Last week was GP Hanover, and to be honest, I wasn’t feeling very excited about going there. I am not a huge fan of the Extended format, and I couldn’t seem to make a good deck choice, so I just when for the coolest deck I found: Swans.
The decklist I played was very much inspired by Robert Wilbrand’s Schwäne’s deck, which won a PTQ in Germany a few weeks ago (it shared 58 main deck and 5 sideboard cards). Here is the list I played:
Creatures (5)
Lands (19)
Spells (35)
- 4 Pentad Prism
- 4 Chain of Plasma
- 3 Chrome Mox
- 4 Muddle the Mixture
- 1 Lightning Storm
- 4 Lotus Bloom
- 4 Glittering Wish
- 4 Pact of Negation
- 4 Ponder
- 3 Firespout
Sideboard
I won’t give you a full analysis on the deck, as it’s not the main point of this article. Today, we will talk Limited strategy. But I couldn’t avoid talking about Grand Prix: Hanover and the incidents that occurred there… and as I was playing a very cool deck, I felt like talking about it too.
One more thing about Swans: you must cut the Stifles and either one Trickbind or Ancient Grudge for 3 Telemin Performance. Then the deck should beat all the aggro decks, burn, and TEPS. Unfortunately, it will still lose pretty badly to Gifts Rock and Faeries, which are almost unwinnable matchups. If you don’t expect any of these decks to be dominant in your local metagame, you can run Swans, otherwise don’t even think about it.
The tournament went fine for me, as I finished in 46th place (out of over 1000 players), a result that went beyond my expectations considering I had only played versus one aggro deck the whole weekend. Also, it was one of these weekends in which I take mulligans all the time. Therefore, this deck couldn’t be that bad a choice, as I won about 2/3 of my matches in the end.
But the main talking point at GP: Hanover was not this, and not even the player who won a Grand Prix semifinal while he was on the toilet (after winning a game, he went to the bathroom, and when he came back, his opponent had received a game loss for insufficient shuffling). No, it was the prize payout.
An hour before I took my night train to Germany, I received a call from my brother. “I’m already at the station,” he said. “Let’s meet in front of the ticket office. Oh, and by the way, apparently there is no money to win this weekend.”
A few years ago, I would have considered this to be a joke, but considering the latest tournaments I’ve attended, I not only believed it, but I was not even surprised.
Apparently, it was not the organizer’s fault, as they were asked for a specific document that they had never been asked for before, and all at the last minute. Of course, the organizer was probably just as annoyed as the players. But I am slightly surprised that, after 15 years of Grand Prix tournaments, the possibility that such problems could occur, and the necessity to find a Plan B if they did, were not raised… especially when the laws concerning games are changing on all continents now poker is becoming popular worldwide.
I don’t even know if I will receive my appearance fee, or if I’ll just receive a $700 coupon ($500 for pro club levels, and $200 from my Top 64 finish). I just hope my landlord accepts payment in the form of a Wizards coupon.
Let’s close the Hanover chapter to talk about Limited strategy. If you read my draft column, you may have noticed that one of my favorite archetypes in the current draft format is Five-Color Control.
The archetype is probably the most difficult to draft in the format, but it may be the most efficient as well, if you respect the need to fulfill a certain number of conditions.
Here is your usual game plan:
Step 1: Get your mana fixed and slow down their beatdown if necessary. Usually, you have to use your first two or three turns for landcycling, land-fetching, and playing Obelisks. Then you play blockers and kill their most annoying guys. If you can’t find your mana quickly versus an aggro deck, you just die if you don’t have a mass removal spell (Jund Charm, Volcanic Fallout, or Infest).
Step 2: Once you are in the game and your mana is set, you should be able to play better cards than your opponent for the same cost. Also, your numerous removal spells can deal with most of the bombs, and your card advantage providers (Courier’s Capsule, Kiss of the Amesha, Resounding spells) allow you to take the advantage.
Step 3: You win with either your biggest guys + removal spells in combination, or with your bomb when you end up drawing it.
So, to draft this archetype, here’s some things to consider…
Open a Bomb
It’s no secret that the first condition of a strong deck is, of course, to have strong cards. However, it is more important in Five-Color Control than in any other. As you are not playing many guys, those you play must be able to win you the game on their own. To bolster this need for bombs, Five-Color Control is the archetype in which you’ll have the best chance to draw them, as games are longer and you usually play draw spells (including the very late pick Worldly Counsel, which is great in the deck), giving you the access to at least half your deck (if not more) every game.
Creatures
As you mostly play non-creatures spells, the ones you decide to play have to be very efficient. There are basically three kinds of creatures you want to run:
A: Early Blockers (Aven Trailblazer, Guardians of Alara, Kederekt Creeper) that will be able to slow down your opponent, as it is one of the first two things you need to address, along with getting at least four colors.
B: Efficient Kills (eight-mana cyclers, Cavern Thoctar, Tower Gargoyle, bombs). You cannot play too many of them as you can’t afford to have dead cards in hand when your mana is often not very stable and you have to be able to answer their threats immediately. Interesting fact: in the last pack, you often get the possibility to pick up two rares that most people don’t want, which are just made for your deck. The first one is Worldheart Phoenix, which is (at worst) called a bomb in the deck, as for four mana you have a very annoying blocker. If you randomly picked a Corpse Connoisseur, it becomes just ridiculous. The other one isn’t quite as good, but it is still very nice in the deck: Inkwell Leviathan. I know, usually, when a card says “Creature: Leviathan,” you avoid running it. But in a pretty slow deck using more mana sources than a normal Limited deck, it fits just fine and is a reliable win condition.
C: Creatures that obey both A and B (Matca Rioters, Rhox War Monk). They are only a very few of them, and they are very precious as they are excellent at any time of the game. Rhox War Monk only belongs in this category when you have enough mana fixers to make it a relatively early drop.
Have you noticed what most of these creatures have in common? They don’t die to pingers, Blister Beetle, or to most of the Red removal spells. Basically, to make the cut, a creature has to be immune to Magma Spray, except a very few exceptions (Paragon of the Amesha and his pals are good, as they can win on their own; Vithian Stinger and Esper Battlemage work, as they can just destroy some decks). Cards like Druid of the Anima or Tidehollow Strix, for example, are at best sideboard options versus non-Red/non-Black decks.
Other Spells
As with the creatures, there are three types of spell needed in Five-Color Control:
A: Removal spells, of course. The main benefit of playing five colors is that you can pick any bomb you open or are passed, and that you can just take the best card from every single pack, which is usually a removal spell. The more you have, the better. Cards such as Wretched Banquet are better here than anywhere else, as you are supposed to be able to clean the board, and therefore you can hit a big guy for one mana. For the same reason, Yoke of the Damned is a very good card in Five-Color Control as it is close to being a true two-mana removal spell. Bone Splinters and Soul’s Fire are nearly unplayable because they require many guys to become good.
Countermagic is also better in this archetype than in any other. As mentioned earlier, the games are longer and it gives you a better chance to draw your bombs. But this applies to your opponent as well, and, even if you are able to deal with most creatures in the format, will you be able to handle Broodmate Dragon, Cruel Ultimatum, Obelisk of Alara, or Martial Coup? Cancel, Punish Ignorance, and Traumatic Visions will surely help. So will Blightning and Voices of the Void, two cards with a high potential in the deck, especially the second. This is a game breaker versus any slow deck. Voices from the Void has the potential to be one of the best card you can get, and it’s a card you will be passed very often as most decks can’t make a good use of it.
B: Card draw spells, and cards that give you card advantage in general. If your game plan is to kill creatures one by one, you will lose if your opponent draws more spells than you do. That is why good blockers are needed (so you only have to kill annoying guys), and that is also the reason why you need to draw more spells than your opponent. The best thing about these cards in the format is that they don’t only provide a two-for-one advantage. Courier’s Capsule is awesome combined with Sanctum Gargoyle, Kish of the Amesha gains you 7 life, Resounding Thunder can be played for 3 mana, Resounding Silence is three-for-one, etc. Worldly Counsel doesn’t give you card advantage, but it’s still great as it helps you fix your mana in the early game, and it should search for a removal spell if you need one after turn 5 or 6.
C: Mana fixers… but we’ll get to them next.
Mana
The manabase of these decks is the most difficult thing to build. Anyone can just pick the best card from each pack and put them all in the same deck, but it won’t give them good deck. If you can’t build a solid manabase for your deck, it will be hard for you to win more than half the games. Basically, the most common choice you’re encountering with drafting is this: fixer or removal spell? I’ll pick the removal spell over almost any fetchland or Obelisk, but not necessarily over a Triland or Armillary Sphere. The fewer fixers you have, the higher you must pick them, but usually, for the first few picks, I’ll tend to take the good card over the fixer. Here is an example of my common preferences in the first six picks:
1) Oblivion Ring, Resounding Silence, Resounding Thunder, Branching Bolt
2) Executioner’s Capsule, Agony Warp, Sanctum Gargoyle (if I have already drafter either the blue or the black Capsule)
3) Trilands
4) Magma Spray, Bloodpyre Elemental, Courier’s Capsule
5) Fetchlands
6) Obelisks, Vithian Stinger
7) Viscera Dragger, Blightning, Resounding Wave, Blister Beetle, Jungle Weaver
8) Other cycling guys, Wild Nacatl, Carrion Thrash, Kederekt Creeper, Knight of the Skyward Eye
After pick 6, if you are short in fixers, make them all one rank higher. In pack 3, pick Armillary Sphere over any other common, and Rupture Spire if you’re short on fixers, or after Matca Rioters and Drag Down otherwise.
You also need to have one or two dominant colors. The more you splash colors 4 and 5, the less you risks losing to mana problems. If possible, you want Blue to be your dominant color, as it is the color with the most cards that will help you fix your mana on turn 2 (Worldly Counsel, Traumatic Visions, and Courier’s Capsule). Concerning the land cyclers: play only those from your main two colors (and Fiery Fall, as it is the best one on its own). The White, Green, and Black land cyclers will be a handicap more than an help most of the time.
There is no limit in the number of fetchlands you can play, but try to limit Obelisks to two or three. If you have a deck full of super-strong super-expensive spells (Empyrial Archangel plus Martial Coup plus Resounding Silence, for example), running 18 lands and 3 or 4 Obelisks is no problem. I play 18 lands in these decks 95% of the time, even when my curve is not that high, as you can’t really allow yourself to miss drawing enough lands. Your deck should be able to compensate a mana flood, but not a mana screw. I run 17 when I’ve very good fixers (3 of either Armillary Spheres and Trilands plus 3 fetchlands for example), and at the opposite end I can go for 19 if I have expensive spells, and either not enough fixers, not enough playables, or lots of fetchlands. If you have five fetchlands in a deck, the fact that you will sacrifice two of them a game and will remove as many lands from your deck means you shouldn’t draw more than you would with the usual 18.
When Should You Draft the Deck?
Here are the elements you need, in theory, to run a Five-Color Control deck:
– One bomb
– One mass removal spell (Jund Charm, Infest, Volcanic Fallout, Scourglass, Martial Coup) to deal with the most aggressive decks, and so you don’t have to play a removal spell on every guy you will face.
– Lots of removal spells
– Card advantage spells
– Big enough creatures to win games
– A stable manabase
If you can gather these six elements, your deck is almost unbeatable. If you have five of these, it should be very strong. With four, your deck is still good, but with three or less, things will be difficult for you. Therefore, here are the most common reason to go for Five-Color Control:
– When you open a slow bomb (Broodmate Dragon, Hellkite Overlord, Empyrial Archangel, Sphinx Sovereign).
– When you pick up, in the first three picks, Infest or Jund Charm.
– When your first three picks are removal spells in three or more different colors
The Deck’s Weakness
Even though the archetype is strong, it can lose to cards that are usually just good, but that destroy the archetype. Such a case is Algae Gharial, which you’d better catch with a Pyroclasm while you can, or Blightning, which often grabs two good spells. But the worst card to face is probably Necrogenesis. When your goal in the game is to kill every single guy they control, it’s very painful to face twice as many creatures, even if the remnants are only 1/1s. For the same reason, Necrogenesis is definitely a pick 1 to pick 3 pull in Five-Color Control.
One last piece of advice: do not give up on the deck if it didn’t work out well for the first one or two drafts. It is a very complex archetype which is very difficult to master, but once you do, it will give you some of the coolest deck you’ll ever play.
Until next week!