“I decided to put together a gauntlet of decks that I think will be representative of what might get played in the US Regionals tournaments. Figure out how to beat them… or play them yourself.”
– Mike Flores, Sideboard
I finally got around to doing just that last week, and have been busily throwing various deck ideas against”the gauntlet.” I was pleased to see my selection of testing decks included most all the decks that Mike presents (or at least modern T2 incarnations of them). Neutral Ground’s Grudge Match Qualifiers and Finals decklists are a great indication of solid versions of top Type 2 decks. The New York area is enviable in its high concentration of Magic players and talent – so while I play in the Magical backwater of Richmond VA, it’s nice to get a glimpse of what’s running well in the fast lane.
“Figure out how to beat them… or play them yourself,” Mike says – and I had to laugh, because I’m finding that some of the gauntlet decks are surprisingly powerful and dominating. I’ve certainly lost faith in some of my original creations as they lose over and over to them. Frog in a Blender is amazingly fast and punishing of slow starts… And Chung’s Special, while seemingly unfocused, seems to just randomly smash heads. No wonder it’s so popular in the New York area (though after the Braids-heavy results of the Neutral Ground Grudge Match Finals, that may change).
One deck in my gauntlet that Mike didn’t list was Millikin Sligh, from a few International Regionals. Playtesting that deck has shown it can dish out a surprising amount of damage in a short time – and what’s even more surprising (to me at least) is just how fantastic Millikin is in that deck. It has game against most of the decks I’ve thrown at it, though Fast Crank-style R/G beats it pretty soundly, barring the occasional God draw.
Millikin Sligh
by Manuel Abou Adal
15 Mountain
4 Barbarian Ring
2 Keldon Necropolis
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Mogg Sentry
4 Firebolt
4 Reckless Charge
4 Volcanic Hammer
4 Millikin
4 Urza’s Rage
4 Flametongue Kavu
3 Violent Eruption
4 Skizzik
So while Millikin Sligh was near the top of my Magical thoughts, I was finishing up an article for Scrye on Overmaster and Insist. Suddenly, I had a flash of insight (or stupidity, you make the call). What about Overmaster along with Recoup? The interaction of those cards reminded me a bit of the days of Yawgmoth’s Wills and Urza’s Baubles… I quickly made the jump to wondering how Overmaster and Recoup would fit into Millikin Sligh to give the deck some more gas… Here’s what I’ve come up with for starters:
Overmaster Sligh
4 Overmaster
4 Recoup
4 Firebolt
4 Volcanic Hammer
4 Urza’s Rage
4 Pillage
4 Violent Eruption
4 Mogg Sentry
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Millikin
4 Barbarian Ring
1 Keldon Necropolis
15 Mountain
With a reduction in creatures, I felt that the Reckless Charges had to go… The mana curve is smaller, but the presence of Recoup allows you to make maximum use of your mana each turn even into the mid-game, much like Sligh decks of old. Goldfishing saw me Recouping Volcanic Hammers and Pillages like there’s no tomorrow. Sure, Overmaster isn’t the bomb against non-control decks – but just think of it as Urza’s Bauble; a way to concentrate your deck to the burning essence of it.
The goldfish test has shown the deck to run fairly smooth, though that doesn’t really give much practical data beyond mana issues. I will need to toss it around the gauntlet this weekend and see how it does. Is this an improvement on Millikin Sligh, or just a bad variant? I don’t know… but I think the idea is worth exploring. Has anyone tried anything along these lines?
An offshoot of this idea had me wondering about splashing green to try and give it some gas against creature beats and a way around CoP: Red. Something like this:
Pachyderm Sligh
4 Overmaster
4 Recoup
4 Call of the Herd
4 Assault/Battery
4 Firebolt
4 Volcanic Hammer
4 Urza’s Rage
4 Mogg Sentry
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Millikin
4 Barbarian Ring
4 Karplusan Forest
4 Shivan Oasis
8 Mountain
To head some of you off at the pass… Recoup does work just fine with split cards like Assault/Battery, meaning that when you cast Recoup and target the split card, you only need to pay flashback cost equal to the side you are playing. This was confirmed by Sheldon Menery and at least one other DCI rep.
Anyway, I guess the premise is simple – burn off early creatures, crank out some fat, and finish off with some burn to the dome. Splashing green also gives you some great sideboard cards such as Hull Breach (another Sorcery for Recoup!) and Compost.
So will I be wielding Recoups and Overmasters at Regionals this year? To tell the truth, I still don’t know what I’m playing yet. One good thing is that we’ve got Type 2 tournaments this Saturday and the next to help me decide.
One final thing: I will be playing in the Mid-Atlantic Regionals in Maryland, so if you are going to be playing in some other Regionals and want to send me your secret bomb deck, I will both keep it secret and consider playing it if it looks good and playtests well.
Good luck to all of you busily working to find a deck to play for Regionals! I know I need it…
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