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Main » Articles » MOCS, Not MOX

MOCS, Not MOX

Ryan Bushard
Posted on February 19, 2016
 Reddit

This week, we had to dive a little deeper to find some Standard action with the lack of events this past weekend. Luckily, the top-level players came out in force to assemble a standings board that could put most Grand Prix Top 8s to shame. If you follow Magic Online, you may have been aware of the Magic Online Championship Series (MOCS), and not only did the pros take notice, they brought some new Standard lists to the scene.

This Week in Finance

Force of Will
The MOCS was not the only big news this weekend—if you didn't catch the announcement this week, it can be found here. Eternal Masters has been rumored for the past few months, but with the official announcement, it seems the cogs will finally start turning in the Legacy market soon enough. For many, this announcement will mean very little, as there will be no impact on Standard, and what Modern cards we do see will probably be less abundant than the Legacy, Commander, and casual staples that have not had great places for reprint over the past years. The reaffirmation that Wizards will be sticking to their guns in regards to the reserved list was not really news, but is nice to see in the initial announcement. There are, of course, ways around that for the casual market, but I don't believe we will see any shenanigans this time around.

I will spend more time on Eternal Masters as the release date approaches, but Wizards already made a fairly strong statement with the two spoilers they provided: Force of Will and Wasteland. Driving these cards down in price will make Legacy and Vintage more accessible, but given how quickly the duals and other reserved-list cards will pick up, the overall effect may be negligible, possibly even forcing a deck's overall price up. Every time Wizards releases a product and further solidifies its devotion to the reserved list, we tend to see the growth of those cards go up by a few percent that year. This, combined with the nonzero number of players that will make use of this opportunity to begin chipping their way into Eternal, does mean we will also see enough demand on the older cards, meaning this may be the next big spike for duals, appropriately timed, though maybe less predicted before this announcement.

Eternal Masters was not the only announcement coming down the pipeline; we also will no longer be seeing the event decks or clash decks series. This does take away a valuable reprint resource, but I expect the announcement for replacement product to come soon enough. Commons and uncommons have been suppressed in large part due to this line of product, so unless we see a replacement that still addresses these same type of reprints, we may see the slow rise of cards that have been knocked down for a few years now.

MOCS

With all of the hype and excitement surrounding Eternal Masters, it can be difficult to focus on the Standard format. While Modern is still on everyone's mind with the coming Grand Prix next month, it is nice to see Standard be anything but stale.

Bant ? Standard | Leearson, MOCS. 4th Place

While we have seen a resurgence of Collected Company decks that don’t play Rally the Ancestors since the release of Oath of the Gatewatch, this list seems to be refined to maximize card advantage over draining your opponent. I am not sure how the Rally matchup is for this deck, but against any midrange or control list, I like where the curve sits to both apply pressure and still have a card-advantage engine online as soon as you need to reload. Not relying on a single spell to close out the game does seem to give you a better counter matchup as well.

Abzan ? Standard | Jayk123, MOCS, 14th Place

This version of Abzan seems fairly standard to what we have seen. I am, however, very excited to see Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet make the main deck in Standard, and a complete set certainly makes a strong statement. While this is not exactly the brand new list I was hoping to see sporting Kalitas, it does still have the shell I was looking at initially and the full play set of Murderous Cut to complement the Traitor of Ghet.

Other than the addition of Kalitas, this list looks fairly stock. I haven’t seen as much Wingmate Roc in these lists lately, so that is good to see back in the rotation, and while the sideboard does have many usual players, the two copies of Virulent Plague do speak to exactly what the expected metagame was. Overall, it’s a solid addition to what was already a strong contender.

Esper ? Standard | Reiderrabbit, MOCS, 21st Place

Reid Duke presented us with a fairly strong argument to look at hard counter control again with this brew. While lists like this are not unheard of, it has certainly taken a back seat to Rally and Midrange as of late, leaving control players on Esper Dragons to get their fix. Clearly, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy is not going anywhere until rotation, as this deck sports zero other creatures in the main, showing that even control cannot ignore the most powerful Merfolk Looter ever printed.

While I like to call lists like this counter-control, that really does not do the deck justice, as it is anything but draw-go. Instead, Reid focuses on removal over counters and packs a variety of answers tied together by Dig Through Time, much like what we saw last year around this time. I am not a personal fan of hard control decks, as I prefer a little time to unwind between rounds, but if you are a Sphinx's Revelation player at the core, this deck looks to be for you.

Dimir ? Standard | Tulio_Jaudy, MOCS, 28th Place

Last up this week is probably my personal favorite of the lists. If you look closely enough at the spells, I am sure you can figure out why. As much as I want my control to have a few more win conditions, this deck won me over just for sheer flavor—even if it isn't in the main, Demonic Pact and Shifting Loyalties is adorable. Of course, the real story here are the Crush of Tentacles that not only create a ton of value and a large Octopus to boot, but allow you to recycle the Demonic Pact to keep your opponent from ever finding the surface again.

Crush of Tentacles
The lack of Jace is a nice touch as well for players looking for a budget brew to work with. While this list may not have Top 8’d, I believe it can certainly be tuned to be a player in the current Rally metagame. Forcing the opponent to return his or her board even once can be enough to bury that player, and while the Octopus may see chump-blocks for days, it can be difficult to rebuild while you are being The Abyss’d every turn. It does seem the Rally matchup may be a little rough, so if I were to pick up this list, that is what I would be looking to shore up first. Overall, I am a huge fan of this list, and the price tag attached is a nice boon as well.

That is all we have for this week. If you haven’t had a chance to look at the entire breakdown of the top decks, head over to Wizards now and do so. While Rally is still dominating, it is far from unbeatable, and even amongst Rally, there are a number of different builds and tweaks you can make. This may not be the most expansive metagame we have had over the past year, but Standard is still in a very healthy place moving forward, and I am excited to see what happens now that the Pro Tour hype has died down and the pros have some real testing time under their belts.

Ryan Bushard

@CryppleCommand

Order Oath of the Gatewatch at CoolStuffInc.com today!

TAGS articles, standard, constructed, deck lists, decks, finance, modern, ryan bushard, mocs, magic online championship series

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