Amonkhet Pro Tour (Spoilers)

[ladof]

Mono-black zombies ruled the roost! Glad to see mardu vehicles taking a dive. Kind of expected this, really. While mono-black zombies are going to take a pretty massive hit come rotation (Relentless Dead, Liliana, the Last Hope being two major ones, I'd bet.) right now they're really strong and have really solid removal going for them (fatal push and final reward, to name two.) I'd be surprised if BW zombies didn't make some kind of noise in the future (it can even splash a little blue) but for now, I'm really not surprised that mono-black reigns supreme.

[robort]

Lol told you guys so and nobody wanted to listen to me

[ladof]

I thought BW Zombies was going to be strong, not mono-black. I have the feeling that my prediction will be true in the long run; i think mono-black just caught people by surprise with it's speed.

[G. Moto]

Well think of it like this: The less colors you have the less color-fixing you need to do. If you keep the deck tribal and focus on a block that has dedicated support for THAT creature class then you have the strength AND the synergy. Just putting those two aspects together can create a strong deck build. Personally I try to stay away from playing Mono color decks because I like the synergy between colors and gives my deck more outs and protection. Now Innistrad is like the home base for death magic and zombie action so having Liliana ANYWHERE near a zombie deck has a great potential to win. But I would definitely like to see a strong W/B Zombie build or maybe a good Abzan token deck. Anointer priest + Wayward servant + second harvest could be a strong combo

[robort]

What I do like about it that there is almost diversity in the top 8..

Mono-Black Zombies
Gerry Thompson
Pro Tour Amonkhet
1st
5/15/2017

Temur Marvel
Yuuya Watanabe
Pro Tour Amonkhet
2nd
5/15/2017

B/G Energy
Ken Yukuhiro
Pro Tour Amonkhet
3rd-4th
5/15/2017

Temur Marvel
Martin Müller
Pro Tour Amonkhet
3rd-4th
5/15/2017

Temur Marvel
Marc Tobiasch
Pro Tour Amonkhet
5th-8th
5/15/2017

Mono-Black Zombies
Christian Calcano
Pro Tour Amonkhet
5th-8th
5/15/2017

W/B Zombies
Chris Fennell
Pro Tour Amonkhet
5th-8th
5/15/2017

Temur Marvel
Eric Froehlich
Pro Tour Amonkhet
5th-8th

Basically there is Marvel and Zombies in the top 8 but unlike the last pro tour stop where you had 6 out of 8 with Vehicles. This time around you actually have 4 different types. Black Zombies, W/B Zombies, Marvel and Energy.
Then rounding it out in the top 16 you get more diversity. Yet how the net decking mardu vehicles did poorly this time around. Was it even tweaked by amonket or just ignored because black zombies started to become a thing?

Standard is looking a whole heck of a lot better now because there isn't just 1-3 decks continually holding/dominating the top spot where there is possibility for a wild card deck to make it out of the blue like B/G energy to place 3rd so there is promise.

[G. Moto]

At least it's not stagnant like yugioh, once there's an established meta in that game it pretty much takes a banning just to knock a certain deck out of the limelight.

[Mnemosyne]

People were worried about hitting Emrakul Turn 4 with Aetherworks, now they have to worry about Ulamog. Wait... I know! Let us ban Ulamog! It's too powerful...

Wait... it's supposed to be cast for 10... Not cast for 4!
Emrakul isn't supposed to be hard cast for 13... Maybe 7 but not 4... it's too easy to get Emrakul out, therefore Emrakul is too powerful?

Ultimately Aetherworks Marvel is a problem and no one cares that a turn 4 play allows you to cast a trigger that is usually restricted to turn 7-10 with energy counters you can't remove. Scandalous!

Mono Black Zombies, like Ladof mentioned, is going to be hit hard post rotation. But that is going into winter, after Hour of Devastation. Relentless Dead, Diagraff Colossus, Liliana, the Last Hope, Dark Salvation, Cryptbreaker and Transgress the Mind. Assuming their loss is not supported by the expansion.

There is diversity, but using energy decks, the focus is still on casting Aetherworks to find a win condition. Mono Black Zombies, Boros Humans are able to deal with it, being pure aggro, but a turn 4 Ulamog with exile 2 permanents, stops recursion dead.

I'd say U/R control - Torrential Gearhulk.
Mardu Vehicles - Heart of Kiran/ Gideon Ally of Zendikar
Temur energy - Aetherworks Marvel - Longtusk Cub
Mono Black Zombies
Orzhov Zombies
Boros Humans - Always Watching - Glory-bound Initiate
B/G counters - Walking Ballista - Verdurous Gearhulk

These are all standard GP contenders.