Money Draught 50 — Nailing Theses
Topics include: Leaked spoilers, event coverage changes, cube, Aspic, weird historical riots, energy markets, the rate of technological change, and some of our favorite Money Draught moments.
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Trick Jarrett published an interesting article today and having had some time to digest the piece and the feedback (blowback?) from it, I’ve decided my opinion on the matter would be laborious and difficult to Tweet. What’s the point of owning a soapbox if you only ever pay other people to stand on it? I happen to align my views with Trick, and while it may seem like I’m piling on, I have heard a lot of dissent and criticism of his viewpoints and the manner in which he expressed them. I didn’t think it would be controversial to come out on the side of “Don’t spoil cards that aren’t your cards to spoil, you enormous prick” but Donald Trump is leading in the polls, it’s raining in December and people who aren’t fans of Star Wars are targets of ridicule so nothing surprises me anymore.
Speaking of Star Wars and surprises, I saw the new movie on Monday night and it was incredible. Disney is a corporation who knows how to manage leaks pretty well and Wizards could take a page out of their book. Thousands of people worked on the movie and have seen it through all phases of completion from the script draft phase to the finished product and lots of people saw the movie Monday when I did but here it is Wednesday night and I still haven’t seen anyone online saying that Luke Skywalker wasn’t in any of the trailers because he is wearing his father’s old mask and going by the name “Kylo Ren,” a fact I’m really surprised hasn’t leaked online.
OK, I made that up. As far as I know that’s not true, but I bet I pissed a few people off when they thought I spoiled the movie before you got a chance to see it. And isn’t that kind of the point? I don’t know about you, but spoilers piss me off.
Is it the best possible defense of a subject to continue to make jokes and evoke “feels” rather than present facts? Obviously not, and I’m aware of that fact. In this case, though, it seems appropriate because if we’re trying to make the case that spoilers cause harm and I am making the further case that the harm caused is emotional harm, we need to talk about our feelings. Have you ever had anything spoiled for you? It’s a bittersweet feeling, like unwrapping all of your gifts on Christmas Eve. Sure, it’s fun, I guess, but then you come downstairs on Christmas morning to play with your new toys and you already know what everything is. The magic is gone. That’s why my parents had us open only one gift on Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas Day. That’s how you handle “reveal” season. Give them a taste to whet their appetite and keep them wanting more.
The community has largely embraced the concept of getting spoilers fed to us slowly. We’re so numb to the concept that we haven’t even stopped using the word “spoiler” to describe what’s going on. It’s an ugly word.
This is what leaking a ton of cards all at one does, right? The word “harm” is even listed as a synonym for spoil.
I think a lot of people were a little shocked at the tone of Trick’s piece today. I think that is because people have very short memories. Remember Rancored Elf? If you’re not familiar, read this piece (actually, read it either way) and compare its tone to the tone of Trick’s piece today. They brought a law suit against a guy who was spoiling cards. For years, Rancored Elf was Magic the Gathering’s Loki, finding early images and spoiling them. I’m not sure what he got out of it, besides a lawsuit, but there had to have been some modicum of personal gratification and increased website traffic. While the lawsuit looks like a harsh reaction, Rancored Elf gave Wizards of the Coast the opportunity to do something pretty ingenious, and that was adopt a “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” mentality. Instead of wringing their hands and lamenting spoiled cards, they got out in front of it, strategically revealing cards to get people excited. You want the set to break sales records? Show everyone that the set will have fetch land reprints while there is still time to pre-order cases. This system worked pretty well for a while.
What’s interesting to me is that people were basically universally outraged when they heard about Guillaume Wafo-Tapa and his “God Book” shenanigans. When a pro player gave a teammate the entire set early to study and write about, people seemed to think an 18-month ban wasn’t enough and the unfair advantage he gave his team was deplorable.
Today, Trick says that Wizards is going to give much longer bans and describes early leaks as disenfranchising certain players and people seem to be categorically rolling their eyes. While I’m not inclined to defend every point Trick made in his article, because I don’t want to have to agree with all of them, I think the overall tone came through. Spoilers suck because they ruin the magic of reveal season. I like getting a few new cards every once in a while, with new mechanics being revealed at times of Wizards’ choosing and allowing them to tie in releases with their Uncharted Realms Vorthos series. They are building an experience for us, and that takes time and expense. That all goes to waste as does our potential enjoyment of the experience when someone jumps the gun. Not only did they jump the gun in this case, they spoiled 8 of the 9 remaining unspoiled mythic rares. Thanks, guy. Hope it was worth it.
We certainly don’t like to wait, do we? There are a lot of people out there who are not only unsympathetic to those of us who preferred our cards revealed at a moderate pace to build excitement (and give some of us time to do some analysis), but they relish the spoiler dump. I’ve already likened that to opening your Christmas presents on Christmas Eve, but when you consider the fact that someone external to Wizards of the Coast made the dump, the metaphor shifts in my view. Someone didn’t just open your presents for you, they wrote a letter saying “Santa’s not real, neither is the Easter Bunny, neither is Jesus and you didn’t get an N64, you got a Sega Saturn and socks.” As a member of the content creation community as well as the MTG Finance community, I can’t just plug my ears and refuse to look at spoilers like I’m doing for Star Wars, (I’m seeing it in just under 36 hours and if one of you spoils anything for me… I have no recourse. Just don’t do it.) I am compelled to analyze the new cards and talk about their financial and gameplay impact. All of us do. Once the cards are spoiled, the spell is broken and there’s no un-ringing the bell or finding a third clumsy metaphor. It’s like eating candy for dinner – it sounds like it would be fun but afterward you’re left feeling sick. I guess that’s why I feel sort of sick when there is a big spoiler dump.
It isn’t just the content consumers who have their parade peed on, either. These dumps deprive websites who were granted exclusive spoilers of their traffic and ad revenue. The people who perpetrated these leaks quite literally stole money from people. I don’t think it’s silly or hyperbolic to say that, either. Why isn’t this obvious to everyone? Why are people so divided on this topic?
I think this is absolutely part of it. I think a fundamental lack of empathy among non-content creators (which is not a malicious lack of empathy nor am I deriding anyone) because from a content-consumer standpoint, they were always going to have every card revealed to them.
I think there are a few irrelevant arguments that are tripping (no pun intended) us up in this debate and we should identify what they are.
Wizards of the Coast screwed up. They have to know they screwed up. What most likely happened is someone fished cards out of a dumpster or took pics of cards that were thought to have been destroyed. This has happened in the past and the fact that the cards seem damaged seems to support that theory.
See how jacked up the card looks on the edges?
Whether or not Wizards is to blame for not vetting the printer that allowed this fiasco to happen or the printer is to blame or the dumpster diver is to blame for being a scumbag is kind of irrelevant. Don’t let your debates get caught in this quagmire. WotC messed up and they are getting more punitive with people who leak these images. Hopefully they’ll try to see if they can run a tighter ship going forward. I want cards spoiled, but I want them spoiled on WotC’s terms. It’s a better experience. I’m old enough to know candy for dinner is bad for me and I don’t particularly enjoy the fact that the candy was gavaged down my throat in this instance.
A few people seemed jarred by Trick calling whoever perpetrated this dastardly offense against all of us a “terrible human being” by comparing them to someone who announced someone else’s pregnancy on social media. Maybe it’s unprofessional for someone in Trick’s position to call someone a terrible human being, maybe it’s not. What I do know is that I’m not in Trick’s position. Whoever did this is a terrible human being. I mean, that’s an opinion, but to imply that Trick can’t indirectly imply that what the leaker did was horrible and that by extension makes them a horrible human being doesn’t smack authentic to me. I’m glad some emotion made it through the editing process. He’s making an emotional appeal to people not to do antisocial things, after all.
This one is actually one of Trick’s points. He said;
Leaks create an unfair advantage as—because they do not go out over official channels—they are not as widely distributed to less-enfranchised players, thus creating an unfair advantage for some players.
and I think that’s a pretty specious argument. I’m not going to pretend it isn’t because he made other good points. Let’s leave this out of the debate and keep it on track. There’s no way he actually thinks the official channels have more reach than the whole of the internet when official channels use some of the same sites that published leaked photos eventually, which is where most of us saw them.
I think a lot of people got mired in the gigantic difference in the scale of spoiling someone’s pregnancy and therefore a huge, life event and ruining some surprises in a children’s card game played by adults for some reason. Don’t go too far down this rabbit hole. If you want to say the example failed because it was too hyperbolic, fine, but don’t let it derail the debate. Hindsight has probably made Trick realize this came across kind of tone-deaf.
But I actually don’t think it totally fails as a point. The truth is you wouldn’t spoil someone’s pregnancy announcement because you understand how inappropriate that is, and while spoiling these cards isn’t as bad, you’re still robbing someone of an experience, doing something it’s not your place to do and depriving everyone of a much better experience than some rando blurting out “They’s totes pregs, guise!” which is what dumping a bunch of grainy cell phone pics on your lame gamer blog equates to.
I need to wrap this up, but I feel like there is a good debate to be had here. Let’s keep it civil, remember it’s mostly our friends we’re debating with and let’s remember that all of us lost in this situation. Whether you’re a “candy for dinner” kind of person or a patient person who wants to open all of their presents on Christmas morning and not have the new Star Wars movie spoiled for them, we all could have been treated to a much better spoiler season experience and someone deprived us of that, selfishly. Let’s remember that in an ideal world, we would have gotten the cards spoonfed to us, lots of different websites, publications and podcasts (Not my podcast, but, whatever) could have gotten their own exclusive spoilers and maybe a few bucks in ad revenue and increased traffic. We could have had the weird diamond mana symbol explained to us as soon as we saw it instead of wildly speculating amongst ourselves for weeks. Let’s try and do better next set and let’s try not to be horrible human beings.
It has been a while since I’ve contributed to the site and I’ve missed writing, missed seeing your comments, missed feeling like I’ve contributed to the community that I so enjoy being a part of. Due to some personal commitments, I haven’t been as active a participant in the current Standard season, though I have been keeping up with weekly Magic: The Gathering news over the course of this fall. When I have had a chance to play, I’ve been testing and brewing in Modern. I’m sure I’m not alone in investing countless hours trying to find a hidden gem in the format. I will say that, despite not being quite competitive enough, Bant Delver with [card]Tarmogoyf[/card], [card]Monastery Mentor[/card], and [card]Ojutai’s Command[/card] was an absolute blast to work on (hopefully we get another Modern-playable white removal spell at some point).
For the last couple of weeks, our community has been abuzz about the upcoming year’s Grand Prix promotional card selection, [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card], and whether or not it’s foreshadowing some changes to the Modern banned and restricted list. Many writers whose content I read and whose opinions I respect have weighed in on what they believe could or should be banned or unbanned. I wanted to convey my own thoughts on what changes could or should be made and why.
To start off, let’s address the elephants in the room. The egregious violators of the “Turn 4” decree, the combo decks that you “can’t interact with.” Amulet Bloom and Grishoalbrand. While it is true that both decks are difficult to interact with and each have their own forms of resilience (despite reasonable fail rates), neither are oppressive in the current Modern metagame. They don’t REQUIRE changes in order to maintain a healthy format. That said, both decks do play very differently than the other combo decks in Modern. They feel as though they don’t belong, as though they should be relegated to some nonexistant purgatory, an ethereal format hovering somewhere between Modern and Legacy. There’s a reason for that feeling, for that sickening dread that befalls you when Borborygmos starts flinging [card]Temple of Malice[/card]s at you after watching your opponent goldfish for ten minutes on his or her second turn. There’s a reason why you shake in anger, becoming a Dragon Ball Z-esque personification of all things tilt when your opponent plays his or her THIRD (insert expletives here) [card]Primeval Titan[/card] on turn two while you’re literally crushing your Japanese foil [card]Abrupt Decay[/card] in your helpless little, white-knuckled hand. There is a spirit to the Modern format. There is a feel for what is and is not allowable, or acceptable, in the format. As I said, neither of these decks have to be addressed. But should they be addressed? I believe they should.
So, what do we drop the almighty banhammer on? Most writers have proposed that the cards that are most likely to be banned from Modern are [card]Summer Bloom[/card] and [card]Goryo’s Vengeance[/card]. This, in my opnion, would be a travesty. First of all, [card]Summer Bloom[/card] is, in terms of mana acceleration, the more problematic and bigger offender than its partner-in-crime, [card]Amulet of Vigor[/card]. It’s the obvious choice to ban. However, what [card]Amulet of Vigor[/card] fails to provide in terms of acceleration, it more than makes up for in terms of momentum. Both of these cards work in tandem to do broken things, but once that first Titan hits the battlefield, [card]Amulet of Vigor[/card] creates a ridiculous snowball effect, allowing the pilot to grab an untapped [card]Boros Garrison[/card] and [card]Slayers’ Stronghold[/card] to do the hasty Titan thing, which allows the pilot to attack with the Titan, which the let’s the pilot search out a [card]Tolaria West[/card] and a bounce land to. . . wait for it. . . bounce said [card]Tolaria West[/card] to Transmute for. . . Blah blah blah. A lot of shit happens when you cast [card]Primeval Titan[/card] with an [card]Amulet of Vigor[/card] out. We can leave it at that. The [card]Summer Bloom[/card] makes a whole series of unfair plays happen earlier, whereas [card]Amulet of Vigor[/card] allows all of these unfair plays to happen and then keep happening. When I present this observation to other players, the most frequent argument I get is “Amulet Bloom can still [card]Simian Spirit Guide[/card] into [card]Summer Bloom[/card] and win with [card]Hive Mind[/card] on turn two.” BOOM. EUREKA. We found the feelings offender. We’ve identified the One-Who-Breaks-the-Spirit-of-Modern. Now, let’s pause this Amulet Bloom conversation where we are (as an incomplete, somewhat rambling paragraph that almost went somewhere) and look at Grishoalbrand.
Grishoalbrand is so sweet about half the time you pilot it. Nothing feels better than spending two minutes trying to figure out if you can keep an insane abomination of a hand, figuring you have a way better chance with it than mulliganing to five cards, and then spending fifteen or so minutes playing perfectly and triumphantly chucking trees at people by the end of your second turn. The reason it feels sweet is because the deck is really sweet. You do fail… A LOT, but working your way through the shoaling and splicing and looting to victory feels great. You work really hard and make a lot of decisions to win games faster than you’re supposed to be able to in Modern. That said, your opponent has probably spent the last ten minutes wondering if her or she will get to fetch a third land. And then if a third land means anything. If anything means anything.
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Do I even matter? You hear that Grishoalbrand players? Your deck causes people to have existential meltdowns during your second turn. All joking aside, the sweetness of the deck comes from playing really cool cards that should absolutely not be banned in Modern. [card]Goryo’s Vengeance[/card] is awesome and, in every deck OTHER than Grishoalbrand, it’s a cool tool that can generate value and does some pretty sweet things. [card]Nourishing Shoal[/card] + [card]Worldspine Wurm[/card] + [card]Through the Breach[/card] absolutely should be a thing in Modern. What I absolutely do not think should be a thing is [card]Simian Spirit Guide[/card]. Being able to start off a [card]Desperate Ritual[/card] chain with no prior mana floating violates this “spirit of Modern” I’ve proposed. [card]Simian Spirit Guide[/card] is unique, it’s the only free, mana source-speed way to create mana in the format. At the steep cost of a card, you don’t just bypass one turn’s worth of mana development. You negate your opponent’s chance to interact, to play a second land to [card]Remand[/card] that [card]Through the Breach[/card], to [card]Thoughtseize[/card] that [card]Hive Mind[/card] because your opponent’s [card]Inquisition of Kozilek[/card] revealed two [card]Summer Bloom[/card]s. You, Players-of-[card]Simian Spirit Guide[/card] violate what we, the Other Players of the Format Modern, know to be just, what we know to be fair (or at least acceptably unfair).
Okay, so the last couple of paragraphs were fairly hyperbolic, but what I wanted to express is that feeling of helplessness players experience when they do lose to either Amulet Bloom or Grishoalbrand. I wanted to try to capture why it has become almost assumed that there will be a DCI intervention concerning at least one of these decks before the next Pro Tour. What I don’t want to see happen are bannings that are only intended to handicap these decks. I wanted to uncover why these decks work the way the do, identify the series of plays that cause these intense feel-bad moments, and find the precise culprits that truly feel like they violate the spirit of Modern. I would be absolutely heartbroken to see [card]Goryo’s Vengeance[/card] leave the format. Michael Majors and Jeff Hoogland both did a lot of great work with this card independently. They both built and honed decks around [card]Goryo’s Vengeance[/card] to generate value, to gain notable advantages in advancing their game plan. But neither of them tried to win with it on turn two. Nobody plays [card]Simian Spirit Guide[/card] without aggressively trying to narrow his or her opponents’ opportunity to play an interactive game. It feels like a Legacy card, or at least supports the kind of strategies that are deemed appropriate for that format. I also think that without [card]Simian Spirit Guide[/card] and [card]Amulet of Vigor[/card], Titan Bloom could still be a shell that’s competitive, but would then have to interact with its opponents rather than let [card]Amulet of Vigor[/card], in conjunction with [card]Primeval Titan[/card], bury its opponent in card and tempo advantage. [card]Summer Bloom[/card] and [card]Primeval Titan[/card] should be allowed to be played together.
Now let’s change gears to the fun stuff. New toys! The idea of seeing some unbannings makes me feel like a six year old on Christmas Eve. Let’s get the obvious out of the way: there are reasonable, logical objections to removing any card from the Modern banned list. The amount of excitement and anticipation created by the announcement of the Grand Prix promo [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card] has been tremendous. However, I would not fault the DCI for choosing only to add to the ban list or make no changes prior to Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch. With all of that said, I think many of the cards on said list could be removed based on their power level and the power level of the Modern format. I want to look at some candidates I think could be unbanned, but what I will not do is take all factors for the health of the format into account, like the chance of a card becoming ubiquitous, average game length issues, etc.
[card]Sword of the Meek[/card] – I’m just going to defer to all other articles about the upcoming ban list announcement. The consensus seems to be that this card should be unbanned.
[card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card] – I don’t believe this card is too powerful for the Modern format. It does infringe on future equipment design space, but I think [card]Umezawa’s Jitte[/card] and [card]Skullclamp[/card] already ensured that Wizards R&D would give equipment a second look before getting the nod. Turn three [card]Batterskull[/card] is good but easy to interact with. If casting [card]Tasigur, the Golden Fang[/card] on turn two has not been oppressive, I don’t think [card]Batterskull[/card] will be.
[card]Bloodbraid Elf[/card] – This card probably never should have been banned, but I understand the DCI’s hesitation at unbanning it. Cascade is an incredibly powerful ability and borders on being inherently unfair. With that in mind, we are still talking about a ban list for an eternal format. We should expect almost every card that doesn’t contribute to a game-ending combo or blisteringly fast aggressive strategy to have a significant payoff.
[card]Jace, the Mind Sculptor[/card] – Jace is a really hard card to consider allowing back in the format. He’s undeniably powerful and introduces a [card]Brainstorm[/card] effect into Modern. Four mana is a hefty cost though, and [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] is one of the most dominant cards in the format. Overall, he would warp the format but I don’t think he would end up dominating it. Based on the casting cost and the overall pace of the format, I think [card]Jace, the Mind Sculptor[/card] could be unbanned.
As a final note, the last card I want to briefly touch on is [card]Blood Moon[/card]. There is a very vocal portion of the Modern player base that despises this card. I would not count myself among them (though I definitely wouldn’t consider myself a fan of the card), but their calls for a banning based on the notable percentage of noninteractive games that occur once [card]Blood Moon[/card] has resolved is at least worth noting. [card]Blood Moon[/card] and [card]Choke[/card] are relics of a different era in Magic. Land destruction, mana denial, and prison-strategy enablers have been phased out of R&D’s design based on the feedback of players and what they consider to be enjoyable gaming experiences. That said, [card]Blood Moon[/card] does require that the vast majority of decks must have a broad enough sideboard to deal with it and, perhaps in the eyes of the DCI, there should be constraints on the manabases players choose to play with.
Magic: The Gathering does a lot of good things for a lot of good people; it gives them an avenue to socialize, a hobby to be passionate about and a game to love and enjoy. In local game stores all around the world, long-standing friendships and relationships, deep cutting rivalries and meaningful senses of belonging are formed every Friday night, so it’s almost redundant to say that Magic has an impact on people. It had an impact on me too, but not in a way you might expect. Magic awoke something in me that I wasn’t aware existed before. A passion, a drive, an obsession with problem solving.
Magic is set up in such a way that it involves solving huge amounts of tiny problems; Which card do I pick in this draft, do I keep or mull this hand, which land do I play first, should I attack this turn etc. The whole game is an almost infinitely long sequence of decisions that, if enough of them are made correctly, lead you to winning the game, most of the time. This idea is incredibly attractive to me, and the little injection of variance that distinguishes Magic from games like chess keeps it fun and fresh where other games get stale and routine. Not to detract from one of the oldest games in history, but chess just isn’t interesting for me. Magic is. Magic rewards you making the correct decisions, making lots of them in a row, and punishes you if you make the wrong ones.
I decided that I would apply this to my entire life – not consciously, I never sat down and thought “well this is what we’re doing from now on, Denis.” but it just turned out that way. As I played more Magic, I started to think more and more in these terms of expected value, percentage chance of success, “outs” etc.
Every single scenario, every problem I was faced with, would be broken down subconsciously into a decision – What if I do X, what if I do Y, how happy will each of them make me, what’s the percentage chance that X will succeed rather than Y etc. I didn’t just become obsessed with this approach in relation to Magic, it changed the lens through which I viewed my whole life. Everything was a series of decisions, and life was no different. In Magic, if I made the right decision enough of the time I would win the game. In life, I thought that if I made the right decisions often enough that I would be happy.
That’s not how life works.
I’ve always been a somewhat obsessive person. I have a tendency to wrestle with things in my head and overthink them, over-analyzing scenarios and decisions long past the point of usefulness and quickly approaching the point of damaging. This had never been a real issue for me before, but when I started playing Magic, and more importantly continued to play it for a few years, it fed and nurtured that obsessive part of my brain.
Two years ago I started a YouTube channel called Windmill Slam with a good friend of mine called Oisin Lyons. We would
record ourselves doing a draft every week, and every second week we’d record one for MTGO Academy. This meant that I was drafting a lot. Now this doesn’t sound like all that often, but I’d play in my own time too. I’d do 3 – 4 drafts a day at some times, like when a new set had just come out, and I’d grind value out on Magic online – my mood was dependent on my success in the drafts that I was doing. This isn’t a piece about game addiction, though that is a very real thing and something that a lot of Magic players suffer from, just like any other game, but this repeated play altered the way I looked at the world.
This was all fine, honestly. I prided myself on being decision-focused, rather than results-focused (as preached by Limited Resources) and I thought that this was the best way to live ones life; by breaking things down into tiny decisions and trying to make those decisions as effectively as possible. I still think this is a great way to live, and it’s still a part of me, but I hit a wall.
I hit a problem that I couldn’t solve.
These issues are personal to me, and I wouldn’t mind sharing them except that they involve other people and I don’t think it’s fair to talk about them in detail here for their sake. Long story short, I hit a problem that didn’t have a solution. It was a situation that I was in, and some issues from my past, that I just had to learn to live with. There was no action that I could take to change them, there was nothing I could do “fix” what was happening and what had happened – there was no decision to be made. My brain couldn’t handle that.
I obsessed. I had anxiety attacks, I lost huge amounts of sleep and I’d be plagued by this niggling little machine churning away in the back of my head, and every couple of minutes it’d spew forth some little piece of worry, anxiety or guilt. These would wear away at me, day in day out, for over a year. I had spent so much time training my brain to push itself to make correct decisions that when it hit a problem that didn’t have a solution, it just ran the problem over and over again, hammering at it with everything it had and achieving no result. This put strain on my happiness, my work and the relationships in my life, but I did all I could to keep it hidden – which was a huge mistake. There’s a stigma associated with men not sharing their feelings and emotions, and mental health issues are so prevalent in young males as a result. We’re taught from a young age to “toughen up” and “deal with it,” and while this might work for a scraped knee or a dinged elbow, when your mind is rattling against the side of your skull 24 hours a day trying to solve an unsolvable problem – it can get a little tiring to say the least. Anyone reading this that knows me personally will likely be surprised that this even happened to me, I shared with almost no one.
Eventually, it made me depressed. Not in a constantly-being-upset sort of way, but in a way that I didn’t feel like anything mattered anymore. Things that usually made me happy didn’t faze me anymore, things that would make me upset usually I just shrugged off. I felt like I was floating through my life on auto-pilot with friends, family and the whole world just rolling off of me like water off a duck’s back. I started to realize how serious this was, and I started to get a little scared, when I couldn’t think of a series of events that would ever make me feel happy again.
So I went and got help. I went to a counselor on the recommendation of a good friend of mine, and it is probably the smartest decision I have ever made. They didn’t provide me with some magical cure or piece of sage advice that wiped my mental lens clean, I did most of the talking in fact. I poured everything that I was worried about, everything that caused me anxiety, everything that had driven my will and spirit down over the past year, and it looked ridiculous. Laying it out like that made it look like the stupidest things that no one should worry about, and that I should be able to just get over them and move on with my life. It wasn’t easy, and it certainly wasn’t quick, but that’s what I’ve learned to do now. I’ve learned to let go.
Magic teaches a lot of good things, critical thinking , strategy, adaptability and probability to name a few, but it can also teach a dangerous obsession with these things if you let it. Magic is a game. It’s competitive, there are high ranking tournaments in it and people put a lot of emotion and soul into it, but it’s still just a game at the end of the day. I let it change the way I thought about myself and the world, and it almost ruined my life. Don’t let it ruin yours.
If you ask a typical Magic player what their favorite thing is in the game, one of the common answers you’ll hear is “drawing cards.” It’s why cards like Howling Mine have been in the game since it was created, and why that effect has stuck around since.
Ask a typical Magic player what the most powerful thing you can do in the game, and one of the common answers you’ll hear is “making mana.” After all, you have to make mana to play your spells, and this is why effects like Turnabout or Sword of Feast and Famine have always been so strong. Those two cards have been, at different times, key parts of the most powerful deck in their respective format.
But ask the typical Magic player how to combine both of those things into a competitive deck, and you’ll probably not get much more than a shrug or head scratch.
Well, we have the technology to do just that, and do it very well. As a sample, I’ve gone 12-3 in my last 15 Magic Online two-man queues with this deck. While these are by no means the defining measure of a deck, it’s assuredly a good sign for the deck’s competitiveness.
I present, Mono-Blue Turns.
(Remember you can subscribe to my YouTube channel for more Modern videos).
The Deck
As you saw in the videos, Turns (seems like the easiest way to refer to it), has a very consistent and surprisingly resilient game plan: survive until Turn 5 and then begin taking all the turns available in the game. With a Howling Mine effect in play (Dictate of Kruphix is preferred), every turn nets you one card or more and allows you to chain turns until you eventually win with an awakened Part the Waterveil land.
I’m a big fan of Modern, and I’ve always followed the fringes of the format for new decks. For a long time, that’s where Turns existed. It ran downright weird cards like Savor the Moment to try and piece together extra turns. While the deck would often string together a lot of turns, it would mostly fail to string together a lot of wins. Sometimes it would draw the engine, sometimes it would draw the extra turns, sometimes it would draw the win conditions, but it had a very hard time consistently doing them together.
Part the Waterveil changes all that.
No longer does the deck have to split slots between ways to win and ways to take extra turns. Part the Waterveil isn’t a four-of in the deck, but it is vital in combining win condition and extra turn all into one, allowing the deck to cut more situational cards and function more smoothly.
It’s a formula that has carried players to some success. Joshua Bova navigated to third place at a StarCityGames Premier IQ, and Eli Kassis and friends found Day 2 success with the deck at Grand Prix Pittsburgh. When I found out that Zac Elsik (of Lantern Control fame/infamy) had also put work into the Turns deck, I knew there had to be something here, and that led to a fevered run with the deck on Magic Online.
And I’ve learned quite a bit about the deck in that time. For starters, the good and bad matchups, as well as the cards that over and underperform. In general, two types of decks give Turns trouble: extremely aggressive decks, and slower-but-still-aggressive decks that also pack disruption. In practical terms, that means Burn and Zoo and Affinity are hard matchups, and tempo decks like Merfolk or Bant-flavored aggro builds are nearly impossible to beat. While the pure aggro decks can be sideboarded against and raced, the other decks that represent a solid clock plus counterspells are a nightmare for the deck.
Luckily, those are only a part of the metagame. The rest is full of decks I consider good matchups for the deck: “fair decks.” Splinter Twin, Abzan, Grixis, Scapeshift, “big” Zoo are all favorable. Tron feels like a bye. Other combo decks are beatable, and even Jund must combine their hand disruption with a fast clock to defeat you. Basically, any deck trying to play “fair” midrange Magic has a tough time preventing you from completing your plan.
The Game Plan
Let’s talk about what makes the deck “work.” It’s no surprise that in a deck full of Time Walk effects, taking turns is the basis of its success. But what that means in practice may surprise you: it’s not all about taking extra turns yourself, it’s about denying your opponent a turn. From Spreading Seas to to Gigadrowse to Cryptic Command, the deck is full of virtual Time Walk effects long before it ever takes an extra turn. Seas can take your opponent off a key spell, buying you another turn. Cryptic Command is obviously great, oftentimes denying an attack step or countering a key spell.
Gigadrowse is the best of the bunch, and probably the best card in the deck. It’s just so flexible, I’m honestly surprised it doesn’t see more play in Modern. It steals attack steps. It taps down opponents on their end step to set you up to go off. It taps down combo or Tron decks in their upkeep to steal a turn away from them. Better yet, due to how Replicate works (the copies go on the stack individually and resolve individually), counterspells are useless against it. A blue player can be sitting on all the counters in the world, but they’ll never get to use them when you Gigadrowse their mana before starting your turn. I even won a game against a Twin player by casting two of my three copies of Gigadrowse on their Deceiver Exarch when they cast Splinter Twin with counterspell backup. I tapped down the Exarch as well as one of their lands, used Cryptic Command to bounce the creature on my main phase, and went on to win the game. No other card does so much in that spot.
The deck is pretty straightforward in theory. Use the cantrips to set up your early turns (and occasionally plan out a timely Miracle Temporal Mastery), Spreading Seas to slow them down, hopefully flash in Dictate of Kruphix on their end step, untap and hold up Cryptic Command or Gigadrowse, and then cast Time Warp on Turn 5 and never pass the turn back to them.
The different Time Walk effects all have a purpose. Time Warp is the best for its mana cost, Temporal Mastery makes your early game more explosive and is fine late, Walk the Aeons allows you to chain together multiple turns off one card when you need it, Temporal Trespass can be absolutely clutch when you need to both Time Walk and play another Howling Mine effect, and Part the Waterveil is your win condition. Each one is good in its own way, and understanding how to sequence them will increase your win percentage with the deck.
The Cards
While many of the cards in the list are locked in, there are some flex spots. For instance, many lists run Thassa, God of the Sea. While it certainly has its advantages, I found that after a dozen or so matches with the deck I never once won with Thassa. While Scrying every turn is nice, the card serves to make your good matchups better, and does nothing in the difficult aggro matches that give you trouble. I went to Repeal to try and add a flexible spell that was good against both aggro and control, I’ve come around to Elixir of Immortality since it buys you a turn against aggro while also serving to prevent you from decking yourself, which is sometimes a concern.
There is a cost to cutting Thassa, and that is the fact that you have to be very careful with your Part the Waterveil. While you can freely cast the first, the second must be saved to win the game since the card exiles itself as part of its resolution. While in theory this can cause you to lose the game (as you saw in my match against Merfolk), the truth is it can almost always be played around, unless you run into the very rare situation where you have only the second Part the Waterveil left in hand and nothing to buy another turn, whether real or virtual. This hasn’t yet come up for me, and I suspect it’s a corner case that is more than offset by replacing Thassa with a card that helps in other places. And, in the match against Merfolk, I punted that game by forgetting about Harbinger and not Gigadrowsing his lands before I began to attack.
Because your deck has to get to nine mana to make a creature, you almost always have complete control of the game by the time you even present a creature for them to target. Whether it’s with Gigadrowse or Cryptic, by the time you’re ready to Awaken a land you’re ready to protect it as well.
Jace Beleren is something I’m not currently running but could find a home. It can buy you life against the aggro decks if they go for it, and it can theoretically present an alternate win condition. If you’re going to put a secondary win condition in the deck, this is the one I’d go with.
The Lands
This is another subject I want to touch on. I’ve seen several lists that run colorless sources like Dreadship Reef, Ghost Quarter or Mikokoro, Center of the Sea. While there is some merit to the effect each of those offers, I’m not sold. The deck has heavy need of blue
For starters, storage lands seem to hurt you more than they help. Yes, if you charge it twice it can speed you up by a turn, but if you’re playing a deck that allows you to charge it up twice you’re not going to need that extra mana as often as you’re going to need colored mana in the first few turns of the game. Testing with storage lands and Mikokoro, I’ve lost games to not being able to fully Replicate a Gigadrowse or cast Cryptic Command on the fourth turn. The deck can afford only a few colorless sources, and I prefer the straight lifegain of Radiant Fountain to those. I’ve even considered Skyline Cascade as another hedge against aggro, though I suspect it’s too risky to be worth it.
Oboro, Palace in the Clouds and Minamo, School at Water’s Edge weren’t in my list when I made the videos but there’s not much reason to not run them as small insurance against Choke.
The List
I’ve made you wait for the updated list because I know how these articles go. You find the list, cut a few cards you don’t like, and go to town. Feel free to do that, but at least this way you’ve hopefully read the reasons why the deck looks like it does.
[deck title=Mono-Blue Extra Turns]
[spells]
*1 Elixir of Immortality
*2 Howling Mine
*2 Gigadrowse
*4 Serum Visions
*3 Sleight of Hand
*4 Spreading Seas
*4 Dictate of Kruphix
*4 Cryptic Command
*4 Time Warp
*2 Part the Waterveil
*2 Walk the Aeons
*4 Temporal Mastery
*1 Temporal Trespass
[/spells]
[land]
*19 Island
*1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
*1 Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
*2 Radiant Fountain
[/land]
[/deck]
The Sideboard
There are several directions to go with the sideboard, and I’ll caution that mine is currently very experimental.
[deck title=Sideboard]
[spells]
*3 Dispel
*3 Dragon’s Claw
*3 Sun Droplet
*2 Whiplash Trap
*1 Laboratory Maniac
*1 Gigadrowse
*1 Boomerang
*1 Hibernation
[/spells]
[/deck]
Basically, you have to decide how you want to handle the aggro decks. The Dragon’s Claw/Sun Droplet give a chance against Burn, but they also eat up a ton of sideboard slots while not always even being that great, not to mention mediocre against creature-based aggro. While I did go 2-0 against Zoo in that 12-3 Magic Online run, it’s entirely possible you’re supposed to cut these cards and free up spots.
One of the things I’m testing in those spots is a few Traps. Whiplash Trap and Lethargy Trap accomplish some of the same things you’re looking for from the Claws and Droplets, while also being better mid-game topdecks. There’s a ton of room for experimentation here (Exhaustion and Aetherize come to mind), and I don’t want to presume to tell you what is best for your local metgame.
If you’re only running the Part the Waterveils to win in the main deck, I suggest Laboratory Maniac for the sideboard. It gives you a win condition that beats infinite life or Ensnaring Bridge, and can be protected late, even if it’s a bad draw early. Whether it’s Lab Maniac or Thassa or Jace Beleren, a secondary win condition is key to be able to beat Surgical Extraction.
Everything else is fairly generic, and should be localized to your expected metagame. Dispel and additional Gigadrowse are clutch against blue-based control or combo decks, while Hurkyl’s Recall or Hibernation give you additional game against the green decks.
When it comes to what to board out, I typically cut the Spreading Seas first. After that goes one of the Howling Mines, as well as the Elixir if I’m against a deck I’m bringing in Laboratory Maniac against. You can also cut a Walk the Aeons if need be.
Tips and tricks
Have all the turns
I think that covers everything you’ll need to know. I strongly urge you to give this deck a shot, because it’s legitimately very competitive in the current Modern meta. It has play against almost all the field, and many opponents won’t know how to interact with your deck. While my absurd rate in two-mans is obviously a good run against average competition, this deck is proven to have play at any level of competition.
Let me know if you have any questions. I feel like this deck is very much a work in progress, and there are a lot of changes — large and small — worth testing. From tweaking cards in the mono-blue version to maybe going crazy and playing Green for Explore and Rites of Flourishing, Turns has a bright future in Modern.
Thanks for reading,
Corbin Hosler
@Chosler88 on Twitter/Twitch/Youtube
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Woah. What a week it’s been for the format. In the week running up to GP Seattle, Legacy seemed to go from being relatively quiet and keeping to itself, to exploding with energy and buzz. I was hoping to do this week’s article on the new Jace and his place in Legacy but a lot has happened that I want to talk about. So let’s look at Legacy in the aftermath of the last Legacy GP of the year, and what lies ahead in 2016.
Let’s first take a look at GP Seattle and see what went down Stateside.
For a start, I was way off in my Top 8 prediction. I got half of it right but the other half completely threw me. Two Shardless decks Top 8’d, as well as Miracles and Grixis/4C Delver, but where I was wrong was in the other four. There was a second 4C Delver as well as a crazy Reanimator deck that I’ll get to in a bit, Lands, which took down the tournament, and Aluren. Yes. Aluren came out of nowhere and Top 8’d a GP. What a Top 8.
Both Shardless BUG lists and the Miracles list were fairly stock. Nothing super interesting to report on. Andrejs Prost decided to go for the [card]Scrubland[/card] in the sideboard to splash for [card]Meddling Mage[/card], a move that a lot of Shardless players are making, whereas Xin Sui chose not to, and decided to play a higher planeswalker count with two [card]Jace, the Mind Sculptor[/card] and three [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card], instead of the 1-2 split the deck usually favours.
The two Delver decks were more or less the usual lists with a few spicy exceptions. Christian Calcano made it to the finals with a version that resembled a Canadian Threshold deck, with a leaning towards [card]Stifle[/card] and [card]Wasteland[/card]. It evidently proved successful for the Calculator himself as he ended up finishing second. Gary Wong, on the other hand, decided to play a single [card]True-Name Nemesis[/card] and two [card]Abrupt Decay[/card] in the main. Wong’s list looked to be favoured against some of the slower decks however Calcano appeared to have the edge against Miracles, thanks to the inclusion of Stifle.
But that’s all boring, normal stuff for a Legacy GP. Now we can move on to the real meat of this Top 8.
In a turn of events I was not expecting in any way, Aluren made the Top 8 in the hands of Martin Goldman-Kirst. For those that aren’t aware, Aluren is a combo deck based around the card, [card]Aluren[/card]. The goal is to land the four mana enchantment and then combo off with [card]Cavern Harpy[/card] and [card]Parasitic Strix[/card], or just out-value the opponent with cheap creatures that are CMC 3 or less. His particular list included a playset of [card]Imperial Recruiter[/card] and [card]Shardless Agent[/card] as value cards, as well as a single [card]Eternal Witness[/card]. The deck is a perfectly fine choice but when your combo can go off on turn three at the earliest, you fall into some small issues in regards speed. However, Goldman-Kirst was able to pilot the deck to a great finish so perhaps, it’s time to bring the deck back? A man can dream.
After Aluren, the big head turner of the Top 8 was Chase Hansen’s Reanimator deck. Reanimator making the Top 8 wasn’t that much of a surprise. It’s become very popular in Legacy over the last few months and it’s got a good Shardless and a good Miracles matchup. But this particular build is very strange. Two maindeck copies of [card]Misdirection[/card] and three copies of [card]Izzet Charm[/card] immediately jump out to me. Charm is a card I’ve liked since it was first spoiled but it’s hard to find a home for two mana [card]Spell Pierce[/card]. Now the other modes are very relevant, but at two mana it’s not fantastic and is just outclassed by other options. Although if it does have a home, it might be in Reanimator. The [card]Faithless Looting[/card] mode is very good in this deck and having the ability to protect the combo or remove pressure in the form of [card]Insectile Aberration[/card], [card]Monastery Mentor[/card] or [card]Vendilion Clique[/card] is excellent. The Misdirections are probably a concession to the amount of [card]Abrupt Decay[/card]s that are seeing play, which is also why this deck is only running two [card]Animate Dead[/card].
I do quite like the singleton [card]Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy[/card] in this deck as it functions as a repeatable looting outlet which can be very good when you draw one too many reanimation targets. [card]Jace, Telepath Unbound[/card] is also a fine addition to the deck when he appears, helping to either stem the bleeding when you’re under fire or flashback a reanimation spell from earlier in the game. I’m not certain if I’d bump the wee lad to two copies as I’ve yet to do any testing with him in Reanimator.
I was surprised to see Lands win the tournament. It’s a deck that I find will often make the Top 8 consistently but will have difficulty closing out the tournament. I even said last week that I wouldn’t expect any kind of [card]Mox Diamond[/card] strategy but yet those words couldn’t be further from the truth. Jarvis Yu’s winning deck has nothing out of the ordinary, bar a very cool single copy of [card]Molten Vortex[/card], which was already starting to see play in Lands, and a juicy one of [card]Riftstone Portal[/card]. In many ways, I’m not surprised. It’s a deck that has a pretty good Miracles matchup and an equally good Shardless matchup, I find, seeing as it’s able to keep up the card advantage, albeit in different ways. Lands has also always been good at preying on fair decks, and now that the Delver decks are moving towards a [card]Young Pyromancer[/card] approach, [card]The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale[/card] is just obscene. Though I don’t expect Lands to suddenly dominate considering how expensive the deck is, thanks to the aforementioned Tabernacle, as well as the playsets of both [card]Wasteland[/card] and [card]Rishadan Port[/card]. However when it does show up, I could definitely see it making a great run.
So that was GP Seattle. I don’t know how many people got a chance to see the coverage but Channel Fireball did a great job. The Timeshifted matches they had in between rounds were excellent, and something I think other broadcasters could definitely look at doing. Well done to them for the GP, they really ended the Legacy year on a bang.
Which brings me to my next point. And it’s a bit of an elephant in the room, but also not really.
Last week, after my article had been sent in, Star City Games announced their plans for the Open Series next year, including a brand change to the Open Tour and the removal of a season, going from four to three. But the big change that has a lot of people upset and angry is their Legacy support, or moreso, their waning support.
The company announced that they would be continuing with the mini-GP structure that they had introduced for the 2015 season, something I was generally happy with, even though I wasn’t a fan of the sudden drop in Legacy coverage. They also announced that they were dropping Legacy as an Invitational format, and so far, only one Legacy Open is scheduled to take place in Season One. To compensate, they are still running the Premier Invitational Qualifiers at each Open. However, the prize pool will not be money. Instead, they will be tickets for a Prize Wall, akin to what we have seen at GPs.
Now, I don’t want to sound subjective, and I’m going to do my best to not, but these changes are ridiculous. Cutting back on the amount of Legacy coverage was bad. The format wasn’t getting the regular attention it used to and we lost the regular big tournaments for data purposes. But I could understand this because the commentators were being overworked. And SCG’s coverage would lose a lot if Patrick Sullivan and Cedric Phillips were showing signs of weariness. But these changes are bad for the format. And not because we’ve only got one Open in the first third of the year, which is still pretty poor. Changing the PIQ prize payouts to non redeemable prize tickets, that can’t be “banked” from one event to another, is almost insulting. Several players used to fly or make long travel arrangements for these PIQs and now, SCG have decided to acknowledge that by giving you the chance of winning unsold Commander product and playmats, if what we’ve seen at GPs is anything to go by.
Now this has enraged the Legacy community, and not just in America. Over here in Europe, we’re angry. It doesn’t impact us but when we saw that there would be loads of people selling out of Legacy, we raised our voices just as much. It’s been clear that Legacy is an underdog format that hasn’t had fantastic support, especially in most of America. But things like this just make it harder to continue playing paper Legacy, for some people. And that makes me very sad.
But I’m not going to be one of those people yelling to the heavens, “Legacy is dead! Sell your duals! Sell your duals!” I’m keeping my duals, thank you very much because 2016 looks set to be cracking for Legacy. Not only are there three Legacy GPs next year (two of which are on the same weekend!) but Bazaar of Moxen announced, almost immediately after SCG made their announcement, that they would be hosting six (Yes, SIX.) Legacy Opens in Europe, each with a prize pool of 7,500 Euros. Just read that sentence again. I know I am.
That’s just amazing. I’ve already booked time off work for the one in London and the one in Germany, and maybe I might just book a third off. The BoM has always been a great supporter of Legacy and Vintage, part of the reason they were asked to organise GP Lille this year, so seeing them host six opens for the format is just huge. Plus, the MKM Open Series is starting to pick up traction and who knows, with enough success and time, we could see that becoming the European SCG Circuit.
So yes, the naysayers are out in full force, and people are mudslinging and badmouthing all around, but all they gotta do is take a look at what’s out there and see how much Legacy is happening. And how great it is to be playing the format right now. The format is diverse and filled with all kinds of great decks. People were saying the format was going to revert back to pre-Khans of Tarkir after the most recent banning, but that’s not even true because Canadian Threshold was the best deck back then, and I don’t even know if there is a best deck, let alone consider it to be Canadian Threshold.
If you guys have any suggestions for what you’d like me to chat about next time, let me know down below. Until then, remember: Let the Cascade trigger resolve!
Land Destruction (it’s not what you think)
People generally hate land destruction in EDH and I think that’s okay. Land destruction is not terribly fun for the affected and tends to make games last forever. So we’re a no go on land destruction – but what about land DESTRUCTION? As in, destroying people with your lands? That sounds about a million times better and way more fun. With Zendikar back in the MTG spotlight, so too is the spotlight back on lands and their effect on the battlefield. So let’s take a look at 5 commanders who give land destruction a whole new meaning.
[card]Kamahl, Fist of Krosa[/card]
Kamahl is one syllable away from having the same name as legendary wrestler Kamala so already this guy has a leg up on most opponents he’ll face. Kamahl is all well and good in an animate land strategy but let’s be honest, he turns the once mighty lands around him into little wiener creatures who get eaten by Sanctuary Cats. I guess it’s a pretty good thing he comes with an Overrun tacked right onto his muscular-dude body. Overrun on a pair of jacked up hams? Count me IN.
Kamala, claw of Uganda. Remember when he didn’t know how to pin guys? Oh Kamala, will you ever win?
[card]Titania, Protector of Argoth[/card]
Titania is a very trendy commander these days it seems, she’s basically the Chipotle of EDH, or maybe Narset is Chipotle and Titania is the term “Netflix and chill” of EDH. Either way, she’s a top trend these days and it’s probably mostly due to the fact that she is a build-around commander that employs a different strategy. Titania’s gameplan is one we haven’t seen much of in Commander and no other general quite recreates the feel of her abilities. Titania (by the way, don’t try and make up a shortened version of her name, it won’t end well) kills people by sacrificing and killing her own lands and if that isn’t doubling up on land destruction, I don’t know what is.
[card]Omnath, Locus of Rage[/card]
What are we calling this guy? The angry cloud? Fire arms? Blob man? For the record, I’m up for any of those but I will need full credit if one goes viral and somehow starts making money. This isn’t related but it really looks like Omnath, Locus of Rage is wearing flared pants in his BFZ card. Blob-bottoms? Omnath is only one of 2 commanders that have the landfall ability and his is by far the best. When you drop lands, this guy drops 5/5 elementals. I feel like we can make this work in EDH and in fact I did in a recent episode of The Commander’s Brew that you can check out on iTunes or your local podcast app.
Check out those slacks!
[card]Borborygmos Enraged[/card]
What is it that Gruul commanders are so upset about? Is it the not being able to remove creatures efficiently in EDH? Is it the not being able to use conjunctions and make full sentences? These guys live in the forest and just hunt, eat and have sex all day. It’s primal but Jesus, it’s basically paradise. Seriously, relax. Borborygmos especially has nothing to complain about, he turns lands into Lightning Bolts and is even getting some play in Modern and he costs 7. GET OVER YOURSELF PAL.
(Fun fact: Borborygmus is an actual word for the noise your stomach makes before you fart or something)
[card]Jolrael, Empress of Beasts[/card]
Jolrael is a commander I didn’t even know existed until recently, mostly because strategies where you animate lands into creatures scare me. I live in fear of turning all my precious mana producing lands into little dudes, having someone drop an instant speed Rout and then I quickly cry like I’m watching the end of Pixar’s Inside Out. While Jolrael does nothing to quell those fears, she does offer up the option to respond to someone’s Wrath of God with an activation that can kill one of your opponent’s lands. Hope you guys like kid’s movies because Sadness might be at the controls when they see Jolrael in your command zone.
Since we can clearly see Jolrael is the queen ofour brand of land destruction, (let’s just ignore Titania, admittedly) AND killing other people’s lands, let’s dive a little deeper into Jolrael and exactly what it is that makes her and her deckmates such a force to be reckoned with.
[deck title=Jolrael and the Killer Forests]
[creatures]
*1 Acidic Slime
1 Avenger of Zendikar
*1 Baru, Fist of Krosa
*1 Borderland Ranger
*1 Budoka Gardener
*1 Farhaven Elf
*1 Frontier Guide
*1 Garruk’s Packleader
*1 Genesis Hydra
*1 Giant Adephage
*1 Grazing Gladehart
*1 Hornet Queen
*1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
*1 Liege of the Tangle
*1 Moldgraf Monstrosity
*1 Nacatl War-Pride
*1 Ondu Giant
*1 Oran-Rief Hydra
*1 Patron of the Orochi
*1 Pelakka Wurm
*1 Rampaging Baloths
*1 Silverglade Elemental
*1 Soul of New Phyrexia
*1 Sporemound
*1 Thelonite Druid
*1 Walking Atlas
*1 Wood Elves
*1 Woodborn Behemoth
*1 Terastodon
*1 Yavimaya Elder
[/creatures]
[spells]
*1 Beacon of Creation
*1 Boundless Realms
*1 Collective Unconscious
*1 Desert Twister
*1 Explosive Vegetation
*1 Gaea’s Touch
*1 Harmonize
*1 Harrow
*1 Howl of the Night Pack
*1 Hunting Wilds
*1 Into the Wilds
*1 Khalni Heart Expedition
*1 Kodama’s Reach
*1 Life and Limb
*1 Natural Affinity
*1 Nissa’s Expedition
*1 Nissa’s Pilgrimage
*1 Overrun
*1 Overwhelming Stampede
*1 Ranger’s Path
*1 Reach of Branches
*1 Rites of Flourishing
*1 Rude Awakening
*1 Triumph of the Hordes
*1 Waiting in the Weeds
*1 Zendikar’s Roil
[/spells]
[land]
*39 Forest
*1 Myriad Landscape
[/land]
[/deck]
It’s often joked that the scariest turn one play is to play a basic Island. In this deck we’ll be taking that joke and turning it into a hilarious twisted nightmare akin to M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening for our opponents by having them totally fear the forest. Since Jolrael turns our lands into attacking creatures, we definitely want as many Forests as possible and the more we have the more destruction they’ll cause and the more invisible gas they’ll make.
Cards that usually make people fear the basic forest are things like [card]Kalonian Twingrove[/card] or [card]Oran-Rief Hydra[/card] (both of which we have in this deck) but the real way to make your opponents tremble in fear isn’t to just plant a bunch of trees – it’s to plant a bunch of trees and then make your trees turn into monsters and decimate your competition. I’m talking about Shyamalan-levels of plant murdering creatures here. We’re going to make our opponents say “What? Noo!” like only Mark Wahlberg in a very unconvincing role in a horrendous motion picture can.
This guy is super confused. “Lands… are creatures?”
On the top of the “making forests monsters” card list is what I can only assume would be Ravishing Rick Rude’s all-time favourite Magic card, [card]Rude Awakening[/card]. I remember getting this card in a pack of Modern Masters and since I was just cracking them for “value” (I was new, okay?) I swear I could hear the Price is Right noise of people losing at Plinko ringing in my ears as I saw this in y rare slot. Animate lands? Entwine? I wanted a Kiki-Jiki! Well, lucky for us, years later Jolrael inspires me to build a deck and lo and behold, Rude Awakening pops its head out of my binder and becomes maybe the best card in my latest EDH deck.
The whole point of this deck is jam as many forests as possible on the battlefield, turn them into creatures and then swing in for a kill. Rude Awakening not only achieves this, but can also become a massive ramp spell while at the same time surprise blocking an invading army. Honestly, the value is like… wow… I just need a second okay?
Sorry about that, okay back on track here, Rude Awakening isn’t the only card in the deck that springs our lands into battle, in addition to Jolrael we’ve enlisted the help of the instant speed [card]Natural Affinity[/card], [card]Thelonite Druid[/card] which turns our lands into 2/3s but requires a sacrifice first and [card]Hunting Wilds[/card] which is a little mini Rude Awakening plus a bit of ramp. We also have [card]Life and Limb[/card], but I’ll be honest I think this one is a little risky, as once it’s out there, your lands are permanently creatures and thus very open to a mass removal… happening.
So if you haven’t figured it out by now, Jolrael and her forests are going to use a classic swarm strategy of making a million guys and then pumping them all up and swinging in huge. So let’s support it not only with token producers, but with token producers based on how many lands we have. [card]Beacon of Creation[/card], [card]Howl of the Night Pack[/card] and the totally, insanely good [card]Avenger of Zendikar[/card] all make as many tokens as we have lands and in this deck, we will have a LOT of lands. My personal favourite of these being [card]Waiting in the Weeds[/card] mostly because of the amazing art featuring the weirdest cats in the world. (Which apparently were supposed to be squirrels?)
“Well Jerry, your cat is fine but it got into a fight in the forest and now it’s ears are 3 feet long.”
Playing any mono-coloured strategy in EDH can be risky, so whenever you do it, it’s a good idea to really play to the strengths of that colour. In our case, Jolrael does exactly that by utilizing ramp as a way of building up an army. Any EDH player worth their salt knows a good amount of green ramp spells so I’ll just say that [card]Boundless Realms[/card] is so good it’s sort of like that scene in The Happening when the guy said he was bringing hotdogs on the trip for no reason. Some other ramp spells that may not come to mind right away include [card]Skyshroud Claim[/card], [card]Ranger’s Path[/card], [card]Silverglade Elemental[/card] and [card]Gaea’s Touch[/card]. All excellent ramp spells that you may not normally play in a multi-coloured deck, but really shine in mono-green.
So that’s how you destroy your friends with the very air-bringing trees around them. Throw a few landfall cards in there like [card]Zendikar’s Roil[/card], [card]Rampaging Baloths[/card] and [card]Sporemound[/card] for some reach, a few aforementioned [card]Overrun[/card] effects and watch as your army of tree-beast-monster things take down your enemies’ Commanders, power lines, ill-parked cars and bands of travelers outrunning a mysterious and ridiculous gas the trees are emitting because somehow they’re mad at people for global warming.
Topics include: A dalliance with Legacy, publishing match-up percentages, Legendary Cube, The Force Awakens fears, Slick’s gaming and e-sports outlook, video game nostalgia, JR’s Daily Fantasy Sports legal update, multiplayer Magic, the Goiânia accident, and the “Baghdad Battery”.
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JR — @time_elemental
Control decks have lost their way in BFZ Standard. They currently represent Less than five percent of the winning meta game. Control often flounders in the early meta because the deck is made of answers. If the threats haven’t stabilized in the meta, it is hard to know which answers to include. There are a number of different lists being piloted in that tiny percentage of the field, and I’d like to take a look at them to find similarities and differences to help you design your own take on this extremely fun deck type.
Control decks are made primarily of answers to assumed threats. They grind down opponents by trading one card for two, drawing additional cards, and removing any important threats from the board. In the late game, control decks become heavily favored because their players will have more cards in hand, more options, and usually a consistent, hard-to-kill threat on the table. The Esper Dragons list from the previous Standard meta is a great example. The deck was made of removal spells like [card]Bile Blight[/card], [card]Hero’s Downfall[/card], [card]Languish[/card], and [card]Crux of Fate[/card], counterspells like [card]Silumgar’s Scorn[/card] and [card]Dissolve[/card], card draw spells like [card]Dig Through Time[/card], and one monster threat in [card]Dragonlord Ojutai[/card]. There were other role players in the deck, but essentially we removed threats and plopped an Ojutai on the table once we had that mana to play and protect him. Then he became an opponent-damaging, card-drawing machine. If you could play and protect him, the game was pretty much over. A few key cards like [card]Hero’s Downfall[/card], [card]Bile Blight[/card], and [card]Dissolve[/card] rotated with Theros block. There are a few replacements, but they are deceptively much worse in most situations than their Theros counterparts.
Playing control has been tough lately because of GW Megamorph’s ability to gain card advantage through Deathmist Raptor recursion, Den Protector antics, and Mastery of the Unseen’s manifests. Recently, the renewal of Crackling Doom has made sticking a late game threat more challenging, forcing Ojutai control players to turn to different strategies. The midrange strategies like Jeskai Black and GW Megamorph pose trouble for control’s strategy. What is a control player to do? I’d like to bring a few of the control options in BFZ that are waffling for supremacy to light and see what makes them tic, and what deck combinations might be possible as the format matures.
Here are a number of different control lists that have some promise in the new format. Most of these won’t see significant competitive play, but you never know when an odd list might break out against a shifting field. They are listed in order of their current meta game percentage as measured on MTGGoldfish.com.
One thing jumps out at me when I look over all of these lists. Even though they don’t all attack along the same lines of offense nor utilize the same defensive measures, they all play white and most count white as a core color making up a significant portion of their deck.
The second thing I notice is that the most competitive deck (Esper Dragons) runs 4 [card]Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy[/card]s while only two other decks run Jace at all, and then only as a two of. Jace has been a hot button in the Standard crowd over the past month as his price has skyrocketed to over $70. Even though he fits right into the control strategy, brewers are maneuvering around him possibly because of the extremely high price tag. So far, the lists without Jace haven’t seen much success.
[card]Dig Through Time[/card] is everyone’s favorite card drawing engine. Cast spells, draw more cards! The number two card, [card]Scatter to the Winds[/card], which also happens to be a [card]Dissolve[/card] minus the scry is a blue answer with upside. [card]Stasis Snare[/card] is a one-size fits all answer to your opponent’s creatures. [card]Planar Outburst[/card] is the new wrath of choice leaving behind any land creatures you might have made with a previous Outburst or with Scatter. [card]Ojutai’s Command[/card] shines brightly with Jace and [card]Arashin Cleric[/card]. [card]Silkwrap[/card] is a great answer for an opponent’s Jace, and considering everyone is playing this little bugger, it is a good idea to have some cards designed specifically to deal with him. [card]Silkwrap[/card] also prevents an opponent from using [card]Ojutai’s Command[/card] to get their Jace back on the battlefield. [card]Duress[/card] helps us prevent Gideon from hitting the table and also the various commands from interfering with our card dominance. [card]Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy[/card] is in just about everybody’s deck. He is a card drawing, pitching, and then recurring engine. Lastly, [card]Dispel[/card] is an efficient counter for our opponents’ spells.
The only black card in the top ten list is duress, and I think that overall the control strategy for BFZ is shedding black. The black removal isn’t as good with the loss of [card]Hero’s Downfall[/card], [card]Bile Blight[/card], and [card]Drown in Sorrow[/card]. White removal has jumped way ahead with [card]Stasis Snare[/card], [card]Silkwrap[/card], [card]Planar Outburst[/card], [card]Quarantine Field[/card], and [card]Suppression Bonds[/card]. Hand disruption is strictly worse with the loss of [card]Thoughtseize[/card]. Black just isn’t as powerful in the control shell as it was in the last season.
The thing that this top ten doesn’t take into account are the finishers and role players. [card]Dragonlord Ojutai[/card] is certainly a star, as well as [card]Secure the Wastes[/card], and [card]Ugin, the Spirit Dragon[/card]. We can find multiple examples of these finishers throughout the deck lists.
As far as role players go, I think we include at least one copy of [card]Valorous Stance[/card] mostly as removal, but also to prevent our precious creatures from being removed. This can be quite a surprise to an opponent in game two or three when they have seen no copies yet.
What if we took all the most played cards in these control decks and made a list? It might look something like this. Maybe W/U Hodgepodge Control will show up in your meta next week?
[deck title= BFZ Hodgepodge W/U Control]
[Creatures]
4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
1 Arashin Cleric
1 Dragonlord Ojutai
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Stasis Snare
4 Silkwrap
4 Dig Through Time
3 Planar Outburst
4 Scatter to the Winds
2 Dispel
4 Ojutai’s Command
1 Valorous Stance
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Secure the Wastes
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Prairie Stream
4 Tranquil Cove
4 Flooded Strand
8 Plains
7 Islands
[/Land]
[Side]
3 Arashin Cleric
2 Valorous Stance
2 Dispell
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Secure the Wastes
3 Dragonlord Ojutai
2 Murderous Cut
1 Orbs of Warding
[/side]
[/deck]
Topics include: Breaking news on pack-mapping to locate BFZ Expeditions, population growth and economics, the CNBC debate fiasco, some Commander 2015 cards, Shadows over Innistrad, Star City’s diminished Legacy support, and the Travis Woo fiasco.
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Well it’s been quite an interesting couple of weeks. The banlist update really did give Legacy a new breath of life, not that it needed one but it’s certainly a great time to be playing the format. In the past two weeks alone, we’ve had an MKM Series in Prague and an SCG Open in St Louise and both have yielded some interesting results. We now have two large sets of data to analyse the format with, which is going to give us a great idea as to what it’s going to be like in Seattles in a week’s time, as well as how the format could adapt to this new change.
But let’s begin with me,and the changes that I’ve made to my deck, Miracles.
Losing [card]Dig Through Time[/card] didn’t send any fears or worries through Miracle players. In fact, some of us were a little happy because it meant we were once again, one of, if not the, best late game deck in the format, now that Delver decks couldn’t just reload when things got grindy. After Dig got banned, I started wondering what I could play in those two slots. I had though about adding a second [card]Counterspell[/card] or throw in some more permission in the form of [card]Spell Pierce[/card] but I decided that I was already well equipped with permission that I didn’t really need it. Someone suggested trying [card]Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy[/card] but I don’t believe it’s as good, or better than the man himself, [card]Jace, the Mind Sculptor[/card]. Though we’ll be talking about the Wallet Sculptor in the not too distant future.
And then it hit me. Reading through the Legacy subreddit I found my answer.
[card]Fact or Fiction[/card].
Bear with me guys. This is legit. I tried putting in one and a second Counterspell and every time I drew the FoF, it was just insane. It gives the deck a potential source of card advantage, something Miracles isn’t particularly good at, outside of [card]Counterbalance[/card] and Jace. Even just using it as a way of clearing the top three cards, while not ideal, can certainly be beneficial. And boy oh boy, was it good in the mirror. It helped when the game got stagnant and it was often times, a pseudo-win condition. I added a second, as a replacement to the second Counterspell.
Another big change that happened was something that many found very controversial. I hadn’t made the decision to include [card]Monastery Mentor[/card] in the seventy-five up until this week. I wasn’t wholly convinced on it, and I certainly wasn’t convinced on the versions that ran four as well as cards like [card]Daze[/card] and even [card]Cavern of Souls[/card]. I didn’t like turning on removal in my opponent’s deck and I just didn’t believe that it did a better job than [card]Entreat the Angels[/card] by providing an efficient, consistently powerful win condition that could play a defensive role.
However this week I decided I would try two in the sideboard for the combo and mirror matches and I ate my words faster than I could breath. The card is insane. I wanted to sideboard it in nearly ever match. Despite how much I love Entreat, Mentor is just so much more powerful and isn’t a dead draw. It’s easier to cast and actually synergises with what you’re already trying to do. Fair enough, you can’t use it to take down an [card]Insectile Aberration[/card] or [card]Vendilion Clique[/card] but you can still chump [card]Tarmogoyf[/card] for days and it’s just a counter to [card]Young Pyromancer[/card]. After a day of testing online, I moved the two to the mainboard and have arrived at this list.
[deck title=Miracles]
[Creatures]
*2 Snapcaster Mage
*2 Monastery Mentor
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
*4 Sensei’s Divining Top
*4 Counterbalance
*4 Ponder
*4 Brainstorm
*4 Force of Will
*4 Swords to Plowshares
*3 Terminus
*2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
*2 Fact or Fiction
*1 Supreme Verdict
*1 Council’s Judgment
*1 Counterspell
*1 Entreat the Angels
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*4 Flooded Strand
*3 Scalding Tarn
*2 Arid Mesa
*1 Polluted Delta
*3 Tundra
*2 Volcanic Island
*3 Island
*2 Plains
*1 Mystic Gate
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
*2 Pyroblast
*1 Red Elemental Blast
*2 Vendilion Clique
*1 Rest in Peace
*1 Baneslayer Angel
*1 Mountain
*1 Surgical Extraction
*1 Containment Priest
*1 Flusterstorm
*1 Izzet Staticaster
*1 Council’s Judgment
*1 Wear // Tear
*1 Engineered Explosives
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
For the most part, this is effectively what the Miracle Dude himself, Phillipp Schonegger, has recommended for going to GP Seattle but I’ve made a few personal tweaks. I’ve mentioned my love of FoF in this deck and I think two is a good number, though I understand playing none at all as it does cast four mana and can brick entirely, and believe me, it does. Though I think if Shardless BUG is going to be the next best deck (which it certainly looks like it could be) then I think it provides a good shot at taking that on, as well as the mirror, as I’ve mentioned.
I’ve been playing with [card]Supreme Verdict[/card] in Miracles for a long time and I think it’s a very underplayed card in Legacy. Originally that slot was a second [card]Council’s Judgement[/card] but I found that Verdict did the same thing most of the time, but couldn’t be countered and could be pitched to [card]Force of Will[/card], which is a merit on its own. Four mana is a lot and sometimes you can’t afford or simply can’t get two white on turn four but I believe as a one-of, it provides a clean, effective way of resetting the board if you’re beginning to feel the heat.
The manabase as well has some funk in it in the form of [card]Mystic Gate[/card] which I’ve borrowed from Joe Losset and have borrowed since I started playing the deck over a year ago. It allows me to play cards like Verdict and originally, the second Judgement, and also has a benefit of protecting me from [card]Choke[/card], which was a bit of a local meta call but I still think that it’s a very viable way of going about things. The fetchlands as well are up to you, but I think that [card]Flooded Strand[/card] is an automatic playset in whatever configuration you go for. All you need your lands to really do is fetch Islands, hence why I’ve cut one of the Islands for a single [card]Polluted Delta[/card], simply as another shuffle effect and some small defense against an aggressive [card]Pithing Needle[/card].
Most of the sideboard is stock as well with a few exceptions. The single basic Mountain has been a favourite of mine for a while and helps me bring in the heavy amount of red without needing to fear [card]Wasteland[/card]. The [card]Izzet Staticaster[/card] was originally a [card]Sulfur Elemental[/card] but now that I’ve made the switch to Mentor, Staticaster does effectively the same job, pitches to Force, and has a lot more versatility than just being a complete sledgehammer to Death and Taxes, which it is still excellent against, as it can take out [card]Phyrexian Revoker[/card], something Sulfur Elemental can’t. The [card]Baneslayer Angel[/card] is another personal love of mine. It gives me an alternative win condition that, against some decks, just can’t be answered profitably without countermagic. When Canadian Threshold was riding high, Baneslayer was often what brought me back into the game after having a Miracles or two [card]Stifle[/card]’d or a Counterbalance [card]Daze[/card]’d. I’ve even brought it in against midrange-y decks as a way of closing out the game relatively quickly and it makes the 12-Post matchup a lot more bearable.
So with that out of the way, let’s gaze into our [card]Crystal Ball[/card] and see what will the world be like in GP Seattle.
From what we’ve seen in the past two large events in Europe and America, Miracles is still king however it is not dominant at all. There were two copies in the Top 8 of MKM Prague and only one in the Top 8 at the open in St Louis. And that I would attribute to the fact that the MKM Series is smaller and Miracles is a more popular deck in Europe than it is in America. In Prague, Storm took down the tournament (though the Top 4 decided to split and Storm came first based off of Swiss standings) and Infect won in St Louis, in the hands of known Infect pilot, Tom Ross. In fact, outside of Miracles, the only overlap was Storm, which wasn’t particularly surprising considering Storm has a great Shardless BUG matchup.
I’m going to expect a lot of Shardless at GP Seattle. Possibly more than Miracles. I foresee a lot of the Pros who don’t play a lot of Legacy picking up Shardless for the weekend as it’s the deck that can beat the best deck reliably and has great game in a very slow field, which is what this format is certainly shaping up to be. There’s also going to be a hefty amount of combo but I don’t think Sneak and Show will be prevalent. It’s generally a very popular deck in America but I don’t think it’s as good as it was a few months ago. Miracles has a great game against it, I find, and it’s a very easy deck to attack. I could possibly see the BGx decks making an appearance, like Jund, Maverick and Punishing Blue though I doubt the [card]Mox Diamond[/card] strategy will be out in force. Again, I think it will depend on if the European players make a big showing.
If I were to make a prediction, I would say that this is what the Top 8 would contain:
2 Shardless BUG
1 Miracles
1 Death and Taxes
1 Storm
1 Infect
1 4C Delver
1 “Flex slot”
Though I could be entirely wrong, this is what I think is going to be in the Top 8. The “flex sot” is basically a wild card, an anything goes type of outcome. Perhaps someone gets fantastically lucky or a Pro makes a great run in the tournament. And I honestly think this is a very fine Top 8. All the decks have a fighting chance against one another, with some matches a little bit lopsided, but if this is what was produced on Sunday, I would feel very happy about where Legacy is.
So those are my thoughts on the upcoming GP. I hope that those of you who will be going have a blast as it looks to set to end the Legacy year with a bang. A GP only a month after a banning and with only two tournaments of data? These are the times in Legacy when anything can go and the meta is in a state of flux. Perhaps we may even see some new tech from Battle for Zendikar (come on Brave Sir Robin, I believe in you).
Next week I’ll be taking a look at the Littlest Jace that Could and if he possibly has a home in this format alongside his big daddy, Mr Mind Sculptor. Until then, don’t forget your Tabernacle costs!
Topics include: if you need to know anything about Hasbro’s earnings call, Twitter’s growth, whether Ingest is less fun as a mechanic than Annihilator, The Dust Bowl, Love Canal, the “Dog Suicide Bridge” of Scotland, The Changeling and Yale alumni obituaries from 1923, investing in “haunted houses”, and Commander 2015 anticipation.
** This cast is for mature listeners **
Your Hosts:
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JR — @time_elemental
It became a necessity to find something else to play after losing eight straight rounds with Atarka Landfall, and another 4 with Atarka Red. I was determined to stop losing to the various Jeskai and Abzan decks that were flooding the format. Suddenly something clicked in my head while watching the coverage of Pro Tour Battle for Zendikar on Friday. [card]Silkwrap[/card] they had said again and again on coverage. They kept talking about [card]Silkwrap[/card], and then I remembered how many cards there were that exiled creatures and permanents and went to work.
After about twenty minutes I had a rough list for the deck and picked up the cards on Magic Online. And then my wife started looking at me like I’m an idiot as I sat at my computer laughing my ass off while playing the deck. She finally looked over in time to see me land a [card]Starfield of Nyx[/card] and swing for lethal. “How much was that?” she asked as I was laughing hysterically “All of the damages.” I relied. This went on for about two hours until I realized Atarka Red was still a deck and that I needed sweepers.
I went to work trying to figure out what I was going to use to help keep the early threats away. I finally decided that [card]Radiant Flames[/card] was exactly the early sweeper I needed and Immediately put some [card]Outpost Siege[/card] in the sideboard to help in the controlling matchups. After a few more matches I realized I wanted to play this at the PPTQ the next day if I didn’t qualify for the Magic Online PTQ that night with it, so we ended up making a round to the local shops and picking everything I didn’t have up for about $80.00.
I played quite a few more matches trying to ensure that I had the right configuration of cards at my disposal while preparing for the Magic Online PPTQ. I felt like I had it right, so I brought up the window to join. I must have gotten distracted by something, because as I watched the timer count down to begin the event I was doing various things. Suddenly the event began, but my match didn’t pop up. I looked all over for my name, thinking I had gotten the bye. Suddenly it hit me that I had somehow not joined the event. Oops. Well I guess I am playing that PPTQ tomorrow after all.
I showed up to the PPTQ with plenty of time to spare, and waited and waited. We eventually had the event start with eight players. That meant single elimination. I was paired against a Dark Jeskai deck. I was able to maintain the board, but he kept getting in with [card]Mantis Rider[/card]s the turn he would cast them and chipping away with a couple points of burn here and there to take me down a game. Game two I was able to land some win conditions and slowly take the game. Game three didn’t go so well as he had a [card]Disdainful Stroke[/card] waiting for my only win condition of [card]Sigil of the Empty Throne[/card] while I drew nothing relevant.
Do I have enough time to make it to states? I think I do! As I ran off to my car. I made it with about five minutes to spare before the tournament was supposed to start. I quickly got registered and my deck list written out, and then waited about a half an hour for the tournament to start. So much for rushing.
Here is the list that I played for the tournament.
[deck title= States Enchantress]
[Creatures]
4 Herald of the Pantheon
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Myth Realized
4 Silkwrap
4 Suspension Field
4 Stasis Snare
3 Elemental Bond
4 Starfield of Nyx
4 Sigil of the Empty Throne
4 Quarantine Field
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Canopy Vista
1 Cinder Glade
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Forest
10 Plains
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
2 Celestial Flare
4 Surge of Righteousness
3 Radiant Flames
2 Outpost Siege
2 Suppression Bonds
2 Planar Outburst
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
Round 1- 4 Color Abzan 2-0
Game 1- I started off quite slow this game being down a card on the play, while he was able to put on a lot of pressure. Some timely draws an a [card]Starfield of Nyx[/card] were able to put my opponent on the defensive and then out of the game after being active for a couple of turns.
Game 2- I was able to just dominate this game with some anemic beats from a [card]Myth Realized[/card] backed by all the removal ever.
Round 2- Esper Dragons 2-0
Game 1- I was able to play super tight getting into a battle over a [card]Dragonlord Ojutai[/card] at the end of his turn allowing me to resolve a [card]Starfield of Nyx[/card] on my turn and take over the game.
Game 2- Was super super long, so just some of the cool plays. I was able to resolve a [card]Starfield of Nyx[/card] as some point with active [card]Outpost Siege[/card]. He countered a [card]Suppression Bonds[/card] earlier in the game which I was able to bring back into play on his [card]Dragonlord Ojutai[/card], which would force him to find a 2nd one if he wants to attack with one. He did play another and I brought the [card]Suspension Bonds[/card] back into play on it. [card]Celestial Flare[/card] was also very good as another way to get his dragons off the board, and I did draw both of them.
Round 3- Mono Green Eldrazi 1-2
Game 1- He drew all of his [card]Nissa’s Pilrimage[/card]s and a [card]Nissa’s Renewal[/card]to ramp while I sat on all of my [card]Silkwrap[/card]s not being able to remove all his gigantic creatures.
Game 2- I ran out an early [card]Herald of the Pantheon[/card] and an early [card]Sigil of the Empty Throne[/card], and just ran him down through him drawing both of his [card]Windstorm[/card].
Game 3- I drew all of my [card]Suspension Field[/card]s while he drew all of his mana dorks this time, I started to put myself in the game when he nailed me with an [card]Ugin, the Spirit Dragon[/card] to essentially end the game on the spot.
Round 4- Mono Green Eldrazi 2-1
Game 1- I had the early aggro game again with a [card]Herald of the Pantheon[/card] into turn four [card]Sigil of the Empty Throne[/card] and turn five [card]Sigil of the Empty Throne[/card] to easily close out game one.
Game 2- I started off pretty great until he cast [card]Ugin, the Spirit Dragon[/card] on turn six or seven to get everything back. I was unable to draw and answer in the few turns I had left to me.
Game 3- I went super aggressive with a [card]Herald of the Pantheon[/card] into [card]Sigil of the Empty Throne[/card], and was able to fade his good draws for long enough to win
Round 5- 4 Color Control 0-2
Game 1- I resolved a [card]Myth Realized[/card] early, but nothing else relevant. He was able to counter every relevant spell I drew and ended the game with an end of turn [card]Secure the Wastes[/card] for something like eight.
Game 2- I was only able to resolved [card]Myth Realized[/card] again this game losing to a flurry of counterspells and a [card]Secure the Wastes[/card].
At this point I was super bummed that I had lost a second match, and very pissed at how few spells I had resolved that match. Fortunately my friends were able to help me calm down and get my head back in the game.
Round 6 Bant Megamorph 2-1
Game 1- I mulliganed to six and flooded super hard while he was able to get an emsemble cast of planeswalkers active.
Game 2- I exiled about ten creatures/planeswalkers while beating down with a [card]Herald of the Pantheon[/card] to end the game.
Game 3- I started super strong with the turn four [card]Sigil of the Empty Throne[/card] plan, and ate three of his creatures in a turn to end the game.
I didn’t think I would make top eight, but was hopeful that I could somehow slide in. But when the standings went up I was in ninth. No prize, no glory, but the deck was great.
Over the course of the tournament I realized just how bad [card]Elemental Bond[/card] was and how often I stalled on mana and changed the deck a bit.
[deck title= Enchantress]
[Creatures]
4 Herald of the Pantheon
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Myth Realized
4 Silkwrap
4 Suspension Field
4 Stasis Snare
2 Outpost Siege
4 Starfield of Nyx
4 Sigil of the Empty Throne
4 Quarantine Field
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Canopy Vista
2 Cinder Glade
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Forest
10 Plains
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
3 Celestial Flare
4 Surge of Righteousness
3 Radiant Flames
1 Outpost Siege
2 Suppression Bonds
2 Planar Outburst
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
The deck is super hard to sideboard with, as most of the cards do roughly the same thing. But one thing I have been doing is cutting a [card]Plains[/card] on the draw.
That’s all I have for now. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below and I will do my best to answer them.
Thanks for reading,
Josh Milliken
@joshuamilliken on Twitter
In my last article, I talked about what kind of things to take into account when you’re choosing how to store & organize your Magic collection. This time, I’m going to talk about a few of the most common methods people use to store their cards and how well they work for different purposes.
Classic pile of cards. Courtesy of Casper Orluff
I know some players who use this method, I think because it takes no time or effort at all. Simply throw your cards on top of last week’s, and you’re sorted. It’s easy to expand this method as your collection grows, however your housemates/significant other/neighbours may object.
However, it’s not that great when it comes to keeping them in good condition. Cards get easily scratched or bent when they’re in a heap, and people are less likely to trade with you if your cards are in bad condition. It’s also difficult to find a card when you want one for a trade or a deck, and you may end up buying or trading for cards you already own and just can’t find.
A shoebox is a fine place to start storing a small collection. Our collection lived in a shoebox until we both started drafting a lot and it outgrew the box.
Firstly, it’s super cheap – assuming you bought some shoes at some point, the box comes free. Also, it’s easy enough to carry a shoebox around if you need to – as long as the lid doesn’t fall off during transport.
It’s pretty easy to use a few bits of cardboard to divide up the box into sections so that you can begin to sort your cards to easily find what you’re looking for. You don’t even need to sort too much as your collection will be pretty small so just splitting by colour or set would be fine.
A shoebox is fairly robust so can hold as many cards as you can pack into it without falling apart, and it will keep the cards in decent condition – one thing to watch out for though is that you may not be able to completely fill the box as it might not be the right shape to hold rows of cards, and if your cards are rattling round then they might get damaged as you carry the box around.
Fat pack boxes come in different designs for each new set.
These are the main kinds of boxes sold by Wizards of the Coast, they’re pretty easy to get hold of as most shops that stock MTG will have these for sale at some point – fat packs when each set is released, and holiday boxes in November or December. Fat packs generally don’t cost very much more than the price of the nine boosters that come with it, so the box itself isn’t a huge cost if you were planning to buy some boosters anyway, the holiday boxes are a bit more expensive for what you get but the box is a more useful size.
They’re about as easy to transport as a shoebox, and the lid is a bit less likely to fall off in transit – holiday boxes get quite heavy when they’re full, though.
The holiday box is divided into three rows and comes with a few dividers, which makes it quite easy to organise cards and split them into sections. Additionally, you can fit a plastic deck box inside a fat pack or holiday box to separate out some particular cards, or so that you can fit your deck inside the box as well as loose cards.
These boxes are fairly robust, and they’re the correct size to fit an even row of cards in, so they keep your cards in fairly good condition. If you pack the box very full though, the cards at the front and back can get caught by the lid so I tend to put a bit of cardboard or a sleeve at each end to protect the end cards. You can also sleeve all your cards if you want to protect them from scratching against each other inside the box, but I don’t bother with that except for rares.
It’s fairly easy to expand your collection (unless Wizards discontinue these products) as you can just buy a new box each set or each year. A fat pack box will hold a playset (four) of all the commons and uncommons from a small set, and one row of a holiday box will hold a playset of all the commons and uncommons from a large set. As these boxes are all the same size, you can pile them up in a corner and keep all your cards in one place.
This long box can hold several thousand cards, so it’s good to use card dividers to split up the rows.
As I mentioned, the holiday boxes and fat packs are pretty expensive if you only want a box, and there are several manufacturers that make bigger boxes to store cards in. These can be single row or multiple rows (typically three or four), mostly they are corrugated cardboard but you can get single row metal or plastic tins also. Unfortunately they don’t tend to be stocked by the smaller gaming shops as they don’t sell very fast, so often the best place to get these is either at a large event with traders such as a Grand Prix, or buying online (and often the shipping can be more than the product).
These boxes (especially the multiple row boxes) are generally for long term storage as they’re quite difficult to transport without a car, and they get very heavy as they can hold a few thousand cards ie several sets worth. We use these for storing cards that have rotated out of the standard format as we don’t need to access those cards so often.
These boxes are a bit more robust than the fat packs and holiday boxes as they’re corrugated card not just thick cardboard. They generally come flat packed so you can order a bunch, and then assemble them as and when you need. They’re plain so you can write on them which cards/sets/colors are in which box for easy reference, but they don’t look very attractive.
Most players have at least a couple of binders to keep relevant trades in (this is a trading card game after all), and they can be split into two kinds – firstly the ‘book’ types which have pages of plastic pockets bound in – these come in different sizes but generally there are the small ones with four to a page, the A4 sized ones with nine to a page, and there’s also some new wider ones with three rows of four so you can keep playsets together. Secondly you can get ring binders and buy the loose pages of plastic pockets separately (these are all generally A4 sized with nine to a page). You can use any kind of ring binder really for these, and they’re easier to expand by just buying more sheets, but they also get pretty heavy.
Binders are generally more expensive than boxes for the amount of cards you can store, so most players use a combination of the two – binders for the higher value cards or easily traded cards, and boxes for storing at home.
Binders make it fairly easy to find what you’re looking for as you just flick through the pages. They also protect the cards quite well. One pitfall is that the cards can all slide out if your binder is accidentally turned upside down, so you need to be aware of that when it’s in your bag. There are book-type binders with pockets that open to the side rather than the top to avoid this problem.
The main reason why most players don’t use binders for all their cards is the expense vs how many cards you can store, binders also take up more space than boxes due to all the plastic pockets. If you have multiple binders be sure to label what’s in them to save time finding cards in the right binder. It can also take more time to organize your cards as when you want to add one card at the beginning, you then need to move every other card along one.
I don’t know any players myself that go to the trouble of getting furniture for the express purpose of storing cards, but I’ve seen a few examples online. If you can get hold of one of the old card index drawers that libraries used to use for library tickets, they tend to be the right size for storing cards too. These days most libraries will already have got rid of these as they’ve all switched to electronic databases but there’s a few around. Other people may also commission their own storage system that suits their collection. Obviously this is an investment, and it may not be that easy to expand once it’s filled. It looks a lot better than ratty cardboard boxes, though!
In the end, most players use a combination of methods to store their cards due to the different ways they want to use them. Hopefully you can now judge which ones are best for your collection.
Our Standard collection: Khans block, Origins, Battle for Zendikar plus trade binders
When Em is away, the Lennys will play. This week the guys discuss:
And we talk entirely too long about the 3fap device.
Contact Us!
Best Laid Plans – @BestLaid_Plans
Ken – @Load3r
Tommy – @T_Moles
Em – @sheMehay
Shane – @CreatureMystery
Topics include: possible seasonalities in violence, whether Walmart could be boycotted, PT anticipation, daily fantasy sports legal developments, and JR’s combo-oriented cube changes.
** This cast is for mature listeners **
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Welcome back for Brewing With Battle for Zendikar. First off let me apologize for the delay in this article, my computer died the day I was going to start and was down for a week. On the plus side it did give me some extra time to make even more decks.
This time I brought thirty decks to check out. I have not built fully formed sideboards, as the amount of testing to figure those out on so many decks would take months. Instead I’m providing four “Sideboard Suggestions” as cards to start with when building a sideboard. Let’s get to this wall of text…
I did get to test this Atarka Red list out this past weekend at a local PPTQ, not making Top 8 because I punted my win and in. I am providing the sideboard I used for the tournament.
[deck title= Atarka Red]
[Creatures]
4 Monastery Swiftspear
2 Lightning Berserker
2 Zurgo Bellstriker
4 Dragon Whisperer
4 Abbot of Keral Keep
2 Flamewake Phoenix
2 Yasova Dragonclaw
2 Shaman of the Great Hunt
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Wild Slash
4 Atarka’s Command
4 Dragon Fodder
4 Hordeling Outburst
1 Become Immense
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Cinder Glade
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
9 Mountain
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
3 Fiery Impulse
3 Roast
3 Barrage of Boulders
3 Retreat to Kazandu
2 Return to the Earth
1 Shaman of the Great Hunt
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Atarka Landfall]
[Creatures]
4 Monastery Swifrspear
4 Scythe Leopard
1 Zurgo Bellstriker
4 Abbot of Keral Keep
4 Makindi Sliderunner
4 Snapping Gnarlid
2 Hooting Mandrils
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Wild Slash
3 Titan’s Strength
4 Atarka’s Command
2 Become Immense
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Cinder Glade
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Forest
4 Mountain
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Boiling Earth
2 Outpost Siege
3 Return to Valakut
4 Roast
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Mardu Aggro]
[Creatures]
3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4 Monastery Swiftspear
3 Zurgo Bellstriker
4 Abbot of Keral Keep
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Soulfire Grand Master
4 Monastery Mentor
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Wild Slash
4 Crackling Doom
4 Kolaghan’s Command
[/Spells]
[Land]
2 Smoldering Marsh
1 Shambling Vent
2 Nomad Outpost
2 Caves of Koilos
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Mountain
3 Plains
1 Swamp
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Rising Miasma
2 Ruinous Path
3 Self-Inflicted Wound
4 Surge of Righteousness
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Red Deck Wins]
[Creatures]
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Lightning Berserker
2 Zurgo Bellstriker
4 Abbot of Keral Keep
4 Flamewake Phoenix
4 Shaman of the Great Hunt
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Wild Slash
4 Dragon Fodder
4 Hordeling Outburst
4 Exquisite Firecraft
[/Spells]
[Land]
19 Mountain
3 Blighted Gorge
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Barrage of Boulders
2 Fiery Impulse
3 Roast
4 Scab-Clan Berserker
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Abzan Midrange]
[Creatures]
4 Hangarback Walker
4 Rakshasha Deathdealer
4 Den Protector
3 Deathmist Raptor
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
3 Anafenza the Foremost
4 Siege Rhino
1 Tasigue, the Golden Fang
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Abzan Charm
4 Ruinous Path
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Shambling Vent
2 Canopy Vista
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Windswept Heath
3 Forest
1 Plains
2 Swamp
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Arashin Cleric
2 Duress
3 Self-Inflicted Wound
4 Surge of Righteousness
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Mono Green Ramp]
[Creatures]
4 Rattleclaw Mystic
4 Whisperer of the Wilds
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
4 Whisperwood Elemental
4 Oblivion Sower
2 Desolation Twin
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Hedron Archive
4 From Beyond
2 See the Unwritten
3 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
[/Spells]
[Land]
16 Forest
4 Spawning Bed
4 Foundry of the Consuls
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Gaea’s Revenge
2 Restreat to Kazandu
3 Scour from Existence
4 Undergrowth Champion
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= White Weenie]
[Creatures]
4 Expedition Envoy
4 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4 Dragon Hunter
4 Mardu Woe-Reaper
4 Bonded Construct
4 Knight of the White Orchid
3 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
4 Hidden Dragonslayer
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Stasis Snare
4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
[/Spells]
[Land]
12 Plains
4 Flooded Strand
4 Windswept Heath
2 Sandstone Bridge
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Blighted Steppe
2 Lantern Scout
3 Surge of Righteousness
4 Vryn Wingmare
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Mono Black Aggro]
[Creatures]
4 Hangarback Walker
4 Bloodsoaked Champion
4 Despoiler of Souls
4 Silumgar Assassin
3 Drana, Liberator of Malakir
3 Liliana, Heretical Healer
4 Mardu Strike Leader
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Ultimate Price
4 Ruinous Path
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
[/Spells]
[Land]
18 Swamp
4 Blighted Fen
2 Mortuary Mire
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Altar’s Reap
2 Duress
3 Languish
4 Self-Inflicted Wound
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Mono Green Aggro]
[Creatures]
4 Hangarback Walker
4 Servant of the Scale
4 Honored Hierarch
4 Avatar of the Resolute
4 Den Protector
3 Rattleclaw Mystic
4 Deathmist Raptor
4 Undergrowth Champion
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Collected Company
[/Spells]
[Land]
22 Forest
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Ainok Shaman
2 Inspiring Call
3 Plummet
4 Retreat to Kazandu
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Jund Devoid]
[Creatures]
4 Hangarback Walker
4 Forerunner of Slaughter
4 Rattleclaw Mystic
4 Catacomb Sifter
4 Smothering Abomination
4 Dust Stalker
2 Brood Butcher
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Ghostfire Blade
4 Ultimate Price
4 From Beyond
[/Spells]
[Land]
2 Cinder Glade
2 Smoldering Marsh
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Wooded Foothills
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Swamp
3 Forest
1 Mountain
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Duress
2 Naturalize
3 Retreat to Kazandu
4 Ruinous Path
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Boros Tokens]
[Creatures]
4 Hangarback Walker
4 Abbot of Keral Keep
4 Monastery Mentor
3 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2 Shaman of the Great Hunt
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Wild Slash
4 Dragon Fodder
4 Hordeling Outburst
4 Gideron, Ally of Zendikar
4 Secure the Wastes
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Wind-Scarred Crag
9 Mountain
6 Plains
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Arashin Ceric
2 Boiling Earth
3 Stasis Snare
4 Surge of Righteousness
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Izzet Tutelage]
[Creatures]
4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Magmatic Insight
4 Tormenting Voice
4 Send to Sleep
4 Sphinx’s Tutelage
4 Seismic Rupture
4 Monastery Siege
2 Alhammarret’s Archive
2 Dig Through Time
4 Teasure Cruise
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Swiftwater Cliffs
4 Shivan Reef
2 Blighted Cataract
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Polluted Delta
2 Spawning Bed
4 Island
4 Mountain
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Disperse
2 Fiery Impulse
3 Negate
4 Scatter to the Winds
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Rakdos Aggro]
[Creatures]
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Bloodsoaked Champion
2 Zurgo Bellstriker
4 Forerunner of Slaughter
4 Abbot of Keral Keep
4 Flamewake Phoenix
4 Brutal Hordechief
1 Gurmag Angler
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Wild Slash
4 Exquisite Firecraft
3 Kolaghan’s Command
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Smoldering Mire
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
8 Mountain
2 Swamp
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Barrage of Boulders
2 Duress
3 Ruinous Path
4 Virulent Plague
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Bant Superfriends]
[Creatures]
4 Jace, Vyn’s Prodigy
4 Rattleclaw Mystic
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Clash of Wills
4 Scatter to the Winds
3 Stasis Snare
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Kiora, Master of the Depths
2 Narset Transcendant
4 Planar Outburst
1 Ugin’s Insight
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2 Dig Through Time
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Lumbering Falls
2 Canopy Vista
4 Prairie Stream
2 Flooded Strand
4 Windswept Heath
3 Forest
4 Island
3 Plains
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Arashin’s Cleric
2 Monastery Siege
3 Negate
4 Silkwrap
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Grixis Dragons]
[Creatures]
3 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
2 Icefall Regent
1 Dragonlord Silumgar
1 Silumgar, the Drifting Death
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Silumgar’s Scorn
4 Draconic Roar
4 Foul-Toungue Invocation
4 Scatter to the Winds
3 Ruinous Path
3 Crux of Fate
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
4 Dig Through Time
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
4 Shivan Reef
4 Sunken Hollow
2 Smoldering Marsh
4 Polluted Delta
5 Island
3 Swamp
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Duress
2 Fiery Impulse
3 Radiant Flames
4 Thunderbreak Regent
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Jeskai Dragons]
[Creatures]
3 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
4 Soulfire Grandmaster
2 Thunderbreak Regent
3 Dragonlord Ojutai
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Firey Impulse
4 Silumgar’s Scorn
4 Draconic Roar
4 Scatter to the Winds
3 Stasis Snare
2 Ojutai’s Command
4 Dig Through Time
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Mystic Monastery
4 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
4 Shivan Reef
4 Prairie Stream
4 Flooded Strand
4 Island
1 Plains
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Fiery Impulse
2 Negate
3 Quarantine Field
4 Radiant Flames
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Temur Megamorph Aggro]
[Creatures]
4 Stratus Dancer
4 Den Protector
4 Rattlecaw Mystic
4 Harbinger of Tides
2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
4 Undergrowth Champion
4 Deathmist Raptor
4 Savage Knuckleblade
4 Whisperwood Elemental
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Wild Slash
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Frontier Bivouac
4 Cinder Glade
4 Yavimaya Coast
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Forest
3 Island
1 Mountain
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Jaddi Offshoot
2 Radiant Flames
3 Roast
4 Temur Charm
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Esper Dragons]
[Creatures]
4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
3 Dragonlord Ojutai
1 Dragonlord Silumgar
1 Silumgar, the Drifting Death
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Ultimate Price
4 Silumgar’s Scorn
3 Foul-Tongue Invocation
2 Ruinous Path
4 Scatter to the Winds
1 Stasis Snare
3 Crux of Fate
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
4 Dig Through Time
[/Spells]
[Land]
3 Sunken Hollow
2 Prairie Stream
3 Shambling Vent
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
3 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
4 Island
1 Plains
2 Swamp
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Duress
2 Languish
3 Negate
4 Surge of Righteousness
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Mardu Dragons]
[Creatures]
4 Hangarback Walker
4 Soulfire Grand Master
4 Thunderbreak Regent
1 Kolaghan, the Storm’s Fury
1 Dragonlord Kolaghan
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Fiery Impulse
4 Draconic Roar
2 Kolaghan’s Command
2 Mardu Charm
3 Crackling Doom
2 Radiant Flames
3 Ruinous Path
1 Crux of Fate
1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Nomad Outpost
3 Smoldering Marsh
3 Shambling Vent
4 Battlefield Forge
2 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Mountain
2 Swamp
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Crux of Fate
2 Duress
3 Foul-Tongue Invication
4 Outpost Siege
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Golgari Aggro]
[Creatures]
4 Warden of the First Tree
4 Den Protector
4 Rakshasa Deathdealer
4 Deathmist Raptor
3 Liliana, Heretical Healer
2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
4 Undergrowth Champion
3 Whisperwood Elemental
2 Tasigue, the Golden Fang
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Ultimate Price
4 Ruinous Path
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Jungle Hollow
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
8 Forest
3 Swamp
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Ainok Survivalist
2 Duress
3 Feed the Clan
4 Virulent Plague
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Selenya Aggro]
[Creatures]
4 Hangarback Walker
2 Honored Hierarch
4 Warden of the First Tree
4 Servant of the Scale
4 Den Protector
4 Avatar of the Resolute
4 Deathmist Raptor
4 Hidden Dragonslayer
4 Undergrowth Champion
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Dromoka’s Command
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Canopy Vista
4 Windswept Heath
4 Blossoming Sands
9 Forest
1 Plains
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Arashin Cleric
2 Inspiring Call
3 Surge of Righteousness
4 Valorous Stance
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Orzhov Warriors]
[Creatures]
4 Dragon Hunter
4 Bloodsoaked Champion
3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4 Mardu Woe-Reaper
4 Blood-Chin Rager
4 Chied of the Edge
3 Chief of the Scale
3 Drana, Liberator of Malakir
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Ultimate Price
4 Harsh Sustinance
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Shambling Vent
4 Scoured Barrens
4 Caves of Koilos
6 Plains
5 Swamp
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Arashin Cleric
2 Duress
3 Fleshbag Marauder
4 Ruinous Path
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Izzet Dragons]
[Creatures]
3 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
4 Thunderbreak Regent
2 Icefall Regent
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Clash of Wills
3 Fiery Impulse
4 Silumgar’s Scorn
4 Draconic Roar
4 Scatter to the Winds
2 Radiant Flames
1 Brutal Expulsion
4 Dig Through Time
[/Spells]
[Land]
2 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
4 Swiftwater Cliffs
4 Shivan Reef
2 Blighted Cataract
1 Sunken Hollow
3 Flooded Strand
2 Bloodstained Mire
5 Island
3 Mountain
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Harbinger of Tides
2 Negate
3 Radiant Flames
4 Stratus Dancer
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Jeskai Aggro]
[Creatures]
4 Hangarback Walker
4 Soulfire Grand Master
4 Seeker of the Way
3 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
4 Mantis Rider
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Fiery Impulse
2 Jeskai Charm
4 Scatter to the Winds
3 Ojutai’s Command
4 Dig Through Time
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Mystic Monastery
4 Prairie Stream
4 Flooded Strand
4 Shivan Reef
2 Battlefield Forge
3 Island
3 Plains
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Negate
2 Roast
3 Surge of Righteousness
4 Valorous Stance
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Dimir Dragons]
[Creatures]
3 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
3 Silumgar, the Drifting Death
2 Dragonlord Silumgar
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Clash of Wills
4 Silumgar’s Scorn
3 Ulitmate Price
3 Ruinous Path
2 Foul-Tongue Invocation
4 Scatter to the Winds
3 Crux of Fate
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
4 Dig Through Time
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Dismal Backwater
4 Sunken Hollow
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
2 Blighted Cataract
1 Blighted Fen
4 Island
2 Swamp
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Duress
2 Foul-Tongue Invocation
3 Stratus Dancer
4 Virulent Plague
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Azorius Control]
[Creatures]
3 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
3 Dragonlord Ojutai
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Clash of Wills
4 Silumgar’s Scorn
2 Celestial Flare
4 Scatter to the Winds
2 Stasis Snare
2 Narset Transcendent
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3 Ojutai’s Command
3 Planar Outburst
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
4 Dig Through Time
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Prairie Stream
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
3 Tranquil Cove
2 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
4 Island
4 Plains
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Arashin Cleric
2 Encase in Ice
3 Stratus Dancer
4 Surge of Righteousness
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Sultai Midrange]
[Creatures]
3 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
4 Rattleclaw Mystic
4 Den Protector
4 Fathom Feeder
4 catacomb Sifter
4 Deathmist Raptor
3 Whisperwood Elemental
2 Tasigue, the Golden Fang
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Ultimate Price
2 Ruinous Path
2 Sultai Charm
2 Dig Through Time
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 opulent Palace
4 Lumbering Falls
4 Llanowar Wastes
2 Sunken Hollow
4 Polluted Delta
3 Forest
1 Island
2 Swamp
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Duress
2 Feed the Clan
3 Languish
4 Stratus Dancer
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Naya Allies]
[Creatures]
4 Expedition Envoy
4 Cliffside Lookout
4 kor Bladewhirl
4 Beastcaller Savant
4 Veterant Warleader
4 Lantern Scout
2 Grovetender Druids
2 Munda, Ambush Leader
3 tajuru Warcaller
2 Resolute Blademaster
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Ally Encampment
1 Cinder Glade
2 canopy Vista
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Forest
1 Mountain
5 Plains
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Boiling Earth
2 Retreat to Emeria
3 Stasis Snare
4 Wild Slash
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Simic Megamorph]
[Creatures]
3 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
4 Harbinger of Tides
4 Rattleclaw Mystic
4 Icefeather Aven
4 Stratus Dancer
4 Den Protector
4 Deathmist Raptor
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
4 Whisperwood Elemental
2 Icefall Regent
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Lumbering Falls
4 Thornwood Falls
4 Yavimaya Coast
8 Forest
4 Island
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Encase in Ice
2 Jaddi Offshoot
3 Monastery Siege
4 Reality Shift
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
[deck title= Four Color Rally]
[Creatures]
4 Blisterpod
4 Zulaport Cutthroat
4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
2 Den Protector
4 catacomb Sifter
4 Nantuko Husk
3 Grim Haruspex
2 Deathmist Raptor
3 Liliana, Hertical Healer
3 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Rally the Ancestors
[/Spells]
[Land]
3 Opulent Palace
2 Sandsteppe Citadel
1 Canopy Vista
1 Prairie Stream
1 Sunken Hollow
4 Flooded Strand
2 Windswept Heath
2 Polluted Delta
3 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
2 Swamp
[/Land]
[Sideboard Suggestions]
1 Anafensa, the Foremost
2 Arashin Cleric
3 Bone Splinters
4 Duress
[/Sideboard Suggestions]
[/deck]
That’s all I have for now. I’ll see you again for Brewing With Oath of the Gatewatch. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below and I will do my best to answer them.
Thanks for reading,
Josh Milliken
@joshuamilliken on Twitter
I woke up on Monday the 28th of September feeling good. The weekend had been great, I was recently employed, everything was well. And then it came to four o’clock, and my heart sank as I logged onto The Source and I read these words:
“[card]Dig Through Time[/card] banned in Legacy.”
I couldn’t believe it. It had survived three BnR update announcements. I thought that it was going to become a format mainstay. But sadly, my blue delve spell of choice (Sorry [card]Logic Knot[/card]) was gone. I’m gonna miss you buddy. It’s been great playing with mini Demonic Tutor in Legacy but I suppose it was time for you to go.
But it’s time to move on and tackle the Banned and Restricted List update for Battle for Zendikar.
Yes, Dig Through Time is gone. What was a card that pushed non-blue decks out of the format is now a relic of a time gone by, sent to serve time alongside [card]Survival of the Fittest[/card] and its big brother, [card]Treasure Cruise[/card]. Now despite the fact I loved the card ever since it entered the format, I do believe that Wizards were right in banning it. I played with two copies in Miracles since Khans of Tarkir came out and loved the inclusion but it changed the format in a big way. I don’t think it warped the format to the same degree Treasure Cruise did but it had an impact that a lot of people hated.
It was no surprise that decks that didn’t have Islands were at a disadvantage in Legacy but it didn’t stop them from putting up a good fight, and sometimes, punishing those blue decks. Death and Taxes and Elves are decks that immediately spring to mind, but you could go further with things like Jund, Maverick, the various [card]Life from the Loam[/card] strategies, and so much more. But when Dig was in the format, you just couldn’t beat the card advantage and long game power the card had. Before, BGx decks would often attack blue decks with cards like [card]Hymn to Tourach[/card] and [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card], but it was useless when those decks could run these powerful delve draw spells and refill their hand as quickly as they were attacked, leaving the attrition player with nothing and the other with a fresh belt of ammo. While it was less so when Treasure Cruise was banned, blue decks could, and would, keep in Force of Will against these attrition based decks because the card disadvantage didn’t matter anymore because of how easy it was to reload.
I am sad that Dig Through Time is gone. I was a big fan and I don’t think it was as toxic as Treasure Cruise was. Though I will admit, towards the end of its life, people were beginning to maindeck [card]Pyroblast[/card] and that is always a poor sign. So while I am sad to see it leave, I am not surprised.
So now that it’s gone, what will happen to Legacy?
For a start, the Omnitell deck that ran rampant is gone. Even though it was a deck that existed before, it gained so much with Dig Through Time. It was streamlined and much more efficient. It could set up the combo of [card]Show and Tell[/card] plus [card]Omniscience[/card] faster and with more resiliency. The deck was also 90 percent redundancy in the form of cantrips like [card]Ponder[card], [card]Preordain[/card] and [card]Gitaxian Probe[/card]. All of these cards were there just to fuel Dig and sculpt a hand of the combo and enough counterspells to win the fight. Without Dig though, the deck has lost the card that made it so resilient and fast. It will stick around but it will be back to running the [card]Dream Halls[/card] version with [card]Enter the Infinite[/card] and [card]Release the Ants[/card].
Because of this change, I expect to see Sneak and Show come back. The deck was pushed out by Omnitell as the former was a much more resilient version of the combo deck and wasn’t vulnerable to the same hate the other version was. Before, one could [card]Karakas[/card] the big fattie the deck cheated in to play or [card]Pithing Needle[/card] naming [card]Sneak Attack[/card], or even playing a card like [card]Containment Priest[/card]. But when the Omnitell was Showing in an enchantment that allowed them to just cast Emrakul, these cards were gone. The deck was also able to load up on counterspells that it could unleash for free.
The other impact of Dig leaving the format is that non-blue decks are going to come back. We’re going to see Maverick come back, even though it may not be the best time to play it what with Miracles having such a strong position in the metagame. Death and Taxes, a deck that was already going strong in a world of Dig Through Time, is going to come back as well. Elves as well I think gains a lot out of this banning. Elves has been punished heavily since KTK was released. The Treasure Cruise Delver decks were able to race Elves and packed cards like [card]Forked Bolt[/card] and [card]Young Pyromancer[/card] that attacked the tribe so well, and even when Cruise was banned, it was still hard for the forest dwellers to keep up against the decks that abused Dig Through Time, so now I think it’s time for it to make a resurgence.
Delver decks are going to stay, by-and-large, the same however they won’t have the late game strength as they had with Dig. I believe that Grixis/4 Colour Delver will be the Delver deck of choice as it has access to cards like Young Pyromancer, [card]Cabal Therapy[/card] and [card]Gurmag Angler[/card], as well as having the green splash for [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card] and [card]Abrupt Decay[/card]. It’s also got access to a lot of cheap countermagic. These decks normally played two copies of Dig so those slots easily get filled in with something like [card]Spell Pierce[/card] or [card]Flusterstorm[/card].
I predict as well that Canadian Threshold is going to come back. This deck was at one point the best deck in Legacy and would be a monster against nearly all of the field. However the printing of Treasure Cruise pushed it out as its mana denial plan of [card]Stifle[/card] and [card]Wasteland[/card] were useless against decks that could refill with Cruise and Dig, but the deck couldn’t play these cards because of the anti-synergy with [card]Nimble Mongoose[/card] and to a lesser extent, [card]Tarmogoyf[/card]. Now though, the deck is able to breath once more and while I think it has been outclassed by other Delver decks, I think it’s going to come back now that Stifle and Wasteland have room to play around in.
Another deck that we haven’t seen since KTK is Shardless BUG. Shardless BUG I believe is one of the best decks to play right now, now that Dig is gone. Card advantage was very rare in Legacy up until the blue delve spells came into the equation and the only deck that really got card advantage was Shardless. The deck gave up counterspells other than [card]Force of Will[/card] so that it could use [card]Shardless Agent[/card] to the best of its ability, normally abusing the interaction with [card]Ancestral Visions[/card]. But when other decks could easily keep up with the advantage Shardless generated, the deck fell a little bit out of favour. That and it fell into the attrition decks that were relegated to a subpar status when delve became the monster that it was, and still is to some degree. But now, not only does it produce some incredible card advantage, but it also has a fantastic matchup against Miracles. It can attack the deck in a variety of ways and I believe is the choice of deck to play if you’re playing in a large Legacy tournament.
I’ve talked a lot about Dig Through Time’s banning but have neglected to talk about the unbanning of [card]Black Vise[/card]. When Legacy was created, Black Vise was one of the cards on the original banlist that was put there because of the way the format looked at the time. Legacy no longer is dominated by hyper efficient blue draw spells and Black Vise no longer punishes decks the way it used to. The only strategies that it fits into that I can think of are Burn, which would rather play a [card]Goblin Guide[/card] or [card]Monastery Swiftspear[/card] on turn one, or MUD, which is an unpopular and underplayed deck. There are also plenty of cards that get rid of it that are played in the mainboard of decks: Abrupt Decay, [card]Council’s Judgement[/card] and [card]Vindicate[/card] are all cards that see play in the main of Legacy decks.
Dig Through Time had a great run, a better run than I’d say Treasure Cruise did, but all dogs must have their day and now it is gone. But it’s time for us to move on and embrace this world of non-blue fair decks, with their [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card]s [card]Knight of the Reliquary[/card] and [card]Bloodbraid Elf[/card]s. And with the last Legacy GP of the year in just over a month’s time, you can be sure that this change is going to get people gearing up for one heck of showdown.
Until next time!
** This cast is for mature listeners **
Your Hosts:
Jason Alt — @JasonEAlt
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JR — @time_elemental
“There’s a Jace in there somewhere…” (This picture was not staged.) Courtesy of Casper Orluff
When we moved house a few months ago, Himself wanted to call our new house ‘the house of cards’ as we own so many. Often we have piles of cards all over the house, until I get around to sorting them all out again. Himself has been playing Magic off and on since he was at school, and I started playing about four years ago, our collection has since grown from one shoebox full to several thousand cards.
It’s quite possible to play Magic without owning a large collection. One advantage is that you have a lot more space in your house for other hobbies! Some players only play Eternal formats and have one deck they always play – so they may only need to own about a hundred cards (one deck plus sideboard options).
You can also buy cards you want for a deck as singles and then sell them on when you change decks. Other players own no cards and simply borrow or rent entire decks for a particular tournament.
If you really don’t want to ever have to organize any cards, you can play online and the computer will keep all your cards in order for you. However this article assumes that you own at least some amount of paper magic cards, and you’re trying to store them and organize them in some fashion.
Our local Magic events are mainly Limited format, as that is more popular locally than competitive Constructed. I like playing Limited, but one of the problems is that if we’re not careful we end up with piles of cards all over the place which are old draft pools. This is the main reason why we have a lot of cards, it’s simply that we play a lot of limited Magic.
Other players may have different reasons to keep a large collection of cards, for instance I know a player who tries to collect one of every card that’s printed including one of every promo card. Some players like to speculate on card prices, so they may buy lots of a particular card when it is relatively cheap and hope to sell off at a profit later on.
In some areas, it’s necessary to keep a large collection because there isn’t anywhere locally that sells a lot of singles – this is the case where I live, so we tend to keep hold of four of all our commons and uncommons so so that we can change Standard decks without having to buy a lot of cards online.
As there are different reasons for players to own their collections, so there are also different methods to store your cards. Here’s some things that would be good to consider when you’re deciding how to store and organize your cards.
Cost
Whatever method you choose, as your collection grows you’ll probably need to expand your storage to accommodate it, so consider the expense of both initial set up and then expanding it.
Ease of expansion
It’s great to have a cool box that fits all your cards in, but what about when you “accidentally” acquire a bunch more and now your box is overflowing? Generally as time goes on your collection will grow, so consider when you start how you can keep your cards organised as your collection grows.
Time
Aside from the classic ‘throw all your cards in a pile’ method, it will take time to organise cards so that you can easily find them again. Consider how much time you want to spend on this – not just the initial time, but also how long it takes to maintain and keep it organised.
Easily find your cards
This depends on your collection size. It’s mostly due to how you choose to sort your cards rather than the storage method, so I’ll go into this a bit more later.
Ease of transport
As well a storing your cards safely, you may also want to carry some of them around to trade with other players, so it’s common for players to keep certain cards separately to their main collection for ease of transport. If all you want to do is keep ALL THE CARDS like some kind of [card]Hoarding Dragon[/card] then you don’t need to worry about this.
Card condition
One important thing to consider is how good a condition you want your cards to stay in? It’s all very well to throw basic lands in a box where they may get rattled around and a bit scratched, but this kind of treatment can devalue your high end cards significantly, so bear in mind how to protect your high value cards from damage.
Please – whatever your cards, never store them in a bundle wrapped in a rubber band as it makes baby Jace cry.
Our Standard collection: Khans block, Origins, Battle for Zendikar plus trade binders
However you store your collection, you still need to make sure your cards are organised so that you can find what you’re looking for though – this can take quite a bit of time to set up and maintain but it means that you can find last minute sideboard cards on the morning of a tournament or find cards for your new cool commander deck easily.
There’s probably a few different ways to organize cards, but this is the one I use, as it seems fairly logical and it is easy to expand as new sets are released.
Sort by set, then color, then alphabetically.
If you’re not sure what set a card is from, look at the symbol on the type line. Cards from some preconstructed decks like the duel decks or the modern event deck have their own set symbol, as there’s not normally enough of those to split into their own set I generally keep those cards with the most recent normal printing.
Color is obvious – you can order the colors however you like (I tend to use WUBRG just because that’s how Wizards sort them on their lists of cards). Just keep to the same system for each set rather than swapping them around, so that you don’t get mixed up later.
You can also divide up by rarity – I tend to separate out the rares and mythic rares from the commons and uncommons, but I don’t split otherwise.
If you don’t have many cards from each set, that might be enough sorting for you, but I also sort alphabetically by English name (as the majority of my cards are English). This just means that I can flick through the cards in the box instead of lifting loads out of the box at a time and then the rest of the cards fall over.
All this can take a while especially at the start, but it’s quite satisfying to see all the organised cards at the end all neat and organised. I also keep a list of what cards we’re missing (we never quite manage to get a playset of everything) so that it’s easy to check what we’ve got at a glance.
In my next article, I’ll talk about a few of the most common methods people use to store their cards, and see how they relate to the considerations I mentioned above.
Last weekend, with the StarCityGames Open at Indianapolis, we saw our first glimpse into what the new Standard format looks like. There were a lot of really interesting decks that performed well and we saw some card choices I hadn’t anticipated. I thought Brian DeMars did an incredible job of tuning his Atarka Red list and it’s the deck I could never in a million years think about being ill-prepared for when Battle for Zendikar cards are available on Magic Online. Quite a few articles released during the week that preceded the event were starting to write the deck off because of the lack of good burn options. However, DeMars found the reach he needed in [card]Titan’s Strength[/card], [card]Temur Battle Rage[/card], and [card]Become Immense[/card]. [card]Arashin Cleric[/card]s collapsed in vain, unable to save their Abzan pilots from the ridiculous 15-20 points of damage they were dealt in a single combat step. I play Magic: the Gathering online exclusively. I don’t have a paper collection, so I have to be ready to weather the storm. This deck will be everywhere online. Droves of angry spikes are going to be spamming every bot to get their hands on [card]Cinder Glade[/card]s and submit their, in the words of Shaheen Soorani, knucklehead [Atarka] red decks for 8-man queues. So, how do we beat it?
It’s easy to say that red always wins week one of a new Standard format and that it’s easy to hate it out of a metagame. This new list feels different, more explosive and potentially more resilient. It only needs one threat and the right mix of combat tricks to deal 20 points of damage. I don’t like [card]Arashin Cleric[/card] AT ALL in the face of a 9/10, double striking, trampling [card]Monastery Swiftpear[/card]. I want an instant speed answer that 3-for-1s my opponent. These are some of the tools I’m most interested in exploring for the Magic Online Standard metagame.
Now, I’m not necessarily saying to throw them all into one deck. But I think that [card]Archangel of Tithes[/card] is incredible against Atarka Red. I’ve covered the reasons why in my first article, but let’s review just why this card is so good against red decks. First of all, it doesn’t die to [card]Roast[/card] or any of their other removal spells. Second, Atarka Red requires mana to execute its gameplan. Prowess requires casting additional spells to increase the damage output of [card]Monastery Swiftspear[/card] and [card]Abbot of Keral Keep[/card]. Dash is a powerful mechanic that really pushes tempo to allow Atarka Red to force additional damage points through, but again, it requires a mana investment every turn or the Atarka Red player has to take a turn off attacking to simply cast the creature. The combat tricks that Atarka Red relies on, though cheap, are most effective when used in unison. Having the mana to cast them AND being able to pay for the angel’s tithe is not frequently feasible. It’s very hard for DeMars’s tournament-winning list to win once an Archangel of Tithes has resolved. In the previous Standard format, [card]Stoke the Flames[/card] and [card]Exquisite Firecraft[/card] allowed the red decks to at least burn out mono white if the red player was able to get in early damage and then procede to topdeck enough burn spells to close out the game. Those burn spells have either rotated or are not making the cut. The downside to Archangel of Tithes, of course, is that it costs 4 mana and is a key card against a deck that can kill on. . . you guessed it! Turn 4. That said, the shell Archangel fits in is the fairly aggressive mono white deck designed by Justin Heilig at the end of the last Standard season. With 6 one-drops and a fairly low, interactive curve, it should reliably get to turn four with a healthy life total.
[card]Surge of Righteousness[/card] seems criminally underplayed right now. Outside of just being a great way to intervene in your potential demise when your opponent casts a [card]Become Immense[/card] on an [card]Abbot of Keral Keep[/card], Surge can also kill [card]Mantis Rider[/card], [card]Siege Rhino[/card], [card]Anafenza, the Foremost[/card]. [card]Drana, Liberator of Malakir[/card], [card]Savage Knuckleblade[/card], [card]Dragonlord Atarka[/card], [card]Thunderbreak Regent[/card] and MANY more. The more I play with this card, the closer and closer it gets to being considered for maindeck inclusion.
[deck title=Monowhite]
[Creatures]
*4 Dragon Hunter
*2 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
*4 Knight of the White Orchid
*4 Consul’s Lieutenant
*2 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
*3 Hangarback Walker
*4 Archangel of Tithes
*3 Wingmate Roc
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
*2 Silkwrap
*4 Stasis Snare
*3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
[/Spells]
[Land]
*2 Foundry of the Consuls
*3 Sandstone Bridge
*20 Plains
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
*3 Surge of Righteousness
*2 Planar Outburst
*2 Felidar Cub
*2 Radiant Purge
*1 Quarantine Field
*3 Mastery of the Unseen
*1 Valorous Stance
*1 Emeria Shepherd
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
This deck has changed a bit since the previous Standard format. [card]Mastery of the Unseen[/card] just isn’t as good as it was in the dark, so it’s relegated to the sideboard. Don’t get me wrong, it’s the most powerful card in the sideboard. Justin and I once joked about whether it was right or wrong to keep six lands and a Mastery on the play against Esper Dragons and we actually think it’s correct to do so. Let’s go over some of the other changes/additions.
Dragon Hunter: Basically as close a replacement to [card]Soldier of the Pantheon[/card] as you can get. It has a relevant protection ability, allowing it to attack past or hold off either [card]Dragonlord Ojutai[/card] or [card]Thunderbreak Regent[/card].
Consul’s Lieutenant: This card has improved A TON in the new format. [card]Sandstone Bridge[/card] is a great way to force it through on turn three and there are fewer nuisances like [card]Courser of Kruphix[/card] and [card]Fleecemane Lion[/card] to get in its way. Once renowned, having the ability to attack through [card]Deathmist Raptor[/card] is great.
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar: …
Silkwrap: With [card]Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy[/card] and [card]Hangarback Walker[/card] seeing as much play as they currently are, it’s a safe bet that [card]Silkwrap[/card] is VERY seldom dead in any given match-up. This is just an incredibly efficient removal spell and a more important tool in the maindeck than [card]Valorous Stance[/card].
Stasis Snare: This piece of removal is fantastic and is part of the reason why this deck could still be viable. Just hope [card]Silkwrap[/card] hits [card]Hangarback Walker[/card] before you cast a [card]Stasis Snare[/card] on a [card]Deathmist Raptor[/card] against Green White Aggro ([card]Dromoka’s Command[/card] continues to be one of the best cards against this deck).
Sandstone Bridge: Really solid value land. Since [card]Knight of the White Orchid[/card] really doesn’t play as well with three mana spells, this card is your ideal turn three land drop in a lot of situations. It also has great synergy with Consul’s Lieutenant, Hangarback Walker (you mean I can attack AND pump?!), and Archangel of Tithes (pay her mana!).
This deck is still just really solid and consistent. Ironically, I consider this deck high variance because it has a slightly lower power level but heavily punishes any opponent stumbling with his or her fancy manabase. Because Atarka Red variants will likely be the most played deck on Magic Online, this deck is a solid approach to tackling that metagame, though it may have less success in a large tournament.
The other card I expect to punish Atarka Red is [card]Kolaghan’s Command[/card]. There seem to be many more relevant targets running around with two or less toughness in this new format than there were a couple of weeks ago. This card has proven itself to be a powerhouse in Modern and if Standard is ANY more hospitable to it, it’s popularity should rise drastically. Against Atarka Red, if you’re able to cast a removal spell on either turn one or two and follow up with a Kolaghan’s Command on turn three, you’re able to continue to attack your opponent’s board while also draining resources in his or her hand (often the powerful combat tricks that make the deck so explosive). The shell I most want to tune with it is an archetype that’s taken a backseat for the last couple of years – Jund.
[deck title= Kolaghan Jund]
[Creatures]
*3 Den Protector
*3 Hangarback Walker
*2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
*4 Woodland Wanderer
*2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
*1 Dragonlord Kolaghan
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
*4 Wild Slash
*2 Reave Soul
*3 Ruinous Path
*3 Kolaghan’s Command
*2 Languish
*2 Outpost Siege
*2 Murderous Cut
*2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
[/Spells]
[Land]
*4 Wooded Foothills
*4 Bloodstained Mire
*2 Polluted Delta
*3 Cinder Glade
*2 Smoldering Marsh
*1 Sunken Hollow
*2 Evolving Wilds
*3 Forest
*2 Mountain
*2 Swamp
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
*3 Deathmist Raptor
*1 Greenwarden of Murasa
*2 Boiling Earth
*2 Radiant Flame
*2 Despise
*2 Duress
*2 Rending Volley
*1 Outpost Siege
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
This deck is all about value. Casting [card]Den Protector[/card] to get back a [card]Kolaghan’s Command[/card] to get back a [card]Den Protector[/card] and make my opponent discard feels great. [card]Tasigur, the Golden Fang[/card] doesn’t seem to be in any lists I’ve seen and I think he’s still a great option alongside [card]Languish[/card]. And, if you can start activating his ability each turn, it’s hard to lose from there. [card]Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker[/card] never had his time to shine, spending his last year hiding in the shadows of [card]Stormbreath Dragon[/card]. He also didn’t have a bodyguard like [card]Woodland Wanderer[/card] to come down a turn earlier and protect him. I love the concept of Sarkhan in Jund. This is an archetype that plays a lot of removal, and Sarkhan’s -3 gives the deck additional answers while also providing a reasonable clock to close the game out. [card]Woodland Wanderer[/card], when cast with four colors of mana, is a 6/6 with vigilance and trample. This elemental is swinging in every turn, combining with Sarkhan for 10 points per turn, while also protecting his dragon-obsessed pal.
I hope all of you online grinders that aren’t looking to cast as many [card]Atarka’s Command[/card]s as possible are ready for what awaits you. Mono white and Jund are both decks that I’m looking to continue tuning for the online metagame and are reasonable archetypes for bigger tournaments as well. I’m excited to see this Standard format evolve in the upcoming weeks and will continue brewing up a storm. Best of luck to all of you in the new format!