Greetings!

Even if all the heads are turned to Extended, Standard its still the most played format around. In this article I'll be making an analysis about the 26 Daily Events held on MTGO from 19/1/09 to 1/2/09 and exploring their top8s.

 In the first graphic we can see the number of Top8s made by each deck in this last 26 events while in the second one we can see the percentage os attendance of each one in the referred top8s.And of course...there it is again...Fae dominating the scene with 42 appearences in 208 possible representig 21% of the field. Similar to Extended, the little blue creatures are the players choice, but still, in Standard they have fiersome competition.Cruel Control,GB Elves and WB Tokens are all exelent contenders but the true Fae Killer resides somewhere else.

 Au contraire than in Extended, even if Fae is the most played deck, in the Standard enviroment at least for the last couple of weeks, the bad boy of the block, Vengeant Lark has been taking the lead in the number of wins, winning 10 of the 26 featured events.

Appearing first in the Starcity 5k Open in 7/12/09 , Vengeant Lark is un update of both White Weene Kitkin and WR or RDW decks. Featuring an agressive start using cheap creatures plus combining the card advantage power of Ranger of Eos or Ajani Vengeant with the recursive ability of Reveillark.

Vengeant Lark by duotianshi203 (more lists: 1 , 2 , 3 )

Creatures  2 Balefire Liege  1 Burrenton Forge-Tender 3 Figure of Destiny 1 Flamekin Harbinger  4 Fulminator Mage 3 Mogg Fanatic 3 Ranger of Eos 3 Reveillark 3 Siege-Gang Commander 23 cards Other Spells  3 Ajani Vengeant 3 Flame Javelin 4 Mind Stone  4 Spectral Procession  14 cards

Lands  4 Battlefield Forge 5 Mountain 3 Plains 3 Reflecting Pool 4 Rugged Prairie 4 Windbrisk Heights 23 cards Sideboard  2 Burrenton Forge-Tender 3 Guttural Response 3 Magma Spray 3 Wispmare  4 Wrath of God 15 cards

 Using an aggro approach with Mogg Fanatic and Figure of Destiny, and then curving out with either Spectral Procession,Fulminator Mage or Mind Stone into Ajani Vengeant or Ranger of Eos, the deck wins ratherly fast. All the deck creatures are very sinergetic, with the Ranger fetching either a combination of Fanatic + Figure or Flamekin Harbinger that can later fetch a Reveillark.

 Fulminator Mage is also a good target for the Harbinger since in the current enviroment works as a walking Stone Rain that can deal with Mutavault,Treetop Village,Faerie Conclave or the dreaded (Windbrik Heights). It can also actively Time Walk you versus Cruel Control. Siege-Gang Commander provides 4 creatures for 5 mana and a potencial 8 dmg besides the fact that it can be easily recursed with Reveillark for an additional appearance.

From the 23 creatures of the deck,only Reveillark and Ranger of Eos can't be "recursed" making it hard to play against since while you deal with a threat others will take its place or they'll just be replayed. Spectral Procession gives you 3 creatures makingit hard for the oponent to deal with unless with mass removal. The lonely Burrenton Forge-Tender helps you out in the mirror and versus any RDW or WR Kitkin. Its still a useful tool against Firespout or Pyroclasm. Ajani Vengeant is another key piece of the deck , shutting down an opponent land or threat every turn until it can pop out every single one of the opponent's lands give out free Lightning Helix every 3 turns. It's a nightmare for Cruel Control since they only have Cryptic Command to deal with it and you can just kill them while they struggle to deal with it. Faeries is a very good matchup since you can drop quick threats and have lots of burn and recursive power to keep the offence going. Guttural Response and Wispmare in the sideboard keep the pressure going nullifying any Agony Warp or Cryptic Command and killing those pesky Bitterblossom.

Since Charles Gindy won Pro Tour Hollywood with Gb Elves the deck has been a consistent show up in almost every event, incorporating lots of different builds and different cards. In this latest 26 events it had 22 appearances in top8s representing roughly 10% of that field.

Gb Elves by PeaceSoldier777 ( more lists: 1 , 2 , 3 )

Creatures  4 Chameleon Colossus  2 Civic Wayfinder 4 Imperious Perfect 4 Llanowar Elves 4 Wolf-Skull Shaman 4 Wren's Run Vanquisher 22 cards Other Spells  3 Eyeblight's Ending 3 Garruk Wildspeaker 2 Nameless Inversion  3 Profane Command 4 Thoughtseize  15 cards

Lands  3 Forest 4 Gilt-Leaf Palace 4 Llanowar Wastes 4 Mutavault 2 Swamp 4 Treetop Village 2 Twilight Mire 23 cards Sideboard  3 Cloudthresher 2 Guttural Response 2 Incremental Blight 2 Infest  2 Mind Shatter 2 Primal Command 2 Wickerbough Elder 15 cards

 Harkening back to the rock of olds , this deck relies on a good creature base with cheap and reliable threats like Wren's Run Vanquisher and Wolf-Skull Shaman that can be booster by Imperious Perfect or ramping out to a Chameleon Colossus,Garruk Wildspeaker or a backbreaking Profane Command. With 8 removal cards( Eyeblight's Ending,Nameless Inversion,Profane Command), it can deal with almost any threat played by the opponent while bashing with the ground force. Imperious Perfect,besides pumping your guys provides you a steady army of 2/2s. Thoughtseize serves as disruption, also gathering information about what tipe of deck or removal your opponent packs.

Cruel Control is a tough matchup unless you can run early Seizes or run a Colossus since their only way to deal with it is either bounce/counter it, Cruel it out of play or hand or Wrath of God him away. Versus Fae you have to be wary of those Sower of Temptation since they can protect them with counter magic or Scion of Oona. Thoughtseize and (Colossus) are your key cards again in this matchup. After board you can bring in some (Guttural Responses), Cloudthresher and Wickerbough Elder versus Fae and the All Mighty Mind Shatter versus Cruel Control. Versus the aggro decks such as Vengeant Lark or others Kitkin based decks, you should come out of top thanks to the amount of removal you have but also with the card advantage provided by Wolf-Skull Shaman,Imperious Perfect and Profane Command. Incremental Blight,Primal Command and Infest come out of the board to help in those match ups making your deck a creature killer machine gun,some versions even pack Shriekmaw in the sideboard.Primal Command also works well against Windbrisk heights and Cruel Control since it can shut down the former for a turn and also time walk your Cruel opponent.

 The deck also packs 6 to 8 Man Lands, in order to have more threats, also they survive mass removal effects like Wrath of God,Firespout or Pyroclasm, making them hard to kill and a very reliable source of damage.

 Since Resident Genius Mr. Wafo Tapa and Manuel Bucher created Quick'n'Toast, a new control deck abusing the power of Vivid Lands + Reflecting Pool to play some of the best spells avaiable regardless of color.

Then Shards of Alara come online bringing a new addiction to the deck transforming it into...

Cruel Control by CvK (more lists: 1 , 2 , 3 )

Creatures  2 Cloudthresher  3 Kitchen Finks 4 Mulldrifter 1 Nucklavee 10 cards Other Spells  3 Bant Charm 4 Broken Ambitions 2 Cruel Ultimatum  4 Cryptic Command 3 Esper Charm 2 Firespout 2 Makeshift Mannequin 2 Oblivion Ring 2 Wrath of God 24 cards

Lands  2 Arcane Sanctum 1 Cascade Bluffs 1 Caves of Koilos 2 Flooded Grove 2 Mystic Gate 3 Reflecting Pool 2 Sunken Ruins 4 Vivid Creek 3 Vivid Grove 2 Vivid Marsh 3 Vivid Meadow 1 Wooded Bastion 26 cards Sideboard  2 Chameleon Colossus 2 Cloudthresher 2 Glen Elendra Archmage 1 Kitchen Finks  2 Mind Shatter 1 Pyroclasm 4 Vexing Shusher 1 Wrath of God 15 cards

 Winning 4 of the 26 featured events and with a 15% attendance in the top8s, Cruel Control is a clear Tier1 deck in Standard, Using a colorful manabase with acess to all the 5 colors, the decks takes advantage of all the most powerful multicolored spells in Standard, such as Bant Charm,Esper Charm and Cruel Ultimatum. Kitchen Finks serves both as a cheap and recursive threat and as a blocker + lifegainer versus any aggro matchups.Mulldrifter also as a double duty both as an Air Attacker/Blocker as well as a card advantage engine especialy combined with (Makeshift Mannequim) or Cruel Ultimatum. Cloudthresher is a keycard in the Fae matchup, since it combines speed flash , removal and a big body all in one, still, against others decks its still useful as a 7/7 for 6 mana with flash. The singleton Nucklavee is a solid creature that may recur up to two cards from your graveyard giving you the ability to re-use that Bant Charm,Esper Charm,Cruel Ultimatum,Broken Ambitions,Cryptic Command or Firespout. A solid combo with Cruel Ultimatum providing you with the sorcery every turn.



WW Kitkins , Red Deck Wins or Mono Green Elves should almost be a bye for this deck since they dont pack any disruption besides Burrenton Forge-Tender and the ocasional Stigma Lasher from RDW. Your board sweepers and removal should be able to handle them. Vengeant Lark is a diferent story since Fulminator Mage is a drag and a resolved Ajani Vengeant means trouble. Yet here the 4 Broken Ambitions should get you the edge countering the all-important Reveillark,Ranger of Eos,Fulminator Mage or Ajani Vengeant. Against faeries, Bitterblossom and (Thoghtseize) are trouble, there's nothing you can do about the sorcery but Esper Charm can take care of that enchantment for you. Again here you must be wary of Scion of Oona for not being 2ed for 1.

  + >

One of the surprise turnouts before and during Worlds was the WB Tokens deck. Its still a major force in the Standard scene since it represents almost 10% of the last 2 weeks top8 metagame.

WB Tokens by Marcio Carvalho ( more lists: 1 , 2 , 3 )

Creatures  4 Cloudgoat Ranger 4 Figure of Destiny 4 Knight of Meadowgrain 3 Knight of the White Orchid 2 Stillmoon Cavalier 17 cards Other Spells  3 Unmake 4 Spectral Procession 4 Bitterblossom 4 Glorious Anthem 3 Ajani Goldmane 18 cards

Lands  2 Arcane Sanctum 4 Caves of Koilos 4 Fetid Heath 10 Plains 1 Reflecting Pool 4 Windbrisk Heights 25 cards Sideboard  4 Burrenton Forge-Tender 1 Stillmoon Cavalier 4 Thoughtseize 4 Wrath of God 2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant 15 cards

I'll not go deep in this archetype since LSV geared us with this great guides for it.

I'll also leave here a couple of games by WB Tokens.

Besides the WB version , WW Kitkins is also a good metagame choice, with 18 presences in the last 26 top8s. 

WW Kitkin by Marjin Lybaert (more lists: 1 , 2 , 3 )

Creatures  1 Burrenton Forge-Tender 2 Cloudgoat Ranger 4 Figure of Destiny 4 Goldmeadow Stalwart 4 Knight of Meadowgrain 2 Ranger of Eos 1 Stillmoon Cavalier 3 Wilt-Leaf Liege 4 Wizened Cenn 25 cards Other Spells  3 Unmake 4 Spectral Procession 2 Mirrorweave 9 cards

Lands  3 Mutavault 15 Plains 4 Rustic Clachan 4 Windbrisk Heights 25 cards Sideboard  1 Burrenton Forge-Tender 2 Order of Whiteclay 3 Reveillark 3 Stillmoon Cavalier 2 Wrath of God 2 Glorious Anthem 2 Oblivion Ring 15 cards

 Regarding this particular archetype, it loses the acess to Black , meaning that it has less or none disruption avaiable since it can't use cards like Thoughtseize or Tidehollow Sculler and also the powerhouse Bitterblossom. On the other side, it gains a lot of speed, with faster and bigger creatures, plus the card advantage provided by Ranger of Eos. Wizened Cenn and Wilt-Leaf Liege work as Walking Glorious Anthem , pumping your creatures and also combing out with Mirrorweave for absolute pwonage.

or + =  GG!

The deck also gains Mutavault since color requirement is less important it can use the allmighty man land, giving you and aditional and hard to remove threat.
Glorious Anthem and Wrath of God in the sieboard can help you fight the mirror match / Wb tokens giving you bigger creatures than your opponents or destroying an overcomited table. Order of Whiteclay is an interesting card, dodging Nameless Inversion,Firespout and Pyroclasm, it can regrow a creature per turn creating lots of card advantage, good versus both Aggro or Control.

Yet again , Faeries ! This begins to annoy me a bit since it seems with cannot talk about a metagame without talking about Fae independantly of what format we are talking about. With a 21% lead in the top8 metagame, Fae won 4 of the 26 featured events showing a little more restraint than inExtended. 

UB Faeries by Marcio Carvalho ( more lists: 1 , 2 , 3 )

Creatures  4 Mistbind Clique 4 Scion of Oona 3 Sower of Temptation 4 (Spellstutter Sprite 15 cards Other Spells  2 Agony Warp 3 Broken Ambitions 4 Cryptic Command 2 Remove Soul 2 Terror 2 Thoughtseize 4 Bitterblossom 18 cards

Lands  1 Faerie Conclave 6 Island 4 Mutavault 4 Secluded Glen 4 Sunken Ruins 3 Swamp 4 Underground River 26 cards Sideboard  2 Puppeteer Clique 1 Sower of Temptation 2 Stillmoon Cavalier 2 Flashfreeze 3 Infest 2 Thoughtseize 3 Jace Beleren 15 cards

 

In contrast with Extended , the main power of UB Fae in Standard its the B part. Bitterblossom is the Standard powerhouse, providing a steady army of Faeries that are later used to pop up a Mistbind Clique or to counter almost anything with Spellstutter Sprite. Scion of Oona can also boost the little Black Rogue Faerie Tokens, or protect your creatures, Mutavault and Bitterblossom from any targetting removal.Sower of Temptation is a great card in Standard since WW Kitkins or WB Tokens are very popular, stealing one of their creatures and then countering any removal etc.

8 to 10 main deck Counterspells means you can play almost always in your opponents turn giving them less information about the state of the game and giving you an edge in almost any match.

The main deck removal and disruption also helps you to fight any aggro or control matchup.

All this combined elements help rendering Fae , probably the best deck avaible.

In general the Standard metagame is quite open, provided that you aknowledge the dificult matchups or a swift in the meta. I'll take my leave with some interesting thoughts about Standard with Conflux by LSV and Gerry Thompson. See you next week!

Andrea Fonseca , Dust_ @MTGO