Entries from April 2010 ↓

Concerning:

1. Jamie Wakefield
2. Student of Warfare
3. The Spanish Inquisition

Before we get in to Magic: The Gathering blogging, I just wanted to throw something out there:

Jamie Wakefied has just come out with a new book. As far as I can tell, this book is not about Magic: The Gathering. I am going to order it… any longtime fans of Jamie (and I’m sure that many of you hold yourselves in that group) should probably do the same.

For the love.

Okay, now for the Magic: The Gathering part.

Student of Warfare:

Multiple people, including Jeroen Remie via Twitter and Slov01 in the comments of the last post pointed out that Student of Warfare is much the 3/3 for three mana as Transcendent Master.

I was actually planning to write about Student of Warfare anyway… But I hadn’t thought of it in that way.

The reason is that, even if it can be thought of as a 3/3 for three mana, it isn’t. It is much, much, better.

The first reason why Student of Warfare is better than a “regular” Gnarled Mass is that it costs one, not three, as a base. This lets you put a down payment on the card on turn one, then spend the next two on turn two for three damage on the second turn (you know, a turn before you could even playTranscendent Master.

Its one-ness is very powerful with one of my three favorite [Standard] creatures, Ranger of Eos.

Student of Warfare is like the white side of Figure of Destiny in the same way that Kargan Dragonlord represents a Red analogue. In my opinion, Student of Warfare seems like the stronger card because its one mana-ness lets it lace up with Antoine Ruel like Figure of Destiny did in Boat Brew.

The second reason why Student of Warfare is much better than a Gnarled Mass — not that being better than a Watchwolf on the second turn without going into a second color isn’t good enough — is that it isn’t just a 3/3; it’s a 3/3 first strike… Kind of like a White Knight grafted onto a Hand of Honor (you know, whiteout the racism).

Getting to Level Seven is quite realistic. It will be awesome when it is awesome. We probably don’t have to spend a whole lot of time on the “ultimate” to this leveler.

Snap Judgment Rating – Staple

More Spanish Inquisition

I know “current” Standard is medium-irrelevant just now, but I have been having a lot of fun playing. This is what I have been playing most; I am very happy with it actually:

4 Armillary Sphere
4 Everflowing Chalice
1 Obelisk of Alara

4 Ajani Vengeant

4 Burst Lightning
4 Chandra Nalaar
4 Lightning Bolt

4 Day of Judgment
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 Path to Exile

12 Mountain
4 Naya Panorama
2 Plains
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

sb:
1 Obelisk of Alara
4 Goblin Assault
4 Celestial Purge
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Oblivion Ring
1 Path to Exile

The distinguishing thing about this version is still the Goblin Assault set after sideboarding. I really like those: They have been great against control, in particular the relatively popular Jace, the Mind Sculptor decks.

Main deck the main difference between this and the pre-Worldwake version is the addition of Motherlovin Cup aka Everlasting Chalice. The Chalice lets this deck play third turn Ajani Vengeant, Day of Judgment, or sometimes Elspeth, Knight-Errant.

If there is one card (or kind of card) I would like to play (or rather add), it is something like Earthquake or Martial Coup. Martial Coup would be great in particular with Motherlovin Cup… Not sure what to cut right now. I have sided every card in the ‘board in the last 24 hours, with Oblivion Ring a necessary evil due to the many, many Planeswalkers that are now played even in Standard aggressive decks.

Anyway, that’s it for today. Pretty exciting news for fans of me, Billy Moreno, and Paul Jordan that we will unveil relatively soon 🙂

/anticipation

LOVE
MIKE

Transcendent Master: an affront to everything that is good and true.

Once upon a time there was a superb Constructed format. Some gripers complained that it was overly dominated by Umezawa’s Jitte, but it wasn’t. Teddy Card Game actually wrote an article claiming that Gifts Ungiven variants were more dominating in this format than Affinity decks had been [in Mirrodin Block Constructed] a year prior. Inconceivable!

Anyway… a superb Constructed format, trust me.

There was a controlling combo deck in Gifts Ungiven… all positional advantage and card drawing that could lock the game with infinite defense or ending the game with a stack of Kokushos.

There was a control deck. Mono-Blue control with All-Star threats like Meloku and Keiga. This deck could draw up with Jushi Apprentice and hold off the Gifts Ungiven deck, essentially forever.

And there were beatdown decks. Mono-Black. Mono-White. Some even tried for Mono-Red.

The format had diversity in spades, but it was laced together by Umezawa’s Jitte. Jitte was a glue that made White Weenie playable… saw little play in Blue, and was irrelevant to Gifts.

As you most likely know if you are a longtime reader, I was able to solve that format with two weeks to go. The Critical Mass deck, playing a “critical” set of Gnarled Masses was the ultimate solution to the format. It had the counterspells of Mono-Blue, but vastly superior tempo; Sakura-Tribe Elder in game one, and a “surprise!” set of Jushi Apprentices and Threads of Disloyalty (for their Jushi Apprentices) after boards.

Its counterspells allowed Critical Mass to dominate Gifts Ungiven. When the Apprentices came in after sideboarding… Honestly, I don’t think I ever lost a single sideboarded game in testing the matchup was so strong.

The “critical”-ness of the Gnarled Masses was mostly for White Weenie. White Weenie had 2/2 creatures at every drop.

1. Isamaru, Hound of Konda
2. Hand of Honor and Samurai of the Pale Curtain
3. Kitsune Blademaster
4. Hokori, Dust Drinker

The Critical Mass deck had by far the superior late game. Umezawa’s Jittes were a wash; U/G arguably had the advantage because Kodama’s Reach and Sakura-Tribe Elder could help thin the deck and increase the instances of their appearing. The end game was a murder of Legendary creatures… Kodama of the North Tree in addition to the Blue beaters.

The problem was getting there.

If the White Weenie deck had a tempo advantage going into turn four, ka-pow! Hokori, Dust Drinker!

U/G’s spells were very expensive, so the Winter Orb-like Hokori could turn the deck to molasses. The 2/2s would hammer in until it was over.

Critical Mass’s solution took away the tempo advantage going into turn four.

Was Gnarled Mass better than the White Weenie equivalents?

Absolutely not!

But once they were both in play, the cards could be more-or-less the same (with the Green one just costing more). A board at parity would not necessarily be a good place for White Weenie to tap out four with a walking Winter Orb.

Time.

Time TIME TIME.

That was what U/G needed — even just a couple of turns — to get its Legends online.

At the end of the day, Gnarled Mass — a mere 3/3 for three mana — got the job done. I won the last PTQ in NYC, and a week later Gerard Fabiano made Top 8 of the last Grand Prix with Critical Mass.

So why is Transcendent Master the enemy of all that is good?

Simple.

I just don’t want to see White Weenie with a 3/3 for three 🙂

How un-special is that? How un-special does that make Gnarled Mass?

The fact of the matter is that Transcendent Master is not just a 3/3 for three mana.

At Level 6, it is a medium-gigantic 6/6 with Lifelink.

Is that a good deal?

We are talking about nine mana for a 6/6 Lifelink… You would basically never play that at retail, but the 3/3 for three-ness of the card at the baseline softens the impact of the absolute cost. A great deal? No. But serviceable due to the fact that you can tap out on turn three, cross your fingers, and sometimes have an impressive 6/6 on turn five.

How about the final version?

Fifteen mana for a 9/9 indestructible Lifelink? Unlike on Figure of Destiny update Kargan Dragonlord, the math does not become more favorable as time progresses. Again, not a tremendous deal… But the core-3/3 for three pat makes Transcendent Master good enough to ruin without help. The biggest mode — and it is pretty big let’s be honest — might not be the selling point, but it is still a useful feature that will come up sometimes.

You know, to help bury all memory of truth, goodness, and light.

Snap Judgment Rating – Role Player

LOVE
MIKE

… and even sadder… it’s good.

It is possible I have been a little harsh on my man Sphinx of Jwar Isle on this blog.

Here are some of the things I have said about him over the past year or so:

In my own defense, people have been playing him in basically atrocious decks. I mean why would you play Grixis Control when you could play Grixis Burn? Why would you — in general — play Sphinx of Jwar Isle when you could play Sphinx of Lost Truths? Especially in U/W or some kind of gassy Esper variant?

Unfortunately — and I mean really unfortunately — we may now have an answer to this question.

I was trolling around Twitter and saw a deck by Neale Talbot on his blog. This is Neale’s initial version:

Target This!

4 Deft Duelist
4 Calcite Snapper
4 Wall of Denial
3 Sphinx of Jwar Isle

3 Path to Exile

4 Treasure Hunt

2 Marshal’s Anthem
3 Oblivion Ring
4 Spreading Seas
2 Ardent Plea

3 Jace, The Mindsculptor

3 Island
3 Plains
4 Arcane Sanctum
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Celestial Colonnade
2 Sejiri Refuge
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Marsh Flats

Original deck list from http://wrongwaygoback.com

I didn’t hate the deck; in fact it reminded me of “the Untouchables” — a series of decks that were played around the time of my first Pro Tour (primarily in the Juniors division), centering around cards like Autumn Willow and Deadly Insect. The concept of this deck is similar… All the creatures [thematically] have Shroud.

Looking over the deck list I decided that I didn’t want to Ardent Plea into Deft Duelist ever, and the Spreading Seas portion of the deck seemed a bit inconsistent. So I cut that and some of the creatures in favor of more defense and card advantage.

This is my take on Neal’s deck, based on several matches of testing:

U/W Tap-out Untouchables version 1.1

4 Calcite Snapper
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Mind Spring
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
4 Spreading Seas
4 Treasure Hunt

4 Deft Duelist

2 Day of Judgment
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Marshal’s Anthem
2 Martial Coup
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Path to Exile

4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Halimar Depths
7 Island
5 Plains

sb:
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Wall of Denial
4 Celestial Purge
2 Day of Judgment
4 Kor Firewalker
1 Martial Coup

The first version I played had a third Oblivion Ring and no Marshal’s Anthem. Marshal’s Anthem clearly right in this deck… I somehow forgot to play it despite its being in Neal’s deck list. Oh well, old.

You probably understand how this deck works. The creatures all have Shroud and are therefore relatively difficult to deal with using conventional means (Terminate, Path to Exile, even creature combat).

The deck seems to perform well against a variety of decks. It has Day of Judgment to gain an advantage over reach-poor decks like Boss Naya and White Weenie, and a combination of early game mana disruption and Shroud defense against Jund. Against other U/W decks, you are the beatdown. Strangely, they have a hard time dealing with your creatures. This can lead to the opponent having to tap out at inopportune times, allowing you to deal with their Planeswalkers or just get a Planeswalker advantage yourself.

I mostly won with the deck, and I managed to do better than break even in the tournament queues.

The deck is serviceable against Allies, but you have to watch for their Haste. I found that even when I felt like I should be winning, the reload power of that deck was not to be completely overlooked. The deck is relatively weak against the card Eldrazi Monument. Eldrazi Green seems like a very easy pairing but for that card… But then again, they did name their deck after it. Jund is… Jund. You win some, you can get blown out by triple Blightning, too.

The best matchup seems to be Boss Naya.

Deft Duelist sings in the Boss Naya match, but it is the weakest card generally. I find myself siding out Deft Duelist quite a bit, when I reach for the three additional Wrath of God effects in the sideboard. Generally Calcite Snapper is the superior threat… Sometimes you just go beatdown with Calcite Snapper, and even Jund can just look on in horror as Sprouting Thrinax gets covered by Oblivion Ring, Bloodbraid Elf meets Path to Exile, and Beast tokens go flying into the aether thanks to Jace, the Mind Sculptor as the ravenous convertible turtle rumbles in for four, Four, FOUR per turn.

This is obviously not a Regionals-ready deck… yet. But I was very surprised at how its synergies could make up for the relative weakness of some of the individual cards.

Analysis of the main deck cards:

Calcite Snapper
I was hot and cold on this one; however the ability to go aggro — and put the opponent on a legitimate clock — came up several times in both practice and tournament matches. This is clearly one of the centerpiece cards of the deck.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor
I won with this about 20% of the time. Many games are about setting up several Shroud creatures to surround and protect Jace… and that’s it.

Mind Spring
Very good in this deck. You need a reload in part because you are drawing, let’s be frank, motherlovin Deft Duelist.

Sphinx of Jwar Isle
I think two is the right number; however if I fall even further out of love with Deft Duelist, I can see going to three copies. He isn’t good (still); he kept running up against either Boss Naya with Basilisk Collar online or Baneslayer Angel. However he could pull it through sometimes thanks to Marshall’s Anthem or help from Jace, the Mind Sculptor or other spot removal. I begrudgingly admit that this card is actually perfect in this deck (though I maintain that he probably isn’t optimal in most other decks).

Spreading Seas
Never side them out.

Treasure Hunt
I was much happier with the Treasure Hunt / Halimar Depths combo in this deck than I was in the more reactive Esper deck. The U/W aggro deck can play out, say, a Deft Duelist and then use Treasure Hunt to draw up; I rarely had to discard, and I usually got a little bonus (though “desperation” Treasure Hunts rarely seem profitable).

Deft Duelist
Shockingly good against Boss Naya. These did everything from running by a squad of defenders to beat up Ajani Vengeant to huddling around Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Jace Beleren so that they could do their damn jobs.

…

Most of the other main deck cards have seen heavy play in other decks discussed on this blog. They are all good… I often feel like I want another Oblivion Ring, but maybe that’s just because I lost to Eldrazi Monument.

Sideboard Cards:
Jace, the Mind Sculptor – came in most matches

Wall of Denial – I never sided more than one copy in, even against the beatdown decks where you would expect them to be good… I felt like these conflicted too much with the excess mass removal (though they seem quite useful against Jund, where you don’t want Day of Judgment)

Celestial Purge – All-star, not surprising.

Day of Judgment / Martial Coup – The next most common cards to come in after Jace, the Mind Sculptor #4. Especially backbreaking for Vampires, Boss Naya, White Weenie, and to a lesser extent, Allies.

Kor Firewalker – I never sided these in. I would like to do a ten game set or so versus Mono-Red, Red-splash-Black, and / or Barely Boros to get a feel of how necessary Kor Firewalker is. I only played versus one Mono-Red deck, and he would have no second game after his Goblins were so dominated by Deft Duelist in the first.

I think this one might be worth some time investment… Let’s see how Rise of the Eldrazi looks in a few weeks. I could see incorporating more Planeswalkers, such as Gideon Jura.

LOVE
MIKE

So after something like a month, I finally logged back into Magic Online today!

The process has been a harrowing one that culminated in my figuring out how to install Windows onto my new (savage) iMac via Parallels. Long story short – I was able to brew in a practical format.

I won’t bore you with all the little details that went into the inclusion of Resounding Wave in the current build of Esper, but it has been pretty good. I felt that Esper was the strongest Standard deck pre-Worldwake, being the control deck that could not only compete with Jund and terrorize Naya, but consistently crush other control decks (primarily Grixis Control).

Our friend Thomas Dodd even made Top 8 of a MTGO PE with the Esper deck. I decided to go with Thomas’s “cut an expensive card from the Flores list” strategy, so I cut one Sorin Markov for one Elspeth, Knight-Errant in the main of this version:

Sorin Markov Flair version 3.0

2 Sorin Markov

4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Resounding Wave
4 Spreading Seas
4 Treasure Hunt

4 Esper Charm

4 Day of Judgment
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Martial Coup
4 Path to Exile

4 Arcane Sanctum
4 Celestial Colonnade
1 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Halimar Depths
2 Island
4 Marsh Flats
2 Plains
3 Swamp
4 Tectonic Edge

sb:
4 Duress
1 Malakir Bloodwitch
2 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Countersquall
4 Baneslayer Angel

Philosophically this is the beloved Esper deck even if the end game looks a bit different.

From Worldwake we have added Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Treasure Hunt (largely replacing Divination and the previous Jace Beleren), Halimar Depths, and Tectonic Edge.

This is very much one of “my” tap-out control decks. There are no counterspells main deck, and the first match I lost was one where I realized mid-way through the second game that I had no Countersquall for his Open the Vaults (managed to get the first game with triple Planeswalkers). Luckily I remembered for subsequent matches (though I have yet to actually side in, let alone play, a Countersquall).

So why Esper?

Can you really think of anything better you can do with your three mana than an Esper Charm? I mean really?

Neither can I.

Rundown:

2 Sorin Markov
I went with Thomas’s numbers; nevertheless, Sorin is probably our best card and might make it back to three-of by Regionals.

4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
This card replaced both our previous Jace Belerens and all the finishers. The previous Esper deck, if you recall, played four Banelsayer Angel and four Sphinx of Lost Truths main deck. This deck wins by a combination of Jace-driven resource suppression and Sorin-plus-man lands-based offense. I don’t know which is better objectively, but this version has been running cleanly against a variety of opponents so far.

4 Resounding Wave
Another big change with this version (despite Resounding Wave not being a, you know, new card). With the previous version, the main complaint was that “Esper has no Cruel Ultimatum” … Well Resounding Wave is our Ultimatum. I actually ran the three mana version three times over against the Empty the Vaults deck to make him discard 3-4 times, losing to the fact that I never got to a fourth land (or in fact a Swamp to use the three copies of Duress in my hand, any of which would have pre-empted the lethal Filigree Angel combo).

So one of my original ideas with Resounding Wave was to supplement the Spreading Seas portion of the deck. Especially on the play you can leave your opponent having made no plays when you get your third turn. You can at that point aim a Resounding Wave at his land and force him to discard. There are some other subtle advantages with this card; it gives you two (or depending on tuning, even three) different colors of instant speed creature defense; at full bore it can target a near-ultimate Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Iona, Shield of Emeria without fear of interaction. Overall, a much better card than its level of play to date would seem to indicate.

4 Spreading Seas
A top-five card in Standard, I think.

4 Treasure Hunt
We’ll write a lot more about this one before too long; for now just think about its advantages with 28 land and Tectonic Edge in particular; in a Spreading Seas (or Spreading Seas + Resounding Wave) mana control strategy.

4 Esper Charm
Is there anything better to do with three mana? I mean really? (Okay, but you can’t play Esper Charm and Blightning together outside of mono-Cascade… believe me, I’ve tried!)

4 Day of Judgment
Upgraded from three copies to four… With fewer creatures in this version, we need more creature defense, especially with the rise in decks like G/W and White Weenie.

1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
If we can convince Thomas to write about his experiences with the previous version of Esper, we will probably find out why this card is good enough! So far, it has been good.

1 Martial Coup
I haven’t drawn it yet; chalk this one up to needing even more copies of Day of Judgment… Also an additional way to win, of course.

4 Path to Exile
Basically a given.

… A bunch of lands…

4 Tectonic Edge
I was actually surprised I didn’t blow a lot of people out with these. Tectonic Edge is highly synergistic with the other cards we have talked about (Spreading Seas and sometimes Resounding Wave); it is also quite good with Treasure Hunt. Treasure Hunt helps you draw more lands than the opponent so that parity plays like a Tectonic Edge one-for-one can imply profitability.

The sideboard needs a bit of work. Moving so many creatures out of the main kind of glutted the sideboard, and the ability to go creature “overload” (though really just becoming a mid-range creature deck) is less of a possibility with this build.

I think the sideboard needs a set of Celestial Purge; I lost some very close matches (mostly based on mis-clicking due to lack of practice and lack of familiarity with Jace, the Mind Sculptor) where Celestial Purge would have given me a bit of margin. You know; the usual stuff… Hell’s Thunder or whatever. Don’t forget that Celestial Purge is also quite effective against Ajani Vengeant. I also think the deck could benefit from a pair of Countersqualls in the main, similar to the last build.

One card that is not in this version is Everflowing Chalice aka Motherlovin Cup. The mana costs are so all over the place (BBB, UUU, WW) that I wanted to play lots of colors-producing mana sources; the Tectonic Edges by themselves are bad enough. So I decided to go with a heavy Halimar Depths plan with Treasure Hunt… The old “hit my land drops” rather than “accelerate with a Signet” line of plays. Might not be optimal from the bird’s eye view, but for a deck with Esper colors, I do think it is right.

LOVE
MIKE

A new card that lots of my Twitter followers have been asking me to write about is Gideon Jura:

Gideon is an interesting and potentially powerful card; not one that I would necessarily have identified on my lonesome. Apparently people think it’s going to be a chase rare (and by “chase rare” you probably can’t miss the fact that Gideon Jura is actually Mythic Rare).

Gideon Jura costs five mana, specifically 3WW. It costs exactly the same amount as, you know, Baneslayer Angel.

So which is better?

Baneslayer Angel.

Baneslayer Angel is better than Gideon Jura. Baneslayer Angel will win games that no other card would be able to win. We played Baneslayer Angel in the mono-Cascade (you know, Black “Baneslayer”) deck because that deck’s mana base put us behind against Anathemancer; one or two hits from a Baneslayer Angel and you don’t really have to worry about Anathemancer any more. Baneslayer Angel blocks. She blocks so well that often she doesn’t have to block. You lay her out there and the bad guys are terrified of attacking. Baneslayer Angel blocks so well that when she motherlovin’ attacks, the five life you get back is basically like she hung back to block.

So Baneslayer Angel is better — given my snap judgment superficial never-played-a-Gideon-Jura-yet assessment — than Gideon Jura, card-to-card.

So why are we even having this discussion?

Just because Gideon Jura isn’t as good a card as the best large creature in the history of Magic doesn’t mean that he won’t be a significant and useful potential tool. In fact, Gideon Jura will be more applicable to many strategies than Baneslayer Angel was, or is. For example, creature-poor decks often lose their Baneslayer Angels immediately. Lay her out there… and she’s dead. Gideon Jura wouldn’t be immediately dead. You can’t Terminate a Gideon Jura; ergo you won’t be sitting there with a stray Terminate in your hand when Gideon Jura shows up, poised to blow up the new Planeswalker.

We know Baneslayer Angel is worth tapping out for. Is Gideon Jura?

I think it depends.

It depends on what you want to do, and what your deck wants to do, and how you want to hold hands and go about doing what you plan on doing. For example, a deck like Naya Lightsaber can play Noble Hierarch, Great Sable Stag, Bloodbraid Elf, Baneslayer Angel… threat, threat, threat; pressure, pressure, pressure. Baneslayer Angel is great there in a way that Gideon Jura might not necessarily be.

A control deck can play block, tempo, counter, bluff, Baneslayer. If she lives, great. If she dies, well… You were probably going to play Day of Judgment anyway. Baneslayer Angel is worthwhile there.

This is a spot where Gideon Jura might actually be better. You can counter, kill creatures, play your Planeswalkers, Day of Judgment with no loss of card advantage, and then clean up with Gideon Jura. He’s pretty strong in the sense that a White control deck can sweep the board and then go Mishra’s Factory with a 6/6, essentially unopposed. In this sense, Gideon Jura is a fine finisher.

But for all his lack of “ultimate” Planeswalker abilities, Gideon has three… It might be worth looking at all of them:

• [+2] This ability seems applicable in [at least] three broad ways: 1) “Delayed Blast Falter” … a White Weenie deck (or whatever) can make all the opponent’s creatures attack Gideon Jura, leaving him (mostly) open for a return Alpha Strike, 2) “Turbo Fog” … Gideon Jura could fit into this kind of a strategy, both as an additional White Fog-proxy (and ultimately an alternate kill condition), 3) Boosting Gideon’s loyalty … Because sometimes you have to.
• [-2] Gideon Jura can go Nekrataal immediately upon hitting the battlefield. The opponent just attacked? You can spring the slaughter and have four loyalty left.
• [0] Probably best in a true control deck, but serviceable in any deck that plays Gideon.

Gideon Jura is a potential one-card combo. You can play him, activate the [+2] and win almost on the spot. If you have some decent blockers, one or two Gideon Jura-directed suicide runs will make for some kind of a no-limit swing. You can actually sit there activating [+2], forcing the opponent to run into a Celestial Colonnade or whatever, until he decides he is tired of banging his head against the wall and throwing his creatures into the graveyard.

I think Gideon might be a nice component in a Planeswalker-themed control or board control deck. He has lots of colorless mana costs, and should therefore hang it nice and loose with Everflowing Chalice. As a fourth or fifth turn follow up, Gideon can play big brother to Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Just keeping attackers off of Jace will be worthwhile a fair amount of the time.

As already implied, Gideon Jura is a solid potential finisher in a true control deck. He does everything you need him to do. You need to kill creatures? Gideon kills creatures. You need to keep damage off of your own neck? Gideon might just play Baneslayer Angel, heroically, for a turn or two. You need to win the game? Gideon can handle that action, too.

If there were a rating between Role Player and Staple, that’s where I would position Gideon Jura; but there isn’t.

Snap Judgment Rating – Staple

LOVE
MIKE

Concerning:

“At what point is a Gelatinous Genesis good?”

I find Gelatinous Genesis a genuinely interesting card to think about.

No, really.

Cards like this one are intriguing. The mana cost is considered; the potential upside of the card, considerable.

Should we instantly dismiss it?

Or: Is it awesome?

A card like this one has different value at different mana costs.

A simple comparison would be the card Drain Life.

A little over a year ago I wrote about “Magic Writing That Can Change Your Life”; in particular a PTQ report by BIll Hodack that changed my life. Bill played a B/R Necropotence deck that ran both Lightning Bolt and Drain Life (one Incinerate in the sideboard). In a deck that can easily access both sorts of mana (and in particular a deck that plays the card basic Mountain), Lightning Bolt is the superior card on bases of speed, flexibility, mana efficiency, and almost every other reasonable metric. Drain Life is superior only when you have an excess of mana. Like Gelatinous Genesis, it is increasingly useful as you have an increasing amount of mana; there is a minimum threshold where Drain Life becomes useful (the line that has stuck with me for 14+ years is “I wanted low casting cost spells. Drain Lifes become useful[l] at about 5 mana[.]” This simple statement helped create a framework in my mind that I have carried with me as a deck designer, player, and so on for all this time.

The practical implication is “At about four mana, you can kill a Black Knight and get something out of it… It just gets better after that.”

Gelatinous Genesis, I think, is going to be like that: It should become useful at a certain mana point; after that it will be very good. No one is really writing home for a four mana, Black Knight-killing, Drain Life; we play it for the dramatic swings it can create later in the game… But without a measuring stick, some kind of basis for evaluation at all, we have less of a rudder to help steer the strategy of our “ship” … and we can dismiss a card that is, quite frankly and by most evaluation criteria, significantly inferior to a Lightning Bolt.

So is Gelatinous Genesis awesome, or even super awesome?

At this point, I am not sure. It compares interestingly (and even favorably) to other historically playable cards at similar mana points. Let’s discover them!

Gelatinous Genesis has no effect at one mana and can’t be played for two mana. Let’s begin at three mana.

THREE

At three mana, Gelatinous Genesis puts one 1/1 creature onto the battlefield.

This is most like a Pyknite (without the cantrip-ness).

Originally I was thinking of a Wood Elves (without the attached Rampant Growth)… But I have qualified for the Pro Tour with Wood Elves, and the main reason we play Wood Elves is for the Rampant Growth-ness, not the 1/1-ness, so that would be a horrible insult to Wood Elves. But Pyknite… At three mana this card is just a terrible Pyknite.

And no one credible ever played with Pyknite.

FIVE

At five mana Gelatinous Genesis puts two 2/2 creatures onto the battlefield; it generates a net of one permanent simultaneous with four power. It is not so different from an Indrik Stomphowler.

There are actually lots of things that it is comparable to at this mana cost…

Turntimber Ranger – Gelatinous Genesis, were it only a five mana spell, would be far worse.

Bestial Menace – Ditto; Bestial Menace generates both more permanents and more power.

Grizzly Fate – Gelatinous Genesis on five is exactly an unenhanced Grizzly Fate. However Grizzy Fate, which was a much sought after bomb had both Flashback and Threshold. Was it much, much better than a five mana Gelatinous Genesis? Certainly! … But I think we might be hitting our Bill Hodack minimum usefulness threshold. Bill didn’t play Drain Life to kill Black Knights and we won’t be playing Gelatinous Genesis as a poor man’s Grizzly Fate. But at this point we might have a card — especially as it nets a “card” — we have a not-totally embarassing play, especially if we are going to consider chaining Genesis into Genesis.

SEVEN
At seven mana, Gelatinous Genesis produces three 3/3 creatures, or nine total power.

In a sense this is like a Terastodon, which produces three 3/3 creatures… But also not like a Terastodon at all (it is seven mana versus eight mana, the controlling of the 3/3 creatures is probably much different, no one becomes immediately manascrewed, there is another nine power in the mix); so I would put it much closer to a Simic Sky Swallower.

Why a Simic Sky Swallower?

They are both non-automatic, but playable sevens.

I remember the first time I held a Simic Sky Swallower in my hands. It was the first time we drafted Dissension at Jonny Draft. My deck had either one or two copies of this gigantic seven, two Experiment Kraaj, and five Coiling Oracles. I managed a 2-1.

The more memorable thing was thinking about the Simic Sky Swallower. We had very little frame of reference for seven mana creatures in Constructed. It seemed immediately Constructed playable to me, but I also had a healty measure of skepticism. This is how Simic Sky Swallower ended up, you will probably recall. Played in decks with an excess of mana (non-Staple in UrzaTron decks, not played even in some with Simic Signet), generally but not always played in Team Constructed, not universally played; not fast enough for many strategies.

So which is better?

If a deck is willing to muster seven for a threat, they can be held one against another. Gelatinous Genesis, overall, is the more flexible card. As a seven, strictly, it is sometimes better and sometimes worse than Simic Sky Swallower. This is the first mana point where we can really say that. It is much “bigger” than Simic Sky Swallower, and generates “card advantage” by itself. A Wrath of God (or the equivalent) is about equally good against both threats. Attacking into a swarm, Gelatinous Genesis is often superior. Against a specific kind of threat (Firemane Angel being an important consideration when Simic Sky Swallower was current), Simic Sky Swallower is much better: It could hold off Firemane Angels or attack into one; Gelatinous Genesis [on seven] is much less effective against Firemane Angels (though I don’t really see that being an issue at present).

Three or four years later, we still have relatively little data about how and when sevens are playable. However if they are / would be (and consider there are or were times when we would invest in threats that were “just” sevens), I think we can say at this point that Gelatinous Genesis starts getting “good”. It is the first point where power exceeds mana, at least.

NINE

A nine mana Gelatinous Genesis produces sixteen power across four permanents.

The closes point of reference is Iona, Shield of Emeria.

Why do we choose Iona?

If we have little data on sevens, we have even less on nines. However Iona is a nine that is both current and played; so we can ask questions like “When, if ever, is Gelatinous Genesis better than Iona, Shield of Emeria?”

You can’t really compare them in Extended, when Iona is played on the second turn in lockdown situations (I would also hazard that Gelatinous Genesis will never be played in large numbers in Extended); however we can talk about the two cards “playing fair” in Standard. There are multiple decks that will play Iona for retail (mono-White, U/W), and some that even try to cheat out Iona, Shield of Emeria as a “five mana spell” (Solar Flare).

When is Iona, Shield of Emeria better than Gelatinous Genesis [on nine]? I think that the kinds of decks that play Iona give us a good indication of when it would be better. Iona is better when you can play her over and over, relentlessly, as in a deck with Emeria, the Sky Ruin. It might also be better when you are a controlling counterspell deck that can use it to cut off a large portion of the opponent’s game with the objective of locking down Stage Three.

I would argue, on counterpoint, that a nine mana Gelatinous Genesis would be better in most other situations, most specifically in a Green deck that has nine mana to spend. If you aren’t specifically playing to lock down an opponent’s game, Iona isn’t that great. Big girl, will probably win… But what do you think you are getting for nine mana? However, think of the times you can lose with Iona in play: “You are getting swarmed” is first on the list. Four 4/4s are better at “not getting swarmed” than one gigantic Mythic, no?

It’s not clear that a gigantic Genesis is better than Iona, Shield of Emeria… But it’s also not clear that a [fairly played] Iona is better than this increasingly flexible sorcery, at this stage.

ELEVEN

An eleven mana Gelatinous Genesis will give you twenty-five power across five 5/5 creatures.

We have essentially no frame of reference for threats at this mana level — before Rise of the Eldrazi that is — so the closest thing I can compare it to is Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre.

Why Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre?

It costs the same?

It is almost silly to compare the two effects head to head. Twenty-five power, unchecked, is death. I can’t imagine that facing down Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, with its Nekrataal-come-Darksteel Colossus frame is much easier to beat; not with Annihilator 4. Either one should put you in a commanding position; Gelatinous Genesis being superior in most non-Haste cases due to its resistance to Path to Exile.

Yet there are certain implications to it costing the same (and the presence of other very expensive Eldrazi); the most important, of course, is the presumption that these cards are playable. Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre is Mythic. Presumably it is the one-Eldrazi wow factor. There are so many cards that are so flashy and so expensive I have to believe that we are entering a universe where at least some decks will have the resources to produce twenty-five power across five 5/5 “little” guys.

Snap Judgment Rating: Role Player

LOVE
MIKE

BONUS: The Gelatinous Genesis Quick-Reference Chart

Concerning:

So I was going to run a post that was like “this is THE END of FiveWithFlores.com… But based on my recent non-posting status, despite the fact that this is April 1, ye ole joke might not come across the hilarious way I would have intended. So instead, we’ll talk about something that is not joke, no joke whatsoever: Jeroen Aga’s Allies Deck.

Naya Allies – Jeroen Aga

4 Bloodbraid Elf

3 Harabaz Druid
4 Oran-Rief Survivalist

4 Akoum Battlesinger
1 Goblin Bushwhacker

4 Hada Freeblade
4 Kabira Evangel
4 Kazandu Blademaster
2 Path to Exile
2 Ranger of Eos
4 Talus Paladin

4 Ancient Ziggurat
4 Arid Mesa
2 Forest
4 Jungle Shrine
1 Mountain
5 Plains
4 Sunpetal Grove

sb:
3 Cunning Sparkmage
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Tuktuk Scrapper
4 Kor Firewalker
2 Path to Exile

So… 34 creatures, 27 of them Allies. Ho ho Allies linear!

This might not have been the rumored G/W Allies deck that the Japanese were brewing for the most recent Pro Tour, but Jeroen Aga was able to start out 9-0 at Grand Prix Brussels, and ultimately finish in the money, if not the Top 8.

So, Top Decks this week is devoted [rightfully] to the level up mechanic, so we are going to use this space — and resurrect the interest in this blog while we’re at it — to talk about one of the things we would normally have done over at the mother ship: an interesting and quite different new deck.

Another Bloodbraid Elf deck?

Yes.

Bloodbraid Elf is just that damn good.

But this time — at least when you are not flipping over a Path to Exile (please Please PLEASE)… You will generally be doing something Ally-tastic.

There is certainly going to be some Bloodbraid Elf draw-dependency. For example when you are poised for an Alpha Strike, flipping over Harabaz Druid is going to put you on tilt like, you know, a pinball machine that has been knocked to the side.

And sometimes you are going to flip over Kabira Evangel and you will look like an absolute action hero. Holy Reverent Mantra Batman!

The Allies deck is a good example of a deck that is not Jund. Its cards are significantly worse than, say, Blightning and Putrid Leech. Heck, the Lightning Bolts are in the sideboard… and there are only three of them!

Like Kazandu Blademaster is a good man and everything — probably a hair better than Hada Freeblade — but he’s not as good as a two mana conditional 4/4… not by himself. Not until he is 4/4, anyway.

But Kazandu Blademaster, Hada Freeblade, and Oran-Rief Survivalist get the linear bonus. As you play more and more Allies, they get better and better, and have to be evaluated as such.

For example, the average Kazandu Blademaster (in this deck) probably says something like:

WW
Creature – Human Soldier Ally
First Strike
Vigilence
2w: {this} gains +1/+1 and creatures you control are unblockable until end of turn; use this ability only once per game
3w: {this} gains +1/+1 and creatures you control gain lifelink until end of turn
4/4

Something more elegantly stated than the above, but you get the idea. Every Ally card in this deck is functionally speaking a good deal better than its printed value in this deck.

So when you start doing evaluations between the most recent incarnation of the 2/2 first striker for WW [versus a Putrid Leech, which is the default two-drop in Standard], you can’t stop with it being a 2/2… It is so much more when surrounded by all these other puzzle pieces. That’s how you look at the cards in a linear deck.

I once said that all the linears are about as good as each other, at least because they are held in check by hoser cards.

That was pretty not-correct.

Some cards say: (b/u)(b/u) – Kill the opponent on the second turn. Other ones are just very good 4/4 creatures for four mana (also very good… but not as good as the b/u jobby, above); Allies are probably somewhere in the middle… Less powerful than a Sword of Fire and Ice-weilding Indrik Stomphowler, but much faster in exchange; probably more apt to set up completely unexpected blowout draws.

The Allies have some cute stuff going on. For example a Ranger of Eos can grab a pair of Hada Freeblades to quickly make your Kazandu Blademaster (or whoever) into a one-Ally assault force. Or, like in the Boros deck, you can get a solo Goblin Bushwhacker to just go kill the opponent. When the Bushwhacker is on the tail end of a stack of Allies all holding hands, making each other bigger, faster, longer, and harder, even a single attack can be very impressive.

As such, I would probably have played more copies of Ranger of Eos (personally I have that card very near Bloodbraid Elf and Baneslayer Angel in power level), but I have neither Aga’s experience with these Allies, nor his 9-0 Grand Prix opening.

Yes, yes: Consider us back.

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: The Night Watch (Watch, Book 1)