Last season we saw a battle between Boros Heroic and Izzet Control for the tittle of deck to beat, with Dimir Devotion and White Weenies as close contenders, while Mono U Control and Azorius Control (both Izzet Control spin offs) would also make regular appearances in the top charts.
Match ups were somehow balanced, with Boros having a slight edge over Izzet, which had advantage over Dimir, which was well tuned to beat Boros. WW could beat all of them, but was very weak to sweepers. But suddenly a new deck arrived and apparently it's here to stay. Here is the latest list from Forli, winning MPDC 28.04 undefeated (and not really sure about the numbers of Jeskai Sage and Refocus because these cards are still not in PDCMagic database):
Azorius Heroic (or Heroic Cruise, as Forli calls it) is not very different from Boros Heroic. It plays a bunch of heroic creatures and a bigger bunch of cheap spells that either protect those creatures or cantrip, making them bigger at the same time. The main differences, in my opinion, are the inclusion of Treasure Cruise and a design choice made by Forli (who ignited the recent resurgence of this archetype).
Treasure Cruise is an overpowered card we all know that. Heroic decks naturally drop a lot of cheap spells in the graveyard, making the inclusion of Cruise in the deck very smooth. This was tried before and AmericanGaren even got a tournament win in SPDC 27.09 with a similar list, but he didn't play that much cantrips and had a sub theme of making a creature with Prowess and Hexproof unblockable (which is always great). Forli's deck looks better tuned to take real advantage of Cruise and that's why he can play 4 of them.
Also, compared to other recent Heroic decks (usually Boros), Forli's deck is somehow returning to the gameplan of pre-KTK Heroic decks with the inclusion of four Hopeful Eidolons in the main deck. This means this deck doesn't rush for the kill (even if it is very fast) like Boros and it can race more aggressive decks or late game Gray Merchants of Asphodel with lifelink backed by protection spells. Hopeful Eidolon wasn't really required by Boros, since the deck aimed to kill Izzet before their card draw onslaught started and that gameplay was reliable against most other decks, so the eidolon was relegated to sideboard option against other aggressive decks. Forli's deck also has a more generous mana base, less prone to not being able to cast his spells, but a bit more susceptible to bad topdecks.
Maybe it is too soon to assure that Azorius is a stronger heroic deck than Boros, but it is surely well tuned for the heroic battle.
So how would you deal with it? I had a taste yesterday of how it feels facing these decks. My first thought was running DrChrisBakerDC's Anti-Heroic, Heroic deck but, as usual, just before the tournament I assembled a bunch of cards that I have not tested together and took them to the fight. Here is my list:
I don't advise you to use this list as it is, because it is clearly flawed. The game plan was to use Tormenting Voice, Rakshasa's Secret and Generator Servant to fuel Delve so I could get aggressive with Gurmag Angler or draw a huge amount of cards with Cruise, further playing a bunch of Garies, while also attacking my opponent's hand. The power was clearly there, but it lacked consistency. There were games when I wouldn't let my opponent play and it felt great, but my plan had holes and in the top 4 match I failed due to not being able to capitalize every time my opponent was off balance. Generator Servant felt like a very wrong choice, since I didn't profit from it a single time and three Treasure Cruises were not enough for card draw, since Tormenting Voice is not that great in top deck mode. Collateral Damage and Jeskai Sage out of the sideboard were great and maybe deserve main deck status, while Mnemonic Wall and Unmake the Graves were not good when I had them, but were missed when sided out. I haven't faced a heavy control deck like Izzet Cruise and I would probably fail miserably against them without a huge amount of luck, but I was aware of that since the beginning.
After playing the tournament, this is the list I would use next time I want to play this deck:
Dragons of Tarkir
Spoiler season is over and I like this set very much. I'm not sure about the power level yet, but the new Exploit mechanic is sweet and pushed for commons as is the returning Rebound. You can check the full set review by our fellow clan mate DrChrisBakerDC here. Our captain gwyned has been talking about the best white commons in the set while we wait for his traditional complete review. Cabel the Pauper returned to his blogging duties and you can also check his set critique where he analyses the cards not only by a gameplay perspective, but also from a design point of view. And we can also expect a full review from the MagicGatheringStrat Show coming soon at magicgatheringstrat.com.
With so many nice Standard Pauper DTK reviews around, I'm not making my set review this time. But next time I'll bring you some DTK brews to get us started with the new set and my opinion about the best cards in the set.
Until then, go find a way to break that nice Azorius Heroic deck. I see you at SPDC and MPDC.
Have a good one!
rremedio
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