The Magic Pro League’s Sapphire Division kicks off the Eldraine split this week, culminating with their Top 4 bracket on Saturday, October 5. Despite the fact that Throne of Eldraine, Magic: the Gathering’s newest set, doesn’t officially release until October 4, Standard rotation has already happened on MTG Arena so the Sapphire Division is battling this with brand new Standard decks.
Most of the decks from the Sapphire Division rely heavily on cards from Throne of Eldraine, from Oko, Thief of Crowns to plenty of new Adventure cards. Let’s take a look at the decks the eight players in the Sapphire Division submitted.
Golgari Adventure
Both Piotr Glogowski and John Rolf chose to play Golgari Adventure, which adds a plethora of Adventure creatures from Throne of Eldraine to a pre-exiting Golgari shell, replacing the Explore creatures from Ixalan that rotated out of Standard.
This deck leverages the card advantage inherent to the Adventure subtype, which allows its creatures to either draw cards (Foulmire Knight), kill creatures (Murderous Rider), or return creatures from the graveyard (Order of Midnight), in addition to attacking the opponent. The Adventures then combine with Edgewall Innkeeper to continue the train of card advantage.
Piotr Glogowski's Standard Golgari Adventure
| Creatures (26) 4 Edgewall Innkeeper 4 Murderous Rider 4 Foulmire Knight 2 Order of Midnight 4 Questing Beast 3 Rankle, Master of Pranks 4 Lovestruck Beast 1 Massacre Girl Spells (11) 2 Find // Finality 2 Legion’s End 4 Once Upon a Time 3 Assassin’s Trophy | Lands (23) 4 Overgrown Tomb 4 Temple of Malady 5 Forest 8 Swamp 2 Fabled Passage Sideboard (15) 1 Massacre Girl 3 Duress 2 Disfigure 4 Noxious Grasp 2 Veil of Summer 2 Ashiok, Dream Render 1 Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage |
Selesnya Adventure
Despite being known as a Golgari aficionado, Reid Duke chose to play an Adventure deck that combines Green with White, instead of his usual Black.
The White Adventure spells, like Faerie Guidemother, Giant Killer, and Shepherd of the Flock, give the deck a much more aggressive slant, though it also relies on Edgewall Innkeeper to provide additional card advantage.
Reid Duke's Standard Selesnya Adventure
| Creatures (26) 4 Edgewall Innkeeper 1 Emmara, Soul of the Accord 4 Faerie Guidemother 4 Giant Killer 4 Lovestruck Beast 2 Trostani Discordant 4 Venerated Loxodon 2 Flaxen Intruder 1 Shepherd of the Flock Spells (13) 4 Flower // Flourish 4 March of the Multitudes 4 Once Upon a Time 1 Unbreakable Formation | Lands (21) 1 Castle Ardenvale 8 Forest 8 Plains 4 Temple Garden Sideboard (15) 1 Unbreakable Formation 4 Devout Decree 2 Gideon Blackblade 2 Knight of Autumn 3 Veil of Summer 3 Questing Beast |
Simic and Bant Ramp
Jess Estephan and Lucas Esper Berthoud brought variations on previous Standard’s ramp decks that were powered by Nissa, Who Shakes the World, with Estephan choosing to add White while Berthoud stuck to just Green and Blue.
The archetype’s main plan is to ramp with cheap accelerants like Gilded Goose and Leafkin Druid, combined with the huge mana increase provided by Nissa, Who Shakes the World‘s passive ability, to play giant Hydroid Krasis and Voracious Hydras.
To that primary ramp plan, both decks add three of the most powerful Food cards from Throne of Eldraine: Oko, Thief of Crowns, Gilded Goose, and Wicked Wolf.
Jess Estephan's Standard Bant Food/Ramp
| Creatures (23) 4 Gilded Goose 1 Arboreal Grazer 3 Wicked Wolf 4 Hydroid Krasis 2 Voracious Hydra 4 Leafkin Druid 3 Risen Reef 1 Paradise Druid 1 Deputy of Detention Spells (1) 1 Once Upon a Time Planeswalkers (12) 4 Oko, Thief of Crowns 4 Nissa, Who Shakes the World 4 Teferi, Time Raveler | Lands (24) 4 Breeding Pool 4 Hallowed Fountain 4 Temple Garden 5 Forest 1 Plains 1 Island 4 Fabled Passage 1 Temple of Mystery Sideboard (15) 1 Deputy of Detention 2 Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves 2 Glass Casket 2 Negate 2 Veil of Summer 2 Questing Beast 2 Agent of Treachery 2 Disdainful Stroke |
Bant Golos Gates
Field of the Dead was the breakout card of the Summer and, when combined with Scapeshift and various ramp spells, made hordes of deadly Zombies. Alexander Hayne and Rei Sato aren’t taking the rotation of Scapeshift laying down, though, replacing it with Golos, Tireless Pilgrim to achieve a similar effect.
Alexander Hayne's Standard Bant Golos Gates
| Creatures (15) 4 Arboreal Grazer 4 Golos, Tireless Pilgrim 3 Realm-Cloaked Giant 4 Hydroid Krasis Spells (13) 4 Circuitous Route 1 Time Wipe 4 Growth Spiral 4 Once Upon a Time Planeswalkers (4) 4 Teferi, Time Raveler | Lands (28) 4 Field of the Dead 1 Simic Guildgate 2 Forest 1 Blossoming Sands 2 Breeding Pool 2 Fabled Passage 1 Golgari Guildgate 2 Hallowed Fountain 2 Island 1 Izzet Guildgate 1 Plains 1 Selesnya Guildgate 1 Castle Vantress 2 Temple Garden 1 Temple of Malady 1 Temple of Mystery 1 Plaza of Harmony 1 Orzhov Guildgate 1 Tranquil Cove Sideboard (15) 3 Knight of Autumn 2 Negate 1 Planar Cleansing 3 Veil of Summer 2 Unmoored Ego 3 Aether Gust 1 March of the Multitudes |
Jeskai Fires
Martin Juza stands apart from the crowd in the Sapphire Division with Jeskai Fires, a deck designed to take advantage of Fires of Invention from Throne of Eldraine. With just enough cheap spells to stay alive during the early game, Juza will put those two free spells per turn to good use with powerful four and five drops like Cavalier of Flame, Cavalier of Gales, and Drawn from Dreams.
Martin Juza's Standard Jeskai Fires
| Creatures (13) 4 Cavalier of Flame 4 Cavalier of Gales 4 Bonecrusher Giant 1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun Spells (10) 3 Drawn from Dreams 4 Deafening Clarion 3 Aether Gust Enchantments (4) 4 Fires of Invention Planeswalkers (4) 4 Teferi, Time Raveler | Lands (29) 4 Temple of Triumph 4 Steam Vents 2 Temple of Epiphany 2 Sacred Foundry 4 Fabled Passage 4 Castle Vantress 2 Island 2 Mountain 4 Hallowed Fountain 1 Plains Sideboard (15) 3 Realm-Cloaked Giant 4 Mystical Dispute 3 Devout Decree 3 Ashiok, Dream Render 2 Disdainful Stroke |
The Sapphire Division of the Magic Pro League plays through the week, culminating an a Top 4 double-elimination bracket on Saturday, October 5 on twitch.tv/magic. The Eldraine Split will feature two new changes. First, players have to play the same deck for the round robin portion and Top 4 bracket. Second, if more than four players finish with 4-3 records or better, then the first through third seeds will be seeded by record and tiebreakers as usual; while the fourth seed will be determined by a play-in round among the remaining players, the winner of which will be the fourth seed in the Top 4 bracket.