![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jgoud\/files\/2024\/11\/image.png\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Personally I am the most excited by Boltwave and Spinner of Souls. A good proper burn deck would be great for the format. I like it in a Wizards Lightning-based Boros Wizards shell (Clevel Lumimancer anyone?) I also like Spinner of Souls because it plays well against this Fatal Push-Heavy metagame! I\u2019m eager to see what shows up \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let’s dig in to what we can <\/em>exepect:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first deck I ever played in a tournament as a 13-year old in 1995 was a goblins deck with Fireblast and Goblin Grenade. Now, in 2024, it turns out the song is the same but the cards are way <\/em>better:<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n You play creatures. You attack. You play combat tricks. In the Rakdos deck you have interaction and a one-mana Fling. In the Gruul version your cards are a touch more expensive but give you slightly more staying power. Choose your flavor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n JUDGE!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n If it ain\u2019t broke don\u2019t fix it eh? This is the marquee midrange deck in the format with some very powerful card advantage in order to out-attrition every deck. This deck is especially powerful when the most popular archetype is aggressive decks featuring Monastery Swiftspear:<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n As we have seen in Standard, Unholy Annex is the best Phyrexian Arena probably ever printed. That is why you are playing Archfiend of the Dross. <\/p>\n\n\n\n JUDGE!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Frankly I\u2019m not convinced that this deck is Tier 1 anymore because it is such a known quantity and many other decks (especially Rakdos and Jund Sacrifice Decks) have adapted to beat it. The deck struggles with flyers that have more than 5 toughness (see the demons in Rakdos midrange, Yagra in Jund Sacrifice, and so on). You can also die quite quickly when you play an Artist\u2019s Talent early to tap low and then get steamrolled by a Slickshot Showoff deck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, this deck is consistently a top performer in Pioneer metagames, Treasure Cruise is a helluva deck, and some players are simply drawn to the machine gun flurry of game actions you get to take! Happy fingers!<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Phoenix has picked up a few tools – particularly non-creature enchantments that try to dodge the prevalence of Fatal Push decks: Proft\u2019s Eidetic Memory and Artist\u2019s Talent are a hell <\/em>of a combo that turns almost any creature into a threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n JUDGE!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Various hatebears decks have existed for awhile but struggled to keep pace with the attrition-based Rakdos and control decks. They had game against unfair decks – especially around Fall 2022 when Lotus combo and Izzet Creativity were all the rage.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The problem against control has now been solved – enter Enduring Innocence. You can find it off of a Collected Company, it is resistant to removal itself, and it gives the deck game against control decks through card advantage. I\u2019m unsure of this deck\u2019s gameplan against Rakdos Prowess, but otherwise there is much to like in this archetype.<\/p>\n\n\n\n JUDGE!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When midrange dominates, you will always see players (especially competitive players) try to turn to blue-based control to dominate. The formula this time around has not changed: counterspells, single-target removal, a non-creature finisher, and some method of card advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The deck hasn\u2019t been putting up the finishes in recent Challenges that push it to tier 1, but spikes love <\/em>to play control. I would expect this deck to make an appearance, but I am not certain how well it will perform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Canadian scene you also see an uptick in Lotus Field control because Patrick Wu from Montreal continues to dominate with it. This may be a home for Day of Judgement from MTG Foundations, but the deck already is spoiled for choice in the sweepers area (especially Supreme Verdict) so this is only beneficial is players are concerned about their mana and are playing a high number of land-based in conditions that don\u2019t tap for coloured mana. (Fountain, Mirrex, and so on).<\/p>\n\n\n\n JUDGE!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Overlords from Duskmourne are pretty nuts on their own, but they work beautifully with Enigmatic Incarnation because paying their Impending cost still puts them in play. They are available to sacrifice to Enigmatic Incarnation right away and, since they are both enchantments and creatures, you can chain them up to Atraxa.<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, the Overlords synergize perfectly with Up the Beanstalk so you are never out of gas. As a result the deck plays a great suite of low-cost interaction to control the game before the Incarnation engine takes over. If the engine isn\u2019t online you can simply beat them up with Zur, enchantments, and whatever other powerful objects you happen to have lying around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now you know (one of the reasons) why Phoenix is playing \u201cAnnul\u201d in it’s sideboard!<\/p>\n\n\n\n JUDGE!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n These decks utilize the same Fatal Push\/Thoughtseize\/Fable of the Mirror-Breaker midrange shell but with different synergy engines to push them over the normal midrange gameplan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the record I expect the Transmogrify and Creativity variant of Rakdos to be the breakout surprise deck. It won the RC in Australia recently, has a powerful interactive game and a powerful proactive and unfair gameplan. You\u2019ll probably see me playing this on Friday \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\nTop Tier Decks<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
Prowess Decks (Rakdos & Gruul)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
Rakdos Midrange<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
Izzet Phoenix<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
Selesnya Company<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
Second-Tier Roleplayers<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
Azorius Control<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
5C Overlord Incarnation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Rakdos Sub-Variants (Sacrifice & Transmogrify)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n