Okay, so maybe not. But it’s close, I swear.
As I said in my
U/B Vat article,
I was searching for an aggro deck to play with. “Control” decks are more tap-out midrange than control, and that just isn’t how I want to be doing things. If I’m going to work so hard to stabilize, it better not leave them drawing live to ten outs. That’s just unbelievable, but the fact is, it’s very hard for modern-day control decks to keep control.
I wanted to attack, but everything sucked. Vengevines couldn’t beat Titans or race the Ramp decks. RDW was alright I guess, but easily hated out. I tried Boros, but after every single creature I played got Lightning Bolted or Doom Bladed, I knew it was time to move on.
I think the first person I saw suggest Squadron Hawk was GP Top 8er and SCG Open Champ Pat McGregor. Aris Dutka then finished in the Top 16 of SCG Open: Boston with Hawks in the maindeck. A seemingly never-ending stream of dudes to carry Adventuring Gear was exactly what I wanted. In recent weeks, Squadron Hawk has become industry standard.
After my adventures in Charlotte and Boston, I returned to my old place of residence: Indianapolis. Staying with Gabe Walls is always interesting because he’s like an alien when it comes to Constructed Magic. Before every tournament, he needs me to bring him up to date on the format, one deck at a time. This is typically tiresome and eventually leads to him brewing things that have either been done before, or just end up being terrible.
Thankfully, this time he quickly attached himself to the R/U/G deck, and we played a ten-game set. I won 7-3 with no great draws on my part. His endgame was pathetic, as I had no problem dealing with Frost Titans via Cunning Sparkmage plus Basilisk Collar, which most decks didn’t seem to be playing maindeck.
Gabe added a second Avenger of Zendikar which would supposedly solve that problem, but it was still mostly blanked by Sword of Body and Mind. Sword, while pathetic compared to the other ones, is still quite good. He also added a maindeck Pyroclasm in order to be drawing live against a quick swarm.
He also played eleven cards to sideboard in against Boros, not specifically to beat me, but because he assumed that I’d give my deck to ten other people.
Here’s what I played in the Kentucky Open (which is, as far as I’m concerned, still Koros):
Creatures (24)
- 4 Goblin Guide
- 3 Plated Geopede
- 4 Steppe Lynx
- 3 Cunning Sparkmage
- 3 Stoneforge Mystic
- 4 Squadron Hawk
- 3 Spikeshot Elder
Lands (25)
Spells (11)
“Goblin Guide over Kor Duelist in Koros?”
When I wrote about Koros before, I mentioned that two damage over one damage in the early game wasn’t a very big difference, but that was because of Ranger of Eos. When you have the ability to combo kill Fires of Yavimaya style, the early damage doesn’t matter that much. However, this deck doesn’t have that luxury, so it seems like Goblin Guide is far more important now, despite its horrendous drawback.
This means that you need to be consistently aggressive in the early game, as you don’t have the Ranger of Eos push in the midgame. I felt like I needed to play more one-drops than I would like, and they needed to pack a bigger punch. Duelist is very hit or miss, whereas you always know what you’re going to get with Goblin Guide.
There aren’t many good one-drops right now, but I certainly did consider Elite Vanguard, Student of Warfare, and Kor Duelist.
“You
cut
a Plated Geopede? This is a landfall deck, and he, like, landfalls and stuff…”
He certainly fits with the “theme,” but there are times when the theme isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. In order to be a midrange-ish aggro deck, I had to play Squadron Hawks, and they were amazing. Drawing two Plated Geopedes is basically the worst ever, especially with “only” 25 land, so I cut one. I had plenty of two-drops.
If it weren’t for my perceived notion that Goblin Guide was a necessity, then I probably would’ve cut Geopedes for Kor Firewalkers. Most people blindly sided in Flashfreeze, Celestial Purge, or their own Firewalkers in against me, so I ended up siding out Goblin Guides and Plated Geopedes a fair amount anyway.
Just because “landfall” appears on some of the cards in the deck doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to play every landfall card available. There could be better options.
“Kor Skyfisher is awesome, especially with Teetering Peaks!”
That’s cute and everything, but I’d prefer to be able to cast my spells. With Plated Geopede still in the deck, Terramorphic Expanse is basically Teetering Peaks that can be a Plains if you want. If you have multiple landfall triggers, Expanse becomes exponentially better. If there were no landfall triggers and you just had random animals like Goblin Guide and Kor Skyfisher, then sure, Peaks might be a little better, but that’s not typically how the games play out.
After all, Kor Skyfisher is pretty bad regardless, especially compared to Squadron Hawk. Skyfisher vs. Hawk is very much like Goblin Guide vs. Kor Duelist, yet I went with Guide over Duelist, which very well could be a deckbuilding error. Skyfisher just isn’t what you need in the face of all these removal spells.
It does allow you to cheat on lands, but I honestly don’t want to do that. I’m surprised that I played 25 lands instead of 26 honestly. Really not sure how I convinced myself to do that.
“Only Lightning Bolts for burn spells? Where are the Burst Lightnings? Where is your reach?”
I don’t need it. If they managed to stabilize, it’s rarely at a low enough life total that two burn spells is going to kill them. If you have the two burn spells, they probably would’ve been dead already if they were threats. Unless there’s a plethora of things that really need killing, you shouldn’t play that much burn.
My sideboard is weak. It looks like the sideboard I had for a couple days leading up to the MMS that I first played Koros in, before I experimented with a few different cards and found some more powerful things. Going forward, that isn’t the list that I would recommend. A sideboard should drastically change your matchups, but the above merely slightly improves matchups.
I wanted a second Revoke Existence (which Bobby Graves played instead of the Tectonic Edge) for WW Quest decks and potentially the mirror or Wurmcoil Engine. Mark of Mutiny was clearly for Primeval Titan decks. However, neither WW Quest nor Ramp is very prevalent in real life anymore, but they still clean up quite nicely on Magic Online. Depending on what platform you’re playing on, I’d recommend different sideboards.
Goblin Ruinblasters are weird. Most games, your opponent is forced to tap our for a Jace or something similar, at which point, a hasty Ruinblaster not only sets them back but can likely kill their Jace. On the other hand, my opponents tend to board in Flashfreeze against me, which are typically ineffective. If you mulligan and/or have a slow hand, Ruinblasters are a tasty Mana Leak or Flashfreeze target.
Still, you want something to bring in that can change the dynamics of the matchup. Killing their land and preventing a Titan by a turn or shutting off the double white or black needed for their sweepers is often crucial. While Ruinblaster might not be the ideal sideboard card, it seems better than the alternatives like Koth, which is weak for many of the same reasons that Ruinblaster is.
The Tectonic Edges are for matchups where you want an extra land, like when you’re boarding in four-drops like Ruinblasters. It complements the land destruction aspect but also allows you to make your land drops for Adventuring Gear, which means they probably have to kill every single creature you play.
Gabe, Chris Andersen, and I drove down to Louisville on Friday night and met up with E McKenzie and crew. Outside our hotel, Gabe struck up a conversation with two young ladies who poked fun at Chrandersen for looking like a child, despite being 21. In order to prove his age, he handed over his ID, only for them to fall into a fit of laughter due to his name being spelled with an “F.” They took a picture of his ID, because, apparently, it was just that unbelievable.
I didn’t dare tell them my name was spelled with a “G.”
I was committed to Koros a few days leading up to the event, while Chris and Gabe wanted to play R/U/G, as it fits their “I don’t really want to win, just do sweet things” attitude. Now, being the old man that I am, I can respect a good beatdown deck, even if I do play Koros more controlling than most would.
E was on U/B, Eli was going to trade, but opted to play my Koros list at the last second, and Christian had a nice U/G/B Ob Nixilis brew, similar to the one that Patrick Chapin and co. played at Pro Tour San Juan.
Gabe didn’t want to stay for Extended, but knew that I had bills to pay. He offered up the option of splitting, and then if one of us won the tournament, we’d go home. I took it, and then he included Chris in the deal at the last second.
I wanted to play Extended, especially because I think that Jund is insane right now with the new Scars duals. Those of you who send me Jund lists on Facebook need to rethink your Scars dual land count, as playing with nine enters-the-battlefield-tapped lands is a joke in Extended.
We next level credit card gamed for entry fees, with Eli buying out. All of us chose a card to represent us, Chris being Spinal Villain, Gabe as Propaganda, while I chose the mighty Plains. With E and me down to heads-up, it was kind of scary, but since I’d literally never lost a credit card game up until that point, I was confident.
Basic Plains failed me, and soon enough I was paying $180 to enter the Kentucky Open. Now stuck, I tried to game on any and everything, including sleeves, which Chrandersen lost. That kid runs so bad.
In the morning, E and I played roughly seven games of our matchup, with me emerging victorious every single time. E said he won a game and described the events, but I literally don’t remember that one happening. For his sake, I’ll say that he went 1-6.
Round One: U/G/B Ramp
Both games were relatively easy. The only thing I wasn’t sure about was how many, if any, Mark of Mutinies to board in. I saw little of his deck game 1 but assumed he had some Titans, Persecutors, and/or Ob Nixilis, and hoped that he didn’t have Avenger. Regardless, Journey to Nowhere seemed insane against every deck, which made me wonder why I wasn’t playing more of them.
1-0
Round Two: U/W
I got paired against my buddy Tony this round, who sold off all of his cards except for the ones to play U/W, which I didn’t know about. Pre-tournament, he was asking for a Wurmcoil Engine, so I put him on a slower deck, but it didn’t really influence my decisions.
First game, I kept a sketchy five-lander and promptly flooded out for the loss. Second and third games went much better for me, as I got some card advantage with my cards, killed his threats, and assembled a solid board position. With Kor Firewalkers, Linvala, and Baneslayer, I assumed he wasn’t playing Day of Judgment, but it just turns out that he never drew any.
2-0
Round Three: 74-card Koros mirror, Bobby Graves
If you don’t know Bobby by now, you definitely will by next year. The kid has game, and unfortunately, I got paired against him.
I typically don’t fare too well when I play against my friends, and it’s mainly for the same reasons as why I concede to people. I want my friends to do well more than I want myself to do well. I’ve been in the game a long time, and because of that, I think I’ve lost some of my edge. If I were paired against my friend back in the day, I’d want to win even more because I had something to prove, but that doesn’t seem important to me anymore.
Typically, I offer up a split to make us both happy and tank the match somehow, usually subconsciously. I’ve been trying to get my head back in the game in the last year or so, and I think my win percentage vs. friends has increased since then, but it’s still hard to tell. I still want them to succeed more than me, and I still feel like I don’t have much to prove, but occasionally I manage to pull out a victory.
Neither game was all that close. I won the die roll, didn’t mulligan, and eventually swarmed him with Hawks.
I sided out Goblin Guides and Geopedes for removal and Firewalkers. Second game, he led with Spikeshot Elder, and the best I could do was play Steppe Lynx. He shot it down on his turn 3, which opened the door for my Cunning Sparkmage to regain board control. Bobby Bolted my Sparkmage, but I had a second one.
From there, my Sparkmage controlled the board, and I won handily.
If he just equipped his Spikeshot with Gear on his turn 3, leaving open a fetchland, or didn’t shoot my Steppe Lynx, the game would’ve been a little different. He knew he could kill one Sparkmage but didn’t consider if I had a second one.
If I didn’t have any Sparkmages, he was ahead regardless of what he did with his Spikeshot. If I had one, saving his Bolt and trading Spikeshot with it would’ve been great for him. If he played like he did and didn’t peel an answer to my second Sparkmage, he was basically dead.
Another somewhat minor mistake he made was in game 1 when he played Goblin Guide on turn 1 and attacked with it immediately. Kibler and Ben Rubin commented at Worlds this year that you could tell who’d played the Boros mirror and who hadn’t. Those who hadn’t were the ones that attacked with Goblin Guide.
While some hands dictate that you have to get aggressive, like Bobby’s probably did game 1 after his mulligan, I spent most of my time playing the Boros mirror under the assumption that attacking with Goblin Guide would end up helping them far more than the two damage would help me.
In game 1, my draw was Plains, Terramorphic Expanse, and spells, but Bobby’s Goblin Guide fixed that up for me quite nicely.
3-0
Round Four: Koros, Nick Becvar
Mike Kohler sent me a Facebook message earlier in the week detailing the Boros deck that he and Becvar would be playing at the KY Open, but I didn’t really look at it because I didn’t want to ship my list to everyone. I ended up playing around Sparkmage in our game 1 because I had no idea that Becvar wasn’t even playing it in his maindeck.
First game was a long, drawn-out affair, where I refused to attack with Goblin Guide for the majority of the game. His Basilisk Collar on a Geopede (which seems pretty bad if you’re not playing Sparkmage maindeck, although I guess there’s always Spikeshot) held me off for a while, but eventually I connected with Sword of Body and Mind.
He peeled a Spikeshot, but I drew a Bolt a few turns later before it could get out of control. Saving your removal in this matchup is more important than even in Limited. There are so few cards that really matter that you should be using Bolts and Journeys on cards that are literally causing you to lose the game.
After that, my Sword and swarm of guys was too much.
Second game, Nick pulled the trigger on his Lightning Bolts a bit too early and was punished for it by my plethora of Sparkmages.
4-0
After this round, I was riding pretty high, but that type of emotion is a trap. Again, I’m old, and these tournaments keep getting longer and longer. I remember, back in my day, I had to walk uphill, both ways, in the snow just to get to a PTQ, but at least they were only six or seven rounds. At 4-0, I’d be a virtual lock. That feeling of euphoria tends to take over, and then I end up faltering in the later rounds.
During Boston, I was able to correct that error by pushing it out of my mind, but by also piloting an absurd deck that no one could beat. While my Koros list was sick, it was by no means that powerful, so I didn’t have that luxury to fall back on. I needed to tighten up but didn’t.
Round Five: E with Spagnolo U/B
I offered to just move to game 2, since we both knew he couldn’t win game 1. I even offered to start game 2 with a mulligan if he’d concede game 1, but he decided to just take his chances. Sure enough, I mulliganed, and he played four removal spells in a row. In a Squadron Hawk-less world, I was helpless. That isn’t a world I want to live in, friends.
Second game wasn’t much better. I got annihilated.
4-1
Round Six: U/W
My opponent had a lot of planeswalkers, but those just died to Cunning Sparkmage or attacks from my random dudes. The game went pretty long, but as long as he didn’t Wrath me twice, I was in fine shape with all my equipment.
Second game, I had nearly everything I needed, but he had a pesky Kor Firewalker holding off three red creatures. I needed to draw a single white creature or Journey, but it never came. In a rush for time, I made several mistakes, like not shooting his Jace with Sparkmage, despite it being at seven counters. I knew what I needed to draw, but instead of giving myself extra draw steps, I allowed him to ultimate Jace on me.
With eleven minutes on the clock, and me about to concede and go to game 3, my opponent tried to play a second land on accident, which a spectator pointed out. I made sure to note the time on the clock when the judge came over in order to ensure that I got the proper amount of time for game 3.
After a four-minute decision, the judge ruled that he did play an extra land, and gave us five minutes of extra time. I conceded on the next turn.
I started with Goblin Guide, Squadron Hawk, Squadron Hawk. On turn 4, facing his Wall of Omens, I decided to test the waters, and cast Steppe Lynx before playing my land. He Mana Leaked it, which told me he didn’t have Day of Judgment. I added a Cunning Sparkmage to my board, and he promptly Wrathed my squad. Not quite sure if he leveled me or if he peeled it, but either way, it was backbreaking.
For the next few turns, Colonnade charged in, and I couldn’t draw an answer. I died on turn 3 of extra turns.
4-2
After we turned in the slip, he told me that if we went to time, he was going to concede, since he already had a draw, which I didn’t notice. Shame on me for trying to play fast and get the appropriate time to finish the match!
I decided to stay in and try to mise Top 16 and recoup half my entry fee.
Round Seven: RDW
My hand was slow in game 1, so I Bolted his Goblin Guide at the first chance I got, but was regretting my decision when he cast Kiln Fiend. Still, he didn’t seem to have an exorbitant amount of burn spells, but I couldn’t figure out what he was holding. I had a similar feeling during PT San Juan and was combo-ed out with Devastating Summons/Goblin Bushwhacker. The same happened to me here, although it wasn’t like there was anything I could’ve done about it. It’s just always nice to know that my spidey-sense is tingling.
Second game, I had a Firewalker, but no second white. My deck continued to not serve up a white source, let alone a third land, so I packed ’em up.
4-3
Overall, a very embarrassing showing after starting so strong.
Gabe lost to Boros when he was 5-1 after a turn 3 kill was involved. Chris made Top 8 and ended up splitting the finals with Donnie Noland, making it his biggest Magic cash to date. Congrats, buddy!
Gabe and I decided to skip the Extended tournament, and I only regretted it for a split second. We gamed for the weekend expenses, and Chris lost, so at least I’m only in the hole a hundred or so.
Since my return to Indianapolis, I’ve been grinding the MTGO 8-mans to great success. As of this writing, I’m 15-3 in matches with variations of the Koros deck. I’ve tried a lot of different cards, such as Emeria Angel, Tuktuk the Explorer, Linvala, and even Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Contrary to the belief of one FryChikN on MTGO, I can indeed afford those and am not playing a “scrub” deck because I’m poor.
Koros is actually awesome right now!
GerryT