Howdy folks! The Pro-Tour Gauntlet is back on Magic Online after PT Shadows over Innistrad, so I am here to help provide some insight into the decks that it contains. We will take a look at the various decklists and discuss a bit about how each lines up against the other decks in the gauntlet as well as provide some sideboarding suggestions for each of the decklists.

This is the first standard format in a long while where the top tier aggressive decks are defined by something other than the basic mountain. Both of the aggressive decks in the Pro-Tour gauntlet are defined by the same basic land, though - Plains. These two decks generally have strong matchups against the Ramp and Control decks, but tend to struggle a bit against the Midrange decks.

Pat’s deck is all in on the aggressive plan. With just 18 lands and 21 (!) one drops you are almost always going to have more action than your opponents. When you are looking at your opening hands with this deck, I would keep in mind that keeping one land hands in something you are often going to be in the market for doing. Especially if you have at least three one drop creatures in the hand.

This deck does not have reach in the traditional sense of peeling a Lightning Bolt to kill your opponent. That being said, format all-star Gryff’s Boon provides the ability to push through that bit of extra damage you might be missing in the midgame. Do not be afraid to deploy your Boons aggressively because you will eventually hit the four resources necessary to return it from the graveyard to the battlefield.

Post board you have two primary plans. First, you can board in additional evasion for matchups where the group is going to clog up in the form of two more Gryff’s Boon and a Bygone Bishop. A second plan is to board into a slightly more midrange deck by bringing in a 19th land, four more pieces of removal and three copies of Gideon, Ally of Zendikar.

While Majors deck is still an aggressive humans deck it differs from Pat’s in a few ways. First, Majors' main deck is a bit "bigger" by default, scaling all the way up to Archangel Avacyn. It also features a blue splash for Reflector Mage in the main deck and Negate + Dragonlord Ojutai in the sideboard.

Majors' sideboard, like Pat’s, includes an additional land as well as a few larger threats - this time in the form Dragonlord Ojutai and Tragic Arrogance. Tragic Arrogance is a powerful tool not only for your deck - but also against you. When you are playing against the GW Tokens and Bant Company decks, expect them to board it in against you.

The ramp decks are all red based so they can power out Chandra Flamecaller ahead of curve. These decks tend to have favorable matchups against the midrange decks in the gauntlet, but can struggle a bit against the control and aggressive decks.

Brad’s ramp deck is a bit different than the traditional "all in" ramp shells we are used to seeing. As opposed to the shells that consist of all accelerants and bombs, Brad’s configuration almost resembles more of a Green-Red control deck.

In fact, the amount of acceleration in this decklist is fairly minimal with just four copies of Nissa's Pilgrimage and four copies of Drownyard Temple. While Drownyard Temple does not look like an accelerant on the surface, if you discard it to a Tormenting Voice off Magmatic Insight in the first couple turns of the game you can return it to play on turn three getting a turn ahead on mana.

The sideboard is especially interesting. Against the aggressive decks I would bring in the Rending Volley, Draconic Roar, and Chandra Flamecaller. I would likely trim the Pyromancer's Goggles / Fall of the Titans package to do so. While World Breaker is not stellar against aggressive decks, he is important for triggering the back half of Kozilek's Return from your graveyard.

Against control decks we have a bit of a transformative sideboard to a midrange deck. Den Protector, Tireless Tracker, and Goblin Dark-Dwellers all come in to generate value and apply early pressure. I would likely trim some of the Pyromancer's Goggles / Fall of the Titans package again along with the Fiery Impulse.

This is a more traditional "fat things and accelerants" ramp deck. The important thing to remember is that if your hand does not do anything before turn four you should likely be mulliganning it unless you know your opponent is playing a midrange deck.

Paulo’s sideboard contains a small threat package similar to Brad’s, but without quite as many threats. A good rule of thumb is that if a matchup feels like you want to be boarding Kozilek's Return out, bringing Tireless Tracker in is a decent idea.

This deck kind of blurs the line between a ramp and midrange deck. Like Brad Nelson’s list, it features the Tormenting Voice / Drownyard Temple synergy to get ahead on lands, but it can also play a reasonable game by just playing out its spells on a natural curve.

Against the other midrange / aggressive decks of the format I would utilize Luis' sideboard to turn into a more controlling deck. Thought-Knot Seer and at least one Pyromancer's Goggles can come out and Linvala, the Preserver alongside additional removal can come in. Against the control decks in the gauntlet, I would trim some of the answers that do not line up well against their deck in favor of the additional threats such as Secure the Wastes and the additional Nahiri, the Harbinger.

These decks are essentially the "good stuff" decks of the format. They are collections of some of the most powerful / value producing cards enough of their colors have to offer. They are generally favored against the aggressive decks, but struggle a bit against the ramp decks in the format.

This is easily the best Westvale Abbey deck in the gauntlet (probably all of standard). The game plan of this deck is fairly straight forward - go wide with your creatures and then utilize your planeswalkers to make them all exceptionally large. Do not be afraid to use your Gideon, Alley of Zendikar aggressively as a four mana anthem effect if he is just going to die anyways. Having all of your creatures be slightly larger is a powerful effect - especially when things like Hangarback Walker make many creatures.

Speaking of Hangarback Walker - one thing you want to be aware of when you do not have an anthem is that you can play your Hangarback Walker out as a 0 / 0 simply to trigger the dies condition to flip one of your Archangel Avacyn. The other thing to keep in mind is that Archangel Avacyn has a different name when she transforms - meaning you can deploy a second Avacyn after the first one flips if you want.

Looking at the sideboard, this Green-White contains a controlling package much like we have seen with other decks in the gauntlet. Against the aggressive decks, bringing in three copies of Declaration in Stone alongside Tragic Arrogance is ideal, likely trimming your Hangarback Walkers which line up poorly against white removal.

You are fairly well configured game one for going toe to toe with the control decks. Post board I would like cut only the Dromoka’s Command to bring in the second Evolutionary Leap, third Secure the Wastes, and two Clip Wings (against dragons).

Even though this deck took second at the Pro-Tour, it is easily my pick for the most powerful deck in the gauntlet. It lines up well against basically everything except the deck it lost to in the finals. Against the aggressive decks, you are just a bit bigger than they are. Against the ramp decks, you are able to flood the board with pressure - most of which does not care about a two damage "sweeper". Against control, so many of your threats draw cards / generate advantage it is often hard for them to keep up.

Looking at the sideboard, I would bring in the Tragic Arrogance against the aggressive decks. Surrak, the Hunt Caller and Negate come in against ramp. Dragonlord Dromoka and the counter magic all come in against the control decks.

This is a decklist you will want to have handy while you are playing your matches in the PT Gauntlet. In addition to being a midrange removal deck, this also has a toolbox once you enable delirium for Traverse the Ulvenwald. Dragonlord Silumgar and Gilt-Leaf Winnower can both take care of troublesome creatures, while Tireless Tracker and Nissa, Vastwood Seer can both start drawing you cards. The only non-intuitive interaction with this deck is that if you cast a Languish with a Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet out, you will get a zombie for each non-token killed on your opponent’s side even though the Languish kills Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet.

Post board your Traverse the Ulvenwald get a couple more utility cards in the form of Conclave Naturalists and Caustic Caterpillar. I would board these in against the white aggressive decks to kill Always Watching as well as against the ramp decks playing Pyromancer’s Goggles. When boarding against decks playing Chandra, Flamecaller, it is important to remember that Virulent Plague kills the tokens Chandra makes with her +1, so I would bring them in against the red decks in the gauntlet.

This is one of the more difficult decks to play in the gauntlet. While this could be considered a midrange creature deck, because it does not feature much interaction in the main deck I decided it would be best to file it under it’s own category. For those who are unfamiliar the combo in this deck is these two cards alongside a plethora of creatures to be sacrificed.:





Nantuko Husk Nantuko Husk





Zulaport Cutthroat Zulaport Cutthroat

Important things to remember when doing your math is that Zulaport Cutthroat stack when you have multiples in play (so each sacrificed creature drains them for two life) and that Blisterpod counts twice since it creates a token after it dies.

The card you need to worry about the most is out of the other Black decks in the gauntlet - Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet. This card prevents creatures from "dying" which means they do not trigger Zulaport Cutthroat. Against any deck that has access to Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, I would bring in at least three copies of Ultimate Price.

The only general rule you want to keep in mind when sideboarding with this deck is that you want to be sure to have at least 25 creatures in your deck at all times. If you go lower than this your Collected Companies start becoming more and more likely to whiff.

These are the card advantage monsters of the gauntlet. Which cards you are using to draw additional cards will vary from deck to deck, but regardless of which one of these decks you get be ready to draw a lot of them! The most important thing to keep in mind while playing these decks is that your life total is a resource. Aside from the red ramp decks in the gauntlet, there is not a lot of formal “reach”, so using your life total liberally is often fine.

This is the only "pure" control deck in the gauntlet. While it does play a single creature in the form of Sphinx of the Final Word, it essentially blanks all opposing spot removal game one thanks to the Sphinx’s Hexproof. You will likely want to keep this decklist handy while playing your matches in the gauntlet because of the two copies of Dark Petition and the utility they offer.

One of the most important thing to remember game one is to keep track of which planeswalkers you have gone through already. Sorin, Grim Nemesis and Ob Nixilis Reignited can act as board control cards, but ultimately they are some of your few cards actually capable of taking your opponent to zero life.

Post board your threat density improves a good deal when you bring in Jace, Vryn's Prodigy (AKA: Baby Jace), Dragonlord Ojutai, and Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet. I would likely bring these in against all of the midrange decks in the gauntlet as most people will favor boarding down on removal against you after it was left rotting in their hand game one.

Unlike Manfield’s configuration, Esper Dragons is a control deck with a clock. The important thing to remember when playing a deck like this is that sometimes racing is an option. Dragonlord Ojutai slamming in closes out most games fairly quickly. Aside from the black midrange decks in the gauntlet, most are not interacting with him at instant speed - so you can count on him connecting at least once most of the time.

Boarding with this deck is fairly straightforward. Extra removal and Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet to bring in against creature decks and discard / additional counter magic to bring in against other control decks.

This is the only non-blue control deck in the gauntlet, but it is still probably the best at drawing cards. For those who did not get a chance to see this deck in action at the Pro-Tour, the engine consists of these two cards:





Dark Petition Dark Petition





Seasons Past Seasons Past

You can Dark Petition to get Seasons Past, then when you Seasons Past, you return Dark Petition and a pile of other cards from your graveyard to your hand. You then use the Dark Petition to go get the Seasons Past again and repeat for however long it takes you to grind out the game. One important thing to note is that Seasons Past can return Evolving Wilds to your hand - so make those land drops!

This is another deck you will likely want to keep a decklist up for while playing because, in addition to powering your draw engine, Dark Petition can fetch a variety of utility cards including Infinite Obliteration. If you think a game is getting especially grindy, you can keep looping Infinite Obliteration with Seasons Past to eventually take all of the relevant creature threats out of their deck.

As far as boarding goes - it is fairly straight forward with this one yet again. Extra Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet and extra removal against aggressive decks and some extra discard against the other control decks and ramp.

I saved my favorite deck for last. Not because it is the most powerful, but just because I have a love for Nahiri, the Harbinger. This deck makes great use of Nahiri, the Harbinger’s +1 as well as Jace, Vryn's Prodigy looting by playing six madness spells for generating value. When you skim the decklist the first time it looks to be threat light. Then, you look at the mana base and note there are seven creature lands!

Rob’s main deck configuration is fairly well suited for keeping up with the other creature decks in the gauntlet. Post board against control decks you can bring in additional counter magic alongside a full four Fevered Visions. Ramp is likely a hard matchup for this particular control deck because of it’s lack of a real clock outside of its two copies of Chandra, Flamecaller.

Hopefully this piece was able to help you gain some insight into the different decks you will be playing with and against in the Pro-Tour Gauntlet on MTGO!

Cheers,

Jeff Hoogland