Splendid Belt's picture
By: Splendid Belt, Splendid Belt
Aug 19 2009 9:32am
4.333335
Login to post comments
4930 views


Hello, nice to see you, come in, sit down, make yourself at home, did I mention I'm going out and you're babysitting?
 

This is the second of a two-part article about keeping your favourite creatures alive once they enter that dangerous no-man's land, the Battlefield.  The first article can be found here http://puremtgo.com/articles/out-blue-pet-preservation-society-part-i.

In the first part I talked about my special affinity for Royal Assassin. Not in a weird way, you understand, but the perfectly natural and healthy love between man and homicidal maniac. We all have our pets, our favourite cards. The assassin is mine, and I’m building five decks to see if he’s as good as I think he can be, and to work out the best way in Standard of helping him stick around.
 

Last week we tested decks built around Deathrender and counters. This week we’ll be looking at Whispersilk Cloak, Recursion and finally Wild Ricochet.
 

The idea is that my findings here will be applicable to any creature which needs to stay on the battlefield to do its thing. What works for my pet will work for yours.
 

  Royal Assassin

In order to minimise the number of factors affecting the testing (and thus achieve a more realistic assessment of the life-preserving merits of each idea), I'll be keeping each decklist as similar as possible.  This is relatively simple when I'm running mono-colour, but some sacrifices have to be made when I need to dip heavily into other colours.

Before we go onto the first of today’s decklists, let’s catch up with the star of the show, Royal Assassin himself.
 

Scene: Royal Assassin’s Backstage Dressing Room
 

Me:             Well, Mr Assassin it’s very nice to meet you. How did you feel about our progress last week?

Assassin:   Kill kill kill kill.

Me:             Uh, right. Does that mean you’re happy?

Assassin:   Stabby stabby death.

Me:             Oookay. Maybe I need to be more specific. Did you feel that Deathrender helped you much? It made you slightly harder to

                   kill, that must have been, um, nice?

Assassin:   (STARTING TO FOAM) Slash, kill, maim!

Me:              (WORRIED) Right. Counters were good though weren’t they?

Assassin:   Decapitate!
 

                   ASSASSIN TURNS TO LEAVE.
 

Me:             Oh sorry, you have to go, you’re on stage in a moment. What’s the play tonight?

Assassin:   Death in Venice.

Me:             Right.    I don’t think I need to ask which part you play.


 

So, that was helpful.  Let's get on to some testing.  Deathrender was Experiment #1, Countermagic comprised Experiment #2, so it's time for...

 

 

Experiment #3: Whispersilk Cloak
 

 

 

Royal Silk by Splendid Belt

60 card deck

   
 

Creatures

4 Royal Assassin

4 Murderous Redcap

2 Sygg, River Cutthroat

2 Shriekmaw

2 Puppeteer Clique

2 Ghastlord of Fugue

2 Necroskitter

2 Nyxathid

20 cards


Other Spells

4 Consume Spirit

4 Whispersilk Cloak

3 Profane Command

3 Unmake

2 Corrupt

16 cards

 

Lands

23 Swamp

1 Springjack Pasture

24 cards

Whispersilk Cloak


 

Game 1 vs. RyionB (G/W Good Stuff)
 

Elspeth, Knight-Errant Thornling Baneslayer Angel Enlisted Wurm
 

I'm incredibly glad to find Unmake in my hand to deal with his turn five Thornling. I'm less happy when he cascades into Elspeth, Knight-Errant from Enlisted Wurm on his next turn. But, endearingly dogged as I am, I soldier on with a turn seven Whispersilk Cloak attached to my Ghastlord. That can do four per turn, meaning Sygg will keep me drawing, and for the moment Necroskitter is holding off his team, with the notable exception of his turn seven Baneslayer Angel. Did he get the nuts draw or what?
 

Both the cloak and Necroskitter eventually fall foul of Oblivion Ring, but I eventually win on turn twelve by holding off his team and either removing his biggest threats (the Angel) or aiming at the dome with a combination of Profane Command, Corrupt and Consume Spirit. The Assassin shows up on turn eleven, but it's too late to be really game affecting – however if the game had gone on longer, I can see that it would have helped.


 

Game 2 vs. bbists (R/B Good Stuff)
 

Lightning Bolt Rise from the Grave Howling Banshee Deathbringer Thoctar


 

My first Assassin on turn six gets immediately Lightning Bolted. I'm down to ten life shortly after. I get another Assassin on turn eight, and it keeps his team at bay, tapping once to kill the automatically attacking Monstrous Carabid. Puppetter Clique beats down for the win, with Profane Command acting as the finisher.
 

So cloak never showed up, but the second Assassin stuck and did the job.


 

Game 3 vs. Eric 3534 (R/G Stompy Reflector)
 

Minion Reflector Seedguide Ash Farhaven Elf Dauntless Dourbark


 

My opening hand contains both Royal Assassin and the cloak, and by turn 5 he's out and wearing it. By the same point he's got nine lands out thanks to Seedguide Ash (killed by my Assassin). He quickly draws another, and with Minion Reflector in play, he's soon drawn all of his land. Bad news for me. By turn eight I'm fending off two 18/18 Dauntless Dourbarks, with hasted copies of themselves thanks to the Reflector. My Assassin can only deal with one at a time, and my other blockers are shifting uneasily on their feet and staring at the word 'Trample'. I manage to hold out until turn ten.


 

So the 'combo' to protect the Assassin came together, but since he was running no removal (that I saw), it was irrelevant. I would have died sooner without the Assassin, and could possibly have won if I'd drawn another.
 


 

Game 4 vs. Bigguy554 (Mono White Honor of the Pure)
 

Honor of the Pure Knight of the White Orchid Spectral Procession Ajani Goldmane


 

I get my customary turn three Assassin (no cloak in sight), but double Knight of the White Orchid, double Honor of the Pure, double Spectral Procession and Ajani Goldmane are all you need to know. I drew well, but my deck absolutely cannot beat that sort of quality, and I'd doubt few in the casual room could say otherwise.  There's just no way I could keep up with these beats, and spot removal is of little help when you're facing a ton of weenies.  If I was playing matches rather than one-off games, this is where I'd side in Infest.


 

Game 5 vs. Endarch (Mono White Soldier Tokens)
 

Elspeth, Knight-Errant Martial Coup Windbrisk Heights Captain of the Watch
 

I get an early cloak and a late Assassin, but never get the chance to pair them together. I'm overwhelmed by Soldier Tokens that I can only remove one at a time. I manage to deal with Elspeth eventually, but die on turn nine to a mass of tokens pumped by a Captain of the Watch cast via an early Windbrisk Heights.  Very similar to the last game then, and equally frustrating.  Another example of why Infest is mono-black's sideboard favourite.  Even maindecking it can be advantageous.


 

So the last two games were bad match ups for my deck, and played out as you'd expect. Overall I wasn't happy with the cloak. It did nothing for me when it showed up, and when I really needed it, it was nowhere in sight. In the right deck it can be useful, after all lots of creatures like to be unblockable, and shroud is rarely a bad thing. To maximise the cloak, stick it on something like Hypnotic Specter, Charnelhoard Wurm or Vedalken Heretic.

 

 

Conclusions: Whispersilk Cloak

I faced a few powerful decks here, which is reflected in my 2-3 record.  I didn't feel the cloak did anything useful for me, even in the one game where I managed to wrap it around my Assassin.  Even with a full playset of each in the deck, I think my record of pairing the two up twenty percent of the time in these games feels about accurate.  So overall, I don't think this is the way to keep pets alive and tails wagging.  If you're looking to immortalise your pet, look elsewhere. Like maybe, recursion...?


 

Experiment #4: Recursion
 

 

 

He's not dead, he's resting: by Splendid Belt

60 card deck

   
 

Creatures

4 Royal Assassin

4 Murderous Redcap

4 Gravedigger

2 Shriekmaw

2 Puppeteer Clique

2 Ghastlord of Fugue

2 Warren Pilferers

1 Nyxathid

1 Necroskitter

22 cards


Other Spells

4 Consume Spirit

3 Tendrils of Corruption

3 Profane Command

2 Unmake

2 Corrupt

14 cards

 

Lands

23 Swamp

1 Springjack Pasture

24 cards

Gravedigger

 


 

Game 1 vs. Mikaelswe (Naya Uril Aggro)
 

Uril, the Miststalker Woolly Thoctar Devoted Druid Deathrender


 

He gets out a turn three Uril, the Miststalker thanks to a Devoted Druid, which gets a couple of swings in until I'm able to deal with it with a combination of Necroskitter and Nyxathid. Brilliantly, he chooses to kill the latter (when assigning combat damage), and Uril defects to my side thanks to the -1 counter from the skitter. Less brilliantly, it was wielding a Deathrender, and he uses its ability to put a second Uril from his hand into play, sending them both to the graveyard under the legend rule. After that I'm able to keep his board clear and beat down for the win, a late Assassin proving unneeded. I enjoyed my recursion though, using Pilferers and Gravedigger to recur an evoked Shriekmaw and my dead Nyxathid.
 


 

Game 2 vs. Brosef_von_Bismarck (G/U 2010 Edition)
 

Sleep Clone Overrun Elvish Visionary


 

I get a couple of Assassins down early on, but a couple of Sleeps from across the board stop them from being too useful. He doesn't draw any especially powerful creatures, but three Llanowar Elves pumped by an Overrun take me to two life. Finally my side untaps and I'm able to clear his board. He concedes as I'm about to head across for lethal. No graveyard recursion showed up, but his strategy was to keep me tapped down rather than dead, so it wouldn't have mattered.


 

Game 3 vs. Lean_on_me (Jund Aggro)
 

Putrid Leech Resounding Thunder
 

I stall on mana, and die to triple Putrid Leech. I'm a big fan of the leech, so hard to remove if your opponent knows when to time the ability.  I do manage a turn four Assassin which helps, but eventually Resounding Thunder deals with it... well resoundingly. One more mana and I'd have been able to do all sorts of things but it was not to be. I'm paying for all that luck with the shuffler earlier.


 

Game 4 vs. CaptainSean (Mono Green Wolfy Aggro)
 

Garruk Wildspeaker Howl of the Night Pack Master of the Wild Hunt Ant Queen


 

This is more like it. I draw enough removal to keep the main threats off the board, but he plays two huge Howl of the Night Packs that give me real problems. I just manage to keep my nose above water by blocking with everything I have, and sending Shriekmaw to chew on his face once I've got his canine population relatively under control. My recursion helps here, sending my dead blockers back to my hand, where I send them quickly back to the front. I also get a turn eleven Assassin, without which I'd have died. On turn fifteen he turns his entire team sideways, and I have just enough tricks in me (and a quick goat token from Springjack Pasture to last at one life. Next turn the remains of my team have just enough in them to reduce him to 0. A great, close game.


 

Game 5 vs. vampiric79 (Mono Black Good Stuff)
 

 

Demigod of Revenge Bitterblossom Stillmoon Cavalier Maralen of the Mornsong


 

His cards are a lot better than mine, and I'm dead by turn ten. I managed to get him to single figures, but I was on the defensive throughout. I did at least manage to recur and recast my early Assassin (which he Consume Spirited), but it was immediately hit by Unmake.  If I thought it looked bad when he cast a turn two Bitterblossom, it looked even worse on turn three when he dropped the Stillmoon Cavalier.  Just a horrible play to see if you're mono-black.  From there, the Demigod and Maralen were just salt in the already fatal wound.


 

Conclusions: Recursion

I enjoyed this decklist, and it felt fairly well tuned. The Assassin again helped in some games, and the recursion provided some much needed card advantage. Having said that, it only actually gave me back my Assassin once, which surprised me. So overall, a nice decklist, but I can't say it was a complete success in achieving what it set out to do.


 

Experiment #5: Wild Ricochet


 

 

Where the hell is Ashenmoor?: by Splendid Belt

60 card deck

   
 

Creatures

4 Royal Assassin

4 Murderous Redcap

4 Ashenmoor Gouger

4 Ashenmoor Liege

4 Shambling Remains

3 Shriekmaw

2 Puppeteer Clique

25 cards


Other Spells

4 Wild Ricochet

4 Terminate

3 Profane Command

11 cards

 

Lands

4 Savage Lands

2 Auntie's Hovel

1 Dragonskull Summit

13 Swamp

4 Mountain

24 cards

Wild Ricochet


 

Game 1 vs. siafni76 (B/U Rogues)
 

Latchkey Faerie Oona's Blackguard Stinkdrinker Bandit Cloak and Dagger


 

I get a turn three Royal Assassin (of course), which quickly succumbs to Agony Warp. No sign of my Ricochets, so I'm just playing out threats and hoping. I'm soon being beaten about the face by Nightshade Stinger and Oona's Blackguard. So that's two per turn, not great cause for concern.
 

I do get a cause on his turn four, when he casts Stinkdrinker Bandit. Now his two flyers hit me for six. Ouch. Profane Command comes to my rescue next turn, killing the Bandit and recurring my Assassin for me. The Assassin keeps his team out of the red zone until it's too late. He does eventually manage to get a Latchkey Faerie equipped with (Cloak and Dagger into play), which takes me down to five, but I cast my Puppeteer to block. Shambling Remains shambles over the remains of his gameplan for the win. I drew a Ricochet, but too late to be of any use.
 


 

Game 2 vs. Ino209 Mono Red Rockslide
 

Pyroclasm Rockslide Elemental Rakka Mar Fiery Hellhound


 

In a triumph of spooky consistency, I find myself once again casting a turn three Assassin. He's mono red, so I'm expecting burn. It comes on turn five in the form of Pyroclasm after I cast Ashenmoor Gouger. The Gouger is only mildly singed, but the Assassin is now a crispy bundle of cinders in my graveyard.
 

I get another Assassin on turn six, which keeps his Fiery Hellhound and Rakka Mar from doing anything too worrying, whilst my 6/6 Gouger (thanks to a turn five Liege) does the business. I don't draw Wild Ricochet.


 

Game 3 vs. Qleene (Mono Green Elves)
 

 

Llanowar Elves Elvish Harbinger Gilt-Leaf Archdruid Keeper of Progenitus


 

This time it's Shambling Remains I'm casting on turn three, instantly starting a five turn clock. Next turn, his board is double Llanowar Elves, Elvish Harbinger and a Gilt-Leaf Archdruid. My Shambler put on some fat when I cast a Liege. I need to kill him or remove the Archdruid before he gets seven druids out, or I'm in big trouble.
 

I get out a turn five Assassin, which helps, and finish him off the following turn with burn to the dome from a Murderous Redcap. I was holding a Ricochet all game, but against Mono Green it's fairly irrelevant.
 


 

Game 4 vs. JialiangZhong (Archangel Control)
 

Empyrial Archangel Makeshift Mannequin Torrent of Souls Kederekt Leviathan


 

I open a hand with a good mix of lands, and my Assassin. Needless to say, he joins my side on turn three. I manage to keep his board clear, and attack him steadily down to nine life – the Assassin so far functioning as a low power beater. On turn seven he uses Makeshift Mannequin to cheat an Empyrial Archangel into play. Ouch. As well as my assassin, I have Murderous Redcap and Shriekmaw out. Five power. Not enough to kill the Angel. And while it sticks, I'm not going to be winning the game. He uses it to bash me for five per turn. I'm on a four turn clock.
 

I go to ten life, before I topdeck a lucky Liege, which enables my team to swing for enough to send the Angel gravewards (damage done to your opponent is redirected to the Angel while it lives). He brings it back next turn with Torrent of Souls. I'm at three life to his nine. Fortunately I still have enough power on the table to send it back the way it came.
 

Next comes his masterstroke in the bulky blue form of Kederekt Leviathan. It sends my team back to my hand. He Negates my first Terminate, but not my second. With his board clear, I'm able to cast Liege and two Redcaps next turn. He concedes at one life.


 


 

Game 5 vs. Jaimonki (Mono Green Elves)
 

Garruk Wildspeaker Winnower Patrol Imperious Perfect Protean Hydra


 

Another Elvish opponent. I have a good opening hand with decent mana, and more importantly a Wild Ricochet. Will it finally prove its worth? I lay a turn four Assassin, which is a killer against mono green unless they're running something like Lignify. There's always the danger though that Elves will just plain overwhelm a deck without sweepers, Assassin or not.
 

He gets out a turn five Garruk Wildspeaker. So far my assassin has killed an Elvish Visionary and a Winnower Patrol. Next turn he casts an Imperious Perfect and an Elvish Archdruid, but he doesn't dare tap them. I cast a Puppeteer, which is a 4/3 thanks to the Liege I have in play. I'm still unable to remove the Planeswalker until turn nine thanks to a couple of Fogs from him. I use a mixture of Terminates and the Assassin to clear his board, and sweep home for the win.

 

Conclusions: Wild Ricochet
Well I won five out of five, but the experiment is a failure because Wild Ricochet did precisely nothing. To be honest I didn't have high hopes for it, but I'd thought I'd at least get to cast it, especially since I drew it in three out of the five games. I was keen to try this build though, because I think R/B is a good home for the Assassin. This feeling was borne out by the power of the deck, but not by its ability to prolong life, or reduce 'unstickability'.

 

 

 

Overall Conclusions:
So, we've tested five decks, across five Standard games each in the casual room. Here's a quick rundown of the results and conclusions from last week and today:


 

Deathrender   Deathrender: The equipment surprised me by being more powerful and less clunky than expected.  However, it did little if anything to keep my pet alive.
Negate   Counters: Counters were very powerful, not only keeping opposing threats off the table, but more importantly keeping my Assassin on it.
Whispersilk Cloak   Whispersilk Cloak: Similarly to Deathrender, having only one card (even it's a playset) to protect your pet really isn't enough.  In this instance, I found the Cloak to be worse than useless.
Gravedigger   Recursion:  This felt better.  In other games I was almost scared to cast the Assassin, knowing it to be a removal magnet.  With a recursive deck, my opponent's removal was simply an opportunity to gain some card advantage.  Being exiled still hurts, but your graveyard becomes just another library.
Wild Ricochet   Wild Ricochet: Possibly worse even than the Cloak.  I'm sure Ricochet has its deck, but this truly isn't it


 

And now the winner...

 

 

 So without any further ado, we can announce that the overall and official best method in Standard for keeping your pets bouncing, bustling, brave, and above all, breathing, is Countermagic.  There are no shortage of counters to choose from, so you can have as much protection as you like, and with the exception of a few spells (hello Volcanic Submersion), they guarantee absolute security.

Recursion gets an honourable mention for giving your pet a second chance.  I'd especially recommend Profane Command for its surprise value (since the pet goes straight into play rather than via your hand), and sheer card advantage.

Deathrender wins the 'Surprisingly Okay' award for being better than expected, just not at the job for which I'd earmarked it.

Cloak and Ricochet go to the back of the class, and their parents have been informed of their poor performance

In reality, I'll admit that these 'experiments' hardly stand up to scientific scrutiny.  Each deck had five outings in the casual room.  A more accurate analysis would have run ten or twenty times that figure, but sadly I have to do certain other things like eat, sleep and wash otherwise my wife starts complaining.  But there is a further conclusion I can come to even with this level of testing, and it's the answer to my second question at the beginning of the first article.  Is the Assassin any good?

 

I'd have to say a resounding yes.  He appears to have dropped out of even casual favour, but I was always happy to cast him, and as evidenced by my game summaries, he was one of the star performers across all decks.  Yes he's still easy to remove, but I'd encourage any deck heavily investing in black and going to the control route to give him a whirl.  Perhaps not as a full playset, but as two or three.  Even if he does draw removal, better him than your finisher.

 

I'm pleased to see that my pet has his uses.  He's been dismissed as jank by many, but then so was Seismic Assault before Joel Calafell won GP Barcelona with it in May this year (Author's Disclaimer: I'm not saying Royal Assassin will single-handedly win the next GP, nor am I claiming the Swans deck was a complete unknown before May '09).


And really, that's what this has been about.  Just because a card has been generally dismissed, doesn't mean you can't make it work for you.  If you have a card that inspires you in some way, build a deck around it and try it out, it may surprise you.  It may surprise your opponent.  It might even be completely out of the blue.

 

Final Note:

A deck built around Royal Assassin will win the next GP.  There, I said it. 

11 Comments

Nice by RagMan17 at Wed, 08/19/2009 - 12:34
RagMan17's picture
4

Very nice, I liked your last article and was waiting for this since then. Too bad cloak didn't work out as that was where I had placed my bet on before reading both articles. After your last article I even made a cloak/recursion royal deck but I had limited success and games I did win seemed to be on the backs of Shrikemaw, Corrupt, Liliana, or Profane.

My own new pet is Ethersworn Adjudicator as a bigger, meaner royal. He also has a horrid casting cost so I've had to find ways to cheat him out so I've been running a Thousand Year Elixir and Master Transmuter Artifact deck which I made room for Adjudicator. He goes along well with Sanctum Gargoyle, Sphinx Summoner, and of course Sharuum. The deck is just your STD artifact speed deck but being that I love Adjudicator so much it is nice that he fit right in.

RagMan

hmmm by Paul Leicht at Wed, 08/19/2009 - 13:05
Paul Leicht's picture
5

Royal is a pain. :p He dies to Volcanic Fallout, Pyroclasm etc but he is still able to intimidate people quite bit. Back in the day we used to call cards like that Bolt bait. Because at the end of the turn you cast him he would be toasted by bolt or some other low cost removal card. I like cards like Royal Assassin because they do something extra besides their lowly 1/1 status would imply. Same with the Sorcerers. Really any card that taps to do something nasty. Anything you can abuse with an untap that creature card. I love Royal + Icy which is the direction I went (via BW control-recursion) in my extended version. That deck did very well in casual so I think he is mainly out of flavor for the very fact that he is old and thus overlooked. I wish I had cards like Profane Command, Wild Ricochet and Deathrender but I will make due with just my 4x Royals at 20 cents apiece. Thanks for pointing them out again. Id forgotten what fun they are. To quote Arlo; "I just want to kill, kill, kill!!!" :D

Sleep/Blinding Mage by m8x115 at Wed, 08/19/2009 - 13:13
m8x115's picture

I've found that Royal Assasin works really well with Sleep to tap down your oppenant's dudes and make sure they don't get up again. Also works well with Blinding Mage, the white tapper in M10.

Yep and by Paul Leicht at Wed, 08/19/2009 - 13:40
Paul Leicht's picture

Any other Master Decoy replica such as the Kamigawa versions I used in my deck.

Replies by Splendid Belt at Wed, 08/19/2009 - 14:48
Splendid Belt's picture

Thanks all for your comments.

@ Ragman - Cloak could have been good, but I didn't seem to draw it when I needed it. That seems like a valuable lesson in itself though. One artifact in your deck (as I said, even as a playset) isn't enough if you want to guarantee a creature's survival. Yes, the Adjucator is a stronger card, as evidenced by it's far higher price! Your artifact deck sounds powerful.

@ Paul - glad I've reminded you about the Assassin. He's a good pet and needs a home. I had the Icy + Assassin deck too. Good times.

@m8x115 - Yes I mentioned a few combo possibilities in the comments after my last article. I didn't mention Sleep though, that's a good one.

Better than Cloak by Katastrophe at Thu, 08/20/2009 - 01:26
Katastrophe's picture
4

Do you really need the Royal Assassin to be unblockable? You picked a piece of equipment that says "unblockable plus shroud." With the exception of your pet magpie, wouldn't you always prefer haste + shroud for your pet instead? And even then maybe the magpie would still rather have haste. Put some shoes on! Also, the shoes are cheaper, and equip for free.

yep by Paul Leicht at Thu, 08/20/2009 - 03:37
Paul Leicht's picture

Greaves are best.

Greaves by Splendid Belt at Thu, 08/20/2009 - 04:03
Splendid Belt's picture

If this had been an extended article, then yes, Greaves are way better. Since I'm writing about Standard here, they weren't an option. To be fair I made that point myself - if you're going to use cloak, use it on a creature that benefits from it fully. I gave a few examples of appropriate creatures.

You're right! by Katastrophe at Thu, 08/20/2009 - 20:40
Katastrophe's picture

You're right! Somehow I missed that these decks were standard legal. I think I was thinking of the Dimir Cutpurse still.

Nettling imp by Kingrags (not verified) at Thu, 08/20/2009 - 09:16
Kingrags's picture

Back in the days we used to play royal togheter with nettling imp. Today we have a siren in blue that does the same thing. (Dont think its as good as it was in our beginers meta though)

Constructive criticism by Kriterian (not verified) at Thu, 08/20/2009 - 12:57
Kriterian's picture

Just a little constructive criticism that I hope you don't take the wrong way. This article would have been still been nicely written and informative without the "Backstage with the Assassin" skit. I know you're a comedy writer but it just always seems forced, and irrelevant.

Not trying to be a jerk, just my two cents.