About Nico Bohny
Nico Bohny
Nico is a level 4 member of the Pro Players Club, he has 79 lifetime Pro Points and is one of the best Limited players worldwide! Some of Nico’s MTG accomplishments include:
- Winning Grand Prix Torino
- Top 8 at Pro Tour Hollywood
- Winning the team World Championship
Apart from playing high-level tournaments, Nico judges various Magic tournaments. In addition Nico is the original designer of the BW token deck. He was also spotted winning matches with 20/20 avatar tokens (or as he says “Chuck Norris tokens”) from Dark Depths at Nationals ;-).
Hello everybody
It's time for another installment of Ask the Pro, where I answer the most interesting questions from Blackborder.com users. Thank you for submitting your questions!
Question
Matt Burford asks:
“Hi
I was wondering and I am
hoping for this but do you think that Jund will receive the same kind of hate
cards that Faeries did from Wizards any time in the near future? Possibly M11?”
Answer
Hi Matt
Hard to tell, but I guess,
it isn’t too easy to print an efficient hate card against Jund. The deck has
lots of synergies and attacks its opponent from different angles. If you try to
print a card which is really good against Cascade, Jund still generates card
advantage via Blightning. They could also print some good spot removal against
the early aggression of Jund, such as Sprouting Thrinax and Putrid Leech, but then
you’ll just lose to Broodmate Dragon or Siege-Gang Commander. Sure enough you
could print another color hoser (such as Paladin En-Vec), but Jund with its
three colors has lots of options to adapt to new hate cards.
Faeries was also hard to hate due to their threat diversity (ranging from Mutavault and Mistbind Clique to Bitterblossom). Still, most of them had flying,
so flash cards like Cloudthresher, or things that couldn’t be countered (Great Sable Stag, Volcanic Fallout) helped a lot.
I guess the best way to
“hate” out Jund is to print better cards in White and Blue (like Cryptic Command or other equivalents of Bloodbraid Elf), or simply to ban Bloodbraid Elf herself (which probably won’t happen).
Question
Jesper Holke-Farnam wants to know:
“Nico Bohny I would like to
know what your favorite deck to play in Standard is right now? I would also
like to know what is the best deck in Standard right now?”
Answer
Hey Jesper
Well, having seen the
results of Pro Tour San Diego, Jund still seems to be among the most powerful decks, as
well as Naya which proved to be a hot contender to become the new deck to beat.
My favorite deck is the deck you’ll see in the next question. It's the deck I played
in San Diego.
Question
Dylan Frost asks:
“I have been testing the
decklist you and Aras Senyuz played in San Diego. I tend to believe it is the
best kept secret in Standard right now. I was hoping you would write an article
discussing the deck, shedding information in matchups and what you would change
in the new metagame. I have been testing the list with the Stoneforge Mystic
toolbox as follows:
-3 Path to Exile -1 Martial Coup -1 Emeria Angel +2 Stoneforge Mystic +1 Basilisk Collar +1 Behemoth Sledge
+1 Oblivion Ring
Cutting Path to Exile feels
extremely risky, but I wanted a little more threat density. Increasing the
number of Brave the Elements also seems like an option (how good were they for
you?). With the rise of Naya and U/W control the sideboard probably could use
some updating. Luminarch Ascension and Dauntless Escort seem strong against U/W
and Harm's Way is a total blowout against naya's sparkmage/collar combo.
I plan on playing in a
tournament this Saturday for a playset of all Zendikar fetchlands with this
deck. You would be my hero if you would send me an updated strategy/decklist .
Thank you for your time.”
Answer
Hey Dylan!
Thanks for your thoughts! I
also love the deck a lot - it’s a build from William Cavaglieri, and I like
most of his ideas. I didn’t plan on writing an article about it (maybe Will
will), but I can give you a short update of my list.
At the moment my list looks
like this:
This deck forms part of my feature article:
In this installment of "Ask the Pro", level 4 pro player Nico Bohny answers the most interesting questions from Blackborder users. He explains which cards would be needed to deal with Jund, presents an updated version of his favorite Standard deck, discusses the value of Baneslayer Angel and much more!
| Converted Mana Cost |
|---|
| 1 | 10 |
|---|
| 2 | 7 |
|---|
| 3 | 7 |
|---|
| 4 | 7 |
|---|
| 5 | 4 |
|---|
| Type |
|---|
| Basic Land | 7 |
|---|
| Creature | 22 |
|---|
| Enchantment | 4 |
|---|
| Instant | 6 |
|---|
| Land | 18 |
|---|
| Planeswalker | 2 |
|---|
| Sorcery | 1 |
|---|
I don’t like the equipment
engine in this deck, because most of your guys are good enough without the
equipment cards and unlike in Naya or Junk decks, they will win you the game if
they survive.
Marshal’s Anthem serves as
a fifth Baneslayer Angel against Jund, Harm's Way are here to help you out
against Cunning Sparkmages. Another thought was to include 4 Qasali Pridemages
to help battling the equipments; because very often Naya or White Weenie won’t
win without them.
Question
Alash wants to know:
"Hello Nico,
When don't you want to be
on the play?
It may sound like a trivial
question, but more often than not I see people go on the play without even
considering the alternative, and for the ones that do actually use the choice
to their advantage they seem to have very different decks/deck themes. What are
the pros and cons here?
Thanks in advance
Alash"
Answer
Hey there!
That’s a really good
question!
In Constructed, it’s pretty
rare to go second. There were actually some matchups we tested that were close
to the same when going first/going second, for example my WG aggro deck above
against Jund, thanks to Knight of the White Orchid and the extra card to help
fight Blightning.
In Limited, I often go
second if I have lots of removal spells (to deal with early pressure and
outclass the lategame creatures), or if my manabase is shaky (mostly 3colored)
and I really need the extra card. In Zendikar, it was a quite rare thing to go
second, but in Alara, I usually took my chances with the extra card. Now with
Worldwake, I tend to go second if I have a slower deck with Walking Atlas and
my opponent is lacking the important two-drops.
Question
SoupninjA wants to know:
"My question is twofold.
First, what is it about Baneslayer Angel that makes it worth so much money? And
second, Do you feel it's worth the amount of money people pay for it?. Ok, I
lied, threefold. If Baneslayer Angel went for a more reasonable price would it
warp the format?
Brad Jarman"
Answer
Hi Brad
Reasons why Baneslayer
Angel is worth that much money:
- It’s mythic, and it’s in a
set which doesn’t belong to a block and therefore wasn’t drafted too often.
This fact even boosts Baneslayer’s rarity.
- It’s a card that casual
players as well as tournament players like a lot. Casual players like it,
because it’s pretty simple and cool, tournament players like her because she’s
just powerful.
- Baneslayer Angel is so
powerful because she delivers a 10 point life swing with every hit. Also, she’s
pretty hard to block, almost unkillable in combat (since most flyers that are
bigger than 5/5 are dragons or demons), and often stops the two biggest guys of
your opponent on defense (block one, and prevent the damage of the second with
her lifelink ability), thanks to the synergy of first strike and lifelink.
To sum it up: Her stats are
almost equal to those of Progenitus (10 life swing per hit, evasive), she only
costs half as much, is mono-colored instead of 5-colored, she’s better on
defense, but still able to race Progenitus on offense, if she gets the first hit
in. And she’s not legendary. Fair enough, isn’t it?
So, yes, she’s worth her
money, and yes, she has already warped Constructed (Standard, Extended and even
Legacy), and she would show up at least in every third deck at your FNM if her
price was less than what it is now.
Thanks for reading.
Nico
Ask the Pro And Deck Analysis
You can already submit all your questions for the next installment of Ask the Pro:
I would like to announce the amazing new feature called "Ask the Pro", as well as introduce you to Pro Player Nico Bohny who is joining Blackborder.com as a feature writer!
I want to provide you with some details about him as well as explain to you the "Ask the Pro" feature where you can collect a lot of Blackborder points!
And don't forget to bid on my deck analysis auction:
You have the great opportunity to bid Blackborder points to win a deck analysis with level 4 Pro Player Nico Bohny!
This is a unique chance to get personal advice from a world class player.
Bidding is now closed.
Current Bids
Auction expires on Sat, 3 Apr
Email this page
Thank god Baneslayer is so much money. I run vampires and shed plow right through me...until I draw feast of blood!
In response to the "Jund Hate" question, M11 will only be out for 3 months before Cascade (and therefore Jund) rotates out of Standard. It would be like Stag against Faeries. Faeries was already doing good and Stag just slowed it down and forced it to change up a bit for the last 3 months that Faeries were in Standard.
For going second- Some combo decks like to go second. Esp. in legacy. The Cure is a deck that has Turn 2 Goldfishes on the Draw around 40%.
And Turn 2 Goldfishes on the play of like 6%.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my question :) I haven't had a chance to play with Baneslayer and I've only played against it a few times. Given my limited experience with the card I found it hard to believe she was worth the price. More often than not she walked (or flew?)down the Path to Exile or took a trip to the bottom of the library on the Bant Charm express.
I never really considered the fact that she's in 2010 as a contibuting factor to her value, but it makes sense. I just might have to break down and buy a couple. Anyone know where I can pick some up ;)
She's pretty absurd... almost every single game she's reared her ugly head against me if I didn't have an answer I died, and fast. 2 games I can think of that I managed to pull out of after being hit because one was dredge so I went the "mill opponent" route, and the other was my recent posting of the UW kicker deck and I managed to Rite of Replication to stall and ramp into a Martial Coup in time, and then a couple mind springs to recover my hand. She's insanely powerful all around if you can afford her pricetag.
It seems that Baneslayer never does much in a mach against me because. I usually play mono blue and would take control of her. if you wonder how i do that. The decklist name is. 635255. the other reason is I play the always hated jund deck with terminate as the main defense
Anyone who has problems with baneslayer should of thought ahead! They know shes there and if you don't sideboard for her(because shes hot) it's their fault for not doing so!
Even if you come prepared for her sometimes you just don't draw what it was you came prepared with. I'm always thinking how I can deal with her, but sometimes there's just nothing you can do about the beating.
Mutiny her behind, then have Bazaar Trader permanently make her yours. That way you didn't have to spend a fortune for her and you still get to win using her. Or a Path to Exile would do too.
The real question about Baneslayer is "Will she still be around in M11?" Doesn't M10 cycle out of Standard in Oct.?
i thought i wont cycle out after that because the Alara Reborn set is going to be rotated out. Right???
Jund is strong, baneslayer is strong (and very expensive), Nocturnus is strong too.
Yes, the question is : Will they re-make baneslayer angel, Nocturnus, and M10Dual Land in M11 ? Is the investment in these cards worth longer than 15 month ?
I would be suprised to see any of those cards reprinted in 2011 except the lands. But I could be wrong :)As for them being worth the investment Nocturnus, probably not. Bnaeslayer, I would say yes. She'll be played in extended for years to come even if she isn't reprinted. The lands will probably see play in extended as well, especially after the Ravnica shock lands rotate out.