Unfortunately, as much as I really want to be at the Grand Prix (and nab SO many Planeswalker Points), I won't be attending this weekend. I have a handful of personal matters to attend to, including starting up college. I was accepted to the University of Central Florida recently and I'm still getting everything in order. This brings me to another semi-off topic discussion. Since I'll be starting school soon, posts on the blog will become more scarce. I'll still be around, but you probably won't see me grinding trades and writing a ton of articles as much as I used to. It was a great 9 months of discussing strategy and really developing this group and I'm really glad I had the opportunity to engage with the Magic community in this way.
Standard will be the battleground this weekend, so what should you do to prepare? Outside of my general advice of bringing food, plenty of fluids, and a good sportsman-like attitude I talked about in Draft Table #2: Innistrad Sealed, I'll try and give a crash course of Standard to give you a starting point looking at this weekend.
The major archetypes in this season include Kessig Wolf Ramp, G/W Tokens, G/W Humans, U/W Illusions, U/W Blade, Mono Red, Mono Black Infect, and a variety of Grixis, U/B and U/W Control decks. Other noteworthy decks or cards that create an archetype include Tempered Steel, Birthing Pod, and Snapcaster Mage. The most difficult part of Standard right now is building the sideboards. It's difficult to board against particular matchups when the format has several particular versions of a certain deck. My recommendations are to look at the core cards of certain strategies and prepare against those cards as best you can. Very reminiscent of the Standard Corner #4: Grind is Key, the format still has a variety of threats that range from different permanent types and require removal that is versatile. With emphasis on 'permanent,' this current format is very pro-active and different from the Zendikar-Scars of Mirrodin block Standard format. With most of the field having decks with very aggressive and efficient tempo, your deck must be able to put threats on the table.
The inability for most control decks to do this in the early game has lead to their downfall these past few months. Countermagic, although necessary, is weaker when your opponent curves out well and is able to apply adequate pressure on you through the early and late game. With cards like Reckless Waif in the format, countermagic becomes obsolete in trying to prevent the 1/1 from transforming into a 3/2 and apply a significant amount of early game pressure. The counterexample is when you have a hand full of lands and counterspells, but banking on an extremely defensive hand like this is unreliable and inefficient. Control decks now look to cards like Gut Shot that can slow down an opponent's tempo without using mana (similar to Mental Misstep in Legacy). The control archetype also looks at Olivia Voldaren and Hero of Bladehold, two 4 mana creatures that have the ability to apply a lot of pressure and can serve as win conditions in a variety of different situations.
For aggro decks, the plan is simple; win before your opponent stabilizes. In this format, the most difficult matchup will be in the mirror. Aggro on aggro matches will be strictly computational as you calculate how much damage you can afford to lose versus how much you're able to deal to your opponent. My advice for the aggro decks, do your math and do it well. Another key piece of advice is to pay close attention to your opponents' resource management. How they leave lands untapped could clue you in to what cards they have in hand. A key strategy for the aggro deck is either having the last bit of reach you need to win or hoping your opponent doesn't have any outs. This can be difficult, especially if you need to take several mulligans.
A few misnomers of the format include the following:
Solar Flare is not a force to be reckoned with. Although the deck received a great deal of hype in the past, it's inability to effectively manage the board state and lack of early proactive plays leaves it collecting dust.
Tempered Steel is still very much alive. With the fall of Kessig Wolf Ramp over the past couple months and the lack of artifact hate in most sideboards, Tempered Steel is still primed to do very well. Etched Champion and Glint Hawk Idol are both still very hard to kill and will push the deck over the top.
As much as card advantage is a huge principle in the eternal formats, this format is all about tempo. Being able to outrace your opponent is the key to winning. Most of the common strategies run out of steam quickly; however, play a ton of threats that generally can carry them to a win or stall long enough to draw into more gas. Resource management plays a huge role and getting the maximum value out of each of your turns is paramount.
That's all for now. Remember to bring snacks and get enough rest for the weekend. Good luck to everyone attending and hope you guys have a great time. Until the next Grand Prix, Magic players!
Interested in more Magic content? Check out every series on the MTG Casual Network Archive!
-David J.
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