"And topples round the dreary west
A looming bastion fringed with fire."
---Afred, Lord Tennyson, "In Memoriam"










I haven't been playing too much Magic lately, somewhat due to financial constraints, but also due to an attempt to find a new job. However, I did manage to attend a couple of tournaments this week, scoring 3-2 and 4-1 with my Junk Angel deck. The latter result was good enough for 4th place, earning a foil Cursecatcher and a pack of Return to Ravnica (which turned into a Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius). Hurray! For those keeping score (like myself), I am now 25-7-1 with the current version of the deck, and 47-24-1 overall.

I played against Mono-Red four times in a row on Friday. I think the deck is popular because it is so cheap. I have a favorable matchup against Mono-Red (Go Thragtusk!), but in one of the rounds I went through 30 cards without discovering an Angel of Serenity, so I lost.

There isn't too much more to report. The metagame has basically solidified into two types of decks: those that attempt to go under Thragtusk (they try to beat you before you can play it), and those that attempt to go over it (by controlling the board and casting huge spells). Junk Angel definitely qualifies as the latter, but I find that Junk Angel has definite metagame weaknesses. First, it is often disfavored against other control decks in the meta, especially Bant Control becase planeswalkers are a bit of a problem. Second, the deck is also weak against aggro decks that nut curve---it's a little slow. First turn Reckless Waif, second turn Ash Zealot, etc., can often be problematic, but I think this is true for most decks. To the deck's credit, I obtain infinite life at least once per tournament (which is just fun), often to the surprise of my opponent. In addition, the deck is fairly interesting, and presents occasionally challenging lines of play. I am constantly discovering (and being told about) my play mistakes, so the deck is somewhat educational.

However, after ~70 sanctioned games with the deck, it is getting a little monotonous. I am looking forward to Gatecrash. I think the monotony has a lot to do with the metagame. After all, I think you're making a mistake if you're not playing Thragtusk right now, and Junk Angel kicks ass because it has Unburial Rites and Restoration Angel---cards which seriously utilize the power of Thragtusk. The monotony just comes from the fact that Thragtusk is everywhere.

I have been seriously toying around with a UWr Control deck with Worldfire as a win condition. Obviously the idea is just silly, but I feel like the Standard format is pretty much solved right now, and all that's left to do is durdle around with fun ideas. Case in point: Travis Woo's recent "Omnidoor Thragfire" deck. No matter what he says, I refuse to believe this deck is competitive. Counterspells are still present in the format and this deck will always just lose to any deck running enough of them.  Still, it's fun to brew and play with cards that might not see play ordinarily.