Today's Metagame

We're in the third round now, so I took a few minutes to walk around the tables and see what people were playing.  Between the dominant Caw-Blade and RUG decks, we're seeing some rather interesting rogue strategies popping up.

Several Infect builds are making their way up the tables, drawing from the deck that Brian Kibler ran at Star City Games Open Los Angeles.  Matching Caw-Blade's slew of Mana Leaks and Preordains with sets of its own, and Squadron Hawks with Necropede - a card that doubles as a source of infect damage and spot removal, Inkmoth Nexus, and Phyrexian Crusader.  The Crusader is the real key piece in this strategy as a virtual 4/2 with protection from White and Red makes it almost unkillable and unblockable against a majority of the cards being played by Caw-Blade and RUG.  Add first strike to the mix and you have a creature that laughs in the face of the most popular cards in this format.  While I didn't see any on the table, the deck also runs Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon.  This is the epitome of an Infect bomb, usually ending the game as soon as it hits the board.  The 4/4 flyer can give itself haste, almost always swinging in for 4 Infect right out of the gate.

An almost unseen archetype in today's Standard environment is making a bit of a splash today as well.  Elves are finding their way to the top tables including one build sporting Primeval Titans as a way to ramp into big Ezuri, Renegade Leader plays, and a build that can Green Sun's Zenith into a bit of a wild card:  Engulfing Slagwurm.  The wurm lets the Elf player to come back from late games when they don't explode early on and during the midgame when that right amount of pressure can really turn the game in your favor.  The deck is seated in a good position in today's environment as its plays can be explosive and downright unstoppable given the right draw.  But can it stand up to the consistency and proven power of Caw-Blade?  We'll have to see.

 

Several other rogue strategies are finding success here today.  Goblins, Black/Red Aggro sporting Goblin Guides alongside Vampire Hexmage and Koth, and Mono-Black Control running grips of Inquisition of Kozilek, Disfigure, Doom Blade, and Grave Titan are all performing well.  Check back later for more updates as the tournament moves along.