Adam Yurchick
5/21/2012 9:02:00 AM
Standard has been going through quite a shake up, all starting with the official release of Avacyn Restored earlier this month. These new cards have surely had an impact on Standard, and we'll look towards the results of the ongoing Standard PTQs for Pro Tour Return to Ravnica to see what's winning and where the metagame dust is going to settle. If the history of the Standard metagame this past year has been any indication, the dust won't be settling anytime soon.

Older formats are less likely to take advantage of new cards, but they also provide a great store of card to combine with and create broken synergies. For this reason it's important to look at new cards for older formats and find the gems. I've found that Avacyn Restored has some truly nice cards for Legacy.

The third set of a block - or in this case the spring release as Avacyn Restored is a stand alone set - is always full of overpowered, format warping cards. Think back to Exodus and the cards it brought into Magic forever, including Oath of Druds, Survival of the Fittest, AND Recurring Nightmare. That's an absolutely insane list of cards. Apocalypse had both Vindicate and Pernicious Deed, both of which felt revolutionary at the time. The third set of the Shards of Alara block brought us Cascade... More recently, Rise of the Eldrazi brought us both the earth shattering Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and Gideon Jura. The release of the craziest third set in years, New Phyrexia, should prove in the point that when it comes springtime, Wizards ALWAYS pushes the Envelop.

Avacyn Restored is no change of pace or departure from the trend, so it too is packed full of constructed viable, deck changing, metagame warping cards. It was clear to everyone that this set would have a strong impact upon constructed formats.. Miracle is one of the craziest, most powerful mechanics EVER released to the public, and we'll be feeling Repercussions for as long as Magic is being played, or until they all get banned. These cards will only grow and grow in power as more and more tools to abuse them are released. Alexander Hayne proved to the world that a deck packed with 16 powerful miracles and no way to stack them can win a Pro Tour, so I shudder at the thought of a Miracle deck with a card like, say, Sensei's Divining Top...

I spent most of my time in Barcelona staying and preparing with Team Canada. We were enthused all week about miracles, and that enthusiasm turned into pure mania as we brought our wunderkind AlexEnder Hayne to pro tour victory. Four of us didn't sleep a wink on Saturday night, burning the midnight mana and making sure our team would hoist the trophy on Sunday. Miracles were in the mind, so after the Pro Tour we discussed breaking miracles in other formats. Alex and David Caplan stayed in Europe all week to attend the Bazaar of Moxen in France, the largest Legacy and Vintage gathering in the world every year. Understanding the Legacy format would be critical for my friends, so Noah Long and I worked to convey to everyone how ridiculously powerful miracles would be. Our walk through the town on Monday brewed up this little gem:

Miracles by Adam Yurchick Main Deck Sideboard 4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor Planeswalkers [4] 4 Brainstorm 3 Chrome Mox 4 Counterbalance 4 Entreat the Angels 4 Force of Will 1 Personal Tutor 4 Sensei's Divining Top 4 Swords to Plowshares 4 Temporal Mastery 4 Terminus Spells [36] 1 Arid Mesa 4 Flooded Strand 3 Island 1 Marsh Flats 1 Misty Rainforest 3 Plains 1 Polluted Delta 1 Scalding Tarn 4 Tundra 1 Windswept Heath Lands [20] Deck Total [60] 4 Delver of Secrets 2 Geist of Saint Traft 3 Grafdigger's Cage 4 Spell Pierce 2 Vendilion Clique Sideboard [15] View a Sample Hand! Solitaire this Deck! Click for full deck stats & notes!

This deck couldn't be more simple. Like the Pro Tour deck, this Legacy Miracle deck is designed to take maximum advantage of its miracle cards. Legacy is full of potent tools for the miracle player.

Sensei's Divining Top is simply crazy. I can't imagine a better card for a miracle deck. For one, it stacks the top of the deck. It ensures that miracles will be drawn at the most miraculous time, every time. The ability to draw an extra card on the opponent's turn is what makes it truly degenerate in this deck. Miracles will come early, often, and with great consistency. An active top will be very hard for an opponent to beat.

Because this deck naturally plays Sensei's Divining Top, adding Counterbalance felt natural. This deck has diversified mana costs all the way up the curve, so it's effective everywhere. It also plays very well into the draw-go control strategy this deck employs. It allows the deck to steal more games and operate against decks that would normally give it trouble, like storm combo.

Brainstorm is the best card in legacy, and it works double duty in this deck. Operating as an outlet for miracles, whether in deck OR already in hand, means Brainstorms must be used incredible judiciously. Brainstorm is often best held until later in the game when it can be used to profitably set a miracle.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor is card draw, board control, and a win condition all in one. Look to any of my articles written in 2010 for more on this card... The board control elements allow this deck to protect Jace, and the Brainstorm ability will be sure to end the game quickly. 4-of is a must. Jace is just so good in this deck that I'm not sure the deck would even exist without it. It fills every gap and gives this deck an ability to steal games that simply cannot be overstated.

Swords to Plowshares is just a house in a Legacy metagame filled with creatures, so this card is a must have playset.. It also deals with pesky cards like Gaddock Teeg that would otherwise spell doom for this deck. In matchups where it's dead, it can be put to use with Brainstorm or Chrome Mox. Of all the cards in the deck, this is the most flexible slot. In a specific metagame I could see altering this slot and replacing it with something along the lines of Counterspell.

One of the best cards in this deck is actually Chrome Mox. Miracles in the opening hand are usually pretty weak for this deck, so Chrome Mox functions as a great outlet. these miracle cards wouldn't normally have a role in a game, so the card loss isn't really palpable. The speed bump is insane for a deck that cares solely about mana. The dual package of Chrome Mox and Temporal Mastery provides this deck with a ton of virtual mana acceleration, allowing it to get ahead in mana early in the game. This converts into a tempo advantage, which is easy to convert to a win. The acceleration synergies with Counterbalance, Jace, the Mind Sculptor , and Entreat the Angels cannot be overlooked.

High Mid Low

Terminus

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MIRACLES:

The ability to reliably cast Terminus for W allows this deck to PREY on aggressive decks like Maverick and tribal strategies. Terminus also deals with normally impossible to kill cards like Progenitus and Empty the Warrens for fifty. This deck would not exist without Terminus.

Temporal Mastery was potent but unreliable in block. In Legacy with the ability to stack the deck, Temporal Mastery becomes bonkers. It will rarely rot in hand; instead, it will reliably produce extra turns for fun and profit. This card makes this deck feel really degenerate at times.

Entreat the Angels is the real win condition, and what a win condition it is. This deck can use its stacking cards to reliably cast Entreat on the early turns to change gears and put the opponent on the backfoot, or to put down some large blockers. Later in the game it will win outright. There are very few cards in the format that trade with Entreat the Angels outright. Even the most dedicated aggressive decks will Falter in the face of an army of 4/4 fliers.

1 Personal Tutor is a bit of flair that is great for fetching that game winning miracle. I essentially see it as a wild miracle card that adds redundancy to the other copies. Again, the power of Miracles is so great that the loss of a card is hardly relevant-think of Personal Tutor as a tutor with a ritual tacked on. It is very possible that the numbers could be increased and the deck altered, but that will require more testing.

The sideboard of this deck makes it a total blast to play. The shell of this maindeck is essentially that of a Landstill or Counterbalance deck. It is UW control to the core. There are some truly efficient aggressive blue creatures available today, and I think changing roles post sideboard gives this deck a huge edge over a big portion of the metagame. The UW maindeck naturally crushes creatures, but it can be weak against combination or control deck. Siding in creatures gives this deck a very efficient, reliable, and fast clock to pressure these decks. Forcing these decks to act will force them to walk into the other control elements this deck packs.

Delver of Secrets is as good as advertised, and the cheap cost means it's our premier creature. Geist of Saint Traft can end a game in a matter of turns, and combining it with Chrome Mox makes it nasty. Vendilion Clique is not as aggressive, but the disruption is potent against the worst matchups. I like a split of these creatures, but the optimal number may be different.

Supplementing the aggressive creature plan is the all-powerful Spell Pierce. This card is nearly as good as Force of Will in the early game. It bestows the ability to interfere with opposing game plans and create a tempo boost. The aggressive sideboard plan will put opponents on the back foot, forcing them to play their hand sooner, rendering them more vulnerable to Spell Pierce. The card is so good against such a large portion of the format that I see no reason not to wield a full playset out of the sideboard.

This is certainly the deck I'll be playing in future Legacy events. The deck is immensely powerful, and the fun factor is off the charts. It's also one of the most miserable and tilting decks to face from across the table ever conceived, so the extra value it gives you is worth noting. Enjoy!

Back to Standard, the results of Grand Prix Minneapolis are downright exciting. First off, congrats to Christian "SOOO PROOO" Calcano on his GP win! It's been a longtime coming. His innovative UR Delver deck burned through the tournament off the back of my favorite miracle I haven't gotten to play competitively, Bonfire of the Damned! This deck will surely provide me an opportunity to shuffle up this nasty card.

UR Delver by Christian Calcano Finished 1st Place at 2012 Grand Prix Minneapolis - 5/19 Main Deck Sideboard 4 Delver of Secrets 1 Dungeon Geists 2 Invisible Stalker 1 Phantasmal Image 4 Snapcaster Mage Creatures [12] 2 Bonfire of the Damned 1 Devil's Play 1 Galvanic Blast 4 Gitaxian Probe 1 Incinerate 3 Pillar of Flame 4 Ponder 2 Runechanter's Pike 4 Thought Scour 3 Vapor Snag Spells [25] 1 Desolate Lighthouse 12 Island 7 Mountain 3 Sulfur Falls Lands [23] Deck Total [60] 1 Bonfire of the Damned 1 Combust 1 Consecrated Sphinx 1 Crush 1 Desolate Lighthouse 1 Flashfreeze 1 Frost Titan 1 Grim Lavamancer 1 Gut Shot 1 Inferno Titan 1 Koth of the Hammer 2 Mana Leak 1 Phantasmal Image 1 Zealous Conscripts Sideboard [15] View a Sample Hand! Solitaire this Deck! Click for full deck stats & notes!

The deck is essentially the blue creature and support shell of a traditional UW Delver deck that has been mashed with an incredible suite of burn spells. These burn spells serve double duty in two roles; first they are very efficient, tempo generating creature removal spell; secondly, they provide a great amount of reach for this highly aggressive deck

The most exciting deck of the tournament for me is Brad Nelson's Monoblue Grand Architect deck, created by none other than Nick Spagnolo!

Architect Aggro by Brad Nelson Finished 2nd Place at 2012 Grand Prix Minneapolis - 5/19 Main Deck Sideboard 4 Grand Architect 3 Merfolk Looter 4 Phantasmal Image 4 Phyrexian Metamorph 4 Snapcaster Mage 1 Spellskite 4 Wurmcoil Engine Creatures [24] 1 Batterskull 4 Gitaxian Probe 4 Ponder 4 Vapor Snag Spells [13] 4 Buried Ruin 2 Ghost Quarter 17 Island Lands [23] Deck Total [60] 2 Dungeon Geists 1 Grafdigger's Cage 1 Hex Parasite 2 Jace, Memory Adept 2 Mental Misstep 3 Ratchet Bomb 1 Spellskite 2 Surgical Extraction 1 Trinket Mage Sideboard [15] View a Sample Hand! Solitaire this Deck! Click for full deck stats & notes!

As the last deck, this too uses the much successful Delver of Secrets blue spell shell of Ponder, Vapor Snag, Gitaxian Probe, and Snapcaster Mage. Riding the back of this shell is Grand Architect backed by a playset of 8 clones. These sure do work well with the namesake Grand Architect. Creating a chain of these creatures turns into a large, lord powered blue army similar to Merfolk. These package of Clones are most brutal when matched up against opposing creatures, most of which are packed with powerful abilities. They also work nicely as card advantage engines when used with Snapcaster Mage.

The top end of this deck, the veritable titan, is Wurmcoil Engine. This card is very hard for most decks to beat even those with other titans. Grand Architect allows for some quick and lethal Wurmcoil Engines. In those longer games, Wurmcoil Engine backed by 8 Clones will grant certain inevitability.

I haven't shuffled up these new Standard decks, but I look forward to it. I plan on making Standard videos soon featuring new decks, so watch out!

-Adam