Two weeks ago I got on the Swan Song bandwagon and came up with a highly preliminary list. To me it looked like a good list, but then again, only half the cards in Shadowmoor had been revealed up to that point. With the prerelease complete and the set now fully in the public eye, the Type 2 metagame is once again ready to mutate. I was discussing Swan Song with a friend of mine, Griffin Corrigan, and he gave me the accompanying list.

Griffin Who?

Griffin Corrigan is a high school sophomore, fellow Bostonian and Your Move Games patron. He has a history of coming up with effective modifications of popular decks. Among these changes are experimenting with Maralen of the Mournsong in Doran Rock, and perhaps the most awe-inspiring one of all, Gristleback in the sideboard of red-green aggro as Project X hate. (You’re gaining infinite life? So am I.)

Card Choices

The mana base is pretty self-explanatory, Eleven of the twenty-three lands (I’m not counting Dakmor Salvage as a land for all intents and purposes) produce green on turn one, which is crucial to setting up the combo as fast as possible (read: Birds of Paradise). On a personal note, though, I particularly like Manamorphose in this deck; cantrip aside, you can’t count on your deck feeding you the right mana every game you play (especially considering you need to come up with RRR for Seismic Assault and then 2WW for Swans of Bryn Argoll), and sometimes that Sylvan Scrying is best left to fetching the Salvage.

Perhaps the most important card in this deck not named Glittering Wish or Swans of Bryn Argoll is Saffi Eriksdotter. In the forum thread for the first Swan Song article, folks were quick to point out that spot removal such as Nameless Inversion make the deck very manageable. Saffi, though, forces your opponent to go through her first before the Swans.

Then there’s the inclusion of Brion Stoutarm. Upon first examination, my reaction was “Why?” Then there’s the obvious answer: combo decks must have alternate win conditions, especially in a format with Extirpate. Plus, if you have Brion and Swans on the board and you have no other way of saving your Swans should it get Inverted, how’s an eight-point life swing sound?

The sideboard can be broken down into two parts: the Glittering Wish suite and the faerie hate suite. It must say something about the metagame when half of Griffin’s sideboard is dedicated to beating ONE DECK (or two if you count rogues). I don’t blame him, either. Bitterblossom? Scion of Oona? You gotta bring out the high-powered fly swatters for those nasty critters. Don’t think he’s forgotten about other decks, though. He’s got additional board sweepers such as Firespout and Fiery Justice, as well as the late-game finisher Oversoul of Dusk (which, may I add, laughs in the face of a 20/20 Countryside Crusher). Harmonic Sliver acts as protection against Oblivion Ring and Pithing Needle, among other things.

Cuts

Griffin also told me about some cuts he made. Initially he did not have Sylvan Scrying in the deck, but after telling me how it “randomly wins games,” he put it in three copies over singleton Runed Halo, Prison Term, and Prismatic Omen. Of those three, the lack of Prismatic Omen may be the biggest difference in his performance should he play this deck. Why? Certain ichthyoids in the format may have something to do with my reasoning.

Burning Question: Is Swan Song for Real?

At last year’s Orlando Regionals, Bridge from Below came in like a lion and out like a lamb. It seemed to be all hype, and going in it was the top deck, but players adequately tuned their decks to hate it out of the format. What about this year? Is Swan Song all hype? Or does it have staying power? (At least until Time Spiral rotates out.) Discuss in the forums; I’ll be sure to check out what you guys have to say.

-Sammy Time