“We need to try something different.”
That’s how many of my conversations start in regards to the Magic deck I’m going to be playing at my next event. Time after time, I go back to the drawing
board, looking for weaknesses in the metagame or tuning the most popular deck to fend off the waves of hate that are surely going to come its way.
Sometimes the best deck is staring you in the face, but you’re too stubborn or too stupid to see it. Other times, it takes a lot of work to find the best
version of the best deck in a given format.
And other times, there is no right answer, other than “play what’s comfortable.”
But my problem with comfort is that it feels a lot like giving up. If I don’t have the absolute best possible version of my deck by the time the weekend
rolls around, I feel like I failed, or at least did a bit of slacking off (which is usually the case). Unfortunately, there are not enough hours in the
day, and Magic has far too many variables for you to always come up with the hot new thing.
There’s a reason why Brad Nelson comes to tournaments, week after week, with something fresh and powerful in Standard. He puts in more hours than anyone I
know, looking for holes, weaknesses, or powerful new interactions that are hard to beat. Week after week, he works harder than you, or me, or anyone else
because his drive is uncanny. Well, that and he doesn’t have much else to do!
Many of the decks he works on are not his own design. He isn’t some raving lunatic that goes through every interaction in Standard. The trick is simple.
Use your eyes and see what other people are doing right, and simultaneously find out what they are doing wrong. Take bits and pieces from other great minds
and make something wholly unique, because one person rarely has the tools at their disposal to do it all on their own. Sometimes you stumble across the
perfect decklist without any help, but those times are few and far between. A great deckbuilder will produce ten, twenty, sometimes even a hundred bad
decks before finding a truly great one. Like any great scientist, you must test your ideas over and over until you’ve found everything wrong with them. And
sometimes you just have to scrap everything and start from scratch.
So that’s what I’ve been doing for the last week. I’ve been through about five different variations of ten major archetypes, searching for the ones I like
best. I haven’t had a ton of success, but that will often come when you’re trying to learn instead of trying to win. Every single tournament I enter, I try
out a new plan, change a few sideboard cards, take a few different lines in the games than I normally would. I rarely play the same 75 from tournament to
tournament, because each match should give you a bit more information on what is good or bad about your deck. Even in your losses, learn from your matches
and adjust accordingly.
I have played a lot of different decks in Standard, and I’ve learned many of their weaknesses. Today we’re going to go over some of the major players in
the format and talk about what actually makes them good, and what you can try to change to beat them.
The Gauntlet: Standard
Creatures (25)
- 3 Hornet Queen
- 4 Sylvan Caryatid
- 2 Fleecemane Lion
- 4 Courser of Kruphix
- 4 Satyr Wayfinder
- 2 Doomwake Giant
- 1 Soul of Innistrad
- 1 Reclamation Sage
- 4 Siege Rhino
Lands (24)
Spells (11)
The strength of Abzan Reanimator lies in the overall card quality in the deck, much like a traditional “Jund” deck. Siege Rhino is a powerful card that
will give you a lot of free wins against red-based decks. Since the red removal is generally burn-based, that also means that the points of life you gain
can be incredibly relevant. The long-term abusive power of Whip of Erebos with Siege Rhino is also incredibly difficult for something like Jeskai to beat.
Hornet Queen is also a game-changer, and one of the reasons why most Whip decks are starting to lean on Doomwake Giant, even when they’re not playing
Eidolon of Blossoms.
The weakness in Abzan Reanimator’s gameplan is that the deck is incredibly linear. It has some removal and some big monsters, but any deck that can ignore
Whip of Erebos or Siege Rhino is going to be at a significant advantage. Abzan is also prone to spinning its wheels a little too often. Because the deck is
built to have mostly “good cards,” many iterations are moving away from cute cards like Soul of Theros, meaning that you will not always have a great
creature to put into play off of your Whip. But therein lies the ultimate problem with Whip decks in general. Do you play more fatties and risk drawing
them, or do you play better cards and hope to mill over a Hornet Queen or two?
Creatures (27)
- 4 Hornet Queen
- 2 Elvish Mystic
- 4 Sylvan Caryatid
- 4 Courser of Kruphix
- 4 Satyr Wayfinder
- 3 Doomwake Giant
- 1 Pharika, God of Affliction
- 1 Soul of Innistrad
- 4 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
Lands (23)
Spells (10)
Sideboard
The strength of Sultai Reanimator lies in Sidisi, Brood Tyrant herself. She is an enabler, an engine, and a gigantic threat all on her own. The blue splash
in the deck also gives you access to Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver, which is unbelievably good in the current midrange-heavy metagame. I am a proponent of the
versions featuring Dig Through Time, but it does put a bit of a strain on your manabase.
Unlike the Abzan deck, Sultai is a little bit more vulnerable to red spells, since your opponent can kill the Sidisi while the trigger is on the stack,
preventing you from making a zombie. Anger of the Gods is also phenomenal against this version of the deck, as the only creatures in your deck that survive
it are Doomwake Giant and Courser of Kruphix.
Much like the Abzan Reanimator deck, any opponent who can mitigate the removal spells or make your Whip of Erebos much worse is going to be at an
advantage.
Planeswalkers (8)
Lands (26)
Spells (26)
- 4 Thoughtseize
- 2 Despise
- 4 Hero's Downfall
- 4 Dissolve
- 2 Bile Blight
- 4 End Hostilities
- 1 Utter End
- 1 Treasure Cruise
- 4 Dig Through Time
Sideboard
I haven’t been a huge fan of these style of decks in Standard because the main point of weakness is the removal spells. If you play white, you get access
to End Hostilities (which is great), but are stuck playing Last Breath unless you want to splash a third color. I much prefer the black splash, but that
probably means you’re going to get run over by the top-end of the midrange decks unless you draw very well.
The strength of the control decks lies in counterspells and Dig Through Time. The counterspells may get stretched thin because much of your removal is
situational (i.e. Bile Blight), meaning that the opponent will likely have a window or two to resolve a planeswalker and start gaining incremental
advantage. I am a huge proponent of Perilous Vault in these style of decks, as they give you an option to reset the board at any time and prevent your
opponent from playing much else in the meanwhile. This gives you a lot of extra time to find and cast Dig Through Time.
Creatures (7)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (24)
Spells (27)
We’ve seen combo versions of Jeskai Tokens, but the new iteration a la Yuuya Watanabe just uses Jeskai Ascendancy to fuel Treasure Cruise and make all of
your token generators into huge threats. Like most Jeskai decks, the weakness here lies in the removal spells. Without a ton of ways to interact with Siege
Rhino, an early one from an Abzan deck will spell trouble for you, and especially so if you aren’t able to get your Jeskai Ascendancy online fast enough.
The deck that Watanabe built is incredibly powerful, and can attack from many different angles. You’re rarely safe from their burn spells, as Stoke the
Flames and Jeskai Charm can pack quite a punch. Additionally, any Goblin Rabblemaster deck can get out of hand if the opponent isn’t prepared with enough
removal spells for it.
This deck can have some anemic draws, and probably doesn’t play enough lands. I would much rather get flooded with a Jeskai Ascendancy deck than
manascrewed, as you always have the option later of discarding excess lands to the Ascendancy. The easiest way to lose with the deck is to stall in the
early turns against a Sylvan Caryatid deck.
Creatures (12)
Planeswalkers (6)
Lands (25)
Spells (17)
This deck rarely has actual weaknesses, but that’s the entire point of most midrange strategies. They don’t rely too much on synergy, instead focusing on
raw power and acceleration alongside removal and disruption. If the Abzan deck is built properly to handle what’s being thrown at it, then it will be
advantaged, but not significantly so. Like all Abzan decks, Siege Rhino is a huge problem for most red decks, but Abzan Midrange can accentuate the problem
with more big threats like Wingmate Roc or Ajani, Mentor of Heroes.
The real weakness in Abzan Midrange lies solely in how the pilot builds their deck. If you have too many spot removal spells, a swarm deck like Mono-Red
can run all over you, and especially so if you don’t have access to Drown in Sorrow out of the sideboard. The Abzan decks also rely too heavily on Sylvan
Caryatid for my taste. A draw without Caryatid feels like you’re in the stone age, while a draw with Caryatid will generally put you very far ahead. This
is one of the reasons why I’ve been a proponent of Elvish Mystic in mass quantities in the Abzan decks, giving you more virtual (but much worse) copies of
Sylvan Caryatid.
Abzan Midrange is the center of the format because it is difficult to attack, but can ultimately lose all on its own.
Creatures (20)
- 4 Battlewise Hoplite
- 4 Favored Hoplite
- 4 Hero of Iroas
- 2 Eidolon of Countless Battles
- 3 Heliod's Pilgrim
- 3 Seeker of the Way
Lands (22)
Spells (18)
Heroic is pretty strong against green decks. Their spot removal is usually overwhelmed by your Gods Willing and Feat of Resistance, and it only gets better
after sideboard with either Ajani’s Presence or Stubborn Denial, depending on what kind of removal they have access to. But Heroic is a strange deck to
play. You attack from only one angle, so any deck with a lot of dedicated hate will probably be able to take you down.
The strength of Heroic lies in its ability to resolve and draw cards with Ordeal of Thassa. Having a gigantic threat in the early game while still being
flush with cards is absurd, and is basically the only reason the deck exists. Without Ordeal of Thassa, many draws fall apart, but that’s one of the
reasons why the deck now includes M15 all-star Heliod’s Pilgrim.
Heroic’s weakness comes from opposing removal spells that are cheap and can kill any creature. Mardu is a major problem with Chained to the Rocks alongside
Crackling Doom, as Crackling Doom gets around all of your protection spells. Heroic is also pretty weak to Mono-Red, as they’re just a bit too explosive,
though that deck has mostly fallen off the map.
Creatures (14)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (25)
Spells (17)
Mardu is only as good as Crackling Doom, and right now that means that Mardu isn’t great. With so many Hordeling Outbursts running around, and so many
copies of Siege Rhino, Crackling Doom isn’t nearly as powerful as it was a few weeks ago. The damage output on Crackling Doom needs to matter, and when
Whip of Erebos and Siege Rhino are running rampant, that just isn’t the case. The Mardu decks are base red, meaning that much of their removal is going to
be damage-based, a la Lightning Strike. When your opponent is going to gain 5-10+ life a game, that aspect of your deck is not great.
The spot removal in Standard is strong and heavily played. This means Butcher of the Horde is probably not very good. When all of these things combine, I
don’t know if Mardu can hold up to all the Whip and Jeskai decks that are performing so well at the moment.
The strength of Mardu is that it can be flexible. You can be more aggressive with Goblin Rabblemaster and Seeker of the Way, yet sideboard into a much more
controlling deck with Elspeth, Sun’s Champion and End Hostilities. The Mardu colors give you a lot of ways to enact either plan, depending on the matchup
or situation.
Creatures (27)
- 4 Polukranos, World Eater
- 4 Sylvan Caryatid
- 4 Stormbreath Dragon
- 3 Boon Satyr
- 4 Rattleclaw Mystic
- 4 Savage Knuckleblade
- 4 Ashcloud Phoenix
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (23)
Spells (9)
I have yet to be impressed by Savage Knuckleblade, but the card just feels like it should be good. I think the biggest problem for Temur is that it does
not do well against a lot of removal spells. Abzan Charm is seeing a lot of play, as is Murderous Cut, and it can be difficult to leave up mana for
Stubborn Denial and the like. Polukranos is at its absolute worst at the moment, and this deck can’t abuse it nearly as well as a green devotion deck.
A green deck without Courser of Kruphix just feels wrong, in some way. I get that this deck is trying to be aggressive, and Boon Satyr is actually quite
powerful, but the Temur decks are prone to flood. You have so few ways to gain card advantage and can really only attack from one angle. I’m not convinced
that Temur is being built to its full capacity, but it can be tricky to play against. The best card in the deck by a wide margin is Crater’s Claws, which
says a lot about the deck you’re playing.
Creatures (22)
- 4 Foundry Street Denizen
- 4 Akroan Crusader
- 4 Firedrinker Satyr
- 2 Eidolon of the Great Revel
- 4 Goblin Rabblemaster
- 4 Monastery Swiftspear
Lands (19)
- 19 Mountain
Spells (19)
I honestly think that Mono-Red could be the sleeper of this format. I know that it can be tough to beat Siege Rhino into Whip of Erebos, but you can get a
pretty big head start with Goblin Rabblemaster and friends. Plus, they won’t always draw their Whip of Erebos. Sidisi, Brood Tyrant can be a problem, and
especially so alongside Murderous Cut, but I expect most people to lean towards Abzan Reanimator as opposed to Sultai, if only because Siege Rhino gives
them a security blanket of sorts.
The weakness of this style of red deck is that it is soft to sweepers. With Drown in Sorrow and Anger of the Gods seeing an uptick in play thanks to
Jeskai Tokens, it could be very dangerous to come to the Invitational with a deck that is weak to both. The plus side is that Mono Red is the only deck in
the format with unbeatable draws, but it also has draws that can’t beat anything. And such is the drawback of playing a deck with so few lands that can
rarely afford to flood out. Without Mutavault in Standard, red decks no longer have the luxury of always having something to do with their mana in the
lategame.
…
These are the things I’ve learned about each archetype since Khans of Tarkir was released. The trick now is using all of that information to make the
correct decision about which deck to play. Unfortunately, I am out of time, and today is the day I have to make that decision before I fly out to Seattle.
This weekend should be a good time with great friends, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing Seattle for the first time. I’m sure I’ll be doing a lot
more Magic than sightseeing, but it is nice to get away from the convention centers from time to time and actually experience the cities that I travel to
each weekend. The Invitational is always a fantastic tournament to play in, on many metrics, but I’m most excited to see if I can put everything I’ve
learned into practice and come out on top. It will be my last shot at the Players’ Championship.
Wish me luck!