2001)

Virtual Card Advantage (04.04.01)

We’re a few weeks past Pro Tour: Tokyo. This tournament was won by Zvi’s Mowshowitz, using a deck designed by John Ormerod, heavily metagamed against red.

Here is the decklist:

4:Crimson Acolyte
4:Galina's Knight
4:Meddling Mage
4:Stormscape Apprentice
4:Voice of All

4:Absorb
4:Exclude 4:Fact or Fiction
4:Repulse

4:Coastal Tower
10:Island
10:Plains

Sideboard:

2 Aura Blast
3 Crusading Knight
4 Disrupt
3 Gainsay
3 Pure Reflection

This deck uses some traditional forms of card advantage. Fact or Fiction can always be used to draw three cards (though it shouldn’t always be used that way.) Whenever Exclude is used, it costs you one card (-1) to counter a card of your opponent (+1) and draw a card (+1) for a net +1 cards. Disrupt and Aura Blast in the sideboard can be used similarly to Exclude.

One of the key ideas in this deck, however, is a non-traditional kind of advantage. This deck can gain virtual card advantage against an opponent. Virtual card advantage is a very hazy subject. When a card you have permanently removes one or more of your opponent’s cards it gives a clear card advantage. When it neutralizes the card in a more subtle way, the card advantage isn’t real. It’s virtual.

For example, if I play Light of Day, I’ve neutralized all of the black creatures intended to attack or block that my opponent draw or plays. Those cards, however, can still be used. My opponent could discard them instead of an important card. My opponent could change their color and attack. My opponent could find a way to get rid of the Light of Day and attack, and so on. While my opponent is shut down by Light of Day, however, I’m up several cards. Since this advantage is so fragile, however, we call it ´´virtual card advantage´´.

If I were holding several red removal spells, my opponent dropping a Crimson Acolyte would cause me a great deal of trouble, in the form of virtual card advantage. Now, my removal spells couldn’t target my opponent’s creatures. If I used a Thornscape Battlemage to destroy the Acolyte, I’d recoup all of the card disadvantage. If my opponent beat me before I could destroy the Acolyte, the card advantage would be ´´real´´. If I destroy the Acolyte, then the only advantage my opponent would have would be in tempo. The turns I could have been using destroying creatures I spent elsewhere, due to the presence of the Acolyte. It isn’t until after the game that we know whether the advantage was in cards or in tempo.

One of the goals of this deck is to play enough virtual card advantage to make it real. Meddling Mage looks like a good card, but in general you’ll play it naming a removal spell and your opponent will simply destroy it with another removal spell. It will give temporary card advantage, neutralizing a certain card in your opponent’s hand, but the card advantage will be quickly lost when your opponent gets rid of the Mage.

Ormerod’s deck gets around this with Crimson Acolyte, which can stop all of your opponent’s targeted red removal spells. The Acolyte can protect the Mage, and Zvi’s opponent could do very little about it. Zvi could stop his opponent’s removal with virtual advantage, then attack before his opponent could figure out a way to destroy either the Mage or the Acolyte, making the virtual advantage real.

The Stormscape Apprentice is a surprisingly powerful creature. At first, it’s 1/1 beatdown. Of course, this wouldn’t have Zvi’s opponent shaking, but this is an environment in which every point of damage counts. Against aggressive opponents, the Apprentice takes out the most threatening creature the opponent controls. Against defensive opponents, it can neutralize two blockers every other turn, or one blocker every turn. In any case, the Apprentice helps capitalize on the tempo advantage brought about by the virtual card advantage.

Outside of Invasion Block Constructed, there are a few other decks that try to win using virtual card advantage. Here’s a question. How many cards does a Stone Rain neutralize? Is Stone Rain an example of card parity? At first it seems so: one of my spells for one of my opponent’s lands. Ponza, the aggressive red land destruction deck, tries to prove this wrong, principally by using the notion of virtual card advantage. If your opponent controls no lands, then her hand full of spells is useless. Ponza aims to keep the opponent’s mana supply very low, thus neutralizing all of her cards (albeit temporarily) then to win before she recovers, thus making that previous neutralization permanent.

Ponza’s signature card, Tectonic Break, demonstrates this even more clearly. By using it, the Ponza player trades a card (the Tectonic Break), X+2 mana, and X lands for X of his opponent’s lands. This represents a loss of tempo (the turn spent casting Tectonic Break) and a card. Ponza can afford this loss, however, because it intends to win before the opponent can use the cards in her hand, thus neutralizing all of them for some serious card advantage.

Another deck that uses virtual card advantage is the much maligned (perhaps rightly) TurboChant deck. TurboChant aims to use Orim’s Chant to shut down its opponent’s turn over and over again. It accomplishes this with Recall and Relearn to recur the Chant and Howling Mine to ensure a steady supply of Chants and recursive cards. Of the four principal cards in the combo all but Relearn operate at a card loss. Orim’s Chant, Howling Mine, and Recall all give a one card advantage to the opponent.

TurboChant believes it can do this, however, because it believes it can stop the opponent from ever capitalizing on the cards she draws. If TurboChant works, the opponent never gets to put drawn cards to use. If TurboChant successfully shuts down the opponent then the virtual card advantage gained by Chanting every turn becomes real card advantage. Every single card the opponent drew was neutralized. In practice, TurboChant often has trouble maintaining the lock, and at this point the actual card advantage the Chant player gave to the opponent will be enough to actually win the game.

Card Advantage wins games. So does Tempo Advantage. Anyone playing Suicide Black against Light of Day can tell you that Virtual Card Advantage wins games too. When you make your opponent’s cards useless, even temporarily, you put yourself in a strong position. If you can capitalize on that position, you can leave your opponent staring at a hand of good cards while you win despite the card count.

Chris

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