The dust settled. Admittedly, there were some Standard surprises at Pro Tour Outlaws of Thunder Junction.

For example...

Orzhov Bronco | OTJ Standard | Kevin Anctil, Pro Tour Outlaws of Thunder Junction

• Creatures (26)
• 2 Raffine's Informant
• 2 Shadow of Mortality
• 2 Shrouded Shepherd
• 2 Skrelv, Defector Mite
• 2 Tenacious Underdog
• 4 Anointed Peacekeeper
• 4 Caustic Bronco
• 4 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 4 Steel Seraph

• Instants (6)
• 3 Cut Down
• 3 Go for the Throat

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Insatiable Avarice

• Lands (24)
• 5 Swamp
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Restless Fortress
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 4 Caves of Koilos
• 4 Concealed Courtyard
• 4 Shattered Sanctum
• 4 Shadowy Backstreet

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Aven Interrupter
• 1 Cut Down
• 2 Duress
• 1 Invasion of Gobakhan // Lightshield Array
• 1 Knockout Blow
• 1 Kutzil's Flanker
• 2 Pest Control
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 2 Touch the Spirit Realm

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Four copies of Insatiable Avarice?

You may recall a very heroic and handsome commentator of Magic: The Gathering predicted that this card would be the third-best Spree from Outlaws of Thunder Junction. Though to be fair the same kind of dismissed the Vampiric Tutor side.

In this deck, though, the Vampiric Tutor side is really cool. Imagine you are sending a Caustic Bronco. The Bronco is sometimes a weird kind of Dark Confidant. Other times it's a wombo combo murderer.

If your Caustic Bronco is Saddled, you actually dome the opponent, rather than being domed. Might that be a good time to go on a crime Spree? Maybe not a full-on Spree, but putting Shadow of Mortality on top of your deck will often just kill the opponent to death.

TAKE FIFTEEN. Sorry, I meant seventeen.

As for Sunday play? What were the new cards? What were the surprises?

To me the biggest surprise was half the Top 8 being Black Legends-based decks, but there somehow being zero main deck copies of Sheoldred, the Apocalypse in the single-elimination rounds. Now that is weird. Power creep, am I right?

Domain

Domain Ramp | OTJ Standard | Yoshihiko Ikawa, Pro Tour Outlaws of Thunder Junction

• Creatures (12)
• 1 Imodane's Recruiter
• 3 Atraxa, Grand Unifier
• 4 Archangel of Wrath
• 4 Topiary Stomper

• Instants (1)
• 1 Long Goodbye

• Sorceries (12)
• 1 Cartographer's Survey
• 1 Glimpse the Core
• 3 Depopulate
• 3 Sunfall
• 4 Herd Migration

• Enchantments (9)
• 2 Spelunking
• 3 Up the Beanstalk
• 4 Leyline Binding

• Lands (26)
• 3 Forest
• 1 Island
• 3 Plains
• 1 Swamp
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Raffine's Tower
• 4 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Jetmir's Garden
• 4 Spara's Headquarters
• 4 Ziatora's Proving Ground

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Nissa, Ascended Animist
• 2 Tranquil Frillback
• 2 Chrome Host Seedshark
• 3 Negate
• 3 Long Goodbye
• 2 Temporary Lockdown
• 2 Rest in Peace

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This deck is subtly a bit different from most of the Domain decks you've probably seen. Glaringly missing is Battle for Zendikar // Awakened Skyclave. Instead of that stalwart Explosive Vegetation upgrade, the Pro Tour Outlaws of Thunder Junction champion went with Explosive Vegetation sidestep Cartographer's Survey. And lowered his curve a mite with Spelunking.

(Spelunking, of course being a widely played addition to a broad number of archetypes.)

What's really new with Ikawa's deck - in particular from Outlaws of Thunder Junction - is Rest in Peace. This came to us via "The Big Score".

Rest in Peace is, in a word, perfect. It's not just an awesome but a vital addition to Standard that is really going to help hold the format together (or "in check" depending on which side of the table your sitting on). I'm really kind of wondering what the format would look like - given the performance of Aftermath Analyst decks and Slogurk-centered Legends decks - without it.

One person not wondering about Rest in Peace at all, apparently, is finalist Yuta Takahashi...

Azorius Control

Azorius Control | OTJ Standard | Yuta Takahashi, Pro Tour Outlaws of Thunder Junction

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 The Wandering Emperor

• Instants (23)
• 1 Get Lost
• 1 Make Disappear
• 2 Phantom Interference
• 3 Deduce
• 4 March of Otherworldly Light
• 4 Memory Deluge
• 4 No More Lies
• 4 Three Steps Ahead

• Sorceries (3)
• 3 Sunfall

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Temporary Lockdown

• Lands (28)
• 3 Island
• 3 Plains
• 1 Demolition Field
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 1 Sunken Citadel
• 2 Mirrex
• 2 Seachrome Coast
• 3 Adarkar Wastes
• 3 Field of Ruin
• 4 Deserted Beach
• 4 Restless Anchorage

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Hullbreaker Horror
• 1 Boon-Bringer Valkyrie
• 3 Tishana's Tidebinder
• 2 Destroy Evil
• 3 Negate
• 2 Unlicensed Hearse
• 1 The Filigree Sylex
• 2 Temporary Lockdown

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... That's because Yuta played Unlicensed Hearse in the sideboard instead of Rest in Peace.

Unlicensed Hearse has a higher upside than Rest in Peace, as it can be a giant attacker in the late game. However it's far less explosive. A Rest in Peace can put an immediate hole in the side of the Aftermath Analyst board position in a way that Unlicensed Hearse can't. On the other hand, Yuta's deck is kind of hurting for finishers, and the Hearse can function as one.

What's new from Outlaws of Thunder Junction here?

Remember that list of playable Spree cards? Yuta played both the #2 and #1 Sprees in his deck!

This build shifts away from the versions that performed at the RCQ level - which were basically board control decks with No More Lies - much more into the Counterspell-fortress zone. Yuta has a bazillion Counterspells main deck; and most importantly, Three Steps Ahead is a hard counter. That means that as good as the tempo Counterspells can be, in the late game he can stop a potentially lethal Worldsoul's Rage even if the opponent (somehow) has three extra mana left over.

The sideboard creatures are also built with Three Steps Ahead in mind. Boon-Bringer Valkyrie is just begging to be cloned at instant speed, you know?

Boros Convoke

Boros Convoke | OTJ Standard | Takumi Matsuura, Pro Tour Outlaws of Thunder Junction

• Creatures (27)
• 1 Yotian Frontliner
• 2 Sanguine Evangelist
• 4 Imodane's Recruiter
• 4 Knight-Errant of Eos
• 4 Novice Inspector
• 4 Resolute Reinforcements
• 4 Voldaren Epicure
• 4 Warden of the Inner Sky

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Gleeful Demolition

• Enchantments (7)
• 3 Warleader's Call
• 4 Case of the Gateway Express

• Lands (22)
• 3 Mountain
• 3 Plains
• 2 Cavern of Souls
• 2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 2 Mirrex
• 2 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
• 4 Battlefield Forge
• 4 Inspiring Vantage

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 End the Festivities
• 2 Lithomantic Barrage
• 2 Destroy Evil
• 2 Get Lost
• 3 Urabrask's Forge
• 4 Invasion of Gobakhan // Lightshield Array

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How do you take Standard's most streamlined and linear aggro deck and make it new with Outlaws of Thunder Junction?

You don't, I guess... But that doesn't mean there isn't anything different and differentiated here. My favorite part of this deck is the Urabrask's Forge in the sideboard.

The Forge is a meaningful threat that can help the Boros deck keep going even through Temporary Lockdown, a card that generally gives this strategy's many small creatures a lot of problems. Urabrask's Forge can help in more ways than making relentless attackers, too.

I watched a game where Takumi got his Forge caught by Tishana's Tidebinder, only to tap it to help buff a Warden of the Inner Sky... And then later used it to fuel Gleeful Demolition.

If you're a Boros Convoke fan, you might not have gotten a ton from the new set, but it's nice to know you can still keep your opponents guessing a little.

Esper Midrange

Esper Midrange | OTJ Standard | Arne Huschenbeth, Pro Tour Outlaws of Thunder Junction

• Creatures (15)
• 1 Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal // Temple of the Dead
• 3 Dennick, Pious Apprentice // Dennick, Pious Apparition
• 3 Faerie Mastermind
• 4 Deep-Cavern Bat
• 4 Raffine, Scheming Seer

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 The Wandering Emperor

• Instants (10)
• 3 Cut Down
• 3 No More Lies
• 4 Go for the Throat

• Enchantments (7)
• 3 Virtue of Loyalty
• 4 Wedding Announcement // Wedding Festivity

• Lands (26)
• 1 Island
• 1 Plains
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 1 Raffine's Tower
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 2 Caves of Koilos
• 2 Shattered Sanctum
• 2 Underground River
• 3 Concealed Courtyard
• 3 Deserted Beach
• 4 Darkslick Shores
• 4 Restless Anchorage

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 The Wandering Emperor
• 1 Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal // Temple of the Dead
• 3 Tishana's Tidebinder
• 1 Loran of the Third Path
• 3 Pest Control
• 2 Negate
• 1 Destroy Evil
• 1 Disdainful Stroke
• 1 Long Goodbye
• 1 Cut Down

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On the subject of Boros Convoke, one of the new key tools that the most popular deck of Pro Tour Outlaws of Thunder Junction brought was specifically to deal with tiny creatures and their artifact token buddies:

Beyond that new sideboard card, I think that the most important "new" things are mostly how Esper plays, especially against itself.

I've seen a lot of folks cast Ardenvale Fealty... But I don't think I've ever seen the proper side - Virtue of Loyalty - matter so much before this Pro Tour. It really seemed like a lot of games came down to accumulating +1/+1 buffs, conditionally attacking with the ability to defend built right in, and in some cases, having multiple copies of Virtue of Loyalty going.

Get big and you probably won't die trying, you know?

Esper Midrange | OTJ Standard | Lucas Duchow, Pro Tour Outlaws of Thunder Junction

• Creatures (22)
• 1 Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal // Temple of the Dead
• 2 Dennick, Pious Apprentice // Dennick, Pious Apparition
• 2 Tishana's Tidebinder
• 3 Duelist of the Mind
• 3 Faerie Mastermind
• 3 Preacher of the Schism
• 4 Deep-Cavern Bat
• 4 Raffine, Scheming Seer

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 The Wandering Emperor

• Instants (10)
• 3 Cut Down
• 3 No More Lies
• 4 Go for the Throat

• Sorceries (1)
• 1 Gix's Command

• Lands (26)
• 1 Plains
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 2 Concealed Courtyard
• 2 Raffine's Tower
• 2 Seachrome Coast
• 2 Shattered Sanctum
• 2 Underground River
• 4 Caves of Koilos
• 4 Darkslick Shores
• 4 Restless Anchorage

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 The Wandering Emperor
• 1 Loran of the Third Path
• 1 Shrouded Shepherd
• 1 Pest Control
• 1 Blot Out
• 1 Knockout Blow
• 1 Destroy Evil
• 2 Negate
• 2 Disdainful Stroke
• 1 Long Goodbye
• 1 Cut Down
• 2 Rest in Peace

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Of course co-Esper Midrange mage Lucas Duchow didn't even play Virtue of Loyalty in his version... But had a lot of new Outlaws of Thunder Junction cards in both main deck and sideboard.

Main deck. Nathan Steuer can get really big on offense when combined with Preacher of the Schism and Raffine, Scheming Seer.

Sideboard. Great in particular in the mirror, where games often revolve around Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal // Temple of the Dead (despite that card being only a one-of). Because Blot Out exiles the biggest bad instead of just destroying it, the opposing Aclazotz will only come back via shenanigans. Don't be surprised if opponents blow up their own big bad (big Bat) in response.

Sideboard. As above.

Temur Analyst

Temur Analyst | OTJ Standard | Sean Goddard, Pro Tour Outlaws of Thunder Junction

• Creatures (9)
• 1 Shigeki, Jukai Visionary
• 4 Aftermath Analyst
• 4 Nissa, Resurgent Animist

• Instants (7)
• 3 Fires of Victory
• 4 Memory Deluge

• Sorceries (7)
• 3 Worldsoul's Rage
• 4 Ill-Timed Explosion

• Enchantments (7)
• 3 Spelunking
• 4 Virtue of Strength

• Lands (30)
• 6 Forest
• 6 Island
• 4 Mountain
• 1 Echoing Deeps
• 2 Riveteers Overlook
• 3 Cabaretti Courtyard
• 4 Brokers Hideout
• 4 Maestros Theater

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Titan of Industry
• 1 Colossal Skyturtle
• 2 Bonny Pall, Clearcutter
• 1 Doppelgang
• 3 Pick Your Poison
• 2 Vampires' Vengeance
• 3 Negate
• 2 Turn the Earth

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If you're unfamiliar with this deck, it's been one of the best decks on Magic: The Gathering Arena since, well... Luckily after I won my RCQ. Because beating this deck with only No More Lies for Counterspell cover basically requires the opponent to blunder.

You lace together Nissa, Resurgent Animist and Aftermath Analyst for a very different sort of Elf-Tribal offense. What this deck does is fill its graveyard with Streets of New Capenna life-gain-tri-fetches and then brings them back repeatedly with Aftermath Analyst.

Nissa is good at finding Aftermath Analyst, and the Adventuresome side of Virtue of Strength is good at getting them back.

If you're aggro it's difficult to beat this deck because it is often gaining 3, 5 , or even 10+ life per turn while Ramping its mana position. If you're the control it's difficult to beat, at least unless you're directly attacking the graveyard, because having an extra 3 mana for No More Lies is trivial. They have 30 lands and specialize in getting even the ones they've "lost" back over and over.

The end game of this deck tries to get even more lands onto the battlefield via Worldsoul's Rage. By the way this can also kill an opponent, especially when powered up by Virtue of Strength (which is somehow a castable card in this deck).

Anti-beatdown life gain. Mana Ramp. Resilience in the face of Counterspells. We haven't even talked about Shigeki, Jukai Visionary yet! Shigeki really messes with an opponent trying to focus on the kill cards!

How do you possibly contain this monster?

The answer is literally any sideboard card at all. The top two decks of this Pro Tour showed us Rest in Peace and Unlicensed Hearse as possible ways to mess with the graveyard.

... Which brings us to the contribution from Outlaws of Thunder Junction:

What's better than a giant creature? How about two giant creatures? Especially when one of them is like a one-shot 20/20?

Bonny Pall is obviously insanity rate for its mana cost... But does that make it a great actual card to play in contemporary Standard (where Sheoldred is barely good enough to make a sideboard)?

The answer is that it is a powerhouse that can kill quickly that doesn't rely on the graveyard to be good. Is it great? It's appropriate; and Temur Analyst needs something to fight on a different axis. The graveyard is just so vulnerable.

Four-Color Legends

Four-Color Legends | OTJ Standard | Jason Ye, Pro Tour Outlaws of Thunder Junction

• Creatures (22)
• 1 Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal // Temple of the Dead
• 1 Tinybones, the Pickpocket
• 1 Vial Smasher, Gleeful Grenadier
• 2 Ertai Resurrected
• 2 Titania, Voice of Gaea
• 3 Honest Rutstein
• 4 Inti, Seneschal of the Sun
• 4 Rona, Herald of Invasion // Rona, Tolarian Obliterator
• 4 Slogurk, the Overslime

• Instants (5)
• 2 Cut Down
• 3 Go for the Throat

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Relic of Legends

• Lands (29)
• 1 Swamp
• 1 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 1 Blooming Marsh
• 1 Deathcap Glade
• 2 Cavern of Souls
• 2 Darkslick Shores
• 2 Xander's Lounge
• 3 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 4 Otawara, Soaring City
• 4 Plaza of Heroes
• 4 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 4 Ziatora's Proving Ground

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Jace, the Perfected Mind
• 1 Liliana of the Veil
• 1 Vorinclex // The Grand Evolution
• 1 Ertai Resurrected
• 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 1 Path of Peril
• 3 Glistening Deluge
• 3 Duress
• 1 Long Goodbye
• 1 Turn the Earth
• 1 Cut Down

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If you've been following my own personal journey the last couple of months, you probably remember it kind of starting with Roman Fusco winning something called Store Champs with his deck, and everything going from there.

Well Roman's "win" came at the grace of Jason Ye. They met in the finals, and Jason gave Roman the first place victory because Our Hero's apprentice cared more about the title than the prizes.

The two played for fun and wow did Slogurk, the Overslime look good.

I played Standard for the ensuing several months always kind of puzzled that Jason's Slogurk deck wasn't dominating the format. I honestly didn't know what could beat it. Certainly not (at the time). The deck has infinity card advantages thanks to the Slogurk + Kamigawa Legendary Lands; and can frustrate beatdown with Titania, Voice of Gaea.

Anyway months went by; no hide nor hair of Jason's "Slogurk deck" ... Until it and many teammates (including fellow top 8 competitor Rei Zhang] dominated not only Top 8 but Top 16 of this Pro Tour.

What's new about this deck?

If you hadn't seen it (meaning for most people, they didn't see Jason itself crush at the local level)... Everything!

But in terms of Outlaws of Thunder Junction?

The deck not only got a few more Legends...

... but a whole new pocket combo.

This combo really looks like a contraption when you consider you need multiple copies of a three-of; and the one-of Vial Smasher to really "go off" with it... But on the other hand, it has a very high ceiling.

With Relic of Legends in play Rona can always kind of make a lot of mana. In this particular case you're benefiting from Honest Rutstein - an outlaw despite purporting to be "Honest" - reducing the cost of the next creature (probably another copy of Honest Rutstein), and Vial Smasher tying them together as they all loop. Untap Rona, etc.

Honest Rutstein being a Legend lets you not only tap it, itself, for mana; but keep going. If you know the "Paddle" deck that Hall of Famer Tsuyoshi Fujita deck brought to the Skins Game back in Philadelphia, this deck has a lot of the same vibe (and, now that I think of it, Kamigawa Legends).

I think that the Four-Color Legends doesn't win "most" games this way. It's just a powerful creature deck that gets an enormous amount of value from specifically Slogurk... The core advantages come from Slogurk drawing into lots of Legendary Lands, being almost un-kill-able, and discounting the many spell-like abilities of Takenuma and Otawara by having lots of Legends in play.

On the one hand, this is straight up the most inventive deck you'll probably see coming out of this Pro Tour.

On the other hand, while less vulnerable than Temur Analyst, cards like Rest in Peace have disproportionate value against it in sideboarded games. Both Slogurk recursion and Honest Rutstein don't really work while graveyard hate is online.

Now we have a metagame.

Like Vial Smasher, let's go break it!

LOVE

MIKE