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HOLY VIDEO GAME INTERLUDES BATMAN!!
Has anyone else reading this ever played “Dragon Age: Origins”? If you have, then you probably know why I haven’t written in a while… it’s so good! I stopped playing video games for a long, long time and focused solely on collecting retro titles, but after beating DA:O (and its “Awakenings” expansion) I had to start on “Dragon Age 2” immediately. I’ve now conquered it, and am back on DA:O again for a second (comprehensive) play through that includes the downloadable content (found a copy of the game of the year edition for only $15 at EB games!). This will become my “cannon” storyline for when I inevitably replay DA2.
Oh Morrigan, look what you've done to me! :P
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If there’s anything you’ve picked up on in my DEKTEK series it’s that I love card advantage and life gain in such a heavy aggro meta. You’ve probably also noticed my fondness of the quality R/G spells that reoccur throughout my decks in: Thragtusk, Huntmaster of the Fells, Thundermaw Hellkite & friends. It had been a while since I’d played anything with blue in it, and I was kinda missing my good friend Snapcaster so I had a crazy thought… why not just mix Snapper in with all my other favorite cards, throw in a few Izzet Charms and counterspells, bake for 45 minutes at 350 and see what happens??
Now I’m behind on my deck updates so this one that I’m posting went 8-1-1 over two 5 round FNM’s last month PRE-GATECRASH. There was no Boros Reckoner in the format so the deck was probably better at that time stamp, but there are new cards that came out (I’m looking at you Prime Speaker Zegana!) that would probably improve it as well so I’m not writing it off. If I had to choose between this and Naya though? Hmmm…
CARL SZALICH’S MIDRANGE RUG DECK
SPELLS (17)
2x Cyclonic Rift
4x Farseek
3x Mizzium Mortars
4x Searing Spear
4x Izzet Charm
CREATURES (14)
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Daybreak Ranger
4x Huntmaster of the Fells
4x Thragtusk
3x Thundermaw Hellkite
LANDS (24)
2x Kessig Wolf Run
4x Sulfur Falls
4x Steam Vents
3x Rootbound Crag
3x Hinterland Harbor
2x Breeding Pool
2x Stomping Ground
2x Forest
1x Mountain
1x Island
Note: I added the Breeding Pools / Stomping Grounds after the fact, and if I had a 3rd of each I’d probably add them as well in place of their Crag / Harbor bretheren.
SIDEBOARD (15)
3x Essence Scatter
2x Negate
3x Flames of the Firebrand
4x Counterflux
2x Garruk, Pimal Hunter
1x Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
SIDEBOARDING STRATEGIES
By now you know the drill:
Bring in Flames (and possibly Essence Scatter depending on if you see Cavern of Souls) vs. aggro.
Bring in Garruks and other cards that complement the match vs. midrange.
Bring in Garruk, Counterflux, Niv-Mizzet and Negate vs. control.
ABOUT SIDEBOARDING…
I think I should write an article about how to properly prepare a sideboard, as although I know the theory, I haven’t been following it. Maybe by writing it all out it will help me actually follow through with making my sideboard the way it should be instead of throwing in a bunch of cards that are just “good in certain matchups” and that you don’t end up using, even when you end up in the match that you had intended!
WHAT WOULD I CHANGE TODAY?
My big thing these days is running 25 mana. When you’re trying to get snapper online (aka have 4 mana available) or cast one of the many 5 drops, that 25th land is as strong as a super Saiyan Goku. I wish this deck had a “Bonfire of the Damned” or “Sphinxs’s Revelation” to dump all that mana into, but Kessig Wolf Run works just as well. In fact, that 25th land should almost BE a 3rd Kessig as I believe it’s important to trample over opposing Boros Reckoners and lingering soul tokens now more than ever. It would also help get us to that tricky 6-7 land mark where we can start overloading our Mizzium Mortars and Cyclonic Rifts. There haven’t really been any color issues with the mana base thusfar, so I think the fact that Wolf Run produces colorless is a non-issue.
I really want to like Prime Speaker Zegana for the dream for Thragtust -> Zegana draw 5 cards potential, but have a hard time justifying what could potentially end up as a 1/1 vanilla draw 1 for 6. If I had access to Restoration Angel I think she’d be better. Right now I’m on the fence about adding one just to test her out, but I’m not sure if I want to give up the consistency of true threats to play her. I was originally running a Niv-Mizzet main but ended up taking it out because (bar having 8+ mana when you cast) it had no immediate enter the play effect. Prime Speaker DOES have an EtB effect, but it’s circumstantial. It all boils down to this question: Are EITHER of them as good as a Thundermaw Hellkite or Thragtusk?
THE SUM OF ALL TOTALS
I think that since Boros Reckoner has become such a huge part of the metagame that this deck may not be as well positioned as it once was, but still has a great deal of potential. Sure against a Reckoner you’ll sometimes get 2-for-1’d when you have to Searing Spear them, but at least you have an answer, and some CA of your own to get back in the game.
This deck is another aggro crusher, as the entire deck save Farseek and Thragtusk can be considered removal in some fashion or another. If you’re playing in a heavy aggro meta, this list is a fine choice. On my first tournament attempt with the deck I was running counterspells main, but found that my opponents always had a Caverns or two in play so abandoned that plan in favor of direct damage. There is nothing worse than holding an Essence Scatter and having your opponent T5 play a cavern naming beast then resolve a Thragtusk. I seriously wanted to shred and eat my Essence Scatter when that happened to me (Obv I’d remove it from its sleeve first though, what do I look like to you… a barbarian??).
AS AN ASIDE
I haven’t been totally useless this past little while. If you have a premium membership to www.quietspeculation.com I had another theory article published there about how to identify cards with future potential. It’s particularly relevant in this age of “OMG Daybreak Coronet went from $1 to $20 in a week!”.
‘Till next time, keep Abrupt Decaying those Reckoners in response to their Boros Charms!
Carl Szalich
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