All players with 18 points made Day 2, meaning 133 players would return to battle for a shot at the Top 8 of the Standard Open at #SCGDFW. Ixalan is here, but its impact in a new format following a Standard rotation isn’t as big as a set with Dinosaurs would ideally be. While new archetypes haven’t taken over the format, new cards are popping up in all the top decks including: Lighting Strike, Opt, Settle+the+Wreckage, and Hostage+Taker.
Ramunap Red took up more than a quarter of the Day 2 field with 36 players looking to burn out their opposition. The deck lost very little and got to upgrade Incendiary+Flow into Lightning+Strike while picking up new sideboard options like Vance’s Blasting Cannons and Rampaging+Ferocidon. Four-Color Energy takes the next spot, adding Hostage+Taker to the Temur base along with The+Scarab+God for the black splash. The third most represented deck is U/W Approach, the control deck from the previous format gained Settle+the+Wreckage, Opt, and Search for Azcanta from Ixalan.
Sultai Energy and Temur Energy follow at eight and seven pilots, respectively. The Sultai builds focus on better mana and more Hostage+Takers than the Four-Color variant, while Temur sticks to the classic build that dominated the previous Standard format. Esper Gift, Mono-Black Aggro, and R/B Aggro all come in at four copies each. The latest build of God Pharaoh’s Gift shifts from red to black after the loss of Insolent+Neonate. Mono-Black Aggro utilizes a smooth mana base and new aggressive creatures like Ruin+Raider and Vicious+Conquistador while gaining Walk+the+Plank in the removal suite. R/B Aggro combines the best of Ramunap Red with Mono-Black Aggro to take advantage of Unlicensed+Disintegration.
Decks making a splash in the format with one or two copies include: G/R Dinosaurs, Grixis Control, W/G Vampires, Grixis Improvise, and U/R Spells.
The full metagame breakdown looks like this:
Ramunap Red – 36
Four-Color Energy – 23
U/W Approach – 17
Sultai Energy – 8
Temur Energy – 7
Esper Gift – 4
Mono-Black Aggro – 4
R/B Aggro – 4
Mardu Vehicles – 3
Temur Pummeler – 2
G/R Pummeler – 2
G/B Energy – 2
Grixis Control – 2
G/R Dinosaurs – 2
G/B Aggro – 2
Temur Dynavolt – 1
Temur Aggro – 1
U/R Spells – 1
Naya Dinosaurs – 1
Grixis Improvise – 1
Jund Energy – 1
Jeskai Gift – 1
U/W Control – 1
U/B Control – 1
Esper Control – 1
Esper Approach – 1
B/R Control – 1
W/G Vampires – 1
G/R Aggro – 1
Grixis Marionette – 1
