Ok, it isn’t. Still, when you have 12-13 weeks of stored annual leave banked up and your boss is yelling at you to take some, there's no reason NOT to schedule it, at least a little, around some sweet overseas MTG Grand Prix action. Especially since we get so few big events in Australia.
With that in mind I decided late last year to do a Europe trip this year, mostly since I have family in Czech Republic and friends living in England for a year, so I checked the Wizards upcoming events calendar and what did I find? GP London (15-16 Aug) and GP Prague (29-30 Sept) 2 weeks apart in the time of year I like to visit Europe. Gas!
Better yet, both are Standard format, rather that the Sealed GPs we get in our area that I am not a fan of.
Standard has been pretty great this year and battling in two European GPs seems the perfect way to cap off the season.
I have played several decks in the format to some level starting with Mardu and moving though GR Dragons, RW Agro, Bant Heroic messing around with some fringe decks and eventually coming back around full circle to Mardu Dragons which is my current preference.
Currently that's the deck I am on but I'm waiting to see what comes out of the Pro Tour before locking in a standard deck for my trip.
This is the Mardu Dragons list I am currently on:
Creatures(21):
4 Seeker of the Way
3 Soulfire Grand Master
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Thunderbreak Regent
4 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Kolaghan, Storm's Fury
Spells(14):
4 Crackling Doom
1 Foul-Tongue Invocation
4 Draconic Roar
2 Ultimate Price
1 Murderous Cut
2 Thoughtseize
Lands(25):
4 Nomad Outpost
1 Temple of Malice
2 Temple of Silence
3 Temple of Triumph
3 Battlefield Forge
2 Caves of Koilos
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Mountain
1 Swamp
2 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
Sideboard(15):
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Crux of Fate
2 Kolaghan's Command
1 Thoughtseize
1 Duress
1 Arc Lightning
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Read the Bones
One thing I'm trying out is Abbot of Keral Keep to replace 2-4 of the Seekers but not locked in on that yet either way.
Besides standard, I also plan on taking Modern Affinity and Legacy Death and Taxes which are my preferred decks in their respective formats for side events and miscellaneous battling. (Sadly, no Highlander side event at either GP :( )
I've been running this streamlined version of Affinity of late to good success:
Creatures(28):
4 Arcbound Ravager
3 Master of Etherium
1 Etched Champion
2 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
2 Spellskite
Spells(16):
4 Cranial Plating
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Mox Opal
1 Welding Jar
3 Galvanic Blast
Lands(16):
1 Island
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
3 Glimmervoid
4 Inkmoth Nexus
Sideboard(15):
2 Etched Champion
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Whipflare
1 Electrickery
1 Wear // Tear
2 Thoughtseize
2 Spell Pierce
1 Torpor Orb
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Blood Moon
I have also been experimenting with a build featuring 4 Hangarback Walker, 2 Day's Undoing and 4 Disciple of the Vault and I have been very impressed with initial results, in particular regarding Hangarback Walkers as the card has been performing extremely well so watch this space.
In Legacy I have not been playing DnT of late as I have been running RUG Delver and UW Mentor in recent proxy leagues and events but DnT is the Legacy deck I own and it holds a special place in my heart.
This is the list I've rebuilt for it:
Creatures(26):
4 Mother of Runes
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Spirit of the Labyrinth
2 Serra Avenger
4 Flickerwisp
2 Mirran Crusader
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
Spells(4):
4 Swords to Plowshares
Artifacts(7):
4 Æther Vial
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
Land(23):
8 Plains
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
3 Karakas
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Eiganjo Castle
Sideboard(15):
3 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Cataclysm
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Council's Judgment
2 Rest in Peace
1 Graffdigger's Cage
2 Containment Priest
1 Enlightened Tutor
2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
Nothing too special there, just a bit of a leaning towards anti-blue cards since Europeans love their Brainstorms.
This will be my first time playing Magic outside of Australia so looking forward to seeing this great game played in different environments.
Tom
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