The recent previews from War of The Spark have me very excited. So much so I’ve already got a few decks brewed up; some entirely new and others getting additions from the new set. From what I’ve seen so far, it is unlikely that there will be a new breakthrough archetype with the addition of War of the Spark to Standard. There are some powerful cards, though, like Dreadhorde Arcanist, Nissa, Who Shakes the World, and Feather, the Redeemed, that could allow new archetypes to spring up.
Instead, the set looks to be adding a lot of fun cards to the already established archetypes. Mono-White appears to get stronger in this set as the Blue splash becomes a lot more powerful due to strong Azorius cards like Dovin’s Veto, Teferi, Time Raveler, and Gideon Blackblade. Gideon especially helps with what I think to be your worst match up, Sultai.
Moving forward I think the Mono-White decklist should look something like this.
Standard Mono-White with War of the Spark
| Creatures (26) 4 Snubhorn Sentry 4 Venerated Loxodon 4 Adanto Vanguard 4 Benalish Marshal 4 Dauntless Bodyguard 2 Hunted Witness 4 Skymarcher Aspirant Spells (14) 2 Unbreakable Formation 3 Conclave Tribunal 4 History of Benalia 4 Legion’s Landing 1 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants | Lands (20) 12 Plains 4 Glacial Fortress 4 Hallowed Fountain Sideboard (15) 4 Baffling End 2 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants 1 Unbreakable Formation 3 Gideon Blackblade 3 Dovin's Veto 2 Teferi, Time Raveler |
Domri, Anarch of Bolas looks really powerful, and I expect Gruul Aggro will be the best shell for him. However, I do think some other shells might exist, like Jund Tokens/Midrange or Naya Aggro/Tokens—all decks where I would expect Domri to shine. But those decks won’t get as much value from all of his abilities as Gruul aggro would.
Here’s what a potential decklist for Gruul could be:
Standard Gruul Aggro with War of the Spark
| Creatures (31) 4 Gruul Spellbreaker 4 Llanowar Elves 4 Pelt Collector 4 Steel Leaf Champion 3 Ghalta, Primal Hunger 4 Growth-Chamber Guardian 4 Nullhide Ferrox 4 Zhur-Taa Goblin Spells (8) 3 Collision // Colossus 2 Domri's Ambush 3 Domri, Anarch of Bolas | Lands (21) 4 Stomping Ground 4 Rootbound Crag 3 Mountain 10 Forest Sideboard (15) 4 Cindervines 2 Vivien, Champion of the Wilds 2 Lava Coil 3 Legion Warboss 2 Shivan Fire 2 Banefire |
I have a love for these stompy style Green decks, and I think Domri only makes them better. The deck has a powerful curve and has the advantage in all of the creature mirrors, as Domri can be a repeatable removal spell while also pumping your team. Domri makes cards like Llanowar Elves become removal spells for opposing Elves or Incubation Druids on the second turn of the game, making it very hard for your opponent to come back.
Ghalta, Primal Hunger and Nullhide Ferox are also excellent with Collision // Colossus allowing them to trample over for huge amounts of damage. Although the deck could be built to be a bit more Red heavy, playing cards like Rekindling Phoenix, I like the mostly Green version more as I think it’s faster and has a higher ceiling with cards like Ghalta.
Similarly, Domri could also be played in a Red goblin-style of deck.
Standard Gruul Aggro with War of the Spark
| Creatures (32) 4 Fanatical Firebrand 4 Goblin Chainwhirler 4 Goblin Instigator 2 Goblin Trashmaster 4 Legion Warboss 4 Siege-Gang Commander 4 Skirk Prospector 4 Zhur-Taa Goblin 2 Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin Spells (7) 4 Heartfire 3 Domri, Anarch of Bolas | Lands (21) 4 Stomping Ground 4 Rootbound Crag 10 Mountain 3 Forest Sideboard (15) 4 Cindervines 3 Lavacoil 2 Chandra, Fire Artisan 2 Status // Statue 2 Vivien, Champion of the Wilds 2 Collision // Colossus |
Heartfire is another card I think is really good and would like to find a strong home for. I think the ideal is an aggressive Red deck like this that makes lots of tokens it doesn’t mind throwing away. This deck could, instead of playing Green, splash Black for Judith, Scourge Diva, but I think playing Green is a better option. It gives the deck access to powerful grindy sideboard cards like Vivien, Domri, and Cindervines. Although this deck could drop most of the synergy and instead just play powerful cards like Skarrgan Hellkite and Rekindling Phoenix and just become a more powerful but less explosive deck overall.
Big Gruul could be interesting with the new card Ilharg, the Raze-Boar, and built to be more of a combo deck.
Big Gruul with War of the Spark
While I don’t think this deck is perfect, it has potential. The explosiveness of Ilhard could lead to a sort of combo kill on turn five by giving it haste with Rhythm of the Wild or Domri, Chaos Bringer. Our only big payoffs are Ghalta and End-Raze Forerunners, which I’m not quite sure should be in the deck, but they are game-ending payoffs with Ilharg. Even putting in a Skargan Hellkite off Ilharg with haste is game-ending.
I am also interested in building Jund in a more spell-heavy way in an effort to abuse the card Dreadhorde Arcanist. We already have multiple powerful Gruul spells like Collision // Colossus and have now added the newly spoiled Domri’s Ambush and Giant Growth.
Jund Spells with War of the Spark
| Creatures (15) 4 Dreadhorde Arcanist 4 Gruul Spellbreaker 3 Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin 4 Dreadhorde Butcher Spells (21) 4 Giant Growth 2 Domri's Ambush 2 Thrash // Threat 4 Collision // Colossus 3 Thud 2 Bedeck // Bedazzle 4 Titanic Growth | Lands (24) 4 Stomping Ground 4 Blood Crypt 4 Overgrown Tomb 4 Rootbound Crag 4 Dragonskull summit 2 Forest 1 Mountain 1 Swamp Sideboard (14) 3 Kaya's Ghostform 2 Angrath's Rampage 4 Duress 3 Rekindling Phoenix 2 Dreadehorde Invasion |
I’m not quite sure this deck has enough threats to be good, but the threats it does have are fantastic. This deck has a very strong synergy and has explosive draws that can kill your opponent on turn three. The problem is this deck is incredibly weak to removal and I’m not quite sure how to fix that. Gruul Spellbreaker is a great way of beating removal but I think Kaya’s Ghostform and Duress might just be the best thing we have going.
We could play Vivien Reid or maybe Skarrgan Hellkite in our sideboard to go bigger. Any game you play with this deck your threats go unanswered you’re probably going to win, but I don’t think we can actually beat decks like Mono-Red that have lots of removal. If people are playing a bunch of Moment of Cravings and cutting down on Cast Down and other hard removal, I think this deck could be solid.
Maybe what you need to do is Amass some threats.
Rakdos Amass with War of the Spark
| Creatures (32) 2 Devouring Hellion 4 Lazotep Reaver 4 Grim Initiate 4 Fireblade Artist 4 Mayhem Devil 4 Judith, Scourge Diva 4 Priest of Forgotten Gods 4 Goblin Instigator 2 Midnight Reaper Spells (6) 2 Bankrupt in Blood 4 Dreadhorde Invasion | Lands (22) 4 Blood Crypt 4 Dragonskull Summit 8 Mountain 6 Swamp |
I’m a big fan of Dreadhorde Invasion even though it’s an off-brand Bitterblossom. Being able to make a token every turn if you’re abusing cards like Priest of Forgotten Gods and Bankrupt in Blood can lead to us having infinite creatures to sacrifice. And even if we don’t have a sacrifice outlet and draw multiple Dreadhorde Invasions, we’re making a huge token that most opponents will have a hard time dealing with.
This deck could also splash Domri or perhaps splash white for Cruel Celebrant and Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord. We might also want Gutterbones, but that card is very very bad and not where I want to be. I’m not quite sure what the sideboard would be like on this deck so I didn’t include one, but I think you probably want a mix of removal and hand disruption.
I think all of these deck have potential and I’ll be working on them moving forward. Be sure to reach out to me on Twitter to let me know your favorite deck.