Pattern Recognition #354 - Slow Grow 6: Deck Choice

Features Opinion Pattern Recognition

berryjon

30 January 2025

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Hello Everyone! My name is berryjon, and I welcome you all to Pattern Recognition, TappedOut.Net's longest running article series. Also the only one. I am a well deserved Old Fogey having started the game back in 1996. My experience in both Magic and Gaming is quite extensive, and I use this series to try and bring some of that to you. I dabble in deck construction, mechanics design, Magic's story and characters, as well as more abstract concepts. Or whatever happens to catch my fancy that week. Please, feel free to talk about each week's subject in the comments section at the bottom of the page, from corrections to suggested improvements or your own anecdotes. I won't bite. :) Now, on with the show!

Right, so there was some small confusion, and my brother thought Slow Grow started last week - the 24th, a day I skipped due to work - but I was told it was the 31'st. So I'm going to be going to the tournament tomorrow, and here's hoping I'm not a week down. I really hope.

In the end, the deicison with regards to my deck came down to three criteria. The first was how well in played in Goldfishing and in the previous times I took the deck to FNM, as well as Cockatrice. I want to thank my opponents in the latter for putting up with me rolling out unmodified precons for practice, and in the former for putting up with me in general.

The qualities I looked for here were how soon I could get my Commander online. Not just in casting them, but having them and their abilities actually have an effect on the game - at least in theory. Some were easier to test than others, that's for sure. Here is where I started to get turned off with Aminatou. Yes, she was a good player, and her Miracle ability was amazing!

Three colours on turn 4? That wasn't so guaranteed, and I often had to mull down to five just to get what I needed, which made the rest of the game plan harder to implement. I loved the deck once it got running, but it's just that ... it needs to get running. The same thing happened with my attempts to roll the Historic Doctors deck. Three colours in this deck was, in my playing, a little easier to get, and the ability to use a Doctor and a Companion meant that I could still get one of my Commanders out even without a full spread of mana.

I really wanted to roll The Brig though, rather than try for something else Like Third/Romana II.

Lastly, Hazezon. The fact that he was solid pips, and no in his cost, in addition to the fact it's already a landfall deck meaning that that there's a built in methodology of fixing my mana quickly through fetches of all stripes means that I can get him out on turn 3, and rolling right away.

The other two decks, Nelly and Pain, are both dual colored decks. They are also expensive at a MV and respectively, which means that the first cast will be late, and the recast more expensive. But getting those two coloured mana pips themselves won't be a problem.

The next was in how the deck started working once the Commander came online, and this was a little harder to measure.

Hazezon has the advantage of showing progress materially, as I can simply count the number of Desert Warriors I have. It's a very easy to measure metric. The Lord of Pain, as a Group Slug deck, is harder to account for. Sure, the Lord prevents lifegain, but outside of a couple Selesnya decks, that's pretty fringe. Yes, the deck comes with a Basilisk Collar to help give me life as the game advances, but that's just one card. In a similar vein, Nelly Borca is equally problematic in needing to depend on the actions of my opponents. She encourages a lot of cross-attacking, and it becomes an issue where I can't really judge how people are hitting each other, if at all. There's excellent ways to throw the game out of kilter and take advantage of the chaos, but they're all ... theoretical.

They're both very reactive, and that's a problem for my planning.

The third criteria was how fun it was to play while actually playing it.

Nelly was great here as I could point huge threats at other people - did you know you don't need to Suspect/Goad a creature controlled by the defending player? I can attack Player A with Nelly, and Suspect then Goad a creature controlled by Player B! I can throw chaos and confusion in the ranks (but not Confusion in the Ranks) of my opponents and sit there and laugh as I try to play king-maker!

Until they all gang up on me with their un-goaded creatures. Because that can happen. Or a timely Hexproof to prevent me from taking a threat to me off the table, but on everyone else's table. And the Lord of Pain is the same, but more overt. People know that while they're casting spells, I'm the one doing damage. What moves from fun chaos-inducing choices to three-on-one-and-I'm-the-one not-fun is limited to the patience at my tables.

In the end, with all these choices, I have no choice at all.

Hazezon, Shaper of Sand

Which now leads me to my future decisions. How the heck am I going to adapt this deck going forward?

Well, there are three ways forward. The first is simple. More tokens. Much more. Tokens enough to blot out the sun! Fortuately for me - but not my opponents - I pretty much have all of them in print, except for Mondrak, Glory Dominus because FUCK NEW PHYREXIA. I am particularly proud of my original Doubling Season from Ravnica: City of Guilds that I got via pack cracking, and it will go in this deck, along with all the rest. Eventually. It might take me a couple weeks to slide everything in, but there will be room.

The second thing I need to look into is making my tokens better. This is an inherently tribal type, where the Tribe is both Sand and Warrior. Yes, there are two creature types on the tokens, so as I refine the deck, looking into Warriors as well to help with the tribe, up to and including Boldwyr Intimidator! I bet you never thought about that one in this deck, did you? Or Rush of Battle?

But more accurately, this is the line of reasoning that makes me include Patchwork Banner, Intangible Virtue, Inspiring Leader, Pollen-Shield Hare, Coat of Arms, Roar of Resistance, Toby, Bestie Befriender and others. The question will be in watching my colours and my mana values to ensure I don't get too heavy with one or another, unbalancing my deck and its mana pool.

There are a lot of options here, which means that I'm not spoiled for good things.

The problem is the third criteria I need to watch. I need to look into protection options. Because my deck has a very blatant play pattern, being able to hold back my opponents becomes paramount. If I get my hands on a Teferi's Protection, it's going in, but rather at this point, I want to look at things like Boros Charm, Hour of Reckoning, Crisis of Conscience and other board wipes. Hopefully ones that can bypass my own tokens, but ... wait, Ravnica at War doesn't touch my Commander or my tokens, and will hit so much else! Thanks brain! That and other pieces of protection for my Commander from Heroic Intervention to another pair of boots, to ... I already mentioned Boros Charm. I'll need to look into general sweepers that I can try to bounce back from, and depending on the status of my Tribal effects, can provide global damage spells that I can try to work my way around. Or just burn everything with a Blasphemous Act and start all over. Just paying is cheap, and I will have enough mana left over to protect myself, or to recast my Commander.

Something else to add is more Landfall triggers. Yes, there's already an Avenger of Zendikar in there, but Felidar Retreat, Canyon Jerboa, Retreat to Emeria and Retreat to Kazandu are all good options for getting benefits out of all the lands I play.

I also need to find a Crucible of Worlds. My brother, who won't be participating this year due to work, may have one, but I won't find out until tomorrow. More land drops, the better in this deck.

And then there will be the meta-level choices. Deck building refinements based on the actions and decks of my fellow tournament goers. What those choices will be, they will only be known in retrospect. Like how last year, I rolled Blightsteel Colossus in response to the several lifegain decks out there. We'll see how it goes!

I have a deck. I have a plan. Now it's just a matter of putting it into action. And maybe do well this year?

Wish me luck! I'll need it!

Thank you all for reading! I'll see you next week when I talk about something else. What, I'm not sure about. But in two weeks, I'll have the results of the first two weeks of the tournament!

Until then, please consider donating to my Pattern Recognition Patreon. Yeah, I have a job (now), but more income is always better, and I can use it to buy cards! I still have plans to do a audio Pattern Recognition at some point, or perhaps a Twitch stream. And you can bribe your way to the front of the line to have your questions, comments and observations answered!