Anyone who knows me knows that I am fanatically devoted to off-the-wall decks. There is nothing really wrong with this though. If you work the deck well enough, learn the matchups, and just play to the best of your abilities, then playing something off the wall is just a fine choice. Throughout my career, I have always been attracted to decks like the Black/Red deck from Odyessy block that William Jensen played at Grand Prix: Cleveland. I played a Blue/Red Control deck in the first weekend of Onslaught Block qualifiers (Blue/Red was a ton of fun to play, but had really really spectacularly bad matches against Beasts, which at that first PTQ was the most played deck. Somehow I still made the Top 8, getting knocked out by Andy Stokinger with Beasts.) More recently, I’ve been defending the Five-color Gifts deck, which has performed admirably under many circumstances.
As of this writing, Regionals is a little less than a three weeks away, and I think I found another great off the wall deck to play, or at the very least add to your testing gauntlet. I’m done waxing nostalgic for a bit, here’s the deck list. This decklist has been provided by the super great Starcitygames.com deck database, and was played to a fourth place finish in the Midi-Pyrénnées by Sebastien Lamoliate.
Creatures (24)
- 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
- 2 Solemn Simulacrum
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 4 Eternal Witness
- 3 Viridian Zealot
- 4 Troll Ascetic
- 3 Thieving Magpie
Lands (22)
Spells (14)
Sideboard
When I saw this deck, my curiosity was instantly piqued. I knew that a deck that had so many great creatures, the best equipment, and some of the best spells in the game had to be awesome. When I played this deck, the wind was taken out of my sails, and some major flaws were exposed in the build. I kept wondering, man, how come I keep getting mana screwed? I would draw great hands, of nothing more then Blue spells and Forests, or vice versa. Having Birds of Paradise and Sakura-Tribe Elder in the deck are a godsend, but if you never draw the initial Green source then why play these guys? Often times I would sit and look at a hand with Condescend in it while on the draw and think that I just took an unfair mulligan regardless of the exact amount of cards in my hand. I had work to do, and after a few weeks with the deck I had this new version fleshed out, which I think addresses some of the flaws in the first version. I had to make sure that I could answer these questions without feeling too bad about the results.
1. Is twenty-two lands enough?
1a. If I take out Islands it is still worth our time to maindeck Vedalken Shackles?
2. Should Condescend be in the main deck?
3. Why play Solemn Simualcrum over Meloku, or even Keiga?
4. Can I pay Wizards of the Coast enough money to bring Wild Mongrel back into the format?
I believe that twenty-two lands were more then enough, and I started off the new build with that land count exactly. Why there are no Cities of Brass or Tendo Ice Bridges in the main deck I could not answer, but after playing games without them, and playing games with them, I learned that I must have one of the non basic lands represent four of the twenty-two. Yes, it is still worth your time to play the powerful artifact, but after testing, I decided it was going to be a little more worth it to play Sensei’s Divining Top.
I’m pretty sure that the deck does not need Condescend. This deck really wants to be a tempo deck, so taking out the seemingly random counterspells allows me to explore some exciting new options. Kodama’s Reach was used, Aether Vial was used, and even Spiketail Hatching got some game play, but in the end the powerful three-mana Arcane spell was added to power out some quicker beats and allow you to abuse the mana intensive equipment.
Adding Kodama’s Reach to the maindeck now gives me an even better reason to play with the best blue legend ever made. Meloku took the place of the underperforming Solemn Speedbump.
I called Wizards of the Coast and talked to a rather nice lady named Susan, they told me that Wild Mongrel would not be making the cut back into Type Two anytime soon. Too bad I reckon. With that knowledge in hand, I give you the completed, ready-to-dominate-at-least-a-Friday-Night-Magic-tournament decklist.
Green/Blue Attack Step
Creatures (24)
- 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 2 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
- 4 Eternal Witness
- 3 Viridian Zealot
- 4 Troll Ascetic
- 3 Thieving Magpie
Lands (22)
- 4 Tendo Ice Bridge
- 11 Forest
- 7 Island
Spells (14)
Sideboard
The creatures in this deck are some of the best in the format, and can be really hard to deal with, even when they are not carrying a Sword or Jitte. Birds of Paradise and Sakura-Tribe Elder are great mana accelerants and fixers, and are clutch in the early game. Troll Ascetic and Thieving Magpie give you a hard to deal with creature for the Mono-Blue Matchup and a great card drawer to help out in the mid-game. Putting a Sword of Fire and Ice on a Magpie is something awesome against the great Blue menace. Eternal Witness is some good against just about every deck in the format, and Viridian Zealot can be a quick beater or removal for the troubling artifacts and enchantments in the format. Meloku is the finisher, and really it was hard to decide if this guy, or Rude Awakening would be the expensive spell that won me games.
The spells in this deck are great, and I have already explained why Reach and Top are in the deck, so I would rather talk about the best non-creature Blue spell in the format, and the best artifacts in the format that do not have “Shackles” in the name. Sword of Fire and Ice helps out against the White Weenie matchup and can swing the mono Blue match in your favor. It will give you superior card advantage over every deck in the format and deal with small dorks at the same time. This card does just about everything but make your opponent shake your hand and say good luck. For everything Sword does, you can almost make an argument that Jitte is even better in a majority of the matchups. This is one of the hardest cards to play correctly in the format, because the amount of choices it provides give it a natural degree of difficulty. Do you sandbag the counters? Do you immediately kill off dorks, or hit your opponent for a lot more next turn? It really comes down to the current board situation and making the decision that is most beneficial for your plan of winning.
Sample Hands
You all should know the drill by now, five hands to show you guys the goods, and as always Magic Workstation is the program I used to help me make these hands possible.
Hand one:
2 Island
1 Forest
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Meloku, the Clouded Mirror
1 Thieving Magpie
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
Yowzah, this hand is very pretty. You get a strong early game, blazing out of the gates with a turn 3 Magpie. You can go for the fourth turn Meloku, and try to put the game on lock down as soon as possible, or you can put Jitte on the board, and play for the longer game. This is a stellar hand against White Weenie, Tooth and Nail, and the Green Decks. This is an iffy hand against Mono-Blue Control and Ponza, but even against Ponza, I would have no problems running this hand at all.
Hand Two:
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Echoing Truth
1 Thieving Magpie
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
If I could get hands like this every time I picked up the deck, people would accuse me of being a cheater. This hand is the same as the first, but adds Truth over the Clouded Mirror to make your possible turn 4 plays a bit easier. You still have the potential to play a turn 3 Magpie (you need to draw the land) and the turn 4 equipped Bird so this hand is going to be ranked the same way but is a little more questionable against the Ponza deck.
Hand Three:
2 Eternal Witness
1 Forest
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Kodama’s Reach
1 Echoing Truth
I hate hands like these, they are potentially very powerful but seeing as you have some land issues, it would probably be better off to mulligan the hand. However, as I can see how strong this hand can be if you draw the second land I would think very long about keeping it, and then decide that I would play it. Okay on the real real, if you are playing first, I would strongly suggest tossing this back. I would keep this hand without a second thought on the draw.
Hand Four:
6 Lands
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder.
Well, Let’s see what the mulligan looks like.
Mulligan hand four:
6 Spells
No Lands
Okay, how bout five?
1 Island
1 Bird of Paradise
1 Troll Ascetic
1 Echoing Truth
1 Sword of fire and Ice
*Sigh* I would keep this not wanting to go to four, but since you play to win the game, you go to four.
Mulligan number three
1 Tendo Ice Bridge
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Kodama’s Reach
1 Eternal Witness
This hand is a lot better than the hand of five. Really at this point, winning is gonna be hard, so I would fight the good fight, and stay at four.
Last Hand.
2 Tendo Ice Bridge
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Thieving Magpie
1 Viridian Zealot
I really enjoy this hand. I also really enjoy being able to play a turn 3 and a turn 4 magpie. I hate the fact that the only two lands to work off of with the Elders working as additional basic lands by proxy. I would keep this hand and smile smugly as I crush my opponent underneath my awesome card advantage.
Matchups
Tooth and Nail – Preboard: about 20 Percent. Postboard: About 50 Percent.
The first game in this matchup is a one-sided affair. For you to win, you must come out the gates quick, and have lethal damage on the board the turn they Tooth and Nail. If more tooth players decide to go the Terry Soh route and run a bunch of Titans, you should be fine, as long as you can keep the damage up. Platinum Angel and Leonin Abunas is a bit harder because you must have the double Truth or Truth and Zealot ready to go when it is time to win.
Sideboarding + 3 Cranial Extraction, +1 Swamp, +3 Plow Under -1 Forest, -3 Jitte, -2 Sword of Fire and Ice, -1 Troll Ascetic
After board, you want to resolve Extraction (naming Tooth and Nail) and then beat down as soon as you can, use Plow Unders to smash the Tron to bits and make them a bit slower.
Mono Blue Control – Preboard: coin flip Postboard: 55-60 Percent
Game one comes down to how good your hand is versus theirs. If they get to counter Troll Ascetic, chances decrease a bit, but this guy and Viridian Zealot are two very important cards in this match game one. Work past the counters, resolve a Sword of Fire and Ice, and start swinging past the dudes in the air. Save the Zealots for the Shackles for sure.
Sideboarding +4 Plow Under, +3 Genju of the Cedars -4 Echoing Truth, -3 Umezawa’s Jitte
Turn one Genju is a stellar play against the mono-Blue matchup, and if you get a chance to disrupt their mana development with Plow Under, then the Mono Blue deck pretty much has no chance.
White Weenie – Preboard: 70 Percent Postboard: 90 Percent.
This matchup is pretty hard to lose, as all of your creatures are better than theirs and you have multiple ways to get their important artifacts off the board while yours get to hang out. Hokori, Dust Drinker could be a bit of a problem, but that is why Truth is still in the main, so you can at least deal with him and get a full untap before they do.
Sideboarding +4 Engineered Explosives, -3 Kodama’s Reach, -1 Troll Ascetic
Yep, it becomes a blowout after the sideboarding. Explosives set for any number less than three wrecks them, and makes it an easy way to get blockers out of the way for your huge attackers.
Green Decks (I’ve lumped Black/Green, Beacon Green, and Green/Red to make it a nice tight little package.)
Black/Green – Preboard: about 30 Percent Postboard: 50 Percent
Beacon Green – Preboard: 60 Percent Postboard: 60 Percent
Red/Green – Preboard: Push Postboard: Push.
All of these decks have the same Green base that you do while giving you a varied degree of threats to deal with. Green/Black is the hardest of the three, as Plow Under and Death Cloud are difficult to deal with now that our counter magic has been removed. The Green/Red matchup comes down to them getting Arc-Slogger active or not, so you should save your bounce for that guy. Beacon Green is your deck minus the good Blue cards for Beacon of Creation. If you deal with the Beacon, and the critters it makes you should be just fine against them.
Green/Black Sideboarding +3 Cranial Extraction, +1 Swamp, +4 Plow Under -3 Umezawa’s Jitte, -3 Viridian Zealot, -2 Echoing Truth
Beacon Green Sideboarding + 4 Plow Under -3 Viridian Zealot, -1 Troll Ascetic
Green/Red Sideboard +4 Plow Under, -3 Viridian Zealot, -1 Echoing Truth.
Yeah, pretty simple sideboarding plans. Basically, if you are playing against decks packing Green you want to put in the league maximum of Plow Unders, and the addition of Cranial Extraction makes the Green/Black matchup a little bit better, but you are still going to have to be a better drawer in that particular matchup.
Red Decks (Flores Red and Ponza)
I have not played the Flores Red matchup enough to be truthful, therefore, I will not give a percentage, but in theory, with the lack of countermagic, and the amount of burn the deck packs, I can not imagine this being a favorable matchup.
Ponza – Preboard: 60 percent Postboard: 60 Percent.
With a deck that packs four each of Birds and Tribe Elder it is not so bad if they attack your lands. With Sword of Fire and Ice, Echoing Truth, and Reach, the matchup goes further away from the Ponza player. When you play Troll Ascetic, and give it a Sword they almost can not win. However, if you get paired against a crafty land destruction player, then that can change. Quick Firewalkers being backed up by the land destruction can make the game harder then it needs to be.
No Sideboarding. However if you want to feel free to trade the Zealots for Extractions and a Forest for a Swamp. At least you get rid of those troublesome Arc-Sloggers.
After testing this deck extensively, I found it quite a joy to play and it is very competitive in the current Regionals format. Sadly, I do not foresee Saviors adding much to this deck (although Stampeding Serow looks promising. Eternal Witness forever?) I would put this into a strong Type Two gauntlet and test against it, as it has shown strong results for me.
This is it for This week’s College Dropout, and sadly, it will be the last one that I write. You see, I am no longer a College Dropout, and will be changing my column title with the next article, which I hope to be an enjoyable read about the Rat Ninja deck that Tim Aten and Cedric Philips have shown to the world.
Thanks for reading!