I actually didn’t watch very much of the coverage because of the time difference and my strange sleep schedule. I wasn’t overly impressed by what I did see, however. I don’t like to rip on people in an open forum like this because I know that the team putting on the show worked very hard, and I kind of feel bad being “that guy” pointing out their flaws. The camera work is just plain bizarre with strange close-ups and angles. There seems to be hardly any communication between the people in front of the camera and the people behind it, and everything seems poorly planned and organized. At one point, Luis Scott-Vargas was brought into the news desk with much fanfare only to have to sit there awkwardly with nothing to say while they showed tweets on the screen for fifteen minutes. Why would you introduce LSV before that segment and not after? That makes no sense and is at least a little bit disrespectful. At another point, they did a transition to the booth in which all we could see on screen was an extreme close-up of Raphael Levy’s face while Marshall Sutcliffe was audibly sipping his coffee and clearing his throat. It’s clear that Sutcliffe had no idea he was on air. How does that even happen? Did they just turn on his microphone without telling him?

Obviously, I’m just cherry-picking here, but it doesn’t bode well when I can’t watch the stream for more than five minutes without making a Jackie Chan WTF face. It’s not even as though I’m an expert in live broadcast production—all I know is what I’ve seen on The Newsroom. These are basic screw-ups that anyone with a pulse will pick up on. I appreciate the effort these guys put in—I really do. I know what it’s like to work a thankless job for over twelve hours a day for a whole weekend. But in the interest of putting on a better and more professional show, can Wizards actually hire some people who know what the heck they’re doing?

That’s all I have to say about that.

As far as Standard goes, I tend to assign more weight to the decks from the World Championship than the World Magic Cup, not only because the caliber of players is higher, but also because the Unified Team Constructed rules results in some odd card choices. One thing you should keep in mind is that the metagame of the sixteen-person World Championship is very different than what you would expect at a Pro Tour Qualifier. These players aren’t trying to hedge against a wide variety of possible opponents, so I would caution against copying any of their lists card-for-card. That doesn’t mean we can’t pick up some good ideas from what they played, though.

Two players went 3–0 in the Standard portion: Brian Kibler and Shahar Shenhar. Let’s take a look at each of their decks, starting with Kibler’s.

"Brian Kibler – Gruul Aggro"

• Creatures (29)
• 2 Elvish Mystic
• 3 Scavenging Ooze
• 4 Arbor Elf
• 4 Flinthoof Boar
• 4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
• 4 Hellrider
• 4 Strangleroot Geist
• 4 Thundermaw Hellkite

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 Domri Rade

• Spells (3)
• 3 Mizzium Mortars

• Lands (24)
• 6 Mountain
• 9 Forest
• 1 Kessig Wolf Run
• 4 Rootbound Crag
• 4 Stomping Ground

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Bonfire of the Damned
• 4 Burning Earth
• 2 Flames of the Firebrand
• 2 Gruul War Chant
• 2 Pillar of Flame
• 1 Volcanic Strength
• 2 Zealous Conscripts

Buy This Deck

2012 Canadian national team member Lucas Siow had this to say: “[This deck] is exactly what I would play if I had zero fear of Hexproof and mono-red.” This seems like a fair assessment. I like the looks of this deck quite a bit, although I would change a few cards for a more open field. If you consider that almost the entire field at the World Championship was either Jund or R/W/U Flash, you can see why Kibler chose not to play Bonfire of the Damned in the main deck. You shouldn’t make the same assumption. I’m also not sold on the Gruul War Chants. I forget who it was who suggested it, but I think it’s worth trying out the new Chandra, Pyromaster in that slot instead. There’s another reason I really like this deck—four of them in fact. They’re all named Burning Earth. I haven’t played Standard since Magic 2014 Core Set came out, but you can be sure that any deck choice I make either will be playing this card or will be capable of beating it.

Last, let’s take a look at Shahar Shenhar’s R/W/U Flash:

"Shahar Shenhar’s R/W/U Flash"

• Creatures (10)
• 3 Augur of Bolas
• 3 Snapcaster Mage
• 4 Restoration Angel

• Spells (24)
• 1 Izzet Charm
• 1 Turn // Burn
• 2 Dissipate
• 2 Warleader's Helix
• 3 Azorius Charm
• 3 Sphinx's Revelation
• 3 Syncopate
• 4 Think Twice
• 2 Supreme Verdict
• 3 Pillar of Flame

• Lands (26)
• 1 Island
• 2 Moorland Haunt
• 3 Clifftop Retreat
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Hallowed Fountain
• 4 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Steam Vents
• 4 Sulfur Falls

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Celestial Flare
• 2 Detention Sphere
• 1 Dispel
• 2 Izzet Staticaster
• 3 Negate
• 1 Ratchet Bomb
• 3 Thundermaw Hellkite
• 1 Turn // Burn

Buy This Deck

That’s all I have on my plate for this week. I’m not going to spend any time covering Modern, as it’s not really relevant right now unless you’re planning on hitting up Grand Prix Detroit. I’ll probably have to skip it despite it being only a two-hour drive away. I start my master’s degree soon, and I’m not sure if my workload will allow me to take off for a whole weekend to play Magic. I’m looking into attending a cash tournament in Toronto this Saturday, so if you see me there, feel free to say “hi.”

Until next time,

Nassim Ketita

arcticninja on Magic Online

htt://www.youtube.com/nketita