Top 10 Sleepers in Kaladesh!

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Welcome to the SCG Tour, Team Next Ridge Nexus!

When Team Next Ridge Nexus formed, their goal was simple—to compete with Team MGG and Team Cardhoarder for SCG Tour supremacy. Things started off slow for the group, but with Bradley Carpenter's win at #SCGORL, there might be a new dominant team on the scene. Infect was Carpenter's weapon of choice at #SCGORL and he demonstrated what many already knew; Infect is a deck that must be taken seriously. Carpenter's Infect deck showed just how absurd it can be in Game 3 of the finals against David Sharfman, as he won on Turn 3 through a Lightning Bolt and an escalated Collective Brutality with relative ease.

For Carpenter, this victory was a huge step forward in his goal of qualifying for the StarCityGames.com Players' Championship. With the 30 SCG Points he earned on the weekend, Carpenter moved into both the Top 10 of the SCG Tour Player of the Year Race and into the top 3 of the Season Three Race for the Players' Championship. Carpenter is a player who is known for his consistency on the SCG Tour, so if he's able to string together a few more Top 16 and Top 8 finishes, it's very likely we will see him at the Star City Game Center later this year.

Speaking of the Star City Game Center, it is one of many places to be this weekend, as the Kaladesh prerelease is finally upon us. With the entire set revealed last Friday, Kaladesh appears to be one of the most exciting Magic sets in recent memory. From Vehicles, Energy, and Fabricate to new Planeswalkers, enemy colored fast lands, and the Gearhulk cycle, there's something for everyone to enjoy from Chandra's homeland. As for me? I'll be cracking Kaladesh packs like everyone else this weekend, but I've already shotgunned opening a Sol Ring so you'll have to pick a different Kaladesh Invention to open!

Good luck, but more importantly, have fun this weekend at your local Kaladesh prerelease!

Cedric Phillips, Media Manager @CedricAPhillips

 

Results
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Brad Carpenter takes it down with Infect!

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Another win for Ted Felicetti and Bant Company!

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Josh Katine wins big with Maverick!

 

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Editor's Picks
The Ultimate Guide To Kaladesh Limited

The Kaladesh prerelease is only a few days away, and there are a lot of cards to figure out. Fortunately, we've got just the guy to prepare you for the weekend. This week, Ari Lax breaks down Kaladesh limited from top to bottom to help you get the most out of your Kaladesh prerelease.

 

Top 20 Cards In Kaladesh

When a new set comes out, there's nothing I enjoy more than reading how people rank cards. There are so many good cards from Chandra's homeland that it seems impossible to rank them all. Well, Todd Stevens, is here to prove me wrong, as he's ready to unveil his Top 20 cards from Kaladesh!

 

Majors VS. Brad: Temur Energy VS. G/W Blink

When Michael Majors and Brad Nelson do battle, it's a sight to behold. This week, the two Platinum pros and innovative deckbuilders put their brewing caps on to test new Standard. Is Energy a legitimate constructed mechanic? Or is the power of the Gearhulks too much to overcome? Watch and find out!

 

Match of the Week

Tom Ross has played his share of SCG Tour Open win-and-ins, but not until this past weekend had he done it with 8-Rack. Watch as The Boss battles Christopher Juliano on Burn in an intense match of Modern!

Match of the Week video

 

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What I'd Play At The Open Series

Kaladesh is quite a top-heavy set loaded with powerful mythic rares, but there are also many cards flying under the radar that will be role players in Standard. These are the cards that you may forget about when building your deck for #SCGINDY, but could be the vital piece you were missing. These cards aren't the absolute best cards in Kaladesh—we all know that Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Verdurous Gearhulk are quite powerful—but these are the Top 10 sleepers from Kaladesh.

 

#10 Verdant Crescendo

Verdant Crescendo card preview

 

We're kicking off the list with a card you may not realize will be legal in Standard. The rotation of Explosive Vegetation is a big hit to ramp decks, but Verdant Crescendo will do its best to help. You only get one basic land instead of two with this new ramp spell, but the second land has been replaced by the ability to tutor your library or graveyard for a powerful Planeswalker (one that we will get to later on in this list).

 

#9 Armorcraft Judge

Armorcraft Judge card preview

 

This one is quite a speculation, and may end up not seeing any play at all, but I think Armorcraft Judge is powerful enough for Standard. There are no shortage of ways to put +1/+1 counters on creatures these days, and many of them are quite powerful on their own, such as Nissa, Voice of Zendikar, Verdurous Gearhulk, Collective Effort, Thalia's Lieutenant, and Olivia, Mobilized for War. Combine this with a set full of cards with Fabricate and ways to use energy to put counters on creatures, and Armorcraft Judge has some serious upside.

 

#8 Flame Lash

Flame Lash card preview

 

U/R Thermo-Alchemist was a successful deck this past season, and I could see Flame Lash being a new addition to the deck moving forward. Midrange creatures are quite powerful and sometimes it's hard to get damage in on the ground, which is where cards like Flame Lash can come in and finish the game. Although four mana is more than you usually want to pay for a burn spell, dealing four damage to a creature or player at instant speed is worth the price.

 

#7 Arborback Stomper

Arborback Stomper card preview

 

Arborback Stomper brings back memories of Thragtusk, which absolutely dominated Standard when it was legal. The Stomper has an extra point of toughness and Trample, both beneficial qualities, but does not leave behind a 3/3 beast when it leaves the battlefield (the best part about Thragtusk). Still, five life is a huge amount and Arborback Stomper is a very real possibility when building a sideboard for a green deck. I could even see maindeck inclusion in both ramp strategies and in an Eldritch Evolution deck.

 

#6 Nissa, Nature's Artisan

Nissa, Nature's Artisan card preview

 

Although the Planeswalker Deck headliners were not built with Standard applications in mind, I think people are sleeping on Nissa, Nature's Artisan. Her plus ability allows a ramp deck to not only gain quite a bit of life, but also leaves her with an absurd amount of loyalty after using her plus ability only once. Her minus ability is a better Divination, and if the ultimate ever comes into play, it's probably game ending. Add to this the fact that there's a tutor for her in Verdant Crescendo and I could see a world where Nissa, Nature's Artisan sees Standard play.

 

#5 Built to Smash

Built to Smash card preview

 

Giving an attacking creature +3/+3 for one mana is a rate that is not common anymore, so I bet Built to Smash will help small creature decks get under midrange strategies. Rubblebelt Maaka saw a good amount of play in Standard when it was legal because of its Bloodrush ability, and Built to Smash is very similar but also has the upside of giving an artifact creature trample.

 

#4 Cultivator's Caravan

Cultivator's Caravan card preview

 

Cultivator's Caravan is quite an interesting card, as it's a mana accelerant that can be crewed to turn into a 5/5 creature. I could see this card being quite the role player in three or four-color emerge decks as a way to fix mana and count as another card type for delirium. The synergy with Ishkanah, Grafwidow is particularly exciting, as Cultivator's Caravan can help you curve from three mana to five mana and play the legendary spider a turn earlier, while Ishkanah or the three tokens can crew the Caravan. Cultivator's Caravan is also a good card to emerge in the late game if you have the ability to crew it and make it a creature first.

 

#3 Wild Wanderer

Wild Wanderer card preview

 

Wild Wanderer is an easy card to overlook, but has plenty of nice synergies in this Standard format. On the surface, it's a four-mana 3/2 that allows you to search your library for a basic land and put it onto the battlefield tapped, which isn't exciting, but is certainly playable. Emerge decks value creatures that can acquire mana resources highly, such as Primal Druid and Pilgrim's Eye, and unlike those two, Wild Wanderer allows you go put a land directly onto the battlefield immediately. The three power is also quite relevant with vehicles, as it's the perfect number to crew Cultivator's Caravan and Skysovereign, Consul Flagship.

 

#2 Revolutionary Rebuff

Revolutionary Rebuff card preview

 

It's been a while since we've had a solid counterspell in Standard, but Revolutionary Rebuff is a much needed addition to blue control decks. The difference between countering the spell unless your opponent pays two mana instead of three like the commonly known Mana Leak undeniably makes Revolutionary Rebuff weaker, but not to a point that I don't expect it to see plenty of play. It will also be interesting to see how much the nonartifact clause comes into play, as it will feel bad to have a Rebuff in your hand when your opponent is casting a Gearhulk. Even with these downsides, I expect Revolutionary Rebuff to be one of the most commonly played cards in Kaladesh Standard.

 

#1 Aether Hub

Aether Hub card preview

 

One of the very best cards in the set, Aether Hub tops the list as the biggest sleeper in Kaladesh. Aether Hub has the ability to go in a wide variety of decks, and if the deck is focused on energy enough, it may be one of the best cards in the deck. Having the ability to make mana of any color as well as colorless mana has never been as important as it is now with the powerful Eldrazi from Oath of the Gatewatch in Standard. A colorless land that can help your mana fixing for a turn and also gives you an energy counter? Aether Hub is exactly what this format needed!

Todd Stevens, @ToddStevensMTG

 

Road To The Player's Championship

Just like that, Brad Carpenter is in position to earn a slot to the Players' Championship in two different ways! After taking most of Season Two off, Carpenter has strung together some impressive finishes to put his name in the conversation for either an at-large berth to the #SCGPC or as one of the Season Three point leaders. The Next Ridge Nexus member followed up Top-16 finishes in the New Jersey Invitational and the Richmond Standard Open with a win at the Modern Open at #SCGORL! Now Carpenter finds himself in seventh place in the Player of the Year race and tied for second with Michael Majors in the Season Three race.

Tom Ross, who almost didn't make it to #SCGORL after missing his flight, made up serious ground in the POY race, thanks to his Top-8 in the Modern Open in Orlando. Rather than sleeve up Infect or Dredge, The Boss piloted 8-Rack to the elimination rounds. Ross fell in the quarterfinals, but earned 15 SCG Points to close the gap on Jeff Hoogland, who has held the lead in the yearlong race since the start of 2016. Coming into #SCGINDY, Ross will be within striking distance to take over the lead, which would make him the only person other than Hoogland to lead the race.

SCG Tour Leaderboard

Michael Majors also made the Top 8 of the Modern Open at #SCGORL, moving him up to No. 18 in the yearly race, and just a few spots away from two byes. More importantly, Majors snatched 15 SCG Points to stay near the top of the Season Three race. Majors combines his Top-4 finish in the New Jersey Invitational along with his Top 8 this past weekend to stay neck-and-neck with Carpenter in the Season Three race. Both Majors and Carpenter trail Ted Felicetti in Season Three, as Felicetti followed up his Open win in Richmond with a Standard Classic win at #SCGORL to bolster his lead up to 11 points. With Collected Company rotating out of Standard, eyes will be on whether Felicetti can continue his hot streak when Bant Company is no longer an option for the Sugarloaf, PA player.

The SCG Tour takes a weekend off for the Kaladesh prerelease, but will be back in action on October 1-2 for #SCGINDY! Follow along as the @SCGLive crew covers the first Standard event with Kaladesh and a fresh new format. Stay tuned to twitch.tv/SCGLive for all the action!

 

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