Now that Pro Tour Hollywood is over, many players will be scouring magicthegathering.com for the decklists of the pros. Pro Tours have defined regionals in the past and Hollywood will be no different.

What can we learn from Hollywood's results? How will Hollywood affect the regionals metagame?

Regionals Standard Metagame

One word: diverse.

The standard metagame post-Hollywood looks to be wide open. One pro commented that he played against eight different decks on day one of the Pro Tour.

Check out the top 8 decks:

1 Merfolk
1 Doran
1 Faeries
2 Elves
2 Reveillark
1 RG Big Mana

Six different decks in the top 8 and only one Faeries deck. Also, there were a couple rouge decks in the top 33: Guillaume Wafo-tapa's Quick ‘n Toast, Zvi Mowshowitz's RG midrange deck, and Stuart Wright's BR Furystoke Giant deck.

I incorrectly predicted that Hollywood would be Pro Tour Faeries. I misjudged the strength of Faeries as well as the deck building skills of the pros to crush Faeries. There were less than 30% Faeries decks in day one and the day two number went down to 21%.

Faeries is a good deck but it's not Affinity. There are a lot of ways to hurt Faeries. You can attack its manabase with Magus of the Moon. You can attack its flyers with board sweepers like Cloudthresher, Squall Line, and Firespout. You can disrupt it with Thoughtseize. And as we saw in the top 8, aggressive undercosted creatures is enough to beat it. Regionals will definitely not be a "Faeries or Bust" metagame.

The reason the metagame is so diverse is because there is no one deck that is crushing the field. As we've seen, there are many cards and strategies that beat Faeries. However, the anti-Faeries decks lose to Reveillark. Eight players made day two with Reveillark. This only accounted for six percent of the day two field. However, two of the Lark players made top 8. Those players feasted on all the anti-Faeries hate.

Does that mean Lark is the best deck? Well, not so fast. Pros would agree that Lark loses to Faeries. Look at Grand Prix Shizuoka's top 8. Two Faeries players met at the finals in a top 8 that included three Lark decks.

So, we have a rock, paper, and scissors metagame.

Aggro anti-Faeries decks beats Faeries
Faeries beats Lark
Lark beats Aggro anti-Faeries

Granted, the above illustration is simplified. Magic The Gathering is not so cut and dry. The illustration does not take into account decks like Merfolk and Big Mana. Merfolk has game against Lark and Faeries but loses to the aggro anti-Faeries decks and Big Mana decks. Big Mana loses to Lark and Faeries but is pretty good against the aggro anti-Faeries decks.

But hopefully, my point is clear. The metagame is diverse because there is not a dominating deck. Instead, there are many viable decks.

How to Prepare for a Diverse Metagame

Since the metagame will have many different decks, how should you prepare?

I think the cliche "Play what you know" works well in a wide open metagame. In regionals, you'll probably face a variety of decks. This means your edge won't come from matchups but play skill. In a diverse metagame, it's extremely hard to predict which decks you'll play against. You need to know your deck well to overcome the bad matchups you might face.

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, the only Faeries player in the top 8, chose his deck two weeks before the tournament. He spent the last two weeks testing and tweaking his deck. He knew the deck inside and out.

Too many players pick a deck last minute. Because of this, they don't have enough time to practice with it and this shows in their results. Preparation in Magic is underrated. There's a substantial edge to be gained from being comfortable with a deck because you played a ton of matches with it.

Instead of testing out five or more decks, pick one quality decklist and just play a lot of games with it against many different decks. Magic is intricate enough that you'll learn something about your deck and its matchups even on the 50th game.

Also, choose a deck that suits your playing style. One of the great things about a diverse metagame is you get to choose from a wide variety of decks and still have a good chance of doing well.

Depending on your playing style, here are some decks that I would recommend.

Aggro

Do you like 15 minute matches? Do you like beating down? Here are some decks that work well with aggressive tendencies.

Elves
By Charles Gindy
1st Place

3 Forest
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Mutavault
1 Pendelhaven
2 Swamp
4 Treetop Village
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

1 Boreal Druid
3 Chameleon Colossus
4 Civic Wayfinder
4 Imperious Perfect
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wren's Run Vanquisher

2 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Profane Command
4 Terror
4 Thoughtseize

Sideboard:

3 Cloudthresher
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Primal Command
2 Shriekmaw
2 Slaughter Pact
2 Squall Line

This list has a full set of Civic Wayfinders to make sure you have double black to cast big Profane Commands. Also, the Wayfinders help you reach four mana to cast Chameleon Colossus, a huge Elf that can't be blocked by Bitterblossom tokens. Eight man lands make sure you keep up the aggression even if you get mana flooded.

RG Deus
By Zvi Mowshowitz
31st Place

4 Fire-Lit Thicket
7 Forest
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Karplusan Forest
2 Mountain
2 Treetop Village

4 Birds of Paradise
4 Chameleon Colossus
4 Countryside Crusher
4 Deus of Calamity
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Tarmogoyf

2 Firespout
4 Lash Out
3 Tarfire

Sideboard:

1 Cloudthresher
2 Firespout
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Loxodon Warhammer
2 Primal Command
1 Shivan Dragon
2 Squall Line
1 Sulfurous Blast

Firespout is like a one-sided Wrath because your guys are so big. The 8 turn one mana accelerators allow you to play a turn two Magus fairly consistently. That's usually game against Faeries.

Check out this video deck tech, where Zvi gives more insight about the deck.

RG Kavu Predator
By Robert Dougherty
38th Place

2 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Forest
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Karplusan Forest
5 Mountain
4 Mutavault
1 Pendelhaven

4 Countryside Crusher
3 Greater Gargadon
4 Kavu Predator
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Tattermunge Maniac

4 Incinerate
4 Rift Bolt
3 Shard Volley
4 Tarfire

Sideboard:

3 Fulminator Mage
2 Pyroclasm
2 Riftsweeper
2 Sulfurous Blast
4 Threaten
2 Vexing Shusher

This deck is like the mono red decks that beat up Faeries. However, the two green cards and Pendelhaven in the maindeck make this a better deck. Tarmogoyf gets big fast with Tarfires, Crushers, and Shard Volleys. Kavu Predator is a good foil against Finks, Primal Command, and Bottle Gnomes. Pendelhaven makes your Fanatics bigger than theirs.

The key to this deck is learning when to start throwing burn to the dome instead of your opponent's creatures.

BR Furystoke
By Stuart Wright

4 Auntie's Hovel
1 Kher Keep
7 Mountain
1 Pendelhaven
4 Sulfurous Springs
7 Swamp

3 Furystoke Giant
4 Greater Gargadon
3 Magus of the Moon
4 Marsh Flitter
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Mogg War Marshal
3 Nantuko Husk
4 Shadow Guildmage

4 Bitterblossom
2 Nameless Inversion
1 Slaughter Pact
7 other spells

Sideboard:

4 Dragon's Claw
2 Extirpate
1 Furystoke Giant
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Magus of the Moon
2 Slaughter Pact
4 Thoughtseize

Here's a cool rogue deck. It's got 29 creatures so it can deal damage quickly, but it also has a combo element with Furystoke Giant and 13 token generators. By the time you play Furystoke Giant, it's probably good game. Stuart talked about winning a game on day one without attacking.

Also, he tweaked it to beat Faeries with Shadow Guildmage and Magus of the Moon in the main deck. Check out Stuart's deck tech to learn more.

Aggro Control

These decks are for players that like to control the board but still want to attack with a bunch of cheap, efficient creatures.

Merfolk
By Jan Ruess
2nd Place

4 Adarkar Wastes
1 Faerie Conclave
4 Mutavault
11 Snow-Covered Island
4 Wanderwine Hub

4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
3 Sower of Temptation
3 Stonybrook Banneret
2 Sygg, River Guide
2 Tideshaper Mystic
2 Venser, Shaper Savant

2 Ancestral Vision
3 Cryptic Command
3 Sage's Dousing

Sideboard:

4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Cryptic Command
2 Reveillark
2 Serrated Arrows
1 Sower of Temptation
3 Sunlance
2 Unsummon

Here is an interesting Merfolk list. No Ponder or Mirrorweave. However, it did place 2nd in the most competitive Magic tournament on the planet so it's probably pretty good.

Cursecatcher stops a 4th turn Wrath or Cryptic Command. Sygg, River Guide dominated in Ruess' semifinal match against Shuuhei Nakamura's Elves. Sunlance in the board is so good. Jon Finkel, when he saw the Sunlances Ruess' sideboard, lamented because he didn't think about playing it in his Merfolk deck.

Faeries
By Paulo Vitor Dama da Rosa
8th Place

2 Faerie Conclave
4 Island
4 Mutavault
2 Pendelhaven
3 River of Tears
4 Secluded Glen
2 Sunken Ruins
4 Underground River

4 Mistbind Clique
4 Scion of Oona
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Vendilion Clique

4 Ancestral Vision
4 Bitterblossom
4 Cryptic Command
4 Rune Snag
4 Terror

Sideboard:

3 Bottle Gnomes
3 Damnation
2 Murderous Redcap
3 Razormane Masticore
4 Thoughtseize
15 sideboard cards

Faeries is more controlling than Merfolk, but make no mistake, it can go in aggressive mode especially against slower decks.

Paulo's deck is close to a stock list maindeck. However, the sideboard has some great cards you usually don't see. Murderous Redcap is a great foil against Magus of the Moon. And Razormane Masticore gave Shuuhei Nakamura's Elves problems.

Control

Some players like longer matches because they have more chances to outplay their opponents. If you're one of these players, check out these control decks.

Quick ‘n Toast
By Guillaume Wafo-tapa
13th Place

1 Dreadship Reef
2 Fungal Reaches
1 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Mystic Gate
4 Reflecting Pool
2 Sunken Ruins
4 Vivid Creek
4 Vivid Grove
4 Yavimaya Coast

3 Cloudthresher
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Mulldrifter
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
4 Wall of Roots

4 Careful Consideration
4 Cryptic Command
3 Firespout
3 Makeshift Mannequin
4 Rune Snag
2 Slaughter Pact

Sideboard:

1 Cloudthresher
1 Detritivore
3 Mind Shatter
1 Murderous Redcap
2 Primal Command
1 Shriekmaw
3 Teferi's Moat
3 Wispmare

This is the breakthrough rogue deck of the tournament. At least four players made day two with the deck and three of them got 27th place or better. Surprisingly, Wafo-Tapa did not create the deck. Instead, Manuel Bucher is credited as the creator. Bucher calls it a solution deck.

Its got Firespout, Wall of Roots, and Kitchen Finks to slow down aggro. Cloudthresher kills the flying Fae. Cryptic Command, Careful Consideration, and Makeshift Mannequin allow it to keep up with other control decks.

Watch Bucher's deck tech for more info.

RG Big Mana
By Marijn Lybaert
6th Place

4 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Highland Weald
3 Mouth of Ronom
10 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
4 Treetop Village

4 Chameleon Colossus
3 Cloudthresher
1 Grim Poppet
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Wall of Roots

2 Edge of Autumn
4 Firespout
4 Harmonize
4 Into the North
2 Primal Command
4 Skred
20 other spells

Sideboard:

1 Cloudthresher
1 Faerie Macabre
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Magus of the Moon
2 Pyroclasm
4 Tarmogoyf

Marijn's list is a departure from the norm. Chameleon Colossus instead of Siege-Gang Commander. Tarmogoyf in the side and Kitchen Finks in the main. But these changes make sense.

Chameleon Colossus is cheaper than Siege-Gang Commander and is amazing against Faeries and GB builds. Tarmogoyf is good but Kitchen Finks is better against decks with black removal.

WUr Lark
Yong Han Choo
4th Place

4 Battlefield Forge
2 Faerie Conclave
4 Mutavault
4 Mystic Gate
2 Reflecting Pool
4 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Plains
2 Vivid Creek

2 Aven Riftwatcher
2 Body Double
2 Greater Gargadon
4 Mulldrifter
4 Reveillark
4 Sower of Temptation
2 Venser, Shaper Savant

2 Careful Consideration
4 Coldsteel Heart
2 Mind Stone
2 Momentary Blink
2 Pact of Negation
4 Rune Snag
2 Wrath of God

Sideboard:

2 Aven Riftwatcher
3 Crovax, Ascendant Hero
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2 Teferi's Moat
1 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
2 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Wispmare

This Lark deck is also a combo deck. The combo is Lark, Greater Gargadon, Body Double, and one of the 2 power creatures. Multiple Gargadon activations can lead to a bunch of life (Aven Riftwatcher) or cards (Mulldrifter). Also, you can bounce all of your opponent's permanents (Venser, Shaper Savant) or steal all of their creatures (Sower of Tempation) and sac them to Gargadon.

A Diverse Metagame is a Healthy Metagame

I think it's an exciting time to be a Magic player. As an old school Magic player, I remember Standard metagames when there were only 2-3 viable decks. If you didn't like playing any of those decks, it was too bad for you. And you often had to play mirror matches all day long. Not fun.

But today, you can succeed with many different decks. So, pick a deck that fits your playing style and start playing many games with it. This will give you the confidence and experience to succeed at regionals.

Tags: Standard T2 Pro Tour Hollywood

Related to: Magic: the Gathering

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