Entries Tagged 'Magic' ↓

Concerning:

Bestial Menace (Worldwake uncommon)… and that’s pretty much it, actually.

Aesthetics:
Five mana, six power (but no evasion or anything… trample… nothing like that). That puts Bestial Menace slightly above expectation RE: mana v. power and toughness. For example Kodama of the North Tree (five mana for six power) was two toughness shy of this spell; and Bestial Menace also has three bodies to distribute more / better blocking possibilities. In a word, good.

I think it was Evan Erwin who first called Bestial Menace the Green Cloudgoat Ranger… This card might be slightly less powerful than Cloudgoat Ranger for the “same” mana (Cloudgoat Ranger was six power over five bodies, or potentially five on a flying body, but it also had additional utility, such as using the tokens from a fresh Cloudgoat Ranger to pump up one already ready to brawl). That said, Oran-Rief, the Vastwood makes for something else alongside these tokens.

And to go the full-on aesthetics, Bestial Menace is quite flavorful. I love anything with a Snake, but I think a Bear might have been a more iconic 2/2; that said, the presence of cards like Master of the Wild Hunt actually increases the value of Wolves, so we can’t complain on that front.

… But how did this card not include a Beast? It’s in the g-d name!

Where Can I See This Fitting In?
In short, lots of places.

If there is an equivalent of last years’ G/W tokens deck (Standard), Bestial Menace would be a fitting fit in the Cloudgoat Ranger spot (and Cloudgoat Ranger was probably the strongest [non-Planeswalker] spell in the mix.

The modern inheritor to those decks, Mono-Green Eldrazi / Nissa Revane decks can LEGO Monument to Menace in two ways (the latter with the poor 1/1 Snake token likely giving its life for the good of the team and the bad of the bad guy’s life total).

As for boogeyman Jund? Not at this juncture… But I have been wrong before.

Snap Judgment Rating: Staple

LOVE
MIKE

Concerning:

Well, if the Champ says so…

So here comes the first of Five’s Worldwake card chatty chatties. And it’s a big one… in a little package. If you want to read — or actually listen to — more Worldwake chats from me (and @top8games, and @sloppystack) give this a listen: Worldwake Preview, Part 5. That is one of several parts of a Podcast that BDM, WillPop, and I ran this week over at Top 8 Magic. Good stuff, as ever.

So what about Dragonmaster Outcast?

Aesthetics:

This card seems pretty good.

As Coimbra says, it is a monster if you go and get it with Ranger of Eos. The question is whether — as a singleton or a redundant threat — it is superior to Scute Mob.

The advantage to Dragonmaster Outcast is that many 5/5 flying creatures over many turns are more powerful than a single, increasingly powerful (but non-evasive) Vampire Hexmage victim-to-be.

The advantage to Scute Mob is that it is a much faster threat. As soon as you hit your mana threshold, Scute Mob can start to battle, whereas there is a full additional turn in between the appearance of your first Dragon and the first attack that you get out of it.

Another possibility is that you just play a whole bunch of these little guys. When initially testing Naya Lightsaber, I often lusted for a second copy of that bullet.

Where Can I See This Fitting In?

Beyond the obvious Naya / Ranger of Eos action, another option would be a regular old one drop in a Red Deck. Is it as offensive as Goblin Guide? Not on the first turn, certainly. However, Red Decks have never needed great — or even very good — creatures to excel. This Mons Goblin Raiders can get some pro-action under its belt, and really pan out later in the game (should it go long). In particular, Dragonmaster Outcast is almost necessarily synergistic in a Red Deck with Valakut in Standard.

Snap Judgment Rating: Role Player – High *

LOVE
MIKE

* Was obv kidding with that Flagship comment on Top 8 🙂

Concerning:

Most of you have probably read this week’s Top Decks, where I detailed my U/W Traps! deck, centered around Archive Trap, searching up Archive Trap, generally destorying Scapeshift combo decks, &c.

For a while I thought I had THE SECRET TECH (and the Traps! deck is actually pretty good) but I realized I was winning more than half of my games with Baneslayer Angel. Of which I had only two… In a deck that had so many resources centered around the Archive Trap win.

I kept the shell — lots of cantrips including the full four main deck copies of Relic of Progenitus, all the Remands (seldom played in Extended), and Repeal — but changed out the kill cards to the much more straightforward Kitchen Finks and Baneslayer Angel (that is, all four).

I have been very happy with the deck.

It isn’t the fanciest U/W deck you can play (Luis asked me if I couldn’t spare two slots for the Thopter Foundry combo), but it is highly consistent.

Old-ish School U/W

4 Relic of Progenitus

4 Cryptic Command
1 Echoing Truth
4 Remand
1 Repeal
2 Spell Snare
4 Think Twice

4 Kitchen Finks

2 Day of Judgment
4 Baneslayer Angel
4 Path to Exile
2 Wrath of God

4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
8 Island
4 Mystic Gate
4 Plains

sb:
2 Ravenous Trap
1 Echoing Truth
2 Jace Beleren
3 Repeal
4 Shadow of Doubt
2 Spell Snare
1 Wrath of God

For the most part I am trying to keep pace with the best cards / mana consumption theories that I am currently developing. I know I have touched on the best cards theory (up to and including the last post on Cruel Ultimatum), but if you want to check out what we have been calling the “Grand Unified Theory of Magic” … The pages have started to unfold over at Top 8 Magic.

Speaking of which, there are some unusual choices here, so I figure a card rundown maybe in order.

Relic of Progenitus
My deck only has about 24 lands, so playing a large number of cantrips is helpful to keep my mana flowing. Relic of Progenitus “just” as a cantrip is about perfectly costed. The tappity tap ability costs 1 on a Scrabbling Claws; the Tormod’s Crypt ability is worth bagel, but the cantrip bit is worth about a U. Sometimes awkward with Think Twice, but otherwise a near-perfect main deck tool that sometimes randomly costs the opponent 24 virtual mana.

Ravenous Trap
Supplemental to Relic of Progenitus. This might be a bit of an over-shoot, though.

Cryptic Command
Probably the best hard counter you can play in Extended. Its mana efficiency, and the nuances therof, would probably be worth an article, blog post, string of Tweets, whatever, some day in the future.

Echoing Truth
I have to play one as insurance against Empty the Warrens (where Repeal is much weaker) and Dark Depths when the opponent has a one mana Chalice of the Void on the battlefield. Probably the least exciting card in the deck, yet it proves tremendously useful on a regular basis.

Jace Beleren
I just wanted a good catch-all threat in my sideboard for fights where my opponent has a reasonable chance of killing all my men… All my poor, life-gaining, men.

Remand
This card is super good! It doesn’t get played in Extended enough, but it is very effective against Ancestral Vision, Hypergenesis combo decks, and in rare cases, non-suspend spells… Like your own Cryptic Command when the opponent points a Muddle the Mixture at it… Just more cantrip action for mana development while managing the board.

Repeal
Super great against Dark Depths, any Zoo variant, randomly picking up a Runed Halo or sometimes a Planeswalker… I could probably be convinced to play all four; the presence of the plus-three gave me room to cut a supplemental Day of Judgment from the sideboard, making room for the third and fourth copies of…

Spell Snare
This card is just perfect. There are so many near-perfect cards available in this strategy. How great is a card that can stop Tarmogoyf, Bitterblossom, Cranial Plating, Thopter Foundry, Umezawa’s Jitte, Vampire Hexmage… and about a zillion other awesome cards, even on the draw.

Think Twice
This is probably the card most likely to elicit a raised eyebrow from my beloved readers. Running both sides is generally an over-pay of 1-2 mana. Kelly Reid of Quiet Speculation suggested Whispers of the Muse, but I think that card is too slow for a tap-out Blue control deck like this one. Think Twice is just a much better topdeck than Ancestral Vision, which is why it got the nod in this deck list. The gap of one card drawn is counterbalanced by Think Twice’s instant speed, flexibility, superior mid-game utility, and essentially guaranteed attrition capability against other Blue decks. Think Twice is sometimes awkward with Relic of Progenitus, but discipline goes a long way here.

Kitchen Finks
This creature is just exactly what the deck needed as a Baneslayer Angel supplement. It’s fast against RDW, it’s tough against removal, you can cover it with a Remand… Lots of good things going for this one.

Shadow of Doubt
If you can’t Archive Trap someone…

It also poops on Boseiju, Who Shelters all 🙂

Day of Judgment
I wanted to play a mix of this card and Wrath of God for Meddling Mage purposes.

Baneslayer Angel
[this space intentionally left blank]

Path to Exile
“” “” “” “” “”

Wrath of God
I think people are just not used to playing against this card. They keep playing into it. Hopefully tomorrow that trend will continue.

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: Warbreaker (Sci Fi Essential Books)

Concerning:

Cruel Ultimatum ∙ Grixis Control Decks
State Champions ∙ Misplaced Black Cards
… and Cruel Ultimatum

So for anyone who has felt out in the Five With Flores cold for the past couple of weeks… Well… I was in the sun and enjoying myself for about two weeks, and even when I got back to New York, I never un-vacation-ed.

Until now!

So this first post of the New Year is actually gonig to be one that I intended to write before the break… but better. Because I made the deck list better!

Inspired by a podcast featuring the 2009 Maryland State Champion Lloyd Frias over at Yo! MtG TAPS! at MTGCast, I decided to work on a Grixis control deck with what might at first glance seem like misplaced Black cards. Specifically, cards like Malakir Bloodwitch and Sorin Markov.

Sorin is actually the best, so I decided to play a bunch of him in my main.

I am very against playing mediocre do-nothing cards such as Double Negative, Traumatic Visions, and the like, and decided instead to build my deck based on the best, most efficient, possible cards in the format. I know! Go figure!

(Why doesn’t everybody else do this?)

That means no boring Sphinx of Jwar Isle, &c. Instead, inspired in parallel by a loss I detailed in this here article about Kabira Crossroads, I realized that Sedraxis Specter is simply the highest quality threat creature that can be mustered by Grixis mana… This really shouldn’t be surprising.

So what do I mean by the best cards?

In this case I went with a combination of the cards that anyone in his right mind would consider the best (Blightning, Lightning Bolt), and pushed the design in their direction… Supplementing the deck list with speed, card drawing and cantrips to hit my land drops, and the full four Cruel Ultimatums. Really! All four!

Grixis Burn version 1.1

3 Sorin Markov

4 Divination
4 Into the Roil
4 Spreading Seas

4 Blightning
4 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Sedraxis Specter

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:
1 Doom Blade
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
2 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Countersquall
1 Earthquake
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
1 Pyroclasm

This deck has three broad branches that all interlink with one another.

The first of them centers on Sorin Markov, intersecting with Cruel Ultimatum, Lightning Bolt, and Burst Lightning. It is pretty clear that Lightning Bolt is one of the strongest cards in Standard, but the amazing thing is that Burst Lightning is arguably better in some situations for most decks. The solution is to play both. You can probably already see that between these two spell slots, we are already representing enough damage to kill the opponent entirely via direct damage.

However it becomes easier to get there if we start the opponent on 10, with the help of Sorin Markov.

Now between these three direct damage sources (with Sorin acting conditionally as Vicious Hunger), Cruel Ultimatum starts looking better than ever. You can very realistically knock the opponent to 10 on your turn 6, blow up his blocker with Cruel Ultimatum, come in for Sedraxis Specter (3) and the Cruel (5), and then finish the opponent off with the last Vicious Hunger bit, all over the course of two turns. There are lots of paths, but that one is the kind that will get the biddies jumping in the back of your convertible and all that.

The second thrust for this deck is the combination of Blightning and Sedraxis Specter into Cruel Ultimatum as a discard overload. Together these cards are effective, but they also serve as a cumulative edge both against other Grixis-type control decks and Jund. Jund’s main incentive is to beat you with Blightning, and Sedraxis Specter helps you by softening Blightning as well as serving as a de facto Blightning (three damage and net one card) from the graveyard.

Finally the remaining Blue cards — Spreading Seas, Divination, and Into the Roil — Voltron to lace the deck’s lands and spells together.

Honestly Into the Roil is the weakest card in the deck. I can see taking a couple of them out for some main deck Countersqualls, but every time I want to make this change, I bounce a Broodmate Dragon token or something, make Garruk look bad, and Into the Roil sticks. The weakest card it may be, but it is not “weak” per se.

The sideboard features lots of Vampires. I particularly like Vampire Nighthawk, which has been invaluable as a defensive stopper. I used to have all four, but I had to make room for Countersquall. The deck basically only ever loses to Vampires if it gets hit by Mind Sludge; you know how this one goes. Countersquall is also very synergistic — Blightning-like, really — as a combination of a card that is a decent spell but also a burn spell grafted on.

In case you are playing in any Star City 5Ks or whatever, I think you should play this deck. I have been playing it in Standard for about five weeks running and it is in my opinion the best 75 currently available. One of the things I like best is its complete domination of U/W-type Control decks, which have gained in popularity over the past month or two. It is very reassuring to play Blue cards but not do-nothings, I think you will agree.

LOVE
MIKE

So Benjamin Goodman had me on a high with Valaku, the Molten Pinnacle when I started to peruse decks from Zendikar Game Day. You may have read in Top Decks about my early affinity for the R/W Spanish Inquisition-type decks. I liked what I saw and decided to make my own.

The first Spanish Inquisition deck was a metagame neutron bomb coming out of the US Opens and catapulting Mark Hendrickson into the Top 8. His R/W deck posted absolutely absurd numbers over multiple tournaments, stunning opponents with an offensive array including Call the Skybreaker, Ajani Vengeant, Elspeth, Knight-Errant, and of course, Goblin Assault.

Mark’s deck ran Ajani Vengeant as a four-of, and–though it is rare for me–I decided to play all four main as well; in addition, I upgraded Mark’s Elspeth count to three (from two) and replaced all his Hallowed Burials with the Maximum Number of Day of Judgment. These White cards might seem obvious until you look at the mana base of my deck…

Remember up top when I talked about being hooked on Valakut thanks to @RidiculousHat? I meant it! There are only two total Plains in the deck, so in order to play Elspeth or Day of Judgment, you’ve got to have them both.

Because of that I am thinking about replacing all four copies of Elspeth with Goblin Assault… Not sure about it yet. Elspeth is objectively the stronger card when already in play, but she costs functionally twice the mana of a Goblin Assault… and only rarely uses either of her non-Goblin Assault analogous abilities.

I decided to play more streamlined than some of the lists online… I cut all the Lavaball Traps, leaving my land destruction in the sideboard only. That said, for big spells I have all four copies of Chandra Nalaar in the main, as well as a single copy of Obelisk of Alara (Mark originally played zero and two of that expensive pair).

Spanish Inquisition Update

4 Armillary Sphere
1 Expedition Map
1 Obelisk of Alara

4 Ajani Vengeant

4 Burst Lightning
4 Chandra Nalaar
1 Goblin Assault
4 Lightning Bolt

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

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

sb:
4 Celestial Purge
3 Goblin Assault
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Pyroclasm

So far, this deck has been playing super well.

I have beaten a wide variety of decks (msostly creatures, but also Jund or whatever) and these are my conclusions…

I lost to a PT Junk colors deck, where he drew three Duress very early (maybe even his opener) and I dropped the third to double Duress (obviously got the first one in dramatic fashion); that might not seem so insurmountable but this deck is not very threat dense and the only card drawing gets you lands. I didn’t get blown out, but both were games where I needed a Pyroclasm that he took, for instance, and lost, not to a bunch of little guys, but more to the fact that they hit me once. I am fine with that kind of matchup, though; long run anyway. The only other deck I’ve lost to is the Hedron Crab “Dredge” deck. Without devoting signficant slots to Relic of Progenitus and Ravenoous Trap, I don’t see how you can beat that deck easily. Maybe it’s not a real deck? Very poor matchup.

First of all, every single card in the main and side has been producing. If anything my least favorite cards are Path to Exile and Elspeth, Knight-Errant… but you know the caliber of those cards. That said, my favorite cards to play so far have been Goblin Assault and Obelisk of Alara. No one has conceded to a Goblin Assault, but many players have sent Duress or Celestial Purge before the first Goblin came online. Also no one has conceded to Obelisk of Alara, but many have commented that they can’t beat it… three or four turns before actually losing.

I won a mirror last night (yay). We had very divergent strategies. I sided in Celestial Purge and he sided out all of his Ajanis and Chandras and so on 🙂 I won in three.

The second game I lost from a fair amount of life when I tapped down 6/7 mana for Obelisk of Alara and got hit by a kicked Elementa Appeal (WHAT?). The problems with his strategy were: 1) Ajani and Chandra were still really good for me, as was Goblin Assault, so the fact that he had Celestial Purge didn’t change the fact that he used 1.5-2 cards per Red permanent to stay even, and 2) he still had Red permanents for my Purges to hit.

I think this is the deck I am going to play for a while on MTGO, despite the fact that it has neither Baneslayer Angel nor Bloodbraid Elf 🙂

Comments are available, below. Use them! (Make them?)

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: The Book of Lies

Unbelievably, a deck without Baneslayer Angel.

Ben Goodman (aka @RidiculousHat) pinch hits with quite a hit of a deck, actually… Starring (you guessed it) Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle!

Ben Tweeted a greeting along the lines of…

Have you played with [V]alakut yet? Killing people with lands is awesome.

I actually really like the G/R Valakut decks for Extended [albeit packing Sakura-Tribe Elder, probably my favorite creature ever] (what is it with these Extended strategies largely playable in Standard? You know, like yesterday’s?) … So I tried out Ben’s deck for a few matches.

I won them all relatively easily.

They weren’t super duper easy as with Naya Lightsaber, but keep in mind I had never played his deck before. As he has been saying on Twitter, this Valakut attempt is very solid:

Ridiculous Red *

4 Expedition Map

4 Bloodbraid Elf

4 Harrow
4 Khalni Heart Expedition
4 Rampant Growth

4 Goblin Ruinblaster
3 Lavaball Trap
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Siege-Gang Commander

2 Forest
12 Mountain
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

sideboard:
3 Sylvan Bounty
4 Demolish
4 Pyroclasm
4 Volcanic Submersion

I only had the chance to play in three matches with the deck so far… Here are my experiences:

“Dredge”
You know this deck… It is a combo deck featuring Hedron Crab, Crypt of Agadeem, and Extractor Demon. Their goal is to put a bunch of creatures into the graveyard, either with Hedron Crab or using Cycling + Unearth for eventual value.

The annoying part of the deck comes from their Rotting Rats (with double discard value), the big kill from Extractor Demon. There are a million Unearths in the deck, but Extractor Demon is a big one that can come out with a big swing for a single-turn kill from down low (presuming their graveyard is jazzed enough). Also Extractor Demon can serve as an alternate win condition, decking the opponent thanks to all their guys disappearing from the battlefield at the end of an Unearth turn.

Luckily, my match didn’t really go to those ends.

Game One I just tempo’d him out. Lightning Bolt for Hedron Crab, then some attacking with Bloodbraid Elf and Goblin Ruinblaster. The Goblin was particularly helpful, chomping a Crypt before it got out of hand.

I lost the second game to a series of Corpse Connoisseurs setting one another up (while I was mana shy).

The third game ended in dramatic fashion; I kept being forced to discard, and he attacked me relentlessly with Cycling creatures from the graveyard. However I had three copies of ye olde Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle in play, and two Khlani Heart Expeditions on the map. I finally hit a land drop which allowed me to put counters on the Expeditions, play the Harrow I had been sandbagging to get the next two counters on each, and explode for roughly one trillion damage. Hi-yah!

Esper Control
I almost conceded Game One on turn three. I kept a one lander with Expedition Map and some Rampant Growths. I stalled on one but eventually hit the second land to go digging… Which put me in the path of Archive Trap + Twincast. Unbelievably, he hit nine of my Mountains. I didn’t really know how I could win… But I just played my cards, and one of them was Siege-Gang Commander. That Goblin circumvented his Wall of Denial, and I won a long one.

The second was another bunch of Valakuts on the board; he had to Counterspell every Harrow, everything. Which he didn’t.

Nissa Revane “Gruul”
This was an insane game! He had first turn Oran-Rief, the Vastwood. So everyone who came out came out with +1/+1 (no fun). He battered me but somehow I drew just enough lands (having kept I think a two lander) to chump with Siege-Gang Commander and set up Lavaball Trap! RAH!

The first trap took out Mountain, Rootbound Crag, and three 1/1s with +1/+1 counters on top.

The second one got his remaining Forests and a Llanowar Elves.

(He only had four).

I might have been stuck on one life, but I had plenty of time to win; I didn’t need it because he conceded to unopposed Bloodbraid Elf the next turn.

Finally, I got a tempo game with just some Pyroclasm action. It was a combination of tempo from Bloodbraid Elf and assorted beatdown, followed by Valakut control.

All in all, a fine trio of matches, and a nice introduction to this “Ridiculous” Red Deck 🙂

A card breakdown…

Expedition Map
Usually I got Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle with this pap; once I got Forest to set up Bloodbraid Elf. You really need to play this card in this kind of deck to reinforce the number of Valakuts.

Bloodbraid Elf
This is a really odd card in this deck. Half the time you are flipping over Rampant Growth. Sometimes you flip over Lightning Bolt like some kind of a miser; other times you flip Bolt and it didn’t do very much. This is like Blastoderm in Angry No-Hermit from back 2000 days (was Napster era really almost 10 years ago?). Just like Blastoderm in that deck, I wouldn’t consider cutting this strange, seemingly misplaced, four drop.

Harrow
Khalni Heart Expedition
These cards are somewhat modular in this deck. You can play them early but you will often not explode them until you have Valakut online; they are a Ball Lightning each, remember, beyond being regular old mana acceleration.

Rampant Growth
This one you will not usually want to wait on; sets up turn three Bloodbraid Elf and all that.

Goblin Ruinblaster
This was a surprisingly valuable main deck card, despite the fact that I sideboarded it out against the deck with Oran-Rief (for Pyroclasm). Nice tempo; nice action on Crypt of Agadeem. I’m sure it would be fine against beloved Black Baneslayer and so on 🙂 (Or is it “:(“?)

Lavaball Trap
I was pretty shocked when this saved me. The deck has a queer semi-Ponza vibe with the Ruinblasters and this main, and the somewhat transformational sideboard.

Lightning Bolt
Not really strategic in this deck; I can see siding it out.

Siege-Gang Commander
Another one that was somewhat hard to contextualize before I actually played… But I guess you need a way to win.

Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
The ace.

I played 12 of the 15 cards in Ben’s sideboard fairly happily (no Sylvan Bounties… at least not yet). Due to its cost I probably would have overlooked Volcanic Submersion, but it was useful against the Dredge deck.

Before I sign off for the night, a couple of notes…

1. In case you haven’t seen it yet, two Two TWO copies of Black Baneslayer made the Top 8 of the recent Star City Games $5,000 in Nashville; if you know them, give Chase Lamm and Derek Mong a punch in the arm (or the affectionate bum pat or whatever of your choice).
2. I recently read one of my favorite articles of all time as a multi-part ‘cast over at Top 8 Magic. Give a listen to “How to Win a PTQ” (inspired by Adam Levitt). (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5)
3. Apparently I had a glitch on the site so that no new people could register to make blog comments. Sorry about that one kids! It should be fixed now. So comment away. Please!

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: The Book of Lies

* My name, not Ben’s 🙂

Baneslayer Angel: It has been called by our most recent Pro Tour Champion possible the best large creature in the history of Magic. Baneslayer Angel, a card that I just haven’t managed to put into any decks, ever. Baneslayer Angel–a mismatch in the quick Zoo archetype? Baneslayer Angel… Criss-cross applesauce. Baneslayer Angel!

Har har har.

The context of this post will be even more hilarious when I write about the Nissa Revane and re-vamped G/W decks based on Evan Erwin’s “Conqueror’s Sledge” that I worked on this week 🙂

Anyway, here is a very good deck:

Naya Lightsaber

3 Ajani Vengeant
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Woolly Thoctar

4 Noble Hierarch
1 Scute Mob
4 Wild Nacatl

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Baneslayer Angel
4 Path to Exile
4 Ranger of Eos

4 Arid Mesa
4 Forest
3 Mountain
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
4 Plains
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Sunpetal Grove

sb:
1 Ajani Vengeant
2 Burst Lightning
4 Celestial Purge
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Great Sable Stag

It is based somewhat on Brian Kowal’s Naya Excalibur deck from around US Nationals 2009 and somewhat on Brian Kibler’s Pro Tour winning deck from Austin.

Incidentally I watched this movie with my daughter this weekend:

Twice.

Gold star to the first person who notes in the comments why I pointed that out.

Anyway, the above Naya deck is super good. I borrowed most of the cards from Kibler’s deck; that is, Noble Hierarch up. The presence of Noble Hierarch makes Ranger of Eos particularly attractive. The question was what to play with the Ranger. In Kowal’s Naya Excalibur deck, he had an absolutely brilliant mana base around Rootbound Crag and Sunpetal Grove where Figure of Destiny was perfectly positioned alongside the Plains and Mountains for Wild Nacatl. This deck doesn’t have the luxury of the near-Tarmogoyf Figure of Destiny, but Noble Hierarch is very good (along with Wild Nacatl)… My preference for playing three copies of Ajani Vengeant left just enough room for one Scute Mob.

If there is anything my playtesting has taught me at this point, it is that I often want a second Scute Mob!

Scute Mob is absolutely rapturous. As a post attrition play, Ranger of Eos is an absolute game-shatterer; particularly because it can get the solo Scute Mob. Mother loving monster in this deck. However sometimes you draw it and are forced to trade with an Elite Vanguard early; then you want another Scute Mob to draw later… and you don’t got it.

I went with Woolly Thoctar, like Naya Excalibur, as the only three drop in the deck (Kowal played his Great Sable Stags in the main… I don’t see that as particularly attractive, even with the prevalence of Vampires in Standard). I would actually prefer to play Knight of the Reliquary (like Kibler did in Extended)… But there aren’t many natural advantages in this deck. I only play–and can only afford, really–the four Arid Mesas.

These kinds of lands carry with them particular dependencies. In Extended you can play a bazillion Verdant Catacombs, Marsh Flats, whatever, what have you, and get away with it with only a few mana producing lands in your entire deck. That is because your Arid Mesa can point at your Hallowed Fountain, and so can your Misty Rainforest, and you have to draw through some insane percentage of your deck (in a format that sometimes ends on the third turn) before it catches up with you. But in Standard, if you play with four Arid Mesas in any deck but Boros Bushwhacker (which itself is quite quick to the quick), you have to play with more than four Mountains-plus-Plains to reliably not get thrown off the Island math-wise, if you take my reality show meaning. So anyway, with only four Arid Mesas, Knight of the Reliquary will probably start off as only a 2/2 (maybe a 3/3), but will only rarely get serious in size ahead of time; yes, Oran-Rief, the Vastwood is an absolutely bonkers weapon and tool… But there is only the one in this sixty, and it is not strategic to Naya Lightsaber. It isn’t like in Extended where Ghost Quarter can swat off an entire Dark Depths deck.

So the reason we don’t have room for that other three (Knight of the Reliquary or not) is Baneslayer Angel… baneslayer angel, Baneslayer Angel, BANESLAYER ANGEL! News flash: This card is really good. You get it online with the Noble Hierarch, or just by peeling lands off the top. It is great in attack-on-attack; a very good trump card after a lot of trading. It is a must-deal-with card, and a card that can dig you out of a great many holes. By this point you should know I am up for Baneslayer Angels not just in beatdown, but in Cascade decks, along side Ob Nixilis, just about anywhere.

The main under-performer in this deck, if there is one (this is one of those decks where Ranger of Eos is the clear over-performer) is his fellow four, Bloodbraid Elf. Maybe I am just used to always hitting an awesome two-for-one Esper Charm or the incomparable Blightning… But in this deck, not so much. Half the time it’s just another Noble Hierarch (though to be fair, that makes for a 5-power hasty muffin in the Red Zone, and sometimes Oran-Rief is even online). But you can’t really complain about hitting a Lightning Bolt, I guess.

Path to Exile? Another story entirely.

But not a reason to cut either.

As for the sideboard, I like most of the cards but I don’t love the sideboard in its entirety. Burst Lightning is an excellent card but I would prefer a card that could deal three on its lonesome for Vampire Nighthawk, earlier in the game. Goblin Ruinblaster, on the other hand, is a blaster of all different kinds of ruins; for example, Emeria, the Sky Ruin.

More later. This is a good and also fun deck!

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: Captain America: The Man with No Face

Just a quick update to the Junk Mana Ramp deck… Now with Celestial Purge (and Putrid Leech… You know, like everybody else).

Junk Mana Ramp v. 3.0

4 Grim Discovery
4 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
2 Sorin Markov

4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Putrid Leech

4 Lotus Cobra

4 Baneslayer Angel
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Path to Exile

1 Graypelt Refuge
4 Forest
4 Marsh Flats
4 Plains
4 Swamp
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Verdant Catacombs

sb:
4 Doom Blade
4 Mind Shatter
2 Sorin Markov
4 Celestial Purge
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

Just a quick update on this one. I took out Thornling (even though he has been pretty good) for some of the reasons brought up by wobblesthegoose in the comments of How to Play With Marsh Flats. Essentially the deck only needs one Green mana source to operate (though it does need that initial Green)… Except when you consider Thornling. Thornling is very Green mana hungry, but the rest of the deck is pretty Black mana hungry (you actually need three of the four Swamps in play most games), not to mention needing two White sources in play for Baneslayer Angel.

The randomest cards are / were Behemoth Sledge (one-of plus one-of) which actually didn’t do enough in matches where the opponent could Lightning Bolt all your jones (which is ironically often the kind of match where the second copy went in) and Mind Shatter. Mind Shatter remains awesome, but you will often lose game one when you draw it if the opponent is faster than you are. Mind Shatter is more the kind of card that pre-empts a more controlling deck’s Cruel Ultimatum or messes up their ability to hit land drops when they are tapped for a Planeswalker. It’s not unconditionally good despite being unconditional card advantage.

All those came out for Putrid Leech (about as fine a man as you can get for a two-drop Zombie Leech).

The sideboard saw significant changes. Mind Shatter shifted from main to side as a new Game Two four-of (potentially) against more controlling decks, or decks with a significant Cascade component.

The biggest shift–at least in this test version–was moving away from Summoning Trap (which has yet to materialize for me, or even get cast despite my keeping double Summoning Trap hands against Counterspell decks) to Celestial Purge. The inspiration for moving to Celestial Purge came at a loss tonight to Ajani Vengeant. I had just spent a Maelstron Pulse relatively well, but then he had that best of Planeswalkers (one of the Ajanis probably is, anyway)… and whittled at my options over and over. I really need another card to deal with these kinds of permanents, I thought. It turns out that Celestial Purge is a Doom blade of sorts against the Red Decks (gain seven or whatever), and as pointed out by Alfrebaut, is really good Sprouting Thrinax suppression.

So there you have the current test version; it’s actually winning less than the previous ones, but not on account of any of the new cards (or the old ones missing, I think)… So I think it will have more potential to be better.

Have fun playing second turn Lotus Cobra!

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone First U.S. Edition 1st Printing (Bella and I are almost done!)

Just what it sounds like… How to play with Marsh Flats in the Junk Mana Ramp Deck.

What is the Junk Mana Ramp Deck?

1 Behemoth Sledge

4 Grim Discovery
2 Mind Shatter
4 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
2 Sorin Markov

4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Maelstrom Pulse

4 Lotus Cobra
1 Thornling

4 Baneslayer Angel
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Path to Exile

1 Graypelt Refuge
4 Forest
4 Marsh Flats
4 Plains
4 Swamp
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Verdant Catacombs

sb:
1 Behemoth Sledge
4 Doom Blade
2 Mind Shatter
2 Sorin Markov
1 Filigree Fracture
4 Summoning Trap
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

The short story: This deck is excellent.

It doesn’t play Blightning, but other than that, I don’t know what kind of shots you can take against it. It has been playing superbly for me against everything; as much as I hate to admit this, it has a much better batting average than Black Baneslayer.

I guess the shot you can take against it is that this deck is all rares and mythics, making it super cost prohibitive for some players.

The deck plays three different game plans, all extremely potent.

The first is a Lotus Cobra based plan. Basically, you play Lotus Cobra and cross your fingers; if you untap with it, you can usually demolish your opponent. Typical turn three plays include Baneslayer Angel and an initially unimpressive Ob Nixilis, the Fallen. However in concert with one another, multiple Lotus Cobra activations can be truly disgusting. Consider…

• Turn Two: Lotus Cobra
• Turn Three: Marsh Flats (adding W), sacrifice Marsh Flats for Swamp (adding W), Baneslayer Angel.
• Turn Four: Marsh Flats (adding B), sacrifice Marsh Flats for Swamp (adding B), Sorin Markov; put the opponent on 10, attack for 5-7… Unless the opponent has a Planar Cleansing, he is most likely dead to something on the battlefield already… Maybe even just the Cobra.

I generally dislike playing Maelstrom Pulse main deck (in Black Baneslayer I like to play it in the sideboard against attack oriented decks or Howling Mines), but it has been pretty good in this deck; without Red mana access, this deck needs something, and Maelstrom Pulse is the best candidate.

The second major plan is operating as a high quality creature deck; you can play Ob Nixilis on the third turn with Lotus Cobra, but that is often dangerous (unless you have a backup Ob Nixilis or the opponent has only shown Green or White mana); in this deck Ob Nixilis can just kill the opponent if you untap with it. There are eight Marsh Flats and Verdant Catacombs, and if you have Knight of the Reliquary on the battlefield, they are probably just dead if you have a removal spell (or maybe you don’t even need one).

You have solid resource management capabilities in the Junk Mana Ramp deck due to Grim Discovery, which is simply one of the best cards in Zendikar (considering the fact that Marsh Flats is a Ball Lightning in this deck).

The advantage Junk Mana Ramp has over the updated Jund Mana Ramp is that instead of going to six mana for Broodmate Dragon and Rampaging Baloths, this deck has the best fives; eight of them. It’s not like I need to sell you on Baneslayer Angel.

But the card that is something special in this deck is Knight of the Reliquary. I noticed in the Pro Tour Austin Coverage how popular Knight of the Reliquary was in Ben’s and Brian’s Zoo deck, Ikeda’s Zoo deck, lots of Zoo decks… Probably it is good enough for Standard!

I found it excellent.

One of the important things I learned about playing with Knight of the Reliquary is how to properly manage my Marsh Flats. Maybe this is old hat to you but it took me a couple of games to realize that I should be getting Marsh Flats instead of basic Plains when using the Knight’s special ability… Just +1/+1 and possibly important Landfall triggers.

When Knight of the Reliquary and Lotus Cobra link arms, it is a mana and power (and power level) explosion!

The last plan, which is a plan you will most often execute against Vampires and control decks, is Planeswalker lock, specifically winning with Sorin Markov. If you haven’t played with Sorin yet… Do it. This is a card I started to take more seriously after seeing @conley81‘s Pro Tour Austin deck. Sorin is just unbeatable in some games; for instance Vampires has a huge number of 2/2 creatures where Sorin is just a progressive The Abyss that can only be breached by a small number of cards in the Vampires deck (typically Malakir Bloodwitch and sometimes Vampire Nocturnus). But unless they have previously emptied you with a big Mind Sludge, you can just out-quality the Vampires on the board with Ob Nixilis, Baneslayer Angel, or your many removal cards. Vampires is one of the best matchups for this deck, though it’s hard to point at any one single reason… Basically you are faster, your cards are better, and if you get Sorin in play, they are in a lot of trouble.

Even against some Red/x decks Sorin gives you a lot of space. Sorin kills every Bloodbraid Elf they can play while generating a profit; this leaves you room to spend your cards or set up your blocks anywhere else: all good.

Here is a rundown of the last five matches I played with Marsh Flats, Knight of the Reliquary, and Lotus Cobra tonight:

Three-color Vampires
I lost Game One to a Malakir Bloodwitch off the top; I had a Behemoth Sledge but no man, and a Path to Exile. He had no cards… but I had only three life. It’s not like I would have unconditionally won on any other play, but it would have been a heck of a lot better than dead on board.

For the second game I sided out Mind Shatter for the other two copies of Sorin Markov; the second game I locked him with Sorin and he conceded fairly quickly out of frustration.

Game Three I got a turn three Baneslayer Angel; he got three copies of Vampire Nocturnus but couldn’t really attack me; I had a 6/6 Knight of the Reliquary and removal, etc.

G/R Valakut
This was a cool deck I have played against several times this week. Basically it’s Rampant Growths and so on, setting up super Valakut + Mountains action with Harrow… all that. I don’t know if he played Warp World, but he did play Bogardan Hellkite (and in a previous match a Valakut opponent ran out a Warp World which left me with three Baneslayer Angels and him with nothing good). Anyway…

Game One I went Knight of the Reliquary into Baneslayer Angel; Lotus Cobra (with Knight in play) to a Mind Shatter for six or seven. He packed.

Game Two he got double Oracle of Mul Daya and Needled me for Knight of the Reliquary. I had a Knight, but also two Maelstrom Pulses… Goodbye Pithing Needle and Oracles both. I eventually set up for a Baneslayer Angel on only six life; if he ripped a Mountain he could have killed me with double Valakut, but he ripped, ironically, a Hellkite.

Four-color Control
Game One I shipped to Sunpetal Grove + Grim Discovery. Yes, that is a mulligan to two. I won’t say I almost won, but I was somewhat competitive. I steeled myself and elected not to concede; instead I recorded all of his cards for the next game. They were…

• Naya Panorama
• Rupture Spire
• Rupture Spire
• Rupture Spire
• Arcane Sanctum
• Lightning Bolt (my fifth turn Knight of the Reliquary)
• Plains (from Naya Panorama)
• Arcane Sanctum
• Esper Charm (taking my Ob Nixilis, the Fallen and Lotus Cobra)
• Offering to Asha (my second Knight of the Reliquary)
• Esper Charm (Baneslayer Angel and Plains)
• Crumbling Necropolis
• Liliana Vess
• Esper Charm
• Arcane Sanctum
• Ajani Vengeant

I conceded the turn he was going to go ultimate on Liliana Vess after making me dump my hand.

Game Two I played a turn three Ob Nixilis; this was a screwup because he had a Lightning Bolt (could have played Baneslayer instead). I followed up with Knight of the Reliquary, then screwed up on an Offering to Asha (I didn’t see that with my Lotus Cobra down, I could generate just enough Lotus mana to pay for the Offering).

Anyway I stalled on three lands forever.

On the last turn I actually drew the card I needed to win on the spot (Verdant Catacombs for a long ball Ob Nixilis with Knight of the Reliquary in play) but he spent his fourth Esper Charm on my grip.

This was frustrating to lose due to the ship to two, but moreso Game Two; I think I won this close one if I either played Baneslayer Angel over Ob Nixilis on turn three or if I figured out to pay for the Offering.

Vampires
Game One went long, with me controlling a huge Ob Nixilis and finding the Thornling. Thornling went north with Elspeth’s help, forcing a block from Vampire Nighthawk (I didn’t want to put Ob Nixilis in that position due to Deathtouch); Thornling went both hasty and indestructable to win that exchange.

I lost the second with no Green. It would have / should have been an easy one.

Game Three I actually ran a savagely poor mis-click. I tapped my only Swamp to play Lotus Cobra and lost it main phase to a removal spell with Grim Discovery in my hand. The game was close but I ultimately got there with Sorin Lockdown.

Naya
I haven’t played this loose in a while; after winning the first I accidentally discarded my second turn Plains instead of putting it on the battlefield. I played out but it was not good enough.

I redeemed myself in the third though. He stalled for Red for some turns, which gave me time to develop.

Overall: 4-1

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: The Death of Captain America, Vol. 3: The Man Who Bought America

So I finally caved and added Rupture Spire to my Cascade deck.

Here’s the quickie-quick on how to play Rupture Spire in a deck like this…

1. Typically you want to play a comes-into-play-tapped land on the first turn; you know, Seaside Citadel… something like that.
2. You run out your Rupture Spire and pay.
3. You hammer the opponent with whatever kind of three you drew, after playing a regular land.

See?

It’s that easy!

The down side on Rupture Spire is that it can potentially force more mulligans; for example you have a two-lander and they are both Rupture Spires; any other two-land opener combination and you can at least think about keeping (like if you have Arcane Sanctum and Savage Lands and two Esper Charms you will probably keep)… But with double Rupture Spire, that is a zero option (Remember Finkel’s Second Law).

The other annoying thing about Rupture Spire is when it is your fourth or fifth land and you are already rolling on spells. Like a lot of the time you will go comes-into-play-tapped land, comes-into-play-tapped land, comes-into-play-tapped land, Forest: Bloodbraid Elf… then you can go another Bloodbraid Elf or Captured Sunlight plus another comes-into-play-tapped land; however if your fifth land is Rupture
Spire [especially off the top] then you stall on four. This might not be the end of the world (you are already hammering them with awesome Cascade spells), but you might actually consider pointing Esper Charm at yourself in this spot–this is another somewhat common spot where Rupture Spire can slow you down.

So anyway, here is the updated deck list:

Black Baneslayer version Three Point Whatever:

4 Bituminous Blast
4 Blightning
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Captured Sunlight
4 Deny Reality
4 Enlisted Wurm
4 Esper Charm

4 Baneslayer Angel

2 Arcane Sanctum
1 Arid Mesa
4 Crumbling Necropolis
4 Exotic Orchard
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Jungle Shrine
1 Mountain
2 Plains
4 Rupture Spire
4 Savage Lands
2 Seaside Citadel
1 Swamp

sb:
3 Ajani Vengeant
4 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Rhox War Monk
4 Lightning Bolt

Two things about this deck list…

1. I just pulled four lands out for four Rupture Spires while half-asleep… Not a lot of huge science here, but the Spires have been contributing (I made @RidiculousHat‘s eyes bleed).
2. The sideboard is transformative. You are no longer a “mono Cascade” deck sideboarded. You transform into a “regular” (but aggression-hostile alternate deck. The attitude sideboarded is more like a “classic” Standard deck (or like the Borderland Ranger deck of old)… Cascade for value rather than full-on ultimatum.
3. These changes were largely thanks to my Tweeps @RidiculousHat and @amistod… Thanks Tweeps!

Here is a rundown of the last, you know, “five with” matches I ran with ye olde Black Baneslayer:

Four-color Control

His deck was mostly esper with Red for like Double Negative (obviously a solid against YT).

I opened up on Esper Charm, which hit; then he sent Double Negative at Bloodbraid Elf.

My next play was Esper Charm, which I used to draw up and hit lands (it hit).

The next move was (another) Bloodbraid Elf, which stuck and drew out two cards with Esper Charm. He saved a Lightning Bolt for the Bloodbraid Elf itself… But he was out.

Baneslayer Angel obviously hit. And hit. And hit. And that was it.

Next one I opened up on Esper Charm, which drew out a Counterspell.

Sick as hell, dawg! Untap, Ajani Vengeant.

I worked him with Ajani for a few turns while emptying his hand. He hit all his land drops and played the Sphinx.

I was “winning” but stuck on four for a while so I couldn’t deploy Baneslayer Angel or Deny Reality, so Ajani died. That said, he was empty, if in command of a 5/5 shroud when I played Baneslayer Angel…
Baneslayer Number One, that is.

More to come (more Baneslayers, that is)… Concession.

On Twitter @amistod has been trying to get me to play Sphinx over Baneslayer Angel; his argument is that if you untap with Sphinx you generally win.

I don’t agree with him in that if you untap with Baneslayer you win about as often, plus you get to play out of stuff like Anathemancer, too.

Jund Aggro

Interesting game… He started on Putrid Leech but stalled.

He pumped for two every turn, but I was all comes-into-play-tapped and wasn’t doing anything past the the Blightnings and Esper Charms… Nothing to fight his Putrid Leech head-on.

Then I got there with Deny Reality and he packed.

Second game he conceded quickly to my discard plan.

I don’t typically sideboard much, if at all for Jund. All my cards are good… It’s a matter of their being super quick more than anything else; I will sometimes bring in 2-4 Lightning Bolts in Game Three if I am on the draw, but not typically on the play.

Four Color Control

Game One was very competitive as he raw drew three Blightnings. That made the game “very interesting” as they say. I got rid of his hand back, and he topdecked Sphinx. I topdecked Baneslayer. Baneslayer won of course.

I thought I was going to bowl him over in the second, but he had Swerve! He turned one of my Blightnings against myself! That certainly un-landslided it. I got back in there but we were both coming off the top. He drew and played Courier Capsule. With great discipline he waited until the end of my turn to fire it (what if I drew Blightning?) … Unfortunately I drew Esper Charm and re-emptied him. That was the beginning of the end.

Esper Control

I had played v. him a couple of times before… But his deck is heavily anti-Jund, so I take a little splash damage on that one (think Sphinx of the Steel Wind).

I don’t know why I am telling you this but you should know…

I won the first game on a common error on his part.

As usual v. control I opened up working him with discard spells. He made Jace Beleren to get out of it, targeting only himself, putting Jace to below three loyalty. That allowed me to kill Jace with Blightning while erasing his hand!

If he had played Jace so both players would draw card instead, the game might have gone differently.

Games two and three he got me with Identity Crisis.

No!

I had marginal lead on the board, but no hand after turn six or so.

In Game Three he was down to two cards when he played the Identity Crisis, so I had an open to rip almost anything and wreck his hand… But I drew a land. He drew four Counsters off the top to protect His Shroud Phinx.

White Weenie

You know… Mono-White Steppe Lynx.

I got Game One with the dramatic personae if you know what I mean.

He bum rushed me in the second… I was all swimming in hobos.

In the third I got a bunch of Rhox War Monks going but screwed up. He had multiple Honor the Pure in play and I got lazy on Lightning Bolt. I could have just killed his Lynx on my turn but instead I gave him the empty-handed open to draw Arid Mesa to demolish me (can’t respond to both triggers). Instead, I was forced to chump with two beautiful Rhox War Monks.

I worked my way back up to the point where it was no longer interesting. I didn’t die, so I got the space to Ultimatum him a bunch… But that one turn was what mattered; I just got mad lucky to Cascade out of it (or maybe it wasn’t lucky, now that I think about it).

Four wins, one loss in this five-match set. I really like this deck (which you probably know).

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: Let the Right One In: A Novel