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3:35PM

In about an hour and a half, I'm about to play in my first real life tournament in a long time. I just got back into Magic a couple weeks ago after selling my whole collection about two years ago.

I've been playing a lot of Standard on MWS but the tournament is sealed. I don't know much about sealed. I didn't get to play in the prerelease or the release/launch parties. I'm gonna scour the internet to find out some Shadowmoor Sealed strategy as well as look over the spoiler, so I don't totally scrub out tonight.

3:40PM

From Steve Sadin's Lessons from Brussels:

Maindeck at least one Disenchant and play Turn to Mists because of the powerful enchantments in the format.

From top pros:

The best rares are Oona, Queen of the Fae and Grim Poppet. The best uncommons are Incremental Blight and Biting Tether. The best commons are Burn Trail, Silkbind Faerie, Puncture Bolt, Steel of the Godhead, and Scuttlemutt.

From Sadin's Allies, Enemies, and Auras:

Allied colors are stronger than enemy colors.

The hybrid Auras are great in this format because there are only a few cards that can deal with them. Out of the Auras, Runes of the Deus, Steel of the Godhead, and Shield of the Oversoul are the best.

4:10PM

From Robin Russell's Shadowmoor: Limited Experience:

Hill Giants, or 3/3 creatures, and smaller creatures make up most of the format. This means creatures like Ashenmoor Cohort (with a P/T of 4/3), Crabapple Cohort (4/4), Rattleblaze Scarecrow (5/3), and Scuzzback Marauders (5/2) should be valued highly.

Last Breath is good.

From Zac Hill's Chatter of the Squirrel – Shadowmoor Signals:

There's not a lot of removal in the format.

4:35PM

From the spoiler:

Here are some great combos with common and uncommon cards:

Pila-Pala + Power of Fire or Presence of Gond
Elsewhere Flask + Jaws of Stone or Corrupt
Curse of Chains + an untap effect (like Leech Bonder, Umbral Mantle, and Puresight Merrow)

Scuttlemutt can "turn off" your opponents Auras. Also, depending on the color of your opponent's Auras, the Wisps might work too.

5:05PM

So, there's my hour and a half preparation for the sealed tournament. Time to shower and get dressed. I'll report back on how my tournament goes.

If you have other tips for Shadowmoor Sealed, feel free to leave a comment. Thanks.

Tags: Sealed Limited Shadowmoor

I saw this decklist over at another Magic strategy site. It looks pretty good especially the Platinum Angel. Many decks will have a hard time destroying it. You have counters to protect it and Academy Ruins to replay it. And Plumeveil surprises most people. It's cheap and can block most of the creatures in the format.

Mono Blue Plumeveil Control

3 Platinum Angel
4 Plumeveil
2 Teferi, Mage Of Zhalfir
2 Venser, Shaper Savant

4 Mind Stone
4 Cryptic Command
3 Pact Of Negation
3 Remove Soul
4 Rune Snag
4 Ancestral Vision
2 Ponder

16 Island
4 Desert
4 Tolaria West
1 Urza's Factory
1 Academy Ruins

Sideboard:

4 Moonglove Extract
2 Icy Manipulator
3 Bottle Gnomes
4 Commandeer
2 Vendilion Clique

I changed the sideboard.

-3 Serrated Arrows
-3 Trip Noose
+4 Moonglove Extract
+2 Icy Manipulator

Moonglove Extract deals with Vexing Shusher, which is really good against this deck. Icy Manipulator seems better than Trip Noose.

I played a couple matches on Magic-League.com to test out the deck. Here are the results.

Vs G/B Control

League Match
My rating: 1716
My opponent: rofellos_23
His rating: 1630

Game 1

He started off with Troll Ascetic. I played Plumeveil to block. However, he had mana to regenerate and kill Plumeveil with Nameless Inversion. I took a couple beats from Troll while countering his Tarmogoyf. I tapped out end of his turn for Teferi, Mage Of Zhalfir. However, that may have been a mistake because he responded with Cloudthresher.

He tried to Shriekmaw my Teferi but I had countered it with Cryptic Command and bounced his Cloudthresher. Instead of replaying Cloudthresher, he played Liliana Vess. I countered it. I had no more counters, so I played Ancestral Vision and Platinum Angel. He emptied his hand by playing a land and Cloudthresher.

He attacked once with Cloudthresher. This allowed me to attack with Platinum Angel. Then, he realized he was low on life (because of damage from lands and Cloudthresher) so he kept Cloudthresher back to block. However, he also had Treetop Villages and other creatures to swarm me and bring me down to 0 life.

I bounced Cloudthresher with Venser and attacked him down to 7 life. He topdecked another Cloudthresher and tried to evoke both of them for the win. I only had one Rune Snag, which was not enough. I cracked Mind Stone and topdecked another Rune Snag. Both Snags were enough to counter his second Cloudthresher. One good topdeck deserves another :) The next turn, I had enough creatures to kill him.

Game 2

I didn't side in anything. In hindsight, I probably should've brought in the Icys for a Plumeveil and a Venser. Also, Flashfreeze might be better than Icy. Most of the problem creatures for this deck are green (like Cloudthresher and Oversoul of Dusk).

I started off well with a Plumeveil to kill Treetop. However, he had a turn 2 Tarmogoyf, which I couldn't counter. His Tarmogoyf got bigger as the game went along. Also, he had a couple Thoughtseize for my counters.

The rest of game was a long war of attrition. I Pondered into two Platinum Angels but I couldn't kill him because he got a Loxodon Warhammer to go with a 5/6 Tarmogoyf and a Cloudthresher. I used Tolaria West to fetch Urza's Factory. It took a couple of turns but I finally made enough Assembly-Worker tokens to kill his Tarmogoyf.

With Ancestral Visions, I got Cryptic Command and Pact of Negation to bounce and then counter his Cloudthresher. From then, I killed him with Assembly-Worker tokens and Platinum Angels.

I actually went down to -24 life in this game. He went up as high as 37 life.

New rating: 1719 (+3)

Vs G/B Elves

League Match
My rating: 1719
My opponent: mark_c
His rating: 1625

Game 1

I won the toss and had a great start. Turn 1 Ancestral Visions and turn 2 Rune Snag his Wren's Run Vanquisher. However, I was stuck on 3 lands including a Desert so I couldn't play Plumeveil to block Treetop Village and his second Wren's Run Vanquisher. I went down to 14 and finally got my 4th land, an Island, through the Ancestral Visions.

He attacked again and I was able to get two cards with Plumeveil: Treetop Village and Nameless Inversion. I played Cryptic Command two consecutive turns to fog his team. This allowed me to make the land drops to play Platinum Angel. He tried to Profane Command it twice over two turns but I had Pact of Negation and a 3rd Cryptic Command. He played Cloudthresher but I had Rune Snag. Because he had no flying blockers other than Birds of Paradise, I killed him with a couple attacks from Platinum Angel. I won this game with -10 life.

Game 2

I brought in 1 Moonglove Extract for 1 Teferi. He had to mulligan to 4. I won pretty easily with Ancestral Vision, Cryptic Command, and multiple Platinum Angels with Pact of Negation backup.

New rating: 1722 (+3)

Vs Merfolk

8-Man Tournament
My rating: 1722
My opponent: Ethren
His rating: 1716

Game 1

On the draw, I mulliganed to 6 and kept this risky hand.

Island
Ancestral Vision
Rune Snag
Remove Soul
Plumeveil
Venser, Shaper Savant

I kept the one lander because I had a first turn Ancestral and two turn 2 plays. What do you think? Bad play?

Anyways, it didn't matter because he had a blazing start. A bunch of creatures early including Stonybrook Banneret (on turn 2) and two Merrow Reejereys (I could only counter one). Plus, two Cryptic Commands for my creatures. I was dead quickly.

Game 2

I took out Teferi and Venser for a set of Moonglove Extract.

I had Remove Soul for his turn 2 Silvergill Adept. After that, Plumeveil came down to slow down his team. I drew all my Moonglove Extract. I killed two Reejereys with them. The other two were for more Reejereys or Lord of Atlantis. I didn't need to use the Extracts on his other creatures because I had Plumeveil and multiple Deserts.

He forgot about Desert when he tried to attack with his islandwalking Banneret. Also, he was slowed down with color screw because his first 5 lands were 2 Islands and 3 Mutavaults.

I tried to play another Plumeveil end of turn. He countered it with Cryptic Command, tapping all his blue mana sources. This gave me the opportunity to play Platinum Angel on my turn. He had Unsummon to bounce it back. I simply fetched Urza's Factory with Tolaria West and started making Assembly Workers. In hindsight, I should've gotten Academy Ruins instead. I didn't matter. Two turns later, I drews the Ruins.

Platinum Angel came back down and began to attack. He tried Mirrorweave tricks to block the Angel but I had Cryptic Command. With no other way to stop the 4/4 flyer, he scooped.

Game 3

I had a turn one Visions but he came out fast with 2 Cursecatchers and Silvergill Adept.

His fifth turn was crucial. I had 5 mana because of Mind Stone. He played Lord of Atlantis. I countered with Cryptic Command. He popped both of his Cursecatchers. I played Pact of Negation :)

I forgot to pay for the Pact! Ooops. Surprisingly he let me pay for it even though I had already drawn a card.

Later, I played Platinum Angel. He had Sower of Tempation. I killed it with Moonglove Extract.

He reinforced with Lord of Atlantis and another Silvergill Adept. He attacked with both Silvergills. I bounced his Lord and drew a card with Cryptic Command. Then, I killed a Silvergill with Desert. I was at 3 life at this point.

He tapped out to play Lord and Reejerey. I tapped out to play Mind Stone and another Angel. He attacked with his islandwalkers and I went down to -7 life. I swung with both Angels and brought him down to 4 life.

On my next attack, he tried to Mirrorweave but I had Pact of Negation for the win.

New rating: 1730 (+8)

Vs Project 420.5n

8-Man Tournament
My rating: 1730
My opponent: Burton911
His rating: 1650

Game 1

My round two opponent dropped so this was the finals. By the way, if you don't know what Project 420.5n is, check out this video deck tech and this deck list.

I made a big mistake. He played Glittering Wish around the fifth turn. I had five mana and Pact of Negation but I chose not to counter. He fetched Vexing Shusher. I gamely tried to keep playing but he got his Brion Stoutarm, Kitchen Finks, Murderous Redcap, and Juniper Order Ranger combo going. Meanwhile, I had three useless counterspells in my hand :(

Game 2

I took out 2 Remove Souls, 2 Teferis, and 2 Vensers and brought in 4 Moonglove Extract and 2 Vendilion Clique.

He didn't see Plantinum Angel first game so I felt good about this game. He probably didn't sideboard optimally. Turn 2 Wish and turn 3 Shusher was not good for me, but I topdecked an Extract to deal with it.

I countered a couple threats but he got a Glittering Wish to resolve. He fetched Gaddock Teeg. He played Finks, which I let resolve. I countered Gaddock Teeg with Cryptic Command. I played Platinum Angel and got an "lol" from him.

He played Siege-Gang Commander but I had Pact of Negation. He tried to remove Angel with Oblivion Ring but I had a counterspell. I played Vendilion Clique during his draw phase. He showed two lands and a Redcap. I chose the Redcap. He drew Mouth of Ronom and killed Angel. Oh well, he was at 14 life and I had a 3/1 flyer.

Vendilion Clique brought down his life total and I drew Academy Ruins to seal the game.

Game 3

I took out my last Remove Soul for Venser because of his Greater Gargadon.

He went turn 2 Wish for Shusher. I topdeck Ponder, play it, and see a Moonglove Extract. I'm on a lucky topdecking streak :)

I countered his threats to stabilize. He got some creatures on the board but they died due to my recurring Moonglove Extracts (through Academy Ruins) and Desert. With one card in hand and a surprise Plumeveil for his only non-defender creature, Kitchen Finks, he scooped.

Changes in the Deck

Moonglove Extract should definitely be in the main. I cut a Ponder, a Venser, and a Remove Soul to add three Extracts.

Vendilion Clique was pretty good in my last match. I think a third one should go in the board. It's good against slow control decks and combo decks.

A fourth Bottle Gnomes should also help against burn decks since this deck is pretty slow.

Commandeer seems good against Faeries to steal their Bitterblossom. However, I just realized that I only have 18 blue spells. That doesn't seem enough. Hmm, what's good against Faeries that's an artifact or blue? Fledgling Mawcor. That should work.

Finally, let's round out the sideboard with a couple Flashfreezes. Pro Tour Hollywood showed us some RG decks that finished well and a couple mono red burn decks made day two.

Here's the new decklist.

3 Platinum Angel
4 Plumeveil
2 Teferi, Mage Of Zhalfir
1 Venser, Shaper Savant

4 Mind Stone
4 Cryptic Command
3 Pact Of Negation
2 Remove Soul
4 Rune Snag
4 Ancestral Vision
1 Ponder
3 Moonglove Extract

16 Island
4 Desert
4 Tolaria West
1 Urza's Factory
1 Academy Ruins

Sideboard:

1 Moonglove Extract
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Bottle Gnomes
4 Fledgling Mawcor
3 Flashfreeze

Is This Deck Viable For Regionals?

I'll have to do more testing, but I think this deck could do well in Regionals. Some decks just cannot beat Platinum Angel backed with counterspells. And Plumeveil stops most aggro decks cold.

As I said in my last post, the Standard metagame is diverse right now. So, the best thing to do is pick a quality deck that fits your playing style and learn to play it well. I'm just not sure if Plumeveil Control is a quality deck. More testing will determine the quality of this deck.

Tags: Standard T2 Rogue Deck Plumeveil Control Platinum Angel

Now that Pro Tour Hollywood is over, many players will be scouring magicthegathering.com for the decklists of the pros. Pro Tours have defined regionals in the past and Hollywood will be no different.

What can we learn from Hollywood's results? How will Hollywood affect the regionals metagame?

Regionals Standard Metagame

One word: diverse.

The standard metagame post-Hollywood looks to be wide open. One pro commented that he played against eight different decks on day one of the Pro Tour.

Check out the top 8 decks:

1 Merfolk
1 Doran
1 Faeries
2 Elves
2 Reveillark
1 RG Big Mana

Six different decks in the top 8 and only one Faeries deck. Also, there were a couple rouge decks in the top 33: Guillaume Wafo-tapa's Quick ‘n Toast, Zvi Mowshowitz's RG midrange deck, and Stuart Wright's BR Furystoke Giant deck.

I incorrectly predicted that Hollywood would be Pro Tour Faeries. I misjudged the strength of Faeries as well as the deck building skills of the pros to crush Faeries. There were less than 30% Faeries decks in day one and the day two number went down to 21%.

Faeries is a good deck but it's not Affinity. There are a lot of ways to hurt Faeries. You can attack its manabase with Magus of the Moon. You can attack its flyers with board sweepers like Cloudthresher, Squall Line, and Firespout. You can disrupt it with Thoughtseize. And as we saw in the top 8, aggressive undercosted creatures is enough to beat it. Regionals will definitely not be a "Faeries or Bust" metagame.

The reason the metagame is so diverse is because there is no one deck that is crushing the field. As we've seen, there are many cards and strategies that beat Faeries. However, the anti-Faeries decks lose to Reveillark. Eight players made day two with Reveillark. This only accounted for six percent of the day two field. However, two of the Lark players made top 8. Those players feasted on all the anti-Faeries hate.

Does that mean Lark is the best deck? Well, not so fast. Pros would agree that Lark loses to Faeries. Look at Grand Prix Shizuoka's top 8. Two Faeries players met at the finals in a top 8 that included three Lark decks.

So, we have a rock, paper, and scissors metagame.

Aggro anti-Faeries decks beats Faeries
Faeries beats Lark
Lark beats Aggro anti-Faeries

Granted, the above illustration is simplified. Magic The Gathering is not so cut and dry. The illustration does not take into account decks like Merfolk and Big Mana. Merfolk has game against Lark and Faeries but loses to the aggro anti-Faeries decks and Big Mana decks. Big Mana loses to Lark and Faeries but is pretty good against the aggro anti-Faeries decks.

But hopefully, my point is clear. The metagame is diverse because there is not a dominating deck. Instead, there are many viable decks.

How to Prepare for a Diverse Metagame

Since the metagame will have many different decks, how should you prepare?

I think the cliche "Play what you know" works well in a wide open metagame. In regionals, you'll probably face a variety of decks. This means your edge won't come from matchups but play skill. In a diverse metagame, it's extremely hard to predict which decks you'll play against. You need to know your deck well to overcome the bad matchups you might face.

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, the only Faeries player in the top 8, chose his deck two weeks before the tournament. He spent the last two weeks testing and tweaking his deck. He knew the deck inside and out.

Too many players pick a deck last minute. Because of this, they don't have enough time to practice with it and this shows in their results. Preparation in Magic is underrated. There's a substantial edge to be gained from being comfortable with a deck because you played a ton of matches with it.

Instead of testing out five or more decks, pick one quality decklist and just play a lot of games with it against many different decks. Magic is intricate enough that you'll learn something about your deck and its matchups even on the 50th game.

Also, choose a deck that suits your playing style. One of the great things about a diverse metagame is you get to choose from a wide variety of decks and still have a good chance of doing well.

Depending on your playing style, here are some decks that I would recommend.

Aggro

Do you like 15 minute matches? Do you like beating down? Here are some decks that work well with aggressive tendencies.

Elves
By Charles Gindy
1st Place

3 Forest
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Mutavault
1 Pendelhaven
2 Swamp
4 Treetop Village
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

1 Boreal Druid
3 Chameleon Colossus
4 Civic Wayfinder
4 Imperious Perfect
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wren's Run Vanquisher

2 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Profane Command
4 Terror
4 Thoughtseize

Sideboard:

3 Cloudthresher
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Primal Command
2 Shriekmaw
2 Slaughter Pact
2 Squall Line

This list has a full set of Civic Wayfinders to make sure you have double black to cast big Profane Commands. Also, the Wayfinders help you reach four mana to cast Chameleon Colossus, a huge Elf that can't be blocked by Bitterblossom tokens. Eight man lands make sure you keep up the aggression even if you get mana flooded.

RG Deus
By Zvi Mowshowitz
31st Place

4 Fire-Lit Thicket
7 Forest
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Karplusan Forest
2 Mountain
2 Treetop Village

4 Birds of Paradise
4 Chameleon Colossus
4 Countryside Crusher
4 Deus of Calamity
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Tarmogoyf

2 Firespout
4 Lash Out
3 Tarfire

Sideboard:

1 Cloudthresher
2 Firespout
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Loxodon Warhammer
2 Primal Command
1 Shivan Dragon
2 Squall Line
1 Sulfurous Blast

Firespout is like a one-sided Wrath because your guys are so big. The 8 turn one mana accelerators allow you to play a turn two Magus fairly consistently. That's usually game against Faeries.

Check out this video deck tech, where Zvi gives more insight about the deck.

RG Kavu Predator
By Robert Dougherty
38th Place

2 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Forest
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Karplusan Forest
5 Mountain
4 Mutavault
1 Pendelhaven

4 Countryside Crusher
3 Greater Gargadon
4 Kavu Predator
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Tattermunge Maniac

4 Incinerate
4 Rift Bolt
3 Shard Volley
4 Tarfire

Sideboard:

3 Fulminator Mage
2 Pyroclasm
2 Riftsweeper
2 Sulfurous Blast
4 Threaten
2 Vexing Shusher

This deck is like the mono red decks that beat up Faeries. However, the two green cards and Pendelhaven in the maindeck make this a better deck. Tarmogoyf gets big fast with Tarfires, Crushers, and Shard Volleys. Kavu Predator is a good foil against Finks, Primal Command, and Bottle Gnomes. Pendelhaven makes your Fanatics bigger than theirs.

The key to this deck is learning when to start throwing burn to the dome instead of your opponent's creatures.

BR Furystoke
By Stuart Wright

4 Auntie's Hovel
1 Kher Keep
7 Mountain
1 Pendelhaven
4 Sulfurous Springs
7 Swamp

3 Furystoke Giant
4 Greater Gargadon
3 Magus of the Moon
4 Marsh Flitter
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Mogg War Marshal
3 Nantuko Husk
4 Shadow Guildmage

4 Bitterblossom
2 Nameless Inversion
1 Slaughter Pact
7 other spells

Sideboard:

4 Dragon's Claw
2 Extirpate
1 Furystoke Giant
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Magus of the Moon
2 Slaughter Pact
4 Thoughtseize

Here's a cool rogue deck. It's got 29 creatures so it can deal damage quickly, but it also has a combo element with Furystoke Giant and 13 token generators. By the time you play Furystoke Giant, it's probably good game. Stuart talked about winning a game on day one without attacking.

Also, he tweaked it to beat Faeries with Shadow Guildmage and Magus of the Moon in the main deck. Check out Stuart's deck tech to learn more.

Aggro Control

These decks are for players that like to control the board but still want to attack with a bunch of cheap, efficient creatures.

Merfolk
By Jan Ruess
2nd Place

4 Adarkar Wastes
1 Faerie Conclave
4 Mutavault
11 Snow-Covered Island
4 Wanderwine Hub

4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
3 Sower of Temptation
3 Stonybrook Banneret
2 Sygg, River Guide
2 Tideshaper Mystic
2 Venser, Shaper Savant

2 Ancestral Vision
3 Cryptic Command
3 Sage's Dousing

Sideboard:

4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Cryptic Command
2 Reveillark
2 Serrated Arrows
1 Sower of Temptation
3 Sunlance
2 Unsummon

Here is an interesting Merfolk list. No Ponder or Mirrorweave. However, it did place 2nd in the most competitive Magic tournament on the planet so it's probably pretty good.

Cursecatcher stops a 4th turn Wrath or Cryptic Command. Sygg, River Guide dominated in Ruess' semifinal match against Shuuhei Nakamura's Elves. Sunlance in the board is so good. Jon Finkel, when he saw the Sunlances Ruess' sideboard, lamented because he didn't think about playing it in his Merfolk deck.

Faeries
By Paulo Vitor Dama da Rosa
8th Place

2 Faerie Conclave
4 Island
4 Mutavault
2 Pendelhaven
3 River of Tears
4 Secluded Glen
2 Sunken Ruins
4 Underground River

4 Mistbind Clique
4 Scion of Oona
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Vendilion Clique

4 Ancestral Vision
4 Bitterblossom
4 Cryptic Command
4 Rune Snag
4 Terror

Sideboard:

3 Bottle Gnomes
3 Damnation
2 Murderous Redcap
3 Razormane Masticore
4 Thoughtseize
15 sideboard cards

Faeries is more controlling than Merfolk, but make no mistake, it can go in aggressive mode especially against slower decks.

Paulo's deck is close to a stock list maindeck. However, the sideboard has some great cards you usually don't see. Murderous Redcap is a great foil against Magus of the Moon. And Razormane Masticore gave Shuuhei Nakamura's Elves problems.

Control

Some players like longer matches because they have more chances to outplay their opponents. If you're one of these players, check out these control decks.

Quick ‘n Toast
By Guillaume Wafo-tapa
13th Place

1 Dreadship Reef
2 Fungal Reaches
1 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Mystic Gate
4 Reflecting Pool
2 Sunken Ruins
4 Vivid Creek
4 Vivid Grove
4 Yavimaya Coast

3 Cloudthresher
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Mulldrifter
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
4 Wall of Roots

4 Careful Consideration
4 Cryptic Command
3 Firespout
3 Makeshift Mannequin
4 Rune Snag
2 Slaughter Pact

Sideboard:

1 Cloudthresher
1 Detritivore
3 Mind Shatter
1 Murderous Redcap
2 Primal Command
1 Shriekmaw
3 Teferi's Moat
3 Wispmare

This is the breakthrough rogue deck of the tournament. At least four players made day two with the deck and three of them got 27th place or better. Surprisingly, Wafo-Tapa did not create the deck. Instead, Manuel Bucher is credited as the creator. Bucher calls it a solution deck.

Its got Firespout, Wall of Roots, and Kitchen Finks to slow down aggro. Cloudthresher kills the flying Fae. Cryptic Command, Careful Consideration, and Makeshift Mannequin allow it to keep up with other control decks.

Watch Bucher's deck tech for more info.

RG Big Mana
By Marijn Lybaert
6th Place

4 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Highland Weald
3 Mouth of Ronom
10 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
4 Treetop Village

4 Chameleon Colossus
3 Cloudthresher
1 Grim Poppet
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Wall of Roots

2 Edge of Autumn
4 Firespout
4 Harmonize
4 Into the North
2 Primal Command
4 Skred
20 other spells

Sideboard:

1 Cloudthresher
1 Faerie Macabre
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Magus of the Moon
2 Pyroclasm
4 Tarmogoyf

Marijn's list is a departure from the norm. Chameleon Colossus instead of Siege-Gang Commander. Tarmogoyf in the side and Kitchen Finks in the main. But these changes make sense.

Chameleon Colossus is cheaper than Siege-Gang Commander and is amazing against Faeries and GB builds. Tarmogoyf is good but Kitchen Finks is better against decks with black removal.

WUr Lark
Yong Han Choo
4th Place

4 Battlefield Forge
2 Faerie Conclave
4 Mutavault
4 Mystic Gate
2 Reflecting Pool
4 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Plains
2 Vivid Creek

2 Aven Riftwatcher
2 Body Double
2 Greater Gargadon
4 Mulldrifter
4 Reveillark
4 Sower of Temptation
2 Venser, Shaper Savant

2 Careful Consideration
4 Coldsteel Heart
2 Mind Stone
2 Momentary Blink
2 Pact of Negation
4 Rune Snag
2 Wrath of God

Sideboard:

2 Aven Riftwatcher
3 Crovax, Ascendant Hero
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2 Teferi's Moat
1 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
2 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Wispmare

This Lark deck is also a combo deck. The combo is Lark, Greater Gargadon, Body Double, and one of the 2 power creatures. Multiple Gargadon activations can lead to a bunch of life (Aven Riftwatcher) or cards (Mulldrifter). Also, you can bounce all of your opponent's permanents (Venser, Shaper Savant) or steal all of their creatures (Sower of Tempation) and sac them to Gargadon.

A Diverse Metagame is a Healthy Metagame

I think it's an exciting time to be a Magic player. As an old school Magic player, I remember Standard metagames when there were only 2-3 viable decks. If you didn't like playing any of those decks, it was too bad for you. And you often had to play mirror matches all day long. Not fun.

But today, you can succeed with many different decks. So, pick a deck that fits your playing style and start playing many games with it. This will give you the confidence and experience to succeed at regionals.

Tags: Standard T2 Pro Tour Hollywood

A couple days ago, I wrote about playing Red Deck Wins (RDW) because it has a good matchup versus Faeries and it's relatively cheap compared to popular netdecks.

Red Deck Wins
By Dee Barizo

Maindeck:

4 Keldon Megaliths
18 Mountain

4 Tattermunge Maniac
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Blood Knight
4 Adder-Staff Boggart
4 Ashenmoor Gouger

2 Shard Volley
4 Incinerate
4 Lash Out
4 Flame Javelin

Sideboard:

1 Mountain
4 Countryside Crusher
4 Magus of the Moon
3 Greater Gargadon
3 Tormod's Crypt

Well, I played a couple games (I wrote about some of them here and here) with the deck and decided to make the following changes.

Maindeck Changes

-4 Adder-Staff Boggart

I wanted a two drop creature and this was the best one I could find. However, he's not very good. I'd rather have a three drop that actually does something.

+3 Sulfur Elemental
+1 Mountain

I thought of replacing Adder-Staff with Countryside Crusher, but Sulfur Elemental seems to better in today's standard metagame. Sulfur Elemental can't be countered and it allows you to kill Kitchen Finks with only one burn spell. I brought in an extra land because Sulfur Elemental increased my three drop count.

Sideboard Changes

-3 Tormod's Crypt
+3 Faerie Macabre

I forgot about Faerie Macabre. It can't be countered.

-3 Greater Gargadon
-1 Countryside Crusher
-1 Mountain
+4 Demigod of Revenge
+1 Ghitu Encampment

While Greater Gargadon is not bad against other red aggro decks, it can be slow. And Countryside Crusher is easy to kill. I'm not sure but I think Demigod of Revenge will make a better impact than those two cards especially if you draw multiples.

-3 Countryside Crusher
+3 Sulfurous Blast

I didn't have any sideboard cards for decks with a lot of small creatures. Plus, more Faerie hate is probably a good thing.

New Decklist

Maindeck:

4 Keldon Megaliths
19 Mountain

4 Tattermunge Maniac
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Blood Knight
3 Sulfur Elemental
4 Ashenmoor Gouger

2 Shard Volley
4 Incinerate
4 Lash Out
4 Flame Javelin

Sideboard:

1 Ghitu Encampment
3 Sulfurous Blast
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Demigod of Revenge
3 Faerie Macabre

Total Cost* = $115.23

* Based on the average price of the cards on store.tcgplayer.com on May 19, 2008 except for the basic lands. I valued those at $0.00.

Tags: Mono Red Burn Standard T2 RDW Red Deck Wins

Here are two more league matches with this RDW list.

Maindeck:

4 Keldon Megaliths
18 Mountain

4 Tattermunge Maniac
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Blood Knight
4 Adder-Staff Boggart
4 Ashenmoor Gouger

2 Shard Volley
4 Incinerate
4 Lash Out
4 Flame Javelin

Sideboard:

1 Mountain
4 Countryside Crusher
4 Magus of the Moon
3 Greater Gargadon
3 Tormod's Crypt

Match 1 vs B/R Aggro Homebrew

My rating: 1713
My opponent: McRishel42
His rating: 1628

Game 1

In red aggro mirror matches, it's all about avoiding the dreaded mana flood. In this game, he drew 10 spells and 5 lands while I drew 7 spells and 8 lands.

He had a good start with some early creatures and burn to kill my blockers. I had early removal to kill his guys, but then I hit the land glut. It didn't help that two of my spells were Keldon Marauders. He let the first one die before resuming his attacks.

I think I made a mistake by not attacking with the first Marauders. He was ahead of me in life so I thought I should keep him as a blocker. However, racing him would've given me a chance to win if I got lucky on my next draws. At that time, he only had Mogg Fanatic and Sootstoke Kindler on the board.

Also, I should've killed his Mogg Fanatic before playing Ashenmoor Gouger. He was able to Incinerate and sac Mogg to kill my Gouger.

Anyways, I ran out of creatures and he finally killed me with 2 Shard Volleys, Murderous Redcap, and Ashenmoor Liege.

Game 2

I took out 4 Maniacs and 4 Marauders for 1 Mountain, 4 Crushers, and 3 Greater Gargadon.

He got turn 2 Bitterblossom while I had Mogg Fanatic, Greater Gargadon, and a 2/1 Adder-Staff Boggart. Then, he played Mogg Fanatic. It traded with my Fanatic and killed Adder-Staff. His Bitterblossom started making tokens and he threw burn spells to my face.

However, I got lucky by winning two straight clashes with Lash Out to kill his Faerie blockers. With those Lash Outs, a couple attacks from Fanatic, and Bitterblossom, he was down to 9 life. I killed his last Faerie blocker during my upkeep with Keldon Megaliths. Then, I sacked all my lands to Greater Gargadon to play him and attack for the last 9 damage.

Game 3

I mulliganed 2 one-land hands and ended up with this:

Mountain
Mountain
Mountain
Lash Out
Ashermoor Gouger

He mulliganed one time but he had a turn 2 Bitterblossom. Meanwhile, he had all the answers for my creatures:

Incinerate for Crusher
Javelin for Gouger
Redcap for Adder-Staff
double block with Redcap and Faerie token for my 2nd Crusher

After that, he just chumped the rest of my creatures with Redcaps and Faerie tokens and won through multiple Faerie air assaults. It didn't help that I didn't draw another burn spell until I was at 1 life.

Postmatch Thoughts

Usually RDW is good against Bitterblossom. But BR Bitterblossom Aggro Burn is not a good matchup. It's able to race RDW because it has burn too and its Faerie tokens make great chump blockers for Mogg Fanatic, Maniac, and Marauders. Also, Murderous Redcap is a potential 2-for-1 or even 3-for-1, because RDW has so many small creatures and Redcap survives the first burn spell.

However, BR Bitterblossom Aggro is a rogue deck, so I won't be seeing it often.

New rating: 1708 (-5)

Match 2 vs GB Elves

My rating: 1708
My opponent: tonis
His rating: 1616

Game 1

I started off with Keldon Marauders. I Incinerated his Wren's Run Vanquisher. He played Imperious Perfect but I killed it with a topdecked Lash Out.

He reinforced with Masked Admirers, Garruk Wildspeaker, and Thornweald Archer while I had Gouger. He attacked with Admirers. I topdecked an Incinerate and burned Thornweald Archer. This allowed me to kill Garruk with Gouger. I played my last card, another Gouger. Also, my Keldon Megaliths was now active.

He played another Garruk and killed one of my Gougers with Eyeblight's Ending. I attacked his Garruk with my other Gouger. He chump blocked with Admirers. I summoned Blood Knight. He played Elvish Champion and returned Admirers to his hand. Then, he made a 3/3 Beast.

I attacked Garruk with Gouger and Blood Knight. He blocked with both of his creatures. His creatures died and mine stayed alive because of my active Megaliths.

He played Masked Admirers and another Elvish Champion. I attacked Garruk again. He blocked Gouger with Admirers and they traded. I got 2 damage in against Garruk. I played my topdeck, another Gouger, and finished off Garruk with Megaliths.

He played another Champion and returned Admirers. He attacked with his 3/3 Champion. Life totals were 11 for me and 8 for him. I attacked with my team and he chumped with his freshly played Champion. He attacked with Champion. I drew Keldon Marauders, played it, and attacked with my team. He blocked Gouger with Admirers and they traded. He drew his card and scooped.

Game 2

I sided in 4 Crushers, 4 Greater Gargadons, and 1 Mountain for 4 Adder-Staff and 4 Maniacs.

He went turn 1 Boreal Druid and turn 2 Champion, but I had Lash Out for the Champion. Then, he had turn 3 Wren's Run Packmaster, a 5/5 creature that championed Boreal Druid.

I played Crusher and took a hit from Packmaster. He played the rest of his hand: 2 Thornweald Archers. I played Blood Knight with Incinerate mana open. However, he topdecked Champion, which made his Packmaster 6/6. I took 6 more from the Packmaster leaving me a 9 life.

I Incinerated his Champion and played Keldon Marauders with Flame Javelin mana open. He started making wolves as we had a short standstill with neither of us attacking. I reinforced with Greater Gargadon and another Marauders. I finally drew another burn spell and used it along with Javelin to Packmaster.

By then, my Crusher was pretty big. He drew land. I sacced all my lands to Gargadon to bring him into play. I killed him with Gargadon and an 11/11 Crusher.

Postmatch Thoughts

I'm not really sure about this matchup because my opponent seemed to make a couple misplays. For example, he did not do a good job of protecting Garruk. Also, he had two 3/3 Champions. He attacked with one Champion. There other one was just played. My board was Blood Knight and Gouger. Then, he chump blocked the Gouger with the other Champion. The better play would've been to not attack and instead double block my Gouger.

I'll have to test the matchup myself or find a more skilled player to playtest with.

New rating: 1711 (+3)

Tags: Mono Red Burn Standard T2 RDW Red Deck Wins

As promised, I played a couple league matches on Magic-League with the Red Deck Wins (RDW) list I talked about in the last post. Here is the list again for reference sake.

Maindeck:

4 Keldon Megaliths
18 Mountain

4 Tattermunge Maniac
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Blood Knight
4 Adder-Staff Boggart
4 Ashenmoor Gouger

2 Shard Volley
4 Incinerate
4 Lash Out
4 Flame Javelin

Sideboard:

1 Mountain
4 Countryside Crusher
4 Magus of the Moon
3 Greater Gargadon
3 Tormod's Crypt

Match 1 vs Merfolk

My rating: 1707
My opponent: itachiago
His rating: 1611

Game 1

I won the roll and came out quick with turn 2 Blood Knight and turn 3 Ashenmoor Gouger. He had Silvergill Adept and Lord of Atlantis early. I only drew one removal spell the whole game but I had it early and used it turn 4 to kill his Lord of Atlantis. Meanwhile my two creatures got through for damage because he didn't chump block with Silvergill Adept.

He filled the board with another Silvergill and Lord. I attacked and he double blocked with both Silvergill Adepts. Because Ashenmoor Gouger has 4 power, I was able to kill both Adepts. That 4 power is one of the reasons why I like Gouger over Boggart Ram-Gang.

Knowing that Merfolk doesn't have mass removal, I dropped my whole hand: another Blood Knight, Tattermunge Maniac, and Adder-Staff Boggart.

I had 4 creatures and an active Keldon Megaliths versus his Lord of Atlantis and Mutavault. He didn't play a creature the next turn. I drew another Tattermunge Maniac and then attacked with the whole team to bring him to 3 life. With my swarm of creatures and his low life, he soon conceded.

Game 2

I sided in 4 Countryside Crusher for 4 Ashenmoor Gouger. Many Merfolk builds carry little to no removal even in the sideboard. I felt Crusher would stay alive and help me draw enough removal to keep Merrow Reejerey and Lord of Atlantis off the board.

I played the first creature, a turn 1 Tattermunge Maniac. It traded with Stonybrook Banneret. I replaced Maniac with Blood Knight. He played a couple dudes. He also had Flashfreeze for a burn spell but I had enough cheap removal to burn his guys. This allowed Blood Knight to get a lot of damage through. Also, I got lucky on a Lash Out clash.

He was at 9 life when he finally bounced Blood Knight with Cryptic Command and then countered it with another Flashfreeze. I drew a couple Countryside Crushers which outclassed his Cursecatchers and Mutavault. The Crushers helped me draw more burn and he soon died.

Postmatch Thoughts

RDW with a ton of removal (my build has 14 removal spells) seems to be a great matchup versus Merfolk. Merfolk is very dependent on its lords, Merrow Reejerey and Lord of Atlantis, but they're easily killed by burn spells. Also, the removal is cheap enough to avoid being countered by Cursecatcher and Rune Snag.

New rating: 1710 (+3)

Match 2 vs GW Big Mana Control

My rating: 1710
My opponent: Diablo49
His rating: 1596

Game 1

I won the toss and started off quickly with turn 1 Tattermunge Maniac, turn 2 Blood Knight, and turn 3 Adder-Staff Boggart. He had 2 Condemns for Tattermunge and Adder-Staff. However, he had to mana burn twice because his only white mana source early on was Wooded Bastion.

He tried to stop the Blood Knight beats with a 3/3 beast from Garruk Wildspeaker. However, I Shard Volleyed his beast and then attacked to send Garruk to the graveyard. Then, I played another Blood Knight.

He played Harmonize. I attacked him to 8 life with my 2 Blood Knights. He played Kitchen Finks and went to 10 life. End of turn, I threw a Flame Javelin to his face. He went to 6 life.

On my turn, I attacked again with the 2 Blood Knights. He blocked one with Treetop Village. The other one got through because Blood Knight laughs at Kitchen Finks. He went down to 4 life and I finished him off with my last card, another Flame Javelin.

Game 2

I sided in a ton of cards.

+4 Magus of the Moon
+4 Countryside Crusher
+1 Mountain
+3 Greater Gargadon

-4 Mogg Fanatic
-4 Keldon Marauders
-2 Shard Volley
-2 Adder-Staff Boggart

I started out with 2 Greater Gargadon and a Tattermunge Maniac. However, he had Kitchen Finks and was able to 2-for-1 because my Tattermunge Maniac was forced to attack. I then played Magus of the Moon. It didn't really affect him because he had a Plains to cast Oblivion Ring.

I made a bad play when he had Garruk with 2 counters and a 3/3 beast. I had a burn spell and Tattermunge on the board. I knew he had Condemn from a Lash Out clash. I burned Garruk instead of the 3/3 beast because of the Condemn. I should not have cared about his Condemn for my Tattermunge. Anyways, I stupidly had to run Tattermunge into the 3/3 beast.

He played Harmonize while I had a Countryside Crusher that was getting bigger. However, I did not attack because of his Condemn. I wanted to milk Crusher's ability for a couple more turns. Plus, I had a couple Gargadons that were about to come into play. However, he had Wrath of God and another Condemn to take out my team.

I drew more creatures, but my creatures were dwarfed by a 5/5 white Giant Warrior, a 7/7 Elemental, and a pro black 4/4 that could get really big with all mana he had. Plus, he gain 10 life from Feudkiller's Verdict. I was soon dead.

Game 3

I switched out the Tattermunge Maniacs for Mogg Fanatic. The forced to attack ability didn't seem very good.

I mulliganed a one lander into this hand:

Mountain
Mountain
Blood Knight
Blood Knight
Incinerate
Magus of the Moon

Pretty much perfect if I draw another land.

My T1: play Mountain
His T1: play Brushland
My T2: play Mountain, play Blood Knight
His T2: play Horizon Canopy
My T3: play Magus of the Moon, attack with Blood Knight (18 life)
His T3: do nothing
My T4: attack with Blood Knight and Magus (14 life), play Blood Knight, play Mogg Fanatic
His T4: concede

Postmatch Thoughts

This matchup probably favors the GW player. They have a ton of lifegain, maindeck and sideboard. I really need to have Blood Knight and Magus early to have a good chance of winning.

New rating: 1713 (+3)

I played two more matches. I'll get to those in the next post.

Tags: Mono Red Burn Standard T2 RDW Red Deck Wins

If there's anything the last Star City Games tournaments told us about the standard format, it's "be prepared for Faeries". Red decks have always had a good matchup against faeries, but I wanted to improve that matchup even more.

Here's one of the red decks I've been playing.

Maindeck:

4 Keldon Megaliths
18 Mountain

4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Tattermunge Maniac
4 Mudbutton Clanger
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Mudbrawler Cohort
4 Boggart Ram-Gang

2 Shard Volley
4 Tarfire
4 Incinerate
4 Flame Javelin

Sideboard:

4 Countryside Crusher
3 Smash to Smithereens
4 Magus of the Moon
1 Ghitu Encampment
3 Greater Gargadon

You may recognize the maindeck from Bill Stark's article on Star City Games. The sideboard is from a 1800+ rated player on Magic-League.

Anyways, this deck good is great against Faeries. However, it has a hard time against white decks packing Kitchen Finks (aka the new Loxodon Hierarch) or Aven Riftwatcher. So, I tried to improve its matchup against those white decks while also making the Faeries match up even better.

Changes

I took out Mudbutton Clanger and replaced it with Blood Knight. Mudbutton Clanger is not that great because half the time he's only a 1/1. Blood Knight has proved to be amazing in the metagame. He kills most of the creatures in a Faerie deck because of first strike. Since you have burn, he can also take down a 4/5 Tarmogoyf. He can't be blocked by Kitchen Finks, Aven Riftwatcher, Doran, and Wilt-Leaf Liege, just to name a few popular white creatures. He's "good game" against Kithkin. He can't be targeted by Condemn or Oblivion Ring.

I replaced Mudbrawler Cohort with Adder-Staff Boggart. Mudbrawler Cohort is not a bad card, but with Faeries packing more removal, I'm afraid he'll be a 1/1 more often than not. For two mana, I'll take a 2/1 without haste over a 1/1 with haste. Also, the 2/1 can also become a 3/2 if you're lucky.

I replaced Boggart Ram-Gang with Ashenmoor Gouger. Many of you will probably disagree with this choice, but let me explain myself. Boggart Ram-Gang dies to much of the removal in the format. For example, Nameless Inversion, Terror, Incinerate, Shard Volley, Rift Bolt, and Shriekmaw all kill it. However, Ashenmoor Gouger doesn't die to those cards. Plus, he can take down a Mistbind Clique.

I kept the burn spells the same except I removed Tarfire. Tarfire was there to increase the Goblin count for Mudbutton Clanger. However, I took out Mudbutton Clanger so I can replace it with a better spell. My choices came down to Rift Bolt or Lash Out. It was close but I chose Lash Out because it's an instant. This is relevant against Faeries. When they tap out for Scion of Oona at the end of your turn, you'll wish that your Rift Bolt was a Lash Out.

I didn't change the land base. You can argue for Ghitu Encampment or Mutavault but Keldon Megaliths has been working well. Faeries has increased their removal so Ghitu Encampment is less effective. And Mutavault is risky because of the mana requirements of Flame Javelin and Boggart Ram-Gang.

The sideboard needed some changes. I added 3 Tormod's Crypt in place of 3 Smash to Smithereens. Reveillark seems to be gaining popularity even though it loses to Faeries. The Smash to Smithereens was there for Dragon's Claw, but I haven't seen that card in a while. I changed the Ghitu Encampment for a Mountain because I didn't want 5 lands the come into play tapped.

Final Decklist

Maindeck:

4 Keldon Megaliths
18 Mountain

4 Tattermunge Maniac
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Blood Knight
4 Adder-Staff Boggart
4 Ashenmoor Gouger

2 Shard Volley
4 Incinerate
4 Lash Out
4 Flame Javelin

Sideboard:

1 Mountain
4 Countryside Crusher
4 Magus of the Moon
3 Greater Gargadon
3 Tormod's Crypt

Total Cost* $148.25

In my next post, I'll put my Magic-League rating on the line with this deck and play a couple league matches.

Update: The next post is up. I played against Merfolk and GW Big Mana Control.

* Based on the average price of the cards on store.tcgplayer.com on May 13, 2008 except for the basic lands. I valued those at $0.00.

Tags: Mono Red Burn Standard T2