The final week of October’s Magic events is finally over, ending an incredible month of Magic. The release of Return to Ravnica started a flurry of events—with events ranging from the StarCityGames.com Open Series, to Grand Prix: San Jose and Philadelphia, to States, to the Community Cup, and Pro Tour: Return to Ravnica, if you didn’t get your Magic fix this month, how else would you get it?
The StarCityGames.com Open Series ended October in New Orleans. The event only gathered a “scant” 234 players for Standard and 91 players for Legacy, but hey, that’s still more than most events could ever wish to get. Since the Open Series pays out to Top 64, even a record of 3-4 could have made money in Legacy. You could play a whole day of Legacy and getting your money back even if you did poorly. I don’t know about anybody else, but I would definitely take that. Perhaps even play a wacky brew or something. Anyway, here’s the Top 8 of the event, which was won by Atlanta Invitational Finalist Chi Hoi Yim:
- 2 UW Miracles (winner): Chi Hoi Yim | Joe Bass
- 2 RUG Delver: Taylor Scott | Simon Christie
- Zombies
- Belcher
- Sea Stompy
- UR StifleNaught
It’s probably the most homogenized of the Top 8 Lists we’ve seen this month, and it’s not even all that similar. The two Miracles decks took different approaches, with Joe Bass rocking Stoneforge Mystic—probably a way to combat the Goblin and other tribal decks a little more efficiently—and Chi Hoi Yim piloting a straight control build.
Zombies claims sits first StarCityGames.com Legacy Open Top 8, deviating a bit from Sam Black’s Top 8 list from GP: Atlanta, if only for the new Return to Ravnica cards—Deathrite Shaman and Abrupt Decay.
Surprisingly, Sea Stompy makes a second Top 8 this month, though it does remove the Sea Drake from the decklist in favor of Mulldrifter. Both are pretty solid, but I would imagine that Mulldrifter’s Divination ability is a great way to recoup the card disadvantage from Chrome Mox.
Next, we have the results of a West Coast Legacy event at a store called MTGDeals that drew 35 players. The Top 8 consisted of these decks:
- 2 RUG Delver
- Hive Mind
- Maverick
- Esper Stoneblade
- Burn
- UR Delver (Budget)
- NO Elves
While the Top 8 is mostly filled of known quantities, what can be a little surprising are some of the decklists themselves. Most notably, the UR Delver decklist contains only Steam Vents and zero Volcanic Islands. Even further, the deck has no Force of Will (which UR Delver usually runs), so it’s obvious that budget constraints got to the pilot. Regardless, he was able to overcome the budget shortcomings and Top 8 the event, so kudos to him.
The winning RUG Delver deck also included Return to Ravnica card Izzet Charm. Izzet Charm is a pretty debatable addition to the deck, since it does for two mana what you could get for one, but in return you get versatility. Two mana is a lot in RUG Delver so it’s tough to get behind the addition, but it worked for this tournament.
Now that October is over, we can see Return to Ravnica’s impact on Legacy after a full month of legality! Let’s take a look at the Top 8s over the course of October:
RUG Delver remains the bad boy on the block, but the blue/white combination may have something to say about that in the next coming weeks. Terminus and Supreme Verdict have both slowed creature decks down, as noted by the decline of Maverick as a top tier deck in Legacy, sadly enough. Maverick’s mantle as the go-to creature-based deck may be going to Goblins, but it is tough to say with only a month’s worth of data.
Side note: I try to restrain from calling Maverick an “aggro” deck since it has a ton of control/midrange elements to it, despite running a deck of around 50% creatures.
The big winner from Return to Ravnica is no other than BUG Delver. Abrupt Decay gives the deck a great way to fight the biggest enemy of Legacy Delver decks: Counterbalance. With UW Miracles on the rise, it’s fine to assume that a deck with a card that says “it can’t be countered” will become popular (much like how Goblins came back with the printing of Cavern of Souls).
Other winners from this month are UG Enchantress and Sea Stompy. Even though they only got 2 Top 8s this month, it’s still a significant showing for decks that are widely considered to be fringe. These decks may tear up your local Legacy events, but it’s a whole different animal at StarCityGames.com Opens. The level of consistency required to Top 8 an event is extraordinarily high, and for two different pilots to take these decks to the Top 8 means something for these decks. I’m hoping that we haven’t seen the last of them this month. With the StarCityGames.com Legacy Opens stagnating around the three top decks (RUG Delver, Esper Stoneblade, and UWx Miracles), these kind of decks need their time in the spotlight. Personally, I’m hoping that Nic Fit takes off here in the States. The mana ramp beats RUG Delver, Pernicious Deed beats tribal and a host of other decks, and the high end-game curve beats up Counterbalance. Unfortunately, its reliance on Veteran Explorer in the early game can cost itself matches. But if a deck like Sea Stompy can do it twice, why can’t Nic Fit? What are your thoughts?
Until next time,
Jason Abong
@mtgtwin1 on Twitter