Top Modern picks for #SCGINVI!

[ ] Who will be the final seven? All year long, we’ve seen the SCG Tour’s biggest and brightest stars battle round after round with one goal in mind—to qualify for the Players’ Championship. This weekend at the [#SCGINVI], seven people are going to leave Atlanta with an invite to the Star City Game Center to play for their share of $50,000. Others will leave Atlanta wondering what went wrong and where to go from there. It’s the thrill of victory. It’s the agony of defeat. And for me, it’s what Magic is all about. Will SCG Tour newcomer, Todd Stevens, be able to hold off those behind him for one more weekend to earn his way to Roanoke? Will the 2015 Players’ Championship runner-up, Todd Anderson, accumulate enough SCG Points at the [#SCGINVI] to sneak his way into a tournament he let slip through his fingers just one year ago? And will the inaugural Players’ Champion, Brad Nelson, coming off of a timely win at [#SCGKNOX] just a few weeks ago, be able to parlay that success into his third straight Players’ Championship appearance? I’ll be joined by Patrick Sullivan, Matthias Hunt, Ryan Overturf, Nick Miller, and the rest of the [@SCGLive crew] as we prepare for our final SCG Tour event of the year before the Players’ Championship. With 16 rounds of nonstop action over two days, only the strong will survive what will almost assuredly be the most important tournament in SCG Tour history. And for the strongest of them all? An invite and flight to the Players’ Championship, an invite and flight to Pro Tour Aether Revolt, their name and likeness on a future StarCityGames.com token, byes and free entry into every StarCityGames.com Open and StarCityGames.com Classic for Season One of the 2017 SCG Tour, and $10,000. Can’t join us in Atlanta for the [#SCGINVI]? Be sure to catch all the action over at [twitch.tv/scglive]! — Cedric Phillips, Media Manager [@CedricAPhillips] [Editor's Picks] [W/U Flash Is Terrible And Jeskai Isn't] The power W/U Flash in Standard is undeniable—or is it? Ari Lax is here to challenge the status quo as he believes that W/U Flash isn’t all that and a bag of chips. Is he right? Find out as Ari attempts to poke a rather huge hole in Standard. [Everything You Need To Know About Sun And Moon] After great starts at [#SCGMKE] and [#SCGBALT], Todd Stevens won the Modern Classic at [#SCGKNOX] with Sun and Moon. This week, Todd goes over everything for his favorite Modern deck just in time for his biggest tournament of the year, the Season Three [#SCGINVI]. [The Case For R/B Aggro At #SCGINV] With all this talk about B/G Delirium and W/U Flash in Standard, it’s rare that we see players talk about other decks. But with the [#SCGINVI] this weekend, many are trying to get an edge on the competition and Gerry Thompson may have found a deck to do just that—R/B Aggro. [Match of the Week] B/G Delirium mirrors can be pretty complex, and none were more complex than Brad Nelson and Eric Flickinger’s semifinal match at [#SCGKNOX]. [Match of the Week video] [What I'd Play At The Open Series] The printing of Kaladesh offered a handful of Modern playable goodies, though [Cathartic Reunion] and [Blossoming Defense] have proven to be the two most impactful additions to the format. Dredge and Infect have improved significantly with these additions, and the increase in the power level of these two decks has been at the forefront of recent metagame shifts. We’ve seen a good amount of diversity in recent results, and these are what I believe to be the best Modern decks going into the Season Three Invitational. #10 Dredge [Golgari Grave-Troll card preview] Matt Ayers took second place at the Columbus Open with a Dredge list featuring [Simian Spirit Guide], and his 75 looks very powerful. Dredge is favored in the majority of its Game 1s due to the fact that very few decks maindeck graveyard hate, and using [Simian Spirit Guide] to cast [Cathartic Reunion] on the first turn helps Ayers’ build kill faster than the decks that threaten to race. Dredge has a huge target on its head, and as such I don’t expect anybody to sweep the Swiss with the deck, but it’s consistent and resilient enough to convincingly put up some winning records. #9 Sun and Moon [Chalice of the Void card preview] Another [Simian Spirit Guide] deck, Todd Stevens’ Classic win in Knoxville demonstrated that Sun and Moon has what it takes to crush in Modern. An early [Blood Moon] or [Chalice of the Void] will stop many decks from ever getting off the ground, which is what allows this deck to compete despite the relative speed of the format. This deck doesn’t really present a ton of decisions to its pilot, which is why I don’t rank it higher. If you’re in the market for free wins though, [Simian Spirit Guide] into [Chalice of the Void] will provide plenty of those. #8 Bant Eldrazi [Thought-Knot Seer card preview] Bant Eldrazi was arguably the deck to beat before Kaladesh launched, though the format’s general increase in speed has pushed the deck out some. Even still, Bant Eldrazi is great at beating up midrange decks and has enough interaction to take some wins from Infect and Dredge. [Path to Exile] is powerful against both decks, and the Eldrazi have demonstrated time and again that they have game everywhere. The consistency offered by [Ancient Stirrings] enables the deck to execute its plan better than most decks, and it was no accident that two copies cracked the Top 8 of the Columbus Open. #7 Burn [Lava Spike card preview] Burn is almost never bad in Modern, and Ben Wienburg’s fifth-place finish in Columbus demonstrated that the deck is a great choice in the current environment. Burn will often be able to kill on pace with Dredge, and the deck offers enough interaction to take down Infect, especially with the four [Path to Exiles] in Wienburg’s sideboard. A lot of the format is focused on interacting with creatures, and Burn offers ways to win the game outside of combat in addition to plenty of interaction to play the control role against creature-heavy decks. #6 Jund [Tarmogoyf card preview] Fifty percent of the time, Jund works every time. I’m not really a Jund guy, but neither is Todd Anderson and he made Top 8 in Columbus with the deck. You’ve probably heard everything that you’ll ever need to hear about Jund in Modern already, and discard plus removal and [Tarmogoyf] is going to be a reasonable plan for the foreseeable future. #5 Skred Red [Skred card preview] This one might be a little controversial, but I believe that Kevin Mackie’s winning list from GP Dallas is a phenomenal metagame deck. Playing both [Lightning Bolt] and [Skred] gives you access to plenty of efficient interaction against Infect, and both [Anger of the Gods] and [Relic of Progenitus] in the maindeck should make Dredge an easy enough matchup. [Pia and Kiran Nalaar] apply a lot of pressure, and [Eternal Scourge] is actually great at grinding out the midrange and control decks of the format. Meanwhile, three copies of [Blood Moon] will allow you some easy wins against much of the format. I believe this deck is underrated as of now, and I was happy to see Chance Brown Top 4 the Classic in Knoxville with an updated build of the deck. #4 G/W Tron [Karn Liberated card preview] One of the selling points of Jund in Columbus was that Tron was really off the radar going into that tournament. Then Tom Ross won with a new G/W build of the dreaded big mana deck. Maindeck [Path to Exile] and sideboard [Blessed Alliance] enable the deck to compete with decks like Infect, and Tron is actually reasonable against Dredge just by virtue of casting [Wurmcoil Engines] and [Ugin, the Spirit Dragon]. A couple sideboard [Rest in Peace] help there, too. Tron is known for demolishing interactive decks, and the G/W build has the requisite tools to keep pace with the fast non-interactive decks. #3 Scapeshift [Primeval Titan card preview] I say [Scapeshift], but what I mean is [Through the Breach]. [Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle] is generally great against fair decks, though it can leave something to be desired against the faster Modern decks. That’s where enabling a turn-three [Through the Breach] into [Primeval Titan] comes into play. This sequence allows the deck to find two [Valakuts] and a bunch of [Mountains] to close games at a blistering pace. Given how fast the format is, Clayton Vogelgesang utilized [Simian Spirit Guide] to facilitate a higher rate of turn-three [Through the Breach] all the way to a second-place finish in the Knoxville Classic. There’s very little in the way of hate for this deck, and even [Blood Moon] can be overcome by just attacking for six a few times with a [Titan]. The ability to turn three means you’re live in basically all of your games, and [Valakut] is a difficult-to-disrupt way to go long if you have to. #2 Infect [Blighted Agent card preview] I know, I know. I made a point of discussing the way in which all of these other decks can beat Infect. It so happens though, that when the conversation is all about beating one deck it usually means that said deck has a way of winning anyway. Danny Jessup made Top 8 in the Knoxville Classic with Infect, and I fully expect him to do well in the Modern leg of the Invitational with the same deck. The deck is fast, powerful, resilient, and continues to put up results in the hands of great players despite it having a huge target on its head. #1 Grixis Delver [Snapcaster Mage card preview] What do you mean my list exhibits bias? Is it bias that put Kevin Jones on the US World Magic Cup team? Is it bias that got him to fourth place in Columbus? Counterspells are phenomenal against fast degenerate decks, Grixis Delver offers removal for large creatures that sneak under your counters, and the deck offers a well above average clock for a controlling strategy in racing situations. The deck has a lot of game against Infect with its suite of efficient interaction, though Jones’ sideboard [Surgical Extractions] are necessary for the Dredge menace. The biggest selling point is that [Lingering Souls], far and away the worst card for a Grixis Delver player to see on the other side of the table, is nowhere to be seen in the format currently. Grixis is great and I hope Kevin keeps reminding everybody of this fact. Modern has had surprising and exciting results in recent months, and while I expect all of these decks to be good choices for [#SCGINVI] in Atlanta, I’m hoping to see some brews as well. This is the last chance for players to qualify for the Players’ Championship, and I can’t wait to see how the competition shakes out! — Ryan Overturf, [@RyanOverdrive] [Road To The Player's Championship] The 2016 SCG Tour Player of the Year race comes down to one final event: the Season Three Invitational in Atlanta. For Tom Ross and Jeff Hoogland, a year of hard work culminates with a final event combining the Standard and Modern formats. Ross takes a 12-point lead into the finale, leaving Hoogland in a spot where he has to finish multiple match wins ahead of Ross, who has three Top 8s in the past ten Invitationals. At the end of the weekend, one of these players will take the title of SCG Tour Player of the Year, earning free entry into all Opens and Classics in 2017 along with being the only player with three byes in all Opens. For Joe Lossett, a third straight trip to the Players’ Championship is virtually a lock going into the Invitational. The Miracle Man holds a huge lead and would need disaster to strike in numerous ways for him to miss out. Todd Stevens and Caleb Scherer, however, still have some work to do to qualify for the [#SCGPC]. Stevens just needs to stay ahead of two potential Players’ Championship hopefuls while Scherer holds only a six-point lead over Todd Anderson. Jacob Baugh isn’t too far behind either, but both Anderson and Baugh are more likely to steal an invite in the Season Three Race for the Players' Championship if they crush the Invitational. [SCG Tour Leaderboard] Brad Carpenter still holds a stranglehold lead in the Season Three race after his string of wins this season. Even if Carpenter somehow doesn’t qualify via the Season Three leaderboard, he can still make it via a yearlong at-large berth. Things, however, get interesting for the players behind Carpenter in the Season Three race. Ted Felicetti is still hanging onto the second spot while Brad Nelson jumped into the third and final slot after winning the [#SCGKNOX] Standard Open with B/G Delirium. Nelson controls his own destiny at the Invitational and is looking to qualify for his third straight Players’ Championship, but he'll have to fend off Anderson, Baugh, and Jadine Klomparens as the Season Three race closes this weekend in Atlanta. Along with the Players’ Championship invites, an Invitational champion will be crowned and the 2016 SCG Tour Player of the Year title will be given out. Tune into [twitch.tv/SCGLive] all weekend long to watch the history unfold! [Game Night] [Cardboard Crack] [Invitational Qualifier announcement] [Join the Conversation] [StarCityGames.com] [Facebook] [Twitter] [Youtube] [If you would like to unsubscribe and stop receiving these emails please click here.] StarCityGames.com, 5728 Williamson Road N.W, Roanoke, VA 24012 [SafeUnsubscribe™ {EMAIL}] [Forward email] | [Update Profile] | [About our service provider] Sent by [donotreply@starcitygames.com] in collaboration with [Constant Contact] [Try it free today]