Source Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Meta

SCG Play 4 Power: 3rd with Strawberry Shortcake

Turmoil has engulfed the Republic. The taxation of fast mana to outlying combo decks is in dispute.
Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of countermagic, the greedy Cantrip Federation has stopped all shipping to the small planet of New Rishada.

While the congress of the Republic endlessly debates this alarming chain of events, the Supreme Chancellor has secretly dispatched two Jedi Painters, the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, to settle the conflict....

https://i.imgur.com/uGCvjDl.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCxv2daOwjQ

War of the Guilty Spark could not have been more huge for Shortcake. The deck was definitely playable in its prior iteration, but each game was more of a grind, trying to use copter to leverage the attack step while simultaneously filtering. The overall power of the deck was certainly lacking compared to the Top era, though, and it was harder to recover from tiny mistakes or bad hands.

https://i.imgur.com/9JirALX.png

Enter Karn.

He alone instantly answered nearly all of the worst cards we usually face. Exile effects on combo pieces, fast artifact mana, chalice, and equipment to name a few, all while adding a wishboard. I fully believe Painter is the deck that will best be able to abuse Karn in Legacy. Bomberman might leverage him harder and faster, but they are more screwed by opposing Karns compared to us. Chalice decks are using him as a midrange tool before ramping to fatties. Whereas Painter utilizes him as a top-end bomb that enables you to aggressively go for early kills, and fall back on him when it doesn’t work. When he was initially spoiled with the fuzzy picture, I was almost sure it had to be fake. The impact on eternal formats would be enormous. I mainly feel for Vintage right now. There were a lot of stories on Saturday talking about the Vintage tourney the day before, with infinite illegal board states and game violations that judges had to repair because of Karn and Narset. I knew that if Karn was indeed real, then he was an instant staple for Shortcake. Testing began with 3 and hasn’t really changed, mainly because I like relying on fast combo kills and 4 probably would want the manabase to be reconfigured. With his wishboard ability, it freed up a slot in the maindeck from the 4th Grindstone, usually less important in multiples. I’ve kept the Painters at 4 main since you always want to draw them and Karn is still a slower tutor. Odds are Painter will find its way into exile a lot of the time anyways, so Karn is always there for those cases. You can also take some multiple turn lines like wishing for relic or crypt to exile one of your yard artifacts, and then wish for it the following turn if need be. With the free slot, Lion’s Eye Diamond was able to re-enter the deck, adding a much appreciated speed boost in the early game. Synergizing with Karn’s wish ability makes it a live draw much more often also.

Testing was going really well. I managed to top 4 the first Legacy Challenge with the new War of the Spark cards, and many other matches were much improved with Karn. Swords to Plowshares decks all of a sudden couldn't deal with both Welder getting destroyed cards and Karn getting exiled cards. Combo decks were getting locked by Karn fetching Canonist and control decks by Karn fetching Lattice. The one deck though that always has given us trouble was getting boosted too. UR Delver was even leaner and more efficient now with their new red painter bob. I just had to hope to dodge it and sneak and show and I knew I'd be golden. A lot of the more expensive cards like Wurmcoil Engine and Duplicant ended up being chopped, mainly because we aren't really relying on casting 6 drops like post is. Most of the time Karn into Bridge, Karn into Lattice is enough. That freed up space for 4 lightning bolts. Besides just being good removal, it opens up the red blasts again for more stack based interaction, knowing bolt could clean up most troublesome permanents. Just for good measure, Karn with Lightning Bolt is also an answer to Pithing Needle and Null Rod.

The finished product looked like this:

Strawberry Shortcake

4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Mountain
3 Plateau
1 Great Furnace

4 Lotus Petal
1 Anaba Spirit Guide
1 Lion’s Eye Diamond

4 Imperial Recruiter
4 Painter’s Servant
3 Goblin Welder
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Goblin Cratermaker

4 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast

3 Grindstone
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Blood Moon

3 Enlightened Tutor
3 Smuggler’s Copter
3 Karn, the Great Creator

Sideboard:

1 Grindstone
1 Mycosynth Lattice
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Walking Ballista
1 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Lightning Bolt

Some updates since last time were to shift Goblin Cratermaker to the maindeck to have a recruitable answer to Chalice as well as opposing Karns, and Ballista made more sense as a Karn target anyways. The board is a nice assortment of hate pieces, with the switch to Lightning Bolt mainly to deal with all the walkers running rampant and the new kid Dreadhorde Arcanist. I decided on the 20th land for this event because the curve was technically higher than before and the extra basic would help smooth out some games against Wasteland and Back to Basics, both of which were giving me more trouble than I was used to. Beyond those choices though, the deck is still the same lean and powerful deck it’s always been.

As for the event itself, I had been talking with Eric Copenhaver about driving down, and we finally decided to go for it Thursday afternoon. We end up driving down Friday night talking shop about dredge, Old School, other random legacy stuff, before heading over Saturday to the venue. Turns out that Starcity had the main room with the invitational going on, so the Legacy tournament and Modern Horizons pre-release would be held in the coliseum, basically the small basketball arena. I would end up spending most of the time in between rounds just chilling in the stadium seats looking over the whole event.

153 players all told, so 8 rounds of swiss.

Round 1 vs ANT

Game 1: I win the roll and open up a solid hand. Monkey, Mountain, Fetch, Recruiter, Moon, Karn, and something else. I lead on land go, and that gets met by his turn 1 Lotus Petal into Duress taking Blood Moon and a follow up Petal into Thoughtseize on Karn. I also think he didn’t play a land, so I didn’t really know what was going on, although I think it was pretty safe to assume some ANT or rogue tin fins player. I draw and play Ancient Tomb, using the leftover Recruiter to grab Canonist. His turn is a Preordain off of an Underground Sea. I play my land and cast Canonist, which gets met by Daze?? I pay with Spirit Guide instead of shocking myself with Ancient Tomb, and a couple of turns go by until its locked up.

Sideboard: -1 Moon, -1 Bridge, -1 Copter, -1 Cratermaker. +2 Canonist, +2 Surgical

Game 2: Petal, Blast, 2x Land, Canonist, maybe a Grindstone? Either way my hand is pretty contingent on jamming out this Canonist. So imagine how bad it could be when my opponent starts with Sea into Throughtseize. Yep. But destiny favors the bold and I topdeck another Canonist. That buys me a ton of time, and I set up a Karn a few turns later with a Tormod’s Crypt. He is cantripping for his turns and towards the end has to go for a Chain of Vapor on my Canonist. I have the blast for it and that locks it up.

1-0

Round 2 vs Grixis Control

Game 1: I win the roll again and our first turns are spent dropping lands, an Underground Sea. I have a Canonist again and play it out turn 2 in case this is another combo matchup. That meets a Force of Will, quickly answering that question. Not much else happens this game, I think I play out a Painter and have to blast something. I end up going for the kill into a couple open mana, figuring it won’t really get better for me than now. His hand is blanks.

Sideboard: +4 Lightning Bolt, +2 Surgical, -1 Blood Moon, -3 Lotus Petal, -1 E-tutor, -1 Copter

Game 2: My opponent mulls to 5 while I keep 7. I spend my early turns developing mana and playing out a grindstone and a welder. I brick my draws for a couple turns only getting mana, and my two guys get K-commanded. The pivotal turn my hand is E-tutor, Surgical, Bolt, and Land, when my opponent plays his 4th land drop, an Ancient Tomb. I know something is up if that card is being included, and my fear is justified when he jams a Karn into play. He -2s to wish for Lattice with the plan to lock me out next turn. I try for an endstep bolt and it gets forced. Still end step I surgical for information on his Force of Will, seeing Lattice, Hymn, and a pyroblast in hand. I know at this stage my e-tutor is dead, since nothing in my deck can answer Karn. I go to draw and it’s a Recruiter! I quickly search up Cratermaker and play it. I start trying to figure out how I’m going to get out of this since he also has a Baleful Strix in play on blocking duty. I make a mistake and try attacking with Recruiter after thinking through everything, and my opponent kindly points out he doesn’t have haste. Yea I’m dumb. I just pass after that because I’m semi-rattled, and punt again by just letting him go to mainphase. He misses his land drop but gets to Karn wish again, this time grabbing Relic and nuking our yards. I finally end up shooting Karn way later than I should have, which is followed up with hymn for my two cards. I respond with Enlightened tutor and search Painter to the top. I play it out on Black to dodge pyroblast. All my opponent can do is play a Search for Azcanta for his turn. I don’t remember if he had the 6th mana or not, since I guess Lattice would have answered Painter choosing a color. I go to draw and rip a Grindstone. Jam combo and it gets there. Yea. Enlightened Tutor is pretty good when it’s a double Vampiric.

2-0

Round 3 vs D-Long Depths

Game 1: Yet another match against Dave Long. It ended up being way earlier than I would have liked, and I secretly thought whoever won this match would likely be able to top 8. I don’t remember as much from this game. I know I play out a Painter while Dave has a swamp, bayou, mox diamond and a dark depths, and then goes to decay. I have an interesting choice of what to blast before Painter dies. I debate a colored source for a bit, thinking I could use Blood Moon, but then just decide to hit depths and leave him with three mana since there are too many game winning draws if I leave depths in play. I have a second painter at the ready, and we play draw go for a few turns. I draw an enlightened tutor and pass back, while Dave draws and plays the second dark depths, threatening lage. I end step search up grindstone and activate for the win on my turn.

Sideboard: -2 Canonist, +2 Surgical

Game 2: I keep a pretty busted hand that just has to hope to dodge a lot of cards. Dave ends up mulling to I think 5, and opens on land, go. I draw for my turn and it’s Lion’s Eye Diamond, which pairs up with Ancient Tomb, 2x City of Traitors, Painter, Grindstone, and two blanks. So close to the turn 1. I lead Ancient Tomb into Painter and pass back. Dave drops another land and casts hymn. At this point I know he has to hit the Grindstone on a 33% chance, since the LED paired with double city made sure I would have enough mana. Hymn misses the stone, allowing me to safely combo out turn 2.

3-0

Round 4 vs RG Lands

Game 1: Another game I don’t remember too well, mainly because the rest of the match had the highlights. I think I start on a quick Ancient Tomb hand, as my life pad has three activations sandwiched around gaining life from a Grove. Pretty sure I assemble the dream team and win through combo activation before facing any real trouble.

Sideboard: -2 Canonist, -2 Blast, +2 Bolt, +2 Surgical

Game 2: This game was a blowout, but included some interesting early game jockeying. I believe he opened on a Grove of the Burnwillows, while I met with a fetchland. Turn 2 he pairs the grove with a Riftstone Portal and passes. I search for a Plateau and e-tutor for Blood Moon, which after that resolves he crop rotates the riftstone for a wasteland and hits my plateau, effectively answering Blood Moon at the same time. I draw and can only play out my Mountain. My opponent draws, and drops a Blast Zone into play. I hatch my plan, and move to surgical his riftstone to lock him back off green mana. I get screwed though by a second crop rotation, binning blast zone for the basic forest. I see his hand of a solitary Krosan Grip. I figure that the Blood Moon will still buy me a lot of time and will help me develop my mana since I only had a mountain and city at the moment, and all I had to do was get some mana to drop the Karn in my hand. I drop Moon and pass. The worst possible draw happens, with Dark Depths hitting play. I draw and it’s a blank, so a Krosan Grip end step on Moon unleashes the beast.

https://hobbydb-production.s3.amazon...BAR_large.jpeg

Game 3: This was probably the most insane game on the day. I start with an early welder, which is matched by an exploration into a tabernacle. Tab slows the game down immensely, as I start paying for Welder while getting lands ported. I add a Painter to the mix as well, and blast a Sylvan Library that was about to pull him way ahead. I had originally planned on paying for both creatures until my opponent adds a Drop of Honey to his board. I have to switch up the strat slightly as there’s no way I will be able to win through both cards. I resign myself to letting my creatures die, while trading in my Painter for a Lotus Petal. After Drop is finally gone, I play out my second painter. I pass, and on my next turn I mess up, as I attack in and pass back, forgetting to pay for tabernacle, as I had tunneled pretty hard about how to deal with the Drop of Honey. A 10 minute judge call ensues, until finally we are told that the new rules allow the option to pay. I do, as I really need this Painter to eat my opponent’s blast zone sitting on two counters. During the earlier turns, a small decision came back to bite right now as I had decided to fetch for a second basic mountain rather than a second plateau, figuring it was more important to have stability through Port and potential wastelands. Right on cue my Plateau was wasted, and I of course follow it up by drawing Enlightened tutor as I keep beating down with Painter. To top it off, a chalice on 1 gets added to the other side of the board. My hand at this point consists of a lot of stuff like E-tutor with no white mana, Lightning bolt, Lion’s Eye Diamond, a surgical, and a third Painter I had drawn into. I draw a Recruiter to go find Cratermaker, while I wait for a window. With his life total dropping pretty low from Painter and Rec beats, he finally blows the Blast Zone, killing Painter #2, and a punishing fire cleans up the recruiter. I use my next turn to deploy Cratermaker, and play a Plateau, killing my City and leaving me at 4 lands. Time in the round is called, starting us on our extension. His next turn is a whirlwind of activity, Loaming some stuff back, playing out more Blast Zones on 1, dropping a Tireless Tracker, and wastelanding my Plateau. In response I float a white mana, and use my other land to sac cratermaker to blow up chalice. I enlightened tutor for grindstone using the floating. I cast surgical on pfire to take a gander at his hand, and see only lands left over. I draw Grindstone, and with my three lands I can play out Painter, LED, and Grindstone in that order to get around his double blast zone. I pitch my hand and successfully mill him out.

4-0

Round 5 vs Burn

I sit down for the round and my opponent asks if I want the good news or the bad news first. The bad news is that I was going to be on the draw this game. I’m just sitting there like what is going on, when my opponent explains that they have a deck registration error and would get a game loss. I just sit there thinking wow, this happens on top of dodging the multiple Show and Tell and Grixis decks floating around the top tables.

Game 2: I keep Grindstone, Fetch, Mountain, Tomb, 2x Recruiter, and a Copter on the draw. I get met with Mountain into Goblin Guide. One of the worst possible matchups on top of everything else. I just have to steal a game, but I know it will be hard. Burn is just really that horrible. Guide reveals a third recruiter. I drop Grindstone for my turn. Guide swings in again revealing another mountain. Second main a Light up the Stage gets played for 1, flipping over a Lava Spike and a Rift Bolt. No second land. I draw, and figure I don’t have time to waste and play tomb for Recruiter grabbing Painter, going to 14. My opponent draws, misses the second land drop again, and ends up just scooping. I’m kind of sitting there in shock, since I would’ve had to rip another sol land or fast mana. The deck reg error and I guess the manascrew were just pretty tilting. I end up with the biggest gift of a win, somehow escaping against Burn just with pure dumb luck.

5-0

Round 6 vs Grixis Delver

Game 1: I keep an ultra-sketch hand on the draw of City, 2x Petal, Blood Moon, Copter, and something else like a Land and maybe a blast. I get met by a Volcanic Island into a cantrip. I draw, and jam out Moon, which sticks. It’s not looking as good when my opponent’s plays are a Young Pyromancer and follow-up Dreadhorde Arcanist. I draw a Painter, and I have to weigh being able to block his dudes against fixing my absolute garbage hand. I choose the latter and tank some hits while countering with metal delver. I stabilize at 8 life with a second copter and a recruiter to go along with it, and swing for lethal through the air to finish it.

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media...qijpxgiwvh.jpg

Sideboard: +4 Lightning Bolt, -2 E-tutor, -1 Canonist, -1 Bridge

Game 2: A turn 3 True-Name Nemesis hits the field and starts clocking me. At 9 life I draw a Goblin Welder and jam it to pair with my Painter’s Servant. True-name bashes me to 6, and I untap, and play out a second Lotus Petal. I pass back and stop in his upkeep, activating welder for the Grindstone in my yard. That gets through, and I activate. My opponent casts an Abrade targeting Grindstone, which I quickly say resolves. He realizes the combo and wants to change the target to Painter. I figured I could have judge-ruled him pretty hard, but I let it go and allow the switch. I blast the abrade with the other petal. He tries to daze but I just pay with Ancient Tomb going to 2. Without a second red source he couldn’t bolt me, so I pull off another Houdini act to put myself in position to double draw.

6-0

Round 7 ID

6-0-1

Round 8 ID

6-0-2

3rd seed overall

Copenhaver missed out on Top 8 with some unlucky games against Show and Tell, finishing in 12th. Dave Long missed as well finishing in 13th. I watched a brutal game 3 against UR Delver where he bricked 10 straight draw steps. Pretty similar to the last Starcity event we were all at in Baltimore, with everyone getting top 16 there as well.

Top 8 vs Grixis Delver Rematch

Game 1: I keep a pretty similar hand to game 1 the first time around, with the plan to turn 2 Blood Moon lock and then figure everything out later with a copter. Part A of the plan goes swimmingly when I end step e tutor and he brainstorms in response. I can tell that he didn't draw a Force of Will, so I still get Blood Moon and jam it. Some major déjà vu hits when he follows up with Pyromancer and Arcanist again. I end up bricking hard, drawing 2 grindstones, some petals, and a ton of lands before dying to his red army and my lonely copter. With his lands rendered useless, he was able to draw to 8 and start discarding cantrips for Arcanist.

Sideboard: same

Game 2: I look at 2x Land, 2x Bolt, Recruiter, and two other things maybe copter. This game is defined by his turn 1 Delver, which I lightning bolt on my turn 2 to play around daze. He forces. I let his delver trigger happen for information, which reveals Abrade. I bolt again, which again meets a force. I get smashed for 3, while I play a Painter and also a copter. Painter I think eats a bolt, while my next turn I Recruiter for Welder, thinking that if Copter is about to eat this abrade then having Welder is probably a bit better than another Painter. Copter dies, but I am able to start doing some welder tricks like blocking with another Painter and welding copter back. The ultimate turn comes down to me being at 9 facing a flipped delver and an Angler while he’s hellbent, while my side has a recruiter and copter on my side. I rip Karn off the top. I plus to 6 animating Copter as a 2/2. My opponent swings his dudes at me, so I trade copter and delver, pitching a fetch for a lightning bolt, and recruiter saves 5 life. I untap, wish for Bridge, and successfully hide. He draws for his turn, and surgicals all my Painters. No matter, I draw Grindstone off the top, play it, and then wish for a surgicaled Painter using Karn, and prep for the combo next turn. He draws and packs it up.

sideboard: at some point I remember casting enlightened tutor and realizing that I had sideboarded out the ensnaring bridge. Definitely a mistake I think since I knew about true name already, i just hadn't seen the angler yet. I think I took it out thinking that Pyromancer and Arcanist can both play around it pretty easily. I board it back in for game 3.

Game 3: The early game is again spent jockeying for position. I curve into a Recruiter turn 2 that I can tell he is seriously debating over. In the end he forces, probably thinking he'll have to force whatever I grab anyways. I am able to develop my manabase pretty uninhibited though, and am able to sneak an Ensnaring Bridge through. The turn after I draw a second Painter and play both out, going to 0 cards in hand. That ends up being huge as it keeps me safe from his Pyromancer army while also stonewalling his Arcanist value train. My Painters end up both tanking removal, while I just keep drawing and playing to maintain my 0 card status. I end up drawing a Grindstone, and the turn or two after I draw Goblin Welder. He lives for a turn cycle, so on my turn I go to weld out a petal for a Painter. I combo on his upkeep and it gets through.

7-0-2

Top 4 vs Infect

Game 1: I keep Ancient Tomb, Petal, Monkey, Grindstone, Canonist, 2x Land. I figure being on the draw with the harder half of the combo to find, some pseudo-hate in Canonist, and a ton of fast mana gives me a ton of live draws and some extra time. Noble Hierarch pass. I play out both Stone and Canonist turn 1. Sadly, while his draw is slow by infect standards, my next draws are a blast and probably five lands. I have to chump block with Spirit Guide and then Canonist and don’t draw anything to save me.

Sideboard: +4 Lightning Bolt, -1 Bridge, -1 Copter, -2 Canonist

Game 2: I keep Furnace, Fetch, Copter, E-tutor, Mountain, Blast, Blast. Pretty all-in on turn 2 Painter, but I figure if I can stick him then I’ll be in pretty good position to win. Land, go, is met by Savannah and Glistener Elf. I tutor and cast Painter. He untaps and swings. This is always the cat and mouse game with infect I seem to mess up, as I usually expect them to have it. Either way, I still let the attack through and I just end up taking 1 poison. A second glistener elf is added. I draw and it’s Goblin Welder. That makes things a bit more interesting, but I end up deciding to go after both Glistener Elves, since I usually try to get greedy and respond to pump spells to get more value. I think they just have too much cheap interaction to make that work most times, as a single Daze would probably end the game. I figure that missing the land drop should also give me a turn or two to deploy Copter and Welder. Instead, he plays a fetch and then drops Blighted Agent. I draw a Recruiter, and decide to bash in with Painter since it won’t be blocking anyways. My opponent starts thinking and decides to block with Blighted and use Invigorate to kill it. I wasn’t expecting that, but it’s probably profitable to me overall. I decide to play Welder. Blighted swings in to put me to 2 poison. I draw another blank, play copter, and then weld the furnace for Painter. He swings with Blighted, and has kicked Vines plus Invigorate to seal it up.

7-1-2

https://img0.etsystatic.com/051/0/10...32140_dslz.jpg

Pic courtesy of this shortcake cousin: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/bob-ross-retribution/

The bracket went chalk until the finals with the Infect upset, leaving me in 3rd place. Starcity also added a set of playmats to draft for top 8 so the end result for my troubles was this pair:

https://i.imgur.com/fNARg0I.jpg

Shortcake once again showed up huge. Its ability to run crazy hot and create windows out of nowhere continues to amaze me. The sad part is that I was just really starting to like the list, but the London Mulligan and the influx of Modern Horizons is going to send everyone back to the stone age. The good news is that the mulligan will help our consistency and also we get Goblin Engineer, who slots perfectly into Shortcake, as another way to get around chalice and yet another tutor avenue. The deck is about to be really fun and extremely complicated, since at this point basically the entire 75 can be accessed at any time from any zone. We’ll just have to wait and see how the meta shakes out too.

The newest Tier 0:

Strawberry Shortcake

4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Wooded Foothills
3 Mountain
2 Plateau
2 Great Furnace

4 Lotus Petal
1 Anaba Spirit Guide
1 Lion’s Eye Diamond

4 Imperial Recruiter
4 Painter’s Servant
3 Goblin Welder
2 Goblin Engineer
1 Goblin Cratermaker
1 Ethersworn Canonist

4 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast

3 Grindstone
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Blood Moon

3 Enlightened Tutor
3 Smuggler’s Copter
3 Karn, the Great Creator

Sideboard:

1 Grindstone
1 Mycosynth Lattice
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Pithing Needle
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Walking Ballista
2 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Lightning Bolt

As always, keep painting.

And Free Nedleeds