Another Pro Tour is in the books. For myself that equates to another disappointing finish and more lessons to ponder. I worked with Day 1 MTG again for Pro
Tour Fate Reforged after skipping out on Khans of Tharkir due to being unable to commit the time necessary to the beach house.
I tend to reflect the most post-tournament after Pro Tours, and if there has been a common theme over the past year, it has and continues to be “work on
drafting you idiot.” After starting the tournament 1-2 with a deck that was consistently described as “great” and of “3-0 quality” by folks I respect, it
can be difficult to continue to play to the best of your ability. Despite birding a large number of drafts and playing in several myself to get to the
point where I felt comfortable drafting the format, it would seem that I didn’t adequately prepare myself by actually playing enough of the games
throughout the drafts. Once you couple that fact with my issue of often not playing as sharp in the first few rounds each day, and I made a lot of stupid
mistakes, losing is inevitable. As one might expect, the Pro Tour is not a place where stupid mistakes equate to winning matches. Also, Ugin the Spirit
Dragon is a terrifying card to play against in Limited.
Limited: where you still have to actually play the games after drafting the deck. Lesson learned. Until the Italians finish penning their children’s book
“Michael Majors and the 40-card decks,” I’ll leave it at that. (Spoiler: there might not be such a happy ending.)
However, after the results of the Pro Tour, I can say that I did have a revelation in regards to Constructed as a whole.
Misconceptions About Level 0:
Immediately following the bans, it was clear to everyone that Abzan was the “Level 0 deck.” What I mean by this is that every person qualified for the Pro
Tour knew it existed and that it was a reasonable choice. It is proactive, plays powerful cards, and between Abrupt Decay and discard, is balanced and has
a fighting chance against almost every single matchup. Despite these strengths, I knew going into testing there was almost no way I was going to play it.
When I walked into the hotel a week before the Pro Tour to meet up with my teammates and nearly every single person was locked into Abzan, I was extremely
disheartened. This led to a schism in the team between the few left looking for decks and those trying to play Abzan mirror matches and test their
sideboard configurations. Not healthy. The end result was that five of us ended up playing Scapeshift, a powerful deck that we configured to have a good
matchup against Abzan, but that ultimately fell prey to the linear aggressive decks that outline Modern.
Ultimately, if you look at the top 8 of the event, it contains a full eight decks I would have never chosen to play before the event. Clearly there’s a
problem.
Pride is a funny word. In terms of Magic connotations, there may be associations with owning up to mistakes or not being willing to give up on a pet deck.
In this case, it can be summed up by: I was unwilling to play Burn. Rewind the clock two weeks ago, and I even had a teammate ask if I would play Burn
before the tournament if I felt it would give me the best win percentage! I lied. When it came down to crunch time, I was unwilling to stick to my own
rules for Pro Tours. I’ve found that the best way to approach a lack of a positive skill gap is as follows:
Be proactive.
Be capable of an unbeatable draw/have no unwinnable matchups
Be punishing of stumbling and mulligans
It’s really that simple, and despite Scapeshift having some of these qualities, at the end of the day you’re largely reliant on drawing a single card in
your deck and are actively dying until the very moment you win. Is the deck bad? Certainly not, but I knew going into the tournament that I would have a
sweat in every game of Constructed, and that’s just foolish to do in such an aggressive format as Modern.
There’s no shame in being on level 0. It turns out that lighting your opponent’s face on fire or curving into Liliana of the Veil is still effective. Some
of the best teams in the world had the discipline to accept that fact and instead focused on improving the details of their decks instead of discovering a
new strategy. My own team largely came to that conclusion, and I was unwilling to work out the kinks, instead thinking I could come up with something
better in less than a week. It just wasn’t an effective use of time or man power, thus, my result, and likely my team’s result as a whole, suffered.
Further, a lot can be gleaned by taking a look at the eventual winner and the fact that another Splinter Twin pilot joined him in the top 8. I liked the
U/R Splinter Twin decks, but I completely dismissed them as a result of their weak Abzan matchup. Notice the pattern here? They were rewarded for taking a
deck that had a powerful proactive gameplan with nigh unbeatable draws and the potential to kill anyone in the format on turn 4, despite it being a dog to
Abzan and Abrupt Decay strategies. Don’t be afraid of level 0 strategies, whether in terms of embracing them or dismissing other decks as a result of their
existence.
Standard and Grand Prix Memphis
Before the results of last week, I think it was fair to say that R/W Aggro was the king. Whether this was largely the hype of a vocal few or its prevalence
and success at Regionals is difficult to say, but the deck was lean, efficient, and picked up a few nice goodies from Fate Reforged. Valorous Stance,
Outpost Siege, and perhaps to a lesser extent, Soulfire Grand Master, were all welcome additions that gave the deck game in week 1. We are no longer in
week one. You may have tuned in for my last article, and
what is there to say other than folks sure are making up for lost time? Whisperwood Elemental had its coming out party, and if you were relying on Seeker
of the Way alongside Hordeling Outburst last week, I’m willing to bet you didn’t have the best tournament. Everyone decided it was finally time to start
shuffling up Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to go way over the top of each other once again. There are a lot of faces to Green Devotion, but the point is that
Polukranos, World Eater and Xenagos, the Reveler are still extremely powerful, and now finally with a resilient threat to bridge the gap in Whisperwood
Elemental, Green devotion has the ability to operate at every stage in the game before finishing with something undoubtedly more powerful than you.
Decks have to change. I think it’s fair to say to some degree that Standard displays cyclical signs, and what was one of the kings at the beginning of the
format?
Mantis Rider is a nightmare for Green Devotion decks as they were configured last week. It hits hard, is difficult to interact with, and turns burn spells
that can’t kill big green creatures into an ever present threat of ending the game before Devotion can get off the ground.
If you want to beat Polukranos and friends, start here:
Creatures (12)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (24)
Spells (22)
If Grand Prix Memphis was last week, I would have played U/B Control. It turns out that while watching the current best color in Standard devour Houston,
U/B Control took down Grand Prix Seville. Here is what I would have played:
Creatures (3)
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (27)
Spells (29)
I was a big fan of the stranglehold that Silumgar puts on the majority of the popular threats that were present last week. Additionally, it’s still immune
to Hero’s Downfall and other removal and can block Siege Rhino without fear of running into Abzan Charm. Its synergy with Crux of Fate is also awesome,
allowing the deck to tap out and build a board presence without fear of having to sweep him away when things get hairy in a few turns. Despite these
strengths, a push towards big green creatures and Mantis Riders doesn’t bode well for the Drifting Death. If I’m to play U/B Control this weekend, I will
be eschewing on the quantity of Crux of Fates back for more of the previously favored Perilous Vault. As a green player, the last thing I want to see is my
U/B Control opponent tapping out for Perilous Vault on turn 4. Playing around Crux of Fate is easy, especially with new toys like Whisperwood Elemental,
and diversifying your threat base is the name of the game post-board with powerful planeswalkers. Vault cares nothing for the sort, the only things dodging
it are animated lands from Nissa, Worldwaker. As a nod to this, I would also push for additional copies of Silence the Believers, likely the best card for
catching up against 4/4 Elementals. U/B Control remains one of my frontrunners for this weekend.
So how might green decks adjust now that they have a target on their head? Arbor Colossus is starting to look a lot more appealing. Despite never being a
big fan of the card, it’s undeniable that it’s a massive road block for Mantis Rider. However, the prevalence of Valorous Stance poses a problem, and it’s
at odds on the curve with Whisperwood Elemental. A real threat to the green decks is running your first few mana accelerants into Wild Slashes and Anger of
the Gods and floundering with an uncastable hand.
Although Whip of Erebos strategies have fallen out of favor, the stability that Satyr Wayfinder provides and the ability to race even when you cannot block
through lifelink looks like a real option for green decks again going forward. We might not be able to just goldfish anymore.
Creatures (31)
- 4 Hornet Queen
- 4 Elvish Mystic
- 3 Polukranos, World Eater
- 4 Sylvan Caryatid
- 2 Voyaging Satyr
- 4 Courser of Kruphix
- 4 Satyr Wayfinder
- 2 Genesis Hydra
- 4 Whisperwood Elemental
Lands (23)
Spells (6)
Despite not being as awesome looking or as explosive as the lists from last week, this deck remains functional and has a plan moving forward. Hornet Queen
has always been the premier threat for Whip strategies, and she remains great for closing the door on Jeskai and midrange, the perfect card to ramp into.
Just because we’re revisiting an older style of deck doesn’t mean that we have to be married to previously played cards that aren’t as effective anymore
like Eidolon of Blossoms and Doomwake Giant.
The last list I want to touch on is an idea I’ve been entertaining but have yet to try. Ali Aintrazi’s week one deck was a Sultai Ramp deck that used
Frontier Siege to play a variety of powerful threats. Having toyed with a variety of devotion strategies on Magic Online this week, Frontier Siege has both
been the catalyst for some of my most unbeatable draws, but also been a liability when the deck floods out or is otherwise unable to play Magic if an
Elvish Mystic is Wild Slashed. It would seem that most have settled into their Abzan Midrange decks, feeling content to merely adjust a swing slot or two
and not really try to explore the deck’s ability to play back-breaking threats, generate card advantage, all while playing honest interactive Magic with
their opponent. How far can we push Abzan Ramp?
Creatures (14)
Planeswalkers (5)
Lands (25)
Spells (16)
There are some undeniable rough spots with this list. Although Frontier Siege is an incredible tool for powering out your major threats, there are some
concerns with actually being able to utilize your mana in an efficient manner when this is not the case. Clearly it’s difficult to cast Bile Blight off GG.
Despite this, I am super excited to try this out, as having the same upward boundary of draws as the Devotion strategies while also being able to play
interactive Magic lower down the curve has a lot of potential.
Am I crazy or does the idea of curving removal into Frontier Siege into incredible threats sound amazing to you?