With the recent addition of M11 to the Standard format, Blue-based strategies have become some of the most powerful in Standard. I say this because of the addition of Mana Leak to Standard, which is probably the most consequential card to come out of the 2011 Core Set, with Fauna Shaman, Primeval Titan, and Destructive Force following in close behind. The set has warped the metagame in such a way that the most viable decks are Fauna Shaman decks (Naya leads the pack here), Jace the Mindsculptor decks (of which UW Control is most dominant), Titan decks (in various forms of Turboland, Valakut Ramp, or Wildfiver), and the perennial elephant in the room, Jund. This format is one where cards like Mana Leak and Doomblade are at a premium because the best spells are expensive, and creatures are generating some of the best card advantage available.

Green decks are pretty slick right now, in fact. The addition of Fauna Shaman to Standard has given Vengevines a way to do some truly degenerate things, provided the Survival bear gets to stay alive for a turn. It allows Conscription decks to play Vengevine and draw smoother hands, allowing for a higher chance of the nut draw, and it lets Naya blast out some pretty quick kills as well. Primeval Titan, on the other hand, allows players to ramp their mana up to googolplex and then cast Destructive Force. If any card in the format is a complete blowout, D-Force is it. Valakut decks are also a fine strategy now that deck builders don’t need to bother with sub-par cards like Expedition Map. With Primeval Titan, Valakut Ramp can focus on its ramp and can now play threats that can get the game finished with or without a Valakut on the board. It’s on the back of these good Green creatures that most Standard decks are moving and grooving.

As players adjust their decks accordingly, I’d like to take a look at one of the least-played control decks in Standard, and how recent changes have made it a prime deck to start playing. I’m talking, of course, about Grixis. Grixis Control (AKA Cruel Control) is a deck that has been hovering outside the current popular metagame for some time now. The deck has been championed by players such as Mike Flores, but as far as control decks go it isn’t as highly favored as decks like UW Control or UWr Super Friends. The reasons for this are that Grixis, while having access to a lot of high quality cards, has issues with its manabase, and if the deck is not built right, it can have problems with Vengevine-based strategies. Another problem with the deck is that it has a fairly inconsistent main deck. Some versions are running Calcite Snappers and creatures like Gatekeeper of Malakir, others are running Double Negative-based draw go strategies, and others still are running Goblin Ruinblasters and Spreading Seas in a tempo list.

Built correctly, Grixis Control is an excellent metagame choice; it offers a great control match, deals with Titan decks with ease, has a fairly solid Jund match, and doesn’t lose too easily to aggressive creature decks. Your only terrible matchup is RDW, which is very hard to win. Here’s what I think is an acceptable starting list for your next event.

3 Swamp

3 Drowned Catacomb

4 Creeping Tar Pit

4 Scalding Tarn

2 Mountain

2 Island

4 Crumbling Necropolis

4 Dragonskull Summit

2 Grave Titan

4 Sedraxis Specter

3 Siege-Gang Commander

4 Blightning

3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

4 Mana Leak

4 Terminate

2 Cruel Ultimatum

3 Lightning Bolt

3 Countersquall

2 Jace’s Ingenuity

Sideboard

2 Thought Hemorrhage

2 Doom Blade

4 Goblin Ruinblaster

3 Pyroclasm

4 Flashfreeze

One of the best reasons to be running Grixis right now is that you get the opportunity to play two of Standard’s best cards together in one deck – Jace the Mindsculptor, and Blightning. These two cards are absolutely nuts. Jace’s ability to win games singlehandedly is fairly well elucidated in other places, but I do want to devote a little time here to Blightning. Most people think that Blightning has lost some of its vigor because of Obstinate Baloth, and to a lesser degree, Vengevine. If you’ve been playing Blightning in Jund and other Black and Red builds, then you know that getting double Balothed on the third turn is back-breaking. Taking 8 to the face isn’t exactly how I’d like to end the third turn. Some Jund decks are leaving Blightning in the sideboard because of their fear of Obstinate Baloth. This is dumb.

Blightning is still just as good as it ever was. It still forces a two card discard, still kills Planeswalkers and sometimes acts as a 3-mana Lava Spike to end the game. Blightning is one of the easiest ways for Black and Red to deny opponents essential resources, and in a format that is based on emptying your hand quickly in order to get yourself to six lands for your Titan, the strength of discard in game one cannot be overstated. Against Mono-Red, Blightning effectively gains you six to seven life. Against Jund and control lists, Blightning is still just as good as it was pre-M11. Against lists that tap out for Wall of Omens (which is completely worthless against Grixis), a turn three Blightning is like the taste of victory come early. And, if they hold their lands back to counter your turn three winner, you have the option of either waiting for your own counter backup or you can go ahead and cast what I might say is an even better spell – Sedraxis Specter.

As a side note, Sedraxis Specter is a card that most people have not thought too hard about, except as a possible anti-Spreading Seas tech in Jund. People love Sprouting Thrinaxes and Wooly Thoctars, but I think that Specter is the best tri-color card from Shards (besides Cruel Ultimatum, of course). Control decks hate to play against Specter, and it’s madly effective against almost every deck. Against any White-based control deck, your opponent can’t waste a counterspell on it, and if they don’t counter it, they have to use one of their precious Path to Exiles or Condemns to take it out. They can’t rely on their Wall of Omens, because the Specter flies over top, and they don’t have anything short of five mana that can hop in front of it to successfully block. In the same way, if an opponent uses Terminate or Lightning Bolt to bring it down, you still get another shot at them for 1{B}. This is just as good as a Blightning, if not better. This card wins games.

But back to getting Balothed. Obstinate Baloth is a reaction that actually helps Grixis in the long run. Green decks love to side in some number of Baloth games two and three, but you don’t even worry about them getting a free copy because you won’t be playing Blightning. Generally, taking out Blightning gets you some mix of Flashfreeze and permission, which makes the matchup a bit better, especially when they’re trying to resolve a turn four or turn five Primeval Titan. Sideboarding correctly makes the Obstinate Baloth advantage a blank, because they’ve traded some of their more cohesive parts to get a four mana 4/4, which, while fine, isn’t nearly as good when they have to pay full retail for it. The life gain is fairly negligible because you aren’t trading cards for life like RDW is. The beats can be an issue, but generally you will be able to deal with the card in one way or another. Some players will even hold their Baloths since you aren’t RDW, and they’ll wait for a chance to cast it on the free. The spell can still be countered, so feel free to Flashfreeze it after a Sedraxis Specter combat step.

I’m not saying Obstinate Baloth is a bad card – far from it. It’s just not the silver bullet against Grixis and Blightning that most players expect it will be.

In the current metagame, the important matchups are UW Control, Ramp decks, Fauna Shaman decks, and Jund, and some strategies for those matchups follows.

UW Control / UWr Super Friends:

This matchup is all about the discard in game one. You’ll be trying to resolve Blightnings while they hold back for Mana Leak and possibly Cancel. You need to try and take advantage of them if they ever decide to tap out, especially if it’s for a Titan. Resolving a turn three Sedraxis Specter is good here, for reasons already discussed. Expect more baby Jace, and expect them to let you kill it. Attacking it with Specter will not lose them a card in hand, and they plan to get Jace back with Sun Titan later in the game. You can let them resolve Path to Exile in most situations because the land is generally worth more than the Sedraxis Specter, as odd as that seems.

Sideboarding:

-2 Terminate, -3 Lightning Bolt, -1 Siege-Gang Commander

+2 Doom Blade, +4 Goblin Ruinblaster

Attacking your opponent’s manabase is the plan games two and three, and this is one of the matches where discard is still just as good as it was game one. Lightning Bolt is absolutely worthless versus them, so take out every copy you can for the much better Goblin Ruinblaster, who should be blasting their man-lands if possible. Switching Doomblade for Terminate is a small way to keep your advantage up versus Kor Firewalker if they bring it in. You still want Terminate/Doom Blade because some versions of the deck still sideboard the Baneslayers in versus control, although this practice is slimming down in favor of the Sun Titan version of the deck. Regardless, you want to be able to knock out an opposing Sun Titan, or the incremental card advantage will tear you apart. The UW deck can bring in their entire sideboard versus you, but your long game is significantly more robust. One of the easiest ways for you to lose against UW is for them to resolve an early Luminarch’s Ascension, which is seeing a bit of an increase in use since Titan decks don’t do all that much early game.

Fauna Shaman Decks (Naya, Bant):

Depending on how they run, this can be a fine matchup, or it can be a real nightmare. Too many Vengevines and you get overrun, but if they try to keep a creature light hand and run with the Fauna Shaman plan, often you’ll be able to kill it before it gets active and does damage. Enough hand disruption can end their day quickly game one, but the discard plan is less stellar games two and three because you have better options out of the sideboard.

Sideboarding:

-4 Blightning, -3 Countersquall, -2 Jace’s Ingenuity

(on the play) +4 Flashfreeze, +3 Pyroclasm, +2 Thought Hemorrhage

(on the draw) +4 Flashfreeze, +3 Pyroclasm, +2 Doom Blade

Sideboarding is variable because you need to be able to kill a Fauna Shaman on turn two. This is easier on the play, because you get four Flashfreeze as an out, but on the draw you should forgo the Thought Hemorrhage plan to get another two removal spells. Blightning after sideboard isn’t nearly as good as Flashfreeze, so you drop them regardless. Keep removal heavy hands. Once you resolve a Grave Titan, you’ll probably have the game. Don’t be afraid to Pyroclasm just one guy away – especially if it’s Lotus Cobra or Fauna Shaman, because these guys can lead to fairly degenerate turn three plays you can’t handle.

Titan/Turboland decks:

Ramp decks come in all shapes and sizes, but their game plan usually is to ramp their mana and play a big threat like Primeval Titan or Avenger of Zendikar. Some decks are also trying to run either a Destructive Force package (in various colors), or a Valakut plan. The end game is generally the same, regardless of whatever strategy they employ.

Sideboarding:

-4 Blightning, -3 Lightning Bolt, - 1 Sedraxis Specter

(Valakut version) +4 Goblin Ruinblaster, +4 Flashfreeze

(Turboland, D-Force) +4 Flashfreeze, +2 Doomblade, +2 Thought Hemorrhage

Almost every ramp deck is running Obstinate Baloth, so sideboarding out Blightning is key. Lightning Bolt is pretty bad here, because all it does is mop up the occasional Planeswalker or Lotus Cobra. Avenger of Zendikar is a pain, but you can neutralize him by killing him in response to his enters the battlefield trigger. Flashfreeze is wonderful here, and can swing games dramatically in your favor. Their little ramp spells are not that important – worry about the spells that end the game – Primeval Titan, Avenger of Zendikar, and Destructive Force. These decks generally don’t have ways to deal with your threats, so just take your time, neutralize their big spells, and then go for the jugular.

Jund:

Discard is king in this matchup. Generally, whoever resolves the most Blightnings wins game one. If they’re running Obstinate Baloth in the main, you could be in for a big surprise, but do expect them to have it games two and three, regardless of whether or not you saw it game one. After sideboard, you have a remarkably better game against them because you get the raw power of Flashfreeze, which counters every single card they play, as well as Goblin Ruinblaster to make their life miserable.

Sideboarding:

-4 Blightning, -3 Countersquall, -1 Sedraxis Specter

+4 Flashfreeze, +4 Goblin Ruinblaster

Your life gets a bit harder if they’re on the play, because they can slip a Leech by your counterspells. The Putrid Leech isn’t the issue as much as a turn four Goblin Ruinblaster is, so keep your mana open on turn three, even if the Sedraxis Specter looks pretty juicy. Counter creatures like Sprouting Thrinax and Ruinblaster, and you should be able to take the game with relative ease.

All in all, I feel that Grixis is an excellent control deck that people do not expect to play against, and I think that it offers a good mix of sheer power and adaptability for the current metagame.

Thanks for reading!