Standard

From Judge Wiki

Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

Introduction

Standard (formerly referred to as Type II) is a Constructed format consisting of the two most recent blocks and any core sets released after either of those blocks. With the exception of basic land cards (and Relentless Rats), a player's combined deck and sideboard may not contain more than four copies of any individual card, counted by its English card name (note: Snow-Covered basic lands are only permitted in formats that allow cards from Ice Age block constructed sets.) Standard rotates once per year with the introduction of a new block in the fall.


As of February 3, 2012, Standard consists of cards released in the following sets:

· Scars of Mirrodin
· Mirrodin Besieged
· New Phyrexia
· Magic 2012 Core Set
· Innistrad
. Dark Ascension

No cards are currently banned in the Standard format

Standard card keywords and mechanics

This section links to all the current keywords and card mechanics that are present in the current Q1 2012 Standard environment.


Battle Cry · Bloodthirst · Double-Faced Cards · Flashback · Imprint
Infect · Intimidate · Living Weapon · Miracle · Morbid · Metalcraft · Proliferate· Soulbond · Transform · Undying

Common Decks

Birthing Pod

  • Description: A deck centered around its namesake card, Birthing Pod, and a suite of utility creatures, often with enters-the-battlefield abilities, to be fetched with it.
  • Colors: typically three-color, pairing green with any of white/blue, blue/red, white/red or blue/black. Occasionally plays creatures outside its own colors, using Birthing Pod to get them into play.

Potential issues:

  • Birthing Pod's ability has a timing restriction: "only any time you could cast a sorcery."
  • Mana cost is a copiable characteristic; thus, Phantasmal Image and Phyrexian Metamorph will have the converted mana cost of whatever they copy.
  • Phyrexian Metamorph can copy Birthing Pod. If it does, it will be an artifact but not a creature.
  • Phantasmal Image's added type of Illusion and its triggered ability are part of the copy effect and thus are copiable. If something else copies Phantasmal Image, it will also gain the Illusion type and the triggered ability.


Delver of Spirits

Potential issues:

  • Delver of Secrets: Players might forget to use the triggered ability at the beginning of the upkeep and just draw a card. The instructions for the trigger include “may” and don’t specify a consequence for not doing it. Assume they decided not to use it.
  • Drogskol Captain: This card grants Hexproof to other Spirits the player controls. Opponents tend to forget and attempt to kill off other spirit threats such as Dungeon Geists.
  • Snapcaster Mage: If a player chooses a card that has Phyrexian mana in its cost they may choose to pay life. Also, if a chosen card already has Flashback they may choose to pay the Flashback cost or its mana cost.


Frites

  • Description: A “dredge” style deck that fills its own graveyard as much as possible in order to gain card advantage through its flashback spells and reanimates Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite.
  • Colors: Green, White, Blue, Black and Red

Potential issues:

  • There is a potential for slow play as some players may riffle through their own graveyard repeatedly. A good way to avoid this is have them fan out their own graveyard.
  • In Standard, it is ok for players to sort out their graveyard and put the relevant cards on top.
  • The player may incorrectly tap their lands and attempt to illegally cast a spell. This error is quite common since it is a five color deck. If you are the head judge of your event please follow the guidelines provided in the IPG for rewinding. If you are not, you must get the backup approved by the head judge.
  • When the opponent’s creatures are affected by Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and their toughness would be reduced to 0 upon entering the battlefield that player will not be able to utilize that creature for any effects. Examples: sacrificing it to cast Fling or sacrificing it to its own ability such as Fume Spitter. The reason being is that these creatures are put into their owners graveyard, due to State Based Actions, and their controller does not have an opportunity to do anything before State Based Actions are checked. Similarly, a creature's Enters the Battlefield trigger will trigger, but will be put onto the stack after the creature has been put into its owner’s graveyard.


G/W Tokens

Potential issues:

  • If continuous effects (say, from Intangible Virtue) raise the power of a creature above 2, that creature will not trigger Mentor of the Meek's ability.
  • Shrine of Loyal Legions' triggered ability is mandatory at Regular REL and lapsing at Competitive+ REL.
  • Tokens musts be distinctive and identifiable so that players don't confuse Myr tokens with Human tokens.

Mono Green

Potential issues:

  • Garruk Relentless//Garruk, the Veil-Cursed: You can’t activate a loyalty ability of Garruk Relentless and then activate a loyalty ability of Garruk, the Veil-Cursed the same turn it transforms.
  • Phyrexian Metamorph: If Phyrexian Metamorph was a copy of a creature with Undying and it dies and returns to the battle field due to undying, the controller does not have to choose a new creature to copy - it will then be a 1/1 with no abilities due to its +1/+1 counter.
  • Strangleroot Geist: If a Strangleroot Geist with a +1/+1 counter is blocked by a creature with Infect and gains enough -1/-1 counters for it to die, Undying will not trigger.
  • The deck does run a few non-green creatures. Players must be mindful that Green Sun's Zenith cannot retrieve these.


Mono-Red

  • Description: Red deck running small, efficient creatures and direct damage.
  • Colors: red, occasionally splashing green-producing lands to activate Kessig Wolf Run or flash back Ancient Grudge.

Potential issues:

  • Stromkirk Noble's triggered ability is mandatory at Regular REL and lapsing at Competitive+ REL.
  • Shrine of Burning Rage's triggered ability is mandatory at Regular REL and lapsing at Competitive+ REL.
  • Chandra's Phoenix only triggers when damage is dealt by a red instant, sorcery or planeswalker, and not by a red creature. The triggered ability is mandatory at Regular REL and lapsing at Competitive+ REL.

Solar Flare

  • Description: controlling deck which uses permission and removal, combined with a heavy graveyard theme; many cards have flashback or can be granted flashback by Snapcaster Mage, and Unburial Rites and/or Sun Titan are used to retrieve creatures from the graveyard.
  • Colors: white/blue/black

Potential issues:

  • Due to the deck's tendency to stock its graveyard with flashback spells and reanimation targets, and to make use of Snapcaster Mage, players are often playing out of their graveyards as often as they are playing out of their hands. This creates increased complexity which can easily result in Slow Play.


Tempered Steel

  • Description: Hyperfast aggressive deck using cheap artifact creatures and Tempered Steel.
  • Colors: white, with occasional splashes.

Potential issues:

Tezzeret

Potential issues:

  • Under the current Tournament Rules, it is permissible to look at a player's sideboard while controlling that player with Mindslaver.
  • Phyrexian Revoker can only name nonland cards, and can only name cards legal in the format. It can name a card which has no activated abilities; if a player asks "can I name (card with no activated abilities)", the answer is "yes" (Revoker's ability simply will not do anything useful in this case, but do not inform the player of that). Unlike Pithing Needle, Phyrexian Revoker does stop mana abilities.


U/B Control

  • Description: Classic control deck, using permission, removal and card advantage paired with a small number of win conditions.
  • Colors: blue/black

Potential issues:

  • This deck plays with Snapcaster Mage, Black Sun’s Zenith and sometimes Blue Sun’s Zenith. If a Zenith is in a graveyard and is targeted by the enters the battlefield ability of Snapcaster Mage, the spell will be exiled instead of being shuffled into the library while it is resolving. The library will not be shuffled.
  • Player A may put Bloodline Keeper's transform ability on the stack, and then Player B may respond with a removal such as Incinerate. Player A may instinctively respond by activating Bloodline Keeper's ability again. In this scenario Bloodline Keeper will become a 5/5, then have Incinerate mark 3 damage on it and will transform back into a 3/3. This being counterintuitive to Player A’s intentions since the creature will die as an end result.
  • Ratchet Bomb for 0 will destroy any double-faced cards that are being represented by the back side, which currently does not have a mana cost.
  • When a player's creatures are affected by 1 or more Curse of Death’s Hold and their toughness would be reduced to 0 upon entering the battlefield that player will not be able to utilize that creature for any effects. Examples: sacrificing it to cast Fling or sacrificing it to its own ability such as Fume Spitter. The reason being is that these creatures are put into their owners graveyard, due to State Based Actions, and their controller does not have an opportunity to do anything before State Based Actions are checked. Similarly, a creature's Enters the Battlefield trigger will trigger, but will be put onto the stack after the creature has been put into its owner’s graveyard.

U/B Zombies

  • Description: A near mono black aggro deck using 2 power 1 mana creatures and mortarpod or the ability of Geralf's Messenger for reach.
  • Undying is a triggered ability, meaning if the creature card with undying changes zones from the graveyard whilst the ability is on the stack, that ability will do nothing.
  • The deck makes heavy use of Clone style cards like Phyrexian Metamorph and Phantasmal Image to copy its creatures, particularly Geralf's Messenger. When a Phantasmal Image with Undying dies, when Undying triggers and it returns to the battlefield, it does not have to copy the same creature, you may choose any creature as normal, and the Phantasmal Image will get the +1/+1 counter from Undying. You can even choose not to copy any creature, if you do, the Phantasmal Image will be a 0/0 with a +1/+1 counter and will not get the "when this creature becomes the target..." ability.
  • When a Phyrexian Metamorph that has Undying dies and triggers if you choose to copy a non-creature artifact upon re-entering the battlefield post Undying trigger the non creature artifact still gets a +1/+1 counter.
  • If one or more zombies and a Diregraf Captain die simultaneously then the Diregraf Captain's ability will trigger for those zombies.

U/W Blade

  • Description: An evolution of the previous Standard season's "Caw-Blade", a midrange aggro-control deck pairing blue permission and card advantage with white removal and creatures, and Equipment.
  • Colors: blue/white


Wolf Run Ramp

  • Description: deck which uses green mana-ramp effects, particularly Primeval Titan, to produce a large amount of mana, which is then fed into Kessig Wolf Run to produce a lethal attack (often delivered by Inkmoth Nexus).
  • Colors: green/red

Potential issues:

Card-specific Issues and Notes

Burn at the Stake

  • The additional cost of tapping creatures must be paid before any player can respond to Burn at the Stake. Be aware that this can be used to bait a counter by playing it and then looking at the opponent and watch carefully.


Consecrated Sphinx

  • It triggers once for each card drawn, not once per group of cards drawn.
  • The trigger is optional. If both players control Sphinxes, they will need to track the number of triggers carefully; each time one player draws cards from his own Sphinx, the other player's Sphinx will trigger twice. The usual result is a pattern of two triggers controlled by one player on top of the stack, with alternating single triggers below (player A draws two cards; B's Sphinx triggers twice; B draws two cards from his topmost trigger and A's Sphinx triggers twice, leaving one of B's triggers below them on the stack; A draws two cards from his topmost trigger and B's Sphinx triggers twice, leaving one of A's triggers below them on the stack; etc.).

Garruk Relentless

  • If a player has used an ability of one side of the card, that player cannot activate an ability of the other side that turn.
  • For Garruk Relentless' first loyalty ability, check the power of the creature as the ability resolves. Likewise for Garruk the Veil-Cursed's final loyalty ability check the number of creatures in the graveyard as the ability resolves.
  • Like similar abilities that generate continuous effects that modify the characteristics of permanents, it does so only to those permenants in play when the continuous effect begins. Any further creatures that player plays that turn will not get the increased P/T and trample.

Grand Architect

  • It's mana ability does not have a tap symbol in its cost; thus, Grand Architect and other blue creatures can be tapped for mana as soon as they come under a player's control.

Havengul Lich

  • Havengul Lich creates a delayed trigger that triggers when the targeted creature is cast - it gives Havengul Lich the activated abilities of the other card.
  • You must still abide by time restrictions when casting the targeted card. Example: you can't cast a card without Flash during your opponent's turn unless you have some other effect that says you may do otherwise.
  • You must also pay the correct mana for the targeted creature to cast it.

Hero of Bladehold

  • The tokens created attack the player or planeswalker of their controller's choice. They are put onto the battlefield after requirements and restrictions on attackers are checked, and so can, for example, attack a player even if Gideon Jura's first ability is requiring creatures to attack him. The same is true of the token created by Geist of Saint Traft.
  • If Hero of Bladehold's triggered abilities are stacked such that the token-producing ability resolves before the battle cry ability, the tokens will get the +1/+0 from battle cry.

Huntmaster of the Fells//Ravager of the Fells

  • Ravager of the Fells says "up to one target creature", so the targeted player will not need to control a creature when the ability triggers.
  • If both players control a Huntmaster of the Fells that are about to transform, due to how the abilities resolve, the non-active player's Huntmaster will transform first. This can allow his Ravager of the Fells' triggered ability to the active player's Huntmaster before it can transform.

Illusion creatures

These all have a triggered ability which reads "when this becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it".

  • Once the Illusion has become the target of a spell or ability, it will trigger. Countering that spell or ability or changing the target will not prevent the sacrifice.
  • Cantrips which target an illusion will not result in a card draw, since they will be countered by game rules for lack of a legal target once the Illusion is sacrificed.
  • Attempting to equip an Illusion will fail (the equip ability will be countered by game rules), and the Equipment will not move.

Phantasmal Image in particular sees widespread play. Note the following:

  • The Illusion type and the triggered ability are added as part of the copy effect, and thus are copiable. Anything which copies the Phantasmal Image will be a copy of whatever Phantasmal Image is copying, and will be an Illusion in addition to its other types and have the triggered ability.
  • If Phantasmal Image copies an animated land such as Inkmoth Nexus, it will enter the battlefield as an unanimated land. It will have the triggered ability, but will likely never be an Illusion (when not a creature, the Illusion type is lost; when animated, typically the land's own ability will overwrite the creature types).
  • A Phantasmal Image copying Lord of the Unreal will give itself +1/+1 and hexproof.
  • If Image chooses not to copy anything then it doesn't have the ability "when this becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it".

Inferno Titan

  • Inferno Titan may not use its triggered ability to deal damage to both a player and their Planeswalker (Example: It is not legal to use the ability to deal 2 damage to you and 1 damage to your Liliana of the Veil). This means that if you want to deal damage to an opposing Planeswalker you must redirect all of the damage that a source would be deal to the player to the Planeswalker (it is legal to deal 1 damage to each of two creatures and 1 damage to the player redirected to one of their Planeswalkers). Because the triggered ability on Manabarbs is multiple separate triggers you can choose to redirect any number of them to the opposing Planeswalker.
  • Also the number of targets chosen by the triggered ability must stay the same (Example: A Spellskite can't change the number of different targets by trying to change one of the other targets to itself when Spellskite is already a target of the ability).

Karn Liberated

  • Karn Liberated only checks what cards were exiled with that Karn Liberated (not all Karns that were played in that game by a player; each Karn is a new object).
  • Creatures that enter the battlefield due to Karn Liberated using his -14 ability enter before the first upkeep so they do not have summoning sickness.
  • Any triggered abilities that trigger from creatures entering the battlefield are put onto the stack at the beginning of first upkeep.

Killing Wave

  • Starting with the active player, each player chooses whether to pay X life for each creature they control, if they don't the creatures are sacrificed and put into the graveyard simultaneously. The non-active player will know the active player's choices beforehand.


Liliana of the Veil

  • Liliana's +1 ability causes both players to dicard a card simultaneously. When a choice involves a hidden zone (such as a player's hand in this case), the active player chooses a card and clearly indicates this choice, this is normally done by placing it facedown on the table, then the non-active player makes a choice and both players discard at the same time.


Melira, Sylvok Outcast

  • Creatures that have Infect that enter the battlefield after Melira is on the battlefield will lose Infect.
  • Melira, Sylvok Outcast has an interesting interaction with an opposing Inkmoth Nexus or with creatures that have gained Infect after Melira has entered the battlefield. Because Melira says that all creatures lose Infect and Inkmoth Nexus's timestamps override this, Inkmoth Nexus will not cause damage to be marked, -1/-1 counters to be added or poison counters given to creatures or players except for the purposes of triggered abilities and Lifelink. Loyalty counters will still be removed normally when damage is dealt to Planeswalkers, regardless of what the timestamps are.
  • Example: NAP controls Melira, Sylvok Outcast. AP attacks with an Inkmoth Nexus equipped with a Sword of Feast and Famine which isn't blocked by the NAP. Although no poison counters will be added, the Sword of Feast and Famine will still trigger.

Mindslaver and Sorin Markov

  • Under current rules, it is legal to look at the sideboard of a player you're controlling with Mindslaver or Sorin Markov's -7 ability.
  • When controlling a player who has a Spellskite or other card with a Phyrexian mana symbol in a cost, you can force the player to pay for that symbol with life, so long as the player has enough life to pay the cost. This means it is possible to kill a player who has an even life total and controls Spellskite by having that player repeatedly pay 2 life; if the player's life total is odd, it is possible to force the player to pay down to 1 life.

Myr Superion

  • It's restriction only applies if you are spending mana to cast it. Putting it directly onto the battlefield avoids the restriction, as does casting it without spending mana (for example, because its cost was reduced by Heartless Summoning).

Phyrexian Revoker

  • It is often treated as simply a "Pithing Needle on legs". However, it differs from Pithing Needle in two important ways: Phyrexian Revoker requires that the chosen card be nonland, and prevents mana abilities from being activated.

Restoration Angel

  • It may only target non-Angel creatures with its triggered ability.
  • Tokens exiled with the triggered abiliity will not return to the battlefield.
  • The creature comes back into play under your control (not under its owner's control).

Shrines

The "Shrine" cycle of artifacts from New Phyrexia each gain a counter at the beginning of their controller's upkeep, and whenever their controller casts a spell of the appropriate color.

  • These triggers are mandatory at Regular REL and lapsing at Competitive+ REL.
  • They trigger on casting a spell, not on resolution; countering a spell of the appropriate color will not prevent the trigger.

Spellskite

Spellskite is now widely played in several different decks, and can cause various types of confusion. Specifically, it is legal to activate Spellskite's ability targeting a spell or ability which cannot legally have its target (or, for multiple activations, targets) changed to Spellskite, but in such cases Spellskite's ability simply doesn't change the target(s). Some common situations where this occurs include:

  • Spellskite cannot change the target of the spell or ability if Spellskite would be an illegal target for that spell or ability (e.g., Go for the Throat cannot target an artifact creature, some spells or abilities such as equip restrict to permanents controlled by a specific player, etc.).
  • Spellskite cannot end up being chosen multiple times for a single instance of the word "target" in a spell or ability (for example, if three different targets are chosen for Inferno Titan's ability, Spellskite cannot become all three targets).
  • Spellskite cannot change the number of targets of a spell or ability.
  • Spellskite cannot change the modes of a spell or ability.
  • Spellskite cannot be multiple targets of a spell or ability which requires each target to be different (for example, Arc Trail).

Sun Titan

  • Sun Titan's triggered ability can bring back an (Enchantment - Aura) and attach it to a creature an Opponent controls with Hexproof. This is because (Enchantment - Aura)s only target when they are cast.


Terminus

  • Each player chooses the order for his or her own creatures. This order isn't revealed to other players.


Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas

Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas can create some interesting interactions that can be confusing.

  • Tezzeret's -1 loyalty ability has no duration and can target any artifact, and cares only that the target is an artifact at activation and at resolution; if the target would have ceased to be an artifact later on, Tezzeret's effect continues to apply.
  • If Tezzeret's -1 ability targets an animated Inkmoth Nexus, the Nexus becomes a 5/5 Blinkmoth artifact land creature with flying and infect (it does not cease to be a land because of the exception when a creature is becoming an "artifact creature" it retains its other types: 205.1b). At end of turn, it loses flying, infect and the Blinkmoth type, but continues to be a 5/5 artifact creature. Animating it again will result in a 1/1 Blinkmoth artifact creature with flying and infect, as Inkmoth Nexus' own ability will be the most recent layer 7b effect.
  • Tezzeret's -4 loyalty ability counts the number of artifacts on resolution.

Tree of Redemption

Tree of Redemption's ability is subject to the following:

  • If Tree of Redemption leaves the battlefield before its ability resolves, the exchange does not occur.
  • The ability sets Tree of Redemption's toughness to a specific value. This is a layer 7b effect; counters or effects which would also modify toughness continue to apply in the appropriate layers. This means that a Tree with a toughness-boosting effect applied to it (such as an attached Equipment) can produce a slow but steady stream of life gain.

Venser, the Sojourner

  • Venser's +2 ability can be used to "blink" an (Enchantment - Aura) and attach it to a creature an Opponent controls with Hexproof. This is because (Enchantment - Aura)s only target when they are cast.


Zeniths

The "Zenith" cycle of sorceries from Mirrodin Besieged each contain an instruction to shuffle them into their owner's library during resolution.

  • If a Zenith is countered, none of its effects, including the instruction to shuffle, will occur and the library will not be shuffled.
  • Failing to shuffle a resolving Zenith into a library is Game Rule Violation at Competitive or Professional REL, not Insufficient Shuffling.
  • If a Zenith in a graveyard gains flashback and is cast using flashback, it will be exiled instead of shuffled. With the exception of Green Sun's Zenith (which requires a shuffle following the search), the library will not be shuffled.


Emblems

See also

Retrieved from "http://wiki.internationalmagicjudges.net/index.php/Standard"