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.
Showing posts with label control. Show all posts
Showing posts with label control. Show all posts
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Friday, July 13, 2012
Budgetplay - Draw-Go [UW]
So, after taking a look at the previous deck,
I realized it could be done fairly easily on a budget. Cutting out the
Mythics is the most obvious first step. After that, removing the duals
lands hurts our constancy, but gnaws off about a quarter of what’s left
in the price. Normally I’d toss in Evolving Wilds to replace them, but
with it in the deck already and all the X-spells I plan on running, I
figure it’s better to cut Wilds and run Shimmering Grotto for fixing and
let some basic land fill the dual-land gap.
Now what to fill these remaining holes with? Well, I like the redundancy of White Sun’s Zenith, especially with our drawing powers, so I’m upping it by one. I’d bring it to four, personally, but I have the dual-lands to support that WWW converted mana cost. It won’t be so easy here either, I think, but even if this deck lacks specific searching, it knows how to draw into things. Like land. And additional copies of something we probably shouldn’t be playing four of anyway. In also comes a Blue Sun’s Zenith, for additional card advantage. I figure it wouldn’t hurt off of a rewind, or any dead turn. Our third hole filler is a Darksteel Sentinel. He’s not the most impressive 6-drop out there, but the ability to flash in and survive most removal gives me some reason to give him a shot on the B-Team. I also ended up cutting a Day of Judgment in effort to budget up a bit more. The replacement for that was either a Divine Deflection or an Elixir of Immortality. I erred on the side of potential win-card, but won’t knock the other card’s ability to restock counterspells and life points.
I was tempted to throw in Intangible Virtues, but their lack of Instant-flavor detracted me. Here’s where I note that with Midnight Haunting and Lingering Souls around, one could easily go the token theme route. The reason I didn’t do that originally, at least the last time I played a physical variant of the deck, was because I tend to play heavy mass-removal (At the time, 4 Day of Judgment and 2 Phyrexian Rebirth). This deck is far from that, so it could work out. I guess I’m just not fond of seeing 1/1s all game long.
More Budgety Draw-Go
—Instant Speed (26)—
1 Darksteel Sentinel
1 Blue Sun’s Zenith
4 Dissipate
3 Divine Deflection
3 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Mana Leak
4 Rewind
3 Think Twice
3 White Sun’s Zenith
—Sorcery Speed (10)—
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Day of Judgment
4 Ponder
—Land (24)—
2 Ghost Quarter
4 Shimmering Grotto
10 Island
8 Plains
Strategy: It’s Draw-Go. On your turns, draw a card, and say go. On theirs, be a dick and slap counterspells on anything they try to do that seems important. Deviate from this plan to play 1cc’s if you can spare the mana, or to nuke the board. Savvy?
Now what to fill these remaining holes with? Well, I like the redundancy of White Sun’s Zenith, especially with our drawing powers, so I’m upping it by one. I’d bring it to four, personally, but I have the dual-lands to support that WWW converted mana cost. It won’t be so easy here either, I think, but even if this deck lacks specific searching, it knows how to draw into things. Like land. And additional copies of something we probably shouldn’t be playing four of anyway. In also comes a Blue Sun’s Zenith, for additional card advantage. I figure it wouldn’t hurt off of a rewind, or any dead turn. Our third hole filler is a Darksteel Sentinel. He’s not the most impressive 6-drop out there, but the ability to flash in and survive most removal gives me some reason to give him a shot on the B-Team. I also ended up cutting a Day of Judgment in effort to budget up a bit more. The replacement for that was either a Divine Deflection or an Elixir of Immortality. I erred on the side of potential win-card, but won’t knock the other card’s ability to restock counterspells and life points.
I was tempted to throw in Intangible Virtues, but their lack of Instant-flavor detracted me. Here’s where I note that with Midnight Haunting and Lingering Souls around, one could easily go the token theme route. The reason I didn’t do that originally, at least the last time I played a physical variant of the deck, was because I tend to play heavy mass-removal (At the time, 4 Day of Judgment and 2 Phyrexian Rebirth). This deck is far from that, so it could work out. I guess I’m just not fond of seeing 1/1s all game long.
More Budgety Draw-Go
—Instant Speed (26)—
1 Darksteel Sentinel
1 Blue Sun’s Zenith
4 Dissipate
3 Divine Deflection
3 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Mana Leak
4 Rewind
3 Think Twice
3 White Sun’s Zenith
—Sorcery Speed (10)—
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Day of Judgment
4 Ponder
—Land (24)—
2 Ghost Quarter
4 Shimmering Grotto
10 Island
8 Plains
Strategy: It’s Draw-Go. On your turns, draw a card, and say go. On theirs, be a dick and slap counterspells on anything they try to do that seems important. Deviate from this plan to play 1cc’s if you can spare the mana, or to nuke the board. Savvy?
- Divine Deflection can easily be creature removal. Especially if they’re playing with Cavern of Souls. Watch out for those
communistssmarter opponents that cast things after combat! - Unless Sentinel’s having a good day, most endgames will come down to White Sun’s Zenith. Before then, feel free to sacrifice kitties in combat. Remember, it’s almost inevitable that you’ll draw the card again.
- If you don’t have Rewinds, Cancel should suffice.
- There’s very little early game solutions for Strangleroot Geist here. Be prepared to take hits, or sideboard accordingly.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
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…
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…
Monday, May 28, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
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."
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!
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!
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Deck Concept - Brain Surgery [BW]
Another ReConstructed submission, this one called for anything Standard.
Also, I'm highly tempted to test-run it at FNM for kicks.
The basis of the deck is proactive control; using effects that take out threats before they hit play. And in case I fail to neutralize a particular annoyance, nuke the field and see if they can try again. Here's how it looks right now:
Brain Surgery aka Lobotomies for Everyone!
---Lands (25)---
9 Plains
9 Swamp
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Vault of the Archangel
---Instants / Sorceries (22)---
3 Black Sun's Zenith
3 Day of Judgment
1 Despise
4 Gitaxian Probe
2 Memoricide
4 Surgical Extraction
3 Timely Reinforcements
2 White Sun's Zenith
---Permanents (13)---
2 Batterskull
1 Gideon Jura
1 Karn Liberated
2 Mimic Vat
3 Nevermore
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Wurmcoil Engine
General Breakdown:
The Land: The most iffy part of the deck in my opinion, only because I lack Isolated Chapels. Ghost Quarter is against "shenanigan lands," though I do wish I had been able to squeeze in a Sun Titan to help abuse it. And Vault of the Archangel is kept to a minimum from my fears of mana fixing needs.
The Sweep: Black Sun's Zenith and Day of Judgment are my primary board controllers. Taking up a tenth of the deck, I rely on them to keep me around after my first few turns of setting up / information gathering.
The Recon: Despise and Gitaxian Probe let me know what's in their hand. I'd play more Despise if I could find room, but I can at least console myself with more on the imaginary sideboard. For now, shooting a Surgical Extraction at a random graveyard card will suffice while giving me a bigger picture.
The Removal: Memoricide and Surgical Extraction eat threats for good, and Nevermore curses them with having to stare at cards they can never play. Oblivion Ring takes care of confirmed one-of threats and more than likely early game annoyances. Karn gets the later threats (Fun Note: His +4 alleviates the earlier mentioned curse).
The Traders: Timely Reinforcements fit here, even though their main intention is to replace life lost from early aggro and phyrexian carelessness. The tokens can be used to hurt opponents, but hopefully will at least trade with other critters. Same with White Sun's Zenith (Rain of Kitties) and Mimic Vat, though both respectively without the life gain.
The Big Threats: Batterskull and Wurmcoil both damage people while putting Reinforcements' life gain to shame. Gideon Jura finishes this small section, complementing the lifelinker's evasive abilities with his post-wrath attacking. Or as I like to affectionately call it, "pulling a William Wallace."
Until next time!
Also, I'm highly tempted to test-run it at FNM for kicks.
The basis of the deck is proactive control; using effects that take out threats before they hit play. And in case I fail to neutralize a particular annoyance, nuke the field and see if they can try again. Here's how it looks right now:
Brain Surgery aka Lobotomies for Everyone!
---Lands (25)---
9 Plains
9 Swamp
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Vault of the Archangel
---Instants / Sorceries (22)---
3 Black Sun's Zenith
3 Day of Judgment
1 Despise
4 Gitaxian Probe
2 Memoricide
4 Surgical Extraction
3 Timely Reinforcements
2 White Sun's Zenith
---Permanents (13)---
2 Batterskull
1 Gideon Jura
1 Karn Liberated
2 Mimic Vat
3 Nevermore
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Wurmcoil Engine
General Breakdown:
The Land: The most iffy part of the deck in my opinion, only because I lack Isolated Chapels. Ghost Quarter is against "shenanigan lands," though I do wish I had been able to squeeze in a Sun Titan to help abuse it. And Vault of the Archangel is kept to a minimum from my fears of mana fixing needs.
The Sweep: Black Sun's Zenith and Day of Judgment are my primary board controllers. Taking up a tenth of the deck, I rely on them to keep me around after my first few turns of setting up / information gathering.
The Recon: Despise and Gitaxian Probe let me know what's in their hand. I'd play more Despise if I could find room, but I can at least console myself with more on the imaginary sideboard. For now, shooting a Surgical Extraction at a random graveyard card will suffice while giving me a bigger picture.
The Removal: Memoricide and Surgical Extraction eat threats for good, and Nevermore curses them with having to stare at cards they can never play. Oblivion Ring takes care of confirmed one-of threats and more than likely early game annoyances. Karn gets the later threats (Fun Note: His +4 alleviates the earlier mentioned curse).
The Traders: Timely Reinforcements fit here, even though their main intention is to replace life lost from early aggro and phyrexian carelessness. The tokens can be used to hurt opponents, but hopefully will at least trade with other critters. Same with White Sun's Zenith (Rain of Kitties) and Mimic Vat, though both respectively without the life gain.
The Big Threats: Batterskull and Wurmcoil both damage people while putting Reinforcements' life gain to shame. Gideon Jura finishes this small section, complementing the lifelinker's evasive abilities with his post-wrath attacking. Or as I like to affectionately call it, "pulling a William Wallace."
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