On May 14, I stepped onto a plane that would take me about 5,000 miles from the city where I was born, to officially move in with my wife Christina after a year and a half of being separated by paperwork. You see, she is an American, and I am not. That is an issue, apparently. It all worked out though, and I’m in the U.S. now. We’re in a great condo near the ocean in south Florida, and I have most of the essential stuff figured out. I’ve got a U.S. bank account and a social security number, I’m working on getting a US driver’s license, and I know where to buy food and other supplies-so far, so good.

The next step is to figure out where to play Magic the Gathering, of course. While the easy answer would be “online,” I’m not a big fan. I play on V3 from time to time, but I’m not comfortable with the program still, and I don’t feel like investing time (and probably a reasonable amount of money) to learn all the details when they are planning to shut it off in July in favor of the Wide Beta. So far, I’ve heard around two positive things about the Wide Beta, and approximately two hundred negative things. I haven’t tried it myself yet, as I’m afraid it won’t even run on my ‘old’ Mac (I use Bootcamp to run V3, which is doable), but I don’t think I will make an attempt soon either.

While I lived in the Netherlands, I was lucky to have a great local game store where we had tournaments multiple times a week and where we played various formats I enjoy. Where I am now, I have no idea what the most played formats are or how competitive the players are. Thus, I had to figure out what decks I wanted to play in what format, and the end result I’d like to share with you all.

Following are two decks for Standard and two for Modern, of which one will be highly competitive, and one will be “loose.” I will of course go over why I think these decks are good choices when you’re playing for higher stakes, or when you’re playing for fun.

Standard

[deck title= BG Devotion by Jay Lansdaal]

[Creatures]
4 Pack Rat
1 Lifebane Zombie
3 Nightveil Specter
4 Desecration Demon
4 Grey Merchant of Asphodel
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Thoughtseize
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Bile Blight
1 Devour Flesh
1 Golgari Charm
4 Hero’s Downfall
4 Underworld Connections
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Mana Confluence
4 Mutavault
4 Overgrown Tomb
11 Swamp
4 Temple of Malady
1 Temple of Mystery
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
3 Duress
2 Devour Flesh
1 Doom Blade
1 Golgari Charm
1 Ultimate Price
2 Lifebane Zombie
2 Mind Rot
2 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Whip of Erebos
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Why this deck is good:
I mean, do I really have to tell you? Black Devotion has been at the top of the standings for a while now, and the version that splashes green is as good as any splash. In particular, [card]Abrupt Decay[/card] and [card]Golgari Charm[/card] make you extra strong against [card]Detention Sphere[/card] decks, and both cards are very good in the mirror too, getting rid of any [card]Underworld Connections[/card] that weren’t discarded to a [card]Thoughtseize[/card].

The above list is not far off from the usual, but it does use an idea from Gerry Thompson that I haven’t seen in many places yet: [card]Mind Rot[/card]. He suggested it as a card to board in against Burn, where catching two burn spells can effectively net you six or seven life. And while people aren’t playing around it yet, it is very effective against other Black Devotion decks, as well as against UWx Control variants. It’s not great in a topdeck war, but neither is [card]Thoughtseize[/card], and when all you are trying to do is get up on cards, [card]Mind Rot[/card] may even be better than [card]Thoughtseize[/card].

As long as a lot of people are playing [card]Banishing Light[/card] and [card]Detention Sphere[/card], splashing green is really good. If people are moving away from those and Burn gets more popular than it already is, this deck might not be such a great choice anymore.

[deck title= White Weenie by Jay Lansdaal]

[Creatures]
4 Dryad Militant
4 Judge’s Familiar
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Loyal Pegasus
4 Boros Elite
3 Azorius Arrester
4 Daring Skyjek
3 Imposing Sovereign
2 Keening Apparition
2 Banisher Priest
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Brave the Elements
2 Spear of Heliod
[/Spells]
[Lands]
17 Plains
2 Mutavault
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Keening Apparition
1 Last Breath
1 Rest in Peace
3 Spirit of the Labyrinth
2 Banisher Priest
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2 Fiendslayer Paladin
3 Rootborn Defences
1 Mutavault
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Why this deck is fun:
You have twenty one-drops and plenty of tricks to get them through defenses. This deck leads to a staggering number of turn-four kills without leaning too hard on specific cards. At the same time, it is fairly cheap to build, and it is good, honest Magic. You are employing a strategy that has been part of the game since the days of [card]Savannah Lions[/card] and [card]White Knight[/card], and you’re using a bunch of “unplayable” cards to do so. Who would ever blame you for taking a deck with [card]Loyal Pegasus[/card] to your FNM? Plus, the deck is actually pretty good, so you have a good shot at winning a bunch too!

Modern

[deck title= Melira-less Pod by Jay Lansdaal]

[Creatures]
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Spellskite
3 Voice of Resurgence
2 Wall of Roots
1 Eternal Witness
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Sin Collector
1 Spike Feeder
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Restoration Angel
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Reveillark
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Thoughtseize
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Birthing Pod
2 Chord of Calling
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Forest
2 Gavony Township
1 Godless Shrine
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Overgrown Tomb
3 Razorverge Thicket
1 Swamp
2 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Path to Exile
1 Thoughtseize
1 Kataki, War’s Wage
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Dismember
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
2 Lingering Souls
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Fracturing Gust
1 Shriekmaw
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Why this deck is good:
Based off of the deck LSV made top 16 with at the most recent Modern GP, this Melira Pod deck without Melira, but with more disruption, gives you some extra game versus decks that are gunning for Pod. It is, after all, well known that Pod decks are some of the stronger decks in the format.

The reason to cut Melira is that you have an alternate combo in [card]Archangel of Thune[/card] and [card]Spike Feeder[/card] that doesn’t use the graveyard. Now that everybody is playing [card]Relic of Progenitus[/card], [card]Grafdigger’s Cage[/card], or similar hate, why not sidestep them and not have a useless 2/2 in your deck? And to the people who think, “but it stops Infect too,” yes, it does. So do all your random blockers and that maindeck [card]Spellskite[/card].

The added advantage is that you can swap out some [card]Kitchen Finks[/card] for more impactful three-drops in the current metagame, and [card]Viscera Seer[/card] and [card]Ranger of Eos[/card] can go too. There is so little Zoo around that a single Finks and a [card]Spike Feeder[/card] ([card]Archangel[/card] too, if it gets to attack or block) should be plenty of lifegain. Also, by adding [card]Thoughtseize[/card]s and [card]Sin Collector[/card] to the maindeck, you make extra space in the sideboard for cards like the second Linvala (which is just outstanding in the mirror) and [card]Fracturing Gust[/card], which, if you live to cast it, should be mostly game over against Affinity or Bogles.

[deck title= Gift Twins by Jay Lansdaal]

[Creatures]
3 Wall of Omens
2 Deceiver Exarch
1 Pestermite
1 Village Bell-Ringer
2 Restoration Angel
2 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Reveillark
1 Sun Titan
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Faithless Looting
1 Noxious Revival
4 Serum Visions
2 Swan Song
3 Izzet Charm
2 Izzet Signet
1 Talisman of Progress
1 Cryptic Command
4 Gifts Ungiven
3 Splinter Twin
1 Unburial Rites
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Arid Mesa
1 Calciform Pools
2 Cascade Bluffs
4 Celestial Colonnade
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
3 Path to Exile
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Wear // Tear
3 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Shatterstorm
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Repeal
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Why this deck is fun:
Everybody loves a rogue deck, and while the parts here are well-known ([card]Splinter Twin[/card] or Kiki-Jiki + untapper, [card]Gifts Ungiven[/card] + fatty and [card]Unburial Rites[/card]), splicing them together leads to some interesting results. Having [card]Unburial Rites[/card] and [card]Noxious Revival[/card] makes you less vulnerable to discard spells, which are normally very good against Twin decks. [card]Gifts Ungiven[/card] also adds a new dimension to the deck, letting you search for combo pieces, or just locking out your opponent via Elesh Norn or Iona out of the sideboard. On top of all that, you can play a fairly effective “control” role if you ever need to, especially after sideboarding.

You also play a bunch of cards that just about nobody plays in Modern ([card]Talisman of Progress[/card] and Izzet Signet? Maybe someone plays it in an old Tron deck, but this is definitely nothing like Tron), leading to plenty of confusion about what you are actually doing.

How about the other formats?

Well, I would love to give suggestions about Legacy and Vintage, but I don’t think I am qualified to do so. Vintage I know nothing about except that my editor plays it a lot [editor’s note: BAOM!], and Legacy I only know what I’ve learned from SCG Open coverage. I have Esper Deathblade sleeved up (the deck that won the last SCG Invitational) but never actually played with it. I also have a UG Enchantress deck that would be more for fun, which I copied from Andrew Cuneo when he was playing it a lot while he was streaming. It looks like fun, but once again, I’ve never gotten to play with it. There just weren’t any opportunities to play the Eternal decks in my previous local community. Perhaps that will change now. I sure hope I get to play in an SCG Open or two in the coming months.

I hope to be writing more regularly for you all too, now that I have some free time on my hands while I try to get settled here. I’ll try to produce some more Modern content in time for the Modern PTQ season.

Jay Lansdaal
iLansdaal on Twitter and MTGO