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The Impact of Avacyn Restored on Standard
Kyle Boggemes
5/7/2012 11:50:00 AM Hey everyone! The Standard goodness continued last weekend with SCG: Providence and it didn't disappoint. I like this week as far as set releases are concerned because we can get down to the realistic decks rather than simply cramming shiny new toys into old archetypes and making concept decks. Don't get me wrong, the best place to begin is by trying all sorts of new things (like miracles), but I like focusing on the big picture, too. Since this is the first big tournament with Avacyn Restored, it was nice of SCG to give us the Top 32 deck lists rather than the standard 16. Without further ado, the Top 32: SCG Top 32 Breakdown 9 Wolf Run Ramp (1 RUG, 2 WRG, 6 RG) 2 RG Aggro 2 Esper Control 4 Solar Flare 3 Humans (1 Boros, 1 GW, 1 Haunted) 6 Mage-Blade 1 Naya Pod 1 RDW 2 Heartless Havengul 1 Junk Superfriends 1 UB Control Wolf Run Ramp This is an interesting collection of deck lists as Wolf Run Ramp has made it back on top thanks to Cavern of Souls. Take a look at the finalist's (Chris Lachman) Ramp deck as it will be the mold for tournaments in the coming weeks:
There were subtle changes made to the direction of the deck thanks to the addition of Cavern of Souls. The first change was the obvious - cut a Kessig Wolf Run since Cavern of Souls makes colorless mana in the early game. Although the amount of colored mana was reduced, Chris chose to play four copies of Slagstorm regardless. If you expect large amounts of Humans, I can see the risky spell being worthwhile. I like putting in the fourth Solemn Simulacrum again because the titan plan is much more realistic versus the field. Why bother with expensive creatures that get countered by Mana Leak when you can simply play seven uncounterable giants? Keep in mind that you can also name “Human” for Cavern of Souls to make an uncounterable Huntmaster of the Fells and Zealous Conscripts (not a sleeper anymore) out of the sideboard. It's interesting to note the six sweepers and zero Galvanic Blast/Pillar of Flame for early plays. I could see Zombies making a return for brief periods of time when Pillar sees less play. A trend I saw from the Top 32 lists was the lack of Pillars, but their presence made the zombies hide. Now that the Hive Mind is aware players skimp on pillars, we can build decks accordingly. It's a pretty big gamble to take Zombies to the first tournament with Avacyn Restored only to face a wave of hate. Here was another interesting take on Ramp that finished 11th by Brandon Rodriguez:
I chose to mention this list as it maindecks Zealous Conscripts. This is the direction I see for the metagame in the near future as Titan mirrors will surely be abundant (and don't call me Shirley). An overwhelming theme this weekend is the dominance of Primeval and Sun Titan thanks to Cavern of Souls and Zealous Conscripts is quite the foil. Pillar of Flame in the sideboard is a great idea as Galvanic Blast is better against the field thanks to the instant speed. If you want to board in a shock, it will likely be against Zombies or Strangleroot Geist anyway. I like the move away from Slagstorm as the red requirement is a little much for my liking. Whipflare is a nice removal spell, but be aware of the resurgence from Porcelain Legionnaire (he has protection from Whipflare). If you skimp on Slagstorm, be sure to pack Naturalize for Honor of the Pure so the Whipflares aren't dead. For the pre-Avacyn Restored Standard, I didn't mind cutting a Sphere of the Suns, but you need all the help you can get with colored mana when maindecking Cavern of Souls. I can see going down to three Inkmoth Nexus if you want to play multiple maindeck caverns to reduce the colorless lands. Ramp is an interesting deck because the presence of cavern will make Mana Leak less valuable, but this makes you not need the land in the first place. Why play three copies of Cavern of Souls when blue decks are even becoming more tap-out oriented? Don't get me wrong, I love the card in the sideboard, but it isn't always necessary in the maindeck. The Red/Green Ramp deck got an important card from Avacyn Restored, but Naya Ramp also played some new threats. Michael Engberg took this deck to a 23rd place (7-2) and I like it against a field of aggro and the mirror.
Green Sun's Zenith can search for Sigarda with six mana; I like that Avacyn Restored gave us more options for five drops other than Acidic Slime and Vorapede (Wolfir Silverheart, too). Entreat the Angels got much better with the reduction of Mana Leak in the format. I love the miracle mechanic, but the angels look embarrassing versus a cheap counter. Day of Judgment is better than Slagstorm and Whipflare in a format where you need to take down titans and Hero of Bladehold so a splash is justifiable. Oblivion Ring and Beast Within are also great in the mirror when you take down a titan and Elesh Norn prevents Inkmoth Nexus from getting out of hand. This deck may have a better aggro and mirror matchup, but you need to be aware it's vulnerable to control decks as well as its own mana base. Playing three colors in a deck full of colorless lands can bite you enough times to justify playing on-color sweepers that are less powerful. The final version of Wolf Run Ramp that made a showing in the Top 32 borrowed some blue cards. (Paul Lynch)
Cavern of Souls is a cool addition for this deck as you need GG, RR, and UU to cast your giants. Green Sun's Zenith looks very weak in this deck as you can only search for Primeval Titan and Acidic Slime; perhaps a Tamiyo or two could go a long way in this deck (shuts off Hero of Bladehold and titans). If you want to play Zenith in this deck, I would suggest trying Birds of Paradise, Borderland Ranger, and/or Huntmaster of the Fells. RG Aggro Now that we have taken a brief look at the new boogeyman of the format, lets take a peek at the winning deck - RG Aggro:
This deck took advantage of Avacyn Restored with Wolfir Avenger and Zealous Conscripts in the sideboard. The lack of Esper Spirits makes me like Wolfir Avenger much more than Daybreak Ranger because he's weaker against the field. I'm a little surprised Dustin opted to leave out Wolfir Silverheart as it provides quite the punch from a Green Sun's Zenith for five. Acidic Slime is nice, but hardly the creature you want when going on the aggro plan. The fact that the winning decklist would hate to see a Pillar of Flame makes me think the card will have a good weekend at SCG Madison. Red Green Aggro and Ramp had a great run with an astonishing eleven decks of some form in the Top 32; this almost made me forget who the boogeyman of the pre-Avacyn metagme was... Mage-Blade Oh right, it was Delver of Secrets with just six copies in the Top 32. Here is the highest placing list (3rd) from Bryant Cook:
Thankfully WOTC didn't give us an obvious card to add to Delver decks, but remember Thought Scour and Dungeon Geists didn't see much play when Dark Ascension was released. Bryant didn't play a single card from Avacyn Restored, but it didn't stop him from winning tons of matches. Four copies of Gitaxian Probe looks sketchy as Thought Scour shines when combined with Runechanter's Pike. Gitaxian Probe is the most effective when you play spells that require over committing to the board (such as Drogskol Captain). The life loss can also add up quickly and I don't want to draw multiple copies because seeing their hand more than once has diminishing marginal returns. It also seems strange to play only three copies of Geist of Saint Traft since it's one of the best cards in the deck. The Timely Reinforcements is an interesting replacement, but I would want to play cards that interact with resolved titans. The best version of Delver to examine from the SCG Open was from Matt Costa since he Top 8'ed a Pro Tour and won a Grand Prix with the enemy of the format.
This is an interesting change of pace as Matt excluded Invisible Stalker from the list. I have taken a similar approach to my Delver deck so it's nice to see a great mind doing something similar. Delver needs to take a more aggressive approach to defeat Sun Titan and Primeval Titan because of Cavern of Souls. Note the Act of Aggression in the sideboard as an alternative strategy to take down Primeval Titan before he gets too out of hand. I expected Tamiyo to make more of a splash in Delver as it can tap down a Cavern of Souls or a titan. Batterskull and Consecrated Sphinx have not been too impressive for me and Tamiyo seems like a great card to try. The Batterskull would typically die to artifact hate that was boarded in for Runechanter's Pike and Sword of War and Peace or the germ would be killed. Consecrated Sphinx was too pricey for me and I never actually cast it. As you can see, Matt still plays four copies of Mana Leak despite the format-warping land being represented. This goes to show that Cavern of Souls is good, but not broken. If you're curious, this is my current Delver list:
Solar Flare I'm surprised Solar Flare made such a big splash as it had fallen out of favor versus Esper Control and UB Control. One reason this might have happened was because it doesn't rely on countering big threats, but rather trying to “one-up” them. Josh Cicio made the top 4 with this list:
I feel the popularity of Zealous Conscripts would make me want to lean toward playing Tamiyo over Gideon Jura. If the aggro deck can simply steal it and hit you for six, it's likely game over. Four copies of Phantasmal Image feels high as it's weak against token decks that are sure to make a comeback after such a dismal showing this last weekend. I can get on-board with three copies as the number of titans increased dramatically. I like playing Cavern of Souls in the sideboard of Solar Flare as the deck is much more color-hungry than Ramp. You also want additional lands in control mirrors anyway so I think it's a better plan than Nephalia Drownyard. Another utility land that jumped up in value is Ghost Quarter - this is one of the better answers to Ramp's new best friend. My BW Control deck has been doing well recently after I added four copies of Hero of Bladehold and I feel that can be quite useful in Solar Flare to combat Wolf Run Ramp. The deck didn't gain much from Avacyn Restored, but I feel it's a great call. Here's my updated list for reference:
Hero of Bladehold single-handedly shifted the matchup, so give it a chance in your Solar Flare sideboards. Humans Humans got some new toys from Avacyn Restored and they are pretty well-positioned in a format full of Ramp decks. When I play Ramp, the scariest cards are Hero of Bladehold and Angelic Destiny and Humans can seamlessly play both. There were three different supporting colors in these decks so we have a lot of work to do as far as identifying the best pair. Boros Humans
GW Humans
Haunted Humans
I'm sure Craig Wescoe will delve deeper into these decks so I won't steal his thunder. The main things to take away from these decks are: 1. Don't go overboard on playing non-white threats in an Honor of the Pure deck. 2. Silverblade Paladin, Lightning Mauler, and Zealous Conscripts should be considered if you play humans. 3. Make sure your Honor of the Pure is playable. 4. Cavern of Souls has a drawback of making M10 duals come into play tapped so they do have a cost. The fact that you want primarily white spells for Honor of the Pure makes the utility of the extra color even less useful. I think Lightning Mauler is worth it in W/R Humans even though it's red because a hasty Hero of Bladehold is too good to pass up. Heartless Havengul I know this deck hasn't taken off just yet, but this is a different take on the strategy. A combination of Solar Flare and Heartless Summoning would be a fun deck to take to a tournament because the creatures are very fun to cast.
This could be a replacement for Solar Flare when Cavern of Souls is popular in an event. Why bother playing a slow version of Esper with Mana Leak when you could play a more proactive strategy? Razor Hippogriff is an interesting addition, but I would advise against it because it's weak as a first threat. Why play a card that returns Wurmcoil Engine from your graveyard to your hand when you can play another instead? The double white spells can spell trouble at times and I wonder why it plays them at all. I think the main thing to take away from this deck is that the mana is reasonable enough in Heartless Summoning to splash a monster or two. I prefer the list piloted by Matt Sargo because it sticks to two colors and still is able to play ridiculous bombs.
I wouldn't mind a Griselbrand to tutor for with Rune-Scarred Demon; other than that, there isn't much from Avacyn Restored for the Heartless Summoning Archetype. The reason this deck was able to thrive in this environment because it's great at going over the top. Frost Titan will make a comeback because it locks down other big threats that resolve more than they should thanks to Cavern of Souls. My disclaimer against this deck is the obvious reliance on Heartless Summoning which leads to clunky draws. UB Control This is an interesting deck to make the Top 32 because I expected Cavern of Souls to keep it from winning. Nico Christianson took this card into consideration and made a unique spin on the deck that left counters in the sideboard.
I wouldn't have expected Blue Black to remove the Mana Leaks even if Cavern dominates the format. This deck is more of a tapout strategy that looks to stall with removal spells. Nihil Spellbomb is interesting and I would have expected Frites to make a big appearance at this event so I can see playing multiple copies maindeck. The absence of Mana Leak makes cards like Sun Titan hard to handle, too. Since Frites had a bad showing last weekend, it's less important to play maindeck Nihil Spellbomb. Many of the Delver decks have chosen to exclude Invisible Stalker which reduced the popularity of Runechanter's Pike as a result. The Ghost Quarter strategy is good in this format, but it makes decking with Nephalia Drownyard more difficult. I would say this is too much of an uphill battle to compete with Ramp and I wouldn't want to play this deck in the near future. The fact that RG Aggro won the tournament makes me want to play the deck even less. Keep in mind that Wolfir Avenger can also regenerate from Go for the Throat and Doom Blade. Red Deck Wins I haven't seen RDW do well on the SCG circuit in a while, but I'm not surprised Vexing Devil put it back on the map.
Faithless Looting and Thunderous Wrath is an interesting combination because you won't trigger miracle, but have the ability to cycle the ones you have drawn. Noxious Revival will rarely connect with a Thunderous Wrath and if it does all you did is lose two life (if you didn't draw a Rootbound Crag) and a card in exchange for dealing five damage. I would also prefer a burn spell such as Galvanic Blast over Gut Shot because every point of damage counts in RDW. That being said, I do see the merits of the card: trigger bloodthrist on turn 2 for Stormblood Berserker and could see a mix. Only time will tell if RDW is back for good, but Vexing Devil is quite good in this archetype. I was also a fan of it in UR Delver decks because it triggers Brimstone Volley when they pay 4 life and he is sacrificed. Junk Superfriends
I don't know what to think about this deck because it's half aggro and half control. There haven't been many great decks in Magic that featured four Birds of Paradise and wrath effects in the past for good reason. Rampant Growth would be preferable to Birds of Paradise numbers two, three, and four because the first gives utility to Green Sun's Zenith. Strangleroot Geist may not be a fully aggressive card (more midrange in fact), but he needs equipment that make him shine (swords). He is nothing more than a chump blocker in many cases when you follow him up with planeswalkers (not that it's a bad thing, but you don't need four copies). This deck also plays a large amount of five drops so we can probably diversify with six drops such as Grave Titan, Primeval Titan, or Wurmcoil Engine. I wouldn't mind a Sigarda to search for with Green Sun's Zenith over Vorapede or Wolfir Avenger because they're both susceptible to Vapor Snag and perform a similar function (beating down). Thrun would be a great singleton because the deck doesn't have a four drop to find with Green Sun's Zenith and it can survive Day of Judgment (by regenerating). I like the Nightshade Peddler in the sideboard to find with zenith as well; I didn't consider it so I'm happy I could take that away from the deck. This deck has a ton of options and it looks like fun to play. Another route is to accelerate into Hero of Bladehold as you all know how much I like that card. Wolfir Silverheart with Hero of Bladehold is a great combination to push through a wall of blockers so keep that in mind. Naya Pod Last, but not least, we have Naya Pod piloted by Ryan Durney:
I can sit here and nitpick over which targets are the best, but that's simply a matter of preference. While I'm aware Birthing Pod is not essential to resolve in this mid-range aggro deck, it's strong enough to play four copies because you do broken things with it on the table. Borderland Ranger is a card Ryan excluded that I would play in every Birthing Pod deck I build for the next few months. What did we learn? This was only the first of many Standard events with Avacyn Restored so the format is sure to change frequently. I was surprised nobody had any success with Temporal Mastery, but time will tell if it does anything at all. Terminus also had a lousy showing, but I expect that to change given that RG Aggro took down the event. It can be tough to build decks with unfamiliar cards at the beginning which is why I think there were some questionable choices. Many of the archetypes had numerous iterations which is common when a new set is released. As the format becomes more sophisticated, we will begin to see a consolidation. Q and A Q: Will Humans keep green and blue as their splash or will red dominate thanks to Avacyn Restored? A: All of the splashes have their merit, but I think green and red are the best because the utility lands are so powerful. Q: Does the presence of Cavern of Souls in Standard mean Mana Leak is no longer playable? A: The popularity of Mana Leak - and thus Cavern of Souls - will be cyclical so it might take some guesswork if you should be prepared to fight waves of countermagic each weekend. We did see UB Control remove all of the counters and still be able to win seven matches.
Q: Is Delver still the best deck? A: It's too early to tell as many of the players did not adapt their lists as much as it will be necessary to fight Ramp. Tamiyo, Dungeon Geists, and Sword of Feast and Famine went up in value. Q: Are miracles good in Standard? A: They saw play in niche situations, but it will take time to learn how to properly wield them. I saw Bonfire of the Damned, Terminus, Entreat the Angels, and Thunderous Wrath, but no Temporal Mastery. Q: Does Cavern of Souls ruin the format? A: It saw a large amount of play, but it was questionable if Ramp would truly come out in full force. Now that we know people are serious about making their giants uncounterable, we can see how to deal with them appropriately. Zealous Conscripts doesn't care how big the threats are (in fact he prefers fatties). Q: Is Zombies done for? A: Avacyn Restored brought us many cards that create cycles of playability and Pillar of Flame is one of them. I wouldn't always play Pillar because of the sorcery drawback so Zombies is best when they are unexpected (like the Spanish Inquisition). It seems as though the SCG Open that debuted Avacyn Restored has left us with more questions than answers so we will have to see how Standard shapes up in the coming weeks. Many cards were claimed to be broken in the spoiler season, but I see diversity and I can't help but love that. Next week, we will see how the Hive Mind reacts to the large amount of Ramp. Thanks for reading, Kyle |
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