Several Throne of Eldraine decks were built to impress yesterday when CalebMTG earned his first Fandom Legends championship victory in a tournament that featured the best Magic: The Gathering pros and streamers from around the world.
The MTG Standard format has officially been revived with the release of the Throne of Eldraine (ELD) set. CalebD’s Bant Ramp was the top performer in yesterday’s tournament featuring 16 of the best Magic players. The rest of the top eight included Bant Golos, Jeskai Superfriends Fire, Mono-White Aggro, and Bant Midrange.
| Player | Deck | Swiss-Round Record |
| CalebD | Bant Ramp | 3-2 |
| Brad Nelson | Bant Golos | 3-2 |
| Ali Eldrazi | Jeskai Superfriends Fires | 3-2 |
| Carlos Romão | Bant Golos | 4-1 |
| Brian Gottlieb | Bant Golos | 5-0 |
| Matthew Nass | Bant Midrange | 4-1 |
| Lee Shi Tian | Mono-White Aggro | 3-2 |
| Javier Dominguez | Jeskai Fires | 3-2 |
Bant is clearly the hottest archetype in Standard at the moment. And the build created by CalebD was able to squeeze out a first-place victory over Brad Nelson’s Bant Golos.
The advantage CalebD’s Bant Ramp had over Nelson’s Golos build was planeswalkers. Featuring the most poisonous trio in Standard, the deck includes Teferi, Time Raveler, Nissa, Who Shakes the World, and Oko, Thief of Crowns.
Nelson’s Bant Golos may have finished second to Bant Ramp but it’s equally as good against a variety of archetypes. If Nelson had another copy or two of Planar Cleansing, he might have taken first place.
But don’t overestimate the power of Bant against Black (mono and BG Adventure), especially with spells like The Elderspell. Bant is good but it also has its weaknesses. The Standard meta, however, is packed with Bant due to its ramp speed (mana dorks), tempo control (little Terferi), and overall power (Hydroid Krasis).
The most interesting deck of the day, however, goes to Ali Eldrazi’s Jeskai Superfriends Fires. Known for brewing a few wild decks in his time as a competitive Magic player, Eldrazi created a balanced blend of power and control.
Containing six board wipes and seven cantrip/search spells, the deck is founded upon four superfriend planeswalkers and Fires on Invention.
- Teferi, Time Raveler for control.
- Narset, Parter of Veils for tempo (card search) and control.
- Sarken, the Masterless for brute power through evasion and burn.
- Ugin, the Ineffable for cheap legendary cast cost, chump blockers, and removal.
- Fires of Invention (ELD) for free casting costs equal to the number of lands on the battlefield.
A host of powerful planeswalkers and removal spells, like The Elderspell and Nicol-Bolas Dragon God, were in the sideboard of the Jeskai Superfriends Fires deck. Despite finishing third in the Fandom Legends tournament behind Bant, Eldrazi’s creative Jeskai build will have a major impact on the current Throne of Eldraine Standard metagame.
Related: Bant Golos dominates MPL Sapphire Division in ELD split
The Fandom Legends decklists played during week 26 (Oct. 3) can be found on the MTGGoldfish site and imported to MTG Arena.
