Standard held some surprises at Players Tour Online 2, but the dominant deck of the weekend that held up to challenge.

There have been plenty of tournaments where the perceived top deck entering an event has withered under the spotlight, but this was not one of them. Temur Reclamation entered the weekend with a target on its back, as players teched out their decks for either the mirror or knocking off the top dog. And Temur Reclamation was certainly the top dog this weekend: it was 40% and 30% of the Day One field at Players Tour Online 1 and 2, respectively, and was dominant on Day Two at Players Tour Online 1.

Reclamation Claimed

So how did things shake out at Day Two of Players Tour Online 2?

How does that compare with the top decks of Day One?

Those numbers are striking. Not only did Temur Reclamation live up to the hype, it greatly exceeded it. It gained more meta share than the rest of the next six decks combined. Not bad for the flying shark squad.

While Temur Reclamation here actually lagged behind the metagame percentage in Players Tour Online 1, it was nonetheless another dominating performance for the deck this weekend. There's no question players will be including more answers for Wilderness Reclamation from here on out.

Bant Ramp, Azorius Control and Jund Sacrifice were the next-best performers from the top crop of Day One decks, with each gaining 2-3%. Each of the three bring a very different approach to the format, with the Ramp deck trying to beat Temur Reclamation at its own game while Azorius Control and Jund Sacrifice both seek to control the board and grind out the game at their own pace, albeit in different ways.

Mono-Red Aggro, piloted by players believing in Embercleave again, joined Mono-Green Monsters as essentially flat, while Sultai Ramp dropped.

Digging Deeper

While the top of the metagame contained nothing shocking, there were some decks deeper into the field that posted strong Day One finishes. For instance, Rakdos Sacrifice had twelve players on Day One, and eight of them advanced to Day Two. While all were centered around the combo of Cauldron Familiar and Witch's Oven, Day 1 Rakdos Sacrifice players were evenly split on whether or not to include Jegantha, the Wellspring as a companion. Some didn't play Fiend Artisan. Other lists played Robber of the Rich. In all, there was more variation among this archetype than you would expect.

While Jegantha technically outperformed its counterpart–putting five copies into Day Two while non-Jegantha builds only sent three–the best-performing players midway through Day Two weren't playing the Elemental Elk.

Another surprise came from Ken Yukuhiro, who is the lone Mardu Cycling player represented in Day Two after his 7-2 run on Saturday with a surprising brew.

Finally, you can't miss Bolun Zhang's Four-Color Control list. If you've ever enjoyed a planeswalker-centric "Superfriends" deck, you'll love this one that sent Zhang into Day Two.