Hello all! I’ve been busy brewing up a few lists as you;ve probably noticed, as now that there are a lot of deck lists and results out using Innistrad we should be able to see where the state of the game is going and prepare for it.
We’ve already looked at:
1) Control -> "Ponder"ing the Aggro Solution
2) Aggro -> The Last... I Knew You Were The Last!
The 3rd archetype is of course MIDRANGE, which (as the name implies) falls somewhere between Aggro and Control. Some people even call this “aggro-control” since it’s a hybrid of both. Last season a perfect example of this was the old Jund deck which used powerful spells and creatures to generate card advantage vs control, and had better creatures than aggro. Is there a deck we can build today that can grind us CA and deal with the fast threats presented in Tokens / Aggro-Geist?
Here’s a proposal!
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MIDRANGE JUND (R/B/G)
4x Birds of Paradise
3x Skinshifter
3x Mayor of Avabruck
4x Daybreak Ranger
2x Solemn Simulacrum
2x Olivia Voldaron
2x Bloodgift Demon
1x Inferno Titan
1x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Grave Titan
23
3x Doomblade
3x Incinerate
3x Rampant Growth
2x Garruk Relentless
2x Garruk, Primal Hunter
13
2x Kessig Wolf Run
2x Inkmoth Nexus
4x Copperline Gorge
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
3x Swamp
3x Mountain
6x Forest
24
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Look at this curve!
CC1 = 4
CC2 = 15 (<- UGLY!!!)
CC3 = 4
CC4 = 6
CC5 = 4
CC6 = 3
AGAINST AGGRO?
Aggro has a hard time with Skinshifter and Doomblade / Incinerate keep it in check until we’re able to roll out our “bigger guys” who will trump all of theirs (except that accursed Hero of Bladeholme… damn she’s annoying! Save a doom blade for her! Haha). Daybreak Ranger is insane and will act as removal every turn until killed. If you can untap w / Olivia Voldaron in play, you’re probably going to win as well since she’ll either kill all their guys OR just get so big that she’ll trump everything else on the field, titans included. We round out the package with Inferno / Grave Titan and a Wurmcoil engine, all of which eat little bears all day long.
AGAINST CONTROL?
The Mayor is an excellent tool vs Control. If you can slip one under a counterspell and they don’t deal with it immediately, it can win the game all on its own. A T2 Skinshifter swinging for 4 a turn is also pretty good because of the trample and the fact that it can kill a Spellskite. Solemn is CA, Bloodgift is CA, the Garruks are CA and CA is really good vs control. Our creatures are so quality that any one of them can end the game on their own, so control has to make 1-for-1 trades which it really hates to do. The Kessig Wolf Runs makes ANY threat lethal, so it’s a nice bonus!
There you go! 3 decks within a week, one for each play style.
What’s YOUR favorite style? Aggro, Control, or Midrange?
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Here’s a quick Trade or NO Trade for you as well! This trade went down about 2 weeks ago… let’s look at this one from what prices were back then VS. what they are today to see if we can learn anything about how values are shifting, and if a trade from then is still be a good deal if we did it THIS week instead!
<< TRADE 1 >> | |
PILE 1 | PILE 2 |
3x Stromkirk Noble 1x Angelic Destiny | 1x Scaab Ruinator 1x Batterskull 2x Blackcleave Cliffs |
So what do you think? Pile 1 or 2 or are they even?
What about 3 weeks ago… were they even THEN?
Think about it before you scroll down…
<< TRADE 1 – TODAYS VALUES >> | |
PILE 1 | PILE 2 |
3x Stromkirk Noble ($5x3 = $15) 1x Angelic Destiny ($16) | 1x Scaab Ruinator ($4) 1x Batterskull ($12) 2x Blackcleave Cliffs ($4x2 = $8) |
Total = $31 | Total = $24 |
Oh no! It looks like by TODAYS values pile 1 is waaayyy ahead! Someone got a great deal on an Angelic Destiny is what REALLY happened here, as it was on the rise when traded and Skaab was falling. Batterskull has been stagnant at $12 for a while now, and Blackcleave Cliffs don’t have a home yet, so I think they’re undervalued right now. All in all, today, this would be a VERY bad trade. Let’s see how things looked 3 weeks ago when the trade actually happened!
<< TRADE 1 – NOV 6TH VALUES >> | |
PILE 1 | PILE 2 |
3x Stromkirk Noble ($6.5x3 = $19.5) 1x Angelic Destiny ($11) | 1x Scaab Ruinator ($6) 1x Batterskull ($12) 2x Blackcleave Cliffs ($4x2 = $8) |
Total = $30.50 | Total = $26 |
Still a bad deal L, just not AS bad. I’m pile 1 and was dealing with a super-aggressive value trader. I’m normally pretty calm / rational when I’m trading so don’t know why I did this one. I knew Angelic Destiny was on the rise and that Skaab was on the fall, but still did the trade because of pressure, and the fact that he wanted us both to use SCG values, so it should have been on a level playing field. HOWEVER, Starcity had NOT updated their prices on either Destiny OR Skaab, and while I had a bad feeling about the trade, and SCGs values seemed off, I did it anyways. I still think Skaab and Blackcleave are poised to go up, but that shouldn’t have changed the fact that AT THE TIME, they were low, so I should have traded for them as such.
I’m going to take a few things about this trade away with me, as I think I learned something!
a) If you don’t feel comfortable with a trade, don’t do it!
b) SCG is NOT the be-all-and-end-all (That’s what eBay completed listings is for).
c) Don’t let yourself get “hussled” or intimidated.
d) If you KNOW something is gaining, ask for more than its current value.
e) Trade for cards at CURRENT value, not possible future values.
Learn from my mistakes!!! Hahaha…
Cheers,
Carl Szalich
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