If the makeup of the field for the Last Chance Qualifier here in Venice is any indicator of things to come, people preparing for Regionals had better be ready for red-green beatdown.

Karplusan Forests and Elephant Guides showed up en masse, with over a fourth of the 175-man field running the old aggressive standby. While its true that the deck may have been successful on the strength of numbers alone, any archetype that can put four players in the Top 8 must be taken seriously. The deck is relatively cheap to build, quite well-tuned, and fun to play. Granted, there's not a lot of room for "personalizing" the deck—every slot is just about set in stone at this point—but if you want a good chance for success and quick rounds, this is probably the deck for you.

The number two deck behind red-green was blue-green. While some of these opted for straight madness or threshold or even Opposition strategies, the bulk of them played Quiet Speculation, a tactic recently endorsed by Jeff Cunningham, one of the deck's champions. Unsummon has also started showing up in many of these decks, mostly as a cheap way to fight Elephant Guide. Blue-green put two of its players into the Top 8.

The big disappointment of the event was Psychatog. Around 18 people played the blue-black powerhouse, including a couple which added white for Wrath of God ("Wogatog"), and by all accounts they got stomped. In order to make it in this field, the deck needs more cheap creature removal. It is possible to accomplish, so we can't write off Psychatog as a major player just yet. It was nice to see it fall for once, however.

Other decks that showed up in significant numbers included mono-black control, white-green Beasts (most of which added red to power Contested Cliffs), Mirari's Wake, mono-red Goblins, Astral Slide decks, and black-red Reanimator. These decks are all known quantities; Legions adds cards here and there, but has yet to spawn any major new deck types.

A few interesting cards of note: Reprisal is showing up in many of the Beast decks, as an answer to most of the creatures in the format (Firecat, Angel, Baloth, even 'Tog, Mongrel, and Nantuko Shade), but the version that made the Top 8 did not have any Reprisals in the main deck. The card Psychatog has branched out a little and is now appearing as part of black splash in blue-green. And some red-green players are trying one-of's like Might of Oaks to throw off opponents' math.

Below is a chart of all the deck types, followed by the Top 8 decks.

Best of luck to everyone preparing for Regionals!

	Stefano Fedriga Top 8 Monoblack Control Main Deck 59 cards 3  Cabal Coffers 23  Swamp 26 lands 2  Nantuko Shade 1  Undead Gladiator 3 creatures 4  Chainer's Edict 4  Corrupt 4  Diabolic Tutor 4  Duress 1  Engineered Plague 1  Haunting Echoes 1  Mind Sludge 3  Mutilate 1  Riptide Replicator 3  Skeletal Scrying 4  Smother 30 other spells Sideboard 1  Braids, Cabal Minion 4  Cabal Therapy 2  Disrupting Scepter 2  Engineered Plague 1  Haunting Echoes 1  Melelolent Awakening 1  Mutilate 2  Nantuko Shade 1  Visara the Dreadful 15 sideboard cards

	Joao Barracha Top 8 Beasts Main Deck 61 cards 3  Brushland 1  Contested Cliffs 8  Forest 1  Moutain 5  Plains 3  Windswept Heath 4  Wooded Foothills 25 lands 2  Anger 4  Anurid Brushhopper 4  Birds of Paradise 3  Exalted Angel 3  Glory 3  Llanowar Elves 3  Phantom Centaur 4  Ravenous Baloth 4  Wild Mongrel 30 creatures 4  Call of the Herd 2  Living Wish 6 other spells Sideboard 2  Caller of the Claw 1  City of Brass 3  Compost 1  Goblin Sharpshooter 1  Krosan Reclamation 3  Natralize 1  Ray of Revelation 1  Reprisal 1  Silklash Spider 1  Windborn Muse 15 sideboard cards

	Angeli Alessio Pro Tour Slot Blue-Green Main Deck 60 cards 3  City of Brass 9  Forest 10  Island 22 lands 3  Aquamoeba 4  Arrogant Wurm 4  Basking Rootwalla 3  Merfolk Looter 4  Wild Mongrel 3  Wonder 21 creatures 4  Careful Study 4  Circular Logic 1  Deep Analysis 2  Quiet Speculation 3  Roar of the Wurm 3  Unsummon 17 other spells Sideboard 3  Caller of the Claw 3  Callous Oppressor 4  Compost 3  Ray of Revelation 13 sideboard cards

	Maukus Koenigstein Pro Tour Slot Red-Green Main Deck 56 cards 2  Barbarian Ring 4  Forest 1  Mossfire Valley 5  Moutain 2  Windswept Heath 4  Wooded Foothills 18 lands 4  Basking Rootwalla 4  Grim Lavamancer 4  Llanowar Elves 2  Phantom Centaur 4  Wild Mongrel 18 creatures 4  Call of the Herd 4  Elephant Guide 4  Firebolt 4  Violent Eruption 4  Volcanic Hammer 20 other spells Sideboard 4  Compost 3  Naturalize 2  Phantom Centaur 3  Stone Rain 3  Threaten 15 sideboard cards

	Antonio Cassells Top 8 Red-Green Main Deck 60 cards 2  Barbarian Ring 7  Forest 4  Karplusian Forest 2  Mossfire Valley 4  Mountain 4  Wooded Foothills 23 lands 4  Basking Rootwalla 4  Grim Lavamancer 4  Llanowar Elves 1  Nantuko Vigilante 2  Phantom Centaur 4  Wild Mongrel 19 creatures 4  Call of the Herd 3  Elephant Guide 4  Firebolt 4  Violent Eruption 3  Volcanic Hammer 18 other spells Sideboard 2  Caller of the Claw 3  Compost 3  Ensaring Bridge 2  Krosan Reclamation 1  Nantuko Vigilante 2  Naturalize 2  Pyroclasm 15 sideboard cards

	Marvaldi Alessandro Top 8 Red-Green Main Deck 61 cards 3  Barbarian Ring 5  Forest 4  Karplusian Forest 1  Mossfire Valley 5  Mountain 1  Windswept Heath 4  Wooded Foothills 23 lands 4  Basking Rootwalla 4  Grim Lavamancer 4  Llanowar Elves 2  Phantom Centaur 4  Wild Mongrel 18 creatures 4  Call of the Herd 4  Elephant Guide 4  Firebolt 4  Violent Eruption 4  Volcanic Hammer 20 other spells Sideboard 3  Call of the Claw 3  Compost 3  Ensnaring Bridge 3  Naturalize 1  Phantom Centaur 2  Ravenous Baloth 15 sideboard cards

	Luca Berruti Top 8 Red-Green Main Deck 60 cards 2  Barbarian Ring 6  Forest 4  Karplusian Forest 2  Mossfire Valley 4  Moutain 4  Wooded Foothills 22 lands 4  Basking Rootwalla 4  Grim Lavamancer 4  Llanowar Elves 2  Phantom Centaur 2  Skirk Marauder 4  Wild Mongrel 20 creatures 4  Call of the Herd 4  Elephant Guide 4  Firebolt 3  Violent Eruption 3  Volcanic Hammer 18 other spells Sideboard 3  Caller of the Claw 4  Compost 4  Ensnaring Bridge 2  Naturalize 1  Phantom Centaur 1  Violent Eruption 15 sideboard cards

	Gianluca Bevere Pro Tour Slot Green-Blue Main Deck 60 cards 3  City of Brass 9  Forest 10  Island 22 lands 4  Aquamoeba 4  Arrogant Wurm 4  Basking Rootwalla 3  Merfolk Looter 4  Wild Mongrel 3  Wonder 22 creatures 4  Careful Study 4  Circular Logic 1  Deep Analysis 3  Quiet Speculation 3  Roar of Wurm 1  Upheaval 16 other spells Sideboard 2  Bearscape 1  Callous Oppressor 1  Naturalize 1  Ray of Revelation 1  Turbolent Dreams 3  Unsummon 1  Upheaval 10 sideboard cards

Aaron Forsythe was a professional Magic player and Internet columnist prior to leaving Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to join Wizards of the Coast. His first duty here was Content Manager of this very website, a job that required him to do actual work as opposed to playing games all the time. So when a position opened in R&D, he jumped at the chance. He is now director of Magic R&D, and still plays Magic in his free time when he's not busy playing Magic.

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