Post-Rotation Standard Brews

Hi Everybody. After letting Pete have most of the fun ranting about cards and games, I decided Id like to write a little something. Although I should be ruthlessly preparing for the upcoming PTQ season, Theros is not fully released, and doing M14 drafts can only sharpen your limited skills so much. But plenty of Theros is out, and combined with the fact that I was never in love with the Innistrad block, I have been madly brewing for the post-rotation Standard format. Word of warning, every deck to follow will contain

*SPOILERS*.

My approach to a new format like this is very pragmatic. It is very very hard to figure out what the metagame is going to be like. In any sort of established format one goes about brewing a new deck by examining the metagame and attempting to find holes that can be exploited in a certain way. Post-rotation it is silly to try to figure out the metagame in order to build a deck, because no decks have been built yet determining a metagame!!

My approach is instead to just take what we know, and combine that with what I like. For this post and the following decks this can be summed up by-

We Know:
1) RG aggro is a deck
2) UW control is a deck
3) Theros is enchantment themed

I Like:
1) Varolz
2) Obzedat
3) Young Pyromancer

We know these things because RG aggo has been consistently at the top this summer and loses very little in the rotation, while UW was very dominate in block and has the ultimate trump in Aetherling. We can also add to our knowledge that three color decks are likely dead. This isnt just Burning Earth's fault, we lost 10 pretty amazing dual lands that will be replaced with 10 very mediocre ones. I do think that Sylvan Caryatid does a good, and sometimes superior, impression of Farseek, so that does not seem to be as big an issue as first suspected. The take-away punchline is that I am going to build some two color decks (except a five color one!) that have enough removal to deal with a beefy aggro deck, and some way to deal with an Aetherling.

What I like is much less easily explainable. I think these three cards, despite seeing play, have much brighter days ahead of them. I will show you my attempts at building them homes.

But to start off, here is a list that breaks the two color rule, but is the only to hit rule 3) of what we know:
4 Detention Sphere
4 Pacifism
4 Sphere of Safety
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Sylvan Caryatid
3 Blind Obedience
3 Urban Evolution
3 Sphinx's Revelation
3 Treasured Find
2 Heliod, God of the Sun

4 Maze's End
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Temple Garden
2 Temple of Mastery
2 Azorius Guildgate
2 Selesnya Guildgate
1 of each other Gate

That's right, a Maze's End deck!! I guess technically it is only a four color deck as there are no red spells in it. After talking with Jed about his Turbo Fog Maze's End deck (and his lack of enthusiasm for the Fog aspect (despite his beautiful Fog cards!!)) I stumbled upon Sphere of Safety. Combined with the knowledge that Theros is enchantment themed I decided to build in that direction. To that end, currently the only new enchantment in the deck is Heliod, God of the Sun, although he seems like a spicy one. Vigilance is more or less useless, but an indestructible enchantment is already interesting for your Sphere count. The fact that it can churn out 2/1 chump blockers, or possibly switch you into beatdown mode makes it well deserving. The fact that these tokens are enchantments greatly enhances the effectiveness of Sphere of Safety: once you can make a Cleric every turn it will likely be a hard lock versus many decks. This fact alone may justify it as a three-of, or finding cheap cantrips to add. Along the God lines, Thassa, God of the Sea is an option, and while Scry 1 is much better than vigilance, 2/1 enchantment Clerics seem much better than making Sylvan Caryatid unblockable.

The only other new card is the aforementioned Sylvan Caryatid. It replaces Into the Wilds as fixing and accelerating, although it isnt an enchantment, and does not help with your Gate count. It is also a bit of a nombo with Supreme Verdict, but the deck really needs early acceleration with so many ETB tapped land. Having only one of most Gates is an attempt to make a smoother mana base to actually allow you to cast spells. There seems to be zero land destruction in standard, and Thoughtseize cant hit your land, so this should be a safe proposition. Treasured Find is an insurance policy (that is negated by Scavenging Ooze), but it could be replaced with more proactive cards.

Perhaps the Sphere plan is garbage, it seems like it's been possible for long enough that someone should have found it. Fogs are generally cheaper to cast, allowing more activation's of Maze's End, but I feel Id rather  Detention Sphere / Pacifism / Supreme Verdict / Blind Obedience to slow them down before hopefully locking them out with a big  Sphere of Safety. The fact that Sphere and Heliod both want the same thing may mean it is time for this deck, and if another good removal, mana-fixing, or cantripping enchantment exists in Theros the deck would be very happy.

Covering the first two bases of what we know: 1) The deck is chock full of creature removal and attack stifling cards, but who knows if it's enough to deal with all the threats of RG, 2) UW should be trumped by our uncounterable win condition. It's basically a race to see if you can activate your Maze's End enough before they can activate their Aetherling a few times, although out of the board comes Debtor's Pulpit (no joke). I feel like this deck gets better in general now that something hyperfast like Naya Blitz is gone. But there is no guarantee that the format does slow down, Experiment One into Burning-Tree Emissary into Brushstrider is still a thing.


Up next is a deck built for the first card I like, Varolz, the Scar-Striped. Black/Green midrange is already a deck, and while it loses a lot of crucial cards, it still contains a lot of powerful stuff. The list:
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Desecration Demon
4 Varolz, the Scar-Striped
2 Elvish Mystic
3 Scavenging Ooze
1 Kalonian Hydra

2 Abrupt Decay
2 Doom Blade
2 Hero's Downfall
2 Thoughtseize

4 Grisly Salvage
2 Rescue from the Underworld
2 Deadbridge Chant
2 Vraska the Unseen

4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Golgari Guildgate
2 Mutavault
6 Forest
8 Swamp

This deck may be a little too scattered. It could become more aggressive (Brushstrider again?), relying on Varolz, the Scar-Striped to be a late-game resource, assuring you dont run out of steam. It could become more graveyard oriented with fatties, more  Rescue from the Underworld, and perhaps Commune with the Gods. Deathrite Shaman is another card that has not seen much (if any?) Standard play despite being very powerful. The lack of fetchlands in the format take away his ability to be a mana accelerant and fixer, but he is here to largely make Deadbridge Chant a non-random card. Along with Scavenging Ooze eating unwanted chaff out of your graveyard, this possibly lets Chant give you the one card you want back every turn. This being his role it is quite possible that the numbers on the Shaman and Elvish Mystic should be switched.

Being black it has a very nice suite or removal. The loss of Mutilate hurts and really pushes the deck to be more aggressive (and hence Varolz). The numbers may not be right, Abrupt Decay seems way to good to not play, while Doom Blade could be switched out for it or the new Dreadbore impersonating Hero's Downfall. This card is a great removal for Black which doesnt have much to deal with Planeswalkers, although it isnt super crucial in this BG combination due to Vraska the Unseen's minus ability. She too is a very powerful underplayed card. Her psuedo-Vindicate ability is amazing, her +1 is pretty weak, but her ultimate is hit in two activations and can realistically win games. The one of Kalonian Hydra probably should be something else, but I couldnt resist his interaction with scavenge and Desecration Demon's natural accruing of counters.

The deck fights RG with adequate removal and hopefully equally large monsters. UW control seems like a much tougher battle. Thoughtseize, and perhaps even Duress from the board, is hopefully enough to keep them low on counters and off of Aetherling while Varolz, the Scar-Striped can make any threat that sticks a game winning monster (here regeneration seems very important, but is trumped by Azorius Charm.)


Next we have an archetype that has already seen success as a home for Obzedat, Ghost Council. BW control:
2 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
3 Obzedat, Ghost Council
3 Haunted Plate Mail

2 Devour Flesh
3 Merciless Eviction
2 Ultimate Price
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Hero's Downfall
3 Thoughtseize
2 Corrupt

2 Underworld Connections
3 Liliana of the Dark Realms
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion

4 Orzhov Keyrune
4 Godless Shrine
4 Temple of Silence
6 Plains
11 Swamp

Blood Baron of Vizkopa proved to be a house in block, and while it still dies to Mizzium Mortars it will flat out beat some decks alone (such as the BG concoction above). Haunted Plate Mail is a fun card and about the best thing you want to cast on turn 4 followed by a Merciless Eviction on creatures. Merciless Eviction gains a lot as being one of the few answers to indestructible Gods. Being an overpriced Wrath is not nearly as bad in Black with all its spot removal as it would be in Blue based control. Again the removal numbers are rough, and likely Thoughtseize is not where you want to be in a slow control deck, but it will be a necessary tool out of the board to combat UW control. The deck leans heavily on Planeswalkers and Underworld Connections for card advantage, while hoping  Blood Baron of Vizkopa, Obzedat, Ghost Council, and Corrupt can pad your life enough to stay alive. Liliana of the Dark Realms provides an incremental engine to take over the long game. Her ultimate really makes me want to have access to Debt to the Debtless, perhaps as a one-of in a Diabolic Tutor package.


Lastly, we have my pet deck: a Young Pyromancer Grixis aggro-control deck:
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Goblin Electromancer
3 Guttersnipe

4 Mizzium Mortars
4 Turn // Burn
4 Magma Jet
4 Quicken
4 Hidden Strings
2 Far // Away
2 Izzet Charm
2 Rakdos's Return
3 Ral Zarek

4 Steam Vents
4 Blood Crypt
2 Watery Grave
3 Temple of Deceit
2 Island
5 Mountain

This is as much a Goblin Electromancer deck as it is a Young Pyromancer deck. It breaks my rule of two colors via a four card Black splash (really 2 and 2 halfs), but likely should just be two colors, especially because you have access to Burning Earths of your own. I figured I should get greedy to start and see how it went. Along these lines is the land count of twenty, although Ral Zarek is technically the top of our curve. The only "new" card of impact is Magma Jet so perhaps the whole strategy is flawed as it does not already exist (although it has some similarity to Adam Prosak's "FNM Hero" and last SCG Open decks). Hidden Strings is probably too unreliable without evasive creatures, but seems way too fun with Young Pyromancer and Guttersnipe to pass up. One direction to take this is a somewhat all in 'mancer aggro finding room for Teleportal and Dynacharge over the more controlling elements. This also leads us to exploiting the new "heroic" mechanic of the cards Akroan Crusader and Artisan of Forms. This plan also gives much improvement to the card Mizzium Skin, something that I already think may be necessary to protect the delicate Young Pyromancer. Going in this direction leads to the following list:

4 Young Pyromancer
4 Goblin Electromancer
4 Akroan Crusader
3 Artisan of Forms

4 Dynacharge
4 Mizzium Skin
4 Magma Jet
4 Hidden Strings
3 Teleportal
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Turn // Burn

2 Ral Zarek

4 Steam Vents
8 Island
8 Mountain

Now that looks like fun!!

Questions and comments would be greatly appreciated.