Standard continues to shift and Legacy continues to evolve. This week we have five decks from across the spectrum of Standard and Legacy, including combo, aggro, control, and midrange. We’ll start in Standard where we have an interesting take on U/B control and W/B midrange featuring some of the processors from Battle for Zendikar. Our last Standard deck is a combo-tastic take on Naya aggro. Then we’ll move on to Legacy where we turn to Grand Prix Seattle-Tacoma for interesting takes on Aluren and Reanimator. There’s plenty of exciting technology to cover and I can’t wait to get started!

One of the biggest issues for control decks in this format is striking a delicate balance between cards which can stabilize the board and cards which can win the game. Simultaneously, you need ways to battle through juggernauts like Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger without falling too far behind aggressive cards like Monastery Swiftspear and Mantis Rider. Kumazemi has an interesting take on control that may accomplish all of these goals. Let’s take a look:

Blue-Black Control ? Battle for Zendikar Standard | Kumazemi

• Creatures (7)
• 1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
• 2 Blight Herder
• 4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
• 2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

• Spells (22)
• 1 Grip of Desolation
• 1 Murderous Cut
• 2 Complete Disregard
• 2 Grave Birthing
• 3 Spell Shrivel
• 4 Clash of Wills
• 4 Dig Through Time
• 4 Horribly Awry
• 1 Despise

• Lands (27)
• 3 Swamp
• 4 Island
• 2 Blighted Fen
• 2 Bloodstained Mire
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Polluted Delta
• 4 Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
• 4 Sunken Hollow

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Orbs of Warding
• 4 Hangarback Walker
• 1 Disdainful Stroke
• 1 Dispel
• 4 Ultimate Price
• 2 Dragonlord Silumgar
• 2 Duress

Buy This Deck

At its core, this deck is trying to do something similar to the other Mage-Ring Network control decks in the format: string together enough removal and counter spells to keep the board stable until you cast Ugin. However, this deck substitutes Shrine of the Forsaken Gods for Mage-Ring Network, which has its own set of pros and cons.

The upside of this switch is the ability to tap Shrine of the Forsaken Gods for two mana you can use on any number of colorless spells without having to invest mana over the course of several turns. Though, not receiving the overwhelming advantage of casting Ugin off of one land in control and midrange mirrors is a downside.

The second advantage is going pure U/B, which allows you to play a number of really interesting cards. First, Blighted Fen is a pretty awesome removal spell when you’re not trying to play a full three colors. Second, Blight Herder does an incredible job of both stabilizing the board and applying pressure to control decks. The extra bodies are great for pressuring Planeswalkers and force your opponents to either have a sweeper or overcommit into your sweepers.

All told, this is an interesting take on control that sacrifices the power of cards like Ojutai's Command for the consistency of a two-color mana base, including the ability to play a substantial number of colorless lands that help you win the race to Ulamog and Ugin.

One of the things we haven’t seen much of in this Standard are the processors from Battle for Zendikar. At first this seems obvious, as the cards ask quite a bit from you without providing a large enough payoff. But then you realize there are actually a lot of incidental ways to exile your opponent’s cards. Anya25 has an interesting take on midrange which could take advantage of these processors in a big way.

Black-White Midrange ? Battle for Zendikar Standard | anya25, 5-0 Standard Champs Qualifier

• Creatures (4)
• 2 Hangarback Walker
• 2 Wasteland Strangler

• Planeswalkers (8)
• 2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
• 2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
• 4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

• Spells (23)
• 2 Utter End
• 2 Planar Outburst
• 2 Transgress the Mind
• 3 Read the Bones
• 4 Ruinous Path
• 2 Myth Realized
• 4 Silkwrap
• 4 Stasis Snare

• Lands (25)
• 5 Swamp
• 6 Plains
• 2 Blighted Fen
• 4 Caves of Koilos
• 4 Scoured Barrens
• 4 Shambling Vent

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Arashin Cleric
• 2 Complete Disregard
• 2 Duress
• 2 Felidar Cub
• 3 Infinite Obliteration
• 2 Languish
• 1 Quarantine Field
• 1 Surge of Righteousness

Buy This Deck

Between delve and all of the exiling enchantment removal like Silkwrap, it’s not hard to exile one or more of your opponent’s cards in time to turn on a Wasteland Strangler or a Blight Herder. Add Utter End and Complete Disregard to the mix, along with Stasis Snare and Quarantine Field, and the viability of processors in Standard begins to reveal itself.

But this deck is more than just a cool shell that can enable processors. Myth Realized is an interesting card in this deck because more and more of the powerful removal in Standard is sorcery speed. Having a threat that is only active when you want it to be is huge when the removal is slow. Additionally, this deck relies heavily on non-creature spells, so Myth Realized seems like a natural fit. Your plan is to chain together draw spells, removal, and Planeswalkers to grind your opponent into the dust. If you can do all that with a Myth Realized in play, you ought to be able to sneak in a few enormous hits when your opponent taps low to deal with a Gideon, Ally of Zendikar or Ob Nixilis Reignited.

It’s also worth noting this is yet another deck that chooses to forego the power of a third color in favor of a consistent two-color mana base, as well as the additional life you gain by not having to utilize fetchlands. Is this the start of a trend toward safer, two-color mana bases in Standard rather than the four color titans we’ve become accustomed to? There’s only one way to find out.

Our last Standard deck for this week is another take on Myth Realized in Standard. Unlike the previous deck which utilized Myth Realized as a resilient win condition in a more controlling deck, Tenjum has opted to use it as an enormous threat in his Naya combo deck. Take a look at this prowess-packed take on Standard aggro:

Naya Battle Rage ? Battle for Zendikar Standard | Tenjum, 4-1 Standard Champs Qualifier

• Creatures (16)
• 4 Abbot of Keral Keep
• 4 Monastery Mentor
• 4 Monastery Swiftspear
• 4 Seeker of the Way

• Spells (22)
• 3 Become Immense
• 3 Wild Slash
• 4 Defiant Strike
• 4 Temur Battle Rage
• 4 Titan's Strength
• 4 Myth Realized

• Lands (22)
• 3 Mountain
• 3 Plains
• 1 Bloodstained Mire
• 1 Canopy Vista
• 1 Cinder Glade
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 4 Battlefield Forge
• 4 Windswept Heath
• 4 Wooded Foothills

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Arc Lightning
• 4 Den Protector
• 3 Outpost Siege
• 2 Rending Volley
• 2 Roast

Buy This Deck

This is a really interesting take on the Become Immense/Temur Battle Rage combo. The idea is, in most matchups, all you need is enough of a board presence to force through an attacker. Monastery Mentor combined with cheap, aggressive cantrips like Defiant Strike allow you to either flood the board with attackers for your combo or pump a Myth Realized to incredible proportions.

The real power of this deck is its ability to present lethal with the individual parts of the combo. You can sneak in a hit with Become Immense or you can use prowess or animate Myth Realized to create a big enough creature to turn on Temur Battle Rage without using Become Immense.

Regardless, this deck is packed with powerful cards and the potential to kill opponents out of nowhere. It is incredibly dangerous to tap out against a deck like this; but only if you know the combo is coming. Many players won’t expect that out of a deck like this until it’s too late.

Aluren has to be one of the coolest combo decks in Legacy. The list has evolved so drastically over the course of the years to become a streamlined value engine with a combo finish. We’ve gone from builds featuring Enlightened Tutor to those featuring Shardless Agent and Living Wish to help find silver bullets which put the game away. The most recent build I’ve seen is Martin Goldman-Kirst’s from Grand Prix Seattle-Tacoma, and it’s different than all of these. Let’s take a look:

Aluren ? Legacy | Matrin Goldman-Kirst, Top 8 Grand Prix Seattle-Tacoma

• Creatures (22)
• 1 Cavern Harpy
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Parasitic Strix
• 1 Reclamation Sage
• 2 Dream Stalker
• 4 Baleful Strix
• 4 Deathrite Shaman
• 4 Imperial Recruiter
• 4 Shardless Agent

• Spells (18)
• 3 Abrupt Decay
• 4 Brainstorm
• 2 Thoughtseize
• 4 Cabal Therapy
• 1 Sylvan Library
• 4 Aluren

• Lands (20)
• 1 Island
• 1 Swamp
• 2 Forest
• 1 Bayou
• 1 Taiga
• 1 Underground Sea
• 2 Polluted Delta
• 2 Tropical Island
• 4 Misty Rainforest
• 4 Verdant Catacombs
• 1 Volrath's Stronghold

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Thoughtseize
• 1 Abrupt Decay
• 2 Carpet of Flowers
• 1 Null Rod
• 2 Scavenging Ooze
• 1 Bone Shredder
• 1 Minister of Pain
• 1 Force of Will
• 2 Swan Song
• 1 Krosan Grip
• 2 Toxic Deluge

Buy This Deck

The basic combo is the same as it’s always been: With Aluren in play, you can use Cavern Harpy to go infinite in any number of ways. This deck utilizes two powerful interactions. Firstl, you can use Imperial Recruiter to chain into other Imperial Recruiters, followed by Dream Stalker and then Cavern Harpy. Cavern Harpy lets you pay a life to effectively rebuy any of your enters the battlefield or cast triggers. The end game is to drain your opponent out by recycling Parasitic Strix with Cavern Harpy.

The power of this build is the inclusion of awesome value engines. Shardless Agent in particular allows the deck to start assembling a substantial board presence capable of bringing the beatdown, even if they are a little anemic. Now Imperial Recruiter can find Shardless Agent, Baleful Strix, or even powerful singletons like Reclamation Sage or Scavenging Ooze in the appropriate matchups. This ability to churn through your deck to find combo pieces, value engines, and silver bullets gives the deck a real game-plan when you can’t find its namesake to combo off.

Additionally, the deck can play some of the best disruption in the format. There are not many decks that can afford to leverage both Cabal Therapy and Abrupt Decay; even fewer that can do so backed by Brainstorm and Force of Will. Aluren occupies a really interesting space as a combo control deck that can out-attrition the midrange decks or just beat Delver heads up, without comboing off. The price of Imperial Recruiter puts a pretty substantial limit on how popular this archetype can get, but I certainly hope its success in Seattle-Tamoca means we see a little more of Aluren.

Our last deck this week is a fresh take on Reanimator for Legacy. This is one of the fastest combo decks in the format that can also play an enormous amount of disruption at the cost of opening yourself up to graveyard hate. This deck is exciting because it evolves whenever there are powerful creatures or efficient discard outlets printed. It turns out that there have been quite a few of those in recent sets, and Chase Hansen was best prepared to take advantage:

Reanimator ? Legacy | Chase Hansen, Top 8 Grand Prix Seattle-Tacoma

• Creatures (12)
• 1 Archetype of Endurance
• 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
• 1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
• 1 Tidespout Tyrant
• 3 Griselbrand
• 4 Hapless Researcher

• Spells (31)
• 2 Misdirection
• 3 Izzet Charm
• 4 Brainstorm
• 4 Entomb
• 4 Force of Will
• 4 Careful Study
• 4 Exhume
• 4 Reanimate
• 2 Animate Dead

• Lands (17)
• 1 Swamp
• 2 Badlands
• 2 Tropical Island
• 4 Polluted Delta
• 4 Underground Sea
• 4 Verdant Catacombs

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Abrupt Decay
• 1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
• 1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
• 2 Thoughtseize
• 2 Duress
• 2 Pithing Needle
• 1 Darkblast
• 1 Echoing Truth
• 1 Golgari Charm
• 1 Snapcaster Mage

Buy This Deck

This list contains a number of really interesting inclusions we don’t often see . The first is the inclusion of Archetype of Endurance as a way to protect your giant monsters and potentially lock your opponents out of games. It turns out Griselbrand, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, and Iona, Shield of Emeria are even harder to beat when you can give them hexproof.

The other exciting creature that’s been added to this deck is Jace, Vryn's Prodigy. Jace functions as both a discard outlet and an engine, allowing you to flashback reanimation spells or disruption to help force through your combo. Additionally, Jace is powerful enough to force opponents to kill him, which makes it more likely that your giant creatures will stick. The most interesting thing about this list is that Chase has chosen to play the full four Hapless Researcher before the second copy of Jace, which speaks to the value of efficiency, and the power of being able to cheat monsters in as early as possible.

The reason this deck is well equipped to try to force through the combo as early as possible is Chase’s disruption suite. The addition of Izzet Charm over Daze and Spell Pierce provides extra consistency and flexibility, while Misdirection functions as extra free counterspells when you’re trying to force through a reanimation spell early on in the game. Maximizing your ability to go for it with protection early on in the game is a great place to be, and allows you to sneak in underneath Counterbalance or before Delver decks can start leaving up mana.

All told, this shows how flexible and customizable the Reanimator strategy is, and the value of finding hidden gems like Hapless Researcher and Archetype of Endurance.