Return to Ravinca Commentary - or what do I play in the pre-release?

This weekend marks the pre release of one of the most anticipated Magic the Gathering sets in some years, Return to Ravinca.  I made my casual return to Magic near the end of the original Ravinca block, about the time it was rotating out, the cards I had acquired at that time were awesome and Return promises to be a multicolored dream.  What do we play and with only half the guilds being present, which will come out on top?  Only time will tell when rotation hits.  Some say our current format is stale, but for the most part those words come from control players who can’t handle agro decks.  Return to Ravinca will certainly do one thing – reinvigorate Standard. 

Currently, the only viable mono colored decks are green and black.  RDW has gone by the wayside for almost a year now, but is making resurgence with the Goblins, Bonfire of the Damned and Thundermaw Hellkite.  Mono blue only works in pauper format.  Mono white, currently played but inconsistent, is losing its powerhouse card, the Hero of Bladehold.  Wizards seems to have smartly printed mono colored cards in Return to Ravinca to give each a shot during rotation. The new Jace, Architect of Thought, the Desecration Demon and Mizzium Mortars are good examples of powerful mono colored cards in Return that will help bolster those deck builds.

 

My personal favorite is the “shock” lands.  They have returned to make Modern and Legacy more accessible to newer players, according to Wizards.  The current Standard builds that are going through re-envisioning will certainly utilize them.  I feel they are what Standard needs right now, especially for developing multi colored decks, a direction Standard has been moving towards for some time now.  Add to this “Gate” land cards, essentially common dual lands that come into play tapped, and you have the perfect mana base for a multi colored format.

 

Key Runes – Mana pumping artifacts that turn into creatures.  We’ve gotten away from the last Man Land in the format – Inkmoth nexus – and have made our way into a new era where we see lands being sacrificed to make token creatures (i.e. Hellion Crucible and Grove of the Guardian).

 

Rakdos’s Return is a game changer.  A BR multicolored spell that acts as a fireball AND a Mind Twist?  WINNING!  This card could be a late game usurper.  In contrast, Supreme Verdict tells us why they dropped Day of Judgment from the Core Set.  An uncounterable Day?  UW builds are going to have a picnic.  One can see why Bant will be so powerful come rotation.  Let's add Abrupt Decay to the mix, an uncounterable 2 drop Vindicate for those troublesome low cost high powered cards like Vampire Nighthawk and Ajani, Caller of the Pride.  Maelstrom Pulse light, for sure, but it kills an Oblivion Ring.  Even so, the venerable Oblivion Ring gets to up the ante with big brother Detention Sphere.  An O-Ring that acts as a Pulse?  Sweet!  Give me more of that one and add to Bant build’s power cards.

 

Charms have always been an efficient tool in any deck.  The Charms of Return to Ravinca are no different.  With each card giving you 3 instant speed choices, you are sure to find an answer in a Charm. 

New game mechanics and keywords always bring a fresh breath to the game.  Return to Ravinca is no different.  Scavange, Unleash, Detain, Populate and Overload are all making their debuts in this mighty set.  Each is dedicated to a Guild:  Golgari gaining Scavange (which allows you to exile that card in your graveyard to put +1/+1 counters on a creature), Rakdos taking Unleash (Make it unable to block but make it HUGE, TOM!), Selesnya grows with Populate (Got a token?  Make ANOTHER token.  BOGO!), Azorious controls with Detain (tap it – it can’t untap on the next turn and it can’t use activated abilities) and Izzet goes OTT with Overload (change the word TARGET to ALL for a slightly higher cost?  Sure!).   

Return to Ravinca is the shot of juice all of the current Magic formats needed.  The pre-releases this weekend will be exciting to play in and going forward one can only dream of the possibilities.  This is possibly the expansion I’ve looked forward to the most since Zendikar rotated out.  Pick your Guild and have at it, my friends.  Until the next time I return to Rakdos . . .

 

PEACE!

A call for the return of manaburn or STOP THE DUMBING DOWN!

M10 saw some significant rules changes for Magic.  First, they eliminated stacking damage.  That was great, as damage NEVER should have been stackable.  Ever.  A change made in 6^th edition, I believe.  For every great thing WotC does, they always mungle something up.  In this case they removed manaburn from the equation.  I still shake my head at this awful decision. 

Some of you are unfamiliar with the term manaburn.  From the beginning of Magic one had to contend with manaburn.  Essentially, unspent mana at the end of each of your phases is dealt to you in damage.  This does not mean that untapped lands cause you damage, it means that mana in your pool that is not spent on spells or effects is removed from your life total.  

WotC said they removed manaburn because it was a non-factor and an under utilized mechanic.  I disagree.  I think they removed it so they could make neat new cards for the Alara and Zendikar blocks like Omnath and it has led to clowns tapping Pristine Talisman for life and disregarding the mana created with the artifact, just for example. Instead of utilizing it, you went to opposite extreme and made cards that wouldn’t work with it being in effect.

 

 

Why is manaburn important to the game?  I have one argument: I believe it is a fair penalty for going hog wild with big mana-pumpers and ramp.  Only need 2 mana when you tap that artifact that gives you 3?  Well take a point of damage for being greedy.  It makes you do better math, but much like our education system today, WotC has dumbed it down for Middle-America and people who vote on American Idol.  I liken it to rounding your checkbook up instead of figuring the dollars and cents except in our case we don’t suddenly find an extra $20 in our bank accounts.  I’m HORRIBLE with math and can still remember nightmare sessions of going over fractions with my Mom at the dinner table as a teenager.  But Magic taught me how to count cards and how to figure out ratios and odds in my head, a difficult challenge for someone with severe ADHD.  I had to learn it to be successful in the game.  And manaburn was part of that equation.  

Which is why we play games anyhow, is it not?  To learn in a casual environment?  Not to make money, WotC.  Magic is no different than Candyland in this sense.  But eliminating this important mechanic also opened the door for people too dumb to learn the math while playing the game, opening to an influx of netdecking where these people are piloting paint-by-number decks and winning when they shouldn’t be.  Cha-Ching goes the cash register.  It’s weakened the playing field the same as expansion pro ball teams make room for crappier players and the direct result is the good teams get better, ruling the market, and the bad teams lose money and bounce around from city to city.  With Magic, this has snowballed into the creations of overpowered cards like Jace, the Mind Sculptor and venues where the same 4 people win every week at events.  By doing everything they can to make Magic more accessible and each set’s cards being created with certain Magic formats in mind, they are actually weakening the game.  You can’t learn anything in this kind of environment.  You’re eliminating creativity to some point as well, by creating so much diversity you’ve also created pigeon holes that can’t be escaped from.  Imagine your duress at opening a sealed pool and one of your rares is Battle of Wits.  What am I to do with Battle of Wits in a limited environment?  Give me a break.  But I digress; perhaps I’m bitter because a card that resembles me is now useless?  

My now infamous 1995 Championship deck utilized manaburn as a win condition.  And it did it frequently.  In fact, I won more games by manaburn than I did by making you draw cards against Underworld Dreams or smashing your face with a Juggernaut.  How so you ask? A little card called Powersurge; in combination with the totally awesome Candelabra of Tawnos.   Powersurge says that your opponent takes 1 damage at the beginning of their turn for each untapped land they control.  The Candelabra untaps X lands.  You do the math, pun intended.

I would tap out on my turn, using the Candelabra to untap your lands.  You would then take damage from multiple Powersurges at the beginning of your turn.  A smart opponent would then tap his or her lands again to take the manaburn damage as opposed to the Powersurge damage. Winning! With manaburn.  This would be a viable combination in our current Legacy format, especially now that Candelabra is no longer restricted/banned in the format. 

WotC hadn’t made a card that utilizes manaburn in so long, no wonder they removed the mechanic.  But I think it’s time to bring it back, perhaps in M14 – especially with next year also being Magic’s 20^th Anniversary.   You’ve gone around the block a few times with the game, WotC; now fix the math.  Bring manaburn back.  Make cards to use with it as opposed to working without it.  Don’t ignore it; use it!  Like I did with the cards YOUR R&D team made.  

Until the next time they make a card that looks like me . . .

 

PEACE!

Bye-Bye-Bye, or Rotation is Imminent!

Rotation is coming.  It’s inevitable.  Every October the Standard Universe mutates into something yet to be determined, creating an atmosphere of the unknown where many new deck archetypes appear in competition.  It’s an exciting time for Magic, albeit bittersweet.  Gone are cards we’ve been using for up to two years.  Friends we’ve made, essentially.  They’re out the door.  Sure, we can visit them in a Modern setting, but that format does not get enough attention.  Now we lament the passing of some great cards from the past two years of Standard. 

Goodbye Phyrexian Obliterator.  Mono Black Mid-Range loved you.  An ode to powerhouse black creature cards of old from Juzam Djinn to Abyssal Persecutor.  A 5/5 with trample for 4 black mana that was essentially unblockable.  As a notable local mono black player says, I hope he gets replaced with something gooder.  Yes.  Gooder.  The Obliterator is so broken he destroys grammar as well as opponents.

Shall we take a moment of silence to think about Ponder?  You’ve come and gone from lives over the past 4 years and will once again be set aside, waiting to be drawn again. 

Birds of Paradise.  You first graced me with your beauty in 1993.  Now you flutter away again.  Seems that the city plane of Ravinca has no place for your colorful droppings any longer, which is a shame.   

 

Vapor Snag.  An Unsummon that tags your opponent for a paper cut.  I for one am happy this one has evaporated, though I can see it returning to a core set in the future. 

Blade Splicer.  A standby in most decks that play white mana and recent target for Restoration Angels.  Getting 2 for 1 from a spell is always a benefit, but when one of them is a 3/3 Golem with first strike, watch out.   

Phantasmal Image is a Clone for 2 mana.  Yeah.  Unfortunately, Wizards targeted it with M13 and it went to the Modern Graveyard. 

Mana Leak.    You’ll be back soon as the Snapcaster Mage takes his leave. 

Wurmcoil Engine.  The first card in Scars block that made me go WTF!?!?!  REALLY?  And people learned to put it out so fast and quickly copy it with a Phantasmal Image.  Certainly a game breaker that will be missed.

An Equipment Artifact that comes into play attached to a token creature?  Give me more Batterskulls, please!  Make that creature a 4/4 and give it vigilance and lifelink.  Another game breaker if I ever saw one.  An honorable mention to the Batterskull’s little brother that could, the Mortar Pod, another staple of many decks in the current format.  We’ll miss Living Artifacts. 

Time to say goodnight to the RUG Pod deck, kids, as its engine, the awesome Birthing Pod goes nighty-night.  But with it also goes all the wonderful Phyrexian Mana cards like Dismember, Gitaxian Probe and Gut Shot or my personal favorite, Tezzeret’s Gambit (a mainstay in my Big Red build!).  Rumbles about a “NEW TYPE OF MANA” or “6^th COLOR OF MANA” had circulated the Magic world since Antiquities hit the cardboard.  Well, New Phyrexia finally gave it to us with Phyrexian Mana.  Another mechanic that is broken to some players takes its bow.   

Sword of  (INSERT GAME CHANGE) are a thing of the past. A miser card in many decks as well as being the cornerstone cards of the premiere tier-1 decks for the past 2 years; including CAW Blade and Delver decks.  Current mono Green decks can spit these suckers out and equip them on turn 3.  All 3 swords from this block had their benefits, but in the end, the Sword of War & Peace had the most lasting impact on the standard metagame. 

TITANS.  Yeah, Gotta be in all caps, deserving of their status as one of the cards that made standard fun again.  Or broken, dependant on the deck builds.  They didn’t call him PRIMETIME for nothing, people.  They’ve been sent to the Tarterus of Modern now, folks, but I’m sure they will return.

Inkmoth Nexus.  The only viable man-land in the format and it has the added benefit of being an infect creature.  I’m glad to see Infect leave Standard.  It’s had its fun poisoning me.  What concerns me is that all the new “man-land” types seem to be sacking the land and putting a token creature out, ala Hellion Crucible.  We’ll see what happens.  Magic always loves its man-lands. 

Gideon Jura.  We’ve hung out for 4 years now, bro, what gives?  You’ve drawn the attention of so many creatures over the years; I don’t blame you for wanting to take a break.  I hear your replacement is coming next year and will retain the “ATTACK ME” ability.  I can’t wait. 

Da da da dum, de dum, de dum, Hammertime!  I saved my favorite card from the Scars Block for last!  Koth of the Hammer, the second best Planeswalker in my opinion (behind Jace, the Mind Sculptor), leaves Standard without being reprinted in M13 as I assumed he would be.  Chandra never works and Koth is the PERFECT example of how a Red planeswalker for a core set should be.  I salute you, Koth, and can’t wait for your return, someday.

 

I'm sure I probably missed your favorite card.  Talk about it on the forum below or on Facebook.  Did I miss any cards that will be missed?  Until next week, when we talk about what’s coming in Return to Ravinca . . .

 

PEACE!

 

 

 

The Evolution of BIG Red (re-dux)

(Please note this is a reprint of an article I wrote for Red Site Wins last August.  The website is no longer operating and I have taken the liberty to republish the article on this blog with annotations and added information.)

October 2010’s rotation totally changed my builds for Magic the Gathering competitive deck play.  After successfully playing Vampires or red-black combinations for nearly a year I finally decided to use the Jace, the Mind Sculptors I had acquired.  I built a white/blue control deck utilizing Sun Titans, Squadron hawks, Day of Judgment and Roc Eggs (yeah.  I said Roc Eggs).  The theory was get out some eggs, blow up an agro board and suddenly I have creatures and you don’t.  I would equip my sword of Body and Mind to a Roc and whoop on you.  If this was 1995 it might have worked.  In modern parlance, however, it sounds like a bad Caw-Blade build.  And it was.  I am trapped in my old school thought on deck building.  I had retired from active play in 1995 after winning the first and only non-DCI State Championship for New York, not returning to an FNM table until 2009.  Deck construction, regrettably, had been an unfortunate casualty of this. I didn’t understand the meta-game to save my life.  I was a shadow of my former self.

October also saw my return to competitive Magic with the TCG 5K at Wiz World Boston.  I brought this “caw-blows” deck into the Friday night bye-qualifiers and promptly went 0-4.  Frustrated, I sold the deck to a dealer and promptly bought a play set of Koth of the Hammer, a couple Kargan Dragonlords and decided to get back to basics.  I had asked a friend what my problem was, he asked in return, “What was the first color you learned when you first started playing Magic?”  I replied that it was red.  He told me to build the best red deck you can.  I said I don’t want to play red deck wins, it’s too weenie for my tastes.  Then build Big Red he said.  So I did.

  

I built it again utilizing old school build techniques.  One problem mono red always had in the age of dinosaurs was its mid game slow down and land draws.  I felt Valakut would solve that, allowing the land draws to damage my opponents.  The Exploration Maps assisted in getting Valakut to the table as well as being another fetch.  Reverberate was my ace in the hole, remembering how powerful Fork was, I played it to its best potential.  

Main Deck:
4 Kiln Fiend
4 Inferno Titan
4 Kargan Dragonlord
4 Koth of the Hammer
4 Burst Lightning

4 Staggershock
4 Exploration Map
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Reverberate
16 Mountain
4 Arid Mesa
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Sideboard:
3 Cunning Sparkmage
4 Pyroclasm

4 Combust

4 Punishing Fire 

After going 4-0, I lost my next three matches (White-Blue control, red deck wins and Quest all beat me in succession) and dropped in the tournament. But the I knew the deck had potential. 

The deck had a huge impact on the meta-game at my local store (Play the Game Read the Story in Syracuse, NY).  Reverberate shut down Genesis Wave decks as I was copying the waves and killing people with Valakut land drops.  It also helped me with counter-magic.  I ran into trouble with blue/white control, black/blue control and Valakut Ramp decks.  I found myself winning against the control decks about 50% of the time and Valakut destroyed me 75% of the time.  The deck had to adapt. BIG RED MARK 2:

Main Deck:
2 Cunning Sparkmage
4 Ember Hauler
4 Goblin Guide
3 Inferno Titan
4 Kargan Dragonlord
4 Koth of the Hammer
4 Burst Lightning
2 Red Sun’s Zenith
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Punishing Fire
13 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn

4 Arid Mesa
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Sideboard:
2 Slagstorm
1 Cunning Sparkmage
1 Inferno Titan
3 Molten-Tail Masticore
4 Combust
4 Reverberate 

Reverberate moved to the Sideboard. I decided it would only come in to face Genesis Wave and decks with counter-magic.  The addition of the Goblin Guides assisted me in early attack advantage.  The Ember Haulers added 4 more direct damage spells to fold.   I added Red Sun’s Zenith for the deck’s Fireball.  The changes brought me some limited success at FNM.  The deck stayed consistent in its wins and losses, though. Then Caw-Go started showing up at FNM.  Once again the deck needed to adapt, and finally it found the answers to the control decks and in a better position against Valakut. BIG RED MARK 3: 

Main Deck:
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
2 Inferno Titan
4 Kargan Dragonlord
4 Koth of the Hammer
2 Kuldotha Phoenix
3 Burst Lightning
2 Contagion Clasp
4 Everflowing Chalice
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Red Sun's Zenith
4 Tumble Magnet
3 Arid Mesa
11 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Tectonic Edge

2 Mystifying Maze

Sideboard:
2 Brittle Effigy
3 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Pyroclasm
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Slagstorm
2 Traitorous Instinct

It began wrecking caw-blade decks.  The main boarded Ruinblasters were key to the match up.  The addition of the artifacts, especially Tumble Magnet, assured me extra turns against red protected creatures.  The spheres allowed third turn Koth to hit the table.  Maze helped me further deal with red protection.  Valakut couldn’t handle Chandra’s wheel of fortune ability, an unexpected side effect of me wanting to have her in a red deck.  Chandra Ablaze was a casual monster and deserved respect, as it wasn’t getting any competitive play.

I brought this build to the Star City Open in May 2011.  I went 4-3 then dropped after once again winning my first 4 matches, losing out to White Control, Caw-Blade and Valakut. I thought it was the end of Big Red.  Insanity is defined as doing the same thing and expecting different results. 

I began playing caw-blade and other variants at FNM.  Red would appear on occasion, but for the most part I was fed up with it.  Chandra’s new incarnation made her way into the deck.  When played, I would frequently drop Koth & Chandra on the same turn.  Many decks can’t handle two planeswalkers hitting the board on turn 4.  But now I found myself losing to weenie decks.

The Star City Open in August 2011 gave me an opportunity to play my Caw-Blade variant (Growl-Blade aka Meow-Go, essentially Caw-Blade with main board Leonin Relic-Warders) and left Big Red in the dust after I made top eight at Game Day. I didn’t leave red home, though.  It made the trip.  The build I brought was this: 

Main Deck:

4 Chandra’s Phoenix

4 Goblin Guides
2 Plated Geopede

2 Kiln Fiend
2 Inferno Titan

3 Grim Lavamancer

1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Chandra, the Firebrand

3 Koth of the Hammer
4 Burst Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Incinerate
2 Forked Bolt

4 Arid Mesa
13 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Tectonic Edge

Sideboard:
2 Act of Aggression

2 Dismember

2 Combust

3 Manic Vandal

4 Goblin Ruinblaster

2 Slagstorm 

As you can see, I didn’t know what I wanted to do.  I wanted to have the new Chandra get play, bottom line. I asked my traveling buddies, Andre Seggara and Allen Terry to look at the deck and fix it.  The only rule:  Both Koth and Chandra had to stay in the build.  Andre started by taking out the Goblin Guides, the Geopedes and Kiln fiends.  “This is BIG RED, why does it have weenies in it?  Besides, do you want to keep giving decks with 25 or more lands cards in their hands?”  He upped the planeswalkers to 4 each, returned the Sphere of the Suns and Everflowing Chalice to the deck, chastising me for taking them out.  Allen noticed this increased our mana ratio on turn three and removed Chandra’s Phoenix from the build.  “Our three drop is our 4 drop now,” he said with conviction.  I then moved the Ruinblasters to the main board. We cut out a Lavamancer, added a second wurmcoil engine, then we removed the forked bolts, added Searing Blaze due to high amount of landfall in the deck.  The main coup was Andre’s suggestion to add Tezzeret’s Gambit to the deck, which Allen thought was brilliant.  Red lacks card draw.  He and Andre ran test hands and constantly came up with consistent play in the deck.

After falling in love with the build, Andre played it at FNM at Harrison’s Comics in Salem, MA.  He went 4-1, losing to a Grand Architect Deck after being mana flooded mid game. 

I decided to play Meow-Go on Saturday, the deck did it’s thing at FNM (I went 3-2, however had a forced loss in round one because I took my wife to dinner.  I did play a match against that opponent and won).  This left the new and improved Big Red up for grabs.  After hemming and hawing and almost playing a Valakut Ramp deck, Allen decided to play Big Red at the Star City Open.  This is the build he brought, after making some adjustments.  BIG RED MARK 4:

Main Deck:

4 Goblin Ruinblaster
2 Grim Lavamancer
2 Inferno Titan

2 Wurmcoil Engine

4 Chandra, the Firebrand
4 Koth of the Hammer

2 Burst Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Searing Blaze

1 Slagstorm
3 Tezzeret's Gambit

4 Everflowing Chalice
4 Sphere of the Suns

14 Mountain
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn

Sideboard:

1 Ratchet Bomb
4 Manic Vandal
2 Act of Aggression
2 Combust
3 Dismember
1 Ricochet Trap
2 Slagstorm

The deck started the day 5-0.  He ended it 7-3, one of his losses being a televised feature match against a Valakut deck.  Chandra was $25 in the dealer case on Saturday.  On Sunday she was $35 and we overheard people asking for Chandra all day in trading.  One of our intentions was met – to finally make Chandra a viable card in standard competitive play. 

We’ve since adapted the deck further. The Grim Lavamancers have left the build, replaced by Kuldotha Phoenixes. The sideboard has been adapted to better deal with Splinter Twin combo and Valakut.  Other subtle changes to the mana count and number of burn spells have been made, as well.  I understand a fan of the deck and friend of Allen and Andre will be playing this deck at the Grand Prix in Pittsburgh this weekend (sic. 8/24/11!).  This person has some experience playing Big Red and I wish them all the luck.  We’ll keep the new build under wraps until then.  Go Big Red! 

UPDATE 8/21/12:  Since writing this article last year, mono red decks started falling by the wayside going into the next standard rotation in October 2011.  Losing M11's Lightning Bolt, Zendikar Block and its versatile Goblins (Guide and Ruinblaster) and most importantly in the case of Big Red, Everflowing Chalice, spelled the demise of mono red builds.  Innistrad block provided no viable replacements for these cards.  Red instead smouldered and added little pieces of the puzzle here and there; cards like Stromkirk Noble, the Hellrider and Bonfire of the Damned – the latter one of the most expensive cards in the current standard format.  With these cards, red has lived on as a support color.  At least until the release of M13, which saw plenty of new red spells and creatures, most notably the Thundermaw Hellkite and Krenko.  Goblin decks resurfaced shortly after, executing turn 4 and 5 wins on a regular basis.  Now, like the phoenix of old, so too has Big Red returned to claim its rightful spot as a respected and feared opponent in the Tiers of Competition.  The aforementioned Thundermaw Hellkite and Bonfire of the Damned are sure to lead the charge.  I've begun playtesting an expirimental build which has had some limited success, but I don't want to post the build yet until it's become solidified.  Until the next time I "Hitchew For Tree!"

PEACE!

My Sideboard is useless! (or, this place has one crazy metagame!)

In the beginning there was Magic and it was good.  There was a limited card pool and a competent player knew what every card did and could adapt to them.  The Internet was a fledgling; with only college students for the most part having web access and message boards dedicated to Magic The Gathering were sparse. 99% of the decks you would face were original builds.  Before the Internet became superfluous and netdecks came out of the woodwork, preparing for a tournament meant scrambling and making the best sideboard you could against the CARDS, not the decks that gave you the biggest trouble.  What shuts my deck down?  OK, What counters that?  OK.  I’m good.  Let’s play. 

Fast forward to the present.  You go to a Standard tournament and 60% of the field is playing a specific deck build.  Now I’m not accusing people of copying decks off the Internet, there are only so many permutations of cards and certain combinations tend to flow together.  This can be discovered through play against many other people or by research, the latter is otherwise defined as netdecking. Eventually, what works will more prevalent than what doesn’t work, and foundations for deck archetypes will be formed creating a metagame.  You either prepare for this or you fall to this, primarily based on the metagame that has developed in the venue you play at.  The cards in your sideboard allow you to adapt to that metagame and you will live or die by that sideboard.  Forget to put in Ratchet Bomb at a venue that many players use tokens and you are sure to lose to that deck archetype. 

Another ingredient to a web influenced metagame is that the same people tend to win again and again and again at the venues they frequent the most.  This can breed an un-fun atmosphere for some.  Why play FNM at a certain location when a clown car full of the same people wins every week?  I know I wouldn’t play in that venue. It facilitates a negative reaction to the game.  Continuing to play at a venue where the same people win all the time is insanity – doing the same thing and getting the same result expecting a different outcome is the mark of a lunatic.  And I’m not talking about playing the same deck, oh no.  I’m driving home the point that when you are losing to these decks even after you have adapted to them will lead you screaming and unloading your collection.  An apparent out to this that can really drive you nuttier than squirrel poop is copying the decks that beat you.  And you continue to lose.  I’m a firm believer that you have to learn how to beat a deck before you play the deck.  This way you know it’s weaknesses and are prepared to defend against them. 

Go to different venues in Central New York and you will see a different metagame at each location.  Play The Game / Read the Story, Legacy Gaming LLC and Cloud City’s metagame are reflections of the decks you will see at larger events like a TCG $5K or a Star City Open.  This means you will see a Delver of Secrets in more than half the decks you play against.  By contrast, Larger Than Life and Lilac House, their metagames are completely off the map.  Agro decks featuring humans, goblins, zombies and vampires are the big deal with these venues and not preparing for Goblins means you lose on turn 4 or 5 to them every time. 

Recently, an observant person playing a “netdeck” variant at Lilac House commented, (and I paraphrase!): “I’m glad I played here because I never knew my deck was susceptible to Vampires.  I never see them at the other venues I play in.” 

Take into account my deck “Sigfried & Roy,” a WB Tokens/Planeswalkers/Miracle deck I’ve been playing at Lilac House since March.  There are ZERO WB builds like this listed as “Top 8ing” online, as far as I’ve seen.  Most every deck that the regulars of Lilac House play is NOT a standard metagame deck.  Mono Black Mid-Range, UB Zombies, RB Vampires, UW Spirits, Goblins and Infect are the metagame at Lilac House – a strong agro presence to be sure.  Because of this, Terminus and Gideon Jura win me games and the deck pretty much rules the roost at that venue.  

Or does it?   

I believe I am quite successful with the deck there; I’ve won a few SAM and FAM events and took second on M13 Gameday with it.  Now, this past weekend my deck puked on me.  In fact, the top 2 decks from the previous week, mine being one of them, both fell in early rounds to make them non-factors in the general scheme of things at both FAM and SAM. So much for proclaiming, “I’M KING OF THE WORLD!” 

To further destroy my self-esteem, I go to PTG/RTS with the deck and I scrub out every time 1-2 or 0-2 drop.  I play it at Larger Than Life and I have mixed results as well, although they are more in my favor than at PTG/RTS. I played the deck once at Cloud City and I scrubbed out round 1, dropping from frustration. 

I’ve adapted my sideboard – incorporating cards such as Stony Silence, to deal with Ratchet Bomb; and Grafdigger’s Cage, to stop Snapcaster Mage and Birthing Pod.   

And yet I still lose at these venues. 

It comes down to one thing:  

Your metagame is more than cards or netdecks.  A non-Magic player and NFL super-fan once said to me, “If everyone can have the same team, what makes it fun? It must be all about the coach then.”  Forget the metagame of cards or decks played.  It’s the people you face. 

Alex Artese came to Lilac House on Saturday and quietly cleaned house his first time playing at the venue.  He didn’t brag; it’s not his way.  He just came down; played the best Magic he could and whooped everyone’s ass. Alex is one of those players that not only can adapt to the cards, he can ADAPT TO THE PEOPLE.  What separates an Alex Artese or a Bryant Cook or a Dan Brown or a Carl Dillahay from any other player?  They are cordial, quiet, friendly and casually PROFESSIONAL and even, dare I say it – HUMBLE! - in their approach to you when playing Magic.  They have (GASP!) a sense of humor, too. You won’t hear them bitch about anything.  Even after drawing 17 mulligans in a row at a recent Star City Open, Alex SMILED when telling me about it.  “Shit happens,” he said.  A player of this caliber can lose to variance and randomness and not give a shit.  

How do you sideboard against a player?  Easily.  Aaron G from Cloud City once said he “looks at a match like he’s playing against a computer.”  That’s a good way to be about it.  Aaron is cordial and actually very funny when you play against him, but he’s a honey badger when it comes to outside influences and distractions.  It shows in his success as a Grinder. Here are 4 suggestions on how to mentally sideboard for your opponent:  

1.)         Don’t let them get in your head.  I let Rich Bourque get in my head at M13 Gameday.  I lost to him.  TWICE IN ONE DAY!  Someone tells me that Aaron Webster made their deck I suddenly lose to them. They could be lying, but I’ve only beat Aaron’s builds a handful of times in the 3 years since I started playing competitive Magic again.   

2.)         Don’t let your opponent distract you. If your opponent talks too much or is constantly moving and a sedative is not readily available; the best thing to do here is re-read the above paragraph on Aaron G and remember the Honey Badger don’t give a fuck, err, care. 

3.)         Poker Face!  This game is no different than Texas Hold ‘em in most cases when it comes to body language clues.  Try to keep ticks and tells at bay when facing anyone.  If I see an opponent’s hands shake, I know I have them.  

4.)         Time is on your side.  You have 50 minutes to play a match.  Take advantage of it – to a point.  If your opponent seems to be a time masturbator, motivate them to play faster.  This can throw off their game and force mistakes.  

Nothing can insure a win at any Magic venue.  But preparing for all aspects of the metagame there can assist you in succeeding.  Just remember that a metagame is more than a netdeck or sideboard and you should do just fine.  Until the next time I throw a deck in frustration . . .

. . . PEACE!

M13 GAMEDAY: IT'S A MIRACLE!

“Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” Matthew 26:52, King James Version

I find not so subtle irony in using a biblical text as the heading to a dissertation on a deck that primarily plays cards with the Miracle mechanic in Magic The Gathering. The verse is paraphrased for this instance as “Live by the Miracle, die by the Miracle.”  Our first M13 Gameday at Lilac House saw that phrase become cliché.

The Miracle mechanic reads as follows, courtesy of the Comprhensive Magic Rules:

702.92. Miracle

702.92a Miracle is a static ability linked to a triggered ability (see rule 603.10). “Miracle [cost]” means “You may reveal this card from your hand as you draw it if it’s the first card you’ve drawn this turn. When you reveal this card this way, you may cast it by paying [cost] rather than its mana cost.”

702.92b If a player chooses to reveal a card using its miracle ability, he or she plays with that card revealed until that card leaves his or her hand, that ability resolves, or that ability otherwise leaves the stack.

The lowers casting cost for many of these spells is a single mana of the appropriate color, making these spells into game changers.  I ran my venerable Sigfried & Roy deck, a WB Planeswalker build that has mutated into a Miracle deck, playing 4 Entreat the Angels:

4 Banishing Strokes:

and 4 Terminus.

A field of 15 walked into Lilac House for M13 Gameday. Four rounds of Suiss with a top 4 play off for a box of M13. There were a fair share of inexperienced players, perhaps a quarter of the field; however the bulk of those in attendance are certified threats in any match. Roughly two thirds of the competitors had won Saturday Standard or FAM events at the venue since its inception.  

Round one I faced Steve Wizins and his Solar Flare-esque Esper deck. Steve is a competent player and I knew his deck would be a challenge. Game one was mostly in Steve’s favor through out. He would counter what I would play or answer with an oblivion ring or some other solution. Eventually, he was able to maintain a pair of Sun Titans on board with Liliana constantly making me sacrifice creatures. Then I top decked Entreat the Angels and put seven angels in play. He was able to eliminate 2 of them and fell the remaining 5 the next turn. 

Game 2 wasn’t as exciting. Steve managed to use Surgical Extraction twice, once on my Entreat the Angels and the second on my Lingering Souls. Inkmoth Nexus got the job done, though. Steve would draw sorcereries or land on each of 8 turns until I got out a second Inkmoth Nexus and won by infect. Death by paper cuts over 9 turns. Steve would finish the day 3-1 and make top 8. 

Round 2 gave me Matt Comfort, playing in his first tournament after many years of playing casual Magic, so he knew what he was doing. Matt’s mono green deck had got him by in round one. Our first game saw Terminus eliminating his substantial field while a Batterskull did him in. Matt had missed a Miracle trigger early on and beat himself up for it the rest of the game.  Game two was also in my favor, as I was again able to control his creatures with Terminus and Banishing Stroke and use Gideon Jura’s soldier ability to beat Matt down. Eventually Ajani, Caller of the Pride hit the table and gave Gideon double strike and flight for the coup de grace. Matt also made top 8 and finished the day 3-1. 

Round 3 brought Rich Bourque and what we call the Freedom Fries deck. Rich threw the deck together that morning and went into playing it pretty much blind. UWR Planeswalker control miracle beat down is the best way to describe it. I asked him if it was USA Super friends. He said it was French, so we’ll go with Freedom. I’ll explain the “Fries” later.  

I lost both games in quick succession to Rich. Each game I was mana constipated. I was 2 land behind in game 1 when Rich finally ended my miserable existence. In game 2, I mulliganed to 6, kept a 2 land hand resulting in drawing no more lands the rest of the game. Rich crushed me. C’est la vie. Voulez vous. Rich became the top seed in the play off after drawing with Bill Barrett in Round 4. 

Round 4 was now do or die for me. My recent nemesis, Mark Carfagno Jr, had been on a small winning streak against me. Mark Jr and I are evenly matched, and in general play he beats me as often as I beat him. He ressurected what I beleive is his best standard deck, his UW Token-Spirits, for Gameday. Junior meant business. And he brought it to me. Game one saw him quickly getting a pair of Captains on the table, but Lingering Souls and Gideon Jura prevailed, giving me a first game win. Game 2 saw Lingering Souls and Ajani, Caller of the Pride come to my aid once again. Mark couldn’t keep up with my spirits or my Banishing Strokes, which I used to remove his anthems from the battlefield.  

My win against Junior got me into the top four as a #3 seed. I would face the #2 seed, Bill Barrett, in the first round of the play offs. Dave Lewis squeaked in to the top 4 with his infect deck. Rich had solidified his #1 seed position and would see Dave first. 

Bill and I have along history in Magic and gaming in general. Because of this we are VERY competitive against each other. Sometimes it seems like we are ready to kill each other due to the manner of high powered verbal slugs we tend to point blank fire in one another’s face. But it’s the way we are. We enjoy it. It fires our blood. And facing each other in the first round of the play offs is something expected.  Yankees/Red Sox.  Syracuse/Georgetown.  Hatfield & McCoys.  It's that kind of rivalry.  The match was as good as the hype. Both of us played our hearts out and we actually were both VERY subdued vocally.  This wasn't about getting in each other's heads.  This was about playing the best Magic either of us could. 

And we did. 

Except for Game 3.

Game 1 saw my Miracles working in my favor once again. Terminus would clear his field and Gideon, with the help of Lingering Souls and Intangible Virtue, would see to a quick win in game one.  

Game 2. Well. What can I say about Game 2 other than TOO MANY ZOMBIES. I felt like that guy Shane shot in the leg on Walking Dead.  Bill played 1-3 zombies every turn. No Terminus = dead Tom. Game 2, Bill eats my brains. 

Game 3 is bittersweet to me. I won with Gideon, but in all fairness to Bill, he got severely land flooded. I tip my hat to Bill for his great sportsmanship in that game in spite of the outcome no being his favor. I wished we could have had a better game.

As our fantastic match transpired, Rich took Dave Lewis down in 3 games. Dave quickly won the first game, but suffered from a lack of creatures in the following games.  All day we had seen how Rich's deck capitalized on any sputter his opponents' had.  This was no different.  Congrats to Bill Barrett & Dave Lewis for well played games!  

M13 FINALS! SIGFRIED & ROY Vs. FREEDOM FRIES! 

Rich Bourque has had my number lately. I’ve somehow let him get in my head. I went into this match telling myself I could do it, that there is no way in hell my deck would poop on me again. And it didn’t. 

This match has been called EPIC by some, GREAT by others. I know it as a nail biting stress fest. I regret we didn’t have the capability to video the match. It was that good.

Game 1: Rich mulliganed to 5 and got mana screwed. I am able to get far ahead and beat him down with Gideon. This game isn’t much to talk about. We sideboard and go to game 2. 

Game 2 sees me pulling out every stop against Rich and coming at him aggressively. He is able to answer everyone of my advances and finally gets Tamiyo, the Moon Sage to do her bidding on me until he top decks an Entreat the Angels to overwhelm me. 

Game 3. Wow. What can I say about this game other than simply AWESOME!I brought the Kitchen Sink on Rich this game. But made one fatal mistake, well three of them – to be precise. Thinking Rich had instant creature removal in his hand, after playing a Gideon I failed to attack him on three separate turns, opting instead to use his “Attack Me!” ability. This proved to be my downfall. After I finally realized he had no instant removal and started attacking him, he had gained an advantage with creature and Tamiyo. I was able to ultimate Ajani, Caller of the Pride; putting 28 some odd cat tokens into play after Rich had top deck Miracled an Entreat the Angels. The playing field seemed to be in my favor, until Rich top decks ANOTHER Miracle, this time it’s a Bonfire of the Damned.

He fried my field.
Within 2 turns I am at zero life.
I kicked myself for not side boarding in Witchbane Orb. I had forgotten he played the Bonfire in the deck and had died by the very game mechanic I utilized so proficiently in my own. Kudos to Rich for a match well played. "Live by the Miracle, FRY by the Miracle" is more like it.

Congratulations to Rich Bourque for becoming our first Gameday Champion at Lilac House.

It's remarkable that 3 of our top 4 decks ran Miracles.  This bucks the current metagame of most venues in that the only "Delver" deck in the tournament took 5th. That in itself is a miracle. 

I was satisfied with my 4-2 record overall, though I know that won’t get me far in an “Open” type gathering with larger attendance and 4 digit cash prizes. There I would be facing a field where nearly 60% of my opponents will be playing some sort of "Delver" based deck.  I will have to adapt to that meta game, and that surely means adding the dreaded BLUE to my deck, making it an Esper build.  I've play
tested variants of my deck using blue with mixed results and have yet to find the right balance of the three colors. But I'm getting close. In order for this deck to remain viable it must evolve.

I certainly lived by the miracle and sure as hell died by it. Until the next time I win, lose or draw and proclaim once again . . .



“IT’S A MIRACLE!”



. . . PEACE!