It’s time to delve into a what’s-the-play! I was so in the tank for this that I forgot to get a good screenshot, so here’s the 17lands summary:

interesting moments

Oppo is at 7, I’m at 6. They attack and flashed-back Rise of the Ants to get some blockers down. I’ve been stuck on 6-mana for several turns now, unable to flashback my Beasts or Seize the Storm for additional blockers. But I just drew a beautiful land! What do I do now? Okay, it’s pretty clear that I can’t just defend; they can swing out and two unblocked creatures kill me. By process of elimination: I attack. Work out the lines of play if they single-block or double-block.

The first decision fork is how do they block? If they double-block, I can cast an instant to win the fight but then I lose to the crackback. So I’m happy to trade. Second main, I would flashback Seize the Storm to have another 6/6 blocker to survive if they swing out.

But what if they single-block? The extra 3/3 would be enough to kill you on the crack-back, so it’s time to go win the game! Your elemental tramples, so cast the Electric Revelation to give it +1/+1 and an untap-ping of the Thermo-Alchemist. Flash it back again to get another ping from TA and you’ve got a win in hand!

This might be my greatest line I’ve ever taken. In fact, just saying, “what’s the play” to a neutral party makes it easy to figure out that there is a good attack. But when you’ve been getting beaten down and you finally draw that land you’ve been praying for, it’s rather difficult to look at the board with fresh eyes and realize that yes, now you need to go on the beatdown.