Just fall on it with your elbow; it's gonna hate that more than you do.

So just when I'd made up my mind the deck from the previous post should be boarding Aven Mindcensor over Ethersworn Canonist, they go and ban Mystical Tutor. Mindcensor still crimps Entomb, Knight of the Reliquary, Infernal Tutor, Natural Order, Conflux, and of course fetchlands, so I'm not ruling it out. But my suspicion is the meta will now shift in a different direction entirely, obviating much hard thought.

To wit: Zoo was already really, really strong. And with Grim Monolith coming off the list, I suspect Stax just got better, although I'm not sure by how much. Where's it been, anyway? I figure there's this thing running around called Qasali Pridemage, see, and dealing with it via Suppression Field messes up Stax's whole plan with Grim Monolith again. Harumph!

With fewer combo-decks around to goldfish it into the ground, 43lands got better.

Oh, and there's some buzz about Death and Taxes stepping up - note the NINE sideboard cards against Storm Combo. Anyway I can see D+T profiting in an aggro meta, but I suspect it's over-hyped because the deck is popular online. Survival might come out a winner from the absence of more combo-ey combo as well.

Anyway. Stuff that I've liked lately:

B/w Aggro made top 8 at SCG: Seattle. He plays both Swords to Plowshares and Gatekeeper of Malakir so either color Iona names is the wrong one. Plus Vampire Nighthawk trades for almost anything out of Reanimator except the first-striking Akrobot, and can even take that out if it gears up either Sword in time.

Grim Discovery is an interesting choice, getting back +1 dude and Wasteland seems good, especially after folding up and throwing away the opponent's hand. The one thing I really dislike here is his having to board four CoP: Red for Zoo and probably Goblins. So perhaps not a great choice going forward from the B+R shift.

In a similar vein you have The Gate, which balances the steep downside of Abyssal Persecutor by running 12 sac-outlets: Therapy, Innocent Blood and Gatekeeper. The deck also pisses life up the wall with two-drops that just beg to be Spell-Snared, like Dark Confidant and Bitterblossom. If they get through that lifeloss is counteracted by the aforementioned Nighthawk as well as the ubiquitous Jitte.

I kind of wish it ran Dark Ritual to be a bit more explosive, and I'm not sure maindeck Faerie Macabre will be needed anymore. The first version of this I ever saw ran mainboard Deathmark - what a maniac. He says it actually plays more like control.

Speaking of Maniacs, tell Team Jedi the secret is out, as their silly deck made it to Germany. I shouldn't hate too bad though; other people, including apparently at least one Dragon Stompy fan, are trying silly shit to cheat out Emrakul as well.

Past that, well, I already linked to Landstill and Dreadstill, didn't I?

'Til next time, put Bob on the stack, THEN trigger Mirri's Guile.

Yep.

-Dan