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I won't be attending StarCityGames.com Open: Baltimore, so the next tournament on the horizon for me is the SCG Charlotte Invitational. With this being the biggest tournament of the year that I will attend, I immediately grabbed two friends and began testing the gauntlet early. We started with a few decks to test, grabbed the proxy fodder, and went to work.
We began with the obvious big names: U/B Control, Wolf Run Ramp varieties, G/W Tokens, and U/W Blade. There were obviously other contenders, but you have to start somewhere when testing. In this article, I'd like to talk about the decks you should be testing with and against if you plan to do well in the Invitational.
Many people overlook decks they won't be playing at the tournament, but I believe in knowing the enemy. The key to defeating a difficult matchup is to learn its game plan and morph yours around that. As Mike Flores once explained in “Who'stheBeatdown?”(great read, highly recommended), you need to know how to play against each archetype. What better way to find out who is the aggressor in the matchup than by putting yourself in the shoes of the enemy?
With this in mind, let's jump into the gauntlet with full force. I will list the decks in order from least important to most important, in case your testing time is limited.
Solar Flare
| Solar Flare A Standard deck, by AJ Sacher 4th place at a StarCityGames.com Standard Open tournament in Baltimore, Maryland, United States on 2011-10-23 | ||
Artifact Creatures 2 Wurmcoil Engine Creatures 1 Phantasmal Image 4 Snapcaster Mage 2 Sun Titan Enchantments 2 Oblivion Ring Instants 1 Dismember 2 Dissipate 2 Doom Blade 4 Forbidden Alchemy 1 Go for the Throat 4 Mana Leak 4 Think Twice |
Planeswalkers 2 Liliana of the Veil Sorceries 2 Day of Judgment 1 Unburial Rites Basic Lands 4 Island 2 Plains 2 Swamp Lands 4 Darkslick Shores 2 Drowned Catacomb 1 Ghost Quarter 4 Glacial Fortress 3 Isolated Chapel 4 Seachrome Coast | 1 Phantasmal Image 1 Oblivion Ring 2 Celestial Purge 1 Flashfreeze 1 Negate 3 Purify the Grave 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 1 Day of Judgment 1 Revoke Existence 2 Timely Reinforcements 1 Ghost Quarter |
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Everyone remembers Solar Flare from a few months ago. It was the top deck until people found easy and powerful ways to beat it. This caused Solar Flare to recede into the shadows, slowly morphing more around its control aspects over Unburial Rites. AJ Sacher attempted to bring it back in the limelight with a top 8, but ultimately he was one of the few pilots to put up much of a result with the deck.
While I don't think this is the deck you should be playing, at least not without extensive testing, I do believe that you should play a few games against this deck. When testing for tournaments like the SCG Invitational, you have to remember the higher concentration of strong players compared to your average tournament. This means that people will have very well-tuned lists of whatever deck they choose to play. Knowing the game plan of Solar Flare is one of the best ways to beat it, so a few games shouldn't hurt. If you don't have that much testing time, this isn't the most important to play against, but it is definitely a deck that can come back with full force when no one expects it.
Tempered Steel
| Tempered Steel A Standard deck, by Conley Woods 3rd place at a Worlds tournament in San Francisco, California, United States on 2011-11-20 | ||
Artifacts 4 Glint Hawk Idol 4 Origin Spellbomb Artifact Creatures 4 Etched Champion 4 Memnite 4 Signal Pest 4 Vault Skirge Creatures 4 Glint Hawk Enchantments 4 Tempered Steel |
Instants 4 Dispatch Legendary Artifacts 4 Mox Opal Legendary Creatures 1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch Basic Lands 9 Plains Lands 4 Inkmoth Nexus 2 Moorland Haunt 4 Seachrome Coast | 4 Shrine of Loyal Legions 3 Spellskite 3 Hero of Bladehold 1 Oblivion Ring 2 Dismember 1 Timely Reinforcements 1 Glacial Fortress |
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The great players representing ChannelFireball recently put four of their members into the Top 8 of Worlds. They were all sporting Tempered Steel, a deck that seemed like it wouldn't see the light of day for a while. Many people had dropped their hate out of their sideboards. Ancient Grudge went missing out of Wolf Run Ramp sideboards, and then it came back swinging. While the results of Worlds may disagree with me, I don't think you should be playing Tempered Steel. If anything, the results of Worlds actually make the deck worse, as people will be packing way too much hate now. Just because you shouldn't be playing it doesn't mean some people won't. You need to know how you fare against this deck and how to fix the matchup if you aren't favored. Aggressive decks are best at coming back to win when no one is ready for them, and even though Red Deck Wins will not be on this gauntlet list, keep that in mind too.
U/W Humans
| W/U Humans A Standard deck, by John Schwandt 2nd place at a StarCityGames.com Standard Open tournament in Kansas City, Missouri, United States on 2011-10-30 | ||
Artifact Creatures 1 Phyrexian Metamorph Creatures 4 Accorder Paladin 4 Champion of the Parish 4 Doomed Traveler 4 Grand Abolisher 3 Hero of Bladehold 4 Mirran Crusader Enchantments 3 Angelic Destiny 4 Honor of the Pure 4 Oblivion Ring |
Legendary Creatures 2 Geist of Saint Traft Basic Lands 11 Plains Lands 4 Glacial Fortress 4 Moorland Haunt 4 Seachrome Coast | 3 Silverchase Fox 3 Negate 2 Surgical Extraction 1 Geist of Saint Traft 3 Revoke Existence 3 Timely Reinforcements |
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Another deck that hasn't been putting up many results lately, U/W Humans sits in many people's hearts. I know a lot of people who refuse to put this deck down, and they feel it is the best deck. While I feel inclined to disagree, it is still a good deck. This being said, people will play it, and you need to be aware of that. Study the matchup and understand exactly what makes it tick. If you don't, you might just be caught in the storm.
U/W Blade
| U/W Blade A Standard deck, by Adam Boyd 1st place at a StarCityGames.com Standard Open tournament in Kansas City, Missouri, United States on 2011-10-30 | ||
Artifacts 3 Sword of Feast and Famine Artifact Creatures 3 Spellskite Creatures 4 Blade Splicer 3 Hero of Bladehold 4 Mirran Crusader 3 Snapcaster Mage |
Enchantments 2 Oblivion Ring Instants 2 Dismember 4 Mana Leak 2 Midnight Haunting Sorceries 4 Gitaxian Probe Basic Lands 4 Island 9 Plains Lands 4 Glacial Fortress 3 Inkmoth Nexus 2 Moorland Haunt 4 Seachrome Coast | 4 Ratchet Bomb 2 Sun Titan 1 Oblivion Ring 2 Celestial Purge 4 Flashfreeze 2 Revoke Existence |
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In the hands of Adam Boyd, this deck took down an SCG Open. This was my original choice for the SCG Invitational, but in the many lists we tried, it felt like it was missing something. It has decent matchups against a good amount of the decks in the field, but it just didn't feel strong enough. I would definitely not be disappointed if I had to play this deck, so it should be an option if you have not already picked one yourself. This deck is all about choosing its role early and morphing its game plan around that. Do you want to hold up Mana Leak every turn or start pushing out Blade Splicers and Mirran Crusaders as soon as possible? Not only does this change from matchup to matchup, but also from game to game. This deck is a serious contender, and it is something you need to watch out for.
U/B Control
| U/B Control A Standard deck, by Jonathan Kornacki 1st place at a StarCityGames.com Standard Open tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States on 2011-11-06 | ||
Creatures 2 Consecrated Sphinx 1 Grave Titan 3 Snapcaster Mage Instants 2 Dissipate 3 Doom Blade 4 Forbidden Alchemy 4 Mana Leak 1 Negate 1 Surgical Extraction 4 Think Twice 1 Tribute to Hunger 2 Visions of Beyond 1 Wring Flesh Planeswalkers 1 Karn Liberated 2 Liliana of the Veil |
Sorceries 2 Black Sun's Zenith Basic Lands 8 Island 6 Swamp Lands 4 Darkslick Shores 4 Drowned Catacomb 2 Ghost Quarter 2 Nephalia Drownyard | 2 Batterskull 2 Curse of Death's Hold 1 Volition Reins 1 Disperse 1 Flashfreeze 2 Negate 2 Surgical Extraction 2 Jace, Memory Adept 1 Liliana of the Veil 1 Black Sun's Zenith |
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U/B Control has a lot of hype, and some even thought it would completely destroy at Worlds. It didn't do so well on the surface of Worlds, but we have to keep in mind that Worlds has multiple formats. Even if it seems like U/B didn't do so well, that may have been because its pilots fell off in the other formats. This deck is a skill-intensive menace and should be handled with care in a high-profile event. If you want to play this deck, get some serious testing in before stepping on the event site. As Brian Kibler stated in one of his morerecentarticles (Premium only, sorry), you need to be mana efficient. You may have your favorite build of U/B Control, but above all else make sure that you are using your mana wisely.
G/W Tokens
| Township Tokens A Standard deck, by Daniel Dusang 11th place at a StarCityGames.com Standard Open tournament in Kansas City, Missouri, United States on 2011-10-30 | ||
Artifacts 2 Mortarpod 3 Sword of Feast and Famine Creatures 3 Avacyn's Pilgrim 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Hero of Bladehold 2 Jade Mage 4 Mirran Crusader Enchantments 3 Angelic Destiny 3 Oblivion Ring Legendary Creatures 3 Thrun, the Last Troll |
Planeswalkers 3 Garruk Relentless 2 Garruk, Primal Hunter Basic Lands 9 Forest 4 Plains Lands 3 Gavony Township 4 Razorverge Thicket 4 Sunpetal Grove | 2 Sword of War and Peace 2 Spellskite 3 Leonin Arbiter 3 Celestial Purge 2 Naturalize 3 Timely Reinforcements |
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| G/W Tokens A Standard deck, by Martin Juza 1st place at a Grand Prix tournament in Hiroshima, Japan on 2011-10-30 | ||
Artifacts 2 Mortarpod Creatures 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim 4 Birds of Paradise 2 Blade Splicer 2 Geist-Honored Monk 4 Hero of Bladehold 4 Mirran Crusader Enchantments 3 Oblivion Ring Legendary Creatures 2 Mikaeus, the Lunarch |
Planeswalkers 3 Elspeth Tirel 3 Garruk Relentless Sorceries 3 Overrun Basic Lands 8 Forest 4 Plains Lands 4 Gavony Township 4 Razorverge Thicket 4 Sunpetal Grove | 2 Sword of Feast and Famine 2 Sword of War and Peace 1 Fiend Hunter 1 Oblivion Ring 2 Celestial Purge 2 Naturalize 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 2 Thrun, the Last Troll 1 Garruk Relentless 1 Garruk, Primal Hunter |
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In the hands of Martin Juza, this deck put up some good results. If it weren't for what I feel is an awkward Wolf Run Ramp matchup (though feel free to tell me I'm wrong), I would probably play this deck. I love the aggressive and the strong late game it provides in each game, through the quick tokens and the game-ending planeswalkers. There are many iterations of this archetype, so try to test against a few of them. I expect this deck to see a good amount of play in the Invitational, and this is one of the few decks I feel that you have to play against. Learning how to fight the token menace could make the difference. Though it seems simple to play against, there are a few intricacies that only testing can show.
Wolf Run Ramp
| Wolf Run Brown A Standard deck, by Corbett Gray 4th place at a StarCityGames.com Standard Open tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States on 2011-11-06 | ||
Artifacts 4 Sphere of the Suns Artifact Creatures 1 Copper Myr 2 Myr Battlesphere 4 Palladium Myr 4 Solemn Simulacrum 3 Wurmcoil Engine Creatures 1 Birds of Paradise 4 Primeval Titan 1 Viridian Emissary |
Instants 2 Beast Within Sorceries 4 Green Sun's Zenith 4 Rampant Growth Basic Lands 10 Forest 1 Mountain Lands 1 Buried Ruin 1 Ghost Quarter 4 Glimmerpost 4 Inkmoth Nexus 4 Kessig Wolf Run 1 Rootbound Crag | 2 Tumble Magnet 2 Myr Battlesphere 1 Tree of Redemption 2 Ancient Grudge 2 Thrun, the Last Troll 4 Blasphemous Act 2 Ghost Quarter |
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| Wolf Run Green A Standard deck, by Mark Hinsz 5th place at a StarCityGames.com Standard Open tournament in Kansas City, Missouri, United States on 2011-10-30 | ||
Artifacts 2 Sword of Feast and Famine Artifact Creatures 2 Solemn Simulacrum Creatures 1 Acidic Slime 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Dungrove Elder 2 Llanowar Elves 4 Primeval Titan Instants 3 Beast Within |
Planeswalkers 3 Garruk Relentless 2 Garruk, Primal Hunter Sorceries 4 Green Sun's Zenith 4 Rampant Growth Basic Lands 19 Forest 2 Mountain Lands 2 Inkmoth Nexus 2 Kessig Wolf Run | 1 Batterskull 2 Acidic Slime 1 Tree of Redemption 1 Viridian Corrupter 2 Ancient Grudge 4 Gut Shot 1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast 3 Thrun, the Last Troll |
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| Wolf Run White A Standard deck, by Kevin Dulin 9th place at a StarCityGames.com Standard Open tournament in Kansas City, Missouri, United States on 2011-10-30 | ||
Artifact Creatures 3 Solemn Simulacrum Creatures 1 Acidic Slime 1 Birds of Paradise 4 Primeval Titan 4 Viridian Emissary Instants 3 Beast Within 1 White Sun's Zenith |
Legendary Creatures 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 1 Thrun, the Last Troll Planeswalkers 4 Garruk, Primal Hunter 2 Gideon Jura Sorceries 4 Day of Judgment 3 Green Sun's Zenith 4 Rampant Growth Basic Lands 7 Forest 2 Mountain 2 Plains Lands 2 Ghost Quarter 2 Inkmoth Nexus 2 Kessig Wolf Run 4 Razorverge Thicket 4 Sunpetal Grove | 1 Acidic Slime 3 Mirran Crusader 1 Sun Titan 3 Celestial Purge 2 Naturalize 2 Thrun, the Last Troll 3 Timely Reinforcements |
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Oh Primeval Titan, how you love to show your ugly face all the time. While it may seem like Wolf Run Ramp isn't in favor right now, just look at Worlds. The pilot had a well-tuned list and was able to fight to total victory. There are many different versions of Wolf Run, as shown above, and similar to G/W Tokens, you should test against each if possible. They all have different card choices that change the whole matchup in some cases. Be prepared to have to fight against Wolf Run Ramp, and while it may seem like your deck has a good chance against it, make sure to test first just to be sure. You never know what you might discover in your testing.
U/W Illusions
| Illusions Featured by Todd Anderson on 2011-11-27 (Standard) | ||
Creatures 4 Delver of Secrets 4 Lord of the Unreal 4 Phantasmal Bear 4 Phantasmal Image 4 Snapcaster Mage 1 Stitched Drake Instants 4 Gut Shot 4 Mana Leak 4 Vapor Snag |
Sorceries 3 Gitaxian Probe 4 Ponder Basic Lands 10 Island Lands 3 Glacial Fortress 3 Moorland Haunt 4 Seachrome Coast | 3 Stitched Drake 3 Oblivion Ring 2 Dissipate 2 Flashfreeze 3 Mental Misstep 1 Negate 1 Glacial Fortress |
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Oh Todd Anderson, you and your concoctions. In all honesty, this is the deck I was thinking about playing in the Invitational, though that might change. This is what I feel to be one of, if not the, best decks in Standard right now. It has very few bad matchups, and thanks to Moorland Haunt, it has great late game. It can recover nicely from a Day of Judgment while also putting on amazing amounts of pressure. The combination of Phantasmal Image and Lord of the Unreal can be backbreaking. Not only that, but it can play the control role quite nicely if it has too. Thanks to Stitched Drake, even the Red Deck Wins annoyance can be beat, even though that deck isn't seeing much play right now. This deck is a strong contender, and I highly recommend playing it or even just testing against it, especially if you have limited testing time.
Overall, I hope you enjoyed this article. The Invitational is a very important tournament, so you need to be prepared. This list is not the only decks that will see play or that are seeing play, but these are what I feel to be the main decks right now. As I said earlier, these decks were listed from least important to most important. If you find yourself with very limited testing time, I think that you should at least try to get in testing time against the last four decks in the list. As always, I hope to see you at the Invitational and feel free to come up and say hi. I always love to talk about Magic and meet new people.
Until next time,
AJ Kerrigan
@AJKerrigan55 on Twitter
