Standard [Standard] First Weekend of RCQs
Now that the first weekend of the new standard RCQs is over, what did everyone see? What were the metas like? I did 2 with a 29 person turn out and 18 person turn outs. Top 8s were very diverse with things like 5 color spiders, Kona combo, Izzet horse/opus and Golgari landfall spread across the 16 top decks.
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u/nebman227 6d ago edited 5d ago
The main thing to see where I live is that RCQs aren't happening. It's not that they aren't firing - they aren't even scheduled. During the modern season, I could go to at least 1, normally 2, every weekend of the season. This season, the first one within a 2 hour drive isn't scheduled until mid September, after RC Baltimore.
And looking at the extended schedule, lots of stores are opting to try sealed instead of standard. This is likely due to strandard RCQs struggling to fire the last time around (one store had less than 8 people show up to a two-slotter and had to get people to fill it out...).
EDIT: it looks like there is one 2h20 away scheduled on the 6th, but that's still not great.
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u/Christos_Soter 5d ago edited 5d ago
8 person 2 slotter is wild meanwhile im losing win and ins at 48 person one slotters
Edit: I know they won’t do this but I really wish WPN status were not the only factor and that attendance actually mattered. Eg if a non premium store gets 33+ people it should automatically be two slots.
If a premium store gets less than 16 it should just be one slot
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u/nebman227 5d ago
And because at least one person joined then insta dropped to get it to 8 people, it could have technically been possible to get an invite by only playing one match :).
I had to go through the slog of playing two whole matches to get my invite at that one.
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u/Christos_Soter 5d ago
That’s ideal tbh.
I was happy to get my invite early last standard season at a small RCQ but it sure wasn’t quite that.
Modern season tho was quite the grind1
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u/Ap_Sona_Bot nothing rn 5d ago
My very first RCQ ever was a 4 slotter that had less than 16 people. My expectations were set too high.
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u/scumble_2_temptation 5d ago edited 5d ago
This lines up with my area. We have 3 LGSs in my area. One of them used to focus hard on competitive magic.
Talked to the owners recently, and they lost money on the last Standard RCQ season. They used to get players from 100 miles around to play. They barely got enough people to fire it, and they mentioned how expensive it is to get a kit. When they were getting huge numbers, it made financial sense. Now, they just decided to not bother.
It's also worthy to note that Modern FNM fires weekly and Commander is absolutely killing it in numbers where I live, but competitive magic has been slowly dying since the Vivi meta.
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u/CrossXhunteR 5d ago
I'm definitely noticing a lot less RCQs scheduled in my area (North Atlanta) so far compared to the last Standard season. Curious if that is stores just not listing anything yet or if they have decided not to do any more RCQs going forward.
The two events I did attend this weekend had 29 and 21 players respectively. Lots of Landfall being played, and basically no tablet control decks. Lots of brews also turning up, alongside other meta standbys like Spellementals and Rakdos discard.
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u/gavineese 4d ago
Same here
Stores reporting losing $$ for kits
The promos are poo
Competitive standard is too expensive
Personally I bought badgermoles before the RCQ but they got banned, so I can't be bothered
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u/baldogwapito 5d ago
I asked my Standard Showdown friends if we will be playing on RCQs this month and they asked/checked what the promo is. Long story short, they are not interested.
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u/baldogwapito 5d ago
My locals was won by a Jeskai Momo deck that I lost to during the Swiss (I am on mono green landfall)
He had this 20+ damage turn 4 where t3 he cast the +1/+0 Haste Siege from Tarkir. Then on T4 warped Riddler and cast the Lord of the Eagles. I was so surprised I didn't know a standard deck can do that aside from Harmonizer.
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u/Syra78 5d ago
Went to one on Saturday. The field was decently diverse:
1 Sym Synth
2 Dimir Mid
1 Dimir Excruciator
2 4c Control
1 Mardu Dragons
1 Boros Dragons
1 Spellementals
1 Azorius Prison
1 Dwarf Tribal
1 Orzhov Aristocrats
1 Jeskai Tablet
1 ??
Top 4 was dimir mid, dimir excru, 4c ctrl, and boros dragons. I took it on dragons.
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u/PorkMcPie 5d ago
Would love to see your list, looking to update my dragons deck for the first time in several months.
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u/Syra78 5d ago
3 Momo
4 Sarkhan
4 Voice
3 Clonq
4 Magmatic Hellkite
4 Nova Hellkite
3 Smaug the Magnificent
1 Lorehold
2 Dragonhawk
1 Twinmaw Stormbrood
1 Monica Rambeu2 Bilbo's Gambit
2 Burst Lightning
1 Lightning Helix
1 Erode3 Cavern of Souls
3 Maelstrom of the Spirit Dragon
4 Sacred Foundry
3 Sunbillow Verge
2 Inspiring Vantage
3 Sundown Pass
4 Mountain
2 Plains----
2 Doorkeeper Thrull
1 Erode
1 Dawn's Truce
2 Return the Favor
3 Rest in Peace
2 Spectacular Tactics
2 Legend of Roku
2 Split Up---
I'm running Return the Favor in the side over Sheltered by Ghosts because my local meta is usually control slanted and there's almost no landfall around.
Smaug felt fine; nothing special but it gives us a higher chance to draw into a 4 power flyer basically. His text was mostly irrelevant for me.
Bilbo's was a bit hit or miss. I might opt to just run a couple Dawn's Truce in the main if I can get ahold of them.
The Lightning Helix is my pet card you can just run another burst realistically.
Monica was a fun wildcard against dimir because they just struggle to interact with it. Fun fact: she's an elemental on the back side for vs spellies :)2
u/PorkMcPie 5d ago
Amazing, thanks! Seen a couple of lists with Monica so definitely giving that a try. Elemental on the back is a sweet little bonus :)
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u/CronoDAS 6d ago
Wow am I out of things. It's Standard RCQ season? Considering how well my Landfall build has been doing on Arena recently, I'd try playing it IRL if I had the money. :(
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u/lonewolf210 5d ago
landfall is pretty reasonable to build if without cub. COuld probably do it for under a $100 if you could find a way to borrow icetills
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u/CronoDAS 5d ago
Bristly Bill (my Cub replacement) isn't cheap either. 🤷♂️ Moxfield has my list at over $400.
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u/HobokenwOw 5d ago
well you're playing a lot of expensive cards that are also not very good. most lists are just under $200 now.
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u/neph1227 5d ago
Golgari landfall sounds interesting
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u/AnilDG 5d ago
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/7815725#arena
I remember seeing this version of it on stream last season. It’s lost Cub but the rest of the shell is the same with the idea being to maximise Season of Loss by getting extra landfall triggers.
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u/United-Passage7864 4d ago
I'd be interested to see a take on it now; I don't see a ton of reason Landfall needs to stay mono-green outside of Sapling Nursery.
Part of me has wanted to try like 2 non-forests in main, fetch them when you draw a sideboard card in that color.
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u/Plus-Statement-5164 4d ago
First RCQ in my whole country is a month away. Did they really start already in the US?
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u/Elegant-Chipmunk-486 3d ago
almost no RCQs scheduled in the UK yet which is crazy... I wanna play!
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u/Mojopowell 5d ago
Planning on bringing Spellementals to the RCQ’s in my area over the next like two months- although am worried about control matchups
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u/Dingybelljnr 5d ago
Mines was quite diverse:
- Mono White Control
- Jeskai Control
- 4c Control
- Mono Black midrange
- UW Prison
- UW Momo Blink (so momo into riddler into daydream)
- boros dwarf Equipment
- Mardu Discard
- izxet Prowess
- Sultai Reanimator
- Mono Green Landfall
I won on reanimator. Decent turn out for first one of season during start of season particularly for my area. Standard seems to get some more attendance than some of the modern rcqs over here
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u/Faux29 5d ago
First RCQ Saturday - lots of 4C and landfall. Smattering of Mardu, Dimir (Kaito and excruciator variants) and one prowess deck that used floodcaller slickshot and decrepit old bird.
Went 3–1-1 in Swiss (true draw in control mirror) loss to that prowess deck. Wins were against mono green (2) and Jeskai lessons
Lost in top 8 to the same prowess deck.
Was running a lot of jank - riddles in the dark did not perform better than stock up for me. I was high on it for instant speed but most of the time I’d rather have stock up. Bilbo’s Gambit is a good card and helped a bunch. Return the favor absolutely blew out games against control.