I did terrible in a Standard tournament!
I actually did the worst you could possibly do. After my two byes, I went on to play in every single round of the event to end up losing the last one for
money. I won less rounds of Magic than I lost! This is not only a first for me in that many rounds, but to do it after putting so much work into a deck
left me almost nauseous. You could say that lessons were learned, but I should have already known better and came with the deck my gut was screaming for me
to play. Instead, I took a deck that seemed great in our testing, but that was the product of inbred preparation. Let’s rewind.
The beginning of last week showcased the biggest and brightest minds of the local Magic community sitting around a kitchen table trying to break Standard.
We had all the tools needed to find the golden ticket, but too many things went wrong for us to actually discover it. For starters, we didn’t have enough
decks built to fully get a feel for what we were testing.
One of the most important things to understand while testing is to make sure that you are building a deck to beat what others will bring and not what you
have built. We were somewhat lazy in our preparation, but doing this is always a death sentence. I put down numerous decks due to them not being able to
beat decks like U/B Control and decks similar to Ali Aintrazi’s Sultai Ramp deck. Green Devotion went from an almost certainty to completely unplayable in
my book due to its inability to win these matchups.
I didn’t play against a single control deck in the Open.
I kept hearing that control decks would get more popular going into the event due to the release of Crux of Fate, but that doesn’t mean the deck would
actually see more play, let alone get better. It was complete speculation at that point. We couldn’t guarantee it would sprout a whole new fellowship to
the controlling cause. It just made sense to believe that, so I went with it and assumed a deck that couldn’t beat control wouldn’t be good enough.
Our trash became Kali Anderson’s treasure, and she spent most the tournament in top 8 contention after not playing Magic for over four months. The build of
Green Devotion that Kali played was great and would have been a fine choice to play.
The second deck that I had high hopes for was Foul-Color Delve. The Soul deck got some serious upgrades in the Tasigur, the Golden Fang and Whisperwood
Elemental. Both of these cards fit nicely in this shell and could have made for a very powerful week one deck. Power is something I always look for in the
first week, as the metagame is going to be random, which makes doing something proactive worth it. You never know what you are going to get beat by, so
it’s just best to fend it all off with your own form of beats.
I sleeved the deck up Wednesday night and kept getting beat by Brian Braun-Duin playing a Sultai Control deck based around Frontier Siege. Most of my
losses against BBD were due to Hornet Queen, a card I already knew the power of from playing Green Devotion, so I quickly dismissed Soul of Theros, since
the ramp strategies were less explored and potentially more powerful. However, I forgot to follow one of my old golden rules, and instead, quickly went
back to the drawing board with Frontier Siege.
Don’t play ramp!
Now this isn’t a message I want everyone to believe in, as some people can handle the swings, but I’m not one of those people. I hate playing ramp decks
because I only have one powerful thing to do a turn. I love the synergies this game has and always look to explore as many as I come across. I don’t play
this game to ramp into Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, but for some reason that is exactly what I thought I wanted to do this past weekend. I guess ramp
strategies are the same as wine in my life. Every year or so I give it a try just to remember how awful it tastes [CEDitor’s Note: You are so stupid] and wonder why anyone could ever want to do that to themselves
[CEDitor’s Note: Because it is delicious and
nutritious
]
.
To each their own I guess.
I might have made a mistake in playing Ramp, but the biggest issue I have with my preparation is how quickly I dismissed Four-Color Delve. Of course the
deck is going to have a tough time dealing with Hornet Queen! That card is the deck’s nemesis. This doesn’t mean I’m going to play against Hornet Queen
decks that often. In fact, I only played against one deck with Hornet Queen the whole weekend. The Soul Deck might have been the best deck to play in the
entire room, but I didn’t have the courage to sleeve it up because the first matchup I tested against beat it.
The last mistake I made going into this tournament was getting lazy on the last day and just going with the 75 I had. I was sick of playtesting and assumed
that this list was as good as it was going to get. I can easily tell you after the event that this was extremely arrogant and idiotic to assume. Now,
obviously you learn something from every event you play that would have changed the list you submitted, but the things I learned were some of the basics.
The deck was short a land, had too high of a curve, and didn’t have a great answer to opposing permanents besides an eight-mana planeswalker that did a
better job at killing my stuff than my opponents.
Simply put, our deck was misbuilt and fundamentally flawed.
I tell you this not to vent or seek pity, but to show you all that Magic is the most complex game to ever exist on our planet. It rewards persistence over
all other things while being so complex that all lessons will eventually have to be relearned. I learned a long time ago that being humble is the fastest
way to improve in Magic. Somewhere I forgot that little tidbit of advice. Maybe it was when I was hoisting the Players’ Championship trophy. All I know is
Magic got the best of me this past weekend like it should have. I got cocky and paid the price.
But enough about how bad I can be at Magic sometimes. Let’s dive into what the Open Series in DC is going to do to Standard!
The first thing to take from this event is the lack of pure U/B Control in the top 8. Two versions of the deck that splashed green made it to the
elimination rounds, but no pure U/B Control deck got there. The top 64 of the event had a couple sprinkled into the results, but at the end of the day, U/B
Control underperformed. This could have been from the fact that it was on everyone radar, or possibly that the control players couldn’t properly predict
the metagame. That question won’t be answered for a couple more weeks, which will be enough time for U/B Control players to prove if the deck is the real
deal, or that it belongs as a fringe metagame deck for another couple months.
One archetype that overperformed was Abzan Midrange and its more aggressive counterpart, Abzan Aggro. These decks both put numerous copies into the top 64,
and while they might have different gameplans, the one thing they have in common is Thoughtseize and Siege Rhino.
These two cards are poised to dominate this format. They are both phenomenal at helping out against all forms of Goblin Rabblemaster decks as well as being
good against Ramp, control, and generally everything. Thoughtseize might be better positioned than it ever has been in this format, and Siege Rhino is
there to help make sure to stem any bleeding the one mana spell may have caused. I find it very difficult to believe that playing any deck with these two
cards is going to be wrong for the next couple weeks. The format is just too young for these two powerhouses to be a bad choice.
One deck that I was glad to see make a comeback was Jeskai Aggro. This deck was having a difficult time once the format became based around Whip of Erebos,
but Ugin, the Spirit Dragon has helped shut that door, allowing decks like Jeskai Aggro to flourish once again. Michael Walewski even had some spice to
make everything about his top 8 performance nice.
Creatures (16)
- 2 Stormbreath Dragon
- 4 Goblin Rabblemaster
- 4 Mantis Rider
- 4 Seeker of the Way
- 2 Shaman of the Great Hunt
Lands (25)
Spells (20)
I assumed Abzan Advtange was Constructed playable, but seeing three copies in the maindeck blew my mind. It obviously had to have been good enough since
Michael made top 8 with the card, and giving enchantment removal a secondary ability makes this card never dead. Sure a +1/+1 counter might not get the job
done all the time, but I’m guessing there were times Michael got to blow opponents out since they had no clue what they were playing around. I love the
look of his deck, and I am glad that someone got there with this archetype so early in the season.
All in all, this format seems to be dominated by aggressive and controlling strategies, but not midrange for once. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon has scared most
away from playing midrange strategies based around permanents like Whip of Erebos. This might end up being a mistake, but it will take someone changing the
way we build Whip decks for that to be true. For now, I think I am going to stick to aggressive strategies and try to start working on decks like
Four-color Delve and other Tasigur, the Golden Fang based decks.
Creatures (32)
- 3 Elvish Mystic
- 4 Sylvan Caryatid
- 3 Courser of Kruphix
- 4 Satyr Wayfinder
- 4 Soul of Theros
- 4 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
- 4 Siege Rhino
- 4 Whisperwood Elemental
- 2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Lands (22)
Spells (6)
Sideboard
That doesn’t mean that I’m giving up on G/B Constellation that easily! The deck was poorly built, but many of the issues could have been resolved if we put
more work into the deck, and I still believe the archetype has the potential to be competitive. Frontier Siege is a very good Magic card that I’m happy to
continue working on. We just need to find the best home for this card since it makes every deck it’s in look great. The card really is that good. Here’s
the list I would play this weekend if I wasn’t going to be spending the week working on Modern for Pro Tour Fate Reforged with Team Revolution.
Creatures (26)
- 3 Hornet Queen
- 4 Elvish Mystic
- 4 Polukranos, World Eater
- 4 Sylvan Caryatid
- 4 Courser of Kruphix
- 4 Eidolon of Blossoms
- 3 Doomwake Giant
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (24)
Spells (7)
The most obvious inclusion is four Polukranos, World Eater. The deck needed something to do when it wasn’t doing much, and that is exactly the definition
of eating worlds. Polukranos isn’t the best card in the format, but it is great at holding back Siege Rhinos as well as beating down through them. This
deck has a tough time winning a game outside of Eidolon of Blossoms getting out of control or a couple Hornet Queens taking over in the air. Polukranos
gives this deck the ability to sideboard into a much more aggressive deck, which is something I wish I could have done while playing in DC. Nissa,
Worldwaker is great and all, but having something to play prior to her was what I needed throughout the event.
The other major change was putting the Thoughtseizes and a couple Rakshasa Deathdealer into the sideboard. Thoughtseize might be one of the best cards in
the format, but I only wanted them in specific situations. Ramp decks don’t like having this card unless they are on the draw or have cards like Whip of
Erebos in their maindeck. I learned this the hard way, as I would always board them out on the play and board them back in on the draw.
The Rakshasa Deathdealers might end up being too weak to be sideboard cards, but I wanted more earlygame spells I could cast when I was trying to go
aggressive. The version we played in DC had way too much on the top end. All I wanted was something to do with extra mana while also lowering my curve.
This two-drop might be exactly what the doctor ordered.
No BBD, not that doctor.
Anyway, that’s all I have for this week. I have been focusing on the Pro Tour coming up next week. It was supposed to be Standard, but a lot of people
complained about four Standard Pro Tours being boring. Well does this format look boring to you? I hope you enjoy seeing a sea of Siege Rhinos at this Pro
Tour instead of the wide open format that is Standard.
Oh wait…