RTR Brewing Part 2!

I'm baaaack Grin

Yes yes the spoiler is out, the prerelease is in a week, Provincials is in 3 weeks...its going to be a good month for magic Smile

So what have I been doing? well i was recently in the Lantern IQ, which if any of you play Modern go play in those. they are awesome and you have literally no reason to not play in it. Me and fellow teammate (name pending) Samiamnot06 top 8'd the tourney with RUG Delver. I lost to Bant Blouses and he lost to Naya Pod, both to not optimal draws. Well i made a massive misplay game 2 to lose the game (i didnt Cryptic Command his Spectral Flight to kill his geist, instead i used it to tap him down) but all in all we had a good tournament. I mean we both top 8'd so we can't complain Smile

as for standard, as my last post proved I've been brewing and testing lots. The deck that has completely over performed STILL and probably the deck I'm taking to provincials (unless one of these decks overperforms...) is Humans, and the first list i'm going to provide:

DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Dryad Militant
4 Knight of Glory
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Silverblade Paladin
3 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Fiend Hunter
4 Sublime Archangel

2 Azorius Charm
2 Detention Sphere
3 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
2 Bonds of Faith

9 Plains
3 Cavern of Souls
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
3 Moorland Haunt

Sideboard
3 Judge's Familiar
3 Negate
4 Elite Inquisitor
3 Riders of Gavony
2 Detention Sphere


(WARNING: SIDEBOARD IS WRONG. very very rough board)

So this is the 2nd deck i built after the spoiler went up, with the first being Zombies. And this one blew it out of the water, and no not because of sideboarding. I just threw that board after testing some more, while also wanting to THROTTLE zombies, as im sure that will be everywhere month 1. What i didnt expect is how good it would be against the general meta we threw it against (friends and i)

We threw it against UWR Control, Delver, Zombies, Grixis, GW Aggro, Tokens, Bant Control...everything we could think of (more to come) the only deck it EVER had problems with was Grixis. The rest? Crushed. Grixis only one because it could have turn 1 Pillar, along with efficient sweepers, Curse of Death's Hold and Jace...

Lets talk about Jace for a second. I'm seeing a LOT of bad rep on this guy, and i do NOT know why. Actually I do. Everyone saying this card sucks has never played it. I gurantee it. And I'll explain why. The card on its own isn't very good. Look at its first ability and its ultimate for instance. in a vacuum, this card sucks. In a control deck that does what a control deck does, the card is an absolute house. The +1 slows the aggro opponent down enough to let u draw into a stabilizer, the -2 is insane card advantage, and the irrelevant Ultimate can also win the game on its own. How? Take their win con. Take your big game win condition (nicol bolas, griselbrand, niv-mizzet, w/e it is) and just win.

anyway that is a good transition into the next deck i want to talk about, Grixis Control:

DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
2 Augur of Bolas
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
2 Olivia Voldaren

3 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

2 Gilded Lotus

1 Curse of Death's Hold

1 Cyclonic Rift
4 Desperate Ravings
2 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Syncopate
1 Blasphemous Act
2 Dreadbore
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Pillar of Flame

Lands
2 Island
2 Mountain
3 Swamp
4 Blood Crypt
1 Desolate Lighthouse
2 Dragonskull Summit
3 Drowned Catacomb
2 Evolving Wilds
3 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls


The deck is based off of GerryT's list, as it is QUITE good, and the list flows quite well. It can slow down aggro decks to a halt, and since a lot of the format is 2 toughness and 2 power, Curse and Jace help you to survive after the first assault, and Olivia/Niv-Mizzet/Nicol Bolas can help to take over the game.

The next deck is I think my crown jewel, and after all the testing i've done i think i found a list i love after a month of searching. I present to you: Prairie Fires (Junk Midrange...get it? Green, Yellow, Black...+ the old Fire's of Yavimaya deck...hehe)

Prairie FiresMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Arbor Elf
3 Knight of Glory
4 Silverblade Paladin
4 Dreg Mangler
4 Sublime Archangel
2 Deadbridge Goliath
3 Wolfir Silverheart
2 Armada Wurm

2 Oblivion Ring
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Sever the Bloodline

4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Temple Garden
4 Forest
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Sunpetal Grove
2 Swamp
2 Gavony Township

Sideboard
1 Knight of Glory
3 Thragtusk
2 ???
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Ray of Revelation
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
3 Rest in Peace
2 Triumph of Ferocity


(shout out to Ryansolid for helping me get on the right track with this list. If your reading, thanks a tonne for your help. Hopefully the Humans list helped you as much as the Junk list helped me)

The main deck is just solid. I mean look at those. EVERYTHING except Deadbridge Goliath has a come into play effect. Most of them? Making your dudes better attackers. Soulbond, Exalted, Haste... it all works together SO WELL. And Goliath is sick in the late game as Scanvenging is awesome.

This sideboard, however, is tried, true, and ready to go...almost.

The deck is insane. It started off a lot more top heavy, with Thragtusks main and more Armada Wurms... but i decided to slim the deck and add a little more speed to it, and this is what we have now.

Every :symg::symw: deck i was playing with had Loxodon Smiter in it and frankly it wasn't impressing me. I missed Blade Splicer. However, when Ryan suggested Dreg Mangler instead, i was sold.

First of all, a lot of the removal entering standard is either specific, or if its incredibly broad, sorcery. This means that having a Haste creature is HUGE, and Dreg Mangler is one of the best.

The other thing that makes Mangler so awesome is the late game. After a sweeper, you put this guy out and swing for 3. If this guy dies, your next threat is getting +3/+3 late game. This is huge in late game, as it makes your beasts even beastier, and those Grixis decks better have "Destroy target creature" or else they're going to have some issues burning him out.

The main premise of the deck came from the Humans deck curve out of Paladin into Archangel. This proved to be an insane line of play, and even better when it can be attacking on turn 3, rather than Paladin on turn 3. With Snag gone, this is going to be a very powerful play in standard and you better get used to it now.

With that in mind, I also realised that the deck wasn't as good as it should be versus zombies. On top of that, the original list had no 2 drops, as it was a recreation of Zvi's fire's deck (again, props Ryan. All his idea). However, i remembered in his main article that he said River Boa wasn't good in his deck, as it had a reasonable 2 drop (Rishardon Port) and it didnt make a good late game top deck.

Enter Knight of Glory.

The 2 drops i was looking into to replace Port/Boa were either Selesnya Charm or Knight of Glory. Both are good creatures on turn 2, with knight having the slight edge, and both were decent to good late game top decks, with the edge obviously going to Charm. However, with the Zombies matchup needing an improvement, I decided Knight was the correct choice. And so i went to testing vs Zombies

Wow. What a difference one card makes.

The games i had Knight i did not lose. He spent his important removal on the Knight, allowing my Thragtusks/Angels/Wolfir's/Wurm's to take over. The games i didnt have Knight were fine, and by no means unfavourable OR even losing! If my testing is correct, without Knight its about 50/50, with the person on the play having the larger advantage.

As for the sideboard, its based on the meta being reanimator, midrange, humans and zombies, with a mix of control splashed here in there. (remember this is the first couple weeks, and not set in stone)

I gotta say guys, any of these 3 lists i believe will give you a chance of winning a tournament. (I'm actually struggling as to which set of dual lands to order, but i believe im going for the BG, UW, WG lands to go for the most variable decks possible)

If Provincials was tomorrow, I'd play Humans. If it was in 3 weeks, which is what is is, i think I may actually play Junk. The list is narrowing down, its proving to be QUITE powerful, and i believe its in a good place to be round 1 of the new format.

As for the boogey man in the room, Zombies. Well Imma be honest. I thought this deck was the **** about 2 weeks ago. All i was doing was pining over how insane Lotleth Troll was, and how amazing Dreg Mangler was. But this deck CAN play both, it DOES play Mangler, and the Zombie deck without red literally folds to Knight of Glory.

Seriously you guys you aren't giving Knight of Glory enough credit. This card is going to shape the format if the black cards are as good as it appears. Every deck I'll be testing will have Knight of Glory in it. It is one of the Pillars in the format.

Wait...you want me to give you my 3 Pillars? My Shape of the format?

Well...let me tell you i guess!

Pillar 1: Geralf's Messenger

The still best card of Zombies, although i dont think you should play it, its still a great deck and people WILL play it. Be prepared for it or you WILL lose.

Pillar 2: Knight of Glory

The anti-Zombie card, and an insane 2 drop. Its 3 power on its own, pumps your bigger guys, its everything the 2 drop should be. And Pro Black is insane...

Pillar 3: Pillar of Flame

The only literal pillar, and the pillar that kills the other pillars whenever you need it. What will it see play in? Grixis, UWR, Delver, Jund...all of these are controling/reactive decks, and all will play 4 of this card to combat the aggro strategies that will run rampant the first couple of weeks.

Well guys, thats my Pillars. These are cards that should be in your mind in EVERY deck that you build entering the new format.

Speaking of which: My Prediction of the Format!

top 8 decks:

WU Humans
Junk Midrange
Grixis Control
Zombies (Jund, MAYBE BG)

Outliers:

Esper Tokens
Bant Control
UWR Control
Jund Midrange

And remember. DONT PLAY SLITHERHEAD IN ZOMBIES

(seriously dont)

comment in the comment section and hopefully i get back to you! Follow me on twitter, PM me on here, or hit me up on Cockatrice.

Thanks for reading!

DXI-Edge
@3totheFace on Twitter
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DXI-Edge

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