The Top 8 of Grand Prix New Jersey featured 4 copies of Mardu Vehicles and 3 copies of 4-Color Copycat, but there was one hero plowing through the competition with something a little different. Ben Stark was playing a pretty exciting Energy deck that splashed Red for Unlicensed Disintegration and he got 3rd! Energy has been top tier in the format that has been on powerful card shy of being #1. Ben Stark may have figured out that Unlicensed Disintegration is the one powerful card that Energy was missing. It allows the deck to have aggressive draws, interaction for anything and a little extra reach that can even take down Planeswalkers.

Time Stamps

00:03:14 - Match 1: Four-Color Saheeli

00:25:00 - Match 2: Temur Tower

00:43:24 - Match 3: Four-Color Marvel

01:11:19 - Match 4: Four-Color Ballista Saheeli

01:27:52 - Match 5: Four-Color Thalia Saheeli

Jund Energy ? Aether Revolt Standard | Ben Stark, 3rd GP New Jersey

• Creatures (27)
• 2 Rishkar, Peema Renegade
• 2 Verdurous Gearhulk
• 3 Tireless Tracker
• 4 Greenbelt Rampager
• 4 Longtusk Cub
• 4 Scrapheap Scrounger
• 4 Walking Ballista
• 4 Winding Constrictor

• Instants (8)
• 4 Fatal Push
• 4 Unlicensed Disintegration

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Attune with Aether

• Lands (21)
• 1 Mountain
• 2 Swamp
• 5 Forest
• 2 Hissing Quagmire
• 3 Evolving Wilds
• 4 Aether Hub
• 4 Blooming Marsh

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
• 2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 2 Lathnu Hellion
• 2 Natural Obsolescence
• 2 Natural State
• 3 Transgress the Mind

Buy This Deck

This is a great deck. All the cards are quite good and, in particular, I was impressed with how well the deck could function even when it was missing land drops. So long as 2 lands are available, the deck can cast almost all of its cards and still has some of the more powerful interactions available. Cards like Longtusk Cub and Winding Constrictor can snowball quickly and punish your opponent's weak draws. Rishkar, Peema Renegade and Verdurous Gearhulk can help you match the power of your opponent's most powerful draws. If your opponent is doing anything that you need to interact with, Fatal Push, Unlicensed Disintegration, Walking Ballista, Natural State, and Transgress the Mind have got you covered. This deck is really well rounded and powerful, so I am not surprised that a player like Ben Stark had such a successful run with it.

Until next week, GLHF friends. May you smite thy enemies with a Golden Axe!

— Andrew Boswell