During the last week or so leading up to the 2010 State Championships, I was worried that I wouldn’t know what deck to play. This fear inspired me and some of my friends to begin playtesting much earlier than we normally do (which is good because normally our playtesting begins on the Friday before the tournament), which led to a few key discoveries but mostly just reinforced our initial impressions of the format.
We knew that ramp would be very popular due to the results from a recent $5K in New York, but also because Primeval Titan is just bananas. My friend Zach wanted to play U/W Control, but that mostly meant that he would be losing to ramp all day if the opponent knew what they were doing. Unfortunately, the testing proved my theories, and he lost about seven straight games before deciding U/W Control wasn’t what he wanted to play. This also led me to the realization that most people would favor ramp over U/W Control, making an aggro deck focused on beating ramp the right call for the weekend.
After our little testing session, I figured out exactly what I wanted to play: Mono-Red. Cedric Phillips posted
a really solid list
last week, and that was where I wanted to start. The only issue was getting some of the new mythics, because they were incredibly difficult to get around my store, but WillCruseBot came to the rescue! After he busted two cases of Japanese Scars of Mirrodin, he had plenty of Koths of the Hammer and Molten-Tail Masticores for everyone to buy (or trade for).
After getting the necessary cards for the deck, I did a few test matches to see if any card seemed awkward or out of place. To be honest, Cedric’s list was pretty spot-on as far as I could tell. Every card in the deck was absolute gas, and Koth was almost unbeatable if you were on the play. After a few minor tweaks and some sideboard theory, here’s the list I came up with, albeit only a few cards different from what Cedric built:
Creatures (20)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (25)
Spells (11)
Sideboard
[
Might not have been 5th place but somewhere between 5th and 8th.
]
A few notes about the deck above, since some of the cards need some semblance of an explanation. Upon testing just a few games with Spikeshot Elder, I couldn’t find a valid reason for keeping him in the deck. You don’t want to play Basilisk Collar without either Trinket Mage or Stoneforge Mystic, which makes him and Cunning Sparkmage pretty mediocre. You also can’t risk playing more than a few Teetering Peaks to pump Spikeshot Elder in order to maximize the value of Koth of the Hammer. For these reasons, as well as his single point of power, I cut him.
The card I added was much more exciting, though a few people laughed at me for maindecking him. Tunnel Ignus was amazing, despite his name being a mouthful. When ramp decks are dominating the format, maindecking a “hate-bear” seems like a no-brainer, but I’ve had a lot of people try to convince me otherwise. Most ramp decks can’t beat a single Tunnel Ignus, let alone two, so drawing them in multiples is rarely bad. You also have to take into consideration that he still has two power for two mana, which is what you want for that cost most of the time. Cards like Plated Geopede are above the curve, but even they are mediocre when you don’t draw enough lands. Tunnel Ignus is almost always solid, and I rarely boarded him out. I couldn’t recommend him enough, but that may be due to the massive amounts of Primeval Titans I faced off against.
I’ve also had a few people tell me that playing the full four Molten-Tail Masticores was incorrect, and they’re just flat-out wrong. Molten-Tail Masticore is a lot like a hot girl that needs a ton of upkeep, but you do the work to make her happy. Why? The payoff is sick. You get to kill your opponent. Drawing Masticore in multiples is even better, because you can either discard them to the original, or play another if they kill the original. You will often have mediocre creatures sitting in your hand after the fourth turn of the game, giving your Masticore more fodder to throw at their head at little cost. I’d venture to say that Molten-Tail Masticore’s “drawback” is actually a blessing in disguise.
Flame Slash was a card that I really needed to test some before I jumped on board with it. It seemed good in a vacuum, but I’ve played Flame Slash in my maindeck before and was never really impressed with it. In a field full of U/W Control, it sucks. Sure, it kills Wall of Omens and occasionally teams up with another burn spell to finish off a Baneslayer Angel, but those occasions do not make up for the times it gets stuck in your hand while your opponent is sitting low on life. It’s also very weak against Valakut Ramp, which is another blow to its credibility, but the card is just amazing in the mirror, every deck with Vengevine, and every Mono-Green Eldrazi Ramp deck sporting Overgrown Battlement and Joraga Treespeaker. I’m not sure if I’d play the full four in the maindeck this weekend at the StarCityGames.com Standard Open in Nashville, but I definitely want access to some number of them post-board.
The sideboard changes were not massive, but I wanted to be more prepared for such an open field. States is notorious for bringing out the rogue decks, and I wanted to have a little something for everyone on the list. Manic Vandal was a card that seemed solid at fighting against the
“Affinity” decks, but I didn’t want to run too many and clog up my sideboard. I don’t think that the Affinity matchup is incredibly difficult, but I didn’t test it out too much so I could be wrong. After boarding, they have access to all the same hate cards that U/W Control has, so that could be a problem if they dedicate that much space to defeating you.
Devastating Summons is strictly for the mirror. I excluded Goblin Bushwhacker because I didn’t feel like the combo was all that strong. However, Devastating Summons is easily the best card in the mirror, giving you such a dominating board presence for such a small mana investment. You have to move “all-in” on the card, but that shouldn’t be a problem when you’re making a few large monsters after casting your Molten-Tail Masticore. The swing that card brings to games can be unreal, and only testing it yourself will give you an idea of how good it really is.
Mark of Mutiny has become an obvious inclusion due to the presence of ramp decks, but I think that I should’ve been playing the fourth. It was solid all day, and I wish I had another. They literally can’t cast a Primeval Titan unless they just want to die. Fetching up a pair of Teetering Peaks is just icing on the cake, but still very valid in some situations. If you’ve ever gotten to steal a large Alien while they had no blockers, you know the feeling. Revel in it. It’s a good thing.
The Brittle Effigies in the sideboard are there for a few reasons, but mostly just to snag Kor Firewalker. Killing Wurmcoil Engines or Baneslayer Angels is just a bonus, but it’s a very big bonus. For what it’s worth, I think that Brittle Effigy costs just a little too much to warrant playing the full four in the sideboard, but it’s necessary to an extent. This version of red relies much more on attacking with creatures that stay in play, rather than cards that die at the end of turn like older versions. Getting rid of blockers permanently is valuable to your game plan.
Arc Trail is the last card I wanted to talk about, but I’m not sure if a lot of people agree with me. I think this card is insane for multiple reasons, but anyone who has every played with Arc Lightning or Fire/Ice knows exactly what I’m talking about. Unfortunately it has the restriction of needing multiple targets, but you can always target yourself for one and your opponent for two if they’re at the precarious two life with no creatures in play. Most of the time you’ll be killing a creature while dealing them some damage, but the times you get to blow them out of the water by killing two creatures is just unreal. Fauna Shaman is the biggest target for this card, but taking down a Lotus Cobra or Birds of Paradise in the process is no laughing matter. This card takes the place of Forked Bolt, due to the fact that most green decks will be relying on Fauna Shaman from now on.
After getting a good night’s sleep, I was feeling well rested and ready to battle. I liked my deck, and liked my chances even more. Unfortunately we were wrong about what time registration began (and ended), giving us only a few minutes to find the last few cards we needed for our decks before the tournament started. Kali had decided to judge instead of playing, which is fairly normal as of late, but she had a good time nonetheless. Zach, WillCruseBot, and I got all sleeved up and ready to go.
Round 1 against Esper Control
My opponent began making conversation with me during shuffling, but accidentally flipped over a Jace Beleren in the process. He laughed it off, and we were down to business. He mulliganed his opener on the play, while I kept a spicy hand with Goblin Guide, Dragonlord, Tunnel Ignus, Koth, and some lands. I began the beats early, taking him down to twelve while he played a Vampire Hexmage, which seemed out of place. However, this presented a problem for my Koth. I topdecked a Flame Slash to take care of it while dropping the rest of my hand onto the table. Goblin Guide kept providing the beats along with Tunnel Ignus, and I ended up casting Koth while he was tapped out. I used Koth’s -2 ability to ramp Dragonlord to Ultimate Size, and his Abyssal Persecutors were no match.
Game 2 was a different story, showing that my opponent really came to game. He crushed my early creatures with a few removal spells, stalled my attacks with Wall of Omens, and destroyed me with a combination of Gideon Jura and Sunblast Angel. Wasn’t close.
Game 3 was quite the opposite one-sided beating. I attacked him early on for twelve points with a pair of Goblin Guides. This let my Koth ultimate kill him when he tapped out for Baneslayer Angel instead of attacking Koth with a Creeping Tar Pit. Unfortunately he thought Koth’s ultimate was -6 loyalty.
Round 2 against Eldrazi Ramp
Game 1 found him missing on his fourth turn Summoning Trap. The rest was a mop-up job while he didn’t draw a Primeval Titan, and I landed a Masticore.
Game 2, I beat him down early with a few Goblin Guides, killed his mana critters, and cast Mark of Mutiny on his Primeval Titan when he thought he had stabilized.
Round 3 against U/G Ramp
This deck was weird, featuring Volition Reins, Frost Titan, Joraga Treespeaker, Lotus Cobra, and a few other goodies. Unfortunately for him, his reliance on mana dorks put him in a precarious position against my removal suite. In the first game, I steamrolled him by using Burst Lightning on his Treespeaker in response to leveling it up, slowing him down tremendously. He played a Jace, but died shortly after due to multiple Tunnel Ignuses and Masticore.
The second game involved me mulliganing, and him taking my land on the third turn with Volition Reins. This didn’t deter me, though I was very far behind. He didn’t present much gas other than that, which was nice and bought me enough time to dig myself out of the hole. Eventually we came to a stalemate where he had Jace, Garruk, and a few mana guys while I had Goblin Guide, Tunnel Ignus, and Koth. I landed a Masticore shortly after, and used it to defend Koth while I ramped up to his ultimate. Unfortunately, he was able to punch through my guys to send Koth to two, but that allowed me to use the mana ability of Koth to ramp out Masticore and kill his Jace. I shot him for lethal in just a few turns since he couldn’t deal with my Masticore after that. Â
Round 4 against Eldrazi Ramp
This round was against my friend Mike from my home store, but unfortunately for him not a lot happened. I did get to learn that Tunnel Ignus was even better than I originally thought, though it cost me a warning for missed triggers. The situation was this: Mike cast Primeval Titan to get two lands, but hadn’t played a land before this. I thought that the first land coming into play would satisfy the wording on Tunnel Ignus, and the second land would deal him three damage. Apparently this is not the case, and both lands count as the first and second land coming into play, triggering the Ignus twice. This changed the life totals by three, allowing Masticore to be lethal the next turn. If anyone can explain to me exactly why this works, I would be very much appreciative. Mike actually asked if he could concede instead of me getting a warning, which shows just how good of a guy Mike really is.
The second game involved Mike stalling on answers while I played some early guys and attacked. He landed a Wurmcoil Engine, but my Koth and Mark of Mutiny had other plans for his life total.
Round 5 ID
The tournament only had 64 players so all 4-0-2s would make it in.
Round 6 against 4-Color Ramp (no black)
I got paired down, and my opponent didn’t want to risk a draw, so we began battling it out. He was playing some weird 4-color ramp deck without black, and I wasn’t sure what was going on until he played a Cultivate. This tapped him out and allowed Koth to present too big a threat for him to deal with.
After winning the first game, I offered the draw again. Even with a draw, he was about 70% to make it into Top 8, which was enough for him to accept the draw when he was down a game. I don’t like eliminating good matchups from the Top 8 (or anyone for that matter), and hoped I’d get paired against him in the elimination rounds.
Top 8 against U/W Control
My opponent was fairly new to the game, but seemed competent. This is common for people who used to play other competitive card games, but make the switch to Magic. He seemed decent and didn’t make any major misplays during the match, and seemed to know the matchup very well. During the first game, he played a Wall of Omens which got Flame Slashed, but Koth proved too much for him to handle when he tapped out for a Jace, the Mind Sculptor.
Games 2 and 3 were fairly abysmal, and reminded me that I desperately need more cards for this matchup. His deck did what it was intended to do: Oust my early creatures, Condemn more early creatures, and counter everything relevant after that. Koth never showed his head, and I got obliterated.
Â
Overall I think the deck is very powerful, but you really need to step up your action for U/W Control. If you draw any narrow or dead cards, the game is just over. You need all of your resources to help beat them, so drawing any Flame Slashes when they don’t have a Wall of Omens is just absurdly bad. Other than that, I think that U/W Control is this deck’s only real bad matchup.
I might be sleeving up the red deck again this weekend for the StarCityGames.com Standard Open in Nashville, but Kali is going to be playing instead of judging, so I’m not sure how everything is going to work out. She likes it a lot, but that probably means I have to pick up four more Koths if I want to play it, which doesn’t sound like a winning prospect. Marriage is all about sacrifices, and I want her to have a lot of fun and try to defend her title from last year!
I’ll be doing some testing this week on Magic Online hopefully, since the new set becomes legal after the mid-week update. Mono-Green Eldrazi Ramp is still a powerful contender, and its only bad matchup is Mono-Red. Boros might be a contender, but that deck just seems like a weaker version of Mono-Red. Koth of the Hammer is just an absurd threat, and most decks can’t deal with him very easily.
With State Champs in the bag, expect to see a lot of interesting brews from the decklists being posted over the next few days. Innovation is the heart of the State Championships, and one of the reasons why people have a ton of fun at them. I personally love to see new decks function properly and succeed, since innovation is always healthy for Constructed Magic.
Maybe now I’ll get pushed out of my comfort zone and be forced to brew up something magnificent. The plethora of data to work with is certainly a boon for anyone trying to get a step up on the metagame for upcoming tournaments. What will you choose to play?
Thanks for reading.
Todd
strong sad on MOL