Kensuke Kato won Sunday’s SCG Tour Online Standard $5K Kaldheim Championship Qualifier #9 with Sultai Ramp (Yorion).
Creatures (6)
Lands (30)
Spells (45)
- 4 Cultivate
- 4 Omen of the Sea
- 1 Kiora Bests the Sea God
- 3 Elspeth's Nightmare
- 2 Shark Typhoon
- 2 Extinction Event
- 4 Heartless Act
- 4 Emergent Ultimatum
- 3 Eliminate
- 2 Mazemind Tome
- 1 Bala Ged Recovery
- 2 Sea Gate Restoration
- 2 Jwari Disruption
- 3 Shadows' Verdict
- 4 Binding the Old Gods
- 2 Alrund's Epiphany
- 2 Esika's Chariot
Kato earned an invite to the Kaldheim Championship and $1,500 by winning the 314-person event, dropping a single match in the second round of the Swiss before rattling off eleven straight wins with the latest build of assorted Sultai cards. Despite bannings of ramp-centric cards like Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath, Omnath, Locus of Creation, and many others, Kato found another build of ramp, using Cultivate and Binding the Old Gods along with a swath of midrange powerhouses, to take down the first SCG Tour Online Championship Qualifier since the release of Kaldheim.
Kato veered away from the more controlling builds of Sultai, relying on just two counterspells in Jwari Disruption in the maindeck. Instead, the deck slams haymaker after haymaker with cards like Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider, Kiora Bests the Sea God, Esika’s Chariot, and Alrund’s Epiphany. The deck is tied together by four copies of Emergent Ultimatum, which allows Kato to search up any three of those cards in addition to other more situational spells, forcing the opponent to choose their own fate in how they lose.
Kato advanced to the finals with wins over Romain Exposito on Rakdos Sacrifice (Jegantha) in the Wildcard Playoff round, Pedro Urquisa Barbosa on Rakdos Midrange (Lurrus) in the quarterfinals, and Robert Vaughan on Jund Sacrifice (Jegantha) in the semifinals. Kato faced Lukas Twist on Sultai Control (Yorion) in the finals, winning a three-game set to take the title.
Creatures (15)
- 2 Polukranos, Unchained
- 3 Yorion, Sky Nomad
- 4 Llanowar Visionary
- 4 Valki, God of Lies
- 2 Koma, Cosmos Serpent
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (35)
Spells (28)
The Top 12 had ten different archetypes with Sultai Control (Yorion) being the only deck with multiple copies at three. Rakdos was represented with a Midrange build based around Lurrus of the Dream-Den and a Sacrifice build with Jegantha, the Wellspring. From there, one-ofs filled out the top performing decks.
Creatures (24)
- 3 Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
- 4 Bonecrusher Giant
- 4 Woe Strider
- 2 Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger
- 1 Jegantha, the Wellspring
- 4 Skyclave Shade
- 3 Valki, God of Lies
- 3 Immersturm Predator
Lands (21)
Spells (16)
Creatures (12)
Lands (25)
Spells (23)
The metagame breakdown for decks with more than two pilots in the event can be seen below.
| Archetype | Copies |
|---|---|
| Rakdos Midrange | 63 |
| Sultai Control | 49 |
| Izzet Midrange❄ | 32 |
| Naya Adventures | 26 |
| Dimir Rogues | 24 |
| Gruul Adventures | 23 |
| Temur Adventures | 18 |
| Mono-Green Food | 16 |
| Mono-White Aggro❄ | 10 |
| Boros Winota | 7 |
| Mono-Red Aggro | 6 |
| Dimir Control | 6 |
| Abzan Doom Foretold | 5 |
| Jund Sacrifice | 4 |
| Grixis Control | 3 |
View the Top 12 decklists.