Here are the top sixteen decks from StarCityGames Open: Atlanta. I determined the average mana cost of the main deck and prices in dollars and Magic Online tickets by importing each decklist into the Decked Builder app. Dollars are from CoolStuffInc.com, and tickets are from MTGOTraders.com. (Note: Magic Online prices will not include Gatecrash cards, as they are not yet available online.) The graphs display the strategies, colors, and most-played archetypes of the Top 16.

Place	Deck	Colors	Avg Mana	Cost ($)	Cost (Tix)
1	Naya Humans		2.3	$545	291
2	Human Reanimator		3.05	$467	248
3	Boros aggro		2.14	$397	199
4	Jund aggro		2.47	$440	218
5	R/W/U Flash		2.69	$649	391
6	Four-color tokens		2.8	$709	467
7	Jund midrange		3	$700	477
8	Esper Spirits		2.97	$525	285
9	Mono-red aggro		2.13	$257	140
10	Jund midrange		3	$731	492
11	Naya Humans		1.95	$509	232
12	Jund midrange		2.89	$814	547
13	Jund midrange		3	$776	580
14	Human Reanimator		3.05	$467	248
15	Naya midrange		3.25	$808	473
16	Jund midrange		2.91	$818	615
	Average:		2.7	$601	369

Deck Check: The Top 16 Rundown

Jund midrange was a major force in the SCG Open: Atlanta Top 16. The only big addition from Gatecrash is Stomping Ground to fix the mana base, and the five decks played seventeen copies between them.

Let’s take a look at the top two decks of SCG Open: Atlanta.

First Place

"Naya Humans by Joseph Herrera, First Place at SCG Open: Atlanta"

• Creatures (31)
• 3 Frontline Medic
• 3 Huntmaster of the Fells
• 3 Nearheath Pilgrim
• 3 Restoration Angel
• 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 4 Champion of the Parish
• 4 Mayor of Avabruck
• 4 Silverblade Paladin
• 3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

• Spells (6)
• 3 Searing Spear
• 3 Selesnya Charm

• Lands (23)
• 1 Plains
• 3 Forest
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 2 Kessig Wolf Run
• 2 Stomping Ground
• 3 Clifftop Retreat
• 3 Rootbound Crag
• 4 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Temple Garden

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Boros Charm
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 2 Centaur Healer
• 1 Zealous Conscripts
• 2 Pillar of Flame
• 2 Garruk Relentless
• 1 Fiend Hunter
• 2 Oblivion Ring
• 1 Ray of Revelation

Buy This Deck

Naya Humans also won SCG Open: Dallas, the last major tournament before the release of Gatecrash. The availability of Stomping Ground allows the archetype to swap out Borderland Ranger for the more aggressive Frontline Medic. Nearheath Pilgrim is less aggressive, but the lifelink certainly helps against an aggro-centric metagame.

Second Place

"Human Reanimator by Brian Braun-Duin, Second Place at SCG Open: Atlanta"

• Creatures (17)
• 1 Cathedral Sanctifier
• 4 Angel of Glory's Rise
• 4 Cartel Aristocrat
• 4 Fiend Hunter
• 4 Huntmaster of the Fells

• Spells (20)
• 4 Grisly Salvage
• 4 Faithless Looting
• 4 Farseek
• 4 Mulch
• 4 Unburial Rites

• Lands (23)
• 1 Blood Crypt
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 2 Clifftop Retreat
• 2 Temple Garden
• 3 Sunpetal Grove
• 4 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Stomping Ground
• 4 Woodland Cemetery

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Slaughter Games
• 4 Appetite for Brains
• 3 Cathedral Sanctifier
• 2 Purify the Grave
• 3 Ray of Revelation

Buy This Deck

Brian Braun-Duin and Brad Nelson (fourteenth place) both played this updated Human Reanimator list. The deck adds four copies of Cartel Aristocrat, a new Gatecarsh aristocrat that demands sacrifices. This one is Human, which means it works quite well with the Angel of Glory's Rise combo. Brad Nelson provides more insight in this deck tech.

Let’s look at some other decks making use of new Gatecrash cards in Atlanta.

Boros Aggro

"Boros Aggro by Andrew Schneider, Third Place at SCG Open: Atlanta"

• Creatures (26)
• 2 Lightning Mauler
• 2 Stonewright
• 2 Thundermaw Hellkite
• 4 Ash Zealot
• 4 Boros Reckoner
• 4 Hellrider
• 4 Rakdos Cackler
• 4 Stromkirk Noble

• Spells (11)
• 1 Brimstone Volley
• 2 Boros Charm
• 4 Searing Spear
• 4 Pillar of Flame

• Lands (23)
• 15 Mountain
• 4 Clifftop Retreat
• 4 Sacred Foundry

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Skullcrack
• 2 Boros Charm
• 4 Mizzium Mortars
• 1 Thundermaw Hellkite
• 4 Volcanic Strength

Buy This Deck

This deck is basically mono-red aggro with Boros Charm and is very similar to the ninth-place mono-red deck, both of which went with Boros Reckoner as the 3-drop of choice as a replacement for Pyreheart Wolf.

Jund Aggro

"Jund Aggro by Tyler Lindsey, Fourth Place at SCG Open: Dallas"

• Creatures (28)
• 2 Thundermaw Hellkite
• 3 Deathrite Shaman
• 3 Flinthoof Boar
• 4 Dreg Mangler
• 4 Experiment One
• 4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
• 4 Hellrider
• 4 Strangleroot Geist

• Spells (8)
• 2 Abrupt Decay
• 2 Tragic Slip
• 4 Searing Spear

• Lands (24)
• 1 Mountain
• 3 Forest
• 2 Dragonskull Summit
• 2 Woodland Cemetery
• 4 Blood Crypt
• 4 Overgrown Tomb
• 4 Rootbound Crag
• 4 Stomping Ground

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Skullcrack
• 2 Gruul Charm
• 1 Rakdos Charm
• 1 Deathrite Shaman
• 2 Golgari Charm
• 2 Tribute to Hunger
• 2 Rolling Temblor
• 2 Abrupt Decay

Buy This Deck

The evolve on Experiment One is triggered by any of the other creatures in the deck, potentially twice in the case of Strangleroot Geist. It is a poor top-deck later in the game and not something you’d want to see multiples of early, however, so it’ll be interesting to see if it remains a four-of in Standard decks. Ghor-Clan Rampager is either a solid attacker or a game-ending pump spell.

Esper Spirits

"Esper Spirits by Eddie Walker, Eighth Place at SCG Open: Atlanta"

• Creatures (18)
• 3 Restoration Angel
• 4 Drogskol Captain
• 4 Dungeon Geists
• 3 Obzedat, Ghost Council
• 4 Geist of Saint Traft

• Spells (18)
• 2 Devour Flesh
• 2 Ultimate Price
• 3 Orzhov Charm
• 4 Azorius Charm
• 4 Lingering Souls
• 3 Blind Obedience

• Lands (24)
• 1 Island
• 1 Plains
• 1 Moorland Haunt
• 1 Vault of the Archangel
• 2 Godless Shrine
• 2 Isolated Chapel
• 2 Watery Grave
• 3 Cavern of Souls
• 3 Drowned Catacomb
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Hallowed Fountain

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Devour Flesh
• 1 Ultimate Price
• 3 Rest in Peace
• 3 Detention Sphere
• 4 Augur of Bolas
• 2 Pithing Needle

Buy This Deck

Obzedat, Ghost Council makes its first appearance in Standard as a member of this Spirit tribal deck. The deck relies on fourteen 2-mana spells to manage the board and can start playing its own creatures at 3 mana. Blind Obedience from Gatecrash is a means to slow down and potentially extort opponents.

Cards of Choice

Now let’s take a look at the most-played creatures and removal spells in the Top 16 decks of the tournament.

Huntmaster of the Fells is a popular chap, finding a home in main of ten decks across five different archetypes: the first-place Naya Humans, Naya midrange, all five Jund midrange, both Human Reanimator, and four-color tokens.

Boros Reckoner is making an early name for himself as the go-to aggressive 3-drop. The Minotaur Wizard was in four different archetypes: Boros aggro, mono-red aggro, the eleventh-place Naya Humans, and Naya Midrange.

Ten decks played Pillar of Flame, including all five Jund midrange decks, both Naya Humans, mono-red aggro, Boros aggro, and R/W/U Flash. Zombie terror has died down, and we see a near even split between the main and side for the card. If Human Reanimator picks up steam, Pillar may swing back to the main deck to exile Huntmaster of the Fells and Cartel Aristocrat.

Devour Flesh is the first Gatecrash removal card to make the most-played list. Two Jund decks played two and one in the main, respectively, Esper Spirits went with a two-and-two split between main and side, and four-color tokens included two in the side. The card is a 2-mana, instant-speed answer to the hexproof creatures in the Bant Auras deck. The life-gain is a pretty minimal downside in the case of Invisible Stalker and Geist of Saint Traft.

Five decks included Ray of Revelation in their sideboards: both Human Reanimator, the first-place Naya Humans, four-color tokens, and Naya midrange. It helps mitigate the damage output of the Bant Auras deck but is also critical for the Human Reanimator decks to remove Rest in Peace (ten copies in the Top 16).

The MTG Standard Metagame

The following graphs track the deck archetypes with the most top sixteen finishes at major Standard tournaments. The top graph shows results in the last month, and the bottom shows results since Return to Ravnica rotated into the format in October of 2012.

Five finishes in the Top 16 of SCG Open: Atlanta has vaulted Jund midrange into the top spot in both the last month and the Standard season. Here’s a look at the ups and downs of the archetype since rotation.

By the Numbers: Gatecrash in Atlanta

Here are the Gatecrash cards that saw play in the SCG Open: Atlanta Top 16:

What Do You Think? SCG Open: Edison

Which Gatecrash card will see the most copies played in the Top 16 decks of SCG Open: Edison?

[poll id=221]

Speaking of polls, two weeks ago in my article Standard in Dallas, I posed a question: “What deck will win SCG Open: Atlanta?” Here are the results:

The Close

That wraps up this week’s column. Join me next week when I review the results of SCG Open: Edison and the Standard metagame. Thanks for reading!

Nick Vigabool

@MrVigabool