 |
| Home Articles Zendikar Spoiler (249/249) Radar Forums Blogs Wiki Writing/Contests Chat About |
Thirst for Knowledge: The Championship AwaitsBy Chris Jobin on May 14th, 2009 · Filed in Standard (Type 2), Thirst for Knowledge · 41 CommentsAs I'm sure you all are well aware, the Regional Championships are this weekend. Just about every Constructed writer worth his salt has written a review this week about the current Standard format, complete with prime suggestions for decks to run at the event and the decks to beat. If you clicked on this article expecting something different, you'll probably be disappointed. The thing is, Regionals is this weekend, and that means that the single most relevant thing to discuss this week is that tournament and what decks to test and prepare for. The best way to choose the right deck for a tournament like Regionals is to read up on the community's opinions on the format and plan accordingly. Getting a second, third, and even fourth opinion on the best decks in the format will give you the tools to build the perfect deck for Regionals, and I plan to offer up my own opinions on Standard to add to the mix.
A few weeks ago, Luis Scott-Vargas suggested a new version of BW, which cut Knight of Meadowgrain and some Cloudgoat Rangers for Murderous Redcaps and more controlling elements. This made the deck a bit stronger against sweepers, certainly, but ultimately made the deck slower overall and more awkward against Faeries in particular. While my testing with that version of the deck was actually very positive, it didn't take me long to realize that Zealous Persecution wasn't being taken full advantage of with that list. Furthermore, Murderous Redcap was under-performing pretty immensely. Most of the time, he was a four-mana Shock that had a small body attached, and his ability rarely killed anything relevant. If you had a Glorious Anthem in play, he was at least respectable, but otherwise I always felt that he was a turn too slow and overall not what the deck needed to stay on top. Defines the new Standard? Speaking of Kitchen Finks, Chapin said earlier this week that it was "back," and I must agree with him wholeheartedly. Any deck (and I mean this literally) that can produce the colors of mana for this guy should play him. The lifegain is a great way to offset the damage from Anathemancer, and the popularity of that card alone is enough to warrant playing four copies of Kitchen Finks in every deck you play. Furthermore, he's still got respectable stats at 3/2, and with all his blocking and whatnot he can easily gain you upwards of 8 life or more. If I had to chose a "best creature in Standard," this would be one of the top picks, easy. So, BW is the top deck. That being said, how do you beat it? A combined use of sweepers, disruption, and "bigger guys" is the best way, but no deck in the format can really pull all three of those things off all that well. Ironically, Faeries does the best job of that, but Zealous Persecution puts a small hindrance on that plan. Even with all of Fae's tricks, a well-timed Zealous Persecution can spell doom. When I initially started testing the post-Reborn metagame, I wasn't convinced right away that this two-mana instant was going to totally alter the format, but it most certainly has. So much so, in fact, that the most popular deck in Standard of the last couple months, RW Lark, has almost completely fallen off the radar. RW was a deck that relied on a high curve of powerful spells to keep itself in the game against the control decks, and token generators like Spectral Procession to have a shot against the aggressive decks. The problem? The deck just rolls over and dies to Zealous Persecution. And, well, just about any other deck in Standard. The only deck it consistently had a good match-up with was Five Color Control, but that's hardly a feat when Faeries did the same thing but also could outperform other decks on top of it all. However, if you're a die-hard RW Lark fan and insist on playing the deck at Regionals, you could always give this list a try:
Yes, that's Ajani Goldmane maindeck. If this deck wants to ever stand a chance against BW, this is a change that needs to be made. Ajani Goldmane addresses some of the issues that RW has, and also has lots of synergy with the persist creatures in the deck. Murderous Redcap is fine in this kind of a deck because RW is naturally a slower, midrange deck, while BW needs to apply lots of pressure as quickly as it can. I still don't feel as though this archetype is good enough to compete anymore, but I wouldn't be surprised to sit down across from it at Regionals nonetheless. *** The other "deck to beat," apparently, is Green/White Tokens. Take a look:
The GW variety of token decks is surprisingly strong, despite how it might appear. All of the usual suspects are present and accounted for (Windbrisk Heights, Spectral Procession, Cloudgoat Ranger), but the twist is that instead of Glorious Anthem, the GW deck can utilize Wilt-Leaf Liege, a better Glorious Anthem (in most cases, naturally). The BW deck could really use a guy that good, but Bitterblossom's tokens are obviously black, so that deck is forced to play an enchantment instead of an impressive 4/4 beater that does the same thing (although it also happens to make the green and white creatures just enormous). It can also play Overrun, perhaps the best card to stash under a Windbrisk Heights possibly ever. Noble Hierarch gives the deck a slight edge over the other token decks by being a whole turn ahead of them, and this when coupled with bigger creatures as well as superior pump effects gives the GW deck a strong match-up with BW, which is certainly why the deck has become so popular. Zealous Persecution can still be a problem for the deck, but a smart player will be able to play around it with relative ease. I chose to play Qasali Pridemage maindeck because I couldn't find a good reason not to. It gets +2/+2 with Wilt-Leaf Liege, serves as a fine man in the two-drop slot, and destroys Bitterblossom, Glorious Anthem, Runed Halo, Loxodon Warhammer, and any other artifacts and enchantments thrown your way. I've also chosen to include the Wrath of God sideboard plan, as it is so much stronger with the GW deck than any of the other token decks because of Dauntless Escort. Being able to Plague Wind whenever you feel like it is just sick, and I'm quite sure that any GW player would have to be insane to not include this combination of cards in his seventy-five going into Regionals. So, is it all fun and games with GW? If it beats BW, is it the best deck? No, it really isn't. It can rarely ever win a game against Faeries, and it struggles sometimes against even Five Color. A well-timed Volcanic Fallout not only kills Spirit tokens and their ilk, but also all the mana-producers in the deck. This can be a bit awkward, no doubt about that. BW has a better match-up with the field than GW does, but GW does a fairly good job of beating on BW. It's kind of like an odd game of Rock/Paper/Scissors, I suppose. If you want to play a deck that can take on BW fairly efficiently, GW will probably work the best. If you can find a way to best Zealous Persecution, this could be a very strong deck choice. *** So in a meta filled with Zealous Persecution decks, Volcanic Fallouts, and Anathemancers, what has become of Faeries? Well, let's put it this way: for the first time since Bitterblossom was printed, I feel like Faeries might not be the best deck, nor even the best choice for a tournament. It's time for Faeries to face the music: change or die. Can Faeries do it? Absolutely. All it will take, honestly, is a little ingenuity. I'm talking about taking the gloves off, people. I'm talking maindeck Plumveils. Pushing Scion of Oona to its limits. Cutting Jace from the maindeck. You know, get a little rough. And here she is:
Faeries has its work cut out for it these days, but I'm pretty confident the deck is still as insane as ever. Ari Lax said to me this past weekend that "despite people not always getting it, Faeries is basically always the best deck choice." Well, to put it simply, he's probably right. With maindeck Plumeveils, Faeries stands a chance against the hyper-aggressive decks infesting the meta, and the rest of the deck is as nutty as always. The environment is just too fast right now for maindeck planeswalkers, so Mr. Beleren has gotten the boot to the side. Soul Manipulation is pretty amazing as it allows you to get plenty of card advantage out of all of your creatures as well as serving as a slightly weaker Remove Soul. The biggest debate at this point with Faeries is whether or not to play Scion of Oona. With Zealous Persecution in the format, I can understand that some might be hesitant to play a 1/1 for three, but playing smart with Scion of Oona negates the danger of their mini-Infest and allows you to still reap the benefits of playing a flashable Glorious Anthem. If we don't play Scion of Oona, BW's guys are always going to be better than ours, and we can't afford to let their Bitterblossoms be stronger than ours. In any case, you still need to be prepared to handle Faeries. If you're considering a deck light on instant-speed removal, remember that "able to beat a Mistbind Clique" is still a requirement that all competitive decks must have in order to work in this meta, because Faeries is still the premier control deck of the format. And speaking of control decks...
I'll be the first to say this: Five Color is dying. Anathemancer is, as they say, the truth. The card is simply savage, and it does quite the number on Five Color. Runed Halo helps to alleviate some of the hurt, but I don't think there's a way to make the card anything less than awful for 5CC. Of course, it's not all bad. 5CC still has plenty of powerful tools to keep it alive in the metagame, but I'd be surprised if this deck puts up the same numbers it has been recently. The newest part of the deck is Kitchen Finks, a card that I suggested for 5CC back at the Indy 5K where my teammate Travis Ladouceur made Top 8 with a list packing three of them. The lifegain is just so crucial right now, and plus it gives the deck a method of beating down in the later turns alongside Broodmate Dragon. The reintroduction of this card heralds a new way to play this deck, though, since now we're not playing a second-turn counterspell, and are instead playing some powerful two-and-three-cost spells like Runed Halo and, well, Kitchen Finks. Runed Halo is basically necessary in the maindeck at this stage, since otherwise 5CC just rolls over to Anathemancer. And speaking of that guy, he's featured as a four-of in the sideboard as well. Being able to abuse him in mirror matches is a strong option, as is using Thought Hemorrhage to rip out Broodmate Dragons, Cruel Ultimatums, and opposing Anathemancers. The sideboard is otherwise pretty standard fare, as the deck itself has undergone few changes with the new set. *** Moving swiftly on, here's a new take on two old favorites:
Back in the day, Elves was the deck that stood the best chance at beating the Faerie menace. Elves has since fallen off the radar as a top-tier deck, but recently has seen quite the resurgence on Magic Online, where it has been the most popular deck for a few weeks. Elves has the aforementioned strong match-up with Fae on its resume, but it also beats up on the other control decks due to its eight manlands. It, much like its Doran cousin, has trouble with the token decks, however. Maelstrom Pulse happens to help a bit, but it isn't always enough. Well-timed Infests and early Putrid Leeches are needed to stay on top of those decks - otherwise, these Rock decks just crumble under the pressure (that was an awful pun - I'm sorry). The best incentive to play these decks is Putrid Leech, although I can't say that it's entirely worth it: even with a 4/4 for two mana, I don't think a deck that has a tough time with token decks can ever be an optimal choice when BW is the top deck. On the bright side, Zealous Persecution isn't all that destructive to either deck, but it's a far cry from "bad" against them. At the end of the day, I wouldn't suggest either one of these decks for Regionals. *** And now, for the best of the rest. I hope you have a playset of these. Speaking of Jund, the Jund Ramp deck is also on the rise. I haven't had much time to explore this archetype all that much, but any deck packing Broodmate Dragons, Maelstrom Pulses, Lavalanche, and Bloodbraid Elf must be pretty sick. These decks are pretty strong against the token decks, but inherently weaker when pitted against the control decks. It's pretty cut-and-dry stuff, surely, but still something you might want to consider testing against if your time permits. Kithkin is another deck that I'd like to mention, as I still feel like the deck has a lot of potential. I've spoken about Kithkin several times, and I still believe that Cedric's list from Kyoto is the perfect way to play RW Kithkin, but it's the BW Kithkin deck sporting Zealous Persecution that is the big news: combining the strongest elements of Kithkin and BW tokens seems like a great idea, and I'm more than intrigued. I didn't give a list for this since I already covered BW, but the deck plays as one would expect it to: like a cross between Kithkin and BW. All in all, a strong choice for Regionals. UW Reveillark is the last deck I want to mention. Gerry Thompson really likes this deck, but I don't. It cannot beat Faeries, and it struggles with BW. I don't even want to go into more detail, as I think that was enough of an explanation. *** Earlier I explained that I thought Pat's Five Color Blood deck could be the "next big thing," and now I'm going to elaborate on that. First, his list:
This. Deck. Is. Next. Level. The original iteration of this deck didn't meet with strong reviews, but this newer take seems to have struck more of a chord with the community. I loved the original, but like this version of the deck even better. The nay-sayers far outnumber the impressed, surely, but I think it's pretty unjustified. What we have here is an aggro control deck that just plays good cards. Bloodbraid Elf rifles through your deck and finds relevant cards to attach to it, and card advantage like that in this format is huge. Cascading into an Esper Charm to either off a Glorious Anthem or even just to draw two cards is simply gross, and flipping over a sweeper against a horde of tokens is incredibly satisfying. The deck's cascade "targets" are chosen carefully, and the deck is built so that your chances of getting a desired effect out of any given cascade is extremely high. Runed Halos maindeck give the deck a shot against Anathemancer, and its own playset of the Price of Progress Gray Ogre applies an insane amount of pressure when slapped onto a 3/2 hasted body. The king is back! So, where does this deck sit on totem pole? I honestly think it's pretty close to the top. Pat's come up with a really solid deck this time, and I for one am strongly considering it for Regionals, as is a good portion of the rest of Team RIW. Five Color Blood as proven itself as a worthy competitor, as being able to beat BW consistently post-board as well as having strong match-ups with RW Lark, Kithkin, and even Faeries to some extend is pretty impressive. *** After all my preparation for Regionals this year, I finally feel like I'm ready to take my shot at the Championship title. Brian Arnoldy is our current Regional Champion, but hopefully I can take it over for a year. I'm still unsure which deck I'll use to attempt it, but right now Five Color Blood is looking to be the prime candidate. It's strong, efficient, and a ton of fun to play. A small part of me fears that I will just end up playing Mistbind Clique anyway, but I suppose we'll all know soon enough. As I said earlier, I just wanted to throw out my own ideas for Standard, and I feel like I've given some food for thought. As I see it, the decks to beat are BW, Five Color, Faeries, GW, Jund Aggro, and Five Color Blood. If you can beat those decks (or at least know the match-ups well enough), you'll be in good shape for this year's tournament. In any case, I wish you all the best of luck at pursuing that trophy this weekend. Until next time, Chris "Shinjutsei" Jobin By Chris Jobin on May 14th, 2009 · Filed in Standard (Type 2), Thirst for Knowledge · 41 Comments |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
