Standard is a format that seems to be growing stale. Alara Reborn is on the horizon, and there are plenty of cards that (hopefully) will shake up the metagame. Today I’m going to take a look at a few of those cards and their potential applications for the Standard format, as well as the a few topics related to Magic Online. With each day the spoiler grows increasingly larger, giving me hope for a future that isn’t dominated by Faeries, Tokens, Hobbits, and 5-Color Control.
After checking the mothership for spoiler cards last week, I saw Mike Flores‘ article about a new card called Maelstrom Pulse. This card is the definition of “chase rare” for a set. For me, this card echoes the word “Vindicate” in the back of my mind, sending a thrilling chill down my spine. This card will be played as a 4-of in many decks for years to come, in both Standard and Extended. It’s an excellent way to deal with problem cards for green and black, such as Spectral Procession, Bitterblossom (tokens or enchantment), large creatures, or even Planeswalkers! There hasn’t been a more efficient spell printed in some time, and the fact that it is a sorcery should be mostly irrelevant since it has the potential to destroy almost any problem permanent (and all other copies in play!).
Potential applications for this card in standard are virtually limitless. With access to incredible manafixing via vivid lands, reflecting pool, filter lands, and tribal lands, you can play this card in virtually any archetype if you try a little. Base-white strategies might have a difficult time playing this, but you can’t play two-color cards in every deck in the format. However, this could be a great addition to 5-Color Control, Dark Bant, Doran, Elves, or even Faeries with a little bit of imagination. It is a great way for all of these decks to deal with cards like Jace Beleren, Ajani Vengeant, or other problem permanents that are unaffected by traditional removal like Terror or Path to Exile.
The biggest power boost for this spell goes to strategies who already have a green-black manabase. Decks like Doran, Dark Bant, and Elves gain a huge weapon to fight this stale format. BW Tokens is no longer safe behind a slew of Planeswalkers, Bitterblossom, and Tokens, as one card can wipe away an entire army, or prevent one from even beginning by destroying the Bitterblossom itself. On top of that, being able to deal with opposing large monsters before declaring attacks with your own will turn the mirror match into a “who can draw the most Maelstrom Pulse and Path to Exile,” since the mirror will be largely defined by who has the largest creature attacking each turn. Hopefully people will be smart enough not to blow up their own creatures in the process, but I’m positive it will happen at least once in a match near you!
Jund Hackblade is another card that seems to be standing out on people’s short list of good constructed cards that have been spoiled so far. This guy is virtually a 3/2 haste for BR or GR, giving you an incredible early game if you lead off with Tattermunge Maniac or Figure of Destiny. Otherwise, you can play a multicolored creature on turn 3 and just attack for 3 points, turning him into a virtual Watchwolf. For red decks, this is virtually unheard of, as most of the “efficient” creatures have some crazy drawback like “deal its controller 100 damage.” With an opener of Tattermunge Maniac, Jund Hackblade, and Boggart Ram-gang, you can have your opponent at 7 life on turn 3. That’s pretty incredible, and will punish slower decks without mercy. The only problem with this strategy? It folds to a Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender. But you can’t win them all.
There have already been a few cards with Cascade spoiled so far. This mechanic is reminiscent of Storm, since it triggers even if the original spell is countered. However, it is not nearly as powerful but still very applicable to constructed. Everyone likes free spells, especially ones that let you play other free spells if you somehow can chain multiple Cascade spells in a row! I would not want to be on the receiving end of that beating. Since they seem to be spreading Cascade into all 5 colors, I don’t think a “Cascade deck” will be applicable to the current Standard metagame. I do think that some of the cards are good enough by themselves, and getting to play a free spell is always amazing and usually constructed playable.
Another creature that has stood out for me, potentially playable in Extended, is Quasali Pridemage. He is a 2/2 with Exalted for GW. He also has the ability 1, Sacrifice: Destroy target artifact or enchantment. Being a virtual 3/3 for GW, he also has the ability to destroy opposing annoying cards that would normally be a problem for aggro decks. He’s an efficient beater that has solid applications against a lot of decks, and gives decks like Affinity fits. In Standard, he could be another addition to Doran style decks, giving them outs to cards like Glorious Anthem and Bitterblossom, on top of having a really efficient bear.
So far, the biggest spoiler I have seen is one that most of you probably already know:
Meddling Mage
UW
As Meddling Mage comes into play, name a non-land card. The named card can’t be played.
2/2
This guy was a defining card in Extended for a very long time. He fits very well into existing UW aggressive archetypes like Merfolk, but could potentially see play in decks like Faeries if they decide to splash white. He prevents Faeries’ bad matchups from playing devastating spells like Volcanic Fallout, Sower of Temptation, or even its good matchups from playing the spells that matter like Reveillark. Having an aggressive answer to your problem cards can effect bad matchups in a very good way. It can also make your good matchups incredible, as protecting the mage shouldn’t be too hard if you are given an untap step. Meddling Mage defines playability when you’re talking about aggressive creatures, as his combination of disruption backed by countermagic is very difficult for decks to beat. Pair him with cards like Thoughtseize, Vendilion Clique, and Tidehollow Sculler, and the control opponent you face will never even get started. Meddling Mages are currently sitting around 12-15$, but I can easily see them spiking into Tarmogoyf range for Regionals and PTQ’s since the upcoming season is Standard.
So far, there have been plenty of cards that have been spoiled, but these are the ones that excite me the most. As of writing this, there are 45 cards spoiled on MTGsalvation, with about 100 more to come. As far as I’m concerned, the set is worth buying just because of Maelstrom Pulse and Meddling Mage, not to mention the fact that you can still get mythic rares. As long as there are plenty more playable rares and mythics, the set should be an instant hit and a good seller for WotC. Their “all gold” schtick is pretty cute, but they really need a few more gems to back the set. They don’t have a huge selling point for this set like the last two, like Nicol Bolas for Conflux, and the Planeswalkers in Shards of Alara, so selling packs will probably be more difficult for this set than the previous two.
Since Extended has ended and Standard is about to go through the ringer, I thought I would talk a little about Magic Online and its current state, as well as a few tournaments I’ve played recently. A few writers here have talked about Alara Block Constructed, so I thought I would talk a little about it. It is a fun format, but mostly irrelevant except for Pro Tour: Honolulu. Since the format is about to change tremendously as well, I’ll just talk about a deck I’ve been playing recently. Here is my current list for Planeswalker Control:
4 Path to Exile
4 Oblivion Ring
3 Martial Coup
4 Ajani Vengeant
4 Elspeth, Knight Errant
1 Sarkhan Vol
4 Druid of the Anima
4 Elvish Visionary
3 Caldera Hellion
4 Broodmate Dragon
2 Arcane Sanctum
4 Jungle Shrine
4 Savage Lands
3 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Mountain
3 Forest
3 Naya Panorama
2 Jund Panorama
Sideboard:
3 Celestial Purge
2 Voices from the Void
3 Goblin Assault
4 Filigree Fracture
3 Realm Razer
This decklist has been putting up pretty good results for me, and can only get better with the new set. I’m sure standouts like Meddling Mage will have a huge impact on these control decks, but shouldn’t hurt too badly as long as you diversify your removal. Having a lot of varied removal can protect you from getting blown out by a sick combination of Tidehollow Sculler and Meddling Mage, so be careful. This deck is the epitome of midrange control, and folds to aggressive strategies backed by disruption if you don’t play around potential problems.
Most of the other control decks can’t handle your Planeswalkers easily, other than playing the Planeswalkers themselves. If you follow up a Planeswalker with Realm Razer or Broodmate Dragon, then your control opponent should be basically out of the game. Your good matchups are decks like Naya Aggro that have a hard time recovering from sweeper effects like Caldera Hellion and Martial Coup. You can get to this point by stalling their early game development with Path to Exile, Oblivion Ring, Elvish Visionary, as well as your 9 Planeswalkers.
The format is currently defined by Tri-Lands and Planeswalkers, but that could easily change with the addition of the next set. A good Black-Red aggressive deck could be viable, since Jund Hackblade could put a beating on the slow control decks. Being Black and Red without a splash leaves you out of the Ajani Vengeant loop, but I’m sure you can splash for him if you really wanted to. But, playing too many Tri-Lands could slow your deck down significantly, eliminating the reason to play the deck in the first place: overwhelming efficiency. Even when your opponents have sweepers, you still have creatures with Unearth, as well as creatures that survive Volcanic Fallout and Jund Charm like Shambling Remains. You also get the new card Thought Haemorrhage to deny your opponent their best card against you, which will usually be Broodmate Dragon or a Planeswalker and hopefully deal with some damage to them in the process. Martial Coup is a pretty large problem, but you should probably be able to beat them down before they get their mana active to cast it, or potentially play Volcanic Fallout yourself. Otherwise, you’ll be put in a position to cast Banefire to finish them off. This can be even more difficult if they are playing Wall of Reverence.
Back to Standard
With constructed currently in limbo, since the new set is about to become a factor, this is not true for the 1st Magic Online Championship Qualifier. I am not qualified as of yet, but I only need a few more Qualifier points before May 3rd. The format for that tournament is Standard (pre-Alara Reborn), and I have been waffling on what deck to play. From looking at recent Top 8 results on Magic Online, the best performing deck is BW Tokens. I decided to scrap my extended cards that are rotating out, and buy a copy of the deck. Here is what I’ll probably be battling with for the next few weeks in preparation for the Standard Championship:
4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Knight of Meadowgrain
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Marsh Flitter
4 Cloudgoat Ranger
4 Bitterblossom
4 Terror
4 Spectral Procession
4 Glorious Anthem
3 Ajani Goldmane
4 Windbrisk Heights
4 Arcane Sanctum
2 Mutavault
4 Fetid Heath
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Reflecting Pool
2 Plains
1 Swamp
Sideboard:
3 Elspeth, Knight Errant
3 Path to Exile
2 Head Games
3 Wrath of God
4 Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender
I built this list after compiling a few different decklists that put up great results, as well as LSV’s list from Pro Tour: Kyoto. It has a lot of obvious strengths, but not a lot of weaknesses that I have found. You have a lot of reach against decks packing Volcanic Fallout and Wrath of God. A bit of disruption with Tidehollow Sculler, and the ability to overwhelm other aggressive decks with Glorious Anthem and Ajani Goldmane. You also have an incredible manabase, and can cast any of your spells with ease. Windbrisk Heights gets activated fairly easily, especially with the addition of Marsh Flitter over 2 Kitchen Finks. He is the weakest of your token producers, but still a potent threat and has the ability to activate Windbrisk Heights on his own.
There haven’t been any good cards that cost only black and white spoiled thus far, so I’m not sure if BW Tokens will get any boosts from the new set. Hopefully it will be strong enough to survive the transition, because the deck is a blast to play and is very good against the current metagame. You have no decks that you “just lose to,” unlike Kithkin that just loses to 5-Color Control, or 5-Color Control that loses to Faeries, or Faeries that loses to Red Deck Wins. You get the idea. Without having any particularly bad matchups, the same is true that you have no great matchups. This leaves a lot of room for outplaying your opponent, giving better players an advantage that most decks in the format don’t have. That said, the deck is solid and can be explosive, but lacks a certain aggression that can steal games from opponents who stumble on mana draws or mulligans.
One of the biggest reasons to play BW Tokens instead of Kithkin or Boat Brew is that you have a better matchup against 5-Color Control and Faeries. Most of the time, your token producers will overwhelm Faeries as they try to set up behind Bitterblossom. Your spells have a knack for dodging Spellstutter Sprite, and they don’t have enough counters to eliminate all of your threats. Eventually, one of them will stick and start putting a beating on them. After boarding it is a bit harder for you to win, since they will likely have Infest and some cheap counterspell like Negate or Countersquall. In my experience, Faeries is a pretty close matchup, but you have a lot of good cards for the late game, and they only have 4 Cryptic Commands.
5-Color Control is traditionally a hard matchup for aggressive decks. But you are no normal aggressive deck! Each of your threats can generate multiple problematic situations for your opponent, each warranting a mass removal spell. If you can stick a Cloudgoat Ranger, Spectral Procession, or Bitterblossom, life should be fairly easy unless they stick an unanswered Plumeveil or Broodmate Dragon. Your anthem effects should help give you turns that have incredible swings, and steal wins out of nowhere. Their Volcanic Fallouts will be pretty amazing against you, but you should be able to easily rebuild afterwards. In this matchup, your Planeswalkers are excellent, since they can’t deal with them very easily. Elspeth out of the sideboard can put a beating on them, generating free creatures with the threat of making all of your team indestructible. If they fail to draw their mass removal effects against you, or if you draw a few Tidehollow Scullers, you should be able to overwhelm them in the early game.
Against other aggressive decks like Kithkin and Boat Brew, you take the aggressive role most of the time. Your creatures will likely be smaller than theirs in the early game, but after resolving a few Glorious Anthems or Ajani Goldmanes you should be able to steamroll them, or force them into uncomfortable attack scenarios. With backup removal spells like Terror and Path to Exile in the board, you should be able to take control of the game fairly easily around turn 4-6. A lot of the games come down to who draws more token producers, but you should be able to win that fight since you have more sources of token advantage. Glorious Anthem is key, and should be put under most Windbrisk Heights if able, unless you really need to Terror something.
This will more than likely be the deck I’m going to play at the Magic Online Championships, but I change my mind virtually every week, and I could be playing a different deck tomorrow. But for now I think this deck is solid, and should produce good results. I’ll likely do a rundown of potential decklists for the New Standard once the full spoiler for Alara Reborn is made official.
Thanks for reading, and good luck battling.
Todd Anderson
strong sad on MTGO
[email protected]