Looking at the Standard results from the last weekend, it’s pretty clear what the enemy is at the moment. Aggression is everywhere. Mana curve is important for deck design, so I’ll be taking a look at each of the mana curves.

Take for example:

"Jund Aggro by Ty Holden"

• Creatures (28)
• 2 Thundermaw Hellkite
• 3 Deathrite Shaman
• 3 Flinthoof Boar
• 4 Dreg Mangler
• 4 Experiment One
• 4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
• 4 Hellrider
• 4 Strangleroot Geist

• Spells (8)
• 2 Abrupt Decay
• 2 Tragic Slip
• 4 Searing Spear

• Lands (24)
• 1 Mountain
• 3 Forest
• 2 Dragonskull Summit
• 2 Woodland Cemetery
• 4 Blood Crypt
• 4 Overgrown Tomb
• 4 Rootbound Crag
• 4 Stomping Ground

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Deathrite Shaman
• 2 Abrupt Decay
• 2 Golgari Charm
• 2 Gruul Charm
• 1 Rakdos Charm
• 3 Skullcrack
• 2 Tribute to Hunger
• 2 Rolling Temblor

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With the addition of the last five missing Ravnica dual lands, we now can see consistent three-colored aggressive decks that take a page from the old Ravnica Standard.

Let’s look at the mana curve:

The mana curve is well-thought-out here, and with a whopping fourteen creatures having haste, sweepers don’t do as much to stem the aggression. The sideboard is very confused, and I suspect the pilot did not know exactly what to expect in such a young metagame. Not having any burn besides Searing Spear is more than fine with me, but I wonder if we could have squeezed in one or two copies of Kessig Wolf Run.

Let’s look at another extremely punishing aggressive deck that did very well:

"Boros Aggro by Clayton Gereffi"

• Creatures (27)
• 1 Pyreheart Wolf
• 1 Stonewright
• 2 Zealous Conscripts
• 3 Lightning Mauler
• 4 Ash Zealot
• 4 Boros Reckoner
• 4 Hellrider
• 4 Rakdos Cackler
• 4 Stromkirk Noble

• Spells (9)
• 2 Boros Charm
• 4 Searing Spear
• 3 Pillar of Flame

• Lands (24)
• 15 Mountain
• 1 Slayers' Stronghold
• 4 Clifftop Retreat
• 4 Sacred Foundry

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Reckless Waif
• 3 Volcanic Strength
• 2 Boros Charm
• 2 Skullcrack
• 3 Mizzium Mortars
• 1 Pillar of Flame

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Let’s again take a look at the mana curve:

The aggressive deck here is much “smaller” than the previous one, with a huge emphasis on 1-drops (Stromkirk Noble, Rakdos Cackler, and Stonewright). It also means you should mulligan most hands that lack a 1-drop.

I’m not sure what the deal is with the one-of Slayers' Stronghold with so many colored 1-drops and four Boros Reckoner in the deck. It is a powerful tool to help recover from sweepers since there are only eight haste creatures here. I’m think it is not worth splashing Boros Charm here off only eight sources of white mana.

However, this deck is clearly strong and is a clear update of the old mono-red list that Ari Lax had, right down to the four Reckless Waif and three Volcanic Strength in his sideboard.

Josh Cho made a deep run in the Standard portion with a slightly updated Saito R/g aggro deck:

"R/g Aggro"

• Creatures (28)
• 4 Ash Zealot
• 4 Boros Reckoner
• 4 Burning-Tree Emissary
• 4 Flinthoof Boar
• 4 Hellrider
• 4 Rakdos Cackler
• 4 Stromkirk Noble

• Spells (12)
• 4 Searing Spear
• 4 Pillar of Flame
• 4 Rancor

• Lands (20)
• 12 Mountain
• 4 Rootbound Crag
• 4 Stomping Ground

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Grafdigger's Cage
• 4 Volcanic Strength
• 4 Skullcrack
• 3 Blasphemous Act
• 1 Mizzium Mortars

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This list goes even smaller than the previous one. It concentrates on having an extremely consistent curve from turn one into turn two every game, and Burning-Tree Emissary lets the deck virtually cheat by casting another 2-drop on turn two. This results in a lot of busted openings that lead to dead players by turn four or five.

A common theme in all of these decks is that burn actually sucks for going to the face, and haste creatures are important (they essentially act like burn spells with a bonus).

Where does this leave us for designing decks to beat aggression?

For starters:

"Jund Midrange by William Postlethwait"

• Creatures (13)
• 3 Vampire Nighthawk
• 4 Huntmaster of the Fells
• 4 Thragtusk
• 2 Olivia Voldaren

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
• 2 Liliana of the Veil

• Spells (18)
• 1 Abrupt Decay
• 2 Searing Spear
• 2 Ultimate Price
• 1 Mizzium Mortars
• 2 Bonfire of the Damned
• 2 Pillar of Flame
• 2 Rakdos's Return
• 4 Farseek
• 1 Rakdos Keyrune
• 1 Staff of Nin

• Lands (25)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Swamp
• 2 Cavern of Souls
• 2 Kessig Wolf Run
• 3 Dragonskull Summit
• 4 Blood Crypt
• 4 Overgrown Tomb
• 4 Rootbound Crag
• 4 Woodland Cemetery

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Grafdigger's Cage
• 3 Deathrite Shaman
• 1 Vampire Nighthawk
• 1 Liliana of the Veil
• 1 Barter In Blood
• 2 Duress
• 2 Pillar of Flame
• 1 Rolling Temblor
• 3 Slaughter Games

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Looking at this mana curve, we immediately see a huge difference. The game plan is to drag the game out to 4 or 5 mana consistently and overpower other decks with the more expensive spells (Thragtusk, Bonfire of the Damned, and Rakdos's Return). The lack of Stomping Grounds is either a card availability issue or an oversight.

Besides that, I’d be happy to play this type of deck since it doesn’t really have a bad matchup, although Sphinx's Revelation–style decks can be problematic in Game 1—before the deck puts a stop to that plan with Slaughter Games.

Yet another deck that overcame the field of aggression is:

"Blind Esper by Chris Marshall"

• Creatures (5)
• 2 Snapcaster Mage
• 3 Augur of Bolas

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Jace, Memory Adept
• 1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage

• Spells (26)
• 1 Dissipate
• 1 Forbidden Alchemy
• 2 Devour Flesh
• 2 Ultimate Price
• 3 Think Twice
• 4 Azorius Charm
• 4 Sphinx's Revelation
• 2 Supreme Verdict
• 3 Terminus
• 1 Detention Sphere
• 3 Blind Obedience

• Lands (27)
• 1 Island
• 1 Plains
• 2 Godless Shrine
• 3 Watery Grave
• 4 Drowned Catacomb
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Hallowed Fountain
• 4 Isolated Chapel
• 4 Nephalia Drownyard

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Pithing Needle
• 1 Detention Sphere
• 3 Rest in Peace
• 2 Dispel
• 1 Feeling of Dread
• 3 Negate
• 1 Psychic Spiral
• 1 Jace, Memory Adept
• 1 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Terminus

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Again, we see an example of a deck that wants to drag the game out as long as possible, for which winning is almost an afterthought (see four Nephalia Drownyard and a Jace, Memory Adept as the primary win conditions). Blind Obedience seems incredibly well-positioned here—it basically lets the deck Wrath without fearing a haste creature the next turn, and it gives a life buffer to stretch out cards to be two-for-ones as much as possible. I’m not sure Psychic Spiral is necessary or if Feeling of Dread is better than the fourth Blind Obedience, but the deck seems quite strong to me.

In summary, mana curve matters a lot when you are building a deck. In some red aggressive decks in the past, a lot of decks adhered “20/20/20” paradigm advocated by Tsuyoshi Fujita (twenty lands, twenty burn spells, twenty creatures). Saito’s deck sort of adheres to that, except the burn spells have become worse and the creatures much better (haste creatures basically count as burn spells).

I would expect to see quite a few red aggressive decks at Pro Tour: Montreal (Gatecrash), and I would also expect to see decks that have adapted to beat them (Blind Esper and perhaps Naya or Jund midrange as well). Bant control with Blind Obedience is another contender, but getting the exact build down is quite difficult.

Thanks for reading, and if anyone would like me to discuss a particular deck or format, please let me know on Twitter or in the comments.