| Eldrazi didn't win #SCGLOU so Modern is just fine, right? Not exactly… I'm not sure if you've seen the Top 16 decks from #SCGLOU, but if you haven't, it is certainly worth a look. Eleven of those decks contain the aliens that are terrorizing Zendikar, and I'm not sure there's a reason to believe this is going to end anytime soon. I played U/W Eldrazi this past weekend, and while my weekend wasn't a successful one, I know a broken deck when I see it—and these Eldrazi decks are broken. What's interesting, however, is the various ways you can build them. White brings Eldrazi Displacer, Path to Exile, and powerful sideboards like Stony Silence; green brings World Breaker and Ancient Stirrings to help find what you're looking for; blue brings Eldrazi Skyspawner and Drowner of Hope for some Scion shenanigans, and red allows you get aggressive with Vile Aggregate and Eldrazi Obligator. What's the right color(s) to choose? Right now, it seems to be U/W, but that could change as soon as tomorrow! Will we see the Eldrazi in Philadelphia at our first Legacy Open of 2016? Your guess is as good as mine, but I know that Chris VanMeter, Andrew Boswell, Nick Miller, and the rest of the @SCGLive crew are certainly hoping so. Those fine folks will be bringing you all the Legacy action you can handle at #SCGPHILLY as we find out if Brainstorm, Show and Tell, and Sensei's Divining Top can combat the power of Thought‑Knot Seer, Eldrazi Mimic, and Reality Smasher. If you can't make it to The City of Brotherly Love this weekend, be sure to watch all the action at twitch.tv/scglive! — Cedric Phillips, Media Manager @CedricAPhillips |  |  | Todd VS. Brad: Colorless Eldrazi VS. Death and Taxes With our first Legacy Open coming up this weekend at #SCGPHILLY, it's time for a Legacy VS. Video! Brad Nelson and Todd Anderson bring you the goods as they test out the new hotness that is Colorless Eldrazi against the deck they wrecked the 2015 Players' Championship with—Death and Taxes. |  | This Land Is Your Land Legacy is one of Chris Andersen's favorite formats, and he's pretty thrilled for #SCGPHILLY. If you've followed Chris on the SCG Tour, you know how much he loves casting Exploration and Life from the Loam. This week, the Team Lotus founder explains why Lands is one of the decks to beat at #SCGPHILLY. |  | The Eldrazi Blues Eldrazi have been the talk of the town in Modern and Legacy this week, but it appears they're even pretty good in Standard. Player of the Year Mike Sigrist has been having a lot of success with a Mono-Blue Eldrazi deck online and he's here to unveil it just in time for the Standard Classic at #SCGPHILLY. | | | This weekend showed Modern right now is Eldrazi against the world. Gerry Thompson and Jeff Hoogland squared off in Round 10 of #SCGLOU, showcasing the most popular deck on Day 2 (U/W Eldrazi) against Kiki-Chord as the two battled at 8-1. Would Eldrazi continue dominating the tournament, or would Jeff and Kiki-Chord offer a ray of hope in defeating the alien menace? |  | | Legacy: the format of kings and without a doubt my favorite way to play constructed Magic. It remains the only format where you can truly pick a deck, stick to it for years, and still have a good shot at finishing in the money at any given event. I have been on Death and Taxes for a while, but were I heading to #SCGPHILLY this weekend, I would be bringing something very different to the table. Rishadan Ports and Wastelands are great and all, but unbounded mana is sometimes what I crave. I would bring Food Chain to battle. | | This is a relatively stock list, bringing the power of delve to an already strong engine. Although the deck was considerably better with Dig Through Time, it is still a solid choice that can win without the combo. Lest you be confused about said combo, it involves resolving Misthollow Griffin and Food Chain: exile the Griffin to Food Chain, making five mana of any color, then use four of that mana to recast Misthollow Griffin from exile. Rinse and repeat until you can cast Fierce Empath to find Emrakul, or Genesis Hydra to find Emrakul (or Fierce Empath). Smash face. Misthollow Griffin 
People almost immediately looked to Food Chain when Misthollow Griffin was printed, but called the combo "too cute" and opined that it would not be fast enough or reliable enough to do anything in Legacy. Then Deathrite Shaman, Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time happened. Although the last two are banned, we do still have Tasigur and Gurmag Angler to delve with, and of course our old buddy Force of Will is pretty good at exiling blue cards. When you do combo off it is important to end your loop with the Griffin in play, especially if you are casting Genesis Hydra and not Emrakul for the win. And if necessary, we can just repeatedly swing for three, six or nine in the air. Deathrite Shaman 
The littlest Planeswalker may have been relegated to the eternal formats, but it remains a force in Legacy. In this deck it is both an accelerant and an enabler, making it one of the most important cards in the deck early on. It can even give the deck some reach in the late game and randomly hose opposing strategies. Not too shabby for one mana, I suppose! Fierce Empath 
Look, it's not a particularly good card. I admit that. In the deck, however, it does some very nice things. Not only does it tutor up a Tasigur, Gurmag Angler, or Emrakul but it also conveniently makes four mana when you exile it to Food Chain. If we're going to play three-mana 1/1s, they had better make a huge difference to our game plan—and the Empath does just that. It's also fun to cast cards the opponent has to read! Manipulate Fate 
Speaking of readers, this one is scraping the bottom of the bottom barrel in the cellar. The effect on Manipulate Fate is marginal at best in every single situation…except in this deck. Putting all our Griffins in exile at once would be good. Drawing a card to boot is better. Being able to exile extra copies to Force of Will is better yet. So much value! Genesis Hydra 
Several versions of the deck have backed off Genesis Hydra recently, but I like the flexibility it gives us. Although I can certainly see an argument for Maga, Traitor to Mortals instead of the Hydra, I don't like just running Empaths and Emrakul. Having an extra piece to find us the win, and a piece that hits hard at that, is a boon. Just ensure that when you cast Genesis Hydra you do it for every card in the deck, and that you select Fierce Empath when you reveal the library. That will allow you to actually cast the Emrakul, getting you the extra turn you need to swing with the giant Hydra. The deck might be a little slower than some Legacy combo offerings, but it does have incredible resiliency to removal and traditional combo hate. Removal won't help much, exile effects are laughable, countermagic has to get through ours. With Tasigur and the Angler we even have a solid early beatdown game that can be very hard for some Legacy decks to beat. If you want a fun and deep combo deck that has game even without the combo, sleeve up some Griffins this weekend! — Chris Lansdell, @lansdellicious | | The top three players on the SCG Tour Player of the Year Leaderboard once again separated themselves from the competition after great performances at #SCGLOU this past weekend. Jeff Hoogland, the leader in the Player of the Year race, added to his SCG Points total with his third Open Top 8 of 2016. Hoogland's results in Modern speak for themselves as his three Top 8s have come in the popular format, all on the back of his signature Kiki-Chord deck. While Louisville was filled with Eldrazi, Hoogland did his own thing and navigated his way through the alien-infested metagame to the top seed of the elimination rounds. His run came to an end in the quarterfinals, but his finish has him in prime position to finish Season One in the top three to earn an invite to the 2016 Players' Championship. |  | | Joe Lossett climbed into second place on the leaderboard after winning his second straight Legacy Classic. On top of getting 15 SCG Points for his win, Lossett also collected four points for his Top-64 finish in the Modern Open after not playing a round on Day 2. With only 65 players reaching the second day of competition, Lossett needed one player to not win a match on Day 2 to cash the event. Lossett decided to take the gamble and played the Legacy Classic. As Lossett prepared for the Top 8 of the Classic, finals standings were posted and he found himself in 63rd place, good for four SCG Points and $100—not bad for not playing a single game of Modern! Lossett will look to keep his run in Legacy going as #SCGPHILLY offers the only Legacy Open of Season One. Andrew Tenjum made his second straight Open Top 8 at #SCGLOU, playing his tuned U/W Eldrazi deck that he and the rest of Team Lotus sleeved up for the event. After putting the new variant of Eldrazi on the map the week before in an online PTQ, Tenjum joined his teammate Kent Ketter in the Open Top 8. Similarly to #SCGCOL, Tenjum bowed out in the quarterfinals, but a teammate made the finals. Team Lotus fell a match short from winning both events as Ketter lost to Austin Holcomb and Affinity, leaving him with three Open runner-up finishes. Trophy or not, Team Lotus had another strong weekend as Tenjum put some distance between him and Caleb Scherer on the POY Leaderboard while Ketter jumped into the Top 16 for two byes next weekend. Outside the top three slots, Andy Ferguson continued his rampage through Standard with Collected Company decks. Ferguson followed up his runner-up finish at #SCGCOL with a Standard Classic win with Bant Company, moving him up to ninth place on the POY Leaderboard. Ali Aintrazi moved up five spots with his second-place finish in the Legacy Classic with Burn while Bradley Carpenter moved up a slot with his Top-16 finish in the Modern Open, and Jacob Baugh and Gerry Thompson held on to their places in the Top 16 with Top-32 finishes with U/W Eldrazi in the Modern Open. After a weekend of Eldrazi dominance in Modern, the SCG Tour hits #SCGPHILLY this weekend for a Legacy Open. Can the Eldrazi show their power in an even older and more diverse format? Will Lossett continue his winning streak in Legacy? Can Scherer jump back into the top three with an Open in his preferred format? Tune in to twitch.tv/scglive this weekend to find out! |  |   If you would like to unsubscribe and stop receiving these emails please click here. |
0 comments:
Post a Comment