This week brings a great deal of closure to this year. Not only do we have the last Theros-block-legal Pro Tour, we also have the end of the pro season and a dramatic metagame shakeup, as has become the norm since Khans of Tarkir. As happy as I am to see another Pro Tour, I will miss this past year of Magic—not only has it revitalized my love for playing the game, it has also shown exemplary growth in both player base and community.

This week, we saw a great deal of diversity on the top tables, and though I cannot cover every new brew from Vancouver, I can do my best to decipher what will last until rotation, but a few short months away. The first deck I want to talk about is one I was not able to divulge last week due to how under wraps it had remained. As it so happens, Raymond Perez managed to find himself in the hot seat during a particularly entertaining deck tech featuring one version of this deck.

U/R Ensoul ? Magic Origins Standard | Stephen Barrios, Top 8, Pro Tour Vancouver

• Creatures (24)
• 2 Whirler Rogue
• 4 Thopter Engineer
• 3 Phyrexian Revoker
• 4 Chief of the Foundry
• 4 Hangarback Walker
• 4 Ornithopter
• 3 Pia and Kiran Nalaar

• Spells (16)
• 4 Shrapnel Blast
• 4 Ensoul Artifact
• 4 Ghostfire Blade
• 4 Springleaf Drum

• Lands (20)
• 3 Island
• 3 Mountain
• 1 Mana Confluence
• 1 Swiftwater Cliffs
• 4 Shivan Reef
• 4 Temple of Epiphany
• 4 Darksteel Citadel

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Profaner of the Dead
• 3 Disdainful Stroke
• 2 Negate
• 3 Thopter Spy Network
• 3 Wild Slash
• 2 Tomb of the Spirit Dragon

Buy This Deck

This entire archetype is something I am sure many of you, as I, have been playing around with since Ensoul Artifact was spoiled, but it seems the timing was finally right with the addition of the thopter engines in Magic Origins. I am a huge fan of how aggressive and resilient this deck can be when not hated out, much like Heroic. Unlike Heroic, this has cropped up so late in the season that it may be too late by time people forget it exists, and it therefore may not have much more time to shine. With the cat finally out of the bag, it will be interesting to see exactly how the metagame adapts to this new approach at midrange and, in turn, how Scissors will reply.

This deck caused Ghostfire Blade to go from just bulk to as high as $4 on some sites, netting you some solid trade bait if you managed to snag any. If you held off this long, it may be best to let them settle a week and still look at moving in. Any copies you can find under $1 will be good approaching the next block.

While U/R Thopters is much flashier, it was Mono-Red that got the job done this time. Combining the solid core of aggressive creatures we have seen all year with some new late-game reach from Magic Origins, it seems a fierce package to contend with moving forward. The beauty of Mono-Red is it will never be so dominant you cannot beat it, so expect decks packing some life-gain and board control new week at Friday Night Magic.

Mono-Red Aggro ? Magic Origins Standard | Joel Larsson, First Place, Pro Tour Vancouver

• Creatures (18)
• 3 Firedrinker Satyr
• 4 Abbot of Keral Keep
• 4 Lightning Berserker
• 4 Monastery Swiftspear
• 3 Zurgo Bellstriker

• Spells (21)
• 1 Fiery Impulse
• 4 Lightning Strike
• 4 Searing Blood
• 4 Stoke the Flames
• 4 Wild Slash
• 4 Exquisite Firecraft

• Lands (21)
• 21 Mountain

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Chandra, Pyromaster
• 4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
• 3 Satyr Firedancer
• 2 Arc Lightning
• 4 Roast

Buy This Deck

Both Abbot of Keral Keep and Exquisite Firecraft shot through the roof this week as the new closers leaving much to be desired at their current price tags. I would hold off on snagging those unless you plan to be aggressively playing over the next two months. I do believe both will hold enough value to get into them during rotation, though, as this deck already shows a great deal of potential and loses little that cannot be replaced in terms of creatures. The current burn suite is calling a great deal from cards currently on the chopping block, but that does not mean we will not see replacements come the fall.

Outside of Mono-Red and the new Ensoul Artifact decks in the Top 8, we saw singleton copies of a number of decks with very little gained from Magic Origins. Nissa, Vastwood Seer was a factor, though not as large a one as many expected, but she’s still a solid addition to any of the mid- to late-game-based green decks. I would not be surprised to see a few of the ’Walkers’ prices begin to drop now that other value in the set has been found. Even Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh is seeing some love, and with all of those playables, it is hard to justify many cards being over $20.

The last deck I want to cover this week is more of a personal preference than anything else, but I do believe it is powerful enough to play with, and it is where I am turning my sights for the next few weeks.

G/W Constellation ? Magic Origins Standard | Kyle Boggemes, Pro Tour Vancouver, Constructed 7?3

• Creatures (16)
• 4 Courser of Kruphix
• 4 Eidolon of Blossoms
• 4 Herald of the Pantheon
• 4 Nyx-Fleece Ram

• Spells (19)
• 4 Kruphix's Insight
• 2 Frontier Siege
• 2 Starfield of Nyx
• 3 Sigil of the Empty Throne
• 4 Banishing Light
• 4 Silkwrap

• Lands (25)
• 5 Plains
• 8 Forest
• 4 Blossoming Sands
• 4 Temple of Plenty
• 4 Windswept Heath

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
• 4 Suspension Field
• 4 Boon Satyr
• 2 Tormod's Crypt
• 1 Nissa, Worldwaker
• 3 Plummet

Buy This Deck

Though I am not sold on this exact shell, I am a huge fan of Starfield of Nyx in the current environment with cards such as Courser of Kruphix and Banishing Light. This list looks great at maintaining card advantage through the game while not folding to the early onslaught, but I want to play around with a few splashes and see if we can make the deck slightly less linear and perhaps open up a toolbox option. I am sold on the shell, but I do not like all of the dead cards in the main against some of the control shells that seem to still be lingering around.

After a long season of great decks and fantastic coverage, it seems hard to believe that it all starts over in just a few short weeks, but for now, it feels great to look back on a year that was not diminished by the likes of a banning or unfair deck—at no point was the metagame so linear you knew exactly what you were playing against every round. It seemed that, every weekend, some new deck or a rehash of something from earlier in the season was making waves. For once, Standard did not slow and bore, it seemed only to liven up the player base as a whole, and I am sure Wizards will keep that going as we return to Zendikar.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, leave them below. As we approach the new set, I will just be toying around with decks like the one above until spoilers hit, so if you have a brew you would like me to look at and test out, send it my way. I am always a fan of flashy and fun win conditions, so the goofier the better. As spoilers begin to trickle in, I will be shifting my focus to what cards from Tarkir block and Magic Origins look to stand the test of rotation and which will suddenly be left without a home. I hope you are all as excited as I am to return to the land of the Eldrazi—the last time I played competitive Magic was during this block almost five years ago now, so I am excited to see how it stacks up against what I remember back then . . . Assuming they don't repeat Caw-Blade, I think we will be all right.

Ryan Bushard

@CryppleCommand