Thanks very much to everyone for their advice on this topic and their congratulations for the victory! It was great to have a sounding board about the evolution of the format before heading to GenCon. You guys helped convince me to play my favorite strategy, consider which countermeasures to load my book up with, and to avoid the pitfall of playing a pit strategy.Arcane Wonders said they were going to put out a full report with the top 8 booklists, lots of pictures, and some metagame analysis of decks. I also plan to write a tournament report which I will probably complete sometime this week. Without going too deep into it at the moment, I'll give a brief sketch of my plan:T1: Lair (aggressive move to NC and cast in FC, defensive cast in start corner)T2: Deploy Falcon (pet), QC Falcon, punch if possibleT3: Deploy Falcon, QC Falcon, punch if possibleIt's really important to get a critical mass of birds on the table fast so that the opponent is pressured to spend time armoring up or countermeasures like archers or flying creatures can be killed before taking (much) action. From there I mostly tried to use cards like Dispel/Dissolve/Acid Ball as countermeasures to defensive measures my opponent might take. Acid Ball vs. armor stacks or to soften armor on conjurations, Dissolve vs. cloaks, bows/whips, and sometimes chest pieces, Dispel vs. damage barriers, etc. Etherian Lifetree and Healing Spring both played a big role in keeping falcons alive vs. some threats (the tree is amazing vs. Ring of Fire) while Rajan's Fury provided extra firepower when a critical mass of Falcons were achieved. My opponents at the tournement:Swiss:Arraxian Crown Warlock (4-0)Anvil Throne Warlord (0-4)Water Wizard (4-0)Arraxian Crown Warlock (3-1)Top 8:Forcemaster (4-0)Air Wizard (4-0)Fire Wizard (3-1) - Charmyna Blasting Banker bookMore to come later, but for now I should probably go back to sleep!
