Gentry Arena Leaderboard – Episode 10

By Niels Viaene

Was it the fact that this one was the closing event for this part of the season? Was it the fact that it was the first time we could play with M21 cards? Was it another reason all together? We will never know. We do know that 25 players ended up joining the event, making it the biggest since the corona measures have dropped to allow social interaction in Europe. Not only that, we had 4 new players join the fray and doing pretty well for some of them. Let’s look at tome of the better performing lists.

4-0 Kristof Van Holsbeek
Azorius Control

Deck (60) 2 Essence Scatter 11 Island 3 The Birth of Meletis 4 Banishing Light 2 Swift Response 4 Tranquil Cove 1 Realm-Cloaked Giant 1 Mystic Sanctuary 4 Opt 7 Plains 3 Chemister’s Insight 1 Archon of Sun’s Grace 1 Didn’t Say Please 4 Omen of the Sea 1 Quench 2 Prison Realm 3 Thirst for Meaning 1 Dream Trawler 1 Time Wipe 1 Evolving Wilds 2 Devious Cover-Up 1 Neutralize

Sideboard (15) 4 Negate 2 Disdainful Stroke 1 Swift Response 2 Mystical Dispute 2 Disenchant 1 Devious Cover-Up 3 Whisper Agent

Kristof has been playing Azorius Control this entire season and cone to this even without any addition form M21 in his decklist, showing that good old faithful can take it home when coupled with crisp plays.

4-0 Niels Kok
Gruul Stompy

Deck (60) 4 Ilysian Caryatid 9 Forest 4 Kronch Wrangler 4 Nessian Hornbeetle 4 Warden of the Chained 4 Fierce Witchstalker 4 Frenzied Arynx 3 Proud Wildbonder 1 Quartzwood Crasher 1 Domri, Anarch of Bolas 1 Vivien, Monsters’ Advocate 8 Mountain 4 Rugged Highlands 2 Gruul Guildgate 1 God-Eternal Rhonas 4 Ram Through 2 Wildwood Patrol

Sideboard (15) 2 Scorching Dragonfire 1 Wilt 3 Ranger’s Guile 2 Return to Nature 3 Rhythm of the Wild 1 Destiny Spinner 1 Shredded Sails 2 Shock

Sometimes bigger is just better, and Niels proves it here with his Gruul deck. A point of attention is the Rhythm of the Wild in his sideboard, showing that he sees Control as only a small part of the metagame. For this event, he was right, too, as we saw Control, especially Dimir variants, struggle to achieve anything.

3-1 Niels Viaene
Mono-B Aristocrats

Companion (1) 1 Lurrus of the Dream-Den Deck (60) 3 Cauldron Familiar 19 Swamp 3 Sanitarium Skeleton 4 Serrated Scorpion 4 Whisper Squad 4 Witch’s Oven 4 Burglar Rat 4 Lampad of Death’s Vigil 1 Priest of Forgotten Gods 4 Call of the Death-Dweller 1 Knight of the Ebon Legion 2 Witch’s Cottage 1 Castle Locthwain 2 Village Rites 4 Archfiend’s Vessel

Sideboard (15) 1 Lurrus of the Dream-Den 4 Duress 4 Mire’s Grasp 3 Spark Harvest 3 Pharika’s Libation

I managed to sneak in third place as the highest performing 3-1 player with a deck focused on making the most out of Archfiend’s Vessel by playing the full 4 Call of the Deathdweller in a Lurrus shell. The deck definitely needs some tweaking but I am sure that core is there to stay for a while in Gentry.

3-1 Nicolas Asencio
Temur Reclamation

Deck (60) 4 Simic Guildgate 1 Thornwood Falls 3 Thornwood Falls 4 Growth Spiral 2 Mountain 3 Island 2 Cultivate 3 Arboreal Grazer 1 Shark Typhoon 1 Hydroid Krasis 2 Gruul Guildgate 3 Rugged Highlands 1 Rugged Highlands 1 Expansion 3 Forest 4 Swiftwater Cliffs 4 Wilderness Reclamation 4 Chemister’s Insight 3 Volcanic Geyser 2 Flame Sweep 4 Frantic Inventory 1 Thassa’s Intervention 4 Fire Prophecy

Sideboard (15) 4 Essence Scatter 4 Negate 2 Hypothesizzle 3 Return to Nature 2 Didn’t Say Please

In 5th place, we see the best performing first time Gentry player bringing an archetype many people expected to make a comeback thanks to Volcanic Geyser, but Nicolas did not even play the card in his version of that deck, showing there is still plenty to learn about Gentry.

3-1 Matteo Ferrnado
Azorius Birds

Deck (60) 1 Cloudkin Seer 1 Hanged Executioner 4 Faerie Miscreant 4 Healer’s Hawk 1 Sephara, Sky’s Blade 4 Spectral Sailor 4 Empyrean Eagle 3 Rally of Wings 4 Winged Words 1 Skycat Sovereign 8 Plains 13 Island 1 Dream Trawler 4 Faerie Vandal 3 Faerie Duelist 4 Lofty Denial

Sideboard (15) 3 Disenchant 4 Swift Response 3 Negate 2 Disdainful Stroke 1 Faerie Duelist 2 Keep Safe

Another new player and another deck that people were expecting to show up in Gentry. This time it was Watcher of the Spheres that was expected to make a splash, but Matteo decide to go way harder and faster, not living in fear of sweepers. Lofty Denial is just enough control for this deck that can rely on Rally of Wings to finish matches out of nowhere.

Conclusion

Core set 2021 seems to have had more influence in bringing people to the tournament than it had in actual decklists, but things are new and a lot of possibilities have been touched that are sure to deliver in the future.

This was the last event of this split and after grouping up the different regions it was decided to settle on the following and people that are winning a bye for the Arena Gentry Open in September (tba):

A lot of people chose not to select a region, which meant we had to be very friendly and ignore rules we set up in the description for the event and getting byes. For that reason, a revision will be made to region selection and importance for the second part of season XI. For now, let’s celebrate the return of real-life event, with the leaderboard in Bredene coming up this weekend.