Last week I discussed Grixis Midrange for week one Standard. I ended up playing the deck at SCG Richmond, and I was able to pilot the deck to a top 32 finish. Grixis is genuinely fun to play, and I’m excited to tell you more about it.
Grixis Bolas
I recorded a deck tech in Richmond with Nick Miller during the event. You can watch that video to get my impressions from the tournament, but playing through the weekend helped me understand more of the deck’s strengths and weaknesses. Now that the metagame is forming, we can identify the best ways to focus and hone the list.
Strengths
This deck is built like Jund. It chains two-for-one effects like Nicol Bolas, the Ravager and Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God to grind out the opponent’s resources. Along with ample removal, the deck controls the board well. That really proved true over the course of the weekend.
I played against nine other midrange decks: four Esper Hero, three Sultai, plus Dimir Midrange and Non-Bant Flash. And I won eight of those nine matches, losing only to Esper with an unchecked Thief of Sanity. If the metagame continue to shifts towards midrange decks, Grixis will be a great contender.
What if the metagame leans more toward aggression? Mono Red was out in force last weekend at Richmond; it actually won the event. Red is very good and will continue to be good. While I did not play against Red during the event, I did play against Gruul Monsters twice, and it felt like a favorable matchup for Grixis. We have lifegain built into the removal spells—Moment of Craving, Vraska’s Contempt, and Enter the God-Eternals. The extra life buys you the time to deploy your bombs before you get run over. Unlike most slower decks, you can win quickly with Nicol Bolas, the Ravager.
Weaknesses
Enchantments! Grixis usually struggles against resolved enchantments, and that’s true here. One of Standard’s most common decks leans heavily on enchantments, and that can be a problem. I am looking at you, Wilderness Reclamation. Simic Nexus is a really hard match for the deck, especially game one. Grixis lacks answers to Search for Azcanta or Wilderness Reclamation, and they usually run away with the game once resolved.
Twelve cards come in from the sideboard to bring in to help swing momentum back your way. More discard and countermagic help fight on the correct axes. So far in testing this has been the only bad match up, though other decks with recursive inevitability may also have the advantage.
Going Forward
I am planning to play the deck again at the Syracuse Open next weekend. Here’s where I have the list right now:
Grixis Bolas Revised
| Creatures (8) 4 Thief of Sanity 4 Nicol Bolas, the Ravager Spells (26) 4 Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God 2 Liliana, Dreadhorde General 3 Bedevil 3 Cast Down 2 Moment of Craving 4 Thought Erasure 2 Chemister’s Insight 2 Enter the God-Eternals 2 Vraska’s Contempt 2 Tyrant’s Scorn | Lands (26) 4 Dragonskull Summit 4 Swamp 4 Drowned Catacomb 4 Watery Grave 4 Blood Crypt 3 Sulfur Falls 3 Steam Vents Sideboard (15) 3 Duress 3 Negate 1 Ritual of Soot 2 Unmoored Ego 2 Moment of Craving 2 Disdainful Stroke 1 Commence the Endgame 1 Enter the God-Eternals |
The big change? I’ve added two copies of Chemister’s Insight in the maindeck. I wanted some form of card selection, and jump-start works well if you mill it off Enter the God-Eternals. The “looting” can also come in handy game one against decks with no creatures to target with your removal.
To make room for the Insights and a second copy of Tyrant’s Scorn, I cut Angrath’s Rampage. That card was fine for the weekend but usually the worst removal spell.
The changes in the board were small but needed. I took out two Dreadhorde Invasion for Unmoored Ego, which is there mainly against Nexus. You can win a fair game against them, where each player takes the same number of turns.
Hopefully you enjoy this deck as much I do. Turn to the Bolas side!
Zack is a SCG grinder with one ultimate goal: getting to the Players Championship. Based out of NYC, you can find him in other cities every weekend trying to hit that goal. When he isn’t traveling he streams. Follow his journey on Twitter!