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By: a small child, Ralph Wiggum
Jul 01 2010 2:09am
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Last week we talked about the powerful G/x ramp archetype here. I highly recommend reading that article and the comments first before moving on to this one. I think a lot of people get confused about the differences between ramp decks and token decks, so I figured I'd begin by clearing things up a bit. Basically, these decks seem similar at first but are actually operating on very different and sometimes diametrically opposed plans. There are four things that you can do with Eldrazi tokens:

1. Sac them for mana.

2. Sac them for some other effect.

3. Keep them in play as additional creatures.

4. Chump block.

Most of the time, a ramp deck wants to use its tokens in the first way. Tokens aren't the best mana ramp in the format, though -- cards like Ondu Giant and Joraga Treespeaker give you a more permanent boost to your mana and are preferable if you plan on streaming out a bunch of fatties. That said, you'll still be happy to play some tokens as acceleration for your ramp deck.

Token decks, on the other hand, are much more likely to want to use the tokens for purpose two or three. Any deck can use tokens as chumpers, of course, and that usually has less to do with your plan and more to do with stopping your opponent's plan.

 

So what cards fit with each use for tokens? The ramp one is easy:

 

Ulamog's CrusherArtisan of KozilekPelakka WurmPestilence DemonKozilek, Butcher of TruthUlamog, The Infinite Gyre

 

There are a few others but those are the main culprits.

 

Plan two -- saccing the tokens for another effect -- is also pretty straightforward:

 

Bloodthrone VampireMagmaw

 

The third plan, keeping the tokens in play, has a lot of different ways to abuse it:

 

BroodwardenLavafume InvokerPennon BladeRaid BombardmentMight of the MassesBramblesnapSoulsurge ElementalShared DiscoveryOgre's Cleaver

 

These cards affect the game in very different ways, but they share the common theme of either helping you get more value out of your tokens or vice versa. Some, like Pennon Blade, do both.

 

Lets look at it another way. Remember the equation I provided in the last article? Ramp + Removal + Boom Boom = Win. Token decks run on a slightly different equation:

 

Tokens + Removal + Enablers = Win.

 

So the tokens are roughly analogous to the ramp part and enablers are roughly analogous to the fatties part. The analogy holds up well because, like mana acceleration, the tokens don't really do anything on their own. Similarly, the finishers/enablers aren't nearly as good if you don't support them with ramp/tokens.

I think the number one mistake that drafters make when drafting these archetypes is to conflate them. It's understandable why they do this -- after all, most of the same cards are OK in both decks and they both operate on a similar principle. However, these drafters are missing one key piece. Ramp is not a good substitute for tokens and enablers are not a good substitute for boom booms, even as a backup plan. The reason is this: ramp decks prefer durable ramp to token production, and what token production they have is likely to be consumed accelerating out the first fattie or two. So following up with a token enabler is really weak. Similarly, leading with a token enabler is also weak because it stops you from casting the fatties that you want to cast, and you aren't going to be able to abuse the enabler as well due to a lower density of token production. Similarly, ramping up to your token enablers is poor because the enablers rely on having lots of tokens in play. The one body + one mana of Ondu Giant just can't compete with the three bodies provided by Kozilek's Predator.

 

Therefore, when you are drafting you need to figure out if you are drafting a token deck or a ramp deck so that you can draft a cohesive deck that keeps antisynergisic hybridization to a minimum.

 

Now some hybridization is OK. I think running a fattie or two in a token deck as a backup plan is fine mainly because you will have enough tokens to support it AND if the game goes long enough that your opponent disrupts your token based strategy, you are likely to have enough mana to hard cast the fatties anyway. It's more common for the opponent to attack your enablers than the tokens themselves, although you will sometimes see sideboard answers like Shrivel and Wrap in Flames. Thus, if you run out of enablers you can feel a lot better saccing some tokens to get a fattie out.

 

So to summarize:

 

  • If you are running a RAMP deck it's OK to draft token cards as part of your mana ramp package, although you should probably prioritize durable mana acceleration over token based acceleration.
  • If you are running a TOKEN deck it's OK to draft fatties as part of your finisher package, although you should probably prioritize actual token enablers over ramp fatties.
  • If you are running a RAMP deck you should avoid taking token enablers unless they are your only real options.
  • If you are running a TOKEN deck you should avoid taking durable mana acceleration unless it is your only real option.

 

I'm not really going to bother listing the forks for the G/x and R/x token archetypes because they are the same forks as I listed in the Ramp article -- just keep in mind that if you are drafting R/x the green stuff goes down a lot and you might not draft it at all, while the non-green cards (especially the red ones, obv) are more likely. Normally the G/x deck is going to be your best bet although occasionally R/x is more open.

The cornerstones are basically the enablers listed above plus a few others:

 

Brood BirthingSpawning BreathSkittering InvasionUlamog, the Infinite GyreKozilek, Butcher of Truth

The two Eldrazi give enough value that it's fine just saccing your tokens for them even if it blanks some of your enablers.

So what is the difference between the G/x token deck and the R/x token deck? The G/x deck can be G/R or G/B with a possible splash of Blue and/or either Red or Black, whichever isn't featured as a main color. While ramp decks are more likely to be a G/B base, token decks are more likely to be a G/R base because of the power of some of the red cards like Emrakul's Hatcher, Lavafume Invoker and Raid Bombardment. The R/x token deck, on the other hand, is something you might try out if green is cut off. It's much more of a pure token strategy and it relies more on cards like Brood Birthing to turbo out a lot of tokens and then abuse it either with Red enablers or with a heavier blue support. Blue provides the awesome Shared Discovery and cards like Mnemonic Wall which are still good in this deck because you are likely to be packing removal and some of your token generation can be returned by the wall as well. In a R/x token deck you can also just use the tokens as chumps while you race with blue fliers and/or Lust for War. I think the R/x token decks can be more explosive than the G/x decks but it's also a lot more fragile -- if they kill your first token in response to Brood Birthing you are at a real disadvantage.

It's also worth noting that one much maligned card might actually be playable in the R/x token deck:

Hand of Emrakul

A lot of people hate this card, and I can see why. He doesn't have nearly as much impact as Ulamog's Crusher and is actually tougher to get out. That said, he does have some pretty sweet upside -- you can get him out on turn 3 with the nut draw. You need a Brood Birthing plus a two mana token generator (Spawning Breath, another Brood Birthing, or Nest Invader) and that gives you the four tokens you need to bring it out on turn 3. Of course this is a really all-in line of play and is just asking to get 3-for-1'ed by Narcolepsy, Vendetta, or Regress. Luckily Shared Discovery fits into the curve nicely and helps recoup that potential card disadvantage. So the idea opening is turn 2 token, turn 3 Brood Birthing into Shared Discovery into Hand of Emrakul. That keeps you at card parity and demands an immediate answer. Now, I don't think you really should go about trying to make this happen unless you are just trying to have some fun, but it's something to think about. Saccing your tokens is counterproductive to what the rest of the deck is trying to do, so be very careful when you go all in on the hand.

 

Note that I am not including R/B tokens as part of the R/x token deck. R/B tokens is a separate archetype and will be discussed in a separate article.

 

So all this being said, how can you put it into action when drafting? Lets think back to the basic strategy that I outlined in my second article on this draft format. You start off by drafting forks, then look to see what cornerstones start coming late and use that information to pick your archetype. So the vast majority of fork cards between these two archetypes overlap, which is good news as it means you can keep yourself open into the middle of pack 1. But which do you take first? Lets say you are faced with a choice of Ondu Giant vs. Kozilek's Predator early in pack 1. Assuming neutral preferences, your goal at this point is to stay open to as many archetypes as possible. The predator is good in both tokens and ramp, although it's clearly better in tokens. The giant on the other hand is much better in ramp than it is in tokens. So therefore I'd take the predator. That said, if I knew I wanted to draft ramp then I'd take the giant. Keep your eyes peeled for what cards are coming later than they should and this will give you the information you need to jump solidly into an archetype. For cards like Pelakka Wurm and Joraga Treespeaker, this signal can come very early. A third pick wurm or elf is "late". Likewise, if you are seeing Ondu Giant, Overgrown Battlement, Kozilek's Predator, or Emrakul's Hatcher still around mid-pack, then those are good signals to go into their respective archetypes. Similarly, a late playable Eldrazi should tip you toward ramp, although these guys are still playable in tokens. The nice thing is that most of the good token enablers go really late, so you can afford to pass them early on and wait to see which archetype is open.

 

Next up I'll discuss the R/B tokens deck!

3 Comments

Now we're talking! I find by AverageDrafter at Thu, 07/01/2010 - 10:24
AverageDrafter's picture

Now we're talking! I find this deck to be much better than a straight ramp deck because I feel it gives you many, many more routes to victory than depending on landing a large creature and hope that you survive and nothing happens to it. Not to mention the ramp creatures can't even be cast without the ramp, while the early token enablers have a lot of utility in the early game, even without their little buddies. So you can load up on enablers and not worry as much about an unbalanced draw - after all you can sac an Invoker to a Vampire, but you can't use a Crusher to cast an Artisan.

Top-notch article. I've by scrappykid at Thu, 07/01/2010 - 14:08
scrappykid's picture
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Top-notch article. I've considered the anti-synergy of sacrificing tokens to achieve mana ramp with enablers, but I'd never really thought through the Ondu Giant vs. Kozilek's Predator trade-offs in that way before. Insightful.

I'd previously just been on a bit of auto-pilot, on, for example, Ondu Giant vs. Nest Invader... Ondu Giant gives durable mana, so it's pretty much a coin-flip, right? So, when I had a missing 4-drop, I filled out my curve with Ondu Giant. Based on this article, I think I'd preference the Nest Invader.

More! This stuff is very by Doctor Anime at Thu, 07/01/2010 - 20:27
Doctor Anime's picture
5

More! This stuff is very helpful, thanks!