Hi guys. It's been awhile since I last wrote about magic, I promise that this won't be a thing in the future. See the thing is.... THIS STANDARD ENVIRONMENT GOT SUPER BORING. After a very rigorous PTQ schedule this summer, what ended up happening is that we ran out of new ideas to work with in standard. I know it sounds crazy with this card pool being so large but that is really what happened.
An aside about the PTQ season. I have to give a shout out to my friend Brian Weller-Gordon who after loosing in the quarterfinals of all the PTQ's he has top 8'ed, he finally got there and won the tournament. I am so excited for him and I don't know anyone I think deserved it more. I am equally excited that I had a small hand in his win. You all don't know Brian but he has a tendency to not make decisions about decks until the night before. The week before I had been urged to stop playing Delver of Secrets in every deck and switched to a mid-range strategy that relied on the absurdly powerful interaction between Restoarion Angel and Blade Splicer. This was the list I played the day before the PTQ that Brian won.
Creatures
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Blade Splicer
4 Restoration Angel
3 Phantasmal Image
1 Consecrated Sphinx
Spells
4 Ponder
2 Thought Scour
2 Forbidden Alchemy
2 Go for the Throat
4 Gut Shot
2 Dismember
2 Gideon Jura
3 Mana Leak
Lands
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Glacial Fortress
2 Drowned Catacombs
2 Cavern of Souls
4 Island
2 Planes
1 Swamp
1 Evolving Wilds
Sideboard
2 Day of Judgement
2 Hero of Bladehold
2 Mirran Crusader
2 Celestial Purge
2 Lingering Souls
2 Dissipate
1 Negate
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Surgical Extraction
This List did fine for me, nothing fantastic. I ended up 4-4, and playing against some very good opponents in the last couple rounds (shout outs to GCB and Zaiem Beg for some great matches). But I took a step back and tried to analyze what was wrong with the list because we were leaving that night for another PTQ and I wanted to figure out what the problem was with the deck. It was obvious to me that the best thing about the deck was the interaction between Restoation Angel and Blade Splicer. But the problem with the deck in general was that it had trouble dealing with the combination of hexproof creature+equipment/enchantment. What better to deal with that sort of threat than cards like Bonfire of the Damned and Whipflare. So what I ended up with was something similar to a list that did well at the Star City Games open the same day as the first PTQ. It sacrificed the consistency of the esper manabase and made up for it with a more powerful late game and more powerful spells in general. Here is the 75 that both Brian and I played at the Sunday PTQ.
4 Blade Splicer
4 Restoration Angel
4 Ponder
1 Dismember
1 Gut Shot
2 Sun Titan
3 Phantasmal Image
3 Mana Leak
3 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Day of Judgment
2 Vapor Snag
2 Gideon Jura
1 Arc Trail
1 Whipflare
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Oblivion Ring
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Cavern of Souls
2 Glacial Fortress
2 Clifftop Retreat
2 Plains
1 Mountain
4 Island
2 Evolving Wilds
1 Desolate Lighthouse
Sideboard:
1 Stony Silence
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Tamiyo the Moon Sage
1 Day of Judgment
1 Combust
2 Hero of Bladehold
2 Celestial Purge
1 Dissipate
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Negate
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Zealous Conscripts
I went 1-4 drop with this list mostly due to bad luck but Brian did not drop a match all day. I am a bit sour that he did well with the deck while I did terribly but I couldn't be happier for him because he deserves it so much.
This brings us to present day about a month after a string of 6 PTQ's and a format that I was no longer enchanted with. Then I had an interesting suggestion from one of my friends who has always been on me about my deck choices. But this time I actually am listening because for me to do well in an event I need to care and the only way for me to really do that is to enjoy the deck that I am playing. So in the off chance that changing my deck choice makes my results better, I am going to begin my dive into what I consider the deep end of magic strategies.
The first deck that caught my eye was Trading Post, championed by Brad Nelson. This strategy is potentially powerful because of it's ability to work itself out of almost any situation. I quickly jumped ship from that when I heard about the power of another deck. As a magic player I enjoy strategies that either attempt to grind opponents out or ones that just do not care about what their opponent is doing. UB Zombies in the current standard environment is a deck that doesn't pay any mind at all as to what your opponent is doing. Most people know about this strategy, it has results and is perceived to be "good." Until now I had not given it any respect because previous versions seemed like plain old aggressive strategies. Now it has become more of a combo deck with Birthing Pods and Bloodthrone Vampires, and this peaks my interest. Here is the list I am playing at the moment and hopefully will be playing for the foreseeable future.
Creatures
4 Gravecrawler
4 Blood Artist
4 Bloodthrone Vampire
4 Phantasmal Image
3 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Geralf's Messenger
2 Diregraf Captain
3 Butcher Ghoul
Artifacts
3 Birthing Pod
1 Moartarpod
Spells
3 Gut Shot
Lands
1 Woodland Cemetery
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacombs
11 Swamp
Sideboard
3 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Duress
1 Birthing Pod
1 Gut Shot
2 Spellskite
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Skinrender
1 Dismember
2 Go For The Throat
This list comes to me courtesy of Gabe Carleton-Barnes. I have not played a single match with the deck but I have a feeling that this will be a fun little experience to add to my magic arsenal. Hopefully I will be writing more consistently than I have been lately. Thanks to you all who take your time to read my blog, it is really appreciated.
Cheers,
Thomas Overton
@ Darkwingduckz on twitter
Friday, August 24, 2012
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Mmmmmmmmmmodern(wink wink nudge nudge Restoration Angel)
Recently we have had the first of many exciting events involving modern. As many of you know we have the players championship where we will get to see people like Luis Scott Vargas and Paulo Vitor Damo De Rosa coming up with new ideas. However there are events between now and then one of which was GP Yokohama. As you know from reading my earlier blog posts, I am absolutely in love with the card Restoration Angel. Much to my excitement, so was half of the top 8 of Yokohama. Older Birthing Pod combo decks focused mainly on Melira. I think this is a mistake going forward because of the decks lack of an ability to have a game plan that is not killing people with the combo. This is where Restoration Angel swoops in and saves the day. Not only does Angel work well with cards like Kitchen Finks and Wall of Roots but it also provides a different combo that isn't as fragile as the old Melira combo. If I were to play a modern tournament tomorrow with this deck, this is the list I would play:
Restoration Angel Pod
Artifacts
4 Birthing Pod
1 Spellskite
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Wall of Roots
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Restoration Angel
4 Kiki Jiki Mirror Breaker
2 Noble Hierarch
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Eternal Witness
1 Cunning Sparkmage
1 Linvalla, Keeper of Silence
1 Quasali Pridemage
1 Village Bellringer
Spells
4 Chord of Calling
Lands
3 Razorverge Thicket
2 Copperline Gorge
4 Fire Lit Thicket
4 Arid Mesa
2 Temple Garden
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
1 Plains
1 Mountain
1 Forest
1 Gavony Township
1 Raging Ravine
Sideboard
1 Sowing Salt
2 Combust
2 Forked Bolt
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Linvalla, Keeper of Silence
2 Quasali Pridemage
1 Sigarda Host of Herons
1 Stonecloker
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
This list is closely based on the one by Toshiyuki Kadooka from the Yokohama top 8. Since the whole point of this deck is to have a better game plan than the old Melira decks, I changed up the mana base a little bit and added in a raging ravine as something to do if you are flooding. Also, I didn't like the addition of Grove of the Burnwillows to the mana base so I put in an extra Temple Garden and Stomping Ground. The only problem I have with this deck is its weakness to storm. The colors its in do not have any way to interact with storm short of Thalia and Ethersworn Canonist and if storm is popular where you play modern, I might even add one copy of each to the main deck because if you can win game one, they have less of a chance to win with their sideboard. This was one of the strengths of the Melira decks but I would still play this deck due to its strength against most other decks.
Despite my excitement with modern, we are in the middle of a standard PTQ season so I think I should write a little about that. I played in the SCG open in Seattle this past weekend and made a huge mistake that I hope others can learn from. I played UW delver in the main event and quickly went 0-3 drop. While the reasons for this could have been numerous things, I believe that it came down to my deck decision. While most UW decks played Geist of Saint Traft, I played Blade Splicers because of the fact that the card is much more consistent. This was a huge mistake because while Splicer is more consistent, Delver is not the deck for Blade Splicer because it is too much of a defensive card. I found myself often behind because I couldn't close out games that I believe Geist could have.
The other reason that I believe my deck choice was poor was the large population of Naya Pod decks in the SCG open that were playing the card Geist Honored Monk. This card is a nightmare for Delver decks much like lingering souls is. You cannot keep parody very well against a monk especially if they have Restoration Angels or Phrexian Metamorphs. It is terrible against your Vapor Snags and Gut Shots and you are lucky if you get to Dismember it. And then even if you are able to kill it you have half of a lingering souls to deal with. If I were to play in a standard tournament tomorrow I would play Esper Midrange because of its access to cards like Doom Blade and Go for the Throat. I don't know what the exact list should be right now but with M13 on the horizon there are a few cards that I would love to add into the list. Auger of Bolas comes to mind immediately to allow you to keep board presence while sculpting your hand, plus it has awesome synergy with Restoration Angel. That is all I have time to write about this week, but hopefully I will be back with more on standard for those joining me in the PTQ grind this summer.
Until next time,
Thomas Overton
@darkwingduckz on twitter
Tloman on MTGO
Restoration Angel Pod
Artifacts
4 Birthing Pod
1 Spellskite
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Wall of Roots
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Restoration Angel
4 Kiki Jiki Mirror Breaker
2 Noble Hierarch
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Eternal Witness
1 Cunning Sparkmage
1 Linvalla, Keeper of Silence
1 Quasali Pridemage
1 Village Bellringer
Spells
4 Chord of Calling
Lands
3 Razorverge Thicket
2 Copperline Gorge
4 Fire Lit Thicket
4 Arid Mesa
2 Temple Garden
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
1 Plains
1 Mountain
1 Forest
1 Gavony Township
1 Raging Ravine
Sideboard
1 Sowing Salt
2 Combust
2 Forked Bolt
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Linvalla, Keeper of Silence
2 Quasali Pridemage
1 Sigarda Host of Herons
1 Stonecloker
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
This list is closely based on the one by Toshiyuki Kadooka from the Yokohama top 8. Since the whole point of this deck is to have a better game plan than the old Melira decks, I changed up the mana base a little bit and added in a raging ravine as something to do if you are flooding. Also, I didn't like the addition of Grove of the Burnwillows to the mana base so I put in an extra Temple Garden and Stomping Ground. The only problem I have with this deck is its weakness to storm. The colors its in do not have any way to interact with storm short of Thalia and Ethersworn Canonist and if storm is popular where you play modern, I might even add one copy of each to the main deck because if you can win game one, they have less of a chance to win with their sideboard. This was one of the strengths of the Melira decks but I would still play this deck due to its strength against most other decks.
Despite my excitement with modern, we are in the middle of a standard PTQ season so I think I should write a little about that. I played in the SCG open in Seattle this past weekend and made a huge mistake that I hope others can learn from. I played UW delver in the main event and quickly went 0-3 drop. While the reasons for this could have been numerous things, I believe that it came down to my deck decision. While most UW decks played Geist of Saint Traft, I played Blade Splicers because of the fact that the card is much more consistent. This was a huge mistake because while Splicer is more consistent, Delver is not the deck for Blade Splicer because it is too much of a defensive card. I found myself often behind because I couldn't close out games that I believe Geist could have.
The other reason that I believe my deck choice was poor was the large population of Naya Pod decks in the SCG open that were playing the card Geist Honored Monk. This card is a nightmare for Delver decks much like lingering souls is. You cannot keep parody very well against a monk especially if they have Restoration Angels or Phrexian Metamorphs. It is terrible against your Vapor Snags and Gut Shots and you are lucky if you get to Dismember it. And then even if you are able to kill it you have half of a lingering souls to deal with. If I were to play in a standard tournament tomorrow I would play Esper Midrange because of its access to cards like Doom Blade and Go for the Throat. I don't know what the exact list should be right now but with M13 on the horizon there are a few cards that I would love to add into the list. Auger of Bolas comes to mind immediately to allow you to keep board presence while sculpting your hand, plus it has awesome synergy with Restoration Angel. That is all I have time to write about this week, but hopefully I will be back with more on standard for those joining me in the PTQ grind this summer.
Until next time,
Thomas Overton
@darkwingduckz on twitter
Tloman on MTGO
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Sweet Modern Stuff
Modern is by far my favorite format. There are so many decks you can play and it makes a great format. That said there hasn't been much publicity for the format since the qualifier season and there are a bunch of sweet interactions with the cards from m13 and Avacyn Restored.
If you read my blog a lot then you are going to notice me being in love with Restoration Angel. This card is nuts and only gets better the larger the card pool. It is an obvious inclusion in a deck like Melira/Birthing Pod as it is designed around creatures with ETB effects. Another that I am almost positive will see loads of play is Thragtusk, especially because of the lack of people casting the card Phantasmal Image in modern (at least in my experience). You could also play with cards like Blood Artist as a final part of the combo that has synergies with cards like Reveillark so you can kill your opponent without having to find a card like Murderous Redcap. You could even go full on combo and change some slots so you have Blood Artist and Redcap as ways to kill your opponent. If I were to play Pod in an event tomorrow then I would play a list something like this:
Artifacts
4 Birthing Pod
Sorceries
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
Instants
4 Chord of Calling
2 Godless Shrine
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Gavony Township
4 Verdant Catacombs
Basic Lands
3 Forest
2 Swamp
2 Planes
Sideboard
1 Driver of The Dead
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Thoughtseize
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Nekrataal
1 Corpse Traders
3 Path to Exile
1 Shriekmaw
1 Spellskite
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Dimir House Guard
Blood Artist gives this deck a way to win games that would not normally be winnable. This is a good plan for any of the fair decks like Jund and the Mirror because both of those match ups come down to one for ones and if you can keep a Blood Artist around you will be so far ahead. This list is obviously untested but I definitely think it has potential.
Another list that I loved playing was the modern iteration of Caw Blade. The evolution of this deck as the season went on forced me to include black for discard spells and Lingering Souls because of the Tron matchup. With the printing of Restoration Angel I wanted to take a trip back to the sky where Caw Blade became famous. With cards like Squadron Hawk and Vendillion Clique, Restoration Angel becomes the nuts against both fair and unfair decks. Against Jund, Angel gives you the ability to keep up with the card advantage that Bloodbraid Elf provides. Against storm and Splinter Twin the Angel is not too good but thats why I like having access to cards like Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek. Another card from Avacyn Restored that I really want to play with is Grislebrand. Another thing that I loved about this deck was the Gifts Ungiven sideboard plan. Forget Iona and Elesh Norn, Grislebrand seems like the nutter butters against just about anyone. The other two reanimation targets are very good in certain match ups but if recent legacy events have shown us anything, reanimating Grislebrand is awesome. If I were to play Caw Blade in an event tomorrow, this is the list I would play:
If you read my blog a lot then you are going to notice me being in love with Restoration Angel. This card is nuts and only gets better the larger the card pool. It is an obvious inclusion in a deck like Melira/Birthing Pod as it is designed around creatures with ETB effects. Another that I am almost positive will see loads of play is Thragtusk, especially because of the lack of people casting the card Phantasmal Image in modern (at least in my experience). You could also play with cards like Blood Artist as a final part of the combo that has synergies with cards like Reveillark so you can kill your opponent without having to find a card like Murderous Redcap. You could even go full on combo and change some slots so you have Blood Artist and Redcap as ways to kill your opponent. If I were to play Pod in an event tomorrow then I would play a list something like this:
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Wall of Roots
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Wall of Roots
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
3 Viscera Seer
3 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
3 Viscera Seer
2 Restoration Angel
2 Blood Artist
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Reveillark
1 Sun Titan
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Reveillark
1 Sun Titan
1 Thragtusk
Artifacts
4 Birthing Pod
Sorceries
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
Instants
4 Chord of Calling
Lands
2 Temple Garden
2 Godless Shrine
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Gavony Township
4 Verdant Catacombs
Basic Lands
3 Forest
2 Swamp
2 Planes
Sideboard
1 Driver of The Dead
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Thoughtseize
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Nekrataal
1 Corpse Traders
3 Path to Exile
1 Shriekmaw
1 Spellskite
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Dimir House Guard
Blood Artist gives this deck a way to win games that would not normally be winnable. This is a good plan for any of the fair decks like Jund and the Mirror because both of those match ups come down to one for ones and if you can keep a Blood Artist around you will be so far ahead. This list is obviously untested but I definitely think it has potential.
Another list that I loved playing was the modern iteration of Caw Blade. The evolution of this deck as the season went on forced me to include black for discard spells and Lingering Souls because of the Tron matchup. With the printing of Restoration Angel I wanted to take a trip back to the sky where Caw Blade became famous. With cards like Squadron Hawk and Vendillion Clique, Restoration Angel becomes the nuts against both fair and unfair decks. Against Jund, Angel gives you the ability to keep up with the card advantage that Bloodbraid Elf provides. Against storm and Splinter Twin the Angel is not too good but thats why I like having access to cards like Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek. Another card from Avacyn Restored that I really want to play with is Grislebrand. Another thing that I loved about this deck was the Gifts Ungiven sideboard plan. Forget Iona and Elesh Norn, Grislebrand seems like the nutter butters against just about anyone. The other two reanimation targets are very good in certain match ups but if recent legacy events have shown us anything, reanimating Grislebrand is awesome. If I were to play Caw Blade in an event tomorrow, this is the list I would play:
Creatures
4x Squadron Hawk
4x Snapcaster Mage
3x Restoration Angel
3x Vendillion Clique
Spells
4x Path to Exile
3x Remand
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Serum Visions
2x Thoughtseize
4x Cryptic Command
2x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Gifts Ungiven
Lands
4x Seachrome Coast
3x Creeping Tar Pit
2x Hallowed Fountain
1x Watery Grave
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Marsh Flats
1x Swamp
1x Planes
4x Island
3x Darkslick Shores
Sideboard
1x Disenchant
1x Wrath of God
2x Gifts Ungiven
1x Dispel
1x Linvalla Keeper of Scilence
1x Sower of Temptation
1x Spellskite
1x Unburial Rights
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Grislebrand
1x Mindbreak Trap
1x Thoughtseize
1x Tarland, Sky Summoner
From my experiences playing this deck, the Gifts sideboard is about the best thing you can be doing in this format. Tarland, Sky Summoner is another card that seems like it would be fantastic against decks that are trying to one for one you out of the game. This sideboard is a bit tricky to use and I would not recommend this deck at all without some testing of your own. The sideboard does not seem like it should change much at the moment but if you want to change it I would only touch the parts that are not the reanimation package because it is very very good.
I hope that these lists are helpful to those who read my blog. If you need advice or have suggestions for me don't be hesitant to post in the comments or find me on twitter.
Cheers,
Thomas Overton
@darkwingduckz on twitter
Standard with M13
Hi, my name is Thomas Overton, I am here to tell you about all the random ideas that I come up with about magic the gathering. M13 is right around the corner and there are some cards that I am super excited are being newly printed and those that are coming back to us.
Delver of secrets is by far the best thing to be doing in standard right now. Because of this the delver mirror is a very popular subject. People have been trying things to beat a the problem card Geist of Saint Traft. From main deck Phantasmal Images to playing Blade Splicers to beat Geist. However we have a few black cards that have seen little standard play in the past couple years that I think could swing the delver deck in a different direction. First we have Vampire Nighthawk that is going to be returning in m13. This card is a great solution to Geist of Saint Traft and it also helps fight against Restoration Angel and Delver of Secrets. Next is Duress. This card seems like its mediocre but it can easily punish a lot of sketchy keeps that Delver players often have due to cards like ponder and other cantrips. Duress also works well with probe allowing you to get the maximum value out of all your discard spells. Another discard spell that sees criminally no play is Despise. Despise could be awesome because of the creature light nature of delver decks. Turn one on the play you can despise and take delver or whatever creature is in their hand. Here is a list that is what looks to me something like what I want to be playing once M13 is here:
U/B Delver
Creatures
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tarland, Sky Summoner
2 Phantasmal Image
Spells
4 Ponder
3 Mana Leak
2 Gitaxian Probe
2 Dispise
2 Duress
2 Tragic Slip
2 Dismember
4 Vapor Snag
2 Forbidden Alchemy
Lands
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacombs
7 Island
7 Swamp
Sideboard
2 Grave Titan
1 Swamp
2 Phantasmal Image
2 Duress
2 Black Sun's Zenith
2 Dissipate
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Sword of War and Peace
This list is obviously tentative but you get the advantage of black removal that can help in all match ups without playing cards like gut shot. The one part I really don't like about this list is the lack of the card Restoration Angel. Angel provides so much of an instant speed threat in the vein of Cryptic Command/Mistbind Clique and it is the absolute nutter butters with all the cards that U/W Delver can play. A card that I hope will make up for the lack of Restoration Angel is Tarland, Sky Summoner. This card reminds me a lot of Emeria Angel back in the days of Caw Blade, except this time Tarland seems even better with the point of Delver decks abusing cheap instants and sorceries. Imagine resolving this guy on five mana with a Gitaxian Probe and a Ponder in hand. Thats eight power you have just made off of five mana which rivals the interaction between Restoration Angel and Blade Splicer.
Obviously this might be all for naught as the Banned and Restricted Announcements are in two days but hopefully whatever is said there will make a format that is a bit more open than it is now.
Until next time,
Thomas Overton
@darkwingduckz on twitter
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