than before. I'll keep a total tally, but I'll also break down the past 4 weeks, past 2 weeks, and the past weekend. This is really only the first week, but here are the numbers from this weekend.

Elendril-4
Sen'Zir-4
Grennan-3
Varanis-1
Graccus-1
Omedus-1

Worth noting is that in San Diego, three Sen'Zir decks made the top 8 but none made top 4, so that would have added some numbers there. We still haven't seen either Rogue (again not counting Sydney) Boris, or Moonshadow.

The first thing of note here is not one Dizdemona deck. Keep in mind this is only three events, but what was being touted as the best deck in the format by many is conspicuously absent from week 1's results. Sen'Zir seems to be pushing for Tier 1 status for the time being. Grennan and Elendril at the top are no surprise. We have our first new hero represented with Varanis Bitterstar.

The lack of Alliance control could be a good sign for any Graccus players out there. The fewer Medocs out there, the better the chances are for the Paladin. I've been tinkering with a Paladin build a little bit recently, but I'm still unsure of whether I want to try it or not. I thought the deck was very good before Regionals, but the amount of Alliance control decks coupled with Graccus' inability to handle Medoc lock made it a difficult choice. If the environment continues to shy away from Alliance control it will become much more Paladin-friendly, much to the dismay of many.

Karkas Deathhowl also seems to be moving up the chain of powerful allies. In an environment where everyone wants to play control, this tempo beast is like a Time Walk with a 2/3 as a bonus. Almost all of the tempo-based mid-range Horde decks are running this guy.

It would also seem that Elendril isn't dead yet. Many players were ready to write off Elendril. Too much hate they said. That's the thing about decks like Hunter rush. As soon as you forget about them, they jump right back to the forefront. Some of this can be attributed to the explosive power of the deck, and many players choosing to focus their hate on the Shaman and Warlock matchups probably helped as well. We'll see if the Hunters can maintain the lead.

Litori still hasn't arrived, and with the shift toward mid-range Horde decks with giant allies the outlook remains bleak for this much-hyped hero.

We've got 7 events on tap for this weekend: Lafayette, LA, Indianapolis, IN, Las Vegas, NV, Nashville, TN, Garden City, MI, Montreal, QB, and Greensboro, NC. If you attend any of these events or know the results, please pass them along to me here or you can email me blyonsmagic@yahoo.com.