Meta Weekly 221 Champion Spotlight - Davide Magri

Interview with Davide Magri

How does it feel to win this Meta Weekly?

What do you think about this post-banlist format?

I mean, I guess this is just becoming my weekly TED Talk anyways so might as well explain the whole process. Basically, if you look at the box on its own, the first thing you're baited into is Qliphorts. Once you realize that the deck is competent but not necessarily meta-breaking, you start to look at the second thing the box throws at you, being Jinzo, and so on with Gravekeepers, Amazoness, etc. Then you read Loading... and go like "wait, this is crazy" and start messing around with it in already existing decks (Lunalight, Thunder Dragons, Ritual Beasts...), and then you see some Japenese Twitter users posting their winstreaks with Gandora. This process happened to me as well, and while at first I still somewhat ignored the lists (They were still really primitive), I couldn't gloss over a 30-card pile with a bunch of plus enablers and Loading... , so I had to try it out. Overall, I'd say the box is still somewhat competent by itself, even excluding Gandora (which is obviously the best part of it), and all I'm gonna add is that Loading... was printed at Rare for a reason.

Why did you go with Gandora?

I feel like decks like Gandora can really thrive on the "Day 1 Surprise Factor", which means I didn't face dedicated Side Deck answers to Gandora, and most people didn't really know what I was doing (at first I didn't know it myself either so uuh), which essentially meant that I had a lot of sacky games that I shouldn't really have had if people knew that this was a deck to prepare for. Now, don't be fooled by this deck ending up in a mirror in Finals, it's not a Tier 0 threat by any means. It actually feels fairly weak in Side Deck Format, as it can't fully utilize its tools when there are a LOT of cards that counter it directly or indirectly. Best-of-1 is another beast, and this might be one of the biggest gatekeeper decks out there, pushing out any deck that just straight up loses to their board being banished and pushing decks like Buster Blader in (as it basically has an auto-win matchup if played correctly). People need to start playing more interaction like Loading... and Loading... , because you really need to not get blown away, which means decks that didn't run these type of cards before might be forced onto them if Gandora becomes more prevalent. Overall, I expect it to do worse over time in Side Deck Format, but as I said, this deck is really scary in Best-of-1.

How did the day go for you? Any notable matchups?

The day went...amazing, I'd say, given I didn't drop a single game in the entire run. Although there is something to address, which is how I dodged every Phantom Knight player: While Gandora definitely has a shot at beating Phantom Knights, any 2+ interaction hands from them is really tough to break and requires a lot of set up to beat, while they have many chances to push for game themselves. Overall, it's beatable, but a deck with a searchable interruption will always put Gandora in a spot where its basic play doesn't immediately win the game. I'd say my most notable matchup was against Buster Blader in Top 16, which I was really scared of, but luckily my opponent bricked Game 1 and lost to a slip-up in Game 2 by leaving his Loading... on the board after using Loading... to fuse my Gandora away, which resulted in him losing to a Loading... attack. Everything else was just free (Besides the mirror, obviously)

Anything you'd like to say about your decklist?

I just yoinked this off of Twitter, nothing else to add.

I'd probably cut the Loading... for a Loading... , and I'd consider Loading... or even the Loading... package. I feel like the Main Deck was pretty much perfect (You could technically play 2 Loading... s instead of 2 Loading... s since it has 100 more ATK), at least as far as 30-card lists go. There are some lists running around with Loading... to help the mirror, but I haven't really looked into those yet. I guess we'll just see how the deck evolves with time.

Do you have anything else you'd like to say about your Tournament Experience?

Please, play tournaments. The meta is enjoyable, you won't regret it.

That's my only request to players. Everything else is up to organizers, and we just have to show them our support in order to have bigger tournaments back. I won't stop saying it, thanks to everyone still playing in tourneys or supporting them in any way, shape, or form, and thanks to people who are modding them, because they're needed too.

Lastly, do you have any shout-outs you'd like to make?

Usual shoutouts to APK, CH, the LT gang, mods, DLM yare yare Special shoutouts to Taaha, Skorp and Jpap who I was in VC with (and I guess Irving was also there too?), mainly for their moral support throughout the day. Luckily I wasn't falling asleep too much, so I didn't have to bother them to keep me awake.

Dave, if you're reading this, Flunder sucks

Praise the Sun(avalon)

Winning Decklist: