Hello! Welcome back to Arena Adventures, the series where I climb up the Magic: The Gathering Arena Standard ranked ladder, and take you along for the journey. Last article, I got all the way up to Platinum 1, my highest rank yet, and had my sights set on pushing through to Diamond (the second highest rank on the ladder).
Before I make that final effort, though, I think my decklist needs a few updates. It’s in a pretty good state, so I won’t be making a ton of changes. But, I’ll be shifting the quantities of a few cards around in order to really optimize the deck. Let’s get started!
Time for a Quickchange!
In: 2x Oildeep Gearhulk Out: 2x Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal
With the release of Magic‘s newest set, Aetherdrift, some really cool new cards have been introduced into Standard. One card that I’ve been particularly excited about is Oildeep Gearhulk, which some players will recognize as a modern-day Vendilion Clique. I love that this card can grab lands out of opponents’ hands, and I love that it has lifelink. Especially in 60-card formats, I’m a big advocate for life gain as an effective way to win close games. While Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal is a fantastic card, I want to try out this new card as an alternative. The card’s mana cost, which requires a lot of specifically-colored mana, may also prove detrimental. But, I’m always willing to experiment with cool new cards. We’ll see how it goes!
In: 1x Tishana’s Tidebinder and 1x Faerie Mastermind
Faerie Mastermind is a fantastic card, one of my favorite cards of all time. The ability to hold up two mana for this card, a copy of Spell Stutter, or a copy of Go for the Throat is incredibly powerful, and the flexibility provided by a two-mana flash creature is unmatched. Tishana’s Tidebinder is a great way to disrupt an opponent’s game plan, while also providing a 3/2 body that can be flashed in at any time. I love that it can stifle a powerful enter-the-battlefield trigger, negate a planeswalker ultimate, and more. An extra copy of this card may prove extremely useful down the line.
In: 3x Gloomlake Verge and 1x Underground River Out: 4x Murky Sewer, 2x Swamp
Nothing of particular note here, I just wanted to upgrade the consistency of the deck’s mana base a little bit. I found that I was consistently drawing lands too often in the late game, so I cut two of them in favor of other cards (the aforementioned Faerie Mastermind and Tishana’s Tidebinder). Other than that, I added a few objectively better lands into the deck, hoping that they’ll enable me to cast my spells on-time more often.
Here’s the updated decklist:
A Social Climber on the Arena Ladder!
I made my way back up the Standard ladder, climbing through the same aggressive burn decks, graveyard-based reanimator decks, and the occasional combo deck. The changes I made to the deck’s land base were very noticeable, and I was more easily able to cast crucial early game spells like Spyglass Siren and Cut Down.
I was, however, not super happy with Oildeep Gearhulk‘s performance. The card is quite good, but it’s a one-time effect that leaves me with a relatively vulnerable creature on the battlefield. It’s nice to be able to gain life when the Gearhulk attacks or blocks, and it’s extra nice to bounce it back to my hand with a copy of Kaito, Bane of Nightmares‘ ninjutsu ability. But, the card costs too much mana for not enough payoff.
From here on out, I’ll bring back two copies of Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal to replace the two copies of Oildeep Gearhulk I was experimenting with. And, I noticed that having an extra counterspell on hand would be quite helpful. So, I’m replacing a copy of Cut Down with a copy of Spell Stutter.
I had to play quite a few games in Platinum 1, pushing through a bunch of decks utilizing new cards from Aetherdrift. I saw a lot of decks make good use of Marauding Mako, Sab-Sunen, Luxa Embodied, and Rocketeer Boostbuggy. These cards were pretty strong, but I was able to handle them pretty well with counterspells and kill spells. I’m a particularly big fan of Sab-Sunen, Luxa Embodied as a late-game threat for certain decks, or as a reanimation target for others. This card has a lot of potential in reanimator strategies, as its indestructibility, card advantage, and big power/toughness come together to make one great card.
And, just like before, I had problems dealing with enchantments and artifacts once they hit the battlefield. If I was able to use a copy of Spell Stutter or Three Steps Ahead to ensure that they didn’t resolve in the first place, I was in good shape. But otherwise, cards like Doubling Season, Virtue of Persistence, and Urabrask’s Forge would usually cause me to lose the game.
In the end, I made it! The changes I’d made to the deck over time paid off, and I earned my way into Diamond 4. Having a healthy number of counterspells (six in total) was definitely the driving force behind this rank-up. When combined with efficient, hard-to-block creatures, I won many more games than I lost.
Tale’s End
Thanks for reading this edition of Arena Adventures! This is the penultimate part of this series, and I’m proud of how far I’ve come since its start. I’ve definitely learned a lot about Standard, and about Magic gameplay in general. Next time, I’ll give a retrospective of my experience in this series, and a few tips to new players that are starting out. I’ll see you all next time!
To follow the Arena Adventures journey from the beginning, start here.
