MtG. Amonkhet Standard. Threats VS Answers

Hello, folks!

This time I would like to go over old and new threats, and old and new answers for upcoming Amonkhet Standard.

This will be the era of white cards being best at answering most problems. But unlike in Modern, upcoming Standard, will have plenty interaction going on in maindecks, as well as post-sideboard.

This compilation of lists was drafted out after the first B&R announcement. Since then we lost the Cat, and had the results of the first major tournament with the new set - Starcitygames Standard Open tournament. Hence, some of these lists can lose some relevance, but are still important to keep in mind.     

Answer to the Gods

Offenders

Amonkhet Gods

Tools

Cast Out, Angel of Sanctions, Anguished Unmaking, Stasis Snare, Declaration in Stone, Quarantine Field.

Conclusion:

We haven’t really seen them at the first Starcity event, but Rhonas has been showing up quite a bit in BG Snek and GW Tokens online. Those decks and RG Beats might contend Mardu, but the target is really high. The answers are there, the cards that do their job against real current threats as well, and not just gods. I mean Gideons and Vehicles.

  

 

Vroom Vroom & Narrow Combo/Control

Offenders 1

Heart of Kiran, Harvester, Flagship

Offenders 2

Aetherworks Marvel, Dynavolt Tower

Tools  1

Manglehorn, Fatal Push, other instant removal, Sinister Concoction,

Tools 2

Natural Obsolescence, Forsake the Worldly, Fragmentize

Conclusion:

First of all, hate cards against Cycling Control variants is almost same, and this is why it is not featured separately.

Expect Marvel and Tower decks to show good numbers at the SCG and PT in coming weeks, since Mardu numbers are not expected to fall down.

(Cat Woman) - Case Closed. Kept as a food for thoughts.

Offenders

Saheeli Rai, Felidar Guardian

Tools

Gideon's Intervention, Thalia, Heretic Cathar, Walking Ballista, Authority of the Consuls, Lost Legacy,

Conclusion:

It is a thing no more. The answers were there, but the Cat is no longer with Standard. Major arguments that I found in others’ responses that reason everything perfectly are: the format became too tough range wise - need to fight both Vehicles and Saheeli; and the value midrange factor, meaning that Jeskai Saheeli was much easier to answer, but 4k builds could play tempo aggro value game, and the combo was just to keep opponents up tight and distracted.

 

Fast beefy beats (BR, GR aggros)

Offenders

Plague Belcher, Rhonas, Hazored, Honored Hydra, Glorybringer

Tools

Fumigate, Dusk / Dawn, Linvala, the Preserver, Lightning Axe, Unlicensed Disintegration, Archangel Avacyn, Declaration in Stone, Immolating Glare.  

Conclusion:

It is still a fresh format, when it comes to ranking red beatdown strategies. While I do think that beefy new decks can keep up with Mardu and BG, the latter ones already have so many good counter-answers.  

RWx Humans (+Zombies?)

Offenders

Basically the entire archtype, that received a lot of new tools from the new set, and now can provide even more savage beats to opponents.

Tools

Radiant Flames, Sweltering Suns, Shock, Magma Spray, other sweepers and cheap removal, lifegain effects on flexible cards (Kalitas, Linvala).    

Conclusion:

I have my doubts about whether the deck will be strong enough, but it certainly has potentially.

As long as it will have decent Vehicles and Saheeli matchups, it should be a deck.

There have been many sweepers, but they were not efficient because of Vehicles and planeswalkers. RW Humans could change that, but the deck is very easy to hate out, if it becomes a thing, but at the Pro Tour it might be off the “playable” radar for many players.   

Planeswalkers in General

Offenders

Gideons, post-sideboard Mardu package, Tamiyo, new and old Nissa, etc

Tools

Sorin, Grim Nemesis, fliers with haste or flash, To the Slaughter, Ruinous Path, Never//Return, Cast Out, Anguished Unmaking

Conclusion:

Mardu and its sideboard is already a huge reason to pack many good answers to planeswalkers in your Standard deck. In addition to that, those answers will again be good overall (vehicles, gods). This means that when choosing threats for your deck, you will have to judge the tempo and value very carefully, because nothing will be really safe.

Thank you very much for reading!

Good luck at your local and online tournaments!

Stay tuned for more articles!

- Aarne Pyulze

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