Normally, this far into Standard season, people are beginning murmurs of Modern or Legacy in order to get away from the dull stagnation that the current format has become. I am going to make a bold statement that I am sure some readers will find opposition to: This is the most diverse and enjoyable Standard I have seen since I have been playing Magic competitively. Now, there may be some argument here from back in the day of early Magic creation, when anything was playable and the best deck was what you had on you at the time. The big difference between now and then is, simply put, the Internet. This article and others like it have given people the ability to be lazy and, within a month, still be able to have and play the best decks because the metagame allows it.

Last week, I mentioned that I am a combo player at heart and not a huge fan of straight aggro, but the deck I want to talk about this week, W/U Heroic, may have me taking that all back already. I have tested fifty to sixty matches at this point and still have a lot of work to do on the deck, but I figured while I was so entrenched in testing and trying out new options, it would be a good week to also test out one of the other formats I wanted to try for this article. This week, I will be talking solely about Heroic and what cards appear to have positive outlooks going forward.

While most of the focus this weekend is going to be on Legacy as I—and probably thousands of others—will be in New Jersey for the Grand Prix, I am going to refrain from talking much about pricing in that regard until next week, as the action that has occurred already is speculative at best in most cases. If you are looking for more information about Legacy and what cards are moving well at the show, feel free to follow me @CryppleCommand on Twitter, where I will be bringing live updates from the floor.

So before I post a list for the deck, it is important to note that this deck has a number of strengths that I was looking to maximize when putting my own version together. These are the key points I have found have led me to victory, so putting many of these pieces together should create the best list.

• This deck is not always an aggro deck; much like Jeskai Heroic, this deck has some draws that just say, “Oops, I win,” leaving your opponent with few outs and a fast clock.
• Having a 1-drop always feels correct. There are certainly hands that allow for slower play with a Temple on turn one, but rarely do they feel as powerful as a Favored Hoplite does.
• This deck wants eight to twelve copies of Ordeal of Thassa; if there is any one card that lets this deck run, it is this Ordeal. Hands with one just have direct lines of play that can many times result in the scenarios I pointed out in the first bullet point.
• This is going to somewhat counteract the last point, but I despise Heliod's Pilgrim in this deck. It is great when you are able to start comboing off, but if you are on the aggro, playing this guy rarely fits the curve, and having multiples in your opener feels like a mulligan.
• The protection spells are best kept to 1-mana if possible; Feat of Resistance is great in the versions sporting Pilgrim and looking to win later in the game—or just to push extra damage—but there are a number of games in which I have had terrible decisions on turn three of whether to play another guy or keep up Feat.
• The last point I want to make before comparing the two lists I started with is that I believe there are two decks within this archetype: a faster, leaner version that gives up a bit of late game but has more scenarios in which its opponents are not given time to answer, and a slower version with Pilgrims and more silver bullets built to handle more late-game scenarios that seem otherwise unwinnable. Both have the ability to win quickly with protection backup, one more consistent at closing the game early and the other with a plan in case it cannot.

W/U Heroic ? Khans of Tarkir Standard | Jacob Van Lunen

• Creatures (20)
• 2 Phalanx Leader
• 2 Seeker of the Way
• 4 Battlewise Hoplite
• 4 Favored Hoplite
• 4 Heliod's Pilgrim
• 4 Hero of Iroas

• Spells (19)
• 2 Feat of Resistance
• 4 Defiant Strike
• 4 Gods Willing
• 1 Treasure Cruise
• 1 Aqueous Form
• 1 Ordeal of Heliod
• 1 Singing Bell Strike
• 1 Stratus Walk
• 4 Ordeal of Thassa

• Lands (21)
• 3 Island
• 7 Plains
• 3 Tranquil Cove
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Temple of Enlightenment

• Sideboard (13)
• 4 Lagonna-Band Elder
• 1 Ordeal of Heliod
• 1 Treasure Cruise
• 1 Stubborn Denial
• 1 Negate
• 2 Ajani's Presence
• 1 Aqueous Form
• 2 Wavecrash Triton

Buy This Deck

W/U Heroic ? Khans of Tarkir Standard | Tom Ross, Third/Fourth Place in StarCityGames Open

• Creatures (20)
• 2 Eidolon of Countless Battles
• 3 Heliod's Pilgrim
• 3 Seeker of the Way
• 4 Battlewise Hoplite
• 4 Favored Hoplite
• 4 Hero of Iroas

• Spells (18)
• 2 Feat of Resistance
• 4 Defiant Strike
• 4 Gods Willing
• 1 Aqueous Form
• 1 Ordeal of Heliod
• 1 Singing Bell Strike
• 1 Stratus Walk
• 4 Ordeal of Thassa

• Lands (22)
• 2 Island
• 9 Plains
• 1 Mana Confluence
• 2 Tranquil Cove
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Temple of Enlightenment

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Seeker of the Way
• 2 Treasure Cruise
• 3 Stubborn Denial
• 1 Heliod's Pilgrim
• 2 Ajani's Presence
• 2 Lagonna-Band Elder
• 1 Aqueous Form
• 1 Ordeal of Heliod
• 2 Erase

Buy This Deck

So between these two decks, I have deduced that the shell of the deck, which I have heard few disagree on, consists of the following:

• 4 Hero of Iroas
• 4 Favored Hoplite
• 4 Battlewise Hoplite
• 4 Gods Willing
• 4 Ordeal of Thassa

No matter whether you decide to follow the direct lists or branch off as I have and go more aggro, I have to believe these twenty cards are the starting point for every list. I will post what I finally settle on next week, but a few cards I have been playing with in the main include Ephemeral Shields and Stubborn Denial. So far, I like the less clunky version, but I can certainly see merits to gaining some ground in the late game.

Now that we have seen the deck and have an idea of what it is trying to do, let’s see if we can dig up some financial information from these lists. The starting point for me has to be Hero of Iroas—this guy, boy does he do work when you hit hands with multiple Ordeals. Most of the turn-four wins I have managed come from this guy. Even if this deck does find a best list, and it does not come to fruition that there may be an additional builds, this card is a four-of already, and this deck has proven itself already both in paper and Magic Online. Online, these have been everywhere from pennies to $5 each, and even settling now, they are higher on average than the paper copies. That usually means the demand for the card is there. I like picking these up in every trade I can because if this deck shows up in one or more Top 8s in the coming weeks, expect this to jump along with those finishes.

The last card I want to touch on this week is Hushwing Gryff. Though it’s not a card that appears in many of these lists, it is more of a pickup for the coming year as Standard continues to churn. With the metagame continuing to shift, it is going to be inevitable at times that this card is good and can shut down a few of the top-tier decks. Right now, I have a few floating between the board and main in Heroic, but if you aren’t running Pilgrims, this becomes much more viable. The card briefly spiked last month, but it has since fallen back off, and that means now is the time to get in on them—they will probably cycle back around soon enough.

Well, I am off for the week, leaving for New Jersey tomorrow, so if you see me while you are there, come say hello; I want some feedback about this new series, and I always find that comes best in person. If you cannot make it this weekend, do not worry, as always there is plenty of coverage both financial and not coming your way!