The arrival of Throne of Eldraine and rotation has shaken up standard. The first major national tournaments of Eldraine season were last weekend at Star City Games Philadelphia. Also, the Win Condition Cup qualifier for October was last Saturday. The results from these events give us an early look at how standard will develop over the rest of Eldraine season. The standard Classic, Team Open, and Win Condition events had a variety of decks, but the clear winner was Golos/Field of the Dead decks.
There are three versions of Golos/Field of the Dead and all finished well at the events: Bant Golos, Golos Fires, and Sultai Golos. Each version used 28 or 29 lands, most of the lands were dual lands to maximize the effect of Field of the Dead. SCG Team Open was so dominated by the deck that most of the standard matches were mirrors.
Expect Golos/Field of the Dead to remain the top deck in the format until a deck is developed that can counter Field of the Dead’s zombie army or overrun the deck before Field of the Dead can be activated. Those of you who have played or played against Field of the Dead know that the deck can stumble at times, if it gets multiple copies of the same land before seven different lands are in play. This is how I usually defeat the deck.
Let’s look at the three versions of the deck. Then I will look at some strategies for fighting Golos.
The Bant version of the deck did very well. Alex Hon won the Win Condition Cup Qualifier with Bant Golos and Felix Sloo finished second at the Star City Games Classic Philadelphia. Below is Sloo’s deck.
Bant Golos, Felix Sloo, 2nd Place at Star City Games Standard Classic Philadelphia
| Creatures (17) 1 Fae of Wishes 2 Realm-Cloaked Giant 2 Beanstalk Giant 1 Kenrith, the Returned King 4 Golos, Tireless Pilgrim 3 Arboreal Grazer 4 Hydroid Krasis Planeswalker (2) 2 Teferi, Time Raveler Instants (8) 4 Once Upon a Time 4 Growth Spiral Sorcery (4) 4 Circuitous Route Land (29) 4 Field of the Dead 4 Fabled Passage 1 Blossoming Sands 1 Thornwood Falls 1 Tranquil Cove 1 Temple of Mystery 1 Gruul Guildgate 1 Simic Guildgate 1 Dimir Guildgate 1 Azorius Guildgate 1 Selesnya Guildgate 1 Hallowed Fountain 1 Breeding Pool 1 Steam Vents 1 Temple Garden 1 Overgrown Tomb 2 Island 2 Forest 1 Mountain 2 Plains | Sideboard (15) 1 Realm-Cloaked Giant 1 Kenrith, the Returned King 2 Oko, Thief of Crowns 2 Agent of Treachery 2 Aether Gust 3 Devout Decree 2 Deputy of Detention 2 Assassin’s Trophy |
Golos Fires performed well with Jeremy Bertarioni finishing second at the Star City Games Team Open event.
Golos Fires, Jeremy Bertarioni, 2nd Place at Star City Games Team Open on 10/5/2019
Finally, Sultai Golos finished in fourth place at the Star City Games Team Open.
Sultai Golos, Zach Allen, 4th Place at Star City Games Team Open on 10/5/2019
One approach to take against Golos/Field of the Dead is an aggressive aggro deck. Mono-Red, Mono-Black, and Rakdos Aggro are all options against the deck. The goal is to overwhelm Golos before it gets its seventh different land on the field. This strategy works because the Golos deck wants to spend its resources early in the game to get out extra lands, so it tends to not interact much with an opponent early in the game. Creatures with haste are especially effective because they can get in early damage and can help finish off Golos by turn five or six. Below is John Phillip Whetstone’s Mono-Red from last weekend.
Finally, Sultai Golos finished in fourth place at the Star City Games Team Open.
Mono-Red Aggro, John Phillip Whetstone, 15th Place Star City Games Classic Philadelphia
| Creatures (22) 4 Fervent Champion 2 Torbran, Thane of Red Fell 4 Rimrock Knight 4 Bonecrusher Giant 4 Scorch Spitter 4 Runaway Steam-Kin Instants (8) 4 Slaying Fire 4 Shock Sorcery (8) 4 Skewer the Critics 4 Light Up the Stage Enchantment (2) 2 Experimental Frenzy Land (20) 3 Castle Embereth 17 Mountain | Sideboard (15) 2 Torbran, Thane of Red Fell 4 Claim the Firstborn 2 Flame Sweep 2 Tibalt, Rakish Instigator 4 Lava Coil 1 Experimental Frenzy |
This version of Mono-Red wants to keep the speed of the previous version of the deck and increase the amount of burn that can be played against an opponent. It uses Rimrock Knight’s adventure to add two damage to an unblocked creature or to a creature that can kill one of your opponent’s creatures. Then you get to cast Rimrock Knight as a 3/1 aggressive attacker. Scorch Spitter provides a second one drop to go with Fervent Champion. Getting one or both creatures out over the first few turns puts pressure on your opponent that must be answered or when Torbran comes into play damage will pile up quickly.
The more mid-range version of Mono-Red that I am playing has worked very well against Golos. I have better than a 50%-win rate against the deck. My version of the deck replaces Runaway Steam-kin with Robber of the Rich, Experimental Frenzy with Fires of Invention, and Skewer the Critics with Skarrgan Hellkite. I prefer these choices because it gives me the ability to attach more aggressively and getting to take away opponent’s cards with Robber is a powerful ability when you have Fire’s of Invention in play.
Another strong performer last week was Selesnya Adventures.
Selesnya Adventures, Aaron Barich, 1st Placeat Star City Games Standard Classic Philadelphia
| Creatures (27) 4 Shepherd of the Flock 4 Questing Beast 4 Lovestruck Beast 4 Faerie Guidemother 2 Flaxen Intruder 4 Edgewall Innkeeper 4 Venerated Loxodon 1 Knight of Autumn Planeswalker (1) 1 Gideon Blackblade Instants (8) 4 Once Upon a Time 1 Unbreakable Formation 3 Flower//Flurish Land (24) 4 Castle Ardenvale 4 Temple Garden 8 Plains 8 Forest | Sideboard (15) 2 Glass Casket 2 Devout Decree 1 Gideon Blackblade 1 Unbreakable Formation 1 Trostani Discordant 4 March of the Multitudes 2 Conclave Tribunal 2 Knight of Autumn |
Two versions of adventures saw play this past weekend. The Selesnya version above and a Golgari version. Both are powerful and can effectively take on Golos. The key card in the deck is Edgewall Innkeeper. It draws you a card every time you play a creature with an adventure. The extra card draw gives these decks good tempo that can close out a game before Golos can fill the battlefield with zombie.