Menendian 04 14 2008

So Many Insane Plays – Windows of Opportunity, by Stephen Me... http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/print.php?
Article=15724
So Many Insane Plays – Windows of Opportunity

by Stephen Menendian
Last week I really enjoyed showing you a match: Vintage horror Reveillark
Flash in a fully fledged contest against a premiere competitor, Tyrant Oath.
Last week’s match whetted my appetite for the strategic intrigue and tactical
delicacy required to pilot these decks against each other. The games,
unfortunately, were more lopsided than I had hoped, due to unusually
strong draws from the Oath deck in the first game. The games were still
interesting from a tactical perspective, illustrating and demonstrating the
important early game decision-trees that these decks face, often involving
the interaction of Ponder, Duress, Thoughtseize, Brainstorm, Merchant
Scrolls, and Fetchlands with pitch counter-magic that so often define a large
portion of the Vintage metagame. I also enjoyed showing you some
technological developments for the Oath and Flash deck, sharing the
proper sideboarding plan for Oath and an updated Flash option in Bile
Urchin, both of which have generated quite a few questions.
Apologies are also due to Rich Shay. After my article last week, Rich
chastised me for publishing his sideboard plans. He had not intended to
inform me of his plans for public consumption. Fortunately, I had guessed
and deduced 90% (exactly!) of his plans. The only sideboard switch I had
not thought of was the second Orchard for the Empty the Warrens. So, at
least the article last week was interesting for those reasons, even if the
games themselves were less interesting at the strategic level.
Today’s match is much more strategically textured. I think it illustrates a

fuller range of options that both decks have at their disposal, and what’s
more, the truly beautiful and elegant tactical displays and skirmishes that
set Vintage apart from other formats, particularly more creature-based
formats. I suggest you print this article up and take it to work for bathroom
or lunch breaks. If you are a student, take it to the library to scour over on a
study break.
Here are the competitors:
Tyrant Oath
Suggested by Rich Shay on 2008-04-06 as a potential deck
for Vintage
As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/15692.html
Print this deck!
1 of 24 4/13/2008 7:03 PM
So Many Insane Plays – Windows of Opportunity, by Stephen Me... http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/print.php?Article=15724
Maindeck: Sideboard:
Instants
1 Spawning Pit
Artifacts 1 Ancestral Recall
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Brain Freeze
1 Black Lotus 4 Brainstorm
4 Leyline Of The Void
1 Mox Emerald 1 Rebuild
1 Chain Of Vapor
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Mox Jet 4 Force Of Will
3 Duress
4 Gush
1 Mox Pearl 1 Krosan Reclamation
1 Empty The Warrens
1 Mox Ruby 1 Tendrils Of Agony
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mox Sapphire Stats:
Sorceries
Average mana: 1.72
1 Demonic Tutor
Creatures Average creature mana
1 Duress
cost: 8.00
3 Tidespout Tyrant 3 Merchant Scroll
Average creature power:
4 Ponder
5.00
2 Thoughtseize
Enchantments Average creature
1 Time Walk
toughness: 5.00
1 Fastbond 1 Yawgmoth's Will
4 Oath Of Druids Basic Lands Deck Composition:
1 Island Artifacts: 10.53%
Basic Lands: 1.75%
Lands Creatures: 5.26%
3 Flooded Strand Enchantments: 8.77%
4 Forbidden Orchard Instants: 29.82%
2 Polluted Delta Lands: 26.32%
2 Tropical Island Sorceries: 17.54%
3 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
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Hulk Flash
Suggested by Stephen Menendian on 2008-04-06 as a
potential deck for Vintage
As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/15657.html
Print this deck!
2 of 24 4/13/2008 7:03 PM
Maindeck: Sideboard:
Sorceries
1 Heart Sliver
Artifacts 1 Demonic Tutor
4 Virulent Sliver
4 Merchant Scroll
1 Black Lotus 2 Ponder
4 Leyline Of The Void
1 Lotus Petal 1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Thoughtseize
2 Rebuild
1 Mox Emerald 3 Reverent Silence
Basic Lands
1 Mox Jet 3 Island
1 Mox Ruby Stats:
Average mana: 1.63
1 Mox Sapphire Lands
Average creature mana
3 Flooded Strand
cost: 4.88
3 Polluted Delta
Creatures Average creature power:
2 Tropical Island
3.55
1 Body Double 2 Underground Sea
Average creature
1 Body Snatcher toughness: 3.44
1 Carrion Feeder
Deck Composition:
1 Mogg Fanatic Artifacts: 10.71%
4 Protean Hulk Basic Lands: 5.36%
Creatures: 16.07%
1 Reveillark Instants: 41.07%
Lands: 17.86%
Instants Sorceries: 8.93%
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Chain Of Vapor
4 Flash
4 Force Of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Pact Of Negation
2 Summoner's
Pact
1 Vampiric Tutor
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For notes on these decks, please review last week’s article and my archive.
3 of 24 4/13/2008 7:03 PM
Let’s begin!
Game 1:
Flash’s opening hand:
Island
Ponder
Brainstorm
Misdirection
Force of Will
Pact of Negation
Pact of Negation
Oath’s opening hand:
Underground Sea
Forbidden Orchard
Flooded Strand
Fastbond
Brainstorm
Force of Will
Force of Will
Flash rolled a 12 to Oath’s 2. Flash elects to play.
Turn 1:
Flash begins the game with Island, Ponder, seeing:
Carrion Feeder
Vampiric Tutor
Underground Sea
Vampiric Tutor is the best spell, but we can’t play it just yet. Ordinarily, turn
1 Brainstorm or Ponder followed by Vamp on the second turn upkeep is a
great play. But we only had one mana source on turn 1: a basic Island. We
need a Sea before we can play Vamp, and since Vamp is our best business
spell, it makes sense to hide it on top of the library, safe from a
Thoughtseize.
I set the Feeder on the bottom, the Tutor in the middle, and the Sea on top.
The Sea pops into my hand.
Oath draws Island.
What should Oath do?
Clearly, Oath should try to play Fastbond. There are four lands in hand and
a Brainstorm. However, only two of the lands can play Fastbond: The
fetchland (which can find a Tropical Island) and the Orchard. If we play the
fetchland first, we lose the ability, potentially, to shuffle away the cards we
put back with Brainstorm. Orchard, on the other hand, is a play that will
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cause us to lose more life in the long run, and if the game goes long
enough, lead to a loss, but it’s a play that will maximize the effectiveness of
turn 1 Fastbond if it resolves.
Oath plays Forbidden Orchard, Fastbond, giving Flash a spirit token.
This is an intriguing question: Should Flash counter the Fastbond?
It’s a question of role and context. In general, it is better for Flash to use its
counters to protect its own combo. However, there will be instances where
opposing spells, such as Yawgmoth’s Bargain, are so powerful as engines
that they are able to stop the Flash pilot from winning. The so-called
Gush-Bond engine is just such an engine.
Flash plays Force of Will, pitching Pact of Negation.
Oath plays Force of Will, pitching Force.
I’m confident that the right plays so far have been made, but the most
difficult question is the next one: Should Flash counter again? If it doesn’t,
there is a chance that Oath will just win right here. All it might take is a Gush
to start going off. On the other hand, Flash has already accomplished
something: it has drawn out Forces. If it can assemble the combo quickly, it
could win before the Gush-Bond engine takes off. But it’s a risk, one that’s
inherently difficult to calculate with hidden information.
Flash plays Misdirection, pitching Pact, targeting Force of Will.
Fastbond is countered.
Turn 2:
Flash draws the Vampiric Tutor and plays Underground Sea. Flash attacks
Oath with the Spirit token and passes the turn.
Oath draws an Underground Sea. Oath taps the Orchard, giving Flash
another token, and plays Brainstorm seeing: Mox Sapphire, Ponder, and
Krosan Reclamation, putting back Island and Underground Sea.
Oath plays Mox Sapphire and Flooded Strand and breaks the Sea for a
Tropical Island (17 life).
Ponder?
No, because we want to keep mana up for Krosan Reclamation to disrupt

the Flash combo.
On Oath’s endstep, Flash has to decide whether to make a play. We can

play Brainstorm, Vampiric Tutor, or both.
If Flash plays Brainstorm first, what could happen? Well, we could see one
or both combo parts, or tutors to find the combo parts. If we find both
combo parts, we’ll probably keep one and then Vamp Tutor for the other
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and just untap and win. That’s the ideal scenario.
However, the further we wait, the less likely it is that we can just combo out
without being disrupted. The question here is one of role. Do we play the
control role or the aggro role? So far, we’ve played control, countering
Fastbond. Do we have to commit to that role? One way to play control here,
from what I can see, is to tutor up Ancestral Recall. But how is that playing
"control" any more than just going for the win and hoping that they can’t
Force our Flash? The result is the same: you’ve played a spell and they’ve
played Force of Will to counter it.
Patrick Chapin and my teammate Matthieu Durand are fond of explaining

that you don’t have to win with Flash until just before your opponent can
win. So, how does that apply here? It’s a good question. Does that mean
doing nothing? Is that sensible? Should we just draw more cards so that we
have more cards to put back with Brainstorm when we actually go for the
win? More importantly, do we need more mana in play to execute that line
of play? Every land we play now means one less card in hand.
If I were to Brainstorm into a Flash, a Protean Hulk or both, it would seem

that there is a very good chance I could just win right now by Vamping for
the other combo part, untapping and playing Flash.
On the other hand, if I Brainstorm and miss a combo part, it will take more
time to win and then Oath will have another turn, unmolested, to build its
board position.
The next option may be to split the difference. If we Brainstorm first and
miss a combo piece, we could just Vamp for Ancestral Recall instead. That
line of play actually makes a lot of sense. The only downside that is visible
to me is this: Brainstorm is a much stronger card when you have more
cards already in hand. If we are going to Vamp for Ancestral, why not just
Vamp for Tutor first and then Ancestral and then Brainstorm?
Well, because we have a chance of "just winning" here and we should take
advantage of that possibility. Windows of opportunity open and close in
Vintage. They are small portals and they may never reappear. You have to
take advantage of them when they arise.
I tap the Island and play Brainstorm on Oath’s endstep. It resolves. I draw
into:
Merchant Scroll
Mox Sapphire
Brainstorm
We hit our worst case scenario. No combo parts. What should we put back
and what should we keep?
Our plan, as described above, is to now Vampiric Tutor for Ancestral Recall.
We will obviously be putting back Mox Sapphire, but which should we keep:
Brainstorm or Merchant Scroll? If we draw a Flash off an Ancestral Recall,
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Merchant Scroll only gets us to the other half of the combo through an
awkward tutor chain: Scroll for Mystical, Mystical for Summoner’s Pact, Pact
for Protean Hulk. I’m thinking that keeping the Brainstorm is the best idea,
but this could be wrong.
I’ll put back Mox and Scroll. Then I’ll tap Sea and play Vampiric Tutor (17
life).
I put Ancestral on top.
However, Oath still has a trick up its sleeve. It was holding Krosan
Reclamation. What better time to use it? Oath taps the Mox and the
Tropical Island and plays Krosan Reclamation on the Flash pilot, shuffling in
the Misdirection.
Turn 3:
Flash untaps and draws… Mox Emerald.
Flash attacks with two Spirit tokens. Oath is at 15 life.
There is no chance that we can win right now if we Brainstorm into Flash
and Protean Hulk. The loss of Vampiric Tutor for Ancestral to Krosan
Reclamation is a pretty stunning development that takes away a critical
margin of card advantage that we attempted to build.
If we wait to Brainstorm, we’ll be facing the same problem, except that we

may be lacking a shuffle effect as well. We have to wait.
Oath untaps and draws… Underground Sea, a weak topdeck for a tense
position like this.
Oath taps the Mox Sapphire and plays Ponder, seeing:
Gush
Gush
Oath of Druids
If we take the Gush, we can play a land, tap it, Gush into the Oath and
another Gush, play the Oath and still have another Gush in hand when (or
if) Tyrant rears his ugly head. It sounds like a plan!
Put a Gush on top, pop the Gush into my hand. Play Underground Sea. Tap
Sea and a Tropical Island for GU and play Gush, drawing Gush and Oath.
Play Oath.
Turn 4:
Flash draws Flooded Strand.
Flash attacks with two Spirits, sending Oath to 13.
Flash taps Island and plays Brainstorm, drawing:
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Polluted Delta
Tropical Island
Merchant Scroll
Grah! Those aren’t the cards we were looking for. That’s not very good.
On the upside, we can put back two lands, Scroll for Ancestral off a land
and a Mox, and play it off another land.
That’s what I do. I put back the Tropical Island and the Delta. I play Mox
Emerald, and Flooded Strand into Tropical Island. I play Scroll and cast
Ancestral. Ancestral resolves, drawing:
Force of Will
Protean Hulk
Summoner’s Pact
Argh! We need another Blue spell!
Now things could get ugly.
Oath untaps and Oaths away 17 cards before hitting Tyrant.
This will be interesting.
We Oathed away:
Black Lotus
Gush
Merchant Scroll
Oath of Druids
Duress
Gush
Mox Pearl
Brainstorm
Tropical Island
Mox Jet
Ponder
Ancestral Recall
Polluted Delta
Demonic Tutor
Yawgmoth’s Will
Underground Sea
Merchant Scroll
Tyrant enters play.
Oath draws: Force of Will for the turn.
Oath is very close to being able to go infinite here. If it had drawn a Mox, it
could have bounced the Mox Sapphire infinitely and even hardcast Gush,
easily.
8 of 24 4/13/2008 7:03 PM
However, it can’t go off just yet.
Oath could play Krosan Reclamation here, but bouncing Flash’s lands
doesn’t make much sense. It makes more sense to wait until Flash tries to
combo out and then use the Reclamation to disrupt that and use the Tyrant
to bounce a critical spell at the same time.
Oath plays Tropical Island and passes the turn.
Turn 5:
Flash untaps and draws… FLASH
Flash’s hand:
Flash
Summoner’s Pact
Protean Hulk
Force of Will
Flash’s board:
Underground Sea
Underground Sea
Mox Emerald
Island
Of course, Flash can try to Flash here, but even if Oath doesn’t have a
Force, they can Krosan Reclamation.
So, how will that affect us?
Now things get very interesting.
Hypothetically, we Flash, Protean Hulk dies; with the Hulk trigger on the
stack, Reclamation can shuffle the Hulk back into the library so that the
Body Double can’t copy the Hulk when it comes into play.
At this point, there will be no creatures in any graveyard, and Body Double
will die.
However, we have a trick up our sleeve. After the Krosan Reclamation has
shuffled the Hulk, but with the Hulk trigger on the stack, we change our
minds about what to get. We can fetch out Body Snatcher and Carrion
Feeder instead, with the Body Snatcher Comes Into Play ability on the
stack, cast Summoner’s Pact for Protean Hulk. Discard the Hulk to
Snatcher and sacrifice the Snatcher to Carrion Feeder to bring new Hulk
into play, bust the Hulk to the Feeder and then go through the combo as
normal.
So, it just so happens that the Summoner’s Pact in hand acts as a tactical
counter-solution to Krosan Reclamation here. However, there are other
complications. Tidespout Tyrant is in play.
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Is there a point at which the Oath player could play the Reclamation and
cause the Tyrant trigger to frustrate Flash’s ability to actually win the game?
Fortunately for Flash, it has the mana to replay a Carrion Feeder if it is
bounced.
If the Oath player waits to Reclaim, what’s the weak point in the combo?
Let’s walk through it.
The Hulk will find Feeder and Body Double, at which point the Body Double
will immediately copy the Hulk.
At this point, the Flash player will have priority and will move to Sacrifice the
Body Double to Carrion Feeder to find Bile Urchin (could be Mogg Fanatic,
if you’d rather run that) and Reveillark.
At this point, with the Body Double’s Hulk trigger on the stack, if the Oath
pilot plays Krosan Reclamation on Body Double and Protean Hulk, the jig
will be up. Reveillark and Bile Urchin will enter play, but they will have
nothing to do. They will be sitting there like lame ducks. Furthermore,
although this, by itself, doesn’t matter, the playing of Krosan Reclamation
means that the Tyrant will bounce something, probably the Carrion Feeder.
Normally, the Krosan Reclamation wouldn’t be a threat. Flash could sit

there with a Body Double copying Hulk and a 6/6 beater. The problem is
that Oath will untap and be able to play more spells and then bounce a
whole slew of permanents. For instance, assume that the Oath pilot does
not play Krosan Reclamation with the first Hulk trigger on the stack. Then
the Flash player can find Body Double and Feeder and just sit and wait.
Normally, at this point, the Flash player would wait until the Oath pilot goes
to play Krosan Reclamation and respond by winning the game. However,
Oath can untap, draw, play a single spell and try to bounce the Body
Double or the Feeder. At that point, the Krosan Reclamation can follow up
the attempt to go off and turn off Flash’s combo.
Note that Sliver kill would clearly not work here either. The Tyrant could
bounce the Heart Sliver and then deal with the rest on the following turn.
So, what does all of this mean? I think the first thing you have to realize if
you’ve just read through the last page and half of tactical analysis is that
this is a very complex situation that depends upon a lot upon the knowledge
and sophistication of the pilots. Here we are assuming that the players fully
understand the situation, given the visible information they have.
It’s also important to note that normally the place to disrupt the Flash combo
is with the first Hulk trigger on the stack. If Oath were to play to form here –
doing what is generally supposed to be done – it would fall prey to the
Summoner’s Pact in hand. However, the fact of the matter here is that the
beating threat of Body Double as a 6/6 is really a non-threat here with active
Oath and a Tyrant in play, which means that Oath’s optimal response is to
wait until the second Hulk trigger is on the stack.
So, what should Flash do?
10 of 24 4/13/2008 7:03 PM
I think the key lesson here, a lesson that I have left implicit, is that timing
can both be an advantage and a disadvantage for Flash. In order for Flash
to optimize its chances of winning, it may simply have to bank on Oath
doing something on its turn and then trying to win in response.
For instance, if Oath goes to play a spell – perhaps the only playable spell it
has in hand, Flash may be able to just win in response. Second, if Flash
can draw just one Blue spell, it can play Flash with Force of Will backup.
That would stop the Krosan Reclamation from interfering entirely.
Flash will pass the turn, but first, it will attack with two spirits. Oath takes two
damage, going to 13. Flash passes the turn.
Oath does not play anything on Flash’s endstep.
Oath moves to its upkeep.
Oath oaths away:
Force of Will
Ponder
Polluted Delta
Forbidden Orchard
Merchant Scroll
Island
Ponder
Mox Ruby
Thoughtseize
Brainstorm
Time Walk
Brain Freeze
Oath of Druids
And then sees a Tidespout Tyrant
Oath then draws… THOUGHTSEIZE
Interestingly, Thoughtseize’s effect upon the game will be more like a

trigger than anything else. The rest of the game will be played under the
shadow and the stack on top of Thoughtseize.
Oath plays an Underground Sea and then Oath attacks with a Tyrant
sending Flash to 12.
Oath taps the Sea and casts Thoughtseize. With Thoughtseize on the
stack, the Tyrants trigger, targeting Flash’s Underground Sea and Tropical
Island.
Flash floats a Black mana from the Sea and a Blue from the Tropical Island
and the Mox and plays Flash with a Black mana floating.
Flash is on the stack.
11 of 24 4/13/2008 7:03 PM
What should the Oath player do? Oath is holding Force and a Gush. If the
Oath pilot Gushes in response and draws a Blue spell, all is well. However,
the safer play is just to Force the Flash pitching the Gush.
It would be a more interesting game if the Oath pilot didn’t have Force here.
Oath would still have the trump card with Krosan Rec. If the Oath player
waits to reclaim in response to the second Hulk trigger, then Oath almost
assuredly wins as the Flash player will be holding junk. But it’s not over yet!
Watch!
Oath plays Force of Will pitching Gush, and the Tyrant triggers target the
Flash player’s Island and its own Mox Sapphire. Oath is at 12 from Force.
Flash is countered.
Thoughtseize resolves, taking Force of Will. It doesn’t make much sense to

take a Hulk or a Summoner’s Pact since they serve the same role here,
right?
Oath is at 10. All of the Tyrant triggers have resolved and all of Flash’s
lands have bounced to hand.
Turn 6:
Flash draws Brainstorm.
Watch this: Flash plays Underground Sea and casts Brainstorm, drawing:
Black Lotus
Protean Hulk
Merchant Scroll!
Incredible! Flash can actually Flash out right now!
Flash puts back Island and Tropical Island and plays Black Lotus.
Before trying to go off, Flash attacks with two Spirits. Oath blocks 1 and
goes to 9. Flash breaks the Black Lotus for UUU and taps the Mox Emerald
to play Merchant Scroll and Flash.
Unfortunately, as we know, it’s not going to work.
Flash goes to play Flash to see what happens. Flash resolves. Oath is out
of countermagic. A Protean Hulk slips into play and then into the graveyard,
a mess of goo. The Hulk trigger goes on the stack… and… The Oath pilot
lets it resolve. This is critical.
From the Flash perspective, is there any value in getting Feeder and Body
Snatcher first? Put another way, is there a reason to want a second Hulk in
the graveyard? Maybe. Since we are facing Krosan Reclamation, we could
imagine that having a second Hulk in the graveyard could be a benefit.
However, I don’t think it makes sense at this moment.
I think the deciding factor here has been the presence of the Tyrants. The
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Tyrants choked off Flash’s mana and will prove decisive even if the Krosan
Reclamation was countered.
Flash finds Feeder and Body Double. With priority, Flash sacrifices the
Body Double to Feeder. Feeder gets a counter and a Hulk trigger joins the
stack.
Oath taps Forbidden Orchard (giving Flash a Spirit token) and Mox
Sapphire and plays Krosan Reclamation on the Flash player, with Tyrant
triggers targeting Carrion Feeder and Underground Sea.
Oath has the Flash player shuffle a Body Double and a Flooded Strand into
the Flash player’s library.
Reveillark and Bile Urchin enter play. Flash can at least prevent Oath from
Oathing again by sacrificing spirits to Bile Urchin.
Oath untaps and draws Brainstorm. That will be just about all she wrote.
Oath taps Mox Sapphire and plays Brainstorm. Two Tyrant triggers on the
stack: targeting Reveillark and Bile Urchin.
Oath draws:
Chain of Vapor
Flooded Strand
Volcanic Island
… Putting back Volcanic Island and Underground Sea.
Now the way is clear to attack. Swing with two of the Tyrants, sending Flash
to 2 life.
Oath plays a Flooded Strand and passes the turn.
Turn 7:
Flash draws a Force of Will and then scoops.
There were plenty of interesting interactions to work through this game.

Even after Oath Forced the Flash, Flash was able to scrape together
another attempt with Black Lotus. At that point, knowing how to use Krosan
Reclamation most effectively made all the difference in the world.
This game was far from clear in terms of proper plays. There were plenty of
options and options mean opportunity for error. The fight over Fastbond
stands out.
It does appear that Oath could have potentially comboed out on turn 2. The
Ponder that was delayed until turn 3 revealed two Gushes and an Oath. A
turn earlier it would have revealed at least a Gush and an Oath and could
have dug into the second Gush which would have taken us even deeper.
13 of 24 4/13/2008 7:03 PM
There is one nuance to the analysis of that battle: Flash could have Forced
the Fastbond just to draw out Oath’s pair of Forces, which is what
happened. Oath loses cards it can throw back to Brainstorm as well. But
more importantly, Oath loses the ability to stop Flash. At that point, the
Fastbond would have resolved, but it would have been a race. Flash would
have still had a Misdirection and a Pact of Negation. Those components
may have proved crucial later in the game. Flash’s turn 3 Brainstorm would
have been much more potent. Flash could have put back the Misdirection
and kept Scroll and Brainstorm instead of just the Brainstorm, and still had
Pact of Negation in hand. That right there could have swung the game
Flash’s way. On the other hand, it’s far from clear that Oath couldn’t have
won first. With double Gush and Oath on top in a Ponder, it is very likely
that Oath could have comboed out – or at least generated a lot of resources
to stop Flash – had that Fastbond resolved.
In any case, there is one thing I think that this game helps support and
which last week’s match suggested: card advantage matters a lot. Although
it might not have been as good in this situation, the lone Misdirection should
probably be a Thoughtseize.
There were some plays on the part of Oath that could be revisited as well. I
played turn 1 Orchard on the assumption that it was the best play if the
Fastbond resolved, and probably marginal if it didn’t. That may not have
been the case. It may have been smarter to play a different land first. Life
attrition matters.
Another possibly wrong play was setting up the Gush to Gush into Oath and
Gush as I did. Perhaps the right play actually was to just have the Ponder
pop the Oath into hand and then shuffle away the Gushes. Why would this
play be right? Well, it might not be in this situation, but if instead of the third
Tyrant we ran the Flash of Insight, we would have had enough mana to
Reclaim the Yawgmoth’s Will into the library and then the Flash of Insight to
pop it into hand and then we could have played it. How? We would have
had four lands in play and the Mox. We could play Reclamation, bouncing
the Mox and replaying it. Then we could play Flash of Insight, bouncing the
Mox again and replaying it. Then we would have two lands left and the Mox
to cast Yawgmoth’s Will – exactly enough. From there, we just play a Mox
to bounce the other Mox and get as much mana of any color that we want
(Black Lotus was in yard).
I guess that leads me to a related point: I’m skeptical of Shay’s most recent
move of Flash of Insight to 3rd Tyrant. I think I prefer having Flash of Insight
in here. I think it’s important that you combo out as quickly as possible once
you’ve Oathed, and decks like Flash make that ability more urgent than
might normally be the case.
Then again, there were some very good plays to be had here: Krosan
Reclamation after Flash had played Vamp worked brilliantly. Flash was also
set up for some amazing tricks had Oath gotten the timing off.
Sideboarding.
14 of 24 4/13/2008 7:03 PM
Rather than present a full blown discussion of the sideboard plans here, I’ll
direct your attention to my article last week, which covered this issue in
fairly extensively detail. However, I am going to modify my Flash sideboard
plan slightly. Since Flash is on the play, I’ve decided to keep the two
Thoughtseizes in. Therefore, I will be sideboarding in three Reverent
Silences for 1 Misdirection, 1 Summoner’s Pact, and 1 Pact of Negation.
Game 2:
Flash’s opening hand:
Flooded Strand
Flooded Strand
Polluted Delta
Brainstorm
Bile Urchin
Flash
Summoner’s Pact
Flash will keep this hand. It has a combo part and an instant speed, zero
casting cost tutor for the other. Brainstorm will help it dig to find protection.
This is definitely a keepable hand, even if our opponent opens with Leyline.
Oath opens with:
Underground Sea
Black Lotus
Tendrils of Agony
Gush
Force of Will
Force of Will
Brainstorm
This hand lacks Leyline, but it makes up for that shortcoming in two critical
respects. First of all, it has two Force of Wills. This means that we can
hopefully stop Flash from going off even if it has protection on turn 1.
Second, the presence of Black Lotus means that even if we draw into
Leyline we will be able to play it very quickly. In addition, the Brainstorm will
help us search for more mana and spells and shuffle away the dead
Tendrils. In any case, is Oath likely to find a better hand with a mulligan to
six?
Both players will keep their hands.
Turn 1:
Flash opens with Flooded Strand. The only question is whether play
Brainstorm now or later? In order to win now with protection (to save us in
case the Summoner’s Pact resolves but they have a Force of Will for our
Flash), we’d need to see 1) two Moxen (one of which produces Blue) and a
Pact of Negation, 2) a Black Lotus and Pact of Negation, 3) Black Lotus and
Force of Will and another Blue spell. Those don’t seem like likely outcomes.
15 of 24 4/13/2008 7:03 PM
However, Brainstorming later could also lead the Oath player to Red
Elemental Blast our Flash. That could be a good thing, but it’s unlikely since
we have so many dead cards in hand.
Brainstorming now looks like a more attractive option.
I sacrifice the Flooded Strand for Underground Sea (19 life) and find
Underground Sea. Flash taps Underground Sea and casts Brainstorm.
The Oath pilot thinks for a moment. The Oath pilot would be more inclined
to counter that spell if there were a Thoughtseize or Duress in hand, but
there is not. Plus, countering it here would involve great cost, either pitching
a Force, a Brainstorm or a Gush – all valuable resources.
Brainstorm resolves, seeing:
Flash
Pact of Negation
Thoughtseize
This is a very strong Brainstorm! At this point, I will put back the Urchin and
the Summoner’s Pact. If they Duress me, then they would see that the Pact
is the combo part that I do not have duplicates of, and possibly the correct
Duress target.
Pass the turn.
Oath draws another Underground Sea.
Oath plays Underground Sea and Black Lotus.
The big question for Oath is: Brainstorm now or wait? If we Brainstorm now,
there is a risk that we won’t see a shuffle effect. In terms of shuffle effects
that can be used now or next turn, there are 5 fetchlands, 3 Merchant
Scrolls, 1 Vampiric Tutor, and 1 Demonic Tutor. In addition, there are 4
Ponder, although it isn’t optimal to follow up Brainstorm with Ponder.
I think there are enough shuffle effects to justify Brainstorming now, for
reasons similar to the reason that Flash Brainstormed immediately, and
others beside.
Tap Sea and play Brainstorm, seeing:
Ponder
Vampiric Tutor
Merchant Scroll
It seems that immediate Brainstorming has paid off for both decks. The
problem here is that there are many potential lines of play, with the correct
line of play far from evident.
Putting back the Tendrils is obvious. But beyond that, what? Put another
way, what is it that we want to do? That should be guided, as always, by
16 of 24 4/13/2008 7:03 PM
finding the path to victory. In terms of comboing out, the most obvious line
of play is to Vamp for Fastbond and then use the combination of
Ponder/Gush and Merchant Scroll to easily combo out. However, the path
to victory in this situation, against Flash, is often defined or preconditioned
by not losing. Which means that that line of play is not a line that can be
banked upon.
With the Lotus, we could:
1) Scroll for Ancestral and play it

2) Scroll for Ancestral and play Ponder
3) Do nothing, and Vampiric Tutor on upkeep for Leyline and play it on
mainphase.
I think option 3, while not a bad idea, seems too slow. It doesn’t develop the
board state at all. It’s sort of like maneuvering to a castle position in Chess
instead of using your resource to both advance your game state and
defense from your opponent.
Whichever option we choose, I think we want to be careful to ensure that

we have enough Blue spells in hand to play both Forces. If we were to put
back either Vampiric Tutor or the Sea and then Scroll for Ancestral Recall
and play it, there is a chance that we’d have to discard a card. That seems
like a poor option, especially when discarding here is not necessary.
If we are to use the Lotus now, I think the best use of it would be to Scroll
for Ancestral and then to use the remaining blue to play Ponder. We could
then draw a card we want, and even Vampiric Tutor on our upkeep or after
our draw step to shuffle and then play Ancestral Recall. Or, we could combo
either card with Gush on turn two, assuming we still have the Gush in hand.
That line of play seems to have quite a bit of merit.
There are two drawbacks though: First, we lose Lotus now, and second, we
may need additional lands. I’m hoping that the second turn Ancestral will
get us there.
Oath puts back the Underground Sea, breaks the Lotus for UUU, and plays
Merchant Scroll for Ancestral Recall.
With the remaining Blue mana, Oath plays Ponder.
I’m delighted at what has seemed to be a rewarding line of play when

Ponder reveals:
Force of Will
Mox Jet
Demonic Tutor
By now I’m sure you see that the Mox Jet interacts with the Vampiric Tutor
in interesting ways. Nonetheless, I believe that there is a priority on getting
four non-Ancestral Recall Blue spells in hand. I will pop the Force of Will
into hand and the remaining order probably doesn’t matter. Here’s how it
17 of 24 4/13/2008 7:03 PM
appears next turn will play out, assuming we survive to see it: We draw the
DT or Mox Jet, we play Ancestral Recall and hope to draw a land. From
there we can play DT or Vampiric Tutor and follow either with Gush. Ideally,
we will see a Green mana-producing land in the latter two cards of
Ancestral Recall. If we do, then things will get crackling because we can
Vamp for Fastbond, Gush into it, and have the mana up to play it.
Oath passes the turn.
Turn 2:
Whew! Those have been some complex and fascinating first turns for both
players.
Flash untaps and draws the Summoner’s Pact. Flash plays the Polluted
Delta and breaks it for a Tropical Island.
We have two basic lines of play here:
1) Flash (preceded by Summoner’s Pact)

2) Thoughtseize
Which is the correct play? I think this situation demonstrates the strength of
the Reveillark kill. We can Thoughtseize here and use Pact of Negation to
protect ourselves and stop Oath from doing something, even protecting the
Thoughtseize, and then Flash goes off in our upkeep with the Pact triggers
on the stack for the win. That, and the fact that Oath just tutored for
Ancestral Recall, I think, suggests that Thoughtseize is the safest line of
play here.
Flash plays Thoughtseize. Oath is not happy about that and tries to play
Force of Will, pitching Gush (because there is a chance that we could
Ancestral into more Blue spells to see more Forces, but it is unlikely that
we’ll see more Forces later in the game).
Now Flash faces another critical question: Pact or no?
If we play Pact of Negation, there are two possible responses:
First, nothing from the Oath player. Second, the Oath player could have
another Force, but it would be aimed at the Flash, not the Pact. If the former
happens, we get to see the Oath players hand and take their best card. If
the latter happens, we will have to win on our next upkeep or lose to Pact
trigger. What if Oath has a Red Elemental Blast up or can somehow
counter the Flash? Then we will lose.
From Flash’s perspective, with the tempo advantage of having gone first
and the aggressive role here, I think the proper play is to let the Oath
player’s Force resolve and save the Pact for a later time.
Thoughtseize is countered. It wasn’t a bad trade. One card for two Blue
cards is a fair deal most of the time.
18 of 24 4/13/2008 7:03 PM
Flash passes the turn.
Oath untaps and draws Mox Jet.
Oath taps Sea and plays Ancestral Recall.
Now we reach a very difficult decision. Flash can Pact it. Should it?
If Flash Pacts the Ancestral and Oath plays land, REB on the Flash, then
Flash will lose the game. The same result occurs if Oath can Force the
Flash. The risks are evident, but it is difficult to assess the correct play. I will
admit that I am just unsure of what Flash should do here. I think the
deciding factor for me is the fact that Flash has two Flashes, which means
that it should be able to Flash on its next turn and then Flash again on its
following upkeep with a Summoner’s Pact on the stack. That should give
Flash the most opportunities to win.
Ancestral resolves, drawing:
Demonic Tutor
Leyline of the Void
Mox Pearl
This is not ideal. We were hoping to draw more blue spells or land. Instead,
we’ve drawn Black spells, albeit useful ones, and artifacts.
We can Demonic Tutor immediately here. An obvious line of play here

would be Demonic Tutor for Yawgmoth’s Will. However, if we really wanted
to play it safe, we could Demonic Tutor for another Blue spell, hope that the
Force of Will helps us survive for one more turn, and then Vampiric Tutor
for another Blue spell on the subsequent turn. Because that line of play only
leaves us with one Force this turn, it seems clear that this line of play is
worse than just going for Yawgmoth’s Will.
Oath plays the two Moxen and casts Demonic Tutor for Yawgmoth’s Will.
Turn 3:
Flash untaps and draws a Polluted Delta.
Flash plays Summoner’s Pact for Protean Hulk and casts Flash. Oath plays
Force of Will pitching Force of Will. Flash plays Pact of Negation. Oath’s
Force is countered. Flash runs through the combo and wins on the spot:
Hulk trigger finds Body Double and Carrion Feeder, which finds Reveillark
and Bile Urchin, which cycles repeatedly until Oath is dead.
This game was jammed packed with decision-making. There were many
options, and what’s more, many seemingly good options. Flash’s basic plan
worked very well here. The problem that Oath faced was that it essentially
only had two counterspells online from turn one to turn two. Oath needs
probably three counterspells by turn 2, or a Duress/Thoughtseize and a
counterspell, in order to survive without a Leyline. In retrospect, the correct
19 of 24 4/13/2008 7:03 PM
line of play was almost certainly to just Vampiric Tutor for Leyline and play it
off the Lotus and second Sea on Oath’s second turn. The draw, for Oath,
really got it nowhere.
Oath could have put back the Tendrils and a Blue spell (let’s say Gush)
after the first turn Brainstorm, holding onto Vamp, Ponder, Scroll, Force,
and Force. This would have led to turn 2 Leyline with double Force backup.
It would not have necessarily stopped Flash from eventually winning, but it
certainly would have made the game go longer.
Sideboarding
Now we reach a game 3 scenario. Should Oath bring in the Tormod’s

Crypts? Should Flash bring in the Slivers? Obviously, both questions are
related. In this match, Oath has seen that Flash kept in the Reveillark kill,
which suggests that the Flash player may not have the Sliver kill. That
would support the move to bring in Tormod’s Crypts. As the Oath player,
Oath will be on the play, so I feel that the Tormod’s Crypts will be less
pressing. I don’t feel the need to bring them in. As the Flash player, things
seemed to work out very well last game, but we simply do not know if Oath
has brought in all of the hate or not. However, at this point, I think that the
Flash player would know that this Oath pilot is using Shay’s most recent list.
Therefore, I think that the Flash player might be inclined to just keep in the
Reveillark combo, which is what I’ll do.
Game 3:
Oath draws:
Forbidden Orchard
Polluted Delta
Ponder
Vampiric Tutor
Merchant Scroll
Leyline of the Void
Tendrils of Agony
Although not very fast, it has a Leyline. Keep.
Flash draws:
Flooded Strand
Mox Jet
Protean Hulk
Protean Hulk
Summoner’s Pact
Merchant Scroll
Pact of Negation
This hand has all of the combo parts or tutors to find it, except for a way to
deal with Leyline. It remains to be seen whether that will be an issue this
game. I think this hand is good enough to keep, although it, too, is far from
20 of 24 4/13/2008 7:03 PM
perfect.
Turn 0:
Oath plays Leyline of the Void.
Turn 1:
Oath plays Polluted Delta into Underground Sea (because of the Vamp in
hand) and plays Ponder, seeing:
Ponder
Fastbond
Merchant Scroll
That is an excellent batch of three cards. Granted, there are no Duresses or

REBs yet, and there are plenty of those post board, but that’s okay. The
question is: what to do with this Ponder? What are our options? Next turn,
we could:
1) Play Fastbond off Orchard and play Ponder off of Sea. If we see another
land, we won’t yet be able to play a Scroll for Gush.
2) Play Vampiric Tutor for Ancestral Recall
3) Merchant Scroll for Force of Will
4) Merchant Scroll for Ancestral Recall
5) Ponder and Vampiric Tutor
6) Play Vampiric Tutor for Black Lotus, Scroll for Ancestral and play it and
play Fastbond off of Orchard.
There are lots of options and no clear winner. Six seems like the strongest
play, but its strength will almost entirely depend upon what is drawn off
Ancestral. We will be trading, basically, our hand in now for three unknown
cards. That may or may not be a good deal.
The remaining options are basically modulations of speed. Scroll for

Ancestral or Force is by far the slowest option. But that play sets up a more
powerful, possibly game-winning turn 3 and turn 4 because you can use
your Vamp on turn 3 to combo out with Fastbond and your Ancestraled
cards.
The good news is that we don’t really have to decide. At least, not entirely.
We can wait to see what Flash does. If Flash seems likely to be able to
remove the Leyline quickly, we will need to work on building a defense.
However, if Flash seems to be fiddling around on turn 1, then we can go for
a slightly slower game plan. We do, however, have to settle on what we
want to draw here – that is, how do we want to resolve Ponder? I’m thinking
that we definitely want Fastbond for pure power reasons if nothing else. I’ll
pop the Fastbond into hand and leave the Ponder on top. Pass.
Flash draws Force of Will for the turn.
Now, Flash has a dilemma as well. It plays Mox Jet, Flooded Strand into
21 of 24 4/13/2008 7:03 PM
Tropical Island, and then Merchant Scroll. But what should it get? It can find
Chain of Vapor, Flash, or even Ancestral here. We know that Flash will do
nothing without destroying the Leyline first. That seems to rule that out.
Chain of Vapor may not get us there either because we’ll need a way to
eventually Flash. Ancestral Recall, therefore, seems like the best option. I
find Ancestral.
Pass.
Oath’s turn. Oath draws the Ponder.
Since Flash did not destroy the Leyline, Oath commits to the somewhat
risky but huge payoff plan of Scrolling for Ancestral immediately. Flash gets
a spirit token. Pass.
Turn 2:
Flash untaps and draws: Polluted Delta. It breaks the Delta for Tropical
Island. It taps a Trop to play Ancestral. Ancestral Resolves, drawing:
Polluted Delta
Pact of Negation
Merchant Scroll
In a sense, this almost puts the Flash pilot back on the previous turn. You
are still confronted with the dilemma of playing Scroll – but for what? Again,
if we get Flash, we can’t win until we remove the Leyline. But if we get
Chain of Vapor, we can’t win until we find Flash. It’s the same problem. A
third option, Brainstorm, seems reasonable, but we will still have to discard
a card this turn, an unappetizing reality.
Flash scrolls up Brainstorm, attacks with a Spirit, and discards a Protean

Hulk.
Turn 3:
Oath untaps and thinks. We could Vamp here for Lotus. That would give us
even more juice to try and go off this turn. If we don’t Vamp, then we will
have it for later on. On the other hand, the Flash pilot has seen a lot of
cards. Vamping for Force of Will might just be the right play here. That
would help us protect the Ancestral as well. That’s the play that makes the
most sense to me here.
On my upkeep, I play Vampiric Tutor for Force of Will (16 life) and then
plays Ancestral off the Orchard.
The Flash decides to Force the Ancestral, pitching a Pact of Negation. The
Oath pilot Forces as well, pitching Ponder. Ancestral resolves, drawing:
Brainstorm
Brainstorm
Polluted Delta
22 of 24 4/13/2008 7:03 PM
I play Polluted Delta and break it for a Tropical Island and play a
Brainstorm, drawing:
Ponder
Gush
Merchant Scroll
I put back Tendrils of Agony and Fastbond, so it can’t be Thoughtseized. I

imagine that Oath should be able to combo out next turn.
Flash untaps and draws Reverent Silence. Flash taps a Tropical Island and
plays Brainstorm, drawing: Body Double, Force of Will, and Polluted Delta.
We put back Body Double and a Polluted Delta.
The question is: should we play Reverent Silence now, or wait? I think we
wait. We have Force of Will in hand. If we play it now, there is a chance that
they will just play another Leyline.
Attack with two spirits, sending Oath to 12 life.
Oath untaps, drawing Fastbond and playing it off the Trop.
Now Oath wants to combo out. We know there is a Tendrils on top of the
library. We also know that Flash is at 17 life, so we’ll only need storm 9 to
win.
However, can we get there?
Ponder + Scroll + Gush + Fastbond + Brainstorm is only half way there.

Assuming the Scroll finds another good target and then we can finish with
Tendrils, that’s almost there.
However, there is a chance that the Fastbond won’t resolve. If we can, we

should try to find a Duress or a REB.
I think the first play is Ponder. I tap the Sea to play Ponder, seeing:
Tendrils of Agony
Underground Sea
Thoughtseize
I pop the Thoughtseize into hand and play it off the Orchard, giving Flash
another token. Should Flash counter Thoughtseize? From Flash’s
perspective, which is the quickest route to victory? Flashing or beating with
Spirit tokens? If the Thoughtseize resolves, Oath will drop to 10 life. If they
take the Reverent Silence, we will still have Force online. If they take the
Force, we still have the Reverent Silence. I think that we should let the
Thoughtseize resolve. They see our hand of: Reverent Silence, Force of
Will, Pact of Negation, Protean Hulk, and Summoner’s Pact and they take
the Force.
Oath taps the Trop and plays Fastbond. It resolves. Oath plays Gush,
23 of 24 4/13/2008 7:03 PM
drawing the Sea and the Tendrils.
Storm is 4.
Oath plays a Tropical Island and casts Brainstorm, seeing: Time Walk,
Force of Will and Mox Emerald.
Now Oath faces a very critical decision: what to put back? It can go for the
Time Walk play or it can continue to try to combo out this turn. Oath
basically has to go for it here. Flash has Pact of Negation. If it sees or can
find Flash, it’s all over. Reverent Silence will take care of the Leyline and
then Pact will stop a Force.
More importantly, if we follow the chain all the way through, we have one
additional mana right now beyond the mana for Scroll. The Scroll will find
Gush, which will effectively unwind itself. So long as we draw one mana off
Gush, we win the game. We will be able to play Tendrils for lethal damage.
That means, if we draw, off Gush:
Yawgmoth’s Will
Any other Gushes
Any mana source
… then we win the game.
It’s time to go all in. Oath puts back the Force and the Time Walk.
Oath plays Underground Sea (9 life) and Mox Emerald and casts Merchant
Scroll for Gush.
Oath plays Gush (storm 7), returning the Trop and the Sea to hand, drawing
Mox Jet and Ponder. That’s game.
Mox Jet, replay the three lands, going to 6 life, and cast Tendrils for 18
damage.
This article turned out to be a bit longer than I expected, but I think it was
worth it. It highlights many of the common decisions that are confronted in
Vintage. I think that the Flash deck has room for improvement, both in the
maindeck and the sideboard. I also think, based upon the anecdotal
evidence I’ve seen, that the winner of this match should probably be the
player who makes the fewest mistakes. There are enough opportunities for
error that it is unlikely that both players will play flawlessly through all of
them.
Next week I’ll be reviewing Shadowmoor!
Until then…
Stephen Menendian
24 of 24 4/13/2008 7:03 PM

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So Many Insane Plays – Windows of Opportunity, by Stephen Me... http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/print.php?

So Many Insane Plays – Windows of Opportunity

Today’s match is much more strategically textured. I think it illustrates a

Here are the competitors:

Download this Download this deck

Download this Download this deck

Flash’s opening hand:

Oath’s opening hand:

Flash rolled a 12 to Oath’s 2. Flash elects to play.

Flash begins the game with Island, Ponder, seeing:

Oath draws Island.

What should Oath do?

Oath plays Forbidden Orchard, Fastbond, giving Flash a spirit token.

This is an intriguing question: Should Flash counter the Fastbond?

Flash plays Force of Will, pitching Pact of Negation.

Oath plays Force of Will, pitching Force.

Flash plays Misdirection, pitching Pact, targeting Force of Will.

No, because we want to keep mana up for Krosan Reclamation to disrupt

On Oath’s endstep, Flash has to decide whether to make a play. We can

and just untap and win. That’s the ideal scenario.

Patrick Chapin and my teammate Matthieu Durand are fond of explaining

If I were to Brainstorm into a Flash, a Protean Hulk or both, it would seem

I put Ancestral on top.

Flash untaps and draws… Mox Emerald.

Flash attacks with two Spirit tokens. Oath is at 15 life.

If we wait to Brainstorm, we’ll be facing the same problem, except that we

Oath taps the Mox Sapphire and plays Ponder, seeing:

Flash draws Flooded Strand.

Flash attacks with two Spirits, sending Oath to 13.

Flash taps Island and plays Brainstorm, drawing:

Argh! We need another Blue spell!

Now things could get ugly.

Oath untaps and Oaths away 17 cards before hitting Tyrant.

This will be interesting.

Tyrant enters play.

Oath draws: Force of Will for the turn.

However, it can’t go off just yet.

Oath plays Tropical Island and passes the turn.

Flash untaps and draws… FLASH

So, how will that affect us?

Now things get very interesting.

Normally, the Krosan Reclamation wouldn’t be a threat. Flash could sit

So, what should Flash do?

Oath does not play anything on Flash’s endstep.

Oath moves to its upkeep.

Oath oaths away:

And then sees a Tidespout Tyrant

Oath then draws… THOUGHTSEIZE

Interestingly, Thoughtseize’s effect upon the game will be more like a

Flash is on the stack.

Thoughtseize resolves, taking Force of Will. It doesn’t make much sense to

Flash draws Brainstorm.

Incredible! Flash can actually Flash out right now!

Unfortunately, as we know, it’s not going to work.

… Putting back Volcanic Island and Underground Sea.

Oath plays a Flooded Strand and passes the turn.

Flash draws a Force of Will and then scoops.

There were plenty of interesting interactions to work through this game.

Flash’s opening hand:

Oath opens with:

Both players will keep their hands.

Brainstorming now looks like a more attractive option.

Brainstorm resolves, seeing: