Bump in the Night: Vampires in Post-M13 Standard

If you are looking for my Tibbles and Bits decklist and deck tech, click here! If you're interested in my most recent blog post, read on!

 

I’m just going to say it; I think the ancient Greeks had me in mind when they invented the Olympics.    A ton of sports, all at once, with contestants from all over the world.  It’s high action, there’s a lot of it, and it’s always on (well, for a couple weeks).  It’s like reality TV except it’s awesome.  It caters very well to my lack of durative attention, too.  “Aw, men’s rowing?  Pshaw, I’ll just wait five minutes and watch women’s synchronized table tennis!”  

W...what?

This is how I’ve felt lately about deckbuilding.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Tibalt and all of his awesome interactions and his sweet potential.  His deck is one of the most fun I’d made in a while.  It's synergetic, fun, interesting…I love it.  Still, though, I like to stretch my imagination, get my fingers dirty…

Last week I was out of town to visit my in-laws for a week.  It was awesome!  In my reprieve from work, I had a fair amount of downtime between tasty, home-cooked meals, outdoor excursions and air-conditioning to noodle on a deck I’d scribbled up before I left.  It revolves around a single card (as a lot of my decks do), and this one comes in the form of an unusual reprint from 2009.

Once you go black, you...well, you get +2/+1 and flying.

Not a ton of Vampire-matters cards right now.  Stromkirk Captain, sure…well, wait!  He’s red AND black!  He offers synergy in his abilities, his creature type AND his color…what if it ALL could be black?

Vampire Nocturnus has a specific problem in the current format.  He has a lot of vampire buddies, but some of them are red and therefore make his lord-like ability really awkward.  As it is, black/red vampire decks are pretty awkward and haven’t had any presence in the metagame.  I mean, it’s what I play on MTGO, but it’s because I’m cheap (or not antisocial, your choice), not because it’s good. 

So, everything needs to be black.  Yeah, it can be another color, but it’s got to be black too or it’s not in.  That way, Vampire Nocturnus will be online more often than he’s not.  Black is much deeper than it used to be back in Zendikar Vampire days, so there should be plenty we can do.  Black decks usually have to pick power over flexibility, but here, I think we can have our blood and drink it, too. 

After some tweaking, here’s an initial list.

Paint it Black

Creatures (20)

3 Vampire Nocturnus

3 Vampire Nighthawk

4 Stromkirk Captain   

3 Blood Artist

2 Dark Impostor

2 Falkenrath Aristocrat

3 Child of Night

Spells (17)

3 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

3 Dead Weight

2 Sign in Blood

3 Dismember

3 Victim of Night

3 Cower in Fear

Lands (23)

9 Swamp

4 Dragonskull Summit

3 Isolated Chapel

3 Evolving Wilds

2 Mountain

1 Plains

1 Vault of the Archangel

Sideboard

3 Geth’s Verdict

3 Bump in the Night

2 Curse of Death’s Hold

3 Bonfire of the Damned

3 Appetite for Brains

1 Olivia Voldaren

Deck Tech – Creatures

Vampire Nocturnus

Right at the helm, Papa Midnight is the lord of choice.  It gives an immediate, almost Overrun-like effect (most of the time) making it a much sweeter topdeck than a lot of other four-drops.  With 37 cards that flip its switch, it’s a pretty sure bet that he’ll be online.  Compare it to Delver; most Delver decks I’ve seen only have about 16-30 cards that support it for the exact same effect (if you think about it, +2/+1 and flying,) except Papa pumps your whole squad.  The 1BBB cost is intimidating, but with 19 out of 23 lands providing black mana (either directly or indirectly via Evolving Wilds), this doesn’t seem to be much of a problem.  You won’t always want to play him turn 4 anyway.  He’s a great surprise.

Vampire Nighthawk

The awesomest of the awesome, Darkwing Duck is the bread and butter of a lot of black midrange decks, providing about as much versatility as you can hope for in mono-black.  He’s a vampire, he flies without help, he kills anything and he wins races!

Stromkirk Captain

An uncommon lord, for sure.

First strike is an immensely powerful combat ability, and the Captain helps everything else in this deck be awesome.  He’s the only non-land 4-of, and I think that’s because he’s just a solid man by himself.  He mucks up the ground, and a pair of them can safely block a Wurmcoil Engine, any Titan, a huge Champion of the Parish, or a Silverblade Paladin.  He’s pretty sweet.

Blood Artist

This painter has won me a lot of games.  It grinds out advantage, makes combat math very difficult, and he’s on-type.  With the Captain or the Nocturnus, he can even get in there!  I’ve learned that the Artist is not really a playset guy because of his uselessness in (most) combats, but I’m happy to include a trio.  He’s also an easy board-out if they’re playing anything besides uber-aggro.

Dark Impostor

You got a little...a little tissue, sir.

This one is a bit of a gamble.  On his own, he can take over any late game barring removal, and he can swell to overcome some stat-based removal (burn or Dismember-type effects).  Though, on his own…he’s just a Scathe Zombies.  Still, I’m OK with including him because of a growing trend I’ve observed in recent matches.  In an aggro-eat-aggro world like the one in which we currently live, we thrive on the topdeck (most of the time).  Even U/W Delver often devolves to that point in a lot of matches.  He’s premium removal on a stick and with him being on type, I can’t picture a better trickster in this slot.

Falkenrath Aristocrat

Ew, hellew!

A powerful and tough-to-kill finisher, this lass can close up tight races or provide an impregnable blocker.  A sacrifice outlet is also not bad on a mucked-up board where you control a Blood Artist.  Not much else to say about this bloody lady.

Child of Night

Just got his baby fangs in!

Let me state that I am not happy about playing French vanilla Baby Midnight here, but black vampires are in short supply right now.  Truthfully, though, on the play, he’s a fine attacker.  He also helps keep your opponent on the defensive, giving you that crucial turn to help you get there.  In concert with any other Vampire, he’s outstanding.  The Captain makes him a nigh-unblockable lifelinker or a superb wall.  Papa Midnight (the Nocturnus) makes him a 4/2 flying lifelinker.  That’s…that’s almost a Baneslayer!  Ok, maybe not…either way, I feel fine including him to give you a little more survivability on the back pedal while being an excellent rank-filler when you get in the red zone.

Spells

Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

Certified boss.

An exciting inclusion in this deck, he provides much needed card advantage, inevitability and versatility to an otherwise one-note machine.  He synergetically makes on-type minions, provides the extra +1/+0 to crack through the stalemate and his ultimate is terrifying and attainable, unmolested, by Turn 7.  He helps on the backpedal, and he should be a welcome draw on an empty board.  As basically the only reason I’m playing white, he’s gotta be good.

Dead Weight

I was trying to think about something better for this deck, but then...weight a minute...

This efficient enchantment is highly specialized to deal with a wide variety of early threats as well as some mid-game ones (Acidic Slime and Huntmaster come to mind.)  This deck has no one-drop creatures, and if they don’t play a creature, that’s probably better for this deck.  If they do, Dead Weight it!  It’s so easy!  But man, does it make me miss Disfigure…

Sign in Blood

Just sign on the clotted line.

This is not the first Vampire deck to play this on-flavor card.  I’m not sure this is right here, but this deck needs card advantage somehow.  It also can finish them off, and I have won my share of games that way.

Dismember, Victim of Night and Cower in Fear

My, what sharp...Voldo claws you have?

This is an unusual suite of removal, but I feel strongly about it.  Victims of Night are in here just because I don’t have Go for the Throats, and I’d rather play them as they’re easier to cast and they hit plum everything.  Dismember is easy on the mana and is darn convenient because of that.  I have enough lifelink that I’m not very concerned about paying life when I need to.  Cower in Fear is one of those underrated cards I mentioned, and so far, I’m pleased to play it.  It’s highly metagame specific; the places I play are swarming with mana dorks, tokens and Gavony Townships.  Killing your opponents’ Blade Splicer when they try to Restoration Angel it is a sweet feeling.  This is an easy board-out, but I’m fine with it in the maindeck.  That being said, it might not be right for you.  If your environment isn’t rife with white-knuckle aggro decks, it’s not even a sideboarder.

Lands

I’m really pleased with the land setup in this deck both in count, functionality and color weight.  In playtesting, I’ve always had the mana I need, though I ironically always seem to be short on black.  Three Evolving Wilds is pretty aggressive, but they serve an additional feature by thinning the deck, giving more possible online moments for Papa Midnight as well as stronger draws.  Normally two is sufficient in a multicolor deck, but without anything to do on Turn 1 on the play, evolving is a welcome play.

Sideboard

Admittedly, the sideboard is a circus of nonsense, but here’s some reasoning.

Bump in the Night and Bonfire of the Damned are probably the most unorthodox.  As opposed to a race, Bump in the Night gives me a non-combat way to close out games against a variety of decks.  It’s also a black Lava Spike that you can cast twice.  Six damage to a player for 5BR is not awesome, but it’s on the black-only theme while providing an alternative option to close out a game.  I’ve had a lot of games where the opponent stabilized at four or five and this just handles that situation.  Bonfire, although against theme, is just that good.  Also, if you so happen to have Nocturnus out with this face up on the top of your library, your opponent will play much differently, and so will you.

After some fiddling with this deck, I’m really pleased with the way it plays.  It’s weak to bounce, as most of my cards don’t have comes-into-play effects, but it’s a powerful creature deck that has flexibility and versatility unlike the vast majority of other aggro decks I’ve seen. 

I wanted to play this deck last night at Something2Do’s Tuesday tournament, but I was unable to get all the cards I was missing.  I hoped to get the last few rares I needed but I only got a four out of the seven.  I’ll need to postpone the play-by-play of that one for what I played instead; this is a fairly straightforward UR Delver, similar, though not as inventive, as my MiRUcle list.  Here’s what I hurriedly sleeved for the tournament yesterday.

DelvUR

Creatures (11)

4 Delver of Secrets

3 Augur of Bolas

4 Snapcaster Mage

Spells (27)

3 Krenko’s Command

4 Incinerate

3 Arc Trail

3 Bonfire of the Damned

4 Mana Leak

3 Dissipate

4 Vapor Snag

1 Brimstone Volley

2 Amass the Components

Lands (22)

4 Sulfur Falls

2 Evolving Wilds

1 Desolate Lighthouse

6 Mountain

9 Island

Sideboard

1 Talrand, the Sky Summoner

4 Pillar of Flame

2 Mental Misstep

2 Creeping Chill

3 Runecaster’s Pike

3 Flames of the Firebrand

Round 1 – Philip (G/W Aggro)

The round had already elapsed several minutes while I finished sleeving up the last of my cards, but Philip was very patient, content to shuffle for a while.  On the play in game one, he made an Avacyn’s Pilgrim.  I got a Delver down on my turn, but he didn’t flip for a while.  He made a Bird of Paradise and got stuck on two lands.  I started hitting him with a flipped Delver and Mana Leaked a Sublime Archangel from his side.  Another one appeared, but it was Incinerated, and Snapcaster to Mana Leak kept the third one from resolving.  I beat him down right after he drew his needed land.  In game two, he stalled on two land, cast a single creature, and I Bonfired him and smacked with Delver for exact.

1-0

This seemed like the perfect matchup for my deck made of Arc Trails, Krenko’s Command and Mana Leaks.  Maybe more uber-aggro decks like this would come…

Round 2 – Colin (Mono-Black Midrange)

I’ve played Colin many times before, and at least from my end, I always enjoy matches with him.  In Game 1, I countered and durdled for a while, getting him to about 10 life or so.  He resolved a Lashwrithe and, forgetting it had a Germ token attached, smashed me to pieces.  In game two, I got a slightly stronger draw and dodged his removal for a while.  I killed him definitively.  Game three was a bit more of a grind, with him casting Mutilates to kill single, unflipped Delvers.  I kept ripping Delver after Delver, though, and some unlucky choices from his Surgical Extractions and precariously low Sign in Bloods ticked up another win for me.

2-0

Round 3 – Tyler (U/W Delver)

Tyler, a very skilled player, shuffled up the heartbreaker and I recognized it right off the bat with his Seachrome Coast to Ponder.  His deck was air tight; suffice it to say, even after some awkward sideboarding on my part, I barely scratched him either game.

2-1

Round 4 – Ryan (RUG Humans)

Ryan, a kind and gracious player, was sitting behind a stack with a unique and intriguing mana base.  In Game One, I kept his Mayor of Avabrucks form sticking.  Bonfire did a ton of work too, sweeping his relatively small squad of Delvers and Mayors off the table.  I was able to crash in effectively with Snapcaster and Friends, decisively taking game 1.  In game 2, he flooded pretty hard while I beat him down with a single Krenko’s Command token (he Snagged the other one).  Intriguingly, he slow-rolled a Huntmaster of the Falls to turn 8, fearing a counterspell (all of which I had boarded out upon seeing Cavern of Souls.)  Amass the Components really shone in this game, always drawing me into the answer I needed.  A single Brimstone Volley was still enough, despite consistently anemic attacks from one and two-power boards.

3-1

Third place and three prize packs of M13 yielded little except my fourth Rancor and a couple Goat tokens, but as uninspired as this decklist was, it was pretty fun to play.  Krenko’s Command was arguably the most fun card to cast…I’m not sure why.  The sideboard also proved effective, and I did like having seven counterspells maindeck.  I might play a singleton Pike in the maindeck in the future, but overall, I was pleased with how it played.  Nothing stellar, but I’ll take it.

Pack to Power

Backing up before my vacation, I played a Friday Night Magic at my usual haunt with a slightly ill-fated revision of Tibbles and Bits, but I made good strides in my Pack to Power!  You win some, you lose some I guess.

The gentleman with whom both of these trades occurred is nameless to me; I’d recognize his name if I heard it, but he’s never directly introduced himself, so I’m left in that “hey…guy!” territory.  Either way, he was polishing off the final touches to his blue/black zombie deck before game time and, as he eyed my Phyrexian Crusader, he was happy to trade for my profit even after being clearly informed of the price difference.  What a trader!

Lost:

Phyexian Crusader - $1.49

Gained:

Think Twice (2) - $0.25 ($0.50)

Forbidden Alchemy - $0.25

Butcher Ghoul - $0.15

Goblin Arsonist (M12) (2) - $0.15 ($0.30)

Driver of the Dead (2) - $0.15 ($0.30)

[Elf Warrior Token] (4) - $0.49 ($1.96)

Grave Exchange - $0.15

Demonlord of Ashmouth - $0.75

Net Change - +$2.87

Well, the values on my gains are probably a bit exaggerated.  Regardless, I’ll take the acceptable amount of staple commons, some selection and some interesting trade bait in the tokens and the Demonlord.  Originally, I was fine with doing it just for the Demonlord and take a loss (as Phyrexian Crusader has, in my opinion, NO future in Modern), but he was willing to give me basically his whole stack of the only trade stuff he had on him.

Later in the evening, after the tournament, he told me he wanted the Drowned Catacomb I had.  He offered a stack to me, in which I found a Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.  I was fine with trading up.

Lost:

Drowned Catacomb (M13) - $2.99

Gained:

Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker (M13) - $6.99

Net Change - +$4.00

Although the Catacomb is a lot more liquid, I was fine with making this trade.  Someone will want Nicol Bolas, and I think it will be fairly simple to trade him up for a better planeswalker; Garruk Relentless or Sorin, perhaps?  Even two Tibalts, though arguably at a loss, is in high demand and short supply despite his low price tag.  Brewers everywhere are getting Tibalt fever!

Total Net Change - +$6.87

Total Adjusted Pack Value as of August 1, 2012 –$28.66

I’m tossing around the idea of a couple other offbeat Standard decks that we’ll look at here in the next post or two.  I hope you want to paint it black, and let me know if you have any suggestions! 

Also, RTR is coming.

Thanks again for dropping by, and as always, don’t forget to untap!

- Matt H

Tibbles and Bits; Tibalt, the Fiend Blooded in Standard

Welcome back to Untap Target Player! 

If you read my post from a few weeks ago, you’ll already know that I’ve been trying to make a deck where Tibalt can live.  After a lackluster performance as an Izzet-colored pile, I explored another color.

MUCH BETTER.

Shortly after that article, I had started toying with the last and, once I’d gotten my Tibalts, I was pretty much ready to go.  So, last week, I scrambled to get the only cards I was missing for the black/red version; the double lands in it.  By Friday the 13^th, the debut of this deck was nearing and I was still gravely in want for a large portion of my deck.  Kevin Klotz, (yes, that Kevin) was on hand at Something2Do, and he allowed me to borrow the three Blackcleave Cliffs I needed as well as two Dragonskull Summits.  With that, I temporarily disassembled my Olivia Voldaren EDH for the sleeves and put together these seventy-five.

Tibbles and Bits

Creatures (16)

4 Diregraf Ghoul

4 Blood Artist

2 Vexing Devil

3 Chandra’s Phoenix

2 Reassembling Skeleton

1 Falkenrath Aristocrat

Spells (24)

3 Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded

3 Runechanter’s Pike

4 Pillar of Flame

4 Incinerate

3 Reforge the Soul

2 Sign in Blood

3 Arc Trail

2 Krenko’s Command

Lands (20)

4 Blackcleave Cliffs

4 Dragonskull Summit

7 Mountain

5 Swamp

Sideboard (15)

3 Vile Rebirth

3 Bonfire of the Damned

3 Dismember

3 Smelt

3 Appetite for Brains*

*The Appetite for Brains were supposed to be Despise, but I had left them at home.

Round 1 – Ben? (G/W Humans)

My first round was against Ben (?), a confident and ready-to-go dude with a lot of little guys to chuck my way.  Although I was on the draw, my first hand held a beautiful, castable Arc Trail.  He widdled me down a bit with his Champions of the Parish and his Elite Vanguards, but the Arc Trail severly impacted the board and, a little stuck on land, I began to Command some Goblins and get on the offense.  I didn’t have to play defense again that game.  In game two, he was having some trouble with creatures being able to stick, as Arc Trail reprised its role in game two, keeping the board empty for him as he struggled to draw an answer.  Interesting enough, in a casual game three, he rofl-stomped me with a buffed Hero of Bladehold, where he hit me for a million. 

1-0

Round 2 – Charles (U/B Zombies)

Charles, a knowledgeable and extroverted player, sat across from me for round 2.  Jesting about his “mono-red” deck, I was surprised to see a Gravecrawler first turn.  It wasn’t long before a perfectly-timed squad of zombies ate my braialjfnkalsdjfn…..

…

Game two was much better for me, and Vile Rebirth came crawling in from the sideboard.  I knew I needed to preserve my soft, appetizing life total, and this seemed like the perfect way to deny him his Gravecrawlers.  He assembled a pair of Gravecrawlers, but my start was much more aggressive.  Tibalt came out to play, but was quickly eaten by Gravecrawler.  He flooded, though, and before long, his Gravecrawler’s inability to block became a liability.

The final game was very close and grindy.  Although I put the hurt on him early with Phoenixes and burn spells, I gave him a bit more fuel when I Reforged our Souls.  He Surgically Extracted my Phoenix and my Blood Artists.  My board and hand severely diminished, he stabilized at 4 and resolved a Phyrexian Obliterator, the first one I’d seen in months.  On my side, a pair of Diregraf Ghouls and a Reassembling Skeleton stood ready to hold the Pike I had.  After some careful calculation, I put the Pike on the Skeleton and swung with everything.  He informed me he was just waiting for me to make the right decision; I was worried about permanent sacrificing, so I picked the Skeleton, the lowest power creature for minimum sacrifice.  I had completely forgotten he was just at 4, handless, and just dead on board to 4 attacking, unblocked power; a Piked Skeleton would be more than enough to kill him, as he couldn’t then block my Diregraf Ghouls.

2-0

Round 3 – Bobby (Battle of Wits)

Bobby, our resident State Champion, wanted to try the elusive Battle of Wits deck; basically 250 of the best cards in Standard jammed together, Bobby shuffled up a foot-tall sleeved stack with surprising efficiency, taking chunks and shuffling it together.  Cutting was a dangerous affair as cards cascaded off like filling out of an overstuffed taco.

In game one, he played draw spells, mana guys and ramp spells, eventually resolving Silklash Spider, utterly stopping my otherwise impressive Phoenix offense.  He never used its ability, but he cast Thragtusks galore, moved out of burn range, and smashed me to a pulp.  In game two, I got a more aggressive start, killing him with a hard hitting Piker.  Game three was very close.  My sideboard card Appetite for Brains played a crucial role here, exiling a Tamiyo from another wise land-heavy grip.  This was the only time I cast it, and it turned out it was functionally identical to Despise in this case.  He resolved a Solemn Simulacrum and, when nearing death, he was able to get a Thragtusk via Green Sun’s Zenith, giving him a big body and a double-digit life total.  My Phoenix got binned by some manner of kill spell, but I was finally able to get Bobby back to 3.  With 7 mana on my side, I cast my long-overdue Bonfire of the Damned for just 1.  This got him to two and, as I reached for my dead Chandra’s Phoenix, he scooped.  As a reward for beating the otherwise undefeated Battle of Wits deck, he gave me a pack of M13, my first, which contained a Cathedral of War.

3-0

The final in the four-round FNM was between Korey and myself, the only two undefeated players.  Kevin recorded us, and you can find the videos below, as they become available.

SPOILER WALL!

SPOILER WALL!

SPOILER WALL!

My major mistake was in game 1.  I should have popped Tibalt immediately, hitting him for 7 before casting the Blood Artist, which gave him an opportunity to spend a spell and shrink his hand.  Even if he had something else to do, he would have to cast it suboptimally; Thought Scour, for example, wouldn’t do much.  If I'd swung with the Phoenix, he would have been at 1 life.  Instead, he killed me, and I could have gone 2-0 against him instead of 2-1.

Regardless, I was pleased – packs and cash in hand, I unsleeved the borrowed lands and departed, excited and confident in the conquering deck of the evening.

MVPs:  Reassembling Skeleton and Arc Trail

Originally, I was on the fence about the Skeleton, but his “survives-anything-but-Pillar-of-Flame” is amazing, and he holds a Pike like a pro.  In a couple games, even his measly one power over and over was enough to seal up a game.  He was very difficult to deal with, and rarely did his “tapped” clause mean much of anything.  This is an aggressive deck, after all, and discouraging attacks with built in reanimation is mighty fine.

Sideboard MVP:  Vile.  Rebirth.

Against creature heavy decks (or even if you have to use your own, as I had to), this card is very powerful; a 2/2 for B at instant speed is amazingly relevant.  I had a lot of fun casting what amounted to a combat trick at the top table of a tournament.  Eat your heart out, Giant Growth.  Watch out for this card. 

LVPs: Sign in Blood and Bonfire of the Damned

What I assumed would be an efficient card engine or an impromptu burn spell turned out to be mostly dead weight.  I hoped I could force them to draw, they’d lose 2 life and then I could make Tibalt’s second ability even more insane.  It never did, and I didn’t miss it when I didn’t draw it.  It’s possible Vile Rebirth just replaces it directly.  For Bonfire, most of the games I played it was awkward board sweep; the times it was helpful, it was mostly based on good fortune; this is very had to cast for value with as few lands as this deck contains.

This deck’s variance is a little too great to make it consistently mighty, but 4-0’ing is pretty good with me.  My goal in Constructed Magic is to make and pilot an unusual deck effectively in a format-typical environment.

I’m all about Limited in a general rule, and I’d stepped away from it for a while for my Standard pursuits, but I was ready to get back in.  Having missed the Prerelease, I decided to attend the Release Sealed Event at Something2Do the following day.  When the time came to crack our packs, I eagerly awaited my pool.

…

Well, it was pretty sour.  Three rares were Limited bricks (Battle of Wits, Fervor and Wit’s End), and I lacked depth in any one or even two colors.  After going to time in deckbuilding, I hurriedly threw together this pigeon-toed Jund concoction.

Creatures (14)

1 Elvish Visionary

1 Deadly Recluse

1 Ravenous Rats

1 Walking Corpse

1 Centaur Courser

1 Bloodhunter Bat

1 Spiked Baloth

1 Bladetusk Boar

1 Acidic Slime

1 Sentinel Spider

1 Duskdale Wurm

1 Duty-Bound Dead

1 Yeva’s Forcemage

1 Liliana’s Shade

Spells (9)

1 Liliana of the Dark Realms

2 Sign in Blood

1 Krenko’s Command

1 Public Execution

1 Crippling Blight

1 Mind Rot

1 Prey Upon

1 Rancor

Lands (17)

7 Swamp

5 Forest

2 Mountain

2 Evolving Wilds

1 Cathedral of War

Working Sideboard

1 Disentomb

1 Elixir of Immortality

1 Mindclaw Shaman

1 Zombie Goliath

1 Turn to Slag

1 Volcanic Geyser

This was an awkward mess of a deck.  I felt confident about the red splash for two non-removal commons, though, which felt weird, and I didn’t main deck the Geyser as it would be uncastable without the only two Mountains in my deck.  If I’d done it again, I’d probably play it and change one Mountain in for one Swamp.

Round 1 – Will (W/G)

Will, a player against whom I’d tested Standard in the past, admitted he was uncertain how coherent his deck was; frankly, as it played out, it was actually a pretty solid plan.

In game one, he made two Ajani Sunstrikers and started rising to a towering life total.  I stabilized and resolved creatures that, while not normally impressive, were larger than his biggest creatures.  I overwhelmed him with power, and Crippling Blight on his sole blocker ended up sealing up both games.  A great removal spell in its flexibility.

1-0

Round 2 – Shower (U/R)

Shower was my second round opponent, and I’ve seen him play before; his impressive U/B Tezzeret Control has seen the top tables at Something2Do more than once, and so I knew I’d be in for a good match.  In game one, he was on the mill plan, hitting double Mind Sculpts and making a large Jace’s Phantasm.  He tapped down my squad a time or two with Sleep and Downpour, and I never mounted much defense.  In game two, I was able to crash in with a strong start.  I even side-boarded in Mindclaw Shaman against his spell-centric deck. When I cast it, it only hit a Downpour (I was looking for Sleep), but it was a discard spell either way.  In game three, he had me against the ropes until I drew my miracle, Elixir of Immortality, to double my life total and library size.  I eked out a close one against him, complimenting his unique deck construction.

2-0

Round 3 – Chris (U/G)

Chris, a player with whom I was not familiar, sat down, anxious to get underway and nervous about his draw.  He had no reason to be.  The first game saw a great start for both of us.  His Wind Drake plugged me several times, and after Sleeping my field, he bashed me to 1; without a flying blocker (or another three or four blockers, for that matter), I was dead on board.  Game two saw me mulligan to five on the play and cast a lone Bladetusk Boar before getting crushed by Yeva, Nature’s Herald into a turn 5 flashing Thragtusk.  I had no chance.

2-1

Round 4 – Kevin (W/B)

Kevin and I scrimmage together and are friends with each other outside of Something2Do, so we knew it was going to be a good match, as tournament-breaking matches between compatriots usually are.  In game one, his impressively awesome Exalted team assembled, complete with a Sublime Archangel, and he smashed me in the face for a million.  In game two, he had a much worse draw, missing his second color of lands, but even with that, my win was merely a win, not a blowout.  Game three was one of the best Limited games I’ve played in a long, long time.  A carefully calculated board position put each of us at very low life, him at 1 and me at 7.  His Intrepid Hero made attacks and blocks challenging, and his squad of flyers made me terribly nervous.  He had lethal on board once and missed it, and I’m sure I did too.  By the time we finished, a crowd had gathered.  My otherwise lethal attack was thwarted by Divine Verdict, and I didn’t have a way to play around it.  He scraped out a win, pushing him into Top 8 and me into obscurity.

2-2

Outside of the Top 8 by a couple places now, I deconstructed my deck.  My pool was very poor in the rare department, but I feel like I’d built the deck about as well as I could.  Bladetusk Boar and Krenko’s Command turned out to be great splashes.  Bladetusk Boar was unblockable in 3 out of 4 of my matches, and his three power was…intimidating.  Krenko’s Command turned out to be every bit as good as Dragon Fodder, even without Devour.  A pair of blockers and/or attackers on a cheap, easy-to-cast card is good news for any red deck.

My consolation pack contained a Stuffy Doll, harkening back to my early days in Magic.  Seems like a good place to end up.

Also, one small movement in Pack to Power; Shower, my opponent for Round 2 of Sealed, was looking for a Dungeon Geists.  I knew I had one, so and I painlessly traded him flat for a Drowned Catacomb.

Lost:

Dungeon Geists - $1.99

Gained:

Drowned Catacomb (M13) - $2.99

Net Change - +$1.00

Sure, Dungeon Geists is rarer, but a Catacomb is infinitely more liquid.  

Total Pack Value - $20.44

Broke the $20 mark!

This weekend, I’m headed off to test Tibbles against another field of Standard decks to see if Friday was a fluke or if this is something a little more real.  Thanks again for reading, and don’t forget to untap!

- Matt H

A Standard Renaissance

A Renaissance of Deckbuilding – Two Post-M13 Standard Decks

I love my cats.  I always had a cat when I was younger, so they’re a permanent fixture throughout my life; I don’t remember the name of my first cat, to be honest with you, but the affection I felt for him when he died (due to a bite from a rabid neighborhood cat, if you wanted to know) is still within reach inside my emotional filing cabinet. 

In many ways, Magic decks are like pets.  You have to care for them by getting them what they need, making sure they’re safe and secure in the environment in which they live, and as you do that, you become attached.  It doesn’t matter what format the deck is used in; maybe your “pet” is a specific deck you play with just your friends that’s been unchanged since 8^th grade.  Perhaps your deck is special to you because you won a tournament with it or you met a long-time friend or even a romantic partner while playing with it.  It doesn’t matter what it is, if a deck is special to you, it’s special to you.

If you haven’t guessed, I’m a pretty sentimental person.  I keep a lot of small mementos from my life that physically connect me with a momentous and/or happy memory.  At my parent’s house, a bulletin board in my old room is filled with concert and event tickets, photos, notes from friends and even food wrappers that connect me with times before college and moving out.  Whenever I go home to visit, I’ll take a moment when I’m in my room to remember some of these events.  Even if at the time they weren’t that special, nostalgia and reminiscence colors them in a youthful, untainted way.  I’ll never be there again, so who will prove me wrong on how I’ve recalled it?

I feel that way about some of my Magic cards, too.  Although about 99% of the cards in my binders and boxes are up for trade, there are a few special cards that hold special significance.  For example, I will never trade Circu, Dimir Lobotomist, as this was in the first deck of Magic I ever owned that I purchased in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2006.  I’ll never trade my foil black-bordered 9^th Edition Japanese Serra Angel because I bought it at a card shop in Tokyo the following year.  A college friend signed a Birds of Paradise and gave it to my as a wedding gift and as a memento of our great Magic games in college.  I have a Dragon Broodmother from Alara Reborn that I’ll never trade because I got it on our honeymoon.  Even recently, I’ll never trade my stamped Olivia Voldaren I obtained in the Top 8 of the SCG Cincinnati Draft Open earlier this year. 

Have you ever thought about the cards you’ve gained and lost over the years?  Maybe it was that first rare you pulled, or the first planeswalker you got?  Everyone likes to own a piece of history; it’s part of our own stories, and for many people, that is a worthwhile pursuit.

OK, now that I’ve gushed about my past, let’s look at the present.  Out with the old, and in with the new, right? 

A lot of people in Standard tournaments in which I have played have been looking for something interesting and new to play; the metagame is fairly biased towards blue for Delver and for Naya colors for Naya Pod, R/G Aggro and Mono Green Aggro.  Black’s not getting much love these days at the top tables on a national or on a local level.  Mono-black may be viable now that M13 is out, and my previous forays into MBC were less than successful, so I’d like to look at two decks that hinge on black while utilizing a complementary color in this format.

The deck came to me while I was flipping through my Innistrad binder in search of something fun and interesting to do in Standard.  I was looking to improve/change my Dungrove Mono-Green deck as it had gotten pretty stale for me.  I never used it in a tournament, and I hadn’t had a lot of fun playing with it on the sidelines, either.  It rarely had the blowout plays and lost to a lot of matchups, so I felt like it was time to shelf it.  It didn’t take long before I came across a card that I’d really wanted to see play.  The potential was impressive and in the presence of ebbing graveyard hate, it looked awesome.  Folks, it was time for a Renaissance.

The da Vinci Mold.

The flavor!  And the card advantage!

OK, so to make this interesting sorcery work, we’d need three things.  First, we’d need a way to get things into the graveyard without much loss or, if possible, for profit.  Second, we’d need them to be mostly permanents, so the permanents would need to do things that instant and sorcery spell slots would normally fill; that way, once spent, they could be recovered en masse.  Finally, we’d need something that benefits from having other cards in the graveyard in the first place.

For both flavor reasons and practical reasons, black seemed to be the best color to pair with this effect.  I’d need to limit nonpermanent spells, so I’d be limited to creatures, enchantments, planeswalkers, lands and artifacts.  Planeswalkers always seemed like a strong mode for Creeping Renaissance, and I wanted to make sure they were present too, as much as I could financially afford, anyway.

Creatures with enter-the-battlefield abilities along with solid bodies bolstered by planeswalkers and the occasional nonpermanent spell seemed to be the best route. 

I built this deck in its first draft about two weeks ago and took it to a casual Wednesday tournament at Bluegrass Magic on the 4^th of July.  Here’s what I shuffled up for this event.

Creatures (25)

4 Birds of Paradise

4 Blood Artist

4 Strangleroot Geist

3 Wolfir Avenger

3 Splinterfright

2 Briarpack Alpha

2 Skinrender

3 Acidic Slime

Spells (13)

4 Mulch

2 Barter in Blood

2 Creeping Renaissance

2 Garruk Relentless

2 Liliana of the Veil (borrowed)

1 Spider Spawning

Lands (22)

11 Forest

6 Swamp

4 Woodland Cemetery

1 Grim Backwoods

Sideboard (15)

3 Dead Weight

2 Curse of Death’s Hold

3 Dismember

1 Spider Spawning

2 Gnaw to the Bone

4 Beast Within

Round 1 – Chad (W/U Delver)

Chad is a genial, talented player who’s at the shop on as many days as I am, and it didn’t take long before I figured out what he was playing.  In game one, I got off to a nice start with some Strangleroot Geists, his Delvers had trouble flipping, and my Blood Artists finished him off, the last nail being a Grim Backwoods sacrifice after he took combat damage to 1.  In game two, he was able to assemble a much better force, and my sideboarded Dead Weights eluded me.  They did the same in game three, which was much less close.

0-1

Round 2 – Matt (B/R Vampire Aggro)

Matt, a gentleman I had played in the past at Bluegrass, was playing a different stack this time, as opposed to the W/U Delver I’d played before.  He had land trouble pretty early in game one, and I put him down without seeing much of his deck.  In game two, he got a jump on me, and I buckled quickly against an aggressive squad of vampires.  In game three, I saw our old friend Tibalt, but he seemed to hurt Matt’s deck more than help it, as he often discarded survival spells and his Reforge the Soul combo piece.  Most of the time, I ignored Tibalt and bashed against Matt himself.  An awkward mana situation for him sealed the deal.

1-1

Round 3 – Lyle (USA Miracle Delver)

In a battle with a deck similar to my MiRUcle deck, I started off a bit shaky.  A squad of Delvers got me pretty hard and his card advantage won out in the end.  In game two, I hammered back with Strangleroot Geists and cleverly placed Wolfir Avengers and Briarpack Alphas.  In game three, I assembled a massive army of Spiders to block his Delvers and Restoration Angels.  With me sitting at a precarious 6, he luck-sacked and topdecked the Bonfire for exactsies. 

1-2

This was a pretty small tournament with only three rounds.  I won at least one game in each match, and with a pinch better luck, maybe I’d even win two games per match. 

Out of this list, there were some underperformers, Acidic Slime being one of them.  I sideboarded him out in every match and after some tweaking, that’s where it lives now.  Briarpack Alpha was merely average, being a high price for what amounts to a possible-blowout combat trick.  Wolfir Avenger did the job much more efficiently, and the mana price point was perfect.  I added an Avenger and removed the Alphas. 

On the other hand, Blood Artist and Strangleroot Geist proved to be very powerful, especially in concert.  A late game Blood Artist made combat difficult or impossible for my opponents, especially with a resolved Spider Spawning.  The fact that he couldn’t hit my opponent for anything in combat was a bit of a downer, but my original consideration (Falkenrath Noble) would have been much too clunky, in my opinion.  Barter in Blood was also an extremely welcome inclusion and I always drew it in the nick of time.  Plus, with a Blood Artist out, that’s an 8 life swing AND kill two of his (probably not undying) dudes.  One time, I had two Artists working and this went off for a 16 life swing.  The game was almost immediately over.

Spider Spawning was also just a straight win condition against decks when it resolved (and combat remained relevant).  Creeping Renaissance, believe it or not, only went off once, but it helped me stabilize and win over the course of the following turn or two.  Mulch was a nervous inclusion based on the fact that the card itself, not its effect, is a sorcery and not a permanent.  Still, I happily cast it every time I drew it and gained either card advantage or a graveyard full of Spider targets or Renaissance targets.  What it showed me, though, is that I didn’t need as much mana.  Flooding was surprisingly common for a 22-lander.

After a little tooling, I made these changes.

Maindeck:

-3 Acidic Slime

-2 Briarpack Alpha

-1 Forest

+1 Wolfir Silverheart

+2 Druid’s Familiar

+1 Wolfir Avenger

+1 Spider Spawning

+1 Skinrender

Sideboard

+3 Acidic Slime

-1 Spider Spawning

-2 Beast Within

I liked the interaction with Druid’s Familiar better, as it provided a permanent pump in exchange for flash, which seems fair to me.  So far, I’ve been very pleased with him in playtesting.

Now with M13 out, there are tons of excellent options for this deck, mainly in the form of a green creature that rhymes with “Shragmusk.”

He is a sir.

Until I obtain the Lilianas I need, I have replaced the proxies with the newly-reprinted Vampire Nighthawk.  So far, I’ve been pleased.  It feels pretty good to go turn 1 Bird, turn 2 Nighthawk, turn 3 Druid’s Familiar, hit you for four evasive lifelinking damage.  Liliana is still better in that slot, in my opinion, but Darkwing Duck will do for now.

This was a fun deck to try out, and I still enjoy it – it playtests well against a lot of niche decks and it’s still a ball to play.  Give it a shot if you’d like to try something new!

This post was written alongside my next post, so you will see the other one within just a few days.  See you then, and until then, don’t forget to untap!

- Matt H

Top 10 Underrated M13 Cards for Standard

Everyone likes an underdog. 

No matter what we’re doing, we always have a soft spot for the little guy.  When we watch movies, we like when the hero rises from unlikely circumstances.  When we watch a sports game, if we are otherwise uncommitted, don’t you get a little excited to see an upset?  Remember a couple of years ago when Butler University, a college of a few thousand, went up against venerated basketball titan Duke for the NCAA title? 

That guy's face...either way, the winner is irrelevant. (coughbigbluenationcough)

We like to cheer for the overwhelmed.  It gives us hope in ourselves; when we encounter challenging events in our lives, we want to believe we have what it takes to excel against the odds.

OK, digressing analogies aside, let’s get to Magic. Today, I wanted to take a look at ten cards from M13 that might have slid under the radar.  Sure, everyone’s hyped about Sublime Archangel, Rancor, and the suite of cards that support mono-black’s return to both aggro and control builds for months to come.  If you want to read an article about those cards, there are plenty of websites/blogs/Youtube channels that will discuss their impact.

The fact that you’re here, though, suggests that you like a little more offbeat fare.  You enjoy putting your brewing cap on and looking at a set from every angle; Limited, Constructed, Commander…you’re not afraid to try. Maybe a unique interaction or effect can drive a fun and flexible deck for you.

Let’s look at ten cards in M13 that deserve a second thought; from niche cards to sideboards to pivotal engines, these cards might rot in a binder or in a shoebox if we’re not careful.  Let’s give them the due attention they deserve and help make your deck better. 

I’ve never done a Constructed list like this before, but we’ll try to keep it fun…here’s the Top 10 Cunderstructed cards of M13!  Get it?  Like underused + Constructed…OK, never mind.

As with my Limited lists, I’ll tack on an 11^th card here that deserves an honorable mention.

Honorable Mention

Mindclaw Shaman

Card advantage in red?  What a sham.

This guy is sweet.  Well, actually, he’s not.  He’s a vicious discard-on-a-lizard that gives you a lot of value.  Value is this guy’s middle name, in fact, as you’ll just about always get it when you cast him.  His body is underwhelming, sure, and his disproportionate cost could be restrictive, BUT I think it is an exceptionally strong card against a large portion of decks.  It begs a counterspell very easily, both due to its cost and its effect.  Ramping into this guy seems to be the best way to use him for sure.  Lots of green decks ramp into Acidic Slime or Primeval Titan, but a red deck could ramp into this, right? 

I understand the risk he presents; at worst, he is an underpowered Wanderguard Sentry, and that’s a card no one wants to play.  At his best, though, he’s a Coercion on a stick that gives you the possibility of a 3-for-1 while also disrupting your opponent’s hand and possibly their board, too.  Also, if you’re looking for an answer, what better way than to take your opponents'?  Casting your opponent’s Day of Judgment while they maintain a full board seems like the most awesome play in Standard.  In the real world though, even if you just hit an X spell like Bonfire of the Damned or Entreat the Angels, that’s one less thing you have to deal with.  This guy may be orphaned for his entire Standard career, but maybe there’s hope.  The level of variance is all the keeps him at just an honorable mention.

Now, here’s the full list, starting with...

10. Quirion Dryad

She took the red and the blue pill.

Good to see a reprint given new life!  In this current environment, the ability to cast colored spells is easier than ever, and the ability to pump her at instant speed means she makes combat difficult if you’re representing any kind of spell, so she just demands hard removal.  In this current environment, she reminds me most of Dungrove Elder, and here’s why.  Dungrove gets buffed just by playing a land, a natural part of playing Magic.  Likewise, the Dryad also grows by just casting spells.  She’s an inexpensive and relevant threat that will be neat both before rotation (thanks to Phyrexian mana spells) and after rotation (thanks to whatever multicolor goodies we get from Return to Ravnica).  Although she may never see play at the top tables, she rewards you for just playing the game and slides into a lot of three-color-plus decks; on top of that, she herself is easy to cast, making her a very appealing two-drop.

9. Magmaquake

We're under fire!

This little number has coasted under the radar, but it bears a striking mechanical and aesthetic resemblance to a perfectly decent removal spell from Standard a few years ago; Volcanic Fallout.

Instant sweepers are no joke, as they can defensively foil plans while gaining you card advantage; I foresee this being useful in hexproof matchups where Rancor is cast targeting a Geist of Saint Traft or some such.  The additional planeswalker-hate clause is great, too, as it generates card advantage over life advantage in the right decks.  This card can be a creature or a ‘walker sweeper, making it a very flexible sideboard or maindeck card, depending on the metagame; I know there is a strong Esper Walker deck floating around that uses Tamiyo and Gideon Jura, and this clobbers both as well as any pesky tokens or utility creatures.  This inherent dependence on the style of the opponent’s deck makes it a little too narrow for everyday use, but I know we'll see it nonetheless.

8. Cower in Fear

Moo-er in fear.

This is also a card that is highly dependent on the metagame.  There’s plenty of little 1/1’s out there making mana or getting pumped from various effects.  Cower is a nice combat trick, sweeper, or mini-Fog, in a pinch.  Mono-black control, purported to be making a comeback thanks to all the other M13 love, might find this fellow a welcome sideboard buddy.  I doubt this card will ever be maindecked unless token swarms become a thing.  A one-turn Curse of Death’s Hold seems a little bad, but its aggressive mana cost is perfectly acceptable.  I’d probably rather have Infest or even Nausea, but the instant speed on this is a nice touch, and I have a feeling this will be some kind of anti-aggro card in the future. 

7. Silklash Spider

Charlotte's carnage.

Alright!  What a great reprint!  This is something that green desperately needs; he’ll probably never see a main deck, but resolving this Spider post-sideboard is a one-way ticket to a no-fly zone against the large amount of flyers that play in Standard.  Sideboarding him in can be an effective anti-aggro or anti-control strategy; all that matters is that they have flyers.  Being on 5 mana puts him in powerful competition with other staples and soon-to-be staples like Wolfir Silverheart and Thragtusk.  Still, the control that he is allowed to exert is not to be taken lightly.  One of the most rewarding experiences one could have with this card is watching your Delver opponent NOT want their Delver to flip.  Embrace the control niche of green, for it is good!

6. Hellion Crucible

Aww, hellion!

I’m pretty excited about this card for a couple reasons.  First, it’s a land, meaning it’s a creature/spell that doesn’t take up a spell slot.  Secondly, your opponent will constantly have to play around a potentially lethal two-counter Hellion Crucible in the archetype where he shines best; mono-red.

Red Deck Wins is a straightforward 20 – 0 in 3.6 turns kind of deck, incorporating red burn and powerful, efficiently fast creatures in any number of combinations.  However, in recent months, RDW has all but disappeared from tournament tables and casual tables alike.  I don’t believe this land will change that; Vexing Devil didn’t do it either.  But, the Crucible adds a great tool to an archetype just waiting to be revived.  The colorless mana requirement is irrelevant in a mono-colored deck, and getting a 4/4 creature attached to it is really nice.  Putting mana into this is a great investment for a red deck that’s run out of gas, a common occurrence against most any kind of controlling deck.  This gives red a little more reach without sacrificing much of anything at all.  It’s possibly it could see play in other kinds of red decks, and I look forward to seeing 4/4 hasty Hellions come crashing in without sacrificing precious deck real estate.  Keep an eye on this one.

5. Disciple of Bolas

Killing your buddies for profit takes a lot of bolas.

A Momentous Fall on a stick?  Alright, seems good.

What’s that?  It’s in black?

Jiminy Cricket!  This fellow does a lot of work for a color that loves to kill and draw.  Black decks built around creatures will love this guy; and undying guys get even better.  Turn 3 Geralf’s Messenger, Turn 4 attack with the Messenger, then this guy.  Help keep you ahead in the race will giving yourself card advantage and a body!  Multiples can kill each other!  So much murder!

Seriously, though, the card advantage that he provides to you can make a world of difference.  Using him in concert with undying creatures or creatures that like to die (Thragtusk) seems to be the best plan of attack here.  He’ll be fun whenever you cast him, that’s for sure.  Even if your opponent kills whatever you’d sacrifice in response, the Disciple won't hurt you when he comes in.  At worst, he’s just an expensive Goblin Piker with a relevant creature type.

4. Arctic Aven

Ceiling Bird is watching you sleeve your deck.

If you read my previous article about the best cards in M13 Limited, you know how much I like this guy and the rest of his cycle.  For Standard, though, I think the Aven is a perfectly respectable choice for W/U when Blade Splicer rotates.  Sure, Blade Splicer gave you four power for three mana and semi-evasion, but this guy gives you lifelink and real evasion, making it hard for your opponent to make any amount of damage stick.  Its colors synergize well with it, providing protection and support to make sure you’re always getting through and always gaining life.  It’s possible I’m overvaluing this guy, I just know that he’s a great budget option on three for that deck, and he answers Geist of Saint Traft’s evasion problem while providing you more life while it’s at it. 

Right now, lifelink is such a solid ability that I can’t believe this guy is bad.  I’d feel more comfortable if it already had lifelink, though.  It would also feel pretty good to outrace Vampire Nighthawk.

3. War Falcon

Squawk you, Suntail Hawk!

Shh…shh…do you hear that?

…

That is the sound of white mages around the world putting four War Falcons in their sideboards to combat the Delver monster. 

It’s clearer now why Wizards didn’t ban Delver.  They knew that answers would abound!  War Falcon is an awesome card and one deserving of the excitement that swirls around it.  White Aggro is a much loved archetype by pros and casual players alike, and War Falcon is a great addition to that; the tribal element is a a fun and easy-to-meet condition.  Two evasive power is crucial on this fellow, and the Flyin’ Lion, as I’ve heard him called, is a great 1-drop to complement any non-Human white aggro deck (where you’d otherwise use Champion of the Parish).  A very maindeckable card, it perfectly answers Delver for a variety of white decks that were basically limited to Righteous Blow against the Insect before.  I know I hate on Delver a lot, but as a brewer, I love killing the big deck, and I hope you do, too.  This Bird will help you get there!

2. Staff of Nin

Howling Rod.

Really?  #2?

Ok, so listen.  I know that there are better options in Standard.  For the same mana, you can cast a Wurmcoil Engine, for heaven's sake.  I am aware of this.  But what will replace it after rotation?  A one-sided Howling Mine that pings? 

Frankly, the effect on this card is unique in Standard; the ability to draw two cards a turn with no cost or strings attached and a ping means this card is a win condition by itself in a lot of control decks that have absent or unreliable win conditions (Entreat the Angels, for example).  A great anti-aggro card, this subtle artifact will just seal games after a turn or two and it’s much harder to deal with than a creature or some such.  You continually generate an extra card to help lock the game up for you.  Ping your opponent’s tokens or your opponent directly without losing anything.  A very strong singleton or two-of, this card will surely find its home in some control list or another, and it only gets better if you cheat or ramp it in.  Six mana is a lot, but after only a turn or two, it will be so worth it.

1. Augur of Bolas

StandardMerfolk.dec...GO!

 

Sea Gate Oracle on crack!  For those of you who played Rise of the Eldrazi standard, Sea Gate Oracle was an underrated common that provided a selective cantripping effect on an acceptable body.  This is a mana cheaper, just as tough, and with an analogous effect!  Awesome!  The fact that he’s a Merfolk is not irrelevant, as other strong Merfolks were printed in this set.  A 1/3 for 1U is also amazingly relevant in a format where Strangleroot Geists bash in unopposed on a lot of Turn Twos.  It’s also a great play after Ponder (while it’s still legal), so you can grab another card you need, even if you shuffled! 

I think he’s going to see a lot of play in Snapcaster/Delver decks, and he makes mono-blue control a lot more appealing.  He blocks cheap stuff very well and will eat a hit from a powerful creature or a removal spell from something at least as expensive as itself.  Not an auto-4, I don’t think, but he’ll definitely see top play, and he’s a great answer for green, white, red and black decks alike.  Memorize his text, because you’ll see him a lot.

I can’t wait to see how M13 will mix up Standard, and I hope these cards don’t get missed while you look to create a powerful, unique and enjoyable deck to play for the next couple months. 

Next time, I’m going to talk about a deck idea I’ve been tossing around for a while; now that’s it’s almost built and with M13 offering a couple helpers, it’s time to take it to the shop and try it out.  See you soon!

Also, on a side note, thank you so much to my regular readers and guests alike for helping my last post become the most successful post I’ve ever had.  I hope that the time you spend reading this blog is helpful for your gaming spirit and your non-gaming heart, too.  Thank you again for stopping by, and make sure you’re a follower so you can stay on top of the offbeat side of Magic! 

Leave me a comment if you agree or disagree with my choices of “cunderstructed” cards.  Have you broken a bulk common?  Been disappointed with a mythic rare?  Let us all know!

Until next time, don’t forget to untap!

- Matt