True. but those are both cards i would take out if im across from tron,valakut and eldrazi (probs keep sword vs eldrazi). You will be immediately punished by big mana decks the turn you tap out for either of those cards IMO.
Really? I haven't played against Eldrazi but I've had lots of experience playing against both tron and valakut and both of those cards are fantastic in those match-ups.
In valakut, lili gives you a win condition (and at worst she will absorb some burn damage that was meant to be directed at you) that doesn't kill you like bitterblossom and sword of light and shadow will help you stabilize your life after taking bolts / pings off valakut.
In Tron, Sword + BB has won me almost every best of 3 in that match-up. That includes all three variants of tron going around.
I really dont agree. Valakut is a combo deck that optimally kills you with a 1 turn 18dmg or a Prime Titan. Those cards cannot save you there. I think it is wrong to plan to fight decks under the assumption they dont function optimally.
Tron and sword is the same reason. You would have won those games w/o sword i am positive. Tron has so many outs to sword (karn,o stone,ugin, ulamog) literally any of their threats still blanks it ill take the extra interaction and hate cards over those 2 all day, clunky three drops are the first cards i look to cut after i side out removal vs them.
Sword is good vs eldrazi and numerous other matchups as is lili and are VERY viable cards to play in your 75 however against combo and ramp decks they arent exactly what the doctor ordered IMO.
For the record: WOTC refuses to enter another Faerie heavy meta ever again. That's why Spirits were printed instead of Faeries this past Standard cycle. The synergy of the cards locks out opponents from playing the game and that is dangerous for the health of the game. NEVER: expect a good Faerie card to ever be printed again! The 4 Spellstutter Sprite, 4 Bitterblossom, 2-3 Vendilion Clique, and 2-3 Mistbind Clique is the Faerie shell. We must face this fact and play around it and sideboard effectively. With that said, true card value will be made up in non-faerie spells like counter, discard, and removal. Fatal Push is a blessing to the arch-type and catapults Fae to T2 IMO. Playing 3-4 Fatal Push is lights out to any T1 or T2 aggro decks. In testing, I'm beating Affinity without Hykrul's Recall, which is unheard of pre-Aether Revolt. I'm ahead of GB-x decks. Linear aggro is controllable now. The only real threat is combo and big mana decks. Sideboarding 2 Rain of Tears and 2 Ceremonious Rejection stops Tron, Eldrazi, lantern control, and affinity. Add 3 Snapcaster Mage and it's lockdown control and opponents are pissed off. I have the screenshots to prove this.
If you are playing 4 Ancestral Vision, then Snapcaster Mage is more of a dead card to you. AV belongs in the sideboard IMO, but if you are gonna force it then play 4 Fatal Push with it to counter the odds of super slow starts.
This is not true lol. Spirits where in last standard because we were in innistrad which is GOTHIC themed. Faeries aren't on many planes which is why we haven't gotten many powerful ones. The only planes that we know they are on are: Dominaria (which is destroyed), Lowryn, and Ravnica (and there are few that are part of the Azorius). We will return to lowryn one day.
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I took it today to a tournament. I managed to beat Naya Landfall thanks to all the love from my sideboard plus a timely Mistbind Clique game 3, sneaked a draw against Grixis Control (I think it's a bad match-up, but since they cut Gurmag Angler to make room to Ancestral Vision it's better), beat UWR Control in three games and a BUG deck in two, before drawing into top8 to then lose to Elves... sometimes you don't draw well, tilt, misplay and lose badly.
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This may not be an important distinction but Dominaria isn't quite destroyed, just devastated. There is definitely still life present after the last events that happened there. The last line of the wiki on it states:
Following the Mending, mana on Dominaria began to stabilize again and new centers of civilization like New Benalia and Tolaria West came into being, though time-lost creatures continue to surface on occasion.
It could be awhile, but we'll probably revisit again and maybe get some new fae or such.
(sorry, partially off topic to this thread discussion)
This may not be an important distinction but Dominaria isn't quite destroyed, just devastated. There is definitely still life present after the last events that happened there. The last line of the wiki on it states:
Following the Mending, mana on Dominaria began to stabilize again and new centers of civilization like New Benalia and Tolaria West came into being, though time-lost creatures continue to surface on occasion.
It could be awhile, but we'll probably revisit again and maybe get some new fae or such.
(sorry, partially off topic to this thread discussion)
We will visit it again but my point is that the only reason why we haven't been getting faeries is because they aren't on that many planes. Faeries are a rare creature type.
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I have a big post to make about my GP experience, I'm going to try to organize it the best I can so it's not a wall of indigestible text. You will not want to read this on your phone.
I went 8-2-1 before something stupid happened that I will also need to talk about.
My overall impression of this list is an "A" grade. I really loved it and didn't have much I want to change.
I'll go through card choices
Discard - I have gone back and forth on my discard package so many times. I have hated it, loved it, hated it. My general position on it was it led me to be behind on mana/tempo because I would be paying 1 mana for us both to go down 1 card. Then they'd be using their mana to advance their board state. I have found that 3 Inquisition of Kozilek and 2 Thoughtseize works well to start with and then you can always side out one or the other or both if the matchup doesn't call for them. And having LotV helps if you have extra IoK or TS in hand to just +1 Lili and ditch it. I thought about 3 TS/2 IoK, but I think I like my split and don't plan on changing it.
Removal - 4 Fatal Push is definitely the answer to a lot of our problems. They hit so much and for cheap. I'll be keeping 4. Again Lili helps discard these if your opp isn't running 1-4 drops to kill. Dismember is also very good. 1 colorless mana to kill a reality smasher or tasigur? Sign me up. There's times I needed bigger removal than either dismember or fatal push offer, and in those times I brought in damnation. But.. I can see a case for going to 7 removal main deck. I would consider a Go For the Throat before any others including Murderous Cut just so I have those early options. Cut is great post T4. But I've found before that I'm often paying 2-3 for it anyways, so may as well just have GFTT or dismember.
Counters - 1 mana leak felt fine to be honest. No spell snares in the main was fine. 3 cryptic commands was great. I really liked having heavier discard/removal and less emphasis on needing to counter everything that came down. Between 4 spellstutter sprites, 1 mana leak, 3 CC it was enough for G1. Then I typically sided in snares or negates or ceremonious rejection as needed and sometimes side out my leak or an sss or two if they weren't going to cut it.
Creatures - The fae package is just fine and it was kind of funny that I went to G3 sometimes before people saw a BB (this deck can win just fine w/o BB). I would never go lower than 4 spellstutter sprites or 2 Vendilion Cliques. I'm happy w/o Mistbind Clique (sorry for those still on them - but they just require too much set up for not enough profit). A sword does a much better job increasing our presence and effecting the board state. 2 snapcaster mages was good for me, I wasn't holding a snap too often w/o anything to snap back (but I did still have to throw it in a couples times w/o flashback value). The Gifted Aetherborn are real, consider foils while cheap. They answer so much and let us get some life gain going. Vs Burn, they are great, vs ANY creature deck they are great. I traded 1 for a reality smasher, net 0 dmg. They are hard to kill by your opponent sometimes when you attack in, because of the 3 butt they trade with a couple bears thnx to deathtouch. They are also a vampire, which I was able to use for threatening counters on Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet. Really solid addition even if not a faerie. Kalitas in the deck is a huge necessity as well. All 3 of of his effects are important. Lifelink, Exile creatures for zombies, eat zombies/vampires for counters. He's a beast.
Serum Visions - I've tried Ancestral Vision primarily before as a 3 or 4 of in main or side. I was always skeptical of SV being a do-nothing card. I figured it was just a waste of space to cantrip and filter when all my cards are just good as they are. But in reality, SV was SO good for me. SV is the perfect card to play when you have an extra blue and are holding things off or just building up your BB tokens. Your opp isn't going to counter SV and it digs 3 cards down. It helps hit the land you need or put those extra 2 lands on the bottom. If SV wasn't needed, we'd cast it and just put both cards on top every time, right? That does happen sometimes, but not often. Often it's like ahh I don't need that 2nd BB or a fatal push against this deck or I really don't need 2 more lands. SV has been so lovely. I was able to keep a 1 lander that had SV, Push, Snare, Leak, BB, because if I miss a land draw, SV digs down THREE cards, so that either clears out 3 non land cards or it gets you one and puts more on top. I would never keep a 1 lander with AV. AVis fine if you have room mainboard for it, but the matches it's good against can sometimes either counter it or you don't really need it. Jund is easy match up w/o AV imo (lili is queen there). AV in the side never worked for me. AV and SV aren't answers, and I didn't treat SV as part of the main deck. I never took out any SVs in my matches. They are really good.
Swords or Equipment - I highly recommend at least 1 equipment. I have used Sword of Feast and Famine the most and like it as my favorite, but Sword of Light and Shadow might make its way to my sideboard for abzan/BW tokens matchups (F those spirit tokens). Batterskull is also great and I have mainboarded it before. Was always fantastic to smash in with it or equip it to a sprite. Beefy Faerie!
Planeswalkers - I also think a planewalker adds a dimension to our deck that we can take advantage of. We already do a good job controlling and maintaining the status quo, which is why Bitterblossom can carry a game to victory for us. The same is true for a PW. My preferred is Liliana of the Veil. She is so good for us. All her abilities move us in a direction I like. -2 if you can kill a good creature (generally vs jund, I push their 1st creature, and Lili their 2nd). Then you just going up, discard land, extra discard, extra sss or BBs. Sometimes you can't + her and that's fine too. But it really forces your opponent to consider their plays and hands more. They may not want to play another land or spell bc it means they'd have to discard one of their better cards. Or it may force them to cast their last card earlier than they wanted. When they get into top deck mode and know they either have to play it or lose, we're forcing them to make a decision they don't prefer. This is good for us. Lili was huge for me at the GP. I also like the other options if you want to try Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver - here's an example of what she's done for me Eat it eldrazi!. I also like the other Lili, but again, my fav for the deck style I built is LotV.
Lands - I'm really happy with my land choices. 3 Creeping Tar Pit is perfect, 4 was too many, but it's so good (it closed out a lot of my games) that you want as many as you can (which is 3). Darkslick Shores I used to think 3 was right, but 4 is perfect, you want lands to come in untapped T1-3 if you need it. The 4th for Cryptic can be planned out in advance hopefully. I did draw all 4 Shores once in a game, but that's the fine. Oboro, Palace in the Clouds - So, this card has some upsides of being able to bounce to hand for Fatal Push, or bouncing to hand (with a colorless or black) and replaying for another blue source. It's also not an island for Choke or for island walkers (fish). So really, only downside is for fetching (or GQ/Path) or Blood Moon. River of Tears This card is decent when you need more black on your turn than normal. It was only awkward once when I had Serum Visions and Fatal Push in hand and needed T1 blue on my turn but black on theirs. Sunken Ruins Was never bad as a colorless and often got me the double black or triple blue I needed. I recommend 1 (not 2). Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth Another great card that helps with Push, keep your fetches around by tapping them for black until you need to turn on revolt. Or just preserve your life. Helps get Lili and GA out.
Sideboard - I built my sideboard to help with decks I'm going to be weaker against. I have more specific counters to bring in and I loved Negate and spell snare. CR is of course super huge to counter tron/edlrazi stuff. I brought them in vs ad nauseum too to hit their mana rocks, since creature removal was pointless. Engineered Explosives needs to be a 2 count tho. I needed it for tokens too often and didn't draw into it. Surgical Extraction is a great card in many match ups. I mana leaked lingering souls ands then extracted them vs abzan, that gave me an easy win. There were a couple times Extirpate would have been better for me. For instance, I was against Living End and I cast Thoughtseize on them. He had 3 Street Wraiths in hand. I had surgical... would have loved to discard one and then exile them all, but he would have cycled in response. Another time vs living end, he used Faerie Macabre to exile a street wraith from his grave that I targeted with surgical, so it kept the other 2 in his grave. Small things like that.
Now for my GP matches
2-1
This will be distinguished from Jund by the Mishra's Bauble they will drop T1 (liekly). They want to get delirium and cards in their grave for Traverse the Ulvenwald, Become Immense, and Tarmogoyf. They will also just be shocking themselves for no reason except to lose life. They win the game by getting a big Goyf or Death's Shadow and pumping it typically with Temur Battle Rage
Sideboard plan
-2 Dismember (they just make their guy bigger in response and I'm out a card and life)
-2 Thoughtseize (I want to preserve my life and 3 IoK are just fine)
+2 Spell Snare (hits goyf and Temur Battlerage, so that is worth it)
+2 Engineered Explosives I know my list has 1 right now, but going to 2 over the Hurk's Recall.
Kill their goyfs and shadows as soon as you can, they can't drop a death's shadow until they have 12 or less life, so be aware of that when you are selecting a card for them to discard. Be wary of them casting cards that can lower their life total as a combat trick. I've had them cast Tarfire on themselves even, or cast dismember paying 4 life. Also, Tarfire is tribal, so boosts goyf more.
Death's shadow won the GP at Vancouver and it had 3 in the top 8, so be ready for it. It's not that bad for us, but they run 4 IoK and 4 TS as well, so kiss your hand good bye.
I won by doing just as I suggested, keep his creatures dead. 4 Push, 3 GA (gifted aetherborn), and 2 Lilis helped with this.
Get a BB down quick if you can, souls is the hardest thing about this match up for me. You need to power up SSS to counter 3 drops. Same thing, Lili doesn't hurt us, our Lili is only ok vs abzan, if they discard souls to Lili then they still get good value off it. And once they have souls out, her -2 is bad. Also, I countered and then surgicaled lingering souls on G3 and that made the match super easy.
One of the games he got Lili down and + her to 4, I drop Lili next turn and had to - to kill goyf. He then ticks up to 5 on his Lili, then mine goes up to 2. I was worried I'd be losing this Lili war. He gets to 6 but then has no other board really, so if he ulted, he'd have to choose between my lands, Lili, creature, and he'd lose his Lili either way. So he -2 to kill my Aetherborn or Clique, whatever I had. I then keep upticking mine, eventually kill his and ult mine (at 8 loyalty). I made him choose between keeping his tokens and 1 man land or keeping the rest of his lands. He had to keep the tokens (he did have Gideon emblem +1/+1) and he woulda died w/o blockers so.
2-1
Not much to really say here, it's an easy match for us. He got lucky one game by top decking the right card when he was at 3 and I was at 24. Otherwise, just keep him off scapeshift and titan.
+2 Surgical Extraction Once you get a scapeshift or titan out of him with thoughtseize, rip 'em all out! Also useful if you just need to see his hand to know how to play your counters.
2-0
Basically the old standard Rally deck with sac out lets and triggers for creatures dying. Kill the sac outlets and kill the trigger dudes quick. Counter Rally or the convoke sorcery one. Bring grave hate (I chose Kalitas over surgicals). Don't tap out if their grave is getting full because they can Rally the Ancestors and just sac 8 creatures with 3-4 lifeloss trigers a piece... can be crazy.
Aetherborns are really good here. If you have other options, don't drop it T2 tho, it'll eat a searing blaze and you'll be down. But sometimes you don't have other T2 plays/counters and it has to do and just know it'll die, but still eats a card from them which may be better than sitting with nothing to do. Don't be afraid to pay 4 life to dismember a creature, it'll save you damage in the long run.
-1 Bitterblossom - less life loss, you may not want any, but getting BB in plays helps get chumps and powers up SSS to get 2-3 drops Also be wary of Destructive Revelry
-3 Cryptic Command - too slow, countering 1 card for 4 isn't ideal
-1 mana leak - if drawn late they might just have the extra 3 mana
-2 Liliana of the Veil - not worth 3 mana to kill 1 creature and force discards. Lose too much tempo
+2 Surgical Extraction - great if you IoK and see they are holding a card in their grave or have like 3 instances of a card, I did that once for great value. Also can be useful to see their hand to know what to play around.
So, I peeked his hand at one point and saw 2 destructive revelrys... I chose to V Clique away my BB lol. He got kind of stuck on G3 holding revelrys and seering blazes and I had no creatures or enchantments for him to burn down. Burn is straight forward, kill his creatures asap (let goblin guide swing for trigger first, that's obvious tho). Be wary of prowess on the swiftspears. Don't let the grim lavamancer come off summon sick or he'll burn you for an extra 2 or more off him. Be mindful of Skullcrack and [Atarka's Command[/card] keeping you from gaining life off lifelink.
2-0
The plan vs eldrazi is hit them with discard early and often. Get rid of map if they're low on mana. Otherwise, hit the eldrazi because they're T2 or 3 is to drop a thought-knot seer or reality smasher. Eldrazi tron uses Walking Ballista which just wipes us out and is super annoying with basilisk collar, but Fatal Push kills it if they haven't challiced for 1 yet.
I was most worried about eldrazi decks coming into the GP, so I'm glad I 2-0d it. I was able to trade an Aetherborn for a Reality Smasher so that felt like worth to me. A 2 drop for a 5 drop. Liliana is really good in this match up. Sword is great, too, because they don't run too much instant speed stuff, so suit up and swing for the untap trigger on SOFAF. They might have dismember or Spatial Contortion so be wary of those.
0-2
Same as R1, but this time I flooded out hard and he hammered me with 3 Death's Shadow all at once in T3. I was able to take out 2 of them, but one finally got through with temur battle rage.
1-2
This is probably one of our hardest match-ups. Flying tokens that are bigger then ours? Not good. They they also have vigilance and lifeink sometimes? Well, it's hard. EE or Echoing Truth is really good here. Keep the [card]Intangible Virtue[/cards]s out of play or you're in big trouble.
I was racing just fine G1 and then all of sudden Sorin dropped when he was down to like 6 life. Completely halted and reversed the game. I was able to keep him off anything G2 but G3 I got off on a bad start, having IoK kinda whiff. I din't want to grab lingering souls on T1 letting him flash it back T2, and I couldn't grab Spectral Possession because it's a 6 CMC card. I played bad swinging with 2 mutavaults instead of keeping them back for turning spellstutter up to hitting 3 drops. He flooded the board with tokens and I couldn't draw the 1 EE I had in the deck. 2 is def the way to go.
2-1
Pretty much exact same advice as scapeshift. This version runs more titans (had Inferno and Primeval). Keep off ramp, counter and force discard on big stuff.
1-1 draw
So, general tips for Ad Nauseam - once they hit 5 mana they can win. Watch out for the mana rocks, but they also run simian spirit guide. All they have to do is have Phyrexian Unlife in play or have 1 extra mana for Angel's Grace and they cast Ad Naus and win with Lightning Storm. They will also have Pact of Negation to keep you off their back. You want to counter Ad Naus and keep the Phyrexian Unlife off the table. They can use Spoils of the Vault to get Ad Naus and win, so just start getting on edge once they ramp up or get there.
+2 Surgical Extraction Get Ad Naus in the grave and extract it, gg (typically)
+2 Negate They don't really run creatures, so this hits it all
+3 Ceremonious Rejection It's better than creature removal, counter those mana rocks!
So, I punted this... G1 I got early BB and just kept swinging in, it forced him to try to go for his win w/o proper backup counter magic. I stopped his ad naus and he lost. G2, I Thoughtseize Ad Naus and Surgical it, gg! I then get out BB and start taking him down. So I paid life for TS and Surgical and BB. I cast another Thoughtseize. I go to swing lethal and he casts Savings Grace taking him to 1. He had the Unlife out as well (2 of them actually). He had Seismic Assault in hand. I was ticking down, and I needed to finish him.
I snap surgical the Angel's Grace to make sure he can't do that again and keep chaining it. I swing in, didn't realize that Unlife would keep him in game, as I swung in for 14 dmg... so he went to -13 but still alive. I need to swing once more to deal the 10 infect damage or somehow bounce both Unlifes (another usage for Echoing Truth. I'm at 6... he casts the Seismic Assault, discards 2 cards and casts Spoils to get a 3rd land and discards that for the win with 2 minutes left in the round....
Ugh, I kicked myself so much for effing that up. I couldn't draw a cryptic to get that BB out of play or anything and I just hurt myself too much with TS and Surgical.
2-1
Jund is favorable for me with this list. I am prepared to grind them out. Lili is better for us than them. I typically take out my discard vs Jund, if they want to spend mana to both go down 1 card, fine. Kill the Bobs to keep them from getting card advantage. Push is just really good.
Sideboard plan
-1 Dismember - not super great for goyf and even sometimes Scooze.
So, G1 I got SoFaF out on a sprite and just kept pushing in. He died to double bob triggers bc he didn't have anything else. There was an issue this game that I will detail out below, but it led to me getting disqualified from the GP.
G2 he got me with Huntmaster, just crushed me.
G3, he got out Huntmaster again, but I pushed it. He didn't get that close to beating me, I had lots of answers.
More on the DQ below
So after all my matches, I like the list. I am going to go -1 Island and +1 swamp or watery grave. I'll see how that goes. I also want a 2nd EE, so -1 Recall for +1 EE in side. No other changes, I loved it.
Ok, my final match ended with a sour taste for me. I am going to try to explain what happened best I can and can remember.
G1 vs Jund on the 11th Round.
My opponent and I go to verify life totals and we discover that we are off on his life.
I had him at 12 life. He had himself at 10 life.
He then said I forgot about Thoughtseize. (I think to myself that I know I countered Thoughtseize, but maybe it was from something else - a shock or something from earlier). I don't say anything to him and adjust his life to 10 on my pad. (I still do not know where the difference came from - I never saw him record 2 loss of life from Thoughtseize after I countered it and there wasn't a big pause like he cast it and I sat waiting to decide, he cast TS, I dropped SSS to counter it, so I don't know why he would have recorded the 2 loss of life off TS).
Later, we check life again, and I had him at 7 and he had 10, I mention the 3 life loss off my attack. He says oh ya, you forgot TS, I forgot that. Again, I don't say anything about the TS, I still assume it was properly recorded, just that he didn't recall what it was from.
I attack again taking him to 4. He has two bobs out, and he flips an IoK and a Lili, so he scoops without saying anything. He then calls judge to go to the bathroom.
When he comes back after I've cleaned up and sided and shuffled, he talks to the judge away from the table.
I hear him say Thoughtseize.
The judge comes over and asks me if at some point in the last match if we checked life totals and had a discrepancy. I said yes, I had him at 12 and he thought 10, he said it was because of Thoughtseize, but I knew it wasn't that and assumed it must have been off something else. I didn't question it.
The judge wasn't happy with that answer, told us to keep playing and we'd get back to it.
After I win 2-1 the judge tells my opponent not to drop and that the head judge wanted to see me.
To point out, at this point, no one has once tried to look at the prior game to see where the life loss really could have been from. My pad was wiped clean and my cards cleaned up, my opponent's cards were cleaned up as well, so it would have been impossible to verify where the 2 points of damage came from... but they accept his story that he recorded 2 life from thoughtseize because I didn't dispute it.
So, I go over everything again with the head judge. I explain that I thought it was likely my opponent's job to track their life or at the least that he would have a better track of his own life. I sometimes find I miss fetch or shock damage by my opponent.
The head judge debated with the other judge for 5 minutes and then stated to me that he understood I thought it to be my opponent's responsibility to track his own life, but it's on both players. I said ok, I understand now. He then goes on, delicately, to say that according to the rules, there are 3 criteria to meet, and he listed them, something about knowledge of an error, intent to gain an advantage over the error, and something else... So he basically said, I met those 3 elements and was considered "cheating." I was therefore disqualified: my match would be recorded as a loss and I was kicked from the main event of the GP with no prizes or planeswalker points.
I tried reasoning about how they can prove any of what he said to be accurate and how I did not have the required knowledge or intent, I didn't even know that was the rule at the time. I said no one tried to go through the game state to see where his life loss came from, I did not see him record 2 life loss from Thoughtseize. I never told him he was dead, he scooped his cards. I was just so shocked by the ruling.
It's a very hard lesson I've learned. Keep very good track of the game state and call a judge on any conflicts or get them resolved properly. Your opponent can intentionally abuse this rule if he tries to claim something and you go along with it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now, side info about something I witnesses just a round before my DQ.
The guy presents his deck to his opponent, the opponent shuffles and counts the deck. Counts 64 and asks if that's right. Player says no, should be 60, instant judge call. The judge and player go away to review the deck. They come back and he got a game loss for the extra 4 cards.
But they weren't just 4 cards out of his sideboard or anything... they were his friend's cards as he claimed anyways... with matching sleeves... and they happened to all be the same 4 cards of his friend's.... and that just happened to be 4 cards he already had in his deck, putting him to 8 copies in his deck... totally honest mistake!!
Not sure how that's not cheating, but what I did is....
Anyways, I do feel that I made a mistake not calling out the difference and finding the error (I had game won either way), but I think the punishment was way harsher than it should have been and my opponent was certainly not without fault.
I think that covers everything... this took me hours to write so hopefully it's worthwhile. Ask specific questions if you have any.
@Nardraug: Thanks for the report. Great tournament run and an awesome writeup. It's exciting to see Faeries has pilots like you at the helm.
I did want to weigh in on the DQ that happened at the end, as well as the circumstances leading up to it. In essence, this is a really *****ty situation but technically, the head judge made the correct call. In the future, and this goes for everyone here who is reading this, always call a judge the moment you notice a discrepancy like this. Always, always, always. It is almost impossible to get yourself into a cheating, "intent to gain advantage" situation if you call the judge over immediately. Players might get warnings, but it is very unlikely anything else will come of it. It looks like you learned this and said as much at the end, but in case anyone hasn't, it's always the right thing to do.
Judges around the world have this annoying obsession of applying what the rulebook says over common sense as often as they can just to screw you up. If anyone did something shady that game it was your opponent, who called the judge when the game finished instead of doing it when you first noticed the discrepancy in life totals (something you should have also done); this looks very similar to some stories of players who miss draw steps on purpose to then just accuse their opponents of extra drawing, although this time with something easier to track. I hope that after this unfair disqualification, they don't go any further into the absurdity and give you a 6-month ban.
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Currently sleeved: WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
First of all I would like to thank Nardraug as well for this detailed Report. Nice to see that you and that list could do so well! Quite some things seem to have changed since I last played (like 2 - 2 1/2 years ago). Gifted Aetherborn could be real tech in this deck... although I still like Mistbind Clique a lot (I can't really get behind the statements it requires to much setup for to little reward. Well, you do need at least 1 Fae + 1 Mutavault (and four other lands) but the reward of one is great and chaining two is really huge). I guess the Aetherborn was enough to keep Death Shadow in check?
Sad thing to hear about your DQ though. While I read I couldn't really understand why nobody called the judge, or at least (this probably would have been the way I would have chosen here.. and have chosen in small tournaments before) agree on the higher life total as this wouldn't have led to this problem. I could follow your reasoning though. As spellcheck said I hope the DQ was all that happened now and wish you all the best luck for future tournaments!
@Nardraug
Thanks so much for this report. I've been watching your twitch streams daily, and I am totally sold on faeries for my first modern deck. I'm slowly working towards getting all the cards. Watching your streams have been very helpful, sucks about the DQ..but plz keep up the quality streaming.
@Nardraug: Thanks for the report. Great tournament run and an awesome writeup. It's exciting to see Faeries has pilots like you at the helm.
I did want to weigh in on the DQ that happened at the end, as well as the circumstances leading up to it. In essence, this is a really *****ty situation but technically, the head judge made the correct call. In the future, and this goes for everyone here who is reading this, always call a judge the moment you notice a discrepancy like this. Always, always, always. It is almost impossible to get yourself into a cheating, "intent to gain advantage" situation if you call the judge over immediately. Players might get warnings, but it is very unlikely anything else will come of it. It looks like you learned this and said as much at the end, but in case anyone hasn't, it's always the right thing to do.
Thank you for the compliment. I will keep doing what I can to further the deck along and hopefully I get another chance to get us in the spotlight.
I am pretty sure the head judge told me that nothing further would happen past the DQ. I do understand where he came from and wish I had handled the situation smarter.
Judges around the world have this annoying obsession of applying what the rulebook says over common sense as often as they can just to screw you up. If anyone did something shady that game it was your opponent, who called the judge when the game finished instead of doing it when you first noticed the discrepancy in life totals (something you should have also done); this looks very similar to some stories of players who miss draw steps on purpose to then just accuse their opponents of extra drawing, although this time with something easier to track. I hope that after this unfair disqualification, they don't go any further into the absurdity and give you a 6-month ban.
I actually just heard a story of someone's opponent intentionally missing their draw step and then calling the judge to claim their opponent drew twice - by trying to recount card draws/turns. People are really *****ty. I don't know why my opponent waited til the end to say anything, I hope it wasn't his intention to sneak that in, but it really could have been. I just wish I knew how severe that was going to be on me. I didn't think at the time I was acting in a manner that would equate to cheating by any means. I felt awkward one time letting my opponent miss his suspend trigger lol, I'm always a fair player... lesson drilled home though.
First of all I would like to thank Nardraug as well for this detailed Report. Nice to see that you and that list could do so well! Quite some things seem to have changed since I last played (like 2 - 2 1/2 years ago). Gifted Aetherborn could be real tech in this deck... although I still like Mistbind Clique a lot (I can't really get behind the statements it requires to much setup for to little reward. Well, you do need at least 1 Fae + 1 Mutavault (and four other lands) but the reward of one is great and chaining two is really huge). I guess the Aetherborn was enough to keep Death Shadow in check?
Sad thing to hear about your DQ though. While I read I couldn't really understand why nobody called the judge, or at least (this probably would have been the way I would have chosen here.. and have chosen in small tournaments before) agree on the higher life total as this wouldn't have led to this problem. I could follow your reasoning though. As spellcheck said I hope the DQ was all that happened now and wish you all the best luck for future tournaments!
No problem, I'm just glad people took the time to read it, it's such a novel. I couldn't even do a tl:dr edition. I do still like Mistbind as well, but everytime I try her recently, she sits in my hand or if I do use her, it's not super great. I mean, ya, there are times it's huge, and a timewalk, but I can get good avantages in the game w/o the required set up. I've thought about sideboarding MBCs as they can come in vs some decks and make a big impact, like tron/scapeshift. But, not that great vs a lot of decks either.
Gifted Aetherborn and Fatal Push really increase our ability to survive fast decks or hard hitting creature decks.
@Nardraug
Thanks so much for this report. I've been watching your twitch streams daily, and I am totally sold on faeries for my first modern deck. I'm slowly working towards getting all the cards. Watching your streams have been very helpful, sucks about the DQ..but plz keep up the quality streaming.
Oh wow, I wasn't sure if people really watched them or not! Thanks for the feedback. I kind of just bought into MTGO last month and figured why not stream. I don't get the chance to broadcast often because my kids or wife are in the background, but if I'm ever live, I can respond to comments (I use 2 screens so I can see my feed and game at the same time). Faeries is a lot of fun and was my first (and only) modern deck as well.
I'll be back to streaming next week hopefully. I have a big paper due for my law class this week and I kinda neglected it by going to Vancouver.
Thank you all for the praise and feedback, means a lot to me.
@Nardraug:
Have you considered trying to fit a Kalitas or 2 in the maindeck? He's amazing, you vouch for him, why not play him maindeck?
What would you cut from the maindeck for flex/meta options, like a Sword of Light and Shadow, a Kalitas, another Liliana, more countermagic, more removal, etc?
Mirris: I have ran Tasigur main before and Kalitas main before. Both can be good options (I do like Kalitas more). But the reason I'm not mainboarding one or two is because Gifted Aetherborn. I don't need Kalitas lifelink over GAs. So Kalitas is more of a side option for when I need the exile effect. I used to main batterskull for my lifelink and that was nice too (I'd prefer that to Kalitas main).
As far as adding something else main, I can see going to 2 GA to add a SoLaS or another removal or Lili or Kalitas. And I could maybe see losing 1 IoK to add another removal or counter. Other than that, the list is super tight and I wouldn't want to go down on anything. (I can see a case for moving dismember for GFTT or other removal options, but that's a lateral change).
As far as adding something else main, I can see going to 2 GA to add a SoLaS or another removal or Lili or Kalitas. And I could maybe see losing 1 IoK to add another removal or counter. Other than that, the list is super tight and I wouldn't want to go down on anything. (I can see a case for moving dismember for GFTT or other removal options, but that's a lateral change).
What about Snapcaster Mage? He's got relatively few targets, most of which have minimal long game value (compare to playing Snapcaster in Grixis Control). It seems like the perfect place to shave one card without effecting the core game plan and avoids trimming GA (which has the critical role of stabilizing the early game).
Have you tested the 4th Serum Visions? Personally, unless a local meta calls for a specific choice, I think the replacement for 1 Snapcaster or GA would be the 4th Serum Visions. Increasing consistency seems invaluable to a deck that doesn't have any big bombs that can be topdecked and just swing the game.
I could see cutting snaps. I've had good luck with snap-less decks. I do have 18 targets that are all decent for snapping back and 2 snaps seems to be a good balance for me.
I have not tried 4 SV yet. It makes me nervous because I don't really want them in my first couple turns (even tho, in a bind, they can end up fixing me up), but ideally, I'm casting discard/removal/counters/BB on T1-2 and not SV. SV is my last priority card to cast.
Hopefully next week I'll have time to take my list back to the competitive leagues on MTGO and see how it goes for me.
Had a decent run tonight (2/24/17) My dumb stream cut out twice, so it's in 3 videos. But I ran my list and went 4-1 in the comp league. So, just in case anyone doesn't know, I stream on MTGO now when I can.
Really? I haven't played against Eldrazi but I've had lots of experience playing against both tron and valakut and both of those cards are fantastic in those match-ups.
In valakut, lili gives you a win condition (and at worst she will absorb some burn damage that was meant to be directed at you) that doesn't kill you like bitterblossom and sword of light and shadow will help you stabilize your life after taking bolts / pings off valakut.
In Tron, Sword + BB has won me almost every best of 3 in that match-up. That includes all three variants of tron going around.
Tron and sword is the same reason. You would have won those games w/o sword i am positive. Tron has so many outs to sword (karn,o stone,ugin, ulamog) literally any of their threats still blanks it ill take the extra interaction and hate cards over those 2 all day, clunky three drops are the first cards i look to cut after i side out removal vs them.
Sword is good vs eldrazi and numerous other matchups as is lili and are VERY viable cards to play in your 75 however against combo and ramp decks they arent exactly what the doctor ordered IMO.
Any chance of seeing this matchup guide and updated list post-push?
This is not true lol. Spirits where in last standard because we were in innistrad which is GOTHIC themed. Faeries aren't on many planes which is why we haven't gotten many powerful ones. The only planes that we know they are on are: Dominaria (which is destroyed), Lowryn, and Ravnica (and there are few that are part of the Azorius). We will return to lowryn one day.
Decks I'm playing in Modern right now:
URB Grixis Reveler (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-grixis-reveler/)
UB Faeries (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/ub-fae-2/)
UW Azorious Control (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-ojutai-control-2/)
http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gpvan17/trial-winning-decklists-2017-02-18
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
4 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Snapcaster Mage
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Mistbind Clique
4 Bitterblossom
3 Fatal Push
2 Go for the Throat
2 Spell Snare
2 Mana Leak
3 Cryptic Command
2 Collective Brutality
3 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Mutavault
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Polluted Delta
2 Watery Grave
4 Island
1 Swamp
4 Darkslick Shores
1 River of Tears
1 Secluded Glen
1 Fatal Push
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Damnation
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Batterskull
3 Thoughtseize
2 Negate
2 Rain of Tears
I took it today to a tournament. I managed to beat Naya Landfall thanks to all the love from my sideboard plus a timely Mistbind Clique game 3, sneaked a draw against Grixis Control (I think it's a bad match-up, but since they cut Gurmag Angler to make room to Ancestral Vision it's better), beat UWR Control in three games and a BUG deck in two, before drawing into top8 to then lose to Elves... sometimes you don't draw well, tilt, misplay and lose badly.
Currently sleeved:
WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
Following the Mending, mana on Dominaria began to stabilize again and new centers of civilization like New Benalia and Tolaria West came into being, though time-lost creatures continue to surface on occasion.
It could be awhile, but we'll probably revisit again and maybe get some new fae or such.
(sorry, partially off topic to this thread discussion)
We will visit it again but my point is that the only reason why we haven't been getting faeries is because they aren't on that many planes. Faeries are a rare creature type.
Decks I'm playing in Modern right now:
URB Grixis Reveler (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-grixis-reveler/)
UB Faeries (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/ub-fae-2/)
UW Azorious Control (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-ojutai-control-2/)
I went 8-2-1 before something stupid happened that I will also need to talk about.
First off, here's my list I ran
3x Creeping Tar Pit
4x Darkslick Shores
3x Island
4x Mutavault
1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4x Polluted Delta
1x River of Tears
1x Sunken Ruins
1x Swamp
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Watery Grave
Instant (10)
3x Cryptic Command
2x Dismember
4x Fatal Push
1x Mana Leak
3x Gifted Aetherborn
2x Snapcaster Mage
4x Spellstutter Sprite
2x Vendilion Clique
Sorcery (8)
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Serum Visions
2x Thoughtseize
Enchantment (4)
4x Bitterblossom
Artifact (1)
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
Planeswalker (2)
2x Liliana of the Veil
3x Ceremonious Rejection
2x Damnation
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Hurkyl's Recall
2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2x Negate
2x Spell Snare
2x Surgical Extraction
My overall impression of this list is an "A" grade. I really loved it and didn't have much I want to change.
I'll go through card choices
Now for my GP matches
2-1
This will be distinguished from Jund by the Mishra's Bauble they will drop T1 (liekly). They want to get delirium and cards in their grave for Traverse the Ulvenwald, Become Immense, and Tarmogoyf. They will also just be shocking themselves for no reason except to lose life. They win the game by getting a big Goyf or Death's Shadow and pumping it typically with Temur Battle Rage
Sideboard plan
Kill their goyfs and shadows as soon as you can, they can't drop a death's shadow until they have 12 or less life, so be aware of that when you are selecting a card for them to discard. Be wary of them casting cards that can lower their life total as a combat trick. I've had them cast Tarfire on themselves even, or cast dismember paying 4 life. Also, Tarfire is tribal, so boosts goyf more.
Death's shadow won the GP at Vancouver and it had 3 in the top 8, so be ready for it. It's not that bad for us, but they run 4 IoK and 4 TS as well, so kiss your hand good bye.
I won by doing just as I suggested, keep his creatures dead. 4 Push, 3 GA (gifted aetherborn), and 2 Lilis helped with this.
2-1
This is similar to Jund with goyfs and bobs (Dark Confidant) maybe. Sometimes Siege Rhino or Sorin, Solemn Visitor The biggest difference is the Lingering Souls and that card hurts us bad. It's my arch nemesis.
Sideboard plan
One of the games he got Lili down and + her to 4, I drop Lili next turn and had to - to kill goyf. He then ticks up to 5 on his Lili, then mine goes up to 2. I was worried I'd be losing this Lili war. He gets to 6 but then has no other board really, so if he ulted, he'd have to choose between my lands, Lili, creature, and he'd lose his Lili either way. So he -2 to kill my Aetherborn or Clique, whatever I had. I then keep upticking mine, eventually kill his and ult mine (at 8 loyalty). I made him choose between keeping his tokens and 1 man land or keeping the rest of his lands. He had to keep the tokens (he did have Gideon emblem +1/+1) and he woulda died w/o blockers so.
2-1
Not much to really say here, it's an easy match for us. He got lucky one game by top decking the right card when he was at 3 and I was at 24. Otherwise, just keep him off scapeshift and titan.
Sideboard plan
2-0
Basically the old standard Rally deck with sac out lets and triggers for creatures dying. Kill the sac outlets and kill the trigger dudes quick. Counter Rally or the convoke sorcery one. Bring grave hate (I chose Kalitas over surgicals). Don't tap out if their grave is getting full because they can Rally the Ancestors and just sac 8 creatures with 3-4 lifeloss trigers a piece... can be crazy.
Sideboard plan
2-1
Aetherborns are really good here. If you have other options, don't drop it T2 tho, it'll eat a searing blaze and you'll be down. But sometimes you don't have other T2 plays/counters and it has to do and just know it'll die, but still eats a card from them which may be better than sitting with nothing to do. Don't be afraid to pay 4 life to dismember a creature, it'll save you damage in the long run.
Sideboard plan
So, I peeked his hand at one point and saw 2 destructive revelrys... I chose to V Clique away my BB lol. He got kind of stuck on G3 holding revelrys and seering blazes and I had no creatures or enchantments for him to burn down. Burn is straight forward, kill his creatures asap (let goblin guide swing for trigger first, that's obvious tho). Be wary of prowess on the swiftspears. Don't let the grim lavamancer come off summon sick or he'll burn you for an extra 2 or more off him. Be mindful of Skullcrack and [Atarka's Command[/card] keeping you from gaining life off lifelink.
2-0
The plan vs eldrazi is hit them with discard early and often. Get rid of map if they're low on mana. Otherwise, hit the eldrazi because they're T2 or 3 is to drop a thought-knot seer or reality smasher. Eldrazi tron uses Walking Ballista which just wipes us out and is super annoying with basilisk collar, but Fatal Push kills it if they haven't challiced for 1 yet.
Sideboard plan
I was most worried about eldrazi decks coming into the GP, so I'm glad I 2-0d it. I was able to trade an Aetherborn for a Reality Smasher so that felt like worth to me. A 2 drop for a 5 drop. Liliana is really good in this match up. Sword is great, too, because they don't run too much instant speed stuff, so suit up and swing for the untap trigger on SOFAF. They might have dismember or Spatial Contortion so be wary of those.
0-2
Same as R1, but this time I flooded out hard and he hammered me with 3 Death's Shadow all at once in T3. I was able to take out 2 of them, but one finally got through with temur battle rage.
1-2
This is probably one of our hardest match-ups. Flying tokens that are bigger then ours? Not good. They they also have vigilance and lifeink sometimes? Well, it's hard. EE or Echoing Truth is really good here. Keep the [card]Intangible Virtue[/cards]s out of play or you're in big trouble.
Sideboard plan
I was racing just fine G1 and then all of sudden Sorin dropped when he was down to like 6 life. Completely halted and reversed the game. I was able to keep him off anything G2 but G3 I got off on a bad start, having IoK kinda whiff. I din't want to grab lingering souls on T1 letting him flash it back T2, and I couldn't grab Spectral Possession because it's a 6 CMC card. I played bad swinging with 2 mutavaults instead of keeping them back for turning spellstutter up to hitting 3 drops. He flooded the board with tokens and I couldn't draw the 1 EE I had in the deck. 2 is def the way to go.
2-1
Pretty much exact same advice as scapeshift. This version runs more titans (had Inferno and Primeval). Keep off ramp, counter and force discard on big stuff.
1-1 draw
So, general tips for Ad Nauseam - once they hit 5 mana they can win. Watch out for the mana rocks, but they also run simian spirit guide. All they have to do is have Phyrexian Unlife in play or have 1 extra mana for Angel's Grace and they cast Ad Naus and win with Lightning Storm. They will also have Pact of Negation to keep you off their back. You want to counter Ad Naus and keep the Phyrexian Unlife off the table. They can use Spoils of the Vault to get Ad Naus and win, so just start getting on edge once they ramp up or get there.
Sideboard plan
So, I punted this... G1 I got early BB and just kept swinging in, it forced him to try to go for his win w/o proper backup counter magic. I stopped his ad naus and he lost. G2, I Thoughtseize Ad Naus and Surgical it, gg! I then get out BB and start taking him down. So I paid life for TS and Surgical and BB. I cast another Thoughtseize. I go to swing lethal and he casts Savings Grace taking him to 1. He had the Unlife out as well (2 of them actually). He had Seismic Assault in hand. I was ticking down, and I needed to finish him.
I snap surgical the Angel's Grace to make sure he can't do that again and keep chaining it. I swing in, didn't realize that Unlife would keep him in game, as I swung in for 14 dmg... so he went to -13 but still alive. I need to swing once more to deal the 10 infect damage or somehow bounce both Unlifes (another usage for Echoing Truth. I'm at 6... he casts the Seismic Assault, discards 2 cards and casts Spoils to get a 3rd land and discards that for the win with 2 minutes left in the round....
Ugh, I kicked myself so much for effing that up. I couldn't draw a cryptic to get that BB out of play or anything and I just hurt myself too much with TS and Surgical.
2-1
Jund is favorable for me with this list. I am prepared to grind them out. Lili is better for us than them. I typically take out my discard vs Jund, if they want to spend mana to both go down 1 card, fine. Kill the Bobs to keep them from getting card advantage. Push is just really good.
Sideboard plan
So, G1 I got SoFaF out on a sprite and just kept pushing in. He died to double bob triggers bc he didn't have anything else. There was an issue this game that I will detail out below, but it led to me getting disqualified from the GP.
G2 he got me with Huntmaster, just crushed me.
G3, he got out Huntmaster again, but I pushed it. He didn't get that close to beating me, I had lots of answers.
More on the DQ below
So after all my matches, I like the list. I am going to go -1 Island and +1 swamp or watery grave. I'll see how that goes. I also want a 2nd EE, so -1 Recall for +1 EE in side. No other changes, I loved it.
Ok, my final match ended with a sour taste for me. I am going to try to explain what happened best I can and can remember.
G1 vs Jund on the 11th Round.
My opponent and I go to verify life totals and we discover that we are off on his life.
I had him at 12 life. He had himself at 10 life.
He then said I forgot about Thoughtseize. (I think to myself that I know I countered Thoughtseize, but maybe it was from something else - a shock or something from earlier). I don't say anything to him and adjust his life to 10 on my pad. (I still do not know where the difference came from - I never saw him record 2 loss of life from Thoughtseize after I countered it and there wasn't a big pause like he cast it and I sat waiting to decide, he cast TS, I dropped SSS to counter it, so I don't know why he would have recorded the 2 loss of life off TS).
Later, we check life again, and I had him at 7 and he had 10, I mention the 3 life loss off my attack. He says oh ya, you forgot TS, I forgot that. Again, I don't say anything about the TS, I still assume it was properly recorded, just that he didn't recall what it was from.
I attack again taking him to 4. He has two bobs out, and he flips an IoK and a Lili, so he scoops without saying anything. He then calls judge to go to the bathroom.
When he comes back after I've cleaned up and sided and shuffled, he talks to the judge away from the table.
I hear him say Thoughtseize.
The judge comes over and asks me if at some point in the last match if we checked life totals and had a discrepancy. I said yes, I had him at 12 and he thought 10, he said it was because of Thoughtseize, but I knew it wasn't that and assumed it must have been off something else. I didn't question it.
The judge wasn't happy with that answer, told us to keep playing and we'd get back to it.
After I win 2-1 the judge tells my opponent not to drop and that the head judge wanted to see me.
To point out, at this point, no one has once tried to look at the prior game to see where the life loss really could have been from. My pad was wiped clean and my cards cleaned up, my opponent's cards were cleaned up as well, so it would have been impossible to verify where the 2 points of damage came from... but they accept his story that he recorded 2 life from thoughtseize because I didn't dispute it.
So, I go over everything again with the head judge. I explain that I thought it was likely my opponent's job to track their life or at the least that he would have a better track of his own life. I sometimes find I miss fetch or shock damage by my opponent.
The head judge debated with the other judge for 5 minutes and then stated to me that he understood I thought it to be my opponent's responsibility to track his own life, but it's on both players. I said ok, I understand now. He then goes on, delicately, to say that according to the rules, there are 3 criteria to meet, and he listed them, something about knowledge of an error, intent to gain an advantage over the error, and something else... So he basically said, I met those 3 elements and was considered "cheating." I was therefore disqualified: my match would be recorded as a loss and I was kicked from the main event of the GP with no prizes or planeswalker points.
I tried reasoning about how they can prove any of what he said to be accurate and how I did not have the required knowledge or intent, I didn't even know that was the rule at the time. I said no one tried to go through the game state to see where his life loss came from, I did not see him record 2 life loss from Thoughtseize. I never told him he was dead, he scooped his cards. I was just so shocked by the ruling.
It's a very hard lesson I've learned. Keep very good track of the game state and call a judge on any conflicts or get them resolved properly. Your opponent can intentionally abuse this rule if he tries to claim something and you go along with it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now, side info about something I witnesses just a round before my DQ.
The guy presents his deck to his opponent, the opponent shuffles and counts the deck. Counts 64 and asks if that's right. Player says no, should be 60, instant judge call. The judge and player go away to review the deck. They come back and he got a game loss for the extra 4 cards.
But they weren't just 4 cards out of his sideboard or anything... they were his friend's cards as he claimed anyways... with matching sleeves... and they happened to all be the same 4 cards of his friend's.... and that just happened to be 4 cards he already had in his deck, putting him to 8 copies in his deck... totally honest mistake!!
Not sure how that's not cheating, but what I did is....
Anyways, I do feel that I made a mistake not calling out the difference and finding the error (I had game won either way), but I think the punishment was way harsher than it should have been and my opponent was certainly not without fault.
I think that covers everything... this took me hours to write so hopefully it's worthwhile. Ask specific questions if you have any.
Thanks.
I did want to weigh in on the DQ that happened at the end, as well as the circumstances leading up to it. In essence, this is a really *****ty situation but technically, the head judge made the correct call. In the future, and this goes for everyone here who is reading this, always call a judge the moment you notice a discrepancy like this. Always, always, always. It is almost impossible to get yourself into a cheating, "intent to gain advantage" situation if you call the judge over immediately. Players might get warnings, but it is very unlikely anything else will come of it. It looks like you learned this and said as much at the end, but in case anyone hasn't, it's always the right thing to do.
Currently sleeved:
WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
Sad thing to hear about your DQ though. While I read I couldn't really understand why nobody called the judge, or at least (this probably would have been the way I would have chosen here.. and have chosen in small tournaments before) agree on the higher life total as this wouldn't have led to this problem. I could follow your reasoning though. As spellcheck said I hope the DQ was all that happened now and wish you all the best luck for future tournaments!
Thanks so much for this report. I've been watching your twitch streams daily, and I am totally sold on faeries for my first modern deck. I'm slowly working towards getting all the cards. Watching your streams have been very helpful, sucks about the DQ..but plz keep up the quality streaming.
I am pretty sure the head judge told me that nothing further would happen past the DQ. I do understand where he came from and wish I had handled the situation smarter. I actually just heard a story of someone's opponent intentionally missing their draw step and then calling the judge to claim their opponent drew twice - by trying to recount card draws/turns. People are really *****ty. I don't know why my opponent waited til the end to say anything, I hope it wasn't his intention to sneak that in, but it really could have been. I just wish I knew how severe that was going to be on me. I didn't think at the time I was acting in a manner that would equate to cheating by any means. I felt awkward one time letting my opponent miss his suspend trigger lol, I'm always a fair player... lesson drilled home though. No problem, I'm just glad people took the time to read it, it's such a novel. I couldn't even do a tl:dr edition. I do still like Mistbind as well, but everytime I try her recently, she sits in my hand or if I do use her, it's not super great. I mean, ya, there are times it's huge, and a timewalk, but I can get good avantages in the game w/o the required set up. I've thought about sideboarding MBCs as they can come in vs some decks and make a big impact, like tron/scapeshift. But, not that great vs a lot of decks either.
Gifted Aetherborn and Fatal Push really increase our ability to survive fast decks or hard hitting creature decks. Oh wow, I wasn't sure if people really watched them or not! Thanks for the feedback. I kind of just bought into MTGO last month and figured why not stream. I don't get the chance to broadcast often because my kids or wife are in the background, but if I'm ever live, I can respond to comments (I use 2 screens so I can see my feed and game at the same time). Faeries is a lot of fun and was my first (and only) modern deck as well.
I'll be back to streaming next week hopefully. I have a big paper due for my law class this week and I kinda neglected it by going to Vancouver.
Thank you all for the praise and feedback, means a lot to me.
Have you considered trying to fit a Kalitas or 2 in the maindeck? He's amazing, you vouch for him, why not play him maindeck?
What would you cut from the maindeck for flex/meta options, like a Sword of Light and Shadow, a Kalitas, another Liliana, more countermagic, more removal, etc?
Legacy: Strawberry Shortcake, Aggro Loam, DnT+b
Modern: Devoted Karn
Vintage: Survival
As far as adding something else main, I can see going to 2 GA to add a SoLaS or another removal or Lili or Kalitas. And I could maybe see losing 1 IoK to add another removal or counter. Other than that, the list is super tight and I wouldn't want to go down on anything. (I can see a case for moving dismember for GFTT or other removal options, but that's a lateral change).
What about Snapcaster Mage? He's got relatively few targets, most of which have minimal long game value (compare to playing Snapcaster in Grixis Control). It seems like the perfect place to shave one card without effecting the core game plan and avoids trimming GA (which has the critical role of stabilizing the early game).
Have you tested the 4th Serum Visions? Personally, unless a local meta calls for a specific choice, I think the replacement for 1 Snapcaster or GA would be the 4th Serum Visions. Increasing consistency seems invaluable to a deck that doesn't have any big bombs that can be topdecked and just swing the game.
Legacy: Strawberry Shortcake, Aggro Loam, DnT+b
Modern: Devoted Karn
Vintage: Survival
I have not tried 4 SV yet. It makes me nervous because I don't really want them in my first couple turns (even tho, in a bind, they can end up fixing me up), but ideally, I'm casting discard/removal/counters/BB on T1-2 and not SV. SV is my last priority card to cast.
Hopefully next week I'll have time to take my list back to the competitive leagues on MTGO and see how it goes for me.
Decks I'm playing in Modern right now:
URB Grixis Reveler (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-grixis-reveler/)
UB Faeries (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/ub-fae-2/)
UW Azorious Control (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-ojutai-control-2/)
https://www.twitch.tv/nardraug