This past weekend was quite a busy one for Standard tournaments, with a StarCityGames Open, a TCGPlayer Open, the SCG Invitational, a Grand Prix, and a World Magic Cup Qualifier. Delver racked up an impressive number of Top 8s and wins, but Wizards has decided that the insect menace is not worthy of a ban, and they will allow the current meta to evolve.

StarCityGames Open

Delver fared pretty poorly in this Open (however, the only copy in the Top 8 did win the whole thing, so there is that), but that can be somewhat accounted for by the fact that most of the better players at the event were still in the Invitational. Tezzerator is an interesting deck that hasn’t been seen in a while (most likely due to its not being very good against Mana Leak or Delver in general). Sam Black’s W/U midrange deck made an appearance in this Open Top 8 as well, but it was the only one for the week, and I think it can be pretty much discounted as “not as good as Delver.”

"Tezzerator"

• Creatures (6)
• 1 Treasure Mage
• 2 Wurmcoil Engine
• 3 Phyrexian Metamorph

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas

• Spells (25)
• 2 Doom Blade
• 2 Go for the Throat
• 3 Black Sun's Zenith
• 2 Curse of Death's Hold
• 1 Grafdigger's Cage
• 1 Mimic Vat
• 1 Spine of Ish Sah
• 2 Mycosynth Wellspring
• 2 Pristine Talisman
• 3 Ichor Wellspring
• 3 Nihil Spellbomb
• 3 Ratchet Bomb

• Lands (25)
• 1 Island
• 6 Swamp
• 2 Ghost Quarter
• 4 Buried Ruin
• 4 Darkslick Shores
• 4 Drowned Catacomb
• 4 Phyrexia's Core

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Ratchet Bomb
• 2 Spellskite
• 1 Wurmcoil Engine
• 3 Bloodline Keeper
• 1 Corrupted Conscience
• 2 Curse of Death's Hold
• 1 Karn Liberated
• 1 Black Sun's Zenith
• 3 Distress

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Also of note was the Zombies list not being B/R, but instead B/u and running the Blood Artist/Killing Wave package:

"B/u Killing Wave Zombies"

• Creatures (25)
• 1 Skirsdag High Priest
• 2 Bloodline Keeper
• 2 Highborn Ghoul
• 4 Blood Artist
• 4 Diregraf Ghoul
• 4 Geralf's Messenger
• 4 Gravecrawler
• 4 Phantasmal Image

• Spells (15)
• 3 Geth's Verdict
• 3 Tragic Slip
• 2 Killing Wave
• 4 Ponder
• 3 Mortarpod

• Lands (21)
• 10 Swamp
• 3 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Darkslick Shores
• 4 Drowned Catacomb

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Nihil Spellbomb
• 3 Fume Spitter
• 2 Skirsdag High Priest
• 1 Act of Aggression
• 2 Steel Sabotage
• 2 Undying Evil
• 3 Appetite for Brains

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I don’t really get why there are two Bloodline Keepers and zero Phyrexian Metamorphs, as both, especially the latter, seem totally incorrect.

TCGPlayer Open

Kibler won this tournament with Naya Pod, a deck he’s been playing and advocating since Innistrad was released, and he has proven the deck with multiple solid finishes. Delver landed three Top 8 slots but couldn’t muster a win once there, making this open one of the two events not won by Delver this weekend.

"Naya Pod"

• Creatures (32)
• 1 Fiend Hunter
• 1 Nearheath Pilgrim
• 1 Zealous Conscripts
• 2 Borderland Ranger
• 2 Wolfir Silverheart
• 3 Huntmaster of the Fells
• 3 Strangleroot Geist
• 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 4 Birds of Paradise
• 4 Blade Splicer
• 4 Restoration Angel
• 1 Phyrexian Metamorph
• 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

• Spells (4)
• 2 Dismember
• 2 Birthing Pod

• Lands (24)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 6 Forest
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 2 Rootbound Crag
• 2 Sunpetal Grove
• 3 Gavony Township
• 4 Copperline Gorge
• 4 Razorverge Thicket

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Acidic Slime
• 1 Ancient Grudge
• 3 Bonfire of the Damned
• 1 Combust
• 1 Crushing Vines
• 1 Hero of Bladehold
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 1 Ray of Revelation
• 1 Strangleroot Geist
• 2 Sword of War and Peace
• 1 Wolfir Silverheart
• 1 Zealous Conscripts

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Also interesting was the W/U miracles deck that Top 8’d (an obvious port of the Pro Tour winning list from Block):

"W/U Miracles"

• Creatures (4)
• 4 Snapcaster Mage

• Planeswalkers (5)
• 2 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
• 3 Gideon Jura

• Spells (26)
• 2 Vapor Snag
• 3 Think Twice
• 4 Mana Leak
• 2 Day of Judgment
• 3 Entreat the Angels
• 3 Terminus
• 4 Ponder
• 2 Oblivion Ring
• 3 Pristine Talisman

• Lands (25)
• 7 Island
• 7 Plains
• 3 Ghost Quarter
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Seachrome Coast

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Celestial Purge
• 1 Day of Judgment
• 2 Divine Offering
• 3 Grand Abolisher
• 1 Increasing Devotion
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 2 Phantasmal Image
• 1 Sunblast Angel
• 1 Unsummon

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The Vapor Snags in this list don’t really make sense, but it’s the start of a transition from more traditional Pristine Talisman builds to incorporate Entreat the Angels and Terminus.

SCG Invitational

Delver comprised 47% of the Top 2 metagame at the invitational and 75% of the Top 8 (although one version was mono-blue).

Hetricks’s R/U/G Pod list was interesting and seemed to have a relatively good match against Delver (and he was pretty unlucky to lose in the finals).

"R/U/G Pod"

• Creatures (27)
• 1 Acidic Slime
• 1 Aether Adept
• 1 Borderland Ranger
• 1 Daybreak Ranger
• 1 Deceiver Exarch
• 1 Inferno Titan
• 1 Wolfir Silverheart
• 1 Zealous Conscripts
• 2 Phantasmal Image
• 4 Birds of Paradise
• 4 Huntmaster of the Fells
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Strangleroot Geist
• 1 Phyrexian Metamorph

• Spells (9)
• 1 Bonfire of the Damned
• 4 Green Sun's Zenith
• 4 Birthing Pod

• Lands (24)
• 10 Forest
• 2 Island
• 2 Mountain
• 2 Rootbound Crag
• 4 Copperline Gorge
• 4 Hinterland Harbor

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World Magic Cup Qualifier

Another event that occurred this weekend was the final US WMCQ in Baltimore, which was won by Joe Pennachio with Naya Pod in Baltimore. Unfortunately, there are no decklists posted for this event, so your guess is as good as mine for what did well in it.

Grand Prix: Manilla

The final and most important (in terms of metagame development—the SCG Invitational pays out higher prizes) was GP: Manilla. It was another event in which Delver made up at least fifty percent of the Top 8, but Yuuya’s winning (that guys is absurd) list will change some fundamental things about the archetype.

"Yuuya Watanabe’s Delver"

• Creatures (15)
• 3 Restoration Angel
• 4 Delver of Secrets
• 4 Snapcaster Mage
• 4 Geist of Saint Traft

• Spells (26)
• 1 Mutagenic Growth
• 3 Gut Shot
• 3 Mana Leak
• 4 Thought Scour
• 4 Vapor Snag
• 4 Gitaxian Probe
• 4 Ponder
• 3 Runechanter's Pike

• Lands (19)
• 1 Plains
• 8 Island
• 2 Moorland Haunt
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Seachrome Coast

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Celestial Purge
• 1 Dissipate
• 1 Gut Shot
• 1 Mana Leak
• 2 Mental Misstep
• 1 Mutagenic Growth
• 2 Phantasmal Image
• 1 Spectral Flight
• 1 Sword of War and Peace
• 2 Timely Reinforcements

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The most drastic change is the land count: There’re only nineteen. To compensate for the decreased number of lands, Yuuya has included a full set of Thought Scour, Ponder, and Gitaxian Probe in addition to his cutting down to three Restoration Angels. Due to having only nineteen lands and a full set of Thought Scours, the Equipment package goes from being focused on Swords to just three Runechanter's Pikes. Yuuya has also cut down to three Mana Leaks in the main, showing he has a much more proactive game plan than other Delver lists. I expect this to be the default Delver list for the weeks to come—until another innovation or Magic 2013 comes out.

Chris Mascioli

@dieplstks on Twitter