Hi, guys! How's all going? Today, I'm going to cover an archetype that has not been used much, but in my opinion is a big contender in this environment - at least until February 28th. This deck has two basic variations. The FinkelTongue variant, featuring the two best creatures in this environment (Shadowmage Infiltrator and Flametongue Kavu) and a lot of control elements. This deck relies in the card drawing power of the Infiltrators and Fact or Fictions to generate enormous quantities of card advantage, and will usually win by kicking up a Rage after hitting a bit with Finkels and Flametongues. The other version is a lot slower, and is creatureless. It relies on reset buttons such as Earthquake or Pyroclasm to keep the board clean, and kills with kicked Rages (the archetype tends to play counter-burn), helped by Undermines and Prophetic Bolts. Below there are both decklists for you to compare. I recommend playing the creatureless one, as Flametongues are used and a lot, so not giving your opponents targets could be a very wise decision.
FinkelTongue
4 Shadowmage Infiltrator
4 Flametongue Kavu
4 Nightscape Familiar
4 Undermine
4 Counterspell
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Recoil
4 Fire/Ice
4 Urza's Rage
4 Shivan Reef
4 Underground River
4 Salt Marsh
2 Urborg Volcano
1 Darkwater Catacombs
1 Shadowblood Ridge
6 Island
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
Sideboard:
3 Hibernation (Green)
2 Divert (LD, Burn)
4 Gainsay (Blue)
3 Duress (Control)
3 Execute (White)
This deck tries to establish a lock on the ground with the Familiars, helped by all the removal in the deck, and clears the board for the Infiltrators to keep your hand full all the time. The main win conditions are the Urza's Rages, but Flametongues can pass through enough damage for your other burn and Infiltrators to finish the job. In general, your main disadvantage compared with the creatureless version is that you have targets for removal (especially Flametongue Kavu) and they don't. The deck is designed in a 'square' way to maximize its consistency at the time to draw the right answers. It uses all four Recoils, so Elephant and Beast Tokens are fair for this deck in terms of card advantage. The sideboard is tuned to take out the Finkels vs. Aggro and side in hate for them, such as Execute or Hibernation.
U/B/R Creatureless
3 Tainted Pact
4 Urza's Rage
4 Fire/Ice
1 Earthquake
2 Pyroclasm
4 Counterspell
3 Undermine
3 Terminate
2 Prophetic Bolt
3 Repulse
2 Recoil
2 Duress
3 Fact or Fiction
4 Salt Marsh
2 Urborg Volcano
1 Crosis's Catacombs
2 Darkwater Catacombs
1 Shadowblood Ridge
4 Shivan Reef
3 Underground River
2 Mountain
5 Island
Sideboard:
2 Duress (Control)
3 Gainsay (Blue)
2 Divert (LD, Burn)
3 Slay (Green)
3 Execute (White)
2 Dodecapod (Discard)
This is a very reactive deck. It has solutions for anything that your opponent may play... But it needs to find the right one, and that is this deck's weakness. So your main goal when playing U/B/R Creatureless is to use your Facts and Tainted Pacts to search for the right solutions for the cards your opponent plays. The raw power of Fact or Fiction and Prophetic Bolt combined with Recoil should give you enough card advantage to carry it until you can simply kill your opponent with kicked Rages. The main advantage in this deck compared to other CounterBurn decks such as U/R is that you have Undermine, a card that makes killing with massive burn much easier. Also, Black gives you Terminate, the best one-on-one removal ever printed since Swords to Plowshares, so if somehow your opponent slips a Mahamoti Djinn or another huge beatstick you cannot remove with burn spells, simply Terminate it. Unfortunately, this deck suffers a lot from some cards, such as Mongooses (Nimble or Blurred), so that's why the Pyroclasms and the lonely Earthquake are there. The main beauty of this deck is the fact that it's creatureless, so all the opposing Flametongues, Terminates, Dark Banishings, Ensnaring Bridges, and the like are completely dead against you. Just think about how much removal is currently being used in Standard, and you'll understand what I'm saying. In Sideboarding, you'll bring in creature hate for extremely aggro decks such as Star Spangled Slaughter and R/G Beats. The Gainsays and Duresses are to replace the dead cards opposing control players may make you have in the maindeck, and the Diverts are for land destruction and opposing kicked Rages you expect to see. Finally, the Dodecapods are the only creature reference here, but are more for the expected Gerrard's Verdict a control player may play on you, thinking you don't have 'Pods.
As this time I'm going to analyze 2 decklists, I'll compare how easy (or hard) that matchup is for each variation. So get ready - no, more than that. Yeah, that ready.
Now you can read it!
Vs. SnakeTongue:
This matchup is good for you, no matter if you play guys or no. Simply use your Familiars (or Pyroclasms) to lock (or wipe) the board, and save your Flametongues (or Bolts) and Recoils for the tokens so they can't two-for-one you. Kicked Rages will take care of them. Side out the Finkels if you play them - or in the other case side, out your Fire/Ices and Terminates, and replace them with token hate (Hibernation or Slay).
Vs. W/U/R Control:
The Creatureless variant is better in this matchup, as their Wraths are dead and you have maindecked Duresses to take out their Rages and Terminates for their 'Volvers. If you play with guys, though, you'll have to play Aggro-Control with an early Infiltrator as the main threat for them. Just side in all the control hate, but keep the Flametongues (or Terminates) in, because the Lightning Angels are coming.
Vs. W/U/R Aggro:
Here, I tend to favor playing with creatures, as Familiars can hold off pesky Galina's Knights, and Flametongues are so huge it's not even funny. Just don't tap out and you'll be okay. If you play creatureless, your Pyroclasms may be excellent - or you may have a clogged hand with two or three red removal spells and two Knights jacking your life totals. Just side in the Executes, Gainsays, and Diverts, take out the"bad" removal (Terminate), and Finkels and the Angels and Knights all of a sudden don't look so scary...
Vs. B/U/g:
When you play guys, this matchup tends to be more of a fight for drawing the least dead cards - and they have less, because they use Pernicious Deed as removal. Playing no guys, things are easier as for them to create a 'Monger, get past your wall of countermagic, and remain un-Terminated is as difficult as finding a way to use the Deeds. Now it comes the time for my favorite phrase: Just Rage them out! Side in Gainsays and Duresses for Flametongues and Fire/Ices.
Vs. W/U/B Control:
Here is U/B on U/B, but White provides counterable lifegain, and Red un-counterable burn. Just abuse that comparison, and side in Dodecapods if you see Verdicts. The rest is easy, as you side all the anti-blue stuff for your removal.
Vs. R/G Beats:
I can't believe it yet, because if this deck didn't exist I'd play four maindeck Gainsays in every deck. The problem is, R/G would tear you into pieces if you did that. Well, back to this analysis - here, you have to Pyroclasm their early mana guys and weenies away, and look for efficient removal with Pacts and Facts. If playing FinkelTongue, look for Flametongues and counter their Kavus, so they have to spend their Rages in your Finkels and not on you. Remember that Control relies on card advantage. Use that and you'll win. Side in the Hibernations and Slays in place of Duresses and Finkels.
Vs. MachineHead:
Here's where you are happy about playing Terminate and no guys. They have a lot of dead removal, and you have a lot of useful removal. You have countermagic and they don't. You can kill them with Rages and they can't, as you can stop their Duresses but they can't deal with yours. It sounds easy. The problem is, you need to find the correct solutions, so use Pacts and Facts as Tutors, not as"search for the first good stuff that passes." If playing the other version, Flametongues are great here, but they have active removal. Here you have other kill conditions, so use them. Side in 'Pods for the Blazing Specters and additional Duresses.
Vs. U/B Upheaval:
In this matchup, the board tends to be locked, with Familiars and Finkels staring at each other. That means try to save your removal and bounce to alpha strike them, or go for the slow one and save counters to survive until you Rage them out. Playing creatureless, just go for the long one. You have a point in your favor... And that is that they win in a counterable way and you don't. Side in anti-Blue stuff again and take out some removal.
Vs. 5 Color Harvest:
Another combo. This time, your removal is dead, so if playing guys put them in a clock with Familiars and Finkels and play Aggro-Control. Ice and Recoil buy you time, and Flametongues can kill your Familiars (regenerating them) so it becomes a vanilla 4/2 for 3BR, and that isn't so bad. Side in Diverts and discard for all your non-burn removal. If you still have space, side in some Gainsays.
Vs. W/B Control:
If you see they start aggressively, answer with your guys so they have to Wrath, but mostly they'll go slow with dedicated discard in the early game. That hurts no matter your deck, so try to counteract with this with countermagic, Facts, and Finkels. They don't pack burn except for Death Grasp, so be looking for these. And a last thing: Once they get to seven mana, beware the mighty Desolation Angel. It just wrecks you. Side in Dodecapods, Diverts, and Duresses to even the things.
Vs. Mirror:
As I'm analyzing two decks, we have four matchups here, assuming you are playing what I say first: FinkelTongue-FinkelTongue, FinkelTongue-Creatureless, Creatureless-FinkelTongue, and Creatureless-Creatureless. On the guys-on-guys mirror, just drop Familiars aggressively, as they easily lock the ground. Fact or Fictions are the best way of out-countering your opponent, so rate them very highly at the time to decide what to counter. Remember the main kill condition here are Rages, as the board will be totally locked up. When playing with guys vs. no guys, play aggro-control with Finkels so they have to deal with them... But if you manage to drop an early Familiar, just go for it. Remember, a few hits and a couple of Undermines combined with painland damage can put anyone on Rage range. In a no guys on no guys, obviously Rages are the only kill, so you'll have to stop any card drawing attempt from your opponent. Recoils are essential when the other is getting to ten or eleven lands, as a turn here is game. Finally, if your opponent plays FinkelTongue and you play without creatures, try to make them tap out each time they play a guy so you can deal with it on your turn. Just remember you play control here, so card advantage is something only you should have. Therefore, counter any Facts you see. Side out removal vs. creatureless for anti blue stuff, and side out bounce and little burn spells for antiblue stuff when facing FinkelTongue, no matter what you are playing.
That's my take on this archetype and its variations. The exact numbers for sideboarding on each card is something very easy to discover, as usually you'll side out all the removal for all the anti-blue stuff (Gainsay, Duress, occasionally Divert) or side out Duresses and one-on-one Removals for Slays/Hibernations/Executes. In general, these decks perform very well in control-heavy environments, as (especially when playing creatureless) speedy decks with little disruption tend to rush you before you can get to the cards to need. I recommend playing creatureless in control-heavy environments, and FinkelTongue in more aggro fields.
A final note: I won't be able to write until February, so when I return I'll start looking into Torment and what can be included into the actual archetypes. Stay tuned for that!
Fernando Munafo
Turkenz@email.com
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