A Gentry Open of (hi)stories and Decklists

By Niels Viaene

The Latest edition of the Gentry Open, on April 20th, will be one that I will remember fondly for quite a while to come. I would like to take you on a tour through everything that went down surrounding the event.

Before the Event

A big part of managing a community, and especially one like the Gentry one, is making sure people feel like they are part of something meaningful. That is why I am always looking for ways to add meaning. That lead me to introducing the Open to start with, made the original trophy, stream, and got the website you are now reading started.

I needed something new, and the fact the trophy ran out of space to add names lead to looking at ways to update that. I searched for a new trophy but that seemed underwhelming. I ended up settling on going for giving the winner their very own trophy. But that did not seem fair to the previous winners so I did what everyone would have done… I made one for every winner up to now!

All previous winners were contacted and invited to join the event in the hopes of getting all people that have helped shaped the Legacy of Gentry together in one frame.

It worked and yielded an amazing picture. Do you remember all of them and can you rank them in time?

The Metagame

In the weeks leading up to the event, there were a lot of people talking about decks that were breaking the metagame. Some decks were “far too good” according to some people and took away the fun in playing the event. The funny thing was that depending on who and when exactly you would ask, you would get a different answer. Mono-red was too good, with all their direct damage spells and efficient creatures, because they were too fast to deal with. Gates was too good with Gatebreaker Ram and Gate Colossus. Black-White afterlife was too resilient. Wilderness Reclamation and Nexus of Fate had too strong a lategame.

When the event actually started, it turned out all of them were right. All of those decks were “the most played” and “the most dominant deck” at the event with not a single deck being played more than 6 times, or 12% of the metagame. In the end, 24 different decks were seen at the Open, out of 54 players, and 8 different decks secured a slot in the top 8 with both expected suspects, metagame brews and ‘casual’ decks rounding it out.

The Top 8

As mentioned before, the top 8 featured 8 different decks. Due to time constraints it was not possible to put every match on camera and the following people were eliminated in the quiet confines of privacy.

Pepijn Degryse

Pepijn came back from a break from magic but took his comeback very seriously. As far as I know he tested and worked with Sande De Quick and settled on a list that aims to take all the good stuff from 4-Color Gates and replaces the part that is weak to Black-White Afterlife with the silver bullet for them in Cry of the Carnarium. Gates Unblazed is what he brought but fell with in the quarterfinals.

Gates Unblazed (60) 4 Growth Spiral 1 Hydroid Krasis 1 Kaya, Orzhov Usurper 3 Mortify 1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria 1 Vraska, Relic Seeker 2 Cry of the Carnarium 2 Duress 2 Essence Scatter 2 Fungal Infection 2 Gate Colossus 3 Gatebreaker Ram 3 Guild Summit 2 Ixalan’s Binding 1 Moment of Craving 2 Negate 2 Spell Pierce 1 Syncopate 4 Azorius Guildgae 4 Dimir Guildgate 4 Golgari Guildgate 1 Island 4 Orzhov Guildgate 2 Selesnya Guildgate 4 Simic Guildgate 2 Swamp

Sideboard (15) 2 Duress 2 Fungal Infection 3 Healing Grace 1 Mephitic Vapors 2 Moment of Craving 2 Naturalize 2 Negate 1 Syncopate

Ben Van Hal

Ben hails from a rather new and slightly isolated communitty in the world of Gentry, honing his skills in Merksem and its Leaderboard. He brought a deck to the table that many would consider to be a ‘casual’ deck or even a ‘kiddie’ deck, and proceeded to wipe the floor with his trusty saprolings all the way into the top 8.

Main deck (60) 1 Vraska, Relic Seeker 1 Vraska, Golgari Queen 1 Tendershoot Dryad 1 Ethereal Absolution 1 The Eldest Reborn 4 Sporecrown Thallid 4 Sporeswarm 3 Song of Freyalise 3 Slimefoot, the Stowaway 4 Yavimaya Sapherd 4 Vicious Offering 4 Saproling Migration 3 Fungal Infection 2 Deathbloom Thallid 7 Swamp 1 PLains 4 Foul Orchard 8 Forest 4 Evolving Wilds

Sideboard (15) 2 Naturalize 4 Moment of Craving 2 Ill-gotten Inheritance 3 Duress 2 Dead Revels 2 Crushing Canopy

Ian Ide

Ian came back from a long time away traveling and when he showed people his deck most people would have been skeptical. Mono Green Ramp has not been a solid contender in the metagame so far but there is something special about a big creature coming down early and putting a Blanchwood Armor on there. In a meta that is very focused on taking out small creatures, it proved too much for a lot of his opponents in the swiss. His Streak ended in the quarterfinals.

Main Deck (29) 1 Pelakka Wurm 2 Arboretum Elemental 1 Carnage Tyrant 4 Druid of the Cowl 2 Generous Stray 4 Llanowar Elves 1 Multani, Yavimaya’s Avatar 4 Skyscanner 1 Steel Leaf Champion 2 Suspicious BookCase 3 Thrashing Brontodon 4 Vine Mare $ Adventurous Impulse (27) 1 Cobbled Wings 4 Blanchwood Armor 2 Talons of the Wildwood 20 Forest

Sideboard (15) 2 Rubble Slinger 4 Ravenous Daggertooth 3 Rabid Bite 3 Crash the Ramparts 2 Naturalize 1 Titanic Brawl

The quarter-final on camera

That makes three people that fell in the quarter-final. The fourth one is whoever loses “the Battle of the Jelles” in which Jelle Gyselinck faces off against Jelle Lauwers. Most people familiar with Gentry will know Mr. Gyselinck, a former champion, and, less known, one of two people that drew the first Gentry Open that therefore had no champion, making him the only person that has 1.5 titles under his belt. He brought the deck he thought would still be the best choice in Black-White Afterlife to the event, needing only to fear well-prepared people that pack Cry of the Carnarium.

Main deck (60) 4 Orzhov Guildgate 2 Forsaken Sanctuary 9 Plains 8 Swamps 1 Duress 4 Blade Juggler 3 Mortify 4 Adanto Vanguard 3 Final Payment 3 Pitiless Pontiff 4 Imperious Oligarch 4 Martyr of Dusk 1 Unbreakable Formation 4 Ministrant of Obligation 1 Midnight Reaper 1 Seraph of the Scales 1 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants 2 Dead Revels 1 Ixalan’s Binding

Sideboard (15) 1 Dead Revels 2 Grotesque Demise 2 Bring to Trial 1 Daybreak Cheplain 3 Healing Grace 1 Never Happenend 3 Fungal Infection 2 Duress

He must have sighed in a big relief to see he got paired against Jelle Lauwers, a known competitive grinder in the outside Magic world that has been solidifying his name as a Gentry player in Merksem. Lauwers did not, in fact bring the feared Cry to the table, opting for a Bant Hexproof build that aims to play untargettable creatures and enchant them to make them even harder to deal with. See below if it was enough to sneak into the semi-finals.

Main deck (60) 4 Open the Gate 1 Spell Pierce 4 Adanto Vanguard 4 Druid of the Cowl 3 Negate 4 Squire’s Devotion 1 Bring to Trail 3 On Serra’s Wings 2 Ixalan’s Binding 4 Vine Mare 1 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants 2 Chemister’s Insight 1 Sphinx’s Insight 1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria 1 Blessed Light 1 Carnage Tyrant 1 Karn, Scion of Urza 1 Llanowar Elves 2 Selesnya Guildgate 2 Tranquil Expanse 2 Azorius Guildgate 2 Simic Guildgate 4 Plains 3 Island 6 Forest

Sideboard (15) 3 Crushing Canopy 3 Bishop’s Soldier 3 Adamant Will 1 Daybreak Chaplain 1 Bring to Trial 1 Blessed Light 1 Selesnya Locket 1 Negate 1 Essence Scatter

The semi-final

The first semi-final is between Kobe Keymeulen and Ruben Naudts. Kobe has revealed himself as a Control player at heart and brought Esper Control to this event. Some of you will know him from his role as a co-caster for the Gentry Invitational, but if you play in Ghent or Bredene you sure have seen him around.

Mainboard: (60) 1 Search for Azcanta 3 Revitalize 3 Fungal Infection 1 Blink of an Eye 1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria 3 Essence Scatter 4 Syncopate 5 Islands 4 Plains 4 Swamps 4 Dimir Guildgate 4 Azorius Guildgate 1 Settle the Wreckage 2 Mortify 4 Orzhov Guildgate 2 Seal Away 2 Ixalan’s Binding 3 Chemister’s Insight 2 Gate Colossus 1 Kaya, Orzhov Usurper 1 The Eldest Reborn 3 Cry of the Carnarium 2 Sphinx’s Insight

Sideboard: (15) 3 Duress 3 Healing Grace 3 Negate 2 Moment of Craving 2 Undercity Embrace 1 Demystify 1 Cancel

Here he faces off against Ruben Naudts, a St. Niklaas based player that has been coming more to the foreground, both as a player and a community member, he brought mono blue aggro as his deck of choice.

Main deck (60) 1 Tempest Djinn 1 Sphinx of Foresight 3 Pteramander 3 Mist-Cloaked Herald 4 Merfolk Trickster 4 Siren Stormtamer 1 Negate 3 Blink of an Eye 4 Opt 3 Spell Pierce 4 Curious Obsession 3 Syncopate 4 Dive Down 1 Entrancing Melody 1 Jace, Cunning Castaway 20 Island

Sideboard (15) 3 Deep Freeze 1 Disdainful Stroke 1 Spell Pierce 2 Negate 3 Essence Scatter 2 Faerie Duelist 3 Omenspeaker

In the second semi-final, we see Jelle Gyselinck square off against Arthur Hugaert. We already had an introduction to Jelle’s deck in the quarterfinal, he is the one playing Black-White Afterlife to beat his namesake in the last round. Arthur, in the meantime, has some Gentry history as well, being the other half of the finalists of the Gentry Open I. Yes, both people in that final 3,5 years ago are back at it in this match.

Arthur is playing Drakes, a deck that was considered the top dog before Ravnica Allegiance came out. Back then it was fighting against Golgari Explore for the title of top dog in the format. The only new addition in his deck is Pteramander, but it looks like Crackling Drake and his buddies did not need more help to reach the semi-finals.

Main deck (60) 7 Island 6 Mountain 4 Highland Lake 4 Izzet Guildgate 4 Crackling Drake 4 Enigma Drake 3 Pteramander 1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun 1 Chart a Course 4 Tormenting Voice 3 Dive Down 2 Lava Coil 1 Beacon Bolt 1 Negate 4 Opt 4 Shock 2 Spell Pierce 2 Radical Idea 1 Expansion//Explosion 1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy 1 Search for Azcanta

Sideboard (15) 2 Disdainful Stroke 2 Spell Pierce 2 Omenspeaker 1 Wall of Mist 2 Essence Scatter 3 Negate 3 Shivan Fire

The Finale

The last two men standing are Ruben Naudts, running Mono-Blue Aggro, and Jelle Gyselinck, with the Black-White Afterlife menace that has been touted as the best deck in the format. In these past matches, we have seen it very secure threatened. Here, it finds itself in the final against one of the hardest decks to play and to play against. Will Jelle become the first person to hold two Gentry Open titles or will Ruben take the Trophy back to Sint Niklaas to join the one Michiel Van den Bussche brought there before? Let’s see…

See you at the next Gentry event, have fun brewing with War of the Spark!

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