The beautiful city of Melbourne, Australia, hosted the ANZ Super Series Final last weekend, where 222 players from across the Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand region gathered to play Standard. Ten Pro Tour invitations were up for grabs, and the winner of the whole thing would lock up a seat at the World Championship, so the stakes were very high. When all was said and done, it was Jennifer-Rose Holloway who claimed the trophy at the end of the weekend and reigned victorious with her Dimir Midrange deck!
On one end of the spectrum, the field had plenty of streamlined aggro decks, with slow, controlling decks on the other end. But it was midrange that won the day. Holloway's deck was the right balance of effective disruption and efficient removal to take on everything Standard had to throw at her. The event's runner-up, Benjamin Graves, also ran a deck that is worth a second look. It was a very unorthodox list and got him all the way to the finals.
A wide range of Standard decks were represented in the Top 8. The format's top dog, Izzet Prowess, performed well enough to see two pilots make the Top 8, along with two players on Jeskai Oculus, another powerful and proactive strategy. Rounding out the Top 8 was Orzhov Pixie, Gruul Delirium and, the Dimir and Rakdos decks in the hands of Holloway and Graves, respectively.
As for the broader metagame, Izzet Prowess is still very clearly Standard's deck to beat. Quite a few people thought that Jeskai Control might be the answer, with cheap disruption like
In addition to sending ten of the region's finest to the Pro Tour and Jennifer-Rose Holloway to Worlds, the ANZ Super Series was a celebration of everything great about Magic. From a tournament on Sunday with $5,000 in prizes to a lot of Mystery Booster 2 Sealed events, Magic events like this always have something going on, no matter how you like to play the game. If you think you've got what it takes to compete at a Regional Championship, check out where the next RCQ near you is happening!
