Magic is a game of numbers: sixty cards, 20 life, draw two cards, take 7 damage, and add three counters. There are even more numbers surrounding the game—facts and figures, prices and trivia, they are everywhere. In Affinity for Numbers, I uncover and highlight some of the more interesting numbers in Magic.

0 Removal Spells

Frank LePore finished eighth at Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch with an Eldrazi deck with zero removal in his main deck.

Other Eldrazi decks sported Ratchet Bomb and Dismember. Frank went with the stop-me-if-you-can-approach and not many did it would seem.

U/B Eldrazi ? Modern | Frank LePore, 8th Place, Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch

• Creatures (29)
• 1 World Breaker
• 4 Blight Herder
• 4 Drowner of Hope
• 4 Wasteland Strangler
• 4 Eldrazi Mimic
• 4 Matter Reshaper
• 4 Reality Smasher
• 4 Thought-Knot Seer

• Spells (6)
• 2 Scrabbling Claws
• 4 Relic of Progenitus

• Lands (25)
• 1 Island
• 1 Swamp
• 4 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Corrupted Crossroads
• 4 Eldrazi Temple
• 4 Ghost Quarter
• 3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 4 Eye of Ugin

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Ratchet Bomb
• 4 Spatial Contortion
• 2 Spellskite
• 3 Sun Droplet
• 2 Surgical Extraction
• 2 Warping Wail

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4 Blood Moon

Blue Moon looks to be well positioned to fight Eldrazi. Let me count the ways: a full play set of Blood Moon to ruin all of those fancy colorless lands, thirteen ways in the main deck to burn Eldrazi Mimic, eleven counters main deck, two copies of Spreading Seas in the sideboard. This is not to mention other brewing options in blue and red.

Blue Moon ? Modern | Jason Chung, 7?3 at Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch

• Creatures (7)
• 4 Snapcaster Mage
• 3 Pia and Kiran Nalaar

• Spells (31)
• 2 Cryptic Command
• 3 Burst Lightning
• 3 Electrolyze
• 3 Mana Leak
• 3 Remand
• 3 Spell Snare
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Serum Visions
• 4 Blood Moon
• 2 Batterskull

• Lands (22)
• 2 Mountain
• 8 Island
• 2 Steam Vents
• 2 Sulfur Falls
• 4 Misty Rainforest
• 4 Scalding Tarn

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Anger of the Gods
• 1 Batterskull
• 2 Dispel
• 1 Izzet Staticaster
• 2 Negate
• 2 Spellskite
• 2 Spreading Seas
• 2 Vandalblast
• 1 Vendilion Clique

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4 Spreading Seas

Speaking of Spreading Seas, there is a full play set in Kyle Boggemes's Jeskai list from the Pro Tour. He wielded the seas to great effect. Check out his tournament report here.

U/R/W Spreading Seas ? Modern | Kyle Boggemes

• Creatures (12)
• 3 Blade Splicer
• 4 Restoration Angel
• 4 Snapcaster Mage
• 1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar

• Spells (24)
• 1 Dispel
• 1 Spell Snare
• 2 Electrolyze
• 2 Lightning Helix
• 3 Path to Exile
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Mana Leak
• 3 Serum Visions
• 4 Spreading Seas

• Lands (24)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 3 Island
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 2 Hallowed Fountain
• 2 Steam Vents
• 2 Sulfur Falls
• 4 Celestial Colonnade
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Scalding Tarn

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Crumble to Dust
• 1 Detention Sphere
• 2 Dispel
• 1 Electrolyze
• 2 Geist of Saint Traft
• 1 Lightning Helix
• 1 Negate
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
• 4 Stony Silence

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7 Most-Traded Cards

Unsurprisingly, the Pro Tour has had a big effect on card trading. Out of the ten most traded cards in the last week, seven are Eldrazi. Eldrazi Mimic unsurprisingly tops the list. Reflector Mage and Stormchaser Mage help break up the run on Eldrazi.

8 Ancient Tombs

The success of the Eldrazi decks are due in large part to what amounts to eight copies of Ancient Tomb, with no life-loss.

Eldrazi Temple and Eye of Ugin are easy ramp cards to power out aggressively costed creatures.

$17 Spike

Simian Spirit Guide saw a one-day price spike of $17, before dropping. Death's Shadow saw a spike of $11. Both have come down, but not to their pre-tournament levels. The clear lesson here is that one should not buy cards during the Pro Tour.

22 Points

East West Bowl averaged 22 points across eight players at the Pro Tour, the best at the event. You could make a case for CFB/Face to Face being more successful, however, given they are less than a point behind with twice as many players. More cool stats and graphs here.

25 Heroic Encounters

Magic: The Gathering Puzzle Quest received its first major update this month, adding a quick battle system and twenty-five heroic encounters. The quick battle system allows you to pit your deck against those of other players in a pseudo-PVP match where the game AI controls your opponent's deck. Heroic encounters are akin to Hearthstone's Tavern Brawls, which play differently than the normal game and require some solving to win.

59% of Eldrazi Decks

Eldrazi decks dominated the Pro Tour. You know this. Here're more numbers to support just how dominant they were:

• 19 of the 32 Eldrazi decks at the Pro Tour finished with 6 or more match wins. That's 59% of those who played the archetype. Compare this to the 33% of Affinity players who did the same.
• 4 of the 6 decks with 9 match wins were Eldrazi decks.
• 10 of the Top 16 decks were Eldrazi.
• 6 of the Top 8 decks were Eldrazi.
• 3 of the final four were Eldrazi.
• Jiachen Tao won the event with U/R Eldrazi.

U/R Eldrazi ? Modern | Jiachen Tao, 1st Place, Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch

• Creatures (33)
• 2 Ruination Guide
• 3 Eldrazi Obligator
• 4 Eldrazi Mimic
• 4 Reality Smasher
• 4 Thought-Knot Seer
• 4 Drowner of Hope
• 4 Eldrazi Skyspawner
• 4 Endless One
• 4 Vile Aggregate

• Spells (3)
• 3 Dismember

• Lands (24)
• 2 Island
• 2 Steam Vents
• 3 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Eldrazi Temple
• 4 Scalding Tarn
• 4 Shivan Reef
• 1 Gemstone Caverns
• 4 Eye of Ugin

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Chalice of the Void
• 2 Gut Shot
• 3 Hurkyl's Recall
• 1 Ratchet Bomb
• 2 Relic of Progenitus
• 1 Spellskite
• 3 Stubborn Denial
• 1 Tomb of the Spirit Dragon

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∞ Life

Matthew Rogers went 9–1 in Modern with a Chord of Calling deck featuring the combo of Spike Feeder and Archangel of Thune. Give me all the life!

Chord Combo ? Modern | Matthew Rogers, Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch

• Creatures (26)
• 1 Orzhov Pontiff
• 1 Qasali Pridemage
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 2 Courser of Kruphix
• 3 Spike Feeder
• 4 Archangel of Thune
• 4 Birds of Paradise
• 4 Noble Hierarch
• 4 Wall of Roots
• 2 Spellskite

• Spells (11)
• 3 Path to Exile
• 4 Chord of Calling
• 4 Lingering Souls

• Lands (23)
• 1 Plains
• 1 Swamp
• 2 Forest
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Horizon Canopy
• 1 Marsh Flats
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Temple Garden
• 2 Razorverge Thicket
• 4 Gavony Township
• 4 Verdant Catacombs
• 4 Windswept Heath

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
• 1 Ethersworn Canonist
• 1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
• 3 Painful Truths
• 1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
• 3 Stony Silence
• 3 Thoughtseize
• 2 Worship

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Those’re all the numbers I have for you today. If you also have an affinity for numbers and have one you think I should share, let me know on Twitter @MrVigabool.