Mirrodin Standard Throwback Standard Gauntlet League
| Mirrodin Standard Throwback Standard Gauntlet League | |||||
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| Magic: The Gathering Online | |||||
| Event Details | |||||
| Event date | June 7 to 14, 2007 | ||||
| Format | Standard | ||||
| Themes and mechanics | Historical decks from Mirrodin block Standards. | ||||
| Number of decks | 8 decks | ||||
| Deck size | 75 cards | ||||
| Magic Online Gauntlets | |||||
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| Digital preconstructed decks | |||||
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The phantom preconstructed Mirrodin Standard Throwback Standard Gauntlet League was held on Magic Online between July 7 and 14, 2017[1]. It featured eight decks from either the Onslaught block/Mirrodin block Standard environment, or the Mirrodin block/Kamigawa block. It was curated by Randy Buehler.
Elf and Nail
A 
deck as played by Craig Krempels to win US Nationals.
| “ | The best use of Skullclamp in this era of Standard was probably in this deck, which Craig Krempels used to win US Nationals in 2004. The deck makes a crazy amount of mana by putting extra Forests into play and then doubling their effectiveness with Vernal Bloom. Tooth and Nail usually fetches up Kamahl, Fist of Krosa, so those Forests can then attack for the win. Or you can just put Darksteel Colossus into play. Or why not both? Oh, by the way, you've also got a ton of mana dorks, and Skullclamp turns them into extra value once they're done accelerating you through the early turns of the game.[1] | ” |
Elf and Nail was the second-equal best performing deck (tied with Skullclamp Affinity) in the gauntlet[2].
Eternal Slide
A 
deck Cycling Control deck which had been played by 2004 World Champion Julien Nuijten.
| “ | Fifteen-year-old Julien Nuijten won Worlds in 2004 with this deck. He remains, to this day, the youngest person to ever win a Pro Tour. On its surface, it's fairly similar to the Rift-Slide deck from the last Gauntlet, but instead of red for Lightning Rift, Julien paired Astral Slide with a pair of great green creatures with "comes into play" abilities that could be reused over and over again thanks to Astral Slide: Viridian Shaman and Eternal Witness. Interestingly, Nuijten credited an article by Brian Kibler as his primary inspiration for his decklist.[1] | ” |
This deck had also been released as part of the World Championship Decks series.
Goblins
A Goblin typal deck as played by 2004 Japanese National Champion Tsuyoshi Fujita.
| “ | Affinity wasn't the only good beatdown deck running around Standard during this era. The Onslaught-fueled Goblins deck remained a part of Tier 1 for as long as Goblin Warchief and Goblin Piledriver were legal in Standard. Once Mirrodin came out, most versions splashed green for anti-artifact cards, including this one, which Hall of Famer Tsuyoshi Fujita used to win Japanese Nationals.[1] | ” |
Creatures (29)
Ironworks
A 
combo deck which Manuel Bevand finished Top 4 with at the 2004 World Championships.
| “ | There was more you could do with artifact lands than just sacrifice them to Ravager after they were done fueling your cards with affinity. Like any good artifact block, Mirrodin gave us some combo decks as well. Manuel Bevand made the Top 8 of Worlds 2004 with this Krark-Clan Ironworks deck, whose primary plan was to sacrifice everything to play and then activate a Myr Incubator as soon as possible. Note also the sideboard plan of Seething Songs and Furnace Dragons... It's safe to say that Affinity had a target squarely in the middle of its forehead during this era.[1] | ” |
Artifacts (23)
Lands (19)
This deck had also been released as part of the World Championship Decks series.
Plating Affinity
A 
deck.
| “ | While Aeo Paquette was the one who made the finals at Worlds 2004, it was Kamiel Cornelissen's version (which also made the Top 8) that would prove to be more influential. Cornelissen was the first player to use Æther Vials to supercharge his aggro deck (whereas Paquette used Chrome Mox). Cornelissen also made great use of Myr Retrievers to allow him to potentially win longer games versus enemy removal.[1] | ” |
This deck, renamed simply Affinity, later featured in 2021’s Standard: Through the Ages Gauntlet event[3].
Skullclamp Affinity
A Affinity deck featuring Skullclamp. This list was played by both Go Anan and Shuhei Nakamura at Japanese Nationals.
| “ | The original version of the Affinity deck was even more aggressive, with fully four copies of Shrapnel Blast giving this list (brought to us by Go Anan/Shuhei Nakamura via Japanese Nationals) a lot of "reach." Meanwhile, four copies of Skullclamp give it solid staying power too, and if you ever assemble the combo of Disciple of the Vault and Arcbound Ravager, that's usually lights out for your opponent.[1] | ” |
Skullclamp Affinity was the second-equal best performing deck (tied with Elf and Nail) in the gauntlet[2].
UrzaTron
A deck which took advantage of the Urzatron lands, based on a deck played by Antonino de Rosa.
| “ | Urza's Mine + Urza's Power Plant + Urza's Tower, also known as the "UrzaTron," fueled Antonino de Rosa's win at US Nationals in 2005. Memnarch, Triskelion, and especially Mindslaver were his big colorless weapons of choice. Since Affinity had been banned out by the summer of 2005, I've also tweaked his sideboard to include March of the Machines, which had been in heavy use by many blue decks to turn enemy artifact lands into 0/0 creatures.[1] | ” |
Sideboard (15)
3 Annul
White-Blue Control
A control deck played by Gabriel Nassif.
| “ | Despite all the aggressive Affinity and Goblin decks that were running around, Gabriel Nassif managed to make the Top 8 of Worlds in 2004 with a very old-school White-Blue Control deck. Counterspells, Wrath of God, and card drawing were still a good combination, and having lands that could tap for multiple mana gave him the ability to pull ahead in the late game (especially with Decree of Justice). Nassif's deck was designed to have a game against both affinity and anti-affinity decks, and it secured his third Pro Tour Top 8 of the season—enough to become the first Player of the Year that did not win a Pro Tour on his way to the title.[1] | ” |
Artifacts (3)
White-Blue Control was the best-performing deck in the Gauntlet. While it struggled against both Affinity decks, with win rates under 40%, it had at least a 60% win rate against the other five decks. As a consequence it was featured in the Best of Throwback Standard Gauntlet[2].
This deck had also been released as part of the World Championship Decks series.
References
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Randy Buehler (May 31, 2017). "Throwback Standard Gauntlet 4: Mirrodin Standard (website)". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on June 28, 2017. Retrieved on May 20, 2017.
- ↑ a b c Randy Buehler (November 29, 2017). "Best of Throwback Standard Gauntlet (website)". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved on May 20, 2025.
- ↑ David McDarby (October 5, 2021). "Standard: Through the Ages (website)". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on October 17, 2021. Retrieved on May 13, 2025.