Brewing Theros Standard

Hi, readers (if someone's still there), I'm Beusapu. After six days of inactivity, we finally got time to write. I'm gonna talk about some decks i've been testing in the new standard, with different success. Keep in mind that most of them are a bit unpolished, and i'm not gonna write a long guide about them, the goal is to discuss possible new archetypes and roguedecks.

JUNK REANIMATOR:

During last standard, Junk (BGW) reanimator decks dominated for a long time. Unburial Rites bringing back Thragtusk and Angel of Serenity created a lot of value and card advantage, specially against aggro. But many key cards of the deck have rotated, specially our reanimation spell, Unburial Rites, so... how is it possible to keep the monsters coming? The answer is simple:

Junk Whip Reanimator

Creatures:

2 Angel of Serenity

3 Obzedat, Ghost Council

1 Shadowborn Demon

2 Sin Collector

4 Sylvan Caryatid

3 Elvish Mystic

3 Reaper of the Wilds

2 Blood Baron of Vizkopa

4 Loxodon Smiter

Spells:

3 Whip of Erebos

3 Hero's Downfall

1 Putrefy

2 Grisly Salvage

4 Commune with the Gods

Lands:

4 Forest

4 Godless Shrine

4 Overgrown Tomb

4 Temple Garden

4 Temple of Silence

3 Swamp

Sideboard:

SB: 1 Sin Collector

SB: 2 Lifebane Zombie

SB: 1 Hero's Downfall

SB: 1 Blood Baron of Vizkopa

SB: 1 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice

SB: 1 Underworld Connections

SB: 3 Thoughtseize

SB: 2 Golgari Charm

SB: 1 Ashen Rider
SB: 2 Obzedat's Aid

This deck has a similar gameplan to the reanimator decks from last season. It's a midrange deck, with cheap mana producers, cards like Loxodon Smiter to put pressure on the early game, and a graveyard package consisting on 2 Grisly Salvage and 4 Commune with the Gods. The main difference is that here our reanimation spells won't just fall to the graveyard like Unburial Rites did, we need to have a Whip in play if we want to get value (that's why the list plays 4 Commune with the Gods).

Once we get Whip online, we can start getting a lot of value and grinding our opponents. Obzedat, Ghost Council works perfectly with the Whip (once we get him back, we can exile him and get him as a "normal" creature), and we can get many ETB effects.

An interesting spot is the 4-drop creature. I've chosen Reaper of the Wilds over Desecration, simply because it's infinitelly better against aggro decks, and it's more resilient against control.

Our best matchup is probably aggro. The lifelink from Whip makes it impossible to race us, and our creatures will be big enough to hold our opponent's hordes. Against control, we can enter the "fatty mode", and start dropping bombs every turn, and recovering them with whip later. The matchup against Mono Black devotion is tough, and games get really grindy, but we have helpful cards in the side.

BIG PROPHET BANT

Our next deck is a midrange deck that can generate absurd amounts of mana, and kill with a huge army of creatures:

Big Bant:

Creatures:
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Elvish Mystic
2 Voyaging Satyr
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Prime Speaker Zegana
3 Prophet of Kruphix
3 Polukranos, World Eater
2 Kalonian Hydra

3 Archangel of Thune

4 Loxodon Smiter

4 Voice of Resurgence

Spells:
2 Sphinx's Revelation

Lands:
4 Temple of Mystery
4 Breeding Pool
3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Forest
1 Island
4 Temple Garden
3 Selesnya Guildgate
2 Plains

Sideboard:
SB: 1 Scavenging Ooze
SB: 3 Mistcutter Hydra
SB: 2 Cyclonic Rift
SB: 3 Detention Sphere
SB: 3 Ready // Willing
SB: 3 Negate

This deck tries to generate a lot of mana early (we have 10 mana dorks), drop big creatures, and then play a huge draw spell like Sphinx's Revelation or Prime Speaker Zegana to finish the game. Prophet of Kruphix is one of the key cards. Once our hand is full of cards and we have a lot of mana, we're just going to drop a lot of creatures every turn until we kill our opponent. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx usually makes great Revelations.

Our biggest problem, as you probably have noticed, are board wipes. UW and esper control are awful matchups, and we need 3 copies of Ready // Willing or Rootborn Defenses in the side if we don't want to see all our creatures killed by one Supreme Verdict. Our aggro matchup is good, obviously much better on the play. MonoU devotion can be a problem sometimes, since we don't have enough maindeck removal. The deck is a bit fragile, but it's fun to play and it can win epic games.

JUND MIDRANGE

This is the classic midrange deck using big creatures, good removal, and hand disruption. It's an effective deck, the best example of a "fair" deck that can win against any opponent.

Jund Midrange:

Creatures:
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Elvish Mystic
3 Reaper of the Wilds

3 Desecration Demon

2 Scavenging Ooze

2 Polukranos, World Eater

2 Underworld Cerberus

2 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells:

3 Hero's Downfall

2 Xenagos, the Reveler

3 Mizzium Mortars

4 Thoughtseize

2 Rakdos's Return

Lands:

4 Forest
4 Overgrown Tomb
1 Swamp
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Blood Crypt
4 Stomping Ground
3 Rakdos Guildgate

Sideboard:
SB: 3 Lifebane Zombie
SB: 2 Underworld Connections
SB: 3 Golgari Charm
SB: 1 Doom Blade
SB: 2 Mistcutter Hydra
SB: 3 Flames of the Firebrand
SB: 1 Hero's Downfall

We have 8 mana dorks, and a lot of high impactful 4-drops. Our removal and discard package has the best options avalible: Hero's Downfall, Thoughtseize, and Rakdos's Return. It might be confusing that we're running Mizzium Mortars over Dreadbore, but it has the option of becoming a wipe, and it also kills Blood Baron of Vizkopa. Doom Blade is a good option too, and it depends on the metagame you're expecting.

UR GLASS CANNON

Our last deck today is, like the title says, a glass cannon. It can win extremelly fast, even on turn 4, but it's also easy to disrupt.

The gameplan is to use creatures that reward us for casting spells, cypher cards, and cheap removal/disruption. Our key creatures are Nivmagus Elemental, Akroan Crusader, and Young Pyromancer. One of our best starts is a turn 1 Crusader, followed by Hidden Strings or Trait Doctoring. Now, we can encode our cypher spell on the haste token, and swing for another effect. Add Nivmagus or Pyromancer, and you just get an army that will make any monoR deck feel ashamed.

UR Glass Cannon:

Creatures:
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Nivmagus Elemental
4 Akroan Crusader

2 Firedrinker Satyr

2 Frostburn Weird

Spells:
4 Hidden Strings
4 Quicken

4 Lightning Strike

2 Magma Jet

2 Izzet Charm

4 Trait Doctoring

4 Spell Rupture

2 Mizzium Mortars

Lands:
5 Island
5 Mountain
4 Steam Vents
4 Izzet Guildgate

Sideboard:
SB: 2 Mizzium Skin
SB: 3 Izzet Staticaster
SB: 2 Frostburn Weird
SB: 1 Island
SB: 3 Negate
SB: 1 Izzet Charm
SB: 3 Spellheart Chimera

Trait Doctoring might look a little clunky, and in fact, the whole deck is a bit clunky. But it's awesome when it works, and all our creatures have synergy with it. The deck is obviously fragile. We have only 16 creatures, and sometimes our turn 1 Nivmagus dies to a Shock and we have nothing to do. 18 lands is the correct number, as all our maindeck cards cost 2 or less, and we have another land in the side if we side in our 3 drops.

The rest of the deck includes cheap removal spells, like Lightning Strike or Mizzium Mortars, and disruption. Spell Rupture isn't Mana Leak, but with Nivmagus Elemental it can be even better, and it's great at stopping early blockers. Keep in mind that Hidden Strings can let you have the mana untapped for the counterspell.

Well, that's all for now. I hope you liked the decks, and we'd like you to suggest us your ideas and discuss how to improve the decks!

Have fun playing!

Beusapu

Theros Primer #6: Green

  Hi, i'm Beusapu and i'm gonna make the green Theros primer, since Brick prefers writing the interesting articles, like the one about 2-color uncommon (coming soon!).

In my opinion, green is tied with blue for the best color in draft. It has some problems, and it lacks some removal, but it has the biggest creatures and most efficient mana fixing.

Just like in M14, green has the best power-CMC relation. We have huge commons and uncommons, and also a lot of ramp.

The most important of green is that it's exactly the opposite of white: Our commons are very efficient, and we'll be getting playable commons most of the time.

The best example of this is Nessian Asp. At 5 mana, we get a 4/5 creature with reach. That's much better than the classic "spiders", and it's awesome when we need a wall, or when we need a beater. The Monstrosity will make i the best creature in the table, by far.

Other efficient bodies are Nessian Courser, Leafcrown Dryad, Agent of Horizons (very good with blue and Bestow) and Vulpine Goliath. Another two commons that are very good are Staunch-Hearted Warrior and Sedge Scorpion. The Warrior is very good with Heroic enablers, specially in the GW deck, and the scorpion works well against huge creatures (which are everywhere, even in blue). Voyaging Satyr is very good, it ramps to monstrosity, and gives access to double costs easily.

Our removal includes the great Time to Feed, Shredding Winds, and also good enchantment removal, which is perfectly maindeckable.

Most uncommons follow the same pattern: Efficient beaters with reasonable costs, like Centaur Battlemaster, Nemesis of Mortals, Nylea's Emissary and Pharika's Mender (not monoG, but worth a splash).

Finally, a quick guide about the best green archetypes:

-GW heroic. Awesome, and much better than UW heroic. We have the growing heros, good heroic enablers, and Chronicler of Heroes, which is great.

-UG tempo: Green gives us the big, cheap guys, and blue the tempo spells. Voyage's End, Griptide and Horizon Chimera are the best cards blue gives to us.

-GR aggro: Green and red have the best creatures at common and uncommon, and red gives us the best removal. We have lots of combat tricks, and our creatures will be always the biggest.

-Black: Well, black is the weakest color probably. It has good removal, and Pharika's Mender, so i recommend splashing it into two-color decks with green. We have the commons Voyaging Satyr and Nylea's Presence, so it's gonna be easy to get the black mana.

- Beusapu

Theros Primer #5: Red

Hi, i'm Beusapu and i'm gonna talk you about drafting the best color ever: RED.

Actually, i don't think it is the best color for Theros draft, which is tied between blue and green, but it has the bees removal and some good creatures.

The red emissary is a very good card. As a creature, he's a great target for auras.

As a bestow, he'll make one of the biggest threats in the table, and it requires too blockers every turn, which is a very high cost if the opponent doesn't want to take a bunch of damage.

The cost is a bit high (7 mana), but we're being able to give evasion to an already big creature (and with all the monstrosities, we should have some).

The ordeal is also very good. While we don't have a lot of heroic creatures, but this card offers a Lightnig Bolt stapled to a Giant Growth. It also works well with monstrosity.

But what makes red a really good choice is the removal. This set doesn't have a lot of removal, and most of it is slow and expensive. We have Lightning Strike and Magma Jet, two cheap and effective options. And we also have Rage of Purphoros, to deal with bigger creatures.

We also have really good commons. Ill-Tempered Cyclops has solid stats on its own (a 3/3 trampler for 4), but the monstrosity gives it the possibility to impact the board at any time of the game.

Portent of Betrayal is also a good common. This format is full of huge creatures such as monstrosities, and being able to steal them is much better than usual.

One of the things i like from red in this format is that red is a very splashable color. It works really well paired with blue or green, as it gives you something those colors lack: good removal.

 And finally, for those who want to go to the prerelease, our promo:

- Beusapu

Theros Primer #2: White

With the prerelease just next week and with all the 249 cards of Theros now revealed, I'll be discussing the colors one by one, and sharing my views on their playability and chase commons those colors entail.

 At the very beginning of the color pie, we have white, which has some relevant creatures at uncommon and rare, and the prerelease promo is just brilliant. A very versatile card, and it's bestow could be a blowout if the games go long as they look to be. Theros limited looks like a drawn-out and long limited, possibly lasting 14+ turns.

 White also has possibly the very best Ordeal, Ordeal of Heliod.

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 This card, once it reaches three +1/+1 counters, gives you a massive tempo swing, unmatched by any of the other Ordeals. Not only does it leave you with a creature with a permanent Giant Growth on it, it lets you outlast your opponent quite efficiently.

Another card that catches my eye in white is Heliod's Emissary, a Canyon Minotaur with an amazing upside.

 Not only is he an efficiently costed 3/3, he also has one of the most combat-positive abilities of the uncommon Emissary cycle, making your opponents unable to leave up good blockers.

 The problem with white in this format, is it's rather weak low end commons. It faces a similar dilemma to white in M14, with it's rares and uncommons quite brilliant, but with it's low end with much to be desired. This seems to be far more pronounced in Theros, with low-end creatures being outshone in every other color. The only commons I can see that might make any difference are the common heroic enablers, namely  Battlewise Valor and Gods Willing, as well as the most potent removal in the set, Divine Verdict. Setessan Griffin could prove to be worthwhile in WG decks, but not otherwise. Aside from these cards, white is quite weak. Since it's low end leaves much to be desired, steering clear of white as a central color is suggested, however it's still to be seen how it does in prerelease and in drafts to come. 

 Keep in mind that this is just an initial impression, and that I could be wrong. As always, have fun drafting!

Cheers, 

Brick

Theros Primer #1: Bestow

With Theros so nearly upon us, I decided to touch on one of the three new mechanics we will be seeing in the new set, namely Bestow. Now, we can see quit clearly that they were meant for each other, something of a love story in the mechanics, but in limited, we must definitely keep in mind that our poor bestow creatures have quite overpriced Bestow costs. Now, it does still remain to be seen how fast or slow the limited format will turn out to be, but it might be important to keep in mind that the Bestow creatures need to do work on their own at least, to be good in your limited deck.

 Cavern Lampad here seems to be the best of the cycle of common bestow creatures, and intimidate is always a brilliant ability to have in a monocolored/bicolored set. Added to the fact that it grants intimidate to another creature given you get up to six mana (as the set seems to be geared towards slowness) it outclasses the rest of the cycle.

 Leafcrown Dryad takes number 2 by a very thin margin. Bears are always good in draft, getting your curve started early, or bringing in essential swings while your opponent gets set up, and this is no different. Added to that, it's a two mana bear with all upside, as it can be thrown under the bus against flyers in the late game, and it can bestow to pump your creatures if you draw it late. It is also the cheapest bestow cost in the entire cycle, and I imagine it would do work in Theros limited.

 Nimbus Naiad would share a spot with Leafcrown or take 3rd place in the Bestow cycle. A Wind Drake was always good filler in limited, with quite a decent upside in that it grants evasion and added power to another creature, essentially giving you two evasive creatures for 4U, if the enchanted one gets removed. Definitely a solid pick for blue players, and I think it would probably end up in most blue decks.


 Well, I hope we end up having fun in Theros limited. I wasn't able to update my blog because we recently shifted to a new house, and we don't have internet at the moment. I hope you can be patient with me, and I'll try to bring you new takes on M14 limited and Theros primers whenever I can. As always, have fun drafting!

Cheers,
Brick