With the intro out of the way, let's dive into this edition's deck: Trostani Jund
Trostani is a great fit for the current Jund shells, as she provides a mana dump w/Thragtusk, Garruk, or the other card a white splash allows for, Voice of Resurgence. Additionally, she provides a huge life advantage after being on the battlefield for only a couple of turns (Trostani into Nighthawk, next turn Thragtusk.) But, she dies to removal, right?
Well, here's something else I figured out:
Liliana of the Veil
Supreme Verdict
Terminus
Blasphemous Act
Renounce the Guilds
Angel of Serenity
This is a list of all the cards in high-tier decks that can kill Trostani independently (Pillar of Flame + Searing Spear =/= independently.) Notice how small that list is. Renounce and Terminus only see small or sideboard play, and Blasphemous Act requires a bit of set-up.
I've tested this deck extensively on Cockatrice, and found it has incredible matchups, apart from Blitz (easily worst matchup.) I would argue no matchup besides Blitz or Bant Hexproof is favorable against us. There is one inherent problem with the deck, which is hard to mitigate. It's easily the most mana/color hungry standard deck I've ever played. Farseek helps enormously, but it still suffers from color screw. The best solution is to remove red (which I tried a lot,) but Sire and Huntmaster are both irreplaceable, and Thundermaw breaks through Lingering Souls, which is a bit of a roadblock. Overall, the deck is fairly consistent, and has great matchups. Golgari Charm wrecks Bant Hexproof, Loxodon Smiter is great against Blitz (barring Ghor-Clan Rampager,) and Mutilate is great against both. Zealous Conscripts gives us a way to push though for the win against Angel of Serenity, and the singleton Naturalize and Sever the Bloodline are simple ways to deal with any problem artifacts/enchantments, and tokens, respectively. The deck will get slightly worse with Doom Blade coming back into standard, as it ends Trostani's reign for a very cheap cost. I believe this deck could perform excellently at a pro tour level.
Bonus card: Dark Prophecy
For three months, this + The Aristocrats, Act two is a thing. Even after that, I feel like this is just an inherently broken card. Costs BBB, provides you with extra cards each turn as a benefit for sacrifice. In addition to standard, will definitely see Modern play, maybe in pod, maybe in a new archetype. It might even see play in Legacy.
Oh yeah, and EDH players everywhere rejoiced (or think it'll be too good, and started preemptive ban threads on the Commander forums.)
I hope you all enjoyed this article, please leave non-flamish/trollish feedback below. I hope to make the second one in a few weeks, right after M14 comes out. See you then, and have a foil
Dark Tarmoclique filled day!