StarcityGames.com Standard Open regular Ross Merriam has added a Championship trophy to his list of accomplishments as he won the SCGCLE Standard Open last weekend. He piloted Bant Heroics which was before popularized by Tom Ross and he defeated the lines of Gerard Fabiano’s Esper Dragons in the semis and Brad Fallen’s Red Green Dragons in the finals.

Here is the winning decklist of Bant Heroic by Ross Merriam:

Maindeck
Creatures (17)
1 Battlewise Hoplite
4 Favored Hoplite
4 Hero Of Iroas
2 Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
2 Monastery Mentor
4 Seeker of the Way

Spells (21)
1 Ordeal of Heliod
4 Ordeal of Thassa
2 Ajani’s Presence
4 Defiant Strike
4 Dromoka’s Command
4 Gods Willing
2 Treasure Cruise

Lands (22)
1 Forest
1 Island
4 Plains
4 Flooded Strand
4 Mana Confluence
2 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Temple of Mystery
1 Temple of Plenty
4 Windswept Heath

Sideboard
2 Aqueous Form
3 Encase in Ice
2 Ordeal of Heliod
2 Disdainful Stroke
3 Stubborn Denial
2 Treasure Cruise
1 Island

In preparation for tonight’s Friday Night Magic tournament, I have decided to make some updates on one of my favorite archetypes in Standard: the White Blue Heroics. The changes is to add a third color, Red, for access to Temur Battle Rage. I have thought of this color as a good splash so I could sideboard spells that are good against fast tokens decks (i.e. Scouring Sands).

Here is the reference list from StarCityGames.com Standard – Richmond played by Joe Lossett:

Maindeck
Lands
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Mana Confluence
4 Flooded Strand
4 Plains
2 Battlefield Forge
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Island
1 Mystic Monastery

Creatures
4 Battlewise Hoplite
4 Hero of Iroas
4 Favored Hoplite
3 Seeker of the Way
1 Lagonna-Band Trailblazer

Spells
4 Defiant Strike
4 Gods Willing
4 Temur Battle Rage
3 Center Soul
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Valorous Stance
4 Ordeal of Thassa
2 Ordeal of Heliod

Sideboard
2 Ordeal of Heliod
1 Temple of Triumph
2 Treasure Cruise
1 Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
2 Cloudform
1 Abzan Advantage
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Negate
2 Stubborn Denial
1 Glare of Heresy

Since I am currently in a budget and was forced to build decks for the team based from the current card pool, I looked for budget decklists and also referenced some build from Theros Block constructed and found a certain archetype that I’d think will get a spot in the aggro group in Standard.

The deck is a Red White version of Heroic strategy that was popularized before by Stanislav Cifka in Pro Tour Journey into Nyx. Here is the list I have come up with after scouring some reference decks on Google and on MTG Top 8:

Red White Heroic by Mark Ian Alloso
KTK Standard

Lands
4 Mana Confluence
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Mountain
4 Plains
4 Battlefield Forge

Creatures
4 Akroan Crusader
4 Favored Hoplite
2 Hero of Iroas
4 Phalanx Leader
4 Satyr Hoplite
4 Soldier of the Pantheon

Spells
1 Ajani’s Presence
2 Defiant Strike
4 Dragon Mantle
4 Gods Willing
2 Launch the Fleet
1 Ordeal of Heliod
4 Ordeal of Purphoros

The list is pretty much Khans of Tarkir friendly in terms of cards used from the set, as we only utilized two Defiant Strikes in the main. In the sideboard we can have Suspension Field for certain Monsters matchups and maybe Deflecting Palm for Burn.

I have seen the deck played by Tonton and it seemed to perform well on the local metagame, though I am not sure if he used Soldier of the Pantheon in his list. The soldier looks solid against multicolor Wedge decks which have already gained popularity based on the recent SCG Standard Open results.

I’ll be building this list and will playtest this as well on the next FNM or group testing session. I will be posting updates on its matchup results so just stay tuned.

Thanks for reading and until next post.