Another Saturday means another tournament day for us MtG enthusiasts. Two events were scheduled that day, with the Standard constructed tournament in the morning and the Magic Celebration in the afternoon. For the morning’s event, I’ve decided to play Mono Green rendition with a splash of White for the main decked Unflinching Courage. Here is the list:

Maindeck
2 Arbor Elf
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Kalonian Tusker
4 Predator Ooze
4 Strangleroot Geist
2 Ulvenwald Tracker
4 Witchstalker
4 Wolfir Silverheart

4 Rancor
3 Selesnya Charm
4 Unflinching Courage

13 Forest
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Temple Garden

Sideboard
2 Blind Obedience
2 Fog
2 Garruk Relentless
3 Ranger’s Guile
3 Ratchet Bomb
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Triumph of Ferocity

It runs like the usual Mono Green Aggro but you have the option of the powerful card combo of Witchstalker and Unflinching Courage. The Armadillo Cloak is just an effective trump for aggro matchups, aside from your creatures being fatter than them.

The tournament had ten players and so four rounds of gameplay. Here is a short recap of my matchups.

Round 1 vs Barely Boros Aggro (Benedict)

Both games were dominating on my side as I held the fort with my bigger creatures while I bash with the stalker enhanced with Unflinching Courage. I boarded in Fog and the ooze for Wolfir Silverhearts.

Round 2 vs Bant Hexproof (Sir Herman)

Game one was somewhat a race with me starting aggressive, but he held off with a first striking Invisible Stalker. With a few aura enhancements later, he was able to kill me off with two swings as I didn’t draw my life gaining aura to stem the damage.

In game two, he mulliganed to five with only one mana source when he accidentally attacked into my Knight token with his Avacyn’s Pilgrim. It was just one-sided after that.

Game three saw an early paladin on his side as I struggled to setup my board and I didn’t draw by removals. He just killed me a few turns later after enchanting Rancor and Spectral Flight on his dude.

Round 3 vs Zombies (Emerson)

This should be a difficult matchup if his creature would curve on the first three turns. Unfortunately, he got stuck on two lands on the first game but somewhat kept attacking with two Knight of Infamy. I got my Predator Ooze and Witchstalker on the offensive and didn’t look back.

He had mediocre draws on Game Two which got me on the advantage again as played elf into stalker into Wolfir Silverheart. It was easy peasy.

Round 4 vs Jund (Mao)

I was crushed in Game 1 as he just killed my critters and went offensive with double Thragtusk. I boarded Ranger’s Guile, two bombs, Garruk Relentless, and ooze and boarded out all the aura spells.

Game two was quite interesting. I got early offense with ooze and stalker while he went with Olivia Voldaren. He setup a play to ping and gain control of my ooze but I had Ranger’s Guile to block it. He went for it again on the next turn but I got the second Ranger’s Guile to trump it. He eventually had to chump block with Olivia to stay alive, and held off with Huntmaster of the Fells the next turn. I top decked a Selesnya Charm to trample for the win. I boarded in again my third charm for game three.

The decider game was no Farseek on his turn two while I went to Strangleroot to Predator Ooze. He pillared the geist but no Tragic Slip for the ooze as it got bigger on the few turns of attack. I added Witchstalker and later on Wolfir Silverheart as I noticed that he was drawing lands. His Huntmasters held the fort but then I draw my Selesnya Charms again, trampling for the win.

The deck’s final record was 3-1 and I am very happy with its turnout. I think it’s an effective version for Green aggro based on the current metagame in Standard. Theros will be out in a few weeks and I am hoping this kind of deck strategy will carry over after the rotation.

Until the next post.

First off, I’d like to apologize for the delay in this article which was supposedly out last week. The decklist is already made, but I didn’t want to write and discuss the cards. Work and preparation for last weekend’s Team Standard may have been the reason.

Anyhow, I am still happy to present to you my recent deck tech for Standard utilizing this card combination:

Here is the decklist:

Lands
8 Forest
2 Gavony Township
4 Sunpetal Grove
6 Plains
4 Temple Garden

Creatures
4 Voracious Wurm
4 Strangleroot Geist
1 Elvish Mystic
4 Thragtusk
4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
4 Fiendslayer Paladin

Spells
4 Bubbling Cauldron
3 Unflinching Courage
4 Angelic Accord
4 Trading Post

This list is the result of the various alterations and card changes based from suggestions made by my fellow players in Mtg Iloilo community. The first list did not include Trading Post as the deck focused on the more aggressive route but because it can also provide life to activate Angelic Accord and benefit Voracious Wurm, it was later on added.

Let us discuss the card choices:

Voracious Wurm – the’Tarmogoyf’ of the deck, which profits the various lifegain sources from the post, Unflinching Courage, the cauldron and the paladin. At the least, it is a 4/4 by turn four or even a 6/6 or and 8/8 in the late game with the combo out.

Strangleroot Geist – the hasty two drop which you can later on throw to the cauldron (with double activation at max) to trigger Angel Accord.

Fiendslayer Paladin – the three drop that is currently immune to the format’s popular removals. He might be not triggering the accord but all you need is another copy to do that. Also, it pseudo pumps the wurm to a 4/4 if needed to gain board position.

Avacyn’s Pilgrim – mana acceleration and fixing is important and Green is the best provider for that. I am also giving tribute to this guy as Innistrad will be rotating out in a month or so.

Thragtusk – Green has still the best five drop in the format with Thragtusk even though this Beast has been on a decline lately. Stops aggro, punishes control, gains you life to trigger accord, what else?

Bubbling Cauldron, Trading Post, & Angelic Accord – the card combo pieces which I added a playset of each to maximize the chances of drawing them. These three can provide you a long game stream of 4/4 Angels if your early assault was stopped.

Unflinching Courage – an added life gain source which can also boost up your paladin or the Strangleroot Geist to give you a fast clock. I am expecting some subpar draws wherein you have the accord but no life gain to trigger. This card can somewhat fix that issue.

The deck may look like between the competitive and funky aspects. The main deck can be as aggressive as these popular Selesnya decks, but the late game combo feature will be hard for other aggro decks to race. Of course, you can add removals in the sideboard for specific matchups. Celestial Flare, Oblivion Ring and Renounce the Guilds are my top choices.

That is about it for this deck tech. Your comments and card suggestions are very much welcome, so please provide them on the comment box below.

See you on the next post.

The recent GP Kitakyushu last weekend presented the Japanese take on the Standard metagame. It seemed that Kibler reached its shores with his influential Gruul aggro. Bant Hexproof though made it on top piloted by Malaysian Raymond Tan. One deck made a comeback in this GP and it was the Blue White Delver which was played by Yuuta Takahashi. He rallied the deck in two days of the event and made it on the top 8. The streak ended when it lost against the powerhouse Kibler Gruul.

Here is his U/W Delver decklist:

Main Deck
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
8 Island
2 Moorland Haunt
1 Plains
19 lands

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Restoration Angel
4 Snapcaster Mage
16 creatures

4 Azorius Charm
3 Dissipate
4 Essence Scatter
2 Quicken
2 Runechanter’s Pike
2 Think Twice
4 Thought Scour
4 Unsummon
25 other spells

Sideboard
2 Detention Sphere
1 Dissipate
2 Erase
3 Ratchet Bomb
2 Righteous Blow
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Tidebinder Mage

The Standard tournament at yesterday’s Cosplayfest was very much a success. Thirty four players joined the event (the largest number so far) so it was six rounds of gameplay. Here are the top eight decks that made it after the preliminary rounds.

Top 8 Decklists:

Suarez, Raoul Simon

(U/W Control)

Main Deck:60

Lands:
8 Island
5 Plains
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Moorland Haunt
1 Cavern of Souls
25

Creatures:
4 Augur of Bolas
4 Restoration Angel
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Aetherling
11

Spells:
4 Think Twice
3 Supreme Verdict
3 Sphinx’s Revelation
3 Detention Sphere
2 Dissipate
2 Syncopate
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Azorius Charm
1 Rewind
1 Essence Scatter
1 Celestial Flare
24

—–

Sideboard:15

3 Terminus
2 Blind Obedience
2 Planar Chaos
2 Negate
2 Celestial Flare
2 Rest in Peace
1 Witchbane Orb
1 Aetherling

Noel Roldan

(Bant Hexproof)

Main Deck:60

Lands:
4 Temple Garden
4 Breeding Pool
4 Sunpetal Grove
3 Hinterland Harbor
3 Glacial Fortress
3 Hallowed Fountain
1 Forest
22

Creatures:
4 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Fiendslayer Paladin
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
4 Invisible Stalker
20

Spells:
4 Rancor
4 Ethereal Armor
4 Unflinching Courage
4 Spectral Flight
2 Selesnya Charm
18

—–

Sideboard:15

3 Negate
2 Rootborn Defenses
2 Nevermore
2 Druid’s Deliverance
2 Advent of the Wurm
2 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Feeling of Dread
1 Ray of Revelation

Gonzalez, Marco

Jund Midrange

Main Deck:60

Lands:
4 Blood Crypt
4 Stomping Ground
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Woodland Cemetery
3 Rootbound Crag
2 Dragonskull Summit
2 Kessig Wolf Run
2 Swamp
25

Creatures:
4 Thragtusk
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
3 Olivia Voldaren
3 Scavenging Ooze
2 Vampire Nighthawk
16

Spells:
4 Farseek
3 Bonfire of the damned
2 Rakdos’s Return
2 Putrefy
2 Tragic Slip
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Dreadbore
1 Doom Blade
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Mizzium Mortars
19

—–

Sideboard:15
3 Duress
2 Golgari Charm
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Slaughter Games
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Underword Connections
1 Doom Blade
1 Barter in Blood

Cunanan, Charles Leo

(Selesnya Midrange)

Main Deck:60

Lands:
8 Forest
5 Plains
4 Temple Garden
4 Sunpetl Grove
2 Mutavault
23

Creatures:
4 Arbor Elf
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Loxodon Smiter
3 Silveblade Paladin
3 Restoration Angel
2 Sigarda, Host of Herons
2 Elvish Mystic
26

Spells:
3 Advent of the Wurm
3 Rancor
3 Celestial Flare
2 Selesnya Charm
11

—–

Sideboard:15
4 Unflinching Courage
3 Brave the Elements
2 Garruk Relentless
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Ray of Revelation
2 Rootborn Defenses

Tubola, Mark Lawrence

(B/G Midrange)

Main Deck:60

Lands:
12 Swamp
4 Woodland Cemetary
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Golgari Guildgate
2 Mutavault
24

Creatures:
4 Desecration Demon
4 Thragtusk
3 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Scavenging Ooze
2 Disciple of Bolas
16

Spells:
3 Mutilate
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Sign in Blood
2 Tragic Slip
2 Putrefy
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Doom Blade
1 Vraska the Unseen
1 Devour Flesh
1 Underworld Connections
20

—–

Sideboard:15
3 Duress
2 Tree of Redemption
2 Golgari Charm
1 Underworld Connections
1 Devour Flesh
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Barter in Blood
1 Primeval Bounty
1 Curse of Death’s Hold
1 Deadbridge Chant
1 Pithing Needle

Alloso, Mark Ian

(R/G Kibler)

Main Deck:60

Lands:
8 Forest
6 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Stomping Grounds
1 Kessig Wolf Run
22

Creatures:
4 Arbor Elf
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Hellrider
4 Flinthoof Boar
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Thundermaw Hellkite
3 Scavenging Ooze
2 Elvish Mystic
29

Spells:
4 Domri Rade
2 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Mizzium Mortars
8

—–

Sideboard:15
4 Burning Earth
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Wolfir Silverheart
2 Volcanic Strength
2 Zealous Conscript
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Chandra, Pyromaster

Labiero, Emilio

Jund Midrange

Main Deck:60

Lands:
4 Blood Crypt
4 Stomping Ground
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Woodland Cemetery
4 Rootbound Crag
1 Dragonskull Summit
2 Kessig Wolf Run
2 Swamp
25

Creatures:
4 Thragtusk
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
3 Olivia Voldaren
3 Scavenging Ooze
14

Spells:
4 Farseek
4 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
2 Rakdos’s Return
2 Tragic slip
2 Putrefy
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Doom Blade
1 Dreadbore
1 Rakdos Keyrune
1 Mizzium Mortars
21

—–

Sideboard:15
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Underground Connections
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Duress
2 Golgari Charm
1 Rakdos’s Return
1 Doom Blade
1 Acidic Slime
1 Tragic Slip

Mastilero, Oliver

(B/G Midrange)

Main Deck:60

Lands:
13 Swamp
4 Woodland Cemetary
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Golgari Guildgate
2 Mutavault
25

Creatures:
4 Desecration Demon
4 Thragtusk
3 Lifebane Zombie
3 Scavenging Ooze
2 Disciple of Bolas
16

Spells:
3 Mutilate
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Sign in Blood
2 Tragic Slip
2 Putrefy
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Doom Blade
1 Vraska the Unseen
1 Underworld Connections
19

—–

Sideboard:15
3 Duress
2 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Gaze of the Granite
1 Pithing Needle
1 Vraska the Unseen
1 Lifebane Zombie
1 Underworld Connection
1 Demonic Rising
1 Deadbridge Chant
1 Golgari Charm
1 Mutilate

Yesterday, Wizards revealed in a featured article their latest take on the Duel Decks series with Heroes vs. Monsters. The decks’ theme somewhat depict the concept of the Greek Mythology with the battles between the popular heroes character against the mythical creatures such as the Hydra.

The duel deck is set to be released this September and the decklists previewed some of the cards in the upcoming big set, Theros. Our first card preview is the legendary Hydra Polukranos, World Eater.

At four casting cost, it is decent enough to fit on most of the current decks plus its Monstrosity ability gives Green a viable removal source. It is sort of a Green Bonfire with its double X activation. It is good enough to kill at least two opponent critters on your fifth turn (after casting it on the fourth). I am sure Mono Green will be a good archetype post rotation.

Another preview card for Theros was the Boros ‘couple’ Anax and Cymede.

While they look like a decent three drop, I am not sure if they will work well in an aggro deck since most of staple Humans are rotating out of Standard. They might fit in a Naya build with auras and combat trick stuff.

There are four more Theros card previews and these are:

Theros will surely be another fun theme to play in Magic. I’ve enjoyed reading the Greek mythology since I was in grade school so I think it will also be the same for this set. I can’t wait for the official previews to start.

I’ve always thought about Maze’s End as a cool deck archetype since Dragon’s Maze was released. It has first appeared in RtR Block Constructed wherein it showed & proved to be one of the top decks in that format as per Pro Tour Dragon’s Maze.

With that in mind, I thought that the deck might also work in Standard. I partially believed it so because a fellow player here in our Iloilo community played this Maze’s End deck which got him a top 4 finish last Saturday Standard. I’ve checked for deck references and came up with a slightly similar list which we are about to discuss today.

Here it is:

It’s a Maze-ing by Mark Ian Alloso
Standard

Creatures
3 Augur of Bolas
3 Gatecreeper Vine
3 Huntmaster of the Fells

Spells
4 Fog
4 Druid’s Deliverance
4 Riot Control
4 Supreme Verdict
3 Think Twice
1 Blind Obedience
3 Terminus
3 Urban Evolution

Lands
2 Orzhov Guildgate
2 Rakdos Guildgate
2 Selesnya Guildgate
2 Simic Guildgate
2 Izzet Guildgate
4 Maze’s End
2 Gruul Guildgate
2 Boros Guildgate
3 Azorius Guildgate
2 Dimir Guildgate
2 Golgari Guildgate

Sideboard
4 Crackling Perimeter
2 Negate
1 Dispel
2 Pithing Needle
1 Elixir of Immortality
2 Golgari Charm
1 Witchbane Orb
1 Sphinx’s Revelation
1 Wear/Tear

The Creatures

Augur of Bolas digs up most of your fog spells and sweep sorceries and your early blockers for first-turn 2/2s. It also works well with setup of fog when opponents try to Bloodrush with Ghor-Clan Rampagers.

Gatecreeper Vine is a given in the deck, letting you complete your Guildgates faster and of course fixes mana. It can also chump block if needed to in case you tap out for Urban Evolution.

Huntmaster of the Fells is my personal choice of halting aggro decks as well as giving pressure to control decks while you set up your win condition. With lots of fog in the deck, you can just end your turn to flip into Ravager of the Fells without losing the turn value.

The Spells

The deck carries twelve fog-effects. Fog as its classic namesake, Druid’s Deliverance which is at higher cost but has a bonus effect with your Wolf tokens, and Riot Control which prevents and at the same time gains you life.

The sweepers I included are Supreme Verdict and Terminus. The former of course is the Wrath of God of choice in the current Standard and the latter is your answer for recurring critters like Strangleroot Geists and effects of Voice of Resurgence or Xathrid Necromancer.

Urban Evolution is the best card draw in the deck, and helps you play out your guildgates faster. Think Twice is also a standard inclusion for idle turns when you don’t need to fog.

The lone Blind Obedience is for the recently popular Hellrider decks. They setup mostly post-Supreme Verdict turns which will caught you tapped out. Of course you can always verdict and then leave mana open for fog but could cost you extra turns. The bonus Extort effect lets you mini drain life your opponent with your spells while assembling the gates.

The Sideboard

I can say this sb list in yet refined but I mainly based it on the recent popular decks in the metagame. For control & midrange decks, I included a pseudo-tech card in Crackling Perimeter. This changes your plan to dealing damage early on with your gates while they whittle their turns setting up counters for your spells or drawing their discard spells. You can just idly ping them to death. The Negates and the Dispel are also included in these types of matchups.

I have listed certain one of cards in the list for specific decks. Witchbane Orb is to protect you from discards as well as mill effects of Jace and Nephalia Drownyard and to avoid direct damage spells. Elixir of Immortality is your fail safe card in cases of long game scenario. The Sphinx’s Revelation is also your support long game card draw. I’ve chosen to add a copy of Wear/Tear to deal with auras as well as Pithing Needle if they’ve locked Maze’s End.

I haven’t found any M14 cards to support the deck, only the threat of Burning Earth. Good thing we have Golgari Charms to deal with that. You can also include the generic Oblivion Ring if needed (substitute to the elixir).

Let me know if you agree with the deck’s potential in the current Standard. If not, then I’d really like to hear your thoughts. Share and comment it below.

Until next post.

I can say that I am still novice in building deck through a pool of six booster packs and have no proper process of creating one. I’ve been checking and reading a few Limited guides online and has known that the strategy may vary on the set. For example, on the previous Return to Ravnica block, the building strategy relies on the card value given by one or two guilds. Decks were mostly run on three colors to optimize the pool. That is unless you’ve opened enough colors for just one guild to use.

I’ve sorted a nicely written article and guide for building sealed pools which was written by Marshall Sutcliffeon the mothership. He detailed and explained each steps thoroughly which somewhat has given me ideas on what to do on the next Sealed event.

You can check the full article here. Enjoy.

It has been a very busy weekend for the first Iloilo Hobby Con event. It was very tiring but very worth the turnout. My role last weekend was on managing the Magic: the Gathering Iloilo tournaments and join the toy display exhibit for Iloilo Toy and Comic Collectors.

We started Day One of the events with the Magic 2014 Gameday tournament. It didn’t favor my side and I finished the tournament with a 2-3 record. The second day was on Magic 2014 booster draft along with Commander 1v1 game sessions.

We also held the learn-to-play segment with a few starter decks. I was also assigned to the panel discussion of Magic in the Hobby Con main program. Yep, that is too much work for me. Anyhow, I was able to join the second pod of the booster draft which started at around 1:30 pm.

I got a few insights on drafting in the set, but the few points really depend on what cards you’ve opened on the first pack. On my pack one pick, I somewhat agonized into picking Black because of Liturgy of Blood, but because of other Black good cards in the pack, I decided to skip that color. Instead, I picked Air Servant which is the only Blue on the pack. My second pick got on Green with Hunt for the Weak. The succeeding picks signaled me that Blue was open. I eventually rounded up the picks with more Green cards as we finished Pack One.

Pack Two got me Mutavault as the first pick, in which my two colors in the pack weren’t that good. The picks that followed got me more Blue goodies, but fewer Green cards. That got me the signal that the person on my left is also in Green.

Pack Three provided me the solution to finally fix my Green card choices. More Beasts were picked as well as the five mana Elemental and spells like Plummet and Enlarge.

Here is the final deck list that I’ve played. I called it Blue Green Flash:

Lands
1 Mutavault
8 Island
8 Forest

Creatures
2 Woodborn Behemoth
1 Advocate of the Beast
1 Air Servant
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Briarpack Alpha
2 Rumbling Baloth
1 Kalonian Tusker
1 Giant Spider
1 Rootwalla
1 Trained Condor
3 Nephalia Seakite
1 Messenger Drake

Spells
1 Time Ebb
2 Hunt the Weak
1 Enlarge
1 Essence Scatter
2 Cancel

The summary of the matchups is as follows:

Round 1 vs Herbert with Black Red Blue – Won 2-0

Round 2 vs Rei with Red White – Won 2-1

Round 3 vs Chester (the guy on my left) with Black Green – Won 2-1

I was happy with the result of the deck is very effective despite no Rare creature cards played. The counterspells I’ve added also mattered in crucial turns of the matchups. Also, Nephalia Seaskite is very awesome & like a pseudo Restoration Angel.

I am not sure if it was a good draft but I am happy that my card decisions offered good results. It was just my second draft of the set and M14 felt good to draft and did not fail expectations despite lesser cards to use for Constructed.

I’ll be posting more Iloilo Hobby Con activities so just stay tuned.

Thanks for reading and until next time.

The recently concluded World Magic Cup 2013 at Amsterdam opened another level of innovating decks in the Standard format. The limitations of the unified Standard format might be partially responsible, but it’s pretty much good news that the players are still up the challenge on building these decks.

The deck I’ll feature today is from the winning Team France which I rooted for when the top 8 countries were announced. The team was headed by Hall of Famer Raphaël Lévy, and proved again that their country is one of the powerhouses in the Magic scene.

The deck that Levy called to play was the Mono Green Aggro deck with new card Mutavault and a tech creature card Druid’s Familiar which he called as the ‘Green Hellrider’.

Here is the decklist:

Main Deck
18 Forest
4 Mutavault

4 Arbor Elf
2 Druid’s Familiar
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Predator Ooze
1 Scavenging Ooze
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Wolfir Silverheart
2 Young Wolf

4 Rancor
1 Revenge of the Hunted
4 Garruk Relentless

Sideboard
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
2 Naturalize
2 Prey Upon
3 Ranger’s Guile
2 Ratchet Bomb
3 Revenge of the Hunted
1 Triumph of Ferocity

A few weeks after Magic 2014 has been released into Standard, only little things have changed. The set has at the least provided new cards to top archetypes. The top tier decks are still the Jund Midrange, Junk Aristocrats and American Flash. As you’ll notice, these decks based their card power on three colors and benefit from the Ravnica dual lands and M13 mana fixers for consistency. There is one weakness though and I’ll sum it up into two words: Burning Earth.

RG Ramp Earth by Mark Ian Alloso

Lands
2 Kessig Wolf Run
7 Forest
7 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Stomping Ground

Creatures
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Thragtusk
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Zhur-Taa Druid

Spells
3 Bonfire of the Damned
4 Burning Earth
4 Farseek
2 Garruk Relentless/Garruk, the Veil-Cursed
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Searing Spear

I’m pretty sure you’ve seen a list with the same strategy at the recent Grand Prix Calgary wherein it made into the Top 8. This version though is the adding of Green for better mana acceleration. This build focuses more into ramping up to an early Burning Earth lock or into Hellkites and beasts. The access of Green gets you Huntmasters and Thragtusks in the list.

I’ve included a few two-ofs spot removal to support the usual Red board sweepers. The flame pillars are for resurgent voices and Searing spears for hasty Hellriders. It may not always the case but because you don’t want them to create an early board advantage while you setup your big threats or lock them with the enchantment.

The deck’s sideboard would probably look like this one:

2 Acidic Slime
4 Strangleroot Geist
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Garruk Primal Hunter
1 Naturalize
3 Scavenging Ooze
1 Searing Spear

Strangleroot Geists are your early defense against Red Green aggro decks in addition to spot removals Pillar of Flame and spear. Acidic Slimes can be reinforced for the Burning Earth lock or for Bant Hexproof matchups. Naturalize can also be used for those decks as well as answering relevant enchantments like Detention Sphere, Oblivion Ring, Assemble the Legion, etc.

Since Junk Rites can curve out to an early reanimation, Scavenging Ooze is your answer for that. The two Garruk, Primal Hunter is your switch cards for decks like Jund Midrange wherein a few of your spot removals might be irrelevant.

To conclude, the current deck archetypes in Standard are somewhat customizable and can be tuned for a metagame call. I can say though that maindeck Burning Earth is a good meta call.

Until next time.

SCG referred to the deck as G/W Ramp but I think it’s more of an Elves decks and topped by fatties Craterhoof Behemoth and Kalonian Hydra. The 22-land deck features sixteen elves in which twelve of which produces mana. The addition of a set of Avacyn’s Pilgrim totaled in twelve one drop of mana dudes, making a consistent turn-three Hydra or silverheart and a turn-four Garruk.

The deck pummeled through the eleven rounds of Swiss, and also in the top eight, but lost in the finals against powerhouse and currently the boogeyman of Standard, Jund.

Here is William ‘Huey’ Jensen’s 2nd place deck list, G/W Elves.

Maindeck
4 Arbor Elf
4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
4 Craterhoof Behemoth
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Kalonian Hydra
2 Loxodon Smiter
4 Wolfir Silverheart

4 Garruk, Caller of Beasts

10 Forest
4 Gavony Township
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Temple Garden

Sideboard
3 Acidic Slime
4 Strangleroot Geist
3 Tree of Redemption
2 Ranger’s Guile
3 Garruk Relentless

Here is the coverage of the finals matchup of the deck versus Jund. Click me.

M14 Coreset depicted the return of Slivers in Standard. Though personally their inclusions in the set aren’t that significant, they still present a potential archetype. The strong colors they’ve represented are white, red, and green or nicknamed as Naya. Plus, the Mutavault’s reprinting made me decide of a list for this deck. Check out Naya Slivers below:

Lands
3 Cavern of Souls
1 Gavony Township
3 Mutavault
2 Clifftop Retreat
1 Sunpetal Grove
2 Rootbound Crag
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple Garden
4 Stomping Ground

Creatures
4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
1 Battle Sliver
4 Blur Sliver
4 Bonescythe Sliver
4 Striking Sliver
4 Sentinel Sliver
1 Megantic Sliver
4 Predatory Sliver

Spells
2 Boros Charm
1 Collective Blessing
4 Hive Stirrings
3 Searing Spear

The best Slivers that are included in the deck are Predatory Sliver, Bonescythe Sliver, and Blur Sliver, offering pump, Haste, and Double Strike. Striking Sliver and Sentinel Sliver are the second choices of tribal theme in the deck. Their abilities may not appear relevant, but can be useful on some situations.

The sole ‘megantic’ pump is in the form of Megantic Sliver. I’ve only chosen to include one in the deck because of the six mana cost, while the added support is the removal proof Collective Blessing. Another pseudo pump is in the form of Battle Sliver, which benefits from its double striking counterparts.

Mass removals maybe the deck’s main weakness so I included two Boros Charms which also a toolbox for direct damage and giving double strike to a critter.

The current meta surely is clogged with creature decks so you make sure you won’t be struggling against their better creatures. So I decided that our best spot removal option is Searing Spear, which I added three.

Let me know of any ideas you had in mind for the deck’s improvement. Fill up the comment box below.

Until next post and thanks for reading.