STANDARD ROCK

June 2019 Edition

This standard list of the Rock functions as a control-oriented midrange build. We attempt to have answers for everything, and can play either aggressively or defensively utilizing the tools available to Green and/or Black.

Specifically, we want to ramp while also eliminating key opponent threats with our premium removal options.  Once we have a playable game-winner, we immmediate press our first available advantage and then switch to dropping super-powerful planeswalkers. 

know your role

In order to understand the general playstyle and theory of this list, you should be familiar with the following terms and concepts relating to your role in the game:

Reactive- Playing cards in response to your opponents cards. 
Your opponent presents threats to you.

Active- Plays cards to threaten opponent, and will win the game if unanswered. 
Your opponent must react to you, otherwise they will lose (to illustrate further, 
even a llanowar elf can be an active threat as you will deal 20 damage of health 
in 20 turns if your opponent does nothing).

Advantage - At current game-state, you are most likely to win. 
Can be difficult to determine who has the advantage early to mid game if both 
players are active or if both players are reactice. 

Disadvantage- At current game state, you are most likely to loose. 

Often, with this deck, you will intentionally play the reactive role for the first half of the game. Most non-control decks don’t want to play reactively, and will typically only be in a reactive state if they are at a disadvantage and forced to do so (reactive-disadvantage). This GB Rock attempts to exploit the benefits of playing reactively which is rare for a midrange styled deck (reactive-advantage).

Accordingly, for those new to a deck that wants play at a reactive-advantage, it may feel like you are losing even though you are, in fact, winning. Its very important to know when you are at a reactive-advantage vs. when you are at a reactive-disadvantage, and being able to identify the difference between these two states is critical to success with lists like this one.

After playing at a reactive-advantage, we then switch gears to an active playstyle. The midpoint of the game is the moment you switch from a reactive-advantage to an active-advantage. YOU MUST PRESS THE ADVANTAGE AND THEN LOCK THE OPPONENT DOWN.

This means if you can reasonably keep your opponent on the reactive-disadvantage for the remainder of the game, then do so immediately. 

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Some articles (not mine) on the history of the "Rock" archetype, with some MTG theory:

 Rock (MTG Wiki Explanation)

Wizard's of the Coast Rock Deck Tech Article

MTG Salvation Forum Thread - Where did the Rock Archetype Get its Name

MTG Top8 - Recent Rock Tournament Lists in Modern 

 

THE DECK LIST

Mainboard

4 Llanowar Elves

3 Leyline Prowler

2 Massacre Girl

4 Paradise Druid

3 Ripjaw Raptor

4 Ob Nixilis's Cruelty

4 Vraska's Contempt


3 Liliana, Dreadhorde General

3 Vraska, Golgari Queen

3 Ugin, the Ineffable

3 Nissa, Who Shakes the World


4 Woodland Cemetery

4 Overgrown Tomb

4 Interplanar Beacon

6 Swamp

6 Forest
 

Sideboard

4 Assassin's Trophy

2 Command the Dreadhorde

2 Sorcerous Spyglass

3 The Elderspell

3 Ashiok, Dream Render

1 Massacre Girl

SOME CARD EXPLANATIONS

Hexproof and the ability to tap for any color of land on a mana-dork is an extremely useful ability. Paradise Druid's one-toughness can also be a boon if you strategically play a massacre girl as one-health creatures don't always appear in all matchups.

Excellent against aggro decks, and also destroys the big mama-jammas like Carnage Tyrant with deathtouch. Between our 4 Llanowar Elves, 3 Paradise Druid, and 3 Leyline Prowler, we have access to 10 sources of mana-ramp (outside of Nissa).

Plenty of targets or Massacre Girl exist in the current meta. Great for removing your opponent's mana-dorks, and clears out afterlife cards nicely. This will also kill a Rekindling Phoenix and its token. Sometimes I run three-of in the mainboard, and other times I opt for these in the sideboard. As a general rule though, 2-of is a good baseline from which you should modify card counts.

Fantastic card. Ripjaw Raptor was very underrated for a while, but its starting to catch on. Sometimes you'll drop these in a control-matchup, but not always. With an empty board state, this creature's attack power will put your opponent on a 5-turn clock.

The exile effect and 3 cmc is why we run this. We opt for a large volume of single target removal in lieu of board-clears.

People like this card, rate it highly, and use it. Even so I think its under-rated. In my opinion, Nissa, Who Shakes the World is the strongest and most meta-warping planeswalker released in the past few sets (yes, stronger the Teferi and his son). It will become even more prevalant, I'm sure. Ramp, damage, and a game-winning ultimate for 5 mana. 

Even more removal with an added synergy for Liliana and Ugin.

/

In siutations when you are unsure of which ability to use, defer to creating a dude. After playing the list for awhile, it will stop feeling like a coin-toss on which ability to use in some situations- but starting out you should make the tokens more often than you would normally think is appropriate. You want hand-advantage, and a threat on the board and both Ugin and Liliana provide same. 

SIDEBOARD

Side in against control (removing Ob Nixilis' Cruelty). Fantastic card, but hurts too much against mono and dual-colored decks to run mainboard.

Bring this in when playing against midrange decks. It destroys them.

If the opponent is playing powerful permanents that have an activated ability (planeswalkers, etc.) bring these in.

Great against superfriends, the mirror, and any deck heavy on planeswalkers. A bit too restrictive to mainboard, as it whiffs more often than Price of Betrayal, on average since you are limited to only targetting planeswalkers.

Shuts down 4c Dreadhorde decks and Izzet phoenix/drake decks. In a pinch, bring in against control matchups. This card keeps Tamiyo in check.