Achievement Unlocked - In Sin, Seer

Junk Rites. [card]Fog[/card]door. Mono red. These were the three decks causing me the most trouble in the local meta, the three I felt I had to brew to beat. Sadly they are all natural predators for each other, which makes it very difficult to find an axis on which to attack them all. [card]Counterspell[/card]s and a lot of removal plus a way to go over the top against Rites, non-combat damage dealing or blinding speed against [card]Fog[/card]door, lifegain and large creatures that come down early against mono red.

Despite having learned the value of having a deck ready before Friday, this week was way beyond crazy and didn’t exactly afford me the time to do so. I did at least find myself an apartment and get a lot of packing done, so there’s that. Real life is often a lot less interesting than Magic, but alas things like a roof over one’s head are a touch more important. On the bright side, having a place to live took a huge weight off my shoulders heading into FNM, deck or no deck. But what to play?

Battle Plan

Whatever else happened, I knew I wanted to be playing [card]Duskmantle Seer[/card] this week. I had been singing its praises since it was spoiled but had never really tried to make it work. It seemed to be an excellent tool against both Rites and [card]Fog[/card]door, though it would HAVE to come out against aggro. That wouldn’t necessarily be a problem though, since it would allow my sideboard plan to play another creature I really want to build around: [card]Hypersonic Dragon[/card].

I think the key to building around the Seer, and to a lesser extent the Dragon, is to load your deck with spells that have small costs printed in the upper right but can scale later in the game. X spells are the obvious application here, but Overload works just as well. A lot of the spells I want to cast that fit this mould are also sorceries, making the Dragon a strong option in the board to really throw people’s gameplans off.

With the Seer being the focal point, we have the following target:

Target 1: Kill someone with [card]Duskmantle Seer[/card]’s ability I doubt you’ll find many people who would argue that Seer is better than [card]Dark Confidant[/card], even if I have taken to calling it Super Bob. However one thing the Seer can do that Bob can’t (without significant hoop-jumping, that is) is kill your opponent without ever having to attack. Made easier when opponents play [card]Griselbrand[/card], [card]Omniscience[/card] and [card]Angel of Serenity[/card] of course!

The Dragon lets us aim for this:

Target 2: Blow someone out with an instant-speed sorcery When you play cards like [card]Hypersonic Dragon[/card], many players at the FNM level will neglect to think about their effect on the board state because they consider it beneath them. If I have [card]Hypersonic Dragon[/card] out and RRBU untapped, people might play around [card]Searing Spear[/card] or [card]Dimir Charm[/card] but they won’t think of [card]Mizzium Mortars[/card], [card]Dreadbore[/card], [card]Hands of Binding[/card] or other sorcery answers. Not the first time, anyway.

Since we’re playing a couple of different charms, let’s add this one:

Target 3: Use all 3 modes on a charm in one match I can foresee a few matchups where this would be viable on Izzet or [card]Dimir Charm[/card], but of course it means drawing at least two of them.

Weapon Selection

When I got home from work on Friday, I had some idea of where I wanted to go with my deck. I was going to reverse-engineer it from some of the cards and concepts I knew I wanted, and try to fit in a few Achievements from there.

Decks like Naya Blitz sputter and fail if you can cast a couple of early removal spells. Although they can often be too fast for [card]Thragtusk[/card] to matter, consistent lifegain can be a problem. Mono-red is a bit more resilient with access to [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card] and [card]Hellrider[/card], but if you can maximise the work those cards have to do it can be easier to survive the beatdown. [card]Dreadbore[/card] is simply the purest removal available, and [card]Tragic Slip[/card] is both cheap and versatile. [card]Ultimate Price[/card] is slightly more expensive and can be dead in your hand, but it will always kill a [card]Hellrider[/card] or Thundermaw. Or a [card]Griselbrand[/card] of [card]Angel of Serenity[/card], for that matter. [card]Vampire Nighthawk[/card] might quietly be one of the best creatures in Standard right now, unless the opponent has [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card]. Gains life, kills anything it blocks, is evasive and comes down early enough to be relevant in aggro matchups. I know I want four of those.

Junk Rites seems to resist almost all forms of logical hate you can throw at it. If you spend the early game attacking mana dorks, it can just take advantage of the extra time and start hard-casting its bombs. If you focus on graveyard hate, it’s entirely possible they sided all their reanimation stuff out for game 2 to play as a midrange deck with Obzedat instead. Attacking the mana base or the enablers seem to be the two most effective strategies, so I want to try two very flexible cards in that spot: [card]Dimir Charm[/card] and [card]Izzet Charm[/card]. Both can counter [card]Mulch[/card]es or [card]Unburial Rites[/card], both can kill mana dorks or [card]Lotleth Troll[/card]s (if they don’t leave up regeneration mana) and both can also help with card selection in a pinch.

[card]Fog[/card]door can do wonders against combat damage, but against direct damage it is less powerful. It also hates having its hand ripped away, so [card]Rakdos’s Return[/card] is definitely getting some spots. I considered [card]Devil’s Play[/card] as well but in the end went with [card]Bonfire of the Damned[/card] because of the added flexibility against mana dorks and aggro.

One thing that did worry me a little was the nonbo of [card]Duskmantle Seer[/card] and Bonfire. Revealing Bonfire to the Seer will not allow you to miracle it. As a result I also want to run [card]Magmaquake[/card]. I have tried the card before and loved it, and was reminded of its existence by Jason (@realevilgenius). Not only does it sweep the board at instant speed, it also takes out opposing planeswalkers AND leaves my Nighthawks and Seers alive.

[card]Ultimate Price[/card] ended up not making the cut, and my pet card [card]Cyclonic Rift[/card] was relegated to the sideboard unfortunately. I tweaked the charms a little, then realised I had a very low creature count. I knew I wanted to try Olivia in the deck, but I could only find one for some reason. Since I planned to be killing everything that came down on the other side, [card]Desecration Demon[/card] seemed like it might find a home. Here’s the list I sat down with for round 1:

[Deck title=”Grixis Seer by Chris Lansdell”]
[spells]
4 Tragic Slip
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Izzet Charm
3 Dimir Charm
2 Rakdos’s Return
3 Mizzium Mortars
2 Magmaquake
2 Bonfire of the Damned
3 Dreadbore
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Duskmantle Seer
1 Olivia Voldaren
2 Desecration Demon
[/spells]
[lands]
4 Watery Grave
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls
[/lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Rakdos Charm
3 Slaughter Games
2 Witchbane Orb
3 Cyclonic Rift
4 Hypersonic Dragon
1 Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
[/sideboard]
[/deck]

The [card]Rakdos Charm[/card]s were largely there to destroy opposing [card]Witchbane Orb[/card]s while also potentially taking out reanimation targets. [card]Cyclonic Rift[/card] I included because I love it, and I think it can help us against Rites. Niv-Mizzet is just…too good. Against control he can win the game on his own, drawing tons of cards and presenting a seriously dangerous clock. Plus…well, I have a foil one, and I wanted to play it. Is that so wrong?!

War Report

Normally I can remember plenty of what happened leading up to FNM. With the whirlwind of the week, I’m having trouble remembering my own name right now. It’s Steve, right? No? Dammit. Anyway, I know there was a birthday party happening in the store, banishing the Magic players to one room. We had small-ish turnouts for both Modern and Standard though, so we weren’t too cramped. We also had some more new faces, which is always nice to see,

Round 1 – Scott McCarthy with UWR Flash

Scott hasn’t been to Midgard for FNM before, but from what I understand he was involved in the Magic community a few years ago. In looking over his trade binder after the match it was clear he’s been playing for a while, as he had many sweet cards that I still need to get from him. He also had what will be my fourth foil [card]Boros Reckoner[/card]…

Game 1 was interesting. I had three Nighthawks early, he had three [card]Searing Spear[/card]s to answer them. Nothing he played was sticking on the table as I managed to have the right removal for both a [card]Boros Reckoner[/card] and a [card]Restoration Angel[/card]. [card]Duskmantle Seer[/card] hit and started filling my hand with answers while beating down, and when Scott managed to kill that one I had another in hand. Nighthawk number 4 joined the team, and Scott was in trouble. With Scott on 4 and one card in hand, I put him on [card]Restoration Angel[/card] to block the Seer. If he flipped [card]Searing Spear[/card] here it would be a little tricky for me, but instead he flipped…[card]Supreme Verdict[/card]. Well, that’s a good start.

Game 2 got off to a scary start, as Scott [card]Thought Scour[/card]ed away a Seer and a [card]Desecration Demon[/card] early. Then flashed it back with a Snapcaster and hit Olivia. With my deck being low on threats I really couldn’t afford to lose many to random mill. He started beating down with the Snapcaster and aiming [card]Searing Spear[/card]s at my dome, and I couldn’t find a threat. Removal started coming in but I was in single-digit life and I knew he had burn and Snapcasters left, plus Reckoners. Fortunately I would draw into a [card]Desecration Demon[/card], and follow it up with Niv-Mizzet, leaving Scott facing down an imposing air force and having no immediate answers to the 14-plus damage I was threatening.

1-0

Round 2 – Blair Grouchy with Jund

Of the four-person team that consists of some of the best players in town (Blair, Ingram, Crocker and Josh), I think I have the least bad record against Blair. Not because he’s worse than the rest, I’ve just had better matchups and luck against him.

Perfect proof of this was provided in game 1. Blair went down to 6 but managed a timely Huntmaster, for which I had the [card]Magmaquake[/card]. That let me play [card]Desecration Demon[/card] into an empty board, then next turn cast a [card]Rakdos’s Return[/card] for 2 to clear out his hand. With a 6/6 flier presenting a three-turn clock and Blair living off the top of his deck, the game wasn’t in much doubt.

Blair kept a one-lander with an [card]Arbor Elf[/card] in game two, looking at a hand of sweet 3-drops and needed only a land or a [card]Farseek[/card] off the top to put himself in charge. I however had a [card]Tragic Slip[/card], and that keep ended up looking a lot worse. The top of his deck would be nice to him, giving him a land and a [card]Farseek[/card] and enabling him to [card]Slaughter Games[/card] away my [card]Desecration Demon[/card]s. I had cast a [card]Slaughter Games[/card] the turn before naming [card]Thragtusk[/card], not really fearing anything else in the deck. When I drew my second [card]Slaughter Games[/card] I had to name his Games to make sure he didn’t strip my deck of win cons. All that durdling around had let Blair draw out of his mana woes, and he had some Huntmasters and Wolves in play to my [card]Duskmantle Seer[/card]. I cast a [card]Magmaquake[/card] to sweep the board but he had the [card]Tragic Slip[/card] to leave us both hellbent and devoid of threats. He had a Garruk, I had my second [card]Magmaquake[/card] to take it and its Beast tokens out. He then cast a second one, leaving me needing something special off the top.

Well, a foil Bonfire seems special enough, right? Welcome to Kiblerville.

2-0.

Round 3 – Michael Ingram with Junk Rites

This matchup again. Round 3 has not been kind to me recently. Ingram is playing Sam Black’s version of the deck, light on mana dorks but running [card]Lotleth Troll[/card]s. My opening hand was good against the [card]Mulch[/card] draw but sadly he had the Souls draw, and I couldn’t find the Mortars or Bonfire in time to make a difference.

Game 2 saw me get genuinely confused by his sideboard plan, as he went a route with which I wasn’t familiar. He has a turn 5 [card]Griselbrand[/card] coming out of the yard, which I tried to Rift back to his hand. I say tried, because he had the [card]Restoration Angel[/card] to save it. I’m sorry, but that shouldn’t be allowed. I need a flavour judge over here. Needless to say I got obliterated by that particular assortment of totally fair creatures, and Ingram showed me his board plan. He had taken out his Souls, [card]Angel of Serenity[/card] and Craterhoof for things like Resto and Griselbrand as he saw no creatures in game 1. It made sense but it was an angle I hadn’t seen from the deck before.

I realise now that I sideboarded badly for this match, and should have cut the [card]Desecration Demon[/card]s and kept in some number of [card]Izzet Charm[/card]s. Countering his Rites or [card]Mulch[/card] would have given me more time to draw an answer or at least apply some pressure.

2-1

Round 4 – Gerard Mulcahy with GB Kibler Ooze

A win here would see me place in all likelihood, which I wasn’t really expecting to happen. Not that I was complaining of course! I hadn’t actually played against this deck before, but I’d seen it played enough to know how it worked. I was able to remove his first few plays, including a pair of [card]Deadbridge Goliath[/card]s, before landing a [card]Desecration Demon[/card]. He flashed in a [card]Wolfir Avenger[/card] and scavenged one of the Goliaths onto it, but my Nighthawk meant I could race him. [card]Magmaquake[/card] would again take out a Garruk in this game, the Relentless one this time, showing me just how good that card could be.

Again in game 2 I had all the removal I needed…except a [card]Tragic Slip[/card] for [card]Predator Ooze[/card]. I had brought in [card]Cyclonic Rift[/card]s as a way to fight against all the counters, but I couldn’t find one of those either. A pair of Nighthawks kept me in it, but a [card]Rancor[/card] turned his Ooze into something very hard to beat. He had a [card]Ranger’s Guile[/card] to put me at 1 life before he had to sacrifice the Ooze to my [card]Desecration Demon[/card] to stay alive, leaving me dead to a [card]Strangleroot Geist[/card] or a [card]Dreg Mangler[/card]. Instead he had another [card]Wolfir Avenger[/card], which of course had to be sacrificed. I still didn’t have an answer to a [card]Dreg Mangler[/card], though fortunately I had drawn an [card]Izzet Charm[/card] to take care of a Geist. A [card]Forest[/card] wasn’t going to cut it, however,

3-1

Aftershocks

I don’t say this often, but I think this deck could actually be something special. It was fun to play for sure but it also felt very powerful. I’d be hard-pressed to tell you what I’d change in the main deck, everything did work. The [card]Izzet Charm[/card]s might have been the least useful cards in the deck but they are still valuable to control the early game. [card]Desecration Demon[/card] might have been a substitute for Olivia, but he was valuable every time I saw him and won me more games than anything else. [card]Duskmantle Seer[/card] never hurt me and the game plan of putting high-impact low-cost spells in my hand was a good one.

I was a little sad that I never got to test the [card]Hypersonic Dragon[/card] theory. It might not make sense to some people that a five-drop could ever be better against aggro than a four-drop, but it doesn’t refuel their hand while also killing me. The early removal I have SHOULD let me survive until turn 5, at which point my removal just gets better. It remains a theory, but it seems like it would work.

I think this deck can do things, serious things. I’m almost hesitant to say it, but consider testing it for your next big event, because with some tweaking it might be the real deal. Let me know how it goes!

With my Durdle’s Guide to The Maze coming up, I will be taking a break from Standard and playing Modern at FNM this week. I might still be able to write about it, since I have a spicy little brew in mind that uses…Tibalt. Yup, that’s a thing. Stay tuned!