Discussion Forum

Hi guys, welcome back to Noteworthy Plays, here's some news.

This last Saturday was the National Qualifiers for the United States (as well as a few other countries). The format was Standard and it should prove a big influence on the shape of the metagame for the future. I was fortunate enough to be able to judge at the California qualifier at the LAX Radisson, so I've got a look at what's new, what's current, and what might change.

First off, let's go over some basics. One: Jund is not dead, but is still a fierce contender. It's still one of the best, but UW Tapout aka Fireball Blue seems to be taking up a good portion of the top tables as well, along with UWr Planeswalkers.

Unfortunately I was unable to procure top 8 decklists from the event, but I should hopefully be able to get them to this site.

All in all, Qualifiers held some new archetypes as well. I was surprised to see a few iterations of an archetype I've been working on lately, 'Walldrazi', focusing on the large amount of mana you can get from Overgrown Battlement. I was also fortunate enough to see a Red/Green concoction at the top tables with Mul Daya Channelers and Momentous Fall, as well as consistent beaters Bloodbraid Elf and Vengevine.


This qualifier had some cool new looks at existing archetypes, and I'm going to work on getting you guys those top 8 lists. So, until next time, this is Noteworthy Plays.