How To Do Better At Your Next PTQ - Part 3

Hello, and welcome back to my series of How To Do Better At Your Next PTQ - Part 3. Last week we covered analysing the metagame, and this week, we'll be covering the nuts and bolts of bringing two decks to a tournament. The list which inspired this series can be found here. 


Why Two Decks?


Why would you bring two decks to a metagame? Simple: The local metagame at the PTQ you're attending is likely to be a bit different to the world's metagame. So by bringing two decks each designed to oppose certain metagames, e.g, W/U Reveillark for Anathemancer-heavy metagames and Five-Color Control for Elf Combo / Time Sieve Combo heavy metagames, you can be sure of attacking the metagame from the right angle. 


Make sure you bring decks with different weaknesses. Elf Combo and Jund seem quite different, but they're both vulnerable to the same thing: sweepers.Whereas Elf Combo and Five-Color Control on the other hand operate on totally different realms, and both require totally different sideboard plans. So you could pick one of these decks based on which one the event was less hostile towards in sideboard choices.


Testing Two Decks


Most people would advise testing two decks equally, but I think that you should become equally competent at both. Becoming competent at Elf Combo requires less matches than Five-Color Control, so if you were to run 100 matches, I'd suggest 30-40 Elf Combo matches and 60-70 Five-Color Control matches in your testing. That way you're confident with both of them, and ready no matter what deck you pick.


More complex decks require more matches to master, so take the time to learn them well.


This has been a very short post, but the concept doesn't require too many words to explain. Join me next week as I talk about doing the same anti-metagame move for your sideboard before the event.


Until next time, may you say only what needs to be said (yes I know this is a short post!)

Draft Question

You're playing in an M10 draft. You open your first pack and see Mind Control and Sleep. They're far and away the best cards in the pack. What do you pick?

Leave your answer in the comments!

The Transformative Sideboard - Preliminary Testing

Before today's blog post, I would like to draw your attention to this piece of news: I have a guest post up on Magic Game Plan this week! The guest post is an exhaustive primer on GSS Jund, and can be found here. It's a long read, even by my standards (2,200 words) but if you're thinking about playing GSS Jund, or even regular Jund, it's an excellent read.

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Here's the thing about this blog: I'm not going to back anything up on it's own merit. I'm going to test ideas that come to me. So when I made the transformative sideboard, I decided I had to try it out for myself. As per my tradition, I hopped on to Magic Workstation to play a few matches. I used the exact list from yesterday's post.

Match 1: Matte's U/R Control

We play land-go for the first few turns. I play a Bloodbraid Elf cascading into Boggart Ram-Gang, and it gets hit with Double Negative. DAMN, who plays that maindeck? I mean, seriously. Next turn I play a second Bloodbraid Elf which also gets Double Negatived, but luckily I cascade into Great Sable Stag which can't be countered. He passes again. I play Boggart Ram-Gang, and swing. He casts Flame Javelin on Great Sable Stag and falls to 17.

He plays Jace and draws, and I Lightning Bolt him in the end step. I draw and attack with Boggart Ram-Gang. He plays Lightning Bolt on it, and I respond with Jund Charm to pump it. Jace dies. I then play Anathemancer for 3, knocking him to 11. He passes. I swing with Boggart Ram-Gang, he bounces the 5/5 and draws a card. I play Bloodbraid Elf into Maelstrom Pulse, which I decline to play. He uses Volcanic Fallout in his turn.

I play Boggart Ram-Gang, and it meets an Essence Scatter. I play a second Boggart Ram-Gang and he Flame Javelins it. We pass. I play Great Sable Stag and pass. He plays Swans of Bryn Argoll, and Lightning Bolts Great Sable Stag. He passes. At end of turn, I Lightning Bolt Swans of Bryn Argoll. Refilling my empty hand I remind him why Ancestral Recall is broken by playing Putrid Leech, Anathemancer, and a seventh land. He swings me to 16, so obvioulsy he has a Cryptic Command. During my upkeep, he bounces my seventh land to prevent unearthing and taps my guys. I play Boggart Ram-Gang and swing him down to 4. He draws and concedes.

Game 2 I play Sign in Blood, and he uses Double Negative. He plays Jace, and I kill it with Lightning Bolt during the end step. I untap, lay a land and pass. He plays Plumeveil at end of turn, then passes. I pass again (s0 much land), and so does he. I play Bloodbraid Elf into Boggart Ram-Gang, and swing. He uses Lightning Bolt on Boggart Ram-Gang and blocks Bloodbraid Elf with the Plumeveil. I use Jund Charm to save Boggart Ram-Gang, and he Flame Javelins my Ram-Gang in response. Everything dies except for Plumeveil. He plays another Plumeveil, then passes. We both pass for a few turns as I creep past seven land. I get to about eleven land before I draw a non-reactive card. I play Anathemancer, and he Essence Scatters it. During the same turn, I unearth it for 6 damage to hit him to 14, then attack. He blocks with Plumeveil. I pass.

He plays a Bogardan Hellkite at EOT, hitting me to 15. I try for Bituminous Blast, and he Double Negatives it, then swings with the Hellkite. I go to 10. I untap, and play Maelstrom Pulse on the Hellkite. At end of turn, he activates Gargoyle Castle. I use Bituminous Blast into Lightning Bolt, aiming the Blast at his Castle and the Bolt at him. He goes to 11. He plays Oona, Queen of the Fae, and I use Maelstrom Pulse. He Cryptic Commands Maelstrom Pulse, tapping out. I use Jund Charm and Lightning Bolt to kill Oona. He passes, and I play Putrid Leech. We both pass for a few turns: I don't want to lose Leech to a Plumeveil. He draws, plays Bogardan Hellkite, and then Lightning Bolt for the win.

Game 3 I play Sign in Blood, then Great Sable Stag. He Lightning Bolts the Stag. I play Anathemancer, which gets Essence Scattered. Next turn I play Anathemancer for 2 (18) and pass. I swing twice more (14) and he passes. Then he plays Oona, tapping out, and I use 2 Lightning Bolts to kill it, untap, and play my own threat I'd been sandbagging: Broodmate Dragon from the sideboard. I swing him to 12 with Anathemancer. He passes. I go to attack, he taps my creatures and bounces the token. He passes. I swing, he attempts Flame Javelin on the Broodmate. I cast Jund Charm, he casts Flashfreeze, I cast another Jund Charm, he goes to 4, passes, and I unearth Anathemancer for the win.

1-0

Match 2 vs. BeerAtog's Time Sieve Combo

He plays Elsewhere Flask, I play Sign in Blood. He plays Jace, I play a Boggart Ram-Gang to kill it. I swing, he lets it through, and I Jund Charm the Ram-Gang. He goes to 15. On his turn, he Cryptic Commands to bounce / draw, then Silences me on my upkeep. I respond with two Lightning Bolts to the face (9) and pass. He plays Jace, we both draw. I play Boggart Ram-Gang, he plays Pollen Lullaby, tying the clash. I play Sign in Blood. He plays Time Warp, Time Warp, Elsewhere Flask and Howling Mine. He plays Time Sieve and shows me Open the Vaults and Tezzeret in his hand, and I concede.

I suddenly have an epiphany of how to beat this deck: Maelstrom Pulse their Borderposts. I side in the Maelstrom Pulses and a Jund Charm for 3 Bituminous Blasts.

He plays a Turn 1 Mistvein Borderpost, I play Sign in Blood. He plays Elsewhere Flask, I play Putrid Leech. He plays a second Mistvein Borderpost. I Maelstrom Pulse them, and basically win right there. I swing for 4 (16, 16) and pass. He plays another Mistvein Borderpost and an Elsewhere Flask. I swing with Putrid Leech, and Jund Charm it. (14, 10). He draws and concedes.

Game 3 he plays Mistvein Borderpost and passes. I lay a land and pass. He plays Elsewhere Flask, I play Sign in Blood. He plays Kaleidostone, and Silences me during upkeep. I Bolt him to 17 in response, lay a land, and pass. He plays Vedalken Outlander and passes. I play Sign in Blood, lay land 4, and pass. I Bolt him to 14 and play Great Sable Stag. He plays Time Warp, then Vedalken Outlander, and passes. I play a full Mulldrifter and swing. He uses Pollen Lullaby. He plays Mistvein Borderpost and Tezzeret. Hw swings with the Vedalken Outlanders, knocking me to 12, and passes. I attack Tezzeret, and get hit with Pollen Lullaby. I play Maelstrom Pulse to kill Tezzeret, and play Putrid Leech. He passes. I Pulse the Vedalken Outlanders and attack for 10, knocking him to 4. He draws, and concedes.

2-0

Match 3 vs. Lorenzo Gerry's U/B Fae

He plays Turn 2 Bitterblossom, I play Turn 3 Putrid Leech. He flashes a Scion and hits me for 3 (17). I attack, and pump PL (15, 18). He uses Agony Warp. I play Great Sable Stag. He attacks for 5. During my upkeep he uses Mistbind Clique, and so far behind, I concede.

I side in Fallouts and a Jund Charm for something.

I play Turn 2 Sign in Blood and Turn 3 Great Sable Stag. He uses Vendilion Clique to take my Volcanic Fallout, and I draw Bloodbraid Elf. Nice. I Lightning Bolt the Clique and attack for 3. He goes to 17. He passes, and I play Bloodbraid Elf into Boggart Ram-Gang. He plays Broken Ambitions to counter the Ram-Gang, and I swing for 6. He goes to 11. He passes. I swing, he Agony Warps Bloodbraid Elf and goes to 8. He passes. I swing him to 5. He draws and concedes.

Game 3 he goes on the attack, playing Spellstutter Sprite and attacks. EOT he flashes a Scion, I bolt it. He swings (18) and I get stuck on 2. He swings again (17) and I draw Savage Lands and play it. He plays Bitterblossom. I play Bloodbraid Elf into Volcanic Fallout (probably a mistake to play it). He Brokens the Elf. He Mistbind Cliques me in my upkeep. I pass. He swings me to 9, I draw and play Maelstrom Pulse on Mistbind Clique. He plays Scion in response, and I lose.

And who said Faeries was dead? Even WITH Great Sable Stag it's not the auto-win I expected.

2-1

Match 4 vs. Caonima's Five-Color Control

I play Turn 2 Sign in Blood and Turn 3 Great Sable Stag. He passes. I swing for 3, then play Sign in Blood. He Brokens it. I use Bloodbraid Elf into Jund Charm, and try to pump the stag. He points out Great Sable Stag has protection from black, so I exile the one card in his graveyard instead. I swing him to 11 and end my turn. He passes, then Cryptic Commands to tap and draw. I play Anathemancer for 3 and Lightning Bolt him to 5, then swing for the win next turn.

Game 2 I choose to sideboard nothing at all.

He stumbles on his second land. I play Boggart Ram-Gang and attack. He gets his second land. I play Boggart Ram-Gang 2 and swing to 11. He passes. I attack, he AW's. I pump the -0/-3 one, and he goes to 6. He plays Runed Halo naming Boggart Ram-Gang. I play Maelstrom Pulse, and he dies incredibly quickly.

3-1

So there you have it! Although in none of the matches I used the transformational sideboard to transform fully, I did use 12 of the cards at some point during the day (all except Cruel Ultimatum and Doom Blade) and I was playing against a bevy of control and aggro. I'll do some more testing over the coming weeks.

Lessons I've Learnt:

Scion of Oona + Bitterblossom can and will outrace Great Sable Stag.

Great Sable Stag is very useful against Faeries, but it's not an auto-win.

Maelstrom Pulsing 2 Borderposts with one Pulse will win you the game 90% of the time against Time Sieve Combo. If you have at least one creature out, or need tempo to get to Bloodbraid Elf, use it on a single Borderpost. The tempo against Time Sieve is the only way you can really interact with them.

See you tomorrow!

10 Ways To Do Better At Your Next PTQ

1. Test your deck.

Any deck you take to a PTQ you want to have tested for a minimum two weeks before hand, hopefully more. Test online, test offline, play it at FNM, read about it. Test as much as you think is necessary, then double it. Then test some more. The more you test the better you'll become with the deck, and it's important to get every advantage you can get.

Yes, sometimes people can win with a brand-new deck or an audibled deck, but most PTQ's are won by someone who has mastered a particular archetype that is well-placed in the metagame. Which brings me to point 2...

2. Analyse the metagame.

And make sure it's up-to-date. For example, people who played Kithkin last week were likely to get their asses kicked, even though it was a great, PTQ-winning deck just a fortnight ago. The metagame can change very quickly.

If you don't analyse the metagame, it's like not bringing a sideboard. Why the hell would you go to a PTQ without a sideboard? Exactly.

3. Bring two different decks.

There's no rule that says you need to know your deck in advance. This is NOT contrary to Rule 1: you simply need to do more testing. Test both decks. And don't pick two similar decks, like Elf Combo and Kithkin which are both vulnerable to the same thing. A better idea might be Kithkin and Five-Color or Jund. Both are very, very different and beat different decks.

Arrive early before the tournament, and scope out the PTQ metagame, then pick which of the two decks you will use based on that information. Some call it overkill, but why would you not get every advantage you can get? More than two decks is not recommended however, because it's hard to test more adequately.

4. Get a good night's sleep beforehand.

Yes, this is obvious. Yes it's been said before. Yes, you already know it. But so many people don't DO IT. I know I would much rather be well-rested for a tournament than bleary-eyed and subsiding on caffeine. You may not feel the difference, but you'll probably have lots of 'bad luck' that day, and end up dropping. But through no fault of your own of course. *end sarcasm*

If you're serious about the PTQ, get a good night's sleep. If you have to choose between fine-tuning your deck and adequate sleep, you haven't prepared enough. Have your lists ironclad several days in advance.

5. Bring more than 15 sideboard cards.

An extension of Part 3. However, there's an art to this. Rather than tossing together 15 cards 10 minutes before registration ends, have a piece of paper with a few different sideboard plans on it. An example might go like this for GSS Jund:

Cards to bring:

Anathemancer

Jund Charm

Thought Hemorrhage

Firespout

Deathmark

Broodmate Dragon

Maelstrom Pulse

Sygg, River Cutthroat

Stillmoon Cavalier

Five-Color Control Centric Metagame:

4 Anathemancer, 4 Jund Charm, 4 Thought Hemorrhage, 3 Firespout

Jund-Centric Metagame:

4 Anathemancer, 4 Firespout, 4 Deathmark, 2 Broodmate Dragon, 1 Maelstrom Pulse

Fae-Centric Metagame:

4 Firespout, 3 Deathmark, 1 Broodmate Dragon, 2 Maelstrom Pulse, 2 Sygg, River Cutthroat, 3 Stillmoon Cavalier

Note that especially in the Fae example, where you have almost an auto-win against them, you not only aim your sideboard at the dominant deck, but also at the deck that BEATS the dominant deck. Note these sideboards are very rough, and probably not optimal for the situation. (I would run Anathemancer maindeck in a PTQ now anyway).

6. Eat healthily.

Eating highly crappy, greasy food is a norm at tournaments, and is fine for FNM, but if you've done all this extra preparation, you may as well eat well. Otherwise it's like fitting your car with the latest and greatest safety features and parts, and then feeding it garbage fuel. Treat your body with more respect than that.

It may be hard to obtain food at the event that's healthy, so a good idea might be to pack some sandwiches just in case. Still healthier than take-out, and quicker to eat, and it won't grease up your sleeves either.

7. Play precisely.

Unlike in FNM, where it's usually fine to draw then untap, or forget your Bitterblossom trigger until you're about to play a land, these things can haunt you in a PTQ. A couple of missed triggers and that's a game loss right there. And won't that make you feel stupid?

Announce when you're entering the following: upkeep, draw, main, declare attackers, declare blockers, combat damage, postcombat main, end. Anything more is fairly anal, but those seven are a necessity. Also, don't play two spells at once. Allow your opponent time to reply. Give them about 3-5 seconds unless they give a verbal cue that they are considering. Such a wait time is expected and will not get you penalised for slow play.

Work out your plays in your head during your opponent's turn so you don't spend 20 seconds every turn thinking: only when your draw changes your plans. That'll make it far less likely for you to be warned for Slow Play. However, it is worth noting that some minor infractions will receive two warnings rather than one. Of course, it's best to avoid them altogether.

8. Be ruthless.

On the flip side of 7, is to penalise your opponents for their misplays. If they flip over one of your cards, or miss a trigger, or play too fast / too slow, CALL A JUDGE. Your opponents will do the same to you, and I've heard several cases where a player has committed a minor infraction, their opponent chose not to penalise it, and then that player did the same thing again later that match, and were warned. If they'd called a judge first time, it would have been a game loss, and they would have won the match.

Always call a judge if players don't play correctly. And if you make an obvious mistake, call a judge immediately rather than trying to hush it up. You're more likely to receive a lighter penalty if you call a judge after flipping an opponent's card rather than try to shrug it off and have the opponent call one instead (and they almost certainly will).

9. Know your tiebreakers.

You're 6-1, and you're offered a draw by your last-round opponent. You don't take it, and lose, and later find out you would have gone into the Top 8. Even worse, you DO take it, and wind up 10th place. Know your tiebreakers. Before the round starts you should know whether or not you can ID into the Top 8 (this only matters in rounds 7+, so is not applicable to all players, but it would suck to hit a miracle streak then not have the knowledge you need to hit the Top 8).

Knowledge is power. If you can ID into the Top 8, go ahead and try. But you need to know if you can first.

10. Maintain focus.

You're in the Top 8, but you've just fought 6-8 grueling rounds of Magic. In an ideal situation, you've ID'ed the last round and can relax and grab some food with friends before the Top 8. However, if that's not possible, at least take a few minutes to relax your mind and bolster your resources. The Top 8 will be the toughest part of the tournament. You don't want to be playing at anything less than your best.

Now sometimes you'll do everything right and still X-2 drop: this advice is not an automatic ticket to the Pro Tour. But there's only finite amounts of PTQ's in a year (This advice is even more important in Australia. The competition is only slightly less than America, and unless you're willing to fly, there's only 1-2 PTQ's you can get to in a year!) and you may as well do your best. Do not take a PTQ likely. Don't attend on a whim. Some of the area's best will be there, and the more preparation you do, the better.

Because rest assured: if you're not well-rested, prepared, tuned for the metagame and ready to play your best, you'll be competing against someone who is.

Until next time, may you prepare for a month so that people can label you an overnight success when you win.

Volcanic Fallout vs. Firespout

Which card do you think is better in the current metagame: Volcanic Fallout, or Firespout? Assume the deck can support both Red and Green. Leave your answer in the comments!

Great Sable Stag: Maindeck or No?

I've been wondering for a few days if Great Sable Stag is maindeckable in today's Standard. Today, I decided to check it out. I originally considered using a Five-Color Control list, but I'm unskilled at it and wouldn't really need GSS. I then decided to switch to a Jund list. Jund has Cascade, which should allow me to see a lot more GSS'es over the course of a few matches.

Here's the list I used, copied from a tournament, replacing GSS in the sideboard with the Kitchen Finks maindeck.

Lands (25)

4 Savage Lands

4 Twilight Mire

3 Vivid Marsh

3 Vivid Grove

4 Reflecting Pool

3 Graven Cairns

1 Swamp

1 Forest

1 Mountain

1 Fire-Lit Thicket

Creatures (18)

4 Bloodbraid Elf

4 Great Sable Stag

4 Boggart Ram-Gang

4 Putrid Leech

2 Sygg, River Cutthroat

Spells (17)

2 Maelstrom Pulse

4 Lightning Bolt

3 Sign in Blood

4 Bituminous Blast

4 Volcanic Fallout

Sideboard (15)

3 Anathemancer

4 Kitchen Finks

1 Maelstrom Pulse

2 Snakeform

3 Blightning

2 Infest

On to the match reports!

Match 1 vs. Crucifera (Five-Color Control)

Game 1 I start with Sign in Blood, and Bloodbraid Elf into Boggart Ram-Gang. He Cryptic Commands's the Ram-Gang, and I swing. I swing again next turn and he flashes in a Cloudthresher, killing my Bloodbraid Elf. I use Maelstrom Pulse on it, then pass. He plays Liliana Vess, and I discard a land. End of turn, I double Lightning Bolt Liliana to kill her.

I play Bloodbraid Elf into Boggart Ram-Gang again, and hit him down to 9. He Firespouts, then passes. I play a Great Sable Stag. When I swing, he flashes another Cloudthresher. I use a second Maelstrom Pulse after combat. He plays Jace and passes. I play Putrid Leech. He plays end of turn Plumeveil. He uses Jace to bring it up to 7 counters, then plays...Jace? I remind him of the subtype rules, and he ruefully puts both in the graveyard.

He blocks my Putrid Leech with Plumeveil. I pump, and he Agony Warps it in response. I pass, so does he. I play Sygg, and he plays an end of turn Makeshift Mannequin for Cloudthresher. He then plays Cruel Ultimatum after untapping, and I concede.

Sideboard: In: 1 Maelstrom Pulse, 3 Anathemancer. -4 Volcanic Fallout.

Game 2 I play a turn 3 Boggart Ram-Gang, the first play of the game, and swing. He evokes a Mulldrifter. I play Bloodbraid Elf into Great Sable Stag and swing for 6. He plays Kitchen Finks. I play a second Boggart Ram-Gang and attack with just them. He blocks with one and takes 3. He passes without playing a fifth land. I swing with all my guys. He Makeshift Mannequins a Mulldrifter. I Lightning Bolt it before blocks, and he goes to 3. I then play Anathemancer for the win.

Game 3 I play a turn 2 Sygg. We both pass: I suspect a Plumeveil, so don't attack. I play Bloodbraid Elf into Anathemancer, and he Cryptic Commands my Anathemancer, bouncing Sygg to my hand. I swing for 3. He untaps, and plays a full-priced Mulldrifter. I untap and cast Bituminous Blast, cascading into Great Sable Stag, and swing again. He goes to 14. He plays Firespout. I play Boggart Ram-Gang and Sygg. I swing with the Ram-Gang, and he plays Plumeveil and blocks. Ram-Gang dies, and his Plumeveil becomes a 1/1. He draws and plays Anathemancer for 4. I play Boggart Ram-Gang and swing. It gets double blocked by Plumeveil and Anathemancer. I pass.

He plays Liliana Vess. I cast Maelstrom Pulse, and play Putrid Leech. I swing for 1 with Sygg, and pass. He plays Makeshift Mannequin for Mulldrifter. I untap, lay a seventh land and unearth Anathemancer for 7. I swing, he blocks my two guys. He plays Kitchen Finks, bringing his life up to 10. He plays a full-price Mulldrifter and passes. I draw Anathemancer, play it, and knock him down to 2, then play Lightning Bolt to win.

1-0

Match 2: FastMast (Master Transmuter Deck)

He makes the first play of the game, casting Fabricate for Master Transmuter. I play Boggart Ram-Gang and swing for 3. He plays Ornithopter and a full-price Borderpost, then passes. I play a second Boggart Ram-Gang and swing. He blocks one with Ornithopter. He goes to 14.

He untaps and plays Master Transmuter. I untap, and Bituminous Blast into Bloodbraid Elf into Great Sable Stag. That's just sick. He plays a Sphinx Summoner, searching for a Master Transmuter, but I just alpha strike for the win.

Game 2 (No sideboard)

He mulligans to 5, plays an Ornithopter and a land, and passes. I play Turn 2 Sign in Blood. He passes, and I play Putrid Leech and pass. He plays an Etherium Sculptor, and I swing with Putrid Leech. He takes 4, and I play Great Sable Stag. He passes again, and I play Sygg and swing. He blocks, and saves his guys with Ethersworn Shieldmage.

He plays Tidehollow Sculler, stealing a Bloodbraid Elf. I swing with Great Sable Stag and Putrid Leech. He takes 3 and blocks Leech with the Sculptor. I cast two Lightning Bolts, one at him, one at his Sculler. He plays a Scourglass.

I play Bloodbraid Elf, hoping for a Boggart Ram-Gang, but instead hit Putrid Leech. I swing with my three guys. I expect him to block at 10 life, but he forgets about Putrid Leech's pumping, takes the hit, and dies.

2-0.

Match 3: Ace of Spades (Faeries)

I play a Turn 3 Great Sable Stag and apologise. He passes. I plays Bloodbraid Elf into Boggart Ram-Gang, and he Broken Ambitions the Ram-Gang. I swing for 6. Next turn I play Bloodbraid Elf into a Fallout, which I deign not to play. He Peppersmokes Boggart Ram-Gang and goes to 3, and concedes next turn.

(No sideboarding)

He plays Turn 1 Thoughtseize, revealing Putrid Leech, Bloodbraid Elf, Bituminous Blast, and lands. He takes the Putrid Leech, but I draw a duplicate next turn, and play it Turn 2. He passes. I play Sygg, and swing with the Leech for 4. I end the turn, drawing off Sygg. He plays a Bitterblossom. I topdeck Maelstrom Pulse and play it, and he casts Flashfreeze on it. I swing him to 9, pass, and draw off Sygg.

He passes. I swing, he flashes in a Scion and blocks a guy with the token. After combat, I Bituminous Blast it, cascading into a Boggart Ram-Gang. I end the turn.

He Agony Warps my Ram-Gang and passes. I play Bloodbraid Elf into Putrid Leech. He Cryptic Commands the Bloodbraid Elf and taps my guys. I pass. On my upkeep, he Mistbind Cliques. I swing with the Leeches, and he blocks with a Clique and a token. I pump the one blocked by Clique and both die. Next turn, he Mistbind Cliques in my upkeep. I attack with Putrid Leech. He blocks, and I kill the Clique again. I cast Bloodbraid Elf into Great Sable Stag and swing. He blocks, goes to 2 from Bitterblossom, draws, and concedes.

3-0

Match 4: Ace of Spades (Five-Color Control)

Ace of Spades asks me for another set. I explain I'm doing coverage for a blog, but will gladly play him if he switches decks. He offers to let me switch too, but of course I decline.

Game 1 I play a Turn 3 Putrid Leech. When I swing, he casts Plumeveil. I pump it and both die. I play Sign in Blood and pass. He passes. I play Bloodbraid Elf into Great Sable Stag and swing for 3. He takes it, then plays Hallowed Burial.

I play a Great Sable Stag and pass. He evokes a Mulldrifter and passes. I swing him to 14. He untaps, and Cruels me. In response I cast all my burn: 2 Lightning Bolts and a Volcanic Fallout. My guys die, my hand is discarded, he goes to 11, and I go to 9. I've never won a game where Cruel resolved against me, but I fight on anyway. I play a Sygg, and pass. He passes, and I play Great Sable Stag and pass. He plays an end of turn Plumeveil, then Cruels me again. I swing him down to 13, and play Putrid Leech. He plays Essence Scatter. He evokes a Mulldrifter, plays Broodmate Dragon, and I concede.

Sideboard: +1 Maelstrom Pulse, +3 Anathemancer, -4 Volcanic Fallout

Game 2 I play a Turn 2 Sign in Blood. He passes. I play Sygg, he passes. I play Great Sable Stag, and he plays an end of turn Esper Charm to make me discard. I discard Bituminous Blast and Anathemancer. He evokes a Mulldrifter. I swing for 4 and pass, drawing off Sygg. He Esper Charms himself and passes. I play Boggart Ram-Gang and swing him to nine. He plays Hallowed Burial. I Lightning Bolt him twice, then play Anathemancer for the win.

Game 3 we play land-go for a few turns. Then he evokes a Mulldrifter. I play Great Sable Stag and pass. He plays Runed Halo naming Great Sable Stag. I cast Maelstrom Pulse and swing. He plays a full Mulldrifter. In my turn I Bituminous Blast it, cascading into a Sign in Blood, which I cast. I swing. He plays Broodmate Dragon and passes.

I play another Bituminous Blast, hitting the non-black one (since I have Great Sable Stag) and cascade into a Boggart Ram-Gang. He blocks it, and his Broodmate becomes a 1/1. He draws, and plays Puppeteer Clique to steal Boggart Ram-Gang. He swings me for 3. Next turn I untap, swing with Great Sable Stag knocking him to 8, play Anathemancer for 7, then Lightning Bolt for the win.

4-0!

So as you can see, not only did all 4 decks I faced have blue and black in it, but I also won every single match I played. If I were to play this deck at a PTQ or FNM, I'd add the Anathemancers maindeck and put the Fallouts in the sideboard. They're simply less necessary now, with the rise of Five-Color Control, and Anathemancer was powerful in just about every match. I'd also add a fourth Anathemancer. They're very, very good. I might also replace the Kitchen Finks in the sideboard with something else, but I'm not sure what yet.

Lessons I've Learnt Today:

Always force your opponent to play through his mistakes, or he'll think he has the right to do it again. (I left this match).

Anathemancer is even better than I thought. Same with Sygg.

Jund is my deck of choice. If I had the money, I'd build it, and even take it to a local PTQ. I wonder if Jeremy has a Jund mana base...I have 3 Pulses after all...

Question for the Readers!

Many of my articles are far longer than I expected to write regularly: over a thousand words. I don't mind this, in fact, I can keep it up quite easily. However, they might be too long for you guys: and that's what this blog is for. The people. So tell me: is this blog too long? Should I save the long posts for special occasions, and are the match reports to detailed?

I always accept critique, but this time I'm openly asking for praise or criticism. Please leave a comment, and leave your two cents. You can comment anonymously.

Thank you,

Jay Bailey (Mtgsalivanth)

Faeries Never Dies!

Faeries is dead. Dead as a doornail, dead as Elvis, dead as the dinosaurs. Right?

I seem to remember this stuff being said before. Oh that's right. It was after Conflux, when Volcanic Fallout came out. Of course, Great Sable Stag is in a whole new level. Faeries can still survive. But it has to change a bit. It has to give a little to get a little. And that little is a little thing called Lightning Bolt.

As Wizards probably intended, Lightning Bolt is the perfect answer to Great Sable Stag. For one mana, it kills it. And in this world where playing UUU, WW, GG and RR in the same deck is perfectly reasonable, we can pretty easily make a splash for some of Red's greatest.

Here's the list that came 5th at France's Nationals. (Two other Fae decks placed higher, but they used Time Warp, and we're going with a tried and true build here.)

Creatures
4 Mistbind Clique
3 Scion Of Oona
2 Sower Of Temptation
4 Spellstutter Sprite

Instants
4 Agony Warp
3 Broken Ambitions
4 Cryptic Command

Legendary Creatures
2 Vendilion Clique

Planeswalkers
2 Jace Beleren

Tribal Enchantments
4 Bitterblossom

Tribal Instants
3 Peppersmoke

Basic Lands
5 Island
3 Swamp

Lands
4 Drowned Catacomb
1 Gargoyle Castle
4 Mutavault
4 Secluded Glen
4 Sunken Ruins

Sideboard:
2 Puppeteer Clique
1 Sower Of Temptation
3 Stillmoon Cavalier
3 Countersquall
3 Flashfreeze
3 Thoughtseize

Not bad, but with 3 Fae decks in the Top 8, I think that GSS is more popular in America than France. Since most of my readers are American, we need to tune it to the GSS-stuffed metagame.

Here's my proposed list:

Next Level Faeries:

Creatures
4 Mistbind Clique
3 Scion Of Oona
2 Sower Of Temptation
4 Spellstutter Sprite

Instants

3 Broken Ambitions
4 Cryptic Command

4 Lightning Bolt

3 Terminate

Legendary Creatures
2 Vendilion Clique

Planeswalkers
2 Jace Beleren

Tribal Enchantments
4 Bitterblossom

Basic Lands
2 Island
2 Swamp
1 Mountain

Lands

3 Cascade Bluffs

4 Crumbling Necropolis

4 Drowned Catacomb
1 Mutavault

4 Secluded Glen
4 Sunken Ruins

Sideboard:
2 Puppeteer Clique
4 Anathemancer

3 Glen Elendra Archmage
3 Flashfreeze
3 Double Negative

I haven't actually tested this list yet, but I intend to once Magic Workstation decides to be nice. Sometime in the next few days I'll post a report of the testing. I'm sure I'll come into direct contact with Great Sable Stags. In the meantime, feel free to test and adjust the decklist yourselves. The sideboard of this deck is tuned towards Jund and Five-Color decks specifically, since they'll show up in big numbers at PTQ's and other events, which is what this list is aimed towards. I hope it does well for you.

I like Faeries. I think it has it's place in the metagame. It's a good foil to Five-Color, which has now risen to dominance. Hopefully this can bring it back as a Tier 1 strategy.

Until next time, may what you thought was dead rise from the grave.

Lessons I've Learnt Today:

I intend to make this a regular posting whenever I learn something about Magic, so I can share it with all of you. Some of these lessons aren't from today, but I'm catching up.

Never, ever, play Cruel if you even think the opponent might have a possibility of having a counter. Especially if he plays 5CC better than you.

Ajani Goldmane gaining life is actually good against Blightning. Especially if you defend him with Harm's Way. Eventually, they'll run out of gas and you can play a big-ass Avatar. Or a token generator and give the tokens +1/+1 countery goodness.

Figure of Destiny is absolutely nuts against 5CC. If you're at 6 mana, you have an 8/8 in 2 turns for one card.

Goldmeadow Stalwart isn't that good in a 14 Kithkin deck. Path to Exile and HW are better draws.

See you tomorrow!

Magic: The Blogging

Greetings to all the Magic: the Gathering players out there! My name is Jay Bailey, and my handle is Salivanth. I've played the game for a few years, am a very good local player (though not too good in the wider community), an experienced writer, and a quasi-experienced blogger. I do have another blog, which is linked to here, but it's not about Magic: The Gathering. It is, instead, about personal growth and development, one of my two passions (the other being, of course, Magic).

I have actually wanted to start this blog for several weeks now, but haven't been sure I have something unique or even useful to say. However, trawling the blogosphere, I've noticed a lack of good Magic strategy on blogs. There's lots of great strategy. There's lots of blogs. But the two rarely come together. So I'm here to make that union.

My aim is to provide my readers with daily, high-quality, original, and personable Magic: The Gathering content, tech and strategy. Nothing less to me will suffice (although quality may take some time to emerge as I get used to blogging about Magic.)

Most Magic blog posts are short. I'm a fairly verbose blogger, generally averaging 600-1000 words per blog post (at least on my first blog). I'll be covering a wide range of topic, from spoilers of new sets to tournament reports, to deck ideas. A link to my Magic: The Gathering-only Twitter account can be found here.

I go to FNM on Saturday (I live in Australia) so tomorrow I should be bringing you a tournament report as a post. After that we'll delve into the bottomless pit of Magic: The Gathering strategy. I can hardly wait!

My favourite, and by far most prolific format is Standard. I almost never venture into Extended, Legacy or Vintage, but am a halfway-decent Limited player. I LOVE drafting M10, and always end up with blue/black decks somehow. I also like drafting Shards/Conflux/Reborn, though not as much as M10. I usually end up Esper since only 2 Esper drafters are usually at the table, so I score lots of good stuff.

I'm currently playing a Kithkin deck, but it's a bit up in the air since M10 rotated in. Here's the decklist I hacked out:

20 Plains

4 Windbrisk Heights

4 Figure of Destiny

4 Wizened Cenn

4 Knight of Meadowgrain

4 Cloudgoat Ranger

3 Captain of the Watch

2 Goldmeadow Stalwart

4 Honor of the Pure

4 Spectral Procession

3 Ajani Goldmane

2 Path to Exile

2 Harm's Way

Sideboard:

4 Ethersworn Canonist

3 Stillmoon Cavalier

3 Burrenton Forge-Tender

2 Ranger of Eos

2 Harm's Way

1 Path to Exile

Notes on the deck:

Captain of the Watch: The Captain is just sick to flip off a Windbrisk Heights. He may cost 6 mana, but that's only one more than Cloudgoat, and he's excellent against Control. A control deck HAS to Wrath this guy, or die in short order.

I cut the Stalwarts since I didn't believe they were as useful as other cards in the deck especially since Turn 1 I was using Windbrisk Heights anyway.

No Mutavaults: I almost never activate them. 0 Mutavaults may not be the objectively correct decision, but it works for my playstyle. I've played about 40-50 games with the deck, and lost a couple of games because of Mutavault stopping WWW for Spectral...but I've never won a game thanks to Mutavault.

Harm's Way: Harm's Way is THE BOMB. Especially against Red decks. Nobody expects it. They don't play around it. It is just as good as Path to Exile, and including 2 of each makes my opponents play around both. I think HW may even be BETTER than Path as long as people don't expect it, hence the 3 Paths total, and the 4 Harm's Way total.

Ranger of Eos: Ranger of Eos into 3 BFT's spells death for the Red deck. Also, searching for Figures makes for great Wrath resistance. At 6 mana, a single Figure becomes an 8/8 deathstick in just 2 turns.

The rest of the deck choices are fairly obvious, so I won't present notes on them. Everyone knows Figure of Destiny is awesome, me saying it is irrelevant.

Wow, that's a long post. I think that basically wraps it up as an introduction.

The blog is going to be a pretty lacklustre effort for up to a week while I get everything running. I'm not Superman, it may take a few days to make everything start to work.

Until next time, may you make a good beginnning.