In six short weeks, I will be in Detroit preparing to play in the GP. Sure, it sounds like a ways away, but six weeks will fly by in a mere blink of an eye. Between now and then, I am in pursuit of some byes. Given that I've skipped out or just missed several competitive events, it is pretty much an impossibility for me to get then via Planeswalker Points. So, I'm relegated to grinding GPT's in the hopes of spiking an event and getting some free wins to start the day in Detroit.

That is, assuming, that the multiple GPT's scheduled this weekend, and in the coming weeks, fire. I'll be honest...when I lived in Nebraska, any chance to play a Comp REL event was jumped on. 30-40+ GPT attendance was not unusual. There was never a fear of an event not firing. But here in Fort Wayne? It's a toss-up. We have somewhat of an embarrassment of riches in northern Indiana. Out location is pretty central to a bunch of large Magic events, with Chicago, Indianapolis, Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Detroit all within three hours or less from my house, and even Pittsburgh being a mere 5 hours away, few weekends seem to go by where there is not some larger event available to go to. Couple that with all the PPTQ's, GPT's, SGG IQ's, and TCG events scattered around in all the other cities, towns, and villages in between, and it's easy to see that people are getting pulled in multiple directions for where to play, or even what to play. I'm still going to prepare as if the tournaments I plan on attending will fire. But, that does raise up another question in regards to my participation.

I will take my beloved Green Moon to any larger event. I love the deck, and I have faith in the deck and how it can perform. Sure, there is a little tuning I will do to it, in the wake of the recent B&R List updates, but overall, I have no fear slinging with that. Locally? It does not work out as well as I would hope. Pretty much everyone that plays Magic even semi-competitively knows me and what deck I play. I've never been shy about sharing my list or strategic views or lines of play with the deck. When I shuffle it up locally, though, that level of intimacy with a "metagame" deck is pretty much a hindrance to me and my performance as a whole. I'm not complaining. It is what it is. With that being said, it's possible I should consider something different for this weekend.

I've been catching some streams, watching some videos, and scouring lists to see what sorts of decks have appealed to me. Here are the lists that intrigue me right now:

Before I get started, let me say right off the bat that every one of the decks that follow, including the one above, have issues and weaknesses. I am well aware of these, and will address some of these in the following paragraphs.

This particular deck was a budget deck that SaffronOlive over on MTGGoldfish talked about and posted videos of this week. He did very well with the deck, although he does play the 2-mans and not Daily events or Leagues. Even so, he crushed many of his opponents. This deck harkens back to the original days of simply Mono-Red Burn. Over the last couple years, Burn decks have somewhat morphed into Boros or Naya builds, playing a bunch of fetches and non-basic lands and a slew of multicolor cards. There is a definite non-zero number of times that these new build lose to their own mana base, either by taking too much damage by fetching shock lands, or not getting their proper colors to cast all of their spells on time. While still very powerful, with a lot of options and reach, this transformation has left the deck susceptible to the very things that the early Mono-Red decks took advantage of. I like this deck, even without Atarka's Command or Boros Charm or Lightning Helix. There are no shock lands. There are no fetches. Just straight burn to the dome. Sadly, there is a giant elephant in the room.

Leyline of Sanctity is really a huge beating to this deck. The one drawback to streamlining the deck, and trying go mono-colored is that you have no answer to the Leyline. Ok, complete honestly...there are answers, but none of them are actually playable, and I'm fairly certain no one wants to rock the likes of Lux Cannon, or Spine of Ish Sah, or Scour from Existence in their Mono-Red deck. Likewise, I really dislike the sideboard in this deck. I completely understand the premise of the deck as it was built, and that definitely had something to do with the choices, but it needs modified some. If I retooled the sideboard, I think I would move the two Searing Blood to the main deck, in place of two Searing Blaze, and cut completely the Aggressive Mining and the extra Flames of the Blood Hand from that fifteen, and add in three Blood Moon, which is too good in the current format, and three Manabarbs as a way to help offset the Leyline, and give you a way to damage the opponent without needing to target. Much like the Mono-Green Infect deck I played during the Modern Festival, this is purely an all or nothing deck. If I have to take something to spike, there are a lot of worse choices.

In my pursuit of streaming content and Modern coverage, I've fairly recently started following brettwjayne on Twitter. He's qualified for the upcoming Modern Pro Tour and has been doing a lot of testing and streaming of various decks. Several days ago, he started playing this BG Infect deck, and currently has a 23-7 record with it in various Daily events and Leagues. This deck is a little different that the more common UG Infect deck, as this deck has a lot more actual interaction with the opponent, than the other version. Also, given that most of the targeted removal that is seeing play is either White or Red, there is a definite upside to playing Phyrexian Crusader. Brett himself has mentioned that he's not completely happy with the sideboard and he laments the fact that Oath of the Gatewatch is not available on MTGO yet, so for all he knows, his testing could be all for naught, as he's gotten nothing in against any of the possible "new" Modern Eldrazi decks. His results, considering he picked the deck up cold, are quite impressive. But there are a couple things that scare me.

See, I will be playing in the OGW world, meaning I not only get to experience the new Eldrazi decks right off the bat in paper, but I also get to contend with these two spells...both pretty much eliminating the advantage gained from Phyrexian Crusader. I can hope to simply avoid these, as possibly they won't be readily available given that Friday (today) is the release. Not that that helps with the common option, but I may be able to avoid the Mythic one. I'm not sure that that is really a viable or realistic plan at a smaller event. Given that these are so close to the new set rotating in, I can hope that many of those participating haven't updated their Modern decks yet. If that is the case, then I'll happily play this, with some modifications in the board. I wouldn't mind finding room for a Memoricide or two in there, among other things to possibly answer the expected Eldrazi menace, like Eradicate.

Those that have been reading my articles for a while should be aware of the Mono-Green Aggro deck that my wife has played for the last 7-8 months. This list is very close to the list that she has been playing. The basic premise is just to play beaters that are generally bigger than what your opponents play, and turn your guys sideways. Obviously, this deck can be susceptible to creature removal and board wipe effects, as well as being weak to the non-interactive decks, like Twin, Lantern Control, and Amulet. Thanks to WotC, two of these three have been weakened with the latest bans, and Lantern makes up a fairly small portion of the environment. When I look at this deck, though, I really dislike Revenge of the Hunted, and it's not a card I can see myself playing. I would also like to see an additional Creeping Corrosion in the board somewhere as well. One thing this deck lacks, though, is reach.

If I retooled the deck, I would absolutely include both of these cards somewhere in the 75, just for the game ending effect they bring to the table. Given the large size of your creatures, a single swing with big dudes with Infect does give the out of nowhere one-shot victory. It is not an effect I want as a four-of in the deck, but as a one-main, one-board, it packs the punch to just get there. Also, as I have said multiple times, I love X-Spells, and I hate not having access to one when I build a deck. Few things provide that necessary reach quite like a random X-spell. Sadly, with Green, you have pretty much 2 options...Hurricane or Squall Line. Basically, you can pay an extra mana to play the spell as an Instant, or you can rock the old "tried and true" that has been around since the humble beginnings of the game. From experience, there are few times when having the ability to play the spell as an instant would make a difference. Sure, it's a non-zero number of times, but it is close enough to zero that I would rather use less mana for it.

There is a good possibility that one of these will be played this weekend. In fact, since I have one event on Saturday, and one on Sunday, it's not unreasonable to possibly see me play two of these, switching it up between days. If I really want the byes, it's time to consider channeling my inner Jamie Wakefield:

"On IRC the other day, we were discussing the hardest part about becoming good at Magic. I (Wakefield) mentioned the hardest part about becoming good at Magic is realizing that there is no such thing as cheese. That winning is winning. ... When someone Fireball's you to death, you don't whine about what a poor way to win that is. You adapt. You survive. You overcome! You get better. This is a game. There is no dishonor is using Hymns, Fireballs, or Black Vices." [Jamie Wakefield, The Quest for the Pro Tour, pg. 93]

Yep...Poison, and Burn, and X-Spells. Seems fair. Here's to a hopefully successful weekend.

Peace,

Carl Wilt