A few weeks ago Mono Black Devotion was on a roll. Owen Turtenwald had set an example for all the MBD players out there. It seems though, that the more people that picked up the Boogeyman of standard, the less it was winning. This week, 5 different players piloted the deck to top 16. None of those made it into top 8. Top 8, in fact, was a strange one indeed. We see 2 B/W decks, 2 G/R decks, 2 R/W decks, and 2 others.

Michael Kenney was able to take down the competition with a deck he calls "Big Boros". The finals of this tournament actually found an almost mirror; Pitting R/W versus R/W.

Big Boros

Michael was able to pull off every school boys dream with this one. I remember way back in the start of Theros standard, when spoilers for Purphoros were beginning to show up and there was tons of talk about the insane synergy with Assemble the Legion. Every Turn dealing more and more damage, while at the same time putting creatures onto the field and swarming your opponent. What more could a kid ask for? Until now there hasn't been much success with that strategy, but it looks like Mr. Kenney was able to pull it off this week.

Some of the other synergies in this deck also include Purphoros. For example, Young Pyromancer has tons of synergy with the god of the forge. Along with a lineup of instants and sorceries, a 1/1 Elemental becomes that much more of a presence with the red god on their side. One copy of Elspeth and another in the sideboard also serve the same roll. Producing tokens every turn to dome the opponent with was obviously one of the main goals Michael had in store for the crowd in Columbus.

Boros reckoner is a great creature. We've known that since the release of Gatecrash. Alongside Chandra's Phoenix and Stormbreath Dragon as fellow attackers, he is a huge presence against today's meta. Mono Black Devotion doesn't run any trample. So Boros Reckoner can effectively block a Pack Rat, and sometimes 2 for 1 the opponent by either getting rid of another token or just hitting them in the face with the damage. Chandra's Phoenix can serve effective as well, because of how it can just be recycled by dealing damage to your opponent with a burn spell.

Looking at the sideboard it appears to be more removal for specific situations. Chained to the Rocks is effective against MBD, and a lot of the G/R strategies. Last Breath and Mizzium Mortars are good in the MBD and MUD match-up, because of the potential to clear the board of small creatures. Glare of Heresy and Wear // Tear I feel are against enchantment strategies, like most of the U/W/X Control decks we have in the current meta.



To see more about the Big Boros deck, go here, Mike wrote about it last Friday!

R/W Devotion

The second R/W deck we see in top 3 is a returning devotion deck from before Mono Black Devotions reign of terror. Mono Red devotion and Red White devotion used to tear through the ranks every week, but I haven't been seeing it as much lately. Equipped with massive devotion enablers, Fanatic of Mogis and Purphoros, God of the Forge push their way through our meta.

Burning-Tree Emissary is arguably the best devotion enabler in the format. While it doesn't add as much devotion as say Boros Reckoner or Nightveil Specter, but the thing it does that no other card in standard does is replace itself in your mana pool. This sometimes synergizes well by adding 2, 3, or sometimes even 4 copies on turn 2! Being able to replace itself means it can use that 2 mana to activate Nykthos, effectively adding more mana to your mana pool than you would have had. I've played this type of deck in FNM before, and the only problem I see with Emissary in the deck is the inability to cast the other 2 drops in the deck off of the mana produced. Ash Zealot and Frostburn Weird add 2 devotion to red of their own, but don't couple well with Burning-Trees' RG mana.

Bow down to the god of the weak, Purphoros! Not only is he a force of his own without enough devotion, but as a 6/5 indestructible threat. Fanatic of Mogis, one of two devotion fireballs we have in standard. With every creature creating at least 2 devotion to fuel his fire, you find a lot of games ended on pure damage alone.

Four copies of Stormbreath Dragon is something we didn't see from the devotion deck in the past. Usually I saw 1-2 copies, so in my opinion four is a great number for a deck that can potentially cast multiple in one turn. Stormbreath Dragon is great against most U/W decks because of its protection from white. It also punishes opponents for holding onto a lot of cards or drawing extra ones.

The sideboard for this deck is pretty straight forward. Four copies of Boros Charm are to help against verdict tactics, seeing as almost all of the devotion in this deck is creature based. Anger of the Gods I feel is against weenie decks, Such as Mono White or some Green decks. Other cards like Warleader's Helix and Chained to the Rocks help give an extra edge against other decks trying to deal damage to you quickly.

G/R Monsters

Again, Green Red Monsters has made an appearance in the top 8. Obviously one of the pillars of standard right now, Arbob was able to pull out a top 4 spot with a list that is quite different than most of the usual monster decks. Looking at the deck, I honestly think that they misnamed the deck. 4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx screams devotion deck to me, and the creatures say it too.

Arbor Colossus is one of the best green devotion creatures in standard. A 6/6 with reach, it can trade with a Desecration Demon, or just blow it up with its monstrous ability. Alongside Nylea, God of the Hunt, Arbor Colossus is a huge threat that needs to be dealt with fast.

Like other G/R decks, Planeswalkers are important to the strategy. Domri Rade counts as extra removal if needed, because you can fight one of your huge creatures versus their smaller ones. Garruk can fill your hand or put an uncounterable fatty onto the field and still survive to provide card advantage a turn later. Xenagos, the Reveler might be a god in Born of the Gods, but here his planeswalker form is a force to be reckoned with. Free Satyrs, and a psuedo-Nykthos feel can help put pressure on without committing too much to the board.

The maindeck only technically has Domri Rade as removal. Most of the other removal can be found in the sideboard. Mizzium Mortars and Time to Feed are both good removal spells, especially with the huge creatures waiting on your side of the field. Time to feed also works very well with the creature in the sideboard, Wasteland Viper. with deathtouch your guaranteed to take down any creature you can target. Mistcutter Hydra for the obvious Blue match-ups, and Ruric-Thar against control.

Honorable Mentions:

I normally watch the Open for deck techs for the honorable mention of the week. This one I watched in action and thought that it was extremely interesting before I even knew it was a dech tech. This is one of those "everything good deck".

It's got the best of Mono Blue Devotion, Esper and Mono Black. Like I was saying, if you took the best cards from those decks and threw them together, this is what you would get. The true devotion is with Master of Waves, and cards like Detention Sphere, Nightveil Specter, Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver and Jace help your devotion be slightly higher, so that a good Master of Waves might give you a few more tokens. The devotion won't be as high in this deck, but what it lacks in devotion to one color it makes up for in power with another. Blood Baron of Vizkopa and Pack Rat can be game-enders on their own. Coupled with a controlish shell it makes them that much scarier. Elspeth, Sun's Champion also makes an appearance.

Notable Cards of the Week:

This week we saw a ton of work done by Purphoros, God of the Forge. He has been a huge contender since the beginning, but really showed how well he works in certain decks over the weekend. Combined with cards like Assemble the Legion, Young Pyromancer and other token generators he can be a huge clock for your opponent. Elsepth might have been chosen by Heliod, but Purphoros has his eye on the Sun's Champion. 6 damage to your opponents dome AND you get three tokens? That just reaks of value to me.

The second card of the week this week is Stormbreath Dragon. Making a large appearance this week alongside Purphoros in multiple decks, a lot of battles were won in the sky as this dragon went monstrous. From the start standard needed a Thundermaw Hellkite replacement, since players got dependent on the big dragon. From the time it released Stormbreath has proven his worth and that the extra point of damage is made up for with protections of its own.

Last week's Notable cards were Sphinx's Revelation and Master of Waves. Let's take a look at their price changes since then.

Compared to last week the paper versions didn't change at all. I honestly believe that Sphinx's Revelation is probably at its peak. The online version went down by a bit though. As rotation approaches (I know it's still a long ways off) but the closer we get the more it will go down. Master of Waves creeped up a bit. I still think he hasn't hit his high yet.

Current costs of Notable Cards at Average:



Impacts on Magic: Online:

Over the past week I've kept my eye on the top decks winning dailies and premier events online. In the beginning of the week, Mono Black was winning a lot of those events. Also, the Esper Humans and Control decks started making more of an appearance. The further the week progressed, Mono Blue began making an appearance again. One thing kept constant though; almost each event had one MBD, one MUD, and one or more of that Esper Humans deck. I honestly like that deck, and hope that maybe before Born of the Gods someone is able to rock it in an Open. Or maybe even afterwords with the new cards that might make it that much better. I'll continue to monitor to see if Mono Blue or R/W decks start making more of a standing, but so far it's an even spread of each of the top decks,

Starting next week I am looking to take a new direction as far as how these events affect the Magic: Online meta. As far as how to go about looking at it I'm still working on it, but if you have any suggestions I'm all ears. If you have a suggestion or idea where to start please comment on this, or hit me up on one of the sites below.

As more spoilers come in, I find myself back in the brewers mindset and look forward to the many crazy thing Born of the Gods has in store for us. I for one will be abusing the inspiration mechanic to its fullest, among other things. Nonetheless, These top decks we are seeing every week will only get that much stronger come February, and hopefully some new decks will make an appearance too. Until next week, thanks for joining me in Topping the Charts!

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