#SCGDFW is in the books and the biggest event of the year, the World Championship, is nearly upon us.
There weren’t too many major surprises in the first week of Ixalan Standard, but there were some significant shifts and alterations to established archetypes.
Today I’ll lay out a list of what I think the Top 8 decks are heading into the World Championship, what makes them good, and what might change with the World Championship.
#8 – B/G Constrictor
Creatures (25)
- 2 Verdurous Gearhulk
- 4 Longtusk Cub
- 4 Winding Constrictor
- 2 Rishkar, Peema Renegade
- 4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
- 4 Walking Ballista
- 1 Carnage Tyrant
- 4 Ripjaw Raptor
Lands (23)
Spells (12)
The deck may seem familiar because it’s been around for quite some time: a nice simple deck with a bit of new spice sprinkled on top. There’s still nothing wrong with some Winding Constrictor; Rishkar, Peema Renegade; and Walking Ballista action, even if Nissa, Voice of Zendikar has sadly rotated.
I’m loving the idea of Walk the Plank, even if there are some points against it and the whole planking craze is a little dated by now. As it stands, the format isn’t that interested in sorcery-speed removal, and Walk the Plank is by no means Grasp of Darkness, but it’s still a solid card.
Since there aren’t really any Constructed-playable Merfolk, Walk the Plank can pretty much destroy every creature in the format, or at least try to. The deck can support double black mana quite well, which is the first hurdle to overcome. Having a bunch of removal in midrange mirrors seems appealing, and beyond Fatal Push, a lot of the other removal, like Never and Vraska’s Contempt, is a little too costly to keep up with Ramunap Red.
Ramunap Red does have a bunch of haste creatures and the un-Plankable Hazoret the Fervent, but Walk the Plank is just cheap efficient removal when you want pretty much anything dead. I think quite often you’ll be giving thanks during Planksgiving on Turn 2 or 3 against Ramunap Red.
Walk the Plank is particularly painful if you match up against U/W Approach, since you’re sporting eight dead maindeck removal spells, but Duress really helps make up for that post-sideboard. I think it’s important to note just how great playing a deck that has access to Duress is against control and combo decks.
Beyond the usual suspects, we also now have access to Ripjaw Raptor which is a nice little engine when combined with Walking Ballista pinging your own Raptor.
I’ve always liked the idea of Torment of Hailfire as a massive finisher, and now might just be the time for all hail to break loose.
#7 – Esper Gift
Creatures (25)
- 1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
- 1 Noxious Gearhulk
- 4 Angel of Invention
- 4 Glint-Nest Crane
- 1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
- 4 Minister of Inquiries
- 2 Walking Ballista
- 4 Champion of Wits
- 2 Sunscourge Champion
- 2 Hostage Taker
Lands (23)
Spells (12)
Creatures (26)
- 4 Angel of Invention
- 4 Minister of Inquiries
- 4 Walking Ballista
- 4 Champion of Wits
- 4 Hostage Taker
- 2 Vona, Butcher of Magan
- 4 Seekers' Squire
Lands (23)
Spells (11)
Sideboard
God-Pharaoh’s Gift decks got some sweet new tools to help it fill the graveyard, notably Chart a Course, but also Seekers’ Squire to act as fodder to fill your graveyard that you can also reanimate in a pinch.
Hostage Taker not only makes things worse for anyone who already had an irrational fear of Pirates, it also fits in the deck nicely. It gives you a more versatile toolbox of useful creatures to reanimate and is also just a great card to cast. One sneaky interaction is that you can target your own creature with Hostage Taker and then recast it to get an extra enters-the-battlefield effect from Champion of Wits, Minister of Inquiries, or Seekers’ Squire.
Esper Gift isn’t really a deck in my wheelhouse, but one that I have a healthy fear of, that can potentially run over a format that isn’t prepared for it by packing artifact and graveyard removal.
#6 – Temur Pummeler
Creatures (22)
- 4 Longtusk Cub
- 4 Voltaic Brawler
- 4 Bristling Hydra
- 4 Electrostatic Pummeler
- 4 Servant of the Conduit
- 1 Glorybringer
- 1 Rhonas the Indomitable
Lands (21)
Spells (17)
Sideboard
Electrostatic Pummeler is incredibly deadly for an unprepared opponent, or if you can protect it with Blossoming Defense.
So what makes Temur Pummeler appealing when it’s a deck that didn’t really get any new cards from Ixalan?
The best new development for Temur Pummeler is that Bristling Hydra is in a good spot right now, especially in a world full of Hostage Takers.
The big fear I have for Temur Pummeler is that Fumigate and Settle the Wreckage are going to be Fumi-great against us and Wreck the deck. Having access to Negate does seem like it will go a long way post-sideboard, though.
I’d like to see Hashep Oasis somewhere, but other than that it seems like a deck that isn’t poorly positioned and could catch the metagame off-guard.
#5 – Grixis Improvise
Creatures (14)
- 1 Pia Nalaar
- 3 Contraband Kingpin
- 1 Walking Ballista
- 4 Herald of Anguish
- 4 Maverick Thopterist
- 1 The Scarab God
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (21)
Spells (23)
- 4 Prophetic Prism
- 3 Cogworker's Puzzleknot
- 4 Fatal Push
- 4 Renegade Map
- 4 Metallic Rebuke
- 1 Aethersphere Harvester
- 1 Servo Schematic
- 1 Sorcerous Spyglass
- 1 Sentinel Totem
Sideboard
Another deck that didn’t gain a whole, but also didn’t lose much either, and I think there’s a lot of potential here. Previously, similar Metalwork Colossus style decks would try to combo off, but Peter McKinney’s list is going for straight midrange value.
Fatal Push and Metallic Rebuke seem great, especially when the deck has plenty of ways to unlock their full potential with Renegade Map, Cogworker’s Puzzleknot, and the like.
Tezzeret the Schemer makes Treasure Etherium Cell tokens and is just kind of beefcake loyalty-wise that can even kill Hazoret the Fervent with his -2, which is always relevant when considering your removal suite.
Herald of Anguish is the big payoff card and pretty difficult for a lot of decks to deal with right now. Fatal Push doesn’t get it, Settle the Wreckage and Farm can be played around while you make your opponent discard cards, and at 5/5 it’s too big for a single burn spell; even Chandra, Torch of Defiance or Glorybringer can’t get it.
Even if your Herald of Anguish gets snagged by Hostage Taker, you should have some time to find a ransom before your opponent can cast it for themselves, since your opponent will likely have to pay close to the full seven-mana to cast Herald.
I’d like to see Treasure Map in the deck, especially since the Treasure tokens would be a nice boost to your artifact count when it flips.
#4 – Four-Color Energy
Creatures (23)
- 4 Longtusk Cub
- 3 Bristling Hydra
- 4 Whirler Virtuoso
- 4 Servant of the Conduit
- 4 Rogue Refiner
- 2 Glorybringer
- 2 The Scarab God
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (22)
Spells (13)
Creatures (23)
- 4 Longtusk Cub
- 4 Bristling Hydra
- 3 Whirler Virtuoso
- 4 Servant of the Conduit
- 4 Rogue Refiner
- 2 Glorybringer
- 2 The Scarab God
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (22)
Spells (14)
Four-Color Energy is the deck for those who want to have their cake and eat it too. You can’t have your cake if you already ate it… unless you vomit it back up like some sort of bird.
Four-Color Energy gives you access to pretty much everything at the cost of having a somewhat shaky manabase.
Four-Color Energy is splashing black, and is basically a Temur Energy deck, but I think the best point of comparison for the deck is now Sultai Energy.
Personally, I don’t think the fourth color is worth it after seeing the power of Sultai Energy.
The key cards you miss out on by not adding red to the deck are Harnessed Lightning, Whirler Virtuoso, and Glorybringer. Now Hostage Taker is just kind of good enough that you don’t need them anymore.
Having a consistent manabase is incredibly important and I don’t think Four-Color Energy has enough power to justify the costs.
#3 – U/W Approach
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (25)
Spells (33)
Lands (25)
Spells (35)
U/W Approach looks solid and on paper it looks downright magical. It has a great manabase, sweet cards, and the power to dodge removal completely Game 1, but I think it’s also potentially one of the most fragile decks going forward.
It’s a pretty predictable deck to play against and players will begin to catch on and adapt to the deck’s tricks.
While the deck has some excellent cards, I think U/W Approach is already scraping near the bottom of the barrel to fill the rest of the deck with the tools it needs. While everyone else is figuring out the best ways to play around and beat Farm and Settle the Wreckage, U/W Approach should have a tougher time adapting.
Since there are going to be fewer Abrades in the format, maybe it’s time for Torrential Gearhulk to make a reappearance in the maindeck?
Ipnu Rivulet is pretty sweet tech, since you can mill yourself to draw towards that Approach of the Second Sun you already cast and it means you pretty much automatically win Game 1 of the mirror if your opponent doesn’t have their own Ipnu Rivulets.
#2 – Ramunap Red
Creatures (23)
- 4 Bomat Courier
- 3 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
- 4 Hazoret the Fervent
- 4 Ahn-Crop Crasher
- 4 Soul-Scar Mage
- 4 Earthshaker Khenra
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (24)
Spells (12)
Sideboard
Not really anything new to report here. Lightning Strike is great for the deck and the deck is still just great in general.
A deck like U/W Approach or Esper Gift can succeed based on the format forgetting about them, but can’t withstand heavy resistance.
You need to be fully prepared for Ramunap Red and have your guns pointed at it or it will run you over. Even when the format thinks it’s prepared, Ramunap Red is still powerful enough to be a threat.
#1 – Sultai Energy
Creatures (27)
- 4 Longtusk Cub
- 4 Winding Constrictor
- 2 Rishkar, Peema Renegade
- 4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
- 4 Rogue Refiner
- 4 Walking Ballista
- 1 The Scarab God
- 4 Hostage Taker
Lands (21)
Spells (12)
Sideboard
Creatures (24)
- 1 Verdurous Gearhulk
- 4 Longtusk Cub
- 3 Bristling Hydra
- 4 Winding Constrictor
- 3 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
- 4 Rogue Refiner
- 3 Walking Ballista
- 2 The Scarab God
Lands (22)
Spells (14)
Sultai Energy won #SCGDFW and Ramunap Red took second place and I think they also happen to be the best two decks from the event as we head into the World Championship. Now the question is, will the World Championship competitors be able to crack them?
A mix of Temur Energy and B/G Constrictor, Sultai Energy is the new midrange deck to beat. Most of the time prior to Ixalan, this mantle was held by Temur Energy. Sultai Energy mainly loses access to Harnessed Lightning and Whirler Virtuoso, but it gains Hostage Taker, which makes one heck of difference.
The biggest strength of Sultai Energy would have to be its versatility and efficiency at doing pretty much everything, especially post-sideboard.
You want removal?
Card draw?
Big beaters?
Creatures that win the game if not immediately dealt with?
Removal?
Hand disruption?
Lifegain?
Sultai Energy just has access to all the tools needed to handle every deck in the format, so if you’re able to predict the metagame, in theory you should be able to take it down.
The killer one-drops, Duress and Fatal Push, are particularly great for handling the opposite ends of the format, aggro and control.
Deathgorge Scavenger embodies the deck’s versatility, acting as lifegain against Ramunap Red and graveyard removal.
Although I think many decks can have a favorable matchup against Sultai Energy Game 1, it’s difficult for any deck to be favorable against it post-sideboard through conventional means.
Waiting for the World Championship
So what will happen at the World Championship?
I would expect to see a lot of the same archetypes with much more streamlined decklists, and probably some surprises as well.
Any deck builder wanting to conquer the World Championship just needs to do the following:
1. Beat Sultai Energy (especially post-sideboard.)
2. Beat U/W Control and Ramunap Red.
3. Make sure the deck is consistent.
4. Have a plan for everything else and potential unknowns.
Pretty simple, right?
I’m looking forward to seeing what happens!