Last week I started an 84 Zendikar walkthrough, and after first-picking a Day of Judgment, I ended up with a mostly-white deck that splashed a bit of green, and took down the first match.

Here is the decklist I submitted (see last week's article for my thoughts on how I would build it differently in retrospect):

Never Pass Judgment

84 Zendikar Draft Deck

Creatures 1 Grazing Gladehart 2 Kor Aeronaut 2 Kor Skyfisher 1 Kor Cartographer 1 River Boa 1 Kor Hookmaster 1 Kor Sanctifiers 1 Kazandu Blademaster 1 Cliff Threader 1 Territorial Baloth 1 Oran-Rief Recluse 1 Vastwood Gorger 14 cards Other Spells 1 Blazing Torch 1 Windborne Charge 1 Journey to Nowhere 1 Vines of Vastwood 1 Adventuring Gear 1 Shieldmate's Blessing 1 Arrow Volley Trap 1 Day of Judgment 8 cards

Lands 11 Plains 6 Forest 1 Graypelt Refuge 18 cards Sideboard 1 Zendikar Farguide 1 Cobra Trap 1 Relic Crush 1 Cliff Threader 1 Kabira Crossroads 1 Pillarfield Ox 1 Marsh Flats 2 Kor Outfitter 1 Quest for the Gemblades 1 Luminarch Ascension 1 Ondu Cleric 1 Nimbus Wings 13 cards

I forgot to mention this last week, but a player named SamuelBeckett was in this draft. I thought we were fated to play each other, but the playwright lost in the first round and, perhaps appropriately, never played me. Between rounds, I scouted my possible opponents and generated this partial decklist for the round-two Villain:

I found out something interesting while putting together this partial deck: after 27 drafts and two sealed events, I had zero copies of Timbermaw Larva—in fact it was the only common I was missing. Apparently heavy-green, non-evasive four drops that die to all the set’s best common removal spells just don’t make it into my pile a lot in this format, but it’s still surprising. I would call the lack of Timbermaw Larvae after 27 drafts a leak, actually. I almost certainly missed an opportunity to (correctly) move into heavy green as some point in those 27 drafts. I do pick full-arts pretty aggressively late, so I’m pretty low on cards I consider unplayable (not that Timbermaw Larva is unplayable). I have only one Desecrated Earth and one Sunspring Expedition, while my most-owned card in Zendikar, at 21 copies, is Burst Lightning.

R2G1

Sadly, this game is missing. I’m used to finding games that are corrupted, but this one just wasn’t there at all. It’s a shame, because I had been looking forward to breaking it down. I had Day of Judgment fairly early if not in my starter, and I set it up as best as I could reasonably hope for. I had River Boa forcing Villain to commit to the board to get damage through, and managed to fire off the judgment with Journey to Nowhere, Arrow Volley Trap, and a threat in hand (although my boa was trapped under a Paralyzing Grasp). I took out a Territorial Baloth, a Living Tsunami, and one or two other creatures, leaving Villain with two cards and no board.

Well, I lost. My removal went to Villain’s first two creatures and I thought I thought my one threat was going to get there, but I lost the ability to attack profitably, and then began drawing lands while Villain drew gas. Eventually, a Windrider Eel went the distance on the back of multiple landfall activations.

While I got a bit unlucky post-sweeper, the game reinforced what I said about the Day of Judgment pick last week: it’s an excellent card in Limited, but I’d rather just have a big threat. I resolved it and lost in a spot where I probably would have won if I’d resolved a bomb finisher instead. That being said, I probably would have lost many turns earlier with a random creature instead of the Day of Judgment.

R2G2

Against , my Cliff Threader and Shieldmate's Blessing are considerably worse, so I swapped them out along with a Plains for the Zendikar Farguide, a Kor Outfitter, and Relic Crush (I’d seen multiple targets in game one, including equipment and Savage Silhouette). Down 0-1, I opt to play and check my seven:

A solid starter, but one that again presents the wrath dilemma: how should I develop my board with a sweeper in my opener? With a starter like this, I’m just going to go aggressive and use Day of Judgment as a bailout plan if my early aggression becomes outclassed. On turn two I draw into a Plains and decide between the Kor Aeronaut and the Kor Outfitter. What do you lead with, here?

R2G2 #1

Villain has Nissa's Chosen in the deck so going with the outfitter could be incorrect, but turn two is the best-case scenario for the outfitter, while the aeronaut can get in extra damage on turn four while being a relevant threat in the later turns. I risk the 2/3 blocker and play out the Kor Outfitter, setting up a turn-three Grazing Gladehart and a turn-four kicked Kor Aeronaut. After an Island and no play from Villain, I draw Kor Skyfisher, but this doesn’t change my plan, I still cast the Grazing Gladehart to maximize my mana and not disrupt its development.

A second Forest leads into to a Frontier Guide, suggesting it was Villain’s draw, or it would have come down last turn. I draw River Boa and plan the turn.

R2G2 #2

The Forest up could be Primal Bellow, but I’m not going to play around it here. It would be unfortunate to lose the gladehart, but I’m not going to let up on maximum aggression for fear of that trick given the evasive pressure I still have to come. It is Primal Bellow and I lose the gladehart, but the boa and skyfisher come out to play right after. I bounce a Plains, not the refuge, because I want to be sure I can cast a kicked Kor Aeronaut next turn to launch the outfitter.

Villain has a land and Timbermaw Larva—probably the one I passed that could have been my first ever. That leaves me free to kick the aeronaut and send the Kor Outfitter into the air, although he probably would have gone unblocked anyway. The attack puts Villain to 10, who then attacks me back with a 5/5 larva, but has no other play and passes. I draw Territorial Baloth and I’m feeling pretty invincible against Villain’s three Forests and single Island, with a kicked Into the Roil, a Summoner's Bane, Baloth Cage Trap and a full-price Whiplash Trap all being out of the question. I swing in, the Frontier Guide chumps and searches for a land, but my post-combat baloth earns a concession on the next draw step, no Day of Judgment required.

R2G2 #3

Turn-six wins are a nice confidence-booster, and a reminder of the power of a low curve. Two drops aren’t just great because you can play them on turn two, but because you can play two of them on turn four.

R2G3

Back on the draw, I have a promising seven:

Another aggressive start backed by an emergency Day of Judgment. The Adventuring Gear comes down on turn one, and Villain has Frontier Guide and Spidersilk Net for turn two. I draw Vines of Vastwood and Kor Sanctifiers and drop the Kazandu Blademaster. The Frontier Guide dons the Spidersilk Net and I take the turn back, drawing Graypelt Refuge. What’s the play this turn?

R2G3 #1

I can either use the Kor Hookmaster on the Frontier Guide, or equip the Adventuring Gear and drop the Graypelt Refuge. I like the gear/refuge play because Primal Bellow isn't a threat to my blademaster at 4/4, and Villain will have to start taking 4 each turn despite having used a lot of tempo to create a blocker with the Spidersilk Net. I also like getting the enters-the-battlefield-tapped land out of the way now, and putting the Adventuring Gear to work while it’s still relevant. 

The play goes as expected, and after dropping an Island and passing, Villain passes the turn back to me again. I draw a Plains and assess my options.

R2G3 #2

Scouting showed Summoner's Bane and Into the Roil, plus Villain has guide mana up, so there are a lot of possibilities, here. Summoner's Bane is the main concern, and it becomes so much better with alternative mana sinks like the guide or Into the Roil, as they give Villain something to do if I don’t cast a creature. It’s the same principle that made blue a constructed powerhouse in the era of good, instant-speed card drawing: have countermagic at the ready, then draw cards at the end of the turn if nothing happened worth countering. This is why R&D now rarely makes instant-speed card drawing in blue, and has set the bar for unconditional counterspells at 3 mana.

I start by dropping the Forest and attacking, hoping for an Into the Roil I can respond to with Vines of Vastwood, but the blademaster connects for 4 with no response. This is strong evidence that Into the Roil is not in hand, which further suggests that Summoner's Bane is. I know it means that the guide gets to fetch a land, but I really don’t want to play right into a bane in this spot, so I pass, content to hit for 4 each turn until Villain finally does something about it.

After fetching a Forest, Villain untaps, drops another one, and enchants the guide with Savage Silhouette before passing the turn. I draw Oran-Rief Recluse, and now have a great window to use the Kor Hookmaster, who effectively does triple duty by neutering three cards this turn and at least two next turn even if the net moves onto something else. Even if Villain has Vines of Vastwood, the play forces his hand and I at least won’t attack into it. No response again, and I attack Villain down to 8, now fairly confident that neither Vines of Vastwood nor Into the Roil are a concern right now. I pass the turn with kicked-vines mana up, and Villain casts Harrow, leaving two cards in hand, one of which may be Summoner's Bane.

Another land later, Territorial Baloth joins the opposition, and the guide tosses it the Spidersilk Net before I take the turn back, drawing a Plains. What’s the play, now that Villain has a legitimate defender, here?

R2G3 #3

While my read is that Villain's card is Summoner's Bane, that’s hardly guaranteed—it could also be Primal Bellow. Is it worth playing around the bellow, though? I don’t think so, not with Day of Judgment in hand to bail me out of any unfortunate results.

The first option I saw was to sanctify the net and swing in with both. If the baloth blocks the hookmaster, I can vines for the win, and if the baloth blocks the blademaster, I can save vines to effectively counter a potential Primal Bellow. That play is fine and may well win the game right there, but if Villain plays it correctly and finds any kind of beef on top, I could suddenly find it difficult to push any damage through.

I change my mind and go for more patented Paranoid Magic™, deciding that I want to save the kicked Kor Sanctifiers for the Savage Silhouette, which is the far more annoying than the net should Villain survive the turn. I’m going to swing in with both creatures, ready to use Vines of Vastwood on the blademaster either to win if it goes unblocked, or to remove the baloth if it is blocked. If I’m running into a bellow, I can wrath in my second main and hope my two cards to Villain’s none are enough to finish the job. (How good would Relic Crush be on this turn? Blowout good.)

It’s the nitty play, but it does the trick. My 8/8 blademaster takes down the baloth, and a kicked sanctifiers in my second main leaves Villain with a Frontier Guide, a Spidersilk Net, one card, and six life to my three two-powered creatures. Villain draws and casts Living Tsunami, and fortunately has to equip it with Spidersilk Net, eliminating the possibility of Summoner's Bane. I draw Relic Crush and have the kicked Oran-Rief Recluse for the tsunami.

This is about the time I’d expect a lot of players to call me a lucksack and rage quit on me. Instead, before conceding after the next draw, Villain chats:

What a classy opponent. Sadly, a rare thing, but imagine how pleasant online gaming would be if everyone brought that attitude instead of proving the Greater Internet *&^%wad Theory over and over again.

R3G1

With four games to scout that went fairly long, I have a much better idea of the deck my finals opponent is bringing to the table:

I would call this a below-average deck, which of course means it’s plenty good enough to make the finals of an 84. I like my chances though, and I’m already making a mental note to bring in the second Cliff Threader, the Kabira Crossroads, and the Relic Crush for game two.

I win the toss and evaluate my seven for the play:

Missing a Forest, but an otherwise great starter, particularly with the Adventuring Gear as bounce fodder for the Kor Skyfisher. Villain mulligans to six before I drop the gear and pass. A Mountain means no turn-one vampire, and I untap and draw Blazing Torch. The skyfisher comes down and bounces the gear, and Villain has a turn-two Goblin Shortcutter.

I pull the missing Forest on my draw and plot the turn. What’s the play, here?

R3G1 #1

I have a lot of options given that it's only the third turn. I can cast and equip the gear before dropping a land, then play the Blazing Torch, or leave Shieldmate's Blessing mana up if I play the Plains. I could also cast the River Boa with blessing mana up, but that's incorrect. The Adventuring Gear becomes worthless when I run out of land drops, so I want to get in 4-6 damage with it while I can.

I drop and equip the gear, play the Plains, hit for 4, and pass. I was leaving blessing mana up, but really, if Villain wants to use Magma Rift turn three, fine, otherwise there's nothing really to protect against with the Shieldmate's Blessing, so I like simply playing out the torch in the rear view. At least my ability to deal two damage stays hidden for another turn.

Villain drops a second Mountain, then casts and equips the swingy-but-underwhelming Blade of the Bloodchief, hitting me for 2 before passing. I rip my other Kor Skyfisher, and again have options. What’s the optimal play?

R3G1 #2

Note that life is a little easier if I’d just played out the torch last turn and I don’t have to worry about when to sneak it down. I’d like to avoid playing the River Boa until I can protect it with the blessing or regeneration mana, so for this turn my play is to drop the second skyfisher, bounce a land for another assured Adventuring Gear trigger, then play the torch, but leave blessing mana up rather than equip it. Villain may be desperate enough to use Magma Rift now that I have 6 damage flying over next turn.

Sure enough, I pass the turn and Magma Rift targets my untapped skyfisher, but Shieldmate's Blessing swoops in to break Villain’s heart, soul, and back. I draw Kazandu Blademaster, and with no fear of a sweeper spell punishing over commitment, I drop Villain to 6 before dumping my hand and earning a concession.

Why We Like Low Curves

The game was over in a heartbeat, and I sideboard in Relic Crush, Cliff Threader, and Kabira Crossroads for two plains and the Vastwood Gorger, which feels too slow here.

R3G2

On the draw now, I check my seven after Villain keeps:

Two green cards and no Forests is hardly ideal, but the start afforded to me by the other cards makes this hand a keeper. I'll be in trouble with a steady draw of Plains and green cards, but other than that, I should draw just fine from here. Of course my first draw is a Plains and I drop the Blazing Torch, and Villain responds with a turn-two Zektar Shrine Expedition. I find my Forest off the top and drop the Kor Aeronaut (Who, let’s face it, seems less like he’s flying and more like he’s just falling with style).

A turn-three Stonework Puma is about as innocuous as I could hope for, and I pull my third land in three draws with my Graypelt Refuge. I play the refuge and swing, equipping the torch because I can. Villain’s Piranha Marsh pings me for 1 and the puma hits for 2, but the turn comes back to me with no other plays. This was a window to use Hideous End on the aeronaut so perhaps it’s not in hand, but I think it’s inconclusive at this point, many players make the mistake of not using their instants as sorceries when the opponent is tapped out.

The flood continues, and I drop a Forest before deciding whether to attack with the Kor Aeronaut or defend against the shrine. Who is aggro, here?

R3G2 #1

It would be easy to accept the 7 damage from the shrine if I had more of a team to race with, but with only the aeronaut in play, it’s a tougher choice. With the Territorial Baloth about to hit play, I decide I'm willing to take the 7, hoping that Villain runs out of gas and can’t deal with the baloth while I hit for 2 in the air.

Villain has a land and Tuktuk Grunts, but decides not to crack the shrine, probably in fear of my four untapped lands and five cards in hand. I’m glad I appear suspicious and not flooded, because I’d be in trouble down to 6 instead of 13. I pull a Cliff Threader, and I’m feeling up against it. The aeronaut has to stay back for shrine defense, but do I cast the Territorial Baloth, or the Cliff Threader with Vines of Vastwood mana up?

R3G2 #2

I feel like Villain has had windows to remove the aeronaut and declined them, so removal feels unlikely unless just drawn or about to be drawn. I play the baloth and hope he stays in place for a turn. It goes as planned, and the beats are ground to a halt by the big body. Villain passes without a land drop or an action, suggesting that all four cards in hand are spells. I pull a Plains and plot the turn.

R3G2 #3

There are two ways to go, here: First, I could move the torch to the baloth, have him hold the ground, play the Cliff Threader, and swing in the air with Vines of Vastwood mana up. More aggressively, I could attack with the 6/6 baloth, play the Cliff Threader, and leave the aeronaut back on D. Villain’s unused mana has me concerned, but I decide to play for the most damage, and attack with the baloth. No blocks and no plays after I cast the Cliff Threader and pass the turn. Either Villain has no removal, or has sniffed out the Vines of Vastwood, and we are in a game of chicken where the first one to flinch loses. Which is it?

Villain drops a Swamp and casts a second Stonework Puma, but still has Hideous End mana up. The shrine stays intact, but the puma and the grunts crash in. Blocks? Are we playing around removal?

R3G2 #4

It sure feels like Hideous End at this point. It would explain why Villain didn’t play the second puma last turn. With a land off the top this turn, the puma can come down and still leave Hideous End mana up. But if I assume Hideous End, what’s the correct play? While risky, I think at this point I should continue to play chicken and take the damage, trying to draw out the apparent removal or trick.

I take 6, Villain passes, and I draw more land. After dropping one, I again have to assess how aggressive to be. Can I actually attack with the baloth here, or does he need to stay back on D?

R3G2 #5

Let's say Villain has Hideous End and I swing. How does it play out? Obviously, if he tries to take out the baloth, I kick the vines and the puma will chump the 10/10. More likely, he'll chump the baloth and take 2, leaving the life totals at 7 - 9. Then, if he moves to take out the aeronaut at any point, I again have the vines.

The worst case in the Hideous End scenario is that I block the grunts, attempt to vines, and have to use the torch in response to the end on the puma or the elemental token, if Villain cracks the shrine. That’s not disastrous, but it’s pretty bad, as it would then be my baloth and threader against Villain’s 4/4 grunts and puma, with the difference being the three spells presumably in Villain’s hand.

Given that, I like the Paranoid Magic™ line, leaving back both aeronaut and baloth while sending in the Cliff Threader for 2-point chunks. Apparently I wasn’t feeling very paranoid at the time, because I sent in both the baloth and the threader in the actual game. Give the possibility of Hideous End, I’m not thrilled with the risk in this play. I cannot take the grunt attack again, so I’m about to lose the game of chicken, if we are indeed in one.

The puma chumps as expected, the Cliff Threader gets in for 2, and I pass. Villain drops a Mountain, then, unexpectedly, casts Grim Discovery to return the puma and recasts it. This creates a 5/5 grunts, but also shuts off Hideous End. I’m still vulnerable to Disfigure and Burst Lightning, but those weren’t in the scouting, and it doesn’t matter: I committed to using the vines when I attacked with the baloth anyway.

Villain cracks the shrine and swings in everything but the freshly-cast puma. I block the grunts, pump, and after no response, take out the 7/1 with the torch. Have I completely misjudged this situation? Does Villain not have the Hideous End after all? It’s funny, against good players, it can be very confusing to read the situation when you have green mana up. Are you reading “no removal” or “fear of vines?”

I’m down to 5, and a Hedron Scrabbler joins enemy ranks in the second main. I draw my second non-land card of the game, and it ends it: Windborne Charge. With Villain tapped out, a flying baloth finishes things with a little help from his friends:

R3G2 #6

That was an odd game. I'm dying to know what that final card was, but by game's end, it just doesn't feel like it was Hideous End (Who goes down with top-shelf removal still in hand?), and I was perhaps giving Villain too much credit for playing around my vines, when it was simply that the Hideous End wasn't there. That’s going to happen to me sometimes with my paranoid play, but I avoid a lot of disasters to make up for it. Vines of Vastwood can be quite powerful, but it can lead to blowouts with removal in response, so I'm very hesitant to use it first when such a 2:1 is possible and I have other options.

Well, that’s technically my first win with a deck, but it feels more like a monowhite deck that decided to splash green for some improved creatures at the low end. Either way, I’ll take it!

Oliver Online

A few articles back, starting with this one, I began detailing my seven-year-old son Oliver’s early experiences with Magic, which kicked off with the Zendikar prerelease he attended with me. His favorite deck remains the monogreen landfall deck that he used to create a 41/41 trampling Baloth Woodcrasher. For his seventh birthday, I decided to give him a Magic Online account stocked with playsets of most non-black common and uncommon Standard cards, as well as some bargain-but-fun rares, and an online version of his beloved monogreen landfall deck.

I anticipated several benefits from having Oliver play online. First, I figured it would help clarify timing nuances, like it tends to do even for experienced players when they begin playing online. Second, I expected that it would help him explore deckbuilding without my direct involvement, as browsing cards online is much easier than going through my large, half-sorted paper collection. Also, I have a larger online collection than I do a paper one so it is easier for me to supply him with current cards, and the automatic errata makes everything feel like a current card anyway. Finally, I knew managing cards during the game itself would be much easier, with shuffling and tutoring all being automated (Oliver can’t shuffle well, and his favorite deck runs playsets of Harrow, Khalni Heart Expedition, Rampant Growth, and Terramorphic Expanse. My hands hurt.)

He was quite excited to have his own MTGO account, but my visions of many hours of laptop-against-laptop Magic fun were dashed on the harsh rocks of reality: Magic Online didn’t “clarify timing nuances” for Oliver, it revealed their existence to him. I’m so used to blithely F2, F4, F6, and F8ing my way through a given online game that it didn’t occur to me that the task of micromanaging your priority in a game of Magic Online would be more overwhelming than instructional for him. He’s still interested in learning it, but he is painful to play against online right now. Imagine the slowest player you’ve ever faced, and triple it. No, imagine the slowest player you’ve ever faced, but encased in carbonite. It’s Magic: The Torturing.

Needless to say, I introduced Oliver to the joy of playing Magic Online in solitaire mode, which he has fully embraced. He feels like he wins every game, he’s steadily learning the controls and timing, he has fun pulling off the various landfall engines in his deck, and I’m not muttering, “Hit F2, or click ‘OK’” every thirty seconds while contemplating suicide at the other end of the table.

Our other digital alternative has been playing Duels of the Plansewalkers together on Xbox Live Arcade. He picks what deck we use and what deck we face, but I man the controller because the whole “clock winding down” aspect of DotP stresses him out, even though he can pause it. We plan our moves together, united in the goal of taking down the AI, sharing the victories and the defeats (which he takes much better when I’m not the one defeating him).

It has been great fun to share Magic with Oliver these past few months, both to bond with him over a good game, and to vicariously relive the thrill of early Magic discovery that experienced players never truly feel again. The Liliana vs. Garruk set awaits under our tree this year, and while I’m looking forward to many planeswalker duels with that set (it has scary black cards, but we’ll figure something out), playing Magic with Oliver in itself has been a gift that trumps anything you can box and wrap.

I’ll see all you back here in 2010, as I’ll be too busy playing Garruk vs. Liliana to write an article next week. Until January, then, happy drafting, and happy holidays!

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