It’s soon to be Mardu Guy’s world. We’re just living in it.
Standard is turning into a format dominated by ruthlessly powerful card advantage. As decks become tuned, it is easier for players to exploit the near limitless options that Battle lands afford. When players can do whatever they want, it is simply a matter of time before they begin to solve the problems of the format.
In the case of Battle for Zendikar, that would be Abzan Aggro and its ability to curve out with an incredible sequence of powerful threats.
The best way to combat this is to exploit Abzan’s bottleneck of only being able to deploy one card per turn. This leads naturally to wanting to play a removal suite involving Murderous Cut. Now that the cat is out of the bag on Painful Truths, designing decks to exploit the delve mechanic in a reactive manner without running out of gas is a reality.
Soulfire Grand Master is the naturally perfect complement to a card advantage engine reliant on spending life that also wants to utilize the most efficient spells in the format.
This past weekend, a smart and handsome gentlemen reached the elimination rounds of #SCGDEN for the millionth time.
Creatures (9)
Lands (26)
Spells (25)
- 2 Duress
- 4 Crackling Doom
- 2 Utter End
- 2 Murderous Cut
- 2 Treasure Cruise
- 3 Ojutai's Command
- 2 Roast
- 2 Kolaghan's Command
- 4 Fiery Impulse
- 2 Painful Truths
Sideboard
Looks pretty familiar. I have mixed feelings about Todd’s changes. On the one hand, the majority of his changes in the maindeck look good. I certainly don’t blame anyone for being as crazy as me and not registering the full four copies of Painful Truths. As a result, his mix of draw spells and cutting a Murderous Cut seems correct. If Abzan Aggro does start to wane significantly in popularity, then the third Cut is certainly no longer crucial. Further, his inclusion of a second Kolaghan’s Command looks great.
As I discussed and played with the deck more since my last article, I’ve put more stock in Kolaghan’s Command and less in Ojutai’s Command. It is often times difficult to play such a reactive card, particularly one that it is often times face-up for your opponent. On the other hand, Kolaghan’s Command is another recursion effect for your squad, but more importantly, it works your opponent down to being hellbent, particularly in conjunction with Duress. All we want to do is grind our opponents to dust, and there is plenty of “hard” removal for dealing with big threats.
A week ago I probably would have supported Todd’s removal of a Shambling Vent for a Mystic Monastery, but ironically after watching him play this weekend, I think it was wrong! Shambling Vent looked nothing short of incredible for Todd every match he was on camera. There were multiple instances where he and his opponent had completely exhausted each other, but Todd simply had two relevant lands on the battlefield to his opponent’s zero.
My major issues are with the sideboard. I love the Dark Petition package. Esper Token’s victory this weekend certainly does nothing to dissuade me that Virulent Plague is an awesome option to have access to, and if Atarka Red continues to be constructed to go super wide with Hordeling Outburst and Dragon Fodder, then Virulent Plague will continue to prove to be a powerful tool.
I hate Mastery of the Unseen. What players are doing nowadays simply outpaces Mastery now that it is a fair card to never be powered by Nykthos ever again. It’s not that having a steady stream of threats isn’t relevant, but when players can brute force through Mastery with Ancestral Recalls and Siege Rhinos, it’s difficult to keep up. Further, Mastery plays much better when supported by counterspells and diverse pieces of board position like Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. When merely used as a grindy threat, it won’t always reliably match up with what an opponent is bringing to the table.
While it’s difficult to equate Todd’s tournament down to a single match, I think it’s likely that he sorely missed access to Ob Nixilis Reignited against Joe Lossett. As I spoke about last week, Ob Nixilis is incredible, and at its worst will generate multiple cards against Joe’s deck. Should it ever be insulated by Negate or Duress, it wouldn’t surprise me if Joe couldn’t beat an Ob Nixilis.
Despite some testing of my own, I’ve simply largely speculated on the nature of this Jeskai Black deck. There’s ultimately nothing that will replace fifteen rounds of tournament Magic, and as a result, I’m sure Todd will have plenty to speak about regarding improvement of the deck. I’ll leave further discussion of this deck in particular to him.
What I do want to talk about are some of the implications this Mardu suite has for branching out within Battle for Zendikar Standard. While Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy is the best card in the format, that doesn’t mean that Mardu Blue Jeskai Black is the definitive best Painful Truths deck.
I sent a message to Gerry a few days before #SCGDEN that was innocent enough. I had been exploring the Mardu Blue deck and was working on the basis for this article. I had an idea and he perhaps took it on a little too strongly. I don’t know exactly where his Abzan Red deck was when he registered it this past weekend, but here’s the basic gist:
Creatures (10)
Lands (26)
Spells (24)
Picture this as a hybrid between Abzan Control and Jeskai Black. Instead of playing sweepers and an incredibly clunky top end with cards like Dragonlord Atarka, Abzan Red is more interested in dominating the earlygame in a similar manner to Jeskai Black, but is far more threat-dense with the inclusion of Siege Rhino and Den Protector. Further, it is also much better equipped to fight Gideon, Ally of Zendikar than the blue deck. I suspect that an evolution of this format that will develop is moving away from more than a few copies of cards that cost more than four mana, as cheaper options like Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy, Soulfire Grand Master, Siege Rhino, and delve spells are simply so powerful.
Amusingly, one of Gerry’s major complaints was that he didn’t draw enough Painful Truths. Two Truths just isn’t enough, and certainly Abzan Charm’s draw two is no draw three.
Another issue he mentioned was Den Protector. Den Protector is fairly slow and anemic when not backed up by significant battlefield presence. If we’re more interested in Painful Truths than Abzan Charm and Den Protector isn’t pulling its weight, maybe we can explore a pure Mardu Guy special:
Creatures (10)
Lands (26)
Spells (24)
You’ll probably notice a great deal of similarities between this Mardu deck and the R/W Aggro deck from last season that performed well before the printing of Dromoka’s Command. Seeker of the Way has a lot of natural synergy with Painful Truths by being a robust attacker that gains life while curving into Truths. Further, Seeker again helps to alleviate the Gideon problem as it is no issue to trigger prowess and put your opponent in a tough spot of whether to block or not.
The inclusion of Silkwrap is a nod towards protecting Outpost Siege from Dromoka’s Command. While it is mostly free and Silkwrap still has some strong upside against Jeskai Black decks for its ability to exile Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy, it may be that Outpost Siege is simply a relic of the past. If that were the case, I would look towards more threats like Pia and Kiran Nalaar or additional copies of Utter End. The manner in which this deck is constructed is interesting in that we are a lot more aggressive than Jeskai Black and need to leverage our removal to race our opponents. If Seeker of the Way can survive a few turns, then it is probably no issue to chip our opponent out with Shambling Vent should we lose control.
That being said, that’s still a major difference between Mardu and Jeskai Black. Despite having more ability to get on the battlefield early, it is unlikely that Mardu can play as potent a long game due to the lack of Jace and Ojutai’s Command.
Amusingly, despite the fact that I’ve specifically tried to shave a color, due to the manner in which I’ve constructed my manabase, I still incidentally have fourteen green sources.
What if we were to just take Mardu midrange in the most no nonsense direction possible and splash Siege Rhino?
Creatures (12)
Lands (26)
Spells (22)
Simple and straight to the point, this is by far the most aggressive version of Mardu I’ve included. What may ultimately hold back these types of decks is their linear nature. While they do have several routes to gain card advantage, efficiently kill creatures, and attack their opponent, that may simply not be enough in the face of the Jace menace. Simply, if one does not draw their Painful Truths, it may not be possible to keep up with a barrage of Commands out of Jeskai Black.
Something that I’ve been meaning to try is Painful Truths in aggressive red decks. I don’t have a ton of hands-on experience with Atarka Red in this format so bear with me.
Creatures (18)
- 4 Monastery Swiftspear
- 2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
- 1 Zurgo Bellstriker
- 3 Den Protector
- 4 Abbot of Keral Keep
- 4 Makindi Sliderunner
Lands (24)
Spells (18)
Notably this list completely eschews any combo elements. My inclusion of four copies of Painful Truths with no lifegain in sight may be pushing towards foolish on the bold spectrum, but a red deck that can leverage an early advantage on the battlefield while preventing their opponent from building their own is certainly appealing. Tasigur is an awesome threat in a red deck that both brick walls other aggressive decks and provides a source of card advantage should he be given some breathing space.
We do lack the absurd combo potential of Atarka Red, but between Abbot of Keral Keep, Den Protector, Tasigur, and Painful Truths, this red deck really has more longevity than most other decks in Standard, but it’s not clear at what costs those come at. Certainly we aren’t trying to be the fastest with only five one-drops and a smattering of aggressive two-drops, so I suspect that role assignment will be the key in navigating a variety of matchups rather than Atarka Red’s tendency to simply try to get everyone dead.
I have included some copies of Become Immense in the sideboard as a means to turn into more of a traditional red deck in matchups where Murderous Cut isn’t at its most effective. Probably my favorite sideboard card is Self-Inflicted Wound, however. Again, while I suspect that Abzan Aggro is soon to be on the decline, it’s going to be very difficult for Abzan to compete with an aggressively slanted deck that can not only out card them but answer their threats at efficient rates.
While my love for Painful Truths may appear borderline obsessive, every week the card keeps encroaching further in the metagame while even making appearances in other formats. I don’t think it’s going to stop in Standard until folks rightfully decide to play all four.
I suspect that many players that perform well at the #SCGINVI this weekend will be doing just that.