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Main » Articles » Standard and Modern Updates

Standard and Modern Updates

Kyle Boggemes
Posted on April 8, 2016
 Reddit

Hey, everyone!

I recall thinking a few weeks ago how all of the formats were stagnant. Modern was going to be shaken up by changes to the banned-and-restricted list, and Standard had a new set that was not completely spoiled. Now I’m overwhelmed. I have a Split-a-Case Modern tournament to play at BC Comix on Saturday, then the Star City Games Invitational in Columbus, then the Pro Tour in Madrid, and finally a Grand Prix Toronto. That means I need to be proficient in Standard, Modern, and Draft. I have my work cut out for me.

Today, I want to share with you my progress in cracking Standard and Modern. Let’s start with the format that is the craziest: Modern.

Eye of Ugin Is Banned; Ancestral Vision and Thopter Foundry Are Unbanned

This leaves us in an interesting predicament. Blue mages gained some excellent tools this time around, but the format is also in flux. This means I want to build a control deck, in an unknown metagame, which can lead to problems. Ancestral Vision promotes an extremely reactive strategy; why suspend a spell and try to win the game before it resolves?

I built a Jeskai Flash deck ahead of the banned-and-restricted announcement because I knew Eldrazi would be severely weakened. This meant the creature decks would be back to 3 toughness instead of 4 and 5. It’s Lightning Bolt’s time to shine yet again!

Jeskai Flash ? Modern | Kyle Boggemes

This deck is extremely reactive and didn’t include Ancestral Vision because I didn’t know it would be unbanned. I used to play this strategy in Modern to great success; land a Vendilion Clique, and then trade two-for-one with whatever I could. The best part about this deck is that all thirty-four spells in the main deck can be played at instant speed. It means I’m going to have to shelve my favorite spell in Modern: Serum Visions.

Like all of my Modern control decks, I have the ability to quickly pivot from pure control to tempo thanks to my removal spells being primarily burn. The reason I only have a couple Path to Exile is they don’t contribute to my proactive game plan. It also gives the opponent mana, which is bad for my Mana Leaks.

Vendilion Clique makes this deck possible. I can’t answer everything, but I can take any spell from the opponent’s hand I can’t deal with. It’s a flash creature that ends the game quickly and works well with Restoration Angel. I can also cycle cards that are weak in the late game, like Mana Leak and Spell Snare.

I think this is a viable deck without Ancestral Vision because of the overarching tempo theme.

Now that I have to build with Ancestral Vision and Thopter Foundry in mind, I have some ideas on how to take Jeskai Control to the next level.

Jeskai Control ? Modern | Kyle Boggemes

I’m moving away from Vendilion Clique slightly because Ancestral Vision wants less to do with tempo. I still need ways to close the game against unexpected opponents, so I still play two copies. Vendilion Clique works very well with Ancestral Vision; I can take the opponent’s counter for it the turn before it resolves or I can cycle them away in the late game.

Ancestral Vision
Goblin Dark-Dwellers is an interesting addition that replaces Sphinx's Revelation as late-game card advantage. I can flash back Ancestral Vision, which is cute. There aren’t too many other amazing targets, but I can cast Path to Exile, Electrolyze, Lightning Bolt, and Lightning Helix.

Restoration Angel is still my flash finisher of choice, as the synergy with Vendilion Clique and Goblin Dark-Dwellers is nice. I can also Flicker a Snapcaster Mage to flash back Cryptic Command for 8 mana, which may seem like a lot, but the games go long, and the opportunity comes up often.

Spell Snare is a good in the short run because of a few cards gaining momentum:

Voice of Resurgence — It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that unbanning a couple great blue cards will mean more things played on the opponent’s turn. I don’t want to have this creature come down on turn two on the play and be staring at Mana Leak and Remand in hand.

Thopter Foundry — There are many ways to build around this card. I saw a Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas build in action that looked impressive because the U/B Planeswalker gives you reach against Stony Silence.

Remand and Snapcaster Mage — There will be a rise of blue control decks, which makes me happy. Remand is great in blue mirrors because you can bounce your own spells in response to a counter. It also bounces opposing Ancestral Visions and cards flashed back from Snapcaster Mage. Beware that countering spells cast off Jace, Telepath Unbound and Goblin Dark-Dwellers go back to the hand.

Voice of Resurgence
Thopter Foundry
Remand

Burn decks — Spell Snare counters the powerhouse burn spells like Atarka's Command and Boros Charm. I expect to see resurgence in the archetype because Eldrazi was keeping it down.

Affinity — Even though Affinity is hurt by the banned-list changes, it is still a great deck. It was prebuilt to destroy Eldrazi. I can counter the key spells: Arcbound Ravager, Cranial Plating, and Steel Overseer.

Atarka's Command
Steel Overseer

Jeskai is the first place I looked to build with Ancestral Vision because white has the best sideboard cards in the format. I could build Esper, but those decks always fall short.

There are a couple other ways I want to try Ancestral Vision: Blue Moon and Grixis Control.

Let’s start with Blue Moon.

Blue Moon ? Modern | Kyle Boggemes

I’m not sure how to build with both Ancestral Vision and Serum Visions yet. These will be the powerhouse blue cards in the format, but they pull you in a couple directions. I want to make sure I hit my land drops with Ancestral Vision so I can cast everything I drew in a timely manner. Serum Visions encourages you to cheat on lands. I have kept so many one-landers with a Serum Visions, and I usually am bailed out.

Since I have so much blue library manipulation, I can trim on win conditions and spells that are bad in multiples, like Blood Moon. I only need one Batterskull to win, so I can cut the second. If I had room for another bomb, it would be Goblin Dark-Dwellers to flash back Ancestral Vision.

I would play this deck if I expect resurgence in Tron decks. Despite Eye of Ugin being banned, I need to respect Tron because it has a shot to come back into prominence thanks to Eldrazi being weakened. Blue Moon is weak to Burn and Affinity, so there’s no free lunch here. I might want to wait a couple weeks and see how things play out before registering this deck.

The last approach to building around Ancestral Vision I will propose is with Grixis Control:

Grixis Control ? Modern | Kyle Boggemes

There are a few deck-building concessions needed to support Ancestral Vision in Grixis. Tasigur, the Golden Fang’s ability is much weaker when you bring back Ancestral Vision; it’s not what you want in the late game, and it’s better in the graveyard thanks to Goblin Dark-Dwellers. Murderous Cut is also a little worse thanks to it costing 5 mana and being unable to be cast off Dark-Dwellers. I will stick with Terminates to make Goblin Dark-Dwellers stronger.

Goblin Dark-Dwellers
Grixis is a control deck that isn’t trying to be too tricky; it just wants to grind you out. The synergy with Kolaghan's Command and Goblin Dark-Dwellers is awesome here, and I think it can keep up with other midrange decks.

The main reason I want to build around Ancestral Vision in a Grixis shell is the incidental discard. Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and Liliana of the Veil can get rid of excess Ancestral Visions, which can be flashed back with Goblin Dark-Dwellers. The other versions of blue control decks have to actually cast a Vision before one can be brought back.

Now that I’ve made you thoroughly bored by Ancestral Vision, let’s turn our attention to Standard.

With Star City Games Baltimore tomorrow, there are sure to be plenty of lists to pore over. Here are the decks I have found to be the best heading into the event.

R/W Tokens ? Shadows over Innistrad Standard | Kyle Boggemes

This deck sells itself; you get to play the strongest cards in the format. I have the best 4-drop, the best 5-drop, and the best 6-drop combined with the best land and best removal spell.

Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

Do I have your attention? This deck is value.

I began with W/B, but I decided pushing the tokens theme to the limit was the way to go. The main issue I ended up having with W/B was that I didn’t have enough of a board presence when Archangel Avacyn came into play. Most decks have instant-speed ways of answering Archangel at this point, so I need to take advantage of giving the rest of my team indestructible.

I found this package play very well with Avacyn:

This was the most impressive part of the red Eldrazi deck and was worth committing to a color. R/W tokens is a great next step because it has better ways of interacting with Archangel Avacyn. No matter the matchup, I feel I have a shot because my cards are so powerful.

The red cards help me be proactive so my opponents won’t have time to sacrifice their Clues off Declaration in Stone. W/B was slower because Sorin, Grim Nemesis is much worse than Chandra, Flamecaller at closing a game. If I play a Gideon and the opponent sacrifices a Clue and plays a 2-drop, I’m going to be ahead. My plan is to curve out so my opponent will be behind if that player cash in the Clue.

Nahiri, the Harbinger
Nahiri, the Harbinger and Quarantine Field are in the sideboard to answer Virulent Plague without being too narrow. I don’t want to ’board in enchantment destruction only to find the opponent didn’t cast the plague.

Eldrazi Displacer can Flicker out tokens and Ormendahl, Profane Prince in the midgame or just reset an Archangel Avacyn. I want to have some early threats in my ’board because the top end is good against most decks, and I want to switch out my early game.

R/W Tokens is currently the deck I would register at the Pro Tour.

The other deck I like at the moment is Bant Collected Company. I worked on an update to this archetype with my friend Raghavsrinivas Ramkumar:

Bant Collected Company ? Shadows over Innistrad Standard | Kyle Boggemes

Everyone knows that Bant Company keeps its spells but the mana becomes worse. What I think that means is we need to be more color-conscious. Instead of playing Jace, I want Duskwatch Recruiter. Instead of Ojutai's Command, I will play Archangel Avacyn. The only blue I want is for Reflector Mage and Lumbering Falls.

Duskwatch Recruiter
I think the Recruiter is among the unsung heroes in Shadows over Innistrad. All it takes is casting it once to feel the power. Even when I don’t activate the ability, it has a big impact on the board. Since Collected Company lets you overload on 3-drops, it’s easier to double-spell when they cost 2 instead. Recruiter is also a huge late-game top-deck as Jace was in the old version of Bant Company. You can activate the search ability a couple times and then cast all of your spells the following turn for 1 colorless mana less.

Since this is a tempo deck, I can play four copies of Declaration in Stone. There are only so many slots to dedicate to misses on Collected Company, so I dropped down to two Dromoka's Command.

If you notice the mana in this deck, there are plenty of basic lands. This is great because they play well with Canopy Vista and Prairie Stream. Forests do a lot of work because the early creatures are green. Nissa, Vastwood Seer takes advantage of having five Forests; I hate not having enough for her to search. The first thing I did with the first draft of this deck is cut the Evolving Wilds. A tempo decks needs to cast its spells on time, and the color requirements are minimal here.

I found this deck to have game against R/W Tokens because Collected Company puts you far ahead on board. If you like tempo decks, I would start with this list.

It’s a crazy time to be a Magician. Both Modern and Standard are going to dramatically change in the next couple of weeks. I hope these lists get you started in the right direction.

Thanks for reading!

-Kyle

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TAGS articles, standard, constructed, deck lists, decks, modern, kyle boggemes, shadows over innistrad, #mtgsoi

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