The buzz over Avacyn Restored is growing every day. It's impossible to go to any Magic: the Gathering oriented site these days and not be bombarded with cards and discussion. New cards are fascinating, so it's not hard to get excited over them; what is just future speculation will be the here and now in a few short weeks. Everyone will be knee-deep in the new set and trying to make sense of everything. Doing a lot of that legwork now is a great way to get a head start on any Magic endeavor. Studying new cards now could bestow the following: an advantage in the next Standard PTQ, a tip on what new card will be sought after, insight into how a new card will increase the value of an old one, an early warning that a new card will be PERFECT to alter, or even create excitement over the story line. New expansions hold great power; the hype and media they create is justified and valuable.
With all that being said, there's a lot of value in remaining present. There is still a lot of important Magic to be played before Avacyn Restored. The biggest tournaments for most people will be the Pro Tour Qualifiers taking place over the world during the next months. A big chunk of these will be held before Avacyn Restored is released, meaning it's time to play current Standard. The metagame is now very well developed, and there isn't exactly anything new showing up. With the new set taking up a lot of players time, I don't Foresee any metagame-altering pre Avacyn Restored Standard brews appearing.
Success in these PTQs will come down to playing a top deck well. There's also advantage to be gained by playing something slightly off the radar. Players are going to be completely honed in on beating Delver of Secrets. Some additional focus will be on RG and Zombies. Past those three decks, there isn't much testing, slots, and all around effort going into beating other decks. I propose that playing a deck that has a strong matchup against these decks will maintaining great numbers against random decks is a great option. The time is ripe for Esper control.
Players really honed in on the graveyard potential Forbidden Alchemy created and sought to recreate the Solar Flare strategy. That power, when combined with Unburial Rites, allowed for a lot of creative deck building innovation. There were all the pieces present: Graveyard enablers and creature recursion that all fit together nicely in a 3 color package. Liliana of the Veil was perfect for the strategy. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite combined with Sun Titan was an enviable package of creatures. The new Blue all star, Snapcaster Mage, was right at home as well!
The thing is, Solar Flare is hard. The overwhelming amount of playable cards combined with difficult mana meant the deck was a trap of the highest order. Only the best and hardest working deckbuilders could make it work.
The deck was super hyped and played a ton in the beginning. Solar Flare was the gold standard, or was it? Metrics across tournaments showed that Solar Flare just didn't win that much. It was a chronic under performer in all levels of events. I believe much of this can be attributed to poor decklists, because it still was able to find great success in some cases. Solar Flare saw success in events ranging from an early GP Top 8 in the hands of Akira Asahara to a 5k win. It also performed much more favorably on MTGO, where decklists evolved rapidly.
Eventually Illusions, followed by Delver, completely took over Standard. These aggressive blue decks are strong against traditional Solar Flare strategies and relegated Esper to tier 2 at best. Now things have changed. Earlier Solar Flare strategies had the MAJOR problem of being a control deck without a specific metagame to beat. Control decks thrive on being designed to tackle a specific metagame. Before the deck had to fight too many random strategies and just wasn't a well oiled machine against a metagame. The Standard metagame is currently very well developed. There are some top-tier, heavily played archetypes, joined by a small, rather predictable subset of less popular decks. Standard is ripe for a tight control deck to take over.
The Solar Flare list that I'm sharing today is not my own. To create such a complex decklist would require me to both engage in very in-depth metagame analysis and play countless hours of playtest games. I'm not a regular PTQ player anymore, so I don't have the motivation. Players who really have the fire and seek to win a PTQ know that if they really want an edge, they'll put in the work.
Lucindo is an old MTGO 2.0 ringer and longtime adversary/friend. He's a Brazilian player with a long history of great decks and great play. Recently he made a high finish in a Standard MTGO PTQ.I was excited to see him do well, and equally excited to try out his decklist. Some friends of mine have been crushing online with the decklist, so I decided it was my time to get with it. I know Lucindo and his friends put a ton of time and work into the decklist. I'm confident in sharing it with you all as a deck very capable of winning a Standard PTQ in the next couple of weeks.
As a special bonus, I'm including two matches of video coverage. I wasn't slated to do video this week but I went ahead and threw some in here anyways. They are not as refined as usual, but they are plenty informative.
I decided to run this deck cold through a Standard 8-man. It's a trial that allows me to judge the inherent qualities of the deck AND how it generally interacts with some other archetypes. I'm not super familiar with playing Innistrad Solar Flare. I've played it a little here and there, but haven't done any serious testing with it. I like to dive right into the water and see how a deck plays. I want to get a feel for everything. I usually can figure out how a deck operates very quickly, but I'm prone to make some mistakes. This sort of testing will put me immediately against real opponents in real games, forcing me to play by best at all times possible. Here it goes!
Vs. BR Zombies:
My second round opponent failed to show up!
Not having to play again caused me to lose focus so my game wasn't the tightest in round 3, which I regret as I was against a really good friend and player, Julitro Bernabe. Our match is a great view but I wish I smashed him!!
Vs. Esper Solar Flare:
I'm going to be making videos regularly, so at the request of all my viewers, I've ordered a nice headset microphone. My future videos will have greatly improved audio quality!
I learned a ton about this deck by playing these matches, and I know I only have more to learn. Understanding this archetype will also teach me a great deal about sitting across from it in a tournament setting, no matter the deck I'm playing.
Now I'm starting to look forward towards Avacyn Restored. Solar Flare is a multicolor deck that's infinitely customizable. This deck can be adapted to incorporate any new cards that it would like. The barrier for entry is high, and changing just one card slot will have ramifications throughout such a tight decklist. Still, there is plenty of room to upgrade and change, so every new card must be given a real chance.
Here is what the deck is looking for:
Cheap, interactive spells More efficient removal Great card drawing/fixing, with an eye towards looting effects Powerful creatures Improved manabases
White
Looking at the white cards spoiled so far, nothing jumps out at me. Avacyn, Angel of Hope could be a great reanimation target in a version geared towards that, but the high cast and relatively low board impact mean it's probably on the sidelines.
Blue
Blue presents us with some more options.
Arcane Melee is a really cool card that most reminds me of Mirari's Wake. Having this card in play effectively produces a huge amount of mana for a deck loaded with instants and sorceries. This deck could easily be reworked to include the card. All of spells, especially those with flashback, allow the deck to essentially go off. This might not be a fit in this sort of Solar Flare, but expect it from control mages in the future. Expect this in conjunction with Snapcaster Mage.
The rest of Blue doesn't present many exciting cards either. Tamiyo, the Moon Sage is another great card that could fit into this deck, but I don't see it filling any existing holes.
Black
I went into Black hoping for some real powerhouses, and it didn't disappoint. I could see Griselbrand making a fit into this archetype. It's much more reasonable than Avacyn, Angel of Hope. It's a huge threat by itself, and the ability to draw 7 cards means it always creates value, assuming there is life to spare. Activating the ability in such a power-laden deck should win all but the most hopeless games. I'd look to play this in a reanimation focused, black heavy build featuring a plethora of Liliana, of the Veil.
Past Griselbrand, I don't see any black cards that this deck could reasonably incorporate into the maindeck. Killing Wave is an interesting card, but it doesn't really deal with any problems this deck faces.
Sideboard wise, I'm excited for Demonic Taskmaster. I think this card is exactly what the deck needs if it wants to get more aggressive after board. It allows this deck to change gears and just smash on unsuspecting opponents. Three toughness also means it goes up against Lingering Souls quite nicely, assuming the other 56 are weak to the 4/3 flyer.
This deck can play any sort of color combinations, so I didn't stop my search with Esper colors. Unfortunately, I don't see anything that this deck could utilize in neither Red nor Green.
As far as the artifacts, nothing fits. Most of them are gimmicky and limited oriented, or simply nonsensical here.
The lands hold a bit more promise. There are two in particular I could see making a splash in this deck.
Store.TCGplayer.com allows you to buy cards from any of our vendors, all at the same time! Shop, Compare & Save with TCGplayer.com! - [Store FAQ]
Cavern of Souls deserves the hype it's getting. Making a spell uncounterable is the real deck in a metagame filled with Mana Leak and the like. It's doubly important in a deck casting Titans and Elesh Norn. Being colorless is a huge drawback though, and a nod to the fact that the card is so good, and not necessarily meant for a deck such as this. I see the card as a great sideboard slot. This deck wants extra lands against Counterspell decks, so padding the count post sideboard is great. The card will shut down Counterspells and allow this deck to resolve the most important cards. I might pair this strategy by siding in some additional powerful creatures, like Demonic Taskmaster.
For an alternate take on the deck that incorporates Red, turn no further than Desolate Lighthouse. This is the perfect graveyard enabler. This deck could adapt into one with more of a combo, reanimator feel based on this card. Red also opens up Desperate Ravings and Faithless Looting, giving the deck a critical mass of discard outlets.
The success of Solar Flare in the new metagame is to be determined. This deck is hugely flexible and adaptable. The lack of new cards that fit into the archetype is slightly disconcerting, but it's no matter. As of writing this, there were still about a hundred cards to be revealed, and even if none are playable, the deck will live on. There is a huge pool of great cards available to draw from and meet any challenge. This deck just doesn't require a new card to remain viable, and in that lies strength.
For those that would like to play this deck in the future, I'd recommend keeping in tune with the metagame and adapt the deck as needed. The success of Solar Flare right not depend on beating an established metagame. The power level high is enough to Crush any weak new brews for sure, but a new archetype has the potential for problems. Solar Flare will only get better as the metagame develops and any new threats become clear. Standard is pretty stable right now and I don't see the new set presenting any major shakeups. If it does, Solar Flare will shakeup right along with it.
All original content herein is Copyright 2000-2013 Ascension Gaming Network,
Inc.
TCGplayer and MaxPoint are trademarks of Ascension Gaming Network, Inc.
No portion of this web site may be used in any way without expressed written consent.
All rights reserved. Magic the Gathering and it's respective properties are copyright Wizards of the Coast. Privacy Policy
.gif)
.gif)
.gif)
.gif)
Voice of Resurgence - as low as $33.99
Return to Ravnica
RSS Feed
Facebook
Twitter