(Imagine MC Hammer)

Can Trip This

Can Trip This

Can Trip This

My, my, my deck it cycles so hard

Makes me say “Oh Wizards”

Thank you for giving me

Access to cards like Ponder and Peek

A deck gets good, as it whittles down

Drawing your dope and mana sources now

It's known as cantrip

And it's a skill you can't rip.

I told you homeboy (Can Trip This)

Makes decks consistent and you know (Can Trip This)

Look at the cards, man (Can Trip This)

Yo, Let me bust this mega bomb (Can Trip This)

Don't know why that popped in my head today, but it made me realize that it has been a long time since I heard someone talk about Cantrips. So I figured that a lesson may be due. Besides it gives me a chance to present a deck to you that features another card spoiled right here on Mananation.com.

First, let's define what a Cantrip is. The simple dictionary definition just says that it is a magic spell or trick. Well, all nonland cards fall under this definition so end of lesson I guess. In Magic the Gathering we have a more refined definition of cantrip. With a little research we find the word cantrip is used in the novel "When Darkness Falls" to be a short spell or trigger that causes a much larger or more complicated spell to be complete. A Magical shortcut if you will. Magic cards that cantrip are cards that draw another card which basically allow us to transform a simple card like Ponder and draw into a more complex spell like Time Warp. So the flavor of cantrip is pretty much the same as the in the novel.

But what do cantrip cards really do? And why would I want them? These are both good questions and to be honest many players don't fully understand the cantrip.

First let's look at some stats involving lands. We all understand that the more lands you have in your deck the more likely you are to have a land in hand at the beginning of your turn. While some decks are content with three lands others need 6 to 8 before they are able to play their key spells. In both slow and fast decks once you have enough lands you really don't want to draw any more. How many times have you been in top deck mode and ripped a land, forcing you to concede? So you want to access your land but you don't want to be mana flooded later.

First let's make charts for the probability of drawing any number of lands by any number of turns. All are based on having a 60 card deck. L is the number of land we want and T is the number of turns we've played.

20 land

As an Example, we're going to say our deck really wants to cast Polymorph on turn 4. You can see that using 20 lands in our deck we will only have a 53% chance of having the four lands required to play Polymorph let alone the odds of actually having the card in hand. So we should probably consider running more lands in our deck.

22 land

Now our magical 4 lands on turn 4 happens in 64% of our games. Better, but we need more.

24 Lands

L=1 L=2 L=3 L=4 L=5

Fitting our deck into The Rule of Nine land count moves us up to 73%. That's nearly 3 out of 4 games meaning: We should see it in at least 2 of the 3 games in a match (3/4 of a best of three match.) I would be content with this but let's look at going still higher.

26 Lands

Now we can truly relax as we realize that in 4 out of 5 games will easily see 4 lands in play on turn 4. It's crazy how numbers can confirm that which we already know. The more lands you have in your deck, the better your chances of drawing land!

The big problem is as we increase our chances of having land early we also increase our chances of drawing land later when we don't need it. That is where Cantrips come in. By playing a Cantrip we effectively move forward a turn when it comes to calculations meaning that if we play a Cantrip in our first three turns with the 26 land deck you increase you chances of having 4 lands on turn 4 up to 87% since you've drawn 5 turns worth of cards.

The major hitch is that we need to have the Cantrip available in order to reap the benefit of turn acceleration. Sure we could flood out the cantrip to insure our having one available but what cantrip wins the game. If we run 4 copies of a given cantrip card our odds of drawing at least one copy on or before turn 3 is 49%. If we combine these two facts together we get the following table.

20 land with 4 Cantrips in a 60 card deck

You can see that our goal of 4 lands on turn 4 is increased 5%. But if those 4 Cantrips where land would be, we have actually decreased our chances of reaching the goal by 15%. Does that mean that we should use the extra lands instead of the Cantrips? I say no, here's why. Later in the game hitting an extra land is much worse than hitting a Cantrip which may produce a playable card. Cantrips actually increase all odds. Drawing the needed amount of lands or drawing the power spells in your deck.

Without dumping even more numbers on you it basically works out like this. 4 Cantrips in your deck is equal to running 2 extra lands. So if my Foundation Nine can be thinned by two and there is a suitable cantrip in color I will often run 22 land, 4 Cantrip, 34 spells. If I'm really planning on digging for a combo then I may move up to 8 Cantrips, 20, land and 32 spells. I've even gone up to 16 Cantrips before but never go below 18 land. Remember that you need land to cast the actual cantrip spell and going below 18 can make that an issue.

At the PTQ I attended I had the pleasure of playing a little Standard between rounds. My opponent had a Polymorph deck which Cantriped A LOT. I didn't get his exact list but here are the basics.

[cardlist]4 Polymorph

2 Rite of Replication

4 Ponder

4 Treasure Hunt

4 Explore

4 Spreading Seas

4 Rampant Growth

4 Harrow

4 Wind Zendikon

1 Progenitus

1 Iona, Shield of Emeria

4 Khalni Garden

4 Halimar Depths

4 Dread Statuary

4 Misty Rainforest

4 Island

4 Forest[/cardlist]

That was a digging deck. I played and won against it with my Kor Ally Chain (KAC) I wrote about a few weeks ago. In both games he got an early Progenitus but it could only block one ally and Earthquake became a big burn spell for the win.

The deck that I am most interested in right now though is the Open the Vaults list that hit the top 8 at Pro Tour San Diego. Of course the real winner in the deck is Filigree Angel (a ManaNation spoiler card.) Having one of Mananation's spoiled card in your deck automatically makes you cooler. Having one signed by Trick is the Bomb. Here is the list if you don't remember it.

[cardlist]2 Celestial Colonnade

4 Glacial Fortress

4 Island

2 Kabira Crossroads

2 Marsh Flats

3 Plains

1 Swamp

2 Terramorphic Expanse

4 Architects of Will

4 Glassdust Hulk

4 Filigree Angel

1 Sharuum the Hegemon

4 Sphinx of Lost Truths

3 Couriers Capsule

3 Day of Judgment

2 Fieldmist Borderpost

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

2 Journey to Nowhere

1 Mistvein Borderpost

3 Oblivion Ring

4 Open the Vaults

4 Spreading Seas[/cardlist]

When I saw this list covered on the Mothership I was amazed by the fact that it made Top 8. It seems really dependent on casting a 6cc spell with only 20 lands. That's normally a bad idea. But then you start looking at the Cantrip power of the deck. With 8 spells that Cantrip on turn 1. Spreading Seas possible on turn 2. Put Couriers Capsule in the mix which nets extra cards. Then add Sphinx of Lost Truths which does a triple Cantrip on turn 5. Finally, put a couple Borderposts in there for additional mana sources and the plan starts to pay off. So overall it is a very fine example of the power of Cantrip.

At this point I want you to check out our newest spoil. Realms Uncharted. I won't go into the math but pulling 4 lands out of your deck and putting 2 in hand accelerates the percentage tables above by leaps and bounds. Basically you can now have a number of lands that has 3 on turn 3 pretty much guaranteed and cast Realms Uncharted and go to 5 guaranteed. Also the tinning of your deck by 4 lands greatly reduces the probability of draw a dead land later in the game. All of this is and you have some very strong lands to grab in standard right now. So tell me what you think of this list.

[cardlist]2 Celestial Colonnade

3 Glacial Fortress

3 Island

1 Kabira Crossroads

1 Halimar Depths

1 Magosi, the Waterveil

2 Misty Rainforest

3 Plains

1 Forest

3 Terramorphic Expanse

4 Architects of Will

4 Glassdust Hulk

4 Filigree Angel

4 Sphinx of Lost Truths

2 Couriers Capsule

3 Day of Judgment

2 Fieldmist Borderpost

2 Journey to Nowhere

1 Wildfield Borderpost

2 Oblivion Ring

4 Open the Vaults

4 Spreading Seas

4 Realms Uncharted[/cardlist]

If having one Mananation card in your deck is sweet then having two has to be the best deck ever.

That's the end of class for today. Your homework assignment is to post your favorite Cantrip card. No restrictions on format just post the best one you can think of.

* - 100% is an impossibility in statistics, but the calculations are close enough that it proves reasonable to round.