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Main » Articles » Standard after the Pro Tour

Standard after the Pro Tour

Kyle Boggemes
Posted on October 21, 2015
 Reddit

Hey, everyone!

I’m back from the Pro Tour with a fresh perspective on the Standard format. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to add to my string of good Pro Tour finishes in Milwaukee, but I was happy to find myself live for a cash finish going into the second-to-last round despite a rocky Day 1.

My weapon of choice going into the event wasn’t exactly revolutionary because I didn’t find an off-the-radar deck I would rather play:

Green-White Megamorph ? Battle for Zendikar Standard | Kyle Boggemes

There’s an interesting dance going into the final week before a Pro Tour: A best deck is established, and it can sometimes be beaten, and sometimes, it cannot. I figured G/W would be a good choice despite people gunning for it because Dark Jeskai was a very different deck and people would have a hard time beating both. G/W is bad against flyers, but you can’t just jam Thunderbreak Regent and Wingmate Roc into every deck because Crackling Doom and Ojutai's Command are popular cards.

Another factor contributing to me playing the most popular deck is that players only had a few days to tweak their decks to adapt to the new metagame. Since G/W only became the most popular deck on the Sunday before the Pro Tour, I expected players to have already locked in decks, which meant there would be less hate. The ways to attack this deck are to go above Deathmist Raptor or underneath it.

As it turned out, there were a ton of flying creatures that came out of the woodwork despite the weakness against Crackling Doom. The Dark Jeskai decks were also a known quantity and would pick off the big flyers, but players preferred to have strong G/W matchups. This would give me a 5–5 record in Standard. Sometimes, playing a good deck can pay off, but other times, the metagame is ready for you.

I wouldn’t play this list going forward, but Autumn Burchett was on top of adapting the deck to a field of flyers and was rewarded with the top Standard record.

Green-White Megamorph ? Battle for Zendikar Standard | Autumn Burchett

The card that over-performed for me was definitely Archangel of Tithes. With the exception of the first round against Esper Planeswalkers, I ’boarded in at least two in the remaining nine matches. Autumn correctly identified this as a standout in the new Standard and played three in the main deck. The best part about Archangel is that it prevents your opponent from attacking you on turn five and raiding a Wingmate Roc. The G/W mirror is largely decided by the die roll, and this is one of the few ways to break serve. By slanting the deck more toward white, you also gain Knight of the White Orchid, which helps you play from behind. It seems foolish at first to cut Gideon, Ally of Zendikar from the deck, but it seems to be a good step forward to reduce the reliance of winning the die roll.

An interesting deck that I played against three times was the breakout deck of the tournament: R/G Landfall:

Red-Green Landfall ? Battle for Zendikar Standard | Corey Baumeister

This list was piloted by Corey Baumeister as well as many other players from his team (including Brad Nelson and Ari Lax). A group from ChannelFireball independently came to the same conclusion that this was a good deck. This deck may look goofy at first because it plays Draft cards like Scythe Leopard and Snapping Gnarlid, but it packs a punch against G/W. I asked Corey’s teammate Matt McCullough why he didn’t play the deck; he was worried about the Dark Jeskai matchup. I tested some games of the matchup when I returned from the Pro Tour, and it was very lopsided. This is a great deck if Jeskai leans more heavily on sorcery-speed threats like Gideon. I wasn’t able to go for the combo because Dark Jeskai is so removal-heavy and kills creatures at instant speed. With that said, R/G Landfall is inherently powerful, and I would recommend it if combo–aggro is your style.

My first round of Constructed was against Magnus Lantto and his Esper ’Walkers deck. As the tournament continued, it was clear many teams had independently come to the conclusion Esper was a viable archetype. I expect those decks to fly under the radar in the short run because, despite their impressive Standard records, the Top 8 was free of Esper decks. The deck closest to the version Magnus played ended up with an 8–2 performance by Fabrizio Anteri:

Esper Planeswalkers ? Battle for Zendikar Standard | Fabrizio Anteri

I originally identified Ob Nixilis Reignited as a standout from Battle for Zendikar, but the rest of Abzan Control wasn’t impressive, and I moved on to other strategies. Abzan Control was also weak to more aggressive white decks that were clearly very strong, so I knew that wasn’t where I wanted to be. This Esper deck seems to be a good home for Ob Nixilis because it has so many other Planeswalkers and removal spells to protect it. There are four Silkwraps, which is great versus G/W as well as Dark Jeskai. I’m worried about the mono-red matchup, so I like that the sideboard is heavily geared toward interacting with Atarka Red.

Ob Nixilis Reignited
The mana is very solid in this deck, which is a big draw to it when comparing it to Dark Jeskai. If you look at the spells, this is just a W/B control deck that splashes Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and Painful Truths. All of the Battle lands help you cast the Jace, so the color commitment isn’t high.

The removal package is also strong in this deck. When I started building Standard decks for the Pro Tour, I looked to Ruinous Path because it’s good on almost every turn of the game. The control decks have a hard time dealing with losing their best threats and also having to deal with a potential 6/7 Shambling Vent. There are few Ugins in the format, but I feel that card is poised for a comeback given its strength against Dark Jeskai and G/W.

I plan on playing this deck at my next local event because it’s exactly what I like to be doing in Standard: controlling the game while having powerful threats to close out quickly.

Another deck I plan on testing further is Four-Color Dragons. My teammate Stu Parnes Top 8’d a Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifier the Sunday of the Pro Tour with a deck he found from the Pro Tour on a deck tech. It’s super-fun and not too challenging to play—outside of fetching the right lands. It leans heavily on the Dragon theme to take advantage of powerful removal like Draconic Roar. I have made a couple changes to adapt it to better fight Dark Jeskai:

Four-Color Dragons ? Battle for Zendikar Standard | Kyle Boggemes

Icefall Regent
This deck has a strong midrange matchup thanks to Thunderbreak Regent and Icefall Regent. The large number of flyers will also help immensely against Gideons. Woodland Wanderer is surprisingly good against Dark Jeskai because that deck’s only answer to it is Crackling Doom. I played some of this matchup because I expected it to be unwinnable for Dragons, but it had some staying power. You can’t play this deck without Stubborn Denial because the cheap counters are your main source of game against Ojutai's Command. I would have potentially played this deck at the Pro Tour if I understood the power of Stubborn Denial. It protects your threats in play, and it also counters Gideon!

Of course, it can’t be all fun and games; fast red decks will pressure you to find basic lands to cast spells on time, which is always the enemy of the Woodland Wanderer strategy. Stu took a loss in the Top 8 to Atarka Red with Temur Battle Rages, and I expected that to happen because flyers are too expensive to be a realistic defense. Luckily, Dispel will continue to shine here, as it’s a cheap source of interaction against the combo.

There are twenty-five lands as well as eight mana dorks, which means you have twenty-seven real cards in the deck that trade at least one for one. The plan is to ’board out Beastcaller Savant most of the time for spells that can interact cheaply so your curve doesn’t increase. Most of those sideboard slots are dedicated to fast red decks and Dark Jeskai since they can use the most help. The rest of the sideboard will punish the midrange decks; Exert Influence and Icefall Regent are punishing against the various Abzan and G/W decks.

This deck is a blast to play and is competitive against the big decks, so I would give it a try. I might even play this at the Grand Prix in Indianapolis!

Another deck I’m interested in from the Pro Tour is an Eldrazi Ramp deck from Victoriano Lim:

Eldrazi Ramp ? Battle for Zendikar Standard | Victoriano Lim

This deck has a similar theory to Ali Aintrazi’s ramp deck that used Radiant Flames to control the game instead of using only mana acceleration in the early game. I think this deck is interesting because Languish and Crux of Fate do a great job at stopping the early assault, and you don’t have to play bad ramp spells like Leaf Gilder. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is well-positioned because the only deck I talked about that can interact with it is Esper ’Walkers.

Complete Disregard
Oblivion Sower seems well-positioned if you’re the only one playing it because delve is viewed as “free,” and the lands are the first things to be exiled. Dark Jeskai plays three Tasigur, the Golden Fang and two Dig Through Time, with Jace and Ojutai's Command encouraging them to keep spells in the graveyard.

This is one of the few decks I’ve seen with Complete Disregard even though I think it’s a great card at the moment. Removing Jace, Hangarback Walker, and Mantis Rider forever is a big game. It’s probably the best spell to have in this slot because I can’t spend a lot of space killing creatures, so it needs to encompass a large part of the threats being played.

Standard is going to be in an interesting place, and it’s by no means solved. Going into the tournament, G/W felt favored, but it’s clear there are many ways to beat it. Dark Jeskai also has quite a few areas to address, as many decks are able to win with threats that don’t care about the removal in the deck played by Owen Turtenwald and Jon Finkel. The Pantheon Dark Jeskai deck was very powerful, but it needs to evolve, as it will have a target on its head.

I would also encourage everyone to take a look at the 7–3-or-better Constructed decks from the Pro Tour, as there were a ton of good ideas. Even if you don’t see some of these decks pop up immediately, they will be the building ground of future decks. Since there are so many decks that had success, they all can’t be good in the short run, and they may have only missed Top 8 because they were too early to the party. It’s key to keep them in the back of your mind for specific metagames.

Thanks for reading!

-Kyle

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TAGS articles, pro tour, standard, constructed, analysis, decklist, kyle boggemes, #mtgbfz, battle for zendikar, pro tour battle for zendikar, #ptbfz

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