Are you ready for Junk Reanimator article #1,000,005? The good news is that isn’t what this is—despite the fact that some Craterhoof Behemoths will probably be involved. A week ago, I left my laptop in the hotel in Verona and went to the Grand Prix site to root for my friends in Day 2; ultimately, I became a part of the crowd dangling new Grand Prix champion Mike Krasnitski. Other Russian and Ukrainian players also did a good job, posting three other money finishes and proving that Mike’s title wasn’t accidental.
Getting a Grand Prix title is a great moment for Magic in Ukraine—and in Russia, as many players in both countries are friends, root for each other, and are inspired by the other’s success. The Russian community hasn’t had its own superstars for a long time, so this success is a good piece of motivation, and I hope that there will be more Russian-speaking players in the feature match area in the near future. The first step toward that success will be done in upcoming PTQs and WMCQs in Standard (and, of course, my happy readers on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean also have a bunch of SCG Standard Opens to play in). So it’s time to explore the Standard metagame again and to find a deck to play upcoming tournaments.
Looking at both of last weekend’s GPs, one may notice that nearly half of the competition on Day 2 was made up of various midrange decks (especially if we count the "23 Thragtusks in three matches" deck as a midrange one); the rest of the decks were mostly aggressive, with very little presence of control. Actually, there were a lot more control decks in GP Verona on Day 1, but the metagame wasn’t very friendly to them as the midrange decks had adapted, making their control matchups closer, while aggro and Reanimator never were good for control.
However, judging Standard strictly according to the GP metagame is completely wrong. The long-time calm Junk Reanimator topic on our local forums is now filled with questions like "How do you play the mirror match?" In fact, the high increase in Reanimator’s popularity caused aggressive decks to rise. It would be a positive change for midrange decks, but they aren’t well matched against Reanimator, so they’re losing their place in the metagame in favor of the newcomer. But Reanimator deck—even a flexible one—can’t stay on top for long, so I expect that midrange decks will soon return. "Soon" isn’t "now," so I’d rather stick with aggro for the next few weeks.
Heavier aggressive decks aren’t that good against Junk Reanimator, but, honestly, nothing is except for Human Reanimator and Naya Blitz. Human Reanimator isn’t good overall these days because it’s more fragile than Junk and will survive splash damage; Naya Blitz isn’t very consistent and is establishing itself as future enemy number one, so I’d avoid it too. There are ways to speed up heavier aggro decks, making them better against Reanimator while saving their other matchups (favorable against fast aggro and control and reasonable against midrange).
The simplest version of such a deck has already proven itself. While Blitz was played at both GPs, Adam Liu won SCG Standard Open: Indianapolis with Naya Humans featuring Huntmaster of the Fells and Avacyn’s Pilgrim instead of Boros Elite and Experiment One. The Open’s metagame was probably slower and more controlling (viva Prime Speaker Zegana!), which I don’t expect to happen again, but the deck itself is still reasonable.
Creatures (31)
- 4 Champion of the Parish
- 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
- 4 Mayor of Avabruck
- 3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
- 3 Huntmaster of the Fells
- 3 Restoration Angel
- 3 Silverblade Paladin
- 3 Nearheath Pilgrim
- 4 Frontline Medic
Lands (20)
Spells (9)
I’m not sure if Humans should go so far from its origins, but the direction looks right and the deck has the potential to improve. Adam’s deck has no Burning-Tree Emissary and Lightning Mauler, so there is no chance for games where the opponent simply isn’t involved (which is the best possible way to beat any bad matchup). Fellow Magic Online grinder xMiMx played the following list:
Creatures (29)
- 3 Fiend Hunter
- 4 Champion of the Parish
- 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
- 4 Mayor of Avabruck
- 2 Huntmaster of the Fells
- 3 Restoration Angel
- 1 Zealous Conscripts
- 1 Thundermaw Hellkite
- 4 Burning-Tree Emissary
- 3 Frontline Medic
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (19)
Spells (10)
I don’t agree with entire 75, especially the four loose two-mana creatures to cast with Burning-Tree Emissary and the too many Fiend Hunters, but the deck looks very solid overall. It still doesn’t have aggressive one-mana creatures and exchanged Silverblade Paladin for Fiend Hunter (who’s probably better on defense and against cads like Angel of Serenity), but it has approximately the same speed. Also note Geistflame: in contrast to the obvious Pillar of Flame, Geistflame is very good as combat trick, allowing you to maximize the value of 2/2 creatures who are bad in the late game (where it’s possible to flash back Geistflame for additional value).
Since Fiend Hunter is good somewhere outside of Human Reanimator in the monster-invaded metagame, I’m looking at my favorite card in this format: Selesnya Charm. It exiles many threats, including Thragtusk, Angel of Serenity, Craterhoof Behemoth (it will rarely be enough to save you from defeat, but it’s an option), and anything after a bloodrushed Ghor-Clan Rampager. On offense, Selesnya Charm allows you to deal the crucial last points damage and is a fine combat trick. I’m not sure how to fit it into the core of Naya Humans, but it’s definitely an option.
Looking at both lists, I think that they could both be a little faster and heavier at the same time. Huntmaster of the Fells and Restoration Angel are fine threats, but Thundermaw Hellkite and Falkenrath Aristocrat are clearly better nowadays. GP Rio showed that, despite its creator’s skepticism, The Aristocrats is still deadly in the proper hands and has to be considered as a viable choice; I also saw a Zombie version of The Aristocrats, which also looked reasonable and maybe even better than the semi-popular B/W Zombies.
Creatures (25)
- 4 Diregraf Ghoul
- 4 Gravecrawler
- 4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
- 4 Geralf's Messenger
- 3 Blood Artist
- 2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
- 4 Cartel Aristocrat
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (23)
Spells (10)
I’m not sure if this deck is actually better than the Human Aristocrats version, but I certainly like it over B/W Zombies. Falkenrath Aristocrat is a huge threat despite larger amounts of Tragic Slip being played right now, and Obzedat, Ghost Council is fantastically positioned in the current format. Blood Artist and Gravecrawler aren’t that aggressive, but you can do unfair things against aggressive decks and survive grind wars against midrange decks (don’t forget that Cavern of Souls for Advisors or Vampires is your best friend against U/W/R).
The last option for heavy aggro is Naya Zoo. I actively dislike midrange versions of Naya, as they’re just worse Jund decks (and even worse than Junk Reanimator). The build with maindeck Assemble the Legion looks better, but again, Craterhoof Behemoth does the same thing better and faster, which isn’t an option for Naya, which seriously suffers from both Reanimator and fast aggro. So why is Naya Zoo possibly an option? It’s half a turn faster than midrange Naya because it doesn’t waste cards on things like Farseek and Avacyn’s Pilgrim. I’ve seen builds with Pilgrim, but, honestly, eight turn 1 green sources isn’t enough for Pilgrim, and Burning-Tree Emissary is just better after turn 3.
Why didn’t Naya Zoo become popular after Eric Froehlich’s Top 4 with it at the Pro Tour? The deck is much more stable than the Blitz version and has powerful threats—but it’s also full turn slower, which is crucial against many decks, including both Reanimator decks and U/W/R. So Naya Zoo may become better if Blitz increases in popularity, but in any case, it’s crucial to make it faster. Hellrider is strictly better than Restoration Angel here, and there should be room for some Ghor-Clan Rampagers.
Creatures (29)
- 4 Hellrider
- 3 Thundermaw Hellkite
- 4 Flinthoof Boar
- 4 Loxodon Smiter
- 4 Burning-Tree Emissary
- 3 Ghor-Clan Rampager
- 3 Gyre Sage
- 4 Boros Reckoner
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (22)
Spells (5)
This list is a little bit faster and has a better chance to outrace opponents while still being fine on defense, especially post-board when useless Hellriders are exchanged for better cards. I’m not sure if it’s enough, but it’s a fine starting point. Magic Online Daily Events also had some R/G Aggro with Gyre Sage, but I’m not sure if it’s better than Naya or if it’s because of budget. R/G can generate unholy monsters with Increasing Savagery, which becomes better the less Boros Reckoner is played in other decks (but be aware of post-board copies).
Hopefully, I’ll be able to provide a detailed comparison of both decks in my next article alongside some travel stories—GP Utrecht hasn’t started yet as I write these words, but I’ve already had many adventures. See you next week!