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.
Last edited by FTW; 08-17-2021 at 04:53 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.
*** 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.
Last edited by FTW; 09-11-2021 at 10:35 AM.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Last edited by FTW; 09-13-2021 at 04:02 AM.
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
Last edited by FTW; 09-14-2021 at 09:06 AM.
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.
*** 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).
Last edited by FTW; 10-07-2021 at 02:47 PM.
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
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.
*** 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.
*** 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
*** JANUARY 2022 RANDOM STANDARD @ THE SOURCE ***
(*) Tenth Edition
(*) Ice Age
(*) Homelands
(*) Alliances
(*) Odyssey
(*) Torment
(*) Judgment
Banned cards:
Demonic Consultation
Necropotence
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