Title: Shadowmoor Standard Primer part two
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Blog Entry: When we left off, I had just wrapped up my analysis and match up strategies for Faeries, which you can find here: http://my.tcgplayer.com/blog/view/id_1814/title_shadowmoor-standard-primer-part-one/ Even if you aren't willing to play the Fae, I still recommend reading through that article, as your own archetypal strategy might hinge on understanding your opponents', and I think Faeries is probably going to stick around for awhile. Also, here is the link for the five decks I'm continuing in this discussion . This article is going to outline another of the five decks in Tier one: BG Elves This is one of the old veteran decks from the pre-Morningtide days, where it used to dominate Premier Event top eights on Magic Online. If I recall correctly, Katsuhiro Mori top eighted Worlds for the third time in a row last December with a variant on this archetype. With the advent of Bitterblossom and such a powerful, controllish build of Faeries, it seemed like that, for a period, this deck received little to no attention. However, the deck is still a powerful contender in the current metagame, and with the coming of the Richmond 5k, Elves is clearly still a good deck choice. The deck is pretty basic as far as BG decks are concerned: You have discard in Thoughtseize and sometimes Mind Shatter. You have removal in the forms of Profane Command, Nameless Inversion, and Shriekmaw. And you have the beaters, only they're so undercosted compared to rock decks previously that this deck is Elves and not Rock. Imperious Perfect cranks out tokens and Anthems the team. Wren's Run Vanquisher is a monstrous two-drop that makes Wall of Roots and Chameleon Colossus undesirable blockers. And Tarmogoyf is Tarmogoyf; only in this deck, snaging a Bitterblossom with Thoughtseize on turn one and following it with a 3/4 on turn two is especially powerful, because the two most common types of spells, Instant and Creature, aren't even in the yard in this scenario, and you're on your way to getting in some insane early aggression. One of the cards that some people seem to think this deck automatically needs is Bramblewood Paragon, which in most alternative lists occupies the Tarmogoyf slot. A friend of mine, who tested a similar list extensively on Magic Online, said that in most cases Tarmogoyf is just the superior card. However, he also said that Paragon might be better against Faeries because it makes chump blocking ineffective, and is better in a race. The overall consideration here is that Paragon is a terrible topdeck, is only effective as a 2/2, and needs to say in the game for a number of turns to be powerful. Tarmogoyf, on the other hand, just shows up anytime in the mid to late game and can stomp on most other creatures, and is extremely difficult to remove with Incinerate, Firespout, Nameless Inversion, etc. Another card that is absent from the list I tested was Garruk, which most people still play. In a deck tech interview for the Richmond 5k, Owen Turtenwald explains that Garruk rarely does more than make a 3/3 or break your tempo before dying because of how powerful efficient, low cost cards are in this format. The opponent's creatures are going to just attack your Planeswalker and you're going to make poor trades across the board because you feel obligated to protect it, or it dies and you haven't accomplished much. I would always side it out against Faeries, Mono Red, and Reveillark, as it's low effectiveness against each of these decks is clear based on it's 2GG cost and turn-based activation. One of the cards present here that a lot of people were surprised to see when I played it at FNM was Primal Command, and main deck, no less. I honestly didn't even know that Owen had started playing them main until this past Saturday evening; I was doing so because the card is pretty much the stoneblade, especially when all my opponents are playing silly red decks. It is just really, really good. Alright, here are the match ups based on what I tested: Matchups Mana Ramp Mana Ramp is a very difficult match up, because all of their removal spells are awesome, and they have an instant speed Wrath of God in Sulfurous Blast, which sometimes matters, like when alpha striking with a team of Perfect pumped 1/1 tokens. Siege-Gang Commander is a blowout card, and don't forget that the 2/2 can be Nameless'd with the token making trigger on the stack. They also have Primal Command, which puts them back into a safe zone lifetotal-wise and slows us way down, while they get a creature which will usually be Siege-Gang. Chameleon Colossus and Tarmogoyf are really awesome against them, but they have a red Swords to Plowshares, so none of your men are safe, regardless of how big they are. Another really good card against Ramp is Profane Command, because if they can't deal with a horde of guys, the card basically ends the game. +: 2 Shriekmaw, 3 Mind Shatter, 1 Thoughtseize -: 4 Nameless Inversion, 2 Boreal Druid After board, your game plan is to use all of your disruption to put them right out of the game. Mind Shatter wasn't in the build I played last Friday; I played Extirpate instead. However, casting it for three cards or more seems pretty devastating in this match up, and coupling that with Thoughtseize is a great plan. Nameless Inversion is pretty dead post board because they just don't kill anything besides SGC, and Shriekmaw does that better. Verdict: Unfavorable to even Faeries If you read part one, you will remember that this match up is very favorable if your Faeries opponent is inexperienced and doesn't play well. With up to seven main deck spot removal spells now, Faeries seems to be getting more and more difficult to beat. One of the most important early game plays this deck can make here is to 'Seize the Bitterblossom. Despite it seeming to be ineffective against aggressive decks, it's still powerful enough to let them race us if they are sitting on removal. It keeps Spellstutter active, and keeps us from making a potential two for one with Mistbind's Champion trigger on the stack. +: 1 Primal Command, 3 Kitchen Finks, 1 Thoughtseize, 3 Cloudthresher, 2 Squall Line -: 1 Shriekmaw, 4 Profane Command, 4 Nameless Inversion, 1 Boreal Druid Cloudthresher and Primal Command are powerful late-game spells, at which point Faeries usually has used up counterspells. Both are excellent top decks, and Primal Command makes it harder for Faeries to balls-to-the-wall race us. Kitchen Finks helps us survive to the late game, has 3 power, and comes back through Damnation, and Squall Line is another thresher type effect. Profane Command is terrible at forcing through damage, and Shriekmaw is really bad and slow here. Nameless gets axed because you are very rarely gaining advantage by trading one for one in a match up where they pump out new creatures every turn, and it doesn't kill their most relevant threat in Mistbind Clique. Verdict: Even to Favorable, and Unfavorable if they are good. Reveillark This match up seems to hinge on how you play it. If you play properly, Reveillark should be a cakewalk. However, there are some things you should bear in mind. First of all, they do have Rune Snag, and some of the newer lists like the one here play Cryptic Command, so be aware that those two counters are present before you decide to go all-in on a Profane Command. They are not very fast, however, so getting in some early damage can really make the difference. Wrath of God doesn't hurt us that badly because of the man lands, so commit only two real creatures to the board at a time. Recognize instances where the combo could go online with one card, and play accordingly. They often try to stall with the man o' war duo of Cloudskate and Venser, which makes the job much harder. +: 1 Thoughtseize, 3 Mind Shatter -: 1 Boreal Druid, 2 Primal Command, 1 Nameless Inversion Mind Shatter will cripple them, but won't necessarily put them out of contention. I've lost several times in my spell-slinging career to a top decked Reveillark to put my opponent back in the game, so don't underestimate your chances. Be cautious; make reads on how they tap their mana just in case they play Condemn. Verdict: Favorable Red Decks The red match up varies based on their build, because there are drastic differences in how people play it. Burn-heavy builds probably have access to Sulfurous Blast, which can make for a difficult matchup. The best card against the red decks for game one are Wren's Run Vanquisher, Tarmogoyf, and Primal Command. Try to match their level of aggression with your own. In this match up, you need to make sure you have a removal spell for their Countryside Crusher, because he can get out of hand really quick. Cards like Chameleon Colossus and Tarmogoyf are good because most of the red deck's burn doesn't reach them. +: 3 Kitchen Finks, 1 Primal Command -: 3 Thoughtseize, 1 Shriekmaw Kitchen Finks is an excellent card against the creature heavy red decks, but really will only cash in for two life if your opponent is running heavy burn. Getting to Primal mana is crucial, as it puts them a full turn and two cards behind their goal. That much life is usually enough to stabilize and turn the tables. Verdict: Even Mirror The mirror is all about your black spells, namely Inversion and Profane. Because neither player will have black creatures to block with, alpha striking with a Feared team plus drain you for X is usually the preferred way I like to finish the match, and it's often what it comes down to. The problem is, both players have Profane Command, so Thoughtseize is high value in the early and mid game. However, both players are usually in top deck mode in a late game creature stall, which makes the card nearly useless. The other card that greatly affects the outcome of the match up is Imperious Perfect, which, if not contained, will start making an army of guys to overrun the board. +: 2 Shriekmaw, 1 Primal Command -: 3 Thoughtseize I tried Kitchen Finks and it really just didn't do enough in the mirror. Thoughtseize is not very good after board, whereas Shriekmaws two and three are phenomenal; they play well with Profane and take out just about everything on the opponent's squad. Having Fear in a race is just gravy. Verdict: Even All in all, BG Elves is another great deck in this metagame. The reason for it's recent resurgence may be due to the previously growing popularity of Merfolk on Magic Online. BG Elves demolishes that deck, and it's very favorable against Kithkin White Weenie as well. I think this deck is very good because it's level of layered aggression forces the opponent to be strategically precise in how they execute their strategy. The amount of interaction is much more than the average aggressive strategy, and allows the pilot to outplay his opponents as opposed to a 'burn 'em and turn 'em' strat. I expect this deck to continue to do well in Hollywood and Regionals, and it's definitely not something I will be underestimating when it comes time to seriously test before Regionals. I'll try to get my article on RG Big Mana up sometime tomorrow or thursday, depending on how much free time I have. Later.
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