Welcome back for another edition of Ideas Unbound.  Since the current Standard environment is drawing to a close, I thought we would continue looking forward to Gatecrash.  This week, we are going to take a look at some of the winning decks from the Star City Games San Diego Standard Open and Grand Prix Atlantic City and see how the decks may be affected by Gatecrash.
 We'll look at cards that could potentially help the deck as well as potentially hurt the deck.  Its important for us to realize the potential these decks will have because they aren't just going to vanish.  All of the cards in these decks will still be legal.  Its easy to look at Gatecrash and see all of the new archetypes that may be born, but we must remember the archetypes we already have.  We'll start by looking at the Top 8 from SCG: San Diego.

Human Reanimator - Joe Lossett - 1st

Decklist

Without question, the biggest gain this deck is getting is the rest of the Shocklands.  It will smooth out the mana base and make Farseek that much more relevant.  This reanimator deck exists with a specific purpose of bringing back Angel of Glory's Rise and all of your humans with it.  However, the more general reanimator decks may find a few new reanimation targets in the Primordial cycle.  They are giant creatures with very impressive ETB effects, just asking to be cheated out.  I'm not sure if the effects will be strong enough to take over the spots of Angel of Serenity or Griselbrand, but I'm sure its worth a look.

The biggest thing reanimator decks have to fear out of Gatecrash is House Dimir.  Several of the cards of the blue-black guild like to focus on the mill strategy.  If you are already filling your own graveyard looking for your reanimation targets, it might not take them long at all to finish the job.  And you definitely want to be careful filling your graveyard with Lazav running around.  Nothing like giving your opponent a free, hexproof Griselbrand with which to kill you.

   

Naya Midrange - Jason Reed - 2nd

Decklist

I believe that this deck will get one of the biggest boosts from Gatecrash.  Not only do you get both Sacred Foundry and Stomping Grounds to help your mana, you get two whole guilds of cards to help your deck.  This deck has done some incredible things already with only Temple Gardens and Selesnya cards.  Boros Charm will be a huge boon for this deck, protecting your creatures from sweepers like Supreme Verdict and opposing Bonfires.  Plus, the four damage to the dome will give you the ability to close games out faster.

I'm sure that some people are going to try Domri Rade over Garruk in Naya, but I'm not sure that's the correct plan.  The deck plays several non-creature spells so you may end up missing with Domri quite a bit.  I think with Stomping Grounds available we may see more Garruk, Primal Hunter in these decks.  I also would not be surprised to see Ghor-Clan Rampager take the place of Huntmaster.  They both give you 4 power on turn four, but the Rampager is much harder to block.  The threat of bloodrush also makes every other creature in your deck a real threat at any time.  It combos especially well with Angel of Serenity.  You can play it on turn four as creature.  Then, if it dies, you can get it back with Angel of Serenity and have access to the bloodrush ability late game.

   

B/R Zombies - DJ Brake - 4th

Decklist

Two of the hardest cards for the aggressive red based decks to deal with have been Thragtusk and Sphinx's Revelation.  There is nothing like seeing your hard work go to waste when your opponent suddenly gains 5-10 life putting them out of reach.  Skullcrack is a great way to prevent his from happening.  A well timed Skullcrack will prevent your opponent from gaining the life they need to put them out of lethal range, while doing 3 additional damage at the same time.

I think the biggest thing this deck has to fear is an extort deck becoming popular.  Skullcrack is much less useful when your opponent is only gaining 1-2 life per turn, every turn.  And at the same time, they are blocking your guys or simply killing them outright.  Then, once you are out of threats, they still have a healthy life total thanks to extort.

Esper Control - Jax Remitio - 8th

Decklist

Much like the Naya deck above, I feel this deck has quite a bit to gain from Gatecrash.  I think this deck will be the best home for Dimir Charm, if it sees play.  Also, Soul Ransom seems like a good card for this archetype.  You either take their best creature or generate massive card advantage.  Obzedat would make a very good Esper finisher, putting the game away quickly.  I'm very curious to see if Merciless Eviction will find a home in this deck.

   

Now we will move on to some decks from Grand Prix Atlantic City

Bant Auras - Josh Utter-Leyton - 2nd

Decklist

From the spoilers released up to this point, I don't see anything for this deck to gain.  What I do see is Glaring Spotlight.  This is obviously Wizard's attempt to counter all of the hexproof creatures.  I'm not sure if it will be enough, but its certainly a start.  I was really hoping we would get a good pyroclasm effect from Boros or Gruul, but so far nothing.  Merciless Execution could get the job done, but it may be too expensive.

Jund Midrange - Ryan Leverone - 6th

Decklist

This deck will also see improvements courtesy of Gruul.  Of course there is Stomping Grounds, but I feel there is more than that.  Clan Defiance could work in this deck as a potential 3-for-1 taking out two blockers and doming the opponent for X.  I can also see the potential for Ghor-Clan Rampager here, especially when combined with Vampire Nighthawk.  Imagine the scenario where they block your Nighthawk with a Lingering Souls token and then you suddenly give it an uncounterable +4/+4 and trample.

  

WUR Control – Matt Costa – 5th

Decklist

This deck will of course gain Sacred Foundry to help smooth out the mana, but I think the biggest gain for this deck is going to be Aurelia’s Fury.  This card is just flat out bonkers.  This deck already makes excellent use of mana with Sphinx’s Revelation.  Another X spell that does incredible things would fit in nicely.  It allows you to essentially fog for a turn, while you wait to draw a Supreme Verdict.  It deals with the threat they play after you Supreme Verdict.  It prevents an opposing control from countering your spells.  It does several things this deck is looking to do.

I hope this has given some insight into what we can expect to see in the new format.  Next week, we should have enough cards to spoiled to start looking a new archetypes made possible by Gatecrash.  I’m really looking forward to diving into all the new options.