Revolution, September 2024

All in all, GP Estrathe proved to be one of revolution's biggest GPs ever, featuring 29 players on 16 unique archetypes. Submitted decks (which can be found here) spanned the gamut from low-to-the-ground aggro to hard control, and from as few as one color to as many as five.

In the end, however, only two decks could make it to the finale. On one side was Splitmoon (last month's GP winner and Cybaros' designer), piloting CB Tithe. This attrition-based list uses cards like Phenax's Touch and Chronicle of Extinction to eke out efficient two-for-ones to clear the path for the deck's namesake card, Tithe to the Machine. Once Tithe lands, it slowly whittles away the opponent's resources and begins draining their life, leaving Steadfast Gatekeepers and Xiv, Replisparked to finish the opponent off once they're helpless. Iris Pledge and Data Weaver provide the deck a lot of reach if the game goes long, turning the opponents' threats and answers against them. CB Tithe had proven to be a terror in league and was widely regarded as one of the decks to beat going into this tournament.

On the other side was Anarchist, winner of July's GP Tugae, piloting a list that was relatively unknown: Jund Treasures. Taking advantage of a number of new designs from Cliques of Nylin, this jund ramp deck plays a bunch of cheap creatures that pledge on turns 2 and 3, hoping to take advantage of the Vishanki, Incorporated pledge ability to generate a lot of treasures. Once those treasures are made, they can be funneled into finishers that are normally gated by their cost and their colors like Elephant of the Golden Palace and The Quindral Accords. Flexible cards like Field Test and Dhante's Inferno provide midgame interaction and can serve as an alternative finisher, while Braise and Work Safety Violation provide effective removal to keep the board clear. Jund treasures reads like a well-oiled machine, with each card perfectly chosen to play a role in the early game and in the late.

The finals (which you can watch here, with commentary!) were a skill-testing three games, with tons of back-and-forth and a buzzer-beater finale. But in the end, Anarchist emerged victorious, upsetting Splitmoon and retaking the crown of GP champion! Anarchist felt that their deck was competitive at all stages of the tournament, with a number of close matches that rewarded careful decision making. The fun part, though, is the explosive nature of the deck's payoffs—be that ramping into a 7/7 with double strike and indestructible, or deploying an army of 5/5 robots while churning through your deck to grab more.

Congratulations to Anarchist on their win, well played to Splitmoon, and remember: if you’re interested in playing some awesome custom magic, the best time to join the revolution is now! If you'd like to watch some matches to see how the format looks before dipping your toes in, feel free to check out the revolution media channel to hear more from our talented content creators!