It’s been since Journey into Nyx was released since the last time
I was qualified for the Pro Tour. Few may remember that tournament since I
found it to be one of the least interesting events I’ve ever played in. The
format was Block Constructed and while I got to work with a host of amazing
players for that event, it was my worst performance at a Pro Tour. Eidolon
of Blossoms and Elspeth Sun’s Champion, frequently complemented by Courser
of Kruphix and Sylvan Caryatid fending off most any sort of aggressive
decks that might exist, dominated the room and made for the most grindy
games you could imagine. All in all I’m glad there’s no more Block
Constructed Pro Tours, especially with only two-set blocks now!
Now I find myself at the airport headed to Nashville for what will be my
first Standard format Pro Tour, and I couldn’t be more excited! This event
has many unusual things about it you may not realize. It’s one of very few
Pro Tours that have had a banning immediately preceding it, not to mention
an emergency ban. As well, this is likely the Pro Tour with the most amount
of information available for it going in. Despite there only being one
Standard SCG Tour event leading into it, Magic Online has had more time to
iron out the best decks because of Amonkhet’s early release date
by comparison to events prior.
So what does that mean? It means we’re less likely to be taken by storm at
this Pro Tour than others. It means people have a better idea of what to
expect and what to prepare for. It also means I’m scared to death! Because
I feel like with all this information right in our face, there has to be
something looming in the shadows that some super team or a clever
individual might have discovered. While, as I said, it is unlikely…it’s
certainly possible.
Here’s a few to check out:
Creatures (24)
- 4 Relentless Dead
- 4 Diregraf Colossus
- 4 Cryptbreaker
- 4 Metallic Mimic
- 4 Lord of the Accursed
- 4 Dread Wanderer
Lands (25)
- 23 Swamp
- 2 Westvale Abbey
Spells (11)
These three cards from Amonkhet took the idea of playing a Zombie
tribal deck from laughable to a serious contender. The ability to play the
beat down role with super resilient threats against removal-heavy
strategies (such as G/B Delirium) make this deck impossible to out-card
advantage going long. The addition of Liliana’s Mastery and Lord of the
Accursed gave the deck much needed beef in the form of Lords, one of which
you can’t just kill with a removal spell!
Creatures (18)
- 4 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
- 1 Tireless Tracker
- 3 Whirler Virtuoso
- 4 Servant of the Conduit
- 4 Rogue Refiner
- 2 Glorybringer
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (22)
Spells (18)
Welcome to your Pro Tour format! With the exception of Mardu Vehicles,
Ulamog, the Ceasless Hunger and company have skyrocketed in popularity
online, taking up almost as many 5-0 spots as Mardu Vehicles. Maybe more…
It is important to note that this deck got nearly nothing from Amonkhet aside from some situational removal spells in Magma Spray
and Sweltering Suns. So why have we seen such a huge uptick in play? It’s
hard to truly understand what some cards do to a format. With Saheeli Rai
and [REDACTED] legal, there was little reason to mess around with
percentages of hitting a powerful threat off of Aetherworks Marvel when you
could just assemble an infinite combo with just two cards. Saheeli Rai
combo pushed Aetherworks Marvel decks out.
Unfortunately, a hand of Aetherworks Marvel, Woodweaver’s Puzzleknot and
four lands can have the same feel as dying on turn 4, as there are few (if
any decks) that exist that can handle an Ulamog ,the Ceaseless Hunger with
its cast trigger happening that early. Luckily for us, that’s not a highly
likely sequence of events. There’s always the possibility the Aetherworks
Marvel player can look foolish when they draw a near-uncastable Ulamog, the
Ceaseless Hunger.
Creatures (20)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (24)
Spells (12)
For every action, there is indeed and equal and opposite reaction. Taking
the form of U/W Flash from back in the days of Reflector Mage and
Smuggler’s Copter, this deck does its best to prey on the popularity of
Aetherworks Marvel decks by playing almost entirely at instant speed! With
a minor Spirits theme and some former format all-stars, this deck can hang
with control decks by taking the aggro/control role, depending on the
opposition.
Creatures (27)
- 4 Verdurous Gearhulk
- 4 Longtusk Cub
- 4 Greenbelt Rampager
- 4 Winding Constrictor
- 3 Rishkar, Peema Renegade
- 4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
- 4 Walking Ballista
Lands (21)
Spells (12)
It seems like ages ago since Columbus when I won playing aggressive G/B
Delirium. There are times when you look back and see just how far ahead of
everyone you really were and that was one of those times. While the word
has long since been out, Winding Constrictor retains its must-answer
qualities since this more energy=based G/B variation can certainly function
without it, but it is a monster if left unmolested. This, like
Aetherworks Marvel, was almost pushed out of the format due to the
existence of the aforementioned two-card combo, but it has since been given
new life despite not gaining all too much from Amonkhet.
We all know what Mardu Vehicles looks like and you can be sure to expect
that deck to be among the most played decks this weekend for sure. However,
if there’s anything Magic Online has shown us the past two weeks since
Atlanta, it’s that we have a much more diverse metagame than we saw then.
For this particular Pro Tour, I’ve chosen to do all of my Constructed
testing online, and most of it was while I was streaming (shameless plug).
If any of you have noticed, I have a strong bias toward a specific deck or
two.
Creatures (15)
- 3 Tireless Tracker
- 3 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
- 4 Grim Flayer
- 1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
- 1 Noxious Gearhulk
- 2 Walking Ballista
- 1 Manglehorn
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (23)
Spells (18)
Not much has changed as far as the starting sixty, Ishkanah, Grafwidow is
as powerful as ever, and endless removal in a creature-based format is
still great. The real change here is the sideboard;
I’m taking a Modern format approach to the sideboard here. In Modern you
don’t want slight upgrades or minor swaps with card functionality; you want
haymakers! Paired against Zombies? Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet is your guy!
Ulamog, the Ceasless Hunger getting you down? Lost Legacy them back to
wherever the Eldrazi came from! No more tiptoeing around with sideboard
cards that overlap against decks and aren’t as powerful. Just take them out
at the core and be done with it.
Grim Flayer and friends have been my ally since their printing, and I don’t
expect that to change any time soon. However, if this Pro Tour is to be
similar to when Kaladesh was first released, then I can expect a
sea of Aetherworks Marvel decks, all of which I’m not excited to sit across
from. While you can fight the good fight and sometimes hit their Ulamog,
the Ceaseless Hunger with Lost Legacy, ultimately, it’s a tough-looking
battle. It might be best if I try and find another avenue for victory.
So I like to consider myself extremely well-versed with the classic G/B
Delirium-style of deck, much like the list I just posted above. If that’s
my comfort zone but Aetherworks Marvel is the target in the room I’m afraid
of, what’s there to do?
Creatures (15)
- 3 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
- 3 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
- 1 Noxious Gearhulk
- 4 Servant of the Conduit
- 4 Rogue Refiner
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (20)
Spells (23)
Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too? This deck tries to be
both an Aetherworks Marvel deck and a Delirium deck as well. I templated
this deck to look very similar to the Aetherworks Marvel decks we saw
dominate Standard before the Emrakul, the Promised End banning. This deck
has a back up plan unlike most other Aetherworks Marvel variants: just win
the game with Ishkanah, Grafwidow draining them out and Liliana, Death’s
Majesty fueling the fire. Have you ever seen an Ulamog, the Ceaseless
Hunger turned into a Zombie? I have! While you don’t get the cast trigger
if you use Liliana, Death’s Majesty to bring the colossal Eldrazi to the
battlefield, you do still get a 10/10 indestructible creature that eats
your opponent’s library.
The weakness of this deck is that unlike its Temur counterpart, there’s no
other use for all the energy you produce other than Aetherworks Marvel.
Temur has access to Whirler Virtuoso, which helps defend early and make use
of excess energy, as well as Harnessed Lightning. That can take down even
giant Verdurous Gearhulks. Sultai does give you Ishkanah, Grafwidow though,
and if the expected field is Mardu Vehicles, there’s no place I’d rather be
than behind my Spider friends.
Sideboards are the most crucial part of your deck because they allow you to
pick what you want to have game against. One new card from Amonkhet that I feel is due to breakout at the Pro Tour is Bounty
of the Luxa. Not only does it give you card flow for the long games, it
generates three mana, which can be huge if you’re unfortunate enough to
have drawn an Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger.
I’ve received a lot of questions regarding my inclusion of Yahenni’s
Expertise, a card that’s almost exclusively for the Zombies match up, when
a card like Flaying Tendrils exists that can permanently answer their
recursive threats.
The answer is simple: -2/-2 isn’t enough anymore.
With the addition of Metallic Mimic and Lord of the Accursed, the Zombie
deck easily gets above the two-toughness threshold. While Yahenni’s
Expertise doesn’t permanently answer some of their threats, it does kill a
lot of them. The time it buys can be just enough.
G/B Delirium or Sultai Marvel are my two big choices for the Pro Tour. I
have only hours to go as I’m writing this to decide which of those two
lists I’ll be playing. No this isn’t a trick. There will be no last minute
audible to Mardu Vehicles. I’m playing one of those two lists in Nashville,
and I have no idea which deck I should play even now. Wish me luck!