When I try to attack a Standard format, I have two options:

#1: Figure out what the format is about and do those things better than my opponents (or figure out a way to trump them).

#2: Figure out the pillars of the format and use that knowledge to determine what the metagame will be like and/or figure out how to effectively fight
those pillars.

Sometimes this involves taking a known Standard deck and learning it, sometimes it involves tweaking a known Standard deck to give it an angle it didn’t
previously have, and sometimes it involves making a brand new deck entirely!

Either way, it takes information to make an informed decision.

What Is Standard About?

This Standard format is incredibly diverse and it looks like no matter what type of deck you want to play, you’ll be able to do so and succeed. Certainly
picking up a deck and jamming a bunch of games with it will yield certain results, but if you want to be able to pick a different deck week to week
depending on the metagame, you really have to get the reps in with all the decks in the format. In order to figure out what the format is about, you need
to learn the format as a whole.

Or you could read an article detailing what the format is about. It’s no substitute for actually playing the games yourself, but sometimes it’s enough.

Standard features games that are typically about one of five different things:

Little Dudes (Sometimes Accompanied By Burn Spells)

Any sort of tokens, heroic, or Ensoul Artifact deck falls under this category. For the most part, these decks are trying to kill you before you’re able to
execute your own gameplan. If you don’t have the requisite amount of early removal (or a sweeper), you run the risk of being run over before you can do
anything meaningful.

Midrange Aggro Dudes

Mantis Rider, Goblin Rabblemaster, and Butcher of the Horde fall under this category. These decks primarily focus on playing the best threats on turns 2-4
and often eschewing one-drops entirely. They operate under the assumption that the tempo you get from playing one-drops doesn’t outweigh the benefits of
having a powerful threat that is also a good topdeck in the mid to lategame.

Midrange Slow Dudes

Sylvan Caryatid, Courser of Kruphix, and Siege Rhino are powerful cards. Not only do they further your gameplan, but they also provide a lot of toughness
and a significant life buffer. Additionally, things like Courser of Kruphix and Siege Rhino often provide virtual card advantage by making any smaller
creatures sort of useless because they can no longer attack or block effectively. That gives the slower midrange decks ample time to set up for the
lategame.

Lategame Engines

Planeswalkers and constellation are the two ways that midrange decks own the lategame. Basically, you want something that goes over the top of what most
people are doing. If you get to the point in the game where you can start doing your thing, whatever your opponent is capable of doing becomes mostly
meaningless.

Sweepers

What’s your plan against sweepers? Standard is currently full of creatures, so maindecking something like Anger of the Gods and/or End Hostilities isn’t
out of the question. Sweepers are mainly used to buy time to set up for a bigger lategame, but they can also be a useful pivot out of the sideboard of
decks like Jeskai Aggro. Instead of trying to extract maximum value, don’t be surprised to see people pull the trigger on Anger of the Gods or End
Hostilities, as all they really want is a quick two-for-one.

***

Overall, that’s a diverse selection of gameplans to try and fight against. Sometimes you have to pick and choose which battles you’ll be able to fight,
knowing full well that you won’t be able to beat them all. A common strategy at this point, brought to light by Brad Nelson, is building your deck in such
a way that you get to utilize many different strategies that vary after sideboarding.

One example would be a Jeskai Aggro or Mardu Midrange deck that sideboards into a control deck. While it won’t catch people by surprise as often anymore,
it’s still a great way to shore up a potentially bad matchup. Those decks really take advantage of having 75 total cards to play with and their sideboard
strategies are a thing of beauty.

The Pillars of Standard

The list of powerful cards available in Standard is quite long. My definition of pillars is broken down to the bare essentials, but you could certainly
make arguments to expand that list in order to get a clearer look at the format. With my definition, you are almost certainly playing one of the pillars or
you have a damn good reason not to be.

Ultimately, it all boils down to three cards.

After Pro Tour Journey into Nyx, it’s no surprise to see Courser of Kruphix doing a ton of work in Standard. It’s one of the best brick walls, gives you a
source of card advantage, and does double duty against aggro and control decks. Courser of Kruphix bridges the gap between the earlygame and lategame while
also helping you hit enough land drops to deploy your big threats. In combination with fetchlands and Temples, it can even provide you with card selection.
If you’re playing a slower, grindier green deck, you probably want to play Courser of Kruphix.

Goblin Rabblemaster is one of the premier threats in the format and is featured in several different archetypes, including Mono-Red, Jeskai Aggro, and G/R
Monsters. There is basically nothing that does Goblin Rabblemaster’s job better than Goblin Rabblemaster, so if we’re looking to beat down while also being
robust heading into the midgame, we should start here.

Dig Through Time isn’t Sphinx’s Revelation, but it is the premier “card drawer” for control decks. Instead of acquiring a fistful of cards for as much mana
as you can spare, Dig Through Time finds you two of the best cards in your deck, often for the low price of UU. Because of that huge difference, you can’t
really build control decks the same as you could last year. Instead of overwhelming your opponents with card advantage, you use Dig Through Time to find
answer + another Dig, answer + answer, or threat + counterspell. In decks like Jeskai, Dig can find eight points worth of burns spells and help facilitate
a more controlling sideboard strategy.

What Now?

Since we have the pillars and we can understand a little bit better how the games play out and what matters, it’s time to figure out how to attack the
format.

Going Under

If you’re not playing one of those three cards, it’s probably because you’re playing Akroan Crusader, Bloodsoaked Champion, or some other sort of
aggressive deck aiming to go under the format. Temur decks based on Brian Kibler’s version also fall under this category.

In order to go under, you have to replace raw power and staying power with an aggressive mana curve, which often means going against the common wisdom of
playing with a pillar of the format or losing to them. Mike Sigrist did this at Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir and Ivan Jen did it at last weekend’s
StarCityGames Open in Oakland. “They’ll never see it coming” is often a bad excuse to do something in Magic, but it’s a viable option when trying to go
under the format.

Jeskai Heroic Combo

Ivan Jen

1st Place at Star City Games Standard Open on 11-01-2014

Standard

Creatures (16)

Lands (18)

Spells (26)

Sideboard

In Ivan’s case, I don’t think anyone saw it coming. After watching some of the coverage, it looked like even the opponents that were able to figure out
what he was up to still managed to lose after navigating their way into favorable boardstates. Ivan’s deck looks like the real deal.

Temur is popping up more and more as a sort of “fast mode” Abzan deck. Heroic and various Mono-Red decks have been doing pretty well lately too. Using one
of these decks to go under your opponents might seem like a great idea, but it’s gotten to the point where people are starting to notice that the “go
under” decks are doing quite well and it’s time to start punishing them.

Going Over the Top

This is probably the easiest way to beat up on Standard. Once the metagame is settled, you can see exactly where the top end is, and right now it’s
basically Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker or Wingmate Roc. Not too many people are going up to Elspeth, Sun’s Champion or beyond, so there’s a lot of different
places you can go.

Most of those people seem to have gone toward Whip of Erebos and I can’t blame them. It gives you a plan going late and even gives you a life buffer in the
midgame, giving you time to fully set up.

Abzan Midrange

Eduardo Dos Santos Vieira

1st Place at Grand Prix on 11-02-2014

Standard

Creatures (27)

Lands (23)

Spells (10)

Sideboard

Eduardo’s list is reminiscent of Samuel Valentine’s first place deck
from the StarCityGames Open in Indianapolis that kicked off Khans of Tarkir Standard.

You could do the whole Interpret the Signs in U/B Control thing that Adrian Sullivan used to win the Super Sunday Series at Grand Prix Nashville last
weekend, although I’m sure he’ll have an article about his updated decklist soon.

I’m personally favoring Elspeth, Sun’s Champion as my “go over the top” strategy right now, but I recognize that Elspeth does not beat a lot of the other
“go over the top” strategies. I might need to give Whip of Erebos a try.

Deal Withthe Threats

You can’t deal with everything. It’s basically a fact at this point. Eventually something slips through the cracks, and with how powerful the cards are,
you don’t have much time to find the answer you need. Instead, you should building your deck in such a way to brick wall smaller threats and use spot
removal on whatever is threatening you.

I think Caleb Durward’s deck from the TCG 50K did a good job at this. He’s got some nice brick walls, can go over the top of most decks, and has a plan
against control, even if it’s relatively flimsy.

G/R Monsters

Caleb Durward

3rd Place at Miscellaneous on 10-26-2014

Standard

Creatures (22)

Planeswalkers (7)

Lands (23)

Spells (8)

Sideboard

Aside from weirdo Hornet’s Nest brews, Wingmate Roc seems poised to be the midrange creature of choice for the foreseeable future. It’s a brick wall that
flies over the other brick walls and requires two cards to kill. There are very few decks in Standard that can face off against a raided Wingmate Roc and
beat it easily.

One of the issues I’ve run into with Wingmate Roc decks is that they aren’t able to sideboard transitionally. For example, if you wanted to take Brad
Nelson’s Mardu deck from Grand Prix Los Angeles, you’d be better off running the Sarkhan, the Dragonspeakers instead of Wingmate Roc because Sarkhan
synergizes with your sideboard plans better.

If you’re looking to play a midrange deck, whether it be fast or slow, white is a great color and Wingmate Roc is a big part of that reason.

***

Right now, we’re at a point where going under seems like the most logical solution. People aren’t ready to handle things like Akroan Crusader because they
are too worried about how they beat Abzan Midrange in the lategame. When people start cutting their “narrow” answers like Bile Blight for things that are
reasonable topdecks in the lategame is when decks like Boss Sligh and Jeskai Heroic Combo should show up. However, since it’s the “logical” solution and
because it’s been doing rather well, “going under” is probably the thing you wanted to be doing last week, but you might want something else for this week.

Currently, I want to be the person playing Anger of the Gods while also not walking into it myself. That leaves some sort of weird Jeskai or Mardu deck,
but I’d be more than happy playing either of those. The MOCS is this weekend, and I don’t know for sure what I’ll be playing, but it wouldn’t surprise me
if it had Battlefield Forges aplenty.