Mining Picks *double pun, lol*

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jkarnes

29 March 2012

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Introduction

Sorry for not having an article up on Wednesday my reader-ship! My newborn has been fussy lately and work has been increasingly more time consuming which is, of course, more important than Standard Magic. For those who aren't familiar with what I'm doing in this article, here's a quick recap:

I am playtesting and building a standard version of "The Rock" to find if it's viable in the current metagame. We started with a cardpool: Rawked and then built the first version of the deck here. Then we playtested with a prototype sideboard and found that our deck had some problems which were addressed through card changes and sideboard alterations. It was suggested that I test against U/W Delver, Zombies, and WRR. Hence here we are.

Unfortunately my severe lack of time has me strapped, so I was only able to test against two decks (neither of which are what I wanted to fight)! What follows is the game reports and what I observed, along with any changes I think should have been made after each battle.

Games

Here's what I'm playing with:

Upon this Rock

Modern* jkarnes

SCORE: 3 | 23 COMMENTS | 1781 VIEWS

V. Frites

Raphael Levy's 5 Color Frites Deck

Unknown KristusV

1 COMMENT | 1637 VIEWS

This matchup was so much more skill intensive than I originally thought it would be. I didn't intend to test against Frites but the opponent I played against on Cockatrice loaded the deck claiming it was U/W Delver. We only played one game and he refused to play Game Two. To give you an idea of the type of player I was fighting allow me to share this story:

I enter the room, load up my deck, and wish the gentleman good luck. His response? "Don't need it." Well fine then you snotty asshole, let's go.

Game Only (one)

I lose the roll and my opponent is playing first. He mulligans to six.

Thinking I'm against U/W Delver I keep a hand of Swamp, Forest, Solemn Simulacrumx2, Sever the Bloodline, Go for the Throat, and Garruk Relentless  ^Flip. My line of thought here is that due to the Mulligan, I can probably get away with killing the T2 threat and draw two lands before my fourth turn to stick Garruk, Sever, or Solemn depending on the board state. Simulacrum v. Geist is a really good trade, and if he stalls, then Garruk just starts making 2/2s until the end of time. Sever is good because of the Lingering Souls flashback that you'll see fairly frequently.

T1-E: Razorverge Thicket into Birds of Paradise. Wat.

T1-M: Draw Woodland Cemetery Excelent. Forest.

T2-E: Upkeep-Mulch reveals Forestx2, Tracker's Instincts, Lingering Souls. Forests go into hand, Instincts and Souls to GY. Main-Darkslick Shores

T2-M: Draw Forest Well hot damn. Swamp. *I don't want to GftT his Bird because I know he has a forest in hand, access to GWUB mana, and a forest in hand. The absolute worst thing I could do is to kill the Birds of Paradise because I don't know what's coming and I want more information.

T3-E: Upkeep-Tracker's Instincts revealing Llanowar Elves, Wurmcoil Engine, Unburial Rites, Copperline Gorge. Shit. Chooses the elves. Main-Forest into Llanowar Elves

This is not good. My opponent is going to nail down a Wurmcoil on turn four and the only thing I have in my hand to stop it is the Sever the Bloodline... but I know he has that Lingering Souls in the yard and I don't want to use GftT on a single token. Things are looking grim... but I have faith in my deck.

T3-M: Draw Sheoldred, Whispering One. Sigh. But this isn't bad. Now if I just manage to stall the game out I can grind Frites to death. I just have to make it to 7 mana. Main-Play Woodland Cemetery.

T4-E: With no imagination, my opponent casts Unburial Rites w/ flashback and targets Wurmcoil Engine. He does not play a land. Knew this was coming.

T4-M: Draw: Bloodgift Demon. Well, it's good to know that when I hit 5 mana, I have stuff to do. Unfortunately, I must answer this Wurmcoil Engine so I can't really play Solemn Simulacrum to get to 5 this turn. Main-Forest, Play Garruk Relentless  ^Flip, make a 2/2 wolf.

The line of thinking here is that next turn my opponent will probably flash back Lingering Souls and make some spirits. Wolf will block the Wurmcoil, T5, I'll play Solemn and make another wolf. Solemn will eat the Wurmcoil and Garruk will take two from the spirits which will flip him. Deathtouch wolf will kill the Wurmcoil next turn, and Sever the Bloodline will stop the flying spirits. I think we're in a good position here

T5-E: Straight to combat. Attacks Garruk with Wurmcoil Engine. Wolf Blocks (20-26). Main 2- Plays Lingering Souls from GY w/ Flashback. Exactly as we expected

T5-M: Draw: Acidic Slime. Well that's interesting. Main-Solemn Simulacrum, search for Swamp and put it into play tapped. Garruk 0: Make a 2/2 wolf token.

T6-E: Combat- Garruk is attacked by 2 Flying Spirits and Wurmcoil. Solem blocks and dies (20-32), I draw Swamp. Garruk goes to 1 counter and flips to Garruk, the Veil-Cursed  ^Flip. Main 2- Plays Blackcleave Cliffs, then plays and flashes back Lingering Souls.

The board is now:

Frites: Razorverge Thicket, Darkslick Shores, Forest X2, Birds of Paradise, Llanowar Elves, Blackcleave Cliffs, Wurmcoil Engine, 6 1/1 flying spirit tokens.

Rock: Forest x2, Swamp x2, Woodland Cemetery, Garruk the Veil-Cursed @ 1, 2/2 Wolf Token.

T6-M: Draw: Heartless Summoning. useless now that we're past turn 2/3 and have 5 mana down Main- Swamp, Sever the Bloodline targeting 1/1 Spirit. Garruk +1 (@2) for a 1/1 deathtouch wolf.

T7-E: Plays Blackcleave Cliffs tapped, attacks Garruk with Wurmcoil Engine, 1/1 wolf blocks (20-38). Makes Two 3/3 wurm tokens. Passes.

T7-M: Draw: Increasing Ambition. Good. Now I can get Sorin Markov. Play Solemn Simulacrum fetching Forest into play tapped. Garruk makes a 1/1 wolf (@3).

I do not know why didn't flash back Tracker's Instincts. Perhaps he's tilted.

T8-E: Draws and flashes back Tracker's Instincts revealing Inferno Titan, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Razorverge Thicket, and Rootbound Crag. He chooses Inferno Titan. Good thing he's one mana short of playing that biatch Attacks Garruk with Wurm tokens. Wolf blocks Deathtouch wurm, Solem blocks lifelink wurm (20-41). I draw Woodland Cemetery.

T8-M: Draw: Evolving Wilds. Thins us out to reduce the chances of land later on. I'll take it with a smile because my hand is all gas minus the cemetery from Solemn's death. Main- Garruk makes a 1/1 wolf (@4). Play Woodland Cemetery, then Sheoldred, Whispering One I'm not afraid of a kill spell because Frites doesn't run any mainboard, and even if he was playing an altered version, I have another Sheoldred in my hand.

T9-E: Opponent sacrifices Llanowar Elves then plays Copperline Gorge tapped, Inferno Titan (1 damage to 1/1 wolf, 2 damage to Garruk). He's starting to run out of gas EoT: I Go for the Throat on his Inferno Titan. So much for that guy.

T9-M: Return Solemn Simulacrum via Sheoldred's effect, search out Swamp into play tapped. Draw: Liliana of the Veil. Unecessary. At this point my opponent should just conceede but he's sticking in there for I dunno what reason. He has 0 outs to Sheoldred even in his sideboard. He must be being an asshole. Fine. Main- Play Acidic Slime destroying Lifelink Wurm token. Garruk -1 (@1) targeting Acidic Slime to search for Acidic Sime. Play Increasing Ambition searching for Sorin Markov. Pass.

My opponent really should concede.

T10-E: Sacrifices Birds of Paradise, Draws and plays Forest then Birds of Paradise now has 2 cards left.

T10-M: Return Acidic Slime to play targeting Darkslick Shores. Really. My opponent should CONCEDE. Draw: Curse of Death's Hold I have two options here. Play the Curse and start whacking my opponent to guarantee victory, or be a dick. Main- Play Sorin Markov and activate his -3 (@1) and set life to 10 (20-10). Eat shit Wurmcoil Engine. Garruk +1 (@2). No attackers.

T11-E: Sacrifices Birds of Paradise and then plays Lingering Souls then Flashes back Lingering Souls. He doesn't remember I have Sever in the yard.

T12-M: No return target. Draw: Life's Finale. Yeah, I'll be playing that anytime soon. Garruk -1 (@1) targeting Acidic Slime for Acidic Slime. Cast Acidic Slime destroying Copperline Gorge. Sorrin +2 on a spirit token putting him to 3 (22-10). No attackers.

CONCEDE YOU JERK

Opponent disconnects.

Sweet Victory

Observations

I think it's about 50% luck that won this game. Not ever drawing a Despise or another random irrelevant card midgame, plus two lands early gave the win over. That turn 4 Wurmcoil could have been REALLY BAD had it not been for the singleton Garruk Relentless  ^Flip and my opponent deciding to hit him for two with the spirits. I understand his thinking, I really do, but he should have waited until he could K.O. Garruk in one shot so that he wouldn't flip over. Deathtouch Wolves with no removal in my opponent's deck except for Elesh Norn ultimately cost my opponent the game by killing the Wurmcoil and then dancing on its token offspring.

I learned very quickly that without a Surgial Extraction or Nihil Spellbomb this deck would almost roll over. Acidic Slime definitely stops Wurmcoil Engine, but without Sever the Bloodline we're in deep shit to the 1/1 flier army that could potentially be 3/3s with Elesh Norn on the table.

The targeted removal package we have is key against Frites because we can remove Elesh Norn should it be a problem... but if our opponent is holding Unburial Rites or another Elesh Norn with enough mana, then we're in deep trouble. At that point, our only hope is to somehow kill his other creatures and play Sheoldred, Whispering One to force the sacrifice.

I would say that having Phyrexian Metamorph instead of Mikaeus, the Unhallowed would probably be very wise. The Metamorph gives us outs to St. Traft, Elesh Norn, opposing Thruns, Wurmcoil Engines, problematic artifacts... anything really. Mikaeus gives us the ability to win-more or win harder. I think I'll go with that change.

V. G/R Huntmaster Aggression

This deck does not have a corresponding list to my knowledge here on tappedout so I'll just give you the rundown of what I saw. G/R Duals, Incinerate, Young Wolf, Strangleroot Geist, GSZ X3, Huntmaster of the Fells, and Galvanic Blast.

Do not be fooled. This deck is nothing to laugh at. Undying is an incredible mechanic and is virtually impossible to defeat in combat or with kill spells. The Rock has no outs to this strategy in game one. Do you know what it feels like to play against a deck and lose 10/10 games without a sideboard? Let me tell you:

It blows major d%^&.

Ever since I saw Young Wolf and Strangleroot Geist printed I knew this deck would come. It's shockingly effective against most mainstream strategies and really only falls prey to Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. It holds up against Wrath effects with a surprising degree of tenacity and really only gets stomped on by decks highly dedicated to defensive strategies with late game finishing potential that doesn't care about the board position.

This is a matchup in which White would have been a good color to play.

Game One

Every game one can be summarized as thus:

• Turn 1 Forest & Young Wolf or Birds of Paradise
  
• Turn 2 Forest & Strangleroot Geist or Green Sun's Zenith for Strangleroot Geist. Swing 3.
  
• Turn 3 Rootbound Crag and maybe Incinerate if I have a blocker. 3 more damage
  
• Turn 4 Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip meets Killspell X. 3 more damage
  
• Turn 5 5 damage (at 9)
  

You can see how problematic this is. Our deck's premise is to control the early game with efficient disruption before landing midgame cards which push the game in our favor. Undying basically ruins our whole game plan because killing a creature only makes it kill you faster. Discard is the best way of shrugging off the damage, but is unfortunately inconsistent and does not target Green Sun's Zenith which will get whatever creature they want in a turn anyway.

Sideboarding

You can Surgical Extraction a creature with Undying while it's trigger is on the stack which will permanently remove it from the game (along with it's bretheren), so that's going in.

Sever the Bloodline doesn't trigger undying, so we want that too. If Thrun manages to stick, he can block forever (and can't be Incenerated) which is good in this matchup.

+2 Surgical Extraction, Thrun, the Last Troll, +1 Sever the Bloodline

Game Two

We played this matchup a few times and, again, they all pretty much went like this:

See above turn schedule except every now and then I manage to kill a Geist with a doom blade and pay two life to extract it from the game. Then Huntmaster comes down and I have no killspell. I die quickly if he flips which is about 50% of the time due to the nature of the deck.

Thrun did come in handy one of the games because he managed to block forever as expected. Sever the Bloodline underperformed because rarely would my opponent have more than one creature out with the same name.

Out of 5 games, I won one and that was due to land problems across the table.

Observations

Well, I found a bona fide problem for us. Undying.

I don't know if this problem extends out into the rest of the deck archetypes as well on account of not playing with them extensively; however, I can assume with some level of correctness that U/x would simply counter the undying creatures which makes them a non-issue and anything playing W/x would simply be able to Timely Reinforcements themselves back into the game and probably take out an undying creature at the same time.

Zombies might have a moderately difficult time with this matchup as well; however, they're more apt to trade creature for creature because of the Zombie Apocalypse that they run.

Overall Thoughts

About how the Deck Runs

I really want to test against U/W Delver and WRR before I make any kind of serious statements; however, I can safely say that our strongest line of play is a T2 Heartless Summoning being followed by Bloodgift Demon or Acidic Slime. Turn 3 land destruction is never nice, especially if your opponent is playing a land-light deck. To reflect this, I have changed the mainboard around slightly.

Green feels like it's here pretty much for three cards: Acidic Slime, Beast Within, and Garruk Relentless  ^Flip. I don't feel as though I'm making optimal use of the color, or if it should even be in the deck at all. At times it feels like I'm playing mono-black control against my opponent. Other times it feels like I'm playing an agro deck. Very rarely does it feel like I'm playing "The Rock."

Maybe this is because the cards simply don't exist at the moment to support the archetype, or maybe it's because of the speed at which the metagame is currently playing... or maybe it's just my perception. True, Golgari Midrange is "The Rock," but when you play 5 drops on turn 3, that doesn't feel like "The Rock," it feels kind of like Valakut without the mountains.

Some of our card selection is still weak, but I'm about to address that.

Picks

Liliana of the Veil: You will not be missed. I included this card because she was a Chainer's Edict that helped us discard irrelvant spells like duplicates of Heartless Summoning. Without any way of breaking the symmetry with flashback or some other mean mechanic she just ends up costing us cards. MasterFlinter was 100% right about this probably not making it into any final iteration of the deck. She has been replaced with the fourth Heartless Summoning and the final Acidic Slime to strengthen the consistency of the deck and really hammer in that turn 3 play.

Increasing Ambition as a duet: Drawing this card 50% of the time feels like I'm cheating, and the other 50% feels like I'm not playing Magic. I think the games where I draw it, I need to draw it, but games where I see it early are the ones I lose. I have decided to drop this down to a singleton as that rare time when I just need a specific answer a turn later. Flashback is also relevant if its the only one. This has been turned into a Rune-Scarred Demon because the demon also tutors (probably for increasing ambition LOL/jk) and also is a 6/6 or 5/5 body.

A second Garruk Relentless  ^Flip: I decided that with the fouth heartless summoning that I could probably get away with playing 23 lands. Relentless has not yet failed me and can shoot down spirit fliers with ease (something I learned while evaluating lines of play against Frites's spirits) before pumping wolves out to oblivion. His -1 comes in handy once Sheoldred is on the field and makes a nice grindy combo. I have taken out one forest for this card.

Where does that leave us?

I feel that this configuration is much stronger than the previous one that I was playing with. It takes out a lot of the nonsense cool things that don't really help a whole lot to win the game (I'm looking at you Vorapede) but it still has room to improve. An alternate configuration which uses Birthing Pod instead of Heartless Summoning is being considered.

Next Time...

Before trying out the alternate configuration utilizing Birthing Pod, I think it will be necessary to re-evaluate the sideboard. So far, each match has brought me an interesting mix of cards to come in, and I have yet to not use a card in the list; however, with the mainboard motion and Zombies on the Horizion, who can say where we'll stand?

Join me next week as I tackle sideboarding challenges of "The Rock"

In Hunger Games spirit, "May the odds ever be in your favor."

-jkarnes