I was really pleased with the response that I got from the previous article in this series - so with some match testing data under my belt, plus some reports filtering in from around the net, I can now speak with a small bit of authority on this issue. I'm going to do a card-by-card, but I'm going to try to make it interesting for you. Here's a hint: There's secret sideboarding and match advice hidden in there. Shh! This information would have been much better in Part 1, but I didn't have the testing under my belt to feel completely comfortable about including it.
How To Build UGMa For Extended
For starters, don't go with Brainstorm over Careful Study. No, really. I don't care how many shuffling effects you have. No. No! I'm not a fan of Careful Study on an objective standpoint, but it's absolutely critical for this deck.
4 Careful Study
In case you were thinking about swapping it out, consider the following scenario: Your mulligan down to Island, Basking Rootwalla, Wild Mongrel, Brainstorm, Daze. Do you keep this hand? Only if you're playing in the Bean Bracket. Change that Brainstorm to a Careful Study. Yeah, I thought you'd keep it. All of a sudden you at least"break even" on card economy (by discarding the Walla), and possibly get another land and maybe another Good Spell, and you're two cards deeper into your deck.
4 Basking Rootwalla
The lizard is an interesting conundrum. He's absolutely golden against Tog and will deal ridiculous amounts of damage, forcing them to drop a Tog early and deal with him. Against Sligh, on the other hand, the little guy should probably warm the bench. Reason?"Pump the Rootwalla""Shock/Cursed Scroll/Lava Dart in Response". Result: Crispy lizard, and you're behind on tempo. Did I mention this was a tempo deck? Getting back to Tog, game two they're likely to bring in Engineered Plagues, so these guys might become a liability. However, your opponent is more likely to name Spellshaper because of:
4 Waterfront Bouncer
Yes, four. This guy single-handedly wins what would be otherwise atrocious matches for you. He is your game 1 answer to Oath and Reanimator. He makes life extremely difficult for Psychatog. He is also little more than roadkill against Sligh, so he's another prime candidate for benchwarming in that match. Already it looks like we have a lot of benchwarmers - but to continue with the sports metaphor, it's good to have a deep bench. I would probably run seven of these guys main, except that I'm a judge and I'd have to DQ-No Prizes myself for cheating.
-N Gilded Drakes
Yes, that's a minus sign. No, Drakes don't belong anywhere in the main deck, and probably not in the board. Drakes were cute for Houston, and not a bad answer for Visara - but they are much, much less useful if the other person is prepared for them, especially with bounce or Drakes of their own. Why would you want to give your opponent a guy who can block more than 50% of your team before combat tricks, and makes Wonder worse? Forget getting cute with the Bouncer, too... It takes mana that would be better spent either casting dudes or bluffing (better - not bluffing) counterspells. Instead, you probably run:
3-4 Aquamoeba
The other clear meat. His big behind is actually critical to slowing Sligh down. Think of him as a blue wall with benefits and you'll see my point. Overall, a solid contributor to the team.
4 Wild Mongrels
An autographed Foil Beta Black Lotus to the person who can convince me to board this guy out.
4 Arrogant Wurm
Really the finisher for the deck, barring the occasional appearance from his Big Brother. An instant-speed threat of credible proportions, I'd be hard-pressed to think of a situation where these would come out as well.
2 Intuition
Two Intuitions is the correct number. You will not cast it more than once, and you won't cast it on turn 3 in most cases. Fetching Roars and a Wonder is fairly degenerate, yes? Some people have show a preference for Deep Analysis, which I considered briefly. Intuition gets the nod, though, for it's instant speed and higher overall synergy with the deck.
4 Circular Logic
You will likely never cast these before turn 3 anyway, so you should have occasion to fill up your graveyard. Mana curves being what they are, even a Logic for one is a hard counter these days.
2-3 some other counter
In my mind, the only real choice here is between Daze and Mana Leak. If you're expecting more control, go with Daze, as it will allow you to act on the critical early turns and still stop that Oath or Deed. Against beatdown decks, Leak is superior. The correct procedure is to not cast anything on your third turn, assuming you have matched them drop-for-drop. A Mana Leak will then stop another one or two-drop on their 3rd turn, and you can just Madness out the Arrogant Wurm on turn 4, drop another land, and be ready with the Circular Logic in your hand for their next turn. A remote consideration is Foil, if only because it provides the possibility for a tremendous swing in tempo. Not only are you stopping whatever they were going to do and wasting their mana, but you added another 4/4 trampler to the board for three mana. Undermine never had it so good.
2-3 Roar of the Wurm
I run three, just because I expect a field full of Sligh. These guys are the first to come out, though, in control and combo matches. Reason? They're 4 CC sorceries that are extremely vulnerable to bounce and Pernicious Deed. Generally, aggro-control decks should avoid tapping out against a control deck, because if they're going to do something degenerate to win the game, it's probably going to be in their main phase.
N Wonders
I'm only running two, but I really think the correct number should be three. Possibly. The reason is that Wonder allows you to win some races that you have no business winning. You can fly right over Sligh and Rock for the win, leaving the opposing players muttering about"just one more turn...". Wonder is even helpful in the Tog match - especially given that most Tog variants only run one Wonder, planning to draw it eventually in the course of the graveyard building Tog does so well.... Whereas without Wonder, your team sits and stares at Dr. Teeth, with Wonder you sail over for ten and leave them Wishing for an answer.
Land
Keep it simple. If it doesn't produce Blue or Green, it doesn't belong in the deck. City of Brass is bad if you're expecting to see Mountains; consider something less painful. Treetop Village could be fun, or even a Lair land might not be too horrible.
The Sideboard
I had a chance to test a few different cards, here are some good candidates for your consideration.
Merfolk Looter is an astounding card to bring in against Tog, and is really a must-counter for them. He finds you your countermagic, he spits out creatures, and he is generally your best friend if their removal won't send him to the Emergency Burn Unit. Not as useful against Oath, but you could certainly do worse to bring him in.
If you're going to pack Chills, bring four; you need them early or not at all.
You need 4x"Bounce Spell of Your Choice". The candidates are:
Curfew is good against Multani, Can't Target Me. That's it. I'm personally willing to take this chance, but you might be more paranoid about this than me.
Aether Burst is well proven and is stupid-good when used in conjunction with Intuition. It has the added advantage of being a little passé at the moment, so you don't have to worry about getting into silly Burst wars. It can't be Misdirected after the first one, either.
Rushing River is useful more often and you might bring it in as Naturalize 5-8 in some instances, but if you're really planning on bouncing creatures you might just be better off with Aether Burst. The situations in which you'd want to bounce more than two creatures (say, two Cognivores) are fairly rare, so the only consideration is really the extra colorless.
When Submerge is good, it's really, really good. It's not quite as good in the control matches you expect to face, however (Oath and Tog), as both of these decks are short on actual forests. I'm fairly certain I won't run these, unless pre-event scouting tells me otherwise.
Seal of Removal might be better than Aether Burst simply because it fits nicely into your curve, giving you something useful to do on turn 1 besides Careful Study, and it frees up your mana later to keep developing your threat base.
Cursed Scroll is a major headache, so either run them yourself, or bring in four Naturalize to help make your problems go away.
These are just a small sampling of the sideboard options available to you. I'm pondering a transformational sideboard, which I will probably (rightfully) discard tomorrow, but you can see the options available to the resourceful deckbuilder.
Conclusion
I'm running UGMa because it's pretty low on the radar right now (although rising now, thanks to the Sideboard), and I own the cards for it. It also offers a wealth of options for customization, similar to those Honda Civics that all of the kids seem to like these days: They're cheap, easy to customize, and will occasionally beat a muscle car off the line. It's gratifying to see that my early instincts about the deck are being validated by others across the net - although I don't want to be too validated, or else I'm going to have to start worrying about the mirror. The issue of how much hate you want to devote to Sligh is a significant one, and certainly worth your consideration. Please wear pants and bathe.
Good luck at your qualifiers.
GP
gbaglione@mindspring.com
Incidentally, I now check the forums pretty regularly so if you want to get into a public argument that's a good place to go. Also, thanks to fellow StarCity dude Rusty Kahl for his playtesting efforts.
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