I don’t believe in fate, I believe in preparation.
The clans of Tarkir have shaped, some might even say forged, how the top decks of Standard have been built. Wizards did a great job balancing the
incentives for playing with a clan, and their identities, and I think that will carry through with Fate Reforged. It also happens that non-clan strategies
are also viable, although they are perhaps less obvious and with fewer tools.
Make room Khans, it’s time for the clans to be rebuilt. Constructed again. Forge-Overed.
How do you reforge something?
You melt it down. You understand its essence. What it’s capable of becoming. You have a plan and you mold into a more powerful form.
We can reforge them. We have technology. Harder, Better, Faster, Rhinoier. My format: Standard,
to Utter End and Ascend. To protect the multiverse. Reboot!
If I were to sum up my first impression of Fate Reforged’s impact on Standard it would be “more of the same.”
There doesn’t appear to be anything particularly broken or even really filling in too many holes. There are also plenty of mediocre to okay cards that
might see play in very fringe scenarios. This is probably a good thing, since in case you didn’t know, we have kind of a good thing going with Standard
right now. Diverse decks, plenty of decision points, rewards for those who understand their deck and the format.
In particular, there are still not many overpowered reactive cards like Doom Blade or Mana Leak. They were thankfully also very careful to not print too
many delve or Jeskai Ascendancy enablers in blue. There’s not a Reach Through Mists or, god forbid, Thought Scour effect in sight. That’s all good in my
book. Some of the most powerful cards overlap in your curve and provide similar effects. This also rewards deckbuilding and predicting the metagame. You
have all the tools you need, it’s just a matter of picking up the right ones on any given weekend.
All right, enough rambling, let’s get to rabbling. Here are my first attempts to update each of the clans with the new cards. The best place to start
approaching a new format is by updating the existing decks before you start slinging the sweet new brews. The card pool is deep, and there are plenty of
borderline playables and directions the clans could take, so it’s up to you to take what I present here and mold it into a winner.
Onward to decklists and victory!
Abzan
The plucky upstart clan that outlasted the competition for a place in my heart. Even though I came in second at the Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir with Jeskai, I
haven’t found a good enough reason to not be casting Siege Rhinos since.
The Abzan Midrange strategy that I took to Worlds has been growing in popularity. Thoughtseize and Hero’s Downfall are still head and shoulders above the
rest at removing heads and shoulders, and it doesn’t look like Fate Reforged will do too much to change that.
Here’s where I would start:
Creatures (14)
Planeswalkers (5)
Lands (25)
Spells (16)
Tasigur, the Golden Fang is a Sultai card but works great here. One of Abzan Midrange’s weaknesses is that it has trouble casting multiple spells in a
turn, and has to just hope doing one thing a turn is good enough. Tasigur, the Golden Fang helps by costing as little as one mana in the lategame and being
reasonably costed in the midgame. Five toughness is also rather good in the metagame right now, and Tasigur is like a Siege Rhino that can potentially draw
you more Siege Rhinos. His ability is less good in this deck than it could be in others since you have Sylvan Caryatid and no other delve cards to help
select what you’re getting, but a card is a card is a card, and he puts one in your hand for four mana (usually), and it won’t be a land.
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is a pseudo-Duneblast effect, one that you have plenty of control over. He can minus for 4 or 5 and leave your own Elspeth, Sun’s
Champion alive, which you can then plus. He is also much more of a threat than Duneblast to control decks.
Valorous Stance might worm its way into the sideboard in small numbers since it can kill Courser of Kruphix, Siege Rhino, and any heavily enchanted Heroic
creatures.
Crux of Fate is a little easier to cast than End Hostilities, but its text is probably a little worse. The times when you want to kill Dragons and
Non-Dragons will suck, whereas the times when you just want to kill Dragons will be nice. They are both quite unlikely to happen so I suppose just stick
with the easier to cast spell.
Abzan Aggro should probably also play a Tasigur just for the body, but beyond that it doesn’t get much, unless Warden of the First Tree can work through
its clunky manabase.
Abzan Midrange doesn’t get many new tools, and while I think this strategy was top tier before Fate Reforged, it might fall back a bit by not improving
enough. If you aren’t adapting, you’re dying, and the new set might give enough good reasons to not just jam Siege Rhino at every possible opportunity.
Sultai
Sultai has wavered between being very good to being on the outskirts of the metagame. It has always been very interesting, difficult to build, and swingy.
Speak softly, and carry a big Whip.
Creatures (25)
- 2 Hornet Queen
- 4 Sylvan Caryatid
- 4 Courser of Kruphix
- 4 Satyr Wayfinder
- 1 Doomwake Giant
- 1 Pharika, God of Affliction
- 1 Soul of Innistrad
- 4 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
- 3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
- 1 Torrent Elemental
Lands (24)
Spells (11)
Mmmmm, turn 3 Tasigur. Lovely. He’s Tasigrrrrreat! in this deck.
Tasigur and Soul of Innistrad don’t necessarily play nice together, since if you return Soul with Tasigur’s ability, you have to cast the Soul and risk it
running into an exile effect. On the other hand, Sidisi and Tasigur play very well together, as both effects help each other.
Torrent Elemental is probably not quite good enough to be making the cut, but it’s close. The tap effect is decent, but its body is below average, and the
times you reanimate it are probably not enough to make up for it. But it’s so cool…
I think that there is also room for Sultai to move away from Whip of Erebos and Sidisi into a much more controlling version of the deck that relies on
Tasigur, the Golden Fang as its main win condition. It could run more Treasure Cruises and combine some elements of U/B Control and Abzan Midrange.
Jeskai
I think Jeskai has the most to be excited for from the new set, mostly in the form of Monastery Mentor. I imagine Standard might shift to playing him and
Treasure Cruise everywhere until proven otherwise. The question is, what is the best way to abuse the Mentor? Also is Goblin Rabblemaster competing with
him, or do we want the full four copies of each? What about Brimaz, King of Oreskos and Mantis Rider? Can I just run all three-drops in this format, pretty
please?
Let’s just go ahead and try to abuse some of the new Jeskai cards as much as possible.
Creatures (12)
Lands (24)
Spells (24)
Triplicate Spirits it’s absolutely nutso-bananas with all the other cards in the deck. It’s highly synergistic with every card except Treasure Cruise, but
it’s still potentially too expensive. Just think about rebuying it with Soulfire Grand Master with Jeskai Ascendancy in play to make many, many tokens.
This list is already pretty tight, but there are plenty of other good options. Alesha, Who Smiles at Death has potential here since it can return Soulfire
Grand Master, Monastery Mentor, Goblin Rabblemaster, and Seeker of the Way. It could easily be a one-of.
Monastery Mentor and Ephemeral Shields were made for each other.
I miss you, Jeskai. Can you forgive me riding all those rhinos and give me another chance?
Mardu
Mardu has the best removal and the best sideboard potential in Standard. It is very difficult to play against Mardu because they have strong aggressive and
controlling elements, and you have to be able to shift gears and make tough calls. In sideboarded games, Mardu is usually capable of going full on control,
full on aggro, or somewhere in between.
Creatures (13)
Planeswalkers (5)
Lands (25)
Spells (17)
Mardu doesn’t get a whole lot either, but Monastery Mentor seems like a big pick up. I feel like Goblin Rabblemaster is at its best in Mardu since you have
so much efficient removal, and it can win the game on its own. Monastery Mentor is Rabblemaster 2.0, and it seems like you can mold the deck to abuse the
both of them.
Temur
Temur is the runt of the litter, but some stubborn people are in denial and keep playing it. Fortunately, it gets a bunch of new tools to fight back.
G/R Aggro has been growing in popularity, and might just be the best choice, especially since most of the new cards work in straight G/R.
Creatures (26)
- 2 Elvish Mystic
- 2 Polukranos, World Eater
- 2 Stormbreath Dragon
- 1 Boon Satyr
- 2 Courser of Kruphix
- 3 Rattleclaw Mystic
- 3 Heir of the Wilds
- 4 Savage Knuckleblade
- 2 Ashcloud Phoenix
- 3 Yasova Dragonclaw
- 2 Shaman of the Great Hunt
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (23)
Spells (9)
Yasova Dragonclaw and the fight aspect of Temur Charm go well together: steal their guy and have it fight another one of their dudes to kill both.
Frost Walker has four power for two mana, which is pretty dang good, but the blue mana is hard to get on turn 2.
But Fate, There’s More!
That covers the clans, but it barely scratches the surface of the potential decks you could play in Standard. Here are some other archetypes that might
grow much stronger with the new set:
G/W Aggro – Additions of Warden of the First Tree and Mardu Woe-Reaper alongside Fleecemane Lion and Brimaz, King of Oreskos could make this deck a
contender once again
Naya Tokens – Just try Chord of Calling with a Monastery Mentor out into Hornet Queen. Don’t forget to rebuy Chord of Calling with Soulfire Grand Master
and do it again. Xenagos, the Reveler helps do everything here as well.
G/B Constellation – Tasigur, the Golden Fang and See the Unwritten work pretty well together, and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon could be at the top of the curve.
U/B Control – What is Tasigur, the Golden Fang’s role here? Maindeck? Sideboard? Neither? Typhoid Rats isn’t great, but a one mana delve enabler that is
potentially a decent removal spell could see plenty of play.
Mono-Red Aggro – Flamewake Phoenix, Wild Slash, and Mardu Scout all have potential.
Some more questions about the format that will eventually be answered, probably by those that are going to be doing some of the early winning:
– How hungry is Ugin, the Spirit Dragon? Standard has been consistently trending to be more and more midrangey, and Ugin wants to feast on all the colors
of the rainbow. Is the Spirit Dragon the real deal or too slow and clunky?
– What happens when someone says “Make a deck with Monastery Mentor and Siege Rhino. Go.”
– How good is manifest in Constructed? Is Wildcall playable?
– Is Crucible of the Spirit Dragon good with Stormbreath Dragon? What about the cycle of rare dragons?
There are plenty of almost good enough cards that aren’t clear winners, and the cards I like might not live up to my hype. In my mind, the big three of the
hot new cards are Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, and the potentially most broken of the three, Monastery Mentor. It’s ultimately up to
you to decide which strategy is going to work in the future.
Good luck to everyone reforging some faces at the Prerelease and in the coming months of Standard.