Hey everyone! It’s Gerard “Gfabs” Fabiano, here to tell you about the best and most fun deck in the current Standard metagame. It might not be the most innovative way to go about introducing a deck, but I figured I’d stick with the basics. I’ll break down every card, explain its role in the deck (even when it might seem obvious), and show you how to sideboard. At this point in the PTQ season, you might not have time to test as extensively before each big tournament, so I’m hoping to do most of the work for you.
The decklist…
Creatures (10)
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (25)
Spells (24)
- 4 Lightning Bolt
- 4 Cryptic Command
- 2 Flame Javelin
- 4 Blightning
- 3 Cruel Ultimatum
- 4 Volcanic Fallout
- 3 Bituminous Blast
Sideboard
Now, let me go over the deck card for card, and then get into matchups with sideboarding plans.
Vendilion Clique
He serves as one of the main sources of damage in the deck (like a Blue Boggart Ram-Gang), and is perfect when coupled a lynchpin of the deck: Sygg. A turn 2 Sygg followed by a turn 3 Clique is one of the best draws you can get. He also serves as a card drawer at times, since you can always just target yourself on turn 3. The deck is very dependent on mana, so by targeting yourself with the Clique it will allow you to cycle past an unnecessary card and get you to something better (or to the extra land you may want). Clique also helps you against Great Sable Stag if you are on the play, since you can make sure it won’t be coming down on turn 3. To be completely honest, Stag isn’t even a problem; even if they are main-decking it, you have a few ways to deal with it.
1) Lightning Bolt
2) Flame Javelin
3) Clique it away
4) Cruel Ultimatum
It is also very raceable given your draws, since the deck can deal a large amount of damage to your opponent and gain lots of card advantage over a few turns. After sideboarding, along with Clique, you have Thoughtseize to take away their turn 3 Stag. Clique should almost never get boarded out, as it is one of the most versatile cards you have.
Anathemancer
Anathemancer is one of your best cards against three of the most popular decks: Cascade, Faeries, and Five-Color Control. Main-decking him gives you an advantage against all these decks, as some of them simply cannot beat it. The best part is being able to play the game however you want against these decks. You can play the control game and win by unearthing the Anathemancer, or go beatdown and have Anathemancer there to deal the final points of damage. This card does get sided out a lot against decks such as Merfolk, Kithkin, and Elves. In those matchups, you don’t really care about dealing lots of damage. It’s more about taking control of the game, then winning with basically anything.
Sygg, River Cutthroat
Yes, I am aware he is a legend, and playing four might seem crazy, but he helps you get to the “free wins” that happen in Magic. Turn 2 Sygg followed by Turn 3 Blightning is basically an Ancestral Recall and Lightning Bolt built into one. Another scenario could be turn 2 Sygg, followed by turn 3 Fallout killing one or two of your opponent’s creatures, and then having Sygg attack for the 3rd point allowing you to draw a card. I can go on about all these different scenarios, but I won’t. However, I will tell you its fine to run a turn 3 Lightning Bolt or Flame Javelin to your opponent’s face to get that free card at end of turn. This may seem obvious, but don’t forget to draw with Sygg. Sometimes you may get excited because you just cast Cruel Ultimatum and the game is now looking good. I suggest you do whatever you can to remember to draw that card; maybe you can try sitting on your hands. This is a trick I sometimes use, to make sure I slow down my pace of play so I don’t rush into things and forget. If I am actually sitting on my hands, it takes a few more seconds and effort to actually do something, so hopefully more time will be taken to make sure I make the right play. Another thing you can do is, at the start of turn 1, just start announcing your “end step,” so when you do have Sygg down the end step will be announced and hopefully you’ll remember to draw. Sygg is also a good early blocker to stop Mutavaults or some small Merfolk and Kithkin from coming in. Making them use their Harm’s Way to kill it is fine, since it messes with the flow of their curve and they won’t have it for your Volcanic Fallout later on.
Cruel Ultimatum
This is one of the most important cards in the deck, since it’s often an “I win” card. Your plan in most matchups is to get to turn 7 and cast it. Sounds easy, and it often is; just remember it’s okay to make “random” plays if it is part of your plan to get to seven mana. For example, bounce a land and draw a card on your opponent’s turn with Command to give yourself more time to play Cruel Ultimatum. The big difference between Cruel Ultimatum here and Cruel Ultimatum in Five-Color Control is that you will almost always be able to cast it on turn 7 here, whereas in Five-Color Control there are many enters-the-battlefield-tapped lands, and sometimes a Flooded Groove or similar will mess up the mana. Against Red decks, Cruel is 100% your game plan, so make sure you do whatever you can to survive until turn 7. This may mean leaving a Clique back just in case they may have a Boggart Ram-Gang in their hand or on top of their library.
Of course, remember this: don’t feel like you are making a bad play during the game when you do something unconventional. Play how you want. I know a lot of players get nervous when other people watch them play, because they want to prove they know how to play, but it is more important to win the game even if your play to the spectators may seem “wrong.”
Volcanic Fallout
This card is insane versus some decks, and pretty bad versus others. Against Five-Color Control it’s the first card you take out. Even against Kithkin, it can sometimes do nothing if they have Honor of the Pure or a Harm’s Way. However, against Elves, Merfolk, or Faeries, it is great. This deck has a lot of instants, so feel free to bluff as much as you can, but make sure you are bluffing in the right way. It is very tough for me to explain the “right way to bluff” in a single article, but I will give an example.
1) A common bluff is the following: “Your turn. Okay, during your upkeep… hmm… no, during your draw step… hmm… okay, never mind… you can draw.”
This is a clear indication that you are trying to bluff Vendilion Clique, but in most cases you won’t have it unless you also have a Volcanic Fallout, because if you did have Clique you would have probably played it… or simply not said anything at all. Again, this might not make too much sense, but I am trying to stress the need to be very subtle with your bluffs, while making them noticeable. It’s when you like a girl and you want her to know, but you don’t want to tell her, and you don’t want her to know that you are trying to let her know without saying anything.
If you ever see me at a PTQ, GP, or PT, I’d be more than happy to give you some tips on bluffs, because in a deck like this it’s important to have your opponent always guessing what you have, so they don’t know how to play against you.
Lightning Bolt
This is a card I’ve wanted to play in a control deck for a while, but it never really fit until now. The reason why it fits here is due to all the other burn the deck has, and the fact that it’s so cheap that it complements your more expensive powerful cards really well. It is also the best answer to Great Sable Stag, which Black/Blue decks have a problem facing. Bolt is another important bluff card, because it will most likely stop players from playing how they desire, since they know trying to go for a Mistbind Clique may be too dangerous, or even an attack with Mutavault. Also, if you are playing against someone who you consider pretty strong, don’t always use your Bolt and walk into a Harm’s Way or Scion of Oona, because you have to think that they wouldn’t make a given play knowing you may have a Lightning Bolt. Sometimes it’s fine to take the damage from an attack, then draw your card for the next turn. If it is a land, don’t shuffle your hand and put it directly into play… this will show your opponent that there’s no way you have the Bolt because you would have used it last turn. At least that’s what they think… but you might have not used it because now you can have Cryptic Command backup, or because you know that now they will make the play you want them to make, and thus you’ll blow them out since they don’t put you on Bolt.
Also, if your plan is to burn them out, it’s often better to set up a turn where you deal a lot of damage to them since they won’t expect it. It’s almost like you’ve drafted a Tome Scour deck on MTGO, and you draw a Tome Scour in your opening hand; you don’t want to cast turn 1 Tome Scour, since they will have more information and play accordingly. You want to surprise them late game, when they least expect it.
Cryptic Command
This one isn’t too tough to figure out; it is probably the best card in Standard. It’s real easy to cast in the deck too. Aside from one filter land and a few basics, all the lands really help cast it. The one difference here is that, against some decks, you always want to be doing something. So, as I said earlier, just bouncing and drawing on turn 4 is fine, especially if they didn’t have a play. When this deck gets going you have a ton of card advantage, so holding on to Cryptic Command to try to gain more is sometimes not worth it. Don’t ever feel like you are just “blowing away” your Command if you are using it to progress further along in the game, enabling you to play your Cruel Ultimatum on time.
Bituminous Blast
This was a new addition from my original list, and it’s proved to be really good. Blast can be played during your opponent’s draw step if he only has 2 cards in his hand, in the hope you hit a Blighting, or before the attack step if you need to get to a Cryptic Command to tap down their team of guys. Sure, sometimes you may hit a Clique or Sygg when you already have one, or a Swerve after boarding, but the odds of that are low. So, just be aware of what you can and can’t hit before you play it. Blast serves as a good answer to Mistbind Clique or Broodmate Dragon, guys which the controlling type decks will have, and against beatdown decks it’s clearly a great card.
Flame Javelin
This is a solid card that serves as removal or burn. With the filter lands, it is easy to cast.
Blightning
Blighting is such a good card in so many ways. No one plays the Wilt-Leaf Liege anymore, and if you run into the one person that does, good beats. Blighting will win you games because so many players don’t know how to play when they have limited resources; they will often discard the wrong cards. Blightning is also a good burn spell, since it works perfectly with Sygg.
Liliana Vess
Liliana serves many purposes:
1) A fourth Cruel Ultimatum
2) More discard against control decks
3) A win condition, by returning all creatures to the battlefield under your control
I feel she’s the perfect card to have a one-of copy in the main deck.
Sideboarding
To be honest, this section isn’t going to be an exact formula on how to sideboard, because it shouldn’t be. I always hear people saying “you board your Flashfreezes in against the Mono Red deck.” Yes, that’s simple. Or “bring in Great Sable Stag against Faeries.” All good, yet basic, advice. However, when you have a sideboard like mine, where there are no cards that are 100% certain for a particular deck, you must use your own judgment. Figure out the danger cards you saw in game 1, and figure out what you will be boarding in and what plan you are going for based on that information.
Five-Color Control
Board In:
3 Thoughtseize
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Thought Hemorrhage
Maybe 2 Swerve depending on their build of Five-Color Control.
Board Out:
4 Volcanic Fallout
1 Bituminous Blast (maybe all 3 if you want the Swerves in)
Faeries
Board In:
3 Thoughtseize
2 Doom Blade
Maybe 1 Glen Elendra Archmage
Board Out:
It is tricky here, as there are many things to consider.
1) Did I see main deck Peppersmokes, and will my opponent have Peppersmokes for game 2?
2) Is my opponent going to leave in Mistbind Cliques?
3) Will he/does he have/bring in Flashfreeze?
There are so many questions, and I honestly don’t want to tell you what to take out if it is not going to be correct, because from my position behind my computer screen I won’t be able to tell what I saw in game 1. Clearly, more spot removal in the form of the cheap Doom Blade will be good, and Thoughtseize to take their Bitterblossom is strong. You will just have to rely on what you think and sideboard accordingly. When I am unsure what to take out, I trim down and take one copy of five different cards. [Controversial… — Craig.]
I would remove something like this:
1 Bituminous Blast
1 Blightning
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Cruel Ultimatum
Mono Red Burn or Red with a Black Splash
Board In:
2 Swerve
2-4 Doom Blade (depending on their creature base)
1 Djinn of Wishes (since you are taking out the Anathemancers, and you want enough win conditions once you take control of the game so they have less time to draw out of it. Also, this is often a must kill for them, since the potential card advantage could be too much; sometimes they will have to burn two cards to kill him)
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Thought Hemorrhage (if you think they may have Banefires or Anathemancer)
Board Out:
4 Volcanic Fallout
3 Anathemancer
Elves, Kithkin, and Merfolk
Basically here it’s all the same: you want to bring in the 4 Doom Blades and bring in the Djinn of Wishes, since the Anathemancers are getting cut. Infest is another card you want in, and there is an argument for Thoughtseizes depending on what your opponent may have. Will Elves have Oversoul of Dusk? Will Merfolk leave in / have Mirrorweave? Honestly, there is not an exact way to board, as I mentioned before, but just think about everything that happened in the previous game when you’re sideboarding. Another thought: if you think your Kithkin opponent will be packing 4 Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tenders and 4 Harm’s Way, then take out your Volcanic Fallouts and just have Doom Blades and Infests. Additionally, against any Four-Color Bloodbraid Elf 4 deck, bring in Thoughtseizes.
I want you guys to play this deck this weekend at your PTQ, as I am 100% sure there will be at least one Grixis Control pilot this weekend walking away with the invite to Austin. Let me know how you guys do with the best deck in the format. I will respond to any further questions in the forums.
Take it easy!
Gfabs