My Flash Part 22: Getting Back In The Groove

Predictably, last Saturday’s StarCityGames.com Open in Orlando was won by G/B/W Reanimator.

I suggested the answer might be Bant Hexproof, but it didn’t put up very good numbers over the weekend.

Some say Wolf Run Bant or traditional Bant Control is the answer. Edwin Beckwith did his best to put his updated Wolf Run Bant deck on the map, but he fell just short.

Others would have you believe that The Aristocrats is the answer. After all, Taylor Raflowitz did defeat the lone Reanimator deck in the Top 8 on Sunday’s Standard Open, and it won the Grand Prix in Rio de Janeiro (granted, before Reanimator was popular).

Of course, there was a smattering of red-based aggro decks and Esper Control in the Top 8s of the Opens as well.

Then again, U/W/R Flash has won the last two Magic Online PTQs.

Remember when I went to Grand Prix Verona and got my ass handed to me? Well, I was playing a deck very similar to the one that is now tearing up Magic Online.

U/W/R Flash

_VFS_

1st Place at Pro Tour Qualifier on 03-31-2013

Standard

Creatures (11)

Lands (26)

Spells (24)

Sideboard

For the past couple weeks, I’ve been thinking about what else I could play at the StarCityGames.com Invitational in Atlanta. U/W/R was always my backup choice, but that notion began to dissipate the more I heard people talk about how Reanimator crushed U/W/R.

I don’t remember ever having an easy time with U/W/R against Reanimator, but I do remember that whenever I lost to them, it was a very frustrating, emotionally jarring loss. That typically means that I was an instrument in my own demise. Had I built my deck differently or taken a different line, I could have won. Most of the time, I just won.

That said, I played against Reanimator decks maybe twenty times, which isn’t a lot. They could out-tempo me with mana dorks into Acidic Slimes into recursion, but otherwise the games were close. It helped that I had Clones in my deck to fight Thragtusk, which I later deemed unnecessary. I also had Rest in Peace, whereas everyone else refused to turn off their own Think Twices. Clearly, that’s a fine tradeoff, and eventually people came around.

Of course, now that everyone has Rest in Peace, Reanimator’s job is much easier. Side in some Golgari Charms, Abrupt Decays, or Acidic Slimes and they can call it a day.

Right now, I see a few options. It all stems from whether or not you want to play Boros Reckoner. Reckoner gives you slightly better matchups against aggressive decks, but those are typically easy anyway. The real draw is being able to one-shot your opponents with things like Harvest Pyre or Blasphemous Act.

Typically, a game against midrange or control can get so out of hand that it’s very difficult for you to win. I’m not even talking about the games where you peel Sphinx’s Revelation and get back in it. I’m talking about games where they’ve Slimed you down to six lands, have two Angel of Serenitys in play, and are at 25 life. What are you supposed to do in those situations?

Supreme Verdict? Chances are those Angels have some goodies under them. Craterhoof Behemoth can’t be far away either.

Aurelia, the Warleader? She’s going to get you out of some tight spots (see my Grand Prix Verona report for an example or two), but nothing that complicated.

Inevitability is not a term I throw around lightly, but having Boros Reckoner plus Harvest Pyre in your deck gives you about as much pure inevitability as you can get in the format. I say "about as much" because there are certainly situations in which you can lose, but most of the time, the longer the game goes, the more favored U/W/R becomes. At the Pro Tour, I did reach a point in a long game 1 where I had Harvest Pyre and Boros Reckoner but couldn’t win because my opponent was at over 40 life.

So why not give ourselves inevitability? Because we think we don’t need it. In truth, there are very few situations that a Sphinx’s Revelation for seven won’t get you out of. That said, I prefer my safety blanket, even if I can live without it.

In addition to inevitability, Boros Reckoner allows you to shift gears much quicker, giving you the ability to play out more like a Faeries deck. This may not seem important, as Flash usually wins by a lot. In the few times it matters and you are able to capitalize on a small lead before they can get back into the game, you will be thankful.

That type of situation mostly occurs against blue decks when you get a board advantage. You want to press it, force them to deal with your threats, and then resolve a Sphinx’s Revelation, which will hopefully cement your advantage.

The other time you need to get aggressive is, awkwardly enough, against aggressive decks. They’ve got some powerful cards, like Falkenrath Aristocrat, so you can’t afford to just sit back with a board advantage when you’re holding air. Sometimes you’ve got to take risks in order to win those games, and Reckoner helps you do that.

Before writing this article, I was on the fence about Boros Reckoner. As is often the case, writing is therapeutic, and now I’m (probably) back on the Reckoner train. I’ll need to do some last minute testing against Reanimator to see if Blasphemous Act is necessary, both the sweeper and the direct damage. If not, and Reckoner rarely affects combat, I could see playing without it regardless of the upside.

U/W/R Flash

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 03-31-2013

Standard

Creatures (13)

Lands (25)

Spells (22)

Sideboard

There are still some things I don’t like about the above list.

1) Azorius Charm is getting worse. There are plenty of haste guys, and basically everything they have is super cheap. Still, it’s super versatile and one of the few outs you have to Aurelia, the Warleader in the newer Flash lists.

2) One Think Twice feels super random and awful. I want at least a second one, but I don’t know what to cut.

3) The Supreme Verdicts could be Blasphemous Acts at this point, but I like the consistent turn 4 sweeper.

4) Maindeck Electrickery over Pillar of Flame is ballsy, but I think it’s right.

5) If nearly every matchup is going to be super grindy, I kind of want the fourth Sphinx’s Revelation. I don’t feel like pulling that trigger quite yet but can’t necessarily explain why.

6) Augur of Bolas is mostly a turd. The aggro decks have bigger guys, so it doesn’t brick wall their team of x/1s like it used to. I think you still need it to give Restoration Angel some value. Cutting it would give me the slots for what I want though.

7) I have the counter package I like for winning control mirrors but nothing to force through with them. My disdain for Assemble the Legion is fairly well documented at this point, so that’s out. Jace, Memory Adept is awesome and gives you a way to draw cards should your Revelations be Slaughter Gamesed, but I want to try Witchbane Orb as an answer to Jund and Esper. It’s probably not good enough.

Aside from those million issues, I like the list and will likely play it.

Y’all probably don’t believe me when I say I’ve been working on other things, so here are some decklists!

U/G Delver

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 03-31-2013

Standard

Creatures (15)

Lands (20)

Spells (25)

Sideboard

Ari Lax wrote about it, and Joseph Pinkley won a PTQ with it. I cleaned it up, won an eight-man with it, and then never touched it again. Why? No real reason except that I wasn’t compelled to continue playing it. I guess playing a flimsy, underpowered aggro-control deck when I could be playing Sphinx’s Revelation didn’t seem right to me.

U/W Control

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 03-31-2013

Standard

Creatures (2)

2 Snapcaster Mage

Planeswalkers (5)

Lands (26)

Spells (27)

Sideboard

This one was kind of sweet but further hammered home why I should be playing Boros Reckoner to give myself an opportunity for aggression. I played two heads-up queues (both against Omniscience decks), won them both, and then shelved it.

Turbo Fog

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 03-31-2013

Standard

Creatures (1)

1 Snapcaster Mage

Planeswalkers (1)

1 Jace, Memory Adept

Lands (26)

Spells (32)

Sideboard

Todd Anderson wrote about this one yesterday, although I like my list a lot better.

I did not lose much with the deck, nor did Todd, but neither of us is playing it at the Invitational. The above deck functions on pure velocity but would gladly take a Howling Mine variant. I tried Otherworld Atlas, and it was not good in the slightest despite seeming so good in theory. You’d rather use your own card drawers to get ahead than give both of you cards. Blue decks have pesky counterspells, and red decks have burn spells, namely Skullcrack, so it’s often very risky.

Ideally, you spend some time setting up and then cast a card drawer and a Fog every turn until you eventually win. If they can disrupt you or you fail to chain card drawers together, you will likely lose. The deck is very difficult to disrupt, so whenever we lost it was likely due to us bricking off, which was frustrating.

I tried adding more card drawing like Divination and Augur of Bolas to find key cards, but it didn’t help enough. In order to fit in more gas, you could cut some lands, but that makes your Urban Evolutions and Sphinx’s Revelations much worse.

You could try the planeswalker version, but that seems wrong to me. Yes, you can cast Jace, Memory Adept and try to Fog for five turns while you deck them, but at that point, you are probably winning with any card drawer. When you need a solid way to draw cards that they can’t interact with, Jace isn’t what you want. Plus, Druid’s Deliverance doesn’t protect it.

Clinging Mists is another option, as is Feeling of Dread and Moonmist, but those are very mediocre. I considering playing Clinging Mists and dropping the Supreme Verdicts altogether, but there are some creatures you actually need to kill, such as Hellrider and Deathrite Shaman. Against most decks, Supreme Verdict is like a Fog, but against red, you need to Fog their follow-up haste guy.

Enter Blind Obedience.

While not a perfect card, it does the job against red decks because it both slows them down and can keep your head above water. It also functions as a win condition if you’re up against an opponent who is saving their countermagic for those. Blind Obedience also deals with Obzedat, Ghost Council, which is pretty nice.

I wanted to run the fewest win conditions possible, and I have a mix that I like. The singleton Elixir of Immortality is all you need, and it even solves problems like Witchbane Orb (should they side it in when you’re not expecting it). Jace, Memory Adept is a way to close games faster, but maybe you don’t even need that.

Nephalia Drownyard is what should cement the matchup against control decks. Esper might be able to deck you if they have Drownyard advantage, but it’s less likely when you’ve got your own plus Elixir plus Jace.

You might think you would need more than one counterspell maindeck, but few people have things that you actually need to counter. The scary cards are in most people’s sideboards.

The singleton Snapcaster Mage is the remaining oddball, but it’s a Fog / Sphinx’s Revelation split card. Occasionally, it does a Solemn Simulacrum impression by flashing back a Farseek. Overall, it’s a fine card with a lot of utility, but you don’t want to draw multiples.

Against opposing control decks, I have Bramblecrush for problematic permanents like planeswalkers, Witchbane Orb, and Nevermore. Snapcaster Mage rounds out the counterspells plus Vindicates package. Terminus is mostly for Naya Blitz and R/G Aggro.

Overall, it’s a very good deck right now, but I’m not sure it’s perfect. I don’t want to take that risk in the Invitational.

How fun is this deck though?

Esper Control

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 03-31-2013

Standard

Creatures (1)

1 Obzedat, Ghost Council

Planeswalkers (4)

Lands (27)

Spells (28)

Sideboard

I hatehatehate planeswalkers, so it should be a testament to how good they are when I’m actually endorsing them. It’s been a while since Jace, Architect of Thought was a $60 card, but it’s almost as good as it used to be. Either their dudes are small or you want a card drawer. It’s also a cute answer to Assemble the Legion.

Tamiyo, the Moon Sage has always been a fine card, but she’s never been insane or anything. I don’t think she’s insane right now either. I think she’s a good role-player that plays well with sweepers and occasionally draws you some cards. There are a lot of random permanents out there, and she’s solid against Reanimator.

There are a few selling points to advocate this list over other Esper lists. First, I removed the Augur of Bolases for the reasons I noted above. Second, I have Dead Weight, which is only playable because I removed the Augurs. With this deck, you need removal on turn 1. There are plenty of things to do with two mana and not enough to do with one. It kills most of the things you want it to kill, so what else can you ask for?

Finally, we have the maindeck Rest in Peace. I had been considering it for a while, but when I saw Max Sjoblom do it, I was sold. It’s low risk but high reward. Eventually, you will want to Rest in Peace the Reanimator decks in game 1 to break up their Angel of Serenity chains. Even though there’s only one copy, there’s a reasonable chance you’ll find it before it’s too late.

As of this writing, I think I’m on U/W/R. I would have liked to get some more practice in, but I’m not sure it would help. The Invitational seems like a tournament where people could be coming out of the woodwork with their anti-Reanimator technology, hoping to score big. Then again, they could just be playing it safe like me.

Wish me luck!

GerryT

@G3RRYT on Twitter