INTRO
This is a budget tempo/control deck for OGW Standard featuring Assault Formation. The price is around $20 (TCGplayer Optimized) if you exclude basic lands, and a lot of it is commons / uncommons or dollar rares, so acquiring them shouldn't be too hard, and if you do you will have a fairly solid tempo shell that can be upgraded over time and has some pretty good matchups.
This deck uses high toughness blockers and counterspells to keep the opponent at bay while digging for its wincons, either hexproof creature beatdown or Assault Formation. Assault Formation turns your early blockers into powerful and undercosted attackers. The deck is supposed to be fairly interactive, but most of that interaction is in the board for specific matchups. Game 1 is all about clogging up the field and digging for your threats with Anticipate until you can get Assault Formation or Sagu Mauler. The biggest advantage to this deck is doing as much as you can on your opponents turn, either stopping them from playing spells, casting guys with flash for value or digging for your win-cons, it is all at instant speed for ~3 mana, meaning your opponent has to play it safe even when you can't do anything as long as you keep three lands untapped. This deck is fairly grindy, and can come back from behind with the sideboard.
Notes on Maindeck:
Abzan Beastmaster
works pretty well with my high toughness creatures when I don't have Assault Formation on the field, and it is something your opponent has to waste a kill spell on unless they want me to draw a bunch of cards. Biggest downfall is that it is slower and isn't hard to kill, especially if they have nothing better to do with their
Fiery Impulse
s. It is a lightning rod that gives suboptimal and conditional card draw, so it is usually boarded out, but it can be a value engine.
Benthic Infiltrator
is a bit clunky. Being a 1/4 for 3 is pretty slow, and we don't need the ingest. It is in because the unblockable is amazing for the kind of stalemates this deck makes. You can slowly ping down your opponent, and once you find an Assault Formation this guy is a lot better. Better than expected, but may still be a bit slow for leaving us tapped out on turn 3.
Bounding Krasis
is amazing. It is a tempo swing that you can play during your opponents attack phase to hold off an attacker and give you an extra blocker. This also gives you a backup plan when you hold up mana for a Void Shatter and they don't play anything.
Dragon's Eye Savants
isn't amazing, but it is good at what it does. A 0/6 for 2 is not much without Assault Formation out, but it is versatile, and that's whats great about it. You can play it as a morph and use it to attack, and if it is about to die due to damage it is free to flip up, and you get to peek at your opponents hand. Finally, it helps you bluff out Sagu Maulers, which is nice.
Sagu Mauler is amazing here, and is the secondary win con (after butt-beatdown). A 6/6 trampler with hexproof is nothing to scoff at, and being able to morph is icing on the cake, but be careful! Just like how
Abzan Beastmaster
is going to eat all the burn spells your opponent has, this will as well, and it can't be flipped for free like
Dragon's Eye Savants
can be.
Sidisi's Faithful
is a perfect one drop for the deck. It gives something to do turn one, shuts down early aggro (ex. Monastery Swiftspear and
Zurgo Bellstriker
), lets us still cast other spells in a turn, and if you draw it late game and you don't need an extra body it can just be an
Unsummon
in a pinch.
Void Grafter
is the biggest change to this deck from OGW. Being a 2/4 for 3 with flash makes it similar to
Benthic Infiltrator
, but instead of stopping attackers this guy stops targeted removal. In the right situations Grafter can be a two for one that leaves you with a 4/4 attacker that dodges Abzan Charm. It is only a two of in the main, since it is more conditional on its bonus and I have other counterspells, but there is an extra in the board for matchups with lots of removal.
Assault Formation is the primary wincon of the deck, turning all your blockers into suddenly very large creatures that can quickly win you the game. This is weak to Dromoka's Command, which is why the deck doesn't go all in on the strategy (ie. with
Glint
,
Tide Drifter
and
Shape the Sands
, which is still viable but more easy to disrupt), but it is a flexible and cheap win-con that most people won't be expecting and slots right into a later game tempo deck with high toughness creatures.
Anticipate is the premier digging spell in your deck, helping you mana fix, find answers and search for win-cons at once! Best of all you can hold up mana and do it on your opponents turn if you don't need to counter anything they play.
Become Immense is just a one-of backup plan if the match goes too long and can give us some surprise wins.
Clash of Wills can punish our opponent for playing on curve and hurts aggressive to midrange strategies. Only a two of since it is conditional, but may be worth a 3 of once I do more testing and see the new meta.
Dig Through Time is another panic button like Become Immense. A one-of that can get us out of a jam, at instant speed. Better than Treasure Cruise since you usually want to do everything on your opponents turn once you've got your dudes on the field.
Void Shatter is an unconditional counterspell that exiles. That is pretty good in a meta with Rally the Ancestors and Jace, Telepath Unbound
, so it has replaced
Scatter to the Winds
. Time and testing will tell if
Scatter to the Winds
deserves a one of slot for the late game awaken 3, but I doubt it.
Lumbering Falls is a tapped dual land with the upside being that it can swing with hexproof when needed (which can be useful in a stalemate, though unblockable would have been even better!)
Thornwood Falls is surprisingly good, and it has actually saved my bacon more times than I would want to admit. With no other lifegain in the deck I am a bit weaker to strategies that go wide, but those usually involve a bunch of 1/1 tokens. Even nullifying one of those can be all you need when you have blockers for the big guys. Also lessens the pain from
Yavimaya Coast
.
Yavimaya Coast
is color fixing that enters the battlefield untapped. It's cheaper than fetchlands!
Notes on Sideboard:
Dispel is currently really good in the meta. Most four coloured decks (ie. Jeskai Black) run mostly instants whenever they can, so being able to counter almost a third of their cards for one mana is pretty sweet, and it is good for the control mirror.
Disperse is an instant speed way to deal with Hangarback Walker and big threats like planeswalkers. One fun thing to do it use this against targeted removal to blank them from killing your
Bounding Krasis
or
Void Grafter
to get some more sweet value. Unfortunately this is a non-bo against cards with good ETB effects, so time will tell if these aren't as good in the meta.
The one of Negate in the sideboard is mostly in anticipation of more planeswalkers in decks with all the support they are getting in OGW. Since this deck beats down with a couple large creatures it is harder to kill enemy planeswalkers, so I will need more testing, but in conjunction with Clash of Wills having an out in your deck can mean the difference between losing and winning.
Profaner of the Dead is a real all star in the sideboard. Against Aggro, Tokens, Aristocrats and Warrior strategies this can be a boss. It is a great out for many scenarios and can be a huge blowout in your favour. Many games are won by swings like that.
Reality Shift is the premier removal spell for blue. It deals with
hangerback walker
, Siege Rhino,
Mantis Rider
and any other threats I can't deal with at instant speed. Can be used in a pinch to blank targeted removal (I guess...). It maybe should be in the main board, since it isn't good to have NO creature removal at all, but with the counterspells I am not sure what I would cut. Let me know if you have any suggestions for this.
Notes on Maybeboard
Most of these cards don't fit the strategy enough to make the cut, but there are a few that I want to point out (let me know if you think the deck would benefit from these):
Mizzium Meddler
: This is the real elephant in the room to me. It is a 1/4 for 3 with flash that redirects a spell or ability to it. It can protect my guys from removal and steal my opponents buffs. I think it is great that it can also redirect abilities to itself, and can be very versatile disruption that fits the strategy of the deck quite well. I wouldn't want to run this guy as a one of (two of at least) but the main reason it is out is because of Void Grafter. Almost no decks don't run creature removal, and giving a guy hexproof can often be better than letting this guy be a martyr. At the same time, Void Grafter only works if they are targeting my stuff, but it can't stop a chain of buffs. On top of that, Grafter has better combat stats, while Meddler is less colour intensive. I will probably need to playtest this a fair bit, but let me know what you think about this.
Ruthless Instincts
: Kills flyers (which can be a bit of an issue for this deck) and can help push the last bit of damage through. Very versatile, but maybe not worth the cut?
Scatter to the Winds
: Maybe just as a one of for the Awaken?
Torrent Elemental: This may just be more of a pet card, but I think this is pretty good. It effectively makes all your guys unblockable, has flying on top of that and can still be used if exiled. It may just be rosy glasses, since I can't think of what to cut, but I think this card could be pretty good.
Matchups
Oath of the Gatewatch Standard (Online Testing):
Matchup: Grixis Eldrazi Control
So this is a deck that sprung up in the new meta due to the amazing new cards Thought-Knot Seer, Reality Smasher, Warping Wail ect. that OGW gave us. It is a pretty tough deck to play in a normal matchup, since they get a lot of disruption and tempo plays. Thankfully this is not a normal deck (and that is a huge advantage in standard). Since we don't have a lot of creatures that you would want to waste removal on they can stick around for longer, and if they die they fuel our 2 delve cards. Warping Wail is pretty mean against us, since most of our guys can be exiled by it, but there isn't any sorceries in the deck, so that mode is useless, and a 1/1 scion isn't really a huge deal. I haven't seen enough of this deck to say which side is favoured, but since it is control vs control it is a lot about the pilots.
Game 1: I went first and played two Thornwood Falls and a
Sidisi's Faithful
within the first two turns. He tries to Warping Wail it but I counter it with a
Void Grafter
(which was a mistake on my part, since losing the Faithful would have been worth holding up mana for turn four). He casts Thought-Knot Seer and takes a Void Shatter. He plays a Herald of Kozilek and follows it up with a Thought-Knot Seer taking
Void Grafter
. At this point the game stalls out for around ten turns since he knows I had another counter in hand, and I was waiting for him to play anything. He tries to
Grip of Desolation
, but I Void Shatter. He Negates that. I Clash of Wills it and win the counter war (hooray!). Since he was tapped out I took the opportunity to use Dig Through Time, finding Assault Formation and casting it to make my guys into 4/4s. The next turn I attack, and he blocks my two guys with his two Thought-Knot Seers. I activate the pump ability on Assault Formation to make my guys effective 5/5s, outclassing the Seers, leaving my guys alive and getting me two cards. He lost in short order after losing his card advantage and blockers.
Game 2: This game was a lot faster than before. I sided in my Dispels to give me the egde in a counter war and also bring in two Reality Shift to get rid of his Seers or Reality Smashers. He plays a Hangarback Walker, getting it to a 3/3 before playing a second one, which I tap with a flashed in
Bounding Krasis
to attack in unblocked. Since he is tapped out I cast Anticipate and find
Benthic Infiltrator
. I follow it up with a
Benthic Infiltrator
with a Dispel in hand as backup. My next turn I land an Assault Formation with Dispel backup again. It resolves. My opponent checks their hand and realizes that they can't win a 4 damage per turn race and concedes, letting me go 2-0!
Post Match Review: I don't think the pilot of this deck was really experienced with the deck yet (no offence! You played well!) and they made some mistakes in gameplay that make this a less useful metric for the power level of the deck. Still, control vs control is a tough matchup, and I feel that this deck has some of the right pieces to gain the edge and win (ie. Sagu Mauler and
Benthic Infiltrator
, which can break though a stalemate). Them not having white was pretty great for us, since I didn't have to worry about Dromoka's Command or Erase ruining my day. From this matchup I have found some things I will take into account with the deck.
First of all,
Abzan Beastmaster
is worse than I had thought. I almost never want to see him since he isn't instant speed, often doesn't draw me cards (especially not with more midrange decks) and doesn't even block or trade well. Seeing as it is rare that I get to draw from him, I don't think I am losing too much here. I usually side him out anyways so he has been cut from the deck.
Since I do want at least one more source of card draw I am going to test a
Blighted Cataract
in place of a Lumbering Falls. I do't think this will hurt my manabase too much, and being able to cash it in for cards is great in the late game. The falls are a bit slow and difficult to activate while still controlling the game. If I can activate these I am already winning, but the Cataract can help me get there.
I also feel that I could use some more creature removal preboard (since I almost always have to side in my Reality Shifts). As such I have moved 2 Reality Shift to the mainboard.
Until I know more about the new meta this is still flexible, but I got rid of the one Negate in the sideboard and put in three Disdainful Strokes instead, since it hits most big spells I don't want to deal with from midrange decks like Abzan.
+1 Dispel -1Disperse in the sideboard is basically because being able to counter things for one mana is really good, and bouncing a creature sometimes just isn't enough, or it can be just straight up bad if they have an ETB effect.
Big Red Goblins
Because this decks is mono red tokens with goblin tribal, of course it runs Goblin Piledriver, which I just realized is a problem, since the only creatures in our deck that can block it are the devoid
Benthic Infiltrator
and
Void Grafter
. This version of the build ran Stoneforge Masterwork to turn Piledrivers into massive threats even if they were the only ones attacking, and used Goblin Dark-Dwellers like a weird imitation of Snapcaster Mage to kill me with an exquisite firecraft. I had forgotten to update my deck before playing, but either way I would have been blown out, since the only functional interaction I had was counterspells, which are notoriously bad against aggro. Since I just got wrecked both games I have decided to stick a
Winds of Qal Sisma
in the side, pretty much just for this matchup (which will likely prove to be more useful than Disperse ever was). I went 0-2 here.
Impactful Goblins
My next opponent was playing a mardu goblins based deck, but unlike my last opponent his strategy was to use cards like
Hordeling Outburst
in conjunction with Impact Tremors to do a bunch of damage, before even attacking. It goes wide and has lots of cheap spells, which makes it a more difficult matchup here but it is not a huge deal. I have built this deck to be better against midrange preboard (with Disdainful Strokes in the main, but I am able to swap them out for cards like Clash of Wills when it is better suited, as you will see.
Game 1: I did pretty well here, got pretty lucky with a turn 1
Sidisi's Faithful
followed by turn 2 Assault Formation to begin the rapid beatdown. Even with tokens they couldn't deal with the rapid life loss, winning me the game.
Game 2: I boarded in my aggro hate, but it wasn't enough. He switched to having Zulaport Cutthroats and I couldn't beat him when he got two on the field, even after sticking a Sagu Mauler when I was mana screwed.
Game 3: I sided out all my Void Shatters for Dispel (even though he mostly used sorceries), since I just kind of had to hope to draw better, which I did. Got some early beatdown in, cut through his guys with my
Bounding Krasis
flashed in to block then swing. Eventually I found my out in the matchup: Profaner of the Dead (MVP vs any kind of small creature aggro, especially tokens, since those just get exiled!). I just had Profaner exploit himself (which is always a nice option) to wipe his board and swing in for a bunch of damage. GG: 2-1.
Eldrazi Midrange
Game 1 we had a fight for control for a while, and we were both really low on life, but unable to attack since you would just die on the crackback. Unfortunately they used a Warping Wail on a Reality Smasher I blocked with Sagu Mauler for the win.
Game 2: This game never got completed, he lost connection and didn't get back in time, but we were still pretty evenly matched. I had a discussion with the other player about counterspells, and here's what I am thinkning: the options for counterspells aren't amazing at first glance in standard, but there is actually a lot of options that are just better in certain matchups, so we need to play to beat the meta. The counterspells available to us are:
-
Abstruse Interference
: This is just lackluster, and doesn't do anything late game. We don't really need the scions anyways. NEXT!
-
Calculated Dismissal
: stays active later into the game, but it is still a soft counter. Scry is nice, as it helps us dig for our win cons. I will consider it, but maybe three mana is too much for a Mana Leak, even with the scry bonus.
-Cancel: seeing as there is at least two strictly better versions of this in standard, this is really lacklustre. NEXT!
-Clash of Wills: A pretty good tempo play early game, aggressive decks want it, but I am starting to think that we do not. We can gum up the board pretty early with blockers, and it is the big spells late game I care about. I will consider it, but it may just be too clunky.
-
Contradict
: It's five mana. NEXT!
-Disdainful Stroke: I am starting to think this is also less useful than I thought. Decks have a pretty low curve right now, less than 3 cmc on average, so this is more of a corner case card that may not even be good enough for the sideboard. I need to see the new meta before deciding (folks at my store like to play decks that perform well at pro tour, so I would build to beat the most popular deck there)
-
Kheru Spellsnatcher
: It is four mana plus an extra six if you want to counter something and dies to Fiery Impuse and Wild Slash. NEXT!
-Kozilek, the Great Distortion: Why is this even on this list?!? NEXT!
-
Mindswipe
: A DIFFERENT version of Clash of Wills. It is less useful early game, but it can kill players late game (remember: the damage still happens even if they pay the cost to not have their spell countered). It is unfortunately not in our colours and doesn't help our gameplan enough. NEXT!
-Overwhelming Denial: Look guys, it is almost Counterspell! Guys! Come back! Seriously: 4 mana for a counter is not good, and I doubt hitting that surge is worth it. NEXT!
-
Rakshasa's Disdain
: We don't have enough graveyard fillers for this to be useful (that would be an entirely different deck, which gets some gears turning for a brew, but anyways). Not for us. NEXT!
-
Scatter to the Winds
: I played this before OGW, and I honestly just felt like I was playing Cancel. The awaken is rarely used, and it is all around worse than Void Shatter with Jace, Vyrn's Prodigy in standard.
-
Silumgar Spell-Eater
: That's no counterspell! NEXT!
-
Silumgar's Scorn
: Now THIS is probably the best all around Counterspell in standard. It hits anything, is useful to a degree even if you don't have a dragon, but once you do: blowout city. To bad we don't have any dragons. NEXT!
-Spell Shrivel: In my opinion this may be better than
Calculated Dismissal
, but it is still just okay. The exile is nice, four extra mana is better than three, and maybe being devoid is beneficial, but otherwise I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. If the meta is more consistent I would rather have the right spells for the right matchups, but in a diverse playing field this might be okay as a catch all.
-
Temur Charm
: We aren't in Temur colours, and even Temur decks don't always want to play this so NEXT!
-
Ulamog's Nullifier
: This is a MUCH better creature + counterspell, but I don't think we have enough exile support to make it worth it. I do like the fact it has flash, okay toughness and flying, but we aren't in black either. NEXT!
-Void Shatter: Probably one of THE best counterspell variants in standard right now (in general). It hits anything for three mana, is devoid (hey, maybe it matters...) and exiles (the best part). If this was a three colour deck I would probably prefer Spell Shrivel for the less intensive colour costs, but as it stands my mana base can almost always be ready to cast this at least on turn four (lots of ETB tapped lands do that). Definitely play, but how many?
-Warping Wail: it is too narrow, and we only have four sources of colourless mana. NEXT!
-
Bone to Ash
: Even with the extra card this costs too much. NEXT!
-Disciple of the Ring: I REALLY like this card, and with I could find a use for it, but I can't see it. Still: super cool if you can make it work (maybe in that graveyard deck...). NEXT!
-Dispel: Who doesn't love doing things at instant speed. This is a one stop shop for countering counterspells and many of the most played value spells four colour decks in the format love, but it can be clunky against aggro decks like UR Prowess and Goblins. Better in the side, unless the meta is really skewed.
-Negate: this may actually be good (even better than Dispel) since for only one more mana you can counter sorceries and planeswalkers. May be worth it.
-
Neutralizing Blast
: With the way mana bases are in standard, most people are just playing the best cards from four colors, without much overlap. It really depends on your meta, but this misses a surprisingly large amount of spells in standard (and don't get caught with devoid! This can't counter
Ulamog's Nullifier
!). Maybe, but probably not. NEXT!
-Ojutai's Command: this is a good four mana counter, since it brings so much to the table, but we aren't Azorius so this isn't for us. NEXT!
-
Psychic Rebuttal
: Not a lot of spells that target you in this format, and if you get to even cast this card it is unlikely the effect will be super amazing and make this worth running. NEXT!
-Silumgar Sorcerer: Not the worst, counters a creature for the cost of a cancel, but unless you have a lot of tokens you want to trade for a 2/1 flyer, just stick with one of the Cancel variants. NEXT!
-Silumgar's Command: See Ojutai's Command. NEXT!
-
Stratus Dancer
: this might not be the worst, but it isn't amazing, and I don't see wanting this too much. Keep it in mind if you are in a meta full of game swinging instants and sorceries, but I think I'll pass here. NEXT!
-Stubborn Denial: Works a lot worse when almost all your creatures have power < 4. Just play negate if you want this. NEXT!
-
Trap Essence
: I didn't even know this was a card until it showed up in my search, but I can see why nobody cares this exists. NEXT!
-
Horribly Awry
: Saved the best for last! This will almost definitly go into the deck. There are few decks that don't care about creatures (this is even good against goblins to counter Goblin Piledriver) and this exiles on top of that. For two mana. I had thought this was three mana when I was originally testing, so I just
Complete Disregard
ed it, but it turns out this little gem is a beast.
Mantis Rider
? Nope. Siege Rhino? Oh no, something has gone horribly wrong with it. Thought-Knot Seer? I THOUGHT NOT! I guess that shows me to RTFC, but I will surely be slotting this into the main to some extent. One thing to note is that this is useless against most G/R Ramp decks, but those aren't too popular last I checked (JK I know they are a large portion of the meta, but that is when you side these out and/or cry).
The other counterspells here aren't bad (well some of them ARE but whatever), but it all depends on how the meta shakes out, and what become the cards to counter (my money is on some kind of Black-Red-Green-Blue or Grixis Eldrazi / colourless midrange deck to dominate standard with
Spatial Contortion
, Thought-Knot Seer, Matter Reshaper, Warping Wail and, of course, Hangarback Walker). Maybe then Disdainful Stroke will really shine. BUT if the meta gets more aggressive, go for Negate, Dispel, Clash of Wills and maybe even Spell Shrivel. We'll see... once I brew up that Sultai graveyard control deck!
Origins Standard (this is a bit outdated, but it is a good demonstration of the decks staying power. Once OGW officially drops I can do more testing and will post the results here):
1) Jeskai Prowess: Game 1 I was killed very quickly but post board I got all my Profaner of the Dead and was able to grind out the game to turn 23 while at less than 4 life since turn 3. Unfortunately they top decked Centre Soul to get a buffed up Myth Realized through my board lock (Profaner couldn't return that when it is an enchantment). Still, the ability to grind out a bad matchup like that is one of the major strengths of the deck.
2) U/R/b Tutelage Mill: Despite being very controlling, this deck can still shift gears to a faster pace when not having to worry about blocking. Game one I got though with a Sagu Mauler, and game two Lumbering Falls was the MVP, letting me go 2-0.
3) Temur Dragons: Game one I lost to a well timed Thunderbreak Rengent. Game two I ground out long enough with strong (if unorthodox) tempo plays, like using disperse on my morphed Sagu Mauler so he only killed his own board after casting
Radiant Flames
. Game three I didn't sideboard correctly, and he beat me with
Heir of the Wilds
beatdown paired with
Yasova Dragonclaw
stealing everything I love (since my guys all have <4 power). Dragons do not seem to be a great matchup, since they have high power (harder to block effectively), high toughness (harder to kill in combat) and have flying (a definite weak point to the deck). Combine that with the generally good midrange cards they have access to and they have some really sweet interactions with their dragons (ie.
Silumgar's Scorn
= Counterspell) and it is not very easy to race, but I could just need to practice in the new standard some more to see what decks there are and find a way to beat midrange in general. (UPDATE: Dragons aren't a big deal anymore, but Jeskai Black is the new monster on the block, along with the classically OP Abzan. Jeskai Black has lots of flyers and control, so it is a lot like Temur Dragons was, and Abzan is still able to play cards that just straight up outclass us sometimes, like Siege Rhino and Tasigur, the Golden Fang. Once I get some testing in we will see how the matchup goes in a new standard environment I will tweak the sideboard to better face these titans of the format)
Thanks for reading! I hoped you enjoyed this budget deck for OGW Standard. Please Upvote and put any thoughts or suggestions (preferably budget, but anything helps) in the comments!
