My Two Picks For Week 1 Of Innistrad: Crimson Vow Standard Are…

Innistrad: Crimson Vow is here and with it come a ton of new Standard decks. The completion of the slowland cycle has opened up the door for three-color decks to jump into the mix. Some cool reprints and a few handy new cards have revamped aggro decks in various ways. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is particularly clutch, acting as an early threat that disrupts Izzet but also is surprisingly good against Mono-Green Aggro❄ due to their low actual creature count. Regardless, Innistrad: Crimson Vow is shaking up Standard, and today’s article will detail my two picks for Week 1 decks. Let’s get started.

Fly Away New Dragon

Izzet in all forms has been on my mind for the last few months. I had a blast brewing Divide by Zero decks when Innistrad: Midnight Hunt first came out. Izzet Dragons ultimately shaped the rest of the metagame, and even took down Magic World Championship XXVII in the hands of Yuta Takahashi. The modal spells give you a lot of flexibility, and the raw power of Alrund’s Epiphany helps keep interactive midrange in check. Over time, the deck took many forms, some going harder on aggressive elements with Goldspan Dragon, while others chose almost full control with Lier, Disciple of the Drowned. Both are great against different expected opponents, but could Innistrad: Crimson Vow give us another build?

Manaform Hellkite Is The Upgrade Izzet Dragons Has Been Looking For

I’m still in the experimental stages with Manaform Hellkite, but I’m confident the deck can be built around it as the focal point. Unlike Moonveil Regent, Manaform Hellkite doesn’t force you to jump through hoops to interact. Every single noncreature spell you cast generates a body that can act as damage when trying to close the game or a blocker when you’re under attack. The dual nature of this card makes it ideal for virtually any circumstance, so long as you have the resources to cast spells.

As we’ve learned over the last few years, the current design philosophy allows both players to play Magic somewhat endlessly. As long as the game isn’t technically over, both players should rarely run out of things to do. Flooding has become something of a rarity, and Izzet exemplifies this best with the stellar interactive piece Divide by Zero.

Divide by Zero is my favorite card in Standard, giving control players and tempo players alike the ability to interact with nonland permanents or spells on the stack. It’s the reduced-cost spell version of Venser, Shaper Savant, one of the coolest blue cards ever printed. In Standard, that type of effect is rare, though Unsubstantiate was pretty close. The fact that Divide by Zero grabs another spell, and that spell is somewhat decent, means it essentially draws a card. When all you want to do is continually cast spells, Divide by Zero and the learn mechanic are outstanding.

Smoldering Egg and Manaform Hellkite both function based on mana spent as opposed to raw number of spells cast. That means you don’t need to flood your deck with Consider and other cheap replacement effects. Instead, we can just play the cards with the best rate and our payoffs function without flaw. The fact that the Lessons are slightly overcosted doesn’t matter much when we’re getting a full refund. Oh no, my Lay of the Land costs two mana! Whatever shall I do?

The higher the casting cost, the better it is with Manaform Hellkite and Smoldering Egg. Mascot Exhibition hits a little harder when you’re transforming immediately or creating a 7/7 flyer with haste. If your opponent hasn’t killed Manaform Hellkite, chances are they can’t kill the 7/7 coming at them. That means every trigger with Manaform Hellkite is essentially extra burst damage, as a flying blocker is both rare and easy to clear.

Instants work best with Manaform Hellkite, as they become split spells that deal extra damage or provide you with a nice defensive shield. If you’ve ever had a Shark Typhoon on the battlefield before, you’ll know just how easy it is to cast your interaction and create pressure/defense. A single Dragon’s Fire taking down Old-Growth Troll and blocking a Ranger Class token is pretty sick. The chump-block value can’t be ignored either. As long as your opponent’s creature doesn’t have trample, the Dragon Illusion you create can help you easily win a close race. The fact that they don’t disappear until the beginning of the next end step also means you can cast Unexpected Windfall and such during your opponent’s end step, resulting in you gaining some extra damage.

In my mind, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned and Manaform Hellkite are seemingly at odds. Both require a significant investment, but untapping with either should likely be game over. A single Alrund’s Epiphany with Manaform Hellkite deals so much damage that I have to get out my abacus. A single Fading Hope with Lier means your opponent won’t be able to keep creatures on the battlefield.

Can the two coexist in a deck? If we get creative, we could pair them in the same list. The downside to playing both is that each of these two creatures shines when you cast as many noncreature spells as possible. For every creature you add, you’re making these payoffs a little bit worse. With that in mind, let’s take a look at what form Izzet might take with Innistrad: Crimson Vow.

This version isn’t playing Galvanic Iteration, though I’m confident you could change about six cards to fit it in and the deck would feel pretty similar. We aren’t a Dragons deck per se, since we aren’t overloading on them and playing Dragon’s Fire. We’re also not an Alrund’s Epiphany deck, as we’re floating somewhere in the middle with only three copies. There’s also a good chance one or two copies of Alchemist’s Gambit end up being better than some number of Alrund’s Epiphany, as the synergy with the brute-force pressure of Manaform Hellkite could allow the three-mana version to steal plenty of games.

This is where I am right now, but much of the build is flexible. This is one of the reasons why I didn’t play Izzet at the SCG Invitational, because the wrong build could mean having a glaring weakness to some opposing threat. When I loaded up on anti-control stuff for the mirror, I would lose to Goldspan Dragon. When I loaded up on removal to beat aggro, I would lose to Esika’s Chariot. And when I tried to ignore my opponent’s threats and take all the turns, I would lose to Mono-White Aggro❄’s creature rush.

My Five Favorite New Decks For Innistrad: Crimson Vow Standard

Long story short, every build is good against a specific subset of opposing strategies, but hitting the nail on the head is extremely difficult. The raw power of our spells allows us to win plenty of games, but the previous Standard format was hostile toward Izzet, to say the least. Aggro decks aren’t necessarily a bad matchup, but some builds are better or worse for you depending on how you build your version, and how they’ve constructed theirs.

I’m hoping Manaform Hellkite changes all that. I believe it is powerful enough to carry us in tough situations, as well as versatile enough to play whatever role you need it to in a given matchup. I haven’t seen many others even talking about the card, but I’m under the impression it will revolutionize how we build Izzet in Standard.

This reprint has heavily influenced multiple Standard formats in the past. With how strong the front half of Jwari Disruption has been, I can only assume that the most common mode of Syncopate, X=1, will be good enough. As the game progresses, it gets worse, but not by a lot. Syncopate is quite bad in control mirrors, so look to sideboard that one out if you play an Izzet mirror. Syncopate is much stronger at breaking up curves rather than trying to win a counterspell battle in the later turns.

Since we aren’t playing Galvanic Iteration, Memory Deluge is a bit better than Unexpected Windfall. While we don’t have those bursts of mana that the hardcore Alrund Epiphany version plays, we’re more consistently able to react to what our opponent is doing. Singletons are a bit better when we’re playing Memory Deluge, which means we don’t have to flood our deck with Lier or other clunky top-end spells. Instead, we can put the emphasis on where we want: with Manaform Hellkite.

Memory Deluge often works better in a build featuring more counterspells, but I quite like the ability to pay seven mana for flashback to end my opponent’s dreams. Just imagine how much burst damage you can do with one copy of Manaform Hellkite and Memory Deluge. As we’ve already discussed, spells that are a little more expensive are A-OK when your payoffs are Manaform Hellkite and Smoldering Egg. Spending more mana isn’t a big deal when you can directly translate that extra mana spent into additional advantages.

Firer Is The Mindkiller

Izzet isn’t the only deck I’ve been working on. Harlan Firer brought an interesting deck to the SCG Invitational a few weeks ago, prompting me to reevaluate how I was looking at certain Standard cards. Aggro in general was monocolor-dominant, but Harlan’s build was pretty cool and played more fluidly than I thought it would. Before the tournament, I was intrigued but just thought to myself, “Classic Harlan.” Turns out that the deck was actually pretty dope, and the creator, Raja Sulaiman, ended up getting 10th at the Invitational after a stellar performance in Standard.

Aggressive creatures backed up by some disruption and removal are nothing new for aggro, yet novel for aggro in the current Standard format. “Medium monsters backed up by Negate” has been a relatively successful archetype, though it doesn’t often get a leg up on aggro mirrors. The reactive elements are often weak against low-to-the-ground aggro decks, but the current build of Mono-Green Aggro❄ is chock-full of noncreature spells, so that type of interaction is actually decent.

My one hesitation on decks like this is the mana. Because you’re playing three colors, one-drop threats are almost out of the question. The good news here is that one-drops are actually quite mediocre in Standard, and only through a swath of them can you gain any real traction. Mono-White Aggro❄ does this well, and can get under just about every other strategy with how efficiently those one-drops spray the battlefield.

From Harlan’s own admission, Fateful Absence was terrible. Giving your opponent a way to use their extra mana is mediocre at best, but decks that don’t play card advantage have trouble keeping up in attrition battles when they give the opponent extra resources. Suffice it to say that slower aggro decks should not lean heavily on Fateful Absence because they can’t win a long game and can’t kill the opponent before they get to use the Clue token.

Decisive Denial was the complete opposite. In testing, I thought it would be mediocre, but it often did exactly what Harlan needed it to do. Against control, it was almost Mana Leak. Against Mono-Green Aggro❄, it was whatever you needed it to be. An early fight could clear the way, but having that versatile interaction gave you some breathing room against their big payoffs. Imagine how devastated you would be to have your Wrenn and Seven countered by Decisive Denial when the battlefield is just about even on stats.

Exploiting Fell Stinger For Fun And Profit In Innistrad: Crimson Vow Standard

Innistrad: Crimson Vow has added quite a few new cards to the format, including the missing lands from the slowland cycle. I’m a huge fan of Deserted Beach and the like. It feels like you can pretty easily play a three-color deck in this format with few situations where your second or later land will enter the battlefield tapped. Thanks to the Pathways and a few basics, you should be able to lead with Deserted Beach and cast most of your two-drops on time. After those somewhat scary first two turns, you should be fine, so the trick is just making sure you have enough lands that enter the battlefield untapped on the second turn.

There are also some cool threats from Innistrad: Crimson Vow that we can add to this archetype, and even mold it to fit our new toys. What does a Bant Flash deck look like? How about just Bant Midrange or more slanted toward aggro? Here’s how I’m building my first version of Bant with Innistrad: Crimson Vow.

The addition of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is going to change how everyone approaches the format. This creature is historically much better in older formats, as the density of cheap spells means that all those spells almost double in mana. However, since Izzet and Mono-Green are both flush with noncreature spells, Thalia’s tax should be pretty brutal. Because of this tax, we must also change how we build our deck.

After talking to Harlan about how the deck played at the Invitational, two major cards have left the deck or moved to the sideboard.

These two threats are fine in a world where you can cast them on time, but both of them are significantly worse when they come down a turn later. To dodge our own Thalia tax, these must be moved or cut. I think Esika’s Chariot is wild in a number of matchups, so I’ve resigned myself to bringing it in whenever I cut Thalia. Ranger Class was relatively weak according to Harlan, so I’m pretty happy to cut it in favor of other creatures.

Katilda, Dawnhart Prime was one of the most impressive standouts from Harlan’s build. In our testing, every time it came down it would replenish the mana spent to cast it. The “fast mana” ability, giving it to all your creatures, means you can usually do something in addition to casting Katilda the turn it comes down. Like few other great mana engines before it, Katilda is also a mana sink. This card gave me some serious Leyline of Abundance vibes, as the mana burst was great, but still gave you something to do once you flooded out.

Innistrad: Crimson Vow First Impressions: Standard

It seems relatively expensive, but when all your creatures tap for mana, it isn’t nearly as hard as you think to start growing your squad out of control. I initially thought Katilda was a meme, but it ended up being one of the most absurd cards in the deck. It’s rare that I’m so thoroughly impressed by a card I thought to be mediocre, but Katilda has my whole-throated endorsement. We’re even building this version around it, as all our threats are Humans!

Your noncreature spells need to be ultra-cheap, and you need to be prepared for them to stink when Thalia is on the battlefield. You can’t build your deck to completely dodge Thalia without leaving yourself vulnerable to some weird stuff. I think these three are the best at what they do, and don’t suffer too badly from Thalia. Decisive Denial is certainly worse, as holding up three mana for a counter is difficult. There’s a good chance all of them should be cut in favor of more Portable Hole and/or Valorous Stance, but it was so good in testing that I can’t put it down without trying it out first.

Portable Hole in the maindeck is an easy decision for me. Most Izzet decks have moved to Smoldering Egg, so having a way to tag them is pretty sick. The other creature decks are also full of cheap creatures, so having a one-mana answer allows you to get a leg up on mana spent in the first few turns. When you don’t have one-mana creatures yourself, one-mana answers are excellent. It also helps you use all your mana on the third turn by casting a two-drop and removal spell.

Since Thalia is one of your more potent tools against control, having your sideboard cards work with it is important. Malevolent Hermit will gain significant value in this format, as it can be cast and beat down early while still providing you with cheap disruption. The fact that Negate and Disdainful Stroke cost one more with Thalia on the battlefield means we need to be looking to alternative interaction points. Diversifying your disruption makes it harder for your opponent to play around your stuff, and making multiple disruption pieces work fluidly together is how you put your opponent into the ground.

A New Standard Is Upon Us

With the release of Innistrad: Crimson Vow, I expect midrange and aggro to evolve tremendously. We’re going from a three-deck format to something that should be wildly more diverse. I’ve seen some promising builds of Mono-Red Aggro, as well as a number of three-color midrange decks that could stand up to all forms of Izzet. In fact, the strength of aggro in Standard is one of the reasons I didn’t play Izzet in the Invitational, instead opting for Mono-Green Aggro❄. In hindsight, I should have moved back to Izzet once everyone found out how good Lier, Disciple of the Drowned was against Mono-Green. Turns out that infinitely bouncing your opponent’s creatures with Fading Hope is pretty good against Wrenn and Seven!

Bant Humans is a pretty cool archetype. It’s essentially just Selesnya Aggro but with a sideboard twist. Blue in these aggro decks has pretty commonly been assigned the reactive role, as blue is often the worst color for aggression. Counterspells check the vulnerable spot for aggro decks, as stopping a sweeper is often lights-out. The trick is figuring out when to hold up mana for counterspells or to sit on your hands and wait. Malevolent Hermit helps alleviate some of that pressure, though it is somewhat fragile. I fully expect Spikefield Hazard to be running rampant, so relying on creatures like this to get the job done might make your life a living hell once they start chaining Alrund’s Epiphany.

These two creatures are my pick for best cards in the set. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is one of the strongest two-mana creatures ever printed, adding a new dimension of disruption to the game that is seldom matched. Manaform Hellkite is harder to evaluate without actually playing with it, but I think it’s going to be incredible.

I hope I’m right.