I have my first PTQ this weekend, but am still at odds about what 75 I want to sleeve up. I’ve been testing for the last five days solid, and come up with a bunch of different decks, mostly based around good cards that I’d like to play with.
Five days ago I really wanted to play a R/G deck, possibly splashing for Black for some Therapy and Duress, mostly to have a deck that tops out at Countryside Crusher. I threw this RG base down. I really wanted to take advantage of most people running extremely land light by abusing cards like Devastating Dreams and Molten Rain.
4 Kird Ape
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Dwarven Blastminer
4 Countryside Crusher
4 Terravore
4 Incinerate
4 Devastating Dreams
4 Molten Rain
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Windswept Heath
4 Mutavault
4 Stomping Ground
2 Pendelhaven
2 Forest
3 Mountain
Mogg Fanatic and Devastating Dreams give you a remote chance against Dredge. Doran also has problems with Devastating Dreams since it sweeps their mana producers out from under them, leaving Crusher and Terravore much bigger than their turn 2 Doran. Big mana decks will have an awfully hard time dealing with Blastminer and the other LD spells. All in all, this is a pretty strong but basic RG list. The most attractive aspect of this deck is the mana denial late game plan of Blastminer and D-Dreams, both inexpensive enough to play under Crusher and able to be used favorably in the very early game.
Kird Ape is also one of my favorite cards right now. His ability to sneak in a ton of damage quickly is rivaled by none. I was actually extremely surprised by the effectiveness of Mutavault since it compliments the aggro plan so nicely. There were a lot of games where I’d start with a Kird Ape and Fanatic, and then started attacking for five damage on turn 3. And if the opponent ever took damage from his own lands, it wasn’t even close.
The problem is that all of these cards are much too fair, and there isn’t a Terminate or Putrefy to stop any of the ridiculous creatures like Meloku, Hierarch, or Tarmogoyf. I kept getting blown out by Ichorid, and I couldn’t come up with a good game plan post-board (aside from something clunky and silly like Leyline or Tormod’s Crypt). Personally I’d rather have something like Offalsnout or Extirpate. At least Extirpate can be used against other decks… Crypt and Leyline just feel so stupid, especially if I don’t even play Dredge at the PTQ.
I also threw together a terrible Scapeshift-based RG deck…
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Llanowar Elves
4 Kird Ape
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Countryside Crusher
4 Terravore
4 Scapeshift
4 Incinerate
4 Magma Jet
1 Mutavault
1 Stomping Ground
2 Forest
1 Treetop Village
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Skarrg, The Rage Pits
4 Mountain
1 Pendelhaven
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Dryad Arbor
This deck has too many conflicting strategies. Crusher and Vore with Scapeshift is nice, but not very realistic. The only way you can really get value out of the Scapeshift is by having a Crusher or Vore in play, and you can do the little trick of Scapeshifting for fetchlands, then sac’ing those to get more lands, thus making Countryside and Vore even bigger. It’s cute, but that play never even came up. Whenever I did cast Scapeshift I felt like a huge idiot, just swapping out regular lands for man-lands, with none of the other cool-looking lands coming into play much.
If I did have the Vore or Crusher out, it would be killed before things got “out of hand.”
The most optimal build for a Scapeshift deck is probably far from this, but in terms of it being an option for aggro decks I just don’t see it.
On the second day, I looked to the color of death to mix things up…
4 Kird Ape
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Countryside Crusher
3 Terravore
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Duress
4 Devastating Dreams
3 Putrefy
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Stomping Ground
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Blood Crypt
4 Mutavault
3 Mountain
2 Forest
1 Swamp
This deck looks a little cooler on paper. Cabal Therapy has always been awesome, and Putrefy is the new Vindicate in an FTK/Shriekmaw kind of way.
I’m not really sure what this deck gains by running Black. You have a good sideboard plan opposite Ichorid with Extirpate, which double down against Moment’s Peace, but I think I’d rather have the blowout LD cards than Therapy and Putrefy along with a wacky manabase. Getting a Black on turn 1 for Duress/Therapy means your gonna take three more than half the time.
A good portion of the games I played I was mana screwed, with the double mana requirements of Crusher and Vore laughing at me in my hand. I also had some trouble getting Black every now and again, being unable to cast a necessary Putrefy or Duress.
I really like the Red base and Mutavault, but perhaps the Green is the color that needs to be lifted. So four days ago I started testing a RB base that I grew quite fond of.
4 Kird Ape
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Dark Confidant
4 Countryside Crusher
4 Blistering Firecat
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Duress
4 Terminate
4 Molten Rain
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Mutavault
1 Stomping Ground
1 Blood Crypt
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Forest
2 Swamp
3 Mountain
I really like Blistering Firecat, and with Duress and Cabal Therapy clearing the way he becomes a serious threat. I’d say this is the tip top of all these Red-based aggro decks I’ve presented up to this point. Mutavault has made such a huge impact on this deck… it’s hard to put into words just how awesome it is.
Something is so attractive about an aggro deck right now. Manabases have never been more painful, and burn spells seem to do much more damage now than they used to. This is my safe deck, the one that I will probably play if I don’t find something more appealing. It’s easy to play, quite potent, and has the potential to win the PTQ if I get some good matchups. But I still have three more days to find something possibly better.
This is a big problem of mine. I have a good deck right here in front of me, so I should spend my time tinkering to find the optimal build and best sideboard tactics. But instead I’m gonna try and shoot for something a little more broken. All of the cards in this deck are strong in their own right, but I just feel like there’s something missing…
King in the Castle v.5.2
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Llanowar Elves
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Doran, The Seige Tower
4 Trinket Mage
3 Mystic Enforcer / Loxodon Hierarch
4 Vindicate
4 Duress
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Polluted Delta
4 Windswept Heath
2 Murmuring Bosk
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Tree of Tales
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Godless Shrine
1 Breeding Pool
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Forest
The debate for the best 2WG creature is still up in the air. Who’s better? Hierarch negates the painful manabase, Enforcer is sick. So who wins the battle? There’s only room for three four-drops, so its not like I can take the easy out and split them 2/2, and a 2/1 cut would be more awkward than LaPille arguing the point of inebriation at a frat party.
I think the safe pick is Hierarch, since it has more random value than the streamlined Enforcer. Hierarch provides some Deed protection, along with being able to protect Doran or Goyf in a pinch, and it can randomly demolish Red decks. But the Enforcer will just win you the game in two or three turns.
Theres also a large amount of risk in playing this kind of manabase. Sure, you get to play the absolute best spells across the board, but at what cost? Is it worth the random loss to Jimmy with his D-Bag D-Flow deck packed to the brim with many a Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon?
The most frustrating part is that the testing is always so inconclusive with this deck. I beat every deck that doesn’t disrupt my mana, but I lose to Enduring Ideal if they get a turn 1 Top, and the quick Red-based mana disruption players take me down easily.
Day 3 ended with a fierce headache from rigorous playtesting. Day 4 was spent in a hazy bubble of confusion, and I didn’t even know what deck I wanted to play. I built both of the decks at the card shop and goldfished a few times before realizing that it was poker night and I had to pick up Sarah, the hawt n’ naughty dealer, whose Tahoe had broken down. Luckily I was rollin’ in the Explorer tonight instead of my Cavi.
The game only last a couple of hours, so we retired to her apartment where I showed her my decks. She riffled through both with her delicate hands, before stopping at Blistering Firecat with a giggle.
“Hehe, It’s a cat!”
Clearly this was going nowhere, and I’m at a fork in the road.
The left path leads to glory, fame, fortune, and a plane ticket to Hollywood. Retiring early to get in some quality playtesting, perhaps hitting up AIM and discussing prolific strategies with the best mages on the planet. Getting a good feel for the meta by giving some of my homies in Dallas a call. Winning the PTQ, getting back on the PT, destroying Hollywood with a homebrew concoction that would define the Standard metagame for years to come. Winning a healthy check that would secure my spot in PT history, getting my life on track by investing that money in a business that caters to those who can’t shop for themselves. There’s a growing retired population gathering in the San Antonio valleys, and my business would make runs to the local grocery or pharmacy to aid those who can’t shop for themselves.
The right path leads to a cute little brown mole on her inner thigh…
…
Day 5, and I’m still unsure of what’s going down, but thankfully I managed enough testing on MWS to get my sideboards down.
The RBg deck has an inherent disadvantage against other midrange decks due to its high number of sometimes irrelevant discard spells and unnecessary land destruction. To compensate, the sideboard will have to include at least seven cards to help that cause, along with four slots for Ichorid, which leaves four open slots.
4 Extirpate
4 Dwarven Blastminer
4 Shriekmaw
3 Umezawa’s Jitte
It’s a little basic, but I don’t wanna bother with all that transformational sideboard bull. I’m taking a much lazier approach to this PTQ than most others that I’ve played, but it just seems like I need to show up and play good Magic. In this format, the deck doesn’t matter as much as people think. There are too many matchups to prepare for, and it’s almost impossible to build a good metagame deck. I just want a straightforward deck that can win some games, and a sideboard to give me options against most of everything else.
I could throw Ancient Grudge in there, but I think I’d rather have Blastminer. I could cut a Blastminer and a Shriekmaw for a couple, but I’m not really sure that I need it. The Affinity matchup is still pretty abysmal though, so having three in the sideboard is a good idea. No clue what I want to cut yet.
The KITCv.5.2 deck’s weak matchups can’t really be solved by a sideboard. The mana is where the deck wins and loses all its games.
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Pithing Needle
4 Collective Restraint
4 Extirpate
3 Darkblast
2 ?
Collective Restraint is a card I’ve been trying to abuse by making Domain control decks, but I’ve been falling short. It’s an awesome way to combat the Ichorid herd, along with a nifty surprise card that can potentially lock down unprepared aggro decks. Extirpate isn’t in the sideboard specifically for Ichorid, but I noticed a trend of losing to Moment’s Peace decks with KITC so Extirpate is a card that I really wanna have somewhere in my 75. It also compliments the discard spells nicely, and gives you a weapon against Loam based decks.
Darkblast is another card that has a lot of utility in the current format but just isn’t seeing much play. It’s a good way to clear the top of your library for a Top, and deals with a ton of the problem creatures in the format while giving Goyf a big boost out of nowhere.
I’m not completely sure on the last two slots in the deck. There aren’t any good Trinket Mage targets that I could throw in, and I don’t really “need” anything more to accomplish what I want to in the matchups I’m concerned about. It’s pretty rare that you can’t think of a card to put in your sideboard, but I guess this is one of those cases.
To be honest, I’m probably going to decide what to play the on day, which is something I’ve actually never done before. It’s really a coin flip between Blistering Firecat and Collective Restraint, and which one will be better on Saturday.
Who knows?
Kyle
…
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1) Hip-Hop Saved My Life (feat. Nikki Jean) – Lupe Fiasco
2) Intruder Alert (feat. Sarah Green) – Lupe Fiasco
3) Streets On Fire – Lupe Fiasco
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5) Gold Watch – Lupe Fisaco