[Article]Eternal Europe: Ten To Play

[Mon,Goblin Chief]

After three weeks of storming, I decided something with a little bit for everybody. Check it out and let me know what you think!

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/standard/26717-Ten-To-Play.html

[Fossil4182]

Interesting article. I found the writing about some of the more interesting cards like Voice of Resurgence, Loxodon Smiter, 3CC Land Hate, and Pyroclasm / Fire Covenant to be insightful. While I think the article was good overall, I'd suggest going for a more in-depth discussion on a few cards rather than moderate discussion of 10 cards.

Observation on Fire Covenant: Without fail, every time an article on SCG mentions an obscure card, the card is temporarily out of stock.

[The Treefolk Master]

Great article.

Pyroclasm is so busted right now its amazing it doesn't see more play.

If I'm not mistaken, there's only 57 cards in Value Town (funny name btw). Was that deliberate (as in you have 3 open slots), or are 3 cards missing?

Is Caw Cartel playable with only 1 Moat? I'd really like to take the deck for a spin but only own 1 Moat, so can it be effectively replaced by Supreme Verdict or something?

[Mon,Goblin Chief]

@Fossil4182: Thanks for the feedback, I'll keep that in mind when I plan something similar. Be aware, though, that these are mainly cards that feel like they should have a role not thing I've tested extensively so there is so much more in-depth that I could be going.

As to the out of stock thing, I guess SCG wants to protect its business somewhat OR there's someone who always checks all the Legacy articles the moment they come out and buys up anything that looks like it might be value.

@Treefolk Master: Happy you enjoyed it. The missing cards in the Value Town deck are Jaces (what else - we're talking value here ;) ) - they must have gotten lost in the shuffle. Thanks for catching it, I'll try to get that fixed.

Caw Cartel should be playable with a single Moat, though given the reliance the deck places on it I think the best card to use as a stand in is probably Enlightened Tutor.

[Hof]

I like this article's theme and how it can inspire people to think magic for themselves rather than copy the succesful decks from last week.

A few further specific comments:

A agree with you on the current power level of the two white enchantments, Rest in Piece and Leyline of Sanctity.

Lim-Dûl's Vault. It's not that I didn't know this card or its power, but you just gave me a good idea with this. Many thanks.

Loxodon Smiter. Being uncounterable isn't that big of deal in a format with Vial and Cavern. The other ability is very nice, but if that is the reason to play it, Wilt-Leaf Liege is better.

Voice of Resurgence. I just don't see this having a major impact in Legacy. He seems easy to play around, even for tempo and control decks. Tempo decks play most of their cards during their own turn anyway.
The best a deck like Maverick can hope to gain from him is a large vanilla token. If Maverick wanted more big vanilla dudes it would play Goyf.

Fire Covenant. Three mana is a lot, but I can see how this can be a blowout vs Elves and, to a lesser extent, Goblins.
Specific comment on that Modern Boros guy... It's terrible. However, I was playing Goblins with Fire Covenant and Mogg Maniac back in the day. Good times.

A finally, a hidden gem of the article, I must say, this fine description of Legacy:

a sweet dance of powerful plays and efficient answers

[Mon,Goblin Chief]

I think the reason to play Smiter is that it combines both abilities without any help from other cards. It's good against Deathrite Lili and Tempo at the same time - which is why something that fair is actually interesting.

Voice: How exactly do you avoid casting Stifle, Daze, Force of Will and other such cards during your opponent's turn? It even makes Submerge much worse as long as you remember to crack your Fetches during your turn and also punishes Brainstorm in response to discard quite massively (there are Junk enthusiasts out there, surely). All in all, it's a 2/2 that will usually leave you with value when it dies and does ridiculous things to instant speed based interactive decks. It's significantly more than just a dumb beatstick.

I was trying the same thing with Mogg Maniac back in the day :D

And thanks for the flowers, I liked that sentence, too ;)

[ScatmanX]

Hope next one will be something like: Ten more to play.
Great one. Been using some of those for quite sometime now, and they really prey on the metagame right now.

[Amon Amarth]

Pyroclasm looks pretty sweet right now. Nice catch.

[Hof]

Voice: How exactly do you avoid casting Stifle, Daze, Force of Will and other such cards during your opponent's turn? It even makes Submerge much worse as long as you remember to crack your Fetches during your turn and also punishes Brainstorm in response to discard quite massively (there are Junk enthusiasts out there, surely). All in all, it's a 2/2 that will usually leave you with value when it dies and does ridiculous things to instant speed based interactive decks. It's significantly more than just a dumb beatstick.
Well, said cards are usually cast in the very early tempo game, before Voice of Resurgence can enter. If you do have Daze and/or Force, you might be able to use it on Voice of Resurgence or GSZ for three, obviously, so it just becomes a must counter in that sense, which is decent I guess. Later in the game, useless counterspells are bypassed by cantrips, and tempo sides som number of counterspells out against Maverick anyway.
I could be wrong. In fact I probably am, since I have never played with or against the card, and it is very expensive so it is probably as good as you say.

[Barook]

While talking about Pyroclasm, it's variants should be mentioned as well.

Rough is sometimes played by RUG Delver due to specific creature setup that rarely cares about it.

Whipflare in BUG Shardless can be pretty terrifying as well between Trix, Agent and Tarmogoyfs. I recently ran into an Affinity deck which ran Whipflares while it's creature base was left completely untouched.

Edit: I'm also not really sold on Voice. StP is a huge part of the metagame, something Standard and Modern (PtE is just not the same) don't have access to, so the reasoning behind it seems rather weak. Spending two mana on a bear seems rather unimpressive as long as your opponent plays smart.

[maurobad2k4]

Yeah, I`ve been playing with Pyroclasm and Loxodon Smiter for a while and they`re really understimated right now. Pyroclasm is Wrath for 2 mana and Smiter is a huge beat-stick against most of the DtB decks.

[lyracian]

Loxodon Smiter. Being uncounterable isn't that big of deal in a format with Vial and Cavern. The other ability is very nice, but if that is the reason to play it, Wilt-Leaf Liege is better.Liege though costs an extra mana for the lord effect. Smiter gives you better P/T than mana the cost as well as a useful anti-black and anti-blue ability tagged on for free + it is out of Bolt range. Now I know Naya Zoo decks are not Carsten's thing but with all the grave hate around I could see playing this guy instead of KoR. He is good for getting Experiment One to be a 4/4 and you can still pack Thalia and Teeg for combo hate.


Voice: How exactly do you avoid casting Stifle, Daze, Force of Will and other such cards during your opponent's turn? It even makes Submerge much worse as long as you remember to crack your Fetches during your turn and also punishes Brainstorm in response to discard quite massively (there are Junk enthusiasts out there, surely). All in all, it's a 2/2 that will usually leave you with value when it dies and does ridiculous things to instant speed based interactive decks. It's significantly more than just a dumb beatstick.Without some sort of recursion engine like Immortal Servitude or Pod/Witness I just do not see the Tokens being enough. I cast Pyroclams and you are left with a 1/1 token or I block with a Snapcaster and Terminus/wrath next turn. Thalia/Teeg/Cannonist all seem to have more impact against more decks. Voice may give a better match up against RUG but Storm/High Tide decks just do not care about the tokens they are going to kill you before you get another attack step.

[L-Luck]

I think adding Stoneforge Mystic into the Value Town Deck makes it much better, something like this:

-1 Baleful Strix
-3 Snapcaster Mage
-1 Umezawa's Jitte
-1 Ponder
-1 Vindicate

+4 Stoneforge Mystic
+1 Batterskull
+1 Academy Ruins
+1 Engineered Explosives

Snapcaster is not on its best in a deck which only runs four Removal (so you can't always get rid of your opponents Deathrite) and a discard spell which exiles itself anyway. The addition of Ruins makes the manabase a little less greedy s and is awesome in some matchups to recur both Strix and Explosives, while being useful after boarding against artifact removal.
Since I obviously didn't test this list I would like to hear your opinions on those ideas

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

Interesting article. I'm not sure about Smiter, but I like most of these other cards. I've been trying to get people to play Fire Covenant in b/r decks for years, card's a fucking blowout. I think if anything you're underselling it, I never feel bad killing Goyfs with the card.

[Tao]

First article I read from you and liked it. Voice of Resurgence can be really busted, I know that much. Also the Leyline stuff sounds quite smart and more decks should play Rest in Peace maindeck (looking at you D&T). Fire Covenant is a good card to know about.
But please get out with these Squadron Hawks. This is not standard from 2010. Why in the world would you play Hawk in an UWB deck in which could just play Lingering Souls instead???

[IsThisACatInAHat?]

On the topic of Caw Cartel, I think a lot of it's strategic choices are pretty well-positioned right now. Its indestructible mana base, focus on 4-mana bombs, and reliance on a cmc-2 card advantage engine are all really powerful in this current format. Legacy decks these days tend to fall into 1. greedy 4c mana-bases with DRS and Abrupt Decay, 2. Stifle-Wasteland strategies that try to punish them, and 3. graveyard-centric combo. Meanwhile the decks that make life miserable for Caw are fairly few and far between right now. Moat really is a limiting factor, though.

The only card I really disagree with on this list is Pyroclasm. I do agree that it's disgustingly good right now, but there really aren't any decks that want it. Without a home, a sideboard card like that won't see play and won't shape a deck around itself. Voice of Resurgence is also somewhat suspect, not because it isn't good, but because decks that want it and could play it are poorly positioned between the decks at the top. When the format shifts again, it might make more sense for Voice to make a Resurgence.

[Ellomdian]

But please get out with these Squadron Hawks. This is not standard from 2010. Why in the world would you play Hawk in an UWB deck in which could just play Lingering Souls instead???

The point of the Hawks is not to just have a durdley dood with evasion. The ability to generally rip 3 cards out of your deck at will (filling up your hand for brainstorms/jace storms) is the biggest reason you play the stupid bird. It's like intuition AK, only you don't have to play Intuition.

[kwis]

First article I read from you and liked it. Voice of Resurgence can be really busted, I know that much. Also the Leyline stuff sounds quite smart and more decks should play Rest in Peace maindeck (looking at you D&T). Fire Covenant is a good card to know about.
But please get out with these Squadron Hawks. This is not standard from 2010. Why in the world would you play Hawk in an UWB deck in which could just play Lingering Souls instead???

Hawk --> Find 3 more Hawks (CA +3)
Jacestorm --> Put 2 Hawks back (CQ +2, CA +1)
Hawk --> Find 2 more Hawks (CA +2)
etc...

They also do a lot of work against Hymn and LOTV by inflating your hand size.

[Mon,Goblin Chief]

@ScatmanX: Thanks! Nice to know you've already gathered positive experience with these cards :)
The next one won't be the same thing - I like mixing things up from week to week (even if the storm articles might not have given that impression ;)

@Amon Armath: Thanks! :)

@Hof: Anything the opponent just has to counter is usually a pretty good thing to play, right? Also the power of cantrips is limited, I doubt they'll be able to consistently get rid of ~16 cards in their deck to blank voice while also fighting to not flood out.

@Barook: Good catch on the Pyroclasm variants. Should have mentioned those at the same time. As for Voice vs StP, Swords if going to be a 1:1 at some point. If they kill Voice and your KotR/Mom lives instead, you're probably a happy camper^^

@maurobad2k4: good to hear confirmation :)

@lyracian: I think you undervalue the power of elemental tokens in a deck that is ~50% creatures. Even if you clasm Voice away, it will gain value (and new creatures next turn will likely leave you with a 3/3). Seeing as tempo-decks are built to provide a threat and one-for-one you all day, even minor advantages can easily pull you ahead in the matchup. Not to mention what happens if Voice gets to live. That's what makes Voice so good - even if they deal with it, it will often end up with you ahead on cards.

@L-luck: SFM + Ruins Sounds like a reasonable direction to explore. I tried Mystics in the deck and didn't really like them (they make Jitte real clunky). Don't undervalue Snapcaster, though. Having extra removal is good but one of the big lines you're hoping to go for with it is "turn 1 Probe, Therapy; turn 2: Snapcaster Probe, flashback Therapy". Pretty sick hand assault when it happens while either cards is usually good in a multitude of situations.

@IBA: Thanks. Happy you liked this one, especially as I know you wouldn't hesitate to rip it to shreds if you didn't. As for Covenant vs Goyf, makes me feel bad to pay so much mana and life to get rid of the guy but at least it does kill it. Makes things feel better instantly, which is I guess what you were referring to.

@Tao: Thanks :) Out of interest, is that "first of my articles you read" and "you liked it" or "first of my articles you read that you actually liked"?^^
Also, as others explained below, you misunderstand the role of Squadron Hawk. The important thing is filling your hand with random cardboard to Brainstorm away, the body is just a bonus. I'd play them in those decks even if they were sorceries that just gain three life (and search for the other copies). You really get to feel their power if you get to Force/1-for-1 their first play on the play, drop a Hawk turn 2 and Brainstorm the others away on turn 3. Pretty busted.

@IsThisACatInAHat?: Interesting analysis, those are the kinds of things I had to think about when I saw you rocking it with the Cartel, too. How has the deck been doing in testing?
As for Clasm not having a home, I could imagine seeing it in a red-splash Miracles sideboard, for example, or even a UWr Stoneblade list. Same thing for voice, people will keep playing GW decks and maybe Voice is exactly what's needed to position them in a better way outside of combo matchups^^

@Ellomdian/Kwis: Thanks for pointing these out :) LotV = Lili in this case, I presume? My first reaction was "how the heck do they interact with Leyline of the Void?" ;)

[Tao]

@Tao: Thanks :) Out of interest, is that "first of my articles you read" and "you liked it" or "first of my articles you read that you actually liked"?^^
Also, as others explained below, you misunderstand the role of Squadron Hawk. The important thing is filling your hand with random cardboard to Brainstorm away, the body is just a bonus. I'd play them in those decks even if they were sorceries that just gain three life (and search for the other copies). You really get to feel their power if you get to Force/1-for-1 their first play on the play, drop a Hawk turn 2 and Brainstorm the others away on turn 3. Pretty busted.

The article was good and it was the first article that I read from you.

I know what Hawks do with Jace and Brainstorm, they did the same thing in Caw Blade, hence my remark. I just think that play isn't good enough anymore. You lose a lot of time durdling around with them and they fill precious deck slots. Loam does a similar thing in filling your hand for Brainstorm and no one plays it just for that.

[metronome2charisma]

fire covenant is awesome by the way ..

[Mon,Goblin Chief]

The article was good and it was the first article that I read from you.

I know what Hawks do with Jace and Brainstorm, they did the same thing in Caw Blade, hence my remark. I just think that play isn't good enough anymore. You lose a lot of time durdling around with them and they fill precious deck slots. Loam does a similar thing in filling your hand for Brainstorm and no one plays it just for that.

Thanks for clarifying, I hope you'll read others in the future :)

As for Hawks not being good enough any more, you might be right. I mean, there's a reason I've been on Storm for a while now. The power-level of early Hawk -> Brainstorm is still pretty insane but suffers a lot from the fact that during turns 1 and 2 you can't empty your hand as well any more without Misstep.

@metronome2charisma: It is! :)