Current Standard – Exploring The alternatives

So you are tired of seeing/playing Jund or Boros. You want to play something different competitive and fun (well... fun for you anyway). Today we'll take a look at the alternatives the current standard holds.

First we'll take a look into the last starcitygames 5k tournament






First place
Nissa Monument

3 Eldrazi Monument
3 Ant Queen
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Elvish Visionary
3 Great Sable Stag
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Master Of The Wild Hunt
4 Nissa's Chosen
2 Noble Hierarch
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Nissa Revane

Lands
20 Forest
4 Oran-rief, The Vastwood

Sideboard:
1 Eldrazi Monument
3 Pithing Needle
4 Acidic Slime
1 Great Sable Stag
1 Mold Shambler
3 Mycoloth
2 Windstorm

Pretty straight forward, smash face . While I usually don't like monogreen lists, one has to admire the simplicity of this deck. Many tried to break through the meta with complex control lists , this did it plain and simple while carrying no removals, brilliant.

5c Cascade

1 Enigma Sphinx
4 Baneslayer Angel
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Enlisted Wurm
4 Bituminous Blast
4 Esper Charm
4 Blightning
4 Captured Sunlight
4 Deny Reality

Lands
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Mountain
2 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Arcane Sanctum
1 Arid Mesa
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Dragonskull Summit
3 Exotic Orchard
2 Jungle Shrine
2 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Rootbound Crag
4 Rupture Spire
1 Savage Lands
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Verdant Catacombs

Sideboard:
3 Rhox War Monk
3 Jund Charm
3 Ajani Vengeant
2 Day Of Judgment
2 Identity Crisis
2 Maelstrom Pulse


To cascade sometimes feels like cheating, it kind of is, but wizards lets us cheat in a legitimate way. That being said taking advantage of the best Cascade spells seems like the reasonable thing to do. Endless card advantage and baneslayer as a finisher? Sure... sign me up.

Interesting but not rogue enough? Try this as suggested by the TopdeckerGR team

This little gem can win you tournaments if you treat it properly.

Valakut Control

4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Expedition Map
4 Harrow
4 Khalni Heart Expedition
3 Lavaball Trap
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Rampant Growth

Lands
2 Forest
12 Mountain
3 Naya Panorama
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Sideboard
4 Demolish
3 Volcanic Fallout
4 Burst Lightning
4 Fog

Still haven't found what you are looking for? May I suggest my own version of mill then?

UW MillCrab Soup

4 Hedron Crab
4 Howling mine
4 Jace Beleren
4 Path
3 Day of Judgement
4 Archive trap
2 Trapmaker's Snare
2 Twincast
4 Negate
2 Mindbreak Trap
4 AngelSong

Lands
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Marsh Flats
4 Seijiri Refuge
8 Islands
4 Plains

Sideboard still work in progress

I think mill has the potential to become tier 1, the synergy between trapmaker's snare and the traps (playable for 0) is sick!!! Sideboard obviously has to be Boros Oriented but other than that I think this deck has overall good matchups.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the ever changing meta of the t2 environment.

The spice must flow.