Day: February 3, 2014

Theros Standard: 16 events, 13 decks

So, the problem with Theros Standard lately is essentially the usual problem that we have with the end of the time with the fall set: the card pool is on the small side, and the format is considered “solved.” This might be slightly more true this time around that other times, but I’m not sure it’s all that much worse.

Regardless of what Standard is right now, it really was possible, over the three months of the format, to have fun playing a variety of different decks. I got to play more Standard than usual this time around, and decided I was really going to vary my decks a lot. I played 16 different Standard events, and played a total of 13 different decks, without playing Monoblack, Monoblue, or RDW.

I’m not recommending everybody do this—it’s not good for your quality of play, since you never get deep into the nuances of each deck. (I don’t have time to playtest; almost all games I play are in-tournament.) But if you’re like me and you like to try out new decks, this kind of thing is a lot of fun.

So, here’s the list:

10/20/2013 Theros game day: Esper Control

10/27/2013 Sunday Standard: Bg Devotion

  • Record: 3-1, missed T4 cut on tiebreakers.
    decklist

11/3/2013 Sunday Standard: Esper Control (repeat)

11/8/2013 FNM: WBR Midrange

  • Record: 1-4, simply awful. Not the deck, my draws and my play.
    decklist

11/15/2013 FNM: Selesnya Aggro

11/22/2013 FNM: BUG Midrange

11/29/2013 FNM: Wb Devotion

12/6/2013 FNM: Kibler Golgari

12/8/2013 Sunday Standard: Bant Control

12/13/2013 FNM: Barely Boros Burn

  • Record: 3-2, missed T8 on breakers.
    decklist

12/20/2013 FNM: Wb Devotion (repeat)

12/29/2013 Sunday Standard: Naya Control

1/3/2014 FNM: Rw Devotion

1/17/2014 FNM: Esper Midrange (aka Esper Humans)

  • Record: 3-2, missed T8 on breakers
    decklist

1/24/2014 FNM: Junk Midrange

  • Record 2-3, obviously missed T8.
    decklist

1/31/2014 FNM: Naya Control (repeat)

Total record: 45-26-15, with all except 2 of the draws being IDs into elimination rounds or splits in T4 or finals. Spectacular? No. But a heck of a lot of fun! Certainly, these are not all top-tier decks but, with the exception of Bant Control (which was just silly) and Junk Midrange, these archetypes have all at one time or another made the top 8 of a big tourney (GP or SCG), so these are all at least competitive decks.

I played Naya Control and Wb Devotion twice because they were the most fun. Esper Control I only repeated because I didn’t expect to play that day and didn’t have time to build something new. If I had to repeat one more I’d give Esper Midrange another shot, as that was a lot of fun as well.

Also, anything with Prophet of Kruphix in it is a good time because that card is a blast. It’s just not really in particularly strong decks right now, but maybe Kiora will give us a Bant or BUG list with Prophet that is actually competitive.