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Main » Articles » Evolving Standard

Evolving Standard

Ali Aintrazi
Posted on October 4, 2010
 Reddit

Rotation time! Some of us dread it while others bask in it. Personally, I feel a little of both. I hate that Time Warp is leaving, but I am so glad that Jund is dead. I feel like Jund hindered a lot of new decks from doing well. It wasn't as backbreaking as Faeries was, but I still believe it stopped new decks from emerging. Now that Jund is gone, let's talk about standard decks and what Scars brings to the table.

We know that post-Scars, planeswalkers will be a lot stronger since there aren't many ways to deal with them anymore. Maelstrom Pulse, Blightning, Bloodbraid Elf, and Pithing Needle are all out of the format. The only planeswalker hate we have is All is Dust and Volition Reins, the latter not being a huge deal since it is hard to splash and a little hefty. Let's get to some decks post-Scars. The sideboards to these decks won't be as important since we don't really have an established meta just yet. They will only have a generic sideboard.

"Infect Stompy"

Is infect strong enough to be a good deck in standard? I think it can be, especially if no one prepares for it. This deck is definitely a metagame deck. If you expect a lot of slow ramp decks and U/W control then this deck may be for you. Game one it's aiming for the throat with a stompy like style. The two big decks right now are pretty slow and you can usually win the game around turn 5 with no disruption. If you have the nuts hand you can win by turn 3. Against mono green eldrazi ramp you can just bring in Giant Growth and the fourth Vines of Vastwood to hasten your clock; just be careful of Hornet Sting. This deck is extremely fun to play; you should try it out. Frank Lepore mentioned Livewire Lash as an option in this deck. At first I was skeptical but this thing can win the game out of nowhere. Let's say you have an Ichor Rats equipped with the Lash. You swing in for 4 and your opponent goes to condemn it, you then respond with Vines of the Vastwood and just win. Livewire Lash will do the two damage as infect damage since the creature it is on has infect.

"U/R Control"

This deck is a little slow, but once it gets going it's hard to stop. If you resolve a Destructive Force with a Frost Titan out the game is just over. An unanswered Koth will also just win the game when he ultimates or just accelerates all your threats. The deck can also hold a Trinket Mage package with Cunning Sparkmage in the main. I don't think it's Tier 1, but it is a very interesting deck. This deck sadly gets worse as more people play titans or Wurmcoil Engines.

"U/W Control"

I really like this deck; it just has so many options and answers. Venser is surprisingly good in here. He can draw you a card with Wall of Omens, reset a Jace Beleren, lock up two permanents with Frost Titan, reset an early Journey to Nowhere, move around the Volition Reins and after sideboard blink Sunblast Angel. You reach his ultimate a lot more often than you would expect; sadly it's not as deadly as Jace's ultimate. I was running Sun Titan but every time I saw him I wished it was a Frost Titan, so I cut him. I am only running two Jace, the Mind Sculptor because I expect a lot of mirror matches. Jace Beleren just gets in there a lot earlier and serves the same purpose as Mind Sculptor just without the ultimate. My playgroup was testing Trinket Mage and he just always felt underwhelming. There is nothing near the same level as Sensei's Divining Top to get and it only has a couple real targets – Brittle Effigy, Chimerac Mass, and in certain decks Basilisk Collar. I'll most likely be playing a similar list at states.

In the sideboard Lighthouse Chronologist can steal games against players that take out their removal against you; they are also decent vs ramp style decks as long as they don’t explode.

"Eldrazi Ramp"

This deck was pretty good before rotation and I feel like now it's just absurd. It's in the same spot that Jund was. Jund was a solid deck, then everything rotated and Jund didn't lose much – it ruled the standard format for awhile. I feel like this deck will do the same thing. The only other deck that didn't lose too much was U/W control and this deck is highly favored against it. I wouldn't run Growth Spasm just to avoid the mess with Leonin Arbiter. This deck could also run Ratchet Bombs main if a hyperaggressive deck pops up. This deck is king, you need to have some way to deal with it.

"R/G Valakut"

Last but not least we have red/green Valakut. This deck didn't lose too much after rotation so it still should be a solid contender. I don't feel like Koth really fits in here; you can't hit him off a Summoning Trap and you don't want your mountains to be destroyed while they are creatures. You're also not very aggressive, so his +1 ability doesn't do much for you. You really just want his ultimate in this deck which seems hard to achieve since you have no real way to protect him. In the sideboard you can slow down mono green Eldrazi ramp with Ruinblasters and a couple of Nature's Claim on their Chalices. You can also bring in the bombs to kill their Overgrown Battlements and Treespeakers. Against U/W I would just bring in the last Summing Trap and 2 Terastadons. Terastadon has a lot of targets to hit against U/W; you can even hit your own lands if you want 18 power worth of guys.

Well that's it for me. I hope you all have a great time at States! I'll probably be playing in SC, since it's so close to me. Good luck, but more importantly have fun!

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