The shit is going to hit the fan

One of the major breakthroughs we had during testing was when we decided to try an experiment. Manu decided to stop destroying Bitterblossom with Esper Charm!

I know, take this in for a minute. We don’t destroy Bitterblossom with Esper Charm!

Yes, even if we are on the play and it is turn 3 and there is nothing they can do!

We want to draw cards so badly that we would rather have Counsel of the Soratami than destroy a Bitterblossom!

Yes, of course there are exceptions, but you will almost surely think that many of the situations you find yourself in are those exceptions, when in reality it is only correct to destroy Bitterblossom (against Fae) with our deck about 2-4% of the time.

When you destroy a Bitterblossom, you don’t just spend three mana to their two. You don’t just give up two cards to their one. You also turn all of the other Bitterblossoms in their deck into great cards, instead of dead cards.

If you try destroying every Bitterblossom you see, you will often run out of gas. This is not the fight you want. If you just embrace the Bitterblossom, you will find that it is certainly still their best card, but your win percentage will go up. No question it is hard to fight Bitterblossom, but trust me. Try not destroying the Bitterblossom.

Try it.

It will take a leap of faith, and it will be hard at first. You may lose a number of games while getting used to it. You will still lose a fair number just because it is their best card. However, you will win more, with tight play.

Everyone doubts this at first. Everyone.

I knew the logic and watched Manu’s play results for a long time, and I still did it wrong (i.e. destroyed Bitterblossom) at least 25 or 30 times before I just let go of my preconceived notions.

Once you see how important to us it is to draw extra cards, it starts to make sense that we are willing to play Courier’s Capsule. We actually think it is good against Faeries! Drawing two is better than destroying a Bitterblossom! (This is not necessarily true for all Five-Color Control decks, but it certainly is for ours, and it’s probably true for more people than not).