Prepare for information overload.
If I were going to play “normal” U/W/R Flash tomorrow, this is what my list would look like:
Creatures (11)
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (24)
Spells (24)
- 1 Dissipate
- 2 Island
- 2 Syncopate
- 3 Think Twice
- 2 Essence Scatter
- 3 Pillar of Flame
- 1 Izzet Charm
- 3 Azorius Charm
- 2 Supreme Verdict
- 3 Sphinx's Revelation
- 1 Turn
- 1 Warleader's Helix
Sideboard
The Desolate Lighthouse is a reasonable addition if you don’t like the extra velocity from Thought Scour. Sometimes you’re digging for that Supreme Verdict or Sphinx’s Revelation to lock up the game, and Lighthouse helps in that regard. I wouldn’t plan on activating it multiple times, as you still want excess lands to cast big Revelations. However, if you still plan on playing Thought Scour, I wouldn’t want Desolate Lighthouse.
Izzet Charm is a reasonable way to hedge against Burning Earth post-board, and it might be good enough to fit a second copy. I’m trying a Jace, Architect of Thought in the meantime. I know exactly how good it is and where I’ll benefit from having it, so playing with it isn’t entirely necessary. It is a sweet card, and it will likely stay in the list until I find the best way to build my deck with Thought Scour.
Planar Cleansing is the midrange sweeper. Those decks try to beat you with weird permanents like Underworld Connections, Liliana of the Veil, Domri Rade, and Burning Earth. Dealing with each individually can be difficult, especially if they have creature pressure as well. Note that while I do have both Oblivion Ring and Planar Cleansing in my sideboard, they will likely never be in the deck at the same time.
I’m particularly excited to see what other people are doing with U/W/R, as that just gets my creative juices flowing.
Creatures (13)
Lands (24)
Spells (23)
While I disagree with many of the maindeck choices, that sideboard is phenomenal.
In post-board against any midrange deck, you have a way to build a better board presence, attack their planeswalkers, and gain a significant amount of life. That sort of transformational sideboard strategy has eluded U/W/R until now.
What happens when I take that bold idea and do my thing?
Creatures (8)
Lands (24)
Spells (28)
If I had a PTQ, Grand Prix, Standard Open, or maybe even a Pro Tour this weekend, this is what I would play. I’m not convinced it’s the best deck or even the best version of U/W/R, but my initial testing results have been excellent.
I mean, c’mon, who doesn’t like beating up on large Fiendslayer Paladins?
(I won that game but messed up and lost the match.)
Or what about completely annihilating R/G Aggro, one of best performing and most popular decks on Magic Online?
(I won this match, yay!)
Young Pyromancer is a card that caught my eye for U/W/R, but I couldn’t think of a matchup I actually wanted it for. As it turns out, I couldn’t think of the right supporting cast. You see, a horde of 1/1s can be pretty useless at times, such as against the above Fiendslayer Paladin. Once something like Archangel of Thune gets involved, things start getting out of control.
Against decks like Jund, Pyromancer is probably at its worst, as it turns on their previously dead removal like Bonfire of the Damned and Tragic Slip. I would board most if not all of them out, though, which should make their sideboarding decisions much more difficult.
I have a lot of cantrips, so the Pyromancers are almost always doing something, but I might add a second Quicken to go harder. In something like fifteen matches, I have yet to Quicken a Supreme Verdict, but I’m very interested in the one-mana cantrip.
Instead of using Detention Sphere, I could use Planar Cleansing, but with a little more board presence than normal Flash, I don’t feel like that’s necessary. You should be able to attack planeswalkers much easier with all your creatures.
Young Pyromancer isn’t as rock solid as the Augur of Bolas / Restoration Angel synergy is, but it has more potential upside. In a Standard format where every deck is very good, especially when the format is as big as it’s going to get, I’d take the powerful option any day.
If you’re interested in pure control, I suggest you check out this decklist:
Lands (12)
Spells (48)
- 7 Plains
- 2 Dissipate
- 7 Island
- 4 Think Twice
- 2 Prophetic Prism
- 1 Elixir of Immortality
- 4 Ratchet Bomb
- 3 Trading Post
- 4 Azorius Charm
- 4 Supreme Verdict
- 2 Detention Sphere
- 3 Sphinx's Revelation
- 1 Codex Shredder
- 1 Blind Obedience
- 1 Azorius Cluestone
- 2 Haunted Plate Mail
Sideboard
I love this deck, partly because it’s creatureless and partly because it aims to gain complete control by grinding its opponent into submission. On top of that, it uses sweet cards like Elixir of Immortality and Haunted Plate Mail. Whether Gainsay’s deck is actually good remains to be seen, but it looks like it has potential.
It’s a good time to be a blue mage when two new control decks show up the same week . . .
Creatures (5)
Lands (18)
Spells (37)
When I heard Martin Juza talk about how he almost played U/B Control at the World Championship, I was intrigued. Thankfully, his team ended up using it in the World Magic Cup! Unfortunately, the deck looks pretty bad despite them making Top 8 with it.
The versions I brewed were always Mutilate based, but maybe Ratchet Bomb can take that sweeper slot. Ratchet Bomb’s biggest problem is the lack of concentration on any spot of the curve. For example, a deck like Naya Blitz has a plethora of one- and two-drops, but few decks like that exist. You’re more likely to face a deck like R/G, G/R, or Zombies, which is trying to play their most powerful card on curve.
Aside from that I like some sort of Jace maindeck—either Memory Adept, Architect of Thought, or both—to capitalize on stalled board states. Jace, Memory Adept also kills very quickly, which might be a necessity for a deck that isn’t likely to gain complete control.
While U/B Control is interesting, one of the most surprising things to come out of the World Magic Cup is the resurgence of Zombies.
Creatures (29)
- 2 Diregraf Ghoul
- 4 Gravecrawler
- 4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
- 4 Geralf's Messenger
- 3 Blood Artist
- 3 Dreg Mangler
- 4 Lotleth Troll
- 2 Deathrite Shaman
- 3 Lifebane Zombie
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (23)
Spells (7)
Creatures (31)
- 2 Bloodthrone Vampire
- 4 Diregraf Ghoul
- 4 Gravecrawler
- 4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
- 4 Geralf's Messenger
- 2 Zealous Conscripts
- 4 Blood Artist
- 4 Knight of Infamy
- 3 Lifebane Zombie
Lands (24)
Spells (5)
Creatures (25)
- 4 Diregraf Ghoul
- 4 Gravecrawler
- 4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
- 4 Geralf's Messenger
- 1 Highborn Ghoul
- 4 Knight of Infamy
- 1 Crimson Muckwader
- 3 Lifebane Zombie
Lands (20)
Spells (15)
Creatures (28)
- 4 Diregraf Ghoul
- 4 Gravecrawler
- 4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
- 4 Geralf's Messenger
- 4 Restoration Angel
- 4 Cartel Aristocrat
- 4 Lifebane Zombie
Lands (24)
Spells (8)
Sideboard
Obviously certain considerations have to be made for the Unified Standard format, where players have to make difficult deck decisions based on card availability. Still, most Zombie decks could have easily been variants of The Aristocrats, but people actively chose to go with Zombies instead.
Above you can see a variety of options for Zombies, including Jund, B/R, and B/W/R. Cards like Lotleth Troll, Restoration Angel, Cartel Aristocrat, and Lifebane Zombie are very powerful and are all worth the splash or even double splash. Crimson Muckwader? Not so much.
I like the aggressiveness; I like the removal; I like the midgame threats; I like the addition of Lifebane Zombie; but I hate the Blood Artists, Deathrite Shamans, and most of their sideboards. Rakdos Charm? I don’t get it.
While Zombies is probably pretty good right now, I like The Aristocrats better.
Creatures (26)
- 2 Olivia Voldaren
- 4 Champion of the Parish
- 4 Doomed Traveler
- 4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
- 4 Blood Artist
- 4 Cartel Aristocrat
- 4 Xathrid Necromancer
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (23)
Spells (9)
No Lingering Souls is pretty wild, but I like the look of this deck. Utilizing Xathrid Necromancer over Boros Reckoner is almost certainly correct right now, but I don’t think I can agree with Gather the Townsfolk instead of Lingering Souls. Even with more sacrifice outlets and Xathrid Necromancer, I can’t imagine there are many situations where Gather the Townsfolk is actually better.
Creatures (19)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (17)
Spells (21)
I like this much better. Archangel of Thune makes Gather the Townsfolk a playable Magic card, much like what I was trying to do with my one-of Mikaeus, the Lunarch. On its own Archangel can win a game, whereas Mikaeus is unlikely to do that, so Archangel probably wins out.
What happened to Elves? Did Huey Jensen face a sea of favorable matchups en route to his second-place finish at the StarCityGames.com Open in Somerset?
Creatures (34)
- 4 Elvish Visionary
- 4 Elvish Archdruid
- 4 Arbor Elf
- 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
- 4 Craterhoof Behemoth
- 3 Wolfir Silverheart
- 3 Voice of Resurgence
- 4 Elvish Mystic
- 4 Kalonian Hydra
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (14)
Spells (8)
- 8 Forest
I think the Jund matchup is pretty bad, but I admittedly have little experience with the archetype. Still, this sideboard seems ill equipped to deal with the Jund menace. Ready // Willing can only do so much. Olivia Voldaren plus an untap step is nearly unbeatable, but Brian Braun-Duin favorite Human, Slayer of the Wicked, is a solid answer. Plummet is another one, but Slayer also kills Huntmaster of the Fells and is a reasonable beater. It’s also a card that Garruk can find, so it’s the clear winner to me.
Even decks like Zombies are packing four Barter in Bloods in the sideboard, so does that mean Hexproof is dead? Perhaps it just needs to adapt.
Creatures (21)
- 3 Gladecover Scout
- 3 Avacyn's Pilgrim
- 4 Voice of Resurgence
- 2 Elvish Mystic
- 4 Fiendslayer Paladin
- 4 Witchstalker
- 1 Imposing Sovereign
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (8)
Spells (30)
- 4 Rancor
- 7 Forest
- 6 Plains
- 1 Pacifism
- 1 Oblivion Ring
- 3 Increasing Savagery
- 4 Ethereal Armor
- 4 Unflinching Courage
Sideboard
Losing Geist of Saint Traft sucks, but doesn’t the improved mana base make up for it? After all, one of Bant Hexproof’s major problems was consistency. Despite things like Pacifism and a random Oblivion Ring, I like the list a lot. I might play another Elvish Mystic, Gladecover Scout, and maybe some Abundant Growths.
The sideboard could also use some work. I enjoyed the Advent the Wurm / Rootborn Defenses sideboard popularized by PV, but the landscape has changed dramatically since then.
Then there’s boring old Jund . . .
Creatures (14)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (17)
Spells (25)
Or is it?
If you’re never keeping a hand with Blood Crypt and no green source, does it make sense to cut Blood Crypt for Caravan Vigil? On one hand, you can go off with a removal spell and a couple Vigils, accelerating you into a fast Rakdos’s Return. On the other hand, sometimes you have to lose a mana to make your land drop, similar to playing a Guildgate. Of course, that land is a little better against Burning Earth, but still. Maybe that’s enough to solve that problem, but I’m guessing not.
Another thing to note is that when I talked about Lay of the Land in my M14 review, I forgot Caravan Vigil was legal!
Is the next deck strictly better than Jund or strictly worse?
Creatures (16)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (24)
Spells (16)
Thanks to Brad Nelson, this deck is relatively popular at the moment. This list isn’t that innovative, but it does feature a pair of Innistrad cards that look great: Dead Weight and Tree of Redemption. One-mana removal is quite good and the above maindeck probably skimps on that, but the sideboard Dead Weights are a step in the right direction.
Tree of Redemption has been popping up recently, and for good reason. It does a lot of good work against Boros Reckoner, can help in the fight against Burning Earth, and is an engine if you have Wolfir Silverheart or Gavony Township. Jund decks might want to consider it as well.
I really like Primeval Bounty. It was mentioned in my M14 set review, but my readers in the comments section seemed to disagree on its playability. Surprisingly, Primeval Bounty has already started seeing play, and decks like Jund are the perfect fit. They don’t mind getting extra bodies, pumping their guys is relevant in midrange mirrors, life gain is always helpful in races, and things like Underworld Connections provide a lot of gas.
If you’re only drawing one card per turn, you aren’t likely getting to see the card fully in action, so I recommend pairing it with something like Underworld Connections in order to power it up. Due to that I think Jund should go back to playing some removal for permanents, like Acidic Slime, as many of the ways to gain an edge in pseudo-mirrors is with those permanents.
As for the Jund vs. B/G argument, I think B/G wins. It’s plan is more cohesive, the mana base is better (assuming you add some green sources), and it’s capable of using its mana every turn, whereas sometimes Jund is clunky. If I wanted to play either deck, I would play B/G after tuning it a bit.
Now on to the brews!
Creatures (16)
Lands (18)
Spells (26)
- 2 Island
- 3 Unsummon
- 2 Think Twice
- 2 Essence Scatter
- 2 Faithless Looting
- 4 Thought Scour
- 2 Pillar of Flame
- 2 Searing Spear
- 2 Mizzium Mortars
- 2 Simic Charm
- 2 Spell Rupture
- 1 Turn
Sideboard
A small child sent me a similar list, but this is the first one I’ve seen that’s finished in the money of a Daily Event. The list is obviously all over the place, but having a variety of options is typically good for a tempo-based deck.
Delver, Pyromancer, Dryad, and Snapcaster all play well with spells, but I feel like you have to make a concession at some point. Sixteen creatures is definitely at the top end for a deck like this. Without things like Gitaxian Probe and Gut Shot, I feel like a Snapcaster Mage should probably get the axe. Much like my U/W/R deck, a Quicken or two might be good also.
This next list has seen some success already but hasn’t been talked about much.
Creatures (16)
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (3)
Spells (40)
Sideboard
For whatever reason, I’m drawn to decks like this, although I rarely play them. Shouta Yasooka played a similar deck before Pro Tour Dragon’s Maze, and it looked very good. Much like Jund, it’s the control deck against smaller creature decks, but against control it aims to fight through their removal with bigger threats rather than quick aggression.
On top of all that, the full amount of Burning Earths maindeck gives you a lot of free wins against the greedier decks in the format. Perhaps whatever percentage points you gain from playing Burning Earth maindeck loses you points in other matchups, especially the ones where you can’t afford to have slow, bad cards in your hand. However, the format consists of several three-color decks, several of which lose to Burning Earth.
If I were to make one small change, it would be shaving a Hellrider and adding something a little smaller like Ash Zealot. That type of creature can hold the ground against creature decks while also putting reasonable pressure on slower decks.
Possibility Storm[/author]“][author name="Possibility Storm"]Possibility Storm[/author] out of the sideboard is particularly troublesome as a Sphinx’s Revelation player, but thankfully not many people are playing that type of card.
If you’re really into beating up on red decks, this next deck is probably pretty nice.
Creatures (25)
- 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
- 3 Restoration Angel
- 4 Thragtusk
- 3 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
- 4 Centaur Healer
- 3 Archangel of Thune
- 4 Fiendslayer Paladin
Lands (7)
Spells (28)
Sideboard
This strategy displays the depth of M14 as a set, as it utilizes several ignored cards from that set to form the core of its strategy. While this sort of W/G deck is only going to succeed in certain metagames, it seems like exactly the type of deck Brad Nelson would use to exploit a metagame. C’mon Brad, it’s even got your favorite card!
Now for something a little different . . .
Creatures (12)
Lands (22)
Spells (26)
- 3 Past in Flames
- 4 Desperate Ravings
- 4 Faithless Looting
- 4 Lingering Souls
- 2 Reforge the Soul
- 4 Battle Hymn
- 3 Burn at the Stake
- 2 Hidden Strings
Sideboard
I considered playing one maindeck Burn at the Stake in my U/W/R Flash deck, much like the Harvest Pyre or Runechanter’s Pike from older versions. That makes me want to dip into splashing black so I could play Lingering Souls alongside Faithless Looting. Perhaps that’s going too deep, but it seems easier to win with a deck like that than a deck with Battle Hymn.
Regardless, I considered playing a version of this at the last Invitational but never actually got around to working on the deck. Perhaps that worked out for the best. Anyway, CJLack has been working on this list for a long time, so I’d trust his list to be close to a final product.
For my final list, I’ve got a spicy one.
Creatures (14)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (23)
Spells (19)
I kinda like this deck. We’ve seen some Bant Delver decks and Bant Hexproof has been around for a while, but this deck gets to play individual cards with a higher power level rather than relying on synergy. That type of strategy often performs better in this Standard.
Wayfaring Temple is likely pretty good in this shell, as is Cyclonic Rift (at least thanks to Gyre Sage). It looks like a lot of thought has gone into this list.
That’s all I got for this week.
GerryT
@G3RRYT on Twitter