The Return Of Blue To Standard

Why are the blue cards all so bad?

Okay, all the blue cards besides Dig Through Time…

…

This Standard format is one of the best of all time, at the very least, from the perspective of the metagame evolving week to week. Just when it seems like
the world might have figured it out, it takes a sharp turn in an unexpected direction.

When Khans of Tarkir dropped, if you had told me the three most popular Standard decks at year’s end were blue, and not a one of them had Dig Through Time
maindeck, I would have been shocked. This format is so deep, and it just keeps getting deeper.

● When Khans of Tarkir first hit, the format’s three most successful decks were Green Devotion, Abzan Midrange, and Jeskai Aggro.

● Pro Tour Khans featured more Jeskai Aggro and Abzan Midrange, as well as the rise of U/B Control.

● The next week, Grand Prix LA saw Mardu Midrange and G/R Monsters joining Abzan Midrange at the top.

● By GP Stockholm, the following month, Jeskai Aggro had replaced Mardu Midrange, alongside Abzan Midrange and G/R Monsters.

● A month of evolution, and the most popular deck at the World Championships was Sultai Reanimator. As always, Abzan Midrange was the second biggest deck.
Third most popular? The return of Green Devotion, this time incorporating black, structured as more of a Constellation deck.

● A week later at the SCG Invitational, Abzan Reanimator had replaced Sultai Reanimator, with Jeskai Tokens and W/u Heroic rising to the top of the format,
and Abzan finally falling out of the top three. Jeskai Aggro went completely extinct.

● Finally, this past weekend at the SCG Players’ Championships, Jeskai Tokens was the most popular deck, with Sultai Reanimator taking the Abzan
Reanimator spot again. Once again, W/u Heroic rounds out the top, and now Abzan had almost entirely disappeared. All three of the top decks at the start of
the format have basically died out.

The Whip decks have basically replaced the green devotion decks as the “big” deck. Jeskai Tokens has replaced Jeskai Aggro, but rather than being the
“fast” deck, it is the “mid-speed” deck. Instead, W/u Heroic is the fast deck of choice.

I’m looking forward to the upcoming Grand Prix in my own backyard here in Denver. Anticipating the next step in the Standard metagame is a super fun
puzzle, and for the first time since before the Pro Tour, I’m not just on the Abzan plan. I’ve definitely considered the other decks, but I’ve never been
“off” Abzan. It’s just so strong, and the cards are so good.

This format though? Things have gotten hostile. The top six decks are mostly naturally well set against Abzan. That’s basically the definition of a good
deck these days. I’m definitely going to try sketching out new takes on Abzan Midrange, but it’s probably going to take a restructuring of the deck to have
a chance of getting back into the top tier. There are a couple of other decks that are starting to look appealing, which I’d like to talk about today; but
first, let’s take a look at the format as a whole.

The results below are based on the top 8 of the SCG Invitational and top 16 of the Seattle Open, weighted by finish. The SCG Players’ Championship data is
purely based on popularity due to the unusual structure and size of the event.

Archetype	SCG Invi/Sea	SCGPlayChamp	Expected Meta
Jeskai Tokens	15.4%	25.0%	20.2%
W/u Heroic	10.3%	18.8%	14.6%
Sultai Reanimator	7.7%	18.8%	13.3%
Abzan Reanimator	17.9%	6.3%	12.1%
G/R Monsters	9.0%	12.5%	10.8%
U/x Control	7.7%	6.3%	7.0%
R/W Aggro	10.3%	0.0%	5.2%
Abzan Aggro	5.1%	6.3%	5.7%
Mardu Midrange	3.8%	6.3%	5.1%
Abzan Midrange	9.0%	0.0%	4.5%
G/B Constellation	3.8%	0.0%	1.9%

It’s not just that the top three decks of the format shift every week. There is such a great mix of cards, colors, and strategies. There seemed to be quite
a bit of imbalance at the advent of the format, with Courser of Kruphix utterly dominating the landscape, appearing in nearly 80% of decks. A few months in
and we’ve learned more about what it takes to actually compete with Courser decks.

Now? Courser of Kruphix is certainly one of the best cards, and the most popular, but it is down to a much healthier 42.6%. That’s still a lot to be sure,
but for such a versatile staple it’s hardly the end of the world. By comparison, Goblin Rabblemaster appears in 30.5% of winner’s circle metagame decks.

What’s the most popular two-drop in Standard? You might guess Sylvan Caryatid. After all, nearly every Courser deck is packing it, and while Ascendancy
combo has mostly fallen off the map, that’s still over 40%.

Seeker of the Way, however, appears in 49.1% of all decks at the top. That’s more than the total number of green decks, let alone Caryatid decks. Here’s a
look at the color distribution of the top decks over the past two weeks:

White – 70.9%

Blue – 60.5%

Green – 48.3%

Black – 46.1%

Red – 41.3%

I know, right? I’m guessing a lot of people would have guessed the green and black would be near the top (though I’m sure white would be on everyone’s
list). White’s been on top of the format, but when did blue get so big?

I’d like to take a look at the blue decks of Standard, which have covered a pretty big range. After all, the most popular big mana deck, the top midrange
deck, the top aggro deck, and the top control deck are all blue!

Ever since Yuuya took the Standard format by storm at the World Championships, Jeskai Tokens has been a crowd favorite and a top performer.

Jeskai Tokens

Ross Merriam

6th Place at Star City Games Players' Championship on 12-20-2014

Standard

Creatures (8)

Planeswalkers (2)

2 Chandra, Pyromaster

Lands (24)

Spells (26)

Sideboard

Aside from replacing one Lightning Strike with a Magma Jet, Merriam’s maindeck has all of the same spells Yuuya ran at Worlds. Looking at all the lists
people have been playing, there seems to be very little straying from this blueprint.

The sideboard is where we can find a little more innovation, a little more variety. Cards like Disdainful Stroke, Erase, and Glare of Heresy are standard
operating procedure. Hushwing Gryff is a throwback to the early days of the format. Back then, its primary functionality was countering Hornet Queen. While
that is still an important part of the equation, Doomwake Giant is everywhere thanks to its ability to sweep tokens. Additionally, it always brings with it
Satyr Wayfinder and Sidisi or Siege Rhino, not to mention a fair number of Reclamation Sages and Eidolon of Blossoms.

Wingmate Roc has long been a major player in the format, however, this is a new place for it. It gives Merriam an extra threat against Bile Blight and
Drown in Sorrow, as well as gaining some edge in the mirror.

How did Merriam get room for these new additions? Interestingly, he cut sweepers. I wonder how many Whip decks slow-played their hands because of End
Hostilities, only to get blown out by Hushwing Gryff?

I think Yuuya’s deck is absolutely brilliant and surely a fixture of the top tier for the foreseeable future. What I wonder is if future versions may try
to position themselves a bit to be the control deck in the mirror. Once you have answers to each other’s Ascendancies and tokens, card draw starts looking
real good. Is it possible we want a Dig Through Time in here? What about a Scouring Sands in the sideboard?

It’s kind of a funny card to consider for Jeskai, but what about Mantis Rider? It’s great against the Whip decks, putting a lot of pressure on
them, dodging Doomwake Giant, and helping prevent incidental damage from adding up. More Jeskai Tokens chats can be found here.

W/U Heroic

Tom Ross

5th Place at Star City Games Players' Championship on 12-20-2014

Standard

Creatures (19)

Lands (22)

Spells (19)

Sideboard

W/u Heroic was merely fringe in Theros Block Constructed, but M15 and Khans of Tarkir were kind to it. Heliod’s Pilgrim means a lot more Ordeals of Thassa,
and Defiant Strike is the perfect heroic enabler. Flooded Strand means the mana isn’t horrible anymore. Seeker of the Way is exactly what heroic needed,
being another great creature for less than three mana and giving it a better way to race (instead of playing defense). Additionally, it gets powered up by
all of the same stuff that powers up your heroic cards.

Ross has been advocating this deck for some time now and is largely responsible for popularizing it. He has been having continued success with it, so it’s
not surprising to see only minor tweaks. He replaced a Heliod’s Pilgrim with an Eidolon of Countless Battles (which can’t be searched for with Heliod’s
Pilgrim, of course), and the one Lagonna Band Trailblazer became another Seeker of the Way. His only change to the sideboard was the removal of the two
copies of Brimaz, instead fitting in the Trailblazer he cut from the main and an extra copy of Ordeal of Heliod. He also decided to go with the one-one
split of Treasure Cruise/Dig Through Time, this time around.

Personally, I am not a huge fan of this deck. While I respect it, I think a lot of its percentage comes from how difficult it is to play against. While it
puts up numbers at Open Series events, it was nearly absent from the World Championships. It also didn’t have a great showing at the Invitational, an event
with a Pro Tour level of average player strength, despite being a popular choice. Where does a Grand Prix fall on that spectrum? It might be in the middle
for most of the event, but if you want to win the event, you are going to have to go through a lot of pros. While W/u Heroic is difficult to play against,
I think most pro players are going to find extra percentage points in a lot of matchups against it, so I am not strongly considering it for the Grand Prix
at this time.

Sultai Reanimator

Reid Duke

3rd Place at Star City Games Players' Championship on 12-20-2014

Standard

Creatures (24)

Lands (23)

Spells (13)

Sideboard

Sultai Reanimator may be only the third biggest archetype, as split above, but is arguably the most important archetype to prepare for, since it has so
many similarities to the fourth biggest deck, Abzan Reanimator. In fact, once you add together all the Whip decks, which really do all play very similarly,
you are talking about 27.3% of the format. Not only is that bigger than any other archetype, it’s a strategy that is disproportionately popular with top
players.

At the World Championships, Sultai Reanimator did not have a great win percentage; however, it was the most popular deck and put two into the final day.
This past weekend at the SCG Players’ Championship, exactly three players brought it into battle.

Those three players all made the final four!

Reid’s update to Sultai Reanimator actually contains a lot of new technology. First and foremost, there is now a green devotion theme. Nykthos, Shrine to
Nyx makes an appearance, and he maxes on Eidolon of Blossoms, making Pharika, God of Affliction into an all-star.

The manabase has been rebuilt in order to accommodate Nykthos. This means no more Polluted Delta, and I think that’s totally fine. I can’t even tell you
how many times I’ve seen Sultai Reanimator decks run out of basics, partially because of Satyr Wayfinder flipping them. Besides, drawing two non-green
sources can be brutal early.

Reid’s sideboard let’s him transform into a Sultai Control deck, with Read the Bones, Treasure Cruise, and Kiora for extra card drawing and tons of removal
options. This is such a great way to level people that were counting on sweepers like End Hostilities. As good as Disdainful Stroke is, I like reducing the
total count of them here, as Thoughtseize often makes it so easy to play around.

In my opinion, this is the deck to beat this week. It has such a strong game against the mid-speed and slow decks. I wonder if it might be time for a
return to Jeskai Aggro, with an emphasis on fliers like Mantis Rider and Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker (picked up Stormbreath Dragon because of its strength
against Murderous Cut).

It’s important to keep an eye on the trends in a format and what the implications are. For instance, Abzan Charm and Utter End have fallen off in
popularity, while Murderous Cut and Stoke the Flames are both quite popular. This makes Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker a much more appealing option than
Stormbreath Dragon.

Besides, the biggest problem with Jeskai Aggro was Siege Rhino and everything traditional Abzan Midrange brought with it. Now that the Whip decks have put
such a hurting on Abzan, maybe the format is less hostile for Jeskai. The question quickly becomes, “Is Jeskai Aggro just a worse Jeskai Tokens deck?”
While I generally like the tokens deck better, they are vulnerable to different cards, and the format is really slanted against the tokens deck at the
moment. That doesn’t mean we can’t reappropriate some of it technology, however.

For instance, might we want Treasure Cruise in Jeskai Aggro? Is it crazy to cut Jeskai Ascendancy, Raise the Alarm, and Hordeling Outburst?

Jeskai Aggro

Patrick Chapin

Test deck on 12-22-2014

Standard

Creatures (14)

Planeswalkers (3)

Lands (25)

Spells (18)

Sideboard

What about control?

Well, one of the problems with control in this format is that with the format shifting so much week to week and so many decks seeing play, it’s hard to
build a reactive deck that beats them all. Of course, the real problem is that so many of the reactive cards are slightly underpowered. Think Last Breath,
Nullify, and Devouring Light.

These cards are just not as strong as Siege Rhino, Whip of Erebos, and Jeskai Ascendancy. That said, if your heart is set on control, there are options.
Most recently, Jim Davis has sparked a return of U/W Control, a deck he played to a top 4 finish at the Invitational last weekend.

U/W Control

Jim Davis

15th Place at Star City Games Players' Championship on 12-20-2014

Standard

Creatures (1)

1 Pearl Lake Ancient

Planeswalkers (3)

3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Lands (27)

Spells (29)

Sideboard

This list is well-suited to prey on Abzan Reanimator decks and traditional Abzan, however, Sutail Reanimator is far tougher, and Abzan Midrange has all but
disappeared. I wouldn’t mind something like this at an Open Series event, however, too many of the end bosses you’ll have to beat to win a GP will know how
to weave through this mix of reactive cards.

Part of playing against decks like this is knowing when to time your spells. What can they cast with the mana they have available? What cards must they not have in their hand (at least up until last turn) because of the way they are playing their cards? So often, the plays they make only make
sense if their hand is a certain mix, which when deduced, can give you a major advantage.

When you know what reactive cards they have, you’ll often do nothing, waiting to build up. If you try playing into them, they will just trade their card
for yours and not need to hold up that mana in the future. Additionally, their graveyard will fill up, and their hand will get a little extra room under
the cap. Once they can Jace’s Ingenuity and Dig Through Time, things can start to fall apart. If their hand is full, however, there isn’t a lot of profit
in it, and in fact, sometimes they end up just having to discard because you won’t play anything.

Another tactical consideration for timing your plays against these control decks is to wait to play spells the turn it makes sense for them to Jace’s
Ingenuity or Dig Through Time. This can sometimes bottleneck them on mana, and drawing a Nullify a turn late can be game-losing for them.

Going into GP Denver and SCG Columbus, I am most strongly considering Whip decks, Jeskai variants, and Abzan (if I can find some sweet, sweet tech). The
format is going to shift again, and the name of the game is beating where it goes, not where it was.

Of course, this might be the perfect time to revisit a deck the format has forgotten about. What about one of the following?

● Suicide Black

● Naya Midrange

● Super Friends

● Ascendancy Combo

● B/W Midrange

● Blue Devotion

I’ll be back Wednesday, because you know what? Maybe it’s time to bring brewing back…