Tag: scg-providence

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Eric Jeffrey Seltzer - June 11, 2014

Champion’s Deck – Mono-Blue Devotion by Ross Merriam (1st ...

Mono-Blue Devotion - Hall of Triumph
Mono-Blue Devotion
Ross Merriam
1st Place at StarCityGames Standard Open on 6/7/2014
Something old, something Blue…or as they say “It’s back !!!”. Like a blast from the past a Mono-Blue Devotion deck was able to rise to the top and finally grab itself another crown. While it is basically the same lists that were around and dominating oh so many moons ago, Ross did squeeze in some interesting things to bring the deck forward to the now.
It all starts with your Flying one drops. The usual suspects arrive with Judge’s Familiar and Cloudfin Raptor to start terrorizing from the sky, but it looks like Ross wanted that extra little push and added a singleton Galerider Sliver to ensure a consistent turn one play. Continuing into two drops there are perennial two way player Frostburn Weird playing both defensive and offensive roles, and Tidebinder Mage which is great in a world rife with Green and Red monsters. Next we find that amazing yet inexpensive God with Thassa, God of the Sea to both push through Unblockable creature and provide constant card selection. There is also Devotion superstar Nightveil Specter that help as the only real card advantage in the deck while at the same time stealing options away from your opponent. All of these creatures help to increase your Devotion count for the decks bomb play when you drop a Master of Waves and clutter the board with an army of Elemental tokens. As another slight addition to the devotion count there’s also a miser Bident of Thassa which gives the deck that slim extra card draw when it’s on the offensive. The real innovation in the deck comes from the inclusion of anthem artifact Hall of Triumph which will help to ensure that the Masters tokens don’t just disappear whenever he takes a hike, a huge issue in the past. For a few bits of removal in the deck we find a pair of Rapid Hybridization to keep the skies free of blockers and Cyclonic Rift when you just need to flick the reset switch on the other side of the board.
While I won’t exactly say that this looks like we are heralding in a new era of Mono-Blue it is encouraging to see that there is always place for tried strategies to return for another round. This is also a fairly good deck to invest in going forward into the next Standard season as it is powerful and maintains a good amount of its list. And while Frostburn and Nightveil are two huge losses we should no doubt see decent replacement options with the upcoming new sets. I would definitely say this list is worth taking for a spin and working forward into the next year.
Eric J Seltzer
@ejseltzer on Twitter
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Eric Jeffrey Seltzer - November 28, 2013

Deck of the Day – Prime Speaker Bant – Reid Duke (SCG Providen...

Prime Speaker Zegana
Prime Speaker Bant
Reid Duke
101st Place at StarCityGames Standard Open on 11/24/2013
Lands (25)

Creatures (21)

Planeswalkers (4)

Spells (10)

Sideboard

What an interesting new idea which has potential for huge card advantage once it gets going.  Bant has the particular quality of combining acceleration with control and card advantage.  This deck attempts to accomplish that in spades.  It all starts with a ten pack of mana dorks with Mystics, Caryatids & Satyrs to get the plan into high gear.  From there the threats start at converted cost of four with Polukranos, which doubles as removal for the deck, and Jace, which also doubles against aggro with the +1 ability.  We then hit the five spot and the centerpiece for this deck from Prophet of Kruphix which provides the unique ability to be proactive on your turn AND their turn while always holding up mana to threaten countermagic.  Then we hit the top of the curve at six with a diverse package including premier control finisher Aetherling, card advantage beast Prime Speaker & the truly diverse Primeval Bounty.  As with any deck using both blue and white mana should there is a full four Sphinx’s Revelation and the life gain can be a key in surviving against fast aggro.  The control aspect of the deck is limited to Plasm Capture that plays into the plan of mass card draw by providing more fuel to spew out more threats as quickly as possible.  The rest of the deck is comprised of a small removal suite with Detention Sphere which can work to hold off a swarm and Curse of the Swine which is either a sweeper or can be used to remove indestructible Gods.  This is definitely an idea to keep in mind moving forward as it may not yet be properly positioned but a few tweeks primarily with respect to shoring up the aggro matchup could turn this deck into a premier powerhouse.

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Eric Jeffrey Seltzer - November 26, 2013

Deck of the Day – Golgari Aggro (Top 8 SCG Providence Standard Open)

Dreg Mangler
Golgari Aggro
Dustin Brewer
7th Place at StarCityGames Standard Open on 11/24/2013
Land (24)

Creatures (26)

Spells (10)

Sideboard

Here we have an interesting list that many have dubbed as Kibler Golgari.  There were a few pros piloting this style deck at the GP last weekend but apparently it was ill positioned against the field on Sunday.  With a high concentration of creatures this deck is heavily invested in turning cards sideways.  The gold boardered creatures which are almost unique to this deck in Lotleth Troll, Dreg Mangler, Varolz and Reaper provide some hefty beef and synergy to the deck.  The ability to turn every creature in the graveyard into a scavenge from Varolz works well with Lotleth allowing discard and works to get you some big beaters into play.  Speaking of big creatures Polukranos, Boon Satyr and Reaper provide the deck with a fast clock to any decks that aren’t prepared for the onslaught.  Utility from Scavenging Ooze and some acceleration from Mystic round out the package.  The creatures are backed up by a strong removal foursome of Hero’s Downfall, Abrupt Decay, Putrefy and Golgari Charm to clear the board of most any threats.  Thoughtseize also plays in as some light disruption and certainly one of the better black one drops in standard.

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Eric Jeffrey Seltzer - November 24, 2013

Champion’s deck – Jund Matthew Costa (1st place SCG Providence Sta...

Reaper of the Wilds
Jund
Matthew Costa
1st Place at StarCityGames Standard Open on 11/24/2013
Main Deck
60 Cards
Lands (25)

Creatures (16)

Spells (19)

Sideboard (15)

Matt Costa was able to pilot this deck to a win against Boros Aggro in the finals.  Following along traditional Jund lines of incremental advantage into the midgame this deck combines power and versatility.  The creature suite has two ‘monstrous’ heavy hitters at the top end with Stormbreath Dragon and Polukranos supported by utility from Reaper of the Wilds, Scavenging Ooze and Sylvan Caryatid.  This is backed up by a very potent package of removal with Abrupt Decay & Hero’s Downfall for spot removal and Anger of the Gods & Mizzium Mortars as sweepers.  Finally the deck is rounded out with Thoughtseize & Rakdos’s Return to disrupt the opponents hand and Read the Bones to ensure that the right answers show up at the right time.