Welcome to What We’d Play! With the Standard portion of Grand Prix
Richmond just a day away, many are unsure what they’d play in such a
high-profile tournament. That’s where we come in and let you know what
we’d play this weekend and why we’d play it. Hopefully this last-minute
advice aids in your decision making! Be sure to vote for who you agree
with in the poll at the end!
Todd Anderson – B/U Midrange
Creatures (14)
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (21)
Spells (24)
B/U Midrange has been a deck very close to my heart for months now. With
the emergence of Goblin Chainwhirler, Glint-Sleeve Siphoner took a pretty
big hit. But without a doubt, it is still one of the best cards in the
archetype, and it singlehandedly dominates games unlike many cards before
it. A midrange or control strategy having such a powerful two-drop opens up
a lot of avenues of play, different angles of attack, and punishes players
for not having a removal spell on time.
Aside from Glint-Sleeve Siphoner, I just really like the B/U Midrange deck
against all forms of Red/X decks, as your slew of cheap removal combined
with The Scarab God is very difficult for them to beat. And if they try to
go bigger after sideboard, that just plays right into your gameplan. They
can’t beat The Scarab God without a lot of work, and you have a ton of ways
to interact with their more problematic permanents.
The only deck I’m scared of is one featuring Vine Mare, but even then we’re
coming correct with Doomfall, as well as a nice clip of Essence Scatter. Of
course, they can still run you over, but I like our chances against the
rest of the field. Trust Emma Handy.
Todd Stevens – Grixis Midrange
Creatures (10)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (22)
Spells (26)
Even though B/U Midrange is the much more popular deck in Standard these
days, I still prefer to go Grixis even though I’m only playing five red
cards. Magma Spray is crucial with the format filled with Scrapheap
Scounger and Champion of Wits, Abrade gives the deck a clean answer to
God-Pharaoh’s Gift and Aetherflux Reservoir, Nicol Bolas, the Ravager is an
insanely powerful card, and Sweltering Suns and Hour of Devastation help
out against the green and red decks.
Most people point to the manabase of Grixis Midrange being inconsistent as
the reason they prefer B/U Midrange, but from what I’ve seen that statement
mostly comes from people who try to play Aether Hub in their deck. I
haven’t had much trouble with the manabase I’ve been playing, especially
with the only non-black double colored spells either being in the sideboard
or costing six mana. Glint-Sleeve Siphoner is wonderful against the control
decks of the format but pretty lousy everywhere else, making it a sideboard
card only for me, especially without Aether Hub.
Ari Lax – R/B Aggro
Creatures (23)
- 2 Pia Nalaar
- 4 Bomat Courier
- 4 Scrapheap Scrounger
- 2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
- 2 Glorybringer
- 1 Hazoret the Fervent
- 1 Soul-Scar Mage
- 3 Rekindling Phoenix
- 4 Goblin Chainwhirler
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (11)
Spells (23)
I assure you: If you don’t play R/B Aggro, your matchup against it is worse
than you think. It’s just ahead against everything except maybe
Bant Nexus, and even that is questionable and fixable. Not playing R/B
Aggro is just admitting you don’t want the best chance of winning the
event. My only tip is to play a million copies of Doomfall as people seem
to think The Scarab God is game over and blanks are better than playing ten
or so of the best individual cards in the format together.
Don’t play Hour of Glory. That card sucks.
Owen Turtenwald – R/B Aggro
Creatures (24)
- 2 Pia Nalaar
- 4 Bomat Courier
- 4 Scrapheap Scrounger
- 2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
- 2 Glorybringer
- 2 Hazoret the Fervent
- 2 Soul-Scar Mage
- 2 Rekindling Phoenix
- 4 Goblin Chainwhirler
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (11)
Spells (22)
Sideboard
This decklist won Grand Prix Los Angeles a short time ago in the hands of
Logan Nettles. Logan has been a teammate of mine many times in the past and
that’s me putting my stamp of approval on him as a player and deckbuilder.
He’s one of the best out there today. Seeing him win with “stock” R/B Aggro
was a treat to watch, and a breakout finish at a premier level event was a
long time coming for him. I love the look of the list too, with the
exception of a basic land in the sideboard. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it,
and with Worlds only a few weeks away, a few more matches of practice with
my lovely R/B Aggro deck can’t hurt. I’ve already locked in this exact list
for Grand Prix Richmond should I face the misfortune of missing Day Two of
the Legacy GP first.
Cedric Phillips – Mono-Green Aggro
Creatures (24)
- 4 Llanowar Elves
- 4 Scrapheap Scrounger
- 3 Greenbelt Rampager
- 3 Rhonas the Indomitable
- 3 Thrashing Brontodon
- 4 Steel Leaf Champion
- 3 Thorn Lieutenant
Lands (11)
Spells (25)
I’ll keep this short and sweet, as this isn’t nearly as cool as my Humans
deck in Legacy. With B/U Midrange picking up in popularity and Mono-Red
Flame of Keld winning a Grand Prix recently, it’s clear that players are
focusing on beating the decks that Mono-Green Aggro has difficulty with:
Bant Nexus and U/W Control. The idea here is to play against the first two
decks, hope to fade the other two (though Sorcerous Spyglass helps there
immensely), and run good against R/B Aggro since that matchup is closer
than it appears.
Does Mono-Green Aggro leave you with the ability to outplay your opponent?
Not really. But your good matchups are very good, and those decks appear to
be incredibly popular, so lets cross some fingers and hope to get the right
pairings, shall we?
We shall!