Unlocking the Vault #22: The Age of Creatures

In late January, Brian DeMars, a prominent Vintage writer, proclaimed that “Vintage has become overrun by hordes of creatures…” He then laid out a well-written analysis observing how creatures have evolved to be much more than cards that attack into the red zone; they have become spells on legs. It is for this reason that creatures, for better or worse, will become a staple of Eternal formats for the foreseeable future.

Not Your Father’s Creatures

Think back over the last five to six years and try to consider all the creatures that have infiltrated Eternal formats. What do they (pretty much) have in common? They all have abilities that are spell-like in nature. That is, they mimic other powerful spells.

Dark Confidant draws an extra card per turn kind of like Phyrexian Arena, even more like Dark Tutelage.
Qasali Pridemage is a Disenchant.
Noble Hierarch is a Mox.
Snapcaster Mage is (loosely) a Regrowth or Recoup.
Scavenging Ooze is a Relic of Progentitus that grows.
Trygon Predator is a Disenchant each turn.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is a Thorn of Amethyst.
Sower of Temptation is a Control Magic.
Vendilion Clique is a unique combination of Peak and Thoughtseize.
Phyrexian Revoker is a Pithing Needle.
Cursecatcher is a Force Spike for instants and sorceries.
Fauna Shaman is a Survival of the Fittest.
Grand Abolisher is a sorcery-speed Orims Chant.
Kataki, Wars Wage is an Energy Flux-lite.
Leonin Relic Warder is a Revoke Existence.
Knight of the Reliquary is a Crop Rotation.
Stoneforge Mystic is a Tinker for equipment.
Fiend Hunter is a sorcery-speed Swords to Plowshares without the life-gaining drawback.

And the list goes on. I’m sure I’ve forgotten some recent creatures, but I think the point has been made. While these aren’t playable in all Eternal formats, they do represent the new era of creatures that Wizards has been pushing out going as far back as Kamigawa Block with Kataki.

What does this mean? Well, thanks to the “modern” card development process implemented by Wizards, we can expect to see more creatures like this going forward. I personally expect at least one more creature from the upcoming set Avacyn Restored to find its way onto the list above. As more creatures are added to the card pool, the more likely we are to see some of them make their way into Eternal formats.

A Critical Threshold Has Been Crossed

As for the present, with the release of Innistrad, it seems that we’ve finally crossed a threshold of creature viability in Eternal formats. One can argue that Snapcaster has finally put creatures over the top of fringe playability in Eternal formats, including Vintage. It certainly helps that Snapcaster is blue, as I’ve written before, but it’s much more than Snapcaster that has led to where we are today.

Creatures now offer enough value to be considered over previously established format pillars. With regard to Classic, you are looking at Oath, Dredge, Workshop, Tinker, and Storm as the more “broken” decks. Creatures, with a handful of complementary disruption spells, now have the ability to manage each of those decks and can race all but their most busted hands. While it is convenient to say that having the Power 9 would solve the creature uprising, I’m not entirely sure about that notion. Just look at Vintage where Noble Fish decks are placing in Top 8s more and more these days. DeMars himself, in his most recent article, just posted a mid-range Bant list piloted by Shawn Griffiths that is heavily creature-based, saying that it was one of two decks he would consider playing in a Vintage tournament today (the other being a Vintage Control list).

Aside from Hierarch, all the creatures listed above cost 2 or more mana to cast. Delver of Secrets has taken Classic by storm because of its low mana cost. I’ve written a lot about Delver already, but it’s worth noting how well-situated Delver is to compete with other strategies in the format. An early Delver can end the game within 3-4 turns with help of some other creatures. In many ways, it takes up the old stand in for big dumb creatures, ‘Goyf, and can combine with a ‘Goyf to quickly whittle down an opponent’s life total. In Classic, it helps curve out Fish decks to be their most efficient each turn. In the past, Fish decks would spend their first turn casting a Noble Hierarch, or simply passing the turn. Now, they can spend their first turn dropping a real threat, and sit confidently behind their free countermagic in either Force of Will or Mental Misstep. This is why Delver is so successful.

Which brings me to my next point: Mental Misstep has completely changed the way we play Classic. It stands to reason that no deck has benefited as much from Misstep as creature-based decks have. In almost every other deck, Misstep is nothing more than a chance to counter other Missteps and perhaps a Tutor or the like. Oath can counter Nature’s Claims aimed at their Oath of Druids and Dredge can in turn Misstep an opponent’s Misstep on their anti-graveyard hate measures as well as Grafdiggers Cage, but that’s about it. Spell Pierce isn’t played as much these days, and Spell Snare is generally only useful against creatures (that are packing their own Missteps). Storm decks don’t really want Misstep, and what good is Misstep to a Tinker deck other than to protect your Tinker-bot from a removal or bounce spell? I suppose if you could counter a Voltaic Key, or protect your Time Vault-Key lockdown, but Force works just as well and isn’t subject to a Misstep from the opponent. Many people arbitrarily Misstep Brainstorm and that is not always the correct play. It you think your opponent is casting Brainstorm to dig for land or for countermagic while your spell is on the stack, those are probably the only times it’s worth countering.

Creature decks, on the other hand, now have the ability to stop almost all the spot removal thrown at them. Think about the most popular creature removal spells in Classic: Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Lightning Bolt, Chain of Vapor, and Dismember. Only one of those cards avoids Misstep, and often, the cost of 4 life to cast Dismember is nearly as detrimental as the creature it kills in the first place. As mentioned above, the best countermagic against 2-casting cost creatures, Spell Snare, is a 1-mana spell and thus Misstep protects the creature decks from that as well. Snapcaster and Misstep also have great synergy in that they can also turn a spent Misstep into protection for a creature already on the battlefield, or on the stack (in the case of Spell Snare). Now, I’m not advocating that Misstep be banned in Classic (it won’t), but I think it deserves to be acknowledged that Misstep has changed the way Classic is played and generally in favor of creature decks.

Sideboards for creature-based decks are now more flexible than ever before. Grafdiggers Cage allows creature decks to compete with three of their biggest nemeses: Oath, Storm, and Dredge. Perhaps the best reason to play Misstep in non-creature decks is as protection from Cage, but I digress. Cage frees up creature decks to add more sideboard slots as needed. With 4 Leyline of the Void and 3-4 Cages, creature decks now have an additional 7-8 slots to shore up other matchups, such as the occasional Workshop match, or Affinity, which can punish other creature decks.

So, are we resigned to a format of just Legacy decks?

The short answer: NO! There is a reason decks like Storm, Dredge, and Oath were successful before. These decks have the tools to go over the top of any creature-based strategy, with Oath being the most effective against creatures. That’s not to say that Storm and Dredge can’t thrive as well. It just takes a little tweaking to shore up the creature matchup in order to get the upper hand.

Let’s start with Dredge. Dredge has already proven it can fight in the era of Cage as demonstrated by Dredge-master Mark Hornung and his “Cagebreaker Dredge” deck. Mark wrote-up an entire article on his deck’s genesis as well as a forward look into how he would revise the deck after having played in the tournament with it. I’ve taken the time to make some small tweaks to the main deck and sideboard myself to customize it for the Classic metagame:

Cagebreaker Dredge modded for Classic by enderfall

Creatures (24) 4 Bloodghast 2 Fatestitcher 1 Flame-Kin Zealot 4 Golgari Grave-Troll 2 Golgari Thug 2 Ichorid 4 Narcomoeba 4 Stinkweed Imp 1 Sun Titan Other Spells (23) 4 Bridge from Below 4 Cabal Therapy 1 Chain of Vapor 1 Darkblast 2 Dread Return 3 Lotus Petal 4 Nature’s Claim 4 Serum Powder Lands (13) 4 Bazaar of Baghdad 3 City of Brass 2 Dakmor Salvage 4 Undiscovered Paradise Sideboard (15) 1 City of Brass 3 Chain of Vapor 1 Darkblast 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 1 Ichorid 2 Ingot Chewer 4 Mental Misstep 2 Petrified Field

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This is a resilient update to Dredge that is still explosive (but not quite as much) Game 1. Post-board, it has the answers to just about all popular Dredge hate, though I wouldn’t argue if people wanted to play Wispmare to combat the ever-present Leyline or remove the Lotus Petals from the maindeck. Personally, I prefer the versatility that Petals offer for Classic since they are restricted in Vintage. It there is a shift to spells like Surgical Extraction and/or Ravenous Trap, then switching some of the sideboard cards for Unmask is also reasonable.

Oath decks are already gearing up for the post-Cage rise of creatures by employing the ShOath (Show and Tell + Oath of Druids) version. I wrote at length about ShOath in my Oath primer a few weeks back, but here is the decklist that I provided, which should be a basis for today’s metagame as it proceeds:

ShOath by enderfall

Creatures (4) 4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn Other Spells (38) 4 Brainstorm 1 Channel 1 Demonic Tutor 4 Force of Will 4 Lotus Petal 4 Mental Misstep 4 Mystical Tutor 3 Nature’s Claim 4 Oath of Druids 3 Show and Tell 3 Spell Pierce 2 Thoughtseize 1 Vampiric Tutor Lands (18) 1 Flooded Strand 4 Forbidden Orchard 1 Island 2 Misty Rainforest 1 Polluted Delta 2 Scalding Tarn 1 Strip Mine 2 Tropical Island 1 Tundra 2 Underground Sea 1 Volcanic Island Sideboard (15) 1 Ancient Tomb 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 2 Firespout 2 Flusterstorm 2 Hurkyl’s Recall 4 Leyline of the Void 1 Pyroblast 2 Surgical Extraction

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The sideboard is a work in progress and should be noted as something that ought to evolve with the metagame. I’m not 100% sold on Elesh Norn, but she is a beating against creature-based decks and can be hardcast off a Tundra and a Petal with a Channel as early as Turn 3 with 2 green mana sources. Probably too ambitious, but it’s something to investigate over a 4th Emrakul. It obviously blanks Dredge, so that’s another point in favor of Elesh Norn.

Storm decks should have an upper hand these days with Workshop decks pushed to the sidelines with all of the Affinty and Oath decks running around. Here’s my latest Storm build:

LED Bob Storm by enderfall

Creatures (4) 1 Blightsteel Colossus 3 Dark Confidant Other Spells (41) 4 Brainstorm 1 Chain of Vapor 4 Dark Ritual 1 Demonic Tutor 2 Duress 1 Imperial Seal 4 Infernal Tutor 1 Hurkyl’s Recall 4 Lion’s Eye Diamond 4 Lotus Petal 1 Mana Crypt 1 Mana Vault 1 Minds Desire 1 Necropotence 1 Sol Ring 3 Thoughtseize 2 Tendrils of Agony 1 Time Vault 1 Tinker 1 Vampiric Tutor 1 Voltaic Key 1 Yawgmoth’s Will Lands (15) 2 Island 4 Misty Rainforest 4 Polluted Delta 1 Swamp 4 Underground Sea Sideboard (15) 2 Chain of Vapor 3 City of Traitors 2 Dismember 3 Hurkyl’s Recall 1 Massacre 2 Spell Pierce 2 Surgical Extraction

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One could also employ a transformational sideboard with 4 Forbidden Orchard in the maindeck and an Oath package in the sideboard. This deck could easily go over the top of creature decks and routinely combo off either Turn 2 or Turn 3. With a timely discard spell, that should be enough to disrupt most Fish decks, though be extremely cautious of Stifle on your fetch lands!

Of note, Minds Desire can be safely employed as a back-up win condition when staring down the face of a Cage that you can’t remove. This is why the deck above plays two basic islands, that is, so it can hardcast Desire in a pinch. Often, a storm of just 4 or 5 can cause Desire to go off, though it has been known to fizzle out at times.

What the Future Holds…

Clearly, creatures are here to stay, but please don’t confuse that for a weak or boring Classic metagame. Don’t forget: Classic gets to play with Demonic Tutor, Yawgmoth’s Will, Tinker, and many, many more broken cards that are not available to Legacy.

It’s a good point to remember that creatures are just that: creatures. They can be killed, and dedicating a part of your 75 to deal with creatures will be necessary going forward. It’s also important to note that the metagame will phase into and out of decks heavy on creatures. Just as any deck ever starts to get ahead, other decks will aim to bring it down until a new best deck comes to pass, and then the cycle will continue.

Further, there is always room for more innovation. The Classic card pool is vast and efficient. Control is never going to die, and I imagine there is a perfect build out there to strike through the creature decks in the format. I’ll make a DeMars-like prognostication and claim that the first person to build an effective Classic control deck will take down the next Daily Event.

What are your thoughts on the Age of Creatures in Eternal formats? Is this a problem and a sign of an unhealthy and underpowered format? Perhaps you think this will fade over time, and that the broken decks will prevail as they have historically? Sound off in the comment section!

enderfall
Clan Magic Eternal
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