Playing Catchup

So, over the past month or so I've been playing around with mostly two decks.
The first of which is my still-current standby; monogreen.


Monogreen Midrange
--Land (22)--
20 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Kessig Wolf Run

--Creatures (24)--
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Borderland Ranger
4 Dungrove Elder
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Llanowar Elves
1 Primeval Titan
1 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Strangleroot Geist
4 Viridian Emissary
1 Vorapede
1 Wurmcoil Engine

--Noncreature Permanents (9)--
1 Akroma's Memorial
1 Birthing Pod
2 Garruk Relentless
1 Karn Liberated
4 Rancor

--Sorceries (5)--
1 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Genesis Wave
3 Green Sun's Zenith

--Sideboard (15)--
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Acidic Slime
2 Beast Within
2 Crushing Vines
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Torpor Orb
1 Super secret tech of the week


It needs work, as I haven't touched it in two weeks. I really like the one-of Pod, seeing as it doesn't show up enough to get in my way, yet can keep an opponent on their toes. The Genesis Wave, not so much.
Moving on, the second deck's one that I thoroughly enjoy, but am rather sad to observe as being a bit too slow for the format.



Seven Evil Ex's
--Land (24)--
8 Plains
9 Swamp
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Ghost Quarter

--Creatures (6)--
2 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Wurmcoil Engine

--Noncreature Permanents (12)--
1 Batterskull
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Gideon Jura
1 Liliana of the Dark Realms
1 Lingering Souls
3 Pristine Talisman
4 Sphere of the Suns

--Instants/Sorceries (18)--
3 Black Sun's Zenith
3 Day of Judgment
1 Entreat the Angels
3 Lingering Souls
4 Sign on Blood
1 Timely Reinforcements
3 White Sun's Zenith

--Sideboard (15)--
1 Act of Aggression
1 Celestial Purge
1 Curse of Death's Hold
1 Day of Judgment
1 Mimic Vat
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Revoke Existance
1 Stony Silence
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Timely Reinforcements
2 Torpor Orb


This one's probably going to be deconstructed soon. There's just too many ideas I want to try before rotation.

Deck Concept - Draw/Go [W/U]

Usually, whenever a significantly changed Standard Format comes around, there’s a type of deck I’ll turn to for the first week or two; Draw-Go. Normally, it’s to take a step back and see what everyone else is playing and also satiate that urge to be a dick. Now, I don’t feel like M13’s bringing along the significant change that usually involves something rotating out, but that second urge… Well, that gets increased by lacking the cards I want to play with. Particularly when I do have an old playset of Rewinds on hand.

Last time I played Draw-Go was on the onset of M12/Scars of Mirrodin/Innistrad. I was the first in the shop to run Delvers (As an additional turn one option, something to play turn 3 with a Leak in hand, etc), and ended up utterly dominating the unstable meta. Of course, I don’t think things’ll be so easy in M13/Innistrad/Return to Ravnica, with Delver being well known and all.

Anyways, here’s what I’m halfway tempted to run next FNM:


Draw-Delver
—Instants (23)—
4 Dissipate
2 Divine Deflection
3 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Mana Leak
4 Rewind
3 Think Twice
2 White Sun’s Zenith

—Sorcery-Speed (13)—
3 Day of Judgment
4 Delver of Secrets
1 Entreat the Archangels
1 Gideon Jura
1 Jace, MA
4 Ponder

—Land (24)—
3 Ghost Quarter
4 Evolving Wild
4 Glacial Fortress
8 Island
4 Plains
1 Swamp

—Sideboard (15)—
1 Day
3 Devastation Tide
1 Elesh Norn
2 Mimic Vat
4 Oblivion Ring
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Revoke Existance


Strategy’s pretty simple: Do something turn one if you can. Otherwise, sit back and counter their stuff, playing spells at the end of their turn if you’ve got the mana free for it. Board wipe if something bad slips through or if you decide to take the risk and drop a planeswalker. Otherwise, win condition goes to Delver-smashing or Rain of Kitties litterboxing your opponent.

Sideboard’s all off the top of my head; it’s a tad removal heavy I think. But with Cavern of Souls around, I think it’s worth having. Also, I’m a little iffy on the mana base. Last time around I ran with only two Ghost Quarters and four Shimmering Grotto and did fine. You want to draw land consistently to work your way up to something big with room to counter, so the grottos are probably the better bet. Of course, I didn’t have a single Glacial Fortress back then…

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 - Your Deck.dick [BU]

Well look at that. Six posts in one month. Well, I'd say these ReConstructed submissions have done the trick. Afterall, we're matched with total posts in 2010 now. Now to match 2011. What to post now... what to post n- AH! My deck from two weeks ago. It didn't do so hot then, but it wasn't this close to finished then either! Here it is in untested current form:


Your Deck.dick [BU]
---Lands (24)---
4 Drowned Catacombs
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Shimmering Grotto
1 Forest
5 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
4 Swamp

---Creatures (13)---
4 Cryptoplasm
1 Dark Imposter
3 Evil Twin
2 Phantasmal Image
3 Phyrexian Metamorph

---Noncreatures (4)---
2 Mimic Vat
2 Mind Control

---Spells (19)---
2 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Cackling Counterpart
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
4 Praetor's Grasp
4 Stolen Goods


General Breakdown:
The Lands: Have the potential to simulate any color, while hopefully leaving our Dimir needs fulfilled. Hopefully an upgrade from my unshared, earlier version.

The Creatures: Simulate my opponent's stuff. Evil Twin is underrated, Cryptoplasm is annoyingly useful, and Imposter takes advantage of late game mana supplies. I don't foresee any problems against anything Legen-wait for it-dary.

Black Sun's Zenith: Because I can't easily simulate craptons of tokens outnumbering my field.

Cackling Counterpart: Usually reads, "Get out of jail free, Mr. Cryptoplasm."

Gitaxian Probe and Ponder: Because this kind of deck needs some digging.

Praetor's Grasp: Rather underrated, in my opinion. It usually reads: "Choose one--Setup your next turn's strategy; or steal target opponent's Sword of X and X. If this is your fourth turn, entwine." The sad thing is, I'm not joking. Upped from three in the former version.

Stolen Goods: It could be a boat.



"What deck are you playing?" "I don't know, you tell me."

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!
 

FNM Recap - MonoPod (4-1-1)

Just a quick recap this time around, as I'm prepping for tonight's FNM shortly. Top Four'd with MonoPod last week. Still enjoying the deck.

Minor changes to the deck from the last post:
-1 Myr Propagator, +1 Garruk Relentless.
Sideboard was the same, minus the Naturalizes.

That said, it was a rather absurd night, pairings-wise. Here's a quick summary.
Round 1 - Lost 1-2 vs U/W Delver (swords focused). Something about a game one early Body and Mind and a game three major-mana screw really impeded my ability to race him.
Round 2 - Won 2-1 vs U/B Zombies.
Round 3 - Won 2-1 vs U/B Zombies. This one played an excessive amount of Obliterators, each matched with my own Metamorphed/Mimic Vat copies. Good games all around when each attack from either side can carry more risk than reward.
Round 4 - Won 2-0 vs U/B Zombies. My deck was sick of zombies at this point. It stomped hard. Game two even had two Dungroves in opening hand followed by two drawn shortly after.
Round 5 - Took my chances with an ill-advised draw. It worked somehow.
Top 8 - Won 2-0 vs an Esper control build. I played around his counters and board wipe magnificently. Not bad for a fool galloping through a minefield.
Top 4 - We split the prize.

Now to see how tonight fares...

Until next brains!

Decklist - MonoPod [G]

So, the FNM after I posted that quickly-made list, my friend's Birthing Pods were free to use, so I tossed my loyal U/B Heartless deck to the wind and assembled the build. After a month's worth of FNMs, I'm still royally digging it, especially the fairly frequent Top 8 scores. Here's how it is now.


Monopod
---Lands (23)---
2x Kessig Wolf Run
19x Forest
2x Mountain

---Creatures (32)---
2x Acidic Slime
2x Avacyn's Pilgrim
1x Birds of Paradise
4x Dungrove Elder
4x Llanowar Elves
1x Myr Propagator
3x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Precursor Golem
1x Predator Ooze
1x Primevil Titan
3x Solemn Simulacrum
3x Strangleroot Geist
4x Viridian Emissary
2x Wurmcoil Engine

---Artifacts (6)---
4x Birthing Pod
2x Mimic Vat


---Sideboard (17*)---
3x Autumn's Veil
2x Batterskull
3x Corrosive Gale
1x Karn Liberated
2x Naturalize
3x Surgical Extraction
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
2x Ratchet Bomb


Breakdown:
- Kessig Wolf Runs, Forests, and Mountains: Forests are the primary fuel of the deck, with Mountains in only to support the game-ending potential of the Wolf Runs. And while it is annoying to run into either of the non-green sources early in some games, most of the deck only cares about having just one green symbol anyway, and the redundancy has dashed at least three opponent's plans to date.
- Avacyn's Pilgrims, Birds of Paradise, and Llanowar Elves: Provide the early game support. Blue hates it when I turn two Dungrove Elder. The Pilgrims would be Birds, but they're on loan and I don't mind the early aggro nor really need the color fixing.
- Viridian Emissaries and Solemn Simulacrums: Give me ramp, and decent Pod fodder.
- Strangleroot Geist: Early aggro and not a bad Pod target, since he can swing after it, unless he's busy with having been killed earlier by removal or previous sacrificing.
- Dungrove Elder: The tastiest critter in the deck. He provides the most of the beats, wins, and opponent disliking. Especially when it's an Emissary providing Pod fodder for him.
- Wurmcoil Engine: Doesn't show up as much as the Elder, but still provides a decent amount of beats.
- Phyrexian Metamorph: Jack-of-most trades. Kills opposing legendaries. 85% of the time becomes Dungrove Elder and doesn't afraid of anything. Especially in this artifact hate-filled environment.
- Precursor Golem: Fun against light-removal decks. Mostly only a bridge between a Simulacrum and a Wurmcoil, though. Never hurts when he leaves behind his posse!
- Acidic Slime: Only removal in the deck pre-sideboard. Loves to eat swords and long walks on unique locales.
- Myr Propagator: Occupies a very chaotic spot in the deck. Used to be a Pyreheart Wolf until I disliked the lack of early game red for it. Then was a Daybreak Ranger, but wasn't relevent / alive for enough games. Almost became a One-Eyed Scarecrow until Spirits got lucky and I thought better of it. Knowing my luck will become a Jar of Eyeballs, but more likely will become a Garruk Relentless until I get a better three-drop in color in Avacyn Restored. Assuming I don't take it out now that I've noticed there's 61 cards in the deck. Fingers crossed.
- Predator Ooze: A convenient one-of. Rarely shows up in games he shouldn't participate in, and can be Podded into when he is needed. Blocks opposing Dungrove Elders on the defensive, and offensively can swing all day long until they run out of chump blockers or I hit a Wolf Run. So basically, an anti-mirror / Timmy deck tech inclusion.
- Primeval Titan: Purely in the deck for fetching up a Wolf Run and a mountain. If he lives to swing, good for him; the Dungroves are sure to appreciate it.
- Birthing Pod: One of the key bits of the deck, but not vital. Generally only used as a tool to turn cmc 2s into Dungroves and cmc 4/5s into Wurmcoils.
- Mimic Vat: Defensively, keeps an expendable blocker around at a low cost. Offensively, lets me swing and Pod if the fake critter survives. Douchebaggingly, can steal a Chandra's Pheonix or a Gravecrawler if need be. Serves 'em right for depending on graveyards instead of their deck for more critters.
What's Missing:
- Predator Ooze: One's out, since it's intentional use is veeeery specific so far.
- Woodland Sleuth: I took her out after rarely ever seeing her hit play, much less have time to fetch / abuse it. Sadly, I haven't missed her.
- Vorapede: No access. Acidic Slime seem to be doing fine in their place.
- Bellowing Tanglewurm: A casualty of never showing up. Podwise, I always felt more of a need to pull acidic slime instead.

Sideboard:
Note: I listed 17, because I've been switching between the two Naturalizes and Batterskulls. Both have merits and have won me games, so it's tough.
- Autumn's Veil: For screwing over control. Especially if it's to play a hexproof creature. A resolved Elder just eats them alive.
- Batterskull: For when the Pods come out and I go into pure ramp mode. They evade artifact hate, and that can really matter.
- Corrosive Gale: For stalling Delver decks and the occasional Spirit-focused token deck. Since I can't always draw a needed Dungrove for racing them.
- Karn Liberated: Another ramp mode choice. Slower decks don't appreciate his bulky exiling bullying.
- Naturalize: Mostly intended for busting Oblivion rings and Swords.
- Surgical Extraction: For the French Rites deck that's going around, mostly. With that, I almost feel like I need two Nihil Spellbombs as well to screw it over. Not sure, since it's probably the toughest matchup. Anyways, I also have a bad habit of exiling counterspells after they've annoyed me, with the added bonus of seeing my control opponent's hand.
- Thrun, the Last Troll: Another anti-control measure. Resolving hexproofers has been what's allowed me to eat them alive in most of my matches. He makes it easier, and (although I haven't needed it), can survive the rare board wiping.
- Ratchet Bomb: Disentegrates tokens. That is all.


That's about it. Most of the strategy involved is covered in the breakdown. Lastly, I do want to know how deceptive I've noticed the deck can be. With Dungrove Blade and Wolf Run metagame decks running around, I've noticed the more "internet-informed" players jumping to the conclusion that this deck's one of those, only to see "the other half" appear shortly after.

Tldr; Dungrove Elder beats.


Until next post!

FNM Recap - White Monomyrs (3-2)

First night of constructed Beseiged. Kinda took me by surprise, actually. Thought it'd be next FNM. Not sure why. Anyways, I wasn't in the mood to break out the Lichery, so I pulled out one of the few decks still in the playtesting process and gave it a whirl. It did surprisingly well, considering my expectations for it.


Aluminum Monomyrs
---Lands (22)---
x2 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
x3 Marsh Flats
x16 Plains
x1 Terramorphic Expanse

---Creatures (23)---
x4 Gold Myr
x2 Myr Sire
x1 Myr Battlesphere
x4 Myr Galvanizer
x2 Palladium Myr
x3 Perilous Myr
x4 Sun Titan
x3 Wall of Omens

---Artifacts (7)---
x4 Everflowing Chalice
x2 Myr Reservoir
x1 Myr Turbine

---Spells (8)---
x2 All is Dust
x2 Eldrazi Conscription
x4 Journey to Nowhere


---Sideboard (15)---
x1 All is Dust
x3 Day of Judgment
x3 Kor Firewalker
x4 Leyline of Sanctity
x4 Summoning Trap


The deck mainly evolved from a monoblue myr failure and the lack of Sun Titans I saw in Standard. Strategy's fairly simple; Ramp up to Titan while being aggressive with the Myr. Titan and Emeria provide card advantage long term, and if Conscription comes out, awesome.

The prototype also ran two Wurmcoil Engines and four Tempered Steel, but the Steel wasn't available at the time. They were replaced with 2 Titans (since deadcoils work best with them) and Journeys for some control. All is Dust replaced a fourth Wall that I couldn't find, and some other mysterious slot. Meh. Also, Myr Sire were playtest replacements of Myrsmith; I decided that a guaranteed two 1/1 myrs beat the "potential" of many, particularly when the 'Smith was least priority when having multiple turn 2 choices. Marsh Flats were a last second Expanse replacement, after figuring the "untappedness" would be of use. Sideboard aimed mostly at aggro in general, Valakut, and the Traps against control.

Summary time!

Round 1 - GUW Goo (2-0)
This round was, well, rather pathetic. Game 1 went by with him being mana screwed. Galvanizer beatdown did the trick. Could have played a Titan or the Battlesphere, but didn't want to reveal my deck too early. Game 2 saw more mana screw on his end. He got a Day of Judgment out, but a Titan fixed that rather quick. The one creature he saw went on a Journey. After the games I saw his deck. Singleton rares, rather money. But money can't compensate for a rather poor strategy and mana base. It's my belief the screw I saw him suffer was actually it running normally. ¯\o_0/¯

Round 2 - Ezuri Elfstomp (2-1)
Typical elf-deck; ramp fast, ramp hard with Elvish Archdruid. Lead the Stampede refills hands and both Ezuri, Renegade Leader and Garruk Wildspeaker fulfill overrun conditions. Game one saw just that, plus Eldrazi Monument to hit the point home. What was it, ninety-three damage while I was at ten life? I sideboarded in all my wrath. Game two saw a well placed All is Dust followed by a Battlesphere. Looking at his empty hand, he conceded. Game three saw more board wiping, with the end in my favor, two Sun Titans and a fulfilled Emeria. Regardless of my victories against them, elf decks still freak the heck out of me.

Round 3 - Valakut (1-2)
Won't spend much time here. Game one saw absurd mulligans on his side. I didn't take the advantage lightly, and neither did the Galvanizers. Game two, Sanctity came out. Primevals had to go the distance while Valakut fried my critters. Made me wish I had more wrath/control effects. Game three was fast. The difference was determined by not drawing one mana, which would have put Conscription on Sun Titan. The end result? Fried for 18 damage from Valakut. Here's where I realized the disadvantage of Marsh Flats. In a deck full of ramp, having six lands come into play tapped doesn't matter too much in the whole picture. Halving that number was really unnecessary and the life points do add up.

Round 4 - RW Battlecraft (2-0)
A very fun match against a friend. If I recall correctly, his turn one was Memnite, Memnite, Plains, Ornithopter, and Mox Opal. Turn two Tempered Steel. Sound fun, right? Well, cue two more Tempered Steel on the next turns. Somehow, the deities were on my side. All is Dust cleared them all, and I stabilized at 2 life with the help of Perilous Myr. Sun Titans appeared, and the game finished in my favor. Second game saw Turbine come out, into Battlesphere. A Reservoir and two Galvanizers meant for a lethal swarm. That first game... probably the most ludicrous I've had in a long while.

Round 5 - RW Steppefall (0-2)
Lost my favorite pen in between rounds. Quite the bad omen. So without paper-tracking life, my memory's not the best. But his deck played fairly straightforward; Steppe Lynx, Adventuring Gear, Spikeshot Elder, and fetchlands galore. You put the pieces together. Game two saw a Collar / Sparkmage lock after a wrath, and that kept me down in spite of playing Sun Titan again and again from turn four and up. Oh well.

Like I said, better than expected. Think I'd like to max out the Palladiums after seeing how well they did, maybe throw Dispense Justice in the sideboard while maxing out Day of Judgment, and replace that Turbine with another Battlesphere. Oh right, also nix the flats for expanses, and toss in Tectonic Edges at the expense of some plains.



And before I go, I'd like to note even though Besieged just came out, there was only one Infect player of the fifty or so players.