Magic: The Gathering – Theros #2 (of 5)
Jason Ciaramella (w) • Martin Coccolo (a) • Dan Scott (c)
Dack Fayden follows the trail of his most recent stolen artifact to THEROS, where he makes his way to a sinister island that holds the secrets of his newest acquisition. But such powerful artifacts are rarely left unguarded…
FC • 32 pages • $4.99
In Shops: 11/13/2013
Regular cover art by Dan Scott
Alternate art cover by Martin Coccolo
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
So another release has passed us by and with Dragon’s Maze a highly multi-colored set without a doubt we are going to find a ton of great EDH cards ranging from very useful to highly specialized. In fact I found enough very interesting cards that I’m going to split it into two articles this time. And just in case you missed my review for Gatecrash you can read it here.
The first part of my review is going to focus on the ten maze runner legends. I have to say they didn’t impress me much overall, especially compared to the guild leaders, but a few of them did grab my eye. I also included a group of cards I found intriguing, one from each guild, that have interesting possibilities.
Tajic, Blade of the Legion – this guy makes me wonder if I prefer him over Aurelia as my Boros commander. He definitely has a spot one way or another as he is simply amazing in every way. Indestructible is invaluable and seven power when he gets his pump means three hits of commander damage for the win.
Melek, Izzet Paragon – a total build around ability but he is in the right colors to get some truly ridiculous effect. Also, easily finds a home in a Riku deck to further abuse the might of copying super powerful spells.
Lavinia of the Tenth – definitely a great effect to slot into an Augustin deck but not strong enough to lead a deck. Pair her up with a Mistmeadow Witch to make sure you have a constant lockdown.
Mirko, Vosk, Mind Drinker – while decking isn’t usually very powerful in multiplayer, if you do 1v1 EDH he can be very powerful as your general in a mill themed Dimir deck. That’s what they do best.
Ruric Thar, the Unbowed – might be able to support a very creature-centric deck as a general, but you will be hardpressed to not include any non-creature spells. If you are able to mitigate the damage with lifelink think of all the life you could gain.
Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts – I’m not overly impressed by her cost but as long as she doesn’t draw out a removal you should be connecting with her every turn. Its rough that you need to take the damage in order to trigger the death effect, make sure you have some lifegain to stem the bleeding.
Varolz, the Scar-Striped – sure there’s Phyrexian Dreadnought, Death’s Shadow and Force of Savagery which are amazing with him, I’d like to see if there’s a good deck to be built around him. His built-in protection does need another creature around him but no doubt the deck will be stocked with creatures.
Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch – not extremely exciting as a general but could find a supporting role perhaps in Kresh or Thraximundar. You might be able to work her as a very aggro Rakdos general but would need to find enough creatures the enter the battlefield with +1/+1 counters to make her worthwhile.
Emmara Tandris – despite the enormous cost she can easily find a home in Ghave. While it’s not a bad ability to prevent all damage, it is a far cry from indestructible which would make her worth her weight in gold.
Vorel of the Hull Clade – the fact that he can’t target planeswalkers, for obvious reasons, is what really let me down on this one. Sure it’s a powerful ability, absolutely its mega-insane with Doubling Season, definitely you’re going to gain value from him whenever you use the ability but it’s just not enough to build around. While he could do well in a supporting role he doesn’t even help in a Zegana deck.
So those are the guilds maze runners. I really like Tajic, Melek and Lavinia a lot, but they are probably just going to be supporting stars. Mirko, Ruric and Varolz have potential as build arounds and could be fun projects. The others have some potential to find homes but definitely not as generals.
Haunter of Nightveil – I can see situations where you are able to clone him and pair that up with Jace, Architect of Thought to lock down your opponents creatures, just be sure you actually have a plan to win the game after that.
Gleam of Battle – I absolutely love the flavor of this card. Soldiers becoming veterans as they ride into battle gaining a level up experience. This truly captures the feel of what the Boros Legion is all about and guaranteed finds a spot in Aurelia.
Obzedat’s Aid – not only an additional tool in a reanimator deck but just an all around great utility card. That its not limited to any specific types so it can get you back a stripped land or slaughtered planeswalker, #VALUE !!!
Advent of the Wurm – the sheer quality of the token it produces is what makes me want to pair this up with Doubling Season/Parallel Lives to wonderous effect. Bonus that it’s an instant to act as an ambush if you need.
Progenitor Mimic – the ridiculous shenanigans that can ensue for having the right target on the field. Without a doubt you should at most any time find at least a ‘great’ if not ‘amazing’ target and then let the mass cloning ensue.
Gaze of Granite – as if Pernicious Deed wasn’t good enough here’s another mass sweeper that’s sure to destroy a ton of mana rocks. Let’s not forget the added bonus that it can hit planeswalkers which Deed misses. If you are going to be playing with it either make sure you’re playing cmc permanents above where you want to be using this or a way to return them from the grave.
Zhur-Taa Ancient – a Mana Flare guy is always an interesting effect but needs to be planned around to reduce the benefit to your opponents.
Council of the Absolute – I can see this as an additional tool for your Augustin control deck. Certainly helps lockdown certain strategies as long as they need to cast the spell and not cheat it out. Can also be used to benefit one of your big spells, especially if you know your opponents play it as well.
Sire of Insanity – definitely a build around me card. As long as you’re setup to abuse your graveyard and benefit from hellbent every turn there’s no doubt you gain the advantage from forcing everyone to dump their hand every turn.
Blast of Genius – I might be inclined to put this into an Epic Experiment shell to gain value from both the draw and damage effects.
So that’s the first part of my Dragon’s Maze review, come back next week for another load of cards which caught my eye. Whether you’re a relative newcomer to commander like me or an EDH veteran I love to see awesome decks. Feel free to contact me on twitter or share your decklists to my hotmail. Thanks for reading.
– Eric J Seltzer
@ejseltzer on Twitter
ejseltzer@hotmail.com
