Welcome back for Brewing With Oath of the Gatewatch. After an insane thirty decks last time, we have a much more reasonable ten decks for Standard. These decks only have “Sideboard Suggestions” other than the Atarka Red list, which is where I plan to start when the set is released.

This had been the scariest deck in Standard for a few months due to being able to deal nearly twenty damage in one turn. Now it gets another creature to help with burst damage when you can’t try to combo.

I’m still trying to figure out how to fit [card]Nissa, Voice of Zendikar[/card] somewhere in the deck, but I’m not sure I can manage it.

[deck title= Atarka Red]

[Creatures]

4 Monastery Swiftspear

4 Zurgo Bellstriker

2 Lightning Berserker

4 Abbot of Keral Keep

4 Reckless Bushwhacker

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

2 Fiery Impulse

4 Titan’s Strength

4 Dragon Fodder

4 Atarka’s Command

3 Temur Battlerage

4 Become Immense

[/Spells]

[Land]

2 Cinder Glade

4 Bloodstained Mire

4 Wooded Foothills

2 Windswept Heath

1 Forest

8 Mountain

[/Land]

[Sideboard]

2 Firey Impulse

3 Rending Volley

2 Boiling Earth

4 Roast

2 Hordeling Outburst

2 Outpost Siege

[/Sideboard]

[/deck]

I call it “Big Red”, but it will play like a control deck most of the time. Every creature is a value creature, making it very difficult for your opponents to really gain an advantage in the game.

[deck title= Big Red]

[Creatures]

4 Hangarback Walker

4 Abbot of Keral Keep

4 Thought-Knot Seer

4 Thunderbreak Regent

2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar

3 Goblin Dark-Dwellers

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

3 Fiery Impulse

4 Draconic Roar

3 Exquisite Firecraft

2 Outpost Siege

2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker

1 Chandra, Flamecaller

[/Spells]

[Land]

2 Blighted Gorge

2 Sea Gate Wreckage

4 Haven of the Spirit Dragon

16 Mountain

[/Land]

[Sideboard Suggestions]

1 Rending Volley

2 Roast

3 Kozilek’s Return

4 Scab-Clan Berserker

[/Sideboard Suggestions]

[/deck]

This deck got a huge bump from the Eldrazi spells from this set. I expect to see a lot of this as people try to figure out the format. It is a little low on power, but can just grind out the game with incremental card advantage.

[deck title= B/W Eldrazi]

[Creatures]

4 Hangarback Walker

4 Knight of the White Orchard

4 Hidden Dragonslayer

4 Bearer of Silence

2 Eldrazi Displacer

4 Wasteland Strangler

4 Thought-Knot Seer

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

4 Silkwrap

2 Stasis Snare

3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

[/Spells]

[Land]

4 Shambling Vent

4 Caves of Koilos

2 Sea Gate Wreckage

4 Evolving Wilds

1 Wastes

6 Plains

2 Swamp

[/Land]

[Sideboard Suggestions]

1 Duress

2 Surge of Righteousness

3 Transgress the Mind

4 Utter End

[/Sideboard Suggestions]

[/deck]

This deck just wants to live the dream of casting the same spells over and over again. This deck will likely be good, but I expect it to end up as four colors for a more diverse array of spells.

[deck title= Jund Midrange]

[Creatures]

4 Hangarback Walker

4 Sylvan Advocate

4 Rattleclaw Mystic

4 Den Protector

2 Thunderbreak Regent

2 Goblin Dark-Dwellers

1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

2 Fiery Impulse

2 Ultimate Price

1 Roast

3 Kolaghan’s Command

2 Painful Truths

1 Ruinous Path

2 Murderous Cut

1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker

[/Spells]

[Land]

4 Hissing Quagmire

4 Bloodstained Mire

4 Wooded Foothills

2 Cinder Glade

2 Smoldering Marsh

3 Forest

3 Mountain

3 Swamp

[/Land]

[Sideboard Suggestions]

1 Duress

2 Roast

3 Flaying Tendrils

4 Exquisite Firecraft

[/Sideboard Suggestions]

[/deck]

Abzan got a lot of great cards to replace some of its already really good cards. It will be the most heavily played deck again, especially since it got better ways to deal with the Rally decks. I’ll be glad when [card]Siege Rhino[/card] rotates out of Standard.

[deck title= Abzan Aggro]

[Creatures]

4 Warden of the First Tree

4 Sylvan Advocate

2 Den Protector

4 Anafenza, the Foremost

4 Siege Rhino

1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet

1 Wingmate Roc

1 Linvala, the Preserver

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

1 Silkwrap

4 Dromoka’s Command

4 Abzan Charm

4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

1 Murderous Cut

[/Spells]

[Land]

3 Shambling Vents

2 Hissing Quagmire

2 Canopy Vista

1 Sunken Hollow

1 Smoldering Marsh

4 Wooded Foothills

4 Windswept Heath

4 Flooded Strand

2 Forest

2 Plains

[/Land]

[Sideboard Suggestions]

1 Duress

2 Surge of Righteousness

3 Transgress the Mind

4 Flaying Tendrils

[/Sideboard Suggestions]

[/deck]

This is another deck that got some great new toys. Fortunately most of them are just sideboard cards, but some could end up being huge in the main in the right meta. I expect to see a lot of this deck in the near future, and I may even end up playing it myself.

[deck title= R/G Ramp]

[Creatures]

4 Hangarback Walker

4 Jaddi Offshoot

1 World Breaker

2 Dragonlord Atarka

2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

2 Kozilek, the Great Distortion

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

4 Ruin in their Wake

2 Sylvan Scrying

4 Nissa’s Pilgrimage

4 Explosive Vegetation

2 Hedron Archive

4 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

[/Spells]

[Land]

4 Sanctum of Ugin

2 Shrine of the Forsaken Gods

1 Sea Gate Wreckage

4 Evolving Wilds

9 Forest

2 Mountain

3 Wastes

[/Land]

[Sideboard Suggestions]

1 Spatial Contortion

2 Kozilek’s Return

3 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar

4 Thought-Knot Seer

[/Sideboard Suggestions]

[/deck]

This deck is a lot like the G/W Aggro decks from a few months ago that got hated out of the format. The new toys it got may push it back into being competitive again, but either way it looks like a lot of fun to play.

[deck title= G/W Tokens]

[Creatures]

4 Hangarback Walker

4 Warden of the First Tree

4 Den Protector

4 Knight of the White Orchard

4 Deathmist Raptor

4 Whisperwood Elemental

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

2 Dromoka’s Command

4 Oath of Gideon

3 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar

4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

[/Spells]

[Land]

4 Canopy Vista

4 Blossoming Sands

2 Foundry of the Consuls

4 Windswept Heath

5 Forest

4 Plains

[/Land]

[Sideboard Suggestions]

1 Arashin Cleric

2 Mastery of the Unseen

3 Surge of Righteousness

4 Valorous Stance

[/Sideboard Suggestions]

[/deck]

Now we have an update of my Enchantress list I was running a while back. The worst card was always [card]Suspension Field[/card], and a very good replacement is [card]Oath of Chandra[/card] which in long games could end up being recurred every turn to kill a creature. This deck is really good as long as Esper and R/G Ramp aren’t seeing a lot of play, as they are terrible matchups.

[deck title= Enchantress]

[Creatures]

4 Herald of the Pantheon

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

4 Myth Realized

4 Oath of Chandra

4 Silkwrap

4 Stasis Snare

2 Outpost Siege

4 Starfield of Nyx

4 Sigil of the Empty Throne

4 Quarantine Field

[/Spells]

[Land]

4 canopy Vista

2 Cinder Glade

2 Needle Spire

4 Windswept Heath

4 Wooded Foothills

2 Forest

8 Plains

[/Land]

[Sideboard Suggestions]

1 Celestial Flare

2 Surge of Righteousness

3 Radiant Flames

4 Suppression Bonds

[/Sideboard Suggestions]

[/deck]

With the printing of [card]Monastery Swiftspear[/card]s big brother [card]Stormchaser Mage[/card] a U/R Tempo decks seems like it could be a thing again. I’m very excited about the card myself, but am not sure it is competitive at the moment.

[deck title= U/R Tempo]

[Creatures]

4 Monastery Swiftspear

4 Zurgo Bellstriker

4 Stormchaser Mage

4 Jeskai Elder

4 Abbot of Keral Keep

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

4 Titan’s Strength

2 Fiery Impulse

4 Wild Slash

4 Dragon Fodder

2 Exquisite Firecraft

4 Treasure Cruise

[/Spells]

[Land]

4 Wandering Fumarole

4 Shivan Reef

4 Wooded Foothills

2 Island

6 Mountain

[/Land]

[Sideboard Suggestions]

1 Dispel

2 Rending Volley

3 Boiling Earth

4 Roast

[/Sideboard Suggestions]

[/deck]

This is the likely home for [card]Goblin Dark-Dwellers[/card], and being backed by a ton of lifegain will be hard to race. I expect a lot of Abzan players to make the leap to this if only to have an edge in the mirror.

[deck title= Abzan Red]

[Creatures]

4 Sylvan Advocate

4 Den Protector

3 Soulfire Grandmaster

4 Anafenza, the Foremost

4 Siege Rhino

2 Goblin Dark-Dwellers

1 Wingmate Roc

1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

2 Painful Truths

3 Kolaghan’s Command

2 Crackling Doom

3 Abzan Charm

1 Murderous Cut

[/Spells]

[Land]

4 Shambling Vents

2 Hissing Quagmire

2 Canopy Vista

1 Cinder Glade

1 Smoldering Marsh

2 Bloodstained Mire

4 Windswept Heath

2 Wooded Foothills

2 Forest

1 Mountain

2 Plains

3 Swamp

[/Land]

[Sideboard Suggestions]

1 Duress

2 Roast

3 Self-Inflicted Wound

4 Flaying Tendrils

[/Sideboard Suggestions]

[/deck]

That’s all I have for now. I’ll see you again for Brewing With Shadows Over Innistrad. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below and I will do my best to answer them.

Thanks for reading,

Josh Milliken