Visions: Play-in & Round of 64

Visions: Play-in & Round of 64

Series Preview

After starting off with a relatively recent set, let’s wind things back 21 years and go through one of Magic’s earliest expansions, Visions.

As the second set in the Mirage block, Visions has its fair share of creatures with the Phasing and Flanking keyword abilities. It’ll be interesting to see how Phasing plays out here; does the added power and toughness (for its time) make up for the inability to do anything every second turn? As for Flanking, I expect that to lead to a lot more aggressive creature races and less grinding, which should make for a fun time.

As an old set, the overall power level of Visions does leave something to be desired. But with that comes a whole host of quirky interactions that you don’t tend to see in the cards printed today.

Note: Hover over the names to see card images.


Play-in Round

(56) Kyscu Drake defeated by (73) Infantry Veteran

The Veteran’s pumping ability leads to a trade with a Drake on its third attack, which gives the army of 1-drop Soldiers enough of an opening to rush through with the rest of the 20 damage in the next two turns.

(57) Raging Gorilla defeats (72) Giant Caterpillar

The Gorilla goes on the offensive from the start, forcing the Caterpillar to block and keep trading. Eventually, the Gorilla’s superior numbers take over. Without damage on the stack, the Caterpillar’s metamorphosis ability isn’t much use here.

(58) Urborg Mindsucker defeats (71) Bull Elephant

The Elephant’s land-returning effect means that they can only cast a creature every two turns. The Mindsucker can take advantage of that, by only swinging in the turn after a skipped Elephant cast – for maximum damage and minimal losses. Do that once for 10 damage on Turn 7 and once for 6 damage on Turn 9, and they have just enough to finish things off before running out of gas.

(59) Goblin Swine-Rider defeated by (70) Talruum Champion

Heading into its Turn 6 attack, the Swine-Rider has things well in hand. They’ve got the Champion down to 3 life, and have an army of seven Goblins facing a single Minotaur blocker. Easy peasy, right?

Well, unfortunately, the Swine-Rider’s ability deals 2 damage to each attacking creature when it is blocked. Meaning that the single Champion’s block for their coming wave of attack (or any wave of attack thereafter) would wipe out the whole team before they get to do any combat damage.

Which means that Talruum Champion can just slowly bash face with more and more 3/3 Minotaurs, while being assured of survival so long as they leave just one behind.

And that was how Goblin Swine-Riders pulled off the biggest choke we’ve seen in this tournament to date.

(60) King Cheetah defeated by (69) Suq’Ata Lancer

The Lancer’s lower cost and Haste means that it can get the Cheetah on its heels from the start. Soon enough, after many trades, the Lancer takes it by sheer numbers.

(61) Wake of Vultures defeats (68) Scalebane’s Elite

The cheaper, evasive Vultures say screw you to the protection from black and outrace the soldiers with a series of attacks in the air.

(62) Breezekeeper defeats (67) Python

As it turns out, phasing may not be as much of a liability as we once thought.

By casting a creature every turn, Breezekeeper can ensure at least blocker to mitigate a Python assault. They get early shot in for 4 in the air, and then sit back as the snake tries to get the full 20 through them. But the most Python can do is 18…before four Breezekeepers phase in together and strike back for exact lethal.

(63) Cloud Elemental defeats (66) Knight of the Mists

The Cloud is evasive and on the play, and that’s enough for them to win this one.

(64) Panther Warriors defeated by (65) Dwarven Vigilantes

The Vigilantes’ ability means that they can shoot down one of the low-toughness cats on attack each turn (the Panther either gets shot down by two unblocked Vigilantes, or blocks and gets shot down by one). Soon enough, they take over on numbers.

Round of 64

(1) Femeref Enchantress defeated by (65) Dwarven Vigilantes

Without any enchantments to synergize with, the fragile Enchantress gets taken down by the Vigilantes.

(2) Goblin Recruiter defeats (63) Cloud Elemental

The little 1/2 Goblin (with an exceedingly broken ability that’s useless here) outraces the high-flying 2/3 Elemental.

(3) Quirion Ranger defeats (62) Breezekeeper

Again, the tiny creature with the broken but useless ability takes down a bigger flier.

(4) Chronatog defeates (68) Wake of Vultures

Doesn’t matter how many turns you lose if you can win the game first. The time-eating Atog gets some early shots in, before finishing things off by skipping their hypothetical Turns 7-11 to pump up to an army of five 4/5 attackers.

(5) Pygmy Hippo defeats (69) Suq’Ata Lancer

The Hippo can bypass that whole Flanking disadvantage by being on the attack from the start. Its higher seed and slightly lower CMC allows it to outrace (despite the haste) and eventually outnumber the Lancer for the victory.

(6) Guiding Spirit defeats (70) Talruum Champion

Not the most competitive match-up, but the Spirit gets its 20 damage in before the Champion can do the same to it.

(7) Shrieking Drake defeated by (58) Urborg Mindsucker

It’s an awkward situation for the Drake, as it just keeps bouncing itself while the Mindsucker patiently watches and builds up for the victory.

(8) Phyrexian Marauder defeated by (57) Raging Gorilla

The math is a bit tricky for the Marauder, but the best it can do – creating a 1/1 on Turn 1, a 2/2 on Turn 2, and a 3/3 on Turn 3 – still isn’t good enough. It can swing for the full 4, 5, and 6 on those turns; but the Gorilla has enough blockers to hold off their Turn 7 assault before coming back and nailing the win down.

(9) Aku Djinn defeated by (73) Infantry Veteran

The lowest-seeded Veteran wins again, this time with the help of permanent global +1/+1 pump courtesy of the overcosted Djinn.

(10) Rainbow Efreet defeats (55) Knight of Valor

The Efreet air offensive, with the help of one last-minute block to keep them alive, wins out over the Knight.

(11) Viashivan Dragon defeats (54) Spitting Drake

The master beats the underling as Viashivan Dragon comes down to put down any Drake strikes before it can really get going.

(12) Phyrexian Walker defeats (53) Resistance Fighter

With every single card in the deck being a creature, Walker has more than enough bodies to hold off the Resistance Fighter for the entirety of the game.

(13) Quirion Druid defeats (52) Jamuraan Lion

The Druid outnumbers the Lion. That, plus the fact that the Lion needs to tap to activate its ability, means that the big cat will never have enough on offense to get any damage through.

(14) Zhalfirin Crusader defeats (51) Tar Pit Warrior

Note: Not fully solved.

This one’s a bit tricky.

The Crusader wants to go on the offensive, since its Flanking ability allows it to save itself by using the redirection ability once (vs. twice when blocking). Similarly, Tar Pit Warrior wants to go on the offensive, because the blocking Crusaders – having used its mana to cast new creatures the previous turn – won’t be holding up mana to use its ability to kill it .

By Turn 7, the Warrior’s life is low enough that the Crusader can just use the redirection ability to the face to end the game – just before the Warrior gets to use its own ability for an alpha strike.

(Note: Blocking any Crusaders before then won’t work for the Warrior, since Crusader has enough mana held up on the attack to blow up two or three of them while saving the same number of attackers.)

(15) Bogardan Phoenix defeated by (50) Fallen Askari

The Askari is an efficient 2-power creature for 2 CMC, and its flanking means that it can trade with the Phoenix on offense. Even with the single-recursion ability, the Phoenix just can’t churn out creatures fast enough to stop the aggressive Askari assault.

(16) Archangel defeats (49) Daraja Griffin

Despite costing a whopping seven mana, the Archangel is able to come down before the damage from the Griffin gets too out of hand. From there, she stonewalls any further Griffin attacks, while striking back herself without fear thanks to her vigilance. The army of 5-power Angels takes it home soon afterwards.

(17) Firestorm Hellkite defeated by (48) Freewind Falcon

The protection from red allows the Falcon to get the rest of the lethal damage in unopposed before the single cumulative upkeep Hellkite can do much of anything.

(18) Kookus defeated by (47) Brass-Talon Chimera

Without its Keeper, Kookus and its self-Bolt each upkeep is on a pretty strict clock to take down Chimera. The added damage from multiples makes it quite costly to establish any kind of board presence. There are a few ways Kookus could play it.

Kookus on Turn 5, powered-up Kookus attack on Turn 6, 2nd Kookus on Turn 7: Thanks to Chimera’s sac-pump ability, it can do just enough on its Turn 7 for the 6 damage the next upkeep to kill Kookus (before it can strike for lethal).

Kookus on Turn 5, Kookus on Turn 6: Kookus can’t do enough damage on Turn 7 to win it, allowing Chimera to attack back for more than enough to end it by next upkeep. Getting hit by 6 damage on both Turns 7 and 8 is just too much for the Djinn.

Kookus beats itself as the Chimera moves on.

(19) Army Ants defeats (46) Waterspout Djinn

Costing four or more on the draw is a death knell against Army Ants. Starting Turn 4, the Ants can keep dropping down a creature while blowing up a land, preventing the Djinn from ever casting anything as the swarm of small insects eventually takes over.

(20) Crypt Rats draws with (45) Tempest Drake (Tempest Drake wins in a shootout)

Wait, a draw? How in the world did that happen?

Basically, Crypt Rats has the ability to clear the board of creatures at any time. And so, for most of the game it goes: cast Crypt Rats, cast Drake(s), use Crypt Rats to blow up everything, cast Crypt Rats…rinse and repeat. All the way until the collateral damage from all those Crypt Rats effects is enough to bring both decks down to 0.

And a draw is the best Crypt Rats can hope for. Since the Drake is bigger and costs the same, the Rats will never get the opportunity to get any attacking damage through to break the symmetry.

So how do we resolve this draw? The same way they do in hockey and soccer, of course. With a shootout.

The rules are pretty simple. Just like how a shooter gets a shot at the goalie at close range, each deck plays a game against a “dummy” deck – i.e. a deck that does nothing. Whoever wins their game the fastest wins the shootout.

Crypt Rats takes 8 turns. Just by casting rats, it can do 18 damage by Turn 8 – at which point it activates the ability to finish the game off.

Tempest Drake takes 7 turns. One attacker on Turn 4 (2 damage), two attackers on Turn 5 (4 damage), three attackers on Turn 6 (6 damage), and five attackers on Turn 7 (10 damage).

And so, after a tight shootout, Tempest Drake emerges as the winner!

(21) Ogre Enforcer defeats (44) Iron-Heart Chimera

That’s a pretty cool ability the Ogre has there – I’m surprised it hasn’t re-appeared on any cards since.

It’s not needed in this game, though, since its greater size is more than enough to overtake the Chimera. With the sac ability, it takes two chimeras to kill one Ogre – a trade that can only go the Ogre’s way long-term.

(22) Lichenthrope defeats (43) Warthog

Just like it’s single-word 3 CMC animal friend Python, Warthog falls to a bigger, nastier creature. Even with those -1/-1 counters, the fact that Lichenthrope kills a Warthog with each block means that the giant plant beast is able to hold off their offensive in time.

(23) Brood of Cockroaches defeats (42) Viashino Sandstalker

The Cockroaches quickly assemble a army to take down the (literally) defenseless Viashino, keeping more than enough extra insects to chump away any attempted Sandstalker counter-attack.

(24) Mundungu defeated by (41) Keeper of Kookus

Mundungu’s Force Spike ability is already mostly useless by the time it becomes active. So it’s the battle between a 1 CMC 1/1 and a 3 CMC 1/1. The 1 CMC creature wins.

(25) Nekrataal defeats (40) Teferi’s Honor Guard

The first two Honor Guards get blown away by the Terror effect, and the phasing flanker is not able to recover. The first striking Nekrataal takes it fairly easily.

(26) River Boa defeats (39) Talruum Piper

No regeneration needed. The Boa gets to lethal the turn after the first Piper comes down.

(27) Uktabi Orangutan defeated by (38) Shimmering Efreet

Another phaser wins its match-up, this time against the Ape with the inappropriate artwork. The strategy for the Efreet is to just keep blocking with the unphased Efreet each turn and trading, all the way until both hands have emptied and they have that one-creature advantage.

From there, all Efreet needs to do is swing on and off with that one extra phasing (and flying) attacker, while continuing to block the single Orangutan each turn with the creature that’s just been played.

(28) Necrosavant defeats (37) Matopi Golem

In the long game, there’s only ever one more Golem attacker than Necrosavant blocker. The fact all the blocked Golems gets permanently smaller (if not killed) means that the Golem can barely get any damage through before that advantage disappears.

(29) Suq’Ata Assassin defeats (36) Tin-Wing Chimera

Fortunately for it, Tin-Wing Chimera is an artifact, so it’s able to shut down any offense from the last original poison creature. Eventually, the Chimera assembles enough of an army that they can end it with one alpha strike in the air.

(30) Longbow Archer defeats (35) Lead-Belly Chimera

With its two-lower CMC and first strike, the Archer has the advantage from the start. The sac ability doesn’t help the Chimera much here, as it only gives it a one-for-one trade on the block.

(31) Stampeding Wildebeests defeats (34) Ovinomancer

Just like the Shrieking Drake, the Wildebeests can’t actually stick a creature on the battlefield to do any damage. Unlike Shrieking Drake, though, its opponent is just as incompetent in terms of doing damage.

So in a thrilling battle where nothing happens, the big green beasts take it by default.

(32) Hulking Cyclops defeats (33) Man-o’-War

Man-o’-War’s bouncing ability is really, really good…so long as there’s another creature in play to bounce (it’s not optional). If there isn’t, the Jellyfish is just pulling a Shrieking Drake/Stampeding Wildebeests by bouncing itself to all eternity.

All the Cyclops needs to do is sit there, cast nothing, and watch the show as it waits on its default victory.


Onto the Round of 32

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *