Achievement Unlocked - Prime Deckbuilding Territory

During the time I’ve been writing these articles, I have played almost every colour combination and style of deck. I’ve had more fun with some than with others, and more success too. Through the weeks though some favourites have popped up in terms of colours, and black-green is right at the top of that list. Ever since playing the [card]Birthing Pod[/card] deck that I trumpeted for so long, I have been drawn to the strengths of the Golgari combo: good removal, ramp, powerful creatures, card draw to an extent, the ability to deal with any permanent.

Return to Ravnica was a disappointment. Although Vraska, [card]Desecration Demon[/card] and [card]Lotleth Troll[/card] gave me some things to try out, there was precious little in the actual Golgari guild to excite me outside of Jarad and [card]Overgrown Tomb[/card]. Fortunately there was enough in Selesnya to combine with the GB cards to let me build a strong and enjoyable Junk Tokens deck, which I think was my best deck of the last season.

Gatecrash brought with it Simic, and a whole bunch of fun waiting to happen. Both [card]Master Biomancer[/card] and [card]Prime Speaker Zegana[/card] caught my attention immediately, and having seen my podcast cohost Travis play a BUG deck built around the pair I knew I had to do the same. This desire was only increased by the success of Prime Speaker Bant decks at SCG events, and then Sam Black had to go and post this.

I was hooked. Sam is one of my deckbuilding heroes, and when he comes up with something enjoyable there’s a great chance I will want to try it. There were some achievements I could unlock with the decklist for sure, so I threw it together early in the week (see?! I learned my lesson!) and started looking at achievements.

War Report

I knew from Travis that this deck could draw a stupid number of cards. His version played [card]Corpsejack Menace[/card], which is just plain obscene with Biomancer and even better with Zegana. I had set up a couple of achievements for the Simic leader in my Gold Durdle’s Guide, so we’re clearly starting there.

Target 1: Blink [card]Prime Speaker Zegana[/card] Clearly we won’t be able to do this with [card]Restoration Angel[/card] if we’re in BUG colours, but we have options to do so nonetheless. The sheer number of cards I can draw with this plan is pretty exhilarating, and it lets me upgrade Zegana if I later play a Biomancer or some fat creature.

Target 2: Draw 10 or more extra cards in one turn I said in the Guide that I wanted to draw as many cards as possible with Zegana, so 10 seemed like a good number. It would require some work, since pairing her with a [card]Wolfir Silverheart[/card] only draws 9 and that’s the most likely scenario for a big grab, but that’s half the fun of these decks right?

Target 3: Have two or more [card]Master Biomancer[/card]s in play together The plan here is to copy the Biomancer with a clone effect, but of course just casting two will work. And yes, that does bring everything into play with SIX +1/+1 counters. I know, I can’t wait either.

These were my three main goals, but my brain was already being inundated with card ideas. Let’s get to building!

Weapon Selection

The first thing that sprung to mind was that my curve was starting at 4. In this format, that’s a recipe for disaster. [card]Farseek[/card] was almost guaranteed to find a slot, but on its own that wasn’t going to do anything to aggro decks. Sam’s list was running [card]Vampire Nighthawk[/card] and [card]Nightveil Specter[/card], both of which I liked. Testing however showed that the Specter did pretty much nothing in this deck. It belongs in a different style of deck perhaps, but not here.

[card]Gyre Sage[/card] however seemed like a good fit. If necessary it could trade with a 2/1 in the early game or absorb a [card]Searing Spear[/card], and if not then it would stick around to get me ramped in later turns. One card that I really wanted to add in as a possible weapon against aggro was [card]Simic Manipulator[/card]. Everything in the deck evolves it, and against Naya Blitz it can start stealing things on the first evolution. As a one-of with the seemingly obligatory [card]Thragtusk[/card]s, the Nighthawks and a couple of [card]Abrupt Decay[/card]s, I should be just fine against the faster decks. Turn 3 has seemed to be the key turn against those decks where you need to start turning the tide, and I have a few tools to do that.

To get the blink achievement outside of white, we have three good choices: [card]Ghostly Flicker[/card], [card]Conjurer’s Closet[/card] and [card]Deadeye Navigator[/card]. My love for the Navigator is hardly a secret, and repeated blinking of a [card]Thragtusk[/card] seemed like almost as fun as blinking Zegana.

Since we’re going to be blinking, I want to add in some Primordials. The blue one seems less desirable in the meta, but Sylvan and [card]Sepulchral Primordial[/card] both seem in a good spot right now. Deadeye-ing the [card]Sylvan Primordial[/card] in particular seems like it could be pretty disgusting, leaving my opponent with no lands in play. The Sepulchral version would be very strong in the board against Junk Rites.

While flicking through the binder I came across [card]Disciple of Bolas[/card]. Ahh, my old friend. Not only can you gain us life, but you draw us cards and love being blinked. With more plans to draw cards, [card]Laboratory Maniac[/card] seems like a fun little one-of that of course opens up another achievement..

Target 4: Win with [card]Laboratory Maniac[/card] This is one of my most-wanted achievements, up there with [card]Azor’s Elocutors[/card] and a Vraska Assassin token. With all the cards I can draw and the ability to do so repeatedly with [card]Deadeye Navigator[/card], I don’t think it’s unrealistic to expect to draw my deck at some point. With [card]Alchemist’s Refuge[/card] I can also flash the Maniac in during my draw step to protect against removal.

With all that said, here’s what I ended up running for FNM:

[Deck title=”BUG Prime by Chris Lansdell”]
[Spells]
4 Farseek
4 Gyre Sage
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Victim of Night
1 Laboratory Maniac
4 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Simic Manipulator
3 Master Biomancer
1 Sever the Bloodline
2 Disciple of Bolas
2 Wolfir Silverheart
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
4 Thragtusk
2 Prime Speaker Zegana
2 Deadeye Navigator
1 Sylvan Primordial
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Alchemist’s Refuge
2 Hinterland Harbor
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Watery Grave
4 Breeding Pool
2 Drowned Catacomb
4 Woodland Cemetery
1 Island
1 Swamp
2 Forest
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Tree of Redemption
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Tragic Slip
2 Witchbane Orb
1 Psychic Spiral
1 Memory’s Journey
2 Sever the Bloodline
2 Dispel
2 Acidic Slime
1 Sepulchral Primordial
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

[card]Tree of Redemption[/card] might need to be more prevalent in the board, it evolves everything and makes life very difficult for aggro if you can find it in time. If I end up putting [card]Fathom Mage[/card] back in the main deck (it was a one-of), Tree becomes even better and might find main-board space. [card]Sepulchral Primordial[/card] is there for Junk Rites and [card]Dispel[/card] is for the [card]Fog[/card] decks as well as things like [card]Sphinx’s Revelation[/card] and counterspells.

War Report

This was one of those Fridays on which I could have gone 0-487 and still had the best day. I picked my son up from school and we headed to Tim Horton’s for a coffee and some quality time. Andrew has been taking more of an interest in Magic recently and it’s making him want to spend more time with me, about which I will of course never complain. While we were enjoying our beverages, Andrew asked if we could play some games at Midgard. WELL DUH!

Nobody was in the store yet when we arrived, which was slightly unusual but provided a great environment for me to help the little guy learn. I say little but he’s 12 and almost six feet tall so…yeah. I figured I would start him with Affinity, since it was the simplest deck I had ready to go, and played it against a Modern brew I was working on. I think he beat me in six straight games, and I didn’t let him. One of the local players, a guy named Dylan, asked if he could play a couple of games with the deck since he was considering building it…and I promptly destroyed him. Maybe Andrew will be ready to play FNM sooner than I thought!

Sadly he couldn’t stay for the actual event, and he left just before the first round. We were going to hang out the next day anyway, as he was getting his head shaved to raise funds for cancer research. Pretty darn proud of the kid for that. But enough gushing, it’s time to duel!

Round 1: Josh Blanchard with Mono Red

Oh great. This deck is just way too fast for almost anyone to handle right now, and I had lost to it last week with the Angel deck. This would be no different, as Josh destroyed me in two very fast games. He had the answer to everything I played. Which wasn’t much to be honest. Now I was really wishing I had put more Trees in the board, as I never drew the one copy I had. Josh is rapidly becoming the unbeatable nemesis for me, he always seems to be playing the worst possible matchup for me. One day Blanchard…one day!

0-1

Round 2 – Michael Warr with Jund

I think the event software must enjoy pairing me with the same opponents over and over again, as I had played Michael in the same matchup on Wednesday. I lost then, getting mana screwed in game three.

When he landed an early Olivia in game one I thought I was going to be behind the eight ball, holding as I was a Nighthawk and having another one in play. I traded off the one in play with his next attack and held the second, not wanting to get beaten down by my own creature. I was lucky enough to draw into the [card]Alchemist’s Refuge[/card], and when he tapped out of red mana to cast a [card]Thragtusk[/card] before attacking with Olivia I couldn’t cast the Nighthawk fast enough. I went find a [card]Sylvan Primordial[/card] to take out his lands. Prime Speaker made her first appearance, pairing with a [card]Wolfir Silverheart[/card] to draw me…nine cards. SO CLOSE!

I agonized for a while over whether or not I should take out all four Nighthawks for the matchup. I didn’t know how many Olivias he was running, and although Nighthawk/Refuge is a great way to ambush Olivia the Refuge is a one-of. I ended up siding out two of them and hoping the issue didn’t come up. The game was a strange one, I remember letting a Huntmaster flip so I could kill it with [card]Abrupt Decay[/card] and having two Nighthawks killed by [card]Ultimate Price[/card]. [card]Master Biomancer[/card] was about to be joined by a second [card]Master Biomancer[/card], but the first one ate a [card]Mizzium Mortars[/card]. When I topdecked the third one, the game was basically over as I was able to follow up with a [card]Gyre Sage[/card]. Too much mana and way too much power on the board for Jund to handle.

1-1

Round 3 – Michael Ingram with Junk Rites

Excellent, a matchup that should be grindy and skill-intensive while giving me a chance to test my sideboard plan…in theory. I didn’t think I had much of a chance in game one and I was right as a giant [card]Lotleth Troll[/card] stomped me into the ground. I felt a bit better about my post-board matchup, but as it turns out that really doesn’t matter when you mulligan to four. I lost and lost hard, leaving me pretty darn disappointed.

Mana screw and mulligans are part of Magic. My seven and six were one-landers, with the 6 being full of five-drops. The five card hand had no land. The seven had a [card]Farseek[/card] but it was still not correct to keep it. I made the right choices and still got obliterated, which is frustrating given that I wanted to test this matchup more than any other. Avoiding tilt was my main focus after that drubbing, there were still two more rounds to play.

1-2

Round 4 – Dawson Gallagher with Naya Blitz

Longtime readers will remember Dawson as one of the youngest players in the store. He has been improving by leaps and bounds, which is great to see. I was pretty confident with my aggro matchup but Blitz, like any other hyper-aggro deck, can just win before I get a chance to do anything.

I don’t remember many details of this match, but I know that I managed to pull out another 2-0 win. [card]Deadeye Navigator[/card] teamed up with [card]Sylvan Primordial[/card] again at some point, and I know [card]Disciple of Bolas[/card] also did a lot of work. His Reckoners died hard to my [card]Abrupt Decay[/card]s, and I remember surviving a [card]Zealous Conscripts[/card] stealing my Zegana to break the bond with [card]Wolfir Silverheart[/card]. Fortunately, I had a [card]Master Biomancer[/card] in play when I cast her, drawing me 11 delicious cards…

2-2

Round 5 – Kyle Searle with Wolf Run Bant

Kyle is a reformed foil fanatic, while I have no interest whatsoever in reforming. I had no idea how this match would work out, but he had Prime Speakers as well as [card]Supreme Verdict[/card]s, which might cause me some trouble.

Turns out that his deck has no spot removal, making my [card]Simic Manipulator[/card] and [card]Gyre Sage[/card]s better than they had any right being. Game one went very long as Kyle kept gaining life with [card]Sphinx’s Revelation[/card]s, [card]Thragtusk[/card]s and blinking of said Tusks. I stopped attacking and switched to the “draw my Lab Maniac” plan, knowing that he couldn’t kill it having discarded all his [card]Supreme Verdict[/card]s. When I found my Primordial and a [card]Thragtusk[/card], the writing was on the wall for him and he conceded, knowing he couldn’t kill me through blinked Tusks and Primordials before he decked.

Game two went considerably worse for Kyle, as I was able to ramp into [card]Sylvan Primordial[/card] in the early turns and Kyle scooped before I nuked his board.

3-2

Aftershocks

When the deck did what I built it to do, it was very good. All the ETB effects and card drawing were an absolute blast to play with, and everything felt very powerful. The main-deck Maniac and Manipulator might have been too cute, and should probably be replaced by something more consistent: [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card]s, [card]Ultimate Price[/card], even [card]Rapid Hybridization[/card] or [card]Murder[/card]. A third Zegana would not have gone amiss, neither would the fourth Biomancer.

The last few decks I’ve tried have all been great fun. This week will likely see me going the Grixis route, as I want to try something slightly off the beaten path as a way to battle some of the better decks in the metagame. Thanks for stopping by!