tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46165914413949180482024-03-14T03:44:23.355-07:00The Mad ProphetPurveyor of fine Magic tomfooleryKevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-45747490579000030392015-12-27T21:58:00.001-08:002015-12-27T22:04:35.626-08:00Modern Show and Tell<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, <a href="http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=397905">Emrakul, the Aeons Torn</a> is a pretty good Magic card.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you find a new way to slam an Emrakul at a reasonable point in the game (i.e. not turn 15), it's usually worth exploring that. Well, enter Fold into Æther:</span></div>
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<a href="http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=51631&type=card" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=51631&type=card" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is an odd one. You certainly don't want to counter your opponent's Delver of Secrets with it, only to have them drop a free Gurmag Angler thanks to your spell. However, there are instances where it's a perfectly serviceable defensive card. But I'm sure you can guess where I decided to take it. Here be Emrakuls.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://imgur.com/PLmdS</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No sweat, Clyde indeed; if we counter our own spell (preferably something cheap and instant-speed, like a Snapcaster Mage or an Anticipate), we get to Cheatyface in the biggest of Big Daddies. So let's build a deck around this interaction, shall we?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a name='more'></a>Modern Show and Tell</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Creatures (11)</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Gurmag Angler</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Snapcaster Mage</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instants (23)</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Anticipate</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Cryptic Command</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Dismember</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Dispel</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Fold into Æther</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Mana Leak</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Murderous Cut</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Remand</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Shadow of Doubt</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Spell Snare</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorceries (5)</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Damnation</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Serum Visions</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lands (21)</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Drowned Catacomb</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Flooded Strand</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8 Island</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Polluted Delta</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Swamp</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Watery Grave</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, this is hardly a final draft. I haven't included a sideboard because the deck isn't at the point of tournament-level play yet, but it shows promise. I'm just very excited to be sharing (what is, as far as I'm aware) a completely new deck archetype with you all. If you were going to put this together yourself, just know that the faster the matchup the more help you'll need. Leyline of Sanctity is a must for Burn and you'll want at least 3 Hurkyl's Recalls if there is <i>any</i> Affinity in your meta.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Playing the deck</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's crucially important when playing a deck as reactive as this one that you understand the general game-plan of every major player in the current Modern metagame. Know what the key cards are to counter and when it's better to let something resolve and spend your tempo digging for the combo. Serum Visions and Anticipate are highly skill-testing; the most difficult decision you'll make on a regular basis is when to take one half of the combo despite not having the other. If you're in trouble, finding a Delve creature to hold down the ground may be more important than winning the game on the spot—you can't win when you're dead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Possible changes to the list</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the amount of card selection we're dealing with right now, having diversity in our answer cards is key. That's doubly true due to the set of Snapcaster Mages. I've considered Mystical Teachings or even Merchant Scroll, but I haven't quite found enough bullets to really justify it. That's definitely something to play around with. All of the numbers are negotiable, I've only just started to tweak the deck from the starting point.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, Thought Scour does make a lot of sense in this deck. If you can find the cut, give it a shot. I just can't figure out what's worse than it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you want to go bigger, try some new colors. I'm sure a UR version is worthwhile; everyone loves Lightning Bolt. I just found that Black had better defensive options and quite frankly I just play Izzet too much I decided to branch out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is this deck better than Splinter Twin?</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have absolutely no idea. As a brewer, that's not the kind of question I ask myself. I'm a Johnny; my love of the game comes from solving the puzzle that is deckbuilding and doing something new. But the combo isn't interrupted by Terminate or Dismember, and as I mentioned it only requires Blue so there plenty of different directions you can take the archetype. Time will tell if the deck is GOOD, but I can tell you right now: it's FUN.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Isn't that what most of us are really here for?</span></div>
Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-59819725749788309542015-10-30T14:58:00.002-07:002015-12-27T22:04:44.408-08:00The Path to Enlightenment is long and full of Belches<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Take the words "Goblin Charbelcher" and tell me what you think of. Hastily put together by a team of half-wit Goblins, prone to misfires and maybe even backfires. Imagine laying siege on your enemies via belch. I'm going to welcome you into a strange and beautiful new world today. The world of Modern 8-Land Belcher.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>credit to wizards.com</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Win Conditions (9)</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Goblin Charbelcher</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Tezzeret the Seeker</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Wurmcoil Engine</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Land (8)</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Breeding Pool</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Stomping Ground</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5 Forest</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Land Search (10)</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Safewright Quest</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Caravan Vigil</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Lay of the Land</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Accelerants (6)</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Chancellor of the Tangle</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Simian Spirit Guide</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ramp (24)</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Nissa's Pilgrimage</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Sakura-Tribe Elder</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Recross the Paths</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Utopia Sprawl</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Arbor Elf</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Wall of Roots</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Birds of Paradise</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cantrips (3)</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Gitaxian Probe</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sideboard (15)</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Nature's Claim</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Choke</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Melira, Sylvok Outcast</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Leyline of Sanctity</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what's going on here? We'll go section by section.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Needless to say our preferred method of winning the game is by activating Goblin Charbelcher targeting our opponent. Tezzeret, conveniently, becomes a Goblin Charbelcher the turn we play him. If we have any ramp spell on turn one or two we can play Belcher on turn three and activate it on turn four. Hey, Modern's a Turn Four Format, right? Well, the tricky part is if you want to do that you have to play lands.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This isn't Legacy. We do not have access to Lotus Petal, Chrome Mox, Land Grant, Elvish Spirit Guide, or Land Grant. So the concession is we need to have enough lands to have at least one in most opening hands. I've found that number to be eight. You might want to try to get away with seven. After that, we use our land search cards like Safewright Quest to quickly pull the lands out of our deck both to make land drops and to power up Goblin Charbelcher.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Without a land in your opening hand, Chancellor of the Tangle can often make an unkeepable hand perfectly serviceable. It's not uncommon to spend your first turn casting (for instance) Caravan Vigil off of Chancellor to play your very first land. From there hopefully you have more ramp to start Belching away.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, some general notes about playing the deck:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don't be afraid to activate Charbelcher with a couple lands still in your deck.</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Especially if you haven't seen your Stomping Ground yet (which you should always search out absolutely last), activating Belcher with three lands in your deck will very often do the trick. Not always, but if you're put in a position where you have to roll the dice, just go for it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But don't be stupid about it!</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're under little to no pressure and your choice is to either cast Nissa's Pilgrimage or activate Charbelcher while you still have five lands in your deck, cast Pilgrimage! 75% of the cards you're drawing at this point are ramp, so if you take a turn off to go from four mana to five, that will usually allow you to start casting ramp spells AND activating Belcher. Remember that you're very unlikely to draw a land, so you have to spend mana to make mana.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recross the Paths is a very complicated card.</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Read it closely. You can hit any land, basic or non. It comes into play untapped (you have to pay two if it's a shockland). When you clash (which you will usually win, because you have no lands in your deck), both you and your opponent essentially scry 1. But most importantly, you put the revealed cards back in any order <i>regardless of whether you found a land</i>. In other words, if you have no lands in your deck (perhaps because you've cast the same Recross the Paths three times in a row), you simply get to rearrange your entire deck. Goblin Recruiter style.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In other words, Recross the Paths is how we get away with playing nine win conditions. You might find yourself casting it three times in a turn, and the third time you'll flip over your deck and start collecting all your Goblin Charbelchers, Chancellor of the Tangle, and Wurmcoil Engine to put on top.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don't search for Stomping Grounds</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, you'll draw it or get it with Recross the Paths sometimes. But keeping it in your deck when you can gives you some serious percentage points to kill with Belcher because it doubles the damage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes, you have to embrace your inner green mage.</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chancellor of the Tangle is more than a bad Elvish Spirit Guide. If you're out of gas, play Chancellor! It attacks, it blocks everything, and it may buy you just enough time to rip a Goblin Charbelcher or Tezzeret.</span></div>
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Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-66198078931740481332014-11-10T15:25:00.002-08:002015-01-29T14:39:28.479-08:00I Tron, U Tron...<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've found myself writing at length about the Modern Mono-Blue Urzatron deck lately on reddit, which seemed to suggest I should probably get all my thoughts written down somewhere so I could stop repeating myself and just link to this. I'm not in much of a rhetorical mood today, so I'm just gonna lay out some information about the deck without my usual pomp and circumstance. I'll be starting to stream it soon on <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/abrasc">my Twitch channel</a>, so look out for that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay, so... yeah.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A Mono-U Tron Primer</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I guess people generally start with the "why" of a deck when they explain it. You might be attracted to U Tron for a couple of reasons. The shallowest of which is how incredibly cheap it is without being some boring aggro nonsense. This isn't Burn; you get to play very interactive skill-testing games for like, 150 MTGO tickets (about $200 paper). That's always good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, there's that. Another appeal to the deck is the sheer power level of the spells you get to cast. Sundering Titan is a pretty good Magic card. I don't know if you guys have ever Mindslaver'd a Storm opponent and then played out their deck and made them Grapeshot himself for 20, but... it's a pretty good feeling. Don't have removal? Hey look, a Platinum Angel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I guess if you want to talk about the competitive side of things, the actual reason why Blue Tron can be the "correct" deck choice is your top-notch inevitability.<span style="background-color: white;"> Your one weakness is man-lands, which you need Dismember or Tec Edge/Ghost Quarter for. That aside you have the best Inevitability in the format. In other words, when the game starts to go long, your win percentage skyrockets. Not only do you have Sundering Titan, Mindslaver locks, and occasionally Platinum Angel to win the game on the spot, you have a LOT of countermagic to land those as well as Spell Burst to hard-lock your opponent out of the game.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">All of this comes at the cost of having very little interaction on turns 1-4 or so. It isn't literally zero interaction, but you will end up behind in nine out of 10 games. The convenient thing is that, when looking at the game from the <a href="http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/fundamentals/3692_Whos_The_Beatdown.html">Who's The Beatdown?</a> perspective, you are The Control about 105% percent of the time. This is an estimate.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">The role of Blue Tron slow people down enough that you can go way, way over the top with the aforementioned bombs/bullets. So, missiles I guess. That's basically what a missile is.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Enough talk though, let's get to the GOOD STUFF. Have a decklist:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://deckstats.net/deck-5291501-6b633b744aec2ed4f508c8c69f0b7288.html" style="background-color: white;">Mono-U Tron</a></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Lands (23):</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Urza's Mine</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Urza's Power Plant</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Urza's Tower</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">9 Island</span></div>
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1 Academy Ruins</div>
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1 Tectonic Edge</div>
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<b>Instants (19):</b></div>
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4 Thirst for Knowledge</div>
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3 Remand</div>
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4 Condescend</div>
<div>
3 Repeal</div>
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Dig Through Time</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Spell Snare</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Support Creatures (3):</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Treasure Mage</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Solemn Simulacrum</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Artifacts (9):</b></div>
<div>
4 Expedition Map</div>
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Oblivion Stone</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Talisman of Dominance</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Win-Conditions (6):</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Sundering Titan</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Wurmcoil Engine</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Mindslaver</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<div>
1 Spell Burst</div>
<div>
1 Batterskull</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Sideboard (15):</b></div>
<div>
2 Dismember</div>
<div>
1 Platinum Angel</div>
<div>
2 Relic of Progenitus</div>
<div>
2 Spell Pierce</div>
<div>
2 Chalice of the Void</div>
<div>
2 Pithing Needle</div>
<div>
1 Trinket Mage</div>
<div>
1 Repeal</div>
<div>
1 Remand</div>
<div>
1 Wurmcoil Engine</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Now, I've been tuning this for some time, but until I get onto MTGO with it I don't have a whole lot to go off of. Cockatrice players are lovely (some of them), but you don't really get anything competitive there. So regard this as a sketch and more an exercise in trying to deal with the "metagame", in a broad sense of the word.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So let's break this down.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
The Skeleton</h3>
<div>
The cards that I consider to be necessary for any Blue Tron build:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>4</b> of each Urza land</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>1</b> Academy Ruins</div>
<div>
-Recurs Mindslaver to lock your opponent out of the game, occasionally recurs O-Stone or other artifacts</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>4</b> Thirst for Knowledge</div>
<div>
-Debatable with Dig Through Time in the format, but four is still probably correct before you start adding Dig.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Some</b> Repeal, Remand and Condescend</div>
<div>
-These cards give you time and also dig for missing Tron pieces and more Repeals, Remands, and Condescends. All we want is time, so having at least 10 copies of these cards is pretty necessary.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>A </b>Treasure Mage <b>or two</b></div>
<div>
<b> </b>-Dig Through Time also makes me less inclined to a lot of Treasure Mages, but I think you want at least one. It's possible three or four is correct, but lately I've cutting them for more of the cards they search for time to exchange precision for speed.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>4 </b>Expedition Map</div>
<div>
-Or did you not want to assemble Urzatron in this Urzatron deck?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>4 </b>Talisman of Dominance</div>
<div>
-You can't always assemble Tron and oftentimes don't need to. Talisman makes your deck a little reliable and turns colorless mana into much-needed blue mana. Solemn Simulacrum also does this (and other stuff), so I play a few of him as well.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>At least one </b>Sundering Titan, Wurmcoil Engine, Mindslaver, and Spell Burst</div>
<div>
-Each of these cards can straight-up win a game against the right opponent. Blue Tron enthusiasts will note the lack of Platinum Angel in the deck, which I find to be very unimpressive in the mainboard. Most people disagree with me, so do what you like, but I really just hate that card.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Other Stuff</h3>
<div>
Spell Snare deals with a lot of cards we otherwise have a very hard time dealing with. It's much easier to keep up Spell Snare mana to counter a Young Pyromancer or an Eidolon of the Great Revel (our two main targets for it in the two biggest bad guys in the format) than Condescend, and Remanding them doesn't really do a whole lot for us. Snare has the added bonus of being very useful against decks running Remand or Mana Leak.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Dig Through Time is a REALLY GOOD CARD. Like, so good. It completes Tron, it finds our answers, it finds our threats, it synergizes beautifully with Thirst for Knowledge, which was already good, and it allows us to diversify our deck <i>and</i> our sideboard. If you want to see DTTizzle's power in the hands of a great player, check out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs4pU6ojhCM&list=PL04lbfeNAaS_HMxA1iRjfky5l_83ygr2N">LSV's DTT Scapeshift video series</a>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Some Brief Words on Playing the Deck</h3>
<div>
You are not GR Tron and your gameplan is not to power out Tron as fast as possible. It is almost never correct to assemble Tron on turn 3, unless you also have Wurmcoil Engine/Batterskull in hand and that will actually be effective against your opponent. You want to play the long game; <i>you are not a combo deck</i>. Play control, stop them from doing their stuff. Only then do you have my permission to <strike>die</strike> win.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As with any deck, you should use your life total as a resource. In this case, that means prioritizing stabilization over protecting your life total whenever possible. If the choice is between going to 10 life and resolving a Dig Through Time or Repealing their guy, you probably want to prioritize getting ahead in the long game. If you're gonna end up in Bolt range, well... try not to do that. But just remember that there is no need to try to pressure your opponent or expend more resources than necessary to stay alive. You're Blue Tron! You'll kill them when you're good and ready!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Sometimes it's correct to crack Map for an Island. Even if you don't have Tron. Even if you already have one. Blue sources are at a premium and need to make sure you have enough to cast your spells before you try to "combo out". This again circles back to making sure you're playing the control game. Don't try to win until you're as sure as you can be that it's safe.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2>
So, yeah.</h2>
<div>
That's all I've got today. Like I said, check out my stream this week. I'll be piloting the deck and providing commentary (and great music), so come hang out and chat with me! I'll post back here soon (maybe) with changes to my list once I get some solid testing in.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'M BACK, BABEH!</div>
</span></div>
Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-65197221913503675192013-05-11T18:18:00.002-07:002014-04-20T01:47:18.294-07:00The Veil<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Blows the dust off the tubes.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Boy, it's a been a while.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, it's been about two months. That's not that long, when you think about it. Hell, people disappear from blogs or podcasts or whatever for years, and then come back and pick up right where they left off. But to me it's seemed like forever.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we last left our hero, he was struggling for topics.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My tastes in Magic change pretty rapidly. One week I'm aspiring to be a Pro Tour Champion, the next week I'm playing Burn at the Stake combo at FNM. For a while there, though, I was stuck on this whole competitive thing. Reading articles, playtesting constantly, checking the MTGO daily decklists multiple times a day. I couldn't get it out of my head that I wanted to get better and better and go pro and change the world of Magic forever.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=106642&type=card" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=106642&type=card" height="200" width="142" /></a><a href="http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=139702&type=card" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=139702&type=card" height="200" width="142" /></a><a href="http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=279901&type=card" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=279901&type=card" height="200" width="142" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It all came to a head when I went to a PTQ with my Merfolk deck. I wrote a detailed article about it that'll be going up on <a href="http://legitmtg.com/">Legitmtg.com</a> some time later this month, but the short version is, I just barely fell short of a 6-2 finish. Given my expectations going into the event, I was floored. It was an amazing experience, and I felt what it was like to play competitive Magic. As the day went on I learned a lot. Not just about the game itself, but about being a Magic player.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I have this thing about success. I establish short-term goals for myself, and then I meet them. And then I move on. Not to the "next step"; I didn't pack up my deck and go home to playtest for the next big tournament. After an amazingly positive and incredibly fun experience, I went and sold the Mutavaults, Æther Vials, and Remands to buy a Standard deck.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why? I don't know. I had aspirations. You may have read about them a few months ago on this very blog. I believe it went something like:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"But maybe [the deck] just needs the right person at the helm to bring in just the right mixture of totally badass cards to make it work. I'd really like to be that guy, and I'm gonna try my best to do so."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was gonna be the guy who built the deck to change the Modern metagame. The deck became my life for a while—to the point where it actually started to ruin relationships and turn me into a different person. I went deep (<i>ha!</i>). Too deep. But pathetically enough, that isn't even what pulled me out of it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fact is, in my head, I did well enough to feel moderately successful and I didn't really care to take it any farther. I think the list I ended up with was—in my opinion (and experience)—very, very good, though.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's the</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> deck:</span><br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<h2>
<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Merfolk</span></strong></h2>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
<strong>Creatures (12)</strong>:</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
4 Silvergill Adept</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
4 Cursecatcher</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
4 Lord of Atlantis</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
4 Master of the Pearl Trident</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
3 Merrow Reejerey</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
3 Phantasmal Image</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
2 Sygg, River Cutthroat</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
<strong>Instants (9)</strong>:</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
4 Remand</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
1 Cryptic Command</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
4 Vapor Snag</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
<strong>Artifacts/Enchantments (7)</strong>:</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
4 Aether Vial</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
3 Spreading Seas</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
<strong>Lands (20)</strong>:</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
4 Mutavault</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
2 Cavern of Souls</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
4 Wanderwine Hub</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
4 Seachrome Coast</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
6 Island</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
<strong>Sideboard</strong>:</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
1 Sygg, River Guide</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
1 Rest in Peace</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
2 Stony Silence</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
1 Threads of Disloyalty</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
2 Spellskite</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
2 Pithing Needle</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
2 Torpor Orb</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
2 Path to Exile</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
2 Spell Pierce</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Man, Verdana is a nice font.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, that thing is my baby. Every copy of every card is thought-out and tested. It has a very specific plan and executes it in a very specific way. At a certain point I stopped taking advice from people who I knew were very good at Magic because they just didn't know the deck as well as me.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's hard to explain, but I feel very emotionally attached to this 75. I worked hard and it payed off. I still have the whole thing built, complete with beautiful foil Lorwyn islands. But I sold the expensive cards because after the PTQ I stopped playing it. I just lost interest and went and did something else. I could've kept going; I could've continued to improve and to focus and I could've probably gotten somewhere. But over time I've begun to accept that that just isn't me. I'm not the guy who hones his craft and masters the smallest details. I do stuff that I think is fun, I either fail or accomplish enough to be satisfied, then I move on. I admire and respect the people who can stick with something. Those people are the ones who truly <i>work</i>, and the ones who are met with success. But even though I want it to be more, Magic is just a game for me. I'm just here to have fun.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I spent almost three months straight writing and publishing an article every single weekend. That's something I'm very proud of. I made a commitment and I stuck with it. And ultimately, I didn't get sick of it and stop writing and consider it a failure. It just stopped being fun.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I got so deep into being competitive that I was either writing articles about playing actual good Magic (which nobody wants to read; I'm not that good) or really crappy and uninspired brews that nobody wanted to hear about. I realized that it was one thing to create content every week, but another thing entirely to put your heart into that content and actually make stuff that's... you know, good.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I'm back now! I have a full set of standard Grixis lands and a playset of Snapcaster Mages burning a hole in my binder. I started to feel the need to brew deep within my loins, and I'm ready to start pumping out the good stuff again. I won't promise a weekly schedule anymore. I'm gonna post when I have something worth posting. And boy do I, this week.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7aj3f7v0ImU/UMa-3IdR87I/AAAAAAAAAHU/c_UnccLm5ms/s1600/ol'+sphinxy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7aj3f7v0ImU/UMa-3IdR87I/AAAAAAAAAHU/c_UnccLm5ms/s400/ol'+sphinxy.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Welcome back to my desktop wallpaper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">...Okay well now it's somebody's backyard with Nick Cage's huge face showing subtly through the thick fog.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">But it was Sphinx of the Chimes for a very long time. I love this card. The front page of my binder is 9 of them.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">Or at least it was! Now there's only seven, because the other two are in this deck:</span></span></div>
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<h2>
<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">The Veil</span></strong></h2>
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<strong>Creatures (12)</strong>:</div>
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2 Augur of Bolas</div>
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4 Snapcaster Mage</div>
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2 Sphinx of the Chimes</div>
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4 Veilborn Ghoul</div>
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<strong>Instants (9)</strong>:</div>
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3 Dissipate</div>
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3 Far // Away</div>
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3 Izzet Charm</div>
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4 Thought Scour</div>
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<strong>Planeswalkers (2)</strong>:</div>
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2 Liliana of the Veil</div>
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<strong>Lands (20)</strong>:</div>
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4 Blood Crypt</div>
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3 Dragonskull Summit</div>
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3 Drowned Catacomb</div>
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2 Nephalia Drownyard</div>
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4 Steam Vents</div>
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4 Sulfur Falls</div>
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2 Swamp</div>
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4 Watery Grave</div>
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<b>Sorceries (7):</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2 Faithless Looting</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3 Rolling Temblor</span></div>
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<strong>Sideboard</strong>:</div>
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2 Evil Twin</div>
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3 Izzet Staticaster</div>
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2 Olivia Voldaren</div>
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1 Essence Scatter</div>
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1 Negate</div>
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1 Appetite for Brains</div>
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1 Breaking // Entering</div>
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2 Duress</div>
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2 Slaughter Games</div>
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<h4>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Plan</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Grixis Control is something that basically everybody in the entire world wants to have happen. It's just <i>cool.</i> Red, black, and blue are the badass colors. They're the cynical colors. The evil ones. You have to respect that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Problem is, Wizards has very, <b>very</b> heavily favored blue and white as the colors of choice for control. Sphinx's Revelation, Supreme Verdict, and Detention Sphere basically define Esper Control. As Grixis players, the one we feel the most is Sphinx's Revelation. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is no card in the format like Sphinx's Revelation. There's no card in the </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">game</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> like Sphinx's Revelation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It gives you two things that control wants more than anything else: Answers, and<i> time.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How do we compete with their draw power? We have an engine. It even has a Sphinx!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I mean, I could add more cards to this picture. Izzet Charm is usually just better than Faithless Looting, but Faithless Looting drives the point home a little better visually. Liliana is also incredibly important in terms of card advantage. Even Nephalia Drownyard has strong synergies. In a lot of matchups you'll spend the whole game milling yourself with excess mana. They're all part of the engine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So as you can imagine, we're quite vulnerable to graveyard hate. It's not like we're playing Burn at the Stake Combo and we actually just can't win against it, but we lost a lot of our draw power and we end up with some dead cards. It's not good. So the deck is obviously gonna need some way to handle that, perhaps by just taking out Ghoul against certain decks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But we're looking mostly at the concept here; a <b>sketch</b>. Basically, Veilborn Ghoul is our Sphinx's Revelation. But we can find him a lot faster, because we don't care whether he winds up in our hand or our graveyard. As long as he's out of the deck, you're ready to draw some cards.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If it's not obvious, basically the plan is to play cards that make you pitch cards as a downside, but have an endless supply of cards to pitch. And it's not like you need a Sphinx and two copies of Ghoul to function. Simply drawing one Ghoul turns our Faithless Looting into a better Desperate Ravings. Sphinx of the Chimes is also a conveniently-sized flyer with or without anything to discard. He blocks Thragtusk!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The part of Sphinx's Revelation that I can't recreate, though, is time. I can stabilize against a couple Burning Tree Emissaries on turn two, but just barely. After that, it's just a matter of time before they can get me with a couple burn spells. The format is full of reach, and I have very limited tools to handle that. But that's something we can figure out.</span></div>
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<h4>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What I'm not playing</span></h4>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If she was gonna go anywhere, it'd be here. But I don't think she does.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Liliana of the Dark Realms, despite making some sense here, is just not that good of a card. She can't come down and affect the board without killing herself. Basically, you need to already have the better board to actually get her to do anything. So yeah, if you're ahead, she's great. She gets us our swamps so we can get more value out of Veilborn Ghoul, she provides removal, and blah blah blah. But she just <i>sucks.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I were playing Middle-Lilly, I'd put this guy in in a heartbeat. Pumping him for 5 with her -3 and swinging in is a pretty big deal. But neither card is very good on its own. Vampire Nighthawk has very good abilities, but he's just an awkward size. So many of the aggro creatures swing in for three that he's just not gonna be much more than a Murder+gain two life. Not mention how many Searing Spears are floating around. Lifegain would definitely be nice in this deck, as stated, but he isn't quite there. I'm very excited to see how the Vampire deck Sam Black wrote about last week ends up though. I do love this guy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Again, potential life gain. What's holding this card back should be pretty obvious, though. Far // Away is really an amazing card, in my opinion. I'm very happy to cast all three modes, and the versatility makes it a lot easier to play multiples. I suppose I should address that, by the way...</span><br />
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<h4>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Using Sphinx of the Chimes</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, I know. I'm only playing two four-ofs in a deck with Sphinx of the Chimes. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are two reasons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Control decks just want a lot of different cards. We could probably stand to push a little harder for full playsets of cards like Izzet Charm or Far // Away, but the problem is even though these cards are versatile and lend themselves well to playing four, they don't do everything we need. We have Snapcaster Mage. Some control decks run <i>twice</i> this many unique cards. The reason for that is we're trying to control our opponents, and our opponents do a lot of different stuff. Playing four Far // Away four Izzet Charm four Dissipate four Mizzium Mortars etc. would leave us very weak to certain strategies, and too strong against others. Control is all about hedging your bets.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Veilborn Ghoul! Sphinx comes down pretty late, and by that time we've usually hit two Veilborn Ghouls. Sphinx of the Chimes' ability is so strong that that's all it takes to make it worthwhile. Drawing four cards a turn is INSANE. We're not trying to pull some Laboratory Maniac combo shenaniganry, we just want cards so we can kill their stuff and win. Veilborn Ghoul is reason enough to play Sphinx of the Chimes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I took the deck to Friday Night magic a few days ago. I'm very optimistic despite dropping at 1-2. I haven't put nearly enough time into actually figuring out what control cards I actually need but the core of the deck has something going for it, and boy is it fucking fun.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that's what matters! Let me know what you think.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P.S. The Breaking // Entering is just for fun :P</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Plus I have a sweet foil promo one from FNM!</span>Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-89960389577157327092013-03-13T03:37:00.003-07:002013-03-21T02:28:18.703-07:00The Power 5<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Snapcaster Mage, Stoneforge Mystic, Tarmogoyf, and Dark Confidant. Four creatures, in four different colors, that are all very, very good. They also all happen to cost one colorless mana and one mana of their respective colors. I'm not the first person to point out that there's no equivalent red card. It's probably a safe assumption that Wizards of the Coast did not do this on purpose. Stoneforge Mystic was not, in my opinion at least, very good at all until Sword of Feast and Famine made it strong and Batterskull made it unthinkably broken. But what they ended up with was an incomplete cycle that red mages everywhere are begging them to complete.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, the question is often asked (I've counted about four times so far on Reddit, the fourth of which made me decide to write this), what would that creature look like? People run out all sorts of crazy ideas about two-drop goblins that have haste and first strike and firebreathing and tap to deal three damage and make everyone Wheel of Fortune when they die. But what I'd like to look at today is how the process of creating a card that fits in with the rest of the "cycle" would actually work.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first thing I've noticed is that they all personify (or Lhurg-sonify) one key aspect of their color:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Green likes huge creatures. That's not by any means summarizing the color as a whole, it's just one small central sliver of the color pie. Tarmogoyf is strictly a giant freakin' creature. Sure, there are graveyard synergies to be considered, but the decks that play him (these days at least) just let that happen naturally and play him as two mana beater, straight up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the same vein of narrow components of the colors, equipment is very white (since the creation of the Equipment subtype). Steelshaper's Gift, Puresteel Paladin, etc. are all equipment-centric. White is the color of small, human (in the flawed, mortal, relatable sense; not necessarily racially) creatures. Overcoming natural disadvantages with technology is very white. Stoneforge Mystic exemplifies this.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Snapcaster Mage very obviously focuses on the control aspect of blue. When most people see an island, they expect counters. Snapcaster Mage's flash allows you to play a draw-go strategy, instead of worrying about when to mainphase him and worry about keeping countermagic and removal up. Pretty simple.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sacrifice in the name of power is very, very black. Pacts with Demons, blood rituals, etc. "Greatness, at any cost". No reanimation, no disease, no lifedrain or anything like that, Dark Confidant is just focused on that part.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, Red, right? What are the possible specific elements of the color that Wizards might focus on? Obviously direct damage is by far the most defining aspect of the color. Unfortunately, it--along with the incessant reappearance of Goblins--has left the color very narrow. So maybe they go the obvious route and make some boring shock goblin, or maybe not. If not, the other possibilities are:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Haste</b>: Honestly, the card will probably have haste no matter what. Unless they want to do something that would be far too powerful with haste, it'll probably have two or three power and haste. There could be a larger haste theme that would make it the focus element of the color, but there are already cards that give all of your creatures haste, and they're not really impressive. Haste leads into "aggression" as a whole, but that's probably too wide of a concept to focus on, considering the precedence.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Destruction</b>: Artifacts, lands, uh... everything? You have your standard stuff like Shattering Spree and Stone Rain, but <a href="http://magiccards.info/query?q=obliterate&v=card&s=cname">Obliterate</a>, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://magiccards.info/query?q=jokulhaups&v=card&s=cname">Jokulhaups</a>, and even <a href="http://magiccards.info/query?q=worldgorger&v=card&s=cname">Worldgorger Dragon</a> are cards too. Maybe our card just blows up lands? Wizards shies away from land destruction being <strike>too</strike> good, as it isn't fun and causes degeneracy. Artifact destruction is, of course, very narrow. So that doesn't leave us with much.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Martial Superiority</b>: This is blatantly ripped off from the <a href="http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Color_Pie">MTG Salvation wiki</a>, I don't know how else to word it. First Strike and Double Strike, abilities associated with prowess in combat, are very important to red. The wiki lumps haste in with this, but I feel that they're two very different things. First Strike is about finesse. Haste is just freaking the fuck out. What I don't like about using martial superiority is how closely tied it is to white. Of course Battalion is the quintessential keyword in this category, so it isn't strictly red.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Looting</b>: This is a new addition to try to expand the color. Wizards is trying to distinguish "blue looting" and "red looting" by the order in which you discard and draw, but signs point to red ending up with both. Pretty boring, but something to consider.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></li>
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<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gambling effects</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">:</span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorry, couldn't come up with anything snappier for the name. Wheel of Fortune, Reforge the Soul, and Desperate Wager are all examples of the most straight-forward versions of this. </span><a href="http://magiccards.info/query?q=final+fortune&v=card&s=cname" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Final Fortune</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is a little more extreme. Red is very random. I would love to see a card that did something crazy and high-variance. The issue is trying to create something that has a high enough risk that coming out ahead is exciting, while being on the losing end isn't horribly frustrating.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We can expect the card, should it ever be printed, to cost 1R. Every one is either good or too good in Modern. As far as I know, Dark Confidant doesn't show up in Legacy, but the other three are all over the place. The only other pattern I can see is that the other broken two-drops aren't too closely tied to the set they're in (Snapcaster Mage gives Flashback, but that's a fairly widespread mechanic). It (probably) wasn't a conscious decision to create this cycle (I don't think "broken" is a word Wizards uses as an objective), but it seems like there's a lot of community pressure now to finish it. That said, here's my guess at a possible fifth member of the Two-Drop Hall of Fame:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I'll start by mentioning that I decided to focus on the gambling aspect of red, with looting tied in to that. But I'm getting ahead of myself! Let's start at the top.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">We knew it was going to cost 1R. Frenetic Ignitiant is a pretty sweet name, if you ask me. So we're doing well so far.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">It's an elemental, which has a few neat non-standard applications (<a href="http://magiccards.info/query?q=smokebraider&v=card&s=cname">Smokebraider</a> and <a href="http://magiccards.info/query?q=flamekin+har&v=card&s=cname">Flamekin Harbinger</a> come to mind).</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">A hasty bear isn't going to cause too many heart attacks. But the haste is very relevant for his triggered ability.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">"Flying-breathing" isn't something see in red a whole lot, but as you can clearly see in the detailed artistry, your red mana is making him shoot fire out of his hands and feet to fly. That's pretty fuckin' red, if I do say so myself.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">The flying is also important for his on-attack ability. We want a creature that can safely attack more often than not so you can take advantage of his crazy card-drawing ability. What I'm really proud of with the design here is that there's inherent risk involved with the ability for two reasons, the obvious one being that you're discarding at random.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">However, the intention of this design is to create situations where you want to attack but you're hoping to draw the card that will make it worth it after you've declared the attack. You don't have to discard until after combat, so you have access to two cards that can potentially be instants that you need right then and there. I mean, even if you just got a Desperate Ravings at the end of combat, it would still be incredibly good, but the hope is that getting the cards before blockers are declared will make your attack step more interesting.</span></span></div>
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">The full art, in case you wanted to use it for your desktop.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I like the principles behind the card, and I think it fits in pretty well with the other members of the "Power 5". It's very powerful and probably needs to be tuned down, but I think it's better to aim high when you're trying to make the red Snapcaster Mage. I'll probably proxy this up some time and see how it feels to play with it. That's probably the way to figure it out pretty quickly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know people will do it whether I ask them to or not, but let's here your ideas! It's a great design space, who knows what totally overpowered (but cool!) bullshit will end up in the next block!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can follow me on Twitter @abrapw.</span></div>
Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-49874782109343445162013-02-02T12:45:00.001-08:002013-03-21T02:29:11.449-07:00Modern Goblins: Deck Tech and Videos<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been hoping to do some videos for a while now, but I'm pretty MODO-poor and definitely can't afford Merfolk. So when I saw a mono-Mountain Goblins list 4-0 a daily, I figured I'd give it a shot, considering the whole deck costs about 35 dollars. It's going pretty well so far, and I like the fact that newer players who are interested in playing online can see this and just go pick up the deck pretty easily and try it out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I recorded a deck tech and three two-mans in the best quality my computer could manage. You'll see some pretty bad plays and I say some pretty nonsensical stuff, but I hope you'll bear with me as I get used to doing these. I'm 10/11 overall with the deck since I started playing it, and with some better plays and some tuning I'm sure I can easily hit a 50+ percent winrate. The deck is a lot of fun and can have some crazy nut-draws. It doesn't topdeck well, and it's very all-in, but some of my favorite decks are the ones where you get to take big risks and they often pay off. Fun shit!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's the list, followed by the videos:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All-in Modern Goblins</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Creatures (31):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Goblin Bushwhacker</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Goblin Chieftain</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Goblin Corhort</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Goblin Guide</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Goblin Wardriver</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Magus of the Moon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Simian Spirit Guide</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Tattermunge Maniac</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instants (6):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Brimstone Volley</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Lightning Bolt</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorceries (4):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Goblin Grande</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lands (19):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just mountains, baby</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our draws were pretty awful here. Obviously I didn't play perfectly, but I'm not positive it was winnable. I missed the turn 0 bolt on his Goblin Guide, missed a couple attack phases, and suicided some lords, but he also curved out much better and beat my face in before I had a chance to do much.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This match was pretty silly. We had very early Magus of the Moon both games and he couldn't really do anything. Nothing to see here, folks. Moving on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(You might not want to watch this one, it's pretty miserable)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Timely Reinforcements maindeck was absolutely back-breaking, and my hand in game one was pretty bad. One of the big drawbacks of playing a deck like this is that mulligans are absolutely horrible for you. Going to 5 is basically an auto-lose, so you hope for a good 7 and almost always keep the 6. I haven't been valuing my Chieftains and Wardrivers nearly enough, and I also probably need Mogg War Marshals. Other than that, I'm happy with the deck and I'm excited to get more games in! Give it a shot, and leave any feedback you have here or on Twitter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kevin</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">@abrapw</span></div>
Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-71293852029567676332013-01-26T20:12:00.001-08:002013-01-26T21:09:41.303-08:00Brewing in Modern: Nega-Storm, Lost Omniscience, and Freakin' Mill!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*Big Inhale*</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You guys know I love weird decks. I'd really like to be a competitive player, I really would. I'm always striving to improve my play, and I'm really hard on myself when I lose. My friends know not to ask me how I did in a match; if I won, they would know it, if I lost I don't even want to talk to people. The thing is, I act that way despite never playing optimal decks. A lot of it is budget, but sometimes it's purely for being weird.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, that's probably for the best, because nobody would read this thing if I tried to tell you how to play Jund. I'm not all that good at this game, why should I tell you how to play? Instead, I try to propose deck ideas that are interesting without being too horrible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay, Standard Storm was horrible, but it was way too fun. And I'll remind you once again that it was a matter of days before the 4-Color one showed up on MODO Dailies. Just saying.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The problem is, now I like Modern. The only reason I've been playing Magic nonstop for as long as I have is because I float around between formats to stay interested. Right now, I can't get enough of Modern. But the thing is, you can't durdle in Modern. You actually have to win fast or try really hard to stop them from winning fast. Which is not easy. So for now, let's call these "sketches". They're not tuned (some more than others), but they all have central ideas to work upon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I brew something new, I start with a card or idea I really like. I have entire page in my binder of Sphinx of the Chimes because I just think it's sweet. Unique ability, cool art, one of my favorite creature types. Storm decks are awesome, so I wanted to see if I could make a good deck that did that in Standard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, in EDH, being the sociopath I am, my favorite thing is taking extra turns.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If Time Walk were legal in EDH, that would probably be enough incentive for me to just stop eating for a month and save up for one. I almost want to do that anyway. If I ever buy any Power 9 card, that'll be it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I just love extra turns. It bends the rules of Magic—and of all turn-based games, for that matter—</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in a way that just feels awesome. Passing the turn to yourself is one of those simple pleasures in life. So in a format with Time Warp, that's the first thing I looked to.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One extra turn is never enough, of course. Infinite is preferable. As many as we have cards in our deck will do. But the more pressing issue is how we're gonna cast the damn thing in the first place. Time Warp is a 5-mana sorcery. Walk the Æons is even worse. Your first thought is probably green. Play some elves, cast it early, blah blah blah. But my first thought is "Boy oh boy do I hate green". Which is format, because what came of it helped me actually create a playable combo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first part is simple. Play one of these and last long enough to cast Time Warp. Okay... then what? Achievement Unlocked, you've taken an extra turn. Where does that get us?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pretty much nowhere. Not yet. But the thing is, we didn't ramp into Time Warp. We didn't use rituals or Simian Spirit Guides or do anything else temporary. We made our spells cheaper. So what we do is we keep going, using two of my pet cards from Standard:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These two, along with card selection and Compulsive Research (which is insane with Semblance Anvil), keep the Time Walks coming. I thought about using the full Arcane Melee combo by putting in Runic Repetition, but it's very dead most of the time and not necessary in this context. Instead, we draw a whole bunch of cards over the course of a whole bunch of turns, then just kill them with Psychic Spiral. All in all a pretty simple plan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So without further ado, my very first modern deck:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nega-Storm</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Creatures (4):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Goblin Electromancer</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Artifacts (3):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Semblance Anvil</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instants (7):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Izzet Charm</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Psychic Spiral</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Remand</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorceries (23):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Compulsive Research</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Mystic Retrieval</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Reforge the Soul</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Serum Visions</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Sleight of Hand</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Time Warp</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Walk the Æons</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Land (23):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7 Island</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Misty Rainforest</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Mountain</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Scalding Tarn</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Steam Vents</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Sulfur Falls</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why Nega-Storm? Well, like Storm, we take a long turn casting a whole lot of instants and sorceries. But instead of doing it all in one turn, it's over the course of twenty. Nega-Storm!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, the first thing you probably notice is the incredibly high sorcery count. Semblance Anvil is not an easy card to use. It's powerful here, but it isn't fun two-for-one'ing yourself. We need to make sure we always have a spare sorcery for it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The manabase is weird. I'm not used to building them in Modern, and there isn't really a precedent that I can find for a straight two-color deck that can't run Shivan Reef. Luckily, it doesn't really matter a whole lot. You could probably pull of 4 Steam Vents 4 Sulfur Falls and just basics if you wanted to for a budget version. Maybe that's even fine here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This deck is slow, and honestly not terribly good. The high sorcery requirement makes it hard to make it all that interactive. I'd like to have Lightning Bolt in here, but I just can't justify it over Izzet Charm, which is more versatile for our needs. But that said, it's a lot of fun. Like all the decks I make, it's very possible that with a few changes it could actually be good. That's what you guys are for!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next up, we have a deck based on a combo that's been floating around in people's heads since Omniscience was spoiled.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hex Parasite is an alternative for Vampire Hexmage, but I wanted to stress that this is a two-card combo. Remove the counters from Lost Auramancers, tutor out Omniscience.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, we immediately fold to Extirpate or Slaughter Games, but that's just a conceit of the deck.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, making all your spells free doesn't win you the game. This continues the trend towards making this combo pretty bad. The nice thing is, you don't have to run four Emrakul. That'd be pretty rough. Our alternative is to use Diabolic Tutor our singleton Emrakul, then cast him. If you don't have the tutor, all of your dig spells our free, so you have a small amount of breathing room there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's my list:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lost Omniscience</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Creatures (13):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Emrakul, the Æons Torn</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Hex Parasite</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Lost Auramancers</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Vampire Hexmage</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enchantments (2):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Omniscience</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instants (10):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Path to Exile</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Remand</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Spell Pierce</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorcery (11):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Diabolic Tutor</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Serum Visions</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Sleight of Hand</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lands (24):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Godless Shrine</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Hallowed Fountain</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Island</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Marsh Flats</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Mystic Gate</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Plains</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Scalding Tar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Sunken Ruins</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Swamp</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Watery Grave</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did the best I could. This is probably not where you want to be with a combo deck. Lost Auramancers + Vampire Hexmage is great, but the work you put in to make that actually do anything is pretty awful. Now, if you've got the lands floating around and you want to try this out at FNM, you could probably have a lot of fun and it's possible to do pretty well in a 3-4 round setting. But I don't expect to see it in a Pro Tour any time soon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The last deck I have for you guys is... kinda wacky. Even more so than the last two. I'll just leave this here:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Freakin' MILL!</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Artifacts (4):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Æther Vial</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Mindcrank</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Creatures (12):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Duskmantle Mage</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Eternal Witness</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Hedron Crab</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Snapcaster Mage</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instants (17):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Archive Trap</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Cryptic Command</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Mana Leak</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Muddle the Mixture</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Remand</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Spell Snare</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorceries (3):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Glimpse the Unthinkable</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lands (24):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Breeding Pool</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Flooded Grove</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Forest</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Island</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Misty Rainforest</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Overgrown Tomb</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Scalding Tarn</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Sunkin Ruins</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Swamp</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Watery Grave</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, this deck is egregiously unfocused. Let me go over the early principles that were the genesis of this deck:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mill is cool, why doesn't anyone play mill in Modern?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Duskmage Mantle is new and interesting, and has a combo with Mindcrank</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most importantly, I'm a unique and rebellious hipster who hates winning</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first card to go into the deck was Glimpse the Unthinkable. But that's just one spell, there really aren't any other instants or sorceries that mill efficiently (besides the <i>very</i> conditional Archive Trap). Let's just recur that one, and recur control cards to keep me alive to find it! So I jammed in Shouta Yasooka's Æther Vial shell from Pro Tour Return to Ravnica.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn't want to rely on mill, mostly because of Emrakul decks, so I put in Duskmantle Mage to be able to finish off opponents after some hardcore Snapcaster Mage/Eternal Witness/Vendillion Clique beatdown. Once Duskmantle was in, I threw in some support for the Mindcrank combo to add to a third (!) method of winning the game (Muddle the Mixture can grab either). Hell, let's throw in Battle of Wits and make it four.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just kidding.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">God dammit, now I need to build a modern Battle of Wits deck...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh, I know!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Battle of Wits</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Creatures (146):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">146 Relentless Rats</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enchantments (4):<br />Battle of Wits</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lands (100):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">50 Swamp</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">50 Island</span></div>
Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-84249900970346023902013-01-21T18:10:00.000-08:002013-01-21T18:27:04.171-08:00Tribal Upbringings and Goblins in Modern<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've always liked the Tribal aspect of Magic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was a kid, I first picked up the game during the Odyssey block. I had no concept of good deck building or card evaluation, nor any kind of competitive mindset. These days, I simply cannot comprehend playing a Magic deck that actively tries not to win as fast possible. I'm always trying to get my more casual friends to build competitive decks, and can't understand why they would keep playing their mono-red Dragons deck. The casual Magic psyche has escaped me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But about a decade ago, my favorite tribe was <i>Cephalids.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn't even know Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor existed; the only Cephalid with any kind of "tribal" aspect involved. I had never heard of Cephalid Constable, the only other strong card of that particular invertebrate persuasion (barring Aristocrat combos). I just thought they looked sort of cool, and I liked the sense of identity it provided.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wanted to be the Cephalid guy. If you needed to know about Cephalids, I was your man. Er, 10-year-old. I read the Odyssey cycle novels (you should too), in which I found out the Squid-dudes were all kind of obnoxious dicks. That was fine though, I still think they're... you know, "neat".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's kind of like when you sign up for your first forum account when you discover the internet is a thing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Well, my name is Taylor Blescherschmitt, but on the internet, I'm..."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"<i>DarkChaosMage2534"</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Naming yourself (<i>TheK3vin)</i>, picking your favorite Ninja Turtle (Raphael), the eternal quandary of choosing which Pokemon you would want in real life if they existed (Abra). It's all about boiling down who you are into something abstract and representational. It's how cell phone companies made millions selling monophonic ringtones for your Nokia bar phone. You know, so everybody could know how you describe yourself in the form of a single 15-second segment of your favorite pop song played on an Atari 2600.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, I fell in love once again during Onslaught. Naturally, being primarily a blue guy, I was <i>all about</i> the Wizards. I discovered control. Suddenly I got to decide what my opponents did and when. I could be a merciful God, or a sadistic, malevolent tyrant. I also got a Nameless One and learned that there was actually a point, gameplay-wise, to stick to one creature type. I suppose my sociopathic love of dominating games contributing to my friends losing interest in the game. We stopped playing Magic, and I didn't really pick up the game again until Magic 2012 when I started college.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It took a while to absorb how the various formats of competitive Magic worked, what tournaments there were, and what I wanted to do. But when I started to look for a Standard deck I could take to FNM, I (like many before me, and many after and yet to come) was told of Mono-Red.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No pricey two-colored lands, no 30-dollar Mythics, no complex interactions. It's quick and dirty, and it's always there. Of course, right now is a much better time for RDW than a year ago, but you can always take it to an FNM.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That got boring very quickly, though. I couldn't stand to play a stock list, even if it was "rogue" (i.e. terrible). My first solution? Planeswalker Tribal!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Koth of the Hammer was, and still is, my favorite Planeswalker. He hits hard right off the bat, rewards a specific type of deck, and has an Ultimate ability so strong it just makes you giggle. It started with a simple recommendation to play him as a finisher. Then I realized that Volt Charge worked very well with him and also added counters to my Stromkirk Nobles and Bersekers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I couldn't stop there. Pretty soon, I had a bona fide Mono-Red Superfriends deck.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love me a deck with a theme. It was significantly worse than the already-fringe Red Deck Wins, but it was... Sweet! I played all three red Planeswalkers. That list included <i>Tibalt. </i>I tried as hard as I could to justify it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I know his +1 isn't great but I can just do it once and then next turn Tezzeret's Gambit and then -4 him and burn you!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not too long after that deck had reached its terribleness apex, Krenko, Mob Boss was spoiled. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I bought Goblin Wardrivers, Goblin Chieftains, and everything else I needed a month before M13 even came out. I pissed off many an opponent with Goblin Grenades. In a format with no Lightning Bolt, you feel pretty good stabilizing at 10 life. Now you're in control, there's no way he can get those pathetic little 1/1 duders in there so--oh, you're dead? Yeesh. I was very sad when the entire deck rotated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Later, I went back to my blue roots, this time in a more serious format. Fish has treated me pretty well thus far in Modern. I'm still trying to actually play in a tournament with it, as I've been having a hard time making it to a Modern FNM, but it's a solid deck with plenty of potential.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, a certain spoiled card has caught my attention like a random text message from an ex-girlfriend.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I found the current Standard to be intolerable, and I don't think I'll be coming back post-Gatecrash, so I haven't really cared about most of the cards spoiled thus far. But this one is the real deal. Probably.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's probably safe to say that there's no goblin deck that you can really make in Standard. Without anthem effects like Chieftain or Wardriver, even Krenko isn't any good. But you know what format <i>does</i> let you play those cards?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strike>Vint</strike>Modern!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Legion Loyalist does not have the sheer power-level of Goblin Guide. That sort of goes without saying. But he's still a one-drop with haste, which is already reasonably valuable. His Battalion ability will be hard <i>not</i> to trigger, and will certainly help out here and there. Especially if the current build of Spirit Jund, you know... <i>lingers.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like tribal decks usually go, much of Goblins builds itself. Goblin Chieftain, Goblin Wardriver, Goblin Guide, Goblin Grenade, they're all basically instant four-ofs. Lightning Bolt, Goblin Bushwhacker, and Mogg War Marshal are also about there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bam! That's 28 cards. Easy, right?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think Legion Loyalist is a pretty easy four-of too. Maybe Goblin Cohort is better, but a 2/2 for one with downside is just not where I want to be, honestly. Maybe I've been spoiled with Diregraf Ghouls and Rakdos Cacklers, but Cohort is slow and clunky. I'm just using him to fill excess creature slots, at this point.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The decks that I've seen from MODO use Simian Spirit Guide, which I love. It's actually pretty hard to cast six spells in the 3-5 turns you have to win, so the card disadvantage doesn't hurt you nearly as much as a turn one Goblin Wardriver followed by two Goblin Guides swinging in for 8 on turn two hurts them. Follow up with a Chieftain for a turn three kill.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've filled the last three slots with Magma Jet, for now. Sometimes, you just need to slam a Bushwhacker or a Chieftain on your next turn to win the game, or they've established a board and they're in Goblin Grenade range. Given how quickly these games go, you want to make your topdecks count. The shock is gravy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's the list:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Kind of hard to come up with something creative for this one...)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Creatures (30):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Goblin Bushwhacker</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Goblin Chieftain</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Goblin Cohort</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Goblin Guide</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Goblin Wardriver</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Legion Loyalist</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Mogg War Marshall</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Simian Spirit Guide</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instants (7):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Lightning Bolt</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Magma Jet</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorceries (4):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Goblin Grenade</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Land (19):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">19 Mountain</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You'll notice Krenko isn't in here. For those of you expecting him, I'm sorry. As far as I can tell, he's <i>really</i> bad without haste. And if you have a Goblin Chieftain, what are you doing durdling with tokens and not making your opponent dead?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This deck is incredibly rudimentary, but you know what? </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I just fish-bowled the deck 11 times. Why 11? Because in the first ten, I won on turn four. Including on a mulligan to five. The deck is incredibly consistent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And yet...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I like Magma Jet and Legion Loyalist as additions, but they don't make a huge impact on the deck's overall performance. We don't really see Goblins doing making it out of the occasional Daily Event very often right now. But with Modern on the rise, more and more people will be coming in and discovering the wonders of eternal formats. We can't all drop 1100 bucks on Jund. So if you're looking for something fun and explosive that basically costs negative money, you still can't go wrong with Mono-Red.</span></div>
Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-39093871384521335022013-01-12T17:45:00.001-08:002013-01-13T01:56:16.616-08:00An Update on Merfolk in Modern OR: Fishing for Compliments<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been getting a fair bit of testing in with Modern Merfolk. Not nearly as much as I'd like, and almost none in paper, but I'd like to think I'm getting somewhere. I'm still trying to figure out a specific matchup analysis, but I'm going to need to play a lot more games to do that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For now, let's talk basics. I've realized that it's been quite a while since I really worked on an aggressive deck, and that I've improved a lot as a Magic player since that time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is an aggro deck. Straight up, no nonsense. It's purely beatdown, and we want to run a LOT of creatures. Removal exists, and we need to keep the beats coming, instead of worrying much about stopping our opponents' plans.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, the countermagic in Modern is far more diverse [read: situational] than any other constructed format. In Standard, your options are limited, and you really only want Dissipate, a Counterflux here and there, and the occasional Dispel in the board. In Legacy, Force of Will exists. Daze is better in some situations, and sometimes you need Counterspell, but that's it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Modern, we have four <i>widely-</i>played counters: Remand, Spell Snare, Spell Pierce, and Mana Leak. Izzet Charm and Dispel also see play. My first instinct, as somebody who generally plays Tempo, Aggro, or Aggro-control, was to get a little of everything in there. After all, there are a lot of different threats in a such a diverse metagame, we'd need a lot of different ways to deal with various threats!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Except, no.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We're not drawing cards. We're cantripping, but that's not drawing cards. That's maintaining cards.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I began my first attempts of competitive, optimal deckbuilding, I learned a simple rule: you can play up to four of any card, so pick the best one and play four of it! Of course there are a <i>lot</i> of exceptions to this rule. I eventually learned it only really applied to aggro. Then I stopped playing aggro, learned more about the decks that keep the games long enough to draw your one-ofs and two-ofs, and forgot about what it was like to kill people before they got a chance to do that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So how does this all apply to Fish? If you're going to play a counter (or any card), play three or four of them. Pick the best one, and jam as many in there as you can. If you feel like you need two unique cards, well you're going to have to dedicate nine or ten slots. I don't think that's the right move, so I picked the best one: Spell Pierce.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I said in my last article, one mana is where you want to be in a deck with mostly two-drops. We don't always have a Vial or Cursecatcher, and we're playing a two-drop on turn quite often.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also talked up Spell Snare a lot last week; it stops a lot of problematic cards in the format. But that was all theory, and no practice. I saw UW midrange decks playing four copies. They do this because it comes out early, and stays relevant through the long game, stopping their threats and their disruption. But what are we, as The Beatdown, really worried about? <i>Our </i>plan. Stop them from killing our dudes, and stop them from killing us. Spell Pierce does that a LOT better than Spell Snare. Tarmogoyf comes out on turn two. If we're so off-curve that we have a blue open on turn one or two (depending on being on the play or the draw), we're in a bad place. So we rely on Path to Exile to stop the really problematic creatures, and other than that we worry about ourselves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It may be worth it to jam Mana Leak or Remand in. Remand is probably better; we'd rather that we keep cards in our hand, even if it's at the cost of keeping cards in their hand. But our creature count is very important. I'd rather play a creature a turn earlier instead of drawing into it the turn before with a Remand. The fact is, we can't really afford to play much combo disruption in the mainboard, so we need a fast clock against the combo decks. Spell Pierce (and often Path to Exile) keep us alive just long enough to beat their faces in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I feel much better about my list now. It's tight and consistent. It just <i>looks</i> better. I don't know what the hell that means. You can decide that for yourself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Right, so:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Artifacts (4):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Æther Vial</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Creatures (25):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Coralhelm Commander</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Cursecatcher</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Lord of Atlantis</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Master of the Pearl Trident</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Merrow Reejerey</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Phantasmal Image</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Silvergill Adept</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enchantments (4):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Spreading Seas</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instants (7):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Path to Exile</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Spell Pierce</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lands (20):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Hallowed Fountain</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7 Island</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Misty Rainforest</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Mutavault</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Seachrome Coast</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Wanderwine Hub</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sideboard (15):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Ethersworn Canonist</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Spellskite</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Leyline of Sanctity</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Rest in Peace</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Stony Silence</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Dismember</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(On a personal note, I'm one Ethersworn Canonist away from having this deck completely built in Paper, which I'm pretty excited about!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay, I lied, there are a few two-ofs in the 75. This mostly due to size restrictions. The other lords are better than Coralhelm Commander, so there's only room for two. He's also obviously a lot better when you have mana to spare, so it's nice to draw him more in longer games.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The sideboard is very generic. If you're taking this to a tournament, know your meta! Figure out what you're expecting to play against, and adjust the numbers accordingly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's all I've got this week, besides for some quick plugs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Twitter is very bare-bones, but I'll be announcing all of my new articles there (and more importantly I won't spam your feed with random nonsense!). So follow me at @abraPW. Or don't. I won't be offended. More importantly than that, though, don't be afraid to post in the comments or shoot me a tweet. Let me know if you guys take this list anywhere, and how you do! I'd love to hear other people's experiences with the deck.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm out :O</span></div>
Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-87946599378984898812013-01-07T01:33:00.001-08:002013-01-07T01:36:01.224-08:00Modern Merfolk: Spread Your Seas and Swim Away!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I'm diving headfirst into Modern.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Taking the initial plunge.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Uh... something something something.... splash.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Modern is an awesome format. The power level is high, but not silly. The skill and knowledgebase required is daunting, but not prohibitive. I basically love every single deck. The aggro decks are strong and synergistic, the midrange decks have tight control and strong finishers, and the control <strike>decks</strike> deck is pretty cool.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I could definitely see myself playing a top-tier deck in the future. They don't feel like the top Standard decks, which are more methodical and boring. When you look at <a href="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=475411">the top 16 decks</a> in terms of large tournament performance, it's all just <i>cool. </i>Affinity is a blast to play (until somebody casts Creeping Corrosion), turn 3 Karn is badass, etc. etc. The reason I play the decks I do in Standard is because nothing that's actually good satisfies that desire to do something crazy. The closest thing we have is Omnidoor Thragfire...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I've picked something cheap and easy to get into the format and learn (and so I don't have to buy two playsets of Fetchlands before I can play the deck). Merfolk probably isn't the best choice for that, but you'll find it chilling comfortably on the aforementioned list at number 15. Modern is a big format, 15 isn't so bad.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've chosen to go with the Blue White version. Path in the mainboard deals with the creatures that usually make aggro decks shit their pants; cards like Wurmcoil Engine, Tarmogoyf, and Restoration Angel. It's also nearly impossible to build a sideboard without white. Ethersworn Canonist/Rule of Law, Rest in Peace, and Stony Silence are incredibly potent hate cards that handle a lot of things that blue, red and black just can't handle as efficiently. Maybe some time in the future I'll add red, as Lightning Bolt provides valuable reach. But the manabase gets sketchier (and more expensive), and I'm not sure that it's worth making it even harder to run Mutavaults.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once you've chose U/W, much of the deck builds itself. It's pretty hard to argue against the following being auto-four-of's:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lord of Atlantis</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Master of the Pearl Trident</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Silvergill Adept</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Phantasmal Image</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Æther Vial</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's no discussion with the Lords, Silvergill Adept, and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Æther Vial. Phantasmal Image is also incredibly good. If you have a good board presence, he becomes yet another lord and provides some six or more power to your army. If you <i>don't </i>have a good presence, it's often better to copy your opponent's creatures instead. Dark Confidant seems pretty damn good for our deck. Hm... maybe that's something to look into some time...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Phantasmal Image also kills the fuck out of an Emrakul.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, these cards are also pretty easy includes:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3-4 Path to Exile</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3-4 Merrow Reejery</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Cursecatcher</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3-4 Spreading Seas</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">0-2 Coralhelm Commander</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we run the high end of each of those, and playsets of the cards from the first list, we have 38 cards. 20 seems to be the concensus on lands, leaving us with two open slots...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obviously, we're going to need to cut down on a few cards to have some level of utility, but you don't have a whole lot of options when you're tuning a Merfolk list; you get about 4 cards that aren't creatures, Spreading Seas, or Path to Exile.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mostly, we want counters. Considering the extreme number of two-drops in the deck, my first instinct is to look towards the one-mana counters: Spell Pierce and Spell Snare. Remand and Mana Leak are both very strong, perhaps enough so to justify running them despite our reluctance to hold back two mana early on (especially without </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Æther Vial).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, we <i>could </i>run Vapor Snag. Anybody who played Delver last Standard season knows the potency of this card: In addition to being a tempo play that keeps the board in our favor and chips away at our opponent's life total, it also bounces our creatures out of the way of removal. In this case, the one life isn't an issue. We're just about <i>always</i> <a href="http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/fundamentals/3692_Whos_The_Beatdown.html">The Beatdown</a>, so we're more concerned with their life total than they are with ours.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's take a look at what we have so far.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Æther Vial</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Cursecatcher</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Lord of Atlantis</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Master of the Pearl Trident</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Merrow Reejery</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Phantasmal Image</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Silvergill Adept</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Spreading Seas</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Path to Exile</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Cavern of Souls</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6 Island</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Mutavault</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Seachrome Coast</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Wanderwine Hub</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4... Other stuff.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the tricky part: the four cards that can change the way the deck plays fairly drastically. Remand and Mana Leak are both very good cards in the right deck. This, however, is probably not the right deck. A control deck this is not, and keeping fish in our hand in the hopes of hitting something good with Mana Leak (or worse, trying to get tempo from Remand while simultaneously losing tempo...) is pretty bad.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, what do we want, Spell Snare or Spell Pierce? Should we run Vapor Snag?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seems like it's largely a Meta call. That answer feels like a cop-out, but you really need to know what you're playing against to... you know, play against it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spell Pierce is definitely better against combo. It can usually Time Walk Storm and Eggs (and probably Infect), it counters Splinter Twin and Scapeshift and pushes our spells through against them, and it's pretty damn good against a turn 3 Karn.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And yet... it's pretty damn <i>bad </i>against a turn 5 Karn. It counters Liliana of the Veil and every once in a while a Thoughtseize, but not much else against Jund, which is usually going to be your most important matchup.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the other hand, Spell Snare hits some very important cards in Jund. Tarmogoyf, Dark Confidant, and Terminate are all great targets. It's <i>kind of</i> tough to out-mana Tron, so Spell Snare is definitely where you want to be against their Pyroclasms. Spell Pierce is awful against Affinity (which is right behind Jund in terms of big tournament performance), whereas Spell Snare counters Cranial Plating, which is essential to their plan, as well as Whipflare and Vault Scourge. Spell Snare also does just fine against Storm, and can counter the good Infect creatures so you don't have to try to Path to Exile them all.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's whole lot of upside. Are there problems though? Of course. There are decks that don't really run particularly important two-drops. You're not going to get much more than a Coiling Oracle against Pod. Against Red Deck Wins you hit Searing Blaze. And Scapeshift?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nobody likes countering a Farseek.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Vapor Snag seems incredibly good against Jund, but it's dead in too many matchups for me to feel good about maindecking it. I'm not going to talk sideboards today, but it seems like it could make an appearance there.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I definitely don't have what I'd call a finished deck, but if somebody picked me up by the back of my shirt and tossed me headfirst into a Modern FNM today, here's what I'd be playing:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Æther Vial</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Cursecatcher</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Lord of Atlantis</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Master of the Pearl Trident</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Merrow Reejery</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Phantasmal Image</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Silvergill Adept</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Spreading Seas</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Path to Exile</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Spell Pierce</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Spell Snare</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Cavern of Souls</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6 Island</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Mutavault</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Seachrome Coast</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Wanderwine Hub</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm still learning the format, but I find it fascinating. I love negative feedback, so feel free to tell me why I'm awful at Magic, or an awful writer! I get the impression that, unlike in larger communities, the vocal minority of my readers are actually the positive ones, which is interesting. Feedback is what drives me to write, so post in the comments or just hit me up on Twitter (@abrapw).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><3</span></div>
Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-47754562185192847472012-12-30T13:39:00.001-08:002012-12-30T23:43:07.764-08:00The Modern Era<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't feel particularly ashamed about how terribly the deck in my last article wound up. The thought behind bringing Arcane Melee up yet again was that the Destroy All Monsters tactic might actually be possible with enough recursion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"No, I don't really have lifegain. But as long as I kill EVERYTHING FOREVER, I won't even lose life in the first place!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eh.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't think it can really be done. I wasn't convinced that it could when I wrote the article; I tried to make it pretty clear that it was more of an experiment and I didn't necessarily expect it to work out. But when it went as badly as it did I became pretty disenchanted with Standard. The kind of deck I like to play just isn't the kind of deck you can play. So I'm done with Standard for a while. In a moment, I'll talk to you about my new love. But first, story time!</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I saw Jackie Lee at Grand Prix Indianapolis playing a Grixis Deck in a Standard side event. It looked spicy: Lone Revenants, Mizzium Mortars, <i>Magmaquakes...</i> I actually came up to her as she was sideboarding, so I got to watch her go through her entire deck. I had heard my friends talking about how she was playing Grixis, and I was really excited to see if she had done what I considered impossible. Then she flipped past the Hallowed Fountains.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When she walked up to a vendor's booth that I was at with a friend of mine, I tried to talk to her about it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I saw you were playing Lone Revenants in your Standard deck, why'd you go with him?" I asked. Or something like that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Uh... because he's good?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rest of the short conversation went similarly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm sure she's a very nice person, as are most of the people that I met last weekend. Well, pretty sure. As you would expect with a Grand Prix, there were plenty of big names there. LSV, Sam Black, Matthias Hunt, Gerry Thompson, Adam Prosak (Reuben Bresler!)... The list goes on and on. It was pretty cool getting to meet a lot of those people whose work I've been following so closely. My buddy even got LSV to sign <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGXG5rNe_tI">three Oblivion Rings</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The thing is, though, the big names in Magic that I interacted with very clearly don't think of themselves as "celebrities". They don't carry themselves as if they did, at least. They're down-to-earth people. They're just like you and I, except they're very good at Magic and they know it. The thing about that is, they don't really react quite so well to you approaching them out of nowhere.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I come from the the Starcraft community, where things are very different. When you go to an MLG and meet some big Starcraft player, you're not exactly going to have the same experience as meeting Jackie Lee at a booth while she's returning some cards that she borrowed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First of all, you very well may have been standing in a line a few minutes ago. I think the Starcraft community as a whole has a lot more respect for professional players than the Magic community does. Maybe it's that people think the Magic guys are getting lucky. Maybe it's that Starcraft pros practice for 8-12 hours a day and people don't see Magic players putting in work like that. But when you go on the Starcraft Subreddit, you'll find that about 75 percent of the threads have some pro's name in the title. Whether somebody's streaming, or somebody just had a big win in a tournament, or there's just some funny picture of somebody, it's all about them. There are big sponsorships and teams fight over contracts. And you'll find that most of them act accordingly, making it a point to be as nice as possible to everybody and to act professionally.</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's funny that the guys who sit on a computer all day are much more comfortable and professional interacting with fans than the people who's job it is to have social interaction with people in order to play Magic with them. I really don't mean to call anybody out or say there's anything wrong with anybody. I just found the culture shock interesting.</span></div>
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<a href="http://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Day9Cheezit-500x333.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Day9Cheezit-500x333.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Starcraft Caster Day[9], surrounded by fans, receiving Cheezits.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm done with Standard for a while. It's a very good format; a nice break from the usual "The Deck" and "Other Decks" layout. There's no Delver, no Caw-Blade, etc. etc. But here's my big problem: those decks were "The Deck" for a very good reason. People discovered synergies and strategies that were unique and powerful in the context of a single (arguably over-powered) deck.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Standard right now, we're seeing nothing but Goodstuff. You'll notice that most of the decks in Standard are just named after the colors they use and whether they're Aggro, Midrange, or Control. That's because there isn't really a good deck that's "tight". Nobody has discovered a deck with a unique plan. The thing that I love about Standard is when somebody sifts really deep into the card pool and pulls out an entire deck shell in one piece.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ironically, in the format I'm about to talk about, the deck to beat right now has basically zero synergy and exists entirely of Good Stuff thrown together into a deck.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In any case, the rest of Modern is a lot more interesting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a format with two-card combos. There are aggro decks that can literally play their entire hand on turn one. There are control decks with 20 unique instants and sorceries.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a format where you can Top-8 a MODO Premier event with three maindeck Epic Experiments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've fallen in love. I've been hoping for Merfolk to become a deck come Gatecrash, and I bought a playset of Master of the Pearl Trident quite a while ago. But why not play it now, and with Aether Vials?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fish isn't a deck people talk about a lot. Or at all, really. I've been trying for quite some time to find articles about it, but other than a few forum threads, there's isn't much about the deck. I intend to change that, but I'm going to need more time to really learn the ins and outs of the deck. I'm hoping this is something I can stick with long-term; that's an important aspect of Magic that I really struggle with. But the deck is fun as hell to play. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You have access to as many as 24 copies of the various Lords and Pseudo-Lords (Coralhelm Commmander, Phantasmal Image), and you have very good justification to maindeck Spreading Seas, which is </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">incredibly</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> strong against decks with greedy manabases (like Jund!), manlands (Jund again), or are generally land-centric (Tron and less so Scapeshift).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My favorite bit of tech is <a href="http://magiccards.info/query?q=trickbind&v=card&s=cname">Trickbind</a> in the sideboard, which is insanely versatile. You can counter Fetchlands, the Storm trigger on Grapeshot and Empty the Warrens (enjoy your two Goblins!), cut off infinite Splinter Twin combos, and even stop Snapcaster's ability or Karn activations in a pinch. Notice that five of the seven rulings on Trickbind are some version of "yes, you can counter X".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beating in with four 5/5 unblockable fish satisfies <a href="http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mr11b">Timmy</a> urges I never even knew I had. The deck may be missing a card or two to really bring it to the forefront of Modern, and maybe we'll get something spicy out of Gatecrash to do just that. But maybe it just needs the right person at the helm to bring in just the right mixture of totally badass cards to make it work. I'd really like to be that guy, and I'm gonna try my best to do so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So for now, I'll leave you with the last two Fish decklists that have done well on MTGO. <a href="http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1081709">Here</a> is the one I've been building. Notice Skaab Ruinator, who actually works out really well most of the time (and then sometimes sucks). <a href="http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1081709">This</a> list actually got to the Top 8 in a Premier Event, and I'll be trying that one out as well in the near future. I would have just pasted them into this article, but I don't really have any way to format it in a way that doesn't look awful. So I'll probably just be uploading my lists to TCGPlayer and linking them from now on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can you say custom sleeves?</span></div>
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Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-38830961025941358092012-12-15T19:38:00.000-08:002012-12-30T13:45:07.987-08:00Forcing Grixis: an (Ostensibly) Comprehensive look at the Standard Metagame and How to Make it Cry<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I found myself once again <a href="http://magiccards.info/query?q=ponder&v=card&s=cname" target="_blank">Ponder</a>ing the viability of Arcane Melee.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, usually when it's in my top three, I shuffle it away and hope to draw something else. But something changed in my thinking today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are playing in a very grind-y format. What I mean is that the games can and often do take 15 or more turns, and a good deck is prepared for that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's not to say that it's a <i>slow</i> format. Watching the aggro decks curve out right now is a scary thing. Turn four kills are all over the place. But that doesn't really mean anything unless your deck can also go toe-to-toe with a couple Thragtusks. You might be able to kill somebody turn four with a Selesnya-Charm'd Loxodon Smiter soulbonded with a Wolfir Silverheart being shot-putted by an Ajani, but your goal isn't just doing twenty damage anymore. Infect is out and life-gain is in. You have to be ready to be able to topdeck to victory.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what does that mean for a control player?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Well, uh... it means Sphinx's Revelation.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, but, besides that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Sphinx's Revelation seems to solve basically all those problems.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But... what if you... don't wanna?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can't explain to you why you should play a deck without Sphinx's Revelation. But I'm sure a lot of you don't really want to all that badly. It's a well-beaten path. It's been done before. It's c<i>liché. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We're going Grixis. No Thragtusk, no Sphinx's Revelation. At worst, it's a thought experiment. If we're lucky, we get a playable deck.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what are our goals? That's a big question. A <i>very</i> big question; especially in such a wide-open format. Trying to summarize the meta-game in a few short statements is scary. I think most people feel much more comfortable trusting their intuitions instead of getting down into details of <b>what it is exactly we're trying to control.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, I won't tell you that I know everything, or even anything at all. But let's try to look at the big decks right now, and under what conditions those decks win. Then we'll see if we can't get an idea where are</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) BR aggro: It's loosely Zombie-tribal due to Gravecrawler, but Hellrider and Thundermaw are a huge part of this deck. Blood Artist shows up occasionally, and Geralf's Messenger is and always will be a Thing. Their reach comes from haste guys that come out of nowhere and knock you right the F into burn range.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) U/W or U/W/R flash: Runechanter's Pikes have been moving steadily from twoish to closer to zeroish. These days you're looking at a deck that either win almost entirely with Restoration Angel or kick your ass with Geist of Saint Traft. You can call it a midrange deck, but Sphinx's Revelation gives them an arbitrarily large amount of reach.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) Naya/Jund Midrange: It's very interesting to see Garruk, Primal Hunter as a real player in Standard for the first time I can remember since he was first printed a year and a half ago. With Thragtusk in the format, he suddenly becomes about two or three cards better. This has allowed for a very aggressive green deck that doesn't run out of gas nearly as easily. Make your land drops, gain life, remove your guys, chunk your life total 10 at a time. Slaughter Games gives the Jund deck a whole different dimension of scary.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4) Control decks: Bant and 4-5 Color Control. Esper builds, mostly with a Superfriends package, are also on the rise. Control mirrors inevitably resort to Mill battles, since nobody really feels like dealing 50 damage.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5) Combo decks: Another week passes, and Electrocombo hasn't <i>quite</i> made it into the top 8 of an SCG Open. Or the top 128. But I'm holding out hope. But there are combo decks that present themselves as pretty serious decks. The two that stand out are Grand-Prix Nagoya champion Humanimator (or Peddler Rites, if you must), and Omnidoor Thragfire.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, Omnidooor Thragfire. This game is so goddamn good right now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, what can we take from that? What are our concerns? What do we have to beat?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instant speed removal is not at its best right now. We really only have Ultimate Price, Tragic Slip, and Tribute to Hunger. Ultimate Price is solid against Thundermaw Hellkite and Hellrider, but has a severe issue with Falkenrath Aristocrat; we need either Tragic Slip or Tribute to Hunger for her. Tribute is a tragically underplayed, and is especially in a deck that forgoes lifegain and tries to keep the board as clear as possible. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ultimate Price has the upside of dealing with Angel of Serenity and Thragtusk. We can't trigger Morbid with our own creatures (our creatures, if there are any at all, need to stick around and win us the game), so Tragic Slip is very narrow in most circumstances. Tribute to Hunger has the <b>very</b><i style="font-weight: bold;"> </i>relevant upside of dealing with Geist of Saint Traft.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're just sitting there waiting for your opponent to play creatures and play real Magic, sometimes they just don't come. Counterspells are not optional when there's a chance your opponent just drops an Omniscience, Door to Nothingness, Temporal Mastery.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But how many counterspells can you really maindeck with B/R aggro being such a big threat? The answer, if you ask me, is recursion. More on that later.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sphinx's Revelation</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay, that's kind of a cop-out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sphinx's Revelation (and other Big Draw)</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obviously it's in the top two or three of Standard cards. But what problems does it cause? You're definitely not Lava Axe'ing four times for the win here; you're looking at as much as 60 life to whittle down to zero over the course of a game. In addition, a deck that runs Sphinx's Revelation does not run out of cards. Running out of gas is the real concern here. It's not an easy deck to "out-card".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nicol Bolas is definitely an option; he's something of a trump to <strike>control decks</strike> everything if you can resolve him and he sticks around. That's one answer, but he's vulnerable (DIES TO DREADBORE LOL) and thoroughly counterable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, Slaughter Games, right? Patrick Chapin has discussed the viability of playing them mainboard; it's not out of the question. But I can't imagine running more than two main; one seems correct. I don't think Slaughter Games can really combat the larger issue of card advantage all by its lonesome for several reasons. So what do we do?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We need an engine! And no, we're not messing with Sphinx of the Chimes again. I'd like to believe this option as a lot more practical and much more flexible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's right, about a thousand words later, we get all the way back to the card that started this blog in the first place.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How do we beat a player that can draw as many cards as they have mana? Recur our graveyard as much as we have mana!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The "combo", for the uninitiated:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As always, I must give credit to Steve Guillerm. It's my baby, but I <a href="http://youtu.be/ypFIX0xWPQw?t=2m30s" target="_blank">merely adopted it</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Heh, you thought that link was going to an article, didn't you?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Combo" is a strong word (hence the scare-quotes). It's really just very strong synergy. We don't have a fun time against Rest in Peace, but we're still a Grixis control deck, less four cards or so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I really wish Arcane Melee was a better card. Yes, it's symmetrical. Yes, it's overcosted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But making are spells cheap is core to the strategy of the deck. And no, we can't really replace it with Goblin Electromancer. If we run him, we can't really run sweepers. Then Augur of Bolas and Evil Twin go in. Perhaps Niv Mizzet as well. Though these are good cards, they weaken our spell recursion strategy, and leave us weak to aggressive decks where spot removal just isn't enough.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what's the point of Mystic Retrieval <i>et al</i>? The point is, we have all the answers to everything always. You always have your Dissipate or Counterflux. You can cast your singleton Tribute to Hunger on five Thundermaw Hellkites (who knows, maybe it's mono-red with Elixir of Immortality!).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You know what's awesome? Casting Slaughter Games six times. In game one. Slaughter Games for BR. Mystic Retrieval for 1U. Slaughter Games for BR. Flashback Mystical Retrieval for R. Slaughter Games for BR. Runic Repetition for U. Mystic Retrieval for 1U targeting Runic Reptition...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's my current build:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Grixis Arcane Melee</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Permanents (9):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Rakdos Keyrune</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Arcane Melee</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instants (13):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Counterflux</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Dissipate</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Forbidden Alchemy</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Think Twice</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Thoughtflare</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Tribute to Hunger</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Ultimate Price</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorceries (13):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Barter in Blood</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Blasphemous Act</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Devil's Play</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Dreadbore</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Mystic Retrieval</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Pillar of Flame</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Runic Repetition</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Sever the Bloodline</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Slaughter Games</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lands (25):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Blood Crypt</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Dragonskull Summit</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Drowned Catacomb</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Island</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Mountain</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Nephalia Drownyard</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Steam Vents</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Sulfur Falls</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Swamp</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This deck rewards playing lots and lots of singletons. I had a friend look at the deck looking for some advice:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Blasphemous Act should be in the sideboard. Sideboard Slaughter Games. Sever the Bloodline, too. <strike>Kevin</strike> Mysterious Internet Guy known only by the masses by your seemingly arbitrary love of the Pokemon Abra, you're running way too many cards that are way too situational!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And yet, as the game goes on, I can Mystic Retrieval anything I need. My graveyard is my toolbox. It's not great to Barter In Blood something you could've Tragic Slipped for one-fourth the mana. But the other end of the spectrum is staring at a Geist and a Restoration Angel on the board, and shedding a single tear as you look at the three Tragic Slips in your hand.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you have card selection (not just recursion, but stuff like Forbidden Alchemy as well), you don't worry about which card is "best". You play a lot of cards that kill things in different ways, and you look for the ones you need most. Sever the Bloodline your Rakdos Cackler isn't the best thing in the world, but it works. Maybe next game you're able to hold it for a Geralf's Messenger.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I haven't really talked about winning yet. But when you play control, if you're not losing, you're winning. Nephalia Drownyard can do the job just fine. A Nicol Bolas ultimate is a pretty hard thing to come back from. A lot of the time, you'll find your opponent is low enough just from Keyrune hits to kill them with a couple Devil's Plays. Don't be afraid to flash it back for removal early though, you can always get it back with Runic Repetition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We'll see how this deck fares against Big Sphinx and the fat cats on Thrag Street. The archetype is certainly viable, it's just a matter of answering the question of what questions need to be answered.</span></div>
Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-71364615561693652332012-12-10T22:18:00.000-08:002012-12-11T11:27:33.207-08:00The In-Between Times: Judging a Book by its Cover<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">UR Delver was a fun, relatively strong deck that did alright at Friday Night Magic, but wasn't going to change the world any time soon and wasn't all that fun to play (except the look on my opponents' faces as horrible repressed memories bubbled to the surface whenever I flipped a Delver on turn two).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Electrocombo was incredibly fun, but also pretty bad. A much better list popped up in an MTGO Daily Event (<a href="http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/4703586" target="_blank">here</a>, third deck down). I'm sure the guy came up with his brew independent of my article, but a kid can dream, right?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In any case, I'm kind of stuck on what I want to work on right now. I'm restricted pretty heavily by budget, so I can't really commit to a deck right now to work on. The problem with brewing right now is that the format is so wide open, even the pros are playing insane decks!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Five Color Control is completely viable right now, and decks are going big playing Temporal Masteries and Increasing Ambitions and Door to Nothingness like it's nobody's business. Where does that leave me, the Uniquely Rebellious <strike>Teenage Girl</strike> Deckbuilder?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't know where we go when people are maindecking Omniscience at Star City Games Opens.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've settled on my old standby, Grixis Control, to tide me over while I wait for inspiration. Now, I can't afford Blood Crypts at the moment. The funny thing is, I realized I was playing Grixis last standard season with only the M10 Buddy Lands. So I got my Drowned Catacombs and Dragonskull Summits again, and just skipped the Crypts all together!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, the lack of extra swamps nullifies the original intent of building Grixis:</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7aj3f7v0ImU/UMa-3IdR87I/AAAAAAAAAHU/c_UnccLm5ms/s1600/ol'+sphinxy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7aj3f7v0ImU/UMa-3IdR87I/AAAAAAAAAHU/c_UnccLm5ms/s400/ol'+sphinxy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hey baby... You want to go on a massive fuzzy Santa Claus-beard ride?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have 8 of these guys on a page in my binder (still looking for the ninth). The above picture is my desktop wallpaper. Sphinx of the Chimes has a sweet ability, a very nice body, AND good power and toughness!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See what I did there?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn't come up with this interaction, it's been around since Return to Ravnica was first being spoiled. But it's been largely forgotten about, and it's pretty awesome:</span></div>
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<a href="http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=253594&type=card" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=253594&type=card" /></a><a href="http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=259676&type=card" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=259676&type=card" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love the concept of playing a creature solely for the purpose of discarding it; it reminds me of crazy Future Sight stuff like <a href="http://magiccards.info/query?q=bridge+from+below&v=card&s=cname" target="_blank">Bridge from Below</a>. You can turn Faithless Looting and Izzet Charm into Divinations with the Ghoul, and then pick it up later to throw away to Sphinx of the Chimes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Poor guy's stuck in an Eternal Infinite Trash Loop.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Veilborn Ghoul is a little cute, but as long as you have looting effects (you can play up to eight, so that's not a problem), he provides some sweet card advantage. Then, you resolve a Sphinx, draw four, draw multiples of something, discard those, draw four more, keep chaining draws, play Laboratory Maniac, and win on the spot out of nowhere.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With all the lifegain floating around, alternate win-cons are what's In right now!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lab Maniac is probably pushing it, but he definitely belongs in the sideboard, at least.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's a sketch, though. It's fun to mess with, at the least.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Veilborn Grixis</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Artifacts (2):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Rakdos Keyrune</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Creatures (10):</span></span></div>
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1 Laboratory Maniac</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Snapcaster Mage</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Sphinx of the Chimes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Veilborn Ghoul</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instants (6):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Izzet Charm</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Ultimate Price</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Forbidden Alchemy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Tribute to Hunger</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorceries (12):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Dreadbore</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Faithless Looting</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Mizzium Mortars</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Sever the Bloodline</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Blasphemous Act</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Slaughter Games</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Pillar of Flame</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enchantments (2):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Curse of Death's Hold</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Planeswalkers (3):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Jace, Architect of Thought</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lands (24):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Island</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Mountain</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Swamp</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Blood Crypt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Dragonskull Summit</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Drowned Catacomb</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Steam Vents</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Sulfur Falls</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The (bold) maindeck Curse of Death's Hold and Slaughter Games are Patrick Chapin's idea. Curse blanks a few cards in the very popular R/B Aggro deck, and combos very well Jace, Architect of Thought. Obviously Pillar of Flame is very good in that matchup, but Curse of Death's Hold makes it relevant when they'd otherwise rot in your hand all game: 2 + 1 = Thragtusk!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Slaughter Games is definitely a skill-tester. It's hard to know what to name. Especially before you board in Duress against control. But without Sphinx's Revelation, we have a hard time preventing our White opponents from going way over the top with card draw. I'm still learning how to play the card effectively, I won't say I understand it perfectly. But it feels right.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A casual guy I played in FNM this weekend was running a spirits deck with Moorland Haunt and Misthollow Griffin. At the time it was just annoying, but in hindsight, I realize that this is actually a pretty solid plan. Standard gets insanely grindy right now. So it's not too bad of a deal to ALWAYS have a 3/3 Flyer. I give this guy credit for being clever, but he didn't go quite as far as <a href="http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1076705" target="_blank">Alexander Lapping</a>, who maindecked two Rest in Peace (with a third in the sideboard!) in addition to his two Moorland Haunts.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're not playing somebody who interacts with their graveyard, Rest in Peace is all but dead anyway. Misthollow is cute, but it doesn't justify two slots just to support it. But jeez, who DOESN'T interact with their graveyard these days? I'm sure they come out against some decks, but they deal with so many things in the format that there are decks that play Snapcaster and Runechanter's Pike in the mainboard and still side it in.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't have much in the way of deck input for Misthollow Griffin, my Search the City brew didn't go so well...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But he sure fits the theme of weak cards with badass art!</span><br />
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<i>Caw!!! Er, I mean... Hoo! Wh... Whinny?</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks to Sam Black's recent efforts with the archetype, I've also been playing some Turbo-Fog, which is a blast. Especially when you try as hard as possible to make Tibalt playable in an actual game of Magic: The Gathering.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only thing you can actually do with him is use his -4 ability. That's his thing. Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded deals damage equal to the number of cards in target player's hand to that player. So let's start there!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reforge the Soul and Otherworld Atlas are both reasonable cards in a Turbo Fog deck; they find fogs. Temporal Mastery gives us extra Planeswalker activations and extra Otherworld Atlas activations (it's basically a Planeswalker itself). So the idea is to lay down an Atlas or two, a Tibalt, and whatever other Planeswalkers, then fog our way to Temporal Mastery mana. Take a few turns, plus Tibalt, play some symmetrical draw, and -4 him. Wheee!!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That does some damage, as do some of the other 'walkers. Then you kill them with Devil's Play. The end!</span><br />
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<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tibbo-Fog</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Artifacts (4):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Otherworld Atlas</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instants (7):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Clinging Mists</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Fog</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorceries (14):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Devil's Play</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Farseek</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Reforge the Soul</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Temporal Mastery</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Planeswalkers (10):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Chandra, the Firebrand</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Garruk, Primal Hunter</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Jace, Architect of Thought</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Jace, Memory Adept</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lands (25):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Desolate Lighthouse</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Evolving Wilds</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Forest</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Hinterland Harbor</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Island</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Mountain</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Rootbound Crag</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Steam Vents</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Sulfur Falls</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Temple Garden</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>How did such a badass-looking card go so wrong...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's about all I've got for this week. I hope you've enjoyed playing cards just because their art is sweet. If you don't, you probably didn't get this far...</span></div>
Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-77932547191259521202012-12-02T09:55:00.003-08:002012-12-10T22:59:01.903-08:00UR Electrocombo: Standard's (Im)Perfect Storm<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before I get started here, I need to make sure we're all on the same page about something: this deck is what we in the business call <i>For Funsies.</i> It's not for winning tournaments, it's more of the Impress Your Friends Dazzle Your Enemies kind of thing. If you're bored, I strongly encourage taking this deck to FNM. You probably (almost definitely) won't win, but you'll have a blast and definitely turn some heads. There are very few moments in many years of playing Magic that top being able to say, as loudly as I could, I'LL CAST EPIC EXPERIMENT FOR 27. I won that match.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I lost all the others, but god dammit did I win <i>that one.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, enjoy the show!</span></div>
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Idea</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
UR Electroburn was the name of the first deck I played at Friday Night Magic this standard season. I liked it because it was a different take on Mono Red aggro and<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16px;">—more importantly</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16px;">—the name was <i>sweet</i>. </span>It was a tough time when I realized Goblin Electromancer kinda sucked and that I had to rename the deck. So finding a new home for him was obviously top priority when I was looking for something crazy to play last week.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before Return to Ravnica came out, there was a Burn at the Stake combo deck that floated around a bit online. It was pretty awful, but it was cool seeing people that could kill you with one spell if you durdled too much. The thing that made the deck particularly bad was its reliance on Kudoltha Rebirth; you had to run a bunch of do-nothing artifacts like Ichor Wellspring and Mycosynth Wellspring to even cast it, making the one red mana a lot less efficient than it looks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once you had some tokens on the board, though, you could use Infernal Plunge and Battle Hymn to produce mana, then cast Past in Flames to do it all again, using Reforge the Soul to refill your hand. By about turn 6 or 7, you could actually just draw your entire deck using that engine, then kill them with Burn at the Stake tapping the 50 tokens you just made.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Post-rotation, we have even fewer sources of creature tokens (Krenko's Command and Thatcher Revolt), and still only two spells that generate mana (Infernal Plunge and Battle Hymn. But Goblin Electromancer actually just takes the power level of the deck and kicks it straight in the balls.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sticking an Electromancer for a couple turns is no small feat; but if (big IF) you can, you <i>can</i> win on<i> turn 3.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i></i></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PbBuiZLQA7U/ULqahP7kFII/AAAAAAAAAFA/9ebKUrKZR7A/s1600/Goblin+Electromancer.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PbBuiZLQA7U/ULqahP7kFII/AAAAAAAAAFA/9ebKUrKZR7A/s320/Goblin+Electromancer.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No, seriously.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's look at the decklist first.</span></div>
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Deck</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Creatures (4):<br />4 Goblin Electromancer</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instants (8):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Battle Hymn</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Desperate Ravings</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lands (21):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5 Island</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8 Mountain</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Steam Vents</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Sulfur Falls</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorcery (27):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Burn at the Stake</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Epic Experiment</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Faithless Looting</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Infernal Plunge</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Krenko's Command</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Past in Flames</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Reforge the Soul</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Thatcher Revolt</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Wild Guess</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sideboard (15):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Krenko, Mob Boss</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Cyclonic Rift</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Increasing Vengeance</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Smelt</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Devil's Play</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Burn at the Stake</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The shell of this deck basically constructs itself. Goblin Electromancer is the best card in the deck, and he's quite color intensive. So we need Blue and Red and would need a very good argument for adding anything else. There are only two "rituals" in Standard: Infernal Plunge and Battle Hymn. So both of those go in. There are only three blue or red token generators that are even close to working in this deck: Krenko's Command, Thatcher Revolt, and Talrand's Invocation. Given that our rituals only produce red, we need to be very careful with how much blue we use. So that leaves just two. All of these cards are automatic four-of's. Past in Flames is an extremely important source of cards to keep the engine going, but we don't want too many too early. Three seems copies seems like the obvious answer there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In testing, I noticed something really interesting about the way this deck plays out. When you win, you win <b>BIG.</b> Like, one hundred-something damage big. You don't really fizzle and it's never really close. The question was, given that information, what do I do? There's something that I can't quite understand about the pool of cards that you can work with that makes it very hard to get going, but very hard to run out of gas. I was originally running 3 Burn at the Stakes. But I realized that multiple copies were entirely superfluous. If you're at the point where you can cast it for the win, you're probably also at the point where you can draw another 50 cards. Running just a single copy of Burn at the Stake minimizes the chances of drawing it when you don't need it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once you get through the obvious stuff, the only thing that's really left is card draw. Desperate Ravings and Faithless Looting both get through a lot of cards and allow you to sculpt your hand pretty well before going off. Desperate Ravings has a blue flashback cost, but the only time you're really concerned with conserving blue mana is on the turn you go off. By then you can almost always cast it for 1R thanks to Past in Flames. Reforge the Soul is absolutely nuts. This is one of the very few decks where it does what you want it to do; if you're playing it right, your opponent never untaps after you cast it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In fact, it's often correct to miracle it on turn three or four even if you can't go off that turn. There are a lot decks that will still have 5-7 cards in hand at that point. The best case scenario is casting it after they've cast a few spells to draw cards and you can make them draw a completely random fresh seven. Of course, against decks like Mono Red, casting Reforge is the absolute worst thing you can do. In that case, just discard them or keep them until you're ready to combo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Epic Experiment is, of course, by far the most fun card in the deck. There are <i>thirty-three</i> hits in the deck. More importantly, none of them are sweepers or ramp spells that don't do anything important. Every card you cast either enables the combo or draws more cards. So if you can cast enough rituals to get up to nine or ten mana, it's tough to lose. Of course, you need to actually have enough mana to cast it in the first place, so you can't have more than one or two.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Sideboard</span></h2>
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<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obviously the deck is very easy to hate out. If you don't board in an answer to Grafdigger's Cage, Tormod's Crypt, Ash Zealot, or Rest in Peace, you're dead on the spot. In one match at FNM, I lost game one and decided not to side in Smelt. He played a turn one Grafdigger's Cage and I scooped immediately.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a little easier than you'd expect to beat counterspells, though. You have plenty of time to wait for your opponent to tap out before you go off. Reforge the Soul can also lower the odds your opponent has countermagic, or just bait it out on the spot. Post-board, you can bring in Increasing Vengeance to beat the opponent that tries to wait until you cast Burn at the Stake to counter. Increasing Vengeance has some very cool synergy with Past in Flames in that Increasing Vengeance gains a second Flashback cost of RR that still allows you to copy your spell twice. I almost ran a few copies main deck, and that might actually be correct.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Devil's Play is an alternate win condition if you're worried about Slaughter Games. Krenko, Mob Boss and extra copies of Burn at the Stake allow something of an alternate win condition that's pretty insane against decks with limited access to removal. I'm not sure if it's even ever worth doing this, but it's good for metagaming your opponent and it's definitely worth further exploration.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Perfect Game</span></h3>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I said before, it is actually possible to win on turn three with this deck. Obviously that isn't even remotely consistent, and you should realistically be looking to win on turn five or six. But once in a while, you get "The God Draw" and kill your opponent before they know what the hell is going on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's an unlikely, yet realistic, scenario where that can happen.</span></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Opening Hand</span></h2>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We draw our opening seven on the draw and see the following hand:</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UqZJnRuJJQ0/ULq0obSTiwI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/KNO7NCvHJ9Y/s1600/1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UqZJnRuJJQ0/ULq0obSTiwI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/KNO7NCvHJ9Y/s400/1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Oh, shit...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steam Vents, Sulfur Falls, Sulfur Falls, Goblin Electromancer, Thatcher Revolt, Infernal Plunge, Krenko's Command.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not bad at all. We have a good number of lands, we have an Electromancer, we have some tokens, and we have a ritual. It'd be nice to have some card draw to That's what we call a Snap Keep, baby!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We draw a Battle Hymn on our turn and play a Steam Vents tapped.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Turn Two</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We untap, and draw:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Jesus, it's like somebody's fixing our draws or something...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Past in Flames. Hopefully, our opponent can't kill our Goblin Electromancer this turn, because next turn all we need is some card draw and we're good to go.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Turn Three</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Moment of truth:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I mean, we COULD miracle it...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Miracle'ing Reforge is not an unreasonable thought. Perhaps on turn four, if our hand was weaker, we could cross our fingers and hope we run into enough gas to be able to flashback Past in Flames and get moving. But we have a much better play, which is to just hold on to it and go crazy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you play this deck, your biggest priority is making your Battle Hymns as big as possible. We could just play a Thatcher Revolt for two mana and then Make four with Battle Hymn, but we'd rather get Krenko's Command off first and sacrifice one of the goblins to Infernal Plunge. That's a net gain of one mana from Battle Hymn, and allows us to keep a Sulfur Falls untapped.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now we can play the Thatcher Revolt and then Battle Hymn, leaving us five mana to cast Past in Flames and do it all over again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After we cast everything again, we end up with nine mana, a Reforge in the hand, and Past in Flames in the graveyard. I was going to draw seven </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">random</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> cards off the top of the deck to show how hard it is to lose now, but when I played the Reforge and drew seven I happened to hit the Burn at the Stake, which you can of course immediately cast for the win.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had a lot of fun building and tweaking this deck. I'm sure if you put the list in the hands of a pro player, they could probably make it better than I did (when they were done vomiting). But there's only so much you can do given the card pool. It was a very interesting challenge trying to make this work as well as I could, and I learned a lot about deck building along the way. So I'll wrap up with this:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mark Rosewater said in his Drive to Work podcast that Magic was like a board game in which you design half of the game before you play it. I like that analogy, because it encourages people to make their own fun. Do something crazy and be proud of it.</span></div>
Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-24159732347902349492012-11-25T19:42:00.000-08:002012-12-10T22:59:19.707-08:00Some Quick Thoughts on Desperate Ravings<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been having quite a few ideas for posts recently. Maybe that means I'm just really good at blogging (I am blossome), or maybe I'm gonna burn myself out and get sick of Magic and never write again. Thank God nobody reads this thing or I'd be freaking right the fuck out right now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had a thought today (!) about Desperate Ravings while playing online. It's hard to evaluate what exactly the card does to your hand. Because, you know, Variance. A lot of people write about variance. So I'll spare you my thoughts. Just know that it doesn't just mean "randomness". It refers to how random something is; how far the results are spread out. When we talk about variance in Magic, we're usually referring to the amount of randomness in Magic itself, relative to... life? I guess? There is "some variance" in Magic, which governs our lives and makes us its bitch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you cast Desperate Ravings, the variance... varies. There's a variety of situations. Insert stream of V alliteration here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the moment, we're throwing out graveyard interaction and we're throwing out mill as a win condition. Pretend, for a moment, that any card that would be put into your graveyard gets put on the bottom of your library instead. And I guess pretend <a href="http://magiccards.info/query?q=cellar+door&v=card&s=cname" target="_blank">Cellar Door</a> doesn't exist (weren't you already?). How does Desperate Ravings affect your hand?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, this might be uncomfortable for the non-mathy people here (as will most of this, if I'm doing my job), but we'll start with two hands; a zero card hand and an infinitely-large hand.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you cast Desperate Ravings with no other cards in hand (or from the graveyard with none in hand), you draw one card. The other one gets discarded before the spell resolves, so it doesn't affect your hand--which is, again, what we're looking at here. <b>With zero cards, Desperate Ravings functions identically to Think Twice.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you cast it with a near-infinite hand size, the odds of you discarding a card you just drew are very nearly zero. You always get two new cards, and discard an old one. You can't equate this to an existing card nearly as easily, because you're still discarding a card at random no matter how you phrase it. But<b> the more cards you have in hand, the closer you get to seeing two new cards.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now I'm not gonna draw a graph or any of that shit. It looks really boring anyway, since the Y values are all between 1 and 2. But we can start by saying that, with two cards in hand, you have a fifty percent chance of getting two new cards because you discard a random one out of the four you draw. So I guess you draw 1.5 cards? Take that, high school statistics!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, from a pure card advantage standpoint, if your worst-case-scenario is a Think Twice, you're doing just fine. That's the principle behind the four copies in the list I just posted as well as the list I'll be posting when I talk about my crazy combo shenanigans. So although it may be hard to know exactly what Desperate Ravings is doing, the short answer is "good things!"</span>Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-5069374366737011232012-11-23T20:35:00.003-08:002012-12-10T22:59:40.867-08:00The Obsolescence of Quintessential Disparate Grandiolquence<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before we get started, one thing:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I totally called Archwing Dragon being an awesome sideboard card.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have evidence.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I feel awesome.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The last deck I wrote about pretty clearly foreshadowed my great desire to play U/R. Mono Red is (and, more or less, has always been) a cheap and easy way to play a relevant deck in Standard, so I play it a lot. I'm cheap and I like easy things. The thing that I found interesting, though, was the staunch digital-ness of Red Deck Wins. If you're playing Mono Red, you're playing Mountains. If you have any other color of mana in the deck, you're playing a completely different deck. Maybe you're playing Boros humans. But if so, you're very white. It's at least 50/50 or even less red than that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our mana is very good right now. It'll be better in Post-Gatecrash Standard, but the fact is, Shocks are the second best Dual Lands in the game. So it seemed natural that now would be the time to take mono-colored decks and de-mono them. But what do I know.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, I didn't really get the Steam Vents, Sulfur Falls and Snapcasters so much for that deck as I did because I like those cards. I mean, look at them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Mmm...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Holding a playset of each of those cards just feels sweet. If a format has red and blue in it, I'm probably trying to play them. Niv-Mizzet is the Commander of my only EDH deck. If I ever build a Modern deck, it'll be U/R Electromancer/Pyro Storm. I build Izzet whenever I play RtR limited. When I play Legacy on Cockatrice, it's U/W/R Miracles. Granted, the red is just a splash in the sideboard, but there's Volcanic Islands and Snapcasters, dammit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, two weeks ago at FNM I decided to finally build the deck that I had been toying with for a few weeks and built U/R Delver.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have some frickin' <i>opinions</i> about the state of the Delver deck. I feel like there are a couple very obvious problems with the way people are trying to pull it off, and I'm pretty sure it's a Deck. Tell me if you guys think I'm crazy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Number One: Izzet Charm is a bad card.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's really not what you want to be doing. Let's skip ahead past the situational stuff and talk about it's "fall-back mode": very few decks want to play Faithless Looting. You have less cards when you resolve it than you did when you cast it. Did you ever notice that? It's true. If you have Snapcaster Mage in your deck and you discard some spells with Izzet Charm, you're not getting value. You're recouping losses. That's something very important to realize, because people are playing Izzet Charm in <strike>decks that</strike>. Nope, I'll end the sentence there. The only deck that should run Izzet Charm is a deck that (unfortunately) shouldn't be run: <a href="http://magiccards.info/query?q=veilborn+ghoul&v=card&s=cname" target="_blank">Veilborn Ghoul</a> Grixis Control.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So with that said, do you <i>really</i> want a Spell Pierce? Did anybody ever <i>really</i> run Shock? How often did it go to the dome?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Number Two: Goblin Electromancer belongs in Storm. That's it.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Goblin Electromancer has an effect that I <i>adore</i>. I spent <i>months</i> playing frickin' Arcane Melee. But Arcane Melee was a combo enabler, and that's what Goblin Electromancer is, too. What these cards do is enable an "engine". I've heard the term bandied about here and there, but here's how I define an engine: it's a set of cards with heavy synergy that enable some level of recursion. It's a "soft" combo. Runic Repetition and Mystic Retrieval under Arcane Melee. Rituals, Goblin Electromancer, and Past in Flames (more on that later!). Conflux, Dream Halls, and Progenitus.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wording my point a little more simply and directly, there isn't much Value in casting a Syncopate for X+1.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting an extra spell off or countering something you couldn't have doesn't just require Goblin Electromancer. It requires luck. It just doesn't really come up often enough to justify:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Making sure you can have UR on turn 2 consistently</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wasting a slot in your deck</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Specifically, wasting a <i>non-spell</i> slot in your deck</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Goblin Electromancer is vulnerable, his body is (to be bold) <i>usually</i> irrelevant, and he doesn't flip Delver. And for what? Every once in a while, you get to cast a Searing Spear AND Essence Scatter. Cool. Maybe you draw a land next turn and can't even use the mana that you wouldn't have. I won't deny that it does <i>some </i>good things, but it's not worth a card. That's what's important. He pushes out other good cards and messes up your spell ratio. Hey, what a segue!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Number Three: If Augur of Bolas isn't blocking, he isn't worth casting.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He's a very beautiful card. When you look at Augur of Bolas, you see nothing but gravy. Gravy on top of gravy. I'm not even making the "would you like some turkey with your gravy!?" joke, there is no turkey. The turkey is not even involved. It doesn't exist. This is clearly the perfect card if you have islands.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For two mana, you get two things. And it's important to verbalize that. When he lands, you get the choice between about 1.25 spells. So it's usually not a choice. You cast him and he replaces himself with a random Instant or Sorcery in your deck. Sometimes you can pick between two or even three. Pretty cool! But if we're evaluating the Mean Value of the card, he kinda just draws a card. If you ask me, his ETB effect is pretty low-impact.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You play him to block. And there isn't much to block right now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So let's get crazy, eh? Don't hedge against aggro by wussing out and playing 2 copies in the main and two in the side. There isn't a tier-1 aggro deck that doesn't ramp into a bunch of stuff that Augur can't block safely. I say go all-in and kill them harder! I put all four in the side and never looked back. They come in (and actually replace Delver) against Zombies and Mono-Red. I'm pretty confident that that's where they belong.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Number Four: Guttersnipe + Unsummon</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The deck lives and dies by this interaction. We play 4 in the main, and 3.5 of them hit our dudes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You haven't lived until you've cast a turn-4 Guttersnipe with Unsummon mana open.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I learn more and more about Magic every day, and I love it. In fact, I learn so much, I'm very, very aware of how incredibly bad I am at Magic I am. But I know in my heart that this tech is like nothing else I've ever come up with. The first deck in a Top-8 that runs 4 Guttersnipes and 4 Unsummons will change people's minds about Guttersnipe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Callin' it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I guess this is the part where I'm supposed to post a decklist.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">UR Guttersnipe Delver</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Creatures (13):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Delver of Secrets</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Guttersnipe</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Snapcaster Mage</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Talrand, Sky Summoner</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Artifacts (2):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Runechanter's Pike</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instants (22):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Desperate Ravings</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Essence Scatter</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Searing Spear</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Syncopate</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Think Twice</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Thought Scour</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Unsummon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorceries (3):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Pillar of Flame</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lands (20):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8 Island</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Mountain</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Steam Vents</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Sulfur Falls</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm never too sure about the sideboard, so I won't post it. The sure things are 4 Augur of Bolas, the fourth Pillar of Flame, and some number of Dissipates. Maybe some Grafdigger's Cage? Jace, perhaps? I don't know. I have a habit of throwing together sideboards at the last minute because I hate making them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyways, I went 4-0-1 at FNM the first week I played this. So I took it apart and built Standard Electromancer Storm. Because, you know.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hate success, or something.</span></div>
Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-24103564741063418152012-10-15T16:08:00.000-07:002012-10-15T16:08:21.707-07:00Red Decks and You: Snappy McCastertons Edition.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alright, alright. That last list was bad. Let's move past it, shall we?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This time I'm running a deck into which I've actually put a lot of thought. Ever since I started playing in FNM's and got "competitive", I've had a soft spot for mono-red. It's cheap to play, it pisses people off, and when it does--as it claims to--win, it wins <i>hard</i>. I've been tuning this guy for about a week and half, and it feels pretty damn strong. I'm very sad that I had to cut the Goblin Electromancers (it sucks, apparently), because I had an awesome name for it that I may try to stick with anyway:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Goblin Electroburn:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Creatures (25):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Ash Zealot</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Gore-House Chainwalker</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Guttersnipe</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Hellrider</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Rakdos Cackler</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Snapcaster Mage</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Stonewright</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Stromkirk Noble</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instant (8):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Brimstone Volley</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Searing Spear</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorcery (6)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Nightbird's Clutches</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Pillar of Flame</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Land (21):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Desolate Lighthouse</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11 Mountain</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Steam Vents</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Sulfur Falls</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sideboard:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Tormod's Crypt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 Archwing Dragon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Forge Devil</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Reckless Waif</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Essence Scatter</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Flames of the Firebrand</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This looked a lot different last week (Goblin Electromancers, Nivmagus Elemental (!), Blistercoil Weird...); then <a href="http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=50003" target="_blank">THIS</a> happened. The deck hit 10th place, which is very good for a mono-red list these days. Variance is a thing, so is player skill. It definitely could've top-8'd, and maybe even won. But I really just don't think there's any reason to be playing a mono-colored deck in this format. We have freakin' shock lands!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, you already know why cards like Rakdos Cackler, Ash Zealot, and Gore-House Chainwalker are in here. They're cheap and they do damage. Sold. But let's talk about some of the less-obvious choices.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Guttersnipe: </b>Anders only played one-, two-, and four-drop creatures in his deck. So I've smoothed out the curve a bit by adding this house. He pushes a LOT of damage through when you can keep him out: to the point where he becomes a must-kill. This guy gets smacked down right-fast in the decks that can deal with him, which is fine by me. When I play a turn 3 Guttersnipe and it gets answered with an Ultimate Price, they better hope they have another one for my Hellrider on the next turn. If they don't kill the Guttersnipe, well... I hear Brimstone Volley for 7 is pretty good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Snapcaster Mage: </b>I often find myself dropping him EoT turn 2, or even flashing him in for a trade. Snapcaster is--and always has been--good not only for his effect, but his body. He has very positive synergy with Guttersnipe, and both provide valuable reach to eke out those last 5ish life points to end the game. I understand how counter-intuitive it is to play him in the same list as Ash Zealot. But I really just need you to take my word on this one and give it a shot. Snapcaster Mage is VERY good in this deck. And if you still have your turn 2 Ash Zealot by the time you're flashing back Searing Spear with Snapcaster, you're already winning the game. You can spare the 3 life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Nightbird's Clutches: </b>Now, this isn't my tech. So I can sort of let results speak for themselves and point to Anders on this one. But I wanted to say one thing about it: Holy bajeezers! I truly believe that aggressive strategies would absolutely dominate the format if it weren't for Thragtusk. The incidental life gain is very good, but it's the two blockers that really kill you. So the simple answer is 'Clutch away! We'll get to the less-simple one when we hit the sideboard.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Desolate Lighthouse: </b>There's a term that I learned about in Economics called "opportunity cost". It's something Patrick Chapin talks about a lot, and for good reason. Every card has a mana cost. Maybe it has additional costs or a Kicker or Buyback. But the super-secret extra cost that doctors don't want you to know about is the card's opportunity cost: what could you have instead? Taking the day off to go Skiing costs the price of a lift ticket, gas, food, etc. But there's also an opportunity cost associated with such an endeavor: You <i>could</i> be working and making money. The amount of money you could've made that day is an opportunity cost that makes that half-off lift ticket look a lot less half-off. When you play a utility land, you pay the opportunity cost of making colored mana. The low opportunity cost of having a man-land come into play tapped wasn't too much for people to play the hell out of the Worldwake Manlands. So even though once in a while you won't be able to hit your turn two Ash Zealot, the power of the Loothouse later in the game is definitely worth it. Playing something like Faithless Looting isn't an option: the opportunity cost is an entire card that could be a dude or something to get our dudes through. But Desolate Lighthouse does a very good job of getting through a chunk of lands when you're running out of gas.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Onto the sideboard!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Essence Scatter: </b>Spicy, no? We're very, very scared of Thragtusk. Centaur Healer too, sure, but he dies to Searing Spear. But if somebody resolves a Thragtusk, my life gets a whole lot worse. But who says it has to resolve? Essence Scatter is a good tempo card to stop big blockers like Thragtusk and Olivia. Dare we dream of the day we Essence Scatter a hard-casted Angel of Serenity? We probably durst. But that sure as hell would win you a game. This is still very much a theoretical choice. I haven't gotten to test against too many Selesnya decks, which is a shame because that's decidedly the Bad Matchup. But we'll see!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Archwing Dragon: </b>Yeah, really! You know what this format doesn't have? Good instant-speed removal for big creatures! With all the Dreadbores, Sever the Bloodlineses, and Abrupt Decays scampering about, life sure looks good for Archie. When you're late in the game against a tap-out control deck that's got you beat, nothing's better than burning them for four every turn.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Forge Devil: </b>Arbor Elf!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think this deck has a solid plan, and it has an extraordinarily good matchup against zombies. So let me know what you guys think!</span>Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-77919826674724919042012-10-01T17:51:00.001-07:002012-10-02T07:37:50.999-07:00Deadeye Lotus (OR: How I Convinced Reddit to Love Me Forever)<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Guys, I have bad news. I just said the words "I think I'll BLOG ABOUT IT!" out loud. Oh god oh god ohgodohgodohgod</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Right! So combo decks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes they're really good. Like literally the best thing possible. Sometimes they aren't. What's up with that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've just started testing the initial draft of a deck that takes advantage of the combo that Reddit is oh-so in love with, Deadeye Navigator + Gilded Lotus + Zealous Conscripts. If you didn't know, you can target your own Gilded Lotus with your Conscripts' ETB effect. This not only gives it haste (which is important against the all-too-popular Karn, SIlver Golem counter to this deck <span style="font-size: xx-small;">heh</span>), but untaps it, netting you one U in your mana pool for each recursion. The arbitrary amount of blue mana (and therefore any mana your lands can produce, with more Conscripts untapping) allows you to do a whole mess of things, not the least of which being stealing your opponents entire board (and doing so again at their upkeep if they're not dead yet).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had played with the idea of making a deck like this to screw around even more than I usually do to finish out the season, but I lost interest and my LGS is like, 25 frickin' minutes away from my house. Seeing </span><a href="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=451535" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">this</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> on the MTG Salvation forums, however, renewed my interest. But then I was all "actually this deck sucks, mine's gonna RULE though!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We start with Blue and Red as necessary colors for the deck. Two pieces cost five mana and the last one costs six, so Green is the next logical step for our Ramp needs. Unfortunately, RUG is not particularly well-positioned with the guilds we have right now; the only Shockland we can use is Steam Vents. This rules out 1-drop dorks, but Farseek can grab you a Steam Vents or a basic. Izzet Keyrune provides more ramp that takes us straight from Turn 3 to our 5 drops, and then provides utility if we run out of gas or get flooded. It certainly isn't ideal, and the list will look a lot better after Gatecrash, but it's certainly serviceable right now. And fuuuuuuun!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, the idea of this deck is not to sit on its ass durdling until it hits those three cards. That would make what we call a Bad Magic Player, and a single copy of Slaughter Games could take you out of the game. Instead I try to take advantage of all three (well, mostly two) combo pieces in several situations to make a solid midrange deck that doesn't rely on the combo to win. It's always nice when you do though, as the results are <a href="http://imgur.com/aOOro" target="_blank">Hilarious</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, first, a decklist:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Huntmaster of the Fells</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Zealous Conscripts</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Deadeye Navigator</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Thragtusk</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Acidic Slime</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Gilded Lotus</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Izzet Keyrune</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Farseek</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Jace, Architect of Thought</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Steam Vents</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Sulfur Falls</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Rootbound Crag</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 Hinterland Harbor</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6 Forest</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Island</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Mountain</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll start by talking about the combo pieces, for obvious reasons.</span><br />
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<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gilded Lotus</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">: This is a card that people seem to be just discovering as an amazing control piece and all around guhdcrd. On Starcity's Brad vs. Gerry, Gerry Thompson played a Grixis list running a few Gilded Lotus, and was raving it by the end of their playtesting sessions. As loyal readers of mine will know, I've been singing this card's praises for months, but I can't expect the Magic community to keep up with my genius (heh). The biggest weakness that I see with this deck right now is its lack of 3-drops to cast after the Lotus. However, the 5 slot is actually pretty bloated in this deck, so the plan is usually to cast this guy a bit later. Seven mana is a good number, so you can follow your Lotus up with a Thragtusk or Tamiyo, or, even better...</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Zealous Conscripts</b>: Why play him off of a Gilded Lotus? Well, it depends on what's on your board, and what's on their board. If they have a threat that you could really use to good effect, you can go ahead and steal that. But, the rules behind the "Gain Control" <strike>keyword</strike> key...phrase? don't require the permanent to be under an opponents control. That's kinda why the combo works at all. Speaking of which, I guess I haven't actually explained the combo yet. Hang on, I have to go edit that in... Okay, so yeah. You can actually cast your Conscripts for a net two mana by untapping the Lotus you used to cast it. If you have your Navigator on the board, you get to go off right then and there. This will save you a surprising number of times, and also blows peoples MINDS.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Deadeye Navigator</b>: This guy has hung out for the last six months or so as what you might call a fringe constructed-playable card. But his ability is undeniably powerful with the right cards around it. This has led him to show up in countless casual brews, and some reasonable, if very low-tier, Standard decks (mostly Bant land-denial stuff with Venser and Acidic Slime). The thing that gives me much more faith in him for the upcoming season is that little number in the bottom-right corner: 5. Mizzium Mortars is a Card. Doom Blade is no more. It's going to be a lot easier to untap with a Deadeye Navigator in the coming months. And once he's there, he is (barring Terminus and Supreme Verdict) there to stay. He and his bond-buddy can blink out of the way of spot removal and burn, and that's a good spot to be in. Azorius Charm is very popular right now with all those damn zombies lurching about, but luckily we can get by just fine without attacking with him at all, if necessary. Deadeye Navigator is, most importantly <i>awesome</i>, and we have plenty of synergy to justify his existence in the deck besides Zealous Conscripts. Segues, baby, Segues!</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Deadeye Navigator's Evil Flicker Council</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Thragtusk</b>: The list I linked to earlier which inspired this post didn't run Thragtusk. And that is an absolute goddamn crime! He's a format staple and is an immediate 4-of in so many decks that can't even abuse him, it's insane. Newcomers to the Power of Thragtusk should note that his second effect doesn't say "die", it says "leaves the battlefield. So every time we blink him with Deadeye Navigator, we get 5 life and a 3/3 Beast. I... don't really have much more to say here.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Huntmaster of the Fells</b>: Thragtusk Junior. Fives and threes become twos, and he remains awesome. You can Farseek right into him turn 3, and he's no schmuck when you flip him over, either.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Acidic Slime</b>: The double green is painful to us. The mass LD is painful to them. I only have two due to the restrictive mana cost, but he sure as hell does work.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rest:</span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Izzet Keyrune</b>: I touched on it earlier, but this card is awfully nice for us. Patrick Chapin has a very public love-affair with this cycle (especially with the Rakdos one), and I see where he's coming from. He compares them to the Zendikar man-lands which, like these, have very low opportunity costs (as compared to other forms of ramp/fixing) and significant upsides, especially in grind situations. Obviously, 5 is an important converted mana cost, so hitting it turn 4 is sweet.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius</b>: Iunno, he's just good. Yes, he kills people when you get your combo off, but that's incredibly win-more. Much more importantly, he's just powerful. Untapping with Niv-Mizzet means full board-control and plenty of card advantage. We have Gilded Lotus, so you get plenty of mana <strike>to smack dudes with</strike> excuse me, with which to smack dudes.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Jace, Architect of Thought</b>: Yes, four copies. Drawing multiples of Jace is actually great, as you can just -2 the first one to death, get a bunch of cards, then play a new one. His +1 is, as many people will tell you, deceptively powerful, and if there's any deck that wants him to use his ultimate ability, it's this one. That isn't something that's going to come up much, but it bears mentioning.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Tamiyo, the Moon Sage</b>: Her usefulness in any midrange or control deck has already been proved. I like tapping, I like drawing. Her ult lacks synergy and won't win you the game, but it's still <i>awfully</i> good.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Farseek</b>: What do you want me to say? It's Farseek, figure it out.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hate ending these things. I don't have any "conclusions" or anything, I really threw this list together hours ago. But I really can't wait to play it more. In fact, I think I'll do that now.</span></div>
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<br />Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-26340614616957392032012-09-09T20:49:00.001-07:002012-10-01T17:52:54.378-07:00Episode VI: Return to Ravnica: The Story so Far: The Grixis Cards: Abuse of the Colon<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Ha ha, colon.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alright, boys and girls, time to judge a bunch of cards I haven't seen played and make a fool of myself in about two months. Let's get to it! No nonsense! Right to the action!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Jace, Architect of Thought</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, this name won out over Jace, Manipulator of Thinking, Jace, Brain Changer and Jace, the Okay He Does Mind Control Shit That's His Thing. A tiny twinge of irony/disappointment hits me when I look at his mana cost; I don't think I need to elaborate. His +1 is straightforward, underwhelming, and boring. If we compare Jace to Tamiyo (which seems fair, as they're competing mono-blue planeswalkers at very close mana slots and their first two abilities have some interesting parallelism), it's pretty obvious that Tamiyo deals with large single threats, and Jace handles weenies better.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And yet, Tamiyo's -2 is better against large numbers of creatures. I feel that this makes the choice between the two </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">less</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> situational, and basically leaves you with Tamiyo as the straight-up better card. Jace's -2 is... fine, but the reason Fact or Fiction is good is because you can end up with as many as </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">four</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> cards for the price of one. When there's only three cards and your opponent knows how to make the piles properly, you usually end up with one card off of a -2. Doesn't really stand up to good ol' Tammy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Both planeswalkers sport ultimates that will more than likely win you the game if your deck contains the right cards. Tamiyo needs small things Thought Scour or Pillar of Flame to cast over and over again, and Jace needs something huge like Omniscience. How good the </span><a href="http://magiccards.info/query?q=bribery&v=card&s=cname" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Bribery</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> side of it is will obviously be very situational and dependent on your opponent's deck (this isn't EDH, you're not necessarily going to get anything worthwhile).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I find the fact that Tamiyo and Jace are basically polar opposites to be fascinating, flavor-wise. But when it comes down to it, it basically just makes Tamiyo... better. <strike>I'm not planning on playing Jace, Architect of Thought any time soon.</strike> hahahahaha I never said that. Don't know what you're talking about. He's great.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Skyline Predator</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Man, a 3/4 Flash Flying creature. That sounds reallllly good. How much is it, like... four mana? Oh, SIX? Jesus, no thank you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Syncopate</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It has already become obvious from what we've seen spoiled that B/G zombies is going to be a motherfuckin' <i>thing. </i>So I'm gonna need as many Dissipate-likes as I can get. But how does Syncopate stand up as a card on its own?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Between Goblin Electromancer (oh man, more on him later...) and Arcane Melee, I'm planning on seeing Syncopate play as a Mana Leak with up-side quite often. The thing is, Scaling is always a good thing. I love Devil's Play because it starts off as a 2-mana Mana Dork machine gun, and ends up taking out Titans in the late-game. It's never terribly mana-efficient, but it gives you options. You know what else gives you options? Card Advantage. And CA is a good thing. So that means Syncopate is a good thing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...Right? I think that's how that works.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Guttersnipe</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">HEY KIDS. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What if I told you for the price of a Burning Vengeance, you could have... Well, a Burning Vengeance! But <i>that's not all.</i> You know that whole thing about "from the graveyard"? Screw it! Slap some numbers on the bottom-right corner and you have yourself a Guttersnipe. Unfortunately, this card is even more poorly-timed than Talrand when it comes to taking advantage of the "free" Phyrexian Mana spells, so we'll see how this guy pans out. So far, we've seen two and four be the relevant toughnesses, so two is a good place to be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Mizzium Mortars</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://magiccards.info/query?q=flame+slash&v=card&s=cname" target="_blank">Flame Slash</a> does not mind the "underloaded" half of this card, but Bonfiring your opponents board for four sure does sound saucy. The trip-red cost is awfully restrictive, but the mana-fixing we've seen in this set is superb. People will compare it to Bonfire, yeah. I have bad news, guys, <b>it's not as good.</b> BUT. I will certainly be picking up a few copies over Bonfire for one major reason and one excuse. Reason One: It's like fifty bucks, man!!! Reason two: Arcane Melee expects to draw 3-5 cards every turn by the mid-game. I haven't tested it out yet (fifty bucks!!!), but Bonfire doesn't seem like a card that's applicable to my deck. I'm perfectly happy with my Blasphemous Acts, thank you. But when Goblin Electromancer (can you tell I'm excited to talk about that card???) starts getting pissed about getting slapped in the face for 13 over and over again, Mizzium Mortars seems like a reasonable choice. There are a LOT of good cards that die to 4 damage, particularly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Street Spasm</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now THIS is a bad bonfire. And yet, I think to myself, "Self: how often do you really flashback your Devil's Play? Don't you usually Mystic Retrieval it to get around exiling it anyway?" This card seems pretty good, too, I'm afraid. There's too many goddamn viable cards in this set!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Augur Spree</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seems really good when you get removal out of it OR a big power buff to X/5+'s. But I don't really like <i>creatures,</i> so...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Carnival Hellsteed</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hey, cut it out! This blog is about control.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Dreadbore</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is awesome.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It kinda hurts that this card is a Sorcery, though. Luckily we don't need to worry about fuckin' Inkmoth Nexus anymore, but in its place (and for another month or so, right next to it) is Rancor. Hypersonic Dragon may end up being really bad, but if it doesn't (big if), Dreadbore gets that much better. In any case, this is the first instance of "destroy target planeswalker" we've seen (don't get me started on how much it annoys me flavor-wise), and that's pretty freakin' good. Grixis is getting a lot of stuff, which means Nicol Bolas becomes a bigger threat. And he's really, really big. Eight Loyalty is a lot. But Dreadbore doesn't give a <i>shit</i> about loyalty. It only cares about drinking the blood of its enemies like Sarge from Red vs. Blue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Goblin Electromancer</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh man oh man oh man! The only thing that isn't completely bonkers-awesome (bonksome) about this card is that it's very possible it replace the title card of my deck! We can only hope that it doesn't, though, because then you get Electromelee. Mmmm....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been ranting about how great Arcane Melee since it was first announced, and now we get a WAY BETTER ONE. That makes me happy. So happy, in fact, that I already own two. I plan on completing buying more to complete my playset and then BUYING MORE ANYWAY. Frickin' so frickin' excited about this card.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Havoc Festival</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Would seem pretty sick in an all-in aggro deck like Goblins if it wasn't for the fact that it's way out of the mana-curve of anything that would want this effect.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Hypersonic Dragon</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Making your sorceries fast is good. I don't think I need to prove that to anybody. Problem is, the mana you're paying isn't really for that effect. It's for the hasty 4/4 flyer. I mean, Leyline of Anticipation was four mana, and it had the "Leyline ability" as upside. So hopefully we see something more applicable to control that has the same effect.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Izzet Charm</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Choose one - Better <a href="http://magiccards.info/zen/en/67.html" target="_blank">Spell Pierce</a>; or Worse Shock; or <a href="http://magiccards.info/query?q=careful+study&v=card&s=cname" target="_blank">Careful Study</a>. For UR. That's friggin' sweeeeet!!! The past charm cards (and the Commands) have proven over and over again that putting options on cards allows them to transcend their lack of mana-efficiency (1UUU for a counterspell?? Preposterous!). It's pretty obvious that this is good. I mean, Negate, Pillar of Flame, and Faithless Looting are all in the deck already, be it maindeck or sideboard. Seems like this one should fit right in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Nivix Guildmage</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This guy didn't even whelm me--let alone overwhelm me--when I first saw him. But the thing is, he gets you through cards, and he extracts more value out of the ones you hold on to. And I like that a lot. A four mana copy is no Reverberate, but you could be so bold as to call it card advantage. And again, people like card advantage. I definitely like the idea of copying my Dreadbores. It's just a shame Sorin's Vengeance won't be standard with this guy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My favorite thing about this guy is that he obviously came up with his name himself. He's just that kind of dude.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I run the original Niv in EDH, and it's only natural to compare him to such a striking resemblance. By the time you've hit 2UURR, you're really not concerned with X/1's and X/2's in most cases. I don't foresee the new Niv killing too many creatures, if we're being honest. He has a solid body and draws you some cards, but it's awkward sitting on a 5/5 and trying to get excited about mana-restricted card draw. Like Hypersonic Dragon, he does some good stuff for Control, but his aggressive body makes him overcosted for our purposes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Rakdos' Return</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Was soooooo awesome before they pre-nerfed it with Loxodon Smiter. Sad face.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be honest, I don't know that it was all that awesome before. General discard effects (i.e. Mind Rot instead of Duress) aren't really good in every matchup. Maybe sticking a <a href="http://magiccards.info/query?q=fireball&v=card&s=cname" target="_blank">Fireball</a> is good. I don't know. It really does depend on how much play Loxodon Smiter sees.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Slaughter Games</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First of all, this card is just <i>cool. </i>This is uber-<a href="http://magiccards.info/ps/en/116.html" target="_blank">Meddling Mage</a> for not all that much more mana. I mean, for the amount of text on this card, it sure is elegant. Hey, you know Bonfire? Not today, Death. Not today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Chromatic Lantern</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It fixes your mana problems! Got mana problems! This! It fixes them!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Shock Lands</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hey, these do too!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Gate Lands</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Heyyy... Okay I'm bored.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Grixis! It's a deck! I'm excited :)</span></div>
Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-47005375522138423862012-08-10T13:28:00.001-07:002012-08-10T13:28:33.169-07:00A Decklist update<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No FNM tonight unfortunately; I have some stupid wedding to go to. SOMEBODY doesn't have their priorities straight. A wedding! On Friday night! Feh. Anyway, what I WOULD be running (and may be running tomorrow if enough people show up to Saturday Standard) is the current version of the almighty Arcane Melee. I guess you probably could've guessed that since I've never mentioned any other deck in this blog. I also play Goblins, if you wanted to know.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I digress!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only change to the mainboard is a pretty big one. Sorin's Vengeance has been added to the main. Now, this isn't some stupid deck that aims to set our opponent's life total to ten or double Sorin's Vengeance for the win. That would be stupid. I'm sure nobody would ever run something like that. This is, of course, because Sorin Markov and Chandra, the Firebrand are what we call Bad Cards. Sure, you could say the same about Arcane Melee. But I would much rather slam a Melee and cast 50 spells my next turn than play a Chandra and ping somebody for 1.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Without any crazy shenanigans to make Sorin's Vengeance a kill, it still does incredibly well for our deck. Tapping out for an Arcane Melee turn 5 (or turn 4 if we can manage that) is pretty dangerous. There are a lot of decks that can easily kill you by then. But assuming we've controlled the board well enough to keep even one life by turn 6, Sorin's Vengeance is a pretty nice thing to drop. 20 life is a pretty big split to create with one spell. Casting Sorin's Vengeance enables a reasonable expectation of a kill with one cast of Devil's Play, Burning Vengeance, or some combination of the two. I don't need to tell you that casting both copies of Sorin's Vengeance is good too. The nice thing about the spell is that there isn't a whole lot of thought that goes into when you cast it. It's tough to figure out when you're supposed to try to win with Devil's Play when you're looking at a spindown die showing a big fat expansion symbol on their side.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The core (7):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3x Arcane Melee</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3x Mystic Retrieval</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1x Runic Repetition</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ramp (3):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3x Vessel of Endless Rest</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The control (11):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Whipflare</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Blasphemous Act</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Doom Blade</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1x Go for the Throat</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Devil's Play</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Burning Vengeance</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The dig (12):</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3x Forbidden Alchemy</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3x Faithless Lotting</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Think Twice</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4x Augur of Bolas</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Win cons (3):</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1x Nicol Bolas</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Sorin's Vengeance</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The untouched manabase (24):</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4x Sulfur Falls</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3x Dragonskull Summit</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Drowned Catacomb</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5x Mountain</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6x Island</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1x Swamp</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Evolving Wilds</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1x Shimmering Grotto</span></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The sideboard:</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3x Ancient Grudge</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Nihil Spellbomb</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Negate</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Pillar of Flame</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1x Sever the Bloodline</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3x Mental Misstep</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Talrand, the Sky Summoner</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The sideboard hasn't been tested at all, to be honest. But here's my thought process:</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Ancient Grudge: Vessel of Endless rest can produce green. Ancient Grudge is obviously very good against decks like Big Black that are artifact-focused, and also does just fine against Wurmcoil and Birthing Pod.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Nihil Spellbomb: Graveyard hate can be A Thing sometimes. Snapcaster Mage, Sun Tits, Gravecrawler. This is a list of things that I do not like. Nihil Spellbomb agrees.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Negate: Basically functions as a <a href="http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201562" target="_blank">Dispel</a> against countermagic in control matchups and infect (!). You can basically always have on in hand with Mystic Retrieval, which is hilarious and tilt-inducing. Try it some time.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Talrand, the Sky Summoner: sits on the bench until he sees Whipflare coming off the field, high-fives him as they pass each other on the sideline, then sacks the quarterback on the first play. Wait, what the fuck? What the hell is football doing in my Magic article!? Get that shit out of here!</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Pillar of Flame: Does very, very good things against Pod decks, whether it's Strangleroot Geist and Solemn Simulacrum or Zombie Pod. Zombies are kind of our worst enemy, as a lot of their damage actually comes from OUR kill spells. Try casting a Whipflare against two Blood Artists, a Gravecrawler, and a Geralf's Messenger. Tell me how it goes.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Sever the Bloodline: Again, comes in against Zombie Pod. There a couple other matchups where the "same name" clause is relevant.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Mental Misstep: Guys, I have bad news. Rancor is a card. There's a pretty severe lack of instant-speed removal in this deck, which makes it very hard to get Rancor to go to the graveyard and stay there. Obviously Mental Misstep isn't solely for Rancor. Mana dorks are 1 drops, as are Delver and Ponder. And more importantly than anything else, the card is just hilarious. There's no better feeling than countering somebody's first spell before you've even taken your turn. Simply priceless.</span></span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So yeah.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's tough finding real advice about this deck. A lot of people will tell me a lot of things, but there are a lot of people who are very bad at this game. Players who consider themselves competitive often either:</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) Are not.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) Have no interest in this janky piece of crap.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, I've turned a few heads at FNMs. People are often impressed by how cohesive the deck is. But it's very rare that I feel the advice that I hear is right. You really have to play with the deck to understand how it functions. It's hard to explain to somebody why a card as insanely, unimaginably good as Bonfire of the Damned is actually quite bad here. It's hard to tell somebody why I should NOT, in fact, be playing Tamiyo over Arcane Melee. And it's certainly not easy to decide whether somebody's knowledge over the game in general trumps your knowledge of how the deck plays.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The thing is, the game of Magic rewards people who play by rules of thumb. If I'm drafting, it's very easy to flip to the three cards I consider after sifting out the "unplayables". By simply memorizing the cards that are just "good", I can build a deck that will wipe the floor with the average player who doesn't know the set. I really don't need to put any thought into the deck as a whole after I've decided what two colors I'm playing. That goes for low- to mid-level limited play. And I feel like Standard is often the same thing. What decks are big right now? Well, Delver of Secrets is a Good Card. So is Ponder. Oh hey, they work awfully well together, too. Mana Leak? Seems legit. We just created the skeleton of a deck. Add some more good cards, throw in some synergy, and you have a rough version of the top deck in the format.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Hey is Primeval Titan a good card?" "He sure is! Let's cast of him!" "Okay, what about the other 56 cards?" "Hm... Let's cast him FASTER!"</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, yes, I'm oversimplifying, ignoring synergy, trivializing some very profound thought processes, reductio ad abusurdum, blah blah blah. But that's kind of my point. People oversimplify deck building. Snapcaster Mage is a good card. So is Bonfire of the Damned. That doesn't mean they belong in my deck. By the midgame, I'm going through 5-7 cards off the top of my deck every turn. I've often realized that I have one card in my library and barely pulled off killing people the upkeep before my Draw Step of Doom. I also tap out almost every turn before passing. Neither of those things suggest Bonfire will do anything for me. Tamiyo might. Maybe not. I should probably get a couple and try her out, but I don't know. Turns out Magic is hard!</span></div>Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-6660801314087369552012-08-04T14:02:00.000-07:002012-08-04T14:03:49.395-07:00Grixis Arcane Melee: A month of refinement (and losing)<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The last (read: first) post I made on here was met with a surprising amount of success, believe it or not. I was pretty shocked with how many people cared about my stupid deck. So it seemed natural to just ignore it and not write here again for another month or so. You know, just to make sure I kept absolutely no momentum. Hey, this way nobody will expect anything of me. I could try to make promises about starting to follow a schedule and posting regularly and I could certainly try to convince you guys to subscribe, but I'm gonna go ahead and... uh, not. Do that. So, sporadic update number two, GOGO!</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I suppose the thing to do here would be to start with a deck list. When last we spoke, I had started with Steve Guillerm's list and was looking forward at M13 cards to come. With the M13 Core Set now decidedly Out, and with the pros beginning to delve into the (surprisingly deep) implications of the cards that have seen serious play, I've made what I hope could be considered some progress with the mainboard. The sideboard is still a disgusting hulking monstrosity that we're gonna gracefully pass over without another word.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway! Here you go:</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The core (7):</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3x Arcane Melee</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3x Mystic Retrieval</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1x Runic Repetition</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ramp (3):</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3x Vessel of Endless Rest</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The control (13):</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Galvanic Blast</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Whipflare</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Blasphemous Act</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Doom Blade</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1x Go for the Throat</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Devil's Play</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Burning Vengeance</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The dig (12):</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3x Forbidden Alchemy</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3x Faithless Lotting</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Think Twice</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4x Augur of Bolas</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nicol Bolas (1):</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1x Nicol Bolas</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The untouched manabase (24):</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4x Sulfur Falls</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Dragonskull Summit</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Drowned Catacomb</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6x Mountain</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6x Island</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1x Swamp</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2x Evolving Wilds</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1x Shimmering Grotto</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sideboard:</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not done. It's really bad, you don't want to see mine. I promise.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That said, here's some cards that should maybe probably go in there:</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1x Runic Repetition (against graveyard hate)</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">somex Pillar of Flame</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a couplex Nihil Spellbomb</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">one or twox Ancient Grudge</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ax Negate or two</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So yeah.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've gone in quite a few directions to end up where I am now with the deck. Let's go through the stuff I've tried so far. Yay, bullet points! My favorite.</span></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stuffy Doll: Yes, I did dome somebody for 26 with Stuffy Doll. Yes, it was awesome. Yes, he was mana-screwed. This needs to not happen. Verdict: <b>Dumb.</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rewind: To expensive. We really don't care that much about countermagic, and too much of our stuff is at sorcery-speed to care much about untapping lands on the opponent's turn. Verdict: <b>Super-dumb.</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gilded Lotus: I'm really not sure. Conveniently, it's a 5-drop, meaning we can actually cast it on turn 4 after a turn 3 Vessel of Endless Rest. Having 9 mana on turn 5 is a very beautiful thing in this deck, because we really shouldn't ever run out of cards (unless after drawing 2 Augur of Bolas and a Faithless Looting and a Think Twice, you find yourself with all 4 exiled on turn 15 with 10 land, Burning Vengeance and Arcane Melee on the board, and absolutely no spells to cast. Man, fuck that game). *ahem.* Problem is, I can't fit this card anywhere. There's just too much stuff. Verdict: <b>Potentially not totally dumb.</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The black-focused stuff (Lilliana of the Dark Realms, Murder, Mutilate, etc.): Maybe we end up a little darker in RtR (which I'm fuckin' SO EXCITED FOR by the way!), but with only one swamp in the deck and no Shock Lands, it ain't happening. Verdict: <b>Dumb. For now.</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Griselbrand: What? <b>No.</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker: Is a really good card. Really, really good. He's awfully difficult to cast, though, so if we're in trouble early and see him in our hand he's more than likely going to be 'Looted away. The perfect singleton. Verdict: <b>Pretty cool!</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Karn Liberated: The difference between 7 and 8 mana is pretty big, and every once in a while you find yourself at 8 with only 1 black source. Two Nicol Bolas would be pretty bad, he's just too difficult to cast. Karn is a bit easier, and can be much better than Bolas situationally (not a word, don't care). I like doing 1 of each right now, I just don't what to cut to get him in. Verdict: <b>Also pretty cool!</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Talrand, the Sky Summoner: I messed around with him very briefly, and he didn't impress me here. I don't like the 4-mana slot. You'll notice that there are no creature threats in the deck. This leaves a lot of decks with quite a few dead cards that become very-much alive when he hits the board. Now, this creates an interesting opportunity for sideboard shenanigans when they side out all of their creature hate, so I haven't by any means written him off. Verdict: <b>Needs more thought.</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Augur of Bolas: Guys. I'm in love. I've been swept off my feet. I didn't even mention him last month. He just didn't catch my eye. Now that friggin' DELVER is running him, I jumped on the bandwagon and realized how incredibly happy this guy makes me when I cast him. Tapping those two lands I feel a little flutter in my heart. This is made even better when I cast Whipflare and they stick around to block the big stuff, and better still when they make my Blasphemous Acts cheaper and I completely blow out the scrubs who DARED face them. It's just perfect (and so cheap! 2 mana! Such a deal!). Awesome Level: <b>So Awesome.</b></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm getting pretty sick of writing at this point (it's hard!), but I suppose I should do a quick FNM report before I sign off here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Match 1:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">U/W Delver. The real one. Now, I won't JUST attribute to the deck being awesome and having a kick-ass matchup here, as the guy I played against was pretty bad. But I definitely held my own. He nearly flipped the table in a 35(ish) minute game 1 where I shut down every threat he had. Two Augur of Bolas do a very nice job against an unequipped Geist of Saint Traft (as does the Legend Rule. More on that in a bit), and Whipflare certainly doesn't hurt. I had all the answers I needed, and eventually whittled him down to 0 with Devil's Play and Burning Vengeance (or just Burning V, as my girlfriend and I call it). We took it to extra turns in game 2, but he randomly whipped out a Sun Titan from his sideboard and I couldn't really deal with it at that point. So we drew. Fun stuff...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">G/W Humans: The kids was pretty bad, I got paired down to 0-1. Everything went according to plan in game 1 and 3, and I won the match by hitting him twice with his own Hero of Bladehold. Game 2, however, I drew one land in my opening 7. I mulled to 6 and drew none. Five, none. Four, none. Three... three lands. Fuck you deck.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">R/G Elf Ramp: Killed his dudes and won game one. Game two, however, was the one I mentioned earlier. By turn 15 I had all the land I could need, two Augur of Bolas in the graveyard from my own board wipes, and a Faithless Looting and Think Twice exiled after flashing them both back. Now I don't know what the odds are of me completely running out of gas and having exactly zero spells to cast after that, but I know they're low. He had no idea what a bad spot I was in and was still tilted from being crushed the first game and a half. But as I went into fucking <i>top-deck mode, </i>things worked out just fine for him. It was absolutely bizarre. I'd go so far as to call it an anomaly. Whatever that means.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh yeah and he won game three. I don't even know what happened there. I dropped after that and watched my friend 3-1 the first FNM he ever played in with his stupid-ass B/R vampire deck that I built with him. Fuckin' dick.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway. Yeah. Arcane Melee. It's fun, or something. Go play it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Woo.</span></div>Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4616591441394918048.post-55725996780546616512012-07-02T00:29:00.004-07:002012-07-04T14:33:44.897-07:00Grixis Arcane Melee Control, OR: A post-M13 look at being a unique individual.<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My starting point for this deck is the second list you'll see in Steve Guillerm's </span><a href="http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=10507" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Arcane Melee Adventures</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. I spent about 12 hours straight playing it on Cockatrice yesterday, and now I have to write about it. It simply must be done. It's a very cool (and rather silly) list, and I really believe it can be completely viable by the time I'm done with it. And seeing how that will certainly take more than a couple weeks, might as well start throwing M13 stuff into it now!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What you're about to read</b> is a very unfocused... thingy about Grixis Arcane Melee Control. What I mean to do is start a discussion with other people who find it promising (or just fun) in order to improve it. So please, chime in on what you think. I'm probably wrong about a whole bunch of stuff. Maybe some stuff will be wrong just to bait people into talking about it. In any case, I want this deck to be awesome, and I need help!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A quick Primer:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Arcane Melee deck is at it's core a combo deck. It's very unfortunate that the combo involves a <a href="http://magiccards.info/avr/en/44.html">5-drop Enchantment</a>, but when you get there you see how worth it that is. The other pieces are <a href="http://magiccards.info/query?q=Mystic+Retrieval&v=card&s=cname">Mystic Retrieval</a> and <a href="http://magiccards.info/query?q=Runic+Repetition&v=card&s=cname">Runic Repetition</a>. Playing this deck, you'll find many of your opponents actually have no idea what any of those 3 cards do. More still won't know that Arcane Melee is global (let's not talk about that).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Basically, in lieu of any kind of countermagic or Planeswalkers, we control the board with a never-ending stream of Burn. Galvanic Blast, Pillar of Flame, Devil's Play, Whipflare, Blasphemous Act, etc. (as well as some black removal). But when I say never-ending, I literally mean never. If you have Arcane Melee on the board (big if), you can play Mystic Retrieval for 1U and flash it back for R. We run three of those. With Runic Repetition, every spell we play gets a buyback of 1UUR after we run out of Retrievals (Flashback Mystic Ret for R to get the spell back, Runic Rep for U to get the Mystic Ret back, Mystic Rep for 1U to get the Runic Rep back). Of course, it's much more flexible than that, but I'm sure you get the idea.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So of course there are a few big challenges in playing the deck. In no particular order:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Resolving Arcane Melee. It's kinda hard. Sometimes it gets countered, sometimes you die before you even drop it.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Graveyard hate. Ew.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Uh... How do you win?</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Resolving Arcane Melee: The matchups</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Against aggro, we stall until they run out of steam. Sometimes by that time you're at 4 life, and at that point you probably lose. Maybe some kind of life gain can help, maybe you just need to board in every kill spell in Standard. It's gonna take some work--pod decks are especially horrific to play against.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aggro control is a little bit easier, actually. Turns out whipflare basically takes Delver to the cleaners. Yeah, they'll Vapor Snag their dudes to oblivion and counter your spells and all that nonsense. But at the end of the day, they run out of creatures and you don't run out of removal. Restoration Angels are a drag if you can't find your Doom Blades, but Whipflare + Galvanic Blast does alright.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Control is, surprisingly, the least of our worries. Dissipate is your worst enemy, but you can sit until you have the extra 3 for Mana Leak, and then sit some more. If Melee it gets Dissipated, you can probably find another one. I'm considering putting a 1- or 2-of Gitaxian Probe in for the sole purpose of making sure that Melee resolves. And hey, even Mind Rot only costs B with Arcane Melee out. In any case, we have a VERY solid matchup against control, because of our unlimited supply of cards. Burning Vengeance works wonders here.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Graveyard hate</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's actually not as bad as you'd think. Unless you lose your Runic Repetition. Then it is as bad as you'd think. When you see a Nihil Spellbomb (or whatever) in game 1, or suspect your opponent is siding one in for game 2 or 3, you can usually do just fine by siding in a second Runic Rep. Ancient Grudges also help.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you lose your graveyard, simply Runic Repetition your Mystic Retrieval, then you can pull whatever you need from your exile with those two cards. This will usually only happen against control, so you have time.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Winning</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the part that will most likely be changing when M13 comes in. Steve relies on damage from Burning Vengeance and a final kill with Devil's Play. There are some obvious problems with this plan. When you tap out for Devil's Play, you basically lose an entire turn to Mana Leak. It's not exactly elegant to wait until you're at 11 mana to get somebody half-dead. There a couple things that work much better in M13 that I'll discuss later. It's fun stuff :)</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cuts:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steve's deck works... fine. But there are some cards that we can certainly do without. We'll need room for the next section.</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amass the Components. Draw 3 is fun, but it's crazy-slow without Melee out. Forbidden Alchemy is <strike>strictly</strike> better, because of our graveyard interaction.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Burning Vengeance. It isn't affected by Arcane Melee, and it really slows us down. If it goes in the 'yard, it stays in the 'yard. Maybe I'm wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure we don't have room for it</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Doom Blade. It's very scary maining this card, because it's possible for it to be 100% dead. Go for the Throat isn't much better because Blade Splicer. Murder, however, is awwwwfully intriguing.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Galvanic Blast. I disagree with Mr. Guillerm's assertion that Galv Blast's instant-speed is more important. Pillar of Flame not only gets rid of Undying creatures, it stops all death triggers. Solemn Simulacrum, Viridian Emmissary, Blood Artist (that's a big one). Bam.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sever the Bloodline. You usually don't get more than one kill with it per cast, and it's dreadfully expensive. Pillar is better, if you ask me.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sphere of the Suns. We're playing control. Control = long games (hopefully). Sphere doesn't interrupt your turn 3 Forbidden Alchemy, but then it dies a slow and painful death. I really think Vessel of Endless Rest is actually better. I don't think either are particularly good options, but it feels much better when you draw a vessel on turn 20 than a sphere, which is basically completely dead.</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And in the sideboard:</span><br />
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<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fettergeist. This is just weird, I don't understand it at all.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sever the Bloodline. Again, why?</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Current cards worth exploring:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't have many; I'd love some suggestions.</span><br />
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<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Arc Trail. Seems obvious to me. It 2-for-1's (especially against mana dorks).</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pillar of Flame. I mentioned it earlier, it's prettyyyyyy cool. Stops undying, stops death triggers (this deck hates itself some Blood Artist).</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Planeswalker. They pull aggro from us, and can help control the board. This is good. The bad part is they're not efficient with mana like we want all of our cards to be. And they're expensive! Don't know about you guys, I'm poor. That said, Karn is the only card in Standard we can cast that kills O-Ring, the most likely removal you'll see for Arcane Melee. So he's a card worth exploring.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nihil Spellbomb. Sideboard against stuff like Solar Flare.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Griselbrand (+ Unburial Rites). No, this is not a Reanimator deck. But Vessel gets us white mana, and we have Looting and Forbidden Alchemy. Hell, we have the mana to hard cast him sometimes. Fishing for important cards like Arcane Melee and win conditions with his abillity is awesome, and he gains us a huge amount of life if we can attack or block with him even once. The most likely scenario I see him figuring into is in a reanimator suite with 2 Rites and another target (maybe Inferno Titan?). Just an aside: Flashing back Unburial Rites costs us *two mana*. Not bad, eh?</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">M13 Contenders</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now THIS is the fun stuff.</span><br />
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<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gilded Lotus. Unfortunately it's in the same slot as Arcane Melee. The reason it's still here, though, is that tapping out for Arcane Melee is usually a bad idea. It's like hard casting Reforge the Soul: I'm going to give us both a whole bunch of new options, then say go so you can kill me with yours first. This deck is (obviously) designed to take advantage of Melee in ways that the average deck can't, but that doesn't mean other decks can't use it as well. Against aggro, you're pretty safe dropping Melee turn 4 or 5. But Gilded Lotus will probably wind up in my Sideboard, at least.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rewind. There isn't any countermagic in the main board right now. I'm not actually sure how I feel about that; it certainly warrants a discussion. But if we're going to move in that direction, Rewind is the counterspell to beat. Early on, we can hold the mana open to counter important spells, <strike>or</strike> AND spend it EoT on Forbidden Alchemy or Think Twice (which would both be four-ofs in this case) . </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To make things even better, once Arcane Melee is on the field, you <i>gain mana</i> for countering spells. This gives us the ability to leave 1UU open for their turn and either spend it on a couple think twice flashbacks or counter something and then flash back Forbidden Alchemy! This card is absolutely awesome in this deck. It's exciting just thinking about it.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Flames of the Firebrand. It's more expensive than Arc Trail, but it's even more versatile. Post-rotation I'm fairly sure I'll be playing this card. I mean, it only costs R with Arcane Melee out.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. Hey, I mean, he's in our colors, right? Who doesn't want to play Nicol Bolas? His +3 destroys O-Rings, he can steal Titans permanently, and I don't need to tell you that his Ultimate is good.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rise from the Grave. It doesn't have flashback like Rites does, but paying R for Mystic Retrieval and then casting it for 2B is fine with me. Playing two of this card over Rites allows us to play a singleton Griselbrand and no other targets, because we can just target stuff we kill with...</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Murder. Our Doom Blades and Go for the Throat's are not just for the big stuff like they are in control decks that get a single use out of them. We can cast our spot removal a whole bunch of times, so we want it to be efficient against everything. Murder strains our manabase, possibly enough that it won't be playable pre-rotation. But with RtR and the return of Shock Lands, I can see it happening just fine. How's that relevant? Well another M13 card that will much better with Shock lands is...</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Liliana of the Dark Realms. Our land drops are very important. Running Blood Crypt and Watery Grave give us pretty sexy control of our mana. That's one point for good ol' Lilly right there. This would allow us to run a much more Black-intensive manabase, making 4-of Murder and other black removal (Mutilate!!!). If I'm being completely honest, I'm not sure how this will pan out, as I've never played with shock lands in Standard. </span><span style="background-color: white;">Her second ability should be able to kill threats pretty well, depending on what our manabase ends up looking like. We don't get any use out of the +X/+X part, but... oh well. </span><span style="background-color: white;">Getting off her ultimate basically guarantees a win with Devil's Play.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sands of Delirium. It could replace Increasing Confusion as an alternate win condition against control. Maybe not. Iunno. But here's the big one...</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stuffy Doll. We're already running Blasphemous Act. Cool, huh?</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are a LOT of interesting options to explore here. M13 fills in some gaps marvelously, and we lose almost nothing with the rotation. The Liliana RtR version is even more exciting. I'll be posting this weekend about how I do this Friday Night, but until then I'd love to talk to you guys in the comments about what you think. And keep the error correction coming, apparently writing 2000 words about Magic doesn't make you any better at reading the 13 words on Omniscience ("from your hand" was where it lost me).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks!</span></div>Kevin Barborohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638556601447003683noreply@blogger.com1