The Flashy Play: Give my regards to Ghostway
by Frank Shaskus (funkyninja)
Centaur Omenreader loves Morph. He loves Morph like Romeo loved Juliet, like France loves funky cheese, like peanut loves butter. He's got love to spare. Green and Blue seems like it should be an unholy alliance, freaky as a Hatfield and McCoy social mixer. But Centaur Omenreader pulls blue in with his smooth style and discount pricing. Brine Elemental, Vesuvan Shapeshifter , Fathom Seer and Shaper Parasite all want to roll with him. Because coming into play for is way better than . And coming in for ? No cover charge leads to some crazy parties.
There was just one little monkey wrench in this forbidden affair. That deck already exists and beats people down like the Pillsbury Dough Boy smacking down on some punk ass sourdough ("Call me Dough Man. And don't you ever poke my stomach. B&@$h"). It runs Spectral Force, some Scrybs, and a hermit. It rises and falls daily, like the Roman Empire on The History Channel. Making a small modification to an existing deck is not flashy. (It may be flashy for an actuary, or possibly a mortician. But at the flashy play we pride ourselves on Liberace levels of flash)
So we keep the Omenreader. He is still amazing. He still loves Morph. But he loves it in nontraditional ways. A Green/White sort of way. Green and White have an established relationship. They share an affinity for efficient quality creatures, a hatred of enchantments, and a dearth of quality morphs. White does have one ability which is unique to it. One that that greatly enhances the value of morphs. White has blink spells. Be they momentary or ghostly, white can send creatures on vacation at will. This jibes nicely with Morph, because, while you leave for vacation in your spider shell, you come back face up and ready to go. And from this, the flashy. Because we have no real obligation to stay in color with our Morphs. In fact, doing so would be robbing ourselves of the opportunity to sample the rich buffet of amazing creatures with morph costs we could not afford if we were on color. Let us examine the buffet before adding anything to our plate.
When I find the guy who took my legs...
Akroma, Angel of Fury
Krosan Cloudscraper
Liege of the Pit
Maelstrom Djinn
Most of these play best solo. Ghostway with double Akroma on board would make you sad. Cloudscraper is pricy in multiples. Liege of the Pit should probably be limited because it is hard to feed and care for. (Although if you have two they can eat each other, which is gross to think about.). Maelstrom Djinn? We'll get four of those.
Since we're going Morph crazy we may as well throw in Gathan Raiders. Getting a double nickel for is tasty. Getting it for is sweet. For ? We're mainlining Aspartame.
To carry on with the theme of bargain basement beatings, I present Epochrasite. He's a roadblock. He's a massive beneficiary of a vacation spell, coming back with a power of four and an axe to grind. He also aids your resistance to Wrath, because he just doesn't die. And he can potentially cost you nothing, ever. Which is the sort of potential that I support wholeheartedly.
Rounding out the deck are W/G favorites Saffi Eriksdotter, Wood Elves, and Juniper Order Ranger. Saffi can flip the dying for free, Wood Elves can chain with the Omenreader out, and Juniper Order Ranger raises his glass (of gin, presumably) every time Ghostway resolves.
| Give my regards to GhostwayMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | ||
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The point 4 Centaur Omenreader The Secret Sauce 1 Akroma, Angel of Fury 1 Krosan Cloudscraper 1 Liege of the Pit 4 Maelstrom Djinn 4 Gathan Raiders 4 Epochrasite | The Not So Clever 4 Wood Elves 1 Juniper Order Ranger 1 Saffi Eriksdotter Vacations 4 Ghostway 2 Momentary Blink Tap Enablers 4 Glare of Subdual 1 Chord of Calling 1 Gather Courage | Mana 4 Selesnya Signet 4 Temple Garden 2 Breeding Pool 7 Forest 7 Plains |
The deck runs boring old Glare of Subdual for a couple of reasons. The first is that it provides a way to tap the Omenreader without risking him in combat. Second, it is by far the best way to stall out a board while waiting to blow up. Which is boring but useful. It also plays nicely with your vacation suite, allowing you to use the tap ability twice.
So how to play the deck? There are two ways to go, and it all depends on your opening hand. If you start with an Omenreader, then race him into play. He gets the goofiness going. Chord of Calling, tapping an Omenreader to get an Omenreader, sets up a lot of free morph plays. If you can finish the morph chain with up it is all the better.
Momentary Blinking twice in a turn is a pricey Ghostway, but it can set up some devastating blocks. Not much can run into a 13/13 and survive. It is also a cheap way to promote Epochrasite up to heavy hitter status. Don’t forget to use your Wood Elves to set up its flashback.
If your hand is blink heavy, roll out the morphs and set up for the big turn. Remember, if you Ghostway during your end of turn step, all your creatures will be gone until your opponent’s end of turn step. This is very useful in response to Teferi on your end step. But don't do it during your opponent's end of turn step. Not being able to attack with your army will only make you sad, even if it does save you the terrible price of an upkeep cost. (There are exceptions to every rule. The exception to this one? Making sure the Liege is not in play during your upkeep, allowing you to topdeck a creature on your turn to feed him.)
Morph is where magic intersects with poker. You get to keep hiding your hand even when it’s in play. Ghostway is all in, and lets you show the hand. You can reveal two Djinns and an Akroma with your opponent at sixteen, and they had no idea what was coming. Cloudscraper and Liege of the Pit roll in for an even twenty. Set up the perfect board, and use Ghostway to show just how clever you are. Pulling the curtain up on the beating hiding right in front of your opponent is the essence of the flashy play.
This deck does not match up well with most good decks. Fun, flashy decks rarely do.* But it can squeeze out games where your opponent least expects it. Dragonstorm needs to storm out to kill you, because a single Hellkite can't do it. Dralnu has a heck of a time Wrathing your people away, because they all come back. (They can counter everything though. And Spell Burst wrecks a morph deck. Fair warning and all that.) Gruul kills you, although few speed bumps are as good as Epochrasite. The trouble is that by the time you can do two things at once, Gruul has already burned down your house and desecrated the ashes. The metagame is filled with decks that 80-20 you. But that twenty percent holds more fun than a bucket full of clown noses. And it honks one hundred percent less.
This deck is also a lot pricier than a normal flashy play deck. Most of the issue is mana. Volumes have been written about why mana is expensive, why it can be worth it, and so on. The main reason I went for expensive mana was the Wood Elves. Feel free to substitute bounce lands instead. The deck will work about as well, and you'll be able to stop recycling floss. (Which is unspeakably gross. Although I admire your commitment to high quality mana and inexpensive dental care.)
So throw together some morphs and give it a go. Dare your opponent to find the Red Queen or the Black Jack. Learn to appreciate Epochrasite for more than just its insanely clever name. Set up mad amounts of damage to which your opponent. Enjoy the flashy play, embrace it, and win big (sometimes).
*That is not to say that all flashy decks are bad. Dragonstorm or Ichorid flash like Jennifer Beals*** on her best day. But when you focus on a deck that "wins big," sometimes you sacrifice the "wins often." Go with what makes you happy. You already know what makes me happy.**
** Pandas, puppies, and cartography
*** This is a reference to Flashdance. My wife pointed out that all the young folk would think I just typoed a reference to Jessica Biel. I told her "You're crazy. Now leave me with my porridge. Matlock is on." Later we put on big band records and reminisced about when we had our own teeth. (We still have them, just in a safety deposit box. Always brush and floss.)
Bonus section: I had 1500 words, but I have been inspired to go for 2500. Let us see what would happen if we went with fewer jokes and more strategy. If you just came for the funny. now is the time to bail. If you want to look into the mind of a third-tier player making and testing a deck, read on:
But what did he forsake, exactly?
This deck has the potential to be a third tier deck. With a lot of work it can maybe make it to 2.5 (land of the Auratouched Mage decks). So what can we do make this deck competitive? The first thing you have to ask is who else is out there. Although it is a rich and diverse environment we'll focus on the big three: Gruul, Teferi B/U control, and Dragon Storm.
Gruul:
Typically you will see a bunch of undercosted creatures that poke in early, setting you up for some closing burn. The current configuration of Ghostway rolls over to this. There are a couple reasons. The first is the curve. We have five 2-drops that can block. We don’t have any 1-drops. So on the draw, we can reasonably expect to eat two hits from a Kird Ape and one from a Scab-Clan Mauler. This leaves us behind by seven life before we can morph out a 2/2. This is suboptimal. What we can do to improve our odds is to shorten up the curve. Wood Elves are there because they combo. Llanowar Elves move our clock up a turn, either stealing tempo by forcing burn or getting us one turn faster. Wall of Roots Blocks, sets up mana, and even combos a little. It also gives us a two drop that might just save our bacon. We’ll take out Signets to lessen the collateral damage from Tin Street Hooligan. We lose some color fixing, so the mana will need some adjustment as well.
Our strategy for this game is now pretty simple. Accelerate into Glare, tap like crazy and let one of our fatties put them on a four turn clock. If you win this game, it’s because they didn’t get you under twelve in the first four turns.
B/U Teferi Control (aka Dralnu):
When we play for fun, our deck wants a lot of creatures in play. We overextend to win big. That will not work against Teferi Control. You want one threat out, and you want to ride it. You have six vacation spells to keep your one big guy alive, plus two more with flashback. Make them Damnation one guy at a time. And here is something to keep in mind: a deck with only five victory conditions is very vulnerable to Glare of Subdual. We want Ghost Quarters in our sideboard to deal with the two cards that give them good long range game: Urza’s Factory and Academy Ruins. If we can stop those, even our worst creatures can hold of their best. (If they are playing a Pickles variant, then beat down fast. Glare does not beat Pickles.). If you win this game, it’s because you bled them to death.
Dragonstorm:
Well, we have one disruption card in white green that helps: Aven Mindcensor. Cast it in response to the Dragonstorm or the Gigadrowse. The key thing to remember about this match is that you are in a race, and they just want to slow you down. Remand, Spell Snare, Repeal, and Gigadrowse are your enemies, because they rob you of a turn. Your goal is to get as many big beaters into play as possible, as if you are playing for flashy fun. Pyroclasm can’t deal with most of your big creatures, although it will tear up your morphs. Gathan Raiders is an excellent morph to have out for Pyroclasm or repeal. Ghostway can protect from the end of turn Gigadrowse, which is relevant if you have flying blockers and they have a Hellkite in hand.
That said, you’re going to lose this one pretty much all the time. When your opponent has sixteen cards in his deck that are effectively Time Walks, a win is mostly a matter of luck or failure to mulligan properly on the part of the Dragonstorm player.
| Give my regards to Ghostway, Bucking for tier three statusMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | |
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Creatures: 2 Centaur Omenreader 2 Akroma, Angel of Fury 2 Krosan Cloudscraper 4 Maelstrom Djinn 4 Gathan Raiders 4 Epochrasite 4 Wall of Roots 4 Llanowar Elves | Tricks 3 Ghostway 3 Momentary Blink 4 Glare of Subdual 1 Gather Courage Mana 4 Temple Garden 4 Breeding Pool 7 Forest 9 Plains 1 Flagstones of Trokair |
The important thing to note is that the Omenreader is not the key anymore. There are too many matchups where he’s slow, and we robbed him of several of his most useful acolytes. He is still there because of the random explosion potential, but getting three in hand would not be a good thing.
The sideboard would be as follows:
4 Leyline of Lifeforce – Oddly enough, you’ll probably only bring this in against Dragonstorm. Remand is devastating to you, and this can buy you a free turn. Exchange one for one with Glare.
4 Loxodon Hierarch – For Gruul. Remove the Omenreader and the Cloudccrapers. You need the butt and the life.
4 Aven Mindcensor Also against Dragonstorm. Out come Centaurs and two Walls of Roots.
3 Ghost Quarter In place of Gather Courage and Centaurs against Teferi Control. Go for the lands that win games.
Ahhh. Makes sense.
If I take the Centaurs out every time I board, why are they in there at all? Because even when I try to be competitive, I just can’t resist the flashy play. This was my problem in high school, (Abe “Mother Trucking” Lincoln is not correct. He has no middle name.) college, (“Hamlet: Punkass ?” only got a C.), and even at work (It is unacceptable to use the word “Cheese” as a variable name. Nor do they allow functions named “Grill()”).
I play for the goofy fun that is hidden in the most innocuous of cards, and I hope to help you find it too. Because if you can’t resist the flashy play the only thing left to do is Evangelize it.
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