Hey folks, it’s that time of week to reflect on the triumphs of this past weekend and work out how we can use that going forward. With the usual bevy of events at the StarCityGames Open and a triple-header of Sealed Grand Prixs, there’s certainly a lot to take in.

Let’s start with the Grand Prix’s. With Wizards of the Coast made the decision to make all Grand Prix’s on a weekend the same format there are no constructed decks for us to sink our teeth in to, but that doesn’t mean that there weren’t plenty of moments and cards to think about.

In Nagoya Park Jun Young showed a masterful understanding of the limited format marching out to an uncontested 12-0 lead in a field of over 2000 players! But it was not to be, the dream ending for Park as Tomonori Hirami took home the crown of GP Nagoya champion.

Across the Pacific, and in to Mexico City and it was England WMC captain Fabrizio Antieri who navigated his way through the field, toppling Tomoharu Saito in the finals, to be the champion of GP Mexico City. Team Eureka was definitely out in force in this tournament, with Martin Dang also making the Top 8. It will certainly be worth keeping an eye on this team next weekend, they clearly have a grasp of the limited format but how will they fare in the other rounds of Modern constructed?

Further North, in the Great White North to be exact, plenty of Pro players were out in force to get a final chance to play the OGW format in a competitive setting ahead of the Pro Tour. Whilst it wasn’t Shuhei Nakamura’s time to tie the record for most GP Top 8’s, it was time for Eric Severson to take his chance and win qualification to Pro Tour OGW at the Seventh attempt! Adam Jansen defeated French Pro Jeremy Dezani in a close finals to take home the title, the paycheck and that all important Pro Tour invite.

Staying in Vancouver there was a modern side-event that was picked up by WOTC coverage, the tournament was chock full of interesting brews, including Jund Burn, Naya Tron and an Abzan deck with mainboard Glittering Wish! The tournament was won by a B/U Contol-style deck. If you want to read more and see if you can pick out the potential winning decks of the Pro Tour, I highly recommend checking it out: http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gpvan16/pro-tour-oath-of-the-gatewatch-appetizer-2016-01-31

Sticking with modern I want to take another look at the decks that featured in the Modern Classic event at SCG Columbus. Whilst not all of the decks can be viewed, the Top 16 are available and gives us another small clue at what we might see at the Pro Tour next week. The Top 16 archetypes were:

Archetype No. of Players

Burn                         4

G/R Tron                  3

Affinity                    2

Jeskai Control        1

U/G Infect               1

Scapeshift              1

Jund                         1

Naya Zoo                 1

Kiki Chord               1

Mefolk                     1

 1st Place – SGC Columbus, Modern Classic

Danny Jessup- Infect

Creatures

1 Spellskite

4 Blighted Agent

4 Glistener Elf

4 Noble Hierarch

1 Viridian Corrupter

Spells

1 Wild Defiance

2 Apostle’s Blessing

3 Become Immense

1 Groundswell

4 Might of Old Krosa

4 Mutagenic Growth

1 Twisted Image

4 Vines of Vastwood

4 Gitaxian Probe

2 Slip Through Space

Lands

2 Forest

3 Breeding Pool

4 Inkmoth Nexus

1 Verdant Catacombs

4 Windswept Heath

4 Wooded Foothills

2 Pendelhaven

Sideboard

1 Spellskite

1 Wild Defiance

2 Dismember

2 Dispel

4 Nature’s Claim

2 Spell Pierce

2 Twisted Image

1 Dryad Arbor

Danny Jessup ended up winning the tournament with what appears to be a pretty standard infect deck, but upon closer inspection you will notice the 2 x Slip Through Space and the Viridian Corrupter in the maindeck.

Slip Through Space is the kind of cantrip effect that Infect has been screaming out for, often your threats can lack invasion and can be held of pretty easily or you waste a pump spell to keep your creature alive, although this slot used to be for Distortion Strike. Slip Through Space stops some of that by make your creature unblockable, no longer are dependent on just your Blighted Agents and Inkmoth Nexus’s.

Viridian Corrupter would appear to be a response to the expected metagame of Tron and Affinity. Whilst these matches can often be favourable to the Infect deck, having a maindeck answer to a pesky Spellskite can be pretty key to closing a game out quickly. Jumping across to Standard and the question on most players lips was whether a new break-out deck would appear, would Rally win again or would the old foe of Abzan return to winning ways once again?

Arguably the winner of the weekend was Reflector Mage! That card is everywhere in Standard, if you’re playing Blue and White and you’re not casting the Mage that makes your opponent rage, then you’re doing it wrong! The finals of the SCG Open was between two decks that can lean quite heavily on Reflector Mage.

2nd Place – StarCityGames Open, Columbus

Bant Company – Andy Ferguson

Creatures

4 Bounding Krasis

4 Deathmist Raptor

4 Den Protector

4 Reflector Mage

4 Sylvan Advocate

Spells

4 Collected Company

4 Dromoka’s Command

2 Ojutai’s Command

Lands

2 Forest

1 Island

3 Plains

2 Canopy Vista

4 Flooded Strand

Sideboard

4 Arashin Cleric

2 Frost Walker

1 Harbinger of the Tides

1 Silkwrap

1 Warden of the First Tree

4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy

4 Lumbering Falls

2 Prairie Stream

4 Windswept Heath

1 Wooded Foothills

2 Yavimaya Coast

3 Disdainful Stroke

3 Dispel

1 Valorous Stance

Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy and Reflector Mage are the best of friends, often seen in the company of one another in recent weeks, they may just be the power couple of the format. Ferguson looked to leverage the raw power of Collected Company with value creatures such as Bounding Krasis and Deathmist Raptor. Whilst the deck is strong, can beat down and play the late game, in a format full of Rally the Ancestors I don’t want to be leaving home without either counter spells,  Anafenza the Foremost or Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet in my main 60 cards.

Speaking of Rally the Ancestors….

1st Place – StarCityGames Open, Columbus

4 Colour Rally the Ancestors

Creatures

2 Catacomb Sifter

2 Elvish Visionary

2 Grim Haruspex

3 Nantuko Husk

4 Reflector Mage

3 Sidisi’s Faithful

4 Zulaport Cutthroat

3 Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim

4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy

1 Liliana, Heretical Healer

Spells

4 Collected Company

4 Rally the Ancestors

Lands

1 Forest

1 Island

1 Plains

1 Swamp

2 Canopy Vista

3 Evolving Wilds

4 Flooded Strand

4 Polluted Delta

1 Prairie Stream

3 Sunken Hollow

3 Windswept Heath

Sideboard

3 Arashin Cleric

1 Felidar Cub

2 Fleshbag Marauder

2 Murderous Cut

2 Anafenza, the Foremost

1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet

1 Liliana, Heretical Healer

3 Duress

A lot has been written about Rally the Ancestors over the last couple of months, and it’s getting hard to add new thoughts about the deck. I don’t think there is a correct build of Rally and it can be a very tuneable deck with which creatures you play in your main 60 and which you sideboard. Various versions have different answers for the mirror and I think the person who figures out the best way to break the mirror will have found the best version.

Over the weekend there was also the start of a new Pro Series that kicked off in Manchester, me and a few of my fellow writers piled in to my car and made the 6 hour journey to t’North and battled our way through the inaugural event. I’ll be back later this week with a tournament report and my thoughts on Standard going forward.

Next week is bound to be an exciting version of the Weekend Review, so join me as I dissect all of the data from the Pro Tour weekend!

As always feel free to comment in the section below.

Bonus Deck!

17th Place – StarCityGames Open, Columbus

U/R Prowess – Michael McClure

Creatures

4 Abbot of Keral Keep

4 Monastery Swiftspear

4 Stormchaser Mage

4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy

Spells

1 Dispel

1 Expedite

4 Fiery Impulse

3 Temur Battle Rage

4 Titan’s Strength

1 Magmatic Insight

2 Roast

4 Slip Through Space

4 Treasure Cruise

Lands

2 Island

3 Mountain

4 Bloodstained Mire

4 Polluted Delta

4 Shivan Reef

1 Smoldering Marsh

1 Sunken Hollow

1 Wandering Fumarole

Sideboard

3 Disdainful Stroke

2 Dispel

1 Temur Battle Rage

2 Wild Slash

2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar

1 Arc Lightning

2 Boiling Earth

2 Roast