SuperGrow Metagame Analysis Brian Kibler Monday, January 21, 2002 When Alan Comer piloted a blue-green deck full of cheap creatures, cantrips, and free counters to a ninth place finish at Grand Prix-Las Vegas, most peoples' initial reactions were that he'd just gotten lucky. After all, the deck looked like a pile of garbage. Merfolk splashing green for Quirion Dryad? Only ten lands? It seemed like yet another of Alan Comer's wacky creations, more bizarre than effective. But effective it was, as Mike Long proved in Sendai with his souped-up version that added Werebears, Wild Mongrels, and Waterfront Bouncers to plug the deck's holes against opposing aggressive strategies. The Darth Vader of Magic tore through the Swiss rounds, crushing Sendai's Donate-heavy field without breaking a sweat, before falling only to eventual champion Kazuaki Arahori and his Zombie-Go deck in the semifinals. Long's success surprised those who had dismissed Comer's creation as a fluke, but it wasn't long before reports came back from tournaments across the globe of Quirion Dryads taking home the prize. Miracle Grow had arrived. Despite its widespread success, many arguments raged about the deck and its contents. Did Wild Mongrels belong? Did Curiosities? Was ten land really enough? Was the name a reference to Quirion Dryad's growth spurts, the deck's amazing ability to win despite looking like such a pile, or Alan Comer's hair? While these and other debates raged across IRC channels and the internet at large, Ben Rubin quietly sent me a decklist he called "sickestever.dec". At first glance, the deck looked pretty awful. Miracle Grow already has enough problems with its mana base, particularly against Wasteland, and here Ben had sent me a deck with an entire color added, along with the requisite dual lands to support it. I had seen Warren Marsh attempt a similar feat at an Atlanta Pro Tour Qualifier, adding Meddling Mages and Phyrexian Negators to Miracle Grow to add some extra punch, and his deck had failed miserably. But upon closer examination, and a bit of playtesting, "sickestever.dec" started to live up to its name. The big difference between Ben and Warren's modifications is that Ben approached the changes with a particular agenda - that is, plugging the holes Miracle Grow had - rather than simply playing with more powerful cards. Both Ben and Warren realized the deck had a certain core that made it run, and they both identified and preserved this core of undercosted creatures, counters, and card drawing. Jettisoning the rest, each then added more powerful cards that supported this core - Ben in the form of Swords to Plowshares and Mystic Enforcers, and Warren in the form of Negators and Meddling Mages. Both of these alterations increase the sheer power of cards in the deck, but Ben's changes identified and improved the deck's problem matchups, whereas Warren's aided primarily in matchups the deck already performed well in. It didn't take many games before I was set on playing Ben's new deck in Grand Prix-Houston. It tore through combo decks with the same ease of the original, and had a tremendous amount more game in Miracle Grow's problem matchups. Swords to Plowshares made nightmares like River Boa and Spectral Lynx into mere annoyances, and Mystic Enforcer flew over those same regenerators as well as Zombie Infestation tokens for the kill - as well as providing a body far, far out of burn range for opposing Sligh decks. The Miracle Grow "mirror" was drastically improved as well, with spot removal and dragons filling spots once held by creature enchantments and 2/2 fliers. Who wouldn't want to play a deck that is just like the best deck in the field, except better? Brian Kibler Grand Prix-Houston Main Deck Sideboard 4 Flood Plain 4 Tropical Island 4 Tundra 1 Savannah 1 Island 4 Quirion Dryad 4 Werebear 4 Merfolk Looter 3 Mystic Enforcer 4 Force of Will 3 Daze 3 Winter Orb 3 Swords to Plowshares 4 Sleight of Hand 4 Brainstorm 4 Land Grant 2 Foil 4 Legacy's Allure 3 Submerge 1 Swords to Plowshares 2 Wax/Wane 1 Winter Orb 4 Meddling Mage This deck is remarkably powerful. It consists almost entirely of cards that are undercosted for their effects, and has access to the most powerful of these across three colors. Never throughout the entire weekend of Grand Prix-Houston did I sit down across from an opponent playing a deck I felt I could not beat, nor did a situation arise for which the deck could not provide some sort of answer. For instance, in game one of the semifinals against William "Baby Huey" Jensen's Oath deck, Huey resolved an Oath of Druids on turn two. It never left play. I still won. Some matchups are, of course, more difficult than others, and the sideboarding plan for some is less straightforward than one might think. For this reason, I hope the playing guide of sorts I'm including below will prove to be of use to you in these last few weekends of qualifiers. Miracle Gro: One of the matchups SuperGrow was designed to dominate, the "mirror" is a breeze. Your Mystic Enforcers and Swords to Plowshares almost universally trump their mirror tech, which is invariably some sort of tempo mechanism such as Withdraw or Waterfront Bouncer. You can usually allow them to expend resources to gain tempo advantage, then use Swords to Plowshares to steal it away, hammering the nail into the coffin with a nice shiny dragon. Your higher land count allows you to play around Daze much more effectively, while they will almost always have to walk right into yours. Sideboarding involves removing Winter Orbs, Foils, and two copies of either Merfolk Looter, Werebear, or Quirion Dryad to add Swords to Plowshares, Submerges, and Legacy's Allures. The only major difference between pre and post-sideboarded games is that you need to be much more wary of Misdirection which can turn your plethora of spot removal against you. Donate: My, how the king has fallen. Donate is pretty much the same cakewalk for SuperGrow as for its miraculous counterpart, and the formula for playing the matchup is identical. Play a threat and counter everything that can stop it until they are dead. Rinse, and repeat. Sideboarding involves removing the Mystic Enforcers and Swords to Plowshares for Meddling Mages, Wax/Wane, and the fourth Winter Orb, and from there things only become better. The Rock: This matchup seems like it ought to be problematic, but in truth this g-b monstrosity is sorely lacking in genuine threats. Pernicious Deed is the only real problem, and generally if it resolves you will not win, but that's easier said than done. Mystic Enforcer and Swords to Plowshares really shine in this matchup, flying over Wall of Roots and picking off Spike Weavers and Spiritmongers, respectively. Winter Orb is actually much more effective than it seems like it ought to be, as Rock's threats are so mana intensive, and your quick clock combined with Orb makes it extremely difficult for them to play around Daze. Sideboarding generally involves pulling the Merfolk Looters and shaving some other numbers to add the fourth Plow, Meddling Mages (to name Pernicious Deed), and a smattering of Submerges and Legacy's Allures for even more creature and tempo control. Oath: Traditional Oath decks aren't nearly as threatening as anti-Gro Oath decks such as that played by William Jensen in Houston, as your free countermagic can generally serve to keep Oath from ever entering play, and even if it does, it's still quite possible to win with Winter Orb and a large creature, such as a Quirion Dryad or Mystic Enforcer. The presence of Disrupt in Jensen's deck makes it much easier to defend Oath against free countermagic, as well as serving as far more than an annoyance to no-land Land Grant opening draws. That having been said, even Jensen's deck isn't unbeatable, particularly after sideboarding, when you get to remove Swords to Plowshares and Merfolk Looters for Meddling Mages, Wax/Wanes, and the fourth Winter Orb. If Oath decks are particularly popular in your area, a third Wax/Wane in the sideboard could replace one of the Submerges for additional enchantment control. Three-Deuce: Three-Deuce is traditionally a bad matchup for standard Miracle Gro, but not for SuperGrow. With Swords to Plowshares to axe the nightmarish Granger Guildmage, and Mystic Enforcer to overload the Three-Deuce player's Plows, SuperGrow is able to deal much more effectively with Three-Deuce's plethora of removal. Sideboarding only makes things better, as Legacy's Allure, the fourth Plow, and Submerge make it much more difficult for the Three-Deuce player to race, while less useful cards like Merfolk Looter and Foil are sidelined. Junk: Junk is probably the closest you'll find to a "bad matchup" among the popular decks in the Extended field, and even a cursory glance will show you why. Boas, Lynxes, Duresses, Plows, Deeds - Junk is jam-packed with problem cards. Game one is certainly unpleasant, but games two and three, your sideboard plays a big role in evening the matchup out. Winter Orb, Daze, and Merfolk Looter all hit the bench, while Meddling Mage, Legacy's Allure, and the fourth plow all step up to bat. This makes your deck much less tempo oriented, and makes cards like Pernicious Deed much less powerful against you. With your search and card drawing, you're much better set up to play a game of attrition, and as long as you can force your opponent to deal with your threats one by one, you should eventually be able to overwhelm their answers. Sligh: While traditional Grow has significant problems with Sligh, SuperGrow actually looks forward to the matchup. With spot removal for Jackal Pups and Ball Lightnings, SuperGrow is much less pressured to commit creatures to the table to block, and because of this it is much more capable of waiting for threshold to play Werebears. These Werebears, in turn, soak up a great deal of the Sligh player's burn and open the window for Mystic Enforcer to make an appearance. Dragons are quite hard for any deck using damage based removal to kill, and Mystic Enforcer, despite a misprinting in its creature type (it should have been a dragon!), is no different. Winter Orb is the nail in the coffin, keeping Cursed Scroll at bay, and slowing the appearance of Ball Lightnings to a manageable pace. Sideboarding involves pulling the easy-to-kill Merfolk Looters for Meddling Mages, as well as the fourth Plow. Be wary of Price of Progress after boarding; despite your low land count, it's the Sligh player's best hope at beating you. The Rest: Extended is a wide open format, and there are many viable decks that can hold their own against the field - and even, as Josh Smith showed us in Houston, take home the prize. In this sort of field, one must keep in mind that SuperGrow isn't merely some metagame variation on Miracle Gro that performed well in one tournament. It is, it seems, simply another step in that deck's evolution, a more powerful and versatile iteration of an already powerful and versatile deck. The deck has tested well against everything I have thrown at it, from the expected (as I outlined above) to the more eccentric (Turboland, Wild Zombies, etc). It is my choice for the best deck to play in the current environment, and that's not just because it has 6/6 fliers in it. If you have any questions or comments regarding SuperGrow or this article, as always feel free to email me at Majesk@aol.com - I'm no longer inundated with exams, so I will do my best to get back to you in a timely fashion. Until then, good luck and have fun.