Last weekend brought us Grand Prix San Diego and Star City Games: Washington which featured Legacy as the main event, with some Standard and Modern on the side. Let’s take a look at the results.

Grand Prix San Diego

Format – Standard

Decklists

Magic Origins innovations are abound again! First place this time went to UR Tutelage, a deck based around the uncommon [card]Sphinx’s Tutelage[/card] and the overwhelming mill that the enchantment can generate once the deck’s engine get’s going. The deck only played four creatures in the form of [card]Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy[/card] because at it’s heart it is a control deck similar to the Bant Tutelage fog deck that was featured on camera a few weeks back when Origins first hit the tournament scene. This deck seems to be the refined version, which plays strictly blue and red in order to maximize on removal while being able to continue drawing cards with [card]Tormenting Voice[/card] and [card]Magmatic Insight[/card]. The deck also featured [card]Whelming Wave[/card] and [card]Send to Sleep[/card], along with a single copy of [card]Alhammarret’s Archive[/card] to keep the the card draw engine going. In the sideboard, Fiery Impulse seems good as a pseudo-[card]Lightning Bolt[/card] that can take care of pesky fast creatures if you’re playing against decks like Mono-Red Burn. All in all, I’m sure this deck is pretty miserable to play against but sure seems fun to pilot!

Second place went to Abzan Constellation, an archetype that gets one final [card]Swan Song[/card] before it leaves Standard forever in the fall. [card]Herald of the Pantheon[/card] and [card]Starfield of Nyx[/card] have really pushed this deck’s power up a ton until the fall rotation. Again, we see cards like [card]Eidolon of Blossoms[/card] coming back in order to get the most out of all the enchantments that you need to run along with [card]Doomwake Giant[/card] for board control. This deck seems like great fun to pilot, even though we’re only getting most of the pieces for a few months.

Rounding out the Top 8 were Abzan Midrange, Esper Dragons, Abzan Aggro, Black-Red Dragons, GW Megamorph, and Jeskai Tempo. Key cards from Origins that we’re seeing in these archetypes are:

• [card]Nissa, Vastwood Seer[/card] and [card]Languish[/card] in Abzan Midrange
• [card]Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy[/card] in Esper Dragons
• [card]Hangarback Walker[/card] in Black-Red Dragons
• [card]Nissa, Vastwood Seer[/card] in GW Megamorph (along with four [card]Hangarback Walker[/card] and two [card]Evolutionary Leap[/card] in the sideboard)
• [card]Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy[/card] in Jeskai Tempo (which has also made [card]Ojutai’s Command[/card] see more play these days due to the card advantage it offers with Jace and other creatures in the deck)

All in all, I’m really liking the direction that Standard is going! There are both old and new decks aplenty out there, and players have a wide variety of options that they can choose from when deciding which Standard deck they might select for an event. I’m sure that the “top dogs” will make themselves known over the course of the next few months however for now it seems that the possibilities for Standard are endless.

Star City Games Open: Legacy (Washington)

Decklists

Legacy is still going strong, with SCG still supporting the format with large Legacy opens (even though now they aren’t happening nearly as frequently as before Modern was introduced and hyped up as a format).

Omni-Tell took down the Legacy Open piloted by Josh Pelrine. This deck has continuously been making waves in the format over the past several months, since the combination of [card]Show and Tell[/card] into [card]Omniscience[/card] is unbeatable if allowed to resolve. [card]Dig Through Time[/card] is still seeing extensive play in Legacy in both combo and control decks, so I would continue to expect to see the card since it is super powerful in formats where the graveyard is continuously filled up throughout the game. Also, [card]Cunning Wish[/card] continues to see play in this deck in order to quickly grab any instant from the toolbox sideboard in order to deal with threats both on (and off) the board.

Second went to Jeskai Stoneblade, a prominent deck in the format that has many proven top finishes since the deck is able to control the game so well through both [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card] and [card]Jace, the Mind Sculptor[/card]. Again, we see [card]Dig Through Time[/card] since it such a powerful card selection spell along with Lingering Souls to create flyers for both an offensive and defensive strategy (depending on the matchup).

Rounding out the Top 8 were Grixis Delver, Temur Delver, Storm, Reanimator, Lands, and Death and Taxes. [card]Vryn Wingmare[/card] is now a solid playset in the Legacy Death and Taxes deck, which shows just how good a flying Thalia can be along with all the other tax effects in the archetype. Take note, and realize that Death and Taxes has yet another great card to add to their arsenal!

Rounding out the Top 16 were UWR Miracles, Shardless Sultai, Jeskai Stoneblade, Grixis Control, Death and Taxes, two Infext, and Grixis Delver. [card]Monastery Mentor[/card] is still appearing in sideboards and main decks throughout the Top 16, so that bodes well for its continued use in eternal formats. [card]Baleful Strix[/card] is still used quite a bit among decks, since it provides a nice way to draw cards and stop bigger creatures from attacking. [card]True-Name Nemesis[/card] is still seeing a small amount of play amongst decks but it isn’t being used nearly as much as when [card]Treasure Cruise[/card] was still legal in the format.

Star City Games Premier IQ: Standard (Washington)

Decklists

Looks like [card]Hangarback Walker[/card] has even made its way into Bant Heroic, since it can provide additional bodies to use all of the enchantments and pump spells on if the main creature dies. Certainly a great innovation by Todd Anderson to enable him to win the Standard IQ. UR Thopters took second place, on the back of the Pro Tour where the deck was prominently featured. Many new cards were seen in this deck – [card]Chief of the Foundry[/card], [card]Hangarback Walker[/card], [card]Whirler Rogue[/card], [card]Ghostfire Blade[/card], [card]Ensoul Artifact[/card], [card]Shrapnel Blast[/card], and even four [card]Stubborn Denial[/card] main deck.

Rounding out the Top 8 were two Mono-Red Aggro, Abzan Delve, Abzan Aggro, Abzan Constellation, Abzan Rally. So, lots of Abzan decks that all are slightly different from each other! Mono-Red is doing quite well these days, since the introduction of [card]Abbot of Keral Keep[/card] and [card]Exquisite Firecraft[/card] have been introduced in Magic Origins. However, Abzan Delve is something new. This deck features multiple copies of cards like [card]Hooting Mandrills[/card] and [card]Gurmag Angler[/card] to take advantage of other cards played like [card]Satyr Wayfinder[/card], [card]Gather the Pack[/card], and [card]Commune with the Gods[/card]. Definitely an interesting take on the Abzan archetype, which proved to do quite well that weekend in a field full of crazy new brews. Abzan Midrange has adapted [card]Hangarback Walker[/card] into the build, which is unsurprising given how versatile the Walker can be, along with [card]Tragic Arrogance[/card] as a way to control the board after dropping a [card]Siege Rhino[/card] or some other such threat. Abzan Rally, yet another take on the archetype, is similarly pretty crazy – the deck operates completely differently from other Abzan strategies due to the fact that you want value creatures like [card]Shaman of the Pack[/card] in order to generate value from [card]Collected Company[/card] and [card]Rally the Ancestors[/card]. I think that this is a deck that could possibly survive through rotation, as long as a decent replacement for [card]Satyr Wayfinder[/card] is included for Battle for Zendikar.

Star City Games Premier IQ: Modern (Washington)

Decklists

Finally, Jonathan Anghelescu took down the Modern portion piloting Naya Zoo, which is still using Collected Company in order to generate card advantage from cheap creatures off the top of the deck. Rounding out the rest of the Top 8 were two Jund, Goryo’s Vengenace, Grixis Delver, G/W Auras, Affinity,  and something called W/B Hate Bears.

W/B Hate Bears is definitely a misnomer – the only strictly “black” card in the deck was two copies of [card]Orzhov Pontiff[/card], a B/W card that used to be played heavily in the old [card]Birthing Pod[/card] decks of yore but was selected for this deck because of his great ability to kill cards like [card]Delver of Secrets[/card] and [card]Young Pyromancer[/card]. Also, [card]Lingering Souls[/card] was in here for value. Other than this, it was basically a Modern version of Death and Taxes, playing cards like [card]Serra Avenger[/card], Thalia, [card]Aven Mindcensor[/card], [card]Brimaz, King of Oreskos[/card], and [card]Aether Vial[/card]. Definitely an interesting take on Hate Bears, since the usual builds splash green for cards like [card]Collected Company[/card] and [card]Voice of Resurgence[/card].

The rest of the Top 16 included Grixis Twin, three Affinity, Goryo’s Vengeance, Jund, Mono-White Aggro, and Dredgevine.

Mono-White Aggro is the most unique Modern deck I’ve ever seen. Literally every single card in the deck is a one-drop – check out the list to see for yourself how John Gniadek had playsets of everything from [card]Boros Elite[/card], to [card]Figure of Destiny[/card], to [card]Champion of the Parish[/card]. The deck seems to be built around the newly released [card]Kytheon, Hero of Akros[/card] from Magic Origins since the planeswalker is transformed when you attack with three or more creatures, which this deck aims to always complete by turn three. What a totally crazy brew, and one I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of (as long as [card]Chalice of the Void[/card] stays out of Modern sideboards!!).

Dredgevine is another deck we haven’t seen place in some time. This deck uses the power of [card]Golgari Grave-Troll[/card] and other Dredge enablers in order to make use of “free” casts from the graveyard like [card]Bloodghast[/card] and [card]Vengevine[/card]. Also, cards like [card]Grisly Salvage[/card] and [card]Faithless Looting[/card] keep the engine going. Even [card]Satyr Wayfinder[/card] made it into the deck! Looks like Modern is still a viable place for graveyard strategies to do well since [card]Gurmag Angler[/card] and other Delve cards of its ilk continue to be major threats in the format.

That’s all for this week, keep checking back for more weekend Magic updates. As always, thanks for reading.

Topics include: Origins draft, the Commander 2015 and fetches announcements, GPNYC location rumors,

GOP conspiracy-crafting, cable bundling, the Enumclaw horse sex case, an obscure baseball statistic,

the Pinkertons and serial killers.

** This cast is for mature listeners **

Your Hosts:

Jason Alt — @JasonEAlt

Slick Jagger — @slickJagger

JR — @time_elemental

So this is my first article.  None of you readers will know me from anything I’ve done previously.  I’m not a top level professional magic player, not a known deck designer or content producer.  None of you have even seen my Magic Online username posted on Daily Event results (mostly because I’m broke and choose to spend my tickets building decks rather than competing).  I don’t play competitive magic.  That said, I do follow everything that happens in the Magic community.  I watch every video posted, read nearly every article on every content site, listen to the podcasts, watch every tournament.  I analyze metagames and I look for unique synergies that may or may not be powerful enough to make tier-1 decks.  Why should you bother reading my content?  Because I believe there are many of you out there that are true brewers and have had that moment where you think you’ve found IT.  The new deck.  The overlooked cards.  The hole in the metagame.  It feels great doesn’t it?  I had that feeling last week, two days before Pro Tour Magic Origins began. I found what I believe to be a tier-1 competitive deck.

I’m writing this on the heels of an incredible Pro Tour weekend.  Magic Origins blew the Standard metagame wide open with new archetypes (blue-red [card]Ensoul Artifact[/card]) and raised the power of others (red aggro) to be, at least in the minds of the players at the event, competitive.  Before the tournament started, I spent weeks building and testing decks, hoping to stumble onto something unique and competitive for the new Standard format. Even though I don’t play at a high level, I personally challenged myself to find at least one or two of the top decks that would show up in Vancouver.  I also thought, or fantasized, about what strategy I would gravitate towards if I were in the position of any of the players in the event.  In hindsight, I believe I chose the right one: a monocolored aggressive deck.  They never seem to be a bad choice in a new format.  They’re consistent, proactive, and force your opponent to disrupt your game plan.  As Marshall Sutcliffe would say, they ask questions that require answers.  If I had that coveted opportunity to play in such an arena, my color of choice would’ve been white.  The list I feel is most powerful and best-equipped for Standard right now is a far cry from what I envisioned when I started to brew.  Let’s take a look:

[deck title= Monowhite Token Aggro]
[Creatures]
*3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros // Gideon, Battle-Forged
*4 Consul’s Lieutenant
*4 Hangarback Walker
*3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
*4 Archangel of Tithes
*2 Wingmate Roc
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
*4 Raise the Alarm
*2 Valorous Stance
*2 Devouring Light
*2 Secure the Wastes
*2 Banishing Light
*1 Spear of Heliod
*2 Dictate of Heliod
*2 Ajani Steadfast
[/Spells]
[Land]
*4 Temple of Plenty
*1 Temple of Enlightenment
*3 Foundry of the Consuls
*15 Plains
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
*3 Tragic Arrogance
*3 Hallowed Moonlight
*2 Hushwing Gryff
*2 Vryn Wingmare
*1 Glare of Heresy
*4 Surge of Righteousness
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

I think this is THE best balance of resilience and aggression for a monowhite deck in Standard.  This is not a blitz aggro style of deck (though you can goldfish a turn 4 kill), as it can slow down and have controlling elements, create cluttered board states that allow its flying threats to shine, and overall has a lot of play to it.  Even though this deck can be soft to Languish, white weenie decks have been competitive in formats with four mana [card]Wrath of God[/card] effects before.  I want to go over each card and its role in the deck.

[card]Kytheon, Hero of Akros // Gideon, Battle-Forged[/card] Allows the curve to start at one for early damage and really shines in the midgame to force bad attacks once his spark has been ignited (which has great synergy with [card]Devouring Light[/card]). Getting familiar with this deck is important to find the balance of when to force him to flip, when to hold back, and when to allow him to trade/die to removal. He costs 1 cmc and if he trades for a [card]Hero’s Downfall[/card] in the midgame, that’s a huge tempo/mana advantage. If he gets hit with a [card]Wild Slash[/card] that would otherwise be aimed at a turn two [card]Consul’s Lieutenant[/card] (which is a more integral part of our anthem + token game plan), he died well. When flipped to Gideon, he synergizes incredibly well with [card]Tragic Arrogance[/card] in the board.

[card]Consul’s Lieutenant[/card]: I absolutely believe this card is a better fit than [card]Knight of the White Orchid[/card]. This deck’s ability to attack both vertically (building a singular threat) and horizontally (attacking with a ton of small creatures) gives it a lot of play. Once renowned, this 2-drop combos really well with [card]Brimaz, King of Oreskos[/card] (remember to stack the triggers so the token gets +1/+1) and with anthems, [card]Consul’s Lieutenant[/card] can attack into many creatures in the format.

[card]Hangarback Walker[/card]: Versatile, resilient, and has tremendous synergy with this game plan. When it dies you get additional flying tokens that get better with the anthem effects in the deck.  Having access to twelve 2-drop creatures really helps make this deck consistent. [card]Consul’s Lieutenant[/card] is the best on turn 2,  followed by [card]Raise the Alarm[/card] , followed by [card]Hangarback Walker[/card](generally).  Two other big reasons to play Hangarback Walker are having Tragic Arrogance (select Hangarback as the artifact OR creature to keep or let it die to create tokens) in the sideboard and [card]Ugin, the Spirit Dragon[/card]. This deck can be disrupted by control and having a threat that cannot be swept away by Ugin is HUGE.

[card]Raise the Alarm[/card]: The bread and butter of the deck. Gideon enabler, great with anthems, plays at instant speed for tempo, and very important against the red decks that showed up at Pro Tour Magic Origins.

[card]Brimaz, King of Oreskos[/card]: Powerhouse, best white 3-drop in Standard, perfect for this deck.

[card]Archangel of Tithes[/card]: Her power level seems to vary greatly.  Her synergy with [card]Ajani Steadfast[/card] and [card]Gideon, Battle-Forged[/card] is powerful and she can completely change the tempo of any game where creature combat is relevant.  She also survives [card]Languish[/card], [card]Stoke the Flames[/card], and [card]Exquisite Firecraft[/card], while also dodging [card]Roast[/card].  When combined with any of the anthem effects in the list, she can become a reasonable clock as well.  If the monored decks that we saw at the Pro Tour become a large part of the meta moving forward, [card]Archangel of Tithes[/card] really does work against that deck.  Dashing requires an additional colorless mana when attacking into [card]Archangel of Tithes[/card], attacking with multiple creatures a turn limits their ability to cast their burn spells for the turn (taking away their ability to abuse the Prowess mechanic), and it allows the deck to quickly turn the corner, making blocking all of your token producers impossible.  The last attribute may seem like a “win more” scenario, but when the life totals are very tight and every draw step gives them a chance to throw 4 damage to your face, the game needs to end VERY quickly.  It’s a powerhouse in the match-up and only gets better in multiples when staring down multiple [card]Lightning Berserker[/card] and [card]Monastery Swiftspear[/card].

[card]Ajani Steadfast[/card]: I really didn’t want issues with the legend rule outside of [card]Brimaz, King of Oreskos[/card]. I really like having two [card]Ajani Steadfast[/card] and one [card]Spear of Heliod[/card] for that reason (since Spear of Heliod is less likely to be the target of removal and is not as fragile as a planeswalker).  [card]Ajani Steadfast[/card]plays really well both when the deck’s draw is moving towards playing vertically (powering up the single threat) or horizontally (spreading the +1/+1 counter love, a bonus synergy with [card]Hangarback Walker[/card]). After the popularity and performance that monored decks displayed in Vancouver this weekend, having a source of life gain and vigilance seems very important in making that match-up favorable.  Also, [card]Ajani Steadfast[/card] is a planeswalker to, which helps create a vast disparity in nonland permanents after casting [card]Tragic Arrogance[/card] out of the board.

[card]Wingmate Roc[/card]:  I have wavered between [card]Wingmate Roc[/card] in this slot and, surprisingly, [card]Triplicate Spirits[/card].  Both options synergize with anthems and allow the deck to move its offensive strategy to the air in the midgame.  I realize that to most people, the idea of playing [card]Triplicate Spirits[/card] in constructed is a joke, but it enables turn five kills that no other card can when coupled with [card]Dictate of Heliod[/card].  At the moment, I’ve been leaning towards [card]Wingmate Roc[/card] but don’t sell [card]Triplicate Spirits[/card] short.  It is a viable, competitive option in the deck.  That said, these two slots should be occupied by a flying threat.

[card]Dictate of Heliod[/card]:  Incredibly powerful at instant speed and is what really raises the power level of the deck.  A [card]Consul’s Lieutenant[/card] coupled with [card]Dictate of Heliod[/card] makes it trivial to dish out 12-18 points of damage a turn when curving out.  If an opponent taps out at the wrong time or is short on a removal spell, your flying threats can do tons of damage each turn.

[card]Spear of Heliod[/card]: The deck likes anthems, and this is the cheapest. Being both an artifact and enchantment allows it to play really well with [card]Tragic Arrogance[/card] in the sideboard. It also dissuades free attacks if they are not lethal. This deck topdecks well and is not an all-in aggressive strategy, allowing its activated ability to shine. Anthems and strong fliers can allow this deck to come back from behind or break parity.

[card]Secure the Wastes[/card]:  Versatile curve filler, great topdeck lategame, sometimes it’s a three mana [card]Raise the Alarm[/card].  Overall the card just slots in with everything the deck is trying to do and helps provide some flood insurance.

[card]Devouring Light[/card] + [card]Banishing Light[/card]:  The removal package for the deck.  [card]Devouring Light[/card] is conditional but incredibly powerful, especially in a deck that looks to flip Kytheon into Gideon.  It can affect the tempo of a game in a way that no other white removal spell can.  When coupled with [card]Raise the Alarm[/card] or [card]Secure the Wastes[/card], you can cast [card]Devouring Light[/card] in the same turn and take you from behind in a game to ahead, which is powerful in this Standard Format.  In fact, it can just feel broken.  Because [card]Devouring Light[/card] does have a high setup cost, [card]Banishing Light[/card] seems like its perfect counterpart.  Though [card]Banishing Light[/card] is slow and doesn’t always stick, it is a catch-all answer.  No conditions, it just removes whatever needs removing (including [card]Ugin, the Spirit Dragon[/card], [card]Thopter Spy Network[/card], [card]Elspeth, Sun’s Champion[/card], [card]Outpost Siege[/card], [card]Sphinx’s Tutelage[/card], [card]Sigil of the Empty Throne[/card], and [card]Ensoul Artifact[/card]).  In a format that has been greatyly influenced by the value generated by [card]Den Protector[/card] and now that we’re seeing the widespread adoption of [card]Hangarback Walker[/card], having removal spells that exile their targets is an added bonus.

[card]Valorous Stance[/card]:  Good role-player but not amazing.  Having a way to protect [card]Brimaz, King of Oreskos[/card] or [card]Archangel of Tithes[/card] is nice and it is also a conditional answer.  Though it is not my favorite card, it does earn its spot.  If [card]Languish[/card] and other -X/-X effects grow in popularity AND we continue to the decline of cards like [card]Polukranos, World Eater[/card], [card]Courser of Kruphix[/card], and [card]Siege Rhino[/card], then [card]Valorous Stance[/card] may just be too weak, opening up slots in the deck.

Lands:  [card]Foundry of the Consuls[/card] is just amazing with anthems and amazing in a deck that wants flood insurance. Forcing your opponent to [card]Languish[/card] your Foundry tokens feels real good. Five scry lands seems like the correct number after testing this list. You really want to set up your curve, even if it means going 2-drop, 2-drop, 4-drop turns two, three, four.  The deck also needs to hit land drops, depending on your hand, and also minimize the risk of  flooding out. It is RARE for a white deck to have access to this kind of deck manipulation and it is POWERFUL.  [card]Secure the Wastes[/card], [card]Foundry of the Consuls[/card], and [card]Hangarback Walker[/card] serve as ways to take advantage of excess mana and work together to increase the power level of the deck as a whole.

The sideboard should be changing with your metagame, but this is my choice following the Pro Tour, and it happens to be my favorite part of the deck.  The 75 cards were selected to take full advantage of [card]Tragic Arrogance[/card].  Many of the cards in the deck have multiple types or are capable of having multiple types.  Imagine playing against green-red devotion and staring down four mana dorks, [card]Courser of Kruphix[/card], [card]Polukranos, World Eater[/card] and a [card]Hornet Queen[/card] along with her worshippers.  You have a [card]Hangarback Walker[/card], a [card]Spear of Heliod[/card], a [card]Banishing Light[/card] pinning down a [card]Dragonlord Atarka[/card], and a [card]Brimaz, King of Oreskos[/card] in play.  Suffice it to say, you’re not favored in this scenario.  When you cast [card]Tragic Arrogance[/card], however, you can keep [card]Banishing Light[/card] (sorry Atarka) as your enchantment, [card]Spear of Heliod[/card] as your artifact, [card]Brimaz, King of Oreskos[/card] as your creature, AND you get to sacrifice your [card]Hangarback Walker[/card] to get your thopter tokens which get +1/+1 from your [card]Spear of Heliod[/card].  The other side of the board is left with. . . [card]Courser of Kruphix[/card]?  ONLY [card]Courser of Kruphix[/card].  The same goes for any and all Constellation deck variants.  These engine/ramp/total board domination decks are generally attrocious match-ups for a token/anthem deck.  [card]Tragic Arrogance[/card] obliterates these seemingly hopeless board states.  This deck is built to ensure that when you cast it, you have a vastly superior board state when the dust clears and can close out the game within a couple of turns.

Let’s talk about the other sideboard slots now:
[card]Hallowed Moonlight[/card]: two mana [card]Cryptic Command[/card] against [card]Collected Company[/card].  Against [card]Rally the Ancestors[/card], it’s a two mana [card]Cryptic Command[/card] with the upside of exiling all of those pesky creatures from your opponent’s graveyard. The Rally deck has to start from scratch.  This card can have other applications as well.  If your monored opponent is playing [card]Hordling Outburst[/card] or [card]Dragon Fodder[/card], this is a great two mana answer that also draws you a card.  It synergizes really well with [card]Raise the Alarm[/card], [card]Secure the Wastes[/card], and all of the other instant speed plays in the deck (just please don’t cast [card]Hallowed Moonlight[/card] to counter one of the aforementioned spells and then try to cast a token generator end of turn).  It is also powerful if you happen to see an odd Sidisi Whip deck, Jeskai tokens deck, or anyone playing [card]Hornet Queen[/card].

[card]Hushwing Gryff[/card]:  This card serves double duty in the sideboard.  First and foremost, it is amazing against [card]Rally the Ancestors[/card]  (stopping [card]Fleshbag Marauder[/card], [card]Mogis’s Marauders[/card], [card]Satyr Wayfinder[/card], and [card]Nissa, Vastwood Seer[/card] from triggering), Abzan Control (sorry [card]Siege Rhino[/card]), and any other deck abusing enter-the-battlefield effects.  The second job our hippogriff friend does is play at instant speed.  Often against a blue-black control deck, I will sideboard in the gryffs so I’m deploying threats on the opponent’s turn, setting up windows to resolve important spells (like a midgame, resilient [card]Hangarback Walker[/card]).  This is a great roleplayer and has more utility than first meets the eye.

[card]Vryn Wingmare[/card] Even though this deck does have a number of noncreature spells, slowing down a [card]Languish[/card] is incredibly important.  Imagine going turn two [card]Consul’s Lieutenant[/card], turn three [card]Raise the Alarm[/card], turn four [card]Vryn Wingmare[/card], turn five [card]Archangel of Tithes[/card] against a control deck.  Your opponent can [card]Languish[/card], removing a large part of your board, yet still facing down an archangel AND allowing you to untap without mana for countermagic.  This is the best strategy I’ve found for dealing with [card]Languish[/card].

[card]Surge of Righteousness[/card]:  Monored was all over the place at Pro Tour Magic Origins.  I think this deck is favored greatly in the match-up, so allocating four sideboard slots may be overkill. That said, I do think red will be a very common deck to see moving forward.  You could shave one, two, or all of these depending on your confidence in the match-up and the metagame you think you’ll see.
[card]Glare of Heresy[/card]:  Just an all-around good card to have access to.  It hits problematic permanents like [card]Sigil of the Empty Throne[/card], [card]Elspeth, Sun’s Champion[/card], [card]Jesai Ascendancy[/card], [card]Fleecemane Lion[/card], etc.  Having one in the board just broadens and strengthens the deck’s removal suite.

So that’s the deck.  I feel like it was strong going into the Pro Tour weekend and it feels strong coming out of it.  Is it a top tier deck?  Time will tell.  It certainly feels like it can compete.  If you have any questions or comments, I’d love to see them.  Next week I want to continue my testing of Kytheon.  We may look at potential splashes for this deck to deal with the changing standard format, or look at what Kytheon has to offer in the modern format.  If you’re interested in the list posted, play it, test it, and post the changes you’ve found to be powerful.  I’d like to start each week by taking a look back at the previous week’s deck, testing suggestions from readers, and updating the list to make it more powerful, more competitive. The perfect deck is rarely created by one person.  We hone them as a community.

Magic Origins continues to showcase some of the potential future directions that Standard could take. This weekend Star City Games heads to Richmond to seek out the direction of the new Standard. Let’s take a look at those results, as well as the Modern and Legacy side events that also were reported.

Star City Games Open: Standard (Richmond, USA)

Decklists

Ray Tautic took down the event with a new brew called Abzan Rally. This deck utilizes the power of [card]Rally the Ancestors[/card] in order to generate advantage from Enter the Battlefield effects at instant speed. The deck also utilizes four [card]Liliana, Heretical Healer[/card] which means that she could be a powerful force in the new Standard if a deck like this places well at the Pro Tour. The deck also utilizes [card]Fleshbag Marauder[/card], [card]Grim Haruspex[/card], [card]Merciless Executioner[/card], [card]Mogis’s Marauder[/card], and [card]Nantuko Husk[/card] as additional ways to generate advantage from Rally and also [card]Collected Company[/card].

Rounding out the Top 8 were two Bant Heroic, Abzan Control, Sultai Control, Mono-Red Aggro,G/R Ramp, and Abzan Constellation. [card]Nissa, Vastwood Seer[/card], [card]Languish[/card], [card]Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy[/card], [card]Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh[/card], [card]Exquisite Firecraft[/card], [card]Herald of the Pantheon[/card], and [card]Starfield of Nyx[/card] all saw play in the top tables. That is a tone of Origins cards that is shaking up Standard! I especially like that someone found a way to make [card]Starfield of Nyx[/card] work since it is definitely one of my favorite Origins cards because we haven’t seen anything like it since [card]Opalescence[/card] (without the confusion!). Even Chandra, rated the worst planeswalker by many players, seems to hold her own in Mono-Red since there are plenty of ways to quickly flip her for profit.

Rounding out the Top 16 were two Abzan Control, U/B Control, Jeskai Heroic, two Jeskai Aggro, G/R Devotion, and Mardu Dragons. [card]Hangarback Walker[/card], [card]Thopter Spy Network[/card], [card]Artificer’s Epiphany[/card], [card]Clash of Wills[/card], and [card]Harbinger of the Tides[/card] are additional Origins cards seen throughout the Top 16. There was also a hearty helping of [card]Ojutai’s Command[/card] being seen in many of the Jeskai decks, since it interacts so favorably with [card]Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy[/card] in addition to being a somewhat decent command. I think we’ve found a home for [card]Ojutai’s Command[/card], at least for the time being. Things continue to be shaken up in Standard, and I like the direction it is going! Wizards is certainly turning up the dial on the number of Standard playables in newly released sets and Magic Origins continues to surprise us as the weeks go on.

Star City Games Premier IQ: Modern (Richmond, USA)

Decklists

Mono-Blue Tron made the Top 8 of the Modern IQ. This deck differs from the R/G version by playing spells such as [card]Treasure Mage[/card] (with a package of [card]Platinum Angel[/card] and [card]Sundering Titan[/card]), [card]Condescend[/card], [card]Repeal[/card], [card]Chalice of the Void[/card], [card]Talisman of Dominance[/card], [card]Mana Leak[/card], [card]Mindslaver[/card], and [card]Thirst for Knowledge[/card] in order to control the game and eventually tutor for a win. The sideboard is also interesting since it includes cards such as [card]Ratchet Bomb[/card] and [card]Aetherspouts[/card].

Burn is the story of the Top 16, with four players making it in with one of the quickest decks in Modern. [card]Eidolon of the Great Revel[/card], [card]Goblin Guide[/card], [card]Boros Charm[/card], and of course [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] are all main staples of the deck along with tons of other direct damage to finish off the opponent as quickly as possible by taking advantage of all the fetches and shocklands in the format.

Star City Games Premier IQ: Legacy (Richmond, USA)

Decklists

[card]Monastery Mentor[/card] continues to make appearances in eternal formats, with two copies being seen in Reynolds Esper Control list. Lands also continues to be seen at the top tables, packing cards such as [card]Mox Diamond[/card], [card]Exploration[/card], [card]Gamble[/card], and [card]Thespian’s Stage[/card] / [card]Dark Depths[/card].

Even [card]Day’s Undoing[/card] is seeing play in Legacy, with one copy seen in Omni-Tell. Other interesting cards were [card]Thunderous Wrath[/card] in Grixis Delver and [card]Krenko, Mob Boss[/card] in Goblins.

That’s all for this week. Keep checking back for more weekend updates!

Grand Prix Lille was two weeks ago, and before I get to the story of how my own trip went, I want to talk about the Grand Prix itself, what performed well, and what that means for Legacy.

Looking at the top 8, we see two Miracles decks facing off against each other in the finals, with the eventual champion of the event, Claudio Bonanni, piloting a list with both Monastery Mentor and Daze, much like Kazuya Murakami’s list from his top 8 at GP Kyoto earlier this year.

Miracles by Claudio Bonanni, 1st place at GP Lille

Creatures

4 Monastery Mentor

2 Snapcaster Mage

Spells

4 Ponder

4 Brainstorm

4 Sensei’s Divining Top

4 Counterbalance

3 Daze

2 Pyroblast

1 Counterspell

4 Force of Will

3 Swords to Plowshares

3 Terminus

2 Dig Through Time

Lands

2 Arid Mesa

3 Scalding Tarn

4 Flooded Strand

4 Island

1 Plains

3 Volcanic Island

3 Tundra

Sideboard

1 Red Elemental Blast

1 Disenchant

1 Wear // Tear

1 Engineered Explosives

1 Surgical Extraction

1 Rest in Peace

1 Pyroclasm

2 Flusterstorm

2 Vendilion Clique

2 Ethersworn Canonist

1 Blood Moon

1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor 

Monastery Mentor allows the deck to take a proactive stance when needed, especially when it is backed up by Daze. Daze also gives you more ways to fight decks like Omnitell, and significantly increasing your chances of winning the counter war on the turn two Counterbalance in the mirror match. On the other hand, having these cards in your deck does have its drawbacks, such as making your opponent’s Terminus more live, or drawing a Daze on turn seventeen. Still, the upsides are very much real, especially so when you considering the surprise factor, and how much better a card like Daze gets when your opponents don’t expect you to have it.

Backing up a bit we see a top 8 that looks as follows.

• Miracles
• Miracles
• Infect
• Aggro Loam
• 4 Color Delver
• 4 Color Delver
• Lands
• Aggro Loam

Here we see that several archetypes managed to put multiple copies in the top 8. Miracles has been largely accepted as the default best deck for a while now, and it had no problems living up to its reputation this time. Interestingly enough though, both Four Color Delver and Aggro Loam, the breakout decks from Prague Eternal, saw two players finishing in the top 8, suggesting that they may more than just ‘good decks’, but actual contenders for the title of ‘the deck to beat’. For the time being, that honor remains with Miracles, but it is refreshing to see more archetypes doing so well.

Four Color Delver by Thomas Van Der Paelt

Main Deck

4 Delver of Secrets

4 Deathrite Shaman

4 Tarmogoyf

4 Ponder

4 Brainstorm

3 Spell Pierce

4 Daze

4 Force of Will

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Abrupt Decay

1 Red Elemental Blast

3 Dig Through Time

1 Sylvan Library

3 Wasteland

1 Scalding Tarn

4 Polluted Delta

4 Flooded Strand

2 Volcanic Island

2 Underground Sea

2 Tropical Island

Sideboard

1 Red Elemental Blast

1 Abrupt Decay

1 Grafdigger’s Cage

1 Nihil Spellbomb

2 Submerge

2 Golgari Charm

2 Flusterstorm

1 Vendilion Clique

1 Pithing Needle

1 Dread of Night

1 Ancient Grudge

1 Pyroblast

Four Color Delver by Petr Sochurek

Main Deck

4 Delver of Secrets

4 Deathrite Shaman

3 Tarmogoyf

1 Snapcaster Mage

 4 Ponder

4 Brainstorm

3 Spell Pierce

4 Daze

4 Force of Will

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Abrupt Decay

3 Dig Through Time

1 Sylvan Library

3 Wasteland

4 Flooded Strand

2 Polluted Delta

2 Misty Rainforest

2 Scalding Tarn

2 Tropical Island

2 Volcanic Island

2 Underground Sea

Sideboard

1 Sylvan Library

1 Wasteland

2 Nihil Spellbomb

3 Red Elemental Blast

2 Flusterstorm

2 Dismember

1 Golgari Charm

1 Forked Bolt

1 Vendilion Clique

1 Ancient Grudge

The two Four Color Delver lists from the top 8 of GP Lille share 58 out of 60 cards (not accounting for different fetchlands), and Pets Sochurek’s maindeck is identical to the one Tomás Már made the top 8 of Prague Eternal with.

Back then we had multiple versions of the deck. Here we see both players playing a more streamlined mana base. We see both players opting for Tarmogoyf over True-Name Nemesis, and Spell Pierce over Thoughtseize. It seems we are getting to a consensus for the what the stock list of Four Color Delver should look like.

Broadening our scope to the top 16 we see multiple copies of both Storm and Omnitell falling just short of top 8. I think this is in part due to more people finally having figured out how to combat Omnitell. Still, the two decks did account for nearly a third of the top 16, and they are definitely forces to be reckoned with. Notice how two out of three Storm players in the top 16 opted to go with the additional kill conditions and business spells, each packing two copies of Tendrils of Agony and a single Empty the Warrens, as well as the second Past in Flames. Enabling the natural combo more often seems like a most excellent idea when your opponents plan to fight you with countermagic, and I like this idea a lot.

There is more innovation to be found in this top 16, such as three copies of Sulfur Elemental out of Martin Vonasek’s Storm sideboard, and Lukas Blohon playing Monastery Mentor over Young Pyromancer in his Omnitell sideboard. Overall though, the top tables at Grand Prix Lille showcased a perfect example of beautiful deck construction; tweaking good decks to beat the opposition while not getting cute doing so.

Going forward I expect both Four Color Delver and Aggro Loam to be considered a force to be reckoned with. At this point they have been putting up consistent results over two larger tournaments. When you have a deck that is powerful, consistent and proactive, that is a recipe for success, and now we have two.

I’ll be interested to see how the metagame will adapt to these newcomers among tier 1 decks. The banned and restricted announcement brought no changes, so we won’t see that shaking up the meta game for at least a while. For now though, two new and powerful contenders have joined the scene, and the rest of the format in turn will have to adapt.

I am also very curious as to what the evolution of Miracles is going to look like. Carsten Kotter has been experimenting with a list completely foregoing Swords to Plowshares in the maindeck in favor of more countermagic and library manipulation to make you better positioned in the mirror, as well as against the combo decks. Claudio Bonnani’s list featured Daze and Monastery Mentor, whereas Olivier Ruel was on a more traditional list.

As for how my own tournament went, I ended up going 4-4, drop with Goblins. Despite my poor record however ö I still had a great time in Lille. I got to eat good food and socialize with my friends. I got to meet many other legacy players and talk to them about the format. I met with GoboLord, who has written the opening post on the Goblins thread and is one of the best and most dedicated Goblins players in the world today, and we had a long and informative discussion, sharing our thoughts about the deck with one another. I got to play some very memorable games, and if you want to know more in detail how my matches went, be sure to keep an eye out on the Goblins thread.

I was happy with how I played and I had a decent list. I can’t complain about my draws or my matchups, nor about the quality of my opponents’ draws, and still I only managed to put up a mediocre result. This has made me realize what I’ve been fighting to disprove for so long; if I want to consistently put up great results in Legacy, Goblins isn’t the way to go. I still love the deck and I’m still confident it can put up good results (hat’s off to Aston Ramsden’s 152:nd place finish), but it’s time for me to start working on something else. I will still keep playing Goblins at my local legacy weekly tournaments. The deck is my baby after all and I love working on the puzzle that is tuning it, but by the time GP Seattle comes around I will be playing something else. I’ve made my decision and accepted what I need to do. Now I have a lot of catching up to do. In the meantime, does anybody have a deck I can borrow on Magic: Online? I have to get to work on Legacy.

I recently spent four and a half days playing multiplayer Magic with my brother and two friends over a long weekend. This was the fourth annual event playing Magic from wake-up to pass-out. We rent a double suite and spend 16 hours a day playing nothing but multiplayer Magic. It gave me many chances to reflect on and apply my understanding of Love and Hate. In the previous article, we uncovered sources of multiplayer hate, and in this sequel, we will look at the other side of the coin. It is all about the Love.

Love

Again, I’ll restate the obvious. Humans are emotional creatures, even Spikes. If another player offers a carrot, it is hard to say no or not use that action in our future game calculations of who to target and attack. If you can woo another player into this scenario, you earn an advantage. It is often advantageous to cultivate alliances with gifts, and those who unduly cross those alliances reap negative rewards from both you and other players who view those actions as treacherous. I think a majority of multiplayer games use the Commander format, and that is what I have the most experience with, but most of the types of love can apply to other multiplayer variants like Planechase and Archenemy as well.

There are a number of actions that can generate love. I hope to explore a number of them in the paragraphs that follow. Remember that political tricks need to be used judiciously. Using too many or too often will tip your hat to the other players and they will start reacting differently than you might expect.

Commander Love

In multiplayer Magic there are few commanders that garner love and hate like [card]Zedruu, the Greathearted[/card]. Zedruu has the ability to [card]Donate[/card] permanents to your opponents. Sometimes those cards are negative, sometimes completely benign, and sometimes they are beneficial to the donatee. There is an EDH player out there who created a Zedruu deck with the explicit goal of garnering an alliance with at least one other player by casting and donating good equipment ([card]Sword of Fire and Ice[/card], anyone?) and then having the donatee sign a little contract signifying the terms of the deal. Ingenious. The Deck is called Zed’s Make ‘Em Dead Emporium, and it takes the idea of making alliances by doing good things for other players to the next level. I am not sure whether these contracts will be welcomed at your kitchen table or LGS, but verbal contracts are an integral part of most multiplayer Magic circles.

Combat Love

When you attack an opponent, that generates hate. When you provide reasoning not to attack an opponent, that can generate some love. “I am going to attack Jimmy, because I’ve decided that Pam is going to be my friend this game,” is a way to initiate some love between you and one of your opponents. Sure, Pam might just decide to attack you on her turn to put a prompt end to that alliance, but she might also attack the same opponent you attacked and give you a bestie high five. As with all of these political maneuvers, they can backfire, but why not give it a try? You can read opponents through multiple games to see which ones are most susceptible to these kinds of moves, and focus you energy where it is most effective. Try not to overuse it, though.

Problematic Permanent Removal Love

If an opponent casts a particularly problematic permanent for another opponent and you have the ability to take out that permanent, you can often garner some amount of love if you set it up before the action. “James, I can get rid of that [card]Propaganda[/card] for you. I can tell that you really want to attack Samantha.” If James bites, you can prevent James from attacking you and instead promote an attack against Samantha. Win-Win! This is especially potent if the permanent or effect is preventing a player from playing their game like a [card]Meekstone[/card] or [card]Bruna, Light of Alabaster[/card].

Lost the Last Game Love

You lost the last game, so milk it! If other players have a choice of attacks or targets, point out that you lost the last game. “Are you sure you want to attack me? I got smoked last game, remember?” Many players will take pity because they don’t like being the one who sits out after being killed first. Most people will avoid making you sit out first twice in a row.

You Killed the Other Guy Last Game Love

In multiplayer, there is a common event where it is your turn and the board state is in perfect alignment. If you attack Heather, John wins. If you attack John, Heather wins. You don’t have enough to kill both of them. If you don’t attack, you can clearly see that the next player will kill both you and the last opponent. You get to decide who wins, and it’s not going to be you. Which of your opponents will likely avoid killing you first next game if you allow them to win this game? Make your decision and swing, then ensure that the winner remembers at the opportune moment in a future game. “Remember when you won that game after I killed Heather?”

In the next article, we will explore the opposite of table hate, table love.

Welcome back for Brewing with Magic Origins!

This is the last “Core Set” we will be getting. Blocks will now be two sets and rotates twice a year starting with Battle for Zendikar, which will make things a lot more interesting for me as a brewer.

Today I have nine Standard and three Modern decks for you to battle with. For those of you reading one of “Brewing” articles for the first time, I will provide you with four “Sideboard Suggestions” as cards to start with for your sideboard and not a fully formed sideboards since I could not test the decks and get them out in time to make them relevant if I did. Let’s get to some decks…

Goblins

This is one of the decks on every ones mind, and will be a heavily played deck for a while regardless of whether it’s good or not. You may note the absence of [card]Goblin Glory Chaser[/card], that’s to make room for more creatures that get your [card]Goblin Piledriver[/card]s and [card]Goblin Rabblemaster[/card]s though more often. Without an early wrath effect or spot removal nearly every turn this deck can get out of control very quickly, and that will be the biggest draw for it.

[deck title= Goblins]
[Creatures]
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Frenzied Goblin
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Subterranean Scout
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Goblin Heelcutter
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Dragon Fodder
4 Lightning Strike
4 Hordeling Outburst
4 Stoke the Flames
[/Spells]
[Land]
20 Mountain
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Fiery Impulse[/card], [card]Magmatic Chasm[/card], [card]Obelisk of Urd[/card], and [card]Roast[/card].

Elves

Elves is the other deck that everyone has their eye on at the moment, just waiting to see how competitive it is. Many lists I have seen are trying to run a bunch of spot removal, when all the deck wants to do is overwhelm the opposition. I have worked in some removal of sorts with [card]Reclamation Sage[/card], [card]Eyeblight Assassin[/card], and [card]Gilt-Leaf Winnower[/card] as good one ofs to draw or [card]Chord of Calling[/card] for to clear a path. I would be surprised if this deck isn’t heavily played right out of the gates.

[deck title= Golgari Elves]
[Creatures]
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Gnarlroot Trapper
4 Dwynen’s Elite
4 Elvish Visionary
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Eyeblight Assassin
1 Yeva Forcemage
1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
4 Shaman of the Pack
4 Sylvan Messenger
2 Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen
1 Gilt-Leaf Winnower
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Collected Company
3 Chord of Calling
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Temple of Malady
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
8 Forest
4 Swamp
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Bow of Nylea[/card], [card]Eyeblight Massacre[/card], [card]Nylea’s Disciple[/card], and [card]Thoughtseize[/card].

Azorius Enchantments

This was one of the more interesting decks that I worked on, and I will likely test this out. If it does start to do well expect [card]Back to Nature[/card] to start popping up in every green decks sideboard. Other problems could be [card]Perilous Vault[/card] and [card]Ugin, the Spirit Dragon[/card]. This deck may even want to splash other colors in the near future to combat specific decks.

[deck title= Azorius Enchantments]
[Spells]
4 Myth Realized
4 Silkwrap
4 Suspension Field
4 Font of Fortunes
2 Font of Vigor
4 Monastery Siege
4 Banishing Light
2 Bident of Thassa
4 Starfield of Nyx
4 Sigil of the Empty Throne
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Flooded Strand
12 Plains
4 Island
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Celestial Flare[/card], [card]End Hostilities[/card], [card]Font of Vigor[/card], and [card]Negate[/card].

Burn

I’ve been working on Burn for a while now, and I can tell you I’m super excited for [card]Exquisite Firecraft[/card] and even more so for [card]Molten Vortex[/card]. I previously ran green to splash for [card]Atarka’s Command[/card] which did steal games from time to time, but would lose constantly to flood or four toughness guys which is easier to deal with in this build. I don’t expect to see as much of this deck early on since people are looking more at Goblins.

[deck title= Burn]
[Creatures]
2 Zurgo Bellstriker
4 Lightning Berserker
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Molten Vortex
4 Searing Blood
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
4 Exquisite Firecraft
4 Stoke the Flames
[/Spells]
[Land]
20 Mountain
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Arc Lightning[/card], [card]Outpost Siege[/card], [card]Roast[/card], and [card]Satyr Firedancer[/card].

White Weenie

White Weenie is a classic, and with [card]Kytheon, Hero of Akros[/card] and [card]Bonded Construct[/card] has endless one drops. This build doesn’t run any creatures that cost more than two, but they all allow a huge amount of utility along with the equipment package to try to push through any kind of late game. I don’t expect a lot of White Weenie, but won’t be surprised to see it doing well.

[deck title= White Weenie]
[Creatures]
3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4 Bonded Construct
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Dragon Hunter
4 Mardu Woe-Reaper
4 Relic Seer
3 Anafenza, Kin-Tre Spirit
3 Hidden Dragonslayer
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Gods Willing
3 Swift Reckoning
1 Sigil of Valor
1 Throwing Knife
1 Spear of Heliod
1 Hall of Triumph
1 Godsend
[/Spells]
[Land]
20 Plains
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Cleric of the Forward Order[/card], [card]Hallowed Moonlight[/card], [card]Hushwing Gryff[/card], and [card]Vyrn Wingmare[/card].

Mono Black Devotion

This is definitely a deck again, but fortunately without cards like [card]Pack Rat[/card] and [card]Underworld Connections[/card] providing an endless stream of threats and card advantage it will definitely be a lot less of a chore to play against. This deck is definitely competing with Abzan Aggro for the same spot in the metagame, but while being a slightly worse version of Abzan Aggro. That usually doesn’t stop people, so expect to see some Mono Black Devotion for a while.

[deck title= Mono Black Devotion]
[Creatures]
4 Despoiler of Souls
3 Liliana, Heretical Healer
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
4 Erebos’s Titan
4 Grey Merchant of Asphodel
1 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Thoughtseize
3 Bile Blight
4 Sign in Blood
4 Hero’s Downfall
2 Whip of Erebos
2 Murderous Cut
[/Spells]
[Land]
22 Swamp
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Drown in Sorrow[/card], [card]Duress[/card], [card]Self-Inflicted Wound[/card], and [card]Stain the Mind[/card].

Mono Blue Devotion

Mono Blue Devotion is sort of back. While not quite at the power level of it’s original iteration, it will still be a fairly good deck that can just power out wins. What it really needs are some better removal spells, but you have to work with what you have access to. One of the bigger issues will be [card]Dromoka’s Command[/card], which will be an absolute blowout almost every time. Some counterspells and [card]Monastery Siege[/card] out of the sideboard can help mitigate some of those weaknesses.

[deck title= Mono Blue Devotion]
[Creatures]
4 Faerie Miscreant
4 Hypnotic Siren
4 Harbinger of Tides
4 Frost Walker
4 Shorecrasher Elemental
4 Thassa, God of the Sea
4 Master of Waves
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Claustrophobia
2 Jace, the Living Guildpact
2 Bident of Thassa
3 Dig Through Time
[/Spells]
[Land]
2 Nykthos, Shrine to nyx
21 Island
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Dissolve[/card], [card]Encase in Ice[/card], [card]Monastery Siege[/card], and [card]Negate[/card].

Izzet Artifacts

This is likely the most fringe deck I’ve worked on in a while. While it is a possibility, it is a couple cards off from being good. Many of the new cards that were added from Magic Origins cost just one mana too much. Some people will play it, but I would be surprised to see it doing well.

[deck title= Izzet Artifacts]
[Creatures]
4 Ornithopter
4 Bonded Construct
4 Runed Servitor
4 Chief of the Foundry
3 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2 Reclusive Artificer
1 Hangarback Walker
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Ghostfire Blade
2 Military Intelligence
4 Shrapnel Blast
4 Ensoul Artifact
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Temple of Epiphany
4 Shivan Reef
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Mana Confluence
2 Island
2 Mountain
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Foundry of the Consuls[/card], [card]Negate[/card], [card]Phyrexian Revoker[/card], and [card]Tomb of the Spirit Dragon[/card].

Gruul Dragons

This deck gained a few very good cards, but they shouldn’t change it too much. One card that could be either really big or just a dud is [card]Ravaging Blaze[/card], though when it is good it will be amazing. Another interesting gain is [card]Avaricious Dragon[/card], which can bury your opponent under card advantage if it survives. [card]Nissa, Vastwood Seer[/card] isn’t super exciting, but hitting seven lands is fairly reasonable in this deck and a [card]Bordeland Ranger[/card] isn’t the worst in such a mana hungry deck.

[deck title= Gruul Dragons]
[Creatures]
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Rattleclaw Mystic
2 Den Protector
4 Deathmist Raptor
2 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
2 Avaricious Dragon
4 Thunderbreak Regent
4 Stormbreath Dragon
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Draconic Roar
2 Exquisite Firecraft
3 Ravaging Blaze
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
2 Mana Confluence
6 Forest
5 Mountain
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Barrage of Boulders[/card], [card]Gaea’s Revenge[/card], [card]Roast[/card], and [card]Xenagos, the Reveler[/card].

Atarka Burn

I’ve been running Atarka Burn since [card]Atarka’s Command[/card] came out, but haven’t had the chance to really talk about it. With the addition of [card]Molten Vortex[/card] one of the biggest issues I’ve been having gets fixed, as generally I’ve been losing to drawing eight to ten lands per game. By keeping the deck just red and green you don’t get to keep white sideboard cards like [card]Kor Firewalker[/card], but you don’t take nearly as much damage from your own lands. My cut to add the pair of [card]Molten Vortex[/card] was two [card]Flames of the Blood Hand[/card], which is one of the most frequent cards to get cut during sideboarding.

[deck title= Atarka Burn]
[Creatures]
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Molten Vortex
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lava Spike
4 Skullcrack
4 Searing Blaze
4 Atarka’s Command
4 Rift Bolt
2 Flames of the Blood Hand
[/Spells]
[Land]
3 Stomping Ground
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
8 Mountain
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Destructive Revelry[/card], [card]Dismember[/card], [card]Dragon’s Claw[/card], and [card]Grim Lavamancer[/card].

Goblins

Getting [card]Goblin Piledriver[/card] is a huge win for the Goblins archetype in Modern, as one of the biggest things that was missing was a great two drop. The addition of black for sideboard cards adds a lot of options like [card]Warren Weirding[/card] against the Bogles deck or [card]Dismember[/card] against [card]Splinter Twin[/card] decks. Some of the more powerful goblins cost a little extra mana, so [card]Warren Instigator[/card] is there to drop them in for free like a less effective [card]Goblin Lackey[/card]. While it probably won’t be heavily played, goblins now have some power behind them.

[deck title= Goblins]
[Creatures]
4 Goblin Guide
3 Legion Loyalist
2 Goblin Bushwacker
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Warren Instigator
4 Mogg War-Marshall
4 Goblin Chieftain
1 Goblin King
2 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
1 Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician
1 Siege-Gang Commander
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Goblin Grenade
4 Lightning Bolt
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Auntie’s Hovel
2 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Cavern of Souls
8 Mountain
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Dismember[/card], [card]Earwig Squad[/card], [card]Thoughtseize[/card], and [card]Warren Weirding[/card].

Elves

Elves got a huge gain in Magic Origins, and I would be surprised if there aren’t more great elves in Battle for Zendikar. While it got a few different cards, the biggest is [card]Shaman of the Pack[/card] which can just straight up kill your opponent. The rest don’t really want to be more than one of’s since they’re just silver bullet cards. This probably won’t change the popularity of Elves much in Modern since it is already seeing a fair amount of play, but it does make it slightly better.

[deck title= Elves]
[Creatures]
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Heritage Druid
3 Llanowar Elves
1 Gnarlroot Trapper
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Elvish Visionary
1 Spellskite
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Reclamation Sage
4 Elvish Archdruid
2 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
2 Shaman of the Pack
1 Sylvan Messenger
1 Fauna Shaman
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Collected Company
4 Chord of Calling
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
3 Cavern of Souls
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Pendelhaven
9 Forest
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Beast Within[/card], [card]Dismember[/card], [card]Fracturing Gust[/card], and [card]Phyrexian Revoker[/card].

That’s all I have for now. I’ll see you again for Brewing With Battle for Zendikar. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below and I will do my best to answer them.

Thanks for reading,

Josh Milliken

@joshuamilliken on Twitter

Last weekend brought us Grand Prix: Singapore, Grand Prix: Buenos Aires, and the Star City Games Open: Baltimore. Singapore featured Modern as the format, while Buenos Aires and Baltimore gave us the usual dose of Standard action. Let’s take a look at the results.

Grand Prix: Singapore

Format – Modern

Decklists

Masaaki took down Singapore piloting Affinity, which he also had to beat in a mirror match finals. Key parts of the affinity deck include the usual suspects [card]Arcbound Ravager[/card], [card]Etched Champion[/card], [card]Steel Overseer[/card], and [card]Memnite[/card], however Masaaki opted to play two [card]Spellskite[/card]s in the main deck in order to help combat the onslaught of targeted removal and Splinter Twin lists that are running rampant in Modern. Definitely expect to see Affinity after these results!

Rouding out the Top 8 were two Jund, Abzan Midrange, Temur Twin, 4-Color Company, and Temur Delver.

Jund is also still a force to be reckoned with. Duke opted to play more planeswalkers main deck by including a full playset of [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card] and one [card]Chandra, Pyromaster[/card]. Kawasaki included cards like [card]Night of Souls Betrayal[/card] and [card]Damnation[/card] in the sideboard in order to better combat creature based strategies, which Jund is fairly good against already but can make themselves even more devastating games two and three by using those cards.

4-Color Company is reminiscent of the Birthing Pod lists of yore, featuring [card]Voice of Resurgence[/card], [card]Fauna Shaman[/card] (as a [card]Birthing Pod[/card] replacement), [card]Kitchen Finks[/card], and a scattering of one-of’s like [card]Restoration Angel[/card] and [card]Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker[/card] for grabbing with [card]Chord of Calling[/card] and [card]Collected Company[/card]. All in all, it’s a pretty interesting deck that plays similarly to the old Birthing Pod lists yet operates totally differently due to the addition of [card]Fauna Shaman[/card] to the deck.

[card]Sigarda, Host of Herons[/card] and [card]Abzan Charm[/card] are interesting additions to the Abzan strategy. By giving the deck more reach and versatility main deck, it allowed Wee to overcome some weaknesses that usually aren’t addressed until post-board against certain matchups.

Grand Prix: Buenos Aires (Argentina)

Format – Standard

Decklists

Pascal Maynard, not one to shy away from the limelight through events like the #GoyfGate incident, it appears that without crazy limited opportunities to make him stumble that he just goes ahead and wins the whole event. Nice!

Maynard was on Abzan Megamorph Control, the Standard brew that focuses on [card]Elspeth, Sun’s Champion[/card] along with [card]Den Protector[/card] and [card]Deathmist Raptor[/card] in order to keep the megamorphing continuing throughout the tournament. We’ve seen this type of build before – there hasn’t been much innovation for this particular GP with the deck.

R/G Devotion took second place, which isn’t surprising seeing as it has been dominating Standard tables for the past few weeks. De Jesus’ build included key cards [card]Xenagos, the Reveler[/card], [card]Whisperwood Elemental[/card], [card]Dragonlord Atarka[/card], and [card]Rattleclaw Mystic[/card]. [card]Genesis Hydra[/card] is also a nice mana sink when you generate massive amounts of mana off of [card]Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx[/card].

Rounding out the Top 8 were two Mardu Dragons, Esper Dragons, two Abzan Aggro, and Abzan Control.  Nothing new in the way of Standard here.

Mardu Dragons is going heavy on the [card]Soulfire Grand Master[/card]s these days and Ancelmo was even playing two [card]Hidden Dragonslayer[/card] and three [card]Hordeling Outburst[/card] main deck. Both Mardu strategies were a packing a full playset of [card]Crackling Doom[/card] and [card]Draconic Roar[/card].

Star City Games Open: Standard (Baltimore, MD, USA)

Decklists

Boswell took down the Standard portion of the SCG Open in Baltimore piloting Abzan Aggro. Key features of Boswell’s aggro version of Abzan are [card]Fleecemane Lion[/card], [card]Rakshasa Deathdealer[/card], [card]Siege Rhino[/card], [card]Warden of the First Tree[/card], [card]Anafenza, the Foremost[/card], [card]Brimaz, King of Oreskos[/card], and [card]Dromoka’s Command[/card].

Second place went to Chirst Andersen, piloting G/R Devotion. I’ve covered this deck already so we’ll move on the rest of the Top 8. These included Bant Megamorph, Jeskia Aggro, G/R Megamorph, Mono-Red Goblin, Mono-Red Devotion, and G/R Devotion.

Bant Megamorph features [card]Deathmist Raptor[/card] alongside [card]Fleecemane Lion[/card] and [card]Dragonlord Ojutai[/card]. [card]Disdainful Stroke[/card] is also included, and [card]Ajani Steadfast[/card] helps to create endgame. [card]Mastery of the Unseen[/card] is relegated to the sideboard to help more against control strategies.

Jeskai Aggro features [card]Goblin Rabblemaster[/card], [card]Mantis Rider[/card], [card]Soulfire Grand Master[/card], [card]Stratus Dancer[/card], and [card]Dragonlord Ojutai[/card] along with [card]Dig Through Time[/card], [card]Ojutai’s Command[/card], and gold old [card]Stoke the Flames[/card]. This makes me wonder if [card]Ojutai’s Command[/card] will be a real card in the fall, when it becomes a four ability blue command that is Standard legal and only costs four mana.

Speaking of which, the reveal of [card]Goblin Piledriver[/card] has got to have made Bobby Birmingham very happy. I mean, he just Top 8’ed an SCG Open playing Goblins in Standard without Piledriver! Imagine this deck’s burst once it becomes a factor. Already, [card]Foundry Street Denizen[/card], [card]Frenzied Goblin[/card], [card]Goblin Rabblemaster[/card], [card]Obelisk of Urd[/card], [card]Dragon Fodder[/card], and [card]Hordeling Outburst[/card] are an awesome start to the deck.

Also, Mono-Red Devotion is a deck we haven’t seen do well in a while. Here, we have [card]Dragon Whisperer[/card],, [card]Fanatic of Mogis[/card], [card]Flamewake Phoenix[/card], and [card]Eidolon of the Great Revel[/card] along with [card]Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx[/card] to generate absurd amounts of mana and [card]Crater’s Claws[/card] as a nice finisher for the deck.

Rounding out the Top 16 were Atarka Red, Abzan Megamorph, G/R Dragons, two Mardu Dragons, Mono-Black Aggro, Abzan Aggro, and Jeskai Aggro. Of these, Mono-Black Aggro differentiates itself from the rest of the pack. Key cards to this build include [card]Blood-Chin Rager[/card], [card]Bloodsoaked Champion[/card], [card]Mardu Shadowspear[/card], [card]Mardu Strike Leader[/card], [card]Mogis’s Marauder[/card], and [card]Pain Seer[/card]. [card]Sign in Blood[/card] also helps the deck keep drawing cards and playing more dudes. All in all, this is a solid aggro deck that has proven that it can do well at a large event.

Star City Games Premier IQ: Modern (Baltimore, MD, USA)

Decklists

Looking to Modern, we see that Naya Company has taken down the Modern IQ piloted by Steven Borakove. Key cards in this Collected Company build include [card]Knight of the Reliquary[/card], [card]Loxodon Smiter[/card], [card]Noble Hierarch[/card], and [card]Wild Nacatl[/card].

The runner up was Grixis Twin, which is a Modern standby at this point and has been covered extensively over the past few weeks. Rounding out the rest of the Top 8 included Jund, two Infect, R/W Burn, Grixis Delver, and U/R Twin. Nothing new or noteworthy to report from the rest of the Top 8.

In the Top 16, the only deck that stood out was Jeskai Twin, which really only splashed white for three [card]Path to Exile[/card] main deck and white sideboard options [card]Leyline of Sanctity[/card], [card]Rest in Peace[/card], [card]Celestial Purge[/card], [card]Wear / Tear[/card], and [card]Geist of Saint Traft[/card].

Star City Games Premier IQ: Legacy (Baltimore, MD, USA)

Decklists

At the Legacy IQ, Bob Marshall took down the event piloting Sultai Delver. The rest of the Top 8 included Death and Taxes, Dredge, 4-Color Delver, three Miracles, and Grixis Delver.

Death and Taxes was packing three main deck [card]Magus of the Moon[/card], which is pretty unexpected and I’m sure surprised plenty of people when it was dropped off an [card]Aether Vial[/card]. It also featured two [card]Imperial Recruiter[/card], which not only helped get [card]Magus of the Moon[/card] in opportune moments but can also fetch up any particular piece of hate that the D&T player needed at that time. Splashing red also allowed the deck to play three [card]Sudden Demise[/card] in the sideboard as a great removal option against non-white creature based strategies.

The Top 16 included two Lands, Miracles, Jeskai Stoneblade, Show and Tell, U/R Delver, Infect, and Temur Delver. Nothing new to report here.

That’s it for last weekend’s coverage! As always, thanks for reading.