My favorite mechanic from Shards has got to be Exalted. It’s probably because I’m a wuss when it comes to committing an entire army to the attacking force. I’m not a good enough player to know or remember all the instant-speed tricks that populate today’s Standard, and so I’m always a little nervous. Nothing sucks worse than losing your whole force because you don’t remember that Mistbind Clique has flash or… well I don’t know what else, but I imagine you saw that coming.

It took a long time to get to a mechanic that rewards you for sending just one guy out into combat. Back when Invasion came around, we got the first dose of this whole grandiose “striding out into single combat” mentality: Dueling Grounds. I was immediately smitten by this card because it rewarded both my inner wussiness and my inner Timmy: the best way to take advantage of the one-on-one combat was, natch, to have the biggest creature on the board.

I knew I had made a deck with it, so I did a little digging to find this old StarCityGames.com article. Nothing says “scrubby” like a Dueling Grounds deck with Rhox and Ruham Djinn as the heavy hitters. It’s exactly the type of deck I would make. In fact, I kept it around and would later change the deck up to be three colors and use Questing Phelddagrif when Planeshift came out.

Exalted is, to be frank, my type of mechanic. The problem was that there just wasn’t enough Exalted cards to build a meaningful deck without springing $12.50 apiece for Rafiq of the Many. Thanks to Conflux, we get a few more Exalted cards to help round out the creature selection.

Both Sides of the Playing Field

As I see it, there are two possible paths an Exalted deck can take. The first is to overload the deck with Exalted creatures and ensure you always have an attacker to take advantage of the bonuses; any additional creatures in the deck should be suited to put the bonus to its best use, with some sort of evasion. The other is to play specific Exalted creatures, and to control the board to a point where two or three Exalted creatures produce a “big enough” creature to get the job done.

The Best Defense is a Good Offense

The aggressive style of Exalted deck needs to work on two fronts: enough early drops to start putting pressure on the opponent immediately, but also some evasive guys to finish the job.

Exalted Enablers: The early drops are where I want to start. Akrasan Squire has shown his worth over and over as an excellent one-drop that doesn’t lose relevance as the defense mounts on the opposite side. I also really like Aven Squire as not only an Exalted booster for the deck, but also as an evasive attacker that can soar over the big creatures on the other side. Sigiled Paladin is another great two-drop that fuels the Exalted theme. I also think Rhox Charger is an excellent addition, and the trample helps when you’re missing an evasive attacker.

Exalted Targets: I think my favorite Exalted target in Standard right now is Hungry Spriggan. It’s almost like he’s got Exalted built in – plus, he tramples already as well. If you’ve dropped an Exalted creature on the two turns before playing Hungry Spriggan, he’s a 6/6 trampler on his next attack, and that’s not really an unusual event. This might be an interesting place for Stampeding Wildebeests to shine as well. Cloudgoat Ranger is a popular card in a number of Standard decks, and is another guy that almost seemingly has a built-in version of Exalted. Flickerwisp is both a high-power flying attacker as well as a blocker remover. And then there’s the combination of flying and double strike that is Skyhunter Skirmisher.

Other Goodies: I think I might try Tower Above in this deck. The bonus of trample is really what I’m after, but the Wither and the Provoke-esque ability really play into the whole “mano a mano” vibe that Exalted puts out. Double Cleave is another possible choice as a great way to take advantage of a singular large attacker, doing replacement duty for the big Mythic Rafiq.

Exalted Offense Featured by Dave Meeson on 2009-03-15 (Standard) As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/standard/17196_Tribal_Thriftiness_59_Exaltation.html Print this deck!
Maindeck: Creatures 4 Akrasan Squire 4 Aven Squire 3 Cloudgoat Ranger 3 Flickerwisp 4 Hungry Spriggan 2 Rhox Bodyguard 4 Rhox Charger 3 Sigiled Paladin 4 Skyhunter Skirmisher Instants 3 Double Cleave	Sorceries 4 Tower Above Basic Lands 6 Forest 4 Plains Lands 4 Ancient Ziggurat 4 Jungle Shrine 4 Treetop Village	Stats: Average mana: 2.03 Average creature mana cost: 2.97 Average creature power: 1.68 Average creature toughness: 1.55 Deck Composition: Basic Lands: 16.67% Creatures: 51.67% Lands: 20.00% Instants: 5.00% Sorceries: 6.67%
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Pretty much simply as laid out, without any funny surprises other than perhaps the Rhox Bodyguard; I wanted a little variety in the Exalted creatures, and the Bodyguard plays into the two-colored nature of the deck while providing a little bit of beef at the back end of the mana curve. Ancient Ziggurat is great in a deck where you only have 7 non-creature spells and none of the creatures have any wacky activated abilities that require mana.

The Best Defense, Otherwise

For a more defensively-minded Exalted deck, I’d rather focus on Exalted guys that give you a little more than just that Exalted keyword. A 1/1 for 1 isn’t exactly what this type of deck is looking for, you know?

Exalted Enablers: I really like Frontline Sage as the main Exalted enabler in this deck. A controlling deck needs card drawing, or at the very least card selection, which is what the Frontline Sage gives you. Merfolk Looter was a mainstay in aggro-control decks (especially ones based around the Merfolk tribe), and paying one extra for the Exalted keyword seems like a bonus. Guardians of Akrasa is another great Exalted enabler for this type of deck, where you are looking to play defense until you can pick up a big attacker to take all those bonuses. Dawnray Archer provides some cover fire and dissuades any little attackers.

Exalted Targets: The first trick I learned from Shards Limited is that Exalted doesn’t target with its bonuses, so Shrouded guys are great candidates. Aerie Mystics is a big flyer with an activated Shrouding for the whole team. Sturdy Hatchling can be Shroudy, and gets bigger as time goes on. Serra Angel and Air Elemental are big flyers that can just end the game quickly when backed up by two or three Exalted peeps.

Other Goodies: Most of the usual suspects for control make good candidates for this deck. I’ve been enjoying Dream Fracture a little more recently, although I guess Cancel is probably the right choice. Negate, Remove Soul, or Broken Ambitions make good countermagic choices as well. Since all your fortunes are going to reside in a single solitary attacker, Hindering Light makes a lot of sense. Dolmen Gate ($2) is another way to protect that valuable solitary attacker.

Exalted Defense Featured by Dave Meeson on 2009-03-15 (Standard) As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/standard/17196_Tribal_Thriftiness_59_Exaltation.html Print this deck!
Maindeck: Creatures 4 Air Elemental 4 Dawnray Archer 4 Frontline Sage 4 Guardians of Akrasa 2 Serra Angel Enchantments 2 Angelic Benediction	Instants 4 Cancel 4 Hindering Light 4 Path to Exile 2 Unsummon Sorceries 2 Tidings Basic Lands 9 Island 7 Plains Lands 4 Arcane Sanctum 4 Seaside Citadel	Stats: Average mana: 1.83 Average creature mana cost: 3.67 Average creature power: 1.56 Average creature toughness: 2.67 Deck Composition: Creatures: 30.00% Instants: 23.33% Basic Lands: 26.67% Lands: 13.33% Enchantments: 3.33% Sorceries: 3.33%
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Angelic Benediction is a good way to get a troublesome blocker out of the way. Path to Exile is practically a rare at this point at four bucks a pop, but you can replace it possibly with another counterspell or some more card-drawing.

And Now For Something Completely Different: Front Range Team Challenge

Here in Colorado, evidently, one of the pastimes between PTQs and other tournaments is talking smack. There’s a long history of rivalry between Colorado Springs and Denver – and finally there’s a way to settle which town is producing the best Magic players. In two weeks, Front Range Magic is sponsoring a Team Challenge that will pit teams from the Springs, Denver, Fort Collins, and Boulder against one another for bragging rights for the whole state. It’s a cash tournament open to singles as well, with a four-on-four draft as a “finale” for the two highest-rated four-man teams.

I’m working on putting a team together of my own, since any four people can enter as a team. And working on figuring out Standard all over again; I haven’t really been paying attention for about three months really, since Extended became the PTQ format. The Pro Tour is a nice starting point, and I’m working on getting around the decks I’m already invested in that need major overhauling. But it will be gratifying work if I can bring that trophy back down here to the Springs.

The whole thing is making me really excited about the current state of Magic, what with the great diversity in the number and style of high-level tournaments that are available to us. Tournaments like StarCityGames.com’s $5000 Standard Open series, the Game in the Gulf cruise, and the Front Range Team Challenge help keep Magic’s competitive scene in really good health – and give us plenty of opportunities to play high-level Magic.

It really is a great time to be a Magic player.

Until next week…

Dave

dave dot massive at gmail and facebook