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What's Good?

I don't mean that as in some philosophical question about morality. I don't mean that as a question pertaining to the strength of specific decks in the metagame. I mean “What's Good,” as in the urban (primarily NY) slang for “How Are You?”

“So Yeah, what's good?”
”Word?”
”Yeah, it is what it is.”

Well, it is my turn in the rotation to go to the Magic article tree, and pick something. The thing is, I live in freaking Michigan. It is snowing as we speak, I speak, I write, I type, whatever.

The point is that the Magic article tree is covered with frost. What is a guy to do? I can't even cop out to writing another T1 article, as Michael J. has staged an intervention. The only way I could get Flores out of my living room was to promise to take a month off from the Vintage. Conveniently, there are PTQs going on right now for 1.x. This gives me an out. I can write about Extended.

The thing is, the format has evolved so much, particularly due to Magic Online (although they have different metagames), that I don't feel I have figured this one out by any means. The edt came over to my crib to game. He wanted to run something he referred to as Chapin.dec. This was disconcerting, as the deck could also be described as five colors is probably too many (or alternatively, Gifts Rock... with Wrath... and Burning Wish). Note: This deck will love Damnation. Maybe then it will actually work...

(Hearts, edt, Hearts.)

Rainbow Rock Featured by Patrick Chapin on 2007-02-11 (Extended) As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/13662.html Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifacts 4 Sensei's Divining Top Creatures 4 Eternal Witness 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder 4 Wall of Roots Enchantments 2 Pernicious Deed	Instants 1 Ancient Grudge 3 Gifts Ungiven 1 Putrefy Sorceries 4 Burning Wish 4 Cabal Therapy 3 Duress 1 Life from the Loam 3 Wrath of God Basic Lands 2 Forest 1 Island 1 Mountain 1 Plains 1 Swamp Lands 1 Barren Moor 1 Breeding Pool 1 Godless Shrine 1 Hallowed Fountain 1 Nantuko Monastery 1 Overgrown Tomb 1 Sacred Foundry 1 Secluded Steppe 2 Temple Garden 1 Tranquil Thicket 4 Windswept Heath 1 Wooded Foothills	Sideboard: 3 Tormod's Crypt 1 Akroma's Vengeance 1 Chainer's Edict 1 Cranial Extraction 1 Duress 1 Gerrard's Wisdom 1 Global Ruin 1 Haunting Echoes 1 Morningtide 1 Nostalgic Dreams 1 Plow Under 1 Vindicate 1 Wrath of God
Download this deck in Apprentice format!		Download this deck in Magic Online Text format!

Let me just go ahead and point out some things. First off, this is not how I would build this deck. I think it needs to drop at least one color. Second of all, it doesn't have enough Life from the Loamage. Third, umm, so storm, huh? Interesting...

Edt gave me a goblin deck to play, with Empty the Warrens. This was apparently the match-up he was concerned about. Turns out Wrath, Deed, Elder, Roots, etc. are all good times versus Goblins. Personally, I would be more concerned with Boros. After a few games, I wanted to try the TEPS match-up. Mr. edt played Rainbow Rock and I was on Jelger:

Desire Combo Featured by Jelger Wiegersma on 2006-12-24 (Extended) As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/13403.html Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifacts 4 Chromatic Star 4 Sensei's Divining Top Instants 4 Cabal Ritual 1 Chain of Vapor 4 Seething Song	Sorceries 4 Burning Wish 4 Careful Study 3 Duress 3 Mind's Desire 4 Rite of Flame 3 Sins of the Past 1 Tendrils of Agony Basic Lands 1 Swamp Lands 4 Ancient Spring 1 Blood Crypt 2 Bloodstained Mire 4 Geothermal Crevice 3 Polluted Delta 1 Steam Vents 4 Sulfur Vent 1 Watery Grave	Sideboard: 4 Defense Grid 2 Chain of Vapor 1 Channel The Suns 1 Duress 1 Empty the Warrens 1 Hull Breach 1 Mind's Desire 1 Pyroclasm 1 Shattering Spree 1 Sins of the Past 1 Tendrils of Agony
Download this deck in Apprentice format!		Download this deck in Magic Online Text format!

Game 1 — I double mulligan. Edt is the champ.

Game 2 — This time one mulligan, but I probably would have won if I would have just “gone for it” on turn 4. He Burning Wish into Duresses me, and just tops into more and more Duress effects.

Game 3 — It dawns on me that I should not be casting careful study off Chromatic Star. I lose. This deck has a very non-intuitive feel. Really, you often want to do nothing but Top. Then, when you can Desire for 4 or 5, you “Go All-In.”

Games 4, 5, 6...83, 84 — I win all but 1. This match-up is terrible for Rainbow Rock once the TEPS player knows his / her deck.

We sideboard.

By we, I mean edt. TEPS has nothing it wants to bring in. Eric boards out all his creature removal, bringing anything relevant (Tormod's Crypt, half his sorceries).

I Empty the Warrens, making eight guys on turn 2. He dies. Next game, I Empty the Warrens for ten guys on turn 3. Clearly, he needs a new plan. He tries other things. He loses.

I would apologize for such lousy game descriptions, but this was last week. You think I have time to remember every duel between edt and myself? Besides, I'm not sorry!

Basically, I think this is about a 60-67% match-up for TEPS... per game. This translates to an 80% or better match %. Hrmm. The problem is, it is very hard for Rainbow Rock to beat TEPS when they draw a Top. They can hide their gas on top and fight through the therapies and Duresses. Interestingly, if the TEPS player doesn't know his deck well, he is sure to lose, though I suspect that is true in countless match-ups.

So don't play that deck. I know! How great is an article about a deck that no one plays and that you shouldn't either? If you want a deck list you should play, try building a great mana curve (fourteen one-drops, eight two-drops, and eight land destruction spells). Add some removal and play a ton of fetch lands. Sounds like RDW, right? Add more colors!

In depth match-up analysis! What? That is not enough technology? Geeze. You are killing me here. Okay, fine. What would I play? I really like the idea of playing eight Stone Rains. Right now, the land destruction is more powerful than discard or permission, as far as disruption goes, due primarily to Sensei's Divining Top and Storm.

Look to the Top 8 of the Detroit PTQ this weekend to see what I am getting at...

Interestingly, the hot decks lately include Affinity, NO Stick, U/W control, and decks with equipment. Boy, Ancient Grudge sure sounds like the kind of massage that ends happily...

Okay, here is a brainstorming session for post Planar Chaos Extended. That is the format I want to play. I am digging Planar Chaos a lot. This particular deck is probably flawed, seriously, but it is some food for thought. Here is something off the top:

DiscardTog.dec Featured by Patrick Chapin on 2007-02-11 (Extended) As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/13662.html Print this deck!
Maindeck: Creatures 3 Psychatog Instants 4 Counterspell 4 Fact or Fiction 4 Funeral Charm 4 Piracy Charm 3 Recoil 3 Remand 4 Thirst For Knowledge Sorceries 4 Damnation 4 Duress	Artifact Lands 4 Seat of the Synod 3 Vault of Whispers Basic Lands 2 Island 1 Swamp Basic Snow Lands 1 Snow-Covered Island 1 Snow-Covered Swamp Lands 1 Bloodstained Mire 2 Flooded Strand 4 Polluted Delta 4 Watery Grave	Stats: Average mana: 1.47 Average creature mana cost: 3.00 Average creature power: 1.00 Average creature toughness: 2.00 Deck Composition: Instants: 43.33% Sorceries: 13.33% Basic Lands: 5.00% Basic Snow Lands: 3.33% Artifact Lands: 11.67% Creatures: 5.00% Lands: 18.33%
Download this deck in Apprentice format!		Download this deck in Magic Online Text format!

Planar Chaos gives straight U/B Tog options it never had. First, Damnation is obviously amazing. It adds a radical new dimension that completely changes the way opponents must play. Tog has always been excellent at digging, and with the full compliment of Thirsts and Facts, this build is no exception. Damnation can be found when needed, taking a lot of pressure off when facing aggro decks.

Piracy Charm also is deceptively valuable. It may provide the critical mass of cheap, versatile discard. First, with 8 Charms, 4 Duress, and 3 Recoils, to compliment counters and card drawing, the deck can be heavily disruptive when it wants. In addition, 8 Charms provide a first wave of defense versus creature assaults, which is followed by Recoils and Togs, and ended with Damnation.

Also, the high level of discard can turn recoil into an instant speed Vindicate. As a matter of fact, the large amount of instant speed discard can provide Tog with a lot of Time Walks, capitalizing on the card advantage generated.

Finally, you can respond to a spell with a Piracy Charm, while they have no cards in hand. Then Remand the spell. Assuming it's not an instant, they will have to discard it after it's countered. This could come up against an opponent with a lot of instants, since they have so many instants and you may want to hold your Charms. This combo lets you better capitalize on them.

I am actually adding this paragraph a couple weeks later (technical difficulties). This deck may be fatally flawed because of its reliance on discard. As I said, I believe land destruction is the ticket, not discard.

Okay, so cool on the Magic. How about my adventures in the ghetto, recently? I get this call from a hot girl I just met. She told me her car had a flat and it is -4 degrees out, not counting the wind chill. She needs a big strong man to come change her tire. Obviously, she calls me. Heh.

I drive into the hood, and sure enough she is stuck in a bus stop with a parking ticket and a serious flat. I only have thirty minutes until I absolutely have to leave to reach a mandatory commitment. It takes me about ten minutes to figure out how to use the jack (I am better with the mana than the manual labor...). The vehicle is right up against a curb and it is ridiculously cold outside. I did remember to loosen the lug nuts, heh.

I get the vehicle up in the air and sure enough, after I take off all but one of the lug nuts, the last one is stuck. Eventually, I lower the vehicle again, try to loosen it more, to no avail. I must depart. Fortunately, the girl says she doesn't need the vehicle immediately, so I can come back the next day and “get a sense of accomplishment.”

LOL!

Little does she realize, heh, my ego is not tied to my ability to do useful things. It is much more closely tied to the national debt.

I come back the next day. Sure enough, fine chick is just happy to see me and has faith in my abilities. I get to work on the problem lug nut. It takes me about 3 minutes to realize there is a serious problem. We get a flashlight and take a look. Sure enough, the bolt is stripped. I am very sure this cannot be done with the tools I have (though a good craftsman never blames his tools).

It was at this point I realized I am a Platinum Triple A member. Good times. So I go ahead and solve this particular problem in true Patrick Chapin form. I call someone competent to come take care of it for me.

Fortunately, the truck was nearby because someone's car wouldn't start. It arrived in fifteen minutes and the guy pulled out the power tools. He said it was busted and proceeded to use some absurd power drill thingy to destroy part of the bolt. Eventually, he got it off, but he did say it would have been impossible for any human being without the proper equipment. Impossible you say? Impossible is nothing. I did it using only a Triple A card and a phone.

Long story short, I get the best of both worlds. I was down in a wet gutter, changing a flat, getting bolts off, lifting cars up, all in a suit and tie. Meanwhile, I also got the flat changed, which is no small feat considering the circumstances. What can I say? I broke the format.

How does this relate to Magic? Well, the young lady asked me about what kind of work I used to do. Hmm... How should I answer that? Heh.

Obviously I go with professional Magic player. She happens to know what Magic is because her brother plays D&D. She says a closet dork is hot. I tell her I am definitely out of the closet.

I think I am going to playtest Valentine's Day Plans for next time. Later.

Patrick Chapin
“The Innovator”