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GOAT Magic: Best Topdecks—Lightning Helix vs. Bonfire of the Damned


Magic is strange. Often, games come down to one player finding a way to get an incremental advantage over the opponent and slowly turn this advantage into a victory. Other times, winning or losing a game comes down to the luck of the draw and is determined by which card a player peels from the top of their deck. It is these games, when one player beats the odds with a timely topdeck, that are most memorable. For this episode of GOAT Magic, we'll be playing decks responsible for two of the greatest topdecks in Magic's history. 

First, Richard will be battling with a Ravnica-era Zoo deck, which gave us the "topdeck heard round the world" at Pro Tour Honolulu in 2006, where Craig Jones managed to rip a Lightning Helix off the top of his deck—almost making Randy Buehler (who was doing coverage) lose his mind and giving Jones the damage needed to close out the game on the turn before he would have died to his opponent's board. Across the table, Seth will be battling with a Return to Ravnica Block Constructed deck from Worlds 2012, where Brian Kibler and a mustachioed LSV from Team USA were about to sneak into the Top 8 when Tung-Yi Cheng ripped a Bonfire of the Damned from the top of his deck, stealing the victory for Chinese Taipei.

Which of these greatest-of-all-time topdecks is better? Can a Block Constructed deck really keep up with a Standard deck from a few years before? These are just some of the questions we'll explore on this week's GOAT Magic!

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Wrap-Up

Well, it looks like Bonfire of the Damned takes the crown in the battle of GOAT topdecks. Actually, the games weren't even close. Not only did we play the three on video, but we played two more afterwards, and the outcome was the same. Block Constructed Jund White absolutely dominates Ravnica Standard Zoo. Maybe this shouldn't be a surprise. While the Zoo deck has reach and some aggressive creatures, Thragtusk—especially combined with Restoration Angel—is pretty much game over against an aggressive deck, so all the Jund deck really needed to do was survive until Turn 4 or 5, and then it would win the game. 

The matchup was so lopsided that we gave Zoo another shot, this time upgrading to Modern Revolt Zoo, and while this certainly swung the matchup in favor of the Zoo deck, the Block Constructed deck was able to steal a win. As weird as it sounds, the matchup actually felt closer than the first one. 

Most importantly, our main match ended with a Bonfire of the Damned of the top of my deck, and while it wasn't quite the same without Kibler's shoulders slumping and LSV's mustache, it was still pretty sweet and certainly fitting to have our GOAT battle end with a topdeck.

Conclusion

Anyway, that's all for today. If you have any sweet ideas for future GOAT Magic episodes, make sure to let us know in the comments. As always, you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.



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