Tournament Report by the Winner: Rajdeep Tokhi (Abzan “Junk” Midrange)
Metagame:
17 players turned up for the GG Adelaide 7ph monthly! As is usual for Adelaide, the event had a wide variety of decks. With midrange being the most common having 8 representative decks, Tempo decks such as Hootie and the BUG fish, Nono Blue and 4c Ninjas(!) were seen. Thassa’s oracle decks were also present in the form of Esper Combo-Control and Soc’s signature Cephalid Brunch. Control is becoming less and less popular in Adelaide, however, Drew still planted the control archetype flag in the top 8 with his trusted Bourbon and Coke list (Jeskai Miracles). Some unusual spice such as Solemnity combo, BUG elves (aggro-combo) and Zirda Artifacts were also present, with the latter two Top 8-ing!
Winning Deck:
Junk is the first deck I started playing the format with about two years ago, and although I have tried out other strategies in the past couple of years, coming back to it always feels good. I managed to go 4-0 but had to drop the final round, but thanks to the magic of mathematics and tie-breakers I managed to eek out first place.
Contrary to most other midrange decks in the format such as Dark Bant, Yidris or Jund, Junk relies less on individually powerful cards, and more on powerful synergies between cards and a toolbox of tutorable silver bullet creatures, such as Knight of Autumn to deal with artifacts and enchantments, Scavenging ooze or Anafenza, the Foremost for graveyard hate, Tireless Tracker to turn mana flood into card advantage, or Knight of the Reliquary which in turn helps you find utility lands like Strip Mine, Karakas or Horizon Canopy.
The recent additions of Fiend Artisan and Skyclave Apparition have reinvigorated the archetype, Fiend artisan gives you another pod effect and Skyclave is a pod-able answer for most problematic haymakers in the format such as Oko, Questing Beast and Uro as a few examples.
The deck obviously has weaknesses though, incidental graveyard hate can make pod chains or creatures like renegade rallier and Meren of Clan Nel Toth either awkward or bad, the deck also tends to overextend onto the board, which means a well timed toxic deluge can really set a junk deck back, and if the game ever gets drawn into a top deck battle, the deck does have a few poor draws.
The Matchups, rounds 1 through 4:
2-0 vs 4c Thassa’s oracle
2-1 vs Jund Midrange
2-0 vs Jeskai Miracles
2-0 vs 4c Ninjas
(Round 5: Drop… the Get-to-Work Bracket)
In conclusion, Junk sacrifices raw power for consistency and flexibility, also not having to play blue duals means it is a relatively affordable deck.
Author: Rajdeep Tokhi
| Player’s Standing | Player’s Name | Player’s Deck List Link |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rajdeep Tokhi | “Junk” (Abzan Midrange) |
| 2 | Patrick C. | “Tribal Elves” (bUg Midrange-Ramp) |
| 3 | Drew Carter | “Bourbon & Coke” (Jeskai Miracles) |
| 4 | Adam Kinnaird | “BUG Ninja!” (Sultai Tempo) |
| 5 | Torin Kelderman | “Jund” (GBR Midrange) |
| 6 | Socrates Stavropoulos | “Cephalid Brunch” (WUBg Combo) |
| 7 | Russell Cutting | “Zirda Artifacts” (WUBR Combo) |
| 8 | James Arthur | “Nono Black” (WURG Aggro-Midrange) |