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Kent Magic –
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Return of the Tboy!
By
Anthony Skinner
After
moving back to
Anyway, enough rambling! I had a look at the decks I had made up
and after discounting the proxies, I found I had all the cards for one deck I
had been wanting to play for ages. Which
won’t surprise anyone that knows me!
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Solar
Flare |
Basic Lands (The only change I
made was to add Sideboard (My Design) : 2 Cranial Extraction 3 Descendant of Kiyomaro
3 Guardian of the Guildpact 3 Pithing
Needle 4 Last Gasp |
The main
deck is a pretty much an accepted build of Solar Flare, I hadn’t updated it for
Japanese Nationals, for example, I hadn’t added the Adarkar Valkerie and I also
stayed with 4 Dragon legends instead of opting for Ink-Eyes. On Workstation
this deck always performed well for me so I didn’t see any need to tweak it.
The sideboard could use come explanation though. The Guardians of the Guildpact are there for the Vore
match-up, which is reportedly horrendous, against that
deck they should be an immovable object and hopefully give me time to draw out
of their land destruction. The Pithing Needles were
included because I felt with the event being so soon after the release of Coldsnap there would be a lot of Scrying
Sheet and Counterbalance / Sensei’s Top decks around.
After
ordering some lunch from the friendly staff at the venue (excellent Chips by
the way, hmmm Chips!) the pairings are up and it’s time for round one.
Round 1 Vs Jon Hopkins
Jon is
playing the Summer Bloom deck doing the rounds on the forum at StarcityGames,
it also placed well at German Nationals. At the time I didn’t recognise the
deck at all and thought it was a homebrew deck. Jon finished 10th at
UK Nationals and is currently leading the Kent Magic player of the year race so
certainly a tough match to start the day!
A Typical Summer Bloom deck
MAIN DECK
1 Boseiju, Who
Shelters All
2 Quicksand
4 Tendo Ice
Bridge
5
4 Simic Growth
Chamber
3 Boros
Garrison
3 Izzet Boilerworks
3 Azorius
Chancery
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25 land
4 Sakura-Tribe Scout
4 Firemane
Angel
3 Vinelasher
Kudzu
3
2 Indrik Stomphowler
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16 creatures
4 Compulsive Research
4 Tidings
3 Savage Twister
3 Invoke the Firemind
2 Biorhythm
3 Summer Bloom
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19 other spells
SIDEBOARD
4 Wrath of God
3 Circle of Protection: Red
3 Sacred Ground
1 Boseiju, Who
Shelters All
2 Naturalize
2 Jester's Cap
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15 sideboard cards
(I didn’t see any Quicksands and I am not sure if he
was running these, the rest of the deck I am pretty sure was the same.)
Game
one,
We
roll off and I come off worse in trying to raise a 4 with a 3! I keep one of
those hands that looks good but is not, basically everything you want, with one
missing piece, which in this case was a blue source of Mana.
Jon leads with T2 Kudzu, T3 Azuza, play two lands, T4
three more lands and T5 I scoop … game time under
three minutes. I feel very much like Anakin Skywalker in Attack of the Clones,
foolishly rushing in and being blasted with lightning bolts from the evil count
Dooku! Dusting myself down, I sideboard and tell
myself it is best of three and next time don’t be so stupid!
The
next game starts off much better with Signet, Research and two Court Hussars
fixing my draws. Last gasp from the board takes down a 2/2 Kudzu before it can
get any bigger. At this point he has two Boros
Garrisons in play and two Firemane Angels in the
graveyard (thanks to compulsive research) I cast the Angel of everyone’s
Despair and take out a Garrison, he replies with Wrath and I follow with Zombify, taking out the second Garrison. With little mana turning up for Jon he soon succumbs to the 5/5 Flyer
and we are on to game 3.
3rd
Game starts well for both of us, with Jon having Turn 1 Scout and many bounce
lands, I have good mana, with access to all three
colours in my opener. Two Court Hussars again fix my deck and two Wrath of Gods
take down successive Firemane Angels. I then cast
Cranial Extraction and remove them from the game before they come online. This
is the first I see of his deck design and I see Biorhythm, Invoke the Firemind
in the deck. Azuza, Tidings and Invoke in hand.
Guardian
of the Guildpact and Angel of Despair have Jon on a
one turn clock, but fearing Savage Twister, Azuza,
lay two lands cast Biorhythm for the win, I cast Wrath and follow with Zombify to destroy a Boros
Garrison. Invoke then takes down the Angel and I follow up with Yosei with Eijanjo castle and one
white untapped, Jon plays Invoke number two to draw seven but doesn’t draw the
Twister he needed to take down the Dragon and was one mana
short in any event due to the Castle.
Matches
1 -0 (Games
2-1)
The
other rounds are more from memory as I was able to write up the first round
during the lunch break.
ROUND 2 Vs James McCafferty
Playing Computer
Says No!
Glen White, has written an in-depth article to playing this
U/W Snow Control deck on MTG Salvation, which can be seen here
Threats
1 Yoseii, the
Morning Star
1 Keiga, the
Tide Star
1 Debtor’s Knell
3 Jötun Grunt
Card Drawing
3 Gifts Ungiven
3 Telling Time
General Control
3 Counterbalance
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Hinder
3 Rewind
Control vs
Aggro
4 Wrath of God
3 Cover of Winter
3 Condemn
Land
4 Scrying
Sheets
4 Boreal Shelf
4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Ghost Quarter
4 Snow-Covered Plains
6 Snow-Covered
Sideboard
3 Jester’s Cap
3 Pithing
Needle
3 Jester’s Sceptre
3 Evacuation
1 Jötun Grunt
2 Mouth of Ronom
The
differences I remember from this list is that the
Jester Scepters and Vexing Sphinxes were in the main
deck, the first game came down to whether Angel of Despair was imprinted on the
Scepter. Finding the correct play was difficult.
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2 Mana
Untapped |
Scrying sheets (tapped) |
other mana (tapped) |
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James 8 Life |
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Me (My Turn) 8 Life |
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8 Mana
Available (3 White) |
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Relevant Cards in Hand |
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Assuming
there is nothing relevant under the Scepter I can
just attack with Kokoshu. If my opponent casts
Condemn, my next play is Wrath of God and he doesn’t have Scepter
mana so we would be back to a clear board. If my
opponent takes five I can cast Wrath and potentially win. However, I am on
eight life, should my opponent counter the Wrath with
the Scepter then I take 8 next turn and lose as there
are plenty of cards in graveyards to pay for the Grunts upkeep costs.
The
same is if I attack and then cast Angel of Despair targeting the Kokoshu, if he has it under the Scepter
or Remand or Mana Leak I lose. However, as one Angel
has already been Wrathed away and there are only 3 in
the deck, the chances of it being under the Scepter
are slim.
Alternatively,
I can make no play and wait for the cumulative upkeep of the Grunts to take
them out of play. However, if he has another grunt I am in bad shape, as if my Wrath
gets countered I lose. I feel my opportunity is now, before he gains too much
advantage from his Scrying sheets and gets to untap with mana to play Hinder as
an additional option.
I
decide the best course of action is to play a pre-combat Angel of Despair, if
it gets countered, then Kokoshu stays at home, Next
turn he will need two condemns to stay in the game and
Wrath will do him no good on 3 life with Kokoshu on
the board.
I
play the Angel, it resolves and I destroy one of the Jotun
Grunts to make sure I don’t lose to Faith Fetter’s or some such nonsense! The
play turns out to be a good one for me and I win a turn later with my flying
team.
Game
2
Starts off in similar fashion with lands and card drawing and an
exchange of threats and Wraths. The board looks pretty equal with neither of us having
control when James realises he has made a major procedural error by accident and
concedes the game.
Matches 2-0 (games 4-1)
ROUND 3 Vs Sean Smith (URg Tron)
A typical URg Tron List
23
lands
4 Steam Vents
3 Breeding Pool
3 Shivan Reef
1 Island
12 Tron
5 creatures
3 Simic sky swallower
2 Keiga, the Tide Star
32 spells
4 Izzet signet
3 Simic signet
3 Wildfire
4 Compulsive research
4 Mana leak
4 Remand
2 Pyroclasm
2 Electrolyze
2 Tidings
1 Demonfire
3 Repeal
Sean
has only just come back to the game after a long break and made up his URg Tron deck the night before
the tournament. Game 1 is a bit of a disappointment as I keep another sketchy
hand on the draw, I have got to work on my Mulligan strategy! 4 Turns gone and
I still have only the original two lands I started with L An SSS and Wildfire later and I give up and
go to game two. I only cast two spells in the entire game, Wrath and Persecute,
both of which were countered.
Game
two looks good with turn three Persecute off a signet, but Sean has tech and
responds with Ignorant Bliss !
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Sometimes
you just get the feeling it is not going to be your day. This acts like a 2cc
Dismiss against hand disruption! This
game goes long and it looks really bad for me as my only card in hand is the
Angel of Despair. I then draw Remand and have plenty of land so wait a turn to cast it with counter back-up. He casts
Annex, which I Remand as I can’t afford to lose my Chancery, plus he has
another blue source to counter the Angel with anyway. Off my Remand I draw
another Remand, untap and draw Remand number three!
I
cast Angel and Remand stops Mana Leak, I destroy a
Steam Vents to keep him down to one Red mana source.
I now draw into some Gas, I don’t remember what exactly but I remember the
game was close. I cast Cranial Extraction and remove his Simic
Sky Swallowers and see that he only has one Demonfire in his forty odd cards left as a win condition.
He shuffles, untaps and draws the one Demonfire straight off the top!!!! Luckily I am at high
twenties on the life total thanks to Miren the
Moaning Well and he is a couple of points short when I win with the flying
Dragon Legends. |
With
thee minutes left on the clock we begin game three but five turns are called on
Sean’s first turn and the match ends up in a draw.
Matches 2-0-1 (Games 5-2)
Round 4 Vs Glen White (TO of Gravesend Magic) Playing 8 Stone Rain.dec
Glen
is playing a deck that finished in the Top 8 of Japanese Nationals, with Stone
Rain and Cryoclasm Main deck.
Shohei Yamamoto
2006 Japanese Nationals Top 8
21 Land
2
4 Stomping Ground
4 Breeding Pool
4 Steam Vents
2
2
2 Shivan Reef
1 Skarrg, the Rage Pits
24 creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Kird Ape
4 Trygon Predator
4 Ninja of the Deep
Hours
4 Rumbling Slum
15 other spells
4 Stone Rain
4 Cryoclasm
4 Remand
3 Umezawa's Jitte
Sideboard cards
4 Giant Solifuge
2 Iwamori of the Open Fist
2 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
4 Savage Twister
2 Thoughts of Ruin
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Game
One he gets an activate Jitte on turn 4 when I tap
out for Compulsive Research. I am lucky in this game drawing seven mana and seven threats plus Wrath. I can afford to chump Jitte wearing Elves until eventually more Yoseis, Kokoshus and Despairing
Angels come online. Cyroclasm
really wasn’t very good in this matchup as I don’t
run Hallowed Fountain and had no Plains or
Game
Two
I go
to six and keep a hand of Last Gasp, Last Gasp, Mortify and Three land. I draw Wrath and four or five land off the top. This
is another hand that looks good but isn’t that great as I have no threats and
Wrath is my only source of card advantage. Jitte on
T2 is bad for me and soon I am desperately trying to stop it accumulating
counters. I hold out for a very long time exchanging removal for threats, but unfortunately
can only find two creatures myself in this game. A budgie with a giant Jitte takes me down.
Game
two took so long that there was no time to play the decider. I do feel I sideboarded incorrectly and that
the Descendents I brought in were a mistake, Glen brought in Meloku and Savage Twister to replace the Cryroclasms. I have no real way of making sure I have more
cards in hand save Compulsive Research and they just look too small next to
Rumbling Slum. Paladin En-Vec would have been a lot
better.
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Matches 2-0-2 (Games 6-3)
Round 5 Vs Tim Wheeler (Playing Solar
Flare)
I am
paired up against Tim who is (3-0-1) and get to play a Control mirror match,
which I am old and sad enough to enjoy! I would find out later that Tim is
playing a version with Adarkar Valkerie
over Yosei and has Ink-Eyes as well.
We
start things off and Tim wins the dice roll and elects to play, unfortunately
he has to mulligan to five, and takes the news like he just heard his Dog has
died! I have a good hand and although Tim comes back into the game by drawing
the mana he needs to cast Wrath and Persecute I have
two Remands at the right time to force through the damage from my Dragon
Legends.
Game
2 is fairer and we both keep good hands. I gain an advantage with my boarded
Extractions, which I note he does not have. The first takes out an Angel of
Despair and the second his Kokoshu (each netting one
more from the deck as well) , he comes back with
several Castigates ripping card drawing and Zombifys
from my hand. Eventually I draw into Meloku and my
Angels and they do the business.
Matches (3-0-2) Games (8-3)
Finish
2nd and win 9 boosters from Rav Block. It was really good to get out there and play
again, I felt I learnt a lot about the format and went away with some ways to
improve the Solar Flare deck for this metagame to
give it some greater flexibility. The real weakness seems to be the lack of
counters or the ability to board into them. Mana leak
would only be good in the early game and Rewind wouldn’t be great because of it’s double blue cost and the rest of the deck being at
Sorcery Speed, so I don’t see much help there, perhaps the Azorious
cards from Dissension may prove better.
I
also think this deck loves it acceleration and that Grand Arbiter IV would be
an excellent addition, as a “Super Signet”
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The mana base would need a bit of tweaking, and some of the
Black cards would need to go to accommodate the extra blue. For example, you
could swap the Kokoshus for Adarkar
Valkerie and drop the Persecutes for the Grand
Arbiter. You should still be able to leave enough black mana
sources to run Mortify, Zombify and the late game
Angel of Despair. You can also add some more of the dual lands to smooth the mana problems, but beware of Cryoclasm
and Bloodmoon if they are popular in your area.
Nothing worse than taking five for playing a Godless Shrine!
Solar
Flare loses little in the rotation so I would expect some form of it to be
around when you shuffle up for the
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1 Eiganjo Castle |
Thanks
for reading!
Anthony