MPL Spark Split Week 5 Overview

June 05, 2019

Wizards of the Coast

It's the final week of the Spark Split and all four divisions are still up for grabs! Here's the lowdown on what matters most this week:

Pearl: Brian Braun-Duin (5-1) can clinch the division by beating Eric Froehlich (4-2). If Efro wins, that could open the door for either Andrew Cuneo or Javier Domiguez if they can also get to 5-2 with Froehlich and BBD.
Sapphire: Rei Sato has a simple path – just beat all-time great Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa and the division is his. Otherwise, we could see either a two-way tie or a three-person scrum at 5-2 if Piotr Głogowski goes 2-0.
Ruby: Ken Yukuhiro is in the driver's seat at 5-1, but a win doesn't automatically clinch it. A 2-0 week by William "Huey" Jensen and they'll be tied at the top. If they both slip to 5-2, Lucas Esper Berthoud could come up to join them if he goes 2-0.
Emerald: Can anyone stop Brad Nelson? The lone undefeated player left in the MPL, he locks up the division with a win. A loss, however, opens the door to the winner of the huge Seth Manfield vs. Martin Jůza match.

For those doing the math at home, if players have the same record the first tie-break looks at total game wins (in both match wins and losses). If they're still tied after that, it's combined match wins of the opponents they defeated as a measure of who beat the tougher competition during the split.

To make sure everyone can both enjoy the finale of the Spark Split and go to their local Modern Horizons prerelease, all the Week 5 action is coming at you on FRIDAY, June 7 at noon PT/3 p.m. ET/7 p.m. UTC. We're also excited to bring MPLer Eric Froehlich in to the studio for his expert commentary on all of the week's matches.

Broadcast and Coverage Information

Week 5 stream: Friday, June 7 at Noon PT/3 p.m. ET/7 p.m. UTC
Casters: Marshall Sutcliffe, Eric Froehlich, and Becca Scott
Channel: twitch.tv/magic

Schedule

Format: Best-of-Three Traditional Standard

Pearl Division

Brian Braun-Duin defeats Eric Froehlich 2-1
Lee Shi Tian defeats Andrew Cuneo 2-1
Luis Salvatto defeats Javier Dominguez 2-0
Shahar Shenhar defeats John Rolf 2-1

Sapphire Division

Rei Sato defeats Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa 2-1
Piotr Głogowski defeats Jean-Emmanuel Depraz 2-1
Piotr Głogowski defeats Márcio Carvalho 2-0
Mike Sigrist defeats Andrea Mengucci 2-1
Autumn Burchett defeats Márcio Carvalho 2-0

Ruby Division

Ken Yukuhiro defeats Janne "Savjz" Mikkonen 2-1
William "Huey" Jensen defeats Jessica Estephan 2-1
William "Huey" Jensen defeats Lucas Esper Berthoud 2-0
Lucas Esper Berthoud defeats Janne "Savjz" Mikkonen 2-1
Ben Stark defeats Jessica Estephan 2-1
Reid Duke defeats Ben Stark 2-1
Ben Stark defeats Janne "Savjz" Mikkonen 2-0

Emerald Division

Brad Nelson defeats Grzegorz Kowalski 2-1
Seth Manfield defeats Martin Jůza 2-1
Shota Yasooka defeats Alexander Hayne 2-1
Matthew Nass defeats Christian Hauck 2-0

Week 5 Metagame and Decklists

Archetype	Number
Mono-Red Aggro	11
Esper Midrange	4
Gruul Midrange	4
Four-Color Dreadhorde	2
Jeskai Walkers	2
Simic Nexus	2
Dimir Control	1
Izzet Wizards	1
Izzet Phoenix	1
Rakdos Aggro	1
Sultai Dreadhorde	1
Simic Mass Manipulation	1
Sultai Midrange	1

If this looks familiar, that's because players had to submit and lock in their decks for Week 4 and Week 5 in an effort to prevent people from metagaming against specific opponents. That means we get to take the results of Week 4 into consideration as we analyze Week 5 metagame matchups.

The big story in Week 4 was the decision for more than a third of the field to play Mono-Red Aggro. Mono-Red seems to have separated itself as the best aggressive deck to play in the current environment. With midrange decks trying all kinds of new ways to go over the top of each other, the red deck has consistently proven itself to punish the slower decks in the format. Week 4 was no exception with Mono-Red Aggro putting together winning results against Command the Dreadhorde decks and Simic Nexus.

Speaking of Simic Nexus, the two players who submitted Nexus had a very tough time—-Savjz and Matthew Nass going a combined 1-5 with the deck. These players undoubtedly chose this deck as it seems to be well set up against midrange decks, but the matchup gods were not in their favor as they went 0-3 against Mono-Red. Things will not get better for these players as they are scheduled to play against nothing but Mono-Red and Gruul for the final week.

Players who predicted that the metagame would shift heavily into a heavy Mono-Red field were rewardly supremely. Martin Juza specifically chose his build of Jeskai Walkers to beat Mono-Red. He pointed out that the maindeck copies of Ixalan’s Binding were highly effective against Mono-Red as it singlehandedly shuts down Experimental Frenzy, the most powerful card in the matchup. Juza was paired against Mono-Red twice and emerged victorious in both of the matchups. Given this result, he should be excited to be facing up against another Mono-Red deck in the final week although he will have a very tough opponent in Hall of Famer Seth Manfield.

Brad Nelson also submitted a deck with Mono-red in mind, playing a very unique take on Esper Midrange that cuts Thief of Sanity entirely from the deck. Instead, he plays an additional copy of Oath of Kaya and the full four copies of Basilica Bell Haunt, which is absolutely back-breaking against Mono-Red. Nelson proceeded to go 2-0 against his Mono-Red opponents in Week 4, and can lock up a division title with a win in his final match against Grzegorz Kowalski on yet another Mono-Red deck.

The big takeaway here seems to be that the players who thought multiple steps ahead to correctly predict the metagame were rewarded. The level one strategy after the rise of the Command the Dreadhorde decks would be to submit Mono-Red. Nelson and Juza realized that this would likely happen and correctly chose to bring decks to beat Mono-Red. They are now in prime position to fight for that coveted division title and a Top 16 slot into Mythic Championship III.