Jamie Was Right About Everything: Part 2

Mike Flores

If you're wondering about why Jamie Was Right About Everything (well, let's be honest, maybe not "everything" but "a bunch of stuff"), I encourage you to check out the introduction in part one.

If, on the other hand, you're familiar with what Wakefield was about in terms design and theory, you will know that he always sought to achieve board control via interaction with his opponent's cards (both proactive disruption and flexible elimination), with a long-term outlook towards winning with a huge creature. On the other hand, if there was one thing that Jamie hated more than anything else, it was a deck that was designed to be non-interactive. He did not like decks that sort of manipulated themselves in order to get a combination-based win (High Tide), or even those that generated a huge mana engine in order to play out a number of expensive tricks (Suicide Brown); the exception of course was his own signature deck, which played for aggressive utility rather than pure deck manipulation (Secret Force). Even in the case of Secret Force, Jamie tried to play for turn-to-turn consistency, the opportunity to answer his opponent's threats, the ability to play out his own threats, and for each of those to be individually significant. As such, it shouldn't surprise you that Jamie liked high mana ratios (allowing for consistent turn to turn development), and played cards that were individually powerful and often quite flexible.
Jamie tried to play for turn-to-turn consistency, the opportunity to answer his opponent's threats, the ability to play out his own threats, and for each of those to be individually significant.

Jamie believed that he could get his opponent off of his game by taking out that player's cards - either by stifling offensive efforts with tons of spot elimination, or by stopping those threats from ever hitting the board - and by forcing his opponent to answer the Wakefield Fat. If able to execute on his plan, the fact that Jamie's mid-to-late plays showcased more impressive creatures, on average, than his opponent's would allow him to ride "the last fatty" to victory. Because of that, he played a more staggered mana setup than many decks, with specifically cheap plays designed for early trades, and the five or even six mana spells that justified his high land ratios waiting for the endgame. Modern interpretations, like Kibler's The Red Zone and Mowshowitz's My Fires, echo the Wakefield plan in many ways... While not necessarily monochromatic mid-range utility decks, they nevertheless played diverse mana costs, high mana ratios, and planned to end games with a last-spell Dragon or other fatty.

Much has been said of that game-ending fatty... last time we talked about how a modern Desolation Angel will generally be the last creature cast in an according-to-plan game, how in ages past, Necrosavant would rise out of the graveyard, putting an impressive 5/5 body out there to finish a game defined by attrition.

While that last fatty technically does the 20th point of damage, he serves as more a "caretaker" of the work that the cards before him did - the cards that made the right trades, established board advantage, and ultimately hit the graveyard - than a single-handed game winner. Instead of looking at the fatty, we will examine one of the cards that help get us to the end game, rather than the closer that finishes a game that is already won. Today's is the strategy of the first threat. He isn't necessarily designed to finish off the opponent, but is capable of doing so if drawn at the right point in the game. He is the creature that begins to roll momentum away from the opponent, in the direction of the Wakefield School.

For an additional point of reference, this precursor to modern Ponza decks is the Wakefield analogue to Deadguy Red:

Phoenix-Haups
Main Deck
	
Sideboard

18 Mountain 
4 Quicksand
4 Wasteland
	
3 Jackal Pup
4 Bogardan Phoenix
4 Mogg Fanatic
2 Orgg
3 Suq'Ata Lancer 
2 Wildfire Emissary
	

	

4 Incinerate
3 Jokulhaups
4 Kaervek's Torch 
4 Lightning Blast
3 Shock
	

	

 

Notice how Jamie was willing to cut a Jackal Pup in order to run less popular creatures like Suq'ata Lancer and Orgg, but would never cut a double-duty threat and elimination spell like Mogg Fanatic. He also played the unusual Bogardan Phoenix, a threat that would not only survive his Jokulhaups, but could also take down an opposing creature in combat, yet leave a solid 3/3 body to attack back.

Looking at this list, I think Jamie would have liked playing with Flametongue Kavu.

We've already seen a deck where Jamie ran four Carrionettes alongside four Nekrataals as creatures that doubled as elimination spells; the above list is willing to deal four damage for four mana without a 4/2 body being left in play. While the Carrionette may have been underrated, and the Nekrataal was a situational bomb, neither of these cards had the pedigree of a true Wakefield favorite. A veritable Lightning Blast with legs, Flametongue Kavu is also a fatty.

Jamie never got to, himself, play with this four-power Ghitu Slinger, an efficient elimination spell that left bigger body than either the Carrionette or Nekrataal that came before. Flametongue Kavu's impressive four power puts him in the same league, offensively, as cards like Sengir Vampire, and surpasses the Steel Golem; his affordable cost makes him a smoother cast than either. Flametongue Kavu isn't quite Desolation Angel, but his job isn't to close the game, necessarily, but to set it up. Regardless, we can never forget that he serves as a significant threat. Resolving him against an opponent will generally be accompanied by an opportune interaction of cards in play, ending in a appreciable swing in the board position for his controller.

Given the flow of today's Magic landscape, if Jamie would probably play a full boat of Flametongue Kavus, you should probably seriously consider doing so yourself. As the decks we expect to show up in the upcoming Standard environment are likely to be definied by green flashback and the Shadowmage Infiltrator, the metagame for this year's State Championships will be heavy creature decks mixed with mid-range permission decks that nevertheless play multiple small creatures. Flametongue Kavu excels against both ends of this spectrum.

While it is obvious that Flametongue Kavu is an excellent spell, at least situationally, I must echo the sentiments of a recent article by Eric Taylor, where he referred to the "all-star in draft" as currently "overlooked." I am not sure why players are afraid to build decks running four main deck copies of this overpowered spell. Even the successful deck played by Scott Richards at this year's Magic Invitational ran only two copies... His g-r configuration with Llanowar Elves and Thornscape Familiar for acceleration was set up perfectly to exploit the tempo advantage generated by this overlooked threat. Every deck in the upcoming Standard format (with the exception of Domain variants like Rice Snack) will have significant targets for the Flametongue Kavu's "comes into play" ability.

Besides the fact that there exist targets out there for Flametongue Kavu to hit, the fact of the matter is that his ability to deal four damage may be a necessary component for staying in a game, considering the projected effect of Odyssey. Each Call of the Herd and Beast Attack intends to play with the significance of two or sometimes three cards; without a spell like Flametongue Kavu to recover the card advantage lost by the power of these impressive flashback spells, it will be easy to fall behind a green mage's non-Creature spell creatures.

Shadowmage Infiltrator may be even more defining on the new environment than green's new arsenal. I consider it naive to build decks at all that cannot efficiently block or destroy the Shadowmage Infiltrator in the early game. One of the best cards available in the history of Standard, Jon Finkel's evasion makes him more dangerous once in play than even the legendary Ophidian. Plans like sticking a random wall in front of an oncoming Ophidian and expecting to stall the ground simply don't work against Shadowmage Infiltrator. Either you play creatures like Vodalian Zombie or Nightscape Familiar that can tangle with this wizard on defense and walk away, or you have to have some long term plan for neutralizing him, such as Opposition or red removal. The fact that Shadowmage Infiltrator has a toughness of three puts cards like Flametongue Kavu at a premium. It joins Urza's Rage as the best spot removal capable of efficiently dealing with Shadowmage Infiltrator, who ignores other commonly played answer spells, from Fire/Ice to Thornscape Battlemage.

I think the Sideboard's coverage of the 2001 Magic Invitational Standard Decks showcases the kinds of decks we will see developing in months to come. You will notice that with the exception of Tsuyoshi Fujita's Rice Snack, all of these decks play for turn-to-turn development, and a classic creature based offense. Even the control overload deck played by Tom Van de Logt ran four Shadowmage Infiltrators to help set up the late Urza's Rage. Flametongue Kavu helps stop opponents from developing through the midgame, and gives you a fairly early offensive window. Play four.

As for "Rice Snack", this Domain-combination deck seems the only opponent in sight against which you wouldn't want four Flametongue Kavus. While the potential for a dead card is obvious, and while Jamie would probably disapprove, I think the proper outlook on that matchup with four copies in your deck was best summed up by noted deck designer Seth Burn: "It sucks, but whether or not they win has nothing to do with you."