LegacyModernStandard

Ambrosia

It’s a great time to be a Magic player.

In fact, I can’t remember a time when it’s ever been this good. There are major Magic tournaments almost every weekend to be found somewhere close to you, no matter where you live. Wizards has released the PTQQ circuit to all of the advanced stores, making those a regular occurrence for most willing to drive a couple of hours. If that’s not enough, then maybe there is an SCG IQ tournament nearby. If you’re a real road warrior, there might even be an SCG Open Series stop near you. Heck, it might even be a Grand Prix weekend, and a festival of Magic celebration might be just around the corner like it was in Ottawa this weekend. There is already a ton of Magic available, and then SCG goes and drops this on us.

Go ahead… Read it… I’ll wait.

For any of you living in North America, this is insane. What this basically means is that nearly EVERY weekend of 2015, there will be a Grand Prix sized event going down that is likely nearby or at least within an 8 to 10 hour drive from you. Think about that for a minute. I remember the stories of the Planeswalker Points grinders. These people were going to every Grand Prix possible and playing in every possible FNM, just for the chance to get paid out. The points fed the byes, the byes made the tournaments easier by virtue of dodging unexpected budget type decks, and all of this led to a promise of the pay out, or an invitation to the big show; The Pro Tour. How is this any different? The grind is about to get real folks. Wizards of the Coast has some real competition now on the big tournament stage. I’m very excited personally to see what happens.

For me, this means that I will have more opportunities to attend events in the Northeastern United States as the value proposition of the larger event with a high payout consolation tournament on Sunday should I miss the target makes the math easier to justify. Also, having all 3 of the major competitive constructed formats available over the entirety of the weekend is really something. I can’t wait to get out and meet more of you, while playing the game that we all love in the formats of our choice.

Speaking of formats, I am just blown away by all of them right now. Legacy has been shaken up by the addition of [card]Treasure Cruise[/card] and [card]Dig Through Time[/card], enabling a UR Delver strategy to rise to the top of the expected meta. The deck was so powerful that it even brought the [card]Brainstorm[/card] Kid himself, AJ Sacher out to the event, for his first Magic Tournament since retiring for Hearthstone. We saw a number of amazing innovations come out of Grand Prix New Jersey, with Brian Braun-Duin pulling it out in the end with a new take on Jeskai Stoneblade, made possible by the powerful spells from Khans of Tarkir shaking up the format.

[deck title=Jeskai StoneBlade by Brian Braun-Duin]
[Lands]
2 Arid Mesa
4 Flooded Strand
1 Island
1 Plains
3 Tundra
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Volcanic Island
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 True-Name Nemesis
4 Young Pyromancer
[/Creatures]
[Other Spells]
1 Batterskull
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Lightning Bolt
4 Ponder
2 Pyroblast
2 Spell Pierce
3 Swords to Plowshares
4 Treasure Cruise
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
[/Other Spells]
[Sideboard]
2 Containment Priest
1 Council’s Judgment
1 Electrickery
2 Flusterstorm
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Hydroblast
3 Meddling Mage
1 Pyroblast
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Modern also has felt the effects of Khans of Tarkir also, with many touting that UR Delver was the deck to beat, just as it seemed in Legacy. GP Madrid however, would prove that there were more cards to fear from Khans than just the blue ones. There were 4 copies of [card]Treasure Cruise[/card] in the winning Temur Delver list, and 3 copies of [card]Dig Through Time[/card] in the 2nd place [card]Scapeshift[/card] list, but there were 8 copies of [card]Siege Rhino[/card] in the rest of the top 8. That’s right, the Rhino found his way not only into a Abzan Midrange (Jund) deck as [card]Tarmogoyf[/card]s 5 through 8, but it also found its way into the Melira Pod decks as another excellent value creature that can just beat down while pairing excellently with [card]Restoration Angel[/card]. In fact, I would not be surprised if the Midrange lists started to take a more focused approach with this interaction and supplemented it with similar value threats from Melira Pod like [card]Kitchen Finks[/card] for example.

[deck title=Abzan Midrange by Marcio Carvalho]
[Lands]
1 Forest
1 Godless Shrine
3 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple Garden
3 Treetop Village
2 Twilight Mire
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Windswept Heath
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
1 Courser of Kruphix
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Siege Rhino
4 Tarmogoyf
[/Creatures]
[Other Spells]
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Bitterblossom
2 Darkblast
1 Dismember
1 Duress
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Lingering Souls
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Slaughter Pact
4 Thoughtseize
[/Other Spells]
[Sideboard]
1 Creeping Corrosion
1 Drown in Sorrow
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Golgari Charm
3 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Liliana of the Veil
2 Stony Silence
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Timely Reinforcements
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

How do I even talk about sweeping format changes without talking about Standard? I for one cannot actually remember a Standard format so diverse and fluid in my life. There are so many different decks to play, and all of them are basically good! Like midrange? You can easily play the Wedge based decks, as the marquee creatures from them such as [card]Savage Knuckleblade[/card], [card]Butcher of the Horde[/card], and of course, [card]Siege Rhino[/card] are good payoffs for being pushed into those colors. Like getting them dead? You can play the one or two color aggressive decks like the UW Heroic deck, or Mono Red both made popular by Tom “The Boss” Ross without feeling underwhelmed. Like to be greedy? Now you can even play a 4 color deck since the mana apparently is good enough to support gambling for the payoff. Jeff Hoogland streamed this one earlier in the week and will likely be tuning it some.

[deck title=BURGers Diet by Jeff Hoogland]
[Lands]
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Forest
4 Frontier Bivouac
1 Island
2 Mana Confluence
2 Mountain
4 Opulent Palace
1 Polluted Delta
1 Shivan Reef
1 Swamp
1 Temple of Abandon
1 Temple of Malice
4 Wooded Foothills
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
3 Courser of Kruphi
2 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Savage Knuckleblade
4 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Sylvan Caryatid
[/Creatures]
[Other Spells]
2 Dig Through Time
4 Lightning Strike
2 Magma Jet
2 Murderous Cut
2 Stubborn Denial
4 Sultai Charm
2 Crater’s Claws
[/Other Spells]
[Sideboard]
3 Anger of the Gods
3 Disdainful Stroke
1 Hero’s Downfall
3 Magma Spray
1 Murderous Cut
1 Stubborn Denial
3 Thoughtseize
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Heck, Brad Nelson showed us on the big stage this week at the SCG Open that he also could make the 4 colors work with this beauty.

[deck title=4 Color Midrange by Brad Nelson]
[Lands]
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
2 Nomad Outpost
2 Mana Confluence
4 Temple of Plenty
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Swamp
3 Mountain
2 Forest
1 Llanowar Wastes
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Siege Rhino
3 Butcher of the Horde
4 Courser of Kruphix
2 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Sylvan Caryatid
[/Creatures]
[Other Spells]
4 Crackling Doom
2 Murderous Cut
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
1 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
4 Lightning Strike
2 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
3 Chained to the Rocks
[/Other Spells]
[Sideboard]
2 End Hostilities
2 Utter End
1 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
1 Glare of Heresy
3 enagos, the Reveler
4 Anger of the Gods
2 Thoughtseize
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

There is something very good to be said about this strategy, and I would expect to see some more adventurous brews forthcoming in the next couple of weeks. Pairing the very best cards together is something that Abzan has been trying to do all season so far, but it certainly looks like these two decks are on to something. How far out is a 5 color build seriously? Will we see a surge in the aggressive strategies to try to combat this new 4 color menace? Perhaps! Perhaps the best way to approach the format is to take it back a bit and look to the original Shard combinations.

Shaheen Soorani tore up Richmond’s Standard open with an old favorite of his; Esper Planeswalkers.

[deck title=Esper Planeswalkers by Shaheen Soorani]
[Lands]
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Temple of Deceit
4 Temple of Silence
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Island
2 Plains
2 Swamp
1 Caves of Koilos
[/Lands]
[Spells]
1 Treasure Cruise
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
4 Dig Through Time
4 End Hostilities
1 Utter End
2 Bile Blight
4 Hero’s Downfall
3 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
4 Dissolve
3 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
2 Despise
4 Thoughtseize
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
1 Disdainful Stroke
4 Ny-Fleece Ram
4 Drown in Sorrow
1 Bile Blight
3 Prognostic Sphin
2 Negate
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Shaheen has always been a fan of proactive control decks, designed to create a blank board state, and then play and protect a planeswalker which he can proceed to win the game with. We see discard, countermagic, sweepers, premium card selection, and powerful planeswalkers all showing up to this party. Frankly, I want an invite. I suggest going back and watching his time on camera from the Richmond Standard Open, as it will clearly show you that control is hardly dead folks.

As far as I’m concerned, I’ve been looking for an excuse to play with Elspeth lately, and although Abzan seems like a great fit, I felt like revisiting an old favorite. Here’s what I’ve been playing lately.

[deck title=Naya Planeswalkers by MrScottyMac]
[Lands]
1 Battlefield Forge
2 Forest
1 Mana Confluence
2 Mountain
2 Plains
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Temple of Plenty
1 Temple of Triumph
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Courser of Kruphi
3 Elvish Mystic
4 Fleecemane Lion
1 Hornet Queen
4 Sylvan Caryatid
[/Creatures]
[Other Spells]
4 Banishing Light
2 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
3 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
3 Xenagos, the Reveler
3 Lightning Strike
1 Arc Lightning
[/Other Spells]
[Sideboard]
1 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
2 End Hostilities
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Hornet Nest
1 Lightning Strike
2 Magma Spray
3 Nylea’s Disciple
2 Reclamation Sage
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

I was looking to play with Elspeth, so I thought I would look up this archetype. Thankfully, someone went 4-0 in a Standard Daily event with it the beginning of November, and I’ve been playing it almost exactly for a week or so now. The deck is markedly soft to Jeskai Wins, as expected from a deck with [card]Mantis Rider[/card]s and 18 main deck burn spells, but otherwise I have been very happy with the results it has produced. I think that if you want to play the best [card]Courser of Kruphix[/card] deck, then one that can play 8 on-color fetches is a good place to start. Give this one a real look folks, it’s a ton of fun, and can easily hang with the big boys. I’ve been posting 3-1 results in Daily Events, and maintain a similar record vs. Non-Jeskai Wins decks. I’m still considering a non-zero number of [card]Anger of the Gods[/card] a sideboard option, potentially using them over the [card]Nylea’s Disciple[/card]s, but as of yet, I haven’t made the change.

That’s it for this week, but make sure you tune in to the stream as I have some Modern on tap for tonight!

twitch.tv/mrscottymac
@MrScottyMac

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments