Showdown #16: Simic Potato Casserole

Showdown

Spootyone

9 April 2014

1819 views

If you're of age, try out this drinking game: Take a drink every time I say the words Cyclonic Rift, "rift", Shambleshark or "fish crab." Disclaimer: I am not responsible for massive hangovers...

Hello all and welcome back to another edition of Showdown where I pit my current standard build against other decks submitted by you, the readers!

This time around I have a special treat for you all...a mirror match! For those of you who don't regularly follow my every move, I have been tweaking my standard build to better fit the meta. While Primordial Soup | Bant Mega-Ramp was performing well sometimes, it was falling flat against the majority of the decks that are played heavily in standard right now. I decided to take some time to readjust and rethink my strategy as losing is typically not something I enjoy doing.

What I came up with was a brew that functions as what I've been calling a "big aggro" deck. I don't consider it midrange, though some might. However, it also isn't a full-blitz, aggro deck like mono-blue devotion or even the new mono-green aggro decks that have been showing up. It's just as I said, it's "big aggro." It utilizes a suite of 3-drops that are heavy in green mana alongside tempo-disruption spells to allow me to get the victory at a quick but steady pace. An article going over my decision to move this way can be found here. I'm also trying to see how many people would like to see a deck tech of this deck once JOU comes out and I can incorporate those cards into it. Let me know what you think.

Alright! Back to the matchup. For you all this time, I have my new Simic Deck ready to face up to another popular Simic deck running around the site. I present to you:

Who Says Simic isn't Good?

Standard InconspicuousPotato

SCORE: 75 | 101 COMMENTS | 13288 VIEWS | IN 23 FOLDERS

InconspicuousPotato (Great name, btw!) has been running this brew to good success from what I've seen. Much like my previous Bant ramp deck, this deck wants to get out there quickly with tons of mana and drop a big fatty either in the form of Polukranos, World Eater or Arbor Colossus. If that's not enough, there is Nylea, God of the Hunt and Cyclonic Rift to push through the damage, as well as Kiora, the Crashing Wave for an alternate win con on a stalled boardstate.

What is my biggest fears about this deck? an overloaded Cyclonic Rift. I mean, really everyone should be afraid of that at all times. It's completely devastating to have your whole board set back to zero -- especially if you have some reliance on mana dorks. Courser of Kruphix is also a real pain for my deck sometimes since it's body pairs well against my Shambleshark and Witchstalker -- not to mention continues to gain my opponent life almost every turn. And if I can't deal with his devotion count, Nylea is something I just cannot deal with in my deck, and that's a serious problem once it happens.

The parallels between my last deck and this one were enough that I really wanted to try it out against my new brew. What I want to see -- firsthand -- is whether or not I'm making the best move here. Will I be able to speed past and out-tempo my opponent before he floods the board with 6/6s? It's time to find out! Also, I shall be referring to my opponent as a potato for the remainder of the article. Why? Because it's hilarious and I love his username.

Game 1

(There was one game of horrible mulligans and mana-screw. I scrapped it because it was honest garbage on both ends.)

I win the flip and will be on the play. I keep an opener of Elvish Mystic, Shambleshark, Courser of Kruphix, Breeding Pool and 3x Forest. A great opener!

My starchy friend mulligans a hand full of big fatties and little mana/no ramp. The kept hand contains Kiora's Follower, Courser of Kruphix, Cyclonic Rift, Prime Speaker Zegana, Temple of Mystery and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. I just hope we can find the other mana source we need to kick this hand off.

S1: I use a forest to cast an Elvish Mystic. Pass.

P1: Draws Polukranos, World Eater. Not quite what we're looking for. He scrys using a tapped Temple of Mystery to see an Arbor Colossus. That obviously hits the bottom. Pass.

S2: Draws Elvish Mystic. Interesting. I shock myself with the Breeding Pool and use the elf to cast the second elf. Pass. (s 18/20 p)

P2: Draws Breeding Pool. Got there!! Shocks self to cast Kiora's Follower. Pass (s 18/18 p) EoT I cast a Shambleshark.

**S3: Draws Boon Satyr. The nut draws! Plays a forest and swings with the Shambleshark. He can't afford to lose the mana dork so he lets it through for 2 damage. I follow that up by casting a courser of kruphix, evolving the [[shambleshark, and revealing a Polukranos, World Eater from the top of my deck. Pass. (s 18/16 p) **

P3: Draws Nylea, God of the Hunt. We're quickly losing the board state and need to stabilize. The potato I face taps lands and the follower for his own Courser of Kruphix and reveals a Sylvan Caryatid off the top. He then plays Nykthos and gains one life. Pass. (s 18/17 p)

S4: Draws Polukranos, World Eater and reveals Temple of Mystery. I then attack with Shambleshark and the courser. He knows that I could have Boon Satyr or Simic Charm available, and losing his own courser is a bad idea, so he lets it through and takes 5 damage. I then cast Poluk, evolve Shambleshark, play the temple off the top, gain a life, and reveal another Polukranos off the top. I can't think of a situation where I'll need another one in short notice, so I scry it to the bottom. This reveals a Witchstalker, which I'll gladly take. Pass. (s 19/12 p)

P4: Draws Sylvan Caryatid and reveals Nykthos off the top. Not very good when we already have one out. Casts Sylvan Caryatid. He then taps the nykthos and follower to add two colorless to the pool, plays the second Shrine off the top, gains a life and uses the new shrine to make 4 green mana. This is used to cast Nylea, God of the Hunt, which has enough devotion to be a creature. A third Nykthos is revealed from the top. Boooo... Pass. (s 19/13 p)

S5: Draws Witchstalker and reveals Cyclonic Rift off the top. That would be a game winner for us if we don't get severely impaired before the next turn. I play a forest and gain one life. There's no point in attacking since he has an active Nylea, but we can blow up his mana dork. That seems relevant given his mana situation. I monstrous my Polukranos for X=2 and deal lethal to his Kiora's Follower. And now the Nylea ISN'T active. Let us attack. We swing with the Shambleshark and now 7/7 Polukranos. He cannot win without devotion for Nykthos, so he is forced to let it through and takes 11 damage. Pass. (s 20/2 p)

P5: Draws Nykthos and reveals Elvish Mystic off the top. Not very good. Cyclonic Rift is his only out, but can he cast it? By using Nykthos' ability, playing the second Nykthos and using the mana from that for its' ability, and then tapping the Caryatid for mana, He has just enough to overload the Rift, and this happens. I return all my nonland permanents to my hand and take 2 from his attacking Courser of Kruphix. Pass. (s 18/2 p)

S6: Draws Cyclonic Rift. We have to use our own rift asap or we will die to Nylea. I cast Courser of Kruphix and reveal a Breeding Pool off the top. Nice! It enters the battlefield tapped and I gain 1 life. An island is revealed from the top. The remaining 2 mana is used to cast both of my Elvish Mystic again. We have to hope he doesn't have another rift, but as long as he doesn't kill us this turn I think the victory is ours. Pass. (s 19/2 p)

P6: Draws Elvish Mystic and reveals Kiora, the Crashing Wave. Due to the fact that he knows we have the Cyclonic Rift and that he has no way to not die to it on my next turn, the potato concedes.

Spooty wins Game 1!

Sideboard tech with Spooty: Hey, hey! It's always nice to be able to come back and win from an overloaded Cyclonic Rift. Especially when it involves another overloaded Cyclonic Rift. Alright, so the key to winning this semi-mirror match is to disrupt the opponent's devotion count so that Nylea is not a creature and that Nykthos cannot generate gratuitous amounts of MENERGY-- er, I mean, mana. Our removal package is our bounce spells and Polukranos, World Eater. And that is all already Mainboarded. We do, however, have Bramblecrush in the sideboard that can be used to blow up a Nykthos, so it's coming in. Witchstalker is not very applicable in this matchup, so it will be coming out in favor of Nylea's Disciple who can help keep us alive long enough to draw into what essentially is our win-con -- Cyclonic Rift. Kiora isn't super amazing for this matchup due to opposing trample, so she can come out to make room for these cards, as well as another Nylea. So yeah...stall and create board presence until we can overload a Cyclonic Rift. Let's do it.

Sideboard tech with a potato: Siding this deck is going to essentially be the same as with my own deck. We will be bringing in Simic Charm, Rapid Hybridization for devotion removal, Nylea's Disciple for longevity, and Negate to counter opposing Cyclonic Rift if necessary. Mistcutter Hydra, Arbor Colossus, Scavenging Ooze, and Kiora, the Crashing Wave will be coming out as I feel they are clunky or not amazing for this matchup. Progenitor Mimic might be able to shine if the board gets way stalled, but we'll have to see about that. Here goes nothing!

The Potato chooses to be on the play and keeps an opening hand of 2x Rapid Hybridization, Simic Charm, Negate, Nylea's Disciple a forest, and an island. It's not amazing, but it has a good amount of disruption spells that we can play. We just need to draw into gas is all.

I keep an opener of Elvish Mystic, Shambleshark, Boon Satyr, Nylea's Disciple, Cyclonic Rift, an island and a Breeding Pool. This hand is capital-B Beautiful and things are looking good right off the bat. Total keep.

P1: Plays island and passes.

S1: Draws Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, shocks self with the Breeding Pool and uses it to cast the Elvish Mystic. It is turned into a 3/3 Frog Lizard immediately by the opposing Potato using his Rapid Hybridization. He does this to disrupt my mana and my devotion and since he has another to use if needed. The tokens can just be destroyed by bounce spells anyway. Pass.

P2: Draws Courser of Kruphix. Yes! Exactly what we needed, creature-wise. Now we just need more mana to cast it. He plays a forest and passes.

S2: Draws Temple of Mystery. Well, I'm sad I don't have my elf anymore, but luckily we still have a turn-2 play in Shambleshark. We can wait til his turn for that though. I attack with the frog lizard token for 3, play out my island and pass. (s 18/17 p)

P3: Draws Polukranos, World Eater. Ugh every time! Well, I guess we just sit back on our spells now and hope we can draw out of this before we're dead. Pass. EoT I cast Shambleshark at instant-fish-crab speed.

S3: Draws Prime Speaker Zegana. Sadly, we don't have available mana to cast Boon Satyr and pump the Shambleshark, but we can scry instead. I use my temple to scry Cyclonic Rift off the top. drools Now we can be on curve and cast this Cyclonic Rift on whatever creature they may play to completely mess up their tempo and still have another leftover. I then attack with the frog lizard and Shambleshark for 5. The frog lizard is met by the Potato's Simic Charm and is destroyed once reaching my hand due to the state-based effect. I deal 2 damage total and pass. (s 18/15 p)

P4: Draws an island. Sadly, the deck appears to be trolling us a bit by giving us the only land that is of practically no use to us right now. He plays the island and passes, with mana for Negate and Rapid Hybridization up if needed.

S4: Draws Cyclonic Rift. I then attack with my Shambleshark for 2. Upon moving to damage, I decide to flash in my Boon Satyr to evolve the fish crab. It resolves and I get in for 3 total damage. I then play Nykthos out and pass the turn. At EoT, my opponent casts Rapid Hybridization on my Boon Satyr, transforming into a Frog Lizard, which then evolves my Shambleshark once more. While the shark is now bigger than the satyr, he has chosen this path to keep my devotion count as low as possible -- especially after seeing Nykthos on the field. (s 18/12 p)

P5: Draws Breeding Pool. Oh, thank Kruphix for green mana. I hope it isn't too late though. He shocks himself to 10 with the land and then uses it to cast Courser of Kruphix, which reveals another courser off the top. Meh. Pass.

S5: Draws Nylea's Disciple. That's two! I want to remain in control of this board and I can't let him recover now when I'm in such of a lead, so I decide to use one of my Cyclonic Rift to return his Courser of Kruphix to his hand. And I follow that up by attacking for 7 total damage, leaving him at 3 life and nothing but some lands on board. With another Cyclonic Rift in toe to deal with whatever he plays, I feel like this is all but over. Pass. (s 18/3 p)

P6: Draws Courser of Kruphix. His only way to stay alive is to cast Nylea's Disciple and gain 2 life, putting him at 5. He does this and passes the turn back to me. At the end of his turn, I choose to Cyclonic Rift his disciple back to his hand. With him tapped out and dead on board, he chooses to concede.

Spooty wins the match!

Holy wow did that last game go smoothly on my end. I had a beautiful curve-out that was easily followed-up by disruptive spells that secured my victory as soon as my opponent stumbled on mana. I'm honestly surprised how well Shambleshark has been doing for me. It's essentially a 3/2 for two with flash upon attacking in this deck, and has even gotten as large as 5/4 for me in some games due to the polarized nature of my creatures. Namely, Courser of Kruphix and Boon Satyr. And Cyclonic Rift was as brutal as ever, single-handedly wrecking and then saving me in game one AND being the way for me to secure my victory in game two. Definitely the MVP of this matchup by far.

Alright so now I'd like to take some time to address InconspicuousPotato's deck. Overall, our decks are very, very similar, and this was the reason why I decided to choose his deck for the showdown this week (not that this will be the way I choose every week). The main difference between our two decks is that mine feels a little tighter. My opponent's deck plays very similarly to my previous standard build, relying on large amounts of mana to do massive amounts of things like playing huge creatures, utilizing large monstrous abilities, and overloading powerful spells. This is a strategy that I think is a very powerful one, but I think it is not incredibly good for the current standard metagame due to the massive amounts of removal, Supreme Verdict, and the supremely aggressive burn and mono-black aggro decks running around.

Another thing I want to touch upon is my opponent's mana base. There are only 2 differences between his and mine. The first is that he runs 23 lands total. I run 24. The second is that he runs a full 4 copies of Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. I currently run 2. These minor differences played a HUGE role in our matchup. In the first game that was scrapped, the deck mulliganed horribly every time. Mine didn't do too well on mana either so I just chalked it up to bad luck. But over time as I recalled my practice runs and upon seeing the match above, I found a trend of mana problems. And I'm not even saying his mana is "wrong" for his deck. It's very possible that I just had a bad string of luck using it. I do know this, though: the deck is VERY unforgiving. A single missed land drop can mean no threat on the board -- even at 3 or 4 mana. Just getting a second copy of Nykthos in an opening hand over a forest means a mulligan for sure. These are problems that need addressing, but in a deck so focused on ramp it is very hard to fix them. This was the problem I ran into with my previous deck.

Large ramp decks are very much a "glass cannon" approach to winning the game. By this, I mean that without getting X amount of mana dorks + X amount of threats in a very particular order, things aren't going to go as desired. And in a format full of counterspells, Thoughtseize, Supreme Verdict, Hero's Downfall and even rakdos return, this sort of strategy falls apart very quickly. And all youre left with is top decking for the land you need so you can top deck a threat that will likely just meet the same fate as your previous one -- being removed.

I feel like I may be coming off a bit harsh on my opponent's deck and I want to reassure you all that I by no means consider his deck "bad." The deck is quite good and is capable of some amazing feats if unable to be disrupted. Remember, the only reason I was able to survive that first game was a miracle Cyclonic Rift. I want to thank InconspicuousPotato sincerely for not only his entry, but also his help in me creating my own build showcased here and for inspiring me to go full simic and drop all this white nonsense (for the time being :P ).

QOTW

I've really been appealing to my Simic side over the past couple weeks and it feels really comfortable to me. I love selesnya and I like Azorius, but Simic gives me so many things I enjoy: Efficient creatures, disruption, tempo-based cards, creativity, weird-ass creatures...it has it all!

So this time I have a simple question for you: What is your favorite simic-related card? I think my favorite for now is Shambleshark. It's a fish crab. You can't argue with that...but you can try! Tell me all about your favorite simic cards!

And for any of you actually stupid enough to do the drinking game... Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark, Shambleshark.

If you would like to be a part of the next Showdown and would like to have your deck featured for everyone to see and for me to critique, please provide your deck below in the comments. I look forward to seeing them! I may not be able to get these out as often as I would like, but let's shoot for another one soon okay?

Info to reach me or to keep up to date with my articles

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @Spootyone

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