Metagaming for States

Jason Rose

On November 1, the Urza's Saga block rotated out of Standard and the Invasion set became legal for play. This year's Championships follow the rotation closely. Because of these closely packed dates, there have been no real decklists on the net describing the metagame or the decks to beat in this new environment. With a very open format, this year's Championships are sure to draw many people and many different types of decks. As someone determined to win my Championship, my playtest group and I have been working hard developing new decks and listening to the theories and ideas of others. This is what we have learned.
A few months ago, people were raving about Rebels and Blasto-Geddon dominating the format.

A few months ago, people were raving about Rebels and Blasto-Geddon dominating the format. Since then, we have played very furiously with these two decks and pitted all of our ideas against them, as they can be judged as the standard for deckbuilding. Since then, we have learned from playing and popular opinion that the two decks considered the best are now white-blue control and blue-black control.

The white-blue control deck is actually a return to "old-school Magic." This is a deck centered around board control. It uses cards such as Counterspell, Absorb, Teferi's Moat, Disenchant, and, of course, Wrath of God. These cards, combined with the powerful new Fact or Fiction, form a lethal deck designed to stop threats and gain board advantage, then to slowly kill your opponent. While the first versions we played used Jeweled Spirit, now the popular kill card has become the long-forsaken Millstone. Some versions of this deck also use an Enlightened Tutor-based strategy, putting in one copy of utility cards such as Tsabo's Web, Ivory Mask, Trade Routes, Jayemdae Tome, and Story Circle. Some of these decks also run the powerful Armageddon, destroying all lands then recovering fast to cripple your opponent's resources. In the sideboard are such cards as Chill, Rootwater Thief, Circles of Protection, Blinding Angel, and Spiritual Focus. This powerful archetype has been predicted by many to be the dominant deck at this year's State Championships.

The next powerful archetype that has raised many eyebrows is black-blue control. Using cards such as Counterspell, the extremely sought-after Undermine, Spite/Malice, and Recoil, this decktype has two distinct varieties. The first is a discard-based control deck. This uses Dark Rituals, Abyssal Specters, Chilling Apparitions, Stupor, Unmask, the reprinted Lobotomy, and Ravenous Rats. This deck's main focus is to strip your opponent's hand of cards and kill their creatures with cards like Vendetta and Vicious Hunger in the first few turns, then begin killing them with the smaller creatures, or hopefully, a Thrashing Wumpus, Ascendant Evincar, or an Avatar of Will. Card drawing can be found in Fact or Fiction and Probe. To top it all off, Yawgmoth's Agenda comes in from Invasion, adding a powerful Yawgmoth's Will-type card to recycle a graveyard full of useful spells. It isn't as good as Will, but it is an option. There are also versions that run Vampiric Tutor-based strategies, putting in one copies of "silver bullets" like Perish, Stromgald Cabal, Massacre, and Tsabo's Decree.

In Virginia, Mike Long may show up to mise

The other type of blue-black control is known popularly as Nether-Go. Taking a play off the mono-blue decks of the past, Nether-Go combines an assortment of countermagic, creature removal, and card drawing to control the game, then using Nether Spirits as the kill card. Since the Spirits can't really die unless there is more than one in the graveyard, they can block Blastoderms, kill small creatures, or get burned and still return to play. Cards such as Foil and Fact or Fiction combo well with it. The overwhelming aspect of this decktype is that it has one of the most powerful sideboards in Standard. Cards such as Perish, Massacre, and Tsabo's Decree have the ability to completely erase your opponent's creatures, leaving them defenseless and without an offense. Rootwater Thief, Stromgald Cabal, Misdirection, and Chill all can be used against various control decks expected to appear at tournaments. With this massive array of cards to choose from, expect to see black-blue in many of the Top 8's.

Although shadowed over by the control decks, the standard of the field still seems to be Rebel White decks. Coming in either the "Grizzly Bear" version or those centered around Lin Sivvi, these decks gain powerful cards absent from the Masque-block versions, such as Wrath of God, Enlightened Tutor, Armageddon, and Crusade. This deck has the ability to get out early creatures, such as Longbow Archer, Ramosian Sergeant, Fresh Volunteers, and Steadfast Guard, then Parallax Wave away all of the opponent's creatures and rush in for the kill. Or, it can destroy all of the lands and kill the opponent before he or she can recover from the loss of resources. It can also just cast a Crusade and overpower his or her creatures. Mageta's the Lion also retains a spot in this deck, as his Wrath of God ability makes him a game breaker against many decks. This deck is fast and is probably one of the most consistent decktypes in the new Standard. It goes about 50% against nearly every other deck, making it a good deck to judge yours on. With utility cards such as Blinding Angel, more Disenchant-type cards, Story Circle, and Light of Day in the sideboard, this deck can produce powerful answers to whatever deck it may face. Before you can think of winning your Championships, you must be able to handle this deck effectively.

Next comes the so-called best deck in the format, Blasto-Geddon. Resembling the original Erhnam-Geddon decks of the past, this deck focuses on casting a large, unstoppable creature, then removing the opponent's resources and destroying their way to deal with the creature. This deck runs on cards like Blastoderm, Armageddon, Chimeric Idols, Disenchant, and Parallax Wave. Using Llanowar Elves and Birds of Paradise for early mana, this deck can easily function after having cast an Armageddon in the early game. For a second kill card, many decks have been using Mungha Wurms and the new Kavu Titan. Playtesting has shown that the underrated Kavu Chameleon is an amazing card in some match-ups, as it cannot be countered and can get around Teferi's Moat and Perish. Some versions also run small Rebel engines, with Ramosian Sergeants and Fresh Volunteers. Llanowar Knight has also become a popular card, as black-blue decks have a very hard time dealing with it. The sideboard combines the best of white's sideboard cards with green's, but otherwise has nothing incredible to offer by combining the two colors. A card found to be interesting in the blue-white control match-ups is Elfhame Sanctuary, as it allows you to recover the land advantage quicker and, since you skip your draw step, can get around losing to Millstones. It would be wise to include this in your sideboard if you plan on playing this deck. This is another decktype must be prepared for.

Red-black land destruction has proven itself. Rain of Tears, Stone Rain, Despoil, and Pillage form the basis for many of these decks, crippling the mana base and killing the opponent with a Thrashing Wumpus or Flowstone Overseer. The massive card advantage spell, Earthquake, augments the array of Shocks and Seals of Fire that this deck uses to deal with small creatures and early threats. Cards that have become popular from Invasion are the devastating Void, Blazing Specter, and Pyre Zombie. A card that has been found to win many games is the new Trench Wurm, which gives the deck a black 3/3 creature that can destroy non-basic lands like the Dwarven Miner could. The practically unstoppable Hammer of Bogardan can be found in this deck, as well. The sideboard consists of the best black cards, including Perish and Massacre, Tsabo's Decree, and red gives it Boil. The deck's main problem, however, is it's inability to deal with cards such as Chill and Story Circle. While it has the potential to win every game, it has many problems versus blue-white and blue-black control decks.

Is Fish emerging from the depths?

Thanks to Undermine, Vodalian Zombie, and Sleeper's Robe, some players now enjoy a Fish deck with a new twist-black with blue. This deck uses Rootwaters Thieves, the new Vodalian Merchant, and Lord of Atlantis combined with the black-blue gold cards of Invasion to form a fast Merfolk deck with the added power of creature removal and new countermagic. Resembling Counter-Sliver, this deck can start out very fast and with a few counterspells to protect it, can end the game very quickly. It's largest problem, though, is that cards such as Earthquake and Thrashing Wumpus can all but beat this deck if allowed to resolve. Still, it gains the incredible sideboard that blue and black offer and it has the speed to overcome many decks. The ability of its creatures to Islandwalk past obstacles is would almost make it a good meta-game choice. Don't be surprised to see one or two of these.

Another popular archetype with many casual players is the five-color green decks. Fueled by Birds of Paradise and the new Utopia Tree, these decks can take virtually any form they wish, from the Elvish beatdown surrounding Elvish Champion, to decks that can cast a Dragon Legend on turn three. Though they have a rough time dealing with Perish, they have the advantage of being able to surprise the opponent at every turn thanks to the ability to play any kind or color of card. The sideboard can consist of nearly anything that the builder wishes to add, making this decktype a versatile, fun meta-game choice. Expect to see many of these at the Championships.
It's an open field, so keep an open mind.

The remainder of decks range anywhere from Mercenary decks, to red burn decks, to decks centered around various cards, like Jokulhaups and the Replenish-like Twilight's Call. The question that people have been wondering is are there any combo decks left in Standard? The answer-none that are really worth trying. About the closest thing that we have tried to a combo deck would be Call of the Wild-based decks, which, although seem good in theory, have proven to be too unreliable and inconsistent. Nonetheless, expect to see strange and unusual decks appearing.

Your information is given, your opponents are waiting, and you have chosen a deck. Your next step is to put the finishing touches to your masterpiece and compete in one of the most entertaining and challenging tournaments offered to both competitive and casual players alike. While most decks will not do as well as expected, many will shine and become the Standard to which this new field is defined. Your deck may be the next deck to beat. So, be prepared, have fun, play fair, and remember-it's an open field, so keep an open mind.