Hello! Dragon’s Maze made its debut in Standard at #SCGNJ, so it’s time to look at what can be done to catch up and overtake the leaders, who still appear to be Jund Midrange and G/B/W Reanimator. I’m a little bit tired of these decks, but trying to beat them is still interesting. It’s not easy since they don’t generally share weaknesses; G/B/W Reanimator has a hard time with fast aggressive decks, while Jund Midrange is their natural predator, and so on.
The closest intersection of both decks’ weaknesses is Bant Hexproof, which was extensively discussed last week due to Unflinching Courage—and proved itself at #SCGNJ by putting three different copies in the Top 32. I’m not going to talk about this relatively known deck for long, as I have something interesting for you today that you may have imagined from the article’s title.
Bant Hexproof is a fragile deck that is very metagame dependent, but it’s totally at home among midrange decks, so I believe it will be fine weapon to fight the leaders during next few weeks. All three decks had a very little but important maindeck difference. While Mike Flores and Josh Uron decided to run Loxodon Smiter, Alex Mitchell preferred to lower his mana curve with Fencing Ace, increasing his two mana creature count to twelve.
However, it’s hard to justify Fencing Ace in any non-Reanimator matchup; everyone wants to deal with mana dorks, and with the new iteration of Jund presented by Reid Duke, Owen Turtenwald, and William Jensen, it is even better at that with the full four Tragic Slips post-board supported by more instant speed removal than it typically had earlier.
The new fashion of Jund Midrange creates a problem for Bant Hexproof pilots. It’s certainly better having Ascended Lawmage in the deck since non-hexproof creatures are much worse Aura targets, but Ascended Lawmage should be supported by mana dorks to be fast enough. Excessive mana dorks are a trap since Jund Midrange is perfectly suited to deal with them and they’re bad midgame topdecks. Considering other matchups, it’s hard to build a perfect Bant Hexproof list, but I think that the most success would come with a strategy presuming that you’re all-in pre-board and then sideboarding mediocre cards out in favor of better ones.
Creatures (20)
- 2 Arbor Elf
- 4 Invisible Stalker
- 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
- 4 Geist of Saint Traft
- 2 Loxodon Smiter
- 4 Voice of Resurgence
Lands (18)
Spells (22)
Note the counterintuitive decision to side out Arbor Elf in favor of Ascended Lawmage is likely a correct one because you’ll typically face better removal post-board and a four mana hexproof creature has a better chance to be relevant. Simultaneously, the maindeck provides you with six mana dorks to speed up your starts for some non-interactive wins and to punish opponents for tapping out early.
Another way to beat both Jund Midrange and Junk Reanimator is to combine speed with some resiliency. A good example of this strategy is R/G or Jund Aggro, using haste as a way to surpass pinpoint removal like Dreadbore and Mizzium Mortars, but Putrefy makes Thundermaw Hellkite worse while returning Tragic Slip is unfriendly to Falkenrath Aristocrat. Jund Aggro is nevertheless a very potent choice, but I’m going to try something fresh today using part of one of Dragon’s Maze’s greater disappointments.
Most of the guild champions are sadly too bad for Constructed play, but the one with the best chance is Varolz, the Scar-Striped. Scavenge is a mechanic often considered as pseudo-haste since it allows dealing damage immediately, so the hard-to-kill Troll would be fine in an aggressive deck.
The best Standard cards to combine with Varolz are the otherwise mediocre Vexing Devil and the sadly unplayable Slumbering Dragon followed by Treacherous Pit-Dweller (unplayable in a non-blue deck), Mogg Flunkies, and Spike Jester. Realistic one mana options also include Diregraf Ghoul, which leads to the idea of putting Varolz into a Zombies deck. Lotleth Troll may help to maximize the value of scavenge. Any good early creature is generally fine with Varolz because you’re able to be aggressive early and then reuse it later, maybe even immediately after you resolve Varolz as four or five mana isn’t unrealistic for aggressive deck.
I believe that it’s better to carefully include Varolz into an already established deck rather than build your deck around him. Varolz’s primary problem is his lack of trample (or other evasion), which makes him worse than Falkenrath Aristocrat and leads to the idea of G/B Zombies, where he could be a fine substitute to the four mana Vampire. Unfortunately, that leaves us without the best scavenge options, and it’s unclear which build is better. Let’s look at a B/G variant first and see if it’s enough to compete without red.
Creatures (31)
- 4 Diregraf Ghoul
- 4 Gravecrawler
- 4 Geralf's Messenger
- 4 Blood Artist
- 4 Dreg Mangler
- 4 Lotleth Troll
- 4 Blood Scrivener
- 3 Varolz, the Scar-Striped
Lands (22)
This looks like a generic B/G Zombies deck aside from having a much better Bloodthrone Vampire. However, Varolz adds a full new dimension to the deck, allowing you to grow Lotleth Troll much more aggressively and making early creature exchanges in combat better. Later in the game, Varolz helps mitigate poor topdecks (like lands) because it’s doubtful that your graveyard would be empty at any stage of the game.
The main problem with B/G is the inability to finish an opponent out of nowhere with a hasty flyer or a simple Searing Spear. A better mana base may or may not compensate this issue, but it definitely exists, forcing the Zombies player to rely heavily on Blood Artist, Lotleth Troll’s trample, and Rancor, which fits into the “make any creature a deadly threat” idea. Another problem is the smaller amount of sideboard options. Notable ones include Slaughter Games against Sphinx’s Revelation and Flames of the Firebrand against Naya Blitz style decks and maybe G/B/W Reanimator (especially in case of Somberwald Sage).
Adding red to the mix, the competition at the higher end of the mana curve becomes even tougher. Geralf’s Messenger and Dreg Mangler are already good enough to oust Varolz from the deck, and Falkenrath Aristocrat doesn’t make it any easier. Varolz’s pre-rotation chance to shine is when Falkenrath Aristocrat isn’t well positioned and there’s an excuse to cut some of them. Another reason to play Varolz is his ability to maximize G/B/R’s main advantage: the ability to effectively finish off an opponent.
Creatures (32)
- 4 Diregraf Ghoul
- 4 Gravecrawler
- 4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
- 4 Geralf's Messenger
- 2 Vexing Devil
- 3 Blood Artist
- 2 Dreg Mangler
- 4 Lotleth Troll
- 2 Blood Scrivener
- 3 Varolz, the Scar-Striped
Lands (22)
Spells (6)
I cut Blood Scrivener, Blood Artist, and Dreg Mangler for Varolz and Vexing Devil. Early results show signs of this being too much, but it’s fine for determining whether Varolz is good for you. A more balanced build may include one less Varolz and one more Dreg Mangler, but Vexing Devil may become annoying in this case. Cutting Vexing Devil may be right too, but the list above aims not only to be good but also to highlight new options. So you may cut both Vexing Devils and one Varolz in favor of one Dreg Mangler and two Blood Scriveners and call it a day.
Pyrewild Shaman is an interesting sideboard option not concerned with Varolz—repeatable bloodrush is another way to make any creature threatening. Five mana may be too much, but there aren’t many sources of card advantage available in control matchups. Pyrewild Shaman doesn’t supplement Blood Scrivener well, but they’re both fine apart. You may still discard it to Lotleth Troll if your Blood Scrivener survives long enough; in this case, however, you’re probably already in a good position or may simply cast Pyrewild Shaman. One more advantage of Shaman is that you fear Azorius Charm less—a lost Giant Growth isn’t as disappointing when it doesn’t cost you a card.
Another Varolz, the Scar-Striped idea is to use Skirsdag High Priest in a deck with him and other sacrifice outlets. The consideration of Cartel Aristocrat may lead us to some sort of G/W/B deck—the wicked one, inspired by The Aristocrats.
Creatures (30)
- 4 Diregraf Ghoul
- 3 Skirsdag High Priest
- 4 Gravecrawler
- 4 Geralf's Messenger
- 4 Blood Artist
- 2 Lotleth Troll
- 4 Cartel Aristocrat
- 2 Blood Scrivener
- 3 Varolz, the Scar-Striped
Lands (22)
Spells (8)
Sideboard
It’s hard to be as good as The Aristocrats without the combo of Boros Reckoner and Blasphemous Act. This deck is more of an imaginary sketch than a real list, but it combines some of the advantages of both The Aristocrats and B/W Zombies from pre-Dragon’s Maze Standard and may be a fine home for Varolz and a legitimate contender in the format. The build is very rough and may or may not include cards like Dreg Mangler, another ratio between Blood Scrivener and Lotleth Troll, a switch to white as a main color (making the deck even closer to the real The Aristocrats), etc.
Do you have more ideas for Varolz or better builds for the decks I’ve presented? Don’t hesitate to share your ideas and thoughts in comments below!