Now that Core Set 2021 has been given some opportunity to percolate in the wilds, it’s time to delve back into the Arena to see what we experience.
We played two decks today, both Control decks. Though one was in Esper colors and the other was in Sultai.
The thing this recording impressed upon me the most is just how important Green is to a control strategy in this current standard. Uro and Growth Spiral are such vital cards to the strategy, because they smooth out our progression in many important ways. Both of them help us sift through our deck faster, and accelerate our land drops so that we can play those cards early. Uro in particular also serves as a win condition if our opponent is unable to remove him once he escapes. The sheer value of a single attack, even if he’s blocked and dies in combat, can seriously keep us in the game when he’s otherwise run out of gas.
Nissa is also an extremely valuable piece that control decks lose out on if they don’t stay in Green. She increases our mana output, generates bodies we can both attack and block with, and if she ultimates our opponent will have a nearly impossible time trying to deal with the Elementals she created along the way.
Until War of the Spark rotates out in the fall, building a midrange or control deck with that basic shell just seems like asking for trouble.
That said, I’m impressed with some of what I’ve been seeing from M21 in this session. Though it was frustrating to go against, that final 4-color Superfriends deck was impressive in it’s staying power. Without the lifegain from their Interplanar Beacons, they would have definitely lost. And I also have a soft spot for mill. So while I crushed that mill deck, I can help but respect that game.
Hopefully, as the meta develops we’ll start to see more interesting decks develop. That said, it’s hard to debate Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. Seeing it go off like that was scary.
This promises to be an interesting time.
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