Final Lands Hand Answer

Hand No. 10: (on the draw)

[[Ponder|]] [[Brainstorm|]] [[Abrupt Decay|]] [[Badlands|]] [[Scalding Tarn|]] [[Lotus Petal|]] [[Rite of Flame|]]

Keep

One of the most crucial components to the Lands matchup is being able to answer [[Sphere of Resistance]] when on the draw, and this hand does that nicely. It even has a [[Lotus Petal]] to guarantee being able to cast the [[Abrupt Decay]]. While the overall speed of this hand is somewhat of a concern, it’s just something that you need to accept if you’re going to have a chance at winning.

8-Cast

Pre-board

Hand No. 1: (on the play)

[[Dark Ritual|]] [[Lotus Petal|]] [[Mox Opal|]] [[Wishclaw Talisman|]] [[Verdant Catacombs|]] [[Dark Ritual|]] [[Rite of Flame|]]

Keep

In pre-board games, 8-Cast plays a full play set of [[Force of Will]], but no other pitch-counters. This means we’re back to the old, “they’re only 40% to have it” montra. If that’s the case, we always take our shot when we have it — trust the math.



Hand No. 2: (on the draw)

[[Lion’s Eye Diamond|]] [[Lion’s Eye Diamond|]] [[Mox Opal|]] [[Chrome Mox|]] [[Brainstorm|]] [[Burning Wish|]] [[Veil of Summer|]]

Keep

8-Cast is a deck that plays [[Chalice of the Void]]. That said, they’re also a deck that can’t afford to cast it for zero. This is because most of their deck is zero mana artifacts, which means we can expect it to be cast for a value of one most of the time. Even if they have [[Chalice of the Void]], we’re back to playing the 40 percent game. If our opponent kept a hand that doesn’t have [[Chalice of the Void]], we can assume that they have a copy of [[Force of Will]], which we can beat as long as we draw an initial mana source for the [[Veil of Summer]].



Hand No. 3: (on the play)

[[Burning Wish|]] [[Burning Wish|]] [[Ponder|]] [[Brainstorm|]] [[Tundra|]] [[Scalding Tarn|]] [[Dark Ritual|]]

Keep

This is a reluctant keep. We can cast the [[Ponder]] before [[Chalice of the Void]] hits the battlefield and then have [[Burning Wish]] for [[Prismatic Ending]] as an option. While 8-Cast isn’t the fastest deck around, this hand is fairly slow. I would expect the average combo turn of this hand to be turn 4.5.



Hand No. 4: (on the draw)

[[Veil of Summer|]] [[Orim’s Chant|]] [[Rite of Flame|]] [[Dark Ritual|]] [[Lotus Petal|]] [[Polluted Delta|]] [[Tropical Island|]]

Mulligan

I just don’t know what this hand does well. While we can beat a [[Force of Will]] we have to get to that point by drawing an action spell (34%) and not losing to [[Chalice of the Void]]. It’s worth noting that if we take too long to find the action spell, the final chapter on [[Urza’s Saga]] can find [[Pithing Needle]] to shut down [[Wishclaw Talisman]]. We should look to leverage the power of the London Mulligan.



Hand No. 5: (on the play)

[[Wishclaw Talisman|]] [[Wishclaw Talisman|]] [[Chrome Mox|]] [[Rite of Flame|]] [[Taiga|]] [[Verdant Catacombs|]] [[Chrome Mox|]]

Mulligan

This hand is almost the exact opposite of Hand No. 4. We have a pair of [[Wishclaw Talisman]] as tutors, but no acceleration or protection. The real downside here is we’re telegraphing with the first-turn [[Wishclaw Talisman]] into their [[Urza’s Saga]] for [[Pithing Needle]]. While the second copy of [[Wishclaw Talisman]] can be either mana or acceleration, we need multiple pieces of mana to really do anything meaningful here.



Post-board

Recommended sideboarding:

IN
[[Galvanic Relay|]] [[Galvanic Relay|]] [[Galvanic Relay|]] [[Abrupt Decay|]] [[Abrupt Decay|]]
OUT
[[Ponder|]] [[Ponder|]] [[Ponder|]] [[Ponder|]] [[Echo of Eons|]]


Hand No. 6: (on the draw)

[[Abrupt Decay|]] [[Abrupt Decay|]] [[Lotus Petal|]] [[Chrome Mox|]] [[Taiga|]] [[Mox Opal|]] [[Polluted Delta|]]

Mulligan

While beating [[Chalice of the Void]] is nice, it isn’t everything. This hand needs more mana, protection, and tutors. It’s a lot to ask for, especially when we most likely only ever need to answer a single [[Chalice of the Void]].



Hand No. 7: (on the play)

[[Dark Ritual|]] [[Lotus Petal|]] [[Mox Opal|]] [[Wishclaw Talisman|]] [[Verdant Catacombs|]] [[Dark Ritual|]] [[Rite of Flame|]]

Mulligan

Isn’t this the same hand as Hand No. 1? Yes. What changed is our opponent sided in four copies of [[Force of Negation]]. If you follow the data, they’re roughly 80 percent to have a free counterspell, which is part of what makes this such a difficult matchup. While it’s tough to pass these hands up, we need something more interactive. Without a way to sculpt, we’re just praying to draw one of our six protection spells before they can draw a second “Force effect” against the deck named after its eight efficient draw spells.



Hand No. 8: (on the draw)

[[Veil of Summer|]] [[Lion’s Eye Diamond|]] [[Mox Opal|]] [[Lotus Petal|]] [[Verdant Catacombs|]] [[Abrupt Decay|]] [[Badlands|]]

Keep

This hand isn’t really that different than Hand No. 4, which was a mulligan. The difference is here we can beat a [[Chalice of the Void]] or a [[Force of Will]]/[[Force of Negation]] if we draw into our 34 percent action spell instead of just the free counterspells — the versatility here shouldn’t be underestimated. Another element that’s desirable is the mana as it works very favorably with [[Galvanic Relay]] which is likely our best draw.



Hand No. 9: (on the play)

[[Lotus Petal|]] [[Lion’s Eye Diamond|]] [[Lion’s Eye Diamond|]] [[Galvanic Relay|]] [[Scalding Tarn|]] [[Chrome Mox|]] [[Brainstorm|]]

Keep

[[Galvanic Relay]] is our best card in post-board games against the deck that has eight “Force effects” as we can punish their card disadvantage. The key here is to make sure [[Lotus Petal]] and [[Chrome Mox]] aren’t countered. I’d start the turn on [[Scalding Tarn]], [[Lotus Petal]], and then [[Chrome Mox]] to make sure we’re not burning all of our [[Galvanic Relay]] fuel.



Hand No. 10: (on the draw)

[[Dark Ritual|]] [[Dark Ritual|]] [[Ad Nauseam|]] [[Underground Sea|]] [[Lotus Petal|]] [[Orim’s Chant|]] [[Galvanic Relay|]]

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I’ll provide my answer in the next article. For now, make sure to post your thoughts!

Make sure to check out Alex McKinley’s latest article:
» 8 Thoughts About 8-Cast