So . . . goodbye Mind Sculptor, goodbye Stoneforge Mystic. Hello, new Standard! The big question is how much these bannings will actually change the Standard environment. The biggest reason for the banning is presumably the almost complete dominance of Caw-Blade recently. It’s become the norm for Top 8s of Standard tournaments to include more than half Caw-Blade decks. While Caw-Blade may be the most glaring example, in part because it uses both banned cards, many other decks in the environment use at least one of them. Twinblade, RUG and various U/B decks use Jace, while Boros, Puresteel Paladin and G/W use Stoneforge Mystic. What decks will dominate now?

There are three main areas to examine. First, what decks were already good and won’t be hurt by the bannings? Second, are there decks that used one or more of the banned cards that can still be contenders? Third, will any new decks emerge?

RDW, Valakut Ramp, Vampires and Elves are all decks that have been making some impact on the environment without using either of the banned cards. They seem like obvious beneficiaries from the bannings. The main reason these decks might not see increased success is if for some reason they needed a deck like Caw-Blade to dominate, in order for them to be successful. I like what the changes do for RDW and Valakut especially. Valakut was the dominant deck before the rise of Caw-Blade and if Caw-Blade stumbles, it would be natural for Valakut to pick up the slack. Red Deck Wins has a great matchup against Ramp, so anything that benefits Ramp benefits RDW.

As usual, I’m focusing more on what other decks might emerge as factors in the environment. This week, I’m taking a look at one of my favorite cards that seems to have fallen out of favor in Standard: Fauna Shaman. The obvious pairing with Shaman is Vengevine. First, I put them into a new version of G/W:

[cardlist]

[Creatures]

1 Inquisitor Exarch

1 Kor Hookmaster

1 Kor Sanctifiers

1 Kor Skyfisher

1 Soul's Attendant

1 Viridian Corrupter

4 Bloodghast

4 Fauna Shaman

4 Squadron Hawk

4 Sylvan Ranger

4 Vengevine

4 Wall of Omens

4 Molten-Tail Masticore

4 Pilgrim's Eye

[/Creatures]

[Lands]

5 Forest

5 Plains

4 Razorverge Thicket

4 Stirring Wildwood

4 Sunpetal Grove

[/Lands]

[/cardlist]

No, it’s not a typo. The gamble I’m taking with this deck is playing Bloodghasts without any Black mana. My hope it to get them directly into the graveyard from my hand. On the surface, it may seem like I only have eight ways to do that: four Shamans and four Masticores. My plan is to also use Squadron Hawk as another outlet for them. Given the amount of cards in this deck that replace themselves, I expect to be able to keep my hand size high. That way, if I draw a Squadron Hawk with a Bloodghast in hand, then I can bring my hand size above seven, allowing me to discard Bloodghasts at the end of my turn.

Fauna Shaman- I’ve got lots of creatures I’m happy to ditch to a Shaman: Bloodghast and Vengevine especially. I’ve also got creatures I can fetch to address a wide variety of situations, such as Kor Sanctifiers, Kor Hookmaster, and Inquisitor Exarch. There are also several reasons I will usually have a creature to go with the Shaman whenever I draw it. First, I have only creatures and land in my deck, with a total of thirty-eight creatures. Second, I can’t actually cast Bloodghast, so it will often be in my hand waiting for a Shaman. Third, Squadron Hawk and to a lesser extent Wall of Omens, enable me to play creatures without emptying my hand of creatures.

Squadron Hawk- I think there is a case to be made that this card is as big of a problem as Stoneforge Mystic in Caw-Blade. Drawing three non-land cards from your deck for two mana and getting a flyer too is actually pretty incredible. The main thing you need to do is make use of these three extra cards/creatures. In the case of Caw-Blade, removing Mystics and Jaces is a pretty serious hit to the power level of [card]Squadron Hawk" href="/p/Magic%3A+The+Gathering/Squadron+Hawk%22+href%3D%22%2Fp%2FMagic%253A%2BThe%2BGathering%2F%255Bcard%255DSquadron%2BHawk%22%3E%5Bcard%5DSquadron+Hawk%3C%2Fa%3E">Squadron Hawk" href="/p/Magic%3A+The+Gathering/%5Bcard%5DSquadron+Hawk">[card]Squadron Hawk in the deck. Jace can upgrade mediocre cards in your hand (like extra Hawks) into something better. Mystics can fetch you the ideal equipment for the situation, while Hawks provide you with a stream of cheap evasion creatures to put the equipment on. In this deck, [card]Squadron Hawk" href="/p/Magic%3A+The+Gathering/Squadron+Hawk%22+href%3D%22%2Fp%2FMagic%253A%2BThe%2BGathering%2F%255Bcard%255DSquadron%2BHawk%22%3E%5Bcard%5DSquadron+Hawk%3C%2Fa%3E">Squadron Hawk" href="/p/Magic%3A+The+Gathering/%5Bcard%5DSquadron+Hawk">[card]Squadron Hawks provide several useful functions. One, they help ensure you have a creature in your hand to ditch to Fauna Shaman. Second, they help ensure you have multiple cheap creatures to retrieve Vengevines. Third, they are a potential way to ditch Bloodghasts, as I mentioned earlier.

Soul’s Attendant- I wanted a one drop I could fetch with Fauna Shaman to play with my last mana to retrieve Vengevines. In addition, this deck can gain you really large amounts of life with one of these. I can gain a bunch by retrieving Vengevines and Bloodghasts. Also, just the fact that this deck is about two-thirds creatures is good with this card.

Inquisitor Exarch- In a deck with all creatures and no Black or Red mana, direct damage can really take an opponent by surprise as a potential game ender. I also like the fact that I can sometimes play one before combat to give my Bloodghasts haste. It’s also good to have a cheap 2/2 that gains me life when I’m playing against aggressive decks.

Molten-Tail Masticore- It gives the deck several important elements: creature removal, direct damage, a 4/4 beat stick and a way to pitch Bloodghasts and Vengevines. The fact that this deck is designed to keep my hand size high also makes Masticore better in this deck.

I decided I should play it safer and also make a deck that could actually cast Bloodghasts:

[cardlist]

[Creatures]

1 Acidic Slime

1 Bloodthrone Vampire

1 Entomber Exarch

1 Gatekeeper of Malakir

1 Skinrender

1 Viridian Corrupter

3 Abyssal Persecutor

4 Birds of Paradise

4 Bloodghast

4 Fauna Shaman

4 Lotus Cobra

4 Phyrexian Rager

4 Vengevine

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

4 Birthing Pod

[/Spells]

[Lands]

10 Swamp

9 Forest

4 Verdant Catacombs

[/Lands]

[/cardlist]

The big thing I’ve done here is add four more cards that can search creatures out of my deck: Birthing Pod. The key to playing with Birthing Pod is having creatures that you don’t really mind sacrificing, creatures that are exciting to fetch and cool creatures in a climb up the mana curve.

Bloodghast- A cheap recurring threat is always good. It’s especially good in this deck as a creature to activate Fauna Shaman or Birthing Pod.

Lotus Cobra- Unlike my previous deck, I’m fine emptying my hand with this deck. I want my mana to explode, so I can play all of my threats while having mana to sink into Fauna Shamans and Birthing Pods.

Bloodthrone Vampire- In a deck that can get so many creatures into play, including Bloodghasts and Vengevines, it’s nice to have such a big potential threat for so little mana. Of greater importance, it’s a cheap creature I can fetch and then immediately sacrifice any number of Abyssal Persecutors.

Abyssal Persecutor- A 6/6 flying trampler for 4 mana is obviously an awesome creature in any deck that can cast it. This is especially true in a deck with Birds and Cobras that can get it into play by turn three. The reason not every deck with enough Black mana doesn’t play them is because of its drawback. Thus the measure of how good a fit it is in a deck like this is how good the deck is at overcoming that drawback. I have six ways to get rid of Persecutors when they’ve outlived their usefulness: Gatekeeper of Malakir, Bloodthrone Vampire and four Birthing Pods. Since I can fetch two of them with Fauna Shamans, it effectively more than six ways. In addition, if one of those two creatures ends up in the graveyard, I can retrieve it with an Entomber Exarch.

Entomber Exarch- In a deck full of utility creatures like this one it’s nice to have a way to reuse them. In addition, the Entomber’s ability to attack players’ hands makes it a utility creature in its own right.

Birthing Pod- I have creatures that I’m happy to sacrifice, like Bloodghasts and Vengevines. I have cool creatures to fetch, like Ragers, Skinrender and Acidic Slime. Exarch is especially cool to fetch, because it can even retrieve me the Rager or Corrupter I just sacrificed to get it. Also important, I have creatures at one through five in the curve.

Both of these decks are taking a calculated risk. The first one takes a risk by running Bloodghasts without Black mana and the second deck by running Abyssal Persecutors. These risks may sometimes backfire, but these sorts of risks are a common feature in powerful combo/combish decks. The important thing to do when playing one of these decks is to accept these risks in advance, if the thought of potentially losing a game due to being unable to ditch a Persecutor drives you to despair, the second deck isn’t for you.

If you’ve been playing Valakut Ramp or RDW, congrats on the bannings. If you’ve been playing a deck with Jace, Stoneforge Mystic or both, sorry to hear it. You can certainly try to make your deck work without the card/s that got banned. I’ve definitely heard from some people that Caw-Blade is still a powerhouse, even without Jace and Mystics. If however, you’re looking for a new deck, try giving Fauna Shaman and Vengevine a chance.