“The Deck” is the most famous deck in Vintage, if not Magic, history. It is often cited as a milestone in both Magic technology and theory.
Earlier this year, Patrick Chapin revived “The Deck,” and played it at the Vintage Championship, giving the eventual champion, Hiromichi Itou, his only loss on the day, but ultimately finishing outside of the Top 8 with a record of 5-2. Patrick expressed his belief that The Deck is the best deck in the format.
Back the day The Deck dominated Vintage. It was a metagame force that defined the format. Over time, The Deck lost much of its luster. The Deck was a victim of its own success.
The Deck was such a metagame predator that The Deck pilots became complacent. They believed, even in the face of obvious contrary evidence, that The Deck was the best deck in the format. Efforts to improve The Deck seemed to focus on ‘optimizing’ the deck in some abstract sense, disconnected from the metagame reality. The Deck became an inbred monster, and in time faded away.
Today, I believe that The Deck can be the best deck in Vintage. The reason is the theory of the Deck and the nature of the Vintage card pool. The most essential feature of Vintage is the depth and breadth of the card pool. In spite of all of the broken cards in the format, the truth is there are answers to every threat that are more efficient than those threats. For every Mind’s Desire there is a Mindbreak Trap. For every Yawgmoth’s Bargain there is an Annul. For every Time Vault there is a Pithing Needle. For every Yawgmoth’s Will there is a Leyline of the Void. For every Black Lotus there is a Chalice of the Void. That’s Vintage.
Given the 10,000 card cardpool, the more colors you run, the more options you have to answer any given threat. Because The Deck runs most, if not all, of the colors, it has access to every or nearly every card in the format.
The Deck is, put simply, a 4-5 color control deck designed to beat the metagame. You can literally draw upon over 10,000 cards in a five-color shell. And since answers are more efficient than threats, The Deck has the potential, if built properly, to destroy any metagame. The Deck’s greatest strength is its malleability and adaptability.
The mistake I believe others have made, and the concern I had about Patrick’s approach (and others who have been working with him on The Deck), is to view The Deck as a particular list rather than an approach. This is not to say that Patrick was making this mistake, but I wanted to be sure.
Let me explain my concern. Human beings are notoriously poor at making accurate decisions in complex, dynamic systems like Vintage metagames.
There are a host of reasons for this that have to do with normal cognitive processing. Human beings, it turns out, have difficulty with time delays as demonstrated by the Beer Distribution game described here. Another common psychological error is called the fundamental attribution error, in which people overestimate dispositional or individual explanations for events or outcomes and undervalue contextual, situational explanations.
Another psychological error is perceptual and conceptual salience. It is sometimes said of football that quarterbacks get more credit than they deserve when teams win, and more blame when teams lose. This is because of their perceptual salience in the game. It’s the same reason that certain cards appear to be more important in their contribution to Magic game victories, and other cards seem less important. For example, I’ve talked about how the final play or sequence is often described as the play that ‘won the game’ because of it is temporally proximate to the end of the game. However, this is a perceptual error. The final play is what is most salient in memory. In the book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell writes about thin slicing, using tiny bits of information to draw conclusions and make judgments or decisions. While thin slicing is normal, it can produce systemic errors.
These, and a host of other biases and errors of judgment lead to decisions that turn out to be far less than optimal. For example, Magic players cannot help but evaluate cards based on their past experience with those cards. For example, players tend to play cards that they’ve succeeded with in the past, and are particularly attached to cards that made a significant different in their performance. Those experiences cannot be untangled from a player’s evaluation of a card, even if those experience are far less relevant than that player supposes. You can imagine that a player who has won many games, if not tournaments, with a particular card will acquire not just a fondness for that card, but a trust in it. Yet, if the metagame changes, that player may be unjustly wedded to that card, unable to see that it is no longer as important as it was.
For example, suppose that a player decided to play a maindeck Relic of Progenitus, and for whatever reasons, it produced significant contributions to their victories, perhaps because they faced an inordinate number of Dredge decks. That player’s evaluation of the card will forever be shaded by their incredibly positive experience with Relic. They’ll regard the card more favorably, and weight it more importantly than its actual worth.
This is the heart of my concern with The Deck, and the idea of using a particular list rather than constantly rebuilding The Deck for each tournament. While these problems are true of every archetype, they are particularly dangerous for The Deck. Other archetypes have defined strategies, and tactics designed to further those strategies. The Deck is almost fully responsive to the metagame it is addressing. Minor errors in judgment become far more pronounced and devastating with The Deck, since it is so metagame sensitive.
This is also, I believe, the problem that led to the demise of The Deck. The Deck cannot and should not be viewed as a particular list. There is no such thing as an ‘optimal’ decklist in some abstract, objective sense. Optimal can only be defined in reference to a particular metagame. It is too easy, particularly with something as subtle as the Deck, to overvalue a particular matchup or undervalue a particular matchup, and make card selection decisions based on salience rather than an accurate appraisal.
To correct for these errors, I suggested that we apply the five-step approach I have been using with other decks. It is a methodology that is very useful at drawing attention to things that truly matter and helping us better understand — through its absence — what is it that we are overvaluing. Once again, here is my five-step approach:
Step 1:
Identify the expected metagame. Draw up a list, in order, of the archetypes you expect to face. One way to do this is to simply break down your entire metagame.
Step 2:
Build a version of the deck designed to beat each of the major archetypes in the metagame.
Step 3:
Begin to build a composite list by synthesizing your decklists. First, put into a “composite” list all of the unanimous card choices or all of the cards that showed up in every version of the deck.. Then, include all the cards that made it into this list in a majority of your decklists.
Step 4:
Choose a tiebreaker to select the rest of your decklist by matchup importance. In doing so, be sure to give greater weight to some decklists you expect to face in the Top 8 despite their frequency in the metagame as a whole. Also, when choosing among final cards, make sure that you give some weight to the fact that you want internal synergies.
Step 5:
Build your sideboard to fill gaps and address matchup weaknesses. Use cards that showed up in Step 2 here. Make sure you have functional sideboard plans. You don’t want to go into a tournament with more sideboard cards for a match than you have the capacity to sideboard in.
If you correctly guess the metagame and your assumptions about which cards are good in each matchup are correct, I think you have a formula for winning the tournament.
Let’s do it.
Step 1:
Identify the expected metagame. Draw up a list, in order, of the archetypes you expect to face. One way to do this is to simply break down your entire metagame.
According to the September/October Vintage metagame report, here is the Top 8 field:
Tezzeret: 22% of Top 8s
Fish: 11%
Stax: 11%
Dredge: 9%
TPS: 8%
Oath: 8%
Steel City Vault: 6%
MUD: 5%
G/x Beats: 5%
Drain Tendrils: 3%
Ad Nauseam: 3%
Dragon Combo: 3%
Without question it would be a mistake to assume that the decks that make Top 8 reflect the field. Some archetypes over-perform and some underperform. Nonetheless, this data, the bimonthly metagame breakdown, is a useful starting point for taking stock of an expected field. Tezzeret, Fish, Stax, and Dredge are probably going to show up in every Vintage tournament. For our purposes, that is what is most important. Your expected metagame breakdown does not have to be perfect.
Step 2:
Build a version of the deck designed to beat each of the major archetypes in the metagame.
I will present a build of The Deck designed to beat a) Tezzeret, b) Workshops, and c) Fish/Beats.
a) The Anti-Tez The Deck
Sundering Titan is by far the best ‘Bot” in the Control mirror. Sphinx is the weakest. Darksteel Colossus has the fastest kill, and is not bad. But Inkwell Leviathan has Islandwalk and shroud. Titan is best because it allows you to keep control over the game and wins in the same amount of time as Inkwell.
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
These cards are each a given. They are automatic inclusions that require no justification.
Fact is unbelievably good in the control mirror, almost akin to Ancestral in that it’s resolution is closely correlated with winning the game.
Gorilla Shaman is excellent against Tezzeret, as their win condition is an artifact. Not to mention, it works very nicely with the mana denial strategy. I’m not sure if 1 or 2 is the right number. My teammate Doug Linn says that 2 Gorilla Shamans are a must in the Tezzeret matchup. But I settled on one because of the strength of:
Ancient Grudge is too good against Time Vault based decks to not run. It’s card advantage, mana denial, and keeps Time Vault in check.
I think that Mind Twist is the next best card advantage spell in the control mirror.
1 Ponder
Ponder is a great turn one play, and not a bad mid-game play either. It earns a slot.
Vampiric Tutor earns its spot because of it can find spells like Black Lotus or cards like Strip Mine.
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
4 Mana Drain
The best counterspells in the control mirror. Red Elemental Blasts are better than Duress effects against Tezzeret.. Red Blasts cannot just counter cards like Force of Will… they can also destroy a Tezzeret.
Patrick suggested, persuasively, that we could get away with just 3 Force of Will. He could very well be right, but I’d be concerned about being able to stop a broken early start, and the 4th Force won’t cost that much to include. It’s another blue spell, at a minimum.
That leaves us about five slots left. Unfortunately, there a bunch of cards that merit possible inclusion at this point:
Mystical Tutor, Misdirection, Fire/Ice, Diabolic Edict, Cunning Wish, Regrowth, Thirst For Knowledge, Gorilla Shaman # 2, Ancient Grudge #2, more Red Blasts/Pyroblasts.
How should we decide? It is definitely relevant that we only have 16 Blue spells in the deck so far. We probably want at least 3 of the next 5 spells to blue in order to comfortable support Force of Will, unless we want to go back and rethink our inclusions so far.
Patrick sold me on this card. The ability to find cards like Red Elemental Blast, draw like Skeletal Scrying, removal like Ancient Grudge or Krosan Grip, or creature removal like Diabolic Edict or Darkblast is too powerful. With Cunning Wish, it’s far less necessary to have Diabolic Edict maindeck.
Patrick made a very strong case for omitting Mystical Tutor in this matchup However, when I got to the end of this decklist, I decided that Mystical would just be better than the next best card, such as a Misdirection, 2nd Fire/Ice, or 2nd Ancient Grudge. Mystical Tutor can find Tinker for Sundering Titan, which in my opinion earns in the nod.
That leaves three more slots.
1 Fire/Ice
Given that most Tezzeret lists are Bob Tez, this card should be included. It can kill an early Bob and pitch to Force.
2 slots left.
1 Regrowth
I included this card because I think it is incredibly powerful in the control mirror. One of the best uses of the card is to recur the best draw spell you’ve played this game.
The last slot comes down to Thirst For Knowledge or Misdirection. Which will help produce more game wins? I’m honestly not sure. Thirst For Knowledge is great, but it’s possible that Misdirection will produce more game wins by stealing Ancestrals and protecting bombs like Mind Twist or Tinker. It’s also possible that Gorilla Shaman would just be better. I think, that in the end, we could win more games by stealing Ancestrals. However, I’m just not sure. Patrick said he’d include a Misdirection over Force, so I’ll include Misdirection.
Once again, here’s what we have:
1 Tinker
1 Sundering Titan
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Fact or Fiction
2 Mind Twist
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Fire/Ice
1 Cunning Wish
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Regrowth
That’s 32 spells
Arguments can be made for a host of other options, like Crucible of Worlds, a 2nd Ancient Grudge, a Misdirection, or another Fire/Ice or Diabolic Edict. Patrick’s list ran 2nd Ancient Grudge and no Regrowth.
Experience with the deck will produce feedback loops. For example, if it turns out that Crucible of Worlds or Gorilla Shaman perform remarkably well, and that suggest that we should include more, then when you perform this 5 step process in the future, you would revise your anti-specific archetype lists accordingly.
Now, the manabase:
1 Library of Alexandria
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
4 City of Brass
2 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
Initially, I was not going to run City of Brass, but Patrick swayed me on that as well. Cities allow you to play all four colors immediately. Library is an obvious inclusion for this matchup as well.
b) The Anti-Workshop The Deck
4 Force of Will
4 Annul (or maybe Spell Pierce?)
Force of Will is spectacular against Workshops. Workshops often rely on a key spell to keep control over the game. Force will stop their best spell. I also suspect, however, that Annul is just better than Mana Drain in this matchup. It’s almost never the case that Drain is that great against Workshops these days. Shop players have basically built their deck to not lose to Mana Drains. Alternatively, Spell Piece meshes very well with your mana denial strategy, and they have very few creatures you have to worry about.
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Merchant Scroll
These are all obvious inclusions.
1 Ponder
I run Ponder for one reason: it helps me fix mana immediately. I can play turn one Ponder and help me fix my mana situation immediately. Patrick doesn’t like Ponder in this matchup.
Crucible is so amazing in this matchup, it’s arguable that 2 should be included. Is it better than Life From the Loam? I think so, mostly because it doesn’t cost you draws. Doug Linn sold me on Crucible over Life From the Loam. Experience has confirmed his intuition.
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
These cards are all obvious inclusions.
2 Rack and Ruin
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Gorilla Shaman
This is the anti-artifact package. Shaman and Rack and Ruin can both address Chalice at 2. Ancient Grudge is unbelievably good, and perhaps 3 or more should be included. Shaman will also help deny mana and take control of the match.
2 Fire/Ice
We need ways to deal with Welders, and to kill opposing Shamans.
Access to more Ancient Grudges and Fire/Ices/Darkblast.
1 Tinker
An obvious inclusion, but what is the target? Patrick makes a strong case for Helm of Obedience, supported by Leyline of the Void. Leylines sound alluring. They are very powerful against Welders and Crucible recursion. They stop all that Barbarian Ring and Bazaar nonsense as well, and they are another permanent. I will credit his analysis in the absence of a better choice. Darksteel Colossus would probably be the next choice.
1 Helm of Obedience
2 Leyline of the Void
We have room for one more spell or a 29th mana.
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
I want the full complement of Wasteland against Workshops.
1 Island
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
4 City of Brass
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
The 60th card is a mana source so that we can support all four colors. We want to able to run basic Mountain, since Red is so crucial here. If I was going to run a 32nd spell, it would be something like Thirst For Knowledge since it is an inexpensive Blue spell, and a draw spell that synergizes with cards like Grudge. But after thinking about it, I’d simply prefer to have an even more stable mana base.
c) The Anti-Fish The Deck
I suggested three, and Patrick countered with four. Sold. Sower of Temptation is by far the best card that costs 4 or less you can play against Fish or Beats. The trick, of course, is getting to four mana through Null Rod.
Tinker is your best one mana “win” card in this matchup. Titan may not be the best Tinker target, but it’s still pretty good. A case could be made for Sphinx as superior.
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
All obvious inclusions in this matchup.
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
Tinker is so powerful in this matchup that I’d be tempted to even include Imperial Seal.
Again, Force is great in this matchup.
The big question is what is the next best counterspell in this matchup. Patrick runs Mana Drain. I lean Spell Snare. Robert Graves made Top 4 at a local tournament with The Deck using 3 Spell Snare. I’m sold.
Wasteland is devastating for Fish. This card is as good as any other card, and is probably a common Tinker target. A second one could be warranted.
A Null Rod removal spell.
This also removes Null Rod.
This card is unreal in this matchup. This was Patrick’s idea and I love it.
This card is playable in the match, and too good to omit. Use your imagination.
2 Smother
1 Fire/Ice
Creature removal. Patrick suggested Smother, and it makes a lot of sense.
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
4 City of Brass
1 Island
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
Library of Alexandria is surprisingly good against Fish, and another mana source. This is 29 mana source, which is great considering Fish’s mana denial strategy. The additional land will provide greater mana stability.
Step 2 is complete.
Step 3:
Begin to build a composite list by synthesizing your decklists. First, put into a “composite” list all of the unanimous card choices or all of the cards that showed up in every version of the deck. Then, include all the cards that made it into this list in a majority of your decklists.
Unanimous Cards:
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Fire/Ice
4 Force of Will
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ponder
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
4 City of Brass
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
There are 40 unanimous cards.
Cards in 2 of the 3 Lists:
2nd Ancient Grudge
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Cunning Wish
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Sundering Titan
1 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
That gives us 50 cards, leaving 10 open slots.
That completes Step 3.
Step 4:
Choose a tiebreaker to select the rest of your decklist by matchup importance. In doing so, be sure to give greater weight to some decklists you expect to face in the Top 8 despite their frequency in the metagame as a whole. Also, when choosing among final cards, make sure that you give some weight to the fact that you want internal synergies.
We need a tiebreaker. The tiebreaker should be determined by weighting matchups by importance. We have already done that, to a large extent. You want to consider both the matchups you expect to face in the field, the matchups you are most likely to face in top 8s, and to maximizing internal synergies. With those three factors in mind, let’s fill out the rest of the decklist.
Here, the first two factors are the same, since our metagame data was drawn from Top 8 data.
Once again, here is that information:
Tezzeret: 22% of Top 8s
Fish: 11%
Stax: 11%
Dredge: 9%
TPS: 8%
Oath: 8%
Steel City Vault: 6%
MUD: 5%
G/x Beats: 5%
Drain Tendrils: 3%
Ad Nauseam: 3%
Dragon Combo: 3%
Clearly, the Tezzeret matchup gets the greatest weight. Even if you add up all of the Workshop decks or Null Rod decks, the Drain decks are still a larger proportion of the field.
Let’s begin with the countermagic.
The anti-Tez list had 4 Mana Drains. The anti-Shop list had 4 Annul. The anti-Fish list had 4 Spell Snare. If we had built an anti-Storm list, it would have had 4 Spell Pierce.
Running down the line, here is the countermagic I would say is best in the particular matchup:
Tezzeret: 22%: Mana Drain
Fish: 11%: Spell Snare
Stax: 11%: Annul
Dredge: 9%: Spell Pierce
TPS: 8%: Spell Pierce
Oath: 8%: Annul
Steel City Vault: 6%: Spell Pierce
MUD: 5%: Annul
G/x Beats: 5%: Spell Snare
Drain Tendrils: 3%: Mana Drain
Ad Nauseam: 3%: Spell Pierce
Dragon Combo: 3%: Annul
Bob Control: 3%: Mana Drain
Painter Control 1.5%: Mana Drain
Counterbalance Control 1.5%: Mana Drain
Some of these assignments may be arguable. Each of the four options is decent in most of these matchups, with a few exceptions. As such, I had to select which I felt was best in that particular matchup. Here’s the result:
Mana Drain: 31%
Spell Snare: 16%
Annul: 19%
Spell Pierce: 26%
Spell Piece sounds pretty good overall, but Mana Drain was the best of the four in the most matchups. Just as importantly, it was best against the most important matchup, Tezzeret. That said, Spell Piece may actually have the greatest internal deck synergy, as it works so well with the Mana denial strategy. I could see playing Spell Pierce, but Mana Drain gets the nod, barely.
That leaves 6 open slots to decide on.
The cards used in the Tezzeret matchup not in the deck so far were: Fact or Fiction, Regrowth, Misdirection, Red Elemental Blasts and Mind Twists.
The cards used in the Shop matchup that are not maindeck right now are: Rack and Ruins, 2nd Shaman, and Obeyline.
The cards used in the Fish matchup were Pernicious Deed, Sower of Temptation, and Smother.
Of those 11 options, the card the two cards that arise out of the anti-Tezzeret list that seem to have the greatest utility across matchups is Fact or Fiction and a Mind Twist. Mind Twist is great against Stax, and Fact or Fiction is amazing against Fish or Stax if it can resolve. We can include those since they are weighted for the Tezzeret matchup, our most important matchup.
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Mind Twist
4 slots left.
Of the cards listed above, there are only 9 options, since Obeyline takes up 3 slots. We have to choose four more cards between: Regrowth, Misdirection, Red Elemental Blast, Rack and Ruin, 2nd Shaman, 2nd Mind Twist, Pernicious Deed, Sower and Smother.
The cards that seems to be the most universally useful in these three dominant matchups are Sower of Temptation, Regrowth, and Pernicious Deed.
The Pernicious Deed idea sounds great. It’s amazing against Fish and Beats, and a tremendous beating against Workshops if it can resolve. It’s surprisingly good against Tezzeret too — it can take out Bobs and will prevent them from being able to combo out with Time Vault. It’s also good against Oath and other matchups. I love it.
Sower of Temptation also reduces the need for Smother, and is good against Bob Tez, Stax, and Fish. It’s also another win condition.
2 slots left
The last card of the matchups that’s truly good across matchups is Regrowth.
1 Regrowth
We have one slot left.
Given that 2 of our 3 lists had 29 lands, there is a good case to be made for 29 land, and add a 3rd Volcanic Island. The other option I like is Misdirection. Let’s see which is better in our gauntlet:
Tezzeret: 22%: Misdirection
Fish: 11%: Volcanic Island
Stax: 11%: Volcanic Island
Dredge: 9%: Misdirection
TPS: 8%: Misdirection
Oath: 8%: Misdirection
Steel City Vault: 6%: Misdirection
MUD: 5%: Volcanic Island
G/x Beats: 5%: Volcanic Island
Drain Tendrils: 3%: Misdirection
Ad Nauseam: 3%: Misdirection
Dragon Combo: 3%: Misdirection
Bob Control: 3%: Misdirection
Painter Control 1.5%: Misdirection
Counterbalance Control 1.5%: Misdirection
Misdirection: 68%
3rd Volcanic Island: 32%
Winner is clear.
Here is our Composite Decklist:
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Brainstorm
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Cunning Wish
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Fire/Ice
4 Force of Will
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Gorilla Shaman
4 Mana Drain
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mind Twist
1 Misdirection
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Ponder
1 Regrowth
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Sundering Titan
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
4 City of Brass
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
2 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
Step 4 is complete.
Step 5:
Build your sideboard to fill gaps and address matchup weaknesses. Use cards that showed up in Step 2 here. Make sure you have functional sideboard plans. You don’t want to go into a tournament with more sideboard cards for a match than you have the capacity to sideboard in.
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
That’s for the Tez matchup, and other Blue matchups.
According to our matchup grid, Dredge is 9% of the field. Hence:
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Extirpate
Extirpate is apparently better as a Wish target than Ravenous Trap. Thanks to Doug Linn for that suggestion.
Also, TPS is 8% and Ad Nauseam is 3%, so Storm combo is 11%. Hence:
For Fish, Beats, and Workshop Aggro:
Our other Wish targets:
1 Krosan Grip
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Stroke of Genius
The reason for Stroke over Skeletal Scrying is that it is also a potential win condition.
Finally, at the insistence of Patrick:
1 Helm of Obedience, to have a combo finish.
Looking at our matchup grid, we may not have enough for Oath. We could cut something for Greater Gargadon, if we were inclined. Obeyline is the win condition against Oath. Obeyline is the win condition against Steel City Vault as well.
Our sideboarding plans:
Tezzeret:
– 1 Island
– 1 Crucible of Worlds
+ 1 Red Elemental Blast
+ 1 Pyroblast
Stax:
– 1 Misdirection
– 1 Fact or Fiction
– 1 Regrowth
– 1 Sundering Titan
– 1 Sower of Temptation
+ 4 Leyline of the Void
+ 1 Helm of Obedience
Fish:
– 1 Misdirection
– 1 Fact or Fiction
+ 2 Sower of Temptation
Dredge:
+ 4 Leyline of the Void
+ 1 Extirpate
+ 1 Helm of Obedience
– 1 Sundering Titan
– 2 Ancient Grudge
– 1 Crucible of Worlds
– 1 Fire/Ice
– 1 Sower of Temptation
–
TPS:
+ 2 Mindbreak Trap
+ 1 Pyroblast
+ 1 Extirpate
– 1 Crucible of Worlds
– 2 Ancient Grudge
– 1 Island
–
You keep in Sower in case they have Negators post-board, and because it’s blue.
Well, there it is! All steps are completed.
Here is our final decklist:
Creatures (3)
Lands (19)
Spells (38)
- 1 Brainstorm
- 4 Mana Drain
- 1 Vampiric Tutor
- 1 Mystical Tutor
- 1 Yawgmoth's Will
- 4 Force of Will
- 1 Sol Ring
- 1 Regrowth
- 1 Mind Twist
- 1 Demonic Tutor
- 1 Island
- 1 Time Walk
- 1 Ancestral Recall
- 1 Mana Crypt
- 1 Gifts Ungiven
- 1
- 1 Cunning Wish
- 1 Merchant Scroll
- 1 Crucible of Worlds
- 1 Misdirection
- 1 Tinker
- 1 Black Lotus
- 1 Pernicious Deed
- 1 Fact or Fiction
- 1 Mox Emerald
- 1 Mox Jet
- 1 Mox Pearl
- 1 Mox Ruby
- 1 Mox Sapphire
- 2 Ancient Grudge
- 1 Ponder
This list has tested so well that some of my teammates have called for me not to publish it. But once again, as I tell them, and tell you, The Deck is not a particular list. It’s an idea; an approach. Tailor The Deck for your metagame. And have fun while you’re at it. It’s so much fun to play a deck that has been rocking it since the origin of competitive Magic. And yet it feels so fresh.
Patrick uncovered a goldmine in rediscovering The Deck this year. Hopefully, it’s a seam that will pay dividends for some time to come.
Until next time…