The Rack is back.
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (24)
Spells (32)
It was exactly a year prior that I flew to Orlando, FL to play 8-Rack. Not only did I fly, I missed my cheap Allegiant flight and booked another expensive last-minute flight, all just to play some 8-Rack. For a deck that’s widely considered wildly unplayable, I was pretty hellbent on Racking people.
At the Modern Open in Louisville this past weekend, I felt things finally came back full circle where 8-Rack would be a decent choice. It had good matchups against the popular decks like Storm, Scapeshift, and Grixis Death’s Shadow. It even had good matchups against rising decks like Jund and Elves. 8-Rack doesn’t fare well against traditional Tron or decks packed with a bunch of Voice of Resurgence or Lingering Souls, and thankfully those numbers were on the low end.
There’s a fear of uncertainty that dissuades people from playing 8-Rack. Being kold to Leyline of Sanctity doesn’t feel good. It’s possible to splash white like Michael Penner did in his eleventh-place finish at Grand Prix Vancouver earlier this year. However, any splash comes at the cost of consistency, loss of life, and vulnerability to Leonin Arbiter and Blood Moon.
In Orlando last year, I lost early on to Leyline of Sanctity out of Emma Handy’s G/W Hexproof and to Chris Fennell on Dredge. I had no real answer to the Leyline and not enough graveyard interaction to compete.
For Louisville I vowed to not look matches in the same fashion. That is, without ever really being in the game. My opponents not really being in the game is what 8-Rack wants to do, not vice versa.
Before I get too far into things, let me say: Choose to draw first.
Yes, always.
Card Choices
Delirium Skeins was my solution to Leyline of Sanctity, and finding the card in Gatherer was one of the big draws towards me deciding on 8-Rack for the weekend. Instead of casting a Fragmentize to free up Thoughtseize and some Raven’s Crimes, I simply cut out the middleman to trade my four cards (or less) for their three cards.
Leyline of Sanctity costs the opponent a card to put onto the battlefield. If you can blank their sideboard card instead of directly dealing with it, then you’re effectively up a card. Sometimes they’ll draw multiple Leylines of Sanctity in their opening hand and put all of them onto the battlefield. This is a good plan for them if you’re trying to fight them with Disenchants, and not a good idea for them if you are sidestepping those Leylines altogether.
8-Rack needs some number of cards to sideboard in when Fatal Push, Dismember, and sometimes Smallpox are bad. Waste Not and Bloodghast were underwhelming for me in the past. I also didn’t want to fill up on Thoughtseize and Wrench Mind either. Delirium Skeins is good to sideboard in against any deck that needs a critical mass of cards in hand, like Ad Nauseam or Storm.
Leyline of the Void is the best card available against Dredge, Living End, Goryo’s Vengeance, and other graveyard-centered strategies. Oftentimes a Relic of Progenitus or Nihil Spellbomb was too slow. Copies of Leyline of the Void can be discarded to Smallpox or Liliana of the Veil, reducing the high variance of needing to be in your opening hand and being rather useless later.
When you have Leyline of the Void, you’re essentially starting on a six-card hand. For this reason I don’t mind sideboarding out a land to keep the lands-to-spells ratio similar. Raven’s Crime is generally poor against graveyard decks and gets switched for Leyline of the Void often. Raven’s Crime is a big reason why there are 24 lands in the deck. Going to zero or one Raven’s Crime lessens the need for so many lands.
The first land to go is typically Marsh Flats.
“What’s up with the one Marsh Flats?”
“It’s mostly just to spook ’em.”–@Boss_MTG
— Patrick Sullivan (@BasicMountain) September 17, 2017
It’s true. The main reason I wanted a Marsh Flats in my deck was to make people second-guess its intentions. Could I have Bloodghast? Lingering Souls? I don’t think anyone actually took notice.
Marsh Flats is more realistically a revolt enabler for Fatal Push, which did actually come up. With Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, you can keep that Marsh Flats on the battlefield until it’s needed. Fetchlands add power to your deck by strengthening Fatal Push at the cost of life and vulnerability. I have no idea what the ideal number of fetchlands is for this build of 8-Rack. Playing one seemed like it couldn’t be that incorrect. Overall I was happy with the singleton.
If there’s any deck for Bontu’s Last Reckoning, it’s 8-Rack. I was very pleased with the card and almost played a copy in my maindeck. The problem with Damnation was how bad the fourth land on the battlefield was after you cast your four-mana card. 8-Rack wants to stop at three lands and use the remainder to fuel Raven’s Crime or to discard to Smallpox or Liliana of the Veil. Night of Souls’ Betrayal is really good, but also falls into this camp.
Still No Ensnaring Bridge
The first card that people want to add to 8-Rack is Ensnaring Bridge. Being able to turtle behind a Bridge with no cards in your hand while winning with your Racks sounds appealing. In practice, though, Ensnaring Bridge isn’t applicable enough as a maindeck card. As a sideboard card it runs head-first into your opponent’s sideboard cards. They’re going to load up every piece of artifact removal they have access to for fighting The Rack. You don’t want Ensnaring Bridge running into Ancient Grudge too.
Why Ensnaring Bridge doesn’t line up well after sideboarding.
Bontu’s Last Reckoning should shore up most work dealing with creatures. Between the Reckonings, Smallpox, Fatal Push, Liliana of the Veil, and various discard you should have creatures covered well enough to at least race them with your eight Racks.
Sideboarding
I sideboard contextually each matchup. Still, with four copies each of Leyline of the Void and Delirium Skeins, there are some easy switches.
TitanShift
Out:
In:
If they don’t have Leyline of Sanctity, then great. Those Delirium Skeins should still be fine. Obstinate Baloth is a concern and is the reason the Dismember stays in. Note that Obstinate Baloth is a replacement effect that doesn’t use the stack. This is relevant with Smallpox because you do each part in order of the card. This means that, if they choose to discard Obstinate Baloth to Smallpox, it will immediately be sacrificed to Smallpox’s next line of text…that is, if they had no other creatures on the battlefield before Smallpox was cast.
Inquisition of Kozilek comes out because of its high chance of whiffing past the first turn. Assuming you crew first, they could suspend Search for Tomorrow and you could be left seeing a hand of three land, Hour of Promise, and Primeval Titan.
Grixis Death’s Shadow
Out:
In:
Smallpox is devastating for Death’s Shadow decks because they run so few lands. It’s tempting to attack their graveyard with Leyline of the Void, but I’ve found that it’s not worth fighting. They simply discard dead delve creatures. Snapcaster Mage is still good and should be taken with your pinpoint discard whenever possible. Kolaghan’s Command is the next-best card.
If the Death’s Shadow player puts you on the play, then you can consider taking out a Smallpox, as they are weaker in multiples on the play.
Eldrazi Tron
Out:
In:
Their best card is Matter Reshaper, followed by Chalice of the Void. I sideboard one-drops out and three-drops in to lessen the impact of Chalice of the Void.
Funeral Charm hitting the freshly drawn card in a draw step happens often in this matchup. Eldrazi Tron plays very well off the top of their deck, and without a Rack effect, they can quickly draw out of a losing position.
Burn
Out:
In:
Burn is an exciting race every time. The matchup was worse before when 8-Rack had more Dismember and Thoughtseize and feels decent Game 1 now. Asylum Visitor may look strange, but it’s a fine attacker and blocker that races well. Death’s Shadow is the best card against Burn that I could find, even better than Collective Brutality.
The tightest play to make versus Burn is giving your Death’s Shadow swampwalk with Funeral Charm if you have an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth giving them a Swamp.
Elves
Out:
In:
Keeping the Elves player off creatures is the name of the game here. Funeral Charm does good work killing small creatures here. Dwynen’s Elite and Elvish Visionary are your main concerns early in the game. Later, Collected Company will be your concern. Elves doesn’t run many lands, so Smallpox can shut them out completely.
I don’t like Shadow of Doubt against Chord of Calling, as that card is usually defaulted by your removal putting them on very low resources to cast it. They only have a few fetchlands and you definitely don’t have the time to leave up Shadow of Doubt on the early turns.
Merfolk
Out:
In:
The same sideboarding as versus Elves and indeed the matchup plays out similarly. Silvergill Adept is their best card and a big Master of Waves is the route that most likely causes you to lose. Don’t let your best spells get caught by a Cursecatcher off Aether Vial and sacrifice your land with Spreading Seas on it to Smallpox. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth turns your lands back into Swamps (still an Island too) if it’s played after a Spreading Seas. If Spreading Seas is on an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, then another Urborg can let you sacrifice the first to get rid of the Island and thus islandwalk.
Jeskai Control
Out:
In:
They tend to sideboard out Geist of Saint Traft because of your Smallpox and Liliana of the Veil, so going lower on them is all right. Jeskai Control is really reactive and hard to play against. I recommend jamming whatever you have in most instances. After sideboarding, their best cards are Wear // Tear and Engineered Explosives and those should be a priority over anything else, even Cryptic Command.
Storm
Out:
In:
Storm’s main path to victory will be an Empty the Warrens for a few, so Bontu’s Last Reckoning is a necessity. They generally don’t have enough resources for a Grapeshot kill, especially since you’re so good at fending off Baral, Chief of Compliance and Goblin Electromancer. I wouldn’t even bother attacking their graveyard with Leyline of the Void, since they have such a tough time going off without a cost-reducer. Shadow of Doubt is for Gifts Ungiven and fetchlands if they run them.
Ad Nauseam
Out:
In:
Most Ad Nauseam players don’t run Leyline of Sanctity in the maindeck, so your sideboard plan lines up pretty well. They have to spin their wheels a lot on the opening turns, meaning your early discard will be uncontested for the most part. Remember that Shrieking Affliction doesn’t do anything after they’re at zero life with Phyrexian Unlife but will kill the opponent through an Angel’s Grace.
Dredge, Living End, and Goryo’s Vengeance
Out:
In:
These matchups are unwinnable without a Leyline of the Void. Nothing much else to say. Mulligan to one if you have to. Bontu’s Last Reckoning cleans up the battlefield after they try to beat you by naturally casting creatures. You do have to win before they draw their Nature’s Claim or whatever, so hands with a Rack are important too.
W/B Eldrazi
Out:
In:
Their main routes to victory involve an uncontested Dark Confidant and sitting behind an Aether Vial while discarding last. Their creatures nab cards from your hand and you really want to remove them to recover your card. Every removal piece is great. Ever though an opening Aether Vial is concerning, I still take the draw and hope they don’t have it or for it to be slow.
Affinity
Out:
In:
Affinity is the matchup where Night of Souls’ Betrayal is the most missed. Still, that card could be too slow sometimes. Discard is poor against Affinity, but being up a guaranteed card still makes drawing first better, especially after sideboarding. They often have to move all-in on an Inkmoth or Blinkmoth Nexus with Arcbound Ravager. Save a Fatal Push for that creature if you can.
Jund
Out:
In:
Jund can win with an uncontested Dark Confidant or a Raging Ravine if you draw non-answers in the late-game. After sideboarding it really depending on how many Kitchen Finks they decided to register.
A couple of copies of The Rack come out because they have Kolaghan’s Command and Ancient Grudge to easily get them. Asylum Visitor picks up the slack as a win condition. As with most decks, they have to sideboard really low on creature removal.
Abzan
Out:
In:
Similar to Jund, except their creature-land is worse and they have Lingering Souls. I still don’t like Leyline of the Void here just to stop Souls. If they aggressively sandbag lands, then Delirium Skeins is a consideration.
G/W Company
Out:
In:
Pinpoint discard is good to get Voice of Resurgence or Eternal Witness but quickly drops off afterwards. G/W Company is good playing off the top of their deck and will rarely hold anything in hand after sideboarding, since their Path to Exiles should be gone. Sigarda, Host of Herons can be a problem if it lands.
Lost top 4. 1st, 2nd, 3rd place finishers are the only 3 to beat me this tournament. The Rack will be back for the gold next time. #SCGKY pic.twitter.com/tcs8thSEhQ
— Tom Ross (@Boss_MTG) September 17, 2017
Once you go 8-Rack, you never go back.