#jank-squad

My first round was against Azorius Control -- Syncopate, Think Twice, Azorius Charm, Day of Judgment, Snapcaster Mage, Sphinx's Revelation, Restoration Angel, AEtherling, etc. My deck is still fairly budget, so I walked into this match expecting to get pretty soundly beaten. As it happens, I gave my opponent -- a guy I know named Nick -- a decent run for his money, losing Game 1 when he only had one card left in his library. The close game had been grueling for both of us, and had taken a long time, so before we were more than a few turns into our second game we had a few people who'd finished their own matches coming over to watch.

Game 2 went even more surprisingly well for my janky little graveyard deck. I'd boarded in three Purify the Grave, and used them to fizzle a couple of his more crucial Snapcaster triggers. While the crowd around us grew, I was able to harass his removal suite enough to eventually stick a Kessig Cagebreakers and attack for close to 30 damage. I went on to lose Game 3 despite Nick getting stuck for lands in the beginning, but at this point the crowd had already decided my deck was the coolest thing they'd ever seen. One of the local judges -- a guy named Tim -- actually asked me for my decklist so he could build it.

This kind of experience -- doing a cool thing with my deck and getting recognition for it -- is a big part of what I enjoy about the game. The loss didn't bother me -- Nick would go on to win the event, so losing to him was almost a badge of honor. For me, it's all about playing a great game and showing off what I've made.

Of course, now the cat was out of the bag. Sitting down to Round 2, everybody in the shop knew what I was playing -- no more surprises from my clever little rogue deck. Instead it was my turn to see something new. My second round opponent was another local judge -- a guy named Matt -- playing a hilariously janky combo deck built around Faithless Looting, Past in Flames, Krenko's Command, Young Pyromancer, Battle Hymn, Goblin Electromancer and a singleton Burn at the Stake. Matt was able to go off Game 1 on his turn 5 -- my turn 4 -- and Burn at the Stake me for 66. Games 2 and 3 he didn't get his combo together fast enough and I was able to beat him pretty handily, but we both had a blast.

Round 3 I played against a new combo deck that's going around involving Nivix Cyclops, Artful Dodge and Boros Charm -- which together get you a 10/4 unblockable double-striker for a turn. Unfortunately (for my opponent) the combo relies pretty heavily on not seeing a single life gain card across the table, and my list was packing 3 Thragtusk, 3 Gnaw to the Bone and 3 Centaur Healer. So it was pretty easy for me to eat the 20-life swing and keep going.

After a quick 2-0, I let Judge Tim pilot my deck for a few casual games so he could see how it worked. We discussed the possibility of Unburial Rites for a few minutes (I explained I'd run a four-color version of the deck before and it just wasn't consistent enough -- Rites is great if you mill into it but frequently is wasted in your hand) before moving on to the final round.

Round 4 I played a guy named Mike piloting Jund. I knew my goofy little budget list just can't really keep up with Jund's tempo and card advantage engines, and Mike was able to give me a pretty unsurprising and decisive 2-0 beating. In the second game, he stuck Olivia Voldaren with the lands to abuse her, which my deck pretty much can't answer -- every win condition I've got, Olivia can steal before it has a chance to swing. I smiled and shook Mike's hand.

My 2-2 record was enough to get me into the top 8 -- with it three prize boosters and the Game Day promo, Goblin Diplomats. While the top 4 played an elimination bracket for the Champion playmat, I stepped out front with Mike and Matt so they could smoke a cigarette. We talked about the stuff that had been going on lately -- the sexism at the shop, the owner's announcement that things were going to change and bad sportsmanship of any kind wouldn't be tolerated, and the ugly argument I'd gotten into with one of the offenders over facebook. I said I was embarrassed it had gone down the way it had -- I'm not one for drama really -- but Matt and I agreed that at least now everything was out in the open. Mike asked if the sexism stuff really something I had a problem with, or just my girlfriend. I told him it was both. We talked about the problems in wider gamer culture, about the way Melissa DeTora was treated by other pro players, and about how abuse is cyclical. Matt said he and Judge Tim were looking at ways to change the local culture in our area, starting with putting more judges in more shops to keep an eye on things. I told him I thought that was good news.

All in all I had a wonderful experience at Game Day -- which I think I needed even more than I'd realized. I've told a few people now that before all the facebook mess hit the fan, I was one more bad experience away from walking away from the shop -- maybe the whole local Magic scene -- and not coming back. To go and play and just enjoy myself again was an immense relief, and kind of made me realize what I've been missing these last few months. With rotation on the horizon, it's almost time to build something new... and at last, I'm finally looking forward to it.

3 Dream Twist 4 Mulch 3 Gnaw to the Bone

3 Wasteland Viper 4 Screeching Skaab 4 Splinterfright 4 Armored Skaab 4 Centaur Healer 4 Restoration Angel 3 Thragtusk 4 Kessig Cagebreakers

4 Breeding Pool 4 Temple Garden 4 Hallowed Fountain 2 Hinterland Harbor 1 Sunpetal Grove 1 Glacial Fortress 2 Island 2 Forest

I managed to pilot the above list to a 3-2 record over the course of the night, earning me 10th place and two prize packs of Gatecrash. Not awful by any means -- the old BUG version used to go 2-2 most nights so this is marginally better -- and the deck feels a lot smoother now overall.

Restoration Angel was actually a fairly late addition, well after I was already running Thragtusk and Centaur Healer. Besides squeezing some extra life-gain out of those cards, the Angel can also help me dig deeper into my graveyard by blinking either of the Skaabs.

One major difference between this build and the BUG build is my preferred match-ups. The BUG version of the deck did alright vs. control but had a fairly bad match-up vs. aggro, and didn't get a whole lot better post-board. By contrast, the Bant build now has a fairly great matchup vs. aggro, being able to block most fast aggro decks early and gain tons of life to race when it needs to. I'm also not afraid to trade creatures with most aggro decks since every creature off the board is less steam for them and more bodies in my graveyard.

This is good news since my local meta tends to be fairly aggressive, especially with Burning-Tree Emissary decks being the flavor of the month right now. Unfortunately, my control match-up probably isn't as good as it used to be, so I'm looking for more ways to shore up that match-up.

Here's a work-in-progress list of what I'll probably be running on Thursday:

2 Dream Twist 4 Mulch 2 Tracker's Instinct 2 Gnaw to the Bone

3 Fog Bank 3 Borderland Ranger 4 Splinterfright 4 Armored Skaab 3 Centaur Healer 4 Restoration Angel 3 Thragtusk 2 Acidic Slime 4 Kessig Cagebreakers

4 Breeding Pool 4 Temple Garden 4 Hallowed Fountain 2 Hinterland Harbor 1 Sunpetal Grove 1 Glacial Fortress 2 Island 1 Forest 1 Plains

The biggest changes here are cutting Wasteland Viper and Screeching Skaab for Fog Bank, Borderland Ranger and Acidic Slime. These changes collectively give me an even better early game vs. aggro, as well as making me less susceptible to mana denial.

I also reintroduced Tracker's Instinct to the list, an all-around good card that gives me more options in the late game. With the loss of Ambush Viper and the addition of Borderland Ranger, I also feel comfortable dropping a Forest for a Plains in the mana base.

My main objective in the sideboard is to house answers I want to bring in against the decks I currently have the most problems with: Esper control, Junk Rites, and anything with Boros Reckoner. My first blush sideboard looks like this:

2 Acidic Slime 4 Fiend Hunter 3 Purify the Grave 3 Judge's Familiar 1 Gnaw to the Bone 2 Tracker's Instinct

Focusing on the present for the time being, I decided to take a break from the job hunt this afternoon and tweak my current GU Dredge build after the brainstorming I did last week. Most of these changes are geared towards shoring up my (historically hilariously bad) aggro matchups, and more generally letting me be a little bit smarter with how I sideboard. Take a look:

Standard GU Dredge 60 cards 

2 Kraken Hatchling 2 Fog Bank  2 Boneyard Wurm 4 Screeching Skaab 2 Neurok Replica 2 Sylvok Replica 4 Armored Skaab 4 Splinterfright  2 Phyrexian Metamorph 4 Kessig Cagebreakers 3 Ghoultree //31 creatures

2 Dream Twist 4 Mulch 3 Gnaw to the Bone //9 spells

3 Evolving Wilds 2 Ghost Quarter 3 Hinterland Harbor 6 Forest 6 Island //20 lands 

SIDEBOARD 2 Kraken Hatchling 2 Fog Bank 2 Melira, Sylvok Outcast 2 Neurok Replica 2 Sylvok Replica 2 Phyrexian Metamorph 2 Sphinx of Uthuun 1 Memory’s Journey

Critical Mass

First things first: I finally bit the bullet and went down to 2 each for Boneyard Wurm and Dream Twist. This was mainly motivated by my desire to fit in some new toys (see below), however, an unintended bonus is that my creature count is now up to 31! This is pretty huge as it makes it much easier for me to hit lots of creatures when milling myself with Mulch or Armored Skaab. Since getting a critical mass of creatures in the yard is so important for Splinterfright and Cagebreakers, et al to do what they're supposed to, having a better than 50/50 chance for a given card to be a creature is rather significant.

2/2/2

I'm hoping that the new additions to the deck - particularly Kraken Hatchling and Neurok Replica - will help me slow down aggro decks long enough to get my engines going (and perhaps resolve a Gnaw to the Bone).

In theory, running so many 2-ofs lets me seed answers to certain matchups in the main, and gives me more freedom when sideboarding to pick and choose the best answers to a given match-up. Post-board, I could plausibly be running 4 Fog Bank, or 4 Neurok Replica, or 4 Phyrexian Metamorph. I feel like this will make me more flexible dealing with incoming threats effectively.

Melira and Uthuun

Two last 2-ofs in my sideboard that might confuse some people are Melira, Sylvok Outcast and Sphinx of Uthuun. Melira is there simply because my local metagame has seen some fairly successful infect decks. My matchups vs. infect tend to be fairly split, so hopefully Melira will give me an edge there.

Finally, while my control matchups tend to be pretty favorable to me, I have noticed that I'm not always sure what to board in against control decks. It's pretty obvious in a lot of matchups that I don't need Fog Bank or Gnaw to the Bone taking up slots, but what do I board in in their place? Sphinx of Uthuun may be clunky at seven mana, but in the long game I am sure to land it, and resolving one puts me so far ahead in tempo and card advantage that I may just win right there.

August 23 1-3

2-1 vs. Red/Artifact control (SB: -3 Fog Bank, +2 Phyrexian Metamorph, +1 Sylvok Replica) 1-2 vs. Naya Pod (SB: -4 Dream Twist, -2 Sylvok Replica, -1 Screeching Skaab, +4 Devastation Tide, +2 Phyrexian Metamorph, +1 Fog Bank) 1-2 vs. Green/White Humans (SB: -4 Dream Twist, -1 Screeching Skaab, +4 Devastation Tide, +1 Fog Bank) 0-2 vs. Blue/White Splicers (SB: -2 Sylvok Replica, -1 Dream Twist, +1 Fog Bank, +2 Phyrexian Metamorph)

This was a bad night for me, winning only my first match of the night against a janky big red build that relied on Steel Hellkites and Batterskulls to push through. Post-board, I was able to keep him at bay with Phyrexian Metamorphs and Sylvok Replicas to copy and destroy his threats.

The rest of the night was a repeat of my last report, losing to an endless stream of White/X aggro matches. (Yes, this last one was against Rebekah's splicer deck... remind me why I loaned her those Restoration Angels and Vensers again?)

I've known this for awhile, but this deck has a real problem with aggro. The reason is obvious, of course: I don't play any removal. This is a conscious choice based on the fact that most of the available removal in the format becomes worthless once in the graveyard, but a choice I am starting to question more and more. Sometimes (most times), Gnaw to the Bone and Fog Bank just aren't enough to keep me alive.

August 28 3-1

2-1 vs. Monogreen Infect (SB: -3 Gnaw to the Bone, +2 Phyrexian Metamorph, +1 Sylvok Replica) 0-2 vs. Esper planeswalkers (SB: -3 Gnaw to the Bone, -1 Dream Twist, +4 Devastation Tide) 2-0 vs. Omniscience control (SB: -4 Fog Bank, -3 Gnaw to the Bone, +1 Sylvok Replica, +1 Dream Twist, +2 Phyrexian Metamorph) 2-1 vs. Grixis planeswalkers (SB: -4 Fog Bank, -3 Gnaw to the Bone, +1 Sylvok Replica, +1 Dream Twist, +2 Phyrexian Metamorph)

This night, on the other hand, was very good for me. I didn't crack the top four, but in hindsight I think I probably just missed it: one of the guys I beat (and the one guy who beat me) placed.

This night's 3-1 record also helped to crystallize something I'm not sure I'd realized up until now: While my aggro matchups tend to be fairly bad, my control matchups are actually really good. This is a good sign, since the spoilers so far (to me at least) seem to signal a somewhat slower format coming post-rotation.

September 4 2-2

1-2 vs. Monogreen Aggro (SB: -2 Sylvok Replica, -2 Dream Twist, +2 Noxious Revival, +2 Phyrexian Metamorph) 1-2 vs. Naya Podless (SB: -3 Dream Twist, -2 Screeching Skaab, +4 Devastation Tide, +1 Sylvok Replica) 2-0 vs. Red/Artifact Control (SB: -4 Fog Bank, -1 Gnaw to the Bone, +2 Phyrexian Metamorph, +1 Sylvok Replica, +2 Sphinx of Uthuun) 2-0 vs. Murder Delver (SB: none)

This past Tuesday night started off rough but got a lot better, cruising to a 2-2 wash after losing both of my first two matchups. Once again, my wins were against control decks and my losses were against aggro.

To illustrate this point, here's how I did overall over these three nights:

1-5 vs. Aggro 5-1 vs. Control

Pretty telling data there. What these numbers say to me is twofold. First: that I don't really need to worry too much about my control matchups since I generally win them anyway. And second: that I really, really need to start figuring out some better answers for my aggro matchups, in the sideboard if nowhere else. Aggro very well might take a back seat post-Return to Ravnica, but it's certainly not going away.

Speaking of Return to Ravnica, I need to gush for a second about the absurd level of help I've getting for this deck from the spoilers so far. I mentally thanked the spoiler gods earlier this week when they previewed Grisly Salvage (or as I call it, "super-Mulch"), but that was before I got to see Lotleth Troll, Slitherhead, Dreg Mangler, Sluice Scorpion and yes, Vraska the Unseen and Abrupt Decay. I knew the return of the Golgari guild was going to give me enough good stuff to force into B/G/U, but I had no idea just how much good stuff was coming. And that's with less than a third of the set revealed!

Man, this fall is going to be my time. But I digress.

Looking to the short term, I don't want to wait until rotation to plug my aggro problem. I'm already running Fog Bank and Gnaw to the Bone; so what other anti-aggro cards in the format can I maybe start boarding in?

Here are some possibilities I've thought of so far. (Feel free to message me with suggestions!)

Kraken Hatchling <-- Strong early blocker Silent Departure <-- Works from the graveyard Prey Upon Ulvenwald Tracker Essence Scatter Void Stalker Beast Within Deceiver Exarch Neurok Replica <-- Temporary removal on a creature Dungeon Geists <-- Powerful tempo creature Mist Raven Tangle Angler

Obviously these are all pretty budget options, since I'm hoping to save most of my my money for Return to Ravnica. (Man, October is going to be an expensive month...) In any case, I'll let you know what I end up going with!