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Main » Articles » Standard Week 1 Prep

Standard Week 1 Prep

Kyle Boggemes
Posted on July 21, 2016
 Reddit

Hey everyone!

I’ve been busy practicing Standard and thinking about what I’m going to play at SCG Columbus this weekend. For Pro Tour: Eldritch Moon I have a great testing team: Andrew Elenbogen, Brian Demars, Stu Parnes, Max McVety, Tyler Hill, and Craig Wescoe. Many of us are qualified and some are skipping, but we still want to break the format for those who are attending.

Bant CoCo

Last week I discussed a bunch of decks to get the ball rolling. Today I want to go over which ones are good enough to continue working on and how they have changed throughout the week.

Bant CoCo ? Eldritch Moon Standard | Kyle Boggemes

Archangel Avacyn was very impressive for me so far, but I trimmed down to one in the main deck because double White warped my mana base. I attempted to make a version of CoCo that took the most advantage of Spell Queller by playing 18 instants and flash creatures.

Thalia over-performed for me, but I want to play some creatures with built in card advantage like Tireless Tracker, too. I think the primary issue to address with the flash version is that it lacked inherent card advantage like traditional builds. I like playing aggressive decks that have the ability to transform into a control deck that draws all of the cards when the game stalls. Bounding Krasis is sneaky, but doesn’t draw cards and I basically cut Eldrazi Displacer and Tireless Tracker to make room.

There’s an interesting tension between Reflector Mage and Spell Queller. Do you cast Collected Company before or after a creature resolves? If you cast it in response and reveal Reflector Mage you will feel silly for not waiting. When you can it after the spell resolves and hit a Spell Queller you missed your chance to exile the spell. In this build I prefer to wait until after the creature resolves because I can also flip Bounding Krasis to tap the creature for a turn. It’s also not the end of the world if Spell Queller doesn’t exile a spell because a ? with flying will be great in the new metagame full of spirits and Sylvan Advocates. It can be nerve-wracking when you have a Spell Queller in play with a powerful spell in exile. What happens when they kill the Queller at an inopportune time? If you’re not careful, the strongest card in Eldritch Moon could become a liability.

Jace underperformed, but I still need to play more 2-drops, so Lambholt Pacifist got added to the main deck. I like playing four Sylvan Advocate and four Duskwatch Recruiter, but I don’t like any of the other options. It’s basically a 4/4 for 2 mana because I can pass the turn and cast plenty of instants and flash creatures. The 2-drops are good in this version because I can cast 2-3 spells on turn 4 with a flipped Duskwatch Recruiter. I ran into a situation where I didn’t have enough Blue mana early to cast both Jace and a flash creature on the same turn; the Green 2-drops make the deck flow smoothly.

I’m not happy with Gideon, Ally of Zendikar in the sideboard because Ojutai's Command is better against control decks. It’s an instant-speed interaction spell that counters the traditional transformational sideboard plan such as Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet and Thought-Knot Seer. I also want ways to counter Elder Deep-Fiend and command does the job very well. Since Deep-Fiend’s trigger is when cast rather than when it comes into play I can’t get around my permanents being tapped even when countered. Most of the use-cases for Elder Deep-Fiend involve it being cast on my turn so I’ll have mana available to counter it.

Felidar Cub is currently very good against Humans, but that could change assuming they cut some Always Watching for Collective Effort. I don’t think that will be the default list, but it’s compelling given the warping effect Dromoka's Command has on the format.

Conclusion: The flash creatures gain synergy when combined because the opponent can’t play around everything. If Spell Queller warps the format, I want to be able to pass my turn without casting a spell to make their Quellers worse.

Mardu Demonic Pact

Mardu Demonic Pact ? Eldritch Moon Standard | Kyle Boggemes

After playing some games I learned very quickly this deck had staying power. My initial mana base had eight creature lands, but they weren’t activated very often so I trimmed down to six. I want 26 lands so I’m able to hit all of my land drops, and I care less about flooding out thanks to Nahiri, the Harbinger and the ability to win “quickly” with Demonic Pact. At first the Harmless Offering route to victory didn’t seem necessary, but I can assure you it’s more than just an adorable face. I found myself wanting to draw the card every game so I added a second copy in case something happened to the first. Now that I have 3 Dark Petition and 2 Harmless Offerings I’m going to be able to consistently donate my Demonic Pact.

Be warned there are many puns that come out of Harmless Offering. My current go-to saying when casting Harmless Offering to donate the Demonic Pact is “cat’s outta the bag” as an homage to Owen Turtenwald’s R/G Burn deck featuring Blistering Firecat from the mid-2000s. You can also say “me-ow,” but that has me less excited. This week I’m going to test “cat’s off to ya!” so I’ll let you know how that goes. All I’m saying is I cat get enough of this card.

I built the initial version of Mardu Pact as a control deck, but it’s a combo deck with a grindy plan B. When I would cast a Demonic Pact I would win so fast that there would be plenty of controlling cards left in my hand which means I want to be more proactive and focused. This means more discard to curve out and increase my spell mastery count. Duress was flagged as a key card to interact with Dromoka's Command, but Transgress the Mind is also important to hit Spell Quellers.

The oaths even played very well against creature decks that didn’t feature Dromoka's Commands. An early Grasp of Darkness can be hard to pull off thanks to all of the Mountains which made Oath of Chandra a great addition. Oath of Liliana felt great to have in play because I would get a 2/2 when Nahiri came into play while also protecting me from Dromoka's Command.

I’m down to zero creatures in the main deck because I didn’t ever feel the need to ultimate Nahiri. It sounded nice in theory to have the option to search for a Linvala, the Preserver against aggressive decks, but it was not necessary. I would kill all of their creatures so the opponent wouldn’t have enough for me to get the 3/3 flyer; it was just a 5/5 flyer that gained me 5 life. Sorin, Grim Nemesis was helpful to come down and kill a big creature that’s missed by Radiant Flames or Languish while also help me stabilize.

Ruinous Path is very clunky in this deck, but I still want one in the main to search with Dark Petition. The same can be said for Anguished Unmaking; I don’t want to lose 3 life often, but I do want the option to remove Demonic Pact if I can’t find a Harmless Offering. Ultimate Price can be embarrassing, but it won’t be the end of the world if I don’t have a target. The beauty of this deck is the ability to win with the pact donation so I can end the game without using all of my cards. I also have 4 Nahiri I can cycle the dead removal spells.

I put together a reasonable sideboard with the ability to take out eight bad removal spells against opposing control decks. I don’t want to leave in Oath of Chandra, Radiant Flames, Languish, Ultimate Price, but I want to keep Oath of Liliana and Grasp of Darkness for the threats in their transformational sideboard.

My matchup against Humans is great, but I get to cut the clunky removal spells and discard for Fiery Impulse and Kalitas.

The sideboard is full of weird singleton cards I can search for with Dark Petition such as Virulent Plague and Infinite Obliteration. I can also tutor for Goblin Dark-Dwellers as a way to cast Harmless Offering should a copy be discarded by Duress. It’s also a way to have a creature for Nahiri’s Ultimate against grindy decks.

U/G Eldrazi

The Eldritch Evolution deck has made it through to phase 2 as well because it was versatile enough to fight Spell Queller Company. My initial concern was I would be forced to cast an early Eldritch Evolution and have it be countered and die from the loss of tempo from Spell Queller. The ability to chain through Elder Deep-Fiend is hard to fight for any deck.

U/G Eldrazi ? Eldritch Moon Standard | Kyle Boggemes

Despite Eldritch Evolution impressing me I don’t want to play four copies in a heavy Spell Queller metagame. If you want to play four Eldritch Evolution I would suggest adding a couple Palace Familiar to sacrifice. I can play creatures that don’t work well with Evolution when I only have two. Duskwatch is worse than Palace Familiar with Eldritch Evolution, but a much stronger card in the abstract.

It was a mistake to not play at least one Duskwatch Recruiter because I can search for it with Eldritch Evolution and Woodland Bellower. It can be tempting to play a bunch of fringe cards because I might want it at one point for a tutor, but the Recruiter is a powerful card. I’m able to flip the recruiter by passing the turn with Elder Deep-Fiend.

Speaking of Woodland Bellower; I got some comments about people liking it less than Drowner of Hope. After playing this deck against Demonic Pact I can say the bellower shined against the Black removal. When Demars searched for Sylvan Advocate with a Lumbering Falls in play I conceded the following turn with a grip full of removal. There were going to be three attackers on the following turn with more than 4 toughness to get around Languish and Grasp of Darkness.

I trimmed down to two Reality Smasher because I think you can have a great control matchup in different ways that are better against the tempo decks. The main draw to Reality Smasher was the ability to sacrifice Matter Reshaper to Eldritch Evolution and put a 5/5 haste into play, but I don’t need that many copies. The 5/5 haste wasn’t great against Reflector Mage because I would begin behind on the board so the five damage wasn’t helpful. I can round out the playset in the sideboard when I play against control.

Another comment about the rough draft of U/G Eldrazi Evolution was that it lacked removal. Since I can lose a Thought-Knot Seer or Whirler Rogue to a Spell Queller I decided to play two Spatial Contortion to kill it.

Given that U/W Spirits will be popular in week 1, I want a couple Aerial Volley to kill multiple creatures for just a single mana. This card can send 3 damage at a Spell Queller or you can kill a couple 1-toughness flyers like Rattlechains and Mausoleum Wanderer.

I’m also going to try a couple Foul Emissary in the sideboard because they are good against grindy decks. A 1/1 that comes into play and helps fuel the chain of Elder Deep-Fiends is a friend of mine.

I also want to try a version of U/G Deep-Fiend with Collected Company:

U/G Deep Company

U/G Deep Company ? Eldritch Moon Standard | Kyle Boggemes

The original version was inspired by a list similar to one created by Tyler Hill. Most of his brews are wild, but this one has good cards so I was on board.

Collected Company is the most powerful spell you can play in Standard so why not combine it with Elder Deep-Fiend? Naturally, I need to put the Eldrazi theme on the backburner, but I still get Matter Reshaper. The CoCos work well in this deck as I have 26 creatures to ht that are all scary.

I play four Eldrazi Skyspawner, four Matter Reshaper, four Foul Emissary, and three Nissa to sacrifice for Elder Deep-Fiend. It’s important to have enough colorless sources for Matter Reshaper so the scion token from Skyspawners serve as an additional source.

The benefit of this CoCo deck over the traditional Bant variant is having less ETB tapped lands. In addition to having more untapped lands I get the four creature lands and four Sanctum of Ugin for card advantage.

This deck also takes advantage of the werewolves because I can flip easily with the instant-speed cards. Lambholt Pacifist is the non-obvious 2-drop so there’s more early interaction against Humans which I expect to be very popular in the early weeks of Standard. Again I’m sideboarding Aerial Volley to fight the early versions of the spirit deck.

I think this deck will be a powerful option because all of the cards are good. It’s a heavy synergy deck with the mid-game Deep-Fiend chain, but can play a normal game of Magic, too. Something that concerns me about the deck is that it can’t support Kozilek's Return which may be the key for Deep-Fiend decks. It might be the correct call to wait on casting Deep-Fiend for a couple of weeks so the hive mind can find a good version.

That’s all I have for this week. I’m pretty sure I’m going to play a Collected Company deck because it’s a powerful and proactive strategy which is good for a new format. I have a feeling the Eldritch Moon cards will make a huge impact on Saturday so I’ll have plenty to talk about next week. Wish me luck in Columbus!

Thanks for reading,

Kyle

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TAGS articles, standard, list, constructed, deck lists, decks, brews, kyle boggemes, #mtgemn, eldritch moon

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