Okay, okay. Can we all admit it now? G/W Tokens is the best deck in Standard. Don’t argue. It just is.
Gerry Thompson managed to take G/W Tokens through the Swiss to a 15-0 record, eventually losing to Tom “End Boss” Ross in the semifinals. At #GPCostaRica, Seth Manfield, #1 ranked player in the world, managed to take home another trophy with G/W Tokens. For those of you counting, and I certainly am, G/W Tokens won the Grand Prix this weekend and both Grand Prix last weekend. Not only did G/W Tokens win these Grand Prix, if you look at the results of #GPCostaRica, there were essentially five copies of G/W Tokens in Top 8, four traditional builds with one not-so-traditional Naya twist on G/W Tokens.
Here’s a twist played by Brandon Fischer:
Creatures (14)
Planeswalkers (11)
Lands (16)
Spells (19)
Brandon decided on a twist of the very controversial decision Raphael Levy made last week to include Chandra, Flamecaller and no red sources in his G/W Tokens deck. Brandon included seven red sources but also introduced two copies of Arlinn Kord alongside just one copy of Chandra, Flamecaller. This is a very interesting addition that might be worth a try. Arlinn Kord provides a mini-Overrun on the flip side, provides us another token maker on a clear battlefield, and can be used to remove troublesome creatures.
Ultimately I would probably avoid adding more tapped lands to my deck to facilitate this addition. It’s really important for G/W Tokens to curve out smoothly, which is one reason the deck plays so many basic lands and no copies of Evolving Wilds as a third “dual land.”
One addition I did like out of Brandon’s sideboard was the copy of Dragonlord Atarka. Having a creature-based sweeper that can’t get targeted by Negate seems like something reasonable to work toward against Cryptolith Rite decks, and I can see this being a powerful card in the mirror in some of the slower games.
Let’s look at Gerry Thompson’s list from #SCGATL:
Creatures (14)
Planeswalkers (8)
Lands (10)
Spells (28)
Gerry’s deck looks remarkably similar. It’s the same 60 he played at the Magic Online Championship about a month ago. Gerry likes 26 lands in G/W Tokens, whereas I am more of a 25-land kind of guy. Gerry feels he wants to play a land every turn and keep grinding away with Evolutionary Leap to generate value while using his extra mana to deploy these new threats.
I always liked the first maindeck copy of Evolutionary Leap we had at the Pro Tour, but I have added and removed it periodically. Gerry has removed Secure the Wastes from his maindeck and relegated them to the sideboard, which is a very reasonable decision, and one I followed his lead on at the MOC. After further consideration, I like Secure the Wastes maindeck.
It’s more versatile than Evolutionary Leap and they are both truly there for control decks. Secure the Wastes can provide us a ton of threats with our pump effects but often gets worse Game 2 when our opponents sideboard in cards like Virulent Plague and Negate. For this reason, I think Secure the Wastes is a good Game 1 card, whereas sometimes it’s not as good in Game 2 in those same matchups. I also like having a high-impact card to bring back with Den Protector.
Gerry’s sideboard was impressive at #SCGATL. Nissa, Vastwood Seer did a ton of work hitting land drops and turning into a planeswalker just in time for Planar Outburst to sweep up the battlefield or Linvala, the Preserver to take over the game. I think this is a great direction moving forward. Earlier in the season, I added a third Westvale Abbey to the sideboard for the purpose of increasing my land count for sideboarded games when I sideboard in a bunch of five-drop sweepers like Tragic Arrogance. I think Nissa, Vastwood Seer is doing what the added Westvale Abbey was doing, but doing it better. I will likely have two copies of Nissa, Vastwood Seer in my sideboard moving forward.
Planar Outburst or Tragic Arrogance? I don’t have a clear answer for this, but I was impressed by Planar Outburst. Being able to sweep up an entire battlefield against these Bant Humans and Cryptolith Rite decks can be important. Sometimes Cryptolith Rite decks will have only Duskwatch Recruiters and Eldrazi Displacers on the battlefield and you have no good choice with Tragic Arrogance. It’s a rarity, but it happens. Planar Outburst can also be proactive, leaving us with an awakened land to give us an immediate clock. I’d guess the dream is awakening a Westvale Abbey and flipping it into a juiced-up Ormendahl, Profane Prince.
The initial reason we chose not to play Planar Outburst in G/W Tokens was simple. We didn’t know how many decks such as Humans would play Archangel Avacyn at the Pro Tour. We didn’t want to draw our best sideboard card and have it dead to a card we thought would be common in the format. If more Bant Humans decks adopt Archangel Avacyn in their sideboard, such as Todd Stevens did at #SCGATL (which I think they should), then Tragic Arrogance may be the better card.
Let’s take a peek at Seth Manfield’s #GPCostaRica-winning decklist:
Creatures (15)
Planeswalkers (8)
Lands (10)
Spells (27)
Seth slimmed down on the removal and added some creatures to his deck. Seth played both Lambholt Pacifist and Den Protector in his deck while slimming down to three maindeck Hangarback Walker. Maybe Seth’s approach is right? Maybe this week was a good week to have Lambholt Pacifist with Bant Humans being the new kid on the block.
I personally didn’t like Lambholt Pacfist when playing against more controlling decks, like W/B Control, but those decks are also good matchups so you can afford a potential downgrade. I don’t hate maindecking one Tragic Arrogance. It definitely catches opponents with their hands in the cookie jar when you draw it in Game 1 while also being incredibly difficult to play around as a singleton, even if they know you have it. That said, I want to be proactive Game 1 and worry about turning into a more controlling deck in Game 2. Having a fast start that needs just one more spell in the tank that turns out to be a Tragic Arrogance instead is an unnecessary risk in my opinion. I’d personally leave it in the sideboard.
After analyzing these decks and playing some matches this weekend on Magic Online, this is the 75 I would register if I were playing a Standard tournament tomorrow.
Creatures (14)
Planeswalkers (8)
Lands (10)
Spells (28)
This is similar to Gerry Thompson’s deck but not identical. I love the first copy of Evolutionary Leap, like I said, but I can live without it against control decks Game 1, and it’s a liability against faster decks. Obviously, drawing the second copy is usually awful as well, as it gives you no additional effect. I do want two copies in the 75, so there’s a second in the sideboard.
Linvala, the Preserver was initially in the G/W Tokens sideboard to combat the remarkably popular Bant Company decks. When they fell out of favor, I removed Linvala, the Preserver from my sideboard. Now that Bant Humans is a popular deck, Linvala is flying right back into my sideboard.
Linvala, the Preserver is excellent against Collected Company decks with Reflector Mage. Linvala is difficult to be killed by Dromoka’s Command, as well as a real pain to Reflector Mage, since it threatens to come back down for more value later. Linvala, the Preserver’s presence in our deck also makes it difficult for these Collected Company decks to come out to far ahead on the battlefield. They can Reflector Mage our Sylvan Advocate or Hangarback Walker and hold Negate up for a Planar Outburst or Tragic Arrogance, but that leaves them vulnerable to a Linvala taking over the battlefield the next turn.
Stasis Snare being moved to the sideboard is a nod to the decreasing amount of Grixis Control. When Grixis Control was more popular, I wanted a maindeck instant-speed answer for Dragonlord Silumgar. With W/B Control as the new front-running control deck, we no longer need maindeck Stasis Snare to handle the Dragonlord. Stasis Snare, however, is good against opposing Archangel Avacyn, and with the insulation of Oath of Nissa against Dromoka’s Command, I don’t mind bringing in both copies in the mirror.
Again, I’m not sure whether or not Planar Outburst should be Tragic Arrogance. They serve the same purpose and I would need to play a bunch more sideboard games to figure out which I like better, the upside of being a clean sweep versus the downside of being shut off by Archangel Avacyn. I wouldn’t fault you for playing either, and I’m personally going to give Planar Outburst a try this week. If I run into too many copies of Archangel Avacyn, I’ll promptly make the switch back.
I’d like to show you how I sideboard against some of the more popular matchups. I have changed a few of my thoughts on sideboarding since my last G/W Tokens article, so let’s look at what I’ve learned since then.
G/W Tokens Mirror
In:
Out:
So why the big change in plan?
This is admittedly a Gerry Thompson plan that he’s had a ton of success with. He managed to stay undefeated in games at #SCGATL in the mirror, and he attributed it to thwarting his opponents’ aggressive gameplans in the mirror.
Nissa, especially on the draw, is often mostly good at gumming up the ground in a Gideon, Ally of Zendikar battle. I was curious about cutting Nissa, Voice of Zendikar when talking to Gerry, and he said he was on the draw every Game 2, and he could see Nissa, Voice of Zednikar being better on the play. I’m guessing I would want to cut Linvala, the Preserver if I added Nissa back into my deck because Nissa would make it extremely unlikely I would get an additional Angel out of the deal.
By adding Linvala, the Preserver and Evolutionary Leap to the deck after sideboarding, we are trying to win a battle in the skies. Hangarback Walker does a good job protecting Gideon, Ally of Zendikar early, while also playing well with our Evolutionary Leap later to create a flying army and facilitate our plan. Den Protector does a great job at eating away at planeswalkers while also keeping our hands ripe.
I have to say, I like the way Gerry’s approaching this matchup and will certainly be approaching the matchup the same way in upcoming weeks. I by no means think the mirror has been “solved,” so I’m going to keep trying things until I find the right plan. I don’t expect G/W Tokens mirrors to be going anywhere anytime soon.
W/B Control
In:
Out:
The W/B Control matchup hasn’t changed much. We get to add some more efficient removal to our deck alongside some value creatures and Evolutionary Leap. Dromoka’s Command is a real liability here as it does virtually nothing, so once we get these “dead” cards out of our deck, we are in great shape. W/B usually doesn’t have Virulent Plague, but we have the one copy of Angelic Purge as an out to it just in case. Angelic Purge also deals with Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, which can be a real headache if left unchecked. W/B has a huge problem beating an active Evolutionary Leap, as it just generates too much card advantage for them to keep up with.
Against Grixis Control I would sideboard similarl, except I would add two Stasis Snare to the deck to be able to deal with Dragonlord Silumgar at instant speed. I would cut a Declaration in Stone and a second Archangel Avacyn for them.
Bant Humans
In:
Out:
Though this matchup is similar to the Bant Company matchup, Bant Humans is a little faster and can go bigger. Thalia’s Lieutenant makes big ground stalls a little tougher on the G/W Tokens side, so we want more pinpoint removal to keep the ground clean. Oath of Nissa is a little worse, both because it’s slow against their fast starts and because it doesn’t find our removal spells or sweepers. This is the lowest I’ve gone on Oath of Nissa, and it’s possible I want to keep a second in for mana considerations, but Nissa, Vastwood Seer provides us with a three-drop that keeps us hitting land drops.
Hallowed Moonlight is a little worse here than it is against traditional Bant Company, because they don’t have Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy to tip us off as to when a potential Collected Company is coming. That said, I still think we want to bring it in. If it proves to be too weak, I’d say add another Oath of Nissa back to the deck and maybe cut the singleton copy of Hallowed Moonlight from the sideboard at that point, as I think Bant Humans will be the most popular Collected Company deck moving forward.
U/R Eldrazi
In:
Out:
Now, I’m not sure how many Dromoka’s Command we want in this matchup, if any. My gut says to not have any, but I could be wrong. Dromoka’s Command is reasonable for protecting Secure the Wastes from a Kozilek’s Return and can sometimes kill a troublesome Drowner of Hope, but Dromoka’s Command is both reactive and situational and we have to be proactive in this matchup. Ideally we can resolve a Secure the Wastes on a turn our opponent taps out for an Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and win that turn, or else just curve out early and attack their deck’s inconsistent nature.
To wrap it all up, though I’m heavily biased, I don’t think G/W Tokens is the only playable deck in Standard. I think Bant Humans is putting up some unbelievably good results, and after playing with the deck some this week, I can see why. I think Todd Stevens’s decklist is a great starting point and I’m excited to see how the Bant Humans archetype can withstand the test of time. I know one thing, though: if you’re playing a Standard tournament this weekend, sleeve up Canopy Vista and Dromoka’s Command.