For a long time, I was set on playing the Lotus Cobra/Oracle of Mul Daya/Jace, the Mind Sculptor deck
I wrote about
before States. Then, on Thursday, I got wind of a sweet Kiln Fiend deck from Gerry Thompson that could boast of turn 3 kills. I did some goldfishing. Turn 2, Kiln Fiend. Turn 3, Lightning Bolt your blocker. Burst Lightning your other blocker. Assault Strobe on Kiln Fiend. Attack for twenty.
So I was sold on this deck for about twenty-four hours until Cedric Phillips and Zaiem Beg brought me back down to reality. “That’s adorable. How do you plan on beating a Lightning Bolt again?”
Hmm.
I knew that Cedric had been working on
his own Mono-Red deck
and had a pretty good idea of what he was talking about… but I didn’t like the idea of playing a ton of four-drops in my twenty-four land aggressive Red deck. Cedric said that the deck played out in a very midrange fashion and had a solid long game, but I didn’t really want to be getting into long-game situations where the card disadvantage from Goblin Guide might actually catch up to me. I tried a more traditional Red list with Zektar Shrine Expedition and was reasonably happy with it, but I also really wanted to play Searing Blaze, which was a huge bomb against other Red decks and the midrange green decks. I also didn’t really want to draw multiple copies of Koth of the Hammer against any non-U/W deck.
Five minutes before the tournament, Steven Birklid wandered over, looked at my deck, called me a moron, and told me to cut the Zektar Shrines for Spikeshot Elders, so that I wouldn’t feel like an idiot peeling one on turn 4.
Good friends are hard to find. I was sold.
The list I played ended up being pretty bad; you can tell because not all of the Molten-Tail Masticores are in the maindeck. Observe:
Creatures (18)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (24)
Spells (16)
There were some things that I liked about this list, and some things that I hated.
I boarded in the Masticores in literally every round, so not having those maindeck was a pretty huge mistake. Flame Slash was pretty insane all day; it kills Masticore, makes it easy to kill a Titan, and kills Wall of Omens. It even lets you tap out and trick people into leveling Dragonlord up to four in the mirror.
I had Manic Vandal in the sideboard because I wanted to be prepared for whatever random new artifact-based decks people were playing with new Scars cards, but with a more defined metagame going forward, they’re not too necessary. More Brittle Effigies to kill Kor Firewalker and Wurmcoil Engine out of the board would’ve been nice. Having so many maindeck removal spells made the Arc Trails slightly worse; they’re only really good if I’m on the play, and Red is already a pretty big favorite against green decks when Red goes first. Mark of Mutiny is totally insane if you steal a Primeval Titan, attack with it, and get two Teetering Peaks.
I was a little torn on Koth. Koth is pretty solid against virtually every deck, but he shines in the U/W matchup. However, you only really want multiples against U/W. I was okay only having two copies. Searing Blaze was very good for me, and I desperately wanted access to all four in the 75. Burst Lightning, however, underperformed a bit.
Going forward, I would play this:
Creatures (20)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (25)
Spells (13)
When you have between six and eight four-drops in your deck plus Spikeshot Elder, the twenty-fifth land becomes pretty necessary. The Manic Vandals aren’t as important, though; I’m not aware of any heavy metalcraft strategies dominating States. Searing Blaze and Cunning Sparkmage do wonders against all of the Elf decks running around, though.
A brief report:
Round one: James, Elves
I won the roll and battled with Goblin Guide. James flipped up Llanowar Elves, and played it on his next turn. I shot it with Lightning Bolt and kept attacking. James played out a couple more Elves, but I added Kargan Dragonlord to the team, and finished him off in the air with some burn spells.
I had Goblin Guide again in game 2, but all of my lands entered the battlefield tapped :<. Fortunately, when all of your lands enter the battlefield tapped, some of them are Teetering Peaks. Between all of the Peaks and my second Goblin Guide, James never really had a chance.
1-0
Round two: Ryan, Mono-Black
I won the roll and started with Goblin Guide, attack, untap Goblin Guide, Goblin Guide, attack. Ryan double mulliganed and missed his second land drop. A close game.
I got to mulligan for the second game, and kept double Searing Blaze, double Lightning Bolt, and lands. With all of my removal, I wasn’t too worried about the Basilisk Collar that Ryan played on turn 1… until he played Phylactery Lich on turn 3.
Fortunately, I had two Goblin Guides in game 3, and Ryan’s three-drop was Vampire Nighthawk, not Phylactery Lich. I took Nighthawk down with Flame Slash and added Dragonlord to the team; Ryan’s Abyssal Persecutor wasn’t enough to hold the tide at bay, and I was able to swarm through for the win.
2-0
Round three: Blaine, U/W
I won the roll and kept a slow-ish hand with Dragonlords and some removal. Blaine played Wall of Omens, which I was able to Flame Slash, but when I leveled the Dragonlord up to four on turn 4, I added a Spikeshot Elder so that if Blaine used Jace, the Mind Sculptor to bounce my Dragonlord, I’d be able to use the Elder to kill Jace without losing a card.
Obviously, Blaine untapped and cast Day of Judgment. Elder was a bit too greedy. I played a second Dragonlord, which Blaine matched with Baneslayer Angel. My Dragonlord went ultimate, and I thought I was out of the woods, but Blaine had Frost Titan on his next turn to lock down the Dragonlord and kill me.
I had a Goblin Guide, Plated Geopede, infinite fetchland draw in game 2; I took down Wall of Omens with Flame Slash, and it was all over pretty quickly.
In game 3, I led with Spikeshot Elder and Plated Geopede. Blaine used a Ratchet Bomb to kill the Geopede, but I had a Dragonlord in reserve. Blaine had to use Jace to bounce the Dragonlord, so I spent my fourth turn killing Jace with Spikeshot Elder. I replayed the Dragonlord, but then Blaine played Sun Titan and got back his Ratchet Bomb. I had a Manic Vandal to kill the bomb and wanted to make sure I could protect the Dragonlord, so I took the Titan down with double Burst Lightning and a Bolt instead of playing Molten-Tail Masticore. That put me behind a bit on the board, so when Blaine drew a Frost Titan, he was able to lock down first my Dragonlord and then Masticore and kill me with the Titan and Celestial Colonnade. Oops.
2-1.
Round four: Jordan, Quest for the Holy Relic
I kept double Goblin Guide, Kargan Dragonlord, Flame Slash, Flame Slash, Lightning Bolt, Mountain on the draw. Jordan played Quest for the Holy Relic on turn 1. After I attacked him with Goblin Guide, Jordan played a second Quest, then Memnite, then Glint Hawk, and Memnite again. I didn’t draw a land. On turn 3, Jordan played Ornithopter. I missed on land again, and Jordan played Etched Champion, activated both Quests, put two Argentum Armors on his Ornithopters, and smashed me.
My hand in game 2 was reasonable: Goblin Guide, Geopede, Masticore, and some burn, but Jordan played Kor Firewalker on turn 2 and another one on turn 3, so I had to put the brakes on until Masticore could pull me through. Unfortunately, when I tapped out for Masticore, Jordan played Myrsmith and some free artifacts. I thought that was good news, because now he didn’t have any ammo for his Quest for the Holy Relic.
His next turn was Tempered Steel.
2-2.
I kept playing. Mise.
Round five: Devin, Valakut Ramp
Devin flipped a Lightning Bolt up onto the table while he was shuffling. I looked at an opening hand of Koth, Masticore, and removal spells, looked at the red mana symbols on his sleeves, and kept.
He played Forest, go.
Awkward.
I was fortunate enough to draw a Plated Geopede on turn 3, but Devin played Primeval Titan on turn 5 and Wurmcoil Engine on turn 6, and I never really had a chance.
I had a much more aggressive draw in game 2 and steamrolled Devin with Spikeshot Elder and Kargan Dragonlord. I was actually a little disappointed that Devin never got enough mana to play Primeval Titan… I was looking forward to using the Mark of Mutiny in my hand to deal eleven.
In the third game, I had Goblin Guide with Kargan Dragonlord. Devin used Bolt to kill the Dragonlord, but I had a Koth to keep the pressure on. Devin managed to get to Primeval Titan, but I untapped and went ultimate with Koth; from there, winning was pretty academic.
3-2.
Round six: Brandon, Green Midrange
Brandon mulliganed and played Birds of Paradise on turn 1. I killed it with Burst Lightning. He missed his second land drop. I played Plated Geopede, and he conceded a couple of turns later.
Game 2 was more of the same; I played Spikeshot Elder and killed a bunch of mana dorks. Brandon stalled on land and was never really able to put anything together. He just shook his head after the match, explaining that Red decks were basically his nightmare matchup. I could only agree.
4-2.
Round seven: Paul, Elves
Paul and I are pretty good friends, so there was infinite trash talk as we made our way over to the table. I knew Paul was playing Elves; despite this, he claimed that the matchup was absurdly good for him. I was having absolutely none of it, and so it was a little awkward that I lost the first game after keeping Guide, Geopede, Burst, Masticore and never drawing another spell.
I was a little quiet during sideboarding while I was figuring out if I wanted to bring in Manic Vandal to fight Paul’s Eldrazi Monuments. Paul looked up. “Not so cocky anymore?”
“I mean, you’re my friend… I don’t want to completely crush your spirits. You can have ONE game.”
Paul had Leyline of Vitality in game 2, but it turns out that Burst Lightning is just as good at killing 1/2 Elves as it is 1/1s. Paul put Leatherback Baloth in front of my Dragonlord, so I took Dragonlord to the skies and began racing. Paul had some help in Vengevine, but I was still going to win the race thanks to some chump blockers until he played Eldrazi Monument. Paul left Leatherback on defense to block the Dragonlord, but I had Manic Vandal to nuke the Monument and push through for lethal.
Paul held up the one card left in his hand. “What if this is Fog?”
“I’ll jump off the Space Needle.”
It was Leyline of Vitality.
Paul opened up game 3 with Arbor Elves. I killed it. He played Llanowar Elves. I killed it and played Spikeshot Elder. He frowned, missed his third land drop, and played another mana Elf. I killed it. He glared at me. “Really?”
“You kept a hand of all mana dorks against a Red deck! What did you
think
was going to happen?!”
Paul eventually found some land and made Leatherback Baloth, but between Koth and the Spikeshot Elder, I dismantled him fairly effortlessly.
5-2.
Round eight: Nick, Elves
In game 1, I just took Nick apart with Spikeshot Elder. I played the Elder and used Searing Blaze to kill his Arbor Elf, and then just used Spikeshot, along with Teetering Peaks, to kill everything else he played. Koth showed up to seal the deal.
Game 2 was more of the same; Nick missed his one-drop; I used Searing Blaze to kill his Nissa’s Chosen, and then I used Spikeshot Goblin to pick off more creatures while clocking with Plated Geopede.
6-2. 16th.
Before I go, I want to highlight Travis Woo fourth place decklist from Washington States, Ride the Wave:
Creatures (20)
- 4 Lotus Cobra
- 3 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
- 3 Oracle of Mul Daya
- 3 Avenger of Zendikar
- 3 Joraga Treespeaker
- 4 Primeval Titan
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (28)
Spells (11)
Sideboard
The basic idea here is that you can use Primeval Titan to generate a dump truck load of mana and cast Genesis Wave for some huge amount. When your Genesis Wave hits a landfall creature and a bunch of fetchlands, your opponent is in real trouble. With Ob Nixilis, for example, you might just kill them on the spot. Explore, Cobra, Joraga Treespeaker, and Khalni Heart Expedition all serve to ramp Travis up to six or seven mana very quickly, from which point it becomes very easy to win. A “bad” draw with this deck might be casting Avenger of Zendikar on turn 5 for seven plants with a fetchland in hand.
Travis posted an older list to his Facebook a week or so before States, and we talked about the deck a little bit. The original list had blue for Jace, the Mind Sculptor to go with the acceleration and Oracles, but the mana for Jace, Ob Nixilis, and Genesis Wave was pretty bad. We also had Rampaging Baloths, but Travis ended up cutting them for Garruk and more ramping effects. The deck is quite powerful; note, for example, how Primeval Titan ramps you straight into a huge Genesis Wave, and how Jace Beleren out of the sideboard fights all of the Jace, the Mind Sculptors running around. I encourage everyone to try out this deck; it’s definitely for real.
Max McCall
max dot mccall at gmail dot com