Hi everyone! I’m Marco Orsini Jones and, as I’m sure you have all noticed already, this is my first article here on StarCityGames.com. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m afraid introductions will have to wait, as there is an altogether more pressing issue at hand — I am writing today to tell you about the best deck in Standard!
If you are looking for a deck that is just as good on the draw as it is on the play (a trait that is much better than it sounds), has positive matchups against both Five-Color Control and Jund Cascade, and, on top of all that, is great fun to play, then look no further:
Creatures (24)
- 3 Meddling Mage
- 4 Mulldrifter
- 1 Reveillark
- 4 Vendilion Clique
- 4 Glen Elendra Archmage
- 4 Knight of the White Orchid
- 4 Baneslayer Angel
Lands (21)
Spells (15)
If you are PTQing over the coming weeks, going for those final remaining slots for Austin, I wouldn’t recommend any other deck. The deck is based on the Baneslayer Angel/Glen Elendra Archmage ‘combo,’ which was originally suggested to me by Peter Dun (who also made Top 8 of UK Nationals with his own list) as part of a Reveillark control deck. I wanted to focus on the ‘combo’ and drop some of the control elements, and so developed the above list, testing it with my brother Matteo and our friend Dan Gardner, who went on to win Great Britain Nationals with the deck. Today I will go over some of the numbers in the list, explain how the deck generally plays, provide some matchup specific advice, and go over the sideboarding plans versus the major archetypes in Standard.
Following Nationals, I would recommend the following change to the above list:
-3 Ethersworn Canonist, +3 Sower of Temptation (sideboard)
The Elf matchup should be good enough with the Mages, Vendilions, and Wraths, and the Canonists can actually be poor if the Elf deck transforms into the beatdown plan. Sowers are pretty good in the matchup anyway, and are much better versus the field, coming in versus Faeries, Green-based aggro decks, and the mirror.
Some of the numbers may seem a bit odd: 1 Reveillark? 2/2 split of Wraths? 4 Vendilion Clique? I will explain…
1-of Reveillark — Basically, Reveillark is just worse than Baneslayer Angel right now. Any more than five five-drops made the deck too clunky in testing, but having the extra late game power provided by the singleton Reveillark was generally better than having the extra disruption of a fourth Meddling Mage or a fourth Broken Ambition.
2/2 split of Wraths — This is a result of testing versus Kithkin, where post-board games would often become a stalemate due to Stillmoon Cavalier. In these situations, Austere Command was approximately a million times better than Hallowed Burial, allowing you to kill their team whilst keeping your own. We found that this effect was even stronger than that of Martial Coup, as Kithkin could recover from facing down some 1/1s by untapping and making some of their own. It found it altogether more difficult to untap and deal with a Baneslayer Angel or two. However, having a couple of Hallowed Burials is still necessary to stem the early rushes, and prevents you from getting especially clunky draws with several six-cost spells.
4 Vendilion Cliques — We initially started at three but eventually went up to the full four. Against control they are so good that you want four in order to ensure that you draw one and against aggro drawing too many isn’t problematic if you get around the legendary status by treating them as three-mana removal spells which clear the way for your Baneslayer.
The basic plan versus almost every deck is simple: resolve and protect a Baneslayer. Usually this is done the other way around: first Vendilion Clique and Glen Elendra Archmage pave the way for the Angel, whilst Path to Exile and Cryptic Command prevent you from dying, and then you tap five mana and lay the queen of smackdown. Once the ‘combo’ (Archmage plus Baneslayer) is in place, it’s probably game over. That’s not to say the deck can’t win without the Angel: although usually role-players, cards like Vendilion Clique, Knight of the White Orchid, Glen Elendra Archmage, and Meddling Mage can themselves be quite a tricky strike force to deal with.
Although the basic plan is simple, the deck is not easy to play, and I would recommend testing with it beforehand if you want to play it at PTQs. It is not always easy to know what role to take in a particular matchup and it is a very interactive deck, so knowing what to play around and what cards to name with Meddling Mage is important. I will try to give you all a head-start on this now with some matchup-related advice.
Five-Color Control — slightly favored
In this matchup you are the aggressor. Whilst this doesn’t mean simply running all your creatures out there and attacking indiscriminately, you have to be the one applying pressure as your endgame cannot match their Cruel Ultimatums. The way to be aggressive is to incrementally increase your board presence so that the 5c deck is forced to act when it doesn’t want to. The fact that so many of your cards are disruptive makes this very achievable, and usually leaves the Five-Color deck one step behind until it eventually succumbs to the pressure. Some specific hints: Meddling Mage should almost always be set to Volcanic Fallout. Don’t just attack into three open mana unless you have a plan for Plumeveil, i.e. there is something you want to resolve (and even then it’s probably wrong — you rarely want to just sacrifice your creatures) or you have a Path to Exile in hand that you don’t mind playing this turn. Having said that, resolving Glen Elendra Archmage is huge in the matchup so it’s often correct to look for an opportunity to do so unimpeded. The matchup is slightly different depending on their creature of choice — if they are playing Baneslayer then you have to conserve your Paths a little more and be slightly more cautious of Plumeveil. If they are playing Broodmate, you can be more aggressive in killing their Plumeveils with Paths.
Sideboarding:
On the play: -2 Knight of the White Orchid -1 Baneslayer Angel; +2 Reveillark, +1 Meddling Mage
On the draw: -1 Knight of the White Orchid -2 Baneslayer Angel; +2 Reveillark, +1 Meddling Mage
RB Blightning/Mono Red — slightly favored
This matchup is tough in game 1, where their barrage of burn usually gets you before you can stabilise. Obviously though untapping with a Baneslayer in play is almost always game over, and cards like Vendilion Clique and Glen Elendra Archmage are not bad in the matchup. The key card is often Figure of Destiny — if they get an early Figure it is tough to catch up unless you have the Path, and even later on it can single-handedly hold off Baneslayer Angel. It is for this reason that the Celestial Purges are in the sideboard, though they are also good against Demigod and random enchantments like Manabarbs and Everlasting Torment that they might be bringing in. Post-sideboard the matchup gets a lot better as it is tough for them to deal with Forge Tenders and the Reveillarks that bring them back. Against the quicker builds of the deck with more creatures, keep all the Knights in even on the play.
Sideboarding:
On the play: -3 Meddling Mage, -3 Broken Ambition, -1 Knight of the White Orchid; +3 Burrenton Forge Tender, +2 Reveillark, +2 Celestial Purge
On the draw: as above but +1 Knight of the White Orchid, -1 Vendilion Clique
Faeries — slightly against
This matchup is pretty simple: if they get turn 2 Bitterblossom they probably win, if they don’t you probably win. A lot also depends on their build: Sower of Temptation is very good against you so if they have a lot of them it gets tough, and it’s also worse for you if they have Doom Blades over Warps. Overall, the matchup is tough but winnable. The basic plan remains the same: clear the way for a Baneslayer and resolve it. Unfortunately this is more difficult than usual against Faeries. Choosing correctly with Meddling Mage is tricky in this matchup as there are so many ‘danger’ cards that you would like to name at any point. Some basic rules of thumb are: on the play always name Bitterblossom if you play the Mage on turn 2. Sower of Temptation is probably their single most threatening card and so should often be named if you don’t have Path to Exile in hand (and sometimes even if you do). On the draw on turn 2 facing a Bitterblossom, Spellstutter Sprite is often the right choice to prevent yourself from getting blown out over the next few turns. On the draw on turn 2 when not facing a Blossom but rather UB up, it is usually best to name Agony Warp so that they cannot make optimal use of their mana that turn (and it is also a solid card to cut off access to anyway). The other potential choices that I haven’t mentioned are Scion of Oona, Mistbind Clique, Doom Blade if you think they are running more than the usual 1, and, post SB, Puppeteer Clique if it would be particularly devastating for you. Generally though, you wouldn’t go far wrong by simply deciding between Agony Warp, Scion of Oona, Spellstutter Sprite and Sower of Temptation, depending on the game state.
Sideboarding:
On play: -1 Glen Elendra Archmage, -2 Knight of the White Orchid, -1 Reveillark; +3 Sower of Temptation, +1 Meddling Mage
On draw: as above but -1 Broken Ambition, +1 Knight of the White Orchid
Jund Cascade — good matchup
This is the matchup that you don’t mind getting every round, depending on their list. If they are playing the stock lists with 2-4 Maelstrom Pulses as the only way to kill a Baneslayer pre-board, then the matchup is very good. It is also the matchup where you most obviously execute ‘the gameplan’ — stay alive until you can play a Baneslayer Angel with some form of protection. Once you have done that, it’s almost impossible to lose. Sideboarding is tough and depends on what sort of Jund deck they are packing. Against the aggressive builds, you sideboard as against the Red decks. However, against the slower builds, for instance the Jund Mannequin deck, bringing in Sowers together with the extra Larks is better. Meddling Mage and Broken Ambition are the usual cards to cut. If Sowers are coming in, an Archmage should be cut to prevent clogging up the four-drop slot. If not, the fourth Vendilion Clique is the next worst card, followed by the fourth Archmage.
Kithkin — even matchup
The preboard games versus Kithkin depend largely on their opener — if they get their nut draw it is very tough to keep up with no maindeck Wraths. Of course, as per usual Baneslayer Angel can just steal games out of nowhere, but you rarely have the time to effectively set up a protected Baneslayer, and even when you do Kithkin can just swarm you with pump effects. Games 2 and 3 are much better due to the Wraths and the Sowers. Austere Command is basically in the Sideboard for this matchup as I mentioned earlier, and Sower is also good at stealing Stillmoon Cavaliers or whatever else you feel like taking.
Sideboarding:
-1 Meddling Mage, -2 Vendilion Clique, -2 Glen Elendra Archmage, -1 Reveillark, -1 Broken Ambition; +3 Sower of Temptation, +2 Austere Command, +2 Hallowed Burial
Elf Combo — even matchup
Games versus Elves are generally very tight and depend a lot on the ability of the Elf deck to topdeck its way out of your disruption. Vendilion Clique is very important, as it provides a fairly quick clock whilst also disrupting their draw. Baneslayer Angel, though not quite as good as usual, is still valuable as it stops them from being able to beat you via attacking with Archdruid-enhanced Elves, forcing them to find the combo pieces in order to win. Regal Force is usually the correct card to name with Meddling Mage, but early on it may be better to name one of the enablers to the combo (Heritage Druid or Nettle Sentinel) if they only have one of the two out, or Ranger of Eos to prevent them from building up card advantage and combo pieces. Naming Elvish Archdruid can sometimes be correct but it is easily answered through Path or Baneslayer, so it is usually better to just name their card advantage outlets. Post-board, it’s generally better for you if they decide to transform into the aggro plan, as that plan basically can’t beat a Baneslayer and is hindered pretty badly by Path to Exile and/or Sower. Either way, the matchup is better post-board due to the Wraths and Sowers, which they have difficulty combating.
Sideboarding:
-4 Glen Elendra Archmage, -1 Reveillark, -3 Broken Ambition; +2 Austere Command, +2 Hallowed Burial, +3 Sower of Temptation, +1 Meddling Mage
As I am already over time, I will leave it there with the matchup discussions. Of what’s left, Time Sieve is basically a bye, GB Elves and Doran are fairly even matchups which get better post board when the Sowers come in, and Merfolk is tough but winnable with Meddling Mages, Sowers and Wraths.
I hope that I have persuaded you all as to the power of this deck, and good luck to those of you who choose to battle with it at the remaining PTQs! As this is my first article, any and all feedback is welcome, and I would also invite you to propose topics that you would like me to write about in the future. I will try to answer any questions that you have in the forums.
Signing off…
Marco