I’ve just returned home after a very interesting week in Japan, featuring the country I love the most and a very particular Pro Tour. How on earth did I end up feeling disappointed after finishing in the money at a PT held in my favorite city on earth? This is the story of a very weird week, full of contradictions.
Before the event, as I do every time I visit Japan, I stayed at Masashiro Kuroda’s place for a few days (along with my brother Antoine). I am friends with the Kuroda family and, as always, I spent time playing with their two lovely kids. The day before the PT, Shiro and Antoine went to Kyoto by car together.
At the Pro Tour itself, both Antoine and I defeated Masashiro, and I defeated Antoine too. It is a very weird feeling when you play against the people you want to face the least in the whole room. It’s fun at first, as they are the only people to which you don’t mind losing, but it’s never very satisfying when you take the match. A little awkward.
The Pro Tour itself was equally awkward. A Pro Tour should not be a Grand Prix with a larger pay out. The room should be bigger, and well decorated. You should receive a shirt when you arrive. You should be able to say, when arriving on the site, “Wow… so this is a Pro Tour!” Sadly, at PT: Kyoto, there was no trace here of shirts, food (until Saturday at 4pm), nearby hotels etc. Newcomers told me they were disappointed, and thus they wouldn’t try as hard to return to the Pro Tour again. Let’s just hope this lackluster event was an isolated one.
Even so, I must admit I did find it fun. The event was still held in a great city, I had so much fun wandering around the city, exploring with my brother and my international friends.
And to cap it all, I was running one of the best two decks in the format: Quick n’ Toast.
The PT approached, and because I didn’t have much time to prepare, it was getting more and more obvious I wouldn’t have time to playtest efficiently with more than one deck. I love playing control, and Quick n’ Toast is the only Standard deck I’ve played in the last year (at PT: Hollywood, Nationals, GP: Buenos Aires, and Worlds). I have always finished in the money with it, so it was hard to consider running any other deck.
Both Manuel Bucher (testing in the U.S. with Patrick Chapin and Gabriel Nassif) and Guillaume Wafo-Tapa (testing in Nantes with Erwan Maisonneuve, the best French player you’ve never heard of) emailed me interesting versions of the deck. I could see from the lists they had been thinking a lot about the deck, and they had discovered two innovative ideas. Wall of Reverence was fantastic against aggro, and Cloudthresher was now unnecessary.
Even though Manu still had the Threshers and called them the best creature in the deck (I mean, Thresher + Wall of Reverence does sound pretty sexy), it was a relief to eventually cut them. Those of you that have played the deck with Cloudthresher probably noticed how much it hurts your mana. Playing turn 3 Esper Charm becomes difficult as you have to play infinite Vivid lands, and Cruel Ultimatum is more often an eight- or nine-land spell than a seven-land bomb.
The other reason to cut Cloudthresher is that Faeries is simply not as popular as it was before Volcanic Fallout’s release.
After a full week of testing with my brother Antoine, we came up to a very satisfying decklist.
Creatures (12)
Lands (26)
Spells (22)
- 2 Terror
- 1 Pithing Needle
- 4 Broken Ambitions
- 4 Cryptic Command
- 1 Runed Halo
- 2 Cruel Ultimatum
- 4 Esper Charm
- 4 Volcanic Fallout
Sideboard
Now let’s analyze the deck card by card. Again, some of the following may seem obvious, but it helps to vocalize your reasoning.
2 Cascade Bluffs: To help an early Volcanic Fallout.
2 Exotic Orchard: The deck needs lands that come into play untapped. As nearly every deck plays at least two colors, it is at worst a Mountain. As this scenario is only relevant against your best matchup (Mono-Red or Blightning), you don’t really care.
2 Island
1 Mystic Gate
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Sunken Ruins: Extremely useful for the sideboard Scepters.
1 Vivid Crag
4 Vivid Creek
3 Vivid Marsh
3 Vivid Meadow: “Only” 11 Vivid lands, as the deck is very stable.
3 Broodmate Dragon: The more aggressive the opponent, the better it gets.
3 Mulldrifter: As the deck is more stable now, you don’t need as many card draw spells for your draws to be regular.
3 Plumeveil: Amazing when combined with Wall of Reverence, and good against any non Five-Color Control (Toast or Reveillark) matchup.
3 Wall of Reverence: The deck’s new key card versus aggro. You don’t mind tapping out or receiving early damage that much anymore.
4 Broken Ambitions: Ideal when playing first. Otherwise, their efficiency depends on the matchup.
2 Cruel Ultimatum: Game Over 95% of the time, but difficult to resolve against control.
4 Cryptic Command: Countermagic + card advantage = great card.
4 Esper Charm: Better now that the mana is more stable and Glorious Anthem is more popular.
1 Pithing Needle: Excellent versus any White/Red deck (Planeswalkers, Windbrisk Heights, Figure of Destiny, Siege-Gang Commander), and fine against Faeries (Jace Beleren).
1 Runed Halo: Almost stops Ajani Vengeant, but mostly there for Figure and Blighting’s cards (Demigod of Revenge, Banefire).
2 Terror: Just the best cheap removal.
4 Volcanic Fallout: Taking two damage could be a pain versus aggro, but the possibility to play it at instant speed and to kill Planeswalkers easily compensate for that.
I feel very happy with the above build. There are very few cards that I would consider changing today… here they are:
Broodmate Dragon #3: Two Broodmates are enough for the control matchups, against which cards such as Cruel Ultimatum or Liliana Vess could be more useful. Two is also a fine number against aggro.
Runed Halo and Terror #2: Gabriel Nassif ran a Celestial Purge, a Terror, and a Mulldrifter, where we ran Halo and two Copies of the “older than Rémi Fortier” removal. I like the idea of playing one Celestial Purge. It is not good against any control deck, but it it’s between good (versus any W/R deck) and great (versus Blighting). Even though, Blightning is not a major concern, the one Purge and the one Halo are pretty close. A second Pithing Needle is also an option. As I mentioned in the card by card analysis, I still think 3 Mulldrifters is the right number.
Now, let’s have a look at the sideboard:
3 Celestial Purge: Excellent against any Red deck and W/B Tokens. Do not bring them in against Faeries, as they are too situational and you have better cards.
2 Infest: Good versus any non-Faerie deck that plays tokens.
2 Negate: For the mirror, Reveillark, and Faeries.
1 Pithing Needle: Brought in against any deck that runs Planeswalkers (including Faeries, that should have both Jace and Glen Elendra Archmage after boarding).
4 Scepter of Fugue: Great versus control.
1 Scourglass: Good for the aggro decks.
2 Wrath of God: For aggro and Toast, as you have so many bad cards in the mirror anyway.
In general, sideboarding is very difficult, as almost every card is good against any non-mirror non-Reveillark matchup.
I usually have a detailed “in-and-out” sideboarding plan, but here, it is very difficult to know exactly which cards you have to take out, and to avoid cutting cards you do consider important (which is worse). Therefore, the “in-and-out” plan that follows is no more than an indication, and it is not necessarily optimal.
Versus White/Red:
+ 2 Celestial Purge
+ 1 Infest
+ 1 Pithing Needle
+ 1 Scourglass
+ 2 Wrath of God
-1 Broken Ambition
-1 Cryptic Command
-1 Volcanic Fallout (less efficient when they have tons of Anthems and Burrenton Forge-Tender)
-1 Runed Halo
-1 Mulldrifter
-1 Terror
-1 Broodmate Dragon
Meaning you actually take out 7 cards that are really good in the matchup. Antoine and Manu told me they sometimes cut one land.
Versus Mono-White Kithkin:
+2 Infest
+1 Pithing Needle
+1 Scourglass
+2 Wrath of God
-4 Broken Ambition (too many one- and two-drops)
-1 Runed Halo
-1 Mulldrifter
Versus White/Black Tokens:
+3 Celestial Purge
+2 Infest
+1 Scourglass
+1 Wrath of God
+1 Pithing Needle
-1 Mulldrifter
-1 Runed Halo
-2 Terror
-4 Broken Ambition (if you go second)
Or…
-1 Broken Ambition
-1 Wall of Reverence
-1 Volcanic Fallout
And you don’t bring the second Needle in if you’re on the play.
Versus Faeries:
+4 Scepter of Fugue
+2 Negate
+1 Pithing Needle (for Jace and Glen Elendra Archmage)
-1 Broodmate Dragon
-1 Cruel Ultimatum
-1 Runed Halo
-2 Wall of Reverence
-1 Plumeveil
-1 Mulldrifter
Versus Blightning:
Versus Quick n’ Toast:
+4 Scepter of Fugue
+2 Negate
+2 Wrath of God
+1 Pithing Needle
+3 Celestial Purge (I didn’t board them in at the PT, but now that Gab won the PT, Scepters have to be expected)
(Yeah, I know, lots of bad cards in there, but you have even more to take out.)
-4 Volcanic Fallout
-3 Wall of Reverence
-3 Plumeveil (put some of the Walls back for game 3 if you see your opponent kept Finks or brought in Wydwens)
-2 Terror
Versus Reveillark:
+4 Scepter of Fugue
+2 Negate
-1 Volcanic Fallout
-1 Wall of Reverence
-1 Plumeveil
-1 Pithing Needle
-1 Runed Halo
-1 Terror
Here’s how my brother and I did in the Standard portion of the event:
Antoine:
Round 1: Brett Piazza (Kithkin) 0-2
Round 2: Tobias Heinrich (Blightning) 2-0
Round 3: Eric Jones (WR Prison) 2-1
Round 4: Masashiro Kuroda (WR Kithkin) 2-0
Round 11: Seth Manfield (WR Kithkin) 2-0
Round 12: Masashiko Morita (WR Kithkin) 2-0
Round 13: Martin Arndt (WR) 2-0
Round 14: Max Tietze (Reveillark) ID
Olivier:
Round 1: Lucas Siow (Faeries) 1-2
Round 2: Ken Adams (Reveillark) 2-0
Round 3: Shinichirou Yamakawa (Blightning) 2-1
Round 4: Petros Apotsos (WR) 2-0
Round 11: Jonathan Bergström (Toast) 2-1
Round 12: Masashiro Kuroda (WR Kithkin) 2-0
Round 13: Benjamin Lundqvist (Faeries) 1-2
Round 14: Alex Stok (WB Tokens) 2-1
Total: 12-3 plus 1 ID
The matchups:
White/Red: 65/35
The most popular deck is a positive matchup, and that is good news. Stopping their initial wave shouldn’t be a problem, as long as you can stop them from activating Windbrisk Heights or Resolving Adjani Vengeant in the early game. You cannot handle a big Figure, which can be a pain. Reveillark, though, is not as annoying as it used to be, as it can be stopped by Wall of Reverence. Your goal in that matchup? Resolve the Wall of Reverence plus a four-toughness creature, or a Cruel Ultimatum, and stop them from casting Ajani.
Mono-White Kithkin: 70/30
Easier than W/R when you draw your mass removal spells, but much more difficult otherwise. The Walls play a very important role once more. The winning condition is pretty much the same as for the W/R matchup above.
White/Black Tokens: 50/50
Every spell they play is good against you, and they have to fear all of your cards. Therefore, the tempo is the key in this matchup, and you don’t want to lose the die roll. The importance of the tempo is the reason why Broken Ambition is so good when you play first, yet so bad when they do.
Faeries: 40/60
All games are very close, but they are a little ahead. They have more spells they can play at instant speed, and their sideboarded version (Jace + Thoughtseize + Archmage + Vendilion Clique) is a pain. However, if you can resolve an early Scepter, you can’t generally lose.
Reveillark: ?
This one is hard to call. Depending on the version, it can be either one of the worst or one of the best matchups. As most of the version at the Pro Tour were built to beat White decks, the matchup was fine. Now that Toast has won the PT, the deck will probably turn into something more annoying for you, and you may not want to face it even though Scepter of Fugue remains a great sideboard card.
Blightning: 80/20
Not much of a problem, as they almost die to Wall of Reverence, and as your deck gets even better after board with the reinforcement of Celestial Purge.
Quick n’ Toast: 50/50
The whole point of this match is resolving Ultimatum in game 1 and Scepter of Fugue in game 2.
Now, after one PT and a long time thinking about the deck, here is the version I would run if I were to play in a Standard event today:
Creatures (11)
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (26)
Spells (22)
- 2 Terror
- 2 Pithing Needle
- 4 Broken Ambitions
- 4 Cryptic Command
- 2 Cruel Ultimatum
- 4 Esper Charm
- 4 Volcanic Fallout
Sideboard
This version is a little worse against aggro, but it is reinforced against Faeries and the mirror match. Other options would be Liliana Vess number two, a couple of Thoughtseize, Mind Shatter instead of Scepter of Fugue if you fear they will bring in Celestial Purge.
One final possibility would be having an aggressive sideboard plan versus control. Before the Pro Tour, Manu B convinced everyone to try a Kitchen Finks / Wydwen version to beat Faeries. In the end, we switched at the last minute as it was taking up too much space, but it could be interesting against both Faeries and Toast, the two most difficult matchups.
Good luck in your next tournament, and I’ll see you later this week!