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!