Craig Wescoe
8/2/2012 9:45:00 AM
Neither.
This week I'm going to talk about why you should play Monoblack Control in Standard.
LOLOLOL You didn't think I was serious, did you?
Not that Mr. Johnson's deck is a bad choice or anything, but the last time I wrote about a black deck, I got a lot of the following response: http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/skeptical_638ff1_933928.jpg
The actual topic today is whether Naya Pod or Bant Pod is the better choice for this weekend.
Let me first begin by clarifying that I am not suggesting these are the only two viable decks. In fact, UW Delver with Augur Adept just won the TCG 5K in Providence, and RG Wolf Run with
Whipflare and
Cavern of Souls is, in my opinion, reasonably well-positioned at the moment. Green decks are overtaking blue for the top color spot in Standard, and that means red board sweepers are particularly potent. So if you have an affinity for either of those two decks, now is as good a time as ever to sleeve them back up for battle.
Given the amount of literature already existent concerning those two decks, combined with most people's lack of interest in hearing more about either deck (including myself), hopefully we can both agree that a more worthwhile thing to discuss is
which of the two recently successful Birthing Pod decks is the better choice?
Let's start with Bant Pod, the shiniest new toy on the shelf.
Examining Bant Pod
This past weekend, after a marathon MTGO test session, Cedric Philips showed up and ravaged a Seattle PTQ with the following:
Simultaneously, Kai Burnett finished in the Top 4 of SCG Buffalo with this:
A few of the numbers are adjusted between the two lists, but the main difference has to do with the
Birthing Pod options (and Venser).
Burnett ran
Fiend Hunter,
Solemn Simulacrum,
Stonehorn Dignitary, and
Venser, the Sojourner whereas Cedric ran
Deceiver Exarch,
Geist-Honored Monk,
Mist Raven, and a 24
th land.
The biggest choice I advocate is the inclusion of
Deceiver Exarch. It enables some degenerate turns with
Birthing Pod and work especially well in conjunction with
Phantasmal Image. I also like
Geist-Honored Monk as a way to turn a game around when you're far behind.
Mist Raven and
Fiend Hunter serve similar functions, though I'm not sure either is really necessary. I get that Raven fills the
Solemn Simulacrum role in the pod chain, but I would be more inclined to run the fourth
Elvish Visionary in this slot.
As far as the
Stonehorn Dignitary + Venser combo goes, it's a bit too narrow for my liking. Venser can hold its own without the Dignitary (or the pod) due to the synergy it has with most of the creatures you are already playing because of
Birthing Pod, but Dignitary as a pod target is far from necessary, and without pod or Venser he is way below the expected power level. For these reasons I would cut these two cards and essentially just run Cedric's list, with the possible inclusion of the fourth Visionary over the
Mist Raven.
Let's now compare the overlap and key differences between Bant Pod and Naya Pod before offering a final analysis.
Comparing Bant Pod with Naya Pod
Caleb Durward's Naya Pod deck from SCG St Louis:
If you're thinking Caleb's deck is outdated, think again. An almost exact list just placed 2
nd in an MTGO PE yesterday in the hands of wstdtalent. The only difference I noticed was that he/she replaced the sideboard
Melira, Sylvok Outcast with another copy of
Bonfire of the Damned.
Caleb's Naya Pod and Cedric's Bant Pod share the following (non-land) similarities:
4
Avacyn's Pilgrim
4
Birds of Paradise
4
Blade Splicer
2
Borderland Ranger
3
Elvish Visionary
1
Geist-Honored Monk
4
Restoration Angel
1
Thragtusk
3
Birthing Pod
Cedric ran the full four copies of
Birthing Pod and seems to think running anything less is comically bad, but despite the high power level of the card and the fact that the deck wants to draw it almost every game, the cost is that getting Pod-flooded can lose you games, especially following a board sweeper that leaves you without a creature. With that said, I'm more inclined to side with Cedric in this case. I lose more games to not having pod than I do to having too many. Neither deck is reliant on Pod, but both are able generally to win despite Pod-flooding – and Pod is easily the most threatening card in either deck.
Birds and Pilgrims are the premier opening from either deck, but here the clear advantage goes to Naya Pod due to
Copperline Gorge working way better with mana critters than
Seachrome Coast. Naya Pod runs 16 green sources (including
Cavern of Souls), all of which produce green on the first turn. This allows Naya Pod to play a turn one mana creature much more consistently than Bant Pod, which runs only 11-12 first turn green sources. Also since
Huntmaster of the Fells,
Solemn Simulacrum,
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben,
Wurmcoil Engine, and
Zealous Conscripts can all be played off of
Cavern of Souls (on Human), Caleb can afford to run four copies of
Cavern of Souls. In contrast, Bant Pod runs
Deceiver Exarch,
Frost Titan,
Sun Titan,
Phantasmal Image, and
Acidic Slime, none of which work particularly well with the Cavern. Everything else he has works just as well with Forests.
While the mana clearly advantages Naya Pod, let's consider whether the advantaged spell package in Bant Pod is worth the worse mana.
I already mentioned why I like
Deceiver Exarch in a
Birthing Pod deck, but
Phantasmal Image is a close second. It allows the pod deck to easily kill otherwise annoying cards like
Geist of Saint Traft, as well as offering a way to accelerate up the pod chain by copying opposing creatures or turning a mana dork into an additional copy of whatever monster is on the battlefield. Each of these added dimensions are significant pluses in favor of Bant Pod.
When you're already running
Phantasmal Image, might as well run
Sun Titan, right? In a lot of matchups once the pod deck gets active Pod, they're able to easily win the attrition battle. In other matchups, however, this is not a given. For instance, when the Esper Control deck that's been playing Forbidden Alchemies, Thought Scours, Phantasmal Images, and
Blade Splicer decides to cast a
Sun Titan, even an active Pod can find itself unable to keep up. Running your own
Sun Titan allows you to do the exact same thing and to thereby win via a different dimension, say via
Geist-Honored Monk or (post-board) Dead-Eye Navigator.
Phantasmal Image and
Sun Titan really is a marriage made in Chick-Fil-A heaven.
Another thing I like about Caleb's list is that he is able to run the full play set of Gavony Townships, mainly on account of
Copperline Gorge and
Cavern of Souls freeing up enough mana requirements to afford the deck four colorless mana slots. Township gives the deck a way to take over the game when it doesn't draw
Birthing Pod, which is likely a major contributing factor to his cutting a pod.
Considering the sideboards, Caleb runs four copies of
Celestial Purge while Cedric runs three copies and a
Slayer of the Wicked. I like this a lot. The zombie decks are played a fair amount and when allowed to keep a
Blood Artist on the board, they can steal some wins before you're able to go crazy with
Thragtusk. Keeping them honest with
Purge and Slayer turns a losable matchup into a much more comfortable one.
Purge and Timely were Delver's way to never lose to Zombies if it so chose, and despite Pod not running
Snapcaster Mage, I still think
Purge is the right card for the job. I do, however, think Caleb should cut one in favor of a Slayer as a pod target. Hats off to Cedric for this piece of technology, or more appropriately, hats off to his stream audience.
They each also opted for
Crushing Vines, which is probably the best card against Delver decks since it can hit
Restoration Angel or an equipment. The instant speed capacity is also relevant from a deck running its own Angels since that just gives you way more options.
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One of the things Naya Pod can do that Bant Pod cannot do is blink
Huntmaster of the Fells with
Restoration Angel. This disadvantage is slightly mitigated by
Mist Raven (as the dispensable four-drop that affects the board) and the second
Thragtusk, but Huntmaster is the type of card that forces the opponent into a Planeswalker Dilemma (out of respect for
Shahrazad, I refuse to call it a subgame). By this I mean they have to usually stop whatever they're doing and deal with the Huntmaster in order to avoid the game spiraling out of control. Huntmaster is particularly good in Caleb's list because the four
Gavony Townships make ‘skipping your turn' not a big deal. It's like you're spending your turn casting
Searing Blaze and double
Travel Preparations, but without the cost of a card. Cedric's deck is able to accelerate past the four-drop in the chain via
Deceiver Exarch +
Phantasmal Image, but when mana is an issue (say, the turn you play the pod), having Huntmaster in the deck really increases your options.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is a controversial card right now. It's very good against Delver, yet very mediocre is many other matchups. Cedric seemed to do just fine without it, suggesting that it may not be necessary for beating Delver decks, though Naya Pod has not moved away from it. This means either cutting Thalia is the next step Naya Pod will take in its evolution or Thalia serves a necessary role against Delver (or some other matchup) that is unnecessary in Bant Pod. I suspect it may be the latter. As was mentioned concerning the Esper
Sun Titan deck, Pod decks can have a rough time overcoming a board full of recurring
Sun Titans (via
Phantasmal Image). Caleb runs Elesh-Norn, which helps to mitigate this difficulty, but I could see Thalia helping out enough in this matchup to make it more reasonable to include her in Naya than in Bant.
Final Analysis
Bant poses a bigger threat when
Birthing Pod is active, though Naya is more consistent and, on average, explosive due to its ability to more reliably produce green mana on the first turn. Those are really the key distinctions.
If you feel you're the strongest player in the room and are looking for a deck that will consistently give you powerful draws, I would recommend Caleb's Naya Pod list, though I might try to add the fourth
Birthing Pod and/or a
Phyrexian Metamorph to the list. I would also recommend a bit of
Humility in your self-assessment.
If on the other hand you feel there will be a decent number of players who are at least as strong as you are in the tournament, I would recommend playing the higher variance mana base and hoping to curve out when it counts. Cedric's Bant Pod is more of a win-or-go-home type of deck while Caleb's Naya Pod deck seems like a better bet if your goal is to ensure a money finish or a Top 8 or whatever.
The mana has always been the biggest hindrance to Bant Pod's success.
Elvish Visionary and
Borderland Ranger seem to be enough to put it back on the map, but I'm still not convinced that running 7-8 forests and only 11-12 turn one green sources is the optimal strategy for a deck running 4x
Birds of Paradise and 4x
Avacyn's Pilgrim. With Standard's current mana base, there is really no way around it. If you want to play Bant, you have to accept that your mana is worse than Naya's. Or you can play Modern where this is not an issue.
I'm not going to pretend I've solved the algorithm or pinpointed the exact cross section where variance intersects power for these two decks, but hopefully the analysis offered here has better equipped you to choose for yourself which deck you find more appealing, given your particular goals. Either deck is a not only fine but good choice right now. Alongside Wolf Run and Delver, these are the four decks I would consider playing if I were playing Standard this weekend.
On second thought, I'd probably get convinced to play a deck with
Ajani, Caller of the Pride and
Sublime Archangel since I haven't played with either of those cards yet, but that's for another day.
Craig Wescoe
@Nacatls4Life on twitter
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