For the past few years, my small playtesting group and kept trying to find a way to build the perfectly metagamed Extended deck by taking a Weenie White base, adding blue for Meddling Mage and augmenting it with a number of “silver bullet” cards that could be fetched using Enlightened Tutor.
Sound familiar? We could never quite make it work. In retrospect, our problem was putting in either too many silver bullet cards, to the point where the creature base was watered down to ineffectiveness, or simply the wrong ones.
Flash forward to last year and a little thing called “Temporary Solution,” which was exactly what I wanted to create… only it was good. What Temporary Solution did was retain the silver bullets, but only a chamber’s worth of six or so, and instead depended upon a primary strategy of Parallax cards plus Stifle for one-sided Wrath of God or Armageddon effects, which could easily be tutored for and would devastate the field. Creature based decks faltered beneath losing their army to under a Wave, and control decks tend to need land in order to work.
What does this have to do with Standard?
While I was following the Honolulu coverage, I was immediately drawn to the presence of Dimir House Guard present in the large number of Orzhov-based control decks (having just written previously about Orzhov Control and whiffing on using House Guards — old age and alcohol is finally catching up with my brain, ‘twould seem). These control decks were utilizing the Temporary Solution idea of having multiple maindeck tutor targets that were versatile against the field (Wrath, Fetters), as well as singletons or silver bullets. It was a brilliant strategy.
That said, the various flavors of Orzhov Control, either with Debtor’s Knell (For Whom the Knell Tolls ) or without (Bad Religion) — Teddy Cardgame gets my Good Man of the Week Award for coming up with the most and best deck monikers since… well, ever… it was not to be the control decks with the highest finishes. No, those honors went to the more aggressive versions and the escaped-from-Kamigawa-block “Ghost Dad.”
So why didn’t the Orzhov control decks succeed? On paper, they had everything you’d want; discard, spot and global removal, lockdown elements, and they could tutor for the shutdown elements or singletons. Was it the small creature base? Dependence on cards that were too expensive in an aggro format? Or was the deck loaded with the wrong bullets?
For some reason, that last sentence reminded me of a scene from Love At First Bite (with the ever-tan George Hamilton as Dracula — how’s that for a bizarre juxtaposition):
Dr. Rosenberg: The second way to kill a vampire, Count; three silver bullets through the heart!
(Rosenberg shoots Dracula three times)
Count Dracula: No, Rosenberg, that is a werewolf.
Dr. Rosenberg: A werewolf? Really? Are you sure?
When did that movie come out? Late 70s? Boy howdy, I am really dating myself now.
Carbon dating, that is.
If you are going to go with the silver bullet strategy, you need to have the right bullets. After Honolulu, there’s now a better picture of the metagame, ergo, the silver bullet strategy doesn’t have to be quite as scattershot.
Odds are you are going to be running into the following more frequently these days:
U/R Wildfire/Eminent Domain
Orzhov Aggro/Ghost Dad
Roxodon Hierarchy
Gruul Beats
Zoo
Izzet-Tron
Owling Mine
What bullets do you need to beat these monstrosities?
Cranial Extraction
The drawback to Cranial Extraction is that it doesn’t impact cards already on the board, and against creature-heavy decks, eliminating all their Burning-Tree Shamans or Watchwolf(s) isn’t quite as crippling as negating Enduring Ideals or Wildfires.
Bottled Cloister
In a previous article regarding Orzhov Control, I talked about how aggressive Orzhov decks, packing tons of weenies and discard effects, gave me a lot of trouble. If you have no hand during your opponent’s main phase, suddenly that discard becomes a lot less irritating, and you fill your hand up even faster. It does mean that your deck isn’t as reactive as it could be, but given how a Wrath of God destroys their team, I can live with that. My only worry would be a Terashi’s Grasp destroying your hand better than any Hypnotic Specter could, but that’s simply a risk one has to accept.
Night of Souls’ Betrayal
While there’s already oodles (not a technical term, but you get the gist of it) of removal in the deck, a card like NoSB might be overkill. Still, I like it for killing Meloku-made Illusion tokens, Dark Confidants and the hordes of X/1s in the various B/W, R/G and Zoo decks; especially the otherwise annoying Giant Solifuge.
The downside: when all your creatures have five toughness, they can laugh off a Char. Knock them down to 4/4s and they aren’t quite as scary. That’s just a quibble, though, and a minor one at that.
Aside: Giant Solifuge, as has been pointed out, is a solifugid, which is a member of the arachnid family, which also includes ticks, mites, scorpions and, of course, spiders.
Solifugids are not insects — or Insects, for that matter.
I know, I know, I’m just too anal retentive for my own good…but it still annoys me.
Nightmare Void and Persecute
I’ll lump the two of these together, since they form the basis of the deck’s non-Castigate discard suite. Both have their selling points. Persecute will clear the deck and is almost always good against most any deck, considering the amount of gold cards in the environment. Nightmare Void is a little more pinpoint and reusable — the dredge costs aren’t prohibitive considering Phyrexian Arena will recoup a lost draw.
Which is better? Depends on the matchup, but for sheer power, you can’t be Persecute. I’d be tempted to run one of both for the versatility factor, but one doesn’t want to water down the deck excessively.
Is Nightmare Void better than Castigate? Strictly speaking; yes, it’s reusable and will always snag a card. But while the candy of Nightmare Void is quite dandy, the liquor of Castigate is quicker. Only so many slots to go around, though.
Scour
I previously mentioned that old school Eminent Domain was a real pain the butt for me. How good is that deck without Annexes? There’s a few other valid targets (opposing Fetters, Arenas and Greater Good Gifts, for example), but Scour mostly there to defend against U/R Wildfire decks. With Mortify in the maindeck, Persecute and Cranial Extraction within easy reach and Terashi’s Grasp in the sideboard, however, is it really necessary?
Eradicate
Another card I may have been a little too in-love with. The deck already packs Wrath of God, Last Gasp and Mortify, as well as pseudo-removal in Faith’s Fetters. Eradicate is most likely overkill.
Ivory Mask
Just about every deck in the format wants to aim something at your dome. Char, Lightning Helix, Castigate, Sudden Impact. You are not Tickle Me Elmo. You do not like being touched. This is pretty much an automatic bullet to add to the chamber of the maindeck.
Diabolic Tutor
Tutor for a Tutor? Not like it hasn’t been done before. I used to see Vampiric for Vampiric frequently, although that was more for protecting your hand from Duress than anything else. Bear with me here, this has merit. While over one-third of the deck can be hunted up with the House Guard, said House Guard can also be shut down by Pithing Needles. A little redundant backup might be worth considering, especially if you need to hunt up a Knell, Mortify, or Miren.
Leyline of the Void
Gifts Ungiven-based decks weren’t quite the bomb in Honolulu, but they’re still out there. Outside of Cranial Extraction, it’s your best choice for putting a halt to their reanimation shenanigans. It also shuts down opposing Dragon-to-the-bin triggers. Maindeck? No. Sideboard? Definitely.
Seize the Soul
This card is absolutely brutal against Gruul Beats. However, the deck already beats the Gruul soundly about the head and shoulders with the existing removal suite and certainly don’t need more (see Eradicate). Against other decks in the format, it’s fairly mediocre. It might be something to slide in later if the metagame shifts.
Icy Manipulator
I mention it simply because it falls under the “best available four drop” stratagem. Would I play it? Only in Eminent Domain, and only as a four-of. As a tutor target, it’s not exactly optimal.
Zombify
Compared to Debtors’ Knell, extremely substandard.
Honden of Cleansing Fire
Let’s contrast and compare: One enchantment shuts down a permanent and gains you four life once. One gains you two life a turn… and doesn’t impact the board in any other form. I’ll stick with the Fetters, thank you very much. Hondens are a luxury you can’t afford.
Based on this list and the results from Honolulu, I’d reload using these bullets:
Ivory Mask
Persecute
Nightmare Void
Cranial Extraction
Bottled Cloister
Night of Souls’ Betrayal
Leyline of the Void
Appending this to the “average” For Whom the Knell Tolls deck (I was probably a bit too hasty to dismiss the power of Debtors’ Knell and now believe that the decks running Knells are the strongest of the control decks), we get something that looks like this:
Creatures (7)
Lands (24)
Spells (29)
I’d like to fit Scour in here, but am going with Night of Souls’ Betrayal for now. Might change that later, though. Feel free to discuss in the forums.
No massive changes here. What probably needs some explanation is Castigate. I like having extra discard against certain control matchups. This could be Nezumi Shortfang, which has the bonus of being fairly reusable. It also has the disadvantage of requiring constant mana, not being pinpoint, and being very fragile. Castigate is a guaranteed one-for-one and will clear out that a specific card to, hopefully, set up for a Persecute or Extraction.
I freely admit, I could be wrong here; the discard rat may be the superior option. I encourage you to find out for yourself and draw your own conclusions.
Only two Orzhov Basilica. I like them a great deal, but I don’t like drawing them in multiples against speedier decks or, God forbid, land destruction.
I did mention previously that I wasn’t sold on the Descendant of Kiyomaro tech. I went down to the lot, kicked the tires, took them for a spin, and left the lot with a set of four. They tilt any aggro matchup even further in your favor, and give you a little extra game against the not-so-great U/R Wildfire matchups.
I think this is pretty close to an optimal build. It already beats Zoo and Gruul pretty handily, and after sideboarding, you have game against B/W Beats, Greater Good Gifts, the various flavors of U/R and…oh dear.
I forgot something, didn’t I?
There’s no way to sugarcoat this one. Owling Mine is as close to an unwinnable matchup as you are going to get. Yes, you can get beaten by the best players in the world, but it still feels like you’re getting steamrolled by a nine-year-old who just graduated from Pokemon.
I scoured the decklists from Honolulu looking for something, anything, that might turn the tables. And one person — one — ran something that was a specific defense against Owling Mine.
That card?
One With Nothing.
Once I had my John McEnroe “You cannot be serious!” moment and that eye twitch went away, I thought: Call me crazy, but this might actually work.
Owling Mine depends on Ebony Owl Netsuke and Sudden Impact to kill you. Embrace nothingness, dump your hand and let your opponent fill your hand back up with their Howling Mines and Kamis of the Crescent Moon, but you should be able to stay under the Netsuke and avoid the dreaded Impact/Twincast for twenty.
But One with Nothing is just… so… narrow! And yet… do you have any other answers for Owling Mine? Are you going to live long enough to get an Ivory Mask in play, and that may just get bounced?
I just can’t bring myself to do it and pack One With Nothing in the sideboard, but it may prove to be your best only defense against Owling Mine. Realistically, Your best hope is that Owling Mine was a one-hit wonder and the hordes of Gruul and Zoo decks will beat the Netsukes and Kamis into the back of the trade binders.
I think this deck has all the answers… at least until somebody changes the questions again.
And for something completely different:
During my recent turn with the Dailies, I did one column about how I happened to be part-owner of a game store in scenic central Oregon and what running it entailed.
My fellow co-owner is now looking at other business opportunities and has decided he would like to sell his majority share of the business.
If you’re reading this, would like to own a game store and would like to move to beautiful Bend, Oregon, please give this man a jingle.