When Fate Reforged was fully spoiled, my wheels began rapidly spinning. I knew I definitely wanted to be piloting a deck with Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, so I
zeroed in on that and began jamming it in every control deck and every green deck. It became very clear that Ugin belonged in either of those archetypes,
but which way did I want to go? Playing U/B Control was very tempting since it is the deck that is most immune to Ugin, but I didn’t want to play a control
deck in an unknown metagame, especially since many players take advantage of a new set coming out and just play the most linear aggressive strategy
possible. I felt Ugin was potentially the most powerful card in Fate Reforged, so I figured every green deck would play at least one, and I wanted to play
more than one and have trumps for Ugin. I didn’t want to lose to it from my opponent’s side, and I believed it would define the Open Series in DC.
By now we all know the best planeswalkers are the ones that defend themselves. And we also know that the best time to play most planeswalkers is on an
empty board. Playing a Jace, Ashiok, Elspeth, or Chandra on an empty board puts you so far ahead that if you get to untap with them in play, it’s extremely
hard to lose unless you’re within burn range and you’re playing against a deck with burn in it. Unlike every single planeswalker before him, Ugin wants a full board when he enters the battlefield. As long as all the permanents on the battlefield cost less than seven mana (and aren’t
morphs/manifests), Ugin promises to wipe the board clean and makes sure it’s the only permanent left on the battlefield.
That. Is. Insane.
Ugin simply allows you to win games you have no business winning. I remember having to play Jace, the Mind Sculptor when I knew he or I were going to die
next turn, but I just had to brainstorm and hope he soaked up some damage and I found another answer. Well… Ugin is the answer. I just can’t give
it enough praise. It even exiles everything, stopping graveyard shenanigans and “when X dies” triggers. The only problem he has is that he costs a whopping
eight mana.
You will never understand this card’s power level until you play with it or you see your opponent snowball out of control with it. Most games of Magic are
won by whoever spends more mana over the course of the game. And Frontier Siege is a mana-monster engine. After playing a couple of games with it, I knew
it was the key to casting all my spells, both big and small. It was the answer I was looking for, and I was a fool for not running a complete playset in my
deck in DC. If I ever played Frontier Siege on turn 3 or 4, I had a very hard time losing the game. I felt like I was playing on another level than my
opponents were, and I believe this to be the Siege that will see most play in Standard and for a very good reason. Four extra mana a turn is just
ridiculous, and it pays for half its cost right away! Then it promises to give you its full cost next turn and then some. I never used the “Dragons” part
of the card, but that’s just gravy if you need to tangle with a Stormbreath Dragon or you want your Hornet Queen to kill that Doomwake Giant before it
kills all your insects.
So after discovering the two pieces to my deck, I began to brew, and I had my very good friend Jeremiah Thompson helping me. Either he was at my place, I
was at his place, or we were texting when we were apart about ideas we could incorporate. We both slowly gravitated to Sultai. While I was all over Ugin
and his power, Jeremiah was all over Tasigur, the Golden Fang. So much, in fact, that we began playing Satyr Wayfinders, Sylvan Caryatids, and Commune with
the Gods so we could power out this monster. He worked so well with Frontier Siege too, allowing us to pump out his ability multiple times per turn. But we
began to run into a problem. You see, when you have twelve cards that are either mana accelerants, 1/1s, or cards that help you fill your graveyard,
Tasigur’s ability becomes much, much weaker. We began to try and find the right balance, and we settled on a decent list. I sent it out to a couple of
friends online, but more importantly, I sent it to Darryl Donaldson, a mad scientist like myself. He loved the list from the start and helped test it.
Flash forward to the day before the event: I began to have doubts. I began to doubt myself, as I hadn’t played Magic in ages. I was out of the loop and I
was rusty. So I contacted my old friend and roommate Brian Braun-Duin (aka Big Papa) to see what he was playing. He finally sent me his G/B Constellation
deck that he was running. When I saw he was running Ugins and Frontier Sieges, I was sold and began to sleeve that deck up for the tournament. My
self-doubt convinced my friend Jeremiah to reluctantly do the same.
When we got to the site, I walked around, got the cards I needed, and filled out the decklist. I then saw Darryl Donaldson, and he was still jamming the
Sultai Ramp deck that I had sent him with changes that he had made. I don’t know if it was his beautiful face or his foiled out deck, but as I watched him
play, I felt stupid for not playing my own deck. He was casting Garruk, Apex Predator, Ugins, and Pearl Lake Ancient. I turned to look at the clock and saw
we had ten minutes before round one started. I knew what I had to do. What any dedicated brewer would do. I had to believe in myself and in my baby. I
threw the G/B Constellation deck across the room, stood up, and shouted, “I believe in Sultai!!! I believe in Ugin, the one true savior!!!” and began building another copy of the deck Darryl was playing at that very moment. After all was said and done, I threw in a Worst Fears. Because my
worst fear is not believing in myself and I had just overcome that! And here’s what I battled with:
Creatures (12)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (22)
Spells (23)
For most of the day, I felt like I was playing a very powerful deck and others were just durdling. I was the better durdler, but I at least durdled into
Ugins. I began to realize some things very quickly though. I hated Thoughtseize that day. There were not very many control decks, and it was awful against
both the Whip of Erebos decks and the aggressive decks. I boarded it out every single time except the one time I played against U/B Control. I hated that
card, as it wasn’t contributing to my plan, and it was a crappy draw later in the game. And so many games came down to me barely stabilizing and having to
gain life from Coursers to put myself at a comfortable life total.
Pearl Lake Ancient was very unimpressive due to the lack of control in the format, and I didn’t want to maindeck it. Playing 3 Dig Through Times and 2
Treasure Cruises was also wrong. It should’ve been 4 Dig Through Times first and then maybe another card-drawing spell. I should’ve also 100% played 4
Frontier Sieges, and I was wrong not to. Last but not least, Worst Fears was a fun card but an unnecessary one. It was very good against the Ugin decks
especially if they managed to resolve one before me, but I felt like Garruk, Apex Predator was just better overall.
The manabase was also not the best, and I figured out quickly that the deck really needed another land. I stumbled a lot throughout the tournament, but
luckily the deck was powerful enough to carry me when it got going. Almost all the games I lost, I lost due to mana issues. And I feel like that speaks
volumes about the deck’s power level.
I ended the first day at 8-1, with Mono-Red being my only loss. Day two I lost to Abzan Midrange because I mulliganed to five game 1 and punted on my Dig
Though Time. Game 2, I just kept an awful hand of four lands, two Ugins, and a Dig Through Time. I never drew a mana accelerant or Courser of Kruphix, then
stumbled on lands and got stuck on seven mana. All in all, it was my fault. I had gone on tilt from mulling to five, and I didn’t want to mull into
oblivion again. After that I didn’t lose another game, and Gerard Fabiano, being a member of the Sultai Brood and a good friend, scooped to me to lock me
into top 8 before going and winning the whole thing.
I feel like Gerard had the better Tasigur deck, while I had the better Ugin deck. I really feel like there is a way to combine the two into a very powerful
deck if you want to go that route. But for now, these are the changes I would make to the deck.
Creatures (11)
Planeswalkers (5)
Lands (22)
Spells (22)
These are the changes I would make right away before any further testing. I’m not the best at manabases, but I think this one is much better. Briber’s
Purse is a concession to W/U Heroic, but Merciless Executioner or Dead Drop might be better. Dead Drop also happens to be very good against the Abzan
decks, but Merciless Executioner can’t be countered by Stubborn Denial or Disdainful Stroke, gets around Ajani’s Presence and Gods Willing, and is also
good against Raksasha Deathdealer and Fleecemane Lion. Briber’s Purse just always buys you time against W/U Heroic, and usually time is all you need. Feed
the Clan is just for the decks that have a lot of burn in them or are just very aggressive (you can thank Gerard for that tech). I also wouldn’t play
Negates until control starts to resurface, and even then you might just want to be proactive instead of reactive.
Kiora is in the maindeck now to help against W/U Heroic and just to ramp you a little more. I feel like just playing her and using her Explore ability
right away is the correct thing to do in most scenarios unless you’re against a Heroic deck, just so you get value out of her right away. She also happens
to play very well with Courser of Kruphix, gaining more life and playing more lands off the top of your deck. With Courser out, it’s basically like drawing
two or three cards and gaining two life, and that’s not even mentioning scrying. I believe her to be a good addition to the deck, but only testing and time
will tell.
Just want to give a last shoutout to my lovely girlfriend Amberly Goins. I wouldn’t have been able to go to this tournament without her, and you guys
wouldn’t have this sweet deck to play. She’s been nothing but supportive as I try to ease my way back into the Magic scene. So you guys should thank her.
I’ll be trying to combine Gerard’s deck and this one into a great one, as I want a deck that both plays Ugin and abuses Tasigur to the fullest.
Guess I better get back to brewing!