All players with 18 points made Day 2, meaning 113 players would return to battle for a shot at the Top 8 of the Standard Open at #SCGNY. After Mono-Red Aggro dominated the Richmond Standard Open two weeks ago, the deck has taken the top spot on Day 2 here in Syracuse. And while Simic Nexus was the most-played deck in Richmond, only one copy of the deck made Day 2 this weekend.
Following Mono-Red Aggro, Izzet Phoenix has surged back into the meta after it won two online MCQs. Esper is still a heavily played deck, taking the next two spots with Esper Midrange and Esper Control at 13 and 10 copies, respectively. Also at 10 copies, Azorius Aggro – the other favored aggressive strategy in the format.
Planeswalker-heavy decks showed up in force as well, with Jeskai SuperFriends and Four-Color Dreadhorde clocked in with six copies. Grixis Control including eight copies of Nicol+Bolas cards also had six players making the second day of competition. Esper SuperFriends, a take on Esper Control going above 15 Planeswalkers, had four pilots in Day 2, along with Bant Midrange.
Interesting one-ofs to make the Day 2 cut include: Simic Ramp, Jeskai Feather, Jund Midrange, and Sultai Dreadhorde.
The full metagame breakdown looks like this:
Mono-Red Aggro – 21
Izzet Phoenix – 14
Esper Midrange – 13
Esper Control – 10
Azorius Aggro – 10
Jeskai SuperFriends – 6
Four-Color Dreadhorde – 6
Grixis Control – 6
Esper SuperFriends – 4
Bant Midrange – 4
Gruul Aggro – 3
Bant Nexus – 2
Bant Flash – 2
Mono-White Aggro – 2
Jeskai Feather – 1
Simic Ramp – 1
Selesnya Tokens – 1
Simic Nexus – 1
Sultai Dreadhorde – 1
Dimir Control – 1
Sultai Midrange – 1
Rakdos Midrange – 1
Jund Midrange – 1
Naya Midrange – 1
