Spinelli Black
by Tony "TPup" Pagliocco

With the extended season in full swing and nearing the end, we get to see a lot of interesting decks that have come out and have been showing positive results even though they are not listed as "Tier 1" decks. Some examples of decks that performed well at GP Oakland and other PTQs, while they didn't make t8 at Oakland, they did very well in their respective events. Some examples are:

Garga Geddon
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/gpoak10/day2blog#7

Vamp Pox
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/gpoak10/day2blog#7

The Rock
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=523241

R/G Scapeshift
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=540334

To me this is evident that proper decks that are in tune with your local or overall metagame, can actually be viable ideas vs. the current field. I mean really, let's look at the metagame.

Zoo
Dark Depths / Thopter (DDT)
Elves
Scapeshift (UGR and RG versions)
Hypergenesis

The above is pulled mostly from GP Oakland stats, but for the most part is a common look at the overall wide vision metagame, not the nuts and bolts.

That takes us to take a look at what I call Spinelli Black. The below list is what Don Spinelli played at a Boston PTQ in January, making the Top 4.

In the newest version, we can see some subtle changes made to the main deck that help the deck out in substantial ways. First, he's increased the number of Nyxathids, Gatekeepers, and added Smother. He has taken out Maelstrom Pulse from the maindeck, as well as 1 Stupor. This gives the deck more threats to draw, vs drawing a dead card in the middle / late game which is essentially what the 4th Stupor was. Having the Smothers in the main deck also gives the deck more versatility vs the current field.

The version below is what Don ran to a T1 finish at the February Boston PTQ and earned himself a blue envelope.


What I really like about this version is that the amount of hand disruption, combined with his other threats is enough to cripple any deck and have them drawing off the top very quickly.

Because of the numerous threats this deck has (Smallpox, Gatekeeper, Tarmogoyf, Nyxathid, etc), it can hurt you in many many ways.

Lets look at some of the matchups and how they play out.

Dark Depths

This is the most important matchup as this is the hot deck of the moment. It is able to make a 20/20 by turn 2 and you need to have an answer right away for that. Spinelli Black can handle the turn 2 20/20 with Smallpox. On a later turn, it has Gatekeeper backup as well. These combined with the hand removal this deck produces allows for the Spinelli Black player to have many options to handle these threats. If you get past those, you are in a good position to leave them in a bad position to do any secondary win condition in a hurry.

Zoo

Creatures, creatures and more creatures, the life of a Zoo deck. The first game, you are essentially using your hand disruption to trade for creatures and slow them down. The best part is that you have creatures that can trade and you have Tarmogoyfs that can serve big beats as well. Once you go to the board, you have the ultimate in removal with Damnation which can totally obliterate any plans of speed racing vs you.

Elves

A deck capable of "going off" on turn 3/4, this can be problematic. However you are essentially playing the same game as vs zoo, eliminate their creatures, strip their hand, and before they know it, they are drawing off the top of the deck as well. A good discard strategy has been largely ignored in this format but after the board, you definitely lose the Stupors as they are capable of dumping their hand quickly and you don't want dead cards in your hand. Damnation and possibly Extirpates come in to try and strip their combos out.

Scapeshift / Hypergenesis

Vs the UGR version of Scapeshift and Hypergeneis, your hand disruption is far too much for them to deal with. UGR Scapeshift and Hypergeneis are too reactive of a deck that it cannot handle the amount of proactive hand attacks that come it's way.

Vs the RG version you need to play a little different as a recurring Punishing Fire can spell bad news for you but even though this matchup probably needs more testing to come to a conclusion, you are not a bad matchup at all vs this.

Conclusion

If I had seen this deck win a PTQ, I'd be amused but not very interested. When I see a deck T4 and T1 a Boston PTQ (which are notoriously tough to do well in due to player skill and size), even if it's a rogue deck, it has to be solid in the environment. How would this deck have done in Oakland, I'm not sure but a variant of this sent 3 out of 5 people to day 2 and that's the Vamp/Pox list I showed up above. There is some consistency with this theme in mind, and it shows that control Black is a viable deck option. The benefits are that no one will see it coming, no one will be sure how to side vs you, and you have answers to all the big decks.

Give it a whirl, see how it feels. Good luck!!