These days, Magic is evolving at a revolutionary speed, especially the development of Standard. Mono Red and Solar Flare were the front-runners in the beginning, and it was a matter of weeks before Wolf Run Ramp emerged to beat it. Soon enough, U/B Control appeared to claim the throne, and finally, it was white creatures standing at the top of the world, as I speak today.
The format is nearing its maturity I would say, and in a short period of one month! Thanks to SCG Opens, Standard has never been so well-tuned and fast to change.
This leads me to believe that there are three pillars in Standard at the moment. These three cards are format defining, and each is capable of winning the game on its own. Well, not entirely true of one of them, but it’s a safe conclusion that as long as you are running Islands in your deck, you have to be running him!
At SCG Open: Nashville, Brian Sondag showed the world that Primeval Titan still owns Standard despite Valakut’s rotation. His list of Wolf Run is also highly tuned against Mono Red. Almost every piece of his deck was exceptionally good against the then public enemy: Viridian Emissary, Slagstorm, Wurmcoil Engine, and etc. Heck, he wasn’t even playing the full amount of Primeval Titan just because he wanted to play the third copy of Wurmcoil Engine! It was probably not the most ideal decklist, but it did what it needed to do in beating Mono Red and having a favorable matchup against Solar Flare as well.
Creatures (15)
- 3 Solemn Simulacrum
- 1 Birds of Paradise
- 1 Acidic Slime
- 3 Primeval Titan
- 3 Wurmcoil Engine
- 4 Viridian Emissary
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (14)
Spells (27)
Wolf Run had quickly emerged as the deck to beat, and players were looking for an edge in the mirror. Viridian Emissary was good against red, but it’s a redundant 2/1 unblockable/wall in the mirror match as opposed to the guaranteed acceleration of Birds of Paradise/Llanowar Elves in facilitating a faster arrival of Primeval Titan. In addition, Dungrove Elder was an excellent win condition in pressuring control players and attacking them from the angle they feared the most: hexproof. As a result, Wolf Run Green was created to present a new and improved angle of attack.
Creatures (19)
- 2 Llanowar Elves
- 3 Solemn Simulacrum
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 1 Acidic Slime
- 4 Primeval Titan
- 1 Wurmcoil Engine
- 4 Dungrove Elder
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (4)
Spells (33)
Therefore, this leads us to the formation of the first pillar of the format, the ugly rearing head of Primeval Titan.
1st Pillar: Primeval Titan
I had a difficult time deciding whether the “blue” pillar should be Consecrated Sphinx or Snapcaster Mage. Consecrated Sphinx fits better in the “winning the game on its own” category, and I personally like Consecrated Sphinx more than any other six-drop finishers. It blocks Sworded creatures relatively well, and unlike Titans, it doesn’t have to attack in order to gain advantages. You just need to sit there and wait. And this is exactly what blue mages like to do, waiting for inevitability. The most obvious disadvantage is that it dies to Doom Blade/Beast Within on your end step or your opponent’s upkeep, and it delivers you nothing in return unlike Titans and Wurmcoil Engine, which deliver a few nickels.
Speaking of Snapcaster Mage, I have a very weird feeling towards this card. Putting it into simpler words, I am envious and jealous of Tiago Chan. He’s such a lucky guy for having such an awesome card with his face. And frankly, this card will always be played in Standard, Modern, and even Legacy! Don’t get me wrong; Tiago is a great guy as well as a great player, and I have nothing against him, but for both of us being Asian as well as Invitational winners, I feel some deep heartbreak about how awful my card turned out in the past.
Enough of my ranting; now let’s get back to the awesomeness of Snapcaster Mage (urghhhh). Inevitability is a vital element for any blue-based control deck. Ideally your games should go long, and inevitability is the main reason you want games to go long. Snapcaster Mage provides a really smooth route towards inevitability. It provides good card-advantage and selection; it is almost like a split card of Nekrataal/Mystic Snake as long as you are running four Mana Leak and four Doom Blade in your deck. Of course not always, but you get the picture. Being able to double the count of your important spells against certain matchups also provides invaluable flexibility. For example, counterspells are never enough against Wolf Run because there are so many relevant spells to counter, which removal doesn’t handle quite well. On the other hand, an endless stream of removal is always needed against aggressive white or red decks that have abundance of one- and two-drops.
Creatures (9)
Lands (18)
Spells (33)
Creatures (7)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (21)
Spells (31)
These are two lists that I really liked. Neeman’s U/B list has a number of one-of instants to maximize the effectiveness of Snapcaster Mage. Asahara’s Solar Flare is actually very similar to Neeman’s list. It runs both Consecrated Sphinx and Snapcaster Mage as the main creatures, and it replaces the one-of with a solid sweeper and an answer in Day of Judgment and Oblivion Ring. It is basically U/B with a splash of white for those. It reduced the Solar Flare aspect of 4 Liliana of the Veil and 2 Unburial Rites to 2 Liliana and 1 Unburial Rites. That’s a 50% reduction, and I believe it is even better without them, as those are “win-more” cards. All you need is 4 Consecrated Sphinx and 4 Snapcaster Mage to be pure, solid, and focused. Note that both players agreed that 27 lands is the way to go, although Asahara was a little greedier with 61 cards.
At the end of the day, Consecrated Sphinx wasn’t universally agreed to be the best creature by all blue players. There are so many awesome six-drop finishers these days that people chose to diversify their investments instead of focusing on one. On the other hand, Snapcaster Mage is an auto-inclusion and a universally agreed choice as long as you are playing control, and you are blue. Hence, the winner is Snapcaster Mage.
2nd Pillar: Snapcaster Mage
The 1st pillar was an easy one; Primeval Titan is the core as well as the engine of the deck. The 2nd pillar was tough; Sphinx vs. Mage wasn’t easy, but at the end of the day, there is no way you are not running Snapcaster Mage if you are playing a blue control deck, so that gets the nod over Sphinx.
The 3rd pillar was insanely difficult to decide. First of all, let’s look at the three various white strategies that had success in recent tournaments: G/W Tokens, U/W Blade, and W/u Humans.
Creatures (22)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 4 Mirran Crusader
- 4 Hero of Bladehold
- 2 Blade Splicer
- 2 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
- 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
- 2 Geist-Honored Monk
Planeswalkers (6)
Lands (12)
Spells (20)
Creatures (17)
Lands (13)
Spells (30)
- 9 Plains
- 4 Island
- 4 Mana Leak
- 2 Oblivion Ring
- 3 Sword of Feast and Famine
- 4 Gitaxian Probe
- 2 Dismember
- 2 Midnight Haunting
Sideboard
Creatures (26)
- 3 Elite Vanguard
- 4 Mirran Crusader
- 4 Hero of Bladehold
- 4 Grand Abolisher
- 2 Fiend Hunter
- 4 Champion of the Parish
- 3 Geist of Saint Traft
- 2 Doomed Traveler
Lands (11)
Spells (23)
Sideboard
It is very obvious in these three decks that it boils down to either Mirran Crusader or Hero of Bladehold forming the 3rd pillar. Every list runs 4 Mirran Crusader. Every list runs 4 Hero of Bladehold except for Adam Boyd list, which runs 3, but it is such an easy task to include the 4th Hero by trimming either Spellskite or Blade Splicer. In terms of sheer number, Mirran Crusader has a slight victory.
Let’s talk about the “feel good” part of casting either one of them. I’m not sure about you, but I have feelings about my creatures whenever I cast them. Every time I cast Mirran Crusader, I have a “safe” feeling due to its multiple layers of protections. It doesn’t feel super awesome, but it feels warm.
On the other hand, Hero of Bladehold is just raw. She doesn’t offer any extra layer of protection, but she often poses this statement to your opponent: “Kill me, or I shall kill you.” For a four-drop to make such a bold statement is huge. It has almost the reach of Titans and Consecrated Sphinx for aggressive decks. If she ever survives to make a hit, it can be quite certain the game is heavily in your favor.
To put it in poker terms, Mirran Crusader feels very much like pocket Queens. You have a good pair regardless of what hits the flop. Of course an Ace or King would immediately shut you down, but you have a good pair right there, and statistically speaking, the chance of Ace or King hitting the flop is low.
Hero of Bladehold feels very much like Ace-King suited. You aren’t ahead against any pairs, but AK suited gives you plenty of shoving equity, chances to break weaker Ace-X, and not many pairs that can call your shove.
I think both Mirran Crusader and Hero of Bladehold are really, really close in power level. Personally, I like Hero of Bladehold a little bit more than Mirran Crusader, but realistically, I think Mirran Crusader is the better card in the current metagame. Having protection from black and green means you have a better chance of stealing wins from both Wolf Run Green as well as U/B Control. It is the Dungrove Elder for white decks. Having a casting cost of three means a lot, as it is a lot easier for aggressive strategies to cast Mirran Crusader over Hero of Bladehold, and it also hits a turn faster. In this situation, Mirran Crusader SLIGHTLY edges out Hero of Bladehold, which is more expensive to cast and dies to Beast Within and Doom Blade. Hence, the winner is Mirran Crusader.
3rd Pillar: Mirran Crusader
The presence of Wolf Run certainly has changed the way other decks have adapted to the metagame. People no longer fear Stromkirk Noble. People are now looking for ways to combat Dungrove Elder and Primeval Titan. And the two best ways to do so? Countering all of them with Snapcaster Mage or beating the hell out of them with Mirran Crusader and Hero of Bladehold.
In my opinion, the decks to beat are now the white decks. Mirran Crusader and Hero of Bladehold makes a very formidable tag team, and you can hardly go wrong with them by supplementing them with green mana dorks or blue counterspells. They are both very difficult to handle, and your opponent needs to draw the right removal at the right time. Doom Blade is not going save you from Mirran Crusader, and Slagstorm can rot in your hand when I cast my Hero of Bladehold. The only way to effectively combat white creatures is white removal spells. Oblivion Ring and Day of Judgment are very well positioned as the best all-purpose removal in the metagame, but not many decks can capitalize on them.
Will the metagame evolve anymore from this point onwards?
I doubt, but I am sure thousands out there are trying to prove me wrong.