/stg - mtg/ Standard General

Gideon would just clog up the board with Knight tokens while sending in Heart to smack w/b zombies in the face.

And zombies clogs up the board with 2/2 + zombies. You hold the fatal push for Heart pretty much exclusively in that matchup, and any extras / Time to Reflect goes towards reckless gideon / scrapheap swings. If they send anything at you, and you have any blockers, they're asking to have it exiled for W.

Plus, you make better tokens due to lord of the accursed and liliana's mastery.

I don't think you understand the state of Standard.
There is exactly one archetype that is wrecking everything.

Please don't comment on things you don't understand.

Why would humans go into red?

Why would humans go into green?

Is Samut worth both?

Did you even read the rest of the thread? Mardu was the only tuned and proven good deck available after an emergency ban took out THE BEST DECK most people either played or played to beat TWO DAYS before the tournament. There was no time to brew, no time to tune, no time to do anything but toss together the best list they could on a short notice, and Mardu happens to tick off all those boxes.
Proven track record: check.
Powerful strategy: check.
Supremely versatile sideboard: check
Mardu now runs into the PT as the definite nr. 1 target with several weeks to brew, tune and practise against it. The results we are seeing is not merely a symptom of the true standard format, but the second best previous deck rushing in to fill the vacuum of the deceased top

But you can't jump in and play whatever because you're still going to be seeing endless Mardu Vehicles.

I find it hard to believe none of the pros were play testing non-mardu in the obvious that was obviously going to happen event of the cat ban.
Even before the (after the fact a lack of )ban announcement they must have been testing alternatives to mardu vehicles.

I wouldn't call it "wrecking".
Mardu was the safest bet for the event because cat was banned like 3 days before the weekend and there was no need to add almost anything from amonkhet to the deck, making it a really cheap and solid choise if you already had the deck.
The results from the Day 2 of Atlanta shows that there's a lot of potential for a control deck to rise in the pro tour.

Mardu Vehicles – 28
B/G Delirium – 14
U/R Control – 7
Jeskai Control – 6
G/W Tokens – 6
B/G Aggro – 5
Temur Aetherworks – 4
B/G Energy – 3
Sultai Delirium – 3
G/R Monsters – 3
B/R Eldrazi – 3
G/R Energy – 3
Bant Aetherworks – 3
Sultai Control – 3
U/R Emerge – 3
W/R Humans – 3
B/R Aggro – 2
Jund Delirium – 2
Jund Monsters – 2
Mono-Black Zombies – 1
Mono-Black Aggro – 1
Mono-White Humans – 1
G/R Aetherworks – 1
Temur Dynavolt – 1
Abzan Aggro – 1
Bant Control – 1
B/W Zombies – 1
Abzan Midrange – 1
W/B Midrange – 1
U/W Flash – 1
U/R Thermo-Alchemist – 1
U/G Ramp – 1

My money is on someone breaking a solid Jeskai list by then.

Except it totally does. Did you even use the link?

It's right below Shadows over Innistrad.

Mainboardable 2 mana unconditional instant speed artifact destruction in green I think points towards mardu making a bit of a downturn, at least, in it's current compositions. It's still strong but I don't think it's going to be THE deck of the format right now.

I'm really not sure what to get for a second standard deck.

I built R/G Pummeler and I like it a lot. It's great value for money and the cards won't rotate later this year.

Does anyone have any recommendations for something under $100 that won't get 0-2'd all day, maybe in B/W or U/R or something?

Temur Drakes or UR Drakes

GB Sneak Energy is a solid deck and you can use the energy stuff from your actual deck.
Also is not really expensive since current lists doesn't even run stuff from amonkhet except some commons/rares.

BW zombies!

Don't buy into Drake Memes is my suggestion.

why not? Temur Drakes looks pretty fuckin neato.

Because appealing cards like Drake Haven are one of the few cards to receive actual playtesting. Which is a bad thing, because this means the card is balanced in a field of potentially broken cards.

Based on the testing of just a dozen or so games, drakes are very slow. So slow that w/r flavors of midrange are able to outpace them easily. Against control keknet appears to be the better turn 3 tapout.

This... Makes too much sense.

Red for Hanweir Garrison and possibly Kari Zev. Garrison is fucking nuts in that deck.

Green is worthless and Samut isn't good in that deck.

Would Village Messenger fit at all into Red like this, or is it not worth the slot? What kind of spicy tech should you run in RDW like this?

I'm modifying the instant/sorcery count a bit and have put a single Chandra, Torch of Defiance in (mostly because I pulled a foil one out of a prize pack). Is it worth running any artifact hate mainboard right now for FNM?

>page 10

Saved.

Glorious End control

Even if this advice is valid, I wonder if it will expire within a few years. IIRC copy cat has led WotC to say they are going to revamp how they make sure standard is balanced.

T. Wizards. Switched to modern so you won't get another cent out of me.

>MTGbabs

second sun control

>go on reddit
>top post is about some fag who made a terrible 'playmat'
>all comments applaud his autism
>mfw

That's what I get for being on that site, I guess.

Can B/U zombies with elder deep fiend work? I've been trying it but it just doesnt feel consistent enough. Main issue is no two drops that synergize well, I've tried relentless dead, miasmic mummy and wailing ghoul but they're all kinda eh.

Grixis zombies emerge is a deck. Runs cathartic reunion.

Anyone else think the Trials/Cartouches are a little format warping in limited?

Being able to potentially recur any of the trials once or twice is a massive beating

>format warping
>limited
lol'd

and
Yes you are right user. The trials/cartouches generate some insane value.

>only two decks in the format
>ban one
>only one deck in the format
What did WoTC mean by this?

>3 other decks in the t8
>only 24 mardu in t64
>other 40 decks were either midrange, control or combo aetherworks

I mean, considering that cat was banned 3 days before the tournament I consider the results pretty good.
An already, easy to use and established deck (mardu) won but there was a huge representation of several of other decks that couldn't even see a single top thanks to 4C Cat.

I honestly believe that the Mardu boogeyman will die after the Pro Tour when everyone tunes better control decks and midrange decks, deck is not good enough to carry an entire format after someone finds a deck that can fuck it up, and there's a lot of new hate cards too.
The real issue, is that Im 100% that said decks will continue to use the fuck out of Gideon Ally, that card is really fucked up.

The mardu decks are already dropping the vehicles, and becoming more midrange-y. i really don't think you can do any better. There's no deck that can dish out that much value in the first 4-5 turns. It's way less hateable than the other decks in the format, like delirium decks or towers. Control got a lot of beef, and I think that there could easily be t1 lists out there, but the match-up won't be so good to make Mardu any less reliable. I still think the cat ban was good, but we're not getting rid of a one sided format.

Yeh but how consistent is it? I want something to run at FNM and get top 4 with.

You don't need a tier deck to get top 4, or to even win.

sup boys, i'm trying to get rawed by walking ballista when I come back from college in 3 weeks so i'm gonna jam spirits at my lgs

I havent played since roughly a week after they banned copter, what do you think is a better direction to take my deck in
core:
4x mausoleum wanderer
4x rattlechains
4x selfless spirit
4x spell queller

->jeskai tempo-control with manlands, harnessed lightning, and the avacyn-selfless spirit wombo combo

->u/w tribal aggro with metallic mimic, always watching, probably gideon

my lgs is pretty casual and I have some birthday giftcards that i cant make responsible purchases with

That depends on the local meta. Some places are very casual with everyone bringing whatever the fuck, others can be like mini-GPs.

UW spirits is probably your best bet, but ultimately do whatever you think will be the most fun.

I'm trying to put together a Naya deck that's a cross between WG tokens and WR humans, but so many slots need to be dedicated to the combo bits I have no room for removal, which is an instant death sentence.
Deck building is hard.

tribal aggro

selfless spirit shits on the boardwipes, mimic is alright

ally of zendikar > gideon of the trials for that type of deck

Oketra might be interesting to add

Cool thanks dogs. I'm hoping lili and ballista are on the downturn by the time I get back or else I'll be leaning on censors hard.

remember, this card is your friend

I barely won against a guy at the release that had two of the black trial and 4 Blue Cartouches.

Consistent enough to be hitting 5-0 on mtgo leagues.

Yep, I've played against a few Trial/Cartouche decks and the value is insane.

sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=113153

I have all the pieces needed for this thing out of spare parts. You guys think this is an actual good deck or just a meta call?

I'm not really sold on night market lookout

consider ways to refill your hand that aren't the siphoner, like succumb to temptation

if you're going to flood the board also have in mind drana as top-end of the curve or throne of the god-pharaoh

night market lookout is an interesting card. he's basically a one mana drop "2/1" with "lifelink" and "trample".
Drana is not that good...
by the way I like that mono-black aggro. there's still some disputable choice IMO. liliana looks like the typical fancy choice with no real upside for a deck like this, but "hey, look at my 90$ set"...

>people thought standard would finally be more diverse
Um no sorry sweetie.

Pushed mythics are pushed. It's sad how format-warping cards like this and Gideon Ally of Zendikar are. That said, I've never actually played against either of them.

So would going to a few lgs be a decent choice if I'm just shopping for singles to make a budget deck?
I was just wondering if it would be a viable alternative to ordering on line so I don't have to pay international shipping

it's not bad playing against them right now tbqfh. Controls in a good spot. Jeskai in particular has amazing options and I fully expect either that or UR to make a good showing at the PT.

Depends heavily on how big of a LGS you have. If you have a few decent ones close, yea. I'd expect to pay slightly more than online prices but not much more. If you're buying budget stuff, you should be fine.

Well lets just say a 4/4 flying/vig on turn 2 isn't very fun.

No answer in 2~ turns? You're probably losing.

Control is decent, but it gets run down by Mardu hard.

I dunno, I have an esper control deck that has no real issues keeping mardu under wraps. Once they empty their hand and have no threats on the board they're basically done.
Saheeli, on the other hand, gave me fits - now that it's gone I think my deck will be in a good spot.

Do you think Enigma Drake could be a good inclusion in a UR control deck? I've been toying with making a deck with Dynavolt Tower and Aethertorch Renegade for a while now, and the Drake seems like it could be a solid blocker early on and a serious beater once you've played a few sorceries and instants.

I haven't played much with Esper but I'm loving a white splash in the UR lists that have been popping up for fumigate/cast out.

I haven't played with any of the cards you mentioned, so take this with a grain of salt. I don't like tapping out for drake early because I almost always am holding up counterspells/burn turns 2-5. Late game it seems like a solid beater but I like Glorybringer better. If you need a budget alternative Drake seems so-so though.

For comparison, my build is running 2 Glorybringer//3 Gearhulk as the only creatures in the main.

Yeah, I splash white in UB control to access fumigate, anguished unmaking, and authority of the consuls, and Sorin. Don't need the later anymore, though. Which reminds me, I need to redo my sideboard.
Shambling vents, I've found, are pretty good at getting in damage and/or blocking and gaining a bit of life, which is always valuable against aggro.
Still sad that ruinous path is still the best planeswalker removal we have.

Man lands in general are great atm once you stabilize. Needlespires trades/kills a decent amount of relative stuff. Wandering Fumarole is either a solid 1/4 wall or a 5 turn clock.

Planeswalker removal is terrible. Cast Outs the only other option really. Bet you're missing pic related right now lol.

How's my 20 peso piece of junk?

deckstats.net/deck-13014786-e827a296081f51f6d99426857d7b76dd.html

This may be stupid and probably will get a lot of flack, but would it be possible to make a deck that is structured around one set that isn't limited/draft.
>ie in love with egypt theme, and am here for that and that only
>green white exert deck reasoning because exert is so new...
Want to know if splashing a few for things like foul orchards to allow decent removal such as final reward or supernatural stamina, or Is cast out enough? Any help would be great just remember amonkhet only please.

>Got it as my prerelease promo
>Got two in my fat pack on Friday
>Got one today in some packs I bought during lunch break

Is this shit worth sideboarding into RG Pummeler or is it trash?

Maybe side it in against Drakes if they give you trouble. They fill up on Drakes somehow, you kill them for 3.

I don't see the Aftermath coming into play except against Zombies, and even then, only if you have a good way to pitch it to your yard without wasting tempo on heaven (as zombies don't use flyers).

I'm a useless casul but I think you could do a Big Dudes G/U with Angler Drakes and Honored Hydras as endgame, using the two lady snek mana dorks in the block to accelerate, some blue counterspells and both colours have nice card draw.

I don't think it will win you any pro tours, but it's flavorful. Add a crocodile of the crossing if removal is getting you down.

thats sideboard junk my dude. sweltering suns is a much better rate for sweeping manlets in general, and cycling is super strong in a card that you mainly want when youre losing

what's the ideal number of counterspells for an aggressive tempo deck? I know 4x censor is probably correct but its a bit narrow. Is it just a meta-dependent split of between 2 and 3 essence scatter/negate?

I don't know if Hero's Downfall would fix the format, but it would definitely help. I hope it's reprinted soon down the line.

We've even got minotaurs for the art

>Bolas' Triumph
>Instant
>BR1
>Destroy target nonland permanent. If you control a Nicol Bolas planeswalker, [card] costs (1) less to cast.

We can only hope.

lets not outright hope that the aggressively costed instant speed planeswalker answer is a rare please

lmao @ your life, m8

Anything that permanently deals with planeswalkers has been rare for a while now, even at sorcery speed

Sounds about right.

If we get a thematic planeswalker nuke it's going to be rare. No way it's not going to be.

>All Turns//Dust
>Instant
>Ux
>Tap X target nonland permanents. Those permanents do not untap during their controller's next untap phase.
>Aftermath (Instant, BBR)
Destroy all tapped non-land permanents.

I could see something like this being printed as well.

Advice for my 2-budget-4-push WB deck?

4 Festering Mummy
4 Wayward Servant
4 Lord of the Accursed

1 Cartouche of Ambition
4 Cast Out
4 Dark Salvation
1 Graf Harvest
4 Liliana's Mastery
4 Shamble Back
4 Stasis Snare
4 Trial of Ambition

4 Forsaken Sanctuary
8 Plains
8 Swamp

sorry user, this deck is bad beyond repair

Too much removal?

20 lands is probably not enough for a deck with a 5 mana spell and an XX spell. You can really get by with 24 regardless of whether or not you use the BW cycle lands. Also, you could really use some of the payoff zombie cards from the return to innistrad set like cryptbreaker or diregraf colossus. From under the floorboards is a good zombie-making rate even if you cant madness it and haunted dead is a staple recursive zombie.

at least you play some heavy control-based deck, standard is at most a twelve-removal format.

>whether or not you use the BW cycle lands
don't exist

oh my bad I thought the cycle was complete for some reason

Get a budget.

Goofed the numbers on that, should be 9 Swamps and 9 Plains.

>heavy control-based deck
That's kind of the idea. I'm assuming my opponent is going to be playing Superfriend/Creatures: The Tappening so I run things that can answer indestructible permanents like Gideons and Bolas's furry harem. Exile prevents Scrapheap, Amalgam and embalm creatures from coming back as well.

The goal is to keep my opponents field free of the mid-range mythic cards that dominate the format while slowly chipping away at them with zombies.

I don't spend more then 1$ a card. That's my budget.

This. If we see another top 8 of 4+ Mardu vehicles during the PT though, then it's time to worry

ok if you want to more easily go sub-1 dollar you would be better served playing innistrad's U/B zombie tribe since that way you can take advantage of the recursive synergies at common and uncommon to save some dosh, plus you get to play Geralf's Masterpiece the 50 cent mythic. Also, this way you can play more lands and not worry about flooding since you can just discard them away. You miss out on exile effects, but you get better threats and also counterspells.

Have been out of standard since Eldritch Moon, all my decks are now outdated because of Origins rotating.

Had a GW Humans deck with Sigarda and stuff as well as a more casual UG Eldrazi deck with all 3 Eldrazi Titans in it. Any way to run either of those right now (obviously without Emrakul)?

Alternatively have been considering a basic Mono green Aggro deck using some Werewolves and some of the new Green beatdown stuff with -1/-1 counters OR some kind of Zombie tribal.
Does either of those have a decent build to go off of yet or should I just jump in and build random shit until it works? And what are the chances Rhonas and the green Gearhulk will drop a bit more in price to keep things more budget?

>deck is called Mardu vehicles
>only plays a single vehicle

I've always preferred Mardu Mythics but I never say it out loud because it sounds snarky.

Green/White tokens is still a thing.

user what the fuck are you doing. Here if your budget is $1 per card atleast do something like this jesus

4 Dread wanderer
4 Wayward servant
4 Haunted Dead
4 Miasmic mummy
2 Binding mummy
4 Lord of the accursed
2 voldaren pariah

4 Dark salvation
2 Cast out
1 Graf Harvest
2 Gisas bidding
3 Liliana's mastery
2 Trial of Ambition

4 Forsaken Sanctuary
12 Swamps
6 Plains

I would never personally play a build like this I'd just shell out for the good zombies but if you wanna be cheap something like this is your best bet. If you want control go B/U not B/W

No copies of Time to Reflect? It's like Path to Exile but for zombies!