Valakut Titan Ramp Deck for Post Rotation
September 23, 2010 | Posted by Dee
Update: I got 6th place at States with a version of this deck. Click here to read my tournament report.
I started testing with Valakut Titan Ramp for post rotation Standard because I felt it would be a good choice for States, which is in about two weeks.
Many of Valakut’s tough matchups will be severely weakened or not exist anymore. Mythic Conscription loses Sovereigns of Lost Alara and Knight of the Reliquary, Polymorph loses its namesake card, and Pyromancer Ascension loses Time Warp and Ponder.
Also, Mono Green Eldrazi Ramp doesn’t lose much in the rotation but it seems like a good matchup for Valakut.
In a new format, you want to have a strong proactive plan against many types of decks since the metagame is not established. You don’t want to play a reactive control deck. The metagame will usually be too diverse to have all the right answers in that type of deck. Turn four Titan is one of the strongest proactive plans in post Scars Standard. Its power level in the new format feels similar to turn four Sovereigns in Mythic.
My testing with the deck has been pretty successful. I’ve been winning a lot with Valakut so I thought I’d share my latest list.
Mythic Fauna Shaman Deck
September 15, 2010 | Posted by Dee
The Scars of Mirrodin rotation for Standard is fast approaching (October 1) so I’ve been blogging about Shards of Alara spoilers. However, I want to talk about one more Standard deck before Shards of Alara block and M10 leave the format.
If you’re looking for a Standard deck for FNM, Magic Online, or one of the remaining big tournaments in September, I highly recommend Mythic Fauna Shaman. This deck has given me the best winning percentage I’ve ever had on Magic-League. I’ve gone 14-3 in rated matches with the deck for a winning percentage of 82%.
I found out about the deck on German Nationals coverage. It was built by Sam Black and Zvi Mowshowitz. You can learn more about it in Sam’s premium article.
The deck is not as fast as the typical Mythic Conscription deck but it is more flexible. Fauna Shaman gives the deck many angles of attack so you gain solid matchups across most of the metagame. At the same time, you can still combo out regularly with Sovereigns of Alara on turn four.
Here is my current version of the deck.
Koth of the Hammer (Scars of Mirrodin Spoiler)
September 14, 2010 | Posted by Dee
Last week, Mike Flores spoiled Koth of the Hammer and the online Magic The Gathering community started buzzing about the new red planeswalker. The hype continued building and soon one popular online store had Koth at a preorder price of $50.
So, what’s the buzz all about? Well, for starters, Koth is easily the best mono red planeswalker and he may be better than Ajani Vengeant. Some players have already labeled Koth the second best planeswalker ever.
Check out Koth for yourself below.
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon (Scars of Mirrodin Spoiler)
September 8, 2010 | Posted by Dee
Update Nov 9, 2011: Check out this Mono Black Infect deck that has three Skithiryx. It got 3rd place in a Standard tournament with 360 players.
On Monday, Mark Rosewater spoiled Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon. This black mythic rare is my favorite preview card so far. The dragon is super powerful and he makes black better, which seems to be the worst color in Standard right now.
Skithiryx costs five mana but he can kill in three attacks. He can gain haste to speed up the clock even more. And if those abilities are not enough, he has two more powerful abilities.
Deck Price Tag: Pyromancer Ascension With Polymorph Sideboard
September 7, 2010 | Posted by Dee
Pyromancer Ascension is probably the best deck under $100. But one thing I didn’t like about the deck was all the hate that people bring in for post-sideboard games.
The deck does well against most decks in game one, but games two and three can be pretty bad as players side in cards like Celestial Purge, War Priest of Thune, Back to Nature, and Qasali Pridemage.
Tobias Gräfensteiner fixed this problem by switching to a different deck after sideboarding. He brings in a Polymorph package to confuse his opponents and make their hate cards irrelevant.
The Spawning Breath in the sideboard is an especially techy card. It gives you 12 cheap burn spells that can take out Noble Hierarch, Lotus Cobra, and Hellspark Elemental. Plus, it gives you a token for Polymorph.
Tobias used the Polymorph strategy to go 8-2-1 in the Standard portion of this year’s German Nationals. He ended up on the national team with 2nd place finish.
Mox Opal (Scars of Mirrodin Spoiler)
September 5, 2010 | Posted by Dee
It’s that time again. Spoiler season 
Scars of Mirrodin is the new set being released on October 1. This set will shake up the Standard environment more than usual. When it becomes legal, Shards of Alara block and Magic 2010 will leave the format so Standard will look very different. No more Bloodbraid Elf and other staples like Noble Hierarch and Path to Exile.
Here is a look at one of the new cards, Mox Opal, an artifact mythic rare.
Deck Price Tag: GerryT’s Four Color Dredgevine
September 4, 2010 | Posted by Dee
GerryT is one of my favorite deck builders because he takes winning decklists and makes them even better. His latest creation is a four color Dredgevine deck based on the list that did well in US Nationals.
He added red to include Bloodbraid Elf, Sedraxis Specter, and Cunning Sparkmage. Bloodbraid is great with Dredgevine. Specter gives the deck more cards that use the graveyard and it’s a solid threat on turn three. Cunning Sparkmage is in the sideboard because it’s awesome in many matchups.
Last weekend, he took the decklist below and got 2nd place in a Standard tournament with 240 players.
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