Talk of the Players Tour Finals: Growth Spiral

The “bad” news (if you’re a fan of metagame diversity)… Growth Spiral represented about 70% of the Players Tour Finals.

The “good” news then? It only represented 50% of the Top 8!

While Growth Spiral appeared in a variety of decks in the Swiss, including Bant Control and others; in the Top 8, it showed up in essentially two [related] archetypes:

1. Temur Reclamation – A Wilderness Reclamation deck that starts on the aforementioned Growth Spiral and utilizes its mana engine to make a large Expansion // Explosion or Shark Typhoon. Power, speed, and card advantage… Plus a variety of generally good cards and room for tons of main deck interaction.
2. Four-color Reclamation – A variation on the above, but adding white for particularly Teferi, Time Raveler. The while splash ups land counts to as high as 30/60 including Raugrin Triome. Those Plains give Four-color Reclamation some improved tools, for example Dovin’s Veto over Negate. Solar Blaze over Storm’s Wrath helps this deck keep its Teferi in play while defending itself.

These two decks made up about half the Players Tour Finals field, but still won over 50% of their matches, collectively.

A Hall of Fame Performance for Azorius

Raphael Levy was one of only three Azorius competitors in the Players Tour Finals. His 80-card deck played one Yorion, Sky Nomad in the sideboard as its Companion… and two in the main deck!

A study in synergy, this deck packs a ton of enchantments that Yorion can blink — like Omen of the Sea, Omen of the Sun, or The Birth of Meletis… And crossed over with Archon of Sun’s Grace for even more flying creatures; even more enchantment synergy.

Most creature decks did not perform well at the Players Tour Finals; and they really would not want to contend with this deck’s Shatter the Sky.

Two Creature Decks That Did Perform…

… Are Mono-Black Aggro and Mardu Winota.

Only one copy of either archetype was played in the tournament; both won 77% of their matches. Both made Top 8.

Mono-Black Aggro today is extremely biased. Playing cards like Hunted Nightmare, it assumes that there won’t be many opposing creatures to interact with on the ground.

A 4/5 creature for only three mana, Hunted Nightmare is a very efficient beatdown creature if no one is getting deathtouch. Regardless, it’s got great stats-to-casting cost numbers; and is hard to block.

Mono Black is biased beyond even this card… With both main deck Duress and Kitesail Freebooter, it can be flat-out bad against opposing creature dense decks.

Example: Michael Jacobs’s Mardu Winota deck plays almost all creatures and only 4 Raise the Alarm for non-creature spells!

Among this deck’s hits are Basri’s Lieutenant, Lazotep Reaver, and Woe Strider… The coolest Woe Striders in history mind you. That 0/1 Goat is there to rumble in The Red Zone.

But which deck did we really dislike?

Pretty easy way to find out 🙂

Check out “Let’s Talk About the Players Tour Finals” here and now!

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New stuff is still new, but we’ll get to that in a second.

Nissa, Who Shakes the World in Mono-Green

Mike is a huge fan of EDEL’s recent innovations in Mono-Green.

At the top end we see The Great Henge AND Nissa, Who Shakes the World!

The Great Henge is an awesome three-four combination with Lovestruck Beast; while — essentially to the surprise of no one — Nissa, Who Shakes the World provides an entirely new dimension to Mono-Green play.

It’s all about hiding behind your creatures until you get to Nissa’s ultimate… Then if you can lose after drawing twenty or so extra cards… Okay, you’re probably not going to lose very many of those games.

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Rotting Regisaur in Mono-Black

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Aggressive decks are doing well in Standard right now. Not just Mono-Green… But Mono-Black has stormed back with a Vengeance.

One of the main reasons is the return of Rotting Regisaur. Once again the biggest bad in the format, Rotting Regisaur provides a semi-combination with a new card from Core Set 2021:

Before you successfully Hellbent yourself, your Rotting Regisaur will often do a little damage to your cards in hand. If you have to discard an action spell… It might as well be Demonic Embrace!

Not only can you cast Demonic Embrace from your graveyard later in the game, but it can also set up a ten-point smash with the Rotting Regisaur that put it there in the first place.

Speaking of older cards, Blacklance Paragon is quietly one of the most effective cards in this archetype… Despite its being a Knights-poor deck

Everything New… Is Also Still New

So up top we teased out the new card Peer into the Abyss.

… But how do you even cast that?

May we suggest a…

Mono-Green blah blah. Mono-Black blah blah. Updates to Rakdos oh sure.

But Peer into the Abyss plus Titan’s Nest in a Yorion, Sky Nomad deck?

In the podcast, friends! Find out more now:

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Yorion, Sky Nomad has taken over as the most popular and successful Companion in Standard over the course of the last week!

It’s no Lurrus of the Dream-Den in powered formats [yet], but for the low low cost of twenty extra cards in your library, this card can become a reliable source of massive card advantage and synergy.

Tale’s End; with and against Yorion, Sky Nomad

First thing’s first: Tale’s End is a reliable “Essence Scatter” type in a format with so many Companions. Even better, it usually trades favorably on tempo… Two for three; even two for six!

But that’s not all!

Many decks play Legendary permanents other than their Companions… Whether a ubiquitous Planeswalker or Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath in Temur Reclamation, Tale’s End can counter them for two.

You can counter the ability of Priest of Forgotten Gods! What a beating on the battlefield that would be!

Or how about countering a Cycling activation? Trading a permission spell for a card drawing spell has never been completely out of the question, but these days that might also mean depriving the opponent of a specific trigger or the 1/1 token from an Improbable Alliance.

It’s pretty important to stop the Control Magic-type ability on Agent of Treachery in these Yorion decks, too! Don’t sleep on Tale’s End.

Popular Builds with Yorion, Sky Nomad

• Jeskai – Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast can team up with the token creatures from a variety of sources (Castle Ardenvale, Shark Typhoon, even Omen of the Sun) to upgrade into Agent of Treachery.
• Arcanist’s Owl – In a non-Lukka build… The Owl can help dig to Fires of Invention or rack up triggers from Archon of Sun’s Grace.
• Four-color – If you’re already in the market for an Omen of the Sun, what about Calix, Destiny’s Hand for a green splash? The deck is full of all kinds of enchantments, up to and including Fires of Invention, and digging to them is generally welcome. Given all the enchantments, Calix is reliable removal, too.

Yorion combines brilliantly with all these enters the battlefield effects. Omen of the Sea, Omen of the Sun, and even Omen of the Forge represent card advantage coming and going and coming back again!

Load your battlefield up with 187-style permanents and Yorion, Sky Nomad will pay you back, reliably, circa turn five.

Learn all the secrets of the Sky Nomad in this week’s podcast:

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Companions from Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths are Taking Over Every Format

The Companion mechanic is extraordinarily powerful. While the deck building cost to use a particular companion can vary, the combination of consistency and the so-called “eighth card” cannot be exaggerated.

Lurrus of the Dream-Den seems to be the best companion on rate so far, and has already successfully crushed large events in Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, and Legacy.

We’re sure Lurrus will be even better in Standard.

Lurrus of the Dream-Den in Rakdos Sacrifice

Companions are so good it isn’t even clear which ones should go in which established archetypes! There are at least four Companions that might make sense in Rakdos Sacrifice, but two have risen to the top so far.

The Lurrus build of Rakdos Sacrifice forces some hard cuts. Woe Strider, Midnight Reaper, and the iconic Mayhem Devil all cost too much. Look for the Lurrus build to play a lot of two mana haste attackers like Dreadhorde Butcher or Robber of the Rich instead.

Perhaps more importantly, this build can [still] use Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger. Because Kroxa is technically only two mana, it is not only eligible to be played, but can work a two-man game with Lurrus itself.

Other notable additions from Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths include Whisper Squad and Serrated Scorpion.

Whisper Squad starts on one but fills many additional, important, roles. If you do nothing else on turn two, you can activate the Whisper Squad to Squadron Hawk up another copy. It’s also a great “virtual three drop” for a deck that can’t play any real three drops… Kind of like a Wood Elves for Whisper Squads. And of course, if you have a ton of mana already on the battlefield, it can become a one-card army on the quick.

Serrated Scorpion is a great card to start with in this strategy, and awesome to sacrifice (even through combat) and re-buy with Lurrus. Patrick believes this card will inspire a Rakdos Burn deck in Modern.

Obosh, the Preypiercer in Rakdos Sacrifice

Competing for the allegiance of the resilient and resurgent Rakdos archetype is Obosh, the Preypiercer.

Obviously more expensive than Lurrus, Obosh offers immediate payoff the turn it hits the battlefield, but a harsh deck building cost.

No even costed cards means no Priest of the Forgotten Gods (making it a little harder to summon a five drop). The fact that three mana cards are available to this build (unlike the Lurrus one) makes the curve quite a bit higher. That is something to watch out for as these builds settle.

Gyruda, Doom of Depths Delivers a Whole-New Archetype

Here’s the thing: Lots of good mana acceleration is even-costed. Growth Spiral, Paradise Druid, new stuff.

If you get to six, you can pretty much always cast Gyruda… Because it’s a Companion and that’s how Companions work. You never have to draw it!

When you play Gyruda in this new deck / world / disaster for the opponent look for cards like Spark Double and Charming Prince to keep the party going. Your expectation will usually be to attack for lethal if you’re given the opportunity to untap.

Believe it or not… There is even more Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths in this week’s podcast!

Check it out:

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Cavalier of Thorns… Is There Anything it Can’t Do?

As with last week’s qualifying events, Cavalier of Thorns really stepped up to help Mark Jacobson win the first MagicFest Online Weekly Championship!

Congratulations to @markjmtg on winning the MagicFest Online Weekly Championship with Sultai! #MTGTogether pic.twitter.com/GZgv9cOpSk

— ChannelFireball (@ChannelFireball) March 30, 2020

In Sultai Escape, Cavalier of Thorns both highlights the deck’s strengths… And helps to shore up its weaknesses.

Cavalier of Thorns as Engine

The Elemental Knight will put four (and in rare cases five) cards into your graveyard, directly from your library when it enters the battlefield. One of those four cards might be…

… or better yet…

Putting one of those cards directly into the graveyard is like drawing an extra card. The Escape mechanic allows you to play either Polukranos or Uro out of the graveyard; and in Uro’s case it’s even better than drawing the card normally.

This is on top of (probably) getting an extra land; and on top of the expected re-buy later on in the game.

If you “whiff” on either Escape creature; rest assured that the four cards you’re putting directly into the graveyard can help you to pay for Escape some time in the future. So Cavalier of Thorns is always doing something nice for your development.

Cavalier of Thorns in Context

Mike in particular has always been a Bant > Sultai guy.

Both decks have similar advantages… Growth Spiral to get out of the gate; Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath as the persistent powerhouse; Hydroid Krasis to take huge advantage of all that extra mana.

Teferi, Time Raveler and Narset, Parter of Veils are two of the strongest Planeswalkers in Standard; both are game-altering and easy on the mana… At least one is a four-of in Bant while neither sees much (if any) play in Sultai. But that’s not the main reason for the aforementioned Bant bias. It’s really just about this creature:

Dream Trawler is difficult to counter for Sultai, and thanks to its floating Hexproof ability… Notoriously difficult to remove. It isn’t just that Bant had Dream Trawler and Sultai didn’t… It’s so tough for Sultai to deal with one.

Well… That was before the days of Cavalier of Thorns.

Today, the six toughness Elemental Knight WITH REACH can guard a Sultai mage’s life total against Dream Trawler; and in the case that the Dream Trawler accumulates sufficient power to trade… Cavalier of Thorns can redeploy one of Sultai Escape’s other mighty threats.

The world has changed.

Or, at least, this matchup.

Sultai ended up on top… So now what?

More from…

• Rakdos Sacrifice… and Rakdos Sacrifice
• Four-color Nicol Bolas
• Azorius Blink
• Temur Adventures

… And more!

Check out this week’s Standard recap now:

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But… Phoenix of Ash Roars Back to Win Grand Prix Lyon

So what happened here?

Phoenix of Ash was a medium-popular card in the pre-Worlds Red Decks. Yet it did not crack the starting sixty of a single deck in Hawaii (by our count there was a single copy in a single sideboard).

And to be fair, for a tournament where Azorius Control ended up on top, Phoenix of Ash is only pretty good.

Aether Gust, Devout Decree, Glass Casket… and even Cerulean Drake saw play at the two at Worlds; all those cards are faster than Phoenix of Ash and all of them foil its natural card advantage in some way.

But Phoenix of Ash is hitting not only sideboards but main decks nowadays… How did it get better?

Phoenix of Ash… Flies?

Believe it or not, “flying” is one of the main things that Phoenix of Ash has going for it. At the time of Grand Prix Lyon, one of the most popular decks in Standard was Temur Adventures… And for a deck with 8+ flying creatures itself, Temur Adventures is embarrassingly bad at defending itself in the air.

But flying is the only thing going for the 2/2.

• It’s “firebreathing”-type ability allows Phoenix of Ash to not only mow down certain blockers, it scales very well with Embercleave.
• The card is a great way to set up Spectacle for Light Up the Stage
• It reinforces both the Red Deck’s haste sub-theme and its two-for-one sub-theme.

We might even play more!

But wait! There’s more!

• Why Mike likes Bant the best in Standard
• How Patrick convinced Mike to play Knight of Autumn (you know, like everyone else already does)
• What’s wrong with the structure of Sultai Ramp (spoilers! we’d run more copies of Growth Spiral)
• … And more!

Give it a listen now:

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PV won Worlds 2020 with Azorius Control

Was PV’s one of the most exciting lists of Worlds 2020?

Patrick in particular calls it well tuned.

Moving away from four copies of Dream Trawler to incorporate faster threats (or stabilization tools) like Archon of Sun’s Grace, PV’s winning list exploited a power enchantments sub-theme with cards like Banishing Light and Thirst for Meaning in addition to the ubiquitous Omen of the Sea and The Birth of Meletis.

Mike loved U/W coming into the tournament… But liked a different list.

Thoralf Severin added key innovations… Especially to the sideboard of Azorius Control

In the market for “some kind of Commence the Endgame”?

Thinking you might try to grind with Chemister’s Insight after sideboarding?

Thoralf Severin did you one better with his addition of Spectral Sailor.

Dodging Dovin’s Veto and largely sneaking under other types of permission spells, Spectral Sailor can act like a portable Chemister’s Insight… But one that skirts the rules of Narset, Parter of Veils and Teferi, Time Raveler much better than some other card drawing options.

Speaking of powerful card draw, Severin also packed Emergency Powers!

One of the flashiest cards to see play a Worlds, Emergency Powers — at least when you have a Narset and they don’t — can have a spectacular impact on the the game.

A “Shock”-ing Number of Burn Spells at Worlds 2020

If I told you there would be four dedicated Mono-Red players in a field of sixteen; and you didn’t know much else about them…

How many Shocks do you imagine they would be packing between their decks?

Sixteen?

That would have been my guess!

The real answer?

Three… Between the four of them! One mage didn’t even pack main deck Bonecrusher Giant!

The aspiring fire gods of Worlds 2020 had a really specific thought process on Shock… Don’t be bad against Azorius Control and Jeskai Fires.

At the very least… They largely beat up Temur.

Was Jeskai Fires the Deck of Worlds 2020?

The most pronounced sideboard card that Gabriel Nassif and Raphael Levy ran in their Jeskai Fires deck was of course Robber of the Rich. Quite simply, it can potentially single-handedly dominate Azorius Control.

But Robber was far from the only unique feature of their build! Check out this week’s podcast to find out all the reasons we think it might just have been the deck of Worlds 2020:

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Starting with Mono-Black Devotion

There are a ton of great new decks (and new looks at old decks) thanks to Theros Beyond Death entering Standard…

But both Patrick and Michael think Mono-Black Devotion will be one of the most important breakout strategies.

Haven’t we seen this deck before? In the pretty recent past? Why Mono-Black Devotion now? Simple: Lots of the new additions actually reference the mechanic! Examples include:

• The aforementioned Gray Merchant of Asphodel,
• Drag to the Underworld, and
• Tymaret, Chosen from Death

But despite missing some key words on its cardboard, Michael thinks that a different card is the one that makes this deck…

Nightmare Shepherd in Mono-Black Devotion

This new Demon is one of the cards that really makes this deck hum. If you play a Gray Merchant of Asphodel with it on the battlefield, you can enjoy the intense combination of black mana symbols… But that’s not all. Sacrificing the five mana Zombie to a card like Woe Strider can set up another trigger.

Thanks to Nightmare Shepherd, it will be child’s play to take an opponent from half their life total to zilch in a single turn.

You can also exploit timing tricks, like sacrificing a Yarok’s Fenlurker or Burglar Rat during the opponent’s draw to keep them locked at no cards in hand (a pretty rare opportunity for instant speed discard).

Tons and tons of focus on Mono-Black Devotion this week… But that’s not all!

The Best of the Rest…

• Where do Cauldron Familiar and Witch’s Oven fit into this metagame?
• How about Rakdos instead of Mono-Black? Do you get more from the second color… Or more from the literal Devotion to Black?
• All the different ways folks have tried The Akroan War so far. What’s more exciting? Pairing it with Witch’s Oven… Or stealing creatures permanently with Thassa, Deep Dwelling?
• “Time Wipe my Atris, Oracle of Half-Truths” … Also at instant speed
• Which deck does Mike call “the king of mid-range”?
• What seeming non-bo does Patrick point out is actually a combo?
• WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Listen now!

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