Thoughtseize v. Rampant Growth – Fight!

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.