Rivals of Ixalan Standard

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

This weekend's Dallas Open Weekend hosted by StarCityGames.com marked the first major Magaic: the Gathering standard constructed event with the new Rivals of Ixalan cards.  With each new standard shake-up, whether it may be an addition of a new set or a rotation out of others, many players step back into the comfort zone with reliable decklists, should the essential key cards still be available.  With the recent domination of Energy and Ramunap Red, this may not have been a serious consideration given the new banned cards list.  Given this environment, many were now considering the safe bet to be Green / Black Constrictor or Mono-Red Aggro.  Aggressive decklists are typically the easiest default or 'go-to' strategies in a new standard.  The cycle continues as the metagame evolves to include a rise in mid-range decks and finally control themes given the particular environment.

The Dallas Open Weekend Standard Classic results demonstrated a very diverse range of lists, which is indicative of a healthy standard game.  There is a somewhat predictable lag time after a set's release to 'solve' standard as players determine the most successful cards, after which point sideboard evaluations mature and respond to the growing popularity.  The weekend of a set's release is however a glorious time with innovation and improvisation being one's most valued resource.  Here is what players brought to the StarCityGames.com Team Constructed Open, Dallas this past weekend -

1st Mono-Red Aggro Tristen Loob
2nd Mono-Red Aggro Salvador Barboza
3rd W/U Auras Jim Davis
4th Mardu Vehicles Keelan Snider
5th G/R Monsters Logan Berryman
6th Mardu Vehicles Richard Fernandez
7th Temur DInosaurs Sean Joyce
8th Mardu Vehicles Zan Syed
9th Esper Gift Joshua Phillips
10th U/R Winds Trevor Hunt
11th Grixis Energy Skyler Aschenbeck
12th G/B Constrictor David Hinojosa
13th Mardu Vehicles Max Shiffman
14th Grixis Energy Tomas Morales
15th G/R Monsters James Crow
16th B/W Tokens Garrett Lewis

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State of Standard

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

We may have been complaining just a titch in our last post about just how tough our local metagame is so we want to follow up today with this - 

Having 'survived' the Magic: the Gathering monoculture that was a stale format dominated by Caw-Blade, we are definitely most encouraged by the recent results of StarCityGames Open: Columbus.  This tournament took as part of the Origins Game Fair, Greater Columbus Convention Center with two main events (standard and legacy) and a lot of side action.  Anywhoos - here's a quick run down of what we here at MTG Realm consider a good diverse game:  

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Jund - John Wallace, 1st Place

Lands (25) : 2 Forest, 4 Blood Crypt, 3 Dragonskull Summit, 2 Kessig Wolf Run, 4 Overgrown Tomb, 2 Rootbound Crag,  4 Stomping Ground, 4 Woodland Cemetery
Creatures (14) :     4 Huntmaster of the Fells, 1 Sire of Insanity, 4 Thragtusk, 2 Vampire Nighthawk, 3 Olivia Voldaren
Planeswalkers (5) : 3 Garruk, Primal Hunter, 2 Liliana of the Veil
Spells (16) : 2 Ground Seal, 2 Putrefy, 2 Bonfire of the Damned, 1 Dreadbore, 4 Farseek, 2 Mizzium Mortars, 2 Pillar of Flame, 1 Rakdos's Return
Sideboard : 1 Sire of Insanity, 1 Deadbridge Chant, 2 Abrupt Decay, 2 Devour Flesh, 1 Liliana of the Veil, 1 Dreadbore, 2 Duress, 1 Gaze of Granite, 2 Pillar of Flame, 2 Slaughter Games

R/G Aggro - Adam Johnson, 2nd Place

Lands (20) : 10 Mountain, 4 Rootbound Crag, 4 Stomping Ground, 2 Temple Garden
Creatures (28) : 4 Boros Reckoner, 4 Burning-Tree Emissary, 4 Flinthoof Boar, 4 Ghor-Clan Rampager, 4 Hellrider, 4 Rakdos Cackler, 4 Stromkirk Noble
Spells (12) : 4 Madcap Skills, 4 Searing Spear, 4 Pillar of Flame
Sideboard : 2 Gruul War Chant, 3 Volcanic Strength, 2 Electrickery, 4 Skullcrack, 3 Mizzium Mortars, 1 Forest

Bant Hexproof - Steven Durham, 3rd Place

Creatures (17) : 3 Avacyn's Pilgrim, 4 Invisible Stalker, 2 Strangleroot Geist, 4 Voice of Resurgence, 4 Geist of Saint Traft
Planeswalkers (2) : 2 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
Lands (21) : 1 Forest, 4 Breeding Pool, 4 Hallowed Fountain, 4 Hinterland Harbor, 4 Sunpetal Grove, 4 Temple Garden
Spells (20) : 4 Ethereal Armor, 4 Rancor, 4 Spectral Flight, 4 Unflinching Courage, 4 Selesnya Charm
Sideboard : 4 Centaur Healer, 4 Advent of the Wurm, 1 Azorius Charm, 3 Rootborn Defenses, 2 Sigarda, Host of Herons, 1 Forest~
We  suggest you take a look at the recent Gathering Magic article, Standard Analysis: Columbus, by Nick Vigabool which may provide some very decent insight.  We don't have too much more to add other than we're ordering up a few extra Ajani, Caller of the Pride from MTG Mint Card for that Bant Hexproof deck we just took apart - perhaps it may work better at our local FNM.
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LOL Drazi

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A Happy Saturday to all,
Just a quick heads up about a very cool contest that StarCityGames is running.


Ryan O'Connor of StarCityGames posted this contest on Thursday - he invites all to participate by creating a funny graphic using a card or artwork from Rise of the Eldrazi and an entertaining caption. This work would then be posted to their FaceBook page HERE.

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Here are the prizes !

First Prize: A free one-year subscription to StarCityGames.com Premium content -or- free entry into a 2010 StarCityGames.com Open Series Event. The Two Runners-Up will also win free 1-month subscriptions to StarCityGames.com Premium content! Entries are to be posted on Facebook by Wednesday, May 5th at 11:59pm EST with the winners being announced on Thursday, May 6th.

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To date, there has been a great contribution. We suggest you head to Know Your Meme (where they painstakingly document Internet phenomena of viral videos, image macros, catchphrases, web celebs and more) - from here, you may then be inspired to submit your lulz for a chance to win.

Here are our two contributions :









Anywhoos - WE thought these were funny.

Here are some other great entries already submitted to the StarCityGames Facebook page . . .

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