Pattern Recognition #127 - Slow Grow Vol 2, Part 3

Features Opinion Pattern Recognition

berryjon

17 October 2019

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Hello everyone! Welcome back to Pattern Recognition! This is TappedOut.net's longest running article series. In it, I aim to bring to you each week a new article about some piece of Magic, be it a card, a mechanic, a deck, or something more fundamental or abstract. I am something of an Old Fogey and part-time Smart Ass, so I sometimes talk out my ass. Feel free to dissent or just plain old correct me! I also have a Patreon if you feel like helping out.

Ans so with this week, I round out my Slow Grow League, finishing off Weeks 5 and 6, plus my final thoughts on the whole matter.

WEEK FIVE

Moving into Week Five, my Spike and I agreed that I had all the pieces I needed to win, the problem was then one of consistency and of just digging harder for necessary win conditions. I couldn't depend on incidental draws, or cantrips. I needed Tutors and pure card draw.

He suggested Whir of Invention, which I was able to provide. This card would allow me to get a missing piece of my combo, or even two if I had a spell copier in my hand as well, like Refuse / Cooperate. It's actually a very good card, and I didn't feel bad putting it in.

Next, I added Mystical Tutor. Spike expressed surprise that I even had one, but then I pointed out that it was printed in Jace's Spellbook last year, and he understood. It's the best tutor that I could put in given that I didn't have Enlightened Tutor to supplement Whir of Invention.

I was going to put in Gifts Ungiven when I felt that it was too good, and a check of the Commander Banlist showed that it was on there. I was confused about that when Spike pointed out that it put cards into the hand and into the graveyard. And even in a Flashback deck like mine, it was ridiculously powerful. In a deck that actually uses the Graveyard as a serious resource, like ? That's lethal.

"So why isn't Entomb banned?" I asked. "Because it only puts one card in, and nothing into the hand. Gifts Ungiven is two and two" was the response.

Fair enough.

I tossed in Brainstorm, as a temporary shot in the arm to flip through the top of my deck, a way to pull something forward if I needed, or a way to arrange spells to cast with Elsha of the Infinite.

Pull from Tomorrow is a ridiculous card. Draw cards, then discard one? In a deck that can cast from the graveyard? YES PLEASE. Better than Mind Spring, though in a hilarious option, Read the Runes would have made for a great enabler. Except I don't have those. Oh well.

Finally, I decided to include Path to Exile, fresh from Gideon's Spellbook. A little bit more spot removal never hurt me, that's for sure.

Of course, now came the choices about what to remove. First out was Devil's Play. Path to Exile was cheaper, and wasn't a damage effect, so in terms of single-target removal, I'd go with that one.

Next out was Burnished Hart. Sure, it's a good card, and can fetch basic lands, but the problem was that it could only fetch the same basic land type. And in a triple coloured deck like this one, while I always wanted more lands, especially Island, I couldn't depend on this card being able to show up in time. Or at all.

Ral Zarek went next. Yeah, he's nice, but again, 'nice' wasn't cutting it. He needed to be more and better, and the way my deck was going, he was just not going to be a good fit. If I had the new Ral, Storm Conduit, I would have put him in long ago, but alas, I don't. Oh well.

Talrand, Sky Summoner was the next cut. I'm just not casting that many Instants and Sorceries to justify including him any more as my key victory is actually an Artifact. Not more transient cards. He will do wonders in a Commander deck, perhaps even as the Commander himself. but not in the way this deck was going.

Lastly, River Kelpie went. Now, this may seem odd, but honestly, casting cards from the Graveyard wasn't the point of this deck any more. It was just an ... addenda to the whole thing. Nor could I depend om my opponents helping me along. So out it went for not playing along with the meta, or with the development of the deck.

Honestly, there's not a lot to talk about with my switches this week. It's all utility for the most part.

ROUND 1

Why, hello there, Meren of Clan Nel Toth! Also, Atla and a non-League Yarok deck.

Yarok threw a Thief of Sanity at Meren, grabbing Survival of the Fittest. Who then responded with a Vampiric Tutor to grab Buried Alive. Which then grabbed Walking Ballista, Necrotic Ooze, and Phyrexian Devourer. Then cast Necromancy on the Ooze. He then started putting +1/+1 counters on his Ooze thanks to the Devourer, then machinegunned them off with the Ballista. I tried to use Prismatic Shards to prevent me from dying, but it didn't work.

This was turn 5.

We cracked out our casual decks, and played out the round.

Round 2

Myself, Yarok again, Salty Ghired, and Atraxa all sat down. My opening hand consisted of Laboratory Maniac, Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, Mystic Tutor, other cards, and NO LANDS. So I milled. Atraxa milled to six.

Then Yarok opened with an Island, playing Sol Ring, then Talisman of Resilience. On turn 2, he played a second land and cast his Commander.

My notes are pretty sparse again, but I do note that I used Wall of Stolen Identity on Atraxa's Forgotten Ancient which didn't do much as when Atraxa has over 20 counters on her, that's lethal Commander damage and took out Alta.

What is funny is that Yarok cast Villainous Wealth onto Atraxa for 19, pulls some excellent cards, then gets a River's Rebuke to the face from me. He then, two turns later, after rebuilding his board state, hits me for 22. And the only card he gets that he can cast is Seveinne.

Meanwhile, Atraxa has Shroud thanks to one of the Boots, and the Judge calls time.

Yarok goes, can't do anything. My turn. I dig for my combo, and find it! I draw my library!

I don't have enough mana left to play Laboratory Maniac. I look around, and realize that between Seveinne and a Shrouded Atraxa, my backup-backup victory condition of "Shoot someone in the face, swing with Commander" just went out the window. Because Grapeshot could have taken out Yarok, and cleared out the board for a 40+ power Elsha to swing for the win. But I can't do that because I can't target Atraxa, and Seveinne takes no damage! So instead I shoot Atraxa in the face, and win on life totals at the end of the game.

Round 3

Kalia, Atraxa and Kadena.

I mill to five and keep a bad hand.

Kalia melds Bruna, the Fading Light  ^Meld and Gisela, the Broken Blade  ^Meld. It was impressive!

I'm also getting mana flooded with nothing to spend it on. Atraxa gets Grafted Exoskeleton and that's all she wrote. Without Angela Landsbury, I might add as Atraxa cleaned up the board with Infect damage.

Fuck Infect.

So week five was a bust. I didn't gain any traction, and my new cards didn't show to do anything. Oh well, there's still Week 6. I might even end up in the top half!

Week 6

So, last week. Time to break out the weird, the unusual, and the just plain ridiculous. Because I'm that sort of person. I know I'm out of running for winning, but why should I let that stop me from playing? First in is a counterspell that I never really considered, but it had a Cantrip attached to it, and it was pretty cheap, so in went Hindering Light. Not many spells targeted me or my permanents, but you never knew when it might be handy.

And opponents are less wary when you have only a single up, rather than two.

Vanish into Memory is a card that I felt would do very good in this deck. I could use it as spot removal as Atraxa and I kept coming to the same table, so being able to draw huge amounts of cards from the large power Commander, then discard fewer cards when she comes back on my turn.

And a player without their Commander for a wheel of the turns? That's a sign to exploit them for all it's worth.

Devious Cover-Up was another added Counterspell. Exiling the target, and putting four cards back into my library? Yes please! I know I like spells in my Graveyard, but some are better in my hand. Especially those that I can't cast from said graveyard.

Next, I added in Dig Through Time. Now, this was a mistake. In that I should have put this in week 1 or two, not week 6. But hey, what can I say? It's a powerful card, and one that I regret not putting in sooner.

My Spike looked at me when I mentioned it, then buried his head in his arms at the lunch table, and lamented that I had so many actually good cards. Cards he would use without a second thought, and they barely register in my mind.

Lastly, and here was the real kicker. I had a Win Condition. I had redundancy for the Win Condtion. I had a backup Win condition that almost pulled me through last week, but now I wanted a backup-backup win condition. And in a deck that is drawing a lot of cards, why not drop out Approach of the Second Sun and quickly draw or cast your way through the deck to get to the second casting of that card?

Naturally, this means looking at cards to remove. First out is Rest in Peace. There is no reason to include this card any more at there are only two decks in the league that it hoses - and I'm one of them! So out you go RIP. You never helped and were a mistake in the first place.

Next, Magamaquake. Another serious underperformer in my deck, this one was cut without any hesitation. Bye-bye!

Secrets of the Dead was also cut as once again, I wasn't focusing on casting from the Graveyard except for utility. And it was too slow a card draw engine, as it was a poor cantrip for my deck.

Backdraft Hellkite got the cut. Again, not really focusing too much on the Graveyard recursion, except for the utility value. I mean, yeah, sure, big creature. But why? I'm not swinging with it except to give cards Flashback, and that core combination has been slowly moved away from the whole time in favour of top-decking Flash cards.

Lastly, I cut Seveinne, the Chronoclasm. I'm sure you can figure out why by now, but to state it clearly, why? He's a Commander, not a card that was supposed to be in the 99, and taking him out now seems like a delayed mercy.

Round 1

Hey, the Aminatou Deck comes back since she was last seen in Round 3!. Also, the Cool Bro Ghired, and Atla Palani, Nest Tender again. I go first, and decide to keep my opening hand with poor lands because Laboratory Maniac in it.

The first major thing to happen was the Atla Palani, Nest Tender cast Seedborn Muse, and could start putting out more and more Eggs each turn.

Of course, Wall of Stolen Identity keeps earning its keep, locking down God-Eternal Oketra, and giving me a very solid blocker. Sure, I don't really cast creatures to attack, but the free Zombie when I cast my Commander wasn't something to be sneered at.

Ghired swung for near-leathal on Aminatou, and I Cyclonic Rifted to keep him down. He cast Ulamog's Crusher which got Utter Ended by Aminatou in response. I'm cool with that. He recast his Commander, and I cast Path to Exile on him from the top of my library.

The next card is Dig Through Time which I cast, exiling 6 cards so I only needed to pay .

I found Etherium Sculptor and Sensei's Divining Top in my next seven cards. Who cares what else was in there? I cast them on my turn, and I won. Woo me!

And again, people wondered about if this was an Infinite Combo or not.

Round 2

A non-League Kaalia, the Salty Ghired player who had quit the league, and Yet Another Ghired Deck were my opponents for Round 2.

I held a hand with Approach of the Second Sun, Storm Herd and no sources of .

I reached nine mana, my Commander was in play, and I felt good, so I cast Approach. I went up to 35 life, ready to drop Storm Herd next turn.

Kaalia and Ghired declared peace and everlasting love and turned their sights on me. Then Kaalia attacked me and played Sire Of Insanity.

(incoherent swear words here).

I was now on the clock, and so were they, I had to get through seven cards in my deck (with Elsha in play), and no hand. They had to burn through 27 life and they both knew that I could board wipe or block all damage at the drop of a hat.

Mass Diminish kept the Kaalia player down, Atla contributed Angel of Sanctions, but the real killer was that of my next cards, three of them were lands. I died with a Crook of Condemnation on top of my Approach. We all enjoyed the hell out of those three turns, agreeing that it was definitely a highlight of the League because there was no doubt or hesitation. Nothing makes friends like someone casting Approach, save perhaps Doubling Season, and they both recognized that had I not been mana flooded at the worst time, I should have pulled it off.

We talked about it as Kaalia slowly ground down Atla, and we figured that the best use for Approach of the Second Sun was actually with God-Eternal Kefnet, who could cast a copy of Approach on the cheap when you first draw it, then cast the actual card. Especially if you can draw and cast it on someone else's turn, then cast it a second time on your turn for the snap win.

It was a good Gamble, but I lost it. Oh well.

Round 3

Not much to say here. It was pretty casual. I was up against some Ghired Deck, and a non League tuned Aminatou Deck that was all about infinite Flickering. I resolved Magus of the Future against the Aminatou Deck, playing off that they could see my card coming to let it go through, then he cast Mortify on my Commander, I responded with Hindering Light, then he cast Venser, Shaper Savant on his Mortify to all him to recast it when I cast Devious Cover-Up off the top of my Library to counter and Exile Venser. It was fun!

And Ghired commented that playing against two control decks was interesting as everyone had to ask permission before resolving anything, and playing around eternally recurring counterspells and removal was a pain, which is why I held my win conditions in my hand until I could draw them out carefully.

Alas, such was not to be, as the turn before I could combo out with protection, Aminatou went infinite with Felidar Guardian and Aminatou, the Fateshifter with Corpse Knight in play to kill us all.

Ending

I had 48 League Points at the end of Week 6, the last place player had 47. Then it turned out that said last place person missed a week, and that had they played, they would have probably gone over me. Honorary Last Place For The Win! Woo! Happy Dance!

So, anyway, let's see here. My notes are pretty scribbled at this point, as I was jotting things down on the walk home. I noticed that of all of this year's Precons, the single Madness Deck dropped out after the first week. The Kadena Morph deck was a constant fixture. I was the only Jeskai deck to last past the second week, while all four Ghired/Atla decks made it through Week 5.

Weird, that. What is it about the Naya deck that made it so popular? And why did the other decks not have any traction? Any responses from the peanut gallery? Because I'm confused.

There's a motion to have Meren banned next time, because it's pretty much auto-pilot to win at this point, even if it wasn't in the hands of one of the best players at the store. I suggested that next time each player who scored above the average of this league start with that much in a point handicap, while each player who was under the line got an advantage.

The Judge looked at me with a stink eye, and loudly pointed out that this was probably the only way that I could ever be in the lead of the League. I naturally agreed, as wasn't that the point? We had a laugh.

In terms of my deck, I don't think I did anything manifestly wrong. Except for Rest in Peace, but that was an honest mistake based on the meta I was expecting. Sure, there were always better options, but I'm content with playing with what I have, save for purchasing the Laboratory Maniac for Week 3.

I didn't even think about Saheeli Rai and Felidar Guardian as a combo in-color, and to act as a win con (albeit one that would give me the Infinite Combo Penalty) until Week Six, but as it turns out, I don't have Rai at all! Oh well, too little, too late.

My Spike approved of how I was doing, but noted that I really went in with a weak deck in the first place. He noted that the first two years of Commander Precons were solid and powerful pieces of kit - I pointed out that I had purchased the Teferi Deck and he agreed that it was so good that even taking that into a Slow Grow, I was less than 25 card switches from being a solid Tier 1 deck.

Which of course would require that I get a copy of The Chain Veil. HAH! As if. There's none in town, and I'm not about to drop money online for one at this point.

Of the three Commanders in my deck, I do think that Elsha is the best. Seveinne has his uses, and Pramikon is a gimmick. In a way, I'm glad Wizards didn't include Artful Dodge in the deck, as that would have shifted the whole thing away from heavy on the spells into a serious contender for a Commander Damage aggro deck. A way I could have taken this deck would be to put in Rouge's Passage, Artful Dodge and cards that focused on pumping my Commander that could be cast off the top of the Library. Mix in some card draw, and I think we could have a Narset variant that is less about the Voltron aspect, and more about the one-shot, one-kill potential that Elsha has with Prowess. But that was not what the deck was looking at from the get-go, and there was no way to make that change-over with just 25 cards.

In all though, I would have to say that in this deck, there were two cards that I would nominate for MVP. First would be Wall of Stolen Identity, as every time I played it, it did amazing things. The least effective creature I took out with it was God-Eternal Oketra, and that's saying something. I look forward to using it more in the future.

Second MVP goes to Jace's Sanctum. This gorgeous card reduced the cost of cards when I casted them, then let me Scry 1 when I did, pulling extra duty for putting cards I don't want at the bottom of my deck and where I won't have to worry about them. Without this, I would not have two of my wins under my belt, plain and simple. Another card that I will cheerfully use in the future.

It only it had nothing to do with Jace, it would be perfect. But alas, such is not to be.

I'd love to hear all your thoughts about this Slow Grow. Did you think I erred with card choices? I mean, it's not like you can second-guess my playing of the games. It's way too late for that!

How would you guys take this deck? How would you build the Commander up from scratch? Comment below!

Join me next week when I look at a different subject, but one related to the deck I just played. I'm going to talk about the history of double cards, from Invasion to Throne of Eldraine!

Until then, please consider donating to my Pattern Recognition Patreon. Yeah, I have a job, but more income is always better. I still have plans to do a audio Pattern Recognition at some point, or perhaps a Twitch stream. And you can bribe your way to the front of the line to have your questions, comments and observations answered!