Constructed Criticism - Solving Standard: A Conundrum

For weeks, I’ve done nothing but try to solve the equation that is Standard. Each week, a different deck rises to the top, only to be crushed the next week by that deck’s bad matchup, and the cycle repeats over and over again. In the last few weeks, Blue-White Control took down GP: Washington in the hands of Brad Nelson, but many other decks continue to perform on different stages. Jund recently put two decks into the finals of a Magic Online PTQ, while Mythic Conscription won the most recent StarCityGames.com Open, as well as another of the Magic Online PTQs. In addition to this, Brian Kibler won the Japanese Grand Prix this past weekend with a brew entitled “Next Level Bant,” originated by none other than Patrick Chapin. With all of these different deck ideas on the table, what beats everything? What solves Standard? The answer: nothing.

While I’ve been racking my brain, slamming ideas over and over against brick walls, I’ve come up with nothing better than what has been presented to me already. While I find a few minor flaws in most of the champions’ decklists, I don’t think there are too many different ways you build these archetypes without creating something entirely different. For example, at the PTQ during Pro Tour: San Juan, Tom Raney defeated me with a very “strange” Mythic list, containing 10 Planeswalkers, and no copies of Baneslayer Angel. While I don’t know if this list is optimal, it was perfect for that Top 8, and possibly that entire tournament, due to the vast number of Blue-White Control decks populating it (I played about 5 mirror matches on the day). His ability to avoid losing to Wrath effects by accelerating into non-creature bombs kept him alive long enough to take down the blue envelope, leaving me to wonder exactly where I went wrong. Since that match, I have yet to feel as dominated as I had been. Both games were incredibly short, and I felt behind at all points in the game due to his acceleration into Jace, the Mind Sculptor, as well as his virtual immunity to my Day of Judgment. Additionally, his deck contained all the answers to the threats my deck could produce via Oblivion Ring. I literally could do nothing. However, when I tried to emulate this deck in the very next Magic Online PTQ, I found myself losing over and over to Blue-White Control. What was I missing?

One of my biggest failures as a Magic player is that I often switch decks between tournaments because of my instinctual nature to have the “correct deck” for that particular tournament. However, with Standard as it currently sits, I don’t think you can actually do that to the point where you are gaining an advantage. There are few matchups between the big decks that are worse than 65-35, and most of those are definitely winnable after sideboarding. If you just stick to the deck you play best, and play the cards that give yourself the best chance to win, that is really all you can ask in a field as open as this. My biggest mistake in this regard is that, while I try to find the best cards to fight particular metagames, I often find myself sideboarding incorrectly due to my ignorance of that particular matchup, or to a particular card I was not expecting. Cards like Duress and Goblin Ruinblaster give Blue-White major headaches when combined with the other disruptive elements that Jund presents, and Games 2 and 3 are never as easy as Game 1. This small example is just one reason why you desperately need to know the do’s and don’ts of every matchup you could face, and you need to know how to sideboard correctly in each.

While I am not sold that Blue-White is the current “best deck,” I need to find out what deck I think has the best chance to win, then grind that deck down to its bare essentials and find out exactly what cards are needed for what matchups, and playtest until I figure out the ins and outs that I previously had not known. The formats where I stick to one or two decks for the entirety of the season are the formats where I tend to do best, and I think that is true for most Magic players. Patrick Chapin had great success for quite some time with Vivid Land control decks, because that is the kind of deck he knew would help him reach his maximum win value, whether it be based on skill level or card quality, or a combination of both. When I played Black-White Tokens last Standard season, I did very well over the course of 3 tournaments or so, mostly due to the fact that I knew how to play the deck well. The same was true for me with Faeries during Lorwyn Block, as well as Zoo and Dark Depths during last Extended Season. When I venture into new territory, that is usually when I make the most mistakes, whether they be in deckbuilding, sideboarding, or gameplay.

While Standard might not be solvable with a single deck or idea, it is definitely possible to win the tournament if you have the best possible version of your deck, and play it perfectly. Let’s take Mythic, for example. I’ve played Mythic in two of the last three PTQ’s, expecting to do very well with it due to its continued dominating performance. However, the Online metagame is stock full of prepared Jund decks, packing the full four Doom Blade and at least three Malakir Bloodwitch out of the sideboard. When combined with Blightning and an absurd amount of other removal, it is very difficult for Mythic to even get off the ground. When Jund kills your first few mana-producers, your bigger spells rarely get online before they get Blightning’d, or you will get a paltry one or two activations out of your Planeswalker before it gets Maelstrom Pulsed. Not to take away from anyone who has beaten Jund with Mythic, but it is very difficult and usually requires your opponent to have a less-than-optimal list, or make a bevy of mistakes. Occasionally they will be just dead to a Baneslayer Angel, but those times are few and far between. While Jund might be slightly favored over Mythic, you can play certain cards or variations in your deck in order to help increase your win percentage in this matchup. Cards like Vengevine or Vines of the Vastwood out of the sideboard might be needed in order to help fight the “menace,” but there are a multitude of options you can consider. Finding the right combination of cards to fight your bad matchups, while maintaining a strong hold on your good matchups, is the key to “solving” the format. But, the same can be said for any of the top decks in the format due to the very high power level of some of the cards. If I had to play Mythic tomorrow, and expected a hostile Jund metagame, here is the list I would play:

Mythic

Todd Anderson

Test deck on 06-13-2010

Standard

Creatures (23)

Planeswalkers (9)

Lands (26)

Spells (2)

2 Eldrazi Conscription

Sideboard

I will go on record to say that this sideboard completely ignores the presence of Mono-Red, but you have plenty of tools for fighting them maindeck with Rhox War Monk and Gideon Jura. The sideboard might seem a bit slanted, but I’ve found that Sphinx of Jwar Isle is usually a huge monster that they can’t really deal with, and should be a staple in any Mythic sideboard when determining your best course of action against Jund. Sure, he is a little worse now that they have a way to make 5/5 dragons via Sarkhan the Mad, but you will usually have an exalted creature lying around to make your Sphinx into a 6/6 monster that will be difficult to block. The rest of the sideboard is for Green-White matchups, as well as the counterspells for UW Control. The removal spells specifically target Vengevine, but Oblivion Ring is solid against many decks, including UW or any deck sporting a multiple Planeswalker package. I’ve tested a Vengevine package in the sideboard, including Ranger of Eos and Scute Mob, but it just didn’t work how I wanted it to. Hybridizing Next Level Bant and Mythic is fairly difficult, and not something I recommend. They have very separate game-plans, and that should be respected.

While you can change up a few of the cards in Mythic to help fight off Jund, the same can be said that Blue-White can play more cards to fight against Mythic, a deck I consider to be one of Blue-White’s bad matchups. For one, Deprive is a card that hasn’t seen a lot of maindeck play, but should probably be considered in the current metagame. Every deck is topping out at four-, five-, and six-drops in order to bring the game to a swift end, and these are the turns where Deprive really shines. At this stage of the game, the bouncing of a land could be beneficial (see Spreading Seas on your Celestial Colonnade), and will hinder you much less than if cast on turn two or three. Deprive is an odd card because, while powerful, it can be very hard on your early game development, but easily win you the game when you stop your opponent from dropping their Jace, Oblivion Ring, or Sarkhan the Mad. It doesn’t have the drawback of only countering Instants and Sorceries like Negate, and should definitely be considered over Negate when fighting for maindeck slots. The rise in popularity of Mythic should see to this substitution, since Negate looks pretty awkward when staring down Sovereigns of Lost Alara. Blue-White Control can also minimize the flow of damage from Mythic by maindecking four Path to Exile, as well as more copies of Jace, Elspeth, and Gideon in order to keep theirs off the table. While Gideon Jura isn’t that much of a problem for you, it is a 6/6 that survives Day of Judgment, and that is nothing to sneeze at. He also assassinates your Baneslayer Angels, which are your “trump” to most versions of aggro.

When building Blue-White Control, you have to figure out a few things, but mostly what decks you want to beat in Game 1. Jund is much easier to beat in Game 1 due to their inability to effectively deal with Spreading Seas, as well as their plethora of mostly useless removal. Bituminous Blast has very few targets, and you will almost always be able to see it coming, as they will usually play scared when facing down a Celestial Colonnade. Additionally, their bigger problem cards for you like Goblin Ruinblaster, Duress, and Malakir Bloodwitch (which almost all Jund decks have universally adopted in some number), are in the sideboard. This leaves you with two options: building your deck to absolutely annihilate Jund in the first game, and hoping to scrape by in the last two games; or building your maindeck to mostly ignore Jund except for the Spreading Seas, and sideboard a large number of hate cards like Celestial Purge and Flashfreeze. Unfortunately, there aren’t many good cards Blue-White has for defeating cascade, so my usual gameplan is to try to win the first, and then win the second or third on the back of a good Planeswalker draw, and the occasional Martial Coup for infinity. Mind Spring is also very good at digging yourself out of sticky situations, and one or two more might be wanted in the sideboard for this particular matchup, but their plan against you becomes much more aggressive after the first game, making sideboarding a very tricky process. If I were playing UW Control tomorrow, here is the list I would play:

UW Control

Todd Anderson

Test deck on 06-13-2010

Standard

Creatures (7)

Planeswalkers (8)

Lands (26)

Spells (19)

Sideboard

With this particular list, you are slimming down the mass removal from the maindeck. This is mainly due to the fact that every aggressive deck has ways to “deal” with wrath. By “deal” I mean they either recover amazingly fast with Vengevine, Bloodbraid Elf, or something similar. Wrath effects are also becoming more and more worthless due to the fact that Mythic is leaning towards more Planeswalkers and less creatures, or they are running a ton of Dauntless Escorts, which are very annoying. Day of Judgment should be in the 75, but I think having a solid counterspell in the maindeck takes priority at the moment, and Deprive is much better than Negate as a maindeck spell in the current metagame. While neither is very efficient against Jund, Deprive is certainly more powerful since it can stop Siege-Gang Commander cold in his tracks before bringing along the happy bunch of 1/1’s. While this maindeck is a bit soft to Jund, you still have plenty of solid tools for fighting them, and many sideboard cards to help along the way.

Speaking of Jund…

Jund

Todd Anderson

Test deck on 06-13-2010

Standard

Creatures (14)

Planeswalkers (3)

Lands (27)

Spells (16)

Sideboard

Now, as far as Jund is concerned, one of your main points for figuring out your maindeck should be the mirror. If you don’t have cards that put your edge in the mirror, you might as well not even show up to the tournament. Sarkhan the Mad, Siege-Gang Commander, and Bituminous Blast are all Jund’s ways of defining the mirror. Jund is one of the best decks in the format, and easily the most powerful as far as individual card quality, so making sure you can actually beat your opponent who is playing a similar strategy takes a bit of work.

As for other decks trying to beat Jund, they are going about it in all the wrong ways. Sure, your deck can pack itself full of Planeswalkers, but very few decks have efficient answers to Putrid Leech and company. With Jund, you have very little room for innovation, because so many cards are virtually pre-designated as a 4-of, but there are a few slots that could be open to interpretation. One card I do like is Sarkhan the Mad, but I’m not sold that he is better than Siege-Gang Commander. While a healthy mix is probably correct, finding the numbers of each that fit is the real tricky part. Bituminous Blast, Siege-Gang Commander, Sarkhan, and Broodmate Dragon are all fighting for the top of your curve, and it is very difficult to find the balance between the lot of them. If you stuff your deck full of 5-drops and skimp on the acceleration, you will find yourself on the painful end of a Vengevine while you stall on four lands game after game. I recommend that Jund play 27 lands, including 5 manlands and plenty of basics (3 of each at the very least). By playing 27 lands, you will help ensure that you get mana screwed less often, and you will rarely feel flooded due to the presence of Raging Ravine and Lavaclaw Reaches. Sarkhan also helps to keep you from flooding, supplying you with a steady stream of cards. He can also randomly kill your opponent if you happen to combo him with a timely Broodmate Dragon, or even just one of his 5/5 offspring. It is a much overlooked ability that has won me a few games.

Also while building Jund, figuring out the right removal suite can be a difficult task. I think that Jund would be better served with fewer Bituminous Blasts, since it is rather weak against the control decks, but it shines against the aggressive decks so it is almost a coin-flip. With fewer Bituminous Blasts, you gain access to more Siege-Gang Commanders, which are awesome against pretty much any deck in the format. You also get access to the maximum number of Lightning Bolts and Maelstrom Pulses, both of which are necessary against such a hostile format full of Planeswalkers. With so many Jace, the Mind Sculptors around, you would do well to have the full four of each of these cards in your deck. I am also a huge fan of Garruk Wildspeaker in Jund, simply due to his overwhelming presence in the Blue-White matchups. Sure, he is a bit weaker against the mirror due to Blightning, but the strength he brings to every other matchup is definitely worth it. When combined with Sarkhan the Mad, you can make for some incremental advantages that will give the control decks headaches. While Garruk might not seem insane in the Blightning matchups, he is far from bad. While saving you three damage from a Blightning, he is at worst a slightly overcosted 3/3 that will give you long-term benefits if he sticks around.

Your sideboard is geared specifically towards beating two types of decks: Mythic and UW Variants. Duress, Goblin Ruinblaster, and Malakir Bloodwitch are your trump cards, and just ape-smash them into oblivion if you get a reasonable draw. By getting rid of their Mind Springs or wrath effects with Duress, you put them in a state of trying to 1-for-1 you to death, which rarely works when fighting against a Blightning deck. Combine that with the fact that all of their “trump” cards can be dispatched by Maelstrom Pulse, and you have yourself a dealbreaker. I, for one, thought that UW had a much better shot at beating Jund, until I faced dedicated sideboard after dedicated sideboard, and literally couldn’t win a Game 2 or 3 where I didn’t draw multiple Spreading Seas (or they mulliganed to death). If you keep them constantly on the back foot, there isn’t much room for them to maneuver. Your early aggressive draws, combined with the disruptive elements, puts them in precarious situations where they will often make the incorrect play based on incorrect information. I find that my opponents will often sandbag their Duress until they feel I am most vulnerable, stripping away a Wrath I could have used a turn earlier. Then they mop up with a Malakir Bloodwitch or something similar once they know the coast is clear. We’ll just say that it gets very difficult if the Jund player knows what they are doing, and be done with it.

Our next brew…

Next Level Bant

Brian Kibler

Test deck on 06-13-2010

Standard

Creatures (24)

Planeswalkers (7)

Lands (24)

Spells (5)

Sideboard

Kibler won a Grand Prix this past weekend with Next Level Bant, a concoction using cards like Wall of Omens, Vengevine, and Sea Gate Oracle, and I can definitely see the appeal, and especially so when faced against a slew of Blightning decks. The real innovation for this deck was Sphinx of Lost Truths, which singlehandedly gives you mid-game gas that the deck otherwise lacked. I have already seen a Sphinx of Lost Truth cast without kicker, discarding multiple Vengevines, followed by a one-drop like Noble Hierarch, returning the two Vengevines to play. This interaction is something a lot of “fair” decks can’t deal with. While the deck can do some absurdly powerful things, most of the time it feels like a UW Control deck that plays some aggressive cards and good acceleration. If you can recall to Pro Tour: Honolulu in 2006, you will see that Osyp played Giant Solifuge in the sideboard of his UR Tron deck to help combat the other control decks. Think of Next Level Bant like a UW Control deck that is pre-sided against the mirror with a Giant Solifuge of its own, and has plenty of cards that help combat Jund. If you think of the deck like this, then it is much easier to get behind.

There are plenty of ways you can build a Vengevine deck, but why stuff it full of walls if your goal is to attack with a ground creature? I’ll tell you why. Walls protect your Planeswalkers. Sea Gate Oracle digs for cards you need while providing a body buffer between your Gideon Jura and your opponent’s Putrid Leech. The deck is for real, and I’m upset I didn’t catch onto it sooner. When people figure out just how good the deck is, and begin to really figure out the nuances and card choices, then we will have a real monster on our hands. One thing I’ve found so far in my limited testing is that you have a few too many “comes into play tapped” lands. With so many mana accelerators, I would think you would want a bit of speed, even at the cost of consistency. Seaside Citadel seems really awkward, and I would try (to a degree) to mimic the manabase of Mythic (aside from the Sejiri Steppe), minimizing the enters-the-battlefield-tapped lands so that you are coming out of the gates when you need to be. Doing so will allow you to have fewer draws where you are a turn or more behind your opponent due to having no lands entering the battlefield untapped. This has already happened more than I would like to admit, but there is still a lot of testing to be done.

Over the coming weeks, I will be battling in as many PTQ’s as I can, so wish me luck! I’m not sure which of these four decks I will be battling with, but I’m planning on figuring that out very soon, and sticking to it until I can actually win one of these things. It has been quite a while.

Thanks for reading.

Todd

strong sad on MTGO