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Main » Articles » Five Decks You'll Play This Weekend

Five Decks You'll Play This Weekend

Brandon Isleib
Posted on January 13, 2016
 Reddit

Welcome to Gathering Magic's weekly quintet of decks you should be aware of this weekend, whether you're playing a major online event, going to a Grand Prix, or hitting Friday Night Magic. This week, with the Oath of the Gatewatch prerelease about to drop, it's time to look at some Sealed pools—along with a few Standard decks that stand to benefit from the new set.

Oath of the Gatewatch – What's There and What Isn't There

Having seen a fair bit of Grand Prix Oakland coverage, Standard has been defined by its easy access to a load of colors, bringing together the flagship cards from Khans of Tarkir, such as Siege Rhino, and the converge cards from Battle for Zendikar, such as Painful Truths. That four-color Rally the Ancestors list is even possible testifies to the mana-fixing in the format.

The trouble for those decks is that Oath of the Gatewatch gives them next to nothing. The Shambling Vent cycle is filled out, which is sure to affect current Standard decks, but most of the rest of the set promotes colorless mana and Eldrazi strategies we've only seen glimpses of. There aren't even any converge spells; new Allies like General Tazri are the only cards to encourage Standard to be more of what it already is (Call the Gatewatch arguably implies a new multicolored deck). Build-arounds like Kozilek, the Great Distortion imply a radically different deck construction from most everything in the format, and colorless decks even see good, role-player-type removal in Spatial Contortion and Warping Wail (Warping Wail exiling Jace, Vryn's Prodigy or Zulaport Cutthroat while also being able to counter Painful Truths is a big deal in my view—I would not be surprised to see this card be the reason Eldrazi decks elbow their way into a greater metagame share).

So, what kind of existing decks will enjoy the new set?

B/G Husk ? Standard League | Hovsgaard

Didn't I just get done describing a card that's great against Rally the Ancestors decks (not to mention Flaying Tendrils or Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet)? So why do I think a deck built around Zulaport Cutthroat and Nantuko Husk will benefit? First, this deck doesn't recur its creatures other than Bloodsoaked Champion; it definitely cares about creatures dying rather than being exiled, but Anafenza, the Foremost only affects the board state in which she's present rather than eliminating future ancestors to rally.

Second, as a two-colored deck running Llanowar Wastes and Rogue's Passage, this deck's mana base is already set up reasonably well to incorporate Matter Reshaper, which has obvious, potent synergy with Collected Company decks. The Rally the Ancestors lists from recent events have no ways of casting Matter Reshaper, and as heavily reliant on fetch lands as the archetype is, Llanowar Wastes or Yavimaya Coast probably can't cut it. With the metagame increasingly aware of Rally the Ancestors, and with incentives like Matter Reshaper and possibly Sifter of Skulls or Vile Redeemer, Hovsgaard's list might be the future of Nantuko Husk decks.

Of course, the Eldrazi stand to benefit from having more friends:

Eldrazi Ramp ? Standard League | Servietska

I've been playing a midrange form of green Eldrazi Ramp in Friday Night Magic recently (Surrak, the Hunt Caller loves to give Eldrazi haste, FYI), and the package of Shrine of the Forsaken Gods and Sanctum of Ugin definitely has been worth going down to one color for. Whisperwood Elemental is a key card for stabilizing against the midrange decks, letting you go wide when the rest of the deck wants to go all in on a huge creature. The Great Aurora is an intriguing inclusion; being able to reuse Blighted Woodland and even Sanctum of Ugin (though the game would need to go really long for reuse to be relevant) helps break the symmetry.

With so many colorless sources already built into the deck, and with Corrupted Crossroads coming out, this archetype could take on several new directions, whether in splashing a nongreen Eldrazi or increasing the colorless direction. Wastes mean that Ruin in Their Wake could replace Nissa's Pilgrimage if decks want to go high on utility lands. I want to try World Breaker in this archetype; one of the reasons Eldrazi Ramp has gone straight to Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger with few stops in between (sometimes Void Winnower) is that there hasn't been much else to play in the 7-mana-and-up category. World Breaker fills that gap, is removal of a sort, and has reach, allowing the deck to deal with thorns like Wingmate Roc. And Kozilek, the Great Distortion might find a place alongside Ulamog, or it might be its own build. All the ramp spells becoming useful as counterspells once Kozilek's out drastically changes the shape of the game from that point forward, as Nissa's Pilgrimage can counter Painful Truths, Whisperwood Elemental can counter Murderous Cut, and a duplicate Kozilek can counter another Kozilek (sort of like grandeur). If you think you want to experiment with this strategy, pick up Shrine of the Forsaken Gods and Sanctum of Ugin now, not after prices have spiked.

Prerelease Preanalysis

Pool A

Enough about where Standard might go; let's look at some Sealed pools and see what we can do with them. Here's the first one, sorted by rarity within each heading (here's a picture version of the pool):

Oath of the Gatewatch Sealed Pool A

It's clear that red's out for not having enough cards, which is a shame since Tyrant of Valakut's a fine Limited card. Sifter of Skulls and Remorseless Punishment are in the color with the most cards, so black seems to be a good place to start; although it is a little lacking in creatures, it has plentiful removal in Complete Disregard, two Oblivion Strikes, two Tar Snares, and a Rising Miasma for the sideboard. There are enough decent Allies in black (mostly Malakir Soothsayer) for white's Ally package, led by Hero of Goma Fada, to fill the curve nicely. Although it's a little weird to combine Allies and Eldrazi in a mix, Sifter of Skulls is good enough that just jamming creatures and taking synergies wherever they can be found seems reasonable. Something like this:

Oath of the Gatewatch Prerelease Sealed Deck A ? Oath of the Gatewatch Sealed | Brandon Isleib

Although this looks like a Strider Harness deck, I think one of the Seer's Lanterns makes more sense in the slot. This deck has just enough 4- and 5-drops (by force—there just aren’t enough early drops to do otherwise) that hitting them reliably is important, particularly to bring unconditional removal like Oblivion Strike online. Having enough mana for the evasion of Kor Sky Climber and Kozilek's Pathfinder is also important; although Hero of Goma Fada will enable some devastating alpha strikes, the backswing will sometimes make it unwise to leverage the ability too much, and at that point, the Climbers and Pathfinders should prove their worth.

Pool B

This next pool, which I'll link rather than list out, is an interesting one because its rares are almost all terrible. Here they are:

  • Blight Herder – Yay!

  • General Tazri – (checks pool for Mana Confluence) Not optimal!

  • Dimensional Infiltrator – Role-player at best!

  • Overwhelming Denial – A usually overpriced counterspell! How kind!

  • Jori En, Ruin Diver – Absolutely not idea!

  • Aligned Hedron Network – Nope!

There also isn't the Ally support that makes General Tazri's tutoring worth doing. So what does that leave us with? Well, Jori En, Ruin Diver and Herald of Kozilek share a pool with a bunch of good red devoid cards. Let's see what that can lead to:

Oath of the Gatewatch Prerelease Sealed Deck B ? Oath of the Gatewatch Sealed | Brandon Isleib

Having two Brute Strengths allows the deck to have a little more punch than its array of aggressive (relative to the format) weenies implies. This deck is also as Nettle Drone/Herald of Kozilek–centric deck as possible; Brute Strength, Makindi Sliderunner, and Jori En, Ruin Diver are the only four-colored spells in the deck. Horribly Awry, Spell Shrivel, Consuming Sinkhole, and two copies of Press into Service make for a decent sideboard. I don't know how good this deck normally would be, but if Herald of Kozilek joins Nettle Drone and/or Jori En, it will be party time for sure.

Pool C

Here's Pool C. And here are its rares:

  • Conduit of Ruin – It can only find Ruin Processor. That and the ability might be good enough on its own.

  • Call the Gatewatch (×2) – No Planeswalkers. This is a problem.

  • Vile Redeemer – It’s a little tricky to set up, but it's a good payoff. And it isn't terrible as a Wolfir Avenger knockoff.

  • Angelic Captain – The in-color Allies aren't great, and Unknown Shores is the only reliable color-fixing in the pool. It's an okay flyer if it has to be just that.

  • Mina and Denn, Wildborn – Now we're talking. Having a good body, a chance to ramp, and trample for big things is my kind of jam. Relentless Hunter at uncommon helps the R/G angle as well.

The trouble is that red is only okay in the pool otherwise—Vile Aggregate and Valakut Predator are good, but there's no removal. Meanwhile, blue provides Ruination Guide at uncommon, a fair number of ways to gain colorless creatures, and a good multicolored creature in Void Grafter, a second flash creature to serve as a combat trick along with Vile Redeemer. And Conduit of Ruin's cost reduction goes very nicely with the two Jwar Isle Avengers, whether hard-cast or with surge. There isn't much removal in G?U either, but that's a color combination normally built without it, so it's more likely to be okay. As much as I wanted to build with Mina and Denn, here goes:

Oath of the Gatewatch Prerelease Sealed Pool C ? Oath of the Gatewatch Sealed | Brandon Isleib

A lot of how good this deck is depends on how good Harvester Troll is. Salvage Drone and Blisterpod are perfectly fine to feed to it, and both are good with Ruination Guide, so it might work out. Much like Levitation in Magic 2012 was only playable in G/U, Gravity Negator has a chance to work overtime in lifting beefy Harvester Trolls to the skies. While this feels very much like the type of deck I build thinking it's good and then find out early that it isn't, this deck does have a lot of flying, and it's not as though other colors have good removal to go into. Having two copies of Call the Gatewatch was crippling, but at least there was a deck available that can put good pressure on opponents.

Conclusion

Maybe the holidays were what make this feel overdue, but I'm pumped for Oath of the Gatewatch to take Standard in some new directions. And with all the colorless stuff, the prerelease should feel unique. However you experience the new set coming up, I hope you have a great time with it.

Order Oath of the Gatewatch at CoolStuffInc.com today!

TAGS articles, standard, sealed, metagame, constructed, magic online, analysis, decklist, brandon isleib, 5 decks, five decks, five decks you'll play this weekend, oath of the gatewatch, ogw

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