Gentry Arena Leaderboard – Episode 3

By Niels Viaene

At his point in time, Cycling has been agreed upon to be the ‘best’ deck in the format. But that also means that decks designed to do well against these Lurrus shells are poised to take home the top slots leading up to Peter Jönsson taking the top seed in the Leaderboard this week.

We had 29 players in the event on May 12th, let’s go over the 4-0 lists below.

4-0 Quinten Cauwelier
Lurrus Cycling

Companion (1) 1 Lurrus of the Dream Den Deck (60) 4 Drannith Healer 4 Drannith Stinger 4 Flourishing Fox 4 Valiant Rescuer 1 Raking Claws 4 Footfall Crater 4 Startling Development 4 Go for Blood 4 Memory Leak 4 Zenith Flare 2 Frostveil Ambush 1 Boon of the Wish-Giver 11 Plains 6 Mountain 1 Sacred Foundry 1 Savai Triome 1 Raugrin Triome

Sideboard (15) 1 Lurrus of the Dream Den 3 Light of Hope 2 Shock 4 Scorching Dragonfire 3 Shredded Sails 2 Cosmotronic Wave

The top cat of the format currently manages another 4-0 finish. There were 2 more on 3-1. Making this a top contender still. The core of cycling with Zenith Flare and Lurrus of the Dream Den is still the archetype with the highest win rate in Gentry, but a predator has entered the fray.

4-0 Thijs Weytens
Gates Control

Deck (60) 4 Gatebreaker Ram 4 Growth Spiral 4 Gate Colossus 1 Guild Summit 1 Gates Ablaze 1 Vivien, Monsters’ Advocate 1 Negate 4 Simic Guildgate 4 Gruul Guildgate 4 Rakdos Guildgate 4 Opt 4 Arboreal Grazer 4 Dimir Guildgate 4 Golgari Guildgate 2 Notion Rain 4 Forest 3 Island 3 Cry of the Carnarium 1 Narset, Parter of Veils 1 Orzhov Guildgate 1 Drown in the Loch 1 Ashiok, Nightmare Muse

Sideboard (15) 1 Scrabbling Claws 4 Healer of the Glade 2 Negate 2 Essence Scatter 2 Wilt 1 Reave Soul 2 Return to Nature 1 Ashiok, Dream Render

Thijs brought an old nemesis to the table and showed that Gates, even with the nerfs to some of its pay-off cards is still a contender you cannot leave by the wayside. He is leading the pack for a troop of control decks that are capable of fighting back against Lurrus with Cry of the Carnarium and have the Negate ready to stop Zenith Flare.

3-1 Ruben Simoens
Mono-Red Obosh

Companion (1) 1 Obosh, the Preypiercer Deck (60) 4 Scorch Spitter 22 Mountain 4 Gingerbrute 4 Grim Initiate 4 Tin Street Dodger 4 Shock 4 Anax, Hardened in the Forge 4 Heraldic Banner 1 Bonecrusher Giant 1 Phoenix of Ash 3 Tibalt, Rakish Instigator 1 Legion Warboss 4 Skewer the Critics

Sideboard (15) 1 Obosh, the Preypiercer 3 Blazing Volley 4 Irreverent Revelers 4 Act of Treason 3 Torch Courier

Another archetype that pushed multiple people in the 3-1 range is mono red Obosh. Ruben finished highest. It seems this deck has what it takes as well but a vulnerability to Cry of the Carnarium is likely holding it back.

Looking at the Leaderboard

William, our previous leader, tumbles to a 6th place but remains at only 11 points from that top slot. We are starting to see a race solidify between the top contenders, but keep in mind, there will be a point where we only look at the 5 top finishes, and we might have some people rising through the ranks pretty quickly while our top players remain stagnant.