Slaying the Standard Boogeyman Mark Nestico 3/25/2013 11:00:00 AM Tweet » Print «

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The boogeyman can come in all shapes in sizes.Sometimes it's a scaly, decrepit monster with sharp teeth and coal black eyes. It waits under your bed for you to fall asleep. It could be a slithering beast with a forked tongue that remains coiled in your closet ready to strike at you at a moment's notice. Maybe it's that freaking creepy thing from ‘The Grudge'? Whatever form it may take, at the end of the day it is what you fear.In Magic, a boogeyman means one simple thing: the best deck in the format.As the years have gone by, we have seen our fair share of the most powerful deck our game has to offer. From Jund to Valakut, Caw-Blade to UW Delver, Magic usually has a way of setting up a Goliath and we must act as David in order to defeat it.For the last several months, RtR/Innistrad/M13 standard has given us the benefit of a very wide open format. We had been blessed to play a bevy of decks and for a time, it was clear that one strategy wasn't strictly better than another.That is, until, the boogeyman finally emerged.Junk Reanimator is the deck to beat at the present moment. Looking at the results, not only has it won the last two SCG Opens, but also last week's TCGplayer $5kthe MOCS. When you see a hulking juggernaut barreling towards you, do you stand in its path or do you try to find a way to trip the behemoth?Ready your proton packs, kiddies. We're hunting boogeymen.This week I'll be doing battle at the first day of the SCG Open in Orlando. Going into the event, I am certain of three things: mortality, taxes, and Reanimator. Gaze upon Public Enemy #1.Will Craddock, I could punch you right in the face.Ascertaining that the mirror match would be among the most prevalent things he'd be doing in Kansas City, Will opted for the Craterhoof Behemoth version that has been putting up such excellent results on the tournament circuit lately. This version takes special care to not lose to cards like Rest in Peace , playing three copies of Acidic Slime and Abrupt Decay , not to mention the beautiful Vraska the Unseen to try to ensure it doesn't fall prey to the 1W enchantment.This deck is a remarkably efficient killing machine. What has changed so much between now and the pre-Gatecrash format that has turned this deck into a powerhouse where before it found a degree of difficulty gaining footing?When I sleeved Junk Reanimator up months ago, the most powerful two decks for beating it were Bant Control (playing main deck Rest in Peace ) and Rakdos Aggro. Your Junk deck had to obtain a nearly perfect draw that allowed for you to overcome the BR decks very fast, very consistent draw. Usually, they curved from one-drop all the way up to Hellrider , and you'd take losses based on your stumbling. Against Bant, they packed counterspells, Supreme Verdict Terminus , and the aforementioned Rest in Peace to make your game ones a nightmare, grinding you into the ground after very long starting match.These decks, for as good as they were, eventually were pushed out of the format by other, more aggressive decks ushered in by Gatecrash. These Naya Blitz and Jund Aggro decks attacked the format in a different way, and killed you just as quickly, but with much more of a glass cannon approach powered off of the back of cards like Burning-Tree Emissary and Ghor-Clan Rampager . Before, you were facing off against cards that could trade with a Thragtusk like Geralf's Messenger , or could power through it while doing tons of damage like Hellrider . Today, those cards are a tad scarcer in the format, and Junk Reanimator is able to flourish while not having to worry about dying on turn four or five to cards it cannot race. Now, it is able to drop a Centaur Healer and blank 90% of the Blitz deck while generating three life.We must use more cunning, less antiquated approaches now when it comes to facing this powerful threat.First and foremost, I would start with something like this:Esper has long been a fine strategy against Junk Reanimator, often being cited as one of its worst matchups. While I find that to be a slight exaggeration, it does present many tools necessary in order to combat the menace. Aside from a Counterspell package that allows for RFG, Esper also provides a multitude of sweepers that Junk must fight through, all while providing a bit of mill-related pressure. After board it becomes abundantly clear that goal numero uno is to shut down the main source of Junk: the graveyard. If this happens, you force Junk into becoming a fairer midrange deck which a deck like Esper can more easily handle.I favor a build like this because of the versatility it offers. I'm a habitual Forbidden Alchemy caster, and I enjoy the way it gives you a humungous amount of reach against all the midrange decks as well as any potential control mirrors you may face or against the ever-so popular UWR decks still floating around out there. The board is set up to be strong against the field, while still giving you a fair edge over Junk, which is one of your most expected matchups.Another deck that I find an attractive option is Prime Speaker Bant. I love this deck, and it is rapidly replacing UWR as my deck of choice for the format. After two of my teammates Sheridan and John played the deck last week at the TCGplayer $5K, I saw firsthand how powerful this deck can truly be. This weekend saw James Scott pilot a different, more midranged version of the deck to a Top 4 finish. When I saw his build, my mind clicked. This was it! This was the version that we had been looking for all along! When my team played the deck, it was muddled with multiple one-drops in an attempt to power out some of the more powerful threats like Prime Speaker Zegana Garruk, Primal Hunter , and Angel of Serenity . Now, instead of being at the mercy of your draws in that you may peel an Arbor Elf on turn ten, you're only drawing powerful spells for most of the game.Isn't she pretty?I find this build to be almost perfect for what we're trying to achieve. It has multiple layers, and that is something I usually enjoy about playing a deck. The first layer provides you with safety, since cards like Azorius Cham and Loxodon Smiter can offer you the type of pillow fort you'll need against all the fast decks, where Prime Speaker Zegana and Sphinx's Revelation will draw you tons of cards to combat all the midrange and control decks.How it beats Junk, though, that's what we are after. Game one doesn't appear to be terribly pleasant, and I could see it being a little hard to power through their quick reanimation. Angel of Serenity can be beaten, since packing your own can often blank theirs and give you plenty of time to set up your powerful draws. Craterhoof Behemoth is where the difficulties lie, since an Unburial Rites into him can often mean way more damage than necessary to kill you and there is very little you can do about it.After board, however, things perk up! A few Counterspell s give a little bit of breathing room, but a deck like Prime Speaker can slam a Rest in Peace to create a stumbling block that will give you more than enough time to set up a board state that will overwhelm your reanimator opponent with superior creatures.Changes that I would make to James Scott's deck are minimal at most. Garruk Relentless was a card that I was insanely impressed with during testing against virtually all of the field, and I might want it in some measure in this deck. Loading up on Supreme Verdict s three-through-four seems a touch excessive, and I might consider cutting one of them to make way for another Negate or something to shore up the Jund matchup, since despite poor positioning the deck is still making a reasonable showing at every event. Luckily, the deck is so strong against aggro strategies that very little in the way of boarding is needed to improve the matchup.This weekend, I will be most likely to be battling with one of these two decks that I've shared with you. I feel like either choice will give the best chance for taking down Junk Reanimator multiple times, and believe me, I'm sure it will be multiple times that I'll have to.This Saturday will mark the first time in months that I've battled with a non-UWR deck, so I'm a little excited to say the least. SCG always brings out a fantastic tournament, but in the face of the 300+ person TCG Open that just occurred, they have a very tall order to fill.I hope to see some of you there, so if you come out, feel free to hang out in between rounds! (If you're also venturing into a tournament this weekend, remember to heed the reassuring words that your parents gave you when you were but a child: “the boogeyman isn't real.”Junk Reanimator is just a deck. It might bedeck right now, but like the man himself, Jesse Ventura, said: “if it bleeds, we can kill it.”Slay the boogeyman. MakefearCatch ya on the flip-Mark