{"id":853,"date":"2019-03-16T13:14:12","date_gmt":"2019-03-16T11:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/premodernmagic.com\/blog\/?p=853"},"modified":"2019-03-16T13:33:51","modified_gmt":"2019-03-16T11:33:51","slug":"fluctuator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/premodernmagic.com\/blog\/fluctuator\/","title":{"rendered":"Fluctuator!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today’s guest post is written by Kyle Monson from the US. As usual, you’re welcome to discuss this article on Facebook<\/a>, the Premodern Discord server<\/a> etc, see the \/social<\/a> page for an overview. Enjoy! \/ Martin<\/em><\/p>\n

I first heard of Premodern from my old friend Ron Taylor, who just happened to be hosting the second Premodern Online Open (see part 1<\/a> and part 2<\/a> of Ron’s organizer’s report). I love this era of magic and was very eager to dive in. I\u2019m a competitor at heart, and part of the fun is trying to identify the most busted stuff you can do in a format. I also fancy myself an innovator at times, so I wanted to try and find a deck that was degenerate but also off people\u2019s radar.<\/p>\n

Enter the banned list analysis and the question:\u00a0 What problem cards of the past are omitted from this list?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

At one point this was banned in Type II (Standard), and it\u2019s pretty easy to understand why after reading it. There aren\u2019t many cards that instantly change the dynamic of the game like Fluctuator<\/a> does. If properly built around, a card like this simply breaks how Magic was meant to be played and can facilitate a turn 2 Kill immediately after resolving.<\/p>\n

The Deck<\/h3>\n

For those uninitiated, here is my decklist and a brief breakdown of Fluctuator\u2019s game plan.<\/p>\n

Online Open II: Kyle Monson<\/div>
<\/i>Spoiler view<\/span><\/span><\/i>List with preview card<\/span><\/span><\/i>Show\/hide sideboard<\/span><\/span><\/i>Download photo of deck<\/span><\/span><\/i>Download text file of deck<\/span><\/span><\/div>
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MAIN DECK | 60 cards<\/h4>
Creatures: 31<\/div>
4<\/span> Sandbar Merfolk<\/a><\/div>
4<\/span> Disciple of Grace<\/a><\/div>
4<\/span> Disciple of Law<\/a><\/div>
4<\/span> Cloud of Faeries<\/a><\/div>
4<\/span> Disciple of Malice<\/a><\/div>
4<\/span> Keeneye Aven<\/a><\/div>
4<\/span> Pendrell Drake<\/a><\/div>
3<\/span> Shimmering Barrier<\/a><\/div><\/div>
Others: 5<\/div>
4<\/span> Fluctuator<\/a><\/div>
1<\/span> Lotus Petal<\/a><\/div><\/div>
Instants and Sorceries: 4<\/div>
1<\/span> Songs of the Damned<\/a><\/div>
1<\/span> Miscalculation<\/a><\/div>
1<\/span> Drain Life<\/a><\/div>
1<\/span> Haunting Misery<\/a><\/div><\/div>
Lands: 20<\/div>
1<\/span> Dromar's Cavern<\/a><\/div>
4<\/span> Blasted Landscape<\/a><\/div>
4<\/span> Remote Isle<\/a><\/div>
4<\/span> Polluted Mire<\/a><\/div>
4<\/span> Drifting Meadow<\/a><\/div>
3<\/span> Smoldering Crater<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>

SIDEBOARD | 15 cards<\/h4>
2<\/span> Orim's Chant<\/a><\/div>
1<\/span> Enlightened Tutor<\/a><\/div>
3<\/span> Clear<\/a><\/div>
2<\/span> Gilded Light<\/a><\/div>
1<\/span> Miscalculation<\/a><\/div>
3<\/span> Rapid Decay<\/a><\/div>
1<\/span> Rebuild<\/a><\/div>
2<\/span> Expunge<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Deck downloaded from - http:\/\/premodernmagic.com\n------------------------------------------------\nOnline Open II: Kyle Monson\n------------------------------------------------\nMAIN DECK (60)\n\nCreatures: 31\n4 Sandbar Merfolk\n4 Disciple of Grace\n4 Disciple of Law\n4 Cloud of Faeries\n4 Disciple of Malice\n4 Keeneye Aven\n4 Pendrell Drake\n3 Shimmering Barrier\n\nOthers: 5\n4 Fluctuator\n1 Lotus Petal\n\nInstants and Sorceries: 4\n1 Songs of the Damned\n1 Miscalculation\n1 Drain Life\n1 Haunting Misery\n\nLands: 20\n1 Dromar's Cavern\n4 Blasted Landscape\n4 Remote Isle\n4 Polluted Mire\n4 Drifting Meadow\n3 Smoldering Crater\n\n\nSIDEBOARD (15)\n2 Orim's Chant\n1 Enlightened Tutor\n3 Clear\n2 Gilded Light\n1 Miscalculation\n3 Rapid Decay\n1 Rebuild\n2 Expunge\n------------------------------------------------\nDeck downloaded from - http:\/\/premodernmagic.com\n<\/div>
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SIDEBOARD<\/h4>
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http:\/\/premodernmagic.com<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/a>\n

Simply put, get Fluctuator<\/a> in play and cycle through the majority of your deck. The goal is to hit a critical mass of creatures in the graveyard so that 1) a resolved Haunting Misery<\/a> is lethal and\/or 2) a resolved Songs of the Damned<\/a> + Drain Life<\/a> is lethal.\u00a0 This can be done as soon as turn 2 with Lotus Petal<\/a> + Songs of the Damned<\/a> or turn 3 with a land drop, usually Dromar’s Cavern<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The build is quite similar to Andy’s version, which was featured in an earlier blog post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Plan<\/h3>\n

So that\u2019s pretty busted\u2026 what\u2019s the catch? The catch is not insignificant:\u00a0 you REALLY need Fluctuator<\/a> in your opening hand. The deck is called Fluctuator for a reason\u2014without it you are just kind of sitting around. This means you often have to aggressively mulligan for it if you don\u2019t know the matchup. That said, knowing the matchup can significantly change the importance of having it in your opener.<\/p>\n

In a combo or aggro meta, you really can\u2019t afford to sit around and naturally draw Fluctuator<\/a>\u2014this is where you must try to mulligan for it. That said, you are almost always faster than any aggro or combo deck in the format. So while the pressure to have it is very much an issue, having it usually means you\u2019ll win.<\/p>\n

In a slow\/control meta (seems to be the case right now) you can actually just keep land-heavy openers and plan to cycle your way to Fluctuator<\/a>. In fact, sometimes the control decks are so slow that having Fluctuator<\/a> doesn\u2019t even matter anymore. The tradeoff here is that control decks have more ways to interact with you than combo and aggro decks, especially if they know what cards to use counterspells on. So while you are more likely to have time to find Fluctuator<\/a>, you will also have more difficulty getting it or your kill cards to resolve.<\/p>\n

The Results<\/h3>\n

Which brings us to the second Premodern Online Open where I learned about these matchups the hard way. I piloted Fluctuator to a middling finish, but I think more prior reps with the deck could have resulted in a top 8 appearance. I wasn\u2019t familiar enough with the different types of interaction my opponents were likely to have, so it was hard to play around them and avoid getting blown out. I lost so many games in which I resolved a Fluctuator<\/a> and they were all basically my fault due to my lack of experience with the deck and the format as a whole. There aren\u2019t many small mistakes with Fluctuator, each one is usually catastrophic.<\/p>\n

In my match vs BG Rock, I resolved Fluctuator<\/a> and immediately went for the kill, but drew too many non-cycling cards and had to pass the turn. My opponent was then able to Cabal Therapy<\/a> both of my win conditions that I had the misfortune to draw together. Versus BG Rock, I didn\u2019t need to be in a hurry. I could have just played Fluctuator<\/a> and said go and planned to win on my next turn or cycle for another Fluctuator<\/a> if they happened to destroy my first copy. The next game I tried this approach after resolving Fluctuator<\/a>. I cycled a few times and then passed the turn after drawing one kill condition. This time though, my opponent had a ramped out Haunting Echoes<\/a> that removed too many of my creatures from my deck to have lethal kill spells. I had turn 2\u20133 Fluctuator<\/a> in each game but managed to lose. This shouldn\u2019t happen if you know the matchup and the interactive cards.<\/p>\n

Another match resulted in my loss because I decided again I didn\u2019t need to be in a hurry and my opponent Enlightened Tutor<\/a>ed for Tormod’s Crypt<\/a> and it locked me out of the game. I lost to a control matchup because I decided to use an Orim’s Chant<\/a> as a pseudo Time Walk<\/a> instead of saving it for the kill turn where I planned to cast multiple Orim’s Chant<\/a>s to force counterspells\/mana expenditure from my opponent. These errors were common in my matches and each one was a brutal but important lesson.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t to say I\u2019d have won all of these matches if not for my mistakes, but I feel I would have been much more competitive and in a better shot at more wins. All credit to my opponents for taking me down. I\u2019m also very grateful for my opponents being such great sports while playing what was probably a miserable deck to play against. Hopefully the novelty of Fluctuator was cool enough for them to endure watching me cycle cycle cycle cycle cycle cycle.<\/p>\n

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Tips\/Tricks<\/h3>\n