It’s a long time since I wrote an article by myself, without working with Olivier. Even though I like working with him a lot, it is time you read something solely from me… And topically, it’s about Constructed!
Since the MTGO Online Championship, the G/W Token deck is having more and more success in Standard. Today I will talk about my decklist, and why I ended up with the card choices I made. I’ll follow it up with a matchup analysis. Let’s get things started with the deck list:
Creatures (24)
- 2 Birds of Paradise
- 4 Cloudgoat Ranger
- 4 Kitchen Finks
- 4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
- 4 Steward of Valeron
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 2 Dauntless Escort
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (14)
Spells (19)
The list is pretty standard, with some changes I feel comfortable with in the current metagame. Most Black/White Token lists run several Zealous Persecutions main, and as a protection from those I added three Glorious Anthems to my list. This is also why you find Birds of Paradise in the list. Your draws get much smoother if you open with a mana guy, and thanks to your Pump effects, they are not completely dead in the late game. You’ll also not find any Garruks in the list. For my taste, the Overrun effect only wins you a game when you are already in good shape, while untapping of two lands usually doesn’t have too much impact. In the end, it is a good Call of the Herd in the deck, which is fine but not too exciting.
Many lists also have several Wrath of God, either main or in the sideboard. I don’t see the point of the card in such a deck. It is very good against a sloppy player in the mirror, but If you’re just losing to their slight advantage on the board, Wrath of God doesn’t generate that much card advantage. And don’t feel safe if you have a Dauntless Escort in play, as Path to Exile easily takes care of it.
After reviewing the most uncommon cards in the deck, I will now talk about the matchups you have to expect to face. You might be surprised that I board in Dauntless Escort in almost every matchup, but the card is often very marginal pre-board and gets pretty good afterwards.
B/W Tokens
Even though Glorious Anthem, Wilt-Leaf Liege and Ajani Goldmane are protecting you from a total blowout by Zealous Persecution, you still have to take care not to lose your board in a spot you don’t have to. Your deck is sorcery speed, so you should always calculate for a Persecution in if he leaves the mana open. You should keep only aggressive hands in the matchup, as a slow draw easily gets punished by Murderous Redcaps and Bitterblossom. If you curve out aggressively, those cards have much less impact on the game. Overrun is very good in game 1, but a lot of lists have either Wrath of God or Pollen Lullaby in the sideboard, so it loses a lot of value post-board. The most important thing is that you try to be ahead on the board, as Black/White is a much better deck if it is ahead.
+1 Dauntless Escort
+1 Glorious Anthem
-1 Kitchen Finks
-1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Keep in mind that this is only a suggestion. My sideboard might not be good in your metagame. Also, Overrun gets a lot worse if you know he boards Pollen Lullaby, and Glorious Anthem isn’t that good if they don’t run any Persecutions.
What cards can you expect them to have against you?
– Zealous Persecution
– Wrath of God
– Pollen Lullaby
Again, all those cards get a lot worse if you play around them. This doesn’t mean that you have to play around those three cards every single post board game, as you might lose because of that too. Often it is right to ignore Pollen Lullaby until you see one, as it sees far less play than the others.
G/W Tokens
With this list, you are often the beatdown in the mirror. While you have Birds of Paradise and Glorious Anthem, you can expect your opponent to have Path to Exile, Garruk Wildspeaker, and Dauntless Escort in those spots. Game 1 I usually overextend my board as I don’t expect them to have maindeck Wrath of God.
+3 Pollen Lullaby
+1 Path to Exile
+1 Dauntless Escort
-1 Glorious Anthem
-4 Kitchen Finks
What cards can you expect them to have against you?
– Wrath of God
– Path to Exile
– Martial Coup
– Pollen Lullaby
I cut several three-drops as your mana-accelerating creatures always survive the early turns. Also, Kitchen Finks usually doesn’t have too much impact on the game. If you are behind, your opponent slows down a lot if you bluff a Pollen Lullaby if you don’t have one — be carful though, as it makes it worse if you draw one. Also you can expect your opponent to have some sort of mass removal post board. Being slightly ahead is usually enough, and there are a lot of scary cards in the matchup if you commit to a race.
W/R Boat Brew
Most of the cards they play are not that scary for you. Many lists on Magic Online started to play Volcanic Fallouts main deck, so be warned. Ajani Vengeant usually is not that great against you, but keep in mind that you shouldn’t drop your Ajani Goldmane when he has one on the board. Again, your deck is sorcery speed, so if he leaves mana open, you have to expect Path to Exile or Volcanic Fallout, or even both. So if you have the luxury to play around both, you should.
+1 Path to Exile
+1 Dauntless Escort
-2 Birds of Paradise
Glorious Anthem gets a lot worse if they are not running Volcanic Fallout in their 75. Also Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender is a pretty good card if they are not running any Wrath of Gods.
What cards can you expect them to have against you?
– Volcanic Fallout
– Wrath of God
I cut the Birds of Paradise here because they are pretty bad against Wrath of God, Volcanic Fallout, and Mogg Fanatic. Unlike in the G/W matchup, it might often be right to overextend against R/W. Their Wrath of God is a lot scarier, as they can follow up with an evoked Reveillark or Siege-Gang Commander. If you have a lot of R/W in your metagame, it might be the right choice to have access to four Dauntless Escorts, as they usually are unable to deal with two of them in play (Glorious Anthem helps here, to bring them out of Ajani Vengeant range).
Faeries
Even though the deck is pretty bad in the metagame right now – as not only does it have a hard time fighting against G/W, it also has problems with Zealous Persecution and any Cascade card – you have to calculate for playing against it. A lot of people have a Faerie deck, and they might not be able to build something different. The deck has a very hard time dealing with an aggressive start, so mulligan aggressively. If your first play is a Kitchen Finks, they can easily stabilize with a Mistbind Clique. If you are running a list with maindeck Path to Exile, keep in mind that you are able to fizzle a Cryptic Command when your opponent is not careful enough and chooses to tap your guys and bounce your Treetop Village.
+3 Guttural Response
+2 Cloudthresher
+1 Path to Exile
+1 Treetop Village
+1 Dauntless Escort
-1 Kitchen Finks
-1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
-2 Ajani Goldmane
-3 Glorious Anthem
-1 Overrun
What cards can you expect them to have against you?
– Sower of Temptation
– Infest
– Flashfreeze
– Plumeveil
Your deck gets a lot better post board, as you don’t play bad cards anymore, also it is possible for you to keep slower hands if you can deal with key cards like Sower of Temptation (and you are less vulnerable to Infest). Kitchen Finks is the much better card in this matchup (over Dauntless Escort), but it is more vulnerable to Infest and Sower of Temptation. I also keep one Overrun as it is a great follow-up to Sower of Temptation. And if they see it, they are forced to playing a much more honest game.
Mono Red Variants
This is another deck that improved a lot with Alara Reborn. Some lists are running Anathemancer, some are running Bloodbraid Elf, and some even run both. It is very important that you don’t play a non-basic land in the mid-to-late game if you don’t have to… Refusing to play a Windbrisk Heights might be the right play. Usually you should be able to allow yourself to play around cards your opponent might play. This list includes Anathemancer, Volcanic Fallout, and Demigod of Revenge. I wouldn’t play around Blightning nowadays, as I don’t expect the card to be played in a format full of Wilt-Leaf Lieges.
+3 Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender
+1 Treetop Village
-2 Dauntless Escort
-1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
-1 Glorious Anthem
What cards can you expect them to have against you?
– Everlasting Torment
– Infest
– Terminate
– Chaotic Backlash
You might be confused that I board in a non-basic land, as I told you above that you shouldn’t play them if you don’t have to. Well, this is for the time you have to, and need to. Your mana creatures are unlikely to survive, and you don’t want to give them free wins because they are able to screw you. Some lists are running Chaotic Backlash in their sideboard, but this is just another reason to not overextend the board. If they are running Demigod of Revenge you might want to bring in your Path to Exile, but it is not an answer to the most commonly-played annoying creature: Goblin Outlander.
Five-Color Control
Five-Color Control has a lot of trouble getting a good list together nowadays, as even though B/W and G/W are similar decks, they are very different when you are considering the ways have to fight them. Nowadays I wouldn’t expect too many Plumeveils and Wall of Reverences, as they’ll have several Wrath effects instead (this includes Hallowed Burial). Again, it is very important to have an aggressive start and not to overextend the board, and against an unknown opponent I probably wouldn’t play around Plumeveil in the early game.
+1 Dauntless Escort
+1 Treetop Village
+3 Guttural Response
+2 Cloudthresher
-3 Glorious Anthem
-1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
-2 Overrun
-1 Ajani Goldmane
What cards can you expect them to have against you?
– Wrath of God / Hallowed Burial / Infest / Martial Coup
– Deathmark
I board in Cloudthresher as it is a great follow-up to their Wrath of God. Keep in mind that you can float mana with your mana guys in response to the Wrath effect. I might keep the Glorious Anthem and sideboard out Dauntless Escort if their removal is a mix of Volcanic Fallout and Hallowed Burial.
That’s it for this week. I will be playing in Grand Prix: Barcelona this weekend, and I travel to Seattle afterwards… See you there!
Manu B