Moon Stompy Final Hand Answer
Hand 10: (on the play)
Keep
Most people correctly answered that this hand is a keep and that’s great. However, about half of these individuals missed a crucial line.
With your first Gitaxian Probe if you hit a blue-producing land, Chrome Mox, or Lotus Petal you likely win the game. From there you cast Brainstorm, put Burning Wish on top of your library, then cast the second copy of Gitaxian Probe, hold priority, then break your Lion’s Eye Diamonds. Burning Wish and finally Empty the Warrens (this could change depending on your storm count based on how good the Brainstorm was).In a non-perfect world, you miss on the first Gitaxian Probe and then have to use the second Gitaxian Probe – which isn’t the end of the world. You’re around 60% to hit an initial mana source off of both Gitaxian Probes which makes the probability worth it in my eyes.If all else fails, you can play out your Lion’s Eye Diamonds to avoid Chalice of the Void and have Chain of Vapor to fall back on.
BR Reanimator
Pre-board
Hand 1: (on the play)
Keep
Most people should get this, it’s almost an ideal hand. The only real downside is that Burning Wish doesn’t have very many good targets against BR Reanimator with v4.2. What this hand has going for it is that you can play through a Chancellor of the Annex with Chrome Mox, Lotus Petal, or even Gitaxian Probe before casting Duress.
In all likelihood, I would throw away the Chrome Mox to a Chancellor of the Annex and then cast Duress. I would sit on Gitaxian Probe for a turn, I think there’s little to be gained by casting it on the first turn.
Hand 2: (on the draw)
Mulligan
I wouldn’t blame those unfamiliar for the deck for wanting to keep this, but this should be a mulligan. This hand just doesn’t do anything to progress your own game-plan while not interacting with the opponent. It also doesn’t play through Chancellor of the Annex very well. This hand is just far too slow to be considered a keep.
Hand 3: (on the play)
Keep
Hands that are heavy with discard spells are fine. BR Reanimator is somewhat fragile and can be stalled into a longer game with hands like this, which will likely buy enough time in order to win.
Hand 4: (on the draw)
Keep
A bit risky as you need to draw an initial mana source, for them not to have a discard spell, a Chancellor of the Annex, or for them to just win… but I don’t think you can expect much better from a five card hand.
Hand 5: (on the play)
Keep
While not exactly ideal, I don’t mind keeping hands like this. Especially pre-board where you still have Ponder. Playing out your hands allows you to beat Griselbrand into a bunch of discard spells or even Sire of Insanity. You have about twenty cards in your deck that are “hits” or provide another opportunity to hit, which I think is good enough.
Post-board
Website recommendation for sideboarding
-4 Ponder, -1 Empty the Warrens+2 Chain of Vapor, +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Cabal Therapy, +1 Chrome Mox
Hand 6: (on the draw)
-4 Ponder, -1 Empty the Warrens+2 Chain of Vapor, +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Cabal Therapy, +1 Chrome Mox
Mulligan
This hand is essentially the same as hand two, except we’ve turned our cantrips into bounce spells. While bounce spells are nice for dealing with Chancellor of the Annex in play, they do do enough to justify keeping such a slow hand.
Hand 7: (on the play)
Keep
I know a lot of newer players get nervous about casting a blind Cabal Therapy, but you have to get over it and will learn to keep hands like this. I would keep this as a seven card hand as well, you’re really just a Lion’s Eye Diamond away from winning AND have disruption.
I would likely name Reanimate as it’s the fastest reanimation spell and we need to buy ourselves some time to draw into Lion’s Eye Diamond.
Hand 8: (on the draw)
Mulligan
I hate the “I don’t go below five cards” mantra that players seem to think is cool. If the hand doesn’t play Magic, you need to send it back.
Hand 9: (on the play)
Mulligan
So… this hand straight loses to Chancellor of the Annex and even if they don’t have it, loses to not finding a business spell AND mana off of the Brainstorm. These are tall asks, I would quickly send this back.
Hand 10: (on the draw)
Stay tuned for the next article!
I’ll provide my answer in the next article, but for now, make sure to post your thoughts!
