Weekend Review
Hey folks, I’m back with another look at this past weekend’s Magic events and what a busy weekend it was! Like me I’m sure many of you will have been playing in your local Game Day tournaments, I’ll be back later this week to share what I played at my local Game Day (hint: it has forests in it!).
This weekend gave us the Starcity Open Series from St Louis, where Legacy was the name of the game (or format), to the North in Quebec we had a Standard format Grand Prix where there were sure to be a lot of Pro players trying to cure the Pro Tour hangover. If you wanted some premier play and like to lounge at home, you might have been competing in this weekend’s Magic Online Championship Series (MOCS).
With all of that to come we’ll start our look back at the weekend by heading East where the Wildest Nacatl himself, Craig Wescoe, was joined by Rich Hoaen and Mike Hron took the long flight to Beijing to partake in one of the best formats on offer in a Team Limited Grand Prix! The team from the United States had to battle through a lot of local competition, including local hero in the form of Pro Tour Battle for Zendikar Champion Kazuyuki Takimura himself.
Back in the States the question on everybody’s lips was ‘what does a Legacy world without Dig Through Time look like?” and the man with the answer was The Boss himself, Tom Ross. With all but one deck in the Top 8 containing Islands it appeared that Jace, the Mindsculptor was everyone’s best friend again and the concerns about a metagame shift were left unfounded.
With 14 Shardless Sultai decks, 8 Storm, 8 Miracles and 14 Delver deck (with an even split between Temur and Delver) the metagame appeared to be favouring a blue slant as always. But it was the cunning and boldness of Ross, with a Infect deck that he is infamous for playing, that walked away with the trophy and cheque.
Infect – Tom Ross
1st Place – Starcity Open Series Legacy Open
Creatures: Lands:
4 Blighted Agent 1 Forest
4 Glistener Elf 4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Noble Hierarch 3 Misty Rainforest
1 Dryad Arbor 4 Tropical Island
Spells: 3 Verdant Catacombs
1 Become Immense 2 Windswept Heath
2 Berserk 1 Pendelhaven
4 Brainstorm Sideboard:
3 Daze 1 Spellskite
3 Force of Will 1 Viridian Corrupter
2 Spell Pierce 1 Force of Will
2 Vines of Vastwood 1 Hydroblast
2 Gitaxian Probe 1 Krosan Grip
1 Green Sun’s Zenith 1 Nature’s Claim
. 1 Bojuka Bog
. 1 Wasteland
. 1 Karakas
The list Ross played was a seemingly ‘stock’ list, due to the nature of the deck there are very few flexible slots in the maindeck. With main deck copies of Sylvan Library and Green Sun’s Zenith, Ross was equipped to fight a longer game and work towards his ‘combo’ finish of 10 infect counters. The mix of Daze, Spell Pierce, Force of Will and Vines of Vastwood allowed Ross to protect his combo once he decided to go all in on his opponent. Watching The Boss at work with a deck that he has come to perfect is always a pleasure, it takes a master of an archetype to walk in to a field and be known for an archetype, and it was his skill with the deck (and the occasional Noble Hierarch beats), that won Ross the final.
Off of the back of an, albeit lacklustre Pro Tour there was a lot of interest in Standard where Hangarback Walker, Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar were the cards to have in your decks. So it was no wonder that Abzan Aggro ended up winning the MOCS and a Dark Jeskai mirror decided the final of GP Quebec.
It’s the MOCS that I would like to look at first, this was the Top 8 of Hangarback Walker, with the full 32 copies in the Top 8 decklists, with Gideon Ally of Zendikar a close second with 25 copies. This was a sight to make the green mage in me smile with Joy, with the nearest copy of Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy in a lowly 10th placed decklist.
Abzan Aggro – Fallleaf
1st Place – Standard MOCS 24/10/2015
Creatures: Lands:
4 Anafenza, the Foremost 2 Canopy Vista
2 Den Protector 4 Flooded Strand
4 Siege Rhino 2 Llanowar Wastes
4 Warden of the First Tree 2 Plains
2 Wingmate Roc 4 Shambling Vent
Spells: 1 Smoldering Marsh
4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar 1 Sunken Hollow
4 Abzan Charm 4 Windswept Heath
3 Dromoka’s Command 4 Wooded Foothills
2 Silkwrap
Sideboard:
1 Silkwrap
3 Duress
There were no real surprises in the list from Falleaf, with a pretty standard Abzan deck following on from the Pro Tour. With a good mix of solid creatures, cheap removal and the flexibility of Gideon, Ally of Zendikar – Abzan is continuing to show the strength of Siege Rhino and friends.
Bonus Deck:
3rd Place – Standard MOCS 22/10/2015
Creatures: Lands:
4 Deathmist Raptor 3 Canopy Vista
4 Den Protector 4 Flooded Strand
4 Knight of the White Orchid 5 Plains
2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer 1 Prairie Stream
2 Warden of the First Tree 4 Windswept Heath
3 Wingmate Roc 3 Wooded Foothills
Spells: 2 Yavimaya Coast
2 Silkwrap
Sideboard:
2 Silkwrap
For anyone who follows Brad Nelson on Twitter, they will have seen Brad’s bold claims to have the ‘best deck’, and with a 3rd place finish he posted the result to almost back it up – falling a couple of wins short of the MOCS title. Brad built on the solid foundation of Fetchland plus Battlelands in traditional G/W lists by splashing blue for Disdainful Stroke out of the sideboard allowing for some flexibility and control in the late game.
In the Great White North there was some darkness over the land with Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy looting the Dark Jeskai decks to the finals of GP Quebec:
1st Place – GP Quebec
Dark Jeskai – Daniel Lanthier
Creatures: Lands:
4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy 4 Mystic Monastery
2 Soulfire Grand Master 1 Nomad Outpost
1 Dragonmaster Outcast 4 Flooded Strand
4 Mantis Rider 4 Polluted Delta
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang 4 Bloodstained Mire
Spells: 2 Prairie Stream
1 x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker 1 Sunken Hollow
2 Dig Through Time 1 Smoldering Marsh
4 Crackling Doom 1 Plains
3 Fiery Impulse 1 Island
Sideboard:
2 Duress
2 Roast
1 Negate
Another weekend, another Jeskai deck in the final – the main difference between this deck and the 2nd placed deck at the Pro Tour being the use of the splash for black. Dark Jeskai made up a little over 20% of the Day 2 metagame with 19 copies, this jumps to 22 copies with the 3 ‘ordinary’ Jeskai decks.
With maindeck Dispels and Kolaghan’s Command, Lanthier came prepared to fight the mirror in Game One! Jeskai pilots have responded to the use of Silk Wrap and Stasis Snare to deal with their Jace’s by adding in a singleton Felidar Cub, of course this singleton can be re-bought with Kolaghan’s Command and Ojutai’s Commands. Exert Influence, Painful Truths and Radiant Flames built on the Converge sub-theme in the sideboard that makes use of the 4 colours of mana in the deck, with Exert Influence doing its best Control Magic impression to command some enemy Siege Rhino.
That’s all from me this week’s Weekend Review, there was definitely a lot of Magic to watch over the weekend and a lot of Magic played. I’ll be back later this week with a report from my Game Day weekend and the list I’ll be aiming to battle with at a local PPTQ.
