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The Tournament Debut of M13 - TCG Orlando and SCG St. Louis
Kyle Boggemes
7/17/2012 11:02:00 AM Hey Everybody! By now I'm sure you're all sick to death of hearing about M13 brews in Standard. I was going to go over a couple of my own, but even I'm tired of it. What am I to do? Oh I know! We had the first big weekend of M13 and there's plenty to discuss!  I also want to share with you my updates for U/W Augur because that deck has been showing a ton of promise. Let's start with Augur and work our way into TCG Open Orlando and SCG Open St. Louis. UW Augur Update
As you recall from my last article, I had 4 Rewind and 2 Mana Leak. I pulled the ol' Switcheroo because Rewind was sitting in my hand against decks with Cavern of Souls far more than I would like. It's not like Mana Leak isn't awesome in my deck because I can play Restoration Angel on turn 4 and Phantasmal Image plus Ponder and have counter-backup. You may be skeptical of the lack of three drops, but I have been bashing face with countless angel tokens and loved every minute of it. You may also be thinking I have gone off the deep end as usual for excluding everyone's favorite one drop, but Delver doesn't impress me as much as it has in the past. The sideboard is built with Augur of Bolas in mind. Each matchup will have spells you don't want and it's important to not lose focus. Vapor Snag and Gut Shot are weak against control while Mana Leak and Rewind are less than impressive versus aggro. I don't want to sideboard those cards out for permanents because Augur will miss too often. Timely Reinforcements is a great answer for aggressive decks while still being a target for Augur. It did get noticeably worse versus RG Aggro because of Rancor, Bonfire of the Damned, and Thundermaw Hellkite, but still a fine option. Mental Misstep can counter early elves, but also be a foil to Rancor. Dismember is a removal spell that can be revealed to auger and takes out the M13 dragon ( Thundermaw Hellkite). Celestial Purge also went up in value because it's a cheap answer to Hellkites as well as Hellriders and Huntmaster of the Fells. Revoke Existence gets the nod over Divine Offering because it removes swords and Rancor.
Ghost Quarter, Phantasmal Image, and Sun Titan answer your bad matchup - ramp. In the first game their Cavern of Souls will be annoying, but Ghost Quarter can answer them. Negate is a spell that I want against ramp as well as control to replace the snags and gut shots. I typically want 21 lands when I have Sun Titan in the deck so be sure to take out one land (probably a Moorland Haunt if you want both Ghost Quarters). If tokens is prevalent in your area, be sure to play some Ratchet Bombs over Celestial Purges, Dismember, and or Timely Reinforcements. The game plan against them is to stall until you resolve a Sun Titan and rebuy the bombs. You don't have Sword of War and Peace so attacking will be more difficult than usual. My Way or the Highway Since this Standard format is so new, we have much to discuss. If you're in a hurry, you can scroll down to my notes that sum up the analysis. If you're with me for the whole ride, please continue. TCGPlayer Open: Orlando Remember the financial lessons of external shocks? This certainly applies here as we have a ton of diversity in the Top 8. 1 Faithless Rites 1 Esper Midrange 1 UW Delver 1 RG Aggro 1 Wolf Run Ramp 1 Naya Pod 1 UB Zombies 1 Esper Control Wow. Eight decks with eight different themes. The dust is once again unsettled as we need to figure out which cards belong in the existing archetypes and discover which new strategies compete with the big dogs. As we learn more about the big decks, it will be easier to predict top 8's. I'm happy that Delver is still good enough to compete, but wasn't dominant. Here's the winning decklist played by Shawn Ellis (congrats!):
Shawn only played one M13 card in his deck - Thurdermaw Hellkite. Maybe he opened one pack and just jammed the rare because it was too good not to play. An interesting choice for this archetype from M13 is Wild Guess. Shawn only has seven ways to discard bombs and this is a great way to diversify the outlets. Double red could be challenging so it would require you to retool the manabase. Between Griselbrand, Gisela, and Elesh Norn, there are plenty of ways to kill your opponents dead, but I also want plenty of ways to cycle the bombs. This deck has enough raw power to Crush an unprepared field so this is a great lesson. When people aren't preparing for a specific deck, linear strategies go up in value. M13 was just released so everybody is using training wheels. There's no point hating out specific decks because the field will be so diverse and hence less graveyard hate. Shawn was able to capitalize on the confusion and Crush the tournament with a deck that's normally respected. The second place deck was played by Nick Werner - Esper Midrange.
Nick must have not bought any packs before the tournament because he had no new cards! Another great lesson is that if it ain't broke you shouldn't fix it. Esper Midrange was great pre M13 and it worked well enough for Nick after the set was released. Michael Kaye took the deck that got the most tools to a third place finish - RG Aggro.
I was very curious what the new version of this deck would look like because it got so many new tools. Thundermaw Hellkite, Thragtusk, Acidic Slime, Wolfir Silverheart, and Zealous Conscripts are all duking it out for a shot in the starting lineup; who do you chose? Apparently Mike couldn't make up his mind either has he played a couple copies of Thragtusk and Hellkite, but also had a miser's Wolfir Silverheart for good measure. Going forward I would say the answer is not black and white by any means. You need some answers to Lingering Souls and Restoration Angel; that's where hellkite comes into play. Wolfir Silverheart is great against green decks because it stops Bonfire of the Damned from wrecking you. Thragtusk works very well against burn decks as well as Vapor Snag. The fact that the format is so diverse makes me not want to put all my eggs in one basket (diversification). Green Sun's Zenith is an extra reason to want to play a wide range of threats. Although Get er' Dungrove wants to do nothing but search up Dungrove Elder, RG has no allegiance to a particular creature. If Mike would have played all of one five drop, he risked the chance of playing the wrong matchups and having awkward draws. RG has so many tools that it's worth trying many different answers. I was surprised to only see two copies of Rancor as it was one of the most hyped cards in M13. Mike also used the same logic as me when he went with nothing but Sword of War and Peace for additional synergy. The fifth equipment in Batterskull is surprising considering he can already gain tons of life with Thragtusk. This looks like a great starting list for anyone who wants to play this deck in the near future. We obviously haven't even come close to finding the optimal list because the dust hasn't yet settled. Dismember could be bad once the clear decks have emerged and Pillar of Flame might be a starter. It's too tough to tell at this point, but the overall shell seems to work fine. Another old favorite made the top 4 - Naya Pod.
Again, there are so many options for this deck, but we have learned Thragtusk is one of the breakout cards of the set. It's only a rare so don't get carried away about speculation, but it will at least retain its $15 price tag. The ability to blink out Thragtusk with Restoration Angel makes me think Taylor didn't play enough copies. I was actually pretty unimpressed with Birthing Pod because I didn't want to throw away my Huntmaster of the Fells or Restoration Angel. The leaves play effect by Thragtusk is less impressive when you don't have a six drop to tutor either. I could see this deck playing a couple more Bonfire of the Damned because there's so many mana dorks (including Borderland Ranger). I played a deck similar to this last week and I was very happy with the mana base as it was the exact same as mine. Many games were a stalemate until I got Gavony Township online - I would not play less than four. Brennan DeCandio was able to crack the Top 8 with Wolf Run Ramp.
Here's another deck that featured less than two M13 cards - this happens often when a new set is released. I played this deck last weekend and only added a single Thragtusk and Farseek. It seems like you want Farseek over Sphere of the Suns, but the colorless mana can be awkward. Even though Farseek only fetches Mountain, I want double red for Slagstorm. I would not be surprised if the number of two mana ramp effects desired is over eight. Again, watch out for maindeck Cavern of Souls as well as Glimmerpost. This was becoming popular before M13 and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Zach Elfland made Top 8 with Zombies.
The traditional UB Zombies deck had Ponder on the splash, but Vapor Snag seems much more interesting. You need to nickel and dime your opponent because Blood Artist deals a little bit of damage here and there. This is a great innovation by Zach and I highly recommend this list. Again, no new M13 cards, but one to consider is Bloodthrone Vampire. Not only is it great at sacrificing creatures to save them from being removed from the game, it kills them with Blood Artist like the Arcbound Ravager/Disciple of the Vault combo. The most annoying part of playing Zombies is that your all-stars get removed from the game with Pillar of Flame and Celestial Purge. I think a mix of Bloodthrone Vampire and Highborn Ghoul is where I want to be even though the former isn't a zombie. P.S. Bathsalts John Dean put an M13 card in his Solar Flare deck - Augur of Bolas.
A singleton Augur of Bolas is good in this deck because you can rebuy it with Sun Titan. I wouldn't go all in on this little chump blocker because Solar Flare plays 26 lands, at least 7 creatures (Sun Titans and Phantasmal Images), and two Oblivion Rings. It works well with Ponder so you don't blind flip into nothing. Augur is cool in this deck since you now have something constructive to do with Phantasmal Images in the early game against control. Last but not least, we have Mage Blade (piloted by Cliff Weixler).
Remember the Delver list I posted last week? I missed one critical element of the deck that I didn't overlook with UW Augur - you don't need a three drop creature anymore. When I was gold fishing my Delver deck, I couldn't see my problem, but this list helped me see the way. I was thinking in the pre-M13 days where Geist of Saint Traft was insane. Cliff saw the power of Augur of Bolas and so has everyone else that I've tested with. My friend, Brian Bobek, won a case of M13 with UW Augur last weekend (please give that deck a try - it's very good!). If you plan to play Delver in the future, consider a deck where Augur of Bolas replaces Geist or Blade Splicer. Runechanter's Pike makes sense in this deck because you already play at least 11 cantrips. If you only play 19 lands, you don't want a sword that costs five mana to play and equip anyway. Think about the frustration you opponent must Endure when you suit up a 1/3 that already drew you a card and they have to use a removal spell to kill it (or worse - Vapor Snag). Even though I like Cliff's maindeck, I'm not a fan of the sideboard. This deck has such a great matchup against control that Jace will be useless (and isn't an instant or sorcery). The theory with the UW Augur sideboard holds true with this deck - you have bad spells in every matchup and you need enough to make Augur flip a good percentage of the time. Even though people are moving away from Geist of Saint Traft (for now), you still need plenty of ways to respect it. I would want at least three Phantasmal Images in the sideboard to not automatically lose to it. It's also a great way to trade off with Thragtusk, too. SCG Open: St. Louis Next, we need to go over the SCG Open St. Louis top 16 because many will look to those lists when building an M13 deck. 1 Naya Pod 1 Naya Aggro 1 Naya Humans 2 Mono Green Aggro 1 Mono Blue Wizards 1 GW Aggro 1 Bant Pod 1 Esper Control 2 RG Aggro 1 UW Delver 1 Solar Flare 1 Boros Humans 1 BW Control 1 Esper Control Once again, we have huge diversity in Standard, but I can't say it will last for long. Soon enough, players will identify the more powerful strategies. RG Aggro had some interesting choices in the TCGplayer Open, how about SCG?
Kyle Kosmel didn't want to play Rancor, but Nick Berry wanted the full set. Nick had a less diverse suite of 5 drops and only played a couple copies of Wolfir Silverheart. I find it interesting that Nick also stuck with just a couple copies of Silverheart, but Primeval Titan is an interesting curve-topper. The fact that both copies of RG played Dismember makes me like Silverheart less since you can kill it with the soulbond trigger on the stack. I talked a little bit about Dungrove last week, how did it fare?
Champion of Lambholt or Predator Ooze? I didn't give much thought to champion, but it seems very strong with Rancor or Revenge of the Hunted. Arbor Elf seems better than Birds of Paradise if you don't play Swords which neither player had in their maindeck. I was very happy with Phyrexian Metamorph in my Dungrove list so I would still go with a couple copies. I said I would provide you guys with a Gilded Lotus deck, but this seems like a good comparison:
Gilded Lotus didn't work well for me, but I like the idea of Sorin's Vengeance plus Sorin Markov. This deck looks pretty wild, but I think it can have a chance. I'm not sure why the Sorin+Sorin combo didn't take off until recently, but it makes your deck win without using creatures. The ability to blank opposing removal spells is very valuable in this format considering everybody else uses creatures to win. Griselbrand is a great curve-topper when you just played a Sorin's Vengeance to gain ten life on the previous turn. The more I think about the interactions in this deck, the more I want to play it! Naya decks of all shapes and sizes had a good showing:
Naya is a pretty loose description of a deck considering you have Birthing Pod, Aggro, and Humans. They all have different game plans, but very similar cards. Caleb Durward took home the trophy with Naya Pod. If you can only take one thing away from this article, it should be this - play Elvish Visionary over Strangleroot Geist in Birthing Pod. I'm not saying that geist is bad in Naya, but ask yourself “do I want to beat down?” If the answer is no, go with the more consistent two drop and be happy with your card. I can always count on Caleb to build a good deck as he's one of the few that actually put a six drop to search for with Thragtusk. It's not like these decks don't assemble enough mana to cast it anyway. Lance made the finals with a version of Naya I have been a fan of for a while. If you don't want to play a diverse selection of creatures (Restoration Angel, Blade Splicer, and Huntmaster), cut the Birthing Pods. He went with swords instead because they combo very well with Restoration Angel. These Naya decks are really growing on me because they can actually do something with all of their mana - Bonfire of the Damned and Gavony Township. I don't mind getting flooded with these decks when there are eight cards that love mana. Lance took this a step further and played a Kessig Wolf Run on top of a set of townships. Blake's Naya Humans deck is interesting because I didn't consider Odric, Master Tactician to be playable before we return to Ravnica. The mana in this deck is great because Cavern of Souls casts almost every spell. The lesson to take away from this list is that Odric plus Lightning Mauler can create some unexpected wins. Blade Splicer and Restoration Angel can ensure you have board stalls. An unassuming Lightning Mauler can sit there waiting for Odric to attack with loads of unblockable damage. If you don't like Naya Humans, how about RW Humans?
Although I like Odric in Naya Humans, I don't think he makes the cut in here because there are fewer creatures that stick around. Blade Splicer makes it easy to get enough attackers so just be happy with Hero of Bladehold. What happens when you cut red from Naya Aggro?
Austin Fritz made an awesome Green White deck although I wouldn't mind another Gavony Township or two. I like that Ajani made the cut, but I'm also glad it's only a singleton. He will make a splash in Standard once we return to Ravnica because white has an insane three drop-Blade Splicer. It's hard to compete with efficiency in tournament magic so Ajani will wait around and then be a powerful option. What innovations did we see in the slow Esper decks?
I like Zach's Solar Flare list because tap-out control has been one of my favorite strategies of all time. My Black White Control deck from pre-Avacyn Standard harnessed the power of Sphere of the Suns and I was pleased with the results. He can go full-blown ramp by following sphere up with Solemn Simulacrum into a Sphinx. The Esper Control players decided to skip buying M13 packs once again (maybe they're boycotting it or something). It's a solid choice for a Standard tournament, but you need to pay close attention to which decks stay at the top in the next couple of weeks to find the correct list. I think Essence Scatter is worth considering because the games go long and there are tons of creatures in Standard. Lastly, we have Delver decks to discuss. Adam Prosak made a creative list that features a sleeper from M13 - Talrand, Sky Summoner.
I feel that 18 lands is a tad on the light side considering there are two swords and three four- drops. Since the deck already has 12 cantrips, a couple copies of Runechanter's Pike can go a long way. Adam follows the theme and ditches the three drops (Geist of Saint Traft and Blade Splicer) so expect this in the future. I would consider a couple copies of Cavern of Souls in the maindeck because naming wizard works with Delver, Snapcaster, Talrand, and Augur of Bolas. Many of the spells have phyrexian mana anyway so Island isn't very much better in here. I will leave you with a boring Delver deck to end the breakdown:
Not much to say here except Dan held on to Geist of Saint Traft and complemented a set of Restoration Angel with a Talrand. Putting it all together (If you skipped the analysis section, stop here) We had plenty of deck lists to pour over this week; what did we learn? -The introduction of M13 created an external shock that enabled some serious diversity -Delver got some new toys - Talrand and (my personal favorite) Augur of Bolas -Delver doesn't have to play three drop creatures anymore because of Augur -RG Aggro doesn't have to play 4 Rancor to win, but it helps -RG Aggro has plenty of 5 drops and it's best to diversify because of Green Sun's Zenith as well as an undefined metagame -Naya variants continue to outperform RG and WG Aggro despite the slightly greedier manabase -If you play Birthing Pod, consider Elvish Visionary over Strangleroot Geist -Consider Vapor Snag over Ponder in UB Zombies so you get extra removal that damages the opponent -Sorin Markov + Sorin's Vengeance is a combo that has some merit in control decks -Get er' Dungrove has a nice evasion option in Champion of Lambholt - she's great with Revenge of the Hunted and Rancor -Ramp might end up wanting more than eight ramp spells thanks to Farseek being reprinted -M13 is like any other set where it mixes up the format, but the dust will settle with only the strongest of archetypes Thanks for reading! -Kyle P.S. Bathsalts |
  
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