Adam Koska
About Adam Koska
Adam is an experienced player from the Czech Republic who has a number of high-profile finishes under his belt:
- 9th at Worlds 2009
- 9th at Pro Tour Kyoto 2009
- 45 Lifetime Pro Points
- Top 32 GP Vienna 2008
- Top 64 GP Krakow 2007
- Three times Czech Nationals Top 8
Return to Ravnica Standard Brews
Hey everyone and welcome!
Last week, I took a look at some of the Block decks and old Standard decks and
tried to guess where they were heading in the new format. The „old decks“ are
going to be an important part of the new format, possibly even the most important,
at least in the first couple of weeks. Today, I’m going to look at some of the
brand new decks, decks that use new mechanics from Return to Ravnica or center
around one of the new cards. As always, I’ll be happy for your comments and
suggestions – I’m sure that almost all Magic players around the globe have done
some amount of RtR brewing already (you really can’t not give it a try
with this set) and I’m curious what you guys think about the new format and
about the new decks.
One of the most defining
aspects of the post-RtR standard format is going to be, I think, the fact how
good some of the new „big“ spells are and how the amount of countermagic in the
format will have decreased, compared to the previous standard format. Despite Day of Judgment rotating out, there actually seems to be a rather above-average
number of good sweepers to keep small creatures in check (Supreme Verdict, Terminus, Mizzum Mortars, Bonfire of the Damned) and the lategame is going to
be quite a dangerous place in the post RtR format. The list of absurd lategame
bombs that can end the game with a snap of their fingers is impressively long: Angel of Serenity, Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius, Armada Wurm, Sphinx's Revelation –
these are all extremely powerful cards that you will face on a daily basis if
you play the new standard format, since many decks will play them not just as a
lone one-of finisher, but rather as three-ofs or even four-ofs. Add to that
already existing cards like Wolfir Silverheart or Thragtusk and you’ll see that
expensive cards, cards that cost five or more, are likely to be at the top of
the format and – even though this is just a speculation at this point – the
format could very well revolve around who plays more of them faster.
I remember a successful
Standard deck from a while ago that was called „U/W tap-out“ and that relied on
pretty much the same things like the ones that I mentioned in the previous
paragraph – sweepers and powerful lategame spells. Even though it was
blue-white, it didn’t run almost any instant speed cards at all and instead
relied on tapping out every turn to cast something impressive and hopefully win
on the back of doing more powerful things than the opponent. I’m convinced that
such a strategy could work very well in the post-RtR format, thanks to the
abundance of high-impact lategame cards, sweepers, and relatively few viable
counterspells. This is what such a „tap-out“ deck could look like:
| Colors |
|---|
| Blue | 3 |
|---|
| Gold | 11 |
|---|
| Green | 15 |
|---|
| Land | 26 |
|---|
| White | 5 |
|---|
| Converted Mana Cost |
|---|
| 2 | 15 |
|---|
| 3 | 3 |
|---|
| 4 | 7 |
|---|
| 5 | 4 |
|---|
| 6 | 1 |
|---|
| 7 | 4 |
|---|
| Type |
|---|
| Basic Land | 7 |
|---|
| Creature | 12 |
|---|
| Instant | 10 |
|---|
| Land | 19 |
|---|
| Sorcery | 12 |
|---|
It’s not a „real“ tap-out
deck in the sense that it would literally tap out every turn to deploy a big
threat, but it plays some pretty big threats nevertheless, so I think that it
deserves the name. The reason why I wanted to sneak some cheap instants in the
deck is Scorned Villager. Although most lists of a similar nature that I’ve
seen so far rely on Avacyn's Pilgrim or Arbor Elf, I think that Scorned Villager is pretty good in this type of deck and shouldn’t be dismissed so
easily. You don’t really need to ramp from one to three, but ramping from two
to four (to play Ranger's Path) or even to five (Thragtusk), if you manage to
flip the Villager right away, is quite important and with Sphinx's Revelation
and Angel of Serenity in the deck, every extra mana counts. Think Twice and Azorius Charm are in the list to help you pass your turn and not feel too bad
about it and both of these cards fill and important role here – to draw cards
in the case of Think Twice and to provide some early defense in the case of the
blue-white Charm, although this card can also be used for other purposes, like
giving your pair of Thragtusks lifelink to ensure that your life total doesn’t
dip below thirty.
From the look of this deck,
you can probably tell that it’s pretty mana-hungry (most decks playing Sphinx's Revelation are going to be). That’s why, in addition to Farseek and Scorned Villager, the deck also plays Ranger's Path. Fetching two Forests from the deck
might have seemed to be a poor man’s Explosive Vegetation in the pre-Ravnica
world, but with the dual lands now being legal, it’s actually quite good. Unfortunately,
it can’t search for a blue source without the help of a green-blue dual land,
which we won’t see until Gatecrash, but there is plenty of other mana fixing,
so color-screw shouldn’t be an issue. Usually, you’ll be searching for a Temple Garden and an Overgrown Tomb – a lone black-green dual land in an almost
completely straightforward green-blue-white deck. The black splash is almost
free, as you can fetch the dual with both Farseek and the Ranger's Path and it
enables you to play a pair of Vault of the Archangel. The deck is already
running a really high number of mana sources, so some copies of a land with
value are needed. Unfortunately, neither Gavony Township nor Moorland Haunt (or
even Alchemist's Refuge) do much in this deck, so a splash is needed. Vault of the Archangel enables you to trade your Scorned Villager for any ground attacker
and can get you out of the „danger zone“, once you stabilize with a fatty and
swing with it once. It’s not as good here as in a deck with Lingering Souls,
but it’s still the best value land we can get out of a „free“ Farseek / Ranger's Path enabled splash.
I think that it’s clear
that this deck relies on countermagic being at an all-time low (or similar
levels), because getting one of your big spells caught by a timely „no-sir“
spell can obviously really hurt. Many signs are suggesting that the post-RtR
Standard will have a lot less permission spells than most of the previous
formats, but at the moment, nothing is sure. If the amount of countermagic
actually does get to the all-time low, what happens is that the counterspells
that we have left actually become better, because nobody expects them and decks
aren’t prepared for them. There are still at least two very solid counterspells
in Standard – Dissipate and Syncopate – and even though Mana Leak is not the
king of the format anymore, these two cards still deserve some respect. Also,
while Izzet Charm certainly can’t be labeled just as a „counterspell“, it can
counter some spells as well for sure.
If the metagame does evolve
into a world where big spells will be all over the place (and the numbers of Cavern of Souls stay low), there could possibly be room for a true control
deck to prey on these tap-out decks. The best shell for such a control deck
would probably be either Azorius or Izzet. The red-blue guild can take two very
different paths, in my opinion. Either you can try to be fairly aggressive,
presumably on the back of Delver of Secrets and Guttersnipe, or you can take a
more controlling approach, making use of one of the best finishers in the
format, Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius himself. A sample Izzet control deck could look
something like this:
| Colors |
|---|
| Blue | 14 |
|---|
| Gold | 10 |
|---|
| Land | 24 |
|---|
| Red | 12 |
|---|
| Converted Mana Cost |
|---|
| 1 | 6 |
|---|
| 2 | 21 |
|---|
| 3 | 2 |
|---|
| 4 | 4 |
|---|
| 6 | 3 |
|---|
| Type |
|---|
| Basic Land | 13 |
|---|
| Creature | 11 |
|---|
| Instant | 17 |
|---|
| Land | 11 |
|---|
| Planeswalker | 2 |
|---|
| Sorcery | 6 |
|---|
This is obviously just a
rough sketch, but I like some of the synergies and the general look of the
deck. Goblin Electromancer is an all-star here, pushing most of your spells one
league higher than where they normally would be. Searing Spear becomes Lightning Bolt, Dissipate turns into a Counterspell with an upside, Desperate Ravings lets you tear through your deck at an amazing pace and Talrand's Invocation suddenly gives you the same power for mana ratio as Loxodon Smiter,
except that your three-mana army flies. Red-Blue decks traditionally had
troubles with „unfair“ things like graveyard recursion, but Pillar of Flame, Syncopate and Dissipate all exile stuff and should keep things like Gravecrawler or Lingering Souls in check. There could potentially be some
hard-to-remove permanents that could be troublesome for this deck (anything
cheap that can’t be easily burnt), so splashing white for Detention Sphere
could work, but Birthing Pod has rotated out, so the only cheap threat that you
could have troubles with might be Lotleth Troll, if the opponent manages to
keep regeneration mana up every turn. Adding green for Thragtusk and Huntmaster
might be a step in the right direction for this deck, but I wanted to keep the
mana clean and simple, so that the deck could have a late-game engine in Desolate Lighthouse. Determining what is the best way to go requires some more
testing and time.
The problem of the Izzet
control deck, at least for now, could be that it’s trying to be reactive.
Reactive decks can only be good if you’re really sure about what are you
reacting to and in an unknown or unstable metagame, the rule of thumb says that
the easiest way to victory is being proactive, having a good plan how to win
the game, not trying to disrupt your opponent’s plan. There’s nothing wrong
with countering and killing stuff until you drop a big dragon on turn six, but
in an undiscovered environment, I’d probably rather stick to some deck which is
just trying to play its own game and kill the opponent without caring what
cards they bring to the table. Here’s one such deck:
| Colors |
|---|
| Black | 4 |
|---|
| Gold | 9 |
|---|
| Hybrid | 4 |
|---|
| Land | 23 |
|---|
| Red | 20 |
|---|
| Converted Mana Cost |
|---|
| 1 | 16 |
|---|
| 2 | 13 |
|---|
| 3 | 4 |
|---|
| 4 | 4 |
|---|
| Type |
|---|
| Basic Land | 15 |
|---|
| Creature | 21 |
|---|
| Instant | 8 |
|---|
| Land | 8 |
|---|
| Sorcery | 8 |
|---|
The biggest threat to this
deck is obviously Thragtusk and the fact that almost every deck plays this
green beast. However, the „Thragtusk problem“ is not unsolvable. Rakdos's Return is a nice answer, making sure to force the opponent to discard the
important cards – presumably including the five mana 5/3 – once they spend the
early turns developing their mana. Five life is a huge boost and the lifegain
from Huntmaster of the Fells can also hurt, but this deck can do a lot more
damage than twenty, so even some lifegain shouldn’t be fatal for it every time.
Burn decks have traditionally been successful in the early stages of most
Standard formats and even though this time around, red has a formidable
lifegain adversary right from the get go, it still might be a good idea to try
to burn people out as fast as possible before they learn how to tweak their
mana bases or to use the most efficient win conditions and while they’re still
taking loads of damage from their lands. Generally speaking, it takes a lot
less effort to tune an aggro deck to a satisfying shape than to tune a midrange
or control deck to perfection.
These three decks are some
of the first rough sketches that I’m going to be starting my testing with. I’m
sure that with more time and more results from important Standard tournaments,
we’ll get a much clearer idea about what’s actually good in Standard and what’s
not, but every format starts somewhere and I believe that these decks provide a
pretty good starting point. Be sure to let me know about your ideas and, as
always at this time of the year, happy brewing!
Adam Koska
Comments
Everyone is trying to prove me wrong about Angel of Serenity.... While undoubtedly powerful and versatile, I really think Sigarda would be the better option, as a split or 3-4 outright. She's harder to deal with now Image/Metamorph are gone, has the same clock as the Angel (granted can't have multiples out), and with all the sweepers in the deck I believe that there's little to get in her way. Not to mention the decks ability to run Selesnya Charm (either main or SB) to exile anything that can stand up to her (as well as opposing AoS while it's ability is on the stack targeting all their Thragtusks/Angels in the grave). Although I won't know for certain if AoS's true power will lie in refilling your hand or clearing the other side of the board until the deck can see some serious competitive play.
I also think that Garruk, Primal Hunter should have a couple slots and 3 Revelations is one too many as the deck can also easily run Jace, Architect of Thought for draw.
For reference, here's my take on the deck:
-------------------------------------------
4x Farseek
2x Ranger's Path
2x Azorius Keyrune
3x Sigarda, Host of Herons
4x Thragtusk
1x Angel of Serenity
3x Azorius Charm
2x Selesnya Charm
4x Supreme Verdict
2x Terminus
2x Think Twice
2x Syncopate
1x Sphinx's Revelation
2x Jace, Architect of Thought
2x Garruk, Primal Hunter
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Temple Garden
4x Glacial Fortress
3x Hinterland Harbor
5x Forest
3x Island
1x Plains
--------------------------------------
Granted there is room for improvement and tons of tweaking to do. Keyrune is my experiment since it plays well with the sweepers and helps ramp, only downside is it gets nailed by Abrupt Decay but so does Elf, Pilgrim, and Villager. All in all, the deck is going to be a strong archetype once the dust settles.
Its unfortunate that exiling AoS, with its triggered ability on the stack targetting 3 cards in its controllers grave, won't result in all 4 cards being exiled. AoS's controller is free to decide to not use the ability once your charm resolves.
603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that's not a card... T
603.3c If a triggered ability is modal, its controller announces the mode choice when he or she puts the ability on the stack.
603.3d The remainder of the process for putting a triggered ability on the stack is identical to the process for casting a spell listed in rules 601.2c-d.
601.2c The player announces his or her choice of an appropriate player,
object, or zone for each target the spell requires. ... If the spell has
a variable number of targets, the player announces how many targets he or
she will choose before he or she announces those targets. ...The chosen
players, objects, and/or zones each become a target of that spell.
601.2d If the spell requires the player to divide or distribute an effect
(such as damage or counters) among one or more targets, the player
announces the division. Each of these targets must receive at least one of
whatever is being divided.
..................and then it resolves from the stack
............BUT WAIT! WE MADE IT EASIER TO DO THINGS WITHUOT THE MEAN
OPPONENT SCREWING WITH YOU
603.5. Some triggered abilities' effects are optional (they contain "may," as in "At the beginning of your upkeep, you may draw a card"). These abilities go on the stack when they trigger, regardless of whether their controller intends to exercise the ability's option or not. ((Then instead of chosing targets before putting the effect on the stack as above... ))The choice is made when the ability resolves.
Yeah, I missed the may :-P Still it's a good play anyhow ;-)
Current decklist running at FNM went 5-0 in my matches with no Games lost.
4x Temple garden
4xHallowed Fountain
4xGlacial Fortress
4xSunpetal Grove
3x hinterland harbour
1 plain 1 forest 1 island
1x rogue's pass (delicious card!)
4x Geist of Saint Traft
1x Sigarda Host of Herons
1x Armada Wurm
1x Azorious Guildmage
1x Selesynia Guildmage
2x Loxodon Smitter
2 x Thragtusk
1x Snapcaster Mage
1x Restoration Angel
4x Farseek
4x Supreme Verdict
2x Azorious Charm
2x Selesynia Charm
3x Cyclonic Rift
1x Sphinx' Revelation
2x Detention Sphere
1x Terminus
1x Entreat the Angels
1x Garruk Relentless
1x Jace Architect
1x Tamiyo Moon Sage
Sideboard (currently)
2x Syncopate
2x Nevermore
1x Dispel
1x Sigarda Host of Herons
1x Entreat the Angels
1x Azorious Charm
1x Selesynia Charm
2x Sundering Growth
1x Witchbane orb
1x Angel of Serenity
1x Terminus
1x Snapcaster Mage
I call this Deck Bant Wright Stuff (Wright stuff for my last name!) :P
I find it almost always finds an answer to everything, while giving your opponent nothing but heartache trying to deal with your threats at the same time. Eventually you often end up with complete control over the board an game an just keep swinging with Geist for the win. There may be some things like the Guildmages that some people would question on this list... but trust me after having tested this deck it is just awesome all the different interactions an synergies it has (selesynia guildmage populating Geist's angel or using Azorius Guildmage to Jump thragtusk or Smitter to smash them in the face... or using it to detain their creatures an swinging free with geist) Cyclonic Rift controls the early game quite well setting tempo (bouncing a creature of theirs to get through with geist) while late game in becomes a top deck bomb that pretty much wins the game once it is overloaded. Rogue's passage+ Geist= Opponent cries a little! basically the first 4 turns your setting up while your opponent is beleiving their winning then turns 5-10 you win the game!