| Apparently Brian DeMars didn't get the memo about not playing Red decks Week 1. #SCGINDY was one heck of a tournament to watch. It began with Gerry Thompson and his Five-Color Bring to Light deck, took some twists and turns with Jeskai Black and Esper Dragons, but ended with two big name players with two relatively normalized decks. Brian DeMars and Michael Majors sliced and diced their way through the competition with Atarka Red and G/W Megamorph, but it was DeMars' powerful pump spells that stopped Majors from winning his second Open Series title. DeMars' take on Atarka Red was an incredibly unexpected one. Many people assumed that Atarka Red would still be a player after rotation, but it was unclear if it would be able to overcome to loss of Goblin Rabblemaster, Stoke the Flames, and Lightning Strike. But instead of looking for new tools to solve his problem, DeMars used old spells that many forget existed—Titan's Strength, Temur Battle Rage, and Become Immense. Many were surprised by the powerful pump spells, and even though Majors knew they were coming, he couldn't stop them either. So what can we expect out of Atarka Red at #SCGATL? Now that everyone knows the pump spells exist, is the deck still as powerful as it was for #SCGINDY? I'll be joined by Patrick Sullivan, Nick Miller, and the rest of the @SCGLive crew as we work our way through 18 rounds of Battle for Zendikar Standard action from the Georgia World Center and continue to watch the new format take shape before the Pro Tour. If you can't make it out to #SCGATL, be sure to join what was a record setting audience last weekend at twitch.tv/SCGLive! — Cedric Phillips, Online Content Coordinator | | |  |  | Why I Will Not Play Bring To Light At The Pro Tour Ah, good ole Gerry Thompson. Last week, he told the world exactly what he was going to play at #SCGINDY and did it, cruising to a Top 8 finish. But now he doesn't want to play Five-Color Bring to Light anymore. What gives? Is he already bored with the dynamic archetype? Click to find out! |  | G/W Megamorph In Indianapolis In this format full of four- and five-color decks, the finalists of #SCGINDY brought "boring" two color decks to the table. Michael Majors happened to be one of those finalists, but if you ask him, he'd say his G/W Megamorph deck wasn't boring at all. So should you play this deck for #SCGATL? Read along and find out! |  | Battle For Zendikar Finance: Week One With #SCGINDY in the books, Chas Andres has plenty of results to look over that influence the financial side of Magic: The Gathering. Is Jace, Vryn's Prodigy finally an $80 card? What's the deal with the expeditions? Why are people buying out Field of Dreams? Chas reveals all in his usual entertaining fashion. | | | | | In a match-up of new vs. old, Gerry Thompson brings his innovative Five-Color Bring to Light deck to the Quarterfinals against Brian Demars and his blazing fast Atarka Red deck. Will the power of Gerry's deck out match the speed of Brian's? Watch and find out! |  | | Finally . . . CVM has come back to the Newsletter! While I would love to serenade you with tales of my adventures across the country, we just had the first Standard Open with Battle for Zendikar. I have a feeling you would rather hear about what I would play at the Open Series this weekend at #SCGATL. Not everyone is a fan of the combat "prowess" of Monastery Swiftspear and her "dashing" brethren, but I was blown away by how well built Brian Demars' winning Atarka Red deck was. While his play was near flawless, the raw power of Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh had to help carry him to victory. | | I know Patrick and Cedric both love talking about Monastery Swiftspear, but this deck is just too sweet! Blazing fast starts that can punish a stumbling opponent is just what I want to be doing, given how prevalent four- and five-color manabases are. There aren't any Shocklands around this time to punish, but with people playing upward of twelve fetches in their deck, we generally only need to do about seventeen damage to kill our opponents anyway. The most unique part of this deck is the combo finish. When Theros and M15 rotated, they took some amazing burn spells with them. Rather than look for overcosted replacements, we're going to pump our creatures and kill our opponent out of nowhere—sometimes even from an empty board. Monastery Swiftspear + Titan Strength + Become Immense + Temur Battle Rage = 26 trample damage coming right for them, and it can happen as early as Turn 4! Since we only need any creature to pull off the combo, I really like the use of Hangarback Walker in the sideboard. I expect that Brian was able to throw many of his opponents off with the use of punishing creatures like Thunderbreak Regent as well. I'm not sure how much I like the one-of Makindi Sliderunner, but we do have a lot of fetchlands, and it doesn't really take much to grow something big enough to chomp our opponents to bits. Plus, it has trample, which plays extremely well with Become Immense. Good luck my fiery friends. Light 'em up at #SCGATL for me this weekend! | | With the unveiling of a new Standard format at #SCGINDY, it is easy to forget that we are in the middle of a hotly contested Race to the Players' Championship. The rotating of Standard definitely throws a wrinkle into the usual process of accumulating Open Series points, as now players are tested as much for their deck brewing techniques as they are their play skill. While no major shifts of the Leaderboard took place at #SCGINDY, several small changes did happen, and they could have more of an impact on the end of the Season than most realize. One of those small shifts is Logan Mize moving from 12th place to 10th place. Thanks to his consistent play in all formats, Logan has been able to position himself to get back to the Players' Championship this year, hoping to improve upon his 12th place finish. Logan has four Open Series Top 8s this year, and he has supplemented those points with several great IQ finishes, including 2nd place at the Modern Premier IQ at #SCGINDY. Logan Mize is the paradigm of a well-rounded Magic player, as he has had success at every level, in every format, that StarCityGames.com® has to offer. |  | | A much larger shift has taken place further down the Leaderboard, however, as we have added a brand new player to the Top 32. Joe Herrera won the Modern Open at #SCGCHAR in August, but has also put up many top finishes on the IQ circuit as well. This past weekend at #SCGINDY, he took 3rd place in our Legacy Premier IQ, propelling him to 31st place on our Leaderboard. For all of his hard work, he will receive a bye for every Open Series he enters as long as he remains in the Top 32. It seems we will see more of the Jund master in days to come. This weekend, the StarCityGames.com® Open Series finds itself in Atlanta, for some more Battle For Zendikar Standard action. Can't make it to the Open Series event but want to sling some spells in new Standard? Find an IQ near you and win points and prizes today! |  |  | | Friday, October 9 | | Invitational Qualifiers Newington, CT - Your Friendly Neighborhood Tabletop Shop | Saturday, October 10 | | Invitational Qualifiers Aurora, CO - All C's Gaming Arena Cincinnati, OH - Top Tier Gaming Columbia, MO - Magelings Games Columbia, MO - Magelings Games Deer Park, TX - Will Power Gaming Four Oaks, NC - Hobby Invasion Gastonia, NC - Abubika Gaming Gatlinburg, TN - Gamers Link Glassboro, NJ - The Comic Book Store Glen Burnie, MD - Games and Stuff New Philadelphia, OH - Wargear Stroudsburg, PA - The Gamer's Edge PPTQ (IQ Prizes) Aliquippa, PA - Taitan Game Shop Burlington, VT - Brap's Magic Denton, TX - Madness Comics and Games GPT (IQ Prizes) Eugene, OR - Addictive Behaviors | 1K Super Invitational Qualifiers Brooklyn, NY - Kings Games East Windsor, CT - Ice Imports PPTQ (1K Super IQ Prizes) Midland, MI - Game On Roanoke, VA - Star City Game Center | Sunday, October 11 | | Invitational Qualifiers Aurora, CO - All C's Gaming Arena Austin, TX - Whose Turn Is It? Games Batesvilles, IN - Grinning Goblin Comics and Games Baton Rouge, LA - Rocket's Hideout Cards & Games East Windsor, CT - Ice Imports Lafayette, IN - Legendary Games Lexington, KY - Legendary Games Nanuet, NY - ToyWiz Narragansett, RI - Reality Shift Games New Philadelphia, OH - M.A.D. Bros Rochester, NY - Millenium Games Springfield, VA - Curio Cavern Vacaville, CA - Forgotten Path Games PPTQ (IQ Prizes) Dallas, TX - Common Ground Games | 1K Super Invitational Qualifiers PPTQ (1K Super IQ Prizes) New Holland, PA - Six Feet Under Games Raleigh, NC - Event Horizon Games | If you would like to unsubscribe and stop receiving these emails please click here. |
0 comments:
Post a Comment