How Type 2 Really Works

There are a lot of factors involved in the Type 2 metagame and how 'solved' it is: i.e, how much room there is for innovation within the format so new Tier 1 decks can spring up. People will look at the most infinitesimal parts of the game to try and gain an advantage, but they don't look at one of the biggest factors.

What month is it?

What month it is can often tell you a lot about the format. Each Magic year, in my opinion, starts in October with the release of the large set, in this case, Zendikar. The format then slowly creeps up in power and complexity throughout the year, until October again. At the moment, we have 8 sets and about 1700 cards in Standard. Once October comes along, the Lorwyn cards that dominated the metagame: Spectral Procession, Bitterblossom, Reflecting Pool: they'll all go. Type 2 will be almost wiped clean, and we'll end up with about 1000 cards in the format.

At this point, you have far more options for innovation than you will in October. The format is definitely not solved. Elf Combo popped up, then Time Sieve, now the Mannequin decks. What's next? Who knows?

When Shards of Alara came out, and in fact, when Conflux joined them, innovations were made, but new decks were not. Five-Color Control got Broodmate Dragon and Cruel Ultimatum: but it was still Five-Color Control. Faeries got Agony Warp, but it was still Faeries. And so on, and so forth. Alara Reborn was really what gave birth to new archetypes: Jund and Elf Combo (however, Elf Combo doesn't HAVE Alara Reborn cards. Elf Combo could have been discovered back in Shards and it would have worked fine except for Elvish Archdruid, which powered up the deck but didn't make it exist based only on that card).

Now, with M10 being far more powerful than Tenth Edition, Standard is as powerful as it will get for a year. Innovation is in full swing: but it better be pretty damn good, because there's a pretty high standard on Type 2 right now.

When Zendikar comes out, there will be a rush to solve the format, but I believe the format will lie in the hands of the power cards from Alara block. The decks that survive will be Jund, Cascade decks, and R/G Aggro and Grixis Control may rise to reach Tier 1. Until Worldwake, I don't think Zendikar will be the focus of the metagame, but rather the support cards. The decks will be built around Alara cards. Of course, by the time the third set in Zendikar comes around, Zendikar archetypes will be produced, and the metagame will be shook up yet again as we enter the high-powered section.

The summary of this article is: Standard, more than any other format, is a format that ebbs and flows. From October to Febuary, it's a fairly low-powered format. It starts to rise in Febuary, and really hits it's stride around May. Essentially, there are three blocks: Oct-Feb, Feb-May, May-Oct. And they all play differently.

If I find more to say on the subject, I'll probably write a follow-up post detailing the exact differences, but at this point in time, I don't believe I'm qualified to go into that much detail about it. So in the meantime, enjoy this short article as a break from the monoliths I usually write, and I'll go back to testing tomorrow.

Until next time, may you be at full strength no matter where the metagame's at.