#gprichmond

[gavinverhey]

Question: What's a guy who works at Wizards and already has a ton of normal-sized Magic cards want to win?

Answer: A GIANT MAGIC CARD.

[island-delver-go]

GP Richmond photo dump

First a video - check out these sweet arcane artisan tokens I was given by my friend

[island-delver-go]

GP Richmond hype!

Bags packed? ✔️

AirBnB found? ✔️

Car tuned and cleaned? ✔️

1 dinner scheduled? ✔

Roomate found? ❌

Deck picked? 🤣🤣🤣

Sideboard guides for six decks? 🖨

Am I going to see anyone there?

[island-delver-go]

My 5 year old had her last day of daycare before starting Kindergarten on Monday!

And it's my wife's birthday tomorrow!

And I'm putting decks together for GP Richmond!

Very busy and happy weekend for me. I hope you all have a good weekend too

[trainedarmodon]

What I'd Play at GP Richmond

First I'll start by saying I haven't been able to think of anything interesting to write about recently. I was going to write the follow-up to my previous Tron article on why control was bad in Modern. But unfortunately Gerry T beat me to it and I agree with all of his points to where I don't believe another similar article needs to be written. Then I was busy with GP Providence and SCG Baltimore prep. But now I'm back and I'm discussing something I'm dying to talk about.

As the title gives away I unfortunately won't get to make it to GP Richmond. I wasn't able to secure the time off of work to go down and unlike every other tournament when I can just drive down the Friday before the GP starts, the format I care about starts on Friday. But not being able to go hasn't stopped me from spending some time thinking of the list I think I could of used to win the whole thing.

What to Expect?

Before I go into detail about my list however let's go over what I expect the metagame to be at Richmond. Obviously with Legacy people will bring their pet decks that they've been playing for years but for the people trying to make a meta call and adjust to what's been happening in the format recently I expect three decks to be represented more than most with two others not to far behind.

1. UB Death Shadow

The break out deck of Pro Tour 25, this deck has been seeing a lot of play on MTGO ever since. This is the tempo-yist Delver deck available right not it does the tempo game better than RUG due to its much harder to answer threats But what makes it better than many other decks is its power to switch roles when needed as it can play the control role extremely well if it's initial plan is being hampered.

2. Colorless Eldrazi

This is by far the best Chalice deck at the moment because of the pressure it applies after locking the opponent out. Also with less to almost no 4 color decks being present anymore the value of Blood Moon and therefore Mono-R Prison has gone down.

3. Death and Taxes

This deck is a great entry point for the format and with its most recent success I expect lots of players to choose this one for Richmond. Obviously it helps that this deck is also very good right now as it can be adjusted for any field.

I expect the next two decks to see significantly less play but still have their fair share of the metagame percentage.

1. Grixis Control

Honestly in my opinion this deck isn't very good and I'd much rather play Grixis Delver in the "Sukenik" style. But a lot of great and well known players usually pick decks that give them an edge when they are the better player at the table and Grixis Control does just that.

2. Sneak and Show

Traditional 8 put into play effect and 8 Fatty package of Emrakul, the Aeon’s Torn and Griselbrand. Straight to the point sneak and show which no one currently seems to agree with me on. I think Omniscence has lost a lot of stock as a card. When all the other top deck options can grind a game out when necessary the Show and Tell player just needs to end the game and not durdle around.

Choices, Choices Everywhere

Now enough of what I expect, time to show you where I ended up if I was able to attend.

4 Stoneforge Mystic

3 Snapcaster Mage

4 True-Name Nemesis

2 Jace, The Mind Sculptor

2 Blood Moon

1 Umezawa’s Jitte

1 Batterskull

4 Brainstorm

4 Ponder

4 Force of Will

2 Spell Pierce

2 Pyroblast

4 Swords to Plowshares

1 Council’s Judgement

1 Supreme Verdict

4 Flooded Strand

4 Scalding Tarn

1 Arid Mesa

1 Volcanic Island

1 Tundra

1 Karakas

3 Plains

5 Island

1 Mountain

Sideboard

2 Surgical Extraction

2 Flusterstorm

2 Disenchant

2 Meddling Mage

2 Containment Priest

1 Sword of Feast and Famine

1 Council’s Judgement

1 Dack Fayden

1 Supreme Verdict

1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

Explanations

Now I know there are some things that stand out immediately but I will be going over the decklist card by card.

4 Stoneforge Mystic

Wouldn't be Stoneblade without it.

3 Snapcaster Mage

I believe 3 is just the correct number if the game is dragging on long enough that you need the 4th to get back into it you've more than likely lost already. And if you're already ahead any card can do just as much as another Snappy.

4 True-Name Nemesis

First of the rather strange choices. I'll start by saying I think Vendilion Clique is overplayed, overcosted for it's effect and underwhelming. I believe this deck needs to close out the game quickly after establishing control. We are a midrange deck after all. Playing the 4th hard to answer threat just makes sense especially when we can make up the percentage points for our combo matchups in other ways.

2 Jace, The Mind Sculptor

Typical number. You don't want to draw to many 4 man sourcerys that don't immediately win you the game. But Jace is the most powerful Planeswalker in legacy so we have to play him because he gets pretty close to winning the game even if he doesn't outright do so.

2 Blood Moon

As I mentioned before the value of Blood moon has gone down significantly since before the bans. So if people are expecting less and less of this card that is the time to play it. The likelihood of people being prepared is lower meaning the chance of just getting free wins in higher. Also this card completely locks out UB Shadow which is better then Back to Basics because of how cheap all of the answers and threats are in that deck. It also completely shuts down Eldrazi, Lands, and unless it was played around Grixis Control. Shutting down three of your tougher matchups is good enough for me.

1 Umezawa’s Jitte + 1 Batterskull

Usual equipment package I don’t think Sword of Fire and Ice is actually very good right now in anything other then the D&T matchup where Jitte already is good enough.

4 Brainstorm + 4 Ponder

Usual cantrip package, haven’t tested any number of Preordain yet and most likely won’t as I don’t play enough to see the marginal percentage gains or losses.

4 Force of Will + 2 Spell Pierce

Usually 4 Force for the unfair matchups. Now for Spell Pierce, I’m playing 2 instead of the usual 1 because I cut the Clique so we needed an extra card for combo decks and also with the growing popularity of Grixis control K-Command is reentering the format. Paying 5 for K-Command while possible is rather unlikely and I feel we can take game 1 against Grixis as long as we avoid the complete blowouts. I also chose a second Pierce over the 1st Fluster main because of Jace. A resolved Jace is so hard for our deck to beat with usual lists only running 1 or 2 answers main and if the opposing Jace gets to activate twice we are probably just dead. So the easiest way to deal with it is before it hits the board.

0 Counterspell + 2 Pyroblast

Time for probably the most situational and tournament specific decision. I chose to put 2 Pyroblasts main instead of the usual Counterspell because out of the 5 top decks I expect this card has game against 3 of them. Shadow, Grixis and Sneak and Show. Pyro is also obviously good against any blue mirror as well so there are a lot of other matchups it's also good in. Another reason I really like Pyro main is it gives us 2 more clean answers to an opposing Jace or True-Name which by far are the hardest cards for our deck to deal with.

4 Swords to Plowshares

Don’t play white if you aren't playing 4 Swords.

1 Council’s Judgment

Answer to Chalice, Trinisphere, Planeswalkers, TNN, Leovold and much much more. I was playing 2 but with the 2 Pyros main I felt it was ok to cut to 1.

1 Supreme Verdict

Another argumentative chose where I’ve seen others play a Path to Exile instead. I feel that path is just terrible if you want to go either the Blood Moon or Back To Basics route. I also like Verdict because it gives you a 1 outer in a lot of situation you would usually be dead. Facing a Shadow and Gurmag and they are holding counter…GOTTEM. Chalice on 1 against 3 Eldrazi....GOTTEM. And so on.

1 Basic Mountain

We have red cards main and need a reliable source of mana that can be found in the face of Wasteland

Sideboard

2 Surgical Extraction

Usual choice, very good in a lot of combo matchups.I think 2 of these is enough since we also play Snappy.

2 Flusterstorm

Good in combo matchups and fair blue mirrors. Two is more then enough since after all it can’t answer every threat but it is still insane.

2 Disenchant

Chalice, Trinisphere, Ensnaring Bridge, Search, Counterbalance, Jitte, Batterskull and the list goes on.

2 Meddling Mage

More for testing then anything but like I said I don’t value Clique very highly meaning we need more cards for combo matchups and this card does work.

2 Containment Priest

Reanimator matchup, Elves any Zenith deck, Sneak and Show and Vial decks although I usually don’t bring it in much against those.

1 Sword of Feast and Famine

Shadow and Grixis. Allows you to play the control role while constantly deploying threats.

1 Council’s Judgment

More of what I said before. An extra one just in case, you can never be to prepared.

1 Dack Fayden

Grindy Matchups, the Mirror and Death and Taxes. It’s spicy I know but it feels so strong.

1 Supreme Verdict

Gotta have a backup plan for your backup plan.

1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

Insane in grindy matchups and also good for making ground blockers when that is relevant like with Eldrazi. Just sit back and keep making dudes till your opponent dies.

And that is the abnormal list I would of played this weekend at GP Richmond. Hopefully this can be useful to someone there as a last minute swap or after the tournament is done to see how this would fair against the decks that came out of the tournament.

[jordanmunson]

The Glory-Bound Initiate playmat from #gprichmond is awesome. Great work @dvpalumbo, thanks for the playmat @hipstersofthecoast 😘 #paystopatreon

[hipstersofthecoast]

Drafting Amonkhet in Richmond

Drafting Amonkhet in Richmond

Grand Prix Richmond was the first tournament that I legitimately could have won. The cards came to me, and for the most part I played them well. A few key mistakes turned four wins into three losses and a draw. Add in one round of Swiss where my opponent’s deck totally outclassed my own strong pool, and I finished the GP at 10-3-1 for a lone pro point. Its my tenth lifetime pro point, so that’s…

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[tappedoutmagic]

".............Ok, so maybe destroying this plane wasn't the GREATEST idea ever....." #LilNicky #GPRichmond (at Norfolk, Virginia)