We all know Standard is interesting. First there was Delver, Humans, and Wolf Run; now there is Zombies, Frites, and G/R Aggro decks. U/B Control even made a clever resurgence when no one was looking. However, I’m here to tell you that you don’t know anything about Standard.
Before I give you a clear picture of what’s really going on, let’s take a look at what’s trending in Standard. For the record, I’m not talking about prices or anything like that, just what’s about to get better or worse in the coming weeks.
Batterskull (+)
Zombies and G/R Aggro are the real deal, and this is among the best answers to them, especially if it’s from a deck they wouldn’t expect it. G/R can side in Ancient Grudge against it, but will they normally? If not, maybe Batterskull is for you.
Of course, Batterskull isn’t going to beat them on its own. You still need a reasonable amount of interaction in the early game in order to live until turn 5. If you get to untap with it, you should be in fine shape.
Primeval Titan (-)
With mid-rangy aggressive decks on the loose, you’d think that Primeval Titan’s stock would go up. After all, Titans have been the main thing keeping mid-range decks in check over the last couple years, so why would now be any different?
Well, maybe Zombies, Humans, and G/R aren’t as mid-rangy as you thought. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve seen a player cast a Primeval Titan only to die to their opponent’s alpha strike. If they lived to cast a Titan and managed to live past that, it was probably due to Slagstorm, not Primeval Titan.
Unlike Grave, Inferno, Frost, and even Sun, Primeval Titan doesn’t affect the board the turn he comes into play unless you want to play something like Glimmerpost. Usually that won’t be good enough, though.
I talk about this a little more in my show this week, but Primeval was played mostly because it went over the top of grindy control decks like Solar Flare. Those decks don’t exist anymore, so what’s the point?
If you’re looking for some big fatty finisher that you won’t have to side out vs. Delver, Humans, and Zombies, you should try Grave Titan, Batterskull, or both.
Jace, Memory Adept (+)
In order for Delver to beat U/B, they’ve been sideboarding a Memory Adept or two. I can’t truly express how wonderful it feels to tap out to do something irrelevant, which tricks them into “slamming” a Curse of Death’s Hold and you actually slam a Jace. Most U/B decks are drawing dead on the spot. If you have any sort of interaction, they won’t be able to beat you with a follow-up Bloodline Keeper or Grave Titan, either.
For now, U/B is ice kold to Jace, but I expect that to change in the coming weeks.
Despise (+)
Hey, this thing is pretty good against planeswalkers, Geist of Saint Traft, Thrun, the Last Troll, Titans, and Huntmaster of the Fells — maybe U/B should play a couple…
Inferno Titan (+)
Inferno Titan has sat in Primeval Titan’s shadow for long enough. Unfortunately, he’s unlikely to break out on his own just yet. Instead, Inferno Titan is tag teaming with Elesh Norn instead of Primeval Titan in the Frites deck.
There are some other options like Rune-Scarred Demon, Wurmcoil Engine, and Sun Titan and perhaps a mix is better, but Inferno Titan is solid. He’s one of the few boom-booms you can cast with reasonable consistency.
I’m not expecting Inferno to become the best Titan, as Grave Titan has that locked up for the near future, but at the very least can we all agree that Inferno is better than Primeval?
Hero of Bladehold (-)
In its own way, Hero is like a Titan. If you don’t deal with it, you probably lose the game. Yet, I think Hero is going to be worse than it’s been in the next few events. Most of its play has been in Humans, and that will continue to be true. Right now, Humans doesn’t need or want a Titan-esque card. Humans wants to be as brutally aggressive as possible in order to beat G/R, Zombies, and Delver.
Hero has some merit when you have ways to slow down the game. For example, you could play it in a W/B Tokens deck with Day of Judgment and Lingering Souls or out of the sideboard of your control deck.
Hero is like Primeval Titan where you’ll cast it, and you’ll either be dead on board or you’ll be dead after a Vapor Snag. If they only have a little pressure, Hero (and Primeval Titan) gets better, but you could probably win with anything. Why even bother playing win conditions that only win you the game?
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (+)
Now this is something I can get behind. As I just said, Humans wants to be aggressive and Thalia fits the bill. Not only is she a solid brawler in her own right, but she can cast Time Walk almost every turn, regardless of the matchup.
Every deck in Standard has twelve or more spells, and those are usually the cards that interact. When Thalia is in play, those cards are way less effective. In order to take advantage of Thalia, you want to only play the spells that are necessary or worth it despite her being in play.
Of those, I can think of Honor of the Pure and maybe Gather the Townsfolk. Honor is nuts in Humans and if you think otherwise, you’re nuts. Gather is good mostly because of Honor and Champion of the Parish, but there are those rare occasions during the fateful hour…
Oblivion Ring and Mana Leak, two of the old Human deck’s best cards, are now close to unplayable. Instead of controlling the board with Oblivion Ring, we just kill them. Instead of slowing the game down with Mana Leak, we just kill them. Thalia does so much work that you don’t need those cards.
Geralf’s Messenger (+)
Messenger certainly looked powerful, and I’m glad that Zombies is good enough to give it a home. It’s one of the most frustrating cards to play against in a while, as it’s one that leaves you with no good options other than to side in Celestial Purge.
Huntmaster of the Fells (+)
As if it were possible, Huntmaster is only going to get better. It looks like Standard is moving toward a place where the only good creatures are ones that leave you with value even in death, accelerate you, or are nearly impossible to kill, and Huntmaster is at the front of that movement.
Mana Leak (+)
While Mana Leak might be on the outs in Humans, its stock is rising everywhere else. With Delver, I used to side out the Leaks against any aggressive deck, but now I’m tempted to keep them in. With Huntmaster of the Fells and Geralf’s Messenger headlining today’s aggressive decks, it’s no wonder Leak is “suddenly” good again. As long as they have awesome spells I want to counter that cost more than Leak, I’ll keep at least some Leaks in.
Sword of War and Peace (-)
As the format adapts and becomes more colorful, Sword is no longer a trump for the entire field. There are plenty of creatures around which means plenty of removal. Playing a Sword on a non-hexproof creature is asking to get blown out right now.
Since most of the games are tempo-oriented, you can’t take this risk. It also means that you’re better off dumping your hand as fast as possible, hoping to get an advantage. With both players doing this, Sword’s second abilities are close to useless.
Invisible Stalker (-)
With Sword’s usefulness waning, so does Invisible Stalker’s.
However, there’s still hope!
Spectral Flight (+)
Hear me out on this one. Yes, Spectral Flight is a “bad” card. However, when you compare it next to a Sword you think, “It’s a creature enchantment I can move around so I don’t lose card advantage. Awesome!”
What you should be thinking is, “In the context of today’s Standard, if I go to equip a Sword and don’t connect with it, I probably lost the game because of the massive amount of tempo I lost. Gah!”
While you realize that getting your Delver with Spectral Flight Vapor Snagged is about the worst thing imaginable, y’all are still playing Swords. What’s up with that? At least if my Flighted creature dies or gets bounced I didn’t skip my entire turn.
Realistically, both are fine on a hexproof creature, but I’d rather have Spectral Flight. I was playing with Angelic Destiny in my Delver sideboard, but Spectral Flight is probably just better.
Phantasmal Image (+)
Geist of Saint Traft is in the main version of Delver, which Image is pretty good against. In addition to that, there’s undying guys and plenty of guys that give value, so Image ends up being a hell of a bargain. As long as Standard decks are relying on good creatures, Image will be good. Shocking, right?
Geist of Saint Traft (-)
While Geist is awesome if he lives, I’m not sure that’s the world we’re living in. With several aggressive decks around, there are plenty of blockers and certainly a fair amount of Images and Metamorphs. Maybe Spectral Flight would help here, or maybe it’s just worth it to play Geists and hope.
Blade Splicer (+)
Basically, anything you can play that gives you value is worth playing. Blade Splicer is probably this Standard format’s original value creature. Do you play something like it that gets you value vs. a single removal spell, or do you play something like Mirran Crusader that’s tough to kill? The eternal question…
Right now, I think Blade Splicer is great because it stops the undying creatures in their tracks. It might not be better than Geist in U/W Delver, but it’s a consideration.
Mirran Crusader (+)
Similarly, Crusader seems quite good right now. Slagstorm isn’t prevalent, but Galvanic Blast and Geth’s Verdict are. In G/W, mana creatures and Mutagenic Growths might be all you need to make Crusader an all-star.
Gut Shot (+)
Before Pro Tour Dark Ascension, I wanted to cut the Gut Shots from my Delver deck. Out of fear, I refused, insisting that the decks that Gut Shot was pushing out of the format weren’t quite gone yet. I was sort of right, but not right enough to keep them in my deck.
Now, with Gut Shot having been mostly absent for the last month or so, players are picking up decks like G/W Tokens and G/R Aggro. The time for Gut Shot to make a triumphant return might be next week, but it might also be never. It’s possible that Gut Shot’s triumphant return might have been scheduled for two weeks ago, and maybe that time has already passed us by.
Dismember (-)
For a while there, Gut Shot had no good targets whereas Dismember could kill Drogskol Captain and Huntmaster of the Fells. Paying four life is a steep cost, but we did what we had to do. With Spirits falling out of favor and undying/value creatures being all the rage, Dismember is once again embarrassing.
If you don’t want to play Dismember, perhaps you should play Gut Shot. If you don’t want to play either, I’d be fine with just playing Vapor Snag.
Ratchet Bomb (-)
This one is a pretty big stinker right now. All the casting casts of the aggro decks are split and tokens isn’t exactly blowing anyone away. The games are even over fast enough that Moorland Haunt has been mattering less and less.
Lingering Souls (+)
If we’re talking about value, it would be blasphemous to not mention Lingering Souls. Casting Souls is like having a burst of Squadron Hawks. I used to use Hawks to either pressure my opponent or trade with two of their creatures, and Souls looks similar. Most people try to use pump effects to gain more value, but that’s not necessary.
Souls is going to be good no matter, and it doesn’t need much help if any. You can still play Tokens, but it seems like people are too scared to play that archetype. It received a lot of hype before Dark Ascension was actually legal and then failed to put up any noteworthy finishes.
The main reason for that seems to be an overreaction to the W/B Tokens menace. Ratchet Bombs were everywhere, and then a couple weeks later so were Corrosive Gales. As those cards fall by the wayside, Tokens starts looking better and better…
Elite Inquisitor (+)
It’s kind of hilarious that it’s come to this. Zombies is a great deck and obviously Inquisitor is good against them. He’s a solid creature even aside from that, so it’s not embarrassing to play him. Loyal Cathar, Grand Abolisher, and Gather the Townsfolk aren’t that much better than Elite Inquisitor either, so you’re not losing out on a ton of power if you have to swap one of those for him.
Red Sun’s Zenith (+)
This card is likely better than Incinerate but probably worse than Galvanic Blast. It’s also worse than Devil’s Play in most scenarios, but undying creatures are a huge pain for any deck. This is one of the few ways to deal with them.
Faithless Looting (+)
A couple weeks ago I gushed about Looting on GerryTV, and my feeling remains the same. If you’re playing red, two Lootings is probably a good idea. If you insist on playing Wolf Run Ramp, a couple Lootings will give you something to do with your otherwise dead Primeval Titans.
Diregraf Captain (-)
I don’t know anyone who’s impressed by Diregraf Captain. Not only is it just a mediocre card, but red might actually be a better splash than blue. Having the extra burn compliments Mortarpod and Geralf’s Messenger quite nicely, and fits your overall game plan better.
For example:
Creatures (27)
- 1 Dross Hopper
- 3 Fume Spitter
- 2 Porcelain Legionnaire
- 4 Diregraf Ghoul
- 4 Skirsdag High Priest
- 4 Gravecrawler
- 2 Falkenrath Aristocrat
- 4 Geralf's Messenger
- 3 Highborn Ghoul
Lands (22)
Spells (11)
Morbid enablers? Check. Better mana curve than B/U? Check. More powerful beaters? Check.
Culling Dais (+)
I’m not sure if this is actually good or useful, but it’s cool in Zombies. You have plenty of things you don’t mind sacrificing at least once or twice and the payoff is pretty good. Whether or not there’s actually a matchup where it matters remains to be seen. Maybe the mirror match?
Regardless, I think people will be trying it out.
Birthing Pod (+)
Is it possible that G/R Aggro is a flawed archetype? Can’t you just build a better, albeit somewhat slower, G/R or Naya Birthing Pod deck ala Lucas Blohon? I can imagine what kind of push Birthing Pod gives you in the mirrors when you’re able to find Elesh Norn if given a couple turns.
It might be a little on the slow side and therefore too tempo negative in order to make an impact, but it’s powerful. If nothing else, it got me thinking about how good a Naya beatdown deck might be. Maybe you just ignore Birthing Pod but reap the benefits of white mana with Blade Splicer, Oblivion Ring, and Gavony Township.
For example:
Creatures (25)
- 1 Llanowar Elves
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 1 Thrun, the Last Troll
- 2 Phyrexian Metamorph
- 4 Blade Splicer
- 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
- 4 Strangleroot Geist
- 4 Huntmaster of the Fells
- 1 Vorapede
Lands (24)
Spells (11)
Sun Titan (+)
Sun Titan is a close to second to Grave Titan in my opinion. Clearly that’s dependent on what you can bring back when he first enters the battlefield, but there’s no shortage of ways to put things in your graveyard.
Among the things you could be returning are Oblivion Ring, Phantasmal Image, Blade Splicer, and Haunted Fengraf. Yes, Haunted Fengraf. Can you imagine having Sun Titan/Fengraf going against a deck with a bunch of removal?
If I were to play a control deck, it would likely be one with Sun Titan.
Trinket Mage (+)
With U/B Control now a known quantity, Trinket Mage for Elixir of Immortality should give you some free wins. If you’re not playing against U/B, Nihil Spellbomb is a fine card against any deck.
Wrack with Madness (+)
For G/R Aggro, the biggest problem might be Phyrexian Obliterator. Most lists play a couple Dismembers, but have you ever thought about Wrack with Madness? Not only do you trade mana wise for Obliterator, but you also destroy their board.
It seems like it’s worth the slots if it makes them lose the game the second they play their best card against you.
***
Even with all that information, the picture might still be blurry, so let me break it down for you. As of right now, Standard has three tiers.
Tier 1
Delver
Zombies
G/R Aggro
Tier 2
Humans
U/B Control
Frites
W/B or G/W Tokens
Tier 3
Wolf Run Ramp
Birthing Pod
Mono Red
Other Control, such as Esper/Solar Flare
Other Aggro, such as Tempered Steel
Heartless Summoning
Delver is still the best deck, and I’ve found it quite easy to adapt to the new metagame. That said, with all these new, good decks popping up, I fully expect Delver’s popularity to wane. No one wants to play the same deck over and over again, so they won’t. Instead, you can expect the “new” decks like Zombies, G/R, G/W, and Frites to get more popular.
“Old” decks like Wolf Run Ramp will either adapt or die because they have no other choice. Decks like Esper, Tempered Steel, and Heartless Summoning can’t compete in the metagame and likely won’t put up any good finishes in the near future. Mono Red is ok, especially in a U/B field, but for the most part Zombies is a better “red” deck. Humans will remain relatively popular but won’t be blowing anyone away. It’s a solid deck, but doesn’t have any distinct edge over G/W, G/R, Zombies, or Delver.
If you want the best chance to win the tournament, try out some of this new technology. Delver is the old standby and you can’t do much wrong there, but you need to adapt. Zombies, G/R, and G/W are probably the next best decks.
Good luck!
GerryT