Yesterday I wrote about the modern metagame at the 2014 MTG World Championship. I was going to do something similar today for standard, but since Wizards beat me to it instead, I wanted to facilitate a more general discussion about the standard decks chosen by the 24 players competing for the title of world champion.
Sidisi Whip:
Sidisi Whip being tied with Abzan for the most played deck of the tournament is one of the biggest surprises of Worlds. While the deck has been picking up steam lately, both on MTGO and in the SCG/GP circuit, the general feeling about what decks the pros would play at Worlds is summed by by Stanislav Cifka: “I don’t think there’s going to be many Sidisi Whip or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx decks, those grindy kind of decks. Those are super fun to play but I think the other decks are slightly better.”
All the builds of Sidisi Whip are within a handful of cards of being the same, and the consistency between decks is helpful in understanding what the pros believe to be the correct way to build the deck. The first characteristics of all six whip decks is the lack of Dig Through Time, which has been a common addition in recent weeks. In place of Digs are three or four Thoughtseize. This may be a World’s metagame call, or it may simple be that Thoughtseize is that important to the deck.
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver is also a new piece for the deck, and may be a small concession to the mirror match. If your opponent is actively milling themselves to turn on Whip, Ashiok is one of the most powerful things you can play at any point in the game by mimicking Nephalia Drownyard as low opportunity cost win condition.
Finally, if Sidisi Whip becomes a heavily played deck, some number of main deck Sultai Charms may be in order. Not only does the charm kill every non-Sidisi creature in the deck at instant speed, but it also takes out Whip of Erebos, and can fill the graveyard for Murderous Cut or your own Whips in a pinch.
Abzan Midrange:
Not much innovation here, and it is starting to seem like most of the slots in Abzan Midrange are accounted for. Several players did throw in a couple copies of Brimaz, perhaps predicting a Jeskai heavy meta in the all-pro field, but otherwise it comes down to the standard Abzan debate. Do you go planeswalker heavy, like Ari did at the Pro Tour, or do you go more creature heavy, playing Brimaz and more Wingmark Rocs?
When it comes to Abzan, I tend to defer to Chapin, because he has been playing this deck fairly consistently since the block PT last spring. Here is his 75:
Sorcery (5)
Instant (10)
Land (25)
Sideboard (15)
Coming in third the Peach Garden Oath’s GB Constellation, which is pretty much Sidisi Whip, minus Sidisi, Brood Tyrant plus Eidolon of Blossoms. The deck walks the line between the old GB Devotion lists (while it has many of the same cards, it only plays two Nykthos, and no Voyaging Satyrs) and the Sidisi Whip decks (obviously without Sidisi, and less removal, playing only one Hero’s Downfall compared to the full set in the BUG deck).
Probably the two things that stick out most is the lack of Polukranos (who managed to be completely absent from the field) and a full set of Arbor Colossus in the board. I’m not really sure why Reid, Huey, and Owen wanted 12 copies of Colossus between them, but I’m sure they have good reason.
Nothing really to see here (other than the fact that Flock decided that wraths are good in control and played Perilous Vault). Although not exactly new, the presence of six lands that gain life when they ETB is worth mentioning, but its pretty much the same old song and dance. Counter some things, kill some things, Dig for some things, and then hope that Pearl Lake Ancient can clean everything up.
Every time I have to suicide Valley Dasher I’m cursing @G3RRYT in my head #mtgchamp
— Josh Utter-Leyton (@wrapter) December 3, 2014
Probably the most interesting thing about the French red deck is the seven planeswalker sideboard, which allows it to become a more resilient big red strategy in games 2 and 3:
Others:
The “others” category includes five one-of decks of various degrees of interest (six if you include Yuuki’s Abzan Whip deck ), which WOTC lumps in with Abzan Midrange).
Three are Hordeling Outburst decks, which are, more or less, adaptations of the Mardu deck was popular couple weeks ago. While the colors and composition of these three decks vary, the foundation of all three is turn two Seeker of the Way into turn three Hordeling Outburst, backed up by burn for reach.
Sam Black’s RW tokens, playing Eidolon of Countless Battles and Heloid’s Pilgrim (which can only find Chained to the Rocks) is likely the most interesting, but Watanabe’s Jeskai tokens running a full set of Jeskai Ascendency and Treasure Cruises, along with only eight creatures (x4 Goblin Rabblemaster along with the Seekers) was most successful, going 3-0-1 during the standard rounds.
Finally, Lee Shi Tain brough Ascendency Combo to the event, much the same as he played at the last PT and Lars Dam brought a planewalker free UWR control build, which looks to win with Prognostic Sphinx or Pearl Lake Ancient.
Records
Here are the records, by archetype, for the standard rounds of World’s 2014. Remember, in some cases, a deck can pick up both a win and a loss in the mirror match.
BG Constellation (3 players): 8 wins, 4 losses, 66.67 win percentage.
Abzan Midrange (6 players): 14 wins, 10 losses, 58.33 win percentage.
Seeker/Outburst (one Mardu, one RW, one Jeskai): 7 wins, 5 losses, 58.33 win percentage.
UWR Control( 1 player): 2 wins, 2 losses, 50 win percentage.
Mono-Red (2 players): 3 wins, 5 losses, 47.5 win percentage.
Sidisi Whip (6 players): 8 wins, 15 losses, 1 draw 33.33 win percentage.
UB Control (2 players): 3 wins, 5 losses, 37.5 win percentage.
Ascendency Combo (1 player): 1 win, 3 losses, 25 win percentage.
Conclusion
That’s all for today, what do you make of the data? Let me know in the comments, on Reddit, or @SaffronOlive on twitter.
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