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Main » Articles » Standard Progress

Standard Progress

Rudy Briksza
Posted on May 28, 2018
 Reddit

Standard is great.

Modern does and still sucks. Brennan DeCandio nailed it in his last article. Play a card that costs one and has impact, or don't and lose. Up to you.

Legacy will continue to suck until they ban Deathrite Shaman.

For the haters going "OMG RUDY REANIMATOR WILL DOMINATE DEATHRITE SHAMAN IS THE LITERAL ONLY CARD IN THE FORMAT TO KEEP IT DOWN"; I just have this to say:

LOL.

Standard, on the other hand, has continually gotten better. We've hit a couple snags here and there, but overall Standard has been dynamic and open. The amount of decks you can play is quite high and there are many variants to each deck. While there are some decks that are a bit on the pricy side, it looks like you're buying cards that are going to remain in Standard for quite some time; and, if you purchase Karn, Scion of Urza or Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, you'll be setting yourself up for older formats as well since I've seen both planeswalkers as far back as Vintage.

Let's take a look at the pillars of the format and see some of the options we have.

Starting with probably one of the most popular decks you'll play against, and our first pillar of the format, Goblin Chainwhirler.

B/R Vehicles -- Dominaria Standard | Sam Lawerence, SCG Classic Louisville 9th place

While not as low to the ground as the pure Mono-Red decks, the br Vehicles deck hits quite a bit harder with each individual threat. That aside, br gets to play the best removal spell in Standard in Unlicensed Disintegration, which flexes as more than just removal. The planeswalkers doubling as real draw spells means that in games at parity, or potentially even behind, can be stolen back. Goblin Chainwhirler has a lot of great flexibility. Besides being able to brute force damage, it clears out small creatures and can help finish off Planeswalkers. Combine Chainwhirler with a Soul-Scar Mage to shrink an opponent's field. Overall, I enjoy the amount of staying power involved with br for an aggro deck and the removal is among the best in Standard this deck is always going to be a fine choice to slake any aggressive thirst.

The next pillar is Walking Ballista. This card since it's printing has found its way into a variety of decks as a colorless way to interact with creature and controller alike. The best deck with Walking Ballista has been bg Snake. While traditionally out of favor, the deck is starting to pick up steam recently. MTGO user JeffCunningham has been tearing up MTGO with his own variation and while kind of unique seems a little genius.

B/G Snake -- Dominaria Standard | JeffCunningham

This deck list is CLEAN. No frills. No trying to balance out with removal or trying to figure out the right amount to play. JeffCunningham is making the most use out the powerful creatures in Standard and leaning on Ravenous Chupacabra and Walking Ballista as ways to clear out the creatures. Adventurous Impulse is an Oath of Nissa substitute, and while it's a bit weaker, it still fills a great role since our creatures are so flexible and either draw cards or make an impact on the field. Post board, we have all the cards we'd need for any matchup, whether it be control or creature based. Against control, using Nissa's ultimate will turn Settle The Wreckage into a questionable removal spell and will help you bury your opponent. Having a singular game plan in Game 1 that gets tailored post board for the matchup makes this deck a hidden gem for Standard, making it one of the pillars.

The last pillar is also what I think stands to be the best one in Teferi, Hero of Dominaria.

U/W Control -- Dominaria Standard | Ben Weinburg, 1st place SCG Classic

This creatureless version has been popping up as the uw variant of choice. If everyone is playing great removal, give them absolutely no targets; even post board! This kind of deck I actually think lends even more credence to the bg Snake deck from earlier. Having a clean game plan can get you far in Standard. What's fantastic about control is the more the format develops the easier it is to tune your control deck's sideboard and main deck for the metagame you expect. While the game plan of this deck tends to be slow to execute, it's important to make sure on 'easier' turns to move through those actions quicker to give yourself enough time to end the game. Moving forward, I think playing some combination of Lyra Dawnbringer and Regal Caracal will work wonders, especially against the Red decks. It will be a little sub game if they left removal in or not and whether or not you have creatures for them to target. This Standard format has been great for control decks since you're able to tailor your deck to the metagame.

While these three decks appear to be the pillars of the format there are a plenty more decks to try out!

One of my favorite decks is this Mono-Black list Tulio_Jaudy took to a 5-0.

Mono-Black -- Dominaria Standard | Tulio_Jaudy

In a deck with the best removal and creatures that provide immense value, I can see decks like uw and br struggling to beat it. However, since everything is a little costly, I can see this deck having a ton of awkward draws.

Maybe you're interested in playing control, but don't want to pick up Teferis. No worries. Let's dig those Scarab Gods out and play this ub pile from Shota Yasooka.

U/B Control -- Dominaria Standard | yaya3

While traditionally cards like Spyglass have been questionable main deck inclusions, we're at a point in Standard's life where Vehicles and Planeswalkers are dominant. Nabbing Teferi out of the uw deck and countering anything they have to remove Spyglass will make cleaning up uw easier. Harkening back to the ub Control decks from previous Standard I can see why this deck has all the tools to succeed. It's hard to not play Teferi, but if a control deck without it can work, this is likely it.

And the best part? This doesn't even begin to touch on the several other decks you can play in this format. I didn't remark on Mono-Green variants and God-Pharaoh's Gift, nor even the different spin of Mono-Black. Standard has truly settled into a solid place where we have some tier one strategies, but it isn't play these decks or go home. For that, I am excited. If there was ever a time to return to Standard, now is it. Bask in the glory of Standard before something mucks it up again.

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TAGS articles, metagame, constructed, analysis, standard, decklist, rudy briksza, dominaria standard, 05282018

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