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.

No change at the top, where Jund Midrange and Reanimator continue to battle it out for the best deck of the format. Jund has the numbers, but Reanimator had better finishes this week.

Tournament Review

Here are the Top 16 decks from StarCityGames Open: Nashville. The graphs display the colors and most-played archetypes of the Top 16.

Place	Deck	Colors
1	Reanimator	{invisible} {invisible}
2	Reanimator	{invisible} {invisible}
3	Naya Blitz	{invisible} {invisible}
4	Naya Blitz	{invisible} {invisible}
5	Naya Midrange	{invisible} {invisible}
6	GB Midrange	{invisible} {invisible} {invisible}
7	Four-Color Control	{invisible}
8	Jund Aggro	{invisible} {invisible}
9	Jund Aggro	{invisible} {invisible}
10	The Aristocrats	{invisible} {invisible}
11	RUG Peddler	{invisible} {invisible}
12	Bant Auras	{invisible} {invisible}
13	Jund Midrange	{invisible} {invisible}
14	Jund Midrange	{invisible} {invisible}
15	Jund Midrange	{invisible} {invisible}
16	The Aristocrats	{invisible} {invisible}

Jund Midrange had quantity in Nashville, but Reanimator went with quality, taking first and second place.

Card Catalog

The charts and graphs below provide information about what creatures and removal saw the most play in the Top 16 decks of SCG Open: Nashville so that you can build and plan accordingly.

Thragtusk has weathered set after set since rotation and still remains on top. In Nashville, the big Beast of Standard was played in ten decks and seven different archetypes—now that’s format-warping! Here is the archetype distribution of these top cards with the average numbers played for each.

Other creature notes:

• Ten copies of Voice of Resurgence were played in three decks: four in the main of Bant Auras (twelfth place) and six total between the sideboards of the first- and second-place Reanimator decks.
• Eight copies of Desecration Demon made the Top 16: four each in the main of GB Midrange (sixth place) and Jund Midrange (fourteenth place).
• Block Constructed all-star Aetherling saw only two copies played, split between the main and side of RUG Peddler (eleventh place)

A lot of Jund-flavored removal spells at the top in Nashville. Abrupt Decay was in half the Top 16 decks, largely in the sideboard, and it handles many of today’s aggressive threats quite efficiently. Here is the archetype breakdown for these spells.

Leading Indicators

In this section, I shine the light on cards that were included in a Top 16 deck last weekend but that have seen little to no play in Standard Top 16 decks prior to then.

Eddie Walker’s thirteenth-place Jund Midrange deck included two Heartless Summoning in the main deck to power out his threats—including Sire of Insanity—that much quicker. He also played four copies of Bloodgift Demon between the main and sideboard for card-draw and to serve as an evasive beater.

"Eddie Walker’s Jund Midrange, 13th place at SCG Open: Nashville"

• Creatures (16)
• 2 Bloodgift Demon
• 3 Sire of Insanity
• 4 Huntmaster of the Fells
• 4 Thragtusk
• 3 Olivia Voldaren

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Liliana of the Veil

• Spells (17)
• 1 Abrupt Decay
• 1 Putrefy
• 1 Dreadbore
• 1 Mizzium Mortars
• 2 Bonfire of the Damned
• 4 Farseek
• 2 Dead Weight
• 2 Ground Seal
• 2 Heartless Summoning
• 1 Rakdos Cluestone

• Lands (25)
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 2 Kessig Wolf Run
• 3 Dragonskull Summit
• 3 Rootbound Crag
• 4 Blood Crypt
• 4 Overgrown Tomb
• 4 Stomping Ground
• 4 Woodland Cemetery

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Gaze of Granite
• 1 Sire of Insanity
• 2 Slaughter Games
• 1 Vraska the Unseen
• 2 Pillar of Flame
• 1 Liliana of the Veil
• 2 Bloodgift Demon
• 2 Acidic Slime
• 2 Barter In Blood
• 1 Ground Seal

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The Close

That’s it for this week’s article on SCG Open: Nashville. Join me next week as I track the metagame and impact of Dragon’s Maze at SCG Open: Dallas. Thanks for reading!

Nick Vigabool

@MrVigabool