Overachiever: Kozilek's Shrieker, my removal made blocks very difficult for the opponents and I almost always scored a 2-for-1 if this card was blocked.
Underachiever: Flayer Drone, don't take this to mean that the card is bad. It's still excellent. I just never had a game where the triggered ability was relevant to the outcome.
Only started playing Magic towards the end of the BFZ set. After going 2-1 numerous times at FNM, I finally have a 3-0 to show for it at the final draft of this block.
Match Winners: Resolute Blademaster (Match 1 + 2), Fall Of The Titans (Match 3), Shoulder To Shoulder.
Disappointments: Ghostly Sentinel + Relief Captain (never drew them), Allied Reinforcements, Tunnelling Geopede.
First Picks: Oblivion Strike, Fall Of The Titans, Plains (foil)
Overall I felt I played really well, especially in the final against a BW allies/fliers deck. I'm interested in hearing what cards from the sideboard others would have played though. I feel like Geopede especially didn't fit the deck, and maybe I should have been running a combat trick or even Smite.
-----drafted this monster last night in a 9man draft. one newbie who's never drafted before was opposite of me. my lgs is an even mix of loud mouthed kids and casual adults. p1 p1 was fall of the titans. p1p3 was oblivion strike. mid pack 2 i passed late outnumber/salvo/stonefury for creatures as I realized i was a bit low considering all the removal i was taking.
i have my reasons for running 23/18 , but in retrospect i'd probably cut a swamp or stonefury.... or possibly outnumber. mtgo i'd maindeck sure strike and possibly a swarm surge, but given my lgs doesn't play many combat tricks i opted for outnumber. however, sure strike delivered lethal dmg in round 3 game 3 in a nail biter. any input appreciated on how to better tune my deck. sideboard is fanned out.
went 2-1 2-0 2-1. was having trouble hitting 4 lands in a few games (which i won)... my losses are taking a 6card mull 1 lander on the draw w/ 2drops, and a 5 lander on the draw (got him down to 2 though).
-----drafted this monster last night in a 9man draft. one newbie who's never drafted before was opposite of me. my lgs is an even mix of loud mouthed kids and casual adults. p1 p1 was fall of the titans. p1p3 was oblivion strike. mid pack 2 i passed late outnumber/salvo/stonefury for creatures as I realized i was a bit low considering all the removal i was taking.
i have my reasons for running 23/18 , but in retrospect i'd probably cut a swamp or stonefury.... or possibly outnumber. mtgo i'd maindeck sure strike and possibly a swarm surge, but given my lgs doesn't play many combat tricks i opted for outnumber. however, sure strike delivered lethal dmg in round 3 game 3 in a nail biter. any input appreciated on how to better tune my deck. sideboard is fanned out.
went 2-1 2-0 2-1. was having trouble hitting 4 lands in a few games (which i won)... my losses are taking a 6card mull 1 lander on the draw w/ 2drops, and a 5 lander on the draw (got him down to 2 though).
Tar Snare and Bone Saw look very bad in this deck. Your removal is 2nd to none...no need for Tar Snare. Bone Saw is just bad unless you're running multiple Weapons Trainer. What was your SB? No remotely acceptable creatures to replace those cards?
-----drafted this monster last night in a 9man draft. one newbie who's never drafted before was opposite of me. my lgs is an even mix of loud mouthed kids and casual adults. p1 p1 was fall of the titans. p1p3 was oblivion strike. mid pack 2 i passed late outnumber/salvo/stonefury for creatures as I realized i was a bit low considering all the removal i was taking.
i have my reasons for running 23/18 , but in retrospect i'd probably cut a swamp or stonefury.... or possibly outnumber. mtgo i'd maindeck sure strike and possibly a swarm surge, but given my lgs doesn't play many combat tricks i opted for outnumber. however, sure strike delivered lethal dmg in round 3 game 3 in a nail biter. any input appreciated on how to better tune my deck. sideboard is fanned out.
went 2-1 2-0 2-1. was having trouble hitting 4 lands in a few games (which i won)... my losses are taking a 6card mull 1 lander on the draw w/ 2drops, and a 5 lander on the draw (got him down to 2 though).
Tar Snare and Bone Saw look very bad in this deck. Your removal is 2nd to none...no need for Tar Snare. Bone Saw is just bad unless you're running multiple Weapons Trainer. What was your SB? No remotely acceptable creatures to replace those cards?
Bone saw and the other fanned out cards are his board. I would cut a mountain and replace the outnumber with the sure strike. Your deck has 13 creatures, so outnumber is going to be a shock most of the time, of which you already have 2 with the more consistent reality hemmorhage. Since you dont have a combat trick in the deck yet, i think the first sure strike is probably going to help you more than the third shock will. I really dislike the bushwhacker, warden, and despoiler in this deck but i assume that you didnt have the opportunity to pick up better dudes. The removal is insane though, so id be pretty happy playing the deck as is. I think its maybe 2 good 3 and 4 drops away from being an A+ deck, like maybe a nettle drone and vestige of emrakul.
-----drafted this monster last night in a 9man draft. one newbie who's never drafted before was opposite of me. my lgs is an even mix of loud mouthed kids and casual adults. p1 p1 was fall of the titans. p1p3 was oblivion strike. mid pack 2 i passed late outnumber/salvo/stonefury for creatures as I realized i was a bit low considering all the removal i was taking.
i have my reasons for running 23/18 , but in retrospect i'd probably cut a swamp or stonefury.... or possibly outnumber. mtgo i'd maindeck sure strike and possibly a swarm surge, but given my lgs doesn't play many combat tricks i opted for outnumber. however, sure strike delivered lethal dmg in round 3 game 3 in a nail biter. any input appreciated on how to better tune my deck. sideboard is fanned out.
went 2-1 2-0 2-1. was having trouble hitting 4 lands in a few games (which i won)... my losses are taking a 6card mull 1 lander on the draw w/ 2drops, and a 5 lander on the draw (got him down to 2 though).
Tar Snare and Bone Saw look very bad in this deck. Your removal is 2nd to none...no need for Tar Snare. Bone Saw is just bad unless you're running multiple Weapons Trainer. What was your SB? No remotely acceptable creatures to replace those cards?
Bone saw and the other fanned out cards are his board. I would cut a mountain and replace the outnumber with the sure strike. Your deck has 13 creatures, so outnumber is going to be a shock most of the time, of which you already have 2 with the more consistent reality hemmorhage. Since you dont have a combat trick in the deck yet, i think the first sure strike is probably going to help you more than the third shock will. I really dislike the bushwhacker, warden, and despoiler in this deck but i assume that you didnt have the opportunity to pick up better dudes. The removal is insane though, so id be pretty happy playing the deck as is. I think its maybe 2 good 3 and 4 drops away from being an A+ deck, like maybe a nettle drone and vestige of emrakul.
That would make more sense--I don't typically sleeve my SB, so that's what threw me off. I mostly agree with your assessment, though. The creatures here are not very good, but the deck has the best removal I've ever seen in 40 cards and you don't need the best creatures to win with that kind of support.
That would make more sense--I don't typically sleeve my SB, so that's what threw me off. I mostly agree with your assessment, though. The creatures here are not very good, but the deck has the best removal I've ever seen in 40 cards and you don't need the best creatures to win with that kind of support.
most of the games consisted of me beating down w/ a lone bear for 3-4 turns until they draw another creature. a big help was the fact the kids were on my right, and the adults on were on my left in a 9 man draft. that's one more fresh pack to choose from. pack 2 13th pick was tar snare. i passed ondu cleric and something else.. never seen that before.
i sleeve all my cards the second i draft them, and have my basics sleeved and ready to go (12 of each). i'm one of those ppl that doesn't like waiting on someone to finish sleeving their deck while the round already started. so i set an example lol.
regarding bone saw: commonly used on mtgo when playing surge. goblin freerunner out on t2.
thanks for the advice everyone.. really appreciated. i make plenty of mistakes and need to start consciously improving my game. tired of going out r2 in 8-4s
Getting some throwback in here with an RGD 3-0. I hadn't realized exactly which 3-guild combos were the ones to draft so I went too heavily into Selesnya pack 1, before managing to salvage a passable Orzhov deck with 6-7 premium removal spells and a bunch of god awful creatures (I never thought I would ever play Restless Bones in a deck) that still get the job done when you can remove everything in their way.
MVPs: The absolute best card for me was True-Faith Censer, worked great with humans and fliers and enabled me to flip the Missionaries a bunch of times too. I definitely think it is an underrated card. Strength of Arms was also a very effective combat trick for a single mana, and with 3 equipment in the deck I usually got the token as well. Nearheath Chaplain was also incredible value. And of course Avacyn (I only managed to draw her in the final but both games she just went to town).
Under-performers: I guess the Homunculus never really made me happy to play it. The Stormrider Spirits were also pretty average.
First Picks: Avacyn (when everyone announced their DFC's I showed her and said "I have Avacyn... so I guess I'm picking that", everyone laughed and luckily nobody cut me out of white), Relentless Dead (for value), Thraben Inspector (lol).
Lessons to take away: I think the equipment in this set is heavily underrated. With so many tokens being thrown around there are always a good target for them. Fliers are also key. Having 1/1 spirit tokens to chump block a Geralf's Masterpiece saved my ass in game 3, match 2. Clues are useful, but in the final my opponent ended up cracking 9 of them in a single game and still never looked likely to win, so there's no need to really prioritise them. It is almost certainly a faster format than during the previous block, you need to be very efficient with your mana.
MVP(s): All the uncommons were insane, apart from Murderer's Axe which I never got to play. Out of the commons, obviously the removal spells were great, but Voldaren Duelist was just a complete beating every time I played it. Underperformers: Nothing really, everything performed well. The Bloodmad Vampire is likely the worst card in my deck, but the Duelists made sure that they'd get at least 1 attack in. Overall record: 6-1. The only game that I lost was when I couldn't outrace a Farbog Revenant equipped with a Slayer's Plate. Turn 5 kills were not infrequent with this deck, with the most explosive game leaving the opponent at -7 even though they had played a 3 and 4 drop on the draw. First Picks:Murderous Compulsion, Tooth Collector, Skin Invasion
First picks: Heir of Falkenrath, Westvale Abbey (not played), Skin Invasion.
MVPs: Almost everything But Call the Bloodline was an excellent thing - you can do it only once, but each turn, including opponent's
Underperformers: Almost nothing.
Overall record: 6-1. Only game I lost was to land flood, where despite having Call the Bloodline out and spitting out chumpblockers, he had too many werewolves in the end.
Also managed a couple of T5 kills. I had quite regularly managed the Neonate-Skin Invasion combo fot T3 3/4 + madness card (Temper or Alms), and once got a T4 hit for 13 by an EOT played and then doublestriked Bloodmad Vampire.
Insolent Neonate is a devastating one-drop on curve. If you combine it with Skin Invasion, it's a cantrip-time bomb waiting to go off. Brutal. I opened two Neonates and two Skin Invasions in my pre-release and just face punched opponents with them.
The menace was quite helpful as well. The number of times people tried to block him, and then realized they couldn't.
One game, a player had a 3/1 lifelinker, which he dropped Equestrian Skill on, then passed on 2 life, that way he could survive the next attack with lifelink. The neonate went in for 1, making it so that he had to swing the next turn or lose, and as soon as he did, sac the neonate for the Murderous Compulsion, preventing the lifegain. gg.
This came together nice as a a UW fliers deck. Also, I'm not sure what was happaening to my right, but none of the 4 playsre to my right were drafting white, so I got some extra goodies like a P3P4(!) Always Watching. The toughest deck-building decision was whether to include topplegeist...I ended up deciding against because my instant/sorcery count was pretty low and the geist rally doesn't do enough if you don't have delirium. The Expose Evils did good work coming out of the board against the RG werewolves deck I played against in the finals.
Kind of 3-0 kind of 1-0-2. 6 man pod. Removal tribal I didn't choose blue as my second colour until the last pack when I was desperate to find some creatures.
Match 1 vs UW control. blergh difficult grindy match opponent was basically stalling until angel of deliverance I kept misreading cards because they are new :/. Didn't realise the tormentor was unblockable but I killed him with it game one. Game two he pulled off his plan, I fell 2 mana (or free discard) short of stealing it with welcome to the fold. Game 3 we went to time but we had reached a draw go situation with an empty board but I had a stitchwing skaab in the grave. My opponent conceded since he was only there for fun, (and was playing slowly)
Match 2 vs four colour midrange (black bant).
Opponent took the green WW and wolves but not the red ones, he had a lot of large creatures but was weak to flyiers. Game 1 killed him with the crow backed up with throttle. Game 2 opponent flipped neglected heirloom makes things really hard I struggled on and almost stabilised but forgot that welcome to the fold was toughness and I could steal timber shredder. Game 3 was on turns from the start but the tournament organiser didn't want a draw because the player that was paired up had just won and didn't want everyone with the same score (Because then no one gets prizes) so we played on. I made some loose plays at the start stealing the timber shredder this time, but trying to flip my walkers flips theirs. I was able to use my throttles, multiple blocks and evasive creatures including elusive tormentor (which I had only just realised was unblockable) to pull out a win.
I 3-0'd my first SOI draft with UR Control.
The deck seemed alright. Not sure if this is an actual archetype, though. I first-picked the Angel and went from there; I got tempted into blue with some reasonable mid-pack pickups like the 3/3 flash flier and Just the Wind (after flirting with black). Had a very tough match against a red-green Werewolf deck that played turn 3 Tireless Tracker each game, but I managed to burn him out in game three in the face of a very menacing Wolf of Devil's Breach.
MVP: The Wild-Field Scarecrows Underperformers:Broken Concentration. Cancel did not seem well positioned at all. Boarded it out in round 1 and 2. Game record: 6-2
Not the world's toughest competition but the deck felt strong to me. Altered Ego is a hilarious answer to Westvale Abbey, and multiple Vessels makes it really hard to not just accidentally trip into an easy Geralf's Messenger win. The deck had a ton of consistency tools that made it feel like I wasn't even playing limited, and it was pretty easy to curve straight from 1 to 5 (or even 7).
Overperformer: Geralf's Masterpiece. I mean, it's obvious this is a good card but I wasn't ready for just how good it was. It dominated games without me ever even drawing it. That's not something you can even say about Avacyn.
Underperformer: Honestly, the deck felt like a really good version of the archetype. I'm not sure I'd cut any card in the deck for a different card of the same rarity. I mean, I would have liked another removal spell maybe, but the only game I dropped was one where I flooded out horribly, and all the other games felt like all my cards were pretty much awesome all the time.
This was pretty much the dream delerium deck I've been looking to draft in this format. The deck just has so many delerium enablers and payoffs that it's near impossible to lose in the lategame when all of your creatures have such high value. In hindsight I probably should have played ghoulsteed over the werewolf as a more reliable late game threat, since there were a couple of games where it stalled out to 15+ turns and I had plenty of lands in my hand to pitch to the steed. This is also one of the few drafts where I made the conscious effort to not be greedy, and only splash the Sorin off of the white. This made my manabase a lot more stable, and was the right choice in hindsight. This deck also gave me a pretty good idea for how delerium decks should be built: the "instant/sorcery/creature are givens" thought at the beginning of the format doesn't make as much sense in practice. Your deck is only going to have 8ish slots for spells, and having 4 instants/sorceries in those slots is not going to be reliable enough if you want to get those scavengers online by turn 5-6. The real engines for the deck seem to be creatures that add 2+ types into your graveyard, such as the crow and artifact creatures. It's also pretty important to have an equal mix of instants/sorceries/enchantments for your spell slots. 3 sorceries, 1 instant, 2 enchantments worked pretty well for me.
Interestingly enough, the guy to my right was in RG werewolves, but since the delerium cards and werewolf cards didn't conflict too much, I didn't get cut off.
Reasons for why I"m playing questionable cards:
Fork in the Road - Delerium / Sorin enabler. Not many decks want this card, but it seems to provide just enough value for this deck to play.
Confront the Unknown - Didn't have any instants for delerium, so the first one is valuable. This card also just replaces itself eventually, and the +1/+1 led to a couple of blowouts (such as my opponent casting the 5 mana deal 5 red spell on my 3/5).
Overperformers:
Ulvenwald Mysteries - Single handedly won me a couple of games: it's very hard to lose a long game when all of your creatures are cantrips that get you 1/1s in the process.
Gargoyle / Scarecrow - Artifact/Creature is such a big deal for enabling delerium. Gargoyle in particular just does so much for the deck, as it's a late game threat and an early game blocker/enabler.
This is my second week going 3-0 with G/B. I pulled the To the slaughter in P1 and was passed the 2x Pack Guardians, Markov Dreadknight, and Soul Swallower in P2. :] It was most likely my shuffling but I had a hard time hitting double green.
Highlight: Dude had infectious curse and Triscaidecafobia out. I was at 2 and he was at 17. My last turn, I have a pack guardian, byway courier, and kessig dire swine with throttle and aim high in my hand. He has a zombie and twins of maurer estate and is tapped out. I swing with everything and I'm hoping for him to miscalculate and put the twins on the dire swine and zombie on the pack guardian. This will give him 3 points from the Courier and +1 trample damage to get him to 13 exactly. Instead he blocks on the pack guardian and courier letting the kessig swine go through. I was about to scoop before I realized I could aim high on swine to make him a 8/8 and then throttle him to make him a 4/4 and hit exactly. It was a thing of beauty since he had control of that whole game.
MVP: Pack Guardian Underperformer: Biting the Rain Game Record: 6-2
MVP: Neglected Heirloom- this card is unreal if you can reliably flip it. Getting this on an early Hinterland Logger just wins games so quickly, and it's still a great topdeck late! Considering how careful WOTC has been with equipment lately I'm a bit surprised they let this slip through at uncommon.
LVP: Skin Invasion never impressed me, and it actually lost me a game when I put it on a creature that I then realized I couldn't eat because dude had Archangel Avacyn. I also was predictably underwhelmed by Convicted Killer, the only werewolf I ran that's below rate on its front side. I felt like I needed to run it just to get my flip numbers up for the Heirlooms, though.
SOI draft #3. This deck was so much fun. Lots of neat little synergies. I had hoped to get a Call the Bloodline, so I had to make due without it, but it went fine. MVP:Tooth Collector. Nailed a card with it every time. Sometimes by sniping an X/1, sometimes by attacking my 2/4 or whatnot into their 2/3. Underperformers:Stallion of Ashmouth. When I had delirium, I had better things to do with my mana than screwing around with this. It's probably decent usually, but in this deck, I had too much other stuff going on. Game record: 6-2. Lost one to color screw, another to the six mana wrath (and he got an Angel).
match 3 game 3 I lose Chandra due to blocking as if he was attacking me. the aftermath left him with birthing hulk, 3/3 rg shambler guy, seed elemental, and two eldrazi tokens. (he completely tapped out to cast hulk)
I'm left with goblin freerunner and makindi patrol. he's at 1, I'm at 14. I draw one of my salvos and stare at the board in disbelief of my Chandra oversight.... thinking should I kill something now, or later. I realize he can regen the hulk by saccing the two tokens.. so that's no good. but wait, it is good!!! if he falls for it.
I target his hulk and type in the chat: SAC TOKEN.... away goes one token, then the other... and there goes hulk tapped sideways. with only two creatures to block my freerunner and patrol he's forced to take lethal.
phew!!
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P1P1: Vampire Envoy
P2P1: Oblivion Strike
P3P1: Rolling Thunder
Overachiever: Kozilek's Shrieker, my removal made blocks very difficult for the opponents and I almost always scored a 2-for-1 if this card was blocked.
Underachiever: Flayer Drone, don't take this to mean that the card is bad. It's still excellent. I just never had a game where the triggered ability was relevant to the outcome.
Signature courtesy of Rivenor and Miraculous Recovery
EDH Altered Cards by Galspanic (Seriously, this guy's awesome.)
My Pauper Cube
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-Decks-
Commander:
GWR Rith, the Awakener RWG
U Kami of the Crescent Moon U (Flagship Deck)
BW Teysa, Orzhov Scion WB
Under Construction:
UBR Crosis, the Purger RBU
Cube:
WUBRGX Pauper XGRBUW
1 Weapons Trainer
2 Zada's Commando
1 Felidar Cub
1 Kor Bladewhirl
1 Makindi Patrol
1 Kor Skyclimber
2 Kor Scythemaster
2 Akoum Flameseeker
1 Tunnelling Geopede
1 Embodiment of Fury
1 Relief Captain
1 Resolute Blademaster
1 Ghostly Sentinel
1 Captain's Claws
2 Shoulder to Shoulder
1 Allied Reinforcements
1 Fall Of The Titans
1 Boulder Salvo
1 Press Into Service
Lands (17)
9 Plains
8 Mountain
1 Chasm Guide
1 Tears Of Valakut
1 Brute Strength
1 Smite The Monstrous
1 Mighty Leap
1 Shadow Glider
2 Tandem Tactics
2 Dazzling Reflection
1 Searing Light
2-1, 2-0, 2-1 (6-2)
Match Winners: Resolute Blademaster (Match 1 + 2), Fall Of The Titans (Match 3), Shoulder To Shoulder.
Disappointments: Ghostly Sentinel + Relief Captain (never drew them), Allied Reinforcements, Tunnelling Geopede.
First Picks: Oblivion Strike, Fall Of The Titans, Plains (foil)
Overall I felt I played really well, especially in the final against a BW allies/fliers deck. I'm interested in hearing what cards from the sideboard others would have played though. I feel like Geopede especially didn't fit the deck, and maybe I should have been running a combat trick or even Smite.
-----drafted this monster last night in a 9man draft. one newbie who's never drafted before was opposite of me. my lgs is an even mix of loud mouthed kids and casual adults. p1 p1 was fall of the titans. p1p3 was oblivion strike. mid pack 2 i passed late outnumber/salvo/stonefury for creatures as I realized i was a bit low considering all the removal i was taking.
i have my reasons for running 23/18 , but in retrospect i'd probably cut a swamp or stonefury.... or possibly outnumber. mtgo i'd maindeck sure strike and possibly a swarm surge, but given my lgs doesn't play many combat tricks i opted for outnumber. however, sure strike delivered lethal dmg in round 3 game 3 in a nail biter. any input appreciated on how to better tune my deck. sideboard is fanned out.
went 2-1 2-0 2-1. was having trouble hitting 4 lands in a few games (which i won)... my losses are taking a 6card mull 1 lander on the draw w/ 2drops, and a 5 lander on the draw (got him down to 2 though).
overachiever: outnumber
underachiever: barrage tyrant
Tar Snare and Bone Saw look very bad in this deck. Your removal is 2nd to none...no need for Tar Snare. Bone Saw is just bad unless you're running multiple Weapons Trainer. What was your SB? No remotely acceptable creatures to replace those cards?
Signature courtesy of Rivenor and Miraculous Recovery
EDH Altered Cards by Galspanic (Seriously, this guy's awesome.)
My Pauper Cube
Tapped-Out Simulator
My Trade Thread
-Decks-
Commander:
GWR Rith, the Awakener RWG
U Kami of the Crescent Moon U (Flagship Deck)
BW Teysa, Orzhov Scion WB
Under Construction:
UBR Crosis, the Purger RBU
Cube:
WUBRGX Pauper XGRBUW
Bone saw and the other fanned out cards are his board. I would cut a mountain and replace the outnumber with the sure strike. Your deck has 13 creatures, so outnumber is going to be a shock most of the time, of which you already have 2 with the more consistent reality hemmorhage. Since you dont have a combat trick in the deck yet, i think the first sure strike is probably going to help you more than the third shock will. I really dislike the bushwhacker, warden, and despoiler in this deck but i assume that you didnt have the opportunity to pick up better dudes. The removal is insane though, so id be pretty happy playing the deck as is. I think its maybe 2 good 3 and 4 drops away from being an A+ deck, like maybe a nettle drone and vestige of emrakul.
That would make more sense--I don't typically sleeve my SB, so that's what threw me off. I mostly agree with your assessment, though. The creatures here are not very good, but the deck has the best removal I've ever seen in 40 cards and you don't need the best creatures to win with that kind of support.
Signature courtesy of Rivenor and Miraculous Recovery
EDH Altered Cards by Galspanic (Seriously, this guy's awesome.)
My Pauper Cube
Tapped-Out Simulator
My Trade Thread
-Decks-
Commander:
GWR Rith, the Awakener RWG
U Kami of the Crescent Moon U (Flagship Deck)
BW Teysa, Orzhov Scion WB
Under Construction:
UBR Crosis, the Purger RBU
Cube:
WUBRGX Pauper XGRBUW
i sleeve all my cards the second i draft them, and have my basics sleeved and ready to go (12 of each). i'm one of those ppl that doesn't like waiting on someone to finish sleeving their deck while the round already started. so i set an example lol.
regarding bone saw: commonly used on mtgo when playing surge. goblin freerunner out on t2.
thanks for the advice everyone.. really appreciated. i make plenty of mistakes and need to start consciously improving my game. tired of going out r2 in 8-4s
Cut off with the rest of the basic lands - Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree which I was just splashing for value off of the 2 Selesnya Sanctuary.
1 Thraben Inspector
1 Town Gossipmonger
1 Furtive Homunculus
1 Niblis of Dusk
1 Paranoid Parish Blade
1 Harvest Hand
1 Avacynian Missionaries
1 Inspiring Captain
1 Nearheath Chaplain
1 Apothecary Geist
2 Stormrider Spirit
1 Archangel Avacyn
1 Emissary Of The Sleepless
1 Strength Of Arms
1 Vessel Of Ephemera
2 Puncturing Light
1 True-Faith Censer
1 Bound By Moonsilver
1 Murderer's Axe
1 Tenacity
1 Pore Over The Pages
Lands (17)
10 Plains
7 Island
1 Deny Existence
1 Jace's Scrutiny
1 Catalog
1 Survive The Night
1 Cathar's Companion
1 Silent Observer
1 Not Forgotten
1 Manic Scribe
2-0, 2-1, 2-0
MVPs: The absolute best card for me was True-Faith Censer, worked great with humans and fliers and enabled me to flip the Missionaries a bunch of times too. I definitely think it is an underrated card. Strength of Arms was also a very effective combat trick for a single mana, and with 3 equipment in the deck I usually got the token as well. Nearheath Chaplain was also incredible value. And of course Avacyn (I only managed to draw her in the final but both games she just went to town).
Under-performers: I guess the Homunculus never really made me happy to play it. The Stormrider Spirits were also pretty average.
First Picks: Avacyn (when everyone announced their DFC's I showed her and said "I have Avacyn... so I guess I'm picking that", everyone laughed and luckily nobody cut me out of white), Relentless Dead (for value), Thraben Inspector (lol).
Lessons to take away: I think the equipment in this set is heavily underrated. With so many tokens being thrown around there are always a good target for them. Fliers are also key. Having 1/1 spirit tokens to chump block a Geralf's Masterpiece saved my ass in game 3, match 2. Clues are useful, but in the final my opponent ended up cracking 9 of them in a single game and still never looked likely to win, so there's no need to really prioritise them. It is almost certainly a faster format than during the previous block, you need to be very efficient with your mana.
1x Ravenous Bloodseeker
1x Pale Rider of Trostad
1x Bloodmad Vampire
1x Tooth Collector
2x Crow of Dark Tidings
2x Voldaren Duelist
1x Gisa's Bidding
1x Accursed Witch
1x Stromkirk Mentor
1x Skin Invasion
1x Tormenting Voice
2x Murderous Compulsion
1x Call the Bloodline
3x Fiery Temper
1x Murderer's Axe
8x Mountain
MVP(s): All the uncommons were insane, apart from Murderer's Axe which I never got to play. Out of the commons, obviously the removal spells were great, but Voldaren Duelist was just a complete beating every time I played it.
Underperformers: Nothing really, everything performed well. The Bloodmad Vampire is likely the worst card in my deck, but the Duelists made sure that they'd get at least 1 attack in.
Overall record: 6-1. The only game that I lost was when I couldn't outrace a Farbog Revenant equipped with a Slayer's Plate. Turn 5 kills were not infrequent with this deck, with the most explosive game leaving the opponent at -7 even though they had played a 3 and 4 drop on the draw.
First Picks: Murderous Compulsion, Tooth Collector, Skin Invasion
1x Indulgent Aristocrat
1x Ravenous Bloodseeker
1x Heir of Falkenrath
1x Pale Rider of Trostad
1x Bloodmad Vampire
2x Voldaren Duelist
1x Accursed Witch
1x Mad Prophet
1x Twins of Maurer Estate
2x Alms of the Vein
1x Tormenting Voice
1x Call the Bloodline
1x Uncaged Fury
1x Stensia Masquerade
3x Fiery Temper
1x Inner Struggle
9x Mountain
First picks: Heir of Falkenrath, Westvale Abbey (not played), Skin Invasion.
MVPs: Almost everything But Call the Bloodline was an excellent thing - you can do it only once, but each turn, including opponent's
Underperformers: Almost nothing.
Overall record: 6-1. Only game I lost was to land flood, where despite having Call the Bloodline out and spitting out chumpblockers, he had too many werewolves in the end.
Also managed a couple of T5 kills. I had quite regularly managed the Neonate-Skin Invasion combo fot T3 3/4 + madness card (Temper or Alms), and once got a T4 hit for 13 by an EOT played and then doublestriked Bloodmad Vampire.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
4 insolent neonate
1 Sanitarium Skeleton
1 Asylum Visitor
1 Ember-Eye Wolf
1 Ravenous Bloodseeker
1 Farbog Revenant
1 Howlpack Wolf
1 Stromkirk Mentor
2 Voldaren Duelist
2 Rush of Adrenaline
1 Skin Invasion
1 Lightning Axe
1 Murderous Compulsion
1 Call the Bloodline
1 Fiery Temper
1 Merciless Resolve
1 Gisa's Bidding
2 Malevolent Whispers
1 Westvale Abbey
8 mountain
7 swamp
Pack1 Pick 1: Westvale Abbey, 2: Asylum Visitor, 3: Murderous Compulsion, 4:Gisa's Bidding
Pack2 Pick 1: Call the bloodline, 2: Fiery Temper
Pack3 pick 1: Lightning Axe, 2: Skin Invasion
MVPS:
Westvale Abbey sealed 2 games, the cleric it produced helped in a 3rd.
Call the Bloodline + Sanitarium Skeleton helped seal 2 games.
Skin invasion was a must answer threat every time it hit the field, and also forced them to trade transfoming creature earlier than they would like.
Voldaren Duelists and Malevolent Whispers caused massive damage swings, and occasionally sealed games.
Curve of Insolent Neonate, into t2 Ravenous Bloodseeker, into t3 Gisa's Bidding, t4 Voldaren Duelist destroyed the opponent.
Kept a 1 land hand with 3x Insolent Neonate, Fiery Temper (5 card mull). Despite not getting land for 3 turns, I dropped the opponent to 5 life before being too far behind to not seal the game.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Insolent Neonate is a devastating one-drop on curve. If you combine it with Skin Invasion, it's a cantrip-time bomb waiting to go off. Brutal. I opened two Neonates and two Skin Invasions in my pre-release and just face punched opponents with them.
Nice deck!
One game, a player had a 3/1 lifelinker, which he dropped Equestrian Skill on, then passed on 2 life, that way he could survive the next attack with lifelink. The neonate went in for 1, making it so that he had to swing the next turn or lose, and as soon as he did, sac the neonate for the Murderous Compulsion, preventing the lifegain. gg.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
2x Quilled Wolf
2x Duskwatch Recruiter
1x Erdwal Illuminator
1x Furtive Homunculus
1x Wild-Field Scarecrow
2x Reckless Scholar
1x Hermit of the Natterknolls
1x Drownyard Explorers
1x Stormrider Spirit
2x Thornhide Wolves
1x Confront the Unknown
1x Jace's Scrutiny
1x Rabid Bite
2x Gone Missing
Enchantments
1x Ongoing Investigation
2x Ulvenwald Mysteries
1x Sleep Paralysis
8x Island
9x Forest
P1P1: Ulvenwald Mysteries. Yeah baby.
P2P1: Rabid Bite
P3P1: Sleep Paralysis
Deck worked beautifully. Ulvenwald Mysteries was all-star. Broken when you have 2 in play.
2x Thraben Inspector
1x Thraben Gargoyle
1x Furtive Homunculus
1x Moorland Drifter
1x Dauntless Cathar
3x Stitched Mangler
1x Wicker Witch
1x Apothecary Geist
1x Nearheath Chaplain
1x Emissary of the Sleepless
1x Reaper of Flight Moonsilver
1x Silburlind Snapper
1x Vessel of Ephemera
1x Always Watching
1x Angelic Purge
1x Silverstrike
2x Sleep Paralysis
1x Gone Missing
Lands
10x Plains
7x Island
1x Westvale Abbey
3x Expose Evil
1x Topplegeist
1x Vessel of Paramnesia
1x Essence Flux
P1P1 Westvale Abbey
P2P1 Don't remember...Sleep Paralysis?
P3P1 Nearheath Chaplain
This came together nice as a a UW fliers deck. Also, I'm not sure what was happaening to my right, but none of the 4 playsre to my right were drafting white, so I got some extra goodies like a P3P4(!) Always Watching. The toughest deck-building decision was whether to include topplegeist...I ended up deciding against because my instant/sorcery count was pretty low and the geist rally doesn't do enough if you don't have delirium. The Expose Evils did good work coming out of the board against the RG werewolves deck I played against in the finals.
Match 1 vs UW control. blergh difficult grindy match opponent was basically stalling until angel of deliverance I kept misreading cards because they are new :/. Didn't realise the tormentor was unblockable but I killed him with it game one. Game two he pulled off his plan, I fell 2 mana (or free discard) short of stealing it with welcome to the fold. Game 3 we went to time but we had reached a draw go situation with an empty board but I had a stitchwing skaab in the grave. My opponent conceded since he was only there for fun, (and was playing slowly)
Match 2 vs four colour midrange (black bant).
Opponent took the green WW and wolves but not the red ones, he had a lot of large creatures but was weak to flyiers. Game 1 killed him with the crow backed up with throttle. Game 2 opponent flipped neglected heirloom makes things really hard I struggled on and almost stabilised but forgot that welcome to the fold was toughness and I could steal timber shredder. Game 3 was on turns from the start but the tournament organiser didn't want a draw because the player that was paired up had just won and didn't want everyone with the same score (Because then no one gets prizes) so we played on. I made some loose plays at the start stealing the timber shredder this time, but trying to flip my walkers flips theirs. I was able to use my throttles, multiple blocks and evasive creatures including elusive tormentor (which I had only just realised was unblockable) to pull out a win.
Match 3 vs RW aggro
reckless scholar + madness = win. Game 1 I stole his odric with welcome to the fold, so much value. Game 2 I stole a buffed up bloodmad vampire. murderous compulsion at instant speed was also great.
Keep in mind there was no RG Werewolves in this draft.
1 Pale rider of trostad
1 Seagraf Skaab
1 Reckless scholar
1 Stitched mangler
1 Crow of dark tidings
1 Elusive tormentor
1 Stitchwing Skaab
2 Stormrider Spirit
1 Ghoulsteed
1 Twins of maurer estate
1 Nephalia moondrakes
1 Dead weight
2 Shamble back
2 Murderous compulsion
1 Merciless resolve
1 Welcome to the fold
3 Throttle
1 Pore over the pages
lands
9 Swamp
8 Island
1 Macabre waltz
1 Accursed witch
1 Tooth collector
1 Vessel of malignity
1 Rise from the tides
1 Jace's scutiny
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
The deck seemed alright. Not sure if this is an actual archetype, though. I first-picked the Angel and went from there; I got tempted into blue with some reasonable mid-pack pickups like the 3/3 flash flier and Just the Wind (after flirting with black). Had a very tough match against a red-green Werewolf deck that played turn 3 Tireless Tracker each game, but I managed to burn him out in game three in the face of a very menacing Wolf of Devil's Breach.
MVP: The Wild-Field Scarecrows
Underperformers: Broken Concentration. Cancel did not seem well positioned at all. Boarded it out in round 1 and 2.
Game record: 6-2
1 Deathcap Cultivator
1 Obsessive Skinner
1 Byway Courier
1 Stitched Mangler
1 Wild-Field Scarecrows
1 Reckless Scholar
1 Solitary Hunter
1 Silent Observer
1 Altered Ego
2 Briarbridge Patrol
1 Stitchwing Skaab
1 Geralf's Masterpiece
1 Stormrider Spirit
1 Nephalia Moondrakes
1 Rabid Bite
1 Nagging Thoughts
1 Ongoing Investigation
1 Sleep Paralysis
1 Malevolent Whispers
1 Woodland Stream
1 Mountain
8 Forest
7 Island
Not the world's toughest competition but the deck felt strong to me. Altered Ego is a hilarious answer to Westvale Abbey, and multiple Vessels makes it really hard to not just accidentally trip into an easy Geralf's Messenger win. The deck had a ton of consistency tools that made it feel like I wasn't even playing limited, and it was pretty easy to curve straight from 1 to 5 (or even 7).
Overperformer: Geralf's Masterpiece. I mean, it's obvious this is a good card but I wasn't ready for just how good it was. It dominated games without me ever even drawing it. That's not something you can even say about Avacyn.
Underperformer: Honestly, the deck felt like a really good version of the archetype. I'm not sure I'd cut any card in the deck for a different card of the same rarity. I mean, I would have liked another removal spell maybe, but the only game I dropped was one where I flooded out horribly, and all the other games felt like all my cards were pretty much awesome all the time.
Interestingly enough, the guy to my right was in RG werewolves, but since the delerium cards and werewolf cards didn't conflict too much, I didn't get cut off.
Reasons for why I"m playing questionable cards:
Fork in the Road - Delerium / Sorin enabler. Not many decks want this card, but it seems to provide just enough value for this deck to play.
Confront the Unknown - Didn't have any instants for delerium, so the first one is valuable. This card also just replaces itself eventually, and the +1/+1 led to a couple of blowouts (such as my opponent casting the 5 mana deal 5 red spell on my 3/5).
Overperformers:
Ulvenwald Mysteries - Single handedly won me a couple of games: it's very hard to lose a long game when all of your creatures are cantrips that get you 1/1s in the process.
Gargoyle / Scarecrow - Artifact/Creature is such a big deal for enabling delerium. Gargoyle in particular just does so much for the deck, as it's a late game threat and an early game blocker/enabler.
1x Thraben Gargoyle
2x Moldgraf Scavenger
1x Obsessive Skinner
1x Ghoulcaller's Accomplice
1x Byway Courier
1x Tooth Collector
2x Crow of Dark Tidings
1x Graf Mole
1x Wild-Field Scarecrow
1x Soul Swallower
1x Pack Guardian
1x Sage of Ancient Lore
1x Markov Dreadknight
Spells
1x Dead Weight
1x Vessel of Nascency
1x Confront the Unknown
1x Fork in the Road
1x Rabid Bite
1x Murderous Compulsion
1x Ulvenwald Mysteries
Lands
9x Forest
6x Swamp
2x Plains
1x Inquisitor's Ox
1x Topplegeist
1x Veteran Cathar
1x Byway Courier
1x Macabre Waltz
1x Ghoulsteed
1x Macabre Waltz
1x Crawling Sensation
2x Ghoulcaller's accomplice
2x Moldgraf Scavenger
1x Hinterland Logger
2x Wicker Witch
1x Byway Courier
2x Pack Guardian
1x Soul Swallower
1x Markov Dreadknight
1x Kessig Dire Swine
Spells
1x Explosive Apparatus
1x Confront the Unknown
2x Dead Weight
1x Rabid Bite
1x Aim High
1x Macabre Waltz
1x To the slaughter
1x Pick the Brain
1x Throttle
8x Forest
9x Swamp
1x Whatever the land that lets you search is called
1x biting the rain
1x clip wings
This is my second week going 3-0 with G/B. I pulled the To the slaughter in P1 and was passed the 2x Pack Guardians, Markov Dreadknight, and Soul Swallower in P2. :] It was most likely my shuffling but I had a hard time hitting double green.
Highlight: Dude had infectious curse and Triscaidecafobia out. I was at 2 and he was at 17. My last turn, I have a pack guardian, byway courier, and kessig dire swine with throttle and aim high in my hand. He has a zombie and twins of maurer estate and is tapped out. I swing with everything and I'm hoping for him to miscalculate and put the twins on the dire swine and zombie on the pack guardian. This will give him 3 points from the Courier and +1 trample damage to get him to 13 exactly. Instead he blocks on the pack guardian and courier letting the kessig swine go through. I was about to scoop before I realized I could aim high on swine to make him a 8/8 and then throttle him to make him a 4/4 and hit exactly. It was a thing of beauty since he had control of that whole game.
MVP: Pack Guardian
Underperformer: Biting the Rain
Game Record: 6-2
Modern
GWBAbzan CompanyGWB
Pauper
UGU/G BeatsUG
1x Kessig Forgemaster
2x Hinterland Logger
1x Ravenous Bloodseeker
2x Convicted Killer
2x Howlpack Wolf
1x Ulrich's Kindred
1x Briarbridge Patrol
1x Dance With Devils
1x Intrepid Provisioner
1x Thornhide Wolves
1x Wolf of Devil's Breach
Spells
1x Skin Invasion
2x Neglected Heirloom
1x Moonlight Hunt
1x Uncaged Fury
1x Inner Struggle
1x Reduce to Ashes
1x Burn from Within
10x Mountain
7x Forest
MVP: Neglected Heirloom- this card is unreal if you can reliably flip it. Getting this on an early Hinterland Logger just wins games so quickly, and it's still a great topdeck late! Considering how careful WOTC has been with equipment lately I'm a bit surprised they let this slip through at uncommon.
LVP: Skin Invasion never impressed me, and it actually lost me a game when I put it on a creature that I then realized I couldn't eat because dude had Archangel Avacyn. I also was predictably underwhelmed by Convicted Killer, the only werewolf I ran that's below rate on its front side. I felt like I needed to run it just to get my flip numbers up for the Heirlooms, though.
MVP: Tooth Collector. Nailed a card with it every time. Sometimes by sniping an X/1, sometimes by attacking my 2/4 or whatnot into their 2/3.
Underperformers: Stallion of Ashmouth. When I had delirium, I had better things to do with my mana than screwing around with this. It's probably decent usually, but in this deck, I had too much other stuff going on.
Game record: 6-2. Lost one to color screw, another to the six mana wrath (and he got an Angel).
match 3 game 3 I lose Chandra due to blocking as if he was attacking me. the aftermath left him with birthing hulk, 3/3 rg shambler guy, seed elemental, and two eldrazi tokens. (he completely tapped out to cast hulk)
I'm left with goblin freerunner and makindi patrol. he's at 1, I'm at 14. I draw one of my salvos and stare at the board in disbelief of my Chandra oversight.... thinking should I kill something now, or later. I realize he can regen the hulk by saccing the two tokens.. so that's no good. but wait, it is good!!! if he falls for it.
I target his hulk and type in the chat: SAC TOKEN.... away goes one token, then the other... and there goes hulk tapped sideways. with only two creatures to block my freerunner and patrol he's forced to take lethal.
phew!!