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My First Time in REV
My First Time in REV
Written by LeetWizard
I've been meaning to get into the Revolution format for a while. I've long been a proponent of the idea that playing Magic is the second-best way to improve at designing Magic. (The best way, of course, is to design Magic.) But that's kind of hypocritical of me to say. Paper magic is too expensive for me to play alongside Warhammer, and Arena is always a frustrating experience for me. But did you guys know that Revolution is free?
My journey started on July 8th. I had been thinking about getting into REV for a while and decided to ask Zangy for help getting into the format. All I really knew about it was the intended power level of the format and the existence of Data Weaver, which I wanted to play. Popping into the revolution-decklists channel, he yoinked a deck with Data Weaver for me to use. We played a practice game, and then I was made aware that the signups for Grand Prix Zakros were ending in like twenty minutes or so. So I decided to sign up for that. Seemed easier than figuring out how the league system works?
My Deck
The deck I ran for this event was UB Blink, made by DrChipmunk. It's a slow and disruptive deck that generates massive amounts of value through flickering BORROW() and looks to close out the game with either Jetstream Cruiser or a bunch of jellyfish tokens beating the opponent to death. Every creature either is a flicker engine or generates at least one card's worth of value on ETB, which pairs great with Soulspace Refit being a flicker that replaces itself. Check out the deck here to see all of the cards.
This is an outdated version of the deck that DrChipmunk brought to the event, and their list is a definite improvement. Data Weaver is a little slow and awkward in this deck, despite being the card that brought me into this format. Exorcist of Errors was also brought in from the sideboard in most matchups and should definitely be in the maindeck, card seems nasty.
The thing that stuck out to me the most about this list is how familiar it felt, and that's something that stood out to me about the format in general. Sometimes when you think about custom Magic, crazy ideas come to the forefront. I made people play a game of Chess during Magic once and it was really fun. But Revolution? Revolution feels extremely real, especially in the current era of Magic where more unconventional planes are being visited. Cybaros, Errors in the Weft and Cliques of Nylin fit right in with the return to Theros and new settings of Kitsuo and Oldun. The thing that sticks the most out to me is Chikyu, and that's because Chikyu brings Pokémon into Magic, something that WotC couldn't do.
Beyond the settings, though, the decks are familiar. The cards and interactions are different, but the deck packs cheap but narrow disruption, efficient black removal, big bomby fliers and volatile value engines. A straight reprint like Duress or a self-explanatory sideboard card like Faces of the Faceless does a lot to reduce the complexity as a new player, allowing creative but complex concepts like the Subroutine enchantments to shine. Cards are clear and sensible and it's normally easy to figure out how my opponent plans to win.
The Matches
Match 1 was against whiffle0479, and taught me the importance of this being an open-decklist format. Being able to view your opponent's list at any time is pretty necessary to avoid cheating (I assume) but it pretty drastically changes how you play, especially as a control deck.
Whiffle's deck was all about the Titans from Chikyu: Chaos Rains. They're Golem creatures with great stats for the cost and powerful ETBs and attack triggers, but they can't attack or block unless you have three or more Golems in play.
My memory of this match is limited since the replay expired before I remembered to save it. Golems dominated the boardstate, but my deck did have ways to disrupt them. It was a rough matchup, but I still managed to pull ahead 2-1, and got my first ever judge warning in the process. This seems like a deck to beat once Age of Trax rotates out this September. It seems to lose Agent of Deception and nothing else, and that card is also exceptionally good against the deck.
Match 2
This match was against Crushcastles23 piloting a blue-red Flashback deck. All of the creatures were problems if they stayed alive and all of the spells were 2-for-1s. My job was to make sure all of the spells were 1-for-1 and all the creatures died, since I had the card quality advantage. Oh, and to counter Keranos at all costs.
This was a very unfavorable matchup for Crushcastles. Game 1 ended with two copies of Preemption Daemon in play on my board. Game 2 was similar, with their aggression tempered by the inability to keep Keranos in play and Faces of the Faceless shutting off the Flashback mechanic. The match ended 2-0 in my favor.
I think it's a testament to the format's design and the skills of the designers involved that, having zero familiarity with the format and playing a complex-to-pilot deck, I was still able to go 2-0 at this point. The previous Golems deck can be abstracted to a midrangey value deck, and UR spells always has someone trying to make it work. The goal of Revolution, as far as I understand anyway, is to be similar to a Standard format, and in this respect it's successful.
Match 3
This match was against Zangy and his Golems deck. While Whiffle's was playing three colors, Zangy trimmed it down to just GU. Dropping hand disruption for countermagic and adding in some juicy ramp targets, I was in for a rough time.
Game 1 came down to the wire. I drew lands for a few turns in a row, but got Zangy down to 5 life and lethal on board before a flashbacked Chronicle of Precedence hit the floor and turned the one copy of Unflinching Titan into four. It was a very close game, as close as games where someone winds up getting flooded can be anyway.
Game 2 was less so. An important piece of the puzzle with Titans is the card Primal Fissure, which enters tapped unless you have two or fewer other lands, and sacrifices itself to search for a basic land and put it into play untapped. You can use this with Unflinching Titan, guaranteeing that it ramps you turn 3 and providing infinite fuel for its ability.
So anyway. Zangy played a T1 tapped land, T2 Primal Fissure, sacked it for an island and countered my spell, and then T3 played Unflinching Titan, reanimating the Primal Fissure. T4 was Unspeaking Titan and Herald of Awakening (1-drop Golem). Sac the Fissure, then attack with Unflinching Titan for 5. I played a kill spell and blundered into a hexproof-granting instant, realized I had no way to win from this position, and scooped. Bad beats.
0-2 in this match, for a record of 2-1 total. Zangy reassured me that if I won my next match, I'd still be in the cut for top 8! Shoutout to Zangy for getting me into this format, by the way. He's a great opponent and clearly a skilled player.
Match 4
This match was against DrChipmunk and her UB flicker deck.
Crap.
My opponent was much more experienced with this deck archetype than I was, and they're running the upgraded version of my list.
It's also a control mirror, which isn't very fun to commentate over text. Fortunately, I don't have to! DrChipmunk recorded the match and commentated, which you can find here: https://youtu.be/Kl0GXrcPUVA
Spoilers, but I lost 0-2 and did not wind up advancing to the top 8.
A 2-2 is a respectable end result, though, and something I have no right to complain about, given my lack of experience with the format.
Overall Thoughts
Y'know REV is pretty fun, actually. The structure of the Grand Prix was very relaxed. You only had to play one match every three days or so, and everyone participating was eager to chat about the games afterwards. It was a very welcoming community and there were plenty of resources available to help people get into the format. Even leading up to the tournament, DrChipmunk did a stream going over everybody's lists. Clearly a lot of work went into making the event a success, and honestly? I get it now.
Rotation is coming up this September, which does make continuing with the format at this point a little awkward. Do I learn the cards that are just about to rotate, or do I save the energy for when rotation happens? I'll be in school then.
Then again, the requirements to get into the format are very low. Successful decklists are posted in the revolution-decklists channel, so that's about half of the barriers to entry taken care of. If one's interested in making a deck, perhaps brewing something without any of the cards on the way out might be an interesting challenge? It would provide a good basis to build a successful deck for post-rotation.
Regardless, I greatly enjoyed my time in Revolution, and would strongly encourage anyone interested in custom design to give the format a shot. Seeing other designers have success greatly motivates me to push harder into my own creative works. And hey, you might get some inspiration along the way. A lot of Revolution players are very passionate creatives or very established designers as well, so it offers a great chance to open dialogues with them.
Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you at the next GP!
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