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Main » Articles » Standard Showdown

Standard Showdown

Jim Casale
Posted on November 15, 2016
 Reddit

As we wind down the end of the year do you know about the new in store initiative by Wizards of the Coast? The Standard Showdown is a really great way to get a ton of extra value playing Magic for the next two months. What is the Standard Showdown? Glad you asked, let’s talk about it, and how it will affect the price of Standard going forward.

Standard Showdown is an event that will take place over 4 weeks in November and December. It’s the Standard format (as you might have guessed), and will award special promo booster packs. Each store is encouraged to distribute 10 of these Showdown boosters per event. What’s so special about these packs? They’re like 2-3 packs worth of value in each one. They include 2 rares or mythics from Standard sets (with some exceptions outlined here) and a foil that is sometimes a Zendikar Expedition or Kaladesh Invention. And that’s about it. You just need a Standard deck and a store to earn these sweet new boosters!

Standard is pretty cheap right now. The best of the best decks are significantly cheaper than in recent history which is in stark contrast to the $800+ Standard environment during Khans of Tarkir through Oath of the Gatewatch Standard. Expeditions and Masterpieces are doing a really good job of keeping even the most expensive and most played rares and mythics affordable. Every Standard deck is usually between $200 and $400.

If you haven’t played Standard in a while there are some very good choices that give you a lot of bang for your buck while also giving you a ton of time to play your deck. If you like aggressive decks that put on the pressure early and often there are two great choices to consider. Reid Duke won the SCG Standard Classic in Baltimore with this R/W Vehicles deck.

R/W Vehicles ? Kaladesh Standard | Reid Duke, 1st Place SCG Classic Baltimore

It’s on the more expensive side of vehicles deck at about $350 to complete. There are more budget friendly versions, like Captain-Crunch2269’s 5-0 decklist from Magic Online here.

Budget R/W Vehicles ? Kaladesh Standard | Captain-Crunch2269, 5-0 Competitive Standard Constructed League

This list trims many of the more expensive mythic rares that Reid was playing but still packs plenty of punch. The great part of the vehicles decks are they are mostly made from cards from Kaladesh meaning they will be in Standard until Fall of 2018. The other great thing is that vehicles decks can really only get better from here when we presumably get more vehicles in Aether Revolt.

Not really a big fan of attacking with a bunch of little creatures? I don’t blame you. You can also consider this budget friendly G/R Energy deck that Andrew Eales piloted to a Top 8 finish at the SCG Standard Classic in Columbus last weekend.

R/G Energy ? Kaladesh Standard| Andrew Eales, Top 8 SCG Classic Columbus

It’s also almost completely made from cards from Kaladesh which will give it a lot of time in Standard but it also costs less than $100 to build. If you really want to win some sweet Standard Showdown packs, this is an easy deck to pick up and play.

Are you not really the aggressive type but still like mountains? Well there are still some other pretty sweet deck choices you can make. Andy Huynh’s UR control deck also from last week’s Classic in Columbus lets you play a pretty reactive game with 23 instants and 4 Torrential Gearhulks to get even more mileage out of them.

U/R Control ? Kaladesh Standard| Andy Huynh, SCG Classic Columbus

Typically Blue control decks are some of the most expensive in any given format but this deck is purchasable for a reasonable $250. While it’s not made entirely from cards from Kaladesh, $180 worth of the most expensive cards in the deck is from Kaladesh.

Still not satisfied with counter spells, Smuggler's Copters, or giant Electrostatic Pummelers? Well I have one more deck for the combo players to take a look at. If you’re a big fan of modern and reluctant to take the dip into Standard because there aren’t any real combo decks for you to play then I have good news. Bone55 played this sweet Aetherworks Marvel deck to a perfect record in a competitive Standard league on Magic Online.

R/G Aetherworks Marvel ? Kaladesh Standard| Bone55, 5-0 Competitive Standard Constructed League

While it’s a lot less all-in like the Temur Aetherworks deck I played at the Pro Tour, it’s still a fun game gathering 6 energy and spinning the wheel. While not a lot of this deck is from Kaladesh, the most expensive creature, Emrakul, is likely to hold a lot of long term value.

Not really worried about picking a deck but worried about the future decks you can play? I can help! A lot has changed from my first article on Gathering Magic. Wizards decided to make it completely wrong in every way! Well, kind of. Most of the financial advice I’ve given before is still true but some more cards have a larger lease on life than they used to. I’m keeping my eye out for big price drops but I think the most expensive cards we’re going to see next year will come from Eldritch Moon.

Much like the perfect storm that Magic Origins was to create the Jace, Vryn's Prodigy problem, Eldritch Moon exhibits a lot of the same circumstances. It was sandwiched between Eternal Masters and Conspiracy: Take the Crown. It’s clear to me and a lot of people in the community that the other two sets definitely cannibalized some of time and money that could have been spent on Eldritch Moon. We can already see with the fact that Liliana, the Last Hope, Emrakul, the Promised End, and Grim Flayer refuse to budge down. Recently the huge uptick in play that Selfless Spirit has seen has also made it the second most expensive rare in Standard after the ubiquitous Smuggler's Copter. In fact, right now, Eldritch Moon has 3 of the top 10 most expensive cards in Standard in it. The effect of inventions and expeditions on the price of cards is pretty clear when we see that the top 10 is rounded out by 1 card from Battle for Zendikar (Gideon, Ally of Zendikar), 1 card from Oath of the Gatewatch (Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet), 2 cards from Shadows over Innistrad (Nahiri, the Harbinger and Archangel Avacyn), and 3 cards from Kaladesh (Torrential Gearhulk, Chandra, Torch of Defiance, and Smuggler's Copter). On the outside looking in, Eldritch Moon also takes 4 of the next 10 most expensive cards in Standard. I’m predicting nothing but tears will be shed next spring when Amonkhet is released and all of a sudden everyone needs 4 Lilianas.

Hopefully these options can help you pick a deck to take to a showdown! Hopefully you’ll be one of the lucky ones that open an Expedition or Invention!

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TAGS articles, standard, constructed, deck list, finance, financial, jim casale, standard showdown

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