SCG Regionals is tomorrow.
People have slogged through gauntlets. By now people should have a general idea of the style of deck they want to play, if not already close to a completed decklist. I’m not there yet, but I’m on my way.
The Pro Tour starts today. We’ll get a glimpse of what the pros have cooked up in their cabins and beach houses.
A glimpse won’t be enough to take down a tournament like SCG Regionals.
I’m writing this during the week leading up to SCG Regionals, so by the time you see this, I’ve hopefully picked out my weapon of choice for the weekend. It’s important to have narrowed the field down to a selection. It should come as no surprise that my favorites are nearly all aggressive decks.
These are the top picks that I have in mind.
Creatures (21)
- 4 Thraben Inspector
- 4 Selfless Spirit
- 3 Depala, Pilot Exemplar
- 2 Pia Nalaar
- 4 Toolcraft Exemplar
- 4 Veteran Motorist
Lands (24)
Spells (15)
If the car ain’t broke down, don’t fix it.
W/R Vehicles may be the most-played deck at SCG Regionals, and for good reason. It’s fast and all the cards are good.
Veteran Motorist and Depala, Pilot Exemplar allow you to rule the skies in Smuggler’s Copter wars. Harnessed Lightning ensures this even further. Skysovereign, Consul Flagship is in a perfect spot to beat up on other creature decks.
Honestly, enough has been said about the merits of W/R Vehicles. Chris VanMeter winning #SCGIndy while putting two others into Top 8 is proof enough. W/R Vehicles is the deck to beat, and this time, the deck to beat just so happens to be right up my alley.
Chance of me playing W/R Vehicles: 20%
Creatures (21)
- 4 Thraben Inspector
- 4 Thalia's Lieutenant
- 4 Hanweir Garrison
- 2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
- 3 Pia Nalaar
- 4 Inventor's Apprentice
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (23)
Spells (14)
Donovan Lachney crushed his way into the top seed at #SCGIndy with W/R Humans. He rode the forgotten Thalia’s Lieutenant along with new red Humans from Kaladesh, sprinkled in some removal and Vehicles, and cruised into the Top 8 with only one true Swiss round loss.
I do like the sizing options that Thalia’s Lieutenant gives. It’s also rather absurd with Hanweir Garrison. The Garrison was once too slow for a Standard filled with Collected Company and blockers like Lambholt Pacifist. Now people are blocking less and attacking more. Hanweir Garrison loves to attack.
The sample size for W/R Humans from #SCGIndy may be small, but I’m a believer. I did a lot of winning with W/R Humans last season, so I’m inclined to think I could pilot the new in-car-nation if need be.
Chance of me playing W/R Humans: 10%
Creatures (26)
- 4 Expedition Envoy
- 4 Thraben Inspector
- 4 Thalia's Lieutenant
- 2 Hanweir Militia Captain
- 4 Town Gossipmonger
- 2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
- 2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
- 4 Night Market Lookout
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (22)
Spells (10)
This is the only decklist that’s entirely mine. As much as I like the W/R Humans, I think W/B Humans is more me.
I liked how Inventor’s Apprentice upped the one-drop count to where it needed to be. I didn’t like the number of three-drops Donovan ran. I take it a step back to have curve numbers that I’m most comfortable with.
Night Market Lookout is the key card in this build of Humans. It works well to transform Town Gossipmonger and to Crew Smuggler’s Copter while still gaining value without having to put Night Market Lookout into combat. The lifegain is nice in racing situations, and the lifeloss can force through the final point(s) of damage on a clogged battlefield or just before the opponent turns the corner.
Kambal, Consul of Allocation is a powerful rare from Kaladesh that hasn’t shown up in any decklists I’ve seen. Kambal needs the right shell and W/B Humans seems like the perfect fit for him. It’s awesome that the drain trigger occurs on any noncreature spell, which includes opposing Vehicles… even Fleetwheel Cruiser.
The body on Kambal, Consul of Allocation isn’t super-impressive. Still, his triggered ability is impactful against every Standard deck and moreso in the possibly tougher ones like W/B Control or various decks with card selection like Grapple with the Past or Vessel of Nascency.
The biggest maindeck non-inclusion here is Always Watching. There’s the obvious non-bo with Night Market Lookout that I wanted to avoid. Still, it can be useful against decks that have Liliana, the Last Hope and sweeper effects like Fumigate so as to not overextend. In most matchups, opponents will load up on removal, and you should respond by adding in more Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and Always Watching to have sturdier threats while not getting caught up in a large sweeper. Selfless Spirit helps in this regard as well.
Dhund Operative is an “almost-playable” that would pose a large design constraint to consistently turn on. Currently there are four Smuggler’s Copters and four Thraben Inspectors. W/R Humans also had Pia Nalaar and Fleetwheel Cruiser. I’d rather not bank on needing an artifact on the battlefield and am opting for a situationally more powerful two-drop in Hanweir Militia Captain to fill out the list.
Chance of me playing W/B Humans: 25%
Creatures (23)
- 3 Reflector Mage
- 3 Thraben Inspector
- 4 Thalia's Lieutenant
- 4 Tireless Tracker
- 4 Lambholt Pacifist
- 1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
- 1 Heron's Grace Champion
- 3 Verdurous Gearhulk
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (26)
Spells (7)
Bant Humans won Worlds in the hands of Brian Braun-Duin. He had Collected Company to help out. That doesn’t mean the deck is dead without it. Tamiyo, Field Researcher would’ve been in the four-drop slot the whole time if Collected Company weren’t so good. Now she gets her time to shine.
Todd Stevens placed in the Top 16 of #SCGIndy with an updated Bant deck featuring Verdurous Gearhulk. Now he’s taken a liking to Bant Humans again. I have to say, this build looks as streamlined as it’s going to get.
The previous list didn’t play Smuggler’s Copter, which as we all know now is just a mistake in any deck that can reliably Crew it. Now, with Copters and the powerful Thalia’s Lieutenant, the Bant deck drops some clunkiness for consistency.
Standard is flooded with aggressive decks of all kinds right now. Heron’s Grace Champion looks like it’s in the perfect spot to make racing impossible for your aggro opponents. I’m not as big on Tamiyo, Field Researcher as Todd, even though he preaches it as the best card in the deck. I’d start by cutting a Tamiyo for another maindeck Heron’s Grace Champion.
Like Bant Humans and Bant Company before, this build looks to have decent mana, solid spells, and plenty of decisions. It definitely looks like a deck capable of winning a tournament. Bant Humans is a pretty safe choice that I’m considering.
Chance of me playing Bant Humans: 5%
Creatures (8)
Lands (22)
Spells (30)
- 3 Kozilek's Return
- 4 Vessel of Nascency
- 4 Aetherworks Marvel
- 4 Woodweaver's Puzzleknot
- 3 Harnessed Lightning
- 4 Glassblower's Puzzleknot
- 4 Attune with Aether
- 4 Cathartic Reunion
Sideboard
I’ve heard the same story quite a few times from quite a few different people now.
“They had turn 4 Ulamog both games!”
Temur Aetherworks is likely the scariest deck to face in Standard. The upper echelon of draws the deck can produce are the best Standard offers. Of course, there are issues with consistency, holding the potency and popularity of the archetype back.
Temur Aetherworks is the deck on this list that’s farthest outside of my wheelhouse. Nonetheless, it’s on my radar as a deck that’s potentially on the brink of being very good. It’s on my list here because of the off-chance that I’ll come across a broken list, either from personal experience or early Pro Tour coverage buzz.
In its current form, I can’t see myself winning SCG Regionals with Temur Aetherworks. I do see myself losing to Temur Aetherworks and not being able to do anything about it, regardless of how good my draw is.
Chance of me playing Temur Aetherworks: 5%
Creatures (22)
- 2 Archangel Avacyn
- 4 Thraben Inspector
- 4 Selfless Spirit
- 4 Verdurous Gearhulk
- 4 Fairgrounds Warden
- 4 Servant of the Conduit
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (26)
Spells (8)
I played G/W Aggro at #SCGIndy to a 10th-place finish, a finish I regard as “medium.” I’m a “first or dead last” type of player and I usually try to avoid decks that are poised for a good finish but unlikely to win the tournament. This is why I tend to avoid playing the best deck, which also tends to be the deck with the biggest target on its head.
G/W Aggro had some holes in it, namely its weakness against opposing Smuggler’s Copters even with Blossoming Defense in the deck. Sylvan Advocate was rather unexciting too and I was wishing that the Selfless Spirit plus Archangel Avacyn combo was present somewhere in the 75.
There’s also something to say about already having had already played it in an Open. I picked up my first unintentional draw in years at #SCGIndy. The games were long and grindy, but were only so because of small mistakes I made that drew the game out longer. With a better knowledge of my deck, I gain a faster pace of play with fewer mistakes.
I may play “what I know best” at SCG Regionals and go with G/W Aggro. Or I may just go with it because it’s already sleeved up and I won’t have to hustle to build something else.
Chance of me playing G/W Aggro: 15%
Creatures (18)
Lands (20)
Spells (22)
This deck was featured by Ross Merriam earlier this week. It’s a combo-oriented take on G/R Energy that plays to a style that I enjoy. I was casting bad double strike cards like Armed // Dangerous way back before it was cool. The new G/R Energy decks play similarly to Atarka Red from a couple of seasons ago. There we were pairing Become Immense with Temur Battl-Rage.
Another day, another pump plus double effect combo. Here it’s with a built-in double-striking machine and stray pump spells like Built to Smash and Larger Than Life.
The most difficult part about piloting G/R Energy is knowing when to “go for it” and when to take it slow with chip damage. Infect has taught me the ropes of such situations.
I’ve yet to get the games in with this deck, but it seems like riding a bike. I’d start with trimming on Uncaged Fury for more “normal” cards like Harnessed Lightning or Longtusk Cub. I do have a bit of a fear that the cat will get out of the bag on this one. I wouldn’t be surprised if this deck breaks out at the Pro Tour and everyone will be ready for it at SCG Regionals.
Chance of me playing G/R Aggro: 15%
Creatures (17)
Lands (23)
Spells (20)
R/B Aggro is probably the deck I should’ve played at #SCGIndy. It was the deck I’d gotten the most test games in with and it’s what Gerry Thompson considered to be the most refined deck from our selection of test decks going into the first week of new Standard. The key turning point in development was ditching Chandra, Torch of Defiance for a leaner manabase and cheaper spells.
R/B Aggro is linear and powerful. All the creatures hit hard, the deck has resilience with Scrapheap Scounger, and the opponent can easily be burned out from around nine life or so. With Pia Nalaar’s different abilities, removal spell timing, and discard choices from Key to the City and Smuggler’s Copter the R/B Aggro deck has a lot of play and tough decisions every game.
I’d like to incorporate some of the elements from Eric Hawkins build of R/B Aggro into the existing base shell from the Open Top 8.
Creatures (20)
Lands (20)
Spells (20)
I like the high number of madness spells to go along with the natural discard outlets like Key to the City and Smuggler’s Copter. I don’t like the smaller creatures like Falkenrath Gorger or even Insolent Neonate. I think there’s something truly great somewhere in the middle and I just have to find it.
Chance of me playing R/B Aggro: 5%
Well, there you have it: some decks I like with a few words on why I like them.
I’ve historically done poorly at SCG Regionals and SCG States the past couple of years and tend to lose ground on the SCG Leaderboard during these events. Hopefully my process of weeding through my choices will prove worthwhile this time around and I can overtake Jeff Hoogland for the Player of the Year lead. At the very least I’d like to keep it interesting until the very end.
Good luck, everyone!