First Day of Historic, Thoughts on Player Identity

Note: This article was posted prior to the August 3rd, 2020 Banned & Restricted Announcement.

I spent some time Friday night and Saturday trying out different lists in Historic BO1, including my Golgari Stompy pet deck, Jund Dinos, Temur Elementals and a Jeskai Control list. None of these decks matched particularly well against the likes of Mono Red Goblins, Kethis Combo, Mono White “Bogles” or various Field of the Dead Decks.

Notably, Temur Elementals showed some promise against Goblins, but winning relied HEAVILY upon being able to resolve a turn 5 Chandra, Awakened Inferno, which is in itself, an unreliable way to try to win. There might be some potential here, but overall the deck really doesn’t seem to be positioned well at all in Historic.

Determined to follow through on my commitment to mastering Historic and unhappy with many of the options out there, Sunday AM I picked up an established archetype that I know I can trust - Temur Reclamation.

Yeah, so much for trying something new and expanding my horizons, but there really isn’t anything currently in the format that resonates with me. With cards like Muxus, Goblin Grandee, Kethis, the Hidden Hand and the occasional Phyrexian Obliterator dominating the format, it’s clear to see that you need to be proficiently doing the most broken things possible in Historic if you want to succeed in the format. Played as it may be, Temur Reclamation is a great way for me to do just that.

My Player Identity Crisis

One of the things that initially turned me off about playing Temur Rec in Historic is the incorporation of Field of the Dead, my old nemesis from last summer. This time last year I ran Jund Dinos with a total of 4 Flame Sweep in my 75, and I pretty much stuck myself in direct opposition to the various FOTD strategies out there, whether it was 5C Golos, Bant Scapeshift, Sultai, and so on. I couldn’t stand the card because it was literally in every other matchup I faced, and I proudly traded in the single copy I owned for some $3 credit. “Whatever, good riddance,” I told myself. “I’m not a FOTD player and I’ll never, ever play this card.”

I could decide to not play Field of the Dead in my list, but a few months after it was banned from Standard I had the realization that labeling yourself as a certain type of player, or labeling yourself as someone who does not play a certain style of deck is super detrimental to your development (e.g., “I don’t play control,” “I’m only a midrange player”). In fact, this realization is what motivated me to pick up Temur Reclamation at the beginning of this year and learn to play it. Which gets me to a really, really important point:

Don’t limit your growth potential by assuming a specific player identity.

Yes, some players may be naturally suited towards specific play styles, but assuming an identity establishes and reinforces the notion that you’re incapable of playing certain decks well. If you must, say that you “prefer” a certain playstyle, but don’t attach your preferences to your player identity.

Going back to my decision to stick with FOTD in this list, I mentioned before that you need to be doing the most broken things possible in Historic - and shamelessly so - if you want to succeed in the format. FOTD helps Temur Reclamation boost its baseline brokenness, and it’s a necessary cherry on top of an already busted strategy, in a particularly busted format.

As such, it’s zombie time.

Sunday, 8/2

Admittedly, I pulled a list I found online and tuned it as I played out my matches - and this is where I ended up on the day. I think two copies of Magmaquake in the main is an absolute minimum for the ladder right now (the original list I pulled only had one in the entire 75). I’ll likely go up to three, if not four copies in the main as long as Goblins remains intact.

One of the changes I made was adding Brazen Borrower to the main, and it’s an easy card to take out when you need to double down on a strategy in a specific matchup. Without it, the deck really doesn’t have a clean way to deal with a resolved Phyrexian Obliterator, aside from simply avoiding the 5/5 altogether and focusing on casting fatal Explosions. Borrower can also be an absolute blowout in the right spots against Kor Spiritdancer.

Here’s how the day’s matches went.

P4.2 - Goblins. Nothing much to say here. Despite successfully Stomping a Goblin Warchief and then copying it with Expansion to Stomp a Goblin Instigator, I could not kill my opponent before they resolved Muxus in G1.

G2 I mulled to six and only saw a single Flame Sweep, which I was forced to cast with a Muxus trigger on the stack, due to my concern of additional Goblin Chieftans resolving off of the Muxus trigger. Deck really needs more Magmaquake. Loss 0-2.

P4.0 - Rakdos Sac. Opp saw multiple Witch’s Oven in both games and a Phyrexian Obliterator in G2, prompting me to add Brazen Borrower. Loss 0-2.

P4.0 Simic Ramp. I drew really well in both games and played pretty well, too. In G1 I had to bounce a Nissa, Who Shakes the World with Petty Theft while the Nissa activation was on the stack. I flashed in Brazen Borrower and took 3 from the animated land. The following turn my opponent resolved Nissa again, and again animated a land. Once both 3/3 lands were sent into the red zone, I cycled in a 4/4 shark and blocked one of the lands. On my turn I used my fliers to kill Nissa, and I eventually pulled away with Explosion.Nothing to note in G2. Win 2-0.

P4.2 - Mirror. Also nothing too notable here, aside from the fact that it’s always encouraging to win a Temur Mirror. It might be right to keep in 1 or 2 Magmaquake to deal with opposing tokens, but it doesn’t seem very ideal. Win 2-1.

P4.4 - Kethis Combo. I need to figure out the best way to deal with this matchup. It might be right to play multiple Grafdigger’s Cage, but doing so means you should take out Uro. Even then, they play Teferi and can easily bounce your Cage, so there’s that. Looking forward to exploring and mastering this matchup. Loss 0-2.

P4.2 - Golgari. Didn’t feel good casting a 5pt Magmaquake to deal with a Phyrexian Obliterator, Ayara and my opponent’s big team of innocuous creatures, but fortunately I had double digit lands, a few 2/2 zombie tokens and some small shark tokens to expend on the Obliterator trigger. Otherwise, this was a blowout in my favor. Notably, this deck had some sort of Fiend Artisan strategy going, which synergizes well with Ayara. Win 2-0.

P4.2. Rakdos Sac. I was punished for a too-cute play in G1. With a Shark Typhoon on the battlefield, I cast Stomp on a Priest of Forgotten Gods and copied it with Expansion to Stomp the second Priest - all in response to a Claim the Firstborn. I really needed to save that Expansion so that I could actually kill my opponent with Explosion. On their next turn they successfully “comboed” off with Bolas’ Citadel.

Despite poor play in G1, I got there in G2 by casting a 7 pt. Explosion on a Mayhem Devil. Doing so enabled me to survive Cauldron Familiar sacs via double Witch’s Oven. The Explosion draw supplied me with more Explosions, followed by a third copy of Wilderness Reclamation on my next turn. From there I was able to cast a 20 pt. Explosion to win G2.

In G3 I hit all of my land drops and much more, thanks to Growth Spiral, Uro and Explore. My opponent conceded before I could do anything meaningful, such as cast the copy of Magmaquake in my hand. Win 2-1.

All in all, a good first day of Historic laddering and I moved up to Platinum 3. I feel like there are a ton of unturned stones in Historic, and I’m excited to continue trying to find something powerful besides Temur Rec. Until I do, I’m happy with continuing to jam my QQ game.

Thanks for reading.