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GP Verona, GP Rio, SCG Indy

Quick Hits:

– Mike Kranitski wins GP Verona with Junk Reanimator
– Francisco da Silva wins GP Rio with the Aristocrats
– Adam Liu wins Indianapolis Standard Open with Naya Humans
– Alex Binek wins Legacy Open with UWR Rest in Peace Miracles

Starting things off with GP Verona, Unburial Rites returned from the dead to remind the Standard world what happens when people stop packing graveyard hate. Aside from a slight upgrade in mana, this deck is exactly the same as some of the Junk Rites decks that we saw before Gatecrash’s release – mana creatures, Thragtusks, Restoration Angels, and Angel of Serenity and Craterhoof Behemoth to destroy the opponent.

The rest of the top 8 was filled out with a Naya Human deck, a Human Reanimator deck packing Burning-Tree Emissary and Undercity Informer to aid in comboing off, a UWR Flash deck that chose to eschew Boros Reckoner entirely (and moved Auger of Bolas to the sideboard!) and returned to Geist of Saint Traft and Thundermaw Hellkite, two copies of Jund midrange, the return of RB Zombies, and a “standard” UWR Reckoner deck packing two copies of Assemble the Legion in the maindeck. All in all, a very diverse showing, with some very unique takes on common decks, and the return of a few old favorites.

GP Verona Coverage

Meanwhile, on the other end of the world, the Aristocrats took down GP Rio, after Arthur Villela scooped in the finals to his friend Francisco da Silva. Villela was playing the Jund aggro deck that has been appearing in recent weeks, sporting copies of Experiment One, Flinthoof Boar, and Ghor-Clan Rampager, among other RBG monsters. We also see two copies of Junk Reanimator, this time sporting Lotleth Troll as a discard outlet, a RG aggro deck, a 4cc Human Reanimator deck, Jund Midrange, and an additional copy of the Aristocrats. If it seemed like Verona had a high number of Rites decks, GP Rio managed to beat that. Moving forward, Standard players had best be prepared to combat graveyard shenanigans.

GP Rio Coverage

Our final Standard tournament of the weekend gives us a third look at the format, and yet another different spread of top decks. Naya Humans ruled the day, but it was followed up by two copies of Prime Speaker Bant, along with a copy of the more “traditional” Wolf Run Bant, two copies of Jund, a Junk Reanimator deck very similar to the one in Rio, and a copy of Esper control. Looking at the top decks from each tournament, it is clear that Rites strategies are very powerful, as are Jund Midrange strategies. Beyond that, though, we see a very diverse collection of decks – all manners of aggro and control seem to be able to to do well, so know your metagame, and be prepared to beat Jund and Unburial Rites, and you should be able to succeed.

SCG Indy Standard Open

Over in everyone’s favorite Eternal format, UW Miracles take down a Legacy Open for the second week in a row. As the format continues to correct itself after swinging heavily towards the BGx end of the spectrum, Miracles has returned to destroy combo and creature decks alike. Alex Binek chose to pilot a version of the deck with the Rest in Peace/Helm of Obedience combo finish to end games immediately, along with a singleton maindeck Blood Moon to lock any non-basic heavy decks out of the game. Blood Moon replaced the more risky Energy Field, which Binek chose to move to the sideboard instead. The rest of the top 8 is filled with combo decks – Elf Combo, ANT, and Sneak and Show all make appearances – along with two copies of RUG Delver, preying on the combo decks, 12-post, and the return of Aggro Loam. If you plan on playing in a Legacy event in the near future, have a plan for the format’s various combo decks, and make sure that you don’t lose to having your team swept to the bottom of your library during your attack step.

SCG Legacy Open

 

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