When Seth Manfield made Top 8 at the Modern Pro Tour in DC last year, people didn’t think too much of it. A three-time Grand Prix Champion, he was already considered one of the stronger players without a Pro Tour Top 8.
When Manfield won the World Championship six months later, he was still generally regarded as the least accomplished player in that Top 4 containing Owen Turtenwald, Paul Rietzl, and Sam Black.
A couple of months ago, Manfield finished third at Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad, his third final day in the past seven Pro Tour/Worlds events, the week after a Top 4 GP finish in Albuquerque. Wait a minute…
Grand Prix New York(ish) – First.
Grand Prix Costa Rica – First.
And the party’s just getting started…
Of course, the winner of #SCGATL wasn’t exactly a first-timer, either. Back-to-back SCG Invitational Champion Tom Ross took home yet another trophy, this time armed with a barely-Boros Human Aggro deck that didn’t stray too far from the deck he made Top 8 with in Columbus, helping set the stage for Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad.
Creatures (31)
- 4 Knight of the White Orchid
- 4 Dragon Hunter
- 3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
- 2 Anointer of Champions
- 2 Consul's Lieutenant
- 4 Expedition Envoy
- 4 Thraben Inspector
- 4 Thalia's Lieutenant
- 4 Town Gossipmonger
Lands (18)
Spells (11)
Sideboard
Last week, Shota Takao made headlines with his light red splash in otherwise white Humans, but it was Max McVety who really changed the game. While Shota used full playsets of Battlefield Forge and Needle Spires to cast three Abbot of Keral Keep and two Reckless Bushwacker, Max used four Battlefield Forges to splash three Needle Spires out of the sideboard!
A lot of white Human aggro decks have taken to sideboarding two to three lands, helping support Gideon, Ally of Zendikar out of the sideboard. Gideon is solid in this role, but the problem has always been an increased risk of flooding out. McVety’s approach was to sideboard Needle Spires, helping cast the Gideons but also serving as additional threats in the event of flooding.
Of course, Tom “The Boss” Ross had plenty of tuning of his own to do. To start with, he moved the three Hanweir Militia Captains to the sideboard and trimmed a Kytheon, Hero of Akroas to make room for two Anointer of Champions and two Consul’s Lieutenants.
VS.
This is a classic Tom Ross type of move, cutting four cards that scale well in the mid- or late-game to make room for four more all-in, hyper-aggro threats.
The sideboard is where things get really interesting. I love his cutting of the conditional tricks Tandem Tactics and Eerie Possession to make room for those Hanweir Militia Captains. Why get fancy? But then we come to the Gideon slots…
Despite sideboarding the full four Needle Spires, Ross didn’t play a single Gideon! Talk about nothing being sacred! Instead, Ross is packing Reckless Bushwhacker, letting him set up one big lethal turn as his anti-sweeper plan.
This is actually a very cool plan that is particularly effective against the W/B Midrange decks that have been steadily climbing up the format. They have so much Languish / Planar Outburst action that we really need an anti-sweeper plan; but they also have countless Ruinous Paths and Anguished Unmakings, not to mention a playset of Gideons. Is Gideon really the way to fight them?
What they don’t have is much instant-speed interaction. Beyond a couple copies Secure the Wastes, they are really short on ways to stop a big Bushwhacker turn, particularly if Ross can get an Always Watching or two on the table. His initial rush might only get twelve damage or so in, but then he can sit there holding threats until he drops everything in one turn, playing a weird sort of combo game.
Tom Ross is the man.
Let’s take a look at the metagames of #SCGATL and Grand Prix Costa Rica. The Day 2 metagame is all 151 GP Day 2 lists unweighted, while each of the Top 32 metagames is weighted by finish. Finally, the overall meta for the weekend is the average of these three percentages.
|
Archetypes |
GP Costa Rica Day 2 |
GP Costa Rica Top 32 |
SCG Top 32 Atlanta |
Overall Meta |
|
G/W Tokens |
21.2% |
36.5% |
25.4% |
27.7% |
|
Bant CoCo |
17.9% |
30.2% |
20.6% |
22.9% |
|
W/B Mid |
17.2% |
9.5% |
6.3% |
11.0% |
|
4c Rites |
6.0% |
3.2% |
11.1% |
6.8% |
|
W/r Humans |
3.3% |
1.6% |
9.5% |
4.8% |
|
Naya Mid |
2.7% |
9.5% |
0.0% |
4.1% |
|
G/R Ramp |
3.3% |
1.6% |
6.3% |
3.7% |
|
6.0% |
1.6% |
1.6% |
3.1% |
|
|
6.0% |
1.6% |
1.6% |
3.1% |
|
|
U/R Eldrazi |
0.7% |
0.0% |
6.3% |
2.3% |
|
U/x Flash |
2.0% |
0.0% |
4.8% |
2.3% |
|
U/b Prison |
0.7% |
3.2% |
1.6% |
1.8% |
|
W Humans |
3.3% |
1.6% |
0.0% |
1.6% |
|
Esper |
1.3% |
0.0% |
3.2% |
1.5% |
|
Sultai |
0.7% |
0.0% |
3.2% |
1.3% |
|
GB Aristocrat |
1.3% |
0.0% |
1.6% |
1.0% |
|
Misc |
2.7% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.9% |
Another week and G/W Tokens is still on top, leading every category, every event (and this is even merging Displacer Bant Company and Bant Human Company). Of course, it helps that Seth Manfield plays G/W Tokens…
Creatures (15)
Planeswalkers (8)
Lands (25)
Spells (12)
If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it…
And if it is broken, play it!
That said, this weekend wasn’t without some sweet brews, and some movers and shakers. For instance, check out this very cool U/W Flash Aggro deck, piloted to a Top 8 finish by Hugo Terra:
Creatures (17)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (24)
Spells (15)
Sideboard
Is that eleven 2/1 flying flash creatures for two? That’s ridiculous.
It’s not even funny.
Rattlechains is certainly the more impressive of the flash two-drops, but they are really both mostly just about the 2/1 flying and flash. Rattlechains can potentially make the two Bygone Bishops have flash as well and can occasionally give hexproof to one of the Spirits (which are just the Rattlechains and Bishops). Dimensional Infiltrator, on the other hand, has an ability that requires colorless mana to activate. With just a single Westvale Abbey, Hugo isn’t activating this ability all that often.
So, why only three copies of Stratus Dancer? Why not use Stratus Dancer over the fourth Dimensional Infiltrator? Flash, of course. With nine counterspells and tricks, Hugo really wants to keep his mana open.
I bet y’all weren’t expecting to see Spell Shrivel become a regular tournament-cashing card. I just appreciate the heart it takes to register four Spell Shrivels and just three Clash of Wills.
Know thyself.
Once you’re registering a 2/1 flying theme deck full of Spell Shrivels, you might as well own it!
Essence Flux only has six Spirits for the bonus +1/+1 counter, but that’s only a small part of the puzzle. It’s still a one-mana answer to removal spells, contributing to the tempo gameplan. It also re-triggers enters-the-battlefield triggers, namely Reflector Mage.
It’s not just a one-mana Unsummon (aka, an Unsummon), stopping the creature from returning for at least one turn, whether played on your turn (stopping their turn) or in their attack step (stopping it from returning during their second main phase). Additionally, it untaps the Reflector Mage, which can really change combat math.
Look, I’m not co-signing playing Invocation of Saint Traft. It’s not a good card. However, it does have uses. If you are going to use it, this is definitely the best spot I’ve seen for it. Put it on a flier and you’ve got a great plan for racing an aggro deck that doesn’t play much removal. It’s particularly nice that you can flash down a threat and then put the Invocation to hit your opponent for six more damage than they were thinking was coming.
Of course, savvy readers may have already realized that Hugo’s list is a color-shifted update to Tomoharu Saito’s U/R Flash deck, which he piloted to a 19th-place finish in GP Minneapolis, last week:
Creatures (16)
Lands (24)
Spells (20)
Sideboard
Hugo replaced Goldnight Castigator with Gideon, Fevered Visions with Reflector Mage, Fiery Impulse with Declaration in Stone, and Exquisite Firecraft with a Bygone Bishop / Invocation of Saint Traft split, trimming a Stratus Dancer and a Clash of Wills for the two copies of Essence Flux.
While these decks function very similarly, it’s worth noting how many more ways Saito can activate Dimensional Infiltrator, not to mention having Wandering Fumarole for additional threats. On balance, he doesn’t really have the Spirit thing going at all.
It was a different U/R deck that has been continuing to show up in Top 8s, however. Michael Segal made the Top 4 with a streamlined version of the U/R Eldrazi deck Matthew Hunt piloted to a Top 8 finish in Grand Prix Manchester.
Creatures (6)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (28)
Spells (22)
To start with, Segal swapped all four Void Shatters for four Spell Shrivels.
Same card, easier to cast…
Segal also cut all the fancy one-ofs from Hunt’s list.
Out:
In:
I’m noticing a theme here. At every point, Hunt is sacrificing some of the late-game power for more consistency and better mana early. With the format this fast and aggressive, and Hunt’s list so good at winning the late-game already, this looks like a smart move.
While Segal’s U/R deck was the deck I was most jealous of getting to play, it was Frank Karsten that had the most exotic big finish on the weekend.
Frank’s list is an update to Martin Muller’s 25th-place list from GP Manchester with a light black splash for two sideboard Dragonlord Silumgars that go alongside the two copies of Guardian of Tazeem, dramatically increasing the transformational sideboard plan.
The name “Prison” is a bit of a misnomer, as this list actually plays out a lot more like a Turbo-Fog deck than a Prison deck (which historically describes a lock deck). More on this style can be found here.
It wasn’t a great weekend for control. W/B Midrange/Control did okay, but it actually slightly underperformed on Day 2 of the GP, considering how many pilots it had. As for blue control, Segal’s U/R Eldrazi deck was the clear winner, but Johnathan Stinnett did put up a nice finish with Esper Dragons.
Creatures (10)
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (27)
Spells (22)
This is a very standard take on Esper Dragons, and while it’s a solid deck, I worry that its time has already past. This world of G/W Tokens, Bant Collected Company, and W/B Midrange has not been friendly to Esper Control. There are just too many planeswalkers all over the place.
William Courson had the coolest new control deck of the weekend, finishing 18th in Atlanta with an innovative Sultai Control deck that looks inspired by the Grixis decks that have been so popular (but that got slaughtered on Day 2 of the GP).
Creatures (15)
- 2 Dragonlord Silumgar
- 1 Den Protector
- 4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
- 2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
- 2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
- 4 Sylvan Advocate
Lands (26)
Spells (19)
Compared to Grixis, Sultai starts by replacing Goblin Dark-Dwellers with three Dark Petition and a Seasons Past.
This combo was popularized by Jon Finkel and some members of The Pantheon at PT Shadows over Innistrad. Dark Petition is just a good card in its own right. When you can tutor up a Seasons Past, however, you can start to go nuts. Every time you Seasons Past, you get back Dark Petition and lots of other cards. Then, you can use Dark Petition to find Seasons Past again. Repeat ad nauseam.
Sultai also replaces Fiery Impulse with Sylvan Advocate for early defense and Kolaghan’s Command with Nissa, Vastwood Seer and Pulse of Murasa.
This is largely just to support the Seasons Past splash, but these are all good cards, so I’m on board. Really, I think we still haven’t fully cracked the code on Seasons Past. That card is so nutty. The Dark Petition combo is probably the best interaction with it at the moment, but the best home still remains to be seen.
Okay, time to get down to business on this Legacy format.
I haven’t gotten to play Brainstorm since GP Seattle…
…but I haven’t gotten to play Eye of Ugin since GP Detroit…