Standard in focus heading into Grand Prix Atlanta!

Posted On 3:11 PM // Leave a Comment

Newsletter
Thursday, November 9th

2017 is on its way to the holidays and the conclusions beyond, but we've got one last sprint to get through! Right out of the Pro Tour, no one is taking a break. It's right back to Standard at Grand Prix Atlanta, followed by Baltimore Open Weekend's team event, with the 2017 Season Two Invitational looming just beyond.

If you're on Energy for the Grand Prix it's hard to blame you, but you'd better know the mirror match! Sam Black spent weeks testing with his Pro Tour squad, and he's got plenty of data and tips to give you on what matters. If you don't want to play the "best deck," then you're not alone. Collins Mullen thinks the "best deck" is often a lie and that you should trust your gut on your deck selection. And don't forget about the other archetypes that want a piece of the spotlight. Pro Tour champion Shaun McLaren still loves the U/W Gift deck that put up a great result last weekend! Whether you're on Energy, Gift, or your own brew, we're happy to have you in Atlanta! Good luck!

— Danny West, Content Coordinator

<#comment>Results & Results & Decklists

Mastering The Temur Energy Mirror
By Sam Black  

While my 75 in Albuquerque included GGRRUUB, I was sure to drop one of those symbols from my casting costs for each game, so my Game 1 deck only needed GGRRUB because Confiscation Coup and Vizier of Many Faces were in my sideboard. Against Ramunap Red, I expected them to bring in Chandra's Defeat, so I cut Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Glorybringer to make room for Vizier of Many Faces and Confiscation Coup. In the mirror, I cut Bristling Hydra to move the requirements to GRRUUB, etc.

The mana is very good, so you can get away with not doing this; it's just safest if you can do this. Also, it's worth noting that black isn't free. Drawing the Swamp early is horrible, and if your opponent kills your Servant of the Conduit, you only have nine cards that can give you black mana and your Attune with Aethers are already taxed. This means you'll have a considerable number of games where you can't cast your black cards. During the tournament, I won a game with three uncastable black cards in my hand and wondered what I was doing. At the same time, I won a lot of games with The Scarab God. Would Glorybringer have won instead? I have no idea. For all I know, my opponent might have died while holding a Chandra's Defeat.

Before understanding how exactly the mana worked, I certainly would have wanted to include one or two copies of Vizier of Many Faces or Confiscation Coup in my maindeck, and if I was willing to give up the black, I might be able to get away with that.

November 18-19
Team Constructed

December 1-3
Standard/Modern

January 6-7
Modern

The Most Popular Deck Does
Not Equal The Best Deck
By Collins Mullen  

"If you're not playing the best deck, you're making a clear mistake." It seemed so obvious to my young Magic brain as well: of course I should play the best deck. That is what will give me the best chance to win.

Well, hang on. What does "best deck" even mean? I think it varies from player to player and depends on their objectives. The best deck for a particular player means that it has the highest chance of fulfilling their objective. For me, my objective when playing a deck in a tournament is to win that tournament, so my "best deck" is the deck that gives me the highest chance to win the tournament.

A big misconception that I believe a lot of players fall into however is that "best deck" means "most popular" deck. They operate under the belief that the Magic hive mind has always solved every format and that the most popular deck must be the deck with the highest win percentage.

If we go back and look at recent Pro Tours, this rarely proves to be true. Over and over again we hear about "breakout" decks that performed very well, either with a high Day 2 conversion rate or win percentage, yet were not as represented as the most popular deck.

Refurbishing U/W Gift
For Pro Tour Ixalan
By Shaun McLaren  

The speed at which you Refurbish God-Pharaoh's Gift is usually what determines your success. Sometimes you don't see a crucial God-Pharaoh's Gift or Refurbish after digging through half your deck, and other times you just naturally have all your pieces and discard them with Champion of Wits on Turn 3 easy-peasy.

The key is that the deck usually does in fact draw its pieces in a timely fashion, since there are a lot of ways to dig through the deck. Further, the rest of the format was somewhat unprepared and not that many packed full sets of Abrade maindeck.

The addition of Sacred Cat to the maindeck turned out to be essential for making the deck solid against Ramunap Red and Temur Energy in Game 1. My thinking along the lines of Temur Energy being a Burn deck helped me realize this. You have so many ways to flip Sacred Cat or discard it, it doesn't matter that it's usually a weak card to draw naturally.