I hate this time of year, at least Magic-wise. We all can easily see that, for various reasons, the Magic web community is mostly American. During the rest of the year you can hardly notice this (apart from the deserved hype surrounding the US Nationals), but States is the worst time.

Unless you live in the US, Canada, Australia or New Zealand, you probably could not care less about Standard right now. We are at the end of a Sealed season, with two months of Extended looming just around the corner. In most places, all Constructed tournaments right now are Extended (at least around here they are).

But Invasion has just joined the fray, and everyone will be scrambling for that elusive card that can boost some obscure deck into the rare heights occupied by NecroDonate and Survival right now.

So every day I check a boatload of websites looking for some Extended ideas or opinions. Guess what? Nothing. Apart from a few scattered articles (today I was very pleased to find one by Adrian Sullivan) and a couple of small comments, everyone is living for Standard.

Don't get me wrong. I can understand the excitement. In fact, I was so caught up in it that I currently carry around four Standard decks and only one Extended deck (my test version of Secret Force). This is the most exciting time in Standard: The Big Shift. Almost every deck archetype is shredded to pieces, and there is an elusive chance to make something useful. I said elusive, and I do mean it. Because you know what is going to happen, don't you?

We will all come up with our ideas of the supposed metagame and build decks full of our favorite new (and old) cards, and take them to States (I know the "we" is wrong, but if I lived on the other side of the Pond I would do exactly the same). It looks like it might be a glorious day until the "pro" factor kicks in.

Someone worked harder, someone had a clearer view of the metagame, someone knows some great deckbuilder who has a breakthrough deck or found some well-hidden combination that just rips our deck to shreds. November 4th marks the beginning, or maybe the restart, of the eternal race: Playing catch-up with the metagame. The following days will be full of reports and articles, analyses of the top decks and countless readings looking for any hidden gems.

I thought about doing a general view of the environment, but I then I figured you read all about that already. Several times; I mean, how many times do you need to read that Fact or Fiction is a bloody good card? I do not have anything new to add, so I decided to save you the trouble and do what everyone else does: Dump my favorite, new, weird, and probably unplayable Standard deck in your collective laps.

I haven't tested it enough. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure that counter crushes it,but with a little tuning it can probably take on any creature deck in existence. The main idea might not even work, but I always wanted to cast a Celestial Convergence in a sanctioned tournament. This is, above all, the time for experiences.

Here is the decklist, followed by the usual breakdown. Comments are welcomed as always.

"When I Grow Up, I Want to be as Interesting as Stasis!"
4x Celestial Convergence
4x Enlightened Tutor
4x Sterling Grove
4x Story Circle
4x Wrath of God
4x Exile
4x Reviving Dose
4x Heroes' Reunion
3x Renounce
3x Seal Of Cleansing

13x Plains
2x Forest
4x Elfhame Palace
4x Brushland

Sorry about the title, but I have tested against Stasis way too much lately. The main - in fact the only - idea is very simple: When your Convergence runs out of counters, you want to be in the right position to win the game.

With that in mind, we have a different configuration. The main source of damage is, as always, creatures. Therefore, we shall pack four Wraths and four Exiles. I chose Exile because there seems to be a lot of graveyard recursion going about, and Wrath is a pretty laughable answer to recurring creatures (Nether Spirit and Pyre Zombie lead the list). Here is the breakdown:

Engine and search:
3x Celestial Convergence
4x Enlightened Tutor
4x Sterling Grove

Four Tutors and four Groves may seem like a lot. It probably is, but then again I think that between this version and any final version there will be a big change in the number and configuration of the enchantment and artifact base. Besides, the Groves do give you a second feature that will certainly come in handy.

Why only three Convergences (or why so many)? Three seems the best number right now. Sometimes you have to botch a Convergence run, i.e. you have to blow a Convergence because you are behind in life. You also don't really want to draw multiples against decks that can't deal with enchantments.

Crowd control:
4x Story Circle
4x Wrath of God
4x Exile

Since creatures are the main damage problem, we need a big chunk of crowd control. Wrath is the obvious, and classic, option: it gives you card advantage, and I frankly do not think that we will have an environment where you will be doomed by the fourth turn. Exile works in two different ways: First, it gets rid of any recurring creatures (there seems to a few of them around) and second, it gives you some extra life points to work with.

The Story Circle is your main cushion. I am going with four and I am not thinking about cutting any. First of all, because unlike a couple of months ago, there will be few mono-colored decks. Therefore, you will have to stop two or more colors in each matchup. Second, because you want to draw them, fast, and even with eight functional Tutors that might prove difficult unless you play with four. Enchantments are still the main powerhouse in Standard, so expect to face decks with several answers.

These twelve cards don't win you the game, but they buy you precious time to regain your balance and set up your combo. They act as first aid kits.

Painkillers and reset buttons:
4x Reviving Dose
4x Heroes' Reunion
3x Renounce
3x Seal Of Cleansing

Unless your opponent is manascrewed or is playing with a creatureless deck (in which case you might be in serious trouble), you will take a few punches before you manage to control the table. Even then, your control might not be good enough. Then the rescue squad comes in.

Reviving Dose only gives you three life points, but it does pitch in a cantrip. We all love cantrips, don't we? The Dose was the last addition, and if I find a better replacement I might take them out. Heroes' Reunion carries a bigger punch: seven life points. Over one third of your initial life points. Since you can play these spells early and cheap, you can trick your opponent into overextending to match your life gain, which leads to bigger, and nastier, Wraths.

Renounce is another type of lifegaining spell, which also helps out in other situations. I will get back to it after I explain why those Seals are in this category (you were wondering about that, weren't you?). The Seals are there not only to blow your opponent's enchantments (and let me tell you, never has Armadillo Cloak scared me so much), but they are there to get rid of Convergences if the race gets out of control. They are Seals and not straight Disenchants because you can tutor for them, and they count as extra permanents for Renounces.

Renounce can also be used simply to get rid of troublesome Convergences, although that is not its primary goal. The primary goal is, obviously, to get a big final boost as the last Convergence counter gets ready to leave the game.

Lands:
13x Plains
2x Forest
4x Elfhame Palace
4x Brushland

23 lands might not be enough, and Armageddon is a huge letdown. Armageddon screws up your Circle lock and reduces your permanents for Renounce plays. I might have to resort to some Marble Diamonds to help keep this under control. Although the mana should lean more into White for Circle purposes, don't neglect Green mana. The Palace is a better option than Brushland, but I decided to include the two to see if the Brushland were such a big liability.

I already have a huge list of stuff to try: Staunch Defenders, Millstone, and Jeweled Torque for example. I just wanted to give you the general view. The main problems I have identified so far are counters (that was evident from the start), Armageddon, heavy enchantment removal, and that in some situations you can get yourself into such a big life hole that you have to sweat it out during a lot of turns.

I never said it would work, or even be a good call for States. I just happened to stumble across a Convergence, and I started wondering why I couldn't make a deck out of it. That is what this time of the year is all about: taking a chance and playing something new instead of the latest "silver bullet" or broken deck.

Good luck for States; I hope some interesting decks come out of it. It is, after all, a time for discovery. Now get it over with so we can get back to Extended.

See ya,

Rui "18 Montanhas" Oliveira
montanhas18@hotmail.com
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"Smile on, Hang on."