After every Pro Tour I like to sift through the best-performing decks to find both Public Enemy Number One and potential building blocks to move forward. Despite the prevalence of Aetherworks Marvel decks at the top of the standings (and about half the top 32 at the last two Standard Grand Prix being Aetherworks), I still found some very solid and interesting lists to give us pause.
I decided early on that the variety in Temur Aetherworks decks was too subtle and the content too tired at this point to bother writing about it. If you want to play the de facto best deck and rely on good spins at the right time to win, then play Temur Aetherworks and read all the other stuff on it elsewhere. It’s a powerful deck. It’s not the sort of thing I want to be doing for fun, and if you think like me then it probably isn’t doing much for your brewer senses either. So let’s start with the other story of the Pro Tour and really the biggest breakout deck to emerge, Zombies.
Creatures (22)
- 4 Diregraf Colossus
- 4 Cryptbreaker
- 4 Lord of the Accursed
- 4 Dread Wanderer
- 4 Wayward Servant
- 2 Binding Mummy
Lands (24)
Spells (14)
Creatures (24)
- 4 Relentless Dead
- 4 Diregraf Colossus
- 4 Cryptbreaker
- 4 Metallic Mimic
- 4 Lord of the Accursed
- 4 Dread Wanderer
Lands (24)
- 22 Swamp
- 2 Westvale Abbey
Spells (12)
Before we dig into these lists, I just want to congratulate Gerry Thompson. His style of deckbuilding and note-taking is the same as the way I operate, only orders of magnitude better. He’s given his heart to this game and to see him take one down was truly gratifying. That it happened the same weekend as Christian Calcano making his first Top 8 was even sweeter. I have literally never heard a bad word spoken about that man.
I was also really glad to see what was essentially a tribal deck being successful.
Dark Salvation was impressive every time I saw it cast, and Diregraf Colossus looked like the threat I always thought it would be. Although as we all know it was the mono-black version that won the Pro Tour, it seems to be the common belief that B/W is better positioned to handle the prevalence of Aetherworks decks in Standard. The key difference here is of course Anguished Unmaking, giving the deck an answer to both Aetherworks Marvel and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. The reach it gains from Wayward Servant and the ability to get annoying blockers out of the way with Binding Mummy give it a leg up in the quasi-mirror too. That said, the deck still needs a great draw to hang with Aetherworks.
Now Let’s Find The Goods!
I think one thing you might see in the near future is the Zombie archetype evolving to either Esper (for Negate and other countermagic to stop both Aetherworks Marvel and sweepers) or just straight B/U. For some reason, decks like this that are successful often end up going to the next level when they add blue, even if just as a splash. Even without the blue, the threat presented by fast and resilient threats that can quickly outscale the aggressive creatures even in green is a very real one, and you should be ready to face down both decks at your next FNM.
Creatures (16)
- 3 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
- 2 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
- 2 Demon of Dark Schemes
- 1 Noxious Gearhulk
- 4 Servant of the Conduit
- 4 Rogue Refiner
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (22)
Spells (20)
All right, enough Top 8 decks. Let’s look at some of the real joys, like this spicy Sultai number that The Pantheon put together. More of a Delirium deck with an Aetherworks Marvel subgame, Huey and company also leveraged Liliana, Death’s Majesty to play a Reanimator angle as well. I am already on record as saying that I want to jam as much of this Liliana as possible, and adding in an old favorite like Demon of Dark Schemes is doing nothing to dull my interest. This deck is absolutely gorgeous.
One thing that confuses me is the choice of Glint-Sleeve Siphoner over Grim Flayer in the sideboard. If the plan is to bring it in against control decks for some card advantage, the additional selection provided by Flayer seems like a better bet. It can also survive a Sweltering Suns to keep the pressure up. Granted, we don’t get to produce energy at the same time, but if we are using Siphoner for card advantage, we won’t get to keep that energy anyway.
With blue apparently only in the deck for Rogue Refiner, I am also wondering if we can’t squeeze a Negate or Ceremonious Rejection in the sideboard somewhere. Glimmer of Genius is another potential addition, though it doesn’t really fit the deck’s Vessel of Nascency plan. The rest of this shell is very close to what I wanted to do with an Abzan build, so we could definitely use this as a starting point.
Creatures (11)
Planeswalkers (7)
Lands (26)
Spells (16)
Well, if this isn’t just the Jund-iest Jund deck that ever Jund-ed. Except, you know, without green cards.
Lots of one-for-one removal backed up by ways to gain the advantage card by card until your position is unassailable. Tried-and-true strategies aren’t usually my thing, but right now I will take anything that isn’t looking to cast a turn 4 Ulamog.
One thing I cannot understand, though, is why the deck is not running any white. I can understand misreading the metagame for the Pro Tour and not knowing that Anguished Unmaking would be so important, but a deck like this would really benefit from any of the white-aligned planeswalkers. Sorin, Grim Nemesis in particular seems well-suited. I’m also surprised there is no Ob Nixilis Reignited in the sideboard, a staple for black-based midrange decks to outdraw other grindy decks in the midgame.
Lay Bare the Heart over Transgress the Mind is interesting, but I don’t know what the hope was. There isn’t much of value that Lay Bare can take that Transgress cannot, but the inverse is not true. I guess Lay Bare the Heart is better against low-curve decks, but the deck looks pretty strong against that strategy as it is. If you don’t want discard in the maindeck (you do), try Gifted Aetherborn here.
If we are sticking to two colors, I might want to fit a Goblin Dark-Dwellers in here. There is so much value in the deck for that card, and although I understand the desire to just “dragon” people in the face, I don’t think we should do that at the expense of recurring our best spells. Walking Ballista is starting to be less and less relevant in the metagame, and Gonti, Lord of Luxury is a card draw spell that plays defense rather than a way to win the game. I also quite like a copy of Hazoret the Fervent in this style of deck, as it lets us get use out of otherwise-dead cards in our hand while providing a powerful threat in the late-game.
Creatures (28)
- 4 Elder Deep-Fiend
- 4 Bristling Hydra
- 4 Whirler Virtuoso
- 4 Servant of the Conduit
- 4 Rogue Refiner
- 4 Glorybringer
- 4 Channeler Initiate
Lands (21)
Spells (11)
Superficially, this doesn’t look busted enough to compete. It has a lot of powerful options and the mana acceleration to get those options down a turn early, but it just seems a card or two off…until you play it. Then you remember just how good Elder Deep-Fiend is, and how quickly you can outpace your opponents. Channeler Initiate really shines in this deck, as the body is relevant just around when you need it.
I would really like to find room for a Verdurous Gearhulk in here, a card that has completely fallen off the radar recently. Putting +1/+1 counters on Thopter tokens is a great way to end games in a hurry. As I have mentioned elsewhere, I think an Aetherwind Basker could also go a long way in a deck that is rarely lacking in energy. Along the same lines, Confiscation Coup seems like a natural sideboard option.
Control Hype
I had the pleasure of watching Shaheen Soorani pilot his U/B Control deck at GP Montreal and was going to talk about it here. Instead, just goread his article. It’s great, he’s great, deck’s great…except it needs that one-of Grip of Desolation!
On a similar note, read Sam Black’s Premium article about the different ways to use Hidden Stockpile. Sam is one of those deckbuilders who tends to have similar ideas to me, but much more tuned. His thoughts on the Stockpile mirror mine, and I have been trying to make it work for a long time. One lesson I learned is that I should not have dismissed Anointed Procession as an unplayable gimmick card without actually testing it. Don’t be surprised to see a video from him doing this deck really soon!
One other thing I am considering (against my better judgement) is a much lower-to-the-ground red aggro deck. The last time we had a red Aura in the format that prevented blocking and gave a boost, Mono-Red was a dominant deck. I see no reason why we can’t go that route again, as red has some incredibly aggressive options up the curve that actually synergize very well. I saw firsthand how good Harsh Mentor can be in this deck, doing just enough to discourage activations of the cards Aetherworks Marvel decks use to stay alive.
Creatures (22)
- 4 Falkenrath Gorger
- 4 Hanweir Garrison
- 2 Pia Nalaar
- 2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
- 2 Ahn-Crop Crasher
- 4 Harsh Mentor
- 4 Bloodrage Brawler
Lands (21)
Spells (17)
It’s a rough list right now but it looks pretty rapid to me. Possible additions would be Village Messenger (more one-drops are good), Lupine Prototype (power-to-cost ratio off the charts), Bomat Courier (risky but aggressive), Sin Prodder (pressure is good), and Aether Chaser (surprisingly good for the cost).
Getting a Little Personal
I want to apologize for this article being later than normal, but I had a pretty good excuse. The past weekend saw two massive changes in my life, as I both moved in with my girlfriend and became a Level 3 judge. Preparing for those two huge undertakings (you don’t want to know how grueling the Level 3 testing process is) dominated my time, hence the late arrival. I trust you will forgive me, and I will be back to normal timing going forward.
And that is all we have for this week, folks! As always, thanks for stopping by. We’re going to dive into Modern next week as we look at the new world of the format and figure out whether we should look for a ban in a few weeks. Until next time…brew on!