I don’t want to say I told you so, but…
Matt Boccio – PTQ Philadelphia Winner
Aaron Wyant – PTQ Detroit Top 4
Paul Mackinnon – PTQ Alberta Top 8
Cedric Phillips — StarCityGames.com $5000 Standard Open 12th Place
I told you so! The Kithkin reign supreme!
It feels mighty fine to hype Kithkin week after week and then see it perform as well as it did this weekend. However, let’s get one thing straight. The winning decklist from Grand Prix: Sao Paulo is garbage, and I would not recommend playing that deck in an upcoming PTQ. Here’s why:
3 Burrenton Forge Tender
This is not a good card in Kithkin. If playing the deck correctly, there is no matchup where you exclusively want this card. Let me run down the matchups where one may believe you want to draw this card:
RDW – When playing against RDW, you are the control deck. Your goal in this matchup, as stated in an earlier article of mine, is to prolong the game as much as possible and let your cards with built in card-advantage dominate the game (Spectral Procession, Cloudgoat Ranger, Ajani Goldmane.) Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender is the definition of a “win more” card in this matchup. Yes, it sure is nice against them, but you don’t need it to win the matchup. Also, consider the fact that every RDW deck is built to be able to overcome Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender in some way.
Cascade Swans – Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender is actually just a 1/1 with no text in this matchup. In no way does it prevent Swans from going off with Seismic Assault, nor will it save our creatures from Seismic Assault, so what is the point of even having it in your deck? Countering Bituminous Blast? Get real!
Jund/Five-Color Bloodbraid – Both of these decks are surging in popularity, but Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender is pretty useless against them. Pyroclasm effects have never been a big problem for Kithkin decks. If they had been, Kithkin wouldn’t be a very good deck. With proper play, you shouldn’t need Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender to beat the Jund Charms or Volcanic Fallouts these decks have access to. Practice beating Pyroclasms without Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender and you will see how easy it really is.
Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender is the definition of a trap card. It looks great on the surface, but with tight play and a sound understanding of each matchup, you too will find that Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender is simply an unnecessary card and a waste of maindeck/sideboard slots.
I understand the rationale behind why Knight of the White Orchid was inserted into the deck, as you can keep up on the draw in the token matchups and actually be able to cast Cloudgoat Ranger before your opponent, but I simply find it to be unnecessary. Wizened Cenn fulfils numerous roles in Kithkin that Knight of the White Orchid wouldn’t dare to even try to imitate. Wizened Cenn keeps the Kithkin count high for Goldmeadow Stalwart/Rustic Clachan, is a great trick under Windbrisk Heights, and is another Crusade effect in a format where games are decided by how many +1/+1 effects are played during a game. Why reduce the synergy in your deck for such a small effect?
Also, Knight of the White Orchid on the play? Commence vomiting!
I played Ranger of Eos in Pro Tour: Kyoto. It was okay then, but that was because the format was completely different. Kyoto was a format defined by Wrath effects (Boat Brew, Five-Color Control) and finding the best way to beat them. Ranger of Eos helped on that front because it was another army-in-a-can card (Spectral Procession, Cloudgoat Ranger.) Now that we are in a format defined by creatures, and Anathemancer is busy keeping the wrath decks in check, there is no need for additional army-in-a-can cards.
In my testing, I have found that Ranger of Eos never gets you back into a game in which you were behind, nor does it pull you ahead in games that are shifting back to your opponent. The goal of Kithkin is fairly simple: beat the crap out of the opponent as fast as possible. Ranger of Eos does not fit within those parameters, and therefore I cannot recommend playing such a card, let alone three copies in the maindeck.
2 Path to Exile/ 2 Unmake
When I see a decklist with a two-two split on removal, it is clear to me that the pilot of the deck does not have a sound understanding of the format. One of the spells is better than the other, but the pilot is unsure and just decides to play two of each and hope everything works out. If you have any experience with this format, it is very clear that Path to Exile is much better than Unmake due to mana cost alone. One mana versus three mana is quite a bit, and Unmake doesn’t have the ability to deal with Chameleon Colossus, which is very relevant due to the heavy influx of G/B Elves. Trust me when I say that four Path to Exile is the way to go.
Nothing made me more upset then when I saw this. Ajani Goldmane is a card that defines the format in which we are currently playing. I have seen enough games end with turn 3 Spectral Procession into turn 4 Ajani Goldmane that I knew that I wanted to maximize my chances to do that as often as possible. Playing one Ajani Goldmane gives you so few opportunities to do such a gamebreaking play. How one can only play one Ajani Goldmane in a format defined by +1/+1 effects, when Ajani Goldmane is the best +1/+1 effect, is beyond me!
…
Now, I don’t want anyone to misunderstand me. I have no problem with Daniel de Almeida Alves. I am happy for him that he won Grand Prix: Sao Paulo and defended his home turf. However, I have played Magic for a very long time. I have learned to question everything. No decklist is perfect. Every format we play in is consistently evolving. In my opinion, Daniel’s decklist was very poor, and since I am the Kithkin Advisor, I cannot advise anyone to play this decklist in an upcoming PTQ.
But, if I am going to run down a Grand Prix winning decklist, I had better have a real sick decklist in store right? Lucky you!
Creatures (20)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (25)
Spells (12)
Sideboard
The maindeck should come as no surprise. Nothing has really changed outside of the fact that I am no longer splashing a color. Splashing a color is no longer necessary to succeed with Kithkin. Let me explain:
W/b Kithkin was made as a way to combat W/B Tokens. Zealous Persecution was a major problem for Mono-White Kithkin, so the only way to address the problem was to play with them myself. With W/B Tokens declining in popularity, there are fewer Zealous Persecutions in the format. With fewer Zealous Persecutions in the format, there is less of a need for me to splash for them.
W/u Kithkin was made as a way to combat Swans. Outside of Grand Prix: Barcelona, Swans hasn’t had much success because it simply isn’t a very good deck. With Swans declining sharply in popularity, it was safe for me to put the Meddling Mages and Negates back into hiding.
W/r Kithkin was made as a way to combat Boat Brew and Five-Color Control. With both of those decks being close to nonexistent due to Anathemancer, there is no need for me to splash for Ajani Vengeant and Banefire any longer.
Isn’t Kithkin awesome? You can change the deck to beat the metagame you predict. All you need are a few nonbasics and a couple awesome splash cards and all your worries go away!
The real changes are in the sideboard:
4 Paladin En-Vec
Hello Jund. Meet Paladin En-Vec! If you look at the winning decklist from the StarCityGames.com $5000 Standard Open in Atlanta this past weekend, you will find a deck that has no shot against a resolved Paladin En-Vec. I really wish I was able to find them Saturday for the $5k, but had to play the terrible Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender instead. If Jund/Five-Color Bloodbraid are popular in your metagame, go find some Paladin En-Vecs and they will be happy to solve the problem.
4 Unmake
G/B Elves and Jund/Five-Color Bloodbraid are picking up in popularity around the PTQ circuit. With that in mind, it was time to sideboard a spot removal spell to take down all of their awesome creatures. Sideboarded games are hard to lose when you have eight spot removal spells to take care of Putrid Leech, Imperious Perfect, and other bothersome gigantic monsters.
This is a concession to the U/W Reveillark decks that run around at PTQs. This seldom played Kithkin enchantment is a great way to force a Wrath effect from your opponent without having to extend so heavily into it. It’s also great against Faeries as they do not like having to deal with haste creatures.
I’m sure everyone is sick of reading Kithkin match reports, but I did play in a tournament this weekend, so I will be brief:
Round 1 versus Five-Color Cascade Land Destruction
Game 3 we are both stuck on two lands. I draw my third land so I can resolve a Glorious Anthem to duck Pyroclasm effects and my opponent concedes a little prematurely. My opponent was a real nice kid from Alabama who asked me to sign a sheet a paper with “Cedric Phillips pwned you!” after the match. Pretty sweet!
1-0
Round 2 versus GW Tokens
Game 3 I realize that I can no longer play around Wrath of God/Martial Coup. I put out some Stillmoon Cavaliers and hope he doesn’t find a Wrath effect in time. He doesn’t, and I take it down.
2-0
Round 3 versus Five-Color Bloodbraid
I was featured this round. Wowie! Game 2 my opponent plays a Bloodbraid Elf and cascades into a Everlasting Torment. He decides to cast it and now my Kithkin soldier tokens can trade with his problematic Putrid Leeches. I play a Spectral Procession and it isn’t answered for what felt like turns. After the game, I explain to him his mistake. He says he was expecting me to have Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tenders (!!) after sideboard.
3-0
Round 4 versus W/r Kithkin
I am playing against a young kid who is a little nervous to be playing against me. No need for that. I’m not even that good at Magic. Game 3 I play a Spectral Procession with a Windbrisk Heights in play. He has out two Windbrisk Heights of his own and decides to Pithing Needle them as he was scared of what I was going to play off of mine. I end the game by going Spectral Procession #2, Spectral Procession #3, Glorious Anthem. My Windbrisk Heights was hiding a Wizened Cenn, while his was Glorious Anthem and Spectral Procession. I don’t know if he would have won the game, but I think he gave me too much credit for having something awesome under my Windbrisk Heights.
4-0
Round 5 versus Jund Aggro (eventual tournament champion Chris Greene)
Game 1 he bumrushes me pretty fast, but I am able to stabilize and finish him off. The last two cards in his hand are the most overrated card in Standard: ANATHEMANCER!
Game 2 he mulligans to five or four. The Champ’s only loss in the tournament was me!
5-0
Round 6 versus W/U Reveillark (AJ Sacher)
The games were pretty close, but I got stalled on mana at the wrong times game 1 and 3, while his draws were smooth all three games. The matchup is wretched anyway.
5-1
Round 7 versus Jund Aggro
Game 1 I am dead to rights until I peel three straight Cloudgoat Rangers. I can really play!
6-1
Round 8 versus W/b Kithkin
All three games were ridiculously close, as he had Zealous Persecutions and I didn’t. Game 3, the game gets to the point where I have to play both my Stillmoon Cavaliers and simply hope he doesn’t draw a Black mana for his Zealous Persecution in his hand. Clearly, I got there as I wouldn’t tell the story if I didn’t!
7-1
Round 9 versus Five-Color Bloodbraid (Nick Becvar)
Nick is a good friend of mine from Indianapolis and we came to the tournament together. Games 2 and 3 I mana flood out, and Nick draws multiple Cryptic Commands. Poor time to get mana flooded, but that is the nature of the beast.
7-2, 12th Place
Overall, a good weekend. A 12th place finish in the StarCityGames.com $5000 Standard Open, defeated the Balefire Liege and his fiancee on my way to a 5-3 finish on the Sunday PTQ, and got to hang out with a lot of my good friends. I’d do it again given, the opportunity.
Last week I said I was going to get controversial about the rule changes, but I have changed my mind since then. I’ve done this for a few reasons:
1) I agree with pretty much everything Patrick Chapin said in his article. I trust R&D.
2) I’m going to keep playing anyway. No matter how bad the new rules are, Magic is my mistress. I cannot get enough of her.
No one likes change, but I am always willing to give it a chance before I cry like no tomorrow. If the changes are really as bad as everyone is making them out to be, I will be the first to complain about it. But I am going to give it an honest try first.
That’s all for this week. Hopefully next week I will have a PTQ win to write about. Hit the forums up, kids!