Hey guys!
After our M14 Limited evaluation we’ll try to focus on the new Standard, waiting for the World Championship that will take place next week in Amsterdam. Our starting point this time will be the biggest event held so far with new set legal, Starcity games Open at Richmond. We will go through the top 8 decklists, trying to underline the most interesting addition from the new set.

W/B Humans by AJ Sacher
1st Place

Lands

7 Plains
5 Swamp
4 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
2 Mutavault
1 Orzhov Guildgate

Creatures

4 Blood Artist
1 Bloodthrone Vampire
4 Cartel Aristocrat
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Xathrid Necromancer

Spells

3 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
1 Orzhov Charm
4 Tragic Slip
4 Gather the Townsfolk
4 Lingering Souls

Sideboard

1 Pithing Needle
2 Lifebane Zombie
2 Sin Collector
2 Intangible Virtue
1 Brave the Elements
2 Doom Blade
2 Profit
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
2 Appetite for Brains

 

 

Let’s start with a new archetype built by Gerry Thompson and AJ Sacher, and piloted by the latter straight to win the whole thing. It’s a sort of Aristocrats with some differences: it’s bicolor, it has a stronger Human theme (Champion of the Parish and Gather the Townsfolk) and a spicy addiction from M14: Xathrid Necromancer. It is the Human version of Rotlung Reanimator, a key card of a monoblack aggro deck played a long time ago. It has a very strong synergy with sacrifice effects and Blood Artist, it gives the deck resilience to Supreme Verdict and makes combat trading way more difficult for our opponents. The deck’s plan is simple: turning creature sideways every turn and finish your opponent with the help of Blood Artist and Sorin.

Jund Midrange by Andrew Boswell
2nd Place

Lands

2 Forest
1 Swamp
4 Blood Crypt
3 Dragonskull Summit
2 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Overgrown Tomb
1 Rootbound Crag
4 Stomping Ground
4 Woodland Cemetery

Creatures

2 Arbor Elf
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Thragtusk
3 Olivia Voldaren

Spells

2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Doom Blade
2 Putrefy
2 Tragic Slip
4 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Dreadbore
4 Farseek
2 Rakdos’s Return

Sideboard

1 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Curse of Death’s Hold
2 Underworld Connections
2 Tragic Slip
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Barter In Blood
2 Duress
1 Rakdos’s Return

 

 

Following the astonishing success of Reid Duke through all the season (last but not least, the GP Miami trophy), Jund Midrange was the most successful archetype at SCG:Richmond Open. It has a very powerful addition from the new set in the form of Scavenging Ooze. A staple in a lot of Legacy deck, Ooze is not just a cheap-but-huge green beater (Tarmogoyf anyone?); it is also a graveyard deck’s nightmare, completely turning off flashback cards and reducing the impact of cards that interact with it, like Angel of Serenity. This is one of the factor of the decreasing popularity of Junk Reanimator.
Aside from Ooze, the deck itself is a standard Jund midrange decklist, with acceleration into bombs of all of the three colors and a lot of sacrificing effects in the board to fight Bant Auras.

I won’t speak about Richard Nguyen’s Mono Green Aggro because Zen Takahashi made a good description of the archetype here: (Mono Green

U/W/R Flash by William Jensen
5th Place

Lands

1 Island
3 Clifftop Retreat
2 Encroaching Wastes
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Moorland Haunt
3 Sacred Foundry
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls

Creatures

4 Augur of Bolas
4 Restoration Angel
3 Snapcaster Mage

Spells

4 Azorius Charm
2 Counterflux
1 Rewind
3 Sphinx’s Revelation
2 Syncopate
4 Think Twice
1 Turn//burn
2 Warleader’s Helix
3 Pillar of Flame
2 Supreme Verdict

Sideboard

2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Izzet Staticaster
3 Thundermaw Hellkite
2 Oblivion Ring
3 Dispel
2 Renounce the Guilds
1 Turn//burn

 

 

The player needs no introduction, and neither does the deck, which is basically the same list piloted by Matt Costa to the top 8 of Gp Miami. The new set brought the return of Ratchet Bomb in the board to fight aggro decks (especially token-based), and a couple of Encroaching Wastes to fight utilty lands like Gavony Township or Mutavault. The deck is very good against red-based aggro and has the ability to suddenly switch from control to aggro thanks to Restoration Angel, Snapcaster Mage and, from the board, Thundermaw Hellkite, excellent way to fight opponent’s planeswalkers and life total. A solid choice, although not that easy to play.

Naya Midrange by Joshua Cross
7th Place

Lands

1 Cavern of Souls
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Gavony Township
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Stomping Ground
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Temple Garden

Creatures

4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
3 Loxodon Smiter
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Thundermaw Hellkite
4 Voice of Resurgence
1 Aurelia, the Warleader

Spells

3 Domri Rade
2 Blasphemous Act
3 Bonfire of the Damned

Sideboard

1 Assemble the Legion
1 Oblivion Ring
3 Rest in Peace
2 Unflinching Courage
3 Boros Charm
2 Ray of Revelation
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
2 Pillar of Flame

 

 

Take Jund Midrange, remove discard and removal spell, replace them with huge beaters like Loxodon Smiter and Thundermaw Hellkite, add the devastating Blasphemous ActBoros Reckoner combo and you can call it a Naya Midrange. I think this deck was particularly well positioned in that field because, if you look at top 32 decklist, you can find only one Junk Reanimator and only four Blue-X control decks. Those archetypes, infact, are (especially Junk Reanimator) really bad matchups for Naya, and their high pre-M14 popularity explains why Naya has so far been considered by many “a bad Jund”. Wait and see if it will be able to take its revenge.

Mono-White Humans by Joshua Everly
8th Place

Lands

18 Plains
4 Mutavault

Creatures

3 Banisher Priest
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Dryad Militant
4 Frontline Medic
4 Imposing Sovereign
3 Precinct Captain
1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Spells

2 Oblivion Ring
4 Brave the Elements
2 Ajani, Caller of the Pride

Sideboard

3 Fiendslayer Paladin
3 Celestial Flare
2 Purify the Grave
2 Renounce the Guilds
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Gideon, Champion of Justice
2 Immortal Servitude

 

 

Although I’m not a fan of no-trick aggressive decks, this one looks really interesting and the fact that is the deck with the highest number of M14 cards doesn’t hurt.
The plan here is really linear: drop creatures and swing every turn. In order to reach the goal as fast as possible, the deck runs a lot of hate bears, preventing opponents from blocking (Imposing Sovereign, Banisher Priest) or even from casting spells (Mrs.Thalia). Ajani and Brave the Elements are the icing on the cake to seal the game. Even the sideboard is full of new cards, helping WW fight Bant Auras (Celestial Flare, the white edict) and red/black aggros, with the new Paladin this time called Fiendslayer. The lack of Angel of Serenity, finally, is of course good news for non-reach decks like this.
We can now end this review with an archetype who wasn’t able to get a spot in top 8, but was quite popular with 3 top 16 appearances: Bant Hexproof.

Bant Hexproof by Erik Edelkamp
11th Place

Lands

4 Breeding Pool
2 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Hinterland Harbor
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Temple Garden

Creatures

3 Fiendslayer Paladin
4 Gladecover Scout
4 Invisible Stalker
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Geist of Saint Traft

Spells

4 Ethereal Armor
4 Rancor
4 Spectral Flight
4 Unflinching Courage
3 Selesnya Charm

Sideboard

1 Fiendslayer Paladin
4 Strangleroot Geist
3 Mending Touch
2 Ray of Revelation
3 Spell Rupture
2 Sigarda, Host of Herons

 

 

This deck, who was quite successful pre-M14, gained two more hexproof guys (Gladecover Scout and Witchstalker, who didn’t see a lot of games so far), it is really explosive and very easy to play (your toughest decision while playing will likely be: keep your starting hand or mulligan into a more aggressive one). All those elements make this deck very popular and you shouldn’t leave home without the tools to beat it.
That’s all for today, hope you find this review interesting.
See you next time on this screen
Alessandro Portaro