The Dream Hall, Issue 1: Midrange and Other Things
Challenges and Articles forum
Posted on Oct. 17, 2012, 4:32 p.m. by zapatos
Hi all. I'm Zapatos, and I'm going to be writing articles here. I like building decks, the color blue (and sometimes green), Tempest Block, and good music. I mostly play Legacy and EDH, but I enjoy brewing when possible in Standard and Modern.
My article today, and hopefully future ones, will be composed of three sections. The first is a song recommendation. Think of it as a soundtrack. The second is the body of the article. Expect opinion and decklists. The third is a prompt for discussion, deck-building, or card creation. Please give me feedback, and don't be shy about criticizing me.
I. Try listening to Autumnal Crush by Clark, from the album Body Riddle. It's ambient electronica, and might seem overwhelming or annoying to some of you, but the waves and themes in the piece are really astounding. Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvlQLCR0R0Q
II. Today, I'm going to be writing about Midrange in Standard. The seed for this article was planted in my mind after playtesting against a friend's Izzet deck. I was using a control brew, and I won. Big. Many others have written that Delver is dead. This is true. Blue-based tempo decks, love them or hate them, are extremely weak right now. If one looks at top eights and daily events, Thragtusk decks, Gravecrawler decks, and Jace, Architect of Thought decks are winning. Why no tempo? Whats the common theme? Reach.
For those who do not know, reach is the ability of a deck to keep up the pressure during the lategame. The value of reach varies immensely. In some formats, reach in inconsequential. I would say that Modern right now is such a format. You have decks like RUG Aggro, Boremandos, Affinity, and White Weenie, which disrupt and attack the opponent mercilessly and, ideally, win in the first seven turns. Then, you have decks like Valakut, Tron, and Pod, which buy time until making an unstoppable, game-winning play. There is no reach in aggressive decks; if you cannot outrace the opponent, you will die.
In some formats, however, reach is everything. In Legacy, even hyper-aggressive decks like Goblins carry Goblin Ringleader s and Siege-Gang Commanders around to guarantee lategame inevitability. Miracle and BUG decks grind through the game, eventually beating or boring the opponent into submission with intangible Jace, the Mind Sculptor s, Vendilion Clique s and Angels. Often, GW Maverick decks will win simply because they can draw more copies of Knight of the Reliquary and Scavenging Ooze than the opponent. Even RUG builds easily transition into Countertop control decks in some matchups. Reach is how you win in Legacy.
But what about Standard? The decklists tell the tale. Thragtusk staves off an aggressive opponent, making the game longer. In addition, it is resistant to removal and applies a great deal of pressure on opponents with weaker board presence. He provides reach, giving you the advantage in the lategame. Gravecrawler is another great reach creature. He and his larger brother, card:Geralf's Messenger, are extremely aggressive creatures that are virtually impossible to remove. They will outlast another aggressive deck and put a controlling deck on the back foot in both card advantage and life total. Jace, too, is strong in the lategame. He holds off weenie hordes exceedingly well, while providing continuous card advantage until you can fully gain control of the game.
Tokens and tempo have no reach. Well timed boardwipes ruin Tokens day. Tempo cannot rely on counterspells, and the repeated use of Unsummon just leads to card disadvantage in the lategame. Its only threats are easily removed.
So the smartest thing to do in the Type 2 environment today is to run a reach-y deck. And the best decks for reach are midrange decks. The card quality is fantastic: Geist of Saint Traft , Restoration Angel , Thragtusk , and even Armada Wurm are available. Jund can run demons and dragons (DRAGONS!), as well as extremely powerful planeswalkers like Vraska the Unseen and Liliana of the Dark Realms .
So what should you run? I think a combination of the Jace decks and the Thragtusk decks is the strongest choice right now. Bant allows you to use more cards and stronger cards, which generally means that you win. I brewed up a quick list; feel free to criticize and improve it.
Creatures: 4x card:Avacyn's Pilgrim 1x Loxodon Smiter 3x Geist of Saint Traft 3x Lyev Skyknight 4x Restoration Angel 4x Thragtusk 2x Armada Wurm
Spells: 3x Selesnya Charm 3x Syncopate 1x card:Sphinx's Revelation
Other: 3x Jace, Architect of Thought 3x Detention Sphere 3x Rancor
Land: 4x Temple Garden 4x Hinterland Harbor 4x Glacial Fortress 2x Sunpetal Grove 4x Forest 2x Island 3x Plains
Altogether, this deck has lots of reach. Farseek probably belongs in here, and the land count could be higher, but this is a decent prototype. This list could easily be Junk, too, if you had Vraska and friends instead of Jace. I advise playing Treasured Find , a very undervalued card.
III. Well, tempo is weak right now. What could make it stronger? I want you to design a non-Ponder , non-broken, Delver-flipping cantrip and post it here. Maybe the good folks in the Dimir Guild will hear of it come Gatecrash. They do have some advanced reconnaissance techniques.
Thanks, and I hope you keep reading! If you have any feedback or comments, please share.
I think that you'd do best if you splashed another color, black or white. There are 12 dual lands for GB and GW, 8 of which are really good. The mana shouldn't be an issue if you don't run many swamps/plains. Black buys you some really good removal, like Abrupt Decay , and aggressive creatures like Diregraf Ghoul and Dreg Mangler . If you get white, you can use Loxodon Smiter , Selesnya Charm , Call of the Conclave , Silverblade Paladin , and many other good cards.
I'd advise not focusing on turn three wins. In your case, a simple Pillar of Flame or Tragic Slip could ruin your day if you go too far with pump spells. Try to build a resilient deck, one that can avoid or outwit removal with cards like Strangleroot Geist or Predator Ooze . You'll win more games in the long run, although it might take a few more turns. Pump spells are only as useful as the creatures that are pumped.
Thanks for reading, thanks for the compliments, and I will try to keep writing. Glad you enjoyed it.
Panda213 says... #2
I agree with the popular builds at the moment but I always tend to build decks outside of the mainstream... I have a nasty green agro deck that can kill on turn 3 but I'm always tinkering, what would recommended for a standard mono G aggro?
October 17, 2012 6:35 p.m.