If you were following the PTQ twitter buzz between Jamie Parke and myself, this article is probably old news to you already. Both of us twittered our way to the top of the standings after the Swiss. However, where I failed, Jamie succeeded in becoming the first person to tweet after being up a game in a PTQ finals.
My deck choice wasn’t that Mexican Inquisition POS I was scribbling about last week… however, many of the lessons I learned from playing that deck translated nicely into the new format-breaker I brewed up a few days prior to the PTQ: Puca’s Plans.
Creatures (1)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (23)
Spells (34)
- 4 Lightning Bolt
- 1 Plains
- 1 Island
- 1 Austere Command
- 4 Colfenor's Plans
- 4 Cryptic Command
- 1 Puca's Mischief
- 2 Hallowed Burial
- 2 Cruel Ultimatum
- 4 Esper Charm
- 2 Jund Charm
- 4 Path to Exile
- 1 Obelisk of Alara
- 1 Maelstrom Pulse
- 1 Thought Hemorrhage
- 1 Identity Crisis
Sideboard
First and foremost, I just have to ask the question… why hasn’t anyone ever played with Colfenor’s Plans before?! The card is completely bonkers, and possibly the best card draw in Standard. Think about it compared to the mighty Cruel Ultimatum. In this deck, Cruel will often be a 10-for-1 for seven awkward mana, since getting a creature back isn’t very likely. Colfenor’s Plans, on the other hand, is a 7-for-1, at nearly half the price of Ultimatum. Sure, there’s that whole one-spell-per-turn-and-no-draw-step thing, but that’s actually an advantage since it enables the bombastic combination with Puca’s Mischief, creating a very Donate-Illusions like combo.
Cryptic Command, Esper Charm, Puca’s Mischief, Maelstrom Pulse, Austere Command, and Obelisk of Alara are the cards you use to get rid of Plans once its resources are exhausted, and additional Plans help you dig through a huge portion of your deck each game. There were countless times that I’d use Cryptic Command on their turn to counter/bounce my Colfenor’s Plans back, only to play it again next turn to draw another seven. Rinsing and repeating this process enabled me to see well over half my deck each game (and probably upwards of 75-80% of my deck each game). I noticed this trend while playtesting, so I naturally did some singleton slot arrangement to maximize having my entire deck in my hand each game.
The remainder of the deck is poised to combat all the aggro alternatives that are popping up everywhere, as well as having potent end-game spells to combat Five-Color Control and Faeries. Path to Exile and Lightning Bolt are the true superstars in this deck, since Colfenor’s Plans usually comes out turn 5, then you play a land off it and have Path/Bolt mana up. Hallowed Burial and Jund Charm give you ways to handle the troublesome Anathemancer that plagues this deck; however, Jund Charm wasn’t particularly useful for me on Saturday. Charm was really in there as an out to the numerous Time Sieve decks I was expecting, but I avoided most of them that were there, and it proved hard to cast in several situations where Volcanic Fallout (to deal with a Planeswalker) would have come in handy.
After sharing the list and getting a couple other people to play it, I was very confident when they returned to me saying how powerful and consistent it is. I sleeved the deck up for FNM, going 3-0-1 in the swiss before getting the usual mana screw two games in a row in the Top 8. At one point battling against a good Five-Color player I had all four Colfenor’s Plans out, yielding me a virtual 27 cards in hand to his five. He admitted it was pretty overwhelming, dealing with that kind of hurdle, and after he used up all his Cryptics and Brokens I was home free to Obelisk him to death.
Here’s how my PTQ went…
Round 1 versus “Shriekmaw That Ho” playing G/B Elves
“Shriekmaw That Ho” is a young up and comer who said that famous line at a PTQ once while he was sitting a table over; and ever since then, whenever I play Shriekmaw, I always target some ho.
Game 1 I used Bolts and Paths to contain his Putrid Leeches and Wren’s Run Vanquishers, Thought Hemorrhaged his Maelstrom Pulses, then landed a Colfenor’s Plans to pull way ahead. Then I got a Puca’s Mischief in play and swapped with his Leech to lock him out.
Game 2 I boarded in the Vendilion/Baneslayer package, which provided an angelic end paved by the fearless Faerie.
1-0
Round 2 versus Snack Boy! playing Boat Brew
When I got together with Taylor Webb to drive to ’06 Nationals, Snack Boy was on the trip and inherited his nickname by his seemingly endless surplus of snacks he munched on the entire trip. He seriously had everything; Starburst, jelly donuts, jerky, popcorn, sausage on a stick, home made sandwiches, and fresh tortillas. He only had one bag too, and the boy is skinnier than a flapjack on a fritter.
Game 1 his 4/4 Figure met a Lightning Bolt in response. He followed it up with some Knights which died to Jund Charm, and I had to counter his Ajani before landing mine. I eventually got a Plan out and rode the card advantage to victory, locking him out with Puca’s Mischief.
Game 2 was hard fought, with three Paths and a couple of Bolts to squelch the early beats, but he followed it up with Reveillark and I was still stuck on three lands with a pair of Baneslayer Angel in my hand.
Game 3 was pretty crazy. I got stalled on four mana with Hallowed Burial and Baneslayer in my hand, despite a pair of Esper Charm. Luckily I had some one-drop removal and Ajani Vengeant to stall him for a bit before I drew into Arcane Sanctum. When I finally landed Baneslayer, I was at 1 life facing down a Reveillark and a Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender. I blocked the Reveillark, since he could sac the Forge-Tender to negate the Lifelink (can he do it if there isn’t a Red source in play?). I gained the five; he marked down me taking one. When he went to grab the graveyard I told him that we already resolved damage since he had a Balefire Liege in his graveyard, and he forgot the Reveillark trigger would go first because of First Strike. I feel kind of bad about rules screw on a friend, but I can’t babysit with Austin on the line. From there it was really easy to win on the back of a Baneslayer with Cryptic backup.
2-0
Round 3 versus Quan with R/B Anathemancer
Game 1 was freaking brutal. I was stuck on two lands for eight draw steps! Fortunately I had three Path to Exile for his two Hellspark Elemental and Demigod, and two Lightning Bolt for his Boggart Ram-Gang and Ball Lightning. After hitting four land I got Colfenor’s Plans out and didn’t miss another land drop. I got a Puca’s Mischief out and traded for his Ram-Gang, giving him Thought Hemorrhage, but he didn’t choose to use it.
This is where I was regretting taking out that pair of Runed Halos at the last minute. I get stuck on three for a couple of turns with double Thought Hemorrhage in my hand. He was stuck on four, and my first Hemorrhage went for Anathemancer… and he revealed three Demigod! He drew into a land, played a Demigod, and attacked me to 9. I was forced to used the other Hemorrhage on his other two Demigod, which dropped me to “top deck Flame Javelin and I lose” range, and I never got another untap step.
Game 3 was another painful one. I got stuck on three mana yet again, this time with a pair of uncastable Jund Charm in my hand that I couldn’t use to combat his Ball Lightnings or Hellsparks. There was a play late in the game where he unearthed a Hellspark, I went to mark the life total change, and he played a Figure; then put the Hellspark to the graveyard without even tapping to attack or announcing an attack. I gained the three life back, and he got a little upset, but said fine when I raised my hand for a judge.
2-1
Round 4 versus Alicia playing G/W Kithkin
Game 1 she got off to a quick start, but my Path/Bolt plan worked its wonders to get me to the mid game. She resolved a Gaddock Teeg, and immediately I predicted trouble this match with that card. I used a Jund Charm to two-for-one her, then used an Esper Charm to put her all in on a Figure of Destiny while I have Colfenor’s Plans, Cryptic Command, and Ajani Vengeant in hand. The two cards she discarded were a second Gaddock Teeg and Path to Exile. I thought I was safe, but low and behold, the third Gaddock Teeg showed up off the top to ruin my game plan.
I debated a long time on the Baneslayer plan, mainly because I didn’t think she was smart enough to board out her Paths, but eventually decided I’d just have to live with her top decks since I can put her all-in with ease, or at the very least can read when she has a Path by straight up asking her how many dead ones she has in her hand, and allude to a creatureless deck to posture for game 3.
This game I had a triple Jund Charm draw, but it was completely screwed from any kind of two for one thanks to her having three Wizened Cenn to counter, making me use them as one-for-ones to contain the Kithy mess. We went back and forth for a few turns, me killing her creatures and her getting small hits in before I had to run a Baneslayer out there to test the waters for the second one in my hand. She attacked with her team, I asked if I could block, and she tried to use Harm’s Way, but didn’t exactly know how to word it. I asked her what her target was, and she said Baneslayer, I asked her source, and she said Baneslayer, but then quickly changed it up to I’m the target, Baneslayer is the source. Knowing this let me block her 2/2 Wizened Cenn instead of the 5/5 Figure. She clearly didn’t have the Path, so I overran her with two Angels.
Game 3 was pretty funny, the usual early Path/Bolt for Kithkins exchange, followed up by a Colfenor’s Plans. She landed an Ethersworn Canonist that really caused some problems, and followed it up with a timely Pithing Needle. I felt stuck with so many problematic perms on her side, but eventually pulled it out on the back of a Vendilion Clique plus Jund Charm beatdown route with Baneslayer on D.
3-1
Round 5 versus Jund Agro
This was my quickest match of the day. Nothing exciting happened; I just beat him game 1 with a turn 6 Broodmate Dragon, and a turn 3 Vendilion Clique went the distance game 2 backed up by Cryptic and Esper Charm.
4-1
Round 6 versus Four Color Doran
He starts out with a couple of Treefolk Harbingers, picking up Murmuring Bosks, meaning he already had the Doran. I saved my Path for his Doran to prevent six damage from his two Harbingers, and landed the Broodmate Dragon after making him discard with a pair of Esper Charm.
Baneslayer and Clique jumped in from the sideboard again. He had another clunky draw with lots of Bosks, and Clique showed me he didn’t have a way to get rid of my Colfenor’s Plans, so I drew a bunch of cards and killed him with Faerie and Obelisk pecks.
5-1
Round 7 versus Merced Salinas playing Five-Color Control
Going in to this round, I considered it a win-and-in type situation, since I’d be able to draw in the last round… but I was up against Merced, who is a solid up and coming player who beat me in the Top 8 of the last San Antonio PTQ when I was playing Kithkin to his Faeries during block. I told him I wasn’t playing bad aggro decks anymore, and that I don’t have multiple Mutavaults to get mana screwed again like when you beat me.
Then I bit my tongue, keeping a two Vivid plus Gargoyle Castle hand, and missing my next ten land drops when a sixth of my deck failed to yield me a precious resource.
Game 2 it was on… Duress, Negate, and Clique came in to provide a mass of early disruption in exchange for the clunky Ultimatums. I streamlined my game plan by bringing in cheap disruption and I-win-ditty Crisis.
I got a great opener with turn 3 Negate his Esper Charm, land an Ajani to keep his lands mucked up, bounce a land with Cryptic, then resolve a crippling Identity Crisis before using Colfenor’s Plans to find a Vendilion Clique to finish him off.
Game 3 was very similar. I snatched his Esper Charm with Duress, then his Cryptic Command with Clique. He was a little land-light, and when Ajani Vengeant showed up I just protected it until I blew up all his lands and he offered me his hand.
6-1
Round 8 versus Tai Phu playing GW Beatdown
Game 1 he started off with turn 1 Noble Hierarch, and on turn 2 he emphatically slammed Gaddock Teeg, which traded with a Bolt. He landed a Pridemage which was killed by my Jund Charm along with the Hierarch, and he was stuck on two lands so he just ran another Teeg out there, which ate a Path. From there I just refueled my hand with Colfenor’s Plans and dragged the game out to resolve a Broodmate Dragon. I could have cleared the path with Esper Charm, but given he could have Lieges I didn’t want to risk it since he was still stuck on three mana.
He had a pair of Crib Swap for my Dragons, so I just put some +1/+1 counters on the Changelings and beat down anyway. He went for an Oversoul, but I had the counter/bounce to return my Colfenor’s Plans, which found another Colfenor’s Plans, and once I had sixteen cards in my hands he conceded.
He got off to a quick start game 2, with some Gaddock and Qasali beats, but my Lightning/Exile defenses plus Vendilion Clique were too much for his early offense to handle. I landed a Colfenor’s Plans, but he had Lapse of Certainty for my Baneslayer, so I had to use Broodmate Dragon plus Clique on his turn to finish him off.
7-1
Semifinals versus Red Faeries
This was a matchup I was anxiously anticipating, with two in the Top 8, so I went over my sideboarding strategies to keep my head in the game after the 8th round. They have Anathemancers post board, with dead Bolts and Fallouts main deck and a miser’s Banefire. I’d have to respect Banefire, but their counter base is trimmed a bit, which leaves me a little better off than against the straight UB versions. Still, those Mancers post-board are one tough cookie.
I wish all my strategizing and preparing for this and Reveillark in my head went to some use, but I sucked it up as usual, failing to draw a fourth land either game after keeping three-landers. I couldn’t really mulligan them, but I suppose my mistake was in deckbuilding, when I cut Jace last minute for a Broodmate and Maelstrom Pulse.
Here’s my revised list…
Creatures (2)
Planeswalkers (5)
Lands (24)
Spells (30)
Larson was the one suggesting I needed more lands, since the only games I lost the entire day were to mana screw of some sort. Games where I got to four mana saw Colfenor’s Plans take over and provide me with lands and plenty of gas. He said it would be fine to go up to 62 with 27 lands, but I’m not nearly that bold so I’m keeping it fun at 61.
I really want to add a second Puca’s Mischief, but don’t know what to cut. It seems like a good idea now that people are going to be gunning for this deck in Texas. The deck is overwhelmingly powerful. I cut the Cruel Ultimatums because the deck just doesn’t need it, and I was often finding my options reduced because I had a fat seven mana do-nothing in my hand. I used Jund Charm for the +1/+1 counters more than anything else that day, and its awkward mana cost really puts a strain on the precious Vivid counters, so I cut them too.
Jace was in the first incarnations of the decks but I kept finding myself wondering why I’m paying three to draw one when I’m paying four to draw seven. The fact is that it fluidizes the deck, and also acts as life gain since they will often go out of their way to attack it, making the cheap spot removal that much better as a means to keep the Planeswalkers in play. He also helps you get past three lands, which I’ve heard is extremely important if you are trying to win a PTQ.
Vendilion Clique was so damn awesome for me this weekend, and much more useful than freaking Jund Charm. Clique still trades with Ram-Gang, and is actually infinite damage when they are locked out with a Plans and I have one in play. Of course, that also makes Obelisk infinite life gain, infinite damage, and Ajani Vengeant infinite damage as well as soon as you both have Colfenor’s Plans in play and they have no relevant plays.
I had a singleton Runed Halo for the longest time in the main deck, but with Clique in there now I feel I have a decent amount of Anathemancer options pre-board, but a single copy is another idea I’ve been seriously considering. Of course, I could just join the party and start packing Mancers myself.
There are a ton of options to be explored with Colfenor’s Plans, and the way it warps the game and enables you to see much larger chunks of your deck at one time than opposing mages. This is a huge tactical advantage, and Plans is definitely a card I’ll be looking into even more over these next few weeks in preparation for a few more PTQs. There’s got to be some kind of combo that we can abuse with this thing… maybe slap an LD package on to it, or a straight Esper deck with Sen’s Triplets? I dunno, but I know I’ll be making some techy Plans in Dallas for the StarCityGames.com $5000 Standard Open.
Thanks for reading.
Kyle