Fires (2001) vs. UW Rev Control (2013) | Best Standard Deck Ever Top 64
Hello everyone, and welcome to the next match in the Best Standard Deck Ever Tournament! This week, we have the premier control deck of the mid-2010s in UW Sphinx's Revelation #383 Retro Control, up against a combo-ish aggro deck that dominated Pro Tour Chicago in 2000 in Fires, named after Fires of Yavimaya #70, which combos with Saproling Burst #113 to deal a ton of hasty damage by surprise! Which deck's moving on to the round of 32, and which one is going home? Let's get to the video and find out! Oh yeah, you can find all the decklists and the bracket for the Best Standard Deck Ever Tournament here.
Fires (2001) vs. UW Rev Control (2013)
Built around the synergy between its namesake enchantment Fires of Yavimaya #70 to give everything haste and Saproling Burst #113 to make several massive tokens by surprise, the 2001 version of Fires (not to be confused with 2019's Fires of Invention #125 deck, which is also in the bracket) broke out at Pro Tour Chicago in 2001, bringing four players (including Jon Finkel) to the Top 8. Later, it would dominate US Nationals (which were a big deal 25 years ago) and make the Top 8 at Worlds 2001.
The deck relies heavily on the fading mechanic to get what at the time were overstatted creatures on the cheap, like Blastoderm #7 as a 5/5 for four, which might not look like much in 2026 but was way above the curve in 2001, even if it would sacrifice itself after three attacks. It also has a surprising amount of tech to fight against control, including islandwalk and regeneration from River Boa #49, the uncounterable Kavu Chameleon #191 and Urza's Rage #151, and Chimeric Idol #136 for dodging sorcery-speed removal. Will this be enough to keep up with UW Rev Control? Who knows, but it should help, at least.
UW Rev Control was the premier control deck of its era in the mid-2010s. Some version of the deck existed in Standard pretty much from the time Sphinx's Revelation #383 Retro was printed in Return to Ravnica until it rotated from the format. Playing a traditional draw-go control game plan, the deck looked to counter or kill anything the opponent might play, use its namesake Sphinx's Revelation #383 Retro to refill and gain a bunch of life, and then eventually close out the game by beating down with Restoration Angel #150, Snapcaster Mage #78, or tokens from Moorland Haunt #310.
The deck's biggest performance came in Worlds 2013, where it made up a full half of the top eight and gave Shahar Shenhar the trophy. But then, nearly a year later, Ivan Floch rode a tweaked version of the archetype to victory at Pro Tour Magic 2015. While nothing from the deck was banned from Standard, the archetype was so strong that a very similar deck (with some upgrades) was a top-tier archetype in Modern during the mid-2010s!
Updated Bracket
If you want to see the updated version of the bracket, you'll find it here.
Next Week: Mono-Blue Devotion (2013) vs. Omnath Uro Ramp (2020)
Next week, we have the second Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx #223 deck in the bracket—Mono-Blue Devotion from 2013—up against a deck that literally broke Standard during early-access day on Magic Arena in Omnath Uro Ramp from 2020!
