BFZ Beginnings

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

With Battle for Zendikar officially released on Friday 2nd October, the very first large tournament took place in Indianapolis - the StarCityGames.com Standard Open.  Although we love to see how players adapt to a new Magic: the Gathering set with old favourites rotating out, we've always wondered how on earth players get all the new cards they need for the tournament the weekend of the release.  Careful planning we guess.

Anywhoos, as you may have imagined, Abzan (green, black, white) was still the most popular colours to be in, and all because of the powerhouse monster that is Siege Rhino.  Some players at SCG Indianapolis packed the new Battle for Zendikar tutor / fetch spell 'Bring to Light' in pulling powerfull spells such as Siege Rhino, Hangarback Walker, or one of the (Tarkir) Charms.  The traditional 'abzan' list took a variety of forms, like Abzan Control or Aggro but we were impressed with the showing of 'Jeskai Black', which has the base of shell of a typical Jeskai deck buth with a splash of black for spells like Crackling Doom, Kologhan's Command or Utter End.

There was a proper Landfall strategy in the Top 8 - specifically a R/G Landfall featuring Scythe Leopard, Snapping Gnarlid and Makindi Sliderunner with that great red / green spell Atarka's Command.  What took the top spot however was an Atarka Red decklist by Brian Demars (congratulations!).  One would think that Red is Dead with the exit of  Stoke the Flames and Lightning Strike from standard constructed but Demars dominated with the very deadly Temur Battle Rage and Become Immense coupling.

Be sure to check the metagame breakdown with Nick Vigabool over at Gathering Magic as well as the SCG Indy decklists over at StarCityGames to see where strategy may be shifting to next.  For now, here's the list of the Top 8 from the weekend -


Top 8
Atarka Red, Brian Demars
G/W Megamorph, Michael Majors
Esper Dragons, Jeff Kruchkow
Jeskai Black, Adam Varner
Five-Color Bring to Light, Gerry Thompson
Jeskai Black, Clay Spicklemire
Esper Dragons, Patrick Cowe 

Abzan Control, Bradley Carpenter

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