Historically Speaking...

The Meta Strikes Back (Historic, pt 2)

16 Sep 2020 - 10 min read

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….and just like that, we’re back! Historically Speaking returns with the second half of my Historic metagame analysis, this time discussing the main “midrange” and control decks in the format. For those of you just joining me, welcome! Check out part 1 of this analysis where I cover aggro and tribal decks, here.

Same as before, I’ve broken down the decks under these broader archetypes. I’ll only be covering the most prominent decks in the meta, we’ll save the brewing for later wink wink. So without further adieu, let’s finish our grand tour!

“Midrange” Decks

Midrange is a contentious term nowadays, with recent pushes in power seemingly squeezing it out of most formats, especially recent Standards. However, I’m using it to refer to decks that don’t go as low and fast as the aggro (or tribal) decks and are more proactive than the control decks we’ll discuss later.

Golgari Sacrifice

This deck represents a few different strands of a powerful sacrifice core. Tied together with Collected Company it often grinds value until it can pull off a pseudo-combo kill with Bolas’s Citadel . In general they’re Golgari, though some versions move towards Abzan, some towards Jund. Don’t worry if this sounds like a lot, we’ll go into the unique flavors of this build a little later but for right now let’s talk about the foundation they all have in common.

The sacrifice core of this deck features the likes of Woe Strider , Priest of Forgotten Gods , and Blood Artist , among others. In their purest essence, these decks want to churn through their libraries using sacrifice value and eventually drain their opponents out with a Blood Artist effect. Woe Strider is another integral piece, providing a free sacrifice outlet which is absolutely key, giving you a goat to get the engines started, and can recur itself if you run out of gas. It also allows you to scry with each sacrifice as well which keeps the gas rolling, especially for Bolas’s Citadel , more on that later. Oh, also, Phyrexian Tower is a powerful Magic Card. The other all star of this deck is Priest of Forgotten Gods . It’s key in removing opposing creatures, especially something out of the Auras deck, or a lone Muxus, Goblin Grandee with the trigger on the stack. If you can get a Priest and some fodder out early, you can often keep your opponent off creatures for several turns, giving you the time you need to assemble your engine or just beat down. Lastly, the Priest draws (always good) and that double black mana boost can help on key multi-spell turns or for powering out a Citadel.

Along with these sacrifice-based cards, the deck plays a whole suite of mana dorks like Llanowar Elves , Gilded Goose , and Llanowar Visionary . These ramp/fix you and also are prime sacrifice fodder when you need to get down to brass tacks. They tend to be unsatisfactory hits off Collected Company , but they’re a necessary evil and two mediocre hits are better than no hits.

Finally, let’s discuss the hulking monstrosity in the room… Bolas’s Citadel . Much like Muxus, Goblin Grandee in Goblins, Citadel is the “I Win” card in Golgari Sac. With the draining effects of something like Blood Artist and low average CMC, you can tear through the top of your deck with little concern for your life, scrying away lands with Woe Strider . Dump enough creatures onto the board and sacrifice them for a machine gun effect to decimate your opponent’s life total. Sometimes you won’t be able to pull off the full combo and close out the game, but you’ll often be able to establish a healthy board presence and set up for a kill next turn.

Variations on a (Sacrificial) Theme

Now that we’ve discussed the basics of the deck, let’s hit on the different flavors real quick. Golgari is of course the most straightforward. They get to run all the dorks, a full four-of Bolas’s Citadel , and Bastion of Remembrance alongside Blood Artist for drain. They also get some flex slots where you might put a Jadelight Ranger or Nightmare Shepherd . This version is clean and tuned. It won’t have mana problems and it wants to bust out a Citadel as soon as possible to go off. Simple and effective, but its Company hits are the weakest on average and most importantly it isn’t … flashy.

Jund versions of this deck trim their Citadels and often forego Blood Artist entirely to form a shell much akin to the Jund Food deck of recent Standards (a personal favorite deck of mine, check out this gameplay). Mayhem Devil is an A+ card in a shell such as this being able to remove blockers, clear fodder for a Priest of Forgotten Gods activation, or of course just pinging face. Alongside the Devil is good old Cat / Oven to make sure you’re maximizing that damage. I’ve seen lists run Bonecrusher Giant for value and Claim the Firstborn depending on how disruptive they want to be, but Mayhem Devil is one hundred percent worth the splash.

Lastly, there are Abzan versions. These are probably my least favorite as they don’t gain enough for the mana inconsistency. The only white inclusions (at least in the main deck) is Cruel Celebrant , which is an excellent Blood Artist replacement or supplement, but doesn’t have the versatility that Mayhem Devil does.

This deck is one of the most versatile in the meta and can take several different lines depending on the opponent. However, similar to Elves from pt 1, it can falter when you draw the wrong half of your deck. All mana dorks does you no good, and only having your payoffs won’t let you establish your engine as you’re sacrificing everything.

Also, the “randomness” of your most powerful engines, Collected Company and Bolas’s Citadel can cause you to miss or stall out and that can often prove fatal. Too many times I’ve gotten my opponent down to two or three life and then hit double lands off the top with Citadel. Just as many times, I’ve needed a reasonable Company to retake board dominance and fuel a Priest, and I hit… a single measly Llanowar Elves . Feels bad man.

And of course, any quick deck with good spot-removal can take out your key pieces (Strider, Priest, Devil) as you’re setting up and totally halt any progress. That being said, the raw power of your pieces and the adaptability of the deck will truly reward dedicated and detail-oriented play.

Gruul

Much less complicated than the previous set of decks, Gruul probably shouldn’t even be considered a midrange deck. A statement to how powerful aggro is in this format, Gruul is merely a midrange deck because it goes bigger and is a bit more resilient than your typical aggro deck.

Shockingly similar to Gruul aggro/midrange in Standard (did you know they printed powerful cards this last year?) it often curves Pelt Collector into Robber of the Rich into Lovestruck Beast into Questing Beast , often with an Embercleave not far behind. Fat and hasty threats are the name of the game.

Most of these cards don’t need any explaining, they’re just big and good at attacking. I will break down some of the more important ones though:

Questing Beast continues to be a thorn in many players’ side, just like in Standard, and with the presence of a lot of low to the ground creature decks is usually unblockable. Chipping in for a free four damage a turn with vigilance to wall most things in the format is nasty.

Robber of the Rich is a cheap, hasty threat, and since a lot of the interaction in this format is cheap and powerful, he can easily turn an opponent’s Thoughtsieze or Opt against them.

Collected Company is back (go figure) and gets the most powerful cards pound for pound in this deck. Bonecrusher Giant , Lovestruck Beast , Gruul Spellbreaker , and Rhonas, the Indomitable all clock in at three mana, but with stats that hit far above that weight class. It’s like when the opposing team’s pitcher in Little League is 6 ft and 200 lbs. Except there’s two of them, they teleport into battle like damn ninja, they may or may not be vicious bestial humanoids, and you aren’t playing baseball.

The last card I want to highlight is Primal Might . At worst it’s a one mana fight spell, which since your creatures are all huge, is just a straight up removal spell. But when the game is going long, you can pump up your creature to astronomical heights, remove their best blocker, and go to town. Add in trample from Rhonas, the Indomitable and you just close the game out right there!

The biggest thing this deck has going for it is the raw POWER of each of its cards. There isn’t really any synergy, just the most efficient threats, pound for pound. Mana dorks to accelerate you and beaters at every point along the curve keep the pressure on while Collected Company refills you and Embercleave punches through defenses like a gaddang battering ram. You even get a bit of removal with Stomp and Primal Might , plus whatever Robber of the Rich might snag. RG monsters is back and man does it feel good.

Control Decks

Lastly, but not leastly, ye olde control decks. My personal favorite archetype, I was disappointed with control’s place in the meta. With the prominence of aggro decks and midrange decks that could be considered aggro decks, it’s hard for control to maintain a home, and of those I’ll mention, I’d really only consider one a true control deck.

Sultai Ramp

First, Sultai. I honestly hate this deck. It’s incredibly close to the Sultai of Standard that’s been dominant in some variation for nearly a year. You play your Growth Spiral s and Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath s, ramp to a Nissa, Who Shakes the World , and then play a humongous Hydroid Krasis to stabilize your life and completely refill your hand. You also get basically all the best interaction in Thoughtseize , Eliminate , and Aether Gust .

The thing that I don’t like about this deck is there aren’t really any good play patterns and there isn’t any real decision-making. All your cards are stupidly powerful and can grind your opponent into oblivion. If something gets removed or countered, you already have enough backup to brush it off. Stick one threat and it can easily close the game. The only real decision is the number of Languish s or Extinction Event s you run, which by the way are the best sweepers in the format (and this includes freaking Wrath of God ).

The list I’ve posted is generic, but feel free to customize your counterspell and removal suite. As long as you’re running four-ofs of Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath , Nissa, Who Shakes the World , Hydroid Krasis , and Thoughtseize , you pretty much can’t go wrong. I’m done with this deck, let’s move onto something better. Come get me Uro fans.

Orzhov Yorion

A deck I don’t see super often on the ladder, Orzhov Yorion is one of the most interesting decks in the meta. It’s also one of the most fun to pilot and one of the most miserable to play against, but whatever.

Functioning around blinking powerful enchantments (and y’all know how much I love enchantments), this deck’s pinnacle is establishing a loop with Yorion, Sky Nomad and Charming Prince . Yorion, Sky Nomad (as a Companion and in the maindeck) provides mass blink to all your hateful pieces. Charming Prince provides a way to rebuy your Yorions and if you can keep them both alive, they cycle in and out in a sort of lock to continually reset all your enchantments. The outcome? Your opponent has no permanents and no cards in hand. Nice.

In terms of enchantments, we have all of the best. Elspeth is really coming in swinging between Elspeth Conquers Death and Elspeth’s Nightmare , both very powerful includes. They both do exactly what you want: removal and resource denial, whether that’s cards in hand, cards in graveyard, or taxing the opponent’s mana. Then, as the dust is clearing, you’ll get to reanimate a fallen Yorion to renew your opponent’s subscription to poundtown.

Trial of Ambition and The Eldest Reborn provide spicy repeatable options to make your opponent sacrifice, which is key against any decks packing protection. Oath of Kaya provides a repeatable Lightning Helix effect, and while it helps keep our opponent from having permanents (in case you couldn’t tell, that’s the plan), it also goes to the face and can close out games.

The two crown jewels of this deck are Doom Foretold and Demonic Pact . Doom Foretold is Trial or Eldest on steroids and won’t stop until your opponent has no permanents and that sacrifice trigger is the final nail in the coffin. Often the best option for an opponent who doesn’t have an abundance of nonland permanents already is to just sandbag and wait for the Foretold to pop, which gives us time to set up even more lock pieces and strip any chance of our opponent from winning, by playing something like a Demonic Pact .

Demonic Pact does everything we could ever want. We can pick off creatures, refill our hand, and even more important in this deck, deny our opponents resources. Then before that pesky fourth choice comes around, we just blink it and get back to the sweet, sweet value. Or we cast Final Payment and sacrifice it, another sweet line of tech. Either way, what I’m trying to say is demonic pacts are fun and don’t pose us a liability. Highly recommend.

The final part of this deck that I think is great is its customizability. Yes, I love enchantments, and there’s already plenty of great options, but if you want to go for a more creature-centric build you can! Ravenous Chupacabra is a great addition to merk anything and everything while Burglar Rat provides your discard effect.

This deck can be slow to start and definitely demands more thought intensive lines of play, but the sheer off-the-wall construction of the deck, getting to play a deck essentially devoid of staples, and the utter domination that comes from pulling out a win with this deck is worth it.

Azorius Control

Finally, we’ve come to the end. My favorite deck in my favorite archetype. Good ol’ Azorius Draw-Go Control. The only true control deck in this article and pretty much the only tiered control deck in the meta, this harkons to the glory days of the archetype.

Rife with counterspells, removal, card advantage, and a noticeable lack of win-conditions, I love this deck. But it isn’t really that good. It’s inherently reactive by nature, counter/remove your opponent’s threats until they don’t have any. Then you can think about slowly winning through something like a Shark Typhoon or Castle Ardenvale . With so much of the meta being hyper-_proactive_ and able to go wayyyy under this deck, testing was rough.

The upside is you can answer pretty much anything. Censor and Dovin’s Veto continue to be excellent counter spells with Pact of Negation allowing for you to tap out on crucial turns with back up. Cast Out and Seal Away both exile with the former able to hit problematic permanents. Settle the Wreckage is a great safety valve, especially against something like Goblins and Wrath of God continues to prove why it is the OG. Opponents can’t afford to overcommit to the board against this deck.

Azorius Control also packs the best raw card advantage. Hieroglyphic Illumination was an excellent pickup with its ability to scale. Narset, Parter of Veils continues to dig way farther than she should and Search for Azcanta is amazing in the late game when it flips. Lastly, Sphinx’s Revelation is in this deck. I think that’s all I need to say, that card slaps.

Finally, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria aka “Scourge of Dominaria Standard” tops off our deck. This is generally our best card and can run away with the game if we stick him. He does basically everything.

However, I think the sad truth is that this just isn’t enough anymore. Even with some of the best control cards ever printed, I don’t think trading one for one with the opponent is going to cut it in today’s format. Even with the best sideboard cards in the entire meta, being reactive instead of proactive often can’t compete. I’ll continue to play this deck cause I love it, but I wouldn’t take this to a tournament anytime soon.

A Challenger Approaches

Well, that concludes the second and final part of this metagame analysis! I hope you enjoyed and learned something so you can go out and crush those queues. Let us know on Twitter or in the comments below which of these decks you’re loving (or hating) and if you’ve found any tweaks that give you the edge in your match-ups. Stay tuned for the next installment of Historically Speaking where we begin to stray from the beaten path and do what the Crew does best… BREW!

More Entries in Historically Speaking...:

• 09 Sep 2020: The Meta Strikes Back (Historic, pt 1)
• 12 Aug 2020: A New Hope (Historic)

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