A deck that's been a regular in the top 4 bracket, Michael has finally cracked not only into top 2, but found a first place finish, alongside a second list landing 4th place. While a 1st place finish for the deck is finally exciting, it's not too surprising to see as the deck has been incredibly powerful for a while. With it's incredibly strong control options and some of the best permission/negate cards in the game, the Seraphim archetype has been consistently solid, with a very solid core.

The main core of the deck is consistent between the two decks in top 4. The Warrior package of Bartholomew, Cerebral, Helios & Luna, and Qaphsiel works incredibly well with the large number of revival effects that Michael can run between Essence Of Ancient Purity, Bastion Of Divine Light, and Gone But Never Forgotten. Mastema, The Divine Prosecutor is an incredibly deadly threat to add as the 5th member of this "core", with Archon, Eon, Rochciel, and both Zadkiel's being other powerful considerations. My spicy consideration in the list was Simon, Judge Of The Seraphim, whose Gust Keyword made for a solid utility piece, especially in combination with Zadkiel, Consumed By Honour and Chaos Divine Reconnaissance.

The list also has some interesting ability to flex in it's game-speed, between more Midrange and Controlling variations. Jacob's 1st place finishing list leans more into the Midrangey end of this spectrum, with tools like Citrine Amulet and Angelic Blitz Strike, while I tried to focus more on the control options and value generation end. I think both options are continuously solid, and there's still a lot of room for the "strongest version" to evolve, but overall Michael continues to be incredibly powerful.