Berni Beatdowns
It is not surprising to me that Standard still has some tricks up its sleeve. Robert Berni and Tannon Grace showed us last weekend that G/R Devotion is
alive and kicking. But the more I try to rack my brain, the less confident I am that any deck in Standard actually has a good matchup against it.
I’ve tried Abzan. I’ve tried Jeskai. I’ve even tried U/B Control, but everything keeps coming up short. Aggressive decks can occasionally get under it with
a quick Goblin Rabblemaster followed by a slew of removal spells, but it isn’t as consistent as I would like it to be. But on top of that, the Devotion
decks which were once an underdog to control decks now have a potent tool at their disposal to counter the game-breaking effect of End Hostilities or Crux
of Fate.
While there is always the go-to “kill your Whisperwood Elemental at end of turn” followed by a sweeper effect, that doesn’t exactly save you from the rest
of their deck. It is pretty easy to reset after a wrath with another Whisperwood Elemental or even just a big Genesis Hydra into something like Polukranos.
With so much mana acceleration and virtual card advantage from cards like Courser of Kruphix and Eidolon of Blossoms, it is pretty difficult to run out of
gas. And even if your opponent is trying to wrath you out of the game, you have access to plenty of sweet sideboard options to help out in that matchup.
But the real question is: How many sweeper effects are even being played right now in Standard? The answer is “not many,” and that means Standard is prime
real estate for people trying to go bigger than their opponent. Robert Berni’s version of G/R Devotion looked awesome, and I am leaning heavily toward
playing it at Grand Prix Memphis this weekend, if only because I have such an affinity for ramping into gigantic threats. After all, many of my favorite
decks in Standards past have involved using a giant heap of my collection of Unhinged Forests.
But it is a difficult thing to go into a tournament with last week’s “hot new thing.” It will have a target on its head, to be sure. People know it exists
and will be prepared for it, or at least as much as they can be. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mardu make a comeback, if only because Crackling Doom can
give a deck like this significant problems. Mardu also has access to both Anger of the Gods and End Hostilities, if they so choose to play them. It is
important for decks like Mardu, Jeskai, or R/W to be able to slow the game down against a deck like G/R Devotion, if only so that your spells actually have
time to make an impact on the game. Cards like Goblin Rabblemaster and Hordeling Outburst look pretty silly against a Turn 3 Polukranos, World Eater.
My gut tells me that building your deck, whatever it may be, to be flexible is going to be hugely important. Against midrange and control strategies, you
need to have an aggressive gameplan. It is important against a multitude of archetypes that you be aggressive in the first game. Getting a free game win
against a slower deck on the back of Goblin Rabblemaster is huge, but they will have the tools necessary to pick you apart if your deck continues to be
linear. This is why you need a strong sideboard plan to come back from such devastating interaction.
If your deck continues to be linearly aggressive after the first game, Drown in Sorrow and Bile Blight will buy the Abzan decks more than enough time to
start casting Siege Rhinos. And even if you’re able to kill those Rhinos with Chained to the Rocks or Valorous Stance, it isn’t going to accomplish much if
you aren’t putting pressure on them. Outpost Siege is a great addition to any aggressive or midrange red deck to help them out as the game goes longer. The
impact of Outpost Siege is highlighted after sideboard when nearly every deck has access to more removal spells, making card advantage invaluable.
So how do we build the best Outpost Siege deck? A small part of me thinks that G/R Devotion can easily splash such a card, giving you access to even more
ways to fend off the sweeper effects from slower decks. On top of that, having Outpost Siege on Dragons in conjunction with Crater’s Claws could give you a
lot of reach when you shouldn’t really be in a winning position. I just love the fact that these G/R Devotion decks get a Fireball effect, making Nykthos
even better than it already is. I know from experience that getting your opponent pretty low on life isn’t that difficult, but dealing them those last few
points of damage can be tough. Now we can just cut out the middle man and go straight for the dome.
Thanks Berni!
Outpost Siege can work in a wide variety of decks. I think it has positive applications in nearly every type of red deck. As long as your deck isn’t full
of situational or reactive spells, the Khans ability on Outpost Siege is going to be ridiculous. In a lot of ways, Outpost Siege is comparable to Chandra,
Pyromaster, though it seems to work better in a midrange strategy rather than a hyper-aggressive strategy, like Chandra. You don’t have the option of
killing smaller creatures or keeping your opponent from blocking, but you get the card advantage aspect without being vulnerable to Hero’s Downfall or
attacking creatures.
It’s no wonder that R/W, as well as some variations of Jeskai and Mardu, are making great use of Outpost Siege. I love the interaction of Outpost Siege
with Hordeling Outburst, Goblin Rabblemaster, and any other token generator. I could even see Elspeth getting into the mix, to be quite honest. Both sides
of Outpost Siege work together in a midrange token strategy and reward you for getting to the lategame. The trick is letting those extra cards do all the
work for you.
Since you want to be able to cast basically any card from Outpost Siege, that means most of your removal spells should be damage-based. This points us
towards Lightning Strike, Stoke the Flames, and probably even Wild Slash. Having these spells in your deck also makes Soulfire Grand Master a bit more
enticing. And if you’re going heavy on the spells, you should probably be playing Monastery Mentor as well.
With all of these cards already in mind, let’s take a look at what something like this would look like.
Creatures (8)
Lands (24)
Spells (28)
As you can see, this doesn’t look all that much different than the Jeskai Token decks we’ve been seeing since Yuuya Watanabe played it at the World
Championships a few months ago, as well as the list played by Todd Stevens in Houston last weekend. The deck is still good and actually feels like it could
be in a great position now that Doomwake Giant seems to have fallen off the map. I think that Jeskai Ascendancy is exactly how you trump any sort of token
mirror and is also phenomenal at making sure you never run out of things to do.
What I don’t like about this deck is that it hinges a bit too much on its enchantments, as playing a full game without one feels like you’re at a handicap.
Cards like Raise the Alarm are pretty mediocre without some way to make it more relevant. This is especially true when facing down a Siege Rhino or
something similar.
Since your deck hinges on Jeskai Ascendancy and Outpost Siege, I could see an Abzan Midrange deck featuring a lot of copies of Thoughtseize giving you
trouble. Thoughtseize is traditionally powerful against decks that are relying on synergy, meaning their Thoughtseizes will be potent at most points in any
game. It could be a mistake to build your deck relying much more on synergy than raw power, as it will make your topdecks significantly worse in the
lategame, but I am willing to concede that in order to help win the opposing token matchups. Jeskai Ascendancy is far too powerful and easy to splash to
boot. Treasure Cruise is just a bonus.
The version played by Todd Stevens at the Open Series in Houston is
likely a fine choice and could be strictly better, since I haven’t actually tested out Outpost Siege in the deck just yet.
I do like the fact that you can open the game with two lands entering the battlefield tapped and still cast Wild Slash to slow them down. That in and of
itself might be argument enough to just play four copies of Wild Slash instead of any Lightning Strikes, though it is possible that having access to
Lightning Strike instead of Wild Slash could help you close out games more quickly. Wild Slash has already proven its worth in Standard and continues to
look better and better as the format progresses. There are so many cheap threats and mana creatures in the format, which is a nice spot to be in for Wild
Slash.
No Caryatid? C’mon Buddy
In case you have forgotten, Abzan Midrange is still a deck. Whether or not you play Sylvan Caryatid is completely up to you, but I would think you
ambitious for leaving it out. I don’t care about getting flooded too much so long as I can get onto the board quickly and start taking over the game before
my opponent is able to catch up. One thing most people are forgetting about this format is that Siege Rhino hits hard, has trample, and is nearly
unstoppable when cast on Turn 3 on the play.
Also, he never works alone. Dr. Siegeman always brings along a colleague for a second opinion.
The prognosis: you’re dead.
I don’t like End Hostilities at the moment against any deck, simply because everyone who would normally be worried about it is prepared for it. Whisperwood
Elemental and Outpost Siege go a long way in making sure you still have something left to do once your opponent hits the reset button, so the best way to
attack them is by literally attacking them while you kill all their creatures. The best way to do that is an early Siege Rhino, and you can’t have an early
Siege Rhino without Sylvan Caryatid.
While Abzan Midrange isn’t exactly an aggro deck, it certainly can play like one with the right draw. I am not an advocate of stuff like Wingmate Roc in
the deck at the moment, as I think hinging your strategy on Elspeth, Sun’s Champion is much more important, but that doesn’t mean that the good doctor
can’t do most of the heavy lifting. The thing to remember about Abzan is that it has nearly all the right tools at its disposal to take care of most
anything. Utter End and Hero’s Downfall are fantastic answers to planeswalkers or big creatures, while Thoughtseize is perfect for slowing the game down so
you can buy enough time to take over with Elspeth. You have very few dead cards in Game 1s, and your sideboard games get significantly better with access
to higher impact threats or better removal. Wash it all down with some Read the Bones for card advantage, and Abzan actually feels like it might be almost
perfect.
But Abzan does have its flaws. Without the right sideboard configuration, you could leave a huge gap in your gameplan. It is also fairly easy for some
decks to run you over if you draw too many expensive spells and not enough cheap interaction. There are also some permanents that are tough to beat on
their own, like Outpost Siege, that you have very few answers to. This is one of the reasons why it pays to be proactive in Standard, so you can actually
try to steal games that you might have no business winning. Outpost Siege will beat you if you’re sitting on your hands and trying to kill all their
creatures. It will not beat you if you put enough pressure on them with Siege Rhino and the like.
While I haven’t played much with Abzan Midrange in a while, I will say that I don’t think too much has changed in the last few months, even with the
release of Fate Reforged. More people are playing R/W Aggro, or Jeskai Tokens, but that just means Bile Blight and Drown in Sorrow are growing steadily in
value. If your sideboard removal spells are getting better and better, what’s not to love? If those decks are getting popular, that probably means that
Thoughtseize is likely at its peak for how good it can be. Taking away their primary mode of attack or card advantage seems like a great deal for one mana.
Figuring out whether Thoughtseize is good or not is dependent on whether or not your life total being high actually matters. When it comes to playing
against Goblin Rabblemaster, then your life total will matter on occasion. But how much life would you pay to kill a Goblin Rabblemaster for one mana? How
much life does that Thoughtseize effectively cost you in the long run?
I can see the appeal of cutting Sylvan Caryatid. After all, getting flooded with that deck can be a problem. And if you’re in the mood to cast End
Hostilities, then Sylvan Caryatid should certainly be on the chopping block. What I don’t like is slowing down your deck significantly so that you can
start playing raw card advantage spells like Read the Bones. Abzan decks tend to do much better when they are creating virtual card advantage rather than
actual card advantage. Planeswalkers and swingy effects are much stronger than Read the Bones because they are presenting a clock while also generating the
same kind of advantage. Read the Bones is a huge tempo negative, but it is much better after sideboard when you have the tools necessary to catch back up.
But how can we press the issue? Can we get even more aggressive with our mana so that we can overwhelm the other Abzan decks? Can we get on board faster
and punish them for not playing Sylvan Caryatid? All logical thinking points to yes, and having faster mana could also give you a chance to beat the nut
draws from the R/W/X decks.
Creatures (17)
Planeswalkers (6)
Lands (26)
Spells (11)
I’m not sure if this is the route to take with Abzan Midrange, but it certainly seems interesting. Punishing people for being slow is awesome, and it
doesn’t seem too hard to accomplish that goal with this deck. Elvish Mystic doesn’t do quite as much work in this deck as other green decks, but that’s
mostly because our colored requirements are stretched out a bit. Having Abzan Charm and Hero’s Downfall in your earlydrop slots makes it so that extra mana
from Elvish Mystic isn’t always useful, which is why we’re only playing two.
The draws you open with featuring two lands entering the battlefield tapped are made much more bearable by the presence of Elvish Mystic, and even
Thoughtseize to a lesser extent. Some draws featuring two lands entering the battlefield tapped and a Sylvan Caryatid will force you to stumble hard in the
earlygame, which will ultimately lose you the game against some aggressive draws from R/W and the like. But it is necessary to play a lot of lands that
enter the battlefield tapped due to all the ridiculous color requirements.
One thing I wanted to stress was the five-drop slot. With an Elvish Mystic into Sylvan Caryatid draw, playing Whisperwood Elemental or Ajani, Mentor of
Heroes on Turn 3 is tough for many decks to beat. The raw board presence of Ajani will make it hard for many creatures to battle through your Sylvan
Caryatid with three counters, or you could just bury them in card advantage if they have a slow draw.
I was contemplating playing Liliana Vess in the maindeck over Ajani, but I ultimately chose the more aggressive of the two options since we are trying to
punish people for being slow, and neither card is particularly good against a really fast draw from an aggressive deck. At the very least, buffing your
team to do a good brick wall impression seems fine.
I’m excited to see what Whisperwood Elemental can do in a midrange/control strategy. We’ve seen it shine in creature-based ramp decks, acting as a counter
to End Hostilities while also applying a significant amount of pressure, but I have yet to see it in the role of “midrange card advantage engine,” which it
could do in this shell. If you’re able to clear away a few of their blockers, ending the game quickly should be easy.
With Grand Prix Memphis just a few days away, these are the two decks I have at the top of my radar. I’ll be working with the boys in Roanoke in the final
hours to figure out what I’m playing, and hopefully we come up with something that hits the right spot. This Standard metagame isn’t about finding sleeper
cards or decks. It is much more important that you have a solid deck that has a flexible sideboard plan, or powerful answers to stop what your opponent is
trying to do. Khans of Tarkir Standard has proven to be pretty fun thus far, with a new deck coming out on top nearly every week. Let’s just hope I pick
the right one this time.