Magic and Complexity Creep

I had a great time playing casual multiplayer at the Pirate Ship last night with Tim and CBG. I thought I had brought EDH decks with, but had not, so my only "casual" deck was one of my first netdecked lists, from way back in the 20th century. I used Randy Buehler's CounterPhoenix list from 1998 with a few tweaks. I tried to stay as true to the spirit of the deck as possible, and kept most of my card choices pre Masques block (except for the manabase- no one should have to play with Caldera Lake ever again). I also had the Naoki Nakada Caw Go list as well, not for casual but because I have been meaning to try it in Standard. I played that deck for the last game, just for the hell of it. What surprised me was how much more complex control decks are today than they were a decade ago. Frankly the same may be said for aggro decks too, I'm not sure. But the CounterPhoenix build was a deck that, as a control deck of it's day was at the peak of subtlety and while it was no ProsBloom in terms of complexity, like most control decks it wasn't easy to play well. Today it is fairly straightforward. Even with Intuitions, there are only a few targets you really want, and obviously once you have all 4 Shard Phoenixes recurring there is not much else to the deck other than sitting up on Forbid/Capsize mana. Now compare to Caw Go. It is a control deck, and as Conley Woods pointed out in a recent article, control decks are designed to eventually streamline the number of choices that need to be made as the game goes longer. But look at what happens with today's control decks in the long game. Which of Jace's abilities is best to use here? What about Venser's? And Elspeth's? Do I search for SoFaF or SoBaM with Stoneforge? Do I want to get back my Tech Edge with my Sun Titan? How about the Plains I discarded at the end of turn 2 when I searched up 3 Squadron Hawks? What about the Journey to Nowhere? Or the dead Squadron Hawk to get a shuffle for my library prior to using Jace's Brainstorm? Maybe it's no surprise, but Magic in general, and control in particular has become crazy complicated, even in the late game, when in 1998 you'd just be swinging with 4 Shard Phoenixes and ditching lands to buyback your Forbids.

Victory is MINE!

I decided to wait until after Saturday Night Magic to post since I'd actually have something other than grab bag to post about. I finally cracked my losing streak in constructed, going 2-2. I decided to play Fugie's UW control list. I highly recommend having Ancestral Visions in your opening hand. I don't recommend getting stuck on 2 land vs. faeries.

I lost round 1 vs Harry Potter, playing Block Faeries. By the time my Visions was resolving, he had a spellstutter sprite and mana to play it through my Rune Snag. All else is irrelevant. Game 2, he did the tempo thing, though I had one turn to topdeck either Wrath or a Cryptic Command to win. I did stick Oona against him, but just couldn't untap, because he ripped a Scion to do like 18 in one turn. Man faeries is good. Not that I can win with it, but still. I'll be curious if this briefly drops me below 1500. I don't think so because Harry's Constructed rating is through the roof, what with Regionals Top 8 and all.

Round 2, I won vs someone playing Blink with a lot of four drops. Most of his deck was completely useless against me, and he got stuck on 3 land in game 1. Not that Redcaps are the least bit relevant. I definitely resolved turn 4 and 5 Ancestral Visions and damn does that card feel like cheating. I wish I could borrow a Vintage deck for Chicago.

Round 3, I won vs another someone playing GW Oversoul. You know what else is good? Cryptic Command. Note to random dude. Pro:Blue does not mean cannot be countered. Because it can, sorry. Also does not mean "Cannot be tapped by Cryptic Command". Because it can, sorry. He got me game 2 after I stabilized at 4 and couldn't find a wrath, nor hit enough cards off Oona. Play mistake: You actually name White vs. Oversoul. They play some monowhite cards, but no monogreen. Weird.

Round 4, I lost vs coyoeuglly playing block Kithkin. I almost conceded to him, because honestly? Foregone conclusion. There was a point where I could have made it, having stuck Oona, but Kithkin plays 26 land or some such thing. What a weird aggro deck.

So there you go, absolute proof that even bad players can win at Constructed. I love the silence that greeted my admission that my Constructed win percentage is well below 40%. Shocking, I know. I guess this tourney will bring that up.

Stories from FNM

I didn't have my own transportation to FNM this week but Super Beer Geek picked me up off the side of the road in exchange for my allowing him to play my build of MGA (Version 2.0! Now, with Troll Ascetic!). This is a decision I would quickly come to regret.

I got to roll with my terrible (0-3 last time) version of UW control. Round 1 I get paired against a Martyr of Sands deck playing Porphyry Nodes and Mobilization (Worst. Sacred Mesa. Ever.) along with green for Treetop Village (won't you take me to? Monkeytown!) and Glare(!?). Game 1 I manage to Condemn two Monkeytowns, counter a mobilization and kill Martyr boy from 41 life. Turns out Azorius Guildmage can counter your Proclamation of Rebirth forecast and stifle your Martyr activation. Go ahead and put it in the graveyard and show me your hand, though. Game 2 I board out my Wrath of Gods since I have seen precisely zero cards it will do any good against. So of course, I get beaten about the head and neck by multiple Serra Avengers. Game 3 goes to time. Yay! A draw! My first (and still only!) sanctioned match point with this shitty, shitty deck.

Round 2, I get matched up against Fugie's far-superior UB control build piloted by the Dirty Dirty Man. I lose game 1 and concede game 2 because honestly, who wants to play this out?

Round 3, Angelfire with Firemanes in addition to Lightning Angels. Lose game 1. Concede because honestly, who wants to play this out? Also managed to piss off a rhinoceros for no fracking reason other than I was in a bad mood. Sorry, Rhinoceros.

Round 4 (hey, I was there and Super Beer Geek was 2-1 so he was gonna play it out, might as well lose a few more ratings points), I get matched against TooSarcastic. He of the 2nd place Angelfire deck 2 weeks ago? That TooSarcastic. Of course, he had picked up a loss and a draw and then gotten paired down against me. Bad beats, man. I managed to steal the second game from him, mostly because Sacred Mesa is...um-maze-ing. Still lost number 3 though.

Remind me to bring Etchings next time. At least I have fun playing that.

Oh and Super Beer Geek? He finished 2nd, losing only to Project X. Why no, we don't have tools to deal with that in monogreen. He kicked me the foil Wing Shards and kept the $21 for himself. He's probably right to do this, since I would have gone 1-3 with my own deck. That's just how I roll.

Also, can I take a moment to just bitch about the store for a second? Where are the freaking donkeys? I have yet to play against a rogue deck with mine, despite never picking up a single win. German Nationals-winning Angelfire in the 4th round? Sheesh. Where are the small children playing precons? Where are the people shoving Rhox into their Verdant Force decks? Why am I wasting my life playing Constructed? The world may never know.

UW Control

I really want to make UW Control work. I want to slow the game down to a crawl. I want to win seven matches in a row 1-0. I want to win without ever casting a creature. I want Timmy to get frustrated. I want the red mages to throw up their hands.

I really don't think this is going to happen.

Last fall, I tried to play UW control with a reanimator package at States. Sort of Solar Flare with less hand disruption and more counters. That finished 1-2-1 with the high(low) point of forgetting I had Remand in hand versus an opponent who was dead on the board, tapping out for a Lightning Helix. Hot.

Last Saturday, I went 0-3 with a new homebrew including Rule of Law. Every single game felt winnable and every one slipped through my fingers. Mono Red Burn owned me in two games to start things off. I am not sure what the answer is there. Maybe Flashfreeze. Then I lost 2-1 to a deck I had no business losing to. Manascrewed game 2 (with 26 lands, obv) followed by Demonfire ftw with the board completely locked up game 3. Then an 0-2 vs standard Assault Loam. Wow, UW has a minor problem dealing with recursive threats.

Part of the problem is my own lack of ability. I need to test quite a bit more to gain familiarity with the types of hands I should be keeping. I have a tendency to play too quickly just when I should tighten up and it regularly costs me games. It's critical to stay in the game all the time, especially when you are always the control. This deck is never the beatdown. Ever.

So I am debating a couple different ways to go with the list and hopefully the Great White Hype (uh, I mean Fugitive Wizard) can help me discover just how bad they are. First up is the list I played Saturday, tweaked to include Careful Consideration instead of Tidings.

4 Remand
4 Rune Snag
4 Cancel
3 Rule of Law
2 Sacred Mesa
4 Wrath of God
4 Condemn
1 Deep-Sea Kraken
1 Angel of Salvation
4 Careful Consideration
3 Court Hussar

4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Adarkar Wastes
6 Island
6 Plains
2 Faerie Conclave
2 Tolaria West
1 Urza's Factory
1 Calciform Pools

Sideboard
4 Flashfreeze
4 Azorius Guildmage
3 Calciform Pools
4 Disenchant

I think this could work, though some of the folks in my playtest group think I should be using Think Twice. I don't know. This is what testing is for anyway.

The other option to improve the aggro matchup is to go with 4 Drift of Phantasms along with a toolbox and a ton of counters. I'll be testing this as well.

4 Drift of Phantasms
1 Rule of Law
4 Remand
4 Cancel
4 Spell Snare
4 Rune Snag
1 Plumes of Peace
4 Wrath of God
4 Think Twice
1 Sacred Mesa
1 Reminisce
1 Twilight Drover
1 Compulsive Research
1 Pride of the Clouds

4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Adarkar Wastes
3 Faerie Conclave
8 Island
6 Plains

The gauntlet? R/g Beats, UB Control and Angelfire.