“I’ve just realized that reading your collected tournament reports must be an incredibly sad experience, on par with seeing Brokeback Mountain or watching Schindler’s List.”
—Ted Knutson
The original name for this article was going to be “Thank God for Ben Goodman,” but given the fact that I blatantly threw the Blue Envelope away in the finals of the March 25 Pro Tour Qualifier in Hartford, Connecticut, smug titles like that one seem much less clever, “ironic” maybe (and not in the good way), forced at best. Had I gone forward with the original title, the reason would have been Ben’s heavy promotion of his Ghost Dad deck, both in post-PT Honolulu Feature Articles here on StarCityGames Premium and in the forums for the week or two prior to the first PTQ. Thanks to Ben, we ran on a baseline assumption that the majority of teams in the first week would run a Ghost Dad deck (thank God), and chose our decks accordingly. Different players will weigh on different sides regarding the efficacy of Ghost Dad as a Standard deck in the abstract, and the old argument about perceived synergy versus raw card power will rear its head like a sewer rat coming up for air. At the end of the day, there will be no meeting of the minds between the two camps, but in the context of Constructed Team Trios, I assure you one thing is absolutely certain: it’s awfully easy to bias a three man Standard team to get a free win every round if Ghost Dad is one of the default decks on the other side of the table.
Perhaps I am getting a little ahead of myself… As I said in the original MagictheGathering.com article Play the Game, See the World… Bring Your Friends, I thought the “default” deck configuration for the early part of this PTQ season would be some kind of Stomping Ground deck (Heezy Street or Zoo), a Godless Shrine attack deck (probably Ghost Dad over Hand in Hand, at least Week 1), and a Steam Vents deck (probably URzaTron, though possibly Wafo-Tapa or ‘Vore, or even Kamiel’s Firemane Weirding). Generally speaking, different teams will use different top-down criteria for configuring their three-man archetype choices; ours, which was bottom-up, was better than most. Like most teams, we paid attention to things like color and specific card breakdown… but we added two very important elements. In our choices of Heartbeat, Vore, and Combo Deck, we played three decks that were all immune to Wrath of God. That meant that we had a distinct advantage against any team that used a slot on Kamiel.dec or Greater Gifts. More importantly, our decks were superb against the default. All three of our decks had a 6-4 or better advantage against URzaTron, all three of our decks were mortal locks of 75 or greater percent against Ghost Dad, and all three of our decks had winnable matchups against Heezy Street (even if they didn’t all have automatic matchups). The key to our configuration was that — unlike most teams who worked top-down in their deck choices (or didn’t think about it, I suppose) — we were focused on winning each round 2-1.
In later installments this week, I am going to go over the specific deck, templating, and testing that went into the actual deck lists. For this article, I am just going to focus on what was relevant. First, my deck list:
Creatures (12)
Lands (23)
Spells (25)
I called this deck Combo Deck because it was a combination of the so-called Beach House deck and Antonino De Rosa’s straight B/W from PT Honolulu (it is not an actual combo deck in any way shape or form, Randy Buehler recently pointed out). Like the B/G deck from Playing Fair, this one tested superbly. All the Faith’s Fetters and Hierarchs were giving it the advantage in creature fights, and eventually, my teammate Steve [Sadin] refused to test control against me, citing pointlessness. “That’s probably the best deck we have,” he said. “You are our best deck against beatdown… and control can’t beat you.”
This is the part where the title comes into play.
If you look at this deck and know anything about the kryptonite that sometimes invades my design process, you can probably see the problem. I can show a list that I’m working on — that I claim beats everything in the metagame — to Brian Kowal and he’ll know exactly what is wrong the second he sees it. The improvement I made on the Beach House deck, if in fact improvement was made, was to fill it with Demonic Tutor and Silver Bullets*. Brian will typically crack a smile and say “This isn’t some misguided attempt to relive the glory days of Napster, is it?”
I don’t know if Combo Deck was… it really seemed to test well (and even playing badly, it was ahead against both Ghost Dad and Heezy Street, which we thought would define the Week 1 metagame). Then again, in testing, we have take-backs. Rather than searching for the next Napster, I probably should have been searching for Jonny Magic.
The March 25 PTQ can be summarized like this: Paul lost to Heezy Street in the first round, so I had to win (and I did). Steve never lost until the finals, and Paul never lost again. Over the course of the day, there was only one round where I won that I won before both of my teammates were finished winning, so my record with Combo Deck was invisible minus two rounds. As you can probably figure, our deck configuration decisions were awesome. I thought we had a huge edge on decks in even in the rounds where we only won 2-1, because Paul on Heartbeat and Steve on ‘Vore were so consistent.
In the finals, the finals that I threw away, I was the only one who won my game 1. I was actually frightened that I was going to finally win a round where both of the others finally lost. Steve managed to win his game 2, but lost to double Rumbling Slum with a Wildfire in his hand (who plays that?). Paul settled my fear, though. He battled back from a game 1 deficit but in game 3 he had missed maybe three land drops. His opponent had Meloku in play and at least a Hinder in his grip. “I’m going to make a calculated risk,” he said, tapping for Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind.
The turn the opponent had played Meloku, Paul had taken the opportunity to cast Kodama’s Reach. “What does Jonny call a ‘calculated risk?’” I asked.
“A mistake.” Paul killed him that turn pretty effortlessly.
It was all on me. I was up a game against Vintage standout Andy Probasco. To be fair, it might have been better if I hadn’t known who Andy was, because I totally underestimated him, especially after a game 1 blowout and his constant self-deprecation. The matchup was Gifts Ungiven, which is one of the easiest for Combo Deck. The judges had given us deck lists pre-match, so I knew Andy had no enchantment removal maindeck. I just played Ivory Mask on turn 4, and the game was over right there.
Game 2 should have been even more of a blowout. Andy was on the play, and I answered his land with a dual into Weathered Wayfarer. In testing, Weathered Wayfarer was pretty much game if I ever got even a single activation. The match should have been academic as I first Extracted Andy’s Yoseis, then played a second Extraction. I didn’t really know how he could win given the fact that all his threats but one Kokusho and one Ink-Eyes were in the graveyard already, given the fact that I had Putrefy and Mortify in hand, so I just named Ink-Eyes.
After finally getting Vitu-Ghazi online, I sent a Saproling in and Andy said “I’ll take one.”
“No,” I responded. “Five.”
At this point I had the choice between either Keiga or Kokusho. I had a Mortify in my hand and the Ink-Eyes hit was going to put Andy to fifteen. Therefore I chose Kokusho, intuiting that the game was going to last only one more turn.
I was wrong.
Andy began his turn and said, “I am trying to visualize the stack.” At this point the gears were turning in my head… I didn’t actually think that Andy could win (did I mention I was wrong?). Andy showed me Kodama’s Reach splicing Goryo’s Vengeance, grabbing Keiga. I was on eleven, so I thought I was golden; in response to his Arcane sequence, I Mortified his Greater Good, thinking that the five I was about to take on the chin would be the last points of the game.
Andy’s last card was his lone Mortify. He shot the Keiga and Kokusho switched sides.
I could have drawn any number of cards to win on the spot, but I drew something irrelevant and died to Andy’s solo Vengeance the next turn.
Game 3 I missed a drop or two, started off way behind, and Andy actually locked me under Greater Good/Yosei on turn 5. Luckily I had a Mortify on the draw and took out half his combo. I wasn’t out of the woods yet, and Andy had Kokusho online immediately afterward. A few cards and a little creature removal later, though, I was still behind, but it looked like Andy’s explosive opening had run out of gas.
“One time, deck,” I said. The top of my deck produced a Cranial Extraction, which wowed the crowd. I saw light at the end of the tunnel, Extracted Goryo’s Vengeance, and played Weathered Wayfarer with one mana unspent.
Andy answered with a Sakura-Tribe Elder but didn’t spend the Mortify in his hand on my Wayfarer.
On my turn I had six mana but only two Black sources, so I couldn’t Transmute Dimir House Guard into the lethal Cranial Extraction; I just ran the Transmute, hoping that I would win the next turn when I named Yosei.
Andy brought with the Tribe Elder as I knew he would. Steve had cautioned me the turn before, but I had a plan, and blocked the Elder; I hadn’t seen Ink-Eyes the previous turn, but it was one of the only ways Andy could reasonably win; I ran a single use for Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree, which I figured I could ride to the end of the game; both of us were peeling at this point, but my hand was better and Andy had no card advantage engine.
However, that turn, his deck had produced the one Cranial Extraction that would prevent the loss the next turn, and Andy Extracted me for Extractions. To make a long story short, I never peeled another relevant card from that point and Andy finally found one of his Yoseis with just five cards left in the deck.
In summary: “A timely Goryo’s Vengeance and a topdecked Cranial Extraction cost us the PTQ.”
… If you believe that, you’re probably missing most of the mistakes that make you awful at Magic: The Gathering, because I gave you all the information you needed to see that I had actually thrown the match away, not just once, but in many places. Andy savagely outplayed me, especially in game 2, but the deck matchup was almost impossible for him. I had to give him edge after edge over the course of two games for him to win; I can complain that the top of his deck produced the card or cards he needed to win (I’m not sure exactly when he drew the Vengeance or Reach in game 2), but the fact that I played sub-optimally just means that he was able to parlay his luck into three Blue Envelopes (congratulations, by the way, Andy; as The Killers say, You’re a Star).
Mistake #1:
In game 2, Andy should never have had the chance to come back. I had Extracted his Yoseis already, and said that I played a second Extraction. Had I taken Goryo’s Vengeance instead of random Ink-Eyes with the second big bullet, his chances would have been on the “none” side rather than the “slim” one.
Mistake #2:
This one is particularly brutal. The turn that I Transmuted for Cranial Extraction, with the plan of trading and searching up Vitu-Ghazi, I could have made a strictly better play. Remember, I know Andy has a Mortify in hand, so if he really wanted to get in with the Tribe Elder for Ink-Eyes, there was no way I was stopping him with my 1/1. A better play would have been to grab the Extraction and search for a Black Karoo, play it, and pass. This would not have been optimal, but given how the game played out over many turns, I have no doubt that an extra specialty land every turn would have been enough to tip the scales to my side given the exact same rips… And that’s not even optimal; by “not optimal,” that means that it would have been a mistake. As such, not only did I throw the match away with mistakes, I had to make the optimal mistake! Just a “better error” would probably have been enough to win.
I had six mana in play; why not just search for Vitu-Ghazi, play it, and pass? I can block with a Saproling if I want to block, saving my Wayfarer, as with the previous example (not to mention I get an extra card and land drop out of it). The land drop is vital because with seven land in play, I can Wayfarer the next turn for Shizo, giving me seven available mana (three of it Black) and establish Shizo in play, basically making his Ink-Eyes obsolete for the rest of the match. I can’t stop Andy from topdecking Cranial Extraction that turn, but at least I won’t go down to a one-for-two. Getting my Extraction Extracted was a crucial disadvantage this game… Had I had a Demonic Tutor at the end of the game, there was no way I could lose to a single Yosei.
Mistake #3
You wouldn’t have known this, but I had Helldozer in my hand in both of the games I lost. He shouldn’t have been in my sideboard at all, let alone my deck. If I had had the Angel of Despair or Nightmare Void I removed for Helldozers, I would have won either game pretty effortlessly (I figured with all my Extractions in, I could shave a Nightmare Void… This wasn’t right at all).
At the end of the match, Steve asked me if Jonny would have blocked with the Wayfarer. I thought I was finally covering my bases, finally. “Isn’t it right to constrict the ways he can win?” I wasn’t thinking about how remote the chances are that he would have ripped Ink-Eyes that turn, or how my existing knowledge of his hand should have told me he hadn’t done so.
In all the PTQ finals I’ve ever been in, I’d only ever lost once before, ever. This second loss was one of the worst I’d ever had. Our mailing list (more on those geniuses in future installments) had collaborated to put together a great configuration that had a huge edge against our expected opponents, and in the actual tournament, that edge bore out. The strategy was there. The decks were good enough. The loss fell squarely to me. What was worse, I was responsible for costing my teammates a Blue Envelope each.
All that said, these are my notes on Combo Deck if you are interested in playing it.
The Helldozers were Josh’s idea. We never tested them, but Josh seemed really excited about them, and we wanted some card to smash similar decks going long (this seemed very “Japanese” to me, so obviously I embraced the idea). Only after the tossed-in-the-bin PTQ do I remember that for all my failings, the one thing I am good at is playtesting; I’m going to try to avoid these random Helldozer type errors in the future. If you play Combo Deck, I’d suggest one Faith’s Fetters and one Eradicate or Golgari Signet in place of those cards. I had Eradicate main in previous versions, and generally liked it against Kami of the Ancient Law and Yosei.
Generally, I get difficult mana bases correct, but this deck is a little bit off on color balance and I’m not sure how to fix it. In previous versions I had four Orzhov Signet, but we wanted a little less White mana access and the ability to play Naturalize under Blood Moon (one of my losses was in an ironic sequence versus Heezy Street). I thought 2/2 was fine, but 3/1 in favor of Orzhov might be right. The deck needs a little more Black mana… Josh didn’t like the Church of Deals; again, I’m not quite sure how to tune the colors. Maybe another Tendo Ice Bridge?
If you are a superb control player, Combo Deck should serve you. In testing, it was second only to Heartbeat in overall win capability. The mana can be tough, but you are way ahead against Stomping Ground in game 1 (but watch out for Blood Moon), and you basically can’t lose to Ghost Dad if you play even halfway competently. Additionally, Combo Deck was one of our best decks against Heartbeat because of maindeck Cranial Extraction and Ivory Mask; this is sad, because that matchup is about 3-7 in favor of Heartbeat in game 1.
If I had two take-backs per game (like in testing), I would have won every match. What that means is that, sadly, I am not good enough to play this descendent of Napster effectively. The difference is that Napster could Ritual out a Phyrexian Negator or find a Processor or Wumpus and win very quickly, whereas the slow Saproling beatdown gives me tons and tons of turns to misplay before finally putting away a game where I’ve been ahead the whole time.
LOVE
MIKE
* “Silver Bullets” is one of the seminal Magic strategy articles, spoken of in the same breath as “Who’s the Beatdown” or “Investment.” Written in the Spring of 2000 as I was in the process of developing Napster, Silver Bullets is a heady mix of time, place, and strategy (good luck finding Silver Bullets on the Internet using either Archive.org or Google cached pages). Conversely, it is featured along with 700 pages of other great content in Michael J. Flores: Deckade, available exclusively at top8magic.com!