Five With Flores

Concerning:

Linvala, Keeper of Silence ∙ Mythic ∙ Mythic Conscription
Adding Vengevine to Perfectly Good Decks ∙ A Little Jace, the Mind Sculptor ∙ … and Linvala, Keeper of Silence

So with all the hubbub about Vengevine last weekend (and did anyone notice a deck that was a few cards off of what we posted made Top 8? I mean sure, maybe we needed Maelstrom Pulse to compete with Basilisk Collar, but it was in large part our Sarkhan the Mad Jund deck!), I decided to, you know, stick good old Vengevine into Mythic Conscription.

I mean it’s not a stretch at all.

Vengevine is a creature that thrives on being played in a context of lots of other creatures.

Lo and behold, Mythic Conscription is like mono-creatures – A perfect marriage!

Vengevine Mythic version 1.2

2 Eldrazi Conscription

3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Sovereigns of Lost Alara

4 Birds of Paradise
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Vengevine
1 Scute Mob

3 Baneslayer Angel
3 Ranger of Eos

4 Celestial Colonnade
5 Forest
2 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
2 Sejiri Steppe
1 Stirring Wildwood
2 Sunpetal Grove
4 Verdant Catacombs

sb:
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Negate
4 Rhox War Monk
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Gideon Jura
3 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Ranger of Eos

The fundamental delta of this deck was to just remove the relatively low powered Dauntless Escort (good against Wrath of God) for high powered Vengevine (also good against Wrath of God). I took out all the Planeswalkers, et al for a nine card Ranger of Eos package.

That is, originally I was much more mono-Vengevine in my card selection. Playing all my Planeswalkers in the sideboard, I started one more Sovereigns of Lost Alara, Ranger of Eos, and Baneslayer Angel. However, it turns out that playing Jace, the Mind Sculptor main deck really is better in Mythic decks. Basically I played against so many control decks (including some kind of goofball mono-White control decks) that it was simply foolish to not play Jace, the Mind Sculptor starting. Decks with core of mana acceleration are actually much better at playing Jace than the control decks where we are more used to seeing that Planeswalker. Even on the draw you can plop a Jace down and totally dominate some poor Fieldmist Borderpost ham and egger.

I probably don’t have to tell you what all the cards in this deck do… Mythic Conscription is by this point one of the main pillars on which our metagame rests. The one thing I will mention is that I added the second Sejiri Steppe to the mana base (from Brett Blackman’s GP Top 8 list); I really like the ability to give the opponent a false sense of security… This measure has been instrumental in many a Reliquary mirror.

The one card that I really like in this deck is Ranger of Eos. Sure, Birds of Paradise is a downgrade relative to the Wild Nacatls that Andre used to win the World Championships, but the presence of Vengevine makes Ranger of Eos so much more attractive (and I already had Ranger as a Top 10 Standard card as you know). One thing that I found even in my pre-Jace, the Mind Sculptor builds — especially in the mirror — was how dominating Ranger of Eos was. Just loading and overloading on Noble Hierarchs was insane! No matter what threat you were attacking with, it would be much bigger than the opponent would likely be able to profitably block, even in a mirror.

The weirdo tech — though at this point it probably isn’t that weird — is Linvala, Keeper of Silence.

Linvala, Keeper of Silence – aka “weirdo tech”

Basically, Linvala is insurance against Cunning Sparkmage or… um… Royal Assassin I guess.

Linvala has been pretty good for me. I’ve tried her against everything from Putrid Leech to Knight of the Reliquary in the mirror. Of course I am a giant dumb bum and didn’t initially realize that Linvala is asymmetrical. So I like sided out my own Knights for… the… You get it. You don’t like that you get it, but you do. Yeah, that’s me.

The cool thing I’ve found about this particular gal is that as bad as I initially was playing my own Linvala, Keeper of Silence… Opponents play worse. A typical scenario is you play Linvala to lock down one or more copies of Knight of the Reliquary; even when Linvala rumbles and dies in combat, your opponent may just forget that their Knights are back online and randomly attack with them in 2/2 form.

No lies.

The sideboard is kind of a random mish-mash of cards I wanted to play. It is not particularly well measured. We can utilize the same technique I wrote about in last Friday’s TCGPlayer article to improve it.

What are the big baddies in Standard?

Let’s start with these eight or nine decks:

• Jund
• Mythic Conscription (the mirror), and regular Mythic
• U/r/W Planeswalkers
• U/W Control
• Naya Vengevine
• Devastating Red
• Polymorph
• Vampires

Remember, this technique just identifies what is less acceptable and helps you to identify areas where you need (or can afford) coverage; you can make efficiency swaps to your heart’s content (i.e. all things considered a Celestial Purge is probably better than a Smother against Vampires).

Jund
Still the most popular deck, I have found Jund to be a very favorable matchup, in particular when you can overwhelm them with Ranger of Eos and Vengevine card advantage. Blightning is not particularly good against this deck (you can discard Vengevine and ruin them), but Maelstrom Pulse is excellent, in particular when they can get two-for-one (or better) especially against your Noble Hierarchs or other mana creatures.

What’s bad?
All of your cards are fine. The worst is probably Jace, the Mind Sculptor.
(3)

Mythic Conscription
As I said before, a big chunk of your edge comes from Ranger of Eos advantage feeding Noble Hierarchs. Most Mythic decks have no Rangers. Huzzah!

What’s bad?
Again, nothing is bad, really. I can see siding next to nothing (you certainly want the fourth Ranger)… Everything is acceptable.
(0)

U/r/W Planeswalkers
I heard this was supposed to be a bad matchup, but I have had nothing but luck against it recently; I guess that comes from playing a faster Jace than they have, forcing them to waste a turn tapping out [all their White, hopefully] then clocking the nug with Eldrazi Conscription.

What’s bad?
I guess Mythic is just so focused that nothing is bad, ever. Because here is yet another matchup where nothing is bad! If anything is less desirable in this matchup, it is probably beloved Baneslayer Angel. She is a superb creature, objectively, but you don’t really want slow fives against U/r/W. She gobbles up lots of mana and is awkwardly costed for Vengevine re-buys.
(3)

U/W Control
This is a very similar deck to U/r/W Planeswalkers… But a matchup where you can’t afford to side out Baneslayer Angel. They have Baneslayer Angel (unlike U/r/W, typically), meaning you might need yours to keep pace.

What’s bad?
I have had a fair amount of luck siding out one Eldrazi Conscription; remember, you can shuffle it away with Jace, the Mind Sculptor if need be. You can move a high variance card like Scute Mob if you like… Not a huge amount of space here.
(2)

Naya Vengevine
This is a matchup where you vastly out-class them… Unless they have Cunning Sparkmage. Cunning Sparkmage, in particular next to a Basilisk Collar, are going to spell doom for you.

What’s bad?
They are the beatdown deck, so you might want to cut Jace; provided you aren’t getting ruined by Sparkmage, they are just littler.
(3)

Devastating Red
As with most of the other “fair” decks, you out-class Devastating Red by a fair amount. The main issue is that they can burn all your mana creatures and kill you before you get done showing them how bright your features are.

What’s bad?
I would for sure cut every slow card: all five cards that make up the Eldrazi Conscription package, and probably all the Planeswalkers. Under other circumstances, I could be persuaded to cut Baneslayer Angel, but she is a huge lifelink after all.
(8)

Polymorph
This seems like a matchup where you’re kind of up the creek without a paddle. Game one you kind of have to stick Eldrazi Conscription and kill them to death… or you’re just going to get combo killed. Your main weapon is going to be the looming threat of Jace, the Mind Sculptor, or perhaps the long term “Unsummon” potential. Unless you kill Polymorph outright, most of the rest of your shiny bells and whistles are going to be irrelevant.

What’s bad?
I would cut the solo Scute Mob immediately. It’s unlikely you are ever going to get to the point in the game where Ranger of Eos manipulation into a an efficient fatty is going to be the deciding factor. For that matter, I would cut all the Baneslayer Angels. Life matters very little in this matchup, but being a slow five mana threat matters a lot.
(4)

Vampires
I’ve never played this matchup. Osyp seemed really comfortable with Vampires v. Bant variants at the NYC PTQ he played in, but they didn’t have Vengevine, or I presume, Ranger of Eos.

What’s bad?
The weakest card is Scute Mob, due to the presence of Vampire Hexmage. You can cut Jace, the Mind Sculptor for the same reason, but Jace is a really good Mind Sludge recovery play (and potential Malakir Bloodwitch defense), so I wouldn’t.
(1)

---

So where does this leave us?

• Jund: 0-3
• Mythic whatever: 0
• U/r/W Planeswalkers: 3-5
• U/W Control: 2
• Naya Vengevine: 3
• Devastating Red: 8
• Polymorph: 4
• Vampires: 1

What about:

1 Jace, the Mind Scuptor
4 Negate
2 Telemin Performance
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Baneslayer Angel
2 Celestial Purge
2 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Ranger of Eos

13 of the 15 cards fit nicely into the “what’s bad” schema; I added Qasali Pridemage as an additional catch-all. Admonition Angel is nice and all… But you never know when you are going to want to hunt down a Howling Mine.

Rundown:

Jund
-3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
+1 Baneslayer Angel
+2 Celestial Purge

Mythic
-1 Eldrazi Conscription
+1 Ranger of Eos

U/r/W Planeswalkers
-1 Eldrazi Conscription
-1 Scute Mob
-3 Baneslayer Angel
+1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
+4 Negate

U/W Control
-1 Eldrazi Conscription
-1 Scute Mob
-1 Baneslayer Angel
+1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
+2 Telemin Performance

Negate is probably still good here; not as good as against U/r/W becuase you actually care about stopping Planeswalkers, but good; I figured you could shave a Baneslayer Angel because Telemin Performance is going to net a Baneslayer Angel about half the time; this is pure speculation of course… Maybe you should just play some Negates and use the space for anti-RDW cards.

Naya Vengevine
-3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
+2 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
+1 Ranger of Eos

Devastating Red
-2 Eldrazi Conscription
-3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
-3 Sovereigns of Lost Alara
+1 Negate
+2 Qasali Pridemage
+1 Baneslayer Angel
+2 Celestial Purge
+2 Linvala, Keeper of Silence

A lof of these cuts are just efficiency swaps… cut a six drop for a four drop, etc.

Polymorph
-1 Eldrazi Conscription
-1 Scute Mob
-2 Ranger of Eos
-3 Baneslayer Angel
+1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
+4 Negate
+2 Telemin Performance

This seems like a miserable matchup; lots of Negates and Performances should help.

Vampires
-1 Scute Mob
+1 Celestial Purge

It really feels weird to have another Celestial Purge… And not bring it in against Vampires. Eldrazi Conscription number two, maybe?

That might not be a perfect set of sideboarding strategies, but at least there is some logic behind it.

Have fun smashing with Vengevine!

LOVE
MIKE

Just a short one.

Basilisk Collar: Pretty Awesome

I actually wrote a long-ish article for TCGPlayer on how I rebuilt the sideboard for Vengevine Monster Truck; it will be up later today.

But for those of you who just want the deck list for the Grand Prix this weekend, this is what I came up with:

Vengevine Monster Truck version 1.2

2 Malakir Bloodwitch

4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Putrid Leech
4 Sarkhan the Mad
4 Sprouting Thrinax

4 Borderland Ranger
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Vengevine

4 Cunning Sparkmage

3 Ancient Ziggaraut
3 Forest
3 Mountain
4 Raging Ravine
4 Savage Lands
2 Scalding Tarn
3 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs

sideboard:
3 Basilisk Collar
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
4 Sedraxis Specter
1 Master of the Wild Hunt
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
1 Island

Thanks to everyone — in particular Brightbo and GerryT — for advice on the deck. Basilisk Collar was exactly what the sideaboard needed… Even gassier than Vampire Nighthawk (in fact makes everyone into a Vampire Nighthawk).

Thanks for reading, and good luck this weekend.

LOVE
MIKE

Concerning:

Vengevine ∙ Joining the Dark Side ∙ Good Old Bloodbraid Elf
A decided lack of Blightning ∙ Countersquall ∙ … and Vengevine!

Vengevine

Yeah, yeah yeah… The old man qualified!

Grixis Hits! Countersquall! Just like we promised.

My basic metagame diagnosis is that if Grixis is good, it is the best deck in Standard (play my 75… Though you may want to switch out Duress for Thought Hemorrhage * in place of Duress, for Vengevine). However it is possible that the success of control in general (including Grixis Hits, which is at the top of the control deck pyramid) will incentivize players to run more beatdown… Red Decks, Vengevine decks, etc.

So here is my take:

Vengevine Monster Truck

2 Malakir Bloodwitch

4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Putrid Leech
4 Sarkhan the Mad
4 Sprouting Thrinax

4 Borderland Ranger
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Vengevine

4 Cunning Sparkmage

1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Evolving Wilds
3 Forest
3 Mountain
4 Raging Ravine
4 Savage Lands
2 Scalding Tarn
3 Swamp
1 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Verdant Catacombs

sb:
1 Island
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
2 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Recurring Insight
4 Sedraxis Specter
1 Thought Hemmorhage
4 Vampire Nighthawk

This deck obviously borrows, strategically from GerryT’s Naya deck… All guys. All guys leads to all Vengevine triggers. Your Bloodbraid Elf always flips over a creature, setting up big Vengevine attacks, &c.

Weird things: No Blightning. No copies of my favorite card. Not a creature. Who is avoiding the random Bloodbraid Elf flip!?! Is this bizarro world?

Yet we have Sarkhan the Mad. He is your spell. This card is very strong. Stronger than I originally thought. Yes, it gives you a Countersquall target in a deck that can’t otherwise Blightning away Countersqualls. It is also not a creature; it is possible that Broodmate Dragon would be a better choice… But I think not enough people are playing Countersquall right now (certainly very few on MTGO). I have been doing quite well with this Jund, and I think it might be a deck.

Card rundown:

Bloodbraid Elf
Yep, still the strongest creature in Standard. Absolutely perfect in this deck, in particular for its ability to flip up Cunning Sparkmage.

Borderland Ranger
Awesome v. other Jund (trades with their Bloodbraid Elf without a loss of card advantage); you hit your land drops… Very good with Lotus Cobra, of course; nice blocker.

Cunning Sparkmage
Awesome against Mythic (albeit less awesome than a deck with Basilisk Collar); a fabulous main deck card against Polymorph.

Lotus Cobra
Just the right accelerator in this style of deck. Good with Vengevine and Bloodbraid Elf for the two-to-four jump; respectable front side for a two drop; good with the sideboard.

Malakir Bloodwitch
Because people play decks that can’t deal with it.

Putrid Leech
Still the scariest offensive two drop in Standard. One of the things I like about this deck is that it plays kind of like the West Coast Plated Geopede deck… Two different offensive two drops; better mana utilization than most versions of Jund, therefore.

Sprouting Thrinax
I would play Vampire Nighthawk starting in this spot… But its synergy with “your spell” is just out of control.

Vengevine
The whole point of the deck. Hi-yah!

I don’t know if this deck is better than either GerryT’s deck or a regular Jund deck… But it seems to be winning plenty for me online. Sideboard is kind of loose right now, but I think there are some good ideas.

Recurring Insight is the biggest beating of them all; its presence is kind of predicated on the idea that the opponent is going to semi-manascrew you with Spreading Seas. You can cast it fine with Lotus Cobra, and, say, a Scalding Tarn for Island (thank you Lotus Cobra).

Nicol Bolas is your Cruel Ultimatum. Basically I really wanted to cast Cruel Ultimatum but this deck obviously can’t muster such a profligate mana cost… Nicol Bolas seems like the next best thing. We’ll see how it bears out.

LOVE
MIKE

* Separately suggested by Osyp over the phone and Verno on Magic Online