Recently I wrote an article titled "Pop, Lock and Blink it." The article was a little short and had some wrong information in it. This left me feeling kind of embarrassed, so I am here to make amends and to try my hand once again at this whole writing thing. For those of you who did not read my article, here is the list I played at the PTQ that this article is about.
4 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
4 Riftwing Cloudskate
4 Momentary Blink
4 Careful Consideration
3 Epochrasite
3 Brine Elemental
3 Venser, Shaper Savant
3 Temporal Isolation
3 Prismatic Lens
2 Willbender
2 Seht's Tiger
1 Pact of Negation
1 Draining Whelk
10 Island
6 Plains
4 Nimbus Maze
2 Calciform Pools
1 Urza's Factory
Sideboard:
3 Amrou Scout
3 Bound in Silence
3 Take Possession
4 Riptide Pilferer
2 Pull from Eternity
1 Temporal Isolation
The goal of the deck is to get the Pickles lock quickly by Blinking Brine Elemental while it is face down and then copying it like normal with Vesuvan Shapeshifter. If you don't have all the pieces you need for the combo then you go the permission or mana-denial route by Blinking all of your bounce creatures. I added an extra copy of the Pickles lock from my original decklist so I would hit the lock more consistently. I also had to run Draining Whelk (yes it is a win more card) instead of another Pact of Negation like I wanted to because I did not have the second one (okay I did but it is signed by Tim Aten and I did not feel like causing problems because my card has a bunch of writing on it). I expected a lot of UB Teachings and some GW 'Goyf. I added the Rebel package to the board to deal with the 'Goyf decks and Take Possession and Riptide Pilferers for Teachings. Teachings showed up taking a bunch of positions; I just never played it. GW 'Goyf has fallen out of vogue and UG 'Goyf seems to have taken its place. This was evident as there was alot of UG while I only saw maybe four GW. Poisonous Slivers and Wild Pair Slivers were represented about equally, probably four of each. The mono-blue pickles deck did not even show up! Still, the thing that suprised me was the Abundance of UW Blink decks. Most of them were different than mine, they mostly chose to not run the pickles lock and run Malestrom Djinn as their main win condition instead. I obviously think the pickles version is better but you can decide for yourself as to what is the superior blink deck.
I played my deck in a PTQ in Cleveland where there were 60 players in attendence.
Round 1: UWB Reanimator
Game 1
He got an early Looter which I could not really stop. I bounced it when my Cloudskate came into play but he just added some more discard enablers to the board. He dumped things like Bridge from Below and Bogardan Hellkite into the 'yard. He then Dread Returned the Hellkite taking out two of my morphs while he added a morph of his own to the party. I bounced his Hellkite and then attempted to bounce his morph but he Momentary Blinked it. He flipped it over to reveal Red Akroma. For a while it looked like I was going to be able to race him to the finish, but he found another discard guy and was able to sacrifice him and two zombie tokens to get white Akroma and swing for the win.
Game 2
He had some major land issues, not being able to find more than three or anything other than black and colorless. I steamrolled him.
Game 3
He had some mana issues again but not as bad. He didn't really have any plays before turn 5 and I started to apply pressure. He reanimated a white Akroma but I Isolated her. He found Bonded Fetch so he could block my lethal attack. Unfortunately for him, I had Take Possession and swung FTW.
Round 2: UG 'Goyf
I later learned that this guy has played in multiple Pro Tours and that he is pretty good.
Game 1
He got an early looter and then a pair of 'Goyfs. I held them in check with bounce and Isolation. Careful Consideration found me the rest of the pickles lock. I Blinked Briney and copied him with Shapeshifter while my opponent was tapped out.
Game 2
This game demonstrated the full beauty of this deck. I missed a land drop on turn four, topdecked a land and completed the Pickles lock on turn five.
Round 3: UGw 'Goyf
This deck is basically UG splash white for Momentary Blink/ Venser/ Cloudskate synergy.
Game 1
He got an early Looter (who doesn't run this guy?) and then started to apply some pressure with some 'Goyfs. I Isolated a 'Goyf and a Looter, and then bounced the other 'Goyf which had a Llanowar Reborn counter on it. I found the Pickles lock and flashbacked Blink for the lock. He looked smug as he cast Psionic Blast with his only untapped mana and aimed it at my Brine Elemental. I was okay with that, however, as I simply morphed another Vesuvan Shapeshifter and copied my other Shapeshifter that was doing its best Brine Elemental imitation. With no untapped mana he could not mount a comeback.
Game 2
He got some early game pressure on, and I was backpedaling. I found the pickles lock and went to morph down Brine Elemental. Unfortunately he Delayed and then Riftsweepered it. I was about to pull back in the lead when I made a bad play mistake. I forgot Venser was Legendary and hardcast Vesuvan Shapeshifter copying him. Man! I just 2-for-0'ed myself, That Sucks! It cost me the game.
Game 3
He got some early action, but I stabilized. That seems to be the consistent action of this deck against a lot of matchups, so if you find yourself taking some early damage with this deck don't start freaking out. Looter, however, had sculpted his hand enough to leave him with double Psionic Blast to kill me the turn before I would have beaten him.
Round 4: RDW
This opponnent was a real outgoing guy, and we did a good amount of friendly smack-talking before the game.
Game1
He started out with a turn two Keldon Marauders while I got stuck on three mana. He morphed out a pair of Gathan Raiders while I made my best attempt to stay alive on 3 measly mana. I eventually found a fourth and cast Careful Considerations. He was able to get me to one and burn me out.
Game 2
While shuffling up for this game I jokingly told him "Alright, you got me game 1, but I got games 2 and 3. You can scoop now or we can play it out". He chose to play it out. I curved out really well by suspending Cloudskate on turn 2 and playing Prismatic Lens and Epochrasite on turn 3. He hiccupped on mana and I made him pay for it by continually bouncing his lands. Willbender made him eat his own Fiery Temper and he was never in the game. I had Seht's Tiger with blink in hand which just put the icing on the cake.
Game 3
He came out strong with a turn two Keldon Marauders again, I Isolationed it because I knew I had him beat if I could buy one or two turns. He Browbeat me, and I chose to take five. I waited until I had enough mana to morph and turn up Willbender in the same turn. He missed a land drop and played Avalanche Riders with the four mana he did have. He gave a grin and pointed at one of my lands. I grinned back, morphed up Willbender and pointed at his Keldon Megaliths. He looked dumbfounded, and the best part was that he no longer had enough mana to pay the echo. With no blockers on the table I charged past FTW. I was sure glad I kept my word.
Round 5: Blink Riders
Game 1
I mulliganed to six and kept a two-lander on the draw. I failed to find another land until turn six and lost.
Game 2
I mulliganed again and kept another two-lander. I failed to find lands again! This sucked. He was supposed to be the one getting mana-screwed, not me! He was the three-color deck! Oh well.
Round 6: Poisonous Slivers
Game 1
I took some early poison counters as I suspended Cloudskate on turn two. I eventually stopped the pesky Virulent Slivers by playing out some Epochrasites. When my Cloudskate came into play, I had triple Blink in my hand which sealed the game for me.
Game 2
We both had slowish starts as he stumbled a little bit on mana. I went for the Pickles lock hoping he did not have Dead/Gone, but of course he did. He started to do some crazy things with Dormant Sliver and eventually found a Screeching Sliver and two Two-Headed Slivers. When he could not get by my army of Epochrasites (I had all 3) and morphs he started to deck me. Meanwhile he was taking four a turn courtesy of my dual Riftwing Cloudskates. When it was getting down to the wire, I had six mana untapped and three Momentary Blinks in my 'yard. He asked me to fan out my graveyard and count the Momentary Blinks. He contemplated out loud whether or not I had one in my hand. When I hit the third one I kept leafing through my graveyard looking like the fourth one might have been in there. Thanks to my acting he decided I did not have the fourth one and went all in. I cast the blink in my hand and then flashed it back, bouncing his two, Two-Headed Slivers and wrecked his board by blocking his 1/1's with my Epochrasites and morphs.
Ending Record: 4-2
I wound up in twelth place and recieved 1/2 a box of Time Spiral boosters for my troubles. As I was telling everyone that Future Sight is much better than Time Spiral as far as money rares and boosters go, I began to open my first pack. I leafed through to the back and found a Teferi, Call the Herd and a foil Stuffy Doll. I was pleased.
Anyway here are my thoughts on the matchups I played and what you should sideboard in.
Round 1: UWB Reanimator
Looter is one of their keys to victory, you need to Isolation this guy ASAP. Watch out for Bonded Fetch because he can't be dealt with by Isolation or bounce. Unless they are stumbling on their mana, hold your bounce until they Reanimate something. Venser against a flashbacked Dread Return is just some amazing card and board advantage, so do that whenever possible. Bring in the Take Possessions from the board for their Hellkites and white Akromas.
Round 2: UG 'Goyf
Watch out for Looter, once again. It's hard to Isolate a 1/1 when they have 'goyfs coming soon, but you need to do it. Llanowar Reborn is often just a waste of time for them in this matchup because you are normally able to bounce anything that gets a counter. Your deck is also very good against Call the Herd. Be careful that they are tapped low enough to where they can't cast Psionic Blast when you go for the Pickles lock. Watch out for main deck Riftsweepers too, so don't get greedy and suspend Cloudskate on turn 4. I would bring in the Rebel package and the last Isolation.
Round 3: UGw 'Goyf
Like I said before, this is UG 'Goyf splashing white for Momentary Blink. Make sure to watch out for Blink on Mystic Snake, obv. The version I played had some Delay/Riftsweeper synergy maindeck so be careful about that too. If you have the lock in hand try to bait their counters and Psionic Blasts out with other stuff before you go for it. The Rebel package and Isolation come in game 2 for you.
Round 4: RDW
I honestly thought that this deck was dead, and it kinda is. I just happened to play the only guy running it in the whole tournament. Seht's Tiger is platinum in this matchup. If you have that and Blink, you should not lose. If you can buy yourself a turn or two and keep yourself out of burn range by Isolationing a Keldon Marauders, do it. It may seem bad, but if you can get out of the early game with 10+ life points you will win alot of the time.
Round 5: Blink Riders
I honestly don't know how this matchup goes. I never had enough mana in either game to do anything and I have not playtested the matchup. I know the list, though, and bringing in Pull from Eternity and Riptide Pilferer from the board seems right.
Round 6: Poisonous Slivers
This deck does not seem to be able to deal with fliers so this will be the route to victory. Epochrasite in this matchup is very good. It's kind of hard to stop them from doing crazy things with Dormant Sliver, so watch out for Firewake Sliver coming off the top FTW. I might bring in the Rebel package, but I would definetly bring the last Isolation in.
Now that the matchup discussion is done, I will tell you what I will do differently in the future. I will probably wind up taking the Rebel package out of the sideboard in favor of a set of Serrated Arrows. The reason for this being that this deck can't beat an un-Isolationed looter. Serrated Arrows is good against a lot of other stuff too, including morphs, Shadowmage Infiltrator, Virulent Sliver and Infiltrator il-Kor. I am also going to take a look at the UGW 'Goyf/Blink deck as it seems fun and really good.
All in all I had a blast and got better as a player, what more could you ask for?
Signing off,
Tom Klenotic
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