Hey T3chers! DannyO here and I'm here to recap my tournament report for GP Trial Kyoto. It was a place for me to do a little dry run for my latest creation, Mardu Tokens. In my last article I talked about how I took R/W tokens and got it to Mardu and wanted to see how it worked... Well...
It was awesome. I didn't flat out win the whole thing, but I learned a very important tid-bit... Thoughtseize is a really good card. Have you heard of this thing? It literally lets you look at their hand(write everything down of course), pick the one card they have that you don't have a good answer for or that will disrupt your strategy and make them discard it. It was the ridiculously sturdy crutch made out of unobtainium on which I leaned.
Ok, on a more serious note. After play-testing a deck that just always felt like it was missing something, I finally found out what that missing link was. I firmly believe that Thoughtseize single-handedly won me games. Sultai control is getting popular fast, and with it, Bile Blight and Drown in Sorrow are a dime a dozen. I can't exactly play Rabble and Hordeling Outburst and sit back as an army of goblins just win games for me. In Red and White, there is no good way to deal with that either. Maybe Dictate of Heliod? But that won't save tokens from Bile Blight and it is just outside of the mana costs I'm willing to pay... at least for that effect. However, for ONE MANA(!!!!!!!), I get full information on their current hand and can then sculpt my game-play accordingly. If you're worried about playing 3 colors, just look at how well Abzan has been doing at GP's, Pro Tours, Worlds, and more-so across the world at every FNM.
Anyway, enough bragging about Thoughtseize (which you probably already knew was awesome). Let's take a look at my matches and see how those went.
Before we do though, here's a reminder of the list I had so you can keep up.
Lands: 23
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Caves of Koilos
2 Mountain
4 Nomad Outpost
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Temple of Silence
4 Temple of Triumph
Creatures: 12
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Monastery Mentor
2 Seeker of the Way
2 Soulfire Grand Master
Spells: 25
4 Hordeling Outburst
4 Magma Jet
2 Mardu Charm
4 Raise the Alarm
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Thoughtseize
2 Valorous Stance
Sideboard: 15
3 Abzan Advantage
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
3 Crackling Doom
2 Mardu Charm
1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
2 Searing Blood
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Valorous Stance
3 Rounds Swiss, cut to Top-8
Round 1 - VS. Sultai Control
Game 1: Mull to 4 :(
On the play, I only have one land, draws were - Temple, a second Raise the Alarm, Temple, Rabble. He gets stuck on an Island and a Swamp and scoops as soon as the Rabble hits board on turn 5. It happens.
Game 2: Boarding in the extra Stance, Chandras and Mardu Charms. Boarding out Sorin, 1 Outburst, 2 Seeker of the Way and 1 Soulfire.
He hits land, keeps my board very clear and ends up with Ugin to lock me out.
Wish I could remember more detail here, but I don't recall any plays I could have done differently.
1-0
Game 3:
Well, he got stuck on lands again and I curved out nicely so he scooped with much frustration as anyone would... There was a big play in this game worth mentioning though. I accidentally cast a Stoke at the end of his turn where I didn't have the resources to cast it and he cast Negate in response. I immediately put it back in my hand saying I couldn't cast that and now he knows I have a stoke and I know he's got a Negate... I feel a little dirty, but we continue. I couldn't exactly cast Stoke then knowing he's got that so I'm playing around that and play a Rabble instead. He untaps with Bile Blight, Negate, Crux in hand(I thoughtseizes earlier, then found Negate). He's at 4, I have Rabble and 1 Token, Stoke in hand. He makes the mistake of casting Crux instead of Bile Blighting the Rabble leaving only enough mana to cast either Bile Blight or Negate afterwards. I had Valorous Stance to save the Rabble. Then whether he decides to use the last of his mana to Blight the Rabble, or Negate the Stoke, he's dead either way. He could have gave himself a few extra turns, but it happened anyway. He didn't know I had the Stance either, so there's that.
Round 2 - VS. Mono Green Devotion
Game 1 - on the draw
He gets turn one Mystic into a turn 2 Hornet Nest which is not very fun. Luckily, I was able to punch through it by going very wide and remaining on offense while keeping bigger threats like Polukranos off the board with Valorous Stance and finishing off with Stokes/Jets.
Game 2 - Bringing in Crackling Dooms, Valorous Stance, Searing Blood. Taking out Mentors and Mardu Charms.
I don't remember what I did much here, but he got another turn 1 Mystic into turn 2 Hornet Nest, Turn 3 Polukranos, and curved out into a Hornet Queen. I didn't have the right removal for his tempo and died.
Game 3 - On the Play, Trade Mainboard Rabbles for the Mentors I benched earlier.
My removal was perfect. Temple go. Mystic? You don't say...(everytime). Miraculously draw a Bloodstained Mire to fetch an untapped red source to Searing Blood the crap out of that Mystic. Knowing that there is literally nothing for him to do with 2 mana was awesome and as expected, he played his second land and said go. I play a third land and get Monastery Mentor on board while nothing is going on. He untaps and plays Hornet nest(right on time). I respond in kind with a Crackling Doom that not only gets rid of the Nest without making stupid bees, but triggers Prowess, gets me a Prowess Monk token and I swing for 3... oh and hits him for 2! He plays another Hornet Nest and unfortunately I don't have the second C-Doom for it, but I have a lot of Prowess-triggering spells in hand and decide to go wide and punch in. A turn or two later, I'm attacking with 4 or 5 monks, a Mentor, and burn in hand... done.
I learned a bit here. I don't know if it would have won me game 2, but taking out Mentors instead of Rabbles was a huge mistake. Rabbles needed to come out because he has Hornet Nest and I have no good way to deal with it aside from Thoughtsieze. Game 3 was a steam roll victory on the back of a Mentor, so that felt good to realize that stupid mistake before it was too late. I also learned that Valorous Stance is nice.
2-0
Round 3 - VS. Sultai Control
Game 1 went by pretty quick and I don't remember much. I had Thoughtseize, picked off Bile Blight, curved out and crushed.
Game 2 he keeps a 2-lander, I Thoughtseize his Satyr Wayfinder and he draws no more land allowing me to goldfish.
Only real lesson here was that without Thoughtseize, he would have found a 3rd land and played a game of magic. I don't think this was a game to chock up to variance. This was all Thoughtseize.
3-0(could have drawn in, but we were playing for PWP and not taking it too seriously)
Top - 8!
Round 1 - VS. Abzan Aggro
Game 1 was another game that went by pretty fast. I remember not knowing for sure what he was playing because he didn't play much. I think I saw a Siege Rhino hit the board and it met a Valorous Stance and my deck had sick tempo and synergy to overpower an already stale game.
Game 2 He plays Rakshasa Deathdealer, Anafenza and I figure out that he's on Abzan Aggro. Thoughtseize picks apart his strategy while Magma Jet answered Deathdealer, Anafenza gets Stance'd, and Mentor does what he does. I believe I was buying back Stokes by the end of this game too.
This match-up was over really quick and I don't think it should have been that way. His 2-drops are very resilient to most of my removal and, in general, his creatures are much bigger than mine. The biggest difference is that I put out a lot more than he does. As long as I can curve with a few token generators and keep the right blockers off, it feels like a pretty easy match-up. At least 60/40 my favor.
Round 2 - VS. Mono Green Devotion(Same one as swiss)
I made two... HUGE mistakes this round. The worst part is that I usually pride myself on the fact that I am really good about not making play mistakes to ON-BOARD INFORMATION!!!
I got game 1, but game 2, he sees Temur Sabertooth. He wins the game at 8 life and I have a stoke in hand, just shy of buying it back a turn ahead of time to get there. I wasted a Stoke earlier in this game trying to kill this Sabertooth only to find that his bounce ability grants him Pro Retard(Indestructible).
If I had just hit him with it, he would have been at 4 at the end of that game when I had the last Stoke to finish him off, rather than... not.
Game 3 I make the second big mistake... and worse, it was because of the Sabertooth again! He's at 8, I'm at 1. He attacks with 5 bees, Sabertooth and a Mystic. I have a Stoke in hand, Soulfire on board, and buyback up, to go up 4 life putting me to 5 and him to 4. Then the 5 bees kill me. BUT! Soulfire has lifelink, blocks the Mystic and I gain 2 life, and a token blocks the Sabertooth. After damage, I go to 2, I can untap and Stoke for the win... is what should have happened. But, what DID happen was he bounced his Mystic that my Soulfire was blocking with the Sabertooths ability before combat damage and I didn't gain those 2 points of life, and died to those damn bees... Sorry Dane Cook.
Obviously this was a huge RTFC moment for me and I blew it. I could have won both of those games had I read the card and been aware of it throughout the game. I realized, shortly after, that had I used Soulfire to block the stupid cat himself, he wouldn't be able to bounce(has to target another creature), and I could have gained those precious life points.
It sucked hard, but I learned a lot on this one. I now know how to play around this cat better. But aside from that, Hornet Nest is a REAL problem for me. Short of Thoughtseize, my only option is to go wide and hope enough tokens survive to push in the next few turns. That's not something I want to do in this match-up, but unfortunately there's not a ton of options. I can run Chained to the Rocks, but now that I'm 3 colors, I can't rely on having a Mountain. I can run Banishing Light, which while it might be the best option, costs 3 and severely slows me down. But if it works, it works. I don't know if the 3 mana is worth it yet. Crackling Doom is fine, but if he even has an Elvish Mystic on board, I can't touch the Nest with it. My best thought, was to sideboard hard board wipes like End Hostilities, Mass Calcify, or even Anger of the Gods. None of these are friendly to my strategy. Mass Calcify costs too much, End is probably ok, and Anger is only good if I have a Soulfire out to net me a crap-ton of life.
Mono Green also has Disciple of Nylea to gain too much life for me to combat with. I can't keep his devotion down enough and he digs for them with Genesis Hydra. Not fun. This might be a really unfavorable match-up, but these were the only games I played against the archetype so far. I'm pretty confident it's bad though.
All in all, the biggest things I learned from these games were:
1. I need 4 Valorous Stance in the mainboard. Both modes are huge tempo plays for this strategy. It's perfect. I boarded in the 3rd Stance every round.
2. Mardu Charm is very underwhelming. I only ever used it as a Duress and that was fine, but they were boarded out more often than not. Against control, where I'd want to have them, I'd be better off bringing in Despise. It hits the popular threats right now, Ugin, Ashiok, Tasigur, Prognostic Sphinx. At one mana, it's much more likely to resolve and keep me on a tighter curve.
3. 2 Seeker of the Way is awkward. I dedicated 12 slots for creatures. 4 Rabbles, 4 Mentors, and I wanted 2 Soulfires, so Seeker filled up the other 2. While they make sense in theory in this list, they really weren't good in practice. The best thing they did was bait removal for my real threats. But, more often, they just stood there and stared at lions, rhinos, and centaurs. I think these 2 slots can be used much more efficiently somewhere else.
4. I need more efficient ways to get through blockers. Relying solely on Stoke and Magma Jet to clear the way is no good. This reason actually makes me want more burn in the main too. I don't know if I want to sacrifice the power level of the tokens and the two best token-makers in standard to do so though. Sure, they trigger prowess, but there were many games where I was just a few points away from closing it out. Either having more burn, or being able to get more damage through on the ground is the way to go. One of the best ideas I've had to answer this problem, is Ashcloud Phoenix. It provides me with a powerful, evasive creature, while also doubling as a great anti-control threat, almost always guaranteeing a 2-for-1. I'll likely find room here for the sideboard.
5. Abzan Advantage was terrible. I talked it up a bit in another article I wrote, and it was probably good for the deck it was in(Abzan Aggro I think?), but in my list, it was no good. It probably had to do with the match-ups I played, but it was never relevant and it stayed benched the entire night. 3 slots in the side opened up and I have plenty of better things to do with them.
6. Killing turn-1 Mystics is VERY good. It will likely make the MGD match-up much easier, even if still unfavorable. There's not a ton of good ways to do it, but Wild Slash isn't bad, and it overlaps my wanting more burn. If Slash fits in anywhere, however, it's probably in the side.
7. Outpost Siege. There's a lot of debate between running Outpost Siege or Chandra. While they both do the same thing(Choosing Khans for the siege and Chandra's "0" Ability), I think the Siege is better here, because it doesn't eat Downfalls. Chandra probably isn't going to 0 the turn you play her anyway, so there's not much argument for that. I just feel that the Siege is much more likely to sit there for the rest of the game and bury them in card advantage. On the other hand... if enchantment hate picks up a bit, and potentially to the point where it's in mainboards, it's better to switch to Chandra. I like having access to both between Main/Side.
I'm sure there are many more important things for me to mention here, but I want to move on to my latest changes that sparked from this event.
Here's where I'm at now:
Lands: 24
4 Battlefield Forge
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Caves of Koilos
1 Mana Confluence
2 Mountain
4 Nomad Outpost
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Temple of Silence
4 Temple of Triumph
Creatures: 10
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Monastery Mentor
2 Soulfire Grand Master
Spells: 26
3 Hordeling Outburst
4 Magma Jet
1 Murderous Cut
2 Outpost Sige
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Thoughtseize
4 Valorous Stance
Sideboard: 15
3 Anger of the Gods
3 Ashcloud Phoenix
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
3 Crackling Doom
3 Despise
1 Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury
Went up a land. Added a Caves, and swapped a fetch for a Mana Confluence to lean me slightly towards more untapped lands and consistency in colors. Cut the 2 Seekers, 1 Outburst, 2 Mardu Charm. Those 5 slots turned into a land, 2 Outpost Siege and Valorous Stance 3-4. Hordeling Outburst came down because of the amount of Bile Blight running around. I have quite a diverse crowd of tokens here, but you don't want to play too much into one type to get blown out by a timely Blight. Sorin comes out for a Murderous Cut. Sorin was another card that was good in theory and I wanted to play him to see how it felt. The games I had him, he was overkill and there were times that I needed a way to get through a Hornet Nest, so Murderous Cut will sub in for the time being.
I've played very few games with Outpost Siege before this event, but every game I had one out, it was fantastic and I definitely want room for it here. The card advantage off of it rivals Tasigur and can easily win you games very quickly. Rather than putting in more burn, the Siege can act as another method of punching in extra points by being able to flood out more and dig into the burn spells you have.
The sideboard gets much more streamlined as before I was just kind of throwing some relevant stuff together for the event. Keeping Crackling Doom and Chandra from the original sideboard since they both performed fine. Crackling Doom was perfect in many situations. Chandra less so, but she's the right call for control match-ups. 3 Ashcloud Phoenix make their way in as well as 3 Despise from what I mentioned earlier. 1 Kolghan because he's another evasive creature and while he's great on his own with haste, he can also be a nice blow-out with a huge pump to my entire army.
Finally, while I'm hesitant with the idea, I think Anger of the Gods is the right wrath spell for this deck. It'll probably end up getting cut before much else, but while it wipes my own board, with Soulfire, it can at least put me up enough life to attempt to establish a new board presence faster than my opponent or gives me enough time to just burn them out in a couple turns. Also, Prowess resolves on the trigger before the spell does, so there could be a situation where I could cast a couple things before Anger and have my Mentor and some Monks live to tell the tale.
One last thing before I go. I have definitely given a lot of thought to Brutal Hordechief. I think he can be really good in this deck. After reading him again the other night, I found out that not only does he hit your opponent's life on combat, but he gains you that much life too. He's practically a better Sorin. He won't gain you as much life, but he gives you a sort of evasion that can help push through some extra damage that might be the difference in winning or losing some games. I'm very excited to test with him as a 2-of in the main, but I don't want to say he's there for sure yet. I think I'll cut the Murderous Cut and a Valorous Stance or Outpost Siege to fit 2 in and see how he goes. My biggest concern is that he isn't good on his own and he relies so much on having a wide board-state already. We'll see...
Anyway, that wraps it up. Sorry it's a bit long, I just feel that this deck has a lot of potential and if I can tighten up my plays a bit, I'll find a nice solid list that'll be tier-1.
Thanks for sticking with me and I'll see you at FNM!
DannyO
www.WizardDen.com
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