There may not be a MagicCon this weekend, but there is a Pro Tour!

Pro Tour Outlaws of Thunder Junction will be coming at you live from sunny Seattle, Washington this weekend, and unlike the prior Pro Tours of the last two years, it will actually be a closed door event. Of course, you'll be able to watch it live on Twitch, but it will not be attached to a larger Magic event.

On display will be Outlaws of Thunder Junction, both in Standard as well as draft. Standard has been excellent for most of the year, with a huge variety of decks and archetypes playable and new surprises popping up all the time, while the Outlaws of Thunder Junction draft format is also an intriguing one full of different themes and a metric ton of sweet rares.

I am writing this article from Seattle, where I've been prepping with Team CFB & Friends all week for the Pro Tour, and as usual it's time for my five predictions for the event!

Prediction One: Esper Midrange Will Be The Most Played Deck

I am joining about half my team in begrudgingly playing Esper Midrange in the Pro Tour. It is probably the best or one of the best decks, but the biggest reality is simply time.

Outlaws of Thunder Junction officially released one week ago in paper, and a bit more than that on MTG Arena and Magic Online. That's an incredibly small window of time to prepare for a format, much less brew a new deck, adequately test it, figure out all the matchups, and acquire all of the cards. We had a number of ideas that we were working on for this event, but were very quick to discard anything at the first sign of trouble because of how little time there was.

As such, many of us ended up on perhaps the safest deck in the format in Esper Midrange, and I would not be surprised if this was the default for many players attending this Pro Tour. Esper Midrange is powerful, flexible, and proactive enough to present a fast clock and pressure while also having enough interaction to deal with whatever might come its way - it is the defacto "safe" choice for the event.

Can't break the format every time, unfortunately!

Prediction Two: There Will Be At Least One Unexpected Deck In Top 8

That being said, this is still a huge Standard format that is ripe for innovation.

Not only is Outlaws of Thunder Junction a big set, but the Big Score bonus sheet is also jam packed full of build-around Mythics that further expand on what decks may be capable of in this format. We tried decks around Collector's Cage, Simulacrum Synthesizer, Make Your Own Luck, and more, and frankly wished we had more time to explore them.

While we gave up and took the safe route, I doubt everyone playing in the Pro Tour will! There's a huge desire to want to have an edge in deck building, as well as a ton of value in bringing a deck people haven't prepared for. With the top decks from the old Standard format mostly locked in, there's certainly room for a clever player to do some damage.

I'm betting at least one of these brave players does well, if not in Top 8 then at least in the top performing constructed decks or at the top tables making a deep run.

Prediction Three: There Will Be At Least One Copy Of Caustic Bronco In Top 8

While the majority of my team is on Esper Midrange, we also have a contingent playing Golgari Midrange as well. It may shock you to hear that Reid Duke spearheaded this group, but what's most interesting is the uniqueness of the list.

Look, Caustic Bronco isn't quite Dark Confidant, but it's close!

The new two-drop rare from Outlaws of Thunder Junction has a starring role in this new version of Golgari, allowing the deck to be aggressive, draw cards, and even threaten lots of damage when saddled by a turn three 3/3. This is a powerful Standard format with a lot going on, so it's very important for midrange decks to be able to get going early both in accruing card advantage as well as just getting your opponent dead, and Bronco is quite good at both.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Bronco show up in other decks as well, either as a good value card or something a little more spicy with prototype creatures and other high mana value cards.

Prediction Four: Both Decks That 3-0 Their Featured Pods Will Feature Green

Outlaws of Thunder Junction is a pretty wild draft format.

First off, it is huge. Aside from the main set, which is already large and also features almost no unplayable cards, there is the Breaking News bonus sheet, which is the mostly standard "Mystical Archive" type sheet of fun reprints, as well as the Big Score sheet which features Mythic Rares that are more constructed focused but also fun build arounds.

However, one thing is clear: green is king.

Aside from a truly remarkable lineup of bombs in the rare and mythic slot, green is also astoundingly deep at common and uncommon. There isn't really an embarrassing green common, and many of them range from good to excellent. The uncommon are similarly awesome, providing power and value at all points on the curve. The green creatures are also just huge, dwarfing the other creatures of the format. Green also has the flexibility to pair with any color, or go wild into three, four, or even five colors, allowing you to splash any of the big rares you open. Furthermore, it can run the full range from aggressive to controlling and anywhere in between.

This is no secret, as any player drafting at the Pro Tour will be aware of this. There are plenty of playable archetypes among the other colors, but green will end up coming out on top.

Prediction Five: The Top 8 Will Contain At Least One Member Each From Team CFB & Friends And Team Handshake

The Pro Tour is obviously an individual competition, with players playing for themselves and only one winner. However, testing teams that work together to prepare for events are almost as old as the Pro Tour itself.

While there are a large number of teams on the tour, the last few years have really only been about two- Team CFB & Friends and Team Handshake. While qualifications will wax and wane with each event, here are the current lineups for this Pro Tour:

Team CFB & Friends

• Arne Huschenbeth
• Brent Vos
• Gabriel Nassif
• Jim Davis
• Logan Nettles
• Martin Juza
• Matt Sperling
• Maxx Kominowski
• Reid Duke
• Sam Pardee
• Seth Manfield
• Theodore Jung
• Tommy Ashton

Team Handshake:

• Anthony Lee
• Christoffer Larsen
• David Inglis
• Eli Kassis
• Javier Dominguez
• Jesse Hampton
• Karl Sarap
• Matti Kuisma
• Nathan Steuer
• Simon Nielson
• Stefan Schulz

Of the 207 qualified players playing in Pro Tour Outlaws of Thunder Junction, there are an unbelievable mix of incredible players from all over the world, but there's a little something extra when it comes to these squads. Since the return of the Pro Tour, a member of either team has won three of four Pro Tours so far, with many more members in Top 8 along the way. The finals of the last Pro Tour was a matchup between these two teams, with former World Champion Seth Manfield taking down reigning Player of the Year Simon Nielson in an epic match.

There's no two way about it, the Pro Tour currently belongs to these two teams and there's no reason to expect this to change. As such, each team will have at least one member in the top 8.

Riding Off Into The Sunset

Am I right? Am I wrong? We'll find out starting today!

Pro Tour coverage starts at 2pm EST at www.twitch.tv/Magic where you can follow all of the action, including how well I'm doing! This is the last hurrah for a lot of these cards in Standard before fall rotation and its very exciting to see how it all will shake out.

I'll be back next week (hopefully with a winner's report) to go over the event, and check out my video this coming Monday where I play an awesome brew we were working on that just didn't quite pan out.