The world is different
than it once was. The world has moved on.
We started with the
purity of fire and fury but have since moved to a complicated energetic
world ruled by a Hydra:
Creatures (24)
- 4 Longtusk Cub
- 4 Bristling Hydra
- 4 Whirler Virtuoso
- 4 Servant of the Conduit
- 4 Rogue Refiner
- 3 Glorybringer
- 1 Rhonas the Indomitable
Lands (22)
Spells (14)
Todd Stevens recently gave this deck an “A+” in his
review of Standard. That seems about right.
The deck has shown that it has legs. After GP Denver’s dominance by Temur
Eenergy and Red Aggro, there is always a question of whether or not the
format will take another shift, or whether it will settle into a new
normal. There is a little bit of evidence that things are still in
upheaval. First, let’s take a glance at the archetypes of the lucky folks
who qualified for the Pro Tour at the online PTQ this last weekend.
8th: Mardu Vehicles
7th: Temur Energy
6th: Ramunap Red
5th: Four-Color Energy
4th: Temur Energy
3rd: Ramunap Red
2nd: Temur Energy
1st: Mardu Vehicles
Indeed, this Top 8 has a lot of Bristling Hydra in it and a lot of Hazoret
the Fervent as well. But, sneaking in with those two base lists (the
Four-Color Energy list is basically Temur Energy splashing for The Scarab
God) is Mardu Vehicles.
Here is the winning list:
Creatures (18)
- 1 Archangel Avacyn
- 4 Thraben Inspector
- 2 Pia Nalaar
- 4 Scrapheap Scrounger
- 4 Toolcraft Exemplar
- 2 Walking Ballista
- 1 Glorybringer
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (24)
Spells (14)
Taking a glance at this and the other Top 8 list, I saw a card in the
sideboard that I hadn’t seen in a while but one that makes sense in a world
of Bristling Hydra.
Fumigate makes sense as a removal spell of choice in today’s world.
It makes sense. Clearing the table of big monsters is a powerful effect in
and of itself. Fumigate and Dusk both have the ability to clear Bristling
Hydra, a card which can otherwise be a rough one to deal with. Aside from
powerful sweeping removal like Fumigate, deathtouch is one of the only
other options, and an option that typically will only kill the Hydra that
the Temur player has chosen to let die.
In the aftermath of GP Denver, Temur Energy finally has a target on it. The
world is out to kill Hydras.
Sorting Through It
Magic Online data isn’t the data that it once was, but you can still comb
through it. These days, you don’t just get a random sampling of undefeated
decks, but instead get a pseudo-random sampling, each some measure of
“significantly different” than another. This means you aren’t as likely to
get a good measure of what is winning.
It does also mean, however, that more variety of ideas are
swirling about, and thus, building up more exploration.
Going through all of the dailies since GP Denver is pretty illuminating.
8/21 – 2 Grixis Control, Temur Energy, U/W Gift, Ramunap Red
8/22 – 2 U/W Approach, 2 R/G Ramp, G/R Pummeler
8/23 – Jeskai Approach, W/U Monument, New Perspectives, Ramunap Red, Temur
Energy
8/24 – B/G Constrictor, U/B Control, Zombies, U/W Approach, G/R Ramp
8/25 – Temur Energy, Ramunap Red, G/W Ramp, W Monument, G/R Ramp
8/26 – Temur Energy, U/B Control, Zombies, W/B Sunmare, Jeskai Approach
8/27 – 2 Ramunap Red, W/B Sunmare, Five-Color Planeswalkers, Temur Energy
8/28 – B/R Midrange, U/B Control, Mardu Vehicles, Zombies, Sultai
Reanimator
8/29 – 2 Ramunap Red, B/G Constrictor, G/W Ramp, Jeskai Gift
8/30 – 2 U/B Control, B/G Constrictor, G/R Ramp, G/W Ramp
Ten days of decks. Let’s collect these together a bit to highlight any deck
that appeared more than once:
Ramunap Red: 7
U/B/x Control: 7
G/x Ramp: 7
Temur/x Energy: 6
U/x Approach: 5
B/G Constrictor: 3
Zombies: 3
W/U Monument: 2
W/x Gift: 2
W/B Sunmare: 2
When you think about it, despite the inherent biases of the way in which
Magic Online Daily Events are reported to the public, it’s still quite
remarkable to look at these results. Quite literally, 50 different decks
were reported, and during those ten days, on only half the days
was a Temur Energy deck reported as being among the undefeated.
In contrast with that, every day had undefeated white “Wrath”
decks go undefeated.
Let’s go to two lists, one from Grand Prix Denver and one from the Dailies:
Creatures (24)
- 4 Bygone Bishop
- 4 Thraben Inspector
- 4 Hanweir Militia Captain
- 4 Spell Queller
- 4 Selfless Spirit
- 4 Cloudblazer
Lands (25)
Spells (11)
Creatures (24)
- 4 Bygone Bishop
- 4 Thraben Inspector
- 4 Hanweir Militia Captain
- 4 Spell Queller
- 4 Selfless Spirit
- 4 Cloudblazer
Lands (25)
Spells (11)
With fifteen rounds of Swiss to battle it out, Gregory Michel’s list is the
more important one to pay attention to over Pokerswizard’s 5-0 list. But
there’s no real reason to have to choose: they are basically the same 75,
with perhaps different land art.
Just running white mass removal isn’t sufficient to fight against Temur
Energy. What makes W/U Monument such a powerful deck against Temur Energy
is that it has a pro-active plan that demands that the opponent respond to; and in the midst of that plan, it can also wipe the battlefield of
any meaningful opposition.
This isn’t to say that Temur Energy is strictly in trouble versus W/U
Monument, but rather that W/U Monument can definitely put up a real fight.
W/U
Monument may have been crushed at the Pro Tour, but it is solidly
positioned now, which is likely why Todd
Stevens gave the deck a ‘B+’ grade for current Standard.
If you go to the full on “control” side of the equation, you have a very
particular card to think about.
This is one of the very first cards from Amonkhet that caught my
imagination. I never did find a deck that made me really love it, but that
doesn’t mean that the card hasn’t found some success in the time since the
metagame shook out. There are two, *cough*, approaches to the deck that
have taken off: U/W Approach and Jeskai Approach. Here are examples of
each:
Lands (25)
Spells (35)
Creatures (2)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (26)
Spells (28)
These two decks take Approach of the Second Sun and go in two different
directions. The U/W Approach deck is more of a “pure” approach, making a
strong claim to commit to simply shutting down the opponent’s ability to
win and using Approach of the Second Suns as a win condition that is almost
an afterthought (even if it is the only way to win).
Conversely, the Jeskai Approach deck is a more conventional controlling
deck that can win on the back of a “traditional” kill of Torrential
Gearhulk.
One of the reasons that I agree with
Todd Stevens in having a preference for U/W Approach over Jeskai
Approach is that U/W Approach runs Fumigate. Fumigate, frankly,
is one of the most important reasons to run white in a control deck. While
Hour of Devastation is still an incredible card, one thing that I’d do to
the Jeskai build is replace Hour of Devastation with Fumigate and find room
for other cards to fight specifically against opposing planeswalkers.
Regardless of the build, both of these decks are not messing around in
their hatred of a creature deck. Jeskai, unsurprisingly, fights against
itself at least a little bit because of its slightly more inconsistent
mana. On the other hand, it has a more versatile removal package. U/W is
more single-minded in its “approach,” but in the current metagame, that is
perhaps acceptable. Against, say, Ramunap Red or Temur Energy, U/W Approach
feels like a more naturally frightening opponent.
Four Fumigate. That is an intense declaration of hatred
for a creature deck. Add into that choices like Blessed Alliance, and
hard-to-kill creatures are even more easily handled than they are in most
decks. The list from StrixMix above isn’t even as wildly anti-creature as
some builds are, which can sport cards like Aether Meltdown.
What makes this style of deck less appealing against Temur Energy is very
simple:
Where Negate is an underwhelmingly necessary card to try to fight against
W/U Monument, in the Approach matchup, it is practically the card
“Counterspell.” Not only is it absolutely phenomenal in the matchup, but it
is positioned perfectly, allowing the Temur Energy deck to take the role of
an aggro-control deck in an aggro-control/control matchup, which
fundamentally favors the aggro-control deck. While, as a control deck,
Approach decks are particularly well-suited to fight anything aggressive
and will often have the upper hand in game one (especially for the U/W
version), the way it weighs out in game two or three places Approach on a
razor’s edge, where it could win, but it will potentially just
fall over with an ill-timed counter.
I still place my bets on Approach, but the sideboarding really does put the
outcome into question.
The most unusual of the Fumigate/Dusk decks out there is the one I’ll cover
last.
Creatures (21)
- 1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
- 4 Thraben Inspector
- 4 Lone Rider
- 4 Glory-Bound Initiate
- 4 Crested Sunmare
- 4 Sunscourge Champion
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (25)
Spells (10)
- 1 Declaration in Stone
- 1 Anguished Unmaking
- 2 Authority of the Consuls
- 4 Fatal Push
- 2 Aethersphere Harvester
Sideboard
This deck was represented twice over the ten days in the published
undefeated Magic Online Daily lists, with the exact same 75 both times (the
other time piloted by Rooney56).
Crested Sunmare is a hell of a card. If you haven’t piloted this deck yet,
I recommend taking it for a spin, because it can do some surprising things.
Indestructible Horses are awesome and are pretty good at fighting off a
Bristling Hydra. Two Crested Sunmare are so impressive together that it
almost makes me want to run a Crested Sunmare deck with cards like Vizier
of Many Faces, Altered Ego, or Mirage Mirror.
Aside from the Fumigate in the board, it also has another hateful anti-Temur
Energy innovation that I’ve talked about before:
I still haven’t fully gotten over how great this card is against a deck
that is trying to leverage energy as a resource. Talking to Jonathan Job at
GP Indianapolis, he proclaimed the card so absurd that he’d be willing to
potentially run four of the card despite the diminishing returns. I’m still
not sure that it is correct to go that direction, but if we’re in a world
where Temur Energy has the target on its head, perhaps going all in is the
correct choice.
Each of these last three decks is a bit more off of the beaten path than
other choices for Grand Prix Washington, D.C. If you’re a bit more on the
conservative side of things, don’t forget that Mardu Vehicles put two
people on the Pro Tour last weekend.
Whatever path you take, it does seem like white-based solutions are a solid
way to target the Temur Energy builds. If Temur Energy was a solution to
black-based decks which were a solution to red aggro, things seem to be
turning again, with white being a sensible conclusion for the player trying
to stay a step ahead.
Of course, some of us won’t change our ways at this point. I’ll be piloting
some version of Torrential Gearhulk-based control–the only question is the
details. Make sure
to wish me luck! I’ll see you in DC!