Adam Yurchick
8/6/2012 10:18:00 AM
Hey TCGplayer.com readers! A big hello to all my fans and those who read my articles week in and week out, THANK YOU! I was on a Magic article hiatus of sorts for much of July, but today I'll share my thoughts about Standard as I see it now, coming in with a fresh perspective. I'll share the top decks of the weekend and discuss the Standard metagame as it stands. Here goes!
Standard is crazy. For months players suffered under UW Delver Domination, a situation only made worse by the addition of
Restoration Angel. Well, things have changed. M13 has joined Standard in a big way. The set has a huge number of quality tournament playable cards. These cards are strengthening old archetypes and spawning new ones. The metagame has become diverse and fun, and Top 8 decklists reflect that. In any given Top 8 I could expect to see a wide variety of archetypes vying for the title. UW Delver is still the top dog, but it's getting a huge run for its money. Over time I expect players to attack Delver in additional ways, with the metagame shaping to be more and more hostile to that pesky Insect.
Some M13 specials are seeing play throughout maindeck and sideboards.
Talrand, Sky Summoner has spawned its own builds, while others incorporate the legend more subtly.
Augur of Bolas is often seen too, providing card advantage with board presence. As I'll soon show, other more unexpected cards are rearing their heads.
UW Delver, has incorporated new cards and old in order to adapt to the changing metagame. I'd like to look at Charles Gindy's second place decklists from the DC 5k, which showcases just what I'm talking about. A collaboration with Josh Cho put a near identical list into the top 8 as well. This tag team reaching the top 8 of such a competitive tournament is absolute proof that their decklist should not be taken lightly.
No M13 cards are in the maindeck of these lists, but the sideboards take full advantage.
Talrand, Sky Summoner allows the deck to go big, generating a huge amount of board presence seemingly out of nowhere. Left unanswered,
Talrand, Sky Summoner will end the game. It's best when brought in with the pair of
Mutagenic Growth. The real treat in the sideboard is
Knight of Glory. A cheap protection from black creature is just what this deck ordered against the Zombie menace. Historically one of the toughest matchups for UW Delver , Zombies have become much less threatening. I lost match after match to the deck at FNM earlier in the year, but I can't see myself going down so easily now. Acting as a great blocker as well as offensive threat,
Knight of Glory completely changes the dynamic of this tough matchup. They are worth every slot in the sideboard.
Hero of Bladehold in the maindeck is a huge change and departure from
Restoration Angel. Without
Blade Splicer, which seems to have fallen greatly in popularity in UW Delver,
Restoration Angel loses a lot of its luster.
Hero of Bladehold, alternatively, is a game winning clock in itself, much like
Geist of Saint Traft.
Hero of Bladehold lacks all of the finesse of
Restoration Angel, but it makes up for it in power. Sometimes laying the game winner on the table and saying “Deal with it” is effective, and Josh and Charles have demonstrated that's the case in this Standard.
Hero of Bladehold really puts the pressure on green decks like Wolf Run Ramp and Naya Pod, both of which lack many good answers beyond
Bonfire of the Damned. Over the past few weeks the card has popped up in the sideboards of successful decks. It seems the time to move the Hero to the maindeck has arrived. Overall,
Hero of Bladehold pushes the aggression level to the maximum, and I expect this change will catch on over the next few weeks.
As good as
Hero of Bladehold is,
Restoration Angel is still the status quo. It is proven and popular, and will be seen across the table for a long time. I'd expect my opponents to be playing with it until proven otherwise. It takes a lot of time for change to catch on, especially at local tournaments. It's also up for debate how much of an upgrade
Hero of Bladehold is over
Restoration Angel, so many players will be stubborn and stick to what they know, often rightfully so. Use your
Gitaxian Probe wisely!
As far as the exact decklist from Charles Gindy is concerned, each card choice and number is due to particular metagame considerations. For example, 4
Gut Shot is a must now. Both Naya and Bant Pod decks make up a huge part of the metagame, and quick draws from them can spell doom for Delver.
Gut Shot keeps their mana produces at bay and gives the UW deck time to wield control.
Gut Shot also plays the important role of keeping the
Blade Splicer –
Restoration Angel shenanigans at a minimum.
Gut Shot of course is great in the mirror for destroying
Delver of Secrets. It does major work against Zombies, as well as against the Monogreen decks that have seen a revival. Naturally,
Gut Shot is also quite effective against the Infect decks that are so popular on MTGO. A playset is requisite in this metagame, so do not leave home without them.
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Mental Misstep back into the maindeck sure is a fun change. Nothing makes games more interesting than never being able to confidently resolve a one drop. The additional of all these Phyrexian spells brings Delver more and more to an Eternal deck, with
Mental Misstep wars reminiscent of Legacy before the
Counterspells got the banhammer. Mental Missstep does a lot of the same work as
Gut Shot. It deals with all of the one drop acceleration green creatures as well as
Delver of Secrets.
Mental Misstep also stops
Gut Shot cold. Countering Ponder from anyone lucky enough to be casting one is generally the correct play, and will completely ruin some opposing starts.
Mutagenic Growth is the premier way to save creatures from burn spells. It effectively counters
Gut Shot. More importantly, it's the best card against
Bonfire of the Damned. Saving a
Geist of Saint Traft or
Hero of Bladehold out of nowhere will
Devastate an opponent. Two more copies in the sideboard ensure seeing the card when it matters most, as well as serving to create a critical mass of free spells for
Talrand, Sky Summoner.
Three
Cavern of Souls come in handy as great mana fixing. Hero of Bladehold's double white requirement is a strain on the manabase.
Cavern of Souls greatly helps to alleviate this problem. Eleven Humans in the maindeck and four in the board bring the archetype closer to a tribal deck and maximizes the utility of this land.
What is most notably missing from maindeck is equipment. In an environment with so much removal, sticking a sword on a creature can be tough. Rather than rely on equipment, the deck simply
Overloads on powerful creatures that don't require suiting up. A pair in the sideboard help in particular matchups.
Without equipment,
Moorland Haunt loses a lot of its luster. The 1/1 tokens are hardly as effective, especially in a world of
Bonfire of the Damned and
Restoration Angel. This list eschews the colorless land in favor of greater consistency, a choice I'm fully behind.
Bonfire of the Damned is probably the most powerful card in Standard. Naturally, the deck best built to abuse the card will have a lot going for it. Wolf Run Ramp seemed to be completely off the radar before M13. Its ramping and
Primeval Titan shenanigans weren't playing well in a world of
Geist of Saint Traft. Now the deck has taken on new colors to seize advantage of the new metagame. It's now positioned itself as a big player in the metagame. The addition of blue, particularly the powerful combination of Ponder and
Temporal Mastery give the deck consistency and explosiveness. The addition of blue creatures -
Phantasmal Image and
Frost Titan - has evolved the deck into a completely different animal. Reid Duke has been a proponent of the deck for a while now, and he showed everyone up by winning the DC 5k this past weekend. RUG Ramp is here in a big way.
Ponder in the ramp shell is a huge boon. Ponder is probably the best card in Standard overall, being a one drop blue card drawer. It being banned in Modern is a pretty big nod to how good this card really is. The ramp deck takes full advantage. It sets up turn two ramp spells often, which can conveniently shuffle away a bad card on top. Ponder is good throughout the game, smoothing draws and creating lines of play. It may both find a ramp spell and a
Solemn Simulacrum to keep things going, or it will dig for a
Frost Titan in the mid game.
Setting up a Miracle
Bonfire of the Damned with Ponder is about the pinnacle of Standard, pairing the best card with the most powerful, and the results are always devastating for the opponent.
Ponder is also extremely potent in combination with another big blue addition,
Temporal Mastery. Getting a Miracle
Time Walk in a deck like this is pure gravy. At worst it acts like an Explore, giving an extra card and land drop. In the mid to late game it will provide a huge tempo boost, allowing extra spells to be cast and attacks to be made. Hardcasting the card is quite common, as this deck is well suited to pay the seven mana. A titan followed by a flurry of
Temporal Mastery is a potent end game that gives this deck an almost combo-like finish. Use
Temporal Mastery carefully; it is often better to hold them than cast them so they can be deployed when most effective.
The
Primeval Titan Glimmerpost interaction is capable of generating twelve life total, which is quite the hurdle for aggressive decks strained for resources.
Thragtusk is an M13 gem that fits perfectly into this deck. It provides a ton of play in the mid game, halting early attackers while padding the life total. This card may not seem like much in the decklist, but it completely changes the way games are played.
This decklist also plays one
Kessig Wolf Run and one
Inkmoth Nexus, vestiges of decklists of old. This pair is fetched by
Primeval Titan to push the threat level to the maximum.
Out of the sideboard comes two more
Thragtusk, the M13 green gem. Bringing the total up to 4 against aggressive decks is just absurd, seeing as Rug ramp can deploy them so quickly. Deck like Zombies and Monogreen aggro are just stonewalled by the Beast.
The board also provides an extra
Blasphemous Act and two
Whipflare. This creates a critical mass of board sweepers to really slow down aggressive decks. They allow the more powerful cards to hit play and lock things up.
Reid's win in DC is no fluke. His deck is the real deal, and I fully expect it to catch on at all levels of play. It's going to be the dream crusher at weekend opens for the rest of the summer. It's also going to be taking home foils at FNM tournaments around the world. On the other side of the coin is UW Delver, which has proven itself in a major way. Be prepared for these two matchups, and you will be in great shape at any tournament. There are a slew of other decks lurking in the shadows of the pairings board, so don't let your guard down.
Thanks for reading, and come back next week!
Adam Yurchick
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