Innistrad Standard Brewing Time! Post SCG Open Indy 2011

OK, I took a break there for a bit.  Stoneforge/Jace left me just playing that deck for months and after that received a hit from the ban hammer, I just laid low till the next set was going to be released.

But Fear Not!  I have returned and am going to attempt to brew you up some decks for states.  Innistrad has got my brewing juices flowing yet again. 

I watched this last SCG Open in Indy in its entirety this last weekend and the results were as expected.  Highly aggressive decks were successful while more controlish decks tended to be less successful.  This is true of every "new" format and will continue to be true for a few more weeks until the control decks put the right pieces together at the right levels to shine. 

Tempered Steel Good again?
The question this tournament raised for me is will Tempered Steel type decks still be viable for states?  With two copies in the top 8 in this event and two copies of mono red, is everyone just going to have 3x Timely Reinforcements and 4x Arc Trails?  (hmmmm Maybe that is a deck idea right there?)  This has been my go to deck for when gauging other decks in the format.   I just don't want to play against 4x Ancient Grudges in everyone sideboard. 

Where are all the Pods?
At the end of this last standard it seemed that Birthing Pod decks were fastly dominating the format.  Where did they all go?  So far it seems that T Steel has kept every pod strategy from shining bright.  My play test group has been wanting to make RUG pod and BUG pod work, but they seem to come up short against Solar Flare and Tempered Steel but seem to have a good red match up.

A Timmy Dream Come True!
Solar Flare looks like it can be a real contender.   But let me rephrase that.... Liliana of the Veil is the real deal.  Every time I play against her she is such a house.  I feel that the Solar Flare deck suffers from a big problem, two in fact- Memoricide and Surgical Extraction.  A one-two punch can put this deck on tilt.  Memoricide Sun Titan?  Nice deck bro.  Luckily people are putting more then one win con in them.  But I still feel that a hit on unburied rites and sun titan puts this deck on a plan they do not want to be on.

Where am I going next?
My play test group is pretty set on trying to find the best options for the 2011 State Championships.  So far our gauntlet is this:
Tempered Steel
Mono Red
Solar Flare
UW variants

I feel that any deck that can test well against each of those decks will end up doing well in two weeks.  Currently I am working on a Necrotic Ooze combo that seems to show some promise but hasn't blown me out of the water.  I do have plans with Heartless Summoning but it seems to lack resilience.  I'll be posting a few lists in the next couple of days so look for them.