Wednesday
Do you ever have moments where you realize you’ve been concentrating on something just a teensy-weensy bit much? I do. It’s one of the reasons I don’t drink alcohol, smoke, or do drugs. (But don’t worry, that leaves plenty of room for other vices in my life.) In short, I have an addictive personality. It’s in the genes. Focused correctly, this can be a fantastic advantage in life. Indeed, almost all successful people can be described as dedicated, and that’s one step away from obsession and addiction. I will never forget listening to Gabriel Nassif at Grand Prix: Nottingham in 2005. Amongst the vast amount of sense he talked about the game we all love, he said this,
“I guarantee you that pretty much without exception everyone who has been truly good at the game has played infinite at some point in their lives.”
He went on to say that Finkel might possibly be the exception that proved the rule. That rule holds true. If you want to be good at something, go infinite. Hurl yourself at it, and don’t allow other considerations to get in the way. This attitude applies not just to Magic over other activities (WoW, sex, writing a novel etc.), but also within Magic. If you’re going to a Legacy GP, don’t play Block Constructed. If you’re gearing up for Nationals, don’t think about TEPS. Choose your format and focus on it. This is a lesson I’ve been learning this year, as my next coverage job moves from format to format. The only downside to this single-minded approach is that you can be decidedly rusty when it comes to shifting your attention. I bring this up because of what happened to me tonight.
I went down to a local playgroup. These are the kind of guys who play Norin The Wary because sooner or later someone will break it, and because it’s fun. They’re the kind of guys who high-five when their ranking goes above 1650 for the first time, because it’s fun. They’re the kind of guys who play MartyrProclamation, not because it might win, but because it’s going to seriously irritate everybody who plays against it, and that makes it fun. And they’re the kind of guys who, if my life depended on them winning a game of Magic, would guarantee that I’d already made a will. In fact, they’re like the overwhelming majority of Magic players around the world – smart, fun, mildly competitive and with a comprehensive lack of concern that they’re not playing on the Pro Tour. They make Magic Magic.
It turns out that this week the guys are playing Constructed. To me, Constructed means Block. Since about a month before Yokohama, and heading on to GP: Strasbourg, Block has been my Magical focus. Eternal formats? Extended? Standard? Draft? Never heard of them. About as far as my “leisure” Magic has gone over the last two months has been a single game of Elder Dragon Highlander at a Judge Conference. I’m sifting through a deck that one of them took to Regionals. It’s mono-Red, but something about it doesn’t seem quite right. I shuffle back and forth, trying to put my finger on the problem. Blood Knights, Keldon Marauders, Sulfur Elementals, Rift Bolts… this is all fine. And then I realize what’s bugging me. I say, “I think this could probably do with a couple of Disintegrates.” And they both grin and ask, “Anything wrong with Demonfire?”
For a moment I have no clue what they’re talking about. Demonfire? Demonfire? Didn’t somebody somewhere play with those in the Top 8 of English Nationals last year? That’s “last year,” as in 2006. People are still playing with cards from 2006? It feels like ancient history.
Thursday
I’m away from home, so I have no access to the Net. Tedious. It looks as though I’ll have to use that most perilous of resources… thought. I start mentally ticking off all the cards that are available in this forgotten format, Standard. As I say the words, vague recollections of themes swim into hazy focus:
Ravnica – all those dual lands. Guilds, right? Four of them. Boros I remember. Selesnya, they’re the G/W lot. Dimir… Dimir, U/B, milling strategy in Ravnica-only Two-Headed Giant. The B/G guys? Yeah, Golgari, that’s them.
Guildpact – this is getting easier. Another three guilds, Izzet, Gruul and Orzhov. R/U, R/G, B/W, fine.
Dissension – hooray, I had to wait until the last set of the block, but here’s Azorius U/W. Then there’s U/G Simic, and B/R Rakdos.
Right, what do I know about them in terms of Constructed, and Standard specifically?
Ravnica – Boros, that had all sorts of powerful stuff in it. Lightning Helix, that rings a bell, must ask Craig Jones about that, he’ll know. Then there’s Char, and now I come to think of it, Boros was all over Extended at Worlds last year. Selesnya, G/W, that’s where Craig Stevenson National-winning deck came from. Loxodon Hierarch and Glare Of Subdual, and didn’t Vitu-Ghazi the City Tree form part of the Beach House deck at Honolulu? Dimir I don’t remember much about at all, and Golgari? That had Dredge, but I think that was more Extended than Standard.
Guildpact – Replicate was the Izzet keyword, but I can’t remember a huge impact on Standard. Gruul, on the other hand… that’s what Herberholz took all the way in Honolulu. And then there was Orzhov. Olivier Ruel played that at Honolulu, using Teysa and Ghost Council plus some cheap monsters and discard. Castigate? Think so.
Dissension – there was a French deck at their Nationals, which was U/W with Azorius Herald. It caused quite a stir only one week before English Nationals in 2006. Simic, I think, was all about the Sky Swallower of that guild, but I suspect that was largely for Block Constructed. And Rakdos? Ah, the words Satanic Sligh swim fuzzily into view. I suspect a Norwegian, Oyvind Anderson, built it, and then Stephen Murray used it to win Scottish Nationals last year. Oh, and Terry Soh Invitational card was in Dissension, but didn’t have an impact on anything much.
God, I wish I was online. Still, that’s for tomorrow. Today is about head-hurting recollection. Onward.
Coldsnap – Oh yes, plenty of memories for this little lot. First, I win the prerelease at one of the most generous tournaments for prizes in the UK, run by Level 3 Judge Nick Sephton. Nick’s pretty much the best person in the history of Magic in my view, his partner Fizz will be dazzling people left right and center in San Diego, and he will shortly be running my Level 1 Judge exam, delightful, insightful, wonderful human being that he is. The previous X winners of his prereleases have gone away with a full display box of the new set, where X is the number of prereleases he’s ever run. I know, because I’ve won three of them. I’m mentally wondering where to store my 36 boosters of frosty joy when my 6-0 run nets me… 13 boosters. Marvelous, that’s a real feel-good start to the Coldsnap season. I go to 2 PTQs. In the first, I lose the semi-final, thus depriving myself of the virtual bye that is playing Craig “Ed” Stevenson in the final. The following week I continue to batter everyone in the Swiss, win the semi-final, thus guaranteeing myself the virtual bye that is playing Craig “Ed” Stevenson in the final. Both games he makes Leeane Rimescale Dragon turn 7 and beats me with it. He used to greet me with “Hi Rich.” Now it’s the slightly more convoluted but oh-so-amusing “Hi-Rimescale-Dragon-Rich.” I love him, readers, I really do.
Despite these setbacks, the reality is that I generally murderized people during Coldsnap. Perhaps all the good players were waiting for a real set to come out. As for the impact on Standard though, all I can recollect is a card called Skred, which could do stupid things with Stuffy Doll (and there are plenty of those) and a Snow Control deck. Plus, Cryoclasm was the most sought-after card at Worlds in Paris. So that takes us on to…
Time Spiral – I’m mentally mopping my perspiring brow at this point, because I’m back on familiar territory. Time Spiral was absolutely bursting with chocolatey goodness. Obviously there was plenty going on with the old cards, like Disintegrate, and Call Of The Herd, and Dragonstorm, and Shadowmage Infiltrator, and Psionic Blast, and Squire. Then there’s all the new stuff like Teferi, and Teferi, and Teferi, and Teferi. I think this puts us in range of Worlds 2006, so that means Dragonstorm and Dralnu du Louvre, combo and U/B Control respectively. Quick, before my brain turns to total sludge, let’s get to…
Planar Chaos – This is the set with Wrath of God for Black, and some other cards. For Standard purposes, this set had Wrath of God for Black, and possibly some other cards. Sometimes I’m amazed I remember to keep breathing.
Future Sight – Repeat after me: Free Counterspell YAY, free Counterspell YAY, free Counterspell YAY. (Little dancing jigs of delight are optional.) A bunch of dual-ish lands that might or might not be good in Standard, a Rare Hill Giant (boo) and, oh yes, other genuinely good Blue counters like Delay and Nix. After over a decade of getting the shaft with cards like Force Of Will, forcing us to pitch cards if we don’t have the exorbitant mana cost, it’s nice to see Blue finally getting some playable cards for a change.
(Pause for irony to register.)
Hmm, sketchy is one way to describe it. There’s nothing for it but to power down the trusty laptop, and count the hours until Friday when I can get in front of the mighty mothership once again, and do some serious historical digging. As Filch would say in Harry Potter, nighty-night.
Friday
Breasts. Now that’s either my first likely memory (according to many experts), or a gratuitous way to “sex up” the paragraph. If it’s good enough for a war, it’s good enough for me. Meanwhile, my first Standard memory involving currently-live cards is Worlds 2005, so I’m making my first enquiries there. Turns out, there’s not a lot to learn from Yokohama back then, since most successful decks have plenty of cards with commas in them, such as Arashi-comma, Yosei-comma, Okina-comma, and Meloku-comma. Whilst commas remain Standard-legal, Champions of Kamigawa Block cards do not. However, we can see 12 Urza lands in plenty of lists (henceforward “Tron”) and the breakout card of the tournament, which was Glare of Subdual. Glare is one of those cards that goes in and out of fashion almost apparently at random, often going several months between public appearances at a serious level. Then, from nowhere, off it goes again, and wins some utter muppet a high-level tournament. More on this later. Oh, and plenty of folk ran Boros Deck Wins in Standard. Whether this was a default option due to card availability/lack of testing (as would generally be the case with the Extended portion of Worlds 2006) is unclear.
More breasts. Honolulu. Connection? Not sure, but Honolulu really kick-starts our quest for Standard knowledge. It doesn’t get any purer than seeing 400 or so Pros competing in the format, with just one caveat: Pros tend to like Control, a trend we certainly saw demonstrated in Yokohama recently, and therefore the Top decks and the Best decks aren’t guaranteed to mean quite the same thing. Nevertheless, this was the first tournament where we could look at decks from the Top 8, and legitimately see in them the basis of their counterparts now. Craig Jones, case in point. Kird Ape, Watchwolf, Savannah Lions, plus all sorts of burn, all very much around in Standard right now. Tarmogoyf makes it into Zoo these days, and there’s no 2/2 for one like Isamaru, but R/W/G Aggro decks are alive and well. Char is the spell that sticks out for me here. Like Glare, it’s an obviously good card that waxes and wanes with the passing months. Right now, it seems to be good times for the double-ouch instant.
Osyp Lebedowicz didn’t make it to Yokohama, but he was in the thick of it in Hawaii with Izzetron. Sure, the comma boys Keiga and Meloku have gone, and Tenth Edition seems unlikely to sport the giant mana-producing trio, but plenty of his deck is still very much available: Remand, Electrolyze, Compulsive Research, Telling Time, Confiscate, Tidings… mostly Core cards, but eminently playable. The Owling Mine decks and Heartbeat concoction of Max Bracht can be safely ignored, as they really did need the Champions cards to make them function. Olivier Ruel (as I remembered, go me) was playing largely Orzhov, and boy has Dark Confidant ever been a tournament staple. As Invitational cards go, I reckon Bob Maher Jr. has to be the most-played, although perhaps Chris Pikula Meddling Mage might give him a run for his money. That left the winner, and the deck that still has most impact on the current environment, Mark Herberholz‘s Gruul Beats. Pretty much everything remains intact for Aggro deckbuilders. Scab-Clan Mauler, Giant Solifuge, 3/4 for three mana Burning-Tree Shaman, and hyper-efficient Kird Apes are practically screaming “pick me, coach,” and it’s not hard to see why plenty of people have. Moldervine Cloak seems to have somewhat declined in popularity, but otherwise, this is a deck that wouldn’t need many modifications to be a legitimate threat at Regionals. Mark Herberholz = good Constructed deck seems to be a winning formula.
Next up, French nationals. The Top 8 here was dominated by the U/W Azorius-style deck mentioned earlier, with all sorts of Kamigawa weenies augmented by Grand Arbiter Augustin IV and the crucial Azorius Guildmage. However, there was one deck that stuck out amongst the U/W crowd, and that was Selim Creiche piloting his Wildfire/Magnivore deck. England’s Stuart Wright was a big proponent of this deck, which relied on multiple card-drawing sorceries like Sleight Of Hand, Compulsive Research and Tidings, plus Land Destruction and a little (Eye Of Nowhere) bounce to generate a vastly large Magnivore and ride him to victory against a toothless opponent. Wright made it comfortably into the Top 8 of English Nationals a week later, before unexpectedly succumbing to Calum Stephenson’s Zoo deck. Paul Gower was the unlucky reserve for Worlds with a ‘Tron deck, and there now follows a large empty space where the Editor will tell you all about his Ghazi-Glare deck whilst attempting to remain modest and omitting the words “English National Champion 2006.”
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[Please, would I be so gauche? — Craig Stevenson, English National Champion 2006.]
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How did he do readers? He failed miserably, didn’t he? Oh well, enough of 2006 English National Champion Craig StarCityGames.com Stevenson. Let’s jump across the pond for U.S. Nationals. This was the weekend that Solar Flare truly shone, making Paul Cheon a worthy champion. ‘Tron decks were also apparent, and Antonino De Rosa almost took Glare to a repeat championship as the defending title-holder from 2005. This is all well and good, but I want to get rid of those pesky Kamigawa cards. That means Worlds 2006.
Link time. Have a look at this little lot.
32 decklists, all Standard-legal this very minute, and all going 5-1 or better on Day 1 of Worlds. This doesn’t mark them as unbeatable obviously, since we have Planar Chaos and Future Sight to give us new possibilities, but it’s a great resource. Boros Deck Wins is hugely in evidence, and, together with ‘Tron and U/B Control (think Teferi), makes up a large chunk of this field. Coldsnap did have some influence after all, in particular in the hands of Gabriel Nassif, who almost broke the life-total machine in the Top 8 with his absurd, and absurdly powerful, MartyrTron deck, with Martyr Of Sands combining with Proclamation Of Rebirth to gain foolish quantities of life. U/G tempo decks were also prevalent then, with cards like Mystic Snake, Spectral Force and Trygon Predator finding a home. ScrybForce continued to be a (sorry) force to be reckoned with. And then there was the headline-making Makahito Mihara, taking home the trophy with his Dragonstorm deck. Dragonstorm has been the Combo deck of choice ever since, until approximately yesterday when people started deciding that Bridge From Below decks were quicker and better. With qualifications, one of those two characteristics is probably true, and it isn’t the second one. Still, I’m looking forward to seeing Bridge decks in action when I attend a Nationals Qualifier in the delightful city of Nottingham. But first, with dawn fast approaching, let’s check out one more tourney…
Grand Prix: Kyoto had expectation of deck-tech breakthroughs aplenty heaped upon it, and in the end, it basically didn’t deliver. Interestingly, Pro Tour: Yokohama had a similar expectation attached to it, and although there were some innovations, the idea of a Japanese unveiling of the way to go happened at neither event. In Kyoto, the new deck in town was Project X, which featured an astonishingly abusive combo of Saffi Eriksdotter and Crypt Champion to generate infinite, well, life, provided you had Essence Warden around. Yuuya Watanabe won the thing with a (yawn) ‘Tron deck, and Brine Elemental and Vesuvan Shapeshifter also gave combo lovers plenty of opportunities to play with themselves. So now we’re almost up to date. Frank, it’s late, and I need your help…
Before Craig started covering the online metagame, I confess I used to turn to Frank Karsten. Now, heaven forefend, clearly. But back at the start of March when Planar Chaos finally hit MTGO, the results from everyone’s favorite Dutch columnist were pretty unequivocal. Dralnu du Louvre and Dragonstorm were officially the Big Two. Izzetron and G/R Aggro decks gradually worked their way into the mix, and Solar Flare had a brief revival of fortunes sometime during April. But it didn’t look as if Planar Chaos had radically shaken up the Standard metagame. With no MTGO to show us the Future Sight impact, it’s time to look at some actual cards played by actual players, and that means tomorrow’s Regional.
Saturday
I was seduced by the Dark Side this morning, but thankfully I don’t have to feel too guilty, as you’ll see. Arriving in Nottingham, I had precisely zero intent to play. If I were going to play in Nationals, I would need to qualify at one of these priceless carve-ups, but since I already know I’ll be casting over on MagictheGathering.com, bringing all the quality goodness that is UK Nationals to a sweating, agog world of Magicians, there doesn’t seem any point. Plus, since approximately one person in every 3.7 million players gets a slot at Nationals, randomly beating people seems a trifle harsh. Then I met Bryan, a man who really does have four of every card you ever wanted, and more than four of every card you didn’t. Approximately 18 seconds after entering the building, I’m staring at a steadily-growing pile of Red and Blue cards, many of which generate mana or extra cards, and at least four of which end in “Storm.” If he’d given me any other deck, I swear blind I wouldn’t have played. But the lure of the turn 4 quad-Hellkite win was too much to endure. No sooner could we say “best deck in the format” than we were off to the proverbial races.
Round 1 saw me face Chris, playing Gruul.
Oh, I love Dragonstorm so very, very much. Game 1 I indulged in quite a bit of free gardening, did a spot of digital jiggery pokery, observed and noted some chronology, found myself staring into an unexpectedly nasty weather phenomenon and produced a quartet of subterranean children’s pastimes for the win whilst remaining on a princely 17 bonus life. Or, if you must know, 2 Lotus Blooms, 1 Sleight Of Hand, 1 Telling Time, 1 ripped-from-the-top Dragonstorm and 4 Bogardan Hellkites. He hit me with an un-Foresty Kird Ape. Twice.
In game 2, I had the opportunity to savagely punish my opponent for being less of a tight-ass than me, and didn’t. When he passed the turn with 3 mana open – and he’s playing Gruul don’t forget – I suspect something bad is about to happen to my Lotus Bloom when the last counter comes off. I untap, and remove the final counter. Chris says “okay, it resolves, but before your draw step Krosan Grip it.” If any of you can find a way to say my next line without sounding like a wanker, record it on mp3 and send it to me. I say, “I don’t believe I’ve yet passed priority in my upkeep.” Of course, the Spraggle would have said “Sadly, I still have priority, and that’s the important thing,” which I know can’t be successfully uttered without sounding like a wanker. Fact.
Meanwhile, Chris is in a bit of a predicament. By announcing his intention to ruin my day so thoroughly, he’d given me a foothold on a door that should have been firmly shut. All I had to do was play hard, and that foothold would have been slamming the door so wide open Craig and I could have fitted through it simultaneously. Now that’s wide. With Hellkite plus instant Seething Song in hand, I could blow the Bloom, knowing it was marked for death anyway, and get a flashed-out Hellkite into play in my upkeep. Hellkite on board, Grip useless in his hand, not good times for Mr. Gruul. For the record, what you need to do, if you really want to bin the Bloom is be patient. If your opponent announces his draw step, that means he’s passed priority. If his hand wanders towards the top of his deck, he’s passed priority. Then you can back him up into his upkeep post-priority-passing, and Grip away his precious mana. [I think the mana is safe either way… cracking the Bloom is a mana ability. – Craig.]And please, for the love of Prison Break, don’t ask him if he’s passing priority in his upkeep. I saw that happen today. Even my Mum would know something was up if you do that, and she only plays Scrabble.
In the event, since both Chris and I know full well what’s intended, I let him kill the Bloom. It’s pivotal, and he moves on to take game 3 as well, despite some slow un-Foresty Kird Ape beats. As far as I’m aware, Dragonstorm “likes” to kill you turn 4, and Gruul turn 5. I don’t want to risk bandying about terms like Fundamental Turn, but terms like “faster” seem just fine. Therefore I’m slightly surprised to be 0-1. Still, I console myself with the fact that had I played hard, he was in trouble. And the fact that I saw the door ajar at all was encouraging. All this hanging around the Pros is starting to work. I wonder if the house next door to the Ruels is for sale…
Round 2, and I’m quite excited when my opponent Sean makes a turn 1 Swamp. I’m excited because I think I may be about to get my first glimpse of the new Future Sight powered constructed deck, NarcoBridge, featuring the eponymous Bridge From Below. There was a fair amount of shrugging when Evermind turned up (see? Half of you had to look it up) but few can question the impact that another “unplayable” spell, Lotus Bloom, has had. Bridge From Below is the next in that line. Sure, it has a casting cost, but it actually does nothing, and not in a Null Rod kind of way. Once things get under way, serious amounts of Dredging lead to a foolish number of 2/2 Zombies getting into play, and then Flame-Kin Zealot makes them all 3/3 and Hasty. That, my friends, is known in the trade as a Combo. The knock on the deck is that although it can go off as early as turn 3, it’s still pretty unreliable. So there I am, waiting to see this thing in action. Sean taps his Swamp, and casts Mindlash Sliver. Yawn. That’s no fun at all. I ran into a Mono Black Discard deck a few months back on MTGO, and turn 2 Cry Of Contrition Haunting the Mindlash followed by sacrificing the Mindlash is a little bit naughty. That’s three of my cards gone, and Stupor on turn 3 takes care of another two. My only hope is… oh wait, there is no hope. He brings out Dark Confidant, follows up by making Hypnotic Specter, which I haven’t seen in the flesh for absolutely ages, and finishes the job of ripping my combo to shreds before dropping The Rack for the win.
I discover two things during the second game. First, that the whole Mindlash/Cry thing gets even sillier when you discard Call To The Netherworld off the Mindlash to get it back. Second, it turns out that drawing all four copies of Ignorant Bliss out of my sideboard is enough to allow me a topdeck opportunity to find a Hellkite and even the match. Yep, quad Bliss won me a 1-in-11 shot at tying things up. This match up is seriously unkind.
Game 3 is business as usual. Blackmail, Mindlash, Cry, Bob, good game. There’s only one good thing about being 0-2. From here, I can’t knock anyone out of Nationals, so I can play as hard as I like and not damage anyone’s chances.
Round 3, and it’s another Dragonstorm deck, piloted by Nathan. On my right, another Dragonstorm deck is languishing at the bottom tables. Two of the three are going to drop to 0-3. On my right, my despairing Dragonstorm compatriot is discovering that dealing 20 damage with four Hellkites is entirely insufficient against a Martyr deck on 256 life. This happens to him game two as well. Meanwhile, in my scintillating 0-2 mirror match, neither of us can muster a full combo out of the first two games, with lone Hellkites getting it done. Game three makes me grateful that I’m learning to be a judge. Now I understand that Magic players are busy people, but pretty much all half-decent players should think about judging from time to time. Even on the most selfish of levels, knowing the rules better isn’t exactly going to harm your play, and it really does give something tangible back to the community that supports high-level play on the back of their considerable booster-buying. In our decider, Nathan resolves Lotus Bloom, casts a pair of Sleight Of Hands and then casts Dragonstorm. I’m on twenty. Just for devilment, I ask how much he’s Dragonstorming for. He says three. A few years ago, I would have viewed this as a great opportunity to win a game I really shouldn’t. Since I can go off myself next turn, I can let him make his three Hellkites, put me to five, then Hellkite him out of existence myself. Trouble is of course that the Storm count isn’t three, it’s four. If you insist on splitting hairs, he can choose to not search off one of his Storm triggers, and just get three Hellkites, but there are still four triggers. Since we’re both responsible for maintaining the game state, and I know full well he can get the full complement of flying game-enders, if I say nothing I am cheating. Cheating is not just naughty, it’s wrong. And bad. And punishable by death. So I remind him of the missing fourth trigger, he thanks me, and I shuffle up my permanents.
Three rounds gone, and every round I’ve won a game, and every round I’ve lost the match. I’m determined to put this 1-2 pattern behind me in round 4.
I do. I lose 0-2. I’ve agreed not to talk about the deck I played against, since it’s a work in progress, but the guy I played has an interesting story to tell. Occasionally you end up playing someone who obviously isn’t from your own country, but presumably lives there. Raphael Levy has been “Swedish” recently. Artturi Bjork, from Finland, is a former English National Champion. But when my French opponent, Francois Hauchard, admits that he’s not trying to qualify for Nationals at all, I’m intrigued. There for the day out, or something more? As I’m chatting with him, I’m sure I’ve seen his name before. Well, his surname anyway. Once he’s beaten me game 1, he tells me that he’s here on behalf of his son, Olivier, who has been to plenty of Pro Tours, and made it to the Top 8 of French Nationals last year. In fact, it was he who was largely responsible for the Azorius deck that made such a splash. In part, this was due to his dad playing in lots of Regionals last year, away from prying fellow-French eyes, and testing the deck against a wide field in the weeks leading up to Nats. So twelve months on, father and son have hatched the same dastardly plot. If I get to Tours for French Nats, I’m looking forward to seeing Olivier in action. By this time, I’m leaking life in game 2, and shortly thereafter I’m at a mighty 0-4.
It’s not always easy to identify good news, and initially my eyes raise skywards as I get the bye for round 5. As it turns out, this was a very good thing, as I got to watch all the top tables and see a play to really, really gladden the heart. With two rounds to go, the top 10 decks looked like this:
Table 1 – Boros plus LD versus Angelfire
Table 2 — Mono Black Discard Control versus Project X
Table 3 – Zoo versus Gruul
Table 4 – 3 Color Slivers versus Dragonstorm
Table 5 – Zoo versus Black Discard
On table 1, the Boros deck did its LD thing against Angelfire, and won the decider with a hefty Demonfire. Project X battled gamely against the Mono Black control, but the Black deck prevailed with just too much removal, including of course the Planar Chaos Wrath, Damnation. The Gruul versus Zoo matchup was entertaining to watch, but only if you like watching somebody getting thoroughly bent over a table. With Magus of the Moon out on the Gruul side, the poor Zoo player drew approximately $140 worth of Mountains in a row. Admittedly, they all used to be expensive for a reason, because they had words like Stomping Ground on them, but against the Magus, drawing non-stop lands is not the value. The last remaining Dragonstorm deck in contention went down against eventual winner Jonathan Coutts with his 3 Color Sliver deck, and Zoo beat the Mono Black on table 5.
Okay, so here’s the best bit of the day. Oooh, this was soooo wrong, but felt soooo right. I wander down to watch one of the Bridge From Below decks do their thing. On this occasion, its thing was to mulligan to 6, mulligan to 5, and mulligan to 4. At this point, he’s chuffed to see three spells and a land, and he’s off. Land, go. Opponent lays a Plains and passes the turn. Bridge Boy knocks on the top of his deck, praying for land, rips one, pounds it into play… and puts both Gemstone Caverns in the bin! It’s good to know that Making Mistakes So You Don’t Have To hasn’t put everyone off from ignoring the Legend rule.
I finally manage a win in the last round against a four color Sliver deck, and I can see his point when he seems amazed to see as solid a performer as Dragonstorm on the bottom table. Or perhaps it’s not a solid performer right now? This is most puzzling, since I can’t imagine a good reason to discard it as a deck from your Regionals calculations. As I come away from Nottingham, I’m struck by the health of the format. This seems a lot more open than I’m used to from the last few months, where Block came down to U/B Control, R/G, Mono Red Aggro, and a smattering of hopefuls determined to make White Weenie get through all the hate.
A full ten different decks ended up in the top dozen. This suggests that we’re entering a format where knowing the intricacies of your own deck is more important than specific matchups, and where your sideboard choices need to be as broad as possible. And it’s worth remembering that if you’re American or British, this format is going to change barely a week away from the Big Show itself. Tenth Edition is on it’s way, bringing with it Troll Ascetic and Incinerate, to name but two.
I’ll probably have forgotten everything about Standard by then, too.
As ever,
Thanks for reading.
R.