duuuuuuuuuuuuuude

-Greg

So, Gen Con PTQs, all told, would've cost us around $120 each. Per tournament.

So we bailed.

On the plus side, there are two more PTQs this season within driving distance of us: Detroit and Des Moines. We're not sure if we're going to either at this point, but we normally don't make up our minds until a few days before anyway.

Anyway, if you guys are in the area, Brenna and I will be going to FNM this weekend at the Lich's Lair in Lansing, IL. We'll also probably be doing an M10 sealed at our place Saturday, so if anyone wants in on it just message me. Good luck finding M10 packs!

So, anyway, about decks: I have no idea what to do in Standard right now. Control decks are huge right now, and so a deck should take advantage of the glacial speed of a deck full of Vivids. On the other side of the coin, this prevelance of control means a deck has to be able to beat the fast aggro decks that crop up to take advantage of the metagame. The major sweepers going around happen at three mana (red sweepers like Fallout and Jund Charm), or five or six (white sweepers like Austere Command and Hallowed Burial), so if has a lot of creatures, it has to be able to get past turn three without losing position, and either win by or be able to recover from a turn five reset. You should also try to minimize the scale to which the biggest kill spells affect you.

In short, a deck has to be fast, have a powerful mid and late game, and be extremely resilient to destructive and disruptive tactics - basically, a deck has to be able to do anything, and recover from anything. This deck doesn't exist.

But there is one that's close. Elf Combo is good. Forge-Tender helps with the early sweepers, while cheap, efficient elves and massive card draw help recover from total resets. Cruel Ultimatum is nothing to you, as you can pitch a cheap dork to it, and if in a good position, you should be able to shrug off the life and card disadvantage. Primal Command is an enormous pain for tap-lands, and with all the accel you can get it off on turn turn three or four on a regular basis. Against aggro, you have plent of your own dorks to chump block, and Primal Command can be used to gain gratuitous amounts of life. Speaking of gratuitious amounts of life, I've been adding Soul Warden lately. I gained 25 life in one turn earlier today using Primals and one Warden.

The most important part is a splash for one card: Banefire. Banefire will flat out give you games that you have no business of winning by keeping you from having to wait a turn to rush your million elves in. It also fights through Cryptic Commands by simply blowing your opponent out in the first main phase, because chances are, they'll sand-bag it to tap your team down. Running a single mountain main might not be the best idea, but it allows you to fetch your red source from an opposing Path to Exile, which frees up your Manamorphs to help you get through your deck more quickly.

Here's the list I'm rocking at FNM tomorrow:

// Deck file for Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com)

// Lands
12 [IN] Forest (3)
3 [M10] Sunpetal Grove
2 [SHM] Wooded Bastion
1 [UNH] Mountain

// Creatures
4 [ALA] Elvish Visionary
4 [MOR] Heritage Druid
4 [R] Llanowar Elves
4 [EVE] Nettle Sentinel
4 [ALA] Ranger of Eos
4 [EVE] Regal Force
4 [M10] Elvish Archdruid
1 [LRW] Burrenton Forge-Tender
3 [SHM] Devoted Druid
1 [M10] Soul Warden

// Spells
1 [CFX] Banefire
4 [SHM] Manamorphose
4 [LRW] Primal Command

// Sideboard
SB: 3 [LRW] Burrenton Forge-Tender
SB: 4 [CFX] Path to Exile
SB: 3 [LRW] Cloudthresher
SB: 1 [M10] Naturalize
SB: 4 [SHM] Guttural Response

-Greg

Hey guys. Madison ended up being a total wash for me, and my record was completely abysmal. I got some bad draws, kept some sketchy hands, and basically paid through the nose for not being fast enough to keep up with any form of aggro. Brenna did well, going 4-3, and narrowly missing the 5-2 record she needed to finish in prizes. I'll not spoil what she was up to, as I'm hoping she'll write here about what was a really interesting day for her. BUT, the man of the hour was our buddy Matt Grandgeorge, who was debating a last-minute change to some junk deck, and instead took his Baneslayer/Cascade deck all the way to first place! Congrats, Matt.

I'll give a couple brief paragraphs in a minute about my matchups, but first I have to tell you guys this story about Magic Workstation...

There was a guy with a game open who requested you not use counters or bounce spells from shadowmoor, conflux, and some other new set. So, being a little bored of playing fair games against people who are sane, I joined. I grabbed the first deck I saw with no blue (a type 2 elf/banefire combo), and popped in.

The game was going fine for a few turns, and I had a throng of elves and a few lands on my fourth turn, to his bird of paradise and sword of fire and ice. I play primal command, choosing to bounce his equipment, and search for a guy. Here is the transcript of what happened after that.

bounce the sword, search creature
dog ears is looking its Library...
Did you read the game name?
dog ears shuffles library
dog ears stops looking its Library...
yeah, no counters
i don't have any counters :/
dog ears is looking its Library...
dog ears puts Elvish Archdruid into play from Library
dog ears shuffles library
dog ears stops looking its Library...
So you read the 2nd word and the 2nd to last word and somehow
missed all the rest?
dog ears puts Elvish Archdruid to Hand from Play
it said no shadowmoor, conflux counters or something
just a bunch of sets that you didn't like the counterspells from
it also said 'No Returns"
dude, you're playing one of the most broken pieces of
equipment of all time, and you're complaining about my primal command?
Either play the game you joined or forfeit
you forfeit!
I win
you don't
You joined my game
because i won
not the other way around
i refuse to concede
Then I suggest you choose another for Primal
if you refuse to follow the rules, then you lose automatically.
Actually, if you refuse to play the game you joined, you
automatically forfeit
Because you should have never joined in the first place
and i still say that i choose the modes of returning your
sword of fire and ice to your library's top, and i will search a
creature
so thanks for the win
yeah right
Learn to read
thank YOU for the win
because i am winning so hard
i was going to make a million elves
dog ears is now the controller of Sword of Fire and Ice
Sword of Fire and Ice's note changed: bounced
Kam is now the controller of Sword of Fire and Ice
dog ears is now the controller of Sword of Fire and Ice
dog ears puts a Sword of Fire and Ice on top of Library from Play
Kam puts Sword of Fire and Ice into play from Library
dog ears is now the controller of Sword of Fire and Ice
Kam is now the controller of Sword of Fire and Ice
dog ears is now the controller of Sword of Fire and Ice
Kam is now the controller of Sword of Fire and Ice
dog ears is now the controller of Sword of Fire and Ice
Kam is now the controller of Sword of Fire and Ice
dog ears puts a 0/1 Sore Loser token into play
Kam is now the controller of Sore Loser
dog ears is now the controller of Sore Loser
Kam is now the controller of Sore Loser


INCREDIBLE.

Anyway, the tournament:

Round 1 - 4C Bloodbraid
I totally dominated game 1, dropping creatures, countering spells, and bashing for the win in around 9 minutes. Game 2 was totally opposite, as I drew nothing relevant, and died to lots of hasty dorks. Game 3, I mulliganed to a SICK 6 card hand, and realized I had drawn seven cards. I call a judge immediately, who issues me a warning for improper mulligan, and has me go down to five. I get a one lander, and fight for surprisingly long time, but his card advantage just happened faster than mine. So, rather than losing to superior skill, I lose to my own inability to count to six, and am the only one on the team to lose round 1. Stellar.

Round 2 - Fucking Time Sieve.
Game 1 is mine again, hitting Larks for infinite Siege-Gang Commanders, and blow him out with multiple Austere Commands. Game 2 I tap out for massive board advantage, betting that he can't go off - and of course, he luck-sacks the top deck to hit me for exacties. Game 3, I walk right into a Safe Passge with lethal on the board, and lose in extension turn 4, with about 25 peole standing around us. The game was close, but his playing was just tighter than mine.

Round 3 - QUILLSPIKE COMBO
The only interesting thing to happen here was this: I punt massively by not countering Deathrender, which he uses to somehow put Progenitus on the board. I dig hard with Lark/Mulldrifter and Jace, finding two Cryptics to stall two turns, and do exactly twelve damage with Lark and an enormous Figure of Destiny to completely crush this extremely nice person's dreams.

Round 4 - RDW
These games were really boring, as his deck just couldn't get there. Runed Halos, Cryptic Commands, and Siege-Gangs are too much, and we wrap it up fast.

Round 4 - BR Aggro
This guy got total vengeance on his mono-colored counterpart, and it's over before I know it. The awful thing about magic is if your opponent gets the nuts and you don't, you're toast. I had to mulligan to five, got hit by a nasty Thought Hemorrhage for Cryptic Command (my only hope), and am forced to Halo for Hemmorhage it next turn. He smiles when I scoop, showing me two more in his hand. What an awful time.

Round 5 - Sulli Merfolk
He takes the beatdown role game one and two, taking game one with Wakethrasher + Sygg, River Guide, and I can't keep up. Next game, I lock him completely out and Banefire for the win with three life - just enough to not get Harm's Wayed to death. Game 3 I lose in some way that must have been stupid, because I didn't even write it down.

Round 6 - Soldiers
He takes me to two life two games in a row, and I lock him down and blow him out. It was pretty boring, actually. Sweep soldiers, play Larks, bounce Larks post-combat for Siege-Gangs and Anathemancers.

Round 7 - Soldiers
Two frustrating games of not drawing the right mana, and the tournament is over. Too many soldiers, not enough Austere Commands.

Reveillark Revolution

-Greg

Here's what I've been working on lately, and what I'll be rocking at the Madison PTQ this Saturday. It still needs some minor tweaking, but I am confident in the direction it's headed.

Lands
3 Island
4 Vivid Crag
2 Vivid Meadow
1 Mountain
1 Plains
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Vivid Creek
4 Mystic Gate
3 Cascade Bluffs

Guys
3 Reveillark
4 Mulldrifter
4 Figure of Destiny
3 Ajani Vengeant
2 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Anathemancer

Spells
4 Cryptic Command
2 Hindering Light
2 Austere Command
3 Volcanic Fallout
3 Path to Exile

Sideboard (not sure on this yet- you'll notice I have too many cards...)
SB: 1 Austere Command
SB: 1 Volcanic Fallout
SB: 4 Lightning Bolt
SB: 4 Negate
SB: 2 Double Negative
SB: 1 Banefire
SB: 2 Jace Beleren
SB: 2 Sower of Temptation
SB: 2 Runed Halo


The Mana
The mana base is pretty much what you'd expect from a three-colored 'Lark build - heavy on Vivids, filters, and just enough basics to get by. This is a huge liability, however, as any deck rocking their own Anathemancers (or even worse, 'Mancers and Makeshift Mannequins) is going to potentially take you to the cleaners very quickly. One blowout I can already foresee is your opponent nailing your lark with a Puppeteer Clique, swinging for four with haste, and exiling it in the end step for two of their own Anthemancers - but I digress. One way around this would be to play more basics - obviously - but I'm not sure if that's a viable option. Although it's a no-brainer for U/W Lark to utilize Border Posts, I can't see cutting four cards to add Knight of the White Orchid for acceleration. I'm also tempted by the idea of running more basics in addition to Terramorphic Expanse, but that really hinders your ability to come up with the right color combinations. It also hurts you because you just need a lot of lands on-board if you want to get there. Evoking 'Lark is great, but you need mana open for the counter wars you're going to have. As of right now, I'm just going to play around this - I'm getting pretty good at all-out Anathemancer wars against 5CC and Jund.


The Dudes
In my testing this past few weeks, I've found Glen Elendra to be an especially disappointing card, eschewing to run more 2 cc counters instead. By the time she's on the board, you've already dropped four mana, and will need two more to get full use of her. At an average of 3 mana per spell, you might as well be running Cancel. I know, I know, it's about setting your next turns up, she recurs with 'Lark - but I'm just not buying into the effectiveness or efficiency of the card, and I'm always wishing she was a Commander or Anathemancer when the time comes.

Figure and Mulldrifter were easy four-ofs, and I couldn't imagine running this deck without them. Three Reveillarks also seem to be sufficient in this build, but I won't dismiss the idea of running four.

Sower of Temptation has been mostly underwhelming, too, because of the proliferance of control and weenie decks in the meta. Sowering a Spirit Token is a total waste, and hitting a Broodmate, Chameleon Colossus, or any other fattie in Jund is going to get you an EOT Fallout or Lightning Bolt. This card might still be useful in the board, however, if you come up against some crazy build that relies on ramping into enormous beats - but there really aren't that many of them around. I'm still not sure about it, but I'm leaning towards dropping them completely. I guess it depends on what the Starcity clones are up to this week - hopefully they'll be too busy organizing Catchphrases games to realize that people are building and tuning decks to beat the Conley Woods Special and 5CC.

Siege-gang Commander is possibly the weakest link in the deck, which is a good sign because he is most definitely a powerhouse.

Anathemancer? FUCK YES.


Spellz
Trying to find what spells I need to run to fill in the weak spots in the deck has been a really difficult task, but I think what I have here (while not totally optimal on paper) is approaching the optimal build.

Cryptic Command is an easy call, and is often what gives you the firepower, gas, and flexibility to turn games around.

Austere Command is normally seen as a Janky spell, but I couldn't be more impressed by it. Hallowed Burial happens a turn sooner, sure, but there are so many decks that are completely crippled by the other two options that it makes no sense to me to run anything else - especially not when you're trying to blow up your own guys. Burial doesn't do that. Trust me, guys, with Wrath gone, Austere Command is the new hot shit.

Path and Fallout are necessary evils, and buy you the time you'll need against aggro. I'm not sure about 3 of each, but it seems to be working.

Laugh if you want, but Hindering Light is a total ass-saver. It's not perfect by any means, and I might yet be pushed to replace them with Negates or Essence Scatters (is that the M10 one? Can't remember). Another option is Flashfreeze, as it still counters a lot Jund spells, both dangerous Ultimatums, and Primal Command - none of which is a laughing matter if allowed to resolve.


The Sideboard
I'm really too tired to think of anything enlightening to say here, but I think most of the cards listed have specific, obvious roles. Double Negative is an interesting card, but will probably make the cut that gets me down to 15.



Anyway, thanks for reading, guys. Hopefully, I'll have better luck in Madison than I've had the past two PTQs, and won't be too ashamed to post a full tournament report.

Wish me luck!

LARK LARK LARK

-Greg

For the PTQ this past weekend, I decided to change decks last minute from the RWU Lark build I've been working on to Five Color Blood, I deck I have little experience with. I said to myself, what's the worst that can happen? I have plenty of experience with Cruel Control, this runs the three best cards I can think of (Cryptic, Bloodbraid, Cruel Ultimatum), and it's all nestled in a nice, removal heavy Jundy shell. NOTHING CAN GO WRONG RIGHT?

Game one, I double-double-Crueled (which is when you cast Ultimatum twice in a game, two games in a row), and I was feeling pretty OK. Kitchen Finks was doing his thing, Fallout was stellar (as always), Putrid Leech applied the early beats, and the deck was working with only minor hiccups. The mana was perfect, the curve was decent, and a deck with a few tricks is always better than a deck with no tricks.

Then everything went wrong.

Round two, I lost in a very close third game to a highly competent Faeries pilot. 1-1. Then, I played a hobbit who was playing Jund, and realized that, in my hasty building, I brought literally no answer to a Chameleon Colossus. I massively punt game three, when I inexplicably name Kitchen Finks instead of Colossus with my turn four Thought Hemorrhage. 1-2. Then, I play Faeries again, mulliganing into even weaker hands only to be triple-Mistind Cliqued in two not-so-close games. 1-3. Brenna is doing ok, so I stick around, and can hopefully regain some point loss on the rating. Next round, I'm at the why-are-you-even-here tables, and I eat this poor kid alive. He hits me with a main-deck Traumatize, and I can't even hold my laughter in. He says "Your deck is fucking amazing, why are you 1-3?" I have no idea, good sir, perhaps it is a lack of playtesting. 2-3. Then I lose two quick ones to mana screw, never finding the seventh land for my game-changing Ultimatum.

So what do I think about the deck? It's alright. It offers some oppurtunity to outplay an opponent, and on paper it has a seemingly tight game against most of the field. The problem is, you need to be drawing a land and a spell every turn - something Cascade can't always do for you. This is an especially troublesome situation against aggro, as you have to be tapping out on your turn to put up a fight, making your instants much less valuable than before. Furthermore, aggr0/control hybrids have a very real tendency to completely fold to real control decks - and there are lots of those around these days. I would definitley not recommend anyone play it anytime soon, unless they are going to use a time machine to go back to before Chapin thought it up - and even then I'd really have to recommend B/W Tokens.

Anyway, we're gearing up now for PTQ Madison on the 8th, and I'm going to stick with what I know is right - Reveillark. Stay tuned for a possible decklist after we test tonight.

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