The decks played were their takes on the still forming new standard format and will form the baseline for standard for at least the next few months.
The top 8 lists for the event can be found here:
http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/ptktk/top-8-decklists-2014-10-11
There were several popular decks but the clear winners in the format were UWR Tempo and Junk Midrange/Agro with UB Control also rearing its ugly head, almost keeping up with the field.
To me, the UB control list looks like a pile of I don't know what but several very high ranking players (basically those that are nostalgic for the UW or Mono Black lists they played last season) were running the deck and Ivan Floch even managed to sneak one copy of the list into the top 8 so there might be something there going forward.
Ultimately, I feel that the lack of playable planeswalkers, no wrath and no real available finishers is going to keep this list from becoming particularly dominant in the general meta, particularly in places where people play agro.
That said, it is at least an indication that there might be a control deck out there for people willing to do actual nothing other than kill creatures and counter things.
The UWR and Junk decks were fairly clearly going to be a dominant force going in based on the early open series results and while the lists being played did vary a lot, the general principle behind them is the same as before.
The variance of the Junk lists was very apparent throughout the weekend and even for the 3 lists that made the top 8, the rage was from a two and three drop based argo deck (notably not running mana dorks or Coursers) in Mike Sigrist's list to the grindy planeswalker, approaching control, version that Ari Lax eventually piloted to overall victory with Thiago Saporito being somewhere in the middle.
While their colours were the same, the only non-removal cards that all three lists actually shared were Siege Rhino and Sorin, Solemn Visitor.
This is interesting as it indicates that at least the Junk colours are dense in high quality cards which allows players to build their decks in a variety of ways, catering to their personally preferred play styles.
This makes for a far more interesting format as more decks mean more play variety which means more fun for everyone.
This is already a vast contrast to the identical 75s of 3-4 decks that we had last season in basically every event that would fluctuate 0-2 cards week to week.
When all is said and done, the real hero of the event for me was Ari Lax and his excellent card choices.
Namely, this guy:
 |
| My Hero! |
He saw some amount of play in the Junk midrange lists that were popular on the open series toward the end of last season but I think his best times are yet to come.
The quality of the card aside, the reason I was very happy to see Ari include two copies of this walker in his main deck is that I may have had a little something riding on Ajani seeing top 8 play before the next set comes around.
The background is that when Ajani first came out, I did a set review of Journey into Nyx with a friend of mine, Byron, on his YouTube channel and we had some, shall we say disagreement regarding the quality of this Ajani.
The review discussion can be found here:
http://youtu.be/UF0WU1LMIfo?t=58m45s
I liked this card a lot immediately but Byron was very down on it.
We borrowed a solution to this kind of dispute from Evan Erwin and Brad Nelson who make pie bets regarding cards they disagree on in their reviews.
The Bet: Ajani, Mentor of Heroes will see top 8 play with 2 or more copies in the main deck at a GP or PT level event before the second set in Khans block comes out.
The Participants: Tom for, Byron against.
The Prize: Winner gets to pie the loser in the face.
Well thanks to Ari Lax, THAT'S A PIEING!
And not for me :)
Byron originally offered to up the stakes to 2 pies for top 8 at a PT but I was not up for that one so it will be only 1 pie this Friday at our local game store.
As for the actual card itself, I still believe it is very powerful and I was very impressed with what it was doing in Ari's deck and other Junk decks that brought him in from the sideboard.
Every time Ajani was in play on camera over the weekend he was doing serious work and quickly swinging games.
The decks that he ended up seeing play in were basically exactly where I originally saw him fitting.
He saw play in the Junk lists of last season, fetching up underworld connections, and now in a PT winning Caryatid/Courser/Elspeth deck.
Here is Ari Lax's PT winning Junk Midrange list for reference:
Creatures(16):
2 Elvish Mystic
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix
2 Wingmate Roc
4 Siege Rhino
Planeswalkers(7):
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Spells(13):
4 Abzan Charm
3 Hero's Downfall
2 Utter End
4 Thoughtseize
Lands(24):
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
1 Mana Confluence
4 Temple of Malady
1 Temple of Silence
2 Llanowar Wastes
2 Caves of Koilos
4 Windswept Heath
3 Forest
2 Plains
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Sideboard(15):
1 End Hostilities
1 Duneblast
1 Mass Calcify
3 Drown in Sorrow
3 Bile Blight
2 Murderous Cut
1 Unravel the Æther
1 Liliana Vess
2 Nissa, Worldwaker
Ari clearly skewed his deck to the upper end of the mana curve available in Junk and I have to say that I am a fan.
There's so much gas at the top end of this deck that I don't see any other decks keeping up with it when the game goes long.
This could be seen in a lot of Ari's matches where he was playing against other junk lists where the board would grind out a bit and then Ari would take over the game with his heavy hitting planeswalkers.
The other interesting side of the PT is looking at what cards and decks were absent.
I think the two most notable deck absences were Green based devotion/monsters and all of the delve/reanimator decks.
I was not particularly surprised by this since in my experience, neither of these decks have enough power or upside in them to compete with the Junk or BWR midrange lists.
There was also a distinct absence of Polukranos anywhere near the top 8 (not counting the sideboard of the combo deck...) which is something I predicted early on when the spoilers for Khans were coming through.
I've never really liked Polukranos. To me it's not much more than a vanilla 5/5 for 4 mana which is not standard playable and now that there are real creatures to replace him with, I don't see the World Eater seeing anywhere near as much play as he did previously.
Anyway, this week I'll be battling it out in the top 4 of the Highlander league on Wednesday and then taking another look at my standard list to iron it out a bit more for Game Day this weekend.
Congratulations again to Ari Lax on his win and my whole hearted approval of his deck building choices.
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