Hello Readers,

Welcome back everyone! I would like to thank all of you who took a look at my previous article and came back for another. In case you may have missed my first article, I will leave a link at the bottom of this one for you to check out. From now on, I will be writing bi-weekly column that will touch base on a variety of subjects, from deck building to limited, various strategies, how to become a better player, and anything else I feel could fit here. In essence, this is a place for you guys to learn something along with me. As I explore concepts, combos, and cards, you get to take a look at what things I am thinking about at the time. I can’t promise I will post a top-tier deck or even one that is polished to a shine but what I can try to give you is some insight or a cool interaction that can leave room for something greater.

Now time to dig in to what we are here to talk about today. Let’s start by considering the current metagame, which features two major pillars of the format, GR Wolf Run (with [card]Dungrove Elder[/card]) and UB Control. Underneath that we have GW Tokens, Solar Flare, and RDW. Is it possible to find a crack where we can exploit what is going on? I think I may have just the trick. When looking at any opposition in the format, you need to consider whether you can go over them or under Essentially you need to be considerably faster (“going under”) or play better cards (“going over”) than your opponent. In order do well in this format, you need to deal with the speed of the Wolf Run decks, while not getting blown out by the power of the UB decks. Two cards I think can accomplish this are [card]Geist of Saint Traft[/card] and [card]Mirran Crusader[/card]. Both are cheap, hit for either 4 or 6 and do a fair amount of legwork for your goals. There is a slight problem with the amount they hit for seeing as it cannot close games fast enough to steal any wins. To help the process along we can look to M12 with [card]Angelic Destiny[/card]. I realize Auras are quite taboo unless they’re being searched out of your deck by a a certain Exalted 4/5, but consider this: Angelic Destiny removes some of the drawback of Auras by having the [card]Rancor[/card] bonus of returning to your hand when the creature dies. Furthermore, it allows your creatures to hit like a truck and it provides very significant evasion. The only way to safely apply the enchantment though is if your creature had Hexproof or protection from some of the best removal spells in the format. Thankfully our two friends meet those requirements perfectly and can therefore swing for 10 or 12 on turn 4. You can steal turn 5 kills assuming you don’t get stopped.

Sadly the top-tier decks don’t just want you running freely down the halls running amok when they have their own agendas. If they see you starting to do something suspicious they are going to try to shut you down. Effectively they are going to put you in detention and ruin all your fun. Between [card]Mana Leak[/card] and red removal, they can get in your way regardless of how hard it is to stop your one-two punch. This is where you can turn to the often-overlooked [card]Grand Abolisher[/card]. If you have ever had the joy of facing down a [card]Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir[/card] then you should know exactly the power of this type of effect. You can cast spells freely, ignore counters, laugh at [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card], and lastly get through the halls without being slammed in detention. He is a magical little Hall Pass freeing you to do whatever it is you like. Backed by [card]Spellskite[/card], you have several ways to set up on-the-curve protection for your beefy hitters. If you will care to take a look, a sample decklist:

[deck title=Hall Pass – Christopher Thompson]
[Lands]
4 Seachrome Coast
9 Plains
3 Island
4 Glacial Fortress
1 Moorland Haunt
4 Ghost Quarter
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
3 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Grand Abolisher
4 Mirran Crusader
1 Fiend Hunter
3 Spellskite
3 Sun Titan
2 Mentor of the Meek
3 Phantasmal Image
[/creatures]
[Spells]
3 Dismember
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Angelic Destiny
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
[/spells]
[Sideboard]
1 Dismember
2 Batterskull
3 Day of Judgment
4 Timely Reinforcements
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Spellskite
3 Nihil Spellbomb
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

I chose not to make this deck an all-in-aggro deck for the sole reason that you will likely lose to the better aggro decks. Red, for instance, can apply constant pressure while burning away your non-Geist threats. This is why I opted for a midrange strategy that can transition into a more of a control build to stomp the other aggressive strategies. While your main goal is to exploit a weakness in the top two decks, you certainly want to be able to handle the rest of the decks via your other card choices, especially in the sideboard. I have a pair of [card]Mentor of the Meek[/card] because all my creatures have power 2 or less, except [card]Sun Titan[/card]. I used to have more but their value diminished in multiples because I was spending too much time and mana on drawing cards, while my opponent usually just got on the business end of killing me. I believe 1-3 is the correct number for this style of strategy.

The [card]Phantasmal Image[/card] and [card]Sun Titan[/card] package gives the deck more staying power in the late game should things not go well. Image gives you great value when people are playing good cards like [card]Grave Titan[/card] and [card]Wurmcoil Engine[/card]. It also gives you low drops to help at least match what the opponent has going on. I have copied many a [card]Viridian Emissary[/card] in my day only to see them come back as a [card]Sun Titan[/card] later in the game.

The equipment suite is in the deck to give you some miser’s versatility. There will come situations where your Angelic Destinies aren’t resolving or you just aren’t drawing them. These equipments make all of your non-illusion creatures beefier and can swing games vastly in your favor. There is some non-synergy between [card]Sword of War and Peace[/card] and [card]Angelic Destiny[/card], but the raw power of [card]Mirran Crusader[/card] equipped or just the life swings against aggressive strategies are enough to warrant some attention. If you find that the interaction comes up too often, I’d suggest using [card]Sword of Body and Mind[/card] in its place. In the end they provide a near endless supply of pure value to your creatures and unstoppable wins.

The single [card]Fiend Hunter[/card] is both a decent removal spell and a way to cause all sorts of shenanigans later on. Since you can both copy it with [card]Phantasmal Image[/card] and return it with [card]Sun Titan[/card], you can easily deal with the annoying [card]Viridian Emissary[/card] and [card]Solemn Simulacrum[/card] that occasionally get in your way. Post-board, you can do fun tricks like seal away your Sun Titan then [card]Day of Judgment[/card] while keeping your guy around. It also fares well against red providing a blocker and taking out their best creature temporarily. Too many can be cumbersome but it’s nice to have access to the effect.

The 4 [card]Ghost Quarter[/card]s are a concession to [card]Kessig Wolf Run[/card] and [card]Nephalia Drownyard[/card], both being delightfully powerful lands that can kill you if left unanswered. If you can stop their lands with yours, it gives you more time to take out giant chunks of their health.

With Abolisher and all of the protection available, this deck is viable against control strategies. You can also apply some fast, hard-hitting pressure against Ramp while not conceding fully to other aggressive strategies. From tokens to red, we have things to help with the problem. The additional [card]Spellskite[/card] in the board is to detract targeted red removal while also helping deal with Wolf Run. [card]Nihil Spellbomb[/card] is a great asset when fighting Solar Flare and all the Snapcasting going on but depending on your metagame this may not be a correct choice. This could also be replaced with [card]Purify the Grave[/card] however I just opt to clean sweep them. Even if you can’t draw a card, a [card]Tormod’s Crypt[/card] is still a fine card. A good thing to note is [card]Batterskull[/card] is actually decent against the control strategies. It’s not a go to, windmill slam style problem but it cannot be hit by [card]Doom Blade[/card]and it resists sweepers. Assuming you can get it through counter spells it provides a good body and a long term threat. The key to fighting control though is finding openings or protecting your [card]Grand Abolishers[/card]. These guys need to live at all costs because they force the opponent to either do nothing, sweep the board, or spend their resources during their turn to deal with him. Between Sun Titans, Images, and Spellskites you should be able to stick him and keep him in play.

There are plenty of other options in this style of deck that we can be taking advantage of. If you play this deck as more of a combo deck like Mythic was in the past, then [card]Ponder[/card] can do quite a bit of legwork. It isn’t [card]Preordain[/card] but it gives you a turn 1 play that lets you set up your “combo” and gives you better card selection if the game goes long. [card]Azure Mage[/card] over [card]Mentor of the Meek[/card] is also something to consider because you don’t always have the extra mana floating around when you cast a creature so just drawing cards when you are empty-handed is likely good too. Sweepers certainly are strong against this deck seeing as spot removal is suboptimal so playing to your weakness with [card]Shrine of Loyal Legions[/card] is likely a good choice. Furthermore, since GW tokens is a major player, replacing some of our SB cards with [card]Ratchet Bomb[/card] is another powerful option to deal with the deck. Combined with Sun Titan, it creates a soft lock against them. Lastly, if red ends but being large in your area, [card]Stave Off[/card] or [card]Apostle’s Blessing[/card] both give you 1 mana answers that help protect your creature for when you slap on Angelic Destiny and put it out of their reach.

Additionallly, there are many things we can do to change up the deck while keeping the knockout package. You can add green for both [card]Birds of Paradise[/card] and [card]Birthing Pod[/card]. This helps accelerate you into potential turn 4 kills, and gives you a tutor effect to find your 3-drops. You can focus on playing cheap high threat creatures such as [card]Blade Splicer[/card] and [card]Hero of Bladehold[/card]. Another option is focus more on the midrange and utilize the powerful 5 drop Planeswalkers at our disposal. I’d personally suggest [card]Gideon Jura[/card] but [card]Venser the Sojourner[/card] has merit, since he makes your team unblockable for the surprise win. They give you another angle of attack while supporting your package.

I think that when built correctly we might have a deck that can do some damage. The power of these cards in unison are just glistening with potential and are just waiting for the right player to pick them up. Even if the correct version of this deck can’t exist for another set’s release or two we have something to base our future decks on. At the very least you can have something fun to bring to FNM and get some Mythic style hits in. All I am trying to accomplish here is give you warriors the tools in which to take this concept and mould it into your own personal weapon. This is a prototype for you to take advantage of and I truly hope you can. I wish you all luck and remember to always keep learning.

– Christopher Thomson
Damiensrealm on MTGS

P.S. The link, as promised.
http://manadeprived.com/2011/10/an-apology-sorry-i-broke-your-format.html