Now that’s what I call a good way to start off a month, and it’s only going to get better. 521 players came out for the StarCityGames.com Standard Open in Philadelphia and it is time to focus in on the metagame as it is shaking out after U.S. Nationals Qualifiers and the enormous Grand Prix in Washington DC.
First, some quick facts that affected my defining of Archetypes:
• Super Friends may have taken the SCG.com Atlanta event, but there are still a lot of proponents of leaving Ajani on the sidelines in favor of a more stable U/W Tap Out style deck.
• Mythic players have almost universally adopted the Sovereign Mythic build and it is rapidly emerging as the deck to beat.
• Jund has many forms, but I am still working on good classifications of the Sub-Archetypes. There are no major, distinctive Sub-Archetypes at the moment, so Jund remains one solid block. I smell focus article…
• I broke down the Polymorph decks by what they were searching up. Iona was on top this week, (Both of the Top 100 Polymorph builds) but I want more data before jumping to conclusions about the best target. I can’t say that I understood why you would have one of each, though…
All right, let’s look at the field:
So, should we change the name on “Red Deck Wins”? Because it really hasn’t for a while now and a sub 40% day in Philadelphia should put some nails in that coffin, especially with Devastating Red providing a similar enough deck that Aggro players can slide over without much trouble. Apparently there are a lot of Twilight fans playing Magic, because that’s the only excuse I can come up with for playing Vampires right now. When the top Vampire player on the day posts a triple digit finish, it may be time to give up on the deck. Dropping the sarcasm for a minute, Sovereign Mythic put up some excellent numbers to back up populating half of the Top 8 and taking home the trophy. 57.57% Win Percentage rivals some of the top numbers that we have seen since I started tracking and it is made even more impressive by the number of decks that were in the field. When 50 players walk in the door with a deck, chances are that you aren’t just dealing with the top players in the room.
Jund — 23.80% of the Field — Won 53.87% of Matches
Sarkhan the Mad seems to be gaining universal acceptance and Jund is still out in force. As noted earlier, everyone has their own take on the former king, but Jund is clearly a Tier one deck and still the most important deck to test against due to its share of the metagame. Sovereign Mythic is not a good deck to have your worst match-up against as it has been gaining momentum, but Jund players don’t have a single match-up where the game plan is to hope the opponent gets mana screwed.
U/W Tap Out — 12.86% of the Field — Won 52.95% of Matches
As with Jund, having your worst match-up against the up and coming deck is not the place that you want to be in the metagame. It is probably worth some sideboard slots, if not main deck spots, to be proactive against Sovereign Mythic. Unlike Jund, U/W Tap Out makes up for the lackluster numbers against Sovereign Mythic with some strong match-ups against a lot of the Tier 2 contenders. If your opponent plays a burn spell, just smile and prepare to blow them out.
Sovereign Mythic — 9.60% of the Field — Won 57.57% of Matches
Sovereign Mythic was clearly the deck of the event taking the triple crown: Win the event, most decks in the Top 8 and best Win percentage on the day. Not a bad day’s work. I expect this deck to keep growing in popularity going into the StarCityGames.com Open Weekend in Seattle. It may have a shot to become the new Jund as it is not showing any glaring weaknesses. Let’s see how it fairs over the next month as the crosshairs of the metagame are come to rest on it as the best deck. Can it hold up to significantly more sideboard hate?
Vengevine Bant — 4.80% of the Field — Won 50.00% of Matches
The darling of GP: Sendai did not perform as well on this side of the Pacific. A strong match-up with Super Friends provided the only significant match-up with an over 50% Win Percentage on the day. I expect the numbers to increase in Seattle and I hope that we can get a clearer picture from a second week of results.
Under the Radar:
Well, I’m not sure that you can call this deck Under the Radar as it is one of the most iconic decks currently in Standard, but without a representative in the Top 16, I figured that it would be worth looking at Chris Lachman’s 18th Place Super Friends deck.
Creatures (5)
Planeswalkers (11)
Lands (14)
Spells (30)
Super Friends — 9.21% of the Field — Won 52.36% of Matches
Missing out on the Top 16 is a disappointing follow up for the winning archetype from the SCG.com Standard Open in Atlanta, but three players piloted the deck to extra Open Points in the Top 32 and four more players cracked the Top 64. The sheer power of this deck is undeniable and I expect it to remain popular, despite this slight setback.
The StarCityGames.com Open Series is making its way to the West Coast this weekend in Seattle. I will, sadly, not be there, but you will be in some very capable hands with Level 4 judge Adam Shaw on day one and Portland’s own Level 3, Aaron Hamer at the helm on day two. Nicholas Sabin and Allison Medwin will handle the SCG duties at the event and scorekeeper extraordinaire Nick Fang will keep the tournament humming right along. I’ll be watching the coverage from my cousin’s wedding this weekend (Congratulations Andrew and April!) when I can sneak a look at my phone and I look forward to being back on the road for the event in St. Louis at the end of the month. Good luck to everyone! Legacy tomorrow!