Author

About the Author
Full-time philosopher, part-time Magician, Ken Crocker is a Magic grinder in the Midwest. While only playing competitively for four years, he has already made two SCG Open top eights.

Resurrection Perfection – An Abzan Reanimator Primer

Dredge. Reanimator. Storm.

All of these decks are extremely powerful. All of them are current tier-one strategies in Legacy. All of them have one thing in common: they use their graveyards as a resource.

So why wouldn’t you do the same thing in a less powerful format like Standard?

[deck title=Abzan Whip, by Ken Crocker]
[Creatures]
*4 Satyr Wayfinder
*4 Sylvan Caryatid
*2 Nyx Weaver
*4 Courser of Kruphix
*4 Siege Rhino
*2 Wingmate Roc
*2 Doomwake Giant
*1 Soul of Theros
*1 Soul of Innistrad
*3 Hornet Queen
*1 Ashen Rider
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
*3 Whip of Erebos
*3 Murderous Cut
*2 Banishing Light
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*4 Forest
*1 Plains
*4 Llanowar Wastes
*3 Caves of Koilos
*4 Sandsteppe Citadel
*4 Windswept Heath
*2 Temple of Malady
*1 Temple of Plenty
*1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
*1 Whip of Erebos
*3 Bile Blight
*2 Reclamation Sage
*4 Thoughtseize
*2 Duneblast
*3 Hero’s Downfall
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

While this looks like a regular Abzan Midrange deck with some odd-balls thrown in, there are some powerful interactions here:

• [card]Siege Rhino[/card], [card]Ashen Rider[/card], [card]Doomwake Giant[/card], and [card]Hornet Queen[/card] all have powerful enter-the-battlefield abilities. These are easily abused when using [card]Whip of Erebos[/card]. Even [card]Wingmate Roc[/card] is capable of being used with Whip, which adds just that little extra value.

• There are 13 maindeck enchantments to trigger [card]Doomwake Giant[/card]’s constellation ability. This helps deal with aggro decks that swarm the board and opposing [card]Hornet Queen[/card] tokens from Mono-Green and GB Devotion.

• Both [card]Nyx Weaver[/card] and [card]Satyr Wayfinder[/card] feed the graveyard for using the [card]Whip of Erebos[/card] ability and [card]Murderous Cut[/card]. Plus, you get to use both of the Souls’ abilities in the graveyard as well and, luckily for you, most of your opponents will never play around these. Free wins!

As for individual cards:

[card]Ashen Rider[/card] – a nice one-of to reanimate in order to deal with a pesky permanent, like a planeswalker or [card]Chain to the Rocks[/card].

[card]Hornet Queen[/card] – the go-to creature to reanimate. There are several decks in Standard that can’t beat one [card]Hornet Queen[/card], let alone several being Whipped back.

[card]Wingmate Roc[/card] – this is a concession to Jeskai Burn/Aggro/Tempo…whatever the hell you want to call it. Basically, your deck has trouble beating [card]Mantis Rider[/card], and [card]Wingmate Roc[/card] solves this problem. Furthermore, it is very good against Mardu Midrange and its [card]Crackling Doom[/card]s.

Finally, [card]Nyx Weaver[/card] may seem like filler, but it is very important to this strategy. Sometimes you mill over a [card]Whip of Erebos[/card] or you need another [card]Murderous Cut[/card]. Well, with the way Nyx Weaver works, you can Whip it back and then use the ability to get back the card you need. One game, I whipped back a [card]Nyx Weaver[/card], used its ability to get back [card]Soul of Innistrad[/card], cast the six-drop, and started using its ability. That was a fun game!

Given all of these interactions, and the usual interactions ([card]Courser of Kruphix[/card] plus fetchlands; [card]Courser of Kruphix[/card] + [card]Sylvan Caryatid[/card], etc.), and the inherent power level of several of the cards, Abzan Reanimator is the king of the midrange decks.

Thou Shalt Not Have Other Gods Before Me: Why Play White (Siege Rhino) Over Blue (Sidisi, Brood Tyrant)?

There has been some recent tournament success for Sidisi Whip and, as such, it seems like one should ask why one should play Abzan instead of Sultai. In order to demonstrate why I think Abzan is a better overall deck, let’s talk about the pros versus the cons to playing Sultai:

PROS:
• [card]Sidisi, Brood Tyrant[/card] can win the game on its own, if left unchecked. Sidisi creates her own brood of [card]Walking Dead[/card] while fueling your own graveyard shenanigans all on her own. She can be a one-woman wrecking crew.
• Your sideboard includes high impact, situational cards, such as [card]Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver[/card], [card]Disdainful Stroke[/card], and [card]Negate[/card].

CONS:
• As good as she is, [card]Sidisi, Brood Tyrant[/card] is extremely fragile. Cards like [card]Bile Blight[/card] and [card]Lightning Strike[/card] are played in numerous decks, both in main decks and sideboards. For a card that fuels an entire deck, Sidisi can lead to some of the biggest blowouts. Don’t believe me? Try attacking with the [card]Sidisi, Brood Tyrant[/card] trigger on the stack, and having your opponent cast [card]Jeskai Charm[/card] to place Sidisi on top of your deck.
• There are no other powerful maindeck cards in the blue version of the deck. White gives you [card]Siege Rhino[/card], [card]Wingmate Roc[/card], and [card]Soul of Theros[/card], which Reid Duke is on record as saying that, “This card is so busted that I say shame on us, as a community, for not finding a home for it sooner.”
• Finally, the white version gives you access to more removal and constellation synergies than the blue version does. [card]Banishing Light[/card] is a premium removal spell for problematic cards such as [card]Butcher of the Horde[/card], [card]Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker[/card], and opposing [card]Whip of Erebos[/card].

Now that you are obviously convinced that Abzan is our true savior, let’s look into some common matchups and sideboarding you will run into at any given tournament.

The Gospel: Sideboard Guide

vs. Mardu Midrange –
In: +1 [card]Whip of Erebos[/card], +3 [card]Bile Blight[/card]
Out: -1 [card]Soul of Theros[/card], -3 [card]Murderous Cut[/card]

This matchup is amazing. I have yet to lose a game, let alone a match. They can’t beat [card]Whip of Erebos[/card], they can’t beat [card]Doomwake Giant[/card], and they can’t beat [card]Wingmate Roc[/card]. The [card]Bile Blight[/card]s are for [card]Goblin Rabblemaster[/card] and his token friends. Other than that, this matchup should be a bye for you.

vs. Mono-Green & GB Devotion –
In: +2 [card]Duneblast[/card], +3 [card]Hero’s Downfall[/card]
Out: -2 [card]Wingmate Roc[/card], -1 [card]Soul of Theros[/card], -1 [card]Ashen Rider[/card], -1 [card]Nyx Weaver[/card]

This matchup can be a toss-up. If the Devotion deck gets their nut draw, they are about a turn and half faster than you. However, you get to cut some of the fat in order to add extra removal, both mass and spot removal. Since you have Whip, you should win the late game most of the time, as you both have access to [card]Hornet Queen[card], but you have access to more of them. Expect long, grindy affairs, but you should come out on top.

vs. Any Red Aggro deck –
In: +3 [card]Bile Blight[/card], +1 [card]Whip of Erebos[/card]
Out: -1 [card]Soul of Theros[/card], -1 [card]Soul of Innistrad[/card], -1 [card]Ashen Rider[/card], -1 [card]Hornet Queen[/card]

Resolve a Whip, win the game. It’s that simple. …Well, not that simple. But with the amount of incidental lifegain you get from [card]Courser of Kruphix[/card], [card]Siege Rhino[/card], and [card]Wingmate Roc[/card], plus the board clearing capability of [card]Doomwake Giant[/card], you’re set up pretty well against them. Play smart, get a Whip in play, and win the game.

vs. Four-Color Midrange / Abzan Midrange –
In: +1 [card]Whip of Erebos[/card]
Out: -1 [card]Ashen Rider[/card]

You’re both trying to do similar things, but you have Whip. The late game should be yours for the taking. Like I said, we are the Kings of the Midrange.

vs. UB Control –
In: +4 [card]Thoughtseize[/card], +2 [card]Reclamation Sage[/card], +3 [card]Hero’s Downfall[/card]
Out: -3 [card]Murderous Cut[/card], -1 [card]Soul of Theros[/card], -2 [card]Sylvan Caryatid[/card], -3 [card]Hornet Queen[/card]

And now the bad news. You have two very bad matchups: UB Control and UW Heroic. UB Control has several cards that are very good against us, namely [card]Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver[/card], [card]Perilous Vault[/card], and counterspells. This matchup is very difficult to win in game one, but fairly winnable after sideboarding. I suggest testing this matchup several times before going to a tournament…or just hope to dodge Ali Aintrazi and Adrian Sullivan all day.

vs. UW Heroic –
In: +4 [card]Thoughtseize[/card], +3 [card]Bile Blight[/card], +2 [card]Reclamation Sage[/card], +3 [card]Hero’s Downfall[/card]
Out: -3 [card]Hornet Queen[/card], -1 [card]Soul of Theros[/card], -1 [card]Soul of Innistrad[/card], -3 [card]Whip of Erebos[/card], -1 [card]Ashen Rider[/card], -3 [card]Satyr Wayfinder[/card]

This is why you don’t see this deck out right now. As the popularity of UW Heroic goes up, the chances this deck has goes down. Luckily, we have a bunch of sideboard cards to help the matchup…but it’s still not pretty. If you are aware that your metagame has a good amount of U/ Heroic, I might suggest a different deck. The matchup isn’t unwinnable, but it is very lopsided in their favor.

Now that you are armed with a new weapon and the proper knowledge to wield it, go forth and spread the news of Abzan Reanimator! Praise be to Rhino!

Immortal Constellation: A Historical Look At Standard Combo Decks

Cast [card]Immortal Servitude[/card] for X = 3get back my whole graveyard…triggers…kill you?”

Standard is not a format renowned for combo decks. Most of the time, we see a rock-paper-scissors metagame filled with aggro-midrange-control matchups, as opposed to the aggro-combo-control matchups we read and hear about when beginning to learn “Magic theory.”

However, this is not to say that there have not been competitively-viable combo decks in Standard as of late. Recent history has shown that if there is a combo deck to be found, it is usually only Standard legal for about six to nine months, which I assume Wizards of the Coast does in order to keep Standard from becoming a degenerate combo-oriented format. However, within that time frame, the combo deck has been shown to be competitive (i.e. it has won at least a couple Star City Games Open events or PTQs) and difficult for the format to deal with. Figuring out the timeline that Wizards has set for formats may unlock when a Standard tournament-viable combo deck will show up. With that in mind, let us look back at history to see if now is the time for that combo deck to appear.

We Have to Go Back!

Let us consider the more recent Standard formats:

Zendikar-Scars of Mirrodin Standard (after the [card]Jace, the Mind Sculptor[/card] and [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card] bannings):

[deck title=U/R Twin by Anders Simpson Wolf]
[Creatures]
*4 Deceiver Exarch
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
*4 Shrine of Piercing Vision
*4 Splinter Twin
*2 Dismember
*4 Dispel
*2 Into the Roil
*2 Mana Leak
*2 Mental Misstep
*1 Twisted Image
*4 Gitaxian Probe
*4 Ponder
*4 Preordain
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*8 Island
*5 Mountain
*2 Arid Mesa
*2 Halimar Depths
*2 Misty Rainforest
*4 Scalding Tarn
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
*2 Spellskite
*2 Azure Mage
*3 Grim Lavamancer
*1 Mental Misstep
*2 Mutagenic Growth
*2 Negate
*1 Shatter
*2 Pyroclasm
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

This is the last time that Standard saw a viable two-card combo deck, and astute readers can see why. Look how powerful this deck is! Splinter Twin is a tier-one Modern deck now, both [card]Ponder[/card] and [card]Preordain[/card] are banned in Modern, and you got to play with fetch lands plus Ponder—a Legacy interaction staple? Jeez, we were basically just a [card]Brainstorm[/card] away from being the most broken deck of all time. Although this should not be too much of a shock to you readers who played competitively at this time, given that Wizards of the Coast had to ban both [card]Jace, the Mind Sculptor[/card] and [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card] from Standard (and then later, Modern) during [card]Splinter Twin[/card]’s time in Standard. Of course, once Innistrad was released, [card]Splinter Twin[/card] rotated out, and that was the end of combo in Standard until…

Scars of Mirrodin – Innistrad – M13

 [deck title=Mono-Green Infect, by Greg Galloway]
[Creatures]
*4 Ichorclaw Myr
*1 Spellskite
*1 Blight Mamba
*4 Glistener Elf
*1 Viridian Corrupter
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
*2 Livewire Lash
*4 Rancor
*4 Wild Defiance
*2 Apostle’s Blessing
*2 Gut Shot
*1 Hunger of the Howlpack
*2 Mental Misstep
*4 Mutagenic Growth
*3 Ranger’s Guile
*2 Titanic Growth
*1 Green’s Sun Zenith
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*14 Forest
*3 Cathedral of War
*4 Inkmoth Nexus
*1 Sunpetal Grove
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
*1 Ratchet Bomb
*3 Spellskite
*1 Diregraf Escort
*1 Ulvenwald Tracker
*2 Viridian Corrupter
*1 Apostle’s Blessing
*1 Dismember
*1 Gut Shot
*1 Mental Misstep
*1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
*2 Green Sun’s Zenith
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

This Mono-Green Infect deck was about a tier-1.5 deck during its time in Standard. Many of you may not remember seeing much of it, since [card]Delver of Secrets[/card] was busy completely dominating the format, along with a bevy of Phyrexian mana spells and [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card]. However, Mono-Green Infect could occasionally give Delver a run for its money, and the deck did top eight several Star City Games Opens. Sadly, the deck was only viable for about three months, since the release of Return to Ravnica meant that all of the infect cards were rotating out of Standard, and the deck only became tournament-competitive with the additions of [card]Cathedral of War[/card] and [card]Wild Defiance[/card] out of M13.

Innistrad – Return to Ravnica

[deck title=Human Reanimator, by Brian Braun-Duin]
[Creatures]
*4 Angel of Glory’s Rise
*4 Cartel Aristocrat
*1 Cathedral Sanctifier
*4 Fiend Hunter
*4 Huntmaster of the Fells
[/Creaturs]
[Spells]
*4 Grisly Salvage
*4 Faithless Looting
*4 Farseek
*4 Mulch
*4 Unburial Rites
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*1 Blood Crypt
*4 Cavern of Souls
*2 Clifftop Retreat
*1 Godless Shrine
*1 Overgrown Tomb
*1 Sacred Foundry
*4 Stomping Ground
*3 Sunpetal Grove
*2 Temple Garden
*4 Woodland Cemetery
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
*3 Cathedral Sanctifier
*2 Purify the Grave
*3 Ray of Revelation
*4 Appetite for Brains
*3 Slaughter Games
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Reanimator decks were all the rage last year. We all remember the eternal struggle between U/W/x Flash decks, Junk Reanimator, and Jund Midrange last Standard season, but there were some fringe combo decks as well. Human Reanimator attempted to gain infinite life and make infinite Wolf tokens via the interaction with [card]Fiend Hunter[/card], [card]Angel of Glory’s Rise[/card], and [card]Huntmaster of the Fells[/card]. From there, it was elementary on how you killed your opponent. Further versions of this deck used cards like [card]Burning-Tree Emissary[/card] and [card]Undercity Informer[/card] to mill opponents out on the same turn as one cast [card]Unburial Rites[/card].

Aside: I am aware that there were other combo decks in the format. Some might call the Hexproof decks of both today and last year combo decks. Or the Aristocrats deck with [card]Boros Reckoner[/card], [card]Blood Artist[/card], and [card]Blasphemous Act[/card] a combo deck. Or even the old UWR Flash decks that could gain infinite life with [card]Boros Reckoner[/card], [card]Azorious Charm[/card], and [card]Boros Charm[/card]. These decks have combo elements, but I wouldn’t consider them combo decks. The distinction may be small, but it is there.

After Innistrad rotated out, we moved on to Theros. Now that the full block has been released, let us see if there is any competitive combo decks that are playable in today’s Standard.

Here We Are Now, Entertain Us

As we can see from the examples above, Wizards of the Coast seems okay printing the types of cards that lead to three categories of “combo” strategies in Standard:

  • Two-card combos
  • Damage/pump spell based combos
  • Graveyard reanimation combos

Now, it is my belief that it will be a very long time before Wizards ever prints another two-card combo in Standard, especially with the amount of permission and deck sculpting that the U/R Splinter Twin decks had in Zendikar – Scars of Mirrodin Standard. Therefore, I find it more likely to find combo decks in this Standard format in the other two areas.

Damage + Pump Spells Combo

We are already aware of this combo deck. Brad Nelson and Jeff Hoogland have been champions of it since [card]Mana Confluence[/card] was spoiled.

[deck title=Brave Naya, by Brad Nelson]
[Creatures]
*4 Dryad Militant
*4 Fabled Hero
*4 Fleecemane Lion
*4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
*4 Soldier of the Pantheon
*4 Voice of Resurgence
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
*2 Boros Charm
*4 Brave the Elements
*4 Giant Growth
*4 Selesnya Charm
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*2 Plains
*4 Mana Confluence
*4 Sacred Foundry
*4 Stomping Ground
*4 Temple Garden
*1 Temple of Abandon
*3 Temple of Plenty
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
*4 Fiendslayer Paladin
*2 Boros Charm
*3 Domri Rade
*2 Glare of Heresy
*4 Mizzium Mortars
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

For Jeff Hoogland’s build, see his article here.

As both Jeff and Brad have written extensively on this deck, I will not contribute anything else except to say that if this deck is capable of pulling Jeff away from his midrange brews (I mean, we’re talking about a guy who has successfully won tournaments with RUG Flash and Junk Midrange for about two years now), then there is probably something to it. This deck is very powerful and capable of killing your opponent out of nowhere. If you’re a B/g Devotion player, I’d think twice about tapping out ever against this deck.

Graveyard Reanimation Combos

Well, the bad news is that [card]Unburial Rites[/card] is not walking through that door. And [card]Rescue from the Underworld[card] is not a suitable replacement.

But we’re not looking to reanimate one creature. We’re looking to reanimate them all.

[deck title=Immortal Constellation, by Ken Crocker]

[Creatures]
*4 Boon Satyr
*4 Herald of Torment
*4 Grim Guardian
*4 Nyx Weaver
*4 Courser of Kruphix
*2 Mogis’s Marauder
*4 Satyr Wayfinder
*3 Nighthowler
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
*4 Commune with the Gods
*3 Immortal Servitude
*2 Strength of the Fallen
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*4 Temple of Malady
*4 Overgrown Tomb
*2 Mana Confluence
*6 Swamp
*6 Forest
[/Lands]
[/deck]

Obviously, this deck is extremely similar to the B/G Dredge decks (both with and without [card]Strength of the Fallen[/card]) and B/G Constellation decks. But its major goal is to place a good amount of three-drop creatures into the graveyard, cast [card]Immortal Servitude[/card] for X=3, get back a [card]Grim Guardian[/card] with several other enchantment creatures, and hit your opponent for a ton of life. [card]Mogis’s Marauder[/card] is also in the deck as a three-drop that can be reanimated and kill your opponent by giving all your creatures haste and intimidate on the turn you cast [card]Immortal Servitude[/card]. There is redundancy in the combo as well, as even if you mill [card]Immortal Servitude[/card], you are capable of retrieving it, thanks to [card]Nyx Weaver[/card].

I may have hedged too much by including some copies of both [card]Strength of the Fallen[/card] and [card]Nighthowler[/card], but both cards seemed like they were powerful enough on their own to warrant inclusion. If one was to go completely all-in on the reanimator strategy (which may be the correct move), then I would cut them for some number of [card]Master of Feasts[/card] and/or [card]Oakheart Dryads[/card]. And, yes, [card]Nighthowler[/card] is a “non-bo” with [card]Immortal Servitude[/card], but since we’re hedging towards being a B/G Dredge deck anyways, some amount of them seemed correct.

And before anyone asks, [card]Kruphix’s Insight[/card] is not included because we have enough to do on turn three. The deck needs two drops. Thus the reason for the singleton [card]Mana Bloom[/card] as well.

Overall, the deck functions without the reanimation plan as a simple green-black beatdown deck. And, just like most reanimation strategies, its power level is determined by the amount of [card]Scavenging Ooze[/card] and [card]Rest in Peace[/card] seeing play.

But it seems that Wizards has once again given us an opportunity to play a powerful combo deck in Standard—an opportunity we should not squander. If you have any suggestions or comments on the deck, please leave them below.

Izzet Good? An Argument for R/u Devotion

I have a confession to make. I have an unhealthy obsession with [card]Ral Zarek[/card]. I’ve heard it all:

He’s just bad.”
“He doesn’t give you card advantage.”
“Nice untap.” 

Look, I get it. [card]Ral Zarek[/card] requires some help and his +1 ability is a bit underpowered. Using two loyalty to get a [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] is about on par nowadays, considering how much [card]Lightning Strike[/card] costs. Therefore, you are paying four mana for six damage. Even though we don’t really judge a planeswalker by its ultimate, Ral’s can definitely lead to one having a bad taste in his mouth (I ultimated Ral on an empty board against a Junk Midrange opponent. Good news: I hit the 1:32 odds. Bad news: It was the wrong way. I took zero extra turns with a [card]Stormbreath Dragon[/card] in hand).

So why play Ral Zarek, especially after such a glowing recommendation? Because he reminds me of two other planeswalkers that were underrated during their time in Standard: [card]Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas[/card] and [card]Venser, the Sojourner[/card]. Both of these Planeswalkers had some odd abilities that required you to build around them.  Venser couldn’t protect himself and both Ral and Tezzeret only marginally protected themselves.  But, just like Tezzeret and Venser, Ral is extremely powerful in the correct shell. So the question becomes, what shell do we use?

R/U Serious? 

History, as it tends to do, will lead us in the correct direction. Ryan Hipp played an Izzet Devotion list at the Star City Games Open in Cincinnati. The deck tech can be found here.

[deck title=R/u Devotion by Ryan Hipp]

[Creatures]
*4 Ash Zealot
*4 Boros Reckoner
*4 Burning-Tree Emissary
*4 Chandra’s Phoenix
*3 Fanatic of Mogis
*4 Frostburn Weird
*3 Stormbreath Dragon
*2 Purphoros, God of the Forge
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
*2 Ral Zarek
*2 Chandra, Pyromaster
[/Planeswalkers]
[Spells]
*1 Cyclonic Rift
*4 Turn // Burn
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*10 Mountain
*2 Mana Confluence
*4 Steam Vents
*4 Temple of Epiphany
*3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
*1 Stormbreath Dragon
*3 Aetherize
*2 Cyclonic Rift
*2 Negate
*2 Hammer of Purphoros
*1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
*1 Harness by Force
*3 Mizzium Mortars
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

As you can see, this deck has some nice things going for it, and by that, I mean it has [card]Ral Zarek[/card]. Ryan finshed 7-2-1 for a 22nd-place finish. I talked to him about his deck around round five, and he claimed that he really wanted to add a fourth [card]Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx[/card], but I think he needed to add another Mountain in order to cast his [card]Stormbreath Dragon[/cards]s on time. Obviously, this is a good shell but there are some problems:

  • The deck is a bit too slow. If you’re trying to overload against Junk Midrange or B/G Devotion, you need to start early. Your aggression should start on turn 1 if you’re trying to attack for the win. You are not the R/W Burn deck, so their removal is actually quite good against you. Make them pay for their [card]Thoughtseize[/card]s.
  • [card]Ash Zealot[/card] is just not good enough anymore. It doesn’t usually get in for more than one attack nowadays, especially with [card]Sylvan Caryatid[/card] and [card]Courser of Kruphix[/card] everywhere. You usually want to get at least four damage out of it, and it sometimes does not even get in for two.
  • [card]Strombreath Dragon[/card] is an amazing card, no doubt about it. But, against a deck like Junk Midrange or B/G Devotion, sometimes they just handle it. If you have it in your hand, waiting to cast it (especially since you are only running 23 lands), it is not going to do much against these decks. And by the time you do get a chance to cast it, it will be too late.
  • [card]Frostburn Weird[/card] suffers the same problems that [card]Ash Zealot[/card] suffers from and more. Pumping mana into your [card]Frostburn Weird[/card] on turn 3 is a surefire way to get blown out. While I grant that it is an okay card against U/W/x Control decks, we need to find a better card in that slot that is better than being “mediocre at best.”

Luckily for us, most of our work has already been done for us.

Return of the King

As some of you may know, Gerry Thompson is no longer [card]chained to the rocks[/card] at Wizards of the Coast. When it comes to deck building and deck tweaking, I tend to defer to Gerry’s ideas and decisions because he builds decks in a similar manner to myself (i.e. theory-based crafting), but has been doing it longer and more successfully than I have (for now…). With that in mind, here’s the list that we will be working off of in order to make our [card]Ral Zarek[/card] dreams come true.

[deck title=R/b Devotion by Gerry Thompson]
[Creatures]
*4 Boros Reckoner
*4 Burning-Tree Emissary
*4 Fanatic of Mogis
*4 Firedrinker Satyr
*4 Frostburn Weird
*4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
*2 Purphoros, God of the Forge
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
*2 Chandra, Pyromaster
[/Planeswalkers]
[Spells]
*2 Hammer of Purphoros
*3 Dreadbore
*3 Mizzium Mortars
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*12 Mountain
*4 Blood Crypt
*2 Mana Confluence
*4 Temple of Malice
*2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
*4 Stormbreath Dragon
*1 Burning Earth
*2 Ultimate Price
*1 Hammer of Purphoros
*1 Chandra, Pyromaster
*4 Anger of the Gods
*1 Mizzium Mortars
*1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

As you can see, Gerry has made the proper adjustments to his deck.

  • By adding [card]Firedrinker Satyr[/card] and moving [card]Stormbreath Dragon[/card] to the sideboard, we have gotten much more aggressive.
  • [card]Eidolon of the Great Revel[/card] is a significant upgrade over [card]Ash Zealot[/card]. At worst, it trades for a removal spell and 2 damage, which is a higher lower-boundary than Ash Zealot had (since they could kill your Ash Zealot before it attacked). Furthermore, it has the opportunity of getting in about four to six damage before your opponent can deal with it.

However, I still have problems with this deck as well:

  • Gerry claimed that this is his “aggressive” version of his deck, but there are zero copies of [card]Chandra’s Phoenix[/card]. Obviously, this is because he has zero burn spells to get them back from the graveyard and only two copies of [card]Chandra, Pyromaster[/card]. Luckily, we’re going to fix that.
  • [card]Frostburn Weird[/card] still feels miserable. Especially so if we are trying to be aggressive.
  • [card]Burning-Tree Emissary[/card] is still awkward. With only two copies of [card]Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx[/card], it seems like its ability to help with devotion isn’t being fully optimized. Furthermore, we aren’t casting much with the trigger either.
  • If we’re an aggressive deck, do we really need removal that will kill our tempo? I get that cards like [card]Polukranos, World Eater[/card], [card]Desecration Demon[/card], and [card]Courser of Kruphix[/card] exist, but there have to be an easier way to deal with them than taking a turn off. Plus, given all of the answers to planeswalkers in the format, there seems to be a downward trend in playing them (trust me, if anyone hates not playing all the planeswalkers, it is me). Therefore, [card]Dreadbore[/card] doesn’t seem as good as it could be.

With all this in mind, let’s see where this leaves us:

[deck title=R/u Devotion by Ken Crocker]
[Creatures]
*4 Firedrinker Satyr
*4 Burning-Tree Emissary
*4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
*4 Mogis’s Warhound
*4 Boros Reckoner
*4 Chandra’s Phoenix
*4 Fanatic of Mogis
*1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
*2 Chandra, Pyromaster
*2 Ral Zarek
[/Planeswalker]
[Spells]
*3 Turn // Burn
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*11 Mountain
*4 Steam Vents
*4 Temple of Epiphany
*3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
*2 Mana Confluence
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
*2 Hammer of Purphoros
*1 Burning Earth
*2 Negate
*2 Mizzium Mortars
*1 Mountain
*4 Stormbreath Dragon
*2 Cyclonic Rift
*1 Harness by Force
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

[card]Mogis’s Warhound[/card] is the answer we’re looking for. It plays well with [card]Burning-Tree Emissary[/card], allows us to punch through Caraytids, Coursers, and what not, helps against removal, and replaces the mediocre [card]Frostburn Weird[/card]. Also, we don’t need removal if we have [card]Turn // Burn[/card], as it answers everything we could want it to and helps get back our [card]Chandra’s Phoenix[/card].

The Dragons are in the sideboard because of the reasons I mentioned before. But we may need to add land if we’re going to bring them and the Hammer in versus control decks. Overall, I believe this is the best possible version of Red Devotion due to the versatility the planeswalkers give you, the pressure it places on your opponents, and the new angles of attack splashing blue can add to this deck. Play it and let me know what you think!

Bonus Content – New Divine Aristocrats List

I haven’t given up on my Divine Aristocrat list. Here’s some updates to it (sans sideboard):

[deck title=The Divine Aristocrats by Ken Crocker]

[Creatures]
*4 Voice of Resurgence
*4 Cartel Aristocrat
*4 Lotleth Troll
*4 Herald of Torment
*3 Varolz, the Scar-Striped
*2 Pharika, God of Affliction
*2 Athreos, God of Passage
*4 Reaper of the Wilds
*4 Desecration Demon
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
*2 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
[/Planeswalkers]
[Spells]
*4 Abrupt Decay
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*4 Godless Shrine
*4 Temple Garden
*4 Overgrown Tomb
*4 Temple of Silence
*3 Temple of Malady
*1 Swamp
*3 Mana Confluence
[/Lands]
[/deck]

As you can see, we cut the cute stuff, like [card]Dark Prophecy[/card] and [card]Scourge of Skola Vale[/card]. Sometimes you just go to deep, right? [card]Polkuranos, World Eater[/card] has been replaced by [card]Reaper of the Wild[/card] because of its scry ability, ability to fight through ground creatures, and being easier to cast. The mana probably still needs some work. In all honesty, this deck is a strong FNM candidate and if there were a one-drop that gave us value when it died, then I could see this deck being tournament viable. Unfortunately, until the release of M15, all we have are [card]Festering Newt[/card] and [card]Slitherhead[/card], which do not inspire power and confidence. But I would keep this deck in mind when spoiler season starts, as it seems to be one of the better [card]Ajani, Mentor of Heroes[/card] decks I have seen in Standard.

The Divine Aristocrats

While I still intend to battle with my trusty RUG Monsters deck for the foreseeable future, that has not put a halt to my desire for a good brew. With that in mind, let’s talk about a spicy number that I have been thinking about since the Journey into Nyx prerelease.

[deck title=The Divine Aristocrats by Ken Crocker]
[Creatures]
*4 Cartel Aristocrat
*4 Voice of Resurgence
*4 Lotleth Troll
*3 Varolz, the Scar-Striped
*3 Athreos, God of Passage
*2 Pharika, God of Affliction
*2 Scourge of Skola Vale
*4 Desecration Demon
*3 Polukranos, World Eater
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
*2 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
[/Planeswalkers]
[Spells]
*1 Dark Prophecy
*4 Abrupt Decay
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*4 Mana Confluence
*4 Temple Garden
*4 Overgrown Tomb
*4 Godless Shrine
*3 Temple of Malady
*3 Temple of Silence
*2 Swamp
[/Lands]
[/Deck]

Our Gods Are Awesome Gods

As always, it may be useful to go over some card choices:

  • Obviously, for an Aristocrats-style deck, we need to have some sacrifice outlets. [card]Varolz, the Scar-Striped[/card] and [card]Cartel Aristocrat[/card] fill that role nicely, but I felt we needed more. Thus, the two [card]Scourge of Skola Vale[/card].
  • Another key component of an Aristocrats deck is its difficult-to-answer threats. [card]Cartel Aristocrat[/card], [card]Varolz, the Scar-Striped[/card], [card]Lotleth Troll[/card], and both Gods fit that criteria rather nicely, each requiring different answers. Furthermore, our deck is also fairly [card]Supreme Verdict[/card] proof, given Lotleth Troll’s and Varolz’s regeneration, [card]Voice of Resurgence[/card]’s ability, and the gods being indestructible.
  • Value is the whole point of an Aristocrats deck. There is obvious value in Varolz’s ability (remember, a god is still a creature in the graveyard), but the added value of [card]Lotleth Troll[/card] pitching a God, and then scavenging it onto a [card]Cartel Aristocrat[/card] is something that cannot be ignored. Plus, both gods are gods of valuetown as it is!
  • Speaking of value, the one-of Dark Prophecy was just too juicy to not consider. It is triple black, helping turn on both gods, and it adds to the overall theme of value in our deck.
  • Topping out our curve at [card]Desecration Demon[/card], [card]Polukranos, World Eater[/card], and [card]Ajani, Mentor of Heroes[/card] is to make sure we still have threats that our opponent has to deal with, if they get past all the Aristocrat action. This might be one of the better Ajani decks, given that there are 30 targets in the deck for him to hit with his second +1 ability (29 if you count himself).
  • [card]Abrupt Decay[/card] handles [card]Detention Sphere[/card], one of the few ways that your creatures or gods can be dealt with permanently. It also has the added bonus of killing whatever might be in your way early on. It basically slices, dices, and makes Julian fries.
  • The mana base is skewed more toward black. Notice that you only have six comes-into-play-untapped lands. The rest are either scry lands or shock lands. This is not by mistake. You do not have any turn-one plays, so we do not need to pay life on turn one. However, there are more shock lands than scry lands because we want to curve out from turn two and onward.

But What Does It All Mean?

Undoubtedly, many of you have seen either B/W Athreos decks or B/G Dredge decks. Both are solid deck choices that other pros have written about extensively. Assuredly, they have tested them to a certain extent and nobody else that I have seen has written about a Junk Aristocrats deck. So what are the advantages of playing this deck over either one of those?

Divine Aristocrats vs. B/W Athreos

  • Divine Aristocrats gets more value out of the cards you are playing even if you opponent lets your creature cards go to the graveyard. Yes, [card]Athreos, God of Passage[/card] has a sweet ability, but remember, it is an ability that gives your opponent a choice. In a straight B/W Athreos deck, your opponent gets a chance to mitigate the damage of this choice by making the worst choice for you. In our Divine Aristocrats deck, even if our opponent chooses to take the damage, we get extra value vis-à-vis [card]Pharika, God of Affliction[/card] and [card]Varolz, the Scar-Striped[/card].
  • We get access to [card]Abrupt Decay[/card], Varolz, [card]Voice of Resurgence[/card], [card]Ajani, Mentor of Heroes[/card], and [card]Lotleth Troll[/card]. While B/W gets the sweet synergy of [card]Xathrid Necromancer[/card], our overall card quality is higher, all things being equal.
  • We do not get as blown-out by [card]Anger of the Gods[/card]. Yes, as of right now, nobody plays that card. But some of us diligent Magicians have placed it in our sideboards, just in case. While both decks suffer from Anger of the Gods, ours has plenty of cards that play around it, including [card]Desecration Demon[/card], [card]Polukranos, World Eater[/card], [card]Varolz, the Scar-Striped[/card], and [card]Lotleth Troll[/card].

Divine Aristocrats vs. B/G Dredge

  • Our deck does not rely as heavily on the graveyard. I have played from the B/G Dredge side of things. Cards like [card]Scavenging Ooze[/card], [card]Agent of Erebos[/card], [card]Crypt Incursion[/card], and [card]Tormod’s Crypt[/card] do exist. While only one of them sees any competitive play, if the B/G Dredge deck picks up any steam because of the addition of [card]Nyx Weaver[/card], then we could see an uptick in graveyard hate. Bad for us, worse for the Dredge player.
  • We get access to Athreos, [card]Voice of Resurgence[/card], and [card]Ajani, Mentor of Heroes[/card]. Once again, our card quality, on the face of it, seems higher than theirs, especially since their cards are much more reliant on synergy than ours.
  • Sometimes the B/G Dredge deck just misses. While it has been constantly upgraded with the release of every new set, the B/G Dredge deck does not actually play like a Legacy Dredge deck. It can be inconsistent and it can miss. If that happens, there is not much of a Plan B for the deck. The Divine Aristocrats has several plans, including backup plans to our backup plans. This is just another way of saying we are more consistent than the B/G Dredge deck.

There are two areas that these other decks have ours beat: they have been more thoroughly tuned and, as a result, their mana bases are better. My response to those who make these claims is: nobody has tested the Divine Aristocrats. So of course it will not be as tuned and, as a result, the mana base is probably not optimal. That’s where you lovely readers get to get your hands dirty.

Cards Not Included

Here are some cards that did not make the cut, and the reasons why:

[card]Xathrid Necromancer[/card]: Just not enough humans to take advantage of his ability. Would have to be a whole different deck in order to want to include him.

[card]Brain Maggot[/card]: Why did they have to change the templating!? If this would have stayed a [card]Mesmeric Fiend[/card], it would have been an easy four-of in the maindeck. As it stands, a 1/1 for two mana that does not get any value when dead does me no good.

[card]Nighthowler[/card]: This may actually work. As of right now, I feel like this card is too inconsistent in power level to include it. However, I would be willing to be shown I am incorrect.

[card]Herald of Torment[/card]: See Nighthowler above. The only difference is that this is less inconsistent. If I were to start tweaking and playtesting today, this would be the first card I would look to add. Probably in the [card]Dark Prophecy[/card] / [card]Scourge of Soka Vale[/card] spot.

Build a Better Sideboard

Some of you may have noticed that the decklist at the start of the article did not have a sideboard. There is good reason for that. Some people say that you should build a 75-card deck, figure out the best possible configuration, and make that your main, moving the other 15 cards to the sideboard. Others, like myself, think that you build your 60 card main deck, then look for places to shore up certain matchups with your sideboard. However, when I am theory-crafting, I tend to leave the sideboard out of the equation, in order to determine if the main deck is viable. But I won’t leave you completely stranded.

Obviously, we want some amount of discard for the U/W/x Control decks. Probably about four to five cards. So some mixture of [card]Thoughtseize[/card] and [card]Duress[/card] seems appropriate.

Mono-Blue is still going to be a deck. Better pack some hate. While [card]Mistcutter Hydra[/card] might be great here, I think I would rather have [card]Skylasher[/card]. Skylasher is capable of flashing in, is more mana efficient, and actually has a power/toughness for Varolz to scavenge later, if needed.

[card]Deicide[/card] is both good against us, and a powerful card to have access to for our sideboard.

Since we are very much aware of the B/G Dredge deck, packing some hate seems like a good idea. [card]Scavenging Ooze[/card] seems to be one of the best answers, and it has the added bonus of getting big enough to fight some of the creatures.

With all this (and more) in mind, here is my first complete decklist:

[deck title=The Divine Aristocrats by Ken Crocker]
[Creatures]
*4 Cartel Aristocrat
*4 Voice of Resurgence
*4 Lotleth Troll
*3 Varolz, the Scar-Striped
*3 Athreos, God of Passage
*2 Pharika, God of Affliction
*2 Scourge of Skola Vale
*4 Desecration Demon
*3 Polukranos, World Eater
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
*2 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
[/Planeswalkers]
[Spells]
*1 Dark Prophecy
*4 Abrupt Decay
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*4 Mana Confluence
*4 Temple Garden
*4 Overgrown Tomb
*4 Godless Shrine
*3 Temple of Malady
*3 Temple of Silence
*2 Swamp
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
*3 Thoughtseize
*2 Durress
*2 Scavening Ooze
*4 Skylasher
*1 Deicide
*1 Golgari Charm
*1 Whip of Erebos
*1 Pithing Needle
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Feel free to leave any comments about the deck. May the gods be forever in your favor!

I’m Friends with RUG Monsters

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ken Crocker, and some of you may know me as a Midwest Magic grinder. Others may know me as the guy who once threw his deck against a wall at a PTQ (long story, some other time). However, most of you know me from this.

Today I am going to break down the RUG Monsters/Superfriends deck I played at SCG Detroit. I’ll go over possible upgrades to the deck for SCG Cincinnati, where I will be battling with an upgraded list, including new Journey into Nyx cards.

For those of you who have never seen the deck in action before, and would to see me play it poorly (Magic is hard), the match at Detroit starts here.

Obviously I could have picked some more optimal lines, to say the least. However, I did finish the tournament with a record of 7-2-1, with an intentional draw in Round 10 with a friend of mine. That record and draw led to a 33rd place finish; .09% in tiebreakers between myself and 32nd place. Daggers.

But besides some unlucky tiebreaker math and some misplays on my part, the deck is both fun and great, yet more challenging than most control decks I have played. Keeping that in mind, let’s talk some theory and numbers.

When The Dream Was Still Alive…

For those of you who did not look at the deck tech, here are the 75 cards I registered:

[Deck title=RUG Monsters by Ken Crocker]

[Creatures]
4 Elvish Mystic
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix
3 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Arbor Colussus
1 Aetherling
1 Sylvan Primordial
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
1 Chandra, the Pyromaster
3 Domri Rade
1 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
2 Ral Zarek
2 Xenagos, the Reveler
[/Planeswalkers]
[Spells]
2 Cyclonic Rift
1 Mizzium Mortars
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Forest
1 Mountain
4 Breeding Pool
4 Steam Vents
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Temple of Mystery
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Pithing Needle
3 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Negate
1 Simic Charm
2 Syncopate
2 Turn // Burn
1 Unravel the Aether
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Bow of Nylea
1 Mizzium Mortars
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

So before getting into individual card choices, let’s talk macro theory.

Why Play RUG Instead of Jund (i.e. why play blue instead of black?)

This is a very popular question. There are several reasons:

1) Blue allows you to play Kiora and Ral Zarek (the king and queen of value town). These four-drops are much more powerful on their own than the alternatives in R/G Monsters, which is usually [card]Ghor-Clan Rampager[/card], and Jund Monsters, which is usually [card]Reaper of the Wilds[/card].

2) Blue allows you to play [card]Turn // Burn[/card]. The removal in Jund Monsters is all sorcery speed, so it has difficulty killing [card]Obzedat, Ghost Council[/card], [card]Master of Waves[/card] tokens (you cannot Burn the Master, nor can you fuse the spell when cast on Master of Waves, but if you just Turn it, the tokens lose their +1/+1), and hasty [card]Stormbreath Dragon[/card]s.

3) Blue allows for counterspells out of the sideboard. You can catch U/W/x players off guard with a timely [card]Negate[/card], along with any R/W Burn players.

4) Blue gives you access to more non-creature threats. There is a reason why Reid Duke built his Junk Midrange deck. It was because it ran [card]Abrupt Decay[/card] to take out non-creature problem cards (like [card]Underworld Connections[/card], [card]Detention Sphere[/card], etc.). Non-creature threats are much more difficult for Mono-Black Devotion and U/W/x control to deal with, as both decks usually only run four ways to deal with them ([card]Hero’s Downfall[/card] and [card]Detention Sphere[/card], respectively).

5) Since blue allows you to run more planeswalkers, cards like [card]Tidebinder Mage[/card] and [card]Lifebane Zombie[/card] are less threatening. What are normally problem cards are now answered by your planeswalkers, essentially for free.

As for individual card choices, let me explain…

  • The one-of [card]Arbor Colossus[/card] is a necessary evil because of [card]Desecration Demon[/card]. This will be a recurring theme…
  • The one-of [card]Chandra, Pyromaster[/card] is mostly for [card]Lifebane Zombie[/card]. Instead of [card]Lifebane Zombie[/card] two-for-oneing you, if it takes a creature, you do not have to waste a card killing it. Obviously, Chandra has other merits as well, but the prevalence of Mono-Black Devotion was relevant when making this addition.
  • The one-of [card]Sylvan Primordial[/card] is mostly for Elspeth. The plan is that they tap out on six and cast [card]Elspeth, Sun’s Champion[/card]. I tap out on seven (or more) and Primordial their Elspeth. Clean answers to difficult questions. It also helps against [card]Detention Sphere[/card].
  • The one-of [card]Kiora, the Crashing Wave[/card], was a mistake in hindsight. During playtesting, drawing the second Kiora was the second-worst feeling that the deck could create (the first is playing a land off the top of library with [card]Courser of Kruphix[/card], then revealing another land on top). This mistake will be fixed, as Kiora is amazing against [card]Desecration Demon[/card], and very helpful against [card]Thassa, God of the Sea[/card].
  • The two [card]Cyclonic Rift[/card], one [card]Mizzium Mortars[/card] split should be switched if new cards were not being released. [card]Cyclonic Rift[/card] is a higher variance card. It can be great in some matchups but only mediocre in others. [card]Cyclonic Rift[/card] does deal with [card]Desecration Demon[/card] for a turn, [card]Detention Sphere[/card], tokens from G/W Aggro, and turns off Thassa at instant speed.
  • So, if you watched the deck tech, I may have been mistaken about [card]Simic Charm[/card]. That 75th card can get you sometimes. It was okay a couple times, but most of the time it stayed in the sideboard and mocked me.

So, like I said, I went 7-2-1 in the tournament. I beat Naya Hexproof, R/W Burn twice, G/W Aggro, Mono-Black Devotion twice, and Jeff Hoogland’s Four-Color Midrange Brew. I lost to Esper Planeswalkers and G/W Aggro (somehow). Overall, I’d say most of my deck choices were solid. My play choices…on the other hand, were less solid.

RUG Garbage and MODO Problems

While I was somewhat happy with my result, I figured that the deck would be done; I had done a little deck tech, and all would fade into the aether. And then this happened.

That’s Magic Online streamer extraordinaire, Michael Jacob, trashing the deck I played. Of course, now I realized I made the big time.

Side note: I realize this is my first article, so you know little to nothing about me. But, it should be known that most of my deck choices are built primarily through theory-based analysis, as I do not have the ample free time to test (and thus the occasional suboptimal playing as well). I am a full-time graduate student, college lecturer, and work another job. Therefore, my “play testing” involves maybe five hours of Magic a week, watching streamers play when I can, and thinking about Magic when I’m not thinking about my school work. So, to me, it was a big deal to have Michael Jacob trash the deck I played.

So this is deck list after MJ made some changes:

[Deck title=RUG Monsters with Michael Jacob’s Updates]
[Creatures]
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Sylvan Caryatid
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Courser of Kruphix
3 Polukranos, World Eater
1 Arbor Colossus
1 Prognostic Sphinx
4 Stormbreath Dragon
[/creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
2 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
2 Ral Zarek
1 Xenagos, the Reveler
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Domri Rade
[/Planeswalkers]
[Spells]
2 Turn // Burn
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Steam Augury
[/spells]
[Lands]
3 Forest
1 Mountain
4 Breeding Pool
4 Steam Vents
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Temple of Mystery
[/lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Pithing Needle
3 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Negate
1 Simic Charm
1 Syncopate
1 Aetherling
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Sylvan Primordial
2 Skylasher
1 Unravel the Aether
1 Bow of Nylea
[/sideboard]
[/deck]

Spoiler Alert: he ended up going 2-2 in a daily event, beating Junk Midrange and R/W Burn, losing to G/R Monsters and R/W Burn. The loss to R/W Burn was, to be completely honest, due to some fairly poor draws on our hero’s side.

However, this gives us some things to talk about.

Positives:

  • The second Kiora. That card is very good in this strategy. I talked to Chris Arnold (the guy who played a similar deck to a top eight at the recent SCG Invitational and the inspiration for my picking up the deck) and he does not like Kiora. I have to say I disagree with him. If there is any deck that takes full advantage of Kiora, it is this deck.
  • Moving the two [card]Turn // Burn[/card]s to the main deck. [card]Cyclonic Rift[/card] was supposed to be my main-deck, instant-speed answer to [card]Desecration Demon[/card] and [card]Thassa, God of the Sea[/card]. But [card]Turn // Burn[/card] is much better at that than [card]Cyclonic Rift[/card] ever could be. Oops.
  • [card]Prognostic Sphinx[/card]. Forgot about that card. However, I do not agree with it over [card]Aetherling[/card] in the main deck. While it dodges Elspeth’s -3 ability, it doesn’t hit hard enough to end the game before a [card]Sphinx’s Revelation[/card]. But it seems like it could be very good against Mono-Black (except for [card]Desecration Demon[/card]) and Mono-Blue. To the sideboard with you, Diabeetus Sphinx…for now.
  • Moving [card]Sylvan Primordial[/card] to the sideboard. Seven mana is a good amount of mana. It’s actually a little too much. The big guy had to go.

Negatives:

  • [card]Steam Augury[/card]. Look, I know MJ is a better Magic player than I am. I’m not even going to claim otherwise. But [card]Steam Augury[/card]? Really? That’s too deep even for me.
  • Completely cutting [card]Cyclonic Rift[/card]. Card is good in the right matchups. Definitely sideboard material. Better than [card]Simic Charm[/card].
  • [card]Skylasher[/card]. I get that MJ is worried about Mono-Blue. But this isn’t regular G/R Monsters. With Kiora and Ral Zarek there to pick up your slack, the Mono-Blue match-up is much easier than one would think.

There’s a Storm Coming, Mr. Wayne…

So where do we go from here? Journey into Nyx looks to be a powerful Magic set that will potentially bring in new archetypes, such as B/W Aristocrats and UWR Control, and boost up some existing fringe archetypes, such as Mono-Black Aggro and R/G Aggro. So what does Journey into Nyx bring to the RUG Monsters table?

As of today, I can think of three cards I would be happy to add straight into this deck without looking back:

[card]Mana Confluence[/card]
[card]Temple of Epiphany[/card]
[card]Keranos, God of Storms[/card]

The first two probably do not need much explaining. Since you will be adding more blue cards to your deck, adding the blue/red scry land seems like a thing. Also, who doesn’t like scrying in this deck?

[card]Mana Confluence[/card] is a little more controversial. But look, that basic [card]Mountain[/card] is awful. We need lands that come into play untapped, and shocking ourselves every time might be a problem in a world of Mono-Black Aggro. I would not add the entire playset anytime soon. But definitely replace that awful basic [card]Mountain[/card].

Finally, we get to the real spice. I had nine Planeswalkers, nine Monsters, and the King of Control in [card]Aetherling[/card]. But what’s a king to a god? [card]Keranos, God of Storms[/card], is a card I am very excited about trying. But, why is Keranos good in a deck like this?

Well, the deck everyone has been putting Keranos in is a UWR Control shell. I’m sure that Keranos will be fine in that shell. But, UWR Control does not do the following:

  • Continuously sculpt the top of its deck. With [card]Prophet of Kruphix[/card], [card]Domri Rade[/card], [card]Prognostic Sphinx[/card], and [card]Kiora, the Crashing Wave[/card], I can set up Keranos however I like. Need to draw a card because Mono-Black is making you discard? Leave that land on top. Jace got you down? How about a free Lightning Bolt to take care of him? Not only do we sculpt the top of our deck, we have information about what Keranos will do on upkeep. That allows us to play in a way where we can maximize this. Sure, your opponent may know as well, but there isn’t much she can do to stop it unless she can stop Keranos.
  • UWR Control doesn’t really take advantage of the [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] ability as well as we do. We have pressure. Lots of it. From multiple angles. The UWR shells I have seen have either been tempo-based decks, which will have trouble with Desecration Demon (who doesn’t?) and Polukranos and thus not be able to get in as much damage as we can. Alternatively, I’ve seen strict UWR control shells where the [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] is just a little value. I love value as much as the next person, but I want to take full advantage of that value.
  • The UWR shells are already drawing so many cards that the ability to draw an extra card in our deck means more. When you have access to [card]Sphinx’s Revelation[/card] and [card]Jace, Architect of Thought[/card], drawing one extra card is not as important to them it is to us.
  • The UWR shells that can awaken Keranos are tempo-based, and are required to flood the board in order to reach devotion. We, on the other hand, have all of these lovely non-creature permanents that slowly but surely add up our red and blue mana symbols. And if we never get devoted to Keranos, a free [card]Lighting Bolt[/card] a turn means much more to our creature plan.

So, it’s about time for a list, right? Here’s my first crack at the post-Journey into Nyx deck, after much careful consideration:

[Deck title=RUG Monsters with JOU Updates]
[Creatures]
*3 Elvish Mystic
*4 Sylvan Caryatid
*2 Scavenging Ooze
*4 Courser of Kruphix
*3 Polukranos, World Eater
*1 Prognostic Sphinx
*1 Arbor Colossus
*2 Keranos, God of Storms
*4 Stormbreath Dragon
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
*2 Domri Rade
*2 Ral Zarek
*2 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
*1 Chandra, Pyromaster
*1 Xenagos, the Reveler
[/Planeswalkers]
[Spells]
*2 Turn // Burn
*2 Mizzium Mortars
[/spells]
[Lands]
*3 Forest
*1 Mana Confluence
*4 Temple of Mystery
*3 Temple of Abandon
*1 Temple of Epiphany
*4 Stomping Ground
*4 Breeding Pool
*4 Steam Vents
[/lands]
[Sideboard]
*1 Pithing Needle
*3 Mistcutter Hydra
*2 Negate
*1 Aetherling
*1 Bow of Nylea
*2 Cyclonic Rift
*1 Unravel the Aether
*1 Syncopate
*2 Izzet Staticaster
*1 Anger of the Gods
[/sideboard]
[/deck]

Some quick hits about this decklist:

  • [card]Prognostic Sphinx[/card] makes his triumphant return. With the addition of Keranos, Sphinx earns its spot in helping sculpt the top of the deck’s curve. Furthermore, it adds devotion to Keranos and dodges Elspeth’s -3 ability.
  • Plus one [card]Mana Confluence[/card], plus one [card]Temple of Epiphany[/card], minus one [card]Mountain[/card], minus one [card]Temple of Abandon[/card]. We are adding blue cards to the main deck, so we need ways to cast them. While on paper this may look odd, what we really are doing is upping the blue mana count by two, keeping the red mana count the same, and lowering the green mana count by one.
  • [card]Chandra, Pyromaster[/card] earns her keep because of the abundance of X/1s in the format now and the expected increase in two-color aggro decks. Mono-Black Aggro with [card]Tormented Hero[/card], [card]Gnarled Scarhide[/card], [card]Spiteful Returned[/card], and [card]Lifebane Zombie[/card]. G/W Aggro with [card]Soldier of the Pantheon[/card] and [card]Dryad Miltant[/card]. This expected increase in X/1s is also the reason why [card]Izzet Staticaster[/card] has been added to the sideboard.
  • [card]Aetherling[/card] is relegated to the sideboard, since it is more expensive than [card]Prognostic Sphinx[/card], and we added more five-drops to the deck to cast in the first place. Furthermore, he only shines in control matchups, where you can board out cards like Polukranos and [card]Arbor Colossus[/card].
  • [card]Ruric Thar[/card] was cut to make room for [card]Aetherling[/card]. [card]Aetherling[/card] is better in the control matchup than Ruric, and there was only room for one of them. Same with [card]Sylvan Primordial[/card].
  • [card]Cyclonic Rift[/card] and [card]Anger of the Gods[/card] are hedges against any B/W Human/Athreos decks that might pop up. Plus, given that G/W Aggro will get better thanks to [card]Mana Confluence[/card], I want more answers to [card]Advent of the Wurm[/card] tokens and their G/W’s cavalcade of 3/3s. They must burn for their insolence.
  • I cut one [card]Elvish Mystic[/card] because it was card number 61. Turn-two Domri or Courser isn’t as important as having live draws in the late game.
  • Finally, some of the changes that MJ made have to stick. The two-Domri, one-Xenagos package is unfortunate, but necessary. Might be better to plus one Domri, minus one Kiora. Not sure. Main-deck [card]Turn // Burn[/card] should have been a thing in Detroit. Let’s not make the same mistake in Cincinatti.

I hope this article has been helpful, insightful, and entertaining. If you’re sick of playing the mono-colored decks in Standard, I suggest taking RUG Monsters for a spin, as it can be both a fun and rewarding experience. Feel free to leave comments on the lists or my thought processes, as I enjoy any and all feedback, even the terrible ideas and trolls.

Ken Crocker
@ideallydumb on Twitter