Can't > Can

That's one of the baseline rules in Magic when it comes to figuring out how cards interact with one another.

It's also one of the most powerful strategies in the game and Blue has the lion's share of that mechanic. Testing Eraser this week has been an exercise in butting up against this problem, the problem that Blue represents as a whole as a matter of fact, and failing. It finally came together for me last weekend, playing against stonethorn's U-Tron-Karn deck. Cards like Wildfire didn't matter, because they would be countered. Even Obliterate didn't matter! Because Gifts Ungiven would be played in response and he could recover faster than I could do anything about that.

And so many of the decks I've been testing against are running some Blue; Remand is an especially popular spell and Snapcaster Mage is still the best 2/1 creature ever. In a format like Modern, Snapcaster virtually guarantees the extra use of cards like Path to Exile and Lightning Bolt-a card that should be 'difficult' for Blue to access but because mana bases are so powerful, a lot more is within reach. On top of all of that, the card draw in Blue allows it to reduce randomness and boost the timetable of it's win, while finding answers to any problem.

Seriously: there is not a permanent in Magic that Blue cannot handle, which coupled with the stack tricks-specifically countermagic which is all but exclusively Blue- and the affinity for artifacts Blue has, all but doubling the possibilities for the color, presenting a very steep hill to climb.

Eventually, the whole exercise became moot last night while testing with Fuz because I could not beat Affinity. In the image on the left, I knew the game was over on turn 2, when my Sudden Shock was Thoughtsiezed. If I can't win versus blue and I can't beat the best aggro deck in the format, it's time to change.

So where does this leave me? The first possibility is to go back to aggro-either RG or Affinity or anything that can get set up before turn 2, cast multiple spells in a turn, or cast creatures as instants so I can force my opponent to do things on my terms instead of theirs.

The second is to tweak Eraser into cards that always present problems, that can never be allowed to resolve, because I can win off them. That is: cut Wildfire for Gaea's Revenge, Great Sable Stag or something similar. Use them to force over committing to the board then Obliterate and enjoy anything I have left over that they do not.

Finally, I can run discard. Discard has two benefits: it is cheap enough that I can cast a discard spell and then another spell in the same turn and it trumps not just countermagic but anything that isn't an instant. I'm running out of time and I need to pick something soon.

Break You

I tested Eraser against strangers in Cockatrice, which felt like a bold move because of how mentally challenging it is for me. It also wasn't quite as productive as I would have liked, with most players quitting after one game. I like to do best of 3, even if there isn't a sideboard, because that starts to show some data. One win or loss just doesn't tell me enough.

Still, I went 1-1 against a UR storm deck, and man, does playing vs Storm decks suck. The game I won, my opponent did nothing for 5 turns until I cast Obliterate and won off Garruk. The game I lost I was a turn away from casting Obliterate and then had to sit through a very long turn where my opponent had an active Pyromancer's Ascension until they dug up their win condition. I went to the bathroom, got a beer and came back, because I had no way to interact with that board.

Fuz piloted a BW tokens deck which I had a rough time with, and Jund, which I was able to post a winning record (3-2) against. That felt good, because Jund is really popular. I still need to work on that matchup but at least it's something I can power through. I need a way to work around Planeswakers though, because they were problematic in the Jund and later in a Naya matchup where I was starting down a fully powered Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Domri Rade along with an Ajani Vengeant. As you might expect, I lost that one.

I am not terribly worried about this: there are cards, especially in green, to help shore up that problem.

I'm much more concerned about the aggro matchup. After the BW tokens deck, Fuz played a souped-up version of his B/W aggro deck and I found myself unable to win that match, pre- and post-sideboard. His deck was not Modern legal but still, it concerns me. Aggro is often a default choice for new players who aren't sure what they want to do and with the potential to see more than 1,200 people at the Grand Prix, I think it's fair to say that there will be a solid selection of aggro decks.

The cards that might be best in giving me a better aggro matchup are probably Kitchen Finks and Murderous Redcap but I just don't know if they will do enough. Redcap is especially problematic because it costs 4 and most aggro decks have you dead by then. I need a way to beat Affinity at least and waiting until turn 4 to do anything isn't going to work. This means sweepers and the best sweepers effect me, too. Losing Birds of Paradise is OK if I can still win but if not, then I've made a big mistake.

PS: I will be traveling this week, so no Thursday post. If I haven't had a chance to keep testing, then I'll talk about Dragon's Maze on Tuesday!

Eraser

I've been attending Modern events at the local level because there is a Grand Prix coming to Portland in early May and I'm going to take a crack at it. I don't expect I'll win but I wanted to practice so that I didn't go in and embarrass myself with bad play and an 0-6 record. I want to play well for that 0-6 record!

To that ends, I've been trying some stuff out in an attempt to approach things from a different direction. This is the current build I want to test:

2 Koth of the Hammer
3 Garruk Wildspeaker

4 Obliterate
4 Wildfire

8 Forest
8 Mountain
2 Fire-Lit Thicket
4 Stomping Ground

4 Birds of Paradise
3 Hound of Griselbrand
4 Strangleroot Geist
3 Vorapede
3 Predator Ooze

4 Gruul Signet

3 Blood Moon

SB: 4 Electrickery
SB: 4 Burning-Tree Shaman
SB: 4 Torpor Orb
SB: 3 Lignify

This deck is named after the Nine Inch Nails song, and because part of it's gameplan is to ramp up mana, cast Wildfire or Obliterate as a board wipe, then mop up with any Undying (or Persist, which I'm investigating) creatures that are left over. Blood Moon will help give me time, and the resilient creatures will do this too. When everything is gone, I could use Garruk for a beast, or to help boost my mana quickly back up, Koth for mana, a creature (if I have a Mountain) or even the emblem to have all my lands simply tap for damage.

The sideboard is there for mostly aggressive decks-damage, extra creatures, creature control-with a Torpor Orb thrown in for good measure. I don't think the sideboard is correct but there is time to work on it.