The Secret is Out

By Jacob Van Lunen

Jacob Van Lunen began playing Magic in 1995. He has participated in organized play at every level of competition and was a member of the winning team at Pro Tour San Diego in 2007, thanks to an innovative draft strategy. As a writer, Van Lunen has had more than three hundred Magic strategy pieces published

Welcome to another week of Return to Ravnica previews here on DailyMTG. This week, I'm going to reveal one of the bread-and-butter Limited commons from Return to Ravnica. I'll spend a bit of time discussing the strengths of the card and the decks wherein it works especially well. Afterward, we'll take a look at the Magic Online Standard metagame. This week was especially exciting for Magic Online Standard players. Delver has remained the dominant Standard archetype since Magic 2013 was released on Magic Online. Delver could not, however, pull off the perfect season. What deck or decks put up better results than Delver? Keep reading to find out!

Ophidian was the best creature in Standard when I first started following competitive Magic. Players would bide time and set up empty boards to cast their Ophidians. The game basically ended once Ophidian started hitting the opponent. Cards like Counterspell and Forbid ensured that the stream of additional cards would be enough to prevent the opponent from escaping the prison.

Shadowmage Infiltrator was originally printed when I was in high school. I played four copies in the sideboard of my Psychatog deck, punishing opponents who didn't have access to removal by pecking away, one card at a time. Shadowmage Infiltrator was a huge step up from Ophidian.

Since then, we've seen a lot of Ophidian-style creatures printed. Three-mana creatures that let you draw cards when they connect have become a staple in both competitive and casual Magic. Cards like Ohran Viper, Cold-Eyed Selkie, and Scroll Thief have set the bar for creatures that attempt to make themselves into Phyrexian Arenas.

Return to Ravnica brings us a common Ophidian. Let's take a look at Stealer of Secrets:

Stealer of Secrets

Stealer of Secrets is going to be a great skill tester in Return to Ravnica Limited. This card's power level ranges from "meh" to "byah" depending on your deck. For example, a deck filled with cheap flying creatures that doesn't have much removal probably won't even want to play with Stealer of Secrets—a random opponent is bound to have a bunch of inexpensive creatures that can act as roadblocks and make the three mana you invested look silly. However, an aggressive deck with a lot of cheap removal or bounce spells is going to be drooling at the sight of a sixth- or seventh-pick Stealer of Secrets. Your opponent will either be forced to race or be forced to leave back multiple blockers for Stealer of Secrets.

Keep an eye out for Stealer of Secrets at your Return to Ravnica Prerelease. Try to envision how games are going to play out with the sealed deck you're constructing. Then decide whether or not Stealer of Secrets deserves a spot in your deck.

Stealer of Secrets is a common, so you can often build a deck that takes special advantage of an Ophidian before you've even seen a single copy in the draft. You'll probably get at least one Stealer of Secrets if you're willing to take it early, and if you take all the cards that work well with it, you might find yourself with a nice stack of thieves.

Stealer of Secrets | Art by Michael C. Hayes

Standard

Now it's time to take a look at the Magic Online Standard metagame. Delver has posted the most 4–0 finishes every week since I started writing this column. Delver has been and remains the most-played deck on Magic Online, so its numbers might be a bit inflated. Nevertheless, the Standard metagame has been a world of Delver for a reasonable period of time.

The curse is broken. This week, Delver severely underperformed. It's still the most-played deck, but Zombies is significantly outperforming the white-blue tempo monster. Here's a look at the breakdown of decks that went 4–0 in last Saturday's Daily Events:

sai_2011's Blue Black Zombies

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (29)

4 Blood Artist 4 Diregraf Ghoul 1 Disciple of Bolas 3 Fume Spitter 4 Geralf's Messenger 4 Gravecrawler 1 Havengul Lich 1 Massacre Wurm 4 Phantasmal Image 2 Phyrexian Metamorph 1 Skinrender

Artifact (6)

4 Birthing Pod 2 Mortarpod

Land (25)

4 Cavern of Souls 4 Darkslick Shores 4 Drowned Catacomb 9 Swamp 4 Woodland Cemetery

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

1 Skinrender 1 Acidic Slime 3 Black Sun's Zenith 1 Curse of Death's Hold 3 Geth's Verdict 1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast 2 Mimic Vat 2 Thragtusk 1 Tragic Slip

Deal Another Hand

Blue-Black Zombies was the big winner this week. This version of Zombies alone was responsible for five different players' 4–0 finishes. I've mentioned this deck a lot in the past, saying that its only real weakness was the Mono-Green Infect deck. The deck's strength is finally being realized.

Sai_2011's version of the deck has some fancy stuff going on. Havengul Lich makes its first appearance at 4–0 since I started writing this column, providing the pilot with untold amounts of card advantage and inevitability. The rest of the main deck is similar to versions of Blue-Black Zombies we've seen in previous weeks. Sai_2011's sideboard provides access to Melira, Sylvok Outcast, allowing the pilot to best infect decks unless he or she can find a pair of Gut Shots before going down to 4 life. Mimic Vat is a very powerful sideboard card here that works especially well with cards like Massacre Wurm and Blood Artist.

DarkestMage's Splashed Zombies

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (26)

1 Blood Artist 2 Butcher Ghoul 4 Diregraf Ghoul 1 Disciple of Bolas 1 Falkenrath Aristocrat 4 Fume Spitter 4 Geralf's Messenger 4 Gravecrawler 2 Phyrexian Metamorph 1 Skinrender 1 Skirsdag High Priest 1 Thragtusk

Sorcery (3)

3 Sign in Blood

Instant (2)

2 Dismember

Artifact (5)

4 Birthing Pod 1 Mortarpod

Land (24)

4 Blackcleave Cliffs 4 Cavern of Souls 12 Swamp 4 Woodland Cemetery

60 Cards