Well, what a rare little opportunity we have here.
Typically, the faucet twists, and brews pour forth when a new block is released. And, of course, sometimes when a new set comes out. But now?
Midseason? Usually this is the point where we all start awaiting spoilers to start the brew process anew! However, the plot twist Wizards sprung on
Standard with the banning announcement has turned the format’s very identity on its head.
So, where to go from here?
I’m not really interested in pointing out what should be clear by now. I don’t want to just tell you Valakut, Twin, Red, Fauna Shaman
green, and Vampires are the initial best decks. I don’t want to list some “brews” that are really just decks that slid off the
surface of Standard under the frozen reign of Caw-Blade, like Tezzeret Control or U/B Infect, and brand it as a brand new deck. I don’t even want
to open this article with the already cliché, “Jace the Mind Sculptor is banned. Stoneforge Mystic is banned.”
Here’s what I do want to provide: some decks straight out of my brew-chamber, still cooling off as they reach your eyes.
Since the bannings, I’ve had some time to brew up several new decks. I haven’t managed to extensively playtest all of these yet, but
I’ve played enough games to know there’s some potential. That said, none of them may amount to anything at all—it’s just how
the brewing process goes.
The decks I’m going to be showing off today are primarily beatdown and midrange decks. That’s not to say that control decks are bad in this
format—in fact, they’re actually just fine. However, a lot of the good control decks take what seem to be pretty clear directions.
I’ve also been working on ideas for the Budget Battle Royale (which you should definitely
watch later this week!) and a lot of those decks are constricted pretty tightly by cost. That’s not to say that the decks in this article are
necessarily cheap, but a more beatdown-midrange approach is where my mind has been at lately.
Also, as I mentioned in 40 Extended Brews I often
get around to building a sideboard later; it all starts as just testing the core idea. As a result, none of these decks have sideboards yet. If you
like one, post in the forums and we can start bringing together a sideboard plan. I have ideas for each of these decks, but I don’t want to
provide you untested sideboards.
Ready? Here we go!
Creatures (23)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 2 Emeria Angel
- 4 Lotus Cobra
- 1 Joraga Treespeaker
- 4 Nest Invader
- 4 Hero of Bladehold
- 4 Blade Splicer
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (25)
Spells (9)
The metagame might be poised for a token renaissance. Tokens are traditionally favored against decks like Red and Vampires, two major decks
post-bannings. Pyroclasm is obviously an issue, but we’ll have to wait and see how popular that card becomes. Valakut might be one turn faster
than you, but it’s possible you can add more overrun effects and just try and outrace them.
The largest issue is the Splinter Twin decks. They’re not only going to be packing pinpoint removal and Pyroclasms after sideboarding, but they
have a two-card combo that instantly kills you and is difficult to interact with. The Dismembers have been good so far, but they’re seldom
enough. You definitely want some Beast Within or Nature’s Claims after sideboarding.
Other cards you can consider are Precursor Golem, Squadron Hawk, Accorder Paladin, Signal Pest, Bestial Menace, Shrine of Loyal Legions, Ajani
Goldmane, Nissa Revane, and Beastmaster Ascension. I tried Fauna Shaman–Vengevine in here, but I wasn’t really impressed. It slowed the deck down
more than I wanted to.
G/W wasn’t the only tokens shell I wanted to try out, though. There’s one particular planeswalker who has been entirely forgotten about due
to Jace’s reign. In fact, I even had to go back and double check he was Standard legal! Who is it, exactly?
Creatures (21)
- 4 Lotus Cobra
- 4 Joraga Treespeaker
- 4 Nest Invader
- 1 Grave Titan
- 2 Sylvan Ranger
- 4 Hero of Oxid Ridge
- 2 Urabrask the Hidden
Planeswalkers (5)
Lands (25)
Spells (9)
Sarkhan the Mad’s army of Dragons has been suppressed by Jace’s unsummon ability for quite a while. But with the blue menace out of the
picture, Sarkhan is free to wreak havoc once again.
While this deck has significantly less of a tokens base than the white version, meaning you don’t want cards like Contested War Zone, Hero of
Oxid Ridge is still surprisingly effective at serving in and throwing on some extra points to your team’s power. Deceiver Exarch, Squadron Hawk,
Overgrown Battlement, Joraga Treespeaker, Spellskite, Pulse Tracker, Spikeshot Elder, and more are shut down on defense by his trigger.
Urabrask might be too expensive for a deck that already has a fairly high curve, but his interaction with Bestial Menace, Sarkhan, Garruk, and the lone
Grave Titan has made him pretty good so far. Tweak the numbers accordingly.
You also might want another gigantic creature on the level of Grave Titan or Inferno Titan. Also consider discard and additional removal. I was trying
out a mix of removal, so you might want to find the ones you think work best and stick with them.
Boros decks have been headlined by Stoneforge Mystic for a while now. But this is a take on the deck I’ve wanted to try. Is now the time?
Creatures (28)
- 4 Goblin Guide
- 4 Plated Geopede
- 4 Steppe Lynx
- 4 Hero of Bladehold
- 4 Accorder Paladin
- 4 Goblin Wardriver
- 4 Signal Pest
Lands (25)
Spells (8)
Turn 4, Hero of Bladehold. Turn 5, World at War. Attack you.
Now, unfortunately the rules work in a completely counterintuitive way, and the tokens that enter the battlefield attacking with Hero don’t untap
with World at War. (They weren’t declared as attackers.) Otherwise, that would be twenty to zero on one attack step! However, even as a
“meager” fourteen damage, I’m sure things will be all right.
Is World at War any good? It’s likely just a cute card that does nothing when you’re behind. But the interactions of battle cry stacking
through attack steps and being able to kill out of nowhere can certainly provide a surprise element. The main issue is that World at War costs five;
otherwise you could just go Kuldotha Red style and load up on Memnites, Kuldotha Rebirths, and Immolating Souleaters. Still, it’s an interesting
idea and something fairly outside the box that I wanted to look into.
This next one uses a card you all know I’m a big fan of: Birthing Pod. But it might not be in a way you’ve seen before…
Creatures (32)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 3 Kabira Evangel
- 4 Kazandu Blademaster
- 2 Ondu Cleric
- 4 Oran-Rief Survivalist
- 2 Turntimber Ranger
- 4 Akoum Battlesinger
- 4 Hada Freeblade
- 3 Talus Paladin
- 1 Tuktuk Scrapper
- 1 Molten-Tail Masticore
Lands (24)
Spells (4)
This deck is a blast to play.
The Allies deck has always felt “almost there.” A huge problem has always been the lack of a good three-drop in its curve. You basically
have to play Kabira Evangel even though it’s relatively unexciting. Birthing Pod, though, gives the deck a whole new twist.
By chaining Allies with Birthing Pod, you ensure all of your Allies’ effects trigger every turn. They’re constantly becoming larger, always
getting protection on your turn, getting “battle cry” by way of Akoum Battlesinger, and so on. It really helps give the deck the gas it so
preciously needs.
I had a few more neat singletons in there for a while, but they were cut because I never podded them up enough. Bala Ged Thief, Sea Gate Loremaster,
Inferno Titan/Murasa Pyromancer, and Myr Superion were some of the crew available. While tuning this deck, those are certainly some ones to consider
further.
If you’re willing to go straight G/W, Battlesinger is the only card really holding you back. Your mana gets far better by going that route.
However, the Battlesinger’s effect is just consistently so strong that I ended up keeping the deck in its current iteration. You also gain access
to a few good sideboard cards, such as Combust and Lightning Bolt.
If you want to cut Battlesinger, I would start with the following changes:
-4 Arid Mesa, -4 Copperline Gorge, -3 Evolving Wilds, -1 Mountain, -4 Akoum Battlesinger
+4 Sunpetal Grove, +4 Plains, +2 Forest +2 Stirring Wildwood, +2 Ondu Cleric, +1 Talus Paladin, +1 Kabira Evangel.
Most notably, you leave the Scrapper in as an off-color Pod target. It’s just that good. You may also be able to swap out Birds for Harabaz
Druid, but you have so many turn-two plays that I’d rather spend turn one on my acceleration even if it’s unlikely to accelerate me into a
three-drop that I want to play on turn two.
To be honest, I don’t really know how this deck’s matchups are yet. It seems like, on paper, it should be unfavored against Twin, Valakut,
and maybe even the beatdown decks. However, I’ve been splitting small sets of games with all of those decks. I’m not sure if the other
deck’s draws have just been poor, or if this deck has some real legs.
Finally, with Stoneforge Mystic gone, that means it’s finally the perfect time to whip out Kor and Equipment!
Wait… What?
Creatures (18)
Lands (21)
Spells (21)
When I first saw Puresteel Paladin, I had thought about trying to make it work with some of the Zendikar Equipment, but ultimately dismissed it
because, y’know, I could just play Caw-Blade. With that no longer an option, I wanted to revisit this archetype.
It’s based off a merger of Conrad Kolos’s White Weenie deck from Pro Tour San Diego (noticeably different from Craig Wescoe’s) and
Rob Dougherty’s Puresteel Paladin deck from Pro Tour Nagoya. Though it looks like an absolute pile of unplayables, it’s capable of some
surprisingly robust starts.
The game state usually starts off looking fairly innocuous with a few sketchy Equipment. But as soon as you land a Kemba, Armament Master with another
Kor out, or Puresteel Paladin, things start to go crazy. When you hit metalcraft with Paladin, things start to become genuinely insane as you can shove
all your questionable Equipment around the table and turn your Kor Duelists and Kembas into must-kill threats.
The deck is an example of a combined synergy of many weak cards at its finest.
I’m still not completely sure on the numbers. Adventuring Gear is really hit or miss, as it’s insane with Kor Duelist and Inkmoth Nexus,
but on the other hand with only 21 lands you run out of landfall triggers quickly. Skyfisher helps, but ultimately he’s one of the weaker links
in the deck. I looked into Kor Outfitter, but the evasion plus potential cantripping with Equipment nudged him in above the Outfitter for me.
It’s also very possible you just want to jam some Kitesail Apprentices in there and have them go to town.
The deck probably wants a third Dispatch to fight Valakut and Twin better; it’s just a matter of what to cut. I’m not sure what the crucial
Equipment threshold is, but it seems like it’s probably at least 16. It’s also possible I might need to add more Accorder’s Shields
to complement my Spidersilk Nets. (How about that for a sentence?)
This deck is definitely a lot of fun to play with and has some starts that can rival some of the big decks. I know the Equipment numbers need to be
tuned further, but I think this actually has the potential to be one of the better beatdown decks in the format. At the very least, it’s
something to watch heading into October’s rotation.
There’s a lot of new ground to discover in this format. Where will it take us? Well, with Magic 2012 on the horizon in just a couple weeks,
it’s hard to tell for sure. For now, I think most players are going to use these couple of weeks to try and get caught up on the format before
the shift. That means plenty of brewing and innovating—I’m going to be excited to see what comes out of it all.
If you have any thoughts on these decks or questions, feel free to post in the forums, tweet at me, or send me an e-mail at Gavintriesagain at gmail
dot com. It’d be great to work on them with you, especially if you have tried something similar and have any thoughts on these archetypes. These
aren’t refined yet, but with your help they could quickly approach that point.
If you’re in the US, have a great holiday weekend! If you’re looking for something to do, might I recommend a Worldwide Overextended Day event near you?
In the meanwhile, I’ll be back next week fresh off of my experience at the Battle Royale, so stay tuned for my report sometime next week. (Though
not Monday due to the US Holiday.) Talk to you guys then!
Gavin Verhey
Rabon on Magic Online, @GavinVerhey on Twitter
www.mtgoverextended.com