whats the best deck in standard?
Deck Help forum
Posted on Feb. 15, 2012, 10:53 a.m. by permhole96
i just want to build a good deck, getting back into mtg and have a large collection so i can trade for whatever but i want to know whats the best deck in standard today
Zzdragon23 says... #3
Well, Brian Kibler's deck is pretty amazing. Just go to the magic website and look at the deck tech's from the top 8 of Honolulu and look for Brian Kibler and there you go. I would post what it is but my school blocks magic.com :/
February 15, 2012 11:07 a.m.
Jmickey701 says... #4
decks, spirits focused around . All are very good but also expensive. Delver has things like 30$. So building the best decks are expensive. But for best reference look at jon finkel's spirit deck, paulo vitor's wolf run or brian kibler's wolf run. And last note, IMO control is dead, i wouldnt go there lol.
February 15, 2012 11:34 a.m.
swamp_water says... #5
Be warned, the best deck in standard is the deck that will have answers to the other best decks in standard including itself. What that means is that about 99% of the time, it will not be effective at your FNM where most of the players are playing casual and the cards they own and therefore use things that Brian's deck doesn't have an answer too. That said, his deck is pretty cool.
My suggestion is to pick U/B Zombies. You can go cheap or expensive and have just as much fun. Check out my deck:zombie-apocalypse-survival-guide for some ideas.
Also you can see some of the pro tour decks here http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/archive.aspx?tag=dailydeck.
February 15, 2012 11:36 a.m.
swamp_water says... #7
I'm a big fan of Jon Finkel and his deck is sic!
February 15, 2012 11:55 a.m.
aloehart199 says... #8
100% matter of opinionR/G wolfrun won the most recent pro tour. You can get the decklist from channelfireball
Delverblade is still hailed as best, the most recent successful incarnation (sprit delver or something) can be found on dailymtg
personally my favorite pro deck in standard right now is french rites (also known as 5 color reanimator) which is featured on dailymtg. Its by far the most "fun" of the decks and its a very powerful deck.
Theres several others though. If your just wanting to make something good, go with wolfrun or delver as they are considered the best. If you just want a good deck load up youtube and get wizard's official channel. the most recent protour had several "deck tech" videos each of which featured high level decks that did well at the pro tour.
February 15, 2012 12:43 p.m.
aloehart199 says... #9
If your wanting to get back into mtg then the strongest decks in standard currently are R/G wolf run (channel fireball's version) which is a very expensive deck to build, and the delver of spirits deck. Delver is a bit cheaper but not by a lot due to cost of swords.
If your just wanting to enjoy the game then the popular archtypes right now are
Mono White human
mono Green Aggro
5 color reanimator
Tempered Steel
Mono black zombies
mono black demons
theres plenty more doing decently in standard but those are some good ones. Mono white human in particular is cheap to build and very powerful.
February 15, 2012 12:48 p.m.
swamp_water says... #10
@aloehart199 can you give a breakdown on some of the plays with the Frites deck?
February 15, 2012 12:49 p.m.
Jmickey701 says... #11
I agree, the frites deck looked nuts lol that and tezzeret control looked so fun
February 15, 2012 1 p.m.
aloehart199 says... #12
I think the best play that can be done consistently is
Turn 1: Forest > Bird
turn 2: red mana source > faithless looting. Mulch/trackers instinct
Turn 3: Land, Flashback unburial rites targeting some large creature.
Sounds like a bit of a stretch but its not totally uncommon. it can be a bird or an avacyn's pilgrim. But typically I have some large 7+ cmc creature out by turn 5 at latest with the deck. Its a little wild
February 15, 2012 1:31 p.m.
aloehart199 says... #13
The only problem with frites is grafdigger's cage and nihil spellbomb. the spellbomb can really hurt the deck (though the mana isn't difficult with the number of manadorks you have) but grafdigger is easily taken care of with some ancient grudge sideboards.
February 15, 2012 1:32 p.m.
If you noticed though aloehart199, not many people were siding spell bombs or the cage....so you can get away with it mostly. I would say your bigger fear should be Surgical Extraction. More people side that than anything.
February 15, 2012 1:49 p.m.
Yeah people put in Surgical Extraction to extract whatever it is you were targeting that snapcaster it back later.
February 15, 2012 1:52 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #16
Tribal zombies are really strong right now (at least in my meta) and the only thing that can keep up is RDW and u/w spirit/human aggro and as stated before they can be pretty cheap and a blast to play.
February 15, 2012 1:52 p.m.
I'm gunna have to go with wolf run/huntmaster as the best currently. Would I like it to be a mono black zombie deck? Sure! But hunmaster is pretty good. Spirit delver is a much more budget deck (aside from the lands). With no swords, which there were only three main boarded top 8, spirit/delver is pretty cheap to build, especially if you were smart and got your SOM duals early before they went to 20$ a pop. My feeling is sell your swords now! If green/red continues to stay hot ancient grudge will ruin strategies based on sword slinging. It's a creature beating standard we face right now forget the fancy toys....
February 15, 2012 1:56 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #18
you don't even need it to be mono black zombies u/b deck:ze-zombeez for example is ridiculously strong. and amazingly flexible
February 15, 2012 2:01 p.m.
Ohthenoises that deck went 0-5 in the last Invitational Qualifier in Star City. Just sayin.
February 15, 2012 2:14 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #20
It's not a net deck Cableguy it's one I built myself. I play it at my local shop and win 9 times out of ten against solar flare and the like
February 15, 2012 2:17 p.m.
Well that deck has been done and lost 0-5 is all I am saying.
February 15, 2012 2:18 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #22
everything I post on this site is of my own construction as I hate net decks.
February 15, 2012 2:18 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #23
can you link it? cause i haven't seen anything about it
February 15, 2012 2:19 p.m.
Ok, well doesnt mean someone else didnt have the exact same idea and decided to play it. I typically dont play net decks either BUT my buddy ran the original Caw-Blade a tournament before the actually thing got exploited (pre feast and famine)yet it got called someone elses deck a month later because they had the same idea.
Isnt it also possible by putting your decks up and advertising them that someone 'might' run your deck?
February 15, 2012 2:21 p.m.
Invitational qualifiers in Star City dont get posted for some reason. I am just telling the honest truth. I am not trying to sound like a d**k or anything I was just informing you and others. I ran my counter burn deck under my profile as well.
February 15, 2012 2:23 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #26
I'm not gonna argue with you about it. All I will say is I guarantee that the deck I have isn't the same. and just because one guy has a bad time with it doesn't mean it's a bad deck.
February 15, 2012 2:35 p.m.
Never said it was a "bad" deck. I was just informing you of the results of someone else playing it.
February 15, 2012 2:39 p.m.
Like someone above said, there is no "BEST" deck. Sideboard Answers, and a Switchboard(like a sideboard, but side in,out between tournaments, according to meta) and good play is, are "BEST"
In my local meta, there are players ranked in the top 10 to 150 in the city,state,region,country, who play at FNM, city, convention tournaments, in Spokane, WA. Also there are rich kids, and adults, who just net deck, copy, paste build the so called "Best" decks.
I have played against these players, decks
I have semi, kind of, sort of, semi consistently destroyed Wolf Run, Delver, Blue/White Sun Titan sword's, solar flare control, tempered Steel, etc, with Blue, black, green, infect(it cycled out of standard, so don't play it anymore, am going to have to make it standard legal again), RG Land destruction, and Mono Red Kuldotha Goblins.
Beat Wolf Run by either running blitz speed agro, or control(counterspells, doomblade, dismember, go for throat, etc) use Tunnel Ignus Ghost Quarter Surgical Extraction and either burn(a reverberated Goblin Grenade for 10 damage to face or Prime), or removal.
Beat Delver, and or Blue/white control, and or solar flare, with agro, or control removal, Ratchet Bomb, Surgical Extraction, Grand Abolisher, or Autumn's Veil, Nihil Spellbomb
Beat Agro, token, swarm, with board wipe like Slagstorm, Ratchet Bomb, Day of Judgement, Divine Reckoning, and or a better Agro.
About the closest thing to a "Best" deck, are the deck archetypes "CONTROL DECKS", and "AGGRO" decks, combined with the "best" sideboards, switchboards, and "best" play. Those "best things, BEAT EVERYTHING.
Just look at the "best" decks, with the most views, comments, deck rating, best win/loss records, etc on this and other sites, and you will see why control decks, and aggro decks, and Ratchet Bomb, Tunnel Ignus, Autumn's Veil, Grand Abolisher, Nihil Spellbomb, Surgical Extraction, Slagstorm, Mental misstep, Dismember, are the "BEST"
So there are no "best" decks. I eat pro deck's like Brian's Wolf Run Deck for breakfast
Most Magic Pros are such a joke anyways. Most of them altho decent good players, are just the same as the good players I know, where the only difference, between the pro, and the good players I know, is that the pro has the time, money, skill to be a pro.
So anybody who has the time, money, and a little tiny bit of skill, can be a pro.
February 15, 2012 2:59 p.m.
Like someone above said, there is no "BEST" deck. Sideboard Answers, and a Switchboard(like a sideboard, but side in,out between tournaments, according to meta) and good play is, are "BEST"
In my local meta, there are players ranked in the top 10 to 150 in the city,state,region,country, who play at FNM, city, convention tournaments, in Spokane, WA. Also there are rich kids, and adults, who just net deck, copy, paste build the so called "Best" decks.
I have played against these players, decks
I have semi, kind of, sort of, semi consistently destroyed Wolf Run, Delver, Blue/White Sun Titan sword's, solar flare control, tempered Steel, etc, with Blue, black, green, infect(it cycled out of standard, so don't play it anymore, am going to have to make it standard legal again), RG Land destruction, and Mono Red Kuldotha Goblins.
Beat Wolf Run by either running blitz speed agro, or control(counterspells, doomblade, dismember, go for throat, etc) use Tunnel Ignus Ghost Quarter Surgical Extraction and either burn(a reverberated Goblin Grenade for 10 damage to face or Prime), or removal.
Beat Delver, and or Blue/white control, and or solar flare, with agro, or control removal, Ratchet Bomb, Surgical Extraction, Grand Abolisher, or Autumn's Veil, Nihil Spellbomb
Beat Agro, token, swarm, with board wipe like Slagstorm, Ratchet Bomb, Day of Judgement, Divine Reckoning, and or a better Agro.
About the closest thing to a "Best" deck, are the deck archetypes "CONTROL DECKS", and "AGGRO" decks, combined with the "best" sideboards, switchboards, and "best" play. Those "best things, BEAT EVERYTHING.
Just look at the "best" decks, with the most views, comments, deck rating, best win/loss records, etc on this and other sites, and you will see why control decks, and aggro decks, and Ratchet Bomb, Tunnel Ignus, Autumn's Veil, Grand Abolisher, Nihil Spellbomb, Surgical Extraction, Slagstorm, Mental misstep, Dismember, are the "BEST"
So there are no "best" decks. I eat pro deck's like Brian's Wolf Run Deck for breakfast
Most Magic Pros are such a joke anyways. Most of them altho decent good players, are just the same as the good players I know, where the only difference, between the pro, and the good players I know, is that the pro has the time, money, skill to be a pro.
So anybody who has the time, money, and a little tiny bit of skill, can be a pro.
February 15, 2012 3:02 p.m.
EleshBlade says... #30
LOL, is Solar Flare a deck anymore? It's either just Esper Control, or like Five color unburial rites, from what I've seen.
February 15, 2012 4:16 p.m.
swamp_water says... #31
Don't take our word for it. Look for yourself.Pro Tour Metagame Breakdown
February 15, 2012 4:59 p.m.
IAmKingTony says... #32
There is no "best deck".
People talk shiz on Standard but right now I think Standard is nice and diverse. Tons of options out there, especially if you're just looking to win locally or whatever.
February 15, 2012 6:43 p.m.
Key phrase that author of the story that swamp water linked to: Paraphrased(can't remember the quote word for word, but still pretty close): "The team won with a straightforward generic Tempered Steel deck, because nobody prepared for it. They didn't make that mistake again, because Tempered Steel didn't do well"
In general your link backs up what I said, that AGGRO decks, and CONTROL decks, are the best decks. Wolf Run, one of the better to best decks, dropped in effectiveness, had a harder time against the AGGRO, and CONTROL decks.
And the reason why Wolf Run, and Tempered Steel struggled a little tiny bit, after such great AWESOME showings earlier, is that good players, thru sideboards, switchboards, good play, etc will find a way to consistently beat ALMOST ANY DECK, no matter how good it is, or seems to be.
The best strategy is to build a Aggro or control deck, of a kind that you like, that fits your play style, highlights your strengths, covers your weaknesses, and then to try and make that deck, the best deck of it's kind ever built, and then to build the best sideboard, switchboard, and then play the best you possibly can play.
If you do that, you will have the better "best" deck, and will win a lot.
Doing that is better then just having someone tell, show you which deck is "best" and then using that deck.
Can't even begin to tell you how many times since 1996, when I started playing, I heard someone say: "How can you and others consistently beat me. I paid $1000 for to play this the "best" deck, that all the pro's, everybody else wins with all the time.
Even the $1500 BIG POWER 9 deck, that consistently won on turns,1,2,3,4 from old school days, consistently lost to my cheap discard/mill deck, even tho it lost a lot to other decks. "oh darn there goes your mox diamond. That must suck for such a expensive card to goto your graveyard like that."
So there is no "best" deck
February 15, 2012 6:56 p.m.
permhole96 says... #34
what about illusions??? cheep and fun to play?!?!? how does that match up against FNMs top decks?
Cableguy says... #2
How much money you looking to spend?
February 15, 2012 11:06 a.m.