This past weekend was the StarCityGames.com $5000 Standard Open tournament in Indianapolis. There was also a PTQ on Sunday, but alas, I have to write this before the Extended tournament, so let’s just focus on Standard.
I spent a great deal of time preparing for Pro Tour: Kyoto and really enjoy the current Standard format. Seriously, Cryptic Command, Cruel Ultimatum, Mulldrifter, Plumeveil… these are all cards I can really get behind. The format is not just fun, but interesting too. Things have finally arrived at a point where Faeries is not obnoxious. Don’t get me wrong, they are still good, but Five-Color Control and R/W are too, and other strategies can work.
Still, you know I love Five-Color Control. Love it. It is not just that it is a control deck that does powerful things. It is not just that you have access to any card in the format you want. It is that if you can accurately predict the metagame, you can build your deck to beat anything you want. All you have to do is decide what you want to beat.
So what am I doing playing Doran?!
Mike Long and I talk about deck building quite a lot, and both of us just love to brew. We have several deck building concepts in the works at all times, and in this case, Mike had been continuing to work with the Noble Hierarch deck after Kyoto. Brian Robinson made Top 4 at his first Pro Tour, armed with the Noble Hierarch deck, so it had already enjoyed real world success, but it still seemed like it was missing something.
I had my focus on Extended, both helping Bucher prepare for the Grand Prix and getting ready to do a bit of PTQ play myself. Still, Long messed around a bit with the deck, focusing mainly on adding Thoughtseize for added disruption.
For reference, here is Brian Robinson’s Dark Bant deck from Kyoto:
Creatures (32)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 4 Doran, the Siege Tower
- 3 Gaddock Teeg
- 2 Kitchen Finks
- 4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
- 3 Rafiq of the Many
- 4 Rhox War Monk
- 4 Tidehollow Sculler
- 4 Noble Hierarch
Lands (22)
Spells (6)
Sideboard
Mike informed me that he had been having a lot of success with the deck, and we continued to talk about ideas, eventually evolving the deck to a point where he said that he just wasn’t losing anymore (with his version). I had a break in the action and decided to try the deck myself, running it against the gauntlet of Faeries, R/W, and Five-Color Control, as well as other decks like B/W, Esperlark, and Jund Ramp.
The results were initially great, although the first version seemed weak against R/W. I made a number of changes and continued to evolve the deck, adding cards like Mutavault and Profane Command. On the whole, I was very happy with the results I was getting.
Here is the list I played at the StarCityGames.com $5000 Standard Open in Indianapolis:
Creatures (27)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 4 Doran, the Siege Tower
- 4 Wren's Run Vanquisher
- 3 Chameleon Colossus
- 4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
- 4 Tidehollow Sculler
- 4 Noble Hierarch
Lands (23)
Spells (10)
Sideboard
The first thing you might notice is that Rafiq of the Many and Rhox War Monk have been dropped, with Ancient Ziggurat disappearing alongside it. The reasoning behind this is that Wren’s Run Vanquisher is a stronger card than Rhox War Monk, assuming you can support it. And if you can support it, you can make the mana better by dropping the four-color painland manabase in favor of stronger lands like Gilt-Leaf Palace and the surprising Windbrisk Heights.
Windbrisk Heights always gets a funny reaction from people to whom I show this decklist, as for some reason it is just never used in Doran decks. Why? It is no secret how strong it is for Boat Brew, Kithkin, and B/W Tokens. Sure, you don’t have any Cloudgoat Rangers to flip, but flipping Wilt-Leaf Liege is still top notch, and even Chameleon Colossus, Doran, and Vanquisher are powerful beaters.
What’s more, like a B/W Tokens deck, flipping Thoughtseize, Sculler, or a removal spell can be a very powerful way to have a more immediate impact on the game. I often find myself choosing a discard effect or a removal spell over a fatty with this deck, as it is often a more relevant way to increase my position (once I am already attacking with three guys).
Rafiq of the Many was always exciting, and it is a great card no question, especially now that everyone plays Volcanic Fallout instead of Firespout. Still, we have adopted Chameleon Colossus as a concession to Wren’s Run Vanquisher and our manabase.
Head to head, Chameleon Colossus just doesn’t compare favorably to Rafiq. The +1/+1 to start with is comparable to Exalted; however, Pro: Black and the pump ability are far weaker than the Double Strike ability of Rafiq. The deciding factor, however, is the Changeling ability, instead of requiring a fourth color.
We really wanted to play at least 16 Elves to ensure that we have enough to power the Vanquisher, and Llanowar Elf was just not as exciting as Birds or Hierarchs so we wanted to try to get there without them. The Colossus is not just an Elf for Vanquisher. He also untaps our Gilt-Leaf Palaces and Murmuring Bosks, ensuring our manabase works smoother. Add in the fact that all of the unreliable lands like Ziggurat and undesirable lands like Adarkar Wastes are gone, and I see it as an upgrade.
The other thing made possible by the cutting of Blue (and Ziggurat) is the addition of more spells to support our top notch creatures. One drawback of the original Hierarch deck is that, due to Ancient Ziggurat, one could not reliably play non-creature spells, and certainly not expensive ones. Now that our manabase is better at making Black mana for spells, we have access to more powerful disruption (Thoughtseize) and a nice endgame (Profane Command).
In addition, we are able to downgrade our Path to Exiles into Eyeblight’s Endings so as to continue to fuel the Vanquishers. I know it seems like we are bending over backwards to support a glorified Watchwolf, but I assure you, it is not for nothing. The Vanquisher has long been regarded as the best Elf in Lorwyn, as a 3/3 for two is a good deal to start with and Deathtouch is just a tremendous ability in a world of War Monks, Plumeveils, and Mistbind Cliques.
However, the Vanquisher does other things for us. First of all, he is a better two-drop than anyone else is playing on turn 2, so that we can come out aggressive even when we don’t draw a Bird or a Hierarch (or it doesn’t live). In addition, its three toughness makes it well suited for a Volcanic Fallout world. The fact that we have so many powerful comes-into-play-tapped lands makes a two-drop very desirable on turn 2 in games we do have a Hierarch.
Even if you have to play him for five, the Vanquisher has a strong impact on the board and is just well positioned, right now, helping add to the inherent tempo boost that cards like Noble Hierarch and Doran, the Siege Tower offer.
Chameleon Colossus may not be ideal for the current meta, but he is still a 4/4 for four, and blocking him is still tough. Pro: Black is not irrelevant, and sometimes you will face a Five-Color Control deck that just doesn’t have very good of answers to him. Besides, we cannot use all Eyeblight’s Endings and Nameless Inversion, as we do need a certain level of big monsters to bash with, since a deck like this can only really take advantage of the disruption and removal it plays by using the attack phase.
We don’t really draw any extra cards, nor do we lock up the board. How else can we win, aside from exploiting the attack phase?
The move away from Gaddock Teeg towards Thoughtseize was not actually as smooth a transition as it may appear. Long’s version used both Thoughtseize and Gaddock Teeg, instead of featuring Profane Command or Mutavault. Gaddock Teeg was nice, having applications against nearly everyone, but as of right now, I just prefer what Profane Command does for me.
Gaddock Teeg can be very powerful, but he’s inconsistent. Sometimes he blows people out, and other times he is weak. Against Faeries, he stops Broken Ambitions and Cryptic Command. However, he is not good at fighting, and sometimes they just surprise kill the Teeg and then start using the spells they could not use earlier.
Against R/W, he stops Spectral Procession and Ajani Vengeant. These are two great cards, but it is actually the Siege-Gangs and Reveillarks that give us the most problems. Besides, Teeg is still terrible at fighting and eventually eats a Path or a Siege-Gang token, or even two Fanatics from a Ranger, opening up the door to play the cards he was holding off.
He can be much better if the opponent is also playing Banefire or Flame Javelin, but bear in mind that I eventually came to want to play Mind Shatter in the sideboard, as well as the maindeck Profane Commands. It is not out of the question that I may return to young Teeglesworth, but the thing that gets me is that when the opponent eventually gets out from under him, all the work he was doing is undone.
Look at Five-Color Control, where he is at his best (outside of maybe a Planeswalker deck). He stops Cryptics, Cruels, even Wrath if they have it. Still, a surprise Terror or Fallout, and all of your work is for naught. Besides, are you just not going to attack when they could have a Plumeveil? Now, if Five-Color Planeswalkers takes off, I really have to reconsider…
I tried Loxodon Warhammer in this build, but it was just too slow for my tastes. I preferred the powerful endgame of Profane Command. I was playing extensively against R/W Boat Brew and kept arriving at games where an army of Siege-Gangs would hold me off long enough for Spirit Tokens, Figures, and Reveillarks to finish me off. I needed some reach.
The solution ended up being the fairly obvious Profane Command, as its ability to make my creatures all have fear is just what I was looking for. In addition, the ability to kill a creature and get back a Sculler, Vanquisher, or Doran is much appreciated, and even as a Fireball, the card works hard. It is unfortunate that it doesn’t work with Windbrisk Heights, but there are enough good cards to Heights in the deck that I am not overly concerned about it.
Let’s talk about the Windbrisk Heights some more. The key to the use of the Windbrisk Heights in this deck is that we are not asking too much of it. It costs a mana the turn it comes into play, and essentially two mana the turn we use it, plus it only makes White mana, but the card advantage and selection (choosing the best card in the top four) helps give us a little more power when the quick beatdown is not enough.
We always come out guns blazing in this deck, and Windbrisk Heights is a way we can capitalize on this initial rush and convert it into some other advantage. Personally, I think this card is the primary advantage that we have over other Doran decks. It is the missing component that gives this strategy enough power to compete with the big boys.
Often, it is like we are a mana ahead from our Birds and Hierarchs, but a mana behind because of the comes-into-play-tapped lands. We really profit when we reach the middle game and can use our 10 lands that function as creatures or spells to continue the onslaught. This added staying power is well worth the decrease in nut draws (like Hierarch into Doran into Rafiq). Besides, any game you flip a Heights has the potential to feel like a total blowout.
Let’s take a look at some of the individual matchups. It is not feasible to get into every matchup here, but let’s examine Faeries and R/W Boat Brew at the very least.
The Faeries matchup is one of primary selling points of the deck. It is a particularly good time to beat up on Faeries players, as many of them have traded in their maindeck Sowers and Peppersmokes for cards like Jace Beleren and possibly even Glen Elendra Archmage, as they adjust their deck to meet the surge of Five-Color Control decks in the format.
Game 1 is fairly easy, as only their four-drops are really good against you. Mistbind Clique can be insane, since it forces you to play spells precombat, leaving you vulnerable to Cryptic Command countering and tapping. If you just attack first, they may block with a Mutavault or something, then Champion with Clique, tapping you out.
Regardless, outside of Sower of Temptation, the worst case scenario involves the Faeries player dropping a quick turn 4 or 5 Mistbind Clique then Time Walking you over and over with Cryptics, Mistbinds, removal, counters, and chump blockers. This makes Eyeblight’s Ending particularly important in this matchup, as it is your best answer to their best plan.
Aside from the free wins you get by dropping Doran on turn 2, or Thoughtseizing a Bitterblossom (that was the reason they kept their hand), you are primarily just trying to play your cards in an order that plays around as much as you can afford.
For instance, let’s say you are on the draw. Your opponent leads with Island. You play Llanowar Wastes, Birds of Paradise on your turn. Your opponent plays a Sunken Ruins and Bitterblossom. You follow with a turn 2 Vanquisher (revealing Nameless Inversion) and Windbrisk Heights (hiding away a Chameleon Colossus). Your opponent just passes without playing a land.
It is now turn 3 and your hand is Treetop Village; Windbrisk Heights; Wren’s Run Vanquisher; Doran, the Siege Tower; and Nameless Inversion. What do you do?
Most players would be tempted to drop Doran, the Siege Tower and really lay it to their manascrewed opponent. The better play is to attack first. Assuming your opponent does not block or play any spells, you play Windbrisk Heights, then play Wren’s Run Vanquisher. See, there is a very good chance that Doran will not resolve, and it is better to make the slightly less ambitious play of another Vanquisher to increase the chances of your flipping Heights next turn and developing the board.
Some people would play the Treetop, but I think it is better to play the Heights (assuming they don’t Agony Warp your Birds in combat) so that if you resolve the Vanquisher, you can attack with the Birds and both Vanquishers and pay to flip a Heights, plus you have the added information of knowing what is getting hidden away this time. You may want to wait before playing the Heights until after you play the Vanquisher; it just depends on if you think your opponent may Broken Ambitions just to dig.
If they do, you are going to want to Heights before clashing, to improve your draw. If you are sure they won’t Broken, it can be better to wait, so that they don’t have the information about your next turn.
Let’s look at what your opponent could have. Remove Soul, Spellstutter Sprite, Broken Ambitions, Terror, Agony Warp, are all realistic possibilities.
If your opponent has Terror and uses it during the attack phase, you can drop Doran with no problem. If your opponent prevents damage from the Vanquisher and kills the Bird using Agony Warp, you can still play the second Vanquisher.
If your opponent has Remove Soul, at least he is only getting the Vanquisher with it. The tempo play of both Vanquisher and Nameless next turn is not particularly vital, whereas the ability to blank some of his cards is key.
Your opponent could have Spellstutter Sprite, but again, that could counter either play, so better to lose the less relevant card.
Your opponent could very easily have Broken Ambitions and be desperately trying to fix his mana. Why let him do this? If you play the Vanquisher this turn, it means he is not going to get the benefit of clashing towards land. He could very easily have Broken and Remove Soul, but if you let him Broken you this turn, he digs to land and still has the Remove Soul next turn. If you make him use the Remove Soul, you can continue to play around Broken next turn.
Remember, he has a Bitterblossom, so it is not like adding a Doran is actually going to do more damage than a Vanquisher. It would be a better card to have in play, no question, but it is far more important to continue to develop the board, threatening the Heights and not letting him fix his draw with Broken.
When you attack the Faeries player’s hand, typically you want to keep them off of Bitterblossom if possible (obviously), but beyond that, the best cards to take are the four-drops.
If you have a new position on the board, there is nothing wrong with stopping with the casting of more creatures and just spending all of your mana bashing with manlands and what creatures you already have. Treetop Village is a real problem for many Faeries decks.
I recommend something like:
On the play:
+3 Scattershot Archers, +1 Cloudthresher, +2 Mutavault, +2 Kitchen Finks, +1 Mind Shatter
-2 Birds of Paradise, -1 Nameless Inversion, -2 Profane Command, -2 Wilt Leaf Liege, -2 Tidehollow Sculler
On the draw
+3 Scattershot Archers, +1 Cloudthresher, +2 Mutavault, +2 Kitchen Finks, +1 Mind Shatter
-2 Birds of Paradise, -4 Tidehollow Sculler, -2 Profane Command, -1 Wilt-Leaf Liege
I am still working out the proper sideboard plan, and now that I have played in a tournament, I think we should look to cut the 3 Scattershot Archers and replace them with 1 Cloudthresher and at least 2 Stillmoon Cavaliers.
Red/White Boat Brew is a challenging matchup that often sees the game more or less stall out, then Red White wins in the air or with Siege Gang damage. Game 1, the games that Doran wins typically involve either a quick Doran, flipping a Heights, or disrupting Boat Brew’s hand to a degree that leaves them defenseless.
Their best weapons against you are Siege Gang and Reveillark (mostly when it has the ability to get Siege Gang back). Figure is surprisingly tame except in some late game situations, as you have many creatures that can actually outclass it on the board, like Vanquisher, Doran, and so on.
Ranger is not terrible, but is so slow that it is not a big concern. Often, they will simply get Fanatics, as those at least trade with your mana, whereas Figure is just slow.
Ajani can be great, especially if they get a click ahead of you and are able to keep a Doran that is your only attacker locked down. Often, however, Ajani just acts as a Helix on your Vanquisher or Sculler and then dies in a counter attack.
Path to Exile is a blowout every time they play it, no question, and it is one of the reasons that this matchup is so challenging. They gain so much time when they Path Doran or Liege. All you can really do is be mindful of its existence; avoid always attacking with a Sculler into a Knight of the White Orchid when they have a Plains open and you have just a Liege and no removal spells.
Doran and Liege are incredible against them, but Profane Command is your MVP. If you have anything else profitable you can do, you often would rather do that than use a Profane, as if you wait, you can usually play Profane in a situation that will win the game outright by giving your team Fear and making your opponent lose X life. They really don’t have an answer to this tactic game 1.
Your removal spells can easily trade with a Figure once they spend the mana to make it a 4/4, but other than that, usually none of their guys matter much (other than Siege Gang, or if there is a large block). It is actually better to just keep not using your removal, for the most part, making it difficult for them to gang block, since they always need to use at least one more creature than they would have to otherwise.
You should feel free to take out the Siege Gang when they play it. Obviously this is a huge loss of value, since they are up three guys, but you can’t let that guy just dominate the board by throwing Goblins all over the place. Remember, he can throw Mogg Fanatic too. Be careful not to Thoughtseize a Siege Gang out of the hand of someone also holding a Lark, though.
Against R/W Boat Brew:
+3 Kitchen Finks, +2 Mutavault, +2 Puppeteer Clique, +2 Mind Shatter, +1 Cloudthresher, +2 Shriekmaw
-4 Wren’s Run Vanquisher, -4 Tidehollow Sculler, -3 Eyeblight’s Ending, -1 Chameleon Colossus
This sideboard plan is obviously very dramatic, as I really felt the matchup needed help. Kitchen Finks is not insane, but it has natural strength against the Wrath of God plan. It is also more reliable than the Vanquisher, as I want to take out a lot of Elves.
The Scullers are actually decent against them game 1, but get worse after boarding since your opponent could have Wrath, Celestial Purge, and more. Besides, often they just sit around waiting to get hit by a Siege Gang or two Fanatics. Plus, after boarding, I don’t want to protect one of the cards in their hand from Mind Shatter.
The Mutavaults coming in help secure your mana as they very well may have Fulminators, plus they already go after your mana creatures.
Shriekmaw is huge upgrade on Eyeblight’s Ending, as it is not only cheaper, but Fear is tremendous against them and the body is much appreciated. Cloudthresher replaces Colossus as the game becomes a little more controlling and he helps against Spectral Procession. I may actually consider a second Thresher instead of a Scattershot, I am not sure.
The Puppeteer Cliques can do a variety of things to keep their graveyard under control, but are primarily for stealing Siege Gangs, taking the wind out of the sails of a Lark. Taking a Fanatic can often be useful, though, and once in a while you will even get to trigger Lark yourself.
It should also be noted that Puppeteer Clique may obviously work well with Thoughtseize and Mind Shatter, but it also has hidden strengths against Reveillark, as it can sometimes attack into it profitably, unlike most creatures.
B/W Tokens is a hard matchup that I didn’t really prepare for as much as I would have liked, given that I ended up playing against it three times. I don’t want to really get into my matches here, as I have to send this out something like 6 hours ago, so I will share interesting stories next week (although the article next week will NOT be a tournament report, rather merely featuring a few choices cuts from this event).
I won’t really get into my sideboard plan against B/W, as I did not have a plan that made me happy. I think that a second Thresher and 2 Stillmoons would help more than the Scattershot Archers.
I was expecting a lot of Five-Color Control, as it is currently heavily overplayed on MTGO, but everyone showed up looking to beat Faeries and Five-Color Control. Our maindeck is great against them, but they can pick up after boarding. Fortunately Condemn and Path are not in favor or else this matchup would be difficult. As it is, it is one we would like to face.
Against Five Color (a la Nassif):
+2 Puppeteer Clique, +2 Mind Shatter
-2 Nameless Inversion, -2 Profane Command
I will not spend much time on Red, as it seems miserable right now and we have Green fatties.
Against Blightning:
+3 Kitchen Finks, +2 Mutavault
-3 Thoughtseize, -2 Profane Command
In the tournament itself, I defeated W/r Kithkin, B/W Tokens, B/W Tokens, then lost to B/W Tokens in round 4. I defeated R/W Boat Brew in round 5, followed by a win over U/W Lark in round 6. I was eliminated from contention with a loss to Sarkan Vol/Thrinax/Grave Pact in round 7. I beat Faeries in round 8. Round 9 was another win over R/W Boat Brew. Round 10 ended things with me defeating Merfolk.
Final Record: 8-2, Top 16
All in all, I have to say I had a great time and was fairly pleased with my finish, although I did lose one match against B/W that I think I could have won if I was greedier. I learned an awful lot from this event, and I think playing beatdown in a competitive event did me some good.
I have a number of stories on specific lessons I learned and interesting game states, but I am just out of time for this week. Suffice it to say, this deck is legit, it is fun, and it has some nice matchups. It could use some work against B/W, but that is okay. I think it is the next step for Dark Bant, and anyone playing Dark Bant right now should really consider this build as an alternative.
Hope you guys have fun with this one. You know it has to be good (and fun) to get me to hang up my Cryptic Commands and Cruel Ultimatums (although we could put that bad boy under a Heights…). Give it a shot, particularly if you have been trying to make Bant or Dark Bant work.
See you guys next week!
Patrick Chapin
“The Innovator”