Jeez, this is going to be a busy couple of weeks. A week from now I'll be headed to Hollywood in order to soak up the joy of the Pro Tour, from a side event perspective, that is. I plan on playing in the LCQ (Standard) on Thursday afternoon, PTQ's (Block Constructed) on Friday and Saturday, possibly the Legacy event on Sunday and (if there is a tournament) I'll be playing Vintage (there is not currently an event scheduled, that I know of). Plus, of course, I plan on doing enough Sha/Sha/Sha drafting to make myself sick, then some Cube Drafting to make me feel all better again. If, after playing all that Magic all weekend, I still enjoy the game come the 26th, then I'll be officially an addict.
I want to talk for a while about my understanding of where all these formats are at right now, what I plan on playing, and why.
First comes first, so let's dive into Standard. I have repeatedly decried (in this very space, even!) how lousy a format T2 is. I still believe this to be true, of course. There are just too many creatures out there. Now, I like creatures, don't get me wrong. One of my favorite Standard decks of all time was Ghost Husk. Dark Confidant is in my top 5 favorite cards ever, and Haakon, Stromgald Scourge is in the top 10. However, what I don't like is being forced to play little monsters. If I want to play a deck that can only win on the strength of the two Oona, Queen of the Fae I have as finishers, that should be OK. Heck, even the combo decks are chock full of creatures!
Now, there has to be a reason for this. In the past, when the creatures had become to prevalent, one of two things was up. The first thing is that Tempest was legal, so the creatures were backed up by Cursed Scroll and often Fireblast. In such an environment, it is natural that creatures should be so good, but that is unhealthy none-the-less. There is a reason they don't make cards like Cursed Scroll anymore.
In the cases where the creatures support cards aren't as good as Cursed Scroll, the result would be Wrath of God. Over the past few years (post-Ravager, I guess) Aggro and Control have been able to see-saw in dominance, and it is cards like Wrath that let Control stay in the fight. Wrath is still available, as is it's cousin Damnation, but it is no longer enough. There are, I believe, three reasons for this.
1) Un-Wrathable threats. I love Treetop Village, but it crushes Wrath based strategies.Add in Mutavault and Bitterblossom and the beatdown decks have a great deal of staying power in the face of board sweepers. (It is possible that Persist creatures will join this group over the next few weeks.)
2) The threats are better. The creatures today are quite strong compared to yesteryear. From 'Goyf and Chameleon Colossus to the whole "Gods" cycle, not to mention the inbred Glorious Anthem effects that every creature deck is capable of employing. I mean, this is a format where White Weenie gets a non-Legendary Isamaru, plus a two mana Anthem, a Goblin Lackey, and the best two drop (in Knight of Meadowgrain) since Ice Age was released and is still barely playable! White Weenie, with very likely it's best assortment of threats to choose from of all time (non-Rebels category, obviously) is still outclassed by pretty much everything else ever.
3) Faeries. This is really the whole crux of it. Faeries can run more counterspells than any other deck, they can deploy the best threat in the format (Bitterblossom) and they can take better advantage of it (through Scion of Oona and the Champion mechanic on Mistbind Clique) than any other deck. Wrath them? Fine! They have six manlands (at least), plus the Blossom, plus, oh yeah, Ancestral targeting them on their next upkeep.
The point of this is that, after much piddling about with various combo decks, I am giving in, and you probably should, too. Without a very good reason, it is simple foolishness to not play Faeries right now. After Hollywood, maybe things will be different. Until then (and maybe for months after) you may as well bring the little Blue men and the crushingly good Black Enchantment.
Next up is Block Constructed. I honestly have no idea what to play here. Faeries again? They seem so much weaker, though, and Cloudthresher will still be out there. Elves? Elementals? RDW? Are any of these actually as good as advertised? I kinda doubt it. Maybe RBg with Firespout and Bitterblossom and...something else? I guess that needs to be fleshed out some.
The two cards I am most likely to play come the PTQ's are Kitchen Finks and Firespout. As LSV wrote today, Firespout is by far the best Wrath in the format. Plus, playing Green gets you the most answers to Bitterblossom. Since Bitterblossom is the best card in the format, you need to be able to keep up with it or just straight beat it.
The truth is, if Josh Silvestri tells me to play Mono-Green and provides me with a list, I'll probably just play it. I don't think he reads these, though, so maybe I won't see him before I go and be forced to go through with it.
OK, I'll tell you the truth about Legacy: I don't know jack about it. I know a lot about Vintage, yet I've never played a single tournament game on Legacy. However, I have picked up a little bit of knowledge, so I have my deck choices pared to two. If I can find a fourth Sea Drake, I'll probably play Faerie Stompy. This is a lightning fast Mono-Blue Agrro deck that disrupts with Chalice of the Void and Force of Will, accelerates with City of Traitors, Ancient Tomb, and Chrome Mox (as well as Cloud of Faeries) and smashes face with Sea Drake and Serendib Efreet. Option two is simply to play Thresh, splashing at least White, maybe Black as well (I said I loved Confidant, didn't I?). I mean, I have the lands and the Tarmogoyfs, so why not, right?
I don't want to talk about Vintage right now, as I plan on writing a tournament report that will cover all three T1 events I've played in since my post-Reno sleepless tourney. I will tease the following though: I've actually had some success!
That leaves the best format for last: Booster Draft! Again, unfortunately, I have relatively little experience in Shadowmoor booster draft.I have picked up a few lessons, though, and I think I have at least one useful insight to the format.
By now we've all discovered that the enchantments a) are amazing and b) require you to answer them. Now, the removal in this set is lacking enough that it can be tough to get the 2 for 1 trade that you really want, but don't be greedy. If you can bounce a creature with Shield of the Oversoul on it, go for it! If you're still alive after being hit by somebody with Runes of the Deus, just get rid of the Runes any way you can. This means that you should be main decking at least some number of Naturalize/Demystify effects (Smash to Smithereens is also a main deck worthy card, I think).
That isn't the insight, though. What I've figured out is that, given the choice, you should try to stay mono-colored. Due to the number of Hybrid cards in the set, if you draft a Mono-Green deck, for example, you are getting access to more good cards that a Mono-Green deck would have in previous formats. This has the dual benefit of making your mana more consistent and by forcing you to play fewer lands, thereby making your average topdeck much more powerful.
I will admit that I could be waaaay wrong about this, but it is the draft strategy I plan on utilizing in my next few drafts until I can either confirm it's power or discard it all together. Remember drafting Ravnica Block, though? Well, I plan on playing 15 lands in my next draft deck and that may not be as good as Rav, but it's a start.
-Dave Petterson
piratecove@gmail.com
panda mystery on the defunct piece of garbage that used to be modo
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