Friday Night Magic recap – April 3 & 10

It’s been a little while since we last checked in with our Friday Night Magic winners, so why don’t we jump right in with our top players from two weeks ago. Our Standard champion that night was Rob Imbs:

Non-Creature Spells:

4 Hero’s Downfall
4 Thoughtseize
3 Abzan Charm
2 Ultimate Price
2 Dromoka’s Command
1 Murderous Cut
2 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes

Creatures:

4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Siege Rhino
4 Fleecemane Lion
2 Anafenza, the Foremost

Land (25):
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Temple of Silence
4 Temple of Malady
4 Windswept Heath
2 Llanowar Wastes
2 Caves of Koilos
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
3 Forest
2 Plains

Sideboard:
3 Bile Blight
1 Drown in Sorrow
2 Back to Nature
2 Read the Bones
1 Utter End
1 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Dragonlord Dromoka
1 Nissa, Worldwaker
1 Garruk, Apex Predator

Rob was battling with an Abzan Control/Midrange deck. Rob used cards like Murderous Cut, the old standby Siege Rhino, the newly-printed Dromoka’s Command, and the newly-reprinted Ultimate Price to stabilize and control the board until his opponents are out of threats, letting his Rhinos or Planeswalkers finish the job. Rob wasn’t afraid to try out new cards the first day they were legal, especially in his sideboard, including Sidisi, Undead Vizier, Dragonlord Dromoka and Dromoka’s Command in his 75.

Up next was our 2^nd place finisher in our Modern side of that week, Alex Macdonald, with his Red/Green Tron deck:

3 Karn Liberated

2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

2 Spellskite

3 Wurmcoil Engine

1 Ulamog,the Infinite Gyre

4 Ancient Stirrings

4 Chromatic Sphere

4 Chromatic Star

4 Expedition Map

3 Oblivion Stone

4 Pyroclasm

4 Sylvan Scrying

2 Relic of Progenitus

2 Copperline Gorge

1 Eye of Ugin

2 Forest

1 Ghost Quarter

2 Stomping Ground

4 Urza’s Mine

4 Urza’s Powerplant

4 Urza’s Tower

Sideboard:

3 Ancient Grudge

1 Firespout

3 Nature’s Claim

1 Porphyry Nodes

2 Relic of Progenitus

2 Slaughter Games

1 Sundering Titan

2 Torpor Orb

Tron decks look to play the three “Urzatron” lands (Urza’s Mine, Urza’s Power Plant and Urza’s Tower) as soon as possible to be able to play big-mana, colorless threats as soon as turn three. Karn Liberated is a hard thing to get through on turn seven, let alone turn three. Alex also wasn’t afraid to try out some new cards in his list, as he was running two of the newest colorless Planeswalker, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, from Fate Reforged. Ugin currently has a home in the Blue/Black and Abzan control lists in Standard, but is objectively powerful enough to make a splash in other formats as well, especially if ramped out as early as turn four.

Moving on to more recent events, we have our Modern winner from this past weekend, Joe Santini, who was running “Pod-less Pod”.

Creatures:

4x Birds of Paradise

3x Noble Hierarch

4x Viscera Seer

3x Melira, Sylvok Outcast

1x Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit

2x Voice of Resurgence

1x Scavenging Ooze

1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

2x Qasali Pridemage

1x Spellskite

4x Kitchen Finks

2x Knight of the Reliquary

2x Eternal Witness

1x Dryad Arbor

Non-Creature Spells:

4x Collected Company

3x Chord of Calling

Lands:

4x Windswept Heath

4x Verdant Catacomb

2x Marsh Flats

2x Forest

1x Plains

1x Swamp

3x Overgrown Tomb

2x Temple Garden

1x Godless Shrine

1x Gavony Township

1x Tectonic Edge

Sideboard:

3x Path to exile

2x Abrupt Decay

4x Thoughtseize

2x Stony SIlence

1x Kataki, War’s Wage

1x Reclamation Sage

1x Sin Collector

1x Kor Firewalker

Ever since Birthing Pod was banned in Modern, players have been looking for a way to abuse the “Creatures you control can’t have -1/-1 counters placed on them” clause on Melira, Sylvok Outcast. Back when the deck was running rampant over Modern the combo of choice was Melira + Kitchen Finks/Murderous Redcap + Viscera Seer to equal an arbitrarily large amount of life gained (Finks) or an arbitrarily large amount of damage dealt (Redcap). Players have been trying to make this work ever since the bannings in more of a value shell, going for hard to deal with or more efficient creatures, while still having the backup plan of comboing off with Melira.

An interesting innovation with the deck from Dragons of Tarkir is the singleton Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit. This incarnation of Anafenza allows the deck to continue playing its value game, potentially trading-up with his opponent’s costlier cards while still threatening the combo using the Bolster ability. Joe’s deck seems specifically tuned to beat Affinity, as he has maindeck two Qasali Pridemage, as well as a potential 9 sideboard slots which he can bring in between games.

Lastly we have our Standard winner from this past weekend, Jonathan Notto, who was running G/r Devotion:

Lands:

4x Rugged Highlands

4x Temple of Abandon

4x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

4x Mountain

6x Forest

Creatures:

2x Nylea’s Disciple

3x Hornet Nest

3x Hornet Queen

4x Genesis Hydra

2x Polukranos, World Eater

3x Voyaging Satyr

4x Karametra’s Acolyte

4x Elvish Mystic

4x Temur Sabertooth

Non-Creature Spells:

2x Xenagos, the Reveler

1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

2x Chord of Calling

2x Atarka’s Command

2x Bow of Nylea

2x Hammer of Purphoros

Sideboard:

4x Mistcutter Hydra

2xSoul of New Phyrexia

1x Nylea, God of the Hunt

2x Naturalize

2x Destructive Revelry

2x Nissa, Worldwaker

Jonathan’s Green-Red devotion deck has been popular among competitive players recently, and versions of the deck even did well at Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir in Brussels last weekend. The goal of the deck is to play large threat after large threat, well above curve using ramp from Elvish Mystic, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Voyaging Satyr and Karametra’s Acolyte. The last two even produce a neat little infinite Mana combo using Temur Sabertooth and Hammer of Purphoros. The deck seems well set up for the mid-game, as well as being well positioned against aggro decks. A turn 3 Polukranos, World Eater or being able to mid-combat Chord of Calling a Hornet Nest into play seems like a nightmare for any aggressive deck to deal with.

What will we see going forward in terms of new cards making an impact on established formats? Will Dragons of Tarkir cards find a home in any eternal formats? Come to Dave and Adam’s Transit Road location every Friday night to find out.