After weeks of playtesting, Seth explains what he feels are the keys to the format this weekend, examines three critical lock elements present in the environment, and delivers his final Regionals-ready decklists.Hola Y’all.
Sorry I haven’t rapped at ya for a few weeks but that is a small time gone for me. I have to come to accept I am a busier person than I think I am. I thought I kind of sat around and crunched numbers a lot and had a lot of leisure time too, but I’ve checked my Tivo log of unwatched programs and looked at my pile of unplayed games, unwatched movies, and unread books and thought back to when I could have watched them and realized that any free time I had was spent watching sports. Hmm…
In any event, I must now accept I write when I can and right now I am recovering from a root canal so I am not up for real work. Let’s dig in to Magic:
The UrzaBlue deck is kidding if it thinks it can get away with scooping to a turn 1 Slith Firewalker. But we’ll get to that later, first I want to talk about Saviors of Kamigawa:
Twelve cards I want you to remember, even if you ignore the rest of the set:
1. Pithing Needle
I now have come to understand what this card does to the format. It isn’t Damping Matrix light. It is quite simply the only answer to Sensei’s Divining Top that is cost effective and that means you can defeat Tooth and Nail in a long war of attrition. So much of the new format seems to be about defeating Tooth, and this is first among them.
2. Thoughts of Ruin
A crappy maindeck card in a world of Forests/Sakura’s/Birds/Wood Elves/etc. A great sideboard card in a world of Trons. I still have issues when comparing it Sowing Salt (don’t get me started on Armageddon). If you are playtesting this card as a maindeck card and not liking your results, I feel your pain. It works specifically to beat slow control decks that need tons of mana. Don’t try and get it to do anything else and you won’t mind its downsides.
3. Adamaro First to Desire
Be warned, this man is coming for you, often before you play your third land. Also, note the synergy between him and Zozu (thanks Becker).
4. Manriki-Gusari
Sword catcher. Jitte catcher. When the time of the Samurai has ended, well, blame guns, but this got some good press. It is also a cheap and easy way of winning equipment wars at a low cost and people are sideboarding it.
5. Yuki-Onna
I’m not saying paying two more mana than Shatter is a good thing but 3/1 men are somewhat handy. I’m a bit leery of Yuki-Onna right now since there never seems to be a good time for her to get through.
6. Rending Vines
If Tooth wants to strike back against Pithing Needle this is an option instead of Viridian Shaman.
7. Arashi, Sky Asunder
Magpie and Meloku were already on the downswing, and WW was being kept in check, but this really helps finish the job and can work maindeck as an extra fatty. He’ll be around next weekend.
8. Kagemaro First to Suffer
I’m not a huge fan of the rock but if it exists this guy is part of the reason. I’m just not sure that the Rock has the power level to compete right now but it is one of the few decks that can laugh at Arc Slogger.
Those are the cards that are playing fair that I’ve seen multiple times. However, if I were to make a top 5 of the things that the new set has added Pithing Needle is the first and these are the other 4. Let’s call them the 3 locks and the rifle.
9. Lock 1: Stampeding Serow–Eternal Witness–Plow Under:
Depending on how aggressive you need to be this lock costs as little as five mana and as much as eight. The problem isn’t the mana, which Green has in abundance, the problem is that all these cards are good on their own. It is possible that Plow Under is the card we shouldn’t have access to, and it is possible Witness is, but either way I severely underestimated the power of Wildebeest in this environment. He is one of the five most important cards from the new set in the new Type Two. Not degenerate perhaps, but you should be prepared for this.
10. Lock 2: Skull Collector–Aether Vial–Chittering Rats:
I’ve been locked by this. Not fun. It is kind of cool that locks these days are all about men, but this is a bit silly. In any event this is the combo that makes Rats a legitimate threat come Regionals.
11. Lock 3: Erayo, Soratami Ascendant–Rule of Law:
Thank you Evil Don Lim and Sexy Kevin An. Only Boseiju can save us now. It isn’t all that easy to pull off, but it can happen as early as turn 3 and that is a bit scary.
12. The Rifle: Hidetsugu’s Second Rite:
Hidetsugu’s an @ss****. One of the nice things about Arc-Slogger is that he can go to the dome for eight. This does that plus a Shock for four mana. Conditional? Quite. Monstrously powerful and painful to think about. Yes. This is a sniper rifle waiting for its target to come into range. You need pinpoint accuracy, but what exactly do Vulshok Sorcerers provide if not that?
I’m not saying anything in this set is broken. I think the desire to keep the entire block “subtle” made sure nothing was going to be flat out stupid, but the above cards do make for a different format than the one we had at the LCQ and the invitational. At this point an aggressive Green deck can either be pure aggro like Jaime Wakefield or aggro-control. If it is aggro-control, it no longer has any excuse not to run Plow-Witness-Serow.
So, enough talk, let’s get to specifics. This is close to a two color format. Take away Rats and it is a two color format. Let’s get back to the Blue Tron deck. Here is how I would build it:
4 Urza’s Mine
4 Urza’s Tower
4 Urza’s Power Plant
9 Forest
Oops. Let’s try that again:
4 Urza’s Mine
4 Urza’s Tower
4 Urza’s Power Plant
10 Island
1 Minamo, School at Waters Edge
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4 Tooth and Nail
Bah. Who am I kidding? Let’s look at what Blue can do:
Blue can scry for the Tron. Green can go and get it. Blue can use it to play artifacts. Green can use it to play artifacts and a spell that says I win. Green can also accelerate its mana and shuffle for 2 mana. Blue? Notsomuch. The Blue Tron deck is strictly underpowered compared to its Green counterpart. I like countermagic as much as the next Spike but I just can’t see this deck working if people are playing tuned tier 1 decks. It will probably take a few slots just because a lot of people will play it and drawing the Tron is quite powerful. I don’t care though. This isn’t tier 1 in a world with Zozu and Molten Rain. People gunning for Tooth and Nail will kick you in the teeth far too often. Oh, one other problem: Pithing Needle. You have bounce? I don’t care. I can’t take this deck seriously.
A deck I can take seriously is Rats:
4 Ravenous Rats
4 Nezumi Shortfang
4 Chittering Rats
4 Skull Collector
1 Viridian Shaman
4 Nekrataal
3 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
2 Pithing Needle
2 Persecute
4 Umezawa’s Jitte
4 Aether Vial
4 Chrome Mox
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Shizo, Death’s Storehouse
1 Tomb of Urami
10 Swamp
4 Tendo Ice Bridge
Sideboard:
2 Slay
2 Terror
3 Cranial Extraction
3 Viridian Shaman
3 Distress
2 Pithing Needle
Some quick notes:
I hated Throat Slitter. Too often his ability was worthless as the only reason you got through was your opponent would have no team, particularly after the attack. Otherwise, you can’t get through. Obviously this isn’t always the case, but he was the worst Nekrataal of all time.
I tried Phyrexian Arena but it just seemed like a bad Night’s Whisper. I then tried Night’s Whisper but it seemed like it wasn’t aggressive enough. Right now I am going just with men and artifacts.
I want 2.5 Ink-Eyes. I don’t know what to do about this.
You peck most decks to death. You get card advantage from the rats, sometimes from the Shamans, you take away some of their key cards with Pithing Needle, blow open a game with Persecute (which sometimes is awesome, but is often disturbingly weak) and your MVP’s are Vial and Jitte. The numbers can change on many cards. The Tomb of Urami can be highly annoying but it is a surprisingly good finisher. Making a 5/5 flyer at the end of an opponent’s turn can often prove fatal. The Needles aren’t there to deal with Swords or Trolls. The Needles are for Top. An alternate sideboard involves Swords, both Fire/Ice and Light/Shadow. Figure out what you feel most comfortable bringing in and out and tune to taste.
Tooth and Nail has been mostly written to death so let me just make some short notes:
Pithing Needle on Top is annoying but don’t even think about not running 4 Tops at all times. It is still one of the most important cards in the deck. If you really hate the Needle, side in some Shamans or Vines. Talismans are nice in that they provide Green when it otherwise is lacking, but Soh was right when he went with Reach. The card is just incredibly powerful, beating both land and hand destruction. Vine Trellis has the downside of dying to Oblivion Stone, but the upside of blocking is strong enough that maindecking a few shouldn’t be scoffed at. The men plan is a good one if only because so many of the men are good. I’ve come to loathe Mindslaver as simply costing too much. It is nice that it is colorless, but Plow Under just seems so much better in the mirror if one has to be maindecked. I’ve designed my list just to suit my style of play, I’m not sure if this is the best list to copy:
4 Sakura Tribe Elder
4 Sylvan Scrying
3 Reap and Sow
4 Kodama’s Reach
4 Eternal Witness
3 Oblivion Stone
4 Tooth and Nail
4 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
2 Sundering Titan
1 Duplicant
4 Plow Under
9 Forest
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
4 Urza’s Mine
4 Urza’s Power Plant
4 Urza’s Tower
Sideboard:
1 Forest
3 Viridian Shaman
3 Vine Trellis
4 Troll Ascetic
4 Iwamori of the Open Fist
If you want a Darksteel Colossus (highly underrated in my opinion) or a second Duplicant, obviously they can work. I don’t want to lose mirror matches and this listing is quite good at winning the mirror. I want a Stampeding Serow in the sideboard but so often there really isn’t anything you want to return. I have never felt attached to the other men people go for (Trisk-Vamp, Angel-Abunas), I just think the deck is too tight for that. The options are nice and will win you games, but so will Plow Under. A case can be made that this list isn’t flexible enough, but I simply want to keep doing the same things over and over and this deck is consistent. Iwamori is a house and I don’t feel at all bad about four in the board. If you want fewer, no problem, lots of good options about, but most cost five or have a downside. I have found the need for the 11th Green source in the sideboard and the 3 Vine Trellis to answer Thoughts of Ruin. Abundant Green mana does a very good job of keeping Thoughts in check. Once you start casting Reach you start pulling away, at least from Thoughts itself.
Speaking of Red land destruction, it is a solid archetype no matter what you call it:
4 Slith Firewalker
4 Hearth Kami
4 Vulshok Sorcerer
2 Zo-Zu the Punisher
1 Yuki-Onna
1 Kumano, Master Yamabushi
4 Arc-Slogger
1 Genju of the Spires
4 Molten Rain
4 Stone Rain
4 Magma Jet
4 Seething Song
4 Chrome Mox
1 Shinka, The Bloodsoaked Keep
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
14 Mountain
Sideboard:
3 Sowing Salt
3 Flamebreak
3 Shatter
4 Unforge
2 Beacon of Destruction
A case can be made that Adamaro belongs, but I find that he is too inconsistent. This deck gets a lot of “I win” draws of turn 1 Slith, turn 2 Rain, etc. Also, turn 2 Slogger beats most decks. If I wanted a deck to just pick up and play without having to think too much, this would probably be the deck. BDM thought of the Unforges in the sideboard and they have been nothing short of brutal. Every time a Troll dies to one I am overjoyed, but it is almost more fun to make them stare at a Sword and a Birds and decide to say go. That’s the best. I tried Jiwari in the deck for a while but in the end decided RRRx was too much to pay for the Channel affect and at that point he just didn’t belong. This deck really puts a beating on artifact-based strategies so you will get a few auto wins which is nice over the course of 10 rounds. Thoughts of Ruin really isn’t what this deck wants to do. I know it is nice to drop a Slith and then reset with Thoughts, but Sowing Salt gets around Sacred Ground and permanently denies the Tron. At that point even with Kodama’s Reach you can do a pretty good job of overpowering most opponents. By the way, if you are having trouble with Iwamori and you have a good sense of humor, put a few Bosh, Iron Golem in your sideboard. Fun will be had by all.
I should make a side note about Iwamori here: He’s better than you think. Trust me.
I can’t really talk about the Erayo decks because I am somewhat sworn to silence on it. Suffice it to say I am still skeptical about a deck that relies on a 1/1 creature flipping for the win. You still need to not lose on the board and you need the flip to resolve. Neither is guaranteed.
I’ve long since given up on WW and Arashi has convinced me that is a good thing. I was a fan of Beacon Green for a long time and I still am, but haven’t spent much time tuning it lately so my best guess of how it should be built isn’t much better than yours.
P.S. Some extra notes:
1. Wakefield Green has put other Green decks in a tough spot. His absolute dominance against Tooth and Nail (trust me, tune the Wakefield deck a bit and Tooth cries), and strength vs. Beacon Green and 5cG is impressive. Large Forestwalkers are a problem. Who knew?
2. Evil Don Lim did not build the Erayo deck, Sexy Kevin An did. I just need to make that clear.
3. The Erayo deck isn’t good. Neither is Blue Urzatron. I have no idea how Blue should be effectively designed.
4. If you see your opponent play a B/R mana source, don’t leave yourself at 10 life. Trust me on this.
5. Flores Red isn’t a bad deck. Even if you don’t play it, don’t laugh at Mountain Bauble.
6. Green can do anything it wants. There is no spell that Green can’t cast, so for once you near unlimited freedom, albeit against the haziest gauntlet in a while. Good luck.
7. Let me be clear on this: You have two choices on your Hall of Fame Ballot: Either vote for a group of savage cheaters and Johnny Magic, or vote for Johnny Magic and then dig deep. Many people eligible became eligible by savagely cheating their way to the top. Do we truly want to reward them again? I so hope not.