Magic: The Gathering is an incredible thing. It is one of the best games of all time, and it is very easily argued that it is the best TCG of all time. It has paved the way for countless other card games, some of which are still successful and some of which have fallen to the wayside.
Magic is more than just a game, though. There is the secondary market, which gives value to the cards. This enables global online retail shops to exist, grinders to work around the trade tables moving and acquiring new cards, and local game stores to provide a safe place for people to gather and experience their favorite past time.
Magic also allows content to be generated. Casual Commander articles and videos, competitively minded articles and videos, finance articles and videos…Magic provides the livelihood for many. It’s so much more than just a game.
While I was in Roanoke, I was fortunate enough to work for Pete Hoefling at StarCityGames.com and I learned so much. Gaining knowledge in the retail side of the community was awesome, but SCG also was very supportive of me traveling and playing Magic. I have to imagine that it was mutually beneficial, as I got to actually travel and play, and at the same time I was able to act as an ambassador for SCG while I was out at events and interacting with people.
I miss that.
When I decided to leave Roanoke, leave my job at SCG, and stop doing in-house video content, I knew that I was giving up a lot. I knew that it was worth it, though. You don’t always get a second chance at being with the love of your life. You don’t always get a second chance to find someone who fits you as perfectly as those Stormbreath Dragons fit alongside Domri Rade and Xenagos, the Reveler. I don’t have any regrets, but that’s not saying that I don’t miss it.
All that being said, I will be at Grand Prix Portland, and I am currently planning on making my way to Somerset for the Season Two Invitational. Who knows, I might even be able to battle more come Season Three, but for now my goal is to be in fighting shape come GP Portland and the #SCGINVI in New Jersey.
There is just one hitch, though. Eldritch Moon will be out by then, and I can only imagine what insane things are going to happen in that set that will change the landscape of Standard, much like Nahiri is changing the landscape ofInnistrad itself.
G/W Tokens is likely to remain a great deck. W/B Control is probably still going to be good unless they print something that makes Languish a big blank. If you think that they are just going to stop printing creatures that cost one, two, or three mana so that Collected Company won’t be awesome as always, then you’re as delirious as Jace chasing Tamiyo.
Gerry knocked it out of the park again this week with his article on the Premium side. Between him and Tom Ross, if there ever wasn’t a reason to get SCG Premium, there definitely is now.
Personally, I have been trying to consume as much information as I possibly can about this Standard format. Granted, it will change in a month or so when Eldritch Moon comes out, it’s still very important to be aware of what’s going on now so that we’re prepared for the addition of hundreds of new cards.
I’ve been playing with different decks on Magic Online, running them through Leagues both friendly and competitive, and I have learned quite a few things.
Magic Is Hard
This game is not easy. Leveraging edges is tough, especially when they are small. Cards are all insanely powerful, and I’m finding that it’s tough to play around everything all the time, so picking the right spots to either let your opponent make a mistake or put them to the low-percentage tests is the key, but even finding those spots is tough.
For a planeswalker with no actual ultimate, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is a difficult card to play with or against correctly. Add to that how Dromoka’s Command is a blowout almost every time it’s cast, and Archangel Avacyn being very swingy and punishing, and it can be pretty daunting to jump into the perceived best deck and be successful.
It’s not even G/W Tokens that I’m having trouble with. I couldn’t win a game with Cedric’s W/B Control list from #SCGATL. Sideboarding with these Standard decks is all so delicate, I can see just why players like Gerry Thompson, Tom Ross, and Todd Stevens have been successful recently. Planning your deck and sideboard to know what your 60 should look like after sideboarding against the field is a very valuable skill, and all three of those players excel at it.
I even tried Michael Segal’s U/R Eldrazi deck to a mediocre 3-2 finish in a friendly Standard League. Sideboarding was also tough, but so was pacing the games and identifying the key interactions and cards that need to be fought over.
Creatures (6)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (28)
Spells (22)
I will say that I’m pretty proud of properly navigating the one mirror that I played. I made some mistakes but always had the math and lines right to stop their Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and untap into my own. Also, Jace, Unraveler of Secrets is secretly very powerful and I’m going to keep that in my back pocket come Eldritch Moon.
If nothing else, I have learned in the last week of losing a lot on Magic Online that the white cards are too powerful to not play. Whether it’s Gideon, Ally of Zendikar; Reflector Mage; Eldrazi Displacer; Thalia’s Lieutenant; or Linvala, the Preserver, white is the strongest color in Standard right now and finding the right deck is tough.
G/W Tokens is the front runner in the format by a huge margin, but when you step back and look at Standard as a whole, there are an insane number of decks that seem to be playable with Top 32, Top 16, and Top 8 results to back it up.
G/W Tokens
W/B Control
Grixis Control
Esper Dragons
Bant Humans
Mono-White Humans
W/U Humans
W/R Humans
Bant Company
Four-Color Rite
G/R Eldrazi
U/R Eldrazi
Mono-Blue Prison
Sultai Control
Seasons Past Control
B/G Aristocrats
Mono-White Eldrazi
That is a lot of decks, and trying to classify them and find common threads in those categories is where I think the first step to figuring everything out is.
Aggro
Decks in Standard that I would classify as aggressive are:
Mono-White Humans
W/R Humans
W/U Humans
Bant Humans
Bant Company
There really isn’t a common card among all of these decks, but their basic gameplan is to produce a sizable battlefield presence before you’re ready for it and then either grow that presence with cards like Thalia’s Lieutenant and Always Watching or interact with you through cards like Dromoka’s Command, Reflector Mage, and Collected Company.
These decks are the reason that Languish has started to rise into popularity again. G/W Tokens can play the aggressor role, but in general, against other aggressive decks, they have to slide into a controlling stance and play for a longer game.
We see decks using things like Tragic Arrogance; Planar Outburst; Languish; Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet; and a lot of spot removal to try to stem the aggressive tide and make it into the late-game with a healthy enough life total to take over with all of the card advantage available.
In addition, some of the more combo-ish decks are trying to use things like Kozilek’s Return to keep the battlefield clear and and Zulaport Cutthroat to make combat a nightmare.
Midrange/Control
Decks in Standard that I would classify as midrange/control are:
G/W Tokens
Sultai Control
Grixis Control
Esper Dragons
W/B Control
Seasons Past Control
U/R Eldrazi
Mono-White Eldazi
These decks all have elements across them that let them try to stabilize the battlefield against the aggressive decks so that their card advantage can take over the game. The big point of contention right now is that, while there are plenty of decks that fall in the Aggro range, there aren’t very many ramp or combo decks that fall on the other end of the spectrum, so we are seeing the midrange decks try to go bigger than each other. This tends to make the midrange and control decks slower and become more susceptible to the aggressive decks, like we saw at #SCGATL with Tom Ross’s win with W/R Humans.
Cards like Linvala, the Preserver; Den Protector; Nissa, Vastwood Seer; Dragonlord Silumgar; The Great Aurora; and Eldrazi Displacer are seeing play as ways to go long and control the battlefield in the midrange matches. Finding the delicate balance on what and how to sideboard against the opposing midrange and control decks while still having enough for aggressive decks and being able to disrupt and then turn the corner against the combo and ramp decks is key.
Again, Magic is hard.
Combo/Ramp
Decks in Standard that I would classify as combo or ramp would be:
G/R Eldrazi
Four-Color Rite
G/B Aristocrats
Mono-Blue Prison
The Ramp decks are playing a game where they just try to stay alive until their top-end comes online and they can start pummeling opponents with cards like World Breaker, Dragonlord Atarka, and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. They have spell-based ramp elements and try to utilize Kozilek’s Return on both fronts as a way to contain the aggressive opponents.
Against the midrange and control decks they have the edge, since having a mana advantage is huge and threats like World Breaker and Chandra, Flamecaller are tough to handle when they are way ahead of schedule and are interrupting their development.
The Cryptolith Rite decks are interesting as they are built to chump block for days and have much better game against the aggressive decks, yet are much weaker to the sweepers out of control decks like Languish and Radiant Flames.
Mono-Blue Prison is something that has recently shown up and is positively hilarious. The deck is deceptively good, and I’m not even sure how to attack it properly or if we even need to plan accordingly. Using Prism Ring and Jace’s Sanctum along with some bounce, card draw, and Time Walk effects, the Mono-Blue Prison deck is looking to just stall the game out to the point where it can win the game, either through attacking over and over unimpeded with an awakened land from Part the Waterveil or chaining a Rise from the Tides for a whole lot into a Part the Waterveil to untap and attack for the win with an army of Zombies.
Is it good? I’m not sure. A copy went deep into the event at #SCGATL and Frank Karsten took it to a Top 16 finish in Costa Rica.
I still think that a deck focusing on trying to play many copies of Linvala, the Preserver in the maindeck could be the answer. Mono-White Eldrazi might actually be able to support it with the Hedron Crawlers, but is she actually good in that style of deck? I’m not sure if Reality Smasher is looking to team up with Linvala, the Preserver, but I’m willing to find out.
This Standard format is pretty daunting, but I’m ready to put in the work to crack it. Gerry Thompson and Andy Boswell are both still extremely high on G/W Tokens, as is what seems to be the majority of the Magic community. Deciding whether to join them or beat them is step number one.
Can we really beat them, though? I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on what might be favored against G/W Tokens!