Innovations - Standard Going Into Nationals

U.S. Nationals is just a week away, so let’s get down to business. I want to cut straight to the chase. This deck is totally underrated, and posed to potentially break out for U.S. Nationals.

Pyromancer's Ascension

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 08-15-2010

Standard

Lands (22)

Spells (38)

Sideboard

Gerry is far from the only one piloting or advocating this strategy, as Guillaume Matignon made the French National team with this style of deck. Numerous pilots in tournaments both online and in real life have been posting good finishes. Is this deck busted? Nope. However, it is quite good, and it attacks from a totally different angle than most of the rest of the field. It is very consistent, it blanks most removal, it has inevitability against most non-control decks, and it is deceptive how it operates (like every 16+ cantrip deck ever made…).

Michael Flores advocates cutting Halimar Depths from this sort of deck, so as to decrease vulnerability to Tectonic Edge and Goblin Ruinblaster, and I agree with him on this one. Guillaume Matignon advises the use of Echo Mage in the sideboard. He used Kiln Fiend at the time, and some people use Coralhelm Commander, but the hot tech appears to be Echo Mage on account of its ability to fight counterspells (plus serve as a tome by forking your cantrips).

One of the best parts of this deck, in my opinion, is Preordain. Ponder is obviously better at digging for a specific card, like Pyromancer Ascension or Polymorph or Yawgmoth’s Will, but Preordain is just good value in Standard. The card is actually quite a bit different than Ponder, and I think that in time it may come to be thought of as the Blue Impulse. In fact, if people could just be disciplined enough to cut “good” cards from their control decks, I think that it is possible that it is right to play Preordain in U/W, Esper, Grixis Control, and most other random Blue Control decks. It is generally better for fixing your mana than Ponder (ever look and see two spells and one land, when you need a land but don’t want to draw the other two?). Later in the game, it assures you will draw a higher concentration of spells than a deck that doesn’t Preordain. Finally, the card is awesome on raw power. Drawing the card you want right now is huge compared to Serum Visions, in much the same way that Ponder is better than Portent (despite not being able to manipulate the opponent’s library).

Personally, I would recommend playing at least two Burst Lightnings in this deck, probably in place of a Call to Mind and Into the Roil. I realize this makes your Pyromancer Ascension trigger slightly less often, but that is a small price to pay, as killing Red’s early creatures is huge, and being able to kill a Fauna Shaman is potentially game-winning.

This deck is strong and resilient. No, I would not be surprised in the least if this deck becomes one of the top 3 or 4 decks played next week, not one bit. Let’s look at other decks posed to be on the upswing, but first a number of people have asked me which I like better, Pyromancer Ascension or Runeflare Trap:

Turbo Trap

Alexis MartÃnez

2nd Place at Nationals on 08-08-2010

Standard

Planeswalkers (1)

1 Jace Beleren

Lands (24)

Spells (35)

Sideboard

Alexis used this list to finish second at Spanish Nationals last week, and the similarities to Ascension are obvious. Basically, the two fundamental differences are the use of Howling Mines instead of cantrips as the draw engine, and Runeflare Traps instead of Pyromancer Ascension as the kill. While this list is superior against control when compared to Ascension, like all Howling Mine decks, I hate it. It is not that Howling Mine decks are bad, as they can be sick metagame calls. It’s just that in the history of Magic, people have tried Howling Mines decks thousands of times, and every single time they work, they work for a very brief window. They have internal structural weaknesses which are among the easiest to exploit. As a result, they have never been able to stand the test of time if anyone looks at them.

To understand the problem with Howling Mine, all one has to do is imagine playing them against an opponent that plays with enough Disenchant effects to keep them off the table. Whether it is Pridemage, Maelstrom Pulse, Bant Charm, Oblivion Ring, or even worse, Vithian Renegades, let alone a simple Naturalize, it is not hard to see that these decks fall apart when they don’t have the fuel they need, not to mention providing just as much fuel or more to the opponent. All it takes is a well-prepared opponent and the Howling Mine player cannot win, as they will force the opponent to draw enough cards to never get manascrewed and to always find the answers they are looking for.

This deck is far from bad, but it is definitely not where I would want to be next week. Let’s look at other decks on the move.

Naya Shaman

AnÃbal Carbonero

1st Place at Nationals on 08-08-2010

Standard

Creatures (32)

Planeswalkers (2)

2 Ajani Vengeant

Lands (25)

Spells (1)

1 Basilisk Collar

Sideboard

Carbonero won Spanish Nationals with his (at this point) industry standard Naya Shaman deck. Have we cracked the code already? Is it possible that we already have the best Naya list and that there is no room to improve, to move forward? Maybe… But I doubt it.

I love the use of Fauna Shaman here, as this is a deck that gets a lot of value out of turn after turn of Vengevine-binning, the deck has a ton of great tutor targets, and getting Bloodbraid Elf is a pretty insane play as it all but assures us of triggering Vengevines. On top of all of this, the deck can assemble the Sparkmage plus Collar combo quickly versus creature decks like Bant. Fauna Shaman as a tome beats most U/W decks, and the ability to find Realm Razer gives the deck a potent new angle of attack versus Primeval Titan decks. So how do we improve the deck?

Outside of a weakness to Pyromancer Ascension (and really, what doesn’t have a weakness to Ascension…?) the biggest thing holding back Naya Shaman is a general midrange guy problem. The deck is just a bunch of midrange guys. As a result, sometimes (when your Shaman dies), you might not do anything strong enough to close out the game if the opponent has a couple cards to defend themselves with early, followed by some bombs like Grave Titan, Destructive Force, or Baneslayer Angel.

One possible avenue is to try to add more bombs to the Naya Shaman deck. Primeval Titan is one of the best creatures in the format, plus we already have a land toolbox thanks to Knight of the Reliquary. Why not add some Primeval Titan action? The primary restraint on this idea is that there would have to be quite a bit more mana, which is going to cost us a ton of room and fast. Flores recently suggested a clever solution with his 4 Sylvan Ranger / 4 Borderland Ranger / 4 Lotus Cobra approach:

Main Deck

Big Naya Shaman

Mike Flores

Test deck on 08-15-2010

Standard

Creatures (33)

Lands (25)

Spells (2)

Sideboard

At first glance, one wonders how Flores could possibly have fit 8 Rangers and 4 Cobras, but upon further examination we see that he has cut Noble Hierarchs, Birds, and Knight of the Reliquary, so there is only a roughly +2 or +4 net to mana, but that mana makes all the difference, especially when it feels like more since he is not continually have Birds Day of Judgmented or Sparkmaged away.

While Flores was merely suggesting this as a new direction to take the archetype, not that this is the winning formula, I think we can still learn a fair bit from this approach. First of all, I happen to be a big fan of Sylvan Ranger. I generally only run one, but I place a value on being able to Fauna Shaman for a “land” on turn 3 (generally the key fourth mana). Additionally, we see less of an emphasis on the toolbox here, as well as a demonstration that if we think Primeval Titan is that good, we can intertwine it with Naya Shaman.

While this particular build is too slow and not interactive enough for a slow deck, the savvy reader will realize that it is actually a beautiful thought experiment as we cannot be afraid to try cutting ANYTHING, even Bloodbraid Elf, even Vengevine, even Fauna Shaman, even Noble Hierarchs and Birds. If you are so attached to a card that you don’t even consider playing without, how can you properly evaluate all that would be possible without it? It’s this willingness to let go of convention that leads to breakthroughs, like Turbo-Xerox, Firestorm-Necro, Mythic, and Mono-U Faeries. You could say that it was Alan Comer, Erik Lauer, Zvi Mowshowitz, and Gabriel Nassif that made those decks possible, but this willingness to let go of what you think you need is at the heart of their genius.

Personally, I think that Noble Hierarch and/or Birds of Paradise is probably going to be an integral part of the Naya formula to give you enough speed to gain a game-winning advantage before the opponent can start doing their degenerate things. Being able to trigger Vengevines early, as well as doing things like Turn 2 Knight of the Reliquary against Control, are big advantages to have. The Knight of the Reliquary is also sorely missed, as it is just so powerful that it can often take over games on its own, plus it occupies the usually lonely three-spot on the curve. Let’s look at some other possible ways to twist the archetype.

One card I have been drawn to since its preview is Squadron Hawk. I was initially unsure of where it would rank, but after having had a chance to play some games with the card, I think it is the real deal. Obviously, it is a great combo with Fauna Shaman, since it gives you a bountiful supply of creatures to discard if you aren’t going the discard Vengevine route. Additionally, it works awesome with Vengevines, since it not only gives you two creatures to cast in a turn multiple times, it also puts you above your maximum hand size, letting you discard Vengevines early.

For instance, if you are on the draw:

Turn 1- Forest, Birds of Paradise
Turn 2- Raging Ravine, Squadron Hawk, get 3 Hawks, discard a Vengevine
Turn 3- Plains, Squadron Hawk x2, get back Vengevine and crash!

Alternatively, if you are on the play, there is also:

Turn 1- Raging Ravine

Turn 2- Plains, Squadron Hawk, gets 3 Hawks, discard Vengevine
Turn 3- Forest, Birds of Paradise, Squadron Hawk, get back Vengevine and crash!

Squadron Hawk is awesome against Blightning of course, but that is probably the least of a Naya deck’s worries these days. The aspect that really gets me is that Squadron Hawk is just powerful intrinsically. You are paying two mana and getting what amounts to FOUR cards. That is huge, even if the cards are all Suntail Hawks that cost an extra mana. Land Tax was still drawing 3 cards a turn… Have you ever Bloodbraid Elfed into Squadron Hawk? Let me just tell you, it is AWESOME. The stone five-for-one.

Outside of all of the great uses for these extra bodies, I like the simple idea of having a stream of fliers. I think that flying is particularly good right now, and that having random fliers is worth a little extra these days. I have been finding that many games get bogged down on the ground, with cards like Siege-Gang Commander, Knight of the Reliquary, Avenger of Zendikar, Titans, Sprouting Thrinax, Wall of Omens, and more. This is all without even taking into consideration ways to pump the Hawks, whether by Crusades like Honor of the Pure or Ajani Goldmane, or by equipment such as Behemoth Sledge or Sword of Vengeance.

Remember, Mike Turian has a lot of influence in R&D. He also LOVES making his cards very strong. Welkin Hawk, which Squadron Hawk is modeled after was always one of Turian’s favorite cards. My suspicion is that Turian would fight to make the new Welkin Hawk as good as he could possibly get away with (and this one is much better, as you draw two extra cards without having to cast the guys). While I think that Squadron Hawk is strong enough to “just play” on the strength of Vengevines and Fauna Shaman, this deck is an attempt to get a little extra value out of the Hawks.

Hawk Naya

Patrick Chapin

Test deck on 08-15-2010

Standard

Creatures (36)

Lands (24)

Obviously there are some cute interactions with Goblin Bushwhacker here, but I suspect the lack of the Cunning Sparkmage package will make us soft in the mirror. Still there are a few things I would like to call attention to here. First, the use of Ancient Ziggurat. The apparently oft-forgotten five-color land is very powerful and well suited to these “all creature” decks. The primary things it does not do are:

– Activate “Person Lands.” (You may also know them by another gender neutral term, “Man Land.”)
– Cast or Activate Equipment. (More of an issue with the Sword or Sledge than Collar, of course.)
– Activate Fauna Shaman. (Yes, this will hurt you sometimes, though usually you’ll have another Green. By the way, this interaction makes Sylvan Ranger that much better as a bullet.)
– Casting Planeswalkers. (If you use them, they don’t work well with Ziggurat, though it is not always a deal-breaker.)

– Miser’s removal spells. (These are generally cheap enough that it is not an issue. It is more of an issue with Red cards than White, since Sejiri Steppe and Noble Hierarch provide more non-Ziggurat White mana than Red.)

Laying that aside, the card is a powerful fixer than can help you make a turn 1 Birds of Paradise or Noble Hierarch more often than the other guy. It is also a very reasonable option to only play one, two, or three copies, as this is certainly not the type of card that is four or zero. Think of it like your other mana fixers. You would play 3 Misty Rainforest, or 2 Raging Ravine, or 1 Scalding Tarn. It is just another fixer, and you should play it to the degree that it helps your mana.

Next, I have an increased use of Ranger of Eos. This is almost entirely on account of emphasizing the Bushwhacker plan. With this mana, Fauna Shamans, Bloodbraid Elves, Squadron Hawks, and Rangers of Eos, this list comes out somewhat like a token deck. The flood of creatures can be very problematic for removal-based decks like Jund and even U/W (since Bushwhacker, Bloodbraid, Ranger, and Vengevine all work very well against Day of Judgment). Additionally, the swarm of fliers can allow you to fly over the top of tokens generated by various Green ramp decks.

One final card I have included that is not appropriate for every Naya deck is the Kor Skyfisher. Outside of the obvious interactions with Vengevine and Bloodbraid Elf, I really like having the ability to reuse Bushwhackers (as well as occasionally other 187 creatures, like Ranger). Additionally, he is a solid flier, and as I said, I really like fliers right now.

I wonder how much of Boros Bushwhacker could be hybridized with Naya Shaman… I realize that if you add Path to Exiles and Lightning Bolts, it makes your Bloodbraids less likely to trigger Vengevines, but I wonder how much that matters. Maybe with Squadron Hawks and plenty of one-drops you will be able to follow up the Bloodbraid often enough for it to be worth it. What about Steppe Lynx? Outside of all the fetching, Knight of the Reliquary is a powerful tool for enhancing your landfall capabilities. Additionally, Fauna Shaman can help avoid the awkward mid-game Steppe Lynx.

Regardless of if you take Naya Shaman a new direction or not, I think this deck is critically underrated. It blows my mind that some top players don’t consider it one of the top decks of the format. I like Jace, the Mind Sculptor a lot, but the call of Bloodbraid Elf and Cunning Sparkmage and their improved synergy with the unreal Fauna Shaman has me slightly more in the Naya camp than Bant at the moment. This is hardly locked in, but the Bant deck is becoming more and more just three great decks jammed into one. Here are two recent versions that also made Top 8 at Spanish Nationals:

Fauna Conscription

AndrÃ©s Labat

8th Place at Nationals on 08-08-2010

Standard

Creatures (22)

Planeswalkers (4)

4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Lands (24)

Spells (10)

Sideboard

Fauna Conscription

Fidel VÃ¡zquez

5th Place at Nationals on 08-08-2010

Standard

Creatures (25)

Planeswalkers (4)

Lands (25)

Spells (6)

Sideboard

The primary difference between the two is that Labat uses Squadron Hawk and Mana Leak, whereas VÃ¡zquez employs Knight of the Reliquary, Elspeth, and a few more copies of some staples. As you can see, both of these lists are updates of the Next Level Bant plus Conscription deck. Are they good? A big concern I have with these decks right now is their vulnerability to Naya. It was one thing to be a little soft to Sparkmages and Knight of the Reliquaries, but now with Fauna Shaman, it seems really tough to win the Fauna Shaman head to head. If you both let the other’s Shaman live, the Bant deck draws lots of extra cards, but the Naya deck sets up Sparkmage plus Collar, which is potentially game-winning against Bant.

What about Jund? Jund is in a weird space where a lot of people are so sick of it that they tend to not want to play it, or they block it out of their mental picture of the format. Look, I don’t know is passing around the memo saying to cut Blightning, but DON’T! First of all, few play Obstinate Baloth main. Next, you were probably going to sideboard Blightning out against a lot of these Green decks anyway. They have Vengevines! Bolivia’s National Championship was won this past weekend by Alejandro Van Mourik and his Jund deck:

Jund

Alejandro Van Mourik

Test deck on 08-15-2010

Standard

Creatures (17)

Planeswalkers (2)

2 Sarkhan the Mad

Lands (26)

Spells (15)

Sideboard

Mourik defeated Matheo Gavilano (also piloting Jund, though with Nest Invader and maindeck Obstinate Baloth) in the finals with what amounts to a fairly stock Jund list and a good one to test against. I think it is totally reasonable to play Jund in the week to come, as it is one of the better decks against Pyromancer Ascension, not to mention the more people adjust their decks to be able to beat U/W, Ascension, Shaman, and Titan ramp decks, the less they are focused on beating Jund. That said, I definitely don’t plan on playing Jund this weekend. It is a known entity, and there just isn’t enough room to game an advantage for my taste. It is like playing the Rock. Even when the Rock is good, it isn’t Good.

What about the Far Out decks? What surprised me with a Top 8?

Eldrazi Ramp

Pol UrÃ³s

6th Place at Nationals on 08-08-2010

Standard

Creatures (17)

Lands (27)

Spells (16)

Sideboard

The Mono-G Eldrazi archetype is not new, but hasn’t really seen any success in Standard. It is not surprising that Primeval Titan provides the added playable fatties that it needs to actually be able to embrace Summoning Trap. Obstinate Baloth is also an excellent way to make up for having only nine “Hits,” as well as shoring up the soft aggro matchups. As you can see from the sideboard, Pyromancer’s Ascension is very much on Pol’s radar, as he has loaded up on enchantment kill.

What is the point of all this? The point is that there is SO much room for expansion, so much room to explore. Primeval Titan, Fauna Shaman, Preordain, Mana Leak, Squadron Hawk, Obstinate Baloth, Grave Titan, Mystifying Maze, Crystal Ball, Frost Titan, Sun Titan, Inferno Titan… The new additions from M11 are rich and diverse, but the format is young and there is so much room to advance. I guess the primary take-aways from this week are:

1. Pyromancer’s Ascension and Naya are underrated.
2. Preordain is much better than people realize in non-combo decks.
3. Squadron Hawk is totally awesome.
4. Losing to a resolved Fauna Shaman is the nut low.
5. Primeval Titan is the Green Baneslayer and makes SO many decks possible on its raw power.

I may not know what I am playing next week, but I know that Standard is totally awesome right now, and I can’t wait to explore what more is possible. With Pro Tour: Amsterdam less than three weeks away, I suspect that a lot of focus will be split between the formats, meaning all the more opportunity for the deckbuilder trying to blaze a new trail, but that is not slave to innovation.

“50% Innovation / 50% Imitation.”

Patrick Chapin
“The Innovator”