Hey there! First off, I’d like to say there was a mistake in last week’s article; sorry about that. I was under the impression that Shimmering Grotto was a common in Magic 2014, but that it is not. So, the mana-fixing in the Limited format is even worse than I thought!

I have been casting a lot of Sphinx's Revelations lately in Standard, using various versions of the basic W/U shell. As M14 is going to be legal in Standard this week, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the various Sphinx's Revelation decks that I have been playing and what the future looks like for them.

I will start by discussing each deck along with my current list, that is, before Magic 2014. At the end of the article, I will discuss what new challenges these decks face and which M14 cards might help combat these challenges.

White and Blue Basics

I started my Standard journey with Sphinx's Revelation by playing the W/U Flash deck that Jacob van Lunen wrote about a month ago on ChannelFireball. I started off playing the exact list and had some success with it, but the sideboard felt a bit odd. I didn’t really like the whole Increasing Confusion plan, as it didn’t seem to do enough against most decks. I was also having problems with Cavern of Souls with Aetherling, so I thought if I can’t beat them, I might as well join them. This is what my updated W/U Flash list looks like at the moment.

"W/U Flash"

• Creatures (12)
• 4 Augur of Bolas
• 4 Restoration Angel
• 4 Snapcaster Mage

• Spells (24)
• 1 Unsummon
• 2 Azorius Charm
• 2 Dissipate
• 2 Rewind
• 2 Syncopate
• 2 Think Twice
• 3 Renounce the Guilds
• 3 Sphinx's Revelation
• 3 Thought Scour
• 3 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Runechanter's Pike

• Lands (24)
• 5 Plains
• 8 Island
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 2 Moorland Haunt
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Hallowed Fountain

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Terminus
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 1 Renounce the Guilds
• 1 Righteous Blow
• 2 Purify the Grave
• 2 Aetherling
• 1 Negate
• 2 Dispel
• 1 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Cavern of Souls

Buy This Deck

One of the main upsides of this deck is that the mana is very good, so you seldom lose to color screw. Runechanter's Pike is also awesome, especially in Game 1, when not many opponents have removal for it. Against various control decks, this is the most important card to resolve, as the opponent is often just dead to it if the game goes long, and it usually does. Even if he or she has Detention Sphere for it, you can just Renounce the Guilds to bring your Equipment back. The deck I would most like to play against is Gruul aggro, as I feel it is a very good matchup. Other aggressive decks are also mostly good matchups, though if they have Voice of Resurgence, things become a bit more complicated.

The problems for this deck are mainly Voice of Resurgence and the aforementioned Aetherling in combination with Cavern of Souls. As far as the sideboard goes, if you want space for some other cards, I could consider cutting the one Renounce the Guilds and the two Purify the Grave, as they have not been very impressive, even against Junk Reanimator.

Drowning

The second deck I tried was a very peculiar-looking W/U deck that splashed black just for Nephalia Drownyard. The_Great_Dustini has been playing this deck for some time now on Magic Online and had a fair amount of success with it.

"W/U Drownyard by The_Great_Dustini"

• Creatures (8)
• 4 Augur of Bolas
• 4 Restoration Angel

• Spells (25)
• 2 Dissipate
• 2 Renounce the Guilds
• 3 Sphinx's Revelation
• 4 Azorius Charm
• 4 Syncopate
• 4 Think Twice
• 2 Supreme Verdict
• 4 Terminus

• Lands (27)
• 3 Plains
• 5 Island
• 3 Isolated Chapel
• 4 Drowned Catacomb
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Hallowed Fountain
• 4 Nephalia Drownyard

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Kraken Hatchling
• 3 Rest in Peace
• 2 Renounce the Guilds
• 2 Negate
• 2 Dissipate
• 2 Rewind

Buy This Deck

I haven’t played this deck as much as I have W/U Flash, but I have done a fair number of two-man queues and some Daily Events. So far, I have not been overly impressed with the deck, as there have been several problems. The first thing that bothers me is the mana. As you only play four shock lands, you often draw way too many M10 lands, and subsequently, most of your lands enter the battlefield tapped. This is not a huge problem when playing against slower decks, but when facing an aggressive deck, having your lands come into play tapped can be the crucial factor between victory and defeat.

The second problem I have with the deck is that due to the low frequency of high-impact cards, you often flood out. I’ve lost many matches in which I have felt in control, and even played a Sphinx's Revelation for 3, but then lost five or six turns later. Most of the decks in Standard have very good threats right now and can often play out only one or two at a time, so your Wrath effects are not that good in the late game. Because you don’t have access to Snapcaster Mage, you have much fewer good cards to draw in the late game when you are flooded.

What I do like about the deck is the number of Wrath effects available in the main. Terminus seems very good at the moment—even without the miracle cost, it is good against Voice of Resurgence and similar threats. The fact that you are able to cast it with the miracle cost at times makes is totally absurd in those situations. The thing I would like to see is some sort of proactive card such as Jace, Architect of Thought so that you can really capitalize on the advantage when you hit that miracle Terminus in the midgame. Leaving up mana to play Think Twice or a counterspell is fine, but actually putting something a bit more impactful on the board would be good.

R/W/U

The third Sphinx's Revelation deck I have been playing lately has been the version of R/W/U that Matt Costa made Top 8 with at Grand Prix Miami. So far, I have played the list card-for-card, as I’ve been playing similar versions for a very long time before Dragon’s Maze was released.

"R/W/U Flash by Matt Costa"

• Creatures (10)
• 3 Augur of Bolas
• 3 Snapcaster Mage
• 4 Restoration Angel

• Spells (24)
• 1 Rewind
• 2 Counterflux
• 2 Syncopate
• 2 Turn // Burn
• 2 Warleader's Helix
• 3 Sphinx's Revelation
• 4 Azorius Charm
• 4 Think Twice
• 1 Supreme Verdict
• 3 Pillar of Flame

• Lands (26)
• 2 Island
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 1 Moorland Haunt
• 3 Clifftop Retreat
• 3 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Hallowed Fountain
• 4 Steam Vents
• 4 Sulfur Falls

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Clone
• 3 Dispel
• 2 Izzet Staticaster
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 1 Pillar of Flame
• 3 Renounce the Guilds
• 1 Supreme Verdict
• 3 Thundermaw Hellkite

Buy This Deck

The thing I like most about this deck compared to the straight two-colored version of Flash is that you gain access to Pillar of Flame as an early-game removal spell. Voice of Resurgence is among the most annoying cards to play against for the W/U Flash deck, and having access to an effective answer is very nice. I’m also a big fan of Warleader's Helix, as it is a good way to get rid of Restoration Angel and planeswalkers, but it’s also an amazing card against all the aggressive decks. There are few things that feel as good as playing Warleader's Helix on a Hellrider at the beginning of combat.

Comparison

Of these three decks, the W/U Drownyard deck should be the best against control since having access to Nephalia Drownyard is just huge. I would not recommend it, though, since I feel the negatives outweigh the positives here. As far as aggro goes, I think both W/U Flash and R/W/U Flash are quite equal. Against any decks with Voice of Resurgence, R/W/U Flash is much better, as Pillar of Flame is very important. The midrange matchups are roughly equal, with W/U Flash having the slight edge due to the main-decked Renounce the Guilds and the additional counterspell.

I would wholeheartedly recommend both R/W/U Flash and W/U Flash for any upcoming Standard tournaments, as I think they are both good choices and are very similar to each other.

Problems on the Horizon

The other thing I am concerned about are the new cards that the red aggressive decks are potentially adding to their roster. Chandra's Phoenix is a solid beater but should be relatively easy to deal with between Restoration Angel and your other removal. Especially R/W/U Flash should have it easy here, as Pillar of Flame again excels. Another troublesome creature is Mindsparker, which might well start seeing play, especially from the sideboard. The body is decent, and the ability ensures you take at least 2 damage even though you kill it with Supreme Verdict immediately. I can see many scenarios in which the ability is just brutal, as it makes digging for answers very awkward. Once again, Pillar of Flame shines here, giving you access to a very effective way to deal with Mindsparker.

I’ve saved the third troublesome card for last because it is absolutely backbreaking. I’m of course talking about Burning Earth. Manabarbs was always a mainstay in the sideboards of red decks, and Burning Earth looks to do the same. These control decks often take out all their countermagic when sideboarding and also often have to tap out for a sweeper in the early and midgame. This gives the red mage the perfect opportunity to resolve this 4-mana enchantment. Once Burning Earth is in play, it becomes seriously painful to cast any spells at all if your mana base consists of primarily nonbasic lands. And, well, that’s true for most decks in Standard. I see this as one of the biggest reasons to play W/U Flash over the red version, as you actually have a fighting chance against a resolved Burning Earth. You are still running between eight and twelve nonbasic lands, but at least you will have a decent amount of basic lands to complement them.

Tools of the Trade

While opposing decks are gaining access to all kinds of new cards to beat us with, we also gain access to some new tricks. Celestial Flare is a very good card for dealing with the Bant Hexproof deck, and I might even consider playing one or two in the main deck of the W/U Flash deck. Ratchet Bomb is another card that can act as an answer to various threats out of opposing decks. Having the ability to tick it up to 2 or 3 and then add some more counters if your opponent plays Burning Earth seems like an okay plan. The problem here is that Ratchet Bomb is often terrible when drawn late in the game, so I don’t really know if it’s worth playing it.

Choose Your Revelation

Magic 2014 will not yet be available on Magic Online for a while, so you will have to wait a bit longer for a thorough look at the Draft format. Next week, I will most likely be writing about some of the things I’ve learned about the Sealed format while playing at the prerelease events this past weekend. So far, I have liked the Limited format, but several of my friends have stated that they are not very happy with it, so I guess I might have to play some more before I make up my mind.

As always, if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or ideas, please contact me either directly via Twitter or through the comments section below. All comments are much appreciated—even negative ones.

Thanks for reading,

Max

@thebloom_ on Twitter

Maxx on Magic Online

You can find my music on: http://soundcloud.com/bloomlive