This is the third part of a three deck analysis which covers how a particular deck evolved over time, during one of the most exciting standard formats ever. It is meant as a reflection on how formats and metagames change, and how deckbuilders and players must use superior understanding of a format, and strong play skills to refine a deck, even if it drives a deck down a path away from what was originally intended.
Previous Commentary can be found here.
Make no mistakes: Solar Pox was utterly broken. If the deck had been allowed more time in the format, it would have been more noticed. It wan an easy thing to miss, because it wasn't a card, or even a certain pairing of cards that made this deck broken ... it was the sheer consistency and synergy of the entire thing. It was also a very slow deck. So it sort of fell under the radar as "its okay for the deck to win long games because it is control" section of peoples thoughts on the Meta. The only reason it wasn't bigger was the extremely short amount of time we had from when Haakon, Stromgald Scourge became tournament legal (remember it wasn't day 1 back then) to the time that Court Hussar rotated out of the format.
THE PLAN
Slowly grind-out advantage over your opponent with almost every card. Whether you started on turn 2 with Flagstones of Troikar, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, and Smallpox (pitching Haakon, Stromgald Scourge) or if you were Slow rolling the game by using Haakon, Stromgald Scourge and a Court Hussar (remember you don't HAVE to pay the white) to restock your hand -- everything you did was about winning through sheer card advantage not in big ways, but incrementally one card at a time. Yes, there were flashy plays... like dread return on a pitched Akroma, but you generally did that expecting to fish out a removal spell (and if you were wrong, you just WON the game -- LOL). But in many ways, this deck was the epitome of a good control deck. You had a sideboard that was typically 1 or 2 card answers for specific decks, and might even SB some lands for the mirror match.
RAMP
Being rather efficient on mana, you only ever had 4-5 artifact accelerators, 1 of which was a win-con. Still, having the option to ramp was important, as there were still plenty of ways to kill quickly in the format. It also never hurt to hit multiples of 3 with your mana count, so that you could keep abusing your draw engine.
DIG
All the previous goodness of Court Hussar and Compulsive Research, abusable via Haakon. Some versions even ran an additional toolbox package on Dimir House Guard.
CONTROL
4x Wrath of God and 4x Smallpox was backbreacking. Period. After that, you just have a very narrow toolbox of answers to specific concerns, which you usually just held onto in hand.
STRUCTURE
Solar Pox has an understandably slower clock from previous iterations. But when you consider that often, Haakon was the only thing allowed to life on the battlefield making him a defacto win-con. Including him allows us to get to the 9(ish) wincons we have become accustomed to seeing. Then there are the 7 (eventually abusable) dig spells, 8 advantage clears and a handful of tools for spot removal. Plenty of spots available for singleton additions for specific matchups (IF you even needed them).
EPILOGUE
It amazes me to this day, how a Greater Good Combo deck, evolved into one of the best control powerhouses ever available in standard. But really, it was about a sound process of players choosing the best tools available at any given time, and playing in a way that maximized their chances at victory. There is no "easy" way to win consistently. There is a framework of rules that we set for ourselves about when certain risks are appropriate, and when they aren't. Much of the rest is a simple balancing of equations.
And this is where truly high level magic comes in. If you and your opponent are both at this level -- and you know that each other is as good as you are -- you can start to do things like bluff and posture. Or you can keep "risky" hands because you know the other guy isn't dumb enough to just facecheck 5 guys into a boardwipe (unless its his only way to win).
But these 3 decks offer some neat insights to some of the framework that gets you there, and offer insight to good deckbuilding.
Thanks for reading, and Happy Brewing!
