Gatecrash has been on the shelves a couple of weeks now, and that means one thing. It is time for the Pro Tour. As a competitive Magic player, I always look forward to the Pro Tour. I get to see the best players in the world compete at the highest level. It gives me the opportunity to study the masters of the game and learn from them.



This particular Pro Tour is of special interest to me because it will help define the new Standard format: the same format that I will be playing at the SCG Invitational in less than two months.

In conjunction with the Pro Tour, there is also the Fantasy Pro Tour app on Facebook. This allows you to select the cards you think will do well at the Pro Tour and compare your results to your friends. I encourage everyone who has Facebook to go check it out and select your rosters. Today, I am going to go through the roster of cards I selected for Pro Tour Gatecrash, as well as the reasons why I made each choice. It is an interesting exercise in thinking about the metagame and where it may be headed.

Small Creature

For this spot, I chose Deathrite Shaman. It is clearly one of the best one-drops in the game, seeing play in all of the major formats. While it is not as strong in Standard as it is Modern and Legacy, due to the lack of fetchlands, it still accomplishes quite a bit.

First of all, it gives you excellent game against all of the reanimator decks out there. Brad Nelson’s Humanimator deck is definitely seeing play right now. I saw several copies of it at the SCG Classic in Memphis this past weekend. This deck was one of my only two losses in Atlanta and I can attest to its power. Deathrite Shaman does a lot to curtail the power of this deck. It allows you to exile key combo pieces before your opponent can combo off, making them play a much more fair game.

Deathrite Shaman is also excellent against control decks, giving you reach in the long game. Control decks will almost always provide an endless stream of instants and sorceries for you to use against them. Two life a turn will allow you to close the game out quickly. On the other side, the life gain ability will allow you to stay alive long enough against an aggro deck to establish your own gameplan.

Honorable Mentions

Augur of Bolas and Snapcaster Mage are both popular creatures in blue-based control decks. However, I’m not sure control will be that popular going into this event.

Burning-Tree Emissary has been getting a lot of talk as part of Saito’s R/G Aggro deck. I played against several copies of this deck in Memphis and this card allows for some pretty explosive starts.

Medium Creature

This guy is a machine. He changes the face of combat by giving you an incredible advantage. If your opponent attacks into this guy, they need to be ready to lose two creatures or take some damage to the face. And blocking becomes very difficult for your opponent for the same reasons.

The ability to gain first strike is what puts this card over the top. This card can tangle with a Thragtusk and come out clean on the other side. Either you get to deal 5 damage to your opponent or one of their creatures, or you first strike their Thragtusk. Then, you are big enough to deal with the token as well.

I have seen this guy in many red and/or white decks recently. I have played against this card, and it is no picnic trying to deal with him. He is going to reshape the removal that people are playing in their decks in order to deal with him.

Honorable Mention

Geist of St. Traft has seen play in multiple formats since the card was printed. It is a card that can get you free wins by itself. I am not sure this card is going to see as much play in the near future though because of Boros Reckoner. Boros Reckoners takes out the Geist while shocking your opponent.

Huntmaster of the Fells is another popular card that is seeing a lot of play right now. I have seen it recently in Boros Humans, Jund, and, of course, Humaninator. It still generates card advantage in colors that do not typically see a lot of card advantage. I think we will continue to see this guy up until he rotates out of Standard in October.

Large Creature

The boogeyman of Standard. This card has caused a lot of frustration in Standard over the last few months. And I do not see it becoming any less popular. Even with Boros Reckoner to contend with, this guy still gets the job done. It is excellent in padding your life total against the aggro decks and causes fits for control decks trying to deal with it.

The combination of this and Deathrite Shamans are going to cause a lot of people to continue to play Forests. From there, the options are many. You will still see white decks using this guy with Restoration Angel to gain huge amounts of advantage. I think we will see a new breed of RUG/BUG decks using Thragtusk in conjunction with Prime Speaker Zegana. Thragtusk is here to stay.

Honorable Mentions

These two new legends from Gatecrash are definitely primed to make waves in Standard. Obzedat is a personal favorite of mine as evidenced by my performance in Atlanta. I have never felt behind after resolving this guy and I think we will continue to see him winning games.

Prime Speaker Zegana is something of a wild card in my eyes. She is a card advantage machine giving you a big creature and refilling your hand, all in one motion. I could see her filling much the same role that Garruk, Primal Hunter has over the last few months, allowing green creature decks to fight back against the card drawing control decks.

Instant

This was probably one of the hardest choices I made on this roster, and I might still change it before Friday. There are a lot of very good instants in Standard right now, but I think Boros Charm will show up in the greatest numbers at Pro Tour Gatecrash.

This card has a lot going for it. Making your whole team indestructible is a huge bonus. It allows you to survive a Supreme Verdict and keep the pressure on your opponent. It allows you to alpha strike without fear. It gives you the option for a complete blowout when your opponent alpha strikes. And, it affects more than just your creatures. You can use it protect your other permanents as well.

The ability to deal four damage to the opponent is not to be taken lightly, either. Four damage is going to swing a race in your favor. It puts pressure on your opponent to find a way to fight back quickly. It will also give you reach against a control opponent. Imagine the scenario where you attack, bringing your opponent down to four. Then they miracle a Terminus. On your turn, you draw Boros Charm. Good game.

Some people seem to forget that this card has a third mode. While it does not see a lot of play, it does fill a niche role that people might overlook. Most importantly, it will work as a form of creature removal. It will allow an attacker to get through a bigger blocker and removing that blocker from future combats. On the flip side, it can also take out an oppressive attacker, like an Obzedat. And of course, it can be used with a creature 5 power or greater to get more reach than the 4 damage mode would give.

Honorable Mentions

As I mentioned above, this was the hardest category for me to choose because of all the impressive options available. I am quite certain Sphinx’s Revelation will see play this weekend. It is a very powerful card that swings games. It allows control decks an extra measure of defense against aggro, allowing them to cushion their life total while refilling on answers.

I think we may see a rise in Abrupt Decay in conjunction with the rise of Boros Reckoner. Abrupt Decay actually hits a good number of cards in Standard right now, and not just creatures. It will take out opposing Detention Spheres and Blind Obedience, as well as Keyrunes and the occasional Runechanter’s Pike.

Sorcery

I believe that the format has shown itself to be aggro friendly in the past couple of weeks. I also think this will cause a rise in the stock of board sweepers as a result, so I have chosen one for the Sorcery spot. The hard part was which one to pick.

I think Terminus is going to take the role of sweeper of choice in the next few weeks. The existence of Boros Charm makes Supreme Verdict less appealing. It does not matter that it cannot be countered if the creatures cannot be killed. And the ability to miracle this as early as turn two will be especially important against the R/G aggro decks fueled by Burning-Tree Emissary.

Honorable Mentions

With the success of the Humanimator deck, we are sure to see Unburial Rites being played. I am not sure it will be that popular at the Pro Tour, but it is a possibility. And if I had to choose a non-sweeper sorcery it would be this one.

Bonfire of the Damned will start to regain popularity again with all of the red based aggro decks running around. It is a one-sided sweeper that removes blockers. Plus, it has the bonus of just killing your opponent from time to time.

Enchantment

I chose Rest in Peace for the enchantment because I believe it will be one of the most popular sideboard cards of the tournament. It is excellent tool against both Reanimator and Snapcaster based decks. It also puts a stop to Deathrite Shaman as well.

Honorable Mentions

Blind Obedience is a card that does a lot of work. It slows down haste creatures and keeps blockers out of the way. It also provides a consistent source of damage going long. I expect to see a few of these floating around this weekend.

With the increase in popularity of the R/G Aggro deck, you are going to see this card as well. It is a key contributor to the explosive starts the deck can have. It will also see play in any Bant Hexproof decks, and I am sure we’ll see a couple of those this weekend as well.

Artifact

The artifact category is kind of bare this season. There are not a lot of artifacts seeing play in Standard right now. I chose Pithing Needle because I expect it to see play in some sideboards to deal with Planeswalkers mainly. I could also see it being used against Deathrite Shamans and possibly Runechanter’s Pikes.

Honorable Mentions

I put Runechanter’s Pike here because I could see some sort of Delver-esque deck making a comeback this weekend, and if so Runechanter’s Pike usually show up in those types of lists.

I have a sneaky suspicion that the winner in this category is actually going to be a Keyrune, I am just not sure which one. Rakdos Keyrune seems like the frontrunner because it has already been seeing play in Standard. However, I would not be surprised to see a few Dimir Keyrunes running around. It is reminiscent of Creeping Tar Pit as a finisher for control decks and a way to eliminate opposing Planeswalkers.

Planeswalker

Most of the controls decks in the format seem to be in the on the mill plan to finish their opponents and Jace, Memory Adept gets the job done like no other. He immediately gets 10 cards, and then, if your opponent does not deal with him, 10 more. This is going to put the game away very quickly.

Honorable Mentions

I could see Liliana appearing in Jund lists and Doran lists. She is a very good Planeswalker against control decks and plays well with Lingering Souls. She also keeps your Deathrite Shaman full of fuel.

The other version of Jace in Standard has proven that he can do some work, too. He slows down the aggressive decks and gives you a good source of card advantage. He might also see some play in the control mirror as a way to preempt Memory Adept preventing your opponent from milling you out quickly.

Non-Basic

For this slot, I of course chose one of the shocklands. I think we will see a lot of aggressive decks and those decks tend to be Boros centered right now so I went with Sacred Foundry. The combination of Boros Reckoner and Boros Charm is seeing a lot of play right now.

Honorable Mention

I feel this category really is a toss-up between the shocklands, but if there is a land to compete with them, it is Nephalia Drownyard. It is still one of the more popular finishers in control decks right now, and I expect to see a few people milled out this weekend.

Gatecrash Card

I have picked several Gatecrash cards in the categories above, but one thing is certain. People are gonna play lands. I am pretty sure one of the shocklands is going to win this category.

Player

I’m gonna keep this one a secret for now. I cannot be giving away my whole list, and I want to have the advantage if one of you copies mine.


Regardless of the results of my Fantasy Pro Tour roster, I am definitely looking forward to this weekend. It will be exciting to see the direction the Standard format takes and what sleeper cards the pros find. See you next week.

Eddie Walker