Welcome Magic lovers!
As we close in on the upcoming Magic Pro Tour at Magiccon Las Vegas this week, many players are trying to determine which, if any, of the new Final Fantasy cards will have an impact on the format.
While there have been a few Magic Online Challenges to glean data from, there haven't been that many tournaments of significant size since the latest set released last week. What we have seen is that the Standard metagame is still composed primarily of the same top decks that previously ruled over the format. That elite group includes: Izzet Cori-steel Cutter, Omniscience Combo, Domain ramp, Mono-red Aggro, and Dimir Midrange. Everything else is a significant step below those decks in terms of win rate and metagame share.
The question remains, if the Final Fantasy set release hasn't created any fresh, new archetypes, which individual cards are seeing play in existing, proven deck lists?
Today, we'll go over which cards have managed to find a home in the existing top decks in Standard during these first few weeks.
Vivi Ornitier
The blue-red Cori-Steel Cutter deck continues to be the most-played archetype in Standard, making up about 30% of the metagame share over the last couple of weeks. While its core gameplan remains the same, it did pick up a powerful new Final Fantasy tool in Vivi Ornitier.
Vivi seems like a perfect fit for the deck. Not only is it in the right color identity, but it’s stats are quite relevant and it has an incredible ability which synergizes perfectly with what the deck is already hoping to achieve.
First, being a creature with three toughness in Standard is fantastic right now as many of the red decks were running Burst Lightning as removal, while many of their creatures only had two power. This is why Drake Hatcher began replacing Slickshot Show-Off in many of the Izzet Cori-Steel lists, as it not only dodged any Shock effects the opponent played and blocked 2/2 monk tokens, but also presented a must-answer threat. While Vivi hasn't replaced Drake Hatchers, it works beautifully alongside them to play defense when necessary.
However, it's Vivi's other abilities which really allow it to earn its place in the most popular deck in Standard. With its 'super prowess' ability to get +1/+1 counters every time one casts a non-creature spell, it quickly and permanently grows out of range of most damage-based removal, as the deck plays a plethora of cheap cantrips and burn spells. This, in turn, fuels its capacity to generate a ton of blue or red mana by activating its first ability, which then makes it easy to keep casting even more spells while continuing to pump both Vivi and the rest of the team.
It would be hard to design a better card for the Cori-Steel decks than Vivi Ornitier, as it seems tailor-made for this archetype. If you're playing Izzet, you should be running at least two or three Vivi, and if you're not on this deck, you should definitely have a plan for beating this legendary wizard.
Ultima
Wait, there's yet another white sweeper in Standard? That's right, and unlike Sunfall and Day of Judgement, this one actually lines up quite well against the current metagame.
While blue-white based control decks currently make up only 3% of the Standard metagame, in the right hands, they're still a force to be reckoned with. Chris Botelho came one match away from winning the Regional Championship in Hartford with Azorius Control and an updated list just came in 2nd place at the Magic Online RC Super Qualifier that just happened this week.
In the latest lists, Ultima has completely replaced Day of Judgement as the go-to sweeper, backed up by a pair of Temporary Lockdown on three mana. This swap has been a huge upgrade for the deck for several reasons.
First, Ultima's ability to not just wipe away all the creatures, but all the artifacts as well is a huge boon, especially considering the best card in the most-played deck in the format is an artifact. Unfortunately for the deck brewers, this also means that any heavily artifact-based decks, such as those built around Simulacrum Synthesizer, are effectively unplayable with Ultima in the format.
While the upside of Ultima against a deck like Izzet Cori-Steel Cutter is obvious, what may not be quite so apparently powerful is the second line of text. However, Ultima's ability to end the turn once it resolves is actually rather relevant against many of the best threats in Standard.
For those who may not realize how ‘ending the turn’ works when stapled to a spell, it effectively neutralizes any abilities triggered by the spell resolving, and creatures dying, as the turn ends before those creatures’ death triggers go on the stack.
This means no Heartfire Hero or Cacophony Scamp trigger upon resolving Ultima against the red decks. Enduring Curiosity won't come back as an enchantment when one sweeps it away with this new control tool. Unholy Annex won't draw a card on end step as there will be no end step.
Ultima's ability to end the turn ends up being far more relevant against many of the top decks than most players realize, and when combined with its ability to deal with pesky artifacts that wouldn't normally hit the bin, like vehicles and equipment, it's no surprise that the control decks have eschewed the other sweepers for the new kid on the block.
Yuna, Hope of Spira
The last card that's starting to make waves in Standard during the run-up to the Pro Tour is another legendary creature, Yuna, Hope of Spira, which has started to see some play in the Domain Ramp shells that have been a mainstay in tier one for what feels like years now.
Yuna’s passive ability to give trample, lifelink and ward 2 to all creatures one controls is obviously very powerful. It makes it impossible for the opponent to race with damage, as long as one controls even one other creature. The ward 2 also makes it rather difficult for opponents to interact with the Domain pilot’s creatures on their turn, forcing opposing players to make awkward plays, like casting instant-speed removal during their own turns.
However, it's the last half of Yuna's text box that really pushed it over the top. Being able to immediately recur a potent enchantment from the graveyard to the battlefield on the same turn that one plays Yuna is extremely powerful. Bringing back almost anything in the deck, from one of the imposing Overlords, to Up the Beanstalk, Leyline Binding or even High Noon can be back-breaking. In fact, the deck can easily kill without attacking by simply sacrificing High Noon to deal five damage, and then recurring it over the next few turns with Yuna to keep throwing Lava Axe at the opponent's face until they die.
While that may not be the most common route to victory, it simply illustrates how powerful Yuna, Hope of Spira is. She is a sticky, yet must-kill threat, that will take over the game very quickly if left to her own devices. At the very least, she allows for a huge life-swing as well as casting an enchantment out of the graveyard for free, all while making herself and the rest of the team rather difficult to kill the turn she comes down. That's a lot of value for five mana.
That's all for today, but hopefully Magiccon Vegas and the upcoming Final Fantasy Pro Tour showcase even more potent cards from the new set!
