MtG News, Brews, and Thoughts

Clintok's MtG Blog

[mtg-clintok-blog]

Fun w/ Aristocrats

Keep Experimenting

After last week’s go with Sultai Aristocrats, I decided that blue just doesn’t work to compliment the already very powerful G/B aristocrats shell. After deciding that white is the better option, I have cooked up this Abzan Aristocrats list. It’s still a work in progress, but I think it will work.

Lands - 23

3x Hissing Quagmire 3x Shambling Vent 3x Llanowar Wastes 3x Fortified Village 1x Westvale Abbey 1x Plains 4x Swamp 5x Forest

Critters - 28

4x Nantuko Husk 4x Zulaport Cutthroat 4x Hangarback Walker 4x Catacomb Sifter 4x Pious Evangel 4x Duskwatch Recruiter 2x Liliana, Heretical Healer 2x Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim

Other - 9

4x Collected Company 3x Cryptolith Rite 2x Dromoka’s Command

The sideboard is not finalized yet, but it includes the usual suspects. Two more Dromoka’s Commands, some Transgress the Mind, Evolutionary Leap, Ultimate Price, Declaration in Stone, just good cards that barely didn’t make the cut.

The struggle I’m having with the deck is that I want to add more Westvale Abbey but not wanting to compromise the color balance of the manabase, which works quite well. I’m still considering just taking the plunge, being lame, and going straight up GB aristocrats, but I’m still willing to give experimentation a shot. Any help out there would be appreciated.

In other news, EMN previews are on, and UR Wizards tribal will be a dominant force.

Until next time,

-Clintok’

[mtg-clintok-blog]

Break on Through to the Other Side

Rattle Some Chains at FNM

The distillery continues to run ahead at full steam as Clintok’ brings you yet another strange brew to take out to your local FNM. Today I want to talk about the most under-appreciated tribe in SOI standard, the lowly spirits. Spirits can do all kinds of stuff, like fly out of your hand at instant speed and get hexproof and, well, they fly, that’s good right?

Actually, yeah, flying is a big deal in the current meta. G/W tokens doesn’t have very good answers to flyers and neither does most variations of CoCo decks. The issue is that spirits are all pretty small, and a lot of their abilities focus on protecting themselves/eachother, but where’s the value in protecting things that don’t make a lot of impact? Especially when it’s on a one for one basis? These are fun challenges for a brewer to face down, and I believe I’ve come up with a solution. All it takes is a little backwards thinking. 

Eerie Interlude has found its way into lots of sideboards as a protective option against sweepers, and it does that job very well. However, what if rather than using it as a protective measure, the card were used proactively to generate advantage? Be mindful of the fact that you can exile any number of creatures you choose, so you can leave things on the battlefield if you want to, I’m sure that’s relevant somehow, like if you use tokens, but that’s not what this brew is interested in. Let’s just look at the list and then work from there.

Lands - 23

4x Prairie Stream 3x Port Town 10x Plains 6x Island

Critters - 23

4x Rattlechains 4x Reflector Mage 2x Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit 3x Bygone Bishop 3x Spectral Shepherd 4x Topplegeist 2x Dragonlord Ojutai

Other - 14

3x Eerie Interlude 3x Negate 4x Essence Flux 2x Ojutai’s Command 2x Always Watching

Sideboard - 15

4x Uninvited Geist 3x Invocation of Saint Traft 4x Declaration in Stone 4x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

I accidentally posted this in the middle of typing the list, go keyboard commands.

This is a deck that we are playing on the backfoot. We want to, if at all possible, only play spells on our opponents turns. To this end, Rattlechains is absolutely essential. We can’t play them all like that with Rattlechains, which includes Reflector Mage and Dragonlord Ojutai, but every other creature in the deck can work. 

The main deck includes a lot of stuff reserved for sideboards. I’m finding that Negate is often times more than worthy of a main deck slot because every time I put it in my sideboard all of the copies make it from my sideboard into my deck. In this deck it’s especially important because board sweepers and Hallowed Moonlight will completely shut the deck down. 

Eerie Interlude Interactions

Block all the guys, cast Eerie interlude, laugh. 

Anafenza will bolster for each creature you Eerie Interlude, and she’s a spirit too.

Bring back Reflector Mage/Topplegeist, laugh a litlte more.

Immediately lose to Hallowed Moonlight.

The Sideboard

The sideboard is just a pile of cards, I’m not sure what Gideon is doing in there but it looks impressive. The Uninvited Geists and Invocation of Saint Trafts are there for when you run up against slower decks and need a little more speed. 

If blinking creatures and abusing ETB triggers and using lots of flyers (well, mostly flyers) is fun for you, then give this one a shot.

Until next time,

-Clintok’

[mtg-clintok-blog]

Going Over the Top

A Truly Insane Brew

It came to me while I was searching for creatures with ETB effects. A few pieces of synergy so potentially ridiculous that it would either be ridiculously OP or laughably pathetic, but either way, it looked fun. 

Collected Company is a great card, and as such, I’ve had my qualms with it because everybody knows it’s great. However, I feel like the potential of the card is not being fully realized. I had some fun with it last week, but it was really just as a way to gain tempo. The ‘real’ Bant CoCo decks have enjoyed success because of their resilience and tempo swings. This Bant CoCo deck though, this one is going to go over the top. 

Activate Interlocks

This deck is basically an opportunity for all of my favorite cards to combine like Voltron and go ape with several different plans to secure the ‘W’. The ultimate goal is to abuse ETB triggers via Collected Company and Eldrazi Displayer (’Blinky’ from here out). However, we’re not stopping at things like Reflector Mage and Bounding Krasis, we’re going deep, we’re calling the tides and going over the top.

Dynotherms Connected

Wall of Resurgence can be hit by Collected Company. Wall of Resurgence can be hit by Blinky. Wall of Resurgence creates a steady stream of 3/3 creatures just aching to get in there and rumble while leaving a 0/6 to stand guard. Sylan Advocate then turns each of those lands into 5/5′s. Halimar Tidecaller gives them flying. The possibilities are endless. Speaking of Halimar Tidecaller...

Infracells Up

Look at her go. I love this card, especially when you can combine her with awaken effects and Blinky to pull of a variety of stupid hijinks. Got a Scatter to the Winds in your graveyard? Have you hit six lands drops (because that never happens in this meta)? Have a blinky on the board? If you answered yes to all these questions, you have a permanent counterspell. 

Megathrusters Are Go

Lands - 25

4x Yavimaya Coast 4x Evolving Wilds 3x Prairie Stream 2x Canopy Vista 4x Island 1x Wastes 3x Plains 2x Forest 2x Lumbering Falls Critters - 26

3x Halimar Tidecaller 4x Eldrazi Displacer 4x Sylvan Advocate 4x Wall of Resurgence 3x Bounding Krasis 4x Duskwatch Recruiter 4x Reflector Mage

Other - 9

4x Collected Company 3x Scatter to the WInds 2x Declaration in Stone

Sideboard - 15

4x Negate 2x Clip WIngs 2x Declaration in Stone 3x Eerie Interlude 4x Eldrazi Skyspawner

This is a very rough list, and the sideboard is pretty heavy handed, but a single well-timed languish would/could ruin your day so I went deep on the Negates and Eerie Interludes (which, btw, lets your trigger ETB effects again at end of turn). I just want to live the dream of generating an army of big flying lands at instant speed to dropkick my unsuspecting opponent in the nuts, all while being able to hold up infinite countermagic. I’m hoping to sleeve this spicy mutha’ up and give it a run this weekend. If it works, it will be great. If not, it will also be great. Sounds like a win-win. Let’s go Voltron Force!

Until next time...

-Clintok’

[mtg-clintok-blog]

Bad Company

I Can’t Deny

After the past few weeks of grinding out long games with Bant Clues against opponents running equally grindy control decks I decided that I had had enough. A friend loaned me some Collected Companys and I set out to brew something fast, thoughtless, and ruthlessly effective to throw off opponents who were basking in this durdlefest of a metagame. The result is a deck I call ‘Bad Company’, because I can’t deny that it isn’t good. It’s a straight up green red stomper and it turned out to be both fun and effective. 

The deck has some roots in one of my favorite decks from back when the standard field was M15-Dragons of Tarkir. An efficient R/G beater that came out quick and was loaded with must answer threats (Rabblemaster, Surrak the Hunt Caller, Shaman of the Great Hunt) backed by the power of Atarka’s Command to shut games down quickly. SOI has brought some awesome additions to help generate advantage like Sin Prodder, Duskwatch Recruiter, and Tireless Tracker, which may be my new favorite standard card. Anyways, here’s the list:

Bad Company

Lands - 24

4x Cinder Glade 4x Game Trail 3x Mountain 13x Forest

Critters - 25

4x Tireless Tracker 4x Lambholt Pacifist 4x Duskwatch Recruiter 4x Den Protector 3x Deathmist Raptor 2x Breakneck Rider 2x Sin Prodder 2x Surrak, the Hunt Caller

Other - 11

4x Collected Company 4x Atarka’s Command 2x Epic Confrontation 1x Arlinn Kord

Sideboard - 15

3x Skab-Clan Berserker 2x Ulvenwald Mysteries 2x Evolutionary Leap 2x Clip Wings 2x Naturalize 2x Magmatic Chasm 2x Roast

This is a deck that is designed to prey upon the Meta, where slow grinders and/or decks that fill the board with small creatures are prevalent. I went 3-1, only losing one round to a friend due to not pulling a red source in time to drop my Atarka’s Commands or Breakneck Riders to enable trample. It happens two games in a row, but sometimes when you play Magic these things just kind of happen.

What Worked?

Board Advantage

You’re dropping a creature a turn until turn 4 or 5, and that doesn’t seem like much, but your creatures, particularly Lambholt Pacifist, are bigger and better than what most decks have to offer. Sylvan Advocate continues to be a massive pest, but following up their turn 2 Advocate with your turn 2 Pacifist feels so good because fuck that guy and the super pushed text box he rode in on. Collected Company is a nice card, but not essential to the function of the deck since no creatures have an ETB trigger. It’s fun to hit a Sin Prodder and/or a Breakneck Rider, but ultimately, it’s just a way to establish and/or maintain board presence. 

Epic Confrontation?

A chump draft removal common. This card was crux in several games. The +1/+2 text allows you to put your Lambholt Pacifists into attack mode while at the same time killing just about anything that would be on the board by turn 3/4. In deck construction, it was between this card and Rabid Bite, but the +1/+2 text sealed the deal for me on this. 

Muthafuckin’ Surrak

Everyone forgot about this guy, and he is outrageously strong in the current meta. Most opponents just do not expect and thus, are not prepared for, a five power haster on turn 4 who also turns on any lambholt pacifists you may have been sitting on prior to him flying out of the gate. The other great part about Surrak is every creature you drop AFTER Surrak gets haste, which helps you maintain a very commanding board position.

Arlinn Kord

I didn’t even read the backside of this card prior to last night. I thought it gave ONE creature +1/+1 and trample, not ALL OF THEM. Arlinn Kord carried my crew of big creatures to victory every time she hit the board. Combine this ability with an Atarka’s Command and watch your opponent immediately proceed to scoop phase.

What Didn’t Work?

The Matchups

I designed the deck and sideboard with control decks in mind, but I didn’t play any. I was matched up against midrange aggro, B/W lifegain (Atarka’s Command has text), Naya CoCo, and G/W Tokens. Each matchup was either fairly balanced or lopsided a little in my favor. I was very pleased with how well the deck played against GW tokens. I was always able to drop a steady stream of creatures and apply pressure to planeswalkers. At one point in the game I was able to enable trample to swing through an army of tokens, kill a Gideon and then Atarka’s Command to bring down a Nissa, effectively performing a one-sided board wipe. 

I wanted to run against Languish, because I’m truly not sure how my deck would hold up against a deck running that card. After the board I feel more confident with the power combo of Ulvenwald Mysteries and Evolutionary Leap. I also desperately wanted to try Scab-Clan Berserker, but I didn’t face down anyone running decks that wanted to chain non-creature spells. 

What I’m saying right now is, everything worked exactly the way I wanted it to, but I didn’t get to test the deck against what I wanted to build it to beat. More experience will reveal flaws, but the deck ran smooth almost every time (the two games I bricked on red sources aside) and proved to be resilient and powerful.

Summary

Sleeve this up and have fun. It works, and it works well. 

Until next time,

-Clintok’

[mtg-clintok-blog]

Bant Clues

The Brew So Spicy It’s Banned in 37 Countries

It’s been a minute, and I just haven’t had a lot of time to share my wacky new SOI Standard brews, but rest assured, the distillery is firing on all cylinders and the FNM warfare continues. The past two weeks I’ve been kicking around a deck that I conceived during spoiler season, a crazy Bant clues deck that monopolizes the disgusting amount of synergy present in cards that generate, and sacrifice, the seemingly harmless clue tokens. The deck has been greeted with a decent level of success, and its failures stem from my lack of time to dedicate to playtest and refine the list. Games with the deck always gather a crowd at my local FNM and generate a lot of chatter. Enough about that though, here is the current list I’m running with.

Bant Clues

Lands - 25

4x Evolving Wilds 5x Island 2x Forest 2x Plains 2x Canopy Vista 2x Prairie Stream 2x Yavimaya Coast 2x Lumbering Falls 2x Fortified Village 2x Port Town

Critters - 19

4x Tireless Tracker 4x Reflector Mage 4x Thraben Inspector 4x Whirler Rogue 3x Erdwall Illuminator

Other - 16

4x Confront the Unknown 4x Dromoka’s Command 3x Declaration in Stone 3x Thopter Spy Network 2x Tamiyo’s Journal

Sideboard - 15

1x Sigarda, Heron’s Host 1x Dragonlord Ojutai 1x Dragonlord Dromoka 3x Negate 1x Spell Shrivel 2x Eerie Interlude 2x Hallowed Moonlight 2x Clip Wings 2x Evolutionary Leap

The deck is oozing with synergy and various ways to generate advantage. If the game goes long, you will win. It will take a while, but once the deck is firing on all cylinders it’s impossible to shut down. It will outgrind control decks and can survive for extended periods of time against the relatively mid-range heavy meta. 

Some things to bear in mind when reviewing/playing this deck...

Whirler Rogue says ‘Artifact’, not ‘thoper’, not ‘artifact creature’, just ‘Artifact’. This means your clues, and you will make a lot of them, can all be tapped two at a time to make your creatures unblockable. This, just like in aristocrats, leads to wins, especially when you’re packing Tireless Trackers.

Tireless Tracker doesn’t care why a clue gets sacrificed, only that it does. That means if you use Tamiyo’s Journal to search up a card, he gets 3 +1/+1 counters. If you have multiple Trackers, that’s just gravy.

Thopter Spy Network triggers off of artifacts, so if you have a clue, and you will, you’ll get a thopter. Thopter Spy Network in conjunction with clue generators creates MASSIVE card advantage. 

This is essentially a combo deck that wants to flood the board with clues and win on Confront the Unknown. Confront the Unknown says ‘Investigate’, THEN give the creature a bonus. With Erdwall Illuminator, or multiple Erdwall Illuminators, this card is a win condition.

Erdwall Illuminator works the first time EACH TURN, so if you have an Evolving Wilds and a Tireless Tracker, drop the wilds on your turn and fetch during your opponents turn for more clues. 

What Works

Synergy

Every card in this deck does something great when coupled with something else. 

Resilience

This deck has managed to defy insane odds, outlast opponents, and crush your opponent under a wave of card advantage and explosive damage.

The Meta

The current meta truly favors this deck. Bant CoCo can’t deal with flyers and other token generators gumming up the board. U/R goggles decks roll over and die to the forgotten ‘negate all damage’ ability on Dromoka’s Command. It outlasts B/W control. It can block flyers for days. Sweepers don’t kill clues or Thopter Spy Networks.

What Doesn’t Work

The Sideboard

It’s very much a work in progress. I completely forgot about Graf Mole, which is a must against more aggressive decks that want to shut you down before your clue and Thopter Engines are online. I never find myself wanting to board in the sweeper protection of Erie Interlude or Evolutionary Leap, but I’m just not sure what else to put in. It feels like every game I’m just jamming Sigarda and a bunch of Negates, but I know I could do better.

Hand Disruption

Thought-Knot Seer, Transgress, Duress and friends can really ruin your game plan. On top of letting your opponent see what you’re planning, they then get to mess up your game plan. Usually you can draw enough cards with clues to overcome the disruption, but it’s going to be a very uphill battle.

GW Tokens

I think this is the best deck in standard, and it’s just so hard to beat. I’m not really sure how to do it unless they get a bad game, but you can’t really bank on that. 

Going Forward

The deck is not tuned, and since I only get my local FNM to play and refine my list, it’s still very in the early stages of development. Thopter Spy Network is often either the best or worst card in the deck, so I’m not sure if it should go in favor of something like Briarbridge Patrol or some of the excellent clue generating enchantments like Ongoing Investigation or Ulvenwald Mysteries. 

Give this deck a whirl. You haven’t lived until you swing in for 30+ damage off of a Tireless Tracker and a Confront the Unknown or held an Ojutai at bay for an entire game with an endless stream of Thopter Tokens. If you have thoughts, ideas, or can think of anything I’ve overlooked, leave me a note!

Until next time!

-Clintok’

[mtg-clintok-blog]

Esper Aristocrats in SOI Standard

Let’s Get This Brew Out of the Distillery

Aristocrats was the most fun deck I played in the last standard block, and probably the most successful. I played around with Jund, Grixis, and Esper. Unfortunately, with the most Humble of Defectors gone, I don’t really see a home for Agrixocrats moving forward. Not only does the loss of one of my favorite cards move me towards another color, but the raw power of white with SOI is not to be ignored, especially this little beauty:

Get used to this card, it is a format staple. I think decks will be mainboarding four of these for the foreseeable future, and with good reason. Semi-unconditional exile for two mana is way too goddamn good to pass up. The other push towards Esper is because of one other OP card floating around.

Yup, this card is still op.

The List

Lands - 24

4x Evolving Wilds 4x Shambling Vent 1x Plains 2x Island 3x Swamp 4x Sunken Hollow 2x Prairie Stream 1x Port Town 2x Choked Estuary 1x Westvale Abbey

Critters - 27

2x Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim 2x Liliana, Heretical Healer 4x Zulaport Cutthroat 4x Nantuko Husk 3x Sidisi’s Faithful 4x Hangarback Walker 4x Whirler Rogue 4x Reflector Mage

Other - 9

3x Ultimate Price 4x Declaration in Stone 1x Sorin, Grim Nemesis 1x Vampiric Rites

Sideboard - 15

1x Ob Nixilis Reignited 1x Virulent Plague 2x Anguished Unmaking 3x Negate 4x Transgress the Mind 2x Hallowed Moonlight 2x Ruinous Path

The Game Hasn’t Changed

We are still looking for ways to survive until the win condition comes down, fortunately, we’ve got quite a few ways to outlast our opponents and quite a few ways to finish the game off with style. The wombo combo of Natuko Husk and Whirler Rogue is still present. The slow grind of Zulaport Cuthroat and various sac outlets are present, and all the great Lili tricks are still present. This rendition of Aristocrats also lands Sorin, who is a top end finisher all by himself, and Westvale Abbey, which feeds the sac driven power of the deck.

The removal suite is hot, much better than previous iterations of Aristocrats, where you pretty much were riding on murderous cut to save you. Now we have the aforementioned Declaration in Stone and the slowly shaping meta allow for main deck Ultimate Price. There will be lots of Avacyn and lots of mono-white humans. It also punches public enemy number one, Kalitas, right in the dick.

Gonna’ give this deck a spin this weekend and see how it plays. The mana could probably use some tweaks and I may end up going to two Ultimate Price, but we’ll see how it shakes out.

Until next time,

-Clintok

Reblog with your favorite Magic: the Gathering card.

[magic-edh-talk]

Mycosynth Lattice

[blogging-phelddagrif]

Phelddagrif

[lilianavoldaren]

Death Cloud

[doctor-roman]

Tie between Martial Coup and Cathars’ Crusade.

[doctor-roman]

>tags

You’re a terrible person only if you don’t follow it up with Rise of the Dark Realms.

[trans-mouse]

Probably lightning bolt

[tlatotem]

Phyrexian Walker

[keranos-god-of-storm-crows]

Werebear

[fossil-finder]

Quicksilver amulet

[freakishlymtg]

Elesh Norn, Grand Cinobite tied with Olivia Voldaren

[amoregloriousdawn]

This is an insane question and basically impossible, but, uh… Mistbind Clique.

[dragonwithgoggles]

I have too many favorite cards. Today I’m going to say Huntmaster of the Fells/Ravager of the Fells

[mindtheglow]

Bloodline Keeper is an absolutely fantastic card

[grixismtg]

My favorite cards are the basic lands. Without them nothing else would be playable. Forest, you tha real G.

[imperialseal-deactivated2020060]

Unsummon

[recapdrake]

Gisela blade of Goldnight

[comcast-official]

Master Transmuter!

[lady-olynder-mortarch-of-grief]

Tie between Pain Seer and Monastery Swiftspeer.

[generally-edh]

Ob Nixilis the Fallen. My first mythic ever!

[thalia-guardian-of-thraben]

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben.

Predictable, I know. 

[scalding-karn]

Darksteel Colossus.

[mirapunk]

Alesha, Who Smiles at Death! I love her so much!!

[spuriusbrocoli]

Uuuuuhhhhhh, I suppose Falkenrath Aristocrat?

[derdoktorsschnabel-deactivated2]

Conjurer’s closet

[flavoracle]

VIGOR

[follower-of-liliana]

Abyssal Persecutor !!!!

[wort-boggart-auntie-deactivated]

Spike jester

[foilmountain]

Wheel of Fortune

[magicjudge]

Bronze Sable

[mtg-clintok-blog]

Thundermaw Hellkite

[mtg-clintok-blog]

Watching the Gates: OGW and Standard pt. 3

Eldrazi Ramp: The Most Exciting 1 Player Game Ever

Eldrazi Ramp is really a thing, and if you aren’t prepared for it, you will lose to it. Playing against Eldrazi Ramp is kind of like watching the ticker on a bomb slowly drop. Your opponent plays lands, maybe a Jaddi Offshoot, and then starts ramping on turn 3. A Nissa’s Awakening on 3 into an Explosive Vegetation on 4 generally leads to any number of small ordinance bombs (Atarka, Ugin, Oblivion Sower, whatever) before laying the supreme smack down with Ulamog. I’m still not completely sure exactly how to approach the deck without Infinite Obliteration, but the deck is about to get more robust and as a result, much stronger. 

Let’s start with the obvious:

Yup, that’s a card. It used to be that when your opponent dropped Ulamog, it was the last card in their hand and as long as you could wriggle around him you could still win. Well, those days are done. All those blank ramp spells left in your deck are theoretical counterspells now. Most of those ramp spells counter the more common answers to your big Eldrazi friends, Nissa’s Pilgrimage and Map the Wastes counter Crackling Doom and Foul Tongue while Explosive Vegetation counters Utter End. Kozilek isn’t indestructible, so he’s going to Murderous Cut bait, but if your opponent doesn’t/can’t answer him the game will be over quickly. 

The Eldrazi also got a new way to take care of those annoying aggro decks:

This card is fucking bonkers. A colorless instant speed Whipflare is exactly what you want at turn 3 in the right matchup. Then, later, when you’re getting ready to start dropping the bombs, you can exile it to destroy everything that is Siege Rhino or smaller. How do you set it off though? Well...

This cracked out Acidic Slime should do the trick. This guy is solid and gives you an out for when your opponent manages to do something about your titans. He doesn’t hit creatures, but after your Kozilek’s Return goes off, do you really need it to?

There are not a lot of big additions to the ramp deck, but what you have is a few cards that shore up some core weaknesses in the deck. Eldrazi Ramp is a real player, and there is a lot of room for innovation in the archetype. Last FNM I saw a version running Surrak, the Hunt Caller to make sure the big Eldrazi had haste when they hit and was running Conduit of Ruin to both tutor up the big boys and make them cheaper. 

Until next time!

-Clintok’

[mtg-clintok-blog]

Watching the Gates: OGW and Standard pt. 2

It’s Easy Being Not Green

Today I’m going to be taking a look at OGW and how it will affect another major standard archetype, the non-green decks, more commonly referred to as ‘Dark Jeskai’ or ‘Mardu Blue’. I’ll be looking at these decks from the perspective of their core purpose, which is a grindy tempo/control deck. It’s obnoxious, versatile, and irritating to play against, but it’s good and popular.

Let’s start with this spicy hotness:

She’s six mana, she’s on fire, she looks like she’s running through a classic NES video game, and she’s everything you want. Chandra can sweep a board when she hits, pitch your crappy hand for a better hand +1, or, if you’ve already cleared the board, start clocking your opponent for six a turn. The six mana may put some people off, but she only costs 1 more than Sarkhan and Ob-Nix, and both of those walkers have readily found homes in the ‘non-green’ shells, and neither one of them brings the level of utility that Chandra does. I expect to see her replacing her aforementioned counterparts in the non-green shells.

I may be off base on this one, but I truly feel like this card would make a nice addition to the heavy burn suite that your average Dark Jeskai deck is packing. You will likely never use this card for its non-surge cost, but when you cast it for its surge cost it’s really nuts. First, it’s an instant, so if you want to casually drop a Fiery Impulse during your opponent’s end step you can follow up with this beast, knocking out up to two creatures OR a creature and the opponent’s dome. Your Soulfire Grandmaster will love you for playing this card. Any deck packing cards like Exquisite Firecraft could easily fit this in, you could even slice a few Fiery Impulse in favor of one or two of this card. 

This may be my favorite card of the set. It’s simple, beautiful, elegant, and in the right colors. I haven’t wanted a merchick this bad since The Little Mermaid. In Dark Jeskai, just how often do you cast two spells a turn? The answer is not very, but if you know you’re gonna’ get a card out of the deal, especially in a deck designed to eek out every little bit of card advantage available, you’ll be more likely to do so. This card makes Painful Truths and Treasure Cruise into potential draw 4′s, and you get the card even if the second spell gets countered. 

Finally, we have this guy. I really really like this card, but I’m not quite sure it’s going to get there. The tempo swing he generates is awesome, especially if a Duress has left you knowing that your opponent only has the creature you bounce in their hand. It’s never bad to bounce a creature and lock your opponent out of playing it, especially if you finally drew that counterspell you didn’t have when the critter was cast. Now, when you couple this guy with the ol’ Blinkdrazi, you’re gonna’ have a good time and are likely to lock some opponents completely out of the game. 

That pretty much sums up my perspective. Did I miss anything? Drop me a note!

Check back next time when i’ll be checking out Eldrazi Ramp.

-Clintok’

[mtg-clintok-blog]

Watching the Gates: OGW and Standard

The OGW complete spoiler has been live for a few days, and it’s good, if a little wonky. There will be some new archetypes born from its very odd offerings, meanwhile, some existing archetypes will get stronger and some old ones will simply fizzle out. Just how will this new set affect standard? Let’s start by taking a look at what OGW has to offer the existing decks in the format.

Abzan Aggro

The most boring archetype of them all finally gets some cards that make it, well, a little less boring, but not by much. Let’s start with this dude:

2 mana for a 2/3 with Vigilance or a 2 mana 4/5 with Vigilance if you draw it late? Yup, sign me up. I like to play Abzan Aggro and as such, I like to not have to think about what makes creatures good, I only care that they are. The big reason this guy is great in Abzan Aggro isn’t because of how good he is by himself (and he is), but because of what he does to the 4 Shambling Vents that come stock in the deck. When your lowly 2/3 Shambling Vents are suddenly 4/5 lifelinkers they become a LOT more intimidating and MUCH harder to deal with. You can pretty much expect Snapping Gnarlid and maybe Hangarback Walker getting cut in favor this guy.

I’m not entirely sure how this guy made it out of playtest, but he did, and the world will be a much worse place because of it. He’s a 3/3 for 3, great, but it’s that ability that makes him gross. Abzan Aggro plays two big creatures with great ETB effects, namely Siege Rhino and Wingmate Roc. Blinking Rhino is pretty self-explanatory, you generate a six point life swing at instant speed for three mana, which is already stupid. Wingmate Roc though, he’s arguably worse. The bird hits turn five, the next turn, if you’re on six mana and swing with your bird (and you should), why not blink him a couple more times and make two more bird tokens? Then just keep doing it forever? Sounds great! The cost of playing this guy involves slicing Shambling Vents and a few other lands in favor of Llanowar Wastes and Caves of Koilos, but trust me, it’s gonna’ be worth it. He does all of these wonderful proactive things, and he brings massive defensive and disruptive capabilities as well (sorry about that Hangarback bro). Expect this guy to make serious waves all over the place, not just Abzan Aggro (the parents Nalaar love this guy too). Expect the stock of Hallowed Moonlight to rise.

Meanwhile, in the less exciting world of sideboards, we get:

This is a beautiful sideboard card that I predict will be seeing lots of sideboard play. I’m not totally sure that the Oaths will see a lot of play, nor am I sure you’ll want to kill them, but Silkwrap? Hell yeah I want to kill Silkwrap at instant speed. Don’t forget, Silkwrap is an ETB effect, meaning you can kill it with this before it exiles your shit. Dromoka’s Command is probably a better choice, but in some situations you just don’t want to give players a choice about which enchantment to sac OR you don’t want to waste a mode on making them sac an enchantment. 

That’s all for now, check back later when I take a look at the equally boring yet infinitely more complex variations on the ‘not-green’ archetype. 

Until next time,

-Clintok’

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So I Dropped...

I’ve been working with the Temur White list for about three weeks and really trying to make a mix that works well. As it turns out, some things just work better in principle than in practice, and often times when playing Temur or any other ‘big dumb creatures’ deck, the game often boils down to you either drawing what you need or, well, not drawing what you need. Tonight’s FNM was basically the latter, as it has been the last few weeks.

It’s intensely frustrating when you only get one night a week to really test an experimental build against a field. It’s hard to say exactly what works well and what doesn’t based on four rounds, and waiting for a week between iterations makes thoughtful iteration difficult. What’s even more frustrating is when you spend several turns in several games with consecutive land draws. Luck and variance are present in all card games, but the amount of bad luck I’ve been having since running the Temur deck has just been outrageous. 

The first week I played the Temur White shell, I flooded hard every game. I was on 25 lands and running four mana dorks, which is excessive, and getting flooded happens. One game in particular, I happened to drop a turn 3 Outpost Siege with some help from my Rattleclaw Mystic. That game lasted for about 12 more turns. I flipped a Counterspell and drew a land one turn, flipped a Valorous Stance on an empty board and drew a land the next turn, then proceeded to flip lands for the remaining ten. The second week I had similarly inconsistent results. I tweaked the deck and brought it down to 24 lands and removed all the mana dorks in favor of Abbot of Keral Keep (to, y’know, increase my chances of seeing cards I like). I STILL proceeded to flood out like nobody’s business. Several consecutive turns of land draws would yield a Treasure Cruise, which in turn would yield two more lands and a creature. 

The same thing happened tonight.  The final nail for this deck’s coffin came in round 3 (of what would typically be 4). I was playing a mirror against a clumsy opponent who was running one more land than I was. However, I proceeded to draw lands for eight consecutive turns, my only creature being a Shaman of the Great hunt, which hit the board on turn 4 after my opponent’s Woodland Wanderer had been Disdainful Stroked. My Shaman was hit with a Draconic Roar. Four consecutive land draws later I was dead. My opponent proceeded to play large creatures every turn for the remainder of the game. The combination of feeling helpless, frustrated, and unlucky just leads to negative experiences. Not wanting to continue with the charade of playing a ‘game’ of Magic, I signed my slip and promptly dropped, cutting my losses and heading home early.

I never drop. FNM is my jam, I spend most of my week looking forward to it and, win or lose, I’m just wanting to play some good games of Magic. Ever since picking up this Temur shell, it just feels like the games are completely lopsided in either my opponent’s favor or my own, and those aren’t fun for either player. 

The worst part is I’m still not sure if the Temur shell is any good or not. I feel like it should be, but the statistically awful bad beats I’ve been facing down with it lead me to believe that the deck is actually just bad. With that in mind, it’s back to the tried and tested Agrixocrats. I suppose that, as a player, I always need to feel I have options. When my deck’s only real game plan is to play creatures that outclass my opponent’s creatures and then turn them sideways I feel that I am solely at the mercy of the top card, which must be how Abzan players feel, and I hate Abzan. My takeaway from this is that I need a deck that is complicated, I need huge lines of play, and I really, truly, need a deck that punishes my opponent for making mistakes. Temur just doesn’t do that, it’s more or less like playing bad Abzan. 

Next week is the last week of this standard format, and it will be sent off properly with a healthy dose of Agrixocrats.

Until next time,

-Clintok’

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Long Time Comin’

Spoiler season is here and the gears are churning, but that’s for another time that I have a spare hour or so. This go around I’m gonna’ talk about last week’s Wednesday Night Magic, aka, four of the worst rounds of Magic I’ve ever played. Let’s start with the list:

Lands - 25

4x Windswept Heath 4x Flooded Strand 4x Wooded Foothills 1x Plains 1x Island 1x Mountain 1x Forest 2x Mystic Monastery 2x Frontier Bivouac 1x Canopy Vista 2x Cinder Glade 2x Prairie Stream

Critters - 19

3x Woodland Wanderer 4x Seeker of the Way 4x Mantis Rider 4x Savage Knuckleblade 4x Rattleclaw Mystic

Other - 16

3x Fiery Impulse 2x Treasure Cruise 1x Wild Slash 2x Jeskai Charm 2x Valorous Stance 2x Roast 2x Stubborn Denial 2x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

Sideboard - 15

2x Roast 3x Disdainful Stroke 2x Radiant Flames 2x Outpost Siege 2x Den Protector 1x Exert Influence 3x Surge of Righteousness

Basically I wanted to do a straight up 4 color beatdown using a little ramp and the raw power of Savage Knuckleblade, Mantis Rider, and Woodland Wanderer. What I got instead was a night of games where I’m not sure if I screwed up or if the deck just doesn’t work. Time to review.

Luck vs. Manabase

I got flooded, super hard, in so many games. In one game, I dropped a turn 3 Outpost Siege with the help of a Rattleclaw Mystic, and proceeded to hit a land on it every turn for the next ten turns. A deck with this curve demands at least 24 lands, and running one more shouldn’t cause too much statistical variance in terms of how many you draw in a given game. On the one hand, I never, ever, didn’t hit my colors. On the other hand, I couldn’t do anything because I felt like I was constantly drawing lands and not hitting any action. 

Trouble with the Curve

In an ideal world, the deck will curve a two drop (Seeker, Ratteclaw) into a sick three or four drop (every other card). However, most games, I caught myself throwing out a two drop and then casting a whole lot of nothing afterword. A single Seeker of the Way or Rattleclaw Mystic don’t do much against an Abbot of Keral Keep that turns into another Abbot into a land on turn 4. I was generally feeling outclassed, mostly because my heavy hitters never made enough of a difference.

Tempo Loss

Jeskai Charm is a neat card, really it is, but trying to drop creatures and hold up spells gets really hard when your primary sources of damage cost 3-4 mana. Additionally, when my threats cost 3-4 mana, they are easy bait for the abundant removal in the environment. By turn 3, an opponent will have turned on Crackling Doom, Murderous Cut, or Valorous Stance, all of which do a great deal of work against a deck that is trying to win with big stuff. It was hard for me to stick a threat and have it last long enough to make a difference in the game. 

Utility Hurts Consistency

This deck comes equipped with a wide range on answers, and not one of them comes as a package of four. This is good and bad. The good news is your opponent is on their toes and don’t know what to expect. The bad is that you only have so many cards that work in a given match. After the board it levels out a little, but the variance in game one is really high.

Solutions

Pick up the Pace

The deck needs to be faster, and ramping into four drops, even Woodland Wanderer, isn’t really what I want to be doing with my two drops. I learned very quickly after a few rounds against streamlined aggro decks that Abbot of Keral Keep is goddamned amazing. It’s a nice threat on its own, and its ability to generate some card advantage makes it a good draw at any point in the game. Poor Rattleclaw Mysic is only good on turn 2, and even then, only when you’re getting ready to drop a non-Gideon four drop, so basically just Woodland Wanderer. 

Go for the Face

I personally like the spell base of the deck. I like a lot of robust threats that I can change going into subsequent rounds. The issue is that they don’t do enough of two specific things, which is protect my shit and punch my opponent in the dick. 

Less Durdle

Going to 24 lands seems like the right decision, but also, the colors need to be re-evaluated. There is just too much going down, and there is a real need to settle of what colors I want to be and what color gets splashed. The spread of colors in the mana cost of the cards is too even for each. 

The Revised List

Lands - 24

4x Windswept Heath 4x Wooded Foothills 3x Flooded Strand 1x Prairie Stream 2x Cinder Glade 1x Canopy Vista 2x Frontier Bivouac 2x Mystic Monastery 2x Mountain 1x Forest 1x Island 1x Plains

Critters - 22

4x Savage Knuckleblade 4x Abbot of Keral Keep 2x Woodland Wanderer 4x Thunderbreak Regent 4x Heir of the Wilds 4x Mantis Rider

Other - 14

3x Stubborn Denial 3x Fiery Impulse 1x Wild Slash 2x Roast 2x Treasure Cruise 3x Crater’s Claws Sideboard - 15

4x Radiant Flames 2x Roast 3x Disdainful Stroke 2x Feed the Clan 1x Exert Influence 1x Dromoka’s Command 2x Outpost Siege

I feel like this shell is a little tighter and runs with a slightly more consistent theme, which is to make your opponent dead with a lot of midrange threats. I’m on the fence about not including Rattleclaw Mystic, but I want my two drops to do more than just tap for mana. Abbot grants an extra card and has prowess, while Heir of the Wilds is a well-rounded threat that trades up in the mid-late game. This also dips much more heavily into red while firmly placing white into splash territory. It also has access to Thunderbreak Regent, which is an excellent evasive beast that punishes my opponent for removing him, especially when there are multiples. 

I’ll be bringing this deck around on the first day of 2016. If it fails, there’s always Jeskai Prowess Overload in the wings. 

Until next time!

-Clintok’

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Degenerate Defector Rides Again

Agrixocrats was mainly inspired by my desire to continue playing with my favorite card from Fate Reforged, Humble Defector. 

This card is admittedly very silly, but it has worked wonders for me in the Agrixocrats and one other deck that I played before the BFZ standard rotation, a deck I called Degenerate Defector. The goal of Degenerate Defector is to use Humble Defector in conjunction with Jeskai Ascendancy to get as many instances of Defector’s ability on the stack as possible while burning out the opponent and building up prowess/Ascendancy stacks to finish off opponents. The absence of cards like Lightning Strike and Stoke the Flames make Degenerate Defector a little less reliable, but that doesn’t mean that playing it is completely off the table. In fact, the meta has shifted to a point where Degenerate Defector may once again be a viable deck. The environment is slower, supports four color builds, and instant speed spot removal is at an all time premium. So, I give you, Degenerate Defector Rides Again!

Lands - 24

4x Wooded Foothills 4x Flooded Strand 3x Windswept Heath 1x Island 1x Mountain 1x Forest 1x Plains 2x Prairie Stream 2x Canopy Vista 1x Cinder Glade 2x Mystic Monastery 2x Frontier Bivouac

Creatures - 14

4x Humble Defector 4x Seeker of the Way 4x Rattleclaw Mystic 2x Soulfire Grandmaster

Other - 22

4x Jeskai Ascendancy 3x Fiery Impulse 3x Wild Slash 2x Jeskai Charm 2x Ojutai’s Command 3x Collateral Damage 2x Dig Through Time 3x Atarka’s Command

Sideboard - 15

2x Radiant Flames 4x Surge of Righteousness 3x Dispel 3x Fiery Conclusion 3x Negate

This is how the deck gets down, you get a Humble Defector, Rattlecraw Mystic, and a Jeskai Ascendancy on the board, then you just go nuts. Put Humble Defector’s ability on the stack, use the Rattleclaw to cast something, anything instant speed, untap Defector w/ Jeskai Ascendancy, and use him again. Most of the spells are burn, so a Soulfire Grandmaster on the board just adds to the fun. It’s basically the old Jeskai Ascendancy combo deck, but cooler.

Gonna’ slap this guy together and take it for a spin this week. Until next time!

-Clintok’

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Not sure why there are so many questions popping up around how the colorless mana works. Seems pretty simple.

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The Continuing Adventures of the Agrixocrats!

The fun never stops. I had a rough FNM last week, which saw some of the worst aspects of the Agrixocrats come swimming to the surface. Fortunately, I’ve packed in some changes to try to compensate for some of those weaknesses.

You know what sucks? Drawing Tango Lands without basics or fetches to let them hit the board tapped. Granted, in a deck with six tango lands it is something of a statistical anomaly to end up with your first four (and only) lands in a game to be tango lands, but this happened twice. When you’re trying to beat down your opponent tap lands really ruin your goddamn day. The solution? Well, it’s a bad one, I think. I cut a Smoldering Marsh for a Mountain, bringing the tango count to five and upping the basic land count to eight. Hopefully this will help make sure my tango lands hit untapped on turn 3, like they’re supposed to.

The other, much bigger problem though, is Abzan. Man, just fuck these guys, or more specifically, this gal...

BOO ANAFENZA! YOU SUCK! She’s just outside of the reach of Collateral Damage and blanks a lot of interactions. One round last week I faced down turn three Anafenza in back to back games, and got shamefully rolled both times. Even after the board I was left with little I could do. With the horrendous matchup against Abzan and my all consuming hatred of it I have decided to revisit the board and seek out alternate answers.

The New Sideboard

3x Self-Inflicted Wound 3x Negate 2x Duress 2x Act of Treason 2x Ultimate Price

and finally, 3x Fiery Conclusion!

That’s right, Fiery goddamn Conclusion. I thought about Roast but that’s not really keeping much with the theme. When I tap my Humble Defector for cards you damn well better believe I’m going to make sure he blows up, and if he can blow up in the face of Anafenza, Siege Rhino, Tasigur, or pretty much any other creature out there, then I’m going to be a happy panda. Depending on how it goes this card may just replace Collateral Damage in the main board, but I’m doubtful.

FNM tomorrow. The Agrixocrats are ready.

[commandollar]

[mtg-clintok-blog]

Esper Arostocrats incoming!

[mtg-clintok-blog]

FNM Recap - Agrixocrats

Whatever Kills Me Only Makes Me Stronger

Been a minute, but I feel the need to make an update. I’ve spent the last two weeks on a whirlwind love affair with my new standard standby, Grixis Aristocrats. The deck has a ton of complex interactions and is entirely too fun to get away from. Some aggressive trades and extensive practice have helped me mold the shell from a fun concept to a genuinely competitive deck that always seems down, but is never out.

The current list is...

Lands - 23

4x Polluted Delta 4x Bloostained Mire 3x Sunken Hollow 3x Smoldering Marsh 2x Shivan Reef 1x Mountain 1x Island 5x Swamp

Critters - 29

4x Bloodsoaked Champion 4x Zulaport Cutthroat 4x Nantuko Husk 4x Hangarback Walker 4x Sidisi’s Faithful 4x Whirler Rogue 3x Humble Defector 2x Liliana, Heretical Healer

Other - 8

4x Collateral Damage 3x Murderous Cut 1x Vampiric Rites

Sideboard - 15

2x Rending Volley 2x Horribly Awry 2x Act of Treason 2x Duress 2x Radiant Flames 2x Ultimate Price 3x Negate

The addition of red does three great things. It smooths out the mana base, it lets you play Collateral Damage, and, most importantly, it lets you play Humble Defector.

Performance

A standard FNM for me consists of 4 rounds of swiss against 35 or so quality players with quality lists. 11/20/2015 brought a 4-0 record against two Atarka Red decks, a stock Abzan Aggro deck, and Esper Control. The 11-27-2015 FNM was a 3-1 record with one (very close) loss to my friend Bill and his Dark Jeskai (control) build. The other matchups were B/R Eldrazi Aggro, Esper Warriors, and CoCo Allies. The deck’s only truly unfavorable matchup is Abzan Aggro, all because of ‘Anafenza, the Foremost’. After adding Horribly Awry, Rending Volley, and Act of Treason from the board, the match gets much easier. 

Atarka Red

Aristocrats has two things that really mess up Atarka Red’s day. A lot of expendable blockers and life gain. An early Sidisi’s Faithful really puts the hurt on Atarka Red’s game plan, not so much because it bounces creatures but because it’s got a big four toughness ass. You can generally keep them off your land long enough to run them out of gas. Be sure to sit on Murderous Cut if they try to combo off on you. When it comes time to board, take out a couple Bloodsoaked Champions (he has two shields but somehow can’t block), a Murderous Cut, and a Collateral Damage for two Radiant Flames and two Ultimate Price. 

Dark Jeskai

There are two versions of this deck, and both of them are obnoxious. They pack a ton of spot removal, but for the most part, we don’t really care if our stuff dies. Collateral Damage does a good job of picking off Mantis Riders and a single Whirler Rogue will buy you plenty of time against any you can’t kill. The hardest part about playing against this deck is Crackling Doom. You basically can’t bank of comboing out on them with Nantuko Husk, which turns this match into a ferocious mental grinder. I really feel like this match is about 50/50 pre-board. Thankfully, aristocrats is super hard to board against, and the addition of Duress and Negate (possibly Horribly Awry) tip the scales heavily in our favor. 

Abzan

Every flavor of Abzan is brutal. Truly this match sucks. If they drop Anafenza on you and you don’t have a Murderous Cut you’re gonna’ have a bad time. Anafenza shuts off Hangarback Walker, Zulaport Cutthroat, Bloodsoaked Champion, and Liliana. You can hole up on a Sidisi’s Faithful to buy you a much needed turn to try to combo off, but even still you have to chance your Nantuko Husk running afoul of an Abzan Charm and ruining your day. After the board things get a little easier. Take out Vampiric Rites (aka, Dromoka’s Command bait) , a few Collateral Damage (it hits basically nothing), and a couple critters to add in Act of Treason, Rending Volley, and Horribly Awry. I am considering adding Self-Inflicted Wound as well, but there always seems to be a Warden of the First Tree they’re willing to sacrifice, and ultimately that card isn’t too big of a concern for us. 

Esper Control/Dragons

This matchup is heavily dependent on Bloodsoaked Champion. A turn 1 Bloodsoaked Champion does a TON of work on this deck. Most of the threats are recurring and, oddly enough, you can generally win out if this match grinds. A dead Hangarback Walker and/or a Whirler Rogue keeps Ojutai from connecting and ruining your day. In the board, cut Sidisi’s Faithful and Murderous Cut for Act of Treason, Rending Volley, Negate, and Duress. There is nothing more satisfying that stealing Ojutai, clocking the opponent with him, and then sacrificing it for them. Even if you lose after that, you’ve won the moral victory and are free to drop the mic.  

Ramp Nonsense

This deck is very popular, and I’ve yet to run into it, but I’m confident in the matchup. Aristocrats has a fairly strong early game while the ramp decks don’t really have one. It will likely boil down to a clock of whoever gets their winners out first, and with the early aggressive edge on the Aristocrats I think it would win out. In the board just grab Negate and Act of Treason. The only thing that could be better than stealing Ojutai would be to steal an Ulamog. 

Take the Aristocrats for a spin. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

Until next time!

-Clintok’