Constructs and Colossi net Coval a Crown!

Posted On 3:06 PM // Leave a Comment

Newsletter
Thursday, July 6th

Death and Taxes? Grixis Metalwork Colossus? This is a joke, right? It would be easy to think so, but if you asked Brian Coval, last weekend was anything but.

Rarely in an Invitational do we see such unique decks put up such impressive performances. In most circumstances, it would have been something like Mardu Vehicles and Grixis Death's Shadow hoisting the trophy. But the Pittsburgh native had other ideas. His take on Grixis Metalwork Colossus—designed by the very skilled Brennan DeCandio—took the Standard portion of the Invitational by storm, as few were prepared for the 10/10 construct. But it was the savvy selection of Death and Taxes that took many by surprise. A deck better known in Legacy than Modern, Coval's Blade Splicers, Restoration Angels, and Aether Vials showed that while Grixis Death's Shadow might be the best deck on paper, games are won and lost on the battlefield.

Congrats to Brian Coval on his Season One Invitational victory!

— Cedric Phillips, Media Manager

Brian Coval's deck selection nets him an Invitational championship!

Pieter Tubergen
Modern Open

Jadine Klomparens
Standard Classic

Peter DeBorja
Modern Classic

Setting A New Standard
With Hour Of Devastation
By Todd Stevens  

The power level of Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh is exactly where it needs to be, and it's going to be an extremely difficult card to beat after it resolves, but I'm glad it's not on the "obviously way too good" level of a card like Emrakul, the Promised End was. Only thing about Nicol Bolas I really don't like is that it can't immediately kill the indestructible Gods from Amonkhet, which doesn't make much sense flavor-wise, but I suppose the ultimate ability of exiling your opponent's nonland permanents will do.

Abrade is not only a wonderful removal spell for our deck that allows us to kill Winding Constrictor or Heart of Kiran on turn 2, it could also be the reason to move away from Torrential Gearhulk and towards Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh. There hasn't been much removal that has conveniently destroyed Torrential Gearhulk in the previous format, but Abrade changes that completely and can easily slot into many of the top decks of the format. Now, I'm definitely not saying that Abrade itself will knock off Torrential Gearhulk from being the king of control decks, especially with Abrade being a good target to flash back with Torrential Gearhulk, but I'm willing to try out a new win condition.

July 15-16
Standard

July 22-23
Team Constructed

August 5-6
Modern

Death, Taxes, And Trophies:
Winning The SCG Invitational
By Brian Coval  

I have played a lot of Death's Shadow since its rise to glory, and in every possible color combination. Coming into the event, it had the classic "best deck" problems. Do I think it's powerful enough to overcome the target on its back, and how do I gain an edge in the mirror? I quickly decided I was not going to be Shadowing for this tournament. In the weeks leading up to the Invitational, I had gone 10-2 across three four-round Modern events with Living End.

The deck is powerful, proactive, and consistent which are all qualities I want from a deck. But my gut wouldn't let me lock it in for the invitational. The internal screams of warning about Stubborn Denial, Chalice of the Void, Relic of Progenitus, Viscera Seer, and Arcbound Ravager didn't let up. I don't mind playing a deck with polarized matchups in a PPTQ or tournament with only one loss to give; the free wins are generally worth the uphill battle against the tougher matchups if you read the metagame correctly. But sixteen is a lot of rounds of Magic, and I wanted a deck that had a clean, consistent plan against Grixis Shadow, Tron, and Affinity plus staying power against anything else. I didn't want to spend my time in a tournament this important cycling and praying to hit the Ingot Chewer or Beast Within to remove my opponent's hate piece before it's too late. I wanted to be the thorn in my opponents' side, to make them find a way out of the box I put them in.

Enter Death and Taxes.

Final Words On
Hour Of Devastation Finance
By Chas Andres  

There are only two planeswalkers in this set, and one of them has been almost universally panned. Usually a set's planeswalkers prop up the overall pack value of a new set during the early going. That didn't happen with Hour, and it's dragging the overall price down as a result.

Don't despair, though: to me, this presents a unique opportunity to buy. It's likely that some of the best cards in Hour of Devastation are being underpriced right now, and there's money to be made if you can guess which cards will end up as Standard staples.

Whether Hour prices are low because of leaks, because we're underrating a series of mythics, or because it's just plain "bad," my recommendation is still the same: buy the singles you think you'll need. If the set ends up selling poorly, the best cards will be worth more because of the lower supply. Since all the retail prices started pretty low, you aren't paying much of a pre-order tax straight off the bat. I wouldn't pay $30 for Nicol Bolas unless I was sure it was going to see a ton of play, but every other card is easily justifiable at current retail. If you think a card in Hour of Devastation is going to be good, snag it now.