Get to Know Your Standard Metagame

Features

KrazyCaley

12 May 2010

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I had a lot of positive feedback about that last article introducing some new standard contenders, so I thought it would be good to add an article detailing the REST of the metagame as of today. I may miss a few decks, but these are the big ones I'm aware of. Let's begin!

Jund

Jund is still the boss as far as I'm concerned. To be The Man, you have to beat The Man, and if you want your standard deck to win tournaments, it will have to be able to beat Jund.

Core cards (basically always there)

Bloodbraid Elf, Blightning, Sprouting Thrinax, Putrid Leech, Lightning Bolt, Maelstrom Pulse

Secondary cards (Depends on which build you see)

Terminate, Bituminous Blast, Broodmate Dragon, Garruk Wildspeaker, Jund Charm, several others.

How it works

Jund is essentially a midrange/aggro deck. It will win by pummelling you to death with relatively small creatures that stack up over time. What makes it work so well is that all or most of its cards are VERY efficient. For instance, no Jund deck would be complete without 4x Bloodbraid Elf. For four mana, you get a hasty 3/2 AND something else. While the extra bonus depends on the individual workings of each deck, Bloodbraid Elf typically turns over, in increasing order of awfulness, Lightning Bolt, Terminate, Maelstrom Pulse (these removal cards are more rarely turned over; most Jund decks prefer not to run too much removal, though most do keep at least some around), Putrid Leech, Sprouting Thrinax, and Blightning.

It's tough to keep up with this kind of efficiency! When Jund pays mana and uses a card from their hand, they are usually getting better net value than most decks. In the worst case scenario, for the low cost of one card from your hand and four mana, you are getting a 3/2, dealing 3 damage to your opponent, and making them discard two. That's a very nasty play indeed. And cards like Putrid Leech and Sprouting Thrinax are also painful- the leech is a two-drop that can hit for four damage, and the Sprouting Thrinax is obviously efficient.

How to beat it

To kill Jund, you need the right tools. First of all, you will have to have removal cards of SOME sort. Running a few walls will not be enough; Jund can put down LOTS of creatures very quickly. Preferably you will remove multiple creatures at once so that you can equalize with Jund in getting the same bang for your buck when you play a card. At the least you'll need a few Path to Exiles or other instant-speed removal so you can slow them down a bit. Day of Judgment is a great card against Jund; Infest and Volcanic Fallout aren't so much, though. Path to Exile is the preferred spot removal, as Jund isn't a particularly mana-thirsty deck, and it helps in getting rid of those damned Sprouting Thrinaxes without having to deal with all the 1/1s.

Planeswalkers usually work well against Jund; they pull damage off of you and onto themselves, and they are competitive in terms of efficiency because you can use them multiple times. If you go this route, you will probably want the more controll-y planeswalkers. (See the American Planeswalkers deck in the last article).

Finally, you do have to be able to take a Blightning and keep on ticking. Decks that try to be faster than Jund in terms of creatures (like Vampires for instance) tend not to do so well because Jund can quickly catch up in board position by about turn 4, and because Blightning will absolutely crush these fast aggro-creature decks by making them run out of gas much more quickly. Swerve is a great sideboard card for those of you running decks with U and R; Swerving a Blightning back at Jund is usually game over for them since each individual card has such high value for them. (Making Jund discard in general is a very good idea). If you can't Swerve the Blightnings, make sure that you have those efficient cards, like Day of Judgment, Planeswalkers, or your mass-removal/repeatable effect of choice.

In sum, think of playing against Jund as a card-efficiency contest. They are getting a certain value for their plays- four mana nets them a 3/2 and something else nasty. You will have to get a GREATER value if you want to win- your four mana will have to kill a LOT of creatures, or bring down a Planeswalker that will survive a while, etc. No matter what deck you play, be PATIENT against Jund. Don't be afraid to take a bit of damage in order to maximize the value of your plays. And make sure you have a late game plan- the ONLY way to beat Jund is to get cards of superior quality, if a higher mana cost. If you try to go toe to toe with Jund by having better cards in the 1-5 CMC range, you will lose. Jund HAS many or most of the best cards in the 1-5 CMC range.

Good sideboard choices

Swerve, Day of Judgment, Double Negative, Mind Rot, Duress or Inquisition of Kozilek, Lightning Bolt, Celestial Purge, Slave of Bolas, Path to Exile, Brave the Elements, Kor Firewalker, etc.

Mythic

Mythic, so called because it features four or five mythic rare cards and plenty of regular rares, is not the deck you want if you are on a budget. Mythic comes in two flavors nowadays- with and without Eldrazi Conscription. We'll talk about both.

Core cards (Basically always there)

Baneslayer Angel, Lotus Cobra, Knight of the Reliquary, Noble Hierarch, Birds of Paradise, Rafiq of the Many, Finest Hour.

If you're running Mythic Conscription-style, then you will also undoubtedly have Sovereigns of Lost Alara and Eldrazi Conscription, of course.

Secondary cards (Depends on the build)

Rampaging Baloths, Thornling, Rhox War Monk, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Mind Control, Admonition Angel, various counterspells and assorted paraphernalia.

How it works

The cards that Mythic runs are so expensive because they are really, really good. Baneslayer Angel is a flying, first striking, lifelinking 5/5 badass for a mere 5 that HAS to get blasted by a removal spell before it takes over the game by itself. Lotus Cobra, in combination with the deck's fetch lands, can produce obscene amounts of mana very early in the game. Rhox War Monk, Knight of the Reliquary, and Rafiq of the Many, in combination with Finest Hour and perhaps some of the associate fatties noted above, bring the pain. In Conscription builds, getting Sovereigns of Lost Alara to activate will win the game automatically if you can't kill the soon-to-be-enchanted-with-Eldrazi Conscription creature.

How to beat it

Bring removal. The deck has nasty monsters, but their heavy casting costs means that you can get some very good value for a Terminate or Maelstrom Pulse. Consuming Vapors punches this deck right in the solar plexus, as does most mass removal. You have to have a fairly high number of answers, or else this deck will kill you with nasty monsters VERY quickly. It is not uncommon to see a turn 3 Baneslayer Angel against this deck, and before you know it, Finest Hour and Rafiq will be out there, and you will be looking at game over before turn 5.

If you pick your fights and blast the right creatures (or all of them), this deck is very beatable. This deck HATES Nemesis Trap, if you're brave enough to run it in your sideboard, and any other efficient removal. Jund and other B/R decks are especially pleased to draw their Blightnings and other discard spells against Mythic, which then has to throw $50 cards into the trash. Some builds do run counterspells, so beware, but typically it'll just be a few Negates to protect its creatures and nothing more.

You have to mulligan aggressively against this deck. If you don't have removal, or SOME answer for Baneslayer Angel and Co. in your opening hand, you will probably lose. Don't be afraid to throw away an otherwise good 3 land, 4 spell hand if it's got no answers, unless you're SURE you can put up enough damage quickly enough, keeping in mind that Mythic has lots of ways to gain life.

Good sideboard choices

Terminate, Consuming Vapors, Day of Judgment, Infest or Volcanic Fallout, Mind Rot, Doom Blade, Deathmark, etc. Path is not such a great choice because this deck DOES want to get a bunch of mana out.

U/W Control

U/W Control, some think, is poised to seize the metagame away from Jund as the ROE cards start to take hold. I remain skeptical, but there's no denying that this deck is a serious contender.

Core cards

Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Gideon Jura, Day of Judgment, Wall of Omens, Path to Exile, Baneslayer Angel, Oblivion Ring, Mind Spring, Path to Exile

Secondary cards

Martial Coup, Spreading Seas, Mind Control, Everflowing Chalice, Jace Beleren, Wall of Denial, Sphinx of Jwar Isle, various counterspells.

How it works

This deck just wants to activate its' planeswalkers ultimate abilities, at which time you will lose. Jace, the Mind Sculptor is, in my humble opinion, the best pound for pound Planeswalker out there, and everything he does is great for this deck. His ultimate wins you the game unless your opponent can kill you in x turns, where x is the number of cards in their hand, keeping in mind that their hand will shortly become their library. Elspeth does her usual chop-blocker song and dance, but her ultimate is pretty dangerous too, especially in variants that run Sphinx of Jwar Isle and Mind Control along with their Baneslayer Angels. Gideon Jura has no ultimate, but he helps pull heat off the other planeswalkers, plus he can always become that wonderful no-damage 6/6.

To get there, this deck employs a classic selection of control tools. Day of Judgment is obvious,as is Oblivion Ring, Path to Exile, the counterspells, etc. Baneslayer Angel is, well....Baneslayer Angel. In this deck it usually functions as the most imposing wall you've ever seen, but of course it can win the game left to its own devices given the right circumstances. Wall of Omens, just like its forerunner Wall of Blossoms, is an amazing card, one that can stop Jund decks and RDW decks dead in their tracks while still cantripping.

Speaking of cantrips, have we talked about Spreading Seas? Spreading Seas is quickly making a name for itself as one of the most dangerous two-drops in standard. Besides replacing itself, it ROYALLY screws with decks that run three colors or more (even if those decks run blue), and that's a pretty big section of the metagame. (Jund, Mythic, Grixis Control, American Planeswalkers, Brilliant Esper, some Allies decks).

Beware this deck's sideboard. It has many different options. Jund, Grixis Control, RDW, and others will face down Celestial Purge; Flashfreeze appears in many sideboards, and Mind Control is available to deal with Mythic and other assorted fatty-based decks.

How to beat it

There are two ways to beat this deck. Number one is speed. The deck DOES take a while to get things going and has no way to get itself out of dangerous life totals, apart from an unchecked Baneslayer Angel. (Of course, if ANY deck has an unchecked Baneslayer Angel, you will have trouble). Jund does respectably against it because it can get damage on the board fairly quickly and eliminate the planeswalkers before they cause too much trouble. (Jund DOES have some problems due to Spreading Seas and the Walls, though). RDW, for instance, thoroughly thrashes this deck.

The other way to beat this deck is to be a "bigger" control deck- this control deck is a relatively fast one, so-built so that it can deal with a fairly fast standard metagame. It does this at the cost of leaving a weakness against bigger, badder, more ponderous control decks that have nastier, more expensive finishers, and more counterspells. Jace, the Mind Sculptor is the best pound for pound planeswalker, but even if a middleweight boxer is the best pound for pound fighter, he'll still lose if he fights a heavyweight, and Jace will lose if you can counter him or get down a Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker or an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.

Good sideboard choices

Any and all counterspells, especially Negate or Countersquall, Vampire Hexmage, Duress, Lightning Bolt.

Grixis Control

Grixis Control has never really dominated this metagame, but it has always hung around respectably; it does well against the creature-based decks (Jund, Allies, Mythic, Polymorph), but suffers against decks that do not rely on creatures. This deck has two variants now that ROE has been released, but we'll talk about both the pre-ROE (low creature) and post-ROE (high creature) variants.

Core cards (pre-ROE, though may use ROE cards)

Terminate, Blightning, Lightning Bolt, Cruel Ultimatum

Secondary cards

Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, Staggershock, Consuming Vapors, Thraximundar, Infest, Volcanic Fallout, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Sorin Markov, Liliana Vess, Wretched Banquet, Spreading Seas, Duress, Inquisition of Kozilek, Slave of Bolas, Swerve, Countersquall, Negate, etc.

New variant typical cards (post-ROE new creature-heavy variant)

Terminate, Blightning, Cruel Ultimatum, Gatekeeper of Malakir, Sedraxis Specter, Siege-Gang Commander, Jace, the Mind Sculptor.

How it works

Grixis Control is a murder machine. Not even Jund can keep up with Grixis' ability to wipe creatures off the board. Grixis will just sit there for turns and turns, doing absolutely nothing but answering enemy threats. The new variant tries to give its opponent a bit more to think about in the midrange with Jace TMS and several nice creatures, but don't be fooled- these are not the true win conditions.

The real win condition shared by all Grixis decks is Cruel Ultimatum. If you let Grixis get out three black, two blue, two red, there will be a Cruel Ultimatum coming shortly. And lest you doubt the power of Cruel Ultimatum, let us review that it is:

Raise Dead - Cumulative CMC 1

Diabolic Edict - Cumulative CMC 3

Fugue - Cumulative CMC 8

Concentrate - Cumulative CMC 12

Abuna's Chant - Cumulative CMC 16

Kaervek's Spite without the drawback- Cumulative CMC 19 and Kaervek's Spite's drawback.

So yes. Cumulative CMC 19's worth of effects, for seven mana. While Cruel Ultimatum is not always completely decisive, I would estimate that Grixis Control players win about 90-95% of the games where they get to resolve a Cruel Ultimatum. Some players use other finishers like Thraximundar, Eldrazi, or the ever-feared Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, but Cruel Ultimatum is the one you will always see.

How to beat it

Have a way to win that doesn't depend on creatures, or at least use creatures that have shroud. It's really that simple. Counterspells are also very efficacious; the deck only carries around so many win conditions, and while you can't just bring 80 counterspells and expect to win against the new, creature-heavy variant, a smattering will help keep your mind at ease vis a vis Cruel Ultimatum.

If your deck is largely creature-free, as with one of the new Planeswalker decks, then you will probably have smooth sailing, though you will have to beware the Grixis sideboard, which is typically full of answers to creature-free decks; counterspells and Duress are to be found in many a Grixis sideboard. Also, beware of Swerve; this deck is the only major standard player that runs this dangerous spell. Especially beware if you run "target player" monster spells like Mind Sludge and the like, as they could quickly be headed right back at you; the real damage, however, comes from swerved Blightnings, Esper Charms, Sign in Bloods, and the like.

And as with Jund, your deck can't be too Blightning-sensitive. Mythic relies entirely on creatures and HATES to discard cards- Grixis completely destroys creatures and has the best discard spell ever printed. The more your deck looks like Mythic, the worse off you'll be. The more Planeswalkers and counterspells you have, the better off you'll be.

Good sideboard choices

Celestial Purge, any and all non-creature counterspells, any and all Planeswalkers, Sphinx of Jwar Isle and other shroud creatures, Duress.

Polymorph

Polymorph will not stay down. It pops up in a new improved version every couple of weeks, it seems. With ROE out, it will doubtless continue to be a strong player that everyone will have to keep an eye on.

Core cards

Polymorph

Secondary cards

Everything else- most recent edition uses Emrakul, the Aeons Torn as the Polymorph goal, though you can also see Iona, Shield of Emeria, other Eldrazi, and various other huge nasty stuff. Besides the combo, the deck often uses counterspells and, if necessary, Vines of Vastwood and other protection. It is not uncommont to see Jace, the Mind Sculptor, and of course every Polymorph deck has an engine to make Polymorph targets, whether that's Wind Zendikon, Khalni Garden, Awakening Zone, or what have you.

How it works

Step 1- Have a non-creature card that somehow makes creatures- Wind Zendikon, Khalni Garden, etc.

Step 2- Cast Polymorph on the resulting token or zendikon or whatever.

Step 3- Oh look! The only creature to Polymorph to was Emrakul, the Aeons Torn! Well, gg.

How to beat it

This deck is a combo deck. Control decks beat combo decks. Control decks beat this deck. Anything that can counter Polymorph or destroy its target before it resolves will probably beat this deck, though you may have to plow through some counters from the other side.

Strangely enough, some aggro decks DO have good records against this deck. Vampires does fairly well because it can use Vampire Nighthawk to kill the big beater that comes out, though with Emrakul and his Annihiliator 6, that may be cold comfort nowadays. Vamps also usually have Vampire Hexmage mainboarded, which makes Jace a non-factor.

Polymorph is not really that serious a metagame contender because it's so easily taken apart. It's a one-trick pony, and if you stop the one trick, it has nothing else to fall back on. The problem is that if you can't stop the trick, it wins in extremely short order- there are few decks that can handle a turn 4 Iona, or a turn 4 Emrakul.

As a side note, beware if you run Jund or any other R/G-based deck. Increasingly, Sphinx of the Steel Wind is appearing in sideboards, though you think Emrakul would be a better option.

Good sideboard cards

Any counterspell and any instant speed removal. Duress works fairly well, as does Thought Hemorrhage and Sadistic Sacrament.

RDW

RDW, for those of you new to the tournament scene, stands for Red Deck Wins.

Core cards

Any red creature with haste and unearth. Any direct damage spell. Ball Lightning.

Secondary cards

Elemental Appeal, Zektar Shrine Expedition, Chandra Ablaze.

How it works.

It kills you. With FIRE. Direct damage spells will go to your face, and hasty unearthers like Hellspark Elemental and Hell's Thunder will come back again and again to do their 3 or 4 damage before you even play your first spell. By turn 5, you will not have any life left.

How to beat it

RDW is like a guy with a flamethrower coming at you. You can do a few things.

1- Poke holes in his fuel tank. The fuel tank is the RDW player's hand- if you force them to discard cards, they will run out of gas and not be able to finish you off. Timing is everything, though. Make them discard too early and they'll just drop their unearthers in the trash to pick up later. Too late and you'll already be a burning cinder. You want to aim for about turn 3 or so, when they start dropping their unearth creatures but leave some direct damage spells, Ball Lightnings, and Elemental Appeal-style big daddies in their hands for next turn. This is convenient, seeing as the two best discard spells in standard, Mind Rot and Blightning, both cost 3.

2- Wear a flame-retardant suit. The metaphor here is lifegain. You can make the RDW player run out of gas if you have more life than he can take away. Sunspring Expedition works well for white decks, as it will activate right when you get into the danger zone. Ajani Goldmane is another option, as is anything with lifelink, though obviously if your lifelinker costs 5 or more mana ( Baneslayer Angel, for instance ), you're wasting your time.

3- Stuff the nozzle of the flamethrower. This means stopping the damage from happening, either by countering the spells, killing the creatures, or throwing up walls. Decks that can do these things reliably, even if it's just a couple answers here and there early in the game, will do well against RDW.

RDW is a known quantity. Most decks will have some kind of answer for it in one of the above three forms. It is not to be underestimated, though, as even with a solid deck, you need to have the right draws. RDW demands the most aggressive mullganing against it than any other deck- who CARES if you only have four cards, if those four cards are plains, path, path, path? You will survive the rush and then sit back and build up as the RDW player will have to topdeck a bunch of damage and hope YOU don't topdeck anymore answers.

Good sideboard choices

Path to Exile, Lightning Bolt, and to a lesser extent other instant-speed removal, any counterspell, any lifegain, any discard, Wall of Denial and other low-cost creatures with high toughness.

Also-rans

Vampires - Fast mono-black small-creature aggro. Typically finishes with Malakir Bloodwitch. Though hyper effective against the new Planeswalker-based control decks because of its fast damage and certain good matchup cards, (hello, Vampire Hexmage ) can't keep up with Jund, gets wasted by Grixis Control, gets wasted by Mythic, is outraced by RDW, etc.

Green LD - Ramps and uses the myriad green LD creatures like Acidic Slime and Mold Shambler to blow up your land then kill you along with a host of usually small elves. Problem is that it loses practically automatically against anything that can counter a creature spell or any mono-color deck. Also has a problem getting down ENOUGH LD fast enough.

Turbo Fog - Causes both players to draw TONS of cards each turn with Howling Mine, Font of Mythos, Jace Beleren, et. al., fog fog fog (usually in the form of Angelsong ); it brought Reliquary Tower and/or Spellbook and you didn't, then it mills you a few turns later, after you've drawn 6 cards a turn for a few turns. But if your win condition isn't Fog-able, then it has some problems with you, since you're drawing 6 cards a turn, even if you have to discard some of them.

Open the Vaults and Combo Crypt - Same idea, different colors- cycle, cycle, cycle, throw stuff in the graveyard, stall for time in various ways, then either cast Open the Vaults or use your Crypt of Agadeem to bring everything back and win. Like all one-trick combo decks, though, does not want to see counterspells or sideboarded graveyard-clearers like Bojuka Bog. Open the Vaults is also weak vs. any wrath effect, and Crypt Combo is toast if its opponent brought any land answers, including the popular Spreading Seas.

Allies - Comes in many shapes and sizes, always popular, never seems to win tournaments. It's too easy to selectively pick the ally decks apart with removal, or god forbid wrath, and then just win. They are too slow against Jund and Co., too easily-stopped against the control decks, and generally don't do anything special-enough for standard. Still, don't think they're pushovers- they are the successors to slivers, after all, and CAN get dangerous if you let them.

Lullmage Control - Uses a few merfolk, including Lullmage Mentor, and the rest of the deck is counterspells. Played by depressed blue players who wish Counterspell was standard legal. Has no sufficiently-reliable win condition, you can run it out of counterspells if you can develop enough threats (Jund especially is good at this), and the counterspells usually aren't online fast enough to stop the aggro decks.

Naya Zoo - Makes use of high-quality RWG cards- you'll see Bloodbraid Elf, Behemoth Sledge, smaller creatures like Scute Mob, Wild Nacatl, Noble Hierarch, and so forth, maybe Baneslayer Angel, either Ajani, equipment and Stoneforge Mystic in some builds, and usually a smattering of removal. It's a good deck, but it's also all over the place. Doesn't have any really superior matchups, but does have a few bad ones because it is a jack of all trades and master of none. Gets killed by the combo decks, Grixis Control, Vampires, and the Planeswalker control decks. Does pretty well against Jund, though, which is doubtless why it's stuck around.

White weenie - In its current incarnation, tends to use soldiers and Honor of the Pure. It just isn't GOOD enough when it goes off- even with a god draw, it's just going to have maybe four or five 4/4s or thereabouts on turn 4/5, and that is easily dealt with by most decks.\

Time Sieve - Sacrifice random small artifacts to Time Sieve. Take turns. Cast Open the Vaults to get your artifacts back and take more turns. All the while, Tezzeret the Seeker is building up his ultimate to kill you with. But- if you counter or destroy Time Sieve, you win. If you counter Open the Vaults, you win. If you counter or destroy Tezzeret, you win. Too many moving parts to be reliable.

Mill decks - Mill decks come in different assortments, but with the current set of tools available to them, they have several problems- 1- They run out of gas just like RDW, and have to rely on luck to topdeck the right cards to finish the job, or to mill enough cards in the first place, as with Mind Funeral and Archive Trap. They have an even bigger problem with the Eldrazi around, as all the legendary Eldrazi have Gaea's Blessing-type abilities. Any deck with Emrakul, Ulamog, or Kozilek in it will more or less automatically defeat any mill deck. Mill just isn't good enough for standard right now.