I’ve fallen again into the pit of “Blog about magic… or just play more magic.” It’s a literal Sophie’s Choice over here! The new set, Streets of New Capenna, has definitely felt rough. I always feel like my drafting skills are better than my playing skills and that leak has really revealed itself because it’s so fast and there’s so few edges to glean in draft. As such, I’m going to try and review moments of the game where I go into the tank and then see how it turns out.
Rule #1 of New Capenna is don’t fall behind, and here I am falling behind! Oppo attacked with a Blitzed Girder Goons and has been steadily pecking away in the air. I draw a Light em Up as medium removal. I have some good Blitz creatures in hand. What’s the play?
- Blitz out a creature (probably Girder Goons) and swing with everything but the Corrupt Official. Oppo has their choice of trades (probably eating the Body Dropper and the Goon)
- Light em Up their 2/2 and attack with the team (this time including the Corrupt Official). Attack with threat of activation on the Body Dropper
- Hard cast a creature and stay on the back foot to build a board.
I choose option #2 to offer a 2-for-1 and go for the race. I liked having the Plasma Jockey hidden in hand for the surprise Falter effect. This works out! Oppo counter-swing back with everything and casts a big Ballroom Brawler to try and stabilize. I Blitz the Jockey and win on Exactsies.
In a perfect world, I probably should have calculated that swinging twice + blitzing Plasma Jockey would have been Exactsies. Math is hard! So it worked out, but was it correct? Discuss!
Benalish Dad 
re exactsies: really tough in todays magic when oppo has plains or forests on the board. i feel like back in the day you could plan it out but now if you do that you put yourself in a ‘i hope they don’t have a lifelink trick’ hole. which pushes me to go for a board advantage that nullifies their lines
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There is only one lifelink trick in this set, and it only grants lifelink if there’s a +1/+1 counter on a creature. Not worried about that here.
Also my deck is an aggressive deck. So if I’m on the back foot *and* behind on life, I’m pretty much doomed. Hence why I think my best route to victory was racing back.
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