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By: Tarmotog, Naoto Watabe
Sep 12 2012 10:21am
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Hi I am back this week without a recap on the CQ League because I finished my 4th week's round last week and round 5 has barely begun. That would return next week. However, without losing momentum, Classic has been blessed by not 1 but 3 (!!) daily events firing this week and I played in the first event. Today I would be looking mainly at my coverage of that particular event.

Before that, we have more cool cards in the mix from the next set.

Tarmotalk: New Cardz from Return to Ravnica

Spoilers are up for the upcoming set and already, there are a few cards that are worth looking to pick up.

Abrupt Decay

Abrupt Decay

The text on this card is so appealing. While I don't like cards that can't be countered, I can't be more excited to be the one playing such cards.

It has a very interesting design that gives (Oath of Druid)s a tough time and invalidates Chalice of the Void locks. It can deal with a large number of relevant threats the format has and has protection against even the hardest of soft counters, Flusterstorm.

The biggest bane to this card is its casting cost which is really unfriendly to the caster who would need to use two side colors to cast a spell. Side colors are support colors by the virtue that you would be able to work fine without their appearance at early parts of the game. This card goes against that and would make running basic lands less tactically sound. I value my mana base very highly and mana forms the foundations on which deck functionality comes from.

I would run 1 copy in a deck like Delver but more than 2 after factoring it being in the sideboard. As great as this card is, it is still not a card that would be worth playing more than 2 of because the format is much bigger than it is.

Dreadbore

Dreadbore

Essentially, the main reason to play Lightning Bolt would be to have it do the text this card has on it. Destroy target creature or planeswalker. The ability to race is a bonus but in reality, destroying target creature of planeswalker is role that Lightning Bolt is playing in the format.

Again, I dislike its mana cost but I do find myself willing to play 1 copy of it in a mid-ranged deck that spots both colors.

I suppose its real allure versus Abrupt Decay's is its ability to get rid of Jace, the Mind Sculptor which should otherwise win this hands down since all the creatures played in the format cost 3 or less.

A generally weaker option than the others we can wield, but its strength varies  with the trend of the collective for Jace, the Mind Sculptor and creature decks.

Dryad Militant

Dryad Militant

I don't really like a vanilla creature that has no actual impact in a game.

This card is one of them but there would be people who want to play it because of its ability to mess up Snapcaster Mage and the dredge sacrifice outlets in the form of Cabal Therapy and Dread Return and both are significant during a game.

I think this card would be overrated early and be overplayed for what it does. I would admit it does improve GW hate's (which I am reluctant to give the deck itself credit to for being in the format) natural performance against storm and dredge but my playstyle dictates that I would never be the one picking it up and putting it into my deck unless I am playing Green Sun's Zenith.

Nivmagus Elemental

Nivmagus Elemental

If there is a card I would have to give my stamp of approval, this would be the first card I want to put it on.

I would cast my counter magic and my opponents would cast theirs. I can turn my dead counter magic into 2 permanent points of damage! How insane is that?

I know it isn't that big a deal but it would be when I cast Yawgmoth's Will getting this back from the graveyard, cast Brainstorm and cast Mental Misstep targeting Brainstorm and Mental Misstep targeting Mental Misstep, convert both Mental Missteps into 2 power and toughness each, you would realize that this elemental is no joke.

Can't be Spell Pierced, can potentially race Delver of Secrets, Force of Will fodder card, converts dead spells into a usable resource.
(Reminds me of Psychatog)

I'm excited for the new set. Any set that has potential playables for a format you like is as good as it gets for a set release.
I like how new cards can still be relevant in a format where the most wicked cards are being played.

Tarmotalk: My Deck of Choice

It has been eternity since a Daily Event has fired at all for the Classic format and I am more than elated to be in one that actually fired (even though it started at 2.30am). The tournament was gathering people and I had to come to a conclusion as to what exactly to play. That itself was a difficult task. I sat down at 12.30am to twiddle with my deck in testing to try to get it ready but I could not come up with a configuration that I was comfortable with.

After trying and ultimately giving up, I looked at my arsenal of decks for a more tested and seasoned deck.

Looking at how people approached the most recent take on the format for their CQ League deck choices, I think that I would generally not find anyone playing Baleful Strix. My best weapon to take into an unknown field with a little hint of there being little or no serious bad matchups, would be the deck archetype that I was most successful with, my Delver Type R deck which I comfortably wielded over the course of the winter celebrations and the DEs that fired at the start of the year.

The decklist from then can be found here: Tarmotalk - Preparing for the Biggest Battle of 2011
Below is my 9 September 2012 configuration:


Obviously, there would be some changes to the deck since I generally will try to change my deck in one way or another before I officially take it into a tournament. The build would generally have new technology that I would brainstorm into or just some tweaks to improve my matchup against a particular expectation of the field. 

Classic decks generally do not evolve very significantly out of the hands of a dedicated few (who can be very scary to face) so I try my best not to over-read the metagame and settle for a reasonable conclusion that isn't too far ahead in terms of where the relevance of my weapons would fall.

My newest iteration would have a significantly lower creature count and include Mystical Tutor and one copy of the highly hyped Temporal Mastery which generally acts as a blue Relentless Assault in most cases. As a note, during my testing post Avacyn Restored, I found that too many of Temporal Mastery would remove the ability of the deck to react to some situations by being dead in hand. It had bricked up the flexibility the original deck boasted despite being akin to one of the legendary power 9 cards. The current iteration came out from that era of testing where I had to make space for a playset of Temporal Mastery which is the primary reason as to why my creature count significantly dropped. 

Before this tournament, I made some slight adjustments to the sideboard and knocked out Delver of Secrets #4 because the 4th copy was generally redundant at tackling the environment which should have adapted to its presence by now. Fire/Ice and Mystical Tutor entered the deck at this point in time.

For this event, my most interesting technology this time round would probably this "non-Classic card" in the sideboard.

Huntmaster_of_the_Fells.jpg

I know that it is hard to justify playing such a card in a format where turn 1 kills are possible. In fact, since when did people start playing cards that cost more than 2 mana that is not (Jace, the Mind Sculptor) or an artifact? The reasoning is simple: you don't play it against fast decks.
Classic is not just about quick game ending sequences. There are decks that play slow and grind you down and against those decks, you would tend to be able to naturally reach 4 mana to play this card and those matchups are where one would find this card to be useful.

If you have played UW delver in standard against RG decks, you can easily identify that this card is in fact a very problematic card for the deck to contain (or maybe I'm just not very good at standard) UW has very few good answers to it. The same is not true in Classic but regardless, even in a format where people do run Swords to Plowshares and Lightning Bolt, you would have a natural advantage quality-wise.

In the mirror, this card is generally a 3 for 1 and is incredibly difficult to counter other than via Force of Will unless the player is running Mana Drain. It may be weak to Lightning Bolt that mirrors pack but it would definitely be more useful than Sower of Temptation in such a situation. Its main strength comes from its ability to destroy the small creatures in the format, as found in Delver decks or GW hate decks, by just flipping up and down. There are many factors that go into the relevance of this card in the format but I think that dedicating 2 slots for this effect is something I want in the current day. I like how it can kill bears (which has pros compared to just capturing them) and is better defensively with the extra wolf body and lifegain against fast decks.

I need to run 2 copies for this card to be relevant to my sideboard plan because it is a card that which borrows strength by being solid rather than gamebreaking. For a player whose deck is made of 1s and 2s, I fully understand the requirements to make cards work.

However, I can't really express how embarrassing it is to me to play this card not because it is a standard card but because I actually sold it at the paper prerelease at its then cheap buy price because I couldn't appreciate this card for what it was. I feel like I owe it an apology. Still, I have high hopes for it in the matchups I plan to side it in. I don't expect to use it in the long run but I hope that it would be enough for this tournament.

Round 1:  vs Uvatha UW

I had just played Uvatha in the Tournament Practice room before the tournament started while testing some cards. Unfortunately for Uvatha who continued playing the same deck, I had changed mine to a completely different strategy from testing, albeit a familiar archetype for my name. I have a considerable upper hand here since I have more exposure to my opponent's tricks.

After my first round I scout my potential opponents.

From the winners bracket:
aeron is playing storm, xkorpio is playing Oath (as suspicious as always - possibly having some storm sideboard from the looks of the spells played and the lands used) , ifarnung is playing landstill, ConsecutiveMage is playing dredge and LordSapphire is playing Oath.
FistAlpha and themanic are both unknowns from dropped players (the most dangerous ones because the information disparity they have).

I have a natural advantage against landstill because of the speed of Delver of Secrets and the hardiness of the green creatures against removals in the form of burn spells. Against Oath, I have a slight edge from the deck and my plays that make it a deck I would not be too uncomfortable to face. Storm is a moderately doable matchup as I do run a healthy mix of counter magic and I can apply pressure against them. Dredge is a matchup that is very dependent on the appearance of my sideboard choices during the game. Game 1s are not entirely unwinnable because of the presence of Wastelands that can disrupt Bazaar of Baghdad (if lucky enough) but I would not think a mid-game deck without at least a copy Nihil Spellbomb would stand a reasonable chance of winning game 1.

Round 2: vs LordSapphire Oath

Oath is a matchup that tends to beat Delver players but I think the Delver players are just not trying hard enough to win. The hard to win games are the fast assembled combo + disruption + protection which they have the potential to pull off. My only advice is to not cast creatures carelessly.

After the round, I see that xkorpio (Oath), FistAlpha (playing bant hate) and ConsecutiveMage dredge are my possible opponents. My best matchup of the 3 would be bant followed by oath followed by dredge.

Round 3: vs FistAlpha Bant

I end up facing the bant deck. My game 1 would be rather weak (did I mention that Force of Will is crappy against such decks?) but my sideboarded games would be exceptionally interesting with my Huntmaster of the Fells sideboard technology.

The video lost the last few seconds of the game but the preceding turn is more than enough to let you imagine the outcome of the game.

Round 4: vs ConsecutiveMage Dredge

Round 4 my opponent wants to split and I obviously take up the offer. I don't like facing dredge one bit even if I do win it at times. It is a very skill intensive matchup that I can't say until now that I have understood well because of the weight of each decision with slightly varied circumstances. I usually have to play in desperation when it comes down to it unless I get a multiple Leyline of the Void draw which still may not be enough.

Last Words:

If there is anything to be said, I think that I am all over Gush again. How powerful is a 0 mana draw 2?

Gush.jpg

I don't need to know what the flavor text has got to do with the art to like a card. -Naoto-

8 Comments

Splitting by Rerepete at Thu, 09/13/2012 - 08:05
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Something that I've wondered. How is a split arranged without violating the COC? Is it that if one person suggests it, then the other concedes and receives a known split from the winner? Or can it be discussed in chat (I didn't think you could)?

I love Classic, but I am not a competitive player and don't have the time or budget to join DEs.

I think it's in the COC by Tarmotog at Thu, 09/13/2012 - 10:17
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I think it's in the COC because there is no real way to enforce an agreement with such a nature. You can't really have players flocking to Wotc people to lodge a complain against an agreement that has been gone against.
You could have splits and play out (for a better payout than 6 pax) or not. It is something that only 3-0 people have the opportunity to meddle with that is worth it. There are some risks involved for sure since you really have only the person's word to take for it.

You can slowly slowly get into classic by getting classic cards slowly and building up your collection while focusing on formats you're good at. :)

Double Posted by Rerepete at Thu, 09/13/2012 - 08:06
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Double Posted

Put a Pod in it! by PlanetWalls at Thu, 09/13/2012 - 09:42
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I tend to think that there are plenty of Standard-legal cards that should be played in Classic. Looking forward to you Huntmastering me out in QT #2.

It's not a card I would stick by Tarmotog at Thu, 09/13/2012 - 10:21
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It's not a card I would stick to for long. It can lose its novelty very quickly as with most techy sideboards after people learn to adapt to it.
I would definitely run something with more raw power the next time we meet. (Revenge match!)

Awesome Article by under_the_hammer at Thu, 09/13/2012 - 11:06
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Great article - good to see classic getting more coverage. well presented and fantastic insight.
Enjoyed this and wish more articles on Puremtgo were at this level.

Always enjoy reading and by blandestk at Fri, 09/14/2012 - 00:38
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Always enjoy reading and watching the videos, though I have to say I think you should have taken a mulligan in G3 R3. If you don't draw a land in the first two turns, you were just completely dead. It was a bit fortunate to draw the Island. It worked out, but I think it would be correct to take 6 cards there.

I probably underestimated my by Tarmotog at Sat, 09/15/2012 - 15:39
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I probably underestimated my opponent's deck at that point. I think I felt that it would be fine to sit for a perhaps 4 turns but Shardless Agent would be the main reason why that thinking is flawed.