“Where are you going this weekend, again? Atlanta?”
Nah, Babe, North-Cal. If I’m going to beat last year’s personal best ten Cali trips, I gotta get started early. The San Jose SCG Open is this weekend,
Grand Prix Atlanta is next weekend. Oh, and Megan is still going to kick your butt if you don’t
find a way down there…
San Jose StarCityGames.com Standard Open
I’ve mostly been playing Extended lately, so I definitely didn’t have any kind of brew for this event. I’m super excited to finally get to play some
Mirrodin Besieged Standard, but there just aren’t enough cards spoiled yet (though I have an exclusive preview card, here on StarCityGames.com, on
Wednesday!). As such, I was in need of a deck, so I did what any self-respecting pro about to play in a Grand Prix, PTQ, or SCG Open would do without
any recent testing.
I turned to Gerry Thompson.
“Gerry,” I asked him, “what should I play?”
“Yes, I realize you’re playing Vampires. Do you really think that’s the dress I should put on as well?”
“Oh, U/B Control, you say? Twist my arm…”
I had U/G Wave still sleeved up from before Worlds, and I liked Conley’s tuning, but I really like the look of modern U/B lists, and I’d love an
opportunity to get some experience playing U/B in a tournament setting. Again, I turned to Gerry, this time looking for a list. Gerry
told me he liked Julian Booher list, as written about in Julian’s article.
Creatures (4)
Planeswalkers (6)
Lands (26)
Spells (24)
- 1 Duress
- 4 Mana Leak
- 2 Doom Blade
- 2 Disfigure
- 4 Spreading Seas
- 2 Consume the Meek
- 4 Inquisition of Kozilek
- 4 Preordain
- 1 Stoic Rebuttal
Sideboard
While Julian’s article is about his third place finish, it was the Legacy portion that he did so well in, somewhat amusingly. Still, Gerry recommending
Julian’s list holds a lot of weight, and I took one look, saw the Mind Rots, and knew that I liked the cut of his jib.
Eight “land-destruction” cards is a must, in these sorts of decks, in my opinion. Valakut is oppressive, and manlands are everywhere. Besides, the
opportunity cost is so low, it’s silly not to. I also liked the two maindeck Consume the Meeks, as having something to look for to draw you out of a
rough spot is a great fit for my play style.
The five discard spells found here were pretty good, though I think if I were to play it again, I might be tempted to cut the maindeck Duress for
another Stoic Rebuttal. This is a move that’s primarily driven by my personal style, so please don’t take this as gospel. I considered changing a few
cards before the tournament but decided that I really wanted to understand all of Julian’s choices and get some experience outside of “what I would’ve
played.”
I place a high priority on experimentation and innovation, but being slave to them isn’t the best strategy in my opinion. A mix of 50-50 netdecking and
innovation doesn’t mean a 50-50 mix each time, nor does it mean copying 50% of the time and brewing 50%. It means balance, and on this weekend, I
thought it most useful to me to netdeck the full 75 and to be open-minded about what there was to learn.Â
When I got the list, I inquired about the maindeck Vampire Nighthawk and was told that it’s to effectively save sideboard space. You want to board it
in against almost everyone, so maindecking one saves a little space (even though they’re not nearly as good maindeck, since everyone has all their
“bad” removal that they plan on boarding out).
I was super happy with the Vampire Nighthawks all day and continued to board them in against most opponents. Most people take out removal against you,
and anyone who would actually keep a Lightning Bolt in against you is an opponent who you’d be happy to draw Nighthawk against, even if it just eats
the Bolt. I’ll get into the specific applications of the Nighthawk below.
A few people have asked about Grave Titan/Wurmcoil splits. Wurmcoil is just better in Extended, as life gain is super relevant, and he matches up
better against Jund (one of the most popular strategies). Grave Titan is just better in Standard, fully living up to the hype he generated out of the
gate. The token making is very important, not just to produce two additional blockers, but to make more and more each turn. Against a lot of opponents,
your plan is to just survive long enough to play a Grave Titan, then ride it to victory. Besides, the format revolves around Jace, the Mind Sculptor,
and Grave Titan just matches up way better. Now, if card availability is part of the equation, I think both Frost Titan and Wurmcoil are solid
choices. I may like Grave Titan best, but it isn’t like these cards aren’t all in the same league.
Six Jaces maindeck felt like the right number, and I always boarded to either four or seven depending on whether my opponent was aggro or not. I don’t
think there’s anything wrong with an eighth Jace, but seven seems right in U/B, as you have tons of other top-notch, anti-control cards (the matchup
where you’d want the eighth Jace), and sometimes you really can get stuck with three or four Jaces in hand against an opponent who resolves one first
and just stays ahead of you. This is a big part of why the discard action is so vital.
Lots of people ask me about playing Standard blue decks without Jace, the Mind Sculptors, which is actually just fine. Don’t get me wrong; Jace is
obviously the best card in the format by a mile and the best card printed since Skullclamp. That doesn’t mean he’s absolutely required. He’s the best
at what he does, but he’s not the only man for the job. I recommend U/B have something like six big card drawers maindeck, so another possible avenue
is to go with four Jace Belerens and two Jace’s Ingenuities. This is obviously an extremely anti-control and anti-ramp setup that should be
particularly good against other Jace decks but leaves you a bit vulnerable to aggro. As such, a blue deck built with these conditions ought to have
slight adjustments to compensate, such as a couple more all-purpose removal spells main. Ratchet Bomb is one possibility; more spot removal is another.
Sea Gate Oracle can also help filter cards a little, while playing modest defense against the right opponents.
Mimic Vat (with Sea Gate Oracle) is another option for card drawing, and I actually think there might be room in the metagame for a Sign in Blood U/B
deck. Here is a possible “budget” U/B list:
Creatures (5)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (25)
Spells (26)
- 1 Duress
- 2 Mana Leak
- 2 Doom Blade
- 4 Sign in Blood
- 2 Disfigure
- 4 Spreading Seas
- 2 Consume the Meek
- 4 Inquisition of Kozilek
- 4 Preordain
- 1 Stoic Rebuttal
Sideboard
Perhaps this build is slanted too much against non-aggro decks, but it does have a nice sideboard against them, and you could make even more room for
more Nighthawks if you wanted. I know this is a loose use of the term “budget,” but you could definitely replace a Grave Titan with a Wurmcoil if you
wanted (I wouldn’t want more than one), and you could replace a Grave Titan with a Frost Titan (again, I wouldn’t want more than one). I definitely
think you need at least one Grave Titan, and really, a second one is pretty important. The third gets sideboarded out a fair bit (at least I board it
out) and is just not that important, as long as you play three fatties total.
Additionally, the lands aren’t super expensive, but it’s important to have a stable mana base. Creeping Tar Pit is the only vital dual land (four is an
absolute must). Darkslick Shores is much better than Drowned Catacombs here (as we have a lot of one-drops), but if you end up a few lands short, it’s
definitely reasonable to run a Jwar-Isle Refuge or two. If you need to replace a third dual land, I’d just add a Swamp. The fourth Jace Beleren is not
a total must, and the sideboard Memoricides could just be some countermagic.
The interesting thing about this build is that it pushes you more and more to wonder what the blue is even doing for you…
Is it finally time?
Creatures (12)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (24)
Spells (22)
- 2 Duress
- 1 Haunting Echoes
- 3 Mind Rot
- 2 Doom Blade
- 4 Sign in Blood
- 2 Disfigure
- 2 Consume the Meek
- 1 Consuming Vapors
- 4 Inquisition of Kozilek
- 1 Mimic Vat
Sideboard
Man, this deck is so close. It’s literally a good 2BB planeswalker short of greatness…
Switching back to the U/B list that I played in San Jose:
Inquisition of Kozilek is just a better maindeck card right now in my opinion. Lots of people split them and Duress 3-2, 2-2, or 3-1, but for the time
being, I think you have to fill up on Inquisitions first, though I suppose 3-1 is defensible. Really, it comes down to your local meta, where four
Duresses maindeck might just be The Blade, but I’m just speaking generally.
Mystifying Maze is an interesting puzzle. It’s one of those minor choices that rarely matters, but when it does, you either win because of it (having a
“free” removal spell), or you lose because of it (mana-screwed…). After having played nine rounds, I think it only mattered in two games, one of
which I won because of it (against Boros), the other I lost on account of my mono-green opponent triple Tectonic Edging me, leaving me without double
blue for Jace, the Mind Sculptor.
Verdict? A very cautious, “it’s okay, for now.” There were plenty of other games where it did help me; it just didn’t really matter. It never
hurt me at all other than the one game I lost. Still, I have my eye on this one.
I was pretty happy with Julian’s sideboard, though I sure would’ve liked a second Skinrender. As much as it pains me to say it, I suspect the third
Mind Rot might have to be the card to go to make room.
After borrowing the couple cards I was missing from National Treasure, Josh “Wrapter” Utter-Leyton, and SCG Player of the Year, Alex Bertoncini, it was
time to get down to business.
Round 1
My first match was a feature match against Eldrazi Green. Discard was crucial here, as was countermagic. When you aggressively attack their hand
(eliminating mana acceleration), while Edging and Seas-ing key lands, you can slow them down enough to try to win with Jace.
No question, I was fortunate to have his Summoning Trap hit only an Overgrown Battlement, but our second game was especially exciting. I aggressively
attacked his hand, dropping a Jace to gain an advantage, but I knew that he had plenty of lands in hand and a Gaea’s Revenge. I drew Memoricide,
knocking out the Revenge, but was hit by a Primeval Titan, ramping my opponent’s mana way up. I dropped a Grave Titan and had to ship the turn. The
Primeval Titian attacked, giving him the mana needed to play the Ulamog I knew he had, thanks to Eye of Ugin working even when tapped. My Titan traded
with his, but Ulamog took out my Jace and was backed up by the Eye plus a boatload of mana.
Fortunately, I’d been holding Volition Reins the whole time and took his Ulamog, putting the pressure on him. I knew from Memoriciding him that he did
not have any All Is Dusts. On his turn, he played more mana and had to ship the turn. His plan was to soak up the annihilator and use the Eye to fetch
another Ulamog, which he would still be able to cast on the final turn. He elected to activate the Eye during the attack phase, as he wanted to
sacrifice an Overgrown Battlement and at least one untapped land. This brought him up to two cards in hand, leaving my Mind Rot fatal.
Sideboard:
+1 Volition Reins, +1 Doom Blade, +1 Jace Beleren, +2 Duress, +2 Memoricide, +3 Mind Rot
-2 Disfigure, -2 Consume the Meek, -1 Grave Titan, -1 Vampire Nighthawk, -2 Spreading Seas, -2 Inquisition of Kozilek
Round 2
Round two, I faced a U/W Control deck that turned out to not be from the Caw-Go school of U/W. Game one, I managed to stick a Jace and just grinded
that to victory.
Game two, I was definitely sideboarded wrong, as I had not brought in Ratchet Bomb. My opponent’s turn 0 Leyline of Sanctity, followed by turn 2
Luminarch Ascension made for a quick loss.
Game three, I re-boarded and fell behind after my opponent eventually stuck a Luminarch Ascension. Vampire Nighthawk saved the day, buying a few turns
against Ascension and giving me time to win a fight over Jace, and it started to take over the game with the help of Volitions Reins “just in time.”
Unfortunately, our game went to time, where I was a turn short of being able to Grave Titan, attack for ten, then Grave Titan again, and attack for 24
more (my opponent was at 28 from Baneslayer).
My punt? I cast Preordain during the last thirty seconds, which took about four seconds to resolve. I didn’t need to Preordain that turn and
should have just committed to not Preordain until extra turns. If I had that four seconds thirty seconds later, I think I could have completed my final
turn and given it back to him. One extra attack phase would’ve been the difference between 10 and 34 damage. Lesson learned.
Sideboard:
+1 Volition Reins, +1 Doom Blade, +1Jace Beleren, +1 Vampire Nighthawk, +2 Duress, +3 Ratchet Bomb
-2 Disfigure, -2 Consume the Meek, -1 Grave Titan, -4 Spreading Seas
On the topic of U/W, I did hear about an interesting “new” take on the strategy, piloted by Nick Spagnolo, among others. He ended up 7-2 and seemed to
like his list quite a bit. I don’t have the exact list, but I believe it’s something close to:
Creatures (8)
Planeswalkers (12)
Lands (25)
Spells (15)
As you can see, this build is a return to the U/W Tap Out school of U/W that was popular in March of last year (a world without Mana Leak…). In true
Floresian fashion, this build figures “Why do we need to counter anything when what we play each turn is more powerful?” Still, despite a dozen
planeswalkers and a playset of Sun Titans (That’s right, sixteen big threats!), Nick obviously plays four Preordains. More threats in your deck don’t
make you want to play Preordain less. In fact, it’s especially important to make sure you hit your land drops, as this is a deck that must
play a land each of the first four or five turns, or it’s in a world of trouble. Why not just play land instead of Preordains? Once you have six land,
you just want more threats, which Preordain delivers in spades.
It’s interesting to compare this list to Kibler’s current build of Caw-Go, which is basically the same deck but with nine counterspells maindeck
magically squeezed in. As the SCGLive guys pointed out, this list is pretty much just “Mono-Caw Control.”
Round 3
My third opponent was piloting W/u Quest, basically operating as a Memnite, Glint Hawk, Kor Skyfisher, Stoneforge Mystic deck with Mana Leaks. A light
mana draw cost him one game, despite his leading with Memnite and Glint Hawk turn 1. Our other game had a lot of back and forth to it, but in the end,
active Jace TMS was too much of an advantage when combined with instant-speed card draw to keep his Swords of Body and Mind off of his guys.
Sideboard:
+1 Doom Blade, +1 Vampire Nighthawk, +1 Skinrender, +3 Ratchet Bomb, +2 Mind Rot
-1 Duress, -4 Spreading Seas, -2 Jace Beleren, -1 Mana Leak
Round 4
Round four was a quick one. Our first game was decided by using my Spreading Seas on a Forest when my U/G Genesis Wave opponent led with a Joraga
Treespeaker with no other green mana in hand.
Then in the second turn of game two, my opponent called a judge on himself when he realized mid-resolution of a Misty Rainforest that he had too many
cards in his hand (resulting in a game loss). It sucks that there’s no way to repair that game state, but he did the right thing, not only because it’s
the rules, but because if he hadn’t called the judge on himself, he might face ejection from the event when I noticed (and generally, at the end of my
opponents’ turns, I check hand size); worse, if he had tried to hide it or “fix it” in some way, getting caught could lead to a ban.
Round 5
Round five was another feature match, this time against another U/W. Our first game was relatively academic, as I stuck a Jace and successfully
mana-screwed my opponent with Edges and Seas. Still, I boarded out Seas and boarded as I did in game three of the previous U/W matchup. To my surprise,
my opponent played a turn 2 Squadron Hawk, turning out to be playing a Caw-Go variant. I ended up a bit behind on the Jace battles, then eventually
faced a Sun Titan, but my Grave Titan was a pretty big problem (since he didn’t draw a Day of Judgment). After a convoluted line where I was playing
Jace, the Mind Sculptor just to bounce my opponent’s Sun Titan (when he had Jace Beleren in the yard and a growing squadron of Hawks), I eventually
pulled it out. It’s important to note that Vampire Nighthawk is an ideal post-sideboard solution to Squadron Hawk.
Sideboard:
+1 Volition Reins, +1 Doom Blade, +1 Jace Beleren, +1 Vampire Nighthawk, +2 Duress, +3 Ratchet Bomb
-2 Disfigure, -2 Consume the Meek, -1 Grave Titan, -4 Spreading Seas
Round 6
Up next, Alex Bertoncini, playing his old favorite, the RUG deck. I got to untap with a Jace, game one, which can be pretty difficult to beat. Avenger
of Zendikar was a valiant attempt to make a game of it, but a Consume the Meek ended all that. Game two, I was behind the gun the whole time, as a turn
2 Explore set up a turn 3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor. The deciding game was a bit anticlimactic, as he kept a hand with two Forests, a Mountain, and an
Island but was already locked out by Jace before he could get another blue, despite playing an Oracle of Mul Daya.
Sideboard:
+1 Volition Reins, +1 Doom Blade, +1 Jace Beleren, +2 Duress
-2 Disfigure, -1 Consume the Meek, -1 Vampire Nighthawk, -1 Spreading Seas
Round 7
Okay, three rounds left, with a record of 2-1 needed to advance. Up next? Matt Sperling brother, Alex Sperling with Boros. Game one, I had a turn 1
Disfigure for Steppe Lynx but still died on turn 5 to Plated Geopede with Adventuring Gear. Game two, I kept Preordain, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Grave
Titan, Creeping Tar Pit, Darkslick Shores, Darkslick Shores, Tectonic Edge, which may have been a slightly loose keep (no cheap removal), but honestly,
I would do it again.
Alex led with Goblin Guide, and we proceeded to play one of those games where Goblin Guide gives me a land every turn, and I draw a land almost every
turn. Still, his draw wasn’t as fast as in the previous game, and I managed to arrive at a spot on turn 5 where I had a Jace at two counters and two
life after his Burst Lightning for two. His board was Mountain, Plains, Plains, Goblin Guide, Steppe Lynx, Adventuring Gear with one card in hand. I
have just the Jace and five land. As soon as he played the Burst, I knew he had another, but it’s rough to capitalize on this info.
See, the typical play is to fateseal Boros, making sure he doesn’t draw a burn spell, then play Grave Titan (he knows I have one from Goblin Guide). I
have Mana Leak, Preordain, and Grave Titan in my hand, plus the Jace, so if I can untap, I almost surely win. However, if he has Burst, he’ll kill me
when he untaps. What’s my other option? Well, I can try to chump Goblin Guide with Creeping Tar Pit and hold up Mana Leak, but that seems a very losing
proposition. Another land and he could just pay for the Mana Leak. Alternatively, I could Preordain and Jace and hope to hit an Inquisition of Kozilek
and a removal spell. Bouncing a guy with Jace was an option as well, but either way, it would be very, very ugly to try to play around Burst. I figured
playing around Burst was resigning myself to less than a 2% chance of winning regardless of if he had the Burst or not. If I just play the Titan, I’m
probably in the very high nineties in likelihood to win, unless he has the Burst, which would mean I lose on the spot.
It’s really, really tough to lay down that hand and settle for a less than 2% chance of victory, so I tried to extract the information from Alex. I was
pretty sure he had the Burst, but how sure would I have to be to make that play? It isn’t even how bad it looks if I “fold” from that position, and I’m
wrong; it’s much more about the fact that it’s very hard to imagine having a certainty interval of 98% that my read is right, especially when Alex
isn’t exactly leaking information and has totally turtled up, trying to avoid any stray thoughts. He doesn’t have Bolt, or he would’ve led with that
one (knowing I have fetches in my hand and the possibility of kicking Burst Lightning). Â
Still, the strange thing is that he knows I have Grave Titan. Why play the Burst there at all, except to try to scare me into not playing the Grave
Titan? After all, if he waited, I would’ve tapped out for Grave Titan for sure, spelling my death. I decided to commit to the Grave Titan line,
figuring I was a pretty big dog, and it turned out he had the Burst.
Sideboard:
+1 Vampire Nighthawk, +1 Skinrender, +1 Doom Blade, +2 Mind Rot, +3 Ratchet Bomb
-1 Duress, -4 Spreading Seas, -2 Jace Beleren, -1 Mana Leak
Round 8
Ahhh! Third-to-last round curse of GerryT! Okay, two rounds to go; have to win them both!
The eighth round was a feature match against Greg Hatch, playing Mono-Green Elves. Coverage for this match can be found here. To summarize, however, game
one, he was on the turn 1 and turn 2 discard Vengevines (on the draw), which I overcame with an Inquisition of Kozilek taking a mana Elf, then using
two Spreading Seas to ensure he didn’t have double green until I could follow with a Grave Titan. The game ended up close when he stuck an Ezuri that
created a pretty big impact on the board, but Tar Pits managed to sneak through just in time.
Game two I was run over by Vengevines, with my hand a bit slow and no Grave Titan to save me.
Game three was a pretty epic struggle that I cannot do justice to with a brief summary, but suffice it to say that an awkward mana draw combined with
three Tectonic Edges kept me off balance, despite my drawing lots of good cards. There were about five key decisions that Hatch made that I suspect
90%+ of players would make differently. Had he made a single one differently at all, I would’ve completely established control instead of ending up one
life or one mana short of what I needed to do. Without question, Hatch was the most impressive opponent I faced all day. Later, I found out he recently
won a PTQ, qualifying for the Pro Tour for the first time, so I’ll definitely have him on my radar.
Sideboard:
+1 Vampire Nighthawk, +1 Skinrender, +1 Doom Blade, +3 Ratchet Bomb, +1 Volition Reins
-4 Spreading Seas, -1 Duress, -2 Jace Beleren
Well, elimination sucks, no question. Still, I came to game! Time for one last round; winner gets $50 and two SCG Open Points. My opponent? Another
Boros deck. This time, however, I had little trouble winning, thanks to cheap removal on my part and a light mana draw from Boros in one game. I
boarded the same here as in the previous Boros matchup.
What about the Legacy portion? Well, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t have time to play out the day, but here’s what I registered:
Creatures (27)
- 4 Arcbound Ravager
- 4 Arcbound Worker
- 2 Myr Enforcer
- 4 Frogmite
- 4 Disciple of the Vault
- 2 Ornithopter
- 4 Memnite
- 3 Etched Champion
Lands (14)
Spells (19)
Sideboard
After winning round one against B/G/W Junk, I had to drop, unfortunately. I found Etched Champion to be an excellent addition to the deck. I have to
tell you, I’ve never had the pleasure of playing Arcbound Ravager, Disciple of the Vault, and Cranial Plating in sanctioned Magic before, and it was fun. Talk about a deck that bails you out of tough spots. I have a newfound appreciation for what Flores meant when he said that Affinity was
like having a fairy godmother over your shoulder that bails you out of tough spots whenever you mess up or if things just look grim. I’ll definitely be
working on this beast a bit more. Glimpse of Nature is pretty well standard, at this point, and it’s crazy not to play it, as it’s just better than
Thoughtcast (one of your better cards).
Anyway, I have to head back over to the tournament site. In closing, what did I learn? Well, I learned a ton about how a number of matchups play out,
but also it was just nice to get some actual in-tournament experience of this format. So many people seem to be very ready for the format to change
with a new set, but it was actually somewhat new to me, experientially. I had a conceptual understanding of how the dance would play out, but it was
nice to actually get out on the floor and cut it up. I was definitely a fan of U/B and would play it again next week. See you then!
Patrick Chapin
“The Innovator”Â