As I write this, I am in East Lansing, with Mark Herberholz, Rich Hoaen, and the rest of our posse. We have been having a grand ol’ time of things, but I am taking a step back to reflect. The thing is, we have mostly been drafting Two-Headed Giant, and this article is to be about Block (It has been preordained by the stars). How did I get here, lying on the floor next to a pile of nine open boxes of product and an empty bottle of Cold Duck? What are the explosions coming from the other room? And why am I wearing high heels? At least there is a plate of fried drumsticks next to me. From the looks of things, only three have been eaten so far, so everything would appear to be turning up Patrick.
Let’s rewind a couple days.
*sound effect of a VCR rewinding*
On Thursday, I meet up with Mitchell Tamblyn at the airport. We chill for a while, and wait for Blue-Haired Rich Hoaen of drafting with Rich fame. Rich arrives, and we have a little… incident… regarding a salt shaker shattering.
After kicking it with these two fine gentlemen for an hour or so, Ben Farkas arrives, and we are off. The airport they all flew into is in Detroit, which is a good 90 -120 minutes from East Lansing, where Mark Herberholz resides. We arrive, and the drafting begins immediately. We took breaks to go enjoy the fantastic nightlife of Michigan State University, and are in preparation to see our fathers (those of us who live in Michigan). Still, as a whole, it is fair to say we are in the process of drafting DI. I recorded a draft, and was going to talk about it today, but the Montreal GP is coming up this weekend and this is the first week of the new schedule here at StarCityGames.com, so perhaps I will talk about that draft next week. Instead, I’ll be talking Time Spiral Block Constructed. First up, though, we’ve a few words on Two-Headed Giant drafting, with Rich Hoaen (of Drafting With Rich fame).
Patrick Chapin: So, Rich, what do you think are the key differences between 2HG and regular booster draft?
Rich Hoaen: Many cards change in value compared to regular drafting. Bounce is very good, as are storm, discard, and permission, as well as cards that were made for multiplayer such as Urborg Syphon-Mage.
PC: What are the three best commons from each set?
RH: Empty the Warrens, Cancel, and Mindstab from Time Spiral. Essence Warden, Dead/Gone, and Shaper Parasite are the tops from Planar Chaos. Future Sight’s Top 3 are Sprout Swarm, Death Rattle, and Ichor Slick.
PC: What is the best way for someone to get better at this format?
RH: As with all Magic formats, the key is to practice, practice, practice.
PC: Why is your hair blue?
RH: Mise.
Before we get into my new Block creations, lets take a look at some of the field.
Up first, we have Mono-Red.
Creatures (25)
- 4 Greater Gargadon
- 4 Magus of the Scroll
- 4 Mogg War Marshal
- 4 Keldon Marauders
- 3 Sulfur Elemental
- 2 Emberwilde Augur
- 4 Gathan Raiders
Lands (24)
Spells (11)
This might be the most popular archetype at the beginning of the season. It is strong, but easily beatable if you tune your deck to fight it. The strategy is obvious: hit quickly and finish with burn. Gargadon is a fine finisher, but mainly trumps Tendrils of Corruption, this deck’s weakness.
The first thing you need to know is that any deck that is having trouble with this match-up can sideboard 4 Epochrasites and gain some percentage. Next of all, you must be able to answer the Gargal. Slaughter Pact will be huge, having obvious synergy with Tolaria West, but also keeping you protected from the threat of an opponent going all in when you are tapped out.
Personally, if I were to run a strategy like this, I would add a second color and probably raise the mana curve a bit. I am not a huge fan of the Magus or the Embermage. I want some fatties. I got fattie love, baby! Gimme a fatty-boom-batty, baby! Also, the real question is how to finish someone off. If only I knew the answer to that riddle, than I would probably break the format in two.
Next, we have a deck that generated a lot of buzz, but ended up being the Great White Hype.
Creatures (29)
- 4 Soltari Priest
- 2 Benalish Cavalry
- 4 Knight of the Holy Nimbus
- 4 Serra Avenger
- 4 Calciderm
- 4 Shade of Trokair
- 3 Stonecloaker
- 4 Knight of Sursi
Lands (23)
Spells (8)
Not much to say here, just a few updates from the new set. This new list is extremely resilient to Sulfur Elemental, which will be a popular choice. The Horizon Canopy really help avoid the common problem of mana flooding, and the lack of one-toughness creatures is a huge draw. Many will discount White Weenie after its poor showing in Japan, but it could conceivably make a comeback in the season to come. It may not be your weapon of choice, but it is still vital to test against WW, as you will face it, and it does partially define the format (albeit as a Tier 2 strategy).
Another archetype that must be considered is that Pickles style that many love, for varying reasons. Here is an update modeled after Kazuya Mitamura’s second place deck from the Pro Tour.
Creatures (14)
- 4 Shadowmage Infiltrator
- 2 Brine Elemental
- 2 Draining Whelk
- 2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
- 4 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
Lands (24)
Spells (22)
As I am sure you are familiar with by now, the plan is to lock the opponent with Brine Elemental and Vesuvan Shapeshifter. Don’t worry, I’ll get to original decks in a minute. It is just important to provide some context with which to examine the new decks.
Up next we have an update of the Herberholz block deck from Japan.
Creatures (6)
Lands (24)
Spells (30)
The basic plan is to control the game with infinite card drawing and Black removal, using the permission only on deadly threats, such as Haunting Hymn. Finishing in typical Dralnu form, you have a few over-powered monsters and the Factories.
According to Mark Herberholz, this is what he would probably play, if it were not for the fact that it is unrealistic to play this in a timed event as you are too likely to get multiple draws on time.
He suggests finding a way to speed it up. My answer? Korlash, obv.
Creatures (11)
Lands (23)
Spells (26)
This is a translation of my Korlash deck from Standard. It has many of the same strategies as the Herberholz Teferi deck, but with a Black base instead of permission. The Haunting Hymns give a proactive plan to punish the opponent for playing around Damnation. In addition, they are just fantastic against control. The turn 3 Coalition Relic, Turn 4 Hymn play is crazy good.
This is an exciting deck that I will be working on a fair amount as the season unfolds. It remains to be seen if it is worth splashing all the colors, or if it better to just rock the Mono-B with Augur of Skulls, etc. It does seem that you need the Blue card draw, as there aren’t any good ways I can think of to draw cards in Black. (Null Profusion is too slow, but might be exciting.)
An alternative way to run the Black removal strategy is to build around a shell closer to what Michael J. Flores ran in Regionals.
Creatures (12)
Lands (22)
Spells (26)
Obviously the plan here is to abuse Mishra. Check out Flores’ Regionals article for the basic strategy. You can find that here. Remember, Epochrasite is a combo with Mishra (the second one is a 4/4). Also, Chromatic Star + Academy Ruins + Mishra is obviously gas.
Up next, we have my take on Tarmogoyf.dec.
Creatures (20)
Lands (20)
Spells (21)
A big part of this format is going to be the Gargadon wars. It is a huge threat, blanks Tendrils, is a much needed one-drop, and is just plain awesome versus everyone. Whatever you do play, whether it is in Montreal or at a PTQ, make sure your maindeck is set to deal with Gargadon. It is why Slaughter Pact is so vital. Multiple Pulls main is a fine call, as it always has a target, whether it is Chronicler, Detritivore, Search, Lotus Bloom, or Gargadon.
This deck is obviously going hard on the Tarmogoyf plan. It is probably going too far in that direction, but it is interesting food for thought. Here, the dilemma is whether to build around Tarmogoyf, or just running him as a 3/4 for 1G in a random deck.
Up next, my update on Wild Pair.dec.
Creatures (23)
- 4 Mystic Snake
- 4 Wall of Roots
- 1 Draining Whelk
- 3 Riftwing Cloudskate
- 2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
- 2 Whitemane Lion
- 4 Epochrasite
- 3 Venser, Shaper Savant
Lands (20)
Spells (18)
This is obviously a rough sketch, but it is taking the deck in a little different direction than a lot of people are taking with Pair. For some words on this deck, check out my article from before the Japan Pro Tour here.
Up next a hybrid of Korlash and Tarmogoyf.
Creatures (12)
Lands (22)
Spells (26)
The theory here is to just gain enough value from your spells to make your undercosted fatties nuts. This list is probably way off, but I’m sure you get where I am coming from.
The next idea that I want to look at is a Spellweaver Volute combo deck.
Spells (34)
This is basically a new take on Draco Explosion. The idea is to set up two Riddles for ten apiece, often using Spellweaver Volute with Mystic Speculation to set up the combo, and eventually finishing with a bought-back Riddle. This build needs some serious work, but the combo has potential. Riddle is what really drives this deck.
…
This article is almost over, and I seem to have missed the whole weekend of craziness in East Lansing. Let me see if I can sum it up…
We went to more than a few local watering holes. I had a steak. Rich did not eat two El Guardo’s, contrary to popular opinion. I set the high score in Tetris, despite having not played since the 80’s. Herberholz introduced us to the Shark Bowl (a contest involving teams emptying bowls of drinks with straws as fast as they can). We encountered a Bachelorette Party featuring a bride with spinners on her nipples, going around awarding kisses and dances to every random guy depending on their spin. There was a game of Beer Pong out on the lawn, involving the neighbors, which descended into violence. And Herberholz was buying dinner with Richie Bucks.
Wait! Richie Bucks? What are Richie Bucks? In a drunken stupor, Herberholz and Hoaen got into an argument about when they played on a team together. There was talk of betting a G, but cooler heads prevailed and the bet of $100 was agreed upon… and promptly paid by Rich, as he immediately realized, when shaking hands with Mark, that Mark was correct. Mark remembered none of this the next day, however, and was delighted to awaken with a hundred dollar bill stuck in his underwear. This, of course, led to Mark blowing it on appetizers at Bennigan’s. Rich may have the last laugh though, as they also made a bet where Rich bet $100 that Mark couldn’t drive to GP: Montreal in nine hours from Lansing. Map Quest says it will take ten hours and fourteen minutes. There was an agreed-upon stipulation that the limit on border time is twenty minutes. Anything above that doesn’t count against Mark. Rich though he was lock, but what he failed to realize is that Heezy knows a short-cut that cuts an hour, and he is prepared to drive 100 miles per hour the whole way. I will keep you informed on the outcome in the weeks to come.
Big thanks to Mark Herberholz for hosting an excellent weekend of gaming and good times. Until next week, good luck and have fun.
Later, Yo.
Patrick Chapin
“The Innovator”