Game Day Meta Calling
Standard forum
Posted on Aug. 3, 2015, 1:47 p.m. by EssTea
Hello everyone! How about a discussion on what decks to expect encountering at Game Day Origins and the decks that are well positioned against them? Here are my calls :
Call #1 : Mono-red
That is an easy call to make as there are always old players or players of eternal formats that come to game days with mono-red. RDW is the budget deck by excellence, making it a pick for a lot of players that do not want to invest too much into magic. The back to back win at Pro Tours speak for themselves, Mono-Red is a force to reckon with and you must have a plan for it if you ain't playing it yourself.
Call #2 : U/R Scissors
This one is a bit more complex of a call. The deck did perform very well at the Pro Tour, however it won't survive rotation so that might discourage players to put the deck together. Hints that help you make the call : your LGS has a lot of brewers that change decks a lot (U/R Scissors is brewers heroin!), or maybe you've seen people play a suboptimal list last FNM so they will likely come back with a tweaked Mike Sigrist list.
Call #3 : Abzan
Some people picked up the deck at khans and just never stoppped playing that deck. Abzan is sort of like Jund in modern, it adapts very well to certain strategies, so lets put ourselves in an Abzan player's head that expects lots of Mono-red. Abzan aggro? Nope. Abzan Megamorph? Too slow, playing Den Protector face up is not what the decks wants to be doing. Abzan Midrange? Yes, probably with Sylvan Caryatid as a hexproof blocker and to accelerate the stabilizing Siege Rhino, and also with a playset of Courser of Kruphix as an other great blocker and lifegain. Abzan control? Seems fine with me.
Two decks to fight the above
Brian Kibler's G/W deck from PTO ( decklist here)
There's a lot of things I like about this deck that went 9-1, its got lifegain, acceleration, recursion/resilience, some top end, and most importantly Dromoka's Command to trump burn spells, destroy Ensoul Artifact and as usual fight other creatures. Its sideboard option figure amongst the best and most versatile through G/W. The only problem for this deck is G/R devotion clogging up the ground and playing more powerful stuff, so keep that in consideration.Jeskai Midrange ( decklist here)
The decklist is not the perfect example of a Jeskai geared towards aggro but its a good place to start tweaking. The lifegain from Soulfire Grand Master and Ojutai's Command are the key components of making the deck good against mono-red. It also features some good air defense against thopters and early interaction with Wild Slash. The best part though is its maindeck answer to ensoul artifact through Harbinger of the Tides, the worst part is it suffers against abzan as it features some big toughness creatures and maybe Languish, but its not the worst matchup in the universe. A good deck to consider!
So what are you gonna be playing for Game Day Origins and why? Are you the mono-red player I'm preparing against or are you someone preparing against mono-red? Let us know in the comment section and post your decklists!
GLHF
GlistenerAgent Yep Dromoka's Command is definitely a good thing to be playing going forward into this format!
@mindcrush : Arashin Cleric, Negate, Duress, Drown in Sorrow, Nylea's Disciple, more Dromoka's Command are some popular options
August 3, 2015 2:01 p.m.
I'm running an Abzan enchantments deck as it's done well enough at my shop the last few weeks. My shop does Standard on Tuesdays so I'll have one more tourney tomorrow for another round of changes.
Weaving the Sigil of Nyx Playtest
Standard*
SCORE: 30 | 14 COMMENTS | 4010 VIEWS
August 3, 2015 2:14 p.m.
Turbo fog is up and coming, I don't know your meta but with mine it's pretty popular. Orbs of Warding is a solid sideboard against rdw. Abzan aggro has actually been doing pretty well recently, good luck at gameday.
August 3, 2015 2:31 p.m.
HolyFalcon says... #7
I'm playing this:
Mardu for Game Day Playtest
Standard
SCORE: 0 | 1 COMMENTS | 35 VIEWS
or something similar. What I wish I was playing is
Paul Jackson's G/R Devo Playtest
Standard*
SCORE: 0 | 0 COMMENTS | 1 VIEWS
but I don't have all the cards for it.
August 3, 2015 2:37 p.m.
@magiceli Turbo Fog thrives against green midrange and RDW is probably its worst matchup, a 5 mana spell is not a solid option against mono-red...
August 3, 2015 2:39 p.m.
UpsetYoMama says... #10
I'll be running Elves because I can...and it's super fun. I'm not too worried about RDW, I can swarm the board quickly. Their burn can easily take a game off of me, though. I have more issues against Abzan with thing like Siege Rhino, assuming I don't have a Gnarlroot Trapper in play. And of course Languish.
But if I play my Collected Company right...
August 3, 2015 2:45 p.m.
You've pretty much just summed up the pro tour lol
August 3, 2015 3:20 p.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #13
@ EssTea
Aggressive decks are usually at their best when the meta has just gotten jumbled up.
August 3, 2015 5:25 p.m.
Gorgosaurusrex says... #14
I'm expecting to see plenty of U/B control, Abzan Midrange, RDW, and U/R Artifacts.
I'll be playing Jeskai Tokens, as it has a good game 1 against three of the above four decks (not Abzan Midrange though).
GlistenerAgent says... #2
I'd advise Bant Heroic going into this weekend. Your matchups against Red, Devotion and Abzan are favorable, and I'd imagine that UR Ensoul is also good given that you can deal with Ensoul Artifact.
August 3, 2015 1:51 p.m. Edited.