The Magic Pro League’s Sapphire Division kicks off the Eldraine split this week, culminating with their Top 4 bracket on Saturday, October 5. Despite the fact that Throne of Eldraine, Magic: the Gathering’s newest set, doesn’t officially release until October 4, Standard rotation has already happened on MTG Arena so the Sapphire Division is battling this with brand new Standard decks.

Most of the decks from the Sapphire Division rely heavily on cards from Throne of Eldraine, from Oko, Thief of Crowns to plenty of new Adventure cards. Let’s take a look at the decks the eight players in the Sapphire Division submitted.

Golgari Adventure

Both Piotr Glogowski and John Rolf chose to play Golgari Adventure, which adds a plethora of Adventure creatures from Throne of Eldraine to a pre-exiting Golgari shell, replacing the Explore creatures from Ixalan that rotated out of Standard.

This deck leverages the card advantage inherent to the Adventure subtype, which allows its creatures to either draw cards (Foulmire Knight), kill creatures (Murderous Rider), or return creatures from the graveyard (Order of Midnight), in addition to attacking the opponent. The Adventures then combine with Edgewall Innkeeper to continue the train of card advantage.

Piotr Glogowski's Standard Golgari Adventure

Creatures (26)
Edgewall Innkeeper
Murderous Rider
Foulmire Knight
Order of Midnight
Questing Beast
Rankle, Master of Pranks
Lovestruck Beast
Massacre Girl

Spells (11)
Find // Finality
Legion’s End
Once Upon a Time
Assassin’s Trophy
Lands (23)
Overgrown Tomb
Temple of Malady
Forest
Swamp
Fabled Passage

Sideboard (15)
Massacre Girl
Duress
Disfigure
Noxious Grasp
Veil of Summer
Ashiok, Dream Render
Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage

Selesnya Adventure

Despite being known as a Golgari aficionado, Reid Duke chose to play an Adventure deck that combines Green with White, instead of his usual Black.

The White Adventure spells, like Faerie Guidemother, Giant Killer, and Shepherd of the Flock, give the deck a much more aggressive slant, though it also relies on Edgewall Innkeeper to provide additional card advantage.

Reid Duke's Standard Selesnya Adventure

Creatures (26)
Edgewall Innkeeper
Emmara, Soul of the Accord
Faerie Guidemother
Giant Killer
Lovestruck Beast
Trostani Discordant
Venerated Loxodon
Flaxen Intruder
Shepherd of the Flock

Spells (13)
Flower // Flourish
March of the Multitudes
Once Upon a Time
Unbreakable Formation
Lands (21)
Castle Ardenvale
Forest
Plains
Temple Garden

Sideboard (15)
Unbreakable Formation
Devout Decree
Gideon Blackblade
Knight of Autumn
Veil of Summer
Questing Beast

Simic and Bant Ramp

Jess Estephan and Lucas Esper Berthoud brought variations on previous Standard’s ramp decks that were powered by Nissa, Who Shakes the World, with Estephan choosing to add White while Berthoud stuck to just Green and Blue.

The archetype’s main plan is to ramp with cheap accelerants like Gilded Goose and Leafkin Druid, combined with the huge mana increase provided by Nissa, Who Shakes the World‘s passive ability, to play giant Hydroid Krasis and Voracious Hydras.

To that primary ramp plan, both decks add three of the most powerful Food cards from Throne of Eldraine: Oko, Thief of Crowns, Gilded Goose, and Wicked Wolf.

Jess Estephan's Standard Bant Food/Ramp

Creatures (23)
Gilded Goose
Arboreal Grazer
Wicked Wolf
Hydroid Krasis
Voracious Hydra
Leafkin Druid
Risen Reef
Paradise Druid
Deputy of Detention

Spells (1)
Once Upon a Time

Planeswalkers (12)
Oko, Thief of Crowns
Nissa, Who Shakes the World
Teferi, Time Raveler
Lands (24)
Breeding Pool
Hallowed Fountain
Temple Garden
Forest
Plains
Island
Fabled Passage
Temple of Mystery

Sideboard (15)
Deputy of Detention
Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves
Glass Casket
Negate
Veil of Summer
Questing Beast
Agent of Treachery
Disdainful Stroke

Bant Golos Gates

Field of the Dead was the breakout card of the Summer and, when combined with Scapeshift and various ramp spells, made hordes of deadly Zombies. Alexander Hayne and Rei Sato aren’t taking the rotation of Scapeshift laying down, though, replacing it with Golos, Tireless Pilgrim to achieve a similar effect.

Alexander Hayne's Standard Bant Golos Gates

Creatures (15)
Arboreal Grazer
Golos, Tireless Pilgrim
Realm-Cloaked Giant
Hydroid Krasis

Spells (13)
Circuitous Route
Time Wipe
Growth Spiral
Once Upon a Time

Planeswalkers (4)
Teferi, Time Raveler
Lands (28)
Field of the Dead
Simic Guildgate
Forest
Blossoming Sands
Breeding Pool
Fabled Passage
Golgari Guildgate
Hallowed Fountain
Island
Izzet Guildgate
Plains
Selesnya Guildgate
Castle Vantress
Temple Garden
Temple of Malady
Temple of Mystery
Plaza of Harmony
Orzhov Guildgate
Tranquil Cove

Sideboard (15)
Knight of Autumn
Negate
Planar Cleansing
Veil of Summer
Unmoored Ego
Aether Gust
March of the Multitudes

Jeskai Fires

Martin Juza stands apart from the crowd in the Sapphire Division with Jeskai Fires, a deck designed to take advantage of Fires of Invention from Throne of Eldraine. With just enough cheap spells to stay alive during the early game, Juza will put those two free spells per turn to good use with powerful four and five drops like Cavalier of Flame, Cavalier of Gales, and Drawn from Dreams.

Martin Juza's Standard Jeskai Fires

Creatures (13)
Cavalier of Flame
Cavalier of Gales
Bonecrusher Giant
Niv-Mizzet, Parun

Spells (10)
Drawn from Dreams
Deafening Clarion
Aether Gust

Enchantments (4)
Fires of Invention

Planeswalkers (4)
Teferi, Time Raveler
Lands (29)
Temple of Triumph
Steam Vents
Temple of Epiphany
Sacred Foundry
Fabled Passage
Castle Vantress
Island
Mountain
Hallowed Fountain
Plains

Sideboard (15)
Realm-Cloaked Giant
Mystical Dispute
Devout Decree
Ashiok, Dream Render
Disdainful Stroke

The Sapphire Division of the Magic Pro League plays through the week, culminating an a Top 4 double-elimination bracket on Saturday, October 5 on twitch.tv/magic. The Eldraine Split will feature two new changes. First, players have to play the same deck for the round robin portion and Top 4 bracket. Second, if more than four players finish with 4-3 records or better, then the first through third seeds will be seeded by record and tiebreakers as usual; while the fourth seed will be determined by a play-in round among the remaining players, the winner of which will be the fourth seed in the Top 4 bracket.

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