Tom Koson: Taking a Drive Through the Pro Tour Top 8
Every new Standard season feels exciting, especially when we have a chance to see what decks are rising to the top and what cards of the new set exceeded expectations. So strap yourselves in as we go on a wild ride through the best decks from Pro Tour Kaladesh.
The Assumptions
After the results of the SCG Tour stop in Indianapolis two weeks ago, a couple metagame
assumptions were made. Smuggler’s Copter played a vital role in aggressive decks and midrange decks alike. In fact, there were a full 32 copies appearing in the Top 8.
As for control, it was dead. Usually when a format is brand new, it takes a bit for control decks to tune themselves properly. It’s hard to have a deck full of answers when you don’t know what threats you’re answering. Even with that in mind, three control decks in the Top 64 of the Open seemed to be a strong signal that control would be a bit player, at best, in this Standard format.
Now, with the results of Pro Tour Kaladesh, we can see that only half of the decks in the Top 8 featured Smuggler’s Copter, and the finals of the tournament was a control mirror. If any archetype seems to be dead, it looks like it would be midrange. Every other type of deck was represented. Let’s have a look at them.
The Aggro Decks
These decks are the most straightforward to play. The general game plan is to keep a good mix of lands and spells, play your aggressive threats on curve, and close out the game with a powerful finisher such as Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. If I were to pick between these decks, I would choose the one that has a good aggro matchup, as well as a good control matchup.
Makis Matsoukas’ R/W Tokens
R/W Tokens is the fastest version of these decks, which makes it a favorite in aggro matchups. It is also able to flood the board more and go wide, making combat difficult for the opponent. While a fast deck like this may seem good against control, it lacks the vehicles such as Fleetwheel Cruiser and Skysovereign, Consul Flagship that can play against sorcery-speed removal. This deck is very weak to cards like Fumigate and Radiant Flames, both of which were in the maindecks of the finals decks. The lack of Selfless Spirit also has an impact here. I wouldn’t play this deck moving forward, due to its weaker control matchup.
Lee Shi Tian’s Mardu Vehicles
Mardu Vehicles is playing the most powerful combination of cards in the aggressive decks, but has the most complicated manabase. Cards like Unlicensed Disintegration and Scrapheap Scrounger are great in slower midrange and control matchups where you can get your mana online. The four copies of Ceremonious Rejection in the sideboard work wonders against the Aetherworks Marvel and Metalwork Colossus decks. This deck is weak to other fast decks. R/W Vehicles is more streamlined and will generally have smoother draws. This deck would be better than the other aggro options in a different metagame, but I wouldn’t currently play it.
Ben Hull’s R/W Vehicles
The R/W Vehicles deck features the best mix of cards that are good against both aggro decks and control decks. Chris VanMeter piloted this deck to a 1st place finish at the Open, and every member of his team put up good results with it. The type of decks it feels weak to are midrange decks like G/B Delirium, which can match its threats while also using removal spells and planeswalkers to gain an advantage. It can also get combo’d by Aetherworks Marvel if it doesn’t present a fast enough clock. Given the current metagame, this is the aggro deck I would be playing moving forward.
We’ve looked at aggro. Now, let’s change … gears.
The Control Decks
Two of the three control decks in the Top 8 made it to the finals, and while they share some similar cards, the threats and answers are surprisingly different. The plan is the same, though: don’t die, turn the corner with card advantage, finish the game.
Shota Yasooka’s Grixis Control
The advantage of playing black in a shell like this is having access to maindeck Painful Truths, which is great in slower match-ups, while Unlicensed Disintegration and Essence Extraction are great against faster decks. Jace, Unraveler of Secrets, Anticipate, and Glimmer of Genius provide not only card advantage, but card selection, allowing this deck to quickly cycle through itself and find exactly what it needs. The main win condition is Thing in the Ice, which also happens to stop the onslaught of creature-based decks. Wandering Fumarole and Torrential Gearhulk can also finish a game out very quickly. This deck feels very good, and it is better in control mirrors, but I can think of a control deck that I would rather play.
Carlos Romao’s Jeskai Control
White provides a lot of tools for this deck. It is using the same Harnessed Lightning, Anticipate, Void Shatter and Glimmer of Genius shell that we’ve seen in Grixis, but also has great removal like Quarantine Field, Stasis Snare, Fumigate, Immolating Glare and Blessed Alliance. In the win condition slots we see Archangel Avacyn, Dovin Baan, Torrential Gearhulk and sideboard options such as Linvala, the Preserver, Spell Queller, and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar.
It feels like this deck takes a more proactive approach to the game. I’m not much of a control player, but this is absolutely the deck I want to be playing moving forward. It is extremely versatile. The way I see these types of control decks losing is to resilient decks with efficient threats, planeswalkers and hand disruption. There is also always the possibility of getting stuck on lands and being ran over by aggressive strategies.
Pierre Dagen’s U/R Spells
This deck is very different from the previously mentioned control decks, but it is still trying to achieve the same thing. It wants to filter through its cards with Anticipate, Glimmer of Genius, Tormenting Voice and Take Inventory. It has good removal in Galvanic Bombardment, Harnessed Lightning, Fiery Temper, and Lightning Axe. While these spells are being cast, Dynavolt Tower makes energy. Once the threats have been neutralized, Dynavolt Tower, Torrential Gearhulk, and Wandering Fumarole can start getting in damage and finish the game in short order.
Out of the sideboard, this decks transitions into a Thing in the Ice and Niblis of Frost deck to lock down extra creatures people will have after they’ve boarded out their removal spells. This deck gets much better after sideboard in any given matchup. It excels against aggro and is solid against other control decks. Unlike the other control decks, U/R Spells is worst against the Aetherworks Marvel deck. Its removal doesn’t line up well against Emrakul, the Promised End, and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger that have been cheated into play. Avoid that matchup, and this deck could be marvelous.
Speaking of marvelous …
The Combo Deck
Matt Nass’ Temur Aetherworks
This is the weird combo deck, with distinct echoes of Pro Tour Eldritch Moon‘s breakout decks. It was actually 18.77% of the Day 2 metagame, but seemed to not perform as well at the top tables. It uses card selection that also puts Kozilek’s Return into its graveyard in Contingency Plan and Vessel of Nascency, and Glint-Nest Crane finds artifacts and block creatures. The Puzzleknots, Aether Meltdown, and Attune with Aether all accrue energy. The win condition is activating Aetherworks Marvel to find an Emrakul, the Promised End or Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. These being cast also lets a Kozilek’s Return in the graveyard wipe the opponent’s board if necessary. Victory generally comes in short order after a successful Aetherworks Marvel activation.
This deck pretty much crushes the aggressive decks, midrange decks that don’t have hand disruption, and removal-based control decks. This deck falls flat against control deck with counter spells. Void Shatter and Summary Dismissal can counter Aetherworks Marvel, and by the time a huge threat would be cast naturally, the control deck has so many resources that it is virtually impossible to resolve anything and keep it around. I wouldn’t feel comfortable playing this deck simply for the fact that its two worst matchups placed 1st and 2nd at the Pro Tour.
The Tempo Deck
Joey Manner’s W/U Flash
This deck is the one that is flying — or flashing — under everyone’s radar. While only one copy made the Top 8, there were three other decks very similar in structure that all had a 9-1 record in Standard. All four 9-1 decks were W/U midrange or flash. I can’t stress enough how much potential this deck has.
It is Spirits-esque, though the only actual synergy is in Rattlechains with Selfless Spirit and Spell Queller; the other lists weren’t taking advantage of this interaction. Reflector Mage and Spell Queller dominated the last Standard season and some of that has been lost with all these great new cards out.
This deck is extremely powerful, and being the tempo player that I am, I’m very tempted to pick this up. The downside to a strategy like this is the fact that once it gets behind, its suddenly very hard to win. With a lot of aggro decks in the format, I’m worried this may happen too much. It is pretty low to the ground, though. So it should be able to keep up.
More Crew Puns to Come
We learned a lot from this Pro Tour. Smuggler’s Copter isn’t as dominant as once thought, but these vehicles-based strategies are still extremely powerful. Control isn’t dead, with both finals decks being control decks. There were new decks that people were expecting, such as Temur Aetherworks, and new decks people weren’t expecting, such as U/R Spells. W/U flash suggests that a tempo deck is very viable in this format.
I’m really looking forward to this Standard season. All of the decks looked sweet, and I don’t think we’ve seen the end of other decks like G/B Delirium, Grixis Emerge, B/R Madness, R/B Aggro, Colossus, G/R Energy, and so on.
Until next time, look out for some very smug copters.
Tom Koson is an up-and-coming grinder from Missouri who has been playing Magic since Return to Ravnica. He has made a name for himself with notable finishes such as making Top 8 of WMCQs and RPTQs, and he won SCG Standard and Modern States on back-to-back days in the spring of 2016. He prefers tempo and combo decks, but enjoys playing many different archetypes.
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