By Niels Viaene

Gentry had taken a bit of a back seat in my life for this season but the response by the community for this edition of the event made me realize it deserves to be a thing, especially now we have the largest card pool to build with ever, and it still has not reached its full potential.

This Gentry Open was full of interesting stories with Sander looking for his 4th title and Tom and Alan possibly going for a third one. There was also the reminder that there are other communities still playing, with Kortrijk fielding two players. And finally, new people join the fray with Kenzo playing his first Gentry event ever and making it to the finals!

The top 4

After 5 rounds of swiss, there was a clear cut to the top 4 play-offs with the people on 4 wins and 1 loss making the cut. Kenzo faced off against Kevin, also a newer face in the community while the other match was between Nathan and Pepijn, two well-established players who have been around pretty much since the beginning of Gentry.

In the end, Nathan fell to Pepijn, apparently his deck, nicknamed “Ginger with a soul” did not measure up against what Pepijn brought to the table. I love Nathan’s deck as it showcases that in Gentry you can pick a cool theme to build your deck around and compete up to the highest levels. The list, with all its 3’s does imply a lack of knowledge of the metagame (which makes sense considering there were very few events) so this deck has a lot of flexibility left. I would love to see 1 or 2 Spell Pierces in the main deck, though!

Main deck (60)
Drafna, founder of Lat-Nam
Dollhouse of Horrors
Unctus, Grand Metatect
Liberator, Urza’s Battlecopter
Unctus’ retrofitter
Covert Technician
Zoetic Glyph
Hulking Metamorph
Chart a course
Malcator’s Watcher
Network Disruptor
Gingerbrute
Shore Up
Disruption Protocol
Impulse
18 Island
The Surgical Bay
Sideboard (15)
Planar Inclusion
Ephara’s Dispersal
Spell Pierce
Witness Protection
Disruptor Protocol

In the other Semifinal, Kevin fell to Kenzo. Kevin brought UR Spells, probably the most iconic archetype in Gentry through the years. The balance between card selection, burn, and counterspells coupled with a sort of engine to put pressure as you cast spells is a strong tool in the hands of people who know how to tackle different decks in different ways. The deck is hard to play and can feel very underwhelming if not played correctly but a vicious tool in the right hands.

Main deck (60)
Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim
Haughty Djinn
Lier, Disciple of the Drowned
Ojer Pakpatiq, Deepest Epoch
Play with Fire
Monastery Swiftspear
Third Path Iconoclast
Balmor, Battlemage Captain
Gnawing Crescendo
Tolarian Terror
Consider
Make Disappear
Search the Caves
Swiftwater Cliffs
10 Mountain
10 Island
Reckless Impulse
Electrostatic Infantry
Sideboard (15)
Strangle
Smash to Dust
Disdainful Stroke
Negate
Lightning Strike
Shore Up
Spell Pierce

The Finale

Pepijn faced Kenzo in the Finals, truly a story of the old community versus the new. Having attended multiple Opens and Invitationals, Pepijn can be considered one of the founding members of this community with strong deckbuilding skills. Kenzo on the other hand is about as new as it gets, this was his first Gentry event, he borrowed the deck from multi-Open winner Tom De Wael and went to town. This is not a rare occurrence, Tom often has multiple decks available for people to use at any given event.

In the end, the experience got the upper hand and Pepijn dispatched Kenzo wielding the following mono-green stompy deck. one of the more linear and therefore straightforward to play of the decks Tom had to use. It relies heavily on Blanchwood Armor to pose a faster clock than anything else in the format while protecting the buffed creature with Gaea’s Gift and Tamiyo’s Safekeeping.

Main Deck (60)
Audacity
20 Forest
Toadstool Admirer
Gingerbrute
Fang of Shigeki
Tamiyo’s Safekeeping
Redtooth Vanguard
Gaea’s Gift
Tomakul Honor Guard
Blanchwood Armor
Kami of Transience
Fight Rigging
Jugan Defends the Temple
Sentinel of the Nameless City
Sideboard (15)
Turn the Earth
Return to Nature
Bamboo Grove Archer
Epic Confrontation
Return to Nature
Bite Down

And that leaves us with Pepijn’s deck, which took home the title in the 18th edition of the Gentry Open. He took the Rite of Oblivion focused WB deck and added blue for more interaction. There were already versions adding blue for Raff, Weatherlight Stalwart but Pepijn pushes a lot further and updates the list to be better against Control with the central discard theme and Obscura Charm. It looks like a very interesting core that has a lot more flexibility than most people gave this deck credit for and looks to be a good choice for a deck to tinker with using insight.

Main Deck (62)
Raffine, Scheming Seer
Kaito Shizuki
The Wandering Emperor
Elspeth Resplendent
Halo Forager
Obscura Charm
Raff, Weatherlight Stalwart
Deep-Cavern Bat
Rite of Oblivion
Phyrexian Missionary
Duress
Anoint With Affliction
Inspiring Overseer
Recommission
Raffine’s Informant
Spirited Companion
Swamp
Island
Plains
Waterfront District
Scoured Barrens
Obscura Storefront
Skybridge Tower
Dismal Backwater
Sideboard (15)
Not dead after all
Duress
Rotten Reunion
Eaten Alive
Cathar Commando
Vanish into Eternity
Overwhelming Remorse

The Rest of the Metagame

In the end, 15 people joined the Gentry Open, and they played 15 different decks and we were still missing some core archetypes like WG Toxic, UG Tempo, and RW Batallion. Below, you will find the rest of the decklists in no particular order.

Sander

Main deck (60)
Cut Down
Rona’s Vortex
Syncopate
Essence Scatter
Go for the Throat
Impulse
Infernal Grasp
Negate
Sheoldred’s Edict
Sunset Revelation
White Sun’s Twilight
Malicious Malfunction
Quick Study
Union of the Third Path
Demon’s Due
Hullbreaker Horror
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim
Tolarian Terror
Obscura Storefront
Scoured Barrens
Tranquil Cove
Island
Swamp
Plains
Dismal Backwater
Sideboard (15)
Cut Down
Duress
Rona’s Vortex
Disenchant
Negate
Honored Heirloom
Malicious Malfunction
Devious Cover-up
Tolarian Terror

Daan

Main deck (60)
Sigarda’s Summons
Defiler of Vigor
Tribute to the World Tree
Vorinclex // the Grand Evolution
Botanical Brawler
Illuminator Virtuoso
Kami of Whispered Hopes
Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar
Sigardan Paladin
Gaea’s Gift
Angelic Intervention
Cosmic Hunger
PArish-Blade Trainee
Miner’s Guidewing
10 Forest
Plains
Evolving Wilds
Sideboard (15)
Seeker of Sunlight
Ironpaw Aspirant
Planar Disruption
Atraxa’s Trail
Tamiyo’s Safekeeping

Maurice

Main deck (60)
Hidden Volcano
Hidden Necropolis
Hidden Cataract
Hidden Courtyard
Hidden Nursery
Lightning Strike
Walk With Ancestors
Plundering Pirate
Murder
Scrollshift
Daring Discovery
Forgotten Monument
Illicit Shipment
Gargantuan Leech
Sinuous Benthisaur
Spelunking
Scampering Surveyor
Calamitous Cave-in
Cosmuim Confluence
Chimil, the Inner Sun
See Double
Arcane Bombardment
Sideboard (15)
Mountain
Forest
Plains
Swamp
Captivating Cave
Promising Vein
Rumbling Rockslide
Etali’s Favor

Boyan

Main Deck (60)
Elesh Norn // The Argent Etchings
Gix’s Command
Shigeki, Jukai Visionary
Thrun, Breaker of Silence
Rite of Oblivion
Skyfisher Spider
Phyrexian Missionary
Infernal Grasp
Colossal Skyturtle
Hopeless Nightmare
Jewel Thief
Spirited Companion
Urborg Repossession
Rowan’s Grim Search
Fanatical Offering
Scoured Barrens
Blossoming Sands
Jungle Hollow
Swamp
Forest
Plains
Sideboard (15)
Surge of Salvation
Rite of Oblivion
Duress
Eaten Alive
Return to Nature
Rotten Reunion
Tamiyo’s Safekeeping

Kofi

Main deck (60)
Bortuk Benorattle
Brair Hydra
Drag to the Bottom
Forest
Gaea’s Might
Haunted Mire
Herd Migration
Island
Merida’s Outrider
Molten Tributary
Mountain
Nishoba Brawler
Plains
Radiant Glow
Return from the Wilds
Shadow Prophecy
Sphinx of Clear Skies
Swamp
Tangled Islet
The Weatherseed Treaty
Up the Beanstalk
Wooded Ridgeline
Yavimaya Sojourner
Sideboard (14)
Atraxa’s Fall
Bite Down
Carniverous Canopy
Gaea’s Gift
Shadow Prophecy
Shoot Down
Swamp

Alan

Main deck (60)
Gaea’s Gift
Lightning Strike
Belligerent Yearling
Burning Sun Cavalary
Itzquinth, first born of Gishath
Invasion of Ergamon
Scytheclaw Raptor
Thrashing Brontodon
Pathfinding Axejaw
Seismic Monstrosaur
Huatli, Poet of Unity
Palini’s Hatcher
Bonehoard Dracosaur
Trumpeting Carnosaur
Rugged Highlands
10 Mountain
Forest
Sideboard (15)
Tamiyo’s Safekeeping
Flame-blessed Bolt
Return to Nature
Volcanic Spite
Burn the Accursed

Izaak

Main Deck (60)
Angelic Intervention
Attentive Skywarden
Deadly Derision
Dreg Recycler
Elesh NOrn // the Argent Etchings
Grafted Butcher
Ichor Drinker
Invasion of New Capenna
Norn’s Inquisitor
Phyrexian Awakening
Phyrexian Cansor
Progenitor Exarch
Sculpted Perfection
Sunfall
Vanquish the Weak
Scoured Barrens
10 Plains
11 Swamp
Sideboard (14)
Alabaster Host Sanctifier
Crawling Chorus
Cut Short
Deadly Derision
Dreg Recycler
Infected Defector
Inspiring Charge
Tarkir Duneshaper
Vanquish the Weak

Sven

Main Deck (60)
Liesa, Forgotten Archangel
Rite of Oblivion
Virtue of Persistence // Locthwain Scorn
Blight Pile
Eaten Alive
Faithbound Judge
Gibbering Barricade
Infernal Grasp
Lunarch Veteran
Rotten Reunion
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
Shield-Wall Sentinel
Spirited Companion
Wingmantle Chaplain
12 Plains
12 Swamp
Sideboard (15)
Candletrap
Eaten Alive
Gibbering Barricade
Honored Heirloom
Lunarch Veteran
Rotten Reunion
Urborg Repossession

Tom

Main Deck (60)
Island
Prologue to Phyresis
Anoint with Affliction
Swamp
Infectious Inquiry
Vraska’s Fall
Vraska, Betrayal’s Sting
Experimental Augury
Bring the Ending
Vivisurgeon’s Insight
Sheoldred’s Edict
Sorin the Mirthless
Mirrex
Reject Imperfection
Obscura Storefront
Dismal Backwater
Kaito, Dancing Shadow
Sideboard (15)
Duress
Rotten Reunion
Negate
Malicious Malfunction

Ward

Main Deck (60)
Play with Fire
21 Mountain
Ancestral Anger
Thermo-Alchemist
Lightning Strike
Chandra, Dressed to Kill
Unruly Catapult
Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might
Reckless Impulse
Electrostatic Infantry
Voldaren Epicure
Mechanized Warfare
Solphim, Mayhem Dominus
Stoke the Flames
Sideboard (15)
Abrade
Raze the Effigy
Flame-Blessed Bolt
Abrade
Burn the Accursed

That is all but 1 decklist in the event, Robbe’s, which might have gone lost to the digital spheres. They are pretty much 15 different lists, borrowing from different strengths on the metagame right now. But there is so much more to be discovered as strong contenders were even missing from this event like RW Batallion and WG Toxic aggro. In the meantime Murders at Karlov Manor has entered the metagame, and it looks like it has a lot to offer for Gentry in its uncommon multicolor slot (that is where I browse for new deck ideas).

I was also alerted to the fact that there is still a playing community in Kortrijk, which means there is still plenty to put effort into for the 19th edition, and even for the 20th one that we might push extra hard for…

See you across the table,
Niels, your Gentry overlord

Niels Viaene came into contact with Magic first through the Kazz & Zakk starter set in 1996, but it wouldn’t be until 2000, around the time Prophecy came out that he actually started playing magic thanks to his nephew. Niels’ Magic career has been a roller coaster up to now, including Grand Prix Paris 2009 top 8, Pro Tour San Diego 2010 top 8, becoming a L3 Magic Judge in 2015 and managing the community effort that is the League of New and Beginning Magic: the Gathering Players, the birthing ground for Gentry since 2012. All this comes from a deep love for the game that is far from diminishing.

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