[Editor’s Note: This article was delayed by a surfeit of content, and for that I apologize. That said, it’s interesting to read what Oscar has to say about Rochester after the fact.]
The Pros invade the Richmond Power Nine?
As everyone knows by now, Teddy Card Game is trying his damnedest P.T. Barnum act by inducing the Pros to invade Type I. No less than Zvi Mowshowitz led the charge with the intentionally condescending piece, “How to Ruin a Format in Eight Easy Steps.”
I maintain, let the Pros come. They were a valuable alternative opinion in Beyond Dominia days, if only because the Invitational was the only high profile Type I event each year. Okay, maybe you have little jokes like Obliterate in Mike Long’s version of “The Deck.” On the other hand, consider that it was a long time before Brian Weissman put four Force of Wills into control, and an even longer time before we put in Yawgmoth’s Will over – the shame – things like twin Gaea’s Blessings.
Five years ago, before there was truly competitive Type I, I tried to track down Pros for additional input, like Kai Budde for Extended decks like Oath, Gro, and Trick that were being ported to Type I. Zvi himself lent insights into mono-Blue, being the first person to publicize a decklist with four Fact or Fiction. I think this continues until today, where you have some Pros or retired Pros who are long-standing players and see newer cards in action in Extended, Type II and Block.
Some people feel the biggest “Pro” factor is simple discipline and play skill, however.
I think this is the area where people can still learn a lot, and realize there is a lot of catching up to do before reaching the level of Kai Budde and all those other barn-household names. Taking a random example, examine the Star City Richmond Power Nine finals.
Travis LaPlante, the “real” Type I player, had just lost Game 1. Packing Mishra’s Workshop-based aggro-control, he led with Gemstone Mine and Goblin Welder.
On the opposite end of the table, you had Mike Zaun, who admitted he had never even read a single Star City Type I article before, and piloted Food Chain Goblins because it confused him least out of the viable Type I decks.
Mike led with Wasteland and killed the Mine, then cast Black Lotus, Goblin Lackey, and Goblin Piledriver. Travis Forced the Piledriver. On his turn, he blocked the Lackey and layed another Welder.
Stop.
S-T-O-P-!-!-!
What’s wrong with this picture?
Playing devil’s advocate, I wonder if Travis had considered using Forcing the Lotus instead (see “Head to Head: Dragon“).
Unless Mike kept a strange hand and was going to play Goblin Warchief, that Force would have practically been a Time Walk. Mike already revealed the Wasteland, so Forcing Lotus would have moved Lackey to Turn 2 and Piledriver to Turn 3.
I don’t know what Travis had in hand, but I imagine this aggressive play merited serious consideration in a matchup where both decks want to be the beatdown, to the point of playing goldfish except for chump blocks, because they stink at playing the control (see Mike Flores, “Who’s the Beatdown“).
What happened was that Travis never got the second Welder active and played nothing else of note except a Juggernaut before he was steamrolled by Goblins. And, in the end, the “Pros” scored first blood in Teddy Card Game’s private war, leaving Team Mean Deck’s Matthieu Durand a.k.a. Toad laughing at the silly American Type I fanatics.
(Picture Knutson in the admiral’s chair while Anakin and Dooku duel… wicked indeed!)
Given the underwhelming ending, I also wonder what the mulligan option was like, since all we saw from the coverage was inactive Welders, which is sub-par for any deck with Workshops.
I don’t mean to knock Travis, of course, since he has a new piece of power and I have a mountain of unread law books, but I would appreciate it if he or any spectators could give us a clearer picture of the Finals.
That said, kudos to Mike Zaun for impeccable play and an excellent – if inadvertent – metagame choice against all that Fish and Stax. On your toes for the actual showdown, people, as Darth Teddy pulls your strings all the way to Rochester.
[My only regret about Rochester was that Hoaen and Rider lost in the last round, leaving only one Shooting Star and two pros in the Top 8, though the guys they lost to deserved the Top 8 spots as well. Everything else went to plan – people had fun, there was a ton of buzz about the event, the Pros played some Type One, and that’s that. Will we ever do it again? Who knows… -Knut]
Saving Kamigawa: Three draw spells that might slip under the radar
It’s set review season once again, and we go back to Tan’s two rules:
Is the card more efficient than an established benchmark? (Or, do I get more bang from my buck?)
Does the card do something no past card ever did, and if it does, is this new card playable?
And, for the more general discussion, refer to “Shadow Prices” (see “Counting Shadow Prices“).
The Betrayers review went well enough. I discussed the tempo drawbacks of Ninja of the Deep Hours and noted that Fish was weak when I wrote that review. It’s now found a home there especially with the late entry of Aether Vial (see “Betraying Kamigawa, Part I“). I discussed Umezawa’s Jitte, though I thought it would show up in Mishra’s Workshop aggro and not in Fish (see “Betraying Kamigawa, Part II“). The main inaccuracy was Disrupting Shoal, which I thought would find a limited niche (see “Betraying Kamigawa, Part III“).
I normally read spoilers card type by card type, but with everyone and their mother drooling over – or faking it for more insidious reasons – Twincast, I thought I’d begin SoK with three potentially overlooked cards.
There are actually three interesting draw spells here, and two are commons.
Gauging draw spells has an interesting history, since you hear a collective self-slap courtesy of every control player from Ohio to Paris whenever something is dismissed too early. Immediately after Fact or Fiction came Skeletal Scrying, but you first saw it as a Control Player’s Bible “rookie card” (see “The Control Player’s Bible, Part IV“). It was well overshadowed by FoF (and maybe Sylvan Library), and then scared off by post-FoF aggro decks like Tools ‘n’ Tubbies (see “Head to Head With German TnT“).
More recently, it took a while to for Deep Analysis and Gifts Ungiven to enter the mainstream, and for Standstill to get respect. On the other extreme, everyone overanalyzed Night’s Whisper, only to see it in some Growing ‘Tog variants (excluding combo).
Twincast
Okay, sorry, I can’t resist.
I’ve played with Fork for a long time, and I even mean casual decks like straight burn, Red/Green Erhnam Djinn, and Blue/Red control.
I love Fork, and it does a lot of cute things. In Red/Green mirrors, it could save my creature by matching a Giant Growth. Hell, it let me suddenly Demonic Tutor while playing Red/Black land destruction. Paired with Blue, I bought back my own Fork using Capsize and Forbid.
Wait a minute, Oscar, you mean you didn’t Fork stuff like Ancestral Recall and Yawgmoth’s Will?
Poor, deprived soul!
Now, instead of watching American Pie and Revenge of the Nerds over and over, R&D has now given you… SPOON! It’s now in the right color!
I hate to burst your bubble (yeah, right), but the Red could arguably be handled by the earliest incarnations of “The Deck” which even had Blood Moon, but we didn’t see it there (see “The Control Player’s Bible, Part II“).
To sum it up, Spoon and Fork are as reactive as reactive gets, and you will rarely want them when you are playing the beatdown. That crosses out aggro, aggro-control, and combo.
You might insist you can Spoon your own spells, but that’s awkward. When you have the broken spell in hand like Ancestral, you’re going to cast it, not wait for Spoon and two extra Blue. Especially in combo.
Fine, Oscar, but we expected it to get abused with Mana Drain!
Okay, so you’re drooling over an opponent walking Yawgmoth’s Will into Spoon just when you happen to have fifteen mana untapped and can replay all your counters, tutors and draw. Wow…
Just don’t forget the time you’ll topdeck Spoon and your opponent topdecks Tinker (and you have no Darksteel Colossus). Or when your opponent casts Intuition or Thirst for Knowledge and you can’t use those. Or simply when you’re playing against Mishra’s Workshop or Food Chain Goblins.
Wouldn’t you just have another counter or some other support spell instead of the handful of wow moments?
(I suppose it could be better in Type II counter wars because UU for a counter is incredible there.)
As for my Fork, I left it in my casual Sligh deck, which is really a placeholder for my Ball Lightnings and Cursed Scrolls. I love Fork–Fireblast as much as anyone (you degenerate Fork–Price of Progress and Fork–Goblin Grenade people, you), but sometimes Fork just screws up my Scrolls.
But don’t knock my Sligh deck. It has those promo Jackal Pups courtesy of Star City, with my trademark “Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!” flavor text.
Ideas Unbound
And so we begin our quest to pump even more steroids into Mana Drain (while pointing the finger at Mishra’s Workshop and Dark Ritual to distract everyone) with this beautifully-named curiosity, Ideas Unbound.
Read it once and your knee-jerk reaction is to use it as Bazaar of Baghdad five through eight. This works mainly in decks that already use Bazaar (mainly Dragon and Cerebral Assassin), cushioned by the Squee, Goblin Nabobs.
Otherwise, you just trade four cards to draw three, and your deck would be easy to disrupt if it wants to discard two or three cards into Ideas Unbound (uh, twenty fatties and twelve copies of Animate Dead?).
But read the text carefully.
You don’t have to discard until the end of the turn like Frantic Search.
Oh. My. Gawd.
Two options.
First, you can just empty your hand, a la Grafted Skullcap. You need a deck that is mostly permanents, and have the mana to play these midgame after spending two blue. This sounds like Mishra’s Workshop decks, whether prison or aggro-control. Other possibilities might be a deck designed to abuse Future Sight, or maybe Madness.
It’s not too hard because you’ll probably get a mana source in the three cards, anyway.
Second, you can just win that turn, a la Final Fortune, or combo in short. You’d first see if Ideas can displace a support card like Night’s Whisper, despite the commitment to an extra colored mana.
Ideas, though, would work only in the most aggressive combos, since casting it is a point of no return and you’ll have to go off. I actually wonder if its main use will be elsewhere, even though combo comes to mind first.
Ironically, it seems the blue control decks will be the least be able to use Ideas. Not that they have anything to complain about, of course.
Incidentally, the Arcane is irrelevant in Type I.
Murmurs from Beyond
Again, we have another interesting name in Murmurs from Beyond, and I’m glad the design team doesn’t have the same syllable limit for draw spells as they do for counters.
If Ideas Unbound should remind you of Ancestral Recall, then Murmurs should remind you of Fact or Fiction.
Let’s visualize it this way.
Would you still play Fact or Fiction if we shaved a mana off it but just let you reveal three cards?
Sure, reminds me too much of Thirst for Knowledge.
Okay, but what if you’re not allowed to choose the one-card pile, too?
This, I think, encapsulates the dilemma posed by Murmurs. You have another Thirst in pure card advantage counts, but you’ll lose the best card you dig for. Yes, no more FoF Jedi mind tricks with just three cards.
Just how bad is the drawback?
Take your current control deck and cut it. Flip over the next three cards and pick one. Repeat this a few times.
This is not a Thirst replacement for that control deck that can’t run extra maindeck artifacts. It’s a bit like getting Duressed for free, and in a quick, tight game, that might spell the difference.
For the same reason, we can cross out combo, and besides, combo has nastier options at three mana.
I’m left wondering out loud if Murmurs might work in Growing ‘Tog and other Blue-based aggro-control, and provide a better alternative to Night’s Whisper or whatever spells people are trying to port from control. It might help that these decks have a lower mana count.
Of course, a spell left trying to compare favorably to Night’s Whisper is not as exciting as it first seemed.
Pain’s Reward
For those of you who were already playing during Mirage block, Pain’s Reward is a rehash of Infernal Contract, an evil card drawer that was a mainstay of ProsBloom (Squandered Resources / Cadaverous Bloom / Natural Balance), and to a much lesser extent, something you could use as a fake Necropotence in Black weenie.
The new version is like a splashable, interactive Browbeat. To break it, I imagine you have to think Ghazban Ogre and intend to have the higher life total. The stakes up for bidding are extremely high, namely an eight-card swing (see “The Ten-Second Card Advantage Solution” and take the difference of +4 and -4).
This, again, rules out control since a beatdown deck will not care about the life and outbid you. This is even more true for combo, since who wouldn’t pay their life total to make you stall and even get four cards out of it.
By default, I imagine we might try it in aggro-control (again, possibly to displace something like Night’s Whisper), and it would be good in most matches where you are the beatdown against a slower deck. You might even drive up the bidding then suddenly let him have the four cards in exchange for a life total he cannot possibly recover the game from.
In sum, this could be very splashable midgame juice, and three mana for four cards in a metagame where Lightning Bolt and friends have long since left.
Choice of Damnations
Fact or Fiction was distinguished from the other two-pile cards because you had more control over the choice. Compare the choice in Pain’s Reward to the one in Choice of Damnations, the latter probably a clunkier Drain Life in practice instead of an overcosted board sweeper.
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
The spoiler first said that Erayo, Soratami Ascendant counted only your spells. Then I saw Star City’s scan and my eyes bugged out. Spiketail Hatchling lives!
Consider that if you cast Erayo and counter the opponent’s counter or removal spell, you can play a fourth spell and flip it right there. It’s not too hard especially with Moxen, and the current Fish builds have Cloud of Faeries, Aether Vial and so many other cheap spells.
I’d test it in aggro-control, especially Fish. You shouldn’t see it as a controllish hard lock, but play it in the flavor of Hatchling. If they kill it, good, you drew removal away from your beatdown. If it flips, then it harasses them while your clock ticks.
Yes, the way to beat a flipped Erayo (like something like Hesitation) is to lead with some expendable spell then destroy it. But in aggro-control, you just don’t care if your opponent deals with it, as long as he was distracted long enough.
I figure this is the card Voidmage Prodigy wanted to be.
Incidentally, you might fantasize about pairing Erayo with Arcane Laboratory or Stasis, but we try to make average locks good, not good locks absolute.
The other Essence cards like Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant just don’t do anything for the trouble. Sasaya, Orochi Attendant is especially underwhelming, since more mana is the last thing you’ll need when you flip it.
Pithing Needle
You’ll first think of Pithing Needle as a cheaper, colorless Meddling Mage, but understand that it’s far more limited. That, and the art made me shiver and recall high school goof-ups where an improperly pithed frog started jumping around the lab with its guts spilling out.
Anyway, Needle shuts down the following central spells:
Slaver: Goblin Welder, Mindslaver (and shuts down opposing Phyrexian Furnace)
Oath: Ancient Hydra
Salvagers: Auriok Salvagers
4cc/”The Deck”: Wasteland, Gorilla Shaman, Decree of Justice
Gifts Belcher: Goblin Welder, Goblin Charbelcher
Stax: Sedge Troll
Fish: Aether Vial, Ninja of the Deep Hours
Workshop Aggro: Illusionary Mask, Triskelion
Meandeck Tendrils: Noble Panther
TPS: Yawgmoth’s Bargain
Dragon: Bazaar of Baghdad
Food Chain Goblins: Food Chain
Cerebral Assassin: Bazaar of Baghdad, Goblin Welder
Affinity: Skullclamp, Arcbound Ravager
Vengeur Masque: Survival of the Fittest, Illusionary Mask
Looking at this short list, you hit the key early spell only in a handful of cases, maybe Goblin Welder and Bazaar of Baghdad. In other cases, Needle’s actual effectiveness is deceptive. In Gifts with Welders, for example, the Welders are not as central, and using an early card to shut down Belcher wastes a crucial card (and doesn’t hit Tinker anyway). Shutting down Food Chain is marginal, as you saw in Star City Richmond. And Needle does not beat down while delaying, unlike Meddling Mage in aggro-control.
Sideboard cards in Type I are usually very powerful while still hitting a variety of decks. Cards from Rack and Ruin to Null Rod hit artifacts better than a simple Needle, for example. Even Chalice of the Void can switch modes and cut off Goblin Welder from cheap artifacts. Still on Welder, something like Lava Dart is easier to tutor for, and demands fewer slots.
Needle is something to keep in mind for every deck, but you won’t run it unless there’s a particular card you anticipate, and its flexibility is just a bonus after that.
Maybe it will force those people running four Flooded Strands to switch two for Polluted Delta, I don’t know.
(Take note, it only shuts down wordings with “Pay X: Do Y.” In other words, look for the colon.)
Kataki, War’s Wage
It’s easy to see Kataki, War’s Wage as a mere annoyance and wish it were Energy Flux on a stick. Again, however, strong aggro-control is built from collections of annoyances.
We have a two-mana, two-power creature that’s even splashable, so if you’re playing Meddling Mage or Kami of Ancient Law in Fish, you’ll probably try it out, especially anticipating Workshop-heavy metagames. Again, all it has to do is slow down opponents while you beat down, not clear the board of artifacts.
Other than that, I suppose you’ll try it in White Weenie, but assuming you really want to take that against Workshops, things from Seals of Cleansing to Serenity might work better than stall.
Note Kataki is legendary and you cannot multiply the upkeep.
Enduring Ideal
Epic is cute, but the fact that you only get the effect once a turn alone kills the idea in Type I, where you can do so many things each turn. Enduring Ideal is useless because you can win off the first enchantment if it’s Yawgmoth’s Bargain, and Academy Rector isn’t even played (much) these days.
Eternal Dominion is similarly cute, and I don’t see how you can play Eternal Dominion early but still have enough cards in hand to make it worth it.
Too bad, Kamigawa Block mechanics are just for a different flavor.
Jiwari, Earth Aflame
Channel is an interesting mechanic since it’s like having a split card with an uncounterable half. Unfortunately, none of the twelve Channel cards do anything interesting in Type I, quite unlike Decree of Justice and Gempalm Incinerator.
Jiwari, Earth Aflame (and Arashi, the Sky Asunder) are the most interesting, but the abilities cost too much to handle early weenies.
Shattering Vines
At first glance, I was hoping that Shattering Vines was the cycling Disenchant we’d love to have, since Disenchant effects range from spectacular to dead weight depending on what the opponent has.
Unfortunately, with the double Green and cards like Sundering Titan around, I don’t think we’re going to play it. It’s one lousy topdeck, too.
Hail of Arrows
Something to put on your Cunning Wish mental list, since we only have Firestorm for efficient mass removal so far.
One With Nothing
To my credit, I tried hard to think of some way to break One With Nothing, along the lines of how Lion’s Eye Diamond was used outside combo before its restriction. I couldn’t, but then I didn’t see Entomb’s power early on, either.
Scroll of Origins
Note to beginners: You might mistake Scroll of Origins for a poor man’s Library of Alexandria, but it’s not. It doesn’t substitute as a mana source, and you can’t just drop it on the first turn and go crazy.
Hand of Honor and Hand of Cruelty
I have my Beta White Knight and Black Knight playsets and I love both the original art and flavor text. That said, I think Hand of Honor and Hand of Cruelty are better, in that a 3/3 is better in combat than a 2/2 First Strike, unless you’re blocking Ball Lightning or something.
Yes, these two are passed up even in casual play, but they’re Magic icons so we must devote a few words. Plus, the names remind me of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice.
Promise of Bunrei
Promise of Bunrei is four power for three mana, but that’s not impressive in Type I. Have fun in casual Crusade decks, though.
Evermind
Note to old school players: Do read the FAQ unless you want to look like a dunce when mingling with them upstart Type II players. Seriously, Philippine veteran Butch Maniego read the spoiler with the zero casting cost, and sent an email with the heading “I think I’m getting old…” to the e-group.
Check the scan of Hidetsugu’s Second Rite, too.
Kami of the Crescent Moon
Note to beginners: Read “The Ten-Second Card Advantage Solution” and note Howling Mine and Kami of the Crescent Moon are bad. You lose one card (Mine itself has no further use), and the opponent gets the first draw.
Minamo Scrollkeeper
…and an expanded hand size is nothing, too, since if you can’t win with seven cards, you probably can’t.
Reverence
Assuming we have cards that still want to use Moat over Old Man of the Sea and Plaguebearer, Reverence might be stronger against Fish, leaving Sword of Fire and Ice as the main out.
Moving along…
Meishin, the Mind Cage
Speaking of Moat rehashes, I was hoping to ask Ferrett or Alongi if Meishin, the Mind Cage is any good in multiplayer.
Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker
Honestly. If you’re being beat down to the point that Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker is interesting, will your opponent really mind sacrificing his lands?
Adamaro, First to Desire
Something you’d enjoy against a draw-crazy control player. Not a Goblin, sorry.
Celestial Kirin
Cute, but Spirit and Arcane cards just haven’t made it in numbers in Type I.
Promised Kannushi
I really, really want to like Promised Kannushi.
Nikko Onna
This isn’t better than Monk Realist, Kami of Ancient Law, and Devout Witness, and I doubt you’ll return it even in casual Type I.
I just mentioned it for the Sadako art.
Freed from the Real
Could be the beginning of some casual combo, recalling Mind Over Matter, Curiosity and a Prodigal Sorcerer variant.
Kiku’s Shadow
Note to casual, Suicide Black diehards: This is maindeck removal that finally rivals Diabolic Edict and likely replaces Contagion. With mono Black, you shouldn’t have that much room, though.
Raving Oni-Slave is possibly an alternative to Flesh Reaver for the diehards, too.
Path of Anger’s Flame
The next Army of Allah is better than Trumpet Blast, down to the name. Presence of the Wise is a better name, though, because Gerrard was a wuss.
Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
That’s another one for my legendary land collection. No, the vulnerability to hate is likely not worth the bounce ability. This is probably more interesting in Limited with all those Maro effects.
Inner Fire
Another combo possibility to keep note of, though you’ll be using cards in hand to cast this.
Pure Intentions
Even in your casual play groups where there is someone with a dedicated discard deck, even something more straightforward like Sand Golem works better. Unless you really fantasize about Cunning Wish for Pure Intentions on Wheel of Fortune.
Kaho, Minamo Historian
If you have a strong spell, you only need one use for him, so it doesn’t really matter that you only use Kaho thrice. That said, we don’t use Ertai, Wizard Apprentice or Archivist (and their abilities can’t be countered), and you could just tutor for the spell and get one good use out of it, instead of paying four and waiting a turn.
Sakashima, the Imposter
Fans of Clone get an improved version, and judges everywhere groan in agony.
Shifting Borders
Political Trickery was all the rage when there wasn’t much else to deal with Kjeldoran Outpost in particular formats. If you use this with Cunning Wish and your opponent’s Boseiju, drop a line.
Ironically, I’ve revealed excitement over an unprecedented three interesting draw spells in one set, but control is getting none of it. Nothing is going to give the generic control deck a shot in the arm without going to more specialized draw like Thirst or Accumulated Knowledge, and even Skeletal Scrying is tough with all these Phyrexian Furnaces suddenly making their rounds.
Well, wish me luck with Bar review. Hopefully, I’ll be write down some thoughts I’ve been saving during my final exams in between memorizing taxation procedures.
‘Til next week! I hope!
Oscar Tan (e-mail: Rakso at StarCityGames.com)
rakso on #BDChat on EFNet
Team Paragons of Vintage, still open for franchise
University of the Philippines, College of Law
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