Five With Flores

You probably know that Will Price (aka @sloppystack), Brian David-Marshall (aka BDM aka @Top8Games), and I did some playtesting with Jund Mana Ramp earlier this week. This post is going to be relatively detailed information on that testing, but you can get more information on what we have published so far by…

• Following me on Twitter,
• Listening to the most recent batch of Magic Podcasts at Top 8 Magic, or
• Checking on the Jund Mana Ramp post I made there yesterday or thereabouts

To make a long story short, I tested out a couple of different decks, including the more Cascade-centric Ramp deck I talked about here last week, Borderpost Tezzerator, and good old Reflecting Pool Control; Will liked the Jund Mana Ramp deck we talked about during the BBQ Podcasts from two weeks ago best and convinced me to spend more time on that deck, particularly as we were having a hard time going Ultimate on Tezzeret due to the cheap damage sources available in Standard.

That deck originally had Bloodbraid Elf… but I cut it the night before live / live Twitter testing after I had flipped one of the two main deck Banefires.

“Never again.”

Banefire was like the best card in the deck!

Ultimately, this was the list I ran in testing:

Jund Mana Ramp

3 Makeshift Mannequin
3 Shriekmaw

4 Broodmate Dragon
4 Kitchen Finks

4 Civic Wayfinder
4 Cloudthresher
4 Gift of the Gargantuan
4 Rampant Growth

4 Banefire
3 Volcanic Fallout

4 Fire-Lit Thicket
8 Forest
2 Mountain
4 Savage Land
1 Swamp
4 Treetop Village

We didn’t test sideboards, but if I were to play Regionals tomorrow, 1) I would definitely play this deck, and 2) this is the sideboard I would play:

4 Anathemancer
1 Shriekmaw
3 Caldera Hellion
1 Volcanic Fallout
1 Terminate
4 Primal Command
1 Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund

I decided to play Primal Command over any Mind Shatters. With eight Cloudthreshers and Volcanic Fallouts, you simply don’t need to max out on Mind Shatter and Gutteral Response to beat Faeries like you had to for the States-era version of Jund Mana Ramp. Anathemancer does the same duty against Reflecting Pool Control. Anathemancer is simply irresistible in a long game, especially in concert with Banefire, another tool we did not have at States. Moreover you kind of need two Swamps to run Mind Shatter (I tested tonight on MTGO with no new cards to confirm this)… and I don’t really want to play another Swamp.

The bigger shift was to remove most of the Terminates in favor of Caldera Hellion. The reasons are twofold. First of all, while it is pretty easy to play Shriekmaw or Banefire, and you usually have the mana for Broodmate Dragon… Terminate under pressure is another matter entirely at BR. I might cut them all and play a Lash Out, Terror, or even Murderous Redcap (RR being pretty easy to play thanks to Fire-Lit Thicket). You can’t play a filter land to get BR because Graven Cairns doesn’t filter Green mana. Caldera Hellion is pretty exciting, and should help give the deck a nice lift against G/W Tokens.

Anyway, back to real-life testing.

The first matchup was me on Jund Mana Ramp, Will on B/W Tokens. I am not 100% sure on the version, but I believe it was either a deck that Luis Scott-Vargas posted or the PTQ winner from the first week of the current Standard season. In either case, the deck was an evolution from “regular old” B/W tokens to incorporate Ajani Goldmane + Persist (Murderous Redcap and Kitchen Finks).

For reference:

3 Glorious Anthem
3 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Zealous Persecution
3 Caves of Koilos
3 Path to Exile
4 Fetid Heath
3 Cloudgoat Ranger
2 Marsh Flitter
3 Ajani Goldmane
4 Windbrisk Heights
4 Bitterblossom
2 Mutavault
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Tidehollow Sculler
3 Arcane Sanctum
3 Kitchen Finks
4 Spectral Procession
4 Reflecting Pool

Sideboard
2 Wrath of God
2 Identity Crisis
3 Mark of Asylum
2 Celestial Purge
3 Thoughtseize
3 Wispmare

Will and I traded the first four games, with the player going first winning each one. I felt like I could have won either of the games that I didn’t win in the first four, and Will felt like he definitely should have won the first game I won (it was a lethal Banefire off the top). I eventually broke serve on a game where Will had both lands and spells but where B/W as a non-Blue, non-Green, yet reasonably mana-intensive deck (WWW, BB, etc.) showed one of its vulnerabilities… Will hit his first four land drops but did not do anything to make me care. Meanwhile I kept a one-land six-card hand on the draw, but with a Rampant Growth and two Civic Wayfinders. These cards vastly improved my board position (especially with Will doing nothing) until I was dropping Dragons. I won the other two games on the play in the first seven, and we called the match at 5-2 in favor of Jund Mana Ramp.

Why did we call it at 5-2? This is something I got from playtesting with Zvi for Worlds last year. This was a matchup where both of us were enamored of one of the decks, and where the opposite deck did nothing to shake our interest. Since we didn’t really care about the performance of B/W as it was not dramatic, it was more efficient to move on.

The B/W matchup is a pure “Trish” matchup. Basically from Jund side you want to survive and get lots of two-for-ones. Your cards are so vastly superior to the B/W cards that they can’t possibly win outside of early Stage Two unless they lock you with Ajani. So the goal is just to trade. Eventually you will crush them with Cloudthreshers and Broodmate Dragons and Banefire for nine. So basically it is a default for Jund to win. The two games Will won were:

1. Thoughtseize-into-Tidehollow Sculler: He correctly ignored my early game acceleration and just took my bombs. So when I got to six lands, I had nothing to do.
2. Double Tidehollow Sculler: He slowed me down and got super duper Spectral Processions. My Broodmate Dragons were too small!

My favorite kill was probably when Will took my Cloudthresher with Tidehollow Sculler, I drew and passed against his Cloudgoat Ranger and Spectral Procession tokens. He attacked with all and I revealed that I had drawn another Cloudthresher, cleared the board, and followed up with a big Banefire. This was particularly super awesome as I also neutered Ajani

The next matchup was against B/G Elves, which was a Top 8 finisher in the first PTQ; according to Will and his partner in crime @zielend B/G Elves is also one of the top finishers in big MTGO events.

For reference:

1 Swamp
4 Forest
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Lord of Extinction
4 Llanowar Wastes
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Twilight Mire
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
3 Profane Command
2 Eyeblight’s Ending
2 Cloudthresher
4 Wren’s Run Vanquisher
2 Mutavault
3 Chameleon Colossus
4 Civic Wayfinder
3 Kitchen Finks
4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
4 Treetop Village

Sideboard
4 Shriekmaw
2 Primal Command
3 Avatar of Might
2 Necrogenesis
1 Kitchen Finks
3 Pithing Needle

The testing was kind of strange.

I won the first three games with B/G Elves.

We switched decks.

I won the next three games with Jund Mana Ramp.

We tried to analyze why this might be (I mean other than my being super awesome); but I actually won one of the B/G games on a mulligan to four, and I shipped to Paris five times in the three games I played from Jund side! This is actually quite telling as I realized what was going on from playing both sides and consistently shipped not just to land and spells, but any Shriekmaw. Basically if you draw a Shriekmaw it is quite easy to beat B/G Elves from Jund side.

From B/G Elves side I elected to play B/G as a singular big threat deck rather than as a swarming deck. That is, I would attack with one Chameleon Colossus or Lord of Extinction rather than exposing myself to getting blown out by Volcanic Fallout.

At this point BDM sat down with us and helped play Jund from Will’s side. The main contribution he made was to torch any and every mana accelerator I played; with Brian’s help Will won the last three games 2-1. This led to a 5-4 lead for Jund Mana Ramp over nine games, with essentially no pattern based on who went first. However from playing both sides I think that Jund should be the heavy favorite.

Just look at the sideboards. Jund gets the fourth Shriekmaw and as much removal as it likes. It would be a complete blowout if Jund actually got ahold of more Terminates, but you can only do what you can.

Tonight I played several matches with Jund (albeit with no new cards in the sideboard) and finished my session at 4-1 or 5-1 with the only loss being to Faeries. I might have won actually. I kept a one-land six-card hand on the draw in Game One and conceded in frustration when my opponent hit Bitterblossom, Jace Beleren and I still hadn’t played my second land. It turns out I had multiple lands and a Volcanic Fallout on top (I obviously kept a hand full of acceleration and two-for-ones)… I actually think I could have gotten out of it. I took Game Two, and lost Game Three on a judgment call. Basically my opponent passed with three mana up and I had six mana on my turn with Cloudthresher and Broodmate Dragon in hand. I was annoyed at his double Vendilion Clique draw, which had robbed me of a ‘Thresher and Makeshift Mannequin and thought I could resolve my ‘Thresher main. He had not shown me Broken Ambitions in the first two games, so I decided if he had Remove Soul there was nothing I could do about it. Of course my original plan was to test-spell the ‘Thresher at the end of his turn and untap into the Broodmate, but like I said, I hadn’t seen Broken Ambitions.

He had Broken Ambitions.

The game took a bit longer, and I was one turn off of winning with Banefire, but he ended up having me to -2 as I failed to draw either a third Cloudthresher or a Volcanic Fallout to stall. All that said, I feel like Faeries has to be a winnable matchup with the package we plan to present.

More before Regionals,

LOVE
MIKE

Just a quickie on Alara Reborn common, Jund Hackblade.

Aesthetics:
Jund Hackblade is a hard working little fellow, and one of the more interesting cards that has been spoiled so far.

On its lonesome, Jund Hackblade is relatively uninteresting, a 2/1 for either BR or GR (and speaking of aesthetics, did anyone else notice the relative size difference of the Golgari v. Red mana symbols?)… But if you play a multicolored permanent on the first turn and follow up with this guy, you have a nice 3/2 haste for either BR or GR. Saucy.

The question is, what are you going to use to set him up?

My personal opionion is that Tattermunge Maniac is probably the best option; you can play it for either G or R on turn one, and you actually need G on the second turn even in a primarily Red deck (assuming you are the G side of course), so that makes things smoother.

Brian David-Marshall told me he really likes Figure of Destiny but I think that might be a little bit awkward due to the (I assume) forced Black mana on turn two… But that is probably resolvable by dual land in Blightning Beatdown. Figure of Destiny being a card you might actually want to play, of course.

There is also the possibility of just playing Jund Hackblade on the bonus… That is you don’t optimize to play him out of the gates on turn two… You just run him over (or alongside, actually) Goblin Deathraiders and he becomes a much better mid-game topdeck in a Blightning build with Boggart Ram-Gang and Ashenmoor Gouger.

Where Can I See This Fitting In?
This is a really cool card. It is obviously at its maximum when you can follow up a first turn Figure of Destiny or some such, rocking a Ram-Gang essentially, but I think that was the trap I fell into when initially evaluating it: Thinking only in terms of how good it can be on turn two. Remember that it can be regular on turn two and then you can just play a Ram-Gang the next turn and come in for six anyway; or you can play a Deathraiders on turn two and this plus Tarfire to get in the following turn for six anyway.

Basically you are going to want to play this in a beatdown deck that can support multicolored spells; you don’t just through it into a straight Red version and cross your fingers on the mana; that requires some amount of deck customization, but I don’t think it will be overly difficult. Green with Maniacs, but more likely some evolved take on Blightning. 

Snap Judgment Rating: If there were such a thing as a “defining” Role-Player, this would be it. Not a staple, but also not played “interchangeably” as many and most Role Players.

For a much more extensive discussion of Jund Hackblade and the cards you might want to play alongside it to set up, you might want to check out Brian David-Marshall’s take on Top8Magic.com.

While you’re over there, mise well be a pal and pick up a copy of Deckade, amiright?

Deckade - For those of you who have always dreamed of waking up next to my smiling (or in this case grumpy) face… You can buy one and plop it down onto the nightstand (Jon Finkel does this).

LOVE
MIKE

All Alara Reborn

Wherein Michael J. Flores discusses the beginnings of his preparation for the upcoming Star City Games $5000 tournament in Philadelphia, PA. This article features initial deck selection, card choices, and testing with a modified version of Blightning Beatdown.

So there is a big Standard tournament coming up the first week of December.

It is a Star City Games $5000 tournament (you know, the kind Alex Bertoncini always wins) in Philadelphia, PA. I lived in Philadelphia for four years, and won my first PTQ there with a heavily metagamed B/R Necropotence deck.

Aside:

Recently, over at Top 8 Magic, I have been thinking a lot about my deck selection over the past couple of years. It all started when Brian David-Marshall accused me of being the Greenest One of All in a recent Top 8 Magic Podcast. [In case you haven't been reading Top 8 Magic... which you should be] I have been some kind of Green in 80% of my last 20 individual Constructed tournaments. I even did a spreadsheet breakdown.

Yep, down 199 rating points over that time period.

On balance, the twenty individual Constructed tournaments before those I was Green only about 1/3 of the time. Instead, I was up 146 points, qualified for two Constructed Pro Tours, crushed a late summer Standard with my U/W “Wafo-Tapa” deck that won five straight NAC Qualifiers (Steve Sadin, Julian Levin, yours truly, some guy not in our crew, and Chad Kastel), finished Top 16 in that respective NAC, and of course finished two-then-one in the New York State Championships in consecutive attempts.

I am not 100% down on Green at all (in fact, Critical Mass was one of the best decks I ever developed, hands down)… But I think Brian probably has a point that I am biased towards Green.

But not in Philadelphia; when I won that PTQ, it was with B/R.

End aside.

Speaking of B/R, I have been heavily impressed with Oscar Almgren’s Blightning Beatdown since I first stumbled upon it and made the initial Blightning Beatdown videos.

At the pre-States Top 8 Magic Mock Tournament, Brian David-Marshall kicked all kinds of bum with Matt Ferrando’s version of Blightning Beatdown — which didn’t even have Bitterblossom or Demigod of Revenge if you can believe THAT — and recommended it for States on basis of our previous Mock Tournament prognostication with Jushi Blue, B/W Deadguy Ale, &c.

However for myself, Josh Ravitz had already [physically] made me my Jund Mana Ramp deck and told me he would punch me in the face if I didn’t play it. Josh himself, though, smartly switched to Blightning Beatdown! He finished a match out of Top 8 in New Jersey, parallel to me.

So anyway, based on many factors — including a deliberate effort to broaden my color choices, my frustrations with playing Reflecting Pool Control mirrors, and my hatred of plus desire to quash the First Among Equals — I decided to at least try out Blightning Beatdown as the initial weapon of choice. I really love this strategy and its combination of pressure, domination over the Fae, and the namesake card Blightning itself.

For reference, here is Oscar Almgren’s original LCQ-winning version:

4 Bitterblossom

4 Ashenmoor Gouger
4 Blightning
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Goblin Deathraiders

4 Flame Javelin
4 Incinerate
4 Tarfire

4 Auntie’s Hovel
4 Ghitu Encampment
4 Graven Cairns
4 Sulfurous Springs
5 Mountain
2 Reflecting Pool
1 Swamp

Sideboard
4 Infest
4 Thoughtseize
3 Everlasting Torment
4 Magma Spray

This is the deck that I tested for this exercise:

4 Bitterblossom

4 Blightning
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Figure of Destiny

4 Flame Javelin
4 Hell’s Thunder
4 Incinerate
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Tarfire

4 Auntie’s Hovel
4 Ghitu Encampment
4 Graven Cairns
4 Sulfurous Springs
5 Mountain
2 Reflecting Pool
1 Swamp

Sideboard
4 Infest
3 Thoughtseize
4 Gutteral Response
4 Everlasting Torment

Here are the modifications I made for this one:
-4 Ashenmoor Gouger; +4 Hell’s Thunder
-4 Goblin Deathraiders; +4 Mogg Fanatic

I like the relentless pressure that Hell’s Thunder gives you when you already have a little momentum. Neither 4.4 for three mana is particularly good against beatdown, but the Shards of Alara option is a much better racer. Ashenmoor Gouger is better against the Fae, but Hell’s Thunder is much better against Reflecting Pool Control. Those are obviously the two most popular decks, and the First Among Equals is already a cakewalk, so I wanted to err leaning the other way.

Josh played Goblin Deathraiders at States, but no Tarfire. Basically both of us — and Oscar himself — all ran some combination of these Goblin cards. I just wanted more fast action (which might be in slight conflict with this deck’s Ghitu Encampments and annoying basic Swamp).

I borrowed Oscar’s mana base in the entirety; no complaints so far, really, other than I mulligan more than I am used to and I don’t particularly love the Swamp; on balance Josh loves the Swamp and says you might need 26 lands in this strategy (I don’t know if I am that brave, though).

As for the sideboard modifications, I really wanted to play with Gutteral Response because the only way the Fae can get out of your tempo games is usually with multiple Cryptic Commands, and Gutteral Response v. Cryptic Command is about the best fight you can expect in Standard. I really don’t like Magma Spray and if you are already playing Everlasting Torment, I just don’t see the value in it; those are the side justifications.

A brief card breakdown:

Bitterblossom
Unsurprisingly, the best card in the deck. It feels so much better in this deck than in the Fae. I really like the pressure this card provides against control — which typically operates in that old school “remove the threats” way even in 2008 — allowing you to sit back and set up with burn spells. Just such a great card… which is why I and everyone else hates it so damn much. But hey, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!

Blightning
Probably my favorite card to play in the deck. You just feel so powerful resolving this on turn three. Do you realize it only does one fewer damage than a Flame Javelin? Ka-pow! My favorite play is attacking with my 2/2 Figure of Destiny on turn three with mana open, and playing the chicken game. Nope; let’s go to damage. Grumble Grumble. Here, have a Blightning. Grumble Grumble.

Demigod of Revenge
Ferrando didn’t play this card at all! Honestly I don’t play it very much on account of stalling. It is still like the best big guy in Standard, and one of the scariest possible threats against any kind of Counterspells.

Figure of Destiny
Obv.

Flame Javelin
Obv.

Hell’s Thunder
As above; we replaced Ashenmoor Gouger with this guy, 4/4 for three for 4/4 for three. Ashenmoor Gouger is mostly better against Faeries and Hell’s Thunder is mostly better against Reflecting Pool Control. Of the two most popular decks, one is a near bye. So we went with the card that was / is better against the other one, that is more likely to tap out for a Firespout / Wrath of God and give you an open to brain for four.

Incinerate
This is probably my least favorite card in the deck. I can see going to two copies for 26 lands per Josh’s suggestion, and / or swtiching to Lash Out. But no official changes as of yet.

Mogg Fanatic
Mogg Fantastic! I re-added this to the strategy (if you recall my pre-States Demigod Deck Wins videos all featured Tattermunge Maniac) based on the Brett Blackman video. He could not stop ranting about how bad Mogg Fanatic is for Faeries. In.

Tarfire
I actually have loved this card so far. Not powerful, but a Goblin for my Auntie’s Hovels… and it works nicely with this deck’s often tight mana.

As for testing format, I decided to do eight rounds in the Tournament Practice room as an initial run.

But we’ll have to look into those games tomorrow!

LOVE
MIKE