by Kenji Tsumura (translated by Alex Lin)
Last week on MTG JP, Kenji provided his insight on some interesting decks from Magic Online and his thoughts on the first post-M11 PTQ results. Though dated, we hope you can still find some value in this wonderful article!
Hello!
So the spring rains have started and summer has arrived. But contrary to how hot the real world is getting, the world of Magic Online has been left out in the cold as it waits for the release of M11. Because of that, I’ll be highlighting some interesting rogue decks from this week’s ‘Decks of the Week,’ and then I’ll introduce some decks from various PTQs, as well as from Kanagawa’s Planeswalker Cup, that use M11 cards.
To start with, let’s check on some decks from MTGO:
Invader Jund by Nihil198571 (3-1)
Standard Daily #1395763 on 07/13/2010
2 Dragonskull Summit
3 Forest
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
3 Mountain
4 Raging Ravine
1 Rootbound Crag
4 Savage Lands
3 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Borderland Ranger
4 Nest Invader
3 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Sprouting Thrinax
4 Blightning
2 Eldrazi Monument
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Sarkhan the Mad
2 Terminate
Sideboard
1 Chain Reaction
2 Doomblade
4 Dragon Claw
3 Duress
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
2 Jund Charm
This is the Invader Jund archetype that won an MTGO PTQ a little while back…
There are several versions of the deck going around, with some opting to also run Putrid Leech or Lotus Cobra in the two mana slot, or adding in Vengevine, but for now I just want to introduce the most orthodox version of the deck. Personally, I think 25 lands is a bit low, but otherwise I think the deck is really beautifully built. While taking Putrid Leech out weakens the UW matchup, it makes the deck stronger against the various Vengevine Naya and Bant decks, as well as against the mirror.
Two weeks ago, Shouta Yasooka said that he didn’t want two copies of Sarkhan the Mad, but I’m from the school of thought that two is correct. Although the strength of this card is very dependent on the board state, it’s the strongest threat you can play in the mirror match, and regardless of what deck I’m playing, I never want to see it on my opponent’s side, so I think that at the very least you need two copies.
Every creature in this deck gives some kind of advantage, making it essentially a creature-control deck. However, as I said above, because I’d like to add another land, I think that, depending on your meta, it’s right to change either one Maelstrom Pulse or one Siege-Gang Commander into the additional land. If UW Planeswalkers are more popular, keep the Pulse, but if creatures and the mirror are more popular, keep the Commander in.
Mono-White Eldrazi by Jiggywiggy (3-1)
Standard Daily #1395788 on 07/13/2010
4 Eldrazi Temple
1 Eye of Ugin
4 Kabira Crossroads
15 Plains
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Kozilek, the Butcher of Truth
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
4 Wall of Omens
4 All is Dust
3 Day of Judgment
2 Dreamstone Hedron
4 Everflowing Chalice
2 Expedition Map
4 Path to Exile
3 Rest for the Weary
4 Survival Cache
Sideboard
4 Celestial Purge
1 Day of Judgment
4 Kor Firewalker
3 Pithing Needle
1 Rest for the Weary
2 World Queller
This is the Mono-White Eldrazi deck, which Kazuya Mitamura also discussed over in his article. I’ve tried playing it several times on MTGO, but unfortunately it’s just not an archetype I like very much. I’ve also tried various UG Eldrazi decks, but Jund decks main decking Goblin Ruinblaster are pretty popular right now, and Mono-Red is also being played quite a bit, so I think this is a bad time to play it on MTGO. In both cases, I think that these are decks that will shine once Alara Block and M10 rotate out of Standard.
Below I have a UG list, but I wouldn’t recommend playing it if beatdown is common in your area. At first glance, if you consider their past history, you would expect Mono-White to have the advantage over Mono-Red, but that isn’t the case right now. The proof of that is in the large number of cards in the sideboard dedicated to the Mono-Red match. When I was playing this deck, I felt like I wanted, at the bare minimum, eight cards in my sideboard that I could bring in against Red.
However, this deck is built to be absurdly strong against control decks. Thanks to Eldrazi Temple, Eye of Ugin, and Everflowing Chalice, you’ll be able to reliably cast your three Eldrazi fairly quickly, while the four All is Dust in the main will take care of any Planeswalkers or finishers that your opponent might play, making it a very useful card. As a Mono-Color deck, it’s quite stable, but the deck’s power is a bit subdued when compared with other decks. Still, I have hopes for this deck in the future.
If all I’m doing is criticizing this deck, you might be wondering why I’m bothering to talk about it. Actually, I expect this deck to lead to a Tier 1 deck in the next Standard format. I feel like this deck is about three months too early, but after Alara Block rotates out, this archetype could be able to go on a rampage, so start thinking about it now.
Bigarden (3-1)
Standard Daily #1395796 on 07/12/2010
6 Forest
4 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Mountain
3 Raging Ravine
3 Rootbound Crag
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Acidic Slime
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
2 Mold Shambler
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Rampant Growth
4 Roiling Terrain
4 Spreading Seas
Sideboard
4 Aether Tradewinds
4 Cunning Sparkmage
4 Flame Slash
3 Pyroclasm
This deck is somewhat similar to the final version of last year’s GUWR Spreading Seas deck. The previous version used Bloodbraid Elf and Ardent Plea to cascade into Spreading Seas and Convincing Mirage, while this version is a bit more of an orthodox land destruction deck.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor’s bounce ability works quite well with the 14 creatures with come-into-play effects, and this deck uses Jace’s power to maximum effect.
I also want to talk about one thing that isn’t limited strictly to this deck, which is the fact that I think that if you own four Jaces, you should use all four of them. The card can end games so quickly, and if you have a deck with mana acceleration it definitely isn’t a mistake to include all four.
Some cards from M11 that I think could be inserted into this deck would be Frost Titan, Primeval Titan, Cultivate, and Destructive Force. If you put these in, you can keep your strategy hidden longer. To avoid the anti-synergy with Birds of Paradise, take them out and add in Explore and other similar accelerators in. A lot of small changes will be necessary, but try tweaking the deck with new cards and see what you can come up with.
Well, putting the old format aside now, why don’t we take a look at some tournament results from the Post-M11 world:
Sakurai Taiki
PTQ Amsterdam – Chiba / Champion
5 Forest
2 Island
2 Plains
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Celestial Colonnade
2 Sejiri Steppe
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Baneslayer Angel
4 Sovereigns of Lost Alara
2 Eldrazi Conscription
4 Mana Leak
3 Negate
3 Summoning Trap
1 Bant Charm
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Sideboard
3 Obstinate Baloth
2 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
3 Celestial Purge
3 Path to Exile
2 Spell Pierce
1 Bant Charm
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant
The winner of Chiba’s PTQ is an updated version of Eldrazi Conscription. The M11 cards that were added to the deck are Mana Leak in the main and Obstinate Baloth in the sideboard.
There’s another point that I want to look at a bit closer though, which is the use of Summoning Trap in the main. Until now, there wasn’t really a strong counter in the format, so this card’s alternate cost was rarely used.
However, thanks to the inclusion of Mana Leak in M11, decks with counterspells should become a lot more prevelant. As a result, this card’s relative power will also increase – which I believe was the thinking behind its inclusion in this deck. Be that as it may, it’s still a pretty daring strategy that requires a fair amount of courage to pull off. But as you can see, things worked out for Sakai-san, and he won the PTQ, showing us its significance by putting up the results. Until now I’ve never seen a version with Summoning Trap, so this was pretty interesting.
Other interesting cards are the Negates in the main and the Spell Pierces in the sideboard, which are certainly the fruits of correctly having a read on the metagame. In the single elimination rounds, his opponents were UW Control, GUR Titan, and then UW Control again, with no beatdown decks at all present in the Top 8, so you could definitely say that he reaped the benefits of reading the meta.
Just like Sakurai-san, it’s important for you to be able to understand the important elements of your own region, and to ask yourself which parts of the deck will be suited to your meta, and which won’t be. I encourage everyone to try tweaking their decks on their own a bit, and perhaps you’ll find yourselves holding blue envelopes as well.
Matsumoto Yuki designed by Ebie Kunisato
PTQ Amsterdam – Chiba / Top 4
10 Island
7 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Howling Mine
2 Temple Bell
4 Pyromancer Ascension
4 Into the Roil
4 Mana Leak
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Time Warp
4 Burst Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Banefire
Sideboard
3 Calcite Snapper
4 Magma Spray
4 Negate
4 Spell Pierce
The core of this deck’s fans seem to be on MTGO, but with the additions of Mana Leak and Preordain from M11, I expect it to get much stronger.
To borrow another pro player’s words, Pyromancer Ascension is as strong here as Bitterblossom was for the Fairy deck. While it’s a heavy metagame choice, and you don’t want to play it in a region where beatdown is prominent, because we don’t know what the post-M11 environment will look like, it’s possible that this deck could get a lot better. Although it has a high possibility of being useless, depending on your metagame, it can be a very good idea to have Pyroclasm in the main, and since it’s still the beginning of the new format, you have a bit of leeway with your tuning. If you’re in a region where control decks abound, such as Chiba, this is an excellent choice.
Sugaya Hironobu, designed by Kozakai Yukio
PTQ Amsterdam – Chiba / Top 4
6 Forest
3 Mountain
4 Raging Ravine
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Tectonic Edge
2 Khalni Garden
1 Mystifying Maze
4 Sylvan Ranger
2 Borderland Ranger
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Inferno Titan
4 Primeval Titan
4 Cultivate
4 Explore
4 Destructive Force
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
Sideboard
4 Obstinate Baloth
3 Acidic Slime
1 Gaea’s Revenge
3 Pyroclasm
2 Autumn’s Veil
2 Brittle Effigy
This is a completely new archetype: RG Titans. Using older terms, you might also call it RG Mana Ramp.
The basic plan is to use Sylvan Ranger, Borderland Ranger, Explore, and Cultivate to steadily accelerate into casting an Inferno Titan or Primeval Titan, following up with Destructive Force as your finisher.
The credited deck builder, Yukio Kozaki, has in the past made and found success with similar RG decks that combined mana ramp and huge creatures. Being able to draw on two core sets has allowed for an abundance of mana ramp cards, in addition to the M11 Titan Cycle to provide powerful expensive creatures, so I think that right now is a fun time to build these types of decks.
The first and second place decks from the Kanazawa PTQ contain similar elements, with acceleration and titans, but are built around a different concept. Let’s have a look at them:
Tamada Ryouichi
QT Amsterdam 2010 – Kanazawa / Champion
3 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Evolving Wilds
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
12 Mountain
6 Forest
4 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Primeval Titan
4 Avenger of Zendikar
4 Explore
4 Rampant Growth
4 Khalni Heart Expedition
4 Harrow
4 Cultivate
Sideboard
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
2 Summoner’s Trap
4 Staggershock
3 Cunning Sparkmage
2 Chandra Nalaar
Akaike Yoh
QT Amsterdam 2010 – Kanazawa / Finalist
4 Forest
11 Mountain
3 Raging Ravine
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4 Primeval Titan
2 Inferno Titan
3 Oracle of Mul Daya
3 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Overgrown Battlement
2 Comet Storm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Khalni Heart Expedition
4 Cultivate
4 Rampant Growth
Sideboard
4 Combust
4 Obstinate Baloth
2 Pellaka Wurm
2 All is Dust
3 Refraction Trap
Although this is the same Ryouichi Tamada that placed 4th at Japanese Nationals with Mono-Red, this time he played – and won – with a brilliant Valakut deck.
This deck harnesses the full power of Cultivate and Primeval Titan – the green titan is an absolute demon here.
Let’s just think about a logical chain of events.
You cast a Primeval Titan with four mountains and two forests. To start with, you grab two copies of Valakut and put them onto the battlefield, with the Titan’s ETB ability. The next turn, you attack for six damage with your titan and grab two mountains from the trigger for another twelve damage. You follow this up by playing a mountain, and you’ve just done a total 21 damage.
This isn’t even an overly extreme sequence of events – in fact, it’s a pretty normal progression if you just start off with a Cultivate. If you combine Khalni Heart Expedition and Cultivate into the Titan/Valakut combo, you can start doing some crazy damage, and you can also cast your titan way ahead of schedule.
Although you can already see how dangerous this combo is, Akaike-san also added in Raging Ravines to increase his options. Already several decks utilizing Primeval Titan and Fauna Shaman have emerged – they will be the cores of green decks moving forward.
Once, you might say, “I can’t believe you’re playing a red/green deck without Bloodbraid Elf in it,” but the format has changed. Having said that though, Chiba’s Hironobu Sugaya did play Bloodbraid Elves, so I think that now it’s getting to the point where it’s necessary to decide if the Elf fits your deck’s strategy or not.
While second place Akaike’s deck did not contain Bloodbraid Elves, his list had Overgrown Battlement and other cards to allow him to apply an anti-beatdown plan. You can see that this was a list that expected a move away from control decks at the tournament. If you compare this with the winning list, I think that you could say that this difference was the deciding factor.
However, having built such quality decks in such a new format, the finals between those two must have been an awesome match to watch. With decks that play Spreading Seas on the decline, now is the chance for these types of decks to increase.
There were several other interesting decks at the Kanazawa PTQ that I want to introduce now.
Takahashi Teo
QT Amsterdam 2010 – Kanazawa / Semifinalist
7 Forest
5 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Halimar Depths
1 Mystifying Maze
1 Eye of Ugin
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Primeval Titan
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Rampant Growth
3 Explore
3 Cultivate
3 Time Warp
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Sideboard
4 Obstinate Baloth
3 Roil Elemental
2 Pellaka Wurm
4 Summoner’s Trap
2 Negate
Hasegawa Kazuhiko
QT Amsterdam 2010 – Kanazawa / Quarterfinalist
4 Forest
4 Island
4 Khalni Garden
4 Halimar Depths
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Tectonic Edge
4 Eldrazi Temple
1 Eye of Ugin
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
2 Primeval Titan
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Kozilek, the Butcher of Truth
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Preordain
3 Mana Leak
4 Explore
2 Rampant Growth
3 All is Dust
1 Mind Spring
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Sideboard
4 Fog
4 Overgrown Battlement
3 Summoning Trap
2 Pellaka Wurm
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
Actually, I’ve been quietly tuning a UG Eldrazi list of my own on MTGO. The basic game plan of ramping into Eldrazi is the same, but there are some specific card choices that result from player preference and tuning.
Takahashi’s list pretty much ignores what his opponent is doing, and seeks to execute its plan as smoothly as possible, while Hasegawa has Mana Leak in the main, as well as All is Dust, giving him a bit more control over his opponent’s actions.
My personal list is similar to Takahashi’s, but I’ve chosen to use Everflowing Chalice, Garruk Wildspeaker,and Mind Spring instead of Lotus Cobra. Because MTGO still doesn’t have M11, I’ve got to use other cards in place of Cultivate and Primeval Titan, but it doesn’t make that much of a difference. Everflowing Chalice also works well with the All is Dusts that I have in my sideboard.
As far as sideboard cards, Obstinate Baloth was pretty much everything this deck could hope for. The winning Chiba PTQ list also had Summoning Traps in the sideboard, which is something to pay attention to. The value of this card is going to be increasing quite a bit.
I find it interesting that the printing of Mana Leak can change a card’s value so much. Although it’s regrettable, these decks only took 4th and 7th place, but expect to see them again in the future.
Finally, let’s take a look at the results from Kanagawa’s PWC tournament.
Nakamura Hajime
1st (7-0)
1 Plains
2 Island
4 Forest
4 Celestial Colonnade
2 Stirring Wildwood
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Verdant Catacombs
3 Seaside Citadel
2 Sunpetal Grove
1 Seijiri Steppe
1 Evolving Wilds
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Birds of Paradise
4 Fauna Shaman
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Vengevine
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Baneslayer Angel
2 Path to Exile
4 Mana Leak
1 Oblivion Ring
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Sideboard
2 Oust
3 Celestial Purge
3 Negate
2 Wall of Denial
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Gideon Jura
Nakamichi Daisuke
1st (7-0)
2 Plains
2 Mountain
4 Forest
4 Arid Mesa
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Jungle Shrine
2 Raging Ravine
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Sunpetal Grove
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Fauna Shaman
3 Lotus Cobra
1 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Cunning Sparkmage
1 Dauntless Escort
4 Vengevine
4 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Ranger of Eos
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Path to Exile
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Sword of Vengeance
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Ajani Vengeant
Sideboard
1 Basilisk Collar
2 Qasali Pridemage
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
2 Dauntless Escort
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
2 Obstinate Baloth
2 Baneslayer Angel
Saturday and Sunday’s PWC tournaments decorated with three color Fauna Shaman decks. Both had the basic strategy of Fauna Shaman into Vengevine and Ranger of Eos, with the main difference being the third color: whether to use Blue for Mana Leak, Negate, and other counterspells, or to use Red for utility creatures like Cunning Sparkmage and Goblin Ruinblaster.
Personally I prefer the red version, but Blue gives you the strongest Planeswalker in the format, which is very tempting. I can’t wait until M11 is released on MTGO so that I can give both strategies a shot.
The main thing to take away from these results is that Fauna Shaman is really dangerous.
Searching for Vengevines starting on turn three, and then later using Ranger of Eos to return all of your Vengevines at once is probably enough to put away most games.
Furthermore, depending on the situation, it’s useful to be able to tutor up Linvala, Baneslayer, or Siege-Gang Commander.
With Legendary creatures like Linvala, whose strength changes depending on the situation, there’s a lot of merit to having one copy that you can tutor for when necessary. The Naya version runs the Cunning Sparkmage/Stoneforge Mystic combo instead, but in any case, once again Fauna Shaman is incredible. It’s a two mana creature that will win the game if it lives. Everyone, please try playing with it.
Sanada Shougo
2nd (6-1)
2 Plains
2 Island
2 Swamp
2 Mountain
4 Arcane Sanctum
3 Crumbling Necropolis
2 Arid Mesa
2 Marsh Flats
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Celestial Colonnade
1 Mystifying Maze
4 Wall of Omens
3 Condemn
4 Mana Leak
2 Negate
2 Pyroclasm
4 Esper Charm
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Day of Judgment
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Ajani Vengeant
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Gideon Jura
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
2 Martial Coup
Sideboard
3 Doomblade
2 Celestial Purge
2 Flash Freeze
2 Negate
2 Jace Beleren
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Thought Hemmorage
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 All is Dust
Now then, the final deck I want to introduce is Sanada’s Esper Control deck that splashes into red for Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. Sanada always builds his own decks, and I wanted to personally call attention to him. He hasn’t disappointed my expectations either, with this Esper Bolas deck. Actually, I think the main reason he’s in red is for Ajani Vengeant, but I love Nicol Bolas, so that’s what caught my eye.
Since the majority of the deck is pretty similar to a normal Esper Control deck, I don’t think an explanation is necessary. From M11, Mana Leak and Condemn have been added. However, I think that with Fauna Shaman being as popular as it is – and likely to only grow more popular – Path to Exile is actually better than Condemn. It also gives you the option to Path your own Wall of Omens and fix your mana. I really hate Path to Exile, but I think that in this case I would give up and play it, since I think that’s the correct choice.
Well, that rounds up this week’s tournament results. Because MTGO hasn’t yet caught up with current standard, there will be a few more articles like this, until M11 is released online.
I’d also like to thank the reporters from Magic Daily News and the event organizers from the Kanazawa PTQ and the PWC tournaments for providing me with the deck lists for this article.
This weekend there will be several PTQs, and soon it’ll be time for the Finals Gateway Challenges to start.
Everyone, please compete and try to get your own deck published here!
Maybe next week, you’ll be one of the winners!
Well then, see you next week!
The original article can be found at: http://mtg-jp.com/reading/tsumura/006679/
Kar Yung Tom (KYT) is the Digital Content Manager for Face to Face Games. He oversees the F2FTour.com and Magic F2F websites. He is also the lead host of the First Strike podcast.