State of Standard and Alchemy – Pre-Spiderman Release

Hey all. Edge of Eternities, and Alchemy: Edge of Eternities have been out for a few weeks now, which in our current cadence of set releases means it is almost time for the next set, Marvel’s Spider-Man in paper or Through the Omenpaths on Arena, to release and shake things up.

So we have a small window after each set to take a breath and look around at what is going on in each format, and identify where there is something lacking or something that needs attention, before the next set comes out.

Today, I want to talk about the current state of the Standard format, and what changes I would make to it, and then do the same for the Alchemy (Bo3) format.

Standard

It is no secret that Standard has a Vivi problem. After rotation, Vivi Cauldron, an Izzet deck based around Vivi Ornitier and Agatha's Soul Cauldron, was a huge force to be reckoned with, and it was the most represented deck by far at the Arena Championship last month, and took down the tournament.

Since then, not much has changed. This past weekend we had Magic Spotlight: Planetary Rotation at SCG Con: Orlando, which featured a big Standard tournament. While Vivi Cauldron was only about 30% of the Day 1 meta, by Day 2 it was 54% of the remaining decks, and it took up 6 of the 8 Top 8 spots. Here is the 2nd place list from Jack Potter.

Now, Vivi did not win the tournament. That was actually done by Mono-Red Aggro in the hands of Brennan Roy.

You may be getting deja vu, because back in the Spring, when Izzet Prowess was the best deck with Cori-Steel Cutter, Mono-Red Aggro rose up to take it head on, thanks to main deck copies of Magebane Lizard to punish the deck.

Now, we once again have Mono-Red Aggro rising up to take on the Izzet menace, this time with main deck copies of Razorkin Needlehead to punish all of the card draw that comes out of the Izzet decks.

These are the signs of an unhealthy format for many reasons.

First, despite being the best deck in the format that everyone is prepared for, Vivi Cauldron still has a huge conversion rate into Day 2 of the event, and puts 6 decks into the Top 8.

Second, the only foil to this deck is, once again, an even faster aggro deck that is playing main deck hate cards because of the prevalence of the deck.

Third, because of how prevalent the deck is, the price of the cards are astronomical, with the deck being around $1000 to buy in to.

Fourth, due to the fatigue of playing against the deck, attendance at the event plummeted down to around 700, compared to 1500 at a similar event back in January.

Where do we go from here?

It is obvious that Vivi Ornitier needs to be banned from Standard. It is too powerful with Agatha's Soul Cauldron, but even without the cauldron there is a viable Izzet Prowess shell built around Vivi as well.

Unfortunately, Wizards has forced themselves into a banning cadence where they can only ban from Standrad once a year unless there is an emergency. Do they consider Vivi to be an emergency? Are they able to ban a Universes Beyond card while it is still in print, or would that break their contract with Final Fantasy? We will find out when they either ban something after the release of Spider-Man or wait until their next Standard ban window in November.

Banning cards is not free though. For us Arena players we get our Wildcards back, but for paper players they are suddenly losing their $1000 investment into the deck. That is likely to disenfranchise those players for at least the immediate future. At the same time, not banning cards is going to keep the format unfun and boring at a competitive level, also disenfranchising players.

I think that Wizards is unlikely to do anything about this, and Standard will continue to suffer at the hands of Wizards own making.

What I would change for Standard

Standard is too big, and Wizards failed to consider the long term when they switched rotation from two years to three years. On top of that, there are now six Standard legal sets coming out each year. By the end of this Standard season there are going to be 18 sets legal in Standard.

While Wizards thought that this would lead to more deck diversity, as more cards being legal means that more decks have enough good cards to be competitive, what we have seen so far is that the best decks just have access to even more good cards.

The best decks now have so many choices, that they don’t have to settle for any “just good enough” cards, and instead all of their cards are powerful and oppressive.

If Wizards is going to keep adding six sets to Standard each year, then they need to return us to a two year rotation. Even at a two year rotation we would have 12 sets in Standard at its biggest, and there will be plenty of cards to pull from for a variety of decks.

If Standard was still on a two year rotation, Agatha's Soul Cauldron would have already rotated out, and this deck would not be the issue that it currently is.

Wizards also needs to get rid of their self constriction on ban windows for Standard. Currently, there is a ban announcement after each set that applies to every format except Standard. They should just add Standard to that window so they can keep the format balanced and interesting.

Alchemy

Alchemy has been a lot of fun since the release of Alchemy: Edge of Eternities, and has remained a brewing paradise. You can take any strategy, and cool rare, and synergy, and build a fun deck that can take games off the big dogs in the format.

That said, there are few outliers that I think are keeping the format from being as fun and fresh as possible, and there are a few changes that I would like to see. This only applies to Bo3, as I do not play much Bo1.

First, let’s look at some of the most prevalent decks in the format: Mardu Mobilize, Izzet Vivi, and Simic Etb.

This deck is built around Waystone's Guidance, using the haste from Swiftspear's Teachings and Mardu Thunderkite to punch in for a ton of damage very quickly.

The deck builder is having a hard time adding the rebalanced version of Cori-Steel Cutter, so if you copy this deck you will need to add 4 copies of that card.

Similar to the Standard version of Izzet Prowess, this deck is trying to get Vivi into play and then use it go off. In Alchemy, we have Swiftspear's Teachings to turbocharge Vivi, giving it haste and prowess to give us a bigger pop-off turn.

This deck is trying to get Starfield Vocalist into play and then go off. Drawing cards with Fecund Greenshell, tapping the oppnoent down with Dreamdew Entrancer, and starting it all off by discounting your creatures with Fountainport Charmer.

These decks all attack you from different angles, but they all ask you to play removal to remove key threats, which is good, interaction should be a required part of the format. I have no issue with these types of decks being popular and powerful in the format, however, I do think that these decks can be a bit overpowering for a lot of decks to handle, and I wouldn’t mind them all being toned down just a tad so they were more in-line with the rest of the format.

What I would change for Alchemy

I would start by nerfing a few cards.

Waystone's Guidance needs a tune down. It leads to far too many explosive turns, and forces your opponent to answer every single creature you play if they can’t answer the enchantment itself.

There are several ways you could change this card, such as making it cost three mana, only grant mobilize 1, or removing the buff for attacking tokens. I think an intresting change they could make is to say, “the first creature you cast each turn without mobilize perpetually gains mobilize 2.”

This makes the card far less good with other mobilize cards, forcing the deck to adapt to either play creatures without mobilize, so their are less tokens to worry about, or for mobilize decks to just use it for its token buffing ability.

Right now my biggest issue with this card is the curve of turn two this into turn three Mardu Thunderkite to get in for 10 damage on turn three, and this change stops that from happening.

The next card I would change is Swiftspear's Teachings, which is a big part of both Mardu Mobilize and Izzet Vivi. As far as cantrips go, this is one is off the charts powerful. In Mardu Mobilize it can help you get in for a huge attack out of nowhere, and in Izzet Vivi it gives Vivi more power and haste for one turn combo kills.

You can’t do much to this card without making it unplayable. Making it cost two mana, removing haste or prowess, or removing draw a card, would all likely kill the card. If you wanted this card to remain viable in the format I would change it to say “the next creature you cast this turn perpetually gains haste and prowess” instead of granting a boon.

This means it is no longer a generic good play on turn one, as you can cast it to draw a card and set up your boon for later, and instead forces you to wait until the time is right to upgrade a creature.

Lastly, I would change Fountainport Charmer. While I love that a green card is powerful for the first time in a long time, I think that Fountainport Charmer is just a bit too pushed, and leads to explosive turns far too early in the game.

There are several changes that I would make to Fountainport Charmer. First, I would change it from a 2/3 to a 2/2. It is too powerful of a blocker against aggro decks, and can stonewall a variety of creatures. It should at least be trading when it gets into combat. Second, I would have its offspring ability cost two.

It is too much for this to come out on turn three (or turn two with a Llanowar Elves) create two blockers and reduce all of creatures in hand by two. The two blockers makes it almost impossible for aggro decks to get through in time, and the double reduction that early means that by turn four or five you are cast two to three big creatures spells far ahead of schedule.

I want this card to still exist in the format, and I want decks playing big creatures to see play, but I think that this card is far too snowbally in its current state.

After changing those three cards I think the format will slow down, as the most explosive decks will have been reigned in, and the format will truly shine as a brewers paradise where you can try anything and at least make it turns five and six to tell the tale.

Other than that, I would like Wizards to experiment more with buffing cards, and giving life to more archetypes this way. They should also look at making changes to the format more frequently, as it currently feels very sporadic with random timing.

Wrapping Up

Standard hasn’t been the same for me since they changed from two year rotation to three year rotation. While I would still give it a try every now and then, especially after rotation, this rotation was a bit of a dud, as we had an obvious best deck emerge right away and hold the format hostage ever since.

If Wizards truly cares about the health of Standard, they will make changes to the size of the format, the ban cadence, and ban Vivi as soon as possible.

Alchemy, on the other hand, has been a blast ever since rotation, and while there are some power outliers that I discussed above, the format is an awesome format for brewing and interesting game play. With a few nudges, the format could be even better.

Marvel’s Spider-Man is up next, but as we are discussing Arena on this site, I will instead be discussing Through the Omenpaths cards in the coming weeks as we prepare for the set to release. Hopefully it has some fun ones that can shake up both these formats!