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Main » Articles » Eight Decks, Three Formats

Eight Decks, Three Formats

Kyle Boggemes
Posted on May 31, 2018
 Reddit

Hey everyone!

In my search for the perfect Standard deck for the upcoming team RPTQ I've come across a lot of great ideas I want to share. In addition I will also discuss what I like for Legacy and Modern.

Despite Karn's stranglehold on the format, he can slot into just about any archetype so we still see diversity in Standard. Legacy is also quite diverse as players are figuring out ways to defeat Grixis Delver, so I'm forced to adapt. Modern's safe choice is Humans, but it's far from unbeatable. In fact, Jeskai Control is beginning to make some waves which is favored against our favorite tribe.

Let's get to it!

Legacy

Four-Color Control -- Legacy | Kyle Boggemes

It seems players are choosing to fight Grixis Delver by attacking from linear angles which makes me strongly dislike Fatal Push. Sneak and Show, Reanimator, Lands, and Storm don't care about removal spells for small creatures. Diabolic Edict can take care of 20/20 indestructible creatures and True-Name Nemesis while Lightning Bolt goes to the face.

Hymn to Tourach is one of my favorite cards to draw in just about any matchup, but they are dead in the late game. For this reason the fourth copy is a Rise // Fall; it can pitch to Force of Will and buy back Snapcaster Mage. It also bounces Marit Lage after chump blocking for a turn with Baleful Strix.

I've seen some articles saying Four-Color Control being favored against Grixis Delver and I think that isn't true. Brian Braun-Duin and Seth Manfield stated Delver wasn't a great matchup for Four-Color Control despite their team finishing second at Grand Prix Toronto with it. As a Grixis Delver pilot, I'm all right facing control because I can attack their mana with Wasteland and Stifle which make Daze relevant in the mid-game. Four-Color is a collection of strong Magic cards which is never a bad thing to play. It's also very fun because you get so much value.

Grixis Delver

Two magicians, Kevin Chang, and future Ann Arbor resident, Clay Spicklemire, piloted an identical 75 at Grand Prix Toronto. While Kevin didn't make Day 2 he had a personal record of 6-1 while Clay's team had a record of 11-3. These are pretty impressive results; it tells me Grixis is down, but not out.

Grixis Delver -- Legacy | Kyle Boggemes

While there isn't a lot of room for innovation in Grixis Delver, the Grim Lavamancer making its way into the maindeck is new. It is powerful in the mirror and any other fair deck because they mostly play Deathrite Shaman or Monastery Mentor.

While Lands has been on the decline Turbo Depths is on the rise. For this reason the traditional Forked Bolt is replaced with Dead // Gone. While it doesn't go to the face it's an instant capable of bouncing opposing large creatures -- particularly 20/20s.

Bitterblossom is for the mirror and Four-Color Control as a resilient threat. It's also similar to Diabolic Edict in that it stops Marit Lage tokens

Legacy is surprisingly healthy as I felt sufficiently challenged in a number of matchups while piloting Grixis Delver. It doesn't matter how nimble your interaction is when you die on turn one or two through discard and counters.

Now let's talk about Modern as I have been quiet on that subject lately.

Modern

Humans -- Modern | Kyle Boggemes

Dark Confidant
I have been doing a good amount of winning with Humans; the deck is the real deal. It's not without its weaknesses, as removal spells can be quite scary. Jeskai Control is a particularly scary matchup. It's unclear if that's bad for Humans because it means players may dust off their Desperate Rituals now that there's a new sheriff in town. I know Jon Rosum lost in the finals of SCG: Minneapolis last weekend to Humans with Jeskai, but it's still not a matchup I want to face.

A definite weakness of the deck is players have adapted and won't be tricked as often. There are about five decisions on how to build the deck as it has been jammed through the MODO machine to make it as efficient as possible:

There are four maindeck spell slots you can change. I play:

The fourth Reflector Mage because Humans is already so good at attacking spells and this creature offers some diversification.

I recently cut the fourth Phantasmal Image because of the resurgence in removal-heavy decks. It's embarrassing to not play a 2-drop because it would be nullified by your other creature being destroyed in response.

Dark Confidant has been great for me as there is no shortage of powerful 3-drops, so cheaper creatures are in high demand. At the beginning of my upkeep I put Aether Vial's trigger on the stack and then Dark Confidant's so his will resolve first; this way I have more information about adding a counter. Humans can be effective as a critical mass deck, so I'm happy drawing extra cards. I went to two copies because I wanted more 2-drops that are strong against a variety of opponents.

Restoration Angel isn't in the deck because I don't like having to contemplate adding the fourth counter to Aether Vial. The third counter is bad enough as it is because most of the tricky interactions occur with 2-drops such as Kitesail Freebooter, Meddling Mage, Phantasmal Image, and Thalia's Lieutenant. You can bluff Restoration Angel by adding the fourth counter to Vial to throw off your opponent if you are already losing.

There are some sideboard changes to combat this hostile metagame of Jeskai and Affinity. Izzet Staticaster is great in just about every creature matchup such as Affinity, Elves, and the mirror, where it dominates, so why not make sure you draw plenty of them? Gut Shot is pretty low impact, so it got the axe. There is also an upswing of Sin Collector and Dire Fleet Daredevil to fight Jeskai Control.

Speaking of which . . . 

Jeskai Control

Teferi is the hero we deserve to shake up the Modern format. For months, playing Humans in the Modern seat in Team Constructed has been the "safe" choice, but Jeskai is the natural predator. Jeskai also preys on Affinity which was popular because of the good Humans matchup.

Jeskai Control -- Modern | Kyle Boggemes

Time will tell if this deck continues to dominate or if Tron, Dredge, and other boogeymen return. There's no denying its power in the current metagame, so it should have a couple weeks to shine. I will say most situations Supreme Verdict looks weak as you are already so good at murdering creatures so maybe Vendilion Clique makes it into the maindeck.

I can see it being possible the community decides Humans is actually not a great matchup due to Cavern of Souls blanking interaction of Logic Knot and Cryptic Command.

Bant Company

Jeskai coming in to fight humans opens the door for a more diverse Modern metagame regardless of who is favored. This means it will prove to be difficult to make accurate predictions in the short run. I argue this is a time to play whatever deck makes you happy and this is what I like to do in Modern:

Bant Company -- Modern | Kyle Boggemes

I have been happy with Shalai so far, so there haven't been many changes recently. Damping Sphere is an option in the sideboard because Tron can be a tricky matchup, but I would have to cut one of the counters which are already powerful. The ability to make spells more expensive doesn't hurt your combo because untapping with Devoted Druid can provide billions of mana by simply casting Vizier of Remedies. It does have some slight synergies with Spell Queller as the opponent will need an additional mana to cast their "free" spell.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor has been fairly unpopular in Modern lately as Teferi, Hero of Dominaria is the new win condition in Jeskai Control. Shalai is a very powerful 4-drop I wouldn't want to cut against midrange decks, so I don't need Jace for curve considerations.

Standard

The Standard metagame is beginning to take shape with the killer combo of Goblin Chainwhirler and Unlicensed Disintegration making waves. It took some time for players to adjust their decks to move away from 1-toughness creatures without relying too heavily on a creature getting destroyed by a single removal spell.

B/R Vehicles

Here's a solid list piloted to a 5-0 finish in a Magic Online League:

B/R Vehicles -- Dominaria Standard | Kyle Boggemes

This deck is very good at murdering creatures while providing threats that are difficult to remove. It's hard to get blown out by a sweeper effect when you have a planeswalker, vehicle, and creature on the battlefield.

Magma Spray is picking up in popularity as it can team up with Goblin Chainwhirler to take out additional creatures. Scrapheap Scrounger is a tough threat to exile and is a cornerstone of the Black Vehicles decks. I like playing large quantities of Abrade with Magma Spray so I'm not exposed to enemy Heart of Kiran.

br is in a weird spot because it's weak to faster Red decks. Scrapheap Scrounger and Heart of Kiran aren't the most powerful blockers. It's also weak to uw Control in Game 1 because of the large number of dead cards. It's difficult to go toe-to-toe with the top end of Teferi and Pull from Tomorrow. I like br the most against Green midrange as Glorybringer and Chandra shine are great removal spells that stick around to cause more trouble.

I don't see this deck doing particularly well at the Pro Tour because Standard aficionados are well-versed in playing around Goblin Chainwhirler at this point.

U/W Control -- Dominaria Standard | Kyle Boggemes

This is one of the top two decks in the format. It quickly established the throne in the first week of this Standard format, but has given up some ground. uw is a deck you should expect to face in paper or online events. It's hard to play correctly which will keep the numbers in check.

Gideon of the Trials is a way to proactively deal with Heart of Kiran and close the game quicker. I don't want to draw in a big event because it's similar to a loss. The emblem has been great for me against Red decks because I can focus on ticking it up each turn as winning with damage isn't always necessary. He's not in every list, but I have been quite impressed.

I played a couple games with twenty-seven lands and was immediately hooked. I'm all right hitting all of my land drops, especially when they have additional utility. The single Memorial to Genius has been terrific at finding me spells to cast if I draw too many lands, as does Pull from Tomorrow. Three Field of Ruin is to destroy opposing Azcantas while Ipnu Rivulet mills Game 1 of the mirror. The lands are very important in the Game 1 mirror because that game takes a long time and I want to win -- even if they are weaker than basics in many cases.

Knight of Glory was in Brad Nelson's sideboard he used to make the finals of Grand Prix Toronto and I am a fan. A 2/2 first strike blocks aggressive creatures well -- especially Scrapheap Scrounger. Those are also matchups I want to bring in History of Benalia so it gets the knight synergy, too. Knight of Malice can be blocked by Knight of Glory which is also relevant.

B/W Vehicles

I think this is the other "best deck" in the format:

B/W Vehicles -- Dominaria Standard | Kyle Boggemes

Knight of Malice has been getting trimmed down to three copies, but I think it's too strong not to play four. The ability to effectively block is what separates bw from br. It stands up to both History of Benalia and Goblin Chainwhirler.

Cast Out gets the nod over Vraska's Contempt because this is very much a White deck; so, the colored mana can be a constraint.

bw is better at defeating uw Control because History of Benalia is more effective than Goblin Chainwhirler. Knight of Malice gets the nod over more removal spells.

The Mono-Red matchup is better, too; White is typically able to stymie a quick assault. br's best quality is to embarrass big, Green creatures with Glorybringer and Chandra. It's possible I want Fumigate for Green decks, but I will stick with Angel of Sanctions, Cast Down, Settle the Wreckage, and Doomfall for now.

The Pro Tour is quickly approaching, so I expect the format to be shaken up yet again. Standard has proven to be dynamic in the early weeks, and the games have been interesting as always. I'm happy to play all three of the major Constructed formats as they are all in a pretty good place.

Thanks for reading.

--Kyle

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TAGS articles, constructed, analysis, legacy, standard, modern, decklist, kyle boggemes, dominaria standard, 05312018

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