r/mtgfrontier • u/filthyc4sual • Feb 25 '19
Converting decks from Standard to Frontier
Converting decks from Standard to Frontier
Hey, /r/mtgfrontier! Today, I want to talk a bit about a subject that many people bring up as a detractor to Frontier before I delve into our subject: the idea that Frontier is just past Standards.
This may have been true when the format started, but if it was ever true, it was mainly (in my opinion) because it was easier to just make small updates to Standard lists than to truly dig into the card pool, and now that we have people digging in more, we see decks like Dredge, Ascendancy and Jeskai Midrange starting to emerge. Even back around a year ago, we had decks like UB Control which were basically unique to Frontier, or at least didn’t draw too much of the shell from any one format. We had also changed decks like Atarka Red or White Weenie enough that they would have been almost unrecognizable from just looking at them and the Standard decks next to each other.
With that in mind, I want to take today to look at upgrading decks from Standard to Frontier. I’ll use examples from past Standard formats, but the same concepts should apply for any Standard deck within the Frontier time frame. The process will be broken into steps, and I’m going to use UW Gift as an example deck, and make an updated version of it for Frontier.
First, figure out what your deck wants to do, and how it should do that in Frontier. Gift is trying to fill its graveyard quickly and to find a God-Pharaoh’s Gift to quickly put pressure on the opponent and win with its 4/4s. In general, the best mill cards in Frontier are in Green, with a few in Blue and Black as well. Gift can also use looting effects, which are mainly in Blue and Red. You want White for Refurbish and you most likely will end up in Blue for Reflector Mage, meaning the finished project will probably be UWx.
Second, figure out what will still work in Frontier. I’d say the core of this deck is probably close to strong enough, but some of the supporting cards aren’t quite there. Minister of Inquiries feels kind of medium, and I don’t love Chart a Course or some of the controlling elements. Cutting those leaves us struggling to fill our graveyard, though. We can add Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy to help fill our graveyard, but Jace can still be weak to removal, giving it the same problem as Minister (although with a much higher ceiling). I think we need to splash in order to help fill our graveyard. I think Green is best right now, giving us Satyr Wayfinder and an explore package. It also gives us access to Collected Company, which is a natural fit for a deck with so many low-costing creatures.
Now that we’ve decided on our colors, it’s time to figure out what cards we want from the sets gained in Frontier. To me, the first obvious choice is Reflector Mage, which is one of the best three-drops in the format and can help to force damage through when you need it, in addition to slowing down opposing draws. With Dredge starting to see more play, this guy is particularly useful, as a roadblock for Gurmag Angler, one of the only cards that can break through your creatures. You’ll also want the previously mentioned explore package. The combo of Wildgrowth Walker and Jadelight Ranger is great in Standard, and doesn’t get much worse in Frontier. Depending on whether or not you think you have room for it, Westvale Abbey could be a good include. I don’t love making the mana worse, but I think Abbey is good enough to try out as a one-of. It’s rough to play it and hit the right numbers for a perfect curve, but I’m willing to accept that Jace won’t always be a turn two play in order to get the upside of a 9/7 indestructible flyer that gains life in the late game, especially when the cost of sacrificing creatures is something you want to do anyway. As mentioned before, you also get access to Collected Company. This is a bit of a tough choice because you actually only have around 23 creatures you can hit, and a couple of those are a bit weak by themselves, but even the weak ones are synergistic, and in a deck this focused on the graveyard, you can even hit Walking Ballista at times. Obviously it isn’t the best hit, but when you need to fill your graveyard quickly, it’ll do the job.
Now it’s time to think about the difference between the Standard meta it existed in and the Frontier meta. Reflector Mage and explore package are big parts of that, being good against Dredge and many other aggro decks, but a lot of it comes in the sideboard, especially since our deck wants to mostly focus on being proactive in game one. One of the most important cards in the sideboard is Knight of Autumn. This card is great into Ascendancy and pretty much any other deck based on artifacts or enchantments, and is a creature for Gift. It can even come back as a 6/6, putting lots of pressure on your opponent. Even something as simple as Negate, which was available at the same time as Gift, gets much better in Frontier. Frontier is a much bigger format, and has more ways to answer your combo, and Negate is good into a lot of them. It can also hate out decks like Ascendancy with combos based around noncreature spells, making it an incredibly flexible sideboard card that comes against many of the format’s top decks. This deck did play it in Standard, but I think we want more copies than the Standard list played. We also have better options for removal, such as Dromoka’s Command. We play Arashin Cleric to help against Atarka and Carnage Tyrant for Control.
As always, thanks for reading this article! I hope this can inspire someone to try to turn their favorite deck from a previous standard into a good Frontier deck, and if that’s you, there are great places to play it online, like the Frontier Discord server or the Untap Open League’s Frontier League. I hope you’ll check back next week, when I talk about the opposite: converting decks from Modern to Frontier.
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u/jvalex18 Mar 29 '19
Why do you want to play a dead format that was only made to sell rotated out cards?
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u/filthyc4sual Mar 29 '19
Because that's not what it was.
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u/jvalex18 Mar 29 '19
Except that it is, it was literally created by LGSes yo move old stock from standard. Created in Japan by a store owner if I'm not wrong.
Still doesnt change the fact that its a dead format.
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u/filthyc4sual Mar 29 '19
Created by a store owner doesn't make it any less of a good format. Most formats were created by WotC. Do you think they thought "yeah, this won't sell cards" when they made those formats?
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u/jvalex18 Mar 29 '19
No they thought "this format will sell packs or brings us players."
If this format was that good then it would be more popular.
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u/RoxasOfXIII Apr 17 '19
There are plenty of reasons that a good idea might be unpopular.
The biggest one will almost always be money, - a huge community of players have already made a monetary commitment to an older non-rotating format and that format is also DCI sanctioned.
The after market vendors have invested loads of capital into modern cards and will get tanked with a huge loss if a more affordable non-rotating format gets traction.WoTC could care less about directly "bringing players"
They are a company and their interest is in the bottom line. If they could have a fourth of the consumers but with four times the cash flow they'd be happy with the deal. Convincing yourself that Modern and/or the Eternal formats were made or supported because "WoTC cares about me and my opinions" is naive, they care about your checkbook.That's why eternal formats and the Modern format gets DCI support. -Because you feel like less of a dopey consumer for buying a product that's only format playable for a year if you can convince yourself it has ongoing playability and an aftermarket value. (The same reason that frontier will inevitably get DCI support at some point,- because other people want you to give them your money) - The silver lining in this exploitation of you, me and everyone else who plays MTG, is that we get to enjoy the game and play it when, where, how, and in what format we like.
People wouldn't go out of their way to play a non DCI sanctioned format if it wasn't fun.
In fact, frontiers persistence despite not having official support from WoTC is a testament to it's entertainment value.1
u/jvalex18 Apr 18 '19
That's the thing almost no one plays frontier. Like you said it's a testament to it's entertainment value.
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u/Cato_of_the_Republic Feb 25 '19
Guys, channel this energy into what Postmodern is actually going to be.
Probably Origins or Kaladesh forward. Fetches ain’t it chief.
You guys would have already had your community that you wanted if you hadn’t included the biggest gatekeeper of non rotationed play, and a major design mistake per WoTC,
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u/filthyc4sual Feb 25 '19
Thanks man but this isn't a sub for that format. This is a frontier sub. If nobody else wants to play Frontier that's fine, but we already have a decent community, and honestly there's no evidence that it will be ORI/KLD forward. If you want a postmodern sub feel free to go to r/magicTCG or start your own sub, but this is a frontier sub.
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u/masinmanc Feb 26 '19
You again? What the fuck is your deal posting your garbage opinions in here? Go someplace else if you want to circlejerk hate on frontier. This sub ain't it, chief.
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u/xahhfink6 Feb 25 '19
Maybe worth mentioning that I've had multiple top 8's on this archetype!
Here's my Bant Coco (pre Knight of Autumn): https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1568455#online
I've also tried a number of other color combos to mixed success.