Frontier Results from January 2nd

We had 34 people for our first Frontier event this past Monday! I have to admit, I was not expecting that many people right out of the gate. Special thanks to Alexander Smith and Donivan Abraham for lending a hand with a judge call here and there, and also for doing a bit of score keeping.  

We capped the event at five rounds and were able to prize to the top 12 players (well 13 really since I remove myself from final rankings and move everyone under me up one rank). Many of you submitted deck lists for this event, and I thank you for it. I have a ton of Frontier info to pull from now. Our local meta is shaping up nicely. There was a ton of diversity throughout the tournament. Rally CoCo made an appearance with about 7 players piloting it (I may have missed one), but only two made it to the top 12. Jacob Noel and I were the two Rally CoCo players to make top 12, and I consider the two of us to be among the areas most skilled Rally CoCo pilots. You guys came prepared and made us work for each win. 

Here is our top 12 (13) player's deck lists:

Sam smashed everyone's face. Great removal package and powerful creatures. Siege Rhino is still a powerhouse, but I'm more excited to see Sylvan Advocate in this deck. Advocate is one of my favorites. I hope he shined for you Sam. 

Ardi was the only other undefeated player in this week's Frontier event. He referred to his aggro deck as a meta call, and I have to agree with him. In uncertain formats aggro is often king. Keep that in mind for next week's tournament. 

Mike was my only loss. He crushed me. Soulfire Grand Master plus Draconic Roar is some serious synergy. To be fair I got mana screwed in both of our games, but I don't think I could keep up with the damage Mike was putting up anyway. 

So my deck did well, but again to be fair, I only really played two rounds of magic. I got mana screwed in both games against Mike in round three, Bryan got mana screwed in our match in round four, and Wes got mana screwed in our match in round five. 

Chord of Calling was great. It's so awesome to instant speed search your deck for a creature that answers your opponent's best play. Aether Revolt spoilers haven't shown me the green two drop I'm searching for yet, but there's a couple other cards coming out that Rally CoCo may be interested in. Noose Constrictor actually showed some promise, but not enough to ensure its spot in the future. 

By the fourth round of the tournament I knew my mana base was too greedy. I will be going up to 23 lands. Most likely another Canopy Vista or Prairie Stream.

I would have loved to see this deck play. We had two Jeskai decks make it to the top tables. 

I spoke with Eric about his deck. He said he didn't enjoy Elvish Mystics as much as he thought he would. He had a turn two Tireless Tracker that did a ton of work for him, but he's probably going to cut them for one more land and a three of some value enter the battlefield (ETB) creature. Eric also said he's considering cutting the Reclamation Sages for Phyrexian Revokers. I think Revoker is currently a great sideboard option. 

I also spoke with Lance about his deck. He said he pulled a list from online, and after playing it thinks it can defiantly be improved upon. I think this deck has potential, but the Faerie Miscreant and Smuggler's Copter synergy is more cute than truly beneficial. I'm interested to see where he goes with this deck. 

Bryan did well over all, but he said he was having some issue getting the colors he needed. I always enjoy facing off against Bryan, unfortunately his 26 lands did not show up when he needed them in our match. Frontier offers some intricate mana bases. Building them can be pretty challenging.

Not every deck list was submitted. That's totally fine. I'm going to change up how we submit decks in the future anyway. Hopefully, not having to hand write anything will supply us with more lists in the future. 

Wes was another of my opponents. Unfortunately, we didn't play much magic since he was mana screwed, and I kept bouncing his Elvish Mystics with Reflector Mage. Sorry buddy. I'd love to see Tamiyo, Field Researcher or two in this list. 

Among the people most excited for Frontier has been Mike Eisterhold. Mike heard there was another chance to make Narset Transcendent good again, and he dropped everything to start brewing. Mike in my opinion is one of the area's best control players. If you are interested in playing control in Frontier, Mike is a great source of information, and his Esper list is a great place to start. 

I saw a ton of different decks. From green white tokens to Demonic Pact Harmless Offering. The format is still wide open. Take what you see here and tweak your build to better position your deck for next Monday.  

When in doubt aggro 'em out,

-Chris