I haven’t written an article in well over a month, mostly because I didn’t have anything to write about. This was actually a surprise, since I’ve played more Magic these past two months than I have in a while. I’ve played little over the past two years, aside from a couple of Grand Prix or Pro Tours, to which I would show up with almost no preparation whatsoever. I would be busy with non-Magic activities, and come to the tournament with the attitude that I would just show up and crush, as I could rely on my skills I gathered over the past nine years on the PT. The truth of the matter is that I was wrong. Sure, I might be “good at Magic,” but “me versus someone who has less skill and less experience but who plays every day in the current format” puts me in the position of the underdog.
So I figured I would put in the work for a change, and see how I could do at a couple of PTQs and a StarCityGames.com Standard Open tournament. Turns out I bombed in two of the three tournaments, with my one good finish coming with Turboland, going 6-1-1 and finishing ninth. I recently played Turboland again, but got rolled because the metagame shifted, as it normally does week to week. This made me further realize that playing, playing, and playing some more really helps you to becoming a great player. LSV, who is most likely the best American Magic player, plays so much. This, and his natural skill level, means that when he goes to a tournament, he is almost always the favorite to win. If he just showed up to tournaments with no practice, he would still do reasonably well, but he would not put up the amazing finishes that he normally does.
Originally, this article was going to be titled “Ten Reasons Why You Will Never Win A Tournament,” with me giving you advice on plays you should make in certain scenarios, and certain mindsets you should have while playing.
For example, it seems to me people don’t think through the plays they are going to make, and don’t know what they are going to do until they do it. It’s like when you go to a vending a machine; you instantly put the dollar in before deciding what you are going to buy. Thinking out your plays turn by turn before you instinctively make a play lessens the amount of play errors you make.
So many times, I see players cast a turn 4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor, and up its Loyalty count to five. This seems reasonable, but why do they always, and without thinking, look at their opponent’s deck?
It’s turn 4. How are you supposed to know what they need?
Let’s break this down. the information you have is the cards in your hand and the cards in play, so if your opponent has down Forest, Savage Land, Savage Land, and you look at his deck and it is a Bloodbraid Elf, you will put it on the bottom. You will think “Wow, I am a good player, I make a good play, me proooooooooooooo,” but maybe the guy doesn’t even have a fourth land in his hand, and you putting the Bloodbraid Elf on the bottom is actually helping.
If you were to look at your top card, you have full knowledge of what your situation is. You know if you need a land or not. You know if you want to draw the Day of Judgment or not, because by turn 4 you know what matchup you are playing against… but you don’t know what your opponent needs or doesn’t need.
In the late game, it becomes more valuable to actually see what’s on top of your opponent’s deck, since the longer the game goes, the more knowledge you will have of what your opponent needs or doesn’t need. It’s plays like this, plays that I see people making over and over again… I think it goes back to the “monkey-see-monkey-do” concept. Instead, the next time you have a Jace or another planeswalker in play, actually think through why you are doing whatever you are doing, and don’t just make a play because you’ve seen someone else do it, or because that is your “standard turn 4 play.”
There are lots of other plays and actions players take during a game that aren’t actually thought out. If you guys are actually interested in all of them, I will make a longer list and share them with you in a future article. However, in this article I want to talk to you about a new deck that will (if you choose to play it) help you win your next big Standard tournament.
What I have always been pretty good at is evaluating the metagame, then building a deck that was both good on its own and good against the stronger archetypes. For Standard, the metagame is easy to figure out, reason being that there are a bunch of Standard tournaments every week and the format has been established, while most likely remaining this way (or similar) until something truly innovative appears now M11 is here.
Remember that there are better decks to play out there, decks that have been played countless times and tuned to almost perfection. However, when choosing a deck like mine, or any deck you come up with on our own, it adds a surprise factor that will give you an advantage, since your opponent will not really know what to expect and how to play against you.
Besides that, it is also fun to play a new deck that’s not in the metagame, and I am a firm believer that if you are playing a deck that you are enjoying, you will play well and do better.
To catch you up and give you my view of the top 10 decks in the metagame, in no particular order:
1.) Jund
2.) Next Level Bant
3.) UG Turboland
4.) Mythic
5.) Naya
6.) U/W/R Planeswalkers
7.) UW Control
8.) Red Deck Wins
9.) Esper Ultimatum
10.) Dredge
The deck I built and tested to beat this metagame, and be a good choice to play in general, is as follows:
Creatures (5)
Planeswalkers (6)
Lands (26)
Spells (23)
- 2 Mind Shatter
- 2 Mind Spring
- 4 Doom Blade
- 3 Essence Scatter
- 2 Into the Roil
- 1 Rite of Replication
- 4 Everflowing Chalice
- 3 All Is Dust
- 2 Deprive
Sideboard
The deck plays out very smoothly, and has answers to basically everything. One card I decided to pass on was Eye of Ugin; I believe it’s just not worth a slot, since the deck only has two big Eldrazi guys, and it often really messes up your game versus any non-slow Control deck. Let me walk you through my experiences with this deck versus some of the top decks in the metagame.
Jund
The matchup against Jund is about even game 1, and improves after board. Game 1, your plan is to try to buy all the time you can with your six Jaces. The Jund player will often be in spots where he will have to either use burn or attack Jace, which is fine, since you have six and there is a good chance you will have another. Also, this deck plays pretty well off the top. If it so happens you get wrecked by a Blighting, you have many powerful draws to get you out of a bad situation. Everflowing Chalice is a huge plus game 1, since it allows you to empty your hand and help ramp to a big Mind Spring or another big creature that Jund will have a hard time handling. Sphinx of Jwar Isle is still the best weapon you can have against Jund, and after board you are up to three copies. Along with that, you are bringing in four Flashfreezes and three Smothers, so your deck becomes much lower-costed, and you get to take out lots of cards that are just too expensive for the matchup. There is a good chance that they will bring in Goblin Ruinblasters, which is another reason to keep your deck low with a smooth curve. Your boarding should look something like this:
Take out:
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
3 All is Dust
4 Doom Blade
Put in:
4 Flashfreeze
1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
3 Smother
1 Mind Spring
But once again, remember if you think they are bringing in Thought Hemorrhage, you might want to bring in Duress, or leave in one of the Eldrazi guys so you don’t get wrecked. You can also slight alter your board if this is a concern for you by adding a couple of Malakir Bloodwitches, which could also come in handy against other matchups.
Next Level Bant
Your removal is very good against them, as are your counterspells. However, Vengevine is a problem for you. I thought about playing 2 Bojuka Bog main deck, to help combat Vengevine and other random graveyard stuff, but I am still uncertain if it is actually worth it. However, I would surely sideboard in the Haunting Echoes, since these games tend to go long due to your counters and removal. You should always win the Jace war, and you can randomly win against them in many different ways. You will just have to play this match-up yourself to get a feel for it. Do not side in Flashfreeze against them, since most of their key spells besides Vengevine are White and Blue. I would probably bring in three Smothers and the two Echoes. I’m not really sure what I would sideboard out, since I never have a definite plan of what to take out and put in. If you think they are boarding in a bunch of non-creature spells like Negates and extra Path to Exiles, you might want to bring in Duress, since you can also hit their planewalkers. Just play the match-up a few times, then if you have specific questions, let me know. Again, there is no right or wrong way to sideboard, if you have a plan behind your actions that makes reasonable sense.
UG Turboland
This matchup is one of your best. It is comically good. You have five counters that are absolutely a nightmare for them, and then on top of that you have six main deck Jaces to their four, which is a card they heavily rely on. So far, I have yet to lose a match against Turboland, and it is defiantly one of the decks you want to see when you sit down to play. After boarding, I would want to put in a few Duress and both Echoes. You also want to bring in Flashfreeze, since many of their key spells are Green, and even countering an early mana ramp spell is pretty good.
You want to take out the Into the Roils and a couple of the All is Dusts, since with your removal and counters you shouldn’t ever really be in a spot where you need one to survive. You can also do some trimming of cards to fit in the other sideboard options you’d like to try. The main thing I learned about this match is just to make sure you do whatever you can to stop Oracle from hitting play (or lasting more than one turn on the battlefield), and don’t ever tap out when you don’t need to, because they can always do something ridiculous like double Time Warp then drop an Avenger of Zendikar out of nowhere.
Mythic
This is another ridiculously good match-up, since they are so dependent on their mana guys (Birds of Paradise / Lotus Cobra) and you have early removal for them. Then you have counters for their Sovereigns of Lost Alara. You can also save your Doom Blades for him, and Into the Roil is always a nice trick that they might not be expecting. Smothers are what you want to bring in, plus the third Sphinx since you are most likely taking out your Eldrazi guys. This is the basic concept: if you are boarding out your Eldrazi guys, you want to bring in the third Sphinx so you will easily have enough ways to win. Also, you often do this when you are playing against a fast deck with Path to Exile. Bringing in Flashfreeze depends on the version of Mythic they are playing. Some people are playing a hybrid version of Naya with Mythic, so then it might be right to bring in the Flashfreezes, but I would be certain that they have a lot of targets for it after board.
U/W/R Planeswalkers
Planeswalkers is another deck to which I’ve never really lost. Game 1, you have some cards that aren’t that great, such as Essence Scatter and Doom Blade, but they still have use. Then after board you get to sculpt you deck the way you want it to be, giving you access to discard and other powerful spells. Also, remember that Creeping Tar Pit is a key card in the match-up, as it is able to get past Wall of Omens to help take down planeswalkers at a reasonable cost of four mana a turn. Again, play this match to learn what is important, but each game is different, and the way you play it often depends on if you have a All is Dust in hand; they often get wrecked if they ever use an Oblivion Ring on one of your permanents.
UW Control
This is another joke match-up. None of their cards really matter except for a giant Mind Spring, which isn’t even likely to happen after boarding when you are bringing in four Duress and the two Haunting Echoes. The reason is that you have answers to almost everything, and you have threats that are tough for them to tackle. These games mostly go really long, which is fine because you have a better late game than them, and they need to get a really start fast involving Elspeth for them to even have a chance against you.
Red Deck Wins
This match up is pretty tough, because game 1 you are a huge underdog, and after board, even though you are bringing in about eight cards, you are still light on threats to beat them. You can change this by adding Calcite Snapper to your board, but that would only be worth it if you think RDW is a huge part of your metagame. You can win this match-up by getting down a Sphinx while you are at a reasonable life; other than that, it’s pretty tough. You can, however, keep up with them using cheap counters and cheap removal. You definitely want to take out your Eldrazi package along with the three Essence Scatters, since they are too narrow and Smother / Doom Blade is better for what you want it to do.
Dredge
This a reasonably good match-up for you, since you have early access to removal spells for their card drawing creatures (Enclave Cryptologist/ Merfolk Looter) and sideboard Haunting Echoes. They get to bring in Negates after board, which is a little annoying, but as long as you keep them off their draw engine you should be fine… and bring in your Smothers and Echoes!
Esper Ultimatum
This match-up is not very good for you. I think Tectonic Edges would make this different, but since you already have Eldrazi Temples you cannot afford to play any other colorless lands. They have more powerful cards than you, and in game 1 you don’t have too many ways of stopping them from putting a 15/15 onto the battlefield. After boarding, you can bring in Duress, Haunting Echoes, Sphinx, and the Mind Spring. These games will go long, so you will have room to outplay your opponent.
As for M11 changes and upgrades, aside from swapping out Essence Scatters for the majestic Mana Leak, there isn’t a single new card I would add to the current build in this particular climate. Of course, things can change as the metagame shifts, so be sure to keep up with developing trends and new, successful archetypes, should you want to adapt this deck to its full potential.
Overall, the deck is something different, and something very fun to play. I would suggest you give this list a try for a day or two, and make what changes you think are right for the metagame you are facing. The basic concept behind the deck is a two-color control build with some discard and removal spells, along with a board sweeper in the form of All is Dust. Please post in the forums about this deck, and I will let you know how I do in any upcoming events.
Thanks for reading.
Gerard Fabiano
Gernardi on Magic Online