This past weekend (which due to my Procrastinarian beliefs is now actually two weekends ago, but who is counting?) marked the first opportunity for players to put Innistrad cards in their Constructed decks and earn Planeswalker Points for their efforts. Cards went on sale Friday, and Standard grinders in Indianapolis and Philadelphia scrambled to find the cards that would let them leave their mark on the emerging Standard metagame—a metagame as profoundly impacted by the departure of Zendikar, Worldwake, Rise of the Eldrazi, and Magic 2011 as by the inclusion of Snapcaster Mage and friends.

I attended the Philadelphia MTGGrudgeMatch this weekend and had the chance to work the GGsLive booth with the esteemed Rashad Miller and Ben Swartz, with cameo appearances by Jon Becker and Patrick Sullivan. It was the best seat in the house to look at the new Innistrad tech, and we saw an assortment of decks ranging from Puresteel Paladin decks to Red Deck Wins builds to the brand new/old Forbidden Flare decks that can find all the cards they need to win with just one Forbidden Alchemy.

The way the tournament was structured there were two events feeding 32 people into a $10,000 single-elimination bracket. Eight players came from the Sealed Deck release event on Friday, and the remaining 24 came from Saturday’s Standard Swiss event. The latter featured 215 players and eight rounds of Swiss play, meaning players could take two losses and still make it into the Sunday action. Let’s take a look at the archetypes that made up those 24 decks advancing to the Top 32.

Mono Red

Seven out of 24 decks were Mono Red and all variations on the classic Red Deck Wins formula of just under two dozen lands, some early beaters, and an inevitable fistful of burn. Open Series Grinder and SCG columnist, Dan Jordan, finished first after the eight Swiss rounds and was the only player with as many as seven wins on the day. He built his deck around eleven one-drops and maxed out his curve at four for Koth of the Hammer. I love the inclusion of Galvanic Blast over Shock just in case you have three Shrines humming along. There is no edge a Magic player won’t take, no matter how small it is.

Dan’s deck seems to be set up well for the mirror with Manic Vandals to dismantle opposing Shrines—not to mention Birthing Pods and assorted Swords from non-red decks—and has access to a full set of Vulshok Berserkers for the last two thirds of a round. An Innistrad card notably missing from the deck is the much ballyhooed Brimstone Volley.

Red Deck Wins

Dan Jordan—7-1 (1st after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

Andrey Meyer finished second in the Swiss with one draw and one loss and is a great example of a riff on the archetype that I have been calling Red Deck Runs. This version is running green mana off of seven dual lands, and they let him power up Kessig Wolf Runs for an inexhaustible supply of Howls from Beyond. With Chandra’s Phoenix providing a recurring threat from the graveyard, a single burn spell can threaten to become a torrent of damage over two turns. The green also gives him access to Ancient Grudge out of his sideboard, which can get all the same artifacts that the Vandal can hit, but you can discard it to Liliana and play it from your graveyard. You can also get double activations of your Shrines against decks with multiple artifact targets.

Another big difference from Andrey’s list to Dan’s was how many more three-mana burn spells Andrey played. We already mentioned the Brimstone Volley that was not in Dan’s build, but Andrey not only featured four copies of that card but another two copies of Volt Charge. It is a card that plays nicely with the Stromkirk Noble, Stormblood Berserker, Shrine of Burning Rage, and Koth of the Hammer and does three damage in the process.

Red Deck Runs

Andrey Mayer 6-1-1 (2nd after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

Chris Balalaos landed somewhere in between the two decks with no green mana but three copies of Brimstone Volley, four copies of Volt Charge for its proliferate, AND two copies of Tezzeret’s Gambit for good measure.

Red Deck Wins

Chris Balalaos 6-1-1 (4th after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

As you can see from the 5th place deck by Joshua Milliken—a great Magic name considering the themes of the current block—on Saturday it was still a Chinese menu of options for the red decks. You could take your mana from column A without any significant risk to your deck’s ability to perform, a collection of creatures from column B, and all the decks come with Shrine of Burning Rage.

Red Deck Runs

Joshua Milliken 6-1-1 (5th after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

Half the decks in the Top 10 were Mono Red with Chris Bourroughs rounding out that set of decks with Red Deck Wins taking three of the spots to Red Deck Runs’ two spots. One of the compelling reasons to go with the Red Deck Wins build is the very existence of Red Deck Runs and other decks that are taking advantage of the cycle of utility lands from Innistrad. Moorland Haunt and Kessig Wolf Run are problematic cards that, when left unchecked for more than one turn, will often throw a wrench in the works of an opposing player’s plans. Chris Burroughs only ran a lone Ghost Quarter, and while it is highly unlikely that your opponents will allow themselves to get color screwed by it, you can stop them from Running all over you with it. I expect that the more classic version of RDW will persevere and will also feature an increasing number of Ghost Quarters as the format develops.

Red Deck Wins

Chris Bourroughs 6-2 (9th place after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

The remaining two red decks were found sneaking in at the bottom of the standings with a pair of losses apiece. Win Lin took a tribal approach to red in a subarchetype I was calling Goblin Deck Wins but that you could easily just call Goblins. The deck does follow the same formula as the RDW builds though with cheap creatures, some midrange guys—in this case Goblin Chieftain over Chandra’s Phoenix—and Shrine of Burning Rage. I guess the minimum number of artifacts you need to be playing to go with Galvanic Blast over Shock is four since Win went with the strictly inferior Shock with only three Shrines at his disposal.

Goblin Deck Wins

Win Lin  6-2 (19th Place after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

Finally we have Chris Mascioli, an up-and-coming curmudgeon, playing the classic archetype beloved by cranky old men everywhere. Chris made some unique choices to his list that we did not see in the other decks. For one thing, he maxed out on Koth in his maindeck, which led him to play three copies of Devil’s Play. A potentially game-ending combination when used with Koth’s ability to “ritual” equal to the number of Mountains you control. He also played more lands than any of the other decks. It is interesting to see what he changed over to for the subsequent tournament, which saw him make the Top 4. Players were not obligated to play the same list in the 32-person bracket, since it would be introducing eight players from the Sealed qualifier on Friday.

Red Deck Wins

Chris Mascioli 6-2 (24th Place after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

U/W Control

The next most played archetype in the Top 24 decks from the big Swiss event was U/W Control, which placed five players into the 32-person bracket. These decks are generally characterized by card drawing, removal—both spot and mass—and the ability to take inexorable control of the game with a variety of planeswalkers and/or creatures and equipment. These decks range from reiterations of the Caw-Blade strategy to a reboot of the Super Friends archetype.

Peter Grube was the highest finishing player with the archetype, and he eschewed equipment despite having Geist of Saint Traft in his deck as a potential hexproof swordsman. Instead he loaded up on removal with Day of Judgment, Ratchet Bomb, Oblivion Ring, Dismember, and six counterspells. Geist of Saint Traft is a card that is going to do some heavy work in a short span of time, and when you can clear the path turn after turn with removal the game ends quickly.

On the other hand, should the game go long, another card from Innistrad that made Grube’s starting lineup—Moorland Haunt—gives Grube’s deck an uncounterable win condition. Like the Kessig Wolf Run we saw earlier in the red decks, this card provides grinding inevitability in a match where players are countering, board sweeping, and trading off each other’s creatures. Grube even built his deck with two Ghost Quarters, no doubt expecting to have the upper hand in the Moorland Haunt late game. It is also worth noting that Moorland Haunt is also very good at protecting Geist of Saint Traft from Liliana’s evil clutches, since that is one of the few ways to deal with the hexproof legend. 

U/W Snapcaster

Peter Grube 6-2 (7th Place after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

Mike Lannigan maxed out his Snapcaster Mages and armed them with Swords in his version of blue-white that included a light black splash to pay the flashback cost on Forbidden Alchemy. Lannigan was clearly missing his Squadron Hawks and looked to Midnight Haunting to fill their slot. You get two 1/1 fliers at instant speed for 2W, and you can flash it back with Snapcaster Mage to keep the pressure on. The list is as close an approximation to Caw-Blade as I have seen in the new format and is surprisingly clean and straightforward.

Snap-Blade

Mike Lannigan 6-2 (8th place after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

When Drew Levin was knocked out of Top 24 contention by Michael Baraniecki’s Snap-Blade deck, the Legacy pundit seemed extremely impressed with the deck. Levin was playing a blue-black deck with Liliana, and he found his efforts to take control of the game thwarted by the innocuous Doomed Traveler. If your opponent plays Liliana and uses the edict ability, then you can sacrifice Doomed Traveler and swing over for the last point of loyalty. Baraniecki has no trouble finding willing swordsmen in this deck with his “air force” of Doomed Traveler and Midnight Haunting. Baraniecki also employs the special services of Invisible Stalker to provide a very difficult-to-deal-with tandem of hexproof with a Sword.

Baraniecki’s deck also sports three copies of Moorland Haunt—a card that really stood out for Levin as a great addition to the deck. Baraniecki also has a light black splash, but it is simply to “mise” a few points of life out of casting his Dismembers—and then casting them again out of his bin.  

Snap-Blade

Michael Baraniecki 6-2 (18th place after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

Jason Chan’s deck name will make even less sense than Tim Landale, which appears one deck further down on the lists. While watching Tim Landale play his deck on camera, Rashad and I were talking about how it was an update of the old Super Friends archetype and after riffing off of the super-hero theme for a while ended up calling his deck the West Coast Avengers. Jason’s list had fewer planeswalkers but followed the same general game plan and hence…

Great Lakes Avengers

Jason Chan 6-2 (16th place after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

We had a chance to watch Tim Landale on camera against Chris Mascioli and saw the red deck come storming out of the gate to drop Landale down to seven life by turn four. An Elspeth and a Wurmcoil Engine later, and the game ended with Landale sitting comfortably at 30+ life. Landale—who was pretty adamant when we interviewed him on camera that Snapcaster Mage was terrible—came into this event gunning to beat aggro decks, and he did so convincingly. He would go on to win the elimination bracket with a slightly modified version of the list, and it seemed equally adept at fighting decks with Goblins and Vampires and those with Swords and Spirits. 

West Coast Avengers

Tim Landale 6-2 (18th place after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

U/B Control

The archetypes start to get scattered into smaller and smaller pockets from here on out, and no other deck after U/B had as many pilots—three—in the Top 24. Alexander Douglas finished highest with his version of the deck that featured a maindeck package of Trinket Mage along with Elixir of Immortality and Nihil Spellbomb. With so many Sun Titans, Pseudo Titans, Unburial Rites, and even random sightings of Skaab Ruinators in the room, Nihil Spellbomb and Trinket Mage was a package that multiple blue-based decks were running but from what I could tell only Douglas’s version had in the starting sixty. Blazing Torch barely saw any Constructed play as a Zendikar card but got cup of coffee this time around in the sideboard of Douglas’s build as another Trinket that can serve as removal. 

U/B Trinket Control

Alexander Douglas 6-1-1 (6th after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

Notable for its absence in Douglas’s list was Snapcaster Mage—and this could be a matter of card availability since the cards had barely been out of their packs by the time the first round started—but Ralph Fitzpatrick took only two losses in the Swiss with his take on blue-black that was all about Tiago Chan Invitational card. Forbidden Alchemy seems like a surprising exclusion in any blue-black control list that maxes out on Snapcaster Mages.

Ralph also has Liliana of the Veil in his sideboard along with an assortment of one-ofs that seem like they would be much more effective fueled by Forbidden Alchemy. While Fitzpatrick was not putting cards in his own graveyard with his spells, he could do that to his opponents with Life’s Finale—a risky proposition in a room with people looking to find the right reiteration of Solar Flare. 

Blue-Black Snapcaster

Ralph Fitzpatrick  6-2 (12th place after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

Mitchell Zelmanovich made it to the finals of the 32-person elimination event before scooping to Tim Landale—spurring some debate about the matchup between the newest versions of blue-white and blue-black in Landale’s forums. Zelmanovich loaded up on Mages and Forbidden Alchemy and had three copies of Liliana of the Veil. The deck is remarkably straightforward and simply plays with the best cards from the new set in the two colors that Zelmanovich was playing.

Blue-Black Snapcaster

Mitchell Zelmanovich 6-2
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

Solar Flare

I just call the deck Forbidden Flare to acknowledge how powerful the new blue instant is in this new take on an old archetype. Grand Prix Dallas winner Dave Shiels made the deck look effortless throughout the Swiss rounds with the deck playing like a control deck until it was time to “combo” off with a seemingly endless rank of Sun Titans, Oblivion Rings, and Liliana of the Veil leaping onto the board after one Unburial Rites. Merfolk Looter has seen play in past Reanimator decks, and Shiels brought it back for this event. He must have liked them because he left them in for the elimination event—although he did swap one out for an Azure Mage. 

Forbidden Flare

Dave Shiels 6-1-1 (3rd place after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

Craig Berry’s list has many of the same cards as Shiels’ list but played the deck much more as a combo deck with no Mana Leaks—foreshadowing Jon Medina’s take on the archetype from this (actual) past weekend’s SCG Open—and Sphere of the Suns to ramp/fix his mana. His selection of monsters was also very different with no Consecrated Sphinx or Grave Titan. Instead he played Rune-Scarred Demon—which could get him an Unburial Rites should a player be able to deal with the Demon—and Elesh Norn with his extra slots.

Forbidden Flare

Craig Berry 6-2 (13th place after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

Bant Pod

There were only two players making the cut with Birthing Pod decks, and they were both playing the Bant version. Chris Kvartek played a pretty straightforward version that smoothed its mana with Avacyn’s Pilgrim and went up the curve all the way to Elesh Norn with most of the usual suspects in between. 

Bant Pod

Chris Kvartek 6-2 (17th place after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

Pro Tour Los Angeles Top 8 competitor Lawrence Creech had to tussle in the last round of the Swiss to get into the Top 24 and was playing a slightly different version of Bant Pod. Creech made most of the same stops along the curve, but he opted for the answer-me-now Skaab Ruinator in the three hole over Kvartek’s Fiend Hunter. He also played a Stonehorn Dignitary in the four spot and was able to lock players relying on the attack phase out of the game with the two-card combination of Dignitary and Venser, the Sojourner. Also sitting in the four spot was Tree of Redemption—a card that caused many an unsporting comment from red players throughout the day. I really liked this deck, and it’s one of four decks that I’ll be building on MTGO shortly. The other three are still forthcoming. 

Bant Pod

Lawrence Creech 6-2 (22nd place after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

 

Puresteel Paladin

I have been looking forward to seeing Puresteel Paladin decks in Standard since they performed so well in Block Constructed at Pro Tour Nagoya. There were two different takes on the archetype in the Top 24, and the first was a version I call Pure Daggers by Aaron Kluck. Mentor of the Meek plays so well with Puresteel Paladin since you get two different chances to draw a card off of your living weapons like Mortarpod and Flayer Husk. Kluck loaded up with creatures, including Trinket Mage, Invisible Stalker, and that poor Doomed Traveler. Kluck did not play any Swords; instead he looked to play cheaper equipment and dig through his deck. An Invisible Stalker with a Silver-Inlaid Dagger can close a game out very quickly. 

Pure Daggers

Aaron Kluck 6-2 (10th place after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

Jason Imperiale called his deck Kha-Go for the sideboarded Kemba, Kha Regent (which he added to his maindeck for the 32-person elimination event), but he was playing a white weenie deck with equipment that did not really resemble the Caw decks he was referencing with the deck name. An interesting addition to his deck’s armory was Swiftfoot Boots, which allowed him to play a Paladin and pile all the equipment onto it and smash in with haste after a board sweeper cleared the first wave.

Watching the deck in action, it looked like an aggro deck that was able to keep up with the card drawing of the control decks seemingly at every table. I would love to take elements from both Imperiale’s and Kluck’s. I like the Swords and want them on Invisible Stalkers, and I really like the Doomed Traveler and Moorland Haunt to buy some protection for your key card drawers against Liliana.

Kha Go

Jason Imperiale 6-2 (11th place after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

Other

There are just three decks left unaccounted for, and the first one was easily my favorite to watch in action all weekend. Every time I turned around, it seemed like James Buckingham was smashing someone with a turn-two Geist of Saint Traft off of a Birds of Paradise or Avacyn’s Pilgrim. If his opponent could put something in its path he would run through it with a Sword…

…or fly over it with Angelic Destiny. I saw that happen to SCG editor Steve Sadin on turn three. Steve did not win that game. If you see my loitering about the Tournament Practice Room on MTGO, this is likely the deck I will be playing with. 

Geist-Blade

James Buckingham 6-2 (14th place after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

There is not much to say about Gerald Freas’ deck, which straddles somewhere between Block Tempered Steel lists and the Steve Sadin created Hawkward from Pro Tour Paris at the start of the year. It has literally ZERO Innistrad cards in it. 

Tempered Steel

Gerald Freas 6-2 (20th place after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

I kept trying to get a chance to see Bernard Hsu’s Shape Anew deck in action, but he must have won his matches very quickly because every time I went to track him down, the search ended at an empty table. Blightsteel Colossus should only need one hit to end the game, and he can hit play with a turn-three Splicer getting its Golem parlayed into its infectious bigger, uglier, nastier brother. If your opponent does not have an Oblivion Ring or Day of judgment, the game is going to be over within an untap step. I might be playing this deck some in the Tournament Practice room as well.

Shape Anew

Bernard Hsu 6-2 (23rd place after Swiss)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier

Bonus Decklists: Top 8 decks from 32-person Elimination Bracket

West Coast Avengers

Tim Landale—Winner
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Finals

Blue-Black Snapcaster

Mitchell Zelmanovich —Finalist
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Finals

Red Deck Wins

Chris Mascioli—Semifinalist (lost to Zelmanovich)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Finals

Puss ‘N Boots

Jason Imperiale—Semifinalist (lost to Landale)

MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Finals

Geist-Blade

James Buckingham Quarterfinalist (Lost to Imperiale)

MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Finals

Blue-White Snapcaster

Peter Grube—Quarterfinalist (Lost to Landale)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Finals

Tempered Steel

Gerald Freas—Quarterfinalist (Lost to Zelmanovich)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Finals

Red Deck Runs

Andrey Mayer—Quarterfinalist (Lost to Mascioli)
MTGGrudgeMatch Standard Swiss Qualifier