The New Standard

[Editor's Note: This was originally published on the Asgard Games website in October 2012. Sharing here for archival purposes.]

        This past weekend marked the first time Return to Ravnica was legal
to be played in standard, and it also saw with it the rotation of
Scars of Mirrodin block and Magic2012. Every year, this large upheaval
takes place, leaving players scrambling to create new decks and take
advantage of the unknown format until things inevitably settle down in
a few weeks. I noticed several decks I liked, and even more cards and
interactions that showed potential, but still needed work.

        Personally, I travelled to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for a standard
tournament with first prize being a full play set of Return to
Ravnica. My friend Tannon Grace and I played the exact same 75 card
list, and ended up splitting in the finals. Neither of us lost a match
all day. Here is what we played:

4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
2 Arbor Elf
4 Borderland Ranger
4 Restoration Angel
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Thragtusk

4 Farseek
4 Entreat the Angels
4 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Oblivion Ring

4 Temple Garden
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Clifftop Retreat
3 Gavony Township
5 Forest
3 Plains
1 Mountain

Sideboard:
4 Centaur Healer
3 Pillar of Flame
3 Selesnya Charm
2 Ray of Revelation
2 Garruk Relentless
1 Oblivion Ring

This was based on the block constructed deck I played at PT Barcelona.
The biggest difference between this and other Naya decks is the
inclusion of the full four copies of Entreat the Angels.  This card is
very good, and I’m surprised by the reactions I’ve gotten from other
players when they see it in my list. There isn’t any reason why it
needs to be limited to just UWx control decks; it works just as well
in a midrange deck like this. And, unlike my block deck, this deck
actually has the mana base to support it (though I am really looking
forward to putting stomping ground into this shell in the future).
Selesnya Charm out of the sideboard was very good all day long. I have
a more in depth report from the tournament up on my
bloghttp://tysmtgblog.blogspot.com/, but I will share this one story
to illustrate my point about Entreat the Angels. Its game 2 in the
first round of the top 8, and Tannon is on the draw against BWG
tokens. Turn 1, Tannon plays Avacyn’s Pilgrim off of a Forest. Turn 2,
he plays a Rootbound Crag and casts Farseek for Temple Garden. On his
third turn, he miracles Entreat the Angels for 2 Angels and plays
another land. The next turn, he miracles Entreat for 4 this time,
locking up the game and the match with 20 power worth of fliers.

        There were many other good decks that showed up that I think can be
real players with some more tuning. Most intriguing to me was a Bant
deck that utilized Thragtusk, Restoration Angel (expect every GW deck
to play max on these cards until next October), and Cackling
Counterpart. The best interaction in the deck is Cackling Counterpart
on Thragtusk and populate: each time you populate, you get another
copy of Thragtusk! This can get out of hand really quick. Once the
board is sufficiently clogged up, the deck would cast an overloaded
Cyclonic Rift to force through an absurd amount of damage, if it
hadn’t won already.

        The BGW Token list that made the top 8 was also impressive to me,
because it showed off how deceptively powerful the card Rootborn
Defenses is. When I played against it, my opponent cast lingering
souls on turn 3, and then didn’t flash it back on turn 4. I was very
confused, but as he kept 3 mana up the rest of the game, I started to
figure it out: he was saving Rootborn Defenses in case I tried to
Bonfire him! Combined with Vault of the Archangel, the deck could
create some blowout combat steps.

        A mono red deck made the top 8 as well, proving that sometimes the
Red Deck Wins, even in a world of Thragtusk and Centaur Healer. The
zombie lists playing Rancor also did very well, putting 2 copies into
the top 8.

        Jody Keith played a UWR control list to the top 4, and I was very
impressed by it. Cards like Syncopate and Dissipate performed very
well for him all day in a field of unsuspecting players after Mana
Leak rotated. His deck was very different from Todd Anderson’s SCG
Open winning list, but the same color combination. This shows that
there is definitely more than one way to skin a cat!

        Overall, the cards that impressed me the most this weekend from all
decks were Jace, Architect of Thought, and Huntmaster of the Fells.
Jace allowed all the blue control decks to quickly get up on cards,
and most of the time this was too much for the other decks to
overcome. Huntmaster of the Fells has seen his popularity drop off
since he debuted to much fanfare after PT Honolulu, and I think some
people might have forgotten about him. Tannon and I were able to
complete take over games with the werewolf, and I didn’t see a lot of
the other Naya decks running him.

        The new standard format looks very diverse so far, and I hope it
continues to be in the future. Good luck brewing!

Later
Ty Thomason

@ceciliajupe on twitter