You are viewing the Standard category.
Jon Finkel’s 3rd Place Spirits Deck With Delver
February 16, 2012
Team Channel Fireball’s Huntmaster Wolf Run Ramp deck was the deck of Pro Tour Dark Ascension since it took the top two spots. Close behind is definitely Jon Finkel’s 3rd place Esper Spirit Delver deck.
Not only did the deck get a top four finish, it put another Hall of Famer, Jelger Wiegersma, in the top eight. Also, it earned at least 18 points (60% win rate) for five other people in the Swiss rounds.
I like the deck because you get the speed of a Delver deck while having staying power to win the mid game against other creature decks because of the Spirit midrange cards (Lingering Souls, Drogskol Captain, and Dungeon Geist).
Check out Jon’s deck tech video and decklist below.
Huntmaster Wolf Run Ramp Wins the Pro Tour (Includes Sideboard Plans)
February 13, 2012
Team Channel Fireball dominated yet another Pro Tour by putting three players in the top eight of Pro Tour Dark Ascension. This time they also got the top two spots. Brian Kibler and Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (PV) battled in the finals to determine the champion.
They played the same deck, Red/Green (RG) Wolf Run Ramp with 4 Huntmaster of the Fells. The only difference between their lists was one card in the sideboard. PV had 1 Combust and 2 Garruk, Primal Hunter while Kibler had 2 Combust and 1 Garruk, Primal Hunter. In the end, Kibler won the 74 card mirror match to win his second Pro Tour.
Check out his winning decklist below.
A Mono Black Deck with 4 Skirsdag High Priest Did Well at the Pro Tour
February 12, 2012
One of the most surprising decks that did well at Pro Tour Dark Ascension is Jasper Johnson-Epstein’s Mono Black Aggro deck with 4 Skirsdag High Priest. He called the black creature the centerpiece of the deck.
He went 7-2-1 in the Swiss rounds of Standard. That’s definitely a very good record for a rogue deck and for someone playing his very first Pro Tour.
The deck also relies on a couple Dark Ascension cards so if you want to see brand new powerful black cards in action, try out the deck.
Here’s the deck tech video and decklist.
Successful Bant Pod Deck from Pro Tour Dark Ascension
February 11, 2012
I was happy to see a Bant Pod deck doing well on day one of Pro Tour Dark Ascension. I played Bant Pod a lot last Standard season and it won me a bunch of booster packs on Magic Online.
Yesterday, Gaudenis Vidugiris went 4-1 with Bant Pod in the Standard portion of the Pro Tour. His list is interesting. It’s different from other Bant Pod lists I’ve seen. He played a whopping 10 one-drop mana creatures including two Llanowar Elves. Also, in the main deck, his only non-creature spell is Birthing Pod. There are no Oblivion Rings, Mimic Vats, or planeswalkers like Garruk Relentless and Venser, the Sojourner.
I was surprised to see only one undying creature in the whole list. In fact, the deck had only two Dark Ascension cards, 1 Strangleroot Geist in the main deck and 1 Ray of Revelation in the sideboard.
Check out the deck tech video and decklist below.
Heartless Summoning Deck with Havengul Lich Makes Top 8
February 7, 2012
Ali Aintrazi, the 2011 US Champion, made top eight in the first big Standard tournament with Dark Ascension (the Starcitygames Standard Open in Richmond last weekend). His deck of choice was Blue/Black (UB) Heartless Summoning Control.
He went undefeated in the Swiss rounds, starting off with seven straight wins and then intentionally drawing the next two matches to lock up a top eight spot. He finally lost in the quarterfinals to UW Delver.
Check out his list below.
How I Quickly Built a Powerful Naya Pod Deck
January 30, 2012
Updated Feb. 27, 2011: I made changes to the deck and came up with some sideboard plans. Check out this post to learn more.
Two weeks ago, I predicted the undying mechanic from Dark Ascension would turn Pod into a tier one deck in Standard. I wanted to find out if my prediction was right, so I started testing Pod last week.
Fortunately, it didn’t take too long to build a deck that had tier one potential. This made me very happy because usually it takes many hours of testing and trying out a bunch of different decklists to come up with a winning list.
The main thing I did to save time was use my Value Bant Pod list (pre-Dark Ascension deck) as a template. This deck had a win rate of 62% over 131 matches.
Red/Green Werewolf Deck With Dark Ascension
January 25, 2012
The Werewolf tribe got some great cards from Dark Ascension. I wanted to see how much better the deck got so I started testing it as soon as the full spoiler was released.
So far, I’ve been satisfied with the deck. It can be blazing fast yet it has protection from mass removal with Full Moon’s Rise.
Also, it doesn’t have to win right away. You can win in the midgame with card advantage creatures like Daybreak Ranger, Mayor of Avabruck, and Huntmaster of the Fells.
I tried a couple different decklists before I came up with one that won consistently. Here’s my current Red/Green Werewolves deck.
GW Humans Deck
January 23, 2012
Note from Dee: I’m happy to publish Andrew’s first blog post. Check out his bio page to learn more about him.
I’ve been playing with my Green/White (GW) Humans deck for awhile now. The deck I run now, as listed below, is vastly different from the deck I started out with a couple months ago. This deck is ever changing and with the release of Dark Ascension coming up, I am sure it will change even more. The deck is very fast paced. With twelve one-drop creatures, it is able to keep tempo with other fast decks like Red Deck Wins and Illusions.
Build a Winning Rogue Deck Like Conley Woods: 5 Lessons From His Grand Prix Win
January 19, 2012
I was surprised to see a rogue deck win Grand Prix Orlando last weekend. The Standard format has been explored for three and half months, which makes it harder to brew a rogue deck. Plus, I thought the pros would stick to existing decks.
Many pros did play established archetypes but Conley Woods brewed a Jund Ramp deck. His efforts proved to be worthwhile as he won the whole tournament. His deck was especially dominant in the elimination rounds, where he did not lose a single game.
Conley Woods is one of the best rogue deck builders in the game today so you can learn a lot from examining his decks closely. Here are 5 lessons we can learn from his Jund Ramp list.
UW Illusions With Geist of Saint Traft
January 1, 2012
I’m sure most, if not all, of you have heard what happened with Alex Bertoncini and Starcitygames circuit. If not, just Google it, I’m sure you’ll find something. (Don’t anger Drew Levin, whatever you do.)
Whether he’s a cheater or just sloppy, he still knew that Illusions was the best choice for the Invitational in Charlotte. I completely agree, the Illusions deck is just insane. It has an incredible amount of play to it and gives the pilot chances to outplay their opponents as well as just letting you nut draw people into oblivion.
Here’s the preliminary list I would start with if I were to play at the upcoming Grand Prix in Orlando.
-
Subscription Options
-
Popular MTG Cards on eBay
Recent Posts
