Today I’d like to spend some serious time talking about my issues with Standard. There are a lot of cards I believe we should seriously evaluate for the
purpose of preserving the health of the format.
First and foremost I-
Just kidding!
Let’s not go down that rabbit hole again.
Last week was easily the most entertaining and enlightening moment of my writing career, and it’s not remotely close. A Modern Proposal was viewed by a lot of people, lampooned by some, loved
by many, and caused me to spend a ton of time answering questions on Facebook and Twitter. Let me answer them all for you, here and now, before we talk
about Grand Prix: Miami.
1- Yes, it was satire.
2- No, I don’t think we should ban fetchlands.
3- Yes, I wish Tarmogoyf was cheaper.
4- Yes, I am sorry that you never read Swift.
5- No, I’m not getting fired.
6- Yes, I am going to Miami.
There we go! All in one nice, neat little package.
So this weekend, my parent company, StarCityGames, is hosting Grand Prix Miami. This event is about as ridiculously sweet as it sounds, and if you’re not
coming to my tropical backyard, I feel for you on an epic level.
It just so happens that Standard, my favorite format, is the mode of battle for this GP, and I’m here to breakdown the cards that need to be
banned
played this weekend in order to be as successful as possible.
Brad Nelson broke it down last week in his Magic Candy series, so it would be
superfluous of me to tell you about the tier breaks and what decks you should be playing, but instead I want to help you focus on the cards that should
100% be in your deck come this weekend. If you’re playing a build that doesn’t feature one of these cards, you better have a damn good reason. Almost
nothing available to us has the power level or impact of these cards, so make sure you’re battling with them or you’re almost certainly going to be filling
out a decklist incorrectly.
Unless you’re going strictly for fun…in that case play ALL the Rally the Ancestors in your deck!
Right now, Goblin Rabblemaster gives you something that almost no other card in Standard can give you: free wins.
This is one of the most often overlooked principles in Magic: How many free wins can this card give you? Pack Rat was a card that you could deal with, but
how many times did you lose a game because you simply couldn’t? They untapped, started making rats, and you died. Goblin Rabblemaster presents a similar
bargain at three mana, and if an opponent doesn’t have a direct way to deal with it, they die. It’s actually that simple. Sometimes they can race, but a
deck packing burn and ways to clear the road for their attackers isn’t one to shy away from a race. Combined with cheap spells like Lightning Strike,
Chained to the Rocks, and Wild Slash, it becomes far more likely that Rabblemaster will connect, and the huge chunk of life it takes out is a big reason
why decks packing them are doing so well at the moment.
R/W Aggro is a house right now, so if you expect to fight through a field, respect the most powerful three-drop in the format.
If you want to attack decks that utilize Goblin Rabblemaster, it means adding cards that can kill it almost seamlessly like Wild Slash, which is an
excellent tool for dealing with the upsurge in six to eight two-drops that R/W decks are also packing.
The most ban-worthy card in all of Magic is here in full force, and in Standard it’s still as good as the day it was printed.
Siege Rhino has no respect for any card in the format whatsoever.
The short of it is that you must be ready for Siege Rhino. It is the anchor that makes Abzan decks, particularly Abzan Control, so strong right now.
You can’t ignore the rhino- not elephant- in the room. It’s amazing at closing out games, applying early pressure in decks that rarely have ways to put the
screws to someone in the first few turns, and not having a plan for Siege Rhino is the easiest way to find yourself exiting a tournament in the infant
rounds.
One of the best ways to defeat Siege Rhino is to attack the Rhino itself. Cards like Valorous Stance, Chained to the Rocks, Crackling Doom, or removal that
can sometimes get under it like Murderous Cut, can invalidate it.
Let’s just put all of our cards on the table for Dig Through Time: Without this card, Sultai Control would be terrible. One of the reasons that it performs
so well and was able to take Memphis by storm is because of the fact that delve is broken, but our job is either to play with it or beat it.
Dig presents an interesting case in Sultai Control that you don’t really see in U/B Control. Satyr Wayfinder fills your graveyard at a much more rapid
rate, meaning you are able to search for threats or answers at a much quicker pace. The deck now becomes more reactive than other controlling archetypes
when it matters in the early goings, rather than hoping to stabilize in the middle or later portions of a game. Chaining Digs makes for a very potent mix
of ways to deal with an opponent’s cards while leading up to the powerful planeswalker suite this deck has.
Beating Dig decks can be a little more complicated than other strategies: Killing Rabblemasters or Siege Rhinos is a lot easier than dealing with the
expensive instant. The best way to do it is by playing mana-efficient cards like Disdainful Stroke, but usually those are the kinds of decks fighting fire
with fire and casting their own Digs.
As Brad said, Mono-Red Aggro is probably one of the worst decks in the format that people keep playing for various reasons. However, if the room is full of
Sultai Control decks, the person jamming Foundry Street Denizens and Akroan Crusaders could be king.
If red cards aren’t your bag, Abzan decks with Thoughtseize are always a fantastic choice. The Dig Through Time decks are susceptible to flooding out, and
without their best spell in Dig, they can run out of gas.
Attacking their hand can put them behind, which allows Thoughtseize decks to pull ahead with superior card draw and more robust threats like Elspeth.
Sometimes WOTC prints cards that take average or good decks and it makes them great. Outpost Siege is one of those cards. The advent of it in R/W-based
strategies made them much, much more dangerous, and this is now the card that has the biggest target on its head.
R/W is, in my humble opinion, the best deck in the format. It’s the forerunner for my Miami deck of choice, and the reason, aside from Rabblemaster, is
Outpost Siege.
This card provides more advantage than any other in the format, and it can’t be killed my most conventional means. While Sultai Charm has its number, the
rest of the format hasn’t adapted to what it brings to the table, but to be fair, it can’t. Many people are advocating adding enchantment hate to maindecks
again, but the format doesn’t allow for it with so many cards necessary to answer. Outpost Siege is the kind of card people need to respect, but they can’t
give up the gains against other decks. My game 1s with a resolved Outpost Siege are miserable for my opponents, and I can’t even remember a match I lost
where it stayed in play for more than a few turns.
Ben Stark upping his count to four doesn’t shock me, and in fact, versions my team and I had been testing prior to Memphis had the full set as well. It is
without a doubt one of the most powerful things you can do in Standard.
Beating it is far trickier than you would think. I’ve seen “bring multiple Back to Natures to your sideboard” or “go back to maindecking a couple
Reclamation Sages.” These answers might seem antiquated, but they aren’t farfetched anymore. Outpost Siege is a very real card, and it seems to be the one
people are trying to shrug off the most.
Why?
I don’t understand it.
Maybe someone can explain to me why Outpost Siege is clowned on while people still seem content to jam substandard strategies and call them formidable.
It’s getting harder and harder to catch people off-guard when cards like Outpost Siege and Dig Through Time can find an eclectic amount of answers. You
need to remember that.
I’ve heard people say that Ugin isn’t the amazing card that it has been hyped up to be, and to them I immediately ask, “What are you drinking?” because I
would also like to get drunk from it.
Ugin, I don’t think, was meant to be ramped into from the green decks. Sure, it gave a pretty sweet way to blow out the W/U Heroic decks, but Ugin is a
train moving towards you at twenty miles an hour. When it hits, it’s still going to shred you to pieces even though it’s moving pretty damn slow.
Ugin is the baddest planeswalker in the game right now. I know people like to hug on Elspeth and tout her power- and obviously she’s insane- but Ugin is
the equalizer. There has never been a card in the game that can generate such a massive advantage, especially when cast on a board where it annihilates all
of your opponent’s permanents. Sultai and Abzan are making waves with this card, particularly Sultai.
Beating Ugin is sometimes as simple as casting a Hero’s Downfall on it, Thoughtseizing it, or countering it. Then again, it can be as complicated as
all-out attacks and flinging burn spells at it. This is the kind of card that you either can beat or you can’t, and it’s really that black and white.
It’s funny how these things change while still managing to stay the same. Before Fate Reforged came out, Siege Rhino and Goblin Rabblemaster were
absolutely two cards that would be considered pillars, but Outpost Siege and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon have blown a lot of Khans cards out of the water. The
birth of the format saw Mantis Rider and Jeskai Ascendancy pushed to the front of the line, but these Fate Reforged cards have shown they are more powerful
and demanding of answers.
As for this weekend, you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be casting at least two of the cards on the list.
When you sit down across from me in Miami, get ready for those turn 3 Rabblemasters. Be ready for the Outpost Sieges to rain from the sky.
You’ve been warned!
I hope you choose to play some of the best cards in the format, because everyone I know will be.
Now let’s all get ready for some sun and fun in Miami!