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So Many Insane Plays – A Better Look At Tezzeret

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Monday, November 30th – With the restriction of Thirst for Knowledge, Dark Confidant Tezzeret has emerged as a major Vintage force. Today, Stephen Menendian explores an intriguing deckbuilding technique which he hopes will power him towards the optimal Bob Tez configuration…

A few months ago, I examined all of the potential avenues of development for Tezzeret Control in Vintage following the restriction of Thirst For Knowledge. Most importantly, there appeared to be six broad categories of potential evolution based on replacement draw engines: 1) Night’s Whisper, 2) Dark Confidant, 3) Mystic Remora, 4) Intuition Plus, 5) Thoughtcast, and 6) Highlander. Four months since the restriction of Thirst, one of these has emerged as a clear favorite.

Take a look at what Luis Scott-Vargas played at the Pro Tour: Austin Vintage side event, and what he’s been using to win tournaments at Eudominia:


The Dark Confidant build of Tezzeret has emerged the favorite, and is far and away the best performing variant, post restriction. Its signature win was the Vintage Championship this year, piloted by Hiromichi Itou. Although slightly different, the build that Luis was playing is based on a list that a group of New Englanders have developed, using a pair of Repeals, only 3 Bobs, and 3 Thoughtseize. The difference is that LSV ran Darksteel Colossus over Sphinx of the Steel Wind, the more popular option.

Why has Bob Tez emerged as the most successful of the Tezzeret variants? I strongly suspect that there are multiple reasons for this. Here are some possibilities:

1) The two major archetypes in Vintage, besides Tezzeret, are Fish and Stax. Fish and Stax are the next best performing archetypes, with the highest percentage of Top 8 appearances. Dark Confidant shines in both matchups. As mana denial strategies, Fish and Stax make it difficult to cast more expensive spells. Bob is the cheapest option. Also, by applying pressure in the form of Null Rod or Sphere of Resistance, Fish and Stax tend to slow the game down. The longer the game goes, the strong Bob is, since Bob generates greater card advantage over time, rather than in a single burst.

2) The Absence of Dark Ritual Combo. Historically, while Stax and Fish tend to nip at the big Blue Mana Drain deck, occasionally taking a few victories here and there, the one archetype that tends to most successfully compete with the Mana Drain decks is Dark Ritual combo. Grim Long smashed Control Slaver. Pitch Long smashed non-Meandeck Gifts Drain decks. TPS smashed the post-Gush, but pre-Tezzeret Drain decks, etc. With the speed of the Vault-Key combo, and, perhaps most importantly, the printing of Mindbreak Trap, Dark Ritual combo has waned. Dark Confidant is far too slow to compete with TPS, but TPS and Ad Nauseam are bit players in the current metagame.

3) Success breeds imitators. High profile lists doing well undoubtedly inspires imitators, who, in large enough numbers, also succeed. This success often acts as a disincentive to further investigation or serious exploration. It is important not to overstate what the current success of Bob Tez means for the future of Tezzeret. Keep in mind how Brassman Gifts, the most popular and successful early Gifts variants, in time, gave way to Meandeck Gifts as the most popular of the Gifts shells.

Rebuilding Tezzeret

A few years ago, I wrote a step-by-step methodology for preparing a tournament winning decklist, using GroAtog. I am preparing for a local tournament, and I wanted to try to design a Tezzeret list using the same formula.

Process matters. Preparation matters. Players tend to understand, in principle, the importance of both. Players understand the importance of playing a deck well and selecting the right deck. But, in most cases, the process of preparation and deck design/selection is unstructured. Players play a deck they have a good feel for, test it as much as they can, try to play it as well as they can, and hope for the best. Some players, the better organized, have playtest groups, record data, and select decks using a slightly more sophisticated version of the ‘feel’ system.

Although I do not use this process as much as I should, I have a method for deck tuning that as proven very effective in the past. It is time intensive, but well worth the effort. The data is clear that Tezzeret is the best performing deck in Vintage, but the more recent data suggests that Tezzeret is having trouble winning tournaments. I have selected Tezzeret for a local tournament for several reasons. First, I want to try Tezzeret in a tournament setting, which I have not yet done, even though the archetype has been legal for a year. Second, I haven’t yet been able to enjoy the fruits of my lobbying efforts to re-errata Time Vault. I have always tried to play a deck that beats the Time Vault decks, such as TPS or Confidant Control (Grow). I was very impressed with Hiromichi Itou’s Tezzeret list, particularly on account of its almost prescient metagame sensitivity.

So, once again, here is my five-step process for winning tournaments, once you have selected an archetype:

Step 1:
Identify the metagame competitors. Draw up a list, in order, of the decklists you expect to face. One way to do this is to simply break down your entire metagame.

From the bimonthly metagame breakdown I presented last week, Vintage Top 8s in September and October looked roughly like this:

Tezzeret: 22% of Top 8s
Fish: 11%
Stax: 11%
Dredge: 9%
TPS: 8%
Oath: 8%
Steel City Vault: 6%
MUD: 5%
G/x Beats: 5%
Drain Tendrils: 3%
Ad Nauseam: 3%
Dragon Combo: 3%

Without question it would be a mistake to assume that the decks that make Top 8 reflect the field. Some archetypes over-perform and some underperform. A deck may be 10% of top 8s, but only 5% of the field. Conversely, a deck may be 10% of the field, but 5% of top 8s. This is information we do not have, with a few exceptions, such as the Waterbury breakdown I performed in the Spring. For example, in that tournament, Mishra’s Workshop decks were 21.42% of the field, but zero in Top 8, and only 1 in the Top 16 (6.25% of Top 16).

Nonetheless, this data, the bimonthly metagame breakdown, is a useful starting point for taking stock of an expected field. It’s very likely that every major archetype will be represented in a five-or-more round Vintage tournament. Tezzeret, Fish, Stax, and Dredge are probably going to show up in every Vintage tournament. For our purposes, that is what is most important. Your expected metagame breakdown does not have to be perfect.

I expect these decklist, from a twenty-ish person tournament in my area:

4 Tezzeret Control
4 Workshop/Stax
2 Fish
2 Oath (both Time Vault and non-Time Vault versions)
1 W/G/x Beats
1 Misc Drain deck
1 Dredge
5 Other

Notice in constructing this list that I have intentionally adjusted my expectations, which was different from the Top 8 data. For instance, I expect Storm combo to be under-represented in my local metagame.

Step 2:
Build multiple lists designed to beat your anticipated metagame foes, particularly the Top 4 foes you expect to face.

This step involves several component steps. The first step would be building a list to beat Tezzeret mirror. The second is to build a list for Workshops. And the third list would be to build a list for Fish.

Step 2(a): Building a Tezzeret list for the mirror

In designing a list for the mirror, the foremost consideration has to be draw engine. In my experience, the Intuition plus Accumulated Knowledge engine is the most powerful engine in the Mana Drain mirror. It is an instant speed draw engine and it’s got excellent synergy with Mana Drain. I also think that the highlander draw engine, using Skeletal Scrying, is also strong in the mirror.

Anti-Tez Tezzeret:

Win Conditions/Finishers:
1 Tinker
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Time Vault
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Voltaic Key

Inkwell Leviathan is strongest in the Drain matchup. Typical answers, such as Chain of Vapor or Echoing Truth, are ineffectual at stopping it. Just as important, it is unblockable, so a standoff is not possible. Darksteel Colossus is a close second, but Inkwell also has the additional advantage of being blue, and thus pitchable in the Drain mirror to Force or Misdirection. I would run 2 Tezzeret, if it weren’t for the fact that so many mirror matches have Bobs.

Search/Draw:
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
2 Intuition
4 Accumulated Knowledge

1 Merchant Scroll
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Thirst For Knowledge
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Fact or Fiction

In my experience in Vintage, the Intuition plus AK engine is the strongest in the Drain mirror, and has been since 2003. I have long preferred it to Thirst in the Drain mirror. The problem with it is that Intuition plus AK is awful against Workshops and Null Rod decks because it is so mana intensive. However, in the Drain mirror, it is the most robust unrestricted draw engine. It sees you the greatest number of cards, its instant speed, so it allows you to have tempo control, and it’s just optimal for Drain matchups, since it is a perfect Drain sink. Also, it’s unbelievable with Yawgmoth’s Will, which is the central card in the Drain mirror. Thirst, Fact, and Gifts are all auto-include, since they generate card advantage at instant speed, as well.

Imperial Seal is much less important here because the primary draw engine is not Ancestral, nor is the plan to assemble Time Vault. Rather, the goal is to continue to outdraw your opponent and keep control of the game.

Counter/Protection:
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
1 Misdirection
1 Rebuild

Remember, we are designing a deck for the Drain mirror. We can run the full complement of Pyroblasts. We still want Drains to fuel our Intuitions, Yawg Will, and Fact, Gifts and Tezzeret.

I will discuss Misdirection later on, but I believe that Misdirection is and remains an excellent choice in Vintage. The fact of the matter is this:

1) Most decks run Ancestral Recall.
2) Every deck that runs it will draw it a certain, fixed proportion of the time in their opening hands.
3) Because Brainstorm is restricted, the ability to manipulate one’s opening hand is greatly diminished.
4) As a consequence of 3, it is harder to protect and to stop Ancestral Recall.
5) This means that every time it is drawn in the opening hand, that player has a huge advantage.
6) Running Misdirection drawn in the opening hand when Ancestral is drawn in an opponent’s opening hand will result in a game victory for the player who Misdirections Ancestral a non-trivial amount of times that both conditions hold.

In other words, Misdirection will win a fixed number of Vintage games. The question how many games will it win? Even if we assume that it will win half of the games that an opponent draws Ancestral and you draw Misdirection in the opening hands, and that is being conservative, that could turn out to be as few as 5% of games, or 1 in 20. That’s as few as 1 game in 5 full rounds of swiss and a Top 8. Nonetheless, I am building a list for the Drain mirror. Here, Misdirection not only fills the function of stealing Ancestrals, it also protects your spells, acting like a defensive Force of Will.

A Rebuild is included just in case your opponent is able to sneak through a very quick Tinker, before you have built up your defenses.

Mana:
1 Library of Alexandria
4 Underground Sea
4 Volcanic Island
2 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl

There is no need for basic lands in the mirror. Duals are strictly superior.

Library of Alexandria is at its peak power in this matchup. Turn 1 Library still has the power, although much diminished in recent years, to win games. It’s an auto-include if our only opponent is the mirror.

General Notes:

What a joy this deck would be to play in a tournament! Probably the most fun deck I ever played was 2003 Psychatog, which this most closely resembles.

This deck has no way to deal with a resolved Bob, but I don’t consider that to be a significant deficient. You should be able to outdraw a resolved Bob in most games. And, the sideboard can have a Darkblast or a Fire/Ice, which can be tutored. I could see the argument for a Darkblast, particularly since the deck has two Intuition and a Gifts. It’s a close call, but I ultimately decided against it. Goldfishing this deck is a lot of fun.

Step 2(b): Build an Anti-Stax Tezzeret List

Win Conditions/Finishers:
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Tinker
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
1 Tezzeret the Seeker

Tezzeret is included only because it’s a win condition, but it’s mostly a Blue blank or a Drain sink.

I prefer Inkwell in this matchup as well. Darksteel is the weakest of the three major options, since it’s the only one that Weldable. However, Sphinx is a turn slower. The difference is that Inky can be blocked on the ground. Inkwell is just more reliable here. It can’t be Sealed, for example.

Search/Draw:
4 Dark Confidant
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor

Imperial Seal is huge in this matchup, for several reasons. First, they can’t counter you, so Seal can help you assemble the Time Vault combo quickly. Second, Tinker is so huge in this matchup. Third, it can find the critical answer that you need immediately.

Fact, Thirst, and Gifts are all out. Fact or Fiction and Gifts are too expensive to play. With a Sphere or two in play, it’s just too much mana to be expected to have in play. If I wanted to run one of these cards, it would be Gifts because Gifts is the best card of the three, despite Thirsts lower mana cost. Gifts is unbelievable versus Stax.

Counter/Protection:
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
2 Rack and Ruin
1 Darkblast
1 Fire/Ice

Notice the double Rack and Ruin. Rack and Ruin is your best removal spell. I was hesitant to play two because of the manabase — you need Red to play it, and so much of the mana base is Island and a Swamp. However, in playing around with the deck it wasn’t a problem. It’s a great Drain sink, too. Darkblast and Fire/Ice are auto-includes, for killing Welders and Shamans. I chose Hurkyl’s over Rebuld or Chain of Vapor.

Mana:
1 Swamp
4 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mana Vault

A rock solid manabase. Seventeen lands!

Basic lands are a weapon. Vintage players don’t appreciate this fact enough. To the Vintage mind, every problem has a solution, and that solution is a spell. That’s the wrong mindset, yet it’s common. It’s common because the spells are so powerful in Vintage. Yet, very often, a basic Island is the hammer you need for that nail. Such is the case here. This manabase is very strong, virtually impenetrable. I would even consider playing a Strip Mine and a few Wastelands, if I had the room.

Mana Vault is at peak power in the Workshop match. Turn 1, on the play, Mana Vault is unbelievably powerful against whatever the Workshop pilot might try to do, aside from Tangle Wire. It’s also pretty amazing on the draw.

General Notes:
The anti-Stax list eschews the a lot of the big spells like Fact, and runs a rock solid manabase and a good deal of removal. The heart and soul of the deck is Bob. It’s your beater and your card draw in one spell.

This list reminds me in many ways of Hiromichi Itou’s Vintage champs winning list. And that’s a good thing!

Step 2(c): Build an Anti-Fish Tezzeret List

Win Conditions/Finishers:
3 Sower of Temptation
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Tinker
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key

Sower of Temptation is hands down the best card in this matchup. It’s unbelievable. It’s risky to run three because of potential Bob flips, but it’s definitely worth it. Sphinx here can help you gain life to stay alive. Tezzeret is gone. It’s weakest in this matchup, and unnecessary as a backup source of damage.

Search/Draw:
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
4 Dark Confidant
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Imperial Seal

The reason I’ve included Imperial Seal is because of Tinker, and how central and amazing Tinker is in this matchup. Again, the Bob engine is best against Fish. It’s a creature, so it can block and trade with their beaters. It’s cheap, so it helps you build resources in spite of their attempts to attack your manabase.

Counters/Protection:
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Darkblast
1 Fire/Ice
2 Repeal

Against Beats, this spot would have a different configuration, on account of the weakness of Repeal against Gaddock Teeg. Instead, I’d have another Fire/Ice and probably a Chain of Vapor. Repeals here are mostly for tempo, until Sowers, well, sew up the game.
Note that Sower is already listed under win conditions, but it would count here as well.

Mana:
1 Swamp
4 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
3 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet

This is the same manabase as I used for the anti-Stax list, for the same reason. You want invulnerability to Wastelands. You need to be able to win even though a Null Rod is in play. It may even be helpful to think about how you would play the game if a Null Rod started in play. If you goldfish the list, that’s how I would play it. In fact, this list may even want another land, perhaps over a Mox.

General Notes:

The key to this match is obviously winning even though Time Vault is in play. That means the deck needs to be able to stop the rush and set up the Tinker plan. Sphinx of the Steel Wind was designed specifically for Fish matchups. The game plan requires total mana stability. Sower of unbelievable in this deck. It’s huge.

Step 3:
Begin to build a composite list by synthesize your decklists. Begin by putting into a “composite” list all of the unanimous card choices. Then I recommend putting in all the cards that made it into this list in the vast majority of your decklists.

Here are the cards that are in each of the three lists.

Unanimous Choices:

Win Conditions:
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Tinker
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key

Search/Draw:
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor

Counter/Protection:
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain

Mana:
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt

That’s 34 cards shared by all three lists, with 20 unanimous spells. If we assume that 25 slots will be dedicated to the manabase, that leaves 15 open slots for spells.

What cards show up in 2 of the 3 decklists?

1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Tezzeret the Seeker

4 Dark Confidant
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Imperial Seal

1 Fire/Ice
1 Darkblast

4 Island
1 Swamp
3rd Volcanic Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn

If we add those cards in, that takes up 56 slots, leaving 4 open slots.

I will automatically give one of those slots to Hurkyl’s Recall, since Rebuild appeared in one list and Hurkyl’s in the other. But that leaves two more spots.

What should go in those slots?

Step 4:
Choose a tiebreaker based upon weighting your opponents by importance. Keep in mind to weight the importance of the fact that some decklists you expect to face in the Top 8 despite their frequency in the metagame as a whole. This is just as important as any other factor to weight when building your composite list. Finally, when choosing among final cards, make sure that you give some weight to the fact that you want internal synergies.

Given that the Tezzeret match and the Workshop match are weighed as the most important, I should look to those matchups to see which cards I selected.

Unfortunately, as I look through those lists, it seems as if the most potent cards are dead in the other matchup. So Misdirection and Red Elemental Blast are very weak against Stax, and Rack and Ruin, while certainly not dead in the Tez matchup, is probably not optimal. In addition, it seems as though additional Blue spells would be preferred, since the maindeck only has 19 Blue spells at this point.

Library of Alexandria is a huge tool. It’s possible I should take advantage of that tool. My sense is that four basic lands is enough. I cut the 4th basic Island for Library of Alexandria (even though I’m breaking my rubric slightly).

Gifts Ungiven is the strongest of the three big Blue spells, and I believe I can afford to run one of them. It would be the 61st card in the Stax list, so I’m included that card.

Here are some options for the final two slots:

1) Misdirection and basic Island
2) Misdirection and Mana Vault
3) Misdirection and Rack and Ruin
4) Misdirection and Chain of Vapor
5) Misdirection and Thirst For Knowledge
6) Misdirection and Fire/Ice # 2
7) Misdirection and Repeal
8) Thirst For Knowledge and Chain of Vapor
9) Thirst For Knowledge and Fire/Ice # 2

I want Misdirection, and I want a card that will be good in the Stax matchup, so I settled on (2), mostly at the urging of Paul Mastriano, who insisted that Mana Vault would be better than an 18th land, the 4th Island. I really prefer the Island, but I’m going to credit my teammates opinion in this instance.

Why not Thirst? Wasn’t Thirst just restricted? Let me just say this: I’ve never really liked Thirst. My dislike of Thirst is what spurred me to play 4 Merchant Scroll and 4 Gifts Ungiven and no Thirst. The Gifts lists of the era played 4 Thirst and 2 Gifts. That was unacceptable to me. I built Meandeck Gifts, which used 4 Scrolls and 4 Gifts. Scroll is a million times better than Thirst. So is Gifts. Everyone knows this now.

Thirst was really broken in Control Slaver because discarding artifacts was the idea, you wanted to discard some large cards that would be recurred with Goblin Welder. Outside of Goblin Welder decks, I’m not a huge fan. What artifacts do I want to discard in this deck? None, really. Why would I want to discard a Mox if I’m playing against Workshops? And if the plan is to discard two cards, then it isn’t even generating card advantage and shouldn’t be played in the first place.

So, I’m going to run Misdirection and Mana Vault.

Here’s what we have:

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Misdirection

1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Dark Confidant

1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Tinker
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Yawgmoth’s Will

1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Gifts Ungiven

1 Fire/Ice
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Darkblast

3 Island
1 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet

Step 5:
Build your sideboard to fill gaps. Make sure you have functional sideboard plans. You don’t want to go into a tournament with more sideboard cards for a match than you have the capacity to sideboard in.

The sideboard is partly obvious from the lists I built earlier:

2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Rack and Ruin

I am primarily concerned about Oath. As built, I don’t even have a Chain maindeck, possibly a serious mistake. There are a host of possible anti-Oath options, but Annul and Greater Gargadon stand out. It’s a touch choice, but I ultimately settle on:

3 Greater Gargadon

Normally, if I expected combo, I’d run a pair of Mindbreak Trap. But I don’t expect any combo. When Oath leaves the environment again, or dies down a bit, then I’ll add Trap back in.

I expect Dredge.

Ravenous Trap, Leyline of the Void, Yixlid Jailer, Tormod’s Crypt, and Extirpate are all strong options. I likely want 5 cards. I could see several configurations:

4 Leyline of the Void
1 Extirpate

Or…

2 Leyline of the Void
2 Ravenous Trap
1 Extirpate

Or…

4 Leyline of the Void
1 Tormod’s Crypt

Or…

2 Ravenous Trap
2 Extirpate
1 Tormod’s Crypt

And so on…

Leyline of the Void is, functionally, one of the strongest cards against Dredge. Extirpate is weaker, but it’s phenomenal against Oath. Also, it’s not bad against Steel City Vault.

I think I like:

4 Leyline of the Void
1 Extirpate

Final Decklist:


It’s amazing how amazing this process is for building decks. I should use it more explicitly in the future. I think it serves a number of critical purposes. First, and perhaps most importantly, it helps me put aside my personal, subjective preferences and quirky cards that I might otherwise include if I didn’t go through this process formally. For example, I may be tempted to through in a random metagame card that actually doesn’t serve me as I imagine it might. Second, it forces me to make my assumptions about which cards are good in which matchups explicit, and then question those assumptions. Third, it’s always metagame specific. It forces me to make explicit assumptions about my expected metagame. For example, had I not gone through this process, I probably would have included two Mindbreak Trap in my sideboard, despite the fact that I expect no combo, or, at least, no combo piloted by threatening pilots.

Now, let me sketch out some sideboard plans:

Against Tezzeret:
+ 2 Red Elemental Blast
+ 1 Pyroblast
– 1 Swamp
– 1 Island
– 1 Mana Vault

Against Oath:
+ 3 Greater Gargadon
+ 1 Extirpate
– 4 Dark Confidant

Against Workshops:
+ 2 Rack and Ruin
– 1 Misdirection
– 1 Gifts Ungiven

Against Dredge:
+ 4 Leyline of the Void
+ 1 Extirpate
– 4 Dark Confidant
– 1 Mana Drain

Against Fish:
+ 2 Sower of Temptation
– 1 Misdirection
– 1 Tezzeret the Seeker

I hope you’ve enjoyed this article. Next week I’ll be sharing my tournament report. Come back to find out how this deck, did, and how close my read of the metagame was.

Until next time…

Stephen Menendian