Standard Rotation 2013, part 3

Still three weeks to go. Some preliminary lists. Still missing sideboards, but I’ll get to them… someday.

[scryfall]Magma Jet[/scryfall] and Red

A great addition to a low curve RDW. Granted, its costlier than a [scryfall]Shock[/scryfall], but the card selection is great for keeping the momentum going. Also probably works in a Big Red.

Like so:

[cardlist title=”Big Red”][Creatures]
4 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Purphoros, God of the Forge
4 Young Pyromancer
2 Ember Swallower
4 Chandra’s Phoenix
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
3 Chandra, Pyromaster
[/Planeswalkers]
[Other spells]
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Mizzium Mortars
2 Flames of the Firebrand
[/Other spells]
[Land]
4 Mutavault
22 Mountain[/Land][/cardlist]

Not sure about the [scryfall]Ember Swallower[/scryfall]s… or many of the other cards. Maybe [scryfall]Ogre Battledriver[/scryfall] instead.

Finding a good balance between permanents and spells is going to be hard, due to devotion.

Also, some big X spell with [scryfall]Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx[/scryfall] might work. Maybe.

[scryfall]Thoughtseize[/scryfall]

This alone makes me think about a monoblack deck. Back in the day, I played black a lot and a lot of monoblack, even before the glory of [scryfall]Necropotence[/scryfall]. These days I did try out a monoblack standard deck with lots of removal and a few creatures, keeping the game going until I could get a [scryfall]Griselbrand[/scryfall] online. Didn’t really work. I went 2-2 in the local FNM and that was mostly due to playing skills rather than the deck.

Now, we have some tools. [scryfall]Thoughtseize[/scryfall] is good protection for my creatures and there are some good cheap black creatures in M14 and RTR-block. [scryfall]Blood Scrivener[/scryfall] could work, maybe even [scryfall]Lifebane Zombie[/scryfall] and [scryfall]Liliana’s Reaver[/scryfall]… then there’s of course the [scryfall]Desecration Demon[/scryfall]. Curve would be awkward, but I think this might be workable.

[scryfall]Erebos, God of the Dead[/scryfall] seems pretty good, although its in the same part of the curve as pretty much everything else I might want to use.

I’d like to make a list of black and I did try, but I just wasn’t able to make one I liked. There’s just something missing. Maybe I should just lower my bar with removal. Still, black seems like a weak color, even if you can play a sort of suicidish game with plenty of paying life for cards.

[scryfall]Sylvan Caryatid[/scryfall]

I’d prefer [scryfall]Nature’s Lore[/scryfall] or similar, but this little beauty seems great. Ramping into third round four-drop requires a reliable manaproducing two drop. [scryfall]Sylvan Caryatid[/scryfall] fills this spot nicely. Of course, lands are more reliable, especially with [scryfall]Devour Flesh[/scryfall] in the format, but since I don’t think that card will be that big part of the environment I play in, [scryfall]Sylvan Caryatid[/scryfall] will probably be a great blocker as well. I’m personally expecting plenty of fast decks.

[cardlist title=Green Midrange][Creatures]
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Experiment One
4 Sylvan Caryatid
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Deadly Recluse
4 Slaughterhorn
3 Polukranos, World Eater
1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
2 Kalonian Hydra
1 Worldspine Wurm
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
4 Garruk, Caller of Beasts
[/Planeswalkers]
[Spells]
4 Pit Fight
2 Ranger’s Guile
[/Spells]
[Land]
20 Forest
4 Mutavault
[/Land]
[/cardlist]

I don’t really know about the [scryfall]Worldspine Wurm[/scryfall], but I just couldn’t fight the urge to put one into the deck. At first, it was actually four. I probably won’t ever be able to hardcast one, but that’s what [scryfall]Garruk, Caller of Beasts[/scryfall] is for… On top of being a great card otherwise as well.

Blue Beatdown

No real new cards here, although [scryfall]Master of Waves[/scryfall] seems possible, but on the other hand [scryfall]Curse of the Swine[/scryfall] is probably great. Especially since it can deal with the gods.

[cardlist title=Big Blue]
[Creatures]
4 Judge’s Familiar
4 Cloudfin Raptor
4 Frostburn Weird
4 Omenspeaker
4 Thassa, God of the Sea
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Bident of Thassa
4 Essence Scatter
2 Cyclonic Rift
1 Curse of the Swine
2 Aetherize
2 Opportunity
4 Quicken
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Mutavault
19 Island
[/Lands]
[/cardlist]

I’d like to get this to work. Not sure I can. Too little devotion to go around. Hopefully we’ll get something to help here.

Well, [scryfall]Quicken[/scryfall] might not be what I’m looking for, just because there aren’t any sorceries in the deck. I just wanted a cantrip in there, and that was the best one I could find. I’ll probably change that when I come up with a good substitute. Maybe even limited staples [scryfall]Stealer of Secrets[/scryfall] or [scryfall]Scroll Thief[/scryfall] would work with [card Thassa, God of the Sea]Thassa[/scryfall] and [card Bident of Thassa]Bident[/scryfall].

One thought on “Standard Rotation 2013, part 3

  1. I did a want list of each of these decks (again, without a sideboard) on MagicCardMarket.eu. Both the Big Red and the Green Midrange are about 250 euros, whereas the Big Blue is about half that. If I go the stingy route, that might be the deck of choice, even with changes (which will come). I’m just not sure that deck is really that good. Although I’d really like if it were.

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