About Joel Calafell
Joel Calafell
Joel is a Level 4 Pro Player from Spain who helped develop well-known decks such as Cephalid Breakfast, Cascade Swans or most recently Jacerator, he loves playing almost every format and has a number of high-profile finishes under his belt:
- Top 8 Pro Tour Kuala Lumpur
- Winner Grand Prix Barcelona
- Three Grand Prix Top 8
- 70 Lifetime Pro Points
- Level 4 Pro Players Club member
Standard Innovations
Hello everyone!
With M11 being released this weekend and with
most of the cards already spoiled, I think that we have enough material to
discuss some of the possible changes to the next Standard format (It will
include both M10, M11 and the Shards of Alara and Zendikar blocks).
Today I’m going to talk about which archetype
might get new weapons from M11. Some of them are old favorites that will get a
little help, and then there are other decks that will get perfect cards for
their strategy. Will that be good enough to make them tier 1 again?
Check today’s article for some exciting deck
lists for the new format. And who knows maybe one of them will be the new best
deck in the format?
Let’s get started!
Burn
New Toys
- Ember
Hauler
- Leyline of
Punishment
This is the deck that Katsuhiro Mori piloted to
a first place finish at Japanese Nationals. Everyone knew the strategy worked
in the current Standard format, but Jund and Bant were the fan favorites.
Usually, the deck that wins Japanese Nationals tends to dictate the format in
some way or another, so checking the new additions for this deck will be the
first important move to make:
Ember Hauler is the new Goblin Legionnaire in a world without damage going
onto the stack, but this card might be even better in this format, especially
if the mirror match becomes something to consider. The red goblin will be a
staple turn two drop, and will fight with Kargan Dragonlord for a spot in the
deck (Hellspark Elemental can’t even be questioned, can it?)
Leyline of Punishment is the new card that really shines the most: It will
be the perfect answer to those Dragon's Claws or Kor Firewalkers running around.
But it’s more than that: It even trumps the whole Turbofog strategy! This card
might be better than Everlasting Torment, even if you don’t get the Wither effect;
I think playing an answer such as this one for free on your first turn seems
like the better deal to me.
What the
deck could look like from now on:
This deck forms part of my feature article:
Pro player Joel Calafell brainstorms about the
impact of M11 on Standard and presents several archetypes that will get a major
boost from the new set. Make sure to check out his exciting deck lists!
| Converted Mana Cost |
|---|
| 1 | 14 |
|---|
| 2 | 8 |
|---|
| 3 | 8 |
|---|
| 4 | 2 |
|---|
| Type |
|---|
| Basic Land | 15 |
|---|
| Creature | 16 |
|---|
| Instant | 11 |
|---|
| Land | 10 |
|---|
| Sorcery | 5 |
|---|
Turbofog
New Toys
Turbofog is one of those decks that just disappeared
from the format without time to say goodbye. But there’s a logical explanation:
It never really tried to be more than a metagame deck. Things might be
different now, though. I’ve always said that if this deck could run 8 Howling Mines, this would be the best deck in the format by far. Obviously, that
thought was reactivated in my mind when I saw Temple Bell for the first time.
It was the closest card to Howling Mine I had ever seen!
But after my initial excitement, I realized
that we don’t really get a new Howling Mine, because what makes the Mine so
good is the fact that it hits the table before your opponent has access to ways
to remove it from play or to counter it. Turn two really makes all the
difference. But it is not Howling Mine what you have to compare Temple Bell to…
It is Font of Mythos. The card was never that bad,
but I wished a cheaper Howling Mine would exist… It was just in the deck
because there wasn’t any other option
Now, with all the card draw enablers costing 3
or less, I’m pretty sure the deck will be even better. The good thing about it
is that you can still play some Font of Mythos if you are afraid of Maelstrom Pulse/Oblivion Ring. This way, they will never have more answers than you have
threats. On the other hand, Temple Bell has to advantages compared to Howling Mine: You can use the card you draw before your opponent if you
activate it at the end of their turn, AND, most importantly, it allows you to
force your opponent to draw their last card when you have already decked them,
so they don’t even have the chance to untap and burn you out of the game.
The Condemn addition is even more interesting,
because it allows you to protect Jace Beleren, it deals with Putrid Leech and
Sprouting Thrinax (thus making Day of Judgment good even against Jund) and
gives you about the same amount of life a Sunspring Expedition would give you
against all the non-red decks. It is also good against Mythic and it is
obviously much better than Path to Exile was in this deck overall (the fact that
it could allow for surprise Archive Trap milling was never that important
anyway).
Finally, Sun Titan seems like it could fit in the
deck too, as it can return Jace Beleren, Howling Mine and Temple Bell. It also
returns Wall of Omens and other defensive cards, and not to mention how good it
is if your opponent doesn’t have removal for it after board (maybe it will be
better than sideboarding in a bunch of Baneslayer Angels, or as a B plan). The
thing is that the creature seems pretty good against all the Howling Mine
removal.
As a side note, Mana Leak seems like it might
be another addition, but I don’t really like the card here, as there are only a
few spells you care about, and allowing your opponent to pay 3 more to resolve
their Maelstrom Pulse can be everything they want anyway. Negate is still
better in my opinion.
What the
deck could look like from now on:
This deck forms part of my feature article:
Pro player Joel Calafell brainstorms about the
impact of M11 on Standard and presents several archetypes that will get a major
boost from the new set. Make sure to check out his exciting deck lists!
| Colors |
|---|
| Artifact | 5 |
|---|
| Blue | 13 |
|---|
| Land | 24 |
|---|
| White | 14 |
|---|
| Converted Mana Cost |
|---|
| 1 | 4 |
|---|
| 2 | 11 |
|---|
| 3 | 8 |
|---|
| 4 | 3 |
|---|
| 5 | 6 |
|---|
| Type |
|---|
| Artifact | 5 |
|---|
| Basic Land | 15 |
|---|
| Instant | 17 |
|---|
| Land | 9 |
|---|
| Planeswalker | 4 |
|---|
| Sorcery | 6 |
|---|
Dredge
New Toys
This is a very interesting archetype that was a
bit shaky and not very consistent before M11, but it might be getting the
perfect solution for that in the form of Fauna Shaman. This Survival of the Fittest-like elf is probably the best card for this kind of strategy, and
really fits into the plan. All by itself, the Shaman can discard Vengevines or Extractor Demons from your hand, and search for Hedron Crabs, Merfolk Looters, Renegade Dopplegangers and other utility cards.
The old list was strictly UB, but I’m sure it’s
almost a sin to not splash for Fauna Shaman (with both Verdant Catacombs and
Misty Rainforest available in the deck). Additionally, the green splash also
allows you to cast a Vengevine that got stuck in your hand or to have some
relevant sideboarding against enchantments (like against Necrogenesis) or
Leyline of the Void, if they see play), with the help of Naturalize.
But Fauna Shaman is not the only addition:
Aether Adept is also made for this deck, and I’m pretty sure it’s even better
than Sedraxis Alchemist in a lot of situations. Sure, it might not bounce
Planeswalkers or Oblivion Rings, but I’m telling you that 95% of the time you
only care about bouncing creatures, even if it is against UW, just because of
some creature named Baneslayer Angel… And that’s not even counting all those
times where you use it to bounce your own creatures so you can get your Vengevines
back from the graveyard. Compare that to the situations where they play some
removal or two on your creatures and you have your Sedraxis Alchemists stuck in
your hand, unable to generate any kind of tempo for you to recover.
But Sedraxis Alchemist is also a good silver
bullet to search for with Fauna Shaman, as well as some other cards in the
maindeck or in the sideboard. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’m missing a lot of
synergies here, but so far I like how this deck looks!
This deck forms part of my feature article:
Pro player Joel Calafell brainstorms about the
impact of M11 on Standard and presents several archetypes that will get a major
boost from the new set. Make sure to check out his exciting deck lists!
| Colors |
|---|
| Black | 9 |
|---|
| Blue | 21 |
|---|
| Green | 8 |
|---|
| Land | 22 |
|---|
| Converted Mana Cost |
|---|
| 1 | 8 |
|---|
| 2 | 16 |
|---|
| 3 | 5 |
|---|
| 4 | 4 |
|---|
| 5 | 1 |
|---|
| 6 | 4 |
|---|
| Type |
|---|
| Basic Land | 10 |
|---|
| Creature | 37 |
|---|
| Land | 12 |
|---|
| Sorcery | 1 |
|---|
Turboland
New Toys
The UG
Turboland deck also gets some nice additions, and they might prove crucial to
push this deck over the top.
The first
thing worth mentioning is the reprint of Kodama's Reach (now called Cultivate
and not Arcane anymore), and I’m pretty sure this card is awesome in this kind
of deck. Back when the Arcane green sorcery was legal, this land fixer and accelerator
was played in a lot of control decks, ramp decks and combo archetypes. Now,
with Lotus Cobra and Oracle of Mul Daya in the list, the synergy becomes pretty
obvious for a card that already has a lot of potential even without those
ridiculous combinations.
Mana Leak
is also a good card that might see play in here, but it is no Remand. The card
is probably playable in the strategy. But I think you first need to ask
yourself if you really need it or if there’s something the card is doing that
others can’t. When Remand was legal, combo decks like Heartbeat would play it
because it allowed for some digging as well as some tempo (the same with
counterspells like Condescend or even the mythic Arcane Denial), but when it
comes to Mana Leak, maybe it looks more like an answer to some threats after
sideboard (Thought Hemorrhage, etc).
Last but
not least, we have Time Reversal. This card is hard to evaluate, but something
tells me that this card is better than Mind Spring in almost all the combo
decks that can run it. This, being the case, and with a lot of lands to make
the best profit from it, this card can really shine. Add to that the fact that
you can re-shuffle all your played Time Warps back into your library and cast
and six, seven or eight of them during the same game. Now tell me if that is
not the way to go!
On the
other hand, you might say that mono-red would be like the worst possible
matchup for this deck. Well, it is certainly a bad matchup, but Obstinate Baloth
on the third turn looks like a good answer to me.
What the
deck could look like from now on:
This deck forms part of my feature article:
Pro player Joel Calafell brainstorms about the
impact of M11 on Standard and presents several archetypes that will get a major
boost from the new set. Make sure to check out his exciting deck lists!
| Colors |
|---|
| Blue | 8 |
|---|
| Colorless | 1 |
|---|
| Green | 16 |
|---|
| Land | 28 |
|---|
| Converted Mana Cost |
|---|
| 2 | 8 |
|---|
| 4 | 8 |
|---|
| 5 | 4 |
|---|
| 7 | 5 |
|---|
| Type |
|---|
| Basic Land | 10 |
|---|
| Creature | 12 |
|---|
| Land | 18 |
|---|
| Planeswalker | 4 |
|---|
| Sorcery | 9 |
|---|
Primeval
Valakut
New Toys
Finally, this
underrated combo deck has found a new friend too. But not just any friend… it
is the best possible card this deck could ask for! No, it’s not Scapeshift, but
it is as close as it gets, as Primeval Titan lets you search for TWO Valakuts
when it comes into play and TWO more when it attacks the following turn. A
simple Harrow can then deal 24 damage if you already have 5 Mountains on the
table.
The good
thing about the Titan, though, is that you can accelerate into it and that it
does its job even if it dies. You obviously automatically win if it doesn’t.
But that’s not the best part: Since we are talking about a 6/6 body here, it
wouldn’t be weird at all to crush your opponent just by attacking even if they
have answers like Tectonic Edge or Goblin Ruinblaster for your Valakuts.
In addition,
you can also search for other lands if (for example Tectonic Edge), but I don’t
think that will be too relevant.
Also, don’t
forget that Cultivate is a great addition to this strategy, and I would play it
in this deck too.
But is this
deck for real now that it has access to Primeval Titan? I’m pretty sure there’s
a way to make the deck good enough. But if Mana Leak is played instead of
Negate, this Titan might have a hard time against control. I guess not
everything can be perfect…
Either way,
keep an eye on this deck, as I’m pretty sure it has potential:
This deck forms part of my feature article:
Pro player Joel Calafell brainstorms about the
impact of M11 on Standard and presents several archetypes that will get a major
boost from the new set. Make sure to check out his exciting deck lists!
| Colors |
|---|
| Artifact | 4 |
|---|
| Gold | 4 |
|---|
| Green | 15 |
|---|
| Land | 25 |
|---|
| Red | 4 |
|---|
| Converted Mana Cost |
|---|
| 1 | 8 |
|---|
| 2 | 8 |
|---|
| 3 | 4 |
|---|
| 4 | 7 |
|---|
| Type |
|---|
| Artifact | 4 |
|---|
| Basic Land | 14 |
|---|
| Creature | 7 |
|---|
| Enchantment | 4 |
|---|
| Instant | 8 |
|---|
| Land | 11 |
|---|
| Sorcery | 4 |
|---|
I know I’m
missing many, many other cards, some of them could even create a new archetype (Mass
Polymorph anyone?). But we will talk about all of them another day. So far,
those are the four decks I like the most and the ones I expect the most from…
Especially if you consider the new toys they get from M11!
Which deck
do you like the most of the ones showcased? Which card do you think will be the
most relevant coming from M11? Is there any other deck getting new toys from
the new core set?
Let me know
what you think!
Join me in
two weeks when I will be talking about M11 in draft and sealed!
Joel
Red
Blue
White
Black
Green
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do you think that mass polymorph will see play in standard? i can see it fitting well into a deck...
i dont see the point of mass polymorph. it costs more, and your game plan would probably be similar or the same as the original. the only advantage is that if u have multiple dudes, they can't bolt the one out from under you. i imagine you already play around that though via vines of vastwood / negate...
I am very impressed by some of these decks i can see my self buying and using them for i long time.
why you not play mana leak in turbofog ???
Mass Polymorph is probably fringe at best, but getting an Emrakul AND an Iona t5 might be good enough.
he explained that. Almost everything you would want to counter in a turbofog deck gets countered with negate, and negate is more of a hard counter.
I like your Primeval Titan deck idea. Personally I think mabey leading it more into to realm of green would make it a little faster. Cuz as it stands it has potential but without good drops on turn 1 for ramp its lookin a little too slow. But over like the ideas good job.
LOL! Going for Iona and Emrakul with Mass Polymorph is just stupid imo... just go for 4 Bogardan Hellkite + 1 Karrthus(if needed)...
Primeval Titan deck idea seems good, very sad that neither rampant growth or earthquake were reprinted in m11 :(
You dont really need rampant Growth lol, Just turn one drop a land and Llanowar Elves or birds of paridise, turn 2 drop land, play growth spasm, turn 3 you got titan out lol. Rampant growths a card I've tried to bare off from becuz theres better ramp cards.
I have played valakut for a while, and 3 forests was too few for me to cast things like rampath growth, and I ran just as many "fetches" as you do, so 2 forests to cast something that costs 4GG is just not going to work. I like the concept though, just needs a bunch of tweaking.
I have played valakut for a while, and 3 forests was too few for me to cast things like rampath growth, and I ran just as many "fetches" as you do, so 2 forests to cast something that costs 4GG is just not going to work. I like the concept though, just needs a bunch of tweaking.
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