But most importantly, Needle Spires with Sylvan Advocate and Arlinn quickly became a monster turns 5, 6 and 7. Sin Prodder proved to be an evasive threat to clock Ramp as well as a card advantage engine that could take over the game against BW control. In the ramp matchup, it's usually safe to assume your board is has a few creatures on it due to their lack of removal, and the flip side Arlinn can really lay into the opponent.
Arlinn proved to be more aggressive and faster than Gideon in the ramp matchup where Arlinn can both give haste and pump our top end or make a 2/2 just like Gideon but pump our entire team as well and go over blockers with trample. I looked to Red next and cards such as Arlinn, Sin Prodder, and MOST importantly, Needle Spires. Blue could help our BW matchup with Stratus Dancer and other utility spells but didn't help our Ramp matchup. In the past, blue counterspells would have offered us a solution to both our problems but Ramp with their casting triggers can bypass counterspells entirely. I turned to Blue and Red to try to identify what could help us become better at grinding BW and resisting their removal as well as becoming faster to pressure Ramp. After shutting down our engine, they eventually grinded us out with planeswalker value engines or a secure the wastes into flipped Westvale Abbey. Straight GW lacked enough early pressure to really get under Ramp before they began dropping their unstoppable Eldrazi and BW control shut down our megamorph package with exile based removal such as Silkwraps, Stasis Snares, Declaration in Stone, and Anguished Unmaking. The Ramp and BW control matchups felt terrible. While such strong creatures and good mana fixing are not available to us, I began testing splash colors to get access to more powerful cards that would allow us to play similar to this style to make 1 for 1 removal poor with the immense amount of creatures the megamorph deck plays.Īnother reason pushed me into searching for a splash color. Abzan Aggro in the days of Khans/Fate Reforged played very similar to this as well with Fleecemane Lion, Rakshasa Deathdealer, Warden of the First Tree, Anafenza, and Siege Rhino all perfectly capable of ending a game by themselves if left unanswered. After coming to this conclusion, I realized how important it was going to be that each card be significantly strong enough to warrant removal or else take over the game by itself. Roast, Grasp of Darkness, Anguished Unmaking, Ruinous Path, Reave Soul, and Ultimate Price are all either catch all or cheap conditional removal that is strong enough to push midrange strategies to the top. A notable exclusion is RDW, which I feel going forward is going to struggle in an environment where they Hordeling Outburst no longer exists as well as lacking good burn.Įarly on, I quickly realized how good the removal is going to be in the upcoming standard. Testing was done against BW Control, Ramp, Gx Collected Company, Ux Control, GW megamorph, BR Midrange, and Eldrazi Aggro. Sylvan Advocate, both Nissas, Duskwatch Recruiter, Hangarback Walker, Knight of the White Orchid, Secure the Wastes, and many more were tested in several variations. This is the core of what I tested with initially and I tried many different cards to fill in the slots.
I began constructing with including the basics of megamorph including Deathmist, Den Protector, Gideon, Nissa, Archangel Avacyn replacing Wingmate Roc, and Dromoka's Command. With the death of Siege Rhino and perhaps the best color fixing ever seen in a standard environment, I believe Deathmist and Den Protector have another opportunity to shine.Įarly Thoughts, Testing, and Construction The megamorph package was outshined as Siege Rhinos, Eldrazi, and 4/5 color decks proved more versatile and overall more powerful. As SOI approaches us, I decided that I wanted to bring back one of the dominant decks during the early days of BFZ, GW megamorph.
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