Man, Standard is sweet.
There are so many decks vying for the top spot right now. Siege Rhino decks, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant decks, Whip of Erebos decks, W/U Heroic, U/B Control, U/W
Control, Temur, and Mardu. Hell, there is even a Siege Rhino + Sidisi deck that uses Soul of Theros that’s been tearing it up lately.
Last weekend, a couple of my travel partners decided they couldn’t go to Columbus, so rather than making the trip with just Stephen and myself, we decided
to stay here in town since there was a Super IQ and a “real” PTQ here in Roanoke. Rather than Super IQ though, I made the trek to Norfolk on Saturday with
Brian Braun-Duin to play in another PTQ. We battled with a new build of Abzan Aggro, and since he won the PTQ on Sunday (beating Todd Anderson in the
finals, welcome to Roanoke), I’m sure he will write about the strategy behind the deck, but I was really happy with our configuration that we landed on for
Sunday. Having 26 lands along with only two Thoughtseize and the Elspeth, Sun’s Champion in the main were all amazing, and I loved the 4/2 split on Hero’s
Downfall and Abzan Charm.
In Norfolk, I quickly found myself at 1-2 and upset. All of my losses came from keeping “two land, at least one Temple” draws and never finding a third, or
keeping three lands and never finding a fourth. I decided to just calm myself down and keep battling since I had another PTQ the next day. I won the rest
of the rounds and ended up making it into the Top 16 for eighteen packs of Khans of Tarkir. After BBD lost his win and in–since the X-1’s couldn’t draw in
the last round–and got ninth, we headed home and started chatting about the changes we wanted to make. Mainly being, Thoughtseize over-performed and
Sorin, Solemn Visitor under-performed, so we swapped them.
Upon arriving home, we had a full house as everyone was there watching the UFC pay-per-view at our place since Mr. Horne brought along with him a sweet
projector that we now use in the living room in lieu of a TV. Good food and good times watching people doing another type of battling was nice, but after
being up since 5am and not going to bed until 2 am, I was exhausted. Thankfully, this time there would be no traveling. This time, the event was at my
work. It’s been a long time since I got to sleep in my own bed and then play in a Magic tournament the following day, and I have to say that it was
amazing.
With being one person short of seven rounds, we were going to have an event where almost no one could draw. I lost to BBD in round four, putting him to 4-0
and me to 3-1, but with the structure, the 4-0’s couldn’t double-draw into the Top 8 and had to play in round 5. Thankfully, Todd and BBD dodged each other
and won so they could draw. I won my fifth round after a long and crazy mirror match, where we ended up with a bunch of Rakshasa Deathdealers and
Fleecemane Lions on each side. I ended up winning with a Duneblast and overpowering him since I had more Monstrous-ed Fleecemane Lions.
Having to play in the last round, I was up against a nice dude playing Mardu that I got paired against in the last round of the PTQ the previous day.
There, we just split prizes and he conceded to me since I had the higher breakers and would guarantee us making it into the Top 16, but we played
afterwards. He crushed me with his more aggressive version of Mardu featuring Bloodsoaked Champion and Brain Maggot. Thankfully, I had that knowledge of
what he was playing, which helped, but my poor draws and poor play were overpowered by his great draws and tight play.
Watching BBD and Todd in the finals was bittersweet, as I wished that both of them could have won, but that’s not how Magic tournaments work. Todd
mulliganed a bunch, BBD had great draws, and it was over.
Now it’s time to brew, because like I said, Standard is real sweet.
For those of us who are playing in the Open Series in Philadelphia or Grand Prix Omaha battling Legacy or Modern, we are pretty much done with the current
Standard format because Fate Reforged will be upon us soon with the Prerelease next weekend and then the Release the following weekend, and as much as I
love the current Standard format, I love new set releases even more.
As of this writing, there are just under half of the cards in Fate Reforged spoiled, but we already have quite a few cards that are making waves. Flashy
and powerful mythics, new role players and “strictly better than” functional reprints, and a black Wrath are just some of the goodies that we already know
about.
There are a lot of great cards spoiled so far, but I must say that I am a little concerned with how many of them are mythics. There is going to be a bit of
a scramble the first weekend to get all the cards needed for decks, and with so many of them being mythics, it might make it a bit rough for everyone to
get the cards that they need. Combined with the fact that you can also get Khans of Tarkir fetchlands in the Fate Reforged booster packs, this will
probably lead to an increased number of product being opened, which will greatly diminish the value of the regular rares in the set.
Last week here at StarCityGames, we previewed what I think is probably the best card in Fate Reforged (so far at least) in Monastery Mentor. Even though
it’s continually selling out and rising in price, I think this card is going to live up to all the hype.
On the surface, it is very comparable to Young Pyromancer, since you’re getting a 1/1 when you cast spells, but like Mr. Chapin points out in his preview piece, getting a token off “non-creature” spells
rather than instants and sorceries is a pretty big deal in addition to the tokens having prowess themselves.
Yeah, that was the kicker for me when I first saw the card. My thought process went like this:
– 2/2 for 2W. Body not impressive.
– It has prowess itself. Alright, we can get into the red zone.
– It makes 1/1 tokens when you cast non-creature spells. Wow, that’s like Young Pyromancer, except it’s a 2/2 for three mana and triggers off things like
Chandra, Pyromaster, Jeskai Ascendancy, and auras.
– This could be very playable.
– Wait. Prowess… on the tokens?
With so much going for the card, we have to imagine that it’s going to see a lot of play. Like Young Pyromancer, there are a lot of opportunities to get
value out of the card; but also like Goblin Rabblemaster, it will end the game very quickly if left unchecked. Finding the right deck for the card is where
the fun is going to be. My first inclination is to pair it with red spells. We have plenty of burn available to us along with non-creature threats like
Hordeling Outburst and Chandra, Pyromaster. Pairing the Monastery Mentor alongside Gobling Rabblemaster also makes for quite a few must-answer threats and
will put our opponent in a bind if they can’t find something right away. They both even play well with the new “split card” Valorous Stance, which lets us
save one of them from removal or by clearing the way of a troublesome Courser of Kruphix or Siege Rhino.
Ever since the first Standard event with Khans of Tarkir, Seeker of the Way has embedded itself as the predominant white two-drop, but we also have another
white mythic that might find its way into a deck like this. Soulfire Grand Master is another efficient white creature that has a lot of text on it. With
lifelink itself, we can create racing situations, especially since it also gives all our instants and sorceries lifelink, letting our Lightning Strikes and
Stoke the Flames become Helices. To be honest, I’m not sure if Soulfire Grand Master is straight up better than Seeker of the Way, since it can’t attack
through something like Sylvan Caryatid or Courser of Kruphix, but I’m definitely going to try him out. My gut tells me that some sort of split will end up
being the best. The kicker for this little two-drop is that it has a third ability that lets us buyback any instant or sorcery. This ability plays
well with the aforementioned spells, but also goes very well with another new card that was spoiled.
Sometime ago I said in a conversation with BBD that Shock would actually be very good in this format as a great cheap removal spell that can also go to the
dome when needed. Well, now we have a Shock with all upside in Wild Strike.
I actually think that this card goes very well with Soulfire Grand Master and Monastery Mentor, as it is a cheap removal spell. Generating a 1/1 token with
the Mentor is great, but it also works wonders with the last ability on the Grand Master. For 2RRR, we get to deal two and gain two with buyback. That
definitely gives us some pretty awesome lategame, but can also be used in the midgame, since five mana isn’t that hard to get to.
We’ve had Magma Spray, which was always nice when you wanted to hit something like Ashcloud Phoenix, but not being able to go upstairs has been a pretty
big hit for it. Now we have an actual Shock. Wild Strike even has a ferocious ability that makes it so damage can’t be prevented this turn, which might
actually end up being relevant somewhere.
R/W is already a deck in a couple different forms. We saw Sam Pardee make it to the Top 8 of GP Denver with R/W, and it even took second last weekend in at
the Open Series in Columbus, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we see even more builds cropping up once Fate Reforged is legal.
In the same mythic cycle, we also have Brutal Hordechief and Shaman of the Great Hunt. I really like both of these cards, but my biggest concern is how
Brutal Hordechief sits on Butcher of the Horde. With both of them being in the four-mana slot and providing a bonus if you have creatures in play, it
already makes it a bit hard to choose which one will end up being better.
Shaman of the Great Hunt, however, seems very awesome in conjunction with cards like Goblin Rabblemaster and Hordeling Outburst. It even has the added
bonus of maybe drawing you some cards, but really, we want him as an attacker and a pseudo-anthem for our dudes.
The last playable one in the cycle is Warden of the First Tree. A lot of comparisons are being made with this and Figure of Destiny, but I think they are
worlds apart. First off, it’s a different time and place. As Ari Lax pointed out, Figure of Destiny was a 4/4 in a world of Agony Warp
and Firespout, and Warden of the First Tree is a 3/3 in a format of Courser of Kruphix and Lightning Strike. There are, however, a few things that I like
about Warden of the First Tree. Much like Figure of Destiny, it is a good early threat and a potent lategame threat as well. I also like that it gets
trample and lifelink, which is relevant when it goes ultimate. I also really like that you can activate its last ability multiple times, growing it larger
and large in addition to it being easier to activate its abilities. Warden of the first Tree is also a human, which may end up being relevant.
There is a new blue removal spell in Reality Shift and another Phoenix for our Standard Phoenix Tribal deck (copyrighted). I also think that people are
sleeping on a few cards like Dromoka the Eternal. It is aggressively-costed and can do a ton of damage in a format that isn’t ripe with flyers.
I don’t have any decklists for you this week, since we don’t have the full spoiler yet, but I will be sharing my brewing once we have a full spoiler and I
can get some complete thoughts in. My initial ideas are something with Monastery Mentor in a R/W-type deck, since I think it plays well with all the red
spells. I also think that some sort of Sultai control deck would be the best shell for Ugin. I like how aggressive Yasova Dragonclaw can let your G/R deck
be, and Tasigur, the Golden Fang seems to be very interesting. Efficient mana cost, great body, and an ability that can be relevant seems like something I
can get into.
I will be in Philly this weekend to battle in the first ever Legacy 20K Open (I promise this time, sorry for Columbus), and I will be putting in time this
week on my stream with Sneak and Show, so make sure you stop by and hang out.
I’d love to hear what ideas everyone has with the Fate Reforged spoilers, so please feel free to share!