Getting Frosty In Standard

If you haven’t already guessed, I’m pretty stubborn.

I’m not alone in this. Everyone likes what they like, and Magic is no different. Some people like to build Mono-Red Aggro whenever a new set comes out,
trusting there will be supportive creatures and burn with each new format, and some people like to force some kind of G/B Midrange deck, as the idea of big
creatures, ramp, and removal are the most exciting parts of Constructed Magic. Some people
force Esper Control in every new format, even if the land base is directly against it, just because they want to ruin the party for everyone else.

For me though, I’m always on the lookout for a solid take on Mono-Blue Aggro. Yes, the least aggressive of colors has always attracted me as an option when
I need a fix for fast powerful creatures and conditional spells. Unlike every other color, you have to work a little bit to make these often disadvantaged,
efficient blue creatures do damage. Most people would see this as a problem, but I welcome it as a challenge. Aggro decks shouldn’t build themselves. As
long as they do, midrange and control players will give us grief for playing them.

Fate Reforged brought one gem that I’m particularly excited about:

Frost Walker follows in a historic line of “Illusions.” For those of you who didn’t play Magic three years ago, Illusions was a fun, make-Matt-happy
archetype that flourished with cheap, aggressive blue cards like Phantasmal Bear, Phantasmal Image, and Lord of the Unreal. Their “illusionary” ability,
the disadvantage of being sacrificed when targeted by a spell or ability, has kept their often unbalanced efficiency in check. This triggered ability has
made a resurgence lately, and I’m happy to trade this hindrance for a bit of smash-smash.

When Frost Walker was spoiled, I crafted up an initial list based on it and other hefty blue cards, namely Crystalline Nautilus.

This oft-forgotten blue bruiser is afflicted with the same penalty as our newly-spoiled Frost Walker, so it’s possible that we can figure out a way to
protect –

There it is.

Now we’re cooking. Monastery Siege, one of my favorite Sieges from the set, provides a perfect way to buffer us against these two efficient beaters’ major
weakness. The problem with the illusionary ability is there’s almost nothing you can do to stop them from dying once it’s targeted. Countering the Hero’s
Downfall or Lightning Strike will indeed counter those spells, but your illusionary creature will still die as a result of its unstoppable triggered
ability. Thus, Monastery Siege on Dragons mode gives us a preemptive protection against targeted spells. Plus, it protects you from burn, Thoughtseize, and
the non-existent player-targeting auras of Standard. Ehh, it makes a third thing.

So, as the set got spoiled, I tweaked and added to the list until, after the last card was revealed, I had an early draft.

Illusions Aggro

Matt Higgs

Test deck on 03-03-2015

Standard

Creatures (19)

Planeswalkers (2)

2 Jace, the Living Guildpact

Lands (23)

Spells (16)

I reviewed the list quietly in the month since Fate Reforged dropped, and I decided some cards were much more interesting than others. I love Cloudform,
and I’ll likely cover it in another article, but it seemed unlikely to ever nail it and get one of our “illusions” underneath it. Similarly, other deck
testing since then has proved that four Stubborn Denials is about three too many in most instances, so I chopped that too. The two singleton spells were
not quite powerful enough either. I’ve wanted to use that new Jace, man, but he’s really sketchy.

I de-sleeved some and re-sleeved others, considering the environment in which we currently reside. As post-FRF Standard took shape, so did this list, and
here’s the version I decided to aggressively test.

Illusions Aggro

Matt Higgs

Test deck on 03-03-2015

Standard

Creatures (22)

Lands (22)

Spells (16)

Sideboard

I kept the Ensoul Artifact theme to keep our creature count high and strong, and the rest just kind of fell into place.

Creatures

Ornithopter is the definition of a build-around. This old Alpha favorite has sat in draft trash piles for decades, but here it serves three specific
purposes. First, it acts as the ideal turn-2 target for Ensoul Artifact. If your opponent does not have the removal spell for the dragon smashing him in
the face while he or she sits with a single tapped land in play, they’re probably going to die. Red removal need not apply either. In my testing with
Ensoul Artifact, these two cards broke up loose hands all by themselves. Second, it’s a great target for Crystalline Nautilus’s bestow ability, as it adds
flying to the four power. Besides, if they kill the Ornithopter, all they’ve killed is a flying ability, not a creature. You’re still left with the 4/4.
Finally, it combos with Quickling when you don’t have anything else to save.

Quickling, then, is another highly synergetic card for the build. You see, Quickling can save one of our vulnerable four-power Nautili or Elementals.
Quickling’s triggered ability is carefully worded to say that you can return another creature from the battlefield to your hand, not target creature. Thus, you can bounce your targeted illusionary creature in response to removal and not give up much in tempo or card advantage.
Quickling’s flying is very relevant these days, so a flash Wind Drake with potential upside and one less mana seems like a shoe-in for this deck style.

We serve up eight creatures with the illusionary ability, and Crystalline Nautilus might take the cake due to its versatility. In a sense, you can add four
haste power to the board in the right situations, and you can use it offensively too, targeting an opposing creature and then using another spell or
ability to target it, kill the enchanted creature, and move the Nautilus back to your own side of the board. Alright!

Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest, makes my little Mono-Blue Aggro heart sing. Even ignoring his second ability, Shu Yun is a 3/2 with a built-in free pump for
three mana. This is Goblin Roughrider and Barony Vampire territory for a color that never gets downside-free three-power critters for three. So all that
aside, every noncreature spell you cast (including Crystalline Nautilus as a bestow card) makes him even better.

Battlefield Thaumaturge helps keep the tempo dream alive. Alongside the instants highlighted below, Battlefield Thaumaturge makes their costs more
reasonable so you can do more than one thing each turn. Even besides its cost reduction, it’s a pretty good fighter when you help it with Crystalline
Nautilus. You can target it with bestow, let its heroic trigger resolve, then swing safely with an untargetable 6/5.

Spells

Ensoul Artifact survives from the original draft. Blue has to jump through hoops to make its creatures big. I mean, Vizzerdrix is a real-life blue rare.
Compared to that, the hoops don’t look that bad, do they? With Ornithopter already featured to facilitate Quickling draws, adding Darksteel Citadel and a
set of these seemed pretty painless. Ensoul Artifact can just win games sometimes, and in an archetype that can occasionally lend itself to conditionality
and inconsistency, I’ll take a 5/5. And hey, if you have Thaumaturge out, it only costs one to target Ornithopter. Small steps.

This deck, at its best, can sport sixteen creatures with four power or more. As the format has only granted us three blue spells that carry Temur’s
ferocious ability, I’ll play all three. Two make it to the maindeck, and they vary widely in use and power. Force Away is a good old-fashioned Unsummon
with an extra ability for the colorless mana investment. In a deck that plays somewhat silly cards like Ornithopter and, well, cards like this, some
looting is a welcome effect to keep our hands hot. Icy Blast, on the other hand, is a real treasure. This is an instant Sleep that scales to the current
boardstate. It’s a Fog at worst, and at best, it can give you carte blanche to smash your opponent ruthlessly for two turns. Bear in mind that
unblockability with cards like Aqueous Form and Thassa, God of the Sea are not really options when I can’t target a third of my creatures, so this is the
best solution. And yes, if you have Battlefield Thaumaturge out, it costs one blue mana to tap their entire team down! You can even tag the Thaumaturge as
a free target to grant it hexproof if you need to.

Monastery Siege remains at two copies, and that feels about right. Being able to curve from Frost Walker into this seems like a dangerous place for a
slower removal-based deck, as their removal starts at three (Hero’s Downfall, Abzan Charm, Utter End). The Siege protects itself too, and the looting
ability is great every turn. Take that, Sultai Ascendancy! I knew I wanted a delve spell too, to make use of the illusionary creatures and instants that
would hit the yard. I rested on Set Adrift, though Will of the Naga was not far behind, especially with Battlefield Thaumaturge in the deck to make it cost
two delved cards plus UU. Set Adrift forces your opponent to not have the card. Dead to an End Hostilities they haven’t drawn? Make sure they
don’t draw it! Chained to the Rocks got you down? Time Ebb it away! Ugin at fifteen counters? To the top with ye!

The land base follows with my pattern of eight Temples in mono-colored decks, and the incidental colors support Shu Yun’s triggered ability. Nothing else
fancy needed. Darksteel Citadels don’t hurt too much considering nothing in the deck costs more than one blue mana to cast, so I’m pretty safe on the color
front.

The sideboard was left intentionally simple for testing purposes.

I was able to put in some real hours with the deck, testing in over twenty games and four different archetypes. How’d it hold up against the format’s best?

Abzan Midrange – Excellent

Against the armies of Siege Rhinos, Hero’s Downfall, and Thoughtseizes, this list held its own exceptionally well. Quickling, while sometimes stranded in
my hand, provided reliable damage against a deck that can’t block flyers very well, preferring to kill them or gain life through them in lieu of blocking
them. Ensoul Artifact was very strong, as only Abzan Charm and Utter End reliably destroyed it. Abzan Midrange’s lower relevant creature count meant that
Force Away and Icy Blast were very powerful. Post sideboard, I brought in Hypnotic Sirens, hoping to steal cards like Siege Rhino and blockers to take the
game down. In all, I won five out of seven games, even clinching one game where my opponent Thoughtseized me twice in one turn to remove both Monastery
Sieges from my hand.

W/U Heroic – Excellent

The old Tom Ross staple is putty in my hands. With cards like Force Away and Icy Blast maindeck, I can keep decks like this one under control pretty well.
Gods Willing isn’t nearly as strong as you think, as calling blue might slough off the Aqueous Form or Ordeal of Thassa that’s sitting on their best
creature. Force Away was by far the all-star in this deck. One thing to note about this is that my opponent always had removal; their hand of targeted
heroic triggers meant an Ajani’s Presence strived to include my own Crystalline Nautilus would break it up. However, that’s one less trick for them. The
efficiency of their creatures meant that most creatures couldn’t swing immediately, as four-power creatures blocked the way. Singing Bell Strike and
Hypnotic Siren came in from the sideboard, and both were strongly aligned to defeat this deck. I didn’t lose a game against it.

Jeskai Tokens – Average

This deck goofs around a lot actually. Between Jeskai Ascendancy and Treasure Cruise, this deck has some non-scary cards against decks like me that only
care about tempo and board presence. As such, despite the fact that Force Away was often only one-third of a card, I was able to keep pressure on and dodge
enough removal. Flyers, again, did a lot of damage and drew the Lightning Strikes and Stoke the Flames from my opponent, saving my cherubic face from burn.
Monastery Siege and Set Adrift were not stellar, so I jammed in four Stubborn Denials, which often countered spells successfully without the necessity of
the ferocious clause. Still, I’d lose in games I didn’t draw Icy Blast or multiple Shu Yuns, but I got three out of five games here.

R/W Aggro – Poor

This match was considerably worse. Combined with bullets like Chained to the Rocks, Goblin Rabblemaster, and burn, this highly-focused deck dismantled my
plan consistently every game. Chandra, Pyromaster was a particularly challenging problem. Removal was strong and fast enough that Quicklings couldn’t keep
up and would often move me backwards in the tempo game. Post-board, R/W Aggro was even stronger, and I only clinched one game out of five against it.

So, if you’re counting at home, that’s 14-8 in game count. That’s not breaking any records, but it does show that against top decks in the format, this
deck has some game. I found there were several cards that struggled. Quickling was often a dead card and, when it was good, it was because it was a Wind
Drake, not a Deputy of Acquittals. Shu Yun was excellent, but I activated his second ability only once in 22 games, and it wasn’t even a game-winning
activation. That doesn’t mean he’s bad, as being a four-power guy for three was great for my ferocious spells, but he’s only excellent when he’s the best
option for the color set. Force Away needed to be one mana, as two kept it in my hand while I did more important things.

On the other hand, Icy Blast was actual bonkers. This card was viciously powerful and could completely turn games around. Battlefield Thaumaturge
was itself a strong choice as well, not the least because it helped with the Blast. Crystalline Nautilus was outstanding as a three-mana 4/4 or as a bestow
finisher too.

As I played, I considered shifting the deck to a green/blue mix. Then, Elvish Mystic would help you get four-power guys out faster, and you could just play
better creatures.

Here’s the list I’m looking at now.

U/G Illusions Aggro

Matt Higgs

Test deck on 03-03-2015

Standard

Creatures (27)

Lands (21)

Spells (12)

Frost Walker has seen play in recent Temur Aggro lists, so there’s no doubt it’s a good card in the right deck. Have either the Nautilus or Frost Walker
drawn your attention? How are you leveraging that high power? Maybe red and blue was more your style. Either way, this Frost Walker is the last time I want
to see something chilly for a long time. Hurry up, spring!