Standard: The Rock

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Howdy readers who Break imprisons in his basement. I am Frozen Phoenix (some of you may know, some of you may not. Not sure which you’d prefer), and though it’s been at least a month in the making, I’ve finally gotten around to writing an article for this blog. What you all get to learn about from me, and you can thank me later for it, is the classic Green/Black Midrange deck, The Rock.

First: What is The Rock?

Originally, The Rock was a Green/Black deck back from the past, based around two notable cards.  Phyrexian Plaguelord (The Rock) and his millions (of Squirrels), brought in from Deranged Hermit.  What is The Rock nowadays? Quite moved on from that idea, The Rock is a BG Midrange deck that focuses just on grinding out card advantage through efficiency. Efficient Lifegain, card draw, removal, just all around good stuff, much like Jund was last Standard (though with a potentially more consistent mana base). With rotation, Thragtusk, Mutilate, and Disciple of Bolas said goodbye, leaving some voids. However, with Theros brought plenty of goodies, and now we reach how the current deck exists.

Second: What Rock are we on? 

Theros has brought with it a very powerful mechanic: Devotion. Look at any Top 8 of any SCG Open or Grand Prix for Standard and you can see some cards that care about it. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, the Gods, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, you name it. And that leaves you with multiple places you can go to when building the deck.  You can go with a base Black, heavy devotion build. This build runs Gray Merchants,  Nightveil Specters, and really only has Green for pieces of removal such as Abrupt Decay or Golgari Charm, with the few strong cards such as Scavenging Ooze thrown in there as well. Or you can go a more balanced G/B list, which runs more green cards such as Sylvan Caraytid or Polukranos, World Eater. This current article is on the latter.

Third: My Rock

This is the deck I ran at my last FNM and though it is not my current build, it is the build I have played the most with.

Creatures: 15

4x Desecration Demon

3x Reaper of the Wilds

2x Polukranos, World Eater

2x Scavenging Ooze

4x Sylvan Caryatid

Enchantments : 6

2x Whip of Erebos

3x Underworld Connections

1x Bow of Nylea

Instants & Sorceries: 13

2x Thoughtseize

2x Abrupt Decay

2x Putrefy

3x Hero’s Downfall

2x Golgari Charm

2x Devour Flesh

Planeswalkers: 2

2x Vraska the Unseen

Land: 24

4x Overgrown Tomb

4x Golgari Guildgate

9x Swamp

7x Forest

Sideboard: 15

2x Witchstalker

2x Duress

1x Devour Flesh

3x Lifebane Zombie

2x Golgari Charm

2x Doom Blade

2x Dark Betrayal

1x Pithing Needle

The idea of the deck is honestly straight forward. Your victory is through attrition.  But this wouldn’t really be a good article if that was all I said, so we’ll break it down from there.

Creature Base:

4x Desecration Demon: This guy is nuts now. Last Standard, you were ever so disappointed to pull this in your pack, and I don’t blame you. Lingering Souls, all the Undying… he was just too weak.  However, now those days are gone and this 6/6 for 4 is much harder to deal with.  He will place your opponent under so much pressure, fast.

3x Reaper of the Wilds: Three may be the wrong number for this guy (and personally I have reduced the count to 2 in my current build), but Reaper is quite a mighty foe.  Between the amount of removal, Desecration Demon and Polukranos, and yes, Reaper itself, you should be scrying an awful lot.  That means cycling through your deck like crazy (especially with Underworld Connections.  More on that later). Deathtouch for 1 and Hexproof for 2 are not bad either.  Depending on the match-up however, this guy -can-  be 6 mana to play, wanting to leave up hexproof.

2x Polukranos, World Eater: I bashed this guy the moment he was spoiled. Do I regret it? Ehh, not really. However, he is very powerful. A 5/5 for 4 is frightening, especially amongst your other 2 threats.  Even more so when this threat can come down on Turn 3 thanks to Sylvan Carytid.  Late game, he’s a very large mana sink that gets chump blockers out of the way. However, Legendary and all, we don’t want multiples, so 2 is the magic number for him.

2x Scavenging Ooze: Arguably the best 2 drop in Standard. Graveyard strategies may be mostly a thing of the past, but Standard is still a heavy creature format. That means creatures dying, and the Ooze having something to feed off of.  It gains life, it gets bigger, and can eventually be just as large as a Desecration Demon. However, 2 Oozes don’t work well together, so we don’t necessarily want them repeatedly. 2 is again, the magic number.

4x Sylvan Carytid: Four may be too many, but this card is the new “Farseek.”  Sort of.  It dies to boardwipes, but this thing also has an advantage over Farseek.  It can block.  Hexproof and 3 toughness means that quite a few aggressive creatures can’t get through it (between Cackler, Ash Zealot, Burning-Tree Emmisary, and even Firefist Striker, who can’t target it with Battalion).  Four may be too many, but I do recommend this card in your build at least as a 3 of.

Enchantments:

3x Underworld Connections: If Reaper of the Wilds isn’t already cycling you through your deck, this card should be. Underworld Connections can just be insane. Often times if control lets it resolve, they’re in for trouble, as now you can continue racing them in the Card Advantage War. However, you do need to be careful on how much life you’re spending. Luckily, we have…

2x Whip of Erebos: This card is the nuts. The 4 mana Unearth effect is very powerful(even though a bit of a nonbo with Scavenging Ooze and to an extent Desecration Demon). And amazingly, there is text on the card other than that.  Lifelink to all your guys is huge when every creature bar Sylvan Carytid has the ability to at least have 4 power.  Being able to jump yourself up to 40 life off of just 3 attacks never felt so good.  However, like Polukranos, it is Legendary, and like Ooze, redundant in multiples, so 2 is once again the sweet spot.

1x Bow of Nylea: I wish I had room for a second. This card can be so powerful. Repeatable life gain, the ability to recycle cards from your graveyard (though less useful, it does stop you from being milled out), making your creatures even stronger, and of course the bit of flying hate.

Sorceries and Instants:

2x Abrupt Decay: There are quite a few permanents in Standard that this card hits.  Though it is stronger in Legacy and Modern, this card is still quite powerful as a removal spell.  Detention Sphere, Boros Reckoner, Nightveil Specter, opposing Underworld Connections, as well as Hammer of Purphorus and just miscellaneous small creatures can all be straight up removed by this card. That’s mighty.

2x Putrefy: Kills creatures. Kills artifacts (though the only relevant ones being the God weapons, however Bident and Whip are not hit by Abrupt Decay, leaving this card with that helpful aid.)

3x Hero’s Downfall: The day Black can now deal with Planeswalkers has come. "Murderbore", as this card as this card has been named is such a helpful tool in this deck. The ability to actually deal with opposing planeswalkers outside of combat is amazing, even more so at instant speed.  Three to four of for sure.

2x Devour Flesh: This is one of the only ways The Rock can deal with things such as Blood Baron of Vizkopa. It also has the notable benefit of being able to target yourself and gain 5 life off of your Polukranos or Reaper or even more off of Ooze or Demon (or even just 3 from Carytid).

2x Thoughtseize: Welcome the return of one of the greatest discard spells of all time. You don’t always Turn 1 Thoughtseize, in fact there are times I’ve sat on a Thoughtseize for a whole game and never had the need or desire to cast it (though that may just be error on my part).  But this card is such a powerful element to this deck that I wish I had more than 2 to run.  Ideally, you want at least 3 somewhere in your 75, maybe even 4.

2x Golgari Charm: This card can do everything. Ok, maybe not everything, but it’s pretty close.  This thing has a mode that can be relevant in every single match-up.  It counters Supreme Verdict, destroys every weapon, Detention Sphere, Underworld Connections, Assmemble the Legion…just so much value.  You want these in your 75.  No matter what.

Planeswalkers:

2x Vraska the Unseen: Our political assassin from Rav has her strong suits. Though her +1 is most of the time irrelevant, being able to nuke any nonland permanent the turn she comes down is quite powerful, especially when mixed in with the ability to potentially win games with the ultimate.  You don’t have to run her, but I do like her in the deck, even if you only run 1 somewhere in the 75.

Lands:

Basic land package. More Swamps than Forests due to more double black cards. Mutavault, though a good card, I feel dilutes the mana base too much with this current build.  In a more Black base deck, I would be behind a few Mutavaults however.

Sideboard:

Various hate cards. No Mistcutter Hydras was a personal meta-choice that should be changed if you don’t know what your meta is going to look like. Witchstalker may seem a slight bit out of place, however the card can do work. It is resilient against aggressive decks, especially alongside Sylvan Carytid. It’s also not bad against control decks. Only other notable thing could be that Doom Blades could be mainboarded, potentially over the Golgari Charms in the main.

Other Notable Considerations:

Boon Satyr is a consideration for the deck as a 4/2 instant speed creature is quite a surprise for opponents, especially when you can throw it on any of your other creatures (4/5 Sylvan Carytid anyone?  No?  Ok.)  Ratchet Bombs and Gaze of Granite can also be considered as sweeper effects, even though neither are the most optimal.  Lotleth Troll can be used as a cheap defensive, yet also aggressive creature if you aren’t a fan of Witchstalker.

Conclusion: End Of The Rock

The Rock is a powerful deck to run.  It may not be the “best” deck in Standard right now, but one can argue for its viability  The deck is just a blast to play, it has so many inner workings and is just efficient.  So if you’re looking for a fun deck to play or you want a “control” deck for this Standard that is closer to a midrange deck, give The Rock a try.

-Frozen Phoenix