So I am about to start my first Magic Online experience and I have heard horror stories of how awful misclicks can be as well as the fact that the interface seems to be designed for people who are not from Earth. I thought that perhaps a blog taking you through what I encounter might be useful for those who haven't used MTGO and I may even find things that seasoned veterans might want to know about, though that is unlikely. I am going into this with an open mind.
So getting the account was easy. I like that. They give me a free pack. Sweet. It is M12. Not so sweet. But still, I can just get 2 more M12 packs and join a draft queue. It is either that or hope to open Garruk and that is likely not happening. Well, I joined for the increased limited availability. Let us draft!
My packs were all boring. My deck is decent but not full of bombs. I essentially rare drafted instead of taking functional sideboard cards. Hopefully even if I do poorly I will be able to move some of the things I got for tickets to keep drafting. I also grabbed some of the buddy lands. If I do decide to ever actually play on MTGO, they might not be bad to have. Oh! Round One is up. Let me see if I misclick my way through everything. Be right back.
Okay so I won games 1 and 2 against a white green aggro deck. That was kinda cool. 1 pack, in the bag. Now lets see what happens next. I did Paulo and mis mulligan though. oh well. In paper magic, my opponent usually asks me if I want to keep. If I want to keep, I say yes. MTGO asks me if I want to mulligan. This may take some getting used to. We were the last match to finish so I am off to the races again. Wish me luck. Yeah, I know this already happened. Just do it.
So I lost round 2 in what felt like an unwinnable match up. I blame you, readers, for not wishing into the past well enough. Hexproof is pretty good, turns out. I did not pick up a pack, looks like I will not be going infinite off of this. Maybe my rares will get me there but unlikely. I also feel like 17 lands may be too many, which is odd. I was rather flooded for those games.
Round 3, I proceed to not win any die rolls. That I can handle. This deck is starting to feel like the extra card might not be too bad. Maybe I will pick up a pack here. [about 29 minutes go by] This is what raging via blogging looks like. I am annoyed. I did not mess up my mulligan but I do need to put more stops in. Stops pause the game whenever priority shifts, ensuring you have a chance to respond. When you are tapping things down, to ensure that you do not lose, and you foolishly did not have a "Enter Combat" stop placed, you just lose. Womp Womp. That was totally my bad. I'm learning.
So I have a single M12 pack. What should I do with it? Buy more M12 and draft again or just open it? Open it, you say? That will save me from drafting M12 again and I love that idea. Oh look, Throne of Empires. Value. Oh well. Perhaps I will have better luck in Innistrad Swiss.
Alright kids. Instead of step by stepping this one for you, I will instead tell you the things I learned from my first Innistrad Swiss Draft.
Firstly, 15 land plus a Traveler's Amulet is totally enough. MTGO, it would seem, shuffles better than humans do. When it rains, it pours. You will either have too few or too many land. This works well for the present format as you can build a deck that goes: 1 drop, 2 drop, 3 drop, Beat-Beat-Beat and never need more than three land. I feel like that is where you want to be.
Secondly, there is a button upon your keyboard that will save you approximately all the time if you know about it. However, if you do not, be quick clicking through your stops. I actually lost a match due to time out in game three when I was literally about to beat for lethal. This magical button is "F6". No, not the car, snow ski, or plane. Just a button. And when I finally remembered it, my turns went so much more quickly. However at one juncture I became a little "F6" happy and maybe, kinda, just a little bit missed a land drop. Derp.
All in all, MTGO seems like a good resource for those of us who may have to travel and for the Holidays but I cannot imagine giving up paper magic for this. To me, it is comparable to jonesing to play some Skyrim and instead enjoying some sweet Rapala Tournament Fishing. While also a nature simulator, it isn't what you wanted.
Well guys, thanks for reading. Hopefully you learned something besides the fact that I eventually get tired of drawing land after land. You can, as always, contact me via Twitter. If you just can't get enough of what I have to say, when you are done rereading my brilliant blog you can listen to the dulcet tones of my voice in Planeswalker Asylum, a podcast about how awesome we are and occasionally Magic: the Gathering.
Until next time, keep your sleeves clean and your lands right on time.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Collecting the Price of Progress
My last article focused on what you should be playing in RDW in Standard. In this article, I intend to take you through my thought process in card selection for the Burn list I played in Kansas City.\
Now the first steps were easy. One mana should equal 3 damage, as much as possible. Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Lava Spike, and Rift Bolt (Don't forget, you can cast Rift Bolt for 3 if you really have to. It is still 3 damage!) all fit this line of thought. These cards were natural 4 ofs.
Now why not play Shard Volley? One mana. 3 damage. Instant speed. It seems like exactly what the deck wants. However it requires you to sack a land. Given that I am playing Fireblast, this seems fine. It is not. First, this deck frequently doesn't see a second land until turn 3 or 4, which is where you start playing your 2 mana spells and move from winning by a narrow margin to winning like an unstoppable ball of fire. Delaying that by even a turn is not what you want to be doing for 3 damage. All told, the cost is too high.
Keeping with the one mana plan, I took a look at mans that generate the most value, which in my case translated into direct damage. Goblin Guide, Grim Lavamancer, and Figure of Destiny were natural choices. Here is where some actual design began to take place.
Creatures can generate value for my opponents as well. For example, many of my Goblin Guide attacks were met with "in response to the trigger, Brainstorm." I decided that playing a red spell that said "the first time this creature attacks, defending player discards a card and draws a card" was worth 4 slots.
Next I took a long hard look at Grim Lavamancer. Here is where I take a wild leap away from the traditional Red mentality. What I found was, in the deck I wanted to play, Grim Lavamancer did nothing. Maybe it would get in for a total of 3 between an attack phase and an activation. However, with so many decks running around with Stifle and Snapcaster Mage, I could not safely run the Fetch Lands I needed to power the Lavaman, nor could I guarantee an activation with any reasonable reliability. Additionally, the card is a nonbo-anti synergetic-with the Barbarian Rings I wanted to run. The Lavamancer got the Lava Axe (I know, mechanically that makes no sense. Shut up and chuckle at my bad joke.) in the end, with zero spots in the total 75.
If you have actually seen my list, you will be surprised by what comes next. Figure of Destiny was not good enough for the ideal of the deck. You pay one mana for zero damage. That is very bad for a deck entitled Burn. You do get to sink mana into it in the mid game, but honestly if you are in the mid game with a deck like this, you have probably lost or you are slow rolling that Bolt like a champion. Thus the total spots awarded to this fine fellow are zero. Wait. I lied. Due to the urging of a friend of mine, I squeezed in three of these mans at the last minute. I found out two things by doing so. First, I was right. This is not a good card for Burn. Second, it is a ridiculous threat that must be countered or killed as soon as possible. Which meant that the three Figures I played read: "1 Red. Sorcery. Target opponent loses one life and discards two blue cards." (Force of Will). This meant that whenever I needed to resolve any other spell, I could try, knowing they were at least one counterspell down. If Mental Misstep ever becomes unbanned, my first change to this deck will be to cut one mountain for the 4th Figure.
Now I am out of 1 mana ~ 3 damage spells and 1 mana value creatures. Time to move on to the 2 drops. The first 2 mana men I looked at were Keldon Marauders and Stormblood Berserker. Keldon Marauders does two sweet things. First he is 2 mana for a guaranteed 2 damage. This seems like awful value but I can say that more than once, my opponent was at one or two life and could not deal with a Marauder. Additionally, this man has the option to turn into Lava Axe, or to eat a Wild Nacatl or block a Tarmogoyf. I got to stall a goyf for 4 whole turns with this man, playing burn spells like mad, knowing the Keldon had my back.
Now the first steps were easy. One mana should equal 3 damage, as much as possible. Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Lava Spike, and Rift Bolt (Don't forget, you can cast Rift Bolt for 3 if you really have to. It is still 3 damage!) all fit this line of thought. These cards were natural 4 ofs.
Now why not play Shard Volley? One mana. 3 damage. Instant speed. It seems like exactly what the deck wants. However it requires you to sack a land. Given that I am playing Fireblast, this seems fine. It is not. First, this deck frequently doesn't see a second land until turn 3 or 4, which is where you start playing your 2 mana spells and move from winning by a narrow margin to winning like an unstoppable ball of fire. Delaying that by even a turn is not what you want to be doing for 3 damage. All told, the cost is too high.
Keeping with the one mana plan, I took a look at mans that generate the most value, which in my case translated into direct damage. Goblin Guide, Grim Lavamancer, and Figure of Destiny were natural choices. Here is where some actual design began to take place.
Creatures can generate value for my opponents as well. For example, many of my Goblin Guide attacks were met with "in response to the trigger, Brainstorm." I decided that playing a red spell that said "the first time this creature attacks, defending player discards a card and draws a card" was worth 4 slots.
Next I took a long hard look at Grim Lavamancer. Here is where I take a wild leap away from the traditional Red mentality. What I found was, in the deck I wanted to play, Grim Lavamancer did nothing. Maybe it would get in for a total of 3 between an attack phase and an activation. However, with so many decks running around with Stifle and Snapcaster Mage, I could not safely run the Fetch Lands I needed to power the Lavaman, nor could I guarantee an activation with any reasonable reliability. Additionally, the card is a nonbo-anti synergetic-with the Barbarian Rings I wanted to run. The Lavamancer got the Lava Axe (I know, mechanically that makes no sense. Shut up and chuckle at my bad joke.) in the end, with zero spots in the total 75.
If you have actually seen my list, you will be surprised by what comes next. Figure of Destiny was not good enough for the ideal of the deck. You pay one mana for zero damage. That is very bad for a deck entitled Burn. You do get to sink mana into it in the mid game, but honestly if you are in the mid game with a deck like this, you have probably lost or you are slow rolling that Bolt like a champion. Thus the total spots awarded to this fine fellow are zero. Wait. I lied. Due to the urging of a friend of mine, I squeezed in three of these mans at the last minute. I found out two things by doing so. First, I was right. This is not a good card for Burn. Second, it is a ridiculous threat that must be countered or killed as soon as possible. Which meant that the three Figures I played read: "1 Red. Sorcery. Target opponent loses one life and discards two blue cards." (Force of Will). This meant that whenever I needed to resolve any other spell, I could try, knowing they were at least one counterspell down. If Mental Misstep ever becomes unbanned, my first change to this deck will be to cut one mountain for the 4th Figure.
Now I am out of 1 mana ~ 3 damage spells and 1 mana value creatures. Time to move on to the 2 drops. The first 2 mana men I looked at were Keldon Marauders and Stormblood Berserker. Keldon Marauders does two sweet things. First he is 2 mana for a guaranteed 2 damage. This seems like awful value but I can say that more than once, my opponent was at one or two life and could not deal with a Marauder. Additionally, this man has the option to turn into Lava Axe, or to eat a Wild Nacatl or block a Tarmogoyf. I got to stall a goyf for 4 whole turns with this man, playing burn spells like mad, knowing the Keldon had my back.
"Fields can be replanted. Settlements can be rebuilt. Burn it all."
—Latulla, Keldon overseer
Now to Stormblood Berserker. What I noticed about this fellow was that he guaranteed zero damage, similar to the Lavaman that did not make the cut. While he is essentially unblockable in the Legacy metagame, he still has to resolve and live through my next upkeep. This simply wasn't good enough for the deck. So what do I put in its place? A good friend of mine suggested I take a look at a hasty fellow by the name of Hellspark Elemental. I did and I was happy with what I found. This dude usually got in for the full 6 damage, could kill himself against Dredge with their Bridge from Below laden graveyard, and only stole one card from my threshold count if I had to activate Barbarian Ring. This is a sweet man. In the original draft of the list, both the elemental and the marauders were 4 ofs. However eventually I cut one mountain and one of each of those fine men to fit in the abomination that was Figure of Destiny.
Now the fun part of the deck! 3 spells that I absolutely don't ever want to play without.
First was a game winning all star: Fireblast. After playing with the card for probably three rounds, I realized that it had a converted mana cost of 6! Do you know how many 6 drops the typical Counterbalance deck runs? Did you guess the same number as the amount of Grim Lavamancers a good burn deck runs? If so, you were correct! Between that and the ability to put 3 cards in my graveyard to turn on my Rings, the fact that this spell does 4 damage at instant speed is almost unimportant. Except that is 4 damage. At instant speed. SO FAST! Needless to say, this was an auto 4 of.
Next was the decidedly slower version of 4 damage for 2 mana: Flame Rift. Aside from the two games I dropped in the swiss portion, The most damage done to me was from this spell. That means that 4 to you is entirely insignificant. 4 to your opponent, however, brings them to a life threatening 16 life. The fact that it is Sorcery speed is the only complaint I have about this spell. But one more mana for one more damage on Lava Spike seems worthy of 4 slots in any burn deck I intend to build in the near future.
If you don't like sorcery speeds, Sam, why not consider Magma Jet? 2 mana. 2 damage. (Already I am underwhelmed.) Instant speed! And I can scry 2! That seems sweet. Now what do I want to scry to or from? I have two land so I could pitch the lands away, keeping my draws live. However, getting mountain number 3 can keep me in the game after I Fireblast, so rarely do I want to hide those precious resources, especially if someone ever gets a Rishadan Port active against my sparse land count. And I certainly don't want to scry away from burn spells. I could pitch that turn 4 Goblin Guide but in all honesty, in burn, if you must, you can clear the way for your men with all the direct damage and if you don't have to clear the way, drawing a dude is just like drawing a spell. I would rather just wait until my turn to cast Flame Rift. The scry is a useful thing but it doesn't have a place in this deck.
"Target opponent discards 1 or 2 blue cards or loses the game." That is the text on Price of Progress. This card,and you will excuse my subtlety here, is good. I play a mountain and pass against Ian Ellis. He draws his card, plays a swamp and casts Thoughtsieze. In response, I Lightning Bolt him to the face. He looks at me and says "I think I heard about you." then looks at my hand and just stares at the Price sadly, knowing that if he doesn't strip it from my hand it will certainly end game 1 without much trouble. At the Top 8 players meeting, Alex Bertoncini straight up asks me how many Prices I am running. When I reply 4 in the main, he scowls and says "I don't want to play you." The player reactions alone told me that this card is straight up phenomenal. The fact that it, on a regular basis, was 4-8 damage at instant speed for just two mana means that seeing that in my opener or off the top took me to a magical land full of winning whatever game I was playing. Once it was dead against mono blue, which just made finding a spot for 4 Pyroblasts out of the side really easy. I wish I could play 8 of this card but since 4 is the maximum legal number, I settled for 4. Unless legacy vastly changes to mono colored decks or 100% basic land, this card will remain an all star.
You will note that there are no Volcanic Fallouts or Sulfuric Vortexs and here is why. Those spells are just fine. Actually they are both really solid spells. But first, they cost 3 (That is double infinity for this deck), and secondly, The mana to damage ratio is already so finely tuned that you can't cut spells to find a spot in this deck and for 3 mana you certainly cannot cut land either. In the Legacy format, there are simply more efficient spells to be cast.
All told, I ended up with 19 lands, 13 men, 12 instants, and 16 sorceries in my deck. To see the full 75, look here! This deck was probably the most fun thing to play with since I started playing Magic in any competitive sense and I feel I can say, with relative certainty, that I am officially a red mage.
Hopefully those of you who intend to play Burn! this Sunday in Las Vegas will take a gander at this and find some help or inspiration. You can always find me on Twitter and listen to my podcast over on Couch Pirate Radio! Until next time, keep your sleeves clean and your mana to damage ratio low.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Red Deck Wins. Seriously.
As some of you may have heard, I took 8th at Star City Kansas City in the Legacy portion of the event. It was pretty exciting for me, as I, as of now, have played 16 games of legacy. Yes, my first time playing Legacy was when I sleeved up the red cards that I had shipped to site-awesome service but more on that later. This post will not actually be about my time at Kansas City but as that time was very influential, I feel like I need to mention a few people that helped shape that event for me.
First, a big shout out to Daniel Dusang, one of my travel companions and fellow blogger. He top 16ed the Standard portion of the event and ended up 22nd in the Legacy Open. I was very impressed by his showing over both days and if we are lucky, he may share some of his tech with us in the coming days. Secondly, I got to meet Gavin Verhey, who is one of the reasons why I am writing this very moment. Thirdly, I got to play against Star City Writer and Pro Gerry Thompson. He is an immensely skilled player and was very cool. He and I actually got a feature match which you can find here. I intend to buy premium just to see what this man has to say and honestly, you might want to as well. Will Craddock took down the first draft open, which is kind of a big deal. And a special thanks is owed to Kyle for convincing me to fit 3 Figure of Destinies into my list, which you can find on the Star City Top 16 deck lists. Those puppies ate the turn one Force of Will just like they were supposed to, clearing the way for a ton of sweet burn. Lastly, but certainly not least, a big shout out goes to Ryan Daly. This young man is a talented player, no doubt, and despite what many people think, Dredge takes no small amount of skill to pilot, as I found out. I hope to see him on the top 16 deck list page more often!
Before I move on to the main event, I must talk about the Star City Ship to Site set-up. It is possibly one of the best things that Star City offers. Having the ability to go to an open and easily acquire your cards is fantastic. I literally had to do next to nothing to get them. The exchange went as follows:
Me: "I have an order to pick up. How do I make this so?"
Helpful Star City Employee: "Show me your I.D. and I can find your order."
Me: *Shows I.D.* "Should be a bunch of red cards."
At this point the man wanders away for about 15 seconds and then returns, my cards in hand.
Helpful Star City Employee: "You had a whole box! Here you go."
It was the most painless process I have had with online ordering as it felt like I essentially called in my order to a Chinese place and showed up a bit later to get it. And they gave me free egg rolls. It was awesome. If you need something you can't find at your local store (because you should support that place where you play, seriously guys) and intend on going to an open any time soon, I highly recommend this!
Now lets get down to some sweet burn spells! I am going to focus on Standard for this entry and then perhaps take a step into Legacy for my next entry.
I faced down a Red deck in Kansas City, round one of Standard. While he took the victory from me, there was one card that he was not playing main deck that I think would have vastly increased his win percentage across the day. This card is Gut Shot.
Gut Shot has about 1 trillion uses. They mostly involve dealing one damage to things, obviously. It takes care of a turn one Birds of Paradise or Llanowar Elf, clearing the way for your one drop while slowing the tempo of Wolf-Run Ramp or any Pod list, and making it even harder to find those two mans needed to stop the inevitable march of your Stormblood Berserker. It can also make sure that the Lashwrithe of Mono Black Infect never makes it to any of their 1/1 fliers that wreck your day.
Speaking of that blood crazed man, Gut Shot can be the 1 drop you need to make sure that Stormblood is a thirsty fellow when he enters the battlefield. Going turn one Mountain-Go can lull your opponent into an incredibly false sense of security that can be shattered quickly as they find themselves facing down a 3/3 with an ill equipt hand and an empty board.
Now Red can easily handle everything with Toughness 1-3, but once that rear end hits 4, red gets mighty awkward. Hero of Bladehold can make even the most experienced player sweat when you only have-as red so often does-2 mountains on your side of the field. In the glory days of Lightning Bolt, this was no problem, but now that we are paying two to make 3 damage happen, the free Gut Shot looks a lot better than taking a minimum 7 from a Hero swinging at the face.
As far as red goes, we have no end of things that target, forcing that pesky Phantasmal Image to take a rest in the graveyard. However, pointing an Incinerate at him can feel a tiny bit wasteful, knowing you could send it to your opponents face, making the game vastly more winnable, if it weren't for that silly Image in your way. Gut Shot again comes to the rescue you are now using it as "Pay 2 life: destroy target giant threat" which can be a massive advantage for red in games that can seem entirely unwinnable.
The last reason to be playing Gut Shot is possibly the strongest. Shrine of Burning Rage. I am going to let that sit for a moment. This card grows your shrine at instant speed. For free. Activating Shrine costs 3 mana. That is practically infinity, especially when you want to keep playing things to keep that pressure up and make your opponent feel the burn. Now you can leave that 3 open, not worrying about a huge blow out to artifact destruction, and still maintain an ability to respond to potential threats as they might come up. More importantly is the reach that they give Shrine in the mid game. Having a shrine at 5 and an opponent at 10 makes your opponent feel like they have a few turns to draw an answer. Get in for 3, even if you have to make bad attacks, puts your opponent at 7. Gut Shot drops them to 6 and grows your Shrine to 6. Wait. Those are the same number. And you won another game.
The fact that this card is almost never a disappointing top deck should be a huge indicator that you should be playing it in your monored list. It is a hugely versatile card and it forces your opponent to do nearly impossible guestimations on combat math that make even the most experienced control player very uncomfortable. Gut Shot offers creature control in multiple ways, tricky midgame and combat choices for your opponent, and the ability to kill your opponent out of no where. It is exactly what Red wants in a 1 mana burn spell (that isn't Bolt).
Thanks for reading! You can contact me on Twitter to enjoy more of my wit. If you would prefer to just sit back and listen to the soothing sound of my voice, check out the podcast in which I partake. Until next time, keep your sleeves clean and your shipping free!
First, a big shout out to Daniel Dusang, one of my travel companions and fellow blogger. He top 16ed the Standard portion of the event and ended up 22nd in the Legacy Open. I was very impressed by his showing over both days and if we are lucky, he may share some of his tech with us in the coming days. Secondly, I got to meet Gavin Verhey, who is one of the reasons why I am writing this very moment. Thirdly, I got to play against Star City Writer and Pro Gerry Thompson. He is an immensely skilled player and was very cool. He and I actually got a feature match which you can find here. I intend to buy premium just to see what this man has to say and honestly, you might want to as well. Will Craddock took down the first draft open, which is kind of a big deal. And a special thanks is owed to Kyle for convincing me to fit 3 Figure of Destinies into my list, which you can find on the Star City Top 16 deck lists. Those puppies ate the turn one Force of Will just like they were supposed to, clearing the way for a ton of sweet burn. Lastly, but certainly not least, a big shout out goes to Ryan Daly. This young man is a talented player, no doubt, and despite what many people think, Dredge takes no small amount of skill to pilot, as I found out. I hope to see him on the top 16 deck list page more often!
Before I move on to the main event, I must talk about the Star City Ship to Site set-up. It is possibly one of the best things that Star City offers. Having the ability to go to an open and easily acquire your cards is fantastic. I literally had to do next to nothing to get them. The exchange went as follows:
Me: "I have an order to pick up. How do I make this so?"
Helpful Star City Employee: "Show me your I.D. and I can find your order."
Me: *Shows I.D.* "Should be a bunch of red cards."
At this point the man wanders away for about 15 seconds and then returns, my cards in hand.
Helpful Star City Employee: "You had a whole box! Here you go."
It was the most painless process I have had with online ordering as it felt like I essentially called in my order to a Chinese place and showed up a bit later to get it. And they gave me free egg rolls. It was awesome. If you need something you can't find at your local store (because you should support that place where you play, seriously guys) and intend on going to an open any time soon, I highly recommend this!
Now lets get down to some sweet burn spells! I am going to focus on Standard for this entry and then perhaps take a step into Legacy for my next entry.
I faced down a Red deck in Kansas City, round one of Standard. While he took the victory from me, there was one card that he was not playing main deck that I think would have vastly increased his win percentage across the day. This card is Gut Shot.
Gut Shot has about 1 trillion uses. They mostly involve dealing one damage to things, obviously. It takes care of a turn one Birds of Paradise or Llanowar Elf, clearing the way for your one drop while slowing the tempo of Wolf-Run Ramp or any Pod list, and making it even harder to find those two mans needed to stop the inevitable march of your Stormblood Berserker. It can also make sure that the Lashwrithe of Mono Black Infect never makes it to any of their 1/1 fliers that wreck your day.
Speaking of that blood crazed man, Gut Shot can be the 1 drop you need to make sure that Stormblood is a thirsty fellow when he enters the battlefield. Going turn one Mountain-Go can lull your opponent into an incredibly false sense of security that can be shattered quickly as they find themselves facing down a 3/3 with an ill equipt hand and an empty board.
Now Red can easily handle everything with Toughness 1-3, but once that rear end hits 4, red gets mighty awkward. Hero of Bladehold can make even the most experienced player sweat when you only have-as red so often does-2 mountains on your side of the field. In the glory days of Lightning Bolt, this was no problem, but now that we are paying two to make 3 damage happen, the free Gut Shot looks a lot better than taking a minimum 7 from a Hero swinging at the face.
As far as red goes, we have no end of things that target, forcing that pesky Phantasmal Image to take a rest in the graveyard. However, pointing an Incinerate at him can feel a tiny bit wasteful, knowing you could send it to your opponents face, making the game vastly more winnable, if it weren't for that silly Image in your way. Gut Shot again comes to the rescue you are now using it as "Pay 2 life: destroy target giant threat" which can be a massive advantage for red in games that can seem entirely unwinnable.
The last reason to be playing Gut Shot is possibly the strongest. Shrine of Burning Rage. I am going to let that sit for a moment. This card grows your shrine at instant speed. For free. Activating Shrine costs 3 mana. That is practically infinity, especially when you want to keep playing things to keep that pressure up and make your opponent feel the burn. Now you can leave that 3 open, not worrying about a huge blow out to artifact destruction, and still maintain an ability to respond to potential threats as they might come up. More importantly is the reach that they give Shrine in the mid game. Having a shrine at 5 and an opponent at 10 makes your opponent feel like they have a few turns to draw an answer. Get in for 3, even if you have to make bad attacks, puts your opponent at 7. Gut Shot drops them to 6 and grows your Shrine to 6. Wait. Those are the same number. And you won another game.
The fact that this card is almost never a disappointing top deck should be a huge indicator that you should be playing it in your monored list. It is a hugely versatile card and it forces your opponent to do nearly impossible guestimations on combat math that make even the most experienced control player very uncomfortable. Gut Shot offers creature control in multiple ways, tricky midgame and combat choices for your opponent, and the ability to kill your opponent out of no where. It is exactly what Red wants in a 1 mana burn spell (that isn't Bolt).
Thanks for reading! You can contact me on Twitter to enjoy more of my wit. If you would prefer to just sit back and listen to the soothing sound of my voice, check out the podcast in which I partake. Until next time, keep your sleeves clean and your shipping free!
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