I mentioned in my last article that I spent a week on Easter Island. It’s a wonderful place, one of the best places I’ve ever visited—with one downside. There was basically no working internet. Normally I wouldn’t mind that much, but I really wanted to prepare for GP Amsterdam. So, as soon as I got back, I wanted to play some games of Standard. I turned on my laptop, and have been playing basically nonstop. At every airport, I was playing up until the last person was boarding. On my way back, I had to concede a couple of matches because I had a flight to catch.

I have seen a lot of people complaining about Standard. I get that Marvel is a stupid card, but on the other hand, I’ve seen considerable shifts in the metagame over the last week. This gives me hope, as I no longer think Marvel is the undisputed king of Standard. Decks are adapting, new strategies are showing up, and I think the games are interesting to play. If you discount the turn-4 Ulamog games, that is.

Since deck selection in Standard is no longer the no-brainer it once was, I’ll share three decks that showed the most promise, and the decks I’m considering the most for the upcoming week.

Marvel

Let’s start with the elephant in the room. While I don’t think Marvel is the undisputed king of the format, it’s still possible that it’s the best deck. The whole energy package is too strong, and you get a lot of free wins with turn-4 Ulamog. What I like most is how much space there is for innovation.

I’d say there are two major ways to build this deck—with Servant of the Conduit and without. I prefer the Servant version, and I don’t see that changing any time soon. Having Servant in the mirror is a huge advantage, as the matchup turns into a grindfest with everything generating card advantage. I like to have access to more mana in that case, which Servant gives me.

Negate is one of the key cards, as there are only a few of them, and being able to play spells while having the mana to hold up the counterspell is important. So unless Marvel becomes significantly less popular, I’ll be sticking to Servant. On the other hand, I’m not really sure how to build the rest of the deck. I have tried a lot of cards over the past couple days, changing my deck every week.

I can’t say for sure that this is the best version of the deck, but it’s where I’m at right now.

Card Choices

Chandra, Torch of Defiance

I have decided to cut out the bigger Chandra, and instead I’m going with her little sister. Zombies are waning in popularity, and with Baral’s Expertise I don’t feel the need to have extra sweepers. I’d rather use Servant to its full potential. Also, I have noticed an uptick in the Temur and R/G energy-based decks, against which this card works wonders.

Baral’s Expertise

This card is also based off of my expectation that I will face more creature decks. While not being great in the mirror, it shines versus B/G, R/G, and Mardu.

23 lands, no Shrine of the Forsaken Gods

I haven’t been happy with the Shrine, but I can easily see myself changing my mind and playing 1 copy. The effect of being able to cast Ulamog a turn earlier is big, but this deck has strict color requirements. It’s possible that the Cinder Glade should be another cycling land—I’ve quite liked it.

Aether Meltdown

Potent weapon versus the energy decks, not bad against Mardu, and okay versus Zombies. I’m playing this over Magma Spray or Shielded Aether Thief, both of which are better against Zombies but worse against the other aggro decks.

Manglehorn

I’m trying this, as I’ve been told it’s good in the mirror.

Cards I Tried and Did Not Like

Oblivion Sower

The idea of ramping up to Ulamog with a big body attached is appealing, but I think it’s too expensive. It could be a potential sideboard card for the mirror.

Essence Scatter

I tried this as a sideboard card versus R/G, B/G, and the mirror. It was okay but probably too narrow.

Dragonmaster Outcast

I tried this for the mirror as a win condition that gets around Negate, but it dies to Harnessed Lightning and Chandra. It’s also too weak early.

Bounty of the Luxa

This card is quite good in some situations but completely unplayable in others—it’s worse than Chandra.

Radiant Flames

I tried this with a different mana base. It’s a solid option if you don’t have the lands to support Sweltering Suns.

Bristling Hydra

I’m not sure where you want this exactly, but it doesn’t feel like something this deck should be doing. The same thing goes for Glorybringer, which I think could still be good, but haven’t tried yet.

Even though I’ve lost my fair share of matchups with the deck this week, it’s still likely I’ll play it at the GP. It’s powerful and I like playing it. I found that I enjoy variance in my life from time to time.

The second deck I’m considering is the one Shaun McLaren played in Montreal two weeks ago.

G/B Constrictor

Shaun McLaren, GP Montreal

I didn’t like this deck at first glance, but my friends highly recommended it. I gave it a try in a couple of Leagues. While I’m not really impressed, I also was not disappointed. On paper, this looks like it should lose to Marvel, but they need to find Ulamog and they need to find it soon. Sometimes they don’t have it and then you win. Post-board you have more discard spells and the matchup gets better. It’s probably 50/50 overall, but those are good numbers against Marvel.

What I like most about this deck is that it has a solid sideboard—in game 2 you become a big midrange deck. I also appreciate that there is a lot of play to it. Most of your cards give you a bunch of options and the sideboard is challenging.

Still, I think it might be a bit underpowered for the current Standard. It also doesn’t help that it’s not an unknown entity anymore. People won’t be caught off-guard in the post-board games, and that makes the deck worse in my mind. I’ve cast my fair share of Grim Flayers and while I think this deck is a solid choice, it’s unlikely that I’ll play it at the GP.

What’s more likely is that I’ll end up playing this deck.

Vehicles?

This deck was given to me by Petr Sochurek, who claims that he updated a version of a deck Donald Smith Jr. used to go 5-0 in a League. I have to say props to both of them because, since I got the deck list, I have changed only two cards. And to be honest, I’m not sure if those changes are correct.

When I asked a few of my friends what they thought of the list, they disagreed with the high number of Irrigated Farmland. I absolutely love that card—it’s especially good in this deck where you often want to keep up countermagic.

The mana base is complicated, and I’m not sure if I should play all 4 Aether Hubs—it’s something I’ll be working on. 3 Gideon might be odd, but I think the card is getting worse than it was a couple of months ago. Other than the normal 4-ofs, you have 2 Harvester and 2 Harnessed Lightning to support your Hubs. I’ve liked the blue cards—Rebuke especially has overperformed. 2 Unlicensed Disintegration seems low, but I didn’t miss it that much. It’s possible that I’ll try to fit the 3rd copy in somehow, but I don’t see myself going up to 4.

The sideboard has also been quite nice. You get better against Marvel with 3 extra counterspells and the Cast Out, which is the second card I added to the deck. It’s nice to have an answer if they manage to sneak Marvel in before you have shields up. It’s better than Anguished Unmaking, as I’ve found the life loss relevant in some matchups. 4 Fumigate might seem like overkill, but it’s really good against R/G, Temur Energy, and Zombies. You bring it in along with the other expensive cards and Needle Spires.

As for the matchups, Marvel is still tough but definitely winnable. If you come out of the gates quickly, it’s really hard for them to fight through the countermagic. As for the creature decks, I have had a lot of success with the post-board plan. I even managed to beat Zombies twice. I still have to get more practice in with this deck as sideboarding and playing it is very challenging. I would also like to solve the mana base puzzle, but it’s hard to figure out how to get 4-color aggressive deck to work. What draws me to this deck is that I think people might be sleeping on Mardu a bit. Zombies is also getting less and less popular and that’s probably this deck’s worst matchup.

Those are the 3 decks that I would recommend in Standard right now. I’m still not sure what I’ll play at the GP, but whatever I choose, I’ve actually enjoyed playing this format. It came as a surprise for me, as I wanted to take a break after the PT. It turns out that every time I wake up, I find myself reaching for that Join League button.

And that’s fine by me.