Standard Scoops is a great Mom-and-Pop ice cream parlor sandwiched between two office buildings. Lately, I’ve been stopping by every day after work. Yesterday, like normal, I walked in and greeted the kindly old man behind the counter. “How you doin’ today, Mister G? I’ll have my usual.”
Only yesterday, I got an unusual answer, “Sorry Reid, we’re all out.”
“Okay,” I said, “well, what else have you got?”
The old man gestured behind him to a blackboard where a list of flavors was carefully handwritten in multi-colored chalk. Starting from the bottom, I read flavors until I got so high I could no longer see the letters. The list stretched far, far above that point, up endlessly to an impossibly tall, white and blue vaulted ceiling. I looked down through the glass countertop and, sure enough, the tub that normally held my favorite flavor was empty—spotless, like somebody had scrubbed it with a toothbrush. Every other flavor around it, though, looked freshly opened, filled to the brim. I looked to my left and to my right, and in each direction, the counter too stretched farther than I could see. Thousands of tubs were filled with ice cream of different flavors.
In all the time I’d been coming to Standard Scoops, I had never realized how big it was. The building looked so small from the outside, but I guess things are rarely what they seem.
“There’s lots to choose from, Reid.”
Unsure where I could even begin, I looked around the room and spotted a happy looking customer eating white ice cream from a waffle cone. “What’s he having?”
Pralines N Cream, a Bold Choice
Creatures (22)
Lands (19)
Spells (19)
Tempered Steel was a top dog early in the season. It was the best deck in Scars Block Constructed and was therefore the most obvious deck coming into the new format. After the first week or two, though, the metallic buzz of the machines got a lot quieter. This wasn’t any fault of theirs; we just forgot to replace the batteries.
The MTG community has a tendency to overdo it, in one way or another. Week two of Innistrad Standard was full of Red Deck Wins, Wolf Run Ramp, and R/U/G, all packing four Ancient Grudges in the sideboard. Following that, Tempered Steel fell off the map. Now things have settled down; Mono Red usually sticks to the more reasonable Manic Vandal, and there are plenty of non-R/G decks floating around too. With everyone forgetting about Tempered Steel, it’s no wonder that Naoki Obayashi took Grand Prix Hiroshima off-guard with his deck choice.
One particular strength of Tempered Steel is its excellent matchup against Blue Control. Naturally, Tempered Steel has a big advantage in the early turns as its threats generally cost less to play than they do to answer. What’s surprising, though, is that it can also compete in the late game. It has a low land count and Inkmoth Nexuses; the card Tempered Steel makes every topdecked creature a big threat. In other aggro matchups, the control player simply has to live to cast a six-drop creature like Wurmcoil Engine. However, the plethora of evasion creatures in Tempered Steel along with the brutally efficient Dispatch really changes the equation.
Tempered Steel vs. U/B Control is the closest thing to a 100-0 matchup I’ve ever seen. As a U/B player last season, I can confidently tell you that Tempered Steel was the nightmare matchup. Now without discard, Into the Roil, and Consume the Meek, it’s hopeless. U/B can’t answer noncreature permanents, so you basically don’t even need to play any game where the Steel player starts with Shrine of Loyal Legions.
Mr. Obayashi took an extremely aggressive approach, with four Mox Opals and no threats that cost more than two mana. However, I’m equally fond of the way Ari Lax constructed his deck for the StarCityGames.com Open in Indianapolis. He ran Hero of Bladehold and Mikaeus, the Lunarch to punish anyone who thought that overloading on artifact hate was all it took to beat Tempered Steel.
Creatures (20)
Lands (4)
Spells (36)
All that said, Wolf Run Ramp is a squarely unfavorable matchup either way, and Tempered Steel will never reach the same level of dominance that it did in Block Constructed.
“Yup, a bold choice all right. I like Pralines N Cream myself, but it’s sure not as popular as Vanilla or Chocolate.”
“I still need a minute to think, Mister G.”
“Sure thing. Can I help the next customer?”
The gentleman behind me stepped up to the counter and pointed to a bucket that looked to me like Vanilla.
I’ll have Chocolate Chip, Please
Creatures (26)
- 3 Elite Vanguard
- 4 Mirran Crusader
- 4 Hero of Bladehold
- 4 Grand Abolisher
- 2 Fiend Hunter
- 4 Champion of the Parish
- 3 Geist of Saint Traft
- 2 Doomed Traveler
Lands (24)
Spells (10)
Sideboard
Honor of the Pure white weenie is an age-old classic, and it’s gotten quite a few new weapons in Innistrad. Aside from the obvious power of Champion of the Parish and Geist of Saint Traft, Moorland Haunt really takes the deck to a whole new level. The traditional weakness of mono-white aggro is its lack of reach. You can have a great start and get the opponent down to one life, but that’s worthless if a Day of Judgment and a strong follow-up turns the game around. Moorland Haunt provides an uncounterable stream of evasion attackers and also combines great with the deck’s creature pumpers: Honor of the Pure and Angelic Destiny.
Playing with Honor of the Pure and Angelic Destiny is a breath of fresh air after equipment having been dominant for so long. In comparison, the white cards are mana efficient and have a big impact the second that you play them.
What I like about this deck is how straightforward and simple everything is. It has good mana, a good curve, the bare minimum number of reactive spells, and the cards are more or less good on their own in addition to the built in synergies of the deck. Hero of Bladehold, Geist of Saint Traft, and Mirran Crusader are among the format’s best cards, and an aggressive deck that uses all three is a scary thing. An aggressive deck that uses them, but doesn’t lean heavily on them is even scarier.
Intrigued, I asked, “What’s the flavor next to it?”
That’s Mint Chocolate Chip
Creatures (22)
- 4 Mirran Crusader
- 4 Gideon's Lawkeeper
- 4 Grand Abolisher
- 2 Fiend Hunter
- 4 Champion of the Parish
- 4 Geist of Saint Traft
Lands (11)
Spells (27)
Takahiro Shiraki’s deck and Rin Satou’s deck share many of the same cards, but the focus is different. Rin Satou is a man with a plan, and he executes it well. He wants to play a Mirran Crusader, Geist of Saint Traft, or Grand Abolisher, and he wants to suit it up with a game-breaking pump effect.
All three of those creatures appear in four copies, and so does Angelic Destiny. He has three Sword of Feast and Famine as a second choice, and even has four more Swords in the sideboard! Takahiro Shiraki’s Oblivion Rings have all been cut, and Satou’s four Mana Leaks are there to be used aggressively, not defensively.
Lately, my motto has been to “focus on what matters,” and I love Mr. Satou’s deck for that reason. It plays to its strengths and has no distractions from the primary game plan.
My only question is the choice and number of Swords. It seems to me that Sword of War and Peace is the more powerful for a deck like this, which can take advantage of the extra damage. At the minimum, I’d like to see a split, as drawing one of each can help punch through blockers of any color.
Standing there at the counter in indecision, I felt a hand clasp my shoulder and turned around to see a familiar face.
Try the Butter Pecan, it’s Delicious
Creatures (22)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 4 Mirran Crusader
- 4 Hero of Bladehold
- 2 Blade Splicer
- 2 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
- 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
- 2 Geist-Honored Monk
Planeswalkers (6)
Lands (12)
Spells (20)
I’ve been a fan of W/G Tokens since Innistrad was still in the spoiler, and Martin Juza’s list is a finely tuned masterpiece. He’s made room for the metagame powerhouse Mirran Crusader. What’s more, he’s struck the perfect balance between white and green mana that lets him often cast it on turn 2!
Two Mortarpods and three Oblivion Rings won’t clog up his draws, but a well-placed removal spell can easily swing the game when both players have strong draws. He has access to powerful (and underappreciated) planeswalkers, casts them early, and protects them well.
The greatest thing about this deck, though, is its ability to go over the top of the opponent. Wolf Run Ramp’s turn 4 Titans are devastating, but they pale in comparison to the lethal Overrun that Mr. Juza can respond with. Other creature decks are beaten in the same way, as any marginal advantages gleaned over the course of the game are meaningless if W/G Tokens is able to assemble an army.
“Say, Mister G,” I asked, “can I get…”
Two Flavors in the Same Bowl
“I don’t see what’s stopping you.”
I ordered half Mint Chocolate Chip and half Butter Pecan. I caught odd looks from some other people in line and from the server, but after all, the customer is always right.
Creatures (26)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 4 Mirran Crusader
- 4 Hero of Bladehold
- 2 Thrun, the Last Troll
- 4 Blade Splicer
- 4 Skinshifter
- 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (23)
Spells (10)
This is inspired by Rin Satou’s Angelic Destiny deck. However, as much as the loss of blue hurts, I feel that the green accelerants add more.
One of the key aspects of W/G Tokens is the speed with which it comes out of the gates. Being short on ways to stop your opponent means you need to execute your own game plan better and faster. A jump of a full turn in mana is the best thing a one-drop can do for this sort of deck.
Not every deck can afford so many mana creatures, but this one can for two reasons. More obviously, Angelic Destiny, Sword of War and Peace, and Gavony Township make even weak bodies significant threats. Additionally, this game plan isn’t about grinding small advantages and getting value out of each card; it’s about assembling a single devastating combination and riding it to victory.
Mirran Crusader, Blade Splicer, and Hero of Bladehold are all amazing cards in the abstract, but they also become more devastating the earlier they come down. Blade Splicer, in particular, plays the dual role of being a hard hitter before a control player can assemble a defense or of immediately shutting down the offense of something like Mono Red.
Gavony Township rivals Moorland Haunt as a “value” land, and it’s possible that a greedier manabase or a higher land count would be worthwhile to fit a second or a third. Similarly, Thrun, the Last Troll might not win in a direct comparison to Geist of Saint Traft, but he also fits the game plan and wears an Angelic Destiny just as well.
My ice cream was delicious yesterday, but with so many flavors and combinations, there might be something equally good to order next time. As I got up to leave, the old man shouted to me, “Sorry we were out of your favorite today; I’m gonna order some more tonight!”
“No rush,” I said.