The Hour of Devastation is now!

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Newsletter
Thursday, July 13th

Maybe it's the bans. Maybe it's that the #SCGINVI was an absurd amount of fun. Maybe it's just because everyone is still feeling the hype of Announcement Week from Wizards of the Coast. No matter what the reason, this weekend's Standard Open at #SCGCIN feels anything but standard. Hour of Devastation has increased the card pool considerably, and everyone is clamoring to figure out the format before the competition! Ari Lax has all the decks he expects to see in check, Brennan DeCandio is fearing Nicol Bolas already, and Ross Merriam? Well, he just really likes this new mythic Horse! Be sure to check out all the amazing work the SCG staff has done with Hour of Devastation, and we'll see you this weekend in Cincinnati!

— Danny West, Content Coordinator

Beating Every Standard Deck
For SCG Cincinnati
By Ari Lax  

I said the word "attack" a lot, but the focus should be about forcing them to play a game where all their cards only leave them at parity, they only get one major action a turn, and you have something pushing you ahead.

Let's take an example of playing B/G Constrictor against Temur. You are on the draw; they pass on turn 2. You cast a Longtusk Cub and it gets Harnessed Lightninged. They cast Rogue Refiner. You now want to cast Walking Ballista for one over Winding Constrictor because they can't use a Chandra -3 effectively against it. You get to turn 4 and cast the Winding Constrictor with Grasp of Darkness up instead of Rishkar, Peema Renegade so their Glorybringer is nullified. You miss a land drop and just sit on activating Walking Ballista because you still don't want to let them have an effective turn.

Another critical number against these decks is five. Chandra deals four damage. Glorybringer deals four damage. Harnessed Lightning is their one solid out to a five-toughness creature, but out of Mono-Red Eldrazi, that barely works because their only energy sources are Aether Hub and other Harnessed Lightnings! So when the time comes to slam Verdurous Gearhulk, make as many 5/5s or 4/5 Snakes as possible to lock out their removal-plus-threat plays and start closing.

July 22-23
Team Constructed

August 5-6
Modern

August 12-13
Modern

The Dire Hour
By Brennan DeCandio  

Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh is the biggest, baddest Planeswalker this side of Karn Liberated. While protecting itself with the minus ability isn't likely to get you to the next turn with this mighty Planeswalker, since it drops to only three loyalty, both of its plus abilities put it well out of range of most individual threats that are played in Standard. Being able to cast a spell from the opponent's deck will be very hit or miss most of the time, but you have to think, they're playing good cards too, right? While the biggest whiff will be hitting an opposing Attune with Aether, the upside of getting a free Glorybringer; Gideon, Ally of Zendikar; or even something as simple as Unlicensed Disintegration could be game-changing.

While casting free spells is cool and flashy, the ability on this card I'm most scared of is the "exile two cards from hand" ability. The easiest comparison for that I can make and hopefully will resonate with people is to Emrakul, the Promised End. Emrakul, the Promised End was a card you could answer, but often, when your opponent would take your turn from you, they'd strip whatever answer you were holding to deal with her and leave you topdecking and not give you a lot of time to do so.

Let's Build Crested Sunmare Decks!
By Ross Merriam  

There are a lot of cards in Standard that gain life, so wading through them can be daunting, but after some thought, here are the guidelines I came up with for what I was looking for to get the most out of our mythic Horse.

1. Minimize underpowered cards. We have this idea of synergy as a force that makes bad cards good because they become more than the sum of their parts. When the synergy is strong enough, that can be true, but the bar there is high. Unless you are doing something incredibly powerful, you end up with a glass cannon that can't compete without its synergies coming together.
I want a deck that can stand on its own in a pound-for-pound fight, but with the capability to use its synergies to make good cards great. That means cards like Retreat to Hagra, Drana's Emissary, and Implement of Improvement are not going to make the cut in anything but the smallest of numbers.

2. Make the first token immediately. Broodmate Dragon and Wingmate Roc drew their power from their high immediate effect on the battlefield. Traditional removal matched up poorly against either as a result of creating two sizable bodies at once. With Crested Sunmare, our opponent will always have the opportunity to hold up an instant-speed removal spell for it, but since the 5/5 body dodges Grasp of Darkness and most early Harnessed Lightnings, we should have the opportunity to get at least one trigger out of it. It's imperative we take advantage of that window and create a sizable tempo swing.