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.

Grand Prix Lille is coming up and we’re doing our best to figure out the metagame in order to get an advantage. The hope is that by making accurate predictions we will be better able to construct our decks to beat what other people are bringing to the tournament. While metagames vary depending on your location, it’s clear that the two most popular decks are Miracles and Omnitell. Both decks play a lot of library manipulation and are highly consistent as a result. Omnitell in particular is centered around this advantage, with stock lists rocking a full sixteen cantrips alongside both Dig Through Time and Cunning Wish. Rounding out the ‘decks to beat’ section over at ‘The Source’ we have Team America, Blade Control, Grixis Control and Death & Taxes. This doesn’t necessarily mean that these are the decks that will see the most play at GP Lille (although I’m confident both Miracles and Omnitell will be highly represented). For this reason I’m more interested in looking at the recurring themes – the shared characteristics between these decks – than I am at targeting specific decks (with Miracles and Omnitell being the exceptions). This article is a list of cards that are well positioned in today’s metagame, similar to what Carsten Kotter has done in the past. Some of these cards are all around well positioned against the current metagame, whereas some are strong in specific strategies, where they solve a particular problem for the deck.

Relic of Progenitus

Looking at the top decks at the moment, they all utilize the graveyard to some extent. Dig Through Time has proven to be one of the strongest cards in Legacy, and BUG Delver and Shardless BUG still have Tarmogoyf. During the Treasure Cruise era a number of people experimented with graveyard hate to fight the powerful, new Ancestral Recall. I was never a fan of this as that would often require you to play slower cards, losing tempo to the very aggressive Viking Funeral deck. Dig Through Time however is a different animal, making for a slower metagame.

The other issue I would normally have with using graveyard hate to fight delve spells is that you’re playing a card that deals with only a few of theirs, and only if you draw it before they can deploy them. Relic of Progenitus neatly circumvents this problem by requiring a very low investment. A one mana card that also cantrips is one that you will almost never be unhappy to have in your hand.I prefer Relic over Nihil Spellbomb for its ability to keep the graveyard empty, which is what you want in drawn-out games versus a Dig Through Time deck.

The main reason Relic doesn’t see more play at the moment is that not every strategy can realistically afford to include it. Many decks take advantage of their own graveyards and can’t afford to pop Relic to blow it up. In addition to this Relic is also often a low power card that doesn’t win you the game, making it difficult to fit into the decks that are already skimping on victory conditions in favor of library manipulation as they would rather play more copies of Ponder or Preordain. In the decks where it does fit however I’m always happy to have it in my opening hand. If you’re on Goblins, Merfolks, Death & Taxes I would strongly recommend this card.

Ethersworn Canonist

With Omnitell taking over as the number one combo deck of the format we must also adapt to these changes, making sure we have the most effective disruption. Omnitell is a combo deck that is both highly consistent and highly resilient, especially to more traditional means of fighting combo, such as Thoughtseize and Force of Will. While they do have ways to deal with permanents through the power of their Cunning Wish sideboards, it is a much more awkward task for a deck that is used to things always running smoothly. Ethersworn Canonist slots nicely into existing creature strategies, particularly Death & Taxes, but there are other cards that will accomplish the same thing for you. Eidolon of Rhetoric is the more expensive option, but it survives cards like Massacre. The mana cost isn’t too much of a drawback against Omnitell either, as it’s usually safer to put it into play off of Show and Tell than risk it getting countered.

If you’re on a Reanimator strategy or something similar I would go with Iona, Shield of Emeria as she already fits so nicely into your own game plan. Trinisphere is quite strong in many of the decks designed to beat up on fair decks, such as Pox, Food Chain and MUD, and is often even stronger than Ethersworn Canonist against Omnitell due to them being able to cast spells on your turn as well. Rule of Law and Arcane Laboratory do not see much play at the moment, but they fulfill a similar role.

Vendilion Clique

Vendilion Clique provides both instant speed disruption and a clock, making it ideal for decks with little need to tap out on their own turn, such as Miracles. It also happens to be very well positioned against the format’s top two decks. You can cast Vendilion Clique in response to a miracle trigger or during their end step to make sure the coast is clear for you to resolve a powerful spell on your own turn. Casting it in response to a Show and Tell and stripping away their Omniscience is the dream, as you will not only have dealt with one of their combo pieces, but they will have wasted another, as well as a turn’s worth of mana.

There are so many tricks you can do with a Vendilion Clique that the potential for outmaneuvering maneuvers that will quickly cripple their plan is high. The best part is that it’s by nature a proactive card, meaning it’s very much live even when the ability doesn’t add much value! Did I mention it does a pretty good job at carrying an Umezawa’s Jitte?

Krosan Grip

Krosan Grip answers Sensei’s Divining Top, Counterbalance and Omniscience, as well as various equipments and powerful one-ofs, such as Sylvan Library. Krosan Grip doesn’t go into as many decks as Disenchant would, but it’s particularly strong when the decks you want it against all have the ability to counter it, flip a top, or bounce a Batterskull. Just keep in mind that Counterbalance will still trigger and counter it if they have a three on top.

If you don’t feel like keeping three mana up at all times you could go with Seal of Cleansing or Seal of Primordium instead. Put one into play off of Show and Tell and you will be able to respond to their Cunning Wish Dig Through Time by blowing up their Omniscience, forcing them back to square one. As for creature decks I would strongly consider maindecking two to three copies of Qasali Pridemage, as it’s already a powerful threat on its own. Golgari Charm is an elegant option for black green players as it also answers their sideboard plan of Young Pyromancer.

Slaughter Games

This is one of those cards that if you resolve it against Mono Blue Omnitell it will almost certainly win you the game. A powerful effect indeed, hence why it’s priced at four mana. Four mana is a lot in Legacy, and since Omnitell can easily go off before turn four, I’d usually stick to other hate. However, for slower decks that normally pose a poor combo matchup this type of ‘I-win-the-game-spell’ is precisely the type of card you need, especially if you’re able to reach four mana earlier than normal, slow your opponent down for a turn, or both. Just take a look at Niklas Kronberger’s Abzan Loam list that claimed first place at Prague Eternal last week.

[deck title=Abzan Loam by Niklas Kronberger, 1st place at Prague Eternal]
[Creatures]
1 Deathrite Shaman
4 Dark Confidant
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Knight of the Reliquary
[/creatures]
[Noncreature Spells]
4 Mox Diamond
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Sylvan Library
2 Life from the Loam
3 Punishing Fire
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Green Sun’s Zenith
3 Liliana of the Veil
[/noncreature spells]
[lands]
2 Bayou
1 Scrubland
1 Taiga
1 Forest
3 Windswept Heath
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Wasteland
1 Maze of Ith
1 Karakas
1 Tranquil Thicket
2 Barren Moor
1 Dryad Arbor
[/lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Slaughter Games
2 Choke
1 Reclamation  Sage
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Golgari Charm
2 Thoughtseize
3 Leyline of the Void
[/sideboard]
[/deck]

The deck plays cards like Deathrite Shaman, Green Sun’s Zenith and Mox Diamond to ramp its mana, alongside powerful disruption in the form of Thoughtseize and Chalice of the Void (among other cards). Versus fair, blue decks that skimp on action cards in favor of cantrips being able to snipe their best cards can prove to be a great advantage. Miracles is a lot less scary when you no longer have to fear Entreat the Angels for example. This is why many Goblins players have adopted Earwig Squad as a one-of, myself included. Storm opponents scoop when their namesake cards are taken away. Stoneforge Mystic turns into a mere Squire when you take away their equipments. Another option is to play Slaughter Games as a Burning Wish target, effectively granting you access to multiple copies even in game one.

This weekend I will be participating in the Scandinavian Open in Malmö, Sweden. My last big tournament before GP Lille. You can catch the stream over at twitch.tv/svmtv and hopefully see me doing battle in the top 8. If you happen to be at the tournament site, be sure to stop by my friend who makes amazing alters. She will be taking commissions on site, and I strongly encourage you to check out her Facebook page; MTG Alterations & Art by P.G. Berg

The major events of last weekend included Grand Prix: Providence, Grand Prix: Copenhagen, and Star City Games: Indianapolis. GP Providence and  SCG Indianapolis focused on Standard while GP Copenhagen was Modern. Of course, SCG Indianapolis also had Modern in addition to Legacy results. Let’s dive in and see what happened.

Grand Prix: Providence (USA)

Decklists

Format – Standard

R/G Devotion took down the field at Providence piloted by Sky Mason. R/G seems to be the top deck these days, with it also putting two more people into the Top 8 as well. Key cards in this strategy included [card]Genesis Hydra[/card], [card]Hornet Queen[/card], [card]Whisperwood Elemental[/card], and [card]Dragonlord Atarka[/card]. Pretty much just ramp out into a win condition and take it down from there. Green decks are very solid in Standard these days so expect to see them until the format is shaken up a bit more.

Rounding out the Top 8 were an interesting smattering of decks, two of which were based on four or more colors. Four-Color Whip was playing green as the main color but splashing for cards like [card]Torrent Elemental[/card] and [card]Dragonlord Atarka[/card]. You need three colors to play [card]Sidisi, Brood Tyrant already so splashing one more color in this Standard environment doesn’t seem like a big deal especially in lieu of the Five-Color Dragons deck appearing.

Yes, the Five-Color Dragons deck is based around mostly green and black spells however every color of dragon is included in the deck, as it packs two [card]Dragonlord Atarka[/card], two [card]Dragonlord Dromoka[/card], three [card]Dragonlord Ojutai[/card], and one [card]Dragonlord Silumgar[/card]. Using green’s color fixing [card]Sylvan Caryatid[/card] and [card]Satyr Wayfinder[/card], you can easily find the colors you need to cast these dragon lords. Also, the deck packs four [card]Haven of the Spirit Dragon[/card] for fixing and to get dragons in the graveyard back to the hand. Talk about maximizing potential! The deck is definitely an interesting way to make use of all the new dragon lords.

Grand Prix: Copenhagen (Denmark)

Decklists

Format – Modern

Looking at Copenhagen, Merfolk took down the Modern GP. Key components of the deck included [card]Mutavault[/card], [card]Aether Vial[/card], [card]Master of the Pearl Trident[/card] / [card]Lord of Atlantis[/card], and [card]Master of Waves[/card]. Protection from red in field full of Burn and Grixis seems support important, and [card]Master of Waves[/card] provides that alongside of a team of creatures that it summons upon entering the battlefield. [card]Hibernation[/card] seems like a great sideboard choice as it can completely wreck green decks out of nowhere.

The runner up Hatto was playing Scapeshift, which isn’t unexpected but seemed poorly positioned in a field fuller of faster [card]Griselbrand[/card] fueled combo decks. However, I’m sure Hatto was an expert Scapeshift pilot and so was able to do exceptionally well with the deck even on Day 2 of the GP. Key components of Scapeshift include of course [card]Scapeshift[/card], [card]Cryptic Command[/card], [card]Sakura-Tribe Elder[/card], [card]Search for Tomorrow[/card], and [card]Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle[/card].

Rounding out the Top 8 were Jund, Mono White Death & Taxes, another Merfolk, Grixis Control, Grixis Twin, and Grixis Delver – lots of Grixis decks in other words.

Mono White Death & Taxes was interesting deck choice. It include cards such as [card]Dryad Militant[/card], [card]Thalia, Guardian of Thraben[/card], [card]Leonin Arbiter[/card], [card]Serra Avenger[/card], [card]Flickerwisp[/card], [card]Blade Splicer[/card], as well as two main decked [card]Spellskite[/card]s and four [card]Ghost Quarter[/card] and three [card]Tectonic Edge[/card]. Quite a punishing deck for the unprepared!

Star City Games Open: Standard (Indianapolis, IN, USA)

Decklists

In Indianapolis, R/G also ruled the day in the form of G/R Dragons piloted by Eric Rill. Key components of the strategy included [card]Deathmist Raptor[/card], [card]Goblin Rabblemaster[/card], [card]Rattleclaw Mystic[/card], [card]Stormbreath Dragon[/card], and [card]Thunderbreak Regent[/card]. Planeswalkers were left out of the main deck and relegated to the sideboard, but they did include one [card]Chandra, Pyromaster[/card], two [card]Nissa, Worldwaker[/card], and two [card]Xenagos, the Reveler[/card].

Mardu Dragons was the runner up, which featured [card]Goblin Rabblemaster[/card], [card]Stormbreath Dragon[/card], and [card]Thunderbreak Regent[/card] as the main creatures. Similar to the G/R dragons deck, Stormbreath and Thunderbreak seem to be the best red dragons to include in Standard decks. With Mardu, you also get [card]Crackling Doom[/card] and access to [card]Foul-Tongue Invocation[/card] and [card]Thoughtseize[/card] which is nice.

Rounding out the rest of the Top 8 were Abzan Midrange, G/B Dragons, Bant Heroic, another G/R Devotion, G/W Devotion, and another Mardu Dragons deck.

G/B Dragons seems like it is something new and exciting however the name is kind of misnomer. It’s the same Five-Color Dragons as talked about before from GP Providence.

Looking at the Top 16 we have two more G/R Devotion, two more Mardu Dragons, Temur Dragons, R/G Aggro, Esper Dragons, and Abzan Megamorph. Temur Dragons made good use of [card]Savage Knuckleblade[/card] alongside [card]Stubborn Denial[/card]. It’s also nice to see Esper Dragons still in the picture without being too dominating.

Star City Games Premier IQ: Modern (Indianapolis, IN, USA)

Decklists

Looking at Modern, we see that Grixis Delver took down the IQ. [card]Gurmag Angler[/card] seems to be the Delve creature of choice along with [card]Tasigur, the Golden Fang[/card] in the U/R decks that can quickly amass a ton of cheap instants and sorceries in their graveyard. [card]Shadow of Doubt[/card] is also a nice trick to include these days as it can hose a wide variety of strategies such as Tron and Scapeshift, and can even blank a fetchland in a pinch.

Jund was the runner up and was packing [card]Dark Confidant[/card] and [card]Tarmogoyf[/card] as always, but no [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card]. Two [card]Huntmaster of the Fells[/card] were present across the main deck and sideboard, and Blankespoor even opted to play two [card]Fulminator Mage[/card] main deck in order to have a better matchup against Tron and other nonbasic land strategies.

Rounding out the Top 8 were Scapeshift, Grixis Control, another Jund, Zoo, Bant Hexproof (aka Bogles), and Affinity. I think it was interesting that Grixis Control played four [card]Cryptic Command[/card]s. Zoo is now packing [card]Geist of Saint Traft[/card] along with [card]Tasigur, the Golden Fang[/card], [card]Siege Rhino[/card], [card]Ghor-Clan Rampager[/card], and [card]Tribal Flames[/card] in order to maximize the total amount of damage.

Rounding out the Top 16 were U/R Twin, two more Grixis Control, Burn,Grixis Twin, Temur Delver, another Zoo, and Infect. Temur Delver is still packing [card]Hooting Mandrills[/card] and [card]Disrupting Shoal[/card] main deck, and makes good use of [card]Mana Leak[/card] and [card]Stubborn Denial[/card] to help control the game – even [card]Tarfire[/card] was seen as a two-of in the main deck to help [card]Tarmogoyf[/card] out! The second Zoo list was very different than the Top 8 list. Madlem elected to go with the [card]Burning-Tree Emissary[/card], [card]Kird Ape[/card], [card]Loam Lion[/card], and [card]Wild Nacatl[/card] plan and not play any spells costing more than two mana in the main deck – in the sideboard, [card]Dromoka’s Command[/card] seems interesting as a way to help counter spell damage removal as well as provide your own removal spell with a creature in play.

Star City Games Premier IQ: Legacy (Indianapolis, IN, USA)

Decklists

Burn took down the Legacy portion of Indianapolis piloted by Adam Minniear. A force to still be reckoned with in Legacy, Burn can still quite well in Legacy thanks to the printing of [card]Eidolon of the Great Revel[/card]. [card]Sulfuric Vortex[/card] and [card]Price of Progress[/card] are components that Legacy Burn players love to sling since they can amass tons of damage over a few turns very quickly.

Death and Taxes was the runner up deck and featured [card]Phyrexian Revoker[/card], [card]Mother of Runes[/card], [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card], and [card]Thalia, Guardian of Thraben[/card]. D&T is also still one of the top Legacy contenders.

Rounding out the Top 8 were Ad Nauseam, Temur Delver, Manaless Dredge, Omni-Tell, U/W Control, and Jund (which is also similar to the archetype Nic Fit). Key cards from Manaless Dredge include [card]Bloodghast[/card], [card]Phantasmagorian[/card], and [card]River Kelpie[/card] which distinguish it specifically from regular Dredge builds. Jund / Nic Fit key components include [card]Veteran Explorer[/card] to ramp up into cards such as [card]Huntmaster of the Fells[/card], [card]Primeval Titan[/card], and [card]Thragtusk[/card] – also, cards like [card]Sensei’s Divining Top[/card], [card]Pernicious Deed[/card], and [card]Grove of the Burnwillows[/card] / [card]Punishing Fire[/card] synergy work well at controlling the board until you drop a huge dude.

Rounding out the Top 16 were another Omni-Tell, Elves, two Temur Delver, another Ad Nauseam, U/W Stoneblade, Infect, and Sultai Delver. All of these decks have had extensive Legacy coverage previously so no new updates here.

That’s it for this week! As always, thanks for reading.