Let’s get something out of the way:
Path of Mettle is actually awesome!

Path of Mettle is almost effortless to play

When Path of Mettle enters the battlefield, it triggers a Simoon-like effect, dealing a point of damage to every creature that lacks first strike, double strike, vigilance, and / or haste.

The solution is simple: Just play creatures with one or more of these abilities, and the “Simoon” trigger will be one-sided; largely a Simoon for the same amount of mana.

We can consider the deck played by US National Champion Craig Krempels to the Top 8 of last week’s Team Open as a model for this strategy, but many Red Deck creature shells can suffice.

All of Bomat Courier, Earthshaker Khenra, Ahn-Crop Crasher, Hazoret the Fervent, and Glorybringer (you know, just the creatures the old Ramunap Ruins deck played) start out with haste. This makes the first line on today’s enchantment “free”.

But flipping it is nearly free, also!

So long as you are playing such creatures, turning your Legendary Enchantment into a Legendary Land shouldn’t be too tough.

When you flip Path of Mettle, you’re doing it. You’re really DOING IT

The “red” ability largely serves as a stand-in for the now-banned Ramunap Ruins.

The “white” ability has a broad range of applications, including (but not limited to) cutting of the ability for many control decks to win. Attacking with one creature? How about “randomly” putting that creature into the graveyard? The “white” ability can also ignore hexproof, so it is potentially a problem for the Hydras out of Energy variants.

Okay, sold! Um… So what’s the gamble around Path of Mettle?

Why? The mana base of course!

Craig played a couple of Plains in his twenty-two land aggro deck. It was vital for him to play enough red (especially untapped) to be able to field some sixteen one drop creatures.

Will WotC print another Boros dual land? Will they just reprint one we already love?

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Unlike its friends Attune with Aether and Rogue Refiner, Longtusk Cub was not banned.
It just isn’t getting played for some reason.

No Longtusk Cub in Temur Monsters

William Ho finished 5th in the Standard portion of the Team Open with Temur Monsters.

While he played a variety of both two drops and Energy themed cards… Longtusk Cub was not one of them.

“It’s surprising to me that Longtusk Cub wouldn’t make the cut in this deck with ten removal spells AND AN ENERGY THEME…”

That said, Thrashing Brontodon made an important debut in this deck. Per Patrick…

“Thrashing Brontodon is the Truth”

• 3/4 for three mana is actually pretty solid right now. Believe it or not, the size alone is a positive consideration in this format.
• Thrashing Brontodon gives you main deck ways to deal with Cast Out or specialty enchantments
• It also lessens a deck’s potential reliance on Abrade. A deck like Temur Monsters can potentially lean on the side of Harnessed Lightning (to feed an Energy theme) instead of Abrade’s flexibility. You don’t need Abrade to be as flexible because Brontodon is.

“Does Voltaic Brawler make sense over Longtusk Cub?”

“No. Next question.”

No Longtusk Cub in Golgari Constrictor

Andreas Campion finished second in the Team Open with Golgari Constrictor.

Once again we have a deck with 12+ two drops (more, if you count Walking Ballista)… Again no Longtusk Cub.

Campion’s deck plays four copies of Merfolk Branchwalker but only three copies of Jadelight Ranger. Patrick suggests if you only have room for seven, tilt the other way (with four Rangers). Mike argues to play eight, and just cut a land. After all, that is a lot of Explore.

No Longtusk Cub in Sultai Energy

Were we always supposed to be playing four copies all along?

A post shared by Top Level Podcast (@toplevelpodcast) on Jan 25, 2018 at 10:51pm PST

Perhaps the best deck of the weekend was Dan Jessup’s Sultai Energy.

This deck is notable for its use of four — count ’em, four — copies of The Scarab God main deck! Were we supposed to be playing all four all along?

Glint-Sleeve Siphoner… Merfolk Branchwalker… Servant of the Conduit… Again twelve two drops, but no Longtusk Cub!

Did everyone just think the most dangerous Grizzly Bears from the last format got banned?

Where in the world?

Don’t worry, there is no shortage of deck discussion, just Cub appearances. Check out “No Room for Longtusk Cub” now:

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Sand Strangler Graduates to Main Deck!

William Faulkner said it first.

Kill. Your. Darlings.

Which darlings, you ask.

How about the automatic three-of (if not four-of) at the Ramunap Red four? Hazoret the Fervent.

Cut Hazoret? Are you crazy?

Hazoret the Fervent versus Whirler Virtuoso

As a red mage, have you ever faced off against Whirler Virtuoso? If you haven’t, it sucks. It’s just really hard to bust through, even though you have one of the best offensive threats in the format.

Now imagine — assuming sufficient Desert power — Sand Strangler against Whirler Virtuoso.

Smoosh, right? Smoosh.

When essentially half of the format is Energy decks, Sand Strangler over Hazoret main deck starts to make more sense.

Pro Tour Hall of Famer Ben Stark executed on exactly this plan, finishing in the finals of Grand Prix Atlanta with a new look at Ramunap Ruins.

For reference: Desert Red, by Ben Stark

Wait a minute! Don’t I just suck in the mirror now?

While cutting Hazoret — one of the most important cards in the mirror match — certainly costs you percentage in the mirror, Ben counterbalanced with the duo of Sand Strangler and Glorybringer.

Remember: Sand Strangler and Glorybringer are two of the most frequently sided in cards in Red Deck mirrors.

So while you lose some Hazoret points, you get back some “free” sideboard creature points.

… And it’s not like Ben’s deck can’t side in a bunch of Hazorets after boards.

But mathematically? There is more Energy than Red right now. Ben’s metagaming was simply masterful.

New Decks Aplenty

Desert Red was cool, but it wasn’t alone.

This week Patrick and Mike tackle such instant classics as:

• Esper Approach of the Second Sun
• U/G Electrostatic Pummeler (with four copies of Bristling Hydra, for Mike)
• Grixis builds aplenty

Check out “Masterfully Metagaming Sand Strangler” and you too may just become a metagame master:

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Approach of the Second Sun

Patrick is coming to us straight from Pro Tour Ixalan this week! He played a new take on R/W Approach of the Second Sun with Sunbird’s Invocation, but more mana and fewer expensive spells.

The Pro Tour is lousy with Temur Energy (and Four-color Energy, and Sultai Energy)… But that just gives it structure to attack! Patrick’s approach to Approach seems thought-provoking now, and sounds like it will be influential moving forward. Most opponents have many “dead” cards in Game One. Imagine the B/U Control opponent who cycles through his entire deck with Search for Azcanta only to find… There is nothing to find.

Or the Energy deck (or any deck, really) that doesn’t kill you fast enough… Can they stop you from playing your Approaches?

Well… Sometimes 🙂

Give it a listen:

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Sunbird’s Invocation was a “Perfect 10” at US Nationals

The Sunbird’s Invocation Combo

Adam Bialkowski busted open Standard with a 10th-place finish at US Nationals last weekend. He used a R/W Board Control-slash-Combo deck utilizing this big red six and a certain favorite white seven…

1. You play Sunbird’s Invocation on six.
2. You untap and play Approach of the Second Sun on seven.
3. When you cast Approach of the Second Sun, the Invocation digs through the top of your library to check if there is an Approach of the Second Sun there; if there is, it will cast it for you.
4. Your first Approach of the Second Sun (which you cast from your hand, remember) checks to see if you cast another Approach this game… You did!
5. Ding!

This together, these two cards represent a turn seven insta-win combo.

Sunbird’s Invocation Fail State

So you’ve invested six mana in a big red enchantment.

Miraculously, you’ve untapped, still alive.

However you don’t have an Approach of the Second Sun…

What’s a girl to do?

Chin up, Planeswalker! So you don’t have a turn seven insta-win! That doesn’t mean you don’t have game…

Your Invocation plays a pretty good “personal Howling Mine” once you’ve untapped. Basically, your spells can potentially snowball into more and more spells. In the 10th place version, there are a ton of expensive cards — tons of fives sixes and of course sevens — that make its centerpiece enchantment really look good.

What’s Wrong with Sunbird’s Invocation?

If there is anything “wrong” with the Perfect 10, it might be all those expensive cards!

Adam certainly benefited from a (current?) (short-term?) gap in Mono-Red popularity. The archetype version only has one Magma Spray in the main deck, and no real way to develop its game plan against B/U Control in the early game. Further, it has a lot of expensive cards but no great way to ensure it hits all its land drops.

That isn’t taking anything away from the innovation; just to say that there is still a lot of room for optimization.

A flaming owl wasn’t the only hot Hot HOT deck to stand out at US Nationals. Check out “” now to learn more about Abzan Tokens, Mardu Vehicles, and more on the B/U Control v. U/W Control matchup in Standard!

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Sorry, Earthshaker Khenra. Your window may have already closed 🙁

Sylvan Advocate Hates Earthshaker Khenra

Sylvan Advocate? What is this? 2016?

Grim Flayer is great. Longtusk Cub is great. Even Glint-Sleeve Siphoner can be pretty effective. You know what’s even better? Three toughness.

Sylvan Advocate comes down as a 2/3 (forget about its size in the future)… Meaning that it can withstand a Shock on turn two, unlike the other B/G two drop options. As a 2/3, it also pwns tiny 2/1 Earthshaker Khenra.

And at 4/5? It chomp Chomp CHOMPS even a 4/4 Earthshaker Khenra later in the game!

Approach of the Second Sun Hates Earthshaker Khenra

Mike’s sidekick over at the Ancestral Recall Podcast, Roman Fusco made another Star City Games Classic Top 8 last weekend… This time with an innovative U/W Approach of the Second Sun deck designed by Roman’s frequent collaborator (and Regional Finals victim) Dan Ward.

This U/W deck is truly creature-less (and for purposes of Torrential Gearhulk, artifact-less). That completely blanks Earthshaker Khenra teammate Abrade. While haste is helpful across many of the Mono-Red deck’s creatures, the ability to prevent blocking also takes up relevant space on the text box. Against no creatures? No additional value.

But the thing that really, really hates the Red Deck?

The old school instant has an amazing superpower against Mono-Red. If the opponent has one card in hand only, you can Unsummon another creature (putting a second card in the opponent’s hand) to blank an attack by Hazoret the Fervent. And of course, if you Unsummon the 4/4 backside on an Earthshaker Khenra, that will be that.

This should surprise no one, though: Approach of the Second Suns decks hate Earthshaker Khenra.

Grasp of Darkness Hates Earthshaker Khenra

Grasp’s new teammate Gifted Aetherborn, though… 2/3 over 2/1 again, etc. etc. And if the Red Deck needs to spend its second turn pointing an Abrade at Gifted Aetherborn? It won’t even have time to drop Earthshaker Khenra on curve.

To find out what other cards and decks are creating a hostile Standard environment for our poor Jackal Warrior, check out this week’s episode!

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