And here’s where we veer, kids, from Limited to Standard. As most of you know, I qualified for Pro Tour Magic 2015 in Portland this summer, Aug. 1–3, by winning a Limited PTQ back in April. The format is M15 draft and Standard—and, as you also probably know, I can pretty much count the times I’ve picked up a deck containing 60 cards on one hand.

So the past few weeks I’ve been reading more about the Standard metagame (which I do keep up with, although somewhat absently) and trying to decide my approach for testing for the PT. I sent out an SOS email to a crew of guys and gals I’m calling The Advisors, as per my good buddy Carl’s (@thoughtlaced) suggestion, based on my old favorite Magic tribe (our playgroup at one time was very into casual tribal, and Advisors were my champions); and also I have been perusing MTGO Stats.

What’s my plan? A few different people suggested—given my lack of a big, talented testing team, like Team Pantheon or Channel Fireball—that I just pick a tier one or 1.5 deck, play the hell out of it, and hope for the best. Others suggested picking a somewhat more fringe archetype, getting good with it, and hoping that M15 shifts the metagame in a favorable direction. Still others suggested not really worrying at all about playing Standard until M15 drops, as the format is sure to change with the intro of a new core set.

I do feel like I need to be playing, though, getting used to 60 cards, to Standard sideboarding, and to the fact that if you play a second Thassa when one is already on the board, that the other will die (seriously, the legend rule is just something that *never* comes up in Limited, so I am drastically not used to it). So that’s what I’m moving towards. And boy is it expensive.

Carl did loan me a bunch of cards online, though (thanks man!)—which, combined with about $380 invested on my own, allowed me to assemble five relatively competitive Standard decks. These ones:

Mono-Blue Devotion, aka the list that won SCG Providence last weekend
Jund Monsters, 6th place at the same event
Mono-Black Devotion, which placed 12th at ditto
UW Control, 15th
GB Dredge (I forget where I got this list)

Here are the lists:

Mono-Blue Devotion

Maindeck (60)
Hall of Triumph
Thassa, God of the Sea
Bident of Thassa
Master of Waves
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Tidebinder Mage
Galerider Sliver
Nightveil Specter
Cloudfin Raptor
Rapid Hybridization
Cyclonic Rift
Frostburn Weird
Judge’s Familiar
Mutavault
20 Island
Sideboard (15)
Dissolve
Bident of Thassa
Rapid Hybridization
Jace, Architect of Thought
Claustrophobia
Jace, Memory Adept
Domestication
Dispel
Negate
Gainsay

Jund Monsters

Maindeck (60)
Courser of Kruphix
Temple of Malice
Xenagos, the Reveler
Temple of Abandon
Sylvan Caryatid
Stormbreath Dragon
Polukranos, World Eater
Elvish Mystic
Ghor-Clan Rampager
Domri Rade
Dreadbore
Abrupt Decay
Mizzium Mortars
Scavenging Ooze
Mutavault
Blood Crypt
Stomping Ground
Overgrown Tomb
Forest
Sideboard (15)
Nylea’s Disciple
Mistcutter Hydra
Primeval Bounty
Ultimate Price
Rakdos’s Return
Golgari Charm
Mizzium Mortars
Vraska the Unseen
Putrefy

Mono-Black Devotion

Maindeck (60)
Bile Blight
Gray Merchant of Asphodel
Temple of Silence
Hero’s Downfall
Lifebane Zombie
Devour Flesh
Desecration Demon
Underworld Connections
Pack Rat
Mutavault
Thoughtseize
18 Swamp
Duress
Sideboard (15)
Bile Blight
Drown in Sorrow
Dark Betrayal
Read the Bones
Whip of Erebos
Erebos, God of the Dead
Pharika’s Cure
Doom Blade
Pithing Needle
Duress

UW Control

Maindeck (60)
Deicide
Banishing Light
Temple of Enlightenment
Dissolve
Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
Temple of Deceit
Temple of Silence
Sphinx’s Revelation
Azorius Charm
Azorius Guildgate
Supreme Verdict
Detention Sphere
Jace, Architect of Thought
Elixir of Immortality
Divination
Mutavault
Hallowed Fountain
Island
Plains
Syncopate
Sideboard (15)
Deicide
Fated Return
Blind Obedience
Jace, Memory Adept
Dispel
Negate
Pithing Needle
Reprisal
Gainsay
Last Breath

GB Dredge

Maindeck (60)
Courser of Kruphix
Deathrite Shaman
Elvish Mystic
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Lotleth Troll
Nighthowler
Nyx Weaver
Pharika, God of Affliction
Satyr Wayfinder
Shadowborn Demon
Commune with the Gods
Grisly Salvage
Ultimate Price
Whip of Erebos
Forest
Overgrown Tomb
Swamp
Temple of Malady
Sideboard (15)
Courser of Kruphix
Golgari Charm
Herald of Torment
Lifebane Zombie
Scavenging Ooze
Skylasher
Ultimate Price

What do you think? I’ve only played a little bit of the Mono-Blue thus far, in MTGO’s tournament practice room, and—I dunno. I can’t say I loved it. I also can’t say I played it well, either—the aforementioned double Thassa play definitely happened—but I do intuitively think that I might like a more reactive deck, or at least a deck with more answers. Playing Mono-Blue felt like goldfishing, a bit; and maybe that means I’m playing the deck wrong, but I’m just not sure. It is an aggro deck at heart, is it not?

At any rate, I’m looking to sling some IRL deck as well very soon—so if anyone has a deck to loan me, or advice on what deck I should favor, I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks, and let the summer of PT testing begin!

23/17 is a Hipsters of the Coast column focused on Limited play—primarily draft and sealed, but also cubing, 2HG, and anything else we can come up with. The name refers to the “Golden Ratio” of a Limited deck: 23 spells and 17 lands. Follow Hunter at @hrslaton.

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