FNM Recap - GW 'Walkers (2-2)

Had a smaller attendance than I was used to last night; twenty-four people I think. Four rounds. Broke out my GW Planeswalker deck, modified a bit from the last time I mentioned it.

Wasn’t too hot a showing on my part, but I still ended the night 2-2. I suppose there are worse fates.


GW ‘walkers
—Land (23)—
1 Gavony Township
1 Kessig Wolf Run
3 Razorverge Thicket
4 Sunpetal Grove
10 Forest
1 Mountain
3 Plains

—Creatures (18)—
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Primeval Titan
3 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Strangleroot Geist
4 Viridian Emissary
1 Wurmcoil Engine

—Noncreature Permanents (9)—
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
3 Garruk Relentless
1 Gideon Jura
2 Karn Liberated
1 Mimic Vat

—Instants / Sorceries (10)—
4 Day of Judgment
1 Divine Deflection
1 Entreat the Angels
3 Green Sun’s Zenith
1 White Sun’s Zenith

—Sideboard (15)—
1 Acidic Slime
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
2 Nihil Spellbomb
4 Oblivion Ring
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Ray of Revelation
1 Revoke Existance
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
2 Thrun, the Last Troll


Round 1: 0-2 vs Naya Wolf Run.
Game 1 saw me mulligan away a one-lander into another one. Drew a second land, and was able keep up with my ramp spells. He plays a Primeval Titan, then I respond with my own only to see it Beast Within’d. I lose shortly after. Game 2 saw me getting Bonfire of the Damned for ten. I’ll leave it at that.

Round 2: 2-0 vs UW Bounce Splicer
He didn’t have a very good game 1; a single counterspell that took out a Geist, and having to pop a Ghost Quarter in order to find his first white source. By that time, I had Elspeth Tirel out. Then came Garruk, Primal Hunter. By the time he could get a flyer out I had a wrath in hand more than enough token-creation to recover fastest. Game 2 was quite back and forth, with three of my Days showing up to get rid of excessive Blade Splicers. The final stalemate was broken by hard-drawing my Wolf Run, which Thrun happily used.

Round 3: 0-2 vs Naya Pod
Had to mulligan to five just to see one land in game 1. It didn’t last long. Game 2 I managed to stall out long enough with Oblivion Rings to clear most of his board with Elesh Norn. After her came my Primeval Titan along with myself feeling pretty confident about winning. Naturally such thoughts were short-lived, since he O-Ring’d Norn and Zealous Conscript my Titan in order for exact damage.

Round 4: 2-0 vs Ferocity Ramp
Always fun to end the night against a friend. Game 1 saw a timely Day of Judgment murder a couple of his Dungrove Elders and a Primeval Titan before finishing via an 8/1 trampley Birds of Paradise. Game 2 I ended up ramping into Karn fairly early on. He dominated the board alongside Wurmcoil Engine. Took a while to get through lots of undying defense, but it happened. Not before exiling a Batterskull to the bottom of his exile zone, though.

I’m rather eager to get my hands on a playset of Rancor and a couple Akroma’s Memorial once M13 gets here. Been tossing around a Eldrazi Green-type of deck in my head.

FNM Recap - GW 'Walkers (5-1)

Blah blah blah introductory paragraph. Anyway, again I decided to try my not-so-superfriends build at FNM. This time around, I went with the simpler of the two build-changes I was thinking about.


GW 'walkers
---Land (23)---
2 Gavony Township
3 Razorverge Thicket
4 Sunpetal Grove
10 Forest
4 Plains

---Creatures (16)---
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Primeval Titan
3 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Strangleroot Geist
4 Viridian Emissary
1 Wurmcoil Engine

---Planeswalkers (8)---
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
3 Garruk Relentless
1 Gideon Jura
2 Karn Liberated

---Artifacts / Enchantments (6)---
4 Abundant Growth
2 Mimic Vat

---Nonpermanents (5)---
1 Creeping Renaissance
1 Entreat the Angels
4 Day of Judgment
1 White Sun's Zenith

---Sideboard---
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Nihil Spellbomb
4 Oblivion Ring
3 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Vorapede
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons


In other words, kicked out the Sun Titans for a Wurmcoil and a Primeval, while reducing the sideboard Thrun's by one in favor of a fourth O-Ring. Also, a friend wanted me to try out an Entreat the Angels in place of one White Sun's Zenith, so I gave it a shot. I still wanted to switch out the Pilgrims for Birds of Paradise, but had forgotten to do so until drawing my first hand of the night. Whoops, too late!


Round 1 - [GRU] Slime Combo (2-0)
From what I saw, the goal of his deck was simple: ramp up to, then play Acidic Slime and Deadeye Navigator. Then use that ramped-up mana to "1U: Destry target land." while bating in their face with Navigator's body. Assuming an early game Sword on a Birds of Paradise doesn't end the game before that. The red's for Faithless Looting, and what I assume to be a few Titans in there.
Game 1: Got out a few bashers while watching him ramp up. Acidic Slime came up, eating an enchanted Gavony Township. I thought little of it until his next turn, recognizing the combo after it hit the table. Looking at the little creatures on board and a Gideon in hand, I had little option in my mind for how to deal with this threat. With no mana to be a nuisance with, he ended his turn and my draw saved the day: Entreat the Angels. Taking a good twenty seconds in an odd pose, deliberating whether the cards in one hand would be better than the sole one in my other hand, I miracled up three seraphs with all my mana. Knowing it would be my last spell this game, I passed the turn. He attempted to attack, and my untouched life total took the hit. He then destroyed all my lands with the combo, a futile display, as my next turn saw him taking an evasive twelve to the face when eight was enough.
Sideboarding: +4 Oblivion Rings, +3 Green Sun's Zenith, +1 Sigarda; -4 Abundant Growth, -1 White Sun's Zenith, -1 Entreat the Angels, -1 Creeping Renaissance, -1 Gideon Jura.
Basically I sided out the late game stuff for removal. And without Abundant Growth, I went back to "playing a sixty card deck." Should know my ravings over that cantrip by now.
Game 2: We start with early mana guys, he ramps while I swing a bit with Strangleroot Geist and Garruk Relentless starts his wolf-production. He lays down a Sword of Feast and Famine and equips it on a tapped Bird. With an Oblivion Ring in hand, I decide that exiling the Bird means my aggro machine won't be slowed down. The game ends two swings after that.

Round 2 - Esper Frites (1-2)
Standard Unburial Rites deck, forgoing red's digging ability to focus on blue control.
Game 1: I let lose some early aggro. Looking good until he hard-casts Unburial Rites on Elesh Norn. With no wrath in hand nor creature on board, I call it after he plays a Lingering Souls.
Sideboarding: +4 Oblivion Rings, +2 Ratchet Bomb, +2 Nihil Spellbomb, +2 Thrun; -4 Abundant Growth, -1 Entreat the Angels, -1 Creeping Renaissance, -1 Gideon Jura, -1 Elspeth Tirel, -1 Garruk, Primal Hunter, -1 Karn Liberated.
Out go the less helpful things vs. flying souls and counterspells, in go things that slow him down and endure wrath-effects.
Game 2: Early aggro skirts by his counterspells, and I play into them while he digs for solutions. A well-placed Spellbomb causes him to concede.
Game 3: I attack early, and end up staring at a Timely Reinforcements. Quite unfortunate. What follows is him breaking out Norn again and a little stalling on my part. Ultimately unsuccessful.

Round 3 - [W] Tempered Steel (2-0)
Call it somewhat old-fashioned, in Standard-terms. An older archetype involving small artifact creatures being pumped up by each other and Tempered Steel.
Game 1: Early aggro gets out there, and when he slaps down the Steel, I respond with my board-wipe spell. My Geists survive to finish the job.
Sideboard: +4 Oblivion Rings, +2 Thrun, +3 Green Sun's Zenith, +1 Sigarda; -4 Abundant Growth, -1 White Sun's Zenith, -2 Mimic Vat, -1 Elspeth Tirel, -1 Garruk PH.
Mostly I want removal, and a way to deal with his Inkmoth Nexus. Garruk Relentless become focused as creature removal, and Karn sticks around for his ability to exile enchantments and land alike.
Game 2: A Viridian Emissary paves the early aggression. He's not finding what he wants and resorts to attacking with two Inkmoth Nexus. I green Sun up a Thrun, and use a second Sun to bring out Sigarda. With her blocking his flying infect, I finish the game with 5 poison counters.

Round 4 - [RU] Reforge Mill (2-0)
Facing a friend and what I believe to be his rather fun deck. The goal is to abuse miracle via Noxious Revival, mainly via Reforge the Soul hand draws. Secondary to that, Devastation Tide and Bonfire of the Damned keep opposing boards from getting too problematic. After that, discarded Increasing Confusion flashbacks finish off the opponent's deck. Failing that, it's a quick sideboard away from turning into a burn deck that's capable of refreshing it's hand quickly.
Also was a feature match! Meaning it was posted online for everyone to see! At least until next Friday...
Game 1: A combination of early creatures and a lack of solutions finished the game fairly quickly. And there was much digging done for sure.
Sideboard: +2 Nihil Spellbomb, +3 Green Sun's Zenith, +2 Thrun, +1 Sigarda, +1 Vorapede; -4 Day of Judgement, -4 Abundant Growth, -1 Garruk Relentless
I want to take out my anti-creature spells, and for once, playing a 56-card deck is a liability.
Game 2: Was a long game. I kept playing my creatures into Tides and a few burn spells. Eventually I got him down to 2 life and no creatures on the board, probably one turn away from being milled. I flashback Creeping Renaissance in order to play one Strangleroot Geist, its haste winning the match.

Round 5 - [U] Architect (2-1)
Fairly straightforward deck: Use small blue creatures to deal some damage early game, then break out a Grand Architect to sneak out some large artifact early. 
Another feature match. Nice timing. Also his first FNM. Pretty impressive, and makes me feel bad being one to stand in his way.
Game 1: I got chewed out by his aggressive little things. Stuck on three land with at least one Day of Judgment in hand the whole time.
Sideboard: +4 Oblivion Ring, +2 Thrun, +1 Sigarda; -1 Wurmcoil Engine, -4 Abundant Growth, -2 Mimic Vat
He was running Phyrexian Metamorphs, so I didn't want him to see/steal my artifacts. Hexproof creatures to negate some of his Disperse shenanigans.
Game 2: He manages to pull a hand full of Architects. Unfortunately for him, Garruk Relentless and removal take each out one-by-one. Gavony Township upped my wolves and co. to lethal powers.
Game 3: Phantasmal creatures come out this game, and manage to do some damage. Another Garruk Relentless takes advantage of their targeting weakness, and my creatures quickly take over again.

Top 8 - Esper Frites (2-0)
Oh, don't worry, it was the same deck from earlier.
Game 1: Early aggro isn't missed. They come out and start pounding to the point where he has to cast spells on his turn to hold me off. Lingering Souls is put on blocking duty. I draw White Sun's Zenith, attack him, and try to end my turn. He sneaks in a Blue Sun's Zenith for massive digging, only to see me White Sun enough kitties to end his day.
Sideboarding: Same as before.
Game 2: To my surprise, a Strangleroot Geist comes out uncountered. He's followed by Thrun. Pretty content with those, I avoid overextending my attacks. He's having a hard time finding solutions, and casts Tamiyo to slow down a vulnerable Primeval Titan. At that point I play Karn and disappear the sandled-rival planeswalker. He doesn't last long after that.


After that, we split the top four. Records-wise, I took second that night. Overall, I'm rather pleased with how the deck ran. And while I don't think it's as strong as MonoPod, it's the more interesting of the two to play.

Decklist - GW 'Walkers

Another free Standard ReConstructed challenge. Also what I played with last week, finishing eleventh after a 3-2 run.

Basic premise, as usual; Planeswalker it up.


GW 'walkers
---Land (23)---
2 Gavony Township
3 Razorverge Thicket
4 Sunpetal Grove
10 Forest
4 Plains

---Creatures (16)---
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
3 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Strangleroot Geist
2 Sun Titan
4 Viridian Emissary

---Planeswalkers (8)---
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
3 Garruk Relentless
1 Gideon Jura
2 Karn Liberated

---Artifacts / Enchantments (6)---
4 Abundant Growth
2 Mimic Vat

---Nonpermanents (5)---
1 Creeping Renaissance
4 Day of Judgment
2 White Sun's Zenith


General Breakdown:
The Land: Pretty straightforward, I think. Gavony's are for the unusual times in which I have open mana.

The Creatures: Pilgrims are for mana fixing and early aggression. Later on they become fuel for flipped Garruks. Emissaries and Simulacrums are for ramp and early aggro trade-off. Let them die. Strangleroot's emphasize early aggression, later on becoming bodyguards for the walkers. No complaints there. Unlike with Sun Titan. I need to test him more, since he hasn't been out with any graveyard targets yet. Considering the amount of games I've played with the deck and how many appealing <4 drops are in the deck, I'm on the fence with him.

The Planeswalkers: Garruk Relentless is mostly burn in green. Otherwise, his purpose as well most of the rest is token generation. Gideon takes special note as a control card, especially when paired with the awesome might that is Karn.

Abundant Growth:  For the low price of 'GGGG,' I'm playing a 56-card deck. Better yet, those 'G's only need paying when I run into one of these bad boys. Also, they mana fix. And if I'm having trouble taking out cards when sideboarding, I can easily go back up to a sixty card deck. In summary, I love this card.

Mimic Vat: For dead creature abuse. I like stealing creatures, and I like wiping the board. That's why you'll see this in most of my decks until it rotates out. Savvy?

Day of Judgment: Speaking of board-wipe, here it is. I'm not the biggest fan of white weenie and variants of it running around. So a playset of these badboys and planeswalkers who don't mind it should help display my displeasure for the current meta.

White Sun's Zenith: Late game token generation. Think I might mix it up with one Entreat the Angels. See how well it can rival my Rain of Kitties.

Creeping Renaissance: A one-of for the late game, to restock my hand with creatures and planeswalkers. I've dropped this down in one game only to see my opponent concede on the spot. That said, current board state  has a lot to do with how much I appreciate drawing this card.


Sideboard:
2 Ratchet Bomb: For eating tokens and anthem-effects.
2 Nihil Spellbomb: Anti-graveyard shenanigans.
3 Oblivion Ring: General control
3 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Vorapede
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons

The last bit is what I call a transformational sideboard. I can switch out cards weak against particular decks. Like Elspeth Tirel when facing a burn deck. This switch, especially the addition of Green Sun's Zenith, can greatly improve the speed of my deck.


Changes: 
 - Next time I try the deck, I want to replace the Sun Titans with Primeval Titan / Wurmcoil Engine or 2 Wurmcoils. Like I said earlier, still on the fence there, considering his post-board worth.
 - In favor of turn two Stranglegeists, I'm wanting to switch out the Pilgrims for either Llanowar Elves or Birds of Paradise. Probably going to lose the one-mana drop aggro at the end of that decision tree.
 - One Thrun's coming out in favor of an Oblivion Ring, I think. With the Green Sun's, I think I can warrant the extra control.
 - Might play with the lands a little more, too. If I keep the Sun Titans around.
 - One Garruk Relentless might come out for something. Assuming I can figure out what that something is.

Think that's about it!