And we have arrived.

As of right now, Standard no longer contains the sets of Zendikar, Worldwake, Rise of the Eldrazi and M11. A set rotation is always fun because normally everyone is testing out different strategies so there is a wide variety of decks to play against. It also contains a lot of hype, I’m looking at you [Card]Snapcaster Mage[/Card].

I do love when people overhype a card to the extreme and I’ll admit it, last week I was guilty of doing the same as with play testing, there are moments when you are faced with either playing him for no value or let him sit in hand. That means there will be plenty of people misplaying him.

For today though, I will not be focusing on him. Instead I’ll be looking at another aggro strategy in red and a control strategy in Blue/White and before the hate over how tired people are over Blue/White Control, sorry but the deck is legit.

Before I begin; a quick history lesson. I was originally introduced to Sligh as a deck after Dave Price won Pro Tour Los Angeles in 1998. The original deck was actually from 1996 and was named that way after Paul Sligh. For those interested here is the decklist that got him all the way to the finals of a PTQ before losing to the powerhouse [Card]Necropotence[/Card] deck from that time:

[Deck Title=Paul Sligh – Sligh]
[Lands]
2 Dwarven Ruins
4 Mishra’s Factory
13 Mountain
4 Strip Mine
[/Lands][Creatures]
4 Brass Man
2 Brothers of Fire
2 Dragon Whelp
3 Dwarven Lieutenant
2 Dwarven Trader
2 Goblins of the Flarg
4 Ironclaw Orcs
2 Orcish Artillery
2 Orcish Cannoneers
2 Orcish Librarian
[/Creatures][Spells]
1 Black Vise
1 Detonate
1 Fireball
1 Immolation
4 Incinerate
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Shatter
[/Spells][Sideboard]
3 Active Volcano
1 An-Zerrin Ruins
1 Detonate
1 Fireball
4 Manabarbs
1 Meekstone
2 Serrated Arrows
1 Shatter
1 Zuran Orb
[/Sideboard][/Deck]

The rules for deck construction back then were that each deck had to contain at least five cards from each legal expansion. That is why there are some “interesting” card choices in the deck. Unlike today’s Red Decks, the difference is that Sligh is a Creature based strategy instead of a Spell/Removal based strategy. Paul’s deck contained 25 while Dave’s contained 26.

There was even math involved with the original deck which looked something similar to this:

1 mana slot: 9-13
2 mana slot: 6-8
3 mana slot: 3-5
4 mana slot: 1-3
X spell: 2-3
Removal/Burn: 8-10

Why am I explaining all of this? Because recently red strategies have strayed too far away from the original and currently fall under the “Red Deck Wins” category, which is a more spell based approach. With the release of Innistrad, there have been some good Red creatures introduced which will form the basis for the deck. Before the explanation, here is the deck which follows the math presented above:

[Deck Title=William Blondon – Sligh]
[Lands]
2 Inkmoth Nexus
18 Mountain
[/Lands][Creatures]
4 Blood Ogre
3 Goblin Fireslinger
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
1 Instigator Gang
3 Rakish Heir
4 Reckless Waif
4 Stormblood Berserker
4 Stromkirk Noble
[/Creatures][Spells]
2 Arc Trail
3 Curse of Stalked Prey
3 Fireball
3 Tezzeret’s Gamble
4 Volt Charge
[/Spells][Sideboard]
4 Contagion Clasp
2 Inkmoth Nexus
3 Shatter
2 Spellskite
4 Vulshok Refugee
[/Sideboard][/Deck]

Let’s take a look at the deck breakdown going through each slot on the mana curve to allow me to explain why I feel those are the best choices.

Mana base

Currently the deck plays twenty lands, of which eighteen are [Card]Mountain[/Card]s, to ensure that land requirements are met for each land drop and that color requirements are not missed. (i.e. Not having double Red when needed.) The second land choice is [Card]Inkmoth Nexus[/Card] which survives Wrath effects, while also putting your opponent on a short clock coupled with one Curse.

One Drops

[Card]Goblin Fireslinger[/Card]: He enables Bloodthirst but more importantly he slowly ticks your opponent’s life down. In honesty, I am not sold on this choice but the only other option in this slot would be [Card]Spikeshot Elder[/Card] which might have nice synergies with [Card]Curse of Stalked Prey[/Card] but ultimately falls short because this deck wants to smash face as quickly as possible. Some may question why there is no [Card]Grim Lavamancer[/Card] and it’s not present because of the lack of burn spells and ultimately the number of lands hitting the graveyard.

[Card]Reckless Waif[/Card]: Him and [Card]Delver of Secrets[/Card] are two of the under the radar cards at the moment. The Heir is easier to transform and he can get in early and often if your opponent does not have answers. Yes, he can potentially transform back over the course of your usual plays but make sure not to slow down with the pace because you are afraid of your Weif transforming back, it will only be a detriment to you.

[Card]Stromkirk Noble[/Card]: The card that inspired all of this. Having played with this in limited, if it is drawn later, it isn’t very good. Never mind that. Landing this on turn one and immediately getting in is early pressure and it combines nicely with the Curse, Heir and Proliferate. Oh and not being blocked by humans is actually a really relevant ability, sorry [Card]Grim Lavamancer[/Card].

Two Drops

[Card]Stormblood Berserker[/Card]: Yes the core sets are usually the ground for lots of disappointment and the key ability from this year, Bloodthirst, was passed off as childish but this guy is the real deal. Seriously, turn one [Card]Goblin Guide[/Card], turn two this guy was sweet. He also comes down on curve and with eleven one drops in the deck, there is a good chance he can be cast with Bloodthirst on turn two.

[Card]Curse of Stalked Prey[/Card]: It may not be [Card]Cursed Scroll[/Card] but it is certainly an upgrade to [Card]Giant Strength[/Card] and helps at pumping all the creatures, even [Card]Inkmoth Nexus[/Card]. It is very possible that this should be a creature spell instead of a support card but the two drops that would replace this do not offer the same upside potential.

Three Drops

[Card]Blood Ogre[/Card]: Remember Bloodthirst? Well, First Strike makes it that much better. While not providing support to your other cards, by turn three there should be more than enough options for enabling Bloodthirst and the First Strike allows him to beat in early and often.

[Card]Rakish Heir[/Card]: While a 2/2 for three mana may be below the curve and he doesn’t have any relevant abilities to protect himself, the important part is he can double pump your [Card]Stromkirk Noble[/Card] when it connects which is especially good but it also grows itself.

Four Drops

[Card]Hero of Oxid Ridge[/Card]: The second ability may be less relevant now but the Battle Cry will increase the damage you are connecting with prompting your opponents to block less not wanting to trade their Geists. The other option in this scenario would be [Card]Koth of the Hammer[/Card] but he doesn’t provide the additional damage and second ability of the Hero.

[Card]Instigator Gang[/Card]: This could easily be three Heroes but the Gang provides the same bonus as the Hero for attacks initially. On the flip side, a [Card]Lightning Bolt[/Card] per creatures is pretty good and he does become a 5/5 which for four mana is good value. (Disclaimer – I realise +3/+0 is not the same as a [Card]Lightning Bolt[/Card].)

X-Spell

[Card]Fireball[/Card]: This is superior to [Card]Devil’s Play[/Card]. Yes both cards provide the ability to dome your opponent for that last relevant damage but more importantly with [Card]Fireball[/Card] you can separate damage between targets and remove extra creatures that are in the way. Also the Flashback from the [card]Devil’s Play[/card] is usually not going to be relevant in this deck as getting to enough Mana for it to be relevant usually means you’re behind or soon to lose.

Removal/Burn Spell

[Card]Arc Trail[/Card]: Same reason as Fireball, capable of removing two of your opponent’s creatures or one and hitting your opponent. With some testing, maybe [Card]Shock[/Card] would be more relevant if there are less dudes in the meta but we will need to wait and see.

[Card]Volt Charge[/Card]: While [Card]Incinerate[/Card] may cost one less, between the Vampires, Curse and Bloodthirsters, the Proliferate will play a huge role in pumping your guys for additional damage.

The Not-Too-Sure

[Card]Tezzeret’s Gambit[/Card]: I still have no idea what this slot should realistically be. The card draw later on is useful for providing the deck with more gas while the Proliferate can provide a similar role to [Card]Volt Charge[/Card]. While it doesn’t allow for the same surprise as Volt Charge it still pumps the guys. If you have any suggestions for this slot, let me know.

While true Sligh, essentially died with the rotation of [Card]Cursed Scroll[/Card], here is hoping the deck can be revived. Honestly I believe that this deck or some variant will be the aggro deck of choice over [Card]Tempered Steel[/Card] because with the loss of [Card]Ornithopter[/Card] and [Card]Steel Overseer[/Card] the deck will lose consistency so hopefully this will be its replacement.
____________________________________

On the flip side of the coin is the control strategy. Last week I presented a Blue/Red Counter-Burn deck and this week will be Blue/White control. While it does not have the [Card]Squadron Hawk[/Card], Innistrad does put forth new tools that can be added to the deck. Here is the list, I have been testing with:

[Deck Title=William Blondon – Geist of the Haunting]
[Lands]
2 Ghost Quarter
4 Glacial Fortress
1 Inkmoth Nexus
5 Island
2 Moorland Haunt
5 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
[/Lands][Creatures]
1 Consecrated Sphinx
4 Delver of Secrets
1 Fiend Hunter
2 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Sun Titan
[/Creatures][Spells]
1 Angelic Destiny
1 Curiosity
2 Disperse
2 Dissipate
2 Feeling of Dread
2 Gideon Jura
4 Mana Leak
2 Mental Misstep
2 Midnight Haunting
4 Ponder
1 Rebuke
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
[/Spells][Sideboard]
2 Day of Judgment
2 Demystify
3 Divine Offering
2 Fiend Hunter
2 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Nevermore
2 Rebuke
[/Sideboard][/Deck]

Mana Base

Blue/White control loses [Card]Celestial Colonnade[/Card] and [Card]Tectonic Edge[/Card] which is a bummer but finds [Card]Moorland Haunt[/Card] and [Card]Ghost Quarter[/Card] to replace the Edge. The Quarter doesn’t present the same advantage as the Edge but it can get rid of anything, which is actually important. Also as you will see, some of the Innistrad lands will be annoying. Speaking of: [Card]Moorland Haunt[/Card]. Someone at Wizards has a sadistic side. After having [Card]Squadron Hawk[/Card]s terrorize people for almost a year they printed a land that makes Hawk/Spirit tokens. Now you see why you need [Card]Ghost Quarter[/Card]?

In the past, decks have been running up to 26 lands because there was card manipulation in the form of [Card]Jace, the Mind Sculptor[/Card] when legal, Fetch Lands and [Card]Preordain[/Card] to do away with unwanted cards. With those deck manipulators gone however there will be a need to reduce the number of lands found in decks.

Wait he said what?

It’s true, most will not agree but the number of lands needs to be cut down and the mana curves reduced to better accommodate the loss of manipulation. This is why there are only twenty-three lands in the deck. Being two colors, the starting point is four of both [Card]Glacial Fortress[/Card] and [Card]Seachrome Coast[/Card]. After that the five five split of [Card]Plains[/Card] and [Card]Island[/Card]s is due to the early game dependance on Blue mana and the later game dependance on more White mana which arrives at the split. Finally there is a singleton [Card]Inkmoth Nexus[/Card] as the sole man-land, equipped with a sword in the control matchups can break the stalemate, with two more in the Sideboard for backup.

Creature Cast

The big additions with everyone abuzz in the set are [Card]Snapcaster Mage[/Card] and [Card]Geist of Saint Traft[/Card]. The Mage will be quite useful, especially in a deck like this with twenty potential targets though more important is that he has Flash, which means he can be flashed in at the end of your opponent’s turn, equipped with a sword and attacking on your turn to help turn the tide. As for the Geist, while he is quite good, he is lacking in basic protection and is also Legendary which is the reason for only having two in the deck. You want to avoid dead cards in your hand and while he may have a huge upside, too many copies is overkill.

In my red deck, one drop analysis I mentioned that [Card]Reckless Waif[/Card] was one of the currently underrated one drops, well [Card]Delver of Secrets[/Card] is the second one. Packing him in a control deck is the natural fit, as already mentioned with Snapcaster, there are twenty cards in the deck which allow him to transform, meaning there is a realistic possibility of making this consistently happen if played on turn 1.

The last new addition from Innistrad is [Card]Fiend Hunter[/Card]. The plus side is obvious, as he removes a creature from the game temporarily, though with a [Card]Disperse[/Card] in hand, there is the possibility for permanent exile. To explain, when he enters the battlefield his ETB trigger is put on the stack, if you respond by returning him to your hand, his leaves the battlefield effect triggers and resolves before the enter trigger which means permanent exile. Depending on how fast the Standard environment is, it may be better to transfer the Sphinx to the sideboard and an additional Hunter to the main board but change as you see fit.

The last two creatures are [Card]Consecrated Sphinx[/Card], which provides more than enough additional card advantage to put the game out of reach, and [Card]Sun Titan[/Card], which is a card to pick up now. While many are touting him as the card to have in any Reanimation strategy, his place has always been Blue/White and he really shines here being able to return almost every permanent to the battlefield. Need to remove that extra blocker? [Card]Fiend Hunter[/Card] is there. [Card]Birthing Pod[/Card] players was able to remove [Card]Stony Silence[/Card]? The Titan has got your back!

Non-Creature Permanents

[Card]Angelic Destiny[/Card] and [Card]Curiosity[/Card] are present as singletons, because I have a fondness for Auras but make sure not to get too over enthusiastic with them. The Destiny allows you to live the dream with a Geist in play but otherwise makes any other creature a force to be reckoned with. As for [card]Curiosity[/card], it provides additional card draw to find the answer you might be looking for.

Like A Boss! [Card]Gideon Jura[/Card] doesn’t need much of an explanation. He has proven his worth time and time again and his +2 ability is even more relevant for [Card]Fog[/Card]ging your opponent’s creatures that had to attack and then attacking back with your own force. Turns out allowing the Geist to attack with no blockers is good value!

[Card]Sword of Feast and Famine[/Card]. Ah Yes! The dreaded Blade that started it all. Sorry to those hoping to see all parts of CawBlade gone but the Sword is the real deal and will be sticking around longer still. Depending on the Meta, you might feel that another sword also deserves a spot, which is fair but make sure not to overload on Swords. Also the merit of this particular sword is the card advantage it generates: it makes your opponent lose a card while also letting you have all your mana up to keep the needed answer at the ready for your opponent.

Spells

The counter spell package features the traditional four [Card]Mana Leak[/Card]s that everyone has come to know and hate. With the graveyard theme relevant, [Card]Dissipate[/Card] is the better choice over [Card]Stoic Rebuttal[/Card] and the deck has no way of achieving Metalcraft so the bonus will never be reached. Rounding out the trio is [Card]Mental Misstep[/Card]. Players will be relying on their one drop creatures or their [Card]Ponder[/Card]s. If countered by Misstep it will set them back a turn and buy you the time needed to develop your board position. There is a reason Misstep is banned in almost every format, because it neuters aggro strategies early and allows control elements to take control later. Plus it’s free so no need to worry about holding back mana to cast it.

With [Card]Into the Roil[/Card] leaving, the only relevant bounce spell still around is [Card]Disperse[/Card]. It has the potential of removing any bombs or pesky permanents in play. With decks like Solar Flare seeming to gain traction, this allows you to return their reanimation targets or even [Card]Liliana of the Veil[/Card]. At worse, you can remove a pesky Creature or Enchantment bothering you. In the same line of replacing better cards, with inferior cards comes [Card]Ponder[/Card]. It will be the defacto replacement for [Card]Preordain[/Card]. While not being as bad as some are saying, it doesn’t have the Scry ability which will detrimental, it still lets you look at the top three and send them away if you need something better.

New from Innistrad are a couple of new combat tricks that will help slow down the game or shift it in your favor. [Card]Feeling of Dread[/Card] provides some protection to the Geist attacking or slowing down more aggressive strategies. The Flashback bonus is just the icing on the cake as it can potentially represent the prospect of lethal damage from your attacks. [Card]Rebuke[/Card] on the other hand is for creatures crashing into you, or attempting to at least. With [Card]Condemn[/Card] gone, this card is the only replacement. It may cost more but doesn’t feature the life gain of [card]Condemn[card]. Ideally you would like Condemn but this is a suitable replacement for now.

Remember your hatred of [Card]Squadron Hawk[/Card]?

So much hate over a simple little common that was able to annoy the crap out of everyone. Well for those who hated the Hawk, I have bad news for you, say hello to [Card]Midnight Haunting[/Card]. Now it is Uncommon which might make things slightly better but it also makes two Squadron Hawks. Oh and in case you didn’t have enough anger, it is also an Instant meaning it can be cast at the end of turn while holding up counter magic. So I probably wouldn’t cancel the anger management sessions just yet.

Sideboard

Every sideboard will be different but the goal is to present some options for attacking the Meta.

– [Card]Day of Judgment[/Card]: This is still a control deck and a control deck does not like aggro strategies or lots of fatties like those featured in Mono Green.

– [Card]Demystify[/Card]: [Card]Tempered Steel[/Card], all day every day. While I imagine there will be other Enchantments that will see play, this deck, without its namesake card, loses a significant advantage and becomes a deck with a bunch of cheap dudes that can trade with [Card]Squadron Hawk[/Card]s/Spirit Tokens. Someone needs to alter Spirit tokens to feature a Hawk drawing or cut and glue, your call.

– [Card]Dismember[/Card]: We will have to wait to see if four life is relevant in this environment but for sure this is a consideration, although I currently prefer the Hunter to this.

– [Card]Divine Offering[/Card]: [Card]Birthing Pod[/Card] is still going to be a strategy as are Swords and other pesky Artifact Creatures and Equipments, which makes removal with life gain good.

– [Card]Fiend Hunter[/Card]: As mentioned above, he clears the enemy’s bodies and presents a solid body himself.

– [Card]Inkmoth Nexus[/Card]: The control matchup. Generally you will want more lands and more man-lands, in control matchups, is just a bonus.

– [Card]Nevermore[/Card]: Meddling Mage was good, this now comes in Enchantment form making it harder to remove. It’s a positive in my books, though not everyone will agree.

– [Card]Rebuke[/Card]: Extra removal, I’m not sure how relevant this will be and whether in the end [Card]Feeling of Dread[/Card] is just superior but we may yet see.

– [Card]Volition Reins[/Card]: While stealing may be bad, if you are getting a fun toy it justifies things. The Reins will be excellent against slower strategies relying on big creatures or Planeswalkers to do their dirty work. I’m looking at you Reanimator.

– Graveyard Hate: Whether it is [Card]Nihil Spellbomb[/Card], [Card]Surgical Extraction[/Card] or something else, this will have to be a consideration. Though if these graveyard strategies become focused on one card then [Card]Nevermore[/Card] can also shut down them down.

That is my take on the Blue/White Control. There will be many versions with various people agreeing or disagreeing but I believe this deck features the right mix of Aggro and Control elements to replace CawBlade in the Standard Environment and will be successful in surviving the first Meta, which will be split between Control and Aggro strategies.

Now with Planeswalker Points introduced and FNM points there seems to have been an increase in the number of players attending FNM. You will always find a mix of competitive and fun decks but a problem that I’ve been seeing very often is the fun decks happen to be part of Magical Christmas land all too often and thus lack competitiveness. Rather than reversing this trend however, I will instead support it with my crazy brew. Here is my take on a Mono Green list that features some fun interactions:

[Deck Title=William Blondon – Essence of the Cagebreakers]
[Lands]
19 Forest
[/Lands][Creatures]
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Dungrove Elder
2 Elder of Laurels
1 Essence of the Wild
2 Jade Mage
2 Kessig Cagebreakers
4 Primeval Titan
1 Primordial Hydra
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
[/Creatures][Spells]
3 Garruk, Primal Hunter
4 Green Sun’s Zenith
1 Overrun
2 Parallel Lives
4 Rampant Growth
3 Rites of Flourishing
3 Swiftfoot Boots
[/Spells][Sideboard]
2 Beast Within
3 Boneyard Wurm
1 Garruk Relentless
4 Naturalize
3 Prey Upon
2 Tree of Redemption
[/Sideboard][/Deck]

Obviously you want both a [Card]Parallel Lives[/Card] and [Card]Essence of the Wild[/Card] in play but really the best situation would be to have a [Card]Kessig Cagebreakers[/Card] on the battlefield as itself and then casting these two as when you attack you now get double the Essence tokens! Fun times indeed.

Thank you very much for reading and leave feedback about any of the decks should you feel so inclined. Till next week, Have Fun Playing Magic!