Today we’re going to analyze the Standard portion of World Championship

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Alessandro Lippi

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TOP 4 GP Utrecht and Turin

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Hi everybody! Today we’re going to analyze the Standard portion of World Championship, the most important tournament held so far with the new format. For those of you who lived under a stone, World Championship is an all-star gathering which assembles the top 16 players of the season (PT winners or PT point worldwide leader). They battled for 12 rounds and 4 formats (Modern Master draft, M14 draft, Standard and Modern). Unfortunately, speaking about constructed decklists, World Championship didn’t show a high variety so far, for several reasons mostly related to the very small field (just 16 players). This lead qualified players to test together in small groups (mostly because not qualified players aren’t interested in) and, with most of them being well-known pros, they can figure out what other players like to play and make the appropriate metagame calls. Looking at Standard decklist (you can find the whole squad here), we can find the following:
-Half of the field played UWR Flash;
-Five players played Jund midrange;
-Five players (Stark, Nakamura, Watanabe, Juza, Cifka) are running the exact 75 cards version of UWR flash, and so does Shenhar and Martell (UWR Flash Aetherling-less) and Utter Leyton-Froelich-Ochoa (Jund);
– Only three players played different archetypes: Brian Kibler (RG aggro/big guys), Willy Edel (Naya) and Craig Wescoe (Human Boros).
We don’t have much to say about UWR: it’s basically the same pre-M14 version, with the addiction of some sideboard cards like Ratchet Bomb and Celestial Flare. Here’s Stark & co. list, for reference:
U/W/R Flash by Ben Stark, Martin Juza, Stanislav Cifka, Shuhei Nakamura and Yuuya Watanabe

Lands

1 Island
3 Clifftop Retreat
2 Desolate Lighthouse
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls

Creatures

3 Augur of Bolas
3 Restoration Angel
1 Snapcaster Mage
2 Aetherling

Spells

3 Azorius Charm
2 Dissipate
2 Searing Spear
3 Sphinx’s Revelation
2 Syncopate
2 Think Twice
2 Turn-burn
2 Warleader’s Helix
2 Pillar of Flame
3 Supreme Verdict
2 Jace, Architecht of Thought

Sideboard

3 Ratchet Bomb
2 Counterflux
2 Detention Sphere
1 Negate
2 Dispel
2 Assemble the Legion
1 Pithing Needle
2 Pillar of Flame

 

 

Let’s move now to the other tier 1 of the tournament, Jund midrange. This archetype gained several powerful card from m14, namely Scavenging Ooze (the t2 Tarmogoyf: this card completely obliterated the former Standard tier 1, Junk Reanimator, and I expect it to be played over and over in post-rotation Standard and Modern, still remaining a staple for Legacy’s Mavericks), Lifebane Zombie (an evasive 3/1 for 3 which can strip forever from your opponent’s hand cards like Thragtusk, Ooze, Restoration Angel, Angel of Serenety, Flinthoof Boar, Ghor-Clan Rampager and so on…I’m in!) and even Primeval Bounty, the “I-do-everything-do-you-wanna-a-coffee” enchantement played by Lee-Shi Tian.
Here is the version played by the Channel Fireball Team members:

Jund Midrange by Josh Utter-Leyton, David Ochoa, Eric Froelich

Lands

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

Creatures

4 Lifebane Zombie
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Thragtusk
3 Olivia Voldaren

Spells

1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Mizzium Mortars
2 Putrefy
2 Tragic Slip
3 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Dreadbore
4 Farseek
2 Rakdos’s Return

Sideboard

2 Golgari Charm
1 Curse of Death’s Hold
2 Underworld Connections
2 Pillar of Flame
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Barter In Blood
2 Duress
1 Rakdos’s Return
2 Slaughter Games
1 Bonfire of the Damned

 

 

Let’s go now to the “rogue” decks of the event. Although using different cards and approaches, they basically have the same plan: turning sideways creatures every turn to reduce opponent’s lifepoints to zero as soon as possible.

Naya Midrange by Willy Edel

Lands

1 Forest
3 Clifftop Retreat
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Stomping Ground
3 Sunpetal Grove
4 Temple Garden

Creatures

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

Spells

4 Domri Rade
2 Selesnya Charm
3 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Mizzium Mortars

Sideboard

1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Celestial Flare
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Burning Earth
1 Rest in Peace
2 Unflinching Courage
2 Boros Charm
1 Ray of Revelation
2 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Pillar of Flame

 

 

Willy Edel showed up with an updated version of the Naya he had success with in this season. New addictions, needless to say, Scavenging Ooze and a very powerful sideboard card for an aggro deck in a world of nonbasic lands: Burning Earth, designed to punish mana-hungry deck like UWR and Jund. Angel of Serenity no longer being a staple card of the format surely doesn’t hurts Naya player’s victory ambitions.
RG Midrange by Brain Kibler

Lands

9 Forest
6 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Stomping Ground
1 Kessig Wolf Run

Creatures

4 Arbor Elf
2 Elvish Mystic
4 Flinthoof Boar
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Thundermaw Hellkite
4 Hellrider

Spells

3 Mizzium Mortars
4 Domri Rade

Sideboard

2 Bonfire of the Damned
4 Burning Earth
2 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Gruul War Chant
2 Pillar of Flame
1 Volcanic Strenght
2 Zealous Conscripts

 

 

Brian’s version of GR midrange is really interesting. It is made up exact 50% of lands/mana dorks (with the new Llanowar Elf, this time called Elvish Mystic) and 50% of impact spells. It’s a deck capable of very fast starts involving Flinthoof Boar or Strangleroot Geists, but thanks to the full set of Hellrider and Hellkites -plus the control player’s bane Domri Rade- has still a lot of reach. The M14 card that shines in this deck is of course Burning Earth, of which Brian registered a full set in the board, just because this deck can easily play 15 basic lands while UWR or Jund play 2 or none… Other very interesting addiction is the couple of Gruul War Chant in the board which are good, according to Brian, to trump over Jund’s blockers.

Boros Humans by Craig Wescoe

Lands

11 Plains
4 Sacred Foundry
1 Mountain
4 Clifftop Retreat
4 Slayers’ Stronghold

Creatures

3 Banisher Priest
4 Champion of the Parish
2 Doomed Traveler
4 Silverblade Paladin
4 Fiendslayer Paladin
4 Knight of Glory
4 Sublime Archangel
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Spells

4 Searing Spear
3 Brave the Elements

Sideboard

1 Banisher Priest
1 Brave the Elements
3 Rest in Peace
3 Fiend Hunter
1 Mountain
3 Nearheath Pilgrim
3 Burning Earth

 

 

Finally, this is Craig Wescoe’s weenie creation for this tournament. This time Craig opted to go with a red splash for Searing Spear, Slayer’s Stronghold and the aforementioned superpowerful Burning Earth. The plan of the deck is very linear: stick some creatures in the early turns and protect them with the help of cards like Thalia and Brave the Elements. The deck has also the tools to fight in a creatures mirror thanks to exalted and double strike bodies.Well-known for his love of white-based aggressive decks, if your goal is putting your opponent under heavy pressure since from the very first turn, take a look at Wescoe’s decklists and you won’t regret.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this!
See ya next time
Alessandro Lippi