Welcome to Gathering Magic's weekly quintet of Magic Online you should be aware of this weekend, whether you're playing a major online event, going to a Grand Prix, or hitting Friday Night Magic. In an era of big data, Magic Online provides some of the biggest data, so even a quick-and-dirty snapshot of recent activity gets you ahead of the competition. This week, I'll cover Standard with a peek at Fate Reforged Draft.

Like Mr. James, the Grand Prix circuit moves from Miami to Cleveland. And the fallout from both left Miami face-down. Here's what 4-0'd on Sunday and Monday (Bold = won the Daily):

Three Times:

Abzan Control

Twice:

Green-White Devotion

Jeskai

Once:

Red-Green Devotion

Blue-Black Control

Mono-Green Devotion (with Temur Ascendancy)

Blue-Red Ensoul (with a backup Cloudform/Ghostfire Blade plan)

Red-White Aggro

Mono-Red Aggro

Abzan Aggro

Red-Green Midrange

Red-Green Aggro

That's a normal-looking metagame, with one notable exception. How are things under the hood?

Abzan Control ? Standard | Hoey07

• Creatures (10)
• 4 Courser of Kruphix
• 4 Siege Rhino
• 2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang

• Spells (24)
• 3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
• 2 End Hostilities
• 2 Read the Bones
• 4 Thoughtseize
• 4 Abzan Charm
• 3 Bile Blight
• 3 Hero's Downfall
• 1 Murderous Cut
• 1 Utter End

• Lands (26)
• 3 Caves of Koilos
• 2 Forest
• 2 Llanowar Wastes
• 2 Plains
• 4 Sandsteppe Citadel
• 4 Temple of Malady
• 4 Temple of Silence
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 4 Windswept Heath

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Read the Bones
• 1 Utter End
• 3 Drown in Sorrow
• 1 Erase
• 4 Fleecemane Lion
• 2 Glare of Heresy
• 1 Liliana Vess
• 2 Mastery of the Unseen

Buy This Deck

33 of the 34 non-lands in the maindeck are the same as the Daily winner in last week's article; a Hero's Downfall became an End Hostilities this week. The sideboard has the Fleecemane Lion juke instead of a Nissa, Worldwaker plan, but other than that Abzan Control hasn't changed much. Then again, when your entire creature suite is playable in Modern, how much do you need to change?

Korazin placed seventh in the same focusing less on disruption and more on planeswalkers, adding two Sorin, Solemn Visitor, a Garruk, Apex Predator, and an Ajani, Mentor of Heroes, adding two Fleecemane Lion to the maindeck to compensate for the extra top end. Abzan has been good at running several angles, and this change adds complexity to determining what version of Abzan you're facing.

Of course, maybe you don't need to run black at all...

Green-White Devotion ? Standard | danabeast7

• Creatures (29)
• 4 Courser of Kruphix
• 4 Elvish Mystic
• 2 Fleecemane Lion
• 4 Genesis Hydra
• 4 Polukranos, World Eater
• 4 Sylvan Caryatid
• 1 Temur Sabertooth
• 4 Voyaging Satyr
• 2 Whisperwood Elemental

• Spells (7)
• 1 Banishing Light
• 4 Mastery of the Unseen
• 2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion

• Lands (24)
• 1 Blossoming Sands
• 7 Forest
• 1 Mana Confluence
• 4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 3 Plains
• 4 Temple of Plenty
• 4 Windswept Heath

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Banishing Light
• 1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 2 Glare of Heresy
• 1 Hornet Queen
• 2 Hunt the Hunter
• 1 Last Breath
• 1 Nissa, Worldwaker
• 2 Reclamation Sage
• 1 Setessan Tactics
• 3 Valorous Stance

Buy This Deck

After Sunday's Miami final, some players built nearly the exact 75. Danabeast7 went a slightly different direction, swapping two Whisperwood Elementals for two Elspeth, Sun's Champion. Elspeth works here not only because there are few naturally high-power creatures but because the ultimate is breaks the mirror. This deck already has trouble completing a game in the paper mirror match; add Magic Online's time pressure - and matches not going to draws - and going over the top becomes a necessity.

Reclamation Sage appears to be increasing in sideboard popularity for several green decks, whether they have access to Destructive Revelry or not. Hornet Nest was in the Miami-winning sideboard but absent here; it is at its best as surprise with manifest, but it might not be positioned well in this deck otherwise. It's insurance against Anger of the Gods but not Drown in Sorrow, which might not be enough as the metagame shifts.

Red-Green Devotion won Monday's Daily, but its green core is roughly identical to Green-White Devotion's, so it's a bit redundant to discuss. This is much less redundant:

Red-Green Aggro ? Standard | Klent

• Creatures (30)
• 3 Ashcloud Phoenix
• 3 Boon Satyr
• 4 Elvish Mystic
• 3 Fanatic of Xenagos
• 4 Goblin Rabblemaster
• 4 Heir of the Wilds
• 2 Rattleclaw Mystic
• 2 Shaman of the Great Hunt
• 4 Stormbreath Dragon
• 1 Yasova Dragonclaw

• Spells (7)
• 4 Crater's Claws
• 3 Lightning Strike

• Lands (23)
• 1 Bloodstained Mire
• 7 Forest
• 2 Mana Confluence
• 5 Mountain
• 4 Temple of Abandon
• 4 Wooded Foothills

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Arc Lightning
• 1 Back to Nature
• 1 Barrage of Boulders
• 2 Destructive Revelry
• 2 Magma Spray
• 1 Mob Rule
• 1 Outpost Siege
• 1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
• 3 Xenagos, the Reveler

Buy This Deck

Red-green decks had been getting slower and bigger of late, but Klent stripped it back down to the turn-two Goblin Rabblemaster game plan. Lightning Strike is a good choice if you expect loads of Fleecemane Lions, while Yasova Dragonclaw is excellent against Whisperwood Elemental, since Yasova can steal the Elemental and sacrifice it immediately. Mob Rule can break a board stall against either a weenie horde or a bunch of huge dumb things; both styles exist prominently in the metagame, so the card has surprising utility right now.

Rather than give you another Ensoul deck, I dug into a Champs Qualifier to find a deck that, 3-2 as it was, has moxie aplenty:

Chromanticore-Soulflayer ? Standard | MeddlingMage77

• Creatures (24)
• 4 Chromanticore
• 2 Phenax, God of Deception
• 4 Satyr Wayfinder
• 3 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
• 2 Silumgar, the Drifting Death
• 4 Soulflayer
• 4 Sylvan Caryatid
• 1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang

• Spells (12)
• 4 Commune with the Gods
• 3 Bile Blight
• 1 Murderous Cut
• 4 Sultai Charm

• Lands (24)
• 2 Bloodstained Mire
• 2 Island
• 1 Mountain
• 4 Opulent Palace
• 1 Polluted Delta
• 4 Sandsteppe Citadel
• 2 Swamp
• 2 Temple of Deceit
• 4 Temple of Mystery
• 2 Yavimaya Coast

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Murderous Cut
• 3 Disdainful Stroke
• 3 Drown in Sorrow
• 3 Negate
• 1 Soul of Innistrad
• 3 Treasure Cruise
• 1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Buy This Deck

This is the "traditional" Soulflayer shell, a keywordpalooza aimed to build the best and cheapest Soulflayer possible. When Frank Karsten tried it out, he called playing it "a mix between Sidisi Whip and Hexproof," and that was without Sidisi, Brood Tyrant in the deck. Sultai Charm is an enabler, a kill spell, and a maindeck answer to the enchantment engines that are all the rage these days. It appears that Phenax, God of Deception is primarily to "imprint" indestructible onto Soulflayer - there's normally some God or another in this deck. On the battlefield it's more often self-milling for Zombies and fuel, but with as many high-toughness creatures as are in the deck, it could give an alternate win condition in slow grinds. Oddly, Phenax makes Silumgar, the Drifting Death a faster clock milling than swinging.

And sometimes you cast Chromanticore. There's everything wonderful and right about that.

This weekend has a Limited Grand Prix in Cleveland and in Auckland, so let's see what Limited deck qualified someone for the Pro Tour last weekend:

Blue-Red ? FRF/KTK/KTK Draft | osmanozguney

• Creatures (13)
• 1 Bloodfire Expert
• 1 Goblin Heelcutter
• 1 Gore Swine
• 1 Horde Ambusher
• 1 Jeering Instigator
• 1 Jeskai Windscout
• 1 Lotus Path Djinn
• 1 Mardu Scout
• 2 Mardu Warshrieker
• 1 Mystic of the Hidden Way
• 1 Summit Prowler
• 1 War-Name Aspirant

• Spells (11)
• 1 Pyrotechnics
• 1 Tormenting Voice
• 1 Treasure Cruise
• 1 Arcbond
• 2 Crippling Chill
• 1 Enhanced Awareness
• 1 Force Away
• 1 Rite of Undoing
• 2 Stubborn Denial

• Lands (16)
• 6 Island
• 8 Mountain
• 2 Swiftwater Cliffs

Buy This Deck

There's little excitement to this deck, but it's incredibly efficient. Cheap threats that curve out at four mana, backed by Crippling Chill and the nasty Arcbond, allow for a quick clock. The tempo spells make Gore Swine and Bloodfire Expert connect more often, giving little time for recovery. Looking at the Pro Tour Qualifier that this deck won, Fate Reforged-Khans of Tarkir is a draft format that rewards streamlining and speed if you can get them; the second-place deck ran an Abzan aggro package with a similar curve, although it needed 18 lands due to color commitments.

Miami ended with a breakout deck; while a Limited Grand Prix is presumably less likely to showcase a new archetype, it's not like Fate Reforged has been drafted for very long. Whatever format you're following with the newest cards, it looks like "there's much left to explore," which is great as we hurtle toward Dragons of Tarkir.