With both Grands Prix this past weekend being Magic 2013 Limited, there were again not very many Constructed events to cover—with the exception of the StarCityGames Open in Los Angeles.

Standard

The Standard metagame continues to be dominated by Delver and Zombies—which of those two wins the event is a coin flip from week to week. We saw a return of some Wolf Run Blue, but overall, the Standard metagame has stagnated (and probably will continue to look like this until Return to Ravnica is legal).

"W/U Delver"

• Creatures (16)
• 1 Phantasmal Image
• 4 Augur of Bolas
• 4 Delver of Secrets
• 4 Snapcaster Mage
• 3 Talrand, Sky Summoner

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

• Lands (18)
• 8 Island
• 2 Inkmoth Nexus
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Seachrome Coast

Buy This Deck

Delver won the event, and the winning list is very different than the list I thought would be most representative moving forward from last week. The winner completely cut Geist of Saint Traft and lowered the Talrand, Sky Summoner count in order to fit in Runechanter's Pike and play Augur of Bolas. The change seems like a general regression compared to the list last week, as it’s sacrificed a lot of power to be a bit more cutesy and synergistic. Playing neither Moorland Haunt nor Cavern of Souls further adds to the cutesiness with the addition of Inkmoth Nexus as the deck’s colorless land. Running four Gut Shot is still a requirement in the meta, although the card is probably worse than it’s been in the past thanks to so much Zombies being the metagame, but they’re still needed to combat the mirror and mana creatures.

"B/R Zombies"

• Creatures (23)
• 2 Fume Spitter
• 3 Falkenrath Aristocrat
• 4 Blood Artist
• 4 Diregraf Ghoul
• 4 Geralf's Messenger
• 4 Gravecrawler
• 2 Phyrexian Metamorph

• Spells (15)
• 1 Murder
• 2 Geth's Verdict
• 3 Tragic Slip
• 3 Flames of the Firebrand
• 4 Sign in Blood
• 2 Mortarpod

• Lands (22)
• 11 Swamp
• 3 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 4 Dragonskull Summit

Buy This Deck

B/R Zombies once again performed well, and the deck remains essentially unchanged from week to week. Having only three Falkenrath Aristocrats seems suboptimal, and Fume Spitter seems unnecessary with Tragic Slips in the deck, so I’d recommend removing two Fume Spitter and adding one each of Tragic Slip and Aristocrat.

"W/U Midrange"

• Creatures (15)
• 1 Consecrated Sphinx
• 2 Phantasmal Image
• 4 Blade Splicer
• 4 Restoration Angel
• 4 Snapcaster Mage

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

• Spells (19)
• 1 Dismember
• 1 Gut Shot
• 1 Twisted Image
• 3 Mana Leak
• 3 Vapor Snag
• 2 Day of Judgment
• 4 Gitaxian Probe
• 4 Ponder

• Lands (23)
• 5 Plains
• 8 Island
• 2 Moorland Haunt
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Seachrome Coast

Buy This Deck

W/U midrange, originally championed by Sam Black, hasn’t been seen in a while, and it doesn’t seem great in a meta with not many traditional aggro decks. The deck is not particularly favored against Delver, and the match against Zombies also isn’t as good as the regular Delver shell. I don’t see any real upside to playing this deck, but I could be very wrong about this.

"Wolf Run Blue"

• Creatures (13)
• 1 Snapcaster Mage
• 4 Frost Titan
• 4 Primeval Titan
• 4 Solemn Simulacrum

• Spells (21)
• 2 Whipflare
• 3 Temporal Mastery
• 4 Bonfire of the Damned
• 4 Farseek
• 4 Ponder
• 4 Rampant Growth

• Lands (26)
• 1 Mountain
• 3 Island
• 5 Forest
• 1 Inkmoth Nexus
• 1 Kessig Wolf Run
• 3 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Copperline Gorge
• 4 Glimmerpost
• 4 Hinterland Harbor

Buy This Deck

Wolf Run Blue did well thanks to being among the few decks able to run sweepers while also being fast enough to outrace the aggro decks. The deck remains the same as it has been, and there are no particularly interesting inclusions here.

"U/B Zombies"

• Creatures (27)
• 1 Bloodthrone Vampire
• 1 Butcher Ghoul
• 2 Diregraf Captain
• 2 Falkenrath Noble
• 3 Phantasmal Image
• 4 Blood Artist
• 4 Diregraf Ghoul
• 4 Geralf's Messenger
• 4 Gravecrawler
• 2 Phyrexian Metamorph

• Spells (11)
• 1 Geth's Verdict
• 3 Tragic Slip
• 2 Black Sun's Zenith
• 2 Mortarpod
• 3 Birthing Pod

• Lands (22)
• 10 Swamp
• 4 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Darkslick Shores
• 4 Drowned Catacomb

Buy This Deck

This is an interesting take on U/B Zombies given the inclusion of Birthing Pod and no 6-drop to chain into. The deck is much more close to traditional U/B lists, but it adds in the Birthing Pod to add some additional reach to the list, which might be a good direction to go, especially with its five Clone effects.

Legacy

"W/U Control"

• Creatures (4)
• 2 Snapcaster Mage
• 2 Vendilion Clique

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

• Spells (30)
• 2 Counterspell
• 2 Spell Pierce
• 4 Brainstorm
• 4 Force of Will
• 4 Swords to Plowshares
• 2 Entreat the Angels
• 3 Terminus
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 3 Counterbalance
• 1 Vedalken Shackles
• 4 Sensei's Divining Top

• Lands (23)
• 2 Plains
• 5 Island
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 2 Arid Mesa
• 2 Tundra
• 2 Volcanic Island
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Polluted Delta
• 1 Karakas

Buy This Deck

W/U control seems to slowly becoming the deck to beat in Legacy. Its presence has all but killed off Elves, and from the results of recent events, it seems that it’s becoming better against R/U/G Delver. I tend to like the lists without Stoneforge Mystic better, but I’ve never played a game with either version of the deck.

"R/U/G Delver"

• Creatures (12)
• 4 Delver of Secrets
• 4 Nimble Mongoose
• 4 Tarmogoyf

• Spells (30)
• 1 Fire // Ice
• 2 Spell Snare
• 2 Thought Scour
• 4 Brainstorm
• 4 Daze
• 4 Force of Will
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Spell Pierce
• 1 Forked Bolt
• 4 Ponder

• Lands (18)
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 3 Misty Rainforest
• 3 Tropical Island
• 3 Volcanic Island
• 4 Scalding Tarn
• 4 Wasteland

Buy This Deck

R/U/G Devler still hasn’t evolved from when it was the top deck, which may be costing it its slot as the best deck in the format.

"Mono-Red Burn"

• Creatures (8)
• 4 Goblin Guide
• 4 Grim Lavamancer

• Spells (31)
• 4 Fireblast
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Price of Progress
• 4 Chain Lightning
• 4 Flame Rift
• 4 Lava Spike
• 4 Rift Bolt
• 3 Sulfuric Vortex

• Lands (21)
• 9 Mountain
• 3 Arid Mesa
• 3 Bloodstained Mire
• 3 Scalding Tarn
• 3 Wooded Foothills

Buy This Deck

Patrick Sullivan is just a master, and you probably shouldn’t be playing burn unless you can pull off the incredible win he pulled out in the Top 8. (Hint: You probably can’t.)

"Merfolk"

• Creatures (22)
• 2 Coralhelm Commander
• 4 Cursecatcher
• 4 Lord of Atlantis
• 4 Master of the Pearl Trident
• 4 Merrow Reejerey
• 4 Silvergill Adept

• Spells (18)
• 2 Dismember
• 3 Daze
• 3 Force of Will
• 3 Spell Pierce
• 3 Standstill
• 4 Aether Vial

• Lands (20)
• 12 Island
• 4 Mutavault
• 4 Wasteland

Buy This Deck

"Goblins"

• Creatures (34)
• 1 Siege-Gang Commander
• 1 Tuktuk Scrapper
• 2 Goblin Chieftain
• 2 Stingscourger
• 3 Goblin Piledriver
• 4 Gempalm Incinerator
• 4 Goblin Lackey
• 4 Goblin Matron
• 4 Goblin Ringleader
• 4 Goblin Warchief
• 4 Warren Instigator
• 1 Krenko, Mob Boss

• Spells (4)
• 4 Aether Vial

• Lands (22)
• 14 Mountain
• 4 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Wasteland

Buy This Deck

The two premier tribal decks both made an appearance in this Top 8. Both decks have their strengths, as Goblins is capable of extraordinarily fast and explosive openings, while Merfolk is able to gain incremental advantages that lead to board states in which it’s impossible for the opponent to recover. The addition of Krenko, Mob Boss in the Goblins list seems solid, and it with a Goblin Warchief seems like a pretty sick interaction.

– Chris Mascioli

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