So Many Insane Plays -- Decoding the DCI

[Smmenen]

http://www.eternal-central.com/?p=1327

Blurb:

The DCI is a body composed of some of the smartest people in Magic. Unfortunately, intelligence does not entail the ability to communicate ideas or thoughts clearly or effectively. Tom LaPille was a notable addition to the staff of Wizards of the Coast, not simply because of his accomplishments in Magic, but because of his ability to communicate the groupthink of a nest of brainiacs to the outside world. With notable speed Tom became the voice of Wizards R&D as he took over the reins of the column titled Latest Developments. This is not to say that Erik Lauer, the individual responsible for explaining the most recent changes to the Banned and Restricted List, has not explained the changes clearly or effectively. However, further elaboration or insight would be helpful. The implications of the most recent B/R list announcement reach Vintage as well as Legacy. Permit me to attempt to decode the DCI…

Also, I argued for the unbanning of Time Spiral this past March. I held a poll on SCG, and here's what I wrote there:

Time Spiral

The argument for unbanning Time Spiral isn't that, like Mind Over Matter, it won't see any play. Mind Over Matter was unbanned and I don't think it's seen a moment of competitive play since. It's true that Dream Halls was unbanned and actually won a major European tournament, but it's mostly a joke deck in the U.S. Its legality is just proof that 'interesting things' can happen in Legacy, but it's nothing to fear. It's an option for people who like to play with cool toys.

Time Spiral is a card that I believe would be good for Legacy. The truth is that there is no serious Storm combo deck in American Legacy. I realize that Belcher combo gets a lot of attention in the U.S., but how often has it made Top 8 at an SCG Open? Once? Twice? And I realize that a few Ad Nauseam decks made Top 8 at the last GP, but Ad Nauseam decks are very poor performers in the U.S. SCG Opens, especially relative to their presence in the field.

Time Spiral would offer another option for Legacy Storm that isn't reliant on Ad Nauseam, or jank like Doomsday or Diminishing Returns. Time Spiral and Ad Nauseam can't be played in the same deck for obvious reasons.

Time Spiral is a genuine storm engine, but it doesn't raise the concerns that make Storm a problem. Specifically, Time Spiral is slow. At six mana, it's not a spell that is going to be cast on turn 1 or turn 2, or even on turn 3 (barring a god draw). That's why Time Spiral is okay to unban.

To even cast Time Spiral, you have to generate 6 mana. With High Tide, you are looking at turn 3 at the earliest, and you'll require something else besides, such as a Cloud of Faeries to generate the sixth mana. You could do it with Dark Rituals, but then you won't get the full benefit of the untap, and find yourself pressured in trying to combo out post-Time Spiral.

For that reason, realistically, we are looking at turn 4 before this card is going to be cast. Consider old High Tide decks:

Extended High Tide
Kai Budde

16 Island
4 Thawing Glaciers
3 Volcanic Island
4 High Tide
3 Frantic Search
4 Time Spiral
3 Turnabout
1 Palinchron
3 Stroke of Genius
2 Arcane Denial
1 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
4 Impulse
3 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor

Frantic Search is banned in Legacy, so that would make this deck even slower. Reset can't be used with Time Spiral, since Time Spiral is a sorcery.

The natural home for Time Spiral would be Spring Tide:

Spring Tide
Suggested by Stephen Menendian on 2010-03-28 as a potential deck for Legacy
As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/l...In_Legacy.html
Print this deck!
Maindeck:

Creatures
4 Cloud of Faeries


Instants
1 Brain Freeze
4 Brainstorm
2 Cunning Wish
4 Force of Will
4 High Tide
4 Meditate
4 Snap
3 Turnabout

Sorceries
4 Ideas Unbound
3 Merchant Scroll
4 Ponder
3 Time Spiral

Basic Lands
16 Island
Sideboard:

1 Brain Freeze
1 Counterspell
2 Echoing Truth
2 Fact or Fiction
4 Remand
1 Stroke of Genius
2 Trickbind
1 Twincast
1 Wipe Away


I could imagine a slightly faster variant with Bubbling Muck and Dark Rituals, but I’m not sure it would be any stronger or more consistent, just another trade off of speed/consistency. Legacy is so dominated by tempo decks, it would be fun to see cards like Time Spiral and Land Tax unbanned to provide genuine alternative options, albeit weaker, to the standard aggro-control or aggro-tempo decks that are so common.

[Ben]

Good to see you back Steve,
Thanks for the great article for my holiday reading :)

[Mark Sun]

I think the one of the Vengevine-less Ooze Survival builds the explanation was referring to was the one that won the Thursday Legacy Event at Worlds: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazin...s10/1209legacy

As I stated before, they probably overlooked the 3 MD Aven Mindcensors, I would probably attribute that build's success to three cards that crush to mirror in the MD just as much as the Ooze combo itself. The pilot had a pretty good idea what he was doing, I would imagine.

[CorpT]

I think the one of the Vengevine-less Ooze Survival builds the explanation was referring to was the one that won the Thursday Legacy Event at Worlds: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazin...s10/1209legacy

As I stated before, they probably overlooked the 3 MD Aven Mindcensors, I would probably attribute that build's success to three cards that crush to mirror in the MD just as much as the Ooze combo itself. The pilot had a pretty good idea what he was doing, I would imagine.

It's too bad no one else was allowed to run Aven Mindcensor until that tournament. That could have been a good card to run to stop Survival.

[Karhumies]

It's too bad no one else was allowed to run Aven Mindcensor until that tournament. That could have been a good card to run to stop Survival.

AFAIK, Aven Mindcensor was widely played all over Europe, incl. GP Gothenburg's Legacy side event (which I participated in). If the US players overlooked this TecH vs Survival, it's no wonder it got so successful in SCG tournaments. Ironically, the most efficient way to find Aven Mindcensor was to run Survival yourself, though, which may have been among the many reasons for SotF banning.

[Valrina]

I even saw decks running Aven and Leonin when surival got that strong.

I am perfectly fine with the ban but I think the reaon the european metagame adopted better was:

- Strom was stronger here already before the surival hype
- Surival was a classic archetype in Europe, while not that heavily played I saw easily over 15+ different surivalbuilds here over the years, it was never dominant but always a force you had to be prepared for in the last 4+ years
- Dredge had some strong showings while the rising of GW Sur shortly before VV so people where about to pack tons of gravehate to hate Dredge out anyway which splashed on surival

I think the surival ban was good because with every set you print at the now common creaturepowerlevel you break it more and more and it gets unhealthy more and more.

Still the differenc ein results shows clearly to me why you shouldnt just look at the SCG as a breakdown of the current meta.

[Shabbaman]

I didn't want to get into the huge discussion that followed your previous article, but are you now writing for Eternal-central? I noticed you weren't writing for SCG for a while, but I like that your articles are open to the public again. I doubt you still need to be told that you are a good writer, but still: I like your articles ;)

[Lemnear]

I was free to express my doubts for the justification on the wizards site, via mail and sum it up in a comment below stephen's article.

[Mark Sun]

It's too bad no one else was allowed to run Aven Mindcensor until that tournament. That could have been a good card to run to stop Survival.

Lmao, what an embarrassing turnout for Americans. A lot of people did know about the tech, including myself who played 2 copies in my 75 (1/1 split), but I don't recall seeing much of this card in the 5K data. How many g1's do you think this list stole when it had 3 copies of it in the MD? I hear winning 1 of 2 to secure a match win is pretty good.

[Lemnear]

mindscensor is another new threat to survival decks that never got the time to show it's power ... exept winning worlds

[FoolofaTook]

mindscensor is another new threat to survival decks that never got the time to show it's power ... exept winning worlds

Aven Mindcensor is opponent only. That just makes it part of the new Survival toolbox once people started using it in any significant numbers. First Survival would still be the dominant factor in who won the mirror.

[CorpT]

Aven Mindcensor is opponent only. That just makes it part of the new Survival toolbox once people started using it in any significant numbers. First Survival would still be the dominant factor in who won the mirror.

That's because you're only allowed to play a single Mindcensor in any deck. If you were able to play more than one Mindcensor in a deck, this might not be the case.

[Sims]

That's because you're only allowed to play a single Mindcensor in any deck. If you were able to play more than one Mindcensor in a deck, this might not be the case.

How does this make any sense?

[thecrav]

This just in: Aven Mindcensor is on the legacy restricted list.

[conboy31]

Thanks for the article. It would be refreshing and insightful for more information to be provided regarding the bannings and unbannings of cards. As well as perspective on the formats that they are trying to sculpt or actively shape.

Edit- Additionally they could claim that their rubrics are subject to change in the future (obviously) but they are operating under xyz premises presently.

[LennonMarx]

mindscensor is another new threat to survival decks that never got the time to show it's power ... exept winning world's legacy side event

Fixed that for you. I mean, it's cool that someone made a survival deck to beat the mirror. That would be a great metagama, huh? Survival, anti-survival Survival, storm, and 4AvenMindsencor4LeoninArbitor4SupressionField.dec.

[FoolofaTook]

That's because you're only allowed to play a single Mindcensor in any deck. If you were able to play more than one Mindcensor in a deck, this might not be the case.

So, having the option to play white and x Aven Mindcensors if you want to beat Survival is better than playing Survival and 1 Aven Mindcensor for the mirror? When the Survival deck is clearly a better deck against the field than any deck playing x Aven Mindcensors that does not also play Survival?

One of the things that I've learned from playing Legacy over the years is that bad hate bears are still bad unless you're playing exactly the opponent they're good against. 1 Aven Mindcensor is a necessary sacrifice in a Survival-fueled meta. 4 are likely a disaster waiting to happen.

[Lemnear]

Aven Mindcensor is opponent only. That just makes it part of the new Survival toolbox once people started using it in any significant numbers. First Survival would still be the dominant factor in who won the mirror.

I know that mindscensor does ... it's a way to battle the continious search of fetchlands or survival. The fact it was run by a Survival deck to combat other Survival doesn't prove me wrong.

[JACO]

How does this make any sense?

It's a joke people! That's CorpT's sense of humor, and if people had actually been metagaming and adjusting cards properly (ie more Mindcensors, Spell Snares, Storm combo, etc.) we probably wouldn't seen Survival on the banned list.

[Rico Suave]

Mindcensor is like Krosan Grip. It looks like an answer to Survival, but it's really not.

It's also not a surprise that people who think Mindcensor is good against Survival also think that Survival wasn't a problem.