Five With Flores

Concerning:

Calcite Snapper ∙ aka the Convertible Turtle ∙ Day of Judgment
Jace, the Mind Sculptor ∙ “synergy” ∙ … and Calcite Snapper

First of all, I’d like to thank everyone who posted a comment in our previous You Make the Play post.

I would even like to thank the bums who only responded on Twitter!

The follow up post is going to take a little while to write (for reasons that will become obvious when the post appears… hopefully this weekend), so I figured I’d post something in the meantime. In this case that “something” is a Worldwake review of the convertible turtle… Calcite Snapper!

When I first saw this:

I was like wha!?! Who the!?! … What was Kyle smoking?

I guess I missed the word “Shroud” in the text box.

Without Shroud, Calcite Snapper is actually probably still playable. Antonino De Rosa won a Grand Prix with four copies of River Kaijin in his sideboard, after all.

But with Shroud? We are talking about a card on a totally different level now!

Sorry Elite Vanguard. Here is an, um, unstoppable, you know, stop sign. I guess?

Calcite Snapper is a superb blocker that can’t be [easily] “finished off” by a burn spell. It comes out on turn three for a Blue deck, making it superb pre-emptive Planeswalker defense. For instance, you can follow up the Snapper by tapping for Jace, the Mind Sculptor and be reasonably secure in your big (and by “big” I mean “financially expensive”) card’s immediate safety.

Thematically, Calcite Snapper might work well with Sphinx of Jwar Isle (if you lean that way), as a Shroud + Shroud team… but doesn’t really work well with defensive sorcery Day of Judgment. That is, you might not want to blow up your own Calcite Snapper as you take out a chunk of the opposing forces.

So in a deck like I posited in the previous post, you might want to cut down to two or so copies of Day of Judgment and make room for Calcite Snapper.

Snapper is also a decent anti-Planeswalker option in a color that doesn’t usually get them. Due to its ability to go to four power easily (and potentially at instant speed with the right kind of dual land), you can take a big chunk out of an opposing Planeswalker’s loyalty in a single swing.

All in all, an interesting card that will certainly influence deck design for the next year or two.

I must say that its presence in the format is causing me to re-think some of my original biases, such as “definitely” playing Motherloving Cup in tap-out, or perhaps going back to Grixis when I have intended for the past week or so to concentrate on base-Azorius (or Esper) Control decks.

Clearly: Staple

LOVE
MIKE

A review of hot new Worldwake uncommon, Tectonic Edge. Also free deck list!

This card is masterful. U/W with Crucible of Worlds is currently my second favorite Extended deck. Tectonic Edge fits right in (at least sideboard) and will be some kind of wonderful in any attrition-type match against other decks vying for the control role.

Superficial comparisons can be made to two iconic cards:

Wasteland
“It’s worse than Wasteland!” Well… Yeah, it’s probably worse than Wasteland. That said, so what? Ancestral Vision is worse than Ancestral Recall, but managed to be a fine card. On that note, Tectonic Edge can give you a measure of redundancy over your Wastelands if you’re playing, say, a deck with 30+ lands that can play multiple lands, over and over. Its fundamental limitations on both the opponent’s minimum mana situation and the additional mana activation cost do in fact make this card less perfect than the fearsome Wasteland, but, again… So what?

Dust Bowl
Dust Bowl is another card you could have said was worse than Wasteland; in fact, in head’s up comparison, Dust Bowl is slower than Tectonic Edge, though it does not have the same [opponent's] minimum mana requirement. On balance, Dust Bowl allowed you to sacrifice other lands, allowing for a long-term, methodical, assault on nonbasic lands that Tectonic Edge does not.

Ultimately - Tectonic Edge is probably strictly worse than a card that was strictly worse than another popular card (Strip Mine)… But should still be very good in a good many places. This is a card that I can see playing in my sideboard in Standard, going up to 28 or even 30 lands to fight decks like Jund or other Grixis or Esper control decks (you heard it here first). The non-destruction / cycling attack from Spreading Seas will leave a land in play, “allowing” the opponent to ramp up to four, giving you an open to ‘Edge. It’s all coming together, no? A great companion to Treasure Hunt and Jace, the Mind Sculptor provided you are not under threat of lethal force.

Snap Judgment Rating - Staple / sideboard - high

LOVE
MIKE

P.S. Free Deck List

U/W Two Combos

1 Chalice of the Void
2 Crucible of Worlds
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Sword of the Meek
4 Thopter Foundry

3 Gifts Ungiven
1 Repeal
4 Thirst for Knowledge

4 Kitchen Finks

2 Baneslayer Angel
1 Day of Judgment
1 Martyr of Sands
3 Path to Exile
2 Wrath of God
1 Yosei, the Morning Star

2 Academy Ruins
1 Ancient Den
3 Arid Mesa
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Gargoyle Castle
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Hallowed Fountain
3 Marsh Flats
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Plains
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Snow-covered Island
3 Snow-covered Plains
1 Tolaria West

sb:
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Vedalken Shackles
2 Repeal
2 Baneslayer Angel
1 Day of Judgment
1 Path to Exile
1 Wrath of God

I really wish I had played this U/W deck instead of the other one in the Connecticut PTQ a few weeks back. Or at least some of the cards I missed, like Vedalken Shackles or the Thopter combo.

There are some sideboarding holes, especially now that GerryT’s hybrid Dark Depths / Thopter Foundry combo deck has become popular, but this version of U/W has still performed well for me. Since the third most common kill is Crucible of Worlds + Gargoyle Castle, you can probably see why Tectonic Edge would be good in this deck (at least in the sideboard).

The most common kill is something involving Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek; though my deck lacks either a Time Sieve or Ironworks combo to go infinite.

The second most common kill is Emeria + Miren + Yosei (you can set everything in this deck up with a Gifts Ungiven, Academy Ruins, and a little time).

Then of course there is something to do with the Martyr combo. I started with Conley Woods’s deck, swapped out Black for Blue, and steadily cut back on Martyrs as they were the weakest part of this deck [presumably without Phyrexian Arena]. Still good, and still cute given that you can turbo charge a post-Thirst for Knowledge Sword of the Meek with one

My favorite Extended deck right now is G/R Scapeshift. I am about 20-0 with it… It seems to have a fair number of structural and sideboarding holes, but I have somehow managed to win [and dodge for the most part GerryT's deck].

Concerning:

Worldwake common Treasure Hunt :: Worldwake mythic rare Jace, the Mind Sculptor

First of all, I don’t even know how these cards are real.

Let’s talk about the chase [mythic] rare first.

I had to look at the card a little bit, but I think Jace, the Mind Sculptor will end up being one of the strongest cards out of Worldwake. While it will take six turns of consecutive “plus” abilities to get to the point of a lethal Ultimate, once Jace fires off the [-12], yer dead. Mind Twist + Archive Trap (that is, lots of Archive Traps), all in one.

The other abilities range from pretty good to great.

[+2] “Look at the top card of target player’s library. You may put that card on the bottom of that player’s library.

This ability is “fine”; for one thing, it will either help you hit your land drops or give you in some matches detailed information about the opponent’s topdecks, allowing you to plan your turns and resource expenditures to match. For another thing, this [+2] is the only clear path to [-12].

[0] Brainstorm!

What the!?!

I mean this is pretty awesome as it is, but when paired with Treasure Hunt, [0] is upgraded to Ancestral Recall (or better)!

[-1] Unsummon.

I think it’s kind of goofball how two different cards that cost U are on two different lines on Jace, the Mind Sculptor, and the one that the Sinestro Corps would offer a ring to is the [0] and the seldom-played near-Constructed Unplayable gets the [-1], but who am I to argue with Erik Lauer (I assume) on this?

[-12] Kill ya.

You better warm up your Blightnings, son. I don’t think many will be walking away from this Ultimate.

Okay, now let’s move to Treasure Hunt.

BDM pointed out in last week’s Top 8 Magic podcast that this is a card that I have tried with all my heart to make. I have paid a full mana more for Gift of the Gargantuan, which also is not 100% reliable in two-for-one-ness. Treasure Hunt will generally be worth slightly more than one card, but in the cases that it only gives you one card, that card will always be a spell.

There are many great combinations with this card, including the Legacy deck that is just all full of lands, but I predict the most iconic will be in concert with Jace, the Mind Sculptor (as they, like Spectral Force and Scryb Ranger, come packaged in the same color, in the same set).

Treasure Hunt… This is basically my dream card, my Lash Out of the set, if that makes any sense.

Jace is Staple / Flagship and Treasure Hunt a firm Staple.

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: Captain America: Road to Reborn