Entries Tagged 'Magic' ↓

Concerning:

“At what point is a Gelatinous Genesis good?”

I find Gelatinous Genesis a genuinely interesting card to think about.

No, really.

Cards like this one are intriguing. The mana cost is considered; the potential upside of the card, considerable.

Should we instantly dismiss it?

Or: Is it awesome?

A card like this one has different value at different mana costs.

A simple comparison would be the card Drain Life.

A little over a year ago I wrote about “Magic Writing That Can Change Your Life”; in particular a PTQ report by BIll Hodack that changed my life. Bill played a B/R Necropotence deck that ran both Lightning Bolt and Drain Life (one Incinerate in the sideboard). In a deck that can easily access both sorts of mana (and in particular a deck that plays the card basic Mountain), Lightning Bolt is the superior card on bases of speed, flexibility, mana efficiency, and almost every other reasonable metric. Drain Life is superior only when you have an excess of mana. Like Gelatinous Genesis, it is increasingly useful as you have an increasing amount of mana; there is a minimum threshold where Drain Life becomes useful (the line that has stuck with me for 14+ years is “I wanted low casting cost spells. Drain Lifes become useful[l] at about 5 mana[.]” This simple statement helped create a framework in my mind that I have carried with me as a deck designer, player, and so on for all this time.

The practical implication is “At about four mana, you can kill a Black Knight and get something out of it… It just gets better after that.”

Gelatinous Genesis, I think, is going to be like that: It should become useful at a certain mana point; after that it will be very good. No one is really writing home for a four mana, Black Knight-killing, Drain Life; we play it for the dramatic swings it can create later in the game… But without a measuring stick, some kind of basis for evaluation at all, we have less of a rudder to help steer the strategy of our “ship” … and we can dismiss a card that is, quite frankly and by most evaluation criteria, significantly inferior to a Lightning Bolt.

So is Gelatinous Genesis awesome, or even super awesome?

At this point, I am not sure. It compares interestingly (and even favorably) to other historically playable cards at similar mana points. Let’s discover them!

Gelatinous Genesis has no effect at one mana and can’t be played for two mana. Let’s begin at three mana.

THREE

At three mana, Gelatinous Genesis puts one 1/1 creature onto the battlefield.

This is most like a Pyknite (without the cantrip-ness).

Originally I was thinking of a Wood Elves (without the attached Rampant Growth)… But I have qualified for the Pro Tour with Wood Elves, and the main reason we play Wood Elves is for the Rampant Growth-ness, not the 1/1-ness, so that would be a horrible insult to Wood Elves. But Pyknite… At three mana this card is just a terrible Pyknite.

And no one credible ever played with Pyknite.

FIVE

At five mana Gelatinous Genesis puts two 2/2 creatures onto the battlefield; it generates a net of one permanent simultaneous with four power. It is not so different from an Indrik Stomphowler.

There are actually lots of things that it is comparable to at this mana cost…

Turntimber Ranger – Gelatinous Genesis, were it only a five mana spell, would be far worse.

Bestial Menace – Ditto; Bestial Menace generates both more permanents and more power.

Grizzly Fate – Gelatinous Genesis on five is exactly an unenhanced Grizzly Fate. However Grizzy Fate, which was a much sought after bomb had both Flashback and Threshold. Was it much, much better than a five mana Gelatinous Genesis? Certainly! … But I think we might be hitting our Bill Hodack minimum usefulness threshold. Bill didn’t play Drain Life to kill Black Knights and we won’t be playing Gelatinous Genesis as a poor man’s Grizzly Fate. But at this point we might have a card — especially as it nets a “card” — we have a not-totally embarassing play, especially if we are going to consider chaining Genesis into Genesis.

SEVEN
At seven mana, Gelatinous Genesis produces three 3/3 creatures, or nine total power.

In a sense this is like a Terastodon, which produces three 3/3 creatures… But also not like a Terastodon at all (it is seven mana versus eight mana, the controlling of the 3/3 creatures is probably much different, no one becomes immediately manascrewed, there is another nine power in the mix); so I would put it much closer to a Simic Sky Swallower.

Why a Simic Sky Swallower?

They are both non-automatic, but playable sevens.

I remember the first time I held a Simic Sky Swallower in my hands. It was the first time we drafted Dissension at Jonny Draft. My deck had either one or two copies of this gigantic seven, two Experiment Kraaj, and five Coiling Oracles. I managed a 2-1.

The more memorable thing was thinking about the Simic Sky Swallower. We had very little frame of reference for seven mana creatures in Constructed. It seemed immediately Constructed playable to me, but I also had a healty measure of skepticism. This is how Simic Sky Swallower ended up, you will probably recall. Played in decks with an excess of mana (non-Staple in UrzaTron decks, not played even in some with Simic Signet), generally but not always played in Team Constructed, not universally played; not fast enough for many strategies.

So which is better?

If a deck is willing to muster seven for a threat, they can be held one against another. Gelatinous Genesis, overall, is the more flexible card. As a seven, strictly, it is sometimes better and sometimes worse than Simic Sky Swallower. This is the first mana point where we can really say that. It is much “bigger” than Simic Sky Swallower, and generates “card advantage” by itself. A Wrath of God (or the equivalent) is about equally good against both threats. Attacking into a swarm, Gelatinous Genesis is often superior. Against a specific kind of threat (Firemane Angel being an important consideration when Simic Sky Swallower was current), Simic Sky Swallower is much better: It could hold off Firemane Angels or attack into one; Gelatinous Genesis [on seven] is much less effective against Firemane Angels (though I don’t really see that being an issue at present).

Three or four years later, we still have relatively little data about how and when sevens are playable. However if they are / would be (and consider there are or were times when we would invest in threats that were “just” sevens), I think we can say at this point that Gelatinous Genesis starts getting “good”. It is the first point where power exceeds mana, at least.

NINE

A nine mana Gelatinous Genesis produces sixteen power across four permanents.

The closes point of reference is Iona, Shield of Emeria.

Why do we choose Iona?

If we have little data on sevens, we have even less on nines. However Iona is a nine that is both current and played; so we can ask questions like “When, if ever, is Gelatinous Genesis better than Iona, Shield of Emeria?”

You can’t really compare them in Extended, when Iona is played on the second turn in lockdown situations (I would also hazard that Gelatinous Genesis will never be played in large numbers in Extended); however we can talk about the two cards “playing fair” in Standard. There are multiple decks that will play Iona for retail (mono-White, U/W), and some that even try to cheat out Iona, Shield of Emeria as a “five mana spell” (Solar Flare).

When is Iona, Shield of Emeria better than Gelatinous Genesis [on nine]? I think that the kinds of decks that play Iona give us a good indication of when it would be better. Iona is better when you can play her over and over, relentlessly, as in a deck with Emeria, the Sky Ruin. It might also be better when you are a controlling counterspell deck that can use it to cut off a large portion of the opponent’s game with the objective of locking down Stage Three.

I would argue, on counterpoint, that a nine mana Gelatinous Genesis would be better in most other situations, most specifically in a Green deck that has nine mana to spend. If you aren’t specifically playing to lock down an opponent’s game, Iona isn’t that great. Big girl, will probably win… But what do you think you are getting for nine mana? However, think of the times you can lose with Iona in play: “You are getting swarmed” is first on the list. Four 4/4s are better at “not getting swarmed” than one gigantic Mythic, no?

It’s not clear that a gigantic Genesis is better than Iona, Shield of Emeria… But it’s also not clear that a [fairly played] Iona is better than this increasingly flexible sorcery, at this stage.

ELEVEN

An eleven mana Gelatinous Genesis will give you twenty-five power across five 5/5 creatures.

We have essentially no frame of reference for threats at this mana level — before Rise of the Eldrazi that is — so the closest thing I can compare it to is Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre.

Why Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre?

It costs the same?

It is almost silly to compare the two effects head to head. Twenty-five power, unchecked, is death. I can’t imagine that facing down Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, with its Nekrataal-come-Darksteel Colossus frame is much easier to beat; not with Annihilator 4. Either one should put you in a commanding position; Gelatinous Genesis being superior in most non-Haste cases due to its resistance to Path to Exile.

Yet there are certain implications to it costing the same (and the presence of other very expensive Eldrazi); the most important, of course, is the presumption that these cards are playable. Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre is Mythic. Presumably it is the one-Eldrazi wow factor. There are so many cards that are so flashy and so expensive I have to believe that we are entering a universe where at least some decks will have the resources to produce twenty-five power across five 5/5 “little” guys.

Snap Judgment Rating: Role Player

LOVE
MIKE

BONUS: The Gelatinous Genesis Quick-Reference Chart

Concerning:

So I was going to run a post that was like “this is THE END of FiveWithFlores.com… But based on my recent non-posting status, despite the fact that this is April 1, ye ole joke might not come across the hilarious way I would have intended. So instead, we’ll talk about something that is not joke, no joke whatsoever: Jeroen Aga’s Allies Deck.

Naya Allies – Jeroen Aga

4 Bloodbraid Elf

3 Harabaz Druid
4 Oran-Rief Survivalist

4 Akoum Battlesinger
1 Goblin Bushwhacker

4 Hada Freeblade
4 Kabira Evangel
4 Kazandu Blademaster
2 Path to Exile
2 Ranger of Eos
4 Talus Paladin

4 Ancient Ziggurat
4 Arid Mesa
2 Forest
4 Jungle Shrine
1 Mountain
5 Plains
4 Sunpetal Grove

sb:
3 Cunning Sparkmage
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Tuktuk Scrapper
4 Kor Firewalker
2 Path to Exile

So… 34 creatures, 27 of them Allies. Ho ho Allies linear!

This might not have been the rumored G/W Allies deck that the Japanese were brewing for the most recent Pro Tour, but Jeroen Aga was able to start out 9-0 at Grand Prix Brussels, and ultimately finish in the money, if not the Top 8.

So, Top Decks this week is devoted [rightfully] to the level up mechanic, so we are going to use this space — and resurrect the interest in this blog while we’re at it — to talk about one of the things we would normally have done over at the mother ship: an interesting and quite different new deck.

Another Bloodbraid Elf deck?

Yes.

Bloodbraid Elf is just that damn good.

But this time — at least when you are not flipping over a Path to Exile (please Please PLEASE)… You will generally be doing something Ally-tastic.

There is certainly going to be some Bloodbraid Elf draw-dependency. For example when you are poised for an Alpha Strike, flipping over Harabaz Druid is going to put you on tilt like, you know, a pinball machine that has been knocked to the side.

And sometimes you are going to flip over Kabira Evangel and you will look like an absolute action hero. Holy Reverent Mantra Batman!

The Allies deck is a good example of a deck that is not Jund. Its cards are significantly worse than, say, Blightning and Putrid Leech. Heck, the Lightning Bolts are in the sideboard… and there are only three of them!

Like Kazandu Blademaster is a good man and everything — probably a hair better than Hada Freeblade — but he’s not as good as a two mana conditional 4/4… not by himself. Not until he is 4/4, anyway.

But Kazandu Blademaster, Hada Freeblade, and Oran-Rief Survivalist get the linear bonus. As you play more and more Allies, they get better and better, and have to be evaluated as such.

For example, the average Kazandu Blademaster (in this deck) probably says something like:

WW
Creature – Human Soldier Ally
First Strike
Vigilence
2w: {this} gains +1/+1 and creatures you control are unblockable until end of turn; use this ability only once per game
3w: {this} gains +1/+1 and creatures you control gain lifelink until end of turn
4/4

Something more elegantly stated than the above, but you get the idea. Every Ally card in this deck is functionally speaking a good deal better than its printed value in this deck.

So when you start doing evaluations between the most recent incarnation of the 2/2 first striker for WW [versus a Putrid Leech, which is the default two-drop in Standard], you can’t stop with it being a 2/2… It is so much more when surrounded by all these other puzzle pieces. That’s how you look at the cards in a linear deck.

I once said that all the linears are about as good as each other, at least because they are held in check by hoser cards.

That was pretty not-correct.

Some cards say: (b/u)(b/u) – Kill the opponent on the second turn. Other ones are just very good 4/4 creatures for four mana (also very good… but not as good as the b/u jobby, above); Allies are probably somewhere in the middle… Less powerful than a Sword of Fire and Ice-weilding Indrik Stomphowler, but much faster in exchange; probably more apt to set up completely unexpected blowout draws.

The Allies have some cute stuff going on. For example a Ranger of Eos can grab a pair of Hada Freeblades to quickly make your Kazandu Blademaster (or whoever) into a one-Ally assault force. Or, like in the Boros deck, you can get a solo Goblin Bushwhacker to just go kill the opponent. When the Bushwhacker is on the tail end of a stack of Allies all holding hands, making each other bigger, faster, longer, and harder, even a single attack can be very impressive.

As such, I would probably have played more copies of Ranger of Eos (personally I have that card very near Bloodbraid Elf and Baneslayer Angel in power level), but I have neither Aga’s experience with these Allies, nor his 9-0 Grand Prix opening.

Yes, yes: Consider us back.

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: The Night Watch (Watch, Book 1)

Short story:
Basically I was super busy at work.

So I didn’t update in about two weeks.

Then my computer network blew up, which resulted in my not having any MTGO for like a month. Net net – Little or no Magic, resulting in little or nothing to say.

Will we find out what the right play around that Celestial Colonnade is? Soon, I promise (kind of). But for now… A few words on this chap:

Sarkhan the Mad!

So… A Planeswalker with neither a (+) ability nor an “ultimate” ability. Weird! Crazy! Dare we say “mad” … ? Well, WotC did, so who are we to disagree?

Brian Kowal and others on Twitter have been quite excited (mad even) over the potential on Sarkhan. What gives?

I think the most interesting abilities are the latter two, the (-2) “Target creatures’s controller sacrifices it, then that player puts a 5/5 red Dragon creature token with flying onto the battlefield[.]” one in particular.

Consider:

• Turn three: Sprouting Thrinax.
• Turn four: Whatever good / better / busted turn four you plan to run out there. It can be a Bloodbraid Elf (pretty good), or a Blightning + a tapped land, a Garruk Wildspeaker… Whatever (another Sprouting Thrinax even). You have a damn Sprouting Thrinax in play.
• Turn five: This is where it gets more interesting. You can swing with your Sprouting Thrinax. Now run out Sarkhan the Mad. You can run the (-2) to blow up your Thrinax, and net three blockers (what opponents typically want to avoid giving you), and you get a 5/5 Dragon. He is back on D, along with the other three Saprolings.

PRO TIP:
At this point I think most opponents are going to have to be very wary of Sarkhan the Mad. Because turn six can be mad about you if you grok. If possible, I would say get Sarkhan the Mad below four loyalty, even if you have to use a Lightning Bolt or whatever.

Why?

Otherwise you might be dead on board.

Especially now that Jund decks play like 27+ mana sources you can easily be facing down Broodmate Dragon. That is bad enough, but remember, there is already a 5/5 on the board. If you let Sarkhan the Mad get all mad at you… that is 13 to target player!

This play might not be lethal by its lonesome, but you can still be facing five in the sky from the non-summoning sick Dragon, plus sundry attacks from Saprolings various; if the turn four play was like Bloodbraid Elf + Blightning, that would probably have made the (-4) lethal. Or if it was Garruk Wildspeaker, then the preexisting 5/5 Dragon might have trample.

There are all kinds of, you know, mad things that can ruin your game come turn six.

The (0) ability is whatever, gravy… Relevant a lot of the time, but not strategic in the same way the (-2) ability in particular is. But hey, five mana to draw a card, why don’t ya?

Snap Judgment Rating: Role Player (high); possibly Staple in Jund

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: The Night Watch (Watch, Book 1)

Concerning:

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

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

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

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

When I first saw this:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Clearly: Staple

LOVE
MIKE

It’s the first You Make the Play of the new year… or for that matter over three months! Featuring Celestial Colonnade and a host of new Worldwake cards!

The scenario:

You are playing a Raka control deck… U/R/W board control, no counters main deck, but lots of good cards. For sake of argument, this is your deck:

Pretend Raka Control Deck

4 Everflowing Chalice

2 Divination
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Spreading Seas
4 Treasure Hunt

3 Ajani Vengeant

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Baneslayer Angel
4 Day of Judgment
4 Path to Exile

2 Celestial Collonade
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Halimar Depths
4 Island
1 Kabira Crossroads
2 Mountain
2 Plains
4 Scalding Tarn

Before you make any comments (and I’m sure there will be comments), I am not pretending this is the optimal Raka-colors deck; this is just a with some stats that you can use to help formulate your solution to today’s You Make the Play.

The reason you went U/R/W over Grixis or Esper is that Everflowing Chalice can ramp you to Day of Judgment or one of two very good Planeswalkers on the third turn. Given the interaction between one of those and Treasure Hunt (as well as Halimar Depths and Treasure Hunt), it seemed worth running around Esper Charm and Cruel Ultimatum.

To you are putting a lot of faith in Treasure Hunt. You’ve cut down to 23 lands because of Treasure Hunt’s “cantrip” capability as well as the presence of Everflowing Chalice (aka Motherlovin’ Cup), which should help you get action.

Okay! The problem:

It’s a simple one… given the above deck, do you keep or no?

On the play?

On the draw?

Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Treasure Hunt
Ajani Vengeant
Lightning Bolt
Day of Judgment
Celestial Colonnade
Scalding Tarn

I think this should make for an interesting discussion; I think you should think so, too.

So I am not going to work on the solution until we have at least 25 comments 🙂

That shouldn’t be a problem. This You Make the Play drew 38!

LOVE
MIKE

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

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

Superficial comparisons can be made to two iconic cards:

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

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

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

Snap Judgment Rating – Staple / sideboard – high

LOVE
MIKE

P.S. Free Deck List

U/W Two Combos

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

3 Gifts Ungiven
1 Repeal
4 Thirst for Knowledge

4 Kitchen Finks

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Five With Flores is happy to have another post from our friend Thomas Dodd, aka @amistod on Twitter.

Thomas was instrumental in building the mono-Cascade decks and has been representin’ the blog with our signature decks at a number of 5K events, including a Top 16 with Black Baneslayer, you know, before it was cool.

Thomas is back with a great report — and response to the Grand Unified Theory of Magic — and Five is happy, as always to have him.

On the Monday before the Atlanta 5k, I called my friend, Robbie Cordell, and exclaimed that I had found the deck for us to play that weekend. When I saw Mike’s Grixis list, it was right after listening to Kelly, Will and Mike discuss the Grand Unified Theory, and I felt like the veil had been lifted. My main problem with the Double Negative/Sphinx version is that Duress completely undermines the path to victory. There are as many as ten situational spells in LSV’s list. Once I realized that no card in Mike’s deck “missed”, I was hooked. (As you guys know from my stint with Black Baneslayer, I am absolutely obsessed with never missing a cascade.) Robbie and I began working with the list on MTGO several days before the 5k. Since the first thing I do when I start testing a Flores list is drop one of the expensive spells, I took out Sorin Markov and replaced it with a Terminate. After several matches, we started noticing a trend. We wanted more Nighthawks, and we boarded in the same cards in almost every match. Into the Roil is phenomenal against three drops, but with Verdant Catacombs, not even Spreading Seas could save me from the Leech. The Terminate is really a concession to Putrid Leech. I just can’t seem to play decks that do well against that guy. Countersquall performed better than expected, and we moved it to the main deck. With the added space in the sideboard, this is what we registered:

Grixis Burn, by Thomas Dodd

2 Sorin Markov

4 Divination
4 Spreading Seas

4 Blightning
3 Countersquall
4 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Sedraxis Specter
2 Terminate

4 Burst Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt

4 Crumbling Sanctuary
4 Drowned Catacomb
3 Dragonskull Summit
4 Island
2 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Swamp

sb
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
4 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Bituminous Blast
1 Countersquall
1 Earthquake
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
2 Pyroclasm

Apparently, Robbie and Mike can’t lose to Vampires. I, on the other hand, can’t seem to beat them reliably, and it was definitely a problem for me in Atlanta. Another thing I noticed was the lack of a cohesive sideboard plan. All day long, I had an uneven number of cards that I wanted in/out. I would like to give you thoughts on updating the deck, but I think the Esper build Mike posted [here] really covers the same points that I would make. In the weeks after Worldwake, you will definitely see me casting Day of Judgment on turn 3, and Sorin Markov on turn 5.

Round 1 – Mono Black Control – Eric

Eric’s deck wasn’t the best list I have ever seen; however, he had up to 4 Duress, Mindrot, and Mind Sludge after sideboarding.

I sideboarded in the Countersquall for a Terminate.

1-0 / 2-1 games

Round 2 – UWR Fog – Scott

I have to admit, this build completely took me off guard, and I wasn’t sure how to play against it. I sideboarded in the extra Countersquall and beat him in 3.

2-0 / 4-2 games

Round 3 – Vampires – Greer

Greer is a local player and I see him at all the Atlanta events. I know he is a good player who loves his linear decks. Game 1 was typical, and I sideboarded in my Nighthawks and Countersquall.

Game 2 I mulliganed to 5, and I was unable to overcome it.

2-1 / 4-4 games

Round 4 – Vampires w/ Red – Todd Anderson

I always enjoy playing Todd, but when his Bolts dispatched my Nighthawks, this match-up proved to be even worse for me than the mono black Vampire build.

2-2 / 4-6 games

At this point in the event, I decided to drop. The number of Vampire decks in the room was staggering. Three lists made the top 8, and I really believe that it was because the deck was so well represented. There was a swiss side event, and I knew the deck could perform, so I joined.

Round 1 – Junk Home Brew – Ric

I sideboarded incorrectly because I won game 1 so quickly that I didn’t really know what he was playing. Game 2 he had turn 3 Ajani and turn 4 Baneslayer. I couldn’t keep up. I really love decks like Grixis and Black Baneslayer because opponents tend to sideboard incorrectly. He boarded in Thought Hemorrhage, etc and kept a slow draw, so he couldn’t kill me quickly enough. “Misassignment of role = game loss.”

1-0 / 2-1 games

Round 2 – Grixis (Double Negative) – David

I knew going into this tournament that Mike’s build would crush the mirror, and I really expected there to be more of these decks in Atlanta. At one point, I played Blighting, he played Negate, and I Countersqualled. 5 life and 3 cards, please. The 8 pack of Land Destruction is really over the top.

2-0 / 4-1 games

Round 3 – Boros Bushwhacker – Taylor

I had just watched this guy smash Vampires, and I was very happy to play him, considering my sideboard. Game 1 was very easy and after +2 Pyroclasm +1 Earthquake, not even Ruinblasters could save him.

3-0 / 6-1 games

Round 4 – True Mirror – Jared

These were two brutal games that were very close: just two Mages slugging each other with Blightning. He boarded in Nighthawks and I added more removal.

4-0 / 8-1 games

Round 5 – Grixis (Double Negative) – J

J was playing the Doubly Negative version of the deck, with the exception of main deck Blightning. I won Game 1, but Game 2 he found a Cruel Ultimatum first. Game 3 I was on the play and mulliganed to 5. His first play was a Blightning, and that was it for me.

4-1 / 9-3

The mulligan at the finish line was painful but overdue, considering how well the deck performed. I was very impressed with the list, although it might have been a poor choice for this tournament. It was tough to overcome the weakness to Bloodghast. Robbie ended the day at 6-3, finishing just outside the top 16.

There is a lot of buzz about different applications of the Grand Unified Theory. All cards have text that explain what they do, but when looking through a broader lens, the impact of the card may be far more than what the actual text says.

Would you play a card that says: 3W, sorcery, draw 2 cards, target opponent discards a card? That has to be worth 2UB at least, and we all know U > W!

At States last fall, I was observing a match where Vampires was playing against Boros Bushwhacker. Both players had several cards in hand, but an empty board. The Vampire’s hand was Doomblade, Infest, 2 Gatekeeper of Malakir, 2 Fleshbag Marauder.

After several turns of Draw-Go, Boros untaps and plays Ranger of Eos, getting Bushwhacker and Steppe Lynx. He is attempting to have one big turn while still being resilient to an Infest, so he passes the turn.

The Vampire casts an end of turn Doomblade on the Ranger. The Vampire player draws a land, passes, and loses that next turn. The correct play would have been to untap and kick a Gatekeeper of Malakir with Doomblade up for the Steppe Lynx. The Vampire player automatically cast Doomblade without realizing that he was just throwing the card away. The Grand Unified Theory can be applied on the fly to help you navigate tricky situations.

In closing, I want to give a plug to some of the guys out there that are really turning out some entertaining and educational content. You guys should really be listening to: Yo! MTGTaps and Limited Resources on the MTGCAST podcast network. If you aren’t reading QuietSpeculation.com and following Kelly Reid on Twitter, you are really missing out on a wealth of knowledge regarding the financial side of Magic.

Thomas Dodd
amistod on Twitter / MTGO

Concerning:

While I was doing research for another article I hit upon what, at the time, seemed like an unusual deck list. It was a hybrid beatdown deck featuring basically every card that I already like to play… Kitchen Finks (basically my favorite), Sakura-Tribe Elder (still my favorite despite what M10 did to the old boy), and Umezawa’s Jitte. I could forgive the Tarmogoyfs and so on because the deck also played the Punishing Fire + Grove of the Burnwillows combination that I so admired from Brian Kibler’s Pro Tour Austin-winning deck list.

But the coolest part?

It was also a combo deck!

So you have this angle of just good Green creatures… Literally the kind of creatures I probably like to play too much (see “The Greenest Mage of All” posts here and here over at Top8Magic), but then the deck also has a full-on Scapeshift kill!

I was used to seeing Scapeshift out of Ceta-colored decks, Blue all the way to their Cryptic Commands… but this could work, too.

(Just) Jund Scapeshift

3 Umezawa’s Jitte

4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Kitchen Finks

4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Scapeshift
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Tarmogoyf

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Punishing Fire

4 Grove of the Burnwillows
6 Snow-Covered Forest
6 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
4 Stomping Ground
2 Treetop Village
2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

sb:
3 Extirpate
4 Thought Hemmorhage
4 Ancient Grudge
4 Blood Moon

This main deck is basically the default “what everyone is playing” for this archetype with no modifications from YT. The sideboard is informed from looking at a bunch of different deck lists and not resorting (for once) to Akroma, Angel of Fury.

You probably get how the main deck works already if you are reading this blog; in fact, you are probably ahead of me because I just saw this deck 🙂

… But the sideboard probably takes some explanation.

You can play a sideboard like this one a couple of different ways, including staying straight Gruul instead of going Jund. I decided to go Jund because Extirpate is just that damn good, in particular against Thopter Foundry combo decks. Ancient Grudge is about my favorite Extended card ever… So how could it not join the party? I’ve already got Sakura-Tribe Elder and Kitchen Finks, after all.

Anyway first impression of this strategy was “how can this deck compete with other combo decks,” followed by “I really don’t see how I can compete with a deck featuring Baneslayer Angel” … But after having played it for a while, I really like the feel of the deck.

My first outing was against a Living End combo deck.

He got all kinds of cycling and so forth, but my deck was a bit shy for threats. Anyway he cycled Street Wraith a couple of times but otherwise evoked Shriekmaw to kill my Tarmogoyf… stuff like that. Fulminator Mage kept me off of seven for a while, but he just didn’t kill me. I played two or three copies of Search for Tomorrow and a pair of Sakura-Tribe Elders (the second one was actually Samwise Gamgee at the end of The Two Towers, Umezawa’s Jitte in one slithery hand, ruling the board.

Oh well, you can be 7/7 some other day. What I really want is a basic Swamp.

Kill ya. [Before you kill me, you filthy combo deck!]

I wouldn’t have needed his Street Wraiths because of my Sakura-Tribe Elder beatdown and some Punishing Fire action, but I can’t complain.

Game Two he just drew no Cascade spells. He cycled and cycled and I just played Thought Hemmorhage for Livinig End and he was pretty kold.

I played against a couple of men running the Lightning Bolt Deck… Not surprising, especially for online.

The frustrating part was being essentially unable to sideboard despite losing Game One in the first outing.

I just hit my Kitchen Finks on turn three and it was really easy to win.

I also played against some “rogue” (ahem) type decks and another combo deck (though which kind escapes me). All dubyas so far.

I do think this deck lacks a little bit of “I win” flexibility (for instance, it has no way to disrupt the fastest Dark Depths draw), but all-in-all I was very pleased and I think I will sleeve up a version of this for my next Extended PTQ, provided I play in another one.

Firestarter:
What do you guys think about Dead // Gone? It seems like maybe I should sideboard that; just another card that you can bring in against beatdown (though this deck seems generally advantaged), but also the three mana side can fight 20/20 Coldsnap guys better than, you know, the nothing we have right now.

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come, Part 2

Concerning:

I know that some of these newly beloved decks are going to be outmoded fairly quickly due to the impending appearance of new cards like Jace, the Mind Sculptor, but I kind of wanted to flesh the site out a little bit; what with all the little fake posts since Worldwake preview season started.

I still really like the Grixis Burn deck, but Standard has become kind of monotonous; what, with winning nonstop with the aforementioned Grixis Burn deck 🙂

I don’t often read random Magic forums, but today’s post actually involves multiple [different] such trips. I was reading one where about 4-5 pages of an otherwise 40-page Grixis [Control] thread was de-railed to chat about my own Grixis Burn. I must say…

People are terrible.

When the main criticism of a deck is that it doesn’t have enough Sphinx of Jwar Isle… I don’t even know what to say. And that is saying something considering I have no qualms about voicing my own damn opinion about any damn subject any damn time of the… Hot damn!

This is a completely gratuitous image of Damnation.
Much like the entirety of Figure of Destiny, it has nothing to do with the rest of this post.

Yesterday I heard about a Solar Flare colors deck and decided to make my own. [Like I said a minute ago,] I looked over some Magic forums and decided that as cool as a cheatyface Iona, Shield of Emeria might be, I would just rather play awesome cards with multiple different colors to be able to deal with Iona (presuming that she hit the battlefield at all) [if it came to that]. The first time I hit the pseudo-mirror, my opponent had to pick up Iona due to an Into the Roil (Iona on White), which I followed up with Malakir Bloodwitch and Sorin Markov; I finished her off with Path to Exile (the second incarnation was, understandably, set to Black).

So my Solar Flare colors deck is very much influenced by Grixis Burn. Of course there is almost no burn element whatsoever (and also no Grixis) but many awesome cards are available, such as namesake Sorin Markov, a re-buy of Spreading Seas, and a dabbling of Countersqualls (you know, the ones I said I would go one-and-one with, possibly, against the somewhat clunky copies of Into the Roil).

Here it comes! I am calling this the version 1.0 despite making minor mana tweaks. I think BDM (aka @Top8Games would approve of the mana… It is similarly, if not identically, sick relative to the Grixis Burn mana base.

Sorin Markov Flare version 1.0

3 Sorin Markov

2 Divination
2 Into the Roil
2 Jace Beleren
4 Sphinx of Lost Truths
4 Spreading Seas

2 Countersquall
4 Esper Charm

4 Baneslayer Angel
3 Day of Judgment
4 Path to Exile

4 Arcane Sanctum
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Island
2 Kabira Crossroads
4 Marsh Flats
2 Plains
4 Swamp

sb:
4 Duress
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
4 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Into the Roil
2 Countersquall
1 Day of Judgment

The main advantage to this deck over Grixis Burn is the availability of Esper Charm. Esper Charm is not quite as powerful as Cruel Ultimatum, but it is about a million manas faster; I typically use it to destroy the opponent’s hand alongside Duress a la Black Baneslayer to prevent the opponent from getting to Cruel Ultimatum mana [+ Cruel Ultimatum], though it makes for a fine Divination. I have even used Esper Charm to destroy Pyromancer’s Ascension with the second counter on the stack. Basically, that card is awesome and it is relatively shocking that not a soul has been playing it for months: Esper Charm in and of itself is basically reason enough to at least experiment with Dromar colors.

Card Breakdown:

3 Sorin Markov
Basically what we run in Grixis Burn. Esper Colors / Sorin Markov Flare doesn’t have the access capability for a Cruel Ultimatum, so you need some kind of flashy finisher to make it worth playing a non-straight burn / non-Bloodbraid Elf deck. Sorin seems good enough, and has performed superbly thus far.

2 Divination / 2 Into the Roil (+2) / 2 Jace Beleren
Basically these cards are all sharing the one-and-a-half slots left over in a 26-land deck. One possibility was to just play with 4 Divination (as in Grixis Burn) but in the absence of Cruel Ultimatum I felt I needed a persistent threat for other control decks; Planeswalker + Planeswalker is a potentially good front line; remember as well that unlike a Grixis-colors control deck, I can’t Lightning Bolt my way out of an opposing Jace Beleren, so just playing my own is a potential disincentive.

4 Sphinx of Lost Truths
Just piling on the big cards to make up for the lack of a Cruel Ultimatum here. Between this and Sorin, the deck has a fair amount of big mana force… The typical winner for this deck, more often than even beloved Baneslayer Angel.

4 Spreading Seas
I actually find this to be one of my favorite cards in Standard. Sometimes it outright Mind Twists the opponent when you are on the play and they are planning to lean on a Savage Lands; other times it just lets you keep a two-land hand, and then you cantrip into a Jace Beleren or Divination, and it’s like you never had any problems to begin with.

2 Countersquall (+2)
Just an awesome card.

Although probably, unlike Grixis Burn, this deck could afford to just run Negate. Shhhhh… don’t tell anyone.

4 Baneslayer Angel
You know how I feel about her!

Today I was validated (as usual)… Protracted attrition fight against a five-color Blue deck. He is also packing Sphinx of Lost Truths and I make the first move by pointing Path to Exile at his Rhox War Monk (setting up for Divination turn three, and I don’t want to discard). Anyway, I have more card drawing but it takes me forever to find Day of Judgment; when I do, it is a blowout trading my Baneslayer Angel for his multiple Sphinxes, Bloodbraid Elf, some other five power guy… Basically a bunch of gas.

He untaps and slaps down his last card — Sphinx of Jwar Isle.

Same fight as it ever was!

I have about six cards in hand and answer with Baneslayer Angel with Countersquall back up.

Same fight as it ever was!

3 Day of Judgment (+1) / 4 Path to Exile
I probably need the fourth Day of Judgment.

Becker, undoubtedly, would find a way. (hint hint)

Of the sideboard cards, Duress is the most amazing. How have I not played this longtime favorite card in a tournament in more than three years? It’s great against Cruel Ultimatum in particular. Credit to Osyp Lebedowicz for this one, though he suggested it for Grixis Burn (kind of like how I made Giant Solifuge in the Red Deck but it ended up in the URzaTron sideboard).

Anyway, that’s the new deck.

I just made it last night, but for what it’s worth, I haven’t lost a match yet (about 7-0 to 8-0 range). Most of my opponents were Double Negative-style Grixis decks. The closest match was when I went ultimate with Sorin Markov versus a Sphinx of Jwar Isle and my opponent was gripping Courier’s Capsule + Negate. It was particularly embarassing as I had three Countersqualls in hand.

I played his Courier’s Capsule but forgot to hold down ctrl…

Doh!

The plan was to counter with his own Negate, but instead I lost to the Vampire Nighthawk that he drew off the Capsule the next turn!

Have fun.

LOVE
MIKE

P.S. If your opponents at FNM or whatever are Grixis Control, play this deck. If there is one thing I know, it is that you have basically no possible chance of losing to a deck with Double Negative in it. Although I’ve tried! For instance, right before posting this I successfully Countersqualled a Sphinx of Lost Truths into play with Arcane Sanctum in play, and hit F4… With Duress in hand and my opponent with only one card.

… It was Cruel Ultimatum.

I eventually came back from nil, behind his Sphinx of Jwar Isle, to win via a trio of Sorins, with a Countersquall doing the last two points of damage (though to be fair it was protecting a Sphinx and a Baneslayer Angel).

But come on… Was I really going to lose to Sphinx of Jwar Isle?

Concerning:

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

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

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

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

The other abilities range from pretty good to great.

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

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

[0] Brainstorm!

What the!?!

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

[-1] Unsummon.

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

[-12] Kill ya.

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

Okay, now let’s move to Treasure Hunt.

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

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

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

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

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: Captain America: Road to Reborn