Ben Meine: What You Should Play at SCG Regionals

Hello everyone. My name is Ben Meine and I am a Magic player from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. I joined Team Nerd Rage Gaming (#TeamNRG) for the first time as Kaladesh became the shiny new toy of Standard.

The SCG Tour stop in Indianapolis was one of the most unique Day One Standard tournaments I have ever played. Mono-red had two colors and a long game. Literal mono-colored decks were almost nowhere to be found. Let us talk about the treat that tournament was as we guide you further on your journey to answering to the age-old question of “what deck am I going to play this weekend?”

I am going to give you three decklists — one for each of three different playstyles.

Take One: G/W Tokens

 

 

This was my weapon of choice for the first SCG Tour stop of the new season. The deck was very consistent and I ended Day 1 at 7-2, then tanked to four more losses on Day 2. White is definitely the strongest color to be playing at the Pro Tour or your local SCG Regional Championships tournament. It has the best sideboard options, the most mana efficient and strongest removal outside of Unlicensed Disintegration, and the powerhouse that is Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. The problem with this list was that it did not hold up to black-based control decks the same way that old G/W Tokens did. Evolutionary Leap was a house in that deck. Now we are left to play a more creature-based strategy, which is fine if you build your deck in a way that makes it resilient to spot removal. I did not do that.

 

These two bad boys took over a lot of games against me because my threats lined up exactly with their spot removal, while my removal lined up poorly against the spells in their deck. Anguished Unmaking ruined plenty of Stasis Snares on Day 2 and that was no fun for anyone.

This deck is weak to B/x control decks, but put up great results against the aggro decks in the format. If you can deal with Smuggler’s Copter, the deck floods the ground with Gideon and Angel of Invention so well that coming back from a low life total is easily done thanks to the Angel‘s lifelink. I did get varianced out by Weapons Trainer on Day 1, but that was on the back of some pretty unlucky draw steps.

The TL;DR:

I have shaped the deck in a way where I believe it is much better for the week two metagame, in preparation for the Smuggler’s Copter, B/G Delirium, and Emerge decks that will still be walking the planes.

Take Two: G/W Tokens

 

 

This list fixes the problems with the original deck for the most part. There are some other small changes as well.

1. Nissa, Voice of Zendikar is nowhere near as good as Nissa, Vital Force. nissavitalforce

Nissa, Voice of Zendikar is one of the worst planeswalkers in standard when being paired up against Smuggler’s Copter. The best you can get out of a Turn 3 activation is a 0/1 token or a counter on one of your two drops before even a four-loyalty Nissa dies in one hit thanks to Veteran Motorist, Depala, Pilot Exemplar, Blossoming Defense, etc. Nissa, Vital Force, however, is the real deal. The card attacks for five, regrows your creatures, and threatens an emblem in two turns. This card was the card I needed to be playing in Indianapolis to beat the control decks. The only reason that I did not was that it was awkward when playing two different types of Nissas and I wanted to capitalize on Nissa, Voice of Zendikar‘s synergy with Angel of Invention.

2. Archangel Avacyn is fantastic. 

Flashing in an Avacyn to immediately flip with Selfless Spirit may have been the play back in the days of Bant Company, but now flashing in the spicy meatball is tailor-made to block and beat the Copter and all of the aggro deck’s ways. This was my main attraction to the card in the first place, ending in my first draft of this deck’s sideboard. It did not make the maindeck because it really can be awkward to flip it when your token producers are not just from Planeswalkers as they were back in the last standard format. Now, however, its power makes the loss of synergy well worth it.

3. Maindeck Fragmentize

The marginal upside you can have by having this card in your maindeck is off the charts. Even if it just hits an opponent’s Stasis Snare … oof. I will just list a good portion of relevant targets for this spell in the format as of the tournament in Indianapolis.

Smuggler’s Copter
Fleetwheel Cruiser
Stasis Snare
Aetherworks Marvel
Hedron Archive
Key to the City
Quarantine Field
Always Watching
Aetherflux Reservoir
Filigree Familiar
Scrapheap Scrounger
Captain’s Claws
And, most importantly, Bone Saw.

If you are into playing four- and five-drops ahead of the curve and just presenting raw power, this deck is an excellent choice. I could very easily run this back for Regionals. However, there is something to be said about the next deck, as it fits a different play style that has not been toyed with much since last Standard.

U/W Spirits

 

 

Work with me here: The flash game is still very real. It presents a great tempo game while still playing the powerhouse of Gideon. gideon

A bunch of 2/1s and 2/3s may look awkward on paper against a Copter, but you can either race them after quelling their Turn 3/4 play, or emblem your Gideon and play from there if you have a hard time living until Avacyn. Revolutionary Rebuff is obviously terrible going long because Wizards will never reprint Rune Snag ever again, but the tempo that you can gain in this format from the card is unreal. The only cards I want to add are more copies of Void Shatter and some form of card advantage in the form of Glimmer of Genius or Confirm Suspicions. If I were to cut anything it would be the Reflector Mages, as tapping out on Turn 3 could be a death wish, tempo wise. But other than those thoughts, this deck has proven to play quite well against the decks that do not do too much until Turn 4. Counterspells are very strong in this standard format. This deck is a great choice if you are expecting slow and clunky midrange decks while having a decent shot at beating the aggro decks.

However, if you’re looking for the deck that I will most likely be playing in the Chicago SCG Regional, it is this:

Grixis Emerge

 

 

This is my iteration of the deck that Zach Voss piloted to a second-place finish at the Open. This deck is quite real, and does some quite real things quite quick. I replaced one Sanctum of Ugin for an additional Mountain to help take pressure off of Battle Lands. Also, I took out the two Cryptbreakers, which were quite awkward, and replaced them with a maindeck Distended Mindbender and a Lightning Axe. Both of the added cards widen the range of utility the deck can have game one, which can be very helpful when one has no idea what decks the Pro Tour will spring upon us. Key to the City is a strict upgrade from the Perpetual Timepiece that was in Voss’s list. Getting in damage through blockers is much more relevant than Shriekhorn-ing yourself while also filtering your draws.

This deck abuses two of the most powerful angles in standard: Smuggler’s Copter and the graveyard. One could argue that this is the best Smuggler’s Copter deck since discarding is quite often for value. Wait, discarding? So you are trying to tell me that the best card in Standard actually synergizes with the most unmolested zone in Standard? Combo. Deck.

The sideboard is also much less awkward and made to be much more streamlined. Let’s go into that!

4 Transgress the Mind

A tool that can be used to snipe payoff cards against the Temur Aetherworks and Emerge decks of the format. Also very good against the flash decks by being able to take Stasis Snares, Torrential Gearhulks,  and Archangel Avacyns. Very flexible.

3 Lightning Axe

Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet is strong against this deck’s strategy. Once you emerge, if the opponent has three mana open, Kalitas will not be dying to a flashed back Kozilek’s Return. Lightning Axe is also good as a one-mana removal spell against any aggro deck. Another spell one could consider in this spot is Galvanic Bombardment.

2 Negate

Planeswalkers are good. Three-mana removal exists. The all-encompassing, musty, rusty, trusty Negate is here to save the day from … well … non-creature spells.

2 Coax from the Blind Eternities

Why worry about trying to counter the Lost Legacies and Transgresses of the world with Invasive Surgery when you can just play proactively? It also plays well against enchantment removal and Fairgrounds Warden. This card has surprisingly showed great results in testing and I would rate it a 7/10 against Black-based control strategies.

2 Summary Dismissal

Great against Emrakul, Ulamog, Elder D-.. You all know the drill.

1 Kozilek’s Return

Sometimes you can need as many instant-speed wraths as possible.

1 Distended Mindbender

When you want to win the grindy matchups, sometimes this card is better to emerge on Turn 4. It is much stronger to have another payoff follow this card than vice versa when playing against a control or midrange strategy because you do not want to feel silly with the removal spell hitting a creature it never should have. Also very strong against the left-field combo decks that exist.

All of these decks would be great choices for the Pro Tour or Regionals for the weekend. I feel like Gideon is going to be one of the more pivotal cards when recuperating after getting beaten up by helicopters, but the Grixis Emerge deck can definitely compete. This Standard is still an open field and I can not wait to see what the Pro Tour and future high-profile events have in store for us!

I’ll see you in Top 8.

Ben Meine is the newest member of Team NRG. Follow him on Twitter @BenMeine.

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