Locations
The Standard Metagame
Here is a breakdown of the deck archetypes that have finished in the Top 16 of a major tournament over the last thirty days.
Reanimator appears likely to remain in the driver’s seat heading into the release of Dragon’s Maze. Will an infusion of new cards help dethrone the king?
Tournament Review
Here are the Top 16 decks from StarCityGames Open: Seattle. The graphs display the colors and most-played archetypes of the Top 16.
| Place | Deck | Colors | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reanimator |
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| 2 | UWR Tempo |
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| 3 | Jund Aggro |
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| 4 | Reanimator |
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| 5 | Junk Tokens |
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| 6 | Reanimator |
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| 7 | Jund Midrange |
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| 8 | Jund Midrange |
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| 9 | Reanimator |
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| 10 | UWR Tempo |
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| 11 | The Aristocrats |
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| 12 | Mono-Red Aggro |
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| 13 | Jund Aggro |
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| 14 | Bant Midrange |
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| 15 | Bant Evolution Aggro |
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| 16 | Jund Midrange |
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Reanimator and Jund Midrange were neck-and-neck in Seattle. Reanimator emerged dominant with two contestants in the Top 4, including the tournament victor.
Card Catalog
The charts and graphs below provide some information about what creatures and removal saw the most play in the Top 16 decks of SCG Open: Seattle so that you can build and plan accordingly.
No surprises here; we see the usual Junk and Jund stalwarts dominating the most-played creature list.
It is worth noting that there were five total copies of Clone played in the sideboards of both UWR Tempo decks. There are plenty of high-value targets on the list above, including some legends that can be removed for 
in a pinch.
| Card | Archetype | Average | Avg Main | Avg Side |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thragtusk | Bant Midrange | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 | Jund Aggro | 2.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | Jund Midrange | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 | Junk Tokens | 4.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 | Reanimator | 4.0 | 3.8 | 0.3 |
| Restoration Angel | Bant Midrange | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 | Junk Tokens | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | Reanimator | 3.5 | 3.5 | 0.0 | UWR Tempo | 3.5 | 3.5 | 0.0 |
| Arbor Elf | Jund Aggro | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 | Jund Midrange | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | Junk Tokens | 3.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 | Reanimator | 2.8 | 2.8 | 0.0 |
| Avacyn's Pilgrim | Junk Tokens | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 | Reanimator | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 |
| Acidic Slime | Jund Midrange | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | Reanimator | 3.8 | 2.0 | 1.8 |
| Angel of Serenity | Bant Midrange | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | Reanimator | 3.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 | UWR Tempo | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| Deathrite Shaman | Jund Aggro | 3.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 | Reanimator | 3.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 |
| Huntmaster of the Fells | Jund Midrange | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 |
| Falkenrath Aristocrat | Jund Aggro | 3.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 | The Aristocrats | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 |
| Olivia Voldaren | Jund Midrange | 3.3 | 3.0 | 0.3 |
| Card | Archetype | Average | Avg Main | Avg Side |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tragic Slip | Jund Aggro | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | Jund Midrange | 3.0 | 2.3 | 0.7 | Reanimator | 1.8 | 0.0 | 1.8 | The Aristocrats | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 |
| Abrupt Decay | Jund Aggro | 2.5 | 1.0 | 1.5 | Jund Midrange | 2.0 | 1.5 | 0.5 | Junk Tokens | 2.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | Reanimator | 1.8 | 0.5 | 1.3 |
| Pillar of Flame | Jund Aggro | 3.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 | Jund Midrange | 2.3 | 0.0 | 2.3 | Mono-Red Aggro | 3.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 | UWR Tempo | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| Bonfire of the Damned | Jund Aggro | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 | Jund Midrange | 3.7 | 3.0 | 0.7 |
| Searing Spear | Jund Aggro | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 | Mono-Red Aggro | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 | UWR Tempo | 3.5 | 3.5 | 0.0 |
| Garruk Relentless | Jund Aggro | 2.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | Jund Midrange | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | Junk Tokens | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | Reanimator | 2.3 | 1.5 | 0.8 |
| Azorius Charm | Bant Midrange | 3.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 | UWR Tempo | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 |
| Liliana of the Veil | Jund Midrange | 2.7 | 2.3 | 0.3 | Junk Tokens | 2.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Selesnya Charm | Bant Evolution Aggro | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 | Bant Midrange | 3.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 | Junk Tokens | 3.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 |
| Supreme Verdict | Bant Midrange | 4.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | UWR Tempo | 3.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 |
| Dreadbore | Jund Aggro | 3.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 | Jund Midrange | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.3 | The Aristocrats | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
Leading Indicators
In this section, I shine the light on cards that were included in a Top 16 deck last weekend but have seen little to no play in Standard Top 16 decks prior to then.
The only new card in the Seattle event was Cloudfin Raptor, of which four copies were played in Cy Cook’s fifteenth-place Bant Evolution Aggro deck. Like the prior week’s BUG deck featuring Duskmantle Seer, Cook also played Rapid Hybridization and Spell Rupture.
"Bant Evolution by Cy Cook, 15th Place at SCG Open: Seattle"
- Creatures (20)
- 4 Cloudfin Raptor
- 4 Experiment One
- 4 Strangleroot Geist
- 4 Young Wolf
- 4 Geist of Saint Traft
- Spells (20)
- 4 Rapid Hybridization
- 4 Selesnya Charm
- 4 Spell Rupture
- 4 Unsummon
- 4 Rancor
- Lands (20)
- 1 Forest
- 3 Sunpetal Grove
- 4 Breeding Pool
- 4 Hallowed Fountain
- 4 Hinterland Harbor
- 4 Temple Garden
- Sideboard (15)
- 3 Dryad Militant
- 2 Triumph of Ferocity
- 4 Nearheath Pilgrim
- 2 War Priest of Thune
- 2 Dispel
- 2 Ground Seal
An interesting interaction in the deck is Rapid Hybridization and Young Wolf, especially with a 1-drop evolve creature on the battlefield. Geist of Saint Traft’s Angel token provides additional evolution potential as well as an early threat. Check out this video deck tech for more on the deck.
By the Numbers: Quick Card Summary
The following graphic goes into more detail on the cards played in the Top 16 decks of SCG Open: Seattle.
The Close
That’s it for this week’s article on SCG Open: Seattle. Join me next week for my Dragon’s Maze Playable Creatures Preview. Thanks for reading!
Nick Vigabool
