I've been holding onto some lists for decks that looked promising based on cards that were Dark Ascension previews. I wanted to wait until the full spoiler dropped however, so I could avoid giving false hope or bad advice about decks for the potential new format. One thing that seems to be holding true however, is that both heavy Green and Black based Aggro are looking like real decks. Now, they each have good cases for a splash, since more colors means less sub-optimal cards. However, they both have their own reason to run as many basics as possible:




While these cards are powerful, we have to weigh each of them against the format. Let's start with Lashwrithe:

Pros-

Good against damage based removal.

Potentially free to equip, for the "instant lethal" effect.

Great with creatures that return to play over and over.


Cons-

The token is very Vapor Snag/Ratchet Bomb weak, which means you can be left with just a four mana “discard spell.”

Receives splash-damage of other strong equipment, from Ancient Grudge and similar cards.

The creature equipped with it is easily chump-blocked, unless it's Phyrexian Obliterator.


I feel the splash-damage is a little too much here, since otherwise a MD Ancient Grudge could just be totally dead against you. While having as many juicy targets for Oblivion Ring as possible would help mitigate its overall effect, we probably already hit a decent threshold with the rest of the non-artifact cards we would play. Also, while having one equipped to an Obliterator will end the game pretty fast, when doesn't an unanswered Obliterator end the game?

The ability to make a Gravecrawler huge over and over again could be nice, it doesn't do a whole lot for Geralf's Messenger; he already comes back as a 4/3 with a Shock attached. How many of those do you need to finish out the long game? Maybe I am being naïve to the future format, but I think a splash would serve us much better here.


We'll See Who is "Black And Blue" After The Match...

So what color does MBA want to splash? Red is very tempting. We have such fiery all-stars as Brimstone Volley and Incinerate, not to mention a cute interaction with Volt Charge. I know some people are itching to make Bump in the Night into a tier deck, but I feel the card just costs too much for too little an effect. Using that slot for Stensia Bloodhall would usually be better, since it gives true inevitability. However, newcomer Faithless Looting (which could pair up with something like Ghoulcaller's Chant, to give the deck insane amounts of card advantage) could be worth exploring.



However, I was recently given some awesome tech by (and by that I mean "soundly trounced by") my buddy Larry Park: Phantasmal Image on Geralf's Messenger is the real deal. Add to the fact that Mana Leak shores up a few holes in a Mono-B deck (things like having a plan against artifacts and Planeswalkers, or stopping a Mirran Crusader), and wanting to try the new U/B Zombie Lord, makes this the deck I will be starting with:

One thing I realized is that I have yet to include a sideboard in any of my lists. There is a good reason for this; going forward many of my deck lists will have sideboards, however there are three reasons not to post a sideboard for a prospective deck:

You don't know what the metagame will look like when the deck is legal.

You haven't tested the deck's matchups enough to know what you are having trouble beating.

The main-deck isn't tested and at least somewhat solidified.

Since all three of these statements are true of the decks I have been featuring for the new Standard, I see no reason to include a speculative sideboard. However, one card I know I want in the sideboard of a deck like this is Steel Sabotage. Not only does it do two things no Black card can do, it helps immensely against some problems I foresee this deck needing help with: Tempered Steel, and Wurmcoil Engine. Disperse is another card with a similar role, but probably wouldn't be more than a two-of.



Salsa Verde!

So we've covered Black aggro, what about Green? Well, let's do the same test for a splash or Mono-Forests; i.e., do we want Dungrove Elder? Well, to answer that, we certainly need... more lists!

Pros-

Hexproof is awesome alongside Undying. Geth's Verdict and Day of Judgment aren't blowouts anymore.

Amazing early and late game presence, like a Stromkirk Noble who always has the max counters.

Findable with Green Sun's Zenith, which feels like an auto-include for MGA.


Cons-

People are ready for Hexproof, since Geist and Stalker are tearing up the meta.

If you stall on lands, he can be as bad as a Sacred Wolf.

Easily chump-blocked by Moorland Haunt and friends.


I have to say, I really miss Rancor right now. But, barring any surprise reprints, are we happy with Elder? I think we are. While Hexproof isn't striking the meta from an odd angle anymore, it is good against Delver and Human decks, and gives you a wide array of hard to deal with creatures, in the same vein as the various U/W decks.

Since our most easily splashed colors are Red or White, that further skews our incentives towards Elder. Essentially, we would be splashing for removal when we already plan to have a super aggressive deck that will overpower almost any creatures. Gaining burn spells/Ancient Grudge or Oblivion Ring type cards could give us more “outs” to certain strategies (tokens, or various Swords), I feel like Green has its bases covered, with cards like Naturalize, Acidic Slime and Beast Within.

Also, I agree with Todd Anderson's idea of having one Primeval Titan to go fetch with GSZ, grabbing you a R/G land and a Kessig Wolf Run. That gives you a ton of ways to “make your own” Rancor, which will push through so many games that you would otherwise be unable to race effectively.



Mutagenic Growth is another place I agree with Mr. Anderson. Don't worry, I am not just ripping off his list, we simply had a lot of similar ideas (yeah, I know, likely story...). I very much disagree with his Equipment plan and his exclusion of a few particular cards.

The number one card I feel he missed out on?



Before you think me crazy, you have to realize the potential here; Undying creatures with Birthing Pod makes for a crazy aggressive Pod list. Not only do you lose almost zero tempo while Podding up a pretty strong chain, with Strangleroot Geist you can actually gain some aggression by Podding him before combat. Similarly, turning a random mana dork into a 2/1 attacker with Undying is so fantastic.

The real beauty here is that we are neither reliant on the Pod, or shut off when it gets destroyed, since we are sacrificing almost no creature quality for Enters the Battlefield Pod value. How about that list?


As a disclaimer Pod decks are very much built by feel. These numbers seem like where I want to start with, but a few reps with the deck will let you know which creatures are pulling their weight, and which creatures/casting costs you desperately need more/less of. My favorite part of this deck is that it's a solid aggro deck whether you draw a Pod or not. The toolbox is easily accessed via GSZ, and might even warrant cutting down to two Birthing Pods.

About some card choices...

Lurking Crocodile probably seems a little loose, and I might agree with you there. He would probably be better served in the board, but I wanted another three-drop, and he seems like a strong play against Delver decks, who are almost guaranteed to have an Island in play. He is easily replaced with another Predator Ooze though, which I feel is pretty strong right now since Slagstorm/Day of Judgment are usually the krytponite for Pod decks.

Young Wolf is another choice that seems funky, but I really want to use to Pod into a Strangleroot Geist. He also helps further our aggro + value plan. He creates some resilience to sweepers and sacrifice effects, giving him a sort of Doomed Traveler role in this deck. Unless he tested off the charts, he would probably be the first card I trimmed, since you don't often want to start your Pod chain at one mana, and you already have quite a few creatures in the one-to-two mana range.

Huntmaster of the Fells may be a little hard to cast, but I feel like he is going to be worth it. Getting a little life gain in the deck, along with super value and a potential “whoops, I win” factor off a four drop makes it worth the awkward mana cost. I suppose I could make a case for more of him, and cutting Dungrove Elder entirely, but that deck would be fairly different.

Speaking of awkward mana, I opted to run Copperline Gorge over Rootbound Crag. Why? This deck lives and dies by its turn one through three. We really want as many opportunities for first turn Birds/Elf as possible, and it will make hands keepable where Crag wouldn't (an example would be Wolf Run, Crag, Birds, Birds, Birthing Pod, Huntmaster, Strangleroot Geist. Having your first play be on turn three or four instead of turn two is a massive setback here). Also, I have the single Mountain for Ghost Quarter and Viridian Emissary. Maybe it's unnecessary, but I like the option.

I am pretty happy with the way these lists look. I intend to start testing them, and offering new tweaks or saying whether they are performing too poorly and need to be put down. For my next State of Standard article, I will be diving into the topic of what makes a dominant strategy "so dominant," and why cards don't behave the way we want them to. So look for that next week.
That's all for now,

Viv

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