Our first standard format with Shadows over Innistrad starts with the SCG Open in Baltimore, MD.
Day 1 started with 624 players.
All players with at least 18 points (6-3 record) made Day 2 for a total of 134 players (21.5% of the original field)
SCG Baltimore Open
| Decktype | # |
|---|---|
| W/U Humans | 23 |
| W/B Midrange | 15 |
| Bant Company | 13 |
| G/R Eldrazi | 11 |
| W/B Eldrazi | 10 |
| Esper Dragons | 7 |
| W/G Humans | 7 |
| R/W Eldrazi | 6 |
| G/W Tokens | 5 |
| Mono-Red Eldrazi | 4 |
| G/B Tokens | 3 |
| W/G Midrange | 3 |
| G/B Delirium | 3 |
| U/R Prowess | 2 |
| B/G Company | 2 |
| Mono-White Eldrazi | 2 |
| Naya Midrange | 2 |
| Jund Company | 2 |
| Mono-White Humans | 2 |
| U/R Control | 1 |
| Esper Control | 1 |
| W/U Tokens | 1 |
| Abzan Midrange | 1 |
| G/U Surge | 1 |
| Jund Midrange | 1 |
| G/B Midrange | 1 |
| Atarka Red | 1 |
| G/B Elves | 1 |
| B/R Control | 1 |
| Esper Demonic Pact | 1 |
| Sultai Delirium | 1 |
A couple of weeks ago while going over some of the cards from SOI, I mentioned that Collected Company was the best thing to be doing in Standard:
Jim Davis
Bant Company
SCG Open Baltimore Winner
1 Fortified Village
1 Port Town
4 Prairie Stream
3 Canopy Vista
4 Lumbering Falls
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Forest
3 Plains
2 Island
4 Duskwatch Recruiter
2 Archangel Avacyn
2 Tireless Tracker
4 Reflector Mage
4 Sylvan Advocate
4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
4 Bounding Krasis
1 Den Protector
1 Hidden Dragonslayer
3 Dromoka’s Command
1 Ojutai’s Command
4 Collected Company
Sideboard
1 Tireless Tracker
2 Declaration in Stone
2 Invocation of Saint Traft
2 Clip Wings
2 Lantern Scout
1 Den Protector
1 Ojutai’s Command
1 Hidden Dragonslayer
3 Negate
17 of the 134 decks on day 2 were Collected Company decks (12.7 %), including Jim Davis’s winning list.
Another prominent deck was W/x based Human Aggro decks (23.9 % of the field on day 2). The deck came in 3 flavors: WU, WG, and mono-W:
Kellen Pastore
Mono White Humans
SCG Open Baltimore 2nd Place
3 Always Watching
4 Declaration in Stone
2 Stasis Snare
3 Gryff’s Boon
3 Hanweir Militia Captain
4 Thraben Inspector
3 Town Gossipmonger
4 Thalia’s Lieutenant
2 Expedition Envoy
3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
2 Consul’s Lieutenant
3 Dragon Hunter
4 Knight of the White Orchid
1 Westvale Abbey
19 Plains
Sideboard
2 Westvale Abbey
2 Felidar Cub
3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Lantern Scout
1 Stasis Snare
1 Hallowed Moonlight
3 Secure the Wastes
2 Silkwrap
Collin Stiles
W/U Humans
SCG Open Baltimore 6th Place
4 Declaration in Stone
3 Always Watching
4 Thalia’s Lieutenant
2 Archangel Avacyn
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Reflector Mage
2 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4 Archangel of Tithes
3 Consul’s Lieutenant
2 Dragonlord Ojutai
4 Knight of the White Orchid
2 Meandering River
2 Westvale Abbey
4 Prairie Stream
4 Port Town
12 Plains
Sideboard
3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Stasis Snare
1 Tragic Arrogance
2 Surge of Righteousness
2 Ojutai’s Command
1 Dragonlord Ojutai
1 Dispel
3 Negate
Dwayne Graham
W/G Humans
SCG Open Baltimore 8th Place
4 Declaration in Stone
4 Always Watching
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Thalia’s Lieutenant
4 Tireless Tracker
4 Consul’s Lieutenant
3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
3 Archangel of Tithes
4 Dragon Hunter
4 Knight of the White Orchid
1 Westvale Abbey
4 Canopy Vista
4 Fortified Village
13 Plains
Sideboard
2 Clip Wings
2 Ulvenwald Mysteries
1 Westvale Abbey
2 Archangel Avacyn
3 Eerie Interlude
2 Evolutionary Leap
1 Hallowed Moonlight
2 Dromoka’s Command
These aren’t the same weenie decks of old. These decks have a way to fight back in the midgame and can win some long games thanks to Clue tokens and card advantage provided by Knight of the White Orchid.
The field was very aggressive, which usually comes a no shock to those are used to a week 1 metagame in Magic. It is usually much easier to build linear based aggro decks for a new format rather than control strategies. This is typically due to the fact that control decks need to know what the threats are before they can adapt.
Now some players were expecting a heavy aggro field and targeted what they though were the pillars of the metagame with a very well designed midrange / control deck:
Eric Hymel
W/B Eldrazi
SCG Open Baltimore 3th Place
2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
4 Declaration in Stone
2 Ultimate Price
2 Anguished Unmaking
4 Archangel Avacyn
4 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Hedron Crawler
2 Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
1 Matter Reshaper
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Shambling Vent
2 Blighted Fen
1 Foundry of the Consuls
3 Forsaken Sanctuary
2 Swamp
6 Plains
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Battlefield Forge
Sideboard
1 Anguished Unmaking
2 Reality Smasher
1 Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3 Tragic Arrogance
2 Virulent Plague
2 Read the Bones
3 Duress
This WB deck mixes some of the power Eldrazi cards (Eldrazi Displacer, Thought-Knot Seer) with the best removal in the format in Declaration in Stone and Anguished Unmaking. I admit I was wrong about Declaration in Stone. Usually sorcery speed removal that comes with a drawback (in this case, Clue tokens) ends up being used sparsely or not at all. In this case, the exile effect and the ability to take out more than 1 creature at a time coupled with the ability to hit tokens with no drawback, means that it is the best removal spell in the format.
So what are the pillars of the format?
They all seem to be in White.
Of the 134 decks on day 2, White was in the highest percentage of decks:
91 contained White cards (67.9 %)
58 contained Green cards (43.3 %)
51 contained Blue cards (38.1 %)
49 contained Black cards (36.6 %)
31 contained Red cards (23.1 %)
White was the most played color on Day 2 which is a testament to the power of the color.
So when was the last time that White was the best color in Magic? You’d have to go way back to the Summer of 2000:
Rebel Alliance by Kai Budde
1st Place
Pro Tour Chicago 2000
4 Brushland
16 Plains
4 Rishadan Port
2 Dust Bowl
2 Defiant Falcon
2 Defiant Vanguard
4 Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
3 Longbow Archer
4 Ramosian Sergeant
2 Ramosian Sky Marshal
1 Rebel Informer
3 Steadfast Guard
1 Thermal Glider
4 Chimeric Idol
4 Parallax Wave
4 Wax // Wane
Sideboard
4 Armageddon
1 Defiant Vanguard
1 Lightbringer
3 Mageta the Lion
3 Seal of Cleansing
3 Wrath of God
So how do we prepare for the Great White Hope?
- Sweepers or spells that deal with multiple creatures at a time, preferably ones that deal with indestructibility via exiling or shrinking
- Ways to deal with non creature permanents as well (enchantments and some planeswalkers to be exact)
Until next time,
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