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Flores Friday – Homicides And Drive-bys

Mike Flores commits murder with his 187-filled G/W Birthing Pod deck. You get value when things come in and when things go out. Try it out after reading this primer and watching his videos, and consider it for SCG Open: Seattle.

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Don’t miss the videos Mike did yesterday using this deck!

Here is the deck I started with:

G/W Pod
Mike Flores
Test deck on 07-24-2011
Standard
Magic Arena

Creatures (32)

Lands (24)

Spells (4)

Sideboard

Magic Card Back


The above is obviously a G/W Birthing Pod deck. What makes it in any way different or interesting to talk about?

I actually borrowed (burgled) some cards and ideas from friends like Patrick Chapin and Brian David-Marshall and stuck ’em up in the Pod’s high end. Most decks incorporate some element of “value” via 187s…

Aside: what the heck is a 187?

187 is a slang term for the crime of murder; it refers to Section 187 of the California Penal Code, which defines the crime of murder.

It entered the Magic vernacular via Team Dickhead (“Team Dickhead is EVIL”) in reference to creatures that came into the battlefield and “murdered” something (Uktabi Orangutan, Nekrataal). Since, the term has been applied to any kind of creature that does something when it comes into play, even when that thing isn’t a murder (Jungle Barrier, Pilgrim’s Eye).

/end aside

… But this deck also gets value on the way out. So not just murders, but drive-bys. To wit:

Forestfolk Ondu Giant

… Err… Solemn Simulacrum! Not really a huge innovation / difference to include this card (I am sure most every brewer is jamming four wherever they can fit ’em). It is a LOL because the last time we played, Patrick didn’t have any and had to make do with Ondu Giant at the four.

I mean obviously I was like “Ooh. Maybe I should game with Ondu Giant!” (But I would never admit that.)

Solemn Simulacrum sets the tone for post-four. Wall of Omens, Sylvan Ranger, Blade Splicer, and Viridian Corrupter all do something on the way down. Solemn is the first of the cards that does something on the way out.

Archon of Justice

BDM claims to have invented this on the Top 8 Magic podcast a week ago, but it was so windy I couldn’t go back and check. No credit for you, BDM! Basically this card does something awesome when you sacrifice it to level up to sixes.

The tension here is that you can’t really have eight fives in a deck that also has some number of sixes and goes all the way to seven. The way I look at it is that Archon of Justice is a four-power flier that I often use just for its offensive body whereas Acidic Slime is a 2/2 for five that may or may not get more value. In a roundabout way I got back to Acidic Slime to do specific tasks, but I think Archon of Justice is better in this main deck.

Wurmcoil Engine

You definitely want to get to sixes in this kind of deck, and Wurmcoil Engine is “the best Titan” because when it drives by you get two 3/3s… Ahem… 5/5s.

So how does the deck play out?

On an optimal draw you go first-turn Llanowar Elves or Birds of Paradise.

Assuming your accelerator lives (and you aren’t worried about life total already), you go one-to-three and play Birthing Pod.

Now presumably you have four total mana the next turn. There are lots of possibilities here, but one of the sickest would be to use three mana to play Blade Splicer and the last one to sacrifice Blade Splicer into a four. Typically that is going to be Solemn Simulacrum (ramping you to a potential six the next turn), but it can be Linvala against another utility creature deck or Obstinate Baloth if you need the big body. In either case you will have a 3/3 as a bonus on the battlefield along with your mana, Birthing Pod, and fresh four.

A lot of games end on “just” 3/4 and 4/4 fliers Red Zoning while you get value on other points of the curve, but the maximum “don’t let the door hit you on your way out” drive-by violence would be Solemn Simulacrum (draw a card) into Archon of Justice (smash that) into Wurmcoil Engine (some kind of, I dunno, Next Level Grizzly Fate) into Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite.

At this point lots of G/W decks are gaming with Elesh Norn, but I got the idea from getting beaten up by Patrick Chapin.

So there I was, attacking with some kind of Phyrexian Obliterators, and had softened him up with Gatekeeper of Malakir, but I was sitting on a Lashwrithe in grip. I needed an opening or a removal card to begin for the kill. Way ahead.

Pat didn’t even have a Birthing Pod.

Just topdecked his sixes to slow me down with the Engine and some Titan action, but I was still planning to win. Whatever, 6/6s, give me my open.

Nope, another Inquisition of Kozilek (Pat already had nada cards). Kick, wham, topdeck Grand Cenobite, White Overrun. GG.

IT WASN’T A “G” G AT ALL.

“Bet you thought you had that one locked up.”

Actually what I was thinking was that I was right the first time. Loss of Jace, the Mind Sculptor has done nothing for these Phyrexian Obliterators.

Har har. I was actually absorbing everything I could; quite an opportunity to get a chance to test with a player on the caliber of Patrick.

So I made my own straight G/W deck (again, with input from Brian) and started out with what I posted above.

After a fair amount of testing (a fair amount of which you have probably consumed in video form alongside this here article), I have decided a couple of things…

  • Phyrexian Metamorph warrants some consideration. I am still not sure where to play this card, or how many copies is right; however it is pretty awesome to copy an opponent’s Birthing Pod, Solemn Simulacrum, or Viridian Corrupter.
  • I am definitely playing at least one copy of Linvala, Keeper of Silence in the main. As much as it pains me to pull a Blade Splicer, I don’t know where else to yank. Blade Splicer is so good with the early game mana creatures, but Linvala—as she often was a year ago—is the stone death knell for similar decks. She turns off Grand Architect, Spellskite, and the mighty Splinter Twin. I like Linvala so much that I am not only going to move one main but add additional copies for after sideboarding. She is bonkers against opposing Birds of Paradise and Llanowar Elves decks… Might as well ruin some days.
  • Another card I wanted more of in testing was some kind of Viridian Corrupter. Not necessarily Viridian Corrupter itself, but something in that vein, to crash Birthing Pods, Sword of Feast and Famine, and so forth. We have a couple of potentially conflicting forces going on here, which are 1) we need to maintain a certain number of potential sideboard slots that are good against control, and 2) it looks like Hawkward / Tempered Steel decks are going to be popular… That makes a fast Viridian Corrupter actually good (kill a Glint Hawk, block a Memnite), or at least a good complement to Obstinate Baloth. It seems that to satisfy any or all of these desires we need to figure out what we want to sideboard out as much as what we want to sideboard in.
  • We need to respect the speed of Exarch Twin and the Dismember resilience of Pyromancer Ascension (while filing away our experience with Kor Firewalker being not consistent enough under pressure). Remember—Celestial Purge has good crossover with RDW, and we already have Obstinate Baloth main deck (as well as Wurmcoil Engine if we survive). There is no reason to overload against RDW to the detriment of other matchups.

Which matchups do I care about?

The second part of this article is going to be me “thinking out loud” and puzzling through some sideboard refinements. I am going to go over some common decks, including Valakut, B/U Control, Hawkward, combo, and RDW.

Valakut

— Our deck has a decent amount of land and some somewhat resilient acceleration on the two.

— We are potentially better off if the opponent is blowing mana / cards to take out first-turn accelerators, particularly if he is on the play (he plays a first-turn non-Mountain, may choose to burn our accelerator instead of making a proactive second-turn play).

— Phyrexian Metamorph could give us some interesting gas via opposing Solemn Simulacrum or even Primeval Titan.

We can safely yank…

Wall of Omens is just a bad cycler against Valakut; they don’t have a lot of artifacts so whatever Viridian Corrupter; Blade Splicer probably isn’t going to get us there; anything on the high end is potentially fair game, so long as we are suppressing the opponent’s stage. Possibly:

-2 Wall of Omens
-1 Viridian Corrupter
-1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
-3 Archon of Justice
+3 Spellskite
+4 Acidic Slime

I chose to leave the Grand Cenobite because if all else fails, she is a walking Counterspell for the opposing seven’s little gang of fighting fungi. We can sacrifice in the area of five-drops because we are adding so many of our own; Spellskite is a fine answer to Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. What might be really great would be a Sun Titan here, which would be great with Tectonic Edge and Spellskite for Valakut suppression. I left all the Wurmcoil Engines in because, even if they are inferior to a Primeval Titan head-to-head, they are really good at scaring a Primeval Titan from attacking you if there is a Spellskite on the battlefield (and of course the combination of Wurmcoil Engine and Grand Cenobite is pretty grand).

B/U Control

— If we get Birthing Pod and keep it unopposed for a couple of turns, they are boned.

— We seem to be favored in an attrition match due to all of our 187s and drive-bys.

— That said, their cards are generally better than ours, with fast and often unconditional answers.

We can safely yank…

B/U Control decks come in many flavors. There are lots of decks that are going to encourage you to leave in Spellskite (Tumble Magnet) or side in every last Obstinate Baloth (Liliana Vess); the below is just a generic starting point.

-1 Spellskite
-1 Obstinate Baloth
-1 Viridian Corrupter
-1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
-2 Wall of Omens
+4 Acidic Slime
+2 Thrun, the Last Troll

Hawkward

— If we force them to play an attrition game around blocking, we almost can’t lose.

— They have two types of key pump; answer those, and they are a mass of relatively weak spells.

— Flying is important because many of their creatures have evasion.

— Thou must respect a Dispatch.

We can safely yank…

As much as we have to respect a Dispatch (or even a Dismember), I don’t see leaving a Spellskite on the battlefield for it. Sylvan Ranger is fine, but this is a matchup where Overgrown Battlement does as much defensively (Sylvan Ranger doesn’t take out many creatures bigger than an unenhanced Memnite) but is more likely to stick around; it is also great with Wall of Omens.

I think Archon of Justice is great, and it flies (which is great); but my intention is to bring in a bunch of Acidic Slimes at five to take out Tempered Steel or the odd Glint Hawk Idol without exposing our fourth or fifth turn to a huge game-swinging removal spell, so I decided to be willing to leave in just one Archon for miser’s tactics (probably with double Birthing Pod in play). Also, the games I’ve lost to Hawkward tend to be around the “I am going to put all my marbles in this bucket of Archon of Justice, and if it dies at least I can take out his Tempered Steel WHAT DO YOU MEAN DISPATCH REMOVES FROM GAME” variety.

-1 Spellskite
-1 Sylvan Ranger
-3 Archon of Justice
+4 Acidic Slime
+1 Obstinate Baloth

Exarch Twin or Pyromancer Ascension

— Stop them from killing you super quick.

— Kill them.

— They are slick and blue and fast with red; you are green. Did I mention “kill them?”

We can safely yank…

Details are going to vary here. Wall of Omens is sub-spectacular against both decks; Obstinate Baloth is actually okay against Pyromancer (if not great) but pretty dismal against Twin. I marked Archon of Justice because, despite being pretty decent, five mana is five mana, and Twin kills you on turn four. In either case you are going to have a faster option for killing key permanents with 4x Celestial Purge

Pyromancer is the kind of deck where I would want maybe two Spellskites but not necessarily all four; Twin doesn’t like having Linvala or Elesh Norn in the deck whereas Pyromancer Ascension really wants us to draw Elesh Norn by accident early.

Exarch Twin

-2 Wall of Omens
-1 Sylvan Ranger
-1 Viridian Corrupter
-1 Obstinate Baloth
-3 Archon of Justice
-1 Wurmcoil Engine
+3 Spellskite
+4 Celestial Purge
+2 Thrun, the Last Troll

Pyromancer Ascension

-2 Wall of Omens
-1 Viridian Corrupter
-1 Obstinate Baloth
-1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
-3 Archon of Justice
-1 Wurmcoil Engine
-1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
+1 Spellskite
+4 Celestial Purge
+4 Acidic Slime
+1 Thrun, the Last Troll

Hybrid

-2 Wall of Omens
-1 Sylvan Ranger
-1 Viridian Corrupter
-1 Obstinate Baloth
-3 Archon of Justice
-1 Wurmcoil Engine
+3 Spellskite
+4 Celestial Purge
+2 Acidic Slime

RDW

— Their most dangerous card is Shrine of Burning Rage, at least main deck.

— If you play to trade with everything else, you will eventually kill them with The Last Fatty (TM Jamie Wakefield).

— It’s pretty easy to die before getting them with The Last Fatty, especially if you don’t sufficiently respect Shrine of Burning Rage.

— We have to be most careful about aggressively using our Birthing Pod. In every other matchup, it is great to jimmy jam ourselves up the chain; who cares about the life cost… But that isn’t necessarily the case against RDW. Spot where we can kill Shrine of Burning Rage with an opportune Corrupter? Might be worth 2-4 life points. Spot where we can get Obstinate Baloth in play? Probably worth two life points but not sure about four (really depends on their offensive presence). Forestfolk on the other hand? Your card advantages aren’t going to warm your bed at night if it has already been burned down: Life total is the scarce resource in this matchup, and for everything else it does, Solemn Simulacrum has a miniscule battlefield presence. Great? Still very good. Not necessarily worth four life against a non-mana-screwed Red Deck opponent.

We can safely yank…

We don’t actually want to take out that much!

Archon of Justice is slow; we want to speed up but need a bridge to Wurmcoil Engine. Elesh Norn is great, but costs roughly infinite mana. What we really need is to live to the point where we could have cast or ramped into Elesh Norn if it were in our deck.

Most of the other cards in the deck range from good to great.

One-drop mana accelerators are both Lightning Rods and can get us to fast Blade Splicer or mising up Corrupter for the ragged Burning Rage.

All the two-drops are pretty good. Wall of Omens is actually fantastic against Goblin Guide, and Overgrown Battlement and Sylvan Ranger are also good blockers.

The threes are strong, with Viridian Corrupter being very lucky and Blade Splicer giving us great presence, especially in terms of just more bodies to block.

As above, Solemn Simulacrum is actually only okay. I am not rushing off to side it out (especially as it can ramp us straight to Wurmcoil Engine), but Obstinate Baloth is full-on great, and Linvala is surprisingly good as it can turn off Grim Lavamancer and blunts the teeth on the still-relevant Ember Hauler.

So what to cut?

We want all kinds of Spellskite, Obstinate Baloth, and Celestial Purge. To be honest, Celestial Purge is actually the least exciting of the sideboard options. Bringing in Spellskite gives us more blockers (and is actually our ace against Shrine of Burning Rage); with more blockers for their relatively thin count of 2/2 attackers, Celestial Purge isn’t even that awesome. What are we going to do? Deal with red guys that are already being dealt with via blocking?

Caveat there of course being Manabarbs (and to a lesser extent Koth of the Hammer): We really need to kill a Manabarbs (well, their four in general; Chandra, the Firebrand is actually pretty annoying for our list).

So in addition to the four “safe” pulls, I think the right play is to shave a couple of cards from a couple of different redundant mana costs in order to fit Celestial Purge.

-1 Solemn Simulacrum
-2 Birds of Paradise
-1 Viridian Corrupter
-3 Archon of Justice
-1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
+3 Spellskite
+4 Celestial Purge
+1 Obstinate Baloth

Some of those last cuts were painful. If the opponent doesn’t have a powerful four, we can “just” go with Archon and Cenobite for Spellskite and Baloth, but the likelihood is that they will have something juicy to kill with Celestial Purge.

Homicides and Drive-bys Final Decklist
Mike Flores
Test deck on 07-24-2011
Standard
Magic Arena

Creatures (32)

Lands (24)

Spells (4)

Sideboard

Magic Card Back


P.S. Who remembers what happened last time I brewed a weird-looking deck with BDM at the windy corner by Joe’s at Waverly, then posted it one day before a pretty relevant tournament? (Incidentally it’s the last time I did some game play vids.) Just a thought!

LOVE
MIKE