100%: Meta Call(ing The Audible)

Judah piloted the one of these decks: a very bizzaro blend of UBG that featured a bunch of walls, some counter-magic, and aerial beats.’ It was bit hard to gauge what, exactly, to predict in terms of cards he may or may not be playing (which is a strategy in and of itself).’ I won Game 1 by playing Cataclysm with Kira, Great Glass-spinner in play followed up by Wasteland his Rav dual land (leaving him on none) and then stealing his threat with Sower.’ Game 2, he bashed me.’ Game 3 was an interesting one indeed and a fine example of tough calls popping up like whack-a-moles!’ For purposes of demonstration, I have graciously included a replay of said game directly below.

As you can see, I pulled this one out by the skin of my what’s-it/who’s-it!’ Colleagues ChrisKool and Rhythmik were polite enough to point out that I didn’t have to Negate Judah’s Bribery, putting into question my final risk assessment whilst sitting on an Aven Mindcensor.’ As I said in the video, time was the issue.’ And, strangely, the fourth card down was in fact a man: Trinket Mage!’ Who knows what kind of shenanigans he would have had if I’d let that through!’ Surely the four spare seconds left would have been eaten up.

Breakdown

Okay, let’s break this down cog by glistening cog with a brief explanation as to my motivations for inclusion.

Men

Allow me to preface this section by saying this was by far the hardest part of the deck to pare down.’ I was more than aware of the potential blanks that some of these guys would pose.’ Those of you familiar with my decks of yore know that I always take the Longview, so a trio of pro-red bears was most definitely a worrisome commitment for me.’ My curiosity won out, and played them anyway.

Here are my creatures, by curve:

2-Drops

Galinas Knight, Silver Knight, and Vedalken Outlander: Let’s kick this off with the pro-red trifecta.’ It’s pretty cut-and-dry here.’ These guys are cheap threats that fart in the face of mono Red.’ At worst, I figured they would be inexpensive dorks in a Control-on-Control situation, but this didn’t really pan out as such.’ I especially hated Outlander’s additional susceptibility to artifact removal.

Deft Duelist: Another nice speed bump for any Red mage with crappy threats.’ Duelist was actually really great and helped me win a number of games against Control.’ I had a sneaking suspicion this guy might be kind of awesome.’ I was never upset to see him wiggle his way to the top of my deck.

Knight of the White Orchid: We haven’t really delved into this yet, but let’s just say this deck has more than one outlet to ensure you have less lands on the table if you so desire.’ This gave me three first strikers!’ I must say though, the double White in both it and Silver Knight‘s cost didn’t sit too well with me.

Spellstutter Sprite: The deck plays four other faeries (if you count Mutavault.’ Stutter’s obvious application is in stopping one-drop men and removal (another patented feature of Gobbos and RDW).’ I countered a single spell with it all day: a Divining Top flopped down Turn 2.’ Mostly Stutter was a surprise chump blocker.’ Were you to ask me if this card would survive an update, my answer would be: NO!

3-Drops

Aven Mindcensor: As you saw in the video above, this guy does a lot for just three mana.’ Deck manipulation is a huge part of 100CS, so throwing a dirt clod in the eyes of those who would search for an answer (at instant-speed) is just the reactive type of buddy I wanted.

Court Hussar: I was very deliberate not to include sorcery-speed card draw unless it was attached to a warm body.’ This is why Hussar made the cut. ‘He offered the throughput I wanted at the cost I needed.

Fathom Seer: Bubbles here is a three-drop in my book, and a sad one at that.’ Whereas Duelist left me pleasantly surprised, Fathom Seer did little to nothing at all.’ Although he has synergy with a number of cards in the deck, he required far too much setup.’ The two times I played him on Turn 3, he promptly died to removal (on time the turn before I was setting up a ‘Geddon).’ Being mistaken him an Exalted Angel is a fine threat to pose’ if your opponent doesn’t have removal.

Kira, Great Glass-Spinner: Wu-Tang clan said it best: ‘Protect ya neck!” This is Kira’s forte’ well, protecting all your other men.’ Functioning as a living, breathing foil to spot removal, she (is that blob of crap in the art supposed to suggest that it’s female?!?) was deserving of a spot in the deck.

Kitchen Finks: This guy is pretty much in every amalgam I pilot these days.’ Normally he’s alongside Loxodon Hierarch and Ravenous Baloth, but in this deck he’s one of only two creatures capable of increasing your life total.

Trinket Mage: Initially, I was on the fence with this junk-collecting so-and-so, but a forceful nudge from Mr. Kool ensured a supporting role in this week’s deck dissection.’ I will go into this in more depth in the sections below, but, in short, he fetched mana, which is handy in a deck that ‘Geddons ASAP.

Vendilion Clique: Clique is another great reactive creature, offering you a peek-and-pluck and dropping in EOT or before blockers are declared.’ A usual suspect in a deck like this.

4-Drops

Glen Elendra Archmage: On the topic of fae, we begin our four-mana men with another great anti-Control asset.’ In actuality, Archmage is more like a five-drop due to its activated ability.’ I did consider pushing this to the board, as I rarely delve into Blue’s tricky little toolbox, but, again, Kool assured me, ‘this guy’s is good against everything.” So in it went, and right he was.

Lu Xun, Scholar General: Along the same lines as Court Hussar, I wanted some of my draw power to have teeth.’ There was a ten-minute window when I had Thieving Magpie set out with old boy, but I had more than enough at the tail end of my curve.’ Horsemanship seems like fear on crack or flyingx2- whatever silly exaggeration you prefer.’ When you goal is to blow up the world, drawing into lands or spells after you start hitting them is better than okay.’ So I gave the Scholar General a go and he actually worked out quite well.’ However, I concede that he’s easily filed under the modular ‘you can take this card out if you like’ header.

Sehts Tiger: This card may seem like a stretch to some of you, but I assure you it proved to be a brutal inclusion.’ It saved my rear twice in the aforementioned Aggro matches and came down two more times against Control when they tapped out.’ He’s an obvious blowout against all-in strategies like Gobbos and RDW.’ In a way, you could argue that it’s something of a counter-magic spell for big burn and alpha strikes.’ And don’t forget, you can Mystical Teachings for him, if crapping in people’s cereal is your thing!

Sower of Temptation: Earlier in the week, just before the PE, someone played this very card against me when I was playing Rec-Sur.’ It died in short order and my opponent said, ‘that sucks.” I then posited that Sower was in fact not that great of a card with the ridiculous volume of cheap removal in the format, of which Gobbos and RDW pack like no other.’ Of course, my opponent disagreed.’ I suppose I was curious if I could be wrong, so I gave it a try.

Well, I wasn’t.’ Sower just died, died, and then died some more, usually acting as a Fog of sorts for a single dude for a single turn at the very best (despite the above Kira win against Judah I described).’ I’d definitely take this out, as I can’t even really think of a particular match where it shines.

Venser, Shaper Savant: More of Blue’s very best.’ This guy’s great for gaining or stifling tempo, popping a threat back to hand prior to a ‘Geddon, and ambushing would-be aggressors.’ What more should I say?’ Baby boy a baller!

5-Drops

Baneslayer Angel: In a deck that wants to wipe the board of mana, creatures at this cost have to be good.’ Baneslayer is such a card.’ Though there is many a hater of this bad mama, I’m beyond a firm believer.’ She easily ousted Exalted Angel as one of the best life-gaining, evasive monsters out there, and, therefore, has found a much welcome place at the top in this particular deck.

Meloku, the Clouded Mirror: Our last creature on the bill is what I call a ‘ridicu-dude.” She’s aggressive, defensive, and works a little too well with mass land destructive to not make the cut.’ When I play Blue, which is anything but often, Meloku is in my deck.

Counter-Magic

I didn’t want to go too crazy with the permission spells, just the best for my buck.’ This meant lots of cheap and/or ‘free’ answers.’ I trimmed the fat down to this:

Divert: I’ll give credit where credit is due, it was SickSick(however many freakin’ times does he repeats this?) that bolstered this little gem in his Blue-Black Control build waaaaaay back when.’ When I was playing my Dark Bant deck, I made sure to include it in my sideboard.’ I found that every single game I was boarding it in, no matter the match up.’ So this time around, I just put it in the main.’ It can help in a counter war, or turn their removal into yours.’ Surely it’s gets all the more gross in a deck that keeps the board bereft of land.

Daze: Kool and I have this shared dream of playing Force Spike and Mana Tithe in a deck like this.’ After testing the Bant build, I found both to be pretty lackluster and situational.’ Daze, however, is disgustingly appropriate!’ It works with ‘Geddon.’ It gets your Knight of the White Orchid and/or Land Tax there.’ It’s a nice balltap when you’re opponent think you’re at your weakest.’ Sickening, indeed.

Counterspell, Mana Drain, Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, and Remand: I’m not a fan of the ”nuff said’ writer’s cop-out, but in this case’ c’mon!’ At two-mana, these are the best of the very best Permission spells the format has to offer.

Absorb: I’ve already mentioned the relative lack of life gain this deck packs.’ Absorb finishes off this list.’ You could opt this one out, but it’s essentially a double counter against mono Red decks.

Forbid: Daze, Fathom Seer, Gush, and Land Tax all pop cards back to your hand to feed the buyback on this absurdly great card.’ You can quite easily turn Forbid and whatever chaff you have built up in hand into’ a ‘no’ as many times as you can muster.’ In fact, this is exactly how I lost to the mono Blue deck I mentioned before: Forbid, 9 mana, and six other cards in hand equals The Academy’s motto: ugh.

Cryptic Command: Again, I won’t bore you with the obvious.’ This card does everything you want/need.’ The cost is far from a burden in a deck that’s primarily Blue.’ Yeah, stupid-good.

Force of Will: The second and last of our ‘free’ counter-magic compliment.’ That’s right, Pact of Negation doesn’t jive with ‘Geddons and the like, so FoW plays lone mustang in this one, guys.’ Feel free to lull your foes into a sense of false security.

Condescend: I like that this can be used early, late, and that it digs to something more relevant.’ In a pinch, you can even just pay zero and scry.

Other Ways to Deal with Stuff

I had to make some concessions in this deck, namely Moat.’ This was the downside of the anti-Red strategy; my little men wouldn’t be able to bash through this defensive countermeasure.’ So, instead, I decided to play:

Ghostly Prison and Propaganda: When everything’s going according to plan, these work as one-way Mega-Moats.’ At the worst, they tie up your opponent’s mana and put them on tough decisions.’ Additionally, they’re quite nice with’

Cataclysm: Perhaps this should fall under the ‘big LD blowout’ umbrella, but it also helps clear the board of bodies when things get a bit hairy.’ The deck doesn’t have a high threat density, so you more than likely won’t be losing card advantage on this.’ It’s especially nice with the random artifacts and enchantments in the deck, doubling up with the above cards to help create a soft lock.

Armageddon and Ravages of War: I’m blue in the face at this point with trying to convince players how incredible these cards are.’ Simply put, there is not a single bad match up out there.’ I suppose if some weird artifact mana heavy deck cartwheels on to the scene then (and only then) you could argue with me ad nauseam.’ (And if this does happen, you can bet they will be packing ‘Geddons, so’)

I’ve heard one too many times ‘they’re only good against Control.” Wrong.’ In fact, they’re far better against Aggro decks.’ Why?’ These decks play less land, they play them more aggressively to get the maximum use out of their resources, and have a harder time recovering from something as tempo-destroying as a ‘Geddon.’ It’s one of the best ways to tear Gobbos in half, especially after they use Goblin Recruiter and stack their deck with anything but land.

Control decks will either 1.) have artifact mana to help counteract the negative impact of mass land kill or 2.) just counter the dang thing. ‘There are far less guarantees against Control.’ Even still you shouldn’t be boarding them out, but rather up with similar cards like Upheaval, Boil, and anything within your colors that does something along the same lines.

Just remember that these cards require finesse.’ You don’t just play them on Turn 4 because you can.’ Be patient, and make sure to set yourself up with contingencies, have your backup mana, and threats or answers to them.’ All in all, stop being silly and start playing these cards, people!

Vedalken Shackles: It’s only fair to follow up the above rant with an obvious negative interaction.’ Yeah, blowin’ up the Islands necessary to snag opposing dudes falls a few yards short of making sense.’ Fortunately, this card is so good that it can bypass the logic of a potential blank post-’Geddon activation.’ You only need a couple Islands to make it worth your while.’ Just set up first, and then knock ‘em down.

Bribery: I didn’t know where to place this card, but right after Shackles seems good enough.’ Since my’ run with Rec-Sur packing the Natural Order/Progenitus, I’ve been seeing the ten-mana monster barfed into play on the heel’s of many a dead elf.

That’s right, folks, with graveyard recursion strategies more than viable in the here-and-now, Bribery gets a dust off to yank your opponent’s most gnarly of beasts at your strict behest.’ Even at five-mana and sorcery-speed, this can often be a ‘one-card equals win’ situation.

Elspeth, Knight-Errant: Speaking of card that aren’t easily filed under an appropriate header, my favorite of favs in the planeswalker department!’ Elspeth farts out blockers, attackers, gives guys a pay bump in terms of doling out the beats, and can turn your board into a nightmare of Darksteel proportions!’ She’s the best of the best, especially in a deck like this.

Day of Judgment and Wrath of God: White’s most cost-efficient mass removal spells.’ Perhaps you could go down to one, and up the body count.’ The odds were a bit against me in this PE with all the Control matches.’ Definitely need a bit more research on this call.

Path to Exile, Sunlance, and Swords to Plowshares: Our battery of one-mana spot removal.’ Sunlance obviously gets the bronze here, but it’s no slouch in the right situation.’ Then again, what card isn’t?’ Path is best used pre-’Geddon, to negate the drawback.’ STP remains insane.

Oblivion Ring: We could lump O-Ring with the above trio, but it’s different enough to warrant it’s own little cameo.’ Again, this can gel with Cataclysm, or put you to your cards if you have one (or both) of the prison enchantments on the table as well.’ Additionally, you can dig this out with an Enlightened Tutor, given the circumstances.

Dismantling Blow: Perhaps regular old Disenchant would suffice, but the greedy son-of-a-so-and-so in me wanted a little something more.’ Upon evaluation, I think I’d probably just move the Aura of Silence from the board to the main, as it fits in with the prison aspect of the deck more seamlessly.’ I just wanted an instant-speed answer/Teachings target.

Capsize and Repulse: Other than Venser, these are your only bounce outlets.’ Capsize made the final draft of the deck right at the eleventh hour and proved to be a more expensive Boomerang pretty much every time I drew it.’ This leads me to believe that you could actually sub in Boomerang, but something about that just feels so remedial to me.’ Also, Capsize is a potentially useful tool in a Control mirror.

Repulse helps with tempo and cantrips (obv).

Draw Power, Deck Manipulation, and Mana Assistance

Brainstorm and Ponder: For one-mana, both of these cards do a lot.’ Same with Condescend and Court Hussar, I was more interested in the quality of my hand rather than the quantity.’ They get me to lands and offer a cheap leg up after a ‘Geddon.

Senseis Divining Top: This requires no explanation, so I will sojourn forward.

Thirst for Knowledge: Truth be told, there are few artifacts in the deck.’ The fact remains that this is simply one of your best options for instant-speed card draw, hence its inclusion.

Gush: Once again, we find a number of useful interactions with all kinds of different cards in the deck.’ This is your ideal ‘Geddon set up spell, giving you lands and little extra to boot.’ I’ve yearned to find a home for this since its digital inception; at long last it has one!

Fact or Fiction: This card is just too powerful not to play.’ So powerful in fact, that I will stop talking about it riiiiiiight’ now!

Enlightened Tutor, Mystical Teachings, and Mystical Tutor: There are more than ample targets for all three of these cards in this deck, offering you access to a bevy of counter-magic, removal, mass LD, and creatures.’ Note that a single Underground Sea helps provide flashback mana for Teachings in addition to:

Mox Diamond: At first, I had Chrome Mox as artifact accelerator number two in the deck, but ended up cutting it for its inherit card disadvantage.’ This means Diamond is the sole artifact mana (beyond Darksteel Citadel and Seat of the Synod, if you wanna split hairs).

Some of you may remember Gainsay’s infamous Prison deck earlier last year.’ Strangely the archetype disappeared even though it was given a number of other redundant tools like The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale with the release of ME3.’ My theory as to why this ceased to be pertains to the tons of artifact mana it played.’ On the whole, they just made for weird and sometimes altogether impotent draws.’ I much prefer to just play lands, even at the risk of losing them to my own spells.’ In conjunction with all the ‘return a land’ spells, it helps to marginalize the negative impact on your game state, as well as give you the necessary land to pitch to the Diamond itself.’ Oddly, this is the main reason I included Trinket Mage.

Tithe: More cheap insurance that you recover from your board clear and another card that pairs nicely with the ‘return a land’ spells.

Land Tax: This was one of the cards I was the most excited to play in the deck.’ It’s been far too long since a Land Tax has sat on my side of the table and rummaged up much appreciated mana.’ It was the backbone to the victory in the video I shared above.’ And it will be the backbone to victories down the line.’ Like Thawing Glaciers it’s one of the best incentives to play a high volume of basics.’ And, of course, it’s your best hopes of circumnavigating the downside of nuking your own mana.

Lands

There’s only a few cards worth mentioning here:

Mishra’s Factory and Mutavault: My two man-lands!’ I opted out of playing Faerie Conclave (despite it increasing my Spellstutter count) because it comes into play tapped.’ Lately, I am don’t bother with lands that don’t provide me with an immediate return (with a few exceptions, of course).’ These two were fine candidates, doled out beats, and played D when I needed it.’ Oh, and you can activate these guys when you Cataclysm to keep two lands in play if you have no men or ones you don’t mind dying!

Karakas: There are a lot of legends in this deck and usually a few running around on the other side of the table as well.’ Think of it as Plains-plus!’ I considered running Riptide Laboratory since most of my creatures were wizards, but I really wanted to keep my colorless mana generation to an absolute minimum.’ Karakas did what I needed it to do and then some (especially in tandem with Venser).

Darksteel Citadel, Flagstones of Trokair, Oboro, Palace in the Clouds, and Seat of the Synod: Anti-’Geddon lands.’ Seat of the Synod is merely a Trinket Mage target that, like Citadel, can be nifty with Cataclysm in giving you two lands instead of one.

Sideboard

You can easily see that the board breaks into two distinct packages:

Anti-Red/Aggro

Two more men come out of the board: Burrenton Forge-tender and Tivadar of Thorn (you can bounce Tiv with Karakas for the Gobbos blowout, by the way).’ Flashfreeze and Hydroblast give you two more solid counters (as well as some spot removal).’ Chill is nasty with the ‘Geddons and other prison cards in the deck.’ Sphere of Law and Hibernation help to stem the bleeding and put your opponent off their intended tempo.

Anti-Combo/Control

Negate is great for decks that are light on bodies and high on other types of spells (ie: Control).’ Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir is a god-among-men when it comes to the Control mirror.’ Rhystic Study, Winter Orb and Aura of Silence tangle up mana, as well as draw cards and Disenchant.’ (Study is actually pretty insane in the Control match.)’ Jace Beleren offers some additional draw power to keep you ahead in the resource war of Control-on-Control.’ Relic of Progenitus devours would be reanimation targets.’ And, last but not least, Upheaval comes in as a devastating reset trump against slower decks.

Closing Words and Some News

Perhaps this deck will fare better this week, or in the ones to come.’ God knows it didn’t fail me; I just didn’t hit the matches that I was expecting.’ If you give something like this a try, my best advice to you is this: watch your clock! Even with bears, Blue-White eats up time like corn dogs at fat camp.’ There’s definitely something to this strategy worth exploring, and with a little more time and testing I’m confident this could be tweaked into a really exciting and competitive deck.

I hope this was enjoyable and insightful, as I will only be doing one article a month from here-on-out.’ Yup, that’s all you get from me this month: a lousy four-thousand-plus words.’ The good news is I’ll be sharing my Thursday rotation with ChrisKool, so stay tuned for some stellar content on Standard Singleton!’ Also keep an eye peeled throughout the month for videos on Commander, as well as 100CS from yours truly!

As always, thanks so much for taking the time to read my stuff.’ Feel free to tear apart my ideas like so much toilet tissue in the area below!’ Or, just say nice stuff, because I’m actually quite sensitive (like a human koala).

Let the semantics begin,

Travis R. Chance (so many trolls)