Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. I’m your host, Evan Erwin. Today we’re going to talk about the myriad of deck choices available to you and I this Regionals season. Ready to take a stroll through DeckMart and proceed with purchase? Right this way…
The Road to Regionals (Tom Cochrane — Life is a Highway)
Well everybody, this week’s title segment is taking us into the huge, and I mean huge, Standard environment. We’re looking at a sea of Tier 2, a vast array of dozens of hopefuls, decks that work and don’t work, decks that come close but fall short.
Is there really a Tier 1 deck in this mess? We have Dralnu, but it scoops to Gruul, which can’t race Dragonstorm. Are those the defining decks? Or merely the most popular? The most important thing is this: Whatever you choose, you must have a favorable matchup against at least two of these decks pre-sideboard.
Deck choice is a very personal thing. As today’s Show is running the day before Regionals, I don’t expect many players to drop whatever it is they’re planning on running and choosing another deck instead. Rather I’d like to go over the highlights of each deck, what makes them good, and what makes them bad choices for the event.
Dragonstorm (Tom Petty — It’s Good To Be King)
This is the big daddy, the elephant in the room. The metagame definer. Dragonstorm is the World Championship deck, and it places highly in tournament after tournament. You can rest assured that you’ll probably run into this deck if you see some success at Regionals.
The keys to playing this deck are knowing when to use your Remands, when to hardcast dragons off Lotus Blooms, and other small decisions that some players think don’t matter but certainly do. Knowing whether to “go for it” or keep building counters on that Calciform Pools to Gigadrowse out your opponent is just another key sign of a master Magician and World Champ.
Gruul (Coolio — Fantastic Voyage)
Come along and ride on my fantastic voyage through Heezy Street. Your Regionals weapon of choice must be prepared for a turn 1 Kird Ape, turn 2 Bloodthirsty Scab-Clan Mauler. You must be able to recover and realize they have at least twelve points of burn to throw at you during this process. If your deck doesn’t gain life, or create walls, or drop creatures that are as big or bigger than those the Gruul player turns sideways, you can rest assured you’ll be in side drafts before lunchtime.
The only question for me is whether Peter Akeley was correct in packing Tin Street Hooligan or whether the pundits are right saying that Scorched Rusalka is the way to go. Peter said he wished he would’ve run another Tin Street in the sideboard, while others proclaim it’s subpar. Scorched Rusalka, however, deals with both Bridge from Below and Tendrils of Corruption. I think the right call here is Scorched Rusalka, but do note that it was Tin Street Hooligan, alone, that destroyed my crucial White mana sources in the StarCityGames tournament and left me in third place.
Narcolepsy or “That There Fast Dredge Deck” (Dueling Banjos)
Call it whatever you want, but this is easily the coolest name for it. The deck can be Green/Black or strictly Black/Blue combo. I wish I could tell you this is in any way a good deck, but I don’t think it is. The turn 4 goldfishing can easily turn into mull to five and just lose. This deck packs it in to so many cards, and many times a resolved Tormod’s Crypt is enough to demolish it. Play it at your own risk.
Zoogoyf (Van Halen — Hot For Teacher)
Oh yeah, here I am spouting in Brian-David Marshall’s column about how I think Tarmogoyf has potential and then it qualifies a bunch of people in Germany. Awesome! However, this deck has one flaw… It begins with Cap’n… and ends with Tickles. That’s right, there are zero Giant Solifuges in all of those decklists. I’ve tried the deck, that exact qualifying build even, and found myself lusting for the old Cap’n to come and kick some ass for me. Other than that glaring omission, you can’t argue with success, or the fact that Tarmogoyf is regularly a 3/4 for two mana.
Scryb & Force (Nothing But A G Thang — Dr. Dre)
Good ole Spectral Force. Just when you think everyone forgot about him, he comes creeping back to deal eight to your face. This is a deck that feels under the radar, but continues to do well. An 8/8 Trampler generally demolishes anything that relies on 2/3s for one and even 3/4s for two, and with such a huge frame it can still race Dragonstorm. But then again it has problems with…
Dralnu (Marilyn Manson — Heart Shaped Glasses)
Ah yes, the control player’s favorite colors, Black and Blue. There’s a lot of symbolism in this life of ours, including when someone wants to grind another Magic player to a slow death, Black and Blue seem to fit the theme.
Dralnu is still powerful and Venser hasn’t even begun showing in up in winning lists. The fact is that while the StarCityGames’ $1,000 Open was bereft of Blue, doesn’t think you won’t be facing down Teferi before the day is over. Be prepared for Mystical Teachings, and watch out in the mirror for an early Draining Whelk. It’s how Herberholz and Mitamura lost in the most recent Pro Tour.
Orzhov (Godsmack — Keep Away)
The good ole Black and White guys are a favorite of Richard Feldman, who now once a year reminds us that yes, Ghost Council of Orzhova is amazing and can beat some decks single-handedly. Otherwise, discard and disruption are usually enough, with Bob Maher cranking out the cards, to get you somewhere near winnable position. This deck is packing Martyr of Sands, a popular and now rogue choice for a deck.
But then again, it’s not like anybody plays Extirpate or anything…
… which leads us to the Flores Minute.
This week Mike Flores took a break from his normal high-level theory to a ten-game session with Mark Herberholz. But not just Mark Herberholz, but Mark “Resident Genius 2007” Herberholz.
What is the hubbub about this? Well, it’s called presumptuousness, and many people didn’t like Mike “calling it like he saw it.” But what is the Invitational, anyway?
Once upon a time, until last year, there was a thing called E3. And there, booth babes would rub up against raw geek flesh for mere dollars a day… er, and also, Wizard of the Coast chose that event to promote Magic Online with a bunch of famous players and silly formats. The winner gets his or her own card. Yes, I have to be gender non-specific, but it kills me that we have no famous female players. Sheesh.
Anyway, you guys out there get to vote on who makes these spots. Since the next one happens in October, in the huge German games festival Essen, in about two months, it’s going to get a little uncomfortable reading (or watching) your favorite articles. They’ll begin to discuss these votes, either asking for yours or giving you a good candidate. And of course, you can bet The Magic Show will be asking you to send it to the Invitational, providing you with video coverage the likes of which you’ve never seen! Stuff so amazing you’ll drop your drawers… but we’ll get to that hype when it can actually produce something.
Until then, Flores said he thinks Herberholz earned the title. But then again, just because the most prominent author in the game declares his pick to the world, why should we go along with it? Wasn’t it a little weird to keep calling Herberholz the Resident Genius 2007? Hrmph.
Anyway, next:
Project X (Oingo Boingo — Weird Science)
I’ve spoken enough about this deck. I think it isn’t a wise choice. But many people put weeks into a deck, and they’ll be damned if some two-bit author tells them their baby is ugly.
But, really, it is. Damn ugly.
Wildfire (Pink Floyd — Mother)
I wish you luck. There are so many aggro-happy variants out there, you wouldn’t believe it. And you can’t really stand up to a turn 1 Savannah Lions, let alone a turn 1 Kird Ape. Sure you can get lucky with Repeals and certainly you hope your Rewind resolves against Dragonstorm, but in the real world, of the dozens taking this to Regionals, one or two will get the necessary control and/or aggro/control matches need to Top 8 with it. It’s also difficult staying out of the draw bracket once you face anything resembling the mirror. And a big event like Regionals calls out the control players like nerds to a Joss Whedon blog post.
Do note that Take Possession is officially better than Annex in the mirror. Sure, one completes Tron, but other does that and takes their Teferi.
Glittering Wish Control (Pink Floyd – Shine On You Crazy Diamond)
Yes, ladies and gents, this is my deck that took 3rd at the StarCityGames $1,000 Open. And fortunately, or unfortunately, lots of people took a shine to the deck, and I’ve heard rumors of many taking it to Regionals. I certainly won’t knock it, it’s obviously a good deck. However, depending on the number of Islands across from you, it could be a long day.
The key spells you need to resolve also cost two (such as Wall of Roots and Glittering Wish), so if control players finally figure out Spell Snare is absolutely ridiculous in the metagame right now, this deck could be in trouble.
As you may have noticed, the manabase was still awful last week and our own Richard Feldman showed up with a new manabase and a new approach in the forums.
This new manabase and non-reliance on Orzhov Signet has been worked into the final build as you can see in Josh Silvestri article from Wednesday. He basically posted the list I planned on showing you here, except I would add a Godless Shrine instead of a Brushland and give some long though for Orzhova, Church of Deals as a slow, but powerful, win condition.
Here is Josh’s build:
Creatures (10)
Lands (24)
Spells (26)
Now upon further testing, this deck does one thing against Dragonstorm: It resolves Persecute or it loses. Testing shows that Castigate or no, you’re probably losing on Turn 5 or Turn 6 latest without Persecute resolving. So for those who see a first turn Sleight of Hand happening, you know what you need to resolve.
But here’s the question: Is this the deck I want to take to Regionals? Now it’s obvious I’d like to qualify for Nationals, and a control deck is probably my best bet. But there’s this concoction I gotta share, something that’s been a part of my Magic history since the very beginning…
Rogues’ Gallery (Smashing Pumpkins — Tarantula)
And here I am, advocating playing it. What? Huh? No, seriously. I didn’t think it was any good either. Then I took a whole weekend on Magic Online, looking at the field out there, what the Ween did best against them, and then put that knowledge into action. It gets you the following decklist:
Creatures (30)
- 4 Savannah Lions
- 3 Paladin en-Vec
- 2 Jotun Grunt
- 2 Ronom Unicorn
- 4 Knight of the Holy Nimbus
- 3 Serra Avenger
- 4 Sidewinder Sliver
- 4 Sinew Sliver
- 4 Blade of the Sixth Pride
Lands (21)
Spells (9)
Sideboard
Now as for impressions, I don’t know what to tell you. But I will tell you how it works.
First up, Sidewinder Sliver basically says “All Slivers Are Unblockable,” because nobody wants to be punked by a Flanking Sliver. Second, Sidewinder into Sinew Sliver on turn 2 is the only way to play another two-power creature for one mana in Standard. Essentially giving you a Flanking Isamaru, never a bad thing. Third, Gelid Shackles is absolutely amazing and should not be dismissed. It allows stuff like Blade of the Sixth Pride to actually connect to your opponent’s face and lets you shrug off any monster. Temporal Isolation is nice and all, but when every single mana counts, Shackles is there for ya.
Hierarch? Shackles him, swing, take some more damage. Oh, and at the beginning of your next turn, he gains Defender.
After a long weekend of tweaking, I entered an 8-man Standard Queue with this deck and won the tournament after facing speed Narcolepsy, Red Deck Wins, and Izzetron Wildfire in the finals. I would’ve actually shown you some gameplay footage, but it turns out MTGO sucks. I know, shocking. Apparently in the manual it says that your replays in the “My Games” section will be accumulate dozens of games. I got about a day’s worth, and when I was ready to record the footage the games were gone. Frown.
So that’s your pre-Regionals show, everybody. I’ll be in Charlotte, North Carolina this year, slinging cardboard and hopefully doing well. Our very own Ferrett crowned me Hero Scrub earlier this week, which means I’m both loved and reviled. Nothing could make me happier.
Wish me luck, fellow Magic players. For all the Cap’n Tickles I’ve signed, for all the great fans I’ve met, for all the unknown scrubs who also love the rogue builds, you guys make it all worth it.
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
Opening Title: “History” by The Good, The Bad, & The Queen