Breaking Down The Standard Metagame, Part 2

Hello again, fellow planeswalkers!

Last week
, we covered the three-color Clan-based decks. As we saw, there are a whole slew of decks in that category that are playable, and I don’t even think we
covered 100% of them. This week I want to go over the two-color deck combinations and the mono-color decks, but before we jump into that, we have an
addendum to last week’s information.

This weekend was pretty awesome. I got to battle Team Sealed with BBD and Michael Majors in Nashville and ended up in 8th place (sadly, only the Top 4
teams of a Team GP qualify for the next Pro Tour), but more importantly, we had a brand new Standard deck win the Standard Open in Oakland. Check
out sweet combination of Jeskai Heroic and Jeskai Ascendancy Combo:

Jeskai Heroic Combo

Ivan Jen

1st Place at Star City Games Standard Open on 11-01-2014

Standard

Creatures (16)

Lands (18)

Spells (26)

Sideboard

Ivan Jen has taken a very low to the ground Heroic strategy with lots of one-drops and cheap spells to target them with and added in Jeskai Ascendancy.
This little enchantment with too many words on it fills two roles here:

1.) You can simply cast a bunch of spells and make all of your creatures huge. Remember, since Akroan Crusader and Jeskai Ascendancy go on the stack at the
same time, you can chose the order in which they resolve. Additionally, don’t forget to get your token first before the +1/+1 resolves so you can create a
loop with Springleaf Drum and Retraction Helix.

2.) Speaking of the loop, with two creatures out and a Springleaf Drum, you can Retraction Helix one and use the other to make a mana with the Drum. You
then tap the Retraction Helixed creature to bounce the Drum and recast it, which causes them both to untap and get +1/+1. You can then do this over and
over and make your creatures extremely large and kill your opponent.

If you happen to have two Drums, you can make infinite mana, and once you throw a Dragon Mantle in the mix, you can even draw your whole deck. It’s like
the initial Jeskai Ascendancy Combo deck without being all in on drawing Ascendancy since you can just kill very quickly with the Heroic aspect of the deck
too.

I really like this deck and imagine that it’s going to be pretty popular as we move forward. I’m not 100% sure just how good it is going to be now that it
is a known quantity, but it’s definitely something everyone is going to have to be prepared for this weekend at the Open Series in Columbus.

This new deck definitely shakes things up a little bit since we now have to dedicate some sideboard slots to it, but I don’t think any one strategy is
going to be invalidated by it.

Green/Red

G/R Monsters is a deck that has been around since the beginning of Theros. Using mana acceleration and powerful creatures like Polukranos, World Eater and
Stormbreath Dragon, you can pressure your opponents with large monsters ahead of the curve and still have something to do with your mana in the lategame
with the extra monstrous ability on them. Planeswalkers like Xenagos, the Reveler help this strategy by giving us a resilient threat that can go a little
crazy with the mana generation when we want to start going over the top.

Daniel Scheid won GP LA earlier this year with this deck, which takes the Monsters strategy and integrates a little bit of the devotion mechanic to give us
the ability to go way over the top.

R/G Monsters

Daniel Scheid

1st Place at Grand Prix on 10-19-2014

Standard

Creatures (25)

Planeswalkers (5)

Lands (23)

Spells (7)

Sideboard

Ashcloud Phoenix has been getting a lot of press in the Temur Monsters decks, and I think it is every bit as good here too. You aren’t getting the benefit
of ferocious on your spells, but just having a four power flyer for four that matches up well against the control decks and the aggressive decks
is pretty invaluable. With the loss of Mizzium Mortars (R.I.P. sweet prince), you need some way to try and generate an advantage, even if it isn’t as
game-breaking as the ole overloaded five-for-one.

I like this deck quite a bit, and if I were to play it, I would definitely want some more copies of the Phoenix and less of Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker. I’m
also not 100% sure the Genesis Hydra package is needed since it’s not very likely that you’re going to have a Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. That being said, once
you have more copies of Ashcloud Phoenix in our deck, casting a Genesis Hydra for four and hitting a Polukranos, Phoenix, or Xenagos is always going to
feel real sweet.

Green/X Devotion

It looks like G/R Devotion has all but fallen off the map since G/B Devotion was been consistently performing well starting with Ross Merriam in the first
Open of the new format and Reid Duke’s deck from the Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir. There tends to be two different routes to take with one being more Whip of
Erebos-based and the other just straight Devotion with See the Unwritten.

G/B Devotion

Lukas Blohan

4th Place at Grand Prix on 10-26-2014

Standard

Creatures (28)

Lands (22)

Spells (10)

Sideboard

The big draw to these types of decks is how amazing Hornet Queen is and how amazing Doomwake Giant is against Hornet Queen. Having cards like Satyr
Wayfinder and Commune with the Gods in your deck alongside Murderous Cut means you also get to have some amazing two or three-spell turns that will just
bury your opponent.

Of the different G/B decks in the Top 8 of the Grand Prix in Stockholm, Lukas’s is the only one to play Brain Maggot, which I think definitely starts to
gain some value here as the format starts to develop. Having correct information about what your opponent is going to be planning is amazing, but it’s also
pretty sweet that against the Abzan decks since they will end up having to use a Hero’s Downfall to kill it as it dodges Abzan Charm as a 1/1.

G/B Devotion

Matteo Cirigliano

6th Place at Grand Prix on 10-26-2014

Standard

Creatures (26)

Lands (22)

Spells (12)

Sideboard

The other G/B deck in the Top 8 of Stockholm is a bit of a hybrid between Reid Duke’s deck and the Constellation/Reanimator decks. Here we have the
Commune/Wayfinder/Whip shell, but we also have See the Unwritten as a way to go way over the top. I don’t really like only having two copies of Reaper of
the Wilds alongside the initial Doomwake Giants to get the ferocious on the See the Unwritten, but there are only so many slots.

Something like this is a bit more streamlined:

G/B Devotion

Steven Jack

6th Place at Star City Games Standard Open on 10-18-2014

Standard

Creatures (32)

Lands (24)

Spells (4)

4 See the Unwritten

Sideboard

The big issues with this build over the graveyard-based one is that we are super loose to Mantis Rider with the loss of Murderous Cut. As long as Jeskai is
on the decline, I think I’d rather be on the four See the Unwritten list, but with Jeskai continuing to do so well, I think I’d wait on it.

U/W Control

A few weeks back at SCG Minneapolis, we had a fresh new deck make it all the way to the finals of the Standard Open. Taking a page from the Cuneo U/B
Control deck from the PT, Jeremy Bylander opted to go with U/W Control instead. With Elspeth, Sun’s Champion providing a better endgame than Pearl Lake
Ancient, I can understand wanting to pair your Dig Through Times with white and its lackluster spot removal as opposed to black.

U/W Control

Jeremy Bylander

2nd Place at Star City Games Standard Open on 10-25-2014

Standard

Creatures (2)

2 Prognostic Sphinx

Planeswalkers (3)

3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Lands (26)

Spells (29)

Sideboard

White may pale in comparison to Black in the spot removal department, but we do have mass removal in End Hostilities, although it is costly at five mana.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t handle planeswalkers like Perilous Vault does out of U/B Control, but we do have Banishing Light as a catch-all.

I would definitely want the full four copies of Dig Through Time if I were to play a deck like this, but the rest of it looks pretty sweet. I think that
Nullify is starting to gain some momentum as the format starts to solidify itself, and the one-two punch of Jace’s Ingenuity and Dig Through Time generate
some pretty crazy card advantage.

In the last Standard format we were rewarded for playing two-colors with Mutavault, but now that the ole 2/2 Rat Land is gone, what is the incentive to
stick to a dual-colored deck now? I think that lands like Tranquil Cove and Radiant Fountain are both pretty underrated, especially with control decks not
being a big of a part of the metagame as they were during the Sphinx’s Revelation times. Gaining 4-8 life from your lands over the course of the game can
end up being an extra turn. The advantage will be felt over the course of the match/tournament, but I think it’s definitely there and being overlooked
currently.

Another deck that takes advantage of this is the aforementioned Cuneo style U/B Control.

U/B Control

Cody Hatfield

1st Place at Star City Games Premier IQ on 10-18-2014

Standard

Creatures (2)

2 Pearl Lake Ancient

Lands (27)

Spells (31)

Sideboard

Leaning on Dig Through Time and Jace’s Ingenuity to get us to the lategame where we can take over with Perilous Vault is the name of this game. Pearl Lake
Ancient might look a bit wonky, but it definitely is a reliable finisher that is very difficult to get rid of.

Effective spot removal and Thoughtseize headline the black support cards here along with a sweeper in the sideboard in Drown in Sorrow, which is a very
important card currently. I really like the Jorubai Murk Lurkers in the sideboard, as they match up very well against almost all of the Jeskai creatures
and can swing the game back in favor with lifelink.

I feel like this deck has fallen off a little bit, but is still pretty well-positioned right now with all of the Whip of Erebos decks seeing play. With
Disdainful Stroke and Dissolve to keep their Whip of Erebos’s off the table and Perilous Vault to clean up, I think that U/B Control could easily come out
of the wings and win a tournament in the next couple weeks.

B/W Aggro

There were a few B/W Midrange decks that were seeing play shortly after the release of Khans of Tarkir, but the most recent incarnation to get some love is
the list that Brad Nelson played in the Minneapolis Open.

B/W Aggro

Brad Nelson

10th Place at Star City Games Standard Open on 10-25-2014

Standard

Creatures (16)

Planeswalkers (4)

4 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

Lands (26)

Spells (14)

Sideboard

He didn’t quite crack the Top 8, but some of his fellow Team Revolutioneers played the list in the European Grand Prix that same weekend and had some
success with it.

I like the direction of this deck and feel like it’s the culmination of a story Brad has been telling since the PT. Trying to find a way to go under, over,
and wide at the same time to attack the different pressure points of the top Jeskai and Abzan decks.

Cards like Seeker of the Way and Brimaz, King of Oreskos are great ways to pressure opponents early when they are playing tapped lands, but things can
quickly get out of control with Herald of Torment bestows, Wingmate Roc, and Sorin, Solemn Visitor.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we add Raise the Alarm to the mix and try to go wide against the Jeskai decks, taking advantage of the +1 on Sorin to
gain a handful of life and strain the one-for-one nature of Jeskai, and with solid removal rounding out the main, it definitely feels very thought out. I
like the flexible options in the sideboard as well.

With all the different options available in Standard, I can’t help but think that this type of strategy is being slept on still.

R/W Aggro

Originating from the No Limit Soldiers deck designed by Alex Sittner for PT
M15, Yoshihiko Ikawa tuned the deck with Khans of Tarkir and took it all the way to tenth place at the next Pro Tour.

R/W Soldiers

Yoshihiko Ikawa

10th Place at Pro Tour on 10-16-2014

Standard

Creatures (15)

Lands (21)

Spells (24)

Sideboard

This deck is all about getting on the board quickly and then dropping an early Obelisk of Urd to overwhelm the opponent. You aren’t really looking at going
over or through anyone. You’re simply trying to go as wide as possible, which is facilitated by cards like Launch the Fleet, Akroan Crusader, and Vanguard
of Brimaz.

I know that Glenn Jones was championing this deck for a while, but it seems like he’s made the logical progression from this deck to the Jeskai Ascendancy
Heroic deck, which is essentially the same deck with a combo kill as opposed to Obelisk of Urd.

I feel like the Jeksai deck is a better version of this, but I wouldn’t completely forget about this deck. Launch the Fleet can do some pretty sick things.

Along the same lines at the R/W Soldiers deck, there is a U/W Heroic deck that Tom Ross has been playing on and off recently. I know that he placed in the
Top 8 of the Sunday Super Series with an updated list, but here’s his initial attempt.

U/W Heroic

Tom Ross

Test deck on 10-02-2014

Standard

Creatures (20)

Lands (20)

Spells (20)

Sideboard

This list is definitely outdated, so keep an eye out for Tom’s next article, since I imagine he will talk about the deck he used in Nashville.

The last deck that I want to take a look at is another Tom Ross inspired deck.

Boss Sligh

Louisiana States was won by Tom playing this Boss Sligh deck, true to form, packed with a bunch of one-drops.

Boss Sligh

Tom Ross

1st Place at States on 10-12-2014

Standard

Creatures (20)

Lands (18)

18 Mountain

Spells (22)

Sideboard

This is another extreme case of getting low to the ground and skimping on lands. This style of deck aims to take advantage of all the tri-lands from Khans
of Tarkir that people are playing combined with the Temples and painlands. If your opponents are always putting lands into play tapped or taking damage
from them, Firedrinker Satyr might be a good place to be, right?

It’s interesting to see that there is Hordeling Outburst over Goblin Rabblemaster here since you want more resiliency against the one-for-one nature of
Jeskai. It’s also interesting to see the ebb and flow of the format and noticing how it impacts even the most linear of strategies like Mono-Red.

Tom’s lists usually have some high impact one-ofs littered throughout, but this one is a bit tame with a more streamlined sideboard that aims to swap out
bad cards for cards that are always going to do exactly what you want them to do.

This type of deck is always something that you have to be wary of. It’s inexpensive and brutally powerful, which is a great combination for equalizing
formats. Drown in Sorrow and Bile Blight always have to stick around for when these Firedrinker Satyr decks start to crop back up.

As you can see, the Standard metagame is very diverse with new innovations coming every week. Between the Open Series, the plethora of IQs that are rau
each week, and the ramp up in Grand Prix by Wizards, we have lots of deck data to go through, and I hope that this simplification helps people gather their
thoughts to try and figure out how to attack the format at their next event.