Hey everyone!

Many of you reading this article have one goal in common — qualify for your first Pro Tour. My current goal is to do well at Pro Tour Amonkhet so I want to share my current testing path. What I see frequently is a friend qualify for their first Pro Tour and be lost when it comes to proper preparation.

I don’t want to talk too much about the specific Standard metagame because we only have an SCG Open with a format that shifted in the middle of the prior week. My assumption is players didn’t bring their A game when many had to abruptly change from Four-Color Saheeli to something completely different (most likely Mardu Vehicles).

The Testing Focus

My overall goal for Pro Tour Amonkhet is to do very well in draft. I’ve played in seventeen Pro Tours with the constructed/limited format and only done better than 4-2 in draft TWO times. At Pro Tour San Diego in 2010 I got second place with a 5-1 finish. Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir I got 9th on tiebreaks with a 6-0 finish in limited. These are my two best results at the Pro Tour — it’s very difficult to do well without knowing how to draft. In order to achieve these results again I need to get as many realistic draft experiences as possible to practice.

Standard is still in scope at this point, but it’s hard to get good preparation so early in the format. I need to wait for more SCG results to get a sense of what’s actually reasonable to play. Early Standard articles are typically not correlated with the actual metagame. If you imagine that articles represent the metagame there will be tables of Zombies, Hazoret, and Emerge. These are interesting thought experiments, but the real format will revert back to old favorites like Mardu Vehicles and Blue/x Control. Zombies did happen to perform well in SCG Atlanta and also gained some traction on Magic Online. Occasionally these decks are good enough to break through.

Why do I do so poorly in Pro Tour drafts?

There are many reasons:

Standard is easy to practice; all you need is a friend with a proxy deck. In order to organize a live draft you need to find five or seven friends. I prefer 6-person live drafts because it’s hard to find so many highly skilled magicians in one area and have them be available to draft at the same time. The Pre-Release is a source of good players who are excited to learn about Limited. I organized a 6-person draft where those who finished 2-1 or better got a pick of the rares at the end. There could be a possible team aspect, but I want to remove any non-Pro Tour aspect of the draft that I can. There will be pair downs either way, but I have a better chance of facing all of the great decks if there isn’t a restriction on who I can face such as my own teammates.

Magic Online leagues are exciting because they now become available the Monday following the Pre-Release. The structure is an 8-person draft, but your opponents can be anyone in the league of hundreds of people. This makes hate-drafting essentially useless. I’ve done about 10 league drafts in the first week and many decks have been completely busted. These drafts don’t teach me how to draft well, but I learn how the most powerful cards function. My Zombie decks had 2-3 Lord of the Accursed and didn’t even need Binding Mummy.

The Pro Tour will be filled with experienced drafters and I can’t count on getting an absurd deck. This becomes an important distinction when I’m forced to play with cards that are less than ideal. What if you played a Constructed deck and didn’t have experience casting some of your spells before? That would likely not end well.

Drafting online and watching coverage does not replace real life practice. The muscle memory of physically casting your spells cannot be replaced. The level of intensity is higher for me in paper Magic because you don’t have the ability to simply join a new event.

I played a PPTQ last weekend that was sealed with a Top 8 draft. The only reason I played was to get physical draft practice as I will likely be qualified for the RPTQ either way. While I did not make the Top 8, my teammate, Max McVety, managed to take it down playing exclusively Black decks. My theory coming into the event was that Black was highly underrated so I was happy to see it be successful.

I spent my day playing Green and often be frustrated by the lack of creatures. My biggest mistake was counting Greater Sandwurm as a creature. It was cycled about 90% of the time. My other teammate, Stu Parnes, drafted in the Top 8 and his deck also felt a little light on creatures. He was a big fan of Fling combined with pump spells which means the rest of the deck needs to be creatures to make bigger. If this were a draft league my deck would not have to even consider playing Fling.

And now for why you’re all here: Standard

When I start working on a Standard deck I don’t worry too much about other decks in the format. I like to stick to decks in my wheelhouse — good cards that have loose synergy. The Magic Online Beta is a good place to start testing for the new format. As I mentioned in my last article, Rudy Briksza and I worked on Standard assuming Felidar Guardian is banned.

Here’s the Mardu Control deck that impressed me the most:

Mardu Control ? Amonkhet Standard | Kyle Boggemes

• Creatures (3)
• 1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 2 Glorybringer

• Planeswalkers (11)
• 1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
• 2 Nahiri, the Harbinger
• 2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
• 3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
• 3 Gideon of the Trials

• Instants (7)
• 1 Anguished Unmaking
• 2 Blessed Alliance
• 2 Fatal Push
• 2 Magma Spray

• Sorceries (9)
• 1 Cut // Ribbons
• 2 Painful Truths
• 2 Sweltering Suns
• 4 Lay Bare the Heart

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Cast Out

• Lands (26)
• 2 Plains
• 3 Mountain
• 3 Swamp
• 2 Foreboding Ruins
• 2 Needle Spires
• 2 Shambling Vent
• 4 Canyon Slough
• 4 Concealed Courtyard
• 4 Inspiring Vantage

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Transgress the Mind
• 1 Dispossess
• 1 Magma Spray
• 2 Fumigate
• 2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
• 1 Blessed Alliance
• 2 Release the Gremlins
• 1 Linvala, the Preserver
• 1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
• 1 Never // Return

Buy This Deck

Gideon of the Trials changes all of this. I have a 4/4 creature for 3 mana that can stop all damage dealt from permanents, and not only creatures. This is an excellent threat that helps bridge into the mid game where my other Planeswalkers take control.

Nahiri, the Harbinger is well-positioned because Cast Out is a premium removal spell. The ability to exile enchantments will be helpful as the format is diversified in the early weeks. I get to cycle Magma Spray in midrange matchups. It also feels good to +2 Nahiri to rummage away a Cut // Ribbons. You can have Nahiri enter the battlefield and exile a creature that attacked you, which is exactly what Mardu Control wants to be doing. Nahiri’s ultimate is great because exert on Glorybringer works favorably with the dragon returning at the end of turn. Gonti, Lord of Luxury is another great threat to get with the ultimate. I can also search for Linvala, the Preserver after sideboard against aggressive decks.

Chandra, Torch of Defiance plays similarly to Nahiri, the Harbinger; a threat that enters the battlefield killing a threat leaving a Planeswalker behind. Chandra is well-positioned against Glorybringer as her -3 deals four damage. The ultimate is a real threat against control as well as other midrange decks.

Sorin, Grim Nemesis and Ob Nixilis Reignited round out the Planeswalker suite. They continue with the primary theme of the deck: land a Planeswalker and kill a threat. Sorin has the benefit of gaining life to offset Painful Truths.

The reason I choose to push Planeswalkers hard is to avoid most of the removal in the format. Magma Spray is the truth and could potentially hate out Mardu Vehicles. It’s the strongest removal spell against the aggressive pillar of the format. I chose to maindeck two copies of Magma Spray and sideboard the third because the early threats are the most frightening. Mardu’s specialty is midranging the hardest and I need to make sure my opponent doesn’t rush out of the gates. This is a good place to be because Magma Spray could slow down the format leaving Red as the midrange/control color of choice. We’ve already seen this with Control.

Lay Bare the Heart is actually a very strong spell for this deck. Mardu decks can either play plenty of creatures or removal. If you choose removal then your curve will be awkward against midrange and control. Lay Bare the Heart ensure you have a way to proactively react.

Here are some key cards Lay Bare the Heart misses:

• Archangel Avacyn
• Ishkanah, Grafwidow
• Aetherworks Marvel
• Heart of Kiran
• Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
• Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• Rhonas the Indomitable
• Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

Sweltering Suns is a very strong card because it cycles; 3 mana isn’t cheap, however. I need to clean up the early threats against aggro to turn the mid game into a one threat per turn scenario for my Planeswalkers to take over.

Blessed Alliance rounds out my early creature removal. The life gain is essential with so many Painful Truths and Anguished Unmaking; I can gain four life when it’s revealed to Chandra, Torch of Defiance. Sacrificing a creature is relevant against opposing Gideon of the Trials when comparing to Immolating Glare which can destroy indestructible threats. I can also use the third mode by untapping an exerted Glorybringer!

Dispossess comes in to name Aetherworks Marvel or Torrential Gearhulk out of control. It’s actually more powerful against control because Marvel can drag the game out and hardcast Ulamog. I have three Transgress the Mind to stop Ulamog because Lay Bare the Heart misses it.

Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet isn’t great in the maindeck because it dies to too many removal spells and doesn’t immediately impact the battlefield. I like having some copies in the sideboard against aggressive decks and also Prized Amalgam. I expect a graveyard deck to come from the woodworks because it attacks Standard from a different angle.

This deck is a fun option that isn’t Mardu Vehicles. I’m sure you’re already sick of hearing about the deck so give this a spin for a breath of fresh air.

That’s all I have for this week. I should have some more new decks to talk about in a couple weeks.

Thanks for reading!

— Kyle