This weekend, the SCG Tour is headed to Indianapolis for just the second individual Open this year! Three of the four tournaments in 2020 have been team-focused, so the byes players have earned with their SCG points will truly come into play this weekend. SCG Indianapolis will also be the first Pioneer Open ever! While Pioneer has made an impact at the Season Two Invitational at SCG CON Winter in 2019 and played a major part in the Team Constructed events, this will be the first Open where only Pioneer is played.
Since Pioneer’s creation the format has gone through some rapid changes. From the bannings of what seem like tame cards from Oath of Nissa to Smuggler’s Copter, Pioneer is now mostly about combo decks fueled by cards from Theros Beyond Death. Underworld Breach and Thassa’s Oracle have powered up Lotus Breach and Dimir Inverter to the top tier of the format, with many calling for bans. Of the three Players Tour events this month (Brussels, Nagoya, and Phoenix), Dimir Inverter took eight of the Top 8 spots with Bant Spirits and Lotus Breach following at four and three copies, respectively.
From the two Team Constructed Opens, SCG Richmond’s Top 4 consisted of four Dimir Inverter decks while SCG Philadelphia had a spread of two Bant Spirits, and one copy of Sultai Delirium and Mono-Black Aggro. Will the hype of Lotus Breach from the Players Tour event in Phoenix carry over to this weekend or will Dimir Inverter still be the top deck?
Season One Points Race
The Season One Points Race is going to heat up with a stretch of four straight individual Opens. #SCGINDY starts it all off, with the leaderboard and the associated byes really coming into play. Zach Allen has a six-point lead on Harlan Firer, using his Standard Classic win in SCG Richmond as a buffer over his teammate from SCG Columbus and SCG Philadelphia, while Dan Jessup sits a bit lower after missing SCG Knoxville.
Unofficial team “Google Hangouts” all sit in the Top 10 with Will Pulliam in third, Edgar Magalhães in fifth, Matt Dilks in eighth, and Daryl Ayers in ninth. For Pulliam, Dilks, and Ayers, it will be the first big event with their focus on Pioneer. Corey Baumeister, Pete Ingram, Ayers, and Ross Merriam all represent Team BCW and all have two byes this weekend. Joining Nova team captain Firer, Kevin Jones and Dylan Hand will be in action almost certainly playing Dimir Inverter.
The action will be exciting this weekend with fourteen of the Top 16 players in attendance as Dominic Harvey and Lee McLeod will miss the event. Can Allen hang on to the top spot, or will someone else pass him?
SCG Indianapolis Players to Watch
Zach Allen
Zach Allen
As part of two of the Team Constructed Open-winning squads and a Standard Classic winner, Zach Allen leads the field entering this weekend. SCG Columbus was a Team Modern Open while the rest of his success has been in Standard, leaving this tournament as his first foray into Pioneer. Allen is a control mage through and through, so it’ll be interesting to see if he forces Azorius Control in this format or opts for one of the top decks.
Corey Baumeister
Corey Baumeister
Considered the top Standard player on the SCG Tour, Corey Baumeister has already shown he can learn and do well in other formats. Starting the year off with Top 4 finishes in Team Modern at SCG Columbus and Modern at SCG Knoxville, Baumesiter displayed what a player of his caliber can do in an unfamiliar format. Much like Allen, Baumesiter will be tackling Pioneer for the first time since the Season Two Invitational in November. Baumeister has a wide range, but he has streamed and made Top 8 of an IQ this past week with Lotus Breach.
Pete Ingram
Pete Ingram
Pete Ingram skipped #SCGPHILLY to play in the Players Tour in Phoenix and was rewarded with a Top 8 playing Dimir Inverter, the same deck he used to help Corey Baumesiter and Eli Kassis win #SCGRICH the week before. While he missed out on SCG Points in Phoenix, Ingram still is in the Top 10 of the leaderboard and will get to have two byes this weekend. It seems like a safe bet he’ll stay on the deck that has brought him so much success.
Edgar Magalhães
Edgar Magalhães
Edgar Magalhães also skipped #SCGPHILLY for Players Tour Phoenix, but already had three appearances in the elimination rounds in the first three events of the year, setting up a nice point cushion to hold him over until #SCGINDY. Magalhães played Dimir Inverter in Pioneer with Matt Dilks and Will Pulliam in Richmond where they took second place, and ran it back in Phoenix with a 33rd-place finish. Magalhães already made history with four straight Top 8s in Richmond and will look to increase that number this weekend.
Aaron Barich
Aaron Barich
Aaron Barich won the first individual Open of the year at SCG Knoxville and has a Team Constructed Top 4 in her pocket as well. Despite being an aggro mage, Barich put up incredible results in Modern with Golgari Yawgmoth but will now set her sights on Pioneer. While red and black aggressive strategies have put up a few big finishes in the past month, it’ll be interesting to see where Barich ends up in Indianapolis.
Indianapolis Food Options
Indy is a great location for food because you’re close to all kinds of cheaper lunch and dinner chain restaurants for a quick mid-tournament meal along with amazing steakhouses, great brew-pubs, and more. From the Ryan Overturf approved Steak and Shake to the famous (yet, somewhat overrated) St. Elmo or Harry and Izzy’s, you’ll find something to feed your group.
The Weber Grill
My favorite stop in Indianapolis, The Weber Grill delivers great food, great atmosphere, and reasonable prices. Appetizers and their famous pretzel rolls are awesome starts and my go-to dish is the barbecue meatloaf. The smoked pork chop is a close second, though no meal disappoints there. Check out the menu online.
Maxime’s Chicken and Waffles
Anyone that knows me knows I love chicken and waffles. It’s one of my favorite meals after a long day combining the comfort of waffles with the much-needed protein of chicken doused in a wildly unhealthy syrup. Maxime’s is close and a solid option for a quick meal any time of day. Check out the menu online.
Harry and Izzy’s
Look, I’m not the biggest fan of Harry and Izzy’s, but I know a lot of people who are. It’s a bit pricey and often has a significant wait, but this is the classic Indianapolis dining experience. The world famous St. Elmo shrimp cocktail is the signature appetizer and great if that’s your thing, but I like the herb-crusted rack of lamb. Check out the menu online.
Coverage
Join Cedric Phillips, Patrick Sullivan, Ryan Overturf, Emma Handy, myself, and the rest of the SCG Tour coverage team for all the action starting at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday at twitch.tv/starcitygames!