The stage is set, the lights are on, and all of the biggest players in the game have shown up—after the dust settles, eight decks were left on Sunday to fight for the title. The titans of our sport have lined up against one another round after round. While the field on day one looked diverse, it slowly whittled down to the point where the Eldrazi were nearly all that remained, leaving all else in their wake.

U/R Eldrazi ? Modern | Jiachen Tao, Pro Tour Atlanta, 1st Place

• Creatures (33)
• 4 Reality Smasher
• 4 Thought-Knot Seer
• 4 Eldrazi Mimic
• 3 Eldrazi Obligator
• 2 Ruination Guide
• 4 Vile Aggregate
• 4 Drowner of Hope
• 4 Endless One
• 4 Eldrazi Skyspawner

• Spells (3)
• 3 Dismember

• Lands (24)
• 3 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Eldrazi Temple
• 4 Eye of Ugin
• 4 Scalding Tarn
• 1 Gemstone Caverns
• 2 Steam Vents
• 2 Island
• 4 Shivan Reef

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Stubborn Denial
• 1 Tomb of the Spirit Dragon
• 1 Spellskite
• 1 Ratchet Bomb
• 2 Relic of Progenitus
• 2 Gut Shot
• 2 Chalice of the Void
• 3 Hurkyl's Recall

Buy This Deck

While this is not my personal favorite of the Eldrazi lists, it does show the most creativity when it comes to deck construction. This list seeks to go wide quickly while disrupting your opponent with Eldrazi Obligator and Thought-Knot Seer. There is not a ton of interaction in most of these lists, and while it certainly appears to be the boogey man of Modern, I don't see the immediate ban being needed.

Stay Calm and Modern

While this format seems broken and shattered on the surface, I believe, in the coming months, we will certainly see Eldrazi go from the only deck to one of many contenders. Looking at the results alone gives a skewed view of what I believe actually occurred behind the scenes this past weekend.

In general, you have two camps among the pros when it comes to Modern. First, of course, are those players who embrace the format regularly, and second are those who only play this time of year. The first camp—or at least the teams that included players from this camp—probably came to an Eldrazi deck for a multitude of reasons. Is the deck tier-one? Of course, if nothing else, this weekend proved that it can hang with the best of the new format. I don't believe that means it is the best deck in the format; certainly, it may have been so for the Pro Tour, but as we have seen time and again, that does not mean it will dominate down the road. The fact that the deck does have the raw power does make it an ideal choice for a Pro Tour in which the majority of the field is ill-prepared or scrambling to find something other than Twin to play. Playing a deck that not everyone is ready for is usually the key to success at the Pro Tour level, and we certainly saw that this weekend.

Colorless Eldrazi ? Modern | Ivan Floch, Pro Tour Atlanta, 2nd Place

• Creatures (26)
• 4 Matter Reshaper
• 4 Eldrazi Mimic
• 4 Reality Smasher
• 4 Thought-Knot Seer
• 4 Endless One
• 2 Spellskite
• 4 Simian Spirit Guide

• Spells (10)
• 4 Dismember
• 4 Chalice of the Void
• 2 Ratchet Bomb

• Lands (24)
• 2 Wastes
• 4 Eldrazi Temple
• 4 Eye of Ugin
• 3 Mutavault
• 3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 4 Ghost Quarter
• 4 Blinkmoth Nexus

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Warping Wail
• 3 Oblivion Sower
• 1 Spellskite
• 1 Ratchet Bomb
• 4 Relic of Progenitus
• 3 Gut Shot
• 2 Pithing Needle

Buy This Deck

The second camp, combined with the banning of Splinter Twin, created the perfect storm of factors to end up with the results we did. This group of players either had too many hours into testing decks such as Tron or did not play Modern enough to be comfortable joining the fray of Eldrazi and instead attempted to get under the other midrange decks through Infect and Affinity. Over the few weeks before the Pro Tour, it seemed no one was able to crack the code to control—or even a midrange deck that resembles Splinter Twin with enough consistency to hold through the grueling rounds of the Pro Tour.

When we look at the above deck through the lens of the format as a whole, it does seem to be a major player, but it still does not come without a number of weaknesses. Before I move onto Standard in this larger-than-life, Eldrazi-filled week, I want to go over a few ways I have identified to attack these decks. While not every card on this list has a home yet, it is likely new decks may be able to form to combat the sudden surge of aggro decks we have seen.

Ghostly Prison — While this has been on radars for a while, we have not seen many lists showing up that I have been happy with. The Prison deck we do have is a great start, but I feel it may need to take a different direction to be able to the aggro onslaught combined with what combo decks do exist.

Ensnaring Bridge — Of all of the things, I was amazed not to see Lantern of Insight was not really anywhere to be seen. I feel that may have been a great choice if the list had been changed around slightly to accommodate a few more aggro cards into the main. I believe a lot of people expected big Eldrazi to make a bigger appearance, and with that deck already having problems, finishing before the round ends it may have been more of a hedge against a number of draws over anything else. Looking back, I imagine a number of players may have looked at this deck closer if they knew exactly what we would be seeing, but hindsight is 20/20. I would expect to see more of these lists locally if Eldrazi keeps up the numbers it showed this weekend.

Spreading Seas — While Merfolk had shown up in force in the recent months, it was depressed at the Pro Tour—perhaps the speed just wasn't there to combat all of the other aggro decks that existed, but if you can consistently shut down Eye of Ugin or Eldrazi Temple, this deck slows down a great deal. I would love to see lists that could coordinate this with a card like Ghostly Prison; there hasn’t been a Jeskai list I have seen yet, but between that and Bant Enchantments, there are certainly enough pieces to take on the current field.

Fog — You read correctly: Fog, the single-green instant that has shown up here and there across formats for years. This is a little misleading, as Fog itself may not even make a final list, but much like Lantern Control can lock down the deck, Turbo-Fog lists have always excelled at keeping the board irrelevant. While it may be a little aggressive to play a conventional list, I can certainly see a place in the format for a lower-to-the-ground variant that looks to make use of smaller draw effects rather than cards like Font of Mythos as versions in the past have. This may seem to be a strange time to want to give your opponent more cards to work with, but when you look at not only the Top 8 but the Pro Tour format in general, there is little interaction with you, and for the matchups such as Burn, you can probably hedge in the ’board with a full set of Leyline of Sanctity to work with as well. That deck has held these lists back for a while, but now that Splinter Twin, and control in general, are not around, it may be a great time to be on a deck that says no for such a low cost. The deck is also extremely budget, meaning even if the deck only does well until the code is cracked on control, you won’t be in for a ton, and most of the cards are playable in Commander, meaning they will hold value regardless.

Going Big in Standard

Over the next few weeks, I will work on a Turbo-Fog list, as I have begun testing a few variants online, but for now, it is time to get in on a little Standard for the week. All the focus has been on Modern recently, but that doesn’t mean Standard has been forgotten, and this week, I want to take a look at the Eldrazi threat and see what sort of creative list we can muster this week focusing on the titans.

One of the cards I have been disappointed to watch fall off the radar is See the Unwritten, so this week, I want to play around with a list that can make use of See the Unwritten while not being a slave to the theme so much so that it has no play outside of when it draws the key card. A few cards from the new set have piqued my interest, and this week, I want to focus on the new synergies we have.

See the Unwritten Synergies ? Oath of the Gatewatch Standard | Ryan Bushard

• Spells (9)
• 3 See the Unwritten
• 4 Fiery Impulse
• 2 Crater's Claws

• Creatures (26)
• 4 Rattleclaw Mystic
• 3 Mina and Denn, Wildborn
• 4 Reality Smasher
• 4 Thought-Knot Seer
• 4 Sylvan Advocate
• 2 Oblivion Sower
• 2 World Breaker
• 3 Heir of the Wilds

Buy This Deck

Looking at a shell that doesn't need to have giants running around to take advantage of See the Unwritten is not something I have really seen yet. Though this deck may have an issue with Rally decks, it could easily adapt in the ’board to include sweepers to help that matchup. I feel the top end of Eldrazi needs to find a way over the hump that is Rally—it seems that most of the other matchups would be in a deck’s favor, but as long as unlimited chump-blockers and Reflector Mages are the norm, Eldrazi needs a way to adapt.

Next week, I will be taking a look at Standard solely again as the Pro Tour hype dies down. I have another deck I want to talk about that I have yet to see pop up yet, but I currently need to get some more testing in to figure out a few holes before I unveil a list. If you have any questions or comments about Standard or Modern this week, feel free, as always, to leave a comment below or find me on Twitter. Until next week, remember to keep your spirits high, and don't let the Eldrazi desolate your play experience—this too shall pass.

Ryan Bushard

@CryppleCommand