I have two basic approaches to Standard. One, I look through the available card pool looking for powerful combos and synergies using cards like Snapcaster Mage, Unburial Rites, Burning Vengeance, Creeping Renaissance, Divine Reckoning, and Endless Ranks of the Dead. If I can’t find any that appeal to me or that haven’t already been done, I will usually go a much more basic route, like mono-colored aggression. I’ve made the case in the past that Lightning Bolt was the defining card in the last Standard environment. I believe that Mana Leak is the defining card in this Standard environment. It seems to be a must-play card for combo, control, and aggro at the moment—plus, it’s a card that even drives the composition and play of decks that don’t contain it.

When Magic was first released, there was a cycle of 1-mana instants that helped brand the flavor of each color and—in many cases—became iconic cards of those colors: Dark Ritual, Giant Growth, Lightning Bolt, Unsummon, and Healing Salve. These weren’t the only 1-mana common instants; they were just the most memorable and powerful ones, unlike Fog, Twiddle, Death Ward, and so on. Healing Salve didn’t fully catch on as a defining card in White because it saw little to no use in tournament play. Instead, a 2-mana instant common took over that role: Disenchant. Unsummon was rarely used in Constructed, so Blue also came to be represented by a 2-mana instant: Counterspell.

While these cards have appeared over and over in many sets and in many forms, they have all eventually been rotated out. Dark Ritual was the first to be determined overpowered. Like Black Lotus and the Moxes, it broke the fundamental rule of only 1 mana on turn one. Disenchant was overpowered, but Wizards just determined that they would prefer it to be a Green card: Naturalize. While Giant Growth isn’t overpowered, it is above the power curve that Wizards has been setting for pump. Typically, a 1-mana pump spell only gives better than +2/+2 in very specific situations.

For a while, it seemed that Wizards had deemed Lightning Bolt to be overpowered, as it seemed to be replaced with a card that was exactly the same but worse: Shock. Then, Red-lovers rejoiced when it was brought back in Magic 2011. I wasn’t surprised to see it become used in just about every deck, including Blue control, Green control, seemingly every aggressive deck, and even combo decks like Pyromancer Ascension decks. Now that Shock has again been rotated in replacing Bolt, Red is no longer the color that seems to appear in almost every deck. That honor goes to Blue now, thanks in large part to Mana Leak.

Counterspell didn’t make it even to Magic 2011 like Lightning Bolt. Instead, planeswalkers have been expected to make do with Mana Leak for their 2-mana counters. With Lightning Bolt and Goblin Guide gone, the focus has shifted slightly more to turn two, and Mana Leak has become more important than ever. Unlike Shock and Lightning Bolt, Mana Leak isn’t strictly worse than Counterspell. The requirement of only a single has opened it up to a wide variety of decks, much like Lightning Bolt in the previous Standard environment. Thanks to high-casting-cost mythic rares like Titans and Wurmcoil Engine, Mana Leaks usually stay relevant well into the late game as well.

The list of decks featuring Mana Leak that have seen success in the new Standard is long: Haunted Humans, Solar Flare, W/U Delver, Mage-Blade, U/B Control, mono-Blue Delver, Esper Control, W/U Control, U/R Delver, and Grixis Control. This accounts for at least half of the decks popular in Standard, and usually more than half of the decks at the top of the standings. Most of the decks that aren’t running it are decks that are trying to get a powerful permanent into play before an opponent is ready to play Mana Leak, such as Stromkirk Noble or Shrine of Loyal Legions. In the case of RDW, not only does that deck have good 1-drops, but it has good cheap instants and a 3-drop it doesn’t usually mind being countered—Chandra's Phoenix.

With all of the multicolored aggressive decks using Blue, I decided to give it a try. Since I already had a RDW deck built on Magic Online, I decided to try a U/R Delver deck. Of course, I like to play more of a total aggression style in the current environment, so I didn’t choose to use Mana Leaks. I ponied up the tickets for Snapcaster Mages and Sulfur Falls, and this is what I decided to test:

" Delver Deck Wins"

• Creatures (16)
• 4 Chandra's Phoenix
• 4 Delver of Secrets
• 4 Snapcaster Mage
• 4 Stromkirk Noble

• Spells (20)
• 4 Galvanic Blast
• 4 Incinerate
• 4 Shock
• 4 Gitaxian Probe
• 4 Ponder

• Lands (24)
• 10 Island
• 10 Mountain
• 4 Sulfur Falls

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Vapor Snag
• 4 Manic Vandal
• 4 Gut Shot
• 4 Mental Misstep

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As usual, the thing I like most about the deck is the synergy. I built it around the concept of creatures that like instants and sorceries: Delver, Snapcaster, and Phoenix. I’ve got twenty cards I can flip Delver with, and Ponders can be used to set it up. Not only do I have twenty cards that cost 2 or less to go with Snapcaster, but with Gitaxian Probe, I can even use it on turn two. I may only have twelve cards to retrieve Phoenix with, but the Mages makes it more like sixteen. The biggest problem I ran into with this deck was the mana. I only have ten ways to play cards like Delver and Ponder on turn one and only ten ways to play the Noble on turn one. I would have skipped the Falls and played twelve Islands and twelve Mountains, but I felt that I needed the extra Red mana to support Phoenix.

After a less than satisfactory few matches with U/R—in part, due to the frustrating mana base—I decided to go back to basics—basic land, that is. For starters, I decided to try another version of RDW. I haven’t been super-happy with Shrine of Burning Rage, and I wanted to make a version in which Stormblood Berserker worked, and this is what I ended up running:

" Red Deck Wins"

• Creatures (24)
• 4 Bloodcrazed Neonate
• 4 Chandra's Phoenix
• 4 Goblin Fireslinger
• 4 Reckless Waif
• 4 Stormblood Berserker
• 4 Stromkirk Noble

• Spells (13)
• 1 Shock
• 4 Galvanic Blast
• 4 Incinerate
• 4 Volt Charge

• Lands (23)
• 23 Mountain

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Dismember
• 4 Manic Vandal
• 2 Traitorous Blood
• 3 Gut Shot
• 3 Arc Trail

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With twelve 1-drops, I have an excellent chance of putting on the pressure immediately and of pumping up my Berserkers right away. I have twelve creatures that could end up with counters that might benefit from Volt Charge’s Proliferate. I have thirteen ways to retrieve Phoenix. I’m also really happy with my twelve, eight, and four creature mana curve. As usual, I was much happier with my results with this deck.

Of course, I didn’t just want to tell you the same old story, “RDW is good.” So, I decided to try another mono-colored deck using my other favorite color in the current environment: White. This was partly inspired by the popularity of Haunted Humans and partly because my girlfriend Rada had finally decided to start playing Constructed on Magic Online for the first time. Rada had decided to try mono-White Humans as her first deck, so I able to get her to test some of my ideas for me. This is the deck I decided upon:

"Humans"

• Creatures (20)
• 4 Accorder Paladin
• 4 Champion of the Parish
• 4 Doomed Traveler
• 4 Elite Vanguard
• 4 Selfless Cathar

• Spells (18)
• 4 Midnight Haunting
• 2 Bonds of Faith
• 4 Honor of the Pure
• 4 Oblivion Ring
• 4 Shrine of Loyal Legions

• Lands (22)
• 22 Plains

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Timely Reinforcements
• 4 Day of Judgment
• 4 Mortarpod
• 3 Revoke Existence

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I originally planned to have twenty-four lands, but Rada decided to go with twenty lands, and she played several matches without any mana problems. I don’t think twenty lands is enough for my version, in part because I want Day of Judgment in the sideboard, which Rada wasn’t running. Despite never having played in a Constructed tournament, Rada had a winning record with the deck, including beating multiple mono-Red decks. This obviously speaks well of how powerful the deck is, although Rada is a much more experienced and skilled Magic player than your average first-time Constructed player.

Given the number of decks running Mana Leaks, it’s become popular to run the most powerful, aggressive 1-drops—like Phantasmal Bear, Delver of Secrets, and Stromkirk Noble. I figured that must make White a great color to be playing, with 1-drops like Champion of the Parish and Elite Vanguard. In addition, those of you who followed my articles immediately before and after Worlds know that I think Shrine of Loyal Legions is among the best cards in the format right now.

The deck combines waves of creatures (sixteen 1-drops), Shrines, Hauntings, and so on with a lot of pump (Paladin, Honor, Cathar, and Bonds). After sideboarding, I can go a much more controlling route if needed. Against a heavy creature deck, I can go with Day of Judgment, which can synergize with Timely Reinforcements, Shrine, and Traveler. Mortarpod and Revoke Existence give me some more nice removal options.

If you’re like I am and you don’t want to be forced to play with Mana Leaks, you should at least be sure to have a deck that’s fast enough to make your opponents have to tap out. Aggressive mono-colored decks are a good way to do that. There is nothing crazy innovative about mono-Red aggression or White Weenie, but sometimes it’s the best move to just go back to basics.