World's Week: We Are the Champions

Posted on December 5, 2014

After a week off for the holidays, it was nice to come back and see that not only is Standard still diverse, but it is still expanding! I don’t believe I have ever seen a format, even before the Internet streamlined the process, that has continued to evolve and adapt this late into the season. We may for once still be wondering what the best deck is once Fate Reforged releases; that is a Standard I can get behind!

This week, to bring us back up to speed, I am going to be taking a look at some of the decks featured in this year’s World Magic Cup. I will hit on some of the Modern decks in the future when I make it back around to that format, but for now, I want to concentrate on the Standard portion. I am currently running on very little sleep after staying up and dozing off on my couch to watch one of my very good friends, Ray Perez, participate in the event. While Ray may not have finished in the top tier, all those sleepless hours did let me observe some of the highest level of play I have ever seen. If you have not had a chance to watch the match of Patrick Chapin versus Shaun McClaren in Standard, I highly suggest it.

One thing to keep in mind when observing some of these lists is that this event was something very unique in the sense that you know going in exactly who the other twenty-three players are, and in general, you probably have an idea of what some of the field will be. This can account for some strange choices between the ’boards and main decks in some lists. Later this week, we will have the team worlds event as well as a few other smaller tournaments, for which I imagine we will see some of these lists adapted for a larger metagame. I will be covering that next week and attempting to identify any of the cards that may have just been temporary heroes in this small field.

First, I want to start with a deck I brought attention to very early in the format: Jeskai Ascendancy. I hesitate to label the deck combo anymore, but this archetype in general is a perfect example of just how diverse this format is. Since its release a few months ago, we have seen nothing short of five variants of this deck—six if you include Altar of the Brood as its own archetype. It is crazy to think that just one card can not only create that many lists, but can serve a different purpose in each. To understand the evolution of this deck, we should start from the beginning:

Jeskai Ascendancy was spoiled, and within a week, we had a list that could combo your opponent out as early as turn four. This was a great start, but it was hardly consistent, and it relied on Burning Anger for the win.

The ChannelFireball team got ahold of the list and turned what was a clunky pile into something a little more streamlined. The deck was slightly slower, and in my opinion, it contained a less-than-optimal win condition, but it certainly made up for that in consistency.

The deck flew under the radar for a few weeks until, suddenly, for the first time in a long while, it seemed that someone had broken the format. Jeskai Ascendancy had a backup plan, something rare for combo in any format, much less Standard. This deck was fast and could suddenly steal wins from nowhere in the late game, as you thought you had stabilized.

Since then, I have seen at least a few different lists that have dropped the combo altogether in favor of burn spells and better creatures. This week at Worlds, we had just one of those lists, and I like where this deck has ended up. The best part is this may not even be the best list—maybe comboing is still better—just as how the rest of this format this archetype is hardly written in stone.

Jeskai Aggro ? Khans of Tarkir Standard | Yuuya Watanabe

Planeswalkers (2)
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

This deck seems to be a more streamlined version of the Mantis Rider build from earlier in the season as opposed to the combo deck, and that just goes to show how powerful Ascendancy can be; gone are the days when this is strictly a combo card. Late game, this can overwhelm your opponent or draw you through a mana pocket, and it does all of that for the low cost of 3 mana. I expect to see this card begin the climb again now that Khans of Tarkir prices have finally bottomed out, and if you have these lying around, you may be smart to just set them aside for a while.

There is not much else here besides the obvious Goblin Rabblemaster, but I don’t foresee that price climbing enough to get in while the card is already above $10. I would not feel bad picking these up ever if you need them to play with, but beyond that, there just isn’t much action.

Though the Jeskai decks were plentiful—and my favorite among the group—it was clear most people still wanted to be on Abzan Midrange and Sidisi Whip. The Whip deck is something I have been seeing much more of online, and I am always impressed at how games play out. That deck just looks clunky on paper to me, but the results don’t lie.

Sidisi Whip ? Khans of Tarkir Standard | Kentaro Yamamoto

This list may be slightly off from others, but the general idea of the deck remains. There is not much here of financial relevance, but there was one card I want to touch on: Soul of Innistrad. With so many of these midrange matches coming down to how many two-for-ones you can manage and how well you can make use of mana, it only makes sense that a card that nets you a three-for-zero would be worth considering. With the recent hit to cards like Nissa, Worldwaker and Goblin Rabblemaster in price, it does allow for other playables to begin climbing. This is the first one on my list from Magic 2015 to keep an eye on, and at just above bulk for a mythic, it certainly warrants consideration.

If you ever plan on playing a graveyard strategy, I would pick the entire cycle up now just in case, as they really have very little downside, but even if you do not want to go that deep, Innistrad is almost certainly poised for a jump. This started as a singleton for mirrors—and Abzan I believe—but the more I see results coming in online, the more I see the numbers climbing to two, and even three at times. If this format continues to stress a midgame-heavy archetype, three may not seem that insane.

I don’t think I need to post an Abzan list, as nothing new has really come springing forward—there are some numbers tweaks here and some singleton switches there, but overall, it has continued to be the same deck we have seen since the beginning. That fact on its own is worth noting. It is not only great when a format can show such diversity, but also has a deck that has existed for months and only seen a few minor tweaks. Though it may be among the more expensive decks in the format, it has probably paid for itself by now with as much play as people have been able to get in with relatively no changes.

The last deck I wanted to cover this week is something I hope we see more of in the coming weeks: Jeskai Control. I have seen iterations online for a while now, but the mana base and relative inability to peg the format week in and week out has really pushed the deck to tier two.

Jeskai Control ? Khans of Tarkir Standard | Lars Dam

Beyond the mana base and difficulty catching every threat, this deck also suffers from the endgame closer in Sphinx's Revelation that we have all come to know and love over the past few years. Lars’s list attempts to make up for that with the life-gain of Nyx-Fleece Ram in the main as a four-of and the card advantage of Steam Augury. I like the shell in general, but I really would like to see more proactive threats in the form of ’Walkers to gain more of an advantage. I have been looking at shells with Jace, the Living Guildpact and some number of delve cards as well, and Steam Augury plays very well into that. Of financial relevance, it is hard to say, but Anger of the Gods and End Hostilities continue to be pillars for these control variations, meaning if we do see them begin to fill the gaps, we may see a spike in price as well.

I am stoked about not only getting to watch team worlds in the coming week, but also to get some sleep, so for now, I leave you with what I would call one of the more impressive displays of Magic I have seen in a while. If you were not able to catch the action live because you are not some sort of nightwalker, be sure to watch through the matches before the Top 4 this weekend. Next week, I will probably be focusing on team worlds, and I hope I can get some updates in on Heroic, as I am still jamming that online.

Ryan Bushard

@CryppleCommand