Well this has been a while hasn't it. Last article I wrote was about States and, as most of you can see, I top 8'd. Bant was good for me then and as I'm about to explain, it could be good for me in the future.
So whats happened since states? Well..a lot...too much for me to go over. Zombies isnt as strong as it once was, GB is dead and BR is the king...Tempo decks are alive and well, and, as shown in my sig, I've embrace them. White aggro is the new king of the aggro hill and Cavern came out of hibernation to prove that its necessary in standard again.
So...where are we exactly? Glad you asked.
Essentially the entire meta, and your gauntlet, should look like this:
GW Beatdown (GW Humans, GW Midrange)
UW/x Tempo (UWR, Esper, UW Flash)
Bant Control
Junk Reanimator (Hoof and Angel versions)
Red Aggro (BR and RDW)
These are the bread and butter of the format atm. These are the most prominent lists on MTGO, at the GP's this weekend. Jund Midrange, Junk Tokens, UW Aggro and Esper Control are what I would define as "Tier 2" at the moment and decks that I would look out for, but not nearly as prominent as the first 5.
So what does the enemy look like ladies and gents? Well, lets take a look at my gauntlet:
What Works in these decks
1,2,3,4. Thats what these decks are about and that is why they will continue to do well. Curving out and putting your opponent on the back foot is all that GW wants to do.
The aggro deck is more about speed and board presence, whereas the midrange decks are a bit more about size and presence of threats, not so much board. They aren't as fast, but not nearly as susceptible to board wipes. both are solid options, and I'm a bigger fan of the Aggro version.
What to look out for
If you can, keep your guys below 5 power for as long as possible. As you can see, both decks are running Selesnya Charm, and its becoming a mainstay in the format. Outwit your opponent by playing around it. Also, keep an eye out for open white mana. Faith's Shield has arrived and its actually quite back breaking when used right.
Counters, threat, more counters, and removal. Tempo decks are all about landing a hard to deal with threat that looks to kill the opponent, and these decks certainly fit the bill. When Cavern wasn't in ANY decks it seemed, these were at the top of standard, and good reason. Everyone seemed to forget to play around counters with mana leak gone, and syncopating for 1 was easy to do when people were playing Thragtusks on turn 5 with no protection.
The main thing is removal + geist vs. counters + versatility. UW Flash WAS a very good deck, but with the abundance of caverns counters aren't as good as they were 2 weeks ago. Having searing spear and detention sphere are important again, and the UWR deck has pillars for the aggressive decks. IMO UWR is a better deck, but both are solid
What to look out for
If you can, play around Syncopate, but don't do so if you dont have to. If your an aggressive deck, make them have it. They WILL run out eventually. Also, play Cavern as early as possible. If you force them to tap out, you can resolve a bigger, counterable threat if they think they have to deal with your threats on the board.
Also, many decks are starting to pack sweepers/Angel of Serenity main. Don't overcommit. Be aware of your clock, and only add threats to reduce their time. If you can hold threats, do so.
(as a note, the Canada83 decklist isn't very tuned, however the key points I want to make about it are there. Mainly, running Centaur Healer, Angel of Serenity, and more walkers, rather than the major control such as Owen's deck)
What works in these decks:
As stated above, there are 2 major versions: A "Midrange" Version, and a Control version. The Midrange version is fine with tapping out for large threats, and spending the early turns matching aggro decks with Centaur Healers, Resto Angels, and Walkers. The Control version is much more about the long game, and eeking out advantage. Taking full advantage of Sphinx's Revelation as your end game is all this version is about, and the longer the game goes the better it is your going to win.
In a Flash/Control world, Owen's version is better. In an aggro/midrange world, I believe Canada's version is better, although not that exact list. If i was testing it more, I'd provide my list, but Canada did well in a premier so props to him if he reads this.
What to look out for:
Do NOT overextend. Supreme Verdict is all these guys are about. You want to apply as much pressure as possible to race their tusks and revelations, but do NOT allow yourself to let them wipe and just destroy you. Restoration Angel is pretty good, along with large threats that require them to sweep and you can lay down more and just continue as normal.
Keep the game quick. The longer it goes, the harder it is to win. Don't let them play their game. Make them play yours.
What works in these decks:
Fattie, deal with it. Thats all these decks are about, and the faster the better. IMO, they are both equally strong decks, but the latter is the more consistent and bound to be the more popular. I mean come on, turn 4 20 you, gg? is just so awesome. Brad really hit the nail on the head, so props to him.
What I love about Brad's version is the sideboard. You turn into some Junk Midrange deck that can turn Rest in Peaces into Rest in Pieces bro. I mean its just a dead card if you want it to be, which I think is awesome. Resiliency is the key to success, and if you can mix that with power, I say **** ya.
What to watch out for:
Even against Brad's deck, bring in the RIP's. You need the graveyard hate, and as soon as that fattie is in their, sound the alarms. Because any Unburial Rites and you could be in serious trouble.
If you have it, always keep up Charm. It could be the difference between life and death, especially against Brads deck. exiling a Behemoth could be key to living, so always be aware of the Hoofing Math, as I like to call it.
What works in these decks:
Turn 5, your dead. With insane consistency. Seriously if you have no life gain, your just dead. Dropping a Hellrider, Aristocrat, or Thundermaw after you've just been eeking at their life total is a complete blowout, and shows why Haste is so good. Red does what it does best, and shows why it is the premier of burning people. (God i cant wait for boros)
with 8+ 1, 2 drops and burn, the decks are consistent and fast. After turn 4 you need to always look at your life total because they can just kill you. Early drops are key, and there is a reason Centaur Healer is played in Bant decks. These guys keep the format honest.
What to watch out for:
If possible, never be below 8. This is the danger zone, and you need to stay out of it or you can just die.
Never rely on dropping a Thragtusk and hoping to survive. Between Thundermaw, Aristocrat and Mark of Mutiny/Threaten effects, the Tusk might as well have been a bad 5 mana fog, that doesnt even fog the turn you want. Mitigate damage, use removal often and early. BUY TIME. All you want to do is stay alive. The longer the game goes, the better.
So where would I want to be in the format? In order:
1) GW Humans
2) Bant Control
3) UWR Tempo
GW is just so brutally fast atm, and so very consistent that it just punishes people. The only hard match ups are Bant Control and the mirror, and with a couple tweaks I think I may have fixed both.
Bant can be tweaked for any and all metagames, and if your prepared (and have a couple Caverns main) laying down threats, walkers and sweepers is a proven strategy. Also, just laying down dolla bills is always fun.
UWR Tempo is brutal, and if played right unstoppable. With aggro reemerging, Pillar is again necessary, and Geist is still keeping his pimp hand strong. Sorry Gerry and Adam, I love this guy and I think his Angels are gonna kick people asses day in and day out.
All in all, standard is a good place to be right now. I'm enjoying it, and its kinda nice to see so much rotation and diversity within a format. Just as its becoming dry, something else pops up to screw with peoples perception and to keep things interesting. Keep it up WotC, and hopefully Gatecrash doesnt screw around too much with this.
Leave in the comments what you want to hear about next, and dont forget to nominate me for any forum awards. Best Sig, Writer, and Standard Strategist seem most fit for me, but if you think I'm eligible for any others I won't complain.
As always, DXI-Edge everywhere but twitter. @3totheFace there. If you have questions or props for me, just PM/tweet me. I WILL respond, I promise (although with finals coming up, it might take a while)
Thanks for reading guys, and w/e you want to hear about next let me know!
Ok I wasn't actually going to write this but I've had a couple people ask me about decks, and I kinda want to write this as an article, so here goes:
So the first tournament of the year is over, and we got to see what RTR brought to the table. We saw a couple good decks, but the rest of them...well lets just say I hope people test more for this week, especially with Provincials/States coming up.
Its not to say this didnt give us a good baseline, but the best decks to look at finished 1-4, and the 4th deck is a little iffy on my count, and I'll explain why.
So to start with, we got a bit of a metagame from this event, so at least it wasn't a complete failure in terms of States information. Last year we had Wolf Run Ramp win the first SCG (was it first? May have been 2nd..) and it tore apart states. By the end of States I remember checking to see what won and it was like 50% WRR or something stupid. The nice thing about RTR Is that it won't quite be that drastic, however it could end up where a lot of people end up on the same deck and start winning with it. My bets are a lot of people copy the SCG winning list, which for those of you good players is a good thing as once the list is know its a LOT easier to win. For you Jund/RB decks here's a tip: Slaughter Game's the Entreat's
As for the actual gauntlet, a lot of it is based on the SCG Open, however I dont think a lot of people realise that a 2nd tournament happened and provided 2 very well built lists took 2nd and 5th in that tournament, which, luckily for you, I will include
So here we are. First list is one that I think can take over some tourneys: Jund Midrange
So this list was piloted by Lauren Nolan, and is one of the more well built lists in the tournament for sure.
Most people knew Jund was going to be a deck, however a lot of people didnt realise how good of a card Olivia Voldaren is. Good luck getting her now though, and for those of you who DID get her, congratulations. You just made triple of what you paid, as before the SCG tourney she could be had for $5...
The other good thing about this list is the fact that every card in the deck is either a Land, Kill Spell, or a threat. Seriously. Look at that list again. It runs 30 "lands" (4 Farseek, 2 Keyrune), 9 kill spells, and 19 threats. However, there are a couple things I don't like about the list.
First off, as good as Avenger is, RakDW and RDW are going to be big decks at States. How do I know this? Well the deck is relatively cheap to build, and after Wu's Top 16 with the deck, people who don't participate in these forums will now have a basis to go off of (those of you who want to play it and are on here, talk to Zemanjaski. He's got you covered). Avenger just isn't as good a threat as another 3 drop. The card? Vampire Nighthawk. This card is phenomenal and with Kessig Wolf Run in the deck, its also a nice stabilizer to boot.
The other thing I don't like goes hand in hand with Vampire Nighthawk being included. Strangleroot Geist, although good, is just NOT a good threat on its own. In a deck like this, every creature you play should have a huge impact late game, as that is where the deck wants to be. Although Geist is a strong card, I really don't like it in this list.
Lastly, with the UWR Miracles list winning, I think the removal suite needs an update. With Detention Sphere and Planeswalkers probably at an all time high this weekend, Abrupt Decay and Dreadbore need to be moved to the main, along with my new favourite creature in Standard, and if i wasn't so high on Bant I'd play this list with it.
Go ahead and read that. Then read Olivia. Then go ahead and hit yourself in the head. Yes you. Lauren if your reading this, I forgive you. But the rest of you.
WOW
This card is BONKERS. With Jace and Tamiyo and Garruk everywhere, and sweepers and sorcery removal at an all time high, this card NEEDS To be played in this deck. Think Cedric Phillips GR Deck but...better...It comes into play, taps all fliers, and hits the face/walker for 5. If you have Olivia, they have 1 turn or they are probably dead.
So with this in mind, where SHOULD Jund be for this weekend?
Sideboard is pending, but if i was on Jund Midrange, this is what I'd be playing.
Next up for the decks to watch is UW/x miracles.
Wait...didnt UWR Miracles win the SCG: Open? Why yes, it did. However, its not the only UW deck to be running Terminus and Entreat the Angels, and in my opinion its not even the best one. But, alas, a lot of people will disagree with me so I will discuss both.
Well, as much as I'm not in love with it, gotta give credit to the Roanoke crew. This list took down the Open, which contrary to belief isn't actually that easy to do. Todd Anderson is on his game, so that should be taken into consideration as well.
The list is strong, however, some changes have to be made due to one card, and Brad Nelson learned this the hard way.
In the win and in game, Brad Nelson had his Entreat the Angels, and singlehandidly all of his win conditions (Well minus Tamiyo ultimate into Pillar of flame...right Todd...) extracted from his deck. With that, accompanied with flood, Brad missed top 8. Due to this, the first thing that needs to be done is add in Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius. This fancy dragon should be an auto-2 of in the future lists, as its an answer me threat that also draws you cards, acting as more Think Twices for more miracles. I mean, really, why this card NOT in the list is beyond me...
A couple other minor changes could be made, including adding in Augur of Bolas's, adding Mizzium Mortars, etc etc. This is all preference, but a good starting point is here:
Again, sideboard pending, but I'm a lot less sure about this list. I do think Niv-Mizzet deserves a spot, but like I said some of the other spells could warrant inclusion, but the list is pretty much the same so you can't REALLY go wrong...
Anyway...if you've been following my posts at all, you'll know that my UW/x deck eschews red for green...and i am MUCH happier with the results of it:
So this deck really has it all. Its got Garruk, it has Thragtusk, it has Angel of Serenity, it has ramp, it has Entreat the Angels, it has Tamiyo in the sideboard. In short...
It has EVERYTHING.
This is my call to win the most Provincials/States and here is why. Although its control, it IS a little off the radar. Most people are going to look at the TCG/SCG top 8 lists and call it a day. If your one of those people, BAD. BAD BAD BAD. Go look at the the Top 32 lists of the SCG. You'll get a much better view of the metagame. Anyway, even if you DO look at the SCG top 32, the Bant Control decks in the SCG Open...they're horrid. Like bad. REALLY REALLY Bad. Selesnya Charm? 1 Think Twice? 3 Sphinx's Revelation? NO GARRUK, PRIMAL HUNTER?! Ya...lets just say I wasn't happy.
This list is my own personal list, and hopefully when you google Saskatchewan Provincial champ, you'll see my name with this list on it So I'm a little impartial, but the deck is incredibly powerful, as anyone who has tested with me this week can tell you.
The deck synergizes very well, and is insanely strong. It also has game against literally EVERY deck in the format, and if you play with it a tonne, most matches become favourable due to intricacies you pick up along the way.
Angel of Serenity is a card that is maximized in this list, and i think this is probably the 2nd best list to play it in, with the first being Rites of some sort (coming i swear!). The fact that its not only a sweeper, but also drawing Thragtusks and Angels is huge.
Thats the other thing. Against Control, you have WAY more threats than your opponent, and they all have ways around your opponents instant speed removal. and with most lists running very little counter magic, haymakers are where you want to be, and this one has no short of them.
If you don't believe me, try the list. It is very strong, and although I wanted to keep it under wraps, I'm a very outspoken person and I just couldn't hold this in
So now we come to the aggro decks you should be looking for. Everyone knows Zombies is a deck, and most people are aware of Humans by now...For reference, here are the 2 best starting points for these decks, imo:
I didn't say it was perfect I just said this is where I'd start.
The humans deck is all about curve outs. Paladin, Ajani and Sublime Archangel allow you to hit for stupid amounts of damage, and Spectral Flight on a Geist of Saint Traft is VERY good. Hit for 8? Ya I'll take that...
The zombies list is harder to build, as you NEED to be Jund. BG just doesnt have the reach BR does, and BR doesnt have Lotleth Troll. Rancor is not very good as its a green spell that isn't good late game. Not one bit.
However, the aggro list I would recommend? Rak Deck wins
The sideboard for this, as is pattern so far, is also pending
This list hits you like a TRUCK. If you blink, you may just die, and it has probably the most consistent nut draw in the format. Couple that with a resilient threat in Falkenrath Aristocrat, a card that can at times say "I win" in Zealous Conscripts, the best 2 drops red can buy, and 10 one drops, one of which when paired with Brimstone Volley hits for 9 damage? Ya sign me up please.
The deck has serious problems with Thragtusk, but I dont think its any worse than Zombies. In fact I'd say it deals with it better, as they drop Thragtusk and you swing over with an Aristocrat and make it a 5/2.
This is THE Aggro deck of the format, and if your not ready for it, you WILL die to it. Have lifegain in your deck somewhere boys and girls, and think before you shock yourself or you will die to 2 Searing Spears and a Brimstone volley to the face...it sucks really
Finally, we have our "combo" deck of the format. No, not infinite stuff. More like...RAWR MONSTER RAWR!
We have 2 lists to base off of, one which won the SCG Open, the other, and in my opinion the better one, put 2 exact copies into the TCG 5k Top 8.
This list is the better one in my opinion, as it has an actual plan b, and an out to Rest in Peace.
Fight!
I think the proper way to build this, tho, is to maximize Gavony Township. I like that he's not playing too many colours, and Borderland Ranger and Thragtusk allow you to stabilize and get to 7 mana to hard cast Angel of Serenity. Not only that, Restoration Angel in this list is quite good, as it blinks tusks and rangers to allow you even MORE time/resources to get to Angel.
If your testing reanimator, this is the list to be testing people. On another note, the Rangers Path's have me curious as to if they ever sided into a more Junk control list against control decks...Vraska, Ranger's Path, Centaur Healers...I'm not sure as I haven't tested much with this, but its something to keep an open mind for.
Changes I'd make are dropping the Vault and a forest for 2 Gavony's as a start.
The last list I'm going to show you today before I sleep is the 2nd place list from Hartford, and a VERY good tokens list:
(The 1 ? mark I'm unsure about, but I would -1 Duress and add 2 Appetite for brains)
This list I can't give too much analysis on, but after testing it its the one deck that gives my Bant List headaches. You just don't have enough sweepers. Its why i added a Cyclonic Rift to the board.
If this deck ever gets 2 Anthems on the field, all your spells basically have "answer me" written on them. 4 mana for 2 4/4s? 5 mana for 4 3/3's? Keep an eye on this deck folks. My pick for sleeper deck of the format.
Phew. That was a doozie. Hopefully its helpful. Like always, leave a comment below. If you want to contact me, give me a PM or tweet me. I'm DXI-Edge everywhere but twitter, where I'm @3totheFace.
As always, thanks for reading, and have a good one folks. Good luck this weekend, and if one my lists wins for you let me know so I know I'm onto something
Yes yes the spoiler is out, the prerelease is in a week, Provincials is in 3 weeks...its going to be a good month for magic
So what have I been doing? well i was recently in the Lantern IQ, which if any of you play Modern go play in those. they are awesome and you have literally no reason to not play in it. Me and fellow teammate (name pending) Samiamnot06 top 8'd the tourney with RUG Delver. I lost to Bant Blouses and he lost to Naya Pod, both to not optimal draws. Well i made a massive misplay game 2 to lose the game (i didnt Cryptic Command his Spectral Flight to kill his geist, instead i used it to tap him down) but all in all we had a good tournament. I mean we both top 8'd so we can't complain
as for standard, as my last post proved I've been brewing and testing lots. The deck that has completely over performed STILL and probably the deck I'm taking to provincials (unless one of these decks overperforms...) is Humans, and the first list i'm going to provide:
(WARNING: SIDEBOARD IS WRONG. very very rough board)
So this is the 2nd deck i built after the spoiler went up, with the first being Zombies. And this one blew it out of the water, and no not because of sideboarding. I just threw that board after testing some more, while also wanting to THROTTLE zombies, as im sure that will be everywhere month 1. What i didnt expect is how good it would be against the general meta we threw it against (friends and i)
We threw it against UWR Control, Delver, Zombies, Grixis, GW Aggro, Tokens, Bant Control...everything we could think of (more to come) the only deck it EVER had problems with was Grixis. The rest? Crushed. Grixis only one because it could have turn 1 Pillar, along with efficient sweepers, Curse of Death's Hold and Jace...
Lets talk about Jace for a second. I'm seeing a LOT of bad rep on this guy, and i do NOT know why. Actually I do. Everyone saying this card sucks has never played it. I gurantee it. And I'll explain why. The card on its own isn't very good. Look at its first ability and its ultimate for instance. in a vacuum, this card sucks. In a control deck that does what a control deck does, the card is an absolute house. The +1 slows the aggro opponent down enough to let u draw into a stabilizer, the -2 is insane card advantage, and the irrelevant Ultimate can also win the game on its own. How? Take their win con. Take your big game win condition (nicol bolas, griselbrand, niv-mizzet, w/e it is) and just win.
anyway that is a good transition into the next deck i want to talk about, Grixis Control:
The deck is based off of GerryT's list, as it is QUITE good, and the list flows quite well. It can slow down aggro decks to a halt, and since a lot of the format is 2 toughness and 2 power, Curse and Jace help you to survive after the first assault, and Olivia/Niv-Mizzet/Nicol Bolas can help to take over the game.
The next deck is I think my crown jewel, and after all the testing i've done i think i found a list i love after a month of searching. I present to you: Prairie Fires (Junk Midrange...get it? Green, Yellow, Black...+ the old Fire's of Yavimaya deck...hehe)
(shout out to Ryansolid for helping me get on the right track with this list. If your reading, thanks a tonne for your help. Hopefully the Humans list helped you as much as the Junk list helped me)
The main deck is just solid. I mean look at those. EVERYTHING except Deadbridge Goliath has a come into play effect. Most of them? Making your dudes better attackers. Soulbond, Exalted, Haste... it all works together SO WELL. And Goliath is sick in the late game as Scanvenging is awesome.
This sideboard, however, is tried, true, and ready to go...almost.
The deck is insane. It started off a lot more top heavy, with Thragtusks main and more Armada Wurms... but i decided to slim the deck and add a little more speed to it, and this is what we have now.
Every :symg::symw: deck i was playing with had Loxodon Smiter in it and frankly it wasn't impressing me. I missed Blade Splicer. However, when Ryan suggested Dreg Mangler instead, i was sold.
First of all, a lot of the removal entering standard is either specific, or if its incredibly broad, sorcery. This means that having a Haste creature is HUGE, and Dreg Mangler is one of the best.
The other thing that makes Mangler so awesome is the late game. After a sweeper, you put this guy out and swing for 3. If this guy dies, your next threat is getting +3/+3 late game. This is huge in late game, as it makes your beasts even beastier, and those Grixis decks better have "Destroy target creature" or else they're going to have some issues burning him out.
The main premise of the deck came from the Humans deck curve out of Paladin into Archangel. This proved to be an insane line of play, and even better when it can be attacking on turn 3, rather than Paladin on turn 3. With Snag gone, this is going to be a very powerful play in standard and you better get used to it now.
With that in mind, I also realised that the deck wasn't as good as it should be versus zombies. On top of that, the original list had no 2 drops, as it was a recreation of Zvi's fire's deck (again, props Ryan. All his idea). However, i remembered in his main article that he said River Boa wasn't good in his deck, as it had a reasonable 2 drop (Rishardon Port) and it didnt make a good late game top deck.
Enter Knight of Glory.
The 2 drops i was looking into to replace Port/Boa were either Selesnya Charm or Knight of Glory. Both are good creatures on turn 2, with knight having the slight edge, and both were decent to good late game top decks, with the edge obviously going to Charm. However, with the Zombies matchup needing an improvement, I decided Knight was the correct choice. And so i went to testing vs Zombies
Wow. What a difference one card makes.
The games i had Knight i did not lose. He spent his important removal on the Knight, allowing my Thragtusks/Angels/Wolfir's/Wurm's to take over. The games i didnt have Knight were fine, and by no means unfavourable OR even losing! If my testing is correct, without Knight its about 50/50, with the person on the play having the larger advantage.
As for the sideboard, its based on the meta being reanimator, midrange, humans and zombies, with a mix of control splashed here in there. (remember this is the first couple weeks, and not set in stone)
I gotta say guys, any of these 3 lists i believe will give you a chance of winning a tournament. (I'm actually struggling as to which set of dual lands to order, but i believe im going for the BG, UW, WG lands to go for the most variable decks possible)
If Provincials was tomorrow, I'd play Humans. If it was in 3 weeks, which is what is is, i think I may actually play Junk. The list is narrowing down, its proving to be QUITE powerful, and i believe its in a good place to be round 1 of the new format.
As for the boogey man in the room, Zombies. Well Imma be honest. I thought this deck was the **** about 2 weeks ago. All i was doing was pining over how insane Lotleth Troll was, and how amazing Dreg Mangler was. But this deck CAN play both, it DOES play Mangler, and the Zombie deck without red literally folds to Knight of Glory.
Seriously you guys you aren't giving Knight of Glory enough credit. This card is going to shape the format if the black cards are as good as it appears. Every deck I'll be testing will have Knight of Glory in it. It is one of the Pillars in the format.
Wait...you want me to give you my 3 Pillars? My Shape of the format?
Well...let me tell you i guess!
Pillar 1: Geralf's Messenger
The still best card of Zombies, although i dont think you should play it, its still a great deck and people WILL play it. Be prepared for it or you WILL lose.
Pillar 2: Knight of Glory
The anti-Zombie card, and an insane 2 drop. Its 3 power on its own, pumps your bigger guys, its everything the 2 drop should be. And Pro Black is insane...
Pillar 3: Pillar of Flame
The only literal pillar, and the pillar that kills the other pillars whenever you need it. What will it see play in? Grixis, UWR, Delver, Jund...all of these are controling/reactive decks, and all will play 4 of this card to combat the aggro strategies that will run rampant the first couple of weeks.
Well guys, thats my Pillars. These are cards that should be in your mind in EVERY deck that you build entering the new format.
Speaking of which: My Prediction of the Format!
top 8 decks:
WU Humans
Junk Midrange
Grixis Control
Zombies (Jund, MAYBE BG)
Outliers:
Esper Tokens
Bant Control
UWR Control
Jund Midrange
And remember. DONT PLAY SLITHERHEAD IN ZOMBIES
(seriously dont)
comment in the comment section and hopefully i get back to you! Follow me on twitter, PM me on here, or hit me up on Cockatrice.
(yes i combined two songs into one title. Deal with it)
Welcome to my newest blog in a hell of a long time. Where have I been? Well real life got in the way, and i actually lost interest/good things to say about the format. I've been doing well in it so its not to say i stopped playing magic. I've won a couple FNM's, did poorly at a couple, got excited about a PTQ only to have my dreams dashed at the announcement of midterms...
So here i am, just like the rest of you, scrounging the DailyMTG sight at the crack of midnight, hoping to see the next awesome card.
Gotta say: Been really impressed so far.
So ya ya you guys probably read this blog for one thing. Analysis and deck lists. Well good news ladies and gents. You dont have to go to the NCD thread anymore. I've gottcha covered!
First up, the list everyone is talking about, and the one that i have yet to see a decent list for. Zombies.
Ya ya ya i know. Zombies. Hear me out. everyone is talking about BG, and how its the bomb. I'm here to tell you they're wrong. Jund is where its at boys and girls, and here is where I'm at in testing so far:
Now zombies is a pretty reaching deck. I'd say its probably the best non-red deck at burning people out. But i wanted something better. I wanted a quarter of your life gone for a single card. I wanted a creature that is incredibly hard to kill. Are Volley and Aristocrat worth the splash
Abso-****ing-lutely
Lets look at this list shall we. The red cards in the lists main deck (sideboard options include Pillar of Flame, Smelt, Zealous Conscripts, Bonfire, Flames of the Firebrand, etc) are Brimstone Volley and Falkenrath Aristocrat. So why 8 lands? well same reason we have 8 lands for Lotleth Troll and Dreg Mangler. Plus we have cavern to pump out Aristocrat so it all comes out in the wash.
Now i realise that people may not like this mana base. But the majority of the time, it runs flawlessly.
So this isn't exactly new. Everyone and their dog is brewing zombies right?
well lets look at the 2nd list i've been testing extensively. Lets look at Humans, my old baby!
So if you combine Any 1 drop, and 2 drop, and any 3 drop, i'd say you are probably in a winning position. And with 3 toughness becoming the new 4 (thanks Bolt leaving, hello Pillar of Flame), this deck is perfect for you!
It has removal, it has stupidly efficient beaters, it has moorland haunt, it has planeswalkers, it had nut draws...whats not to love?
So why the blue splash? Easy. Detention Sphere is bonkers, Azorious Charm has 2 modes that are insane for a deck like this, and Moorland Haunt/Geist of Saint Traft were insane last go around, why not make it 2?
Sideboard slots? Well we have Elite Inquisitor for the Zombie decks, Negate for the control decks, more bonds of faith...Judge's Familiar if needed...I'm sure I'll think of something.
Lastly? well this last one is essentially all theory until i start practicing. And truth be told I'm horrible at pulling lists out of my ass, especially control ones.
Ill tell you now though that if there is a control deck, it will either be UWR, Grixis or Jund. Its that simple. Red removal is at a high, and having access to Green, Black, Blue and White is essentially all preference.
Gerry Thompson's Jund list is close to where I would be for Jund Control, however its interesting to note out of 8 games last night it didnt beat humans once. As for American Control...well i'm not there yet. Hopefully in the coming weeks i can post one that looks nothing like a piece of crap but hey, you never know with me i guess
That's all from me for now. I'm brewing for Provincials so thats why your seeing an article now, and there will probably be another once we learn more cards (I'm looking at you Rakdos Charm, Golgari Charm, Azorious Guild. Get your **** together and preview already)
Thanks for reading, comment in the comment section, don't be afraid to PM me.
RG Aggro, Naya Aggro, Naya Pod...these are all great decks. Already. Without M13. With M13, these are getting a huge wake up call.
Unfortunately...Naya Pod can't utilize the best Green card in the set. The deck is still great, but Rancor is too good for me not to try. So i decided to take my favourite 2 card combo and play this monster of a spell...
And i must say, I'm kinda proud of myself.
First thing i did was start off with Juza's Naya deck. The deck was good...but it was missing...something
I wasn't sure if this deck could support 4 Gavony, so i cut one for a Forest. This could be very wrong so only do so if u think I'm right.
I also knew that although Geist Honored Monk was good, Rancor and Ajani HAD to make Wolfir Silverheart even better than it was. Imagine. Turn 5 this, turn 6 hit u for 20? Ya...
and then i found out about Thragtusk and Thundermaw Hellkite...
So i know 2 5 drops are going there. Im just not sure about which ones...
So anyway, by my count thats 6 cards...so i needed to do some trimming.
Well with More spells i found Thalia to be a nuisance...so thats 2 slots gone as i put in the 4th Geist.
I then cut 1 Huntmaster, 1 Ranger, 1 5 drop and 1 Bonfire to slim the curve a bit with the loss of 6 2-drops.
Its fast, consistent and powerful. whether its the optimal list or not is for u to decide.
Yes you. I need your help.
See i don't have these cards yet. I've been testing as much as i can but I'm only 1 guy. So I'm making this deck known
If u test this and like it, comment here, PM me or comment in the new thread i made. I think this deck is the real deal and if u can help me prove that...it'd be awesome
Anyway thats all from me...for now. Ill hopefully post a new blog with my thoughts of the new cards from M13 and what i think is good (PS: Guilded Lotus is way better than u think)
So, i have to be honest. I was a little wrong about Restoration Angel.
No, i didn't think the card was bad. In fact, i knew the card was good. I've been jamming it in UW Delver since AVR came out. I thought that would be its best bet and probably be a one of in Naya Pod decks.
Boy, was i wrong.
Restoration Angel is by far the best White card in AVR, maybe even one of the best in the set. The fact that it has flash is just...insane. The fact that it flickers is just...insane. The fact that it flies is awesome. The fact that this is all for 4 mana on a 3/4 body is down right bonkers and I'm glad i have my playset now!!!!!
So, some clarification. For the past few weeks i've been working on a Naya list after my RG aggro deck crashed and burned in my face. I was tired of being mana screwed and being slow. So i went back to my roots. I did well with Naya Pod. Lets try to innovate it after AVR.
So to start with i played normal Pod. 4 Pods, Elesh Norn, Wurmcoil, etc. It was fine. It wasn't ground breaking but it was powerful.
After mashing it on Cockatrice, i was sick of having awkward hands. The Elesh Norn was clogging my hand, the deck was fine but after playing RG Aggro i wanted more consistency.
So i decided to look at Kibler's list. The 2 birthing Pod list was, again, very good, but i felt like it was missing something. It, again, was strong, but it was just...meh. I didn't feel like i was doing powerful things.
Then Ryansolid made a suggestion in the Naya Forums. Essentially, he said play more 4 of's and just try to maximize Angel. So, i set out to make a deck doing just that.
After some brewing and some testing and some brainstorming, i came to the following list:
After a few more matches with the deck, i came to the following conclusions:
Inferno Titan was terrible
Inferno Titan was added to the deck after i realized i needed to be doing bigger things than my aggro opponents to have an consistently good matchup against them. The problem i was having was i didn't like Podding into Zealous JUST to go to Inferno Titan. So i had to wait until they had something to steal in order to get the full value from Conscripts.
In addition, Inferno Titan's double red was a huge problem. White is actually the second colour in this deck, as Pilgrim makes and Birds makes :symr::symg::symw:. since the lands are the same amount, red is actually at a disadvantage. Couple that with the fact Giant wasn't a common name with Cavern of Souls, and Inferno Titan wasn't pulling his weight.
Lastly, Inferno Titan was terrible against Ramp. This was a matchup that i wanted to fix as naturally the deck had a bad matchup against it. Angel and Conscripts helped, but Inferno Titan didn't help at all.
Garruk was sometimes one turn too slow
Garruk was in general very good. But against delver decks, it sucked to wait till at the earliest turn 3 to kill Delvers, or to punish opponents by killing their dork, or killing creatures stronger than 3 toughness. Wolfir Silverheart in general is what made me decide i needed another O-Ring type spell. I naturally went back to Fiend Hunter, as he could also be tutored with Birthing Pod if needed.
Restoration Angel was insane
The Angel was down right bonkers. I decided to relook at the deck as a Naya Angel deck more than a Naya Pod deck. The fact that it flew was wat was really great, as it broke the G/x Aggro mirrors wide open. Plus, against Delver it blocks and kills Delver, PLUS survives! These 2 reasons alone are reason enough to play it, but add in its flicker ability and flash, and you have a busted rare.
It made mediocre cards like Borderland Ranger into card advantage machines. It flipped Huntmaster of the Fells more times than a coin. It made more Golems than i could count...it permanently stole permanents...Angel was great. But i wanted it just a bit more abusable.
The ramp matchup was fine, but i wanted a bit stronger matchup.
The ramp matchup did get a lot better with Zealous Conscripts and Angel, but i needed more resilience to Slagstorm and Titans.
So with these in mind, i changed the deck. I wanted Wolfir Silverheart to try and fix the Ramp matchup while also keeping the aggro match ups strong. After playing against a RG Aggro deck with it i knew i wasn't losing too much in the aggro department by dropping Inferno Titan for a Wolfir.
Then i realised Wolfir was insane.
after playing against Ramp and Solar Flare and Aggro and Delver, Wolfir was down right bonkers. Bouncing it with angel and repairing it was the missing link. It pushed the deck to the top. Angel was now a beater. Wolfir also turned my mana dorks into massive beaters. In fact, i could even match a Ramp opponent, and beat it on the play! Turn 1 Dork, Turn 2 Dork, turn 3 Wolfir Silverheart makes ramp opponents shake their heads as they look at their "meagre" 6/6's when an 8/8 is staring them in the fact.
So after moving a Conscripts to the board for the Second Wolfir main, and after seeing Kibler's list and then article about Mikaeus (i can't believe i was 2 cards off his main list. I'm so proud :D) i showed up to FNM last night with the following:
So i saw this guy earlier arguing with his brother that Geist of Saint Traft was too good to cut, so i knew he was UW of some sort. After seeing turn one Sunpetal Grove, i automatically assumed Hexblade.
First game i curved out perfectly on the play. Turn 1 Pilgrim, turn 2 Splicer, turn 3 Angel, turn 4 Strangleroot Geist, swing for a tonne. he didn't stand a chance. He did play a Sword of Feast and Famine on his Strangleroot Geist to try and stabilize, so i assumed my Hexblade assumption was right.
I sided out 2 Oblivion ring, 1 Garruk and 1 Wolfir for 2 Thalia and 2 Grudge.
Game 2 he played Birds into Ratchet Bomb (wtf?) and played Savagery on his birds. I managed to curve out again but after casting 2 Timely Reinforcements to stabilize, and running out of fliers to chump, i lost to a 5/6 birds.
Game 3 i played turn 1 birds. he did the same. I played Borderland Ranger for the second white for the fiend hunter in my hand (thank god) and he played 2 more dorks...something is up here. i play Geist and swing for 5. he Green sun's for Wolfir. I fiend hunter it and swing for 4. after some more attacks and restoration angel shenanigans he plays timely then O-ring to get his Wolfir Back and get back in the game. thankfully i just swung around it to win the game.
Round 2 was against a better player in the room who was playing UR Delver.
Game 1 he played turn 1 delver. i kept a strong hand with multiple hunt masters, which single-handedly won me the game that kept me at 1 life. His Delver didn't flip for 3 turns which allowed me to set up a board and try to stabilize, which thankfully i did. I won one turn before he had me dead. AKA at 1. Thank u floods...
Im not sure what i sided out but i sided in 2 thalia and 1 bonfire of the damned. i think 1 Zealous and 1 Metamorph and 1 of something else... (oring?)
Game 2 he just burned me to death after blind flipping turn 1 delver and snagging my wolf that would've kept me alive to stand a chance.
Game 3 was interesting, as i kept a loose 6 card hand of 4 lands, dork and angel. i figured this would be fine and my deck told me the same thing as i top decked threat after threat to win it.
Round 3 was the worst round of the night, and my only loss. BW Tokens...with Cathar's Crusade. Ya. his deck played out like a BW Tokens deck to start with but had 4 copies of Cathar's Crusade. (surprisingly, Hero of Bladehold into this is very very good. keep an eye out...)
Game 1 I kept him off all threats and curved out too fast with 2 Wolfir Silverhearts paired with Huntmaster tokens.
Game 2 i got him down to 1 with a shrine of loyal legions on 8 counters and cathar's cruder on the field...he then timely'd, popped his shrine, and beat me down with 9/9's. I think i misplayed somewhere as he was at 1!!!!! like come ON!
Game 3 was very similar but i got him down to 5...before he dayed O.o THEN he played lingering souls and timely...with Cathar's Crusade on the field. Ya...
Needless to say i lost to a janky deck, that all the good players lost to. Seriously. we all were talking after that round and 2 players already lost to it, i lost to it, he proceeded to beat the one we didn't think he had a chance against, and then went 5-0 against another one of the better players in the room playing a very good deck...well at least he won because it meant i finished second (spoiler alert!)
Round 4 was against RDW. This round was super easy.
Game 1: Turn 1 bird, turn 2 bird, he arc trails both (as i stare at the wolfir in my hand ). I play Borderland Ranger, get a mountain, next turn hunt master, then another, then just win because he runs out of gas after getting me to 8 (vexing devil twice did most of that)
Game 2: Just perfect curve. he never stood a chance against my golems and angels smashing his face
Round 5 was against RG Aggro. I was hoping to play this and win or lose i'd be happy as i got to see how the matchup played out.
Game 1 he we both curved out perfectly, with him getting out a sword on his Daybreak Ranger. The turn before i won he needed to flip his Sword equipped Daybreak Ranger and i Angel'd at the end of his turn to win. the entire game i felt like it was a mirror match with me doing more powerful things. The white cards did so much work against him. Splicer Golems were amazing and Angel was bonkers.
Game 2 i kept a very bad hand (no play till turn 3) and i played Ranger instead of Blade Splicer turn 3...ya i lost that game badly.
Game 3 I mulled to 6 and he kept his 7. I drew into 3 lands, 2 Pilgrims and an Angel. I kept.
I play Pilgrim, he plays Bird. I play Pilgrim swing for 1. He plays Elf passes.
He kept a 1 land hand.
As an aside, how this game plays out is EXACTLY why i don't play RG aggro
I o ring his bird and swing for 2.
He Green sun's for a bird and passes. ouch...ya i proceeded to just beat him down with Restoration Angel, Strangleroot Geist and the Gavony Township i drew into.
So all in all 4-1, but should've probably 5-0'd. The deck was amazing and if u want to win your FNM, so far we've had 2 1st's and a 2nd with the deck over the weekend for a combined record of 10-2-2 (Paradox and DNAphreaker both finished first with 6-1-1 and 4-0-1 records respectively. nice job guys)
So, thats all for this long ass blog. Changes? well i wouldn't touch the main as it was perfect. The sideboard needs some work and i need to work on the sideboard plans. Ill post them another day as this is getting very long and I'm not 100% sure what i did was right.
Keep an eye out in the forums and my blog for more about the deck, as this one is the real deal. Thanks for reading!
So two major tour events just happened, and although this did happen just after a PT and not many pros got to test for it, a GP is definitely a "hot topic" for Standard Information. Although the SCG events are fine, they aren't exactly "high-level" events so whenever something like this rolls around, its a real kick in the HOLY CRAP meter.
So, first off lets do some stats over the last few events:
GP Minnesota Top 8:
1 UR Delver
1 Mono-Blue Wurmcoil (more on this in a sec)
1 Solar Flare
1 UW Human Delver
1 Wolf Run Ramp
2 Uw Delver
1 Uw Honorable Delver
so, in essence
1 UR Delver
1 Wurmcoil.dec
1 Solar Flare
1 Wolf Run
4 UW Delver
or, even more simplified
3 Fattie Decks
5 Tempo Decks
so Delver is king again, but unfortunately in my meta if i took Delver to my LGS i would die. Well go 3-2 but Zombies and RG aggro and Naya Pod over and over and over would probably kill me...so other than that good job on it! wooot!
Next, we have 3 Fattie decks, aka Power out monster men so that no aggro deck can keep up.
Solar Flare is a very good deck right now and one I'm testing with earnest lately (list at the end, as usual) in hopes it solves my aggro problem. I like Sun Titan x 400 and the deck does it often and kicks ass while doing so. A lot of people are playing Liliana but i really don't like her as it stretches the mana a TONNE and isn't even that good against the meta at the moment.
Wolf Run Ramp is Wolf Run Ramp and i just hate Primeval Titan with a passion and if he isn't gone come October I'm going to kill someone at Wizards... (not literally, i don't want to get banned, its a joke, blah blah blah lol). I just wish he said Basic Lands and not lands, as i think having spell lands is good but ways of abusing them sucks without good land destruction.
Wurmcoil.dec is intersting. I didn't want to post the list on here as i thought if it went un attended next couple of weeks i was gonna hit up a GP but Brad Nelson beat me to it.
I figured out recently that Lifegain was very important in beating Aggro decks (go figure right). originally i had built a UW Venser deck that turbo-d out the dignitary combo with Drogskol backup but it was too slow. Then i added in Wurmcoil engine and he seemed solid throughout testing. Then i was looking at my Sulfur Falls and wishing that my UR Delver deck didn't suck so bad against...well all decks when it doesn't have the sick insane draw (aka it was 50-50). So then i came to my Blue page. And i saw it.
Turn 4 Wurmcoils. Bonfire of the Damned. OMG this will be insane!
So this deck was born, to be played last week at FNM if i didn't go camping with my family:
the deck crushes aggro, Bonfire helps the Delver match a bit, Ramp is even but Control is horrible unfortunately. however since i wasn't concerned overly with control, i figured it'd be ok
Enter Lewis Laskin
well he came to the similar conclusion, but he played Devastation Tide. Brad Nelson played no miracles and ****ing top 2'd a GP! Props to him but now i wish i went to Minnesota! damn it!
So thats my rant about that deck...
Anyway some more stats!
So SCG: Orlando was also this weekend, and it seemed a little better for aggro fans everywhere...kinda...
3 Wolf Run Ramp
1 GR Aggro
1 Naya Pod
1 UW Delver
1 Mono Blue Architect
1 WR Humans
first, before i go any further, there is RW Humans again! it has managed to top 8, and lose in the quarters, 3 straight SCG events in a row. My advice? Stay away from this death trap.
Anyway so that was the top 8. However SCG is a little more extensive with their coverage, so here are all the decks that I THINK had a chance to top 16 in the event (i think thats why they are all there)
(as a note, i reviewed it, and i think it also includes seen on camera lists, so I'm just gonna use the front page as i've heard of people dropping to 30th in events like this for losing last round)
6 Wolf Run Ramp
5 UW Delver
2 Naya Pod
4 GR Aggro
2 Esper Control
2 W/x Humans
1 Frites
1 UW Control
1 UB Infect
so other than the last 4 decks, this is an accurate reading of the meta game.
Wolf Run Ramp, mostly GR
Uw Delver
Naya Pod
GR Aggro
Esper Control (Walkers, Solar Flare, etc)
is pretty much what AVR Standard has become. These 5 lists are, at its core, what you need to be playing or beating consistently in order to be playing standard.
Seems simple enough.
Now I'm going to zone in on one of the decks that i have been playing even more than Solar Flare as of late: Naya Pod
See, i've been playing Birthing Pod for a while, as some of you might know. I've been a prolific Bant Pod player before ISD came out and i loved the deck to bits.
After ISD came out, ill admit i gave up on it and tried playing super bad value versions because i hated change and wanted my old deck to work again. Around that time i actually started focusing more on studies at school and less time with Magic. In fact, i stopped playing around December due to finals and vowed i would come back and play good decks.
enter PT: DKA. One of my favourite tournaments of all time, and what Top 8's the PT?
Naya Pod
i was in love.
Anyway needless to say i've been a prominent player since and this is the list i have come to as of late, with 1 Slot missing. Im not sure what it is yet but i am going to find out what is the perfect card to fit in here!
needed some fixing with the mana, he's come in handy as of late, and with Restoration Angel its been quite helpful
Hero of Oxid Ridge
this was hell rider for the longest time but it was so hard to cast at times. I may switch it back to Hellrider but Hero being a Human is actually quite huge.
Wolfir Silverheart
im not sure if this should just be Zealous number 2 or Acidic Slime but i wanna try it so its in here.
now, as for some cards i want to try, the 6 slot is open for variance. Im not sure if Wurmcoil or Sun Titan would just be better here, but i wouldn't be shocked if this was the case. I want to try a couple of cards but its definitely being changed constantly
i think i may try cloud shift as the one of missing slot...just a thought
i want to go into more detail but this is already long and if you want more info on Naya Pod join the discussion in the thread areas!
OH BY THE WAY I'm in round 3 of the Lantern IQ after a quick 10 minute sweeps of both my round 1 and 2 opponents. The deck is getting there! THe opponents had good decks but mine just auto-wins sometimes.
First off congratulations to Alexander Hayne. I don't think he knows me but I'm a fellow Canadian and i've been watching as much of the PT as possible while not losing too much sleep and as soon as i woke up to see he beat John Finkel at 730 this morning i was pumped. I had a...miraculous feeling that he would win. And, sure enough
Hallelujah. Entreat for 5. GG?
I was ecstatic. All i can say is if i can't be there, at least a Canadian won.
Now, what does this PT mean for Standard? to the untrained eye, nothing. Its block. Im not even gonna bother watching. Waste of my time.
But thats not true. Not at all. In fact, this is almost better than the last 2 SCG circuits to try and understand what is going to be good in the next couple of months.
wait...why?
Because the Pros are using cards from AVR in constructed decks that they WANT to do well.
So first off: what ISNT going to be good.
Well i can say I'm not excited for Humans in the future. If almost all the cards in a Standard format are from Innistrad and it doesn't do well, I'm not going to just dismiss it but i won't have high hopes about it. RW Humans to me is just too inconsistent and is trying to play like a RDW...with creatures instead of burn spells.
Unfortunately, that is just plain worse.
So we go to the next topic, as that is the only deck i have key information on.
What can we take from this Pro Tour for Standard
Well lets take a look at SCG Black's Team for starters. To those of you who don't know who Smi77y is, he crafted a deck not too long ago called HexBlade, with this shell:
The basis was play a hexproof dude, make it huge, win. Simple
Enter PT:AVR
Sam Black comes along. He's a great deck builder.
He built Super Infect for PT: Philadelphia.
He built Esper Spirits for PT: DKA
He then built the second best deck for PT: AVR
Is this the same deck? Kinda...but the strategy is the same
Land a hexproof dude, make it huge, win.
So what does this mean for standard? well if u've read my blog before, i've been working on a Bant Soulbond deck with similar aspects. Dungeon Geists is a no due to the fact we're not running Cavern of Souls for Spirits.
Similar idea, a couple of twists, and here is the updated list
I don't like the Idea of Angelic Destiny. Not only is it expensive, double white is very bad. I realize if ur creature dies the Destiny comes back, but if it hits your guy you win so that is irrelevant.
Spectral Flight is a lot cheaper and a lot better on the mana. its as simple as that. If Destiny was :3mana::symw: it would be run instead. but its a combo deck. we need to keep the threats fast and easy to cast.
now, as for the creatures, one slot that is flipping back and forth is the 5 drops. Originally it was Sigarda, Host of Herons in the Wolfir Silverheart slot. That was good, but it wasn't game ending. I decided to try out my favourite card out of the set instead
Wowie.
There is a reason this thing is $5 now. Oh ya, that happened overnight by the way...damn i should've bought more...
So anyway, now we have this list in front of us, testing shall begin. if you want to test it to help me please do so. Let me know in the comments if we're onto something here.
Keep checking this and my standard deck links to see what I'm playing. Don't hesitate to PM me with questions or comments or w/e regarding deck choices and/or card choices.
Thanks for reading. Ill be back maybe tonight with a Affinity tournament round 1 report, as I'm participating in the first Lantern Modern Invitational Qualifier. Wish me luck!
Ok so the first major Standard Tournament is over, and AVR appears to have done no impact...or did it?
Actually, AVR has completely changed how the format works, majorly due to one card:
Cavern of Souls has made its impact.
Why do i say this?
Look at the Blue decks in the top 32. How many are there? 12. How many ran Mana Leak? 8.
Now this may seem like a stupid statistic. 3/4's of the blue decks are still playing Mana Leak. Big whoop right?
Wrong
The fact that 1/4 of the decks are cutting Mana Leak says a lot about the format. The fact that 4 Delver deck cut down to 3 Leaks, and only 1/4 of the blue decks were playing the full set of mana leak says a lot about the format. What does it say?
Cavern of Souls has made an impact.
Even if only 13 (ya, i say only sparingly) decks in the top 32 were running it, with Human variants and Wolf Run being the majority, Tap-Out control decks are placing better than the Regular control decks.
Delver decks are a little different as Cavern of Souls is irrelevant to them until the Titan lands. And if your not winning by the time the titan lands, chances are your not winning the game anyway so that, again, causes an irrelevant game state. So that is why most, if not all, Delver decks remain at 3+
Control is a bit different. Normally, Control players greatest weapon against Titans are counter spells. Why? Because as soon as the Titan lands, it out card advantages the control deck. And as most veteraned players know, if u can't beat a control player's life total, the next step to winning is the CA race.
If I'm a ramp player, and i resolve Primeval Titan for 2 lands, and a control player removes it, you just 3/1'd them
Same situation, except the control players leak. its a straight 1/1, which control players like.
Enter Cavern of Souls. Mana Leak, meet ur new nemesis.
Well, with that little land, Control players lose the biggest fight. So, smart players learned how else to beat a titan, if u can't counter it.
there are essentially 5 ways to beat titans.
1) Counter them
2) Bounce them and beat the controller before they can recast them
3) Blitz them so they can't be cast
4) Hand Disruption
5) Have more titans!
So minus countering and hand disruption, we have 3 options. How about we look at the top 4 of the SCG Open...
Wolf Run Ramp
UW Delver
RG Aggro
Solar Flare
So we have
Titan Deck
Bounce, aka Option 2 deck
Blitz, aka option 3 deck
and Sun Titan.dec, aka option 5 deck
so based off of those 3 options, that is how the format will shape up. But here is a catch
Wolf Run Ramp isn't actually as oppressive as people think
So wait...why was there so much Wolf Run in the SCG Open?
In a word? Hype.
Everyone and their Grandma knew that with Cavern of Souls coming out, everyone was zerging over the fact that Titans would be uncounertable and that they would be the best deck
So what did everyone begin to play? Ramp.
So...what should everyone play?
In my opinion value aggro decks are key. Why?
because of all those top 4 options, Blitzing seems the easiest and most consistent to do. That and...it has really good match ups against all 4 options.
Take RG Aggro for instance. There is a reason it won the SCG open
1) Its good against UW delver
2) It can go completely around Titan decks
Especially the sideboard. Look at 4 cards in the RG Aggro's sideboard:
2 Zealous Conscripts
2 Act of Aggression
(note* there is actually 1 Zealous, but he said if he went back he would drop the Corrosive Gale for the 2nd Conscripts)
These are insane against Titans because stealing a titan and smashing for 6 can be a complete blow out. So after applying a tonne of pressure, what happens if they STILL play the titan? Just steal it and win. Problem solved.
So, with that in mind, what would i play?
Bounce Decks
More Titan decks
Blitz decks
Here's a tip people: Stay away from Wolf Run. yes its good, but with everyone seeing a giant target on the Giant's heads, it'll be difficult to fight each round when ur titan keeps getting bounced, stolen, or just can't attack through 3 Sun Titans on the other side of the board.
THats all from me. In the meantime, here is an update on the lists I'm working on: