Let me just start with this: I told you so. Temur rules!
This past weekend played host to several large Standard events, including the Open Series in Minneapolis, but the biggest among them was Grand Prix
Stockholm. Over one thousand players descended upon Sweden to duke it out in the new Khans of Tarkir Standard format. In the final battle for supremacy,
two clans stood above the rest – Jeskai and Temur.
Creatures (17)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (24)
Spells (17)
Creatures (27)
- 4 Elvish Mystic
- 4 Polukranos, World Eater
- 1 Stormbreath Dragon
- 4 Boon Satyr
- 4 Rattleclaw Mystic
- 3 Heir of the Wilds
- 4 Savage Knuckleblade
- 3 Ashcloud Phoenix
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (23)
Spells (9)
I’m actually pretty glad I didn’t know about the finals pairing until after the match was over, because I would have had a hard time picking a side to root
for between Big Z and someone playing almost a card-for-card copy of the Temur deck I posted in my article last week.
Normally, I think Temur has an edge in the matchup against Jeskai, but Matej’s list has more potentially problematic cards than most. He’s significantly
heavier on creatures than most Jeskai lists, playing seventeen compared to the usual twelve, and those additional bodies are where I think he makes up a
lot of ground in the matchup. Ashcloud Phoenix and Brimaz let Big Z’s Jeskai list play a much stronger proactive game than many of the spell-dense
versions, and incidentally, each of those played a big role in Matej’s finals win.
So congratulations to Matej on his victory and also to Einar on his second place finish, but more importantly, for helping show the world that Big Knucks
has what it takes to compete on the big stage.
But despite the Jeskai vs Temur showdown in the finals, neither Mantis Rider nor Savage Knuckleblade was truly the story of the weekend – and frankly,
we’ve heard quite a bit about each already. Rather, the big breakout of the tournament was Whip of Erebos, which showed up in three of the top 8 decks –
Christian Seibold’s Sultai Reanimator deck, and the G/B Devotion decks with a slant towards constellation played by Lukas Blohon and Matteo Cirigliano.
Creatures (25)
- 3 Hornet Queen
- 3 Elvish Mystic
- 4 Sylvan Caryatid
- 4 Courser of Kruphix
- 4 Satyr Wayfinder
- 1 Soul of Innistrad
- 4 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
- 2 Sagu Mauler
Lands (24)
Spells (11)
Creatures (26)
- 3 Hornet Queen
- 3 Elvish Mystic
- 4 Sylvan Caryatid
- 2 Reaper of the Wilds
- 3 Courser of Kruphix
- 3 Satyr Wayfinder
- 4 Eidolon of Blossoms
- 4 Doomwake Giant
Lands (22)
Spells (12)
Creatures (28)
- 3 Hornet Queen
- 4 Elvish Mystic
- 4 Sylvan Caryatid
- 4 Courser of Kruphix
- 4 Satyr Wayfinder
- 4 Eidolon of Blossoms
- 2 Doomwake Giant
- 1 Pharika, God of Affliction
- 2 Brain Maggot
Lands (22)
Spells (10)
As longtime readers of my articles already know, I have something of a soft spot for the constellation mechanic, so it’s awesome to see Eidolon of Blossoms
and Doomwake Giant put up great results. This is one of the strategies that I really wanted to try to make work for Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir, but
ultimately I ran out of time and didn’t get a chance to explore it. That makes me all the more excited to see what others have found.
It’s important to note that despite sharing quite a few similarities, these three decks are very different. It’s clear these players didn’t work together,
but all independently came to the conclusion that G/B or Sultai graveyard decks were poised to be successful in the current Standard. Despite their
differences, the decks all share a core of key cards.
All three decks play:
3-4 Elvish Mystic
2-4 Whip of Erebos
3-4 Murderous Cut
Cirigliano and Blohan supplement this core with a constellation package of Eidolon of Blossoms and Doomwake Giant, taking advantage of the fact that
Courser and Whip both happen to be enchantments, while Blohan also supplements the strategy with Brain Maggots. Interestingly, only the constellation
versions play Commune with the Gods, while Seibold instead plays Hero’s Downfall and additional creatures.
I have to say I like that direction. One of the problems that I had when I was trying to build Sidisi decks was drawing too many enablers and not enough
action. This is a classic dilemma of any deck that uses mana acceleration to ramp into big threats – you need to have a very high density of powerful cards
to make up for the fact that so much of your deck is devoted to producing mana. In the case of the graveyard-based decks, you have not only actual mana
creatures to worry about, but also enablers like Satyr Wayfinder and, to some extent, Commune with the Gods.
Commune isn’t an enabler in quite the same sense that mana creatures or Wayfinder are, since it can actually dig for a threat if you draw it late in the
game. The trouble with Commune is that it costs mana and does nothing to immediately impact the board. In a format with decks as fast and furious as
Mono-Red, Jeskai, and Temur, you can easily fall too far behind if you draw a hand full of elves and Communes that can’t actually present or answer a
threat quickly. I can see the draw of Commune in the constellation builds that have more powerful individual cards to dig for like Eidolon of Blossoms and
can make up the lost time with Doomwake Giant. In Sidisi though, I always found Commune somewhat unimpressive, and I think Siebold’s choice to cut it is a
good one.
That said, Commune goes a long way toward powering up one of the strongest cards in these decks – Murderous Cut. When I was briefly messing around with
Sidisi decks in Standard, the biggest draw toward the strategy was the delve removal spell.
The current Standard format is largely defined by its removal, or perhaps more correctly, its lack thereof. Last season’s Mono-Black Devotion decks were
teeming with efficient removal like Devour Flesh, Doom Blade, and Ultimate Price. These days we’re mostly dealing with cheap spells like Lightning Strike
and Magma Jet that can only kill smaller creatures, or the more expensive Hero’s Downfall and Abzan Charm that can take out big things but cost a huge
percentage of your mana.
Murderous Cut is the best of both worlds – a low cost removal spell that can take down anything, but its cost comes in deckbuilding. You need to include a
mix of cards like Satyr Wayfinder, Commune, and Sidisi in order to be able to play it cheaply with any degree of consistency. When you are able to fire off
a one mana Murderous Cut though, it can totally turn a game around, since you can often answer your opponent’s threat in the same turn that you play one of
your own.
That kind of tempo swing is exactly why I’m such a fan of Crater’s Claws in Temur. Cut is capable of even bigger blowouts, since it’s an instant and isn’t
restricted to killing smaller creatures like Claws. Though, to be fair, Murderous Cut can’t kill an opponent either…
But while Temur uses this kind of tempo to try to snowball an early lead, these decks use Murderous Cut to buy them time to set into motion their
incredibly powerful endgame. As we saw from the cards shared by all three of these decks, the real core of these decks is in their ability to dominate the
lategame with Whip of Erebos and Hornet Queen. Whip alone is powerful against aggressive decks like Mono-Red and Jeskai thanks to the lifegain it affords
your entire team, helping keep you alive against Mantis Riders and Rabblemasters and burn spells galore. In combination with Hornet Queen and ways to get
her buzzing majesty into the graveyard, it offers a powerful win condition that few decks are capable of dealing with efficiently.
On top of the queen, the constellation versions can also Whip either Doomwake Giant or Eidolon of Blossoms back into play to generate triggers. One cool
play that came up a number of times when I was playing constellation was to use Whip to bring back Pharika with either Doomwake or Eidolon in play – or
even better, both. This not only gives you a constellation trigger when the god enters the battlefield, but it also allows you to generate additional
triggers for every snake you generate while she’s in play. This can let you draw a ton of cards and wipe out opposing boards with ease.
In case you couldn’t tell already, I generally prefer the constellation build of the Whip decks over the Sidisi version. I found myself repeatedly
underwhelmed by Sidisi herself most of the time I played with her. In a world where Lightning Strike is one of the most played cards, I’m not thrilled
about paying four mana for a 3/3 creature, especially when my opponent can even deny a potential zombie by killing her in response to her self-mill
trigger. You’ll still mill yourself, but because Sidisi isn’t in play when the cards go to your graveyard, you won’t get a rotting corpse out of the deal.
Eidolon of Blossoms can be similarly unimpressive for the cost, and even dies to Magma Jet too, but at least you’re guaranteed to get a card out of it.
Multiple Eidolons also lead to absolutely ridiculous card drawing chains, while extra copies of Sidisi just rot in your hand. It certainly doesn’t hurt
that in any kind of head-to-head matchup between Whip/Hornet Queen decks, the player with Doomwake Giant on their side probably has a sizeable edge.
So if you’re looking for a sweet deck to play this weekend at the Open Series in Oakland, or just your local FNM, you could certainly do worse than to pick
up one of these. I know that I’ll be experimenting some more with constellation over the next few weeks, as long as I tear myself away from my Savage
Knuckleblades long enough to remind myself that I love Eidolon of Blossoms too.
And if these decks aren’t your thing, there’s all kinds of other options out there for you! This Standard format is shaping up to be pretty awesome. All
five clans have been represented in the Top 8 of major events already, along with multiple different two-color pairings and mono-color stalwarts. It seems
like no matter what kind of deck you like to play, there’s something out there for you. If that isn’t the sign of a great format, I don’t know what is.