The first week of the Magic Pro League Throne of Eldraine season kicks off with the Sapphire Division, and we get to see our first look at the new Magic: The Gathering Standard metagame with the new fairy tale-themed cards from the latest expansion.
Following the release of Throne of Eldraine set last week on Magic Arena, the Magic Pro League (MPL) begins with the pros of the Sapphire Division competing for a day-one bye at Mythic Championship VII in Long Beach, California this December.
The Sapphire Division includes top pro players such as Piotr Glogowski (Kanister), Rei Sato, MTG Hall of Famers Reid Duke, and Martin Juza. The eight players are running new Standard archtypes with Throne of Eldraine cards, some of which are using the new expansion's mechanics like Adventure and Food. Check out the list of decks each pro is running:
Reid Duke: Selesnya Adventure
Martin Jůza: Jeskai Fires
Rei Sato: Bant Golos
Lucas Esper Berthoud: Simic Food
Jessica Estephan: Bant Food
Piotr Głogowski: Golgari Adventure
Alexander Hayne: Bant Golos
John Rolf: Golgari Adventure
I'm already familiar with the Jeskai Fires of Invention deck that Juza is running but I'm more curiousto see how these Adventure and Food decks will run. These decks give us a glimpse of the potential tier-one decks in the new Standard metagame. It looks like Throne of Eldraine features a lot of viable cards that are also fun to play. I'm a bit surprised that none of them are playing the Esper Stax deck that Bryan Gottilieb played at a recent Fandom Legends event. You can watch me play that deck below:
It would be interesting to see what other Standard decks will come out of the new fairy tale-themed expansion.
Throne of Eldraine, the 82nd Magic expansion, is set to release on October 4. It's now available on Magic Arena.
Related: Throne of Eldraine Has Card Quality Problems and "Mappable" Collector's Booster Box
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