500th article? Fitting it would be a set review…
Welcome to a week of Fate Reforged set reviews! Coming on the heels of one of the best sets ever (awesome Standard, awesome Draft, shook up powered
formats), Fate Reforged looks like it will continue the theme of fun formats, though powered formats are unlikely to be turned upside down in the way Khans
impacted them.
Today and Wednesday, I will be looking at the existing Standard decks and at what Fate Reforged cards we might be able to use to improve them. I’ll also be
looking at what cards other players may be employing that could change some of the relative value of cards in our deck. Wednesday will also feature some
brews, plus I’ll be back Friday with new decks and new cards that could have the potential to push fringe decks into the top tier.
As always, my focus will be on figuring out how to use the new cards most effectively, rather than trying to dismiss some cards as 3s, while moving all in
on a card that is objectively strong but might not fit the new format. It’s fine to talk about objective power level, but relative power level is equally
important (and far more interesting most of the time).
We seek to understand all of the tools at our disposal.
You’re never going to believe where I’d like to start today…
Abzan
Looking back on Khans of Tarkir, the Abzan Houses appear to have been the faction that came out on top the most often during the lifespan of the previous
format. Fate Reforged doesn’t have as much for Abzan as some of the others, but that’s a good thing for mixing up the format, and the cards it does have have the potential to change the mix of old cards we want.
The most talked about “Abzan” card has definitely been Warden of the First Tree.
The comparison with Figure of Destiny is obvious, and in fact, Warden of the First Tree’s first and third abilities are probably better than Figure of
Destiny’s. The problem is three-fold.
First and foremost, the second ability on Figure of Destiny is miles better than Warden of the First Tree’s. By the time you’ve spent five mana on Figure
of Destiny, you have a 4/4 that’s already attacked (most of the time), and even when it’s a 2/2, it always threatens to grow in combat.
By contrast, Warden of the First Tree costs seven mana to get a 3/3 lifelink trample creature. The stats aren’t even a surprise, so tactically it’s much
easier for opponents to deal with the possibility of an activation.
Another issue is the color placement. Figure of Destiny was more restrictive in some ways, but it was the exact card both mono-red and mono-white wanted.
Warden of the First Tree can go in a lot of strategies, but most of them weren’t exactly desperately seeking a one-drop. Besides, mono-color decks are
generally better at capitalizing on one-drops, and Warden of the First Tree requires at least two. Many of the best multi-lands enter the battlefield
tapped, conflicting with playing the Warden on curve (turns 1 and 2).
The final issue is power relative to the format. Remember, Figure of Destiny was printed during an era in which a very different mix of cards was getting
the power points. Figure of Destiny is well-equipped for combating cards like Bitterblossom, Mistbind Clique, Vivid lands, and the like. It often got to
partner with Demigod of Revenge or Ranger of Eos, meaning there were natural incentives for red aggro to play enough land to activate him, or for white
decks to play midrange enough to really capitalize on his lategame.
Warden of the First Tree would be a much better card if Ranger of Eos were to be reprinted this year. It’s that rare one-drop that gets a lot of its power
from going long. Once you activate that last ability, you are ahead of Figure of Destiny, as an 8/8 lifelink trampler is much better than an 8/8 flying
first striker. Additionally, unlike Figure of Destiny, Warden of the First Tree can keep pumping!
The first home that springs to mind for Warden of the First Tree is Abzan Aggro, as the card is probably better than Rakshasa Deathdealer or Heir to the
Wilds. Abzan Aggro, more than most aggro decks, actually has realistic chances of using Warden of the First Tree’s “ultimate,” thanks to its relatively
high land count (usually 25).
Creatures (20)
- 4 Fleecemane Lion
- 1 Soul of Theros
- 3 Anafenza, the Foremost
- 2 Rakshasa Deathdealer
- 4 Siege Rhino
- 2 Brutal Hordechief
- 4 Warden of the First Tree
Lands (25)
Spells (15)
This list has a number of experiments I think are worth trying. Wildcall is kind of an interesting “two-drop,” as it is sort of a 2/2 for two with kicker X
where you put X +1/+1 counters on it. That’s already kind of appealing, but then there is the added upside of sometimes getting to “unmorph” your guy for
even more damage (or abilities).
Most of the time, Wildcall will be pretty random, but Temples do give us some amount of influence over it, and besides, the randomness actually makes it
harder for opponents to play around. A lot of the time, it turns out to be just what it appears on the surface. However, a good percentage of the time,
it’s actually secretly a morph.
Picture yourself with Wildcall on turn 2 then attack on turn 3. Does your opponent block? If they do, they’re going to be real sad if your Wildcall turns
into a Fleecemane Lion or Anafenza. Remember, whatever +1/+1 counters you had stick around, so if you spend four mana to get a 4/4 and it turned out to be
a Siege Rhino, you may not get the enters-the-battlefield ability, but you do end up with a surprise 6/7 trampler.
It’s possible that Wildcall puts too much strain on our manabase to be worth it, but it is at least worth trying (even if it is probably going to find
better homes).
Brutal Hordechief is not at its best in Abzan Aggro, preferring to combine with a more token-based strategy, however, it does get incredible value out of
the hybrid ability, as this is a strategy that can totally devastate people if you get to pick how blocks go down. I’m not sure if it helps us enough to
justify it over Sorin, but given we’re trying Wildcall, it’s nice to get more creatures in where we can. To that end, Soul of Theros (instead of something
like Wingmate Roc) is very speculative but does mesh better with Wildcall. Besides, it’s good to occasionally get powerful cards that never really found a
dream home.
Valorous Stance is a very speculative choice and fairly unlikely to want to be in the same Abzan deck as Wildcall, but I like the idea of trying it in
decks that both have creatures worth protecting (which Abzan has) and are in the market for removal (as Valorous Stance is a great way to fight Coursers
and Siege Rhinos, for instance).
Abzan Midrange is not without some new options as well, however. First of all, just as Fleecemane Lion finds its way into some Abzan Midrange decks, so too
could Warden of the First Tree. A midrange deck is generally going to get more value out of the lifelink and the six-mana activation. However, we could
also go the complete opposite way, taking Paul Cheon’s Abzan Midrange deck and getting even more controlling with it.
Creatures (14)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (25)
Spells (17)
Tasigur, the Golden Fang is my favorite card in Fate Reforged and is on the shortlist of best cards in the set. Everyone seems to acknowledge its worth
“trying,” but I think a lot of people are missing just unreal Tasigur’s rate is.
If Tasigur was just a 4/5 delve for six, he’d already be competitive with Tombstalker (not that Tombstalker is even legal). Six is a lot less than eight,
and one is a lot less than two.
That’s not even the end of the story, however. Tasigur’s hybrid ability is a tome of sorts that can be challenging to field properly but actually combos
extremely well with delve. First, delve lets you remove cards you don’t want to get back, making the hits that much better. Heck, you might exile
everything except Siege Rhino when you cast him from his own delve. Now, if you activate his ability, there is a reasonable chance you just flip two land
and get the Rhino. Even if you hit a spell, your opponent won’t have many options as to what to give you.
Courser of Kruphix is a powerful combo with Tasigur, as Tasigur resets the top of your deck if you don’t like what you have coming. It’s also worth noting
that Tasigur is a delve-enabler himself, filling your graveyard as he draws you cards.
This build uses Satyr Wayfinder in lieu of Sylvan Caryatid in order to fuel Tasigur, which might pave the way for more graveyard interactions. The only
other new twist here is the use of Ugin as a sideboard trump in order to go over the top of other midrange decks.
Sultai Reanimator
Of course, Abzan is hardly Tasigur’s only possible home. The card seems tailor-made for Sultai Reanimator.
Creatures (25)
- 3 Hornet Queen
- 4 Sylvan Caryatid
- 4 Courser of Kruphix
- 4 Satyr Wayfinder
- 1 Doomwake Giant
- 1 Soul of Innistrad
- 3 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
- 3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
- 1 Torrent Elemental
- 1 Merciless Executioner
Lands (24)
Spells (11)
Tasigur is an undercosted hard body here that can let us function as a Sultai Control deck that also mills itself, setting up Whip and Soul of Innistrad,
not to mention Torrent Elemental.
Torrent Elemental is definitely a graveyard recursion card, because every time you exile it to help pay for a delve card, you can put it back into play. It
has a solid body and is great at breaking stand-offs. I’m not as in love with it as some, but I do think it’s a fine card. I just think in practice, it is
sometimes going to be too slow.
Marang River Prowler is a recursion option a lot of people are glazing over, focusing entirely on Torrent Elemental. Marang River Prowler has a smaller
impact on the game, but it sure is cheaper and easier to trigger. It doesn’t play defense at all and exerts essentially no influence on the board, but it
does help clock people. It’s a great way to keep pressure on reactive strategies that try to beat us with wraths.
Speaking of wraths, Crux of Fate is a totally respectable sideboard option. It’s only a little weaker than End Hostilities, but black has traditionally
appreciated wraths more than white. While it is a respectable option to consider in Sultai decks, anyone with green creatures is typically not getting as
much value out of it as U/B Control will, or perhaps a B/R Dragon deck.
Another sideboard card I want to try here is Shamanic Revelation. It competes with Treasure Cruise, and my guess is that it should just be another copy.
However, it is particularly good at stand-offs, letting you just completely sew up the whole game. We’re not gaining all that much life off it, and without
that, it doesn’t really get better than Treasure Cruise until you have a Hornet Queen out. My guess is that it will work better in Green Devotion or
possibly some sort of G/R deck.
Green Devotion
Green Devotion was a dominant force prior to Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir, but the format quickly adapted. Control decks initially preyed on it, but eventually
Abzan adapted to be able to support enough sweepers to punish it as well. Jeskai was also often able to outrace it.
Eventually, Green Devotion mostly morphed into G/b Devotion (and other Whip of Erebos decks), but there are enough tools in Fate Reforged that warrant a
second look at the more pure archetype.
Creatures (31)
- 3 Hornet Queen
- 4 Elvish Mystic
- 2 Polukranos, World Eater
- 1 Sylvan Caryatid
- 1 Arbor Colossus
- 4 Voyaging Satyr
- 4 Courser of Kruphix
- 4 Eidolon of Blossoms
- 1 Reclamation Sage
- 1 Whisperwood Elemental
- 4 Whisperer of the Wilds
- 2 Temur Sabertooth
Planeswalkers (6)
Lands (23)
This build eschews Shamanic Revelation maindeck to focus on ramping into Ugin and Hornet Queen, but that might be a mistake. Obviously drawing cards is
what you want, but I think the reason to play Shamanic Revelation is generally because you’re also going to gain a bit of life from it. The difference
between a Blue Sun’s Zenith and a Sphinx’s Revelation is a lot.
One of the most important new additions to try is Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. While Ugin is largely thought of as a control finisher, it is also the best card
in Standard to ramp into.
Ugin completely takes over the board when cast, generally using his –X ability whenever you’re behind at all. Now, you’ve gotten a board sweep and are left
with the best permanent you could ask for. If you happen to be ahead, just use the plus and very quickly you’re threatening to expand your advantage into
card advantage as well.
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon + Nissa, Worldwaker is a particularly exciting combination, as Ugin doesn’t destroy the lands you animate, and as long as X is four
or less, it doesn’t destroy Nissa herself.
Ugin also works with manifest, so if you use Whisperwood Elemental (or Wildcall), you have more permanents that can dodge the sweep.
Whisperwood Elemental is an important new tool for combating sweepers, as the card basically cripples cards like End Hostilities and Crux of Fate. Besides,
Whisperwood Elemental can just take a game over on its own very quickly.
Temur Sabertooth doesn’t have the biggest body in the world, but indestructible makes it a very resilient one. The ability to protect your other creatures
helps add to the anti-wrath flavor of these new cards. Bouncing your creatures can seem like a “cost,” but it does pull them out of harm’s way.
Where things get really fun is when you start abusing enters the battlefield triggers like Eidolon of Blossoms and Hornet Queen, or even just resetting
Monstrous, like Polukranos, World Eater or Arbor Colossus.
Whisperer of the Wilds might just be worse than Sylvan Caryatid, but who blocks with Caryatids anyway? The ability to produce two mana instead of one can
be huge when we’re powering out Hornet Queens and Ugins.
G/R Monsters
G/R Monsters isn’t even really that accurate a name, as I kind of imagine G/R going is a leaner, more aggressive direction than the old planeswalker heavy
versions of old. Maybe G/R Ferocity is more apt?
Creatures (28)
- 4 Elvish Mystic
- 1 Polukranos, World Eater
- 4 Stormbreath Dragon
- 3 Courser of Kruphix
- 4 Rattleclaw Mystic
- 4 Ashcloud Phoenix
- 1 Yasova Dragonclaw
- 4 Flamewake Phoenix
- 3 Shaman of the Great Hunt
Lands (24)
Spells (8)
I love the idea of playing up the flying angle, as Flamewake Phoenix works beautifully alongside Ashcloud Phoenix and Stormbreath Dragon.
While Flamewake Phoenix is totally beatable if you try, it’s a great card on rate and tears apart a lot of unprepared strategies. My guess is that this
will prove to be one of the five most important new cards in the set for shaping the new metagame.
Flamewake Phoenix obviously greatly demands we play with creatures four power and up. This has us wanting to use a card like Shaman of the Great Hunt
instead of Chandra, Pyromaster if we can get away with it.
The haste fits right in nicely with the Phoenix and the Dragon. The AOE pumping ability is sometimes going to let us press early advantages. It’s also
going to really punish people that didn’t keep back a blocker. The card-drawing ability gives G/R another dimension to its midrange to long-game plan
besides just relying on fliers and Crater’s Claws.
I’m much less optimistic about Yasova Dragonclaw, but I’ll give her a shot. Besides, maybe she ends up awesome. She is just a little clumsy, as her body
will cause some disappointing losses of tempo at times, and her ability is a bit specialized. It is definitely going to be great in spots, I’m just unsure
what percentage of stages in the metagame’s development are going to reward the tactical options she brings. Some will, for sure, but how many? We’ll see.
We already discussed Wildcall a bit earlier, but it’s actually way more exciting here. You’ve got a lot of total badass creatures to transform into as a
surprise. We could also really use a two-drop, so it’s nice when our two-drop slot doubles as another mana sink for going large.
Finally, we’ve got some really cool combos. Manifest an Ashcloud Phoenix and your opponent is taking two when you flip it. Additionally, it only costs 2RR
to morph, instead of 4RR, when it’s manifested.
Rattleclaw Mystic, Ashcloud Phoenix, and Wildcall are all going to add up to a sweet extra dimension in terms of hidden information. Sagu Mauler could fit
right in if we were Temur, and Whisperwood Elemental is a top-notch sideboard card if we want to fight sweepers.
We could try Whisperer of the Wilds in here, but I think we really want to attack with our mana creatures from time to time.
Alright, I’m out for today, but I’ll be back Wednesday to tackle the rest of the Standard decks and get into some brews. Let me know what card or deck
you’d most like to see covered!