Standard Open Top 8 Profiles

Stephen Dykman

Age: 22

Hometown:
Grand Rapids, MI

Archetype:
G/B Aggro

Why did you play the deck you played this weekend?
It felt very powerful in testing, is and aggressive midrange deck that can out grind almost any deck in value.

Is the Saheeli Rai/Felidar Guardian combo too good for Standard?
Potentially, I do not think Jeskai Saheeli is the best way to build the deck. Four-Color Saheeli seems very strong.

Brennan DeCandio

Age: 26

Hometown:
Long Island, NY

Archetype:
G/B Delirium

Why did you play the deck you played this weekend?
It felt very powerful and made the best use of Walking Ballista. Also Mindwrack is an absurd Magic card with Reflector Mage being banned.

Is the Saheeli Rai/Felidar Guardian combo too good for Standard?
It isn't to good but isn't very fun to play against.

Robert Graves

Age: 27

Hometown:
Louisville, KY

Archetype:
Four-Color Saheeli

Why did you play the deck you played this weekend?
It was the deck I like most of the decks Team Cardholder worked on.

Is the Saheeli Rai/Felidar Guardian combo too good for Standard?
No.

Andrew Skerik

Age: 27

Hometown:
Nigara Falls, NY

Archetype:
G/B Aggro

Why did you play the deck you played this weekend?
It has a solid Saheeli match and the average card quality is very high.

Is the Saheeli Rai/Felidar Guardian combo too good for Standard?
No, its's just very good.

Tyler Hill

Age: 29

Hometown:
Huntington Beach, CA

Archetype:
Four-Color Saheeli

Why did you play the deck you played this weekend?
Was considering playing it at the PT, wanted practice.

Is the Saheeli Rai/Felidar Guardian combo too good for Standard?
Too soon to say.

Hunter Nance

Age: 25

Hometown:
Raleigh, NC

Archetype:
G/W Tokens

Why did you play the deck you played this weekend?
Good against Jeskai. Emrakul and Copter were good versus G/W Tokens previously.

Is the Saheeli Rai/Felidar Guardian combo too good for Standard?
No, but it doesn't make standard better in any way.

Daniel Fournier

Age: 24

Hometown:
Toronto, ON

Archetype:
Jeskai Saheeli

Why did you play the deck you played this weekend?
I'm still extremely upset about the Twin ban and Omar Beldon screwed up my list

Is the Saheeli Rai/Felidar Guardian combo too good for Standard?
It's definitely very powerful, but the midrange/control shells it in are extremely interactive and fun.

Derik Malenda

Age: 34

Hometown:
Cleveland, OH

Archetype:
Mardu Vehicles

Why did you play the deck you played this weekend?
Aggressive proactive stategy; good main deck answers to Saheeli Combo; SHOCK!

Is the Saheeli Rai/Felidar Guardian combo too good for Standard?
No, I went 4-0 against it. Good instant speed removal really keeps it in check.