For many of you, Standard is your main focus. Because of this, there are many tournaments and many people revolutionizing the format every weekend. It is important for all of you to constantly stay updated on the latest technology that is unveiled. This last weekend certainly did not disappoint when it comes to new tech.
It is for this reason that you need to forget about what you know when it comes to the current Standard environment. Before and after Grand Prix: Washington, we saw Jund, W/U Control, Planeswalkers, Mythic, and Naya all be contenders. The field was very diverse and it seemed like the format was solved. There was not a deck that could handle it all, but could be good against most of the popular decks.
The Next Level Bant deck was certainly the most talked about deck to come out of Washington D.C. I was unsure about the power of it because everyone who played it was a certified stone cold ringer. It also failed to put anyone of the pilots into the Top 8.
Oh, how things can change in one week…
This is why I chose this title for the article. I could have had the format figured out last week, but it does me no good this week. You need to constantly relearn the format in order to succeed each week.
Last weekend, we saw a Grand Prix in Sendai that was taken down by our own Brain Kibler. He took the breakout deck from Washington D.C. and updated it to his liking. One way to pick the lock of success is to take a previously successful archetype and make it work for you. I usually don’t build up a winning deck this much, so I’ll let you have it.
Creatures (24)
- 2 Birds of Paradise
- 2 Ranger of Eos
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 1 Borderland Ranger
- 1 Scute Mob
- 2 Sphinx of Lost Truths
- 4 Sea Gate Oracle
- 4 Vengevine
- 4 Wall of Omens
Planeswalkers (7)
Lands (24)
Spells (5)
Sideboard
The biggest innovation comes in the form of Sphinx of Lost Truths. I am not sure why they were not in the original, since they are threats that accelerate Vengevine into play. Discarding a Vengevine to the ability and playing a cheaper creature on the same turn is just absurd.
I am a fan of all the one-ofs in the sideboard, as you know. I would like a couple more Negates in the board, since I am still not convinced this deck crushes U/W.
I am also a fan of the second Scute Mob, since it was the biggest threat against me when there was an Elspeth, Knight-Errant in play. It makes Ranger of Eos so much better when you get two creatures that are both legitimate threats on their own.
The Kor Skyfishers seemed to play the role of the cute friend at best. Vengevine is going to return regardless, so you may as well play cards that get card advantage for less mana. I watched games where you can either play it on turn 2 or wait for a good creature to return, and when the value option was chosen, the deck got ran over.
If you don’t expect this deck to be the biggest thing in the coming weeks, you are sadly mistaken. You get to play every fun card in the format except Bloodbraid Elf (if you consider that fun). There were four players that went undefeated in Day 1of Grand Prix: Sendai, and three of them played this deck.
Whatever deck you decide to play at the PTQ should have cards that can handle this archetype. It is a difficult archetype to hate out because it fights with card advantage, as well as Vengevine, which can put you on a fast clock. Specific cards that are good against this deck are pretty tough to find, but Bloodbraid Elf decks can overwhelm them quickly. This is a deck like Faeries, since just throwing a couple Cloudthreshers in your deck did not mean you won the matchup. The deck needs a specific strategy in order to win.
Naya was an archetype that performed pretty poorly in Sendai, but Gerry T got 10th at D.C. with it. It is probably going to be a better choice with the rise of Next Level Bant. This last Grand Prix has taught us a valuable lesson. The top 5 Standard cards are Vengevine, Vengevine, Vengevine, Vengevine, and Vengevine. It is for this reason that I would include more Path to Exiles and Bant Charms in newer versions of NLB.
I think that Naya needs to change if it wants to win just like any other deck. There is a new list that has been doing well in the Chicago area. It has removed the Ranger of Eos package and adopted a pile of Planeswalkers. I feel like that was the direction the deck was headed since everyone kept taking out the Ranger targets such as Wild Nacatl. Here is what I think Naya is going to look like in the future.
Creatures (28)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 4 Woolly Thoctar
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 4 Knight of the Reliquary
- 4 Qasali Pridemage
- 4 Bloodbraid Elf
- 4 Vengevine
Planeswalkers (9)
Lands (24)
Sideboard
There is a lot of room to mess around with the numbers based on your metagame. The planeswalkers are the only non creature spells in the deck so it does not mess with your cascades. It also has more ways to deal with a Baneslayer Angel since six out of nine walkers beat her in a fight.
This is definitely a deck I would consider playing if I was not such a control fanatic. For the aggro enthusiasts, this deck can kill you out of nowhere since Vengevine and Bloodbraid Elf are so explosive. It also gives you a fighting chance against the new kid on the block (NLB).
Now I don’t want to appear biased, but I am still all about U/W Control. We do have so updating to do, since the list I played in Washington D.C. would not be ideal for the new metagame. I would definitely not play Baneslayer Angel at this point. The Jund list that was piloted by Owen Turtenwald to another second place finish has too much removal for it to be a considerable avenue to victory. It had four Bituminous Blast, two Terminates, and four Maelstrom Pulses. You have to be ready for the most successful lists in recent events, and Owen got second at GP: Washington.
They are also not very good against Mythic Conscription, since they cannot block a Conscripted creature very well. Next Level Bant and U/W both have numerous Jace, the Mind Sculptors to bounce it for max value.
I like a list very similar to the one I posted a couple weeks ago regarding the updates I would make to the deck. Now, I want to remove the third Everflowing Chalice for a 26th land. There were some games where casting a land for two mana was getting in the way. Making it an extra land will help smooth out the draws. Here is what my newest version looks like.
Creatures (5)
Planeswalkers (7)
Lands (26)
Spells (22)
- 2 Oblivion Ring
- 2 Mind Spring
- 3 Martial Coup
- 4 Path to Exile
- 2 Divination
- 2 Day of Judgment
- 4 Spreading Seas
- 2 Everflowing Chalice
- 1 Deprive
Sideboard
I added a third Kor Firewalker, since I removed the Baneslayer Angels and I want life gain so I don’t lose to the random mono Red decks. The Sphinx of Jwar Isle seems to be a step in the right direction because it blocks Vengevine and is still a monster against Jund.
I think U/W has a good matchup against Next Level Bant, but people who play it say the opposite. I think what has held true in this format is that the matchups are so close that it is going to come down to experience most of the time. This is the reason I think this is a great format.
If you want to win a PTQ in this format, you have to know your deck and your matchups. This is not like last Extended, where you could pick up Thopter Depths and win a PTQ because your cards were just better. Reading articles can only help you so much. You have to get out there and play against the big decks and form a cohesive strategy against them.
Whenever there is a big tournament, I like to go through my gauntlet decks and update them to be good against the hot new strategies. This is a great way to look at how a format will evolve after a big tournament. The pros use this tactic in order to build decks to beat the metagame of tomorrow instead of yesterday.
This is important skill to have in every format, but it is the most important in the Eternal formats. There are fewer big tournaments from which to take in information. Grand Prix: Columbus is approaching quickly, and I am pretty excited. I rarely get to play Legacy, so I am always down for it. Luckily, we now have the StarCityGames.com Legacy Open Series, so the format can evolve more than usual.
The same formula for success applies, where you draw a large sample size of tournaments and find what is the most popular and what is winning the most. Play a deck that beats the most popular decks, or prey on the decks that are geared towards beating the best decks.
A majority of the players that play in a tournament just take a replica of a successful deck from a recent event. Beating the most recently popular decks is always the most important thing. All it takes to pick the right deck is some research and the ability to turn all of that data into useful information. This is the reason that the hottest players are never playing yesterday’s news, but are instead getting deck techs and breaking formats.
Here is what I am currently looking at for Grand Prix: Columbus.
Creatures (11)
Lands (21)
Spells (28)
No sideboard for now, since the tournament is still far away so it will be pointless. When the time comes, use the information from recent articles as well. Whatever decks are being talked about the most will be more popular than usual.
This deck was concocted in my basement with Donald Kastner. He is seriously the best deckbuilder you may not be familiar with yet.
This deck was testing very well against Reanimator, which is one of the most powerful decks in the format and will definitely be out in full force. The Black was added because Dark Confidant is the best creature in the format (not Tarmogoyf). There is plenty of library manipulation so the damage will not be too high. The threat of Meekstone was one of the greater difficulties for Reanimator to handle. It will be much worse if you are playing in a tournament and they don’t know it’s in the deck.
I like the Painter/Grindstone combo instead of the Thopter Foundry/ Sword of the Meek combo because it is less mana intensive. If you prefer that combo or another, it is fine as long as you are playing with Counterbalance and Top.
I would recommend you give this deck a try if you want to play something that can beat Reaminator, as it also has a quick combo kill so it can be competitive in an open field.
I know I always stress the importance of playing what you know, and this is no different. Especially in this format, because there are so many archetypes you can potentially face. You will get more wins than usual because you know how to play the deck you chose to pilot. It is very difficult to cover all of your bases and adequately test against each deck that can possibly be played. Just know how your deck operates in theory against all of the big decks if you don’t have the time to build and playtest each deck.
I hope this article helped you all see new ways of looking at big tournaments and how to use the information to your advantage. I will be at Grand Prix: Columbus and Nationals, so I hope to see you all there, and feel free to say hi.
Tell me what you thought of this article in the forums.
Thanks for reading…
Kyle
[email protected]