This very heavily creature centric aggro build took down the SCG Standard Open this past weekend. With seven one-drops and 12 two-drop it starts out of the gate building up a critical mass of little guys then piles on pumps to grow them into significant threats. Using Rootborn Defenses to shrug off sweepers like Supreme Verdict or Anger of the Gods the deck is highly resilient and able to flow a constant barrage of threats. The clock it places on opponents is so fast they won’t have time to think.
Welcome everyone to this edition of “My top cards from Standard” pt.1 for Dragon’s Maze.
We see a diverse meta starting to form with the exciting new release of Dragon’s Maze and decks have evolved a lot since my last Top cards from Gatecrash. It’s a small set, but it has a lot of powerful multicolored cards adding tools to decks like Jund, Bant, Junk, and Grixis. Although we see a few two colored decks, three colored decks are preferred as we can see with the results put up so far. We’ll take a closer look at some of the top cards I’ve found for Standard and I’ve pulled up some of this weekends top decks to see them in action. There are more cards then just these that will get played in standard, but this is already quite a lot to look at. I’ll be continuing in part 2.
Sire of insanity: This guy makes coming out the gates strong really pay off, and especially if you’re ahead you can really lock the win once your opponent discard their hand. An especially good tool versus control decks. We see him in almost all Jund builds right now.
Putrefy: Great removal and easier to cast then Murder that can’t be regenerated with the added option of removing artifacts instead like Staff of Nin or Rakdos Keyrune for instance. Another great tool for Jund that’s also in some Junk sideboards.
Jund
Tyler Phelps
2nd Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013
Creatures (13)
Gaze of Granite: Finally a decent sweeper for Jund and BUG, kind of like a new Pernicious deed that you need to pay for all up front. It’s starting to see some play in some Jund sideboards like this one:
Jund
Danny Li
6th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013
Deadbridge Chant: I’ve heard a few people wanting to brew with this card. For now we’ve seen copies in Jund sideboards like this next list. They want to abuse it by exiling their graveyard to make sure that they always recur the same spell, like a Rakdos’s Return for instance, each turn. This is a sick card and I’d love to see more decks abusing it.
Jund
Kyle Thomas
4th Place at StarCityGames.com Classic on 5/12/2013
Voice of resurgence: This badboy 2-drop should see a lot of play in this standard meta coming up and those to follow. Will it become on par or even better than others like Tarmogoyf, Dark confidant, Stoneforge mystic and Snapcaster Mage? Only time will tell.
First off two versions of Junk Reanimator, one from Ali Aintrazi with an Angel of Serenity plan using 4 Voice of Resurgence in it’s sideboard in the list right below. The other reanimator uses Immortal Servitude as tech using all 2 drops including Voice of Resurgence.
Next we have two Bant versions: Bant Auras and Bant Flash. Replacing an old favorite one-drop Delver of Secrets with Voice of Resurgence in Bant Auras in the third list. Combining Geist of Saint Traft and Invisible Stalker with Voice of Resurgence in the auras deck makes opponents options awkward when trying to answer your auras. Bant Flash however is also keeping it in its sideboard with the fourth list. You will see further below that Bant Auras and Bant Flash are also using other Dragon’s Maze cards that had high expectations.
Reanimator
Ali Aintrazi
9th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013
Immortal Servitude
Elliot Smith
2nd Place at StarCityGames.com Classic on 5/12/2013
Unflinching Courage: This new Loxodon Warhammer style aura is quite powerful. When played at the right time you can take over a game even in limited. We find it here in Bant Auras as an easier to cast replacement to Gift of Orzhova. Scroll down a bit and you’ll see another version of Naya blitz using it in it’s side.
Bant Auras
Robert Rusch
4th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013
Advent of the Wurm: This Awesome 5/5 4-drop is one of my favorite new cards from Dragon’s Maze, except you’re summoning this badboy at instant speed. It allows you to abuse cards like Augur of Bolas and Snapcaster mage like in this Bant Flash list. Who said Sphinx’s revelation was dead yet? I also added a sweet G/W Token list with Advent of the Wurm and Voice of Resurgence.
Bant Flash
Zachery Byrd
7th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013
Renounce the Guilds: Interesting new removal tool we see in Bant control’s sideboard, the only permanent you might lose is your Wurm token. This is good against Planeswalkers like Ral Zarek or used like Devour Flesh against Geist of Saint-Traft .
G/W Tokens
Ben Suddueth
17th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013
Viashino Firstblade: It’s an aggressive 3-drop as a 4/4 when it comes out with haste. This can get hard to manage when you’re facing a deck like this Naya Blitz version.
Naya Blitz
Daniel Battle
5th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013
Ruric Thar, the Unbowed: I imagine this guy must be a beast against decks like Bant Auras and Bant Flash, making it awkward to remove anything once he’s on the board especially if you’re behind at all. This next Naya list went on to win 1st place.
Naya
Justin Tracey
1st Place at StarCityGames.com Classic on 5/12/2013
We see another version of the Naya Blitz list here with 4 Frontline Medic in the main instead of Viashino Firstblade. He also opted for 3 Unflinching Courage in the side, the new Loxodon Warhammer-style aura from Dragon’s Maze.
Naya Blitz
Ben Ragan
8th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013
Sin Collector: This is a weaker Duress on a stick. We see him in some of the new Junk Reanimator lists. Also used in The Aristocrats deck where he makes a good sacrifice to Falkenrath Aristocrat since he’s human.
Reanimator
Wayne Polimine
12th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013
Profit // Loss: Can be used as a combat trick for all of your creatures or a sweeper against opponents opposing Falkenrath Aristocrat, their Invisible Stalker or if you prefer take out all there dorks like Arbor Elf and Avacyn’s Pilgrim. You can always fuse it for best results with that all out swing. We see The Aristocrats with one in the sideboard.
Wear // Tear: This versatile fuse card is an answer for artifacts like Staff of Nin or if you prefer to remove an enchantment like Unflinching Courage you can too. This is the second fuse card we’ve found in an Aristocrats deck like this one:
The Aristocrats
Dylan Farmer
13th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013
Ral Zarek: The newest Planeswalker in the roster which has neat abilities. His first one can be used to tap an opponents blocker or a land to screw up his answers, then it gets interesting where you can untap a land to ramp up or a permanent to get his effect a second time, like Izzet Staticaster in this next Grixis Control list. Ral Zarek’s second ability is probably one of the most played cards in Magic a Lightning Bolt with two bolts before he croaks. His ultimate ability with an average of 2.5 Time Walk each time will get you so far ahead it will be hard for opponents to recoup, but not impossible.
Far // Away: Another great split card. In this current meta I believe you want to use Far against Bant Auras to bounce an enchanted creature and then Away against his Geist of Saint Traft. Here’s the Grixis Control deck using it in sideboard probably for exactly that.
Grixis Control
Andrew Schneider
83rd Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 5/12/2013
Welcome back to the second part of my EDH // Commander review of Dragon’s Maze. The first installment can be found here. I found such a plethora of interesting cards that it was necessary to split it into two offerings so you wouldn’t get information overload. Like I mentioned before the amount of powerful multicolored cards has helped to make this set very friendly to EDH players and there is most definitely something to pique your interest. So without further ado here is the rest of the best…
Ral Zarek – this guy is screaming at me to be paired up with Krark’s Thumb in a coin flip deck. Since there is still some randomness with him your opponents should only be mildly annoyed with you for taking 5 more turns.
Master of Cruelties – an obvious include in a Kaalia deck as an instawin if both are able to get through unblocked. He is also able to combo with Ninjutsu creatures like Skullsnatcher or Walker of Secret Ways, you just use Ninjutsu after his ability is triggered.
Possibility Storm – I can see this offbeat enchantment as another annoying tool in a Norin deck. If you embrace these types of random effects then you can definitely have fun with it. Could be built around to some extent which would require some very creative deckbuilding.
Blood Baron of Vizkopa – not only is he from a great tribe but his protection can be very relevant as well. Obviously he’s at his best when one of your opponents is 10 life or less, hello Sorin Markov, and remember that nothing is forcing you to attack that particular opponent.
Unflinching Courage – this powerful aura will easily find its way into Uril decks. Armadillo Cloak and Loxodon Warhammer/Behemoth Sledge have always been all-stars.
Notion Thief – I’m dreaming about some sort of Donate deck that runs him and Consecrated Sphinx for instant death. Just give away the Thief while you have a Sphinx in play and draw a card. Since the ability is not a may your opponent will be forced to draw which will trigger Sphinx again forcing him to draw which will trigger Sphinx again forcing him to draw…you get the point.
Debt to the Deathless – this one is just blatantly obvious especially if you are already running Crypt Ghast and Nirkana Revenant to ensure an amount of X that’s sure to close games very quickly in your favor.
Renounce the Guilds – this excites me very much for mono-white aggro builds like in an Isamaru deck where you won’t take any splash damage. I like that it hits permanents instead of specific types and should be able to get something from everyone that way.
Deputy of Acquittals – seems like there’s definitely a way to abuse his ability with Riptide Labratory to gain infinite amounts of extra value out of from bouncing your non-wizards with into play or leaves play (but not to the grave) abilities.
Voice of Resurgence – this card when pushed into a Doubling Season deck with a ton of token creatures will single-handedly push a game from ridiculous to insane. Also can have similar effect if you can stick him to a Mimic Vat popping his tokens each turn.
Korozda Gorgon – repeatable removal which definitely wants to be in a Doubling Season shell. Should be able to slip into a Ghave deck which is almost certain to have all the counters you need to use him to the fullest.
Renegade Krasis – this guy can provide some serious shenanigans when paired up with Doubling Season, but any deck that tries to monopolize on +1/+1 counters will find him a powerful tool.
Bred for the Hunt – this should have interesting uses in a Doubling Season deck that focuses on adding counters and could definitely work in Zegana.
Zhur-Taa Druid – WOW !!! A mana dude with the added benefit of pinging all of your opponents. Sure one little point isn’t all that much but if you add Grafted Exoskeleton or even Phyresis then this little guy can end games even quicker just on his own.
Maw of the Obzedat – could probably find a spot in a junk tokens deck to use some of those small guys to pump up the team. Easily eats blocked creatures to push extra damage through with the rest of the assault. The kind of card that makes blocking miserable and leaves them asking if there’s any way to block where they won’t die.
Profit // Loss – this one might be useful in junk tokens as an additional Zealous Persecution, with value on either end but fuse to max effect.
Ready // Willing – this is just an absolute blowout. Not only are you going to thwart an attack with surprise blockers, not only are you going to gain a bunch of life instead of possibly dying but indestructible deathtouchers to sweep the army of your opponent is priceless. A must include in every junk deck.
Catch // Release – there is so much value gained with this card that I would find room for it in Ruhan. Obviously you’re able to deal with the most problematic permanent, as long as it’s not protected, but you can also work around it with cards like Flagstones of Trokair, Hostility, Mycosynth Wellspring, Hatching Plans or Reveillark. Just be sure you’re ready for a backlash since this will not make people very happy.
Breaking // Entering – I can see this in Sedris with value gained from both halves, fill your grave with unearthables and reanimate the biggest card in any graveyard. You might find a slot in Thraximundar but mostly for the Entering half.
Pontiff of Blight – I can totally see this guy as a top end bomb with some zombie hordes. Giving extort to all of your creatures will tend to end games rather quickly in your favor but also put the bulls eye squarely on you and him.
Blood Scrivener – has two relevant types with zombie and wizard, although I’d imagine in a wizards shell you’d be in trouble if his ability was triggering. Ends up very powerful in a low curve aggro deck that tries to empty its hand every turn.
Wear // Tear – not the most powerful spell but very versatile and will always have bothersome targets to take care of.
So there you have it, another amazing release with tons of great possibilities. Were there any cards that you think I missed? What cards have you been adding into your decks or what new deck ideas have sparked from the Dragon’s Maze? Don’t hesitate to tweet me about it, I love to talk magic and I’m sure there’s some new ideas that I can learn from. Also, feel free to email me your decklists and I’m sure to enjoy reading about your new found synergies. Thanks again and see you next time.
– Eric J Seltzer
@ejseltzer on twitter
ejseltzer@hotmail.com
