Standard Day Preview The Top Standard Decks Patrick Johnson Standard is one of the formats for the upcoming World Championship tournament. Historically, doing well in the Standard format has depended on a combination of playing a good deck and metagaming well. Since this tournament is coming on the heels of several premier events, correct metagaming is going to be of utmost importance. Many strong decklists are already in the public domain, therefore this article is going to focus mostly on understanding some of those decks and the matchups in the current Standard format. I'm going to start by examining successful decklists from premier events around the globe. It is important not to be too focused on any one tournament's results because Worlds is going to have competitors from all over. At U. S. Nationals, we saw a breakthrough of two new decks: Flores Control Black and Angry Hermit. The Flores deck is a stifling control deck that features main deck hate for many of the decks in the field. Players wielding this deck have access to Vampiric Tutors to search for their "silver bullet" cards and Yawgmoth's Will to get devastating card advantage and board control. Here is the list Jon Finkel used to take home the title of champion: Jon Finkel Flores Control Black Main Deck Sideboard 2 Phyrexian Negator 3 Skittering Skirge 1 Thrashing Wumpus 2 Skittering Horror 1 Stromgald 4 Dark Ritual 4 Duress 1 Engineered Plague 1 Eradicate 1 Massacre 1 Perish 1 Persecute 1 Stupor 2 Unmask 4 Vampiric Tutor 4 Vicious Hunger 4 Yawgmoth's Will 4 Rishadan Port 2 Dust Bowl 2 Spawning Pool 15 Swamp 2 Engineered Plague 1 Eradicate 1 Massacre 1 Perish 2 Phyrexian Negator 1 Phyrexian Processor 1 Powder Keg 2 Rapid Decay 1 Stromgald Cabal 1 Stupor 1 Thran Lens 1 Unmask There are a few things to note about this deck. The first is that it helps to have a clear idea of what decks that you expect to face. The silver bullet strategy is strongest when you have the right bullets to search for, and having the wrong answers in your deck weakens your deck against the entire field. For instance, if you see that there are no Replenish decks near your bracket, it makes sense to replace the hateful but narrow Stromgald Cabal with either another more appropriate hate card or more general utility. Also keep in mind that even though you have Unmask to pitch useless black cards to, such as Perish in the White Weenie matchup, too much dead weight will significantly hurt your deck. This is one of the more difficult decks to play correctly as it requires the player to make not only frequent decisions but also to have a comprehensive game plan several turns in advance. While Jon Finkel played nearly flawlessly, it would probably take even an expert player a lot of testing time to become comfortable with this build. I would make a couple changes if I were to take this to Worlds. I would completely alter the creature base, removing the Phyrexian Negators in favor of more Skittering Horrors. Although this deck can get aggressive draws, it rarely wants to be the aggressive deck and is usually content to take control and finish off the opponent later, frequently with Yawgmoth's Will. Having an effective blocker that will deter attacks is more important than an extra point of power. Then you might run into trouble with too many Skittering creatures, but having an Unearth or two can help solve this problem. Finally, I would consider putting Phyrexian Processor in the main deck. Angry Hermit is a close relative of the Trinity Green decks that emerged before US Nationals. The core of these decks is the same: Skyshroud Poachers, Deranged Hermits, mana acceleration, and a strong land denial theme. Skyshroud Poacher is incredibly powerful in this deck. If it wasn't already too late, I would recommend that Deranged Hermit be given the errata that Karmic Guide, Great Whale, and Priest of Gix got. That is, that their come-into-play abilities only trigger when you actually cast the card, not when you put it into play by any other means. The creatures that have already received errata were downright weak without the assistance of other broken cards like Recurring Nightmare. Deranged Hermit is a powerhouse on its own and Poacher makes Hermit even more ridiculous. Anyway, the makers of Trinity Green realized the power of these cards and included other deadly threats and acceleration to create a great deck. Aaron Forsythe and Mike Turian opted dip into two colors and use a slightly more flexible support base. They were both rewarded for their efforts with top 8 slots at U. S. Nationals. Here is Aaron's decklist: Aaron Forsythe Angry Hermit Main Deck Sideboard 4 Avalanche Riders 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Deranged Hermit 4 Llanowar Elves 3 Masticore 2 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary 3 Skyshroud Poacher 3 Yavimaya Elder 4 Arc Lightning 4 Plow Under 11 Forest 2 Gaea's Cradle 4 Karplusan Forest 2 Mountain 4 Rishadan Port 2 Treetop Village 2 Ancient Hydra 4 Blastoderm 2 Boil 1 Masticore 1 Splinter 3 Thran Foundry 2 Uktabi Orangutan This deck features similar explosive threats to Trinity Green but instead of the Tangle Wires it has Avalanche Riders to provide additional land control and it has the incredible and underrated Arc Lightning and Yavimaya Elder, shifting Blastoderm out of the main deck and into the sideboard. This deck seems to be very tight and tuned and is capable of beating any deck out there. I would tinker with the exact mix of the spells and mana accelerators; perhaps another Gaea's Cradle here or one fewer Rofellos there but besides that I wouldn't recommend any drastic changes. Canadian Nationals saw the resurgence of two archetypes that were largely forgotten in the last couple months: Accelerated Blue and Stompy. Alex Mitchell also created an explosive Tinker deck that Terry Lau took to a top 8 finish. I think these are going to be three important decks to consider for the worlds metagame. Accelerated Blue was one of the elite standard decks a few months back before Nemesis came out and shifted the balance of power. Suddenly, not only was everyone gunning for blue but players now had the tools to beat blue in the form of the Parallax enchantments and Blastoderm. Some players tried to adjust by altering the deck to include the more consistent card drawing power of Thieving Magpie and a much greater number of counterspells but, for the most part, these efforts failed. The field had undergone a tremendous shift that left blue decks in an awkward position in most metagames. Accelerated Blue's best matchups are extremely aggressive beatdown decks and rival control decks. Narrow beatdown decks are relatively easy to beat because you can focus on merely surviving the early rush via your Urza's Destiny rares and then taking over with much higher quality mid- and late-game cards. Super controllish opponents are also easy to beat thanks to blue's high land and mana count and the fact that the blue control cards just tend to be better than any other control deck's. Accelerated Blue has a big problem with the midrange decks that started creeping onto the scene, like Replenish, Rebels, and Trinity. These decks, while not incredibly fast, do put pressure on. They exploit the low number of actual counterspells in the Blue decks and present a steady stream of threats backed up by enough utility and card advantage to overwhelm the blue defenses. These decks became more and more popular, toppling blue from its elite status to tier 2. Fast forward to Canadian Nationals. Four blue control decks make top 8. I'm going to work with Gab Tsang's list: Gab Tsang Accelerated Blue Main Deck Sideboard 3 Masticore 3 Morphling 2 Annul 4 Counterspell 4 Grim Monolith 4 Miscalculation 3 Powder Keg 3 Stroke of Genius 4 Thwart 4 Treachery 2 Dust Bowl 20 Island 4 Rishadan Port 2 Annul 1 Masticore 1 Powder Keg 2 Quash 1 Rewind 2 Scrying Glass 3 Seal of Removal 3 Submerge Gab and others realized that while Thwart may not be optimal in terms of your game plan, 8 or so counterspells is insufficient in the current environment. When you go up to 14 you have a much better chance of surviving. I count Annul because it is useful in most matchups. How many decks these days don't play an artifact or enchantment you want to counter? The mana base has to be adjusted to include the Thwarts, so Faerie Conclave has moved out of the deck. Conclave was never really vital to the deck anyway. I like Gab's sideboard but as always you have to adjust based on what you expect to face. I have come around to really liking Submerge. Stompy is boarding Rushwood Legates against which Hibernation is ineffective and their curve is low enough that they can generally start replaying threats too quickly. Hibernation is also a very poor answer to the threat of Blastoderms and Poachers. The other sideboard card I would consider is Chill, as a response to Red coming back into prominence. Another blue deck made top 8 at Canadian Nationals, but it was Tinker, not control. Tinker is one of those intriguing cards from Legacy that gives up 2 for 1 card advantage but more than makes up for it with obscene mana savings and searching ability. Here is Alex Mitchell's tinker deck that Terry Lau took to an impressive finish at Nationals: Terry Lau Tinker Main Deck Sideboard 4 Masticore 4 Metalworker 2 Phyrexian Colossus 1 Crumbling Sanctuary 4 Grim Monolith 2 Mishra's Helix 4 Phyrexian Processor 3 Stroke of Genius 4 Thran Dynamo 4 Tinker 4 Voltaic Key 2 Worn Powerstone 4 Crystal Vein 10 Island 4 Rishadan Ports 4 Saprazzan Skerry 4 Annul 4 Defense Grid 4 Miscalculation 3 Tangle Wire This deck is overloaded with colorless mana and gamebreaking spells to use all that colorless like Phyrexian Processor, Masticore, and Stroke of Genius. With over 30 artifacts, Metalworker becomes a great mana producer. The great part is that worker is terrific in the deck but the deck is in no way reliant on this fragile creature surviving. That said, there are a lot of ways to get Metalworker into play turn two and if your opponent doesn't immediately remove it then you could easily have access to ten mana on turn three. With that kind of mana production and the quality of threats this deck can end the game before a lot of decks get off the ground. This deck has some subtle interactions and requires a fair amount of practice to get proficient at. One thing to keep in mind is that while it might be tempting to play out all your mana generating artifacts, Metalworker is actually more efficient at producing mana so you want to hold on to your artifacts except for Voltaic Key which allows Metalworker to do double duty each turn. Another thing to keep in mind is that this deck is prone to a problem that old school Wildfire decks used to have: more than enough mana available but nothing to do with it. In order to get the explosive draws you want you need to play a much larger percentage of mana sources than most decks. That means that you might not draw enough threats, so mulligan appropriately. Depending on the matchup I might mulligan a draw with explosive mana and no threats. Use good judgment and keep in mind how likely the opponent is to have solutions to the number of threats you can present. A final strategic point is that with the quantity of mana available and the relatively small number of threats, it frequently makes sense to save several spells in your hand and overwhelming your opponent with them in one turn. I do have a bit of criticism for this build. The sideboard fills a lot of holes but this version looks like it has too many cards against some decks and nothing for too many others. I would certainly like to have a couple extra copies of Crumbling Sanctuary available both so I wouldn't have to rely solely on Tinker to get one and so that I could get a backup in case the first one is destroyed. Defense Grid is certainly a powerful card against permission but Tangle Wire and your own permission fulfill a lot of the same function. Several other notable players, including Kai Budde, chose to play a completely different version of Tinker that splashed black for Duress and looked to solve the green problem by sideboarding Perish. Duress has good synergy with the deck, as it almost assures that you will be able to force through a threat (although you can still have the problem of drawing absolutely no threats). There are those who lament that there is not much room for innovation in the current format. For them, and those who like building rogue decks, offbeat Tinker based decks should be of interest. Already there are posts on the net about Tinker-Rising Waters and Tinker-Goblin Welder decks. I have been fiddling with a Tinker-Smokestack-Yawgmoth's Will deck that I think could be tuned into a contender too. Stompy took home the Canadian Nationals championship as well as the European championship. Green decks featuring cheap aggressive attackers and efficient creature enhancers figure to be prominent at Worlds. Aggressive beatdown decks are often a good choice because they can win against a wide variety of decks with their speed and consistency. Let's look at Noah Boeken's Euros Championship deck: Noah Boeken Stompy Main Deck Sideboard 4 Pouncing Jaguar 4 Wild Dogs 3 Elvish Lyrist 4 Vine Dryad 4 River Boa 2 Albino Troll 3 Uktabi Orangutan 4 Giant Growth 4 Rancor 2 Wild Might 4 Tangle Wire 1 Lumbering Satyr 16 Forest 3 Gaea's Cradle 2 Treetop Village 3 Thran Foundry 3 Cursed Totem 4 Rushwood Legate 2 Lumbering Satyr 2 Treetop Bracers 1 Uktabi Orangutan While some players might choose to run the full complement of twelve green creature enhancers (Rancor, Giant Growth, and Wild Might from Prophecy), Noah decided he only needed 10. In return, he got to add a little utility to his stompy deck with Elvish Lyrist and Uktabi Orangutan. I think this slight sacrifice in aggressiveness improves the deck. Besides, Lyrist and Monkey are still creatures and even if they aren't quite as efficient as other attackers they can get the job done while providing vital defense against powerful enchantments and artifacts. Boeken was also prepared for other green decks with a main deck Lumbering Satyr and more Satyrs and Treetop Bracers from the sideboard. Another deck to look out for is Replenish. Here is Raphael Levy's European Championships version: Raphael Levy Replenish Main Deck Sideboard 8 Plains 9 Island 4 Adarkar Wastes 3 Rishadan Port 1 Seal of Removal 4 Frantic Search 4 Attunement 3 Parallax Tide 1 Mystical Tutor 3 Counterspell 3 Enlightened Tutor 4 Replenish 4 Parallax Wave 4 Opalescence 2 Seal of Cleansing 1 Wrath of God 1 Sky Diamond 1 Grim Monolith 1 Cursed Totem 2 Daze 2 Lilting Refrain 3 Erase 1 Chill 2 Seal of Removal 2 Wrath of God 1 Circle of Protection: Black 1 Seal of Cleansing Since Regionals, Replenish has been highly regarded as one of the best decks. When people started to figure out what a powerful card Tangle Wire was, Replenish diminished slightly in popularity. The strategy of setting up a four casting cost spell just wasn't appealing, especially when your opponent could put a lot of pressure on you and drop a Wire to lock you down for a few turns while they finished you off. Replenish had to adapt. They did so by adding multiple Frantic Searches, changing the character of the deck. While before Replenish was thought of as a control deck with Enlightened Tutors and Counterspells that could cast an explosive Replenish now it had more of a combo deck mentality: Fill my graveyard and cast Replenish before you can kill me, using Tutors and Attunement to search and Frantic Searches to quickly fill the graveyard and nullify mana disruption from Rishadan Ports and Tangle Wires. Although the deck still has control elements such as sideboard Wrath of God and some counters the environment change forced this shift. The final deck I want to look at is an English creation called Red Deck Wins. Here is what Dan Paskins played to a 5-1 record in European Championships: Dan Paskins Red Deck Wins Main Deck Sideboard 4 Goblin Cadets 4 Goblin Patrol 4 Avalanche Riders 2 Lightning Dragon 4 Shock 4 Seal of Fire 2 Parch 2 Arc Lightning 2 Rhystic Lightning 2 Lightning Blast 3 Hammer of Bogardan 3 Pillage 17 Mountain 4 Rishadan Port 3 Ghitu Encampment 4 Earthquake 4 Balduvian Horde 3 Mogg Salvage 2 Boil 1 Pillage 1 Pulverize This deck is a little bit of Ponza land control and a little bit of red beatdown. It has a respectable amount of burn to efficiently kill creatures or finish the opponent off. It has compiled a pretty impressive record, with a lot of European championships competitors doing well with slightly different incarnations. Still, it somehow seems suboptimal to me. I'm not quite convinced Lightning Blast is good enough and the deck doesn't have the fantastic early pressure that Sligh decks from yesteryear could boast. The deck does have a good mix of pressure, removal, and late game threats that make it a threat against everyone and few notable weaknesses but I would be too afraid of a Replenish deck dropping turn two Chill or Circle of Protection Red to play this deck. There are a lot of the decks and some analysis. I would bring several tuned decks to Worlds and pick what looked best there. With a field this diverse, there probably won't be more than two copies of any single deck in the top 8. I will leave it to the Worlds competitors to prove me right or wrong. For more Worlds coverage, check out www.wizards.com/sideboard/worlds2000