The Combat Phase – The Shifting Online Metagame

My friend Matt Wood posts his Facebook status update as

Dear Maine,

I am coming for you.

Love, Matt.

The next day he beats 167 people and wins the PTQ in Maine. Holy awesome.

Me? I totally scrubbed out. And then I wrote a column I thought was hilarious, but it turned out to be much less funny than I thought. The next week is filled with depression, desperation online, house repairs, and wedding planning. Do you care about my busy schedule? I am guessing no, so let’s move on. I finally get to play some Magic Online the following Friday, and all I face all day is Jund and Red Deck Wins. Both decks are completely insane.

Blightning you. Blightning you again.

Okay, I’m at 14 and down four cards. How do I recover from that? I don’t. Because no one can. No deck can. Bituminous Blast your guy, cascade into Bloodbraid Elf, cascade into Maelstrom Pulse killing all your wolves.

Holy God! Why am I not playing this deck?

“I should just spend the three hundred dollars and play Jund.”

“Would that be fun? I’m fine with you buying Jund if you want.”

“Yeah, that deck is awesome. I would laugh my ass off playing that deck.”

“What I’m asking you is: would you, and the people who really support you, be happy to see you qualify with Jund?”

Sad panda face. Lots of silence and thinking as I sit on the bed in Wendy’s office. “No. It goes against who I am and what I believe. I wouldn’t feel like me if I did that. I’ve never qualified with anyone’s deck but my own. But it’s so good! I don’t know how I’ll ever beat it!”

“Didn’t Matt Wood just qualify with a deck of his own design?”

At this point I am thinking “Why do you hate me so much, and why am I so lucky to have you?” (In less subtle terms, that means “Why can’t I just play Jund; and thank you for supporting me and understanding who I am.”)

I have bought all of the cards for the Big Red Control deck I showed you last week, I put it together and haven’t played it once. Green is my true love, and somehow I feel that, no matter what cards are in the format, I can make it work. Like some intricate lock, if I can find the right combination, then I can open up something wonderful.

I redesign the deck to be more competitive against RDW and Jund, adding in more life gain (which is crap in Green right now) and lower casting cost creatures, even removing the All is Dust since Jund and RDW couldn’t care less about the card. I am also finding that everyone, and I mean everyone, is playing Jund and RDW in the real tournament room. At this point, they are an auto lose for me. I can sneak out a win about 20% of the time, but that’s it. The deck I published last week beats almost every other deck 90% of the time, and loses 80% of the time to RDW and Jund.

I continue to find that when I play in the tournament practice room, it’s not really tournament practice, since I never face Jund or RDW or Mythic Conscription or any other top tier decks. I’m sure my opponents feel the same way when they see me play a Leatherback Baloth, so I guess I can’t complain.

You know what I love? Leatherback Baloth. I want more of him. As is my usual daily schedule, I get up and browse the trade bots looking for new and interesting things to add to the deck. Things I may have overlooked. Things I may have dismissed and need to re-examine.

Beastbreaker of Bala Ged. Huh. I thought that guy was crap. But a 2/2 for two and then the next turn you can make him into a 4/4 and he can attack? Isn’t that like a 4/4 for three with haste that sticks around? Sort of. And since I keep losing to RDW and Jund, wouldn’t he be good as a 4/4 on the third turn to block Bloodbraid and Sprouting Thrinax? I am guessing yes. (And I would be wrong.)

I remove the All is Dust, I remove the Eldrazi Temple and even the Pelakka Wurm, and I make the deck all about cheap creatures and my two favorite spells — Overrun and Momentous Fall. I have Wolfbriar Elemental, Master of the Wild Hunt, Beastbreaker of Bala Ged, Baloths, Elves, Elks, and Stags. Do you know how much of a beating Great Sable Stag is against Jund, since they can’t Maelstrom Pulse or Terminate it, or even attack with Sprouting Thrinax?

Sadly, It is not very much of a beating, since they can Lighting Bolt it or just keep attacking with a Bloodbraid Elf…

Anyway, I like the deck because I can win with an Overrun or, if you try and kill my creatures, I can draw cards and gain life. How can I go wrong?

I play a few games and it seems adequate.

I get up in the morning, pay my twenty-five tickets and join the online PTQ.

Mountain, Guide, swing for two.

Forest, Elf.

Teetering Peaks, attack for four. I can’t block, I need that Elf! There’s chips that need to be eaten!

Forest, Stag.

Mountain, Kargan Dragonlord, Bolt your Stag, attack.

Okay, I still need that Elf and soon you’re going to have a 4/4 flier that Green has zero defense against…

Cunning Sparkmage, kill your Elf. Hasted 4/4 flier with unearth. Kargan levels up.

The Red nightmare continues. How does Green stop two Cunning Sparkmage or a guy who, for one mana a level, levels up to being an 8/8 flying trampler? Green’s levelers suck in comparison. Compared to the other Planeswalkers, Green’s suck too. Feel free to argue with me, but they’re the cheapest on the market and never see play. People tell me Garruk is good, but when was the last time I saw a Garruk on the battlefield? I can’t even remember.

My next opponent is also playing RDW.

On turn 2 he Searing Blazes my Beastmaster and me, both for three. Are you kidding me? On turn 3 he casts Ball Lightning, and now I’m down to eleven. On turn 4 he does it again, and now I’m down to five. I’m holding a Baloth, but need another Forest, which I draw. Ha!

Hell’s Thunder. Bolt you.

The amount of hasted creatures, flying creatures, great levelers, creatures that have unearth, plus spells that have rebound or do damage to you and kill a creature makes RDW a deck I really have no way I can conceive of that I can beat. Green just doesn’t have the tools.

I lose the third round to Jund, and devote the rest of the day to helping Wendy arrange the wedding and organize the house.

The entire day, I am thinking about Magic. If everyone is playing Jund and RDW, I have to find a way to beat those decks, no matter the cost against other decks.

Walls are pretty good. One casting cost mana producers just die to Earthquake and can’t block.

I look through all of the decks that I have saved on Magic Online and see what worked for me in the past, and re-examine cards and strategies to see if there is something I am missing. I make up a deck with walls and Summoning Trap, thinking that if I can cast a Summoning Trap with Emrakul or It That Betrays, I win the next turn. I learn once again that I will frequently draw Emrakul and I am never going to get fifteen mana to cast it.

It occurs to me that there are creatures that say “When you cast…” and others that say “When X enters the battlefield…” Summoning Trap doesn’t say cast. So I need things that say “When X enters the battlefield.” Also, I have a deep and abiding love for Artisan of Kozilek.

“Jamie?”

Bleary eyed. “Huh? What?”

“What’s in your hand?”

“Uh, nothing.”

“Are you sleeping with Magic cards?”

“No, it’s uh, porn… yeah, porn cards…”

“Have I lost you to Artisan of Kozilek?”

I hope you’re not buying any of this. Back to the Magic.

You know what says “Enters the Battlefield?”

Pelakka Wurm.

Terastodon.

Elvish Visionary.

Then I find the key to making it all work: Ancient Stirrings.

Ancient Stirrings? Really?

See, I always want mana. I always want an Eldrazi Temple. Late in the game I can get an Artisan or an All is Dust. So, I can get a Forest. Get an Eldrazi Temple. Get an All is Dust. Get an Artisan. In the early game, the key is to just get an Eldrazi Temple. I get two or three of those on the board and the deck works. Period. I decide I have to change my focus from being early attacker guy, to “burn through my deck, drawing cards as fast as I can, and ramping up mana.”

(Of course, the minute I add a bunch of walls to my deck, everyone decides to play U/W for the next three days, and I never play RDW or Jund. Man, the online metagame changes fast!)

This is what I have been playing with about a 70% win ratio. No, seriously.

Please ignore the sideboard. I have never actually sideboarded in any match.

Generally, it goes like this —

Burn through my deck with Explore, Ancient Stirrings, and Elvish Visionary, setting myself up. Hopefully I get a couple walls to add a billion mana when I need it. Cast Terastodon and kill three of your lands, preferably the White ones, since those cast board sweepers. Attack with the Terastodon, and you kill it with the three elephant tokens I’ve given you. Cast Artisan, since I have three Eldrazi Temples on the board, and return Terastodon, destroying three more of your land.

This is when my opponent usually concedes. If he doesn’t, I attack, cast All is Dust. Then he concedes.

I keep trying to find a place to insert a quick review of the important cards of M11, and there is no place to break up the narrative to do so, ergo it goes here. (Blatantly stolen from the list that Adrian Sullivan thinks are the important cards in M11.)

Commons

Pyretic Ritual
1R
Instant
Add RRR to your mana pool.

I don’t like anything that allows you to ramp up mana like this. The reason is that someone will find a way to abuse it, like they did during the days of Dragonstorm, and the possibility of turn 2 and 3 kills raises its ugly head. I don’t mind dying to Ball Lighting and Hell’s Thunder. I do mine dying to four dragons doing twenty points of damage to me on turn 2. That perverts the idea that Magic is about skill, and I don’t like that.

Cultivate
2G
Sorcery
Search your library for up to two basic land cards, reveal those cards, and put one onto the battlefield tapped and the other in your hand. Then shuffle your library.

I love this card.

Plummet
1G
Instant
Destroy target creature with flying.

I am of two minds on this card. Like Adrian, I think this could have been printed a lot sooner. It will see play in a lot of sideboards, and Green needs it. That said, bear with me, and please don’t think I’m just being negative for the sake of being negative. But how does this compare to Doom Blade or Deathmark or Path to Exile or Oblivion Ring, or any other number of cards that can be used on pretty much anything? You side in four Plummet and get crushed by Knight of the Reliquary. You side in four Plummet and Ball Lightning kills you. Great. We have a way to deal with one flier for one card IF they draw them, which they probably won’t, because they have sided them out. Cards that say “Kill a creature” are infinitely better than cards that say “Kill a specific creature.” How about if Blue got a card that said “Destroy target creature with trample.” Is that a good card? While this slightly addresses a problem that Green has, the real problem is the fact Green doesn’t get fliers.

If you’re going to make a color that –

1. Doesn’t get fliers.
2. Doesn’t get creature elimination.
3. Doesn’t get direct damage to creatures or players
4. Rarely gets instants.
5. Rarely gets card drawing.

You damn well better give it something to make up for the fact that it doesn’t get the most powerful mechanics in the game. You better give it the best creatures/ Planeswalkers (BAR NONE) in the game. You better give it artifact and enchantment removal attached to a creature so it’s not useless. You better give it land destruction better than anyone else has. You better give it life gain that blows everything else out of the water. Because without fliers, without creature elimination, without card drawing, without a plethora of usable instants that mess with your opponent’s game plan — you have nothing.

You are going to play Plummet, kill a Baneslayer Angel, and think “Ha! Take that!”

Wouldn’t you rather (playing “the creature color”) just have a Baneslayer Angel?

You are going to side in four Plummet, and your opponent is going to play Jace, Gideon Jura, and Elspeth, and you are going to end up using your mighty Plummet on a 1/1 flying soldier token.

Plummet is weaker than Choke.

Plummet is weaker than Deathmark.

Plummet is weaker than Doom Blade.

Plummet is not so hot.

Mana Leak
1U
Instant
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 3.

I love this card. You know why? Because it might actually make my Summoning Trap deck work. Bring on the counterspells.

Uncommons

Jace’s Ingenuity
3UU
Instant
Draw three cards.

The fact that this is an instant pushes it over the edge. Sitting on counterspells or flash creatures, waiting to see what your opponent is going to do, but still having the ability to draw three cards at the end of your opponent’s turn without leaving yourself vulnerable is huge.

Ember Hauler
RR
Creature — Goblin
1, Sacrifice Ember Hauler: Ember Hauler deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
2/2

I have to agree with Adrian — This guy is amazing and will see a lot of play.

Fire Servant
3RR
Creature – Elemental
If a red instant or sorcery spell you control would deal damage to a creature or player, it deals double that damage to that creature or player instead.
3/3

Again I have to agree with Adrian. A Furnace of Wrath attached to a body is scary thing. Sure, it can be killed by elimination but there are some colors that don’t have that elimination and every red spell cast will now smash a huge creature. Or your face.

Autumn’s Veil
G
Instant
Spells you control can’t be countered by blue or black spells this turn, and creatures you control can’t be the targets of blue or black spells this turn.

This time, I have to disagree with Adrian. Vines of the Vastwood is just better, and look how much play that sees. Against Black, their main elimination is sacrifice, not targeted removal so it’s useless against most of their spells. Against Blue, there isn’t that much bounce or counterspell action right now, so unless you think you’re going to have two spells countered or bounced in one turn, a creature in this spot (or Vines) would be just better. It’s not that I don’t want to like this card – I do, because Green has essentially nothing to sideboard against Blue and Black right now – but I just don’t see the value of this as compared to Vines.

Back to Nature
1G
Instant
Destroy all enchantments.

If this had a body attached to it, I would like it. Cards this narrow that don’t serve beats are just bad, in my opinion. They serve a function when there are multiple combo decks that take advantage of a variety of powerful enchantments. Right now, those don’t exist.

Voltaic Key
1
Artifact
1, T: Untap target artifact.

“Really? Really?” — Adrian Sullivan.

I couldn’t agree more.

Rares

Knight Exemplar
1WW
Creature – Human Knight
First strike
Other Knight creatures you control get +1/+1 and are indestructible.
2/2

Holy crap. No, seriously, HOLY CRAP! If this was an Elf that affected Elves, I would stay up nights, swap cards in and out, comb the trade bots and find some way to smash you in the face. Since that is not the case, I might move to White just for this card.

Leyline of Sanctity
2WW
Enchantment
If Leyline of Sanctity is in your opening hand, you may begin the game with it on the battlefield.
You can’t be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.

As a Green mage, I have to say “Meh. Whatever. Attack with my Baloth.” As any other color mage, I would probably need a fresh change of underwear. I think this is an incredible card that will see a lot of play.

Leyline of Anticipation
2UU
Enchantment
If Leyline of Anticipation is in your opening hand, you may begin the game with it on the battlefield.
You may cast nonland cards as though they had flash.

Really? Honestly, really? Green mages get +0/+1 and gain a life, and Blue mages get “everything but land has flash?”

Sure, that seems fair.

Because, you know, Teferi wasn’t format defining or anything… Oh, and enchantments are harder to kill than guys. And while it doesn’t make all your opponent’s spells sorceries (which Teferi did), it does have the added bonus that all your sorceries, artifacts, and enchantments are now instants.

Really? Are you kidding me?

This is a format defining card that will haunt non-Blue mages for years to come.

This card is redonkulous.

Cyclops Gladiator
1RRR
Creature – Cyclops Warrior
When Cyclops Gladiator attacks, you may have it deal damage equal to its power to target creature defending player controls. If you do, that creature deals damage equal to its power to Cyclops Gladiator.
4/4

There’s already a Facebook fan page about this guy. Need I say more?

Destructive Force
5RR
Sorcery
Each player sacrifices five lands.
Destructive force deals 5 damage to each creature.

Equal to Adrian, I am also salivating. This is just similar to things I have built entire decks around. I am looking forward to this card being legal. I loves me some reset buttons.

Leyline of Punishment
2RR
Enchantment
If Leyline of Punishment is in your opening hand, you may begin the game with it on the battlefield.
Players can’t gain life.
Damage can’t be prevented.

One of the least impressive Leylines. Some of the Leylines are good against all decks, others are good against one specific type of deck. Those that are only good against one type of deck don’t impress me even as sideboard cards. Those that don’t stack impress me even less.

Fauna Shaman
1G
Creature – Elf Shaman
G, T, Discard a creature card: Search your library for a creature card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
2/2

Like Adrian, I have to wonder, why all the hype? This isn’t that great. What do you think you are going to do with this? What is the plan? Is he going to be alive on turn 6 to discard the Llanowar Elf you just drew so you can go and get a Rampaging Baloth? Oh wait, now you’re one mana shy of being able to cast the Baloth. I don’t mean to be snarky, but when is this guy going to be good? If he is good, how is he going to survive long enough to be good?

Leyline of Vitality
2GG
Enchantment
If Leyline of Vitality is in your opening hand, you may begin the game with it on the battlefield.
Creatures you control get +0/+1.
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you gain 1 life.

The only reason this card even gets a C+ from me is because Red can kill you and everything you put on the board in seconds. Green desperately needs ways to gain life and keep its creatures alive. Sadly, even with this in your opening hand, your Elves or Birds aren’t going to survive past turn 1. And if you think gaining four life by the fourth turn is going to save you against Goblin Guide and Hell’s Thunder, you’re in for a rude awakening. I’ll put it in my sideboard, but only because I don’t have anything else.

Obstinate Baloth
2GG
Creature – Beast
When Obstinate Baloth enters the battlefield, you gain 4 life.
If a spell or ability an opponent controls causes you to discard Obstinate Baloth, put it onto the battlefield instead of putting it into your graveyard.
4/4

Wow! An immediate four-of in any deck sporting Green. Has there ever been a better creature for Green? This is Green’s Baneslayer Angel. 4/4 for four, anti-discard, gain four life when he comes into play. Beat Red, beat Black, smash face. Nothing but love, love, love for this card.

Sword of Vengeance
3
Artifact – Equipment
Equipped creature gets +2/+0 and has first strike, vigilance, trample and haste.
Equip 3

I want four of these. Are you kidding me? Holy God I love this card.

Triskelion
6
Artifact Creature – Construct
Triskelion enters the battlefield with three +1/+1 counters on it.
Remove a +1/+1 counter from Triskelion: Triskelion deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
1/1

Dear WOTC,

Please stop printing this card.

Never again.

Thanks.

J

On further reflection, I see that I am a donkey in regards to this card. I NEED this card. It fits perfectly into my All is Dust deck, as well as giving me a way to kill Cunning Sparkmage. In the past, someone has always found a way to recur this guy, and that has always annoyed me, so I have hated the card. Now that I see what it can do for me, I am very happy this is being reprinted.

Primeval Titan
4GG
Creature – Giant
Trample
Whenever Primeval Titan enters the battlefield or attacks, you may search your library for up to two land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library.
6/6

I might be having a fine dinner of crow in the near future. But I don’t get the hype on this card. If you pay six mana for a creature, that’s two more mana than Jace and one more than Baneslayer. So he’s 6/6 and trample? Is that a big deal? Putting two land into play on turn 7? Is that a big deal? Will that win you the game? Even if you go and get two Tectonic Edge, your opponent has to have five land already for that to make any difference, and then you’re done destroying their land. And they can kill him or neutralize him for a lot less than four mana. This is a card that is sound and fury signifying nothing. Everyone knows that if you pay six or more mana for a creature, it better win you the game.

“Cast Primeval Titan!”

“Doom Blade. Untap, attack with Sprouting Thrinax and Bloodbraid Elf. Bolt you.

“Sigh.”

I hope you have seen the positive mixed in with some of the negative tone of this article. I’m excited about some of the cards in the new set, but it has always been my way to point out the weaknesses of Green. It’s always been the weakest color, and some people credit me with making WOTC look into that. I want to make them look into it again. Blue has always been the strongest color, and with M11 they will regain that mantel. Green gets some good cards, and I get some amazing artifacts to add to my All is Dust deck, but Blue easily gains the most power in this set.

For those of you who think I am being unreasonable — let me explain my position.

Green doesn’t get counterspells, or direct damage, or creature elimination, or much card drawing, or even the best creatures. It never has.

What I want to see in Green is an identity. I want the biggest, cheapest creatures. I want to destroy artifacts and enchantments with a nice body attached, not some crappy 1/1 for four mana. I want to be able to gain life with a body attached. (Which, I am very thankful for, is in this set.)

I don’t want to see more 2/4 for four creatures with reach printed and pretend that’s a solution to the fact we don’t have fliers and EVERY OTHER COLOR DOES.

I don’t want Plummet. I want sideboard cards equal to Deathmark. Do you understand that Deathmark is 1000 times better than Plummet and yet some people think Plummet is good? Why? Because it is Green. Do you see how wrong that is?

I want Green Planeswalkers and levelers and Mythics that actually see play.

Khalni Hydra is a Green Mythic.

See what I’m saying?