Hey, everyone!

I’ve been thinking a lot about Standard lately to prepare for Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad. This ended up being valuable because the spoilers were heavily slanted toward the constructed all-stars at the beginning, so I didn’t miss any insane rares Wizards of the Coast held back on telling us about.

I have been reading every Standard article I possibly could to get everyone’s take on how the new cards can slot into new and existing archetypes. Here are the early front-runners:

R/G Ramp — This will probably be centered around Ruin in Their Wake to ramp and win with Dragonlord Atarka since Ugin, the Spirit Dragon rotated. I think Shaman of Forgotten Ways is underutilized since you can ramp into Atarka and World Breaker quickly.

R/G Tokens — This is the most aggressive form of red deck I’ve seen so far. It plays green for Nissa, Voice of Zendikar and Arlinn Kord, but it swarms with Dragon Fodder and Thopter Engineer.

Red Eldrazi — This seems to be the best direction to take Eldrazi, as the top end of Chandra is quite potent. It operates like a midrange deck, which is good because the loss of Ghostfire Blade will really hurt the blue aggressive version.

Collected Company — I’ve seen articles discussing how Bant Company slots easily into the new Standard. I’m not so sure because the mana base is so much worse without fetch lands. The Battle lands don’t work well with the SOI lands. If you play the SOI land first, it reduces the number of basics for the Battle lands to come into play untapped. Pain lands come into play untapped, but you can only play four. Yavimaya Coast doesn’t play well with Canopy Vista or Fortified Village. At the same time, I need to somehow need to curve out to gain tempo. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but we’re going to have to make sacrifices. I think a splash of black over blue will make things easier thanks to Deathcap Cultivator.

B/R Vampires — Oliva is very powerful and worth building around. Madness is a very pushed mechanic for B/R due to Fiery Temper, Incorrigible Youths, and Avacyn’s Judgment. The madness cards let you play one of the strongest removal spells in the format: Lightning Axe. It’s also worth noting that B/R Vampires deals plenty of early damage but also has reach thanks to the madness burn spells. I think Avacyn’s Judgment is among the strongest cards in the set and will be worth a good amount of money soon. Most lists lean more heavily on red to take advantage of Falkenrath Gorger, but a black base lets you play Relentless Dead.

There are plenty of other archetypes that are possible, and some may make the cut and be able to compete with the big dogs. Innistrad is bursting with flavor, so there are opportunities to exploit the synergies with the graveyard or tribes.

W/B Control

I think this is going to be among the strongest decks in the format, as it has the chance to replace Abzan Midrange. Since the mana is confirmed to be much worse than we’re used to, I like taking the powerful midrange deck down to two colors. This is an early frontrunner for my choice for Standard deck at the Pro Tour.

W/B Control ? Shadows over Innistrad Standard | Kyle Boggemes

• Creatures (7)
• 3 Wasteland Stranger
• 4 Archangel Avacyn

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

• Spells (19)
• 4 Read the Bones
• 4 Transgress the Mind
• 4 Silkwrap
• 2 Declaration of Stone
• 2 Grasp of Darkness
• 3 Ruinous Path

• Lands (26)
• 4 Shambling Vent
• 2 Forsaken Sanctuary
• 4 Caves of Koilos
• 2 Blighted Fen
• 6 Plains
• 8 Swamp

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
• 2 Ultimate Price
• 3 Surge of Righteousness
• 1 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
• 2 Duress
• 3 Infinite Obliteration
• 1 To the Slaughter
• 1 Anguished Unmaking

Buy This Deck

This deck has plenty of raw power; it plays the best card in Shadows over Innistrad: Archangel Avacyn. I chose not to build around it because the card is strong enough to play as a midrange beater. No matter what surprise decks come out of the woodwork, I will be able to handle it with the curve of Gideon into Archangel Avacyn.

Sometimes, you have to play the best cards in order to have great results because Avacyn is very good against opposing copies of Avacyn. If the opponent attacks with Avacyn, you can flash in your own indestructible creature and block it. Many of my early drafts of Standard decks seemed great on the surface but were lacking in efficient ways to handle Avacyn. Roast, Fiery Temper, and Silkwrap are great removal spells but fall short at killing expensive flash flyers with 4 toughness. The removal spells I fear playing an Avacyn deck include Grasp of Darkness, Ultimate Price, Stasis Snare, and Lightning Axe.

Speaking of removal spells, we have so many options at the moment. Silkwrap is my main kill spell because I take advantage of exiling creatures with Wasteland Strangler. I don’t want to play Silkwrap without a way to protect it from Dromoka's Command. Exiling creatures will be important, as I am sure to face Relentless Dead, Hangarback Walker, and Deathmist Raptor.

I take exiling creatures a step further by including Declaration of Stone. Since this is technically card disadvantage, I don’t want to include too many copies. Giving my opponent a Clue isn’t as bad as letting him or her draw a card, but it’s still a sizable drawback. It’s another way to fill the exile zone for Wasteland Strangler and can kill large threats like Sigarda, Heron’s Grace and Archangel Avacyn. I like that even sorcery-speed exiling isn’t countered by opposing copies of Avacyn. Sorcery-speed removal spells that don’t exile, such as Roast, will become less potent if they can be easily countered by Avacyn.

Keep in mind that Wizards of the Coast improved on the “echoing” ability. Maelstrom Pulse would kill all permanents with the same name as the target, but Declaration in Stone only kills things with the same name and same controller. This is important when there are dueling copies of Avacyn; you can kill the opponent’s Angel and attack with yours.

I could play something like Anguished Unmaking instead to kill Planeswalkers, but losing 3 life is a steep cost. This is a singleton in the sideboard because it’s strong against the mirror; it kills Gideon and Avacyn at instant speed. I don’t want to draw two copies of this because I’m also losing life thanks to Read the Bones and Ob Nixilis Reignited. When I saw this card at first glance, I was reminded of Vindicate; this is no Vindicate, but it’s still decent.

Another interesting way to kill Planeswalkers and Dragonlord Ojutai is To the Slaughter. It’s very possible this card deserves a main-deck slot or more copies in the sideboard. This is a better candidate for a main-deck spell than Anguished Unmaking. I can kill Gideon with the Ally-creating trigger on the stack. I put a high value on removal spells that interact favorably with Archangel Avacyn, and this is another one. I feel this might be a staple removal spell in the near future.

Grasp of Darkness is a great removal spell because I can support the double-black casting cost, and it kills Archangel Avacyn at instant speed. I could have a draw that involves a dual land and a Plains that would prevent me from casting it on turn two, but that’s all right; the fact that it still costs 2 mana means I can double-spell easier.

Sorin, Grim Nemesis and Ob Nixilis round out my removal suite. I think these two Planeswalkers are the reason to play black; they create card advantage but also hold down the fort. Sorin is among the few reliable ways to gain life; I can gain up to 5 life the turn it comes into play with it still being alive. I like that Sorin kills Planeswalkers because Chandra is going to be a format-defining late-game spell. If your opponent casts Chandra, Sorin will have enough loyalty to enter the battlefield and kill her.

I fleshed out my card advantage with Read the Bones. This is a spell I can play early against opponents who don’t load the board with creatures. A common issue with W/B decks is that I have nothing to do when I can’t blow something up. I don’t shuffle my deck, so putting lands on the bottom keeps them there, which is nice. It feels good to draw cards, and this one was good enough to play in my last Standard deck: Mardu Green.

Duress is in an interesting spot because it might mean I have to discard a Fiery Temper or Avacyn’s Judgment against Vampires, which will trigger madness. It does discard things like Grasp of Darkness, Ultimate Price, or Dromoka's Command, which is nice. I could simply hold onto Avacyn and wait until I Duress the removal spells from the opponent’s hand.

Infinite Obliteration will only come in against Ramp for now. I want to take out annoying bombs such as Dragonlord Atarka and World Breaker. It’s likely I want to take out World Breaker first because it triggers Sanctum of Ugin, which then finds Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. Atarka is still annoying because it can gain haste with Arlinn Kord and take out my Planeswalkers when it enters the battlefield.

When I started making a mana base, I had four Shambling Vents, four Forsaken Sanctuary, and one Evolving Wilds. This was because I thought the mana would be far worse than it was in practice. It’s all right to play a bunch of basic lands because I want to be able to cast Gideon on turn four and Avacyn on turn five. I’m down to six enters-the-battlefield-tapped lands, which feels about right.

A consideration to advance my mana is Knight of the White Orchid. I have a rocky history with Knight of the White Orchid, so I’m hesitant to include it. It’s great on the draw, but not amazing on the play. It also locks me into a base-white deck because I need 2 white on turn two. If you want to play the Knight, I would cut Grasp of Darkness for Stasis Snare.

Surge of Righteousness became a lot better now that Vampires will be the premier aggressive deck. I can keep Read the Bones in my deck because I have additional ways of gaining life. It can also be used against the red decks that are sure to be popular in the beginning stages of the new Standard. I take the life-gain a step further with Kalitas in the sideboard. This will be helpful if there is a Zombie deck; this means surge can exile Relentless Dead.

Potential Cards to Add

W/B Control has a wealth of options available, so I want to give some honorable mentions:

Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim — This is another spell I can cast early. It’s a great blocker, which means it’s like a preemptive kill spell. I can sacrifice Gideon to gain 5 life or I can make a creature die at any time, which works well with Avacyn and making her transform.

Languish — If the metagame calls for a sweeper, I can add a couple of these to the main deck or the sideboard. It’s a very defensive card that even kills my Avacyn, so I’m hesitant to play it. The point of W/B is to kill creatures, but also apply pressure via Planeswalkers or Avacyn. It can be dangerous to be too reactive in an unknown format. Gideon and friends are capable of beating any opponent, so I don’t want to over-prepare for specific archetypes with such a niche removal spell.

Hangarback Walker — This is yet another early play that can have a lasting impact on the game. It seems there will be a lot of ways to exile this creature, so I want to avoid it for now. It like that I currently have very few creatures, which means I can drag out a game and mess up curves of removal from my opponent. I probably don’t want to play Hangarback Walker without Ayli to sacrifice it in a pinch.

Secure the Wastes — I could see playing fewer copies of Ob Nixilis to make room for this haymaker. I could do a better job building around Archangel Avacyn by playing more creatures. It’s an interesting option because I can cast this at the end of turn when my opponent expects me to have Avacyn.

Westvale Abbey — Again, I would only play this with Secure the Wastes; it’s hard to play the Abbey without building around it. I would also consider adding Hangarback Walker to make more tokens.

Areas to Explore Further

I want to try to push the mana further and see if I can add green to this archetype.

Abzan Midrange ? Shadows over Innistrad Standard | Kyle Boggemes

• Creatures (17)
• 4 Deathcap Cultivator
• 4 Catacomb Sifter
• 4 Sylvan Advocate
• 3 Archangel Avacyn
• 2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer

• Planeswalkers (9)
• 3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
• 2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
• 2 Ob Nixilis, Reignited
• 2 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar

• Spells (9)
• 4 Oath of Nissa
• 4 Silkwrap
• 1 Secure the Wastes

• Lands (25)
• 4 Shambling Vent
• 4 Hissing Quagmire
• 4 Lanowar Wastes
• 4 Caves of Koilos
• 4 Forest
• 1 Swamp
• 4 Plains

Buy This Deck

This is very similar to a Gerry Thompson brew.

My goal with this deck is to ramp into the great spells that were in the W/B deck, such as Gideon, Avacyn, Ob Nixilis, and Sorin. Deathcap Cultivator is among few good ways to ramp in Standard, and it also fixes my mana. If turn-four Gideon were good, I would love to see it a turn earlier.

I can also ramp into a turn-four Ob Nixlis with Catacomb Sifter, which seems pretty nasty, as I have a 2/3 left over to protect it. Sifter is also great in here because I can sacrifice the Scion token to transform Avacyn. Making two creatures with a single card is nice with the -2 ability from Nissa and the emblem from Gideon.

Since I lost access to Wasteland Strangler, I need another way to protect my Silkwraps. Oath of Nissa not only builds delirium for Deathcap Cultivator, but is an enchantment to sacrifice against opposing Dromoka's Commands.

The most exciting part of this deck is the mana base. Since I’m playing a wedge, I have access to eight creature lands to pair with Sylvan Advocate. Nissa and Oath of Nissa can help me find the six lands I need to pump my Advocate and creature lands. I’m being cautious by not adding too many other enters-the-battlefield-tapped lands, so the rest of the mana base consists of pain lands and basics.

Both of these decks are packed with powerful spells, which is a good way to approach Standard in the early weeks. Don’t worry about expecting the unexpected—just smash face with expensive mythics.

Thanks for reading!

-Kyle