View Full Version : Random Standard @ The Source 2021
BirdsOfParadise
01-31-2021, 12:58 AM
*** JULY 2022 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Magic 2020
(*) Kaladesh
(*) Aether Revolt
(*) Mirrodin
(*) Darksteel
(*) Fifth Dawn
Banned cards: Ancient Den, Great Furnace, Seat of the Synod, Skullclamp, Tree of Tales, Vault of Whispers
*** ORIGINAL POST & PREVIOUS ROTATIONS BELOW THIS LINE ***
I thought it'd be fun to have a thread for building and sharing Random Standard decks, and possibly for coordinating some friendly competition if there's enough interest.
Each month I'll randomly generate a Random Standard card pool and update this thread with it. You're invited to theorize, share decks, challenge others, or contribute however you want. Because this is a Legacy site and we all like old cards, my algorithm has a bias towards older sets, as follows: Whenever I roll for a set or block, I roll the die twice and pick the older option. (For the February 2021 pool I happened to roll especially old sets, but on average it won't be like that.)
I'll decide on bans and announce the banned cards in each format rotation. Ante cards and dexterity cards are always banned.
*** FEBRUARY 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Magic 2015
(*) Homelands
(*) Ice Age
(*) Alliances
(*) Mercadian Masques
(*) Nemesis
(*) Prophecy
Banned list:
(*) Demonic Consultation
(*) Necropotence
(*) Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
*** MARCH 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
10th Edition
Mirrodin
Darksteel
Fifth Dawn
Zendikar
Worldwake
Rise of the Eldrazi
BANNED:
(*) Six cards with type “Artifact Land”:
> Ancient Den
> Seat of the Synod
> Vault of Whispers
> Great Furnace
> Tree of Tales
> Darksteel Citadel
(*) Jace, the Mind Sculptor
(*) Skullclamp
(*) Stoneforge Mystic
*** APRIL 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Magic 2011 (M11)
(*) Mirage
(*) Visions
(*) Weatherlight
(*) Odyssey
(*) Torment
(*) Judgment
Banned cards: Entomb, Vampiric Tutor
*** MAY 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Sixth Edition
(*) Ravnica: City of Guilds
(*) Guildpact
(*) Dissension
(*) Return to Ravnica
(*) Gatecrash
(*) NOT Dragon's Maze (in this randomly generated timeline, it has not yet been released)
Banned: Flash, Vampiric Tutor
*** JUNE 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Fifth Edition
(*) Champions of Kamigawa
(*) Betrayers of Kamigawa
(*) Saviors of Kamigawa
(*) Mercadian Masques
(*) Nemesis
(*) NOT Prophecy (in this randomly generated timeline, it has not yet been released)
Banned: Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero, Necropotence, Umezawa's Jitte
*** JULY 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Fourth Edition
(*) Fallen Empires
(*) Odyssey
(*) Torment
(*) Judgment
(*) Mirrodin
(*) NOT Darksteel (in this randomly generated timeline, it has not yet been released)
(*) NOT Fifth Dawn (in this randomly generated timeline, it has not yet been released)
Banned cards: Balance, Channel, Entomb, Mana Vault, Mind Twist, Strip Mine; six cards with the Artifact Land card type (Darksteel Citadel, Ancient Den, Seat of the Synod, Vault of Whispers, Great Furnace, Tree of Tales)
*** AUGUST 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Tenth Edition
(*) Urza's Saga
(*) Urza's Legacy
(*) Urza's Destiny
(*) Time Spiral (including Timeshifted cards)
(*) NOT Planar Chaos (in this randomly generated timeline, it has not yet been released)
(*) NOT Future Sight (in this randomly generated timeline, it has not yet been released)
Banned are the following cards:
Gaea's Cradle
Grim Monolith
Fluctuator
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
Tinker
Time Spiral
Tolarian Academy
Yawgmoth's Bargain
Yawgmoth's Will
*** SEPTEMBER 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Classic Sixth Edition
(*) Onslaught
(*) Legions
(*) Scourge
(*) Theros (the original one)
(*) Born of the Gods
(*) NOT Journey into Nyx (in this randomly generated timeline, it has not yet been released)
Banned cards:
Flash
Vampiric Tutor
*** OCTOBER 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Magic Origins
(*) Battle for Zendikar
(*) Oath of the Gatewatch
(*) Champions of Kamigawa
(*) Betrayers of Kamigawa
(*) NOT Saviors of Kamigawa (in this randomly generated timeline, it has not yet been released)
Banned: Umezawa's Jitte
*** NOVEMBER 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Seventh Edition
(*) Mercadian Masques
(*) Nemesis
(*) Prophecy
(*) Return to Ravnica
(*) Gatecrash
(*) NOT Dragon’s Maze (in this randomly generated timeline, it has not yet been released)
Banned: Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
*** DECEMBER 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Revised Edition
(*) Urza's Saga
(*) Urza's Legacy
(*) Urza's Destiny
(*) Mirage
(*) Visions
(*) Weatherlight
Banned cards:
Balance
Channel
Demonic Tutor
Gaea's Cradle
Grim Monolith
Fluctuator
Mana Vault
Mind Twist
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
Sol Ring
Tinker
Time Spiral
Tolarian Academy
Vampiric Tutor
Wheel of Fortune
Yawgmoth's Bargain
Yawgmoth's Will
*** JANUARY 2022 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Tenth Edition
(*) Ice Age
(*) Homelands
(*) Alliances
(*) Odyssey
(*) Torment
(*) Judgment
Banned cards:
Demonic Consultation
Necropotence
*** FEBRUARY 2022 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Magic 2012
(*) Tempest
(*) Stronghold
(*) Exodus
(*) Amonkhet
(*) Hour of Devastation
*** MARCH 2022 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Magic 2011
(*) Innistrad
(*) Dark Ascension
(*) Avacyn Restored
(*) Strixhaven
(*) Return to Ravnica
*** APRIL 2022 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Revised Edition
(*) Mercadian Masques
(*) Nemesis
(*) Prophecy
(*) Onslaught
(*) Legions
(*) Scourge
Banned:
Ancestral Recall
Balance
Black Lotus
Channel
Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
Mana Vault
Mind Twist
Mox Emerald
Mox Jet
Mox Pearl
Mox Ruby
Mox Sapphire
Sol Ring
Time Vault
Time Walk
Timetwister
*** MAY 2022 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Magic 2012
(*) Khans of Tarkir
(*) Fate Reforged
(*) Dragons of Tarkir
(*) Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
(*) Streets of New Capenna
BirdsOfParadise
01-31-2021, 06:08 PM
I guess Counter-Rebels would be something like this. Would it be tier 0 in a world without Necropotence? I based it on this list:
https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=9171&d=252469&f=ST
My Random Standard version loses FoF and wrath effects but gains FoW and StP.
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Evolving Wilds
9 Island
7 Plains
[2 more lands]
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Ramosian Sergeant
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Defiant Falcon
2 Memory Lapse
3 Counterspell
3 Defiant Vanguard
1 Ramosian Commander
1 Ramosian Sky Marshal
1 Jhovall Queen
[4 more spells --- likely blue for FoW]
Hey. Cool deck-building challenge. Here's my entry for those sets:
4 Sulferous Springs
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
6 Mountain
4 Swamp
1 Lake of the Dead
3 Barbed Sextant
1 Rogue's Gloves
4 Sign in Blood
4 Incinerate
4 Lightning Strike
2 Lava Flow
2 Stoke the Flames
2 Circle of Flame
4 Knight of Stromgald
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Necrogen Scudder
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
BirdsOfParadise
02-01-2021, 02:44 PM
Cool, ESG! Rabblemaster is a nasty threat. Any red deck can sideboard Brutal Suppression if rebels are a thing.
Idea: First Response plus painlands = two 1/1s every turn cycle. Painlands have almost no deckbuilding cost. Is a 4-mana enchantment that makes two 1/1s per turn good?
I think Rebels would be dead without Lin Sivvi. She's the main reason to play Rebels.
Instead, for the memes, I submit Pirate Stompy
//Lands: 22
4 Rishadan Port
4 Saprazzan Skerry
2 Sandstone Needle
12 Snow-Covered Island
//Spells: 16
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Portent
4 Daze
//Prison: 9
2 Overburden
3 Rhystic Study
4 Parallax Tide
//Creatures: 14
4 Illusory Angel
2 Rishadan Airship
2 Giant Oyster
3 Rishadan Footpad
3 Rishadan Brigand
Basically early game you try to catch them tapped out with Daze and Pirates. Then later you manascrew them with Parallax Tide so they still get disrupted by Daze and Pirates.
Edit: Illusory Angel seems like an insane clock next to 8 cantrips
Rhystic Study is probably a better 3-mana tax than Cutpurse, and Overburden should do a better job than Tangle Wire of handling decks that just try to ramp out a lot of lands. Overburden also lets you reuse the depletion lands for value.
Another option is to splash white for Parallax Wave to both control enemy creatures and blink Pirates for value.
Idea: First Response plus painlands = two 1/1s every turn cycle. Painlands have almost no deckbuilding cost. Is a 4-mana enchantment that makes two 1/1s per turn good?
The best ways I could think of to abuse tokens were Death Pit Offering and Hecatomb.
Either a 3/3 engine or Hecatomb should be insane card advantage once online.
It may not be good for more than memes, but there are at least ways to tutor and accelerate into it to help lose to the FoW decks.
HAXatomb
//Lands: 24
4 Remote Farm
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Snow-Covered Plains
8 Snow-Covered Swamp
//Spells: 16
4 Dark Ritual
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Vendetta
4 Sign in Blood
2 Unmask
//Planeswalkers: 2
2 Liliana Vess
//Creatures: 8
4 Divining Witch
4 Sengir Autocrat
//Enchantments: 10
3 Hecatomb
3 Death Pit Offering
4 First Response
//Rough Sideboard: 15
3 Massacre
2 Unmask
2 Parallax Nexus
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Disenchant
3 Tormod's Crypt
Dark Ritual lets you play a 4 mana enchantment on turn 2
Remote Farm lets you play a 4 mana enchantment on turn 3 and another on turn 4
This format secretly has both Demonic Consultations and only 1 of them is banned. Liliana can also do a Vamp Tutor impersonation.
Urborg makes all your lands into Swamps for Hecatomb madness.
Turn 2 Dark Ritual + Sengir Autocrat allows turn 3 Hecatomb
Death Pit makes First Response make 3/3s and turns Autocrat into 10-power for 4 mana (4/4 + three 2/3s).
Unmask and Divining Witch's pitch costs let you play around the drawback of having dead Hecatombs in hand early game.
BirdsOfParadise
02-01-2021, 07:14 PM
>>> Pirates
I've only ever played a handful games of Random Standard. It was several years ago, and Masques was in that pool too. The Pirate deck just wrecked me.
I wonder if one could fit red in there for Goblin Rabblemaster. It would weaken the Dazes (since you'd need 4x Shivan Reef), but it's such a good threat when the opponent is tripping over their own feet trying not to tap out.
>>> BW token nonsense
Nice :-)
>>> Pirates
I've only ever played a handful games of Random Standard. It was several years ago, and Masques was in that pool too. The Pirate deck just wrecked me.
I wonder if one could fit red in there for Goblin Rabblemaster. It would weaken the Dazes (since you'd need 4x Shivan Reef), but it's such a good threat when the opponent is tripping over their own feet trying not to tap out.
Good idea. I never even considered splashing because of Daze, but blue does lack the kind of pressure that Goblin Rabblemaster makes. You can even tap tokens to Tangle Wire to avoid attacking into a blocker.
With 4x Sandstone Needle (instead of Remote Farm) and 4x Evolving Wilds + 1 Mountain, that's already 9 red sources while only reducing the manabase by 1 effective copy of "Island". Then there's probably room for 2 Shivan Reef (11 red sources) without hurting Daze too badly. 12 ways to get Island should do it. Thwart and Foil would have to go, but they're probably not needed with FoW in the format.
Otherwise blue has Rishadan Airship and Troublesome Spirit from the original block strategy as evasive clocks, but they're worse than Rabblemaster. Illusory Angel is a real beater but wants more 1-mana cantrips (Portent) to enable it.
BirdsOfParadise
02-02-2021, 01:57 AM
I played my Counter-Rebels list against FTW's updated Illusory Angel version of Mono-U Pirates, solitaire-style with open hands. (For Counter-Rebels, the two open lands slots became Thawing Glaciers and the four open spell slots became Accumulated Knowledge.)
From the Pirate perspective, I couldn't put together any sequences of disruption that the Counter-Rebels deck couldn't play around by taking it really slow, hitting land drops, and casting nothing early on. There's no rush. The only clock from Pirates is the Illusory Angels and the Rishadan Brigands, so Counter-Rebels could save FoW/Memory Lapse/Counterspell/StP for those cards in particular. Counter-Rebels could wait out Tangle Wire and Parallax Tide. The result was 4-0 Counter-Rebels.
Of course, Pirates may have suffered more from playing solitaire-style with open hands. Part of the challenge of facing that deck is that you never know when Daze or Rishadan Cutpurse is around the corner. Being able to play around taxing effects with perfect information is unrealistic. Counter-Rebels doesn't seem like it would fare too badly by taking ultra-cautious lines and saving all resources for the flying threats, though.
Random thoughts:
(*) Thawing Glaciers can be sacrificed to a pirate after being activated to fetch a land in response to the pirate being cast. This works because Thawing Glaciers asks to go back to your hand at EOT, not at the moment it's activated. (If you have an untapped Plains and untapped Glaciers T2 and Pirates goes for Rishadan Footpad, just fetch an Island, sac Glaciers, and carry on like nothing happened.)
(*) Jeweled Amulet could be good in the pirate deck? The Skerry lands were often too many. Amulet might allow some of the same openings (T2 Cutpurse with Daze backup) without having to play so many taplands.
(*) Rishadan Port for pirates?
(*) Hoodwink for pirates? Edit: You don't always want to be hitting 6 mana with Pirates, but when you do, Tide + Hoodwink is a one-sided Armageddon that still leaves you with a Tide in your hand.
(*) There could be a big slow blue deck with Merchant Scroll and Accumulated Knowledge.
This is what I thought BYOS always should have been. Not necessarily random, but that sets get picked then everyone works from those.
Interesting test. Thanks for playing it out and posting it.
Open hand does bias things a bit, yeah, because you have perfect information to play around taxes instead of being surprised by them.
I think Counter-Rebel is also favored in that matchup because once you get a recruiter on the board, you don't have to cast spells. You can just hold up mana until EOT and then recruit creatures, so you always have mana open to pay taxes and can't be countered. That's something most decks can't do. Thawing Glaciers is also huge tech to ramp past where taxes can hurt.
I was thinking about Quickling to recycle the Pirates and add another flying clock, but Hoodwink might also be good because of the threat of permanently exiling 5 lands or reusing a Tangle Wire. There's also Spiketail Hatchling or Spiketail Drakeling to get in more flying damage while also threatening more taxes.
Port is a good idea. I didn't want to go too low on Islands. If there's no red splash for Rabblemaster then maybe Ports could replace some of the Sandstone Needles.
BirdsOfParadise
02-03-2021, 03:23 PM
A couple more lists I've been trying.
URW Midrange
2 Jeweled Amulet
1 Battle Squadron
3 Chasm Skulker
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Moggcatcher
3 First Response
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
1 Memory Lapse
1 Misdirection
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Merchant Scroll
2 Portent
2 Adarkar Wastes
1 Battlefield Forge
3 Evolving Wilds
5 Island
4 Mountain
1 Plains
4 Shivan Reef
3 Thawing Glaciers
Elves
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Sunblade Elf
4 Reclamation Sage
4 Skyshroud Poacher
2 Fyndhorn Elder
2 Yisan, the Wanderer Bard
3 Kaysa
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Tangle Wire
3 Obelisk of Urd
4 Brushland
4 Evolving Wilds
13 Forest
1 Plains
Overall scores in my solitaire testing.
Counter-Rebels 4-0 Pirates
Counter-Rebels 2-0 BW Tokens
Counter-Rebels 1-0 URW Midrange
Elves 1-0 URW Midrange
Elves 1-0 Pirates
URW Midrange 1-0 Pirates
Same disclaimer as before about how solitaire testing with open hands makes Daze worse and tax-pirates worse.
Rebels are good, Thawing Glaciers is good, Tangle Wire is iffy when you don't have real pressure, Kaysa is good in Elves, Obelisk of Urd is good in Elves. A 3/3 is huge in this format.
(The Elf deck should either cut Yisan or run a 2-drop for Yisan to fetch.)
Hmm the other problem with monoblue is just lack of creature removal to answer early threats that land on the board. Giant Oyster? Serrated Arrows? Otherwise a simple Ramosian Sergeant lets you play around taxes and counters for the rest of the game.
Adding another color for removal and non-Pirate creatures seems better.
Just regular UW tempo looks pretty strong
//Lands: 21
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Rishadan Port
1 Snow-Covered Plains
8 Snow-Covered Island
//Spells: 21
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Portent
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Daze
1 Misdirection
//Creatures: 18
4 Spiketail Hatchling
4 Dauntless River Marshal
2 Avenger en-Dal
4 Chasm Skulker
4 Illusory Angel
//Sideboard:
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Hydroblast
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Disenchant
1 Misdirection
This still applies taxes but has less bad lands than Pirates and better clocks.
Daze + Hatchling should do more work with Port + 2-mana 3/2 and 3-mana fatties to provide pressure.
Tangle Wire does seem a lot better in a deck like Elves. Pirates probably wants Rhystic Study or Overburden instead, as it can't generate enough permanents to tap to Tangle Wire itself.
For a more controlling UW build
//Lands: 23
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Thawing Glaciers
3 Snow-Covered Plains
10 Snow-Covered Island
//Spells: 27
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Counterspell
4 Accumulated Knowledge
3 Merchant Scroll
1 Polymorphist's Jest
1 Misdirection
1 Aetherspouts
1 Dominate
//Artifact: 1
1 Perilous Vault
//Enchantment: 2
2 First Response
//Creatures: 7
4 Chasm Skulker
1 Haunted Plate Mail
2 Mageta the Lion
//Sideboard:
4 Hydroblast
2 Order of the Sacred Torch
2 Negate
2 Tormod's Crypt
3 Disenchant
2 Submerge
I managed to squeeze in First Response as a control win condition that survives Mageta the Lion, like Plate Mail does.
Maybe I am overrating Chasm Skulker but it seems good with the card draw. Brainstorm gives it +3/+3 for 1 mana.
Edit: This has a lot of overlap with the UWR list you posted above. I think the board control package is probably better for UW than splashing for the Goblin package. Mageta is very powerful if you can defend her with FoW.
BirdsOfParadise
02-03-2021, 04:01 PM
Seems sweet. Yes to Giant Oyster.
I was also thinking of pairing pirates with green for mana dorks. If they tap out, Rishadan Cutpurse. If they don't tap out (playing inefficiently), Thermokarst. Then Stunted Growth.
Green for ramp and LD could be good. Black would also have Rain of Tears and the one from Ice Age, plus it has removal.
In general it looks like UW is the best strategy, Rebels or not, because you can pretty much play Legacy Xerox while other decks are working with underpowered creatures and combos. The spells are some of the best spells in the game. UW control looks like the old Extended UW control (Force, Brainstorm, Counterspell, Swords, AK, wrath effects) competing in a Standard format that includes Homelands and Prophecy.
I started thinking about whether nonblue strategies could really compete. Elves is a good one, but UW should be able to handle it just by running some board wipes.
I've been brewing this monoblack Pox deck. This would be amazing with Hymn or Smallpox, but might still be OK just off the back of Withering Wisps.
//Lands: 25
3 Thawing Glaciers
20 Snow-Covered Swamp
2 Lake of the Dead
//Spells: 21
4 Unmask
3 Vendetta
2 Vicious Hunger
4 Sign in Blood
3 Mind Rot
3 Soul Burn
2 Pox
//Planeswalkers: 2
2 Liliana Vess
//Enchantments: 4
4 Withering Wisps
//Threats: 8
4 Chimeric Idol
3 Haunted Plate Mail
1 Nether Spirit
//Sideboard:
3 Massacre
3 Stain the Mind
2 Snuff Out
1 Pox
1 Mind Rot
4 Rain of Tears
The tech here is that the creatures can all "hide" from board wipes, including Pox and Wisps. Then you can animate Idol/Mail for free after wiping the board to prevent the Wisps trigger on either player's turn, an old Pestilence trick.
BirdsOfParadise
02-04-2021, 12:34 PM
I have been adjusting Elves so that it can stand up to that nasty Pox list (on a good day, at least). Instead of a white splash for Swords to Plowshares, we're mono-green for a mana denial plan. Ramp decks are notorious for drawing inconsistently, so now if we draw badly, we can still try to block the opponent's development until we draw something good.
Elves
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Reclamation Sage
4 Skyshroud Poacher
3 Kaysa
4 Tangle Wire
3 Icy Manipulator
3 Obelisk of Urd
4 Thermokarst
2 Nissa, Worldwaker
4 Rishadan Port
4 Dust Bowl
13 Forest
Elves can overcome Pox in three ways:
(*) Total mana lockdown
(*) Race to get big stats on the board (Kaysa, Obelisk)
(*) Hit hard with Nissa, Worldwaker
...and of course it's quite easy to lose to Pox, especially when Pox draws Withering Wisps, which makes it an uphill struggle. I haven't tested the new Elves against other decks, but I imagine that either Pox or UW control is the hardest matchup.
Edit: FTW, I know you're trying to balance life gain against life loss, but Vendetta is *so much better* than Vicious Hunger.
Edit: Contagion? I guess you're not hurting for cheap removal. There's also Snuff Out. Or maybe you are hurting for cheap removal.... it hurts... hahah.
I like to see Obelisk of Urd in there. That was a card I was going to suggest for the Rebels deck until I determined it was more of a control deck than a tribal deck. I don't know if Dust Bowl has enough targets in the format to be worth it, but Port and Thermokarst are certainly good.
The mana denial plan looks good. Both Tangle Wire and Port fit very well. 4 Dust Bowl may be excessive. You also need turn 1 green source really badly.
Edit: FTW, I know you're trying to balance life gain against life loss, but Vendetta is *so much better* than Vicious Hunger.
Edit: Contagion? I guess you're not hurting for cheap removal. There's also Snuff Out. Or maybe you are hurting for cheap removal.... it hurts... hahah.
The removal slots were hard. Lifeloss is the problem. Withering Wisps can deal you a lot of damage over the game, as can Pox and Sign in Blood.
I started with just Snuff Out and 4x Pox. Then I realized the format is mostly small creatures, with very few X/4s or bigger, so Vendetta would usually cost less life. Then I had 4x Vendetta. But I was still worried about life loss.
Vicious Hunger is the only playable black lifegain that costs less than 5 mana. Because the format has such small creatures, it still kills a lot: mana elves, rebels, pirates, faeries, pump knights, Rabblemaster, Chasm Skulker before it grows, Revoker @ Wisps. It costs 1 more than Vendetta but gives +2 life instead of -2 life when killing weenies. It can also hit black creatures, which most other black removal in the format can't. Contagion doesn't kill anything Vicious Hunger can't.
I would love to play more Vendettas and more Poxes but the deck needs to not kill itself. I need to test it and see just how suicidal it is. Maybe it can afford a bit more.
Edit: Zuran Orb, of course. It also helps control manage land size to optimize Pox and is fueled by Glaciers.
Winter's Chill is an interesting blue trick that could help tax decks handle creatures (much stronger without open hands though).
I just realized Gush is legal. There must be some kind of monoblue Miracle Gro deck with Chasm Skulker, Gush, and Foil.
Ensoul Artifact is also in M15 with Darksteel Citadel and Ornithopter. I think I finally found my monoblue tempo deck.
//Creatures: 14
4 Ornithopter
2 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Chasm Skulker
4 Illusory Angel
//Auras: 4
4 Ensoul Artifact
//Spells: 23
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Portent
4 Daze
3 Gush
2 Foil
2 Withdraw
//Lands: 18
4 Darksteel Citadel
14 Island
//Sideboard: 15
2 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Mystic Remora
3 Hydroblast
3 Submerge
3 Counterspell
Ornithopter and Gush also both allow T3 Angel.
So this deck has the Xerox package plus 2-mana 5/5 and 3-mana 4/4 flying, protected by 10 free counters.
I like this better than the brew I had earlier with bad white creatures, though I wish there was a way to fit in Swords to Plowshares or more maindeck Revokers. Withdraw or some other kind of unsummon effect may be good enough board interaction for this proactive beatdown deck.
@FTW: This looks like a strong deck. I think Jeweled Amulet would be an upgrade to Ornithopter. It would speed up dumping out your three-drops, which should be potent backed up by free counters.
Any progress or interest in this format since?
The top contenders seem to be UW Rebels, Tangle Elves, Pox, UWx control, and mono U tempo (Ensoul Artifact, Angel).
Blue Xerox dominates, but I like that other nonblue strategies are viable too.
Is there a monored burn deck? Red has aggressive tools like Seal of Fire, Incinerate, Flame Rift, Stoke the Flames, Goblin Rabblemaster and mana denial tools.
Red also gets to run powerful hate cards like Pyroblast, Brutal Suppression, Anarchy, Omen of Fire, Pyrokinesis. Given that the best strategies are in UW or weenie aggro, red naturally has the most efficient hate to fight it.
Goblins.dec
//Spells: 19
4 Seal of Fire
2 Death Spark
4 Incinerate
4 Flame Rift
2 Rhystic Lightning
3 Stoke the Flames
//Creatures: 19
4 Foundry Street Denizen
3 Frenzied Goblin
4 Borderland Marauder
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
3 Moggcatcher
//Planeswalker:
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
//Lands: 20
4 Rishadan Port
16 Mountain
//Sideboard: 15
4 Pyroblast
2 Paragon of Fierce Defiance
2 Brutal Suppression
2 Guerrilla Tactics
2 Anarchy
2 Pyrokinesis
1 Omen of Fire
It seems correct to jam 4x Pyroblast to fight the blue decks.
Anarchy is a 1-sided wrath vs Rebels and also answers First Response
Guerrilla Tactics and Squee provide some redundancy vs black discard.
Another option is to play mana denial Stone Rain+Pillage with fast clocks that punish the opponent for stumbling or being tapped out. This is higher variance with "bad cards" and likely worse than just playing good Goblins aggro, but also seems more fun.
Sligh.dec
//Creatures: 20
4 Branded Brawlers
2 Forge Devil
4 Veteran Brawler
4 Varchild's War-Riders
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Crag Saurian
//Spells: 21
4 Seal of Fire
2 Tremor
4 Incinerate
4 Stone Rain
4 Pillage
3 Pyrokinesis
//Lands: 19
4 Rishadan Port
15 Mountain
//Sideboard: 15
4 Pyroblast
3 Citadel of Pain
3 Brutal Suppression
2 Cave-In
2 Lava Runner
1 Omen of Fire
LD enables the brawlers.
Burn enables War Riders and Crag Saurian
Postboard Citadel of Pain punishes ramp decks to enable Brawlers or dodge counters
Tangle Wire and other mana denial are options too.
BirdsOfParadise
03-01-2021, 12:34 PM
FTW, cool red decks! Varchild’s War-Riders... dang. Anyway, the format is rotating on you :-)
Thanks to those who participated/commented in February. We had some interesting decks: Counter-Rebels, BR Midrange, Mono-U Tempo (Pirate style and Artifact style), UW Control, UW Tempo, Mono-B Pox, URW Midrange Tokens, GW Elves, Mono-G Elves, Mono-R Goblins, and Mono-R Sligh.
*** MARCH 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
10th Edition
Mirrodin
Darksteel
Fifth Dawn
Zendikar
Worldwake
Rise of the Eldrazi
Banned list:
(*) Six cards with type “Artifact Land”:
> Ancient Den
> Seat of the Synod
> Vault of Whispers
> Great Furnace
> Tree of Tales
> Darksteel Citadel
(*) Jace, the Mind Sculptor
(*) Skullclamp
(*) Stoneforge Mystic
Banning the artifact lands seems wise, otherwise Affinity is Tier 0.
There's probably still a Ravager-Affinity deck powered by Serum Visions and Thoughtcast but it won't be nearly as strong without the artifact lands.
There are strong aggressive decks powered by Zendikar block.
Boros Landfall
//Creatures: 20
4 Goblin Guide
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Plated Geopede
4 Kor Skyfisher
//Spells: 16
4 Burst Lightning
4 Devastating Summons
4 Searing Blaze
2 Journey to Nowhere
2 Staggershock
//Lands: 24
4 Teetering Peaks
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Arid Mesa
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Marsh Flats
4 Mountain
4 Plains
//Sideboard: 15
3 Kor Sanctifiers
2 Journey to Nowhere
2 Staggershock
2 Mark of Mutiny
2 Kor Hookmaster
...
That's a block constructed deck that was Tier 1 in Standard for a while. There may not even be anything in Mirrodin block to improve it. The secret strength of the deck comes from the midgame combo of Devastating Summons + Goblin Bushwhacker. If you tap and sacrifice 3 lands from an empty board (e.g. after a Wrath), it's 10-power haste attacking. 12-power for 4 lands. That's usually enough to finish the opponent off after initial damage from the 1-drops.
Beastmaster Ramp
//Creatures: 29
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Joraga Treespeaker
3 Arbor Elf
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Nest Invader
4 Vengevine
4 Wolfbriar Elemental
2 Kozilek's Predator
//LOL Win: 8
4 Beastmaster Ascension
4 Eldrazi Monument
//Lands: 23
4 Khalni Garden
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacombs
11 Forest
//Sideboard: 15
4 Leatherback Baloth
2 Molder Slug
2 Naturalize
1 Mold Shambler
2 Awakening Zone
2 Grazing Gladehart
2 Eternal Witness
With all those mana dorks and tokens you can ramp quickly and go wide with Wolfbriar, Beastmaster or Monument. Monument also protects the creatures from burn and Wraths.
Even with SFM banned, there's probably some good white equipment deck between the two blocks
Kor Equip Aggro
//Creatures: 25
4 Kitesail Apprentice
4 Kor Duelist
4 Kor Aeronaut
4 Armament Master
2 Auriok Steelshaper
4 Field Marshal
3 Kor Hookmaster
//Spells: 8
4 Steelshaper's Gift
4 Brave the Elements
//Equipment: 7
4 Bonesplitter
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
//Lands: 20
20 Plains
//Sideboard: 15
4 Kor Firewalker
3 Kor Sanctifiers
3 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
2 Devout Lightcaster
3 Journey to Nowhere
T1 Duelist/Kitesail into T2 Bonesplitter is an attacking 4/2 flying or 3/1 double strike. That probably gets through any board presence for early damage and threatens to end the game quickly. Back that up with 10-12 lords, Brave the Elements, and tempo tricks to get through blockers and this is another quick aggro clock.
BirdsOfParadise
03-01-2021, 02:41 PM
I was thinking that with Mephidross Vampire + Triskelion, Platinum Angel + Leonin Abunas, and Emrakul + Battle Rampart, there must be something good one could put together with Tooth and Nail.
I’m on my phone or I’d try a little harder with the card tags :D
Interesting.
The tough parts would be ramping to high enough mana and surviving long enough, because aggro has too many turn 4 wins (that Guide-Lynx-Bushwhacker was Tier 1 in Standard for a while +/- a few Alara slots like Path to Exile). Even midrange tokens can get way out of hand quickly. So it would have to be a finisher in some 26-28 land controlling deck.
For ramp there's Rampant Growth, Explore, Khalni Heart Expedition, Journey of Discovery, Growth Spasm, Civic Wayfinder, Oracle of Mul Daya, Solemn Simulacrum, Reap and Sow
For board control there's both Day of Judgment and Wrath of God in the format, along with Condemn, Journey to Nowhere and Aura of Silence, so white is a natural secondary color.
For a third color, blue could be good if there are enough good counterspells with a single blue in the mana cost.
Here's a draft for a GW Ramp Tooth and Nail idea
//Creatures: 14
4 Wall of Omens
3 Eternal Witness
3 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Triskelion
1 Mephidross Vampire
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
//Spells: 16
3 Condemn
3 Explore
4 Rampant Growth
4 Wrath of God
2 Tooth and Nail
//Planeswalkers: 3
3 Gideon Jura
//Lands: 27
4 Graypelt Refuge
4 Stirring Wildwood
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
7 Forest
7 Plains
1 Eye of Ugin
//Sideboard: 15
3 Aura of Silence
3 Kor Firewalker
2 Grazing Gladehart
2 Kor Sanctifiers
2 Journey to Nowhere
2 Rampaging Baloths
1 Avenger of Zendikar
The maindeck is just ramp and stalling until Tooth and Nail comes online. Manlands and Gideon can also get there.
The SB is loaded with anti-aggro lifegain (to live long enough) and artifact kill (vs Affinity, equipment decks, and Eldrazi Monument).
There's a secondary wincon of just winning with landfall token makers.
Maybe you can come up with something better for Tooth and Nail. Making it to 9 mana is the hardest part. Zendikar+Mirrodin has very fast aggro.
Chalice of the Void+Trinisphere+Chrome Mox is possible.
Another option could be to play GR ramp with Valakut, the Molten Pinnacles and use burn like Staggershock and Chain Reaction to control early creatures. Valakut justifies running questionable ramp like Khalni Heart Expedition and Journey of Discovery, which all helps hit 9 mana for Tooth.
BirdsOfParadise
03-01-2021, 05:00 PM
Random ideas:
Academy Researchers + Eldrazi Conscription
Khalni Garden + Proteus Staff (for Emrakul of course; Ancient Stirrings is a super good cantrip in this deck)
Too bad Polymorph is in M10 and 9th edition but not 10th edition. With Polymorph+Proteus Staff the deck would be very consistent. Mirrodin does have Fabricate to tutor for Proteus Staff.
You still have Awakening Zone, Blinkmoth Nexus, and maybe Growth Spasm as noncreature "creatures".
Back that up with some card draw: Ancient Stirrings, Serum Visions, Explore...
Mono G Emrakul Stompy might be a thing
//Lands: 25
2 Eye of Ugin
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Cloudpost
4 Khalni Garden
11 Forest
//Spells: 23
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Expedition Map
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Explore
4 Summoning Trap
3 All is Dust
//Creatures: 11
4 Elvish Piper
4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Rampaging Baloths
//Sideboard: 15
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Nature's Claim
3 Eternal Witness
Elvish Piper + Summoning Trap + Eldrazi land ramp might be enough to get away running 4x Emrakul
4Post is pretty bad, but we do have all 12 land tutors used in Modern.
All is Dust might need to be in the maindeck.
SB plan is to board in resistors against fast decks.
BirdsOfParadise
03-12-2021, 02:43 AM
Well, aggro can't be the alpha and the omega of this rotation, since it can be hated out by a deck that can also grind infinite value (against non-aggro) ---
4 Condemn
4 Wall of Omens
4 Lone Missionary
4 Eternal Witness
# Crystal Shard
etc
Plenty of directions to go in, I'd assume, with WGu colors. Options include Naturalize, Solemn Simulacrum, Wrath of God, Into the Roil, Spell Pierce... and of course you need to decide if you want Aether Vial for the "infinite value for almost no mana at instant speed" dream.
Yeah, I just meant aggro should keep out slow 9 cmc durdly ramp stuff like Tooth and Naili.
The WGx control deck gets a lot better by playing Good Stuff instead of forcing Tooth. Blue has Celestial Colonnade. The 8 manlands are enough win conditions.
//Creatures: 15
4 Wall of Omens
4 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Eternal Witness
3 Solemn Simulacrum
//Planeswalkers: 3
3 Gideon Jura
//Artifacts: 2
2 Crystal Shard
//Spells: 14
4 Condemn
4 Explore
2 Into the Roil
4 Wrath of God
//Lands: 26
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Stirring Wildwood
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Brushland
2 Adarkar Wastes
2 Yavimaya Coast
3 Forest
3 Plains
2 Island
//Sideboard: 15
3 Lone Missionary
2 Annul
2 Flashfreeze
2 Dispel
2 Cancel
2 Kor Sanctifiers
2 Journey to Nowhere
21 cantrips.dec should be pretty hard to outvalue, especially after Crystal Shard comes online lategame.
Green ramp also has Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. There's no Prime Time but there's a lot of other gas for it.
//Artifacts: 4
4 Expedition Map
//Spells: 22
4 Burst Lightning
4 Rampant Growth
4 Explore
4 Khalni Heart Expedition
3 Journey of Discovery
3 Flamebreak
//Creatures: 9
4 Eternal Witness
4 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
//Lands: 26
1 Eye of Ugin
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4 Raging Ravine
4 Khalni Garden
11 Mountain
2 Forest
//Sideboard: 15
4 Naturalize
3 Searing Blaze
2 Lavaball Trap
2 Grazing Gladehart
2 Rampaging Baloths
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truths
1 Comet Storm
Red has Pyromancer Ascension burn
//Spells: 28
4 Burst Lightning
4 Magma Jet
4 Searing Blaze
4 Incinerate
4 Staggershock
4 Flamebreak
4 Pulse of the Forge
//Artifacts and Enchantments: 8
4 Expedition Map
4 Pyromancer Ascension
//Lands: 24
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
20 Mountain
//Sideboard: 15
4 Kargan Dragonlord
4 Detonate
4 Molten Rain
3 Mark of Mutiny
Maybe it would be better as UR with Serum Vision, Scalding Tarn, and other card draw.
BirdsOfParadise
04-01-2021, 02:40 PM
The format is rotating!
*** APRIL 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Magic 2011 (M11)
(*) Mirage
(*) Visions
(*) Weatherlight
(*) Odyssey
(*) Torment
(*) Judgment
Banned cards: Entomb, Vampiric Tutor
***
I added Entomb to the banned list after posting the update. Hopefully I didn't ninja anyone's good deck idea. The play that convinced me to ban the card is T1 Entomb a Titan (Primeval Titan or maybe Grave Titan), T2 Shallow Grave. Untapping six lands on T3 seems too easy, especially when there are other consistency tools like Careful Study to increase the likelihood of this happening. The other use of Entomb seems to be T3 wins with Worldgorger Dragon and Necromancy. I don't mind having that combo in the format, but with Entomb the possibilities are too scary.
BirdsOfParadise
04-01-2021, 03:30 PM
So, right off the bat you've got Dragon Combo with Worldgorger Dragon and Necromancy.
There might be some kind of hybrid Flash Reanimator that can use Flash as a value-gaining discard outlet for titans like Primeval Titan. Maybe that deck is the same as the Dragon Combo deck since they're both Reanimator variants? Or maybe the Titan deck uses Shallow Grave?
With Odyssey block there's the possibility of a UG Madness deck, although I'm not sure how much that gains from the other sets in the format. It would have countermagic and possibly creature bounce as ways to fight Reanimator.
Psychatog and Upheaval are in the format. No matter how nasty the Reanimator decks get, Psychatog can hate them by combining countermagic with Coffin Purge and Phyrexian Furnace as needed. Maybe the question isn't "what can beat Reanimator" but actually "what can beat Psychatog"?
Are there aggro decks out there that can put pressure on Psychatog from another angle?
Are there aggro decks out there that can put pressure on Psychatog from another angle?
At first blush, aggro seems like a tough road in this format. Control seems real strong, though. Here's my first entry:
UW Hawkcestrals
4 Brainstorm
4 Preordain
1 Impulse
4 Mana Leak
4 Squadron Hawk
2 Tithe
2 Mystical Tutor
1 Unsummon
1 Condemn
2 Disenchant
3 Day of Judgment
2 Enlightened Tutor
3 Phyrexian Furnace
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Sky Diamond
1 Marble Diamond
2 Baneslayer Angel
2 Jace Beleren
1 Flood Plain
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Terramorphic Expanse
7 Island
4 Plains
Aggro looks extremely weak this time around.
Brainstorm is not in Mirage block. It was in 5th edition at the time, but not in Block.
For comedic value, Battle of Wits is in the format next to all the Mirage Tutors and Wishes. But that's losing most games to Psychatog.
Due to the existence of Psychatog+Upheaval, you probably don't want to be durdling forever in long slow games. I think the best axes to fight it would be Tempo (UG Madness, Dreadstill) or Combo (Reanimator, ProsBloom).
Mirage has very good combo enablers: Dark Ritual, Lion's Eye Diamond, tutors, Impulse, Doomsday, Ancestral Knowledge. Odyssey block adds Wishes and cantrips. M11 has Preordain. Card selection is very very good as long as you can find some 2-3 card combo to win the game in these sets.
The format has both Polymorph and Mass Polymorph but lacks anything truly devastating to cheat out better than Flash or Necromancy could.
Phyrexian Dreadnought+Vision Charm is a thing, and Standstill is in the format to unfairly give you cards back after powering out a big Dreadnought or Psychatog.
Wizards tribal may be possible with Patron Wizard and Shadowmage Infiltrator.
The Leyline of the Void+Web of Inertia combo may be good just because maindeck Leyline hates out many graveyard-based engines in this format. Sadly Helm of Obedience is in Alliances, otherwise that would be my tier 1 control-combo Troll deck.
UG Madness is probably a good place to start.
//Creatures: 23
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Aquamoeba
4 Arrogant Wurm
3 Wonder
//Spells: 18
4 Preordain
4 Careful Study
1 Quiet Speculation
4 Circular Logic
3 Deep Analysis
2 Roar of the Wurm
//Lands: 19
4 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Undiscovered Paradise
6 Island
5 Forest
1 Centaur Garden
//Sideboard: 15
3 Mana Leak
3 Unsummon
3 Phyrexian Furnace
1 Envelop
1 Divert
X depends on format
M11 adds Birds, Preordain and Terramorphic. All 3 seem good. Undiscovered Paradise provides lacking manafixing (no UG duals) while also going back to hand to fuel madness when you're flooded. Nimble Mongoose might also be good.
Edit: I wonder if Lion's Eye Diamond mana could be used to accelerate the madness and flashback plans, then rebuild your hand with Deep Analysis.
With LED + land you can have explosive starts like
T1 Flying 6/6 wurm + Rootwalla
T1 Arrogant Wurm + Rootwalla + Circular Logic your T1 play
T1 Careful Study -> flying Arrogant Wurm + Rootwalla with Deep Analysis in the graveyard
12/12.dec
This might just need more total threats, but this seems like a decent start.
//Spells: 26
4 Preordain
4 Vision Charm
3 Mystical Tutor
3 Enlightened Tutor
3 Impulse
2 Mana Leak
2 Doom Blade
2 Counterspell
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Deep Analysis
1 Day of Judgment
//Enchantments: 4
4 Standstill
//Creatures: 8
4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
4 Psychatog
//Lands: 22
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Drowned Catacombs
4 Island
2 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Undiscovered Paradise
//Sideboard: 15
1 Leyline of the Void
1 Phyrexian Furnace
1 Coffin Purge
1 Condemn
1 Day of Judgment
1 Extract
1 Dissipate
1 Syncopate
1 Disenchant
1 Reprisal
1 Unsummon
1 Serenity
1 Warmth
1 Web of Inertia
1 Necromancy
Nic Fit-MOST is in the format. Is it ever good?
//Creatures: 24
4 Veteran Explorer
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Quirion Ranger
4 Fauna Shaman
3 Wall of Roots
1 Reassembling Skeleton
1 Phantom Centaur
1 Braids, Cabal Minion
1 Nekrataal
1 Gravedigger
1 Genesis
1 Acidic Slime
1 Sadistic Hypnotist
1 Primeval Titan
1 Grave Titan
//Spells: 12
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Worldly Tutor
2 Innocent Blood
2 Doom Blade
//Lands: 24
4 Terramorphic Expanse
10 Forest
8 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Krosan Verge
//Sideboard: 15
3 Duress
2 Chainer's Edict
2 Obstinate Baloth
1 War Priest of Thune
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
1 Gaea's Revenge
1 Mitotic Slime
1 Phantom Centaur
1 Mystic Enforcer
1 Faceless Butcher
Monoblack control looks pretty strong too.
Discard, card draw, removal. Cabal Coffers ramp engine. Good GY hate.
//Creatures: 14
4 Mesmeric Fiend
4 Nantuko Shade
3 Liliana's Specter
2 Faceless Butcher
1 Grave Titan
//Planeswalkers: 2
2 Liliana Vess
//Spells: 20
4 Duress
4 Sign in Blood
3 Chainer's Edict
3 Doom Blade
3 Drain Life
2 Mutilate
1 Corrupt
//Lands: 24
4 Cabal Coffers
20 Swamp
//Sideboard: 15
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Stupor
2 Deathmark
2 Mutilate
1 Doom Blade
1 Drain Life
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Zombie Infestation
1 Choking Sands
Brainstorm is not in Mirage block. It was in 5th edition at the time, but not in Block.
Oh, whoops. That makes things more balanced. Guess I'll run three Dream Cache and an extra Impulse in its stead.
Spot removal is poor enough in the format that an LED madness aggro start could pay off.
BirdsOfParadise
04-13-2021, 04:29 PM
I was a bit surprised that two out of the first three Random Standard rotations I generated turned out to be Brainstorm + fetch land formats! :-)
I'm even more surprised, though, that Nic Fit can be built. Ramping both players is such a unusual game plan that I hope it would prove competitive for variety's sake.
Yeah, I thought it was cool that Nic Fit could be built with a MOST-type engine using creature tutors (Fauna Shaman, Worldly Tutor) and ramp (Birds, Veteran, Quirion Ranger untaps). It's probably not competitively viable in a Standard format where the opponent plays decks with a high curve and high number of basics. But there are some fun tricks available, like Braids, Cabal Minion+Reassembling Skeleton lock or looping ETB creatures using Genesis and sac outlets like Sadistic Hypnotist/Braids. That deck might be better just by replacing the Veterans with regular ramp like Llanowar Elves.
For Madness, yeah the all-in LED version might just be better. The control decks are slow: ETB tapped lands, 2-mana spot removal, 2-mana counterspells. It might be viable to just drop a lot of power on turn 1 before they can interact.
//Spells: 20
4 Preordain
4 Careful Study
4 Circular Logic
4 Deep Analysis
4 Roar of the Wurm
//Creatures: 18
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Wild Mongrel
2 Aquamoeba
4 Arrogant Wurm
4 Wonder
//Mana: 22
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
3 Undiscovered Paradise
3 Gemstone Mine
6 Island
6 Forest
LED enables starts with turn 1 flying 6/6 or 4/4 trample.
Dragon Reanimator might still be strong even with Entomb and Vamp Tutor banned. You still have Buried Alive, Dark Ritual, Mystical Tutor, Burning Wish, Cunning Wish, Necromancy... You can protect the combo with Duress, Abeyance, Cabal Therapy.
If you Buried Alive for Worldgorger Dragon+Reckless Embermage+other card then Necromancy leads to infinite damage. You could also Wish for a win condition like Volcanic Geyser, Drain Life, or Kaervek's Torch.
BirdsOfParadise
04-14-2021, 05:23 AM
It would be cool to get Sun Titan to recur Necromancy (to reanimate another Sun Titan to recur another Necromancy to ...) — kind of like the Sun Titan + Phantasmal Image interaction in 2012 Standard. I can’t imagine what deck list could consistently “live the dream,” but if you treated that interaction less as a goal and more as a happy byproduct of putting Sun Titan, Grave Titan, Shallow Grave, Necromancy, and Psychatog together, maybe there could be a kind of combo/control Solar Flare deck. For example, [[Shallow Grave -> Sun Titan -> Necromancy -> Grave Titan -> Attack with Sun Titan -> Bring back Psychatog]] is a fun play. Or maybe the first Sun Titan trigger is bringing back Psychatog and that’s how you get the Necromancy or the Grave Titan into the graveyard for that second Sun Titan trigger. There are some interlocking synergies that could lead to eye-popping board states. And there’s always T1 Careful Study T2 Shallow Grave a Titan if speed is what’s needed. That opening easily fends off a T1 6/6 Wurm token (with opp’s hand empty). This seems potentially weaker than Dragon Combo but way more fun.
It would be cool to get Sun Titan to recur Necromancy (to reanimate another Sun Titan to recur another Necromancy to ...) — kind of like the Sun Titan + Phantasmal Image interaction in 2012 Standard. I can’t imagine what deck list could consistently “live the dream,” but if you treated that interaction less as a goal and more as a happy byproduct of putting Sun Titan, Grave Titan, Shallow Grave, Necromancy, and Psychatog together, maybe there could be a kind of combo/control Solar Flare deck. For example, [[Shallow Grave -> Sun Titan -> Necromancy -> Grave Titan -> Attack with Sun Titan -> Bring back Psychatog]] is a fun play. Or maybe the first Sun Titan trigger is bringing back Psychatog and that’s how you get the Necromancy or the Grave Titan into the graveyard for that second Sun Titan trigger. There are some interlocking synergies that could lead to eye-popping board states. And there’s always T1 Careful Study T2 Shallow Grave a Titan if speed is what’s needed. That opening easily fends off a T1 6/6 Wurm token (with opp’s hand empty). This seems potentially weaker than Dragon Combo but way more fun.
You could set that up with Buried Alive for Sun Titans. The question is if trying to force that out early is any better than just getting infinite Dragon combo.
If the LED opening is with Arrogant Wurm and Rootwalla instead, it can be done at instant speed to cast Circular Logic at the same time, countering the opponent's turn 1 or turn 2 play (Logic will see the your hand in the graveyard). The Sun Titan line can beat an early 6/6 Wurm token if it doesn't have flying and isn't accompanied by a Rootwalla, or with Deep Analysis in the yard to refuel from hellbent. Overall Dragon should beat more scenarios than Sun Titan does.
The Sun Titan trick could be a good lategame value play in a control deck, like the interaction with Phantasmal Image.
Dragon Reanimator seems quite strong
//Lands: 19
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Undiscovered Paradise
4 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Drowned Catacomb
2 Swamp
2 Island
1 Mountain
//Creatures: 9
4 Putrid Imp
1 Reckless Embermage
1 Grave Titan
3 Worldgorger Dragon
//Enchantment: 4
4 Necromancy
//Spells: 28
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Careful Study
4 Mystical Tutor
4 Buried Alive
4 Cunning Wish
1 Stitch Together
//Sideboard: 15
1 Volcanic Geyser
1 Miraculous Recovery
1 Abeyance
1 Boomerang
1 Disenchant
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Doom Blade
1 Coffin Purge
1 Mana Leak
1 Circular Logic
1 Frost Titan
4 Psychatog
BirdsOfParadise
05-01-2021, 12:26 AM
The format rotates again! This time, as it happens, we're visiting Ravnica.
*** MAY 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Sixth Edition
(*) Ravnica: City of Guilds
(*) Guildpact
(*) Dissension
(*) Return to Ravnica
(*) Gatecrash
(*) NOT Dragon's Maze (in this randomly generated timeline, it has not yet been released)
Banned: Flash, Vampiric Tutor
Seems like a slower format overall. Dredge is there, but I don't know if there are payoffs. Ditto for Polymorph. A Doubling Season deck would be possible. UW Control seems strong with Supreme Verdict and Sphinx's Revelation. Boros Aggro might have enough to be a contender.
I'll start off with this submission:
MILL
4 Mystical Tutor
4 Telling Time
1 Muddle the Mixture
4 Glimpse the Unthinkable
2 Mind Grind
2 Psychic Drain
4 Counterspell
2 Meekstone
4 Devour Flesh
3 Repeal
1 Terror
1 Unsummon
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Simic Signet
4 Underground River
4 Watery Grave
4 Overgrown Tomb
5 Island
2 Swamp
1 Forest
Sideboard:
4 Pack Rat
3 Wight of Precinct Six
4 Chill
2 Psychic Drain
2 Power Sink
BirdsOfParadise
06-01-2021, 01:04 AM
Thanks, ESG, for making sure we had at least one list for May :-)
*** JUNE 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Fifth Edition
(*) Champions of Kamigawa
(*) Betrayers of Kamigawa
(*) Saviors of Kamigawa
(*) Mercadian Masques
(*) Nemesis
(*) NOT Prophecy (in this randomly generated timeline, it has not yet been released)
Banned: Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero, Necropotence, Umezawa's Jitte
I'm gonna have to give a big thumbs down to Kamigawa.
With Sivvi and Jitte banned, this format looks pretty dull. Two of the most underpowered blocks in Magic history. Fifth edition even includes Homelands cards to top if off!
Green ramp is probably a thing with Sakura-Tribe Elder, Kodama's Reach, Nature's Lore. The format also has Mana Vault and Dark Ritual legal, so the path to victory is probably cheating on mana to be able to cast powerful overcosted things.
Counter Rebels will still be a deck: Brainstorm, Portent and Counterspell are in 5th edition. StP is not though. The UW Rebel deck from the first season is basically still legal, except it would have to run some subpar removal spell, so it is probably still Tier 1.
The most interesting deck to me is UW Stasis, fueled by the control cards in 5th edition and cards like Daze and Thwart in Masques.
//Lands: 23
4 Cloudcrest Lake
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
13 Island
3 Plains
2 Ruins of Trokair
//Enchantments: 10
3 Brainwash
4 Stasis
3 Kismet
//Artifacts: 1
1 Feldon's Cane
//Spells: 28
4 Brainstorm
4 Portent
4 Gush
4 Daze
3 Counterspell
3 Boomerang
3 Wrath of God
3 Power Sink
//Sideboard: 15
4 Disenchant
2 Pithing Needle
2 Drain Power
2 Hydroblast
1 Karma
1 Wrath of God
1 Island Sanctuary
1 Meekstone
1 Ebony Owl Netsuke
I just pretended Kamigawa doesn't exist and built this with 5th edition & Masques (+1 Oboro)
Funny tech here is to Power Sink opponent's good spell, tap them out, then drop Stasis. The tax on Brainwash should accomplish a similar thing, slowing down aggro decks' early attacks and then forcing them to tap out into Stasis. In control mirrors Drain Power can tap them out for Stasis while you get free mana to cast something (like Kismet or a SB wincon) without tapping lands.
Oboro is tech to tap non-Island to pay for Stasis (e.g. tap Plains to return tapped U land to hand and replay untapped).
Remote Farm is tech to power out white cards like Wrath and Kismet early without having to run too many non-U lands in the deck.
Monoblack has a lot of potential with the ramp and control pieces.
Pox, Pestilence, Drain Life and Hecatomb are in the format again so some monoblack control deck probably exists.
Monoblack reanimator is also a thing with the option to just hardcast the 7 drop
//Lands: 18
4 Peat Bog
4 Ebon Stronghold
9 Swamp
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
//Ramp: 8
4 Dark Ritual
4 Mana Vault
//Discard Outlets: 6
4 Bog Witch
2 Notorious Assassin
//Reanimation: 7
4 Animate Dead
3 Footsteps of the Goryo
//Disruption: 4
4 Unmask
//Creatures: 17
4 Nether Shadow
1 Akuta, Born of Ash
3 Kagemaro, First to Suffer
4 Iname, Death Aspect
3 Kokusho, the Evening Star
1 Kuro, Pitlord
1 Iname as One
//Sideboard: 15
3 Cranial Extraction
3 Pox
2 Gloom
2 Massacre
4 Sickening Shoal
1 Kyoki, Sanity's Eclipse
This deck can power out a 6 drop on turn 2 with regular acceleration, or set up to reanimate something.
Hardcast or reanimated Iname, Death Aspect can tutor any to all of the big creatures to the grave for future reanimation. In particular it can get 4x Nether Shadow and put them below other creatures.
Footsteps is only temporary, a bit awkward, but there are synergies with the creatures.
Footsteps @ Kokusho = drain 5
Footsteps @ Kagemaro = wrath opponent's board
Footsteps @ Kuro = Pay X life: distribute -x/-x to kill opponent's board
Footsteps @ Iname = permanently reanimate something else, probably Kokusho
Footsteps @ Pus Kami = Seal of Doom + return one of the 5-6 drops
The big creatures and other extra cards are also good to pitch to Unmask and Sickening Shoal for early game interaction.
Nether Spirits and Akuta are funny with Pox post-SB.
BirdsOfParadise
06-14-2021, 02:41 PM
Nice lists, FTW! I also thought that Mana Vault and Dark Ritual would be a good place to start, and I like anything with Stasis. Minor thing: Unless I’m missing something, Goryo won’t let you discard opp’s hand with Myojin because Myojins only do their thing when hardcast.
Nice lists, FTW! I also thought that Mana Vault and Dark Ritual would be a good place to start, and I like anything with Stasis. Minor thing: Unless I’m missing something, Goryo won’t let you discard opp’s hand with Myojin because Myojins only do their thing when hardcast.
Good point. I missed that interaction. Too bad, reanimating mass discard seemed powerful. I'll have to replace that slot with something else.
Can you think of a good win condition for Stasis other than decking? The classic Serra Angel isn't an option because the removal in Masques block is too good (Snuff Out!). Millstone requires tapping, no good, and Black Vise wasn't reprinted in 5th. I love that the deck can play like the old school Stasis decks though.
BirdsOfParadise
06-16-2021, 11:12 AM
Ebony Owl Netsuke?
I don’t know if it would work as well as Black Vise, since there’s a more stringent requirement to meet before it does anything at all. Owling Mine decks used to pair the Netsuke with Kami of the Crescent Moon.
Edit: How’s this for a deck idea that makes use of Kamigawa and Masques: T1 Forest, T2 Island, a bunch of Skyshroud Cutter, Erayo, Soratami Ascendant. Mana Vault and Daze are also ways of getting the necessary “storm” count.
Edit2: June Random Standard — come for the bad legendary creatures, stay for the prison decks.
BirdsOfParadise
06-21-2021, 02:19 PM
4 Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
4 Skyshroud Cutter
4 Gush
4 Daze
4 Invigorate
4 Time of Need
4 Mana Vault
4 Urza's Bauble
Something like this is the beginning of an Erayo soft-lock deck. There are enough cheap cards in the format to ensure that if you draw an Erayo or a Time of Need, you'll quickly get the soft lock in place. (For example, T1 Forest -> Mana Vault; T2 Island, Time of Need, Bauble, Erayo, Invigorate on Erayo.) But how do you put on a clock before the opponent starts casting 2 or more spells per turn? And what's your plan when you don't draw Time or Need or Erayo?
Erayo's a great idea. Completely missed that. You can gain consistency with cantrips and Gifts Ungiven.
There should be enough free spells in the format. There are more than I realized.
//Blue:
Daze
Gush
Thwart
Disrupting Shoal
Misdirection
Submerge
Saprazzan Legate
//Green:
Land Grant
Skyshroud Cutter
Vine Dryad
Invigorate
Nourishing Shoal
Reverent Silence
Rushwood Legate
//Black:
Unmask
Snuff Out
Dark Ritual
Sickening Shoal
Massacre
Delraich
Deepwood Legate
//Artifact:
Mana Vault
Ornithopter
Urza's Bauble
Green has Time of Need and Sylvan Library to dig, though black offers some top quality disruptive spells and acceleration. I think either UG or UB could work.
To clock them you may need to slow down the opponent with something like Tangle Wire and Winter Orb. That seems even better in the UG "free creatures" version. Green also has both Llanowar Elves and Birds of Paradise for turn 1 acceleration, and there's a good chance they could live when other decks are playing tapped lands on turn 1.
In the UB version, even if you don't maintain a total lock with Erayo, with all the disruptive spells you can probably stop the few things that get through.
Not having duals makes some of the spells awkward so mono U might also be an option. It would need the full set of free counters, maybe Zur's Weirding to oppress their draws, and some resilient win conditions.
BirdsOfParadise
06-22-2021, 02:21 AM
Here's the core of an Enduring Ideal deck.
4 Enduring Ideal
\\ Mana
4 Mana Vault
4 Remote Farm
4 Ruins of Trokair
1 Kor Haven
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
\\ Anti-combat lock
1 Crackdown
1 Reverence
\\ Anti-draw lock
1 Zur's Weirding
1 Honden of Cleansing Fire
\\ Anti-combat; also win condition after placing anti-draw lock
1 Island Sanctuary
\\ Misc. control enchantments
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Story Circle
1 Ghostly Prison
Island Sanctuary reminds me that turbo fog is viable here. I forgot Ghostly Prison was in that block too.
You're right, this really is a "stay for the prison decks" format.
UW Turbo Fog
//Turbo: 11
4 Howling Mine
3 Kami of the Crescent Moon
3 Indentured Djinn
1 Feldon's Cane
//Prison: 9
4 Island Sanctuary
3 Winter Orb
2 Ghostly Prison
//Owl: 2
2 Ebony Owl Netsuke
//Spells: 18
4 Portent
4 Counterspell
3 Daze
3 Disenchant
2 Counterspell
2 Wrath of God
2 Misdirection
//Lands: 20
4 Cloudcrest Lake
3 Remote Farm
1 Adarkar Wastes
2 Plains
10 Island
//Sideboard: 15
3 Brainwash
1 Spiritual Focus
1 Ivory Crane Netsuke
1 Kismet
1 Story Circle
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Recall
1 Zur's Weirding
1 Pithing Needle
1 Wrath of God
1 Viseling
1 Disrupting Shoal
Winter Orb should be enough to stop them from playing out their hand and let Owl get in for the kill. If not, you can lock out nonflyers and avoid decking with Island Sanctuary. Djinn does triple duty acting as a win condition, dealing with flyers that get through Island Sanctuary, and turning on Owl. The downside is negated by already running 7 Howling Mines and running Vise effects.
Edit: Added Indentured Djinn as tech and cleaned up the SB.
I tried a few UG and UB Erayo brews but kept running into the problem that the pitch cards demanded a high count of both colors while cards like Daze, Cutter and Snuff Out required a high number of on-color basics. It was hard to tie it all together in a cohesive shell that could also smooth the mana, find Erayo, and have win conditions.
The free spells are much easier to support in mono-colored decks. Then I noticed Erayo can flip on either player's turn and counts both players' spells, like Storm. You can just play it as a 1/1 flying, then disrupt the opponent if they try to do things and flip it on their turn. Ninja of the Deep Hours and Tangle Wire+mana denial are good alternate ways to get value from cheap flyers even if you don't flip Erayo.
Mono Blue Erayo Tempo
//Creatures: 20
4 Ornithopter
4 Cloud Sprite
4 Cloudskate
4 Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
//Instants: 18
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Gush
3 Misdirection
3 Disrupting Shoal
//Artifacts: 3
3 Tangle Wire
//Lands: 19
4 Rishadan Port
15 Island
//Sideboard: 15
3 Winter Orb
3 Rootwater Thief
3 Mistblade Shinobi
2 Submerge
2 Rishadan Brigand
2 Nevinyrral's Disk
There's a trick with Cloudskate to ninjitsu it back to hand and recast, avoiding fading. That slot could also be Spiketail Hatchling for more disruption, but the 1/1 is such a slow clock the opponent could just wait it out.
Monoblue struggles with dealing with resolved threats, so the SB attacks different sides of that. Mistblade Shinobi returns early creatures to hand, especially ones cheated out with acceleration of pitch costs. Submerge does the same thing vs Forests and helps flip Erayo. Rootwater Thief attacks control and combo decks with minimal wincons, extracting them from library before they ever hit the board. Winter Orb, combined with Port and Tangle Wire and free counters, help slow down midrange and control decks dependent on big mana. Disk helps against permanent-based prison decks. Brigand serves as a bigger win condition that also fits the disruption angle.
BirdsOfParadise
06-23-2021, 05:07 PM
That seems like a sensible take on Erayo. I like the plan of waiting for the opponent to cast a spell, then responding with Brainstorm/Gush/free counters to flip Erayo.
Your list reminded me of the Rishadan pirates (such as the Rishadan Brigand in your SB), which got me wondering about using Ninjutsu to bring them back to your hand, but I think that could be straying into win-more territory unless there's another solid 1-drop besides Mana Vault. (Certainly, T1 Mana Vault -> T2 Rishadan Brigand is a beating.) So then I thought, what's the best 1-drop creature in the format? I don't know if it really is Ramosian Sergeant, but here's what I came up with.
Ideal Rebels
4 Mana Vault
4 Adarkar Wastes
1 Cloudcrest Lake
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Kor Haven
13 Plains
4 Enduring Ideal
1 Crackdown
1 Reverence
1 Zur's Weirding
1 Honden of Cleansing Fire
1 Island Sanctuary
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Story Circle
1 Ghostly Prison
4 Ramosian Sergeant
1 Ramosian Lieutenant
2 Defiant Falcon
1 Ramosian Captain
1 Defiant Vanguard
2 Ramosian Commander
1 Ramosian Sky Marshal
1 Jhovall Queen
\\ Flex/misc --- I don't know what's needed, but the prison pieces in this format seem scary
3 Abolish
3 Brainwash
3 Disenchant
1 Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
1 Kami of Ancient Law
... So ... the idea is that Enduring Ideal crushes anything if it resolves, but it's hard to get it past countermagic. Enter the Rebels. They make countermagic-wielding opponents sad. And if you've cast Enduring Ideal and somehow your opponent has a way to deal with a key enchantment, a Rebel on the board can make more Rebels without you needing to cast anything. This feels unpolished, but I like the idea of a deck that occasionally slams T1 Mana Vault, T2 Mana Vault -> Enduring Ideal -> win, and can also just outlast you with Rebels. Reverence and Crackdown are both drawback-free. You can even do your Rebel thing behind an Island Sanctuary if you're desperate. Zur's Weirding also has synergy with Rebels, since denying cards to both players becomes very asymmetrical and you can build your board presence to race the opponent.
Edit: Added a bunch of disenchant effects and 2-mana hatebears --- we need protection against prison strategies and need proactive T2 plays, since we're not playing a Counter-Rebels list that hides behind counters in the early game.
Yeah, Rebels looks like a strong strategy to attack blue decks. I like combining Rebels and Ideal to pressure the opponent in different ways. You could probably include fewer recruiters and some singleton value rebels like Cho-Manno Revolutionary or Nightwind Glider
The biggest weakness that strategy has is being mana-intensive, so it'll need answers for things like Winter Orb/Rising Waters and Stasis.
Pithing Needle is also in the format, but you can play around it by diversifying recruiters
Defiant Falcon
Defiant Vanguard
Edit: I see you modified a bit already. Yeah, adding Falcon and Abolish and Disenchant looks good. Like the old days of magic, maindeck Disenchant should be a thing.
BirdsOfParadise
06-29-2021, 03:05 PM
I am updating the thread a bit early because I won't have time July 1. Feel free to post decks in the June format or get a head start on July, as you please.
*** JULY 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Fourth Edition
(*) Fallen Empires
(*) Odyssey
(*) Torment
(*) Judgment
(*) Mirrodin
(*) NOT Darksteel (in this randomly generated timeline, it has not yet been released)
(*) NOT Fifth Dawn (in this randomly generated timeline, it has not yet been released)
Banned cards: Balance, Channel, Entomb, Mana Vault, Mind Twist, Strip Mine; six cards with the Artifact Land card type (Darksteel Citadel, Ancient Den, Seat of the Synod, Vault of Whispers, Great Furnace, Tree of Tales)
You guys got good mileage out of last month's challenge, but I'm much more enamored with this month's.
Gonna start off with Reanimator. Reanimation options are pretty thin, but the creatures are powerful.
4 Animate Dead
3 Soul Exchange
3 Zombify
4 Zombie Infestation
4 Putrid Imp
4 Buried Alive
4 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Iridescent Angel
2 Phantom Nishoba
1 Platinum Angel
1 Living Hive
1 Deep Spawn
1 Duplicant
1 Petradon
4 Talisman of Dominance
12 Swamp
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Tainted Isle
3 Darkwater Catacombs
Hunting Grounds and Worldgorger Dragon are in this environment, so those are other possible directions to go on a similar theme.
I've enjoyed decks of this ilk in other formats, so I'd probably run it back here.
Mono-Black
4 Dark Ritual
3 Chrome Mox
3 Greed
3 Consume Spirit
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Wrench Mind
4 Hypnoptic Specter
4 The Rack
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Order of the Ebon Hand
3 Chainer's Edict
20 Swamp
Monoblack must be tier 0, even with the bans, because there are so many payoffs for Swamp.dec
Cabal Coffers
Mutilate
Mind Sludge
Nightmare Lash
Nightmare
Nantuko Shade
Order of the Ebon Hand
Pestilence
Hymn to Tourach
Consume Spirit
Drain Life
It would be interesting to just ban Swamp and then unban other cards.
There's enough for there to be a Rock-Paper-Scissors just in black.
Monoblack Aggro
//Creatures: 18
4 Black Knight
4 Order of the Ebon Hand
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Hypnotic Specter
2 Faceless Butcher
//Spells: 17
4 Dark Ritual
2 Ghastly Demise
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Chainer's Edict
3 Consume Spirit
//Lands: 25
2 Cabal Coffers
23 Swamp
//Sideboard: 15
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Dross Harvester
3 Filth
2 Zombie Cannibal
2 Coffin Purge
Beatdown with efficient beaters. In the lategame, Coffers pushes your mana into overdrive for the pump knights and Consume Spirit.
Monoblack Discard
//Creatures: 14
4 Mesmeric Fiend
4 Hypnotic Specter
3 Royal Assassin
3 Mindslicer
//Spells: 17
4 Dark Ritual
4 Paralyze
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Wrench Mind
1 Ashes to Ashes
//Artifacts: 5
4 The Rack
1 Disrupting Scepter
//Enchantments: 2
2 Necrogen Mists
//Lands: 22
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Ebon Stronghold
15 Swamp
//Sideboard: 15
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Terror
2 Oblivion Stone
2 Gloom
3 Coffin Purge
2 Haunting Echoes
Discard + Rack deck including multiple repeatable sources of discard to keep their hand empty.
Monoblack Control
//Spells: 29
4 Innocent Blood
4 Chainer's Edict
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Mutilate
3 Diabolic Tutor
3 Mind Sludge
2 Promise of Power
4 Consume Spirit
1 Skeletal Scrying
//Artifacts: 3
3 Nevinyrral's Disk
//Lands: 28
3 Cabal Coffers
25 Swamp
//Sideboard: 15
4 Rancid Earth
3 Coffin Purge
2 Haunting Echoes
2 Gloom
1 Deathgrip
1 Greed
1 Grim Reminder
1 Mind Sludge
Destroy all the early creatures. Win the lategame by converting life to cards and draining life.
Monoblack Combo (Dragon Reanimator)
//Acceleration: 8
4 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual
//Spells: 12
4 Spoils of the Vault
4 Burning Wish
4 Buried Alive
//Enchantments: 4
4 Animate Dead
//Creatures: 16
4 Putrid Imp
4 Mesmeric Fiend
4 Worldgorger Dragon
1 Phantom Nishoba
1 Iridescent Angel
1 Platinum Angel
1 Vampiric Dragon
//Lands: 20
4 Dwarven Ruins
4 Tainted Peak
12 Swamp
//Sideboard: 15
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Duplicant
1 Stitch Together
1 Zombify
1 Fireball
1 Consume Spirit
1 Last Rites
1 Barter in Blood
1 Sickening Dreams
1 Mutilate
1 Earthquake
1 Diabolic Tutor
Animate Dead + Worldgorger Dragon makes infinite mana. Then there are a couple routes to victory:
1) Burning Wish into an X damage spell
2) Animate Platinum Angel, then Spoils of the Vault into Burning Wish into an X damage spell (can't lose the game from life loss)
3) Animate Vampiric Dragon and eat opponent's board
Buried Alive gets Worldgorger + Vampiric + Platinum for the combo, or you can just go for Iridescent Angel (dodges removal) or Phantom Nishoba (lifegain) with Burning Wish finding more reanimation spells.
There's also a backup mode of hardcasting Worldgorger Dragon using Dark Ritual + Dwarven Ruins + red source.
White is the natural enemy to black, so there is probably some meta white weenie deck.
Edit: Since Balance is in fact banned, I will remove the degenerate 4x Balance prison list and replace with white weenie.
//Creatures: 23
4 Icatian Javelineers
4 Savannah Lions
4 White Knight
4 Order of Leitbur
4 Leonin Skyhunter
3 Mystic Crusader
//Spells: 10
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Disenchant
3 Battle Screech
//Enchantments: 6
2 Land Tax
4 Crusade
//Artifacts: 3
3 Winter Orb
//Lands: 18
18 Plains
BirdsOfParadise
07-03-2021, 03:09 PM
I haven’t had time to appreciate all these great lists, but I’ll just chime in and say that Balance is in fact totally banned :D
I haven’t had time to appreciate all these great lists, but I’ll just chime in and say that Balance is in fact totally banned :D
I swear I triple checked and was shocked to see Balance not on the list, but it is. Must have missed it. No format should allow 4x Balance, let alone a "Standard" format.
I swear I triple checked and was shocked to see Balance not on the list, but it is. Must have missed it. No format should allow 4x Balance, let alone a "Standard" format.
When I was growing up, the game store near me sometimes ran a $10 tournament called Type Fun, which had no bannings except ante and dexterity cards. No one had access to more than one piece of Power, so it wasn't as degenerate as it could have been, but I ran a 4-Balance deck at least twice.
When I was growing up, the game store near me sometimes ran a $10 tournament called Type Fun, which had no bannings except ante and dexterity cards. No one had access to more than one piece of Power, so it wasn't as degenerate as it could have been, but I ran a 4-Balance deck at least twice.
I had one of those too in an "anything goes" LGS casual format (no one had power, but some wanted to run multiple Sol Ring to power out their Shivan Dragons). Since you've also played a 4-Balance deck, I'm sure you know that running 4 Balance in any kind of low cmc artifact+enchantment-based control shell is just ludicrous, especially with Zuran Orb. You should not be able to splice Armageddon and Mind Twist onto a 2-mana Wrath of God. It's one of the old bans that most deserves its spot on the B/R list.
BirdsOfParadise
07-04-2021, 04:31 PM
I’d probably start here.
4 Black Vise
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Ankh of Mishra
4 Atog
4 Slith Firewalker
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lava Dart
4 Shrapnel Blast
3 Winter Orb
4 Molten Rain
4 Mishra’s Factory
4 Chrome Mox
14 Mountain
Looks like a great burn deck! Glad to see Black Vise have a home with Ankh of Mishra + Winter Orb with sac outlets for redundant artifacts.
Terrageddon is another deck that could abuse Winter Orb and LD
//Creatures: 24
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Wild Mongrel
3 Werebear
3 Terravore
3 Erhnam Djinn
3 Mystic Enforcer
//Spells: 12
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Disenchant
4 Armageddon
//Artifacts: 8
4 Chrome Mox
4 Winter Orb
//Lands: 16
2 Riftstone Portal
2 Sungrass Prairie
4 Timberland Ruins
8 Forest
//Sideboard: 15
3 Lifeforce
1 Tsunami
2 Viridian Shaman
2 Sylvan Library
2 Sylvan Safekeeper
4 Black Vise
UG Thresh is also a deck, and does a better job at hitting Threshold, but the mana isn't great and it has a lack of removal.
BirdsOfParadise
07-07-2021, 06:14 AM
Nice Terrageddon deck!
Here’s what I’ve got next.
Fragile Pile of Unplayable Cards
4 Glimmervoid
2 Tarnished Citadel
10 Plains
1 Island
1 Mountain
4 Land Tax
4 Thoughtcast
3 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Howling Mine
4 Winds of Change
1 Psychogenic Probe
4 Ivory Tower
4 Library of Leng
3 Steel Wall
4 Chromatic Sphere
1 Welding Jar
1 Meekstone
3 Moment’s Peace
Establish defenses (Ivory Tower, Steel Wall), or don’t if you’re unlucky. Build up hand size. You can play Land Tax and play “let’s both sit on one land” forever because eventually you’ll draw Ivory Tower or Library of Leng to break the symmetry. Dig with draw spells (you have Thoughtcast, Chromatic Sphere, Thirst for Knowledge, Howling Mine, and Winds of Change to keep the cards flowing). With Library of Leng, build up hand size to an unreasonable extent (using Howling Mine, Land Tax, and the blue card draw). Once you’re gaining one zillion life per turn and most of your deck is in your hand, you’re ready to go off: Cast Psychogenic Probe. Cast Winds of Change. You’ll probably draw into more Winds of Change. Keep casting Winds of Change for as long as you have R mana (there are seven R lands). When you’re gaining 30 life per turn with Ivory Tower and Psychogenic Probe is hitting both players for 14 damage per turn, you win.
If you're playing Land Tax and Library of Leng, I recommend adding Solitary Confinement.
Land Tax puts Plains in your hand. Discard Plains for Solitary Confinement, putting it on top of library with Library of Leng. Next turn get the same Plains again. Repeat. It protects you forever, though it doesn't help the Winds of Change combo.
Edit: Stasis.dec is in the format again. The mana is worse, but Black Vise is a thing.
//Lands: 22
13 Island
4 Glimmervoid
2 Tarnished Citadel
2 Rainbow Vale
1 Sand Silos
//Artifacts: 17
4 Black Vise
4 Ivory Tower
4 Howling Mine
4 Winter Orb
1 Meekstone
//Enchantment: 7
4 Stasis
3 Kismet
//Spells: 14
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Counterspell
3 Drain Power
3 Power Sink
//Sideboard: 15
3 Disenchant
2 Annul
2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Library of Leng
1 Circle of Protection: Black
1 Sphere of Law
2 Island Sanctuary
1 Serra Angel
1 Wrath of God
BirdsOfParadise
07-07-2021, 09:04 PM
My Winds of Change deck doesn’t work as written. I was thinking that Winds of Change would somehow shuffle itself back into your library, but of course it just resolves and goes into your graveyard like any sorcery. So I need to fit 3 or 4 copies of Krosan Reclamation into the deck. When you start running low on Winds of Change, you get them back into the deck with Krosan Reclamation, and then you loop the Reclamations, too.
Edit: OK, here's an Eggs deck. It took me a few iterations to arrive a list that's capable of goldfishing on turn 4, let alone beating an opponent.
// Eggs
// 24 Artifact
4 Mossfire Egg
4 Sungrass Egg
4 Shadowblood Egg
4 Darkwater Egg
4 Skycloud Egg
4 Chromatic Sphere
// 16 Instant
4 Second Sunrise
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Seething Song
// 14 Land
6 Swamp
4 Glimmervoid
4 Tarnished Citadel
// 6 Sorcery
1 Ghitu Fire
3 Thoughtcast
2 Nostalgic Dreams
Yeah, the Eggs + Second Sunrise were definitely calling out for some love.
Here's my attempt at a deck using Isochron Scepter. No chant effects in the card pool, so it's more of a value card/finisher, and Chrome Mox has the potential to dump it out on Turn 1. White also has a pile of strong sideboard cards for what would probably be a black-dominated metagame.
4 Isochron Scepter
4 Fabricate
4 Land Tax
4 Careful Study
3 Wrath of God
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Counterspell
2 Disenchant
1 Unsummon
3 Chrome Mox
4 Talisman of Progress
10 Plains
9 Island
Interesting. UW control does look strong with those spells. White has Swords to Plowshares, Disenchant for some of the most flexible control spells in the format and amazing cards to put on Isochron.
I have Scepter in a UB Psychatog deck.
//Artifacts: 4
4 Isochron Scepter
//Creatures: 6
4 Psychatog
2 Shadowmage Infiltrator
//Spells: 26
4 Mental Note
2 Ghastly Demise
4 Counterspell
4 Hymn to Tourach
2 Chainer's Edict
2 Terror
3 Cunning Wish
1 Deep Analysis
2 Upheaval
2 Syncopate
//Lands: 24
4 Tainted Isle
4 Darkwater Catacombs
8 Island
8 Swamp
//Sideboard: 15
2 Nevinyrral's Disk
2 Coffin Purge
2 Annul
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Boomerang
1 Divert
1 Envelop
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Alter Reality
1 Magical Hack
1 Grim Reminder
1 Skeletal Scrying
The Wishboard adds a lot of tools to put on Isochron for different matchups.
Grim Reminder is weird tech I think could be very relevant in this controlling format due to the small set of overpowered cards that would get reused in most builds.
Hymn will be hard to cast on turn 2 with this manabase but is still so good that I can't see playing less than 4.
Hymn will be hard to cast on turn 2 with this manabase but is still so good that I can't see playing less than 4.
Yeah, the mana in this format is the largest hurdle. I was going to do Psychatog next, but your list looks good.
BirdsOfParadise
07-20-2021, 01:22 AM
Edit: The Arcbound creatures are from Darksteel, not Mirrodin, so they're not legal. Decklist removed.
Interesting. You probably hit something on the nail that a good disruptive aggro deck can pressure these durdly graveyard combo, prison, and very slow control decks. RackFinity sounds effective.
I wonder if UG Madness is actually good then, even if the mana is bad. Madness also has a favorable matchup vs Hymns while dodging grave hate better than all the graveyard engine decks.
//Creatures: 22
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Aquamoeba
4 Arrogant Wurm
3 Roar of the Wurm
3 Wonder
//Spells: 14
4 Careful Study
4 Circular Logic
4 Unsummon
2 Deep Analysis
//Enchantment: 2
2 Sylvan Library
//Mana: 22
4 Chrome Mox
3 Tarnished Citadel
9 Island
6 Forest
//Sideboard: 15
2 Tranquility
2 Energy Flux
2 Viridian Shaman
2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Envelop
2 Whirling Dervish
2 Krosan Reclamation
1 Sun Droplet
These colors are lacking removal, but Unsummon may be good enough tempo in a meta with pump threats (Atog, Psychatog, Nantuko Shade, pump knights, Ravager, Sliths) and cheated threats (Reanimator, Tooth & Nail).
Given how good grave hate is in this meta, I'm updating the monoblack control list I had before to have Haunting Echoes maindeck and to cut Greed (which is terrible). Coffers Control was a DTB back in Odyssey Block standard and Hymn only makes it better, so it should have potential. But I had to change the number of Swamps and Coffers in the above lists because I forgot how slow Coffers is to do anything.
//Spells: 30
4 Innocent Blood
4 Chainer's Edict
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Consume Spirit
4 Mutilate
3 Diabolic Tutor
3 Mind Sludge
2 Promise of Power
1 Haunting Echoes
1 Skeletal Scrying
//Artifacts: 3
3 Nevinyrral's Disk
//Lands: 28
3 Cabal Coffers
25 Swamp
//Sideboard: 15
4 Rancid Earth
2 Scrabbling Claws
1 Haunting Echoes
1 Mind Sludge
1 Gravestorm
1 Gloom
1 Deathgrip
1 Grim Reminder
1 Drain Life
1 Ivory Tower
1 Platinum Angel
The maindeck is a bit heavy on creature removal, so depending on the meta it may be better with some removal moved to the SB and other pieces moved to the main. I build assuming sideboards are used.
BirdsOfParadise
07-22-2021, 01:05 AM
@ESG: I agree, the mana is a challenge in this rotation. It's hard to build even a two-color deck.
@FTW: Yeah, I can't see why both MBC and UG Madness wouldn't be contenders. As for Unsummon, it's also a line of defense against turn-one Hypnotic Specters! And I agree that Energy Flux belongs in blue sideboards.
On the basis of my solitaire games, I would say that the mono-black disruptive aggro deck concept (Dark Ritual / The Rack / Order of the Ebon Hand / Nantuko Shade / Hymn to Tourach / Hypnotic Specter) is rock solid. It is very proactive and can put on lots of pressure even when it draws too many spells (since they're all cheap and you have Dark Ritual) and when it draws too many lands (since Nantuko Shade and the pump knights are mana sinks). Occasionally you'll mulligan down to five and still cruise to a win by casting back-to-back Hymns.
The TerraGeddon deck is also powerful and can do really unfair things with mana. I gradually modified the FTW list for my gauntlet --- in the four-drop slot I put in four Phantom Centaur, displacing Erhnam Djinns and Mystic Enforcers. Terravore didn't really pull much weight because the format has no fetch lands. It's only good after Armageddon, and the ideal play of curving T3 Terravore into T4 Armageddon is often impossible because Terravore would be a 0/0. I'm going to put in Troll Ascetic. Timberland Ruins also didn't impress. The deck didn't rely on it for white mana as often as it needed an untapped land, and the trick of going to the graveyard to feed Terravore barely came up. Some combination of Forest / Tarnished Citadel / Chromatic Sphere is what I'd use over 4 Timberland Ruins --- at least 1 Tarnished Citadel for sure.
I really wanted to make something out of Skeleton Shard, and here's where that list is now:
Edit: The Arcbound creatures are from Darksteel, not Mirrodin, so they're not legal. Decklist removed.
The TerraGeddon deck is also powerful and can do really unfair things with mana. I gradually modified the FTW list for my gauntlet --- in the four-drop slot I put in four Phantom Centaur, displacing Erhnam Djinns and Mystic Enforcers. Terravore didn't really pull much weight because the format has no fetch lands. It's only good after Armageddon, and the ideal play of curving T3 Terravore into T4 Armageddon is often impossible because Terravore would be a 0/0. I'm going to put in Troll Ascetic. Timberland Ruins also didn't impress. The deck didn't rely on it for white mana as often as it needed an untapped land, and the trick of going to the graveyard to feed Terravore barely came up. Some combination of Forest / Tarnished Citadel / Chromatic Sphere is what I'd use over 4 Timberland Ruins --- at least 1 Tarnished Citadel for sure.
Phantom Centaur is probably a better 4 drop for a black-heavy meta. Erhnam was just a flavor nod to the original Erhnamgeddon decks, and I just wanted 1 fat threat that wasn't dependent on the graveyard. Giving Forestwalk is bad vs Atog and Ravager though...
Good point, I overestimated Terravore without fetchlands or Wastelands. I added Wild Mongrel above so you can discard extra lands, especially Riftstone Portal, but Terravore is still too small. The +1/+1 from Ruins isn't enough to play a tapped land. Meanwhile Tarnished Citadel is probably fine to run in aggro, with most of the format not able to capitalize on the lifeloss. Birds and Mox are also good fixing.
Rainbow Vale is pretty funny with Winter Orb. Opponent will get your land tapped and would have to waste an untap to use it, which would leave another one of their lands tapped and just give you back the land anyway. With Geddon you also don't care.
I wonder if Call of the Herd would be better than Troll Ascetic, just for making 2 3/3s from 1 card. Troll Ascetic dodges targeted removal but not Edicts or Mutilate (big in this format), and it may be hard to leave up the 1G Regeneration cost at all times. Troll Ascetic seems good for a Verduran Enchantress deck though.
//Creatures: 24
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Llanowar Elves
3 Werebear
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Call of the Herd
4 Phantom Centaur
2 Mystic Enforcer
//Spells: 11
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Disenchant
4 Armageddon
//Enchantment: 1
1 Sylvan Library
//Artifacts: 8
4 Chrome Mox
4 Winter Orb
//Lands: 16
1 Riftstone Portal
3 Tarnished Citadel
2 Sungrass Prairie
10 Forest
//Sideboard: 15
4 Black Vise
2 Sylvan Safekeeper
2 Viridian Shaman
2 Whirling Dervish
2 Loaming Shaman
1 Tsunami
1 Sylvan Library
1 Genesis
I still like the SB plan of Black Vises vs control decks, where you can punish them with mana denial even if they have answers for the creatures.
Rainbow Vale with Winter Orb is pretty amusing. That's a nice find.
Phantom Centaur would be great in a black-heavy metagame.
Call of the Herd is resilient to Hymn, so that's another point in its favor.
BirdsOfParadise
07-23-2021, 01:03 PM
Oops! I just realized that Arcbound Ravager and Arcbound Worker are from Darksteel, not Mirrodin, so they're not legal in this rotation. They played a big role in two of the decks I was building, Mono-Black Affinity and R/b Skeleton Shard. I've removed the illegal deck lists.
Edit: Wow, and I even had Cranial Plating, which is from Fifth Dawn, in my Dark Affinity list and a couple of other drafts (I wanted to put it on Cephalid Constable in an affinity/bounce/black Vise deck). I really need to slow down and pay attention to what sets cards belong to.
Oops! I just realized that Arcbound Ravager and Arcbound Worker are from Darksteel, not Mirrodin, so they're not legal in this rotation. They played a big role in two of the decks I was building, Mono-Black Affinity and R/b Skeleton Shard. I've removed the illegal deck lists.
There must be a viable Skeleton Shard deck but maybe it's a more controlling build in blue instead of the aggressive RB stuff (difficult without Arcbounds). You can also abuse Cabal Therapy with value creatures you don't mind sacrificing.
//Spells: 16
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Chainer's Edict
4 Thirst for Knowledge
2 Fabricate
2 Syncopate
//Artifacts: 12
4 Scrabbling Claws
4 Talisman of Dominance
2 Skeleton Shard
1 Crystal Shard
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
//Artifact Creatures: 17
4 Myr Retriever
4 Bottle Gnomes
4 Solemn Simulacrum
2 Dross Scorpion
1 Triskelion
1 Duplicant
1 Platinum Angel
//Lands: 25
1 Sand Silos
4 Darkwater Catacombs
14 Swamp
6 Island
There's a lot of card advantage there through Thirst for Knowledge (pitching an artifact creature or flashback spell that can be used from the graveyard), recursion (retriever, skeleton shard), flashback spells, and value creatures. The deck can attack graveyards and recover from hellbent. Fabricate grabs silver bullets.
Dross Scorpion untaps Skeleton Shard. Lategame for every 3B spent, you can burn Bottle Gnomes to gain 3, stack an untap trigger, and get it back with Shard.
Retreiver + Shard insulate each other from removal and give lategame inevitability. If you crack Disk with both Retriever and Shard out, Retreiver will trigger to return Shard, which can return Retriever to then return more things, so you can eventually loop Disk too.
BirdsOfParadise
07-26-2021, 03:37 AM
Thanks, FTW, for keeping my Skeleton Shard hopes alive!
I’m finding that White Weenie is more than just an anti-black meta deck. It has a low curve, perfect mana, flexible removal, and a proactive game plan. The fact that half of its creatures have protection from black is an additional upside in a lot of matchups, but even against against TerraGeddon, where that’s a nonissue, White Weenie does just fine. I just took FTW’s list, swapped out Crusade for Divine Sacrament (because Crusade is now banned across all formats), threw together a sideboard of Scrabbling Claws, Jinxed Choker and CoPs, and it’s doing great.
For the TerraGeddon deck, I think there needs to be a sideboard plan against low-curve decks that don’t mind Geddon and Winter Orb so much. The mana denial is highly effective against control decks, but against aggro there needs to be something to board in. Maybe just a big 5cc value critter, if there is one.
For the Psychatog deck and any other black control deck, I’m convinced you need 4x Chainer’s Edict. It’s the flashback on that card that always wins the topdeck war. Isochron Scepter is weird — when it’s good, it’s great, but quite often it’s bad because the options are too limited in UB. About once per game, that Psychatog deck wishes it could put Chainer’s Edict on Scepter. I don’t know the answer to the dilemma of needing more/better instants and also needing more Chainer’s Edict, but right now aggro is a tough matchup for that Psychatog deck.
Random thought about that black aggro deck that ESG and FTW both posted variants of: You can put Bad Moon in the board against nonblack decks. That card seems worthy of inclusion in the maindeck if it weren’t for all the other black decks running around. Also, Braids, Cabal Minion was banned in Standard at one point IIRC, but it’s legal here. T2 Braids on the play off of a Ritual seems like it could be GG. Is Braids good in this format?
I’m finding that White Weenie is more than just an anti-black meta deck. It has a low curve, perfect mana, flexible removal, and a proactive game plan. The fact that half of its creatures have protection from black is an additional upside in a lot of matchups, but even against against TerraGeddon, where that’s a nonissue, White Weenie does just fine. I just took FTW’s list, swapped out Crusade for Divine Sacrament (because Crusade is now banned across all formats), threw together a sideboard of Scrabbling Claws, Jinxed Choker and CoPs, and it’s doing great.
Glad it's performing. White has the best removal (StP, Disenchant), best ramp (Land Tax), and very efficient threats so I thought that deck would have potential. WW was a staple for a long time and most of the key pieces are in this format! (Javelineers, Lions, anthem, knights, StP)
For the TerraGeddon deck, I think there needs to be a sideboard plan against low-curve decks that don’t mind Geddon and Winter Orb so much. The mana denial is highly effective against control decks, but against aggro there needs to be something to board in. Maybe just a big 5cc value critter, if there is one.
Good point. Against other aggro decks (especially those also running Winter Orbs and Land Tax), TerraGeddon needs to board out all Orbs and some Geddons and needs something else to bring in. The deck needs to make sure it has enough fatties to beat smaller creatures. Cutting Ernhams (4/5) probably hurt against weenie, where you could give Forestwalk to a 1/1 and then attack through 2 knights (5 toughness). I think that's how that deck normally handled matchups where Geddon was bad. Geddon+Orb then ensures opponent can't get anything bigger than Djinn.
I wouldn't go below 6 4-drops main (4 Phantom Centaur + 2 Mystic Enforcer). SB could have Genesis (hardcast as 4/4, or discard to Mongrel for grind). Could also bring in Ernhams and maybe even Serra Angel for evasion.
Random thought about that black aggro deck that ESG and FTW both posted variants of: You can put Bad Moon in the board against nonblack decks. That card seems worthy of inclusion in the maindeck if it weren’t for all the other black decks running around. Also, Braids, Cabal Minion was banned in Standard at one point IIRC, but it’s legal here. T2 Braids on the play off of a Ritual seems like it could be GG. Is Braids good in this format?
I feared Bad Moon would be a bad meta choice due to how many other decks may be running black creatures. But 4 SB could be good.
Braids is strong but needs support to break the parity. I see two possible directions:
1) Slow control with recursion elements (Nether Spirit and Crucible of Worlds are out of the format though)
2) TurboVise deck to punish opponent keeping cards in hand
The last one has better support in this format, but unfortunately opposes running cards like Hymn and Hippie that you would normally want in a Dark Ritual deck.
Recursion could be done through Myr Retriever + Skeleton Shard. Heck, you could just go -2 Syncopate +2 Braids in my above Shard deck.
For the Psychatog deck and any other black control deck, I’m convinced you need 4x Chainer’s Edict. It’s the flashback on that card that always wins the topdeck war. Isochron Scepter is weird — when it’s good, it’s great, but quite often it’s bad because the options are too limited in UB. About once per game, that Psychatog deck wishes it could put Chainer’s Edict on Scepter. I don’t know the answer to the dilemma of needing more/better instants and also needing more Chainer’s Edict, but right now aggro is a tough matchup for that Psychatog deck.
For Scepter, aside from the usual targets of Counterspell or Ghastly Demise, the idea was to use Cunning Wish to grab a hate spell that blows out that matchup and imprint that.
With multiple Scepters there's some tech like taking Blue Elemental Blast on one and Alter Reality on the 2nd. Then you can counter any colored spells and vindicate any colored permanents. That's all slow and durdly though vs aggro. The deck probably needs Mutilates to keep creatures in check.
Esper colors would be ideal for white's better removal, but the mana is terrible. ESG's Scepter list should be better than mine, especially against aggro, due to StP and Wrath.
BirdsOfParadise
07-27-2021, 04:36 AM
I tested Mono-Black Control with two or three Culling Scales in conjunction with Nevinyrral’s Disk. It was pretty devastating. In addition to mopping up creatures and Chrome Moxes, those cards were letting MBC breeze past nasty things like Winter Orb and Lifeforce. If the opponent tries to “play into” Culling Scales to maintain tempo, they wreck themselves, and if they hold back their plays until the Scales expire, their slowness plays into MBC’s hands (that is, into a Mind Sludge). I’ll be keeping Culling Scales in my version of the deck.
I tested Mono-Black Control with two or three Culling Scales in conjunction with Nevinyrral’s Disk. It was pretty devastating. In addition to mopping up creatures and Chrome Moxes, those cards were letting MBC breeze past nasty things like Winter Orb and Lifeforce. If the opponent tries to “play into” Culling Scales to maintain tempo, they wreck themselves, and if they hold back their plays until the Scales expire, their slowness plays into MBC’s hands (that is, into a Mind Sludge). I’ll be keeping Culling Scales in my version of the deck.
Good tech to beat the attempts to hate out control with enchantments, artifacts and color hate. What did you cut for it?
BirdsOfParadise
07-27-2021, 07:12 PM
A Promise of Power and a Diabolic Tutor, which may or may not be good cuts. I have no experience with the original Odyssey-block MBC, but a few matches against proactive decks in our current rotation led me to feel that MBC was against the ropes a lot, needing help in the pre-Cabal Coffers phase of the game and not in the super-powerful endgame.
I’m excited about this rotation (can you tell?), so it’s been fun to playtest, but my sample size of games is tiny, so take what I say with a large grain of salt :-)
A Promise of Power and a Diabolic Tutor, which may or may not be good cuts. I have no experience with the original Odyssey-block MBC, but a few matches against proactive decks in our current rotation led me to feel that MBC was against the ropes a lot, needing help in the pre-Cabal Coffers phase of the game and not in the super-powerful endgame.
I’m excited about this rotation (can you tell?), so it’s been fun to playtest, but my sample size of games is tiny, so take what I say with a large grain of salt :-)
That sounds like a good change if it was struggling with aggressive decks.
The Odyssey block version ran a high curve and 0 Scales. It used only Skeletal Scrying for card draw (Promise is in Mirrodin block). I thought Promise would be an improvement in this meta since it can draw 5 for 5 mana, isn't slowed down by gravehate (Scrying could be easier to hate out), and can Entwined late game as a backup win condition. However Odyssey block didn't have low cmc noncreature threats like Black Vise, The Rack and Winter Orb. Culling Scales is very good against that. Perhaps the endgame is already powerful enough without more card draw.
I thought this rotation would be dry, but it turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected!
BirdsOfParadise
07-30-2021, 11:01 PM
*** AUGUST 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Tenth Edition
(*) Urza's Saga
(*) Urza's Legacy
(*) Urza's Destiny
(*) Time Spiral (including Timeshifted cards)
(*) NOT Planar Chaos (in this randomly generated timeline, it has not yet been released)
(*) NOT Future Sight (in this randomly generated timeline, it has not yet been released)
Banned are the following cards:
Gaea's Cradle
Grim Monolith
Fluctuator
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
Tinker
Time Spiral
Tolarian Academy
Yawgmoth's Bargain
Yawgmoth's Will
BirdsOfParadise
08-03-2021, 02:00 AM
WB Enduring Renewal
\\ 8 Primary component
4 Academy Rector
4 Enduring Renewal
\\ 11 Secondary component
4 Ornithopter
4 Cathodion
3 Priest of Gix
\\ 8 Tertiary component
4 Nantuko Husk
3 Phyrexian Ghoul
1 Fallen Ideal
\\ 10 Protection, recursion, utility
4 Duress
3 Mother of Runes
3 Unearth
\\ 23 Mana
2 Mind Stone
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Plains
4 Swamp
2 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Phyrexian Tower
2 Gemstone Mine
// 15 Sideboard
2 Pithing Needle
4 Defense Grid
4 Tormod's Crypt
1 Absolute Law
1 Worship
2 Disenchant
1 Aura of Silence
Fallen Ideal: Can be fetched with Academy Rector, so there are additional virtual copies.
Unearth: Nifty card here. Can be:
- Recursion for lost combo pieces
- A Dark Ritual (use a sacrificer creature to sac Cathodion or Priest of Gix, then bring that back with Unearth; you've just cast Dark Ritual)
- Cycled. The two-mana slot is pretty empty, so look ahead and cycle it proactively if you need to see another card.
Mind Stone: Not too great, the two-mana slot is empty, and this helps you develop faster while still being able to cycle when you're mana flooded.
Flagstones of Trokair: You're not failing to notice anything; there's no synergy within the deck, but I think the format has land destruction.
The deck can goldfish on turn 4, but turn 5 seems to be the average. I'm not sure if that's good, bad or medium in this format. (Probably bad or medium.) It has Duress and Mother of Runes for protection. There's also a lot of redundancy among combo pieces, so even in the face of removal, it's hard not to eventually draw the combo if the game drags on. It can do a certain amount of creature combat, and if the opponent attacks into Academy Rector, they may be speeding up your clock.
SuiBlack could be good with Dark Ritual, disruption, and all the fast creatures.
//Spells: 16
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
4 Distress
4 Terror
//Creatures: 24
4 Festering Goblin
4 Lurking Jackals
4 Dauthi Slayer
4 Skittering Skirge
2 Flesh Reaver
4 Phyrexian Negator
2 Lurking Evil
//Lands: 20
20 Swamp
//Sideboard: 15
2 Faceless Butcher
2 Withered Wretch
2 Planar Void
2 Deathmark
2 Cruel Edict
2 Sudden Spoiling
2 Phyrexian Reclamation
1 Loxodon Warhammer
Sangrophage, Plague Sliver and Steel Golem are also options. Reaver might be too suicidal.
There's some small synergy with playing Lurking enchantments after Skittering Skirge to dodge the sacrifice. Negator can sacrifice Goblin to shrink a blocker, unused Lurking enchantment, Skirge (to allow more creature casts), extra lands, or itself. Negator can also be boarded out vs bad matchups, but it should be very punishing vs combo and control.
There might be a decent Smallpox Rack deck too. I built this around 2-for-1s.
//Spells: 16
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
4 Smallpox
4 Stupor
//Creatures: 15
4 Ravenous Rats
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Phyrexian Rager
3 Bone Shredder
//Artifacts: 7
4 The Rack
3 Powder Keg
//Enchantments: 2
2 Phyrexian Reclamation
//Lands: 20
4 Desert
16 Swamp
//Sideboard: 15
4 Rain of Tears
3 Planar Void
2 Deathmark
2 Faceless Butcher
1 Powder Keg
1 Oppression
1 Persecute
1 Loxodon Warhammer
This one packs a late game recursion package with Phyrexian Reclamation, which can reuse the ETB creatures and negate the drawback of losing creatures to Smallpox.
Desert can team up with small bodies to kill bigger attackers.
Welder MUD is also interesting. Even without Academy, Tinker or Grim Monolith.
//Creatures: 13
4 Goblin Welder
4 Metalworker
3 Masticore
1 Stuffy Doll
1 Platinum Angel
//Spells: 4
4 Gamble
//Artifacts: 21
4 Thran Turbine
4 Chromatic Star
4 Mind Stone
4 Worn Powerstone
1 Temporal Aperture
1 Ring of Gix
1 Phyrexian Processor
1 Jayemdae Tome
1 Memory Jar
//Lands: 22
4 Desert
4 Quicksand
8 Mountain
3 Ghitu Encampment
3 Molten Slagheap
//Sideboard: 15
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Defense Grid
3 Dodecapod
2 Powder Keg
2 Earthquake
1 Feldon's Cane
1 Karn, Silver Golem
Again, Desert can do some work on defense next to Quicksand & Ghitu Encampment, until the bigger engines are online.
Thran Turbine mana can be used on Masticore, Aperture, Processor, Tome, Mind Stone, or to charge Slagheap.
Possibly this should just go harder on mana (+4 Thran Dynamo) and become a Wildfire deck to more aggressively lock opponents out of the game.
Alternately the deck could go for fatties like Covetous Dragon and Phyrexian Colossus+Voltaic Key.
I wonder if Turbo JarGrim is fast enough to go off before creatures kill it...
//Spells: 18
4 Gamble
4 Duress
4 Dark Ritual
2 Rain of Filth
4 Windfall
//Enchantments: 4
4 Megrim
//Artifacts: 14
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Chromatic Star
2 Defense Grid
4 Memory Jar
//Creatures: 4
4 Goblin Welder
//Lands: 20
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Molten Slagheap
4 Sulfurous Springs
3 Underground River
3 Shivan Reef
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Gemstone Caverns
//Sideboard: 15
2 Defense Grid
2 Distress
2 Snap
2 Pyroclasm
3 Powder Keg
4 Empty the Warrens
BirdsOfParadise
08-04-2021, 07:31 PM
Re: banning lots of things
Yes. I may have gone overboard. In past rotations I’ve tried to keep the banned list concise, and I thought of some shorter versions of this one. At one point it was just Grim Monolith, Yawgmoth’s Will, and Fluctuator... and I wasn’t even sure if the Fluctuator deck was real. I think the true villains of Urza-block Standard weren’t the engine cards like Memory Jar but rather the fast mana, which mostly wasn’t from the Urza block (Mana Vault, Lotus Petal, Mox Diamond, Grim Monolith). With those gone, I figured that even Tolarian Academy was safe. Then at the last minute I chickened out and just banned everything.
Next time a lot of bans are on the table, I’m considering temporarily adopting a points system — nothing is banned, some cards cost 1–7 points, and a deck is allowed up to 7 points. That may feel like Vintage, though, with players hoping to draw restricted singleton cards.
Edit: Cool decks, FTW! Funny how Ritual + Specter + Rack is legal again this time. I’m really pleased to see Thran Turbine in a list.
In the SB of the JarGrim list, Ratchet Bomb is illegal, but you probably just meant Powder Keg like in the other lists.
Yes, that was meant to be Powder Keg.
It's funny we have Ritual + Specter + Rack again, all from different printings (Saga, 10th, Timeshifted) instead of 4th edition. It'll be interesting to see if it holds up without Hymn. The deck really wanted another good turn 1 Ritual play. Unfortunately Phyrexian Arena is in 9th but not 10th. Instead I had to go grindier with ETB creatures and Reclamation.
For the artifact deck, I thought of a couple variations but settled on Welder + Metalworker. Voltaic Key seems too weak without Grim Monolith or Mana Vault or Tinker (to get Phyrexian Colossus, which Key untaps). Key works with Thran Dynamo, but that card is a lot worse without sol lands + Mox + Monolith to accelerate it on turn 2. Turn 4 Dynamo + Key seemed too slow to matter. So I tried to make Thran Turbine work instead. It helps pay some of those big activation costs like Phyrexian Processor and Jayemdae Tome, or smaller costs like Mind Stone and Molten Slagheap. Still, I think the current incarnation of that deck is too slow and uninteractive. Aggro and combo will race it. I'll have to come back to it and see if there's a way to speed it up and make it less durdly.
Those explosive Urza's block decks get a lot slower without Tempest block ramp (Lotus Petal, Mox Diamond, sol lands) or 5th edition ramp (Mana Vault) or 6th edition (Diamonds, Mirage tutors). Then having more Urza's block ramp knocks them down even more. Since Urza's Block is 3/5 of the legal sets, having those mana engines slowed down really affects the format. Maybe that just means fair aggro and midrange will shine over flashier cards.
Monoblack tribal zombies is a thing.
//Zombies: 24
4 Festering Goblin
4 Withered Wretch
4 Sangrophage
4 Lord of the Undead
4 Undead Warchief
2 Graveborn Muse
2 Twisted Abomination
//Equipment: 2
2 Loxodon Warhammer
//Spells: 10
4 Duress
3 Terror
3 Tendrils of Corruption
//Lands: 24
24 Swamp
//Sideboard: 15
2 Planar Void
2 Phyrexian Reclamation
2 Eastern Paladin
2 Deathmark
3 Cruel Edict
3 Distress
1 Sudden Spoiling
If Future Sight was in rotation, we'd have Korlash too.
BirdsOfParadise
08-07-2021, 04:19 PM
WR Enduring Renewal
\\ 39 Spells
4 Ornithopter
3 Children of Korlis
4 Greater Gargadon
4 Goblin Welder
4 Chromatic Star
4 Mind Stone
3 Prismatic Lens
4 Cathodion
4 Academy Rector
3 Phyrexian Processor
1 Enduring Renewal
1 Sneak Attack
\\ 21 Lands
4 Battlefield Forge
3 Flagstones of Trokair
3 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Plains
7 Mountain
Here’s my new version of the Enduring Renewal deck. With red instead of black, you get a one-mana sacrifice outlet (Greater Gargadon) instead of three-mana ones (Nantuko Husk and Phyrexian Ghoul). Gargadon doesn’t let you go infinite, but it’s still big. Red also gives Goblin Welder.
There’s also a spiffy combo that’s unique to this format rotation: Children of Korlis and Phyrexian Processor. Pay as much life as you like!
Edit: A card I didn’t see before is Extruder. So it is possible to keep the combo mono-white, but it’s clunky with all the four-drops.
There are some nice combos there.
I was thinking about Sneak and Show options (Sneak Attack+Show and Tell), but there aren't that many game-winning creatures in the format to justify it.
It's probably better to play Show and Tell with Reanimator (Exhume, Frantic Search) to cheat out creatures you want to see permanently (Akroma, Angel of Wrath, Verdant Force).
Then have Sneak Attack in a separate deck with creatures you only want out for 1 turn (Crater Hellion, Nicol Bolas, Bloodfire Colossus, Bogardan Hellkite, Krosan Cloudscraper). The synergy with Sneak Attack and Greater Gargadon is good too. Sneak Attack + Palinchron + 6 lands is also infinite mana, so there's probably some deck there. There's also a cute trick you can do with Curfew to return the creature after attacking, so Curfew can be used both defensively (remove enemy creature) and to reuse a creature.
EDIT: UB Reanimator
//Spells: 22
4 Duress
4 Exhume
4 Miscalculation
4 Frantic Search
4 Show and Tell
2 Dread Return
//Creatures: 18
4 Looter Il-Kor
2 Hidden Horror
3 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
3 Verdant Force
2 Avatar of Woe
2 Reya Dawnbringer
2 Deep-Sea Kraken
//Lands: 20
4 Underground River
4 Dreadship Reef
4 Terramorphic Expanse
5 Swamp
3 Island
There's sort of an Enchantress deck in the format
//Lands: 24
4 Serra's Sanctum
4 Brushland
4 Terramorphic Expanse
6 Forest
4 Plains
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Phyrexian Tower
//Creatures: 10
4 Argothian Enchantress
4 Academy Rector
2 Stuffy Doll
//Enchantments: 26
4 Exploration
4 Fertile Ground
4 Pacifism
4 Story Circle
2 Pariah
1 Martyr's Cause
1 Sacred Mesa
1 Mobilization
1 Remembrance
1 Opalescence
1 Opal Titan
2 Worship
//Sideboard: 15
1 Absolute Law
1 Absolute Grace
1 Enduring Renewal
2 Multani's Presence
2 Defense of the Heart
3 Compost
3 Aura of Silence
2 Replenish
It draws towards a lategame Prison from Story Circle, Worship + tokens, or Stuffy Doll + Pariah.
There's a silly combo with Remembrance + Academy Rector where you can get more Rectors (even sacrificing them to Martyr's Cause) to tutor up more silver bullet enchantments, especially Worship + Mobilization.
You could also try aggro-Enchantress with all the Enchantment creatures
Opal Caryatid
Hidden Herd
Hidden Gibbons
Hidden Guerillas
Opal Guardian
Opal Archangel
Rancor
Spirit Loop
Yavimaya Enchantress
BirdsOfParadise
08-12-2021, 12:50 PM
Very creative! I noticed Argothian Enchantress and Serra's Sanctum were in the card pool, but didn't think of a way to make anything of it.
Two decks I came up with:
*** GR Tokens ***
// 2 Artifact
2 Loxodon Warhammer
// 28 Creature
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Greater Gargadon
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Priest of Titania
4 Mogg War Marshal
4 Yavimaya Elder
3 Deranged Hermit
3 Siege-Gang Commander
// 5 Enchantment
3 Fecundity
2 Pattern of Rebirth
// 1 Instant
1 Naturalize
// 2 Sorcery
1 Arc Lightning
1 Overrun
// 22 Land
4 Karplusan Forest
2 Gemstone Mine
2 Fungal Reaches
1 Kher Keep
1 Pendelhaven
9 Forest
3 Mountain
// 15 Sideboard
2 Pithing Needle
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Dodecapod
3 Compost
3 Carpet of Flowers
2 Ancient Grudge
This deck aims to establish and exploit numerical superiority.
*** Rebel Academy ***
// 2 Artifact
2 Loxodon Warhammer
// 27 Creature
4 Icatian Javelineers
4 Knight of the Holy Nimbus
3 Amrou Scout
3 Outrider en-Kor
2 Defiant Vanguard
3 Academy Rector
1 Cho-Manno, Revolutionary
4 Mother of Runes
3 Serra Avenger
// 5 Enchantment
1 Glorious Anthem
1 Opposition
1 Worship
1 Aura of Silence
1 Treachery
// 1 Instant
1 Disenchant
// 25 Land
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Calciform Pools
4 Flagstones of Trokair
13 Plains
// 11 Sideboard + 4 Empty SB slots
4 Tormod's Crypt
1 Rule of Law
1 Absolute Grace
1 Absolute Law
3 Disenchant
1 Arena
This deck is built around a Rebels theme and an Academy Rector theme. Outriders en-Kor should punch above its weight class in this deck by making combat a headache for the opponent, threatening to redirect damage to Cho-Manno or an Academy Rector.
Edit: I think I'll put some Pithing Needle in the empty sideboard slots of the Rebel Academy deck --- it's already a decent sideboard card, and naming Knight of the Holy Nimbus is so nifty.
Nice creature decks.
I was tinkering around with Elves for a bit, but your GR tokens deck looks better. Mono G Elves lacked much interaction with the opponent. Just mana ramp into Deranged Hermit/Thelonite Hermit into Overrun. Linear and uninteractive, losing hard to board wipes.
I didn't realize how many tribal decks would be in this set. Rebels, Zombies, Elves... Time Spiral + 10th edition has a surprising amount of tribal support.
Goblins is there too. Probably splashing green for Fecundity, since Ringleader is not in the format.
//Goblins: 27
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Mogg War Marshal
2 Thick-Skinned Goblin
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin King
1 Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician
3 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Goblin Marshal
//Enchantments: 3
3 Fecundity
//Spells: 7
4 Assault // Battery
2 Incinerate
1 Arc Lightning
//Lands: 23
4 Karplusan Forest
4 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Fungal Reaches
1 Pendelhaven
1 Forest
12 Mountain
//Sideboard: 15
4 Tormod's Crypt
2 Naturalize
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Guerrilla Tactics
3 Disorder
1 Goblin Offensive
Edit: But Elf-Opposition has more interaction
//Elves: 31
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Greenseeker
4 Priest of Titania
4 Joiner Adept
4 Multani's Acolyte
4 Elvish Champion
3 Thornscape Battlemage
3 Thelonite Hermit
3 Deranged Hermit
//Enchantments: 6
3 Fecundity
3 Opposition
//Spells: 1
1 Overrun
//Lands: 22
1 Pendelhaven
4 Yavimaya Coast
4 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
9 Forest
//Sideboard: 15
3 Elvish Lyrist
2 Viridian Shaman
2 Gaea's Herald
2 Pendelhaven Elder
4 Miscalculation
2 Treachery
The mana's a bit tight with both Rofellos and Cradle banned, but it should still have legs.
BirdsOfParadise
08-16-2021, 03:41 AM
Nice, I like the tribal decks.
This rotation seems to have a lot to explore. Perhaps all possible versions of Random Standard do if one has the time and attention. I think it would be great fun to see real matches. (Unfortunately that’s off the table for me for some time yet.)
I was thinking there must be something with Mystical Teachings, Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, Power Sink, Miscalculation, and storage lands. Likely at least one splash, maybe white for Condemn or green for Mystic Snake. Both colors have Disenchant/Naturalize. I also wonder if Morphling has a home, but in this deck I’d imagine that Teferi steals his thunder.
There must be a Wrath of God control deck. Conceivably it’s the Mystical Teachings deck.
Also, here some nonsense:
Desert
Vesuva
Caltrops
Angel’s Trumpet
Noetic Scales
Stuffy Doll
I was thinking there must be something with Mystical Teachings, Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, Power Sink, Miscalculation, and storage lands. Likely at least one splash, maybe white for Condemn or green for Mystic Snake. Both colors have Disenchant/Naturalize. I also wonder if Morphling has a home, but in this deck I’d imagine that Teferi steals his thunder.
There must be a Wrath of God control deck. Conceivably it’s the Mystical Teachings deck.
Good question. I was so focused on trying to break Urza's block combo that I missed the obvious UW control. I thought we were missing spot removal and Counterspells, but Condemn and Miscalculation are in the format. Ancestral Vision should give enough raw card draw that any lategame engine should top it off. Mystical Teachings is one option.
//Core Control Shell: 22
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Condemn
4 Telling Time
4 Miscalculation
2 Disenchant
4 Wrath of God
//Teachings Package: 12
4 Mystical Teachings
2 Rewind
2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Temporal Isolation
1 Wipe Away
1 Cancel
1 Spell Burst
//Lands: 26
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Adarkar Wastes
2 Calciform Pools
2 Dreadship Reef
1 Swamp
5 Island
5 Plains
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Faerie Conclave
1 Urza's Factory
//Sideboard: 15
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Quash
1 Scour
1 Tempest of Light
1 Return to Dust
1 Annul
1 Remove Soul
1 Flashfreeze
1 Hibernation
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Beacon of Immortality
1 Power Sink
1 Draining Whelk
This deck plays at instant speed (except for Wrath and Vision). It can play "draw go", hold up counters, and then optimize use of EOT mana with draw spells, Mystical Teachings, cycling, storage lands, and eventually Urza's Factory. Rewind's untap allows you to play Teachings or Teferi afterwards for improved tempo. An eventual lategame win-state is Teferi prison + Spell Burst, which can uncounterably counter all their spells as long as you have a lot of mana built up. If the 2/xs and Teferi beatdown don't get there, postboard you can win by decking (Stroke X=60 or Beacon loop).
Temporal Isolation is a Teachings-tutorable out to cards like Stuffy Doll, which are otherwise very hard to deal with preboard. SB Return to Dust can exile it.
Morphling was rules-banned after they removed damage stacking, so even in Random Standard he won't really play out as Superman anymore. Probably not worth it.
Another option in UW is to play Momentary Blink + Flicker with ETB creatures. Most of the good ETB creatures have Echo, which is a nonbo with blink, so I went with Teachings instead.
Cool decks! I've been too tied up this month with other responsibilites to brew up anything here, but I like the environment. I think the bans were generally warranted. I played during Saga, and it was a wild time. I liked it, but brokenness was everywhere. Building without a number of those cards in the format makes things interesting.
BirdsOfParadise
08-29-2021, 04:04 PM
Cool decks! I've been too tied up this month with other responsibilites to brew up anything here, but I like the environment. I think the bans were generally warranted. I played during Saga, and it was a wild time. I liked it, but brokenness was everywhere. Building without a number of those cards in the format makes things interesting.
I appreciate the feedback! I'm never too sure about the ban list.
Good luck with the stuff you have going on. Maybe we'll catch you next rotation.
BirdsOfParadise
08-30-2021, 06:57 PM
*** SEPTEMBER 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Classic Sixth Edition
(*) Onslaught
(*) Legions
(*) Scourge
(*) Theros
(*) Born of the Gods
(*) NOT Journey into Nyx (in this randomly generated timeline, it has not yet been released)
Banned cards:
Flash
Vampiric Tutor
I see a lot of Tribal in this block.
Elves
//Core Elves: 28
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Birchlore Rangers
4 Elvish Vanguard
4 Wirewood Hivemaster
4 Wirewood Herald
4 Gempalm Strider
4 Tribal Forcemage
//Spells: 5
4 Worldly Tutor
1 Bow of Nylea
//Silver Bullets: 4
1 Taunting Elf
1 Wellwisher
1 Heedless One
1 Voice of the Woods
//Lands: 23
3 Nykthos, Shrine of Nyx
20 Forest
//Sideboard: 15
3 Caller of the Claw
2 Elvish Scrapper
1 Bloodline Shaman
1 Ambush Commander
1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
1 Wirewood Savage
No lords or card draw, but the anthem effects and 8 tutors+toolbox should give it some good lines of play.
Zombies
//Zombies: 24
4 Festering Goblin
2 Carrion Feeder
4 Withered Wretch
4 Zombie Master
4 Undead Warchief
2 Graveborn Muse
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
//Enchantments: 2
1 Oversold Cemetary
1 Whip of Erebos
//Spells: 10
4 Thoughtseize
2 Smother
2 Bile Blight
2 Hero's Downfall
//Lands: 24
4 Unholy Grotto
20 Swamp
//Sideboard: 15
2 Stupor
2 Noxious Ghoul
2 Vengeful Dead
3 Perish
3 Dread of Night
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Call to the Grave
1 Necrosavant
Good disruption, good lords, good midrange plan. Lots of SB options in black.
There must be a combo deck, but I don't see it yet. A lot of enablers but no acceleration (Dark Ritual, Mana Vault, Brainstorm etc) to glue it together.
Storm:
Tendrils of Agony
Mind's Desire
Brain Freeze
Doomsday
Infernal Contract
Mystical Tutor
Thoughtseize
Counterspell
Chain of Vapor
Recall
Polluted Delta
Bloodstained Mire
There must be something here. Returning to it later.
BirdsOfParadise
09-10-2021, 08:22 PM
I agree, those tribal decks look good. I would also expect Goblins to be good, and possibly even Soldiers, too. Soldiers may have been underwhelming when Onslaught block was in Standard, but Theros helps a lot: Brimaz, King of Oreskos is power creeped and plays well with Catapult Squad and/or Daru Warchief. Soldier of the Pantheon probably also helps.
The color hosers are nuts. Perish, Dread of Night, and Light of Day are all crushing against mono-color tribal.
Wrath of God is legal, so tribal decks definitely won’t be the only competitors.
I looked at the entire card spoiler and didn’t find anything to make the Storm deck good. Someone more clever than me might solve that puzzle, though :-)
Things I like:
Dawn Elemental and devotion to white. Too bad devotion to white seems kind of pointless, unless I missed something.
Purphoros, God of the Forge and Goblin Warrens. (RW Goblins with Enlightened Tutor? Leave it to me to take a good deck, add extra colors, take away win conditions, and make it reliant on a shaky combo.)
Edit: Maybe Purphoros Goblins can do crazy things. I haven’t really done the math, but in addition to the cards mentioned, you’ve got Skirk Prospector, Goblin Sharpshooter, and Siege-Gang Commander.
Wrath of God is legal, so tribal decks definitely won’t be the only competitors.
Yeah, due to Wrath and friends I started with the 2 tribes that could best recover from it: Elves (Caller of the Clawx3 with 8 Tutors) and Zombies (Oversold Cemetery, Unholy Grotto). Zombie Master protects from most mass removal but not Wrath of God! The other tribes should have potential too.
I looked at the entire card spoiler and didn’t find anything to make the Storm deck good. Someone more clever than me might solve that puzzle, though :-)
I think the trick may be in playing a UB control deck that ramps to 6 lands and then casts Doomsday into some lethal pile with Mind's Desire and Tendrils of Agony, but I don't see it yet. 0 Rituals, 0 1 mana cantrip, 0 Baubles. The only real advantage here is it can play 4xMind's Desire (for Desire into Desire), which has not been legal in any format for 99% of Magic's history.
Edit: Maybe Purphoros Goblins can do crazy things. I haven’t really done the math, but in addition to the cards mentioned, you’ve got Skirk Prospector, Goblin Sharpshooter, and Siege-Gang Commander.
Purphoros might be the missing touch. The Goblins shell I had before felt a bit lacking. Ringleader and Matron are out, but Goblin Recruiter is in 6th!
//Goblins: 32
4 Skirk Prospector
4 Warbreak Trumpeter
4 Goblin Recruiter
4 Goblin Piledriver
2 Sparksmith
1 Skirk Drill Sergeant
4 Gempalm Incinerator
4 Goblin King
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Goblin Warchief
3 Siege-Gang Commander
//Enchantments: 4
1 Goblin Warrens
3 Purphoros, God of the Forge
//Lands: 24
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
22 Mountain
//Sideboard: 15
2 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Goblin Pyromancer
1 Skirk Fire Marshal
1 Goblin Warrens
1 Sulfuric Vortex
2 Boil
2 Flashfires
2 Pillage
3 Searing Blood
There's a neat trick with Skirk Drill Sergeant and Skirk Prospector if you can stack your deck with Goblin Recruiter. Sac a goblin, make R, trigger Drill Sergeant and use R to pay part of cost.
"2: Put the top card of your library onto the battlefield"
You can go Recruiter pile = Drill Sergeant, Siege-Gang, Siege-Gang, Siege-Gang, Warchief, Piledriver/King/Pyromancer (with Prospector already in play, otherwise put that in pile too)
2, sac Recruiter -> Siege-Gang
sac 3 tokens -> Siege-Gang
sac 3 tokens -> Siege-Gang
sac 3 tokens -> Warchief
3 mana -> Piledriver/King/Pyromancer -> Attack for a ton of haste damage
If you already have Purphoros or Sharpshooter in play, you also get a ton of damage triggers.
A simpler recruiter pile (for turn 2 Recruiter, if 2 more mana in hand) = Warchief, Siege-Gang, Piledriver
T2 Recruiter. T3 Warchief. T4 Siege-Gang with haste. T5 haste Piledriver with mana up for Siege-Gang ability.
Tutoring for Gempalms or Sparksmith can also be used to control opponent's board.
BirdsOfParadise
09-12-2021, 06:26 PM
Sweet deck. Just as all I wanted out of last rotation was to get Goblin Welder and War Barge to work, all I want now is Goblin Sharpshooter, Goblin Warrens, and two more goblins in play.
Like you said, there's always UW control.
Because of the lack of cantrips and card draw in this format, I went for a silly prison deck instead of traditional control.
Zur's Weirding + Words of Worship
Replace 1 draw with gain 5, then pay 2 to cancel opponent's draw step (or skip life gain and make opponent pay 2). You keep draining life, opponent never draws again, and opponent will mill out before you.
As a bonus, you can get Eternal Dragon from graveyard and beat down.
//Lands: 25
1 Temple of the False God
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Flooded Strand
8 Island
8 Plains
//Enchantments: 7
3 Words of Worship
3 Zur's Weirding
1 Aurification
//Spells: 25
4 Enlightened Tutor
4 Counterspell
4 Power Sink
2 Renewed Faith
2 Wing Shards
4 Wrath of God
1 Desertion
1 Plea for Guidance
1 Akroma's Vengeance
1 Recall
1 Decree of Justice
//Creatures: 2
2 Eternal Dragon
//Artifacts: 1
1 Jayemdae Tome
//Sideboard: 15
3 Revoke Existence
1 Serenity
1 Cursed Totem
1 Meekstone
1 Light of Day
1 Warmth
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Insight
2 Gainsay
2 Tariff
1 Glare of Heresy
I didn't feel satisfied with the above deck's ability to stabilize against all the tribal aggro, especially due to the lack of 1-2 mana cantrips to curve into turn 4 Wrath. Wing Shards is a thing, but opponent can play around it by not casting spells precombat and then sacrificing their smallest creature (making it worse than spot removal like Exile). So it would be high variance, and really relies on countering key cards until it can wipe the board.
Then I realized you could just play Turbo Weirding and commit harder to the combo, in a tap-out control deck instead of a reactive deck. Howling Mine is UW control's cheapest draw engine. It also speeds up the Weirding kill and gives Words more text outside the combo.
UW Turbo Weirding Prison
//Lands: 25
1 Temple of the False God
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Flooded Strand
8 Island
8 Plains
//Enchantments and Artifacts: 18
4 Pacifism
4 Howling Mine
4 Words of Worship
4 Zur's Weirding
1 Aurification
1 Future Sight
//Spells: 15
4 Enlightened Tutor
4 Counterspell
4 Wrath of God
1 Akroma's Vengeance
1 Plea for Guidance
1 Recall
//Creatures: 2
2 Eternal Dragon
//Sideboard: 15
1 Cursed Totem
1 Meekstone
1 Kismet
1 Force Bubble
1 Decree of Silence
1 Light of Day
1 Insight
1 Chill
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Circle of Protection: White
1 Circle of Protection: Green
1 Circle of Protection: Black
3 Revoke Existence
This build has more lines of prison play.
Pacifism provides more early defense.
Howling Mine + ETutor + Plea + quad-laser draws into the combo sooner.
Future Sight allows you to ignore Weirding lock and keep playing cards from the top.
Recall lets you recover cards opponent "milled" with Weirding.
Preboard the deck relies a bit on Wraths, Pacifism and Aurification nullifying the creatures opponent got before you set up the Weirding lock.
Postboard the ETutor package allows SB silver bullets that shut down entire decks, so you can better manage any threats that get through the Weirding lock.
BirdsOfParadise
09-29-2021, 04:21 PM
*** OCTOBER 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Magic Origins
(*) Battle for Zendikar
(*) Oath of the Gatewatch
(*) Champions of Kamigawa
(*) Betrayers of Kamigawa
(*) NOT Saviors of Kamigawa (in this randomly generated timeline, it has not yet been released)
Banned: Umezawa's Jitte
This format looks slow and durdly so I'll start with some Eldrazi Ramp
//Creatures: 25
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Hangarback Walker
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Oblivion Sower
3 World Breaker
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
//Spells: 10
4 Spatial Contortion
4 Kodama's Reach
2 Titan's Presence
//Lands: 25
8 Forest
2 Tendo Ice Bridge
1 Wastes
4 Mage-Ring Network
4 Sanctum of Ugin
4 Spawning Bed
2 Sea Gate Wreckage
//Sideboard: 15
4 Reality Smasher
3 Warping Wail
3 Jaddi Offshoot
1 Titan's Presence
1 Elemental Bond
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
2 Natural State
The original Standard deck ran Hedron Crawler and Hedron Archive, but Kamigawa's StE and Kodama's Reach should be upgrades. Green splash also allows World Breaker tech (7 cmc triggers Sanctum).
Mono Red Aggro should keep the durdly decks honest
//Spells: 12
4 Fiery Impulse
4 Titan's Strength
4 Exquisite Firecraft
//Enchantments: 6
3 Genju of the Spires
3 Oath of Chandra
//Creatures: 20
4 Goblin Glory Chaser
4 Mage-Ring Bully
4 Abbot of Keral Keep
4 Scab-Clan Berserker
2 Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh
2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
//Lands: 22
3 Blighted Gorge
2 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
17 Mountain
//Sideboard: 15
2 Zo-Zu the Punisher
2 Reality Hemorrhage
3 Smash to Smithereens
2 Sparkmage's Gambit
2 Aura Barbs
2 Crumble to Dust
2 Devour in Flames
This has a Prowess/spells theme. The cheap spells are used to help your creatures connect for Renown triggers, while triggering Prowess for more damage. They also help flip Chandra into planeswalker mode (which deals damage from Oath). Genju of the Spires can quickly finish off a player without many blockers. It's also a cheap spell to trigger Prowess, cast off Abbot, or flip Chandra.
There's also this silly BW Legends deck
//Legends: 23
3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
3 Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
3 Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
3 Drana, Liberator of Malakir
3 Liliana, Heretical Healer
3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Hixus, Prison Warden
//Planeswalkers: 2
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
//Enchantments: 2
2 Day of Destiny
//Spells: 9
4 Grasp of Darkness
3 Ruinous Path
2 Make a Stand
//Lands: 24
4 Shambling Vent
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Caves of Koilos
2 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
2 Eiganjo Castle
4 Swamp
4 Plains
//Sideboard: 15
3 Transgress the Mind
3 Cranial Extraction
2 Stasis Snare
2 Eradicate
2 Hokori, Dust Drinker
3 Terashi's Grasp
There are a lot of playable Legends, even from Magic Origins and the Zendikar block. Day of Destiny gives everything +2/+2. I debated about a 3rd copy, but it's 4 mana and legendary. Drana's another lord effect too.
Ayli and Kalitas are both sacrifice outlets, which can help flip Liliana. Kytheon can flip from regular combat. Make a Stand makes that even easier. It also helps Drana get at least 1 trigger in. Ayli's ultimate is theoretically possible with buffed up lifelink creatures (Shambling Vent, Kalitas, Liliana).
Monoblack control
//Lands: 25
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Shambling Vent
16 Swamp
//Spells: 24
4 Distress
4 Grasp of Darkness
4 Read the Bones
4 Ruinous Path
4 Languish
2 Befoul
2 Dark Petition
//Creatures: 8
4 Hangarback Walker
3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
//Planeswalkers: 3
3 Ob Nixilis Reignited
//Sideboard: 15
3 Transgress the Mind
3 Cranial Extraction
2 Eradicate
2 Mire's Malice
3 Sickening Shoal
2 Terashi's Grasp
BirdsOfParadise
10-22-2021, 04:13 AM
Awesome decks, FTW. I’m pretty much at sea with Magic Origins and the new Zendikar block, but I like what you’ve thought of. It’s fun seeing Zo-Zu and Kokusho getting in there.
BirdsOfParadise
11-01-2021, 01:48 AM
*** NOVEMBER 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Seventh Edition
(*) Mercadian Masques
(*) Nemesis
(*) Prophecy
(*) Return to Ravnica
(*) Gatecrash
(*) NOT Dragon’s Maze (in this randomly generated timeline, it has not yet been released)
Banned: Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
For Zen block + Origins, I just took ideas from what was tier 1 in that era of Standard and made small changes. Esper Control was also very strong but I didn't bother building it, too many small decisions that are meta-dependent.
Nice to see Masques block again. Blue looks overpowered.
There must be a UW Counter Rebels.
//Lands: 25
1 Rogue's Passage
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Azorius Guildgate
7 Island
5 Plains
//Spells: 20
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
4 Memory Lapse
4 Azorius Charm
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Syncopate
//Enchantments: 2
2 Detention Sphere
//Rebels: 13
4 Ramosian Sergeant
3 Defiant Falcon
2 Defiant Vanguard
1 Rebel Informer
1 Ramosian Commander
1 Ramosian Sky Marshal
1 Jhovall Queen
//Sideboard: 15
1 Thermal Glider
1 Nightwind Glider
1 Lightbringer
1 Lawbringer
1 Ballista Squad
4 Disenchant
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Detention Sphere
1 Opportunity
1 Misdirection
1 Foil
Or just plain UW control
//Lands: 26
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Azorius Guildgate
10 Island
8 Plains
//Spells: 26
4 Brainstorm
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Counterspell
4 Azorius Charm
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Syncopate
2 Sphinx's Revelation
//Enchantments: 2
2 Detention Sphere
//Planeswalker: 2
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
//Creatures: 4
1 Mageta the Lion
1 Isperia, Supreme Judge
2 Angel of Serenity
//Sideboard: 15
1 Mageta the Lion
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Detention Sphere
1 Parallax Wave
3 Disenchant
2 Pithing Needle
...
CounterRebels seems to be one of the strongest decks with Masques+old core set and UWx control was the top deck in R2R standard, so some permutation of UW is probably the top deck here.
Aggro/tempo will probably need to play cards like Rishadan Port, Tangle Wire, Rising Waters, Armageddon (and Chimeric Idol of course) to beat these big mana control decks.
BirdsOfParadise
12-01-2021, 02:00 AM
*** DECEMBER 2021 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Revised Edition
(*) Urza's Saga
(*) Urza's Legacy
(*) Urza's Destiny
(*) Mirage
(*) Visions
(*) Weatherlight
Are you f#^%ing kidding me with this rotation? OK here's a banned list:
Balance
Channel
Demonic Tutor
Gaea's Cradle
Grim Monolith
Fluctuator
Mana Vault
Mind Twist
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
Sol Ring
Tinker
Time Spiral
Tolarian Academy
Vampiric Tutor
Wheel of Fortune
Yawgmoth's Bargain
Yawgmoth's Will
BirdsOfParadise
01-01-2022, 02:01 AM
*** JANUARY 2022 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Tenth Edition
(*) Ice Age
(*) Homelands
(*) Alliances
(*) Odyssey
(*) Torment
(*) Judgment
Banned cards:
Demonic Consultation
Necropotence
I think the mana isn't strong enough for 3 color decks, so 2-color is probably the way to go.
UG Threshold
//Creatures: 12
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Quirion Dryad
4 Werebear
//Spells: 30
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Portent
4 Careful Study
4 Aether Burst
4 Counterspell
4 Arcane Denial
2 Deep Analysis
//Lands: 18
4 Yavimaya Coast
4 Terramorphic Expanse
8 Island
2 Forest
//Sideboard: 15
3 Naturalize
3 Ground Seal
3 Hydroblast
2 Remove Soul
2 Wonder
1 Genesis
1 Envelop
The spells and creatures are good, but removal is very bad in these colors so Aether Burst is there for tempo.
BR Dragon
//Creatures: 11
4 Putrid Imp
4 Worldgorger Dragon
1 Phantom Nishoba
1 Vampiric Dragon
1 Verdant Force
//Enchantments: 4
4 Dance of the Dead
//Spells: 26
4 Dark Ritual
4 Entomb
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Burning Wish
3 Distress
3 Buried Alive
2 Diabolic Tutor
1 Stitch Together
1 Zombify
//Lands: 19
1 Lake of the Dead
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Sulfurous Springs
2 Mountain
8 Swamp
//Sideboard: 15
1 Soul Burn
1 Lava Burst
1 Stitch Together
1 Zombify
1 Anarchy
1 Deathmark
1 Pox
1 Pyroclasm
1 Chainer's Edict
1 Mutilate
1 Sickening Dreams
1 Innocent Blood
4 Pyroblast
Red for the Wish package (to find wincon) seems better, but it may not be able to assemble the combo consistently enough. Blue has better combo consistency but a harder time winning with infinite mana.
UB PsychaDragon
//Creatures: 8
4 Psychatog
4 Worldgorger Dragon
//Enchantments: 4
4 Dance of the Dead
//Spells: 30
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Portent
4 Careful Study
4 Entomb
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Lim-Dul's Vault
1 Chainer's Edict
1 Deep Analysis
//Lands: 18
4 Underground River
4 Terramorphic Expanse
6 Island
4 Swamp
//Sideboard: 15
3 Chainer's Edict
3 Memory Lapse
3 Boomerang
2 Hydroblast
2 Deathmark
1 Verdant Force
1 Petradon
UW Landstill
//Lands: 26
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Kjeldoran Outpost
4 Faerie Conclave
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Adarkar Wastes
7 Snow-Covered Island
5 Snow-Covered Plains
//Enchantments: 6
4 Standstill
1 Story Circle
1 Mobilization
//Spells: 28
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Counterspell
3 Memory Lapse
3 Cunning Wish
4 Wrath of God
2 Deep Analysis
//Sideboard: 15
2 Disenchant
2 Hydroblast
1 Flashfreeze
1 Divert
1 Prismatic Strands
1 Evacuation
1 Winter's Chill
1 Condemn
1 Plagiarize
1 Tempest of Light
1 Time Stop
1 Beacon of Immortality
1 Flash of Insight
BirdsOfParadise
01-12-2022, 06:07 PM
Those all look really cool! That UG Thresh deck would be fun to play. I guess it’s just nostalgia, but I’ve always loved tempo decks with original Threshold creatures and never liked Delver. Goyf gets a pass from me because it’s green, but it was never fair that blue got anything better than Nimble Mongoose!
I’ve never played Thawing Glaciers in real life, but I learned how strong it is in the first round of Random Standard. I bet that UW Landstill deck is hard to beat, with all those Legacy-caliber cards in there.
Nice wishboard In BR. Anarchy, geez. And UW, too ... I do like wishboards. Great place for niche cards to shine.
BirdsOfParadise
02-04-2022, 01:42 AM
*** FEBRUARY 2022 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Magic 2012
(*) Tempest
(*) Stronghold
(*) Exodus
(*) Amonkhet
(*) Hour of Devastation
Happy one-year anniversary, Random Standard!
BirdsOfParadise
03-12-2022, 04:28 PM
*** MARCH 2022 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Magic 2011
(*) Innistrad
(*) Dark Ascension
(*) Avacyn Restored
(*) Strixhaven
(*) Return to Ravnica
BirdsOfParadise
04-09-2022, 12:01 AM
*** APRIL 2022 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Revised Edition
(*) Mercadian Masques
(*) Nemesis
(*) Prophecy
(*) Onslaught
(*) Legions
(*) Scourge
Banned:
Ancestral Recall
Balance
Black Lotus
Channel
Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
Mana Vault
Mind Twist
Mox Emerald
Mox Jet
Mox Pearl
Mox Ruby
Mox Sapphire
Sol Ring
Time Vault
Time Walk
Timetwister
***
Rebels vs Goblins, anyone?
alphastryk
05-17-2022, 03:45 PM
For the April format, I suspect both Rebels and Goblins might be low on the power scale of a format that includes Demonic Tutor, Gushbond and Storm cards (And Wheel and Regrowth...). The biggest problem is the lack of cantrips but 4x Demonic and 4x Wheel go a long way towards fixing that.
Very rough stab at things:
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Bayou
1 Island
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Daze
4 Brainstorm
4 Demonic Tutor
4 Dark Ritual
4 Fastbond
4 Gush
4 Mind's Desire
4 Regrowth
3 Tendrils of Agony
4 Wheel of Fortune
2 Read the Runes
1 Chain of Vapor
Sideboard:
4 Xantid Swarm
3 Chain of Vapor
8 ??? (hard to know without understanding the counters to this deck)
Read the Runes is suspect and I don't know if I have the right # of lands but the power level here is absurd
Edit - a bit more streamlined, with Mana Flare as a way to build mana via Gushbond"
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Badlands
1 Bayou
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Brainstorm
4 Dark Ritual
4 Daze
4 Demonic Tutor
4 Fastbond
4 Gush
4 Mana Flare
4 Mind's Desire
4 Regrowth
2 Tendrils of Agony
4 Wheel of Fortune
BirdsOfParadise
05-22-2022, 12:41 AM
Sweet decks, alphastryk!
If anyone's looking at this thread, I'd better update it :-D
*** MAY 2022 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Magic 2012
(*) Khans of Tarkir
(*) Fate Reforged
(*) Dragons of Tarkir
(*) Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
(*) Streets of New Capenna
BirdsOfParadise
07-06-2022, 03:17 PM
*** JULY 2022 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Magic 2020
(*) Kaladesh
(*) Aether Revolt
(*) Mirrodin
(*) Darksteel
(*) Fifth Dawn
Banned cards: Ancient Den, Great Furnace, Seat of the Synod, Skullclamp, Tree of Tales, Vault of Whispers
You're putting in a lot of effort to keep this going, so I'll keep playing.
What an artifact block! Affinity still looks strong.
BR Ravager Aggro
//Artifacts: 12
4 Animation Module
4 Renegade Map
4 Smuggler's Copter
//Creatures: 30
4 Disciple of the Vault
4 Bomat Courier
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Steel Overseer
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
3 Atog
3 Scrap Trawler
//Lands: 18
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Spire of Industry
4 Aether Hub
3 Swamp
2 Mountain
1 Inventors' Fair
//Rough Sideboard: 15
4 Duress
4 Fatal Push
3 Hope of Ghirapur
3 Walking Ballista
1 Release the Gremlins
Animation Module + Arcbound Ravager combo -> 1: +1/+1 counter + Disciple trigger
With Ravager/Atog and Scrap Trawler you can generate a lot of value. Sacrifice 2 things and get 1 back. Darksteel Citadel and Walking Ballista count as 0 cmc. With Scrapheap Scrounger you can get back both it and a 0-1 cmc. Against spell-based decks you can loop Hope of Ghirapur across multiple turns to shut them out of the game.
UR Affinity
//Creatures: 28
4 Ornithopter
4 Bomat Courier
4 Merchant's Dockhand
4 Steel Overseer
4 Chief of the Foundry
4 Frogmite
4 Myr Enforcer
//Spells: 12
4 Metallic Rebuke
4 Thoughtcast
2 Reverse Engineer
2 Whir of Invention
//Lands: 20
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Spire of Industry
4 Spirebluff Canal
6 Island
2 Blinkmoth Nexus
Blue offers more card draw, counters, and tutoring. It also plays towards more of a go-wide strategy (Affinity & Improvise) than a sac & recur theme.
BirdsOfParadise
07-21-2022, 08:03 PM
Hey FTW, terrifying decks, especially BR Affinity. That Animation Module trick is really good.
Somehow I totally missed a June update. IRL has been more busy than usual, with a family medical emergency (everyone fine now) and an upcoming move. Still, it doesn't take much time to generate a new format once a month :-). What might take more time is coming up with a sensible banned list, which it seems I once again failed to do.
Mirrodin block was when teenager-me was getting back into MTG. I have some nostalgia for the Big Red (Furnace Dragon!), Elf and Nail, and Death Cloud decks that emerged after Affinity had been banned two or three times. Kaladesh certainly adds a ton of synergy to an archetype that was already plenty strong.
BirdsOfParadise
08-23-2022, 07:34 PM
Because of time limitations, I won’t be updating this thread until further notice.
Anyone who is interested in taking over as Random Standard Updater is welcome to do so, in this thread or a new one.
Cheers.
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