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Main » Articles » 5 Decks You Can't Miss This Week

5 Decks You Can't Miss This Week

Carlos Gutierrez
Posted on December 27, 2014
 Reddit

Fate Reforged previews began with Ugin this holiday, but we've still got a few more weeks of Khans before we get to play with our shiny new toys. This week we're focused on Standard and Legacy with a handful of new twists on old classics and a new-to-me take on Skill Borrower that's got me positively giddy. We've got three formats, five decks, and not nearly enough time, so let's get started.

Just as Jeskai Ascendancy tokens became a dominant force and then receded from the top tables, we've got yet another new take on Jeskai Ascendancy in Standard. This time, we're returning to the original four-color base for Sylvan Caryatid, but retaining the aggressive shell of the Heroic- and token-based builds. Is this Matt Nass brew the real deal? Sam Pardee sets out to find out with this series of videos:

Astronomer Ascendancy ? Khans of Tarkir Standard | Matt Nass

The big piece of technology here is Meletis Astronomer plus cantripping auras. This combination of cards finds you the bulk of your combo pieces, namely Jeskai Ascendancy plus Dragon Mantle. However, it also finds you Karametra's Favor, which functions as an impulse, cantrip, and creates a mana creature for the sake of your combo turn. This helps tie all of the critical themes of the deck together, and seems like a powerful new innovation for the archetype. The rest of your combo involves using Retraction Helix plus Springleaf Drum or Dragon Mantle to make a large team and tear through your deck for any missing pieces.

The key to this deck will be whether the Meletis Astronomer engine backs up Akroan Crusader as a powerful enough aggro plan to win games where you can't find the combo pieces you need. Being able to impulse into Nyxborn Rollickers certainly isn't nothing, but I'm not sure it really stands up to Siege Rhino and company out of the Abzan decks. Either way, there's only one way to find out if this deck has got what it takes to compete with the rest of the Standard format, and I can't wait to find out.

Right now, Legacy is all about drawing three cards as efficiently as possible. For most people, that means Treasure Cruise backed by cheap cantrips. For Glenn Jones, this is an opportunity to go bigger, go grindy, and win some drawn out control mirrors. Rather than Young Pyromancer as his engine of choice, Glenn has put together an interesting take on Standstill with Entomb that's got just a little bit of all my favorite things. Take a look at this beauty:

Sultai Standstill ? Legacy | Glenn Jones

I love the value that Entomb generates for this deck as games go long. Find Life from the Loam and lock your Delver opponents out of turns where they chain together Treasure Cruises, all while stocking your graveyard with dredge to cast your own. You can play a pretty strong mana denial plan with Wasteland plus Loam and Stifle to shut off fetchlands into basics. You can tutor for Darkblast or Nether Spirit to begin grinding away in matchups where the effect is relevant. You've event got Engineered Explosives plus Academy Ruins!

The really interesting piece of old technology that has been readapted here is Standstill. In a format where people are trying to grind one another out with Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise, don't you want to be the one with more cheap card drawing? Especially when you can back it up with powerful mana denial and counterspells? I love everything that this deck is trying to do, and I hope that some variant of it becomes playable in the coming weeks.

When I first started following competitive Magic, there was a deck called No-Stick terrorizing the extended format. You'd cast Isochron Scepter, imprint Orim's Chant, and your opponent would never attack or cast another spell again. Those decks could also imprint things like Lightning Helix and Remand for good measure. No matter what your opponent was trying to do, you had draws that could bury them in value and tempo from Isochron Scepter. The deck was awesome, and there's been increased interest in Scepter-based strategies on MTGtheSource recently. Is it time for the No-Stick to make a comeback? One can only hope:

[Cardlist Title= No-Stick ? Legacy | thefreakaccident]

Isochron Scepter. Treasure Cruise. Standstill. These cards help you grind out card advantage against the other Treasure Cruise decks while giving you inevitability in control and creature match-ups. There aren't many decks that can beat an Isochron Scepter with Orim's Chant on the second turn. Even fewer that can also beat the Standstill plus manland backup plan. There's a lot of different moving pieces that are all interesting; the question is whether they all combine into something cohesive.

The real question to me is how to find a way to fit in some countermagic beyond Force of Will. This deck seems like it wants at least one Counterspell, and likely some number of Misdirections to fight through Abrupt Decay on Isochron Scepter. There are a reasonable number of decks that just can't beat Scepter plus Swords to Plowshares, but you have to make sure that your No-Stick actually resolves and stays in play.

One of the most exciting parts about this deck to me is the sideboard. Not only does this deck have some of the most powerful sideboard options in the format. It also gets to put them on an Isochron Scepter. How do cantrip fueled decks beat Scepter plus Pyroblast? How would Burn beat Hydroblast or Lightning Helix? Even something like Spell Pierce is an enormous edge that you can take advantage of in a myriad of ways with your powerful draw engines, cheap manlands, and Scepter-Chant combo.

When I first saw Skill Borrower in Shards of Alara, I knew it was a Johnny card and that someone would do something combotastic and sweet with it. I didn't know it'd be in Legacy. It turns out that Skill Borrower copies all kinds of cool things. Griselbrand and Kiki-Jiki to start with. The rest of the combo you'll have to see to believe.

[Cardlist title= Skill Borrower Combo ? Legacy | Technics]

Yes that is three Laboratory Maniacs and four Thought Lash. Don't worry, I'll give you a minute to read them. Thought Lash is actually just insane in this deck. It manipulates the top of your deck for Skill Borrower and other cantrips. It exiles your deck for the purposes of Laboratory Maniac. This four-cost, cumulative upkeep enchantment just does actual everything you want out of a card.

I think this deck is an interesting variation of the Show and Tell combo decks. Cavern of Souls could give you some amount of protection from countermagic. cheap disruption spells can protect you from removal. Sensei's Divining Top and perhaps Counterbalance give you a long-game plan, especially in conjunction with Thought Lash. There are a lot of cute things that can happen despite this shell being relatively fragile.

I don't think that Skill Borrower can realistically keep up with the Lion's Eye Diamond and Show and Tell decks that are rampant in Legacy, but I'd certainly like to think that it's possible.

I've always loved cards like Peek. Seer's Vision, Lobotomy, Cranial Extraction. You name it, I've tried to do it with Peek effects. One thing that I've never actually done is build an Isperia the Inscrutable Commander deck. I've brainstormed about Yosei, the MOrning Star[/card[ plus [card]Angel of Flight Alabaster, or setting up Karmic Guide plus Reveillark combos, but I've never actually done it. Cosmokai2000 has, and couldn't be happier.

[Cardlist title= Skywatch of Ravnica - Commander | cosmokai2000]

  • Commander (0)

This deck does a lot of really fun things that I'm excited about. First and foremost, we've got lots of ways to make the most of our Isperia triggers. Bounce spells put cards you know into your opponents hand, and cosmokai has plenty of them. Telepathy certainly helps, but I'm sad to see Peek and Gitaxian Probe not making the cut. Once you do connect though, all kinds of cool things can happen. Need a sweeper? Find Sunblast Angel or Angel of the Dire Hour. Set up Glen Elendra Archmage or Yosei, the Morning Star recursion. Angel of Finality gives you tutorable graveyard hate. Even Pride of the Clouds can do some really cool things once you've got the engine going. We can go even further though, since cosmokai has included two cards that give Isperia double strike: Fireshrieker and Grappling Hook.

For me, it's the little touches that do it. Gravitational Shift as a double anthem plus Meishin, the Mind Cage. Tutoring for Consecrated Sphinx or Brago. There's a lot of small, fun touches backed by powerful Blue-White control cards, and I love that it manages to do it while maintaining an aggressive-ish stance thanks to Isperia and cards like Angel of Jubilation.

There's nothing more fun than making your opponent give you a Peek at what they've got going on. Except when you get to turn it into a free Demonic Tutor off of Isperia. I can't think of much else that I'd rather be doing. Can you?

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TAGS articles, standard, current events, deck lists, legacy, decks, commander, carlos gutierrez, 5 decks

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