5 Ways To Get Ahead Before A Rotation

Greetings readers. The Zendikar rotation is happening in a month, and is certain to shake up Standard. Almost all of the current archetypes will be thrown out the window, and those that aren't will still change. Thus, it's a perfect time to write an article I've been holding onto for a while: how to get ahead of the competition before a rotation.

1. Practice with a resilient deck.

A lot of people, after a rotation, will suddenly have to audible into a brand new, unproved, untested deck. If you can pick a deck, for example Jund, or Time Sieve Combo, that will remain relatively untouched by the rotation, and become familiar with it, you'll be like a shark among the minnows as they try to master their new decks while you use the one you've been familiar with for a month.

This is the precise reason I'm using Jund: only six non-land cards in it will actually be affected by the rotation, so I should easily be able to adjust it to the new metagame and the new card pool.

2. Keep up on the spoilers.

If you want to get an edge, you want to know what gets spoiled basically immediately. To that end, I advise subscribing to @mtgsalvation on Twitter, and checking the spoiler sites regularly. Twitter is a great place to find breaking news: I've only recently started using it, but it's quite useful already.

If you know the cards before the rotation actually happens, you'll be able to formulate a deck for when it does happen, continuing in the spirit of point 1.

3. See what people are saying about it.

Just by reading this you're on the right track to achieving point 3: finding out information. What are people thinking about the rotation? To that end, I suggest visiting Starcitygames.com, mtgsalvation.com, this blog, and any other Magic sites that have strategy articles several times a week. With the rotation looming large, that's what everyone will talk about, so plug into the flow of information.

4. Be aware of what will be lost.

Be aware of what decks will become unworkable. For example, Faeries, Elf Combo and Five-Color Control become impossible, since the core of each deck has been nuked with Lorwyn's departure. Blightning may survive, Jund and Time Sieve Combo will survive.

You also need to be aware of the metagame shift. For example, if Jund and Time Sieve are likely to appear in large numbers, how should you adjust your deck / sideboard for it?

5. Be prepared to adapt on the fly.

Lastly, the time after a rotation is a time of great flux. New decks will appear and become invalid by the day, so be prepared to change decks after the format settles down after a few weeks. You never know: new decks may pop up to make Jund utterly impossible in the new metagame, and White Soldiers may pop up and seize power. Be prepared to adapt to anything.

Until next time, may you be calm in a sea of confusion.

Catching Up On Magic - Part 4

The Rise of Multicolor Decks

Thanks to a current glut in non-basic lands that produce several colors, it's possible to play three, four or even five colors with minimal sacrifice in the current Standard. Observe these two cards:

As long as you have a single counter on a Vivid land, you can use Reflecting Pool to tap for any mana you like, without any drawback. Hence, Five-Color Control is a deck that is quite possible, that uses Vivid lands and Reflecting Pool to tap for any mana it wants to play the best control cards in Standard, whatever colors. The only drawback is that they're slightly slower and play 1-2 more lands than most decks: certainly worth the trade-off of the power of the whole color pie.

Our only crusader in the fight against non-basic dominance is Anathemancer:

The expensive Unearth cost means that at seven mana you can uncounterably play Anathemancer, and will probably hit the opponent for 6 or more. It's a strong card, and any non-Five-Color deck (and indeed some five-color decks) should play 4 of this guy in the maindeck: even mono-color decks run some nonbasic lands.

Staple Cards

I can't claim to know all the staple cards in Standard, but I'll attempt to cover as many as possible that aren't rotating in October. Here are the cards you'll want to have, since you'll be using them for over a year, guaranteed:

Anathemancer. An excellent non-basic hoser, which might become weaker with Zendikar, but will probably have a spot in a sideboard next year.

Baneslayer Angel. Any white deck that has 5-mana spells in it should have this creature, who's likely to get even better when Reveillark and Cloudgoat Ranger leave the format.

Bant Charm. Deals with almost anything your opponent can throw at you, for just three mana.

Bituminous Blast. Good in almost any B/R deck for cascading into an aggressive creature or a second removal spell.

Bloodbraid Elf. The best aggro creature in the format. End of story.

Doom Blade. An excellent piece of removal that kills almost any relevant creature in the format.

Esper Charm. Two three-mana abilities to choose from on a three mana card? Awesome. Wait, it destroys enchantments too?

Gargoyle Castle. No need to pick up 4 of these, but 2 of them would be a useful asset for your collection.

Garruk Wildspeaker. An excellent card that will be a staple in green decks for quite some time.

Great Sable Stag. A 3/3 for 3 that also dodges a good chunk of control cards: perfect for any aggressive deck with green in it, at least in the sideboard.

Harm's Way. An excellent combat trick or a way to force through the last few points of damage.

Jace Beleren. An excellent control card that allows you to draw more cards than your opponent. Absolutely wrecks the control mirror or acts as a useful decoy against aggro.

Jund Charm. A sweeper, combat trick, and occasional Anathemancer-foiler all in one? This one's a keeper.

Lightning Bolt. 3 damage. One mana. No other burn spell comes close to this one, and any deck with red ought to be playing this.

Maelstrom Pulse. A planeswalker-killer that can also take out any number of tokens, or multiples of the same creature or enchantment. A very versatile removal spell.

Path to Exile. Another one-mana piece of removal, getting rid of your opponent's best guy for one mana and a basic land of their choice is too good to pass up.

Qasali Pridemage. A good way to get rid of artifacts / enchantments, and a nice-sized creature too.

Terminate. Similar to Doom Blade, but this kills any creature that can be destroyed and targeted for two mana. Nifty.

Volcanic Fallout. A sweeper that can be played instantly and can't be countered is always a staple, especially when it's this good.

Wall of Denial. A control deck often just needs to survive to get it's good cards, and what helps a deck do that better than a huge, flying, untargetable wall?

The tri-lands (Arcane Sanctum, Crumbling Necropolis, Jungle Shrine, Savage Lands, Seaside Citadel) and the M10 duals (Dragonskull Summit, Drowned Catacomb, Glacial Fortress, Rootbound Crag, Sunpetal Grove) are also worth obtaining.

See you tomorrow, when we discuss drafting the new sets.

To be continued...