Steve Guillerm
7/25/2012 10:20:00 AM
If you'd asked me a week ago what I was going to play in Columbus, I was completely sure. One-hundred percent, no doubts about it, I was going to play UR Storm. I had the deck online, I was winning, and I was loving it. Modern has become a format that's very focused on creatures, and I liked the notion that I could steal a bunch of game ones with a creatureless deck.


Post-sideboard, it's surprisingly resilient to hate. Relic of Progenitus? I'll get a Pyromancer Ascension on the table, and you'll have a hard time knowing when to pull the trigger. Enchantment hate? Maybe I just kill you with Past in Flames. Ethersworn Canonist? Pyroclasm and Lightning Bolt say “hi.” It's honestly almost embarrassing how often they play her, and I win anyway. The only hate that's the real deal is Rule of Law, but it's not an artifact for Affinity, and not Pod-searchable for Naya Pod, so it doesn't see as much play. It also happens to be about a turn too slow sometimes:

Turn one: Shivan Reef, Serum Visions
Turn two: Mountain, Desperate Ritual, Pyretic Ritual, Seething Song, Manamorphose, Serum Visions, Lightning Bolt, Empty the Warrens

Oops, that's 14 Goblins on turn two. Alternately, I draw Echoing Truth, bounce the Rule of Law during their end step, and win on my turn.

The real deal against UR Storm is countermagic. Hit the second or third spell of the turn with a well-placed Remand or Mana Leak, and you've bought a turn while forcing the Storm player to waste some spells. In the above example, casting Remand on the Pyretic Ritual leaves only R floating, and ends the turn with Desperate Ritual wasted. Cast Remand on Seething Song, and R is floating, the turn's over, and both Desperate Ritual and Pyretic Ritual are wasted. Ouch.

Fortunately for the Storm player, many people aren't proficient enough with the deck to know how to fight against the deck. They'll counter the very first ritual, or wait until the Past in Flames. They'll try to “get you” for maximum value, and you'll fight past the mana choke point. However, at the GP level, I assumed that anyone playing countermagic would have a pretty good idea of how to use it. I also expected a fairly high amount of hate, since people expected that UR Storm would be out in force, as it's one of two “cheap decks” in Modern, Robots (née Affinity) being the other.

My confidence wavering, I happened upon this beautiful Michael Jacob creation that he was using to Crush Daily Events on Magic Online:

American Aggro by Michael Jacob Main Deck Sideboard 4 Delver of Secrets 2 Geist of Saint Traft 4 Snapcaster Mage 4 Steppe Lynx Creatures [14] 2 Gitaxian Probe 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Lightning Helix 1 Mana Leak 4 Path to Exile 4 Remand 4 Serum Visions 1 Sleight of Hand Spells [24] 4 Arid Mesa 1 Eiganjo Castle 1 Hallowed Fountain 1 Island 3 Marsh Flats 2 Misty Rainforest 1 Moorland Haunt 1 Mountain 1 Plains 1 Sacred Foundry 4 Scalding Tarn 2 Steam Vents Lands [22] Deck Total [60] 1 Annul 1 Celestial Purge 1 Disenchant 1 Dispel 1 Meloku the Clouded Mirror 4 Molten Rain 1 Negate 2 Relic of Progenitus 1 Smash to Smithereens 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben Sideboard [15] View a Sample Hand! Solitaire this Deck! Click for full deck stats & notes!

About two and a half years ago, I won an Extended PTQ with a Michael Jacob deck. It was an update to the Big Zoo deck that Brian Kibler used to win PT Austin. Since then, I've been a real fan of Michael Jacob as a deck builder.

The deck, despite the presence of blue, functions surprisingly similar to a Zoo deck. With Wild Nacatl banned, the torch is passed to Delver of Secrets. Snapcaster Mage is the utility two-drop that Qasali Pridemage once was. Geist of Saint Traft isn't quite as beefy as a Knight of the Reliquary, but Hexproof proves insanely good in a format chock full of removal. Steppe Lynx, of course, is the same 4/5 for W that we know and love. The removal suite of Lightning Bolt, Lightning Helix, and Path to Exile remains. The card selection spells help smooth the deck, and Counterspells buy you just enough time to kick ‘em while they're down.

The deck is pretty straightforward, but that only means that without proper playtesting, you're sunk. Many of your plays are dependent on knowing what your opponent will do, or what they could have. After a 13-hour car trip, my only testing was against RUG Delver and Soul Sisters late on Friday in our hotel room. Not exactly the highlights of the metagame. That being said, congratulations are in order to Phil Silberman, pilot of that Soul Sisters deck. Ending Day One at 7-1-1 for his first-ever Day Two, he battled back from an 0-1-1 start of that second day to finish in 20th place.

So, how did my tournament go? Well, let's just say that having the best breakers of the 6-2-1s is no consolation.

Round four was a pretty quick affair. I was paired against Pascal Maynard, who was playing regular, old Naya Zoo. Game one was especially fast because we each did about 4 damage to ourselves via our mana bases. A timely Lightning Helix bought me enough time to secure the win. Game two involved severe mana flood on his side. At the end of the game, he had 7 lands in play, and revealed that his two-card hand was a pair of Scalding Tarns. It took me a long while to put him away, though, because my Delver refused to flip. My notes indicate at least 3 attacks for one damage before finally knocking him from 10 to zero.

Round five, I played against Max Pincus, who sported the most insane sunglasses ever, while piloting a Naya Pod deck. Game one, he bought himself some time with a Kitchen Finks and a late Restoration Angel to gain some more life, but a pair of burn spells in response ended him. Game two demonstrated exactly how bad Remand can be. An early Gitaxian Probe revealed a Wall of Roots, Thalia, and Windborn Muse, but I wasn't able to mount a solid offensive force. The wall did its job, and despite casting Remand, Snapcastering Remand, and Remanding Thalia again, I didn't do much damage in those turns. I scooped it up when he resolved the Windborn Muse, and we moved on to game three.

In game three, he looked more like an actual Pod deck, as Gitaxian Probe showed me Village Bell-Ringer, Kiki-Jiki, and Restoration Angel in his opening hand. He was also relatively choked on mana, so an early Bolt crisped his Birds of Paradise. The game ended up being a race between my creatures doing damage to him, and my manabase doing damage to me. Eventually the shocklands relented, and I finished him off.

In round six, I was seated across from Alexander John, playing Gifts Ungiven/Mystical Teachings control. I kept a questionable keeper on the play, with a fair amount of removal and a Remand to back up what would be a turn three Geist of Saint Traft. Instead, Inquisition of Kozilek took the Geist, and my offense was anemic from there. With his life total at 8, and mine at 21, I scooped it up after he managed to cast Unburial Rites targeting Griselbrand.

Game two could have been faster, but he insisted on casting Timely Reinforcements a couple of times. After the first one, I purposely took as much damage as I could from my lands in order to delay the possibility of a second one. A Gifts Ungiven for value put Griselbrand into his hand, while my Relic of Progenitus kept him honest. I did my best to sculpt the game so that he had to play Griselbrand, and when he did, Remand left him tapped out and at my mercy.

Game three went to time, with him at exactly one life. With Elesh Norn in play, I had two turns to rip nearly anything. A Gitaxian Probe to dig one further. A Lightning Bolt, Lightning Helix, or Snapcaster Mage to flash back a Bolt in the bin. Even Serum Visions on the first turn might have been nice. Instead, I drew back-to-back lands, and we drew the match.

Round seven was a bit of a heartbreaker. Kyle Jones was my opponent, playing Robots. I figured I had a pretty good shot, given my 12 removals spells, Snapcaster Mages, and sideboard tech. Instead, he bowled me over game one with the classic Robots nut draw. Ravager turns removal into a mini-game, while Cranial Plating's just unfair.

Game two tied up the match with my version of a nut draw, and we were on to game three. Double Darksteel Citadel into Etched Champion wasn't bad enough, he managed to put a counter onto it with an Arcbound Ravager. I flinged burn at his other guys, Disenchant knocked out a Plating, and Lightning Helix kept my life total high, but his first Galvanic Blast took my Delver out of the skies, and by the time I could find a replacement, his second Galvanic Blast was better off aimed at my head.

Now at 5-1-1, I had to get my head back into the game. Brian Murphy would be my round eight opponent, and BW Tokens would be his weapon of choice. Game one, I managed some early beats while he set up a Windbrisk Heights and a Spectral Procession. Attacking head-on with my flipped Delver of Secrets, he declined the trade, and went for the Alpha Strike on his turn. Falling to 9, I foiled his plans with a Remand to stop the Spectral Procession cast from under Windbrisk Heights. With no remaining defense, I finished him off.

In game two, Brian lead off with an early Auriok Champion, but a Gitaxian Probe revealed that his keeper had two Intangible Virtues, one Dismember, and zero token generators. By the time he drew spells, Negate and Snapcaster were ready to do their jobs. I drew all four of my Lightning Helixes, and burned him out from 15 across two turns.

Round nine, on the bubble. It's feature match time! Paired against Josh Utter-Leyton, you can see our match at around 8:14:00 on the Twitch.tv video.

Relevant notes: Game one, I kept a control deck's hand. It's a bad habit that I eventually kicked playing Standard, but apparently lapsed on camera. Two lands, Gitaxian Probe, Snapcaster Mage, and 3 removal spells. That's seven good cards, but collectively a terrible hand for an aggressive deck. I'm used to keeping that sort of hand in a control deck, and relying on my deck to provide, but an aggressive deck doesn't work that way!

Game two, I played turn one Delver, turn two Delver-Delver. Marshall and Sheldon question the math on that, as I could have played Delver, Serum Visions on turn two. Basically, if I get the blind flip, Josh is dead in two turns. If I miss, I have two Serum Visions in my hand to guarantee the flip, and then he's dead in three turns. If I cast Serum Visions on turn two, I (mostly) guarantee an attack for six on turn three, and the second Serum Visions probably guarantees the third Delver flip. Attacking for six, then nine isn't enough to kill him in two turns, so I'm looking at a guarantee of three turns if I cast Serum Visions, versus the possiblity of two turns for the blind flip. Any math beyond that is shaky at best, as the match actually is interactive.

In game three, my draws were largely subpar, but so was my play. An early Gitaxian Probe revealed a Birthing Pod that he could cast turn two, along with a Kitchen Finks, Wall of Omens, and Kiki-Jiki. My main hope was that he'd wait until turn three to get the Pod plus activation, and cast the Kitchen Finks on turn two instead. I would then Mana Leak the Pod, and take over the game.

In hindsight, it seems just stupid, but instead of casting Lightning Helix to kill off his Noble Hierarch, and choke off his mana a bit, I ramped him with a Path to Exile on the Kitchen Finks. On the following turn, he dropped a fifth land, cast Birthing Pod for three mana and three life, and all I could do was cast Mana Leak to tap him out.

Had I cast Helix first, I can cast Path to Exile and Mana Leak next turn, preventing the Kitchen Finks attack, and leaving him with four available mana and a Wall of Omens. At that point, he probably attempts to cast the Pod and activate. Mana Leak blows him out, and he's left trying to top-deck. Of course, because I kept a hand without a turn one Delver/Lynx, he's got all the time in the world to play around Mana Leak.

Having watched this video, I kind of wish that all of my matches were videotaped. I've actually learned a whole lot more from the replay than I did in the match. I encourage players of all skill levels to take detailed notes so that you can go over both your wins and losses and figure out what's working for you, and what needs improvement.

High Mid Low

Ajani, Caller of the Pride

$12.35

$7.49

$5.99

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With that, I will now be taking a break from Modern until November, when Chicago hosts the next North American Modern GP. Hopefully next time, I'll do a bit more testing to ensure that I know what to expect instead of making a fool of myself on international Internet TV. Instead, I'm coming back to Standard. TCGplayer.com is throwing a party just for me on Saturday!

Except it's in Providence, RI, and I live in Boston. And it's a tournament, not a party. And they're calling it the “TCGplayer Open $5K.” Well played, gentlemen. Well played.

That being said, I'll be there, and so will many of my friends, so we'll see who has the Last Laugh. Frank Lepore will be in the booth providing live coverage, and he'll be joined by Caleb Durward, who'll be there to upstage Frank in the beard category (Dang… - Frank). Jackie Lee and Melissa DeTora will be there, too! Maybe it is a party, after all.

What should you play this weekend? Honestly, I think Melissa DeTora's onto something with her take on Wolf Run Ramp. The amount of life-gain is pretty nutty, and the only major Standard tournament of last weekend was won by BR Zombies. People often like to play what they perceive as winning, so play the deck that beats the expected one!

You could go one further, though. Melissa's playing life-gain Wolf Run Ramp. I've seen other people playing Trading Post control. So let's just ignore the life-gain entirely by playing something that doesn't care about life totals. No, not mill…Infect!

As of writing, I'm still testing to determine whether I want to stick with Monogreen, or build toward an exalted version with Ajani, Caller of the Pride and Cathedral of War. An example of the latter version was brewed up by Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa recently:

GW Infect by Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa Main Deck Sideboard 3 Blight Mamba 4 Glistener Elf 4 Ichorclaw Myr 4 Lost Leonin Creatures [15] 4 Ajani, Caller of the Pride Planeswalkers [4] 2 Gitaxian Probe 4 Mutagenic Growth 4 Rancor 4 Ranger's Guile 4 Titanic Growth Spells [18] 3 Cathedral of War 4 Forest 4 Inkmoth Nexus 4 Plains 4 Razorverge Thicket 4 Sunpetal Grove Lands [23] Deck Total [60] View a Sample Hand! Solitaire this Deck! Click for full deck stats & notes!

While Lost Leonin is a bit of an improvement over some of the options in Mono-Green, the loss of Wild Defiance is substantial. Ajani is a huge beating, but draws without him seem somewhat disappointing, and Vapor Snag is better than ever, as Apostle's Blessing is missing from this list entirely. Granted, these issues might be addressed by a good sideboard, but if I don't play Mono-Green, you'll likely see me playing a hybrid of this list and my Mono-Green Infect list from last month. When you haven't been paying much attention to a format, sometimes it's better to be the one asking questions than the one finding answers.

See you in Providence!

Steve Guillerm
@SteveExplosion on Twitter and MTGO