Peebles Primers – The Reveillark Mirror Match

This article was originally meant to follow the same format as last week’s, simply covering Reveillark in the current metagame instead of Faeries. However, I found myself wanting to talk instead about something slightly different. While I’ll still go over the matchups against Faeries and Elves, I’m going to primarily discuss the Reveillark mirror-match in this article.

I think that the mirror match is grossly misunderstood. I don’t have a very good way to prove this, but I have been playing the Reveillark deck extensively on Magic Online in the past week, and I’ve ridden it to an incredible 12-1 record in the mirror matches I’ve played. Some of this is probably due to luck, but it simply always seems like I’m in the driver’s seat in that matchup.

On the other hand, a teammate of mine has been experiencing dismal failure in the Reveillark mirror match; he can’t seem to buy a game. While talking to him, I got the idea to save replays of my mirror matches, and go over them in detail. Today’s article is three such games.

Now, please bear with me. Magic Online, due to the release week, has globally disabled all replays. This means that these game logs were taken while playing the games in Standard Queues, so I don’t have screenshots from each turn like I could if I had the ability to watch the replays instead of taking things down live.

The first two games are one match, played with a slightly older list of mine. In the first two games I discuss here, I played:

First Match, Game One:

Pumbles Mumbles chooses to play first.
Pumbles Mumbles keeps this hand. (Island x3, Plains, Mind Stone, Unsummon, Reveillark)
[Opponent] keeps this hand.

At this point I’m up against an unknown opponent. This hand is not amazing, by any means, but it’s one that I’m not likely to mulligan. It’s got a Mind Stone and a Reveillark, and I love to see those cards in my opener. If I draw one of my 2/2s, I’ll be in business, and the Unsummon might buy me the time I need.

Pumbles Mumbles skips their draw step.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Island.

Turn 1: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays Island.

Turn 2: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Plains.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Mind Stone.

Turn 2: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays Plains.

Turn 3: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Island.
Pumbles Mumbles removes Riftwing Cloudskate from the game with 3 time counters.

My first two draw steps have given me the goods. I have drawn Mulldrifter and now Riftwing Cloudskate, which means I have to decide which to play here. I don’t really want to Evoke my Mulldrifter because I think that it’ll just get hit by Rune Snag, so I Suspend the Cloudskate instead. Beyond worrying about the possible Snag, I might just be able to cast the Mulldrifter next turn.

Turn 3: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays Plains.
[Opponent] plays Mulldrifter (with evoke).
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.
[Opponent] discards Bonded Fetch.

Turn 4: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Island.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Mulldrifter.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.

Because he tapped out on his turn, I know I’m safe to resolve whatever I want. In a lot of situations I could go for Reveillark here, and I would be more likely to do that if my Cloudskate were going to resolve next turn. However, I don’t have anything in the graveyard for it, and I don’t want to lose it to a Sower of Temptation, so I just draw two.

Turn 4: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays Adarkar Wastes.
[Opponent] plays Bonded Fetch.

Bonded Fetch is a little bit outdated. I really like the card in the mirror, but the fact that he’s playing it means that he probably doesn’t have counterspells, and likely does have Condemn. I believe that if you’re going to play Condemn, you should play Unsummon instead, but most people play neither of the two these days. Still, the Fetch is extremely powerful in this iteration of the mirror, because we can’t stop the other guy from resolving spells. With the Fetch going, he will have gas in-hand and in his graveyard, making Reveillarks that he might draw very powerful.

Turn 5: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate.
[Opponent] is being attacked by: Mulldrifter
Pumbles Mumbles plays Nimbus Maze.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Reveillark.
[Opponent] plays activated ability from Bonded Fetch.
[Opponent] discards Aven Riftwatcher.

He’s got that Bonded Fetch and I don’t have a hand that’s capable of truly controlling his lands, so I need to just kill him. Luckily, the best way to kill him is to play Reveillark, and getting Reveillark into play usually takes you a long way towards winning the mirror. I might run into a Sower of Temptation here, but I still have that Unsummon to get out of that situation.

Turn 5: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays Island.
[Opponent] plays Body Double.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.

Turn 6: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Riftwing Cloudskate.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate targeting Island.
Island is returned to [Opponent]’s hand from play.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Island.
[Opponent] is being attacked by: Riftwing Cloudskate, Reveillark, Mulldrifter
Mulldrifter blocks Riftwing Cloudskate.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Wrath of God.
[Opponent] plays activated ability from Bonded Fetch.
[Opponent] discards Mirror Entity.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Reveillark targeting Riftwing Cloudskate, and Mulldrifter.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate targeting Island.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.
Island is returned to [Opponent]’s hand from play.

This turn is probably one of the most important of the game. He’s got his Bonded Fetch and Body Double copying Mulldrifter, while I’ve got Reveillark, Mulldrifter, and a Cloudskate about to come into play. I bounce his land with the Skate, setting him back to four sources, and then swing with the team. My plan is to cast Wrath after combat, which might seem strange since I appear to be so far ahead on the board. However, I have another Reveillark in my hand and I want to get rid of his Bonded Fetch before he can assemble the combo kill. Besides, Wrathing will give me another two cards from Mulldrifter and another bounce from Cloudskate, setting him back to three sources and an empty board. This means that I’ll have seven mana sources to his four, and I will almost certainly win from there.

Turn 6: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays Plains.
[Opponent] plays Wrath of God.
[Opponent] discards Riftwing Cloudskate.

Turn 7: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Desert.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Reveillark (with evoke).
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Reveillark.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Reveillark targeting Riftwing Cloudskate, and Mulldrifter.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate targeting Adarkar Wastes.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.
Adarkar Wastes is returned to [Opponent]’s hand from play.

He uses Wrath to try to recover from his terrible position, but I have that second Reveillark to Evoke. The bounce again puts him back to three sources, while the extra cards deliver the last pieces of the combo.

Turn 7: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays Island.
[Opponent] plays Wrath of God.

Turn 8: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Island.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Body Double.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Mirror Entity.
[Opponent] has conceded from the game.

His Wrath is basically irrelevant, and I play out the combo.

First Match, Game Two:

Board Out: 4 Wrath of God, 3 Aven Riftwatcher
Board In: 3 Sower of Temptation, 2 Stonecloaker, 2 Draining Whelk

Game Two:

[Opponent] chooses to play first.
[Opponent] mulligans down to 6 cards.
[Opponent] mulligans down to 5 cards.
[Opponent] mulligans down to 4 cards.
[Opponent] keeps this hand.
Pumbles Mumbles mulligans down to 6 cards.
Pumbles Mumbles keeps this hand.

(Desert, Prismatic Lens x2, Reveillark, Mulldrifter, Venser)

This hand is certainly very risky. The worst-case scenario is that I never draw another land and die. However, if I draw one land in two turns, then I’ll have three mana waiting for turn three. Assuming I hit this first land, on turn three I’ll either have 3 or 2U. If I have 3 and no other land, then I’ll just play the second lens and Evoke Mulldrifter on the next turn. If I have 3 and another land, I’ll use the Lens to Evoke Mulldrifter right now. If I have 2U and no other lands, I’ll Evoke the Mulldrifter. If I have 2U and another land, I’ll play the second Lens and then Evoke Mulldrifter. Some of these branches are slow, but this matchup is not known for its speed. Still, I need to draw a second land, but I think that I’m more likely to hit 22 outs in two tries than find a better hand on five cards. After all, I have some of the best cards for the matchup in my hand.

Plus, he’s on four cards, so I don’t think I’ll be under that much pressure.

[Opponent] skips their draw step.
[Opponent] plays Plains.

Turn 1: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Desert.

Turn 2: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays Adarkar Wastes.
[Opponent] removes Riftwing Cloudskate from the game with 3 time counters.

Turn 2: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Adarkar Wastes.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Prismatic Lens.

I drew this Wastes on the first turn, so I knew I’d have it here. Still, it was a really good land to draw.

Turn 3: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate.
[Opponent] plays Adarkar Wastes.
[Opponent] plays Mind Stone.

Turn 3: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Prismatic Lens.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Prismatic Lens.

I haven’t drawn a third land, so my plan was to Evoke Mulldrifter here. However, I’ve draw a third Prismatic Lens, so I spend my turn casting both of them. This puts me up to five mana for turn four (hardcast Mulldrifter), and is also less disastrous if he somehow has a Rune Snag. Remember, I put him on no Rune Snags due to his Bonded Fetches in the first game.

Turn 4: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate.
[Opponent] plays Island.

Turn 4: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Mulldrifter.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Plains.

Turn 5: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate.
[Opponent] plays Riftwing Cloudskate.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate targeting Prismatic Lens.
Prismatic Lens is returned to Pumbles Mumbles’s hand from play.
[Opponent] plays Mulldrifter (with evoke).
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.
[Opponent] plays Momentary Blink targeting Mulldrifter.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.
Pumbles Mumbles is being attacked by: Riftwing Cloudskate
Mulldrifter blocks Riftwing Cloudskate.

His bounce targets my Lens; usually people will hit these because they cost you mana to replay. However, I don’t think that this is the right play, and I think he should go after a land here. Let’s look at the possibilities, given that I’m sitting on six mana and most good spells cost five.

He bounces my lens:
– I have a land in hand, and I play land, lens, and 5drop on my turn. I end with seven mana and my spell resolved.
– I don’t have a land in hand. I play the 5drop, and end with five mana and my spell resolved. I might also have Venser or CCon, in which case I end with six mana and my spell resolved.

He bounces my land:
– I have a land in hand. I replay my land, play my spell. I end with six mana and my spell resolved.
– I don’t have a land. I replay my land, play my spell, and end with six mana and my spell resolved.

You can see that bouncing my land doesn’t give me any choices. No matter what, I can only play one land, so he knows what’s going to happen if he bounces my land. If you look at them side-by-side, I think that the “risky” play is not worth the payoff. If I don’t have more lands, then the difference between five and six mana isn’t big at all. After all, I can still cast all the good stuff with five mana. If I do have more lands, then letting me roll up to seven sources is a very bad thing.

Of course, when he only bounces one card, this is not that big of a deal. However, you often see people bounce multiple cards on the turn that they resolve Cloudskate. If you’re going to Blink a Cloudskate, then you should absolutely be hitting lands, because then you know that you’re putting your opponent in the awkward position where they are choking on lands. Bouncing two or three Lenses will allow your opponent to fully recover in just one turn.

I also think that he should have attacked before playing his Mulldrifter out. By attacking after his Blink play, I have extra information to inform my blocking decision, and he has fewer choices about whether or not to save his guy with Blink.

Turn 5: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Adarkar Wastes.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Prismatic Lens.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Body Double.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.

I have that second land, so I slide the Lens into my turn and draw two more. This is also why I blocked on the previous turn, to set up my Body Double.

Turn 6: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays Island.
Pumbles Mumbles is being attacked by: Mulldrifter
[Opponent] plays Body Double.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.

He does now have a Blink in his yard that I have to play around. I could block here to try to force his hand, but I want to keep my Body Double around. His Body Double post-combat might be a huge problem if I can’t get him to burn that Blink, though, and left me wishing that I had blocked.

Turn 6: Pumbles Mumbles.
[Opponent] is being attacked by: Mulldrifter
[Opponent] plays Condemn targeting Mulldrifter.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Nimbus Maze.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Mulldrifter (with evoke).
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Reveillark.

The Condemn caught me slightly off guard, because I assumed that he would board them out. I think that Condemn is very bad in the matchup, since it doesn’t do anything to stop your opponent mid-combo and it’s only actually good if you snag a Body Double with it. Besides all this, Blink and Venser can easily mess with it. However, he does get his Body Double because I decide that it’s not worth using my Venser to protect it. I decide this because I can draw two with Mulldrifter and then put Reveillark into play. With the biggest guy in the matchup in play as well as the possibility to draw four, I’m feeling good.

Turn 7: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays Island.
Pumbles Mumbles is being attacked by: Mulldrifter, Mulldrifter
Reveillark blocks Mulldrifter.
[Opponent] plays Momentary Blink from the graveyard targeting Mulldrifter.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.

He swings with his team, which seems incorrect to me. Either way, I block the actual Mulldrifter. I’m not going to not block at all, since I want to get him to burn the Blink, and I don’t want to give him extra options by blocking the Body Double.

Turn 7: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Desert.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Mind Stone.
[Opponent] is being attacked by: Reveillark
[Opponent] plays Condemn targeting Reveillark.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Venser, Shaper Savant.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Venser, Shaper Savant targeting Reveillark.
Reveillark is returned to Pumbles Mumbles’s hand from play.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Reveillark targeting Mulldrifter, and Mulldrifter.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.
[Opponent]’s Condemn is countered because of no legal targets.
Pumbles Mumbles removes Riftwing Cloudskate from the game with 3 time counters.
Pumbles Mumbles discards Riftwing Cloudskate.

Well, I certainly didn’t expect the second Condemn here, and I don’t have another Reveillark at this point, so I want to save my guy. I bounce the Reveillark with Venser, drawing four in the process, and suspend a Cloudskate so I don’t have to discard much. I pitch the Cloudskate so that later on I’ll have extra gas in my graveyard. Besides, I have a third in my hand if I need it. I could have just let the Condemn resolve, since I still would have gotten my trigger, but I want to have a Reveillark in play or in my graveyard to combo with.

Turn 8: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays Plains.
[Opponent] plays Careful Consideration (Enhanced) targeting [Opponent].
[Opponent] discards Bonded Fetch.
[Opponent] discards Island.
[Opponent] plays Wrath of God.

I didn’t expect this Wrath at all. I have a Blink that I can use on my Venser to slow it for a turn, but it doesn’t do a whole lot for me. I decide to let it resolve so that I can play my Reveillark and then Blink it. This will bounce two of his lands, leave me with eight power, and I’ll have the ability to flashback the Blink on Venser if I need to.

Turn 8: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Adarkar Wastes.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Reveillark.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Momentary Blink targeting Reveillark.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Reveillark targeting Venser, Shaper Savant, and Riftwing Cloudskate.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Venser, Shaper Savant targeting Island.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate targeting Island.
Island is returned to [Opponent]’s hand from play.
Island is returned to [Opponent]’s hand from play.

Turn 9: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays Island.
[Opponent] plays Mirror Entity.
[Opponent] plays Bonded Fetch.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Momentary Blink from the graveyard targeting Reveillark.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Reveillark targeting Mulldrifter, and Mulldrifter.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.

At this point my opponent is seriously threatening the combo. He’s got Body Double and Cloudskate in the graveyard, with Mirror Entity in play and the ability to dig for Reveillark (or a second Body Double if I accidentally let my Reveillark die). However, he’s not there yet, so I allow all this to resolve and then draw four on his endstep.

Turn 9: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Adarkar Wastes.
[Opponent] is being attacked by: Mulldrifter, Mulldrifter, Reveillark, Riftwing Cloudskate, Venser, Shaper Savant
Pumbles Mumbles plays activated ability from Mirror Entity. (X is 5).
redmages258 has stopped watching.
[Opponent]: ggs
Pumbles Mumbles: ggs

Not only do I have him dead with the Entity that I drew (and my twelve mana), I have every good card for the situation in-hand. I could theoretically have passed the turn sitting on Stonecloaker with the ability to RFG four of his cards, Unsummon to break up a combo that happens to start, and Draining Whelk to counterspell anything that he tries, but as his mana can only deal with one of my creatures, I think it’s better to just swing at him with 5 5/5s.

Now, this match happened last Saturday, and since then I’ve changed the deck. I have loved Unsummon so very much that I’ve clung to it for a long time, but I finally decided that it was time for it to go. I also got frustrated with my repeated losses to Faeries (more on this later), and completely overhauled the sideboard to try to give myself a chance to beat them when the opponent doesn’t horribly punt.

After these changes, my decklist was:

As you can see, I’ve added Careful Consideration (and an Island) to the maindeck, which lets me dig for gas rather than bounce a creature. While I believe that bouncing a creature is very good against Reveillark and Faeries, it seemed as though the card could be doing more. Consideration is certainly a higher-impact card than Unsummon, so I’ve been trying it out. So far, I’ve been very happy with it.

The sideboard now features eleven cards to bring in against Faeries. I’ve tried much less drastic measures in the past, and my record against Faeries is an extremely disappointing 3-7. Additionally, two of those match wins involved winning game three solely on the strength of my opponent’s misplays.

The Pacts protect your Crovax or Reveillark, or stop Mistbind Clique from timewalking you on the turn you’re trying to play your big guy. Sower is nothing new, but still good against Faeries. Crovax is big and unwieldy, but getting him into play will take you a long way towards winning the game, and Wispmare is an amazing blocker while also an answer to Bitterblossom.

Anyway, armed with the new list, I soldiered on. I had to make it through a Dragonstorm player to make it to this match. I was unable to get notes for game one while I played it, but I won with a Mirror Entity attack. I then sideboarded out four Wraths and two Riftwatchers for three Pacts and three Sowers.

Second Match, Game Two:

[Opponent] chooses to play first.
[Opponent] keeps this hand.
Pumbles Mumbles keeps this hand.

Unfortunately I don’t have my hand from this game written down. However, I do know that it included three lands, Prismatic Lens, Reveillark, and Cloudskate. That’s about as good as you can hope for in the mirror match; the only improvement would be to have a Mulldrifter as well.

[Opponent] skips their draw step.
[Opponent] plays Plains.

Turn 1: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Island.

Turn 2: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays Nimbus Maze.
[Opponent] removes Riftwing Cloudskate from the game with 3 time counters.

Turn 2: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Plains.
Pumbles Mumbles removes Riftwing Cloudskate from the game with 3 time counters.

At this point my choice is between a Suspended Cloudskate and a Prismatic Lens. Getting ahead on mana is extremely important in the mirror, so it’s actually a somewhat difficult decision. Because my opponent won’t be able to bounce a mana source of mine on his turn (he didn’t have a turn-two accelerator), I’m not yet in danger of getting manascrewed out. As such, I Suspend the Skate. If, though, he had led with a Lens or Mind Stone of his own, I would play my own accelerator here.

Turn 3: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate.
[Opponent] plays Plains.
[Opponent] plays Mind Stone.

Turn 3: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Adarkar Wastes.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Prismatic Lens.

Turn 4: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate.
[Opponent] plays Island.

Turn 4: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Careful Consideration (Enhanced) targeting Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles discards Plains.
Pumbles Mumbles discards Momentary Blink.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Island.
[Opponent] plays Venser, Shaper Savant.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Venser, Shaper Savant targeting Island.
Island is returned to Pumbles Mumbles’s hand from play.

He hasn’t done a whole ton yet, so I don’t really expect this play to resolve. I could also have cast Reveillark, but as I’m assuming I’m just going to get Rune Snagged, I don’t go for it. Besides, even if I knew it were going to resolve, it would likely just eat a bounce from his Cloudskate. This would usually be worthwhile because it would keep me ahead on mana.

Then it does resolve. This is somewhat shocking to me, but I’ll take it. His end-step Venser, though, is going to put me in a big hole if he has a Blink to bury me on his own turn.

Turn 5: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate.
[Opponent] plays Riftwing Cloudskate.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate targeting Island.
Island is returned to Pumbles Mumbles’s hand from play.
[Opponent] plays Reveillark.
Pumbles Mumbles is being attacked by: Riftwing Cloudskate, Venser, Shaper Savant

He’s out of mana, but I’ve been set back two land drops. Like my own Reveillark, this one isn’t threatening yet because there’s nothing for it to target.

Turn 5: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Riftwing Cloudskate.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate targeting Nimbus Maze.
Nimbus Maze is returned to [Opponent]’s hand from play.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Island.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Mind Stone.

I bounce his land to keep him slow on mana. I then have to decide what I’m going to do with the Momentary Blink in my hand. I could use it to bounce yet another one of his lands, but then I would be completely vulnerable to anything he does on his own turn. With a Reveillark in play, that could be pretty bad. I just play Mind Stone to get back up on mana, and pass.

Turn 6: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays Nimbus Maze.
Pumbles Mumbles is being attacked by: Reveillark, Riftwing Cloudskate, Venser, Shaper Savant
Riftwing Cloudskate blocks Reveillark.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Momentary Blink targeting Riftwing Cloudskate.
[Opponent] plays Momentary Blink targeting Venser, Shaper Savant.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Venser, Shaper Savant targeting Momentary Blink.
Momentary Blink is returned to Pumbles Mumbles’s hand from the stack.
[Opponent] plays Aven Riftwatcher.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Aven Riftwatcher.

I make a move when he attacks. My hope is to block and bounce his Reveillark, just to make him spend his turn replaying it. Instead he uses Venser to bounce my Blink back to my hand, and my Cloudskate died. I made a mistake here by waiting to put combat damage on the stack; if my Blink resolves then it makes no difference whether or not damage is on, and if it doesn’t, I save myself two life by making my opponent remove Venser from combat.

After bouncing my Blink and killing my Skate, he plays Riftwatcher, putting him to four guys in play to my zero. However, he has only five mana sources, while I have six.

Turn 6: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Plains.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Mulldrifter (with evoke).
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Aven Riftwatcher.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Aven Riftwatcher.

I still have that Reveillark, but there’s just a Cloudskate in my graveyard, so it remains unthreatening. I choose instead to draw two cards, looking to make sure I keep ahead on everything except life totals, and then play Aven Riftwatcher to make sure I don’t simply die.

Turn 7: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Aven Riftwatcher.
Pumbles Mumbles is being attacked by: Aven Riftwatcher, Venser, Shaper Savant, Reveillark, Riftwing Cloudskate
Aven Riftwatcher blocks Venser, Shaper Savant.
[Opponent] plays Reveillark.

When he attacks me, I have to decide what to do about blocking. Since he’s got that Blink in his graveyard, I can’t actually do anything that bad to him. I choose to block Venser here, since my Riftwatcher will live through it and since it might cause him to flashback the Blink to save his Venser. Instead he simply lets it die, and then re-ups on Reveillarks. Again, these guys aren’t that scary right now because he doesn’t have much to regrow, but he does have twelve power on the board to my quickly diminishing life total.

Turn 7: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Aven Riftwatcher.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Island.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Reveillark.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Momentary Blink targeting Reveillark.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Reveillark targeting Riftwing Cloudskate, and Mulldrifter.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate targeting Nimbus Maze.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.
Nimbus Maze is returned to [Opponent]’s hand from play.

However, my big mana advantage is beginning to rear its head. With the Mulldrifter I Evoked last turn, my Reveillark is finally scary. I play it and blink it, which puts us both to four creatures in play, though I get to draw two cards and bounce his land along the way. I keep setting him back to four mana sources, while I continue to develop my manabase. If I don’t die soon, he won’t be able to beat that.

Turn 8: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Aven Riftwatcher.
[Opponent] plays Nimbus Maze.
Pumbles Mumbles is being attacked by: Reveillark, Aven Riftwatcher, Reveillark, Riftwing Cloudskate
Reveillark blocks Reveillark.
Riftwing Cloudskate blocks Reveillark.
Mulldrifter blocks Reveillark.
Aven Riftwatcher blocks Aven Riftwatcher.
[Opponent] plays Momentary Blink from the graveyard targeting Reveillark.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Reveillark targeting Venser, Shaper Savant.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Venser, Shaper Savant targeting Reveillark.
Reveillark is returned to Pumbles Mumbles’s hand from play.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Reveillark.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Reveillark.

He basically has to send all the troops in, because I will take over if I get much more time. Besides, he’s still got the Blink to complicate things, and two Reveillarks to recoup losses. I block to save myself the most damage I can without killing Cloudskate or Aven Riftwatcher (trading Reveillarks, double-blocking the other with my two new 2/2s, and bouncing Riftwatchers). He finally uses his Blink on his Reveillark that would kill my own, denying me a Reveillark trigger. He regrows the Venser I killed, and also bounces my Reveillark. He assigns all four damage from his other Reveillark to my Mulldrifter, so that I can’t just Evoke the Reveillark he bounced and get both of my guys back. His second Reveillark trigger for the turn has no targets.

He could have made a different play: Blink the Reveillark I double-blocked. This would bring back Venser to bounce my Reveillark, leaving him with all of his creatures in play and me with Riftwatcher, Cloudskate, and Mulldrifter. He’s shown that he wants to avoid stocking my graveyard, so it would seem to me that he’d be better off completely avoiding that and keeping his two Reveillarks. The play he chose traded a 4/3 for my 2/2; maybe this was good for him, but it seemed strange to me. However, he might have been trying to set up a Body Double.

Turn 8: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Aven Riftwatcher.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Nimbus Maze.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Prismatic Lens.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Reveillark.

I develop my mana even further. At this point I have twice as many sources as he does, with only a barely worse board position. However, he’s at 22 to my 3, so I’m on the razor’s edge.

Turn 9: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Aven Riftwatcher.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Aven Riftwatcher.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Aven Riftwatcher.
[Opponent] plays Island.
Pumbles Mumbles is being attacked by: Venser, Shaper Savant, Reveillark, Riftwing Cloudskate
Reveillark blocks Reveillark.
Riftwing Cloudskate blocks Riftwing Cloudskate.
Aven Riftwatcher blocks Venser, Shaper Savant.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Reveillark targeting Venser, Shaper Savant, and Riftwing Cloudskate.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Reveillark targeting Mulldrifter, and Riftwing Cloudskate.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate targeting Nimbus Maze.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.
Nimbus Maze is returned to [Opponent]’s hand from play.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Venser, Shaper Savant targeting Riftwing Cloudskate.
[Opponent] plays triggered ability from Riftwing Cloudskate targeting Mulldrifter.
Mulldrifter is returned to Pumbles Mumbles’s hand from play.
Riftwing Cloudskate is returned to Pumbles Mumbles’s hand from play.
[Opponent] plays Reveillark.

His Riftwatcher dies, he finally plays his sixth mana source of the game, and then he swings with his team. I decide that it’s time to just completely clear the board. We’ll both get full-power Reveillark triggers, but I feel safe in allowing this because I can just do more on my turns than he can on his. I use my triggers to draw two and bounce him back to five sources; he uses his to completely clear out my creatures (except for Riftwatcher, who is about to die).

Turn 9: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Aven Riftwatcher.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Aven Riftwatcher.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Aven Riftwatcher.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Island.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Body Double.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Sower of Temptation.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Sower of Temptation targeting Reveillark.
Pumbles Mumbles discards Adarkar Wastes.

I bring my mana to bear, casting a Body Double/Reveillark and Sower of Temptation on his Reveillark. This leaves me with three guys and him with two, though my Sower is somewhat vulnerable, as I don’t have quite enough mana to protect it with Blink.

Turn 10: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays Nimbus Maze.

Turn 10: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Island.
[Opponent] is being attacked by: Reveillark, Reveillark
Pumbles Mumbles plays Mulldrifter.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Mulldrifter.
Pumbles Mumbles discards Riftwing Cloudskate.

After he does nothing, I smash with my big guys and drop a Mulldrifter. When I have to discard at the end of turn, I pitch Cloudskate, so that I’ll have two guys to target with a Reveillark trigger.

Turn 11: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays Faerie Conclave.
Pumbles Mumbles is being attacked by: Riftwing Cloudskate, Venser, Shaper Savant
Mulldrifter blocks Venser, Shaper Savant.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Momentary Blink from the graveyard targeting Reveillark.
[Opponent] plays Rune Snag targeting Momentary Blink.
[Opponent] plays Rune Snag targeting Momentary Blink.

He sends his two guys. I have two blockers and five life, but blocking with the Sower will give him back his Reveillark. I don’t have anything to fear from him, though, because I have Venser in my hand, so I just block his trade with his Venser and go to three. He’s at fourteen.

At the end of the turn, I flashback Blink on my Reveillark. He Snags, but I have enough to pay for the first one. His second Snag stops my Blink, but it taps him out and puts him to just one card in hand.

Turn 11: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Plains.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Sower of Temptation.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Sower of Temptation targeting Riftwing Cloudskate.
[Opponent] is being attacked by: Sower of Temptation, Reveillark, Reveillark

I don’t want to risk anything, but I don’t have an actual kill yet, so I just take his Cloudskate, and hit him to four.

Turn 12: [Opponent].
[Opponent] plays activated ability from Faerie Conclave.
Pumbles Mumbles is being attacked by: Faerie Conclave
Sower of Temptation blocks Faerie Conclave.
[Opponent] has conceded from the game.

I guess as a last-ditch effort, he swings with the Conclave. I’m happy to trade my Sower for it because the Cloudskate he’ll get back is irrelevant. He concedes.

So that’s about it, as far as playing the mirror goes. When I talked about it in my tournament report, I said that our plan was to try to mana-screw our opponents. That was technically right, but the real goal is simply to develop your mana way out ahead of your opponent’s. If you can have twelve sources while they have six, then you’ll be able to just power straight through them.

With the mirror match out of the way, I want to give a little bit of time to three other decks. These four decks comprise over 90% of my matchups on Magic Online, so I think that they’re the ones you want to prepare for.

Faeries — This is the nightmare matchup. I’m not sure how to describe it beyond that; you just don’t want to play against Faeries. The deck still isn’t big enough to make playing Reveillark a negative EV choice, but it’s out there enough that it’s worth trying to fight it.

There are a handful of really scary cards in their deck. Bitterblossom allows them to play the waiting game, making sure to snipe your best spells with Rune Snag and Cryptic Command. It also powers Spellstutter Sprite up to full, so you’ll have to worry about losing your Reveillark to a two-mana 1/1. It’s rare that you’ll win a game where a second-turn Bitterblossom is backed up by Scion or Mistbind Clique, but in the absence of those two cards, you can sometimes race it. Your creatures aren’t very cost-efficient, but if you get enough of them into play that you can just start swinging, they might find themselves far enough on the back foot that they can’t recover. In these cases, you’ll be bouncing tokens with your Cloudskates and Vensers. This plan is especially powerful if you have a Mirror Entity. After boards, you hope to answer the Blossom with either Wispmare or Crovax.

Scion and Mistbind Clique are the two scariest creatures you can see, though Pestermite and Sower are also both very strong against you. Scion will stop you from being able to sit on a Desert, and will make it impossible to race Bitterblossom or even usually just block effectively. The Clique can make your life horrible by Mana Short’ing you on that one turn you needed to stabilize; two is often enough to win the game right there. Your artifact accelerators are immune to the tap ability, though, so sometimes you can manage to do something on your turn anyway. However, people often make some pretty bad misplays with these cards; the most common involves combat with a Scion: your opponent attacks with their team, using Scion to protect them from your Deserts. You block with Reveillark, and get a trigger when it dies (because Scion pumped their guy up to three power), which brings back a Sower of Temptation (either your own after boards, or a Body Double copying your opponent’s). You steal their Scion with your Sower, and then use Deserts to gun their side down. This is the source of most of my stolen game wins.

With those cards in mind, the sideboard overloads on anti-faerie options. The idea is to defend against those three cards as best as you can. Pact of Negation is perfectly set up to defend a big spell in the mid-game, and can also mess with mid-combat Scions. The Wispmares allow you to answer Bitterblossoms, and Crovax is just amazingly big (and makes their side amazingly small). To fit all of this in, I’ve been cutting all five of my bounce guys, both Considerations, all of the Blinks (now that many of the targets are gone), and one Wrath of God. I don’t have enough information yet to say if this solves the problem; it certainly seems to help

Mono-Red Burn — This is the deck that I play against most often in the queues. There’s not much to say about it; either they will kill you fast or they won’t. However, it’s worth noting exactly how willing I am to burn Wrath of Gods in this matchup. Assuming that you don’t have anything else to do with your fourth turn, it is often correct to Wrath away just one Mogg Fanatic, and it’s almost certainly better than your other options if you can get more than just one guy. Desert is also surprisingly good here because it stops Fanatics and Ghitu Encampments. If it weren’t for this, they would probably have been cut in favor of Mutavaults.

Beyond that your goal is just to buy yourself as much time as you can. Burn your comes-into-play 2/2s for any advantage that you can; you can always get them back later. Try to trade aggressively; anything you can do to prevent damage is a good thing to do. Eventually you’ll either combo them out and kill them with their own Mogg Fanatic or Keldon Marauders, or you’ll drop a Mirror Entity and just swing for lethal.

The sideboard has four Dragon’s Claw specifically for this matchup, and Wispmares that are also fine. They’re not amazing, but they do block Fanatics and such, and they kill Mana Barbs. I haven’t seen a Barbs in a long time, but you just can’t beat that card under normal circumstances, so I try to have a way to kill it. It’s theoretically possible that you would board in Pact of Negation, but I wouldn’t try it. I board out my bounce guys, a Momentary Blink, and a Wrath of God.

The opponent has a few cards that they might bring in to fight you, but the one that you’re almost guaranteed to see is Cryoclasm. Watch out for that card, and play lands accordingly. You might also see Magus of the Moon, who is a very good card when they have Cryoclasms to back it up. Without the land destruction, though, you have twelve basics and four Prismatic Lens to live through it. Mana Barbs is the last card that I’ve seen, and you can’t really beat it unless you have a Wispmare to kill it right away.

After boarding, you might want to be a little bit more judicious with your Wraths. An early Dragon’s Claw will usually buy you ten or more life, and the second one basically means that their only threats are man-lands and Countryside Crushers, which is why you want to try to save Wraths. Your lifegain, though, will get you a ton of extra time to execute your plan. Beyond that, not much changes.

GB Elves — On Magic Online, this is more of a Rock deck than an Elf deck; so Wrath of God is again slightly less than optimal. Some people have reduced their Wrath counts, while others have cut them completely. I like to have the full four, but I also like to cast them as one-for-one trades more than most people. If you have the ability to kill a Wall of Roots and a Wren’s Run Vanquisher, I usually take it.

Much like playing the burn deck, you’re looking to just keep your head above the water. If you can control their creatures, they’ll have to rely on Profane Command and Garruk to win the game. Controlling their creatures is relatively easy as long as you aren’t facing an army of Tarmogoyfs, and things are especially great if you can get Body Double copying Reveillark. This provides you with an infinite blocker, and suddenly you can survive against some extremely frightening boards.

I don’t like to sideboard too heavily here; I just bring in the three Sowers. These cards aren’t usually that great because the opponent will have Nameless Inversions to knock them out, but at worst they eat a removal spell and buy you an attack-free turn from whatever guy you targeted. Previous builds of this deck have had some variety of Moat to bring in here, or Pithing Needle to shut down Treetop Villages. However, this deck is so much less well-represented than Faeries that I’ve cut most of the sideboard cards I used to have against it.

Beyond that, there’s not a whole lot to mention. They may have Extirpates after boards, which you’ll have to be mindful of when trying to decide whether or not to go off. If they’re running Primal Command, you might see Withered Wretch. A lot of people, though, just bring in Hurricane effects, hoping to both control your creatures and burn you out. This just means that you need to continue to be mindful of your life total, and eventually win in one of the standard Mirror Entity fashions.

Anyway, hopefully this was useful to many of you. I’ll be playing in my City Champs finals with this deck, and I’ve been doing extremely well on Magic Online with it. As always, I’d love to hear suggestions for the Faerie matchup in the forums.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me in the forums, via email, or on AIM.

Benjamin Peebles-Mundy
ben at mundy dot net
SlickPeebles on AIM