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By: Plainswalker83, Plainswalker83
May 03 2016 12:00pm
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     Well I am back playing and reporting about Standard. I know I pretty much committed to play Modern. It is a better investment, no rotations, and things like that. However when I saw the spoilers for Shadows over Innistrad, got to play with the cards, and then saw them in action at actual events I knew that I needed to be playing Standard again. Do not worry to those of you who are Modern enthusiasts there is some great Modern content on this site and I am not giving up on it. I will just be going back to my original plan of trying to make white weenie work in that format especially now that I was given some new weapons. I will discuss what I am playing shortly but until then let's break down this format and look at what Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad showed us about this new Standard metagame.

     I watched as much coverage as I could get away with this past weekend. Thankfully the time difference actually worked out in my favor so at about noon or so my time the event was done for the day and I could actually get some other things done. What I saw did not disappoint. They did a great job highlighting certain decks that just so happened to be played by great players. Those decks have and will be a major presence in the new Standard meta. Let's look at what got into the top 8 and go from there. First off there were 8 different decks in the top 8 which is amazing in itself.

                         

     Jon Finkel used these gems to make top 8. The only one on his team to do so well with the deck. They call it Seasons Past control. I call it genius. I never even imagined that this would be a deck but thanks to The Pantheon and Finkel's skill, I played against it last night on MTGO. Here is the list.

     As you can see Reid mentions that they really wanted access to Languish and this seems to be an amazing shell for it. I actually enjoyed seeing this deck so much that I almost played it,  almost. One thing that is very important to remember is that it was Jon Finkel that performed so well with this deck. This is not an easy deck to play and when I played against it last night I dispatched my foe quite easily. It seems one of the decks weaknesses is Bant Company which Jon lost to in the quarterfinals. Bant is not a good weakness to have. So if you want to play just be prepared. And one more word of caution, please do not copy the deck card for card if you do be prepared to have a lot less success.

    This next deck played by LSV and created by Matt Nass is really starting to show up on MTGO not only in leagues but it placed 4 players in the top 8 of the online Standard PTQ and even won it. Let's take a look.

                          

     Now this deck is really sweet. If there is a deck that gets me off of white weenie this might be it, but we shall see. LSV did super well with it in the swiss and it seems very consistent. Here is the deck tech.

   As I said this deck just works. It also is most likely the best Westvale Abbey deck in Standard. Unfortunately for LSV he lost in the quarters to the next deck played by Shota Yasooka.

                          

     Everyone was wondering if Esper Dragons would viable due to the mana changing but Shota being the master that he is made the mana base work. Both this and Season Past control make great use of Languish but I feel like this may be the better deck for it. The fact that there are counterspells in the deck are a huge draw especially since there are so many powerful spells going around. Seth Mansfield also played Esper but he had more a planeswalker theme. Both Esper decks seem strong and can be major players going forward if you enjoy having control over the game and using powerful planeswalkers. They did both fall to creature decks in the semi-finals but maybe the removal needs to be messed with slightly.

                           

      Another deck that was not even on my radar. I of course have seen Blue Red Goggles and normal Green Red Ramp. However this seems to be a mash of the two decks and a very good one at that. It has some very powerful effects and ways to abuse Pyromancer's Goggles. Cards like Magmatic Insight and Tormenting Voice allowing you to draw up to 4 cards is huge and then using goggles to copy your burn spells is just game ending. Is this more your style? Will it be good going forward? So far I haven't seen much of it in the results but I don't doubt it will be a player going forward.  

     Next up Red White Eldrazi

                       

     This deck is something else that was cool to see. Luis Salvatto combined both Eldrazi with Pyromancer's Goggles to make a really neat shell. It was good enough to bring him to the top 8 and with some tweaking could still be a contender. It is not really up my alley but I like that he used Nahiri.  

      Next up is Bant company.

                         

     This is another deck that people thought would no longer work due to the fetch lands rotating out. However even the mana is a little tougher the deck is still very very good. The addition of Duskwatch Recruiter and Archangel Avacyn really add more game to the Bant list and the fact that it can add counterspells after sideboarding makes this a huge threat.  Andrea Mengucci and his team decided it was hard to beat so they decided to just play it and it brought him all the way to the finals. This deck just has so much card advantage. Besides Collected Company it has Duskwatch Recruiter which can also get creatures into your hands. Also having access to Sylvan Advocate which is probably close to being the best 2 drop in the format. The fact that it can escape both Languish and Grasp of Darkness is pretty huge. It also doesn't hurt that it pumps the creature lands like Lumbering falls. Going forward this is still one of if not the best decks in the format.  Now for the last of the top 8.

                            

     This is the winning deck played by Steve Rubin. Green White Tokens looked very impressive and has a lot of ways to flood the board and end the game. It also has access to great removal and powerful planeswalkers. Of course this deck also played 4 copies of Avacyn who seems even better in this deck because of how miserable she can make blocking for your opponent. Lastly it used Westvale Abbey to turn all of those tokens into a 9/7 flying, lifelinking, trample, haster. Not bad for sacrificing thopters, knights, or plants. I am certain this will be a major force going forward even though I haven't seen a ton of it as of yet.

     Now comes the fun part. You can play any one of those decks or anything else that you saw do well. However if you have read anything I wrote in the past you know what I am playing.

                               Thalias_Lieutenant.jpgAlways_Watching.jpgThraben_Inspector.jpg

     I mentioned before it was almost as if wizards wanted me to be playing Standard again. I have been playing White Weenie style decks as long as I can remember and I was eager to throw this together when I first started to see spoilers. Little did I know that it would quickly evolve into a tier 1 deck. This deck is capable of turn 4 kills and can quickly close out games. The version I am running is the 18 land and 22 1 drop version. Also I am sticking with mono white. There are a few reasons for that. First is I am on a semi budget and Avacyn costs an arm and a wing. I also thing the deck is more consistent and does not have to worry about anything other than playing lands and creatures. All of the 1 drops are actually very good in their own right and once you stick an Always Watching they are not just 2/1's or 1/1's anymore. 

     The other part I like about this deck is the removal. White has some of the best in the format and this deck can play it all. Declaration in Stone exiles creatures and against decks like Bant it can usually 2 for 1 your opponent. Yes they get a clue but you are trying to kill them before it really matters. The other removal it has is enchantment based but that only really matters against Dromoka's Command. You can add a land from the board and also be able to play Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. All of those cards together are very powerful and I am loving this deck. I will not pretend that it is infallible though. So be careful over extending into things like Languish or Kozilek's Return. However sometimes you just have to play your creatures and attempt to smash your opponents face. That is what being an aggro player is all about.

     I am really looking forward to playing a ton more Standard. Let me know what you are playing or if you ever want to test anything. I now have a part time job at a Local Game Store running a Standard League and next weekend a Grand Prix Trial. I will be watching and playing a ton of Standard and I for one am excited! Until next time!