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radramblog · 3 years

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Planeswalkers in Cube: White

It’s been a while since I’ve discussed cube, I think, and also a while since I’ve just dived into a stupidly long topic without thinking too hard about it. And so here we go.

Planeswalkers are kind of in an interesting place in Cubes. Most of the time, they’re powerful midrange or control threats, but a lot of them have more specialised roles that can make them better suited to particular cubes. They’re also popular to include, seeing as they’re big, cool, and splashy, and a lot of people really like playing with them. What home exists for something like Liliana, Death’s Majesty in any other format? (I know it’s fine in commander hush)

However, you can only afford so many slots for Walkers in your cube, depending on how you treat them. And so, you’re not going to see all of them very often. Here, we’re going to go through all of them, colour by colour, and figure out why you should or shouldn’t play them, and which go better in different builds. Starting off, as many things do, with Mono-White.

Some ground rules: I’m not going to talk about the Planeswalker deck cards in this post, because the answer to whether you should play them is pretty much universally “no, why”. I’m also not going to talk about the creature->planeswalker transform cards, because they get treated more like creatures in a Cube environment. Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy is kinda just Merfolk Looter.

My next point before I talk actual cards: I’m far from an expert on this sort of thing, and this is going to be my opinions! If you want a different perspective, Season 4 episode 6 of Solely Singleton is a great podcast about this exact topic, though it’s two and a half years old at this point so some things might be a bit outdated.

Finally: White is a colour that tends to get more good Planeswalkers than other colours. Turns out, most Gideons and token-producing walkers are good in slower decks, who’d a thunk it. So unlike, say, Black, the average here is a bit higher than most of the time.

Let’s get into it!

Ajani Goldmane

Ajani is kind of a classic, but the original iteration is kind of showing its 14 years of age. It’s a 4-mana walker (which is a very competitive slot) with a +1 that doesn’t really do anything, a turn-3 ultimate that dies to removal, and while the minus is good (see cards like Unbreakable Formation, or other Ajanis), it requires a board and isn’t really worth a four mana cast.

I had thought he’d be good in more budget lists, though. Except he hasn’t been printed since 2010 and so even though he sees no play he’s still like 5 bucks. So I’d pass on this version of cat dad.

Elspeth, Knight-Errant

On the other hand, Elspeth pt.1 is still one of the best Planeswalkers you can play. She makes blockers for days, can push through some serious damage, and does both of those things while getting more resilient rather than less. Her ultimate might not be game-breaking, but since she’s constantly pushing towards it anyway you don’t really mind. Also she’s only 4 mana, holy moly.

Elspeth is good in aggro, good in midrange, and arguably still more than playable in control. At 12ish dollars, it’s not the ideal price point, but if you can afford it (or have one sitting around), she’s absolutely worth the include.

Gideon Jura

Gideon 1 is a bit more specific. Aggro is not going to want him, seeing as the minus does basically nothing in that deck and the +2 isn’t really worth your time at 5 mana. On the other hand, this card is nuts in control. It’s a hard-to-kill wincon that is also removal that fuels its own condition and survives boardwipes. Gideon Jura is a chad in those decks, and kind of takes over the game the moment he comes down.

The other nice thing about Gideon Jura is that due to recent reprints in Mystery Booster and his Signature Spellbook, as well as not being very good in Commander, he’s ludicrously cheap. You can get one of these for under a dollar, making it perfect for budget cubes (that still include rares). Although, at that point, he might be warping to a cheaper format where aggro is worse, so keep an eye on him.

Elspeth Tirel

Elspeth’s second incarnation (which is the one with her last name, because ???) is significantly worse than her first. If you’re in a slower deck where you want the ultimate, she’s probably not going to live to make it there. If you want the tokens, there are better options at cheaper mana costs. And you don’t want the +2, unless you somehow have a decent board against a red aggro deck.

I remember really liking this card when I first started playing Magic. That was a long time ago, and we have had much better options in the near-decade since then.

Ajani, Caller of the Pride

The first 3-mana walker on this list, and one that shows the conservativeness WoTC had when first testing them at that mana cost. Just kidding, this came out after Liliana of the Veil.

Ajani 3is theoretically fine in an aggressive deck, but white has some seriously good 3-drop creatures that you’d rather just cast instead. Because when your options are a Blade Splicer or putting a +1/+1 counter on your two drop…I’m taking that token. And let’s not act like this card has any place in a midrange or control deck.

Gideon, Champion of Justice

This was the first Planeswalker I ever opened, so I have a soft spot for it. But not enough of one to put it in my cube.

As potentially threatening as this Gideon is, he basically doesn’t do anything? While token decks might have a hard time taking him out, seeing as his loyalty can get pretty huge against them, they can also just block him forever. The ultimate is a game-ender, but also would leave Gideon so small that your opponent might just have enough time to draw lands and get back in the game. And he doesn’t do anything to protect himself aside from get big, and doesn’t really progress your board, so. Sorry Gids, you’ll get them next time.

Elspeth, Sun’s Champion

Elspeths alternate being good, I guess. Elspeth, Sun’s Champion is basically unplayable outside of slow midrange or control, but is utterly incredible in those decks! She wipes out anything that would threaten her and makes enough blockers to easily protect either herself or you, and stalls long enough that those tokens can turn into a wincon via her ultimate.

It is not as universally powerful as the four-drop Elspeth, but the 6-drop one undeniably shapes the game when she hits the table. She stops aggro in its tracks, and nukes the shit out of midrange, especially green-based decks. I suppose there are times when she might be awkward to cast because she hits your own threats…but then just hold her back or +1, dude.

Ajani Steadfast

Ajani Steadfast is kind of trying to be a better version of Ajani Goldmane. And yet, funnily enough, the Vigilance on Goldmane’s -1 is so important, as is being a -1 instead of a -2, so he’s kind of in a similar tier. The loyalty counter upside is so utterly niche that it might as well not exist, but the +1 is unquestionably much better at least.

Like with Goldmane, Ajani Steadfast isn’t really doing anything at 4 that cheaper cards don’t do better. And he’s at about the same price point. At least the ultimate is better?

Nahiri, the Lithomancer

Nahiri is really specific. Like, if you’re at a power level where you have equipment worth playing Nahiri with, then you’re probably at a power level where she’s completely outclassed by things like Angel of Invention or…I mean, most other playable 5s. And some unplayable ones.

…I just remembered this card has 3 starting loyalty. On a 5-drop walker. You can -2 her and she’ll die to literally a goblin token. I sure hope that Equipment you got had Living Weapon!

Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

The first 4-drop that really steps to Elspeth, Knight-Errant. This Gideon is kind of just good in any deck- aggro decks like a 5/5 top end that makes a token T1 or just is an unkillable Glorious Anthem, midrange loves an infinite source of 2/2 to block or beat down with, and control loves an infinite source of blockers that can clean up after a wipe. He’s just kind of a disgusting piece of cardboard for a whole variety of decks, making him easily one of the best walkers in the entire format.

Also he’s…surprisingly cheap? After one “real” printing, and being on The List (which doesn’t do much, trust me), Gideon Ally of Zendikar is still only like 5 bucks. So if you can justify spending that much on one card…probably do that? He won’t let you down.

Gideon of the Trials

Unlike our first 3-mana walker, this one is more than playable in slower decks. Gideon of the Trials is kind of awkward for aggressive decks, put what he does do is effectively remove some seriously big threats, adjust for whichever is the biggest problem around, and still punches peoples as a 4/4 Gideon. And he also has the unique benefit of being a Planeswalker that makes combo decks think twice, given that Emblem- though you’ll still go to 0 life if Splinter Twin or a similar combo is in play, and then die since they probably killed him too there.

Once again, though, this card is pretty cheap, sitting at about 3 bucks. As we get towards the more recent end of this list, a lot of these cards are going to look like that. I remember when I made my first cube, with the restriction of “Rares/Mythics that are under $2 US”, and getting 0 white Planeswalkers. I was playing the Planeswalker deck Gideon, for fuck’s sake! Things are so much better now.

Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants

I could never really get a good read on this Ajani. It’s obviously something control doesn’t want, and the +1 isn’t doing a huge amount in midrange decks. But the -2 is powerful in creature-based decks, and the +1 is solid for quicker builds, but not enough to really justify 4 mana? There’s a lot of power here, but the parts kind of form a strange whole.

I guess it depends a lot on how deep that 2-drop slot is in your cube, and how deep the 4-drop slot is. Because you kinda need good 2s and medium 4s for Ajani to really shine. I’m a little bothered by how meh Ajanis are apparently in general in Cube, but the multicoloured ones are a bit more solid.

Gideon Blackblade

Take Gideon of the Trials, make it not playable in control, and make it really fucking good in aggressive decks. There you go, that’s Gideon Blackblade. Cheap in money and in mana, he’s here to die, aside from the part where he’s hard to kill.

The +1 on this card is not super great, but you have to keep in mind that you get that at the same time as Gideon being a creature. Honestly, it’s kind of easier to think of this card as a creature with a triggered ability than as a planeswalker, at least as far as cube is concerned. It also helps that the -6 isn’t actually that hard to hit, considering you can keep a creature back by giving it vigilance. He’s quite solid, and might just be the best aggro walker White gets. Certainly at 3, at least.

Teyo, the Shieldmage

A bit of a step down from our last 3-drop, Teyo is clearly not built for the same formats as Gideon Blackblade. But with him, we can talk about weaker formats, like Peasant, where Teyo is…still not great? 3 mana gets you a pair of 0/3s and immunity to burn spells, which I suppose control might like in formats where you don’t really get board wipes, but I can’t imagine any other deck wanting him. And that’s not a great place to be.

The Wanderer

Much like Teyo, I don’t think even Peasant wants this. I do think it’s kinda better- their static abilities are virtually the same, except Mx. ??? here extends the burn protection to your creatures. And they do serve as removal, but its both expensive and narrow. Like, how often is this just going to kill a 4/4 and then get killed by their 2/2? I wouldn’t play Smite the Monstrous but it gains 2 life.

I’m interested to see this character return at some point. Maybe next time they can be playable. Some of the uncommon walkers from WAR were great for Peasant (and some even in higher formats), but this isn’t one of them.

Serra the Benevolent

Okay, so. 4 mana Serra Angel that can stick around to make another one is quite powerful! Though the +2 basically does nothing, it’s still a +2, meaning you can get an unkillable Worship the turn after you play this if you aren’t under pressure, or go token into pump into token. Serra is clearly quite solid!

However, it suffers from two issues. One, it’s competing for that 4-drop slot, and is less playable than Elspeth or Gideon in slower decks since she makes tokens slower than those two do. The tokens are more threatening for sure, but token decks generally want more tokens rather than bigger tokens. And two: it’s more expensive than Gideon and similar in price to Elspeth, not to mention another card we’ll get to later, so she’s not even getting into cheaper cubes. Since a lot of cube slots like this are taken by cards with more general playability, Serra is going to sit on the sidelines more often than she maybe should. If you’re at like a 720 list, though, spare her a thought.

Ajani, Strength of the Pride

Take everything I just said about Serra, and make it worse, basically. I suppose 4 mana for two Ajani’s Pridemates is fine, but the plus doesn’t do anything (unless you have those tokens, in which case it’s okay) and you are never activating that 0 unless you’re already winning.

Oh also he’s more expensive than she is and is still at the same mana cost. Yeah nah I wouldn’t bother. Ripper in my Cat EDH deck though.

Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis

This card is actually really interesting. Our last Elspeth is still mono-white, despite the art and flavour, but she almost doesn’t play like she is. I think most of the time, she’s likely to make 4 tokens and then probably cack it, but the Escape on this is really interesting. By the time you reach 6 mana, you probably will just have enough cards in the yard to cast this again.

I really don’t know how to interpret this card. She’s in my own cube, but I don’t remember seeing her cast yet, so that’s not really any help. My guess is that she’s mostly good in slower decks, but also making and pumping tokens does output a fair bit of damage over time. She’s only like a dollar, so maybe try her out? At least she won’t be an expensive mistake if she is one.

Basri Ket

Mr. Sandman here is pretty much just a better Ajani, Caller of the Pride. The +1 does more, the -2 actually puts things on board and is better for aggressive decks to get value out of, and the ultimate is actually attainable. He’s basically aggro-only, but he’ll get the job done in those decks.

However, the 3-mana Gideons kind of just outshine Basri here. He does literal jack squat without a creature on board, and his -2 is quite weak with only one or two attacking creatures to work with. The ultimate is nice, but +1ing over and over is extremely bleh, and you probably have better things to do. So sorry, Basri, maybe next time.

Grand Master of Flowers

Bahamut, you aren’t fooling anyone, it’s on the typeline. For reference, Monk of the Open Hand is a 1/1 for W that gets a +1/+1 counter if you cast two spells in a turn- so it’s not really worth running? And even if you do put it in your cube, there’s no guarantee you’ll have both in a deck, or want to play both in a deck…so…

Okay, fine, let’s assume you just get a copy of Monk of the Open Hand when you draft the card. I’m still not super enthused about this Planeswalker. The lockdown ability is going to miss more than you think it will, and a lot of the things it misses are the things likely to kill you. It can make a 1/1 every turn, but only one at a time, and if they exile it then the ability does stone nothing. And that “ultimate” takes forever to actually get to. Also it’s another 4-mana White Walker. I think I’ll pass on this one. Somehow, both Tiamat and Bahamut were disappointments.

Teyo, Aegis Adept

I wasn’t sure whether or not to include this, but I didn’t really want to end on GMoF, so. I’ve done a whole post on the digital-only cards, and I do think Teyo, despite being a Planeswalker, is one of the less fucky ones. You will need to track a lot of things, though.

So how does the card stack up? Honestly, I think it’s surprisingly solid. Aggro probably isn’t that interested, though Lumbering Lightshield’s ETB (makes a random card in the opponent’s hand cost 1 more) could be a real pain if you’re lucky. It makes a 4/4 every other turn for a bit, which is quite solid, and the ultimate isn’t that unobtainable. And you don’t have to worry about money, because this could only ever exist as a proxy.

I’d be really interested to see how Teyo, Aegis Adept plays. I don’t think I’m likely to, outside of Arena-based cubes, with the whole stigma around these cards and the added layer of having to proxy them. But in an Arena cube, with a restricted list of cards he’s competing with (It’s Adversary of Tyrants forward), he could really shine.

This concludes White Walkers, the post. Please join next week when we discuss Blue Walkers. Make your own Game of Thrones joke here, I haven’t watched or read it.

#ramble #mtg #mtg cube #planeswalkers #mono-white

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wiresandstarlings · 4 years

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all I find are souvenirs from better times

Some background: I was planning on making some scripted video content, but I found the process of actually recording so miserable that I gave up. I thought the transcript might still be an interesting read though, so I polished it some into this blog post. I was going to record my video over the original coverage, which you can find here if you want to follow along. You can find Sam and Josh's decks here.

So I'm going to try making a series of videos analyzing some matches from past coverage that I found instructive. My goal to showcase some interesting gameplay situations and to share what I learned from watching these matches.

This first video will be on Sam Black and Josh Utter-Leyton's semifinals match in PT Philadelphia in 2011. To me, this match really illustrates both how and how not to use your interaction against combo deck.

To set the scene, this is the first ever Modern Pro Tour, so all kinds of shit is legal. Cloudpost, Blazing Shoal, Ponder and Preordain, Rite of Flame AND Seething Song. There are like 8 decks that can kill on turn 2.

Sam Black is playing one of them, a mono-blue Infect deck using Blazing Shoal plus Dragonstorm to do 10 Infect in one attack. The rest of the deck is just cantrips and tutors.

Josh Utter-Leyton is playing a creature aggro deck splashing blue for countermagic, including 3 maindeck Bant Charm. A bit of a strange choice given the cards legal in this format, but the idea was that it had enough interaction to beat the creature combo decks like Sam's while being more consistent and resilient against disruptive decks.

With that, let's get into game 1. Let's quickly go over the opening hands first.

Dragonstorm 2 Blighted Agent Peer Through Depths Preordain Island

This is Sam's hand. It's on the weaker side in that he needs both land and Blazing Shoal to participate and even then only has an unprotected kill, but I think it's still a clear keep. Peer is around 35% to find Shoal, 60% to find Shoal or Muddle, and can also find more Peers or cantrips. Preordain will probably find a land and then we have multiple threats.

2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant Lightning Bolt 2 Arid Mesa

And this is Josh's hand. It clearly sucks but you're not mulling it to 4, especially under the Paris mulligan. Coverage doesn't have the hands that Josh mulliganed, so overall not much to learn here.

Josh is on the play and goes land go.

Sam draws Progenitus for turn, which is a dead card, then casts Preordain. He sees Scalding Tarn and Muddle the Mixture. He's obviously keeping Scalding Tarn, but Muddle the Mixture is interesting. Muddle tutors for Blazing Shoal, which Sam needs, but Sam would need a third land in order to do that.

Given that Sam has Peer Through Depths already, which is like 53% to find either Shoal or Muddle, I like bottoming this Muddle to look for more cantrips or a third land.

Coverage cuts away so it's hard to see what Sam actually does, but Sam probably topped the Muddle given he drew one. I think this a small error but not a big deal.

Josh draws Bolt, passes again. Sam cracks Scalding Tarn casts Blighted Agent, which he has to do. Sam's deck doesn't have efficient protection spells like the current Modern Infect deck does, he has to just run his threats out there and hope they stick.

Now, Josh does not Bolt the Blighted Agent on Sam's end step. I'm going to pause the video here, because this is a more involved discussion.

On a high level, there are essentially 2 ways you can use your interaction in combo matchups. The first is to hold the interaction and make your opponent beat it. The second is to use the interaction to disrupt your opponent's set-up, trying to strand them with dead combo pieces. The first approach is what Josh is doing here, holding up the Lightning Bolts and making Sam cast a Blazing Shoal with enough protection to beat all of Josh's removal. The second approach would be Bolting the Blighted Agent end of turn and hoping to run Sam out of creatures. Neither of these approaches is abstractly correct, and the right path to take depends on the matchup and your exact hand.

Fundamentally, it makes sense for Josh to default to fighting Sam's Blazing Shoals rather than his Infect creatures in this matchup, since Sam has 8 Infect creatures but only 4 Blazing Shoals. And if Sam commits a Blazing Shoal into a removal spell and the kill attempt fails, Josh gets both the Infect creature and the Shoal.

But in this specific situation, there are a lot reasons why Josh should deviate and just Bolt the Blighted Agent. The first is that Josh knows he's constrained on mana, and Sam might not be. Further, once Sam has a Blighted Agent in play, his combo costs 0 mana, and his deck is full of Spell Pierces, Muddle the Mixtures, and Disrupting Shoals. On the turn Sam goes for the kill, there's a good chance that Sam will have more mana for interaction up than Josh will have for disruption.

The second reason is that using Lightning Bolt proactively here will also let Josh develop a threat if he draws one, like a Tarmogoyf, Green Sun's Zenith, or Qasali Pridemage, and Josh currently has no pressure.

The third reason is that Josh has 2 Lightning Bolts and Sam has not played an Inkmoth Nexus, which suggests he doesn't have one. Josh would still have a removal spell behind for a second Blighted Agent, and Sam is less likely than baseline to have half his threats in hand, so we can reasonably expect that we'll be able to answer every threat.

The fourth reason is that half of Sam's interaction is Spell Pierce, so additional mana can inherently represent another layer of interaction on the combo turn. 1 Bolt with 2 open mana will often be as hard for Sam to beat as 2 Bolts with 1 open mana.

If Sam had played both Agent and Nexus on turn 2, I would be more sympathetic to Josh's line, since in that case we'd need to hold open Bolt for the rest of the game anyway to play around the combo. But even then, Bolting the Blighted Agent makes Sam's combo cost 2 mana rather than 1, making it harder for Sam to cantrip or Transmute and win on the same turn and squeezing out a counterspell.

Anyway, Josh doesn't Bolt. He draws Bant Charm and passes again.

Sam draws Preordain and sees Summoner's Pact and another Muddle. Pact is a clear bottom, and Muddle is a clear Bottom after we topped the first one. Situations like this one are why I think bottoming the first Muddle is better than keeping it. We would have wound up drawing a Muddle naturally anyway, and then this Preordain sees a card deeper.

Sam casts Gitaxian Probe and sees Josh's hand.

Now Sam has an interesting call because he's seen Josh's hand. He knows that if he plays the second Blighted Agent, then Josh can kill both and he'll likely be stuck transmuting Muddle for a third Agent. But Josh has so much interaction that Sam needs to put more threats into play, and countering a Bolt is more mana efficient than Transmuting but the end result is still just turning Muddle into a Blighted Agent. Plus, Josh has already shown disinterest in casting his spells, so we can maybe rely on him continuing to do that.

Sam plays the Blighted Agent here, which I like.

From Josh's perspective, Sam now knows he needs to beat 2 Bolts, is almost 0% to have Nexus after shocking to play the second Agent, and we drew a third piece of interaction. At this point, I think not using at least one Bolt is just heinous. I think not using both Bolts end of turn is fine since that might cut off our ability to cast Bant Charm down the line, due to fetching complications, but that's just even more reason to use one of the Bolts now.

Josh draws Plains, passes again. Sam draws another island, attacks and passes. Josh casts Bant Charm to kill a Blighted Agent end of turn, which is again an interesting spot from Sam's perspective. On one hand, the best this Muddle the Mixture is ever going to be is a Blighted Agent, so it kind of makes sense to get the mana expenditure out of the way in case we draw another Muddle. On the other hand, if we counter this Bant Charm and that convinces Josh to finally casts his Lightning Bolts, we're in trouble. Given how insistent Josh has been about not casting his spells, I actually like Sam's line because it potentially allows him to present more interaction on the turn he actually tries to win. Like if Sam lets Charm resolve, Josh lets Peer for Shoal resolve, and then Sam draws 2nd Muddle or Spell Pierce, then Sam forces Josh to have 3 pieces of interaction on the kill turn instead of 2, which is unlikely when Josh is stuck on 3 lands. Sam's play is relying on Josh to make a mistake for somewhat thin value, but Josh has kept making this same mistake so far.

Josh draws Helix, Sam finds Shoal off Peer. Then Sam draws Spell Pierce, so Josh dies with a Lightning Helix in hand.

It's not obvious that Josh wins this game if he casts his spells, since he still wouldn't have had any pressure and Sam was drawing live to more threats. But Josh certainly did not give himself the best chance to win. Like on the turn that Josh cast Bant Charm, if he'd just cast his Bolts earlier, he would have been drawing to any land or any creature finally get some pressure on the table.

Anyway, that game was pretty compact but I think instructive. Josh played really bad and Sam got to take a cool line that I think is a mistake in the abstract, but was correct based on how Josh was playing.

2 Noble Hierarch Tarmogoyf Bant Charm Plains Misty Rainforest Marsh Flats

This Josh's hand for game 2. It's marginal but a clear keep. It has threats, mana, and 1 piece of interaction.

Spellskite Gitaxian Probe Peer Through Depths Progenitus Blazing Shoal Island Inkmoth Nexus

And Sam's hand is the nuts. Just a turn 2 kill with Probe, card selection, and protection.

First turn cycle is straightforward, then Josh has an interesting choice on whether to pass with Bant Charm or to play Tarmogoyf and Noble Hierarch. My instinct is that Josh should just develop his threats, since it's not that likely that your opponent has a turn 2 kill and Bant Charm is so expensive that Sam can easily set up a kill through it if you give him enough time. But after thinking the situation over, I prefer Josh's play of passing. The fact that Sam played Inkmoth Nexus on turn 1 instead of a cantrip means that the Nexus being able to attack is important to him, and that to some extent implies Sam has the kill. Secondly, because Josh has the 2 Noble Hierarchs, he'll be able to hold up Bant Charm again next turn while developing the second Hierarch, and then he'll have enough mana to continue developing while holding up Bant Charm for the rest of the game. Third, Sam might have kept a hand exactly like the one he did, which is short on mana and interaction but has the kill, and can't continue profitably developing.

Now Sam plays Spellskite and Josh Bant Charms the Spellskite, which I think is a mistake. Sam has already presented 2 threats, you only have 1 piece of interaction, and you have infinite mana. It's the exact reverse of game 1, where Josh had a lot of interaction but not much mana. This is when you want to make your opponent beat your interaction, which means saving Bant Charm to Dispel Blazing Shoal.

If this was Josh's plan against Spellskite, I think he should have just played Tarmogoyf on turn 2 and accepted dying to the combo. Since now, barring your draw step, you're playing Tarmogoyf a turn later and still dying to the combo.

But anyway, Josh draws Green Sun's Zenith for Gaddock Teeg, which is the best possible. He puts Teeg and Hierarch into play, pretty straightforward.

Sam draws Peer and passes. There's some argument for casting Peer main so it doesn't get countered, but revealing what Peer finds is probably more important. Josh doesn't have many counters for Peer and doesn't want to counter it anyway.

Sam Peers and takes Snapback over Preordain, which makes sense. Sam has to get the Teeg off the battlefield to win and Snapback is one of Sam's few answers.

Josh draws Aven Mindcensor and plays it on his own end step after Sam reveals the Snapback. This play is interesting. There are two main upsides to this line. The first is that if Sam has Pact of Negation plus Shoal, then he no longer has the win on his turn with Snapback, Pact, Shoal. The second is that if Sam draws a fetchland, Josh doesn't have to play timing games with the Mindcensor. The downside is that if Josh waits, there's some chance that Sam goes for the kill against Josh's 1 unknown card, and getting Sam to commit the mana plus trade the Nexus is a good exchange. The situation basically boils down to what Josh thinks Sam will do. If Josh thinks Sam never attacks with the Nexus, it's strictly best to get the Mindcensor down right away. If Josh thinks Sam always jams into the 1 unknown card, even without Pact, then it's strictly better to wait.

From Sam's perspective, jamming is a "losing play", in the sense that he'll lose to a removal spell or a counterspell (in which case you've used your Snapback and no longer have a plan to beat the Teeg) and Josh probably has some interaction, but I think it's still the correct line. It's so tough for things to get better for Sam here, since he's two lands away from killing with Muddle backup and his Spell Pierces are already dead, if they're even still in his deck. If Josh just passes, it's right for Sam to jam and I think he frequently will jam. Josh could conceivably have a land, a dead Green Sun's Zenith, or a Noble Hierarch or whatever as a bluff.

This spot just comes down to Sam's tendencies as a player though. It's close enough that I don't feel strongly about either line, but I personally would have waited and expected that Sam would have gone for it.

Josh draws, Sam Peers again and takes Slaughter Pact, which is the best possible. And then he goes for it against Josh's random card and wins. All of Sam's plays here are straightforward and clearly correct, I think.

Wild Nacatl Gaddock Teeg Path to Exile Misty Rainforest Arid Mesa Horizon Canopy Tectonic Edge

Josh's hand is good, clear keep. It's heavy on lands but Teeg is his best card and he has a clock and interaction to pair with it.

Pact of Negation Blazing Shoal Dragonstorm Blighted Agent Gitaxian Probe Inkmoth Nexus

Sam's 6-card hand is also a clear keep, it's turn 2 kill through a removal spell with an untapped land in 3 draws.

As is, Sam's hand is going to have a really tough time beating Gaddock Teeg, since he'll need to draw land and then either exactly Slaughter Pact or Snapback. So this game probably won't going to be too interesting.

You'll also notice that Sam lost game 3 off camera and chose to draw this game, which is a legal game action.

Sam draws another Dragonstorm, which is the worst possible. Josh draws Flashfreeze, which is the best possible.

This is where I start skipping and speeding up, since Sam's so unlikely to win.

Sam actually has outs here, drawing Spell Pierce and then land. If he Peers into free removal and then topdecks untapped land, he can removal, Shoal, Pierce and win. So Sam's on 20% into 33%, around 7% overall. That's impressive given how badly the opening hands lined up for him; Sam's deck was really broken. He bricks and dies though.

Noble Hierarch Wild Nacatl Qasali Pridemage Stomping Grounds 2 Marsh Flats Sacred Foundry

Josh's hand sucks but I agree with the keep. This tournament used the Paris mulligan, so mulliganing sucks, and Josh's hand has a fast clock on the play plus Pridemate to interact with half of Sam's threats.

Blighted Agent 2 Disrupting Shoal Ponder Inkmoth Nexus 2 Island

Sam's hand also sucks but it has a counterspell for a 2-drop, 2 threats, enough lands to Transmute, and a Ponder to tie things together.

Not sure either of these hands would be a keep under the London mulligan but I think they're fine here.

Sam chooses to draw again.

Sam draws Pact, casts Ponder, sees 2 Peers and a Nexus. Seems like a good top, planning to Peer past Nexus.

Sam uses Disrupting Shoal on Pridemage, pitching Blighted Agent, which definitely seems right. Pitching Agent instead of the second Disrupting Shoal is an unintuitive but good play. Sam knows he's going to cast Peer on both of his next turns, so he won't be able to deploy the Agent in a window where it'll be useful. And the second Shoal might be able to counter a removal spell down the line.

Josh plays his cards and attacks, and he's down to all lands. Sam has an interesting decision between Probe and third Peer with Peer here. My instinct was to take Probe since we have second Peer already, but it's close. We're two cards away from our combo still and will probably need 2 more turns, and we might end up taking a better cantrip than Probe off of the second Peer. Peer is better than all the other cantrips here since Nexus doesn't tap to cast any other spells. On the other hand, we might not have the luxury of tapping Nexus for mana for two more turns.

Worth noting that situations like this one are why you generally choose to play in constructed.

Sam draws another Spellskite, which is useless. He passes instead of main phasing Peer, which is a big mistake. By passing, Sam denies himself the option of casting a Ponder or Preordain if he took one off Peer. Josh is unlikely to use a counterspell on Peer, and giving Josh an opportunity to cast his counterspell this turn isn't a big cost given Josh has so much mana already.

Josh draws 2nd Nacatl, which locks up a 2 turn clock but is otherwise a brick.

Sam sees lands and Preordain off his Peer and gets punished for waiting. He draws Blighted Agent, which is useless.

Cantrip sequencing is worth noting here. Sam should lead Preordain since it sees fewer cards, so he'll have a better idea of what he needs to find off Peer. Sam does, finds Dragonstorm and keeps it since it's one of the two cards he needs, pretty straightforward.

Josh draws a lethal Helix and Sam gets paid for holding Shoal all those turns ago.

Sam bricks his 35%er to find Shoal off Peer, takes Ponder instead. He's on another 30%er to find Shoal with Ponder but bricks again to lose.

If Sam had cast Peer on his main phase earlier, having additional blue mana would have given him more redraws to Shoal. That mistake probably cost him a 5% chance of winning on the last turn.

So, closing notes. I do want to stress that when I'm pointing out mistakes I believe Sam or Josh made, I'm not suggesting that that they're bad players. If you watch my matches on coverage, or literally anyone's, you'll find mistakes every turn cycle. Everyone is bad at Magic.

Note that this means if you're not seeing the mistakes in your own games, you're not looking hard enough.

Watching coverage is so great for improving because you get to see the mistakes great players made, mistakes you may not even be thinking about the game deeply enough to make yourself. But to improve by watching coverage, this is the kind of watching you need to do – actively picking apart what's happening on camera, figuring out why the players on both sides of the match are making the decisions they are, looking for patterns. It's not about copying what the players on camera are doing, it's about improving on it.

Anyway, thanks for watching reading.

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