Mythic Championship Qualifier Barcelona 2019
18th May 2019
Suntec Convention Centre, Room 303-304
We had the immense honour and privilege of hosting the first of the Mythic Championship Qualifiers, which is the rebranded form of what used to be known as the Pro Tour. This MCQ feeds into Mythic Championship Barcelona, and is the first of the paper Magic MCQs to be held. As is befitting of our extremely competitive local scene, we had a full house at Suntec City Convention Center for the MCQ! Games Haven would like to thank all of you for your support and enthusiasm, and we hope you had a fun time.
The metagame for the MCQ was broad and diverse, stretching across all broad archetypes and virtually every colour combination. Fascinatingly, we had almost equal representation across the trifecta of aggro, midrange and control. The takeaway here is that in the current standard, whatever style of play you like, there is something for you. Once we zoom in, however, we see a more skewed story.
Esper is undoubtedly king of the hill. Naturally, some others come very close, and some are even on the same playing field within the category, but as a whole Esper is the dominant colour combination. A very big reason for this is Teferi Senior and Junior. Between the two of them, both Teferis have an extremely wide range of functions that are broad enough to serve a variety of strategies within Esper and outside of Esper. With one or both Teferis as the glue for virtually every deck strategy, one may be supplemented by Liliana, Dreadhorde General, Thief of Sanity, Enter the God-Eternals, Nexus of Fate, Adanto Vanguard or even Sarkhan the Masterless, and chances are that the deck exists and isn't bad. Pick your poison, and ride it to victory. Nippon Paint, and Wakanda forever.
That's not to say that one HAS to play Teferi, of course. Teferi's key opponent in true metagame dominance is, to nobody's surprise, Mountain. While no longer receiving the blessings of Hazoret the Fervent, Chandra, Fire Artisan has enough fire to back up the red decks, and then some. Chandra represents one of the most awkward planeswalkers ever printed to attack into since Gideon Jura, and if one does not attack into her, the card advantage streaming forth from her can be a very quickly ticking clock. This isn't even looking at her ultimate, which deals you 7 damage anyway. As the only mainstream way to deal with Chandra cleanly are cards like Vraska's Contempt, Prison Realm, Deputy of Detention and The Elderspell, expect their stock to rise quickly as the flame continues to burn.
Decks from the old Standard have been forced to adapt to the new planeswalker-centric metagame, as expected of a set like War of the Spark. If a deck cannot accommodate either Teferi or Chandra (to say nothing of their respective A-teams Liliana/Gideon/Ashiok/Narset and Tibalt/Domri/Sarkhan/Vivien), chances are that it has lost some favour in the new Standard. BG and Sultai Midrange are in the uncomfortable spot between "just decent" and "pretty bad", and Izzet Phoenix is no longer the powerhouse of old, having moved on to Modern instead.
There is just one exception to the Teferi vs Chandra brawl. It's a doozy, and it shouldn't surprise you at all.
Nicol Bolas.
Yes, the final boss himself is large, in charge, and perfectly content to get into an arms race with Teferi and Chandra. Grixis Control represents an arm of the metagame that strongly and stubbornly resists all efforts to make players conform, and is poised to be a very big player at least in these few weeks. Grixis Control decks tend to stick to one greedy, ruthless build that slowly picks off at both hand and board until there is literally nothing left and some form of Bolas can swoop in uncontested and laugh maniacally turn after turn while ticking up to a win. Sometimes, even when one knows what's coming, there is still not much to do about it. If you fancy yourself in the driver's seat, picking off insects with all the poise of a Bond villain, rejoice, for Grixis exists to serve your evil mastermind needs.
The above may make it sound like there are only three decks to pay attention to, but the reality is anything but. While Teferi, Chandra, and Bolas are indeed major players, the other walkers are by no means left in the dust, and despite sharing common planeswalkers, one deck may feel very different from the other. Some special mentions that are up-and-coming and might be worth your notice are:
Jeskai Superfriends
Half meme, half the real deal, the deck can look extremely strange on paper (in fact, one might say that some can get TOTALLY LOST), but the deck has produced results before, and doesn't seem like a one-shot-wonder at all. Bonus points if you make roaring noises everytime you land a Sarkhan for a surprise lethal.
4C Command the Dreadhorde
This deck might be the next evolutionary stage of Sultai Midrange, and that's saying something considering that the decks feel completely different from each other. The principle of using the explore package to grind out card advantage is tested and proven, and since explore puts unwanted cards in the graveyard, why not Command the Dreadhorde for when you finally want them?
Bant Midrange
Magic players are all denizens of the Internet, and there's one thing that all denizens of the Internet have in common - we love kets. O-ket-ra is the real deal, and is everything that the pros have been warning us about for weeks.
In the midst of all this vying for dominance, eight players emerged to prove their worth, and another two hours after that, we had our MCQ winner. Qualifying for his first Mythic Championship/Pro Tour is long-time player New Chee Wee! His victory was well-earned and very much deserved, and we wish him many congratuations and all the best in Barcelona!
And now for the Standard Top 8 decklists:
White Weenies piloted by New Chee Wee
1st Place
Main Deck
20x Plains
4x Law-Rune Enforcer
1x Snubhorn Sentry
4x Dauntless Bodyguard
4x Skymarcher Aspirant
4x Adanto Vanguard
2x Tithe Taker
4x Benalish Marshall
4x Venerated Loxodon
4x Legion's Landing//Adanto, the First Fort
4x History of Benalia
4x Conclave Tribunal
1x Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants
Sideboard
1x Ajani, Advsersary of Tyrants
3x Demystify
4x Baffling End
3x Tocatli Honor Guard
3x Gideon Blackblade
1x Unbreakable Formation
Mono-Red Aggro piloted by Clement Choo
2nd place
Main Deck
19x Mountain
4x Fanatical Firebrand
4x Ghitu Lavarunner
4x Viashino Pyromancer
3x Runaway Steam-Kin
4x Goblin Chainwhirler
4x Shock
4x Lightning Strike
4x Light Up the Stage
3x Skewer the Critics
3x Wizard's Lightning
1x Tibalt, Rakish Instigator
2x Chandra, Fire Artisan
1x Experimental Frenzy
Sideboard
2x Dire Fleet Daredevil
4x Lava Coil
3x Legion Warboss
2x Tibalt, Rakish Instigator
1x Experimental Frenzy
2x Rekindling Phoenix
1x Mountain
Mono-Red Aggro piloted by Bryan Ong
Top 4
Main Deck
19x Mountain
4x Goblin Chainwhirler
4x Ghitu Lavarunner
4x Viashino Pyromancer
4x Runaway Steam-Kin
4x Fanatical Firebrand
2x Risk Factor
4x Shock
4x Lightning Strike
4x Wizard's Lightning
4x Light Up the Stage
3x Experimental Frenzy
Sideboard
3x Dire Fleet Daredevil
3x Legion Warboss
4x Rekindling Phoenix
4x Lava Coil
1x Mountain
Grixis Control piloted by Albertus Law
Top 4
Main Deck
4x Blood Crypt
4x Dragonskull Summit
4x Drowned Catacomb
3x Steam Vents
4x Sulfur Falls
2x Swamp
4x Watery Grave
2x God-Eternal Kefnet
4x Nicol Bolas, the Ravager//Nicol Bolas, the Arisen
2x Angrath's Rampage
4x Thought Erasure
4x Bedevil
2x Cry of the Carnarium
2x Ritual of Soot
2x Enter the God-Eternals
4x Discovery//Dispersal
2x Bedeck//Bedazzle
2x Narset, Parter of Veils
3x Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God
1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General
1x Ugin, the Ineffable
Sideboard
2x Duress
2x Moment of Craving
1x Cry of the Carnarium
4x Legion Warboss
4x Thief of Sanity
1x Vraska's Contempt
1x Enter the God-Eternals
UW Weenies piloted by Kong Chong Teng
Top 8
Main Deck
12x Plains
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Dauntless Bodyguard
3x Law-Rune Enforcer
3x Adanto Vanguard
4x Skymarcher Aspirant
4x Snubhorn Sentry
4x Benalish Marshal
4x Venerated Loxodon
4x Legion's Landing//Adanto, the First Fort
4x History of Benalia
2x Conclave Tribunal
2x Gideon Blackblade
2x Teferi, Time Raveler
Sideboard
2x Teferi, Time Raveler
1x Island
3x Dovin's Veto
1x Disdainful Stroke
2x Spell Pierce
4x Baffling End
2x Deputy of Detention
Bant "Midrange" piloted by Orange Chua
Top 8
Main Deck
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Temple Garden
4x Breeding Pool
4x Hinterland Harbor
2x Glacial Fortress
2x Sunpetal Grove
3x Forest
2x Island
4x Frilled Mystic
4x Hydroid Krasis
3x Paradise Druid
4x Llanowar Elves
4x Incubation Druid
3x Entrancing Melody
3x Chemister's Insight
4x Mass Manipulation
3x Teferi, Time Raveler
3x Nissa, Who Shakes the World
Sideboard
2x Deputy of Detention
3x Knight of Autumn
2x Lyra Dawnbringer
2x Thorn Lieutenant
1x Thrashing Brontodon
1x The Wanderer
4x Dovin's Veto
UW Weenies piloted by Lucas Wong
Top 8
Main Deck
12x Plains
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Skymarcher Aspirant
4x Dauntless Bodyguard
3x Law-Rune Enforcer
3x Snubhorn Sentry
2x Adanto Vanguard
1x Tomik, Distinguished Advokist
4x Benalish Marshal
4x Venerated Loxodon
4x Legion's Landing//Adanto, the First Fort
4x History of Benalia
3x Conclave Tribunal
2x Gideon Blackblade
2x Teferi, Time Raveler
Sideboard
2x Disdainful Stroke
3x Dovin's Veto
1x Teferi, Time Raveler
1x Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants
1x The Wanderer
1x Lyra Dawnbringer
3x Baffling End
3x Tocatli Honor Guard
UW Superfriends piloted by Yang Zhijian
Top 8
Main Deck
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Mobilized District
2x Azorius Guildgate
3x Plains
2x Island
1x Karn's Bastion
4x Interplanar Beacon
4x Fblthp, the Lost
1x Spark Double
1x Deputy of Detention
2x Tomik, Distinguished Advokist
3x Spell Pierce
2x Callous Dismissal
2x Time Wipe
2x Mox Amber
4x Teferi, Time Raveler
4x Dovin, Hand of Control
3x Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor
2x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
3x Narset, Parter of Veils
1x Dovin, Grand Arbiter
1x Gideon Blackblade
1x Karn, Scion of Urza
Sideboard
3x Sky Tether
1x Deputy of Detention
3x Shalai, Voice of Plenty
2x Lyra Dawnbringer
2x Negate
2x Prison Realm
1x Dovin's Veto
1x Gideon Blackblade