So GP Hiroshima has come and gone and our good buddy Wolf Run Green was nowhere to be seen in the T8! Looks like the meta is shifting to a more aggressive format in order to combat “Big Green” before they just take over the game.
Here are the Top 8 from GP Hiroshima:
1) Township Tokens – Martin Juza
2) U/W Aggro – Takahiro Shiaki
3) Solar Flare – Akira Asahara
4) U/W Aggro – Rin Satou
5) Red Deck Wins – Kouichi Tashiro
6) U/W Aggro – Hiroshi Onizuka
7) Tempered Steel – Naoki Obayashi
8) Bant Birthing Pod – Kouichi Tanaka
You can see the full lists here: http://mtgpulse.com/event/3702
Let’s see if there are any new cards that are starting to show up in these lists! It would be especially juicy if there was a brand NEW card in these lists somewhere for us to hunt!
I’m going to categorize these lists by “Archetype” so that we can see the main cards a little better and also avoid duplications. I’m also only going to be looking at the RARES / MYTHICS used in the deck as that’s where I find the REAL profits come from.
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TOWNSHIP TOKENS
Martin Juza |
4 Birds of Paradise 2 Blade Splicer 2 Geist-Honored Monk 4 Hero of Bladehold 2 Mikaeus, the Lunarch 4 Mirran Crusader 4 Gavony Township 4 Razorverge Thicket 4 Sunpetal Grove 3 Elspeth Tiriel 3 Garruk Relentless |
What a great list! There are a few cards here that hadn’t really received the recognition that they deserved and it’s great to see them finally getting a little bit of attention!
The cards in this list that I feel are undervalued right now and could potentially spike include:
Geist Honored Monk -> Only $1 right now. Lots of room to grow!
Birds of Paradise -> Reprinted heavily, but trades @ $4 and costs $2 in real cash.
Mikaeus, the Lunarch -> $5 Mythic that is seeing play.
Gavony Township -> At $2 this crosses not only competitive standard, but Commander as well.
Garruk Relentless -> Although already expensive, he’s now showing his true potential!
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U/W AGGRO
Takahiro Shiaki | Rin Satou | Hiroshi Onizuka |
4 Champion of the Parish 3 Geist of St Traft 4 Grand Abolisher 4 Hero of Bladehold 4 Mirran Crusader 3 Angelic Destiny 4 Honor the Pure 4 Glacial Fortress 3 Moorland Haunt 4 Seachrome Coast | 4 Champion of the Parish 4 Geist of St Traft 4 Grand Abolisher 4 Mirran Crusader 3 Sword of Feast and Famine 4 Angelic Destiny 4 Honor the Pure 4 Glacial Fortress 3 Moorland Haunt 4 Seachrome Coast | 4 Champion of the Parish 4 Grand Abolisher 4 Mirran Crusader 2 Sword of Feast and Famine 2 Sword of War and Peace 4 Honor the Pure 4 Glacial Fortress 4 Moorland Haunt 4 Seachrome Coast |
We can see right away that the communal choices of creatures this type of deck are:Champion of the Parish / Grand Abolisher / Mirran Crusader. They were the only creatures played as a 4x in all three of the decks, so they must have SOMETHING good going for them... make sure you have your playsets! Interesting to note that the 2 decks that played with swords didn’t place as well as the one that went without.
The cards in this list that I feel are undervalued right now and could potentially spike include:
Grand Abolisher -> Shuts down opponent on your turn. Playable outside of standard. $4 ATM.
Honor the Pure -> Pumps all your guys. Reprinted a lot, but for $0.50… do it do it!
Moorland Haunt -> Makes you tokens to re-equip swords / Destiny! Only $2-3…
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SOLAR FLARE
Akira Asahara |
3 Consecrated Sphinx 3 Snapcaster Mage 1 Sun Titan 3 Day of Judgement 4 Darkslick Shores 1 Drowned Catacombs 3 Glacial Fortress 4 Isolated Chapel 4 Seachrome Coast 2 Liliana of the Vess |
Nothing too special about this build, seems like the standard Solar Flare list that’s been going around. None of the true “fatties” we’ve seen (ie: no Elesh-Norn and crew), but uses 3x Sphinx as its win condition. Snapcaster Mage makes his first showing and is truly disgusting in combination with 4x Mana Leak / 4x Dissapate and 3x Doomblade.
The cards in this list that I feel are undervalued right now and could potentially spike include:
Sun Titan -> It’s down to $5 somehow and is a staple in many builds.
Day of Judgment -> With all the creatures in the format, and it being $2, looks good!
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RED DECK WINS
Kouichi Tashiro |
3 Chandra’s Phoenix 3 Grim Lavamancer 4 Stromkirk Noble 2 Koth of the Hammer |
Well that’s it. Not many rares in this deck and it still performs well! When all you’re doing is trying to burn out the opposition, I guess Incinerate / Brimstone Volley will get there just as good as the best mythic, eh?
The cards in this list that I feel are undervalued right now and could potentially spike include:
Chandra’s Phoenix ->At $3 it has a unique ability and fits the curve. Not super cheap, but still good!
Koth of the Hammer -> Dipped from the $30’s to $15. Now may be the time of his comeback…
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TEMPERED STEEL
Naoki Obayashi |
3 Spellskite 4 Mox Opal 4 Tempered Steel 3 Contested Warzone 4 Inkmoth Nexus |
Another stock list that added Spellskite to great effect! I play against this deck a LOT because my buddy Eric has it put together and it is SOLID. I lost probably 30 games in a row with my G/U monstrosity to him. When they get “the draw” there is just no stopping them!
The cards in this list that I feel are undervalued right now and could potentially spike include:
Hmmm… I don’t really see any pickups here except for maybe Contested Warzone, as everything else is discovered or too much money already. Contested warzone is $1 and is a great utility land when you’ve got a hoard out, but IDK if I’d invest in it heavily…
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BANT BIRTHING POD
Kouichi Tanaka |
1 Archon of Justice 3 Birds of Paradise 2 Blade Slicer 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 1 Frost Titan 3 Phantasmal Image 1 Phyrexian Metamorph 1 Skaab Ruinator 2 Solemn Simulacrum 2 Sun Titan 1 Wurmcoil Engine 4 Birthing Pod 2 Mimic Vat 4 Hinterland Harbor 4 Razorverge Thicket 3 Seachrome Coast 2 Sunpetal Grove |
I really like this list as well! The “combo” of Blade Splicer making a 3/3, then Poding out the Blade Splicer for a Wing Splicer and swinging for 3 in the air is nice! Phantasmal Image is still MVP along with the classic Acidic Slime. Frost Titan shows up in this list (probably to fight Wolf Run Green by taping down their P-Titan) and Sun Titan starts everything over again. Mimic vat lets you vat out a creature, sac it to pod and profit... sweet!
The cards in this list that I feel are undervalued right now and could potentially spike include:
Frost Titan -> $3 right now and we KNOW how the titan cycle fluctuates based on popularity…
Skaab Ruinator -> Down to $4 from his high of $20+. Next set could break him!
Mimic Vat -> $1 right now and is a great utility card that could get REALLY good with Morbid.
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So these are my evaluations after GP Hiroshima. Some will be hits, and some misses. It’s very interesting to me to see how the format seems to have shifted to be much more aggressive, with midrange / control almost bumped out of the T8 entirely! We can predict to see a lot more Day of Judgement at the next tournament in the main I’d expect in order to combat these fast creature decks that are emerging. Now when you build your next deck, bear in mind what you’re most likely to FACE when you play. That’s the beauty of the Metagame!
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CONTEST UPDATE!!
Don’t forget that today is the last day to enter the contest and win a Maelstrom Pulse! All you need to do is either sign up to follow this blog, get someone ELSE to sign up, or simply leave a comment! I’ll be doing the draw today from Imperial Hobbies at FNM!
Cheers!
Carl Szalich
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