Entries Tagged 'Magic' ↓

A White Nekrataal? Meet Zendikar Rare, Devout Lightcaster!

Earlier we talked about Gatekeeper of Malakir, which for BBB is like a Scathe Zombies grafted onto a Cruel Edict (and for BB is versatile enough to be just a Scathe Zombies). This is the White version:

This card is kind of like an Eager Cadet stapled to a Celestial Purge (kind of).

Now obviously for WWW we have a very powerful and highly playable card that generates self-contained card advantage. It is the kind of effect that we simply don’t expect from White. I mean maybe we expect it now that a deck that can consistently produce WWW has everything from Unmake to Path to Exile to the aforementioned Celetial Purge… But we don’t necessarily expect it on a body… Certainly not at a reasonable mana cost; not in White.

But what might be even more unexpected is that this card might just manascrew you.

Manascrew you?

In White?

Yeppers!

Manascrew.

I have a theory that with all these Gatekeepers and other little—and clearly Constructed playable—Vampires, that our old buddy Vampire Nocturnus will be superb. Vampire Nocturnus rewards players for running a lot of Black cards, and I think that that might translate even to lands. The solution? I am guessing that we will see increased play for both Veinfire and Mistvein Borderpost. Why? With Black Borderposts taking up “land” slots, the Vampire Nocturnus has a slightly higher chance of setting up its global Vampire Unholy Strength. I could see a Black Vampire weenie mana base looking something like…

4 B/W sac dual
4 B/G sac dual
4 Veinfire Borderpost
4 Mistvein Borderpost
8-12 Swamp (12 would probably be a bit high, even in a Tendrils of Corruption deck).

The duals (whatever they are called) will allow the Vampire Nocturnus player to shuffle his deck, mid-combat if need be, to get a Black permanent on top of it. The deck would probably have problems hard-casting a Borderpost, but with essentially all basic lands (functionally so, anyway), running them out there one mana soft style should be a complete non-issue.

So… manascrew?

Devout Lightcaster dropping on top of one of those Borderposts on the third turn could be quite the pisser… Stone Rain, but with a Rakeclaw Bears attached.

Oh I guess it can kill some gigantic Black fatty and/or a one mana Quest enchantment that is right about to go off, too. Whatever those!

Snap Judgment: Staple (but sideboard)

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: Invincible, Book 11: Happy Days

Is it really possible that cutting longtime favorite Kitchen Finks leads us to the right build of Cascade Control?

If you’ve read this blog for any amount of time you know that Kitchen Finks is one of my favorite cards. I loved it in Jund Mana Ramp, respected its ability to crush an opponent with Ajani Goldmane and Persist… Generally loved it in everything from G/W Little Kid to Reflecting Pool Control.

But apparently the right way to make Cascade Control is to cut Kitchen Finks!

A few months back I wouldn’t have easily accepted that cutting Borderland Ranger was right, but this current version of Cascade Control has been treating me pretty well, and its only three mana spells (main deck) are discard spells.

Cascade Control

1 Obelisk of Alara

4 Bituminous Blast
4 Blightning
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Captured Sunlight
1 Enigma Sphinx
4 Enlisted Wurm
4 Esper Charm

2 Primal Command

4 Baneslayer Angel

4 Exotic Orchard
1 Forest
1 Graven Cairns
1 Island
1 Mountain
2 Plains
4 Reflecting Pool
1 Swamp
4 Vivid Crag
4 Vivid Grove
4 Vivid Meadow
1 Wooded Bastion

sb:
3 Ajani Vengeant
4 Anathemancer
2 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Primal Command
4 Hallowed Burial

Obviously this deck has a bazillion lands–that is 28 lands. I have been asked online if it would still work without Vivid lands… and I am not sure. One of the things I like about this version is that a large chunk of it will translate to the new Standard… But that new format will not have Vivid lands. I think a combination of enemy fetch duals and Alara tri-lands will help make the mana viable.

Primal Command, though, is a card that I really don’t want to see disappearing from my deck lists.

The unique element of this deck–which is not actually unique because I stole it from GerryT–is that all the three mana spells are some kind of Stupor. Therefore you always know what you are going to get on a four mana Cascade, and you can play your Cascade spells in general without fearing you might accidentally turn over a Maelstrom Pulse.

Win percentage with this deck has been awesome. So far I have a legitimate loss to Merfolk, a couple of manascrews (how is that even possible with all these lands?), and one loss to my own B/R Blightning Beatdown deck (at least it looked like it with tri-lands, Tarfire, Goblin Outlander), when he drew three Blightnings in the deciding game; the vast majority of battles have been very favorable for the deck.

By far my favorite match so far was against the R/W Spanish Inquisition. The opponent got Ajani Vengeant going, but I had depleted most of his hand, and had lands back. I tried for Baneslayer Angel. He had Oblivion Ring; I answered with Enlisted Wurm. At this point I could flip almost any card in my deck and get out of the Ajani, which was at that point on five counters. Blightning would tear off three counters. Esper Charm would free the Baneslayer to attack. Captured Sunlight would be a proxy for one of those two, whereas Bloodbraid Elf might kill the Ajani outright in concert with Blightning (but still be just fine with “only” Esper Charm and its own three power). Primal Command would set up some kind of a disaster (probably involing setting up Bloodbraid Elf and forcing a re-cast).

… And so on.

But despite having a Bituminous Blast in hand… Unfortunately that’s what I flipped.

So my world blew up two turns later.

Still, I came back!

I had a couple of Vivids in my hand, and used Esper Charm to draw up instead of attacking him or like his Goblin Assault.

I drew up to six, and ran out Baneslayer Angel and Enlisted Wurm (or more precisely, I ran out Enlisted Wurm, which ran out Baneslayer Angel).

With him dead on board and me commanding 2 5/5s… he pulled Martial Coup!

Back to zero.

I ran it back with my remaining Baneslayer Angel.

He responded with Obelisk of Alara to stay even.

I did a little trickery to get him to blow up a Bloodbraid Elf (no more threes in the in deck), which used his ability to gain five life that turn; I had been sandbagging a Blightning, which as a three point Fireball was just enough to finish it.

I know the new Zendikar cards are super fun to look at, but if you need a Standard deck–for now–you might consider this one. It’s a bit worse against creatures than the Rhox Meditant Deck (which couldn’t really lose to creatures) but the heavy discard options (and sometimes card drawing one) make for some more strategic Magic.

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: Catwoman Vol. 4: Wild Ride (Batman)

Three new Standard deck lists… not that it matters.

So besides working on my PPC Marketing book (which if you are a good man — especially one in need of marketing advice — you will order at a deep discount from Amazon.com), I have just not had anything inspiring to write about Magic-wise the past couple of weeks.

The Blightning deck was of course very good (funny follow-up blog post was supposed to come about a week ago but I got sidetracked hanging out with old time friends and real-life Magic celebrities Worth Wollpert and Randy Buehler that day)… But as for the rest… Nothing that I was going crazy over to post.

That said, I’ve actually continued to play a fair amount of Standard, and these are what I have been spending time on the past couple of weeks:

The White Deck:

2 Fieldmist Borderpost
2 Wildfield Borderpost

2 Heartmender
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Safehold Elite
4 Wilt-Leaf Liege

4 Ajani Goldmane
4 Baneslayer Angel
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Path to Exile
4 Spectral Procession

18 Plains
4 Windbrisk Heights

sb:
2 Heartmender
3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Harm’s Way
2 Rhox Meditant

Previous, Crappier, Versions Included… Steward of Valeron, Qasali Pridemage, Green mana, etc.

The concept was to hybridize the best parts of Kithkin with more staying power and more powerful cards.

This deck accomplishes that somewhat (but note the absence of arguably Kithkin’s second-strongest threat, Cloudgoat Ranger), though it does give up Kithkin’s best-in-class offensive speed.

As a trade off this deck is clearly more powerful and more interesting by far.

The Heartmender and Ajani Goldmane features of course make Kitchen Finks — already probably the best three mana spell in the format — even better than usual, and the deck tops up on one of the best threats in the format overall.

This deck has considerably more Cruel Ultimatum defense than a Kithkin deck. For instance you can discard Wilt-Leaf Liege, sacrifice one of the bazillion Persist creatures, and so on.

The deck has a powerful long-game offense similar to the B/W decks of [not really that] old. It can go Ajani Goldmane building a tremendous and continually bolstering Persist creatures for blowouts in creature-on-creature.

Would I have been able to give this deck a PTQ seal of approval?

I liked playing it, but it has a gigantic hole in the G/W Combo Elves department, and while many matchups across the board are winnable or better, it lacks the defining features of the three Standard decks I’ve actually played in the last few months, being relentless deck advantage (Jund Mana Ramp), ability to win the lottery (Rhox Mediatant Deck), or clear mathematical correctness of choice (Blightning Beatdown).

But for someone who is already amenable to playing Kithkin, I think this kind of a deck is something that person might have considered playing.

It’s well known that I like Green mana symbols too much, and that I am a big fan of trying to win the Cascade lottery. This deck was an attempt to update the Rhox Meditant Deck with Baneslayer Angel and other “better” cards.

The Naya-ish Cascade Deck:

4 Bituminous Blast
4 Blightning
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Captured Sunlight
4 Enlisted Wurm
4 Kitchen Finks

2 Primal Command

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Baneslayer Angel

4 Exotic Orchard
2 Forest
1 Mountain
2 Plains
4 Reflecting Pool
1 Swamp
4 Vivid Crag
4 Vivid Grove
4 Vivid Meadow

sb:
1 Pithing Needle
4 Anathemancer
4 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Primal Command
4 Hallowed Burial

Previous, Crappier, Versions Included… Actually, the deck didn’t last very long.

Ironically the older version with Borderland Ranger instead of Blightning, no Baneslayer Angel, etc. was much more consistent. That deck was a solid tournament performer; this one couldn’t break 50% in the Tournament Practice room.

The culprit, that is bully, was basic Swamp of all things. Which inspired the third of this post’s decks:

The Black Deck:

4 Armillary Sphere
2 Pithing Needle

4 Beseech the Queen
4 Corrupt
4 Duress
1 Liliana Vess
1 Midnight Banshee
2 Mind Shatter
4 Sign in Blood
4 Tendrils of Corruption

2 Oona, Queen of the Fae

4 Gargoyle Castle
24 Swamp

sb:
4 Scepter of Fugue
4 Doom Blade
1 Puppeteer Clique
4 Shriekmaw
4 Stillmoon Cavalier

Previous, Crappier, Versions Included… Vampire Nocturnus, Consume Spirit, stuff like that.

I really like this deck.

It doesn’t really have any good solutions to Spectral Procession, but people aren’t really playing that right now.

The deck has a lot of play against a lot of strategies. Tendrils of Corruption gives you a solid out against even cards like Doran, the Siege Tower. One of the things I like about this deck is the presence of Armillary Sphere. Originally I thought that Standard MBC would be automatically unplayable due to a lack of card advantage. However the presence of both Sign in Blood and Armillary Sphere allows the deck to double up on cheap card drawing spells. There is a nice mix of cheap copies of Duress and expensive super-bombs.

If anyone has a way to beat Chameleon Colossus wearing Behemoth Sledge, you know where to leave the comment 🙂

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: Darkly Dreaming Dexter (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

This is a family-friendly blog post about Magic Online boss Worth Wollpert. It is mostly true.

I was reading my own most recent Top Decks this morning (I do that sometimes, read articles that I wrote once they are published), which finished on the line:

“Hymn, Hymn, I win.”
-The Necropotence National Anthem

When I think about Necropotence I mostly think about Randy Buehler, who is visiting New York this week, whom I will probably hang out and draft with tomorrow night… But when I think about Hymn to Tourach — at least in the context of the classic “Hymn, Hymn, I win…” I can’t help but think of my old pal and Magical mentor, Worth Wollpert.

For those of you who don’t know, long before he was the Magic Online boss, or any kind of Wizards of the Coast employee, or Pro Tour anything, Worth Wollpert was my friend; we hung out at the same comic book store, Mr. Cards & Comics, which is on the corner of Brainard and Mayfield, in Lyndhurst, Ohio. If you live on the east side of Cleveland, you should go run to that store tomorrow night for FNM. Eli Doran, its proprietor, has been running a kind of FNM — late night play on Friday nights — for a decade longer than there was such a thing as FNM, and the results were me, and Worth, and other notable players.

Worth was kind of like my big brother in that he made Pro Tour before I did and really helped guide me early, as a player. For example he said “Couldn’t figure out your own deck, eh?” when I first decided to play Necropotence, then softened to “Well, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,” when I actually won that PTQ. Worth borrowed the same B/R Necropotence deck to make Top 8 the next week, resulting in a ratings invite to Pro Tour Dallas, where he was notably Top 16 (but more notably, my roommate).

Worth had other — that is real — family members, too, who also played Magic (kind of).

He was very into Magic even 10+ years ago, and even if he didn’t know he was going to grow up to be the Magic Online boss (or that there was going to be any Magic Online) his parents saw he had an interest, and his mommy asked to learn to play.

Enthusiastically, Worth taught her.

“Okay, Mom, I’m going to be the Necropotence deck!”

We can guess that she didn’t know what that meant; this is the first turn of Magic Worth’s mother was exposed to:

“Swamp, Dark Ritual, Hymn to Tourach, Demonic Consultation [naming Hymn to Tourach].”

Then, unsurprisingly, Hymn to Tourach.

Then, presumably, Necropotence.

I never heard another story of the Worth + Worth’s mommy game play… and you can probably figure out why yourself. Magic really was more fun back then 🙂

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: Men and Cartoons

This is the story of how four little Goblin Outlanders helped me to make Top 8 of the recent Edison PTQ.

First off, sorry I haven’t updated in a couple of weeks. For those of you who don’t know, I am nearing the final stages of completing a book. It isn’t about Magic at all, but online marketing, and I am writing it with my longtime friend and teacher, David Szetela. If you want to be a dear and order a copy from Amazon.com (of which like $.15 or so will trickle down to YT), I certainly won’t stop you (hint, hint):

Okay, back?

Yes, yes.

So I am working on this book, which has been eating up most of my writing, that is blog-writing time. However I was much berated at the recent Edison, NJ PTQ about my blog-writing delinquency, so, um, here’s a blog post, I suppose.

Most of you probably only care about my deck list, so I will supply that now so that you can go ahead and copy it down on a nearby paper napkin in crayon and be on your way:

Blightning Beatdown

4 Anathemancer
4 Blightning
4 Boggart Ram-Gang
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Goblin Outlander

4 Flame Javelin
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Tarfire

4 Auntie’s Hovel
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Graven Cairns
6 Mountain
2 Reflecting Pool
4 Savage Lands *
1 Swamp

sb:
4 Bitterblossom
4 Doom Blade
3 Stillmoon Cavalier
4 Lash Out

My deck was 60 correct cards (but see the land asterisk at the end).

The main difference between this deck and crappier versions of Blightning Beatdown is the Goblin Outlanders main and more Protection from White side. Basically Blightning blows out most decks, but has a horrible Kithkin matchup (traditionally). Most of you probably remember I played Blightning at the Philly 5K and lost to the eventual winner, Kithkin savant Corey Mann, in that Blightning / Kithkin nightmare (Corey by the way Top 8’d this PTQ as well… That guy should just always play Kithkin).

My strategy was to just play a ton of Protection from White and demolish Kithkin. I played against a lot of White decks, actually, and this was a great solution. I in fact beat the Kithkin dream draw in a matter of seconds with the double Outlander draw, which is very difficult to race. I even had Black Knight for a while, but I cut it to play Doom Blade when it became obvious U/W was going to be the deck to beat.

My sideboard, if I had it to play again, would have been different. Stillmoon Cavalier was not the strongest card, but the most relevant in the only matchup I lost. I would play four now, because I was always happy to draw it, and because Bitterblossom was not any good. The rest I would fill out with Terminates, possibly switching the core Doom Blades to Shriekmaws to better fight Baneslayer Angels (run around Glen Elendra Archmage better). Stillmoon Cavalier is also a great Baneslayer Angel foil, if you didn’t figure that out. He is hard to deal with in the long term, and jumps in front of that classy lady all day.

For those of you still reading, the tournament:

Round 1 – Eddie Wong with U/W Baneslayer

This is how my day started.

I lost the flip.

I played a Goblin Outlander.

He played a Broken Ambitions and revealed a Baneslayer Angel to my Anathemancer. I didn’t want to draw Anathemancer (knowing his deck probably had very few nonbasic lands) and anyway it probably would have some utility in the graveyard, so I left it on top to disappear. He shipped the Baneslayer, looking for lands.

The game went on, with him stumbling on lands somewhat. I was able to get him to about four with a Goblin Outlander and Demigod of Revenge, but he had Archmage (which I weathered down), Reveillark, another Reveillark, the squad. Now he was attacking me back. I Lightning Bolted him to one with his re-bought Archmage on the stack.

Then he played Glacial Fortress. Lucky ducky!

He only had seven lands in play and had gone nigh-all in the previous turn; I declared with the mighty Outlander on the table. He tapped all my guys, leaving only three lands up. I flipped back that turn two Anathemancer for the one point. He had two more Cryptic Commands in hand!

Second game I had my Doom Blades and Stillmoon Cavaliers in. The sideboarded matchup was much simpler. He would make some play that costs five, I would tap two to deal with it, and get in for five. His draw was not optimal but I still had bonus Doom Blade and additional removal in hand at the end, so I thought it was probably an okay matchup.

1-0

Round 2 – Oliver Simon with B/U/R Fae

Game One Oliver stalled on two. It didn’t really matter what I did.

I sided in Bitterblossom for the only time on the day.

On my second turn I ran one of them Blossoms out there. Oliver stared at it for about forty-five seconds before finally sending a Broken Ambitions its way. “Just having a little fun,” he chuckled.

Oliver was the one to stick Bitterblossom.

The rest of the game was a battle of Anathemancers and Blightnings, which he eventually won.

In the third I only played three spells, but two of them were Anathemancers 🙂

I had one in the graveyard and one on the board with Oliver on three. He really needed a Lightning Bolt and a Cryptic Command. I was sure I had it, but he had a surprising Thought Hemmorhage to take out my down Anathemancer. The other, of course, was eventually lethal.

2-0

Round 3 – Rogelio Badillo with G/W Overrun

Game One involved a crisis of faith. I blasted and Blightning’d Rogelio down to no cards, but obviously he topdecked a Siege Goat Commander. I had been managing the board with Goblin Outlander, but was in a spot where I could be raced. My grip: Flame Javelin. He went O. I accepted and sent the Javelin at him instead. I was rewarded with Lightning Bolt and Demigod of Revenge, closed from nine-ish.

Game Two I couldn’t beat two Siege Goat Commanders, though it was exciting.

Third game Goblin Outlanders and especially Stillmoon Cavalier were beyond key. I was able to race through it with a Burrenton Forge-Tender on the table.

3-0

Round 4 – Justin Liu with Kithkin

Justin stalled in the first, but there wasn’t much he could do: I had the double Goblin Outlander draw.

Second game he had the optimal curve of 2/2, 2/2, three 1/1s, pump. However I countered with double Goblin Outlander and Stillmoon Cavalier, that is, three of seven. Thanks to Blightning I was able to easily win this race. The plan held!

Justin went on to make Top 8 with me.

4-0

Round 5 – Andrew Harwell with Reflecting Pool Control

Andrew had some unfortunate draws: Double Reflecting Pool in Game One; double filter land in Game Two. He eventually got there for Kitchen Finks mana but gave me too much initial time in both games to be competitive.

5-0

Round 6 – Chas E. Hinkle with Doran

Chas had a very good curve draw in Game One but I was able to blast away all of his guys and beat him with Ram-Gangs. So obviously I sided those out for Stillmoon Cavaliers and removal.

In the second I had a Stillmoon Cavalier but no Black mana to pair with my Reflecting Pool, so I was stuck on just Red. His deck got me right back.

In the third I shipped to six but ended up with four spells: Two Goblin Outlanders and two Anathemancers. I purposefully played only one Outlander at a time (to match Doran or Wilt-Leaf Liege) but unfortunately he drew two Maelstrom Pulses. If he didn’t draw the second Pulse (or a Nameless Inversion) I think I would have won. I had enough lands in play and two Anathemancers down. He was on 10 with six nonbasic lands in play. I took a total of 22, but 15 of them came from a Doran, so if my second Goblin lived, I think I would have had time to enact the Anathemancer plan.

Oh well.

5-1

Round 7 – Elizabeth Albert with G/W Little Kid

I got the first one on tempo with first turn Figure of Destiny. Her creatures were of course bigger but she couldn’t do much because I had presence starting early.

The second game I was pretty surprised to lose. She tapped for Oversoul of Dusk and I tapped and struck with Demigod of Revenge with another Demigod, Lightning Bolt, Doom Blade, and Flame Javelin in grip. Elizabeth already had a Kitchen Finks, so when she played Wilt-Leaf Liege I took 12, which put me to 5. With the Overoul in play there was no possible way to race! Just one more life point and I was pretty sure I had it. But I guess that’s why people play Oversoul of Dusk.

The third was interesting. I won on the back of a lost Lash Out clash. I got one of her little guys with the Lash Out, which revealed a [second] Celestial Purge to my Mountain. So I just never played my Demigod of Revenge for many turns… Not until she would commit mana. Anyway I had a Goblin Outlander and Stillmoon Cavalier on the battlefield.

I actually made a possible mis-play on a late game attack. Elizabeth had a Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers and Llanowar Elves to my 2/2 and 2/1. I double-struck. She had a Snakeform for what had been a pretty violent Stillmoon Cavalier. Before going to blocks, I dropped the Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers with Doom Blade, forcing her to block with the Llanowar Elves if she wanted to keep value on the Snakeform (getting in for two).

Asher Manningbot commented that I should have let her block, and then Doom Bladed the Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers, preserving my Stillmoon Cavalier. I was operating under the Zvi Mowshowitz paradigm (or perhaps an incorrect interpretation of it) which is that if I control all the information, that I can make a play where I am certain of the outcome. I knew Elizabeth had to use her last creature if she were going to keep value on the Snakeform, which would leave her with no creatures. G/W Little Kid can only defend a Goblin Outlander by racing or by committing. If I put her to no creatures, she would have to commit. I was rewarded with a tap out for Oversoul of Dusk, which gave me the spot to stick Lightning Bolt and Demigod of Revenge, stranding the Celestial Purge she had been milking.

So… Screwup or no?

Asher said I would have had much the same turn, but also a Stillmoon Cavalier if I had waited for a block for the Doom Blade.

6-1

Round 8 – Nick Batdorf with Blightning

Nick’s deck was not set up for the mirror. He had cards that would have been great for my failed matches against Doran, but were highly inefficient against another Blightning deck. For instance he had Earthquake, Terminate, and Stillmoon Cavalier main deck.

In the first Nick stalled so I had to setting for two-point Anathemancers. However I got like a 22-point life swing by pointing two different Blightnings for four different Flame Javelins 🙂 I was actually pretty flooded but eventually closed it with a Goblin Outlander.

In the second I was pretty desperate for lands but was stuck on three. I did however win two Lash Out clashes, which are about as devastating as can be in this kind of a match. The second revealed a Flame Javelin, so I decided to keep that piece. I had a Tarfire and a Lightning Bolt in hand, so along with six from Lash Outs, I only had to do about five points of damage.

7-1

Top 8!

Round 9 – Lucas Siow with Reflecting Pool Control

We ran the ID. Lucas was the eventual PTQ winner.

7-1-1

Top 8 – Chas Hinkle with Doran

A bit of the anti-climax… I got paired against the only deck that beat me in the Swiss rather than one of the three Kithkin decks or the G/W deck (I had beaten two G/W decks of course).

Chas crushed me in the first. I think he played four Wren’s Run Vanquishers whereas I didn’t draw a single Lightning Bolt. I did however draw Blightning, but he kept revealing Wilt-Leaf Liege. Awkward.

In the second I accidentally drew eight cards!

My sleeves were a ragged mess after the Swiss, so I traded with Josh.

Yadda yadda yadda.

Sticky?

Whatever.

I somehow drew eight cards and had to force-mulligan to six.

I probably couldn’t have beaten Chas’s seven 4/4 draw with nine cards.

5th

You don’t put that many hours in for fifth place, but I walked out of the tournament with a now-respectable 1972 rating, which is amazing for the World’s Greatest Tee Shirt. I’ve put on about 200 ratings points since I started wearing it!

That’s it!

Hopefully it won’t be another two weeks before I update again.

But I can’t promise anything for now, sadly.

Much love,

LOVE
MIKE

* Not actually Savage Lands. I played the Grixis tri-land but I don’t remember the damn name. I wrote “Savage Lands” down on the paper napkin I scribbled over to Josh but he gave me the Grixis ones to ensure that I would not, you know, accidentally tap for Green or something. In fact Savage Lands can put the opponent on a bad read because Blightning Beatdown and Jund have many cards in common, but it is actually better for the opponent to put you on a Grixis read, which can — if briefly — lead to some poor short term evaluations and plays. Long story short, I can never remember the name of that land and would rather write this whole paragraph than look it up. So there.

Currently Reading: From Dead to Worse (Southern Vampire Mysteries, No. 8)

Based on the comments from the previous post, it seems like some readers are missing the point of Architects of Will in this deck. The deck just needs graveyard action… It kind of doesn’t matter what that action is; you just need something to activate the eight-pack of Mannequins and Soul Manipulations and Architects of Will is actually excellent. I like it so much that if my list weren’t so tight I would actually play Glassdust Hulk.

Per Aten’s question I actually cut the Murderous Redcaps a couple of days ago; since I have been batting pretty well against a variety of opponents. I blew one against U/W Reveillark. Game One I kept a three lander and didn’t have four land in play until I had drawn sixteen cards. I shredded him with Puppeteer Cliques in game two, and then just got sloppy in the third. I took too much damage from an early Mutavault due to watching Dexter out of the corner of my eye. On the last turn he topdecked a Meddling Mage right after I exhausted his Glen Elendra Archmage, and he called Cruel Ultimatum. I was kold on my next four draws (but if I had just not taken an extra four from Mutavault due to eyeing a Showtime serial killer I probably would have won). Otherwise, I can say the deck is a bit dodgy against Howling Mine / Fog decks with a lot of Runed Halos, but I haven’t lost to anything else since updating the list.

Per a Twitter reply from Mark Young, second turn Putrid Leech can be a little dangerous, but I have been doing better than even against Conley Woods decks (though I did take a three-match skid against Jund decks at one point).

Anyway, here’s the deck:

Architects of Will Deck

4 Makeshift Mannequin
2 Puppeteer Clique
4 Shriekmaw

4 Cryptic Command
4 Mulldrifter

2 Anathemancer
4 Architects of Will
4 Bituminous Blast
3 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Soul Manipulation

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

sideboard:
2 Puppeteer Clique
2 Anathemancer
3 Caldera Hellion
4 Lighting Bolt
4 Volcanic Fallout

One of the things I like about this deck is that it is really good against the Nakamura Five-color deck that did so well in so many Nationals the past couple of weeks. The ability to play threats at instant speed really help to set up the Cruel Ultimatums; plus, both Cliques and Anathemancers are super (especially when compared with the former Redcaps).

If I PTQ this weekend, I am definitely playing it and I recommend you try it out.

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: Dead to the World (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 4)

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

Architects of Will Deck

4 Makeshift Mannequin
4 Shriekmaw

4 Cryptic Command
4 Mulldrifter
4 Soul Manipulation

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

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

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

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

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

So.

Architects of Will!

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

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

Some cards I didn’t play but want to:

• Puppeteer Clique
• Plumeveil
• Sedraxis Specter

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

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

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

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

LOVE
MIKE

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

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

Rhox Meditant Deck version 1.5

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

4 Borderland Ranger
2 Primal Command

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

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

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

Round 1: Brad with Combo Elves

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1-0

Round 2: Ryan with Kithkin

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

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

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

1-1

Round 3: Joshua with Merfolk

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

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

2-1

Round 4: Tim with Fae

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

I sided Cloudthresher for Maelstrom Pulse in this one.

2-2

Round 5: Chris with Kithkin

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

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

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

3-2

Round 5: Chris with Kithkin

As above.

4-2

Round 7: Bill with Jund Aggro Cascade

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

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

5-2

Round 8: James with Boat Brew

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

6-2

Round 9: Oliver with Kithkin

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

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

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

7-2

I am not sure what to do at this point.

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

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

Your thoughts and comments are always welcome.

LOVE
MIKE

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

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

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

La la la.

Done?

Tight as hell, dawg.

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

Is the answer that easy?

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

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

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

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

Some other ideas and issues…

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

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

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

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

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

You played your Jungle Shrine, then passed.

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

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

Board:
Jungle Shrine.

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

So… Play your second turn 🙂

LOVE
MIKE

Currently Reading: 100 Bullets Vol. 13: Wilt

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