{From Right Field is a column for Magic players on a budget or players who don’t want to play netdecks. The decks are designed to let the budget-conscious player be competitive in local, Saturday tournaments. They are not decks that will qualify a player for The Pro Tour. As such, the decks written about in this column are, almost by necessity, rogue decks. They contain, at most, eight to twelve rares. When they do contain rares, those cards will either be cheap rares or staples of which new players should be trying to collect a set of four, such as Wrath of God, City of Brass, or Birds of Paradise. The decks are also tested by the author, who isn’t very good at playing Magic. His playtest partners, however, are excellent. He will never claim that a deck has an 85% winning percentage against the entire field. He will also let you know when the decks are just plain lousy. Readers should never consider these decks “set in stone” or “done.” If you think you can change some cards to make them better, well, you probably can, and the author encourages you to do so.}
When I left off, I had the wacky idea of running both Umezawa’s Jitte and Damping Matrix in the White Skies deck. Sadly, it was at the cost of Shining Shoal and Otherworldly Journey, two other cards that are potential game winners for White Skies right now. The deck looked like this at the end of part two:
White Skies, Version Next
22 Lands
22 Plains
22 Creatures
4 Suntail Hawk
4 Lantern Kami
4 Leonin Skyhunter
4 Samurai of the Pale Curtain
3 Diving Griffin
3 Skyhunter Skirmisher
16 Other Spells
4 Glorious Anthem
4 Umezawa’s Jitte
4 Ethereal Haze
4 Damping Matrix
Because I can’t afford the time and space (I still have to figure out the sideboard, after all), I’m not going into near as much depth on each individual match-up as I had the last two weeks. I will tell you, however, what I saw at the revolution.
The Skinny on Damping Matrix
What a great maindeck card. It helped me win games I had no right winning. Tooth and Nail could not use Mindslaver or Kiki-Jiki to ruin me. Beacon Green couldn’t Equip anything or regenerate Troll Ascetic. Arc-Slogger was simply a Big Red guy. Vedalken Shackles and Sensei’s Divining Top did nothing.
The problem was that I lost some games that I probably shouldn’t have lost, too. With the Matrix on board, the Jitte was a dead card, building up counters with no way to use them. Yes, it acted as a defense against opposing Jittes, but so did the Matrix. Remember, a Skyhunter Skirmisher wearing a Jitte is a fearsome thing, especially with a Glorious Anthem out. With a Damping Matrix shutting down the Jitte, that Skirmisher is just a 2/2 doublestriker. That’s still darn good, but adding counters and removing them to make him bigger is even better.
The results were essentially the same against the gauntlet as the last two weeks showed. (At least one person said that this was actually A Good Thing. “If changes like that don’t change the matchups much, you must be close to ideal, for that deck, anyway.”) As I said above, the Matrix did win me a couple of games that I would have lost without it. That’s encouraging. However, by hosing the Jitte, I lost a couple of games (namely against Tooth and Nail) that I would have won because I couldn’t get extra damage through. In other words, the Matrix allowed White Skies to win some longer games that it would have typically lost. At the same time, however, by stopping me from using the Jitte, the Matrix made some games longer, allowing the other decks to win when White Skies would have normally punished them quickly. It was time to consider dropping the Jitte altogether.
Blasphemer! Blasphemer!
White Skies is seen as one of the few decks that can really abuse the Jitte. It has tons of quick, efficient creatures with evasion. Putting a Jitte on one of those is usually a sure road to victory.
And, yet, it hasn’t always played that way.
That’s the difference between theory and reality. Sometimes, the Jitte seemed too clunky and got in the way. Other times, I wanted to save a creature that wasn’t wearing the Jitte. Can’t be done. For the next round of testing, I dropped the Jitte. I reached back into my bag of tricks and pulled out the card that started me down this path months and months ago: Roar of the Kha.
At first, I looked at Saviors. Plow Through Reito and Charge Across the Araba came up as possible replacements for the Roar. The problem was that Plains-returning thing. I think they actually call it “sweep.” Okay, there was another problem with the Charge; it costs five mana. That’s pretty much a no-go in this deck. That left me with either a two-mana spell that could pump up a creature by whatever number of Plains I was ballsy enough to return to my hand or a two-mana spell that gave everybody I had +1/+1. I had to go back to the spell that made everyone bigger. This version of the deck was:
White Skies, Version the Next After That
22 Lands
21 Plains
1 Eiganjo Castle
22 Creatures
4 Suntail Hawk
4 Lantern Kami
4 Leonin Skyhunter
4 Samurai of the Pale Curtain
3 Diving Griffin
3 Skyhunter Skirmisher
16 Other Spells
4 Glorious Anthem
4 Roar of the Kha
4 Ethereal Haze
4 Damping Matrix
The loss of the Jitte dropped my rare count and allowed me to add the Eiganjo Castle, a nice trick against Horobi decks and a nice way to stay ahead of Flashfires.
Scared Jitte-less
Again, there was not a huge change in numbers. White Skies did better by a game against a couple of decks (the Red ones) and worse by a game against the others. The most obvious problem came when the opponent, such as Beacon Green, got a Jitte out several turns before I could get out a Damping Matrix. After that, White Skies would struggle just to keep up while Beacon Green would continue to hammer. Then, in response to me finally casting a Matrix, the player with the Jitte was still able to gain life or kill creatures or both. It wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t fun.
What’s in That Little White Vial, Son?
At the same time, I was being hounded by Karl Allen to work in Aether Vial. I’d already tried it in an earlier version, but I thought I might as well try it again. The Vial is simply not very good in this deck. The problem is simple. Without card drawing, all the Vial does is save mana. The problem is that it does so at the cost of a slot that could be another creature card.
Sure, there were God draws where I got both Vial and several weenies in hand with two lands while drawing more weenies. The rush was on in those cases. I could be dropping two or even three creatures a turn when that happened. When it was bad, though, man, was it horrendous. I’d get a Vial and a couple of creatures in hand and follow it up with draw after draw that didn’t include creatures but did include a Vial. I’d get another Vial and just wish that it was anything else.
I guess I could have tried it in a sixteen-land deck.
Yeah, right.
Deconstructing White Skies
One of the best ways to figure out how something works is to take it apart. I decided to see what was simply a must have in White Skies.
Creatures: White Skies has to have at least twenty creatures. If it was all out and able to beat decks like Tooth and Nail quickly, I’d try for twenty-four. In terms of specific cards, Lantern Kami, Suntail Hawk, Leonin Skyhunter, and Samurai of the Pale Curtain are musts. Maybes include the three-mana stuff like Skyhunter Skirmisher and Diving Griffin, regardless of how good the Skirmisher is with the Jitte.
Non-Creature Spells: White Weenie decks must have their Crusade effect. In Standard in 2005, that’s Glorious Anthem. Ethereal Haze has to be there so that White Skies can ignore the other decks and simply fly over for the win.
Other Stuff We Wanna Do: We must be able to deal with the Jitte. That’s nonnegotiable. If we act as if we won’t see it, we’re doomed to lose game one all day long. The two best (i.e. proactive) ways to do that are by running our own Jittes and running Damping Matrix. Yet, those two cards run at cross purposes. Our own Jitte is useless with the Matrix out, but the Matrix stops a lot of things that hurts White Skies. In addition, the Matrix acts as anti-Jitte hate if White Skies doesn’t hit its own Jitte first.
It looks like the version with the Matrix and the Jitte is the best one in terms of answers because those answers are also threats. Improvements will have to come from the sideboard.
Too Many Options
This leaves Shining Shoal and Otherworldly Journey to fend for sideboard slots. I’ve contended for quite a while now that the problem with White Weenie hasn’t been the lack of cards but that there are too many good choices. With nothing that’s heads and tails above other the cards, though, White is left with a bunch of solid-to-great cards to fight for slots. Think about cards that might seem good or great for White Weenie that we’re not even considering. There’s Reciprocate, Vanquish, Chastise, and Test of Faith, just to name four.
Me, I’m an O.J. fan. However, as testing went on, it really felt much more like a sideboard card. It was best used against G/B Cloud Control to save a creature from a devastating Death Cloud. That creature would be ready to come back and swing harder than ever on my turn. Meanwhile, Shining Shoal was able to end games that had gotten almost out of hand. The “classic” example was the Tooth and Nail deck that had been reduced to three life only to cast Tooth with Entwine, bringing up a Mephidross Vampire and Triskelion to wipe White Skies out, and win the game. Shining Shoal can stop that silliness.
(Karma and Auriok Champion are foregone conclusions in the sideboard. Karma just ends games against G/B Cloud Control while the Champion can stem the bleeding against Big Red and Red Deck Wins.)
The Sideboard, Now Without Shrine hate
The sideboard looks like this:
15 Sideboard
4 Karma
4 Auriok Champion
4 Otherworldly Journey
3 Shining Shoal
That’s right. No enchantment hate. I’m going with this theory. I’ve been pimping the Shrine deck. None of the Magic pro bigwigs seem to think it’s any good, though. Fine. I’m gonna risk it. If I face a Shrine deck, I’ll let it eat me, and I’ll smile the whole time. Then, I’ll tell the kid “good match” and ask for his autograph.
I’ve maxed out the maindeck for rares as far as From Right Field decks go. I never want more than twelve rares unless they’re dollar rares. Umezawa’s Jitte is not a dollar rare. Now, I have seven more in the sideboard, and three of them are not cheap, either.
What’s a Cheap B@stard to Do?
I know. I know. Four Umezawa’s Jittes. Who do I think you are? Evangeline Lilly with lotsa disposable income from all of that Lost exposure? No, of course I don’t. Which is why I saved this for now:
Manriki-Gusari
Manriki-Gusari can take the place of the Jitte in this deck. The MG is a powerful piece of Equipment, too. Unlike some of the Equipment that has a destroy/damage effect, it doesn’t have to be unattached from the creature. (See Shuriken.) More important, it can also destroy Swords of Fire and Ice or Light and Shadow. The cherry on top is that this is an uncommon from Savior of Kamigawa.
That’s right, kids. There will be a Saviors card in the deck.
Of course, the MG will suffer from the same problem as the Jitte when the Damping Matrix is out, namely that it can’t be activated. You know what, that part’s okay because neither can the Jitte. The problem will come when the Damping Matrix gets “blowed up good.” Let’s say that both the Jitte and the Manriki-Gusari got Equipped to creatures that weren’t active and then a Matrix came down. The creature wearing the Jitte can still attack. That means that the Jitte will build up counters. Imagine that the creature wearing the Jitte is unblockable. I dunno. You’re playing against Rat deck, and the Nezumi Cutthroat is wearing the Jitte or a Phantom Warrior has it. Yeah, we’ll say Phantom Warrior ’cause it would be cool if someone used that at Regionals. When the Matrix goes away, yes, the MG can blow up the Jitte. In response, however, the Jitte can start picking off guys with all of those counters, potentially wiping out everything.
Surprise! The Jitte is better than the Manriki-Gusari. We knew that. The MG is for the budget player, though. In addition, if you can’t find a second, third, or fourth Jitte, think about adding this instead.
The Final Deck
This, then, is what I’ll be playing at Regionals:
White Skies, SE Regionals 2005
Creatures (26)
- 4 Samurai of the Pale Curtain
- 4 Lantern Kami
- 4 Suntail Hawk
- 4 Auriok Champion
- 3 Skyhunter Skirmisher
- 4 Leonin Skyhunter
- 3 Diving Griffin
Lands (22)
- 21 Plains
- 1 Eiganjo Castle
Spells (27)
- 3 Umezawa's Jitte
- 3 Shining Shoal
- 4 Glorious Anthem
- 4 Karma
- 4 Otherworldly Journey
- 4 Ethereal Haze
- 4 Damping Matrix
- 1 Manriki-Gusari
Sideboard
(The more budget-conscious player should substitute the final three Manriki-Gusari for the Umezawa’s Jittes.)
After finally settling on this and running it, I found that the MG did have one huge benefit over the Jitte. Once it was attached to a creature, even with the Matrix out, the creature continues to get +1/+2. That’s nice on a flyer.
Another nice benefit is that, other than the Jitte, the deck really is fairly inexpensive. These are the Star City prices of the maindeck rares (other than the Jitte) at the time I wrote this:
Eiganjo Castle – $1.25 each
Glorious Anthem – $5.00 each (SP = slightly played)
Damping Matrix – $2.00 each
That’s less than thirty bucks for those cards. Of course, I’m using the “SP” cost for the Anthem, but that should be fine. I’ve ordered many “SP” cards from StarCityGames.com, and I gotta say that Ben must be one hardazz grader because they looked near mint to me. The sideboard adds another thirty-four dollars:
Auriok Champion – $4.00 each
Shining Shoal – $6.00 each (SP = slightly played)
Overall, that seems to be fairly inexpensive especially for a deck that at least one person plans on playing at Regionals.
That’s a Mighty Pretty Sideboard You Got There, Boy. You Know How to Use It?
I hope I do. As I often say, sideboarding is the weakest aspect of my game. I’m pretty sure I know what to do here, though.
Sideboarding Against Big Red and Red Deck Wins/French Red:
The Samurai of the Pale Curtains come out. The Auriok Champion goes in. It’s tempting to bring in other sideboard cards like Otherworldly Journey and Shining Shoal. Especially Shining Shoal. However, against the Red decks, all of the tools in the maindeck are needed. The Jitte can gain life and save creatures. The Anthem isn’t going anywhere. The Ethereal Hazes can prevent a major disaster. The creature count needs to stay as high as possible.
Sideboarding Against G/B Cloud Control:
Against this deck, both the Equipment and the Damping Matrix are pretty dead. The Matrix only stops them from regenerating the Troll. Of course, the Jitte might end up being able to do some tricks. Typically, though, White Skies just needs to drop G/B Cloud Control as low as possible and then get a Karma out. So, out go the artifacts, and in come Karma and the Otherworldly Journey. Don’t be afraid to play out whatever you get. G/B Cloud Control will probably bring in Persecute because White Skies is a mono-White deck, and Persecute can devastate it.
Sideboarding Against Tooth and Nail:
The key against T&N is to go as fast as possible and then end the game with Shining Shoal if they stabilize. Against Tooth, the Ethereal Haze is almost useless, the key word being “almost.” Once they do get an Entwined Tooth and Nail off, it might be nice to have a Haze if you don’t have a Shoal. So, bring in the three Shoals while dropping the Manriki-Gusari and two Hazes. Then, just swing for the fences.
Sideboarding Against Mono-Blue Control (a.k.a. MUC):
As Billy Joel might say, “don’t go changin’ / to try and beat MUC.” There’s nothing in the sideboard for MUC. It’s all in the maindeck. Just go to game two, and sweep ’em!
Sideboarding Against Beacon Green:
As with the Red decks, you want to stem the bleeding. Auriok Champion makes a nice foil to the Beacon. Again, only the Samurai is good to come out. The lifegain from the Champion will keep White Skies ahead enough to do its thing: swing through the air while ignoring the other guy.
Theorizing on Some Other MatchUps (a.k.a. BS-ing About Decks That No One Thinks Will See Much Play)
The only thing that I can suggest against Shrines is to hit them as fast and as hard as you can before they can get the Honden of Stupid Lifegain out and gain four or six or eight life per turn. You just can’t outrace that. If I really had the testicular fortitude that I claim to have, I’d play Shrines at Regionals. That deck is going to catch someone off guard. All I can hope for is that I don’t see it.
The White Samurai and R/W Samurai decks will probably show up, too. They’re aggressive, and they get to use the cool Kamigawa cards. In fact, the R/W one can just accidentally wreck you sometimes when Godo, Bandit Warlord, godo get (sorry, couldn’t resist) Tatsumasa, the Dragon’s Fang, or Umezawa’s Jitte. Play against these like you would the Red decks except don’t sideboard. There’s really nothing to bring in that won’t also make the deck weaker by taking something out. Just hammer as hard and as fast as you can.
Of course, we can’t forget Snakes. “I hate snakes.” Game one, you simply hold the Hazes as long as you can. If the critters swinging can’t kill you, you don’t need the Haze. Save it. Game two is tricky. Damping Matrix does nothing against Snakes in game one since it can’t shut down mana abilities. However, they may bring in one or more Swords in game two. Taking out the Matrix would be bad. However, if you don’t think they’re bringing in any Swords, drop the Matrix for two Shining Shoals and two Otherworldly Journeys.
Finally, you may see Mono-Black Control. You’ll recognize it because it only has Black cards and has a lot of hand destruction and creature destruction. Sideboard as you would for G/B Control. Karma wrecks that deck, and Otherworldly Journey can save a creature who can finish the match.
Predictions
Ain’t no way that I’m gonna say that I’ll win my Region. Heck, I probably won’t even place in the money. However, I’m confident that I’ll finish well over .500. If I don’t, it will be my fault and not the deck’s. I’ve been testing this and tweaking it a lot over the past three and a half weeks. It’s solid and fast, and it doesn’t get rolled by any of the top decks (unless a Red deck gets a handful of burn and keeps drawing it). I fully expect to end the day well over .500.
Next week, even though my column will post the day before Regionals, we’ll be having some Kamigawa Block Constructed (a.k.a. KBC) fun. I’d do more Standard stuff, but if you’re looking to me for help the day before Regionals, you’re toast, anyway.
As usual, you’ve been a great audience. Remember to follow Dr. Romeo’s Rules for Regionals for a hoppin’ good Regionals experience!
Chris Romeo
CBRomeo-at-Travelers-dot-com