Magic: The Blathering #7 Dominaria Standard: Control in the Face of Chainwhirler
The Situation
Goblin Chainwhirler is distorting standard. No matter your opinions on recent standard bannings and the viability of keeping Chainwhirler standard-legal, it cannot be denied that the presence of this 3-mana goblin restricts the viability of certain decks.
When great cards such as Glint-Sleeve Siphoner and LlanowarElves are rendered basically unplayable due to the omnipresence of one card, something is wrong with the format.
The Decks
Because of the risks of playing X/1 creatures in your
maindeck, I feel that there are very few viable options for success in this
standard format:
· Mono-Red Aggro: arguably the most consistent deck in
the format, mono-red aggro can provide some incredible curves, with a range of
powerful creatures all the way up the mana-curve, supported by some of the best
removal in the format such as Abrade and Lighting Strike. Chainwhirler is very
happy in this deck, and gives the deck slightly more reach, whilst also
synergising very well with Soul-Scar Mage, a combo that can devastate go-wide
decks.
· Black-Red Aggro: mono-red’s bigger brother, this deck
includes black to provide recursion for Scrapheap Scrounger and the arguably
Standard’s best kill spell in Unlicensed Disintegration. Rounding out the
artifact theme with Heart of Kiran (which, incidentally, can also be crewed by
the goblin menace), this deck also has more resilience against flyers and
sorcery-speed removal.
· Green-Black Snake: in my opinion, this is the only
viable midrange deck in the format, as it plays no X/1 creatures and its other
creatures can quickly grow out of the reach of the removal played by the
mono-red deck. Thrashing Brontodon also provides a key defence against the
artifacts of the red-black version. Walking Ballista also provides an amazing
defence against the weak toughness of most red creatures, and access to Vraska's Contempt allows for easy removal of the larger threats such as
Hazoret, Chandra and Rekindling Phoenix.
· White-Blue Control: Teferi, Hero of Dominaria has
taken standard by storm, overshadowing a new Karn as the most powerful
planeswalker in the new set. Were it not for the speed of the format enforced
by the red decks, I think this deck would be far and away the defining success,
and there would be calls for the banning of Teferi. Hard to kill threats such
as Lyra Dawnbringer and Torrential Gearhulk provide a solid defence, and the
sheer range of counters and removal allows this deck to take over the game
given time. However, the raw speed of the red decks hurts this deck, as does
the sideboard option of Duress in the red-black version.
Are any other Control methods viable?
We have seen that Blue-White and Esper Control are strong decks
but are unable to consistently deal with the speed of the Chainwhirler decks.
In the last standard cycle, one deck that enjoyed much success dealing with
Hazoret red was Blue-Black Control. With removal spells such as Moment of Craving, Essence Extraction and Vraska's Contempt providing incidental
life-gain while killing creatures, the deck had a decent matchup against red.
Chainwhirler has complicated matters, however, as the turn-two and turn-three
plays of Glint-Sleeve Siphoner and Champion of Wits have been rendered obsolete
by the Goblin. Additionally, the rise of Teferi decks as the control weapon of
choice have seen The Scarab God fall out of favour, as exiling effects are now
commonplace.
Grixis Control
One standard deck I have enjoyed success with for the last
few months has been Grixis Control.
I began playing the deck as I loved having access to the best planeswalkers in the format, and the dream curve of turn-four Chandra into turn-five Bolas never gets old. Additionally, the only card in the deck that is negatively impacted by the omnipresence of Goblin Chainwhirler is Champion of Wits, which exists only to draw cards, die, and draw more cards later. After a couple of weeks trialling Esper and 4-Colour Control (to play Teferi), I have returned to Grixis to see if I can make the deck as successful in this standard cycle.
Old Decklist
Before I continue, I present the old decklist (registered at GP Birmingham in May):
Land
4x Canyon Slough 4x Fetid Pools 3x Drowned Catacomb 3x Dragonskull Summit 3x Sulfur Falls 2x Field of Ruin 2x Island 2x Mountain 1x Swamp Creatures 4x Champion of Wits 2x Torrential Gearhulk 1x The Locust God Spells 2x Nicol Bolas, God Pharaoh 2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance 2x Search for Azcanta 1x Hour of Devastation 2x Bontu's Last Reckoning 4x Censor 4x Supreme Will 4x Vraska's Contempt 3x Abrade 2x Moment of Craving 3x Consign // Oblivion |
Sideboard
4x Duress 4x Negate 2x Karn, Scion of Urza 3x Gonti, Lord of Luxury 2x Josu Vess, Lich Knight |
How to update Grixis for Dominaria Standard
The spoilers for Core Set 19 have me excited for the future of Grixis in standard. Nicol Bolas, the Ravager has me convinced that this deck could be a strong contender in multiple forms.
1. The deck
has a much stronger matchup against the red-black version of Chainwhirler, as
the slightly slower deck gives Grixis time to establish a lock on the game. The
combination of Abrade and Vraska's Contempt can slow the game down enough for
Chandra and Bolas to land on the board and begin to alternately kill and steal
your opponent’s threats.
2. Champion of Wits never survives the turn after it is played. The red deck’s prevalent
removal prevents the card from providing a blocker, which hurts now more than
ever when one of those removal methods includes a free 3/3 first-striker.
Against control, Champion provides a target for Seal Away, which otherwise is
usually dead against the mainboard Grixis build.
3. The Locust God is not as good as it was in a format where the tokens can be blown away by
a Chainwhirler or Settle the Wreckage, and the increase in Magma Sprays has
seen the God die quickly with regularity.
4. Censor seems slightly worse in this meta; the red decks top out quite quickly and are
now playing more one drops, as Soul-Scar Mage has risen in popularity to
reflect the combo with Chainwhirler. Meanwhile, the card is just bad against
other control decks, leading me to reconsider Syncopate for this slot.
5. Angrath, the Flame-Chained is now very good; he can cause control to discard good cards
(in combination with Oblivion and Bolas, this deck can empty opposing hands
with regularity) and can steal and sacrifice red’s best creatures, such as
Bomat Courier, Earthshaker Khenra, Goblin Chainwhirler and, in one amusing
case, a Rekindling Phoenix token.
With these thoughts in mind, I present my updated decklist
below.
Land
4x Canyon Slough 4x Fetid Pools 3x Drowned Catacomb 3x Dragonskull Summit 3x Sulfur Falls 3x Crypt of the Eternals 2x Field of Ruin 1x Island 1x Mountain 1x Swamp Creatures 4x Champion of Wits 2x Torrential Gearhulk Spells 1x Nicol Bolas, God Pharaoh 2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance 1x Angrath, the Flame-Chained 2x Search for Azcanta 2x The Eldest Reborn 1x Bontu's Last Reckoning 4x Syncopate 4x Supreme Will 4x Vraska's Contempt 2x Abrade 2x Negate 3x Consign // Oblivion |
Sideboard
1x Abrade 3x Moment of Craving 4x Duress 2x Hour of Devastation 3x Trespasser's Curse 2x Josu Vess, Lich Knight |
I will talk through some of these changes.
1. The card
drawing and filtering provided by Champion of Wits is far too useful to
relegate Champion to the sideboard. The late game mana-sink of the eternalize
option is also too useful to ignore.
2. The
incidental life-gain provided by Crypt of the Eternals provides enough of a
maindeck buffer to move Moment of Craving to the sideboard, which allows 2
copies of Negate to be played in the mainboard. This gives cheap maindeck
answers to Heart of Kiran, Chandra and Teferi.
3. Teferi, Hero of Dominaria has replaced the second copy of Nicol Bolas, God Pharaoh, as
Angrath provides multiple disruptive options against several decks earlier in
the game.
4. Syncopate has replaced Censor, not only for the reasons listed above but also for the
exiling effect, which is excellent against Scrapheap Scrounger, Earthshaker Khenra, and control decks playing Torrential Gearhulk. I was debating playing Magma Spray to deal with the two creatures, but I think Syncopate provides an
answer without having to dedicate extra slots.
5. The Eldest Reborn is a new option that needs trying out; replacing The Locust God as my
‘unexpected threat’. This card allows me to steal any of the big threats in the
format and to recur my own planeswalkers. My main worry is if the playset of
Syncopate interferes with the consistency of the third ability.
6. The
sweepers have largely been removed but will come back if The Eldest Reborn
fails to live up to expectations. The sideboard slots afforded by Negate have
been filled by Trespasser's Curse, an effective sideboard answer against the
Saproling token decks.
Sideboarding
Mono-Red
Black-Red
Black-Red
Green-Black
Saprolings
IN
3x Trespasser's Curse
3x Duress
|
OUT
4x Vraska's Contempt |
That's all I've got time for today, but let us know how you get one with control in Dominaria standard, and which cards from Core Set 2019 have you most excited!
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