This weekend saw a selection of action from our friends across the pond with Starcity Games taking their open series to Atlanta and Wizards running a limited Grand Prix in Madison.

Let’s start with GP Madison, for a lot of us this would have been our first chance to watch a lot of our favourite pro players trying their hand at Battle for Zendikar limited, with a host of pro players heading to Madison for some additional testing . There were some unusual draft styles with some pros just ‘winging it’, and yes I’m looking at you Paul Reitzl, but after all the hard fought battles and drafts it was Hall of Famer Raphael Levy who beat Magic Online champion Magnus Lanto in the finals.

That was a brief glance at the limited side of the game, we’ll be seeing much more of  it this weekend, so now let us turn our attention to the SCG Open in Atlanta.

Whilst the pro players may have been trying their hand at limited, the SCG grinders were still trying to solve the standard format whilst it was still in its infancy. The final of the Open ended up being a G/W Megamorph mirror between Christopher Thomas and eventual champion, Jacob Lively. So let’s have a look at Jacob’s list:

G/W Megamorph – Jacob Lively

1st Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 10/10/2015

Creatures (24)

4 Hangarback Walker

4 Deathmist Raptor

4 Den Protector

2 Hidden Dragonslayer

4 Warden of the First Tree

3 Wingmate Roc

3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer

Lands (25)

6 Forest

5 Plains

3 Canopy Vista

3 Flooded Strand

4 Windswept Heath

4 Wooded Foothills

Spells (7)

4 Dromoka’s Command

3 Valorous Stance

Planeswalkers (4)

4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

Sideboard

2 Archangel of Tithes

2 Whisperwood Elemental

2 Evolutionary Leap

1 Mastery of the Unseen

2 Gideon’s Reproach

3 Surge of Righteousness

1 Dragonlord Dromoka

2 Tragic Arrogance

Jacob’s list appears to be a very ‘stock’ G/W megamorph list, with nothing too surprising in the main board. The inclusion of creatures such as Warden of the First Tree, Deathmist Raptor and Hangarback Walker allow the deck to fight an aggressive early game, with the mid to late game advantage being taken care of by Wingmate Roc and Nissa, Vastwood Seer. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar can help you fight both a good early game, by making tokens to outnumber your opponent or by getting in to the redzone himself. A Gideon in the late game can come in to play and instantly make an emblem to make your creatures big enough to dominate the board, and whilst Gideon may not be Elspeth, Sun’s Champion, he’s the best we have at the moment and I sure like him being an ally on my side of the battlefield.

Dromoka’s Command and Valorous stance have great utility in this style of deck by being flexible enough to be great offensively, by making your creature bigger with a +1/+1 counter or by removing a blocking creature, as well as being fine defensive spells by making a blocker of yours indestructible or by preventing that 4 damage worth of burn from an un-counterable Exquisite Firecraft.

The sideboard allows for some great flexibility with removal spells such as Gideon’s Reproach and Surge of Righteousness (a card that was sold out before the start of the SCG Open! So why not order yours now.) complimenting the spells in the main board. Whisperwood Elemental, Mastery of the Unseen and Evolutionary Leap allow for some much needed card advantage for games against midrange and control opponents, turning their wraths in to more cards or creatures for yourself.

Archangel of Tithes and Dragonlord Dromoka allow you to go bigger than your opponent and help fight the aerial battle against Mantis Rider and Thunderbreak Regent. Tragic Arrogance will, hopefully, only be a tragedy for your opponent as you masterfully use this card to create a dominating board position for yourself.

So now that we have had a close look at the winning deck list, let’s look at the wider picture, with 122 players competing on day two, let’s look at the metagame breakdown.

Jeskai Black – 27

Atarka Red – 15

G/W Megamorph – 13

Abzan Aggro – 11

Bant Megamorph – 8

Abzan Red – 6

Jeskai Aggro – 5

Esper Dragons – 4

Mardu Midrange – 4

R/G Landfall – 3

Abzan Megamorph – 3

Five-Color Bring to Light – 3

G/W Eldrazi – 2

Decks with a single pilot – 18

Jeskai Black was the deck to beat this weekend with a 22% share of players on day two, but if we add both of the Jeskai variants together that figure jumps to 26%. Over a quarter of the field felt that Jeskai offered them the best chance to win on the day, putting Jeskai in to the cross-hairs ahead of this weekend’s Pro Tour. So what makes Jeskai so good? Let’s have a look at a list from the:

Jeskai Black – Todd Anderson

3rd Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 10/10/2015

Creatures (16)

4 Mantis Rider

2 Monastery Mentor

4 Seeker of the Way

2 Dragonlord Ojutai

4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy

Planeswalkers (1)

1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

Spells (17)

2 Silkwrap

3 Crackling Doom

2 Dispel

2 Jeskai Charm

2 Murderous Cut

1 Valorous Stance

3 Wild Slash

2 Treasure Cruise

Lands (26)

1 Island

3 Mountain

3 Plains

2 Battlefield Forge

4 Bloodstained Mire

4 Flooded Strand

4 Polluted Delta

2 Prairie Stream

2 Smoldering Marsh

1 Sunken Hollow

Sideboard

2 Arashin Cleric

1 Hidden Dragonslayer

1 Stratus Dancer

1 Mastery of the Unseen

2 Disdainful Stroke

1 Dragonlord Silumgar

1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

2 Exert Influence

2 Radiant Flames

2 Self-Inflicted Wound

Jeskai Black relies on a mix of cheap, efficient creatures, cheap removal and card advantage, just like all good tempo decks do. Seeker of the Way alongside Mantis Rider make an excellent one-two punch in the early turns, whilst resolving a turn two Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy feels so good, it’s almost like playing with his older brother the Mindsculptor!

Monastery Mentor appears to be a pet card of Todd’s and it’s an inclusion that I like, although not one that I enjoy playing against, as it allows you to play it in the midgame and follow it up with some cheap, or reduced cost spells such as Wild Slash, Murderous Cut or Treasure Cruise to build up some loyal monks and start to take over the game.

The big card advantage comes in the form of Jace, Vry’s Prodigy doing his best Merfolk Looter and Snapcaster Mage impressions, whilst Dragonlord Ojutai takes on the role of finisher in the deck. The clean manabase allows for an easy black splash which enables the deck to play the previously maligned Crackling Doom, an effective and efficient removal spell – even if it doesn’t always kill the creature you would like. I like that Todd has decided against including a basic Swamp in his deck, this means you are never tricked in to fetching it and causing yourself mana issues during the game because of it.

The sideboard contains the usual mix of versatile spells, powerful cards and silver bullets to allow you to transform and tune the deck to beat whatever your opponent is playing. Exert Influence is a card that I was a little surprised to see, but if you can’t cast a Siege Rhino then why not steal one from your opponent?

Anyway, that’s all from me today. I hope you liked the slightly more in-depth article, there were comments indicating that this would be appreciated, as always if you have any feedback then be sure to leave a comment it will only ever help to improve the articles and add to your enjoyment!