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Main » Articles » 5 Decks You'll Play this Weekend

5 Decks You'll Play this Weekend

Brandon Isleib
Posted on August 17, 2016
 Reddit

Eldritch Moon Game Day is over. Grand Prix Portland and Rimini are over. How has all this affected the metagame, and what should you be aware of this weekend?

Some of My Best Friends Aren't Bant Company

Judging by the last two weeks of Magic Online League results, Bant Company keeps company primarily with itself. Listing all decks that went 5-0 at least three times:

Deck Aug. 1-7 Aug. 8-14 Total
Bant Company 19 27 46
White-Red Humans 7 2 9
Red-Blue Burn 3 5 8
White-Blue Spirits 4 4 8
Black-Green Delirium 1 5 6
Abzan Control 1 4 5
Esper Control 1 3 4
Four-Color Amalgam 1 3 4
Green-White Tokens 4 0 4
Red Aggro 1 3 4
Red Burn 3 1 4
Red-Green Ramp 4 0 4
Red-Green Delirium 1 2 3
White-Black Angel Control 2 1 3
White-Black Control 1 2 3
The Rest 13 7 20

That is absurd. Despite the Pro Tour's variety of decks, despite people wanting to figure out how to beat the best deck, Bant Company is one-third of the metagame.

Most Bant Company decks are stock lists or nearly so. The Dromoka's Command slot is most in flux, with some dispensing with them altogether:

Bant Company ? Eldritch Moon Standard | littledarwin

Cutting Dromoka's Commands allows more room for Nissa, Vastwood Seer, who makes three land/Collected Company opening hands automatically viable, and Thalia, Heretic Cathar, who slows down many decks but the mirror in particular. The sideboard contains stars from other archetypes' lists; Gnarlwood Dryad, known best in delirium decks, can slow down a ground game just as well here, while Elder Deep-Fiend can break board stalls (like Subjugator Angel does), serve as a tempo play, or just be bigger than the rest of Bant Company's creatures.

The biggest development over the week, both in Leagues and in the Grand Prix, was what's sometimes called Fevered Burn:

U/R Burn ? Eldritch Moon Standard| aspiringspike

The trendier build of this deck eschews Thing in the Ice and Bedlam Reveler for Stormchaser Mage in the main deck, burn-control that's more about burn principles than control principles. But the core is the same: cast instants and sorceries to turn Thermo-Alchemist into a quick clock when backed by Fevered Visions. This is Collective Defiance's best deck, getting several types of value including the refilling of the hand with more relevant spells, and main deck Unsubstantiate and Dispel allow for surprising tempo plays.

The non-creature package seems generally agreed on, although sideboards are still being worked out. More counterspells, like Negate and Spell Shrivel, are normal, as is Weaver of Lightning, which can take out x/1s or make burn spells do an extra bit of damage. And although the deck is finding its place in the metagame because delirium/emerge decks have difficulty dealing with it. It takes a long time to set up their plans, and the emerge decks require cheap creatures like Pilgrim's Eye to survive. Summary Dismissal and Learn from the Past are options if the deck needs even more to beat Emrakul, the Promised End and friends. As it is, it's plenty good against them, and although it might not survive another metagame change, as long as Emrakul is prominent, it looks like Fevered Visions will be around to promise a faster end.

One of the breakout decks out of the Pro Tour used Grim Flayer for delirious effect:

B/G Delirium ? Eldritch Moon Standard | Jaberwocki

The central debate in configuring this deck is whether there's enough time in the game/space in the deck to run Vessel of Nascency and Grapple with the Past. If they don't run those, they're likely to run Sylvan Advocates and Tireless Trackers, eminently defensible cards in any deck with Green mana. If they do run card selection spells, then there are likely to be loops with Ishkanah, Grafwidow and, in the list above, Hangarback Walker. After enough midrange control stalling, Traverse the Ulvenwald becomes delirious and can find Emrakul, the Promised End, who can wreak untold havoc on the board.

With the success of Jund Delirium at Grand Prix Portland, it might be that Jund is the version of this deck moving forward, but never count out the consistency of an straightforward mana base.

Speaking of straightforward mana bases, an old favorite is still hanging on:

W/R Humans ? Eldritch Moon Standard | hiro77

As a deck with main deck Reckless Bushwhackers, hiro77 has opted for Needle Spires in the main deck instead of their customary sideboard, risking an occasional first-turn tapland to gain the ability to go wide quicker than the opponent anticipates. That pushes three Plains to the sideboard; I believe that's the first time I've seen three basic lands in a sideboard. But the keys to understanding what this deck wants to fight in the new metagame are Lithomancer's Focus and Repel the Abominable. Both have basic uses in combat, but they're also some of the few ways to prevent damage from Kozilek's Return, which is important since this is one of the only decks in the metagame with enough x/2s to make casting Kozilek's Return (as opposed to triggering it from the graveyard) a worthwhile play.

W/R Humans also placed fifteenth at Grand Prix Rimini in the hands of Marek Hanski, and while he didn't have Lithomancer's Focus, he had something even more curious: three copies of Stitcher's Graft. It provides a massive boost for its cost, what other 18-land deck will get a chance to equip +3/+3, and it allows the deck to play slightly more midrange, sending in small creatures that are suddenly big enough to force trades. The massive drawback of more or less sacrificing a creature every turn to use it is mitigated by Always Watching, since the vigilance means the equipped creature not untapping is irrelevant. If Kaladesh provides some small, reasonably efficient vigilant creatures, Stitcher's Graft and Always Watching might be seen more often together.

One Spicy Metaball

I don't play Standard every week, nine months working at Wizards of the Coast cut into my Standard time as well, but my win at Friday Night Magic this past Friday was my first Standard win since January 2013 (I wrote about that one here). So I'll first post a Magic Online League deck in the archetype and then post my less-mythic version to compare and contrast:

Black Eldrazi ? Eldritch Moon Standard | celticblood05

Black Eldrazi ? Eldritch Moon Standard | Brandon Isleib

There are two main draws to playing this archetype, and both are about disruption. Curving Transgress the Mind into Wasteland Strangler is enough early game to address the fastest Bant Company starts, e.g., exile Spell Queller, then process it with Wasteland Strangler to kill a Sylvan Advocate while leaving a body to block another Sylvan Advocate. Matter Reshaper gives similarly good value, both as a blocker and as a creature from which to emerge Distended Mindbender, a fearsome card if it gets online early. Thought-Knot Seer is as disruptive as it's ever been, and Reality Smasher matches up well against the format.

I don't own any copies of Liliana, the Last Hope, but the extra pressure is bound to help. Collective Brutality ties more of the deck together than it might seem; with so many discard and removal spells, having a few copies of a card that can do both is incredibly useful. Discarding a card to escalate isn't the worst cost either, as Sea Gate Wreckage can pull out of an empty hand. I run Asylum Visitor as both extra card draw and a cheap 3-power creature either to slip under control's wall of permission or to trade with Sylvan Advocate and other 2/3s. Because celticblood05 runs Ruins of Oran-Rief, Asylum Visitor doesn't make sense in that list, but it does good work in mine.

The League list has a traditional array of sideboard cards; I'm trying some curveballs, particularly the switch into a Hedron Archive/Conduit of Ruin/Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger package against control (along with the third Distended Mindbender and two Duresses). Drana, Liberator of Malakir comes in against control if Wasteland Strangler looks weak against a deck as well as if I've seen Ultimate Price in Game 1, since it's likely to be sided out for all the devoid creatures. Drana and Languish come in against aggressive decks; Drana's first strike helps block several creatures, and with enough triggers it can help the team survive Languish. (Also, 6/6 Reality Smashers are fantastic.)

I find this archetype to be a lot of fun, and it can hold serve with Bant Company. On Eldritch Moon Game Day, I took the eventual tournament winner to a third game and got him to six life, but I could not find a Ruinous Path for his Sigarda, Host of Herons and died. But the winner told me it was the hardest match he fought in the tournament, for how disruptive the deck is if nothing else.

Conclusion

If you have a good matchup against Bant Company, whether by playing to break the mirror or with a metagame deck, it looks like you'll get to ride that for the next few weeks. If you have a bad matchup against Bant Company, your tournament entry fee is effectively a charitable donation. Perhaps the Grand Prix results will fuel a more diverse metagame; unlike some seasons with dominant decks, it's clear that many top players want to find something to beat Bant Company. If not, well, at least Collected Company and Dromoka's Command rotate out next month.

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TAGS articles, standard, metagame, constructed, magic online, analysis, decklist, brandon isleib, 5 decks, tech, 5 decks you'll play this weekend, five decks

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