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Main » Articles » Small Hinges Swing Big Doors in Standard

Small Hinges Swing Big Doors in Standard

Michael Flores
Posted on December 27, 2023
 Reddit

Do you ever see a small change - or better yet, a small number - in a deck list, and find yourself scratching your head? "What's going on with that?" You might think. Or "That can't possibly be consistent."

Chances are that little something might not be consistent - and might not even be designed to be consistent. Sometimes it's there to be redundant! But oftentimes tiny changes or numbers in deck lists exist to compress just a little bit more value into a deck's game plan. When you bristle at its consistency... No. It's probably not going to come up the first time you shuffle up that new sixty. But if you play a hundred times? Or even the dozen you'll need to navigate to take home the Blue Envelope at your next local RCQ? You might get just a little more oomph out of the deck than you would have otherwise.

Here's a really interesting example:

Domain Ramp | LCI Standard | 8uha, 5-0 MTGO Standard League

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One Vanquish the Horde has been creeping, quietly, into Domain Ramp lists as a redundant Wrath of God effect. Previously you would have seen two copies of Depopulate - or, in fact, you might still see two copies of Depopulate. But the one Vanquish the Horde folks seems to be gaining some footing.

First, we should probably acknowledge that Domain Ramp can actually gain a little value by playing Depopulate. After all, its signature Big Bad is in fact multicolored. However, blowing up your own end game Angel is not typically Plan A.

To be fair, Depopulate itself is not Plan A. If this deck wants to sweep, its first choice is going to be Sunfall. There are a lot of reasons for this. When you want a bunch of creatures dead (and you aren't planning on resurrecting any yourself), then sending them to exile is generally preferable to merely destroying them. The more creatures you kill, the bigger the eventual artifact creature upside that you'll have to try to close out the game later. Winning quickly once you've gained control of a game is a burning need for Domain Ramp, especially since lots of people have caught on to deck exhaustion as one of this strategy's weak points.

But the real reason? And the reason Vanquish the Horde has caught on a wee bit?

Up the Beanstalk

Both Sunfall and Vanquish the Horde trigger Up the Beanstalk. Depopulate doesn't. Depopulate can be a better "curve filler" and there is a strong argument that it will get Domain Ramp out of more trouble more often just by being a consistent and predictable cost... But the card is still very imperfect.

The biggest offenders in terms of opponents who have multiple creatures in play to Wrath away all play multicolored cards. Dennick, Pious Apprentice // Dennick, Pious Apparition; Raffine, Scheming Seer, and Harbin, Vanguard Aviator are all offenders that immediately come to mind. Do you really want to reload them while you're biding time on the battlefield? That's the anti-Depopulate argument.

Here's the thing: Vanquish the Horde never really costs more than seven. And if you're paying seven, you're probably happy for the opportunity to get what is about to be a single, lethal (and probably gigantic) threat off the table.

If you're killing only two opposing creatures, Vanquish the Horde is a much more manageable six. And at three creatures? It's the same as Sunfall, but with no "they might draw a card" downside.

In fact, Vanquish the Horde has a lot of potential upside outside of Up the Beanstalk. Token decks - including your own tokens from Herd Migration - can create a significant discount. Opponents who slap their hands directly onto the battlefield will often be working to take your cost all the way down to ww. Certainly there are end game scenarios where you can Alpha Strike, pay down ww to clean up whatever's left on the battlefield, and play your next Herd Migration all in one turn. Make them have the answer now!

Come to think of it, I'm actually kind of surprised we don't see more Vanquish the Horde.

Gruul Dinosaurs | LCI Standard | xfile, 10th Place MTGO Standard Challenge 12/24/2023

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The card that makes this deck for me is Glimpse the Core.

I love how this deck has not only 4 Glimpse the Core, but 3 copies of Intrepid Paleontologist and 3 copies of The Irencrag to jump from two mana straight to four mana.

I wonder what cool Caves this deck plays! It turns out that Glimpse the Core is only a kind of contrapositive Farseek here. The only thing it can Ramp into is basic Forest. So what's up with exactly two Mountains?

Standard is currently quite friendly to Gruul mages who don't need to get anywhere particular in a hurry. So XFILE has sixteen sources of Red just from dual lands; nineteen if you count Cavern of Souls (with a 20th in the sideboard). The Mountains are in some way just a bonus!

If it were me, I'd consider cutting back on dual lands possibly. Only five total basic Forests actually cuts down on the efficacy of Invasion of Zendikar // Awakened Skyclave, Topiary Stomper, and Glimpse the Core in longer games. If it were me, I'd keep two Mountains but want something like ten Forests. There is no chance of this deck going below fourteen - or even sixteen - primary sources of Red mana, so I think the mana base can spare a little in the Red dual land department. But that would be a different hinge swinging open a very different door.

But, again, I agree with the two Mountains.

This deck isn't "splashing Red" so much as "splashing double Red" ... So it needs rr almost any time it could use r. The only exception is the boring version of Trumpeting Carnosaur, or some sideboard cards.

For the most part, its Red cards cost rr, which includes Brotherhood's End out of the sideboard... A card Cavern of Souls can't help XFILE to cast.

The two Mountains are never a liability on an absolute mana basis. If you can't cast a spell, it's not going to be want of Green; it's going to be want of total mana... Because everything else taps for Green. In fact, while some of the deck's top end fatty boom booms beg for ggg, many key cards in the main color require only a single g.

So... Two Mountains? You can nab both with a single Invasion of Zendikar // Awakened Skyclave. In fact, you often will. There is going to be little value in getting any Forest with Invasion of Zendikar, because you're not going to be hurting for Green; but most of your need for Red is going to be for, as we said, double Red.

Esper | LCI Standard | Misplacedginger, 7th Place MTG) Standard Challenge 12/24/2023

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Lord Skitter, Sewer King isn't exactly "new" for Esper Legends or Esper Midrange decks, but I do think that the wonderful, somewhat overpowered, Gnarled Mass update has some additional context given the archetype's new favorite toy:

Subterranean Schooner

The Schooner itself is an automatic two-of or three-of for Esper nowadays, and for interesting reasons of its own. The most obvious to me is to keep Deep-Cavern Bat out of trouble.

Deep-Cavern Bat is probably the single most important new card to hit Standard from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan... In no small part due to its lifelink and inherent synergy with Raffine, Scheming Seer. Only... It's also a dinky 1/1. There are times you just don't want to send the Bat into peril - lifelink or no - and give the opponent back their best card. So you can say "Aye, aye Captain!" and wrap your leathery wings around the local spyglass to go underground-pirate-ing. BTW: Explore.

Now while you have Bats and Schooners: This is where Lord Skitter, Sewer King comes in. He's only a one of - and in this build, Subterranean Schooner is only a two-of - so it's not like you're going to perfect curve this every time. But Schooner-into-Skitter is a pretty good two-three. Lord Skitter can continually provide Crew for your Schooner; and the Schooner can give the Rat tokens something to do (because they don't block).

After all, you can only play so many copies of Raffine, Scheming Seer! I like how the Rat King gives a highly interlocking deck just a little bit different of a synergy that is also quite effective.

Mono-Red | LCI Standard | merses, 1st Place MTGO Standard Challenge 12/24/2023

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Another week.

Another big Standard event...

Another Mono-Red deck on top!

The real eyebrow-raiser for me is two copies of Monastery Swiftspear... But that's not something I can really wrap my head around. But bully on MERSES for killing the most darling of darlings. ESPECIALLY given the recently named Person of the Year.

What I'm more interested in is the sideboard here, as a whole.

MERSES is not playing a sideboard that can really shift strategies. I'm used to the kind that lets us turtle into a Planeswalker Control deck, or a removal deck (or both simultaneously). MERSES is trusting in the core Red Aggro strategy, and just making tweaks - typically one slot and that's it - to optimize for a matchup by taking out dead weight.

For example, if the opponent doesn't have any creatures, you probably don't want Witchstalker Frenzy. This is the rare main deck card that can't go to the face, only kill creatures. On the other hand it kills Sheoldred for one mana, so no one is arguing.

Unless, of course, your opponent doesn't have any Sheoldreds or anything else to kill, in which case you just want more offense.

Urabrask's Forge is a powerful catch-all. It can go in in such cases; not only providing an additional threat, but an additional kind of threat. If the opponent were planning to kill all your creatures (say they just read a treatise on Sunfall versus Vanquish the Horde)... The Forge would still give them problems. Without a dedicated anti-Forge strategy, they might be overwhelmed.

Urabrask's Forge isn't the best threat against someone trying to race you. It's a three-mana brick the turn it comes down, and its guys never block. There's a lot going wrong with this card: But it's an effective sideboard card for three reasons:

  1. If they're not actively attacking, the fact that it doesn't block is irrelevant.

  2. If they're focused on another part of your deck, its persistent damage is going to either get out of hand quickly or force the opponent into something they don't want to do.

  3. Goddric LOVES Urabrask's Forge. He'll throw a party!

Yes: It's time for a Celebration!

Urabrask's Forge makes non-land permanents. You know who loves partying with non-land permanents? DRAGONS.

Well, one Dragon in particular; but you'll have to ask him to remove his cloak first.

They say da Vinci was the last man to understand all the technology he used on a day to day basis. I hope this article helps you to understand better some of what makes your favorite decks tick; tick louder; or tick just a little faster in Standard.

LOVE

MIKE

TAGS articles, standard, advice, metagame, constructed, decklist, mike flores, michael flores, lci standard, 12272023

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