Current Standard Gauntlet

Posted on August 16, 2010

There was a programming glitch with the Monument Jund list, please pardon the missing list. It is fixed and visible now. -- Trick

Author's Note: During my last article, a lot of people asked me for some strategy, so in this article I've included a bit of information of how to fight with or against my gauntlet decks.

So M11 is upon us, and with it, a host of new decks have entered the metagame. With eight sets in Standard, the metagame's undergone a lot of shifts, and a lot of decks are now viably Tier 1.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Australian Nationals (as you may know if you read Russell's column) and I was able to observe a lot of the new decks in action. I was especially able to admire the power of Primeval Titan as it was bashing me for 6 while I stared at my Lightning Bolts. The Titan deck came out of nowhere, and I really should have been more ready for it than I was.

In any case, there are a lot of decks in today's gauntlet, so let's get to it.

Jund, despite Obstinate Baloth, Spreading Seas, Celestial Purge, and Flashfreeze and so on, is still a decent, if not dominant part of the metagame. Any Standard gauntlet worth its salt should be ready for it, so here's a stock list I built:

"Jund"

This is a pretty standard list, and incorporates some nice M11 additions. Grave Titan is a great finisher, better than Broodmate Dragon in my opinion, and Obstinate Baloth is a good sideboard card to test against, although many Jund decks are siding out or cutting their Blightnings.

Jund is still powerful, and has a lot of tools to succeed, so if you want to beat it, you need to test the matchup, and have a plan against it. Mana denial works well, but you can also play cards that are hard for them to deal with, like Sphinx of Jwar Isle, or beat them in a war of attrition, though that's quite difficult. I'd say only Vengevine decks have the power to attrition Jund out of the game at the moment.

Lastly, the Titan decks have a decent matchup against them if they aren't playing too many copies of Slave of Bolas, which I believe is going to be the new hot card against them.

When playing as Jund, remember to try to use your Blightnings well instead of at the first opportunity, and maximize your cascades, by not casting a Cascade spell without a target in the fairly likely event that you cascade into a removal spell. Don't be afraid to sacrifice Bloodbraid Elves and Putrid Leeches to Sarkhan the Mad, and save Maelstrom Pulse for planeswalkers or a game-ending threat.

Another deck that's been showing up is known as Monument Jund. It's a very different deck to regular Jund, because this deck is more focused on beating you Overrun-style with Eldrazi Monument than gaining incremental advantage and winning with cascades.

Here's my list, straight from Canada Nationals:

"Monument Jund"

As you can see, the deck has a lot of explosive power with Lotus Cobra and Nest Invader. Other than Obstinate Baloths, it doesn't gain anything from M11, but it doesn't really need it, as the deck is pretty solid.

When playing against Monument Jund, don't be afraid to waste removal, especially if it can keep you alive until you draw Day of Judgment. If they get an Eldrazi Monument to stick with three or more creatures out, they're probably going to win, so try to keep them in check.

When playing the deck, you need to have a sense of when to extend, and when to hold back in case of Day of Judgment. Siege-Gang Commander is a great way to do this, since him and Eldrazi Monument win the game all by themselves.

If you can hold him back against decks running Day, you probably should. You don't need to play around counterspells much, unless you have a Monument that will be live when you play it, since that's the must-counter spell of the deck.

Those are the Jund decks, so let's move on to the control decks of the metagame. Despite cascades and Vengevines generating a lot of card advantage, control decks have a hard-won niche in the metagame, and you should have a plan for them. White-Blue Tapout has been around for quite a while, and it recently won Canada Nationals. Here's the list:

"White-Blue Tapout"

Creatures (8)
4 Baneslayer Angel
4 Wall of Omens

This deck has benefited a fair bit from M11, running Leyline of Sanctity and Mana Leaks, both strong cards. The deck runs more Essence Scatters than most, but in today's metagame, that's not such a bad thing.

Playing against White-Blue, there are a few things to remember. Spreading Seas and Mana Leak are both cards that you can plan for, and can wreck you if you don't. Especially Spreading Seas, if you know the deck of your opponent, don't walk into one with a shaky hand if you can help it. Apart from that, it's a pretty standard control matchup. Don't overextend, hold removal for Baneslayer Angel, the usual.

Playing with White-Blue, you don't have Martial Coup any more, so your win-conditions are Baneslayer Angel and Celestial Colonnade. Elspeth can help with both those. Against Jund, you generally want to use Jace's +2 ability (both Jaces) first, to stop Lightning Bolt or Blightning 3-for-1-ing you.

Against a lot of decks, Spreading Seas and Tectonic Edge can keep them off their colors pretty well, but pick a color early and deny that particular color for as long as possible.

The other control deck that's been doing pretty well lately is Esper Control. Running discard, Esper Charm, and Grave Titan, it's a very different control deck to W/U, and deserves respect. The list I've provided did well at Finland Nationals, and is a good deck to test the strengths of Esper against your deck.

"Esper Control"

Esper gains quite a lot from M11, in fact, the deck might not work without those cards, with Mana Leak and Condemn providing additional reactive cards to allow proactive discard to play. Grave Titan is a great addition, providing some blockers even if it's instantly dealt with.

Playing against Esper, the main differences are their discard, and Wall of Denial. Grave Titan and Baneslayer Angel are similar enough roles that you can almost treat them the same, but Wall of Denial could really change your game plan. The card provides excellent percentage points against Jund game one until they bring in Malakir Bloodwitch. Apart from that, you can generally play against it as you would W/U.

With Esper, you want to get rid of difficult-to-handle cards like Malakir Bloodwitch, cards that kill your planeswalkers, and threats you can't otherwise deal with. If the mana works out well, the deck is quite powerful, but watch out for Goblin Ruinblaster Game 2, and have a plan or a counterspell for it. Play Inquisition of Kozilek early, as they get less powerful as the game goes on.

Those are the control decks you should expect to face at a tournament. Now let's move on to the Vengevine decks. There are a few of them, but the two most popular ones are Next Level Conscription and Naya Shaman, both powerful decks that you'll want to test against.

My Next Level Conscription list comes from Kurt Speiss, and it was also mentioned in Mike Flores' article a couple of weeks ago. I haven't changed a card, as I think it's pretty solid.

"Next Level Conscription"

Next Level Conscription gains Fauna Shaman to tie the deck together and not much else from M11. Nevertheless, Fauna Shaman is an additional "must kill" card, replacing Lotus Cobra, and its interference on a game cannot be underestimated. As you've probably figured out by now, letting your opponent untap with a Fauna Shaman can be quite ugly for you.

Playing against this deck, the important thing is to kill their Fauna Shamans and their Sovereigns of Lost Alara. If you can do that, the deck is a weaker Vengevine deck that you should be able to handle. Side in removal and whatever Vengevine-killers you may have. The deck is basically Vengevine, only it has the potential to blow you out with Sovereigns of Lost Alara.

Playing with the deck, Fauna Shaman is your best card. You can fetch card advantage, Sovereigns of Lost Alara, or Vengevines, or discard them if you have them. You can afford to play the attrition war, because you have the ability to blow it wide open at essentially any time. If you've played with both Next Level Bant and Mythic Conscription, your experience should serve you very well here.

Naya Shaman is a Naya Vengevine deck, but Fauna Shaman gives this deck more than it gives anything else. Bloodbraid Elf in Jund is like Fauna Shaman in Naya: their best card, and used to the fullest effect. The decklist I'm using in my gauntlet comes from Australia Nationals, and is a great example of how to make a Fauna Shaman package without being too cute.

"Naya Shaman"

M11 has provided the deck with its namesake Fauna Shaman, as well as Sword of Vengeance, Inferno Titan, and Obstinate Baloth. Not a bad haul. This deck is quite consistent while also using Fauna Shaman's tutoring ability very well, something I haven't seen much of.

When playing against this deck, Fauna Shaman is obviously a must kill. If I had to kill Fauna Shaman or Knight of the Reliquary and only had removal for one, I'd take Fauna Shaman. It really is like playing a different game to your opponent, just like Jace, the Mind Sculptor. If you can get rid of that, it's just like old Naya Vengevine. Plans for that should work fine here, but side in single-target removal so you can kill Shaman.

When playing with the deck, it's generally best to play a Turn 2 Knight of the Reliquary than a Turn 2 Fauna Shaman, so you can bait their removal out. Don't wait too long though, since without a couple of cards in hand, Fauna Shaman gets a lot worse.

Even if Fauna Shaman dies, you have your Vengevine plan to fall back on, and are well-suited for a war of attrition against anyone except Next Level Conscription, which has a win condition that can't be stopped except by Cunning Sparkmage with Basilisk Collar.

With all the acceleration and powerful, late-game cards in Standard right now, a lot of Ramp decks have risen to prominence. There are quite a lot of them, but I only have space for a few, so I picked the three that together attack from essentially all the angles ramp decks will attack from in Standard.

The first ramp deck is Turboland, which you've probably heard of if you've been to a Magic tournament in the last two months. The deck uses Oracle of Mul Daya and Jace, the Mind Sculptor to play dizzying amounts of land, and Avenger of Zendikar seals the deal. The list I have comes from Finland Nationals again. Let's get to it.

"Turboland"

Turboland gains Cultivate from M11, though this list doesn't play it, and opts for other cards instead. Other than that, the deck remains the same (except the versions that run Primeval Titan, an addition I quite like).

When playing against Turboland, the key is to stop their Avenger of Zendikar. Ideally, you'll have enough pressure to be able to kill them after taking out the first one, but really, if you have counters/removal for their Avenger of Zendikar, you cannot possibly lose game 1.

Game 2 is harder, since they can side in other threats. Ideally, you should side in board wipers and more aggressive cards. Don't tap out against Turboland when they have plenty of lands out, or they can Avenger of Zendikar-Time Warp and wreck you. Kill Avenger of Zendikar with the plant trigger on the stack.

Playing as Turboland depends heavily on the deck you face. Jace, the Mind Sculptor is almost always one of your best cards, and Khalni Gardens should be played early. Save your Halimar Depths and other searchers until you can gain maximum value from them, and play around Mana Leak if they have it.

Avenger of Zendikar is your only game 1 win-condition, so treat it like gold. Game 2 you have a lot of strong tools to use. Turboland is a deck that rewards skilled play and practice.

The next deck we'll look at is a deck that's been everywhere recently: Valakut Ramp. With the addition of Cultivate and Primeval Titan, the deck has become a house, and even won Australian Nationals. The decklist we'll be using is that particular winning deck:

"Valakut Ramp"

If you play Magic Online, you've seen the old Valakut decks. M11 makes them competitively viable, and they've burst onto the scene. Primeval Titan and Cultivate can get a lot of lands fast, and searching up double Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle with a 6/6 trampler is just incredible.

Playing against Valakut, you want to be very aggressive. Maelstrom Pulse their Khalni Hearts, Mana Leak their Harrows, stop them getting to critical mass as much as possible. Siding in land destruction is good, since it can slow them down a lot: it's a lot quicker to kill someone with two Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle than with one. Leyline of Sanctity is a fantastic card against them, since it forces them to try to beat down with creatures.

Playing as Valakut, your aim is to set up an explosive turn in which you kill the opponent or wipe their board. If it doesn't slow you down, think before cracking your Terramorphic Expanses and Evolving Wilds, as getting as many Mountains as possible after dropping Primeval Titan is quite important. The match is essentially a race, as Valakut is basically a combo deck. That runs 6/6's trampling creatures. I love Standard.

The third ramp deck I want to show you is a Destructive Force deck. The one I want to show you is Naya Force, which is a lot less one-dimensional than most ramp decks, and has plenty of utility cards as well, making it quite interesting to fight.

Here's the deck that came second at Australia Nationals:

"Destructive Force"

This deck gains all the cards it needs to work: Primeval Titan and Destructive Force. With Knight of the Reliquary, another card that survives Destructive Force, it turns it into a very one-sided Wrath-Armageddon hybrid.

Playing against this deck, you want to be aggressive, but also be aware of their tricks. If you can counter Destructive Force, that's obviously a good idea, but one good thing about this deck is it doesn't have as much ramp, so while it can interact with you more, it's also slower. Playing against Naya Force requires some experience, so you should test this matchup thoroughly.

Playing as Naya Force, you have a very strong matchup against most decks without Mana Leak. Your creature-killing suite mixed with your inevitability makes it fairly easy to beat creature-based decks.

Against Control, it's more difficult, but you have a lot of strong cards: if they have to counter Destructive Force and Primeval Titan, you can probably stick a Planeswalker. Naya Force is a strong deck at the moment, and if you have the cards, definitely worth considering.

And that brings us to our last two decks. The last two decks are litmus tests mostly, to see how well you deal against aggro and combo. The aggressive deck is definitely Red Deck Wins, which you may very well face at a tournament, as it's easy to build and easy to play. Here's a stock list I built for it:

"Red Deck Wins"

Red Deck Wins gains Combust and Leyline of Punishment from M11: both strong cards for the sideboard. It also gains Ember Hauler, which some decks play, but the majority don't yet, so it doesn't make our gauntlet.

Playing against Red Deck Wins is mainly about two things: how well you draw your hate for the deck, and preserving your life total. Most decks have a few little tricks against Red Deck Wins, but my main tip is to block early, and block often. Block Hellspark Elemental with Wall of Omens: even if it gets killed, you save 3 damage. You'll want to play the matchup a few times to get a feel for the little advantages you can get.

Playing with Red Deck Wins is fairly simple, but there are a few things you can do to improve your chances. Firstly, unless you think they'll play something to change your decision, playing burn during your main phase in the first couple of turns is perfectly acceptable, to get them feeling the pressure.

Ball Lightning is the only card you really want to wait for the right circumstances to play, and possibly Hell's Thunder. Everything else is a math game: how much damage can I deal my opponent with the resources I have? If you learn that, you've learnt Red Deck Wins.

The last deck I want to show you (and one that you don't need to play against if you're short on time) is Pyromancer's Ascension. It's a good combo-tester, since it's more consistent than Open the Vaults, and it nearly won French Nationals, so combo devotees will probably play it if they're desperate for combo.

Here's the deck from French Nationals:

"Pyromancer's Ascension"

Preordain and Call to Mind are both good cards from M11 that add some consistency to the deck, possibly enough to make it viable. At the very least, Guillaume Matignon thought so.

Playing against Pyromancer's Ascension is all about either killing their Ascension while playing around Mana Leak, or killing them before they go off. They tear through their deck to find Pyromancer's Ascension (if they don't get it in the first few turns, your chances are already strong), drop it, and play burn and more card selection until they combo off with Time Warp, burn, and Call to Mind.

Playing with Pyromancer's Ascension is similarly not too hard. Play as many spells as possible, but try not to play a Pyromancer-triggering spell without the Ascension. Keeping Mana Leak up against decks with Maelstrom Pulse, and post-board, decks with Celestial Purge is a pretty good idea, since one Maelstrom Pulse can set you back a long way. The main skill-tester in the deck is determining what to scry/shuffle away, and what not to.

And that's our M11 gauntlet (Phew!). If you have time, other decks you might want to check out are Grixis, Open the Vaults, and Mono-White Control, but all of those are fairly rare.

If you're short on time, the main decks to test against are Jund, W/U, Next Level Conscription, Naya Shaman, and Valakut Ramp.

Good luck everyone, and feel free to leave suggestions for future articles in the comments. I'll be trying to get articles up every 2-4 weeks, so while I'm not a weekly columnist, I should be posting regularly enough.

Enjoy the gauntlet, and I shall write again soon!

-Jay Bailey (@mtgsalivanth on Twitter)

TAGS articles, constructed

Current Standard Gauntlet

"Jund"

"Monument Jund"

"White-Blue Tapout"

"Esper Control"

"Next Level Conscription"

"Naya Shaman"

"Turboland"

"Valakut Ramp"

"Destructive Force"

"Red Deck Wins"

"Pyromancer's Ascension"

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