Results from SCG Open Series: Las Vegas and SCG Open Series: St. Louis the past two weekends indicate one thing very strongly: Standard is a wide-open format. U/W Delver is no longer putting up the dominating numbers of three months ago, and we’ve seen Birds of Paradise take over the title of most played one-drop creature in these Top 16s. Zombies has solidified itself even more as a real deck, though the jury is still out on whether B/U or B/R is a better version. The only deck that seems to be left out is Wolf Run Ramp, but we only have to look as far as Gerard Fabiano for a potential contender.

An overall look at these results suggest that the Standard format has four major players: green creature decks, Zombies, aggressive blue decks with Delver, and less aggressive blue decks without Delver. Although a fairly large number of different archetypes exist, I think it’s important to partition the metagame in this way. It can be a bit overwhelming to prepare for a specific list or specific deck rather than just a general strategy. This effect is magnified just after the release of a new set, when it’s unclear which flavor of an archetype is the best or most popular.

I’ve talked a lot about blue decks recently, so it’s time for a change of pace.

Let’s get to the decks:

Green Creature Decks (Naya Pod, G/R, G/W, Mono-Green)

A turn 1 Birds of Paradise can mean just about anything, from Blade Splicer to Birthing Pod to Dungrove Elder. While I personally think that the best versions of these decks contain Blade Splicer and Restoration Angel, let’s first take a look at the decks that don’t.

G/R Aggro

Devin Nambiar

5th Place at Star City Games Standard Open on 07-22-2012

Standard

Creatures (24)

Lands (23)

Spells (13)

Sideboard

Traditional G/R Aggro has been around since right after Pro Tour Dark Ascension, but it has recently picked up some new tricks in Bonfire of the Damned, Rancor, and Thragtusk. Most versions look fairly similar, though there are a ton of options at the five-drop slot.

Thragtusk is probably the best of these since it is so good against Bonfire of the Damned and Vapor Snag. In addition, the life gain is very relevant in a format with so many creature decks, including hyperaggressive strategies like Zombies. The more Lingering Souls sees play, the better Thundermaw Hellkite will be, though in general it seems fairly awkward on this deck’s mana. Wolfir Silverheart is another powerful card for creature mirrors and is better against midrange decks with bigger creatures. The last of these five-drops is Zealous Conscripts, which is best against Titans and planeswalkers. While I wouldn’t include Conscripts in the main right now, he’s definitely an important sideboard card to have access to.

Mono-Green is another deck that has been picking up steam recently, but it’s focused less on resiliency and more on individual power. I’m tempted to say that the deck is weak to Zombies and control, though I can certainly see how it’s able to brute force its way through creature matchups.

Mono-Green Aggro

Patrick Netthongkome

11th Place at Star City Games Standard Open on 07-15-2012

Standard

Creatures (23)

Lands (24)

24 Forest

Spells (13)

Sideboard

One thing I like in particular about this list is the omission of Thrun, the Last Troll from the maindeck. While Thrun is a good card, he matches up very poorly against Phantasmal Image, which sees a tremendous amount of play in the format. As a result, this deck is forced to be very all-in on Dungrove Elder, perhaps more so than I’d be comfortable with.

The baseline green deck for this format has to be Caleb Durward’s Naya Pod deck. Birthing Pod is an exceptionally powerful card advantage machine that gives Caleb the ability to grind out control and aggro opponents, while still allowing him to play the same subset of powerful and aggressive creatures. Blade Splicer + Restoration Angel is an exceptionally powerful interaction, especially for a deck that is able to put pressure on the opponent in a number of different ways.

Naya Pod

Caleb Durward

1st Place at Star City Games Standard Open on 07-15-2012

Standard

Creatures (32)

Lands (23)

Spells (5)

Sideboard

This deck also has a great amount of flexibility, so you can tune it for any shifts in the metagame. This is evidenced most heavily by Caleb’s sideboard.

One card which I think has gone down in value is Huntmaster of the Fells. My experiences in Block Constructed have shown me that the card is fairly unimpressive in a metagame of green midrange decks, especially ones with Restoration Angel and Bonfire of the Damned. If the existence of Thragtusk means these decks no longer need a life gain creature, I would consider cutting the Huntmasters, even if one is still necessary for the Birthing Pod / Restoration Angel chain. However, Huntmaster may simply be too good against the new breed of Delver decks to leave it out.

The Naya deck exists without Birthing Pod and instead relies on Bonfire of the Damned to break creature mirrors. This deck is a bit more focused, but it also sacrifices the utility a Tutor engine like Pod. I would probably update the following list of include Thragtusk instead of the Silverhearts to maximize Restoration Angel and lesson the damage of Vapor Snag. I don’t even think this makes the deck worse against creature decks, since it’s better at overwhelming the board with a critical mass of creatures than dominating it with one big one.

Naya Aggro

Eric De Souza

11th Place at Star City Games Standard Open on 07-22-2012

Standard

Creatures (31)

Lands (23)

Spells (6)

Sideboard

If I were to play a green creature deck, I’d certainly consider Naya Pod or Naya Aggro as the frontrunner. Bonfire of the Damned is probably the most powerful card in the abstract for creature mirrors, but I also wouldn’t leave home without Restoration Angel.

Zombies

Zombies took down the SCG Standard Open in Las Vegas and also placed two other decks in the Top 8. The winning decklist suggests another lesson learned from Block Constructed, which is the power of Falkenrath Aristocrat against creature decks with little in terms of removal. Cards like Bonfire of the Damned and Pillar of Flame are particularly embarrassing against the flier, which also attacks through Restoration Angel in addition to its other inherent synergies with the deck.

B/R Zombies

Han Kyu

1st Place at Star City Games Standard Open on 07-22-2012

Standard

Creatures (25)

Lands (23)

Spells (12)

Sideboard

The winning and 3rd place decklists were very similar, though the winner did not play any Porcelain Legionnaires or Swords. I find it kind of funny that the last time I talked about Zombies, I dismissed Highborn Ghoul as unplayable, but now it actually seems pretty good at attacking through a wall of green creatures. That said, it is still a bad card against Blade Splicer and Bonfire of the Damned, so my guess is that it’s still the weakest card in the deck.

One thing about Zombies is that Cavern of Souls is an important mana fixer in addition to a utility land. There’s a natural tension between Bonfire and Cavern in the winning list, so I’d consider cutting the one Bonfire to remove that awkward element. Bonfire is certainly a great card, but when you’re sacrificing part of the power of miracle, I’m not sure it’s good enough.

I like the sideboard Duresses, which add a new element for this deck against control. As a strategy naturally weak to Gideon, Oblivion Ring, and Timely Reinforcements, Duress presents a proactive answer to the specific problem cards for the archetype.

One of the most alluring aspects of Zombies right now seems to be its role as a Blood Artist combo deck. Many of the creature decks have very few ways to remove an Artist, which is a nightmare to race and capable of winning games all by itself. I’d look to play at least two Metamorphs in the B/R version, if only for the sole purpose of multiple Artists. The B/U versions can use Phantasmal Image for this purpose, at the cost of Aristocrat.

The sheer number of diverse and resilient threats makes it hard right now for true control decks to exist. However, as the creature decks become more equipped and focused on beating each other, control may become a great choice again. There are only so many Bonfires and Mortarpods you can draw against a control deck before the matchup becomes awkward and unfavorable.

I’ll definitely be playing a Ponder deck if I choose to attend SCG Open Series: Buffalo this weekend. I’m not exactly sure what it might be, which is why I’m not including a decklist. I’m leaning towards something resembling my decklist from the SCG Standard Open in Worcester, as I’m pretty sure Geist of Saint Traft is a bad choice once again.

Thanks for reading,
Matt Costa