In Magic, the Top 8 is a, well, magical number, in a class all by itself. Any tournament player is thinking of only one thing: How to make it into the Top 8 playoffs. It's the same with decks—whenever people discuss decks, what always comes up is "the decks from the Top 8 of that event" or "this player made Top 8 with this deck." That said, however, just because a deck didn't make it to the Top 8 doesn't mean it has nothing to offer.
Particularly when it comes to the Pro Tour, there are a lot of decks that didn't quite make it for whatever reason that have a spectacular component or idea at their core, and are just waiting for the right moment to truly shine. For this week's theme, I would like to highlight some decks like that from the recent Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir.
Today's deck is the Mardu Control deck that the French contingent was running. The deck is mostly removal. The strategy is simple: after removing all your opponent's creatures, drop a Planeswalker and win. Note that the Planeswalkers also work as removal, so really it's all about destroying creatures on the other side of the board.
Mardu Charm is an MVP here. It functions not only as removal, but can also proactively protect your Planeswalkers with its peek-and-pull mode. And, if you've got nothing better to do, you can make a couple of Warriors to help seal the deal.
Pierre Dagen's Mardu Control
a:27:{i:0;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:17:"Bloodstained Mire";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:4:"land";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"4";}i:1;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:17:"Temple of Triumph";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:4:"land";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"3";}i:2;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:17:"Temple of Silence";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:4:"land";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"4";}i:3;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:17:"Battlefield Forge";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:4:"land";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"2";}i:4;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:15:"Caves of Koilos";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:4:"land";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"1";}i:5;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:14:"Evolving Wilds";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:4:"land";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"3";}i:6;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:13:"Nomad Outpost";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:4:"land";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"3";}i:7;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:8:"Mountain";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:4:"land";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"4";}i:8;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:6:"Plains";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:4:"land";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"2";}i:9;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:5:"Swamp";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:4:"land";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"1";}i:10;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:20:"Chained to the Rocks";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:11:"enchantment";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"4";}i:11;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:12:"Thoughtseize";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:7:"sorcery";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"2";}i:12;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:23:"Elspeth, Sun's Champion";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:12:"planeswalker";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"3";}i:13;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:26:"Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:12:"planeswalker";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"1";}i:14;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:19:"Chandra, Pyromaster";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:12:"planeswalker";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"4";}i:15;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:15:"End Hostilities";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:7:"sorcery";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"2";}i:16;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:15:"Banishing Light";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:11:"enchantment";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"1";}i:17;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:9:"Utter End";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:7:"instant";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"1";}i:18;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:16:"Tormenting Voice";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:7:"sorcery";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"1";}i:19;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:16:"Lightning Strike";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:7:"instant";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"4";}i:20;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:14:"Crackling Doom";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:7:"instant";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"4";}i:21;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:11:"Mardu Charm";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:7:"instant";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"4";}i:22;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:17:"Anger of the Gods";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:7:"sorcery";s:10:"deck_count";s:1:"2";}i:23;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:14:"Nyx-Fleece Ram";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:8:"creature";s:10:"deck_count";i:0;}i:24;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:23:"Brimaz, King of Oreskos";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:8:"creature";s:10:"deck_count";i:0;}i:25;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:18:"Resolute Archangel";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:8:"creature";s:10:"deck_count";i:0;}i:26;O:8:"stdClass":3:{s:9:"card_meta";O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"title";s:14:"Read the Bones";s:22:"field_card_image_front";a:0:{}}s:4:"type";s:7:"sorcery";s:10:"deck_count";i:0;}}
