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By: TheUsualSuspect, Chris Sheppard
Jan 20 2009 2:58am
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First let me take a second to introduce myself.   Names Chris aka TheUsualSuspect but most people just call me TUS. if you're a Standard or a PRE player you know me and either love me or hate me. Ive been playing magic since Mirridon. Playing online since Champions (I know starting during the near death of magic kinda funny). I'm a 1750+ constructed 1750+ limited player. Who focuses mainly on standard. Since joining the RW craze i have 7/14 t8's with 4 finals spread out over the 3 decks and this article will explain a few of the good and bad points of each list, along with how each deck has worked for me.

OK its time to get down to business. This standard meta game has been a crazy shifting meta game since Alara first came into the meta. But mostly every archetype that has popped up since has fallen to the wayside after a few weeks. As the top 3 decks would eventually fall back to the same top 3 decks we have had to live through for the last year with the big daddy Fae sitting on the thrown and kith and 5cc sitting 2nd and 3rd. Insert Ajani Vengeant. this card flew under most peoples radar for a while only seeing minor play in a couple of decks, and being part of the cast in the Planeswalker deck fellowship of the rings. but not being used as the breakthrough card that it someday would become. Insert starcity $5000. One week before worlds the t9 at the 5k had 3 RW decks running 4x Ajani Vengeant including the eventual winner Corey Mann running vengeant weenie and Osyp Lebedowicz running Vengeant lark.

My joining of the RW craze happened about 2 weeks after worlds. Me and my buddy were looking to build a standard deck to get back into the format after being out of the loop for a while, and we didn't want to run faeries. So we were looking for something with a good match vs fae that wasn't a dog vs the rest of the format. That deck is Vengeant Reveillark.

Vengeant Reveillark by Aaron Nicastri
6-0 day 1 2008 world championships

creature [26]
1x Burrenton Forge-Tender
4x Figure of Destiny
4x Kitchen Finks
4x Mogg Fanatic
3x Murderous Redcap
4x Ranger of Eos
3x Reveillark
2x Siege-Gang Commander
1x Stillmoon Cavalier
land [22]
4x Battlefield Forge
2x Mountain
5x Plains
3x Reflecting Pool
4x Rugged Prairie
4x Windbrisk Heights

planeswalker [4]
4x Ajani Vengeant
sorcery [4]
4x Spectral Procession
artifact [4]
4x Mind Stone
 

Sideboard:
1x Burrenton Forge-Tender
1x Stillmoon Cavalier
3x Vithian Stinger
3x Voice of All
3x Guttural Response
4x Wrath of God
reveillark

The list above is Aaron Nisastri's list from day 1 of worlds. When I was looking for a better RW list than Osyp's not liking certain card choices I came across this list and fell in love with it. the Spectral Processions over Knight of the White Orchard is the main difference from Osyp's list and it makes a huge difference in activating the Windbrisks and taking control of the game. The list I eventually ran was -1 finks -1 redcap +1 plains +1 stillmoon in the maindeck with +3 whispmare +2runed halo +1 redcap -3 voice of all -3 gutteral response in the sideboard.

Pro's

  • Good matchup vs faeries 12-5 vs faeries in PE's with 3 of the 5 losses coming to the same person running Vendilion clique + Thoughtseize. which can be very troublesome for this deck to deal with and he drew at least 2  in like 5 of the 6 games I lost to him 0-2 0-2 0-2.
     
  • Not a dead matchup vs 5cc, unlike the kithkin builds 5cc is a very winnable matchup with it being almost a favorable matchup in my testing.
     
  • Almost unloseable matchup vs RDW: I know rdw isnt a huge part of the meta anymore but RDW and RDW with black still gets 3-4 players per event and its always good to be able to own that pain in the butt deck.

Con's

  •  Matchup vs kithkin is very iffy with it being about 40-60 dog g1 followed by 50-50 after board
     
  •  Early hand distruption can be very hard for this deck to deal with.

The lark deck was perfect for the meta at the time and it led me to 3 daily event t8's in the first 3 events I entered including 1 split finals. but I didn't like how the deck ran sometimes I was 3-2 in 2 of the 3 t8's and had dropped 3 matches to the same faerie deck in the final 2 events (that player won both of the events) so I decided to look around and see if I could find a more aggro focused list. I came across something I had missed my first time around the winner of the Starcity 5k was running a RW kithkin deck that came out the gate fast and still had Ajani Vengeant. This little list would become my new deck.

Vengeant weenie by corey mann
1st place Starcity 5k

27x Creatures
3 Burrenton Forge-tender
4 Cloudgoat Ranger
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Goldmeadow Stalwart
4 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Wilt-leaf Liege
4 Wizened Cenn

4x Sorceries
4 Spectral Procession

Planeswalkers
4 Ajani Vengeant

 

 

 

25x Lands
4 Battlefield Forge
3 Mutavault
4 Rugged Prairie
4 Rustic Clachan
4 Windbrisk Heights
6 Plains
15x Sideboard:
1 Burrenton Forge-tender
4 Reveillark
3 Stillmoon Cavalier
4 Unmake
3 Ajani Goldmane

Wilt-leaf liege

This was the list that took first at The Starcity 5k. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. Its a basic WW kithkin deck but splashes red to run Vengeant over goldmane and it runs 4x Wilt-leaf Liege which at the time with RB blighting decks popping up everywhere would give me a major advantage vs them and vs 5cc when they esper charm me g1. I ran a list with a different sideboard +3 Wrath of god -2 reveillark -2 unmake -1 Stillmoon -1 Forge tender +3 vithian stingers. I also cut 3x mutavault for 2x plains 1x stillmoon cavalier maindeck.

 Pro's

  • 50/50 matchup vs faeries.
  • Can get the kithkin god hand that can't lose.
  • Vengeant over goldmane gives us a better match up against 5 Color. 

Con's

The deck started off slow for me with 2 2-2 drops but then broke through and when it did it broke the bank with 3 straight t8's 2 of which were finals. Following that up though I got 4 5cc match ups over next 2 Daily event's to knock me out and then went 2-0 just to lose to Faeries twice to miss t8. Following that I decided to once again look for a new answer. I was going to build a version with burn and test it to see if it was viable when just randomly checking my sites i came across a list that won a 26 man tourney that was exactly what I was looking for. It had beaten Fae in t4 and the finals. and was a RW kithkin deck that cut out some of the kithkin to run 10 burn spells. The deck seemed really good so without even testing it I took it into the DE I was planning on entering that night that was starting within 20 min of when I found the list.

Kithkin Deck Wins by John Runyon
 
creature [17]
land [25]
Instant [10]
sorcery [4]
planeswalker [4]
Sideboard:
flame javelin

 I ran a different sb with -2 tender -1 stillmoon  +3 WOG. The list ran like a charm that first night. it only went 3-2 and slipped me into t8 in 8th place but once it got in t8 it demolished the t8 by beating down fae in t8 then in t4 winning a close match up vs kithkin then splitting the finals with a elf player. The deck slowed down after that with 2 daily events with no t8's and that is where I currently stand but still has showed decent testing results and in the right hands is a force to be reckoned with.

PRO's

  • Burn spells make deck more efficient vs faeries.
     
  • Burn spells also make decks like GB elves not just drop a Perfect and create crazy amounts of tokens.

Con's

  • Is a dog to both other RW decks and significantly to RW ajani lark.
  • Super dog to 5cc. Only way to win is get lucky with burn spells.

 

Conclusions

In conclusion, and after testing and running all 3 of these decks to Daily event wins. I believe that RW Ajani lark is the most powerful of the 3 decks and is the best in the current meta. but as anyone who watches the daily event standard scene knows this meta shifts weekly. and with the meta shift so does which one of these decks is the one to run for your next daily event. I do believe though that the best archtype in this format is not faeries as everyone says but in fact RW and will continue to be part of this craze.

 

Conflux's impact.

 

With conflux on the horizon I figured id take a look at some of the potential new weapons of the RW arsenal. So far spoiled we have a couple of interesting cards that could potentially become staples or at least sideboard cards in rw.

 

Banefire xr Sorcery

 

Banefire deals X damage to target creature or player. if X is 5 or more banefire cannot be countered and the damage cannot be prevented.

 

Probably a new SB finisher vs Fae and 5cc. Will definitely see play of some sort if it fits the sorta aggro style of these decks will be something that only time will tell.

 

Volcanic Fallout 1rr Instant

 

Volcanic Fallout can't be countered.Volcanic Fallout deals 2 damage to each creature and each player.

 

Another potential sb card definitely good vs fae and can give BW tokens a definite pain. Can you say one sided Wrath of god at end of turn?

 

Path to Exile w Instant

 

Remove target creature from the game. Its controller may search his or her library for a basic land card, put it into play tapped, then shuffle his or her library.

 

Probably going to be a major part of the new meta. but currently vs any deck running creatures. I think giving opp a 1 land advantage is almost always less important that creatures but in the more aggro creature version that just goes right for the kill will be a definite 4x staple.

 

Small side note following writing this article a new version of the lark deck has popped up that cuts the persist creatures all together, and is running balefire liege and fulminator mage in its place. After some minor testing with that. Ive found it is a very good deck. Now whether it is better than the original is yet to be seen as only results can prove that. But it definitely is something to think about if you decided to do your own testing with Ajani lark.

 

Ok thats all for now hope you enjoyed my first article on PureMTGO. hopefully it will be the first of many as I dont see many people posting articles on standard so maybe I can fill a little void every once in a while. any comments or words of advice will be much appreciated, and with that I say

 

TUS OUT!

14 Comments

nice Article tus by sandydogmtg (not verified) at Tue, 01/20/2009 - 06:27
sandydogmtg's picture

nice Article tus

hey man i play with u by Utrystle (not verified) at Tue, 01/20/2009 - 11:44
Utrystle's picture
5

hey man
i play with u tomorrow, at mol.
i was playing rw too, but my lands dont like me!
i test the rw last week, and the worst match that i found was the 5cc. I think tha its the most stable standard deck!

5cc by TheUsualSuspect at Tue, 01/20/2009 - 19:13
TheUsualSuspect's picture

Actually the RW lark deck is about 55-45 vs 5cc and the new balefire liege+ fulminator mage version of Lark is closer to 70-30 vs 5cc but if your running either of the weenie versions then yeah 5cc is tough. And for a side note since I wrote this article which was about 3 days ago I put up that solid result I was looking for with the balefire liege verson. With 2 9th place finishes followed by a split finals.
for those interested here is the balefire list.
2 Mountain
4 Windbrisk Heights
2 Ajani Vengeant
4 Spectral Procession
3 Mogg Fanatic
1 Flamekin Harbinger
3 Reflecting Pool
4 Flame Javelin
3 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Mind Stone
4 Rugged Prairie
3 Figure of Destiny
3 Ranger of Eos
4 Battlefield Forge
2 Mountain
4 Plains
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
4 Fulminator Mage
3 Reveillark
2 Balefire Liege

Sideboard
3 Wispmare
4 Magma Spray
4 Wrath of God
3 Vithian Stinger
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender

Who beat you with faeries? by Jose (not verified) at Tue, 01/20/2009 - 15:52
Jose's picture

Iori_Yagami was the one that beat you?

Faerie Player by WacKy ZacKy (not verified) at Tue, 01/20/2009 - 16:09
WacKy ZacKy's picture

The faerie player that always beat TUS was S-Man.

Tus by GoblinLackeyIsBlue at Tue, 01/20/2009 - 17:49
GoblinLackeyIsBlue's picture

Tus sucks but this article was informative. This is why I play a real mans format CLASSIC!

classic by TheUsualSuspect at Tue, 01/20/2009 - 19:22
TheUsualSuspect's picture

maybe I should borrow whiffy's deck put it on my other account and go win the saturday classic. oh wait already did that this past weekend :)

yea buddy by whiffy at Tue, 01/20/2009 - 19:38
whiffy's picture

Yea you did. too bad it ran into a rdw deck rd3 on sunday if you were 3-0 when you hit that deck you would have been in the top 8. again

Good first article by jamuraa at Tue, 01/20/2009 - 21:36
jamuraa's picture
4

Hey, I am glad to see more people who play PEs writing for PureMTGO because I've seen you excel a number of times and got to know you while we were in the great dark times before the lists were published on MTG.com every week.

I think that these three decks are all viable but you are correct that the meta shifts quite quickly. This is one of the points that I hope to make in the next standard deviations which will come out soon - sometimes the meta can change even throughout the day - if there are more of the europeans or asians playing there are very different makeups.

fae should be beating RW by iceage4life at Wed, 01/21/2009 - 10:33
iceage4life's picture

fae should be beating RW lark. Not crushing it but slightly ahead. At least thats what my testing has shown/word on the street.

I think fae vs lark really by TheUsualSuspect at Wed, 01/21/2009 - 13:15
TheUsualSuspect's picture

I think fae vs lark really comes down to who is the smarter player cause I know that alot of fae players I played vs in the PE's I could tell almost every card they had in hand by t3 by how they played their first turns then just played around their counterspells. truthfully almost the only times I lost was vs double Clique or Scion+Sower. Because I can keep fae down to only a couple creatures with being able to grab double mogg off of ranger. also t2 Bitterblossom with like 3 counters in hand can also be a pain in my butt that is unless its g2 and I drew a wispmare. I think the new balefire verson is a little better vs fae im 4-1 vs it. and fulminator mage can own fae cause alot of fae players will keep 2 land+blossom hands then tap out t2 and t3 if your on the play bye bye 2nd land.

new RW list by Anonymous (not verified) at Mon, 01/26/2009 - 02:30
Anonymous's picture

The new Balefire list you posted is 64 cards?

nope its 60 you must have by TheUsualSuspect at Mon, 01/26/2009 - 03:21
TheUsualSuspect's picture

nope its 60 you must have just miscounted.

my bad by Anonymous (not verified) at Mon, 01/26/2009 - 04:27
Anonymous's picture

turns out my list had 6 figures in it for some reason...idk where the other 2 extra cards came from though