For those still interested in T2, here are a couple of decks that two friends of mine played to a 7-2 finish at the 5k last weekend. The first is a GRB Jund Elves deck that was piloted by David Chau.

Jund Elves
4 Bramblewood Paragon
4 Chameleon Colossus
4 Imperious Perfect
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Taurean Mauler
4 Wren’s Run Vanquisher

3 Jund Charm
4 Puncture Blast
4 Shock
2 Profane Command
3 Obsidian Battle-axe

4 Fire-lit Thicket
4 Gilt-leaf Palace
4 Karplusan Forest
2 Llanowar Wastes
2 Reflecting Pool
2 Treetop Village
2 Twilight Mire

Sideboard
1 Wickerbough Elder
3 Wilt-leaf Liege
2 Raking Canopy
1 Jund Charm
2 Naturalize
2 Infest
3 Thoughtseize
1 Obsidian Battle-axe

This deck plays equally off of the Elf and Warrior creature types of its creatures. Imperious Perfect and Bramblewood Paragon pump everything in the deck (except Treetop Village) and David chose to push the Warrior synergy further by including the much acclaimed but seldom used Obsidian Battle-axe. Battle-axe gives the deck the potential for some very sick turns, especially when combined with Perfect and Paragon. It also allows the deck to put more pressure against Wrath decks as any creature you play post Wrath becomes an instant threat. Jund Charm is also a major player in this deck, giving you a main deck sweeper against pesky Spectral Processions, graveyard removal to counter Lark and Mannequin, as well as the +2/+2 blowout with Paragon (giving your Creature the pump plus the surprise Trample to ruin your opponent’s combat math).

The two things I miss from this deck are Thoughtsieze and Garruk. David told me that he prefers Shock because he likes to have the extra reach while I would prefer to main deck Thoughtsieze (which would be especially good against Faeries, the deck David lost to twice) and put some other form of burn in the sideboard. I love Garruk in Elf decks because most of the time your opponent is dead on the board the turn after you play him. Garruk also gives you a difficult to answer threat in the 5C matchup. I would consider playing Garruk over either the Profane Commands or Taurean Maulers, but would want to test a lot before making either change. Greedy player that I am, I would also be tempted to try and squeeze in two more Treetop Village, most likely in the place of Savage Lands or a couple of the pain lands.

Connecticut Old Tymer and good friend Curtis Fox played his version of UW Merfolk, also to a 7-2 finish. Here is his list (avert your eyes if you are offended by singletons):

Merfolk
1 Glen Elandra Archmage
3 Merfolk Looter
4 Merrow Reejerey
3 Reveillark
4 Silvergil Adept
3 Sower of Temptation
3 Stonybrook Banneret
3 Wake Thrasher
3 Sygg, River Guide

4 Cryptic Commant
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Sage’s Dousing
1 Loxodon Warhammer

3 Island
4 Adarkar Wastes
2 Faerie Conclave
4 Mutavault
4 Mystic Gate
4 Wanderwine Hub
3 Windbrisk Heights

Sideboard
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Glen Elandra Archmage
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Negate
1 Remove Soul
2 Jace Beleren
3 Wrath of God
1 Negate
2 Wispmare

Anyone familiar with Merfolk will see that Curt is playing a very unique build. Curt has his build tuned to be better against aggro decks. He cut three of the Sage’s Dousing, which he says were really only good against 5C since in most other matchups he was tapping out almost every turn. To compensate he has cards like Sower of Temptation in the main deck, as well as the misers Loxodon Warhammer. Merfolk Looter and Glen Elendra Archmage were added in place of the Knight of the Meadowgrain. Looter can cycle through a ton of cards if you have a Reejerey in play, and in general keeps the deck from running out of gas in the mid game. Glen Elendra Archmage was so good throughout the day that Curt is considering moving another to the main deck.

Although I personally object to a lot of the changes that Curt made (I love Sage’s Dousing and Curse Catcher), I can’t deny his record. Despite the aggro-heavy meta, Curt was still able to post a 7-2 record beating fellow Top 8 author Michael J along the way.

For anyone who is heading off to FNM soon I would highly recommend trying either of these out. I watched both these guys finish out after I dropped and was pretty impressed with how these decks looked.

WillPoP

Thanks to everyone who followed along on Saturday. Hope you enjoyed the admittedly truncated coverage. The Top 16 decklists from the event went up on Star City Games this morning and can be found here. The winning list and Osyp’s list are both listed as Vengeant Weenie but Osyp’s list is actually the Kowal Boat Brew which is a Reveilark based deck while the winning list is a more traditonal White Weenie variant. Keep in mind that Jacob Van Lunen went 7-2 with a similar “Boros” list although his 20th place finish would be less likely to have as profound an impact on the metagame as the winning list will surely have on Worlds’ Standard portion.

Vengeant Weenie
Corey Mann — Winner
Philly 5K Standard Open

3 Burrenton Forge-tender
4 Cloudgoat Ranger
4 Figure Of Destiny
4 Goldmeadow Stalwart
4 Knight Of Meadowgrain
4 Wilt-leaf Liege
4 Wizened Cenn
4 Ajani Vengeant
4 Spectral Procession
6 Plains
4 Battlefield Forge
3 Mutavault
4 Rugged Prairie
4 Rustic Clachan
4 Windbrisk Heights

Sideboard:
1 Burrenton Forge-tender
4 Reveillark
3 Stillmoon Cavalier
4 Unmake
3 Ajani Goldmane

Former JSS star Michael McGee was down a game and mulled to five in his final Swiss match before the cut. His opponent was playing Boat Brew and overextended into a Wrath after keeping a land heavy hand. Primal Command and Cruel Ultimatum mopped up and McGee made short work of him in game three.

McGee’s carmate for this tournament was Jonathan Albert playing Faeries and he took the sixth spot. The last two berths went to Corey Mann playing red-white Kithkin and Jon Sukenik playing Faeries.

With one round to be played four slots in the Top 8 were settled. Osyp drew in with David Irvine. Both players were running Reveillark decks — Osyps was the Kowal version while Irvine was playing an off the radar version with Scullers and other surprises.

In the other match Dan Jordan was drawing with his friend David Kilmartin. The two of them drove down from upstate New York and were happy to share a Top 8. Dan was playing Faeries while David was playing MonoDred — look at his hair and you will know why it is called that — featuring Tattermunge Maniac over Gouger.

The tournaments penultimate Swiss matchup was between Pro Tour Champion Osyp Lebedowicz and PTQ stalwart Michael Lapine. Osyp was playing a red-white Reveilark deck while Lapine was playing Hollywoodish Elves.

Game one

Lapine led off with good ol Llanowar Elves. Osyp tucked something away under Windbrisk Heights and carefully noted the order he put the other cards under his deck: “Just in case the game goes long.”

Lapine played a pair of Kitchen Finks while Osyp made a Mindstone. On the next turn Osyp played Knight of the White Orchid.

“I just want to say that I learned how to do this from watching Mile Flores’ videos. I hope I do it right.”

“God bless that man,” teased Osyp as he used sudden surge of mana to play Finks. Lapine killed the Knight with Eyeblight and attacked with both Finks.

Osyp clawed his way back with Ajani Vemjeant and Mogg Fanatic while Lapine played Colossus.

Osyp played Reveilark. He locked down Colossus after it killed Lark and brought back Fanatic and White Orchid. Siege-Gang. They traded beats for a couple of turns until Osyp played another Seige-Gang.

Kitchen Finks for Lapine but Osyp was at a critical mass of goblins and when he went all-in he dealt 14 using combat, sacrificing goblin tokens, and the Helix ability of the Planeswalker.

Game two

Osyp mulliganed but still had Figure on the draw in the second game. It attacked for two and was joined by Fanatic a turn later. Finks for Lapine could only watch as the 4/4 rumbled in a turn later. It would meet an Eyeblight’s Ending a turn later.

Lapine was able to start attacking with Treetop Village and Finks. Osyp pitted both his Fanatics at the Finks and then reinforced with Seige Gang. Lapine reset the game with Infest.

Finks for Osyp was taken down a notch by Shriekmaw but Osyp killed that with Murderous Redcap. Lapine played Colossus. Osyp restocked his hand with a pair of Figures thanks to Ranger of Eos.

Osyp was under pressure from the Colossus which was joined by a second but Osyp had the Wrath. Lapine Infested away the freshly played Figure and attacked for 5 with his manlands.

Profane Command killed the next Figuare — which Osyp had immediatley pushed to. 4/4 — and returned Chameleon Colossus. Osyp reached for his sideboard when his deck yielded nothing to stem the tide.

Game three

Osyp had no play on the opening turn which was going to make racing with Wren’s Run Vanquisher and Treetop pretty tough. Osyp had Kitchen Finks to eat the Village and stay at 20. Ajani Vengeant locked down the Vanquisher.

Lapine played another Vanquisher and a Llanowar Elves while Osyp laid down a protective coating of Kitchen Finks on his side.

Garrack put Osyp under some pressure to play the game more aggresively and he had to send in Kitchen Finks which ate the Llanowar. Now Osyp had to decide if he wanted to do 3 to the Planeswalker with his Ajani. Instead he continued to lock down the Vanquisher and played Seige-Gang.

Lapine popped his Garrack and played Infest. Osyp flung a goblin at and traded hia persisrent Fink with the Vanquisher in combat.

Reveilark for Osyp and Bitterbllossom for Lapine. A second Vanquisher for Lapine came down at full price. Osyp Wrathed back his Seige-Gang only to get it promptly Infested.

That was Lapines last hurrah in the match though as Ajani was about to go ultimate.

“I am just playing Kowal’s Boat Brew. Flores and Ravitz told me to play it. Ranger of Eos is soooo good.”

“Magic is a young man’s game,” groaned Top8’s own MichaelJ. He started out the tournament with a loss and has been struggling back with Blightning Beatdown and now has a 5-1 record.

“How did I ever win a 10 round PTQ? I am beat.”

While we were chatting someone came up to him — I am sorry that I did not catch his name — and said that he bought a copy of Deckade two years ago and that it had significantly improved his game. He cited multiple PTQ Top 8’s in the Dream Wizards neck of the woods.

I asked what specifically had helped him and he said that it was mostly listening to the podcasts and getting a better sense of Limited card valuations.

“So basically nothing I did,” laughed Mike.

Hey, Jon Becker has not shown up yet. I need to taunt someone.

So a few weeks back, when I posted a link to the 20 Knights deck, Jake Van Lunen started tinkering around with a KnightWeenie deck. As he played more and more with the deck it resembled the original less and less but there were still some similarities.

Sigiled Paladin doesn’t draw any undue attention early on in the thick of the people-will-play-anything opening rounds but as Jake has continued to do well it has arched more than a few eyebrows.

He refers to the deck simply as Boros and Ajani Vengeant — those damned Planeswalkers again — gives him more reach than traditional WW decks. He was paired against Dave Irvine this round who was playing Reveillark.

“He was on the play game one,” said Jake by way of explanation as to how he went from 4-0 to 4-2 in the span of one side draft (which I won). As for the second game?

“He Primal Commanded my one red land and searched up Mycolyth,” sighed Jake. Did he devour? “He ate two guys. It was a Verdant Force plus.”

When I walked over to see how Magic Show host Evan Erwin was doing in his Round Two match there were three Planeswalkers in play. Evan had Jace and the Ajani update on his side while his Kithkin opponent had Elspeth.

There have actually been a ton of Planeswalkers kicking around the top tables so far and not a Fellowship of the Ring deck to be found. Planewalkers have just risen to a place of prominence in the current Standard. I have seen both versions of Ajani, plenty of Garrack, a couple of Lilliannas, Jace, Chandra, and Elspeth — no sign of the Tezzerator to this point.

“As soon as I saw those cards I was like, ‘now I have to play creatures in my deck,’” said Gabe Carlton-Barnes when we were discussing the impact the new card type was having on the current Standard format.

It should make Kithkin a good choice but watching Evan dismantle his opponent’s team with Wrath, spot removal, and his Ajani Vengeant — to polish off the pesky Elspeth — I was not so sure about that.

But then in game two a combination of frustrating creatures — Kinsbaile Borderguard and Reveillark — were able to fight their way through Ajani’s vengeful personality and force a game three that there was no time remaining in the round to even start.

How many fogs are in Standard right now? That was the question a Treefolk player had to be asking after game one of round one. I actually started watching the match because of the Treefolk deck which used Ranger of Eos to fetch Treefolk Harbingers which would in turn fetch Doran or Murmuring Bosk.

His opponent was playing some kind of control deck with mainboard Story Circle. When the control player tapped a handful of mana to play Underworld Dreams it seemed like the perfect opportunity for the Treefolk to go on a Garrack-powered overrun. Pollen Lullaby — revealing Jace for the control player — was an unexpected end to that plan.

The treefolk stayed tapped for the next and from there it was a procession of Holy Days — ORing had since dealt with the Story Circle — until Wrath showed up to clear the board.

Pretty soon Mines were Howling, Jace was doing his thing, no one could see through all the fogs, and the treefolk player died to a pair of Underworld Dreams with a trio of Quasali Ambushers in hand and nothing to ambush.

In game two Daniel Samoles — aka The Fog Machine — was in control the whole time with Howling Mines and Jace fueling a fog-filled hand into Jace’s ultimate and a win by decking.

“Dan, why are you playing that deck?” asked an incredulous friend after the match.

“I don’t know. Why are you playing whatever deck you are playing? I think it is really good.

There are some mighty fine things about events in Philadelphia; the Reading Terminal Market, Chinatown, Pat’s King of Steaks, and real time taunting of Jon Becker. Chiel among the fineness though is seeing Matt Urban.

Matt is an old time Neutral Grounder who wrote the Celebrity Death Match series on the Magic Dojo, finished 6th at PT: DC with Greg Weiss and Rich Frangiosa as team Urban Housing, and has always had a penchant for a pimped out Magic card.

While he still plays with 40s, Matt doesn’t have much interest in 60 card decks these days. That is not to say he does not play Constructed, he just plays the 100 card variety. Matt has gotten into Elder Dragon Highlander and had a deck built with General Doran and another with General Sygg River Cutthroat.

We sat down to play a quick game. Very quick. I kept a two-lander with Skullclamp, Wall of Roots, and Eladamri’s Call and got blown out by a Stripmine. But that is not even remotely the point of this entry.

As I was fanning through the deck I was stunned by the custom artwork that graced many of Matt’s cards — including his two generals. The cards are a combination of eBay purchases and artist commissions and they are some of the most visually arresting cards I have seen outside of the 3D cards from Japan.

He has binders full of them and I could tax my unlimited data plan uploading them all day but will just try and stick to some of the highlights.