The Evolving Meta

Randy Nixa
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 - 12:45

Let's get it out of the way.  Here's the DECKLIST:
CREATURES

  • 3x Snapcaster Mage
  • 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

PLANESWALKERS

  • 2x Gideon Jura
  • 1x Elspeth Tirel
  • 1x Karn

SORCERIES

  • 4x Timely Reinforcements
  • 3x Day of Judgment

INSTANTS

  • 4x Mana Leak
  • 3x Dissipate
  • 1x Dismember
  • 4x Think Twice
  • 3x Forbidden Alchemy
  • 2x White Sun’s Zenith
  • 1x Blue Sun’s Zenith

LANDS

  • 4X Seachrome Coast
  • 4x Glacial Fortress
  • 2x Drowned Catacomb
  • 1x Isolated Chapel
  • 3x Ghost Quarter
  • 7x Island
  • 6x Plains

SIDEBOARD

  • 2x Celestial Purge
  • 2x Gut Shot
  • 2x Flashfreeze
  • 2x Spellskite
  • 2x Jace, Memory Adept
  • 1x Dispense Justice
  • 1x Ghost Quarter
  • 1x Day of Judgment
  • 1x Snapcaster Mage
  • 1x Negate

The meta shifts and so must we as an eternal UW control player.  My previous incantation was set up for a control meta and this has not been the case and results have reflected that.  My local meta game has turned into a haven for UW agro decks mixed in with wolf run.  I’m sure you can relate to my predicament.   So, let’s first discuss my changes.
 
Mainboard                                                                                                         

  • -2x Ponder                                                                                                         
  • -2x Negate  
  • -2x Shimmering Grotto
  • -1x Island
  • +1x Dismember
  • +1x Timely Reinforcements
  • +1x Day of Judgment
  • +1x Blue Sun’s Zenith
  • +2x Drowned Catacomb
  • +1x Ghost Quarter

Sideboard

  • -1x Timely Reinforcements
  • +1x Negate

 
The changes are pretty obvious as far as their purpose.  Shimmering grotto is a pile of ass in this deck and unnecessary.  Taking 2 dmg from gut shot is highly irrelevant in the matches you board it in.  The black sources are just for forbidden alchemy flashbacks.  I’ll not be relying on any doom blades.  As much as I hate Ghost Quarter, it’s the most important land in the deck and adding a third to the mainboard has been crucial to game 1 in uw agro and wolf run games.
This build has performed much better in my current meta and left me a 4-0 victory in my last Monday Night Magic appearance.  I faced a casual vamp deck, a casual uw token build, a quality GR Kessig build and a Jund Kessig build in the finals.  The Kessig matchup is a horrid stress fest, but it’s doable.  Both matches I lost game 1 and won games 2 and 3.  Boarding is crucial.  So…. The breakdown:
Siding:

  • -4x Timely
  • -1x Day
  • -1x Dismember
  • -1x White Sun
  • -1x Blue Sun
  • -1x Elspeth
  • +2x Gut Shot
  • +2x Spellskite
  • +2x Flashfreeze
  • +1x Dispense Justice
  • +1x Ghost Quarter
  • +1x Jace

I sense that a lot of people will question boarding out timely.  Here’s my logic.  The card doesn’t do anything to positively affect the board.  It’s purely a stall card and not in a good way.  Kessig wins in a turn effectively with lethal poison or trample.  1/1 ground tokens and life gain don’t prevent that happening.  It’s a buffer, but you need every spot in your deck to stop what they want to do.  This means a disciplined decision structure that can only be deviated from in desperate times.
This matchup is an exercise in masochistic behavior.  They’re going to hurt and annoy you with a lot of pesky critters and spells…… and you’re going to take it until you can’t anymore.  You’ll let them acidic slime your lands because you play 28 post board.  You’ll let them beast your Planeswalkers because they’re not going to win this game for you.  You’ll let them beat you for 2 repeatedly with Solemns .  You’re going to take it all just to not give them a window to play their titans.  More importantly, you won’t be winning this game until you have at a very minimum of 10 lands which is a long ways away when they’re destroying all them with slimes and beasts.
So here’s a simple break down of what card answers what threat.
TRASH MOBS
Day + Gideon + White Sun is going to answer the majority of the annoyances.  Now again you can throw a mana leak around when they become less relevant or you don’t have a pair of them in your grip late game.  Besides titans, Wolf Run plays bears.  Don’t worry about these bears until you are in single digit life.  Gideon + Day can stabilize.  You just got to stay alive until you can day + dissipate back up.  It’s tough, but do able.  Tactical Leak usage is big.  You need to draw, draw, draw until your hand is set up to stop a titan.  Take damage until you can effectively clear the board while countering their next turn titan.
LAND THREATS
Kessig Wolf Run -  Spellskite is your champion here.  His soul purpose is to steal those kessig activations.  I’ll only use ghost quarter to destroy a kessig when it’s absolutely necessary or I’m clearly ahead.  Ghost is primarily better used on an Inkmoth.  Haste is a rare feature in wolf builds so generally you’ll have a turn to answer any potential kessig target.
Inkmonth Nexus – Gut Shot is the go to obviously, but never snap it back unless it’s for game win or survival situations.
You’ll notice the land threats have some overlap.  2x Spellskite for kessig.  2xgut shot for Inkmoth with 4x ghost quarters to pick up the slack from either source.
PHATTY BEATERS
Primeval Titan – Dissipate is the go to.  Your opponent will generally wait until they have mana leak mana around before busting him.  He’ll taunt you with every spell in his deck before he tries to win the game with this merciless green bastard.  Any titan you can leak is a gift and flashfreeze is bonus protection.
Inferno Titan / Grave Titan – If you are sitting on counters a plenty or can get a gift from a leak, do it.  But a day is a great use for these less than effective creatures against you.
Thrun (the asshole) – This guy is sort of a big deal.  Our board has one out and it takes some work to do it.  Dispense Justice is an awful card and this is the only match you’ll bring it in.   A good player will swing in with birds, nexus and Thrun.  This means you need to day their board, gutshot/ghost their attacking nexi and also have the mana to possibly snap + Dispense Justice.  It’s a pain in the ass, but it does the job.  The upside is that with Kessig in play, it leads players to want to pump as much mana into Thrun as possible while leaving 2 back to regen.  This can catch them off-guard when they see a terrible card being played (Dispense Justice).  Even without a DJ in hand… 4 damage a turn isn’t the worst.  Gideon soaks up turns and snap can chump when required.  You’ll rarely see turn 4 thrun anyhow because they need regen magic for Day.  Dispense works better than expected.  It takes some finagling, but it has better value than Phantasmal Image in this deck.
RRR Factor
Devil’s play is the x factor.  Be conscience of its existence and how their mana reflects potential damage.
FINALLY… CAN I WIN NOW?
All of this headache leads up to you having a million mana and finally being able to play your star… ELESH NORN.  Norn turns off their deck.  You no longer care about titans when a 4/3 Snap caster is trading with their titans.  Inkmoth is dead on activation.  Once you have finally worked your way through their threats and they pass the turn after doing nothing.  You White Sun for a million and extend a hand.
Protect the Queen and the game is yours.  Don’t play Ms. Norn until you have enough resources to guarantee her safety on the battlefield.  This takes patience and a ton of digging with think and forbidden.   For this reason, I will probably be keeping in a Blue Sun in future matches.  It’s very hard to win this game fast.  Settle in for the long haul and put on your big boy pants because you’re going to eat a lot of punishment and rack your brain with decisions before you even get a whiff of any potential victory.
The back up win cons are not nearly as consistent as Elesh Norn.  You may be able to sneak a kitty parade victory in.  You may be able to stabalize the board with Karn.  You may be able to mill them with Jace.  All can be done, but make no mistake, Elesh Norn is the consistent path to victory.  I'd give Jace a second place.  Stabalization is the key and it takes a long time to do it when every card Wolf Run plays is a bomb.  Best of luck and thanks for reading through my gobbily guk.