Five With Flores

This is the “unacceptable” discussion and “solution” (if you can call it that) to You Make the Play - enCRYPTed.

… And the first You Make the Play Video response!

To refresh everybody’s memory, it was Game Three against ‘Tron. We had two up, Spellstutter Sprite in hand, fully loaded Archmage on the table and UU up.

The opponent presented Tormod’s Crypt.

The board looked more-or-less exactly like this:

So what is the what?

The first question is, do we care about a Tormod’s Crypt?

We don’t care about graveyard recursion overmuch; what we care about is that the Tormod’s Crypt can keep up from doubling up with Archmage Persist-ence.

So the first question is whether we should be doing anything about it.

I think — and it will be obvious from my “solution” to the board position — that I thought it would be worth dealing with (I care[d] about my half of an Archmage).

So the next question is, assuming we care, what we are going to do.

I have to admit that at the time (I am sure I was watching Gossip Girl out of the corner of my eye) that I didn’t even consider using the Archmage to defend the Archmage. To me, it was Spellstutter Sprite 2-for-1 or nil.

So I went for the Sprite.

Results were disastrous.

Obviously he was the super uber miser, and had not just natural ‘Tron, Ghost Quarter, and a significant threat, but Mindslaver as well.

Ka-pow!

Mindslaver connected.

Archmage died without ever doing anything profitable for michaelj (AKA Number One).

Interestingly if I had used the Archmage, I would have been in a pretty similar position (albeit with one more Mana Leak). I would have been obligated to eat the Mindslaver anyway. That said, I think using the Archmage to stop the Tormod’s Crypt was the best play.

Pat Chapin — who called my Spellstutter Sprite / terrible read “unacceptable” when I talked to him about it — said he would have done nothing. “You realize you are talking about pulling down your pants to a potential Mindslaver in order to save half a card, right?” (He said something like that).

But what is really interesting is all the things that happened next. Check that action out here:

I’m sure you loved every minute!

Oh, and before I forget - Congratulations to Joshua Scott Honigmann who won a Kentucky PTQ with a Mono-White Control deck similar to what we have been discussing the past couple of days. You go Temple of the False God!

You Make the Play returns! This time it is Fae v. ‘Tron in Extended… So are you a metagamer or a savage miser?

It is Game Three.

Your opponent is on the play on account of you savagely destroyed him with Negate and so on in Game Two.

It is game three because even though you savagely destroyed him in game two, he made you look like a child — a child smaller than your Spellstutter Sprites — in Game One, exposing the severe inability of the Herberholz / Nassif-style Faeries / Wizards deck to deal with certain kinds of expensive threats.

Namely Mindslaver.

You conceded to Mindslaver but of course filled your deck with Negate, Annul, and Glen Elendra Archmage for Vedalken Shackles, Threads of Disloyalty, &c.

If you haven’t seen the deck (you have probably seen it because all the guys who have soap boxes to stand on have been saying it’s the bee’s knees, plus you are playing it so how could you not have seen it), here it is:

Nassif-style Faerie Wizards

3 Chrome Mox
3 Engineered Explosives
3 Umezawa’s Jitte
2 Vedalken Shackles

4 Mana Leak
3 Repeal
4 Spell Snare
4 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Stifle
4 Thirst for Knowledge
2 Threads of Disloyalty
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Venser, Shaper Savant

1 Academy Ruins
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
10 Island
4 Mutavault
3 Riptide Laboratory
1 River of Tears
1 Steam Vents

sideboard:
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Vedalken Shackles
2 Annul
1 Chain of Vapor
3 Flashfreeze
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Negate
2 Threads of Disloyalty
1 Academy Ruins

Okay, back to Game Three:

It is your opponent’s turn seven. He only has six lands in play even though he has been a savage miser this game because one of his lands — a Ghost Quarter — is in the bin. He plugged your Academy Ruins (not realizing you are also a savage miser and are palming the other Ruins). He has just attacked your face with his Platinum Angel, so life totals are 20-16 in favor of the degenerate mana deck..

This is his board:

This is his graveyard:

(Simic Signet, Ghost Quarter, and Gifts Ungiven)

On turn two you sent Annul at his Simic Signet, his Ghost Quarter “traded” for your Academy Ruins, and his Gifts Ungiven was successfully stifled (not Stifled) by a Mana Leak last turn after he played his Platinum Angel.

Which means, yes. Savage. Miser. He has almost a double ‘Tron, a handy dandy Island, hasn’t missed a land drop, all-natural.

This is your board:

Not too shabby. You even have mana open for your Glen Elendra Archmage… twice if necessary.

Your graveyard is seven cards:

(Annul, Chrome Mox, Chrome Mox, Thirst for Knowledge, Thirst for Knowledge, Academy Ruins, and Mana Leak)

This is your hand:

Mana Leak
Spellstutter Sprite
Spellstutter Sprite
Riptide Laboratory
Riptide Laboratory
Academy Ruins

Tormod’s Crypt is on the stack.

I would do images to show your hand and to indicated Tormod’s Crypt being on the stack but I am tired of looking up hideous background images.

Anyway, the bad guy has two mystery cards in hand.

If I had to draw a picture of this game, in total, it would look, um, EXACTLY like this:

Okay You Make the Play-ers…

He is playing Tormod’s Crypt. Ye olde zero mana spell is on the stack.

… What do you do next?

LOVE
MIKE

This is the follow-up to “You Make the Play - How Do You Spend Your Thoughtseize?” … a discussion as to which card a first-turn Thoughtseize SHOULD take given these options…

I was very interested in what you guys had to say about this one.

For those of you who have not read the responses to You Make the Play - How Do You Spend Your Thoughtseize, the Five With Flores readership came out heavily in favor of nabbing Gift of the Gargantuan over taking Civic Wayfiner… and not a one [at the time of this writing] said he would take the Rampant Growth.

I really enjoyed reading how you guys puzzled through this problem. There were some very well thought out responses and if you haven’t read through them, I recommend all of them, but especially starwater, Gifts Ungiven, and Private_Dream.

…

So this is what happened in real life: My opponent and I were playing for 6-2 at best and despite the slight chance for Top 8 it was a very friendly match. I was frankly quite surprised at having pulled out Game Two given I had kept a slow, two land hand, especially as he stole my Rampant Growth on turn one.

When I showed him my hand, I secretly wanted to keep the Rampant Growth… But this is because of the curse of patterned behavior. One of the things that I am really going to work on — and I am going to encourage anyone reading this blog to work on — is to break this lazy and comfortable “autopilot” approach to the game. In those rare tournaments where I have done exceptionally well for myself, I can always pick out a couple of rounds that I won specifically because I did not do what my mana said to do… Just think of how many times you miss Top 8 by one game or so, and cross-reference with this statement.

So what if Rampant Growth is the only thing I can play on turn two? It doesn’t really get me anywhere unless I immediately rip Chameleon Colossus [remind me to bring this up when I do the response-to-the-responses for the first You Make the Play].

But I think consciously I knew Gift of the Gargantuan was the strongest card in my hand [for him to pilfer with Thoughtseize] and I actually suggested he take it. Did he think I was running the Jedi Mind Trick? Like I said the game was friendly, so I don’t know that he thought I was trying to fool him. He probably also fell into the same pattern as my “secret wish” and took my Rampant Growth in order to deny turn two action; no, I didn’t immediately pull the Chameleon Colossus, but I did get a little action over the next couple of turns just off the top of my deck.

In fact, after my Civic Wayfinder, I didn’t have time to play my Gift of the Gargantuan for three or four more turns, and when I did, I was already ahead just thanks to the top of my deck.

So what is the right choice?

I think that Rampant Growth — which is what I secretly wanted to keep and what he ended up taking — is the weakest candidate. It is only relevant if I get Chameleon Colossus right away.

From my deck’s perspective, I will generally play Civic Wayfinder before playing Gift of the Gargantuan for two reasons: 1) I want to get some board presence so I can start attacking as soon as I can, and 2) I like Thawing lands out of my deck before playing Gift so that I can increase the chances of a relevant two-for-one (even if you are generally favored to get a two-for-one, Thawing a Forest out of your deck increases the chances of scoring with a Treetop Village for instance). In that sense, it is not only faster at affecting the game, it might therefore be “better” in this game.

From the Fae deck’s perspective in the abstract, Civic Wayfinder is not really a relevant threat. It is a a Balduvian Bears stapled to a Lay of the Land… “card advantage” for Green, but not something the Fae need typically to worry their winged boots over, at least not by itself.

However, given how much the Jund Mana Ramp side favors the Civic Wayfinder over the Gift of the Gargantuan, I would seriously consider taking the 2/2. Remember that the humble Wayfinder is also a “two-for-one” and a more consistent [two-for-] one at that. At least half of “interactive” Magic: The Gathering is denying the opponent what he actually wants to do, not just doing what you want to do (and maybe more).

In fact, in writing this post, I actually reversed my opinion (which was originally Gift of the Gargantuan)! Imagine how slow the Jund Mana Ramp side will be with no turn two, and no board position on turn three (just a potential two-for-one, not even guaranteed). Fae should have some kind of response by turn four, right?

I am going to ask Blackman (Fae Champion of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania)… But believe it or not, I now think the right answer is Civic Wayfinder!

LOVE
MIKE

Discuss of course.