Annoying Glare: Finally a Deck Worth Writing About
Jeff Stewart
I used to publish about a Magic article a week. Now it's been almost a year since my last article. What changed? Well, it's not that I used to need the money and now don't. It's quite the opposite. When I was writing regularly, I had a six-figure income, and for the last six months I have been unemployed. I mean, between jobs. I mean, in business for myself. As a consultant. Without clients. Nor have I stopped playing Magic. I finally qualified for the Pro Tour with my son, Patrick Wadsack-Stewart (but Patrick had a solo in the Santa Fe Opera on the date of the Tour, so we had to pass the Two-Headed Giant invite to the second-place team). The real reason I haven't been writing is that I have had nothing interesting to say. So I didn't say it.
I finally have something worth writing about. There is one deck that can combine, as one opponent said, "all the most annoying cards in one deck." Introducing: Annoying Glare.
4 Temple Garden
4 Selesnya Sanctuary
5 Plains
4 Flagstones of Trokair
3 Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree
4 Treetop Village
4 Martyr of Sands
4 Serra Avenger
2 Loxodon Hierarch
4 Selesnya Guildmage
4 Selesnya Signet
3 Glare of Subdual
2 Proclamation of Rebirth
4 Wrath of God
2 Story Circle
3 Porphyry Nodes
1 Glorious Anthem
3 Mobilization
Sideboard
2 Saffi Eriksdotter
2 Jotun Grunt
2 Seed Spark
4 Quagnoth
3 Condemn
2 True Believer
I used to play Life in the form of MartyrTron. I love the inevitability of life gain through Marty of Sands + Proclamation of Rebirth followed by decking the opponent with multiple Chronosavant activations. It was hard to see how you could be beaten. The only really scary strategies to face were discard strategies, which could be beaten by Ivory Mask, and Tormod's Crypt, which could be beaten by Pull from Eternity. Life was good.
As the Time Spiral Block developed, Life got a lot worse. Sulfur Elemental shut down the combo. Boom/Bust made long-term land development a losing strategy. The presence of Dredge decks led to graveyard hate, and Project X decks created a mini-market for Rain of Tears. Academy Ruins made decking many opponents impossible. It became hard to rely on the combo and protect it. Life was bad.
Now that the Life combo is impossible to protect, why not go Aggro from the beginning and have the Life plan as a strong back-up position? This is the idea behind Annoying Glare. Life decks always have had to be able to go Aggro in games two and three. The ability to stalemate the game at will is a very powerful one that increases dramatically the match win percentage. I wrote about this in "Why Slow Decks Lose." If a slow deck loses game one, however, it must be able to transform to something fast and aggressive in order to play two more games in fifty minutes. Annoying Glare turns this around and uses Life to make sure game one takes all the time if the position is winning and ensures that game two can take as much time as necessary to ensure the 1-0-1 victory.
Deck Breakdown, Strategy, and Tactics
Annoying Glare starts out as an Aggressive deck that can steal games: Treetop Village, Martyr of Sands (hey, it’s a one-drop), Selesnya Guildmage, Serra Avenger, Glorious Anthem, and Loxodon Hierarch are not bad beats. These creatures are followed up by token generators in the form of Mobilization and Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree.
The defensive measures are a good deal stronger: Glare of Subdual, Wrath of God, Story Circle, and Porphyry Nodes. Good luck attacking through that.
Finally, Proclamation of Rebirth provides a nearly unbeatable long-game strategy.
The deck plays out by sticking a single beater then dropping more if the opponent stumbles (this happens about 15% of games). More typically, the deck plays a single threat that provokes an eventual response. Selesnya Guildmage and Serra Avenger are perfect for this. Once that threat sticks, ride that threat until the opponent is forced to kill it or the opponent makes a big board and you Wrath. Play the Glare, Story Circle, and Mobilization whenever convenient. The thing to remember is that you don't mind holding back white cards in hand. You are happy to go to a Proclamation game, so keeping a Loxodon Hierarch and instead making a Saproling is usually the correct play unless the Hierarch can steal the game. If game one goes long, you win.
Two cards deserve special mention: Porphyry Nodes and Story Circle. Against Pickles lock and Blink Snake decks, Porphyry Nodes is amazing. Because Nodes does not target, when the triggered effect resolves, something is going to die. Sorry, Momentary Blink. Too bad, regeneration. Go home, pro-white. Don't make me laugh, Shroud. Porphyry Nodes is like the mailman: It delivers. Story Circle also doesn't target and is your best defense against the un-Wrathable Treetop Village. The fact that Story Circle doesn't target means you can also use the effect to prevent damage from Shroud creatures.
The single Glorious Anthem is both a better clock and protection against Crovax, Ascendant Hero. Crovax is great for your Soldiers, obviously, but he kind of saps the life from Saprolings. One Anthem is enough.
Match-ups and Sideboarding
The deck has been performing well and has allowed me to Top 8 at local premiere events and win some eight-man tournaments. Sideboarding was designed using the expected metagame and deciding first what comes out before deciding what comes in. I wrote more about this method of sideboarding in "Sideboarding As Science."
Against Blink, Pickles, and other decks that do not put on a lot of early pressure but can lock down the game, the mainboard is well positioned to win. Porphyry Nodes can eat their board and is easy to sneak in under a test Wrath of God. Serra Avenger is also difficult for them to beat. To go more Aggro (if you lose game one), side out both Story Circle and Proclamation of Rebirth for two Jotun Grunt and two Saffi Eriksdotter. Note that Jotun Grunt is a Soldier so gets Vigilance from Mobilization. On the other hand, if you win game one, you mostly are worried about getting locked. You keep in one Proclamation so you have to option of stalemating if you are not locked. You still take out both Story Circles and bring in three Condemns.
Dredge is a close match-up. To win, you deck your opponent, so you just have to survive. Ditch Selesnya Signets for two Jotun Grunts and two Saffi (you want to sacrifice Saffi when Bridge from Below tokens are on the stack.
Discard will probably take game one. Side out two Story Circles, four Wrath of God, the Glorious Anthem, and three Glare of Subdual for two Seed Spark (for The Rack), four Quagnoth, two Saffi, and two Jotun Grunt. You use the Grunts not only to beat face but to recycle Seed Spark. The Quagnoths make these games pretty easy. Porphyry Nodes remains in to kill Dark Confidant. If The Rack decks are over-represented in your metagame relative to Project X and Dredge, you can use three Ancient Grudge and one Sacred Foundry over the Saffi/Grunt package.
Blue-based control decks in general have a terrible game one against you. Proclamation of Rebirth Forecasting isn't counterable. Sticking a Mobilization wins the game. I would expect Take Possession and Pithing Needle from the side. Seed Spark takes care of those. You will probably win a long game one and will barely have time to pile shuffle for game two.
Aggressive decks are also fairly straightforward to beat. You sit back on your defenses and only attack from 400+ life and ten minutes left in the round. Tormod's Crypt is the likeliest defense, but if you win game one, just side out two Proclamation, Glorious Anthem, and four Serra Avenger for the uber defensive three Condemns, two Saffi (reuse a dying Loxodon Hierarch if possible), and two True Believer.
The worst match-up I can see is Perilous Storm. Perilous Storm can ramp up to 200 damage before you can gain 200 life. Hence, the game is all about aggression and a minimal amount of life gain so that you don't lose to an early combo. In contrast to other match-ups, you must play your threats actively. If you have Proclamation, feel free to play it rather than Forecast it. Side out three Wrath of God, three Glare of Subdual, three Porphyry Nodes for two Saffi, two Grunt, two True Believer (which will draw the copies of the first Grape Shot), and two Seed Spark.
It's a pleasure to have something worth writing about, again. I hope you give Annoying Glare a spin. For a Johnny, the deck is pure pleasure. For a Timmy, what's not to love about gaining 400 life? For a Spike, enjoy your check in the win column, but bring beef jerky, because you won't have time to eat between rounds.
