The Supremacy of the Estonian Colors

Frank Karsten Online Tech Wednesday, September 27, 2006

he column title might make no sense to you, and to make it even more bizarre I am going to start with a quick quiz. I'll give you two flavor texts and you have to guess the two cards they appear on.

1. "I feel in them a sense of duty and commitment, yet I can feel nothing else. It is as if their duty is to an empty void." —Razia
2. "Four parts molten bronze, yes . . . one part frozen mercury, yes, yes . . . but then what?"

Do you know what the corresponding Magic cards are? The answer is:

If you put these two cards in one deck, you end up with an Orzhov-Dimir-Azorius conglomerate, and Estonian's national flag also happens to be black-blue-white. Hence the column title. The reason why I started with such a weird introduction is … well, I actually don't have a reason for that. But I can tell you that you will encounter these cards together quite often in upcoming tournaments. Black/Blue/White Control decks currently dominate not only Standard, but Ravnica Block Constructed as well. Furthermore, since post-rotation the Standard format will essentially be Ravnica Block Constructed plus a couple extra sets, it is very unlikely that the best deck in Ravnica Block Constructed will not make the transition. In other words, the dominating presence of Black/Blue/White decks will probably continue when Time Spiral enters Standard.

In the following table I have listed the 20 most popular Standard decks as seen on the Magic Online Premier Events last week. You can click on a deck name to go to the corresponding post in my deck-o-pedia forum thread, where you can find a decklist and short explanation of each deck archetype.

As I hinted in the introduction, Solar Flare took this week's number 1 spot with a whopping 22%. The format actually hasn't been as clear cut as this week in a long time. I grew used to seeing the Top 10 decks all hover around 7%, but this week it's different. The Top 4 decks together take up over 50%, indicating a less variable metagame where a small amount of big decks are dominating.

The big winner of this week, apart from Solar Flare, was Black/Blue Winterbalance. The big loser of this week was Structure & Force. Those movements appear to be related, since it is very likely that everyone who was playing Structure & Force tossed out the white after reading my column last week and entered the Premier Events with Black/Blue Winterbalance instead. I featured and praised Black/Blue Winterbalance last week and I'm happy it finally gets the respect it deserves, but I am somewhat sad that it also caused a decline in my favorite deck, Structure & Force. I can understand this movement though, since Black/Blue Winterbalance is a better choice in a metagame full of Solar Flare.

Other possibly related trends are the rise in Dutch Simic Aggro and the fall of Snakes and Sea Stompy. From that, you can draw the conclusion that the online metagame has collectively embraced Dutch Simic Aggro as the best "turn 1 Birds of Paradise, turn 2 Ohran Viper” deck. Similarly, the last lingering Boros Deck Wins players finally traded in their deck for Satanic Sligh, which I consider to be the best red burn-based aggro deck at the moment. And last but not least, Magnivore has fallen out of grace completely, which I can understand, as I don't like the deck.

And Online Tech wouldn't be Online Tech if I didn't give you guys a couple cool new decklists.

	Anti-Rakdos GhaziGlare By ZnurvelConst and Strutsagget Main Deck 60 cards Sideboard 4  Brushland 1  Eiganjo Castle 4  Forest 1  Miren, the Moaning Well 1  Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers 2  Plains 3  Selesnya Sanctuary 4  Temple Garden 3  Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree 23 land 1  Arashi, the Sky Asunder 2  Kodama of the North Tree 4  Llanowar Elves 4  Loxodon Hierarch 4  Paladin en-Vec 1  Selesnya Guildmage 4  Watchwolf 3  Wood Elves 2  Yosei, the Morning Star 1  Indrik Stomphowler 26 creatures 2  Congregation at Dawn 2  Glare of Subdual 3  Shining Shoal 4  Umezawa's Jitte 11 other spells 1  Glare of Subdual 3  Iwamori of the Open Fist 2  Naturalize 2  Pithing Needle 1  Selesnya Guildmage 2  Worship 2  Wrath of God 2  Freyalise's Radiance 15 sideboard cards

GhaziGlare performed well last week, which can be largely attributed to the above updated version made by Strutsagget (Niklas Nilsson) and ZnurvelConst (Janne Åkerström). They told me:

"We made this deck when we met 4 Satanic Sligh decks in a row. We thought a deck with Loxodon Hierarch should be good against it, so we started testing GhaziGlare. We started out playing with 4 Selesnya Guildmage and 4 Ohran Viper maindeck, but we found out that we hardly ever won with them and they had a low impact on the board. Tuning showed that we were winning more without those cards, strange as it may sound. The key to beating Satanic Sligh was adding Paladin en-Vec. Now our deck sports the best combo in Standard: Paladin en-Vec and Umezawa's Jitte. This gives us a good edge; as long as Satanic Sligh remains popular then this GhaziGlare version will be a great choice. If the number of Satanic Sligh decks were to drop significantly all of a sudden, then we might replace the Paladins with Ohran Viper, but so far that hasn't happened yet.”

	Battle of Wits By jono mizer Main Deck 250 cards Sideboard 4  Adarkar Wastes 4  Caves of Koilos 4  Dimir Aqueduct 4  Godless Shrine 20  Island 3  Mikokoro, Center of the Sea 4  Orzhov Basilica 12  Plains 4  Quicksand 16  Swamp 4  Tendo Ice Bridge 4  Underground River 4  Watery Grave 4  Azorius Chancery 4  Hallowed Fountain 95 land 4  Dimir House Guard 4  Kagemaro, First to Suffer 4  Meloku the Clouded Mirror 4  Court Hussar 16 creatures 4  Battle of Wits 4  Brainspoil 4  Castigate 4  Clutch of the Undercity 4  Compulsive Research 1  Confiscate 4  Consult the Necrosages 4  Cranial Extraction 4  Cruel Edict 4  Diabolic Tutor 4  Dimir Signet 4  Enduring Ideal 1  Eradicate 4  Faith's Fetters 4  Fellwar Stone 4  Final Judgment 1  Form of the Dragon 4  Gifts Ungiven 3  Hideous Laughter 4  Hinder 1  Ivory Mask 4  Last Gasp 4  Mana Leak 4  Mortify 1  Nightmare Void 4  Night of Souls' Betrayal 4  Orzhov Signet 1  Persecute 4  Remand 3  Rend Flesh 4  Repeal 4  Sensei's Divining Top 3  Sickening Shoal 4  Telling Time 4  Tidings 4  Wrath of God 4  Azorius Signet 4  Coldsteel Heart 4  Condemn 4  Spell Snare 139 other spells 4  Boseiju, Who Shelters All 4  Bottle Gnomes 1  Genju of the Realm 2  Muddle the Mixture 3  Persecute 1  Sickening Shoal 15 sideboard cards

Perhaps you had wondered what was going on with that mysterious Battle of Wits deck that was often chilling at the bottom of the popularity list (19th-20th place) in the last couple weeks. We owe it all to jono mizer, who has been playing this deck for a while, posting one Premier Event Top 8 finish every week on average. He told me:

"I chose to go with a Battle of Wits deck because I wanted to play a new and interesting deck. Since the Nationals season I had been putting in a lot of work on the mainstream and tier 1 decks. That got boring eventually, so I turned to the deck more for fun and variety. The metagame right now seems to be fine for a Battle of Wits deck. I have a very good matchup against midrange aggro decks, of which there are quite a few. On the other hand, the popularity of Satanic Sligh hurts me a lot, due to the lack of answers to a Genju of the Spires and because the deck can consistently get draws that are too fast for my deck. But I don't see any major problems with the rest of the field. My deck has an abundance of removal and card advantage, so I can handle most strategies well. The diversity of the deck makes it impossible to play around specific cards like you could if you were playing versus a popular list of 60 cards, so in that respect it causes opponents to misplay or overextend at the wrong time. It wasn't cheap to collect all the cards for this deck, but it's worth it. If you're playing for fun, then 250 cards is better than 40 cards or 60 cards!"

JerryVanhulle speaks on the Time Spiral Beta

JerryVan, the manager of most of the Beta process, posted some information in the forums and this is a shortened paraphrased version:

"The Time Spiral beta has already started if everything went according to plan. For Time Spiral, we have used folk that are already in our beta application pool. Some of these will be people from the last beta, some will not. All will be people that applied the last time we had an application process up.

Furthermore, Beta is going through some drastic changes. Beta participants will no longer receive boosters or tickets. Accounts will simply have 4 of each card in their collection for Time Spiral and the current Standard legal sets, along with Vanguard avatars towards the end of Beta. We will grab a small group of folks to test the Extended card interactions. Beta will be smaller this time too. By doing this we will lower the load the Beta server has to manage and allow a smoother Beta process. Freeform will be the only allowed Constructed format. There will no longer be 8-player drafts on Beta. The only Limited format will be a Sealed Deck 8-man, which will not require product or tickets.

These changes have been made to make Beta less attractive to those wishing to use Beta for reasons other than testing. Remember, we conduct Betas to improve Magic the Gathering: Online for the entire community. Beta is not for users to improve there drafting skills, figure out print runs, practice for the upcoming Pro Tour, or test their latest competitive deck. These changes are intended to curb the advantages that abusers of the Beta process may receive. Beta is one of the most important steps in ensuring a stable and reliable public release, which benefits every member of the MTGO community. Without boosters players will not be able to challenge each other to drafts or sealed games, the only way to play sealed is in the 8-player format. That makes sure no one has an unfair advantage for Pro Tour Kobe, for instance.”

Dipping my toes in Ravnica Block Constructed waters

It's a pity that PT Charleston was the only major tournament this year featuring the Ravnica Block Constructed format, since I think the format is very interesting. The overabundance of mana fixers (dual lands, Signets, etc.) offers ample room for creativity. The format is actually very important as well with the future in mind. When the Standard rotation happens, the first place you look at for new deck ideas is the last Block Constructed format. After all, once Time Spiral kicks out Kamigawa Block, Standard will essentially be Ravnica Block plus some extra cards. Okay, denigrating Wrath of God, Hypnotic Specter, Ohran Viper, Scrying Sheets, etc. as "just some extra cards” does not give them enough credit and I haven't even mentioned the Time Spiral cards, but my point still remains valid to a certain extent. Fortunately, we can play Ravnica Block Online and today I'll tell you what is going on there. Let's take a look at the most popular decks in the metagame as it was last month, shall we?

Blue/Black/White control is ruling this format, just like in Standard!

	Black-Blue-White Control By Frank Karsten Main Deck 60 cards Sideboard 4  Watery Grave 4  Hallowed Fountain 1  Godless Shrine 3  Azorius Chancery 1  Prahv, Spires of Order 3  Swamp 3  Island 4  Plains 23 land 2  Grand Arbiter Augustin IV 4  Court Hussar 3  Angel of Despair 2  Skeletal Vampire 11 creatures 4  Dimir Signet 1  Debtors' Knell 4  Compulsive Research 4  Trial // Error 3  Mortify 4  Remand 2  Swift Silence 2  Convolute 2  Last Gasp 26 other spells 3  Spell Snare 3  Orzhov Pontiff 3  Faith's Fetters 2  Last Gasp 2  Mimeofacture 2  Wit's End 15 sideboard cards

This is what you end up with if you take Wrath of God, Zombify and Persecute out of Solar Flare and replace the Kamigawa Dragons with Skeletal Vampire. Nevertheless, it remains an awesome deck. This deck brings the highest card quality to the table available in Ravnica Block. It has a ton of card advantage cards, countermagic to fend off opposing Skeletal Vampires and Simic Sky Swallowers, and a couple 6-7 mana cost win conditions. "ddspector3” gave me another list of this archetype with some interesting twists: he played Duskmantle, House of Shadow and Induce Paranoia maindeck, along with a couple Glimpse the Unthinkable in the sideboard. That adds an extra dimension to the deck, and he has decked quite a few Firemane control players using this strategy. It's a techy game plan that might work in the slow control mirrors that take very long to finish.

	Orzhov midrange Bats By svchy Main Deck 60 cards Sideboard 4  Godless Shrine 4  Orzhov Basilica 7  Plains 7  Swamp 22 land 2  Belfry Spirit 4  Blind Hunter 4  Dark Confidant 4  Ghost Council of Orzhova 3  Orzhov Pontiff 2  Plagued Rusalka 3  Skeletal Vampire 2  Teysa, Orzhov Scion 24 creatures 3  Castigate 3  Last Gasp 4  Mortify 4  Orzhov Signet 14 other spells 3  Angel of Despair 3  Bottled Cloister 1  Castigate 4  Faith's Fetters 1  Last Gasp 3  Brain Pry 15 sideboard cards

This deck is not a pure aggro deck because it runs the high-end creature Skeletal Vampire. On the other hand, it's also not a pure control deck because it runs the low-end creature Plagued Rusalka. In fact, the deck is somewhere in between, and can be classified as a midrange aggro deck. This particular version has a nice Bat theme interwoven. Blind Hunter and Belfry Spirit provide extra sacrifice fodder for Skeletal Vampire if needed. Furthermore, Orzhov Pontiff works very well in this deck where every other card full of token generators.

	Firemane control By outpostau Main Deck 59 cards Sideboard 5  Island 2  Plains 4  Sacred Foundry 4  Mountain 1  Izzet Boilerworks 2  Azorius Chancery 4  Hallowed Fountain 1  Steam Vents 23 land 4  Court Hussar 3  Firemane Angel 2  Grand Arbiter Augustin IV 9 creatures 2  Convolute 4  Compulsive Research 4  Electrolyze 1  Debtors' Knell 4  Remand 3  Lightning Helix 2  Boros Signet 2  Izzet Signet 4  Odds // Ends 1  Demonfire 27 other spells 3  Faith's Fetters 3  Sunhome Enforcer 3  Hide // Seek 4  Rain of Embers 1  Demonfire 1  Lightning Helix 15 sideboard cards

This deck is reminiscent of the Firemane control decks that were popular in Standard during the team season. It plays on the same basic strategy: shoot down every creature in sight with your burn cards, then refill with Compulsive Research or Court Hussar, ambushing attackers along the way with the Boros half of Odds // Ends. Finally, you take control with a card that says "I'll be back.” No, Arnold Schwarzenegger has not gotten a Magic card yet; I'm talking about Firemane Angel. The vast amount of burn in the deck can also go to the head to finish the game.

	Black-Blue-Green Control By Szach Main Deck 60 cards Sideboard 5  Forest 1  Golgari Rot Farm 1  Island 4  Overgrown Tomb 2  Swamp 4  Watery Grave 4  Breeding Pool 1  Simic Growth Chamber 22 land 3  Carven Caryatid 2  Civic Wayfinder 4  Skeletal Vampire 1  Indrik Stomphowler 2  Simic Sky Swallower 12 creatures 2  Clutch of the Undercity 4  Compulsive Research 1  Debtors' Knell 1  Dimir Signet 4  Farseek 2  Golgari Signet 2  Last Gasp 1  Mimeofacture 1  Nightmare Void 2  Putrefy 4  Rolling Spoil 1  Vigor Mortis 1  Simic Signet 26 other spells 3  Dark Heart of the Wood 1  Helldozer 1  Last Gasp 1  Nightmare Void 1  Putrefy 2  Ribbons of Night 1  Vigor Mortis 1  Indrik Stomphowler 3  Trial // Error 1  Wit's End 15 sideboard cards

This deck is an attempt to combine the (arguably) two best creatures in the block format: Simic Sky Swallower and Skeletal Vampire. It also includes Rolling Spoil, a format defining spell because deck builders have to be careful not to include too many bouncelands or one-toughness creatures, unless they want to be wrecked by that card. Apart from that, the deck has a lot of mana acceleration, aiming to play Skeletal Vampire as early as turn 4. The deck is rounded out by the usual suspects like Compulsive Research, Carven Caryatid (amazing against aggro) and Putrefy. And last but not least, a feather-light transmute theme. Clutch of the Undercity can fetch Mimeofacture, Nightmare Void, or Vigor Mortis, whatever you need in any situation.

	4C Pillar Aggro By Olivier Ruel Main Deck 60 cards Sideboard 4  Stomping Ground 4  Pillar of the Paruns 4  Temple Garden 4  Sacred Foundry 4  Blood Crypt 2  Godless Shrine 2  Overgrown Tomb 24 land 4  Skyknight Legionnaire 2  Gruul Guildmage 2  Boros Guildmage 4  Watchwolf 4  Burning-Tree Shaman 4  Giant Solifuge 2  Blind Hunter 22 creatures 3  Char 3  Seal of Fire 4  Lightning Helix 4  Hit // Run 14 other spells 4  Loxodon Hierarch 2  Orzhov Pontiff 2  Bottled Cloister 3  Castigate 2  Rain of Gore 2  Mortify 15 sideboard cards

Now this is a deck I like to cover in depth. All the decks I covered so far are simply updates of the Top 4 decks of Pro Tour--Charleston, but this one has not gotten a lot of press before. Olivier Ruel created this deck for Pro Tour--Charleston. At first, everyone in our playtest team was reluctant to believe that a deck built around Pillar of the Paruns – which can usually be found on the bottom of the $0.25 bulk rare stack – would be any good. But it turned out to be the best deck in our team configuration! Last week, I decided to play in a Ravnica Block Premier Event myself in order to learn more about the format I was about to cover. I remembered how good Olivier's deck was, so I dug up the decklist, changed a few cards and went to battle. I finished in 4th place in that tournament, then afterwards I gave my list to _MAJOR_. He promptly won the next Ravnica Block Premier Event with the deck and took second place in the subsequent one. That should prove the deck's power. It's good!

So what is this deck all about? It is not about putting as many rare lands into a deck as possible, although it definitely deserves a prize for that too. This deck is about playing the best aggressive creature available in the all colors on every drop, and then finishing it off with burn spells. The mana base might seem horrendous, but it's actually okay, all thanks to the best City of Brass clone to date: Pillar of the Paruns. That card is what makes the deck tick. Every time you draw it, you will have no mana troubles ever. Many design choices were made with Pillar of the Paruns in mind. For instance, the deck doesn't play Dark Confidant or Moldervine Cloak, awesome cards in most aggro decks, simply because you cannot cast them with the Pillar. The only cards you cannot play with it are Char and Seal of Fire, which are too good to cut and you still have 12 red sources for them. That's plenty.

I think this is the best aggro deck in the format. A major advantage this deck has over other Ravnica Block aggro decks is that it doesn't run many one-toughness creatures, which makes this deck much less vulnerable against Orzhov Pontiff, Electrolyze, and mainly Rolling Spoil and that's a very important concept to keep in mind for this format. The die roll is extremely important. If you play first and get out a turn 2 Watchwolf, the game is over. Your creatures only have to deal a couple points, and the overabundance of burn spells finishes it. I think this is a deck that Craig Jones, famous for topdecking a $16,000 Lightning Helix, will absolutely love. If your opponent is at two life, there are an absurd number of cards you can topdeck for the win. You play 28 burn cards and haste creatures. That's about half your deck! If your opponent accuses you of a lucky topdeck there, you can tell him that it would almost be unlucky not to topdeck there!

The sideboard allows you to tweak your deck. Against control decks you put in Castigate and Bottled Cloister, taking out Seal of Fire and Burning-Tree Shaman. Against fast aggro decks with burn, you put in Loxodon Hierarch. Against the White/Black Bats deck, you add Orzhov Pontiff and Bottled Cloister. Against those creature decks I'd take out a combination of Skyknight Legionnaire, Hit // Run and Char. Finally, Rain of Gore is a nice foil to Firemane Angel decks and Mortify is meant for Glare of Subdual. If you want to enter a Ravnica Block tournament or if you are already making decks for Standard with Time Spiral, then I can wholeheartedly recommend this deck! Just make sure you are willing to collect 24 rare lands…

A professional Magic player and Internet columnist, Frank Karsten has been a Pro Tour mainstay since 2000. Widely regarded as one of the top analysts in the game, he was a premium strategy writer for TCGplayer.com before joining the magicthegathering.com team. His Magic accomplishments include Top 8 at Pro Tour–Nagoya 2005, six Grand Prix Top 8s, and a second place finish at the 2005 World Championships in Yokohama. He was also voted into the 2006 Magic Invitational as "The Fanatic", a name that illustrates the effort and dedication he puts into the game to make sure he is well-prepared for every tournament he attends.

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