Sphinxter
Click the arrow to download the above deck in .txt formatLast (and maybe least…), we have the forgotten Shard’s last stand. Esper is a peculiar deck; the cards are either little dumplings (clearly made with Affinity in mind) or huge Sphinxes make even Nayan cards feel impotent. Unfortunately for us, only the high casting cost cards are desirable for the archetype (sans a few baby ‘facts in the board). Luckily, Bant, Magic 2010 and hedron heaven Zendikar pick up the slack (but still leave you with a top-heavy curve).
It also dawned on while recording this deck feels much more like a Control deck than the Blue-White-Red deck. It draws more cards, counters more spells, and provides room and board for more hefty, flying men (although all increases are by a small margin). I guess I am trying to say that it feels more like the Control deck from Urza’s Block that I so fondly remember (their beautiful Mono-Blue mana bases). However you also need to stem the early bleeding however possible until a sick Sphinx phase occurs; then, it’s time for fun!
With the basic strategy of survive-then-stomp ingrained into my psyche, I made a few edits to maindeck and then sent the sideboard to get a makeover.
If you look at the maindeck, you might even be hard-pressed to see what changed. (Luckily, I am here to make that obvious!) I cut the Scalding Tarn and Knight of the White Orchid for two additional lands (Seaside Citadel and Grixis Panorama). This deck needs a ton of mana to get up and running; a situational mana ramp and a card that thinned the lands in the deck could actually hurt the chances of getting to six, seven or eight lands on the expected turns. I also sidelined Obelisk of Alara in favor of Elspeth, Knight-Errant (as Obelisk doesn’t really offer a kill condition in the Control mirror).
On to the Sideboard (again grouped by functionality):
- Shrinkers (what a bad way to describe these cards)- Agony Warp, Obelisk of Alara. So as I mentioned earlier, this deck has an issue with regeneration and Thornling. These cards deal with the pest River Boa (and sometimes Troll/Thorn) and are useful against many other Aggro opponents.
- Color Hate- Vedalken Outlander, Celestial Purge. Anti-Red, anti-Black, yada yada… again, think long and hard before you put these cards in. Make sure they’re optimal, and not just a hopeful speedbump.
- Control Hate- Tidehollow Sculler, Merfolk Looter, Luminarch Ascension, Brainbite, Telemin Performance. Sometimes I will bring in the Vedalken Outlander, Sanctum Gargoyle, and Kor Sanctifiers in addition to bring the beats. It’s a fun trick to have up your sleeve (and is much better on the play than on the draw).
- Anti-Discard- Sanctum Gargoyle, Open the Vaults. These are mostly for Jund and Grixis (with their Mind Rots, Blightnings, and Mind Shatters). You can also bring them in against overwhelming artifact kill, but they will be dead draws if your opponent doesn’t kill anything of yours. Be careful with Open the Vaults, as it brings back opposing O-Rings and Journeys.
- Disenchants- Kor Sanctifiers, Solemn Offering. These usually both come in against White-bearing Control players (and sometimes both against the White Aggro), but in most cases, just the Sanctifiers is my answer to an obnoxious artifact/enchantment post-SB.
- Life Gain- Wall of Reverence, Etherwrought Page. Again, these are mostly against the Red-based Aggro decks with other applications in weird scenarios. Sometimes I bring the Page in for a Control mirror to increase card quality or offer an innocuous damage source. The Wall is fine versus Green-White, but it usually just eats a removal spell that a later creature would have had to stomach.
Although they’re not in my current SB, I would consider Deft Duelist and Pitfall Trap if Red Deck Wins becomes popular. Again the key is careful consideration of what your opponent is doing and is capable of doing when you board; you cannot afford dead draws with a Control deck.
In the Wake of a New Standard Singleton
Just in time to save a format suffering from stagnation, Worldwake is on the horizon. I don’t know who hasn’t looked at the spoiler yet, but there are a ton of playables for StdSing (one of the ‘pluses’ of having such a small card pool). The primary gains are in the mana department: man-lands to give Aggro a bit more power (and Control more finishing power), allied colors dual lands to smooth out multicolored decks, another cycle of common “enters the battlefield” lands of varying usability and (FINALLY!) a two mana artifact accelerant. Thank you WotC- now we can build more streamlined decks!
Beyond the mana gains, there are 130 more cards to choose from during the deck building process. I won’t go through any of them, but here are the decks I will try to build after I have acquired everything (think of it as a Standard Singleton gauntlet).
- Green-White Tokens- it only gets better!
- All of the Shard-based decks- these also only get better.
- Blue-White-Red Control- notice a trend?
- Red Deck Wins- might also try Black-Red Deck Wins.
- Green-based Shard splashing a fourth color- Dark Naya, Dark Bant, etc. Pretty much goodstuff Aggro or Midrange decks.
- 5 Color Greed- a Control and a Midrange version.
- White Weenie- a personal favorite of mine that almost is competitive as it stands.
- Heavy-Black Vampires- probably will just be mono Black.
- Heavy-Green Midrange- might be mono Green or splash an allied color (or two).
- Some Greedy Ally Deck- this is probably a pipedream.
- Blue-White Control- a Control deck with a stable mana base!
I can’t wait- things are about to heat up!
Passing the Torch
In honor of the upcoming Winter Olympic Games, I am handing off this column to another one of our wonderful writers. He’s a competitive player at heart, but still knows how to have fun slinging spells: Academy’s Zen Block pundit, Rhythmik. I’m excited to see what he does with three decks over a month’s time! (Don’t worry- I am not going anywhere, but now my contributions will be a bit more varied in their content. I am here for you!)
Cheers!
ChrisKool/Chris Kuehl
Very nice article Mr. Cool. I like the thorough analysis of the sideboard options and the strength and weaknesses of each deck. Will make sure to download them and maybe try my luck in a PE; eventually with additional Worldwake power!
Now that Worldwake spoilers are completed, which cards are you most eager to try in your Green-White token deck?
Okay, my initial thoughts are:
-Elite Vanguard, +Loam Lion; The Loam Lion is just more powerful.
-Wild Nacatl, +Arbor Elf; I like to ramp my mana. I will tweak the mana base to reflect the increased Forest requirement.
-Kor Skyfisher, +Stoneforge Mystic; Flying is wonderful, but Skyfisher is a bad drop on Turn 2. I don’t think that this guy warrants inclusion of equipment beyond Behemoth Sledge- the sledge’s power level is far beyond all other Std equipment cards. I really like this guy for the subtle card advantage.
-World Queller, +Wolfbriar Elemental; The Elemental fits the theme of the deck AND increases in power level over time. He can even be a 4/4 chump for 4 mana if needed. Love the flexibility!
The mana base gains Stirring Wildwood and Tectonic Edge. I think the correct course of action is to remove 2 Plains for the previously mentioned lands. I would like to play one of the new enters tapped common lands, but I don’t think it’s worth slowing down the deck even more. I have also considered dropping Jungle Shrine and/or Seaside Citadel for Panoramas.
For the sideboard, I’m adding Kor Firewalker against Jund, RDW and any other deck sporting Mountains en masse (possibly even Grixis). I am also going to sideboard Marshals Anthem to test it in place of Overrun versus Control. Right now, I am planning on taking out White Knight and Day of Judgment… but this will probably change as I get a better idea on what I should add agains the different popular matchups.