Get ready to explore Ixalan!

Chapin, Ingram, and Black sail the seas of a new Standard format!

Newsletter Thursday, September 7th

The anticipation for Ixalan is so, so real. Though we're finishing up a great Standard format we desperately needed, there's a good chance that once Ixalan hits it'll be forgotten in favor of Dinosaurs, Pirates, and Treasure! So what will this new format look like? If Patrick Chapin gets his way, Pirates will be the way to go! Meanwhile, Pete Ingram is bent on seeing if old archetypes can cut it in the new world. And as per usual, Sam Black is creating decks completely outside the box! With more Ixalan previews and more announcements for Magic at HASCON, it's a fascinating time to be a part of Magic! Welcome to Ixalan, everyone! — Danny West, Content Coordinator Matt Severa takes down #GPDC with Mardu Vehicles!     The Pirates Of Ixalan   By Patrick Chapin     Unclaimed Territory is basically just a Cavern of Souls reprint without the uncounterability clause. Even without that clause, however, the untapped fixing of any color is an extremely attractive option in the new Standard with Wandering Fumarole, Smoldering Marsh, and Foreboding Ruins all rotating out. The combination of Captain Lannery Storm and Unclaimed Territory opens up some interesting deckbuilding space, such as potentially splashing a third or fourth or fifth color into a deck with some tribal leanings, particularly if we can make use of Aether Hub and/or Spire of Industry (which obviously works great with Treasures anyway). The Pirates are not so singularly focused as to suggest only one clear way to play with them. For starters, which colors do you play? Rakdos? Izzet? Dimir? Grixis? Even among those combinations, how focused should they be on aggression versus disruption? For instance, here's a version of R/B Pirates that prioritizes interaction, making use of the aforementioned Fathom Fleet Captain:

September 23-24     Sep 30 - Oct 1     October 14-15     Updating Standard's Best Decks For Ixalan   By Peter Ingram   Walking Ballista just met one of its newest potential best friends. Being able to go late and draw cards off this synergy is nothing to scoff at. Deeproot Champion synergizes well with Winding Constrictor and the deck does play a fair number of noncreature spells, but maybe it's not great. Explore also works great with Winding Constrictor and that is why I also included Deadeye Tracker as a piece of utility, as well as hate against graveyard synergy decks. Explore also works well with Scrapheap Scrounger, so perhaps it should be in here as well... Temur Energy is another deck that loses virtually nothing over this rotation. Some lists play Lumbering Falls and Game Trail, but they are easily replaced. Tireless Tracker is probably the toughest sideboard card to replace, but I'm sure you can find something. Hostage Taker seems like a pretty appealing card if you are already splashing black for The Scarab God. I also think that Siren Stormtamer could be pretty useful here to protect The Scarab God, Glorybringer, and maybe even Skysovereign. Maybe Shapers' Sanctuary is a card that would be good against certain matchups. I'm not going to bother posting a Temur Energy list here, as I think it's pretty self-explanatory what you would do.

Shaping Decks For Ixalan Standard   By Sam Black   Wily Goblin may not offer the best rate for a creature, but it does turn on Inventor's Apprentice, raid for Ruin Raider, go to the graveyard as a creature for Scrapheap Scrounger, and allow you to cast Chandra, Torch of Defiance on turn 3, which this deck is designed to take maximum advantage of. Ruin Raider is a fantastic follow-up to Heart of Kiran that plays well with the large number of creatures that aren't often afraid to attack into anything on turn 3, and the removal in this deck is fantastic at supporting continued attacks. The fact that all of the removal functions as additional reach when needed is a tremendous asset to a deck like this. Building an aggressive red deck that can end up with extra mana from Treasures or Chandra, Torch of Defiance that doesn't use Earthshaker Khenra feels like a mistake, but Unlicensed Disintegration is a powerful pull down the artifact path, and Inventor's Apprentice really requires maximizing them, and Heart of Kiran makes it difficult to make room for creatures with two power, so it just doesn't look to have a place.

StarCityGames.com, 5728 Williamson Road N.W, Roanoke, VA 24012 SafeUnsubscribe™ nguyenvu1187.love3@blogger.com Forward email | Update Profile | About our service provider Sent by donotreply@starcitygames.com in collaboration with Try it free today