A Dependency Lesson

Vs.

Which card makes more zombies?

As long as you have four mana Unhallowed immediately gives you two zombies regardless of the situation. How many does Ranks give you? It depends. That means dependency and dependency is bad.

With Ranks, if you have at least two other zombies in play then you get another one during your next upkeep. Having two zombies on the battlefield isn't exactly a monumental achievement, but it's more difficult than you might expect.

Your playing a zombie deck so you should have plenty of zombies right? Not necessarily. You need to save room for Doom Blades. Maybe some Grasp of Darkness and Distress. You could just cut all these good cards for wimpy zombies to help feed Ranks but that's a bad idea. Don't swap out generally powerful cards for generally weak ones.

Zombies die a lot too. Creatures attack and block. Shock, Oblivion Ring, Day of Judgment, etc. will wipe out your undead servants, especially if your opponent sees Ranks on the table. Assuming you do manage to keep two zombies on the battlefield, then during your next upkeep you get one zombie - half as many as Unhallowed and a turn slower.

If you play another zombie and if none of your zombies die then during your next upkeep you will make two more zombies meaning after meeting all these requirements and waiting two turns Ranks finally makes one more zombie than Unhallowed.

Once you get this far with Ranks things are looking up! Barring a combat calamity or board sweeper you're probably going to get even more zombies. If your opponent hasn't killed you by now or hasn't deployed an army of Titans, then you might win. Zombies will spew forth. Two, four, six, eight, the possibilities are endless! Beware of cards that say "If you are already winning then you win by more. If you are losing then you still lose".

While Endless Ranks of the Dead is tempting, Moan of the Unhallowed will provide more zombies a majority of the time. I imagine if you cast each card ten times it would go something like this (warning: made up stats follow): Casting Unhallowed ten times will give you 20 zombies plus 4 for flashing it back twice. Ranks will give you zero zombies half the the time, one zombie three times, two once and ten once. Much worse.

One more thing. You're playing Cemetery Reaper and Call to the Grave right? These cards require zombies to work at full strength so put in cards that make zombies (Unhallowed) instead of requiring more (Ranks).

Merry Christmas!

May you get Magic cards.

Removal, Briefly

"Removal is a spell or ability that is used to remove permanents from play" (MTG Salvation). Removal is a form of disruption. Unlike countermagic and discard, it can be used "after the fact" and unlike bounce, it's effects are permanent.

Many permanents have a huge effect on the game. A Grave Titan cannot be ignored. Olivia Voldaren or Jace, the Mind Sculptor will win a game given enough time. These cards are bombs; removal is the the anti-bomb. A Baneslayer Angel is extremely powerful, and so is the Doom Blade that takes her down.

To show up to a match without removal is to say you aren't concerned about your opponent's permanents. This is almost always a bad idea. No matter what your plan is, there will be permanents that will defeat you if not dealt with. Yes, bring your bombs, but bring your anti-bombs too.

Pauper Top Decks: Delver Edition

It's been a while since my original Pauper Top Deck Averages article, and it's high time for an update!

For my Top Decks articles I calculate averages of the most successful decks according to the MTGO Daily Events. Today's update uses a much smaller data set than the original, but all of the data is fresh. This data set spans 44 Constructed Pauper Daily Events from Dec 5th to Dec 14th. Every deck that scored 3-1 or better in those events is included. There were 403 decks total.

Let's jump in!

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#1 White Weenie	count: 52
-- main -- 20.6 Plains 2.9 Benevolent Bodyguard 2.9 Guardian of the Guildpact 3.8 Icatian Javelineers 2.7 Kor Sanctifiers 4.0 Kor Skyfisher 4.0 Razor Golem 4.0 Squadron Hawk 3.7 Suture Priest 3.6 Bonesplitter 2.6 Journey to Nowhere 2.3 Prismatic Strands 2.5 Unmake 0.3 Knight of Sursi 0.7 Leonin Skyhunter 0.4 Lone Missionary 0.2 Order of Leitbur 0.3 Secluded Steppe 0.2 Mana Tithe	-- sideboard -- 1.7 Benevolent Unicorn 2.7 Crimson Acolyte 2.4 Dust to Dust 2.8 Holy Light 1.8 Standard Bearer 0.7 Obsidian Acolyte 0.2 Serrated Arrows

White Weenie is still the deck to beat. I find it hard to hate on this honest deck.

#2 Goblins	count: 47
-- main -- 16.4 Mountain 0.4 Teetering Peaks 4.0 Goblin Bushwhacker 4.0 Goblin Cohort 3.9 Goblin Sledder 3.9 Mogg Conscripts 3.2 Mogg Flunkies 3.8 Mogg Raider 3.9 Mogg War Marshal 3.2 Sparksmith 3.6 Chain Lightning 2.0 Death Spark 1.0 Fireblast 4.0 Lightning Bolt 1.0 Jackal Familiar 1.4 Goblin Arsonist	-- sideboard -- 1.7 Flaring Pain 2.2 Gorilla Shaman 3.1 Pyroblast 2.4 Seismic Shudder 1.6 Smash to Smithereens 1.1 Sylvok Lifestaff 0.3 Flame Jab 0.6 Flame Slash 0.3 Molten Rain 0.5 Raze 0.3 Martyr of Ashes

Goblins are back! To be fair, they weren't really missing, but they're up from #6 to #2. Moving right along...

#3 Blue Control

count: 45

-- main -- 16.8 Island 1.2 Quicksand 3.5 Cloud of Faeries 3.9 Delver of Secrets 3.7 Ninja of the Deep Hours 0.3 Pestermite 3.8 Spellstutter Sprite 3.2 Brainstorm 4.0 Counterspell 0.4 Deprive 3.1 Force Spike 3.0 Gitaxian Probe 0.7 Piracy Charm 3.3 Snap 1.1 Think Twice 1.2 Spire Golem 1.0 Exclude 2.1 Preordain 0.3 Opt 0.9 Phantasmal Bear 0.4 Stitched Drake 0.4 Gush 0.6 Daze 0.3 Accumulated Knowledge

-- sideboard -- 3.6 Echoing Truth 3.3 Hydroblast 0.2 Relic of Progenitus 0.9 Sea Sprite 1.1 Dispel 0.7 Serrated Arrows 2.6 Weatherseed Faeries 0.2 Disrupt 0.5 Boomerang 0.5 Curse of Chains 0.7 Steel Sabotage

Who's that in monoblue control? With 3.9 copies of Delver of Secrets, the only spell people use more in this deck is Counterspell.

#4 Affinity

count: 39

-- main -- 4.0 Great Furnace 4.0 Seat of the Synod 3.8 Tree of Tales 3.9 Vault of Whispers 4.0 Atog 3.8 Carapace Forger 3.8 Disciple of the Vault 4.0 Frogmite 4.0 Myr Enforcer 1.1 Chromatic Sphere 4.0 Chromatic Star 1.5 Fling 4.0 Galvanic Blast 0.5 Scale of Chiss-Goria 3.7 Springleaf Drum 4.0 Thoughtcast 0.8 Ancient Den 1.3 Somber Hoverguard 1.2 Prophetic Prism 0.4 Rush of Knowledge 1.2 Darksteel Citadel 0.2 Terrarion

-- sideboard -- 1.0 Ancient Grudge 0.3 Auriok Sunchaser 3.0 Duress 1.4 Gorilla Shaman 2.6 Hydroblast 2.9 Krark-Clan Shaman 0.7 Raze 1.4 Pyroblast 1.1 Scar

Affinity still puts up good numbers. Hasn't changed much since metalcraft.

#5 Infect	count: 33
-- main -- 16.3 Forest 4.0 Blight Mamba 2.0 Cystbearer 4.0 Glistener Elf 4.0 Ichorclaw Myr 3.7 Groundswell 3.9 Invigorate 1.9 Lotus Petal 3.6 Mutagenic Growth 4.0 Rancor 1.0 Ranger's Guile 4.0 Vines of Vastwood 1.3 Tranquil Thicket 2.1 Apostle's Blessing 2.3 Predator's Strike 1.4 Gitaxian Probe 0.2 Land Grant 0.2 Llanowar Augur 0.2 Briar Shield	-- sideboard -- 2.6 Hornet Sting 2.7 Nature's Claim 1.4 Rot Wolf 2.6 Sandstorm 1.4 Corpse Cur 0.8 Viridian Longbow 0.5 Fog 0.4 Gather Courage 0.5 Leeching Bite 0.2 Scattershot Archer

Infect is down from #3. Still a decent chunk of the field, and still all but replaced mono green stompy.

#6 UR Post

count: 28

-- main -- 4.0 Cloudpost 4.0 Glimmerpost 8.0 Island 5.5 Mountain 1.3 Terramorphic Expanse 0.8 Mnemonic Wall 2.9 Mulldrifter 1.8 Sea Gate Oracle 1.0 Capsize 1.2 Compulsive Research 2.3 Condescend 0.9 Counterspell 1.0 Deep Analysis 1.0 Firebolt 2.9 Flame Slash 1.1 Forbidden Alchemy 2.6 Lightning Bolt 1.8 Mystical Teachings 0.9 Negate 3.0 Preordain 0.6 Prohibit 3.5 Prophetic Prism 1.1 Rolling Thunder 0.4 Staggershock 0.4 Izzet Boilerworks 0.5 Echoing Truth 0.4 Evolving Wilds 0.6 Expedition Map 1.5 Mana Leak 0.4 Mysteries of the Deep 0.8 Steamcore Weird 0.4 Think Twice

-- sideboard -- 1.5 Ancient Grudge 1.0 Curfew 0.3 Geistflame 2.2 Hydroblast 2.6 Pyroblast 1.9 Seismic Shudder 0.4 Serrated Arrows 1.1 Ulamog's Crusher 0.4 Dispel 1.5 Earth Rift 0.5 Shattering Pulse 1.2 Stone Rain 0.2 Piracy Charm 0.2 Gorilla Shaman

My data gets a little weird here. For some reason the UR Post decks split in two. They look pretty similar. It might have split because of a variety of quantity diffs (one set uses 3 of this and 1 of that and vice versa). The bulk of the diffs might actually be in the sideboard. In any case, the sum of the two sets is an impressive 41 decks which would place UR Post as a whole around #4.

#7 Storm	count: 18
-- main -- 6.6 Island 4.2 Mountain 2.6 Terramorphic Expanse 3.9 Goblin Bushwhacker 3.9 Brainstorm 4.0 Desperate Ritual 4.0 Empty the Warrens 3.8 Gitaxian Probe 2.2 Gush 2.8 Lava Dart 3.6 Lotus Petal 4.0 Ponder 4.0 Preordain 4.0 Rite of Flame 3.9 Seething Song 0.4 Pyretic Ritual 2.7 Manamorphose 1.4 Evolving Wilds 0.6 Forgotten Cave	-- sideboard -- 0.8 Deep Analysis 3.3 Dispel 1.2 Echoing Truth 3.2 Hydroblast 0.6 Goblin Sledder 1.4 Flaring Pain 1.2 Pyroblast 0.7 Gorilla Shaman

Storm. No comment.

#8 Red Storm	count: 17
-- main -- 4.0 Forgotten Cave 11.0 Mountain 4.0 Goblin Bushwhacker 4.0 Kiln Fiend 4.0 Desperate Ritual 4.0 Empty the Warrens 0.9 Fireblast 4.0 Gitaxian Probe 4.0 Lava Dart 3.6 Lotus Petal 4.0 Manamorphose 4.0 Rite of Flame 2.6 Seal of Fire 2.0 Seething Song 4.0 Spark Spray 0.8 Pyretic Ritual	-- sideboard -- 2.0 Flaring Pain 3.5 Gorilla Shaman 3.9 Martyr of Ashes 3.3 Mogg Raider 0.6 Goblin Sledder 0.2 Smash to Smithereens 0.4 Pyroblast

An aggro/Storm hybrid. But mostly Storm.

#9 Grapeshot Storm	count: 16
-- main -- 3.3 Ancient Spring 2.6 Geothermal Crevice 2.4 Irrigation Ditch 4.0 Sulfur Vent 3.6 Cabal Ritual 3.4 Chromatic Star 4.0 Dark Ritual 3.9 Empty the Warrens 3.8 Grapeshot 3.2 Ideas Unbound 4.0 Lotus Petal 4.0 Manamorphose 2.2 Ponder 0.8 Preordain 4.0 Rite of Flame 0.6 Seething Song 3.2 Sign in Blood 1.5 Goblin Bushwhacker 2.0 Chromatic Sphere 1.1 Compulsive Research 3.3 Gitaxian Probe	-- sideboard -- 2.1 Deep Analysis 2.9 Duress 1.8 Echoing Truth 1.7 Flaring Pain 0.8 Shred Memory 0.8 Izzet Boilerworks 1.0 Pyroblast 0.8 Spark Spray 0.4 Innocent Blood 0.2 Riot Spikes 0.2 Holy Day 0.2 Unsummon

The large change in lands splits this one off from the other Storm build. This one also uses Grapeshot.

#10 Delver Aggro	count: 15
-- main -- 15.9 Island 4.0 Delver of Secrets 4.0 Phantasmal Bear 4.0 Porcelain Legionnaire 2.5 Stitched Drake 4.0 Counterspell 4.0 Daze 3.4 Dispel 2.1 Echoing Truth 4.0 Gitaxian Probe 2.8 Gush 4.0 Piracy Charm 4.0 Preordain 1.1 Snap 0.3 Opt 1.9 Vapor Snag	-- sideboard -- 1.1 Annul 4.0 Hydroblast 1.7 Ninja of the Deep Hours 2.3 Perilous Myr 0.3 Curse of Chains 1.5 Steel Sabotage 0.7 Serrated Arrows 0.4 Diminish

What is this? "Delver Control" was really just the old monoblue control deck with 4 copies of Delver, but this really looks like something different. This is what they call "tempo". It's very fast aggro backed up with a bunch of countermagic. The low mana curve and cantrips allow a low land count. I pronounce this deck of the month.

#11 UR Post V2

count: 13

-- main -- 4.0 Cloudpost 4.0 Glimmerpost 8.5 Island 5.1 Mountain 1.2 Terramorphic Expanse 3.5 Mulldrifter 0.8 Ulamog's Crusher 1.0 Capsize 3.5 Compulsive Research 1.5 Deep Analysis 1.5 Echoing Truth 1.2 Expedition Map 2.5 Firebolt 3.5 Flame Slash 1.4 Geistflame 0.7 Negate 2.5 Prohibit 3.8 Prophetic Prism 1.0 Rolling Thunder 0.5 Mana Leak 3.1 Preordain 0.2 Izzet Boilerworks 0.5 Mnemonic Wall 1.1 Condescend 0.4 Counterspell 1.2 Lightning Bolt 0.6 Mystical Teachings 0.7 Evolving Wilds 0.4 Serrated Arrows 0.3 Sea Gate Oracle

-- sideboard -- 1.7 Earth Rift 1.7 Gorilla Shaman 3.2 Hydroblast 3.6 Pyroblast 2.5 Stone Rain 1.0 Seismic Shudder 0.2 Fade Away

Here's the other UR Post.

#12 G Post	count: 9
-- main -- 4.0 Cloudpost 11.8 Forest 4.0 Glimmerpost 0.7 Quicksand 3.7 Tranquil Thicket 4.0 Aurochs Herd 2.7 Llanowar Elves 4.0 Llanowar Sentinel 4.0 Overgrown Battlement 3.3 Penumbra Spider 2.7 Ulamog's Crusher 3.0 Wall of Roots 4.0 Serrated Arrows 2.6 Sprout Swarm 3.2 Thermokarst 0.3 Fangren Marauder 0.3 Fierce Empath 0.7 Wall of Tanglecord 0.2 Crop Rotation 1.1 Reap and Sow	-- sideboard -- 3.2 Gleeful Sabotage 4.0 Matsu-Tribe Sniper 3.1 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss 4.0 Sandstorm 0.3 Grazing Gladehart

G Post maintains it spot near the bottom of the Top Decks.

#13 UB Post

count: 7

-- main -- 4.0 Cloudpost 4.0 Glimmerpost 7.0 Island 2.7 Shimmering Grotto 4.6 Swamp 1.3 Terramorphic Expanse 0.9 Mnemonic Wall 3.7 Mulldrifter 1.1 Ulamog's Crusher 1.9 Agony Warp 1.0 Capsize 2.7 Condescend 1.4 Counterspell 1.0 Diabolic Edict 1.9 Doom Blade 3.0 Echoing Decay 1.0 Grim Harvest 4.0 Innocent Blood 1.0 Kaervek's Torch 0.7 Mana Leak 0.3 Mysteries of the Deep 2.0 Mystical Teachings 2.6 Preordain 2.6 Probe 3.0 Prophetic Prism 1.0 Forbidden Alchemy 0.4 Bojuka Bog 0.3 Prohibit 0.3 Twisted Abomination 0.6 Accumulated Knowledge

-- sideboard -- 1.7 Augur of Skulls 2.6 Dispel 3.1 Duress 0.9 Fade Away 1.7 Nausea 1.7 Weatherseed Faeries 0.6 Calcite Snapper 0.4 Hydroblast 0.3 Serrated Arrows

This looks a bit different too. I built a GB Post deck recently and I'm glad to see a somewhat similar idea here. Cloudpost is so powerful.

#14 Familar Storm	count: 6
-- main -- 3.0 Azorius Chancery 3.0 Dimir Aqueduct 2.3 Evolving Wilds 6.8 Island 2.0 Plains 1.7 Swamp 3.0 Terramorphic Expanse 4.0 Cloud of Faeries 1.0 Mnemonic Wall 3.0 Mulldrifter 4.0 Nightscape Familiar 3.0 Sea Gate Oracle 4.0 Sunscape Familiar 4.0 Compulsive Research 3.0 Deep Analysis 1.8 Foresee 1.3 Scarscale Ritual 4.0 Snap 2.0 Springleaf Drum 3.0 Temporal Fissure	-- sideboard -- 0.3 Benevolent Unicorn 1.0 Divine Offering 3.0 Echoing Decay 1.5 Hydroblast 3.3 Lone Missionary 2.3 Prismatic Strands 2.0 Duress 1.5 Snuff Out

Death by Temporal Fissure. Disgusting.

#15 U Post	count: 6
-- main -- 4.0 Cloudpost 4.0 Glimmerpost 14.2 Island 4.0 Mulldrifter 3.7 Sea Gate Oracle 2.3 Ulamog's Crusher 1.7 Capsize 3.0 Condescend 4.0 Counterspell 2.7 Deep Analysis 2.7 Echoing Truth 4.0 Expedition Map 4.0 Mana Leak 2.3 Piracy Charm 3.3 Preordain 3.2 Serrated Arrows 0.8 Oona's Gatewarden 0.7 Accumulated Knowledge 0.3 Think Twice	-- sideboard -- 0.3 Crookclaw Transmuter 1.3 Hindering Touch 3.3 Hydroblast 2.7 Wall of Tanglecord 0.7 Ice Cage 0.3 Boomerang 0.3 Curse of Chains 1.0 Dispel

Yet another variety of Cloudpost. What are missing now? Mono red post? Mono white post? RW Post? I challenge somebody to 3-1 a daily with a different color post deck. I like the U Post version by the way. No nasty land destruction, or burning everything you drop. Just mana, draw, and crushers. Capsize on repeat is a little dirty, but hey this isn't the casual room. Do what you gotta do.

#16 Delver Illusions	count: 5
-- main -- 18.0 Island 2.4 Calcite Snapper 4.0 Delver of Secrets 3.8 Fathom Seer 4.0 Krovikan Mist 4.0 Phantasmal Bear 3.0 Stitched Drake 4.0 Counterspell 3.2 Daze 3.2 Gitaxian Probe 3.4 Piracy Charm 4.0 Ponder 0.6 Ninja of the Deep Hours 1.6 Spellstutter Sprite 0.8 Brainstorm 0.4 Force Spike	-- sideboard -- 3.0 Echoing Truth 3.4 Hydroblast 0.8 Steel Sabotage 1.6 Think Twice 3.2 Thornwind Faeries 1.0 Dispel 0.8 Sea Sprite 0.4 Serrated Arrows

Finally, we have another Delver build. This one is really cool too. Fathom Seer and Krovikan Mist? Pauper has a new tribe!

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Notable decks missing from the top 16: MBC, RDW, Tortured Existence/Dead Dog.

Most used cards overall (excludes basic land):
1) Hydroblast (597)
2) Gitaxian Probe (472)
3) Preordain (451)
4) Pyroblast (398)
5) Counterspell (395)
6) Goblin Bushwhacker (362)
7) Echoing Truth (353)
8) Lightning Bolt (299)
9) Cloudpost (288)
10) Glimmerpost (288)
11) Delver of Secrets (284)
12) Gorilla Shaman (277)
13) Lotus Petal (260)
14) Duress (256)
15) Dispel (249)
16) Mulldrifter (248)
17) Prophetic Prism (242)
18) Mogg Raider (240)
19) Chromatic Star (230)
20) Brainstorm (229)

Elder Zenith

4 Viridian Emissary 2 Ambush Viper 3 Garruk's Companion 4 Skinshifter 4 Dungrove Elder 4 Solemn Simulacrum 3 Prey Upon 1 Hunter's Insight 4 Overrun 4 Green Sun's Zenith 2 Beast Within 1 Bramblecrush 24 Forest

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I finally built a deck around Dungrove Elder. I was very impressed the first time I saw the card but I've had a hard time finding a home for him since he basically requires mono green. I couldn't really find anything I wanted to pair him with (I'm too cheap for Primeval Titan). However, the fantastic Green Sun's Zenith lets me pair him with himself! Eight "copies" of your build-around-me card is much better than four.

The basic idea is to ramp into a ton of forests via Emissary and Simulacrum and consisently drop cheap, huge, and resilent Dungrove Elders. A pair of 6/6 or 7/7 Elders applies a lot of pressure to the opponent. Elder also combines nicley with Prey Upon for high quality creature removal. The single Hunter's Insight is another cool trick if one of the Elders becomes unblocked - you'll draw a ton of cards with virtually zero risk since the tree man is hexproof.

The problem, however, is while Dungrove Elder is cheap, huge, and resilient he's easy to chump block. Our workaround is venerable Overrun. Not much is better than smashing your opponent underfoot with three 10/10 tramping trees - "BAROOM, BOOM, BOOM!".

As awesome as the Zenith-Elder-Overrun hookup is, we have to have a plan B in case, you know, you don't draw Zenith or Elder, or your Elder gets Despise'd, or you don't draw Overrun and you're getting chump blocked by tokens, or your stuck on two lands.

An aggro team of two drops led by Skinshifter is plan B. The shapeshifter can win games by himself if the opponent dosesn't have an answer. Hit for four on turn three, and four, and five... you get the idea. And truth be told, Overrun is so powerful you don't actually need the Elders. Something like two Emissarys, a Skinshifter, and an Overrun will often be enough for the win.

One last thing I want to touch on is the little set of removal. Finally green gets some respect when it comes to removal. Prey Upon takes out creatures (as long as you have creatures) and Bramblecrush takes out everything else. Beast Within is fantastic because it can take out anything at instant speed. A 3/3 beast for the opponent will be worth the benefit. Also, on more than one occasion I've destroyed one of my own lands during my opponent's end step to set up a fatal Overrun. It's not much removal, but having just a little bit is important. I'd like to increase the numbers on the Bramblecrush and Beast Within but running four Overruns means I absolutely have to have as many creatures as possible. This is also why I choose Emissary over Rampant Growth, though I tested a lot with both. If you feel like you need a little more speed you can swap in some Rampant Growths.

I think this a pretty strong, though perhaps one-dimensional, budget Standard deck. Try it out! Tell your opponent not to anger the trees.

Best Deck in the World

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	Main	Sideboard
	4 Copperline Gorge 5 Forest 4 Inkmoth Nexus 3 Kessig Wolf Run 6 Mountain 4 Rootbound Crag 1 Birds of Paradise 4 Inferno Titan 4 Primeval Titan 4 Solemn Simulacrum 1 Thrun, the Last Troll 2 Devil's Play 4 Galvanic Blast 2 Green Sun's Zenith 4 Rampant Growth 1 Shock 3 Slagstorm 4 Sphere of the Suns	2 Ancient Grudge 4 Autumn's Veil 1 Beast Within 1 Slagstorm 2 Sword of Feast and Famine 2 Thrun, the Last Troll 2 Tree of Redemption 1 Viridian Corrupter

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The Magic 2011 World Championships is in the books. It spanned three days and three formats: Standard, Modern, and Innistrad draft. Japan's Junya Iyanaga was crowned champion and this is his Standard deck.

Junya piloted this deck to a 6-0 start on day one then continued the perfect streak right through the top 8 elimination matches. Of course the "best deck in the world" can't be decided by one tournament (he got some favorable matchups in the top 8 for example) but if a deck goes 9-0 in a tournament of this caliber you know it's powerful.

This is one of the "Wolf Run" decks you've been hearing about. The game plan is ramp into Primeval Titans then fetch up Wolf Run and Inkmoth Nexus which combine to be fatal very quickly. Green Sun's Zenith provides some redundancy to find the Titans.

What makes this version of the ramp deck a bit different is heavy reliance on red. Some versions of Wolf Run nearly completely eschew red, viewing it as a necessary evil to trigger the Wolf Run ability, but Junya embraces red in this build running a full set of Inferno Titans. Eight Titans! No wonder he seemed to draw one every game.

I'm glad to see Inferno Titan in a champion deck because this completes the cycle. We've seen Primeval Titans dominate through land fetching shenanigans since Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. Grave Titan and Frost Titan have shown up frequently as finishers in high powered control decks and Sun Titan has recently seen the top tables in the graveyard based Solar Flare. Inferno Titan had a harder time seeing play perhaps because red decks generally want to be fast, but Junya saw that Wolf Run was the perfect home for the fiery giant.

With a ton of mana ramp, eight titans, and two zeniths you can pretty much count on a titan coming down early. Primeval fetches the lands to get deadly, but Inferno acts as machine gun. The metagame's shift towards weenie based decks (and Channel Fireball's top eight blitz with Tempered Steel) makes the Red Titan crushingly powerful. On turn four you can cast an Inferno Titan and wipe out an opposing Mirran Crusader and Avacyn's Pilgrim, or flay three Memnites. If your opponent doesn't have an answer he'll do it again next turn and potentially hit you for ten. If it's not the titan that wipes your board of weenies it'll be the Slagstorm.

Another little innovation is the ramp suite. He goes with a full set of Sphere of the Suns and Simulacrums. Also note the choice to run the old favorite Rampant Growth instead of the recently hip alternative Viridian Emissary.

Congrats to Junya. This mega ramp, eight titan, monster earns a place in Magic History.

A Story about Spike

Spike wanted to be great at Magic. He wanted to play in the Pro Tour.

To play in a Pro Tour you must be invited, and Spike's best shot was to win a Pro Tour Qualifier. These were large tournaments with a lot of serious players all competing for the same single invitation. This was Spike's goal and he started working towards it.

He studied the game, studied the formats, and played a lot of Magic. He worked hard at improving his understanding of the game and his play skills, and he began to get pretty good. Months passed then a year. He enjoyed seeing his progress and was driven by the thought of reaching his goal and proving to himself that he could achieve what he set out to do.

Then things got difficult. Winning a local Friday Night Magic wasn't a problem for someone as dedicated as Spike, but winning a PTQ was another story. Now Spike had to beat a hundred other Spikes. You see, Spike's goal was difficult to achieve, but that's why it appealed to him. Being great, by definition, is difficult.

Spike was down, but not out. He had been placing towards the middle of his PTQs recently, but he felt like this was his day. He sat waiting for other players to show up. The event was at a comic shop he'd been to before. The format was his best and he was shuffling up what he believed was the best deck. He felt confident as the tournament organizer called out the starting matchups.

He lost four matches in a row and dropped from the tournament. He hated losing, but the more he thought about it the more upset he became because he realized how poorly he played, how many mistakes he made, and how badly he misjudged the format. He put so much time and energy into this and he failed. He failed to do what he set out to do. He tried, so very hard, to win and he lost. He was not great. He was average or worse and he began to doubt himself.

One thing Spike hadn't thought about much until now was his natural ability. Other people were smarter than him. The guys winning these tournaments could get farther with less work. Maybe he was trying to fit a square peg into a round a hole. Maybe he should give up.

He thought about it a while. Yeah, there were people smarter than him, and yeah, there were people who could win without even trying, but he couldn't do anything about that. He failed and had to decide whether he was going to give up or keep trying. In fact, he decided he didn't really care if his natural abilities were suited for winning at Magic or not. He still wanted to win. He still wanted to reach his goal, and he had to keep going. But he realized he had to do something else also. If he wanted to win he couldn't make the same mistakes he made that day.

Spike's failure was painful because he tried so hard to succeed, but through that failure he learned things that he couldn't have learned otherwise. Instead of viewing failure as his own inability and giving up he decided to learn from his mistakes and keep working towards his goal.

In this way he continued on. He still made mistakes, he still lost, but he learned, and he succeeded. He got that invitation to the Pro Tour.

Garruk vs Liliana Redux

Here is my first custom duel deck set. Checkout my article on designing your own duel decks if you haven't already. I bought the Garruk vs Liliana duel deck a while ago, but this re-envisioned version of the their battle is very different. About the only cards which are in both are Garruk and Liliana. This wasn't because I didn't like the original matchup but because I've long since dismantled the original decks.

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Garruk
	16 Forest 4 Sunpetal Grove 2 Brushland 1 Stirring Wildwood 2 Swords to Plowshares 2 Vines of Vastwood 3 Birds of Paradise 1 Noble Hierarch 2 Rancor 3 Porcelain Legionnaire 1 Qasali Pridemage	1 Skinshifter 4 Garruk's Companion 1 Omnath, Locus of Mana 2 Oblivion Ring 1 Behemoth Sledge 1 Troll Ascetic 4 Leatherback Baloth 1 Garruk Wildspeaker 1 Wickerbough Elder 2 Cudgel Troll 3 Overrun 2 Garruk's Packleader

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Garruk's deck is nearly mono green. In fact there are 23 lands and all 23 generate green mana. Another important feature of the mana base is 22 of 23 lands come into untapped virtually every time. This means turn two Garruk's Companion and turn three (or two) Leatherback Baloth's are the norm.

I had to splash white for removal. The first build was actually red and green but I was finding Lightning Bolt and Flame Slash couldn't stand up to Liliana's best threats. Swords to Plowshares was up to the task, however, which is expected since it's arguably the best removal spell ever printed. Thanks to a previous duel deck purchase I had two lying around. A pair of Oblivion Rings round out small but effective removal suite.

The white mana comes from seven dual lands, but also from three Birds and a Hierarch. The mana providing creatures are especially nice here since they can enable a turn two Leatherback but can also provide a single white mana needed to cast a removal spell. Birds of Paradise also tends to make really important blocks against a Steel Hellkite.

The full set of Companions and Leatherbacks along with the Legionnaire form the heart of the deck. Be sure to hook up the Leatherback or Legionnaire with a Rancor whenever possible. The result is usually terrifying. The beats start early and keep coming. This deck is very aggressive. It didn't start out so aggressive but it kept losing. I tried three or four variations of green based mid-range decks and nothing could finish the Liliana deck before expensive but higher quality spells put the game out of reach. I made it faster and faster until it started winning.

Rancor and Behemoth sledge turn your already impressive creatures into game winners, and overrun, like always, powers out victories even when your opponent thinks he's stabilized (do watch out for Mana Leak).

Vampire Nighthawk is the bane of your existence. Don't be afraid to take it out with removal. I've even Swords'd a Typhoid Rats before. The plan is to defeat your opponent before the six drops come online; don't be afraid to use removal to accomplish that.

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Liliana
	9 Swamp 7 Island 4 Drowned Catacomb 2 Terramorphic Expanse 2 Evolving Wilds 1 Duress 1 Bonesplitter 1 Typhoid Rats 1 Dark Ritual 1 Disfigure 1 Inquisition of Kozilek 1 Sol Ring 2 Ponder 3 Mana Leak 1 Marsh Casualties 1 Agony Warp 2 Doom Blade	1 Echoing Truth 3 Vampire Nighthawk 1 Sanguine Guard 1 Trinket Mage 1 Treasure Mage 1 Sea Gate Oracle 1 Phyrexian Arena 1 Crystal Ball 1 Consuming Vapors 1 Control Magic 1 Razormane Masticore 1 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen 1 Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief 1 Liliana Vess 1 Twisted Abomination 1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle 1 Steel Hellkite 1 Necropouncer

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Liliana plays control. There are only 24 lands which is a little low for a control deck, but the two ponders provide a virtual 25th (thanks to the Turbo Xerox Rule) and Sol Ring Provides a virtual 26th (and 27th?).

This deck is very close to the original deck I threw together. It ended up being rather hard to deal with. The Nighthawks are your bridge to the endgame. If left alone they can win the game (especially with a Bonesplitter), and they put the breaks on a lot of threats. They can block, gain life and trade with big attackers. Arena and Crystal Ball provide card advantage and card quality and your host of strong five and six drops is how you plan to win. Be careful with Arena though. You may need a Nighthawk to counteract the life loss.

As Garruk's deck got faster Liliana had to adjust accordingly. Mana Leak is vital here. You simply can't survive to turn six if you don't disrupt the opponent. Use the removal as you need it. You don't want to wait until it's too late. You can be a little more selective with Control Magic though. A Leatherback or whatever has Rancor are excellent choices. Inquisition may be the best card in deck since it's nearly guaranteed to get something important. Sanguine Guard is strong vs Garruk's Companion and Porcelain Legionnaire.

Usually your trying to nullify your opponent's every move to survive, but occasionally you can ramp directly to the end game with a Dark Ritual or Sol Ring.

The Trinket/Treasure mage package is pretty cool. There are one of each mage and two of each "targets". Trinket Mage can fetch up a Sol Ring or Bonesplitter. Both of which are awesome. The Treasure Mage almost always wants to go for the devastating Steel Hellkite. You'll probably only go for the Necropouncer if the Hellkite is already in your hand. It does go nice with a Nighthawk though. Also, I was too cheap to buy a Wurmcoil Engine.

Drana might be the most devastating finisher, but sometimes she's just a little too slow. If you need an immediate halt to your opponent's assault there's nothing quite like Razormane Manticore. Liliana can fetch up whatever you need at the moment. Common choices are Marsh Causalities, Nighthawk, Drana, or Masticore.

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I had a lot of fun putting these together. I'm happy with how they turned out but I don't think I'm done tweaking. One update I've thought about is giving Liliana a Demonic Tutor and Garruk something equally broken... Fastbond maybe? I look forward to upgrading and battling these for years to come.

I've already started on Ajani vs Nicol Bolas too.

Dead Goblins

Until last year I didn't play Standard because I thought it was too expensive. Then I tried an experiment. I wanted to see if I could win in the casual room with a ten dollar deck. Come to find out I could. I built Goblins and ended up 27-9.

Looking to repeat the magic, I built another Goblin deck for a friend as an introduction to Standard.

	4 Goblin Grenade 2 Arc Trail 4 Incinerate 4 Brimstone Volley 2 Darksteel Axe 2 Shrine of Burning Rage 4 Spikeshot Elder 4 Goblin Arsonist 4 Goblin Gaveleer 4 Goblin Wardriver 4 Goblin Chieftain 2 Blisterstick Shaman 20 Mountain

I had the same goal this time around: maximize power and minimize cost. I guess Goblins are good at that. This deck cost eight tickets and started off 8-2.

Most Goblin decks are very aggressive and this is no exception. With 18 one drops and 12 two drops you can count on using every ounce of available mana starting on turn one. The plan is to overwhelm the opponent early and finish with a barrage of direct damage. I call it Dead Goblins, because let's face it, about the best thing a Goblin can aspire to is being hurled at an opponent as a Grenade and triggering a Morbid Brimstone Volley. Shrine, Grenade, and Volley give this aggro deck amazing reach to finish games in true Red Mage fashion.

Designing Duel Decks

Magic can be viewed not as game, but instead as a game framework. Most card games use a fixed card pool. Magic is different because each player brings a customized set of cards to contribute to the game's card pool. Since every combination of decks, or matchup, creates a different set of cards, one could argue that each matchup creates a different game. Anyone who has played enough Magic knows that this is more than a technicality. Different formats and matchups require very different knowledge and strategies.

This is perhaps what makes Magic so interesting and successful. We don't play one game, but an endless variety of games all within a familiar framework. However, this great flexibility comes at a cost.


Imagine Timmy and Spike are lab partners in Biology. They discover they both enjoy Magic and decide to play after class. Timmy has been working on his deck for a while now. It features his favorite 100 green creatures (mostly determined by the power stat). Spike brings his favorite deck too: Legacy Dredge. Spike defeats Timmy before he casts a spell. He doesn't cast a spell in game two or three either. Timmy decides he doesn't want to play anymore. Spike's not really having fun either.

The game created by these two player's card pools is very one-sided and not very interesting. Is there any way that Timmy and Spike can play together and have fun?

What if Timmy built two decks? Wurms vs Dragons. What if Spike brought along some of his other Tier 1 Legacy decks? Now you could imagine Spike piloting Wurms to a narrow victory vs Dragons. Timmy might learn that he enjoys being able to cast spells on turn one (and survive past turn four) as he tries out Spike's Legacy Merfolk.

The concept behind "duel decks" is instead of just building your deck, build both decks in the matchup. This way you can ensure the decks are balanced and the game is fun. In effect, you are custom building your own game within the framework of Magic. Ever want to be a game designer? Here's your chance! There are ten-thousand or so unique pieces to work with.

To get started just match up any two decks you think would be fun to play. You could start with some decks you've already built. Or you could buy two starter decks, or even a pre-built Duel Decks set (I love these things, but don't worry there is still plenty of work to do if you go this route). Don't worry too much about balance yet, just use cards that you like to play with.

Once you've built your decks it's time to test. Play them against each other over and over again. As you play pay attention to whether the games are fun. Which cards are fun in the matchup and which aren't? Also keep a win/loss record of each deck. You want them to be as close to even as possible.

A few examples of things to watch out for. You notice that deck one has no way to deal with deck two's Unscythe, Killer of Kings. Every time it hits play it's an unhappy feeling. Deck one has to end the game very soon or suffer inevitable defeat. Helplessness isn't fun so give deck one a Naturalize. You don't want cards to feel one-dimensional so give deck two a Steel Hellkite. Now the Naturalize is more interesting. If you're playing deck two you could use the Naturalize on the Hellkite, but you might try to wait until you draw a Doom Blade so you have a way to deal with Unscythe if it shows up.

What do you do if one deck is winning too much? You have to understand why. If you not sure then keep playing, and eventually you'll figure it out. Maybe the deck is just too slow. Maybe it needs removal, or more threats. Keep playing and keep tweaking. Value balance and fun. Eventually you will create a game that you're proud to call your own.

Losing Casual Pauper

Sometimes I think I hate Pauper. I built a deck that was different. Game 1 I'm dead on turn 3 to Goblins. Fun. Switched decks to something a little more powerful. Lose to recurring Chittering Rats and Pestermites. Frustrating. Then I play this mind-numbing grind of a game vs endless graveyard recursion as win condition: Pit Keeper and Grim Harvest. Barf.

Is it the format or do I just not like losing? I'm learning that you have to build powerful decks if you want to win. Twisted Abomination isn't a good enough finisher. You'll run into infinite graveyard recursion and lose. You need Ulamog's Crusher and you need Cloudpost. You can't shy away from running four Counterspells and four Rune Snags. You need to play Rancor. The format is too powerful to bring decks without powerful cards. The Casual Room doesn't mean weak. I try to build my own decks, but if I want to win I'm going to have to bring the goods.

1K Post

The beauty of the blog format is I can publish in tiny pieces. For no particular reason the text of this post will be limited to one kilobyte.

I wrote some new tech. It's a mix of the deck viewer and the autopop. Notice this lovely card window on the left. It features the devastating Rancor. Now imagine one of these on a Porcelain Legionnaire. Boom! 5/1 first strike and trample is as cool as that window swap.

Both of those cards are common so I start thinking about Pauper. What other green and white cards can we combine? The new Avacyn's Pilgrim is a very attractive mana fixer in a format with no decent dual lands. Innistrad also brings the interesting Travel Preparations. I'd like use these four cards as a base for a new deck. Throw in Bonesplitter, Vines of Vastwood, Qasali Pridemage, some more quality creatures, and some removal and you'd be in business. 143 bytes to spare.

Single-Player Magic

Sometimes you just want to play Magic by yourself. Or at least I do.

I starting playing solo Magic before I played Magic Online, but I still play today. Sometimes I just don't feel like playing online, or sitting behind a computer. Also there is just something special about shuffling cards, tapping your lands, and windmill slamming down a Terra Stomper. Solo play is also especially good for playtesting a specific matchup. It's just you and two decks - play 100 games if you want to.

Don't I know what's in my opponent's hand?

This is really the only thing in your way from making this work, and I believe it is a very solvable problem. First, you have to separate what you know and what each "player" knows. You know player one has a Mana Leak in his hand but player two doesn't know this. All he knows is player one has two mana up and is playing blue, plus whatever other information he's gathered from that game/match. This is a very important distinction. Once you can separate in your mind what each player knows then you can make decisions for that player based on that information. So player two's Leatherback Baloth gets countered and he makes a mental note - "watch out for Mana Leak".

You might think that keeping up with what each player knows is a bit much, but it really isn't too bad. You just have to "track state" for two players instead of one and it probably makes you a better player. Also it's really not as bad as it seems because of the way Magic plays.

I've tried to play as multiple players in other games with mixed results, but Magic probably the easiest game I've tried to "solo". I think this is because the decisions you have to make are relatively few (play which card/ability when), but also because it's a game of probability. The "correct" play for a given situation is the play that yields the best results most of the time even if it didn't work out that particular time. For example, on turn one, should you should cast Duress? Yes, odds are you'll snag a good spell. Even if your opponent had nothing but creatures and lands it was still the right play. So, when you're playing single-player you cast the Duress even though you know your opponent has no viable targets because it's the right play. My point here is focus on making the right plays and don't get bogged down in what each player knows.

Now sometimes it's just too close and too important. Player one has two mana up with a Doom Blade and Mana Leak in hand. Player two attacks with a Leatherback Baloth. Do you Doom Blade the attacker now or save mana for a Mana Leak to try to catch his four drop? You start to decide what the right play is and you remember player two has a Vines of Vastwood in hand. So, when you cast the blade he's gonna kick the vines to void your removal and smash you for eight. Then you won't have the mana for a mana leak and he'll resolve a Skinshifter. You realize the game pretty much comes down to whether you cast Doom Blade right now. What's the right play? It's not obvious and it's really important. What to do? Roll a dice! Odds for Doom Blade even for Mana Leak. Keep your dice handy for important decisions that you don't want to make. I even use this when it's not a 50/50 split. So I ask would player one know to make this unusual and very smart play? Maybe - it depends whether he noticed X, Y, and Z. Ok then if I roll a five or a six then he makes the play.

How do you sit on both sides of the table?

Don't! Check it out.



You just play side by side. No need to move to the other side of the table or read upside down cards. Sometimes it gets a little crowded on one playmat. You can spread out if you want or just stack cards.

What about goldfishing?

Why not just use one deck? No don't do that! You're teaching yourself to be a bad player when you play vs an opponent with nothing but 20 life. You're never going to play a goldfish. The most you could possibly learn here is "if my opponent does nothing I can win on turn X". That's not all that useful. Bad players ignore the opponent. Good players understand that your opponent's cards are just as important as your own.

Why would I ever do this?

It's fun. I really enjoy playing this way; It's like Magic Solitaire. Maybe I'm just weird, but what I enjoy most about Magic is trying to understand the complexities of the game. Build two decks with whatever cards you have and play them against each other ten times and you will learn a lot. Each matchup has a story to tell. If you pay attention to who won each game and more importantly why, then as you play more games your understanding of the decks, the matchup, the cards in the decks, and Magic in general increases.

Try it out!