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The Phantom Menace : Deck Analysis

September 23, 1999

The development of The Phantom Menace began about one week after PT:Rome. I was determined not to mess up New York the same way I messed up Rome, and was going to get an early start. My first step was to construct the five monocolor decks with what cards I had available, which was about a box or two. I used that strategy for PT:LA3 as well, although there I built different decks: It forces you to consider all your options, and try out cards you'd never get around to. Besides, I had to construct my own metagame. Looking for a theme for blue, I decided it would have to be a Hermetic Crab deck, its complementing theme being Windfall with bounce. Veiled Sentry made it in as my only halfway decent one drop. The deck tried out a lot of janky cards, and I kept it at one Morphling because of the Windfall theme. When I tried it with more Morphlings, it quickly became clear that was a better plan, especially since Windfall was too slow against the green decks even with Rescind and (by then) Snap. I went up to four Snap to buy time against green and to force Serpent to activate. By the time the deck was tightened, this is what it looked like:

It could handle green pretty well. Against Academy it was at a disadvantage, although it could win with a quick Hermetic Crab backed by some disruption. Clearly, there were too many broken cards to be playing a deck this fair, but I still liked it and it was my 3rd best deck going into NY behind green and Zero Effect. I played it in an (advertised as) $250 tournament the week before, and won without losing a match. I found that if I could Annul or Miscalculate Grim Monolith I could beat the Wildfire decks, especially with the help of my SB of 2 Rewind and 4 Douse. By this time, I'd begun experimenting with running 2 Power Sink in the main deck for an Annul and a Snap. It hurt you game one a little but it was a big help after sideboarding. The rest of the SB was the 4th Annul, 4 Phyrexian Processor for decks that couldn't deal with it, and 4 Hibernation.

When Destiny came out and the power lands were banned, I looked back into this deck. Thieving Magpie seemed like a natural, especially with Hermetic Study, and Treachery looked amazing. But I couldn't fit in all of both, even after cutting out Snap. Also, I came to the conclusion that Magpie just didn't seem that good: If the deck survived that long, you won because your cards were better. If they weren't, or you didn't have the game under control, Magpie didn't help matters. If you could win with it, you'd already won. They quickly left the deck. I played it in an online tournament and quickly realized that I was too vulnerable to Scald, so I put in 4 Remote Isle. Finally, I abandoned the original Hermetic Crab plan to make room for the extra land I wanted because of the Isle. That let me increase all my numbers back to 4s except Annul and Power Sink, and add Powder Keg. It also made the deck much more consistent. Before, some decks could strand a ton of your cards. Now, the only card that didn't cycle and could be useless was Annul, and that's very rare. Still, it's common enough that it's the reason I don't run 4 main. The sideboard still had Processor in it for a long time, but when Suicide Black burst into the metagame it was clear that Processor didn't do what I needed it to. Hibernation left when I figured out it wasn't that good. Regardless, I'd found that against green nothing's bad and your deck basically doesn't get much better. Masticore often just gets Splintered. Palinchron came from David Williams, who qualified with the deck and said it worked great. This is the final version I played in Memphis:

SB

Card by card explanations:

Island. You want to get your first six land drops, but often you'll want to stop after that. If you ran more basic Islands, you'd have to either not get enough too often or get glutted too often. Also, having less Islands makes Scald not as bad.

Faerie Conclave. Coming into play tapped is a minor price to pay for four lands that don't count toward getting mana glutted. There's no good reason for monoblue not to use four.

Blasted Landscape. If there's one card that people just outright forget to put in their decks in UBC, it's this one. If you're running a monocolor deck, ask yourself how often having four colorless lands will actually hurt you. With Stompy and Suicide Black, you really need every land to be colored. For other decks, there's almost never a problem. One colorless land doesn't hurt you at all, often two won't be a problem. If your land count is low, this lets you increase it by one; if it's higher like mine, you can increase it by two. And you're actually increasing your non-mana ratio as well as your mana one. It's free flexibility, and I'd probably play a few more if I could, maybe a ton more - if it was basic I could see this deck using 10.

Remote Isle. It's not as good as Blasted Landscape in this deck, but it's still worth it. Eight tapped lands is a lot, and sometimes it hurts, but often you don't need mana turn one or the third mana turn three. Your goal is to cycle this card if you can do it safely. Of course, if you don't have enough mana yet and can play this without slowing yourself down you should do it. And in some matchups (Replenish and Control, basically) you need every land you can get your hands on. This almost always gets cycled before Landscape does.

Annul. Annul is amazing against more than half the field. Every now and then, though, it's useless. With this much cycling, you would often get stuck with two by midgame if you used four. That can be deadly. Against decks with one key enchantment like Rancor or Opposition, four will be too much on average, since you go through your deck faster and sometimes you draw it too late and use another counter on the key card. You must have access to all four, however. One key question is when to play an untapped land in order to Annul on his turn two. In general, if they play a red land and say go I'll save the mana, but otherwise I won't. Against forest, Dogs or Jaguar you can do it if it doesn't really hurt you much. You have to plan your draw ahead, including plans to cycle.

Power Sink. It's better than Rewind because you need the ability to counter with two or three mana. Sometimes, your opponent will make it useless by playing a ton of mana, but normally if they're not in topdecking mode they have to specifically play around it. If your opponent is getting to the point where Sink becomes irrelevant, or where you won't have the mana for several turns, you counter anything that matters at all. Don't get greedy. Also note that sometimes tapping their lands can be really important. Often you'll have to decide whether to keep in Power Sink against a deck like Wildfire. In general, those battles will hinge on whether they get to ‘escape’ with their mana, so Sink is still a good card. It's better going first than going second, so sometimes you'll want to resideboard before game three. You almost always sink any mana artifact or creature, by the way. In general, I'd say you should almost never take it out, because you need the second turn counter.

Miscalculation. Again, try not to get greedy with it. If you can counter a good spell, you generally want to do it. If you can't, and it looks like you may never get the chance because they have too much mana, cycle it. If you're not going to have untapped mana for a few turns and can cycle it now, cycle it unless you have something else to do or cycle. Also, if you're short on mana don't hesitate to cycle it. This is often the last cycling card in your hand, since anything else would either be a better choice to cycle or be worth playing. You never even think about sideboarding these out. Often, you have a choice between keeping Miscalculation mana or doing something. Most of the time, you should do something unless your opponent has reached 'critical mass' and can do Bad ThingsT. You can tap out in this format without risking too much against a lot of decks, including Replenish.

Morphling. At its heart, this is a Morphling deck. Still, that doesn't mean you don't sideboard some out sometimes. Always keep at least four of this and Palinchron, but in matchups where you need them on a clock but can't tap mana, you swap two out for Palinchron. Still, you need two to insure that you do have a clock to put them on. Don't worry too much about losing Morphling unless you need it right away. If you have two, sometimes you will let them kill the first one because you can then cruise with the second one. Against green, cast Morphling without saving mana; what can they do to it? And in general, if someone gets to trade a card for Morphling it's not good but it's no big deal. You need to calculate the risks and rewards of exposing them. Watch out for a Replenished Treachery or Confiscate. Also, you can expose it against blue if you're under their window or you think you can Rescind Treachery. And of course, if you lose by not casting it, cast it already. The tricks involved in using Morphling are too numerous to list here, but they're amazing.

Veiled Serpent. This is an amazing card in the current format. For the most part, every deck either plays Islands, in which case this is a 4/4 monster for three mana, or it plays beatdown, in which case it's a 4/4 wall for three mana and you need it badly. And in those rare matchups where they're neither, it cycles. Serpent allows you to beat many decks that you would otherwise be unable to beat, by putting them on a very good clock very quickly. Don't be afraid to tap out to cast it, and do try to cast it turn three against Replenish. Putting them on the clock is worth it. Same with Enchantress or control. Most decks have a ‘window’ under which you don't have to worry about tapping out - with control it's until they have 4 land (or 5 if you don't fear Treachery), with Replenish it's until they have a good graveyard, an Attunement on table or a TON of mana. Don't delay casting this against beatdown, and don't hesitate to burn a Rescind to force it active. It's worth it. You take this out against those decks that don't have Islands and don't attack on the ground.

Veiled Sentry. This is another card that does what you need it to do. Against beatdown it's a blocker you desperately need. Against other decks it's one mana for what's normally a 2/2 and can cripple people and/or decide to Go Large. The one time when it's bad is when they're playing a deck where it won't get through and won't block, in which case you sideboard it out, or where it's 1/1 and doesn't trade, which is basically against black. Sometimes, players who feel they need the room will cut one of these, but I don't recommend it. Also, remember that Veileds activate the moment a spell is announced, whether it's countered or not.

Rescind. This card gets no respect. But it's another case of being What You NeedT. When you're under pressure it buys you time. It counters creature enchantments and Fertile Ground. It gets around Worship, which having four of these means you don't normally need to counter. And when it's not good, just cycle it. If you don't need it to buy time you generally have the time to cycle it, although there are strange exceptions like burn. Again, some people try to cut Rescinds, but here I strongly disagree. You need to have four in your deck. By having four, you can use or cycle one and still know one will come after a while, and can use up two without worrying about it. And often you can use one to win the game when it gets down to a creature battle or a race at the end. You can sideboard these out, but be careful with the last two.

Powder Keg. It's almost never bad, although there are situations where it can be. If your deck is immune to it, it's by design. General Keg strategy is to keep it at no counters. If you know your opponent's deck has nothing at the 0-level go to 1, if he has no 1-level go to 2, etc. If you get multiples you often hold one in hand or keep both at 0 if you know you don't need to do the 2-level. Against Replenish, once you get two you should set one to the 4-level unless you need it to kill a second man land. If they have a Keg too, blow both up unless there's a good reason not to. And again, don't get greedy with these either. This is one of the sideboarding choices that get tough, for when you need this for only one or two cards but you really do need it then. In general, the play is to keep 3 then. Against Replenish, keep them in unless you're devoting more sideboard slots to it, in which case go down to 2 or 3. Also keep in mind it's your only artifact, and if that's a liability you can sometimes take it out.

Treachery. Don't worry too much about holding out for bigger fish, although you should hold out if you can afford to. Also don't worry about taking echo creatures. You do what you need to. Remember that if you win the long game it's OK to trade Treachery for a Pouncing Jaguar. The real question with this card is when to side it out. Against Replenish, it can often allow you to win post-Replenish and can become good if they start casting stuff piecemail, so you can leave some in. Also, you often get into the dilemma that you need these to make Turnabout good but the card is otherwise weak. I generally try to leave in 2-3 in those situations. Of course, if it actually is useless take out all four.

Sideboard

Thran Foundry. This card is targeted at Replenish, although it can also counter Yawgmoth's Will. Any other use of it probably isn't worth including it. Don't even think about putting this in to stop Rancor. If they tap the Foundry or your lands with a good graveyard, go ahead and use it. And you never, ever use this on yourself.

Delusions of Mediocrity. This is for burn and suicide black. In these matchups, all you need to do is not get killed, and this helps you not get killed. Don't put this in against green's enchantment removal, though. Against Bargain, it may be worth it to force them to either Soul Feast you all 8 times or disenchant this in order to win.

Douse. Douse just wins a lot of games, and generally if the situation is stable with both Scald and Douse out, you win the game if your life total is high. You don't want all four in your sideboard anymore unless you have a very red heavy metagame and most of it isn't burn. If you drew enough non-islands it's worth tapping out on turn three to cast this, but in general the best plan is to cast it turn four with Annul backup if you can. If they've already got Scald (or got it countered) just go for it.

Palinchron. Palinchron allows you to put out a threat without tapping out or continuously tapping mana, which works it into the Douse plan and the anti-control plan and the anti-combo plan. The problem with this card is often you won't have the seven mana to cast it, and often it will prevent you from cycling lands in the first few turns. And the Morphlings are too good not to have four, while more than four big creatures is probably too much main deck. But in certain matchups, these are vital. An argument can be made to move one to the main deck to save sideboard space, or even give you access to three.

Turnabout. This serves four purposes. One is to tap your opponent out so you can then cast Treachery, Morphling and Palinchron without worrying about counters. The second is to tap your opponent's creatures and go in for the kill, which doesn't happen very often but is one way games end against some decks; a Turnabout right after a Replenish can give you a full turn in which to win. The third purpose is to get out of an Opposition lock or counter an opponent's Turnabout. The fourth is to use this to get Palinchron mana or the sixth mana to protect Morphling, although this card is generally too valuable to waste that way if you can help it.

Rewind. Rewind is a lousy card in this deck. You really don't like saving four mana and don't do it very often. Power Sink you can burn early if you know you can't save the mana, but Rewind doesn't work that way. Keep these far, far away from the main deck. However, you do need some real counters for after sideboarding to augment many plans. I'd stick to two in the sideboard. Do not put these in unless the game is going to come down to a single spell or a counter battle, or if you're going to play a Douse game.

Thornwind Faeries. This was a brainstorm I had on the way back, based on the dominance of Hermit/Opposition decks in Memphis and the wave of copies that will almost certainly be around because of it. This can shut down the Priest of Titania versions of the deck cold. However, the Enchantress-based version doesn't care one bit. That deck's really tough for you to sideboard against with monoblue.

You can go to my GP:Memphis report here.

Zvi Mowshowitz