I’ve gotten into testing for GP Chicago, so today I’m playing a Standard Daily Event with my current favorite Standard deck: BGu. This deck is based on the
deck I played at Pro Tour Journey into Nyx, but with the addition of Underworld Connections, which has amazing synergy with Courser of Kruphix.
Creatures (14)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (25)
Spells (17)
Round 1
The first game was the typical long, drawn out affair I’ve come to expect with this deck. Eventually I found Pack Rat and overwhelmed him. Pack Rat in this
deck plays differently than Pack Rat in Mono-Black Devotion. I don’t have Mutavault and don’t come out as smoothly in the early game, so it’s very rare
that I’ll get the kind of draw that runs someone over with Pack Rat. Instead, I’m playing it as something of a Prognostic Sphinx. It’s a five mana threat
that allows me to discard a card to save it from a removal spell–basically, I’m looking to win most games like this, where I establish control with a lot
of lands in play and extra lands in my hand because of Courser of Kruphix and Underworld Connections, and then it’s just the most reliable finisher.
The second game I started on six and my opponent had Thoughtseize + Pack Rat on the play. Almost every deck will lose to that.
For the third game, I mulled to five, missed lands (as expected), and his hand lined up very well against mine.
Round “2”
That was pretty straight forward–Game 1 Domri Rade on Turn 2 just got my opponent out too far ahead of me, and in the second game, Rakdos’s Return was
devastating. That was a pretty brutal Daily. Let’s follow it up with an 8 man:
Round 3
Pack Rat doing its thing. Game 2 was crazy. That was a lot of hate I was able to overcome thanks to having green cards.
Round 4
The first game looked scary early, but he kept a hand based on a good start and never drew into any high impact cards. I’m not sure if I should have kept
my hand in the second game. While answers are good, you need a proactive threat or you’ll just lose to Thassa, God of the Sea. My hand in the third game
was absolutely ideal though.
Round 5
My opponent’s draw in the first game was obviously pretty weak. In the second game, my draw was ideal, and my opponent suffered from getting stuck on three
lands, where four would have meant casting two spells per turn.
Despite the poor showing in the daily event, I’m still a big fan of this deck, and I think the shell is likely the most important core in Standard at the
moment.