Day 2 Coverage
The red decks were expected. A surge in Turbo Fog decks was also expected. However, all the fogs in the world won't stop an Approach of the Second Sun. UW Approach was Gabriel Joglar's weapon of choice, although it was Teferi and some pet lifelinking cats that finally clinched the final for him over Kyle Cooper's burn-heavy Mono-Red Wizards deck.
RB Aggro was again represented heavily on Day 2, but only one (in the hands of Greg Sokol, and that a list skewed to beat other red-black decks) made the Top 8. Grixis Midrange was the only archetype to put more than a single copy in the Top 8, with the remaining three slots being taken by UB Midrange, GB Constrictor and Esper Control.
997 players came to Grand Prix Orlando to battle it out over two days of Standard, but in the end it was Gabriel Joglar who rose above them all to claim the title of Champion of Grand Prix Orlando 2018!
Day 1 Coverage
We had a hot day in Orlando and yes, Standard is still running hot with various mountain-based decks continuing to perform well. While the talk of the town at the Pro Tour last weekend might have been fancy dancy Turbo Fog decks, aficionados of red spells considered their options, found Insult // Injury and Banefire, and got back to the business of burning people (or clouting them with chains thanks to one angry chainwhirlin' goblin).
After 8 rounds of Standard action, 7 players—Jacob Tilk, Luke Feeney, Jonathan Vale, Patrick Tilsen, Andrew Calderon, Vincent Daniels and Kyle Cooper—found themselves top of the heap with perfect 8-0 records. Five chose to run red decks (4 dipping into black and 1 going all out with Flame of Keld). It wasn't all mountains, however, as the other two decks were Esper control and the interesting Reservoir Storm combo deck.
We started with 997 players. 199 will return tomorrow to battle it out over another 7 rounds of Standard followed by a Top 8.