Definitely starting to run a little dry on SNC. With the spikes leaving the format I’m drafting Brokers uncontested and winning a lot of games easily. While nice for the gem count it’s not great for interesting play moments. But last night had some spice!

17 Lands Deck

Specific Play

Okay, so opponent just cast the Maestros Diabolist, got their devil but then held back from attacking this turn. Opponent has a bounce spell in hand, but not enough mana to cast it this turn. I have one flier in the air, the Angel combat trick, and a removal spell. Here are the lines as I see them

• Just dink in with the 2/1 flier and pass turn
• Hold for Ransom their Diabolist, attack with the flier and 3/2. When they block with the devil to try and ping my flier, cast the Majestic Metamorphosis
• Same as above, but swing with the team to trade 1/1s and push more damage through.

What’s the play?

I went with Choice C, pacifying their Diabolist and swinging with the team. What pushed me into this choice was that this might be the only chance for me to resolve my Majestic Metamorphosis, as they will have plenty of mana to bounce the target in response. Unfortunately oppo drew a counterspell, cancelling the MM and resulting in the devil ping killing my 2/1 flier. Oppo resolved Ob Nixilis a little while after that and I lost the game.

So the question is, did I rush the attack by overvaluing my only window to cast MM? I don’t think so. Oppo would have been at 7 life facing a hostile board. They topdecked the counterspell (and even had the one extra mana to stop my wizard from Force Spiking it!). A risk worth taking.