Once more we dive into the world of standard testing, and another tournament has been added to my schedule – this weekend there's going to be a tournament with a flight to Nationals as first prize! Only the best local players are likely to show up to this one, so I'd better bring my A-game. With the gauntlet established last week, and each deck having proved itself worthy, it was time to try my prospective decks against the field. Based on card availability a Grixis list based on one from Mike Flores' blog seemed likely, and I was really keen to try out a few modifications to Vengevine Naya.

At the same time I put in my time playing villain decks against my friends. This not only helps them decide if their rogue decks are in with a chance at the upcoming tournaments, gives them insight into the matchups and helps them figure out where their lists could be improved but it also has benefits for me. I can see how the villain decks work, what the key spells are, and what their weaknesses are, which lets me make improvements to my decks to better attack them. There's always the possibility that one of the rogue decks will break the format and we will have to find a dozen copies of some random mythic at short notice, but so far that hasn't happened!

Grixis Hits

Really just an excuse to play Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker again, I had a look at the second tier RBU decks that have been floating around for months. I found a list on Mike Flores' blog, built with the philosophy of playing the best cards at each mana cost – Lightning Bolt, Spreading Seas, Blightning, Sedraxis Specter, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Malakir Bloodwitch, Cruel Ultimatum. I didn't want to play crappy spells like Divination, though, so I sought assistance from Twitter and came up with See Beyond, which is great for fixing mana and getting rid of excess 7 mana spells in the early game. I also didn't have the requisite M10 lands, so I fiddled the mana and dropped a Gatekeeper for an Earthquake to ease up on the black requirement.

Grixis – The List

[cardlist]5 Island

2 Mountain

3 Swamp

4 Scalding Tarn

4 Crumbling Necropolis

4 Creeping Tar Pit

4 Lavaclaw Reaches

4 Lightning Bolt

1 Earthquake

4 Spreading Seas

2 Negate

2 See Beyond

1 Terminate

3 Gatekeeper of Malakir

4 Blightning

4 Sedraxis Specter

3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

3 Malakir Bloodwitch

2 Cruel Ultimatum

1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker[/cardlist]

This is almost certainly not the optimal build of Grixis, but from testing I don't think it's really worth working on further. The deck just folds up against aggression from the other side of the board, and with the 3 of the 4 decks in the gauntlet capable of very aggressive starts and Red Deck Wins a constant presence, the viability of Grixis is doubtful. Jund is a particular menace, with Putrid Leech and Bloodbraid Elf providing their usual obnoxious aggression and no Wall of Omens around to jump in the way. Blightning is also a questionable card these days with many green decks moving towards Vengevine. Even Crueling your opponent is not as good as it used to be.

The UW matchup is the one glimmer of light for Grixis – with 4 Bolts and 4 Blightnings it is difficult for your opponent to keep their planeswalkers on the board, and they are unable to put any sort of pressure on you early. The match is decided by two things – who controls Jace, the Mind Sculptor and whether you can land and protect a Malakir Bloodwitch. Jace has a tendency not to stick around for very long between your burn and the opponent's O-Rings and Colonnades, but he is the best answer either side has to the other's fat flying monsters. UW can't really beat Bloodwitch which means they have to keep their Wraths in, while you can side in additional counterspells. Bloodwitch can hold a single Baneslayer off indefinitely and attack through any defence on the UW player's part. Manlands are also very helpful in this match, both for killing your opponent's Jace and for closing out the game.

I think if I want to play Nicol Bolas any time soon I will need to have another crack at Esper splashing red, as the format is full of aggressive decks that Grixis just doesn't have the tools to beat early in the game. One thing I could look in to if I didn't have other decks to work on would be to incorporate more early creature defence – Sea Gate Oracle and Wall of Bone seem like they could be reasonable choices and strong against Jund, but the question is what to cut?

Naya Vengevine

Playing the list from last week, I was very impressed with the general idea of the deck, and the way it used Cunning Sparkmage to fullest advantage. Vengevine is as good as previously advertised, and better than this writer previously thought. I really liked the amount of haste creatures this deck had available, and I was pretty underwhelmed by Wild Nacatl. Nacatl is "just" a 3/3 for 1, which when hit off a Bloodbraid Elf cascade is no better than a Centaur Courser. Using Ranger of Eos to fetch them up is not really very exciting either as your opponents will have their defences well established by that stage, and with Putrid Leech and Wall of Omens the major early competition 3 power gets a little outclassed.

Instead, I went to two of my favourite creatures in standard – Goblin Guide and Goblin Bushwhacker. These Red Deck Wins favourites really emphasise the haste theme and give the deck a more aggressive tilt, and they can carry a Behemoth Sledge as well as anyone. I swapped out Hierarchs for Birds of Paradise to balance up the mana, and substituted manlands for M10 lands as I usually have to due to availability. I did wedge in an Ancient Ziggurat as well to test it out, since the deck has 30+ creatures it should rarely be less than a painless City of Brass.

Finally I reworked the sideboard to fit in some more ideas I wanted to test out. Ajani Vengeant was recommended by GerryT himself as a better tool against UW than Manabarbs would be, as it is really hard for them to deal with and takes care of Baneslayer Angel indefinitely while building towards a game-winning Armageddon. Eldrazi Monument I like against nearly everything, besides mono-red. Playing all these mana-dorks is less annoying when they become indestructible flying blockers, and it gives you the ultimate upper-hand in creature battles. Ranger, Bloodbraid and Vengevine give you plenty of fodder to feed to the Monument as well.

Vengevine Naya – The List

[cardlist]4 Arid Mesa

2 Verdant Catacombs

1 Terramorphic Expanse

1 Evolving Wilds

4 Raging Ravine

3 Stirring Wildwood

1 Sejiri Steppe

1 Ancient Ziggurat

2 Plains

2 Mountain

5 Forest

4 Birds of Paradise

3 Goblin Guide

1 Goblin Bushwhacker

2 Stoneforge Mystic

3 Lotus Cobra

4 Knight of the Reliquary

4 Cunning Sparkmage

4 Bloodbraid Elf

4 Vengevine

3 Ranger of Eos

1 Basilisk Collar

1 Behemoth Sledge

Sideboard

1 Eldrazi Monument

3 Ajani Vengeant

4 Path to Exile

1 Oblivion Ring

1 Bojuka Bog

2 Behemoth Sledge

2 Pithing Needle

1 Qasali Pridemage[/cardlist]

I tested the deck above extensively against Jund and mono-white control as well as my friend's mono-Forests ramp deck, and had mixed feelings about my changes. Goblin Guide was not as strong as I had hoped, and I figured out that Nacatl frequently has a virtual 4 power due to Noble Hierarch exalted triggers or active Cunning Sparkmages on the board, meaning it can happily tangle with Leeches and Walls. Goblin Guide was not terrible but the haste was rarely decisive, and playing against Forests.dec was a stark reminder that Guide's drawback is, in fact, a drawback. While I am still not happy with Wild Nacatl, I don't think Goblin Guide is a superior replacement. Birds is also just not as good as Hierarch, which is truly one of the most absurd 1 drops ever printed. It helps your 3 power guys punch through, it fixes your mana, it accelerates you, and it can even pick up a Behemoth Sledge in a pinch.

Goblin Bushwhacker was better, letting me get in for brutal surprise attacks with hasty Knights, boosted Bloodbraid Elves and instant armies with Vengevines out of the graveyard. I was really happy with him, except when I flipped him off a Bloodbraid with no untapped red. That just sucked, and happened way too often for a miser's one-of. Whatever I do with the other 3 one-drop slots I think I will keep a Bushwhacker as long as I keep the Rangers, as he has a far more decisive impact late game. Dragonmaster Outcast might be worth trying as well, but I have none so I haven't tested them yet.

Eldrazi Monument was excellent, eliciting blank stares from my opponents as they processed their odds of drawing an out. The card is just absurd for any sort of bunch-of-dudes deck, acting as a recurring Overrun, a Teferi's Moat, or both if you like. I would consider playing it main-deck in lieu of something like Gideon as it just crushes a lot of strategies. Playing it against UW is something of a mind-game once they know you have it- they aren't going to bring in Negates against you, but you have to balance the odds of them Wrathing you with them having the Oblivion Ring in hand for Monument.

Moving Ever Forward

So, with a major and a mild disappointment, what will I be playing on the weekend? Vengevine Naya is my deck of choice still, but it is reliant on a card order arriving in time. Grixis was intended to be my fallback choice, but I really don't think it's worth showing up with that deck. It could mean going back to my old favourite, Mono-Red, which I've been thinking – and reading – about lately. Paulo Vitor and Noah Whinston are two writers who have encouraged me to move away from Kargan Dragonlord, and both are looking at Kiln Fiend as a potential replacement. This, plus the general crappiness of Ball Lightning these days, leads me back to Ding Leong's Red/Black Deck Wins from Kuala Lumpur. Without any testing, here's a back-of-napkin list:

Red/Black Deck Wins

[cardlist]4 Goblin Guide

4 Goblin Bushwhacker

4 Kiln Fiend

4 Plated Geopede

4 Devastating Summons

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Searing Blaze

4 Forked Bolt

4 Blightning

4 Lavaclaw Reaches

4 Dragonskull Summit

2 Smouldering Spires

4 Arid Mesa

3 Scalding Tarn

7 Mountain

Sideboard

4 Vendetta

3 Manabarbs

3 Earthquake

2 Terminate

3 Dragon's Claw[/cardlist]

So, leaving you with that untested list, which deck would you recommend I play this weekend? I'd welcome any input in the comments. Wish me luck, and I'll be back next week with further standard examinations!