==IN THIS ISSUE...==
Chaos Draft
Euro Lands Promotion: Buy a box at Brothers Grim, get some pretty lands!
Way of the Wurm: A guest article from David "The Wurm" Drebsky!
Guest Articles: Islandhome is once again accepting guest articles, so send 'em in!
==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==
Friday: FNM Booster Draft at Brothers Grim ($13 entry) @ 7 PM
Saturday: Standard Constructed at FNC ($5 entry) @ 1 PM
Sunday: Chaos Draft at Brothers Grim ($13 entry) @ 2 PM
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Also John Madonia would like to state that this Saturday at FNC is "Dress for Success" day, and the best dressed will get free entry into the tournament for some reason, so get out your suit and ties!
==EURO LANDS PROMOTION==
Author: Brian Paskoff
The Euro Lands are special lands with artwork representing different locations throughout Europe. They came in three different versions depending on their wrappers, but the ones I got are the blue pack, seen here. They feature scenes of the forests of Schwarzwald, Germany, the Danish Islands of Scandinavia, the mountains of Vesuvio, Italy, the Scottish Highlands, and the swamps of Ardennes Fagnes, Belgium. This is the first time that these lands are available to players in the US, and they're quite rare. Five come in a pack, one of each land.
Supplies are limited though, so if you were planning to buy a box of Shards for someone as a holiday gift, do it as soon as possible! this promotion will be running at Brothers Grim only for as long as we have packs to give out.
==CHAOS DRAFT==
Author: Brian Paskoff
Drafting the same thing over and over again gets kind of stale, which is why Chaos Drafts are so exciting. Even though sets in different blocks each have their own unique themes, every set since Mirage has been designed with limited play in mind, so each set is guaranteed to have the staple cards you need for your draft deck. Look at any set and you'll see a good mix of bomby creatures, removal spells, enchantment/artifact hate, etc. Sets in concurrent blocks tend to overlap more than ones released further apart, as Wizards takes care to make sure there's a lot of synergy in Standard. For instance, at the Chaos Draft this past weekend I found some great synergy between persist creatures and Bone Splinters - I could just weaken my creature instead of removing it from play altogether, while still getting rid of my opponent's creature. And of course there's lots of synergy between the Lorwyn and Shadowmoor mini-blocks, as all of the tribes from Lorwyn/Morningtide are represented in Shadowmoor/Eventide... and some of them even make an appearance in Shards of Alara! And don't forget Eventide's Mimics and Hatchlings, which go great with Shards of Alara's tri-colored cards. So what usually happens during a Chaos Draft is that you'll start to notice things about cards that you never thought of playing with together before.
Here's my Chaos Draft deck from this past Saturday, so you can see some of the synergies available between sets. We used only Standard-legal sets, and let everyone pick their own packs, with the catch that they couldn't pick the same set twice. I chose Shards-Morningtide-Eventide, and ended up with this:
Blister Beetle (2x)
Bog-Strider Ash
Carrion Thrash
Harvest Gwyllion
Hatchet Bully
Lys Alana Bowmaster
Moonglove Changeling (2x)
Rendclaw Trow
Scuzzback Marauders
Smouldering Butcher
Vein Drinker
War-Spike Changeling
Winnower Patrol (3x)
SPELLS:
Bone Splinters
Eyeblight's Ending
Obelisk of Jund
Pack's Disdain
Jund Charm
Violet Pall
LANDS:
7 Forest
3 Mountain
8 Swamp
If you want to come check out this format, stop by Brothers Grim on Sundays! The entry fee is $13, same as any other draft, unless we happen to be using some crazy old packs like Urza's Legacy or something, which happens very rarely.
Author: David "The Wurm" Drebsky
Many of you across Long Island have faced off against me in Type 2 and stared down the deck I have come to refer to as "The Legendary Kithkins." Originally when I built this deck, it was a Kithkin soldier deck based on the concept of Cenn's Tactician, Field Marshall, Mirror Entity, Preeminent Captain, Mutavault, Ballyrush Banneret, etc. Obviously it has evolved a great deal since then, particularly since the advent of Mirrorweave. The deck as I now play it has had very few modifications since Block season, with the bulk of the changes being in the sideboard. To date, the deck has taken down such players as Jon Finkel, Zvi Moshowitz, Rob Seder, and John Madonia (formerly ranked #1 in New York).
Having seen more than a few of my peers take a stab at building the Kithkin deck, I would like to share my full decklist with sideboard, and explain how to properly sideboard against the most popular decks in the format, and go into why I reject certain sideboard choices. I do not claim to be the definitive voice of Kithkin advocates, but I believe I have played the deck long enough to justify the claim that I know what I'm talking about.
Below is the list of my current Kithkin build. This is a complete custom build. No other Kithkin deck looks exactly like it, and its success speaks for itself.
I. The Deck
Land:
14x Plains
3x Mutavault
4x Rustic Clachan
4x Windbrisk Heights
Creatures:
4x Figure of Destiny
4x Goldmeadow Stalwart
4x Knight of the Meadowgrain
4x Wizened Cenn
2x Mirror Entity
2x Wilt-Leaf Liege
4x Cloudgoat Ranger
Other Spells:
2x Surge of Thoughtweft
4x Spectral Procession
3x Unmake
2x Mirrorweave
Sideboard:
2x Ajani Goldmane (Kithkin, Merfolk, sometimes Quick N' Toast, or any deck that runs a lot of aggro weenie creatures)
4x Burrenton Forge-Tender (Red Deck Wins, Quick N' Toast)
3x Oblivion Ring (Faeries, Merfolk, Elves b/c of Chameleon Colossus and Garruk, R/G/B tokens, Reveillark, or any deck that runs big creatures or a lot of planeswalkers)
2x Stillmoon Cavalier (Kithkin, Faeries, Mono Black Control)
2x Wilt-Leaf Liege (Reveillark, Kelpie, sometimes Quick N' Toast if they run Esper Charm)
2x Reveillark (Red Deck Wins, Quick N' Toast, Reveillark or any deck that runs a lot of mass removal)
II. Controversial Tech
Most Kithkin decks consistently reject Surge of Thoughtweft and Mirror Entity... I consider these good tech and they have bailed me out of a lot of close calls.
Surge gives the deck card draw and an extra unexpected combat trick, both of which give the deck teeth. White almost never gets card draw and sometimes the card you draw off the Surge will win you the game (or at least fix your draw), and instant speed pump can be priceless in much the same way that Rustic Clachan and Windbrisk Heights help further that goal.
Mirror Entity is an extra win condition almost by himself. Side ME out against any deck that runs Sower of Temptation, though. Usually if they try and steal him, you will have 3 basic options...(1) pay 0 mana with his activated ability and "wrath" the field in response, killing everything on your side of the field and fizzling the steal trigger (obviously not good for you, but better than letting opponent get control of a creature that will win them the game), (2) let them steal Entity, then Unmake the Sower after resolution (assuming you are lucky enough to have Unmake in hand), (3) let them steal Entity because you will win anyway (generally only when opponent is on low life and/or you have superior board position and them having control of Entity is not a big deal). Entity is the weakest link in the deck, you won't use him often...but the point is, if he sticks, the opponent is upset. And nothing is better to pop out of Heights than this guy...not even Mirrorweave. Just ask Jim Chianese about that one.
Some decks are phasing out Mirrorweave and Wilt-Leaf Liege...I don't really get the point, each of these cards is extremely powerful and a major asset to the deck. Simply put, Mirrorweave allows you to win games you're supposed to lose and come back out of nowhere or completely disrupt the opponent's combat phase. The Liege is a beater and a pumper and with the advent of new discard tech like Blightning and especially Esper Charm, this guy is truly king. In short, I don't believe either of these cards should ever leave the deck in its present form.
Also, the Wilt-Leaf vs. Thistledown debate...I'll be brief here, but simply put, us Kithkin players have learned from Block season and beyond that Wilt-Leaf is unquestionably superior to Thistledown. A few reasons why...he resists Firespout and most burn spells...he's a better target for Mirrorweave...he resists discard and can be played for free as a "must" effect if opponent forces him out of your hand. He's not a Kithkin and he doesn't have flash. So what? He's a threat by himself...as a 4/4 for 4, he's a must deal with. Thistledown costs the same...and is a wimp.
III. Rejected Tech
Some cards simply don't need to be used even though they are sick on paper. I reject Ranger of Eos as feasible tech; it is an okay card, nothing special. The main reason is that the 4-drop spot is dominated by Mirrorweave and Wilt-Leaf Liege and you usually want to side in Ajani Goldmane against the decks that would require bringing in the Ranger (like Quick N' Toast). The card is simply unnecessary and it doesn't further the cause of token overwhelm which is the real heart of the deck.
I also don't like Oversoul of Dusk; the card is good, but expensive and not always relevant. Yes, it's game-breaking against Mono Red but that deck is our easiest match-up and we can win without spending 5 mana on a card that can't even block Demigod of Revenge. Yes, it's good against Faeries but they can still tap it down with Cryptic Command and we simply don't need this giant win-more beatstick. We win in numbers. If we wanted big guys, we'd be playing Thoughtweft Trio.
Thirdly, Wispmare...this card hits basically 2 things, Bitterblossom and other Oblivion Rings. We don't need this against Faeries, half the time they side Bitterblossom out against us game 2 and 3 (bad idea on their part, the card is ALWAYS good against us), and Oblivion Ring speaks for itself as strictly more wide-reaching tech. Other O-Rings we can O-Ring ourselves, or just ignore. We throw out so many things that a few O-Rings shouldn't be anything we're afraid of.
Lastly, Elspeth, Knight-Errant. I'm not going to bash this card, it's actually extremely good but I have found few situations where I would rather not just play Ajani Goldmane. The card is strictly better for this deck and believe me, the opponent is more scared of Ajani than they are of Elspeth. We don't need more tokens, we have enough dudes that fly, and the opponent should be dead long before we would make our non-planeswalker permanents indestructible.
IV. Using Mirrorweave
Just a short explanation here on using Mirrorweave (it's an intricate card, obviously, with a crazy amount of rulings, which I would suggest reading up on), as some people I've watched consistently try to target Wizened Cenn or a Liege and just get in for ridiculous amounts of damage. While this is a good strategy, Mirrorweave is actually the most versatile card in the deck and you must try to get the most out of it. It rarely should be a "dead card" and sometimes the best way to use it is defensively.
Let the opponent swing, make your blocks, and then Mirrorweave one of the weakest targets. With a Surge of Thoughtweft in hand, or if you've already put counters on your guys a la Ajani Goldmane, you'll generally wipe out the opponent's forces completely if it was an alpha strike.
Also, very important...with Figure of Destiny, you can select it as a target, then make pumps if you have mana open...in many cases, your opponent won't have red or white mana available if you time this correctly (hell, it's even easier if they can't produce those colors in the first place) and this will give you a big advantage in combat. Plus, any guys you pump while they are Figures will stay pumped-up Figures when the Mirrorweave wears off. Thanks, layering rules!
One final thing, the timing of Mirrorweave is important. You don't always just let the opponent declare blockers or declare attackers and then use it before damage. Sometimes you want to use it before either declaration occurs (either due to triggers, strategic purposes, or some other reason). The point, look at the field and always consider the implications of your choice.
V. Sideboard Choices
What do you do about the sideboard? What comes in? What goes out? Read and learn what I consider to be the optimal choices against the most popular decks in the current format.
You're facing Red Deck Wins:
+ 4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
+ 2 Reveillark
- 4 Goldmeadow Stalwart
- 1 Mirror Entity
- 1 Mirrorweave
You're facing Faeries:
+ 3 Oblivion Ring
+ 2 Stillmoon Cavalier
- 1 Mirrorweave
- 2 Mirror Entity
- 1 Spectral Procession
- 1 Cloudgoat Ranger
You're facing Kithkin:
+ 2 Ajani Goldmane
+ 1 Stillmoon Cavalier
+ 1 Oblivion Ring
- 1 Mirrorweave
- 1 Cloudgoat Ranger
- 1 Spectral Procession
- 1 Plains
You're facing Quick N' Toast:
This one is tough, as there are several variants on the five-color control concept. This one addresses the "classic" choice.
+ 4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
+ 1 Ajani Goldmane
+ 2 Reveillark
- 4 Goldmeadow Stalwart
- 1 Mirrorweave
- 1 Mirror Entity
- 1 Cloudgoat Ranger
You're facing Doran or Elves:
+ 3 Oblivion Ring
+ 1 Ajani Goldmane
- 2 Unmake
- 1 Mirrorweave
- 1 Mirror Entity
You're facing Merfolk:
+ 2 Ajani Goldmane
+ 1 Oblivion Ring
- 2 Mirror Entity
- 1 Mirrorweave
You're facing Mono Black Control:
+ 2 Stillmoon Cavalier
+ 1 Reveillark
+ 1 Wilt-Liege Liege
- 2 Mirror Entity
- 1 Mirrorweave
- 1 Cloudgoat Ranger
You're facing Reveillark:
+ 2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
+ 2 Reveillark
- 2 Mirror Entity
- 1 Mirrorweave
- 1 Cloudgoat Ranger
VI. Closing Comments
The rest of my secrets you will have to figure out for yourself. I hope this Kithkin building/playing tutorial has been of help to some of you aspiring Kithkin players, or if you are on the other side of the field, to understand some of our thinking and get better in fighting against this extremely powerful aggro deck. There are literally a wealth of Kithkin builds, and many are splashing other colors. You may want to try looking at some of those. So far, splashing red or splashing black seem to be the best options. But I still stay true to mono white.
This isn't the perfect build for everyone. You have to play what you feel comfortable with. I like combat tricks and surprises (as anyone who has ever seen/heard me play Windbrisk Heights knows) over straight token overwhelming, and this build reflects that idea. That's all for now. See you all on the battlefield.
~ David "The Wurm" Drebsky
Author: Brian Paskoff
After a short break, Islandhome is once again accepting guest articles from our readers!
If you've got an article you'd like to submit, send it to IslandhomeMTG@gmail.com. Try to keep it a reasonable length - there's no word limit, but look at previous Islandhome articles for guidance - and avoid bad language and personal insults. Also try to maintain good grammar and spelling; doesn't have to be perfect, but you should see how long it takes me to spellcheck the Madonia Minute every week!
I can't promise every submission will make it into the next week's Islandhome, but I'll try to get as many in as I can, especially ones that are relevant to a previous/upcoming event.
October 4th - December 28th: PTQ Season for PT Kyoto
December 21st - Mox Tournament at Brothers Grim
This December, Islandhome, in association with Brothers Grim, will be holding a giant Standard tournament. The first place prize will be a Mox Emerald, with many other prizes as well. Side events such as booster drafts and EDH multiplayer games will be held that day too, so keep reading Islandhome for more details!
12/13 - New York, NY
12/27 - Edison, NJ
Brothers Grim
1244 Middle Country Rd.
Selden, NY 11784
Phone: 631-698-2805
Website: www.brgim.com
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