Entries from July 2009 ↓

A take at a new Makeshift Mannequin deck, featuring the unlikely “Opt” Architects of Will! Will this deck grow up into a “good enough for PTQ play” build? I think yes 🙂

Architects of Will Deck

4 Makeshift Mannequin
4 Shriekmaw

4 Cryptic Command
4 Mulldrifter
4 Soul Manipulation

4 Architects of Will
4 Bituminous Blast
3 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Murderous Redcap

4 Crumbling Necropolis
3 Island
1 Mountain
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Sunken Ruins
2 Swamp
4 Vivid Creek
3 Vivid Marsh

sideboard:
4 Anathemancer
3 Caldera Hellion
4 Lighting Bolt
4 Volcanic Fallout

Inspired by the Conley Woods Deck (B/u/G/R Makeshift Mannequin) I decided to try to make a Makeshift Mannequin deck based around Grixis colors. The Woods deck is reminiscent of my Jund Mana Ramp deck… but with no Ramp. I feel like if you are not going to play Borderland Ranger then you don’t have to play Green. There are just great cards in the other colors to play that can also contribute to the deck’s velocity. When building with these colors you get the core Mannequin creatures — being Shriekmaw and Mulldrifter, which both have evoke, and therefore can be set up for Makeshift Mannequin more readily — and also a better overall suite of powerful cards. Yes, you lose Broodmate Dragon and Cloudthresher, but you gain Cruel Ultimatum. Black, Blue, and Red have no shortage of suitable threats, and if you want, you can play something along the lines of a Demigod of Revenge; but I chose to play with Architects of Will instead 🙂

While there are a fair number of cards that you play on your own turn, most of them can be played at a discount, which allows you to leave up mana for Cryptic Command or Soul Manipulation; speaking of Soul Manipulation, it is very good… essentially a Dismiss when combined with the aforementioned Architects of Will. While not as flexible as a Cryptic Command + Broken Ambitions package, Cryptic Command + Soul Manipulation has its own incentives, particularly as the chief threats in the format are all creatures. You are quite happy to trade one-for-one against the opponent’s Boggart Ram-Gangs, for instance; if you can get two-for-one, great… But the deck has so much card advantage you are often discarding during Stage Two anyway.

So.

Architects of Will!

Obviously that is an unusual choice. It is in this deck almost purely for Opt duty. I cheated on land by at least one land, but four Architects of Will let me get away with that choice. Subtly, Architects of Will is just another creature card that you can bin before turn three so as to get greater value out of your Soul Manipulations or even Makeshift Mannequins.

I played this deck for about four hours tonight, mostly in the Tournament Practice room, but capping it off with a couple of queues (which I won over a Sedraxis Specter-style B/U/R/ deck and Blightning Beatdown). I won considerably more than I lost in the Tournament Practice Room, with most of the losses coming off decisions like “I have an Architects of Will… I guess I can keep one Swamp” (it turns out that I couldn’t). The deck is flexible and powerful, though I wonder about Bituminous Blast. I feel like it is very powerful but it also makes you a bit wary and warps both deck design and in-game decisions somewhat… I don’t usually play it unless I have a clear option with Soul Manipulation or Makeshift Mannequin (you don’t want to be stranded with no incremental value, not in a deck that can two-for-one kill a creature with Makeshift Mannequin or answer one with Soul Manipulation at lower cost if not card advantage value). That said, you will sometimes find yourself Blasting a creature with another creature on the stack… You might accidentally just hit Soul Manipulation or Cryptic Command. I feel very “Jon Sonne” every time I do this.

Some cards I didn’t play but want to:

• Puppeteer Clique
• Plumeveil
• Sedraxis Specter

The Clique is awesome — and awesome against this deck — but I currently prefer the inevitability of Anathemancer. One option would be to cut Bituminous Blast (which would simultaneously make the deck stronger against especially main deck Great Sable Stags) for Banefire; the deck would then pack the Banefire + Anathemancer combo in a format where Reflecting Pool Control looks to be one of the most popular opponents; I think I just think that Bituminous Blast is cool or something.

Plumeveil seems like it could help solve some problems… After all lots of the really good decks play it, even when they don’t have the full four Mulldrifters. I have not had a huge problem with attackers due to my extreme number of point elimination creatures (I was acutally surprised at how effortlessly I could kill Gaddock Teeg). But Plumeveil might be a useful addition.

I only thought of Sedraxis Specter because someone played it against me in a queue and it seemed a bit scary.

As you can tell, most of the sideboard is devoted to killing Great Sable Stag. The colors of the Mannequin core make it potentially quite vulnerable to Great Sable Stag… But Lightning Bolts and Hellions should be very helpful against the otherwise unremarkable 3/3 spoiler.

LOVE
MIKE

My tournament report for the Standard PTQ in Edison, NJ…

I played the now poorly named Rhox Meditant deck; cardboard — including M10 cards — was provided by the amazing Joshua Ravitz.

Rhox Meditant Deck version 1.5

1 Ajani Vengeant
4 Bituminous Blast
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Captured Sunlight
4 Enlisted Wurm
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Naya Charm

4 Borderland Ranger
2 Primal Command

4 Exotic Orchard
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
4 Forest
4 Jungle Shrine
1 Mountain
2 Plains
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Savage Lands
1 Swamp
1 Wooded Bastion

sb:
1 Naya Charm
4 Cloudthresher
2 Primal Command
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Hallowed Burial

The PTQ exceeded 270 players, so a long nine rounds.

Round 1: Brad with Combo Elves

I was a little uncertain with my deck to start the day; I lost kind of a lot in Standard queues on Magic Online this week, but I kept losing to cards like Treetop Village and Boomerang, so I tried not to lose any confidence.

So of course Brad opened up with like Nettle Sentinel or a Heritage Druid, one of those jobbers, and I was like “oh man…”

Game One was not untenable, but I certainly wasn’t in a good position when he landed a turn five Primal Command, Time Walking me and gathering up a Ranger of Eos. I scanned the board and was pretty sure it was game, especially since I knew that I had a Savage Lands on top.

… But then a plan appeared in me olde noggin. I laid down the Ajani Vengeant in my hand — a singleton as you know — and kept his one Wooded Bastion tapped. Three or four turns went by, and it still hadn’t untapped! No Ranger, no more White sources, no combo. I was able to get in with Bloodbraid Elves and steal Game One.

I sided in Naya Charm, Lightning Bolt and Hallowed Burial (9) for Kitchen Finks, Cascading Sunlight, and 1 Bituminous Blast.

Game Two I had all the cards I needed to keep him off of combo killing me. Sadly, I somehow lost to creature beatdown 🙂

Game Three was capped off by Enlisted Wurm flipping Hallowed Burial.

1-0

Round 2: Ryan with Kithkin

This was the most frustrating match of the day because Kithkin — probably the most popular deck — is a virtual bye for my deck. Game One I kept a hand that I kept at least five other times over the course of the day — Borderland Ranger and two lands — and I got killed before taking my fifth turn. He literally went second turn Cenn; Mutavault, Cenn; Cenn; Cenn. The irony (beyond missing my third drop with the Ranger in my hand) was that I had not one but two Maelstrom Pulses 😐

Game Two I battled out of his tricks and stabilized the board ahead on life with a Kitchen Finks and a Borderland Ranger and four cards (but they were all lands) to his five lands and no cards, no board. Of course he ripped five straight head shots (including two copies of Ajani Goldmane, the most dangerous card out of Kithkin in this matchup) and I flipped five straight lands and inexplicably lost from 18.

To be fair, I sided kind of janky this matchup (but that matters less when you aren’t drawing any spells). I sided much better in the subsequent three Kithkin matches (see below).

1-1

Round 3: Joshua with Merfolk

Game One was kind of a whatever. He mulled to five, then played consecutive three mana Lords. I had a Maelstrom Pulse, so my first play put me up about four cards, which was essentially insurmountable for him.

Game Two he was ahead early with a Sage’s Dousing and Cryptic Command, but I caught up with my Cascades. Uneventful.

2-1

Round 4: Tim with Fae

I am trying to analyze my deck building right now. I don’t really get why I consistently build decks that are excellent against Reflecting Pool Control but consistently mediocre against Fae. His draws weren’t even that good (mine were actually pretty bad, but playably bad, and I saw a Cloudthresher and resolved two [unimpressive] Enlisted Wurms), but he won in two. The second one he needed a second Scion to kill me on the spot (though a Cryptic Command or Mistbind Clique might have kept me from winning on a counterstrike); he got the second Scion… I think I would have won otherwise.

I sided Cloudthresher for Maelstrom Pulse in this one.

2-2

Round 5: Chris with Kithkin

This round was mentally indistinguishable for me with the next one (I took no notes and it was a long tournament, sorry). 2-0 win over Kithkin; opponent was even named Chris! The Kithkin matchup is favorable but still competitive in Game One, a complete blowout in sideboarded games.

I used the same sideboarding strategy in this and the subsequent two Kithkin pairings: I sided out all the Bloodbraid Elves, three Bituminous Blasts (or two Blasts and one Captured Sunlight), and Ajani Vengeant for Lightning Bolt and Hallowed Burial. Bloodbraid Elf isn’t really a card against Kithkin because of all their first strike and Burrenton Forge-Tenders (plus they are just one more janky thing you lose to a Hallowed Burial). Sunlights help force them to commit to the board while you fix mana or blow up lots of tokens.

Incidentally you may have noticed I basically never side out Primal Commands (though I do side them in).

3-2

Round 5: Chris with Kithkin

As above.

4-2

Round 7: Bill with Jund Aggro Cascade

This was a weird match because of what cards he showed me in Game One… Hellspark Elementals, Bloodbraid Elf, Maelstrom Pulse, maybe a Bituminous Blast. I put him on some cross between Cascade and burn, so I sided in two Primal Commands for two Maelstrom Pulses. I am not sure if it’s right to leave in Maelstrom Pulse (or how many) against burn decks. On the one hand Maelstrom Pulse is horrendous in Game One but on the other hand, they might have Everlasting Torment.

Anyway I won both games north of 20. I spent most of Game Two Primal Commanding a Savage Lands and searching up (and sandbagging) Enlisted Wurms while beating down with one Borderland Ranger (I think I ran six Primal Commands with Naya Charms helping out). I just wanted to know what his last card was; turns out it was a Ball Lightning.

5-2

Round 8: James with Boat Brew

Strange matchup. Three complete blowouts, two for me and one for him. I drew terribly in three games; he drew terribly in two games (but apparently my terrible draws far out-lasted his terrible draws). Maybe my third game wasn’t that terrible… I had two Hallowed Burials in hand at the end of the game (but I didn’t really want them… I wanted some guys so I could cast a Hallowed Burial). He was quite flooded in both the games he lost, but I was even more flooded in Game One than he was (though James made the point that I was playing a Ramp deck and he was playing with Path to Exile). In the third game, James was somehow flooded and color screwed at the same time, which is really awkward if you think about it… But I guess the loss of Battlefield Forge really hurts decks like Boat Brew. All in all, a bit of a sloppy match all the way around.

6-2

Round 9: Oliver with Kithkin

Game One he mulled to five in what is already not a great matchup; he made it competitive with multiple Cenns and Figures, but I set up offensive Ajani and Naya Charms to attack him to death.

Game Two Josh says I played one of the worst blowouts he had ever seen. I won by a mile but apparently I played it quite badly. I had a superb draw with Kitchen Finks, multiple Lightning Bolts, Hallowed Burial, and lands. I decided to Bolt and Pulse all his guys (Ethersworn Canonist, Wizened Cenn, and Wilt-Leaf Liege) and go offensive. He had a trio of Cloudgoat Rangers but I had four Hallowed Burials, including one off of an Enlisted Wurm, to make it look easy.

Josh’s contention is that I shouldn’t have even Bolted his Canonist; I could have just blocked his Liege and traded my Lightning Bolt and half a Kitchen Finks for it; at this point he would have still been forced to commit more cards, which would have made my first Burial very worthwhile (instead of just taking out a Ranger and his buddies, and maybe one more card). Essentially I won the Cascade lottery to make a badly played game appear deceptively smooth. Oh well.

7-2

I am not sure what to do at this point.

Kithkin took out Osyp playing G/W Combo Elves in the finals when Osyp shipped to five cards. Kithkin is probably going to stay a top tier deck, and the Rhox Meditant deck appears to be one of the finest anti-Kithkin decks in the field. The problem I’ve encountered is that it is very difficult (for me) to beat Fae and anything else simultaneously. I have built decks that are awesome against Fae and Reflecting Pool Control simultaneously, viz. Blightning Beatdown, but can’t beat Kithkin. Right now I think I have a deck that is very good against Kithkin but will not be able to beat Fae consistently. I have been shredding Fae online with Kithkin, but then I have the mirror… plus I am not going to be able to compete with a competent Reflecting Pool Control player basically ever.

Another option is aggro Cascade instead of control Cascade. I think I am going to come back to the Naya-based 4x Primal Command (sideboard) Cascade deck I was playing immediately prior to the Rhox Meditant deck, and just try out Lightning Bolt over Volcanic Fallout (main) to start. Could be an option… Then again, there are worse strategies than to run this deck again, one match (again!) out of Top 8.

Your thoughts and comments are always welcome.

LOVE
MIKE

PS With this 7-2, the Optimus Prime Tee Shirt is still batting one thousand in packs acquisition.

I fear that the installment of You Make the Play (starring Elite Vanguard) may have been too easy.

If you haven’t read that entry, go back and check in on Elite Vanguard and friends (and foes!), read the entry, and then back button over this way. Don’t worry. We’ll wait.

La la la.

Done?

Tight as hell, dawg.

The answer — as my old Team Red Bull and Underground compatriot Brian Kibler put it — “Savage Lands, go.”

Is the answer that easy?

To be honest, I was planning to run Lightning Bolt on Elite Vanguard on my own main phase. My theory being that my hand is pretty good and that I just want to get rid of some potential damage. It’s pretty clear he has something in his hand; I am choosing to put a Harm’s Way read on him.

Basics… Let’s imagine he does have Harm’s Way. It’s clearly better to send Lightning Bolt at Elite Vanguard rather than Goldmeadow Stalwart because one of those creatures can live through a Lightning Bolt and the other one can’t (and they have the same amount of power). All things held equal, it’s better to leave the Elite Vanguard on the Battlefield rather than the Goldmeadow Stalwart because, even though they have the same power, the one toughness on the Vanguard is an exploitable liability on the part of our deck; not only can you stick a Lightning Bolt through a single Harm’s Way, you can block and kill it with Borderland Ranger even though Honor of the Pure or Ajani Goldmane (the same is not true of the somewhat tougher Goldmeadow Stalwart).

My initial guy on the play reflects the fact that even though it is better to be able to block and kill creatures, if our plan is Hallowed Burial, this is no requirement for winning.

I have since revised my position to go in-line with Kibler’s. He actually had a good explanation. You can wait until the opponent does something, gives you more information, before making your own decision. For example, what if he hasn’t got another land, and he taps for Honor of the Pure? Clearly the better play is to stick the Goldmeadow Stalwart to death, take three, and leave yourself with a mutual block on the Elite Vanguard.

Some other ideas and issues…

1. If you don’t shoot the Elite Vanguard on your own turn, I am not convinced you are so much better off waiting for upkeep. It may sound horribly stupid but you are open to say a double Harm’s Way. This is also 2/3 of a Time Walk and a bit of a one-for-two (even if it buys you five to seven free damage, maybe even more)… You’re probably going to win if he runs that because he will not have mana for a cream dream draw involving Spectral Procession. Generally speaking, I am willing to make a slightly sub-optimal play in order to control certain variables. You lose some measure of that control by making a pre-additional information move with your Lightning Bolt, but moving that move to upkeep.
2. I am not scared of Path to Exile in response to Lightning Bolt. That is tantamount to playing around Rampant Growth.
3. At least we all agree that we are not going to play the Exotic Orchard.
4. Here is one that didn’t get as much attention as I might have guessed… Just taking a beating and leaving your Lightning Bolt for Ajani Goldmane. Losing this game will probably be associated with an unchecked Spectral Procession, and the deadliest combo Kithkin can generally muster is Spectral Procession + Ajani Goldmane, so there you go.

Currently Reading: Living Dead in Dallas (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 2) (Paperback)

It’s the return of You Make the Play! this episode pits M10 uncommon Elite Vanguard against longtime Kithkin one drop Goldmeadow Stalwart in a thought provoking turn two scenario.

You are playing the Rhox Meditant Deck in a post-M10 tournament (nice choice); so now you have Lightning Bolt in your sideboard (huzzah). Your opponent is White Weenie / Kithkin, and you are up a game playing for Top 8. You were able to tempo him in a triumphant Game One. He didn’t hit the dream curve of Honor of the Pure, Spectral Procession, and Ajani Goldmane, so you had time to slow him down with Naya Charm. You just littered the floor with your threes to block and chump block with Kitchen Finks and Borderland Ranger, Time Walked him turn five with Primal Command on his Windbrisk Heights, and then showed him Enlisted Ultimatum. That card gave you a 5/5, a dead Knight of the Meadowgrain, four life and a re-buy on your Bituminous Blast. Wanting to preserve time against your sluggish and methodical deck, your opponent shrugged into Game Two.

To open the second, your opponent led with Goldmeadow Stalwart and showed you a second Goldmeadow Stalwart.

You played your Jungle Shrine, then passed.

He got in for two, screwed up his face a little bit, played his second land… and instead of running out the Stalwart, ran out complimentary one drop Elite Vanguard. Now there are lots of different reasons he might do this, from not having another Kithkin for this second Stalwart to some kind of shenanigans running on the back end. But the fact is, this is the board you are looking at when you untap for turn two:

You untap your Jungle Shrine, pull a card and assess these eight cards for your second turn:

Board:
Jungle Shrine.

Eight-card hand:
Savage Lands, Exotic Orchard, Lightning Bolt, Borderland Ranger, Borderland Ranger, Captured Sunlight, Hallowed Burial, Enlisted Wurm.

So… Play your second turn 🙂

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: 100 Bullets Vol. 13: Wilt

What You Should Be Reading: My Files at Top 8 Magic

About moving Naya Charm to the main for more MTGO tournament testing, plus a little more G/W Steward of Valeron dot dec and a look at All-in Green! More or less lots of deck lists all featuring basic Forest and Wooded Bastion 🙂

The summer I was pretty good at Magic (solid individual performance at Pro Tour Charleston culminating in winning the New York State Championship that fall) yes, I was playing lots of Magic with Jon Finkel, but I was also playing lots of MTGO tournaments, specifically 8-man Constructed Queues.

Based on several readers’ suggestions, most notably Gerry Thompson, I decided to branch out of my Tournament Practice Room testing with just a bunch of one-on-one queues, which, while not Premiere Events or anything, are still raked tournaments and force me to play a bit better than the Tournament Practice Room. What is probably obvious to everyone — but I had somehow forgotten over the last couple of years — is how much more difficult the play in actual tournaments is! The Tournament Practice Room is very loose by comparison, even when opponents have all the cards.

Anyway, I have played five total matches with the Rhox Meditant deck (now with 100% less Rhox Meditant), going 4-1 overall. Last blog post I described getting one against G/W Combo Elves. That was good for +10 points. Here is how the next four matches have gone…

Esper Beats Loss: LWL -13
B/G Mid-range: Win WLW +4
Cascade LD: Win LWW +9
Sanity Grinding: Win WW +2

The Esper Beats loss was obviously hairy. No offense to my opponent meant, but this was a loose deck. All 2/1 shroud first strike, Paladin en-Vec, and 2/2 flying (Mulldrifter and a four mana Mulldrifter that only costs four).

The first game I was very distracted because Clark kept getting out of bed and running around and I got up no fewer than four times to put him back to bed. This caused me to play the wrong land on turn three so I couldn’t play Civic Wayfinder, so my first play ended up being turn FIVE. I figured that I could win by overwhelming his two power guys with Enlisted Wurms but he just kept playing more and more.

I put the read on that he didn’t have Cryptic Command, but I was still kind of in trouble to his 2/2 flying. Basically I flipped Maelstrom Pulse on every early Cascade for no targets, then never saw a Maelstrom Pulse or Bituminous Blast (and never a Bituminous Blast at all this game) once there was a target. Boo-urns.

Game Two I just smashed him with tempo and played several Primal Commands on his Arcane Sanctum. He only ever played one Paladin en-Vec before I won.

Game Three I shipped a weak two-lander into a moderate two-lander with a little gamble to it. I developed, teased him with a Primal Command (he bit with Cancel) and figured I had him set up; I was right on my read of one Cancel but he had a COUNTERSQUALL for my Hallowed Burial! Boo-urns! Boo-urns! I thought I could stabilize it but he had a last minute Terror for my Enlisted Wurm. I was gambling a bit on that one, looking for a Hallowed Burial, Bituminous Blast, or at least Maelstrom Pulse. I got like a nothing… Civic Wayfinder. I am not sure it was better to play the Enlisted Wurm rather than a Civic out of my hand and a Kitchen Finks (despite none of them being long for the world). Shrug.

The B/G deck I beat with Naya Charm. He played with a land destruction sub-theme, Rain of Tears, Fulminator Mage, and Primal Command, so I sided in Naya Charm just for lands. In Game Three he used his Primal Command to start racing me with Thornling. I expertly stayed alive with a combination of well measured chump blocks anticipating Trample, Primal Commands of my own to stay alive and Time Walk, and racing back. I got him the last turn when he activated Treetop Village, inviting Bituminous Blast, which flipped Naya Charm, that tapped his Thornling and left the doors wide open for my Enlisted Wurm.

Those two matches were last night.

For tonight I decided to move some Naya Charms to the main; basically I swapped three of them for three Planeswalkers but didn’t really change any of the 75 (just some positions); if I had Naya Charm main, I am pretty sure I would have beaten the Esper deck in Game One (and with it, the match). If you are REALLY lazy, here is the deck list:

Rhox Meditant Deck version 1.4

1 Ajani Vengeant
4 Bituminous Blast
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Captured Sunlight
4 Enlisted Wurm
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Naya Charm

4 Civic Wayfinder
2 Primal Command

4 Exotic Orchard
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
4 Forest
4 Jungle Shrine
1 Mountain
2 Plains
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Savage Lands
1 Swamp
1 Wooded Bastion

sb:
1 Anathemancer
3 Ajani Vengeant
1 Naya Charm
4 Cloudthresher
2 Primal Command
4 Hallowed Burial

The Cascade LD seemed like not a great matchup because he had Cruel Ultimatum to reset. I don’t really remember how I lost Game One. He never did anything that worthwhile. Like a Civic Wayfinder is better than all of his cards (Bloodbraid Elf, various Stone Rains, whatever). Boomerang makes the deck quick and Grixis Charm flexible; he actually got me with Deny Reality into Grixis Charm when I only had two lands and forced me to discard multiple in I think Game Two… but I won that one as well as Game Three.

I got Ultimatum’d in both of the first two but I pulled out two anyway. Basically I Ultimatum’d him back with the Enlisted Ultimatum I was sandbagging. Game Three my hand was kind of mana light to begin with, he boomed me down to no permanents, and I got back after he cast all his spells (just didn’t draw Cruel Ultimatum this game).

My Sanity Grinding opponent was super nice, and a comic book fan by his nickname 🙂

Sanity Grinding is just not a hard matchup if you can force through the main deck Primal Command… Game Two i think I played like four Primal Commands. This game I actually got off Ajani Ultimatum, which was cute (doesn’t happen every day).

If nothing dramatic happens, I am playing the above deck list, but with Borderland Rangers, next weekend.

So another deck I played a bunch of matches with — albeit Tournament Practice Room — is All-in Green. I wanted to try to re-embrace the All-in Green from the Steward of Valeron deck. That deck I have been winning most of them, though I did lose the G/W mirror tonight, to G/W Tokens. Anyway, I decided to make All-in Green per my discussions with BDM in real life and the Top 8 Magic Podcast:

All-in Green

3 Behemoth Sledge
4 Wildfield Borderpost

4 Boggart Ram-Gang
4 Kitchen Finks

4 Chameleon Colossus
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Primal Command
4 Thornling

3 Ranger of Eos

14 Forest
4 Mosswort Bridge
4 Wooded Bastion

sb:
1 Behemoth Sledge
1 Gutteral Response
4 Cloudthresher
4 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Ranger of Eos
4 Rhox Meditant

I played five matches with this deck.

Mono-Black:
Won in I think two… I think that everyone who is looking to play Mono-Black should think about it for a minute; Chameleon Colossus is bad enough but Great Sable Stag is coming too.

Jund Elves:
I was able to trump with Chameleon Colossus + Behemoth Sledge.

Blightning (no Blightning?)
I lost the first of two matches due to a misclick. I had Chameleon Colossus on board and Primal Command underneath a Mosswort Bridge. I accidentally clicked to use the Bridge with four mana in my pool; for some reason the Colossus didn’t activate! (That reason was my misclick). Would have won otherwise so he game me a rematch.

In the rematch he got me fair and square.

Finally I beat a slow cascade deck by dropping second turn Ethersworn Canonist. He played four Cryptic Commands but refused to bounce the Canonist, so eventually I got there.

So would I play All-in Green in a real tournament?

Probably not. It lacks the ability to deal with utility creatures; case in point, my Blighting opponent played second turn Sygg, River Cutthroat every game but one. I basically had to wait until he was ready to block (which was non-zero, but also not up to YT).

At present I don’t really see a whole lot of time put into All-in Green versus actual tournament play for the Rhox Meditant deck.

For those of haven’t done it yet, go order Zvi’s book!

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: 100 Bullets Vol. 13: Wilt

Short post tonight – just indicating some recent changes to my favorite Standard decks.

I got back from movie night at Jonny Magic’s and started playing in one-on-one queues for the first time tonight. Movie night was awesome, as usual. Super packed house for a viewing of The Triplets of Belleville. I found out that Tom Martell has a blog! The best part about Tom’s blog is that it has almost no content, but a link to my blog 🙂

Anyway, I played three matches, one one-on-one queue with Rhox Meditant deck and two Tournament Practice Room matches with Steward of Valeron deck. All successful.

Rhox Meditant Deck (now with 100% less Rhox Meditant)

4 Ajani Vengeant
4 Bituminous Blast
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Captured Sunlight
4 Enlisted Wurm
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Maelstrom Pulse

4 Civic Wayfinder
2 Primal Command

4 Exotic Orchard
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
4 Forest
4 Jungle Shrine
1 Mountain
2 Plains
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Savage Lands
1 Swamp
1 Wooded Bastion

sb:
1 Anathemancer
4 Naya Charm
4 Cloudthresher
2 Primal Command
4 Hallowed Burial

I somehow got an Anathemancer in my main deck and played 61 cards (Jon Becker alert).

My opponent was G/W combo Elves, which should be a miserable pairing. Game one I might have been able to win — it’s possible — but I flipped Anathemancer on a Cascade spell when he had only Forests. Sub-comical.

His play was superb, by the way. He did all the little things that some players get sloppy and miss. For example I flipped Maelstrom Pulse with Bloodbraid Elf and targeted Devoted Druid when he had two on board; he correctly killed his own Druid with -1/-1 counters rather than lose them both; right play, obvious when you say it out loud, and still something many miss. I conceded when he had three Regal Forces in play, thirteen Green creatures, and had played his second or third Primal Command on me.

Sideboarding was:
+1 Naya Charm
+4 Hallowed Burial
-1 Anathemancer (imaginary)
-4 Captured Sunlight

Game Two I got on tempo. Just Kitchen Finks into Bloodbraid Elf this time. His draw wasn’t bad, just slow and on the draw. I had more Bloodbraid Elf action and Maelstrom Pulse and other removal to handle any little Elves. I had Hallowed Burial from my opener but never had to play it.

I sided again for Game Three to be faster.
+3 Naya Charm
-3 Ajani Vengeant

This game took forever and he had superb action but he was never really in it. It was a little scary when he got me with a third turn Primal Command but I recovered for Maelstrom Pulse on half his Elves engine, which slowed him enough to bite it to my first Hallowed Burial. I played three or four total in Game Three, off of Naya Charms and Enlisted Wurms.

I trished him out long, Long, LONG until it was Enlisted Wurm against [lonely] Regal Force. At this point he had like one card left and I had six, including Naya Charms and Hallowed Burials hand and graveyard. Hallowed Burial is great in this matchup.

Naya Charm might just be better than Ajani, but Ajani is a key source of headaches for control decks. It’s all balancing.

Steward of Valeron dot dec

2 Behemoth Sledge

4 Kitchen Finks
4 Steward of Valeron

4 Chameleon Colossus
4 Cloudthresher
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Thornling

3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Path to Exile
3 Ranger of Eos

4 Brushland
10 Forest
4 Mosswort Bridge
2 Plains
4 Wooded Bastion

sb:
1 Behemoth Sledge
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
4 Celestial Purge
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Rhox Meditant

Main changes are minus one main deck Ranger of Eos, swapping for a Path to Exile.

Sideboard includes Ethersworn Canonist now, which is a concession to the Bloodbraid decks and also can help slow down combo decks. I haven’t sided it in yet.

Matches were straightforward; nothing fancy. The best was when I used Celestial Purge against his first turn Borderpost 🙂

That’s it for tonight!

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reding: Dead Until Dark (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 1)

I have a PTQ coming up. I am probably going to play my two-for-one Cascade deck as detailed in Rhox Meditant Again (ironically with no Rhox Meditants… replaced them with Ajani Vengeant), but I wanted to work on a fallback deck that would require less processing power and allow me to play more quickly through a long tournament. Inspired by the standout G/W decks of Pro Tour Honolulu, I decided to explore, um, a different Rhox Mediatant deck.

Steward of Valeron dot dec

2 Behemoth Sledge

4 Kitchen Finks
4 Steward of Valeron

4 Chameleon Colossus
4 Cloudthresher
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Thornling

3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 Path to Exile
4 Ranger of Eos

4 Brushland
10 Forest
4 Mosswort Bridge
2 Plains
4 Wooded Bastion

sb:
1 Behemoth Sledge
3 Primal Command
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
4 Celestial Purge
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Path to Exile
4 Rhox Meditant

I am not sure that this deck isn’t just worse than G/W Tokens. However there are certain synergies that are just irresistable, for example Chameleon Colossus + Elspeth, Knight-Errant. You get these crazy mana acceleration draws sometimes that go like Noble Hierarch, Steward of Valeron, multiple Hierarchs, in… then you have Exalted for tons of damage the next turn, plus Cloudthresher mana. It’s really quite strange.

Ranger of Eos is a really high quality card in this deck despite there being only four total targets main. You don’t usually play a long enough game to “run out” of one mana creatures, even if you are stuck drawing some. There is usually something else you can play on four or five mana.

For those of you who haven’t played Thornling yet… Start. I can’t believe I am saying this, but Thornling is better than Chameleon Colossus most of the time. Indestructable is a powerful ability, as is trample. When combined with Indestructable and multiple Noble Hierarchs, +1/-1 is really quite dizzying.

All that said, this deck might not be as strong as the now Rhox Meditant-free Rhox Meditant Again deck, or some of the others. It is, however, straightforward to run and fun to play, which are compelling features when approaching a long day that promises to be an arduous struggle of rounds.

I really like a Thornling 🙂

So for those of you who didn’t know yet, we just started taking preorders on My Files by my good friend Zvi Mowshowitz. This volume of My Files is like Zvi’s Deckade, only Zvi is a Pro Tour Champion instead of just a master of, you know, life like YT.

I know you guys are all going crazy to sign up to pick up your copy of My Files, so I’ll just run out the link to Top 8 Magic now, and let you go about your business: My Files at Top 8 Magic

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: Dead Until Dark (Southern Vampire Mysteries, No. 1)

I’m just going to have to satisfy (dissatisfy?) the Brian Kowal / Tim Aten crowd and come out and say it: Great Sable Stag is just better than Gnarled Mass, and you all know how YT feels about his Gnarled Mass.

I really want to play Great Sable Stag main. Its size profile makes this a possibility even if White Weenie / Kithkin is one of the default decks (3/3 is bigger than 2/2 First Strike). It’s a different story if we are staring down Honor of the Pure across the table (often absolutely horrid, but not uncommonly not that big a deal, at least in the sense that we can still trade sometimes). But of course the reason that we would play this card is that it should be so effective against Fae.

Great Sable Stag is just an utter beating against Fae. Can’t counter it, can’t kill it, can’t block it; if you want to tap it and keep it from attacking you, you can only do so at great [opportunity] cost. Play Great Sable Stag off a first turn Noble Hierarch or whatever and you’ve basically just won (especially on the play).

This is also a solid card against Reflecting Pool Control. Not the best card, maybe, but it gets past Plumeveil and demands a real response; the question is whether Reflecting Pool Control goes back to Volcanic Fallout or farther back to Firespout; because Fallout is a feather in Great Sable Stag’s hat whereas Firespout could spell disaster. Like The Man Tsuyoshi Fujita used to tell me while rubbing his imaginary beard: “De-PENDS on the me-ta-GAME” (say that in like four syllables).

Worst case scenario, Great Sable Stag is what Brian Kowal would call a Grollub. You would not believe the arguments old BK used to make about the humble Grollub. “No one is willing to play these cards against Red…” (and with good reason, we’d chide) “… but they win.” He was right a lot of the time (just like today when he makes a Boat Brew). Just laying out some garbage 3/3 can be really annoying for a fast Red Deck. They have to not ignore it. If all you do is keep a Boggart Ram-Gang off your back for a turn you’re doing something significant, buying yourself time, turn(s) with three, six, nine more life, and setting up for your next, better, play. Grollubs (or Great Sable Stags) are never really terrible. You lay them out there and sometimes you get to deal three, six, nine of your own (sometimes), and it can matter.

Great Sable Stag, Kitchen Finks, or Great Sable Stag and Kitchen Finks?

I always declare cards my new favorite card… Feudkiller’s Verdict, Martial Coup, and so on, but don’t always play them (played / play the eff out of Banefire, though). What about Great Sable Stag? Objectively the card is worse than a Kitchen Finks for most decks (and against most decks). That doesn’t necessarily mean you would play Kitchen Finks over Great Sable Stag. This is an advanced deck design concept: Sometimes you will play the “worse” card (not even sideboarding the better one). That said, the third point of toughness on Great Sable Stag is like a special ability in and of itself, and is something to be considered. Kitchen Finks is very good (on turn three at least) against Fae; Great Sable Stag is clearly better… You can lace it up with Behemoth Sledge, you don’t have to worry about looking foolish running it into a Mistbind Clique, et cetera. In the same way Great Sable Stag is probably better against most controlling decks. I typically side out Kitchen Finks against decks like Reflecting Pool Control, Reveillark, etc.

Kitchen Finks is usually better against beatdown, but there are certainly situations you would rather have Great Sable Stag. For example I’ve played against a lot of Magma Sprays in my day. Magma Spray is pretty janky Great Sable Stag. Would you play both?

BDM and I have been working on All-in Green for the upcoming PTQs. We have been trying to capture the bomb feel of the Urza’s Block-era Rofellos and Trinity Green decks. Primal Command is our Plow Under and there are no shortage of good creatures (just no Masticore). Work in progress, sure, but I could see playing with both cards (certainly after sideboarding… the options get thin after Guttural Response).

Just some initial thoughts.

I like a Great Sable Stag and could see it as Staple.

One of the things I blogged about a week or two back is how control decks will adopt Lightning Bolt. It seems that the existence of cards like this one would help to justify that prediction 🙂

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: Nikolai Dante: Sword of the Tsar (2000 Ad)

The future of beloved Jund Mana Ramp is uncertain due to M10 coming soon (sadly I probably won’t even get to play it in its current form in a PTQ). However some friends have asked for a sideboarding guide. Here goes!

For easy reference, here is the Jund Mana Ramp deck list I would play:

2 Makeshift Mannequin
3 Shriekmaw

4 Broodmate Dragon
4 Kitchen Finks

4 Chameleon Colossus
4 Civic Wayfinder
4 Cloudthresher
4 Rampant Growth

4 Banefire
3 Volcanic Fallout

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

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

By popular demand, the sideboarding swaps for the Jund Mana Ramp deck…

B/W Tokens
+3 Caldera Hellion
+1 Volcanic Fallout
+1 Terror
-3 Shriekmaw
-2 Banefire

B/W Tokens is a deck where Jund Mana Ramp is a slight but not overwhelming favorite. The main problem is that you can get stuck with Shriekmaw hands that are worthless against B/W Tokens. Volcanic Fallout is okay but nothing special, usually trading one for one with Spectral Procession but not doing a whole lot else.

That said, Jund tends to win the games where B/W has a “regular” draw on basis of card quality. They play something, you play something better. Most of the time you will want to kill Ajani Goldmane in any way you can as quickly as you can.

The games Jund loses are usually games where the opponent has a very disruptive Tidehollow Sculler draw or locks you out with infinite Ajani + Persist creatures.

Sideboarding we just swap Shriekmaw (very bad) for Caldera Hellion (very good). One thing you might consider doing is to NOT Devour with Caldera Hellion, allowing it to die. This can give you a future option of Makeshift Mannequin, especially on the opponent’s turn. Terror is pretty good because it can kill like a 10/10 Mutavault.

Cascade Swans
+4 Anathemancer
+1 Shriekmaw
+1 Terror
+4 Primal Command
-3 Broodmate Dragon
-4 Cloudthresher
-3 Volcanic Fallout

This is pretty impossible.

ElfBall
+3 Caldera Hellion
+1 Shriekmaw
+1 Terror
+1 Volcanic Fallout
-4 Cloudthresher
-2 Chameleon Colossus

I’ve never played agaisnt ElfBall with Jund but this is how I would side.

Elves
+3 Caldera Hellion
+1 Shriekmaw
+1 Terror
+1 Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
-3 Cloudthresher
-3 Volcanic Fallout

Elves is a much more competitive matchup than most of the other creature decks because they [also] have Chameleon Colossus. I have personally never lost a game where I drew so much as one Shriekmaw; I am willing to use Shriekmaw for defensive speed. Basically you want to stretch most of Phase II with a better board and keep damage off (remember they can kill you with Profane Command).

Sideboarding is a bit tricky; you are taking out creature kill and swapping in different creature kill. You need all your Banefires to kill Chameleon Colossus and in some cases first turn mana accelerators depending on the tenor of the game. I would be fine playing versus Elves any round but it is not a super easy matchup like G/W Tokens or Five-color Blood.

Fae
+1 Anathemancer
+1 Terror
+1 Volcanic Fallout
-3 Shriekmaw

Fae is a favorable matchup for Jund Mana Ramp… and you still lose some of the time. Terror is in for Mistbind Clique (their main threat against you).

Five-color Blood
+1 Shriekmaw
+1 Terror
+4 Anathemancer
+2 Primal Command
-4 Cloudthresher
-1 Banefire
-3 Volcanic Fallout

Five-color Blood is a blissfully easy matchup main deck and it just gets better sideboarded. Remember the original tension our group described RE: Civic Wayfinder v. Bloodbraid Elf. Five-color Blood might be able to sting you with Sygg, River Cutthroat, but if you are going to lose, it will usually involve being on the wrong end of a Putrid Leech (I never have though). You want to tax the Leech as much as possible with Kitchen Finks and Civic Wayfinder. If you can stick a Chameleon Colossus at any point (and presumably defend it from Cruel Ultimatum) you can’t really lose. I have withstood Cruel Ultimatum out of Five-color Blood several times. Just not a dangerous matchup for Jund Mana Ramp.

Fog
+4 Anathemancer
+1 Volcanic Fallout
+4 Primal Command
-3 Shriekmaw
-4 Broodmate Dragon
-2 Chameleon Colossus

Fog is a deceptively super easy matchup. In Game One you basically need to do six damage fair and square. If you can do six damage you can usually win with Volcanic Fallout, Cloudthresher, Banefire, and Makeshift Mannequin. Always evoke Cloudthresher — that sets you up for Makeshift Mannequin (you can’t really ever get creature damage in once you are at six mana). If you have to discard, discard stuff like Broodmate Dragon; you are just never going to get damage in that way.

Primal Command is good many different ways. Drawing extra and then braining their Howling Mines is fine. Shuffling your deck up in the middle of Stage Two (successfully) is basically game right then and there (they will deck).

Anathemancer is better than most of the other creatures even if they don’t have a lot of nonbasics. You really just need to sneak in a small amount of damage to dominate them, and they will be less apt to blow a Fog on a two damage packet than, say, a doubled-up Chameleon Colossus.

G/W Tokens
+3 Caldera Hellion
+1 Volcanic Fallout
+1 Shriekmaw
+1 Terror
-2 Chameleon Colossus
-4 Banefire

G/W Tokens is an extremely easy matchup. I am not sure which is easier, G/W Tokens or Five-color Blood but they are both extremely easy and you almost can’t lose. So if this is the case, play so they can’t kill you out of nowhere with an Overrun, because it’s one of the only ways they can ever win. Unlike B/W Tokens they don’t have a persistent source of creatures or any way to keep you from demolishing them turn after turn with superior spells.

Sideboarded you just max out on creature kill and kill all their guys (i.e. the only way they can win).

Jund Mana Ramp
+1 Shriekmaw
+1 Terror
+1 Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
+4 Primal Command
-4 Kitchen Finks
-3 Volcanic Fallout

This sideboarding strategy assumes they are running some terrible Fertile Ground deck with no Chameleon Colossus; if they have Chameleon Colossus you have to leave in all your Kitchen Finks, so instead pull Black removal.

Red Decks
+1 Shriekmaw
+1 Terror
+4 Primal Command
-4 Cloudthresher
-2 Volcanic Fallout

You are about a 20-25% dog game one; you are that much of a favorite sideboarded. You want to gain seven and grab Broodmate Dragons to race.

Reflecting Pool Control
+4 Anathemancer
+1 Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
+4 Primal Command
-3 Shriekmaw
-3 Kitchen Finks
-3 Volcanic Fallout

Reflecting Pool Control is one of the easier matchups for Jund Mana Ramp. Philosophically you need to utilize your Trish cards (Civic Wayfinder et al) to keep pace with Reflecting Pool Control’s card advantage while establishing what pressure you can. You can usually jockey for a fair amount of damage with Treetop Villages. The most annoying thing is if they can hurt you with a Plumeveil; that will usually take a lot of wind out of your sails. That said, you are heavily favored main if you can get them anywhere near where you need to get them and then point Banefire. Their deck is quite slow so you can often hit multiple Banefires to win. Shriekmaw is not nearly as bad as it seems because you need to suppress Walls, plus Shriekmaw has fear; nevertheless we side him out.

Sideboarded you can really only lose if they have a large number of varied sideboard cards, viz. Pithing Needle and Runed Halo AND THEY DRAW THEM. Your offense is irresistable otherwise, with Anathemancers and Banefires as near-auto-wins. If they tap for Broodmate Dragon you kill them with Karrthus (if you are a miser like WillPop anyway), and you basically win any game you can stick a Primal Command (usually Time Walk + Anathemancer).

White Weenie
+3 Caldera Hellion
+1 Volcanic Fallout
+1 Shriekmaw
+1 Terror
-2 Broodmate Dragon
-4 Banefire

Sideboarding White Weenie is slightly different from sideboarding G/W Tokens. White Weenie is a harder matchup than G/W because Burrenton Forge-Tender can kold your sweep, plus White Weenie can get really wicked fast draws like Isamaru, Wizened Cenn, Procession, Ajani, and so on. Therefore we side out Broodmate Dragon and leave in Chameleon Colossus on basis of speed. You just want a faster body on the board.

That’s it!

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: Nikolai Dante: Hell and High Water