Standard Top 8 Analysis | RCQ @ SCG CON Atlanta

Hello ladies and gentlemen, pleased to be here with you today another round for Standard Metagame analysis on Top 8 standings and RCQ @ SCG Con Atlanta, Eric Deschamps with a guest appearance and a 1st Standing Prize of USD$ 10.000, so lets take a look at all the mighty decks to make a standing in the Top 8.

5th-8th

Mono white caretaker control from Marcio Engelberg, this decks focuses on token/enchantment draw card, critters might get swiped but the card draw engine from Enduring Innocence and caretaker's talent is really something else, opponents tend to misjudge the glimmer enchantment if doesn’t matter if it’s a creature or not the important thing here is being present for the other critters joining and trigger the ability to draw a card perfectly mixed with Carrot Cake a 1/1 token, Scry 1 and gain 3 life upon second use, yes I’ll have 4 to go and 4 more just in case. that’s one side of the coin the other side is full of board control until you have the killing setup, Get Lost closes the deal eliminating pesky enchantments, and Lay Down Arms gets rid of the early threats on par with land drops, this last one being your main tool against mono red hate gang, and also very useful against Mono black Unholy Annex decks.

This deck performs poorly against Gruul Agro decks, either it tramples or combo to win in a single turn difficult to mitigate or maneuver against.

Gruul Aggro from Josua Floro, 5 out of 6 members of the hate gang are present here:
Hired Claw
Heartfire Hero
Manifold Mouse
Emberheart Challenger
Screaming Nemesis
4 copies of each of these fellas is just synonym of stress in the first three turns as the match begins, depending of the hate-gang character incoming at your face for damage they might get pumped up by Monstrous Rage and I would say this card definitely the enabler in this archetype, it gives permanent trample at instant speed mixed up with a previous double strike from Manifold Mouse and Geez Louise talk about damage being dealt.

And not to mention the green side of things with Innkeeper's talent and Snakeskin Veil protecting these fellas keeping the damage up.

Gruul Aggro – Julian Korfine, Same ingredients different quantities as before for Gruul Aggro, what brings special about Korfine mix is the diminish in creature quantity more red spells, and a tactical Barbed Batterfist for the element of surprise for a fast equip around between Heartfire Hero or tactical double strike and trample from Manifold Mouse.

A bit more heavy on the spells side probably to just eliminate blockers and punch through.

Dimir Tempo from Noah1 – Dimir focuses on the first three turns for a creature setup between Spyglass Siren for a land draw later on with the Map Token, Faerie Mastermind for a flash entry on post turn 2, and a surprise ninjutsu attack with Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, this deck is surprisingly resourceful and concentrates on stalling your opponent enought for the combat scratches to turn into a win.

2 Spell Stutter are 2 too much Counterspells cards in my book, but sure is heavy with removal spells and a draw engine with the blue glimmer Enduring Curiosity.

3rd-4th

Simic Control – Nicholas Girardi, this deck focuses on progression denial by returning card to their owner hands you just played just Caretaker's Talent up to your hand it goes, you can just deny turn efforts easily with This town isn't big enough and obviously you target Stormchaser's Talent for maximum recursion of 1/1 Prowess Otters.

Eddymurk Crab makes things difficult tapping blockers and being a chunky 5/5 Flash crab this card alone can make your opponent feel awkward enough to just scoop into game two, and don’t make me talk about the insane draw value Up the beanstalk brings for any deck that can easily maneuver spells with CMC of 5+.

Gruul Aggro – Stanley Hartman, remember Leyline of Resonance is only valid on BO3 matches, this deck is pure Fury, not only half the Hate-gang is here, but the Slickshot Swow-off paired with these pump spells is no joke, you either maneuver at instant speed removal or you’re dead on the spot.

Gruul balanced on the spell side of things with Overprotect with 2 copies not too shabby but fairly lethal mixed in with this creature setup that only benefits from casting spells, maybe a Authority of the Consuls might slow you down but still quite effective to instill fear.

2nd

Selesnya Control – Davin Frankosky, okay let’s talk core, Up the Beanstalk is the engine of this deck it drops turn 2, and turn three Overlord of Hauntwoods drops for three but guess what its a 5 CMC spell, you get to draw a card, the same applies with Overlord of Mistmoors, this simple enchantment by 2 mana can net too many draw cards given the simplicity of taking advantage of Converted Mana Costs as Seized from Slumber does, and there are decks that run Leyline Binding that play for one mana and triggers a card draw.

This deck is slow but don’t let it fool you, it will ditch out its obstacles and make a simple win.

1st

Selesnya Aggro – Charles Eiler, The surprise of the night this deck often is present in standings but has a difficulty taking home the first place and here it is making it big, this deck takes advantage of Melira, the Living Cure and Sanguine Evangelist making another trigger for a 1/1 Black Bat flying critter, you might think is silly, but later on hits Virtue of Loyalty and paired with a Battle CryVampire lady is no joke, Collector's Cage is the enabler of this archetype looking for several creatures to “Improve Power” and does so reliably and if Virtue enter through it early on is really difficult for you opponent to answer to it.

If given the case your opponent either board wipes and you can basically protect your creature with Melira and making a retrigger on their turn and just wait for your turn for another +1/+1 counter up from Virtue of Loyalty, and not to diminish the heroes Pawpatch Recruit might end being a big Lightning Rod catching removal spells and clearing the way through for the other critters.

Final Thoughts

I am really impressed with this outcome in this event, is really refreshing a Selesnya deck taking the first place, and Leyline of Resonance seeing play, from my experience there is a lot of Otters going around maximizing value from Stormchaser's Talent, but oddly enough there isn’t a reanimator combo deck that is still heavily present on MTG Arena Rank Queue’s, on a personal note I think cards like Monstrous Rage and Up the beanstalk are insanely valuable to their archetypes these cards can quickly turn around profits on damage and draw value respectively, most matches consists of: you either beat with speed and consistency(Mono Red, Mono Black, Gruul Aggro) or Stall enough to create your opening(Esper Tempo, Dimir Tempo, Mono White control).

May this note protect your spells from being countered, until the next one Code is out!