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Main » Articles » 5 Decks You Can't Miss This Week

5 Decks You Can't Miss This Week

Carlos Gutierrez
Posted on June 7, 2014
 Reddit

Conspiracy may not affect Standard or Modern Magic, but that doesn't mean it isn't one of the more exciting sets for eternal play in some time. This week, we're conspiring to bring you a few awesome decks featuring gems like Trading Post and Eidolon of Blossoms in Standard, Phyrexian Obliterator in Modern, and Gamekeeper in Legacy. On top of that, this is the week I'm starting to feature early takes on Conspiracy Legends in Commander, starting with my favorite: Marchesa, the Black Rose. We've got plenty of ground to cover, so let's get started!

There's one card in Standard that I haven't seen nearly enough of this season: Trading Post. This format hasn't been kind to grindy attrition engines, with cards like Pack Rat. Sphinx's Revelation, and Master of Waves sort of pushing those styles of decks to the wayside. At least until recently. Andrew Cuneo has a new take on Trading Post featuring updates from Journey into Nyx. Are you ready to go off with Ral Zarek plus Trading Post?

[Cardlist Title= UR Trading Post - Journey into Nyx Standard | Andrew Cuneo]

Not much has changed. I can't imagine there's anyone who's registered more Codex Shredders in Constructed than Andrew Cuneo. The key here is that Red removal is more efficient than answers in either Blue or White in this Standard. There are a lot of things that need to die immediately and stay dead, which just isn't a job for Detention Sphere or Banishing Light. Mizzium Mortars does a fantastic job of bridging the gap between Doom Blade and Supreme Verdict, which is exactly what this kind of deck needs.

The key here is that you're looking to set up absolute control of the late game using your Trading Post. You can rebuy win conditions, turn Codex Shredder into a super-slow Regrowth, and reset Pithing Needle on Elspeth and other problem permanents throughout the game. You've even got a cute, singleton Deserter's Quarters so that you don't die to Stormbreath Dragon off the top. Eventually you hit a point where you can rebuy Mizzium Mortars and Dissolve whenever you need to and can either beatdown with Haunted Plate Mail or deck your opponent with Elixir of Immortality.

Also, let's be fair. Who doesn't want to have Ral Zarek in play with Trading Post? Double the goats? Double the life? Let's not even get started on taking extra turns.

So is this the next big thing? Probably not, but it's an awesome control deck built by an player who is archetypical of that style of deck, and it does some really awesome things. If I'm going to try to play control in a format this midrangey, I'm going to be playing a Cuneo control deck.

Speaking of midrange, let's look at a new way of going over the top in these creature-based mirrors. This weekend, Brian Braun-Duin put up awesome results with a Standard take on a Block powerhouse - Junk Constellation. Doomwake Giant, Eidolon of Blossoms, and Mana Bloom assemble to form a powerful attrition engine that can decimate boards and put you far ahead of your opponents. Let's take a look at Brian's newest brew:

Junk Constellation- Journey into Nyx Standard| Brian Braun-Duin

This isn't that dissimilar to the Junk Midrange decks we were seeing in the first few weeks of this Standard format with Journey into Nyx, but it has some important distinctions. Instead of leaning on Read the Bones and powerful five drops to put a game away, you've got a pair of powerful engines in Doomwake Giant and Eidolon of Blossoms. Both of these cards let you really start shutting down decks that are trying to play fair games of Magic.

Just look at how many Enchantments this shell plays anyway: Banishing Light, Courser of Kruphix, Underworld Connections. Brain Maggot isn't that out of the question as Thoughtseize substitutes in the maindeck. It is not difficult to use Doomwake Giant to sweep your opponents board multiple times in a game. Eidolon of Blossoms is a Sphinx's Revelation with legs. These cards come down on stable boards and very quickly put games out of reach for your opponents.

Basically, you get to play the same midrange game as everyone else with Courser of Kruphix plus removal, but your top end is better at pulling ahead and generating unbeatable board presences because your deck is more than just a pile of powerful cards with little synergy.

Who doesn't want to cast Phyrexian Obliterator in Modern? There was a Black-Green deck that did it for awhile. Some Jund decks tried to live the dream of Domri Rade plus Obliterator. Besides that though, we haven't seen very many homes for Phyrexian Negator's Modern counterpart. Evan Erwin hasn't quite given up though and has shared this decklist on Twitter:

[Cardlist Title=Mono-Black Devotion - Journey into Nyx Modern | Evan Erwin]

How real of a plan is it to just turbo-Nykthos into enormous Gray Merchant of Asphodels and Phyrexian Obliterators? I have no idea, but I want to live in a world where it's good enough. Discard is just as good as it's always been in Modern. Phyrexian Arena gives you game against the other midrange decks. You have a giant pile of removal and creatures that are straight-up two for ones or just very difficult to face down in the red zone.

This deck has the tools to game against most of the field. Your creatures are generally good against Lightning Bolt and your Messengers and Obliterators can overload Path to Exile. The match-up that I'm most concerned about is anything with Splinter Twin, but I honestly think that discard plus Gray Merchant may just be good enough to race most of the Twin variants in this format.

I really like that this deck is a proactive disruption deck with a real plan to just kill opponents instead of leaning on Raging Ravine and Treetop Village in a format where people jam Blood Moon and Tectonic Edge. Who needs to Lightning Bolt their opponents to death? Why not just Gray Merchant for twelve?

Over the past couple of years, we've seen a few interesting takes on the Nic Fit archetype in Legacy - a Golgari Control strategy that leans on Cabal Therapy plus Veteran Explorer to ramp into powerful cards like Huntmaster of the Fells and Thragtusk. Those strategies hvae been successful from time to time largely because the Legacy metagame isn't really prepared to fight against fives and sixes; people just don't play those that often. The problem with the deck is that it was fundamentally fair, and that Swords to Plowshares and Batterskull are still really good. So what happens if you try to take The Rock in a more unfair direction?

[Cardlist title= Gamekeeper - Legacy | Hanni]

This is a Gamekeeper deck by Hanni, and it's awesome. The gameplan is the same: discard plus removal buys you time to hit your land drops and sculpt your hand. Pernicious Deed is still absurdly powerful and Living Wish gives you an awesome toolbox of answers like Fleshbag Marauder to answer Emrakul.

The real trick here is that we're not looking to cast Thragtusk or Grave Titan. Why do that when you can just put Emrakul into play? Your plan is to cast Gamekeeper and immediately sacrifice it to either Cabal Therapy or Phyrexian Tower. Some percent of the time, you'll just get an Emrakul for your troubles. Sometimes you'll hit a Gamekeeper instead, which is sort of unfortunate. At least until you sacrifice it to the Cabal Therapy you flipped over to try again. Most of the time, you should be able to chain Cabal Therapy and Gamekeeper until you hit your Emrakul and put your opponent on a one-turn clock.

I've always been a fan of fair decks in Legacy that have powerful end games. This is just a disruption deck. You can Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach, and Pernicious Deed all of your opponent's cards away. The problem with these decks has always been closing games once you have them under control. Hanni has found an interesting and exiting way to solve that problem, and it's something I hope to see at a Legacy event sometime really soon.

All of the Legends in Conspiracy are super exciting to me. There are a number of fun, powerful things that they enable and they open up quite a bit of interesting space to tinker in. The Legend I'm most excited about is Marchesa, the Black Rose. Recursion is my favorite thing in Magic, and I think the dethrone mechanic is very interesting. It's fun to have an aggressive take on recursion instead of an over-the-top control- or midrange-focused Commander. It certainly helps that I found a list by one of my favorite Commander deck designers, Aggro_zombies. Let's take a look at his initial list for Marchesa:

[Cardlist title=Marchesa, the Black Rose - Commander | Aggro_zombies]

So much aggro! Forget Phyrexian Altar and Ashnod's Altar. Get in there Goblin Bombardment and Carrion Feeder! Who needs to attack for +1/+1 counters when you can just go off with undying creatures or Unspeakable Symbol? Who needs to pay life when you can just use graft instead?

Who would have thought that a Grixis deck would be the one pulling out all of the +1/+1 counter tricks? Persist creatures are absurd - just think about River Kelpie! You get to draw how many cards? Oona's Blackguard? How about Mind Twist you?

Somehow this deck manages to be super aggressive, very attrition-y, and still have space for all kinds of awesome interactions that can just dominate a game. I mean, come on. We're playing Brine Shaman and Thalakos Deceiver! How insane is that? The most exciting part to me is that this deck is only scratching the surface. There's no end to the possibilities when you have so much going on. Marchesa pushes you to be aggressive and tricky, but gives you a way to recoup your card advantage and throw your creatures away for damage.

I don't know about you, but this has me unbelievably hyped for Conspiracy, because I can't wait to see what Marchesa and the other conspirators are capable of.

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TAGS articles, standard, constructed, current events, deck lists, decks, commander, block, modern, carlos gutierrez, theros, 5 decks

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