Landing

Despite my frustration with the online performance, I didn't change Jetfire afterwards. There didn't seem to be any point.

It does, however, demonstrate something about Magic in a big picture sense. If you check out the top 8 decklists from last weekend's Modern tournament, you may notice something. There are only 118 creature (or creature generating) spells in the maindecks of all of those lists. Out of 480 spells, maindeck. This means roughly 24% creatures with roughly 39% other spells. Only half of the decks there had more creatures than spells and in the semifinal matches, only one deck was creature-focused.

My point is that there is a lot of control out there. Everyone knows that creatures are the easiest path to victory so everyone is prepared. To win most matchups, with creatures as your focused win condition you have to be 1) faster or 2) have better creatures. #2 is why White Weenie archetypes stick around-protection from a color is always good and #1 is why Goblins archetypes stick around: they're absurdly fast.

If I'm going to stick with this deck, then I need to either accept that there will be matchups where they have more removal than I have threats and their removal trumps my creatures, unless I deliberately get off to a blazing fast start, or change the deck to have more removal of my own--like Lightning Bolt instead of Snake Umbra, for example.

8 Forest
8 Mountain
4 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Copperline Gorge

3 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Burning-Tree Shaman
4 Wild Cantor
2 Radha, Heir to Keld
4 Boartusk Liege
3 Boggart Ram-Gang
4 Tattermunge Maniac
3 Jund Hackblade

4 Wildsize
4 Psychotic Fury
3 Sudden Shock
3 Snake Umbra

Still, look at that list. Hard not to love it as it is, isn't it? And in the matches I've been playing lately, it's done exactly what I hoped: swing hard and win quickly. I lost one game when Scott gave his Angelic Overseer double strike via Boros Charm and then paid one more to a Blind Obedience, hitting me for a total of 12 in one turn.

Shit happens. Then again, I have attacked for 17 with this deck, so I am not complaining.

Two Stories

Continuing last post's suggestion of 'Why', Extra Credits has a bit on Why as it specifically regards game design. Pretty cool and somewhat connected. Now on with the show.

I have been tinkering with running both Burning-Tree Emissary and Snake Umbra, in place of Aggressive Urge. Games in meatspace have been very good, with Jetfire winning multiplayer games, which it is not designed to do. It also took a Boros deck apart, finishing faster than my opponent could build up an attack. Very encouraging!

I had a solid game online vs Fuz playing an unpolished Naya build. I took all of these things as good signs. Then he changed to Nip/Tuck, an aggro BW build and I got decimated. Four games, four losses.

This was when I gave up

In at least three of those games, I was subject to mana flooding, having anywhere from four to six lands in play and three to four lands in hand. I started mulliganing more aggressively in games 3 and 4, because I knew I had to get out to a good start. It didn't matter, in part because Fuz drew a lot of removal, and then the winning cards dried up, the draw spells eagerly pushed the lands to the top of the deck and that was that.

At moments like that, I want to blame the program: how can I possibly be mana flooded in 4 straight games!? Isn't this program shuffling in a faulty manner! (Answer; no.)

The truth is a little more complicated: as aggressive as this deck is, the creatures aren't very resilient. Fuz has a lot of removal in the above game and it showed. The fact that I couldn't draw more threats, while problematic, is also symptomatic of the fragility of my creatures. I don't have a lot of removal, I have speed and in these four games, that speed shorted out.

The problem is: I don't know if there are creatures that will fit into the mold of this deck and increase the resilience. Monochrome creatures don't get the boost from Psychotic Fury or Liege. Other creatures are too expensive. Fuz thinks I could have less land in the deck but there are only 21...less seems super risky!

Which is why Snake Umbra is in there now. I can't say it hasn't worked out like I hoped, because it hasn't really shown up yet in games and it's one of those cards that can't be goldfished, it really has to be tested under real world conditions. Still, I feel like there is something I am overlooking and I just don't know what it is, yet.

Faster and Faster

Before this post starts up, I recommend everyone reading this article by Jim Davis at SCG. It emphasizes what I've been trying to hammer on about, not only in decks for myself but with friends who are playing as well. I cannot think of a better place to start, if you want to improve your game, than to ask: Why? Why make that choice? If I can answer that, even if it's a bad answer, I feel I'm much better off as a player.

Whenever I have a deck I'm writing about, I try to goldfish it a lot in my free time. I'm sure many players do: it's a nice way to get a feel for how a deck flows, what decisions seem to help/hinder the goals, etc. As a result, I have discovered why I just don't like Burning-Tree Shaman: it has no immediate board impact for the cost. The only other card in the deck that this can be said of is Radha, but Radha has the advantage of allowing me to cast spells at a discount whenever she attacks and like the saying goes, 'free is a very good price.'

So here are what I feel are my best alternatives:
2 Bestial Fury
2 Snake Umbra
2 Burning-Tree Emissary
2 Rancor
or Radha, Heir to Keld and Sudden Shock.

Radha and a fourth Sudden Shock is very attractive, because it will increase the consistency of the deck and it's inexpensive to implement. I have the Shock and Radha costs under a buck and my money > less of my money. Rancor is one of the best green cards ever printed, and is partly responsible for the shift away from UW decks in Standard, towards RBG decks. However, all my copies are currently in use, and getting more would cost me around $3 apiece. My money rule invoked.

On the other hand, when you're named after the fastest Autobot, acceleration matters which puts Burning-Tree Emissary at the door because free is a very good price. A turn 2 Emissary + Radha/Hackblade? A turn 4 Bloodbraid Elf into Emissary, into something cool I have in hand? The Glory of Cool Things is rising up here in a big way and it's very, very hard to resist.

Bestial Fury holds a great deal of attraction for me for a few reasons: 1) can be cast for free off Bloodbraid Elf, 2) Draws me a card, and 3) makes a tiny creature risky to block. A great deal of my creatures have a power of only 2 and it is only the use of boost effects that they become truly problematic. However, opponents will block to stop the bleeding if they have to: why not make them pay for it? Finally, it's an old, weird card that nobody cares about and as a result it holds more gravity for me.

Finally, Snake Umbra, which I like for some of the same reasons as Bestial Fury, but it also has the advantage of keeping something like a Boartusk Liege alive in the face of destruction. It also has a nice interaction with Wildsize, helping ensure I hit an opponent and get to draw a card, and Psychotic Fury, allowing me the potential to draw two cards.

Looking at my choices, I really want to try Snake Umbra and Bestial Fury so that's where I'll take the deck but I'll also admit that I may have enough card draw and Burning-Tree Emissary might be the best choice.

Jetfire

Built in response to a deck Fuz made called Nip/Tuck deck (which I'll talk about during Orzhov week, because it lead to a Holy Cow thing) my goal was to make something that could outrace it (both the Holy Cow deck and Fuz's.)

That goal was insane, but I tried it anyway.

8 Forest
8 Mountain
4 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Copperline Gorge

3 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Burning-Tree Shaman
4 Wild Cantor
2 Radha, Heir to Keld
4 Boartusk Liege
3 Boggart Ram-Gang
4 Tattermunge Maniac
3 Jund Hackblade

4 Wildsize
4 Psychotic Fury
3 Sudden Shock
3 Aggressive Urge

This is a green-red deck built on blue principles of card advantage. Which sounds crazy but it is the keystone to the deck: 14 cards in this deck get me more cards. Radha allows me to attack with her and cast Psychotic Fury for free. Four boost the entire army and ten attack the turn they enter the battlefield. My biggest surprise? Jund Hackblade, no question. It is stunning how often it will hit for 3 the turn it comes into play. I hesitated using it because it wasn't 'optimized'--in this case meaning, I wouldn't be able to cast it for green OR black. The brain is a funny one.

There are two deviations in this deck and the first one is easy to explain: Sudden Shock. The card is just good. For all intents and purposes, that card cannot be countered and is just the thing to get rid of tiny blockers that might keep me from getting in creature damage.

The second card is Burning-Tree Shaman. This card I'm on the fence about. It's got a cool ability and for the mana cost is very efficient but whenever I draw it I never want it. I don't know if that's because it's not aggressive enough or because I just haven't played enough games with it yet. Time will soon tell but I have a feeling that my issue is that games are ending before the cool ability becomes relevant.

Finally, to head off what will likely be the first question: I am not using Might of the Nephilim because it does not draw a card. Getting +4 (or even +6) isn't as useful as chaining through cards to continually impose threats. You haven't lived until you've given something +1 and then drawn the card to give the creature double strike, then drawn the next card, which is what you'll use to give the whole army +2/+2 next turn. It really is awesome.