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This standard started out exactly how many of us expected once we heard of the banning of Copy Cat. You could probably have guessed our top 3 decks but that doesn’t mean you won’t have to test against them this week.

This week we got to see a standard where Mardu Vehicles once again ruled. This has to be the deck you take into consideration when building right now. Putting up the best results by a significant margin does have some to do with people already had the cards. But they had the cards because the deck is great.

Temur Aetherworks
William Heise
15th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 4/29/2017
Standard

Creatures (16)
4 Rogue Refiner
4 Servant of the Conduit
4 Whirler Virtuoso
4 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

Planeswalkers (3)
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Nissa, Steward of Elements

Lands (22)
4 Forest
2 Island
2 Mountain
4 Aether Hub
4 Botanical Sanctum
1 Evolving Wilds
2 Lumbering Falls
1 Sheltered Thicket
2 Spirebluff Canal

Spells (19)
4 Woodweaver’s Puzzleknot
2 Bounty of the Luxa
4 Harnessed Lightning
4 Aetherworks Marvel
4 Attune with Aether
1 Baral’s Expertise

Sideboard
2 Bristling Hydra
1 Manglehorn
4 Tireless Tracker
1 World Breaker
2 Aether Meltdown
3 Negate
2 Release the Gremlins

Marvel had a little bit of a resurgence this weekend. The deck is clearly very powerful and had a few different versions of the deck at the top tables. One thing to remember is you have to have a plan for this deck if you are going to durddle or this deck with punish you. Make sure to playtest against this one as many players will gravitate toward it.

3. Green Black Delirium

B/G Delirium
Brennan DeCandio
5th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 4/29/2017
Standard

Creatures (15)
1 Noxious Gearhulk
3 Walking Ballista
4 Grim Flayer
1 Manglehorn
2 Tireless Tracker
2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
2 Ishkanah, Grafwidow

Planeswalkers (4)
3 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited

Lands (23)
6 Forest
8 Swamp
4 Blooming Marsh
1 Evolving Wilds
4 Hissing Quagmire

Spells (18)
4 Vessel of Nascency
3 Fatal Push
3 Grasp of Darkness
2 To the Slaughter
2 Never
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald

Sideboard
1 Manglehorn
1 Tireless Tracker
2 Appetite for the Unnatural
1 Scarab Feast
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Liliana, Death’s Majesty
2 Lost Legacy
2 Never
2 Yahenni’s Expertise

Black Green is back in a new old fashion way as they say. Reverting back to a more Midrange control deck we have a real player in our midst. The deck can really grind games and you will need to be able to beat it as this is an old favorite of a lot of players who are ready to see it come back.

Jeskai Control
Emma Handy
32nd Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 4/29/2017
Standard

Creatures (4)
4 Torrential Gearhulk

Lands (27)
4 Island
3 Plains
4 Aether Hub
3 Inspiring Vantage
4 Irrigated Farmland
2 Port Town
2 Prairie Stream
2 Spirebluff Canal
3 Wandering Fumarole

Spells (29)
1 Cast Out
3 Censor
2 Disallow
2 Essence Scatter
1 Forsake the Worldly
4 Glimmer of Genius
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Immolating Glare
2 Magma Spray
1 Negate
2 Pull from Tomorrow
3 Void Shatter
2 Fumigate

Sideboard
1 Sphinx of the Final Word
1 Cast Out
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Dispel
1 Forsake the Worldly
2 Negate
2 Archangel Avacyn
1 Linvala, the Preserver
2 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Fumigate
2 Radiant Flames

People will likely all have different builds for this deck but there is a few things that will stay the same. Gearhulk, Draw Spells, Couterspells, and Sweepers.

This deck will likely take time for the perfect build to emerge but once it does it could be smooth sailing for the deck. You want to have a plan in at least your sideboard for this strategy and others like it. People love draw go and this deck is as close as it gets right now.

That is it for this week. I want to thank my patrons who make this series possible. I am excited to give you guys a quick look at what to playtest against each week and a quick place to go for all the lists you’ll need to proxy in one spot.

Spencer Howland
@spencer13h
Constructed Criticism

Spencer goes over a new Budget Red Aggro deck for Amonkhet standard.

3 Key to the City
4 Falkenrath Gorger
4 Ravenous Bloodseeker
4 Flameblade Adept
1 Insolent Neonate
4 Reckless Bushwhacker
4 Cartouche of Zeal
4 Fiery Temper
2 Lightning Axe
3 Shock
4 Collective Defiance
19 Mountain

SB: 2 Hanweir Garrison
SB: 2 Glorybringer
SB: 3 Magma Spray
SB: 1 Tears of Valakut
SB: 2 Hanweir Battlements
SB: 1 Mountain
SB: 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
SB: 2 Destructive Tampering

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We are doing a special Modern Masters episode this week, and we thought it would be fitting to discuss a sealed pool from the set. The draft format is one of the best from the past several years, but the sealed format is a whole different animal. The many multi-color cards in the set and great color fixing makes building a sealed pool very difficult. Give this pool a shot, and comment with your opinions on it!

Link to pool – http://mtgen.net/mm3?draw=w7s8T

// Created by MtG Generator: http://mtgen.net/mm3?draw=w7s8T
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Agony Warp
1 Attended Knight
1 Augur of Bolas
3 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
1 Azure Mage
1 Bird
1 Broodmate Dragon
1 Burning-Tree Emissary
1 Chandra’s Outrage
1 Coiling Oracle
1 Cruel Ultimatum
1 Damnation
1 Death-Hood Cobra
1 Deputy of Acquittals
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Dregscape Zombie
1 Druid’s Deliverance
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Explore
1 Falkenrath Aristocrat
1 Familiar’s Ruse
1 Fists of Ironwood
2 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Gaea’s Anthem
1 Ghostly Flicker
1 Giantbaiting
1 Gideon’s Lawkeeper
1 Gift of Orzhova
2 Golgari Guildgate
1 Golgari Rotwurm
1 Grisly Spectacle
1 Ground Assault
1 Gruul War Chant
1 Harmonize
2 Hungry Spriggan
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Intangible Virtue
2 Izzet Guildgate
1 Kathari Bomber
1 Madcap Skills
2 Magma Jet
2 Master Splicer
2 Mogg Flunkies
1 Momentary Blink
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Night Terrors
1 Olivia Voldaren
1 Orzhov Guildgate
1 Pitfall Trap
1 Putrefy
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Revive
1 Rubblebelt Maaka
1 Savage Lands
3 Scorched Rusalka
1 Seal of Doom
1 Selesnya Guildgate
2 Sensor Splicer
1 Serum Visions
1 Simic Guildgate
1 Simic Signet
1 Slaughterhorn
1 Soldier
1 Soul Manipulation
1 Spider
1 Spike Jester
1 Spire Monitor
2 Sylvan Ranger
1 Teleportal
1 Terminus
1 Thornscape Battlemage
2 Thunderous Wrath
3 Tip/Marketing Card
2 Traitorous Instinct
1 Wake the Reflections
2 Wingcrafter

U/R Control 4
If you’re not a fan of white cards this is the deck for you this week. Todd Anderson built a very tempo oriented Thing in The Ice control deck. That can attack from a few angles but will predominantly freeze it’s opponent out with Thing in the Ice or burn them with Fall of the Titans. Allowing you to form a gameplan your opponent can’t play around not unlike a deck Todd was famous for in TarmoTwin if you play to the creatures you die to the hand and vice versa. The goggles are an interesting inclusion that I wouldn’t be surprised to see cut from more streamlined versions but they have powerful interactions with much of the deck.

U/R Control By Todd Anderson 

4 Thing in the Ice
4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
2 Jori En, Ruin Diver
2 Chandra, Flamecaller
3 Island
7 Mountain
4 Drownyard Temple
3 Highland Lake
4 Shivan Reef
4 Wandering Fumarole
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Anticipate
2 Fall of the Titans
4 Fiery Temper
1 Kozilek’s Return
4 Lightning Axe
3 Pyromancer’s Goggles
3 Magmatic Insight
4 Tormenting Voice
SB: 4 Eldrazi Obligator
SB: 4 Fevered Visions
SB: 1 Kozilek’s Return
SB: 3 Negate
SB: 2 Void Shatter
SB: 1 Chandra, Flamecaller

W/B Eldrazi 7

I can’t say I’m happy about this, I thought I was done writing about Eldrazi Displacer decks. Thanks a lot Eric Hymel. Predominantly a midrange deck that can exploit the powerful ETBs of cards like Archangel Avacyn and to a lesser extent Knight of the White Orchid to pull further ahead.  Whether this deck can compete with the super aggressive and tempo oriented decks at the top of the standing will be the question we need to ask about this deck.

W/B Eldrazi by Eric Hymel
3 Hedron Crawler
4 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Knight of the White Orchid
1 Matter Reshaper
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Archangel Avacyn
2 Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
6 Plains
2 Swamp
4 Battlefield Forge
2 Blighted Fen
4 Caves of Koilos
3 Forsaken Sanctuary
1 Foundry of the Consuls
4 Shambling Vent
2 Anguished Unmaking
2 Ultimate Price
4 Declaration in Stone
SB: 2 Reality Smasher
SB: 2 Virulent Plague
SB: 1 Anguished Unmaking
SB: 1 Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
SB: 1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
SB: 3 Duress
SB: 2 Read the Bones
SB: 3 Tragic Arrogance

W/B Midrange 7
Less synergy based than the above deck but with a similar gameplan using the removal backed by powerful late game if you can get the game to go long enough this could prove to be one of the better “control” decks of the format.

W/B Midrange by Blake Conti
4 Knight of the White Orchid
2 Wasteland Strangler
3 Archangel Avacyn
2 Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
1 Linvala, the Preserver
3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
7 Plains
4 Swamp
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Forsaken Sanctuary
4 Shambling Vent
2 Westvale Abbey
2 Silkwrap
3 Stasis Snare
2 Anguished Unmaking
2 Secure the Wastes
3 Declaration in Stone
1 Languish
3 Transgress the Mind
SB: 3 Pitiless Horde
SB: 1 Quarantine Field
SB: 1 Virulent Plague
SB: 1 Hallowed Moonlight
SB: 1 Linvala, the Preserver
SB: 1 Declaration in Stone
SB: 2 Duress
SB: 2 Flaying Tendrils
SB: 1 Infinite Obliteration
SB: 1 Languish
SB: 1 Read the Bones

Bant Company 13
The deck I expected to be the best in format coming in showed off some it’s potential by winning the tournament. The shell is quite different than the old version relying on Duskwatch Recruiter and Archangel Avacyn to become impossible to play against and giving yourself many lines of attack. Playing much more like a aggro/combo deck without needing a combo.

Bant Company by Jim Davis
4 Bounding Krasis
1 Den Protector
4 Duskwatch Recruiter
1 Hidden Dragonslayer
4 Reflector Mage
4 Sylvan Advocate
2 Tireless Tracker
2 Archangel Avacyn
4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
3 Forest
2 Island
3 Plains
3 Canopy Vista
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Fortified Village
4 Lumbering Falls
1 Port Town
4 Prairie Stream
4 Collected Company
3 Dromoka’s Command
1 Ojutai’s Command
SB: 1 Den Protector
SB: 1 Hidden Dragonslayer
SB: 2 Lantern Scout
SB: 1 Tireless Tracker
SB: 2 Invocation of Saint Traft
SB: 2 Clip Wings
SB: 3 Negate
SB: 1 Ojutai’s Command
SB: 2 Declaration in Stone

Humans 20

The most popular deck of the tournament and without doubt one of the better decks in the format as well as the de facto aggro deck of this early format.  Coming in Mono White, Blue-White, and Green-White varieties, the root of the deck is in early pressure back by the best removal spell printed in recent memory Declaration in Stone to disrupt your midrange opponents midgame threats to push through the final points of damage.

Mono-White Humans by Kellen Pastore. 
2 Consul’s Lieutenant
3 Dragon Hunter
2 Expedition Envoy
3 Hanweir Militia Captain
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Thalia’s Lieutenant
4 Thraben Inspector
3 Town Gossipmonger
3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
19 Plains
1 Westvale Abbey
3 Always Watching
3 Gryff’s Boon
2 Stasis Snare
4 Declaration in Stone
SB: 2 Felidar Cub
SB: 1 Lantern Scout
SB: 2 Silkwrap
SB: 1 Stasis Snare
SB: 1 Hallowed Moonlight
SB: 3 Secure the Wastes
SB: 3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
SB: 2 Westvale Abbey