So you’ve been playing Modern for months, maybe years now, and you have your favorite deck, but the #SCGINVI this weekend includes Standard as well as Modern! There have been so many Standard events the last couple of weeks and there are so many new decks, how does one even choose what to play? Well, today I’m going to help you find the Standard deck for you based on your favorite Modern deck.
I have compiled a list of twelve of the most popular decks in each format and have scientifically matched them together to allow you to jump right in with the Standard deck that you will enjoy the most based on your favorite Modern deck. This guide will help you cut down on time worrying about what to play and help you find what you should play for any event from the #SCGINVI to Friday Night Magic.
In the rare case that the Standard deck that was matched with your Modern deck by my secret scientific method is not for you, I have listed the next two closest matches that may be more to your liking. This list works in reverse as well; if you are a Standard player looking to get into Modern, this can help you find a Modern deck that you may enjoy and can invest in for the upcoming PPTQ season.
Jund
Best Match – G/W Tokens
Creatures (12)
Planeswalkers (8)
Lands (25)
Spells (15)
G/W Tokens is the Jund of the current Standard format. It’s an extremely consistent midrange deck that has plenty of good matchups across the board, even if none of them are spectacular. G/W Tokens can turn the corner quickly once it stabilizes with powerful mythics such as Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and Archangel Avacyn. Tragic Arrogance is the great equalizer to aggressive decks and Bant Company, and Evolutionary Leap allows the deck to grind out anything in the format.
Honorable Mention – Bant Company or B/W Control
Affinity
Best Match – W/R Humans
Creatures (31)
- 4 Knight of the White Orchid
- 4 Dragon Hunter
- 3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
- 3 Anointer of Champions
- 3 Expedition Envoy
- 4 Thraben Inspector
- 4 Thalia's Lieutenant
- 2 Hanweir Militia Captain
- 4 Town Gossipmonger
Lands (18)
Spells (11)
The classic aggressive archetype is so well-tuned that it’s hard for new cards to find their way into the list. Eldritch Moon didn’t bring a single maindeck card to W/R Humans, just like Affinity hasn’t had any new cards for a while. W/R Humans also has plenty of synergies between the cards, including Thalia’s Lieutenant being part Steel Overseer, part Arcbound Ravager. If you love emptying your hand quickly with Affinity, then W/R Humans is the Standard deck for you!
Honorable Mention – U/R Thermo-Alchemist or Four-Color Emerge
Dredge
Best Match – Four-Color Emerge
Creatures (19)
- 4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
- 2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
- 4 Prized Amalgam
- 4 Elder Deep-Fiend
- 4 Haunted Dead
- 1 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
Lands (22)
Spells (19)
So you like to use your graveyard as a resource to put creatures onto the battlefield? There is no better way to do that in Standard then Four-Color Emerge. Grapple with the Past and Gather the Pack allow you to put Haunted Dead into the graveyard, and reanimating it will also bring Prized Amalgam out to the battlefield. If “cheating” multiple creatures onto the battlefield isn’t enough for you, you can now sacrifice the Haunted Dead or Prized Amalgam to emerge Elder Deep-Fiend to go with your army of creatures that can attack through your opponent’s tapped-down creatures.
Honorable Mention – Bant Company or Jund Delirium
Naya Burn
Best Match – U/R Thermo-Alchemist
Creatures (9)
Lands (24)
Spells (27)
Modern isn’t the only format where you can point burn spells at your opponent’s face. U/R Thermo-Alchemist uses the deck’s namesake card and Fevered Visions to present constant source of damage while using burn spells such as Fiery Temper, Incendiary Flow, and Collective Defiance to finish the job. Collective Defiance is the best spell in the deck, as it can kill a creature and refill your hand with relevant spells while still doing damage to your opponent. Thing in the Ice is the only creature in the maindeck that has the ability to attack, so you won’t be doing as much damage on the ground as Naya Burn does.
Honorable Mention – W/R Humans or R/G Ramp
Tron
Best Match – R/G Ramp
Creatures (11)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (24)
Spells (23)
Tron is all about gaining a huge mana advantage over your opponent and casting ridiculously powerful spells as early as possible. Well with the help of your graveyard, you can do that too in Standard! Emrakul, the Promised End is the biggest creature in Standard and R/G Ramp is built to be the fastest Emrakul deck in Standard. Traverse the Ulvenwald does a great Ancient Stirrings impression as it can get a land if you need it early in the game or one of your large spells in the late-game.
Honorable Mention – Colorless Eldrazi or G/U Crush
Jeskai Control
Best Match – B/W Control
Creatures (7)
Planeswalkers (6)
Lands (26)
Spells (21)
If you love playing control in Modern and want to do the same in Standard, then this is the best there is. Some may not consider this a “traditional” control deck because of the lack of counterspells and, well, blue cards in general, but B/W is aiming to control the battlefield with removal and planeswalkers. With black having the best sweeper, removal spells, and discard spells, it’s currently the go-to control option in Standard. Liliana, the Last Hope is especially potent when paired with removal spells, and her ability to ultimate as early as turn seven will end most every game.
Honorable Mention – U/R Thermo-Alchemist or G/W Tokens
Merfolk
Best Match – U/W Spirits
Creatures (21)
- 2 Bygone Bishop
- 2 Archangel Avacyn
- 4 Rattlechains
- 4 Spell Queller
- 3 Selfless Spirit
- 4 Mausoleum Wanderer
- 2 Nebelgast Herald
Lands (24)
Spells (15)
Standard’s version of a blue tempo tribal strategy is definitely U/W Spirits, although without any lords you need to play Always Watching to make your Spirits larger. Flying is almost as effective a version of evasion in Standard as islandwalk paired with Spreading Seas is in Modern. Nebelgast Herald wishes it was Merrow Reejerey, but it still disrupts your opponent just enough to help you win the damage race. Many Spirits also have flash, which is similar to putting Merfolk onto the battlefield at instant speed with an Aether Vial.
Honorable Mention – W/R Humans or B/W Control
Death Shadow’s Zoo
Best Match – Temur Emerge
Creatures (16)
- 3 Pilgrim's Eye
- 3 Emrakul, the Promised End
- 1 Wretched Gryff
- 4 Gnarlwood Dryad
- 3 Elder Deep-Fiend
- 2 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (21)
Spells (22)
Death’s Shadow Zoo uses its own life total as a resource to create a large game-ending creature as quickly as possible. Temur Emerge uses ramp spells and the graveyard to cast a large game-ending creature as quickly as possible. Even though both creatures are technically 13/13s, in Death’s Shadow Zoo that threat comes in the form of a one-mana creature, while Temur Emerge has a thirteen-mana creature. Also, both decks can function as their namesake, a Zoo deck or an Emerge deck, if Plan A doesn’t pan out.
Honorable Mention – Four-Color Emerge or U/W Spirits
Abzan Company
Best Match – Bant Company
Creatures (26)
- 4 Reflector Mage
- 4 Sylvan Advocate
- 3 Tireless Tracker
- 4 Duskwatch Recruiter
- 3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
- 4 Spell Queller
- 4 Noose Constrictor
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (25)
Spells (8)
If you like to play Collected Company in Modern, try it out in Standard! Unlike in Modern, Collected Company is actually the best card you can cast for four mana in Standard. Bant Company is known as the best deck in Standard, and not much more has to be said on why you should play it. The card advantage that the creature base provides is so plentiful that the deck has more card advantage than any other deck in the format, including control decks. You won’t be able to gain infinite life to end the game on turn 3, but you can grind every other deck to dust.
Honorable Mention – Temur Emerge or G/W Tokens
Bant Eldrazi
Best Match – Colorless Eldrazi
Creatures (20)
- 4 Oblivion Sower
- 4 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
- 1 Kozilek, the Great Distortion
- 2 Thought-Knot Seer
- 4 Hedron Crawler
- 4 Matter Reshaper
- 1 Emrakul, the Promised End
Lands (28)
Spells (12)
Another easy choice, Colorless Eldrazi is the best way to cast all of the different creatures of your favorite tribe in Standard. The biggest strength to Colorless Eldrazi is the manabase. Almost every land in the deck is a utility land that can have a large impact on the game, which makes it seem as though every card you draw is a spell. Oblivion Sower is the heart of the deck, as gaining control of extra lands is exactly what Colorless Eldrazi wants to do in order to take over the late-game.
Honorable Mention – G/U Crush or G/B Delirium
G/R Breach
Best Match – G/U Crush
Creatures (18)
- 1 Elvish Visionary
- 4 Den Protector
- 2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
- 2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
- 1 Bounding Krasis
- 1 Hangarback Walker
- 1 Void Grafter
- 1 Emrakul, the Promised End
- 1 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
- 4 Noose Constrictor
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (25)
Spells (15)
Although it’s not nearly as fast or consistent as R/G Breach is in Modern, G/U Crush can match any deck on “cool” factor. Your Primeval Titan comes in the form of an 8/8 blue Octopus creature token, but it ends the game all the same. The goal is to create a Crush of Tentacles loop using Den Protector to return Crush of Tentacles from your graveyard to your hand each turn.
Honorable Mention – Colorless Eldrazi or R/G Ramp
Infect
Best Match – Jund Delirium
Creatures (12)
- 3 Pilgrim's Eye
- 2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
- 1 Mindwrack Demon
- 1 Emrakul, the Promised End
- 2 Distended Mindbender
- 3 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (24)
Spells (21)
Okay, I admit this one is a stretch. Infect is a unique deck that didn’t have a Standard deck that matched up with it scientifically, so my advice is to try out Jund Delirium. Jund has started to replace G/B as the Standard Delirium deck of choice, and with the early removal of Fiery Impulse as well as Kozilek’s Return, it’s easy to understand why. Jund Delirium is yet another value midrange deck that is looking to use Emrakul, the Promised End to go over the top of the other midrange and control decks, but it also has the early removal to allow it to take down the aggressive decks of the format.
Honorable Mention – U/W Spirits or Temur Emerge
The following chart contains my results listed the other way around for the Standard players who are searching for a Modern deck that they would like:
|
Standard Deck |
Best Match |
Honorable Mention |
Honorable Mention |
|
G/W Tokens |
Jund |
Jeskai Control |
Abzan Company |
|
W/R Humans |
Affinity |
Burn |
Merfolk |
|
Four-Color Emerge |
Dredge |
Affinity |
Death’s Shadow Zoo |
|
U/R Thermo-Alchemist |
Naya Burn |
Affinity |
Jeskai Control |
|
R/G Ramp |
Tron |
G/R Breach |
Burn |
|
B/W Control |
Jeskai Control |
Jund |
Merfolk |
|
U/W Spirits |
Merfolk |
Infect |
Death’s Shadow Zoo |
|
Temur Emerge |
Death’s Shadow Zoo |
Abzan Company |
Infect |
|
Bant Company |
Abzan Company |
Jund |
Dredge |
|
Colorless Eldrazi |
Bant Eldrazi |
Tron |
G/R Breach |
|
G/U Crush |
G/R Breach |
Tron |
Bant Eldrazi |
|
Jund Delirium |
Infect |
Bant Eldrazi |
Dredge |
Comments from Last Week
Hi, nice article Todd, I think those are good decks and I’m actually playing Grixis Death’s Shadow, but I don’t run Young Pyromancer in the side because I’m not sure in which matchups they are good. Also I don’t know if I should take out Kiln Fiends or Temur Battle Rages in some matchups. Can you give me some tips? Thanks a lot!
– Franco Piria
Honestly, Young Pyromancer is my least-favorite card in the entire deck as well. The reasoning behind playing them is to add an additional threat against removal-heavy decks; however, I often find Young Pyromancer just doesn’t do enough. Grixis Death’s Shadow is not a deck that can win many long attrition-style games, and a card that works toward that gameplan is probably not where I want to be. I’m looking to cut them as well if favor for more cheap protection that helps our original game plan.
If you would be bringing in Young Pyromancers, then taking out some number of Kiln Fiends would be acceptable, but as I just stated, I’m interested in strengthening the core gameplan of the deck instead of changing it, and would not sideboard out Kiln Fiend in any matchup. Similarly, Temur Battle Rage should never be sideboarded out.
Todd, what are your thoughts on splashing green and red [in Edrazi Tron] for Ancient Stirrings, World Breaker, and Kozilek’s Return?
– Oliver Nicholas Moon
Although each one of those cards is very powerful, splashing the two colors is not something that I am interested in for a couple of reasons. First off, one of the major strengths to Eldrazi Tron is the reliable manabase, and I don’t want to compromise that with adding multiple colors. Second, and more important, is that I believe at that point you have a worse G/R Tron deck, and I’m not interested in playing a worse version of another deck.
Whether you are new to Standard or Modern, I hope that I have helped you find a deck that you will enjoy in the new format. It’s almost time for the Season Two #SCGINVI in New Jersey, where both formats will be on display.
I can’t wait.