Thagtusk Menace

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

If you've been out recently to a Friday Night Magic event recently we're certain you will agree that the metagame has quite decidedly shifted gears from black-red Zombies into green-white aggro and variations thereof.  Last Friday at our local gaming store, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario, Thragtusks and Restoration Angels were about as common as ticks on coon dog.  

Recently during the Canadian Magic Tour in Winnipeg, a total of 32 copies of Thragtusk were found in the Top 8 decklists.  Yeah - that's quite a strong showing.  This card of course just is not popular here in Canada-Land but also south of the border.  Here is Magic: the Gathering Pro-Player Patrick Chapin's take on the Top 5 cards in Standard:

5.Sphinx's Revelation
4. Geist of Saint Traft
3. Jace, Architect of Thought
2. Restoration Angel
1. Thragtusk

Similarily, here is a Top 10 standard card list posted by Josh Silvestri over at Channel Fireball -

10. Geist of Saint Traft
9. Dissipate
8. Cavern of Souls
7. Thundermaw Hellkite
6. Jace, Architect of Thought
5. Olivia Voldaren
4. Sphinx’s Revelation
3. Angel of Serenity
2. Restoration Angel
1. Thragtusk

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So - what to make of this ?
It's all just a part of the standard meta-game evolution.  As standard constructed format rotates each year, the first strategies out of the gate are typically Aggro.  From here, players analyse the game to take advantage of chinks in the armor of the popular builds seen on the game table.  A transition from aggro to control and then often to combo.

If you hate Thragtusk, we suggest you don't fold and play a mirror but roll the dice and develop a pile of sixty cards designed to beat Thragtusk.  The hazard of course is going up against a non-Thragtusk deck so you'll have to build a robust list which is able to adapt.  Fire off your suggestions to us in the comment thingy below but the path you take is your own.  We are currently looking a two different paths ourselves.

A green / white human build featuring Champion of the Parish, Silverblade Paladin and Oblivion Ring.  The other path we are considering is a black / red Rakdos or Jund strategy with Rakdos Keyrune which has a sweet first strike ability and a standard package of burn spells like Pillar of Flame, Searing Spear and Brimstone Volley.  We've already ordered a few choice cards from MTG Mint Card and will soon have a solid answer to the Thragtusk menance.
 

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