[Report] UGW Threshold (First Place)

[Bardo]

January 7, 2006; Rainy Day Games; Portland/Aloha, Oregon

Preface. With only seven people playing, I wouldn’t weigh these result too heavily. In fact, I wouldn't weigh them at all. I ask that you take them for what they’re worth. I write this for my amusement and the general edification of community. But if you’re interested in a serious tournament and serious results, seriously, look elsewhere.

But to make this post somewhat redeemable, I’ll list my current sideboard guide at the end for those who want to continue to develop this deck.

As you may have guessed, I played UGW Threshold at the event; in lieu of UBG Loam/Tog, my current pet-project. Initially I was a little concerned to be playing Threshold since my last article on that deck appeared on Starcitygames just the day before. Therein, I posted my current list and detailed strategies on how to beat the deck.  Undeterred, and because my genitals are inordinately girthsome, I decided to play one of my favorite decks anyhow.

’BardoGro 2K6’ aka UGW Threshold
by Bardo

4 Serum Visions
4 Brainstorm
4 Mental Note
2 Sleight of Hand

4 Force of Will
4 Daze
2 Counterspell

4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Engineered Explosives

4 Meddling Mage
4 Werebear
3 Nimble Mongoose
2 Mystic Enforcer

4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
2 Windswept Heath
3 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
2 Island
1 Forest
1 Plains

sb 4 Hydroblast
sb 2 Tivadar’s Crusade
sb 2 Naturalize
sb 2 Worship
sb 2 Armageddon
sb 1 Cursed Totem
sb 1 Nimble Mongoose
sb 1 Engineered Explosives

I would have fit 3 Pithing Needles into the sideboard, had I owned them. Alas.

Before moving on to my matches, I’ll just note that if I were to play this deck tomorrow, I wouldn’t change a single card between the maindeck and sideboard. It was exceptionally tight all day (I mean, for like three hours).

Round 1. Nathan with Boros Deck Wins (RW Aggro)

Both of these games were quite embarrassing, and not for me: lots of awful Ravnica cards that I’ve never heard of. The entire match was over in about fifteen minutes (with the majority of that time being me resolving Serum Visions/Brainstorm, searching for lands with Flooded Strand and reading what the hell his cards were suposed to do.)

Like most “good decks,� Threshold monkey-stomps bad aggro.

Game one: Werebear + Nimble Mongoose (his life: 17, 14, 7, 0)
Game two: A lone Mongoose gets him down to 12, then Werebear joins the party (his life: 23, 17, 14, 15, 12, 6, 0)

Sideboarding:
+4 Hydroblast
+2 Worship
-4 Meddling Mage
-2 Sleight of Hand

Did I feel a little guilty bringing in a ridiculous amount of hate for him and making the match nigh-unwinnable? Honestly, yeah; but just a little.

To kill some time between rounds, I smoked him with my RG Beatdown.

’BardoBeatz 2K6’ aka RG Beatdown
by Bardo

4 Kird Ape
4 Jackal Pup
4 Jungle Lion
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 River Boa

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Shock
4 Rancor
4 Fireblast

2 Umezawa’s Jitte

4 Wasteland
4 Taiga
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
3 Mountain
3 Forest

Games: 2-0
Matches: 1-0

Round 2. Bret [aka LinkXwing at The Source] with IGGy Pop

Game 1. The last time I played Bret was at the Legacy GPT in Vancouver, Washington where I beat his High Tide deck with my ‘Angel Fish (report)’.

I lose the die roll and Bret leads with a Polluted Delta fetching an Underground Sea into Brainstorm. I figure he is playing Tog, and smile inwardly. (Edit - On second thought, Bret resolved a Dark Ritual into Defense Grid on turn-1, so I really should have known something was up.)

On my turn I deliberated what to name with my Meddling Mage, and being the idiot I am, name “Psychatog.â€? Now even if I was playing against Psychatog, I should have named “Intuitionâ€?, since that’s the best way to slow down the new Dredge-Tog decks.  At 11 life, Bret plays several Lion’s Eye Diamonds and Intuitions for 3 Ill-Gotten Gains;  I finally figure out what he’s up to. Several spells later and I’m hit with a huge [card]Tendrils of Agony[/card]. Had I named “Intuitionâ€? with Meddling Mage, I would have won.

Sideboarding:
+2 Armageddon
-2 Swords to Plowshares

Game 2. I play Mage on turn-2 and wonder what to name (Ill-Gotten Gains? Intuition? Tendrils of Agony? Dark Ritual?); I think it over for a minute and decide to have the Mage chanting against “Lion’s Eye Diamond,� going with the strategy I’d use against High Tide: attack the mana engine, instead of the kill-card. So here’s the question, perhaps the raison d’etre of this post: What the hell do you name with Meddling Mage against IGGy Pop?

After having my Armageddon Duress’d away, I get Bret down to 2 life and am hit with a Tendrils for 12 life, bringing him up to 14 and me down to 7. Unfortunately for him, I have 9 power on the board with a Meddling Mage (on LED), Werebear, and Nimble Mongoose. I win two turns later.

Game 3. My sideboard plan remains the same, but this time I set my turn-2 Meddling Mage to “Tendrils of Agony� -- reasoning that I’ll focus the rest of my counters on bounce-effects. That turn-2 Mage and a turn-3 Mongoose win the game, but it gets very confusing as the game wears on. At some point I realize that there’s no way for Bret to win when I have 2 Force of Wills and several blue cards in the graveyard when he goes for Ill-Gotten Gains. When he concedes a turn after resolving IGG I show him my hand: Force of Will, Force of Will, Force of Will, Brainstorm. GG, indeed.

Games: 4-1
Matches: 2-0

Round 3. Dan [aka Belzebozo on the SCG Forums] with Secret Prison Force

Dan is the guy I regularly play against and I knew this match was bad for him. However, before the match he informs me that he’s made a major overhaul to his sideboard, as well some tweaks to the maindeck, and revised his strategy against me.

Game 1. True to form against Dan, I win the die roll (as I always do) and play a Polluted Delta into Island into Serum Visions. What follows for the next 30-40 minutes is one of the strangest games of Magic I’ve played in a long time. I play out nearly all of the dudes in my deck and have an insane board position: Nimble Mongoose, Werebear, Werebear, Werebear, Meddling Mage (on Tangle Wire), Meddling Mage (on Winter Orb), Meddling Mage (on Verdant Force -- meh, don’t ask). Unfortunately for me, my horde is held off by Troll Ascetics and mana elves, with every attack (via double-blocking and Troll regeneration) threatening to trade Werebears for Llanowar Elves -- I suppose it’s poetic justice or karma or something. So instead of getting impatient and alpha striking with my superior forces I just get comfortable in my chair and play Draw-Go forever, looking for a Mystic Enforcer FTW.

When Dan is at 37 life (thanks to several Swords to Plowshares), I finally land an Enforcer under Sphere of Resistance. Dan’s life: 37, 31, 25, 19, 13. At 13 however he casts Living Wish, which I let resolve (figuring I’d counter the card he tutors for instead, a huge mistake in retrospect). Wish fetches Arashi and Enforcer hits the bin after an uncounterable cycling for 6. Enforcer #2 wins the game with only 5 cards left in my library.

Sideboarding:
+1 Engineered Explosives
+1 Cursed Totem
+1 Naturalize
+1 Worship
-2 Sleight of Hand
-2 Nimble Mongoose

Game 2 is the complete opposite of game 1. I Force of Will Dan’s turn-1 Hidden Gibbons, play a land and Mental Note. The next turn I resolve a Meddling Mage on “Tangle Wire.� The following turn play a Werebear, hit threshold on turn 4 and just start beating Dan down in classic aggro-control mode (Counterspelling a Ravenous Baloth, Dazing Fangren Firstborn, Forcing a Natural Order). His life: 18, 12, 6, 0. At the end of the game (turn 6), I’m sitting with a lone Windswept Heath in my hand.

Games: 6-1
Matches: 3-0

At First Place, I receive 6 packs of Ravnica. Not bad considering the entry fee was only $5.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

My current sideboard guide:

Goblins
+4 Hydroblast
+2 Tivadar’s Crusade
+2 Worship
+1 Nimble Mongoose
-4 Meddling Mage
-2 Sleight of Mind
-1 Daze
-1 Mystic Enforcer
-1 Engineered Explosives

Sligh/RDW
+4 Hydroblast
+2 Worship
-4 Meddling Mage
-2 Sleight of Mind

Landstill
+2 Naturalize
+2 Armageddon
-2 Sleight of Hand
-1 Engineered Explosives
-1 Meddling Mage

High Tide / IGGy Pop
+2 Armageddon
-2 Swords to Plowshares

Survival
+2 Worship
+1 Naturalize
-2 Nimble Mongoose
-1 Sleight of Hand

Psychatog/Madness
+1 Cursed Totem
+1 Armageddon
-2 Sleight of Hand

Stax
+2 Naturalize
+1 Engineered Explosives
-2 Sleight of Hand
-1 Counterspell

Fish
+2 Armageddon
+1 Naturalize
-2 Sleight of Hand
-1 Meddling Mage

BW Confidant (Pikula.dec)
+1 Engineered Explosives
+1 Cursed Totem (Shade, Wretch)
-2 Sleight of Hand

Affinity
+2 Naturalize
+1 Armageddon
+1 Engineered Explosives
-2 Sleight of Hand
-2 Daze

So, yeah, Sleight of Hand is something I side out every game. You’re of course wondering why it’s in the deck at all, right? Good deck design suggests if any one card is so expendable, it should probably be something else altogether. Here I can’t really disagree, but I’m always happy to draw it in game 1, since the deck has all of the tools it needs to win most matches anyhow, and Sleight helps you find those tools. In games 2-3, I’m always happy to have something more specialized for the match than the Sleight since I don’t want to compromise the core of the deck. So Sleight is really a tool to make sideboarding easy as modular support for the deck (builds threshold, digs for answers/threats, blue spells to pitch to FoW, etc.). But if you think Sleight doesn’t have a place in the deck, and I’m not entirely sure that it does, feel free to suggest something else.

Prologue. The only other thing I want people to take away from my and the French builds is the ridiculousness of [card]Mental Note[/card]. Playing against Belzebozo on Friday I managed to hit threshold on turn-2, and was surprised by that. Mental Note super-charges the deck and I have no idea why I wasn’t play it before. Losing any real means of card advantage is not as painful as you might think. The high cantrip and threat count assures you’ll have plenty of momentum to keep the deck moving as you put your opponent under a quick clock.

Over the course of testing and these matches, I only found two occasions where Mental Note’s milling was a downside. Against the first game against Dan, I was sitting on two Mental Notes at the end of the game, since I couldn’t afford to mill my best means of winning (Mystic Enforcer); and if I cast both Notes, I would have decked myself. And in game-2 of the same match, Dan had a Wasteland on the board and my second turn Mental Note milled the basic Forest I was planning to fetch with Windswept Heath. Consequently, I had to fetch a Tropical Island instead, which was immediately destroyed (but not after I tapped it for G to play Werebear). I still went on to win the game, but it’s worth noting. The only thing I can derive from this is to suggest playing two basic Islands if you play with Mental Note. (Those Islands are among the most important lands you can have in play.) That and don't be too attached to your 1-ofs.

Nimble Mongoose is fine as 3-of, and Sleight #2 might become Mongoose #4 sometime soon. But Meddling Mage should be nothing less than a 4-of. They’re just too damn good if you know what you’re doing. And while a third Mystic Enforcer is occasionally desirable, they’re often too slow and cumbersome in anything but the mirror and against other aggro-control or pure-control decks. I remember deliberating over a complex scry that revealed an Enforcer against IGGy Pop when my opponent was at 10. Even there it was too slow and I put it on the bottom of the deck to maximize my odds for drawing counters.

The lone Explosives performed admirably and I have no intention of removing them anytime soon. Finally, the mana base is as stable as a rock: 18 lands: 8 fetchlands, 6 dual lands, 4 basics. I really think that’s the way to go.

In short, this is a really good deck. Try it sometime.

Cheers,
Bardo

[Machinus]

Thanks for the report. I am curious about your Stax sideboarding strategy. I am expecting more people to pick that deck up to contend with the increasing popularity of threshold. While explosives is good, I don't think it's better than naturalize against Stax. Naturalize can remove the same threats, most likely chalice for 1, stax, and tangle, but explosives is more difficult to use against suppression field and trinisphere. Also, the second naturalize is always really great against stax, but not so much for explosives #2. Explosives is a really solid maindeck card as a 1-of, but I think naturalize or even oxidize would be a stronger answer to bring in from the board.

Isn't naturalize useful against any other decks?

[Bardo]

Against Stax, I'll board in my 2 Naturalize and 1 Engineered Explosives. Are you sure you read my SB guide right?

Stax
+2 Naturalize
+1 Engineered Explosives
-2 Sleight of Hand
-1 Counterspell

These are the decks I bring Naturalize in for:

Landstill
Survival.dec
Stax
Fish
Affinity

Between the two cards, I think they're equally potent.

[Matt]

I would assume you name Tendrils vs. Iggy Pop. They can't win at all if they don't resolve thier 1-2 bounce spells at that point, right?

[SpencerForHire]

I would assume you name Tendrils vs. Iggy Pop. They can't win at all if they don't resolve thier 1-2 bounce spells at that point, right?

That is the ideal Mage IMO because even with your bounce you have to draw it.  You can't even Intuition for it because you simply will never see it.  On top of that, bounce can be countered.  I've played on both ends and I see no finer play.

[Anusien]

Against Iggy Pop I'd name Tendrils of Agony.  Against Gamekeeper/Salvagers I'd name LED game 1 (in case they have some tricky reanimation + LED stuff), but I might name Gamekeeper games2-3 in case they board in Colossus and I didn't have StP.

[Machinus]

Against Stax, I'll board in my 2 Naturalize and 1 Engineered Explosives. Are you sure you read my SB guide right?

Yes, I am. My point is that I think 1 explosives and 3 naturalize are much better than two of each. With only two naturalize the chance is greater that threshold will get locked down before they can remove a key piece. The second explosives is also redundant, since if Threshold can blow the first chalice for 1 and any moxes, it should really be able to swing for the win. Trinisphere and suppression field make explosives very slow. However, Naturalize only costs 1 more under trinisphere, and can be played in response to tangle wire, wasteland, smokestack, port, etc.

Besides the Stax matchup, I am kind of concerned about only having 2 artifact/enchantment spot removal slots. However, there are many many options in green and white, so this is basically a metagame call here.

[Anusien]

Against Stax, I'll board in my 2 Naturalize and 1 Engineered Explosives. Are you sure you read my SB guide right?

Yes, I am. My point is that I think 1 explosives and 3 naturalize are much better than two of each. With only two naturalize the chance is greater that threshold will get locked down before they can remove a key piece. The second explosives is also redundant, since if Threshold can blow the first chalice for 1 and any moxes, it should really be able to swing for the win. Trinisphere and suppression field make explosives very slow. However, Naturalize only costs 1 more under trinisphere, and can be played in response to tangle wire, wasteland, smokestack, port, etc.

The point was that he's only bringing in 3 cards anyway.  Unless you mean he should cut the other EE from the board and bring in a 3rd Naturalize?  Decks like this worry me with EE as a strategy out of the board (instead of the maindeck oh shit button) because of all the collateral damage.

I'd board this way:
White Stax: As listed
Burning Stax (Flame Vault Stax):
-4 StP
-1 Sleight of Hand
+2 Naturalize
+1 Engineered Explosives
+2 Hydroblast (for Fusillades, Wishes and Boiling Seas)

[Bardo]

My point is that I think 1 explosives and 3 naturalize are much better than two of each.

Before I worked out my sideboard, I had 3 Naturalize in there. But after I figured out what I could take out of the maindeck in my matches when I wrote up my sideboard guide, I realized there were few occasions where I wanted all three Naturalize (like Stax and Affinity -- which I assume will be a rare matches). Against most decks, Armageddon serves a similar role, and I'd often rather have that. But really, it comes down to how far you can dig into the core of the deck to and how much sideboard space you can justify, and there are too few occasions where I want all three Naturalize, at this point.

EE is just immensely flexible, and I can see bringing it in against other decks that I didn't list above.

In the meantime against Stax, 2/2 EE/Naturalize should be fine. As for metagaming, Serenity, Energy Flux, and Ray of Revelation can all be considered -- I covered most of the good tools in Part 3 of the Thresh primer.