Mile-High Midrange

By Conley Woods

Standard seemed to be solved. There were Delver decks, decks that used to play Delver, Birthing Pod decks, Ramp decks, and the occasional undead deck would crawl out of the grave for a Top 8. Sure, some fringe decks filled things out, but the metagame seemed pretty stable. But Michael Lee showed a different side of Standard this past weekend at the StarCityGames Open in Denver.

Mike set aside the Delvers and Titans to play with the unappreciated Strangleroot Geist and his buddies in a green-white shell. Mike looked to capture the power of some of the best creatures in Standard at every point of his curve. Birds of Paradise into Blade Splicer, followed by Restoration Angel into Thragtusk, is a powerful sequence for any deck, but Lee's list has plenty of ways to enhance even his biggest creatures.

Swords of Anything and Everything have been popular since seeing print, but Rancor… now that's a new one. Rancor is an extremely powerful card in Limited, and has seen Constructed play in the past, but many questioned whether it would stand the test of time with removal being significantly better now than before. While the iconic enchantment still needs to demonstrate staying power, Lee's performance is a pretty good sign for stompy lovers everywhere!

Michael Lee's Green-White Midrange

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (24)

3 Avacyn's Pilgrim 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Blade Splicer 2 Hero of Bladehold 4 Restoration Angel 4 Strangleroot Geist 2 Thragtusk 1 Wolfir Silverheart

Sorcery (2)

2 Green Sun's Zenith

Instant (3)

3 Dismember

Artifact (2)

2 Sword of War and Peace

Enchantment (6)

2 Oblivion Ring 4 Rancor

Land (23)

9 Forest 2 Gavony Township 4 Plains 4 Razorverge Thicket 4 Sunpetal Grove

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

1 Thragtusk 1 Dismember 2 Oblivion Ring 2 Acidic Slime 2 Crushing Vines 2 Melira, Sylvok Outcast 2 Sword of Feast and Famine 3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben