A Standard Reforged: BW Warriors and Ugin Devotion
It's that time of the year again where Magic players everywhere turn into kids in a candy store. We are getting lots of new goodies with Fate Reforged, and this set looks pretty sweet. While I think Khans of Tarkir Standard has been one of the best in recent memory, we are all ready for the format to get some new pieces. Let's dive right in.
B/W Warriors
While it isn't the second coming of HellRider, I do expect Brutal Hordechief to fully make an impact in Standard. Any aggressive deck that is able to curve out into this is going to give the green decks of last standard fits. When unanswered, he allows you to control combat, giving aggro decks a chance at punishing players that rely on holding back a rush with cards like Sylvan Caryatid. While the lack of Haste will be missed, the life gain will allow decks such as black-based aggro to run cards like Thoughtseize and Ulcerate with little worry. Decks with painful manabases such as Abzan or Mardu Aggro could also use this to assist with offsetting painful manabases. Brand new archetypes will also be springing up with the benefit of this aggressive curve-topper, such as B/W Warriors. Not only will that deck be able to cap off its assault with the Brutal Hordechief, but it received a lot of support on the way up:
Warriors got a lot of help, which could finally give us the first competitive tribal deck (sorry Minotaurs) we've had since Naya Humans back in INN/RTR Standard. Along with Chief of the Edge and Bloodsoaked Champion, these cards may give us a true top tier aggressive deck that could finally take advantage of the slow midrange decks that have been dominating standard for the last few months. Whip of Erebos decks may not be as dominant once the wave of Warriors hits Standard. Mardu Woe-Reaper in particular seems to be designed to hate against those decks allowing you to get rid of those pesky Hornet Queens and Doomwake Giants that the Whip decks like to bring back. The deck has the added bonus of being on the cheaper side to build, so if you are looking for a low cost option to be competitive, this could be where to look. A possible deck list could look something like this...
UB Control
Aggressive players weren't the only ones with new goodies. We recently saw UB Control take down GP Denver, a deck has been taking advantage of the metagame filled with slow Midrange decks. The deck had issues catching up to decks which flooded the board in the early turns. Talking with control players over the last few months, it has been pretty obvious that many of them miss Aetherling as their finisher of choice. While Pearl Lake Ancient has been their game-ender as of late in Standard, I think that may change once Silumgar, the Drifting Death joins the fray. This card is the anti-Elspeth, Sun's Champion. It allows you to take care of her while dodging her sweeper and taking care of those pesky soldiers she leaves behind. That reason alone should allow this card to see play. If token strategies continue to be prevalent in the metagame, although a little slow, Silumgar, the Drifting Death gives you a way to attack their board from multiple angles. Add on the fact that he is almost impossible to remove since he has Hexproof, and works great with Crux of Fate, UB Control might become a dominant strategy in Fate Reforged Standard.
White Strategies
How can I talk about Fate Reforged and not bring up my favorite card from the set. Monastery Mentor comes in doing its best Young Pyromancer impression. I don't think this card will make a splash in Modern as there is a big difference between 2- and 3-mana in that format. However, in my short time testing Standard, I think this card is going to be much better than Young Pyromancer was, as the Prowess tokens can go bonkers. One of the upsides of Monastery Mentor is that any non-creature spell triggers it. I expect it and Chandra, Pyromaster to be best friends while she is in Standard, as her 0-ability creates additional fuel for Monastery Mentor. I especially expect it to thrive in RWx decks where you already have Goblin Rabblemaster. Both cards want to you to be casting a lot of spells, and having them along side each other gives the deck a lot of redundancy that previous Goblin Rabblemaster decks lacked. Jeskai tokens is another deck that will want this card, but I'm a little hesitant to cut Goblin Rabblemaster for Monastery Mentor as not being able to Convoke Stoke the Flames with Monk tokens takes away one of the most powerful interactions in the deck.
One deck that I don't think that wants this card is UW Heroic. While the deck runs a lot of protection spells, protecting a 3-drop is tough for the deck, and turn three is when you want to start putting pressure on your opponent. Very few Heroic decks ran Fabled Hero for this very reason and I think that Monastery Mentor will meet the same fate. Valorous Stance however, should be great in the deck. The deck forced plays Feat of Resistance, and now giving the deck a flexible card that helps just as much when it falls behind could put an already good deck over the top.
Ugin Devotion
We finally come to the big daddy dragon himself. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon may not be the most played card in the new set, but he's going to be one of the most important. In the previous Standard, we got to the point where decks were going so long that In Garruk's Wake was actually Top 8'ing a tournament or two. Decks relying on Whip of Erebos and Hornert Queen to clog up the board will have trouble doing so when you can wipe the slate clean. Most 8 mana cards aren't typically worth playing, but when you can play one and be caught back up is worth the trouble. I could see a deck such as Green Devotion making a resurgence by playing Ugin, the Spirit Dragon to overwhelm the other midrange decks. The following deck list could be a good place to start.
Conclusion
There are still cards like Flamewake Phoenix, Shaman of the Great Hunt, Torrent Elemental, and many others that could create some significant changes in Standard. If Khans of Tarkir Limited and Standard has been any indication, I'm hoping Wizards will be able to hit another home run with both formats. It's going to be very interesting to see which cards from Fate Reforged make the biggest impact in constructed formats. While brewing is always fun, I still expect to see decks like Abzan Aggro, Jeskai Tokens, and Whip of Erebos decks at the top of leaderboards for the first few weeks until the format shakes itself out. So while you're brewing your new decks, you'll want to keep those decks in mind when testing. There will be a lot of big events during first few weeks whose results will define the metagame. What cards are do you think will make the biggest impact in Standard and what are you looking forward to brewing with the most?
It's always fun when we get new toys to play with.
