Standard Decklists with Innistrad: Crimson Vow

Last weekend there were plenty of Standard tournaments which included Crimson Vow's new cards. With that, we have an initial idea of how the metagame is shaping up and how the lists are doing. Unsurprisingly, Mono White, Mono Green and Izzet Control and Izzet Dragons remain the most popular decks. Some control lists appear and decks with Storm the Festival try to combat the aggro and that's what we'll talk about today.

Starting with the most popular of the weekend thanks to the addition of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben that changes the format a bit by punishing decks with too many spells like Izzet.

Mono White received great cards to take out fillers like Stonebinder's Familiar and Monk of the Open Hand. The new one-drop, Hopeful Initiate, is good as its training ability triggers easily, as all other creatures have greater power except for Luminarch Aspirant. Thalia really messes up any version of Izzet and control decks, as well as being useful in game 1 against Mono Green to delay Esika’s Chariot.

I believe the deck has become more solid with these creatures and Valorous Stance, removal for Lier, Disciple of the Drowned and Hullbreaker Horror, Izzet's new threat.

The other dominant aggro in the format is Mono Green which, as much as people try to answer it, they get overwhelmed by trampling creatures and cheap protection. As expected, many new high-impact cards entered the deck and the most important was Ascendant Packleader which fills the one-drop slot, empty until then, or with Jaspera Sentinel, that did not match the deck for being a conditional ramp, besides being a bad draw in the mid/late game.

We also realize that Ulvenwald Oddity is here to stay at the top of the curve, as its activated ability basically wins the game in almost any situation other than being a creature with a vengeance against the format's control and Izzets. Cemetery Prowler is the graveyard hate that we can use more copies on the sideboard if necessary, and it's a nice three-drop that has a good body to block and hit and can even reduce the cost of your spells.

Avabruck Caretaker, as I said in the set review, could be the ultimate curve-topper for the deck. Hexproof is a very difficult ability to interact with, even more so if ALL your creatures have it and still receive counters. Basically, she wins the game if she enters the board and transform. The problem is not having many cards with this mechanic, but Outland Liberator can fulfill that role.

Izzet is a bit different without the Alrund's Epiphany's combo with Galvanic Iteration and that's all thanks to Lier's combination with Hullbreaker Horror. The deck is now centered around these two creatures that control the board very well and win the game quickly instead of a slow combo that often doesn't hold the game until later turns.

When the Kraken enters the battlefield, if there is no answer in 1 or 2 turns, the game is over. Izzet has no definitive answers for it, just Divide By Zero or doubling/tripping removals with Galvanic Iteration. Against aggro decks, the tempo play of returning a creature to the hand every time we cast a spell makes it problematic to deal with, it's like the other side of the board is taking consecutive extra turns because there's no point in playing anything if they come back to the hand on the next turn.

The Izzet Dragons is very similar to the previous lists with few updates, like the new dual land and a Hullbreaker on the sideboard. This list was used by the MPL Player Arne Huschenbeth last weekend, reaching Day 2 of Red Bull Untapped.

Manaform Hellkite has yet to find its place in the format as it is good at attacking but bad at blocking as its tokens are exiled at the end of the turn. Basically, the deck remains solid, but it seems to me a worse option than Izzet Control.

A less-targeted deck, but with potential in the format, is Esper Control, which is a Dimir with splash for Vanishing Verse, a very well-placed removal for dealing with practically all the main cards in the format. I honestly think it's a worse than Izzet because the red removals can handle any creature from the aggro decks, but as decks with Hullbreaker become more popular, Esper or Dimir emerge as good options for dealing with the Kraken with Verse or Soul Shatter at instant speed. Apart from that, discard spells in matchups between controls are always good and give an advantage in knowing what you are playing against.

Two quick highlights of the deck are Wash Away and Parasitic Grasp. The new counterspell is good against decks that heavily leverage the graveyard and/or foretell zone, such as Epiphany decks.

However, it doesn't seem to be good against Lier and Hullbreaker, even though it can pay 3 mana and counter any spell, for the simple fact that Divide By Zero generates a 2-for-1, despite only returning the spell to the owner's hand. The new removal is good against aggressive decks because gaining 3 life is always relevant and 3 damage kills most creatures in those decks. For creatures with 4 or more toughness from Mono White and Mono Green, we have Vanishing Verse and Soul Shatter.

The last deck of the article is an Orzhov Control, played by the Brazilian player Felipe Landim, winner of the Crokeyz tournament. The idea of ​​the deck is never to lose to aggro, and the entire list is built on top of that, from the creatures to the planeswalkers and the almost infinite removals. All creatures have effects when they enter or leave the battlefield, making exchanges bad for the other side, and it's interesting to use 4 copies of Edgar, Charmed Groom.

Crimson Vow's fiancé isn't good in his first form, but against aggro the important part is the verse that creates a 1/1 token with lifelink at the beginning of your upkeep. At first glance it's not a high-impact four-drop, but it handles the game very well and only cards like Skyclave Apparition deals with it.

The problem with the deck is that it's pretty bad against any Izzet deck, whether with extra turns or not, but this list is relentless in a field dominated by aggros.

The point is that Izzet Control has shown itself strong in the weekend's tournaments, and it might become the best deck in the coming weeks with more prepared lists for the mirror match, and if that happens, Orzhov Control isn't exactly the best positioned deck to deal with it.

That's it for today! I hope you enjoyed these lists from the first week of Innistrad: Crimson Vow, I'll definitely be back with more content on the format

Any questions, comments or feedback I'm available in the comments below.