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Main » Articles » The Top 8 Most Warping Cards in Standard

The Top 8 Most Warping Cards in Standard

Michael Flores
Posted on July 2, 2019
 Reddit

Innovation and customization in a format often appear as responses to other decks, rather than starting out as features the designer wants from the outset. The questions posed to a format by what the opposition demands will often teach us more about what we play - or at least what we should - than the incentives contained in our seventy-fives in the abstract. The most powerful might be g-d warping, and demand multiple changes from many directions... Or extinct whole strategies in its wake.

Following are the Top 8 most warping cards in Standard (and some hangers on).

Not-Top 8: Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

Teferi - or at least this Teferi - is a good example of the difference between a very good card and a format-warping one. You're going to have a hard time finding someone who doesn't think that Teferi is one of the best, most powerful, most desirable, cards to play in Standard... But people don't pick a lot of cards specifically in reaction to him.

Possible counter-argument:

Charging Monstrosaur

One of the reasons I left Teferi, Hero of Dominaria out of the Top 8 is just that at Mythic Championship III there were four decks registered with Stomping Ground.... All of them played main deck Skarrgan Hellkite.... Not a Charging Monstrosaur between them.

That said, two (of many more than two) Izzet decks played one Charging Monstrosaur each in their sideboards.

What's the deal with Charging Monstrosaur, anyway?

Skarrgan Hellkite is 4/4 haste. With riot, it can be 5/5 not-haste. Charging Monstrosaur on the other hand is always 5/5 haste.

If you were specifically choosing to combat Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, you might select Charging Monstrosaur. On the turn that Teferi comes down, he is likely to tick up from four loyalty to five. Ergo the Monstrosaur - provided it doesn't get countered with Teferi's two untapped mana - can kill the Planeswalker in one strike. Hellkite can't.

Hat Tip: Arclight Phoenix and Crackling Drake

Arclight Phoenix
Crackling Drake

Arclight Phoenix almost made my Top 8. This card is, once again, quite good; they are quite good, and generally come together.

But people aren't building for them specifically. Lava Coil is a notoriously sideboard card; meaning that there isn't a whole lot of main-deck preparation for either exile (versus graveyard) or 4 toughness out of Red Decks. Of the Izzet decks themselves - the decks you might think are most respectful of this flying duo - not a one played four copies of Lava Coil main; and some as few as two.

Possible counter-argument:

Ob Nixilis's Cruelty

This card is just terrible, right? Gross. Like, it costs extra but doesn't even kill a 10/10 or 12/12 Dinosaur. Gross. But! It sure kills a Phoenix dead; and levies a big enough tax on toughness to knock my old Guilds of Ravnica preview card out of the sky.

The problem is Ob Nixilis's Cruelty is super fringe, barely played in any decks; and even when it is, in tiny numbers out of the sideboard.

"No respect."

So what are the most warping cards?

8. Thief of Sanity

Thief of Sanity

When was the last time that you can remember a card that was so discussed based on its absence from deck lists?

People not playing this card literally let everyone else off the hook. But that's not all:

Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord

Early on in the format, Sorin was Staple in Esper decks; in part because he costs one more mana than Thief of Sanity and has exactly the correct amount of starting loyalty to bring Thief of Sanity immediately back from the dead (assuming a right-minded opponent has just killed it). Thief's disappearance - temporary, I assure you - has been rightly paired with Sorin's.

It's not like anyone is pulling for Robin w/o Bats.

7. Light Up the Stage

Light Up the Stage

This card is a little odd relative to the rest of my list.

All of the warping is within the confines of the Red Deck itself, but Light Up the Stage's influence is far-reaching and multifaceted.

Red Decks play fewer lands than they did prior to Light Up the Stage. The default Mono-Red deck prior to this card's printing - Busson's - played twenty-two lands. Today's Red Decks - even when they splash a second color - tend to top up at twenty. This is largely because of the Red Deck adding a de facto one mana spell that can help dig for more lands.

Play patterns are much different also. Most Red Deck players are angling for a turn-two Light Up the Stage these days, utilizing haste creatures. A few months ago, cards like Fanatical Firebrand were among the first to be sideboarded out; now they're essential to the deck working at all.

This changes not only the fate of the Firebrand, but how Red Decks have been composing their sideboards. Not long ago, aspiring fire lords were looking to Treasure Map in sideboarded games. They were siding out 1 toughness liabilities for more grinding play (especially in the mirror match). Today, most Red Decks are opting for Dire Fleet Daredevil; Legion Warboss; and Tibalt, Rakish Instigator for their card advantage - all one-toughness liabilities mind you - in part because they can all help catalyze Spectacle.

Word to the wise: On turn two, you will often have the option of killing the opponent's Ghitu Lavarunner or Fanatical Firebrand. You will often leave your mana up for something else. Just remember that as much as that 1-2 damage might matter, the ability to draw into lands might matter even more for the hated Planeswalker across the table.

6. Hero of Precinct One

Hero of Precinct One

Half the Esper decks play it.

But it's not just a question of playing it or not.

The ones who play it are foregoing maybe their most powerful option main deck in Kaya's Wrath main deck, even if they are playing say two in the sideboard.

But it's more than that.

Elite Guardmage

This mage is definitely not elite, and barely guards anything. It is a multicolored card that can trigger the Hero, and help dig to more multicolored cards, of course.

If the presence of Elite Guardmage in Basilica Bell-Haunt's spot weren't evidence enough of this card's warping effect on Standard, there are subtler differences... The presence of an Island that can disrupt one's ability to cast Kaya's Wrath... Tyrant's Scorn to trigger instead of the steadier Cast Down.

And then there's this cutie:

Amulet of Safekeeping

I've written about the Mono-Green deck the past couple of weeks, which came prepackaged with this largely unsung Core Set 2019 rare. Kinda doesn't matter how many times Hero has triggered against Amulet!

It's existence, as a very strategic one-of in a Tutor deck, is a further nod to Hero of Precinct One's groping hand on the meta.

5. Oath of Kaya

Oath of Kaya

Just look at poor #8.

Week One, Esper Superfriends played maybe zero copies main deck and one in the sideboard (but four copies of Thief of Sanity!). Ditto on Week One Esper Control (including 75% of the Thief of Sanity count!):

Esper Control | War Standard | Zach Allen, 4th Place SCG Open Richmond

What changed?

Not only did the rise of Planeswalkers in general prompt Esper players to shift from other removal cards more into Oath of Kaya... Oath of Kaya's escalation in the format led to the much-talked-about extinction of Thief of Sanity.

4. Lava Coil

Lava Coil

Pro Tour Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz recently said you have to play four Lava Coils "by law" but that doesn't make the card warping. Clearly it's not only very good but an essential tool used by almost every deck - Red Decks, Gruul, Izzet, and even Grixis - that can cast it.

Where might we see the warp?

God-Eternal Kefnet

Izzet Phoenix | War Standard | Wyatt Darby, 59th Place Mythic Championship III

This card is a great answer to Mono-Red. Izzet can be soft to that matchup; but Kefnet cures a lot of ills. Both of the Izzet Phoenix's signature creatures - Crackling Drake and Arclight Phoenix itself - are vulnerable to Lava Coil, but God-Eternal Kefnet has the fifth toughness of a true survivor. Beyond the four damage from Lava Coil, this card can walk - or rather fly - away from a confrontation with a Rekindling Phoenix as well.

3. Narset, Parter of Veils

Narset, Parter of Veils

Check out this top performing deck list from the first week of War of the Spark Standard:

Mono-Red Aggro | War Standard | Collins Mullen, 2nd Place SCG Open Richmond

Compare that to the Top 4 Red Deck from Mythic Championship III:

Mono-Red Aggro | War Standard | Shahar Shenhar, 4th Place Mythic Championship III

The structure of these decks is very similar; similar land counts; tons of access to big card advantage between main and side. But while all the top Red Decks from the first Open played 3+ Risk Factors in their seventy-fives... That card is scarcer than Thief of Sanity at this point.

Why? Mostly Narset, Parter of Veils.

You can see similar influences in Simic. Fewer Chemister's Insights; fewer copies of Blink of an Eye... More Narsets of their own to compensate! An even more extreme case?

Simic Ramp | War Standard| Simon Gortzen, 15th Place Mythic Championship III

No Chemister's Insights at all!

I mean this build is probably more influenced by the #1 card on this list than the #3, but you can still see Narset's fingerprints on the card choices. Maybe a strategy is still recognizable. Maybe you just err on one side of a similar line than the other. But the deck probably has different capabilities, different fault points, and maybe even different speed.

Case in point: This deck doesn't even play Wilderness Reclamation; but has way more than one Callous Dismissal to finish.

2. Goblin Chainwhirler

Goblin Chainwhirler

Chainwhirler is less of a warping factor than it was a Standard or three ago, but there remains an enormous premium on one-toughness creatures, Put another way: Llanowar Elves isn't single handedly dominating Standard. In fact, there have even been Golgari decks that didn't play it!

Another great little nod:

Ripjaw Raptor

This card, like God-Eternal Kefnet, has a fifth toughness to get around Lava Coil. But its more compelling prey has to be the Chainwhirler. You can choose to not throw two cards - really four cards - at it... But you can't not trigger it if you intend to summon the greatest Goblin; not really.

1. Teferi, Time Raveler

Teferi, Time Raveler

Was there ever any doubt?

Remember when the 5-drop was the "good" Teferi?

I don't think that even Goblin Chainwhirler at its height a year ago really had Teferi's level of warping reach.

Remember counterspells? Despite Blue decks being some of the most popular, there are precious few permission spells in Standard main decks. Why? Having your Dovin's Veto ahead of time is great, but drawing it after your opponent has resolved Teferi just guarantees you'll be stuck.

Remember Wilderness Reclamation? Okay, okay; apparently Matias Leveratto did! But the card that previously threatened to be Standard's boogeyman has fallen precipitously in popularity. Simon Gortzen's deck (above) is a good example of a deck with the same central thesis that respects Teferi's ability to steal value from Wilderness Reclamation.

Remember artifacts? When Eli Kassis won his Grand Prix with Jeskai, he called Azor's Gateway a must-play. When Adrian Sullivan won his, he was packing Treasure Maps, Teferi makes those two mana cards look absolutely awful. Good luck flipping one. It's not just that the time you invest in, say, a Gateway can be largely wasted... It's that your casting costs are often at a premium, so getting the Gateway bounced can literally dead end its development.

Firestarter: What new tools from Core Set 2020 do you think will displace which of the above as Standard's most warping cards?

LOVE

MIKE

TAGS articles, standard, theory, constructed, analysis, top 8, decklist, michael flores, war standard, 07022019

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