Whenever you know that there is a specific and relevant card from a previous set that is highly valued in a format such as Standard, there is an urge that you will try your luck opening that card in certain Magic: the Gathering sealed products such as Set Booster Box, Bundles, and Prerelease kits. I have that when I was buying Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty set booster packs.

As for today’s blog post, the Innistrad: Midnight Hunt is again the target set with the relevant card in Standard: The Meathook Massacre. Of course, we would not trust our luck to be at 100% that we will be getting the card from the PR kit, but the hopes of also opening other high-value cards such as the two-color land cycle, Wrenn, and Seven, and the like.

This unboxing of the PR Kit moment was again recorded in a Youtube video upload below. See and discover what cards I have opened.

For this blog post, I am sharing my unboxing video of the Magic: the Gathering Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Prerelease kit. This is the second time that I am opening a kit from this set. This is given that there are more Crimson Vow products for sale on the market.

You might ask, why do I spend to buy a product from a previous MTG set?

My attempt here is to try to open all of the currently high-demand cards such as Meathook Massacre and Wrenn and Seven. At their present value, opening one will surely get your money’s worth of the kit. You can find the top Innistrad: Midnight Hunt cards based on the current prices on well-known MTG websites. This is also a way to rebuild our card pool in the case of the local game store returning the face2face tournaments. By the looks of it, the least we can do is at least a Standard semi-competitive deck.

Anyhow, back to the PR kit #2 unboxing, you can check it on the Youtube video below. You can also browse my previous unboxings on the Booster Cracking playlist on my channel.

One of the popular Magic: the Gathering tournament done online on the Magic Arena platform is the Red Bull Untapped 2021 International which the recent one being Red Bull Untapped 2021 International Stop III. One of the Top 8 finishers of this tournament is today’s Standard deck update. I have mentioned in a previous Standard format where Jund Aggro Treasures was one of the top tier decks and with the entry of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, it simply adjusted and replaced some cards.

The current deck build still contains the core Red-Green components: Goldspan Dragons, Jaspera Sentinels, Magda, Chariots, and Shatterskull Smashings. The Black splash adopted Immersturm Predator into four copies and the spot removal Infernal Grasp. Also given that Black specializes in discard spells, a playset Duress, and two Go Blanks were included in the sideboard to take down Control’s hand setup.

See the full Jund Treasures decklist below.

MainDeck
1 Lolth, Spider Queen
4 Jaspera Sentinel
4 Prosperous Innkeeper
4 Magda, Brazen Outlaw
3 Valki, God of Lies
3 Reckless Stormseeker
4 Immersturm Predator
4 Goldspan Dragon
2 Infernal Grasp
4 Shatterskull Smashing
4 Esika’s Chariot
3 Forest
4 Cragcrown Pathway
4 Blightstep Pathway
4 Darkbore Pathway
2 Lair of the Hydra
4 Haunted Ridge
2 Rockfall Vale

Sideboard
3 Ray of Enfeeblement
3 Power Word Kill
4 Duress
2 Check for Traps
1 Inscription of Ruin
2 Go Blank

Reference: https://mtgazone.com/deck/jund-treasures-by-toru-inoue-red-bull-untapped-2021-international-stop-iii-7th-place/

Last weekend’s Magic: the Gathering Standard tournaments and events garnered a whole bunch of decklists of various archetypes. MTG Top 8 dot com is again my go-to website. This is where we are going to get today’s deck update and feature, and the lucky deck chosen is White Weenie Aggro. This was piloted by a well-known Pro Player, Frank Karsten. He finished in Top 4 of the Red Bull Untapped 2021 International Stop I tournament, where he probably lost to a Mono-Green finalist.

Let us check his complete decklist below.

Maindeck
23 LANDS
4 Faceless Haven
19 Snow-Covered Plains

31 CREATURES
4 Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
2 Brutal Cathar
2 Chaplain of Alms
4 Elite Spellbinder
4 Intrepid Adversary
4 Luminarch Aspirant
4 Stonebinder’s Familiar
3 Sungold Sentinel
4 Usher of the Fallen

2 INSTANTS and SORC.
2 Fateful Absence

4 OTHER SPELLS
2 Maul of the Skyclaves
2 Portable Hole

SIDEBOARD
2 Brutal Cathar
1 Cave of the Frost Dragon
1 Curse of Silence
1 Fateful Absence
1 Gavony Dawnguard
2 Guardian of Faith
1 Portable Hole
2 Reidane, God of the Worthy
3 Skyclave Apparition
1 You’re Ambushed on the Road

The creature choices are composed of the usual four-of for White Aggro: Elite Spellbinder, Luminarch Aspirant, and Usher of the Fallen. What is characterized by these other creature components is that they are gaining on exile effects. The card Stonebinder’s Familiar triggers a +1/+1 counter placed on it when one or more cards are put into exile during your turn. There are several cards that could trigger it making it the efficient one-drop when your play is on the curve.

Adeline, Resplendent Cathar is then the long-game creature producer that gets its power bigger as more creatures develop your board. I like how it was built to be more offensive pre-board rather than the usual tax-the-opponent route.

The non-creature spell choices are the usual and it’s on the ideal division, two-ofs on the spot removals and Maul of the Skyclaves as the finisher.

Frank Karsten may have published a deck discussion article prior to this or maybe after the event which I yet have to check. This is on his sideboard plan, on the card choices, and the in-and-outs.

That is about it for this Standard deck update, until the next blog post.

P.S. Decklist reference.

P.P.S. You can also check on the previous Standard deck updates here.

Today’s Magic: the Gathering Standard Deck feature is no surprise to the metagame. Rather, it is a variance of the typical Mono-Black deck that has been prevalent in their category of a control deck archetype. Golgari Control has been my personal favorite back since I started competing in our local tournaments, and having cards like Pernicious Deed is just a good assurance that your deck can basically wipe out the opponent’s board.

Back in the current Innistrad Standard, I have always thought of having Green as a splash color for the Mono-Black Midrange deck as Binding the Old Gods are just too valuable to ignore. This deck build gives justice to that and goes beyond just sacrificing your dudes for card value and getting Lessons from the board.

The reference deck list below was from the tournament’s results of an event where it got 1st place. The link is placed after this full decklist.

1 Skullport Merchant
2 Ebondeath, Dracolich
2 Valki, God of Lies
4 Prosperous Innkeeper

2 Deadly Dispute
2 Infernal Grasp
2 Soul Shatter

1 Bala Ged Recovery
1 Inscription of Ruin
2 Blood on the Snow
4 Hunt for Specimens

3 Binding the Old Gods
3 The Meathook Massacre
4 Skeletal Swarming

3 Lolth, Spider Queen

1 Hive of the Eye Tyrant
1 Lair of the Hydra
2 Snow-Covered Forest
2 Field of Ruin
2 Witherbloom Campus
3 Faceless Haven
4 Woodland Chasm
4 Darkbore Pathway
5 Snow-Covered Swamp

Sideboard
1 Check for Traps
1 Pest Summoning
1 Containment Breach
1 Environmental Sciences
1 Mascot Exhibition
1 Introduction to Prophecy
1 Confront the Past
1 Cragplate Baloth
2 Go Blank
2 Culling Ritual
3 Duress

Reference: https://mtgdecks.net/Standard/golgari-control-decklist-by-mamedeppou-tukai-1220551

Magic: the Gathering Worlds Championships will be this weekend, and Standard is one of the formats they will be playing. As expected, the metagame of Izzet and Mono-Green as the top deck choices appeared in the decklists submitted by the participants. However, the Izzet Control deck gets a boost with the new version of the Grixis colors, and I think this is the best update of the deck ever. Having access to Black means spot removals and discard spells.

Lets us check the new decklist by looking at one that will be playing at the World Championships this weekend.

Main Deck
1 Smoldering Egg
3 Lier, Disciple of the Drowned

4 Fading Hope
2 Spikefield Hazard
2 Jwari Disruption
1 Cathartic Pyre
2 Galvanic Iteration
1 Power Word Kill
1 Cinderclasm
1 Demon Bolt
1 Prismari Command
3 Memory Deluge

2 Duress
1 Bloodchief’s Thirst
4 Expressive Iteration
1 Burn Down the House
4 Alrund’s Epiphany

3 The Celestus

1 Island
2 Mountain
2 Hall of Storm Giants
4 Riverglide Pathway
4 Blightstep Pathway
3 Clearwater Pathway
3 Shipwreck Marsh
4 Haunted Ridge

Sideboard
4 Malevolent Hermit
2 Mind Flayer
3 Cyclone Summoner
1 Power Word Kill
1 Soul Shatter
1 Unexpected Windfall
1 Duress
2 Go Blank

The Black spot removal spells they have added are Bloodchief’s Thirst and Power Word Kill to position well against aggro, whereas two copies of Duress are in the main deck for mirror matchups. The sideboard also included more discard spells and graveyard exile effects.

They have opted for Lier, Disciple of the Drowned over Goldspan Dragon because of its ability to grant uncounterable spells and giving them Flashback making it a strong late-game plan. They also have many ways to deal with the opponents’ Dragon which obviously does fewer functions than that of Lier.

We will see how the deck’s performance will be with the best players piloting it on the first day of the World Championships this Friday (Saturday early morning PH time).

The Magic: the Gathering Standard metagame format is looking stable this week as the top deck archetypes are already identified. These are the top two: Mono-Green Aggro, and Izzet Turns Control. This is then followed by Mono-White Aggro, Dimir Control, and Gruul Aggro. The other deck archetypes look to be working against a specific top-tier deck but could not be consistent in winning their matchups on other archetypes.

As for today’s blog topic, we identify what are the most used spot removals that these top decks are using and how to counter them. Lets us start with Izzet’s top removals, Demon Bolt, Cathartic Pyre, Burning Hands. These are the early stoppers to your aggro assault or curve, and the Burning Hands against Mono-Green decks’ fatties. They usually let you cast your creature and kill them off at the end of your turn. That way, they save their counterspells to your best threats.

For the Izzet Dragons version of the deck, they utilize a playset of Dragon’s Fire which most of the time deals 4 damage to the target creature or planeswalker by revealing Goldspan Dragon or having it in play.

For Dimir Control deck, we have the popular instant, Infernal Grasp. The 2 life loss is a little drawback to what it can do in killing any creature you play. They also have Soul Shatter which can also deal with your planeswalker if you get to play it on an empty board. Power Word Kill also sees play but only as a support spot removal. That is the same with Bloodchief’s Thirst.

It is unavoidable in most matchups but the best course here is to play out more threats than their removals though this also gets you to walk into their mass removals instead. Just be wary of how they play out their spot removals which at times may reveal that they don’t have a mass removal spell on hand.

Also, try to resolve cards like Esika’s Chariot which is a great board advantage and token generator. Going with the basics, board in spells that gives hexproof or indestructible to your dudes such as Snakeskin Veil. Heck, maindeck them if you have to. if you have access to Blue, counterspells like Negate can do the trick. Decks such as Temur and Azorious Aggro are already having Blue so they can deal with the control matchups well in the long game.

As a wrap-up, this weekend will the Magic: the Gathering Worlds, and I will be staying tuned for their coverage and probably check out more deck builds as they play it out for the championships.

Until the next blog post.

Before the recent Magic: the Gathering Standard rotation, we all remember that the Naya deck archetype focused on Eldraine’s Adventures mechanic which made it one of the top tier decks in the format. That is based on how popular that deck was and its finishes in major MTG tournaments.

For the Innisrad: Midnight Hunt Update, the deck adapted to Red-Green core cards which are composed of Goldspan Dragons, Esika’s Chariot, and Shatterskull Smashing. It retained however some White cards from the previous build, specifically Elite Spellbinder and Reidane, God of the Worthy. The new set then provided a few card arsenals (Brutal Cathar, Outland Liberator) to work with.

I found an updated decklist of the Naya Aggro deck which I am sharing below.

Maindeck
23 LANDS (27)
4 Branchloft Pathway
4 Cragcrown Pathway
2 Den of the Bugbear
2 Forest
2 Lair of the Hydra
4 Needleverge Pathway
4 Overgrown Farmland
1 Rockfall Vale

21 CREATURES
4 Brutal Cathar
4 Elite Spellbinder
4 Goldspan Dragon
4 Lotus Cobra
2 Moonveil Regent
1 Outland Liberator
2 Reidane, God of the Worthy

8 INSTANTS and SORC.
4 Dragon’s Fire
4 Shatterskull Smashing
8 OTHER SPELLS
4 Esika’s Chariot
4 Ranger Class

SIDEBOARD
4 Brushfire Elemental
4 Burning Hands
1 Reidane, God of the Worthy
4 Tajuru Blightblade
2 Toski, Bearer of Secrets

Reference: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=32598&d=450250&f=ST

The current Magic: the Gathering Standard metagame with the inclusion of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt has given the control deck archetypes new tools to work around their build. As reflected in the recent tournament top finishes results, Izzet is the number one choice of the control decks, and next to it is Dimir Control which I think also improved greatly with the new Innistrad cards.

Their build has similar card choices with that of Izzet in terms of Blue card draws and counterspells while having Black for its board control means a solid lineup of spot removals (Infernal Grasp, Bloodchief’s Thirst), and also on the post-sideboard of discard spells against other control decks. The Meathook Massacre is a popular card for the mass removal effect and is efficient in the current metagame. Its bonus lifegain also helps to get you out of reach of direct burn spells.

Sharing below an example Blue-Black Control decklist. Notice the creature choices included in the main deck, and why I would consider them as solid choices.

Maindeck
Creatures
3 Iymrith, Desert Doom
2 Dragon Turtle
1 Xanathar, Guild Kingpin

Enchantment
4 The Meathook Massacre

Sorcery
2 Shadows’ Verdict
2 Bloodchief’s Thirst

Instant
4 Infernal Grasp
4 Siphon Insight
4 Memory Deluge
3 Saw It Coming
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Jwari Disruption // Jwari Ruins
1 Negate

Land
6 Snow-Covered Swamp
5 Snow-Covered Island
4 Field of Ruin
4 Clearwater Pathway // Murkwater Pathway
4 Shipwreck Marsh
2 Hall of Storm Giants
1 Ice Tunnel

Sideboard
4 Duress
2 Lash of Malice
2 Malevolent Hermit // Benevolent Geist
2 Test of Talents
2 Skyclave Shade
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Flunk
1 Shadows’ Verdict

Reference: https://mtgmelee.com/Decklist/View/168707

I am happy to share today the news that a Werewolves deck was able to finish in the Top Two of a major Magic: the Gathering tournament, Clearly Frame Advantage featuring MTG Arena where they sponsored a FREE $2,000 CAD prize pool Standard event. A free event with that cash prize automatically attracted players from all around the globe, and the total of Enrolled Players was 256.

The deck was piloted by Taras Kohut and is finished with a 9-2 record in the tournament. The two losses were from Mono-Green Aggro in the Swiss rounds and Izzet Dragons in the Finals.

Here below is the full decklist:

Reference: https://mtgmelee.com/Decklist/View/168765

Related post: RG Werewolves First Build

In the Magic: the Gathering Standard format, running a Mono-colored deck in the aggro archetype is usually the safest way in terms of not having two=colored mana issues or having nonbasic fixers that at times delay your board progress. Good thing some dual lands are at 100% enters the battlefield untapped, or you just resort to the basic lands for mana fix.

For today’s Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Standard deck feature, we have an aggro deck that shows that it does not hurt splashing color to a Mono-White deck as long as it opens access to powerful cards. The best card examples are Showdown of the Skalds and Reckless Stormseeker.

Check out the Boros Aggro decklist below where it finishes in a 7-0 record in the Standard Metagame Challenge tournament.

Main Deck
4 Chaplain of Alms
4 Usher of the Fallen
4 Luminarch Aspirant
4 Intrepid Adversary
1 Brutal Cathar
4 Reckless Stormseeker
4 Skyclave Apparition
1 Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
3 Moonveil Regent

2 Play with Fire
2 Fateful Absence

1 Paladin Class
3 Showdown of the Skalds

1 Mountain
10 Plains
1 Field of Ruin
4 Needleverge Pathway
4 Furycalm Snarl
1 Cave of the Frost Dragon
2 Den of the Bugbear

Sideboard
4 Elite Spellbinder
2 Brutal Cathar
2 Reidane, God of the Worthy
3 Burning Hands
2 Pithing Needle
2 Paladin Class

Reference: https://mtgazone.com/deck/boros-aggro-by-micronaut25-september-2021-standard-metagame-challenge-7-0/

The Showdown is known to be a regular component back in Naya Adventures and also in the previous Boros Warriors deck in the previous Standard. Reckless Stormseeker is a good inclusion as it makes your dudes hastier, dealing an extra turn of damage. Much more if it flips into Stormcharged Slasher. The deck also included Moonveil Regent which is second to Goldspan Dragon in terms of the currently best Red flyer in the format.

I am looking for the deck to progress further in the metagame given that the control decks will most likely handle its initial assault but maybe not on its late-game card access.

Until the next blog post.

The Magic: the Gathering Arena Standard Challenge took off last weekend and is probably one of the major tournaments in the platform catering to the newly-rotated Standard format. I was not able to participate myself but was able to witness a friend’s playtime last night. The expected deck archetypes were present: aggro, control, and midrange, and one of the decks that flourished in the metagame was Izzet Control. Prior to the rotation, the deck’s components were already playable and are rotation-proof.

The addition of new cards from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt would just do the trick, and it actually bolstered the build. Powerful Blue (Memory Deluge) and Red cards (Smoldering Egg) replaced the rotated ones and retained the deck archetype to be the pillar of control decks in the current Standard metagame.

See below an example decklist of the Standard Izzet Control.

Izzet Control – Lull N
Mountain Tea Cup # 3 @ Sana’s Tournament

Maindeck

18 LANDS (24)
1 Den of the Bugbear
2 Field of Ruin
4 Hall of Storm Giants
1 Island
6 Mountain
4 Riverglide Pathway

10 CREATURES
4 Goldspan Dragon
2 Malevolent Hermit
4 Smoldering Egg

32 INSTANTS and SORC.
4 Alrund’s Epiphany
4 Burning Hands
2 Disdainful Stroke
4 Dragon’s Fire
4 Expressive Iteration
4 Jwari Disruption
3 Memory Deluge
4 Prismari Command
1 Saw It Coming
2 Shatterskull Smashing

Sideboard
2 Burn Down the House
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Fading Hope
2 Inferno of the Star Mounts
2 Malevolent Hermit
1 Negate
2 Pithing Needle
2 Test of Talents

Reference: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=32481&d=449552&f=ST

For more of the recent Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Standard decklists, you can check it here.