By the time anyone reads this, the Pro Tour will probably be in full swing; the best of the best will be unveiling what we can only imagine will be some sweet brews, and that alone is enough to get me to watch. I speak about it every three months, but if you are not watching the Pro Tour, you are truly missing out on the pinnacle of what this game can be at the competitive level, and with that come some of the craziest deck ideas we will see all season.

One of the subjects I have always wanted to cover but have never lined up properly with the Pro Tour is what pros like to call an event deck—in many cases, these are the decks that will be displayed at such a large-scale tournament as the Pro Tour. These decks—while they are probably a blast to play—may have a number of holes that can be exploited to make the deck less than optimal for a Grand Prix or other elongated event. At the Pro Tour level, there is certainly a case to bringing a deck that, if left unchecked, will just dominate the field even if you know those glaring holes do exist.

The main focus point of such decks for us at the financial level are the long-term implications of the cards contained within those decks. Our job is essentially to decipher just how much staying power a deck has and base whether to buy sell or hold copies of the key cards based on that knowledge—and that’s not always the easiest task. Todd Anderson’s U/R Goggles deck is one deck I felt may be in this group, though now, after another week of results, it appears it may have more staying power than originally anticipated.

U/R Goggles ? Shadows over Innistrad Standard | Jameson Perdue, 5?8th, SCG Invitational

• Creatures (7)
• 4 Thing in the Ice
• 3 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Chandra, Flamecaller

• Spells (25)
• 2 Fall of the Titans
• 2 Fiery Impulse
• 4 Fiery Temper
• 4 Lightning Axe
• 3 Magmatic Insight
• 4 Tormenting Voice
• 4 Fevered Visions
• 2 Pyromancer's Goggles

• Lands (25)
• 5 Island
• 7 Mountain
• 1 Highland Lake
• 4 Drownyard Temple
• 4 Shivan Reef
• 4 Wandering Fumarole

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Rise from the Tides
• 3 Kozilek's Return
• 1 Void Shatter
• 3 Sphinx's Tutelage
• 2 Rending Volley
• 2 Dispel
• 3 Negate

Buy This Deck

I am happy to see the changes this list has made over the past week, and of course, I am more than happy Fevered Visions has moved from the ’board to the main. There is certainly some pride that comes along with having a preview card that actually sees play, and that may bias me a bit toward this deck. But no matter my personal opinion, it seems U/R has a strong enough base to match the hype it received week one.

The easiest way to identify whether a deck has staying power is to evaluate it against the other decks we know are viable right now. Even if they are not tier-one lists, they have merit and playability and should therefore be added to any gauntlet when testing. If you notice that a deck that does well has a number of already existing matches that may be less than desirable, you can expect the following weeks to amplify the play of those decks, driving prices in many cases as well. Whether you know a deck is good does not truly factor into exactly how many people will pick up that deck in the coming weeks just because of how it finished, and if you are prepared for that matchup, you will net free wins, not only from the positive matchup, but also because the person has probably just picked that deck up while you have had time to test and theorize that match.

So far, the list of decks I have seen and been happy with include:

• W/x Humans
• Bant Company
• Mardu Control
• U/R Goggles
• Big White
• Cryptolith Rite variants
• G/W Tokens
• W/B Midrange
• Mono-Red Eldrazi
• Esper Dragons
• R/G Ramp
• Demonic Pact variants

While this does seem to be a long list, it is likely a few of these decks will fall off until aggro is not the dominating force within the format. With all of the tools currently at white’s disposal, it is hard to want to walk away from that color, and for that reason, I see people attempting to perhaps metagame within the existing shells rather than try for something brand new. I do hope we see a few surprises, as always, but with the powerful cards in white being so versatile, it is difficult to conjure a strategy that these decks are not already equipped to deal with.

While I have not attended the Pro Tour in nearly a decade now, I do still enjoy hypothesizing what the field may look like and making a deck choice to combat that; after all, if you are correct on what the meta looks like, you can probably use that same deck for the coming weeks while people are just regurgitating lists from the Pro Tour anyway.

My primary focus before the format shaped up was going to be Demonic Pact. I feel that card has so much potential with the additional sacrifice outlets in Shadows over Innistrad, but I just cannot find a list that can deal with the aggressive nature of the current format and still present a clock to beat the Esper Dragons and other control decks. The discard package can leave the opponent with nothing to do in some games, but one Dragonlord's Prerogative, and the player is right back in it. And without the clock to close the door before the opponent finds it, the match just feels fairly miserable. I am sure a lists exists that has addressed this problem, and Secure the Wastes does just steal some games, but the deck already relies so heavily on that card that control is typically ready.

If I were heading into the tournament this weekend, I would be looking at using Cryptolith Rite, as the token strategies have the early game to keep up, and Zulaport Cutthroat seems excessively good at keeping Humans in check.

B/G Cryptolith ? Shadows over Innistrad Standard | Ryan Bushard

• Creatures (28)
• 1 Nantuko Husk
• 1 World Breaker
• 2 Fleshbag Marauder
• 2 Zulaport Cutthroat
• 3 Matter Reshaper
• 3 Tireless Tracker
• 4 Catacomb Sifter
• 4 Duskwatch Recruiter
• 4 Sylvan Advocate
• 1 Kozilek, the Great Distortion
• 1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
• 2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar

• Spells (6)
• 1 Ruinous Path
• 2 From Beyond
• 3 Cryptolith Rite

• Lands (24)
• 6 Swamp
• 7 Forest
• 3 Sea Gate Wreckage
• 4 Hissing Quagmire
• 4 Llanowar Wastes

Buy This Deck

While this is not the only variant I have been playing, it is the one I have enjoyed the most and has the flexibility to both hold the early game while using the From Beyond tutor late game to pick your own adventure on how to end it. Unlike the ramp deck we have typically seen the large Eldrazi in, this does not fold to aggro strategies, and without the ramp deck showing up much since rotation, most people have lost concern with the Eldrazi, allowing some opportune positions to tilt the game heavily in your favor. It is also worth noting that, while Kozilek, the Great Distortion was not great in the ramp variants, I have found it to be spectacular in this deck, as the draw combined with the ability to counter removal—such as Declaration in Stone—that would otherwise deal with an Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger can allow you complete control rather than just exile the best two permanents only to be set back to square one. This deck's curve also lends itself much better to utilizing the counter ability and the colorless mana has proven easy enough to obtain by that point in the game.

My current sideboard looks like this:

B/G Cryptolith ? Shadows over Innistrad Standard | Ryan Bushard

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Zulaport Cutthroat
• 1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
• 1 Brood Butcher
• 2 Transgress the Mind
• 2 Managorger Hydra
• 3 Collected Company
• 2 Grasp of Darkness
• 2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet

Buy This Deck

While the metagame online is heavily skewed right now, I feel this ’board does still offer a wide array of options, including dropping almost all of the high end against control and playing into a Collected Company/Zulaport Cutthroat deck, which a lot of the Humans builds have a difficult time interacting with.

If I were not stuck on this build and were going for something a little more traditional, I would probably look at something like what Jacob Bard piloted to a Top 16 this past weekend in the Open.

Midrange Green ? Shadows over Innistrad Standard | Jacob Bard

• Creatures (19)
• 3 Den Protector
• 3 Lambholt Pacifist
• 4 Deathmist Raptor
• 4 Sylvan Advocate
• 1 Dragonlord Atarka
• 1 Linvala, the Preserver
• 1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
• 2 Archangel Avacyn

• Planeswalkers (7)
• 3 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
• 4 Nahiri, the Harbinger

• Spells (9)
• 4 Dromoka's Command
• 2 Traverse the Ulvenwald
• 3 Declaration in Stone

• Lands (25)
• 1 Mountain
• 2 Plains
• 6 Forest
• 1 Fortified Village
• 1 Game Trail
• 2 Cinder Glade
• 4 Canopy Vista
• 4 Evolving Wilds
• 4 Needle Spires

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Tireless Tracker
• 2 Clip Wings
• 2 Avacyn's Judgment
• 3 Radiant Flames
• 1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
• 1 Dragonlord Dromoka
• 1 Den Protector
• 3 Surrak, the Hunt Caller

Buy This Deck

This shell takes what I really like about the midrange green decks and plays an endgame that can quickly close the game while using Nahiri, the Harbinger and Deathmist Raptor to gain extra value from the Den Protectors. I can imagine this deck, full of so much card advantage, can truly overwhelm control while the aggressive matchups become much better after ’board, as the deck has the capacity to also play Radiant Flames and a creature package that doesn't all get savaged by doing so. I imagine we will see more lists like this cropping up as we begin to understand the best ways of attack at this format. But for now, this list would be a great place to begin.

Next week, we will finally have Pro Tour results in, and I cannot wait to finally have a true baseline once all of the secrets are uncovered. This formatting of SCG Opens into the PT has really created an almost preseason of sorts within the competitive end of this game, and I for one am ready to see the titans do battle. If you have any questions or comments, as always, feel free to leave them below or message me on Twitter. I will be posting through the weekend, and I always enjoy some good banter. Either way, lock in and get some rest, as this is going to be a long one!

Ryan Bushard

@CryppleCommand