Hello everybody, I’m your host Evan Erwin. We got a lot to cover this week, so let’s get to it.
[The following is a transcript of the show.]
A New Chaotic Standard
Yes ladies and gentlemen, we’re in a New Era of Standard, as Grand Prix: Kyoto gave us the first Top 8 of the new Standard. And it was of course chock-full of control decks. Six out of the eight, in fact.
And you know what they say about the Japanese seeing their control shadow on the first big Standard event of the season: Six more weeks of control builds infiltrating our Standard Queues.
The most interesting deck in the winner circle is Project X, which was on the scene before but had a few mana issues due to the Whitey nature of Soul Warden. With the new Essence Warden all was well in the land of dual land manabases and Crypt Champion combos ran amok all the way to the second spot…
Where it, like many other decks, was destroyed with… Sulfur Elemental? Yes folks, every year we get another surprise star from our middle set. Last year we couldn’t shut up about Ghost Dad and it’s Plagued Rusalka-ness, and here we are with a 3/2 uncounterable ass-kicker who takes Soltari Priests over one knee and spanks them right proper. Yeah.
Three damage here, three damage there really adds up, particularly when you think of a long, boring control mirror. Remember how scariest creature against a control deck was a first turn Kird Ape? Well, then that must mean the scariest thing in a control mirror must be an end of turn Sulfur Elemental. A seven-turn clock is a long time in control matchups, but it’s still a seven-turn clock.
Speaking of decks that make me want to staple my nuts to my chair, Mono-Blue Control reared its ugly head again. You could basically call this Frosted Pickles, as its Brian-David Marshall’s Pickles deck without that pesky Green mana accelerant aspect. You’ve still got a whole grip worth of Brine Elementals and Vesuvan Shapeshifters, while I bet Willbender was mucking with Sudden Death all the live-long.
In sixth and seventh, Lightning Angel control is back and she’s not taking no for an answer. Except, well, when she loses in the first round of a Grand Prix Top 8. Which kinda sucks.
Eking out the last spot is Gruul. What is it with random aggro archetypes making Top 8s? When do they actually win? Recently my duties here at StarCityGames.com have included inputting all the top decks into the Deck Database. This means I see every PTQ winner and every big Top 8 list. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen Affinity get this close, or Boros barely missing the mark, and the only aggro deck to do us proud since we took a ride on Heezy Street is Gaea’s Might Get There.
So with a perfect segue setup, here we go…
Radha Might Get There
Yes ladies and gentlemen, this isn’t a new idea, so don’t jump me about who thought about it first. I heard from a reader online about the concept of Radha giving you free mana and something interesting to do with it.
The card that got me excited about her was Psychotic Fury. This little-known common from Dissension gives you four damage from Radha, which is more than doubled when you add Brute Force to the mix. Boros Swiftblade, of course, doesn’t even need the Psychotic Fury. Brute Force then led to Might of Old Krosa. There was something here. I could feel it.
Back when Brute Force was unveiled I told you “Brute Force just made Boros Swiftblade playable in Standard. Go ahead, throw that deck you have in your head right now. You’d be surprised.”
Well, you know what? I was surprised, and it’s been doing extremely well so far. Let’s take a look at my current build:
Creatures (20)
Lands (20)
Spells (20)
Sideboard
Now after hours and hours of testing, this is what I’ve got. Let me warn you: this is a very die-by-the-sword type deck. You can kill people on turn 3 and turn 4, and you can also sputter out of gas. But there have been many tweaks to this deck to ensure that doesn’t happen.
Taking a step back, let’s look at the evolution of the deck. Originally, this deck was 100% creatures, pump spells, Psychotic Fury, and lands. Now, as you can see, Psychotic Fury was the card and interaction that got me to build and buy the deck online in the first place and it’s not even here anymore! After trying out Fury, then the new Berserk (Fatal Frenzy), I came to the conclusion that most beatdown decks come to: Burn Is Just Better.
So in went Lightning Helix and later Char. These give you the reach the deck lacked before with the ability to sneak in enough damage against control decks and/or clear blockers from opposing aggro builds. Of course you shouldn’t discount the raw power of Giant Growth and Brute Force. They are, for all intents and purposes, Lightning Bolts. When you have a Boros Swiftblade, they’re much better than that. Might of Old Krosa gets downright unfair when you’re swinging for ten damage, you know?
I’ve also included the lucksackian Gemstone Caverns. While it doesn’t hit often it does happen and I’ve went first-turn-Watchwolf and / or Boros Swiftblade many a time.
I could go over matchups, but the gist of the deck is this: One land hands are okay with Birds of Paradise, and do your best to beat them to death. I could go into the intricacies of playing the deck, but that leads me to my next segment…
Know Your Audience
What is the audience for The Magic Show? Am I writing for the Timmies, the Johnnies, or the Spikes?
Would it shock you to know that I’m writing this show for Magic Players? Yes, those geeky, nerdy guys and gals who love the intricacies and depth and fun and strategy and deckbuilding and drafting and sealed are all welcome under the Magic Show banner. I’ve not tried to focus on one thing because I like to take a look at the big picture.
Some have said that the Magic Show is an Entertainment Tonight-esque show about the goings-on of Magic players. I’m hip to that. In a perfect world I’d love to have a Daily Show feel, where correspondents can report in from all over the country about their tournaments, their happenings, their quirks.
But until I get a staff and a bigger budget, I suppose I’ll be reliant on my own ingenuity to get me through. And so far it’s done me pretty well. So I’ll keep trying.
When I took Wizards’ What Magic Player Are You Quiz I came out to be a Johnny-Spike. I like to win, and I like to deckbuild, and I also enjoy being a part of and fostering community. Did you know I was a Community Manager for another CCG for two years? Does this surprise you? I like for others to share in the joy I have for the things I’m interested in, and if this is the best way to do it, then that’s what I’ll do.
From the fantastic response I received last week, which was both a “How To” show and a Thank You show, I think you guys get where I’m coming from.
In the end, if you play Magic I hope you get something out of the Show. I try, anyway. Which leads us to the Spike end of the spectrum…
Zac Hill‘s Concession Problems
This week our own Zac Hill spoke to his mass Spikey audience about the problems that arise when you’re X-1 and you face an X-2 opponent who has no shot at Top 8.
You see, in the world of tournament play, there are many different ways to look at this situation:
If you are the X-1 guy, you’ve been slugging it out round after round, and you’re a mere win away from Top 8. Hours of your life have gone into this endeavor. So close to the top you can taste it. You sit down across from the X-2 guy and you say:
“Hey man, I’d really appreciate you giving me the win here. It would lock me in Top 8. You’ve got no chance of making it with your record.”
But do you know the player sitting across from you? Zac has a few choice words about Mr. Tuan Nguyen. First he explains that Mr. Nguyen refused a prize split in the finals of a PTQ for London, back in the days before plane tickets for first place. The other guy was going to London anyway and would give Tuan his prizes for the opportunity. Tuan then refused, won the match, got less prizes than if he scooped and then didn’t even go to the Pro Tour!
Ooooh. Ouch. Burn. But it was it not his right? Let’s continue before we get to that.
So Zac is X-1 and here is Mr. Nguyen, once again X-2 and once again holding someone’s fate in his hands.
And he told Zac no. And then he beat Zac. And then there was much darkness and many kittens lost their lives. The End.
So after this happened, we see the following from Zac. Quote:
“To recap: Tuan received fewer prizes than he would have received with a concession, and cakked me out of a Pro Tour (potentially) for no reason. It was actually strictly worse for both players.”
He then decided to take it upon himself to “[go] out of my way at every event I ever attend to ensure that Mr. Nguyen doesn’t receive a single favor from anybody. He’s free to call my bluff and see what happens.”
So, being StarCityGames.com and all, our forums exploded. Was it self-righteous? Was it egotistical? Was the argument going to go in hilarious places?
“Can you even imagine if week 17 of the NFL operated in this fashion? There would be total outrage.”
I know, I know, except, like…do we play Magic in stadiums? Has John Finkel ever endorsed a thing? Has Flores?
[[Flores Tampax Commercial]]
No, such things don’t happen in our world. The fact is, we’re a few shades brighter than Professional Darts but a world away from the National Football League.
Was his sense of entitlement really so abrasive? What about his cries of retribution? I believe every single Spike in the room would’ve asked for the concession, and every single one would’ve been at least a little surprised if he or she had been turned down. When you’re so close to the brass ring, when the person in front of you doesn’t let you step on their back to reach it… well… you can get a little hurt, it seems.
Now on the other hand you have Mr. Nguyen who has all the right in the world to play. Matter of fact, many people lauded his decision to punish the X-1 with the X-2 hammer, and many reveled in the idea that Zac suffered at the hands of such a “cak.”
What do you think?
Futures Past
So Future Sight is coming and over at MTGSalvation.com they just popped their spoiler cherry. Let’s take a look at Sprout Swarm, the promo common for Future Sight.
Sprout Swarm
1G
Instant
Convoke
Buyback 3
Put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token into play.
Holy crap! Are you excited? Because I know I am. First I am extremely happy that we see Ravnica mechanics coming back so soon, not to mention two mechanics on the same card! Now this is something I can get behind.
Oh, oh wait… we’re getting a report in from Jeroen Remie… Ah, ah yes, he hates it. Man, what a shock.
Moving on, I would personally love to see more Dredge cards, Replicate never really got a decent non-Limited spell beyond Shattering Spree and, let’s face it, Forecast kinda sucked. Were it not for that godawfully annoying Martyr of Sands deck it would’ve never seen serious play. I know there were a few Pride of the Clouds decks running around after Ravnica first debuted, but then Solar Flare came and took the T-Bird away.
Also, as I mentioned this is the first time we’ve ever seen two completely unique mechanics on the same card outside of an Un-set, which I think is brilliant. How about Flashback Convoke spell? Or a Dredge Madness card? I can’t wait to see how they mixed and matched our favorite mechanics from years past.
Flashback + Echo? Transmute + Threshold? The skies are the limit folks.
Speaking of Ravnica block, the latest idea tearing through the rumor community is the idea that the three missing rares from Guildpact will show up. You see, in Ravnica block, each Guild got four rares… except the Orzhov, Izzet and Gruul, who only got three?
Guess which turds they snuck in instead? Yeah, Nephilim for the win. Meh.
So with Future Sight they are obviously not afraid to bring back Ravnica mechanics, so are they going to give us the final B/W, R/U and R/G rares? I’ve got my fingers crossed, but there’s nothing we can do now but wait.
And that’s all the time I have for today. Join me next time when we’ll have a Very Special Magic Show. My local playgroup, which includes StarCityGames.com own Chris Romeo, will be live and in person throwing something together for our brave servicemen and women in Iraq, and I’m sure you won’t want to miss that one.
So until next time, this is Evan Erwin, tapping the cards so you don’t have to.
Evan “misterorange” Erwin
dubya dubya dubya dot misterorange dot com
eerwin +at+ gmail +dot+ com
Written while listening to John Mayer Trio’s “Try!”
Music Credits:
Title – “Kissing the Lipless” by The Shins
Chaotic Standard – “Do You Realize” by The Flaming Lips
Radha Might Get There – “Fight Test” by The Flaming Lips
Know Your Audience – “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1” by The Flaming Lips
Zac’s Concession Problems – “99 Problems (Gray Album)” by Jay Z
Future’s Past – “The Future’s So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades” by Timbuk3
Special thanks to my wife for helping with the Flores commercial.