Halloween Havoc in Indianapolis

Posted on November 6, 2015

This past weekend was such a fantastic time that I don’t know where to start. Not only has Standard seen a little more variation, one of the decks was piloted by my good friend and local, Raymond Perez Jr. I could not have asked for a better setting for such an event—Indianapolis is probably my favorite Midwest city, and I take advantage of every chance I have to go there. Between the great food, Halloween atmosphere, and watching a thrilling double-Michigan finals, I am still recovering even into Wednesday as I write this.

Beyond my personal experience, we also had a fairly thrilling Top 8, one in which the actual results do not necessarily do the event justice. First, I should probably get the Esper Tokens deck out of the way, as up until now, the list has been fairly under the radar. The first showing was a Magic Online Championship Series Top 8 finish, and since then, Ray has been working with the list extensively to prepare.

Esper Tokens ? Battle for Zendikar Standard | Raymond Perez Jr., Finalist at Grand Prix Indianapolis 2015

I watched and played against the deck enough over the past few weeks to gain a great deal of respect for the versatility it offers. Going from relatively high teens to 0 life can occur in just a turn or two, putting you on guard and unable to always position threats well in fear of Secure the Wastes into Gideon, Ally of Zendikar or Sorin, Solemn Visitor.

I expect this deck to continue making runs over the rest of the season as a happy balance of control and combo with a great deal of reach. The Dark Jeskai matchup seems favorable, which is huge, considering a large part of the field is probably still going to be on that deck. Though Raymond lost to Abzan in the finals, he did dispatch the deck in a close semifinal match. From watching the games, I’d say it seems that the match can play out well enough—the threats have to match the answers you have, and Clawson was able to outmaneuver that factor in Game 2.

Another deck that has been on the radar for a while now is Hardened Scales. The matchup in the Top 8 was handicapped a bit by a misregistered deck, resulting in a game loss. I would have liked to see the deck play a match, as the pilot was implementing some tech I can get behind in the form of Stubborn Denial. Much like Heroic last year, this deck can easily turn on the 1-mana Negate variant while still producing threats at a quick pace.

Hardened Scales ? Battle for Zendikar Standard | David Phelps, Top 8, Grand Prix Indianapolis 2015

While I know it can be easy to judge a player for his or her mishaps during a tournament, I hope, as a community, we can understand that, at seventeen with your first real Pro-level experience, it can be easy to make a few mistakes under the pressure. I was nineteen last time I was on any sort of feature, and I was so nervous I ended up getting sick shortly after—the pressure is real, and so is the experience. I hope to see more from David down the road, and I am a huge fan of this deck. Shunning people for inexperience or nerves or dismissing his finish as luck does a major disservice to the younger generation of players; we all make mistakes, and while you can critique his play or misregistration error, the reality is he made the Top 8 of a very large tournament, something most of us will never accomplish.

You can gain some free wins just by going big early and having a counter back—as well as by grinding out some of the midrange decks by going over the top with Avatar of the Resolute or Abzan Falconer. I like seeing Feat of Resistance in the list, as it has a ton of utility here—and I may even look at dropping the Valorous Stances to the ’board for at least one more copy—but I assume a great deal of testing went into this decision. Den Protector gaining a counter turns on Stubborn Denial, and that point alone seems to be a great argument for the mid-to-late game, when the Stance may do much less. Other than Stubborn Denial, this deck looks fairly stock and runs with the same shell we have been seeing. I expect this to continue being the Heroic of the season, showing up every once in a while to remind people to play fair.

So, where does this leave us with the metagame? Clearly, Abzan is still a major hurdle to beat with the consistency needed to sludge through fifteen rounds of Standard. That seems to be the major key right now, and the Esper Tokens deck has a lot more of that going for it than decks like Rally or Hardened Scales, thus making it one of my top contenders. I still believe the code to Temur is there, waiting to be cracked, but with all of the different directions the top decks can attack you from, it seems difficult to populate a seventy-five that is ready for everything.

I still believe any shell that can squeeze Silumgar, the Drifting Death in next to a few other Dragons has a good matchup against a number of these decks, but Esper Dragons does not fit my playstyle, so I am looking a little further. The Dragons list I posted last week does have these capabilities, but it lacks the consistency needed to place in a major event and is probably better for Friday Night Magic or Magic Online play.

Last week, I posted Ojutai Temur, which did include these ingredients but had a tougher Dark Jeskai matchup. I found Abzan to be favorable due to the flyers, all of which trump Wingmate Roc and can keep the pressure on through Siege Rhino. Dark Jeskai preys on taking entire turns to make a single play, meaning you need to be able to out-card-advantage the opponent while still providing threats. Temur Ascendancy did help with that but is weaker in matches that have Dromoka's Command, meaning you cannot play enough copies to always rely on it in the Dark Jeskai match.

Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time tax the graveyard, meaning you can only run a finite number of them and still reliably be able to draw unless you have an abundance of removal to fill your grave. This leads back to Esper Dragons, and while that is still an option, the Esper Tokens match seems miserable, and contending against an open field such as a Grand Prix provides means you may just be crushed by random decks you did not pack answers for. If we are looking at control, I would rather it be a form of board control.

The other option is to dive further into aggro decks, particularly ones that can provide threats that do not die to Wild Slash or Silkwrap in the first few turns, as those cards are everywhere. Atarka Red certainly still has a place, but outside of the combo of Temur Battle Rage and Become Immense, there just isn't much draw for me.

I am still a huge fan of Thunderbreak Regent and would love to play Stubborn Denial, so with that in mind, I looked for a potential Grixis build that could control the board early while posing threats in the mid-to-late game that dodge as much removal as possible, giving you time to reload with either Treasure Cruise or Dig Through Time in the late game. Currently, this is the list I have before I start any real testing this weekend:

Grixis ? Battle for Zendikar Standard | Ryan Bushard

Planeswalkers (1)
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Thunderbreak Regent does feel great in this shell, but backing him up with other Dragons proves to be more difficult. I am coming around to Dragonlord Kolaghan, and this will be my first real experience with him. I have tried to stay away from Jace decks since the spike in price, but I believe this shell needs him a great deal. It also allows us to play Swift Warkite, which I am still very fond of. Returning a Jace to transform that turn is fantastic and comes with a 4/4 flyer to protect it. I am not sure this interaction will prove to be enough, but with few Dragon options, this seems to be the perfect deck to test it out.

I have seen some other Grixis Control lists leaning away from creatures more, but this seems to be a happy medium, allowing both aggression as early as turn four—that can be backed up with a great deal of card advantage—and counters or removal. Radiant Flames is still very well placed and keeps the Atarka Red decks in check while your threats line up nicely against Dark Jeskai and Esper Tokens.

Next week brings another progression of the ever-evolving format, and even a few months in, I am excited to see what will be the next big thing; this format is far from stagnant, and though it can be easy to slam all of the best cards from all five colors into a deck, it is nice to see two- and three-colored decks still posting the best results. If you have any experience with Grixis Dragons or wish to share your list, leave a comment below. Until next week, keep the skies clear and life totals low.

Ryan Bushard

@CryppleCommand