Burn and WonderWalls won the weekend challenges. But that’s only part of the story. Izzet Mystic Sanctuary decks took a back seat to Dimir Delver and Stompy. Let’s get into the numbers.
Burn won the tournament, which itself is notable. Burn is an often maligned deck and has a tendency to be played often while experiencing relatively little success. Still, Lightning Bolt can get there. I don’t expect Burn to keep putting up these numbers, mostly since it is so easy to hate out.
Stompy, on the other hand, could be here for a while. The green deck has the ability to present an early army that can overwhelm the Izzet decks. We even saw the return of Young Wolf to one of the Top 8 builds as a way to render Skred only half as good. Stompy is not likely to take down 25% of a weekend’s Top 8s again anytime soon, but has the tools to shift to an aggro control role as Mystic Sanctuary decks assume the control role.
WonderWalls is a combo deck that takes the Freed from Real combo and staples it on to something resembling a Elves shell, but the deck is for real. While it hasn’t put up fantastic numbers it is a deck that can catch people unprepared and run over them. The deck is resilient to removal and discard and, by virtue of being packed with walls, is pretty good at absorbing the beatdown.
Again, we see Stompy put up good numbers. We also see Dimir Delver take two slots in toe Top 8. The ability to run Suffocating Fumes in the maindeck is rather enticing. It is never a dead card thanks to cycling but when it is good it is great. That being said I still believe the Izzet versions of these decks to be the better option.
Also of note: we saw Bonder’s Ornament make its challenge debut. A lot of Pauper Tron pilots are high on this card and I would recommend being on the lookout for copies. That being said, I am not convinced it’s necessary to compete but am willing to be proven wrong.
NerdtotheCore 