FNM Standard

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

The MTG Realm crew has a few casual constructed builds for fun with our playgroup and one or two more serious stacks that we take to our local card shoppe, OMG! Games here in Barrie.  After our last Friday Night Magic event, we've decided to put into retirement our Bant Auras / Hexproof build.  The local metagame is well developed and bordering on the competitive which means that we have to move up our game in order just to get to Top 8.  We've also picked up a few extra singles from MTG Mint Card for this reason to get us there, but where to go from here?  As the local game somewhat mirrors what's happening in the pro circuit, we've had a look at the mothersite.  More specifically, Jacob Van Lunen's Standard Compendium from a few weeks ago as well as Channel Fireball's Power Rankings written up by Josh Silvestri and staff.  Here's two recent Power Rankings lists -
Rankings Updated:  06/16/2013
 
1. Voice of Resurgence
2. Boros Reckoner
3. Lingering Souls
4. Cartel Aristocrat
5. Restoration Angel
6. Ghor-Clan Rampager
7. Burning-Tree Emissary
8. Unburial Rites
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Rankings Updated:  05/21/2013
 
1. Ghor-Clan Rampager
2. Burning-Tree Emissary
3. Sire of Insanity
4. Advent of the Wurm
5. Voice of Resurgence
6. Unflinching Courage
7. Olivia Voldaren
8. Snapcaster Mage

In these lists there's a suggestion why our particular Bant Hexproof build may not have been delivering the way it had about a month ago.  We've been nerfed more frequently with the likes of Bonfire of the Damned as well as other cards typically in a Gruul build which ramps rapidly and threatens to blow you out of the water early game.  We've considered adding control / counter elements to that Bant build.  The problem that any control deck has now is that given the current metagame, you don't really know tools you will need until things settle down a titch more.

Our thoughts are now focusing on developing a Midrange of purely Aggro strategy.  Midrange is great given cards like Farseek and other mana-dorks to ramp into massive threats and giving you the fuel needed to cast whatever high cost spells you need.  Similarily, aggro decks are making use of the same green-centric mana sources like Burning-Tree Emissary and with the great selection of non-basic land, a player can easily game in a two, three, or four color stack.
After a weekend in the basement, we've decided on aggro green-white G/W tokens featuring Voice of Resurgence, Advent of the Wurm and the likes.  We had also created a somewhat control-ish black-white (B/W) strategy with Cartel Aristocrat.  We'll let you know next week how we did at the game table.
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