What makes a format’s pillars high and its foundations strong? What makes it mighty to defy the foes that round it throng? It is not the goblin. Its chains grand go down in battle shock; its one-drops are laid on sinking sand, not on abiding rock. Is it the sword? Ask the red dust of Chandras passed away; the blood has turned her Phoenix to dust, their Glorybringers to decay. And is it pride? Ah, that bright crown has seemed to Dominaria sweet; but Teferi has struck its luster down in ashes at our feet. Not snake but only men can make a people great and strong. Men who for truth and honor’s sake will play The Scarab God. Brave men (and women!) who work while others sleep, who dare while others Approach, they build a format’s pillars deep and win their Nationals.

After this long and terrible week following a very disappointing Regional Pro Tour Qualifier at which I lost every match I played, every match I thought about playing, and every match someone thought I played, I was excited to get another chance at glory. Nationals is coming to town this holiday weekend and I was determined to be ready to once again represent Canada on Magic’s third or fourth biggest stage. I’m happy to share with you some of my preparation for this tournament so that you too might better your chances at invariably beating me in round three or something. At the very least, a brief overview of the format will hopefully improve your tournament experience, and I have some narratives about some Canadian players on a heater that I’d like to share.

Our first five rounds feature Standard Constructed, a much-maligned and frequently-whirled format. Every premier level event except one (GP Singapore for the scorekeepers) has been won by a red aggressive deck of some stripe, but finding the right configuration of red is a challenge — do you splash for black? Which four-drops should you play? Scrounger or Khenra? How many of each of Abrade, Shock and Lightning Strike should you play?

Looking at recent tournament results, I think the most streamlined and aggressive decks are best-positioned to do what the deck does right — attack people’s life totals and punish them for slow or awkward draws. Were I playing red I’d play something like this:

Mono-Red by Braham Thomas, 1st @ GP Pittsburgh

[deck]
[Lands]
23 Mountain
[/Lands]
[Spells]
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Shock
3 Abrade
4 Lightning Strike
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
4 Bomat Courier
4 Soul-Scar Mage
4 Earthshaker Khenra
2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4 Ahn-Crop Crasher
4 Goblin Chainwhirler
3 Hazoret the Fervent
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
1 Scavenger Grounds
2 Chandra’s Defeat
2 Magma Spray
1 Abrade
1 Aethersphere Harvester
2 Fight with Fire
2 Pia Nalaar
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3 Glorybringer
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

While the black splash and more midrange-focused cards can give you a leg up in the mirror and some versatility against control, they cost too much by making you overall less efficient at implementing your deck’s aggressive plan.

That said, I don’t think I can enthusiastically recommend red this weekend. No deck has a bigger target on it and mirrors can be extremely dependent on being on the play. Having discarded red I moved on the one premier-play outlier: U/W Gift, which won GP Singapore in the hands of a stone-cold master, Ichi the Killer. Of note is that Gift also put the young gun Jack Kiefer in Top 8 of GP Pittsburgh alongside another good result in the hands of Corey Baumeister.

U/W Gift by Yuuki Ichikawa, 1st @ GP Singapore

[deck]
[Lands]
1 Field of Ruin
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Ipnu Rivulet
4 Irrigated Farmland
6 Island
6 Plains
[/Lands]
[Spells]
4 Chart a Course
4 Strategic Planning
4 Refurbish
1 Fumigate
4 God-Pharaoh’s Gift
2 Search for Azcanta
2 Cast Out
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
2 Walking Ballista
4 Minister of Inquiries
4 Champion of Wits
2 Sunscourge Champion
4 Angel of Invention
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
1 Search for Azcanta
2 Fairgrounds Warden
2 Authority of the Consuls
3 Negate
1 Fumigate
2 Lyra Dawnbringer
2 Jace’s Defeat
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

The maindeck inclusion of cards like Sunscourge Champion is what I meant by red having a target on its back. Also of interest is the move back towards Walking Ballista, which had stopped showing up in the handful of 5-0 lists throughout June, but what I like best about this archetype is that, like red, it has a clear and coherent plan that it uses to attack the format. The threat of a turn-four Gift forces opponents to always dedicate mana to interaction. This is particularly punishing for red decks as they want to use their mana proactively.

One of the big downsides to this deck is that it struggles against more reactive blue strategies, particularly after board. You have your own mediocre control plan (witness the Teferi, Hero of Dominaria) but struggle against their superior counter suite and Gearhulks.

Given this, the next logical step is to play a U/W-based Teferi deck of some kind, the prominent subgenuses being U/W Can’t Win, U/W Approach and Esper, listed in order of their ability to complete a three game set. These decks appeal to the big brain in me but they’re both deeply dull to play and lose to themselves a surprising amount of the time. That said, none other than Standard master Brad Nelson (actually Mike Sigrist) made top 8 of GP Pittsburgh last weekend with the archetype and his list looks very solid:

U/W Can’t Win by Brad Sigrist, 7th @ GP Pittsburgh

[deck]
[Lands]
3 Field of Ruin
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Irrigated Farmland
7 Island
1 Memorial to Genius
8 Plains
[/Lands]
[Spells]
1 Gideon of the Trials
4 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
2 Syncopate
2 Blink of an Eye
2 Essence Scatter
1 Negate
2 Pull from Tomorrow
4 Disallow
3 Settle the Wreckage
2 Fumigate
1 Commit // Memory
4 Seal Away
2 Search for Azcanta
3 Cast Out
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
1 Aether Meltdown
3 Baral, Chief of Compliance
3 Negate
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Forsake the Worldly
1 Ixalan’s Binding
1 Fumigate
3 Lyra Dawnbringer
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Having discarded all these contenders, I went to the foremost expert on Standard Magic I know personally: Derek Pite, the erstwhile Misplaced Ginger. Recently qualifying for his umpteenth Pro Tour this weekend at the Toronto RPTQ, Derek has long been a proponent of U/B Midrange. A versatile deck with a great post-board plan for all zero of its good matchups, this is what I’m gonna jam this weekend. Here’s the list:

U/B Midrange by Derek “Misplayginger” Pite

[deck]
[Lands]
4 Fetid Pools
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Field of Ruin
4 Aether Hub
4 Island
8 Swamp
[/Lands]
[Spells]
4 Fatal Push
3 Essence Scatter
2 Arguel’s Blood Fast
2 Cast Down
2 Doomfall
1 Supreme Will
4 Vraska’s Contempt
1 Liliana, Death’s Majesty
1 Never // Return
1 Commit // Memory
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Champion of Wits
3 The Scarab God
2 Torrential Gearhulk
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
3 Negate
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Torrential Gearhulk
2 Duress
2 Essence Extraction
1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
1 Yahenni’s Expertise
1 Liliana, Death’s Majesty
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Confiscation Coup
1 Never // Return
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

I love this deck. Watching Derek’s masterful play on his Twitch stream taught me how to sequence my lands and spells, and armed with that knowledge, I feel more ready than ever to win this tournament. A few notes: your game one control match-up is abysmal. Be prepared to concede quickly so you have enough time to win your very favoured games two and three. Be judicious in how and when you play a Glint-Sleeve Siphoner against Chainwhirler decks. Often times you can play a slower attrition game against them and play the Siphoner late to close out the game. You can also get a number of free wins game one by just jamming a Scarab God turn five. I learned all of these tips from my buddy’s stream, which you should watch.

The second format we play is Booster Draft. Dominaria is quickly becoming a regarded as one of the best draft formats of the Hologram Era and I can’t help but add my voice to that chorus. Dominaria has some of the most interesting and difficult drafting decisions of any recent format, with a card’s playability oscillating wildly depending on your archetype and deck composition. I hesitate to offer much advice as I’m still struggling to master the format myself but suffice to say I’m looking forward to honing my skills this weekend against our country’s best.

Speaking of, we already covered one Derek Pite, but there are other rising stars who will be competing for the coveted title of Canada’s Leading Nationalist this coming weekend. While Montreal anglophone Alexander Hayne and everyone’s favourite Quebecer Pascal Maynard duel for the pro points lead, some local players have been on a hot streak as of late. We all know and love dreamboat Paul Dean, but joining him in the Top 8 of last weekend’s GP Pittsburgh is one Morgan Mclaughlin, all members of Team (Lucas) Siow’s Basement. You might remember Lucas as the third member of last year’s Canadian team, being narrowly edged out in a tight finals by Kale Thompson. Lucas and Morgan, alongside Chris Harabas, another Basement-dweller, took down last month’s GP Toronto. Morgan’s next event was PT Dominaria, where he took a heartbreaking 9th place finish. After a few weeks off, he came back with a third place at GP Pittsburgh, so to say Morgan is on a heater would be to do a disservice to the concept.

While the Basement has been a dominant force in local Magic lately, we can’t forget the recent accomplishments of one Edgar Magalhaes, Friend of the Basement. After winning an RPTQ for PT Dominaria, Edgar won GP Columbus alongside my former World Magic Cup teammate Dave Goldfarb and Team Cardhoarder’s Jacob Baugh. Mere weeks later, he returned home to dominate Face to Face Games Toronto’s Ultimate Showdown for yet another thousand dollars on top of all his previous winnings. Edgar is killing it lately, and as one of the best players our country has to offer, you’d do well to keep an eye on him this Nationals.

The narratives don’t stop there though — the past few months have seen some old greats return to the game, just in time for Nationals. David Rood and Gab Tsang, who won PT Atlanta 2005 alongside Gabriel Nassif, are back, with David already qualifying for the Team PT with the aforementioned Derek Pite. The two are absolute masters of Limited Magic, and Gab has been streaming a lot, winning match of Dominaria after match of Dominaria.

This field is gonna be stacked, and with two dynamic formats, it’s looking to be a very fun Nationals.