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For my first article, I would like to talk about the first tournament I played in as a member of the Hareruya Pros: Pro Tour Madrid.
It will be showcasing our new standard testing process, and the decks I was thinking about playing in the Pro Tour. All of them were pretty interesting and if it was possible I would have played all of them.
The Team
Months ago, Tomoharu Saito asked me if I wanted to become a part of his team for the next Pro Tour. It was an honor for me to receive an invitation from such a great player so I decided to accept and join the international team.
International you ask? Oh it definitely is with 15 people from 8 different countries.
New Zealand: Jason Chung.
Australia: Paul Jackson, Anthony Lee, Maitland Cameron.
Honk Hong: Lee Shi Tian, Faye Lai, Wing Chun Yam.
France: Jeremy Dezani, Raphael Levy, Thierry Ramboa.
Japan: Tomoharu Saito, Katsuhiro Mori.
Taiwan: Hao-shan Huang.
Italy: Andrea Mengucci.
USA: Christian Calcano.
The problems you can run into with a team like this is the difference of culture and language. If people can’t communicate well with each other, groups start to form inside the team. It is really important to prevent this from occurring.
But the players on the team were amazing and with the leadership of Lee Shi Tian and Tomoharu Saito the team alchemy was very successful.
Standard
With the loss of Khans of Tarkir and Fate Reforged (Fetchlands, [Siege Rhino], [Mantis Rider] etc…) and with the addition of Shadows over Innistrad, Standard shifted a lot, and finding the right deck was not an easy task.
Previous tournaments over the world showed how Bant Company and Mono White Humans were dominating, and we tried to find something good against both of them.
First deck: Mardu control
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I started with a [Chandra, Flamecaller] / [Languish] control deck with lots of removal, card draw, discard spells and [Goblin Dark-Dwellers]. [Grasp of Darkness] is a great card in the format but you need to have a lot of black sources.
The deck looks more like a RB deck splashing white. What I don’t like with RB is that you can’t gain life, so you can’t safely play a lot of [Read the Bones] during the game…but it is the best card in a RB control deck. When you play without [Read the Bones] It’s really hard to execute your game plan without the extra scry/draw, instead you very easily get flooded or get land screwed.
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If you play 4 [Read the Bones] and 4 [Goblin Dark-Dwellers] without lifegain, this instead puts an incredible strain on your life total. That is why this deck has [Linvala, the Preserver], [Sorin, Grim Nemesis] and [Healing Hands] (works great with [Goblin Dark-Dwellers]).
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4 [Swamp] 3 [Mountain] 1 [Plains] 4 [Smoldering Marsh] 4 [Evolving Wilds] 3 [Battlefield Forge] 3 [Shambling Vent] 2 [Caves of Koilos] 2 [Foreboding Ruins] -Lands (26)- 4 [Goblin Dark-Dwellers] 1 [Linvala, the Preserver] -Creatures (5)- |
3 [Fiery Impulse] 4 [Grasp of Darkness] 2 [Tormenting Voice] 2 [Transgress the Mind] 2 [Ultimate Price] 4 [Read the Bones] 2 [Healing Hands] 2 [Kolaghan’s Command] 3 [Languish] 1 [Gideon, Ally of Zendikar] 1 [Nahiri, the Harbinger] 1 [Sorin, Grim Nemesis] 2 [Chandra, Flamecaller] -Spells (29)- |
3 [Radiant Flames] 2 [Duress] 2 [Transgress the Mind] 2 [Infinite Obliteration] 2 [Ruinous Path] 2 [Gideon, Ally of Zendikar] 1 [Rending Volley] 1 [Chandra, Flamecaller] -Sideboard (15)- |
The deck has good mainboard results against both Humans and Bant company and has access to several additional sweepers like [Radiant Flames] from the sideboard. But during post sideboard games I realized Bant Company’s counterspells and Humans with [Secure the Wastes], [Westvale Abbey] and mainly [Gideon, Ally of Zendikar] created too many problems. This is why I tried something else, a bit more proactive.
Second deck: Rally the Allies
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I felt nostalgia over the Rally deck from the last Standard format, then I realized that [March from the Tomb] could become the new [Rally the Ancestors].
A small hiccup is that March only works with the ally creature type. But in Green and Black you have access to cards like [Beastcaller Savant], [Kalastria Healer], [Sylvan Advocate] and [Zulaport Cutthroat]. They all cost 2 mana so this means you can bring back up to 4 of them with one [March from the Tomb].
The plan of the deck is to grind the opponent’s life total with [Kalastria Healer] and [Zulaport Cutthroat], with chump blocks or attacking with [Nantuko Husk], then reanimate with [March from the Tomb]. Also if you [Collected Company] into 2 [Kalastria Healer] that’s already a drain life for 4.
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3 [Forest] 3 [Swamp] 2 [Plains] 4 [Evolving Wilds] 4 [Caves of Koilos] 4 [Llanowar Wastes] 2 [Hissing Quagmire] 2 [Westvale Abbey] -Lands (24)- 4 [Kalastria Healer] 4 [Sylvan Advocate] 4 [Zulaport Cutthroat] 3 [Beastcaller Savant] 4 [Catacomb Sifter] 4 [Matter Reshaper] 4 [Nantuko Husk] -Creatures (27)- |
4 [Collected Company] 4 [March from the Tomb] 1 [Evolutionary Leap] -Spells (9)- |
4 [Ultimate Price] 3 [Tragic Arrogance] 2 [Archangel Avacyn] 2 [Hallowed Moonlight] 2 [Gideon, Ally of Zendikar] 1 [Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet] 1 [Evolutionary Leap] -Sideboard (15)- |
This deck is incredibly fun to play and has decent results against Humans and Bant Company. In these matchups your goal is to chump block with your creatures with a [Zulaport Cutthroat] in play and then reanimate a bunch of stuff.
It’s not rare for the deck to not attack even a single time during the course of a game. The deck loses hard to [Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet], which is why you have 4 [Ultimate Price] in the sideboard. You should also be careful with not lining up multiple copies of the same creature without a sacrifice outlet in play or a [Declaration in Stone] might be the end of you.
Final deck: Abzan Company
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During the last week of play testing we organized a league tournament within the team. Both Raphael Levy and I played an Abzan Company deck which had a lot of success, never losing to Humans or Bant Company and having decent results versus Ramp, and UR control.
We realized how good [Archangel Avacyn] is and built the best possible list for her, with a lot of sacrifice outlets like [Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim], [Catacomb Sifter] and [Nantuko Husk]. The manabase includes a lot colorless sources with [Westvale Abbey], [Holdout Settlement], [Caves of Koilos] and [Llanowar Wastes], so we can play [Matter Reshaper] and use [Eldrazi Displacer]’s ability without issue.
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3 [Forest] 2 [Plains] 1 [Swamp] 2 [Canopy Vista] 4 [Evolving Wilds] 4 [Caves of Koilos] 4 [Llanowar Wastes] 2 [Holdout Settlement] 1 [Hissing Quagmire] 1 [Shambling Vent] 1 [Westvale Abbey] -Lands (25)- 4 [Deathcap Cultivator] 4 [Sylvan Advocate] 2 [Elvish Visionary] 1 [Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim] 4 [Catacomb Sifter] 4 [Matter Reshaper] 3 [Eldrazi Displacer] 2 [Nantuko Husk] 1 [Nissa, Vastwood Seer] 4 [Archangel Avacyn] -Creatures (29)- |
4 [Collected Company] 2 [Tragic Arrogance] -Spells (6)- |
4 [Fleshbag Marauder] 4 [Transgress the Mind] 3 [Hallowed Moonlight] 2 [Anguished Unmaking] 1 [Thought-Knot Seer] 1 [Tragic Arrogance] -Sideboard (15)- |
During the Pro Tour, I played against
Humans: 3/0, the matchup is really good even on the draw. [Tragic Arrogance] is simply the best card against humans. Creatures you can put into play before casting it are very good as well. Take care about [Gryff’s Boon] and make sure to not allow [Kytheon, Hero of Akros] to flip into a planeswalker so as to make sure [Tragic Arrogance] stays in your favor. After sideboard adding a 3’d [Tragic Arrogance] is more than enough. [34:07]
Bant Company: 1/0, you clearly have an advantage in the matchup.
Same here [Tragic Arrogance] is a big deal. [Archangel Avacyn] kills everything and it’s easy to flip her with this deck. [09:30 & 36:22]
Esper Control: 0/1/1, it’s complicated but not unwinnable [26:22]
BG Seasons Past: 0/1, it’s complicated but not unwinnable [39:28]
BG Aristocrats : 0/1, really bad matchup [09:36]
Grixis Control : 0/1, really bad matchup
GW Token : 0/1, really bad matchup
At the higher standings in the tournament there were no more Humans or Bant Company decks, but a lot of [Languish] / [Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet] control decks. It ended up being quite bad for me and my Abzan Company.
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I don’t think our sideboard plan against control decks was nearly good enough. Right now I think it should have looked something like this:
New Sideboard: 15
1 [Sorin, Grim Nemesis]
1 [Tragic Arrogance]
2 [Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet]
3 [Gideon, Ally of Zendikar]
2 [Ultimate Price]
2 [Anguished Unmaking]
2 [Hallowed Moonlight]
2 [Ob Nixilis Reignited]
If I were to play this deck again I would also change a few main deck cards and swap in 4 [Zulaport Cutthroat] for 2 [Elvish Visionary] and 2 [Deathcap Cultivator] instead.
If you’re playing in an event and expect a lot of Humans and Bant Company decks, you can pick any of these three decks for good match-ups and with some small changes added to the sideboard to better deal with the new meta.
Thank you for reading my first article for Hareruya.
I wish you all a good day.
Jeremy Dezani
Cards found in the Article
[Chandra, Flamecaller]
[March from the Tomb]
[Archangel Avacyn]
[Matter Reshaper]
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He was the 2013-14 Player of the Year with his crowning achievement taking place at Pro Tour Theros where he won in spectacular fashion with Blue Devotion back in 2013.
He has a stunning 10 Grand Prix Top 8s to his name including 2 wins and Runner-up twice.
He will also be the first Non-Japanese player to join the ranks of the Hareruya Pros.
