Welcome back everyone for part 2 of my rundown of the current standard metagame, with an eye to card prices. If you missed my article last week, you can read part 1 here. Today we'll see what it really costs to go 10-0 in the standard portion of a Pro Tour, and take a look at a deck just outside the top 8 of San Diego that runs the full set of standard's most expensive single: Jace, the Mind Sculptor.

Luis Scott Vargas is undoubtedly one of the best, if not the best, player in the game today. He's helped by his support crew of fellow pros who build and test together in the lead-up to major events, including Tom "The Boss" Ross who is the nick-namesake of the team's San Diego deck, Boss Naya.

Boss Naya

Sharing a lot of cards with the Naya Lightsaber deck from Worlds, this RGW aggro strategy tries to play all the strongest cards available in those colours in a similar manner to the winning Jund deck. Switching black for white means very few cards are shared between the two decks, however – Bloodbraid Elf, Lightning Bolt, Raging Ravine and Rootbound Crag are the only choices appearing in both decks. The strong white cards that lured The Boss and LSV into this colour combination are a mix of the obvious – Baneslayer Angel, Knight of the Reliquary, Ajani Vengeant – and the not so obvious, like Worldwake newcomer Stoneforge Mystic.

Stoneforge Mystic is one of a number of exciting toolboxes this deck makes use of. At one mana cheaper than Trinket Mage the Mystic can find you any equipment card, and Boss Naya lets you choose between Basilisk Collar and Behemoth Sledge. Sledge is absurdly powerful and can turn any old dork, like the Mystic herself, into a miniature Baneslayer Angel. Collar is seemingly the better choice on the defensive as it grants deathtouch, killing your opponent's best attacker, and lifelink which gives you a bit of a buffer. It is also handy for dealing with troublesome shroud creatures like Calcite Snapper and Sphinx of Jwar Isle. The other innovative use of this equipment is out of the sideboard - the full set of Cunning Sparkmages which, when combined with Collar, are deadly to any aggro opponent. Getting a hasty Avatar of Woe for 5 mana (3 to play Sparkmage, 2 to equip) is very cheap, though it's funny that this sort of synergy has been present in standard for ages with Vithian Stinger and Gorgon Flail both languishing in bulk boxes.

The second toolbox is that fetched by the extremely versatile Knight of the Reliquary. Fixing your mana, countering removal, getting another threat, Stone Raining your opponent – this girl does it all while becoming an ever more sizeable finisher at the same time. Expect to see four of this card and a single Sejiri Steppe wedged into a lot of different aggro and midrange decks before October, and even beyond as the Knight is already heavily played in older formats. Finally we have the always solid Ranger of Eos who may be even stronger than Bloodbraid Elf in this deck. He can find the obvious Scute Mob or Wild Nacatls just to present extra threats, or the less obvious Birds of Paradise – if you need mana, or you want a flier to carry your Behemoth Sledge – as well as Noble Hierarch whose exalted ability is very strong, especially when combined with Baneslayer Angel or the Sledge.

To build this deck from scratch, however, you are going to have to shell out some serious dosh. With full sets of the Conflux BFFs Knight of the Reliquary and Noble Hierarch starting the creature list and two Baneslayers in the sideboard it is obvious that most of the cost comes from your creatures. Stoneforge Mystic's price saw a huge rise on the back of this deck's performance as did Basilisk Collar, and there is a miser's Elspeth thrown in for good measure. At over $600 you have to be certain this is the deck you want to play before buying in. There is not really any way to budgetize this deck without mangling it – it is defined by its expensive, rare toolbox cards and while you could play Woolly Thoctar over Knight of the Reliquary and more Birds over Hierarchs, you really aren't playing the same deck.

Now, let's see what the great blue hope Jace can do in Patrick Chapin's traditional UW control list.

Chapin's UW Control

At the same time a very familiar and wildly different deck, this creation of 'the last control player' Mr. Chapin hearkens back to the roots of blue white control. With a mix of permission, board control and card draw Pat is looking to lock down the board to such an extent that he can mill the opponent out with Jace's ultimate ability or beat down with manlands plus Iona. However this style of near creatureless blue deck was declared dead by many players not two months ago, and yet here it is with one of the winningest records in the standard portion of the Pro Tour.

The deck is very complicated and takes enormous skill and practice to play well, and I highly recommend Pat's articles on the subject this week and last. It seems to me that the two cornerstones of the deck are Jace – of course – and Everflowing Chalice. Two cards are used due to their strong synergy with the Mind Sculptor, WWK fellows Halimar Depths and Treasure Hunt. Neither of these would be certain starters in a non-Jace based blue deck but here they are all stars, and between the three you should be able to craft the perfect hand for any situation. This enables the use of the variety of counterspells, as with foreknowledge of your opponent's deck and likely plays you can be sure of having the right counter at the right time. Speaking of counters, one of the most hated cards of recent years has finally hit the big time. Cancel as a four of in a top 16 PT deck, who'd'a thunk it?

Everflowing Chalice's power is a little less obvious than Jace's, but it's subtle influence improves the deck in several ways. Rather than playing it turn 2 to enable turn 3 Jace, it is better to play it turn 3 with counter mana open, and having this extra mana available means you can generally keep countering while playing your strong sorceries and permanents for the rest of the game. Additionally, the option to kick it up a notch and get a Chalice producing 2 or even 3 mana enables the big finishers of the deck, Iona and Martial Coup. Chalice also compensates for the Tectonic Edges in the manabase, which seem counterintuitive in a control deck that probably doesn't want to sacrifice its own lands.

I really wasn't sure if UW would be able to catch Naya in the cost stakes, but it has somehow managed it. Things were looking just rosy going down the list, until we hit that massive speed bump Jace, the Mind Sculptor. I should never have to calculate (4x $58.00) in a standard deck, but there you go! Fortunately most of the supporting spells such as Cancel and Chalice are commons and uncommons, but the Mythics in this deck seriously crank up the price. Triple Baneslayer and an Elspeth in the sideboard also do not help.

At $640.25 I can't recommend setting out to build this deck from scratch, but I know that my warnings mean nothing to the legion of control players who have been dying for a deck just like this for four months now. Some people would pay anything to be able to counter some spells, destroy all creatures, and look at their top three cards; this deck is meant for them. You know who you are. You already preordered your Jaces back in January anyway, so you're already halfway there.

That's it for part two of 'The Price of Standard', including two very expensive decks. Next time we'll see if the ominously named "Mythic" can outdo these two monsters, and if we can find a more budget option in the top 32. I have an extended PTQ on Saturday in Perth, so if any locals are reading please come and say hi! Depending on whether any good stories or lessons come out of that tournament, I may put off the next entry in this series for a week to talk about extended.

In the meantime I'd love to hear what you think of the price of these decks/cards in the comments. How much is too much? Is Jace fairly priced? How does cost affect your deck choices? Discuss!