Developing Your Mana in Standard

 [Editor's Note: This was originally published on the Asgard Games website in August 2012. Sharing here for archival purposes.]

“[In Stage 1], you are basically mana screwed.” When Mike Flores said this, he introduced the concept of the 3 stages of Magic*. The article is one of his best, and covers all aspects of a game of Magic, but today I just want to focus on Stage 1. 

Looking at the current Standard metagame, I realized that almost all of the best decks share a common ability to control the way their mana develops. This means being able to play additional mana sources when you are light on lands, and also having something to do with your mana when you have excess lands sitting around. 

Look at this Yuuya-style Delver list that won the last PTQ on Magic Online:

4  Glacial Fortress

8  Island

2  Moorland Haunt

1  Plains

4  Seachrome Coast

4  Delver of Secrets

4  Geist of Saint Traft

3  Restoration Angel

4  Snapcaster Mage

4  Gitaxian Probe

4  Gut Shot

3  Mana Leak

4  Ponder

3  Runechanter's Pike

4  Thought Scour

4  Vapor Snag

This deck can run 19 lands because it plays 12 “cantrips” (Ponder, Thought Scour, and Gitaxian Probe) to search for mana in the early game. In the mid to late game once the mana has been set up, these same spells can be used to search for additional business spells, especially when combined with Snapcaster Mage. Combine that with the pseudo-man-land Moorland Haunt and you get a deck that does not get mana screwed as often as others, and can apply consistent pressure over almost the entire game.

Another deck that has been popular lately has been red-green aggro:

4  Copperline Gorge

10  Forest

4  Kessig Wolf Run

1  Mountain

4  Rootbound Crag

4  Birds of Paradise

3  Borderland Ranger

4  Huntmaster of the Fells

4  Llanowar Elves

2  Phyrexian Metamorph

4  Strangleroot Geist

1  Viridian Corrupter

2  Wolfir Silverheart

2  Arc Trail

4  Bonfire of the Damned

1  Dismember

4  Green Sun's Zenith

2  Sword of Feast and Famine

When Avacyn Restored first came out, these decks played Wolfir Avenger in the 3-drop slot. While it might be a better card than Borderland Ranger, it didn’t really fit in with the rest of the deck. The emphasis shifted more to Bonfire of the Damned and Wolfir Silverheart, both of which require extra mana to be effective. So Borderland Ranger is now the 3-drop of choice. Also note that the mana creatures (Birds of Paradise and Llanowar Elves) function in two ways: they help your mana during Stage 1, and during the later turns they can pick up a Sword of Feast and Famine or get pumped by Kessig Wolf Run to push through the last points of damage.

The current Birthing Pod lists also use the 1-drop mana creature into Borderland Ranger shell to get out of Stage 1 as fast as possible, but they have additional ways to take advantage in the late game, turning the mana creature into Elvish Visionary or Phantasmal Image with the namesake artifact.

A good way to see the consistency that these decks have is to compare them with other aggro decks that do not have the same mana principles in mind. Here is a typical blue-white Human list from earlier this year:

4  Glacial Fortress

12 Plains

3  Moorland Haunt

1  Island

4  Seachrome Coast

4  Champion of the Parish

4  Doomed Traveller

4  Grand Abolisher

3  Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

4  Mirran Crusader

4  Hero of Bladehold

2  Fiend Hunter

4  Honor of the Pure

2  Dismember

3  Oblivon Ring

2  Sword of War and Peace

At first glance, it looks similar to the Delver list earlier. Both are UW aggro decks with Moorland Haunt as the end game. But despite running 5 more lands than the Delver list, the Humans list is much more likely to be mana screwed. This is because it wants to reliably cast 3 and 4 mana spells, but it has no way to ensure it gets to those land drops. Also, keeping a hand with the land to cast Hero of Bladehold is risky, because if your Hero gets countered or killed, you now have a bunch of mana in play that doesn’t really do anything. As the format has gotten faster, missing land drops has a higher chance of costing you the game, and, as a result, this deck no longer sees significant play.

Another example of the “24 lands and pray” plan is actually one of my favorite decks in Standard right now: Goblins.

18 Mountain

2  Cavern of Souls

4 Hellion Crucible

4  Spikeshot Elder

4  Goblin Fireslinger

4  Goblin Arsonist

4  Goblin Wardriver

4  Mogg Flunkies

4  Krenko’s Command

4  Goblin Chieftan

4  Krenko, Mob Boss

2  Hellrider

2  Goblin Grenade

This deck is extremely powerful and lots of fun, but it still loses to the mana flood and mana screw much too often to be a Tier 1 strategy.

These are just a few decks that illustrate my point. I’m sure there are many others that exist in Standard, Modern, or even Legacy. Keeping these principles in mind when choosing a deck can lead to a much more pleasant tournament experience.

Later 

Ty Thomason

twitter.com/ceciliajupe

* He originally called them Phases, but changed his terminology later on to avoid confusion with the comprehensive rules definition of a phase. http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/15164_Michaelj_Monday_The_Breakdown_of_Theory.html

Fort Worth Standard PTQ Report

[Editor's Note: This was originally published on the Asgard Games website in August 2012. Sharing here for archival purposes.]

This past weekend I participated in a Pro Tour Qualifier tournament in Fort Worth. Over 230 people showed up, and after nine rounds of Swiss and a playoff that extended the total to almost sixteen hours of play, I finished in second place. This is what I played:

4 Rampant Growth

4 Farseek

4 Primeval Titan

4 Frost Titan

4 Temporal Mastery

4 Ponder

3Whipflare

3 Solemn Simulacrum

1 Karn Liberated

1 Garruk, Primal Hunter

2 Vapor Snag

2 Cavern of Souls

1 Inkmoth Nexus

1 Kessig Wolf Run

2 Sulfur Falls

7 Forest

4 Island

1 Mountain

4 Glimmerpost

4 Hinterland Harbor

Sideboard:

2 Green Sun’s Zenith

3 Blasphemous Act

2 Thragtusk

1 Ancient Grudge

2 Grafdigger’s Cage

1 Karn Liberated 

1 Garruk Relentless

1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast

1 Natural End

1 Huntmaster of the Fells

This deck has been gaining popularity, especially when Gerard Fabiano wrote about it last week. The idea of the deck is to play a titan, and then take an extra turn, which is usually enough to win the game. Playing a titan is still one of the most powerful things to do in standard, and I wanted to play them one more time before they rotate. Most of the lists are pretty similar, so I’ll just talk about the cards I played that were out of the norm.

I chose to play Whipflare over Bonfire of the Damned because I wanted more early game presence. This deck doesn’t need any extra power for the late game; it needs to survive that long. Playing a ramp spell on turn 2 and then another on turn 3 along with Whipflare is a common play, and Bonfire doesn’t let you do that. Sometimes when you draw Bonfire, you would rather ramp than pay the miracle cost, and casting it from your hand isn’t always enough. Clearing out small blockers for your titans to get through is much easier with Whipflare, and it lets you cast additional spells after combat. Essentially I felt I was more likely to lose a game in the first 5 turns than the last 5 turns, so I chose the spell that did more during those turns.

Whipflare performed very well for me all day, doing serious work against Geist of Saint Traft and Delver of Secrets, along with various zombies and mana producers. The other card that was amazing throughout the day was Garruk, Primal Hunter. Drawing six cards from a titan was enough every time, especially when one of them is Temporal Mastery. It’s also a threat that cannot be targeted by spot removal and it lives through Day of Judgment effects.

The sideboard cards are mostly to help against aggro matchups since I didn’t expect much control. I didn’t include anything for the mirror match since I felt the deck was off the radar, but I would add two Phantasmal Images to the board for future tournaments. Every card was effective throughout the day, including the Melira. I was able to zenith for her in game 3 of my quarterfinal match against UG Infect, and my opponent had no outs.

 

This deck is actually fairly simple to play, the only real decisions being which lands to search out with your ramp spells and Primeval Titans, and whether or not to miracle Temporal Mastery. Many times it’s better to just draw the card and not cast it, saving it as a seven mana Time Warp for when you have a titan or planeswalker in play. Other times it lets you cast a titan one turn sooner. The deck mulligans a lot, but it mulligans well. I won several mull to 5, and even one mull to 4. 

I lost my first round of the Swiss, playing against the mirror. I then won seven matches in a row, beating various Naya, Delver, Zombie, and other decks. Naya is probably the easiest matchup, since they can’t really kill a titan ever. Delver is a coin flip but you are a slight favorite after board. Zombies can be a problem if they have a perfect draw, but usually Primeval Titan for Glimmerpost is enough to stay out of range. My top 8 matches were against Infect, Delver, and a UB Tezzeret deck that I lost to in the finals. The loss seemed more like my deck giving up and not drawing any ramp game 3, but it might be a bad matchup. 

If you are playing a standard tournament in the future, I would recommend playing this deck, or a deck that can actually beat this (i.e. don’t play Naya). I’m still deciding between playing this again at the Austin PTQ this weekend, or playing in the Magic Online M13 sealed PTQ. Good luck to you in your future tournaments!

Later 

Ty Thomason

twitter.com/ceciliajupe