By Niels Viaene
Due to circumstances, the most recent Open, which will take place this Sunday, September 13th, has only just been announced, so let’s not waste any time getting everyone up to date with what they might in the current Gentry metagame. You can find the link to the facebook announcement here. The actual event will be hosted on MTGMelee here.
Dimir Control
Sander De Quick
Dimir control is generally seen as the least fun part of the current metagame. That said, it’s share has been dramatically dropping in recent times but that might be due to the metagame diversifying again, making it harder for control decks to find the perfect answers.
Mono-Red Cavalcade
Peter Steenbeke
When Core Set 2020 hit, it brought a few great additions to the Cavalcade shell but it took more than 2 months for someone to actually throw them together and wreck a tournament with it. The deck is straightforward to play yet rewards people for playing well while being extremely punishing for people keeping a slow or noninteractive hand. It has historically been a strong choice for a Gentry Open but tends to struggle towards the end.
Rakdos Sacrifice
Jelle Lauwers
When Cauldron Familiar got banned, a lot of people thought the sacrifice archetype was done for but nothing seemed less true. While this BR version has been the best performing version, there are still some leaning back on Lurrus. of the dream Den, going mono-Black or pairing Black and White. This strategy has a lot of support right now and I would not be surprised for this to make a resurgence at the Open.
Elementals
Peter Jönsson
The Sultai version you see above is generally considered to be the strongest shell for the trigger-happy Elementals to go to battle but son’ sleep on the more explosive Temur version that Alan Schuer brought to the table a bunch of times. It was once considered one of the best decks in the format but has been overshadowed by others. That also means the hate for is has been disappearing from people’s decks and sideboard. Perhaps the time for the kill is now?
Izzet Aggro/Tempo/Control
Ward Beutels
The Izzet cardpool is so incredibly deep right now that it can support all three of the above archetypes. Ward’s deck above fits the ‘Tempo’ moniker best but in the end individual card choices shift things around very quickly. In the past, Izzet has been a color combination that has repeatedly been called overshadowed and then came through anyway. I fully expect to see people bringing hard Control versions of this deck to the event and doing very well with them.
Season of Growth Auras
Tom De Wael
Season of Growth was a staple in the earlier parts of this season but sort of got pushed back to oblivion when Control decks started to find the answers to them and never really came back when those Control decks started waning in presence. Whether you are playing a mono-Green version, like Tom here, or splashing white for extra protection, the deck can put a lot of pressure on your opponent in the form of very hard to answer threats.
Golgari Midrange
Renzo Verkooren
Renzo showed up at an event bringing a deck full of creatures that are hard to answer, or replace themselves. It proved to be too much for Control decks to overcome and just too big for aggro decks to get through. The deck never got developed further after the metagame adjusted to it but there is definitely a strong 75 to be found in this philosophy.
Other
One of the coolest things about Gentry is the wide-open options it allows you in your deck choice. There are many more decks than what is mentioned above here. You can search the Gentry Magic League on MTGMelee for many many more decklists and archetypes, whether that is Boros Cycling, Mono-White and Orzhov Lifegain strategies, Gruul Aggro and Midrange options, Azorius Control, Azorius flyers, Mono-Black Control and disruption, Mono-Blue aggro, Yorion Control builds, Mill strategies, or Ramp builds.
If you can’t make it to the Gentry Open or you prefer not to play in it, you can follow what is going on at the live stream.
May your deck be original, and your Gentry Open be fun,
Niels Viaene
