A Dark and Stormy Night

I laid in bed trying to sleep as a thunderstorm peppered the roof.  Unfortunately, sleep rarely comes with effort, so I roused myself to discover the thunderstorm had caused a blackout.  With nothing else to do, I drove to work to surf the web, and of course checked the official Magic website at the stroke of midnight.

RIP Copperhoof Vorrac

"What's this?  Rules changes?  Oh, these must be those oft rumored mana burn changes.  Ok.  Exile, Battlefield, end of turn step... 'Combat damage no longer uses the stack?' Wtf?"

I read through the explanation, and immediately disliked the change.  My first thought was not to Mogg Fanatic, but to Prismatic All-Star Sakura-Tribe Elder.  How would I hold off those (Savannah Lion) playing aggro punks without my beloved Elder?  Figuring I missed something I re-read the rules, and found that they were just as bad the second time around.  So I made like a good impotently raging nerd and posted my disapproval on the Wizards Message Board, which made me feel better.

In retrospect, I have no idea why I felt that way.  I can certainly come up with some arguments now: the new combat system is both simpler and clunkier; my favourite cards are being nerfed; etc.  You've read all the arguments before, repeatedly.  But those arguments came later, as rationalizations for my feelings, to justify why I felt outraged.  Put another way, I reacted first, and then tried to justify my reaction after the fact.

In reading and thinking about these changes, I think it's important to be honest with yourself whether you are reacting to the changes or dispassionately analyzing them.  No one is ever going to be able to convince me that the new combat rules are a better system, because my position is defined by emotion, and not logic.  Emotions are not completely random or irrational, but often have a logic that's indeterminable.

MODO and Flavor

One thing I have not seen discussed is how MODO users may view combat and the stack differently from paper players.  Many people have written that damage on the stack is analagous to a monster having its fist in midflight, which certainly is a bizarre image.  My preferred analogy would be from movies, where people can get shot a dozen times and die in a someone's arms. There's plenty of time to sacrifice them for their organs (or search for a land).  As a MODO player, though, these flavor issues never come up, because I am playing a computer card game.  My Dragon Broodmother could be a houseful of balloons, as long as it swings for four damage through the air.

What stacked damage looks like

More importantly, as a MODO player, you can see damage on the stack.  I attack, you block, and then damage goes on the stack, in the same place we both play our cards.  I have to hit F2 to actually deal the damage, otherwise the damage would sit on the stack indefinitely.  If I want to see how you assigned your damage, I can mouse over the damage image, and see where you put it, and then respond.  It's completely intuitive.  I even vaguely recall the first time someone stacked damage, and thinking, "Hey, I need to learn how to do that."

When paper players talk about the difficulty of teaching new players about combat, I can only relate as an outsider.  Damage on the stack is kind of a strange idea.  Unless you play online where it's obvious.

What to do

I haven't played a game of Magic Online since the announcement.  I haven't even been tempted.  In the week prior to the announcement, I played three or four nights.  Magic Online has the undoubtedly cool anniversary events going on, and Wizards fulfilled most of my wishes from my last article with the new Weekend Challenges, yet I really don't care.  I think it's time Magic and I break up.

"Dear Magic,

"I'm not sure how to say this, but I think it's time we need to spend some time apart.  I've really enjoyed the last few years, but it's become increasingly obvious that we're drifting apart.  You lost weight with those new rules, which would be awesome, but I think you did it to look better to other guys, not me. I still don't understand why you suddenly started needing to get "mythic" sheets and clothes when our old common stuff did well enough.  I know Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh have them, but we're never going to keep up with all the Joneses.  And your planeswalker friends, don't get me started.  Sometimes I feel like you want to do more than just play with them.  I feel like I don't know you any more.

"Anyway, I should stop, since I don't want to remember the bad times.  I'd rather remember the good times, like when I was playing 2HG, and stalled long enough for a topdecked Akroma to deal exactly enough damage to win the game.  Or all the times I made Top Eight with Phyrexian Soulgorger.

"We'll always have Zuberas,
"Umii"

I'm going to take a break from the game for the next few months.  I'll probably be back, but I feel like the best way to register disapproval is not through words, but through action.  If you, like me, are unhappy with the changes, I'd recommend the same.  The game will still be there if you change your mind, and maybe when the emotions wind down, the changes will seem trivial.  Until then, I've got one last article.

WG Midrange for 100C Singleton

Now that singleton has a sideboard, it may be time to design some mid-range metagame decks.  The two current poles of the metagame are Gruul/Naya aggro and Uxy control.  While I am not an expert on designing mid-range decks, some of the keys are stalling the game until the aggro decks run out of gas, and getting 2-for-1 trades as often as possible.  One of the best ways to get time and value is to play big fat creatures that can gain you life, the hallmarks of green and white creatures.  A while ago I scratched my list-making itch by enumerating all the possible cards one could include in a mono-red aggro deck.  Here, I'll do the same for GW Midrange.  All cards are listed in rough order of my preference for them, in category.  I've highlighted in bold the cards I currently have in my GW Midrange deck.

Creatures

Great creatures are the key to this deck.  First, you must stem the creature tide with early drops that still give value, like Wall of Blossoms.  Safehold Elite may be a simple 2/2, but even after it persists, it can still trade with many of the x/1 creatures red decks run.  You're probably familiar with all the good lifegain cards, so I won't elaborate much on them.  Even after the changes, Ravenous Baloth is still probably fat enough to run.

Besides stalling and lifegain, GW offers a lot of utility creatures that can answer the ubiquitous artifacts flying around, or simply gain card advantage like Archon of Justice.  My pet utliity card is Brooding Saurian, which is always fun to surprise blue decks with, and has a big round body to boot.

In trying to stall the game, one of the most important things to do is to get rid of your opponents creatures, whether by direct removal (below) or trading.  Most red decks, however, avoid trading by simply aiming burn at your creatures, gaining tempo.  To avoid this, it can help to play shroud creatures, which at least guarantee a trade.  These shroud creatures also are great for dodging all the removal black decks pack, and force them to use counters.Finally, once you have stalled the game, you want to finish it quickly before the opponent can gain a second wind.  I have included planeswalkers here, as they create creatures, and have an inevitability if not dealt with quickly.

Removal

Most white removal is pretty famous.  Especially helpful are the lifegain cards, which there are unfortunately too few of.  Don't forget old gems like Shining Shoal, Faith's Fetters, or Rout.

Lands and Mana

In my mono-red article, I strongly advocated against lands like Stalking Stones, as so many red cards have multiple (R) in the casting cost.  For the midrange deck, where the mana costs are slightly less stringent, I prefer more utility lands.  Mana acceleration is pretty straightforward.  Kodama's Reach was format defining in Kamigawa Block and Standard, but is a bit slow to play in an aggro metagame.

Other Spells

If you subscribe to the philosophy of fire, every card needs to do 2-3 damage.  This means that gaining two life is the equivalent of drawing a card.  Sun Droplet and Honden of Cleansing Fire are pretty janky in most decks, but are perfect hosers against aggro, and can even buy a few turns against control decks.  For auras/equipment, I would avoid playing more than five of them, since they are often redundant.  You can adjust between card advantage and lifegain by switching between the guides and hammers.  One of GW's weaknesses are spells; if only there were more ways to draw cards.

Sideboard Hosers

Finally, we come to the best reason to play GW: the hosers.  All of the creatures will stop red attacks in their tracks, and CoP:Red is the classic red mage's nightmare.  Warmth does almost as good of an impression, basically counterspelling any direct burn.  If you are worried about the blue decks, green offers up a wide variety of ways to fight them, from uncounterable creatures to counter-spells.  Dosan the Falling Leaf is a forgotten gem here.

I played this deck a bunch in the tournament practice room, and even played in a 2-man queue with it, before realizing that 2-man queues paid out in scrips from the last millenium.  In the playtesting I've done, finding the right mix of stalling and finishers is essential, and still something I'm working towards.  You often have a decent chance pre-sideboarding against aggro, so I prefer to load up on anti-control cards in the sideboard.  If I've forgotten any cards, or you have a different approach towards the metagame, let me know in the comments.