The Life Sabisky: Commanding Problems
Today, I thought I'd take a break from the usual grind of standard, limited, and cheating scandals, to focus on a rather more innocent sphere: the weird and whacky world of Commander. Briefly, I'll run through the major attractions of the format, and outline what I believe are the major problems that it has - and how to fix them.
Commander: What I Love
1. The Card Pool . Like Legacy and Vintage, Commander offers a panoramic view of the incredibly beautiful history of Magic. There's not even normally a problem with playing some of the less outrageous cards from Unglued or Unhinged, something that warms my heart. The diverse card pool allows for wonderfully creative deckbuilding and truly bizarre interactions to rise to the fore in the way they never would in more competitive formats.
2. It's the Perfect Sink. You know all those junk rares you pick up in limited? Commander the buggers. I hear that Venser's Journal is really, really broken with Necropotence! Want to use your Bloodbraid Elf and friends that just rotated out of Standard? Commander is your friend. It's a wonderfully accepting format, allowing for those rares that table in draft to compete on a level playing field with much-loved staples of competitive formats.
3. It is a Pimp's Dream. It is one of my life goals to own a Commander deck composed purely of altered-art cards, each artwork an individual piece by a hundred of the thousands of talented card alterers that enliven the Magic community with their brilliance. I've already seen friends of mine with beautiful mono-foil Commander decks, and goddamnit, I want to go one better. Commander encourages this kind of long-term collecting ambition, itself a valuable part of Magic's identity, and is, I'm sure, a huge boon to the altering community.
4. Creatures Matter, and so do New Cards. The key creatures in Legacy and Vintage tend to be either grossly undercosted beaters (Delver of Secrets, Tarmogoyf), or undercosted card advantage engines (Dark Confidant, Stoneforge Mystic), with Knight of the Reliquary somewhat straddling the two categories. This, somewhat regrettably, means that the vast majority of creatures Wizards prints these days just don't matter. Innistrad was exceptional in having two Legacy all-stars in Delver of Secrets and Snapcaster Mage, but as far as fatties are concerned, Legacy is interested only when the possibility of something new for Show and Tell or Reanimator comes up (Emrakul and Jin-Gitaxias, respectively). Commander is a much more accepting format; Primeval Titan and Consecrated Sphinx, fringe Legacy cards at best, are absolute bombs in Commander. The same is true for the recent cycle of Praetors from New Phyrexia, as well as the odd "fun mythic" like Wrexial, the Risen Deep (speaking of Wrexial, Ken Nagle's account of how this card was designed is completely hilarious. It basically comes down to"Well, I really, really hated those blue mages in EDH who insist on playing Time Stretch, soooo...").
At any rate, it is generally true that new cards overall have a much greater chance of seeing Commander play than any other Constructed format, thanks to the format being so full of random dorky 6-card stupid combos that require about 20 mana to work properly, and even then don't necessarily don't win the game, just do something cool.
5. Multiplayer politics is completely hilarious. If you don't appreciate this point, you're probably doing something wrong. Suffice it to say that Commander is where you find out who your real friends are, until they mercilessly stab you in the back.
Unfortunately, it's not all rosy in the garden...
Commander: What I Hate
1. The Banlist looks like it was put together by a bunch of subliterate monkeys who have never played Magic in their lives. I am not exaggerating. It is truly terrible. We live in a world, currently, where Sway the Stars is banned, but Demonic Tutor is legal. For heaven's sake. I simply do not understand the hate the Rules Committee has traditionally had for game resets. Yes, I understand that Upheaval is a dick card, but Sway the Stars? Really? Really?
The real problem, however, is that it's just too easy to do dumb degenerate stuff, and piecing together combos is depressingly easy thanks to the omnipresence of tutors and overpowered card draw. Necropotence, Ad Nauseam, and pretty much every single busted obnoxious tutor ever printed are somehow legal (Demonic, Vampiric, Mystical, Grim, Entomb, Survival of the Fittest, etc), along with truly outrageous pieces of cardboard like Yawgmoth's Will. Stick a combo thanks to a tutor, or resolve a card-draw engine, and you can pretty much just start playing solitaire, completely overriding with sheer power any puny responses your opponents might have.
My Commander deck (Reanimator-themed) is by no means a polished product, but thanks to tutors it has less variance than my standard decks. Pretty much every game will put a Jin-Gitaxias in the yard early on (thanks to either Entomb, Buried Alive, or drawing him naturally off of a Merfolk Looter or Careful Study), and then Reanimate him the turn afterwards. Occasionally Jin-Gitaxias isn't available, so some other obnoxious fatty like Terastadon or Primeval Titan will have to do instead, but Jin-G is pretty much always the best option, because no one recovers from being Mind Twisted for their hand, and people don't play enough spot removal. This one of less powerful things you can do in the format, and it's still depressingly obnoxious and depressingly easy.
In summary, the banlist is too short. It requires the addition of pretty much the entire Legacy banlist to approach something even close to sanity. This is particularly true when it comes to Commander two-player duels, where it's ridiculously easy to put huge pressure on your opponent to have countermagic and/or a removal spell available far too early in the game.
2. Shuffling with a hundred-card sleeved deck is just miserable. Thanks again, tutors. Fetchlands are also major offenders in this regard.
3. The mulligan rules are stupid, and enable combo. My experience of Commander leads me to believe that it's just far too easy to mulligan to your combo pieces, or a combo piece plus a tutor. The normal mulligan rules should apply. To all the people complaining about mana-screw - stop playing 33 mana sources in your deck, then.
4. Fast mana leads to dumb things. I don't understand how Sol Ring because the sacred cow of Commander, but the card is clearly ridiculous and needs to go. Any game that starts with T1 Sol Ring rapidly becomes very stupid and very quickly so, provided that player has built their deck even half-way properly. The same could be fairly said of Mana Vault, Mana Crypt, and associated friends like Lion's Eye Diamond.
5. People forget their principles, and start being thick. In standard, or limited, people know about the importance of removal. They know that Brimstone Volley is a first pick. They won't leave home with the UB Control decks without some Doom Blades. But somehow, in Commander, everyone gets so caught up in the excitement of doing something cool and leaves their spot removal at home, forgetting that some threats do need to be answered at instant speed, and that no, Damnation and friends do not always cut the mustard. This is essentially a minor peeve, but it does still bug me.
Summary
And that, people, is my take on Commander. Given that the Rules Committee have done nothing for many, many years as regards their ridiculous banlist, I shouldn't think much is going to change in a hurry, but we live in hope. See you all next time; any further thoughts, you can find me in the forums, or on Facebook or Twitter.
Best,
Andy
A Sunny Perspective: SCG St Louis edition
A Brief Introduction
Hello, and thanks for reading! My name is Sunny Seelamsetty and I’ve been playing Magic since Mercadian Masques Block. I took a hiatus after witnessing Kamigawa Block, but have had another go at Magic and I am enjoying myself thoroughly. I played at Dark Sphere for about 5 months before returning to my home country on the other side of the pond. As I continue to play here in the U.S., I will do my best to keep you all updated on things you may or may not have seen, heard about, or even know about. I have tried to make the article fun and entertaining, and hey, maybe you’ll learn a thing or two. Without further ado, let’s get started!
PACIFISM, REALLY?!
In this section, I’ll be talking about two sweet pieces of tech that I saw being played at the Star City Games Open in St. Louis, Missouri by professional players that I may or may not agree with.
First up is Ludevic’s Test Subject. I finished up one of my rounds early in the Standard Open and decided to go watch the feature match with Michael Jacob. He was playing this crazy control deck which I had never seen before. It ended up being a brew by himself and Gerry Thompson which I read quite a bit about afterwards, but at the time it looked quite foreign to me. Anyway, as I approached the feature match area, I saw a Ludevic’s Test Subject on the board with 2 counters. Bewildered, I stared at it thinking I would wake up and realize that it was indeed a Snapcaster Mage or some other familiar Standard staple. Instead, I watched Michael Jacob hold up Dissipate mana, and when his opponent passed the turn he added two more counters, bringing it to 4. He untapped in what seemed like slow motion, added a fifth counter, and swung for 13. His opponent couldn’t do anything about it as he tried chump blocking but still took 7 damage. On Michael’s next turn, his opponent took lethal from the same abomination that was a lowly two mana egg just two turns ago.
Ever since watching that fateful match, I have grown to love Ludevic’s Test Subject. I am not ready to say it’s a four-of in every list sporting Islands, but I’m enough of a fan of the Subject to say that it should be in the Sideboard of almost any deck with Mana Leaks. Being able to progress your board state with unused mana in your opponent’s end step, or even any time during your opponent’s turn for that matter, is one of the major reasons why control decks can even exist. The ability to cast a 2/1 on your opponent’s turn who allows you to recast an instant at retail price is the reason why most control decks even have a fighting chance in this metagame (not much of one these days, I’ll admit). Sinking two, four, even six mana into transforming this 0/3 into a 13/13 trampler with unused mana at the end of your opponent’s turn can feel like cheating at times. This is especially true for players who may not be as familiar with the card. For instance, I watched a player attempt a Dismember on the 0/3 side of the double-faced card. In response, the player paid 2UU to flip it, and the 13/13 shrugged off the Dismember as if it were just a splinter in his finger. The Test Subject’s use in Standard at the moment is a bit shaky as there aren’t quite as many control decks with a fighting chance nowadays with U/W Illusions and Wolf Run running rampant (pun completely intended), but keep an eye on him if the format shifts to something a bit slower.
The second and final card I’d like to talk about today is Pacifism. In another Feature Match, I watched Gerry Thompson cast Pacifism on his opponent’s creature. I can’t even remember the target because I was too busy turning to a stranger next to me exclaiming, “PACIFISM, REALLY?!” Yes, it’s playable in Limited but why doesn’t he shell out one extra mana for a quality removal spell like Oblivion Ring? It boggled me for the entire day until I talked to a friend about it later. He told me of the “neat” interaction between Pacifism and Sun Titan. That is, when Pacifism is in the graveyard and you choose to reanimate it with Sun Titan, it does not actually target a creature when it is coming from the yard (although it does when you cast it from your hand). That way, it can pacify creatures with Hexproof which are particularly annoying these days (I’m looking at you, Geist of Saint Traft and Dungrove Elder).
Although this fact made playing Pacifism less objectionable, I still don’t agree. The interaction between it and Sun Titan is cute, but it’s just not going to happen that often. Compare it to the number of times there is a Planeswalker on the board making 3/3 beasts every turn and you have nothing short of Beast Within + Day of Judgment to stop it. Wouldn’t you love to be staring at an Oblivion Ring in hand instead of that measly Pacifism? I rest my case.
The Art of Splashing
In the Star City Games Standard Open, I decided to take a deck that I had been doing well with at FNM and made one drastic change to it. The monster that I ended up with was Blue/Black Control splashing green for the famous Garruk Relentless. His fairly unique mana cost of 3G instead of Garruk Wildspeaker’s 2GG or Garruk, Primal Hunter’s 2GGG was just asking for it to be splashed in an already powerful deck. The mana base to support UB Control with reliable access to one green mana ended up being this:
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Hinterland Harbor
3 Woodland Cemetery
1 Nephalia Drownyard
6 Island
5 Swamp
Compare this to the aesthetic wonderland that is the UB Control mana base:
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Nephalia Drownyard
2 Ghost Quarter
9 Island
6 Swamp
Granted, the green splash is not the prettiest, but it definitely got the job done. Contrary to popular belief, I was able to get at least 1 green mana for Garruk by turn four every game out of 7 rounds except for 2. The question was, how often was I actually supposed to cast Garruk on turn 4? It felt like a 6 drop most of the time, as I had to have Mana Leak mana up the turn I played him in case something nasty was coming my way. Other times, I risked playing it on turn 4 to “fight” a creature that was particularly threatening (i.e. Birds of Paradise or Phantasmal Image). He acts a lot like Liliana’s edict effect in that way when they your opponent has only one creature out. His ability to make wolves while keeping mana open for any threats took over quite a few games. I have also learned for a fact that Garruk Relentless beats Koth in a vacuum. All you do is make a wolf every turn, let the first Mountain hit you (or Doom Blade it, which is infinitely more hilarious), and then attack Koth for 2 every turn, leaving a wolf back to chump block the Mountain until Koth goes to 0.
Tangent aside, Garruk seemed like a good option, and I’m not actually upset that I decided to run him on the big day. I would do it all again if I could. The only thing I would do differently is playtest more. I ended up 3-3-1 before dropping after starting off the day at a miserable 0-2-1. My major problem was that the last minute addition of Garruk made the deck very different, so much so that I was not sure how to play the deck anymore. It took me those first three rounds to get a feel for what it was that I had created. After those first three “warm-up rounds,” I was able to go on a 3-0 tear against Grixis Control, Solar Flare, and Grixis Control a second time. I made a misplay against GW Tokens in Round 7 that cost me a match which was unfortunate, but overall the day was fun for me. I’m looking forward to playing in quite a few more of the Star City Games Open Series over the next six months so I hope to have more fun anecdotes to share with you then!
Some Words of Advice
I would like to close out this article by sharing some words of wisdom with those of you patient enough to read this far into the article: The metagame is one of the most difficult beasts to tackle in all of Magic. No skilled player attempts to make a decklist in a vacuum. Any given deck has good matchups and bad ones. Knowing what to play requires knowing what everyone else is playing. Looking at Top 8 lists can give you some sense of what’s going on, but it really is just the tip of the iceberg. I was surprised to face Solar Flare twice and Grixis Control twice in 7 rounds, having not much to sideboard in against them. I follow most of the big tournaments very closely, but still had no idea what to expect going into the big day. Therefore, playing something that you brewed in a vacuum is not going to set you up for success. It is one thing to play a brew that is specifically tuned to beat the big decks of the metagame. For instance, refer to Brian Kibler’s G/R Bladebreaker deck specifically designed to beat a metagame full of Caw-Blade earlier this year. If you’re not confident enough to brew something that annihilates the metagame, I would advise you not to brew at all; play something tried and true and practice with it as much as possible at FNMs/with friends on the side. The most important piece of advice I can provide that you may not hear from too many others is playtest using a sideboard. Most people will play countless games against another deck to see how it runs with a list of 60 instead of 75 cards. When you think about it, two-thirds of the games you play are post-sideboard games (assuming all of your matches go to a third game). A lot of times, it is purely the work of sideboard cards that can turn a bad matchup into a good matchup.
I hope you enjoyed my first installment of A Sunny Perspective. I hope to be writing again for you soon after playing in some more SCG Opens in the coming months!
The Life Sabisky: Raving, Raving Mad
Sorry for the delay, everyone! This article was originally supposed to be a breakdown of standard post-Worlds, but two things happened.
1. I wrote 90 percent of the article, and then it got accidentally wiped, putting me on complete life tilt.
2. I then realized that actually, you don't need me to tell you not to play Tempered Steel now that Ancient Grudge and other artifact hate cards are returning to sideboards. Even if you haven't read any other strategy article post-Worlds, you still probably figured that one out for yourself. If you didn't, I look forward to seeing you soon, preferably in round one of my next standard tournament.
Instead, I'm going to talk about a specific card (that did in fact have its breakout performance at Worlds), and the reasons as to why you are very likely wrong if you are not playing with it, assuming you're looking to build any kind of control deck. That card is Desperate Ravings. Pretty much all your preconceptions about Ravings are wrong too, and I'll try explaining and correcting those too.
Reason Number One: Ravings Finds Your Answers
In a control deck, card selection effects are absolutely vital; in a standard environment where resolved permanents can cause a huge impact on the board very quickly, having the right answers at the right times is absolutely vital. Once you flashback a Ravings, you're actually seeing the same number of cards as you would off a Forbidden Alchemy (forgetting, temporarily, that Alchemy itself has flashback, as the cost for this is so high). Ravings, however, actually nets you card off the flashback, so not only did you see four cards, but also drew an extra one; Alchemy, which digs as deep, doesn't net you any actual card advantage until you manage to get to seven mana to pay its flashback. Card advantage isn't everything (card selection and tempo probably matter more these days), but since Ravings offers you the extra bonus, why not take it?
Reason Number Two: Ravings Finds Your Land:
In a control deck, two-land-hands can be annoyingly sketchy devils, even on the draw. Against most decks you really want to hit your land drops pretty consistently until about turn six, and in the control mirror you probably want to make your first fifteen, or some other stupidly large number. Sure, two-land hands often have all the gas in the world, but that's useless to you unless you can actually cast your spells. When it comes to digging for land, Ravings absolutely beats the tar out of Think Twice, and is that crucial mana cheaper than Forbidden Alchemy in those annoyingly frequent scenarios where your draw phase didn't get you there. Not only is it cheaper than Alchemy first time around, the flashback cost is infinitely easier to pay should you need to dig still further for your fourth and fifth.
Not only this, but Ravings also fixes your mana; let's say your opening hand, on the play with your Grixis deck, contains perhaps 3 lands and a Ravings - but no black sources. It's not great, but perfectly keepable, thanks to Ravings. Had that Ravings been a Think Twice, however, you would probably have to mulligan reluctantly, as the price for not being able to access your removal and threats (ok, I mean Olivia Voldaren here) is probably just an autoscoop to your smirking opponent, who sits there saying "bad beat, buddy", but is actually thinking "he didn't keep a hand that could make black? What a cretinous clown! Is this noobsville or what?" Decks like Grixis, UR Delver and Four-Colour-Control would probably flat just not exist (or at least put up significantly worse results than they do) were it not for Desperate Ravings.,
Reason Number Three: Ravings Wins the Control Mirror:
Having been on the wrong end of this matchup far too many times, I can safely assure you than in the control mirror matchup, a Ravings deck has a big advantage over a deck that is not Ravings. More often than not, the control mirror comes down to who has been able to sculpt their hand better up to the point where you fight the counter war, and the digging power of Ravings is far better at hand sculpting than the general mediocrity of Think Twice. Naturally, the other key point in the control mirror is not missing a land drop until very, very late in the game, and, as pointed out just above, Ravings is your friend when it comes to digging for those lands...
Reason Number Four: You Don't Have To Cast It If You Don't Want To:
Ravings is, in many ways, like Preordain. You remember all those people who would Preordain on turn one, for no good reason? You remember how smart you felt when you saved your Preordains for the late game, and how much profit you got out of that? Well, Desperate Ravings plays in much the same way! If you don't need to cast it early game, and feel that doing so might potentially disrupt your hand to a fatal extent, then don't! Save Ravings for when you actually need to dig, either to answers, game-ending bombs, or land drops. Like all the best draw/selection effects, Ravings offers you great flexibility provided you play the card like an intelligent person, not some particularly subnormal subspecies of bonobo.
Reason Number Five: The Random Discard Doesn't Matter:
There are a number of scenarios that can occur when you discard to Ravings.
1. Since the Ravings decks are often playing one or two other flashback spells besides Ravings (particularly those crazy people on the Burning Vengeance plan), you can discard a flashback spell. If so, then please feel free to drop your trousers and moon the room while simultaneously proclaiming your awesomeness, because you really did win the Magic jackpot, and everyone else - at least at this point in time - is an absolute peon, particularly your unfortunate opponent.
2. You can discard a land. Maybe you didn't need that land. If so, then I recommend following the same procedure as earlier outlined in the above paragraph. If you did, well, that's unlucky, but you can still flashback the Ravings to try to find more.
3. You can discard a spell that doesn't have flashback. Maybe you needed that spell, maybe you didn't. If not, please feel free to follow the procedure earlier outlined just two paragraphs above. If so, you'll get that spell back, and probably in time, too. Are you not playing Snapcaster Mage in your blue deck? Really? I think it's safe to say it is just wrong to be running any fewer than three Snapcasters in any Ravings deck, and usually the full four. The only reason not to be playing Snapcasters in this spot is because you can't afford them. If so, you have a number of choices. You can either save up for the Snapcasters, try to find a budget-friendly yet still excellent deck (mono-black Infect is perhaps the closest), or head off to play a cheap, inexpensive format. Like Legacy or Vintage.
4. You discard a creature or planeswalker. Maybe you needed that friend to help you out in the fight, maybe you didn't. If not, please feel free to follow the procedure earlier outlined just three paragraphs above. If so, well, that's unfortunate, but overall the extra percentage you gained from playing a Ravings deck far, far outweighs the few times - like this - when you lose out. Who knows, maybe you'll flashback Ravings to find another copy of that creature or planeswalker; maybe you were lucky enough to discard an artifact creature that your Buried Ruin can retrieve for you.
(Hint: I am actually being serious here. Pretty much all decks running some number of Batterskull, Wurmcoil Engine, Precursor Golem or Ratchet Bomb should have at least one Buried Ruin in their manabase.)
The real reason why you think the random discard is bad is because you're an Human, not an Econ (and if you haven't read Thaler and Sunstein's "Nudge", you probably should). Humans, as a general rule, hate losses far more than they enjoy gains; correspondingly, losses stick in the memory. Gains usually don't. You'll remember that time your continuation bet after the flop got savagely re-raised; you won't remember the hundred-odd hands previously where the bad guys meekly folded. You will remember that one time you discarded the Slagstorm you needed and didn't have the Snapcaster Mage to get it back; you probably won't think about the hundred-odd games previously where the value Ravings gave you let you coast to easy wins. This tendency is all too human, and entirely misguided. Try to avoid it if you can.
Until next time, people. I'm off to build the best Ravings deck I can while trying to eke out a few more Innistrad drafts. We've got an amazing standard environment to enjoy and an equally terrific limited format - right now, it's a pretty good time to be a magic player. Any comments - you know where to find me!
Best,
Andy
The Life Sabisky: Cards I love, Cards I Hate
I thought I'd take a diversion this week into gentler waters. Standard is still in flux ahead of Worlds, and I still haven't drafted enough Innistrad to talk about that format with any confidence, apart from that it looks like wildly good fun. I will add a few thoughts concerning Constructed at the end, but in the meantime I'd like to talk about the cards I really love in standard right now, from both a design and development perspective - and the cards I hate.
What Grinds my Gears
Solemn Simulacrum: - ah, the sad robot himself. Jens Thoren's Invitational card was originally designed as 2UG creature (hence the fact that the card both ramps and cantrips), before Development realized that it could be made much more powerful as an artifact. This, to my eyes, was a serious mistake. Solemn is, admittedly, a very well-balanced yet powerful card as printed, but totally and utterly flavourless (as a UG "snake oracle" - or whatever - his abilities might have at least made some sense). As it is, he's just a pure Spike card, with almost nothing there for Johnny, Timmy, or Vorthos. Now, I'm a fairly spikey customer myself, but even I have my Vorthos sensibilities, and Solemn Simulacrum brutally tramples all over them. He doesn't even have any flavour text to attempt to explain his dumb abilities!
The Titan Cycle: - ah, the Titans. This is unquestionably the biggest uncorrected mistake that Wizards' development team have made recently; not only did not correct the Titan error, they actually went and reprinted them for a whole other year. While Solemn is balanced but dull, the Titans are flavourful enough, yet grossly overpowered.
This menacing quintet have dominated Standard ever since their first printing, and have made significant shockwaves in Extended. On the face of it they look like fun, midrangey cards; in reality, they're game-ending bombs. Primeval Titan, in combination with Valakut, warped Standard around his ugly green face for an entire year, ensuring that every single non-blue midrange deck (such as Fauna Shaman/Vengevine) was entirely irrelevant. Now he's at the core of the new "most powerful deck", Wolf Run Ramp. Grave Titan has been the go-to control finisher ever since his printing, condemning to utter irrelevance (aka Commander) such powerful and flavourful cards as Carnifex Demon, Sheoldred, Rune-Scarred Demon, Sphinx of Lost Truths, and so on. Inferno Titan was an absolutely powerhouse in the Lotus Cobra-fuelled RUG decks. Sun Titan only looks bad because all the other Titans are so busted, but were he left to his own devices, the Phantasmal Image interaction wouldn't be cute anymore; it would be game-breaking. So what do people do when these cards are dominating the metagame? That's right - play Frost Titan, who conveniently happens to dominate all the other Titans in the heads-up, as well as being one of the hardest to kill! I think the only time I've ever beaten a resolved Grave Titan was when I resolved Frost Titan the turn after. Titans don't just limit your choice of finisher. They also compress the format, pushing all non-Titan decks to get faster and faster in an effort to have lethal on board - or have actually killed the Bad Guy - by the time one of the Big Sixes comes down. This is less of an issue than it was back in the days of Valakut, but still a significant concern.
Geist of Saint Traft, Thrun the Last Troll, Invisible Stalker, etc: goddamnit, I really, really hate Hexproof. Invisible Stalker is a real culprit here, as Stalker+Butcher's Cleaver/Any Decent Equipment makes for farcically cheap Limited victories. I do not understand why Wizards would develop a mechanic that actively promotes non-interactivity, particularly in Limited, where Edict effects - just about the only good way to deal with a Hexproof creature, if you're lucky - are extremely rare. Sure, Shroud also promoted non-interactivity, but Shroud was a) much more flavourful, and b) felt much fairer for both sides of the table. Yes, I understand that Hexproof means that Angelic Destiny can actually be a relevant card in constructed (whoop de whoop!), but really, it's not worth the price we all have to pay, thanks to these frustrating creatures.
Delver of Secrets: I actually quite like Delver from a design perspective, and he's fun and fair in Standard, but my word - just when you didn't think Blue in Eternal formats could possibly get any more broken, the wretched colour gets a Wild Nacatl. That flies. And makes Brainstorm even better. Good grief.
What Warms my Heart
Liliana of the Veil: ah, Liliana. So powerful yet so exquisitely well-balanced. So woeful against Viridian Emissary yet so powerful against Mirran Crusader. I've had a few games where Liliana has rotted in my hand, but many more where she absolutely wrecks my opponent. She's particularly potent against any deck that's trying to stick one big threat and ride it to victory, or that can only play a threat per turn. She demolishes the entire Infect deck and is a very powerful tool against midrange Sword of Feast and Famine strategies. She hit a perfect sweet spot for constructed, powerful yet not format-warping. A staple feature in blue-black control decks, she also plays particularly well with other planeswalkers, particularly Tezzeret, as he breaks the symmetry of her +1. In Legacy she made several appearance in the Top 32 of GP Amsterdam, mostly in BUG "Team America" decks as a weapon against Reanimator, and as another powerful threat that synergizes perfectly with Snapcaster Mage. Hats off to Erik Lauer, who designed her.
Dismember: - yes, Dismember. I know the card is widely thought of as being a horrible mistake, largely due a moderately extensive period of time where it was omnipresent in nearly all decklists going. Personally, I never figured out what the fuss was about. I actually quite like all colours having access to awesome removal; this happens very rarely, and is totally fine for a year and a bit so long as Wizards don't go around making a habit of it. Removal - and black removal in particular - is at a real low point anyway, thanks to Hexproof (gah!), Mirran Crusader, and Sword of Feast and Famine, meaning that these days the effectiveness of Dismember is constrained, although it's still terrific. Sure, it causes some colour-pie-wrenching moments, such as when the green deck plays their Birds of Paradise and the Blue/White control deck "bolts it" with Dismember, but then again it is also a terrific teaching tool for new players to learn about the value of life totals. Overall, it's not an experiment I would like to see repeated in a hurry, but it's been fine so far, and I'm sure will remain acceptable and even sometimes enjoyable for the remainder of its time in Standard.
Gitaxian Probe: free information at no mana cost, and the perfect trick to "build your own Silvergill Adept" with Snapcaster Mage. The perfect card for almost every blue-based mid-range tempo/Fish deck. Easily the most fun and fair use of Phyrexian Mana, with Noxious Revival being the only real competitor.
Bloodline Keeper: ah, Bloodline Keeper. Emeria Angel is one of my all-time favourite creatures, and Bloodline Keeper is a remarkably similar animal. It makes bodies for Swords. It creates limitless chump blockers. It creates limitless beaters. It can both dominate the board and defend your life total. I had it pegged as a top card when I first saw the Innistrad spoiler, but initially it flew totally under the radar; now it's starting to see regular play in the sideboards and maindecks of blue/black control, or aggro-control, lists. It has terrific flavour and, just like Liliana, a real sweet spot in Constructed.
Bonus Brags Section
I've been keeping my eye on the Legacy scene since the banning of Mental Misstep; in that team we've had both GP Amsterdam and multiple Star City Games Opens. In that time, Snapcaster Mage - as I predicted - has pushed Brainstorm completely over the edge again, with RUG Tempo - starring Delver of Secrets - putting up a string of particularly fine finishes (how does having access to 8 Bolts sound?), alongside other format staples such as Team American (8 Hymns) and U/W Stoneblade (8 Swords to Plowshares!). Consequently, there's recently been a major community discussion over actually banning Brainstorm this time around, with Drew Levin, Patrick Chapin, Caleb Durward, and Marius van Zundert all weighing in. I've already made my thoughts fairly plain, but it seems very likely at this point that something will have to go, again. Thanks to Snapcaster Mage, the blue decks now have access to double their usual quantities of removal without losing out on countermagic to fight combo - and, if wanted, they can also double up on discard effects, Hymn to Tourach in particular being back-breaking against many combo decks. Brainstorm, however, is the glue that keeps these decks together, the engine that keep them driving, the key piece that ensures they draw the right halves of their decks for the right matchups. I would be very surprised if the DCI weren't taking a serious look at it this time around, now that the banning of Mental Misstep has completely failed to halt the complete dominance of blue-based aggro-control at premier-level Legacy events. There should be no sacred cows, not even ones as superficially innocuous as Brainstorm.
That's all for now. Worlds analysis coming up!
Organized Play Changes
Recently, Wizards of the Coast announced some major changes to their organized play programs. You can read all about them here, but the announcement basically breaks down to the following major points:
1. Pro Points and the Pro Players Club system are scrapped from 2013 onwards. Incredibly, they are to be replaced by a system about which nobody knows anything. If Wizards know, they aren't telling.
2. The World Championships (effectively the fourth Pro Tour of the year) is to be scrapped and replaced by a newer version of the old Invitational. The top 16 in the world (as determined by Wizards through a variety of methods) will meet for an exclusive "clash of the titans" event. Unfortunately, the winner doesn't seem to be getting their own card, which was unquestionably the cool thing about the old Invitational, which produced such cards as Ranger of Eos, Shadowmage Infiltrator, and Snapcaster Mage.
3. National Championships, which previously qualified you for the old Worlds, will no longer feed a large event. They will simply carry a Planeswalker Points multiplier of x8, the same as a Grand Prix (GP).
While this may all seem rather remote from our everyday concerns on the London magic scene, there are a number of important things going on here. Firstly, it just became even harder to qualify for the Pro Tour (PT). Not only is there now one less Pro Tour to qualify for (since the new version of Worlds will essentially exclusively consist of Pro Tour regulars), but the route of "winning nationals" is now closed off. This is in addition to the fact that from January 2012, success at a Grand Prix will not get you an automatic Pro Tour invite. Previously, Top 16 at a Grand Prix would get you there; soon this will no longer be the case.
The bottom line is that it is going to be really, really hard to qualify for the Pro Tour. As a European, your best bet is either to Top 8 multiple Grand Prix or just win a Pro Tour Qualifier (PTQ). Then at the Pro Tour the pressure is really on to do well and garner the absolute maximum number of Planeswalker Points possible, otherwise you'll be starting all over again from scratch. The Pro Tour dream is still there, but you are looking at a heavily increased travel schedule to grind out results at those GPs and PTQs, particularly given the fact that Europe has no equivalent of the Star City Games Open Series - or not yet, at any rate. Your spending for all this Europe-wide grinding will, of course, be commensurately higher than it was previously.
The other major point to be made here is that effectively another Pro Tour has been cut. In the last few seasons, Wizards has gone down from 5 Pro Tours per year to just 3, while heavily expanding the number of Grand Prix. Contrary to the initial assumptions of many - myself included - this decision does not seem to be driven by profit concerns. Magic is at an all-time high, and Aaron Forsythe has clarified on Twitter that Hasbro are quite happy to let Wizards continue to sail the good ship Magic just as they like. For what it is worth, I see no reason to disbelieve him.
Essentially, I think the underlying rationale for the changes is that Pro Tours are elite events, while Grand Prix are open to the general public to participate in. That is, Wizards may be trying to democratize professional Magic and open up opportunities for success and glory to a wider audience. This tweet from Mark Rosewater would tend to support this hypothesis:
Let me stress: we are not spending less money on premier play. We are changing how we spend it to maximize its impact on the most people.
When I initially began to to think about the possibilities of this democratization, I initially didn't think it was possible that Wizards would deliberately begin cutting the Pro Tour. After all, the Pro Tour and the lifestyle of a professional magic player that it permits has always played a huge part in Wizards' marketing - and they've traditionally recognized this, and consequently backed the Pro Tour in good times and bad. They may, however, have concluded that the same promotional goals can be achieved while broadening access.
The current Pro Tour system has been highly successful at the marketing of Magic as an intellectual competitive sport. It has not, however, succeeded in creating marketable stars who could promote the game on a more personal level. Jon Finkel was the last Magic Pro to achieve some semblance of mainstream success, and while his Hall of Fame membership still allows him to attend Pro Tours, he's effectively retired from professional Magic. Moreover, Finkel's mainstream recognition seems to have come after he turned his outstanding talents to poker and finance, not before. Since then, last year's World Champion and the losing finalist have been suspended for leaking confidential information. Tomoharu Saito, one of the leading figures in Japanese Magic, has been banned for a year and half for cheating, just as he was about to inducted into the Hall of Fame, leaving egg all over Wizards' collective face. A worryingly large number of the top stars have either demons in their past (Patrick Chapin, Olivier Ruel) that make them inappropriate marketing material, or are simply far too bland (I'm not going to name names: take your pick). David Williams is hugely well-known, but the game that gave him the tools to succeed at Vegas is only ever mentioned as an afterthought, if at all. At this point - particularly after the Matignon/Wafo-Tapa scandal - Wizards may well be figuring that the Pro Tour is not achieving some of its goals as a marketing tool, and might in fact in playing an actively detrimental role.
In conclusion, I would like to hint at a potential system of premier play that Wizards may be moving towards. It is probably far too radical a suggestion for many, and it may in fact be totally unworkable; nevertheless, I think it makes for an interesting thought experiment.
To start with, I do not believe that it is possible or desirable to intensify the current focus on Grand Prix while still maintaining the Pro Tour. Grand Prix will inevitably feel second-class so long as there exists a network of major tournaments and associated benefits reserved for elite players. Let us assume that Wizards scraps the Pro Tour as it exists in a few years time and adds even more Grand Prix to their schedule, maintaining their status as open events. Let us also assume that Wizards want to encourage the top players in the world to travel to as many Grand Prix as possible, and also want to vastly improve the quality of their coverage. Perhaps a way to do this would be massively increase Grand Prix entrance fees (say x10 or x20), and merge together what would have been Grand Prix Trials and Pro Tour Qualifiers? Simultaneously, they could add plane fares and accommodation to future Grand Prix to Grand Prix prizes, in addition to using the increased entry benefits to ramp up cash prizes and improve coverage.
This would result in a field at any given Grand Prix consisting of the following:
1) Those who have paid for their own entry, travel, and accommodation.
2) Those who have won WOTC-paid entry, travel, and accommodation thanks to winning a Grand Prix Trial, or being at the top of their region's Professional Planeswalker Points tally for a competitive season.
3) Those who have won WOTC-paid entry, travel, and accommodation thanks to success at a previous Grand Prix.
4) Those who are sponsored to attend events by third parties such as Star City Games and ChannelFireball. Some work would probably needed to ensure that the people in this category don't overlap with those in categories 2 and 3.
The sharp-eyed may notice that this is fairly similar to the model on which the European Poker Tour (EPT) is based. Perhaps at the year's end all the Grand Prix winners could be brought together for a private tournament, hosted by Wizards, to decide the Player of the Year/World Champion.
As I say, this may be prove too daring for certain tastes, but it's certainly an interesting idea. Let me know what you think, either in the forums, or via Facebook and Twitter.
See you all next week!
The Life Sabisky: Innistrad Sealed
A Bump in the Night: Innistrad Sealed
Having played 6 rounds of release event, 7 rounds of PTQ, and made sealed decks out of half a box of Innistrad, I’ve just barely started scratching the surface of the sealed deck format for this set. I’ve not drafted it at all, but will start doing so about once a week over the next couple months, with luck, and will report back on that once I’ve got some relevant experience.
That said, I do have some initial thoughts on the limited environment for sealed; doubtless these will be subject to revision over time, and I may well come back to this subject again some time in January, and see how my thoughts have changed over time. Essentially, I’m trying to say that you should take what I’m about to say with a pinch of salt. That said, let’s go!
Innistrad by Mechanic
Morbid
Morbid on creatures is actually pretty underwhelming, largely because it’s so easy to spot someone trying to set up the enter-the-battlefield trigger, and even easier in games two and three, once you know said creature is there. Any time someone makes a strange, suicidal-looking attack in this format, you should strongly consider - before blocking! - whether or not you can cope with a 4/6 Somberwald Spider coming down, or a Morkrut Banshee killing one of your creatures. That said, both the Spider and Hollowhenge Scavenger are decent cards anyway even if you don’t get the morbid bonus; in fact, the spider - like Giant Spider and most of its variants - is one of the premium green commons. Having played against Skirsdag High Priest a few times, it’s actually pretty easy to deal with unless everything goes right for the guy who has it. Woodland Sleuth seems fine, but nowhere near as good as the Spider.
Morbid on spells is a lot better; Brimstone Volley is one of the top red cards in the set, largely because you’re not limited to the clunky business of having to set up Morbid on your turn; essentially, you get two bites of the cherry at getting the bonus, both in combat you initiate and combat they initiate. While Caravan Vigil is a sorcery, it’s very cheap, and can both accelerate your mana, and if you’re not so lucky it can fix any problems you might be having in a 3-colour deck while dealing nicely with mana-screw if so needed; this seems fine to play if you’re in green, essentially an upgrade to Traveler’s Amulet.
Transform
Generally speaking, I think if you have a choice between transforming a werewolf and developing your board, I would go ahead and develop your board; mostly because this makes removal less of a blowout, and decreses the potency of the extremely aggressive starts some decks are capable of mustering. That said, there are exceptions.
1) If your opponent has got a slow start, and is durdling around doing nothing.
2) If passing the turn allows you to hold up removal.
I’ll go through the transform cards, one by one.
1. Hanweir Watchkeep: it’s excellent. A fantastic blocker that keeps almost anything at bay, and when you need it, it’s an enormous beatstick. The only downside is the compulsory attacking you have to do, when sometimes you’d rather block.
2. Bloodline Keeper: a silly bomb. Play it, and be happy.
3. Civilized Scholar: a real reason to play blue. Merfolk Looter was a pretty amazing card in M12 limited much of the time, and this boy is even nuttier. Imagine a Merfolk Looter that can potentially turn into an instant-speed removal spell? Or suddenly flip over to deliver 5 points of damage? Even without transform shenanigans, this guy smoothes your draws so well, while simultaneously setting up your Stitched Drakes and Skaab Goliaths. Get off more than 2 activations of the Scholar and you have to be a heavy favourite to win. He’s just that darn good.
4. Cloistered Youth: there isn’t much to say beyond the fact that it’s one of the best white uncommons. Two mana for a 3/3 in a great colour is simply ridiculous. Multiples of this fella are just terrifying.
5. Daybreak Ranger: you have to be RG, but it’s a silly bomb. Again.
6. Delver of Secrets: don’t be fooled. 1 mana for a 3/2 flyer sounds nice and all, but very few decks are going to have enough instants or sorceries to be able to trigger this with any sort of reliability. Essentially close to unplayable.
7. Garruk Relentless: I’ve played with both Garruk and Liliana in sealed, and while Liliana certainly takes the crown in constructed (for now, at least), Garruk wins hands down in Limited, where he’s stupidly good; more impactful, easier to protect, more splashable, and in a better colour.
8. Gatstaf Shepherd: drop it turn 2 and watch them squirm. Bears are fine in this format anyway - Silverchase Fox is a pretty reasonable card - and this guy has real potential to be a lot more. Again, I wouldn’t like to have to face multiples.
9. Grizzled Outcasts. Solid but unspectacular.
10. Instigator Gang: again, an extremely powerful card, best at the top of the curve in an aggressive red deck.
11. Kruin Outlaw: good on it’s own, and if you have enough werewolves to really make it sing, it’s stupidly good.
12. Ludevic’s Test Subject: this is fine, but requires intelligent play. Don’t just pump mana into it as the expense of developing your board, because that’s just begging to get blown out by removal. Treat it as you would a leveler from Rise of the Eldrazi; you leveled those creatures up when you had spare mana you weren’t doing anything else with. This card fundamentally works the same way, and if you’re careful you can make this a real win/win - because 13 power with trample will end the game ASAP, while and 0/3 for 2 isn’t the worst blocker in the world. Just be careful and don’t go all-in when you have better things to be doing.
Mayor of Avabruck: another super-powered bomb. Drop it turn 2 and revel in their mayoral misery.
Reckless Waif: a key card for the aggressive red deck. There aren’t that many turn ones plays in the format, so a turn 1 Waif will likely be promptly bashing for 3.
Screeching Bat: it’s great, but black is a pretty ropey colour and this is not a reason to be forcing it.
Thraben Sentry: the nuts. Apart from Cloistered Youth, this has the easiest transform trigger of the lot, and 4 for a 5/4 trample is simply silly.
Tormented Pariah: it’s fine, but unspectacular, and pretty slow at that. Villagers of Estwald, this is not.
Ulvenwald Mystics: this has beat my face in at least once, and will likely keep doing so. It’s not as good as Thraben Sentry, because it’s harder to flip, but if a 5/4 trample for 4 is good, how about a 5/5 with super-cheap regeneration?
Village Ironsmith: for aggressive red, again it’s another key card.
Villagers of Estwald: it’s really, really good. Passing the turn holding back Ambush Viper is the dream, and I’ve lived it. A 4/6 blocks and kills pretty much anything, while being a decent beatstick itself. One of the absolute top green commons, and it curves so well with the Mystics and Somberwald Spider.3 for a ⅔ isn’t the worst deal anyway; Riot Devils is not the worst card in this set by a long shot.
Flashback
Games can often go long in this format, and you’ll have lots of chances to pay for even the more expensive flashback costs. You wouldn’t think Silent Departure would be at all decent, as it looks like just a sorcery-speed Unsummon, but actually it’s pretty terrific, one of the best answers to both Skaab Goliath/Stitched Drake and Werewolves. If you’re lucky enough to be able to pay for the flashback on cards with a second colour for the flashback cost (Desperate Ravings, Forbidden Alchemy, Feeling of Dread), then enjoy yourself, but I can’t think of too many examples where it’s worth forcing the second colour. Think Twice looks unimpressive but is actually great; Devil’s Play is probably the nuttiest bomb in the entire set.
Innistrad by Colour
Blue: it’s really, really good. You’ve got quality, cheap interaction (Claustrophia, Sensory Deprivation), powerful fliers (Stitched Drake, Moon Heron, Murder of Crows), powerful ground pounders (Skaab Goliath, Makeshift Mauler), and great card selection and draw spells (Civilized Scholar, Think Twice, Forbidden Alchemy). This isn’t to mention silly little two card combos, like Invisible Stalker and Curiosity.
Blue has lots of powerful cards, most of which are fairly apparent. What people often forget is that a lot of these cards use the graveyard as a resource, so being able to put stuff there for you to use (Forbidden Alchemy, Armourd Skaab, Mindshrieker, Deranged Assistant) is really, really terrific. If you have a bunch of Skaab guys, you will want a way to mill yourself.
Other tricks: some people are still unaware of the trick with Stitcher’s Apprentice, whereby you block with some random dude, and then sacrifice it before damage to the Apprentice, leaving you with a 2/2 and Stitcher’s Apprentice in play. Rinse and repeat on the next attack. If you’ve got Unruly Mob going, enjoy! Spectral Flight is severely underrated, as indeed Auras often are. Having lost to it twice, I can assure you that Mirror-Mad Phantasm is easily worth the risk of decking yourself. Fortress Crab is beyond awesome. Undead Alchemist isn’t the nuts, but is also easily worth it; not a reason to be blue, but comfortably maindeckable.
Green: beyond frustrating. For every Ambush Viper, you get about 5 pieces of cardboard like Mulch, Gnaw to the Bone, Bramblecrush, or Full Moon’s Rise. Generally speaking, for green to sing for you, you need a bunch of the better werewolves, Somberwald Spider, Ambush Viper (preferably in multiples), and preferably a nutty bomb like Garruk or Essence of the Wild. This is actually perfectly possible, but it’s a rare sealed pool that can bring it all together. That said, a lot of the best cards are very splashable, (Viper/Spider), though annoyingly not Kindercatcher.
I think that I, and a lot of other people, have been really missing out on Darkthicket Wolf. Think about it, and you’ll see it’s actually more or less a 2/2 unblockable that late-game is a 4/4, because if they try to block it early-game, you just turn it into a removal spell.
For some reason people seem unsure over Prey Upon. It’s just a top-quality removal spell. Play it.
Red: Red has probably the most powerful cards, but I don’t feel it’s as deep as blue or white. What it does have going for it is all the best removal: Brimstone Volley, Harvest Pyre, Into the Maw of Hell, Geistflame, and even Ancient Grudge out of the board. This is in addition to a bunch of solid aggressive dudes: Reckless Waif, Village Ironsmith, Hanweir Watchkeep, Kessig Wolf, and Ashmouth Hound, plus a bunch of burn spells on bodies that just win games, like Pitchburn Devils, Skirsday Cultist and Rage Thrower. Make no mistake: red is awesome, and has some super-powerful creatures in addition to all the premium removal. It even gets some card draw with Desperate Ravings.
What it also has is a whole bunch of uniformly awful Curses, and some annoyingly mediocre dudes like Feral Ridgewolf, Riot Devils, and Bloodcrazed Neonate (hint: compulsory attack clauses are usually awful). Traitorous Blood is also pretty bad unless you are really super-aggressive and heavily into red. Basically, if you have the amazing removal, play red, but don’t go too heavily into it unless you get also all the awesome dudes in the bargain - most of which, fortunately, are pretty splashable.
White: White is just super-duper-deep, and pretty powerful in the bargain. Abbey Griffin, Avacynian Priest, Chapel Geist, Midnight Haunting, Bonds of Faith, Cloistered Youth, Thraben Sentry, Rebuke, Fiend Hunter, Unruly Mob, Slayer of the Wicked, Elder Cathar, Smite the Monstrous - I could go on - basically, they’re all terrific. Even Silverchase Fox is fine to maindeck, and often amazing out of the board against Back from the Brink or Curse of Death’s Hold. The removal isn’t quite as good as in other sets; Bonds of Faith is probably the best, as Rebuke and Village Bell-Ringer are very obvious telegraphs in the mid-game, although it can be nice to hold them back while you transform your red/green werewolves. To me, this is the clear best colour, as it’s deeper than red by far, and requires a lot less work to sing for you than blue. Consequently, I’m sure it will be overdrafted, but strong white in sealed is hard to beat, particularly if helped by super-amazing rares like Champion of the Parish, Mentor of the Meek, and various bomb Angels.
Black: It’s awful. Don’t.
Ok, levity apart, black does seem pretty bad. Abbatoir Ghoul is good at uncommon; Altar’s Reap is fine, but blue has lots of better ways to draw cards. Brain Weevil does enable morbid, even if I hate the idea of paying 4 for a 1/, and Mind Rot isn’t the best card in limited anyway. Dead Weight and Corpse Lunge are decent removal. Ghoulraiser is fine; Village Cannibals can work very well in the right deck...oh, jeez, who am I fooling? Play black if you get the nuts, but overall it’s just so mediocre. Even guys like Markov Patrician, who like they should be good, are just very mediocre in actual play. There’s just not enough density of aggressive cards to help out Vampire Interloper, and nothing exceptional at the top of the curve, which red has.
Multicolour and Artifacts: Traveler’s Amulet is a must-have for 3-colour decks. Blazing Torch is superb. Cellar Door is awful. Most of the equipment is pretty bad unless it goes onto Invisible Stalker, when it’s stupidly annoying. Galvanic Juggernaut and Geistcatcher’s Rig are pretty much bombs. Geist of Saint Traft, amazing though he maybe in constructed, is fine for limited, but not a reason to be in UW in limited, since people do actually play bears, and that’s all they need to deal with him.
The Speed of the Format: Play or Draw?
Innistrad is somewhat frustrating in that, generally speaking, a lot of games go very long and are super-grindy, making choosing to the draw for the benefit of the extra card very good; furthermore, a lot of decks are 3-colour, and if so, they’ll want as many draw steps as possible to be able to fix their mana.
Unfortunately, red, white and even green can all achieve a real density of aggressive commons, meaning that sometimes games are just super-fast blowouts. Normally, however, it takes powerful rares added into the mix for starts like this to be consistent: Champion of the Parish, Mayor of Avabruck, and Mentor of the Meek are the most obnoxious culprits. Against decks like this you will want to:
1) Play, and if you’re lucky, keep 2-land hands with lots of removal.
2) Board into the all the bears you can to make their werewolf starts as bad as is humanly possible.
Obviously, if you’re the beatdown yourself, then play whenever you can, but normally most decks are more slanted towards mid-range. Generally, I think it’s correct to draw, especially when you have lots of removal, but you should be flexible about this. Just remember that unless you have the nut aggro draw, mulliganing to six when on the play is still the best way to autolose, as it is in most limited formats; effectively your opponent’s been given a free Divination before the game has even started.
And that, finally, is that for this week. I’ll have an article up on drafting this set in about a month or so; in the meantime, I’ll be focussing on constructed formats (Standard, Modern, and perhaps occasionally Legacy), along with my usual rants about the topical issues of the day, so long as they vaguely relate to Magic.
Huge props to Alexi and all the time Dark Sphere team for running a fantastic PTQ, Crispin for making top 8, and Mark for making his big-league judging debut.
In the meantime, may your sealed pools overflow with blessings of power and bombs. Good luck!
Andy
The Life Sabisky: A Fish Among Mages
I lied to myself.
The Store Championship was a crashing disaster, and all because I figured it was a good idea to lie to myself.
Jeez, what an idiot.
Alright, here’s the story. At the PTQ I picked up my Lilianas and Snapcaster Mages, so was hot to trot for the new standard. I was running low on the Innistrad Duals, but I don’t build manabases very well and you want to be consistent in a fresh format, so I figured that 2-colour was pretty much where I wanted to be anyway. For the Store Champs, I put together this monstrosity.
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Grave Titan
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Batterskull
4 Mana Leak
4 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Dismember
2 Tribute to Hunger
2 Gitaxian Probe
3 Black Sun’s Zenith
2 Doom Blade
3 Mental Misstep
4 Drowned Catacombs
4 Darkslick Shores
2 Ghost Quarter
8 Swamp
7 Island
That’s right, an unbelievably slow and durdly control deck that does absolutely nothing before turn 6. Exactly what I railed against in my own goddamn column a couple of weeks ago! The list was basically designed to beat mono-red and other random aggro decks: Misstep their one-drops, have recursive removal for their other creatures, and eventually kill them with a Grave Titan they have no answer to.
The flaws in the plan are pretty obvious; not only is it very bad against a resolved Koth of the Hammer, but all the various White Weenie decks (G/W Humans, G/W Tokens, U/W Tokens) are now packing Oblivion Rings and Bonds of Faith, making red just about the only colour that can’t kill a Grave Titan. Even Tempered Steel has Dispatch.
Just how slow this list is was painfully illustrated in my game 1 against John (playing Junk Pod). John’s an excellent player, but here he yielded to temptation and kept a one-lander on the play, with Avacyn’s Pilgrim. He didn’t draw the second land before I Doom Bladed the Pilgrim.
Even after this, I spent so long trying to find a Grave Titan to kill him he was actually able to put up a very reasonable fight. He then smashed me in our next two games, before going on to win the tournament.
At any rate, I did in fact beat a G/W Humans list in Round One before going down in flames to John’s Junk Pod, U/W Tokens, and U/W Control. UW Control had more counterspells and more fatties (all of my removal being awful), and UW Tokens had a lot of stuff this list struggles with. Like Elspeth Tirel. And Doomed Traveler.
There were several extra factors that made this all especially painful;
1) I knew that my list had real issues, but ignored them because I thought everyone would just bring straightforward beatdown lists. I thought (and still think) that the way to improve the deck’s issues was/is to splash green for Beast Within (kills planeswalkers, Birthing Pod, Shrines and Koth) and Garruk Relentless (good with Liliana, allows the deck to go more aggressive, great against creatures, and can tutor up bombs). Unfortunately, I was lazy and didn’t bother to pick up the necessary Innistrad Duals, tricking myself into thinking my instincts were wrong and that straight UB would be alright.
2) I knew that I don’t play this style of deck particularly well, and was out of practice anyway. I do much better with Fish-style decks and have had a lot of practice with them, having played either Caw-Blade or Tezzeret in standard ever since February 2011.
3) I was a prize idiot for not cottoning onto Nephalia Drownyard. Hint: it’s really good, and your UB lists need at least 2.
4) The other deck I’d had a hand in designing for this event was much better, and did way better. Typically, that wasn’t the list I actually played!
To recap, Matt (UnsleevedDuelLand on the forums) invited myself and Adam over to his residence the night before Store Champs for a brewing session, as he wasn’t sure what to put together. I was already committed to blue-black, and Adam had Heartless Pod built but couldn’t actually make the event due to work commitments. Matt loves poison (he has this huge thing for Skithiryx going; it’s a bit like Adrian’s thing for Elesh Norn....), so we put together a blue-black Tezzeret Infect Control list that tested very well. I can’t remember exactly what we put together, but I think we ran a Skithiryx and Contagion Engine in addition to the full set of Tezzerets, Necropedes, Contagion Clasps, and Inkmoths - plus some fun 2-ofs, like Flight Spellbomb and Phyrexian Metamorph. At any rate, Matt went 2-2, which he was thrilled with considering he’s only come back to the game very recently after a long, long break. It could have easily been 3-1 with some better draws, as I think he got run over in one round by the Tempered Steel nuts while being mana-screwed.
Delighted as I was that my pal Matt was enjoying such an excellent relationship with my pal Tezzeret, this success threw my own personal deckbuilding failures into sharp relief. Disgusted at myself for betraying my principles, I threw myself back into building Fish* decks for Thursday Night Standard. My little sister Anastasia was coming along for the first time, so once again I had the chance to attack the format from two different angles. Here’s what I came up with. First is Tezzeret, which I played.
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Solemn Simulacrum
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Mindslaver
1 Batterskull
3 Contagion Clasp
3 Ratchet Bomb
3 Tumble Magnet
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Mana Leak
2 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Dismember
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacombs
3 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Ghost Quarter
6 Island
6 Swamp
In my initial UB list, I’d often found myself praying for a Tumble Magnet as some kind of answer to fatties, and really, really wanted a bunch of them in my next list. That inevitably drove me towards Tezzeret, whom I feel very comfortable with anyway. Liliana had also done well, and I wanted to try her out in a deck that easily gets into situations where it has surplus cards to pitch, thanks to Tezzeret.
Ratchet Bomb, around this time last year, was probably the most overrated card in standard, being slow and clunky and not solving any problems that spot removal and wrath effects couldn’t. Now, given that token strategies are very real, it’s easily one of the most underrated. The old problem of Ratchet Bomb in Tezzeret decks, whereby you blew up your own mana (Everflowing Chalice/Sphere of the Suns), isn’t an issue anymore, as Chalice has rotated and Sphere isn’t good enough. In addition to tokens and one-drops, Bomb is a fine answer to Oblivion Ring, other Lilianas, and even more expensive threats like Birthing Pod. In short, it’s fantastic, and worth a few sideboard slots pretty much anywhere, even if you don’t have an incentive like Tezzeret to maindeck it.
Speaking of Sphere of the Suns, my initial version of this list had 4, but I quickly realized it was bad. When you had Preordain and 8 copies of the effect (Sphere being Everflowing Chalice 4-8), you could reliably guarantee a mana accelerator on turn 2. Now Preordain is gone and Chalice has rotated, meaning that you can’t reliably have the ramp when you want it, and Sphere is just so bad any time other than turn 2. Even on turn 2, all Sphere often does is give their removal (Beast Within, Oblivion Ring), a chance to wreck your mana development. Basically, while I think the card has real potential in 3-colour decks, in UB Tezz you can safely leave it out.
Contagion Clasp was a last-minute brainwave, as I originally had 2 Spellskites and a Mox Opal, before realising that all those cards just do nothing. Contagion Clasp, on the other hand, proved to be an all-star. It killed a one-toughness creature pretty much every single time it came down, and then cheerfully proliferated onto Tumble Magnets, planeswalkers, and their poison tally.
And yes, Contagion Clasp with Liliana is as filthy as you think it is. You still strip their hand and kill their guys, except you do so at turbo-speed. This was easily the most fun I had all evening.
I don’t have too much to say about Phyrexian Metamorph, as you all know about the sweet legendary creatures that it kills (Thrun and Geist). What is hilarious, however, is the look on any opponent’s face when you copy a Tumble Magnet. Nihil Spellbomb was there not just for the UB Snapcaster lists but also Solar Flare and Birthing Pod, as a lot of Pod lists now seem to be splashing white for Sun Titan and Unburial Rites. At worst, it’s an artifact for the Tezzeret count that cycles. At best, it breaks their whole gameplan.
I wanted to have the ability to dig to my planeswalkers and fatties, so Forbidden Alchemy got a couple slots and performed very nicely. Mana Leak is there because Titans are a traditional issue for Tezzeret lists, and I wanted to have an answer to the big guys while I applied pressure with my planeswalkers. I much prefer Mana Leak when I’m using it to counter stuff that might stop me killing them, rather than vice versa.
So far, so good, although I’m much less confident now about about the Solemns and big robots. Mindslaver seems very unexciting in a world where hands and graveyards are interchangeable - even if you wreck one, they still have the other. While a lot of decks couldn’t beat a Wurmcoil Engine in the ordinary run of things, they’re all packing Oblivion Rings and Bonds of Faith to compensate. To be sure, Wurmcoil is amazing at the end of a consistent stream of pressure in situations where you force them to have an answer to first your Liliana, then your Tezzeret, and finally your Wurmcoil, but draws like that aren’t so common. I actually like Battterskull more at the moment, largely because you can, in a pinch, equip it to Inkmoth Nexus. As for Solemn, a 4-mana Rampant Growth is pretty mediocre, but he is the best chump blocker for your planeswalkers available, and that’s a pretty key role. That said, if the fatties go, then Solemn probably isn’t good enough.
There are lots of alternative angles to explore here; I finished up 3-1 on Thursday, losing only to Adam’s Heartless Pod with double Acidic Slime and Sylvok Replica main, a brutal matchup if ever there was one. Since I won pretty much all of my games with either animated 5/5 artifacts or poison (courtesy of Tezzeret + Inkmoth + Contagion Clasp), it’s tempting to cut the fatties and go all-in on the poison theme, making room for Necropedes, Swords, and like as not the proliferate engine of Wellsprings + Throne of Geth.
Alternatively, it’s quite possible that I’m just playing the wrong beef. Frost Titan is a card I was a playing in my control decks this time last year, and I think he’s due for another resurgence. He kills Phantasmal Image and beats all the other Titans (including Wurmcoil) in a fight. He saw plenty of play as a sweet answer to Valakut’s Primeval Titans, and seems even better placed now against Kessig Wolf Run and friends. He beats Birthing Pod and matches up very well against other mid-range bombs, like Hero of Bladehold and Skithiryx. He hasn’t got any easier to kill. Just about the only card he really struggles against is Consecrated Sphinx, who simply ignores whatever Frosty is trying to do, and cheerfully draws your deck for you. At any rate, I’ll playtest merrily and see what I come up with.
Anastasia’s deck, of course, featured Snapcaster Mage, who was never going to the miss out on the party. Presenting UW Hero-Blade!
4 Hero of Bladehold
3 Blade Splicer
2 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Azure Mage
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Mana Leak
3 Dismember
2 Gitaxian Probe
3 Day of Judgment
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Gideon Jura
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Moorland Haunt
7 Island
8 Plains
This, it has to be said, is not the easiest deck to be presented with in your first ever outing in competitive magic, but Anastasia battled through like a hero, finishing up 2-2. The flaw in this one is probably a lot more obvious - namely, where’s the card draw? Snapcaster and Probe didn’t prove enough for Anastasia to fight out of manaflood/manascrew, and games didn’t go long enough for Azure Mage to get active (as indeed they often don’t when you’re packing Hero of Bladehold). We’ve since cut the Azure Mages for Think Twice, and will try to incorporate a Forbidden Alchemy or two. I can only apologise for my deckbuilding errors, although in fairness I literally made this one up on the fly with about 3 hours to go before the tournament.
Apart from that I think the list is fairly solid, although it may be correct to incorporate Frost Titan in some way. The eternal debate continues over Blade Splicer versus Mirran Crusader, but at the moment it may well be the case that Mirran Crusader is actually better. Mono-Red seems very unattractive to potential pilots at the moment (a matchup where Splicer traditionally shines) and Blue-Black is now playing Doom Blade over Go for the Throat, thanks to Tempered Steel (whereas previously UB players often struggled to kill the Golem token). Crusader is also a lot better against various green ramp decks as well as Pod, matching up nicely against Dungrove Elder and friends - and of course, if you ever get a Sword on him, it’s probably game over. Shrine of Loyal Legions is also another possibility that’s severely underrated right now outside of its traditional homes in Tempered Steel and white-based token decks. Moorland Haunt is really terrific and, aside from its uses here, is probably the main reason why UW Tokens is better than GW. As a control player, it’s a lot scarier to me than Gavony Township. I’m not totally sold on Geist of Saint Traft, but Anastasia really liked him, and she’s the one playing the deck for now.
In summary, I think that the format will slowly start to compress as we head towards Dark Ascension, but will still remain richly diverse (far more so than last year). There is a real sense of deja vu, though. Then, as now, Primeval Titan has produced a deck that’s clearly better than the majority of most people’s efforts. Then Valakut, now Wolf Run. Then, as now, UB control is obvious place to go to beat Primeval Titan. Then, as now, Sword of Feast and Famine, Mirran Crusader and Mana Leak are the obvious places to go if you want to have good game against both UB and Primeval Titan.
There are several key differences, however. Last time around if Valakut resolved a Primeval Titan, you were pretty much dead. Even if you killed the Titan before it could attack, it wasn’t hard for them to either manually piece together the Valakuts and Mountains using their ramp spells, or just Green Sun’s Zenith up another Titan. Now Primeval Titan is actually killing through the combat step (using Wolf Run and Inkmoth Nexus), but that’s way more vulnerable to disruption. Every deck can pack Dismember; even something as loose as Geistflame kills Inkmoth Nexus. Sure, you do still have to kill the Wolf Run and the Titan, but you don’t auto-lose anymore if you’re not playing blue; you can make the fight fair without having to resort to countermagic.
Of course, given that no one last year in seemingly the whole of London built Valakut, it may prove that we don’t have to worry about Wolf Run this time round either; if so, I would say the onus is on everyone to try and topple Birthing Pod, which seems like king of the hill for now after John and Adam took down the two most recent standard events with BGW Pod builds (Adam was Heartless; John wasn’t, but did have Unburial Rites). The deck is very good, but if Wolf Run starts picking up steam over here, it’s pretty much dead in the water unless Pod players go back to the blue splash versions.
To summarise the summary, standard is a deckbuilder’s paradise. The high power level of Innistrad has made for a fun and diverse format that’s a million times richer than Scars Block Constructed, with thousands of angles left to explore. Go out there and enjoy.
Just remember to bring disruption and a clock.
Until next time,
Andrew, Grand Architect of the Brotherhood of Fish.
*I’ve had a few arguments with people over what a “Fish” deck actually is, with various people saying that for a list to be defined as “Fish”, it has to be able to cast its threats while still holding countermagic up, like Legacy Merfolk or Faeries back in the day (which could do this because nearly all its creatures had flash). This seems to me far too restrictive a definition, effectively saying that a deck is only “Fish” if it can play Force of Will or never tap out for a threat. Even Faeries would tap out for Bitterblossom - or very possibly Jace Beleren on occasion - and it is fairly common parlance to refer to blue-based aggro-control as “Fish”; Conley Woods does so here, for instance, when discussing Caw-Blade.
The Life Sabisky: Snapcaster Mage (and Friends)
Hi all, Adrian here. I hope you guys thoroughly enjoyed the weekend just go, and congratulations to the top 8, including Crispin Bateman, for their excellent performances at the PTQ.
Firstly, I have to apologise about the state of affairs as is: you might have noticed that Crispin's recent Legacy column has disappeared and there hasn't been an MtG 102 article for a few weeks now. DS obviously has just come out of a very busy weekend and the staff are excessively busy with a lot of other projects at the moment. Once we've sorted out the kinks, rest assured that Crispin's "From Casual to Legacy" column will be debuting once again in the near future when things are a bit more settled and I have a lot more time!
As for MtG 102, I've presently moved out of the city for the year and crippling university commitments mean that I simply haven't had time to produce MtG 102 for a few weeks now. I'm hoping things should stabilise after the Christmas period, so don't worry novice Magic players: I'll be back writing soon!
Finally, I neglected to introduce Andy to you in his first column (and seeing as we're publishing "by proxy" at the present time, you're getting exposed to my bio, not Andy's), so here goes.
Andy Sabisky is Dark Sphere's deputy features editor and has been a fixture of the DS scene since its inception. He is, without a doubt, an enthusiastic theorist in Magic. His main speciality is limited formats, mainly draft, and broad applicable analysis regarding the modern, changing face of Magic. You'll probably hear him before you see him in the store and most certainly hear him quoting views ad verbatim from StarCityGames. In his spare time, he enjoys distributing justice to would-be thieves and playing tennis.
Anyway, I hope that you, like me, are looking forward to what he's got to say rather than listen to me all day, so welcome back to the Life Sabisky...where things are not always as they seem....
The Life Sabisky: Snapcaster Mage and Friends
Snap!
It’s been a long time coming. Long years after the printing of Tarmogoyf, blue finally got another game-breaking two-drop.
Oh, sorry, Tarmogoyf’s a green card? Oops.You could have fooled me.
What do you mean, I forgot about Bitterblossom? Oh, that’s a black card? No, not really...
Levity apart, I am fairly certain at this point Snapcaster Mage will achieve the distinction of being the first creature ever to dominate in all formats at the same time: Standard, Extended, Modern, Legacy, and Vintage. In Vintage is will be doing truly absurd things with the Power 9 and friends. In Legacy he put up a Top 8 appearance at Star’s City’s Indianapolis Open after being legal for just over 24 hours, with this list piloted by AJ Sacher.
Maindeck:
Creatures
1 Phantasmal Image
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
Instants
4 Brainstorm
1 Diabolic Edict
2 Dismember
4 Force of Will
1 Go for the Throat
Legendary Creatures
2 Vendilion Clique
Planeswalkers
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Sorceries
4 Hymn to Tourach
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Ponder
2 Thoughtseize
2 Unearth
Lands
4 Bayou
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Riptide Laboratory
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Wasteland
Sideboard:
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Pernicious Deed
1 Darkblast
3 Ghastly Demise
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Duress
1 Wasteland
In Modern, his applications remain to be seen, but in Standard they’re becoming a bit clearer and can probably begin to be categorized, with some hesitancy.
Broadly speaking, this is how I think Snapcaster Mage will work out.
1): For absolutely maximum value in a UB Control list absolutely seething with powerful, cheap instants and sorceries. Mana Leak. Doom Blade. Go For the Throat. Dissipate. Tribute to Hunger. Despise. It is highly likely that Liliana of the Veil will be worth a couple slots here, as the synergy between her +1 and Snapcaster is too good to ignore. He also works extremely well with Forbidden Alchemy, which is just too damn good to ignore. If you play this deck, though, make sure you’ve got some Tribute to Hungers to pair up alongside your Lilianas, otherwise a certain Geist of Saint Traft will be making your life miserable in short order.
2) In blue-based aggro/midrange Sword of Feast and Famine strategies. Snapcaster recurs Dismember to help you clear out blockers. He also brings back Gitaxian Probe, to cantrip and help you see what relevant cards your opponent has in hand (namely removal). When you’ve connected with the Sword, you can comfortably sit back with a Snapcaster in hand and Mana Leak in the graveyard, knowing the game is quite nicely locked up. It’s expensive, but he also gives you a second round of Timely Reinforcements, if so needed. And he gives you a fantastic incentive to a run a real package of powerful, cheap instants out of the sideboard, knowing that if you draw them, Snapcaster will make them twice as powerful. Steel Sabotage. Divine Offering. Mental Misstep. Perhaps even Surgical Extraction. Lastly, Snapcaster himself carries a Sword well enough, and I can never stress this enough - in your Sword of Feast and Famine decks, maximizing bodies to put the Sword on is absolutely key.
3) In blue-based aggressive non-Sword strategies. Namely, Illusions. He still does all the same tricks as before with Dismember and countermagic, but can’t be sworded up. That said, his synergy with Phyrexian mana cards is even more key, as Illusions has always relied heavily on free interaction to help it develop its board and still stave off the rush of faster aggro decks. I’ve mentioned Mental Misstep with Snapcaster already, but another really key card is Gut Shot (probably out of the board).
4) In Reanimator, aka Solar Flare. You’re already playing Liliana of the Veil in this deck, so Snapcaster effortlessly hitches himself along for the ride, recurring the usual mixture of removal and countermagic. This is another deck that makes good use of Forbidden Alchemy, an insanely powerful card that is likely to be a key feature of standard’s blue decks for the next couple years. It’s worth noting that while the flashback cost on Forbidden Alchemy is 6B, with Snapcaster you’re only paying 3UU! While it may seem a bit strange to be flashbacking spells that already have flashback, it can easily be totally worth it.
These will be the baseline Snapcaster strategies, but I must stress this is nothing more than a rough list. There are so many powerful cards in standard right now that’s hard to find the right mix, and the new enemy dual lands gives us a lot of options to explore colour variations. How about Snapcaster in a Standard UR Burn list, using Burning Vengeance alongside Incinerate and Galvanic Blast? What about a true UW Control list, without Swords and aggressive creatures? Can you make him work with Tezzeret somehow? What about Garruk Relentless? Chandra the Firebrand? Standard is a deckbuilder’s paradise at the moment, with so much power available, but all of it pointing you in different directions. Mercifully, the clocks that defined the previous format, Splinter Twin and Valakut, have rotated - now the only clock you have to worry about is the speed of Mono-Red and Tempered Steel, and believe me, those decks are way less scary than infinite hasty ¼ Clerics backed up by countermagic.
You have got to respect the insane power level of a format where its defining card is also going to be one of the best in Legacy and Vintage! And yes, this does mean right now there is a serious incentive to be playing blue in standard, but don’t get carried away. Tempered Steel, Mono-Red, and Humans are all fast, consistent, and will punish you if you slip up - so much as Day of Judgment and Black Sun’s Zenith are pretty ropey cards in the control mirror, I think that playing the full four is probably correct - or at least three. Gideon Jura is another excellent anti-aggro card which I’ll be delighted to keep casting for another year. Hopefully, I can squeeze his good self into the same deck as Liliana of the Veil.
If Liliana be for us, who can be against us?
Liliana is the other card I wanted to talk about this week, mostly because some people still aren’t convinced. I think everybody is aboard the Snapcaster train by now, but I’m still meeting a few people who aren’t sold on the Lady of the Veil - probably largely because her previous incarnation was so godawful. Don’t underestimate this power of retained memory: Jace, Memory Adept gets way more respect than he should, and commands a much higher price, simply because his name begins with “Jace”. In addition to this, none of Liliana’s abilities are particularly flashy, and the ultimate doesn’t actually read “win the game”.
About 20 minutes playtesting, though, and you quickly realize that she’s actually just busted. This shouldn’t be surprising. She’s only the second 3-mana walker printed ever: the first one, Jace Beleren, has been excellent in standard the whole time he’s been legal, while all the 4-mana walkers have also been great in standard with the exceptions of Sarkhan Vol and Nissa Revane, both extremely narrow cards; Ajani Vengeant, Elspeth and Jace have all seen Legacy play to some degree or another. I don’t know about Liliana in Legacy - she’s certainly powerful enough, but what deck wants her is hard to figure - but in Standard she will be game-breakingly good. I’ve gone over her main applications above, pairing up with Snapcaster Mage in UB Control and Solar Flare (where she really shines), but even aside from these archetypes she’s easily good enough to see lots of play just for value, I think, in archetypes as diverse as Esper Control to Tezzeret. She would be an absolute staple in mono-black if that was in any way viable as an archetype, but you can’t have everything.
My first take on Liliana
That link takes you to a forum post just after Liliana was spoiled, written in a vacuum with no playtesting, precious few flashback cards spoiled, and when Snapcaster hadn’t probably been leaked yet either. For the most part, it’s pretty much correct, but I think I underestimated at the time how easy it is for the +1 to be good. Firstly, you’re the one with the Liliana in play ticking up to ultimate, so if you’re both pitching cards to her all you need is to be keeping that one counterspell in hand to protect her. Secondly, if you’ve got a bunch of other ‘walkers in play at the same time the +1 can be absolutely game-breaking, as your opponent will need to kill your other allies as well as Liliana while she’s stripping their hand. Nor does it matter that you’re low on cards at this point, because when activating planeswalker abilities you’re essentially casting extremely powerful spells every turn for free! Not to mention the fact that you might have something like Tezzeret out, who’s an extremely powerful draw engine that will offset the effect of Liliana. All this, of course, ignores Snapcaster - the perfect partner for Liliana - and cheap flashback cards like Think Twice and Unburial Rites. Unsurprisingly, my first concoction was an “Insane Friends” list, pairing her with Tezzeret and Garruk, but we’ll have to see how it pans out. I don’t really want to be playing Tezzeret if everyone and their mother is sideboarding 4 Ancient Grudges, and the likelihood of that in turn depends on the viability of Birthing Pod. Luckily Pod didn’t do all that well at SCG Indy, which is an encouraging sign for the Agent of Bolas. One card I really want to try in my Tezzeret lists is Phyrexian Metamorph, which as well as being an undercosted Clone that Tezzeret can find, is just about the perfect answer to Geist of Saint Traft, easily one of the best cards out of the gate in Innistrad Standard.
So next week it is then, people, when I’ll be looking at Innistrad Limited in the aftermath of the PTQ. Until then, may your Snapcasters bring you flashbacks of glory.