Justin Vizaro
6/25/2012 10:35:00 AM
This week's new list is a bit of an immediate development, but with M13 still not completely in the books as I write, I'm thinking it's still best to avoid starting articles with cards from that set in the mix. I learned something this weekend at the standard PTQ in Orlando, and it's something that I think many of you will be able to utilize to a great extent in the next few weeks regardless of what happens with M13, and as such, has prompted a quick redesign of this article. In preparation for the PTQ, I tested the sleeves off of my RB zombie-hellrider list, finding it was really only struggling every so often with the mirror and pod matchups. I decided as late as the night before the PTQ to include two copies of Mimic Vat in my sideboard to help with the Zombie and Pod matchups, and I will tell the tale just after you get a chance to Refresh your memory:

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Mimic Vat

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Basically, the reasons for including Mimic Vat amount to an incredibly short list, but the usefulness of Mimic Vat extends far beyond the glob of text that will occupy the next few paragraphs. Here's the short version:

• Mimic Vat helps you manage Undying triggers that happen on your opponent's turn (when that player is attacking you or activating things like Birthing Pod, Aristocrat, etc.)
• Mimic Vat alleviates the stress associated with many of the problematic cards from the Naya matchup like Blade Splicer and Huntmaster, because everyone loves free tokens every turn.
• Mimic Vat loves to store any creature that has an ETB trigger, such as Restoration Angel, Zealous Conscripts, Fiend Hunter, Snapcaster Mage...
• Mimic Vat is colorless, and therefore fits rather comfortably into pretty much any sideboard plan.

Before making any specific references to scenarios, let me post the list from this weekend so you have a reference point for the basis of this discussion (nearly identical to the list in this article).

Zombie Riders 2.0 by Justin Vizaro Main Deck Sideboard 4 Diregraf Ghoul 4 Geralf's Messenger 4 Gravecrawler 4 Hellrider 4 Highborn Ghoul 3 Phyrexian Metamorph 2 Soulcage Fiend 2 Zealous Conscripts Creatures [27] 4 Incinerate 2 Sever the Bloodline 4 Tragic Slip Spells [10] 4 Blackcleave Cliffs 4 Cavern of Souls 4 Dragonskull Summit 2 Mountain 10 Swamp Lands [24] Deck Total [61] 3 Geth's Verdict 3 Go for the Throat 2 Mimic Vat 2 Mortarpod 1 Phyrexian Metamorph 1 Sever the Bloodline 1 Sword of War and Peace 2 Zealous Conscripts Sideboard [15] View a Sample Hand! Solitaire this Deck! Click for full deck stats & notes!

I aggressively pushed this deck as a competitive choice in the current format because of its exceptional matchup against Delver, solid game against the majority of the field, and almost vapidly consistent nature. I ended up 6-2 at the PTQ, which landed me 14th overall (18 point finishers spanned 9th-19th). I am incredibly pleased with the way the deck performed, having an easy time with what ended up representing almost an entire cross-section of the gauntlet. I achieved victory against 2 Delver decks, 2 Naya decks, Tezzeret, and Grixis Control; my losses came against Tempered Steel (featuring my only 3 mulligans of the tournament- down to 6 in game 1 and 5 in game 2) and RUG Pod. I was very surprised to have not played against a single Wolf Run or Zombie deck, but after having played against them repeatedly in the weeks leading up to the tournament, I would have been faced with what had been 70-30 and 50-50 matchups, respectively.

If I had the decision to make all over again, I likely would have brought the exact same deck, and depending on the effects of M13 on the format (particularly Augur of Bolas), I could be on this list until October 20th.

Getting back to Mimic Vat, I boarded that card in this weekend in 5 matches that I can remember. I know it didn't come in against Tempered Steel, and I don't have any reason to bring it in against Delver, but it definitely saw play against Naya, RUG, and both Control matches. In the Naya match, it completely shut off Birthing Pod - not because it actively stops the effect, but rather because my opponent just didn't want me to have Blade Splicers and Huntmasters every turn. Strangleroot Geist became a wall, and I was able to snag a Fiend Hunter which ultimately ate all of my opponent's tokens and began covering Geralf's Messenger every turn until I won the match. Mimic Vat, for any deck that struggles with Naya, or for Naya decks looking to get a little bit of an advantage in the mirror, is absolutely devastating.

Against Zombies, Mimic Vat turns off your opponent's Geralf's Messengers unless they are dying during your turn. The awkward thing about Mimic Vat is the order in which the triggers stack, putting the active player in the disadvantageous situation. For example, if your opponent cracks Geralf on his turn to Aristocrat, and you have Mimic Vat in play, his undying trigger will stack first because of the fact that he is active player. Your trigger will then go on the stack on top, exiling the Messenger before he has a change to come back from the yard. Similarly, if two players have Vat in play, the inactive player is the one who will be able to imprint creatures unless he or she chooses not to imprint. Conversely, if Geralf dies blocking your creature and you have Mimic Vat in play, your Vat trigger will go on the stack before your opponent's Geralf Trigger, and he will return to the field before he can be exiled by your Vat.

In this particular deck, the two problematic matchups are the Naya pod and Zombie mirror, mostly because of the unique ability those decks have to race me in such a way that other aggressive decks can't. Zombies' use of Blood Artist often tends to do just enough, as Lightning Helix puts this deck just out of range in a game that tends to end quickly. In games that see Blood Artist dying (as he ought to), it usually means less removal for other cards. The removal I play in this deck, however, is generally inefficient against zombies anyway, so Blood Artist is often the most logical target in most games as it is unless the opponent is playing lords (some do). Naya pod is capable of throwing enough guys onto the table quickly and just gumming up the board and locking down the beats. Getting back into the game with the likes of two bears and two life is actually backbreaking at times as well, but it's typically the volume of dudes that nauseates and frustrates this list. Mimic Vat puts this deck back on a level playing field in terms of adding board presence, possibly just shocking every turn with an imprinted Messenger, or attacking with free and expendable bodies.

I think the important bit of information to take away from this article is the fact that any deck that struggles with Zombies and/or Pod decks can make use of Mimic Vat in the sideboard or even in the maindeck if your own cards support the inclusion. Delver gets crushed by Zombies as far as I have experienced, mostly because I've been the person on the delivering end of those Delver romps, but I have to assume that the same is true of the other variants - even the Blood Artist/Pod/Aristocrat lists that thrive on cute interactions rather than downhill beats. A quick way to help with that matchup is to first audible to the version of Delver that plays Blade Splicer, and then to add one or two Mimic Vats to the board. Not only will the Zombie matchup improve, but I can also suggest that other matchups that feature cards with ETB triggers will improve as well. Delver likes to do things, and though there aren't many command-kill spells, combat still happens, and even Delver decks could enjoy having repetitive appearances of Geist, Restoration Angel, Snapcaster, and other good cards.

If your deck struggles against Zombies and/or a deck that runs Birthing Pod, please try to slot a few openings in the sideboard for Mimic Vat. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with the result. If you already happen to play Zombies or Birthing Pod, and you're looking for the way to swing those mirror matches in your favor, toss a few pods of your own into the mix as well.

I think I've made it perfectly clear that I think Mimic Vat poses a phenomenal opportunity for decks to increase their win percentage against two of the format's most popular decks, but I've yet to bring a new list to the table this week. I had a list that requires a much deeper assessment, but because I'd rather not bore you with an article as long as Methuselah's memoirs, let's keep this one short for now, and if I see a good response, I will delve more deeply into the concept next week, perhaps with cards from M13.

I have yet to see people find a way to make Descendant's Path work efficiently (I've even tried using it with Golems to cheat Blightsteel Colossus into play), but I have a deck that has already worked through multiple iterations to arrive at its current form, which I know is nowhere near finalized. Part of the inspiration for prematurely publishing this deck in this week's article is for the sake of demonstrating the kind of deck that could potentially benefit from jamming a few Mimic Vats into the main.

Naya Path by Justin Vizaro Main Deck Sideboard 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim 4 Blade Splicer 4 Champion of the Parish 1 Hero of Bladehold 1 Hero of Oxid Ridge 4 Kessig Malcontents 1 Lightning Mauler 2 Nearheath Pilgrim 1 Phyrexian Metamorph 3 Restoration Angel 3 Zealous Conscripts Creatures [28] 2 Birthing Pod 2 Cloudshift 3 Descendants' Path 1 Mimic Vat Spells [8] 4 Cavern of Souls 1 Clifftop Retreat 4 Copperline Gorge 3 Forest 1 Mountain 4 Plains 4 Razorverge Thicket 1 Rootbound Crag 2 Sunpetal Grove Lands [24] Deck Total [60] 3 Ancient Grudge 3 Gather the Townsfolk 3 Huntmaster of the Fells 2 Intangible Virtue 2 Mimic Vat 2 Ray of Revelation Sideboard [15] View a Sample Hand! Solitaire this Deck! Click for full deck stats & notes!

This deck is literally all over the map, but for whatever reason I've thoroughly enjoyed building it out to this point, and I really like the way it makes use of a card that should be seeing proportionate increase in use to mirror the presence of decks like Naya and Zombies. I doubt this to be a pattern I can expect at future events, but the spread of the room at the PTQ this weekend was lacking in the Delver department. It obviously showed up in numbers, but nothing near the 50% or more it has been showing in recent months. Naya is certainly creeping up the popularity scale, and as long as Kibler keeps winning, I assume it may continue to do so. Zombies have been on the upswing at the local level, and I'm uncertain to what extent that has translated to the more competitive circuit. I have to assume that people playing as many decks as possible to find answers to Delver will arrive at Zombies as the best choice available right now (outside of Naya perhaps).

As I mentioned earlier, the entire reason for the article this week was to emphasize the importance of looking at Mimic Vat a little more closely for upcoming events. I'd like to hear about peoples' opinions of the Descendants' Path list so I know whether or not to refine it and revisit that with more detail, or if the concept should be stored until something more exciting makes it worthy of discussion. Thank you everyone for reading, and as always, I will await your comments below.