I have been considering Big Red as one of my favorite archetypes in the recent Standard format and has been building versions and list ever since. I have mentioned on my previous blog post regarding the Continue reading
While checking on the first day coverage of the Magic: the Gathering Players Tour Phoenix event, I came upon one featured matchup wherein a Mono Blue Devotion deck is against a Sultai Delirium opponent. Continue reading
I was able to join a local Magic: the Gathering tournament again last Wednesday and all I can say is that I got very rusty. The new Standard with Theros Beyond Death looks to be more appealing to me if I have done playtesting. All I did since the start of the year was to brew possible decks and read through some of the new cards’ functionalities.
Time constraints is my main reason so just this week I decided to play and they scheduled the Wednesday Night Magic which is just coincidental.
I asked Ace for available decks and he provided me with the Rakdos Knights deck which we completed just before Theros arrived in Standard. Here below is a sample decklist of the archetype:
Mainboard
24 LANDS
4 Blood Crypt
2 Castle Locthwain
9 Mountain
9 Swamp
28 CREATURES
4 Blacklance Paragon
4 Bonecrusher Giant
4 Fervent Champion
4 Knight of the Ebon Legion
4 Rotting Regisaur
4 Spawn of Mayhem
4 Stormfist Crusader
4 INSTANTS and SORC.
4 Drill Bit
4 OTHER SPELLS
4 Embercleave
SIDEBOARD
3 Duress
2 Epic Downfall
2 Legion’s End
2 Murderous Rider
4 Noxious Grasp
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
Source: http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=24554&d=371686&f=ST
There were fourteen participants that night and I am quite happy with the turnout. It seemed that they were enjoying the new metagame of the format. Below are the results of my matchups.
Round 1 vs PR Melo (Golgari Oven) – Lost 0-2
Round 2 vs Ruel (Gruul Adventures) – Won 2-1
Round 3 vs Ralph (Mono Green Stompy) – Won 2-1
Round 4 vs Mossy (Mono Red Aggro) – Lost 0-2
Most of the losses were purely due to mana flooding even with my several attempts to randomly shuffle the deck to prevent it. I guess I just got very unlucky that time and my hands were cursed. Lol. My teammate, Ace, also didn’t win his last two matches. He was playing Blue-White Control.
Here below are the top players after 4 rounds of gameplay:
Wednesday Night Magic Tournament Results
Top 5:
After 4 rounds of awesome magic the gathering
1st AJ – Mono-Red Aggro
2nd Raymund – Mono-White Aggro
3rd Mossy – Mono-Red Aggro
4th Ace the Snake – Blue-White Control
5th Christian Wonderboy – Orzhov Doom
I do hope this player attendance can become a regular thing on Wednesday nights. The local game store really needed the support so that it could level up later on and organize higher-level types of tournaments.
Until the next blog post.
I am not that of an expert in terms of taste and other features of a Ramen dish but based on my previous experiences during my trips at various Ramen restos in Manila and Cebu, I seemed to have developed a set of standards. Continue reading
The Standard deck archetype Fires of Invention still seem to be a powerhouse in the metagame post-Theros Beyond Death. I have seen its power in our local Magic: the Gathering tournaments and with the new set, it has acquired Continue reading
I was able to receive the results via Messenger of the MTG Iloilo community Saturday Standard tournament held last February 1, 2020, at Pro Rei Place. Twenty players were in attendance and it is a good number to gather the data.
The newly updated format with Theros Beyond Death went back to the basics of deck archetypes. I was able to observe the games during rounds two to four and checked on those who were at the top of the rankings. There were a few Blue-White Control while aggro decks were also present. I see that this version of the control deck was very successful in the metagame and seemed to continue its dominance in the format. Here below is the decklist:
Mainboard
2 Castle Ardenvale
2 Castle Vantress
4 Hallowed Fountain
8 Island
6 Plains
4 Temple of Enlightenment
3 Dream Trawler
4 Absorb
2 Dovin’s Veto
4 Shatter the Sky
1 Thassa’s Intervention
4 Thirst for Meaning
4 Banishing Light
4 Omen of the Sea
4 Teferi, Time Raveler
4 The Birth of Meletis
Sideboard
3 Aether Gust
1 Dovin’s Veto
1 Elspeth Conquers Death
1 Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis
1 Glass Casket
1 Heliod’s Intervention
1 Mystical Dispute
2 Narset, Parter of Veils
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Whirlwind Denial
The setting of the decks is far different from what I brewed last time during the Theros Beyond Death spoiler season. It is mainly because of the playset copies of The Birth of Meletis which makes sure you hit your lands on turns 3 and 4. This card also provides a blocker and lets you gain life. Banishing Light is the default spot removal that is set to the 3-mana curve line of the deck alongside Teferi. The deck’s sole win condition is Dream Trawler, which is very powerful in the late game. Castle Ardenvale can also provide an army of 1/1s once the battlefield is stabilized.
The second deck in feature is the Mono-Red aggro or Red Deck Wins as most players call it. Here below is a decklist.
Mainboard
3 Castle Embereth
17 Mountain
4 Anax, Hardened in the Forge
1 Bonecrusher Giant
4 Fervent Champion
2 Phoenix of Ash
4 Rimrock Knight
2 Robber of the Rich
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
4 Scorch Spitter
4 Tin Street Dodger
4 Light Up the Stage
4 Shock
3 Embercleave
Sideboard
3 Claim the Firstborn
2 Embereth Shieldbreaker
2 Experimental Frenzy
3 Lava Coil
1 The Akroan War
4 Unchained Berserker
The aggressive start is still there and the new inclusions from Theros Beyond Death set are Anax and Phoenix of Ash. Anax looks to be devastating with Embercleave and the Phoenix can be a late-game damage source with its Escape ability.
The Top 4 finishers in last Saturday’s Standard tournament at Pro Reis place are as follows:
1st, Ace – Blue-White Control
2nd, Earl – Rakdos Sacrifice
3rd, Franco – Mono-Red Aggro
4th, Ericson – Simic Ramp
20 players, 5 rounds of gameplay.
The expected metagame might still be the same in the coming weeks unless a major tournament overseas provides a breakout deck but I doubt it will be only some deck upgrades or card tech in an existing archetype.
That is about for this local metagame report. Until the next post and thanks for reading.