Welcome back to Fighting the Format, the series in which I lay down the strategies of the best decks in the format moving into a given weekend – what they are, how they work, how they win, and – importantly – how to beat them.

So, the elephant in the room: Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Bloodbraid Elf unbanned in Modern. This piece was always going to play second fiddle to that news, but in the Magic world, the news that Mark Rosewater had decided to port Dominaria to the land of the Care Bears would pale next to Jace’s return. Let’s all take a breath, re-focus, stop mentally brewing Jace/Snapcaster decks, and look at the format with games that don’t end abruptly on turn four – Standard.

Standard has been pushed to the wayside for a good few weeks now. With the Modern Pro Tour and a lack of Standard GPs, players everywhere have been too busy casting Lantern of Insight and Sailor of Means to really jump aboard the banned Attune with Aether train. While the world has been discarding three cards at random and counter-drawing around me, I’ve been quietly brewing my usual Black midrange decks. I haven’t quite found a list I’m in love with yet, but then I’ve been working on finding something better than the following:

The Deck

Grixis Energy – Jun.I, 3rd Place in a Standard MOCS, January 10th

Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.

How Does it Work?

Well, let’s start with the obvious:

The Scarab God is the reason to be UB. There is no Planeswalker, Creature or Artifact that threatens to end the game so easily if you untap with it as He. I’ve tried Liliana, Death’s Majesty, The Scorpion God and The Locust God, Nissa, Vital Force and the big daddy himself Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh. None of them had me convinced… then I saw His face. Now I’m a believer.

The one-two combo that ends most games in a hurry, this pair of flying death machines are plenty to tangle with. If I can give Grixis Energy one thing, it’s that it’s card power level punch-for-punch is through the roof. If you don’t stumble, you are never losing a fair game of Magic. When you’ve the trio of these and The Scarab God on the go, you might find you’re winning the unfair ones too.

Standard Bob and Scarab were the reasons that Sultai Energy was ever a thing when Attune was around, offering so much grind value for so little investment. Note that both of these cards don’t feature Green mana – it doesn’t take a genius to swap the Green for Red, and just play all of the best cards.

Siphoner sans Attune is definitely a lot weaker than before, as so often it doesn’t replace itself immediately, but that doesn’t stop it from being a must-answer threat. Dusk Legion Zealot features here as your subpar but playable fifth through eighth copies of Siphoner. It turns out than cantripping while leaving behind a relevant blocker against one of your weakest matchups (cough Red cough) is just good enough.

Thought you’d seen the last of this guy, eh? You thought wrong.

Virtuoso may not be the one-man-army-in-a-can he used to be now that Energy doesn’t grow on trees, but don’t count him out just yet. A three mana play that scores a minimum of 3/4 of stats is nothing to scoff at, and though the first copy on turn eight isn’t just game over, getting two or three fliers is still a pretty big game.

See the above comment re card power level. If you threw £400 at a card store and said ‘give me one Standard deck – no change’, Grixis Energy is what they’d hand you.

Chandra is just as busted here as ever, providing removal, card advantage, burn, mana ramp and a game-ending ultimate for the low cost of four mana. Ravenous Chupacabra is a pretty solid play, killing a guy and leaving behind a 2/2. Chandra makes the fearsome beast look like the sweet little doggie he is.

When you’re not busy trying to drown your opponent in chase Mythics, you’re busy killing their stuff.

Fatal Push may not be the powerhouse it is in non-rotating formats due to the absence of fetchlands, but it’s still the most efficient removal spell Standard has access to bar none. Abrade takes down Kari Zev, Skyship Raider just as easily as Heart of Kiran or the God-Pharoah’s Gift, and Vraska’s Contempt exiles those pesky Gods and Phoenixes.

With twenty-five lands including six cyclers and so many top-end plays, Grixis Energy has a hard time flooding. If anything, I’m shocked this list doesn’t play twenty-six – screw seems just a touch more likely!

The sideboard has a range of tools at it’s disposal, including Gonti, Lord of Luxury and an extra Chandra for the grindier matchups, excess removal to tailor it’s suite as appropriate, and bullets like Sweltering Suns for aggro and Lost Legacy for Approach. The four Duress are a given, taking into account that the deck is base black and very much planning to tap out each turn, but I’m shocked to see zero copies of Negate here. The punishment you dish to an opponent by hitting a card draw spell, wrath or even Approach is so immense that it’s definitely a consideration.

Grixis Energy has the pieces it needs to handle pretty much anything. I should certainly hope so, given that the decklist reads like Standard’s greatest hits!

What is it’s Plan?

Grixis Energy is a Big Midrange deck, with a capital ‘B’ and ‘M’… in bold, and blown up in size by twenty points or so.

Though Grixis can do the Midrange thing of switching gears, capable of Siphoner/Virtuoso/Phoenix/Glory aggro curves, it’s plethora of removal and avenues for card advantage lean it heavily towards the Control end of the spectrum. Grixis is winning long games more often than short ones!

What Are its Strengths and Weaknesses?

Strengths

Power

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – Grixis Energy is powerful. If you like all your cards to be capable of winning the game single-handed, this is the deck for you.

Grind

This deck can grind with the best of them. Every single one of it’s threats replaces itself, whether by drawing extra cards, killing opposing threats, or simply being unkillable a la Scarab and Phoenix. It is because of decks like this that Vraska’s Contempt has become a staple four-of in Black decks, and why the stock of Ixalan’s Binding has never been higher.

Weaknesses

Slow

The downside of playing so many four and five mana haymakers? You come out of the gates slowly. This gives faster decks the opportunity to go under you, and high synergy decks the chance to set up.

Single-Minded

Grixis may have a lot of tools, but it’s not terribly versatile. It’s threats all get answered by the various exile effects, and it struggles to interact with Artifacts and Enchantments. If your opponent isn’t playing creatures that die to your removal and their own removal is effective against your own suite of hyper-bombs, you’re not getting very far.

Play

HazoRed

The boogieman of the format at present, HazoRed is what keeps decks like Grixis in check. Against the haymaker and Contempt hands, Red goes under, and against the removal heavy hands, Hazoret cleans up.

BW Tokens/GPG

Tokens and Gift operate with a similar enough core strategy that I’m lumping them together here. Both decks have low individual card power level, but very, very high levels of synergy. Grixis needs to have one if it’s faster draws to beat these, as outside of an unanswered Scarab God, these decks go way over the top of what it’s doing.

Do Not Play

BG Constrictor

When the field is all Big Midrange, don’t show up with midrange (small ‘m’). That way, thar be Dragons.

Merfolk/Vampires

While HazoRed is fast enough and has a high enough diversity of threats to demand the right answers at the right times from Grixis, both Merfolk and Vampires play right into it’s hands – a lot of little creatures is exactly what it wants to see. It’ll serve up pan-seared Kumena with a side of Legions’ Lieutenant dust faster than you can say ‘Sweltering Suns’.

Summary

And that’s the controlling end of the Midrange spectrum covered. If you’re planning on either hitting up GP Memphis in two weeks or storming the local PPTQ scene, I’d suggest you get this number in your gauntlet – we’ll not be rid of Scarab or Chandra for as long as they’re around. Whether you’re planning on riding Phoenixes and Dragons to victory or praying to the Red God of Hazoret the Fervent, I hope this article has served you well. Next week, I’ll be taking a look at another sweet Standard brew; I may even share one of my own!

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. Good luck!