Hello again everyone!

As you all may have guessed, I got caught up in Thanksgiving festivities and was traveling with family all last week. While I did not get a chance to play any MTG on my vacation (Although I see MichaelJ did plenty!) I did however find out that it is possible to get through airport security without any form of identification (lesson learned: airport security very much wants you to have photo identification when you travel, and you ruin someones day when you don’t).

I read through the work Mike did with my list over the break, and while I do agree with him that the mana was pretty bad in the deck, I pretty much disagree with all the other changes he made. The one exception would be that I am finally ready to cut Fulminator Mage from the list. As much as I love a Stone Rain, that is really all he is: a Stone Rain. Stone Rain just isn’t that good when you don’t have quick threats (Magnivore) or redundancy (more Stone Rains!)

Taking into consideration the many suggestions I have gotten for the deck (mostly credited to good man Steve Sadin), here is the latest version:

Greedy Grixis v3

Ajani Vengeant x3
Bitterblossom x4
Cryptic Command x4
Grixis Charm x3
Makeshift Mannequin x3
Firespout x3
Sower of Temptation x3
Mulldrifter x4
Siege-Gang Commander x3
Shriekmaw x2
Reveillark x3

Vivid Creek x4
Vivid Marsh x4
Vivid Crag x2
Reflecting Pools x4
Cascade Bluffs x3
Sunken Ruins x2
Shivan Reef x2
Underground River x2
Graven Cairns x1
Mystic Gate x1

To quote Sadin “I’ve been playing with Vivid lands for a year now and have yet to have any mana problems. Your deck could probably play 20 of them.”

I didn’t go for the full 20 Vivids, but I think I am comfortable with running 10. It takes a lot of the pain out of the deck, although I did leave a little in because I am paranoid about getting the Filter Land x3, GAS x4 draw and having to mulligan.

Unfortunately I still have not gotten to test this (did anyone download the Mac MTG program I linked to last time who would like to play a set with me?) I am definitely going to get a couple of sets in before the 5k this weekend. I am still very confident in the deck, even though the most common comment I get from co-workers regarding the list is that it doesn’t look like it can beat anything. Note to co-workers: I view such comments as a leading indicator that the deck is good.

One point of criticism is that the curve for the deck is very slow. Here is the curve:

1 Drops: 0 (Does 10x CIP tapped lands count as one drops?)
2 Drops: 4
3 Drops: 6
4 Drops: 13
5 Drops: 12

This is more of a cliff than a curve. The deck has only a couple of 2 and 3 drops, and a glut of 4 and 5 drops. Under traditional Curve Math, this deck does not seem viable. Therefore, I submit this highly suspicious and non-sanctioned curve breakdown that accounts for the Evoke Factor.

1 Drops: 0
2 Drops: 6
3 Drops: 10
4 Drops: 13
5 Drops: 6

Shriekmaw and Mulldrifter make the curve appear very top-heavy, but when you factor in their alternate casting cost via Evoke the curve looks a lot more manageable. And it is. Skeptics will notice that I did not adjust the curve to accommodate Reveillark, which has a higher Evoke cost. You got me.

All that is left is to figure out a sideboard. Now that I have a list I am reasonably satisfied with I still need to figure out how to sideboard. I was pretty confident about my game 1 against aggro with the old list, and now that I have Firespout I don’t think I need to devote much sideboard space to that at all. Therefore, the matchups I need to fix with sideboard are 5c Control, Faeries, and Inferior Lark Decks.

Against 5c I think I want to side in 5 cards. Shriekmaw and Sower are not great in the matchup (although Sower has had its moments) since the games I lose are ones where they get me with an Ultimatum. I have a lot of confidence in my threats, and I can still tempo them a bit by bouncing lands. For this matchup I can see hand disruption being very valuable, so I want some mix of Thoughtseize and Mindshatter to bring in against them.

Faeries is tough because I can’t really tell what is truly dead against them. Looking over my list, the worst cards seem to be Shriekmaw, Firespout and Sower of Temptation. There are a lot of different things I want against Faeries. My biggest fears are Bitterblossom and Mistbind Clique. Thoughtsieze is pretty good at nabbing a Bitterblossom (only when I go first though, awk), Wispmare can destroy one in play and block in the sky, and can be brought back to kill again, and Remove Soul takes care of Clique.

For the ILD match, I probably just need a way to deal with the graveyard, so some number of Relics should be fine.

That leaves me with:

3 Thoughtseize
3 Remove Soul
2 Wispmare
2 Mind Shatter
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Cards For Aggro (Sower/Shriekmaw/Firespout Go Here?)

So this has post has gone on for much longer than anyone expected, so I will wrap it up with some requests for comments.

Am I missing any matchups that I need to be worried about, and if so, what do I need to bring in against them?
Is it realistic to think I can beat Faeries, even post board? (Don’t answer that, I prefer ignorance)
Would this deck just evolve into 5c given another month of tweaking?
Are you going to the 5k? What are you planning on playing?
Who is pumped for the Legacy GP?

Tell Your Friends,
WillPoP

In the comments to my previous post More On Greedy Grixis, enzoreal asked me to try to improve upon Will Price of Progress’s deck focusing on Ajani Vengeant, Bitterblossom, Cryptic Command, and Mulldrifter (cards I identified as being some of the strongest in Will’s deck).

This post is an attempt to modify Will’s deck to fulfill this request.

These were my goals…

1. Preserving [some of] the unique elements of Will’s Greedy Grixis deck
2. Staying competitive in the metagame, specifically against the Fae, Reflecting Pool Control, the Red Deck, and Kithkin
3. Minimizing weak draws in early Stage Two
4. Preserving game in Stage Three in the face of decks with Cruel Ultimatum
5. Increasing the deck’s ability to control the board (Will’s version has minimal board control capabilities)
6. Of course focusing on the unique combination of both Ajani Vengeant and Bitterblossom in a single deck

One of the issues I had with Will’s deck is that it obviously boasts some very powerful cards – especially Reveillark – but that a lot of the elements in the deck are at odds with one another. For instance it is a “Mannequin” deck with no Shriekmaw (I know Will mentioned this in Kithkin Testing, but I don’t know his most recent list, if there has been a change).

I have heard from various sources that Fulminator Mage should to be great in this format because of the mana bases but it was actually pretty mediocre. Even at its best, this card is pretty middling unless you are on the play, plus it presses your mana base, requiring (b/r)(br) untapped on the third turn, which is difficult.

I really like the 2/2 synergies in this deck with Reveillark, but they create some strange incentives… In particular there is the RR mana cost on Siege-Gang Commander… Like I said in my previous post you have to play twelve Red mana sources (which of course can be accomplished simply by increasing the number of Vivid lands)… But I have a different RR I’d rather play end game in this strategy.

4 Mind Stone

4 Bitterblossom

4 Cryptic Command
4 Mulldrifter

2 Agony Warp
4 Ajani Vengeant
2 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Esper Charm
2 Nucklavee

4 Pyroclasm

1 Austere Command

4 Arcane Sanctum
3 Cascade Bluffs
3 Crumbling Necropolis
3 Mystic Gate
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Sunken Ruins
4 Vivid Creek

Sideboard:
2 Mind Shatter
1 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Gutteral Response
4 Condemn
2 Wispmare
2 Wrath of God

We know from the Brian Kowal Boat-Brew that Mind Stone into Ajani Vengeant is some kind of two-three sequence. Playing Mind Stone gives us something to do on turn two in the games where we don’t draw a Bitterblossom. In addition, this gives the deck a faster potential Stage Three in the mirror with those Mind Shatters (though obviously Mind Stone is worthless [directly] in conjunction with the main deck’s Stage Three sorcery).

I know that Cruel Ultimatum is old hat for similar decks in this format but I decided that it is the Stage Three this deck wants for a non-intuitive reason: With Bitterblossom as the main threat, life total actually matters! The five life increase is nothing to sneeze at.

You will notice I switched the reanimation from Fulminator Mages into Reveillarks to Pyroclasms into Nucklavees. This is pretty important… The deck is set up to take heavy advantage of Nucklavee; it seems like the change in the metagame towards Elves (possibly) will demand more quick defense than Will’s deck had previously. Pyroclasm is fast, and it has relatively low downside versus Firespout in this environment.

I know the Austere Command looks strange but… Okay, it will probably become a Wrath of God. Fine.

Condemn is a no-brainer for this deck; my friend Antonino De Rosa says you have to play four copies of this card between main and side in Reflecting Pool Control, and there are four in this board; the reason for Agony Warp in the main over Condemn is simply to increase the synergies with Nucklavee. Agony Warp is generally superior to Condemn unless you are actually facing a Demigod of Revenge or Hell’s Thunder. Though Condemn might take over Agony Warp’s spot in the main in order to free up sideboard space.

Wherein MichaelJ plays a few rounds with Greedy Grixis by Will Price of Progress. Also a discussion on mana bases and a holiday greeting!

I played Will Price of Progress’s Greedy Grixis deck as described in Price of Progress: Kithkin Testing.

I was intending to play eight matches per the process I decided on for Eight Matches with Blightning Beatdown, which would have in fact given me the opportunity to call it something cool like “The Top 8 Magic Matches with Greedy Grixis” or some such…

But I got bored after three matches (and I will explain why soon).

On balance I went 3-0 with Will Price of Progress’s deck before being overwhelmed by the desire to make a Shamans linear deck.

The first match I played was versus Shamans.

His deck had Red for the Elementals Harbinger and Rage Forger, but was firmly Shamans with Chameleon Colossus, Doran, &c. I found this to be supremely exciting.

The games were quite close because he had too many lands coming into play tapped, and so I got them 2-0. Plus my cards were Blue whereas his were !Blue.

The coolest play of this session was realizing I had the kill in a sort of non-intuitive way. I got in, used Ajani Vengeant, then Cryptic Commanded my own Ajani, and re-played the Planeswalker for a sick little Lightning Helix to deal the final three. Would I have won anyway? Probably. But very Jon Finkel nonetheless.

Hmmm…

The second match I played was against the Fae with White. He opened up on Arcane Sanctum and played a second turn Awesome Blossom and I was for a moment struck that I might be in some kind of a “preposterous mana base mashup” mirror.

However he ended up the Fae; I am sure you have seen these First Among Equals decks with Esper Charm for Biterblossom in the mirror, and to replace long lost playset of Ancestral Visions.

It was win-loss-win, with him shipping to Paris in the third.

I was pretty surprised with this win, but I think it was a mite confusing for him. Should he be attacking Ajani? Is it possible this deck is actually good?

I am not sure if Sower of Temptation is any good against the First Among Equals or not.

The last match on this session was against the Guile deck — more or less — from last year.

This was as lopsided a match as they come, with the Guile deck ill equipped to deal with Bitterblossom (and I drew multiples), plus <strike>my</strike> Will Price of Progress’s deck was quite spectacular in sideboarded games thanks to Gutteral Response (counters Cryptic Command and another twenty cards for one mana).

Typically I sided out Fulminator Mages and Siege-Gang Commanders and / or Makeshift Mannequin, that is, the cards that don’t do anything ever for cards that are quite good. I brought all the Thoughtseizes and all the Gutteral Responses in against Fae and Guile, and the incremental Sower, Reveillark, and Ajani against Elemental Shamans.

I actually got “the Fulminator Mage draw” against Fae and it was decidedly lukewarm. I mean basically this is Stone Rain… Only if you draw it against basic lands, viz. Guile you feel especially worthless (which als happened… but the Guile matchup is quite lopsided due to Awesome Blossom).

The best cards in this deck were: Ajani Vengeant, Bitterblossom, and of course Mulldrifter and Cryptic Command. The worthless cards were Makeshift Mannequin and Fulminator Mage (which is why I sided most or all of them out even when they were supposed to be good).

The mana base is quite horrendous. I kept having to take damage. Personally, I abhor pain land duals in this format, especially when playing suicidal cards such as Awesome Blossom. For instance the Shamans deck actually tried to race me in Game Two; it was only my topdecking Ajani Vengeant (and then setting up that awesome Cryptic Command two-step) that savedd me from the stupid Caves of Koilos, &c.

Presuming you play Will Price of Progress’s spells precisely, your mana costs look something like this:

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

RRRRRRRRRRRRR

WWWWWWWWW

You can get away with 12 sources of Red mana (Will’s mana base actually only has 10) but need more than 14 sources of Blue mana. It is imperative to have at least 14 lands that come into play untapped, meaning for a deck with only 25 lands, you can only play 11 that come into play tapped.

Note that you can theoretically bias the Red mana like so:

BBBBBBBBBBBBBB

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

WWWWWWWWW

… which is much better than biasing Black mana due to the double cost on Siege-Gang Commander.

That doesn’t really get us anywhere, though. We still need more than eight sources of Black mana and probably White mana.

This is what Will Price of Progress’s mana base can produce:

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

RRRRRRRRRR

WWWWWWW

This isn’t too bad in terms of distribution, but for the fact that there are too many pain lands and that Rugged Prairie is actually horrendous in this strategy.

I propose:

3 Arcane Sanctum

4 Cascade Bluffs

4 Crumbling Necropolis

2 Mystic Gate

4 Reflecting Pool

4 Sunken Ruins

4 Vivid Creek

You theoretically have 15 sources that can play Bitterblossom on the second turn and all 25 of your lands produce Blue mana. Also, no pain at all.

It’s a question of testing at this point, though I wonder what Paul Jordan would say (hint hint).

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

LOVE
MIKE

I’m glad that the Greedy Grixis list I posted got such a positive response. As promised, I have done some more testing since then. Aside from the random games on Modo and MWS (which I have been crushing) I decided to play a set against Kithkin with my friend Zeilend.

Before I get into the details of the matchup, I am going to go over a few changes to the list. Here is the list I initially tested this morning:

Greedy Grixis V2
Ajani Vengeant x3
Esper Charm x4
Bitterblossom x4
Cryptic Command x4
Sower of Temptation x3
Mulldrifter x4
Makeshift Mannequin x4
Reveillark x2
Siege-Gang Commander x3
Fulminator Mage x4
Shivan Reef x1
Underground River x1
Sulfurous Springs x1
Caves of Koilos x1
Rugged Prairie x1
Cascade Bluffs x3
Mystic Gate x1
Reflecting Pool x4
Sunken Ruins x4
Crumbling Necropolis x4
Arcane Sanctum x4

The big changes from the last list are -2 Shriekmaw, -3 Grixis Charm, +4 Esper Charm, +1 Reveillark. The Lark was added in because he has been good whenever I draw him, and a couple people commented that they thought more would be better. Grixis Charm and Shriekmaw were removed because I had been taking beatings on having these “bad” cards in my deck all week from both Gerard (Fabiano) and Jacob (Van Lunen). Jake was high on Esper Charm in general, and I decided to give it a try.

Since Zeilend is in Japan, and we both have Macs, we arranged to play over WebWizard, the Mac version of MWS (follow link to download, there are not many people on and it would be great to get more people playing).

I am not going to go into game-by-game breakdown, but the pre-board games were not pretty. I kept getting blown out by timely Unmakes and Rustic Clachan Reinforcements. At first I was pretty confused because I had played against Kithkin and WW variants a lot on MWS before and I have maybe only lost once or twice total to the deck. The difference was that she knew my list and was not playing around any kind of mass removal. When playing against random opponents I think they are often confusing this deck for some kind of 5c control and fear a Wrath or Firespout, so they hold back additional creatures and don’t apply enough pressure, allowing me to take control of the game with a Sower or Siege-Gang. Esper Charm was dead in this matchup, I was always under a lot of pressure and could never spend my mana to play it. I was very short on removal main deck since I no longer had Shriekmaw or Grixis Charm to help me keep her board from getting too built up.

I got crushed pre-board, so I reverted to the old build (Shriekmaw and Grixis back in) then we played a few games with sideboard. I brought in a third Shriekmaw and 3 Infest for the Fulminator Mages. They seemed like the best thing to take out, even though they have a lot of value against Mutavaults and Hideaway lands. I did not lose any games after sideboard. The highlight was Sowering her singleton Mirror Entity (Zeilend was using the list the got second from NY states), then using it to pump up my army of goblin tokens. Shriekmaw + Mannequin is a huge beating for Kithkin, and combined with Infest I was often making it to turn 5 or 6 with 15 or more life.

The big thing I learned is that it is always correct to play Bitterblossom on turn 2. This sounds obvious, but there was one game in the pre-board set that we played where I am pretty sure I would have won if I had played the Bitterblossom instead of playing my second Arcane Sanctum. I was worried that if I didn’t play my second CIP Tapped land then I would not be able to curve out into my Ajani. Of course, by not playing the Bitterblossom, I had no creatures on the board when I played my Ajani on turn 4 and it ended up just being an expensive Lightning Helix. I could have just played the Bitterblossom turn 2, played Arcane Sanctum turn 3 (foregoing the Fulminator Mage play, which did pretty much nothing against her two first-strikers) and still have been able to hit Ajani turn 4, but with two faerie tokens to protect.

In general I still think that Kithkin is a good Matchup for Greedy Grixis. Are there any other sideboard cards I should be considering? I don’t think I need to commit more than 4 cards to aggro in general. The Philly 5k is two weeks away now and I am getting excited. Is anyone else going to the 5k? Has anyone else gotten a chance to try out Greedy Grixis? Let me know with comments!

Tell Your Friends!
-WillPoP

Will Price: I think I have a good T2 deck for Worlds/the Philly 5k.
Julian (Levin): O yeah
Julian: Ship it

Greedy Grixis
4 Bitterblossom
3 Grixis Charm
4 Cryptic Command
4 Makeshift Mannequin
3 Ajani Vengeant
4 Fulminator Mage
3 Sower of Temptation
4 Mulldrifter
3 Siege-Gang Commander
2 Shriekmaw
1 Reveillark

4 Reflecting Pool
4 Sunken Ruins
2 Rugged Prairie
1 Fetid Heath
1 Mystic Gate
2 Cascade Bluffs
1 Graven Cairns
2 Underground River
1 Shivan Reef
4 Crumbling Necropolis
3 Arcane Sanctum

Julian: What has this format come to.
Julian: I dunno what kind of criticisms I can give having never played a game with Shards.
Will: Don’t criticize, just praise.
Julian: Best deck I’ve ever seen.

Hey everyone, my name is Will Price, and I am a new member here at Top 8 Magic. You may recognize me from one of my several appearances on the podcast, or if you frequent Neutral Ground or PTQs in the New York area. I have been playing Magic semi-seriously the past few years (semi-serious in that I go to tournaments, just never win) and have always wanted to write about it. Hopefully through posting here I can motivate myself to take the game a bit more seriously and perform better in the tournament scene.

T2 is my favorite format. As such, I live for States (which thankfully returned) and Regionals, and the rare T2 PTQ season. Despite scrubbing at States (a story for a different post), there is still reason to play T2. There is a 5k event in Philly the first weekend of December, and Worlds the weekend after which I am hoping to attend.

This deck has been my project for the past two weeks, and I am currently of the opinion that it is quite strong. Let’s call it a Contender. Against a control deck, you play the pseudo-tempo game. Do your best to disrupt them early with Fulminator Mage and/or bouncing Vivid lands with Grixis Charm (or Cryptic if you want to get greedy). Once they are behind on lands your goal is to stick a threat and protect it. Use Mannequin aggressively on their EOT so you can resolve your big spells on your turn. They usually can’t beat an Ajani or a Bitterblossom. Against aggro you are the control deck. Fulminator Mage can often 2 for 1, trading with a guy and a man-land. Sower and Shriekmaw are insane, especially since you have Mannequin. They also can’t beat an Ajani. Or a Bitterblossom. Noticing a trend?

As for specific matchups and sideboarding, that data is not in yet. I have not done enough focused testing to certify this deck a winner. I see a lot of potential with this list and will be posting a lot about it between now and Worlds (maybe I can trick someone who is playing in the event to run it? I’m looking at you Fabiano). More explanation will come as I start heavy testing against real T2 decks (read: RDW, Kithkin, 5c, Faeries). Until then, I am inviting everyone who reads to test it, tweak it, and make suggestions. Here are a couple of things to think about:

Is Grixis Charm that good? It has a ton of utility, and the Overrun effect has won me a lot of races given the amount token production. Is it just a “win more,” or is it the real deal?

Am I crazy for not running more Reveillark?

Is the mana awful? I am not exactly an expert at building a land base. So far it has been fine, although I have had more than one game where Ajani is sitting in my hand because I am missing either red or white.

That’s it for now. Let me know what you what you think with comments!