Are you a Quiet Speculation member?
If not, now is a perfect time to join up! Our powerful tools, breaking-news analysis, and exclusive Discord channel will make sure you stay up to date and ahead of the curve.
Oftentimes, I find myself working on a particular deck that I like while a different deck rises as the deck to beat in a Standard. I played red decks while Black Devotion was the deck to beat, I avoided Caw-Blade because I didn't have time to hone my skills in the mirror, and I only ever sleeved up Abzan after it was good. I like my Azorius Eldrazi deck though now we have more than enough data to stop pretending like there's a good reason to play other decks. I was right all along about Nissa, and there's nothing in Standard that is providing more free wins that Nissa into Gideon.
Tokens is taking the lion's share of both Grand Prix winning decks as well as slots in the money of major events. The current number one ranked player in the world in Seth Manfield won a GP with the deck, and somebody you've never heard of in Alex Johnson won a GP with the deck. Gerry Thompson won 16 straight matches with the deck at the Atlanta Open! The format looked to be pretty wide open for a while, though now if you're not playing Tokens and you want to spike a tournament, you should pretty seriously be asking yourself why.
It's true that Tom Ross won the the Open in Atlanta in what was a pretty diverse Top 8 with Humans, but there's just no way he was about to play anything else. You'd also better believe that he wins games that nobody else could win with aggressive decks. Once you get past the Top 8 of Atlanta only having one tokens deck, you'll notice that 9th, 10th, and 11th were all tokens. The deck's consistency is absurd. Mike Sigrist led his article on SCG this week with the words, "G/W Tokens is the best deck in Standard. Don't argue. It just is."
I knew Tokens was a stupid deck going into GP Minneapolis, though I stuck to my guns because I knew my deck could realistically win any matchup, and that my Tokens matchup was generally positive. What I didn't account for, was the fact that even if I can beat Tokens, my deck doesn't get nearly the number of free wins that Tokens gets. I convinced myself to play The Rock when I had access to Jund- Bloodbraid Elf Jund. If you're planning on spending money on Standard entry fees in the near future, then consider it sound financial advice to register Tokens.
I love being right….when I am right, anyway.
Updates on the Azorius Eldrazi list?
I don’t know if I’ll be playing any more Standard before Eldritch Moon, though the next idea I would test would be turning the crappy two-drop slot that was Anticipate in Minneapolis into either second Foundry of the Consuls + Drowner of Hope or trimming a Gideon or two from the main and jamming four Rattlechains in the deck.