What Catches My Eye

During my preparations for GP Melbourne 2016 I aired a suggestion to my friend and testing partner Graham King regarding potential decks for the event. My suggestion was to try and update a 2011 style Gush list for the current meta game. For those who were not playing at the time, Gush in mid 2011 was a monolithic institution. There was ‘a’ Gush list with and the decklists rarely varied by more than a few cards.  The idea was to abuse the GushBond engine to deliver a lethal Tendrils of Agony or Tinker into the newly printed Blighsteel Colossus. It was even powerful enough for Rich Shay to pilot his version through the Swiss portion of the Vintage World Championship undefeated.

The idea was promptly put into the ‘too hard basket’ but apparently I was not the only one with the idea.

Sarven McLinton made equal 4^th position in a Swiss + 1 tournament with the following spicy list:

Sarven McLinton – Gush Control

4 Misty Rainforest

1 Polluted Delta

1 Flooded Strand

2 Underground Sea

2 Tropical island

3 Island

1 Tolarian Academy

1 Library of Alexandria

1 Black Lotus

1 Sol Ring

1 Mana Crypt

1 Mox Sapphire

1 Mox Jet

1 Mox Ruby

1 Mox Emerald

1 Mox Pearl

1 Time Vault

1 Voltaic Key

1 Fastbond

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

1 Blightsteel Colossus

1 Snapcaster Mage

1 Trygon Predator

4 Force of Will

2 Mana Drain

2 Mental Misstep

2 Flusterstorm

4 Gush

1 Ancestral Recall

1 Dig Through Time

1 Brainstorm

1 Ponder

2 Preordain

1 Merchant Scroll

1 Demonic Tutor

1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Time Walk

1 Tinker

1 Tendrils of Agony

1 Hurkyl’s Recall

1 Steel Sabotage

Sideboard:

2 Nihil Spellbomb

1 Grafdigger’s Cage

1 Ravenous Trap

1 Yixlid Jailer

2 Trygon Predator

2 Nature’s Claim

1 Hurkyl’s Recall

1 Forest

1 Notion Thief

1 Mental Misstep

1 Abrupt Decay

1 Illness in the Ranks

There is a lot I love about this list. It really is a blast back from 2011. In a world where the combat step has become such a battlefield it is refreshing to see someone want to just go over the top. I am not sure who Sarven faced in his rounds but he only dropped two so there must be something right in the list.

The first thing I noticed about this list is the absence of Red. Quite often these Gush lists would splash Red for Ancient Grudge and Empty the Warrens as well as opening up the sideboard at the cost of weakening the mana base. In a tournament where Illness in the ranks and co. are seeing play Illness in the Ranks really loses some of it’s lustre. Without red he has room for fully four basics in the 75 which is rare to see and gives quite a leg up against the Wasteland decks. He also has the extra land in Library of Alexandria and full acceleration which leaves him with a very solid mana base.

Whilst I can get behind the loss of red there are some decisions that do not sit well with me. For one, Sarven has too many win conditions. For a deck which ideally is seeing 20+ cards in a game should not need Tinker + Tendrils + Jace + Time Vault; leaving aside the question of Jace for the moment, I would not select more than two of the other options. Cutting the Time Vault and the Voltaic Key would allow him to run the missing Preordains which would smoothen out the deck as a whole both pre and mid combo. Snapcaster over Regrowth is another head scratcher as Regrowth can find a second land or a spent Fastbond/Gush making it the clear better choice in this deck over the wizard.

If I were to pilot a variant of this list I would be looking at something along the lines of:

Joshua Butler – Gush

4 Misty Rainforest

3 Polluted Delta

2 Underground Sea

2 Tropical Island

3 Island

1 Tolarian Academy

1 Strip Mine

1 Black Lotus

1 Mana Crypt

1 Mox Emerald

1 Mox Jet

1 Mox Pearl

1 Mox Ruby

1 Mox Sapphire

1 Sol Ring

1 Fastbond

2 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy

1 Blightsteel Colossus

4 Force of Will

4 Mental Misstep

2 Flusterstorm

4 Gush

1 Ancestral Recall

1 Dig Through Time

1 Brainstorm

1 Ponder

4 Preordain

1 Merchant Scroll

1 Demonic Tutor

1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Time Walk

1 Tinker

1 Tendrils of Agony

2 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Regrowth

Sideboard:

4 Leyline of the Void

3 Yixlid Jailer

2 Trygon Predator

2 Nature’s Claim

1 Hurkyl’s Recall

1 Forest

1 Abrupt Decay

1 Illness in the Ranks

Overall I feel that this version would be a little more consistent. The addition of the Preordains and the streamlining of both the main deck and side board mean there will be less variation of hands and mana. I also chose to use Strip Mine as the 16^th land as I feel it would be more useful in the Dredge and Shop matchups  than the Library in the mirror. Considering we plan to end the game earlier than most, I felt that this was not too much of a concession.

With a full set of both Misstep and Force, the more traditional dredge hate of Leyline and Jailer seemed more fitting than the various cards in the previous list.

The Vryn’s Prodigy is a testing slot that allows the deck to be a little more consistent when mana hungry and lets us drop the Drains in favour of additional Missteps which are a concession to the Pyroblast heavy meta game. Unfortunately I think this is the reason I would be hesitant pilot this deck in a tournament. There are simply too many red blast effects in the meta for this to truly flourish. It may be as consistent as the current crop of Dark Petition storm lists but fold to additional hate. Either way it was a good thought experiment and you should probably keep an eye out for this deck in the future as it may be poised for a come back.