The response to last week’s experiment was great, so LSV and I decided to run it back again. No one had any major qualms with the format, so we did the exact same thing as last time, although this time with a more relevant matchup: Extended Faeries versus Zoo.
For this matchup we used Thaler’s Zoo deck and LSV’s updated list of Paul Cheon Worlds deck. I insisted on using the net decks, as it most likely the lists that people are going to run with. I wanted to find out who was truly favored, and adding your own personal spice (such as playing something like Boil in the Zoo deck) is going to skew your own results. In the end, you won’t know how real your testing has been.
“Man, I can believe I lost to that guy’s Zoo deck… I always beat my friend Billy’s Zoo deck!”
Well, that is probably because Billy’s Zoo deck has Blazing Shoal and Greater Gargadons, whereas “that guy” was playing a proven list.
People believe in tangibles, and therefore are more willing to copy a list that went 6-0, and not one that went 4-2. Why would you do that, since the other deck won two more matches? It’s obviously a better deck. For that reason, I assumed that more people would be willing to play Thaler’s list in the dark. [To the forums! — Craig, amused]
The main omission from his deck that Luis insists has become the industry standard is Tidehollow Sculler. While I believe that Sculler is awesome, that doesn’t mean that your random PTQ opponents are going to know that as well. As I’ve said, it’s more likely that they simply copy the best-finishing Zoo list.
Sebastian Thaler, 6-0
2008 Worlds, Extended
1 Blood Crypt
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Flooded Strand
1 Godless Shrine
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Dark Confidant
4 Kird Ape
4 Mogg Fanatic
3 Shadow Guildmage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Lightning Helix
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Seal of Fire
1 Tarfire
4 Tribal Flames
3 Umezawa’s Jitte
Sideboard
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Deathmark
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Gaddock Teeg
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Sundering Vitae
4 Thoughtseize
Faeries
3 Chrome Mox
3 Engineered Explosives
2 Vedalken Shackles
4 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Threads of Disloyalty
4 Mana Leak
2 Repeal
4 Spell Snare
4 Thirst For Knowledge
3 Umezawa’s Jitte
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
10 Island
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
4 Mutavault
3 Riptide Laboratory
1 River of Tears
1 Steam Vents
1 Academy Ruins
Sideboard
1 Academy Ruins
2 Annul
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Flashfreeze
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Jace Beleren
2 Negate
2 Echoing Truth
2 Threads of Disloyalty
I have more experience with Zoo, so I shotgunned the animals, despite what Luis says. He really wanted to attack, but I told him it might skew the results, as he is pretty bad at playing Zoo.
As LSV said in his article, playing and mulliganning as if you have no idea what you are playing against is wrong. When you playtest, your goal should be to find out exactly how a matchup goes. If you get an opening hand with triple Spell Snare, Engineered Explosives, and lands against Zoo, you obviously want to keep it. Even in tournament play, the majority of the time you are going to know what your opponent is playing, as you play more games sideboarded than not, and that’s not even taking scouting into account.
Onto the games!
Luis covered the first match in his article yesterday, but I‘ve got some quick notes. LSV won the die roll and I had to mulligan a hand with no dudes. Eventually, he got to stick a Jitte on an Archmage, and that was game. Second game was a long, drawn out affair, but his card advantage eventually overwhelmed me.
Faeries 2
Zoo 0
Match 2, Game 1
Luis wins the roll again and I keep:
Dark Confidant
Dark Confidant
Wild Nacatl
Tribal Flames
Flooded Strand
Wooded Foothills
Plains
Luis plays Mutavault and a Chrome Mox removing Threads of Disloyalty, which is bad for me for several reasons. Not only can he counter my one-drop, but he is willing to remove Threads to his Mox. With his Mutavault, I can’t even expect to play around Sprite by skipping my one drop, as he’ll just counter my two drop with it.
I draw another fetchland, find an Overgrown Tomb, and watch my Nacatl die embarrassingly at the hands of a Faerie. Luis has a Riptide Lab, while I draw a Tarmogoyf, but bait with Dark Confidant which draws out a Mana Leak. A second Lab makes the Blue deck look a bit color screwed, but he’s still doing quite well for himself.
Another land doesn’t help, and my second Confidant also gets Spellstuttered. LSV Thirsts main phase, and goes aggro with Mutavault and his Faeries. Tarfire is probably one of the better draws I could get at this point, but in all honesty it seems fairly hopeless. Goyf resolves, which keeps his Mutavault on defense, but Archmage all but puts the nail in my coffin.
I burn the Archmage twice and attack with Tarmogoyf. Luis is still at 20, so has no reason to block here, although I can still potentially win if he makes a series of errors. This is how seemingly lost games are won, but Luis is way too smart for that. He takes the five damage, and I concede.
Faeries 3
Zoo 0
I side in four Thoughtseize, two Sundering Vitae, two Gaddock Teeg, and an Ancient Grudge for four Tarmogoyf, four Tribal Flames, and a Tarfire.
As I explained in my Zoo article, Tarmogoyfs are a liability against their Threads. You usually don’t care if they take your Nacatl or Ape, as they don’t do anything on their side except chump block. However, Tarmogoyf puts you on a quick clock, which gives you fewer turns to draw to your outs.
Tribal Flames doesn’t do much because it’s a poor removal spell against their flash army, and only rarely do you have enough burn spells to close the game that way. Helix can at least stop a Jitte from getting counters. Tarfire is decent and you could probably cut a Kird Ape for it, but I generally prefer to have a threat after they deal with your first wave with Explosives.
Faeries is designed to stop creatures, so your guys don’t get in a lot of damage before they are dealt with. For this reason, I prefer to have a Kird Ape which will deal them four or six damage rather than a Tarfire that is always going to deal two.
Match 2, Game 2
My opener is a sick one:
Wild Nacatl
Wild Nacatl
Mogg Fanatic
Thoughtseize
Sundering Vitae
Bloodstained Mire
Flooded Strand
Without Tidehollow Sculler in my deck, I can safely fetch Stomping Ground and play a Nacatl. Luis plays Island, go, while I take a peek with Thoughtseize:
Engineered Explosives
Engineered Explosives
Repeal
Spell Snare
Mana Leak
Threads of Disloyalty
Glen Elendra Archmage
Notice the distinct lack of lands. On the draw, this hand seems fine, as you have a ton of early game and exactly the spells you need against Zoo. Sadly for Luis, I have the perfect counter to his draw. I take one of the EEs, as I have a Vitae to kill the other one, and I’m not really bothered by anything else in his hand.
I play the second Nacatl, while LSV misses his land drop, but has the EE for one. I play Fanatic, and use it to convoke the Vitae, which gives Luis a nice laugh. He finds an Island on his turn, and Repeals a Nacatl. At this point, he’s found his mana, but is at low life, and the Helix and Oblivion Ring I’ve drawn in the meantime finish him off.
Yay! I won a game!
Faeries 3
Zoo 1
Match 2, Game 3
On the draw, I keep:
Wild Nacatl
Shadow Guildmage
Gaddock Teeg
Dark Confidant
Steam Vents
Windswept Heath
Plains
Luis leads with the standard “Island, go.” I draw a Fanatic and lead with Heath into Overgrown Tomb, Nacatl, prompting an “OBV!” from Luis. He had a Riptide Lab and passes it back, but gets to Snare my Teeg. He plays a tapped Breeding Pool, while I test the waters with Bobby. When it resolves, I put him on Spellstutter Sprite, as at this point, he doesn’t have Thirst, Shackles, Vendilion, Spell Snare, Mana Leak, and probably doesn’t have Repeal. This leaves him with Jitte, Archmage, Stutter, Venser, or Flashfreeze.
If he had non-Stutter cards, I wouldn’t care much, so there is no reason to run Fanatic out there. My board position is stellar, so I feel like I can make him deal with my threats rather than overextend into an Explosives. The only thing I’m worried about at this point is Spellstutter into Jitte, which would more or less destroy me. Sure enough, he has the Sprite and I start to get worried, but has no fourth land. He Explodes away my Cat and passes the turn. Bob draws me into a Guildmage and a land, and I Fanatic his Spellstutter so he can’t return it with Lab, play a Guildmage, attack and end my turn.
He can’t do anything on his turn five, while Robert reveals Tarfire, I draw Nacatl, attack and pass. Again, there is no reason for me to overextend, and he is behind on board as it is. He untaps, casts Thirst, and concedes.
Faeries 3
Zoo 2
Match 3, Game 1
I manage to win a die roll and see this:
Kird Ape
Dark Confidant
Tarmogoyf
Tarfire
Tribal Flames
Oblivion Ring
Bloodstained Mire
This hand is pretty loose, so I ship it back. I am more than willing to keep one-landers with Zoo, as if your hand is good enough, you have a better chance of drawing a second land and winning with your good hand than taking your chances with six random cards. Generally these one-landers that I keep involve multiple one-drops, and probably something that is key in the matchup. Post board that probably means Thoughtseize.
My next hand is six spells, so I ship that one and get:
Dark Confidant
Tribal Flames
Tribal Flames
Lighting Helix
Windswept Heath
This is a pretty solid mulligan to five, as all of my cards are powerful, and with all the burn, I don’t have to get in a lot of damage with creatures. I play the Heath, but decide not to sacrifice it, as not only do I not know what land I’m going to get, but it also increases my odds of drawing a land. The chances of thinning your deck by one land influencing what you draw is miniscule, and if I felt like the damage was going to matter, like in the mirror for example, I would definitely use the fetchland.
Luis plays a tapped dual land, which is great for me, as if I draw a land that means he can’t Snare my Confidant. Naturally, I rip the Sacred Foundry, fetch out an Overgrown Tomb, play Confidant and pass. Chrome Mox proves its worth in this matchup, by accelerating out a Shackles for Luis.
I draw two lands (careful what you wish for, I guess), attack, fetch out a Steam Vents to give me domain, and then Flames him. He is definitely going to Shackle Bob on his turn, which means that he won’t ever get a chance to Vendilion Clique away a burn spell if I Flamed him on my turn. The burn spells were all that mattered, since I probably won’t be killing him with creatures.
However, I could just Flames him twice on my next turn. I should have waited on the Flames, as that disguises the strength of my hand, and Luis might be more willing to keep Confidant around. At that point, I was bit short of burning him out, and desperately need Bobby to go all Sleeper Agent for me.
Anyway, on my turn 4 I Helix and Flames Luis, both of which resolve. Luis decides to flip for Confidant and luckily hits a land. That doesn’t matter though, as the top of the deck gives me a couple more burn spells to kill him, while he is unable to counter a single spell I cast.
Faeries 3
Zoo 3
Match 3, Game 2
On the draw, I keep:
Kird Ape
Mogg Fanatic
Mogg Fanatic
Dark Confidant
Oblivion Ring
Flooded Strand
Sacred Foundry
It’s kind of a weak hand, as I don’t have access to both Green or Black because of the Flooded Strand, but this opener is a case for those of you who are hating on the Overgrown Tomb. It is worth the slot, and I wish I had access to it in this case. However, LSV needs either a Leak, a Snare, or two Threads to deal with my Confidant. The hand also has a lot of Jitte protection, although is slightly weak to Explosives.
I draw a Vitae after Luis plays Island, go, and then play an anemic Kird Ape off my Sacred Foundry. Luis again has no non land play, while I draw a Grudge, fetch out a Godless Shrine to cast Confidant, but that gets Mana Leaked.
I have a feeling that Luis has an Explosives, but it seems like I have to play into it by casting a Mogg Fanatic and the Guildmage that I just drew. I still don’t have green mana to pump the Ape, so my clock is extremely slow. He has a Riptide Lab, so there are several cards he can draw that just kold my 1/1 army, so my best chance of winning is hoping he doesn’t have it.
Luis Thirsts on my end of turn, discarding a Jitte. He Explodes my squad while I “rebuild” with a Fanatic. At this point, life is not good, as I will hard pressed to fight through Mutavault and Riptide Lab when he’s at a high life total and I’m sitting on semi-dead Disenchants. Things get worse when he Snares my Teeg. A second one-drop gets Exploded, and he gets aggressive with Mutavault.
The game goes on for a while longer, but I was never in it. Without a ton of burn spells or something completely game altering, I was going to lose.
Faeries 4
Zoo 3
After that game, where I had a Disenchants in hand, and with one game left to try something different, I decided to bring the Goyfs back in.
My opener is more or less the nuts:
Wild Nacatl
Wild Nacatl
Dark Confidant
Oblivion Ring
Sundering Vitae
Flooded Strand
Bloodstained Mire
The only thing I have to worry about is Engineered Explosives. Thankfully, I draw a Thoughtseize on turn 2 and see:
Threads of Disloyalty
Threads of Disloyalty
Threads of Disloyalty
Spell Snare
Spellstutter Sprite
Riptide Laboratory
Engineered Explosives
Obviously, I take the Explosives and play my second Nacatl. Luis can only play the Riptide Lab and pass it back. I draw a Shadow Guildmage and go into the tank. While I might be winning this game, I still need to keep it tight in order to win. Getting over confident and playing sloppily is what causes you to lose games that you should be winning.
I decide that if he drew Explosives, he probably would have played it for fear of not hitting his land drop. If he didn’t draw it, then he has to Sprite my one-drop. If he draws an Island at that point, he will most likely start Threadsing my Nacatls. At that point, I get to start Disenchanting them while attacking him back. Overall, it’s a great situation to be in.
Awkwardly enough, the land he draws is a River of Tears. He can block for a turn with Spellstutter, but after that I have Confidant and the removal for his Threads, so that’s game.
All in all, we finished 4-4 in games, although Zoo won two matches. The first match was what was usually happening to me on Magic Online: they draw lands and spells while I stumble a game, but overall, I get crushed. Fae just has all the best cards against Zoo. However, that might not always be the case, considering the nature of both decks. Zoo is almost always going to play one-drop, two-drop, and sometimes Faeries just doesn’t come up with all the answers.
As I mentioned earlier, I am a real big fan of Tidehollow Sculler, and you can probably see why from some of these games. Thoughtseize was insane, although it is more likely to resolve than Sculler. Preemptively stealing Explosives is one of your best paths to victory, as it is what they rely on to save them most of the time.
In the end, I suppose Zoo against Faeries is much closer than I gave it credit for, although it certainly depends on the decks and the pilots. I did feel the game I burnt LSV out from 18 was kind of lucky, as Zoo normally requires the creatures do the bulk of their damage, but I’ll take what I can get. Luis also seemed to be shy on mana some of the games. Granted, I took my fair share of mulligans while Luis never did, so I guess it all balances out.
As always, any suggestions on how to improve this format would be greatly appreciated, and I’ll answer any questions in the forums.
GerryT