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Newsletter
Thursday, May 11th |
| As fun as #SCGATL was, it was pretty short notice for the Standard minds to get themselves in order. Pro Tour Amonkhet, on the other hand? We're about to find out what this format is really made of! Vehicles and Marvel are the default guesses, but Delirium and Zombies are also making more and more headway toward the top! It's anyone's guess for now, which is why we have so much brewing going on at SCG! Conley Woods has timeless advice for anyone who wants to see their creativity succeed at the tournament hall, and Chris Lansdell has a number of new ideas from Amonkhet's lesser hyped sections! Meanwhile, Ross Merriam is coming clean on his lone wolf decklists for the big weekend! To those competing and those watching at home, let's hope for a lot of fun this Pro Tour weekend! — Danny West, Content Coordinator |
Brewing With Creativity
By Conley Woods  Deck awareness is not really a term that exists as of yet, but I am mostly trying to evoke a similar concept to self-awareness, with the focus obviously shifted toward a deck. Being self-aware is a skill that does not in and of itself solve any problems, but it does allow the individual the ability to detect problems in the first place and therefore, to know what needs to be fixed. Similarly, if a deck builder does not have good deck awareness, then all of their attempts at improving their brew are essentially random shots in the dark. A player does not need to have any deck awareness whatsoever to brew up a new list. In fact, I would say that most new decks never even reach a stage of development where more in-depth knowledge of the list was even needed. Let's actually just do this right now and build a brand-new Standard deck in the process.  |
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More Brewing Insanity In
Amonkhet Standard
By Chris Lansdell There is a growing opinion that the format is about to be ripe for midrange decks to take over. There are two proven ways to win the midrange mirror match: get to two-spell-one-turn territory first, and have more inevitability than the opponent. There are few cards in Standard that are better at ending a game than Sandwurm Convergence. If we do settle into a midrange grindfest over the next few weeks, having this card at the top of our curve is an excellent way to win the war. The first ability alone shuts down Glorybringer, Heart of Kiran, Archangel Avacyn, Archfiend of Ifnir, and even Drake tokens. A free 5/5 every turn will eventually grind the opponent down even if we have nothing else going on, but in a deck that is almost certainly drawing to Planeswalkers and is sitting on removal galore, the win could very well be sooner than later. The green decks that want this will be either Jund or Abzan, possibly Sultai. As with most grindy decks we would look to trade one-for-one early, just diminishing the opponent's resources slowly as we build up our mana base. Cards like Ob Nixilis Reignited and Chandra, Torch of Defiance will act as the tide-turners to help us gain advantage without investing mana. Then we close the door with Sandwurm Convergence. A time-honored game plan to be sure but one that definitely suffers if enchantment hate becomes more prevalent. Green does have ways to recur permanents (Nissa, Vital Force being the best), and white has both Restoration Specialist and Emeria Shepherd to bring it back as needed. |
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Marvel, Mardu, And The Path
To Standard Glory
By Ross Merriam B/G Delirium uses its plethora of cheap removal to compensate for the tempo loss of a three-mana do-nothing. This list has the full four Fatal Pushes to help there, but the Marvel shell has cards like Woodweaver's Puzzleknot and Attune with Aether that also tax your early development so you're more likely to fall quite far behind in the early game. Ishkanah, Grafwidow is great at stabilizing, but just like Aetherworks Marvel won't hit Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger every time (it just seems like it does, I swear), you're not going to have delirium by Turn 4 or 5 every time. This version of the deck has added more moving parts and increased its dependence on having them all come together on time. As a result, it has an even more high-variance feel than the other Marvel decks. When everything comes together, it feels like the best deck in the format; and when it doesn't, the deck feels embarrassing. It's also important to note that a Liliana -3 on Ishkanah, a play that should make you feel safe, is quite vulnerable to Unlicensed Disintegration, often leaving you with a few Spiders and little hope of winning unless the top of your deck is kind. |
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