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Welcome again to One Double O, the column dedicated to the 100 card Singleton format but nothing much really happens in the format because nothing big happens right? Well...

Announcement #1: Weekly Weekend 100 Card Singleton Challenge !!!

Wotc has given it to us! A weekly 100 card Singleton event! A permanent one! 
Timings will vary so do look out for them after the downtime or when the schedule goes up.
Try to show your support for the 100 card Singleton format to keep the support for the format up!

Payout:

Place	Tempest Boosters	Stronghold Boosters
1	15	15
2	10	10
3-4	6	6
5-8	3	3
9-16	2	1

If you think about it, it beats most daily events based on the number of packs payed out. A daily event gives 24 for first place, 18 for second and does not give 9-16 any packs (unless you are looking at sealed events). Most of the time the player count should be less than a standard format daily event so playing in these events are definitely good.

June Promotion (last 2 weeks):

Get a full art Electrolyze for participating in the tournament!
Top 8 get a foiled version!
Zap 2 x/1s today!

Where the info came from:
Main announcement: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/other/060909a
Confirmation on plans to keep it past the anniversary month: http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?p=18808658#post18808658

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Announcement #2: 4-man 100 Card Singleton Queues changed to 8-man queues

These have a payout of 5-3-2-2 and give one QP to the winner.

On my side, I have stopped playing 2 mans ever since they started giving out Tempest packs because of the lack of retail value in them and 4 mans were simply just unattractive. However, with 8 mans up, I am considering joining one every now and then because it is more worth the time to do so than before.

Hopefully, I'll be able to join at a time when there are a bunch of Singleton 100 people online. (I'll probably have to arrange this with some people)

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M10 Changes in Singleton 100

Below are the various changes from the m10 rulings, with a brief description on what they mean. Those with a * in front are those that will see some significance in the format. Some changes affect the people who play Singleton 100 (see lifelink) more than some other formats. Might as well read about it from the One Double O vantage if you play the format.

1) Simultaneous Mulligans

As the name suggests, each player would be declaring to take a mulligan together, or at least each round of mulligan and you don't get to opt to do so after you say no. This stops you from gloating at an opponent's hand (who's playing first) going down to 4 because you can no longer keep subpar hands based on additional information. 

2) Terminology Changes

2A,B) Battlefield, Cast, Play, and Activate

Essentially nothing changed except for the naming.
The "in-play zone" becomes the "battlefield".
You cast spells, play lands and activate activated abilities.

Simple.

*2C) Exile

This creates a new in-game zone that functions similar to the previous "removed from the game" zone and would replace any instances of that.
For example, Psychatog's second ability would become "Exile 2 cards from your graveyard: Psychatog gets +1/+1 until end of turn.

The only real impact this has on the game is that wishes no longer have access to the Exiled zone because it is technically not "out of the game" anymore.
Otherwise, again, it would have been just a change of its name.

To Wotc: PLEASE ERRATA WISHES TO WORK! They don't need to be crippled by the new rules.

2D) Beginning of the End Step

This is a very clean fix to the old "at the end of your turn". Just making it easier to understand with additional words. Again nothing that changes the game.

3) Mana Pools and Mana Burn

3A) Mana Pools Emptying

Mana pool empties every step and phase.
This is significant when you want to keep mana up from upkeep to the draw step or in each of the combat steps. "Floating" mana is now impossible so you need to pull your tricks immediately.

Removals on creatures that give mana during combat step or cards like Mistbind Clique now force players to react before going to the next step. 

*3B) Mana Burn Eliminated

As the subheading suggests, there is no more mana burn in the game. I don't know why but I seem to be very much affected by this change because I have used mana burn to my advantage and have been killed by mana burn before. It's risk taking to float mana into chance but I guess I wouldn't be missing it too much.

The commonly used Pulse of the Forge is badly hit by this change of rule. It's no longer an option to win the game single-handedly on the back on a controlled Pulse of the forge. (I will miss that.)

Producing tons of mana is no longer dangerous. This is probably relevant for decks like Heartbeat of Spring or decks that run on the invasion or MEDII ritual lands. Those decks sometimes mana burnt themselves when they don't go off at times and those minor numbers brought them some losses.

4) Token Ownership

Basically, the person who gets the tokens from the beginning owns it.

This removes interactions with cards like hunted creatures from Ravnica or Forbidden orchard (since they give tokens away) + cards that care about ownership like Tel-Jilad Stylus or Warp World (which has seen play in Singleton 100 but probably not with the mentioned token generating cards). Nothing too warping.

*5) Combat Damage No Longer Uses the Stack

This is the biggest change in the rules.

Since combat damage does not use the stack, it uses a simple system of damage assignment based on blockers.

Explanation: when I attack with creature A and you block with creatures B, C and D.
As the attacker, I get to choose the order of blocks as creatures now block in a line.
To explain how damage now works, I could probably say that damaging creatures has now become like trample at the creature level.
An attacking creature would have to deal lethal damage to the first creature in line and the remaining damage can go down the chain like trample did to players but this time with creatures.

Change: You don't get to choose to deal non-lethal damage anymore.
For example 5 damage split amongst 5 2/2s can no longer be split 1-1-1-1-1 but lethal-lethal-1-0-0.
 

Choosing which creature comes first essentially shows how you would probably assign damage. Damage prevention spells are worse because it can't help if the creature beating you is larger than usual and messing up with the combat math via pump during a gang block situation can easily change the outcome because the attacker has to deal lethal damage to the first creature in line.

Generally, bounce, sacrifice, "blink" effects are some of those that have lost value with the removal of "combat damage on the stack".

Here are some cards that have powered down:

Ravenous Baloth, Spike Feeder, Sakura-tribe elder, Mogg Fanatic, Siege-gang commander, Momentary Blink, Triskelavus, Greater Gargadon, Morphling, Etched Oracle, Riptide Laboratory and more...

This will take some time to get used to and some evaluation will have to be done. More important decisions have to be made in-game like choosing what to do.

For example, you are attacking and your opponent blocks with a Ravenous Baloth. Shock it and your opponent has to think whether or not to gain 4 life or trade with your creature.

6) Deathtouch

Deathtouch is not triggered and it bypasses the need to deal lethal damage to each blocker. Nothing I see that changes too much at the moment.

*7) Lifelink

Lifelink now gains you the life without triggering.
The significance of this is that:

#1 No multiple lifegain triggers.

No more "lifelink+lifelink = 2 lifelink"

#2 If you have lifelink, you can actually survive some combat situations where you originally couldn't because it no longer triggers.

Lifelink on your opponent's cards actually turns into more of a psudo-removal because they can't smack you for lethal and let you die before the trigger pops out.

However...
Only cards that are actually printed with the word "lifelink" have lifelink. The old cards retain their original text so there would be a difference between the two types of cards which are now functionally different.
For example: Loxodon Warhammer from Xed, Rhox War monk from Shards of Alara have lifelink. Exalted Angel, Armadillo cloak have "whenever this deals damage, gain that much life".

A card that enjoys not getting hit by this is Genju of the Fields which can continue to create multiple life gain triggers per activation.

Knowing where the line is drawn is important because #1 and #2 depend on whether or not the card actually has lifelink or "whenever this deals damage, gain that much life".

For #1, Armadillo Cloak would be able to stack with lifelink while Behemoth Sledge would not be able to to do so.
You would basically want only one lifelink ability (for its defensive edge) and as many "whenever this deals damage, gain that much life" as possible.

Overall Impacts:

Singleton 100 is not too badly changed with these changes. I would believe that aggro strategies are slightly better because some of the sac for an effect cards have lost their damage tag on them. It's going to be slightly different now but it should not be too worrying.

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One Double O Anti-Aggro/Aggro Tips:

With aggro being dominant, here are some basic tips to increase your chances against aggro or rather here are things aggro decks should look out for to increase their chances of winning.

#1 Beef up your men This applies more for aggro decks since control already do that or they can't really do that. The main point here is that having a larger size is going to more relevant with more aggressive decks around. 2 months ago, it would be beyond me why anyone would want to play Wilt-leaf cavaliers, 3/4 vigilance for g/w g/w g/w because it just wasn't very impressive. Now, because of more aggro decks being "the better choice", the value of such creatures go up because it is simply bigger than the industrial standard of a 3/3 or 2/2. Unless the aggro player facing you has a pump spell, almost any attack into it would result in a 2 for 1 trade from your side.   From the same line, cards like Plumeveil are probably much better than what people believe it to be because of the increased perceived value of aggro decks.

In the aggro vs aggro matchup, the one with the fatter creatures has a big advantage over the opponent. A simple Hunted Wumpus could easily turn the tides when your opponent does not have big guys to trade with you. For RGW, even Rith, the awakener can be an absolute bomb when you take control of the entire flow of the game with a single swing. I kid you not. A timmy dragon is good here.

Again, using auras to pump up your creatures can also improve your board position greatly for the same size advantage I was talking about. The more successful ones are probably Elephant Guide or Armadillo Cloak.

This phenomena of using beefier creatures to win can be seen in Alara block constructed with (Uril, the mistalker) being the critical game turner. It's not a new concept.

#2 Life Gain Life gain simply goes in the opposite direction of the aggro deck's plan. They want to get your life to 0 while you want to keep your life total as far away as you can from 0. Here, no one is saying "play life gain spells" but play spells that give you life as an additional effect. Some good examples: Faith's Fetters, Absorb, Primal Command, Offering to Asha, Tendrils of Corruption, Ribbons of night and even Kiss of the Amesha have increased value in a field of aggro decks. If possible, shoring up as many Ravenous Baloth type of creatures can also be very useful against the aggro decks. In some decks, even a simple Soul Warden can be used to put one out of range of burn. Lifelink, obviously, is also definitely good against aggro because life points can also be a valuable weapon.

#3 Board Sweepers, Trade Using Creatures

For board sweepers, you can take down multiple threats. The more you catch, the less damage you take.

The logic is straightforward but there are numbers to take note of for the red ones.
2 is very strong vs red deck wins and white weenie.
3 is strong vs RG and those above but there are some creatures that escape this range. If you look at this, if they use tip #1, the value of this actually goes down.
 

Again, along these numbers, you can actually choose creatures with these numbers in the power to get an edge against those decks. Flametongue Kavu (with the number 4 on both its power and its ability) and Shriekmaw (with the number 3 on its power) are therefore very effective against many aggro strategies if you compare with the numbers above. Even Murderous Redcap, because it can block for 2 damage and persist back for the 3rd damage, will be very effective as well.

Actively trading creatures will reduce the pressure on your head so the earlier you trade, the safer you will be. (Taking into account risks of removals being drawn as well.)

On the flip side, getting out of these numbers via Glorious anthem effects or just creature selection can easily topple this particular defensive strategy. So aggro decks take note, anti-aggro decks beware.
 

#4 Play Blockers The reason you want to play blockers is simple. You need some time to improve your board position. You can use creatures that give you a certain effect (that is probably more desirable than the creature itself) like Wood Elves or Solemn Simulacrum or you can go up the hate level and play walls. There are many playable walls for many colors. The bigger the wall, the more damage it can prevent. Most of the time, a simple Wall of Blossoms will suffice to buffer about an average of 5 damage a game if it pops out. A Wall of Denial would probably be able to hold up against the baddest of creatures, except a Hellkite Overlord. They can act as psedo-removal spells that take out the creature that is at its holding capacity. While they are usually scorned at for not being able to contribute to victory, they have increased in value with aggro decks becoming better lately.

#5 Play as Many 2 for 1 Spells as Possible

Against aggro, the more 2 for 1 you achieve, the closer you will be closer to getting the game in your favor. Wearing aggro players out is possibly the best plan because

Not over-protecting life totals is also a very valuable skill. For example, sometimes you could (should) wait till the end of turn before killing a creature if you have some options you want to exercise instead of blanking out your mana so that you can save some life points.

#6 Play Additional Removal Spells

If you want to have a better game against aggro, the most natural course is to dedicate more slots against aggro. Removal spells are important because creatures are the most efficient damage source. This tip is there mainly for control decks because some decks don't really dedicate much space to playing anti-aggro cards. Some cards are better against aggro and some are better against control. Loosening up on the control vs control cards and putting more anti-aggro cards helps. Yes, this is obvious. I know but it is not easy to actually shore up more anti-aggro cards than comfortable.

Some simple ones to play are like Pyrite Spellbomb (which cycles) if you have red and especially if you have Trinket Mage. Trinket Mage also gets Executioner's Capsule and Engineered Explosives.

Additional Tip: You also want to have removals that hit artifacts in your maindeck because it removes equipments. Being able to take down the powerful equipments can greatly increase the chances of fighting aggro because the equipments can affect the game in a big way.

General Tips

Color-wise, green can put in slightly larger creatures, black can throw in more creature kill and some life gain, white can throw in problematic enchantments, red can play more burn spells and blue can play more creatures that block well.

Generally, effort has to be made to fight aggro. It's never perfect because sometimes you just don't draw them but it definitely helps to increase your odds. Aggro is by far the most beatable strategy because there are so many ways to fight it. It is so difficult to be undefeated with it than it would be than if you played some control variation because you need good draws to win most of the time. That said, losing control is almost a sure way to lose especially when they start pulling off tricks like Winter Orb or Armageddon when you are not prepared.

A lucky player should simply play aggro and win out on superb topdecks. A not-so-lucky player might as well try to beat the aggro player. Thankfully it takes only a little more than mediocre draws to beat aggro's good draws if the deck is prepared to fight aggro.

Aggro basically has 2 types: hordes and curves.

Hordes are harder to manage but take bigger blows from cards that blow them out.
Curves are decks with a nice mana curve which allows them to cast the threats of the proper size.
 

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Tech of the Week: A forgotten relic of the past is Worship + an untargettable creature. Most aggro decks will simply roll over to such a combination. It's not easy to keep topdecking maindeck enchantment hate. Even without a combo setup, simply having a creature in play changes the way the game has to be played. Don't forget the good cards of the past!

Tech of the Week #2: With creatures being played more, both on the aggressive and defensive end, a card that sweeps creatures is definitely more valuable in such a metagame. A simple card that can easily warp the state of the BATTLEFIELD in your favor.

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Bonus from a webcomic at www.5colorcontrol.com about Plumeveil

Disclaimer: This does not belong to me in any way and I did not obtain permission to use it if the owner is not happy with me putting the picture here, I'll make sure not to do so in the future. I do enjoy it though.

 

 

Look out for the Singleton 100 events this weekend and do join it! Get packs, play your favorite cards, be ready to beat aggro!
You might not see me write or even play for awhile because I will be away from home. If my internet connection is suffice and I get to play MTGO, you'll probably be seeing me again. Enjoy the weekend challenges! 

tarmotog@hotmail.com
tarmotog on myMTGO.com

 

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