Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week we’re taking a look at Grand Prix: Columbus and its metagame. We go over the decks and strategies, and we’ll also cover the upcoming changes to the StarCityGames.com Open Series. Let’s go!
Grand Prix: Columbus Metagame
This weekend, a swarm of Magic players will descend on Columbus en masse to do battle with almost the entire cardpool. What do you need to know, be prepared for, and bring? Let’s take a look.
First up is what won the last large Legacy Event, the StarCityGames.com Legacy Open in St Louis, Countertop-Thopter:
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (22)
Spells (36)
This thing is a piece of work. It utilizes one of the last tutors that aren’t banned, Enlightened Tutor, and with it constructs defenses you can’t penetrate. They either get life and blockers with Thopter Foundry and Sword of the Meek, stop your defenses with Moat, or shut you down with Counterbalance. The real kicker is that Enlightened Tutor, along with Brainstorm of course, allows you to stack your deck and counter just about any spell played in the format. Is your opponent trying to resolve a high-mana spell such as Jace, the Mind Sculptor while Counterbalance is in play? Just Enlightened Tutor for Moat while the Counterbalance trigger is still on the stack.
Mystical Tutor just got the axe due to its combo power, and part of me is curious how long it will take for the other incredible tutor, Enlightened Tutor, is added to the list. Definitely a card to watch, and one you want to make max use of this Grand Prix.
Moving on, how about some Zoo?
Creatures (24)
- 3 Grim Lavamancer
- 4 Tarmogoyf
- 2 Gaddock Teeg
- 2 Kitchen Finks
- 4 Wild Nacatl
- 4 Qasali Pridemage
- 3 Steppe Lynx
- 2 Loam Lion
Lands (21)
Spells (15)
This deck uses what are probably the two best creatures ever printed, Tarmogoyf and Wild Nacatl, to incredible beatdown effect. You lay the beats quick and finish ‘em off with burn spells like Lightning Bolt or the meta-crushing Price of Progress. Nice. Duals.
This particular version runs the very spicy Fireblast while also packing four Qasali Pridemage and a pair of Gaddock Teeg. These creatures solve so many problems, such as Moats and Wrath of Gods being resolved against you. If you’re into bashing face, this is the deck for you.
Up next is another solid contender, Merfolk:
Creatures (26)
- 2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
- 4 Lord of Atlantis
- 4 Merrow Reejerey
- 4 Silvergill Adept
- 4 Cursecatcher
- 4 Merfolk Sovereign
- 4 Coralhelm Commander
Lands (22)
Spells (12)
I like this deck because it is incredibly sneaky. The ability to Aether Vial a Cursecatch to counter a spell is awesome, using Aether Vial to sneak in a Silvergill Adept is brilliant, Aether Vialing…hrm, you know, that Aether Vial card…pretty good. This is probably the premier “Aether Vial” deck, and it shows: A bunch of powerful yet cheap creatures that together provide almost unstoppable synergy once they get going. Add a dash of counterspells that are at their best when you’re tapped out, and you’ve got yourself a hell of a concoction.
The addition of Kira, the Great Glass-Spinner is fantastic and exciting, another awesome Aether Vial target that can screw up removal of all sorts. Be careful not to let the sideboard all-star Sower of Temptation wreck your day, while Back to Basics is a crushing blow to any deck that doesn’t rely on basics.
Merfolk isn’t the only ‘Aether Vial deck,’ of course… the other big contender is Goblins:
Creatures (30)
- 4 Goblin Matron
- 4 Goblin Lackey
- 4 Goblin Warchief
- 1 Goblin Sharpshooter
- 4 Goblin Piledriver
- 4 Gempalm Incinerator
- 1 Siege-Gang Commander
- 4 Goblin Ringleader
- 2 Stingscourger
- 2 Goblin Chieftain
Lands (17)
Spells (13)
Sideboard
This is a deck everyone forgets about it until it shows up and wrecks everybody. Goblins have a way of getting out of control quickly, and the faster you realize you need to kill all of them every time, the better off you’ll be. This is also a deck that is incredibly difficult to play well. Sure, it looks like you just dump your hand on the table every time, but the finesse is in which Goblins to drop, which to Aether Vial into play, which Goblin to find with Matron, and so on. Those tiny decisions will add up to wins and ultimately put pilots in the Top 8. The easiest deck to pick up is also one of the most difficult to master.
But how about the deck that smushed in Seattle? Here is Kyle Boddy New Horizons:
Creatures (11)
Lands (23)
Spells (26)
This is your basic Aggro/Control deck. You’ve got counterspells, you got big scary monsters, and you’ve got removal spells. The simple ingredients that are mixed just to the right consistency to produce awesome sauce. Pour this over your boiled metagame… okay, okay, getting a little carried away here. Seriously, this thing just Stifles important triggers, often fetchland activations – nice Blue Wasteland – and beats you to death with monstrous Terravores. I for one think this deck is awesome – who doesn’t want beatsticks with Force of Wills? – but there’s room for improvement I think, even if it did win a large event. There have been rumors of sticking Cataclysm in this deck, and I for one would love to be stomping face with Terravore then Cataclysm with Force of Will/Daze backup. Pretty sick.
But let’s keep going, because if there’s one truth about Legacy, it’s that there is always another interesting decklist to discover.
Up next is Survival of the Fittest:
Creatures (25)
- 1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
- 1 Phyrexian Dreadnought
- 1 Man-o'-War
- 1 Genesis
- 1 Wonder
- 1 Anger
- 1 Goblin Sharpshooter
- 1 Eternal Witness
- 1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
- 1 Flametongue Kavu
- 1 Spore Frog
- 2 Trygon Predator
- 1 Scryb Ranger
- 1 Magus of the Moon
- 4 Tarmogoyf
- 2 Rhox War Monk
- 4 Noble Hierarch
Lands (20)
Spells (16)
This is an incredibly fun deck to play as you basically get to play the ol’ switcharoo with creatures in your hand for creatures in your deck and get as much utility out of them as possible. The primary interaction is that of Squee, Goblin Nabob and Survival of the Fittest, allowing you to search up a creature each turn for free, essentially. Further you have Genesis that gets you creatures from your graveyard to hand for the low-low cost of a Green and two colorless mana, which combined with Eternal Witness essentially gives you the ability to repeat any spell, recast any creature, or regrow any land you like. This one is based around a Bant shell, and its toolbox nature even lets you tutor up Wonder and put it in your graveyard to give all of your creatures evasion. A fun and versatile deck that gives you infinite options, for the indecisive out there.
But how’s about a little combo? Let’s begin with Belcher:
Creatures (16)
Lands (2)
Spells (42)
Belcher is a really neat deck. You basically accel-accel-accel with cards like Lion’s Eye Diamond, Tinder Wall, Elvish and Simian Spirit Guides, then bust out with an insanely large Empty the Warrens, or you play and activate Goblin Charbelcher, usually for lethal, as you run an extremely low land count. And by ‘Extremely Low Land Count’ I mean… two lands. Two lands, period, and you probably went and got one of them already with Land Grant. Craziness. This is another deck that appears pretty straightforward, but is unbelievably hard to play optimally. One wrong move and you get your tokens destroyed by Engineered Explosives or you walk right into their Force of Will. For those who love a quick game, this one’s for you.
But that isn’t the only combo in the format, how’s Ad Nauseam Tendrils looking these days? We go to Magic Online to find out:
Lands (13)
Spells (47)
This deck did well in a recent daily event, and as you can see this deck has survived even without the now-banned Mystical Tutor. The idea, of course, is to use your mana acceleration to bust out an Ad Nauseam, drawing you oodles of cards with very little life loss, as your deck is incredibly cheap apart from the marquee spell, and using all of these new cards which give you all of this mana and card selection to build a storm count big enough to Tendrils of Agony their face off or make a billion Empty the Warrens tokens. This, as it turns out, is a very robust and far more difficult to disrupt than it appears. I’ve seen plenty of these decks have their first go at comboing off fizzled or countered, only to do it again the following turn for the win. They also have the ability to strip that Force of Will you’ve been sandbagging thanks to their full complement of Duress, and their sideboard gives them plenty of Blue hate like Red Elemental Blast, along with the ability to get rid of pesky cards like Chalice of the Void thanks to Chain of Vapor or Echoing Truth. Nice Gaddock Teeg, please bounce it so I can kill you now.
This is the premier combo deck of the format, and you need to be prepared for it. I can guarantee that at a sixteen-plus round tournament like a Grand Prix, odds are this will be sitting across from you at some point, so make sure you have a plan.
But what about some more crazy deckbuilding goodies? How’s about this awesome Red Deck Wins list from another Magic Online daily event?
Creatures (12)
Lands (20)
Spells (28)
- 4 Lightning Bolt
- 4 Fireblast
- 4 Ankh of Mishra
- 4 Chain Lightning
- 4 Price of Progress
- 4 Lava Spike
- 4 Rift Bolt
Sideboard
Oh man, is that Ankh of Freakin’ Mishra? Damn skippy, and I love it. Nice fetchland you got there. Allow me to destroy your land thanks to Wasteland, and make you take two more because you really need that mana, don’tcha? And is that Kiln Fiend? Woohoo, now we’ve got ourselves a party! And Sparky? Oh mah God, it’s Sparky! Spark Elemental, the most innocent looking creature ever is here and taking three delicious life points a swing. This deck is the quintessential Red Deck Wins: I will play dudes that hurt you immediately, spells that damage your face, and spells that punish your manabase. Love. It. If there is one deck that speaks to the Timmy in all of us, it’s this one.
Good luck to all of those battling in the GP, but what about those battling in the next Legacy Open in Denver? Have you heard about the upcoming changes to the StarCityGames.com Open Series? Here’s a quick rundown:
The first – and most important – point is that we’re giving away more money! Yes, we’re now paying down to 32nd place, so those who grind it out to X-2 and didn’t make Top 16 will still go home with their entry fee and then some. You can’t call ‘em $5Ks any longer, and that’s just the way we like it.
Next is a free FNM with Open Event preregistration! Yep, you show up at the event site, preregister for an Open Series event, and bam! Free FNM! Prizes and foils galore, along with giving you the perfect testing ground for the tournament the next day.
This is followed by more side events, including a Two-Headed Giant in the afternoon on Saturday, along with a 4-Round Legacy Challenge event for just ten bucks. Standard gets their 4-round Challenge event on Sunday, again for ten bucks where those who go 4-0 get fifty bucks in store credit.
Last we’ve announced the Invitational format, where we get to see two days of ass-kicking Standard action culminating to a $10,000 cash prize for first place. I expect to see some serious personalities on-hand for the December 2nd and 3rd event, as yours truly will be on hand to get all of the action. If you haven’t made plans yet, start making them now, and remember – there will be an Open event going on simultaneously with the Invitational, so even if you don’t qualify for the Invi there’s still five grand being given away, and you should get your share! Not to mention the Legacy Open on Sunday if you don’t go X-2 at the Invitational, or if you’re just ready to sling Legacy style.
So that’s another week in Magic, peeps and peepettes. Until next time, Magic players… this is Evan Erwin. Tapping the cards… so you don’t have to!
Evan “misterorange” Erwin