Locations
Hello, friends, and welcome to the first installment of 'Off the Beaten Path.' I'm Sam Feeley, formerly known on the site as Sammy Time. Long-time ManaNation citizens will recognize me from my old 'Trial and Error' series, where I examined anything and everything tournament players will encounter on their voyages to the Pro Tour. Well, I'm back, but 'Trial and Error' isn't. Each week at 'Off the Beaten Path' I will peruse the various Magic sites for tournament-worthy decks that are, as the title suggests, off the beaten path. These are what we sometimes call call "metagame calls" - decks that are designed to handle a specific sample of popular decks. I'll be looking mostly at standard, but where appropriate, I'll examine extended, block, and legacy as well. If you have a deck you want me to take for a ride and see if it can make it at a tournament, feel free to email me at samuraientertainment@gmail.com, and maybe you'll see your name in these lights.
Now that we've got the formalities out of the way, let's get started by looking at the results from the Star City Games 5K in Philadelphia this past weekend. With the absence of Cryptic Command and Vivid lands, I (among many) figured this new Standard would be a format dominated by aggro, specifically Jund and Vampires. After looking at the top 16 lists, here are the numbers we're faced with:
Basic Archetype: 13, aggro, 1 midrange, 2 control
Colors: 15 without blue, 1 with blue
Okay, so far it's looking just as we expected. Blue control had its heyday for long enough, now let's let the other colors and archetypes shine, eh? Let's dive in further.
Specific Archetype (according to SCG): 6 Jund Aggro, 3 Vampires, 2 Naya Lotus Angel, 1 Naya Aggro, 1 Luminarch Planeswalker Control, 1 Boros Bushwhacker, 1 Mono-White Control, 1 Red Deck Wins
Ten out of sixteen decks definitely don't look out of place - Jund, Vampires, and Red Deck. "Boros Bushwhacker", though silly-sounding, is just a super-fast red-white weenie deck (designed and championed by my fellow ManaNation writer Kelly Reid.) It's a welcome throwback to a couple of years ago and the days of Boros Deck Wins. Naya Aggro is just what it sounds like. But what the hell are "Naya Lotus Angel" and "Luminarch Planeswalker Control"? And furthermore, shouldn't Mono-White Control wait its turn until extended season, where it has access to the stupidity that is Martyr of Sands? Let's have a look at those three.
Naya Lotus Angel
[deck title="Naya Lotus Angel" author=""Rob Theringer align="right"]4 Baneslayer Angel
4 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Enlisted Wurm
4 Knight Of The Reliquary
4 Lotus Cobra
2 Noble Hierarch
2 Rampaging Baloths
4 Woolly Thoctar
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Naya Charm
3 Path To Exile
4 Arid Mesa
5 Forest
4 Jungle Shrine
2 Mountain
3 Plains
3 Rootbound Crag
3 Sunpetal Grove
Sideboard
2 Behemoth Sledge
4 Celestial Purge
3 Dauntless Escort
1 Earthquake
1 Enlisted Wurm
1 Luminarch Ascension
1 Naya Charm
1 Qasali Ambusher
1 Volcanic Fallout[/deck]
This is the one midrange deck mentioned above. Two different versions of this specific archetype made the top 16: this and a more aggro version piloted by Mike Innace. Innace's rendition includes a Ranger of Eos suite and a much lower curve. But what catches my eye in both lists is Bloodbraid Elf. Not that it's there (of course it should be there), but what's there below CMC 4. I want you to look at these decks side-by-side with any Jund deck that runs Bloodbraid Elf. You'll notice that while the inclusion of Bloodbraid Elf in Theringer and Innace's decks may seem second-nature, there aren't as many threats to cascade into pre-board as in Jund (see Maelstrom Pulse, Blightning, et al). Again, in no way am I suggesting Bloodbraid Elf should not be in this deck. There are plenty of tasty goodies to flip into such as Naya Charm and Lightning Bolt. It's just that when you look at what the Elf gets to dig up in Jund, it's no wonder six of the top sixteen decks were Jund - and five of them came before the first Naya deck.
Mono-White Control
[deck align="left" title="Mono-White Control" author="Michael Lapine"]4 Baneslayer Angel
2 Iona, Shield of Emeria
4 Knight Of The White Orchid
3 Armillary Sphere
4 Day Of Judgment
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Luminarch Ascension
2 Martial Coup
3 Oblivion Ring
4 Path To Exile
2 Pitfall Trap
2 Scepter Of Dominance
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
21 Plains
Sideboard
4 Celestial Purge
3 Devout Lightcaster
4 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Kor Sanctifiers
1 Oblivion Ring[/deck]
As I said, you would think Emeria, the Sky Ruin's first splash would be in Extended, where Martyr of Sands is legal. Well, the party's started already. You won't find any absurd amounts of life gain here, but you will find board sweepers, spot removal, and a couple of sexy smackdowns in Baneslayer Angel and Iona. While I'm still on the fence in regards to Iona being the next big finisher in control decks, I definitely like her as a reanimation target and an EDH general. Can you imagine how bad Iona would screw your opponent in a one-on-one game of EDH? Especially against Ben McDole's Maga deck. Ouch. In the meantime, Iona isn't going to win me over as long as there are decks that will reliably get there by the time she can hit the table.
Luminarch Planeswalker Control
[deck align="right" title="Luminarch Planeswalker Control" author="Calosso Fuentes"]4 Ajani Vengeant
2 Chandra Nalaar
4 Day of Judgment
3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 Jace Beleren
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Luminarch Ascension
2 Martial Coup
3 Negate
4 Path to Exile
1 Volcanic Fallout
4 Arid Mesa
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Island
3 Mountain
6 Plains
3 Rupture Spire
4 Scalding Tarn
Sideboard
4 Baneslayer Angel
4 Celestial Purge
1 Chandra Nalaar
2 Flashfreeze
1 Jace Beleren
1 Negate
1 Telemin Performance
1 Volcanic Fallout[/deck]
My initial thought to abuse Luminarch Ascension was a Bant deck with Sleep, Tanglesap, Fog, Safe Passage, and the like. But who needs Fog effects to trigger Luminarch Ascension when you have spot removal after spot removal and seven board sweepers? Kudos to the big man Calosso Fuentes for coming up with this true American beauty. (It's red-white-blue, get it? Groan.) Obviously short on counterspells in a format lacking Cryptic Command and Broken Ambitions, he'll let the creatures resolve, blow them up, and counter the noncreatures with a well-timed Negate. Another inclusion that piques my interest is Rupture Spire. It's no Reflecting Pool, but in this format, it might as well be. Plus, budget players will appreciate it hitting tournament tables as they won't be paying $100 a set to nab 'em.
Don't take the results from Philadelphia for granted - this is a very young metagame and we still have FNM, Worlds, the new "States Without Borders" on December 5, and two more Star City 5K's in Nashville (November 7) and St. Louis (December 12) to help mold the scene by New Year's. But no matter what your metagame, never forget the elephants, vampires, or Bloodbraid Elves in the room, or they really will come back to bite you (especially the vampires - you tend to feel those bites in the morning.)
Until next time, keep drawing the nuts.
- Sam
