Let's go historical on the Master's division....small teams have always done the best from this area.
Team Furry Kitten Snuggle (Tyler/Kendle/Chad/Scott)
Even Lafonte, at its core, is a subgroup of smaller groups.
The elite 4 appear to be just Ness and Chuck at this point, and at their height they were Ness, Chuck, Seena, Fulop and Moss
When lafonte was "hot" in 2005, there was a small subgroup "Team OMG" that won 1st and 3rd with a "Rogue" Nidoqueen deck.
The difference in the Masters, and the younger divisions, is frankly playskill.
The masters players, at the highest level all have approximately equal playskill and gamesmanship capabilities....not all use gamesmanship...but some do, and despite my and others best efforts to squelch it, it is still there.
For the Senior Division, the top and the bottom are separted by playskill. At that level, the decks are pretty consistant, and the top 16 in almost every age division is divided out from the rest of the group on sheer skill. From time to time a player will sneak in, or a player will get donked out...but the Senior Group is a skill based group, with a growing number of elite players.
In St. Louis, we have several players in the Senior Group who fall into that category, where if you do not see them in the top cut, you wonder what went wrong....Joe and Zak are the top of that group, with a bunch of players being right behind them, Mason, Jake B, Jared W, Brandon H. ,Peter F and a few others are quickly climbing...Those next group of players are what the team is designed to help. Pushing their decks, their playskill and their game knowledge up to where they can compete and succeed on a national stage. If Nationals were held today, I have NO DOUBT that Joe and Zak would be fine. They have both shown their skills on the biggest stages, and have MAJOR titles to show for it (and HUGE rankings)
The problem is that I have an urge to have everyone succeed. Heck, it might be better for Joe and Zak if the remaining players stayed a step behind them, and Zak won a few BRs and Joe won a few BRs...but the big picture here is WORLDS WILL BE DECIDED AT NATIONALS for the Senior Division. Noone is safe.
More to follow, I still have the Junor Division to deal with.
Vince