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February 3rd featured two exciting Standard tournaments: the StarCityGames.com $1,000 Standard Open and a gigantic, pro filled, GP Trial in Japan. Top 8 lists can be found here and here respectively.

The Japanese Top 8 made me realize the insanity of Obsidian Battle-Axe. Before I saw Shuuhei’s deck, I knew that there was a good Battle-Axe deck to be built… I just didn’t realize how good it could be.

Paul Jordan pointed out in a recent forum that Elf into Battle-Axe into Chameleon Colossus is "the new fix." In fact, pretty much any Battle-Axe draw is going to be absurd. A hasted Imperious Perfect will create a hasted 4/3 token, and a 7/6 Wren’s Run Packmaster is awesome. Hell, even going Bramblewood Paragon into a Hasted 6/5 Wren’s Run Vanquisher is absurd.

Elves A Standard deck, by Shuhei Nakamura 7th place at a Grand Prix Trial tournament in Chiba, Japan on 2008-02-03 As reported at http://www.deckcheck.net/event.php?event=GPT+Shizuoka+2008+-+Chiba Print this deck!
Maindeck: Creatures 4 Bramblewood Paragon 4 Chameleon Colossus 4 Civic Wayfinder 4 Imperious Perfect 4 Llanowar Elves 3 Wren's Run Packmaster 4 Wren's Run Vanquisher Snow Creatures 4 Boreal Druid Sorceries 2 Overrun Tribal Artifacts 4 Obsidian Battle-Axe	Basic Lands 14 Forest Lands 3 Mutavault 4 Treetop Village Legendary Lands 2 Pendelhaven	Sideboard: 4 Serrated Arrows 3 Tormod's Crypt 2 Cloudthresher 1 Elvish Champion 1 Viridian Shaman 3 Seal of Primordium 1 Primal Command
Download this deck in Apprentice format!		Download this deck in Magic Online Text format!

I am surprised that Shuuhei chose not to take advantage of a virtually free Black splash (the deck even has Civic Wayfinders!). At the very least, a Black splash could provide a better anti-creature option then Serrated Arrows.

If Elf Warriors is going to be one of the defining decks of the format, then Rogues strikes me as a poor choice for the time being (because there are going to be so many Chameleon Colossi running around). While Rogues might not be that hot, Faeries start to look pretty good again if people are playing Elf decks filled with three- and four-drops instead of GR Big Mana decks filled with Cloudthreshers and Sulfurous Blasts. This might just be a pipe dream, as GR Big Mana took first and second at the SCG 1K Open.

If people do start leaning towards midrange creature strategies such as Elf Warriors, then my favorite anti midrange deck (RG Gargagoyf) should once again become a viable option.

By the way, do you remember when people played Call of the Herd in their Green decks? Now you can’t find an Elephant Token without a pair of binoculars.

We’ve come so far.

Preston Smith made the Top 8 of the most recent SCG $1,000 Standard Open with an updated Gargagoyf list.

Red Deck Wins A Standard deck, by Preston Smith 6th place at a StarCityGames.com Standard Open tournament in Roanoke, Virginia on 2008-02-03 As reported at http://www.starcitygames.com Print this deck!
Maindeck: Creatures 4 Greater Gargadon 4 Inner-Flame Acolyte 4 Keldon Marauders 4 Martyr of Ashes 4 Mogg Fanatic 4 Tarmogoyf Instants 4 Incinerate Sorceries 4 Rift Bolt 3 Threaten	Tribal Instants 4 Tarfire Basic Lands 11 Mountain Lands 4 Karplusan Forest 4 Treetop Village Legendary Lands 2 Pendelhaven	Sideboard: 2 Manabarbs 4 Seal of Primordium 4 Lash Out 4 Pyroclasm 1 Threaten
Download this deck in Apprentice format!		Download this deck in Magic Online Text format!

Preston’s lack of Mogg War Marshals struck me as very wrong until I took into consideration what he needed his deck to do. Preston was playing his deck in a tournament where Obsidian Battle-Axe decks were practically a non-entity. As this was the case, Preston (correctly) assumed that he would get very little utility out of goblin tokens against a room full of Mannequins, Rogues, and RG Big Mana. Because he wasn’t worried about three- and four-mana ground creatures, Preston decided to play a set of Inner-Flame Acolytes in the slots that would normally be reserved for War Marshals.

Wait a second… why would Preston choose to play with Inner-Flame Acolyte instead of the much larger and flashier Countryside Crusher? The biggest thing that Acolyte has going for it is that it is extremely good against Wrath of God effects, and if Preston was expecting to face a lot of Wraths and Damnations then bringing a set of Acolytes is more than reasonable. However, I don’t think that the format is evolving in such a way that Acolytes will continue to be a good option. (I’ll get to my feelings about Crusher in a minute.)

Gargagoyf Skeleton

Minimum 20 lands
4 Greater Gargadon
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Rift Bolt
4 Incinerate

These cards are all set in stone for a Gargagoyf list. I was very tempted to put Tarfire on this list, but I can see situations in which a player might opt to shave some, or all, of their Tarfires.

After the skeleton, there are a number of attractive cards fighting for the last 13-16 spell slots.

The most attractive options to round out the deck are:

Martyr of Ashes
Tarfire
Mogg War Marshal
Threaten
Countryside Crusher
Magus of the Scroll

Less attractive, but still defensible, options include:

Blood Knight
Inner-Flame Acolyte
Dead/Gone
Sulfur Elemental
Jaya Ballard, Task Mage

I might be relying too much on my past experiences with the deck, but I chose to go with 4 Martyrs, Tarfires, and War Marshals, and 3 Threatens to round out the deck. This left me with a list that is almost identical to the one that I was promoting after States.

4 Karplusan Forest
11 Mountain
3 Treetop Village
2 Pendelhaven
1 Horizon Canopy
4 Martyr of Ashes
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Mogg War Marshal
4 Tarfire
4 Incinerate
3 Threaten
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Greater Gargadon
4 Rift Bolt

Sideboard:
4 Lash Out
1 Threaten
4 Seal of Primordium
4 Cryoclasm
2 Manabarbs

I really don’t like Manabarbs. Four is just too much in a deck with 21 lands, especially if several of those lands are Treetop Villages. That being said, if RG Big Mana continues to have a presence, then it would be pretty silly not to bring at least a couple of Manabarbs with you.

I don’t think that Crushers are a great inclusion right now, as players are designing their decks with three-mana creatures in mind. One of Gargagoyf’s biggest strengths is that its threats are cheaper than the opponent’s answers, so once you start adding expensive creatures to the deck then you’re just asking to play the same game that your opponents are trying to play. Playing into your opponent’s game plans is almost always a pretty undesirable position to put yourself into, and one that you should avoid if you are given the option.

Unrefined Red Decks

I put some work into a RDW list for Standard that I gave up on quite early. I realized that I was giving up too much in exchange for too little by dropping the Green.

Red Deck Doesn’t Win Enough

14 Mountain
4 Mutavault
2 Pendelhaven
2 Keldon Megaliths
4 Martyr of Ashes
4 Mogg War Marshal
3 Tarfire
4 Incinerate
3 Countryside Crusher
4 Threaten
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Greater Gargadon
4 Rift Bolt

Sideboard
4 Lash Out
1 Threaten
4 Cryoclasm
3 Manabarbs
1 Keldon Megaliths
2 Jaya Ballard, Task Mage

While Mutavault is considerably better than Treetop Village in this deck, losing Tarmogoyf is just too much.

The most valuable thing that I discovered while working on this deck is that the Jayas in the sideboard are really good against removal free/removal light Green decks (duh!), and thus they might become a valuable inclusion in the sideboards of "better" Red decks.

Another alternative to playing R/g is to go with an R/u version. R/u takes even better advantage of Gargadon than R/g, through the inclusion of Sower of Temptation to supplement Threatens as "Banishings-plus" when you have Gargadon.

Most of my inspiration for this version came from the deck Nicolay Potovin piloted to a Top 32 finish at GP: Krakow:

2 Faerie Conclave
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Pendelhaven
4 Shivan Reef
5 Snow-Covered Island
9 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Vivid Crag
4 Greater Gargadon
4 Looter il-Kor
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Mogg War Marshal
3 Phyrexian Ironfoot
2 Siege-Gang Commander
3 Sower of Temptation
2 Dead / Gone
4 Incinerate
4 Psionic Blast
3 Threaten

I don’t quite understand the inclusion of Looters or Siege-Gang Commanders in this deck (though if you are going to run one, it probably makes sense to run the other as well). Ironfoot is probably simply worse than Countryside Crusher (which I don’t like anyway), so that is an easy replacement. Also, running less than four Shock effects now would just be suicide, as there are so many mana creatures running around.

Rough Draft RU

2 Faerie Conclave
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Pendelhaven
4 Shivan Reef
5 Snow-Covered Island
9 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Vivid Crag
4 Greater Gargadon
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Mogg War Marshal
3 Countryside Crusher
3 Sower of Temptation
4 Shock
4 Incinerate
4 Psionic Blast
3 Threaten

Sideboard:
4 Lash Out
1 Sower of Temptation
3 Pyroclasm
3 Manabarbs
4 Cryoclasm

Psionic Blast is awesome, and Sower of Temptation is simply amazing if you are expecting a lot of removal-light Green decks.

I cut the Dead/Gones, Siege-Gang Commanders, and Looter Il-Kors for Keldon Marauders and Shocks (Shocks are strictly superior to Tarfire in this deck because it doesn’t have any Tarmogoyfs). However, I’m not sure that these were good changes as I made the deck noticeably worse against Green decks in exchange for slight gains against Rogue Aggro and Blue control decks.

Maybe it was because I didn’t get the chance to tune the deck much, but I wasn’t particularly happy with it. It felt promising, but something was missing…

My distaste for Countryside Crusher led me to try a RUG version of the deck.

Really, REALLY Rough Draft RUG

2 Faerie Conclave
1 Gemstone Mine
2 Pendelhaven
4 Shivan Reef
4 Yavimaya Coast
1 Snow-Covered Island
8 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Vivid Crag
4 Greater Gargadon
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Mogg War Marshal
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Sower of Temptation
4 Tarfire
4 Incinerate
4 Psionic Blast
3 Threaten

Sideboard:
4 Lash Out
2 Sower of Temptation
3 Manabarbs
4 Cryoclasm
2 Pyroclasm

This deck feels much better than the RU deck from which is was developed. It’s just so easy to cast Tarmogoyf, who is just a million times better than Countryside Crusher or Phyrexian Ironfoot. It pains me not to have Rift Bolt in this deck, but I’m not sure what to cut. Maybe the Sowers are just too cute to have maindeck?

The other card that is very attractive to me is Riftwing Cloudskate, though that might be more appropriate in a straight RU deck. The manabase certainly needs some slight work, but the most important principle to keep in mind is that you want as few of your pain lands to be Red as possible, as Red is the color that you need the most. It’s not a problem that most of the deck’s Blue lands deal you damage, as there are only six Blue spells in the deck. Only four one-drops feels weird to me, but that’s the price that has to be paid in order to play 23 lands and 2 Sowers.

Take care!

Steve Sadin

Here are the top 5 things that your Standard deck needs to do for the SCG 5K Open:

1) Your deck needs to be able to beat a Chameleon Colossus
2) Your deck needs to be able to beat a Cloudthresher
3) Your deck needs to be able to beat a Sower of Temptation
4) Your deck needs to have a plan against Rogue Aggro
5) Your deck needs to be able to beat a Siege-Gang Commander