Introduction

Over the past several months sphere lands have proved to be a solid choice on MTGO and paper but can be slightly different variations.  Most recently white has been more popular due to the rise in Troll/Scam decks (tempo), as a good answer to Murktide Regent, Knight of the Reliquary, Seasoned Dungeoneer, [insert any creature that bolt doesn’t kill], and the list goes on and on… I wanted to discuss some of the differences between color and card choices, also a review from my recent top 8 finish at the SCG Con Pittsburgh 5k. 

Primer

Sphere of Resistance in the main deck drastically changes the play patterns as opposed to more classic builds with punishing fire or gamble. Alli’s recent article about Sphere Lands and the tempo emblem was fantastic, and it made a lot of sense to me about the playstyle of Sphere Lands. So go read that for sure if you have not!  

I had been avoiding playing Sphere’s until about 3 months ago, still trying to play main deck (value) cards like Endurance or Minsc and Boo with Punishing Fire’s and even Valakult Exploration (which I love dearly). All of these cards are great but serve different roles and are bad versus these decks that want to kill you quickly. So I caved and gave the main deck Spheres a try and haven’t looked back. Urza’s Saga is a phenomenal magic card and I don’t believe we need much beyond that and Depths to win the game. 

White v Red

Recently one of the more popular versions of Sphere lands has been running white, which gives us mainly access to Swords to Plowshares, arguably the best removal spell ever printed. Otherwise lists have been adding Riftstone Portal and Horizon Canopy which are both excellent choices as well and help with the colors. But the sideboard is what I want to discuss because I believe that’s where we are losing the most points by playing white. 

These are a few examples of some of the cards white has access to that I’ve seen. I don’t personally believe we need additional Storm hate beyond Sphere or Mindbreak Trap (if you’re that worried about storm) because Storm’s meta share is so low anyway and most of the dominant decks are blue, which helps keep that in check. Also at that point I think Iwould rather just play blue to have Flusterstorm. Priest is good versus Reanimator and Show and Tell especially when they don’t see it coming. It is proactive which is great as opposed to Surgical or Macabre, but Reanimator already feels fine with Bog and Crop Rotations. Kaheera is cool to see, but I don’t like that we lose a single slot to it. At worst it’s a vanilla threat, and at best it guarantees the pitch value to force. This is Trailovsky’s 5-0 recently that I believe is a typical GW Sphere list for reference. They cut a land for a Manabond, but that is about the only difference. 

Red has traditionally been the more common color of Lands since the Punishing Fire days with Grove. The most important thing I want to add is that it gives us access to Pyroblast effects out of the sideboard. The current metagame has and always will have blue cards, and Pyroblast has been a format staple since Delver emerged.

Being able to counter Force of Will or Dress Down is very good when you need to resolve cards like Choke or keep constructs on the table. Saving a Loam from a Force of Negation is good value as well. The ability to aggressively blast a Brainstorm or destroy a Murktide Regent holds a wide range for a single mana. I believe removal is important but I think right now flexibility and blue are more crucial. Most importantly I want to say that the larger portion of the metagame is blue, which means the blasts are almost always a live sideboard card to have. The only downgrade in switching to red is that we get Bolts instead of Swords. Bolts still hit a large number of problematic creatures like Archon of Emeria, Dragon’s Rage Channeler, Painter’s Servant, and Magus of the Moon. Since the printing of Up the Beanstalk and Orcish Bowmasters, 4-5 color control decks are emerging and doing well so I want cards like Choke and blasts to combat those and Delver. 

Sylvan library is a card that a lot of white lists have cut or moved to the board since Bowmasters came about. However, it is one of the single best cards against decks that want to go long or don’t pressure your life total. With the control decks growing in popularity I want to reinclude 2 of these back into my main deck. Rishadan Port is another piece of that puzzle when it comes to gaining tempo under a sphere or choke, that has been cut to make room for the GW lands that I also believe are great in sphere builds. 

Tournament Report

Sunday was the legacy 5k in Pittsburgh, PA in the US, 124 registered players. Good enough for a top 8 finish. Here was my list:

As we discussed previously some of my card choices and why I wanted to play red, I also wanted to add a single Torpor Orb for the Doomsday and Initiative matchups and a Grafdigger’s Cage as the 4th proactive answer to Reanimator and Cradle Control decks that also in comes off Saga. I made a few concessions to decks like Initiative or Storm that without a Sphere on the play I accepted were bad matchups. 

Round 1 – Grixis Delver 2-1

Excellent start to the event. Delver is a match up that I believe we are favored in and I wanted to see. Nothing extremely exciting during these games, I remember they played out relatively normal. Wastelands are exchanged, Bowmaster’s is bad versus Lands and Marit Lage is good against them. 

In: 3 Blasts, 3 Bolts and 2 Choke

Out: 4 Sphere, 2 Library, 1 Ancient tomb and 1 Needle

Round 2 – Storm (ANT) 2-1

Game 1 he is on the play. I keep an opening 7 with Exploration, Loam, Diamond, Crop Rotation and some lands but no Sphere. Solid keep in the blind. He leads on suspended Gaea’s Will. Ok he kept an interesting hand but I’m 99% sure he is on Storm. I know without a Sphere I’m disadvantaged with this hand, so I need to restrict his mana. I aggressively Crop Rotate for wasteland and hit the Bayou. He untaps and plays a few more lands each turn and I am unable to kill him before he goes off. 

In: 1 Cage and 3 Blasts

Out: Crucible and 2 Loam, Karakas 

Game 2 I’m on the play and mulligan to 6. It’s keepable with Exploration, Diamond, Library and Saga together with a few lands. I know I wanted to mulligan for the Sphere but I felt this hand was good if I didn’t die on turn 1. I didn’t want to risk going to 5 for a potentially worse hand. I could dig for a Sphere and I had a clock. I drew a Red Blast, was able to snipe a Brainstorm, and then ended up putting pressure on with Wasteland and constructs; he died to his own Ad Nauseam on turn 4 because of construct damage. 

Game 3 he is on the play. I keep 7 with double Sphere, Blast and Diamond + Saga and lands. Turn 2 I had double sSphere, got Soul-Guide Lantern off the 3rd chapter so he couldn’t dig out with Cabal Ritual. I had the blast for his Chain of Vapor. 

Current record 2-0

Round 3 – Mono-White Hammer 0-2

This was miserable.

Game 1 he is on the play and leads with Sigarda’s Aid, Ornithopter. Hammer was equip turn 2. Turn 3 I’m dead. 

In: 2 Force and 3 Bolts

Out: ?? Loam, Bog and something else? 

Game 2 was very similar. I stalled a few turns with a Maze of Ith but was overwhelmed with constructs and Kaldra Compleat. 

Round 4 – GW Lands (Sphere unknown) 2-1

Game 1 I’m on the play and my opening hand has Sphere, Mox, Saga and Crop Rotation with some lands. I lead on a Sphere and he Wastelands my saga. He gets Exploration a few turns later with Loam going and shuts the door on me.

In: 2 force, 2 Surgicals and Macabre

Out: 4 Sphere and Tabernacle

Game 2 on the play again. This game is in my favor as I keep Exploration and Loam with Diamonds. I play my hand on turn 1 sequencing around Force. He plays the Force, I Loam into Saga and when it’s on chapter 2 he plays his own Saga. On his end step, I make a construct, untap, make a 2nd construct and grab a Needle naming Saga to slow the game down. Then I drew Wasteland to seal the victory.

Game 3 on the draw, all I remember is he lead on double Diamond and Exploration and I had the force. The game durdled a few turns past that and I ended up winning. 

Round 5 – UB Shadow 2-0

Game 1 was close and grindy. He had shadow in play with Bowmasters. I assembled constructs with Shadowspear and ended up closing out with that. 

In: 3 Blasts, 3 Bolt and 2 Choke

Out: 4 Sphere, 1 Tomb, and Libraries (maybe Needle?)

Game 2 he leads on Wasteland, I lead on A fetchland with Crop Rotation in my hand. At the end of my turn he cycles Troll for Underground Sea. When he attempts to Reanimate on turn 2 I rotate for Bojuka Bog. It resolves. I draw Wasteland and hit the Sea. The game is over as he doesn’t draw any more lands. 

Round 6 – Mono-blue 8 Cast 2-1

Game 1 and 2 I remember very little about.

Game 3 was very grindy. We end at a point where I have 5 lands plus a Diamond in play. My lands are Yavimaya, Tabernacle, Stage, Depths and Saga on chapter 2. He has just resolved Kappa, which is a 5/5 currently. He also has a 4/4 construct and a Needle on Stage and a tapped Soul-Guide Lantern in play. No cards in his hand. I have Crop Rotation in my hand at 7 life. I know I have exactly one turn, even if I make the construct and block. I went deep into the tank for a minute. I was trying to find a way to kill the Needle so I could make a 20/20 while also keeping my Tabernacle to restrict his mana. I had all but Diamond, Saga, Tabernacle, and Yavimaya tapped at his end step. I used the Saga to rotate for a Blast Zone, using the 3 remaining mana to destroy the Needle and Lantern, along with my Exploration. Then I untap and make Marit Lage, forcing him to either keep his creatures or keep his mana and try to draw Otawara. He didn’t draw anything and I won the next turn. Epic ending.

Round 7 – 4c Delver 2-1

At this point I’m trying to figure out if I can draw into top 8, depending on the pairings. I get my pairing however and I’m the pair down meaning I had to play. 

Game 1 i basically see Grixis Delver plus a Tropical Island. Feeling very confident at this point, I closed the game with a Loam on Marit Lage after the first had been hit by Petty Theft. 

In: 3 Blast, 3 Bolt and 2 Choke

Out: Spheres, Needle, 2 Library and 1 Tomb

Game 2 was very close. He made a huge Murktide I couldn’t deal with and he ended up getting in for several damage with Bowmasters and the orc token. 

Game 3 went long, to the point that I almost worried about time at this point. Questing Druid was a very good addition to his build as it helped him grind more in addition to Channeler. He lead turn 1 on Channeler. I went Mox Diamond, Saga, Loam, discarding Maze as it was my only other land. I had a Bolt and a Blast in my hand. I dredged a Ghost quarter with the Loam and turn 2 hit his Underground Sea. He fails to find and I knew that without a counterspell or interaction for my Loam I was going to try and Strip Mine him out. The plan goes on for several turns limiting him to 1 land a turn basically and eventually I find room to resolve a safe 20/20. We shook hands and I was now in the top 8, where we we elected to split.\

Conclusion

It was a great event, great matches and I’m very thankful to have done well. I believe Sphere lands is in a great position. Really I believe Lands in general is in a great position in the metagame, and I hope that this has given some insight as to why red was my choice and will be going forward. Thanks for reading and cheers!