Going Over to the Dark Side

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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) 2 Hall of Triumph 4 Thassa, God of the Sea 1 Bident of Thassa 4 Master of Waves 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx 4 Tidebinder Mage 1 Galerider Sliver 4 Nightveil Specter 4 Cloudfin Raptor 2 Rapid Hybridization 1 Cyclonic Rift 4 Frostburn Weird 4 Judge’s Familiar 4 Mutavault 20 Island

Sideboard (15) 2 Dissolve 1 Bident of Thassa 1 Rapid Hybridization 2 Jace, Architect of Thought 1 Claustrophobia 1 Jace, Memory Adept 2 Domestication 1 Dispel 2 Negate 2 Gainsay

Jund Monsters

Maindeck (60) 3 Courser of Kruphix 2 Temple of Malice 3 Xenagos, the Reveler 4 Temple of Abandon 4 Sylvan Caryatid 4 Stormbreath Dragon 4 Polukranos, World Eater 4 Elvish Mystic 3 Ghor-Clan Rampager 4 Domri Rade 2 Dreadbore 2 Abrupt Decay 1 Mizzium Mortars 3 Scavenging Ooze 1 Mutavault 3 Blood Crypt 4 Stomping Ground 4 Overgrown Tomb 5 Forest

Sideboard (15) 3 Nylea’s Disciple 2 Mistcutter Hydra 1 Primeval Bounty 1 Ultimate Price 2 Rakdos’s Return 2 Golgari Charm 1 Mizzium Mortars 1 Vraska the Unseen 2 Putrefy

Mono-Black Devotion

Maindeck (60) 2 Bile Blight 4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel 3 Temple of Silence 4 Hero’s Downfall 4 Lifebane Zombie 4 Devour Flesh 4 Desecration Demon 4 Underworld Connections 4 Pack Rat 4 Mutavault 4 Thoughtseize 18 Swamp 1 Duress

Sideboard (15) 1 Bile Blight 1 Drown in Sorrow 2 Dark Betrayal 1 Read the Bones 1 Whip of Erebos 2 Erebos, God of the Dead 1 Pharika’s Cure 2 Doom Blade 1 Pithing Needle 3 Duress

UW Control

Maindeck (60) 1 Deicide 2 Banishing Light 4 Temple of Enlightenment 4 Dissolve 2 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion 2 Temple of Deceit 1 Temple of Silence 4 Sphinx’s Revelation 4 Azorius Charm 1 Azorius Guildgate 4 Supreme Verdict 4 Detention Sphere 3 Jace, Architect of Thought 1 Elixir of Immortality 3 Divination 3 Mutavault 4 Hallowed Fountain 6 Island 6 Plains 1 Syncopate

Sideboard (15) 1 Deicide 1 Fated Return 2 Blind Obedience 1 Jace, Memory Adept 1 Dispel 1 Negate 1 Pithing Needle 1 Reprisal 3 Gainsay 3 Last Breath

GB Dredge

Maindeck (60) 1 Courser of Kruphix 2 Deathrite Shaman 4 Elvish Mystic 2 Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord 4 Lotleth Troll 4 Nighthowler 4 Nyx Weaver 1 Pharika, God of Affliction 4 Satyr Wayfinder 4 Shadowborn Demon 1 Commune with the Gods 4 Grisly Salvage 1 Ultimate Price 2 Whip of Erebos 7 Forest 4 Overgrown Tomb 7 Swamp 4 Temple of Malady

Sideboard (15) 1 Courser of Kruphix 1 Golgari Charm 3 Herald of Torment 2 Lifebane Zombie 4 Scavenging Ooze 2 Skylasher 2 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.