I don’t do set reviews. I don’t want to be “that guy” who does his review of each card every time a new set comes out. I don’t like doing it, and I generally find them boring. However, they are usually filled with small amounts of useful information, so I can definitely see why people are not against seeing them every three months or so. I like to find a more straightforward approach, finding some of my absolute favorite cards from the set, and talking about their potential applications for the upcoming new format. As you know, Constructed is my first love, and I like nothing more than brewing new decks with new cards, even though my first few rough drafts tend to be on the awful side. I like learning from trial and error. You have to do it sooner or later if you ever want to be a good deck builder. For every success, there are usually ten failures.
Chapin said it best when he talked about set reviews a short while ago, in that if you are going to do a set review, bring something original to the table. Comedy, insight, fresh decks, and even an unpopular opinion here and there are great starts. “Great Sable Stag hoses Faeries” is not a good review of the card. Awesome. We already knew that. What have we learned by your repeating of this fact? Nothing that the card didn’t show us to begin with. If you want to tell me something about a card, tell me about its potential uses that aren’t blatantly obvious. Obstinate Baloth is awesome against Jund because it destroys their Blightnings? Great. But did you think that, for just a minute, Blightning decks could side out their Blightnings against the decks packing both Vengevine and Obstinate Baloth? They probably should, but most of them won’t. Just something to think about. If you are going to talk about a card like Combust, don’t tell me exactly what it says on the card. I already knew it could kill a Baneslayer Angel. Tell me what decks should play it, and tell me why those decks should care about having Combust in their sideboard to kill Baneslayer or Sovereigns of Lost Alara or whatever. Babbling without context is just boring!
A few of my favorites:
Mana Leak (obv)
One card that deserves discussion but is not getting as much attention as it should be (although I don’t think this card could even be overhyped) is Mana Leak. The card has not been in Standard since Faeries’ first run at the title of “most annoying deck ever,” and has been sorely missed. In Faeries, it was awesome, but people took it for granted. I know that I am guilty myself of saying that “I got stuck with two Mana Leaks in my hand at the end of the game, and there was nothing I could do.” But I never talked about all those times I countered Chameleon Colossus with Mana Leak. It was not until it rotated, and when people had to start playing with things like Rune Snag and Broken Ambitions, that people genuinely missed Mana Leak. I know that, in my own heart, I have missed Mana Leak because its absence has allowed for midrange decks to grow completely out of control. Without a catch-all, easy-to-cast counterspell in a format full of Planeswalkers and Blightning , we’ve been finding ourselves as control players lucky to survive. Negate doesn’t target creatures. Deprive can’t be reasonably cast before turn 5 without crushing your development. Essence Scatter saw some play, but it is just too narrow. That is the problem with all counterspells in Standard: they are just too narrow. But Mana Leak is going to change that. Again.
Before, people couldn’t build “Draw-Go” style decks because there was no ultimate end-game worth fighting for. Blue-based decks really need a card to rely on as a recognizable win condition, or at least a card that can aggressively punish someone for tapping out for a Planeswalker. Mana Leak, while often dead in the late game, will be crucial in helping you set up whatever plan you ultimately intend on creating. Without something like Mana Leak, these decks would have very little control over what their opponents did to influence their play. Now, with Jace’s Ingenuity, you have a solid draw spell at instant speed, allowing you to actually sit back and play counterspells while your opponent tries to play around you. Blue mages, start rejoicing. Rekindling my love for countermagic might end up being difficult, because it has been about a year since I’ve been able to cast Cryptic Command in Standard, but you can bet that just these few cards have already gotten the blood flowing, and I hope it is no different for all of you. M11 has some real goodies, and Mana Leak is just the tip of the iceberg, although it fights on a different proving ground altogether.
Primeval Titan is another card I would like to talk about, but I don’t want to rehash all the same crap everyone else is telling you about it. Sure, you can throw it into a Turbo Land deck and call it a day, but what are you replacing? Sure, it doesn’t replace Avenger of Zendikar, but where does it fit? Should you cut Ponders? Mind Springs? Acceleration? While he has a hefty body attached to an Explosive Vegetation (that can grab any land), I think he will be much better suited for his own archetype, whatever that may be. I’m a huge fan of Ponza in Standard, and am trying to fit Goblin Ruinblaster into every maindeck containing Red mana. Green/Red Ponza could have a shot, seeing as you can ramp into Primeval Titan, grabbing two Tectonic Edges, all while playing Goblin Ruinblaster and/or Spreading Seas if you splash Blue. If people continue to be increasingly greedy with their manabases (I’m looking at YOU, Mythic!), then Ponza could definitely have a shot. The duo of Spreading Seas and Goblin Ruinblaster really hurts Jund, and combine that with solid card draw and a Tectonic Edge or two, then they have almost no chance. While Primeval Titan does not necessarily create a new archetype, it could revive an outdated one. If anything punishes midrange decks better than Ponza, I don’t know what does. For a while, Jund’s worst matchup was “Spread ‘Em,” a deck based on cascading into Spreading Seas. If Primeval Titan decks follow this routine, expect many Green/Blue/Red based decks to be punishing greedy manabases in the very near future.
Cultivate is another card people seem to be forgetting about. Sure, everyone says that it is a functional reprint of Kodama’s Reach. They are right. What people don’t remember was how format-defining Kodama’s Reach was! Kamigawa Block Constructed, as well as many Standard decks of that era, played Kodama’s Reach to great success. Even GBU decks decided to splash Godo, Bandit Warlord with a single Mountain, and due to the presence of Sakura-Tribe Elder and Kodama’s Reach, they were able to do it easily. Now in Standard, with Fetchlands, Core Set Duals, and a plethora of other potential manafixing, you are capable of combining all of the best spells in the format into one tight package. Cultivate also proactively combats Blightning, which is just icing on the cake. While you might not be accelerating into four-drops like Jace as much as you would with Rampant Growth, you could mold your deck to ramp into five-drops like Gideon Jura instead. Cultivate also seems like a great spell in the Jund mirror, since that usually degenerates down to whoever draws the most two-for-ones, and it also accelerates you into your late-game bombs like Sarkhan el Loco. It also helps fight against Spreading Seas, snagging two lands of whatever color(s) you are missing. I don’t think we have quite discussed just how much this card will impact Standard, and I don’t think people will realize its potential just yet, but it deserves more mention than it has been getting so far.
…
I have a PTQ coming up next weekend with M11 legal, and I have no idea what to play. The answer might be adding new, solid cards to existing archetypes, but I like to think that this set is going to inspire something new and inventive. With Nationals just around the corner, this PTQ could set the precedent for what I will play there, or even solidify me in a particular archetype. Usually before a tournament, I end up having the most success if I find the optimal list for a particular archetype I think is best for a particular tournament, instead of floundering around with a smattering of different decks. Having said that, I have yet to find an archetype other than Eldrazi Monument that I really enjoy playing in Standard. While Eldrazi Monument seems to go hand-in-hand with the kind of decks I like to play, I don’t know if it will survive with the forthcoming revival of Mana Leak and Blue Control decks. As I said earlier, Mana Leak will punish the midrange decks, and Eldrazi Monument decks are no different. At the moment, UW Control is one of the more difficult matchups, due to the presence of Day of Judgment, as well as cards like Baneslayer Angel and Gideon Jura. Those cards buy them tons of time against you, and all they need to find is an Oblivion Ring, or just a counterspell, for your Eldrazi Monument. I don’t know if the deck will survive the changes coming to Standard, but I will be working on it for at least the next week or two while I prepare for the new-format PTQs and Nationals.
Speaking of Eldrazi Monument decks, I’ve been working on quite a doozy lately. A lot of Japanese players had a very interesting Green-Red-Blue Eldrazi Monument deck at their Nationals. Although none of them made Top 8, I’ve been working on something similar for quite a while, and I think I’ve discovered what was missing. With a few of their more inspirational card choices, I decided to pick up the deck and have been battling constantly on Magic Online, and it is quite good. I am literally undefeated against Jund, which is not something a lot of people can say. The more questionable matchups are decks like UW Control, which can really wreck you with a well-timed Deprive, Negate, or Mana Leak on your Monument, and follow that up with a Day of Judgment. However, mana denial may very well be the key once again. Goblin Ruinblaster is a ridiculous beating right now, and I’ve put him into the maindeck of nearly everything I’ve built lately, and this is no exception. When combined with acceleration, as well as cards like Bloodbraid Elf and Vengevine to generate card advantage, the deck is starting to turn into a real monster. For reference, here is the current list I’ve been battling with:
Creatures (32)
- 1 Birds of Paradise
- 3 Siege-Gang Commander
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 4 Bloodbraid Elf
- 4 Goblin Ruinblaster
- 4 Lotus Cobra
- 4 Nest Invader
- 4 Sea Gate Oracle
- 4 Vengevine
Lands (25)
Spells (3)
Sideboard
For all of those who are asking me about the Jaces in the sideboard, I assure you they are there for a reason. Maindeck, he is fine, but right now the metagame is full of Mono Red and Jund, which makes him much worse. This is going to be accentuated even further when people default to a “tried and true” strategy in a hostile, new environment. He comes in against any deck not playing Lightning Bolt, because he is just that good, but I have played a lot with this deck, and Goblin Ruinblaster is just better against the current, Jund-filled environment. I would say that Ruinblaster and Jace are virtually interchangeable at various points in metagame shifts, as Jace is much better against UW Control, as well as any non-aggressive deck. Goblin Ruinblaster has put so many more people away than Jace, and I have tried using all combinations of both or none of them in the deck.
You could argue that I really want a counterspell in the sideboard, such as Unified Will or Negate, or possibly even Mana Leak, but I don’t think that is necessarily true, simply due to the existence of Bloodbraid Elf. However, if the deck pushed more towards a GU or GUW build, cutting the Bloodbraid Elves, I could definitely see trying to find room for some countermagic. I absolutely hate Unified Will, because it becomes a mostly dead draw if your opponent has already cast a Day of Judgment, Martial Coup, or Elspeth. These cards are all major problems for you, and Negate or Mana Leak handle them much better than Unified Will. Situational counterspells are such enormous traps that even I have fallen into them on many occasions.
As for the addition of new cards, Obstinate Baloth (or as I’ve come to know him “OBV Baloth”) and Brindle Boar both could see sideboard play against Mono Red. Since that is one of your least favorable matchups, and OBV Baloth is really good against Jund as well, he will probably make the cut, but Brindle Boar will be much more of a niche answer. Mitotic Slime could easily be an option for this style of deck once Path to Exile rotates out of Standard, but is just “too cute” at the moment, and not quite as awesome as Siege-Gang Commander. Sylvan Ranger is solid, but I’m not sure if he is better than Nest Invader (and definitely not Lotus Cobra), since Nest Invader is an aggressive threat that also accelerates you, while providing an extra blocker during a race. While Sylvan Ranger might go into a new archetype like Elves, I don’t think he comes close to making the cut here. There are lots of new, exciting creatures you can try out, but there are plenty of awesome creatures that didn’t even make the cut here, like Master of the Wild Hunt.
Other cards to consider for the sideboard are Combust, and possibly Autumns Veil. Combust is an awesome answer to Baneslayer Angel decks, and that is something this deck really lacks. Sure, Jace can bounce Baneslayer Angel, but Combust ends its life, and also kills Sovereigns of Lost Alara and Knight of the Reliquary. Those are the three best cards against your deck in Mythic, and having a card that can answer all three is sweet. It easily replaces Flame Slash, and allows for a little breathing room in one of your harder matchups. Autumn’s Veil could be great once people realize just how good Mana Leak is, acting as a counter to things like Maelstrom Pulse in the meanwhile. But, it seems a bit too narrow just yet, but I like the idea behind it. I’m not sure if there are any other cards that could directly impact this deck, other than something that changes the deck drastically, but there is always room for innovation. I know I’ve been beating Monument decks against the wall over the last few weeks just looking for something to stick, but I think people are just unaware of how good the archetype is, and give it very little respect. I’ve always been an advocate of Eldrazi Monument, and if I keep putting up results with it, hopefully other people will take notice.
If you haven’t started brewing for the new Standard, you should. It’s fun! Play your FNM with whatever your heart desires. Try out the Blue and Red Titans, even if they are worse than the other three. Try out everything the set has to offer, and you just might find a gem that everyone else overlooked. There is plenty of room for innovation in Standard, and people are just too lazy to come up with new or interesting ideas. Instead of trying new options with your deck of choice to beat the bad matchups, people just give up on them altogether, or change decks when a particularly bad matchup becomes popular. Every matchup is solvable, and it only takes sacrificing percentages in other matchups in order to make them better. If people learned this lesson, and actively tried to innovate, we would have a much healthier game. If Blightning is the card that constantly beats you, then figure out what you’re doing wrong! Has Mind Rot ever really been a problem? What about Lava Spike? Combine the two together, lowering the cost by one, and you have a good card, but not something that should be format defining. Do you remember when Dragonstorm was in Standard? What about Affinity? Those archetypes had problem cards, and are nothing like we’re facing in today’s metagame. I know that building around a discard spell can be difficult, and Jund presents all sorts of threats on many different levels, but there has got to be a better answer! There are some awesome cards in M11 that should help, so get to brewing! I’ll be here, battling alongside you.
Thanks for reading.
Todd
strong sad on MTGO