5. Corey Lynch
Corey Lynch
G/B Aggro was the most represented deck in the Day 2 metagame, taking 21 spots of the 100 players to reach the second day of competition. Despite its numbers, Corey Lynch was the lone G/B Aggro player to make the Top 8, opting for Glint-Sleeve+Siphoner, Aethersphere+Harvester, Nissa, Voice of Zendikar, and Gifted+Aetherborn over the various Delirium cards that make up the B/G Delirium deck. Lynch was able to intentionally draw into the Top 8 in Round 15, but had to face Dylan Donegan in the quarterfinals. Lynch’s run came to an end in the quarters, when Donegan’s Jeskai Saheeli deck was able to threaten the combo kill while setting up numerous powerful Planeswalkers. Check out Lynch’s G/B Aggro decklist Winding+Constrictor or Saheeli+Rai. Feeney’s Jeskai Control deck ditched the combo kill and loaded up on more removal spells in the form of Quarantine+Field, Skywhaler’s Shot, and a pair of Jace%2C+Unraveler+of+Secrets instead of Saheeli+Rai and Felidar+Guardian. Feeney only needed his Torrential+Gearhulks and creature-lands to get the job done and was able to ID into the Top 8 as the No. 3 seed. Once there, Feeney took down Charley Murdock on Jeskai Saheeli, setting up his quarterfinal match against Dylan Donegan, also on Jeskai Saheeli, in the semifinals. Feeney was unable to stop another combo-build of Jeskai, losing in three games to Donegan. Check out Feeney’s Jeskai Control decklist Ajani+Unyielding, Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Rogue+Refiner, Cloudblazer, and Implement+of+Combustion. Ashkin was able to take down Max Paustian and his B/G Delirium deck in the quarterfinals, and Bradley Sheppard on Jeskai Saheeli in the semifinals, to set up his finals match against Dylan Donegan in the finals. In the end, Ashkin spent too much time digging and looking for action in the finals as Donegan landed early Planeswalkers and rode them to victory in three games. Check out Ashkin’s Four-Color Saheeli decklist Glimmer+of+Genius in their deck. Donegan cruised through the Swiss into the No. 2 seed in the Top 8, notching his seventh Open Top 8 in the process. Once in the Top 8, the former Invitational champion fired on all cylinders. Donegan defeated Corey Lynch on G/B Aggro in the quarterfinals, Luke Feeney on Jeskai Control in the semifinals, and Jeffrey Ashkin on Four-Color Saheeli in the finals. His only losses on the weekend came to Ted Felicetti on Four-Color Saheeli on Day 1 and William Bingham on Temur Eldrazi on Day 2. Check out Donegan’s Jeskai Saheeli decklist here.
