It’s spring. I live for the spring. All the things that the spring means to me come alive: ridin’ bikes, day drinking, naked skin (someone said to me last night, “Are those tattoos new?”), and a general apathy toward the current Standard meta. People start getting weird! The meta has settled on Reanimator followed by Naya Blitz with a dash of Esper Control. That’s nice and all but you can expect that, in the effort to eke out an edge, there will be some serious rogue brews afoot. I mean, gimme a break, folks are maindecking Fog! My card for tech of the week is Cower in Fear.
So many Pilgrims, Elves, and Sages are out there running around with Snapcasters and spirit tokens… Humble your opponent’s Craterhoof by laughing at his 5/5 haster for eight mana. It’s an option, is all I’m saying.
What am I playing this week?
In Standard I’m still on Esper Control. I’m running Ghost Quarters and I’m running more counters. Eight board wipes (including Planar Cleansing) and I may run two Jace, Architect of Thought as well.
In Modern I’m on UWR Geist but I think I may switch to control or maybe Gifts. Either way folks are wise to the Geist. And Bolt seems bad vs. all these four-toughness guys. When the meta gets midrange then I say go control. Actually, lets be honest, I say go control a lot. You ordered a tuna on rye? I’ll be durdling this week.
In Legacy last week, I played my fish deck! Round one I got Tim “Evil” Apkinar in G1 (the threat density was too damned high). Game two I kept a slow one—should have mulled—and got Counterbalanced out of the game once Energy Field/Rest in Peace hit the board. Game three was more of a grind, as I was able to swim, but Tim stabilized and my meager board presence + his Humility bought him enough time to no-damage combo me again. Sidenote kids: Pithing Needle naming Counterbalance is for Nerds. Name Top. Its abilities are activated.
It’s amazing out today so you can bet I’ll be inside flopping cards til’ the sun goes down. Load up on SPF 45, kids. The sun will burn you faster than a Sligh deck circa 1996.
Zac Clark, Durdle Magus
State of the Meta is a Hipsters of the Coast column about the Constructed Metagame. Focused on Modern with occasional asides to Legacy, Standard, and finance, it is a commentary of the current trends in Constructed magic and a place that Zac Clark vents about the weekly TNM.