Entries Tagged 'Magic' ↓

For reference, please see yesterday’s deck, Rhox Meditant Deck 2010 version 1.0:

1 Ajani Vengeant
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Captured Sunlight
4 Enlisted Wurm
4 Naya Charm
4 Steward of Valeron

4 Borderland Ranger

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Baneslayer Angel
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

4 Arid Mesa
5 Forest
4 Jungle Shrine
2 Mountain
3 Plains
4 Raging Ravine
4 Stirring Wildwood

sb:
2 Ajani Vengeant
4 Great Sable Stag
4 Goblin Assault
2 Celestial Purge
3 Day of Judgment

Before Sunday’s PTQ I wanted to do an update to the sideboard, which was haphazardly thrown together just based on cards I like. As good as Goblin Assault is, I think that it has to be cut. The sentiment from Twitter was that the metagame will be:

• Jund
• U/W
• Boss Naya
• Vampires
• White Weenie
• Red Decks
• Allies

One way I like to develop sideboards is to figure out what I can afford to side out. Let’s look by archetype:

Jund:
My entire deck is actually quite strong against Jund in Game One, which is one of the reasons this deck has a fair advantage. I had a game [one] tonight where I drew several Captured Sunlights (rather than Bloodbraid Elves) that kind of let my opponent into the game when he drew multiple Bloodbraid Elves. It might not be accurate to say I was behind (even though I was behind on cards and the battlefield, because I eventually drew an Enlisted Ultimatum which flipped up a Baneslayer Angel and I easily won from 22 (he had used a lot of removal spells on my Borderland Rangers early on).

This deck is just set up very well against Jund and is likely to win the first game. A lot of people decry the Borderland Ranger but it is a heck of a stop sign against their best creature.

You can get away without sideboarding but Captured Sunlight is one of the weaker cards over a strong mix. Also on the draw I would side out my Planeswalkers; they are hard to defend:

-1 Ajani Vengeant
-4 Captured Sunlight
-1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

On the draw (and most Game Twos will be on the draw), I would side in 4 Great Sable Stag and 2 Celestial Purge. Note that if I had more copies of Celestial Purge, I would likely side them in over Lightning Bolt (leaving, say, two Lightning Bolts)… But there is nothing wrong with Lightning Bolt on the draw, in particular for Putrid Leech defense.

I don’t particularly like Lightning Bolt on the play. You don’t really need Lightning Bolt to defend against Putrid Leech when you are on the attack. Also Planeswalkers are a lot better playing.

-4 Captured Sunlight
-4 Lightning Bolt

+2 Ajani Vengeant
+4 Great Sable Stag
+2 Celestial Purge

U/W:
I am not sure who is favored in the matchup between Borderland Ranger and Jace, the Mind Sculptor. The U/W matchup can go either way, but so far it seems to favor the Naya deck due to the card advantage and Planeswalkers.

It can definitely go either way in particular based on which version the opponent is running; for example the Knight of the White Orchid + Martial Coup deck is going to be much harder to beat because of its card advantage and potential 5/5 flying advantage (post-Wrath) than a deck that can only win with Planeswalkers against Bloodbraid Elf and Planeswalkers. Put another way, Knight of the White Orchid actually effectively blocks Bloodbraid Elf, Steward of Valeron, and Borderland Ranger… all of the non-5/5 creatures in the deck. And even Baneslayer Angel is only even with the opponent’s Baneslayer Angel.

The only card you really want to cut is Captured Sunlight. Baneslayer Angel is marginal but might be very effective against Sphinx of Jwar Isle, and will at least keep pace with the good 5/5.

The next worst card is Lightning Bolt, though I don’t know I would side all of them out all of the time. Lightning Bolt can be relevant against Planeswalkers, and can get White Orchid out of the way.

With the present sideboard, I could see going
-4 Captured Sunlight
-2 Lightning Bolt

+2 Ajani Vengeant
+4 Goblin Assault

Note that if I had the third Ajani Vengeant in my sideboard I would bring it in, and while I only have a clear four slots to remove, I can remove between 6-12 cards without being unhappy.

All that said the great danger of the U/W matchup is being completely blown out by their White cards. Martial Coup, uncontested Baneslayer Angel, good night.

Boss Naya:
All 60 of my cards are pretty good in this matchup.

However I want to be a combination of fast — but defensively fast — and powerful. I don’t need to be offensively fast, though I can seize a Steward of Valeron draw, particularly on the play.

However Boss Naya is weakest against a combination of Wrath of God and card advantage; note that I don’t want to remove Lightning Bolt and Naya Charm even if I go Wraths because I want to remain very limber defensively, so as to avoid a Kayo from his Bloodbraid Elf dream draw. One thing to think about is mitigating the damage Wrath will do to me… That means siding out Steward of Valeron, which can actually propose icky Who’s the Beatdown questions… I’d just as rather avoid them.

-1 Captured Sunlight
-4 Steward of Valeron

+2 Ajani Vengeant
+3 Day of Judgment

Note that I only have three copies of Day of Judgment to side in; I’d like the full four against Boss Naya, and would be willing to move a Captured Sunlight for that option (Ajani at the same mana cost can also gain life).

Vampires:
Surprisingly, I lost a match to Vampires tonight. In both Game One and Game Three, he drew multiple copies of Malakir Blood Witch. This deck doesn’t have a great direct answer to Malakir Blood Witch (but for Day of Judgment); I lost Game One to triple Malakir Blood Witch by exactly one point of life (which means I probably missed something somewhere). Game three I didn’t draw Day of Judgment.

Given that I don’t really want to invest in Burst Lightning the way Naya Lightsaber did for Malakir Blood Witch, the best option is probably to go with the fourth Day of Judgment, per the Boss Naya matchup. The “right now” sideboarding numbers are / were:

-1 Ajani Vengeant
-3 Naya Charm
-4 Steward of Valeron
-1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

+4 Great Sable Stag
+2 Celestial Purge
+3 Day of Judgment

The sideboarding seems a little bit weird, I know. Planeswalkers are a bit expensive given what you want to do on four mana and a potential liability against Vampire Hexmage. Speaking of four mana, the reason Steward of Valeron leaves because of Day of Judgment… Again, you just don’t want to have extra cards going away with your Wrath. Most of the rest of the creatures are two-for-ones. However unlike some other matchups, you want to keep Captured Sunlight for two reasons: 1) It is superb for racing where Malakir Blood Witch is an important threat on the other side, and 2) It Cascades into Great Sable Stag. Again, with a fourth Day of Judgment, I would be very comfortable siding the fourth Naya Charm. You can play either the beatdown or the control against Vampires, but you are more likely to play the control, with Day of Judgment and powerful two-for-one threats, including the almost unbeatable Great Sable Stag. Enlisted Wurm into Day of Judgment is just too filthy.

Small note: Great Sable Stag is only only almost unbeatable. Try not to leave him by himself, for fear of Gatekeeper of Malakir.

White Weenie:
I haven’t played versus the current White Weenie decks with this deck yet, but I have played a fair amount from the White Weenie side (Conrad Kolos “Kor” Landfall version), and I think White Weenie should be an easy battle. The White Weenie (that is, Kithkin) decks over the summer were stronger and faster, and the Borderland Ranger deck of that era had a commanding percentage… without Baneslayer Angel.

The matchup from the summer PTQ season was basically fast removal (Lightning Bolt and Naya Charm) suppressing the opponent’s ability to run the good guys over; Enlisted Wurm flipped the Wrath of God of the era (whatever the heck its name was) would ensure the late game. No reason why the same shouldn’t stay true.

-4 Bloodbraid Elf
-1 Steward of Valeron
+2 Ajani Vengeant
+3 Day of Judgment

Siding out Bloodbraid Elf seems unusual, I know, but it is the result of a lot of testing, again from the summer version of the decks. Basically Bloodbraid Elf has almost no value on the table due to the ability of the opponent to glut the board (especially if they have Kor Firewalker or the equivalent), whereas Captured Sunlight can help keep your spirits up as you live long enough to start playing trump cards.

With a fourth Day of Judgment, Steward of Valeron #2 would of course be the cut.

Red Decks:

+2 Ajani Vengeant
+2 Celestial Purge

-3 Enlisted Wurm
-1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

You can cut a Naya Charm instead of the third Enlisted Wurm (fairly difficult to play) but all of the abilities on Naya Charm are highly relevant (instant speed creature removal, re-buy on a Baneslayer Angel or other powerful spell; you can also tap a Hell’s Thunder especially in a gang attack). But overall Enlisted Wurm — often the strongest card — is the weakest card just due to its expense.

Allies:

Allies is a faster, more aggressive version of Naya than either Boss Naya or this deck. The main strategy should be to try to slow down the Allies attack and win with Day of Judgment. Despite Ajani Vengeant often being insane against aggressive decks featuring Red mana symbols, can quickly become irrelevant as Kazandu Blademaster and the lads get too big. I would err on the side of consistency in this case and cut the one and not bring in the others like we do in other beatdown matchups.

-1 Ajani Vengeant
-2 Enlisted Wurm
+3 Day of Judgment

Given this exercise, I think I would make some small adjustments to the sideboard:

3 Ajani Vengeant
4 Great Sable Stag
2 Goblin Assault
2 Celestial Purge
4 Day of Judgment

Goblin Assault is quite strong but can be replaced with Ajani Vengeant in the control matchup. Losing the fourth option for Day of Judgment isn’t that bad because you can just keep a Lightning Bolt against U/W, which is fine. The fourth Day of Judgment seems very worthwhile for the Boss Naya, White Weenie, Vampires, and Allies matchups all.

Good luck on Sunday… But only if you play this deck. Bad luck otherwise ;p

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: The Umbrella Academy: Dallas

Concerning:

stirring wildwood ∙ Stirring Wildwood ∙ STIRRING WILDWOOD! Rah!

BTW:

Stirring Wildwood

Yesterday’s Borderland Ranger deck was a hit. I liked it a bit, but something wasn’t quite right. I’m not sure if it was the mana consistency (not terrible but not quite… you know… right).

On Twitter follower Gareth Lewin suggested cutting Black. At first I thought that would be ridiculous because of the loss of Bituminous Blast and new It Girl Resounding Thunder… But after playing a bit, it seems like this might be the right way to go.

If nothing else, cutting down to only three colors gives us the opportunity to double up on man-lands, adding Stirring Wildwood to the already excellent four-pack of Raging Ravines.

Rhox Meditant Deck 2010 version 1.0

1 Ajani Vengeant
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Captured Sunlight
4 Enlisted Wurm
4 Naya Charm
4 Steward of Valeron

4 Borderland Ranger

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Baneslayer Angel
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

4 Arid Mesa
5 Forest
4 Jungle Shrine
2 Mountain
3 Plains
4 Raging Ravine
4 Stirring Wildwood

sb:
2 Ajani Vengeant
4 Great Sable Stag
4 Goblin Assault
2 Celestial Purge
3 Day of Judgment

Okay, what are the differences between this deck and yesterday’s deck?

Spells:
-1 Ajani Vengeant
-4 Bituminous Blast
-4 Resounding Thunder
+4 Steward of Valeron
+4 Baneslayer Angel
+1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

I cut one copy of Ajani Vengeant (beloved Ajani Vengeant) for one Elspeth, Knight-Errant. You can argue as to which Planeswalker is stronger (I don’t know that it is at all clear), but especially given the erratic nature of Cascade in this deck with no Bituminous Blast and no chain into exclusively Mind Rot-like discard spells, you really don’t want to flip over the second Ajani Vengeant, which happens sometimes. Also the greater emphasis on White mana makes main deck Elspeth and Baneslayer Angel relatively easy to cast… So why not?

Bituminous Blast and Resounding Thunder obviously went with the basic Swamp (et al).

Adding Baneslayer Angel is medium-obvious given the switch in mana…

But the real story of this deck is the addition of Steward of Valeron.

I lost a tight match with Jund tonight. Finally I had a semi-normal night where half or so of my opponents were all Jund. We went into the third; I went to six, he had the perfect Putrid Leech / Sprouting Thrinax / Bloodbraid Elf curve. I basically got flattened. My spells were okay, but his perfect curve starting on turn two (on the play) was just too vigorous that game (I think the four-color Borderland Ranger deck has a long run advantage over Jund, still).

So my inspiration following Gareth’s suggestion was to start my own curve a bit earlier. Steward of Valeron is probably somewhat less powerful than Putrid Leech (again, this is an Ajani v. Elspeth fight with one being more powerful than the other but both cards being quite good and relatively close in power level); but in a Cascade deck heavy on fours (especially one with “good” mana)… Steward of Valeron can help us stick the third turn Bloodbraid Elf, Ajani Vengeant, Captured Sunlight, or Knight-Errant; accelerate into a faster Baneslayer Angel or Enlisted Ultimatum, et cetera ad infinitum.

In sum, I have been Cascading into Steward of Valeron more than I would like… But it isn’t like I’ve dropped any matches because of that (so far).

Mana Base:
-4 Exotic Orchard
-2 Mountain
-1 Swamp
-2 Verdant Catacombs
+1 Forest
+3 Jungle Shrine
+1 Plains
+4 Stirring Wildwood

The mana in this deck is clearly improved with the removal of Black. Not only do we get even more Stirring Wildwood man-land violence, we get to play four Jungle Shrines. Naya Lightsaber was criticized for playing no Jungle Shrines (which was clearly correct… see also Boss Naya), but in a deck with no dedicated one drops but relatively heavy on fours, Jungle Shrine is a not-surprisingly welcome addition. I think the mana is near-perfect [despite at this point being a non-Tectonic Edge deck.

A card conspicuous by its absence in this version is Path to Exile. I am fairly obsessed with not missing on Cascade, and Path to Exile is no good from that standpoint, at least main deck. Path to Exile will likely be added at least to the sideboard if Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and his pretty girlfriends prove playable for Standard Qualifiers and Regionals (or whatever they are calling it this year).

It probably shouldn’t be blatantly obvious that this kind of deck can compete with Jund. It’s kind of like Naya Lightsaber… Naya cards with the exception of Blightning are in our opinion more powerful than Jund cards. Baneslayer Angel being heads up more impressive than Broodmate Dragon, and in this deck, Enlisted Wurm backing her up on the six. Bloodbraid Elves are even more-or-less, the White Planeswalkers are about 100x better than Garruk Wildspeaker, and Naya Charm is a legitimate trump.

Seriously.

Play a little Naya Charm and you will be very happy with the results in a variety of matchups. The ability to Falter past blockers, Fog while setting up an Alpha Strike, or play Lightning Bolt / Regrowth… All the abilities are bonkers actually (but mostly the combat / anti-combat one).

The real tension is between Blightning and not-Blightning; or in this case Borderland Ranger specifically.

As we saw in yesterday’s deck (or for example in Kelly Reid’s Jund deck) Borderland Ranger can go just fine in Jund. I am going to make a relatively controversial argument (but hey — it’s my blog!) that the two cards are not so far apart in power.

I was the first person to start calling Blightning the strongest card in Standard; but hear me out:

1. Both cards cost three mana, but Borderland Ranger is marginally easier to play.
2. Both cards give you what we might call a (+1) in card advantage immediately; Blightning will punish opponents who took a trip to Paris and make for relatively difficult decisions for some opponents with certain draws… Borderland Ranger has none of these features, but can increase your consistency to play over time, and will generally ensure that you hit your fourth mana (and we know this deck is strong on four).
3. Blightning does three immediately; Borderland Ranger does nothing immediately, but has arguably no upper limit to how much damage it can do.
4. Borderland Ranger is an excellent card against opposing Bloodbraid Elves, essentially even on cards but one faster, negating Bloodbraid Elf in combat (+1 for Borderland Ranger!)

If you think about it for a while, I think that you will see that Borderland Ranger isn’t getting lapped or anything by Blightning. Blightning is generally stronger in particular because of its ability to fight Planeswalkers (in particular off a Bloodbraid Elf), but even there Borderland Ranger has some action; the point is, the card can compete, and it isn’t so far off in speed or power level.

Anyway, that’s the deck.

It has been performing very nicely for me, including a superb record so far against Jund. I know Rise of the Eldrazi is going to change things, you know, starting this weekend… But I think that there might be some merit to trying this deck, say this Sunday.

Battle on Five with Flores fans!

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: The Master Butchers Singing Club (P.S.)

Because, you know, Enlisted Wurm-into-Borderland Ranger is plus-two cards.

Weapons of the Enemy

2 Ajani Vengeant
4 Bituminous Blast
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Captured Sunlight
4 Enlisted Wurm
4 Naya Charm

4 Borderland Ranger

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Resounding Thunder

4 Arid Mesa
4 Exotic Orchard
4 Forest
1 Jungle Shrine
4 Mountain
2 Plains
4 Raging Ravine
1 Swamp
2 Verdant Catacombs

sb:
2 Ajani Vengeant
2 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Goblin Assault
4 Baneslayer Angel
3 Day of Judgment

With this deck we return to the style of Cascade that I ran in some PTQs to near-Top 8 finishes in the era before falling in love with Blightning.

The deck satisfies a relatively strong power level (despite missing the absolute best card in the format, and generally so closely associated with Bloodbraid Elf)… an “ultimatum” in the form of not just Enlisted Wurm Ultimatum, but the eight mana option on Resounding Thunder.

I lost a bit after getting locked out by Jace, the Mind Sculptor; and a close one against a Goblin Guide / Hellspark Elemental beatdown deck (topdeck mode… I drew three straight lands to his one Hell’s Thunder). But the rest of the matches went pretty well tonight.

In particular, the deck seems pretty solid against Jund.

Borderland Ranger actually matches up pretty well against Bloodbraid Elf. Bloodbraid Elf will usually only net two cards on a Blightning, so Borderland Ranger can match it card-for-card; Borderland Ranger, being a turn quicker, acts in superb anticipation of the more heralded two toughness Green creature. In the late game, this deck has both Enlisted Wurm and Baneslayer Angel to match scales and wings (respectively) with Double Dragon.

I would actually like something a bit faster against the Red Deck. If you draw Lightning Bolt in your opening hand, it is very difficult to lose; but if you don’t, your first answer is circa turn three, and against a turn one Goblin Guide on the draw, you’re just going to discard a bunch; i.e. “poop”. There. I said it. If you can play your game, Captured Sunlight chaining into Baneslayer Angel has been pretty good. I am not 100% on the right sideboarding strategy. I won a close one with four Enlisted Wurms in my deck, but was chewing my nails down to bloody stumps waiting for my sixth land against a triple Goblin Ruinblaster draw; I swapped Bituminous Blast back in for the third (which should have been great against all the Red Deck hasters), but they never came up. The deck probably wants at least two Enlisted Wurms just to have a way to win; don’t forget that Enlisted Wurm can morph into Baneslayer Angel with some regularity*.

Obviously by the Standard PTQs and Nationals Qualifiers we are going to have fifteen-drops to worry about… I actually think siding a bunch of gigantic Eldrazi might be a strategy for this deck against those Blue bastards.

LOVE
MIKE

* Not actually that regular.

Just how good is Rise of the Eldrazi Rare, Eldrazi Temple?

Pretty elfin’ good, we think.

Eldrazi Temple

The first thing I thought when I saw Eldrazi Temple was “Temple of the False God”.

Longtime readers know how YT feels about a Temple of the False God. I played Temple of the False God in my Biorhythm deck, the first deck (to my knowledge) that broke Windbrisk Heights (though I used Naya Rith’s Charm rather than Spectral Procession as my trigger finger), and many other decks that ran cards like Eternal Dragon, like the G/W Control deck that Brian Kibler used to make the Top 8 of US Nationals in 2004.

Temple of the False God was a little greedy. It was not useful, for instance, on turn one. Even as a second land, Temple of the False God can make you scratch your noggin and throw one back… teary-eyed as your regret the non-action on that Eternal Dragon in your close-to-sick opener.

How about Eldrazi Temple?

The name itself hearkens to Temple of the False God… Temple to Temple, as it were.

Provided you can use colorless mana, Eldrazi Temple is good starting on turn one. I had to double-take on the second ability:

T: Add 2 to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast colorless Eldrazi spells or activate abilities of colorless Eldrazi.

Can you play a MOTHERLOVIN’ TURN ONE MOTHERLOVIN CUP?

Sadly, Everflowing Chalice is not Eldrazi.

Damn.

So what good is Eldrazi Temple?

Well, you are one mana closer to slamming down that Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. Fifteen mana is like thirty mana when compared to fourteen mana (this is a concept that GHWeiss turned me onto a couple of years back). Think about it: The idea of being “manascrewed” with fourteen lands in play is probably strange, but being manascrewed is really about the absence of your ability to play your spells. Emrakul costs fifteen mana. When you’ve missed drop fifteen a couple of turns in a row, that can start feeling insurmountable.

A core function (and almost the only reason you will add a colorless land like this one to your deck list) of Eldrazi Temple is going to be pulling you to virtual-fourteen, one mana closer to your bombastic Eldrazi boom booms.

Which boom booms?

Gigantors are hawt and all, but I think this one will be the most commonly played of the lot:

All is Dust

All is Dust “only” costs seven mana; with Eldrazi Temple that pulls it down to non-Temple of the False God Akroma’s Vengeance mana. Multiple copies of Eldrazi Temple may have your opponents tearing their hair out.

All is Dust is [generally] more powerful than Akroma’s Vengeance (despite not cycling), in particular because it poops on Gideon Jura or Sarkhan the Mad. On the other hand, the main reason we played an Akroma’s Vengeance-based deck in 2004 was to blow up all the artifact lands (which All is Dust doesn’t do… Not that it matters in 2010).

All is Dust seems — at this point, before I’ve actually played any Rise of the Eldrazi — as the most “splash-able” of the big Eldrazi spells. Most of the other cards seem like the kind of stuff you will have to play Summoning Trap and / or a ton of specialized mana to play; but All is Dust will see play in regular control decks as catch-all Wrath redundancy or Planeswalker suppression.

Eldrazi Temple, when casting Emrakul, will feel like a free fifteen. With All is Dust, it will play out like twelve mana when you are under pressure. I know that it won’t be exactly like those gigantic amounts of mana when you look at the board and lands tapped, but when cards that cost 10-11 mana are competing with Blightning and Countersquall, the value of mana acceleration this good — and this opportunity cost-less — can’t be exaggerated.

Long story short – Staple

Go get your playset. If you have any designs on fatty boom booms over the next two years, you will probably want four.

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come, Part 3

Concerning:

Rise of the Eldrazi Mythic Rare; Emrakul, the Aeons Torn!

(So this is what you get for fifteen mana).

Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Is this card very good?

Last week we talked about not having a great frame of reference for Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre at 11 mana; the fact is, Ulamog is more-or-less on-par with Darksteel Colossus (which was a tournament Staple as a one-of in Block, Standard, and Extended Tooth and Nail decks, and Vintage Tinker decks). Both Ulamog and Darksteel Colossus cost 11 mana for huge creatures. 11/11 is bigger than 10/10 but whatever… Two hits from either will smite many a mage. Both creatures are indestructible, and both creatures feature a “Gaea’s Blessing” clause.

As I said, Darksteel Colossus was a tournament Staple, and Ulamog is probably the stronger despite being marginally smaller. Ulamog is a Desert Twister; though he can be countered, his Vindicate effect can’t really be. And while Ulamog hasn’t got Trample, Annihilator 4 is a fair trade-off. After all… How much is the opponent going to have lying around to block with?

But what about the card at hand — Ulamog’s co-Eldrazi conspirator; Emrakul, the Aeons Torn?

If we have relatively little framework for 11 mana biggies, what about fifteen-casters?

The second coming of Draco!

In the case of Emrakul, I think the mana cost may be an advantage. Maybe not in the hard-casting business, but don’t forget that we’ve seen hefty cards like this one prominently featured in tournament competitive decks in the past. To wit, Draco in the Erratic Explosion strategy (more on this later).

Given the availability of an Erratic Explosion analogue, I would rate Emrakul, the Aeons Torn at Role Player – High at a minimum.

But in addition to being one of raw-largest creatures we have ever seen, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is covered in text.

Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is particularly good against permission spells. I think that that particular wing of Magic: The Gathering may be operating at an all time nadir due to the incentive to playing gigantic Eldrazi plus the presence of Summoning Trap. So while many gigantic creatures will theoretically be vulnerable to Essence Scatter or whatever, you really don’t want to put your opponent in a position where he can miss Summoning Trap into Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.

Both of Emrakul’s first two lines of text are relevant against permission. Obviously it can’t be countered (holy relevance), but the second line subtly overcomes an Overrule as well. Emrakul doesn’t have to resolve or hit the ‘field. It’s enough to cast it in order to Time Walk.

Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is very effective against permission.

Emrakul has even more text.

Flying – He can block attackers that might otherwise be able to race, viz. Baneslayer Angel.

Protection from Colored Spells – Interestingly other Eldrazi can interact with Emrakul. Five Searing Blazes or whatever, though? Even though they only cost a paltry ten mana in aggregate… Not so much.

Annihilator 6 – Ka-pow.

If there is one thing you can say about Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, it’s that he’s covered in rules text.

Also, you can’t be decked.

Also, you can’t be decked.

Okay, maybe you can be decked, but it’s a lot more difficult with even one Emrakul, the Aeons Torn in your deck than without.

The “Dakrsteel Colossus” Gaea’s Blessing wannabe ability probably helps to control the Eldrazi power level. The concern would be reanimation for mana savings.

Emrakul, the Aeons torn will be plenty good even without Summoning Trap shenanigans.

Snap Judgment Rating – Staple

‘LOVE
MIKE

Concerning:

1. Jamie Wakefield
2. Student of Warfare
3. The Spanish Inquisition

Before we get in to Magic: The Gathering blogging, I just wanted to throw something out there:

Jamie Wakefied has just come out with a new book. As far as I can tell, this book is not about Magic: The Gathering. I am going to order it… any longtime fans of Jamie (and I’m sure that many of you hold yourselves in that group) should probably do the same.

For the love.

Okay, now for the Magic: The Gathering part.

Student of Warfare:

Multiple people, including Jeroen Remie via Twitter and Slov01 in the comments of the last post pointed out that Student of Warfare is much the 3/3 for three mana as Transcendent Master.

I was actually planning to write about Student of Warfare anyway… But I hadn’t thought of it in that way.

The reason is that, even if it can be thought of as a 3/3 for three mana, it isn’t. It is much, much, better.

The first reason why Student of Warfare is better than a “regular” Gnarled Mass is that it costs one, not three, as a base. This lets you put a down payment on the card on turn one, then spend the next two on turn two for three damage on the second turn (you know, a turn before you could even playTranscendent Master.

Its one-ness is very powerful with one of my three favorite [Standard] creatures, Ranger of Eos.

Student of Warfare is like the white side of Figure of Destiny in the same way that Kargan Dragonlord represents a Red analogue. In my opinion, Student of Warfare seems like the stronger card because its one mana-ness lets it lace up with Antoine Ruel like Figure of Destiny did in Boat Brew.

The second reason why Student of Warfare is much better than a Gnarled Mass — not that being better than a Watchwolf on the second turn without going into a second color isn’t good enough — is that it isn’t just a 3/3; it’s a 3/3 first strike… Kind of like a White Knight grafted onto a Hand of Honor (you know, whiteout the racism).

Getting to Level Seven is quite realistic. It will be awesome when it is awesome. We probably don’t have to spend a whole lot of time on the “ultimate” to this leveler.

Snap Judgment Rating – Staple

More Spanish Inquisition

I know “current” Standard is medium-irrelevant just now, but I have been having a lot of fun playing. This is what I have been playing most; I am very happy with it actually:

4 Armillary Sphere
4 Everflowing Chalice
1 Obelisk of Alara

4 Ajani Vengeant

4 Burst Lightning
4 Chandra Nalaar
4 Lightning Bolt

4 Day of Judgment
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 Path to Exile

12 Mountain
4 Naya Panorama
2 Plains
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

sb:
1 Obelisk of Alara
4 Goblin Assault
4 Celestial Purge
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Oblivion Ring
1 Path to Exile

The distinguishing thing about this version is still the Goblin Assault set after sideboarding. I really like those: They have been great against control, in particular the relatively popular Jace, the Mind Sculptor decks.

Main deck the main difference between this and the pre-Worldwake version is the addition of Motherlovin Cup aka Everlasting Chalice. The Chalice lets this deck play third turn Ajani Vengeant, Day of Judgment, or sometimes Elspeth, Knight-Errant.

If there is one card (or kind of card) I would like to play (or rather add), it is something like Earthquake or Martial Coup. Martial Coup would be great in particular with Motherlovin Cup… Not sure what to cut right now. I have sided every card in the ‘board in the last 24 hours, with Oblivion Ring a necessary evil due to the many, many Planeswalkers that are now played even in Standard aggressive decks.

Anyway, that’s it for today. Pretty exciting news for fans of me, Billy Moreno, and Paul Jordan that we will unveil relatively soon 🙂

/anticipation

LOVE
MIKE

Transcendent Master: an affront to everything that is good and true.

Once upon a time there was a superb Constructed format. Some gripers complained that it was overly dominated by Umezawa’s Jitte, but it wasn’t. Teddy Card Game actually wrote an article claiming that Gifts Ungiven variants were more dominating in this format than Affinity decks had been [in Mirrodin Block Constructed] a year prior. Inconceivable!

Anyway… a superb Constructed format, trust me.

There was a controlling combo deck in Gifts Ungiven… all positional advantage and card drawing that could lock the game with infinite defense or ending the game with a stack of Kokushos.

There was a control deck. Mono-Blue control with All-Star threats like Meloku and Keiga. This deck could draw up with Jushi Apprentice and hold off the Gifts Ungiven deck, essentially forever.

And there were beatdown decks. Mono-Black. Mono-White. Some even tried for Mono-Red.

The format had diversity in spades, but it was laced together by Umezawa’s Jitte. Jitte was a glue that made White Weenie playable… saw little play in Blue, and was irrelevant to Gifts.

As you most likely know if you are a longtime reader, I was able to solve that format with two weeks to go. The Critical Mass deck, playing a “critical” set of Gnarled Masses was the ultimate solution to the format. It had the counterspells of Mono-Blue, but vastly superior tempo; Sakura-Tribe Elder in game one, and a “surprise!” set of Jushi Apprentices and Threads of Disloyalty (for their Jushi Apprentices) after boards.

Its counterspells allowed Critical Mass to dominate Gifts Ungiven. When the Apprentices came in after sideboarding… Honestly, I don’t think I ever lost a single sideboarded game in testing the matchup was so strong.

The “critical”-ness of the Gnarled Masses was mostly for White Weenie. White Weenie had 2/2 creatures at every drop.

1. Isamaru, Hound of Konda
2. Hand of Honor and Samurai of the Pale Curtain
3. Kitsune Blademaster
4. Hokori, Dust Drinker

The Critical Mass deck had by far the superior late game. Umezawa’s Jittes were a wash; U/G arguably had the advantage because Kodama’s Reach and Sakura-Tribe Elder could help thin the deck and increase the instances of their appearing. The end game was a murder of Legendary creatures… Kodama of the North Tree in addition to the Blue beaters.

The problem was getting there.

If the White Weenie deck had a tempo advantage going into turn four, ka-pow! Hokori, Dust Drinker!

U/G’s spells were very expensive, so the Winter Orb-like Hokori could turn the deck to molasses. The 2/2s would hammer in until it was over.

Critical Mass’s solution took away the tempo advantage going into turn four.

Was Gnarled Mass better than the White Weenie equivalents?

Absolutely not!

But once they were both in play, the cards could be more-or-less the same (with the Green one just costing more). A board at parity would not necessarily be a good place for White Weenie to tap out four with a walking Winter Orb.

Time.

Time TIME TIME.

That was what U/G needed — even just a couple of turns — to get its Legends online.

At the end of the day, Gnarled Mass — a mere 3/3 for three mana — got the job done. I won the last PTQ in NYC, and a week later Gerard Fabiano made Top 8 of the last Grand Prix with Critical Mass.

So why is Transcendent Master the enemy of all that is good?

Simple.

I just don’t want to see White Weenie with a 3/3 for three 🙂

How un-special is that? How un-special does that make Gnarled Mass?

The fact of the matter is that Transcendent Master is not just a 3/3 for three mana.

At Level 6, it is a medium-gigantic 6/6 with Lifelink.

Is that a good deal?

We are talking about nine mana for a 6/6 Lifelink… You would basically never play that at retail, but the 3/3 for three-ness of the card at the baseline softens the impact of the absolute cost. A great deal? No. But serviceable due to the fact that you can tap out on turn three, cross your fingers, and sometimes have an impressive 6/6 on turn five.

How about the final version?

Fifteen mana for a 9/9 indestructible Lifelink? Unlike on Figure of Destiny update Kargan Dragonlord, the math does not become more favorable as time progresses. Again, not a tremendous deal… But the core-3/3 for three pat makes Transcendent Master good enough to ruin without help. The biggest mode — and it is pretty big let’s be honest — might not be the selling point, but it is still a useful feature that will come up sometimes.

You know, to help bury all memory of truth, goodness, and light.

Snap Judgment Rating – Role Player

LOVE
MIKE

… and even sadder… it’s good.

It is possible I have been a little harsh on my man Sphinx of Jwar Isle on this blog.

Here are some of the things I have said about him over the past year or so:

In my own defense, people have been playing him in basically atrocious decks. I mean why would you play Grixis Control when you could play Grixis Burn? Why would you — in general — play Sphinx of Jwar Isle when you could play Sphinx of Lost Truths? Especially in U/W or some kind of gassy Esper variant?

Unfortunately — and I mean really unfortunately — we may now have an answer to this question.

I was trolling around Twitter and saw a deck by Neale Talbot on his blog. This is Neale’s initial version:

Target This!

4 Deft Duelist
4 Calcite Snapper
4 Wall of Denial
3 Sphinx of Jwar Isle

3 Path to Exile

4 Treasure Hunt

2 Marshal’s Anthem
3 Oblivion Ring
4 Spreading Seas
2 Ardent Plea

3 Jace, The Mindsculptor

3 Island
3 Plains
4 Arcane Sanctum
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Celestial Colonnade
2 Sejiri Refuge
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Marsh Flats

Original deck list from http://wrongwaygoback.com

I didn’t hate the deck; in fact it reminded me of “the Untouchables” — a series of decks that were played around the time of my first Pro Tour (primarily in the Juniors division), centering around cards like Autumn Willow and Deadly Insect. The concept of this deck is similar… All the creatures [thematically] have Shroud.

Looking over the deck list I decided that I didn’t want to Ardent Plea into Deft Duelist ever, and the Spreading Seas portion of the deck seemed a bit inconsistent. So I cut that and some of the creatures in favor of more defense and card advantage.

This is my take on Neal’s deck, based on several matches of testing:

U/W Tap-out Untouchables version 1.1

4 Calcite Snapper
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Mind Spring
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
4 Spreading Seas
4 Treasure Hunt

4 Deft Duelist

2 Day of Judgment
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Marshal’s Anthem
2 Martial Coup
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Path to Exile

4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Halimar Depths
7 Island
5 Plains

sb:
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Wall of Denial
4 Celestial Purge
2 Day of Judgment
4 Kor Firewalker
1 Martial Coup

The first version I played had a third Oblivion Ring and no Marshal’s Anthem. Marshal’s Anthem clearly right in this deck… I somehow forgot to play it despite its being in Neal’s deck list. Oh well, old.

You probably understand how this deck works. The creatures all have Shroud and are therefore relatively difficult to deal with using conventional means (Terminate, Path to Exile, even creature combat).

The deck seems to perform well against a variety of decks. It has Day of Judgment to gain an advantage over reach-poor decks like Boss Naya and White Weenie, and a combination of early game mana disruption and Shroud defense against Jund. Against other U/W decks, you are the beatdown. Strangely, they have a hard time dealing with your creatures. This can lead to the opponent having to tap out at inopportune times, allowing you to deal with their Planeswalkers or just get a Planeswalker advantage yourself.

I mostly won with the deck, and I managed to do better than break even in the tournament queues.

The deck is serviceable against Allies, but you have to watch for their Haste. I found that even when I felt like I should be winning, the reload power of that deck was not to be completely overlooked. The deck is relatively weak against the card Eldrazi Monument. Eldrazi Green seems like a very easy pairing but for that card… But then again, they did name their deck after it. Jund is… Jund. You win some, you can get blown out by triple Blightning, too.

The best matchup seems to be Boss Naya.

Deft Duelist sings in the Boss Naya match, but it is the weakest card generally. I find myself siding out Deft Duelist quite a bit, when I reach for the three additional Wrath of God effects in the sideboard. Generally Calcite Snapper is the superior threat… Sometimes you just go beatdown with Calcite Snapper, and even Jund can just look on in horror as Sprouting Thrinax gets covered by Oblivion Ring, Bloodbraid Elf meets Path to Exile, and Beast tokens go flying into the aether thanks to Jace, the Mind Sculptor as the ravenous convertible turtle rumbles in for four, Four, FOUR per turn.

This is obviously not a Regionals-ready deck… yet. But I was very surprised at how its synergies could make up for the relative weakness of some of the individual cards.

Analysis of the main deck cards:

Calcite Snapper
I was hot and cold on this one; however the ability to go aggro — and put the opponent on a legitimate clock — came up several times in both practice and tournament matches. This is clearly one of the centerpiece cards of the deck.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor
I won with this about 20% of the time. Many games are about setting up several Shroud creatures to surround and protect Jace… and that’s it.

Mind Spring
Very good in this deck. You need a reload in part because you are drawing, let’s be frank, motherlovin Deft Duelist.

Sphinx of Jwar Isle
I think two is the right number; however if I fall even further out of love with Deft Duelist, I can see going to three copies. He isn’t good (still); he kept running up against either Boss Naya with Basilisk Collar online or Baneslayer Angel. However he could pull it through sometimes thanks to Marshall’s Anthem or help from Jace, the Mind Sculptor or other spot removal. I begrudgingly admit that this card is actually perfect in this deck (though I maintain that he probably isn’t optimal in most other decks).

Spreading Seas
Never side them out.

Treasure Hunt
I was much happier with the Treasure Hunt / Halimar Depths combo in this deck than I was in the more reactive Esper deck. The U/W aggro deck can play out, say, a Deft Duelist and then use Treasure Hunt to draw up; I rarely had to discard, and I usually got a little bonus (though “desperation” Treasure Hunts rarely seem profitable).

Deft Duelist
Shockingly good against Boss Naya. These did everything from running by a squad of defenders to beat up Ajani Vengeant to huddling around Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Jace Beleren so that they could do their damn jobs.

…

Most of the other main deck cards have seen heavy play in other decks discussed on this blog. They are all good… I often feel like I want another Oblivion Ring, but maybe that’s just because I lost to Eldrazi Monument.

Sideboard Cards:
Jace, the Mind Sculptor – came in most matches

Wall of Denial – I never sided more than one copy in, even against the beatdown decks where you would expect them to be good… I felt like these conflicted too much with the excess mass removal (though they seem quite useful against Jund, where you don’t want Day of Judgment)

Celestial Purge – All-star, not surprising.

Day of Judgment / Martial Coup – The next most common cards to come in after Jace, the Mind Sculptor #4. Especially backbreaking for Vampires, Boss Naya, White Weenie, and to a lesser extent, Allies.

Kor Firewalker – I never sided these in. I would like to do a ten game set or so versus Mono-Red, Red-splash-Black, and / or Barely Boros to get a feel of how necessary Kor Firewalker is. I only played versus one Mono-Red deck, and he would have no second game after his Goblins were so dominated by Deft Duelist in the first.

I think this one might be worth some time investment… Let’s see how Rise of the Eldrazi looks in a few weeks. I could see incorporating more Planeswalkers, such as Gideon Jura.

LOVE
MIKE

So after something like a month, I finally logged back into Magic Online today!

The process has been a harrowing one that culminated in my figuring out how to install Windows onto my new (savage) iMac via Parallels. Long story short – I was able to brew in a practical format.

I won’t bore you with all the little details that went into the inclusion of Resounding Wave in the current build of Esper, but it has been pretty good. I felt that Esper was the strongest Standard deck pre-Worldwake, being the control deck that could not only compete with Jund and terrorize Naya, but consistently crush other control decks (primarily Grixis Control).

Our friend Thomas Dodd even made Top 8 of a MTGO PE with the Esper deck. I decided to go with Thomas’s “cut an expensive card from the Flores list” strategy, so I cut one Sorin Markov for one Elspeth, Knight-Errant in the main of this version:

Sorin Markov Flair version 3.0

2 Sorin Markov

4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Resounding Wave
4 Spreading Seas
4 Treasure Hunt

4 Esper Charm

4 Day of Judgment
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Martial Coup
4 Path to Exile

4 Arcane Sanctum
4 Celestial Colonnade
1 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Halimar Depths
2 Island
4 Marsh Flats
2 Plains
3 Swamp
4 Tectonic Edge

sb:
4 Duress
1 Malakir Bloodwitch
2 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Countersquall
4 Baneslayer Angel

Philosophically this is the beloved Esper deck even if the end game looks a bit different.

From Worldwake we have added Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Treasure Hunt (largely replacing Divination and the previous Jace Beleren), Halimar Depths, and Tectonic Edge.

This is very much one of “my” tap-out control decks. There are no counterspells main deck, and the first match I lost was one where I realized mid-way through the second game that I had no Countersquall for his Open the Vaults (managed to get the first game with triple Planeswalkers). Luckily I remembered for subsequent matches (though I have yet to actually side in, let alone play, a Countersquall).

So why Esper?

Can you really think of anything better you can do with your three mana than an Esper Charm? I mean really?

Neither can I.

Rundown:

2 Sorin Markov
I went with Thomas’s numbers; nevertheless, Sorin is probably our best card and might make it back to three-of by Regionals.

4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
This card replaced both our previous Jace Belerens and all the finishers. The previous Esper deck, if you recall, played four Banelsayer Angel and four Sphinx of Lost Truths main deck. This deck wins by a combination of Jace-driven resource suppression and Sorin-plus-man lands-based offense. I don’t know which is better objectively, but this version has been running cleanly against a variety of opponents so far.

4 Resounding Wave
Another big change with this version (despite Resounding Wave not being a, you know, new card). With the previous version, the main complaint was that “Esper has no Cruel Ultimatum” … Well Resounding Wave is our Ultimatum. I actually ran the three mana version three times over against the Empty the Vaults deck to make him discard 3-4 times, losing to the fact that I never got to a fourth land (or in fact a Swamp to use the three copies of Duress in my hand, any of which would have pre-empted the lethal Filigree Angel combo).

So one of my original ideas with Resounding Wave was to supplement the Spreading Seas portion of the deck. Especially on the play you can leave your opponent having made no plays when you get your third turn. You can at that point aim a Resounding Wave at his land and force him to discard. There are some other subtle advantages with this card; it gives you two (or depending on tuning, even three) different colors of instant speed creature defense; at full bore it can target a near-ultimate Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Iona, Shield of Emeria without fear of interaction. Overall, a much better card than its level of play to date would seem to indicate.

4 Spreading Seas
A top-five card in Standard, I think.

4 Treasure Hunt
We’ll write a lot more about this one before too long; for now just think about its advantages with 28 land and Tectonic Edge in particular; in a Spreading Seas (or Spreading Seas + Resounding Wave) mana control strategy.

4 Esper Charm
Is there anything better to do with three mana? I mean really? (Okay, but you can’t play Esper Charm and Blightning together outside of mono-Cascade… believe me, I’ve tried!)

4 Day of Judgment
Upgraded from three copies to four… With fewer creatures in this version, we need more creature defense, especially with the rise in decks like G/W and White Weenie.

1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
If we can convince Thomas to write about his experiences with the previous version of Esper, we will probably find out why this card is good enough! So far, it has been good.

1 Martial Coup
I haven’t drawn it yet; chalk this one up to needing even more copies of Day of Judgment… Also an additional way to win, of course.

4 Path to Exile
Basically a given.

… A bunch of lands…

4 Tectonic Edge
I was actually surprised I didn’t blow a lot of people out with these. Tectonic Edge is highly synergistic with the other cards we have talked about (Spreading Seas and sometimes Resounding Wave); it is also quite good with Treasure Hunt. Treasure Hunt helps you draw more lands than the opponent so that parity plays like a Tectonic Edge one-for-one can imply profitability.

The sideboard needs a bit of work. Moving so many creatures out of the main kind of glutted the sideboard, and the ability to go creature “overload” (though really just becoming a mid-range creature deck) is less of a possibility with this build.

I think the sideboard needs a set of Celestial Purge; I lost some very close matches (mostly based on mis-clicking due to lack of practice and lack of familiarity with Jace, the Mind Sculptor) where Celestial Purge would have given me a bit of margin. You know; the usual stuff… Hell’s Thunder or whatever. Don’t forget that Celestial Purge is also quite effective against Ajani Vengeant. I also think the deck could benefit from a pair of Countersqualls in the main, similar to the last build.

One card that is not in this version is Everflowing Chalice aka Motherlovin Cup. The mana costs are so all over the place (BBB, UUU, WW) that I wanted to play lots of colors-producing mana sources; the Tectonic Edges by themselves are bad enough. So I decided to go with a heavy Halimar Depths plan with Treasure Hunt… The old “hit my land drops” rather than “accelerate with a Signet” line of plays. Might not be optimal from the bird’s eye view, but for a deck with Esper colors, I do think it is right.

LOVE
MIKE

A new card that lots of my Twitter followers have been asking me to write about is Gideon Jura:

Gideon is an interesting and potentially powerful card; not one that I would necessarily have identified on my lonesome. Apparently people think it’s going to be a chase rare (and by “chase rare” you probably can’t miss the fact that Gideon Jura is actually Mythic Rare).

Gideon Jura costs five mana, specifically 3WW. It costs exactly the same amount as, you know, Baneslayer Angel.

So which is better?

Baneslayer Angel.

Baneslayer Angel is better than Gideon Jura. Baneslayer Angel will win games that no other card would be able to win. We played Baneslayer Angel in the mono-Cascade (you know, Black “Baneslayer”) deck because that deck’s mana base put us behind against Anathemancer; one or two hits from a Baneslayer Angel and you don’t really have to worry about Anathemancer any more. Baneslayer Angel blocks. She blocks so well that often she doesn’t have to block. You lay her out there and the bad guys are terrified of attacking. Baneslayer Angel blocks so well that when she motherlovin’ attacks, the five life you get back is basically like she hung back to block.

So Baneslayer Angel is better — given my snap judgment superficial never-played-a-Gideon-Jura-yet assessment — than Gideon Jura, card-to-card.

So why are we even having this discussion?

Just because Gideon Jura isn’t as good a card as the best large creature in the history of Magic doesn’t mean that he won’t be a significant and useful potential tool. In fact, Gideon Jura will be more applicable to many strategies than Baneslayer Angel was, or is. For example, creature-poor decks often lose their Baneslayer Angels immediately. Lay her out there… and she’s dead. Gideon Jura wouldn’t be immediately dead. You can’t Terminate a Gideon Jura; ergo you won’t be sitting there with a stray Terminate in your hand when Gideon Jura shows up, poised to blow up the new Planeswalker.

We know Baneslayer Angel is worth tapping out for. Is Gideon Jura?

I think it depends.

It depends on what you want to do, and what your deck wants to do, and how you want to hold hands and go about doing what you plan on doing. For example, a deck like Naya Lightsaber can play Noble Hierarch, Great Sable Stag, Bloodbraid Elf, Baneslayer Angel… threat, threat, threat; pressure, pressure, pressure. Baneslayer Angel is great there in a way that Gideon Jura might not necessarily be.

A control deck can play block, tempo, counter, bluff, Baneslayer. If she lives, great. If she dies, well… You were probably going to play Day of Judgment anyway. Baneslayer Angel is worthwhile there.

This is a spot where Gideon Jura might actually be better. You can counter, kill creatures, play your Planeswalkers, Day of Judgment with no loss of card advantage, and then clean up with Gideon Jura. He’s pretty strong in the sense that a White control deck can sweep the board and then go Mishra’s Factory with a 6/6, essentially unopposed. In this sense, Gideon Jura is a fine finisher.

But for all his lack of “ultimate” Planeswalker abilities, Gideon has three… It might be worth looking at all of them:

• [+2] This ability seems applicable in [at least] three broad ways: 1) “Delayed Blast Falter” … a White Weenie deck (or whatever) can make all the opponent’s creatures attack Gideon Jura, leaving him (mostly) open for a return Alpha Strike, 2) “Turbo Fog” … Gideon Jura could fit into this kind of a strategy, both as an additional White Fog-proxy (and ultimately an alternate kill condition), 3) Boosting Gideon’s loyalty … Because sometimes you have to.
• [-2] Gideon Jura can go Nekrataal immediately upon hitting the battlefield. The opponent just attacked? You can spring the slaughter and have four loyalty left.
• [0] Probably best in a true control deck, but serviceable in any deck that plays Gideon.

Gideon Jura is a potential one-card combo. You can play him, activate the [+2] and win almost on the spot. If you have some decent blockers, one or two Gideon Jura-directed suicide runs will make for some kind of a no-limit swing. You can actually sit there activating [+2], forcing the opponent to run into a Celestial Colonnade or whatever, until he decides he is tired of banging his head against the wall and throwing his creatures into the graveyard.

I think Gideon might be a nice component in a Planeswalker-themed control or board control deck. He has lots of colorless mana costs, and should therefore hang it nice and loose with Everflowing Chalice. As a fourth or fifth turn follow up, Gideon can play big brother to Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Just keeping attackers off of Jace will be worthwhile a fair amount of the time.

As already implied, Gideon Jura is a solid potential finisher in a true control deck. He does everything you need him to do. You need to kill creatures? Gideon kills creatures. You need to keep damage off of your own neck? Gideon might just play Baneslayer Angel, heroically, for a turn or two. You need to win the game? Gideon can handle that action, too.

If there were a rating between Role Player and Staple, that’s where I would position Gideon Jura; but there isn’t.

Snap Judgment Rating – Staple

LOVE
MIKE