I’m going to cop out on an introduction this week and just get straight to the point.
You know you’d rather just read the strategy than hear one of my lame stories again anyway.
So You Wanna Be a Rockstar?
I’ve received a number of emails lately requesting me to write about some archetypes that are outside of the four guilds in Ravnica since I already covered all of the major decks.
The best of these non-guild color combinations in my experience has been U/G/b.
This deck was initially something that a few of us were toying around with in our CMU drafts and then became an actual archetype in my eyes after I got an email from John Stolzman who shared his findings with me. I took what I already knew about the color combination and added some of John’s ideas and started killing the 8-4 queues on MODO.
The deck is essentially a U/G aggro/control deck that splashes some Black for removal and good gold cards. Let’s take a look at some of the individual cards that make this color combination tick.
Compulsive Research
This is the big daddy. I’ve loved this card since I first saw it, but John convinced me that it was reason alone to play the deck. The general idea here is that you cheat on lands by running multiple common double-lands along with Elves of Deep Shadow, Civic Wayfinder, and Farseek. You basically want as many Researches as you can possibly get your hands on since once you cast the first one you will never run out of gas if you can draw into another and keep producing threats in the meantime. To illustrate my point, I had a deck with four copies of this card the other day and I wouldn’t have minded having two more!
Vedalken Dismisser
This guy is excellent in the deck and combos well with Peel from Reality or Mark of Eviction. In general he is just underrated and provides nice a nice tempo swing.
Snapping Drake
This guy finally finds a home in this archetype, since he is really out of place in anything else but U/B aggro. He costs too much in the mill deck and Blue isn’t really good in any other combination as of yet. I guess if you manage to draft a U/R deck he would fit there, but generally speaking this guy doesn’t go very highly in most drafts and you’re happy to take him here.
John probably takes the double lands a bit more highly than I do, but I still take them relatively high. A good mana base would contain Elves of the Deep Shadow, Farseek, Civic Wayfinder, Dimir Signet, 2 Golgari Rotfarms, 1 Dimir Aqueduct, 1 Swamp, 6 Forest, 5 Island. I know it looks shaky, but I’ve tried it many times and it works. Of course it also doesn’t hurt to have extra Elves, Wayfinders, Signets, or whatnot.
The Black splash will usually be Last Gasp, Disembowel, sometimes a Brainspoil if the mana is especially good with lots of cheap ways to get Black mana. Golgari Rotwurm and Shambling Shell are also very strong here.
The overall idea here again is to use Compulsive Research to generate a consistent stream of threats. Peel from Reality is at its best here too with all of the come into play effects.
Here’s a sample list :
Elves of Deep Shadow
Elvish Skysweeper
Transluminant
Surveiling Sprite
2 Civic Wayfinder
Golgari Brownscale
Drift of Phantasms
Shambling Shell
Snapping Drake
Greater Mossdog
Golgari Rotwurm
Bramble Elemental
Vedalken Dismisser
Siege Wurm
Dimir Signet
Golgari Signet
Last Gasp
Peel from Reality
Disembowel
Moldervine Cloak
2 Compulsive Research
Scatter the Seeds
2 Golgari Rotfarm
Dimir Signet
This deck is probably a little stronger than an average build, though it could definitely use more Researches. I went with 16 land here because the curve was a bit high and I was playing three of the double lands.
I’ve done very well with this deck on MODO lately and I would strongly suggest it since everyone else is too busy drafting G/W and R/W and a lot of these cards will get to you late. A good idea is to take Civic Wayfinder high and then you could also go into a couple of other archetypes if it turns out that Blue is being cut off in front of you.
The Usual Over/Under
I haven’t done any underrated cards articles yet for Ravnica and I’ve been building up a list for some time now, so here goes.
Veteran Armorer and Faith’s Fetters
Okay, so I guess I should explain.
Neither of these cards is underrated in my opinion, but I want to stress why both of them are excellent first picks. The idea here is that if you take one of these cards, they fit very nicely in either G/W or R/W and you should usually be able to get into one of those decks if people are drafting U/B in front of you. My point is that I’ve seen people take Last Gasp or Galvanic Arc over Fetters which is a close pick to begin with, but by taking the Fetters you give yourself a good opportunity to be fed a good deck since you have two good guilds as your options. Fetters is also fine on the splash in the mill deck.
Essentially, these cards create options and that’s always desirable when making your early picks.
Cyclopean Snare
This one on the other hand is actually a huge sleeper.
Some of the CMU guys were actually begging me to not write about this card when we were drafting last Friday and I told them that it was just too bad because this card isn’t getting the proper respect. On the surface this looks like a very expensive version of Leonin Bola, and if that was all the information we had to go on, I’d agree that it sucks.
The reason this card is good is because of the huge amount of defensive creatures available as well as all of the large Green monsters that are around. The Snare is best in a R/W aggro deck where you can start using it every turn in the mid-late game to shut off that one important creature that matters. I’ve also used it in G/W and liked it, but the main deck you’ll want to draft this in is R/W.
Give it a try and I think you’ll be surprised.
Mark of Eviction
I’m not sure why nobody likes this card, but it’s almost a bomb.
First off, you can put it on your opponent’s guys to slow down his development considerably. Second, you can abuse any CIP abilities on your own creatures, or abuse the other enchantments available.
The best part of all is that this thing only costs one mana and therefore can be cast every turn with ease. I would suggest to start picking this higher, and I’ve first picked it plenty of times. It’s even great in the mill deck to slow down the opponent.
Netherborn Phalanx
I’ve heard lately that most of the pros are touting G/W as the best archetype simply because of the Evangel. While this is all well and good, this Phalanx is a death bomb for the G/W archetype and also an underrated card in general. This is something I would splash into the U/G/b archetype that I outlined above, and also play in any other non-mill construction that was running Swamps.
Stinkweed Imp
People are starting to come around on this card, but I still don’t think it’s being given enough credit. This guy is sick against any deck planning to win by attacking, and can become a virtual lock when enchanted with Strands of Undeath.
This guy is essential in the mill deck and very strong in any other deck that can support him. Don’t assume that he sucks because he looks funny.
Halcyon Glaze
I really liked this card when I first saw it on the spoiler because it reminded me of Veiled Serpent which was a great beater. The problem with this card is that you never really have a window to play it unless you were on the play on turn 3 and didn’t have a Signet or some other form of acceleration.
I guess it’s fine in the U/B aggro deck, though I think I’d still rather just play a Signet on turn two and then a Dimir House-Guard on turn three. Other than that, this card doesn’t really fit into any of the archetypes we have right now and I haven’t had too many good experiences with it. It takes a lot of effort to set up something that isn’t even that impressive.
Remand
This is an excellent tempo tool.
I love this card in the mill deck so that I can cast a spell and only have to keep two mana open to delay their big threat until I get a full untap and am ready with my Induce Paranoia. It also helps to dig and smooth out any bad land draws.
I think it’s also worth playing this card in any Blue deck as it’s only been bad for me in the absolute late game, and at least then it still cycles.
Darkblast
I know you all have been playing with this card in Constructed and realize how strong it is. The funny thing is that I think it may actually be better in Limited!
I’ve played against a bunch of decks that simply pack to a lone Darkblast, and that alone makes it a very high pick for me. I think it’s a very close pick between the ‘Blast and Brainspoil overall, but I may lean towards the Darkblast just because there are a ton of x/1’s. I recently played against a R/W deck that just conceded to my Darkblast and I sided in two copies of Dizzy Spell just to get it. Any removal spell that good should really be given more respect than it’s currently receiving.
Civic Wayfinder
This guy gets my vote for all around best Green common, though Scatter the Seeds and Bramble Elemental are very close. In actuality, I don’t think you can declare any of these cards as the absolute best Green common, but you should know in which situations each of them is best and draft them accordingly. My point is that most people automatically take Siege Wurm over this guy without even giving it a second thought and I usually will prefer the Wayfinder unless I’m already in a dedicated GW token deck.
Fiery Conclusion
If any of you remember back to the days of Acceptable Losses, you’ll realize that the losses are far more acceptable in this case since you can cast the “Big Finish” after placing damage on the stack to negate the card disadvantage. And it’s an instant, and it only costs two, but who’s keeping track of all that, really?
This card is awesome and you guys should be picking it higher. I especially like splashing it into G/W and sacking off a token to it or some other irrelevant dork like Centaur Safeguard. An all around good removal spell.
Nightguard Patrol
Here’s the final card on my list for today, and this is one that I feel people are overvaluing. The card gets halted by most things in the format and will usually only attack successfully once in a game. It also has the problem of only having one toughness so that everyone packing the Rain of Embers against G/W will just take this guy out accidentally.
Don’t be fooled into thinking this is a Blademaster, Vigilance is no Bushido and losing the toughness hurts a lot.
Of all the cards on this list, I encourage you strongly to at least try out the Cyclopean Snare and hopefully reevaluate some of your opinions on the other cards.