Friday, March 15, 2013

Finishers in GWx

If you have a deck with Farseek, Thragtusk, Restoration Angel, and 30+ mana sources, your goal is to get to the end game.  The question remains: What do you do when you get there?

That is the domain of the finisher.   Let's think about our likely situation for the late game.

1) We've established some sort of parity in board position against an aggro deck.  We have some bigger creatures in the form of Thragtusk/Angel/Smiter, so they can't attack freely, and we just need to finish the game off before they demolish us with Mortars, Bonfire, or just a swarm + Searing Spear.

Against the most blitzy of aggro decks, this is the scenario where any sort of dedicated win condition is probably "win more".  They're unlikely to make a big "second push", and we're likely to draw things that cost 3-4 more mana than they are likely to draw, which is going to put them away almost by definition.  If we do it sooner rather than later, it's good, because we do have some chance of losing (Conscripts, Mortars, etc), but the game is most in our favor here.

Against more midrangey aggro decks, packing things like Thundermaw Hellkite, Wolfyr Silverheart, Falkenrath Aristocrat, or Boros Reckoner as their top end, we are never really safe.  They can deal damage in big chunks, and try to fight through our stabilization play by just playing a spell that costs 4+, which is part of their core game plan.  If we get this sort of game into a board stall, we need our finisher to end the game.

Against the mirror, things can swing wildly from one turn to the next, as haymakers are drawn.  We need to make sure that our haymaker actually puts them away, rather than continues the game with us in a somewhat more favorable position.  This sort of idea leads to the absurdity of 4x Angel of Serenity mirrors, where you spend your Angels on your own stuff, because there is no way either deck can actually push through to win, they just build up ever more impressive boards.

2) We've gotten some damage in against a more controlling deck, and have maybe a couple creatures out (end of turn flash creature, leftover Thragtusk Beast), and need to put them away before the Nth revelation buries us under relentless card advantage.

3) We're in board parity against some kind of over-the-top combo deck.  Likely some kind of reanimation theme.

The board is likely to be clogged up with Thragtusks, Huntmasters, and a myriad of other small creatures.

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The thing about all these scenarios is that "card advantage" persey doesn't really matter.  Even normal spells like Thragtusk or Restoration Angel are "3:1"s, so drawing three more cards isn't really going to unlock a board stall, or kill your opponent before they draw a revelation, Wrath you, or Unburial Rites to infinite-life you, or mill you out, or whatever else the kids are doing these days.

The thing that will win you the game at this point, is actually doing something to win the game.

Probably the best spell at actually doing this regardless of casting cost is Craterhoof Behemoth.

There are several advantages to the 'Hoof.

In any sort of board stall, you win the game.   
It doesn't matter whose creatures are bigger, it doesn't matter what their or your creatures are, or who has more, or anything along those lines.  All that matters is that you have any sort of board presense, and you win the game.

With 3 1/1's in play, this generates an attack for 24 trample.  Note: The deck doesn't actually play any 1/1's.  If you cast a Restoration Angel and Sel-Charm-Knight end of turn, you attack for 19 with this guy.  If you LingeringSouls-Flashback into this, it's 34 damage.

Whatever your combined power and toughness is, you're going to add (n+1) squared +5 to your side, where n is your creature count at the start of the turn, and they just aren't going to be able to soak that when n gets above 3 or so.

It's not dependent on their creature's survivability/hardiness.
Predator Ooze, Thragtusk, Angel of Serenity, Strangleroot Geist, Cartel Aristocrat, etc, etc, are quite good at living through traditional sweeping effects in some form (Bonfire, Mortars), to either come back smaller, leave a roadblock, or just be immune.

All of these things are typically good for blocking also, and blocking is not a good solution to a arbitrarily high amount of trample damage.

Even high-toughness is not necessarily good enough, as the count of your creatures gets higher.  With 8 creatures, they're staring down a minimum of 75-90 trample damage, they'd need an absolutely massive board presense to even try to survive.

It's not dependent on drawing well after you "finish"
Because the game is over.  You can't draw lands, or more draw spells, or be re-trumped, because they are just dead.

It's hard to interact with.
It can be immune to counters with Cavern-Beast (one of the two things you want to cavern)
It is hasty.
You have flash creatures to combo with it against sorcery speed removal.
Removing the 'Hoof in some way does not prevent the effect (it only slightly reduces it) (unless it is your only threat/you have no board)

So, why are we even talking about this?
Well, one thing to consider if you don't see any reasons not to do something is to examine your assumptions.

Assumption 1: We have any sort of board position whatsoever.
We might be board wiped out of the game, which is a real problem with this deck as-is.  We put alot of our interaction on the table, so if it's removed, the impact of the 'Hoof is greatly reduced.
Mitigation: Counter-wipe effects, like Golgari Charm, Rootbound Defenses, Boros Charm.  Not overextending.  Lingering Souls.

Assumption 2: We are still alive when we get to 8 mana.
This is hard to ensure, harder the more 8-mana spells we put in our deck.  A "game-winner" like Cyclonic Rift helps us get to the late game by being cast for 2 so we don't die.
Mitigation: We have alot of interaction in the early turns.  Sel-Charm, 3-drops, Angel prolong games, and ensure we'll have the time we need to cast our boom-boom.

Assumption 3:  Mana is not a concern.
8 is a whole lot of mana to pay for an effect, so we shouldn't be too surprised that it helps us win the game (immediately).  Studies show that 8 is actually more than one mana more than 7, it's actually more like 2-4 more turns, and 7 is 1-3 more turns than 6.  So having a dead card until it wins the game (on turn n) is a definite concern.
Mitigation:  We may need some kind of early card drawing in order to realistically find a 1-2-of 'Hoof, and the mana to cast it.  We also need early interaction, which we have by including the early dorks we have here.

Cards like Sphinx's Revelation, Rakdos' Return, Cyclonic Rift, and even Angel of Serenity are cheaper, more modular, and do something at lower casting costs.

Assumption 4:  We even need something to finish them once we've stabilized.
In some of the scenarios above, 'Hoof would just be a win-more.  So obviously, in the aggroey-ist of aggro matchups, we'd be taking whatever finisher out in favor of more early interaction and top off with Thragtusk.

Other Contenders:


















These seem like some of the more popular options, but I don't like them.

Maybe I just don't like how people play Angel of Serenity, but both of these seem to be played to extend the game.  You need to use whatever else you have in your deck to presumably win the game against whatever your opponent decides to do, which in the worst case scenario, is JUST WHAT YOU DID, or better.  If both of you Revelation, you get into a board stall, that Revelation doesn't break up.  If both of you Angel, whoever Angels last wins.

If you have 'Hoof in your deck, there is no Revelationing or counter-Angeling to come back from it, they just die.

Also, both of these options want you to have more and more of them in the deck, because they feed off each other.  The further you go that way, the more you push your deck into a late game durdle deck, by potentially sacrificing early interaction....

As a certain broadcaster I like says, the point of Magic is not to .  Drawing cards is fun, getting card advantage is fun, but winning is also fun...



















These are actually some good options in my opinion, because they have strong secondary functions, and aren't dead early.  Rift is interaction by definition, and Wolf Run helps you cast your spells, and is a fireball late game.  I just happen to like Black more than Blue or Red at this point, and Orzhov Charm and Gavony Township are different angles on these cards....  They are guaranteed inclusions in the Blue and Red versions though.

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