A Standard PTQ. Let it soak in….
The format for Pro Tour: Austin Qualifiers is Standard. Can you believe it? For the first time in as long as I’ve been playing Magic, Wizards of the Coast has finally decided to make Standard the format of choice for players battling for a blue envelop. Seriously? Check. Awesome? Check again.
What does this mean for you, the mages littering the Battleground? It means that Faeries will probably still be good, but you should probably prepare to beat a little bit of everything. Standard is a rock, paper, scissors metagame at the moment, with an entire group centered in the paper category. Faeries is Rock, it beats Five-Color Control (scissors), and Five-Color Control beats everything else (paper). There are some ‘paper’ decks that don’t beat Faeries, but rarely do you have a 3-deck metagame, and this is definitely not a 3-deck metagame. At the very least you have 6 contenders vying for the top. Here are my top 6 decks for Standard (all from Kyoto and in no particular order):
1. Faeries – synergistic killing machine that picks apart other control decks but dies horribly to Mountains
2. Five-Color Control – powerful late game; designed to punish aggressive decks with cards like Volcanic Fallout and Plumeveil
3. BW Tokens – strong aggressive curve with a good mid-game plan, mild disruption, and a hint of Ajani Goldmane
4. RW Kithkin – The best aggressive deck in the format by a country mile but loses hard to Five-Color Control when they’re playing Plumeveils and Volcanic Fallouts
5. Boat Brew – a different take on RW aggro with better late game cards like Reveillark and Siege-Gang Commander, but worse against other aggressive decks
6. Dark Bant – 8 solid accelerators that power out fatties like Doran the Siege Tower, Rafiq of the Many, and Rhox War Monk, this deck is hard to deal with and doesn’t give you much time to do it.
While there are many other decks in the format besides these 6, these were all in the Top 8 from Pro Tour: Kyoto, and the format hasn’t really changed since then. Of course, there are the results coming from the StarCityGames.com $5000 Standard Open to come sometime this week… and I for one am looking forward to that. As things stand at the time of writing, the above six are the decks you are most likely to face in any given Standard tournament (from good players), so you should be prepared. I would suggest playing a deck you feel most comfortable with that still gives you a shot at beating each of these six decks. However, people still play Mountains and will still target you with Blightning, even though they actually have no shot at beating a Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender.
Of these decks, my two favorites are RW Kithkin and Five-Color Control. The Kithkin deck has a good matchup against every deck on the list except Five-Color Control. Traditionally, Five-Color Control has put a huge beating on the little hobbits, dating back to their arrival as a “real deck” during Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block Constructed. They couldn’t handle massive sweeper effects capped with near infinite card drawing then, and still have a lot of trouble with it now. In my opinion, these are the two decks you should focus on when deciding what deck you want to play. They each have a fairly large weakness in their routes to victory, but are very strong at doing what they do best.
Faeries, in my opinion, is not the right choice for the current metagame. The deck didn’t gain a single card in Conflux, but every other deck got insanely better. You can’t beat Banefire, Volcanic Fallout, or even an opposing Bitterblossom unless you have one of your own. You even get blown out by Path to Exile, which more and more White decks are playing. It is a sad day when someone who loves Faeries as much as I do abandons the archetype altogether. But it is also a sad day when your best matchup has access to instant uncounterable sweeper effects.
I hate to quote Cedric Phillips, but he was just correct in saying Boat Brew “actually does nothing.” The deck plays 1-3 creatures, and then just falls over dead. I don’t know why anyone would run this deck, as it has mediocre win percentages across the board, and can boast very few good matchups. Its only redeeming quality is that it has a lot of game against Five-Color Control, except that the newer versions with Plumeveil and Volcanic Fallout are still an insane beating.
BW Tokens was piloted by Luis Scott-Vargas in Kyoto to a finals finish, in which he should have won if not for a few amazing topdecks by Gabriel Nassif. However, it was just not in the cards for him to win back to back Pro Tours. The deck he played is very strong and should be considered a top contender. Cards like Bitterblossom, Cloudgoat Ranger, and Spectral Procession can give you viable one-card armies to activate Windbrisk Heights, or even overrun your opponent with Glorious Anthem or Ajani Goldmane. You also have decent disruption and removal to get rid of pesky Plumeveils and Mistbind Cliques from control decks, while still having the ability to apply incredible pressure. As far as playability is concerned, I think BW Tokens is probably the best deck in the format. One minor change I would make is cutting Kitchen Finks for another token producer. Red has virtually fallen off the map, making Kitchen Finks less necessary for the maindeck, but I can easily see incorporating them to the sideboard. A good switch would be something like Marsh Flitter, as he is another 3-for-1 creature.
Dark Bant may end up being the better aggressive choice for the format, as it has a solid mix of large monsters and disruption. While you have trouble against decks playing Spectral Procession, the beating you put on other decks is just incredible. I feel as if Brian Robinson built a real winner, but the deck seems to lack something special. I’m not sure exactly what that is, but someone will probably figure it out sooner or later. The removal spells he played are fine, as they each have their own niche. I would recommend playing more Nameless Inversion to help out with Murmuring Bosk, as seven treefolk doesn’t seem like enough to keep it consistently coming in untapped. The powerful starts this deck can achieve can put incredible pressure on everyone, but a few well-timed removal spells can really slow the deck down, or even stop it completely. The deck has no card draw, and no reach. I would even go so far to say that Profane Command should probably be somewhere in the 75, and just cut the Gaddock Teegs. Since most control decks play cheap removal to deal with early game threats, and fewer decks play Wrath of God, Profane Command could be that “something special” the moves this into “best deck” potential. Hopefully Alara Reborn will have a few goodies for this deck.
Aside from the Top 8 in Kyoto, a lot of people decided to play Blightning Beatdown at that tournament. While this is a real deck and you will surely face it approximately a million times in the next 6 months, it is not the best deck by any means. However, the fact that it plays cheap burn spells and efficient creatures will cause a lot of players to adopt this strategy even though they know it isn’t the best. Generally players choose familiarity over quality, so as to give themselves a better chance to outplay their opponent. This deck lacks that potential, as “outplaying” your opponent will generally involve you baiting them with Incinerate so you can cast Flame Javelin. While you do have the tools to beat a lot of decks, most of them are counter intuitive to the rest of your strategy. One big problem is that no one knows whether to play Demigod of Revenge or Siege-Gang Commander, or to cut them both completely from the deck. One loses to Volcanic Fallout, while the other looks silly against Path to Exile (5-1 on mana expenditure is blech). I don’t know what the best configuration of the deck looks like, but my guess is that it plays Volcanic Fallout in order to crush Faeries, as well as blow up entire armies of hobbits and spirit tokens. Time will tell if the format is ready to let Blightning make a comeback. Alara Reborn could have a card or two that pushes Blightning Beatdown back to the forefront.
An exciting fringe deck that I have been working on with Will Cruse, a friend of mine, has been performing quite well in local tournaments. However, these tournaments are by no means representative of the Standard metagame you should expect. Some of my local companions continue to champion Bant Control instead of Five-Color Control, and others even play awesome casual decks like Howling Mine burn. Don’t get me wrong, I love these people and I love their decks. They’re fun and interesting, but by no means competitive. Comparing the two would be like comparing Peanut Butter and Chocolate, as they are both pretty awesome but in entirely different ways.
And with no further delay, I present the best deck you haven’t seen in a while: Merfolk.
Creatures (25)
- 4 Merrow Reejerey
- 4 Silvergill Adept
- 3 Sower of Temptation
- 2 Sygg, River Guide
- 4 Stonybrook Banneret
- 2 Vendilion Clique
- 4 Cursecatcher
- 2 Thistledown Liege
Lands (16)
Spells (19)
Sideboard
This deck is a rehash of the old archetype, but with a few new additions. The most glaringly obvious change is Thistledown Liege. Against decks packing Volcanic Fallout, this guy is invaluable, and I would include more if the casting cost weren’t an issue. Occasionally drawing 2 Mutavault can be awkward, but he is definitely worth the inclusion. Having an instant lord is not something most people will expect, or be able to handle after they make a bad block.
Path to Exile is an incredible card that the deck really needed. Removal is at its highest premium in the one-mana slot, and leaves you a lot of wiggle room when trying to play multiple spells in a single turn. One of the biggest advantages of having Path to Exile is your ability to deal with problematic creatures that resolve through you countermagic. One big reason: Mistbind Clique. Another big reason: Plumeveil. Both of these cards can give aggressive decks headaches, and can come down fairly early in the game. If you don’t have an answer for these creatures, odds are you are losing. Sage’s Dousing and Cryptic Command are nice, but you don’t always have the spare mana to cast them. Just think of Path to Exile as a Remove Soul for one mana, but you can cast it whenever you want. Seems pretty amazing, right?
There is no question that this deck has problem with large monsters. Decks like Dark Bant or other decks playing big creatures are the reason for having cards like Curse of Chains in the sideboard. Pacifism would be fine, but it is a bit harder for you to cast. Curse of Chains can cheaply and effectively lock down Doran, Rhox War Monk, or even the much less played Chameleon Colossus. Having an additional answer besides Path to Exile against problematic creatures is something Merfolk desperately needed.
The best reason to play Merfolk is that the better players in the room will more than likely be playing some form of a slow control deck. Aggro-control decks like Merfolk traditionally pummel pure control decks, and the same still rings true today. Having access to efficient bears that can protect themselves, pump your army, draw cards, and disrupt your opponent is nothing short of mind-blowing against an opposing Cryptic Command deck. On top of that, they have very few threats to actually win with, which makes the value of your Sage’s Dousings and Cryptic Commands go up in value. You have cards like Vendilion Clique, Sygg, and Thistledown Liege to protect you from Volcanic Blowout, but most likely you will be able to play around it. They have very few ways of actually threatening your game-state, unlike Kithkin where they can’t counter anything, leaving them vulnerable to a lot of the “tap out” cards from Five-Color like Broodmate Dragon and Cruel Ultimatum. If you are planning on playing against a lot of control decks at your PTQs, or perhaps a StarCityGames.com $5000 Standard Open, then I would recommend playing a few more Vendilion Clique in the maindeck over Sowers of Temptation. The two are virtually interchangeable, but your matchups against aggro tend to be worse if you don’t have Sower of Temptation to steal their biggest threat. Alara Reborn could add a bit more to the deck, but we can only wait and see. Overall I feel as if the deck has a lot of potential, but I’m positive that this isn’t the best possible build. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to let me know what you think.
There are only a few weeks left for Extended PTQs, but hopefully I’ll win the one in my hometown of Birmingham. Here are the two decks I am deciding between for battling purposes:
Creatures (23)
- 4 Mogg Fanatic
- 1 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
- 4 Kird Ape
- 4 Tarmogoyf
- 3 Gaddock Teeg
- 4 Wild Nacatl
- 3 Woolly Thoctar
Lands (18)
Spells (19)
Sideboard
This list is very similar to Tomohiro Saito’s list from GP: Singapore, but a few minor changes. When testing, I found that 21 land just wasn’t enough, and with all the deck-thinning from playing 12 fetchlands, you were essentially playing a 19 land deck after your opening hand, assuming you didn’t mulligan. Having 2-3 in your opening hand is crucial, and I found I just had one-landers a little too often. Plus, I am always a fan of adding a land to any deck. I also cut Umezawa’s Jitte for more Incinerates. In testing I found that Jitte was too often just “seal of Jitte” used to kill my opponent’s copy. This seemed a bit lackluster for me, and I cut it for more hard removal. I almost never had enough mana to play and equip it in the same turn, leaving me vulnerable to removal when I spent 2 turns playing and then equipping. Having more burn gives you a little more reach against the mirror, and having Jitte isn’t crazy amazing in the mirror as two counters will rarely kill a creature, and often spending four mana to play and equip gets you blown out by Path to Exile or Lightning Helix. I really like the feel of this deck and it should definitely be kept in mind when constructing your own deck for the PTQ. Jitte was mainly just a nod to Elves being popular in an Asian Grand Prix, but PTQs in the United States tend to see less of the little pointy-eared fiends.
Another deck I’m choosing between is similar to the 2nd place deck at GP: Singapore. It is a hybrid of Previous Level Blue and Faeries, properly dubbed Previous Level Faeries:
Creatures (14)
Lands (19)
Spells (27)
This is an exact copy of John Penick deck from a recent PTQ. We’ve been talking recently about the deck over a forum, and his win solidified my decision in his list. He is a great player, and I might make a few last-minute changes in light of the recent Grand Prix results, but his cutting of Engineered Explosives is a very bold statement that I completely agree with. I would really like to have a hoser for Affinity, but that deck is slowly falling off the map (thank god!). Anyway, happy hunting if you’re looking for that Blue Envelope in the next few weeks.
With Standard tournaments on the horizon, it is safe to say that I won’t be writing any more articles on Extended unless I win an Extended PTQ in the next month. Soon I’ll probably start work on Shards Block Constructed, as it will be the format for Pro Tour: Honolulu (for which hopefully I will be qualified). Block Constructed is more of an online format for the moment, since there are no relevant tournaments coming up except for the Pro Tour that use Block Constructed. But, hopefully it will be fun and give some interesting insight into an unexplored domain. You can only write about the same Standard metagame for so long, right? As of now, we can safely say that the Planeswalkers are fairly ridiculous, and generally are the only cards that have substantial financial value from the sets. Hopefully the format may grow in popularity, giving some other less-used cards a bit of added value.
With a short time until Alara Reborn is released and Standard changes once more, I can hardly wait. I think the format will be fun, and battling in PTQs with Standard decks will be a welcome change when the season actually kicks in. For once I can actually use FNM as a playtesting session! I’ll be happily waiting in the forums to answer any questions or comments.
Thanks, and good luck.
Todd Anderson
strong sad on mtgo
[email protected]