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Much Abrew: WB Exile (Standard)


Hello, everyone! Welcome to another episode of Much Abrew About Nothing. Last week during our Instant Deck Techs, it was our Standard option—a White Black exile deck that looks to generate value by casting Lost Legacy targeting itself—that came out on top, which means this week, we are heading to Amonkhet Standard to see if we can exile our way to some victories. Before getting to the videos, I should mention that playing Lost Legacy main deck probably isn't a good idea, now that Aetherworks Marvel is banned. When 35% of the format is one deck where Lost Legacy is reasonably effective, there's probably an argument for playing it main deck, especially when you can get value targeting yourself. However, the plan is a bit risky now that Standard is wide open. The good news is the deck is sweet and can function without Lost Legacy, so after the videos, we'll talk a bit about how we can update WB Exile for Marvel-less Standard.

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WB Exile (Instant Deck Tech)

UB Exile vs. UB Control (Match 1)

WB Exile vs. Temur Energy (Match 2)

WB Exile vs. New Perspectives (Match 3)

WB Exile vs. UR Control (Match 4)

WB Exile vs. GR Pummeler (Match 5)

WB Exile (Wrap-Up)

Discussion

  • All in all, we finished our matches with a solid 4-1 record, only losing to UR Control (which seems like a really difficult matchup, since they don't care about our removal and can counter our minimal number of threats) while beating GR Pummeler, Temur Energy, UB Control, and New Perspectives.
  • Generally speaking, the deck played pretty well. While it felt really weird every time we targeted ourselves with Lost Legacy, it was actually a fairly effective plan, and getting four copies of Eternal Scourge was often enough to grind out a win, or at least stay in the game while we waited to draw more powerful cards.
  • Of course, for Lost Legacy to be main-deck playable, it really needs good targets in our opponent's deck as well, and I'm not sure that's true anymore with the Marvel banning. Standard is in flux, and it's a lot harder to know what to name (see: us naming Chandra, Torch of Defiance against Temur Energy only to find out our opponent didn't have any copies in their deck). 
  • While we did generate value from Lost Legacy and Eternal Scourge in some games, a lot of the time it felt like we were winning despite our Lost Legacys rather than because of them. 
  • The best part of the deck is the removal, and it felt like against many creature decks, we could just kill everything in the early game and then take over after exiling everything with Descend Upon the Sinful.
  • Speaking of Descend Upon the Sinful, it was very strong. In a world of indestructible Gods, having a wrath that exiles is great, and we almost always had delirium by the time we cast it to leave behind a 4/4 flier. While it will be rotating in the fall, it feels very underrated at the moment, considering how easy it is for control decks to Turn 1 delirium thanks to cycling cards like Cast Out
  • The thing I disliked most about the deck is that we really struggled to close out games. Against control, it was very possible for our opponent to just counter / kill every one of our threats because we don't have that many, and even against other decks, we occasionally found ourselves in positions where we gained control of the game but couldn't really reap the rewards because we didn't have a threat to close things out.
  • Another weird part of the deck is that it has 27 lands, which felt like a ton, especially considering we don't have any true card draw and are often exiling our four Eternal Scourges (which increases the density of lands in our deck even more).
  • With all these things in mind, I feel like the deck could actually be very strong in our current Standard format, but it likely needs to drop Lost Legacy and Eternal Scourge and play more like a traditional WB Control deck. These cuts free up eight slots, which we can use to play some card draw and also a few more threats to help close out the game in a timelier manner. The same shell with a couple of Succumb to Temptation, three Liliana, the Last Hope, and three Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, possibly with something like Archangel Avacyn or Noxious Gearhulk, seems like it could be very strong.
  • So, should you play WB Exile? The answer is yes but only with the upgrades we were talking about. If you enjoy non-counterspell control decks and killing all of your opponent's creatures, WB Exile is a great option and pretty fun to play. While the Standard meta is still in flux after the Aetherworks Marvel banning, I wouldn't be surprised to find that a WB Control deck is well positioned in the format when it's all said and done. Here's the list I'd start with now that Marvel is banned:

Conclusion

Anyway, that's all for today. Don't forget to vote for next week's deck by liking, commenting on, and subscribing to Instant Deck Tech videos. As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions in the comments, and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGOldfish.com.



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