Charlie Rinehart was able to stymie SCG circuit superstar Chris VanMeter on his mission to shave off his beard, which he has sworn to wear until he is victorious in a major tournament. This came down to a battle of the Midrange decks after both successfully dispatched Esper Control decks in their semifinal matches. While CVM chose to attack the format with an ever popular style with Jund, Charlie took a different route and combined the strengths of Black and White known as Orzhov midrange, which has been a powerful choice of late.
The deck follows some similar lines that this formats bogeyman Mono-Black Devotion has in using a trio of creatures that form the foundation of the Black deck. We see the pest know as Pack Rat as the two drop of choice in the deck, quick to grow into a swarm of vermin if unchecked and synergistic with the manland Mutavault to big fast and effective beats to the enemy. There is also Lifebane Zombie which against the Green based monster decks is truly effective but also is able to sneak past most defenders to either chip away at life totals or finish off annoying planeswalkers. Then continuing up the curve we the other borrowed creature with Flying powerhouse Desecration Demon which is a bargin at four converted cost and will most often force your opponent to sacrifice his worst creature in an effort to stave off the onslaught for another turn, but eventually he will be out of fodder and you’ll have a gigantic flying demon. Then we get to the creatures which helped to inspire the dabble into white. There are two five drops which both help the deck to recover lost life points first with a singleton of the legendary Obzedat, Ghost Council which also has a great synergy with another singleton Whip of Erebos that allows it to be returned from the grave and then use its own trigger to stick around for more turns after. The other five drop is the powerful and elusive Blood Baron of Vizkopa with not only Lifelink to assure that you remain alive against aggressive strategies but also protection against both White and Black which ensures it dodges a lot of the formats removal to ensure it keeps you alive and kicking. The last creature is a one of Sin Collector which work with the other key disruption in your deck Thoughtseize to provide important information about the opponents plans and strip away a valuable card. For planeswalker power we find Theros Block superstar Elspeth, Sun’s Champion which this deck is often able to drop down behind some protection then use it to ramp up the board state into a one sided slaughterhouse on your road to victory, and is also a very key as additional removal to rid the board of huge monsters that have accumulated on the other side of the table. As far as removal is concerned this deck is rife with a plethora of choices starting with a full set of the creature and planeswalker killer Hero’s Downfall, then also adding pairs of Ultimate Price to rid the board of any of the many mono-colored creatures in the format, Bile Blight that functions as the decks sweeper although it is limited to shrinking all copies of one particular card, and as a catchall answer Banishing Light which is able to remove a good variety of threats. The final card is the decks only real source of card advantage, although the scrylands do help filter bad draws, with another choice borrowed from Mono-Black with Underworld Connections that is so key for this deck to grind out small bits of advantage to try and pull ahead to seal the deal.
Esper Human – Esper Midrange
Takao, Shota
2nd place at GP Shizuoka 2013 Top 8
Lands (25)
Creatures (24)
Other Spells (11)
Sideboard
This deck got a lot of heads turning at Grand Prix Shizuoka on Dec. 22nd. Esper Midrandge or Humans piloted by Shota Takao, so named for its interactions between its humans paired up with Xathrid Necromancer. It is based on the more recent Orzhov Midrange strategy that evolved out of Paul Rietzl Orzhov Midrange at Pro Tour Theros. Takao was running into problems against Pack Rat so he added blue for Detention Sphere which also give him access to Lyev Skyknight. Adding the third color did not make the mana worse by taking full advantage of all the duals in Hallowed Fountain, Watery Grave, Godless Shrine, Temple of Deceit and Temple of Silence.
Esper Midrange has a strong match up against the three major decks in the format: Mono-Blue Devotion, Mono-Black Devotion, and Blue-White Control. The interaction between Whip of Erebos with Obzedat, Ghost Council is very important in these matches. You use the Whip to bring Obzedat back into play from the graveyard, then by stacking the triggers properly you can exile Obzedat to his trigger and return him back into play on your next turn.
As two-drops Takao opted to make a metagame call with a singleton Cartel Aristocrat which is strong against Domestication used mostly in Mono-Blue Devotion, Imposing Sovereign to slow down aggro decks and Daring Skyjek to speed up the clock especially when paired up with Lyev Skyknight, Desecration Demon or even Mutavault to activate Battalion. Adding a set of Detention Sphere allows him to drop the Hero’s Downfall that can get awkward to cast on the double black. Accompanied with a singleton of these removal spells Doom Blade, Ultimate Price and Far // Away again a metagame call.
Blood Baron of Vizkopa can be devastating against white and black based decks like this one, but Takao has answers like a Far // Away and two Supreme Verdicts in the main as well as access to Thoughtseize and another Far // Away and Supreme Verdict in the sideboard. Imposing Sovereign is also interesting as it stops Blood Baron but only for the turn it was summoned.
Overall Shato Takao got a lot of attention with this deck as it kept winning him round after round giving him a 14-1 record going into Quarterfinals, but finally losing in the finals to the GP Shizuoka champion Ryo Nakada piloting Orzhov Human.
Creatures (24)
Spells (12)
Sideboard
Orzhov Midrange
Paul Rietzl
Top 8 Pro Tour Theros – Standard
Main Deck
60 cards
26 lands
18 creatures
15 other spells
1 planeswalker
Sideboard
15 sideboard cards
With Gatecrash still fresh out of the pack there are already new decks starting to pop up. We see the aggro meta starting to form with decks like Jund, Boros and Mono Red climbing to the top of this weekends Open series.
Boros Reckoner: This was the big card of the weekend. Reckoner is turning into one of most the sought after rares from Gatecrash. Starting at $3.99 when it was spoiled, it then went up to $9.99 at the release and is now at $14.99. It’s in the maindeck or sideboard of R/W Aggro (Boros) and Mono Red (RDW) with usually a full 4 played. Reckoner is a beast against Rakdos, usually yielding 2 for 1’s when blocking or attacking.
R/W Aggro
Andrew Schneider
3rd place SCG Standard Open
Creatures (26)
4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Hellrider
2 Lightning Mauler
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Stonewright
4 Stromkirk Noble
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
Lands (23)
15 Mountain
4 Clifftop Retreat
4 Sacred Foundry
Spells (11)
2 Boros Charm
1 Brimstone Volley
4 Searing Spear
4 Pillar of Flame
Sideboard
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
4 Volcanic Strength
2 Boros Charm
4 Skullcrack
4 Mizzium Mortars
Mono-Red Aggro
Ryan Cruz
9th place at SCG Standard open
Creatures (28)
4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Hellrider
4 Lightning Mauler
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Stonewright
4 Stromkirk Noble
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
Lands (22)
21 Mountain
1 Hellion Crucible
Spells (10)
4 Searing Spear
3 Skullcrack
3 Pillar of Flame
Sideboard
2 Reckless Waif
2 Zealous Conscripts
2 Volcanic Strength
1 Skullcrack
2 Thunderbolt
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Pillar of Flame
2 Traitorous Blood
1 Cavern of Souls
Experiment One: The new aggressive one-drop we see appearing in the new Jund aggro brews. Has the potential to get to a good aggressive size and once it has two counters becomes very difficult to remove without being forced to waste extra resources.
Ghor-Clan Rampager: Junds new 4-drop that doubles as an aggressive finisher using bloodrush. Giving +4/+4 and trample for RG is quite aggressively cost. I had my eye on this card for Limited already and was thinking it is good enough for standard. We see it used along side Experiment One in this Jund Aggro list.
Jund Aggro
Tyler Lindsey
Creatures (28)
3 Deathrite Shaman
4 Dreg Mangler
4 Experiment One
3 Flinthoof Boar
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Hellrider
4 Strangleroot Geist
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
Lands (24)
3 Forest
1 Mountain
4 Blood Crypt
2 Dragonskull Summit
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Stomping Ground
2 Woodland Cemetery
Spells (8)
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Searing Spear
2 Tragic Slip
Sideboard
1 Deathrite Shaman
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Golgari Charm
2 Gruul Charm
1 Rakdos Charm
3 Skullcrack
2 Tribute to Hunger
2 Rolling Temblor
Cartel Aristocrat: This is the new sacrifice engine that is being used in the Human Reanimator deck to abuse the synergy of Angel of Glory’s Rise and Fiend Hunter.
Human Reanimator
Brian Braun-Duin 2nd Place at SCG Standard Open series
4 Angel of Glory’s Rise
4 Cartel Aristocrat
1 Cathedral Sanctifier
4 Fiend Hunter
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
Lands (23)
1 Blood Crypt
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Clifftop Retreat
1 Godless Shrine
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Sacred Foundry
4 Stomping Ground
3 Sunpetal Grove
2 Temple Garden
4 Woodland Cemetery
Spells (20)
4 Grisly Salvage
4 Faithless Looting
4 Farseek
4 Mulch
4 Unburial Rites
Sideboard
3 Cathedral Sanctifier
2 Purify the Grave
3 Ray of Revelation
4 Appetite for Brains
3 Slaughter Games
Devour Flesh: Gatecrash’s new Cruel Edict with just a splash of Swords to Plowshares. One of few answers to Geist of Saint Traft or Invisible Stalker
Esper Spirits
Eddie Walker 8th place at SCG open series
Creatures (18)
4 Drogskol Captain
4 Dungeon Geists
3 Restoration Angel
4 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Obzedat, Ghost Council
Lands (24)
1 Island
1 Plains
3 Cavern of Souls
3 Drowned Catacomb
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Godless Shrine
4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Isolated Chapel
1 Moorland Haunt
1 Vault of the Archangel
2 Watery Grave
Spells (18)
3 Blind Obedience
4 Azorius Charm
2 Devour Flesh
3 Orzhov Charm
2 Ultimate Price
4 Lingering Souls
Sideboard
2 Pithing Needle
4 Augur of Bolas
3 Detention Sphere
3 Rest in Peace
2 Devour Flesh
1 Ultimate Price
We will be keeping a close eye on all the different formats over the next few weeks to see which Gatecrash cards get played in Standard, Modern and Legacy. We welcome all feedback and please comment on the articles if you have any thoughts. Until next time…
Greg Thibault (@gregsterism on Twitter)
Regardless if you call it Commander or EDH I’m certain you found some goodies in for a deck you may be working on…I certainly found a bunch of cards that had me thinking.
Lazav, Dimir Mastermind – While he could maybe head an all-in mill deck its probably better to slip him as support in a The Mimeoplasm deck with the hexproof it’s a pretty nice pick the best of the bunch you hit that turn and it could be pretty fun. Too bad for them you CAN copy the Eldrazi and then Bribery it from his deck and yes that’s two Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, nice.
Obzedat, Ghost Council – He makes me want to start work on an Orzhov style of bureaucracy advisors deck. Seems better with less opponents but if you pair it with Vizkopa Guildmage you can work them all down.
Aurelia, the Warleader – She is definitely the card I am going build my aggro Boros deck for. She is also a great include in a Razia, Boros Archangel deck.
Prime Speaker Zegana – Its a wizard and a merfolk so obviously there’s a spot in a deck. If you can get some synergy with a Deadeye Navigator that could draw through your deck nicely.
Borborygmos Enraged – Maybe in some kind of a 70+ land deck that can really make use of him but I haven’t seen that list yet, but I would love to.
Sylvan Primordial – This is just so absolutely ridiculous and ramp a Riku of Two Reflections to copy can be pretty oppressive. This is definitely the top of the cycle.
Diluvian Primordial – As always it’s about timing but by the time you play him it should be at a point where your payoff is ludicrous.
Luminate Primordial – A huge Swords to Plowshares and if you can get a flicker effect going can constantly pick off your greatest threats.
Sepulchral Primordial – Another interesting addition in a Mimeoplasm mill deck.
Molten Primordial – It has potential to get a massive effect but feels like the one of the cycle that could end up with more frequent meh scenarios.
Giant Adephage – When you add that to Doubling Season it just looks like that could go loopy…and I’d love to see the alter in the token.
Ooze Flux – Not super but again you can pull of some shenanigans with it.
Crowned Ceratok – Really nice global effect for swarm decks that that abuse +1/+1 counters.
Ivy Lane Denizen – This might be useful with Doubling Season but also just as an elf looks relevant to include especially in an Ezuri, Renegade Leader deck.
Serene Remembrance – Well obviously its you getting your best cards back and will again & again…I see some beautiful Riku of Two Reflections interaction, I would love a spell that’s RUG to shuffle itself and six cards from your graveyard back into your library.
Wight of Precinct Six – Interesting zombie that can potentially get humongous.
Hellkite Tyrant – This sick dragon will definitely net you some booty.
Angelic Skirmisher – Besides the obvious inclusion in angel decks she can do some major work in token strategies as well. First strike, vigilance or lifelink to all of your creatures, wow !!! And every combat step, just brutal.
Deathpact Angel – Could find a spot maybe in a Kaalia of the Vast deck but is fighting for precious space.
Shadow Alley Denizen – Relevant as a vampire and will trigger many times.
Merciless Eviction – Just so damn versatile, and much much better when you can recur it to your advantage.
Thespian’s Stage – With so many targets to choose from it’s going to be doing some heavy lifting for you. Looks like one of those support lands I want to squeeze into most decks.
Crypt Ghast – Another ramp for black. He has a fragile body and average cost but helps black ramp strategy by adding the redundancy.
Stolen Identity – Way too expensive to be viable in constructed but the ability to hit artifacts and there should be a way for you to trigger every turn.
With a list like that there must be something to tickle your fancy. To be honest I’m a novice to Commander but have absolutely had a blast every game I’ve played. I’m going to work on an Aurelia deck because I’ve always gone Boros. I love to see cool lists so feel free to send me a tweet and time permitting I’ll get back to you.
– Eric J Seltzer
@ejseltzer on twitter
ejseltzer@hotmail.com
I present you Three Kings Loot top cards from Gatecrash. These are the cards we think might get played in standard, modern and Legacy. There is another list of the Top cards for EDH/Commander from Gatecrash; we’ve also made a list for Dragon’s Maze.
Make sure to check out my addendum to this article with top cards and deck lists from the latest standard tournaments post-Gatecrash. [Editor’s note] Deck lists and top cards from Dragon’s Maze Standard.
Obzedat, Ghost Council – Ghost Council drains your opponent 2 life straight out of the gate and again every turn you ‘phase’ him. That’s 4 points of life gained and up to 9 points of damage by his second turn out if he connects. And there is a limited amount of instant speed removal that can answer him. This guy could go in a Esper control build, Orzhov mid-range or Junk anyone (I like Avacyn’s Pilgrim). Is it just all hype? Ghost council certainly is interesting.
Aurelia’s Fury – It’s an instant speed Rolling Thunder that will also taps the creatures it hits. Also, players that take its damage can’t cast non-creature spells that turn so you can cast it before their main phase to either protect your creatures against wrath effects or to stop a deck from comboing off.
Blind Obedience – This card could be used effectively against Hellrider/Thundermaw Hellkite decks and maybe even Boros or Rakdos to slow down their haste. It only cost 2 mana and it adds an Extort trigger every spell you cast. Too bad it doesn’t hit lands as well but then it wouldn’t be so cheap to cast.
Legion Loyalist – A one casting cost with haste and a useful ability for all out aggro. I think this little guy has the potential to end up in a Boros or Rakdos deck for standard. Some say he’s the Goblin Guide of this block. He could also find a home in Goblins for Legacy.
Boros Charm – It’s a Flame Rift but better, can make all your creatures indestructible to protect them from wrath effects like Supreme Verdict or other sweeps like Bonfire of the Damned and the third option can come in handy as a surprise endgame to double-strike an unblocked creature for the win or to turn the tides on an otherwise unfavorable combat.
Simic Charm – This is probably the best charm in Limited, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it finds a spot in some standard deck. It’s a Giant growth, or it protects a permanent from a destroy effect even one that can’t be countered such as Abrupt Decay, or it’s can also be an unsummon. It’s obvious why it’s great in limited but will it make a difference in standard or other formats.
Clan Defiance – It’s an answer to a Non-Flier and/or a Flier and/or you can hit your opponent straight to the dome. It’s a nice card worth mentioning and has many options for you to abuse
Skullcrack – The new Flames of the Blood Hand that gives 3 damage instead of 4 but costs 1 less. It could be useful against all the Thragtusk/Sphinx’s Revelation life gain in Standard. It could also be a sideboard versus Soul Sisters in Modern.
Vizkopa Guildmage – There’s been a lot of talk about the instant win combo he makes with Exquisite Blood. Is this a future Standard or even Modern deck?
Frontline Medic – This card seems to be an answer against cards like Sphinx’s Revelation or Bonfire of the Damned, and also the new Aurelia’s Fury.
Illness in the Ranks – An interesting new sideboard tech against token based deck in Standard and Modern. Are the days of Lingering Souls coming to a close?
Glaring spotlight – Can this be the answer to Geist of Saint Traft, Invisible Stalker or Sigarda, Host of Herons in Standard and the Enchantment deck in Modern? May turn out to be a key sideboard answer and is fetchable with Trinket Mage.
Domri Blade – Will there be a new Gruul Beats or Naya deck to spring up in Standard? Seems like a fine addition to a deck running Huntmaster of the Fells and Kessig Wolf Run. Only results will show.
Lord of the Void – There has been some talk of him as a sideboard answer against Show and Tell decks to be able to trump their creature drop, but is it really more effective then a Gilded Drake? Might also have a similar effect in Show and Tell decks against the mirror or even Reanimator decks. Just doesn’t seem very reliable.
Enter the infinite – Does this card pair with the Omniscience to win for OmniTell? Seems like it may just be a win more type of card. But it guarantees that you will have each and every combo piece necessary in your hand to just go off. And don’t even look at the casting cost since whatever the plan to cast it will certainly involve doing it for free.
Boros Elite – Similar in style to Wild Nacatl as the one drop 3/3, although the qualifier is much more limiting. This is probably aggressive enough to find a home in a Boros build for Standard, and there may even be room in Modern for Boros that could produce enough cheap hasters to reliably trigger his ability.
I hope you find my list informative and I would love to get some feedback. I have a followup article with more top cards and some deck lists from standard post-Gatecrash right here. Leave me comments and feedback please.
Greg Thibault (@gregsterism)
greg@threekingsloot.com
