If so, is it still returned to the player who controlled it before the act of treason was played?
But what about this question? My friends and I were just debating this interaction. If I treason a god and it stops being a creature, does it get returned at EOT, even though it's no longer a creature to return?
Admittedly, this is speculation, but it's founded in WOTC "balancing" pre-release options.
Each color has access to 4 guild rares. If we assume:
1) Each color can only be assigned 2 of the gold rares as options in their prerelase pack, and
2) That the prerelease card will not be the second rare/mythic in the prerelease pack
Then black would have to have Thoughtseize as one of their 8 prerelease pack options..
Black only has access to 10 rares in the set, either mono or guild colored.
Black would lose the 2 guild colored rares that show up in other colors (e.g. Triad of the Fates and Reaper of the Wilds)
Black couldn't pull Abhorrent Overlord.
That leaves black with only 7 rares, plus the chance to pull Erebos. Thoughtseize hunters? The math tells you 'game on'.
Additionally:
It would stand to reason that they cycle the Gatecrash guilds through the Prerelease packs. If Polis Crusher is in green, then it would mean:
Anax and Cymede is in Red
Triad of Fates is in White
Psychic Intrusion is in Black (confirmed)
Prophet of Kruphix is in Blue
I totally forgot about falkenrsth!! So, would u suggest moving all the burning earth's to the side and putting a total of 4 hellrider/falkenrwth in the main? I'm only running 22 land and I want to be able to hit the curve with consistency.
Regarding spike jester, I'm worried that I don't have enough black sources to consistently hit it on turn 2. Additionally Itought of putting in rakdos cackler but, went with shred freak and stone forge guy instead. Should I replace searing spear with pillar (maybe move spear to the side?)
Sounds reasonable. I was only running 2 Hellrider with 22 lands, but casting Burning Earth after boarding didn't present any real issues. Only once did I have any issue hitting him on curve when he was in hand. I'd probably go with a 2/2 split to start with and see if you have a preference.
I would not be running BE if you have 12 non-basics. Games tend to go longer now a days, and you are just asking to kill yourself.
Pillar is necessary.
Why no spike jester?
The beauty of mono red is the consistency it has, your deck seems to be a little more on the Dos Rakis side. Even then, when splashing black, there is no reason not to have Falkenrath.
Agreed that you need Falkenrath: you can make sacrificial blocks, you can get her to survive a Verdict/Bonfire, and your humans add counters to her. Hellrider (despite it not being a human) is another option. If you've lost your humans, hopefully you have zombies on the board, and it'll finish off your game.
Slightly disagree on using Burning Earth. Just ran it yesterday as a 3-of out of the sideboard in a RW deck (because I also wanted access to Rest in Peace in the sideboard) with 4 Sacred Foundry, 4 Clifftop Retreat, and 2 Mutavault. It flat-out won me two games against Esper control. I'd say if you're going to run 12 non-basics, start it in the sideboard, and bring it in if key match-ups where you will have issues (Jund, Esper, American).
The reason it can work is because you're usually ahead by time your at 4 lands due to all the early aggression. You can then play around your own BE, whereas an opponent who is playing all non-basics, can't.
That deck looks sick... 3-0 in standard portion... Just sick
I don't see this as a huge advancement from the old Gyre Sage ramp decks we were running 3-4 months ago (Here's Michael Nyberg's deck from SCG Milwaukee to compare). Glad to see he's 3-0, but the only major changes are:
scavenging ooze <> gyre sage
elvish mystic <> burning-tree emissary
hellrider <> wolfir silverheart
So a little more consistent with the ramp because you're not as reliant on the Sage evolving, and being a little more conservative about board commitment by not playing BTE. Finally, there's Burning Earth in the sideboard, which is just great against a lot of the decks out there.
Magmaquake and Rolling Temblor are for the hexproof match ups. skullcracks plus sweepers helps minimize threats and lifegain.
Aren't we better off running Blasphemous Act than Tremblor? One Unflinching Courage/Pursuit of Flight, and Tremblor is a dead card. At least Act wipes their board.
And I still disagree with Magmaquake > Bonfire. The only time I'd rather have Quake is in my opening hand, but as a 1-of out of the board, that's only happening 11% of the time. Even if we say we don't want to see a Bonfire in turns 1-4 (allow them to drop their Geist), that's only 17% of the time.
So, I'm excited to see a mono-R aggro deck make a top 8. Eric Cieszynski @ SCG New Jersey. Here's the deck for those who don't feel like clicking on the link:
I'm cool with seeing the spell count upped to take better advantage of Chandra's Phoenix and Young Pyromancer, but what I'm completely lost on, is why the heck Magmaquake (instead of, say, Bonfire?) and Rolling Tremblor (which just seems like a HORRIBLE play in this deck) are in the board.
Wath are you doing vs bant hexproof? Last friday I play vs the deck and the deck kill me in 4th turn. This friday I am going to try to use naturalize any other card that can work?
This wasn't a fair match-up, as it was just a kid who cobbled some cheap M13 creatures together. Game 1 (on the play) initial draw contained enough burn to eliminate his early threats, then a rancored Ash Zealot kept attacking for the win.
Sideboard: -4 Lightning Mauler, +2 Electrickery, +2 Blasphemous Act
Thinking: Didn't see any blue in game 1 (just War Falcon and a few cheap knights/soldiers), so thought it was a white weenie deck. Bring in the board wipes in case I fell behind. Maulers were at best trade bait against a weenie deck.
Game 2: Kept a 4 land, 3 spell hand with the thought that I'd probably keep drawing creature threats. That's exactly what happened. My opponent tried playing a Day of Judgement on my final alpha strike (yes, as an instant). #SMH
Played my friend Zak for the first time since we've been going to FNM. He's still salty about the loss a week later.
Game 1 (play): Stonewright bonding with creatures chipped his life away
Sideboard: -2 Markov Blademaster, -2 Rancor, -2 Mugging, +2 Electrickery, +2 Pyreheart Wolf, +2 Blasphemous Act
Thinking: Zak's been crushed by Blademaster + GCR enough in testing to know that he needs to deal with it immediately, whereas it surprises the random opponent. Figured keep him paranoid as a feint but swap in wolf. Electrickery gets his mana dorks, and slows him down, and blasphemous act in case I fall behind and need to recover. Should have pulled in Volcanic Strength instead of Acts in retrospect, as Zak runs Reckoners as well and APNAP doesn't help me if I Act with Reckoners on each side of the board.
Game 2: Mulled to 3 (It was bound to happen with 18 lands at some point) and faced double smiter and Zak had three Reckoners in hand.
Game 3: Stonewright bonded to Ash Zealot, attacking with Zealot and boar. He's got a knight token and falkenrath in play. He blocks the boar with a token and Falkenrath to Zealot. With blocks declared, he sacs the token to make FA indestructible. I spear FA in response -- and that is how you deal with an early FA.
He thinks he can stabilize, but I attack with Zealot and Stonewright and 5 mana open, with Zak at 5 life. Pump SW to 3/1 (3 mana open). The Restoration Angel in his hand doesn't get him another turn.
A deck built around undying creatures and Zameck Guildmage to remove those counters (allowing for repeating creatures) and get card advantage. First time today I wish the muggings were Pillar of Flames.
Game 1: Zealot + GCR messed up his combat math, and he didn't recover.
Sideboard: -2 Searing Spear, -2 Lightning Mauler, -2 Markov Blademaster, +2 Blasphemous Act, +2 Firefist Striker, +2 Pyreheart Wolf
Thinking: If his stuff is going to keep coming back, bring in the striker and wolf so that he can't block with it and try to outrace him. Bring in Act if the ground gets clogged and I get a Reckoner on the board for the cheap win.
Game 2: I get out a striker, and make blocking tough for him, so he tries to race (pretty much always the wrong decision). GCR was again prevalent in this game.
The same deck I played last week and outraced. Really close to this deck: http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=4804&d=227766. Unfortunately for my opponent, someone had spilled a soda on his deck at the end of Round 3, so he spent about 30 minutes trying to clean up his cards, dry off his sleeves, and purchase replacement cards. He agreed that if we went to time, he would just concede the match, and not penalize me for his mistake.
Game 1 (play): I outraced him again.
Sideboard: None. I haven't seen anything that worried me in three games yet.
Game 2: The only green source I saw was a BTE, but had three GCR and a Rancor in hand at the end of the game.
We only had about two minutes left in the round, and Chris preferred that he just scoop and try and get ready for the 5th round.
Game 1: Got a ton of critters on the board early, and my opponent scooped on turn 4 with only two lands on the board.
Sideboard: -2 Ghor-Clan Rampager, -2 Markov Blademaster, +2 Domri Rade, +2 Blasphemous Act
Thinking: My friend had played this deck last week, and he had thought it Unburial Rites, but the card wasn't in his 75. Just big creatures (Angel of Serenity, Thragtusk, etc.). GCR begs a 2-for-1 with abrupt decay and tragic slip, Blademaster isn't quite fast enough. Domri in case I wind up in mid-game, Blasphemous Act in case I need a board reset (or win with Reckoner).
Game 2: He stabalized with Thragtusk, Disciple of Bolas shenanigans, and (surprise) Unburial Rites. Guess he changed up his deck from last week. Did recover from him snatching three creatures with Angel of Serenity when I cast Blasphemous Act. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough mana open to get in hasty lethal damage. Domri was a champ in keeping the threats coming.
Sideboard: -2 Rancor, +2 Pyreheart Wolf.
Thinking: He dropped an early Rhox Faithmender then a Centaur Healer game 2, and I got past them both (Domri for a Rhox/Reckoner fight), but if he's only going to get out one blocker at a time, I want to make it irrelevant for him.
Game 3:
Turn 1: Noble
Turn 2: 2nd Noble, swing with first (19)
Turn 3: Lightning Mauler, bond with a noble, Rancor the mauler, swing (12)
He gets out a centaur healer (15)
Turn 4: Swing. He blocks the 2/2 Noble (8). Drop Pyreheart Wolf.
Concession.
Overall, the deck performed well. As many have said, you have to be VERY aggressive with mulligans, especially so with only 18 lands. I thank the people on the boards for convincing me to give up the graveyard hate. A proper Rg deck should be faster than that. I probably need to tweak the board a little, and I may be willing to give up my irrational love affair with Markov Blademaster, but bloodrushing him for 11 makes me smile every time. Good luck to all the Gruul players this weekend.
So here are some thoughts about my deck and Gruul Builds in general:
o Is Boros Reckoner worth it? Even though every land in the deck produces R, this deck is built to survive on 2 mana, so being stuck with a Reckoner or two in hand might be frustrating. That being said, he's a fantastic card.
o So i added a debate slot because i contemplating two creatures: Firefist Striker or Gatstaf Shepherd as 3-ofs. Firefist striker prevents a creature from blocking, and if your opponent has only one creature on the board, allows your other dudes to get through, but ultimately the Shepherd, once you've spat out your hand onto the board and flipped him, can get more damage through in the long run. Thoughts on the cards?
o How about Stromkirk Noble? How often does he get blocked when you get him out T1? Does he get big? I prefer Sontewright over him because combined with Rancor can do some serious damage.
o What do you think about Mugging vs. Pillar in this deck? It seems (just like with Striker/Shepherd) getting damage through is important.
o I also really, really like Skarrg Guildmage. What are your thoughts on him? It again, getting more damage through and mana sinking late-game.
Anyway, i'd love to hear your opinions!
I run an 18-land Gruul deck, and just went 5-0 at FNM. I'll post my results in a day or two, but wanted to reply to your comments:
1) Reckoner is worth it. Yes, it sucks when you can't cast him (my rule is generally mulligan until you see two lands), but he gets those last few points of damage through. Plus, if you can drop him in game 1, your opponents hold back removal in fear of you casting him in game 2/3. That allows you to get going with the rest of your deck.
2) I've got 2 Firefist Striker in the sideboard (swapping for Lightning Mauler). Most of the time, I'm swapping when I see midrange decks that drop annoying early threats (Rhox, Centaur Healer) to slow me down.
3) Stromkirk wins you games. The last game of my 5th round I started Noble -> Noble and got them up to 3 & 2 (respectively) before he was able to drop his first creature (Centaur Healer). He crushes decks where humans are their early drops (Avacyn's Pilgrim, Boros Elite), is impossible to deal when slapped with Volcanic Strength against Red, and is probably our best 1-drop in the format. I will take him over Cackler every day of the week, and twice on Sundays.
4) I'm running 2 Mugging main, no Pillar in the 75. There are times I regret it not being pillar, but mugging helps with the "you can't block me" theme (along with Firefist Striker and Pyreheart Wolf -- both of whom sit in my sideboard). I think I need to cut something out of the sideboard and have Pillar available for the direct swap.
5) Trample is the only relevant ability you'll get out of the Guildmage. You don't have a late game, and you're wasting slots by playing for something that won't happen. Additionally, our creature count is high so we can get damage through with unblocked creatures. Guildmage wants you to get damage through from large, blocked creatures. Be happy with trample from GCR and Rancor.
I just want to promote a discussion here about the card Stonewright. I have been spouting out about the necessetiy of running it in gruul, and how much better the deck is with it's inclusion (which I truely believe) for a while now. But why do I still see so few lists (10% or so) of gruul lists running stonewright? I wasn't running him for a good couple of weeks, but once I realized that 2 red producing lands on board is enough to make this guy a HUGE threat, I haven't even considered taking him out. Also he combos decently with BTE (gives you a R cast if you don't already have one to cast along with your rancor or what have you).
What do you guys think? I had him as a 3 of and I think that is the right number but I may even go up to 4. I never don't want to see the guy.
Loved him in my mono-R build (where he was a 3x), however, (a) I'm running an 18-20 land Gruul deck, (b) I loathe seeing more than one of him in play at a time, and (c) I'm generally always trying to dump my hand. That makes him a 2-of in my Gruul build, and I don't know I can justify more of him. I put him in place of Cackler *because* he can do just as much damage once bonded.
The problem with Stonewright in Gruul is that we've got access to Kessig Wolf-Run, which provides a similar function, without the fragile body.
Right off the bat: I counted 28 creatures. I'm guessing you forgot a playset of either Rakdos Cackler or Burning-Tree Emissary. I think you should have a playset of both, they're kind of the backbone of this type of build.
You're right, I forgot the BTE, the backbone of the deck. Derp. Fixed.
I'm not a huge fan of Markov Blademaster. I'll admit it's sweet when bloodrushed or even just Rancored, and seems to have been good for you in a couple of games. Still, is it stealing those games out of nowhere or is it finishing off games which you would have won anyway, if that Blademaster had been something different? How often did you see him and not have the bloodrush card for him? He seems like he's just all kinds of awful in that situation, effectively just a 2/1 dude for three mana.
My problem is that back when I was playing Boros, I was always siding out Cackler. If he were Goblin Cohort (the last time Ravnica was around) or Mogg Conscripts, I think I'd feel better about drawing him. As such, he's a frustrating top deck, and I'm only happy to have him in my opening hand. Drawing Blademaster? I feel he's got more value from every turn once I hit three land. I can make him do work for me if I bring in wolf run from the sideboard and/or Stonewright to help me get through tougher situations, and enchanted he's hefty. Plus, if I'm mulliganing to get rid of any 1-land hands, what's the value with more 1-drops in hand?
I would cut Ground Seal and Skullcrack from the board. Skullcrack is actually just too narrow; you have to play it at just the right time for it to matter, and it disrupts your gameplan since you have to hold up mana and wait. It's actually reasonable against TurboFog builds, but that's a very rare matchup, not really worth planning for.
When I'm playing RDW, I don't keep a one-lander unless it's something like Mountain, Noble, Pillar, Pillar. Basically, if you have three relevant one-drops and a two-drop, it's worth keeping. You'll still need to get that second land -- this deck doesn't win with just one -- but you don't need to draw it right away. Obviously, with R/G, it helps if the one land is Stomping Ground. Mountain is not as good, and Rootbound Crag is a mull-no-matter-what.
When you're on six, you can't be as picky. You still should mull a mono-Crag hand, but mono-Mountain with some ones and twos is fine. At that point, you just have to hope to peel the second land. If you don't think the hand will be able to win with the second land, ship it.
Agreed. It was my biggest lesson from casual to competitive playtesting. I ran some hyper-geometric probabilities when I got back to my computer, and with 18 land, I'm theoretically mulliganing 31.4% of the time on the play, and then (arguably) mulliganing 48.8% on the play with 6 (accounting for the 1 Crag hand). That's 15.3% likelihood of having to mulligan to 5, and I think I can live with that on a deck that's this aggressive. Also, I did keep a 2-crag hand @ 6 in one game -- questionable, but I think the triple reckoner loss anyway. Not sure if adding in a 19th land to reduce that double-mull number to 12.8% is worth it. I know I flooded too many times at 20.
Do you even know what the deck was trying to do here? Sounds like this was a really soft matchup.
From what I could tell (we played a few more rounds to kill time after I beat him in under 20 minutes), it was a pretty standard evolve deck using Elusive Krasis as a win-con. Yes, a soft match-up in the 1-1 bracket.
What sort of BUG Aggro? The one with Young Wolf? Yeah, that deck shouldn't be trying to race you. And yeah, you want Pillars for that. Depending on the build, they might be able to play defense and win the long game. If you go to a bigger tournament, though, you probably won't face this deck. It's not all that popular.
That was the deck. Duskmantle Seer made things interesting in game 2, but it helped me just as much as my opponent.
But what about this question? My friends and I were just debating this interaction. If I treason a god and it stops being a creature, does it get returned at EOT, even though it's no longer a creature to return?
Correct, but GW is a RTR guild. If we presume the same type of cycling, and Fleecemane was found in a White Battle Pack:
Fleecemane Lion is in White
Reaper of the Wilds is in Green
Tyramet, the Murder King is in Black
Steam Augury is in Red
Daxos of Meletis is in Blue
Each color has access to 4 guild rares. If we assume:
1) Each color can only be assigned 2 of the gold rares as options in their prerelase pack, and
2) That the prerelease card will not be the second rare/mythic in the prerelease pack
Then black would have to have Thoughtseize as one of their 8 prerelease pack options..
Black only has access to 10 rares in the set, either mono or guild colored.
Black would lose the 2 guild colored rares that show up in other colors (e.g. Triad of the Fates and Reaper of the Wilds)
Black couldn't pull Abhorrent Overlord.
That leaves black with only 7 rares, plus the chance to pull Erebos. Thoughtseize hunters? The math tells you 'game on'.
Additionally:
It would stand to reason that they cycle the Gatecrash guilds through the Prerelease packs. If Polis Crusher is in green, then it would mean:
Anax and Cymede is in Red
Triad of Fates is in White
Psychic Intrusion is in Black (confirmed)
Prophet of Kruphix is in Blue
It helps against control on two fronts:
1) It's difficult to remove
2) It represents a consistent clock, similar to Chandra
Sounds reasonable. I was only running 2 Hellrider with 22 lands, but casting Burning Earth after boarding didn't present any real issues. Only once did I have any issue hitting him on curve when he was in hand. I'd probably go with a 2/2 split to start with and see if you have a preference.
Agreed that you need Falkenrath: you can make sacrificial blocks, you can get her to survive a Verdict/Bonfire, and your humans add counters to her. Hellrider (despite it not being a human) is another option. If you've lost your humans, hopefully you have zombies on the board, and it'll finish off your game.
Slightly disagree on using Burning Earth. Just ran it yesterday as a 3-of out of the sideboard in a RW deck (because I also wanted access to Rest in Peace in the sideboard) with 4 Sacred Foundry, 4 Clifftop Retreat, and 2 Mutavault. It flat-out won me two games against Esper control. I'd say if you're going to run 12 non-basics, start it in the sideboard, and bring it in if key match-ups where you will have issues (Jund, Esper, American).
The reason it can work is because you're usually ahead by time your at 4 lands due to all the early aggression. You can then play around your own BE, whereas an opponent who is playing all non-basics, can't.
I don't see this as a huge advancement from the old Gyre Sage ramp decks we were running 3-4 months ago (Here's Michael Nyberg's deck from SCG Milwaukee to compare). Glad to see he's 3-0, but the only major changes are:
- scavenging ooze <> gyre sage
- elvish mystic <> burning-tree emissary
- hellrider <> wolfir silverheart
So a little more consistent with the ramp because you're not as reliant on the Sage evolving, and being a little more conservative about board commitment by not playing BTE. Finally, there's Burning Earth in the sideboard, which is just great against a lot of the decks out there.Aren't we better off running Blasphemous Act than Tremblor? One Unflinching Courage/Pursuit of Flight, and Tremblor is a dead card. At least Act wipes their board.
And I still disagree with Magmaquake > Bonfire. The only time I'd rather have Quake is in my opening hand, but as a 1-of out of the board, that's only happening 11% of the time. Even if we say we don't want to see a Bonfire in turns 1-4 (allow them to drop their Geist), that's only 17% of the time.
Eric Cieszynski @ SCG New Jersey. Here's the deck for those who don't feel like clicking on the link:
3 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Hellrider
2 Lightning Mauler
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Young Pyromancer
3 Mutavault
2 Brimstone Volley
4 Searing Spear
2 Shock
3 Pillar of Flame
2 Legion Loyalist
3 Burning Earth
1 Magmaquake
3 Skullcrack
2 Thunderbolt
2 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Rolling Temblor
I'm cool with seeing the spell count upped to take better advantage of Chandra's Phoenix and Young Pyromancer, but what I'm completely lost on, is why the heck Magmaquake (instead of, say, Bonfire?) and Rolling Tremblor (which just seems like a HORRIBLE play in this deck) are in the board.
Does anyone have an idea why?
The overloaded kill spells (Electrickery, Mizzium Mortars) -- the former only for Invisible Stalker
Bonfire of the Damned also works fine
If you're siding in Naturalize, you usually want to target Ethereal Armor when their Geist attacks. It's the main reason your blockers will fail you.
4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Flinthoof Boar
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Lightning Mauler
2 Markov Blademaster
2 Stonewright
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rancor
Instant (4)
4 Searing Spear
Sorcery (2)
2 Mugging
Land (18)
9 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
2 Blasphemous Act
2 Domri Rade
2 Electrickery
2 Firefist Striker
1 Kessig Wolf Run
2 Legion Loyalist
2 Pyreheart Wolf
2 Volcanic Strength
Sideboard: -4 Lightning Mauler, +2 Electrickery, +2 Blasphemous Act
Thinking: Didn't see any blue in game 1 (just War Falcon and a few cheap knights/soldiers), so thought it was a white weenie deck. Bring in the board wipes in case I fell behind. Maulers were at best trade bait against a weenie deck.
Game 2: Kept a 4 land, 3 spell hand with the thought that I'd probably keep drawing creature threats. That's exactly what happened. My opponent tried playing a Day of Judgement on my final alpha strike (yes, as an instant). #SMH
Game 1 (play): Stonewright bonding with creatures chipped his life away
Sideboard: -2 Markov Blademaster, -2 Rancor, -2 Mugging, +2 Electrickery, +2 Pyreheart Wolf, +2 Blasphemous Act
Thinking: Zak's been crushed by Blademaster + GCR enough in testing to know that he needs to deal with it immediately, whereas it surprises the random opponent. Figured keep him paranoid as a feint but swap in wolf. Electrickery gets his mana dorks, and slows him down, and blasphemous act in case I fall behind and need to recover. Should have pulled in Volcanic Strength instead of Acts in retrospect, as Zak runs Reckoners as well and APNAP doesn't help me if I Act with Reckoners on each side of the board.
Game 2: Mulled to 3 (It was bound to happen with 18 lands at some point) and faced double smiter and Zak had three Reckoners in hand.
Game 3: Stonewright bonded to Ash Zealot, attacking with Zealot and boar. He's got a knight token and falkenrath in play. He blocks the boar with a token and Falkenrath to Zealot. With blocks declared, he sacs the token to make FA indestructible. I spear FA in response -- and that is how you deal with an early FA.
He thinks he can stabilize, but I attack with Zealot and Stonewright and 5 mana open, with Zak at 5 life. Pump SW to 3/1 (3 mana open). The Restoration Angel in his hand doesn't get him another turn.
Game 1: Zealot + GCR messed up his combat math, and he didn't recover.
Sideboard: -2 Searing Spear, -2 Lightning Mauler, -2 Markov Blademaster, +2 Blasphemous Act, +2 Firefist Striker, +2 Pyreheart Wolf
Thinking: If his stuff is going to keep coming back, bring in the striker and wolf so that he can't block with it and try to outrace him. Bring in Act if the ground gets clogged and I get a Reckoner on the board for the cheap win.
Game 2: I get out a striker, and make blocking tough for him, so he tries to race (pretty much always the wrong decision). GCR was again prevalent in this game.
Game 1 (play): I outraced him again.
Sideboard: None. I haven't seen anything that worried me in three games yet.
Game 2: The only green source I saw was a BTE, but had three GCR and a Rancor in hand at the end of the game.
We only had about two minutes left in the round, and Chris preferred that he just scoop and try and get ready for the 5th round.
Sideboard: -2 Ghor-Clan Rampager, -2 Markov Blademaster, +2 Domri Rade, +2 Blasphemous Act
Thinking: My friend had played this deck last week, and he had thought it Unburial Rites, but the card wasn't in his 75. Just big creatures (Angel of Serenity, Thragtusk, etc.). GCR begs a 2-for-1 with abrupt decay and tragic slip, Blademaster isn't quite fast enough. Domri in case I wind up in mid-game, Blasphemous Act in case I need a board reset (or win with Reckoner).
Game 2: He stabalized with Thragtusk, Disciple of Bolas shenanigans, and (surprise) Unburial Rites. Guess he changed up his deck from last week. Did recover from him snatching three creatures with Angel of Serenity when I cast Blasphemous Act. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough mana open to get in hasty lethal damage. Domri was a champ in keeping the threats coming.
Sideboard: -2 Rancor, +2 Pyreheart Wolf.
Thinking: He dropped an early Rhox Faithmender then a Centaur Healer game 2, and I got past them both (Domri for a Rhox/Reckoner fight), but if he's only going to get out one blocker at a time, I want to make it irrelevant for him.
Game 3:
Turn 1: Noble
Turn 2: 2nd Noble, swing with first (19)
Turn 3: Lightning Mauler, bond with a noble, Rancor the mauler, swing (12)
He gets out a centaur healer (15)
Turn 4: Swing. He blocks the 2/2 Noble (8). Drop Pyreheart Wolf.
Concession.
I run an 18-land Gruul deck, and just went 5-0 at FNM. I'll post my results in a day or two, but wanted to reply to your comments:
1) Reckoner is worth it. Yes, it sucks when you can't cast him (my rule is generally mulligan until you see two lands), but he gets those last few points of damage through. Plus, if you can drop him in game 1, your opponents hold back removal in fear of you casting him in game 2/3. That allows you to get going with the rest of your deck.
2) I've got 2 Firefist Striker in the sideboard (swapping for Lightning Mauler). Most of the time, I'm swapping when I see midrange decks that drop annoying early threats (Rhox, Centaur Healer) to slow me down.
3) Stromkirk wins you games. The last game of my 5th round I started Noble -> Noble and got them up to 3 & 2 (respectively) before he was able to drop his first creature (Centaur Healer). He crushes decks where humans are their early drops (Avacyn's Pilgrim, Boros Elite), is impossible to deal when slapped with Volcanic Strength against Red, and is probably our best 1-drop in the format. I will take him over Cackler every day of the week, and twice on Sundays.
4) I'm running 2 Mugging main, no Pillar in the 75. There are times I regret it not being pillar, but mugging helps with the "you can't block me" theme (along with Firefist Striker and Pyreheart Wolf -- both of whom sit in my sideboard). I think I need to cut something out of the sideboard and have Pillar available for the direct swap.
5) Trample is the only relevant ability you'll get out of the Guildmage. You don't have a late game, and you're wasting slots by playing for something that won't happen. Additionally, our creature count is high so we can get damage through with unblocked creatures. Guildmage wants you to get damage through from large, blocked creatures. Be happy with trample from GCR and Rancor.
Loved him in my mono-R build (where he was a 3x), however, (a) I'm running an 18-20 land Gruul deck, (b) I loathe seeing more than one of him in play at a time, and (c) I'm generally always trying to dump my hand. That makes him a 2-of in my Gruul build, and I don't know I can justify more of him. I put him in place of Cackler *because* he can do just as much damage once bonded.
The problem with Stonewright in Gruul is that we've got access to Kessig Wolf-Run, which provides a similar function, without the fragile body.
Any comments on the match-ups you faced and how you won/lost versus them?
You're right, I forgot the BTE, the backbone of the deck. Derp. Fixed.
My problem is that back when I was playing Boros, I was always siding out Cackler. If he were Goblin Cohort (the last time Ravnica was around) or Mogg Conscripts, I think I'd feel better about drawing him. As such, he's a frustrating top deck, and I'm only happy to have him in my opening hand. Drawing Blademaster? I feel he's got more value from every turn once I hit three land. I can make him do work for me if I bring in wolf run from the sideboard and/or Stonewright to help me get through tougher situations, and enchanted he's hefty. Plus, if I'm mulliganing to get rid of any 1-land hands, what's the value with more 1-drops in hand?
Ok, glad to hear another red mage concur.
Agreed. It was my biggest lesson from casual to competitive playtesting. I ran some hyper-geometric probabilities when I got back to my computer, and with 18 land, I'm theoretically mulliganing 31.4% of the time on the play, and then (arguably) mulliganing 48.8% on the play with 6 (accounting for the 1 Crag hand). That's 15.3% likelihood of having to mulligan to 5, and I think I can live with that on a deck that's this aggressive. Also, I did keep a 2-crag hand @ 6 in one game -- questionable, but I think the triple reckoner loss anyway. Not sure if adding in a 19th land to reduce that double-mull number to 12.8% is worth it. I know I flooded too many times at 20.
From what I could tell (we played a few more rounds to kill time after I beat him in under 20 minutes), it was a pretty standard evolve deck using Elusive Krasis as a win-con. Yes, a soft match-up in the 1-1 bracket.
That was the deck. Duskmantle Seer made things interesting in game 2, but it helped me just as much as my opponent.