"Frost at Midnight"- MWM Top 8 and Standard Thoughts

Some shenanigans took place this past weekend as four copies of Rite of Replication and four copies of Frost Titan made their way into the Midwest Masters Championship top 8. Join me as I talk a bit about the deck and some interesting situations/mistakes that occurred.


First up, here's the decklist that I battled with this past weekend:

Frosty the Snowman | The Rusty Machete

16 Creatures: 
4 Frost Titan
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
20 Spells:
4 Time Warp
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Mana Leak
4 Rite of Replication
4 Ponder

24 Lands:
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Verdant Catacombs
6 Forest
6 Island

15 Sideboard:
1 Acidic Slime
2 Naturalize
2 Negate
1 Jace Beleren
2 Flashfreeze
3 Fog
4 Obstinate Baloth

You may recognize the maindeck exactly from my article last week. After extensive goldfishing while watching assorted television programs and three rounds of play at FNM (going 2-1 and losing to Jund player on two very strong draws from him), I was pretty confident in my maindeck.

For my sideboard, I knew I needed a large number of cards for RDW, while Obstinate Baloth does double duty coming in against Jund. The control matchups are very favorable already, though having a few cards to come in like Negate and the fifth Jace is helpful, and for the final few slots I wanted to come prepared for Pyromancer's Ascension and/or Howling Mine types of decks. Though having only 2 Naturalize may not seem like much, between Jace and Ponder and the fact that those decks usually give you time to dig, it's still better than nothing.

Instead of writing a game-by-game tournament report, I'll focus on a couple of interesting games, talk about some play errors that I made and what to learn from them, and go through some of the matchups of the deck for anyone who might be interested in playing it.

Round one I lost to Jund. In the first game I hit all blanks despite having Oracle active for four turns, and the last game I couldn't find a fifth land in around 7-8 cards.

Round two I beat U/W, which is a pretty unlosable matchup.

Round three I beat turbolands. This matchup is pretty unlosable as well. Basically, they have these win conditions, and I have this way to make five of their win conditions. However, I did manage to lose a game because of a punt. I had a Frost Titan out and had just played a Jace. My hand was two Ponders and a Rite of Replication, and I had up to four mana left for this turn if I wanted. I use Jace to bounce his Oracle of Mul Daya, figuring that it will hurt him more than if I bounce his Lotus Cobra. All game, I had been careful to bluff Mana Leak by leaving open mana whenever I could even though I had boarded that card out for this matchup. He had six lands in play. One of them gets locked when I bash with my Frost Titan. During my second main, I can either try to ponder into a Flashfreeze (or other gas) and save the Rite, or I can Rite the Titan to put him to dead in one. Forgetting that it was possible that he was just playing around Mana Leak and that I knew the top card of his library wasn't an Avenger, I put him on not having it, so I just Rited my Titan. He plays fetchland into Avenger, and both my Ponders as well as my Jace Brainstorming miss on Time Warp or Rite, so I'm just dead in one. The lesson here is to always think what cards your opponent could be playing around, especially when you have been bluffing them the entire game. Also, it's important to keep in mind that opponents may play around cards that aren't in your deck, either because they have been boarded out, have not been boarded in, or are not in your 75.

Round four I beat U/W. Again, it's not really close. One game he tapped out for a Baneslayer Angel, and I played Titan and Time Warp on the same turn followed by a kicked Rite of Replication the next.

Round five I'm playing against Brian Demars with Naya. The first two games aren't really close as the first I can't keep Jace alive due to hasty beats and the second he mulls to five while I have a very strong hand. Game three was very interesting, though. He has the nuts of Hierarch into Knight of the Reliquary (on the play). I don't have Birds or Cobra, and he tries for a Vengevine on three. I have no choice but to Mana Leak it, even though it's really awkward to take a Leak on a Vine. He bashes for some damage, and the next turn he attempts another Knight, while I have a second Leak. Fortunately, he doesn't have another creature to bring back the Vine, so we get to keep playing. At this point, he holds up Knight instead of bashing to prevent me from playing Jace and bouncing it (which would let me untap with Jace the next turn since all he would have is a Hierarch). I'm not sure whether this was right. While I agree that he doesn't want to let me untap with Jace, he missed several points of damage that might have let him kill me later. It's certainly a close call. From my point of view, I play Cobra into Jace to give myself a blocker and I Brainstorm (not having much else to do). He fetches a Raging Ravine EOT, untaps, and bashes with Knight at my Jace. I chump with Cobra since I have another one and keeping Jace alive is of paramount importance. He follows with Ajani and a Lightning Helix to the dome, redirected to kill my walker. Awkward for me, and I'm still very far behind. For my turn, I play Cobra and use the opportunity of Knight being tapped to Rite it without kicker. I can't play Frost Titan (the last non-land card in my hand) anyways, and I badly need a blocker (my Knight token would be 7/7 at this point). His turn consists of emptying his hand with two Fauna Shamans to rebuy the Vengevine, and locking down my forest with Ajani. He could bash with Knight to force me to block with something since I can't go to below three with an Ajani at 2 counters in play, but again he has the fear of Jace and passes without attacks since Vengevine is stopped by my Knight token. I draw a Rite of Replication, play a land getting a mana with Cobra, tap my five untapped lands to get up to six mana, and activate Knight to get a fetch to get up to nine mana. I then Rite, with kicker, my own Knight token, which is important since it plays around Steppe. He can't kill me and is dead to the swingback since only two Knights need to get through for lethal and I have Frost Titan to neutralize one blocker. Talking with him after the game, I think him holding up Knight was questionable. On the one hand, I would have been able to bounce it with Jace, but on the other hand it's possible that he could have killed me had Knight connected once more since on the final turn Ajani Helix plus Vengevine attack made unblockable with Steppe plus exalted triggers was exactly one damage short of lethal.

Round six I'm playing Gerry T with Ascension in a win-and-in match. He gets game one since my maindeck has lots of near-dead cards, but I take the next two bringing in eight sideboard cards (everything but Baloth and Fog). His draws for the last two games were a little weak, but I still had all these Naturalizes anyways. 

Top eight splits, so I'm not playing for that much anymore, which kind of sucks when I have the nuts two games in a row against Naya the first round of Top 8 (turn three Titan both games, the first game with Mana Leak on two as well). The quarterfinals I'm against Sam Black with Bant Fauna Conscription. This match was simultaneously one of the best and one of the worst matches of Magic I've played in recent memory.

Game one he opens on Fauna Shaman into Cobra to start getting Vengevine online while I too have Cobra, using it to power out a Jace and a Birds. At one point, after I Brainstorm my hand has all four Jaces, which is really awkward. He plays a Primeval Titan, which surprises me. I'm excited because I'm a little short on mana and I can Rite it without kicker before bouncing it. During my previous turn, a judge who was watching had told me that I needed to play a little faster. I hastily bounce his Titan, and then look at the Rite still sitting in my hand. That was some terrible sequencing! It's important not to let what other people say effect your play. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, but I felt rushed and just didn't take two seconds to make sure I was taking my turn in the proper order. When in doubt, and even when you think you're sure, taking a little bit of time to think things through on almost every play that you make will help you catch mistakes. It certainly would have made me win the game on the spot! Instead, a couple turns later I was dead on board with a Cobra and six lands while he plays a Jace, Brainstorming, and then a Birds as his only blocker with two mana up. I can no longer play Jace to dig, but I do have a fetchland and a Rite of Replication in my hand, and he has a tapped Vengevine in play. He didn't have the leak, and he was dead from 18 exactsies.

Game two I can't find lands, and while counters prevent me from being dead to turn three Sovereigns, I can't cast anything and I succumb in short order.

Game three was interesting, and can be seen on GGsLive. He has a pretty bad draw off a mull to six with three Hierarchs and a Birds with no real action. I keep a hand with lands, Ponders, and a Flashfreeze, which takes out his attempt at a Cobra. The Ponders see more lands, so I shuffle both (one of them was a Jace and two lands, which would have probably been good enough, but I didn't put him on stone nothing). I'm rewarded with more lands and a Cobra. After several turns of draw-go, I attempt a Frost Titan to bait out a Mana Leak. It's okay, because I have two Rites in my hand that will be active to kick starting next turn. But all the creatures in play are so terrible! I Rite Hierarchs to boost my clock (Cobra beats) and guarantee that I'll have nine mana to Rite again next turn. I also have a Birds. Eventually, on his turn he draws and bashes with Birds (3/4). I'm at four, so I can chump, or I can take it. Since I don't want to die to Jace/bounce the next turn, I chump. WRONG!!!! I fail to see that I can Rite Hierarch again on my turn and kill him with my Birds on the swingback. Despite being attacked by Birds (I took all 20 damage from exalted this game), I neglected to see that I could attack with mine. He plays a Fauna Shaman for his turn, and I rite Cobras to put him to dead in one after bashing him. Any creature becomes Sovereigns for the kill, but instead he hits Jace and Survivals into the fourth Hierarch to kill me with Birds on the swingback. Despite being attacked by Birds since he doesn't have mana for Sovereigns anymore. Overall, I played this game terribly. I should have waited to play Titan around Leak, and I messed up the last couple turns of the game.

It happens, and in future I'll be more cognizant of the offensive power of 0/1s. I would recommend this deck with a grain of salt- the Turboland shell is obviously powerful enough, but you need to have experience with it to play correctly. By this, I don't necessarily mean extensive testing, just having a feel for how to play with fetchlands and utilize your mana properly every turn. As an example, Ari was goldfishing during downtime between rounds, leading to this scenario. Turn one Forest, turn two Island, Lotus Cobra (on the play). We assume they don't kill it and have tapped out for something. Our hand is Island, Misty Rainforest, Oracle of Mul Daya, Frost Titan, Mana Leak, and Ponder. What do we play on turn three (this isn't a rhetorical question, actually think about this; how long would it take you to decide in a tournament)? I don't think there's an easy answer. Here are what I think are the two best lines of play. The first is Island, Oracle of Mul Daya (with none floating). This way, if we hit a fetch off the top, we can play it, and if we don't, we play the Rainforest out of our hand and Ponder. Though they'll get to see what we draw, we're basically playing a Strategic Planning since our strat is to crack the fetch on their turn and Mana Leak their Spell. The other line of play is to play the Rainforest and then crack it, allowing us to play Oracle of Mul Daya while floating a blue mana. Then, if Oracle hits a fetch, we play it (floating probably a green since it's more important to play a Birds on the swingback. Despite being attacked by Birds if we hit it than another Ponder) and use the blue we have floating to Ponder as a Strategic Planning (again) because we're going to Leak their spell. If we Ponder into a Birds, we play it. If Oracle misses on a fetchland, we use the blue we have floating to Ponder, hopefully seeing a fetchland in the top three cards. We stack it second from the top and draw the other card that we want in our hand. Then, we play the fetch off the top of our library, adding a blue or a green if the card that we drew off the ponder was a Birds or another Ponder, and we can again have Mana Leak up on their turn. However, if Ponder misses on a fetchland, we may have to shuffle to dig for the fetch (we'll have two cards to see it), and if we miss again, we won't be able to have Mana Leak up to counter their turn three play. The first line of play is better if we know we're going to need the Leak, but the second is better if we can take the chance on missing it because there is a much better chance that we can gain a card by playing a second land off the top of our library rather than out of our hand. This example just illustrates how difficult certain seemingly easy turns can be to play, and it only gets worse when Jace and/or Time Warp become involved.

That being said, the deck is a lot of fun to play, and the games are usually interesting. All the control mirrors are virtual byes because no matter what they do you can just make five of it, Naya and Jund are probably slightly unfavorable, but with tight play and proper sideboarding they become a bit better, RDW and Boros are bad but not unwinnable, and Bant is usually pretty favorable since they can't really interact with you and you're usually fast enough to stop them. The combo decks are bad game one and then dependent on how much hate you have in your board.

As for changes to the deck, I like the current build the most. It is possible to add Avenger, or Primeval Titan, or swap Birds for Growth/Explore/Cultivate, and I'd encourage testing with them, but there are arguments for and against each of those cards. I will say that Birds on one is a huge advantage since it allows for Mana Leak or Cobra on two and enables unbeatable draws that wouldn't otherwise be possible. If I make it out to Minneapolis, I'll almost certainly be grinding with this list.