The Fear.
It’s a brutal thing when you bump into it. I get it just before every PTQ. I have a deck I like, I take it to FNM, and I do poorly. (Actually, in this case, it was 3-3 with Warp World, which is my pet deck.) And I get to looking at the deck, turning it over, trying to figure out why it did poorly and whether or not I really should take it to a PTQ.
It’s The Fear.
Sometimes it will trick you into giving up a deck that you’re familiar with, turning you onto a path with a “big name” deck or a deck you’ve never played. You’ll show up at a PTQ with a Doran deck built the day before, and you’ll go 2-6 with it. (Yes, even my grandma knows I shouldn’t have gotten to the point where I was playing in round 8, but the rest of my car was doing well, I didn’t feel like drafting, and it did let me kill someone with Birds of Paradise.)
But sometimes it will turn you onto the path that you should have been on from the beginning.
But my The Fear is a slow worker.
By Friday morning, I still didn’t have a deck. Looking back over my previous tournament reports, it seems to be a recurring theme here. I posted on my Facebook status that I was looking for suggestions, ANY suggestions, hoping that one of the actual Magic players in my friends’ list would have a nice suggestion. That was my first mistake. After fielding suggestions to play Uno, Risk, Cranium, Go Fish (but no Catchphrase – not cool enough), and Where In The World Are My Underpants (thanks Harry), I was left with just the idea that I wasn’t going to play Warp World – but no other choices.
In fact, I had taken apart most of the decks that I had built, and a quick glance at the top decks around the Internet revealed that I didn’t really have the cards or the experience to pick up something new. One thing I am not is an instinctual Magic player. I needed something that I had played before, something that I knew.
Something big and dumb.
Creatures (30)
- 3 Gaddock Teeg
- 3 Chameleon Colossus
- 4 Kitchen Finks
- 1 Oversoul of Dusk
- 4 Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
- 4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
- 4 Steward of Valeron
- 3 Qasali Pridemage
- 4 Bant Sureblade
Lands (10)
Spells (21)
Sideboard
It’s true. I went back to the deck I played at Regionals and at GP: Seattle. As I was going through the decks I knew, I realized that there were good reasons to play the deck again. One, it outmuscles the Kithkin-based, Red-based, and Jund-based decks by the sheer virtue of having bigger creatures, and had decent plans against Five-Color Control and Faeries. Two, it was fairly uncomplicated, which is good for at least eight rounds of play. And three, I was intimately familiar with the deck, which is pretty critical when you’re picking up a deck the morning of an event.
On the drive up to Denver, my regular travel accomplice and Doran aficionado Randy Tempelaar and I started tweaking the deck away from the GP Seattle build listed (which evidently never got listed, but the Regionals list that started this whole nonsense is listed here.
I know you have some questions.
Dave, you ask – because we’re on a first-name basis, I guess – what’s up with Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers? What happened to the Dauntless Escort? With Wrath of God leaving the format, it’s less necessary to run a proactive card to defeat that. Infest and Volcanic Fallout, while they CAN cause problem at the low end of the mana curve, still aren’t going to decimate the crowd like Wrath could. And Dauntless Escort doesn’t do anything against Hallowed Burial. So Dauntless Escort became the easiest card to cut – a 3/3 for three mana is nice, but you can actually get better stats with today’s creature choices.
Yeah, sure, but Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers? The Cavaliers meet the two most important criteria for the slot: three casting cost, plus both green and white to get the double-pump from Wilt-Leaf Liege. The 3/4 body survives Lightning Bolt (which is everywhere) and Firespout (which is becoming increasingly popular), he’s profitable against just about every “aggro” creature in Standard, and the vigilance is just a bonus. I do think that I would still consider him if he was just a 3/4 without vigilance.
The Overruns? I know you had them in the deck you played in Seattle. Gone, thanks to maindeck Gaddock Teeg, who is the other real addition. With Five-Color Control being the new “it girl,” Gaddock Teeg is a better disruptive element, stopping Hallowed Burial and Cryptic Command and Cruel Ultimatum, and forcing them to use single-target removal on him rather than on your bigger monsters. Plus, he gets the double-pump from Wilt-Leaf Liege, and he’s not too shabby against Time Sieve either. There’s still the Sledges to smash through masses of chump-blockers, but those are less and less common in Standard.
What’s up with the singletons? The deck really needed five targeted removal spells, but we liked Path to Exile enough to keep all four in, so Crib Swap became the “fifth Path” of choice. Removing creatures from the game is still relevant, but I could see testing out a Harm’s Way as a fifth “removal” spell instead. Oversoul is such a beating against the decks where you want it that having a miser’s singleton main deck doesn’t impact the rest of the draws, but still gives you that shot to drop it on turn four against Jund Aggro or Blightning and just win the game right there.
The manabase wanted a ninth source of both colors, and in most cases it was to keep on-curve for the creatures, so a comes-into-play-tapped Shards land was worse (we thought) than the Ancient Ziggurat that ended up in the deck. The Mosswort Bridge is an artifact from the GP Seattle version of the deck; they dropped from three to one, and in future versions of the deck, I’d drop it all together – while getting to ten power isn’t so hard with this deck, with the Overruns gone, the impact that you can make with a surprise card from under the Bridge is really lessened.
The sideboard should be fairly straightforward. The Guttural Responses are for Five-Color – you don’t really need them for Faeries, what with Stag and Cloudthresher. The Fracturing Gusts are for Time Sieve. We started out with Gleeful Sabotage because destroying two Borderposts on turn 4 is pretty brutal, but the gameplan against Time Sieve really only works when you keep pressure on them, and tapping your guys to destroy an artifact rather than attack is really NOT keeping up pressure. And the Celestial Purges are just a better removal option to side in against anything packing Red dudes.
And now, a quick tournament report. We’re playing eight rounds again, as attendance seems to still be really high at these PTQs. I’ll be happy when we get to the Sealed Deck Qs in a couple months and attendance goes back to 90 or whatever.
Round 1 versus Jeremiah playing Jund Aggro
Two quick games against Jeremiah, who doesn’t muster fast draws and doesn’t manage to damage me in either games. Two Kitchen Finks on his side got quickly turned into speedbumps as I curved with Bant Sureblade, my own Finks, and a Liege. I sided in the Purges and sided out two Gaddock Teegs and the Crib Swap. The second game was another great curve on my part and soon I was 1-0.
A funny part of this round was that Jeremiah needed to cast Anathemancers in game one just as blockers, and I was certainly OK with that, seeing as I had all basics at the time.
Round 2 versus Anthony playing Blightning
Anthony’s Blightning deck was removal-heavy and creature-light, or at least that’s how it appeared in our two games. I kept hoping I’d have a Liege in hand when he hit me with a Blightning, but I never drew one — but the three Kitchen Finks were more than enough to weather the storm. I ran the same sideboard plan as Round One. Oddly, Anthony did NOT side out his Blightnings. I kept a steady stream of two-toughness guys lined up for Anthony’s removal, and finally I get a Behemoth Sledge on the board, even though it’s hard to keep a guy around. Anthony runs out of cheap removal, and the Bituminous Blast in his hand is no answer to Gaddock Teeg, and Anthony doesn’t draw a cheap removal spell before Gaddock Teeg finishes him off. 2-0.
Round 3 versus Patrick playing Jund Aggro
Patrick’s Jund is more aggro, and an early Putrid Leech starts dragging us both down, but I find a Cavalier and a Liege in short order to beef my side of the board up past the Leech’s pump ability. In game two, the first damage I take is from a Bloodbraid Elf, which isn’t nearly fast enough to race with my Oversoul of Dusk. 3-0.
This was Patrick’s first PTQ and he kept up with me for the rest of the day, finally losing the last round to end up 5-3.
Round 4 versus Shawn playing Jund Aggro
At this point, I’m feeling all but invulnerable against Jund. Play a Mountain or a red-producing land and I’m just going to smoosh you under foot. Shawn is playing the heavier Cascade version, and takes care of my creatures as he amasses an army that even an eventual Oversoul can’t manage. In game two, we trade creatures and eventually get into a Chameleon Colossus standoff that I eventually win thanks to Behemoth Sledge. Game three, Shawn mulligans into a hand with all filter lands and I curve into Steward into Liege into Oversoul before he can draw a basic land to turn everything on. 4-0.
A quick aside. When we’re talking about five-casting-cost white flyers, I gotta say that I think I like Serra Angel better than Baneslayer Angel. First strike is practically never a factor in the air, and the lifelink is fine and all, but she has to tap to attack. Serra can play both sides. Plus she’s got that classic feel.
Round 5 versus Brennan playing Five-Color Control
Brennan handed me my first defeat and walked all the way into the Top 8. Game one I get a fast start with two Sureblades, but I’m stuck on land a Volcanic Fallout buys Brennan enough time to find a Broodmate and an Angel to take me down. I side in the Stags and the Responses, taking out the Pridemages and some singletons. Game two, I get stuck on three lands and while I keep casting Stags, Brennan keeps finding Firespouts to handle them. 4-1.
Okay, I’m over that Serra Angel bit.
Round 6 versus Shane playing Mono-Red
I’ve played Shane in tournaments before and he has a reputation for always playing Red, which makes me feel good about my chances. I take the first one as the only offense Shane can muster is a Hellspark Elemental and a Finks and a Liege handle the dirty work. I’m back to my versus-red sideboard plan. Game two, Shane gets value out of the wither keyword as I need to block a Boggart Ram-Gang with a Wilt-Leaf Liege, which allows him to wipe my board with Volcanic Fallout. I handle the first Demigod of Revenge, but the second one does me in. Game three, I keep a great hand with Oversoul, but Shane handles the rest of my creatures before I can draw a fifth land to cast him. 4-2.
Round 7 versus Joe playing Five-Color Control
In game one, I squeak in early damage which lets an Oversoul hit the board and mop up. I side in the Stags and the Responses. In game two, Joe draws enough to mass removal to put us into a Baneslayer Angel versus Behemoth Sledge war that he ends up winning. I side the Responses back out — on the play, there’s really little chance I’m going to slow down my curve just to have that extra mana to counter a counter. Joe clears away an early Steward of Valeron, which leave me a chance to get a Chameleon Colossus on the board, and a Stag joins the party the next turn. Not even a Cruel Ultimatum can prevent Colossus from mopping up. 5-2.
Round 8 versus John playing Faeries
This is, essentially, the “pack round” for this tournament. Win, and I’m in for prizes. Lose, and I’m calling Bruce about my inability to beat Faeries and that’s about it. In game one, John chains Vendilion Clique into back-to-back Mistbinds, and I don’t have any pressure. I side in the Stags and the Cloudthreshers. Game two, I draw and play all three Stags, and while John does eventually find a Bitterblossom, it’s no help against the third one who goes the distance. Game three, John opens on a Reflecting Pool, and I feel good, playing turn 2 Steward, and even though John played a turn 2 Bitterblossom, my turn 3 Chameleon Colossus skips past those little wieners and puts John down for the count. 6-2.
I ended up 13th place. Out of 164 people, I’m very happy with my result, and I feel like I’m getting closer to being an actual decent player. I did have a conversation with my travel companions about trying to put together an “adults with wives” playtest group — though I don’t have the time to playtest like a college kid or a pro player, I could probably find one evening every two or three weeks. Even a little bit of legitimate conversation on an email list would be beneficial. We’ll see how it goes.
Is this a decent deck choice for the rest of the PTQs in this Standard season? It’ll depend on how the metagame shifts, as usual. But I like the deck a lot, and I would definitely play it again if there was another PTQ within an hour or so.
Next week, back to the regularly-scheduled program! Zendikar info is coming out, Planechase, there’s tons of good topics!
Until next week…
Dave
dave dot massive at gmail and davemassive at facebook and twitter