Title: Kithkin Thoughts and a small tourney: Guilt Complex #3
Tags: Kithkin Magic: The Gathering Block
Blog Entry: Two weeks ago I wrote about my initial take on a R/W version of the Kithkin juggernaut that is threatening to supplant the Fae as the top deck for the block PTQ season. I suggested this list: 4x Figure of Destiny 4x Goldmeadow Stalwart 4x Wizened Cenn 4x Knight of Meadowgrain 3x Cloudgoat Ranger 2x Furystoke Giant 4x Spectral Procession 4x Flame Jab 3x Mirrorweave 4x Lash Out 4x Windbrisk Heights 4x Rugged Prairie 5x Mountain 11xPlains Sideboard: 4x Burrenton Forge-tender 4x Oblivion Ring 2x Rise of the Hobgoblins 4x Crib Swap 1x Furystoke Giant After two weeks of testing (both goldfishing draws and against some of the decks at the Crimson Castle, our local M:TG watering hole) I have decided to abandon this incarnation of the deck. While throwing some red into kithkin seemed like a good idea, it slowed the deck down to the point that I wasn’t able to compete against Faeries or decks packing Firespout. A full suite of 4 Flame Jabs, while seemingly playable (at least in my feeble mind), were almost always irrelevant. Figure of Destiny was the monster I thought he’d be (as Nationals also proved), but I really missed the Thistledown Liege and 4 th Cloudgoat Ranger. Furystoke Giant was rarely relevant. While being able to Lash Out the occasional Wizened Cenn or Scion of Oona was awesome, doing so was to the detriment of the deck’s tempo. My experiences with Kithkin (while playing it pre-Eventide) lead me to believe that it is mostly about speed and Mirrorweave. The R/W version dilutes both. While disheartened, I have not given up on kithkin. With my first PTQ only a few days away, I need to focus on a deck I am somewhat familiar with. With that in mind, I’m going back to a mono-white build: 4x Figure of Destiny 4x Goldmeadow Stalwart 4x Wizened Cenn 4x Knight of Meadowgrain 4x Cloudgoat Ranger 3x Thistledown Liege 3x Burrenton Forge-tender 4x Spectral Procession 3x Mirrorweave 2x Unmake 4x Windbrisk Heights 3x Mutavault 4x Rustic Clachan 14xPlains Sideboard: 4x Wispmare 1x Burrenton Forge-tender 4x Turn to Mist 2x Unmake 4x Stillmoon Cavalier There’s really not much here in the way of innovation. This is (for the most part) a pretty straightforward, stock, Kithkin list. My testing showed that I really, really want the Burrenton Forge-tenders main as they can block a Figure of Destiny all day, stop Firespout, and give the majority of Red decks (that seem to be rising in popularity) fits. This is what I will most likely be packing come Saturday. But, since I can never settle on a deck until the night before, I’ve also been tinkering with a U/B build of Merfolk: 4x Cursecatcher 4x Silvergill Adept 4x Stonybrook Banneret 3x Bitterblossom 4x Nameless Inversion 2x Shriekmaw 4x Merrow Reejerey 2x Wake Thrasher 2x Sower of Temptation 3x Sage’s Dousing 4x Cryptic Command 1x Mirrorweave 4x Mutavault 4x Sunken Ruins 4x Secluded Glen 7x Island 5x Swamp SB: 4x Thoughtseize 2x Sower of Temptation 2x Shriekmaw 4x Soul Reap 3x Glen Elendra Archmage Our store runs a small constructed tourney every Tuesday, and (since two of the 9 other players were playing Kithkin) I decided to give this deck a try. RD1: Versus Kithkin Game 1 goes by ridiculously fast. My opponent opens with a Goldmeadow Stalwart revealing Wizened Cenn. On turn 2 he attacks, dropping me to 18. He plays a Windbrisk Heights. I start with a Secluded Glen on turn 1 and a Bitterblossom on turn 2. He attacks and drops me to 16, then plays Spectral Procession. On turn 3, I go to 15 with a token. I have an Island, a Mutavault, and a Secluded Glen. I play a Reejerey and pass. He attacks with everything. I chump a token with my token, he Mirrorweaves the Reejerey via the Heights and I die. On turn 4. This is why I want to play Kithkin. I side out the Bitterblossoms as they seem too slow (and the life loss may not be the best here) and a Sage’s Dousing for the Soul Reaps. Game 2 is much slower, as I mulligan to 5 on the play, and he mulligans to 4. We both keep land packed hands, and on turn 7 the only creatures in play are a Wizened Cenn for him and a Cursecatcher for me. We both have 7 lands in play. I cast Wake Thrasher and use Cryptic Commands over the next 2 turns to make sure he smashes through. Game 3 is anticlimactic. I mulligan to 6 and keep a hand with a Mutavault, an Island, a Sunken Ruins, a Nameless Inversion, and two Reejereys. He keeps a 1 land hand, and though he plays 2 Stalwarts and a Figure of Destiny, he never draws the second land and gets eaten by 4/4 Mutavaults. RD 2: Versus Mono-Red (Splash Green for Firespout shenanigans) Game 1 is close as he uses 2 turn 3Tarfires on a Reejerey and a Banneret to slow me down. He then drops Ashenmor Gouger and Ram Gang (which I immediately kill with a Nameless Inversion) on consecutive turns. I play an Adept and draw into a Reejerey. He drops Demigod and smashes face. I’m at 6 life a turn later. He plays a pre-combat Ram Gang that I counter and bounce the Demigod (he doesn’t have the mana to replay it) with Cryptic Command. I take 4 from another Gouger attack and go to 2. On my turn I play a Sower to steal the Gouger and then counter his Demigod with a Sage’s Dousing. I sneak out a victory on the next turn before he draws the burn to finish me. I side out the Shriekmaws and Bitterblossoms to add Sower and the Soul Reaps. Game 2 is another nail biter as he has the early burn to take out my Banneret and Reejerey again. I stick another Banneret and chain together back-to-back Silvergill Adepts (revealing Nameless Inversion). He hits turn 3 Ram Gang and turn 4 Gouger. I draw a Soul Reap and get the bonus 3 damage after Inverting the Ram Gang. He counters with Demigod on his turn. The race is on. I smash him to 10 with consecutive beats from the Adepts and Banneret. He gets me to 10 with Demigod and tosses a Flame Javelin at my face. I untap and bash him to 5. With me at 6 life he chooses not to attack with his Demigod. I attack back and Mirrorweave his Demigod for the win. RD 3: Versus 5-color Fae Game 1 I again get lucky when my opponent has to mulligan. I stick a turn 2 Bitterblossom while he’s at 1 mana (with a Vivid land tapped) and has no chance to counter. My turn 3 Reejerey meets the business end of a Nameless Inversion. I keep making tokens. He dies a few turns later to the Fae onslaught after only drawing Spellstutter Sprites as creatures. I side in the Thoughtseizes for the Shriekmaws, Mirrorweave, and a Sage’s Dousing. Game 2 I drop Banneret on turn 2 and Wake Thrashers on turn 3 and 4. He hits turn 2 Bitterblossom and then surprises me with Oblivion Rings for both of my Thrashers (odd card choice). I start chipping away at his life with the Banneret (gotta love Islandwalk) and play a Silvergill Adept to draw into a Nameless Inversion. He kills the Adept with a Nameless Inversion of his own. I try for a Reejerey on the next turn only to have it countered by a Sprite. My life is slowly disappearing to Bitterblossom tokens. On my turn, I draw a Cryptic Command. With a Mutavault in play, I can bounce his Oblivion Ring, tap all my mana into the vault and swing through with a huge Wake Thrasher. On his turn, I try to blast the Sprite with a Nameless Inversion. He takes the bait and counters it with another Sprite. He attacks and sends me to 4. He is at 12. During his End of Turn phase I play Command and bounce the Ring, tapping his team. If he has a counter I lose. He doesn’t and I sink all my remaining mana into the Mutavault. I untap the Banneret and 7 lands to make Wake Thrasher a 9/9. Animate Mutavault and hit him for exactly 12. A small 3 round tournament is nothing to get excited about (or base your PTQ deck on), but I think U/B Merfolk has some strong possibilities. A lot of people are either going U/G (for Chameleon Colossus) or letting the Vivid lands make them greedy and going 3-4 colors. While the allure of Chameleon Colossus is indeed strong, I don’t think green really adds anything else to the deck. And adding the vivid lands to provide a greater color access could slow the deck down considerably. Well, I’ll be PTQing-it-up this weekend. I currently plan to take some form of Kithkin deck. Next week, I’ll write about the experience.
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