Finally started playing on the standard ladder, and I have to echo many of the complaints I've read here and elsewhere. Most of the top-tier decks are just jamming a bunch of good cards (Uro, Nissa, ECD, Teferi, NISSA, etc-) and it's pretty unfun. I was playing Temur Rec, which was a cool deck, but games either felt unwinnable or like playing on autopilot in cases where I was favored, depending on the matchup.

I think alot of this will be solved when Nissa rotates out. There are no clean answers to her, and if your deck is designed to beat Nissa (like say, running four copies of Murderous Rider), then it's basically bad against every other deck.

I actually cared about the ladder this season but still really haven't had the time I wanted to devote to it. I think I'll hit platinum again but I swear to God that every game last night in gold 3 and 2 were red decks. If I played against something else I honestly cannot remember. I would love to meet some of the decks you speak of. I have a very fast Gruul that, with the right draw, pretty consistently gets me t4,t5 wins. Not saying all those red decks beat me, just commentating on how many damn things there were. It was a horribly boring night. Capped out at gold one last night before I quit. Hoping to get a few games in platinum before the season ends and that I play against a greater diversity of decks.

Edit: First game out tonight. Red.
Edit the Edit: Second game. Same thing. Won both but my God this is getting freaking ponderous.

I actually was in gold 2 still.
Freaking nine wins in a row with Gruul for platinum. I wish I would have had more time. I think mythic is a possibility with me and this deck. Maybe next season brings some good stuff with Ikoria and I'm thinking it will. Hard to think about right now though. This baby is pretty tuned in. Bo1 by the way. Here it is.

Deck
4 x Gruul Spellbreaker
8 x Mountain
10 x Forest
3 x Zhur-Taa Goblin
3 x Paradise Druid
4 x Questing Beast
2 x Robber of the Rich
3 x Domri's Ambush
4 x Bond of Flourishing
2 x Collision // Colossus
3 x Embercleave
2 x Castle Embereth
4 x Pelt Collector
4 x Stomping Ground
2 x Klothys, God of Destiny
2 x Bonecrusher Giant

Ah I was referring to Bo3, where you're likely to run into more control decks. Looks like a fun deck, congrats on the wins!

So obviously it would be an awful choice to release the new set in paper on time... But would they launch it on ARENA if they delay the release?

Did you just ask if anyone on this site can predict what Hasbro or WotC would do?

LOL

I'm trying to start a conversation... About the subject

Announced a couple days ago. The Americas and Europe get a late start while things are currently planned to release on schedule for Arena and in APAC. I imagine most of the work is already done for Ikoria on Arena, if anything I suspect Amonkhet Remastered and Pioneer Masters will get pushed back.

https://mtgmeta.io/metagame?f=standard& ... 2020-03-30

Big metagame grid for THB meta.

It's amazing that UW control has bad matchups literally *everywhere*. Not a single good matchup, not even against the likes of Jeskai Fires which is certainly weak to counterspells. Go figure.

So...I have been playing an updated combo deck that has been doing decently. I was tired of all the normal decks, so I tried to tune the Mono Blue Devotion...and it is working pretty well. I am guessing at higher ranks, people will know how to handle it better, but it is decently fast and like any good mono blue combo deck, it runs very few (16) lands! (Okay, just talking academy, but still)

4 Unsummon (Kinda flex spot. Early defense and later good to continue combo)
4 Witching wells (Early get some lands, later combo pieces and/or draw + minor devotion)
4 Corridor Monitor (Combo piece and early defense)
4 Oment of the sea (Another land replacement that gets you devotion and late game draw)
4 Renowned Weaponsmith (Early defense, and kinda a mana elf with Monitors, and Lotus. Bonus, Make Wishing Well cost 2 mana for a draw)
4 Thassa's Oracle (More ways to find pieces early and late game kill)
4 Brazen Borrower (Early game defense, late game source of devotion)
4 Callaphe, Beloved of the Sea (Alternate win condition. Mainly devotion, but makes Elspeth cost 6 as well)
4 Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner (Combo piece)
4 Nyx Lots (THE combo piece)
4 Gadwick, the Wizened (Main draw and combo piece)
12 Island
4 Castle Vantress

Basically, mulligan if you have less than two land, but with two land, and some sort of draw/scry you should be fine. This is much lower to the ground then others, and I think that helps make it more consistent. No Cavaliers or Owls here.

Good sequence is:

T1 Land, Well
T2 Weaponsmoth
T3 Kiora and use to untap Weaponsmith to play Lotus.

This does not happen often, but it does happen enough to be noticeable

t4 Well, if you have a Gadwick, you may win T4. You have 3-4 land, and 3 devotion. That is 9-10 mana. Gadwick for 3-4 and have 6 mana open (from untap with Kiora) you have 49 cards left in deck, and 7 more untap options that you can play with 3 mana and 3-4 chances of hitting one. As the combo goes and you Gadwick more, always try and leave 3 mana open. For Kiora or Unsummon + replay Monitor.

Good news is that generally games are over by T6 in most cases, either you win or you rare broken beyond repair. The bad news is that the last turn takes forever.

Anyway, this deck is not a top deck now, but depending what comes in the next set, it has possibilities. And it really is a pure combo deck

Cool, I'll give it a try! So tired of playing tri-color decks.

On a side note, really curious to see how this new set slots into standard. With both mutate and escape in play, seems like there will some pretty complex trigger stacks/gameplay decisions.

Stern Dismissal instead of unsummon?

Dismissal can’t target your own Oracle or Gadwick to continue the combo.

So, named the Deck "The Nyx of Time" and it has been doing decent. Dies horribly to counterspells, and does not fair well vs artifact hate, so I am sure it is no where near a top deck nor even T2 in most cases, but it does pretty well vs aggro. I named it Nixy of time because there have been many games where it looked like I was dead next turn and had very little board presence...and then I win. Also, I do think the deck annoys people since I have more then a few time out on it. I have had a few "Nice" comments as well.

Only change I have made so far is:

-2 Unsummon
-2 Brazen Borrower
+4 Eidolon of Philosophy

The Eidolon is mainly for quick Devotion and it is late game card draw. 7 mana is a lot for three cards, but in this deck, it really is not so bad when it gets rollin, but I am still only in the testing phase. Thassa's intervention may be a better choice, but there is little I care to counter, and I am normally just ignoring my opponent. Plust it does nothing for early game defense. Eidolon may be a wrong choice, but giving it a shot.

The deck needs digging, draw and devotion, and I doubt next set does anything to really help that enough to make it resilient enough to stand up to Artifact hate and Counters, but fun while it lasts.

Eidolon!!!!?!?!?!?????!!!!??????

Hey, I like to try underused cards! Sometimes (okay rarely) they turn out to be the missing piece! But yeah, I went to Spectral Sailor. Not quite as good vs the Red 1/1 rush, but Flash (Gadwick) and reusable Card Draw means it wins out overall.

Okay, so this is one of the decks to beat ATM. It does have a huge weakness to Hushbringer, but if Hushbringer becomes more prevalent you can use soem removal, although i think that would be Dirgebat if you want to keep Umori as a companion, or you can use more traditional removal if you make Gyruda your Companion. (I saw something similar, so I can't take credit for this deck)

First, the deck list:

Companion: Umori, the collector

4x Charming Prince
3x Thassa's Oracle
4x Ilysian Caryatid
4x Paradise Druid
4x Fiend Artisan
4x Luminous Broodmoth
4x Spark Double
4x Thassa, Deep-Dwelling
4x Gyruda, Doom of Depths
2x Plains
2x Island
5x Forest
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Temple Garden
4x Breeding Pool
4x Fabled Passage

Game play is basically to deck both players and win with Thassa. Alt win is just deck your opponent, or just kill with big creatures. The deck (like most combo decks) is weak to counterspells, but as the meta shakes out, I am sure things like Mystical Dispute will lessen that impact. Also, as mentioned, Hush bringr basically makes you into an efficient creature deck. That brings me two other decks I think will be very popular. I think Dimir will of course be a top deck. It already is, but having this deck out there will reinforce how prevalent Dimir will be. A dark horse deck I have also played around with is Azorius flyers. Hushbringer shuts down this and the sac decks, while being decent vs Flash.

Anyway, the first question is why Umori instead of Gyruda as a companion since Gyruda is the heart of the deck AND you want to cast asap. TBH, I may swap at some point, but right now it is so you can get the combo off faster more reliably. You can go T2 Mana Dork, T3 mana Dork and T4 Gyruda right now, but that means you need 2 of your 8 mana dorks in hand. With Umori, you only need one mana dork for a T4 play (but also Gryuda). IMO, Umori give you more options with the rest of your deck and makes it a bit more resilient to counters (Either it eats one that would be aimed at Gryuda or it lets you play more spells per turn), but I may change my tune later.

Anyway, I am sure people have played against this type of deck. I have seen some with Endrazors in it or Dream Trawler, but I think the combo route is the correct one to take. You can literally win T4 if very lucky, although T5 is my best so far.

Played a quick constructed run because I stupidly used all my gems and can't play (much) limited, went 6-3 with monored using no cards from Ikoria. 4-3 in the games I was on the draw, 2-0 in the ones I was on the play. Keep Embercleaving, and keep going 2nd

Also if my small sample size means anything, there sure are a lot of aristocrats decks in BO1. If I do this again I'm likely playing a counter-deck.

500 gems for 2000 gold, one time use, today in the daily deals. (or 500 gems for 400 gems)

I played a few games of bo1 with the wintervoid's umori thassa thing. Hilarious with the right pieces out. I got at least one turn 5 win. The sequence of gyruda animating a second gyruda, then legend ruling each other with broodmoth in play feels pretty broken. I was able to mill half or so of my library and win on the spot or within one turn in several games. I agree it might, might be better with gyruda as companion just because it feels much too fair in games without the card. In the fair games, the moth is still a powerhouse in combat stalemates, however. Many times, attacking into a full board was actually a valid option. I still like Umori, though, to keep up with the speed of fires and ramp decks (mixed results on that).