Standard Bant Investigate

Here is yet another Investigate deck.

Here is a game I won by having Lifelink and Flying... well, by playing my favorite beater in this format, Angel of Invention. My opponent played Verdurous Gearhulk. It's a big threat, but it can't fly!

By the time I cast my second angel, it was over.

My opponent's demon came in too late.

Standard Back to Basis: Mono-white

Enough complaining about Standard, let's have some fun. Here are three decks I have been having fun with, all mono-white.

Deck 1 is all about Investigate, my favorite mechanic in this format.

Deck 2 is very similar to deck 1, and is trying to be a little more aggressive with Expedition Envoy.

Deck 3 is all about Servo tokens. Sram's Expertise is a really fun card.

Modern Masters 2017 Part 2 of 2: Want List and Notables

With so much value in this set, I wonder how much money I will have to get all the cards I want. This set reminds me of Vintage Masters. There just wasn't enough money in my budget to get all the cards I wanted.

Craterhoof Behemoth: I need at least one, maybe two.
Harmonize: I recently completed my play set. This is a great 'out of the normal color pie' card.

Scavenging Ooze: Time to complete my playset.
Thragtusk: Welcome back! Part of a very annoying and winning deck when it was in Standard with Restoration Angel.

Summoning Trap: I want to try it out if it is reasonably priced.
Tarmogoyf: No comment, I need three more, and I doubt I will be able to stretch my budget enough to get them. Wait... that was a comment. Yes, it was.

Abrupt Decay: Another two-fer (Legacy/Modern) great include.
Coiling Oracle: Another great include. I think I have the play set already.

Cruel Ultimatum: fun inclusion.
Domri Rade: Was a really strong planeswalker in Standard. Not so much in Modern. Still a fun include.

Falkenrath Aristocrat and Olivia Voldaren: The former was less sough-after than the latter and I want play sets of both.

Obzedat, Ghost Council and Sphinx's Revelation: both very strong in Standard. I only need one of the latter.

Stoic Angel: A fun include from Shard of Alara block.
Terminate: I have it, and other people should as well.

Unflinching Courage: I had so much playing this card in Standard.
Voice of Resurgence: I rare-drafted one, and I would like to get more. I am not sure if it will go down enough.

Wall of Denial: One of the best walls in the game. Great inclusion.
Boros Reckoner: I have it, other people should as well. Was very strong in Standard, and is fun in Modern.

Damping Matrix: I would like to play, never have. It''s a great card to learn the different between non-mana activated abilities and mana activated abilities.
Grafdigger's Cage: I just sold two of them online, when they spiked, to fun pack purchases. Now I get to buy them back at a much lower price. Sweet!

Just the five enely color fetchlands from Zendikar and Cavern of Souls will add a ton of value to every pack. This inclusion makes this set as hot as Vintage Masters.

Modern Masters 2017 Part 1 of 2: Want List and Notables

These are just the ones I either want to get online or already have and want to say something about. First off, Wizards hit it out of the park with this selection, drop the mike. I mean... the list of awesome cards in this set at uncommon, rare, and mythic just goes on, and the set even has the enemy-colored fetch lands from Zendikar. Just including these five lands and then blanks for all the other cards in the pack would sell a lot of packs. Yet Wizards went the extra mile and then some and including an all-star selection of great reprints.

Entreat the Angels: I bought one recently just to have one for Solitaire Legacy. Now I can get a few more.
Path to Exile: Money, already have it from the first Modern Masters.

Blade Splicer: Need it. With so many new flicker effects, this is a great time to get these.
Linvala: I need at least one.

Ranger of Eos: Need it. It's one of the key pieces for Soul Sisters.
Terminus: Have it, just a mention here that this is a great two-fer as a Legacy staple that can be good in Modern. This set is really 7/8 Modern Masters, and 1/8 Legacy Masters with the inclusion of the Miracles, Griselbrand, Liliana of the veil, and Tarmogoyf.

Restoration Angel: Have it, a great include.
Seance: Apparently some guy tried to buy this card out on paper... sorry, bro, you should know better that any card in the Modern list can be and will be reprinted.

Cyclonic Rift: Have it, I played it a ton when it was in Standard.
Gifts Ungiven: Have it from a previous Modern Masters set. One of my favorite Magic cards of all time.

Phantasmal Image: I recently completed my playset online. A great include.
Serum Visions: I completed the play set recently as well. Awesome because Preordain and Ponder are banned in Modern.

Snapcaster Mage: Have it, makes sense at Mythic.
Venser: Need at least one.

Spell Pierce: I need to complete my play set.
Temporal Mastery: same as Spell Pierce.

Damnation and Death's Shadow: both on my want list. I am not sure if I will have enough money in my budget for Damnation, it is the most sought out card in this set, even if not the most expensive one.

Griselbrand: I recently got one. I really, really want to complete a playset for some sick reanimation plays.
Inquisition of Kozilek: Money, already have it.

Liliana of the Veil: I don't know if I will have enough money in my budget for even one... let's hope so.
Unburial Rites: Another great include.

Blood Moon: I don't know if I will have enough money in my budget for even one... let's hope so.
Bonfire of the Damned: On my want list for fun nostalgia deck building.

Goblin Guide: Time to get these, have none.
Hellrider: One of my favorite cards for casual Goblin deck building. Attack with ten Goblins and you hit ten on top of what they hit for... so much fun!

Mizzium Mortars: Another nostalgia include.
Past in Flames: I would like to get at least one. The card that almost made Tibalt playable.

Pyroclasm: I think I need this card. I am not sure I have it.
Pyromancer Ascension: Will likely not get because Storm is 'not my style,' yet it's a notable great include.

Why the Core Set needs to come back

In some form, the Core Set needs to come back. When we had the yearly Core Set, the games' staples could be found in one set, and the cards in it were simple to play, therefore a great entry point for new players. The expansions that were issued when the Core Set was around were more complex sets than what we have now, and that worked well. You knew you could get into deckbuilding with the complex cards, and then add Core Set staples to taste. We want a fun simple set that always has cheap packs. At times during the year when we want to crack cheap packs, we buy a dozen Core Set packs and crack a bunch of staples. We also want complex expansions that get us thinking in new ways.

What do we have now? We have expansions that are 3/4 like the old expansions and 1/4 of a Core Set. We don't get what we want. We don't get the cheap Core Set packs full of staples, and we don't get sets full of interesting complexity. It doesn't work. By forcing 1/2 of a Core Set into a two set block, Wizards is forced to design each block as if was the only set of cards ever issued. It's great for Cube, and even better for Limited. The new blocks are awesome to build cubes with and have fantastically well-tuned Limited environments. But Magic is popular in many other quarters. In the quarter I am from, we want sets that are simple (Core Sets) and sets that are complex (the expansions). We don't want sets that have some simple parts and some complex parts. The less complex sets we get now have fewer abilities, and fewer avenues for intricate deck building. We also don't want sets that live in their own planets. Now when I build decks, I select the block and build a deck. In the process of tuning I will add a card or two from one of the other blocks, and I am done. In the Core Set era, I would build a deck that was one third from a block, one third from the other block, and one third from the core set. Those times are gone, and I miss them. So Wizards, how about bringing back the Core Set?  

How can Wizards bring back the Core Set? How about taking a page from the Yugioh play book. In addition to the four complex expansions, Wizards can issue 1/2 a Core Set twice a year, with each of the halves geared towards one of the two-set blocks. Wizards could issue 1/2 a Core Set in July, when all the kids are out of school, and the other 1/2 of a Core Set in December, when all the kids have holiday money (be it Christmas or any other religious holiday, or just end-of-year gift money). Do it, Wizards! (Oh, and start having the fun mechanics from the first set in the second set-Investigate is an example).

Here is this post in Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/5wv1ea/why_the_core_set_needs_to_come_back/

From the responses I got in Reddit, it seems like most Magic players are OK with the Core Set being gone. This is not a sad, sad thing, but it does feel like a loss. I guess I will have to adapt to the new deck building, which is almost completely within a specific block, and to the new sets with a small number of abilities, and the small loss of deck building depth now that all Magic sets aim for the same compromise in complexity for the sake of including part of a Core Set in every set.

March 18, 2017 update. I have thought some more about the current Standard, and this time I will steer clear of Reddit. There are many people in that forum who post only to be argumentative and don't seem to be interested in a discussion. Another way of stating it is to state that Reddit has a really high troll factor. Let's compare the 8 set Standards with and without Core Sets:

With Core Sets, we had:

Block Theme A.
Core Set with Theme A, Theme B, and all the basic staples.
Block Theme B.
Core Set with Theme B, Theme C (upcoming block), and all the basic staples.

Without the Core Set we have:

Block Theme A with a small number of staples.
Block Theme B with a small number of staples.
Block Theme C with a small number of staples.
Block Theme D with a small number of staples.

The current Standard, at its largest, will be four block constructed formats playing in what seems like a format, but is really four block constructed formats. The best way to show this is by taking a look at the rare slots for counterspells. Each block comes with its own rare counterspell, and when you make a deck now, you are encouraged to stick with the rare counterspell for the specific block you are making a deck from.

There is a way to supplement and fix this mega block constructed format. One way is:

Block Theme A with a small number of staples.
Mini Core Set (not for drafting) with Theme A, Theme B, and some staples.
Block Theme B with a small number of staples.
Mini Core Set (not for drafting) with Theme B, Theme C, and some staples.
Block Theme C with a small number of staples.
Mini Core Set (not for drafting) with Theme C, Theme D, and some staples.
Block Theme D with a small number of staples.
Mini Core Set (not for drafting) with Theme D, Theme E, and some staples.

But that's too many mini Core Sets.

Here is another setup:

Block Theme A with a small number of staples.
Block Theme B with a small number of staples.
Half Core Set with Theme A, Theme B, Theme C, and some staples.
Block Theme C with a small number of staples.
Block Theme D with a small number of staples.
Half Core Set with Theme C, Theme D, Theme E (next block), and some staples.

There is a third setup, and that is to make the small sets in every two-set block large sets. That's probably the easiest solution while sticking with the two-set block paradigm.

March 24 update: Sam Stoddard wrote about this issue today.

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/latest-developments/update-standard-2017-03-24

"While I think we hit a pretty good stride with the way that we pushed strategies and decks in three-set-block world, the switch to two-set blocks and the removal of the core set really hurt our ability to make all of that work properly, and I think we underestimated some of the severity of those changes."

I would like to restate it this way: "Oops, I guess we need to figure out a way to bring back what the Core Set added to Standard, and now we don't have a slot in our schedule to release a new Core Set. The players who read our content and are into the flavor are still with us, and everyone else is sitting on the sidelines waiting for Naturalize to be in Standard agan."

June 16 (2017) Update: The core set is coming back next Summer (2018) by popular demand. That's great! Wizards went for the 'make all sets large,' which is awesome too. They will also try to do one better by having malleable blocks of one, two, or three large sets. I could go for a Ravnica-theme block with three large sets anytime!

Standard Learner Deck: Energy, now with Aether Revolt

I am using this deck to select the Blue/Green Energy cards from Aether Revolt that I want to add to the Kaladesh-only version.

Standard Learner Deck: Revolt

I started with a double deck that had all of the Revolt cards. I used it to see how all the cards played, using Solitaire.

Revolt some very interesting interactions. It is definitely a battlecruiser deck. You need to have enough mana to sac something, and then you can trigger Revolt with Enters-the-Battlefield (ETB) effects. It is a ton of fun, even though it is pure battlecruiser molasses. The Green Instrument, Instrument of Ferocity, is the only one that made it all the way to the end. Life gain is good for Limited, and causing the opponent to discard is good, but there are better choices for cards in this deck than this one card.

Vengeful Rebel is also good and keeps me in Black. If it had sucked, it would have been a good reason to go straight up White/Green. But it's good, and I want it in this deck.

Gaining a little bit of mana is always a good thing.

Hidden Stockpile is really good, and a good reason to stay in all three colors no-matter-what.

Felidar Guardian, buddy, we have gone down in power a lot since your better sibling, Restoration Angel. It's solid in battlecruiser.

Of course, Investigate and Revolt are a match made in heaven. The cost of 2 mana to trigger Revolt is a little steep, but it's worth it. Here is the double deck with this change.

It yields beautiful game states in Solitaire.

Enough shadow boxing. Here is the final deck, ready for casual play against real, and sometimes rude opponents on MTGO.

Here is the final version of the deck. Revolt kind of sucks... and this format does not allow good three color decks with only one of the Kaladesh enemy color dual lands. Lesson learned.

Here is a more final, final version.

Lifecaster's Bestiary is quite the card draw engine!