Silver Lining #1

Our first silver medalist this season was SerraGodfather, with an old slugger still waiting on its first gold medal. This deck, the descendant of Spore Cry and Prison Yard, is the current home of former Standard tyrant Sprout Swarm. I was very excited to see a saproling-based deck do so well in the first Standard event of the new season.

DREAMSPORE ROCK
SerraGodfather, MPDC 2.01, 2nd Place

MAINDECK
Creatures
4 Augur of Skulls TS
4 Deathspore Thallid TS
4 Dreamspoiler Witches LOR
4 Essence Warden TS
4 Thallid Germinator TS
2 Sporoloth Ancient TS
2 Thallid Shell-Dweller TS

Spells
4 Grim Harvest CS
4 Sprout Swarm TS
2 Distress
2 Strangling Soot TS

Lands
8 Snow-Covered Forest CS
5 Snow-Covered Swamp CS
4 Swamp
4 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Forest
1 Snow-Covered Mountain CS

SIDEBOARD
4 Martyr of Bones CS
3 Mire Boa TS
2 Distress
2 Eyeblight's Ending LOR
2 Thallid Shell-Dweller TS
1 Mournwhelk LOR
1 Strangling Soot TS

Now that I crunch the numbers, however, this deck, like so many other strong candidates in Standard, relies only slightly on Lorwyn, instead turning to the powerful cards from Coldsnap and Time Spiral.

We know that the saproling strategy has been very succesful in previous seasons of Standard. However, this deck doesn't have a strong answer for Martyr of Ashes, which is a card out in full force lately and a perfect foil to the Dreamspore strategy. Indeed, at the finals of MPDC 2.01, it was Storm Control, a deck that gives saprolings fits, that took the gold away from these little guys.

I wouldn't count this deck out, but it will take a lucky run through a field full of Marty or a shift in the metagame before it seems like the right time to unleash the Rock.

White Weenie, one of the pillars of last season, almost made it to the top yet again at the first Thursday night skirmish. Let's see what Morningtide had to add to the brand.

WHITE WEENIE
BlueWurm, SPDC 5.01, 2nd Place

MAINDECK
Creatures
4 Amrou Scout TS
4 Avian Changeling LOR
4 Benalish Cavalry TS
4 Knight of Sursi TS
4 Sidewinder Sliver TS
4 Sinew Sliver TS
3 Ivory Giant TS
2 Shade of Trokair TS
1 Amrou Seekers TS
1 Aven Riftwatcher TS

Spells
4 Mana Tithe TS
4 Surge of Thoughtweft LOR
2 Fortify TS

Lands
19 Plains

SIDEBOARD
3 Aven Riftwatcher TS
3 Lumithread Field TS
3 Martyr of Sands CS
3 Temporal Isolation TS
1 Amrou Seekers TS
1 Shade of Trokair TS
1 Zealot il-Vec TS

Take Lorwyn back, Wizards: we don't want it! Tribal may be fun, but it is not competitive... or is it? Would a heavier Kithkin theme in White Weenie give it any extra strength? As much as I'd like to believe so, I cannot recommend such a direction. Most tribal synergies require the interactions of several cards in play at the same time, and most of the winning decks have found a way to exploit the power of cards that provide massive card advantage: mini-Wraths like Marty, extra draw with Think Twice or Foresee, endless recursion like Grim Harvest, and of course the flashback spells from Time Spiral.

Until the rotation in October, Lorwyn and tribal are going to have to fight an uphill battle against the key cards from Coldsnap and TS.

Sypher talked about his own silver medalist deck in his MPDC article. But I want a turn!

GRUUL WARRIORS
SypherSun, MPDC 2.02, 2nd Place

MAINDECK
Creatures
4 Boreal Centaur CS
4 Brighthearth Banneret [NEW!]
4 Gathan Raiders TS
4 Keldon Marauders TS
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Winnower Patrol [NEW!]

Spells
4 Incinerate
4 Rift Bolt TS
4 Shard Volley [NEW!]
2 Earthbrawn [NEW!]

Lands
12 Snow-Covered Forest CS
9 Snow-Covered Mountain CS
1 Mountain

SIDEBOARD
4 Martyr of Ashes CS
4 Mire Boa TS
4 Skred CS
3 Inner-Flame Acolyte LOR

Plenty of Morningtide and Lorwyn in this deck, which centers around cards that care about Warriors. (It also happens to exploit the current bug with the Bannerets and morph creatures, which has fueled a recent debate at PDCMagic.com's forums.) Having read SypherSun's writeup, though, I recommend you steer your browser there if you're curious about this deck, because he did a fantastic write-up about the deck.

Onto mono-red aggro, a beautiful and pure archetype born of fire and tempered in anger... okay, enough of that. Let's have a look:

MONO-R AGGRO
frycek, SPDC 5.02, 2nd Place

MAINDECK
Creatures
4 Karplusan Wolverine CS
4 Keldon Marauders TS
3 Mogg War Marshal TS
2 Gathan Raiders TS
2 Inner-Flame Acolyte LOR

Spells
4 Incinerate
4 Lash Out LOR
4 Rift Bolt TS
4 Shard Volley [NEW!]
4 Shock
4 Tarfire LOR
1 Needle Drop LOR

Lands
16 Mountain
4 Terramorphic Expanse

SIDEBOARD
4 Icefall CS
4 Martyr of Ashes CS
4 Subterranean Shambler TS
1 Emberwilde Augur TS
1 Lava Axe
1 Mogg War Marshal TS

Other than Inner-Flame Acolyte (who I have a crush on), this deck employs only burn spells from the new block, which... really isn't surprising. Surely, it is fast, but as always with mono-red, it lacks a way to refill on gas, and that typically doesn't fly against the threats of immense card advantage as discussed above. Still, a lucky night could send this deck to the top -- much like a lightning bolt, striking with deadly speed and accuracy. I always feel like mono-red is a gamble, though, more so than any other deck I've played.

Lastly, we come to this enigmatically titled deck, a three-color adaptation of Grimdrifter that eschews red in favor of.... green?

POLISH LEVEL GRIMDRIFTER
ostry1337, MPDC 2.03, 2nd Place

MAINDECK
Creatures
4 Aurochs Herd CS
4 Civic Wayfinder
4 Mulldrifter LOR
3 Fertilid [NEW!]
2 Warren Pilferers LOR
1 Gutless Ghoul CS
1 Mournwhelk LOR

Spells
4 Nameless Inversion LOR
4 Rune Snag CS
2 Eyeblight's Ending LOR
2 Grim Harvest CS
2 Mystical Teachings TS
1 Faerie Trickery LOR
1 Negate [NEW!]
1 Violet Pall [NEW!]

Lands
7 Island
7 Swamp
6 Forest
4 Terramorphic Expanse

SIDEBOARD
4 Festercreep [NEW!]
3 Hornet Harasser LOR
3 Terror
2 Gutless Ghoul CS
1 Faerie Trickery LOR
1 Mournwhelk LOR
1 Negate [NEW!]

To me, this looks like the beginnings of an update on Pyramid Scheme. It employs many of the strongest card advantage engines available, exploits the synergy between Aurochs Herd and the changeling removal spell, and to be honest, really excites me. Of all the reviewed decks today, this is the one I want to follow the most.

We may have to address the name, though.

The relatively wide scope of this article precludes me from presenting any incisive summary or insight here. I needed to play catch-up and paint a panorama of the current Standard landscape with this initial article. From here on out, I will be in much better shape to analyze decks more thoroughly and to contextualize them in the evolving metagame, with greater use to the casual and cutthroat Standard Pauper alike.

Thanks for reading. See you on Thursday!