Has anyone expermwnted with crook of condemnation? It costs two, which benefits us,m, but unlike relic, we choose the card removed from the game. We can control the size of foyf and negate snapcaster mage forever.
Hey all. I need to be honest. I'm not up to date with the recent postings but I promise I'll go back through and catch up with what happened between now and my last post. I'm trying to read from the beginning on and I'm on post like 500. I've been playing the deck non-stop and I have some data and notes that I wanted to share. I have notes from the 3 recent leagues that I have run, but in the interest of not clouding up the forum, I'll rip two now and one later when I catch up on some of the recent happenings.
I love reading the old stuff to see how the deck has come alive. Its cool to be a part of the community and big shout outs to RayStack. Thanks for putting this all together... Anyway without further adu(?)
Chalice, Chandra, SSG, Rab, 2 Lands… Scry Blood Moon to top
Time walked with Chalice on one for turn one, then lucked into another SSG for Rabs on Turn 2. I had 3 lands, Chandra, ritual and Blood moon. I cast Blood moon to protect Chan. Opponent says he misclicked and meant to negate it. He left up counter mana, and I didn’t want to run Chandra into a counter, so I waited. Then he tapped down around half to play Auger on his turn. I made a mistake on my turn. I should have Ritualed prior to casting Chandra. He got it with a Censor, but also probably had some other type of counter. Ballista X=2 for the win.
Ripped the moon off the top. He had an Island so I cast stuff into counters for a while. Held up on a Ritual and caught a Ballista. I cast it X=2 with the Ritual so I had mana leak cover. Terminus. Then I built up an army with Rabs and three goblins for the win.
Match 02 – B/G Tron [1-2]:
Game01 L
Chandra, Koth, Blood Moon, Two Lands, Ritual. Scry bridge to the top.
Chandra, Koth, Blood Moon Two Lands, Ritual was kept after mulliganing away Two Rabs, 1 Land, Koth, Ritual, Two Moons. I ran out Blood Moon turn 2 after he showed Tron. I likely misplayed here. I played a second blood moon. He followed up with an O-stone. I went with Koth and kept Chandra in hand because I thought Koth would do more damage faster and I could hold Chandra for later. I drew rabs and held off. He had mountain-tron online on Turn 5 and ripped the O-stone. Without Blood Moon he was able to rip Ugin and shut it down.
Kept all 7. He played lands and hit stirrings on his Turn 1. By turn 5 I had 2 sprees and 1 spyglass in hand and 2 Magus and 1 X=2 Ballista on the field. Beatdowns.
Sideboard: No Changes.
Game 03 L
Chalice, Spyglass, 2 Lands, Ritual, Rabs
Turn 2 Chalice on 1 was late to the party. Stirrings and Star got through. I played Rabs, he responded with Karn and then grabbed the Chalice. I finished Karn with Rabs. I spyglass – he has Brutality and Sphere. I don’t know. He has 8 lands out, and I got burned so hard by Ugin earlier, and I have Rabs with 2 Goblins on the battlefield. I named Ugin. He rips Karn and wins.
Match 03 U/W Control [2-0]:
Game01 W
Land, Chandra, Moon, PnK, Magus, Ritual. Scryed to the bottom the second Ritual.
I kept after mulliganing Two Chalices, Moon, Rabs, Slagstorm, Land, Bridge. Got the land and turn 2 had Moon down. I got a Chalice on 1 down after he snap blocked my Magus. Second Rabs got down. Game over Turn 7.
Sideboard: -2 Abrade, -1 Bridge, -1PnK, -2 Slagstorm
+1 Spellskite, +2 Grafdiggers, +2 Spyglass, +1 Boil
Game 02 W
Gemstone, Mutavault, 2 Rituals, Moon, Bridge, Land
Turn 2 Blood Moon. Chalice on 1. I played bridge before Koth because he had mana up so I wanted to at least try to sucker out the counter. I spyglass Jura. We go back and forth for a while, MTGO error and freeze after you spyglass so I don’t remember the nitty gritty on this, but I do remember the opponent having a chance to snap back Sphinx’s Rev. I won the attrition match, but don’t recall if Koth was the key or not.
Match 04 – Mardu Pyromancer [0-2]:
Game01 L
Koth, bridge, magus, and 3 lands
I mulliganed 2 ritual, 1 moon and 4 lands. Inquisition and thoughtseize first three turns, I have a bridge and a land after all is said and done. K-command busts bridge and Bedlam and a bunch of elementals break through.
Sideboard: -2 Abrade, -1 Koth
+1 Spellskite, +1 Spyglass, +1 Torpor Orb
Game 02 L
Magus, Bridge, Rabs, Gemstone, 2 Lands
I mulliganed 1 Chalice, 2 Bridge, 1 Ritual, 1 Chandra, 1 Land, 1 Rabs. I scryed a land to the top – I don’t know why, I guess this is the space to record my feeling of doom in the matchup. Double Thoughtseize left me at a crossroad. Spellskite or Rabs on Turn 3, I picked spellskite hoping to protect against discard or removal on rabs. He K-commands spellskite and makes me discard the rabs – only card in hand. Bridge got down again, and I was hellbent. Got a second bridge down. Pyromancer built an army while I played land after land behind the bridge. Eventually he found the third K-command and shut it down.
Match 05 – Affinity [2-1]:
Game01 L
Mutavault, Land, Ritual, Bridge and 2 Abrade. Scryed Koth to the bottom.
I mulliganed Chandra, 2 Rituals, Bridge, Chalice, 1 Land, Abrade and I was on the play so I missed the opportunity to Chalice on 0, and I don’t think you’d ever know to chalice on 0 game 1 unless you saw an ancestral or something. I double ritualed to get a Chandra down instead of getting the bridge down. I wouldn’t have the rituals for both. Got the bridge down, chalice on 1 and a blood moon. He’s got the usual suspects, plating, drum, etched champion. Ornithopter and equips it with plating to circumvent the bridge.
Sideboard: - 4 Rabs, -1 Koth, -1 Koth
+2 Spree, +1 Spellskite, +2 Eidolon, +1 spyglass
Game 02 W
2 SSG, 1 Ritual, 1 Moon, 1 Eidolon, 2 Gemstones
I dropped Eidolon turn 1 because I couldn’t get the red mana on turn 2 for eidolon if I led on Moon. He thoughtseized my moon, but I was able to get a Magus down. He’s got an army, spellskite, overseer, all that. I chalice on 1 with an Eidolon and Magus. Slagstorm comes up. Eidolon got him down enough that I was able to Slag for the win. Sideboard: No changes
Game 03 W
Eidolon, Bridge, Slag, Mutavault and 3 Lands
He had one land until turn 4 and all I had done was play Eidolon. He gets plating on a thopter and I get another slag and a koth, I play Koth and hold up with double slag in hand and 4 lands down. Eidolon and Koth get him down to 4 and yup, double slag for the win.
This was played post Jace unban. I figured there is likely to be an increased frequency of blue because of this. I decided to go down 1 Eidolon and up 1 Boil in anticipation of encountering more blue based match-ups.
Match 01 – Infect [2-0]:
Game01 W
Chalice, Ballista, Bridge, Moon, Rabs, Gemstone and a Land on the play.
He had two Ink or Blink whatevers down and I turn 2 Chalice and Turn 3 Moon and he scooped.
Sideboard: -1 Koth, -1 Abrade, -2 Rabs, -1 PnK
+2 Anger,+2 Eidolon, +1 Skite
Game 02 W
2 Moon, 2 Land, 1 Abrade, 1 Slag, 1 SSG
He said he missed clicked on 6, and mulled the wrong hand. I had Blood Moon down turn 2 and I ripped slag storm to kill his agent and heirarch. He was on 4 cards to start so it was slated.
Match 02 U/W Jace Control [1-2]:
... that's just the way she goes...
Game01 L
3 Lands, Rabs and Bridge [the 6 was 5 lands and Chandra]. Scry chalice to top.
The only real misplay I likely had this entire league was letting go of my opening hand, which was the following - Chandra, Koth, Bridge, Rabs, Ritual, Land, Gemstone. Chalice on one, he had Azcanta going. He got Gideon down. I got Rabs going to pressure Gideon. I didn’t see a moon effect until Turn 5 or 6 and he had cryptic left up to eat it up. I was out of gas and he durtled until he found Jace and shut it down.
Sideboard: -1 Koth, -2 Abrade, -2 Slag
+2 Spyglass, +2 Boil, +1 Skite
Game 02 W
Gemstone, Land, Rabs, Moon, Ritual, Chandra scry bridge to bottom
I mulliganed 2 Lands, Muta, Gemstone, Ritual, Rabs and Chalice. Got a turn 2 blood moon down. He got Jace down, I followed up with Chandra. I stuck Rabs, he dropped Snap and realized I was going to eventually get to his Jace because he had no white mana.
Sideboard: Same
Game 03 L
2 Bridge, SSG, Ballista, Rabs, Land scry ritual to top.
Mulliganed Bridge, SSG, Boil, 2 Rituals and 2 Lands and Land. I went Ballista on Turn 1 via the SSG instead of waiting for Rabs. I was thinking he had a path so I’d rather Ballista eat the path early game and unload Rabs afterward. I got land 2 on Turn 5 doom was imminent. I got a spellskite down, and Rabs stuck for a minute and then verdict wiped the board. Turn 6 I had Chandra down and two bridges in hand. He got a firewalker down and bounced my Chandra. I had to hold up on the ritual because he had counter magic up every turn. He casts Path on every blocker I try to set-up so I can play Chandra. Then I sneak a Spyglass after he Cryptic counters Chandra. I set it on Jace. He plays Jace. Eventually bounces the Spyglass back to hand. Then I’m stuck trying to sneak around a counter and get the spyglass down. He ultimates Jace for the win. I was GASSED after this match… it went to 2 minutes on both of our clocks. Match 03 G/W ValueTown [1-2]:
This match got away from me. I think I became arrogant after the first game. I don’t know, it seemed like the easiest match-up. I was putting him on CoCo company of some sort so I went the cage route.
Game01 W
2 Lands, Abrade, Chandra, Blood Moon, Rabs – scry Chalice to top
Mulligan SSG, Ritual, Bridge, Chandra, Ballista, Bridge, Moon. Chalice on 1. Blood Moon on Turn 3 and he starts getting saucy with Voice and Excavator. Abrade the X and hold up on Rabs… Chandra, Rabs and Ritual in hand with 3 lands, Chalice and Moon down. SSG the draw, Chandra off Ritual, +1 for 2 mana and SSG for Rab down. Chandra’d his Voice and got a Koth of Chandra FTW.
Sideboard: -1 PnK, -1 Rabs, -1 Koth, -1 Slagstorm
+2 Cages, +2 Spyglass
Game 02
I boarded thinking that I need to shut off the combo – I can cage shut it down or I can shut down Ballista or Druid with Spyglass.
3 Lands, Cage, SSG, 2 Magus.
Turn 1 I drop the cage of course. Then I have Magus ready turn 2. He gets Pridemage down on Turn 2 and I have Spyglass now. I’m thinking okay I shut off Pridemage if I get a bridge, my moon effect is safe until he uses the plains he has to path my magus, but I have another in hand. So I’m comfortable still. I made a mistake by not abrading the pridemage when I drew it. Instead of the mage I hit the BOP he had. This cut him off all but white mana. He got a finks down, and had pridemage and finks applying pressure while I had just the two magus, cage down and spyglass in hand. I double block an exalted finks with two magus, and he follows up with a Knight and I have no defense.
I think loose and unthoughtful play cost me the game.
Sideboard: No Changes
Game 03
Gemstone, Chalice, Ritual, Chandra and two Bridges - Scry Abrade to Bottom
I mulliganed Bridge, Magus, Ballista, Chandra, Chalice, Spyglass, Land. He got Thalia down on turn 2 and I drew Magus. I was locked out and didn’t draw another land until Turn 5. He had an army assembled by this point and though I had great cards in hand I couldn’t afford to get any down.
Match 04 – Naya Zoo w/ 5C splash [Bloodbraid top end] [2-1]:
I knew he was on some sort of Naya Zoo type build at this point. I don’t know what was wrong with my MTGO but I don’t have games 1 and 2 available. I’m pretty sure game 1 I beat him by just destroying all his creatures. And game two I think he was too fast and I was too slow. This is a good match up though – no counter magic, just creatures. Turn 2 Chalice on 1 and then I followed it up with Bridge to meet his Gofy and Heirarch. I got Rabs down and went to work. He blasted my Rabs, I had Chandra about to come down and then I drew a Ritual so I was able to get down to one card, blood moon and I got Chandra and Bridge down simultaneously. I used Chandra to kill the Hierarch because of the exalted jazz. Then I got a Chalice on 2. Chandra was back up to 5 when he hit Bloodbraid for not much. I Slagged the players, then got another Rabs down to build up an army while I got Chandra towards her ultimate.
Match 05 – Goblins mono red [2-1]:
This is another game where arrogance bit me in the ass. I think I was like oh man this is such an easy match-up and I forgot to actually play it out. I didn’t even side out the blood moons after game 1… I don’t know. I’m sorry. That was exceptionally stupid. I got it right for game 3 though.
Game01 L
3 Lands, Ritual, Gemstone, Bridge – scry SSG to bottom.
I mulliganed 4 Lands, Gemstone, Ritual, Rabs. He got a hasty 1/1 down and then followed it up with a Mogg War Marshal. On Turn 3 I had a Ritual that I used to Chalice on 2. I was at 18 life. I figured I could get the bridge down next turn and be fine. Had I held up the chalice on two I could have ripped bridge, but I would have had 3 cards in hand. Turn 4 I’m down to 7 after getting bushwacked. Land, Ritual…. OH! Chalice on 2… idiot… that meant I had two mana up and couldn’t play the bridge. Wow…. Wow… wow. He hit for lethal I had bridge and one card in hand.
I remember sideboarding and wondering if Torpor Orb shuts off Bushwacker.
3 Lands, 1 Gemstone, Ballista, 2 Chalice
He got the guide going off the top. I Chaliced on 1 on Turn 2. On Turn 3 I ritual up into a X=2 Ballista, removed a counter to kill a War Marshal token. He got in with GG and War Marshal. I was with a Ballista and Chalice on 1 and 3 Lands on the battlefield. Hand was Chalice Land SSG, Magus and Gemstone. Chalice on 2. Chandra down, traded with his GG with Magus, used ballista to clean up another goblin. I had Chalices on 1 and 2 and Chandra down, played a Ballista FTW.
Sideboard: -4 Blood Moon, -2 Koth is current state
+2 Eidolon, +1 Spellskite, +2 Angers, +1 Hazoret
Game 03 W
Land, 2 Gemstone, 2 SSG, Anger, Magus
I skipped the Gemstone activation. I wanted to make sure I had three mana for Anger. GG got going for him and revealed a Slag for me. DOPE. I got a 2 for 1 with Anger on Turn 2 and then I got another 2 for 1 with Slag on Turn three – followed up with a Chalice on 1 – Magus in hand, 2 lands down. I got worried, because I had two Magus in hand and only 2 lands. Then Mutavault came up to save the day. He had three goblins down and I was at 10 with just a Magus to block, so I started trading. Over a few turns I trade 2 Magus for 2 Bushwackers. He got me down to 2, I had 2 Lands, Chalice on 1, Gemstone and Mutavault – Chalice in Hand. He has two 1/1s down. I have two life and the mutavault, so I can block, but I can’t tap out for a Chalice on 2 b/c I’ll die from the 2 1/1s – so I wait. For like 5 turns this goes on. Then I get a Rabs down and I eventually have enough mana to pop the Chalice on 2. Opponent comments that he has artifact hate, Shattering Spree likely, so he’ll break the lock, but he only has 2 cards in hand and one 1/1 at this point. Chandra goes down with Rabs and the two Chalices FTW.
I've been having a TON of fun playing this deck. I've been putting in the work reading up on the developments that everyone has made and I'll be sticking it to it. You can catch me in Worcester at the Classic on Sunday and playing in side events Saturday or in Danbury at the end of the month for the SCG.
Great report Dev! Glad to see you're suiting up Pyro Prison for the weekend, looking forward to hearing about your top 8 finish. And, not to speak for Ray or anything, buut I don't think anyone minds if you post as many reports as you want.. we're all 'folk here, post away!
More voices are always better than less. I did the same thing when I picked up the deck, only there were 28 pages to read in this forum, so it was a bit easier, however, doing your homework will serve you well.
Have a question....what was your thought process in the 2nd Koth over Chandra #4?
Lastly, I've found the players online to be much better players than players in person. I think that's because you have to be really into this game to buy digital cards that wizards can just take from you at any time for any reason. Casual players won't play online because they have to buy the cards twice. So I expect you to do well in your paper tournaments or at least better than online. That being said, you've done well so far, so keep up the great work.
Gentlemen, thank you for your kind words. I appreciate all you've done and I'm glad to step into the Arena [no pun intended here, not excited about Arena MTG at all] to battle with you all. I'll have League 3 coming up this weekend and an abbreviated report from the FNM event I'm attending this Friday.
Last time I went to this event I didn't have Chalice in the deck. I lost to Black Tron and Thopter Sword McThingy Combo. I had never seen the Thopter Sword combo and this dude paused the match for a solid 5 minutes to conference with the judge about his ability to Pithing Needle Mountain so that I can't use them to pump machine gun damage. He named mountain, but I run snow-covered mountains and was so tilted I missed the opportunity to punish him for his punt. Well not this week, I have all 4 Chalices doubled Sleeved and ready to rock. Also fellow mountainfoil, for my 17 basics, I'm running 9 full art Amonkhet and 8 Snow-covered - just in case. I know, I know, its such a fringe case that someone pithing needles my Koth emblem, but eff it, why not hedge?
Stickball - sorry to say but the ONLY reason I have the 3/2 split is because I was on a spending SPREE with this deck hahah. I had to slow down somewhere and I had one Chandra, so $60 for 2 more on MTGO okay. But I have 4 in paper, and believe in that strategy whole-heartily. Also thanks for the competitive shake-down. You know I'm jealous of that 5-0... I'll step into a competitive this weekend to give myself the highest level of competition prior to the Worcester Open next weekend.
The tech I've been considering is I love PnK, but could that be an accelerator? I'm leaving PnK, but still think about how much I'd like more accelerators.
Also, I think Boil is maybe dumpster material imho. Believe me.. I'd love to Boil out the only 2 or 3 islands that my opponent has down, but if they're holding 2/3 islands, they're likely going to counter. That's just the experience I've had. So it's led me to consider swapping my 2 Boils for 2 Guttural Responses. Would it not be awesome to Gut a Cryptic Command when you have a surprise SSG in hand? That's my thought process there. Boil is too expensive and too late, but Gut gives me the chance to MAYBE land something against control, and it seems like that yields a nightmare for them.
All for now. I'll try to check in later and stay on top of it. Trust I'll be gettin' the homework done.
Remember, Boil is also another "Blood Moon" vs blue decks. Sometimes you won't get the blood moon and a boil can tag half your opponents lands or even more. for example, grixis shadow runs 6 lands that produce mana....4 islands. Also, when you pass the turn with three mana up, then end of turn, ritual into a boil out of nowhere, it gets people. When you compete in a large event, you are going to win games in many ways and they all need to add up. Gutteral reaponse is good, but does it win the game or just extend it? A resolved boil wins on the spot.
If you feel comfortable, let us know your name so we can follow you in the standings at the classic on Sunday. Before you play, I hope you get to read my tournament report from the Philly classic, specifically the part about being a better player in general.
Devin Ryan is the government name associated with my account lol. Yeah i'll be on it. I'm on page 21, post 506 for previous stuff and I've read from my initial post up to now. If I don't get the Philly shakedown I'll search it out at the end of this weekend. I'll be going competitive on Saturday.
Yeah I respect the Boil counter argument. I was just curious if anyone successfully boiled out 2+ Islands more than once? I was thinking Gut doesn't end the game, but if I tap out for Chandra with an SSG in hand and Gut in response to Cryptic, I think that might be game ending - or not - or they untap bounce Chandra and draw, then counter Chandra on the way back down.
But after talking to one of my playgroup members, I respect the line of Boil on their EOT and then enter my turn with hopefully their counter mana drained, or Ritual into it when no one is expecting it. I think I was misplaying it in my mind as sorcery speed. I'll stay true to the Boil, but I was def trying to get my ideas about Guttural into the atmosphere.
Ultimately, this will be my first real big tournament. I played an SCG IQ last summer, but I was on mono-red burn back then and didn't know ANYTHING. Now its real. All the tourny talk is def a help and I'm open to suggestions and tips from the whole mountain. I think you're right in saying that I'll need to win in multiple ways. I think sometimes I get a linear mind and think, I need to get X to win, instead of evaluating the array of possibilities that exist based on the match. I'm working on it. I'm working on staying off tilt too. I don't tilt often, but when i tilt, I am TILTED. Turn 1 basic Island - I AM TILTED!!! lol jk, but there's some seriousness to that. I'm working on controlling my nerves, but basically I'm just excited and competitive. If anyone is going to be at Worcester let me know in a post or message or w/e. Thanks for all your time, energy and the guidance.
And RayStack... I'm sure it goes without saying, after getting some of my hoemwork done, you're the man - Thank you. Dinner's on me if you happen to find me at the Worcester SCG next weekend [$50 cap tho, I graduated college in 2017 ]
Devin Ryan is the government name associated with my account lol. Yeah i'll be on it. I'm on page 21, post 506 for previous stuff and I've read from my initial post up to now. If I don't get the Philly shakedown I'll search it out at the end of this weekend. I'll be going competitive on Saturday.
Yeah I respect the Boil counter argument. I was just curious if anyone successfully boiled out 2+ Islands more than once? I was thinking Gut doesn't end the game, but if I tap out for Chandra with an SSG in hand and Gut in response to Cryptic, I think that might be game ending - or not - or they untap bounce Chandra and draw, then counter Chandra on the way back down.
But after talking to one of my playgroup members, I respect the line of Boil on their EOT and then enter my turn with hopefully their counter mana drained, or Ritual into it when no one is expecting it. I think I was misplaying it in my mind as sorcery speed. I'll stay true to the Boil, but I was def trying to get my ideas about Guttural into the atmosphere.
Ultimately, this will be my first real big tournament. I played an SCG IQ last summer, but I was on mono-red burn back then and didn't know ANYTHING. Now its real. All the tourny talk is def a help and I'm open to suggestions and tips from the whole mountain. I think you're right in saying that I'll need to win in multiple ways. I think sometimes I get a linear mind and think, I need to get X to win, instead of evaluating the array of possibilities that exist based on the match. I'm working on it. I'm working on staying off tilt too. I don't tilt often, but when i tilt, I am TILTED. Turn 1 basic Island - I AM TILTED!!! lol jk, but there's some seriousness to that. I'm working on controlling my nerves, but basically I'm just excited and competitive. If anyone is going to be at Worcester let me know in a post or message or w/e. Thanks for all your time, energy and the guidance.
And RayStack... I'm sure it goes without saying, after getting some of my hoemwork done, you're the man - Thank you. Dinner's on me if you happen to find me at the Worcester SCG next weekend [$50 cap tho, I graduated college in 2017 ]
Flames always on.
DR
You'll see from my tournament reports that boil has been huge when played. Sometimes you can't get a moon out and boil hits 5 lands or more. I've even boiled a grixis shadow player who tapped three lands to play a 5/5 zombie fish. in response, i boiled away ALL his lands.
Don't get comfortable with Chandra vs. UW decks. I've gotten turn one Chandra many times vs them and I've lost a good amount of those game. What, turn one Chandra and you still lost.....how can this be? Because Detention sphere is a card, that's how. Jeskai will burn it, UW can sphere it, so the Gutteral Response only guarantees it resolves, not that it sticks.
As far as playing is concerned, you are always winning. In your mind, you are always winning. You have to play the game that way and more often than not, you will win. Identify what you need to do to win the game, then play and ACT like that's gonna happen. There's an art and a science here and to perform well at competitive magic at a high level, you need to hone this skill. Every time the situation changes, you have to identify how you get out of it and then play like that's what going to happen. you opponent will feel like they are losing then make stupid plays out of desperation despite the fact they were ahead the whole time. Remember, this is a skill not taught by playing MTGO. the Jedi Mind Tricks don't work online, but are great in real life.
Lastly, play your lands last, especially vs decks with counterspells. There were many games I won where I had 5 land in play, and tried to drop a powerful 3 mana lock piece knowing that it was NOT the piece I needed, watched it get countered, then drop my 6th land and play the lock piece I really want. For example, VS a UW control opponent in the Philly classic, I had a bridge in play stopping all his colonnades. At the end of my turn, he bounced it with cryptic command and then took his turn, attacked with a 4/4 land, then passed, holding up cryptic mana. I had 5 lands in play and drew land #6. I drew my card and immediately cast the bridge again, stopping to ask if it was getting countered and acting like it was going to. I was like....bridge, is this resolving? with an expression like we all knew it was getting countered. Well, he took the bair and countered the bridge with his remaining 4 mana cryptic command. Then I dropped my land and played a blood moon. He had one island, no plains, and was out of the game right there. Colonnade stopped. Snap counter stopped because of one island. I won that game. Now, had I dropped my land first, he could have paused and thought....what if he has a blood moon. with only two lands left after playing bridge, that wasn't on his radar.
Lastly, don't get tilted. People who play this deck are not allowed to get tilted. we are turn one blood mooning people, turn one chalice'ing people, or turn on rabblemastering people. we GIVE the tilt, not the other way around. at the end of the day, someone has to win and hopefully it's us. If someone has a deck capable of stopping everything we do, like Jund for instance, then that's how it goes.
I'm down with the Jedi mind tricks and I'm going to re-read that post before FNM tomorrow to stay in that right mind set. I have 'The Art of War' on my To-Read List, after the forum pages from 21-50 lol.
Yeah the words of wisdom help. I'll do my best to stay off tilt and stay in the positive mindset. At the end of the day - I am winning. I love this deck. Yeah sure, sometimes I draw 18 lands and wanna throw the entire library, but I know better, I love turn 1 Blood Moon, I love turn 1 Chalice on the play, I love top decking bridge when I'm hell-bent... love love love it. Your technical notes are super helpful. I think sometimes I think the line, and maybe even see it, but having someone who has executed the line and polished the implementation give you the 411 helps the play stick. Like the too take out or not bridge call against some U/W Control build. I know where I stand on it, not because I've found myself in the scenario 50 times, but because I have read and thought about the points and contributions being made by all the voices in our discussion here. It takes a village and I'm thankful to have one that I can call upon.
I'm def ready for FNM and Competitive League this weekend... I hope the two Friendly post-ban 3-2s I've pulled down have maybe kept a few photons in our seemingly gloomy meta. But as far as my mindset for the meta goes - bring it. I got into the deck because all I see in modern are the greediest mana bases and I know how they get punished.
Moons up fellow mountainfolk - no one likes a cry baby.
So, we went 3-2 last night in a comp league. should have been 4-1, but I misplayed in game three vs eldrazi tron and it cost us the game.
Was watching the lastest VS series today on SCG website and something clicked.....They were playing vintage and Ross Merrium led on a turn on, land, Mox, Defense grid...that could be better than boil. Costs two, potential turn one play, and we only play two instants that actually do anything (Abrade) on the opponents turn. Defense Grid could be a fantastic addition to our sideboard, even two perhaps. they don't have diminishing returns....meaning that once you have one out, the second one is not a dead draw, like blood moon. And, in a field of Jace, this might be the way to go. Making Cryptic command cost 7 is a big deal. I know someone suggested Defense Grid in the past, but Blue deck we're not as prevalent than as they are now. Anyway, give me your thoughts...is defense Grid good enough for our board? if yes, how many? The only match we really were just cold to last night was UR control. Lots is islands.
Yeah man! Why not? I understand you've had success with Boil, I have not - but likely because I wasn't working the line the right way. I hate getting my stuff countered and wanted to come up with a spot for that and since I had such high hopes for Boil without actualization, I wanted to breakup. Like I thought you were going to fulfill my dreams and bring a world of pain on a blue players, but instead you have just fueled their ability to mock my attempts at casting spells.
I'm in. I might not be able to grab one before FNM tonight. If I can, I will, if not I'll run Boil with the new mindset of jamming it on the opponents EOT to deplete their counter mana.
Last night was SICK. I loved watching the Pyro and bouncing my ideas off you live... get another monitor Stickball c'mon. I'm sure you can work it into the budget being an FA and all lol. Either way it was great to see, I get the notifications to my phone so I'll jump in whenever you're on.
As for the other deck - yeah whenever I have wandering eyes they do seem to head to the Hollow Vine type strategies sans random shenanigans. I passed out like match 2, but I did see when you dropped tons of creatures like Turn 1 or 2. ALL THAT SAID.... ya know... I'm faithful to Pyro Prison at this point in my life. I can't be tempted by jank budget land destruction decks, or Hollow One graveyard shenanigans. I'm locked in and trying to refine my skills with the deck so that my sideboarding is second nature and my ability to find and utilize the most proactive line is razor sharp.
Thanks for the great content, and I hope some of the others find time to check out your league from last night on Twitch.
*Insert sound of fire* [not like campfire sounds but like blowtorch type fire]
Yeah I forgot to comment about this. I was certainly thinking about the transformational sideboard idea discussed at the top of the page by StickBall. I was thinking switching gears into to Skred after using a lock piece to take down game 1. I didn't think about the burn angle though... awesome idea.
Alright, I guess I'm jamming pyro prison for the forseeable future. Mistakes happen and the reason why I play in comp leagues isn't because the payout is higher, although that;s nice. It's because the mistakes hurt a LOT more. had I not made that mistake, the payout would have been 180 points (60 more than entry) and 8 treasure chests. that ETron mistake vost me 60 points and 7 chests. Also, about boil, it didn't come up vs the blue opponent, but think about how it would have looked if it did....counter this or lose right now. Seriously, that's what would have happened. a resolved boil would have changed your mind instantly.
Maybe I'll take out one shattering spree for a defense grid. I keep going to shattering spree as my flex sideboard card of choice because Affinity is going to be less popular int he new meta (jund beats affinity the same way it beats us) and with playing 2 walking ballista, 2 slagstorm, and 2 abrade maindeck, I'm kinda already pre-boarded for that match. More testing tonight. I would get out to an FNM tonight, but not feeling great and taking a Z-Pac, which can be very unpredictable with how your tummy reacts. I think I figured out how to get twitvh to save my streams, so even if you can't tune in live, maybe you'll catch a replay.
Hello all,
I have been reading this post for a couple of months now, and I have been playing with a version pretty close to Stickballruss' stock deck list during that period too. This is my first time posting, but I wanted to say that I really enjoy reading the posts and playing this deck. Stickballruss' post this morning prompted me to post what I will be trying at a paper tournament tonight. I have been using Defense Grid as a sideboard option for a while now, and I really like it because it seems that everyone here in Atlanta plays control and I can never resolve Boil.
So, for tonight, I am trying something crazy. I have replaced the two main Magus of the Moon with two Spellskites and have replaced the two Walking Ballista with two Defense Grid. I will try to take notes and give an update on how things go this weekend.
Let me know how it goes....especially the magus replacement. Not too keen on the main deck defense grid, but if your store is 80% blue players, then it makes perfect sense.
Side note, just saw some spoilers for Dominaria. No details yet, but apparently Chandra AND Jaya Ballatd are going to be present. that's two bites at the apples for an efficient three-mana planeswalker, or maybe something that's better than Koth!
Alright, Jaya Ballard, Task Mage -- reincarnated. She's kind of like Boil: misses most matchups. Buuuut, if it's the right place and time, she's dynamite. Keep the islands & lose the Jace, hombré!
Thx for offer on dinner - kind - but, can't accept.
I carefully reviewed your (2) Tournament Reports and was impressed by your honest self-assessment and game theorying. The following are some notes on my understanding of where I might differ with your pivots. Experience notwithstanding, they're just suggestions. It's not helpful to state absolutes like "definitely/always/never" - otherwise, a discussion turns into a lecture.
Tourney 1 Round 2: G/b Tron - In the 1st game, you laid out a 2nd blood moon against an onboard Oblivion Stone. Indeed, you mentioned it was a 'likely misplay'. Probably. At Turns 3-5, that deck rarely has an answer for 1 moon before he'll have need to blow the O-Stone to take out the playfield. Best, to relay the 2nd one after the nuke, and hope he stalls on lands.
Round 4: Mardu Pyromancer - A whole lot of IDK going on here, for alllll us kin. It depends on your individual construction. I promote a pivot to defense. The rise of this deck has forced me to abandon Tormenting Voice builds, and add an extra Spellskite to my Stock List deck. One sideboarding maneuver that seems askew: take out Pia and Kiran Nalaar. It's a suicide mission to leave them in, and they'll do little damage throwing shock bombs over the bridge. The only real argument for leaving them in is to keep knocking down Liliana of the Veil - but that's a desperation play.
Round 5: Affinity - On sideboarding, I'd bring in all of your sweepers. And, I'd leave in Koth of the Hammer. Further, and this is something that I've discussed with a friend at my LGS that ran Pyro Prison on MTGO for months and competitively plays Affinity in paper (and does v. well), do not bring in Eidolon of the Great Revel. I know that you mentioned that Eidolon worked well for you that day, but generally he won't outrace typical affinity draws & he undermines your bridge turtle-down.
Tournament 2 Round 2: G/W Vizier/Coco/Chord [[read: Sweeper Discussion Evaluation]]- Versions of this deck were once our worst matchup. As it's evolved, so has my sideboard. The critical change was to move away from the Infinite Life tactic and towards the Walking Ballista/Rhonas the Indomitable game ending tactic - which occurred all at once on the opponents turn. This significantly reduced the effectiveness of Anger of the Gods, and raised the effectiveness of Return of Kozilek. Also, Damping Matrix became an avalanche of shushing Keanu 'Neo' Reeves on their Sunday parade. Sure, the Anger still helps, but let the Grafdigger's Cage shut off that final angle.
Surely Anger of the Gods has other premier matchups, right? Well, it punches Dredge in the goonies, but it's not a knockout. I consider Dredge to be a heavy favorite for us, anyway. Whereas, Return of Kozilek knocks down manlands (affinity/infect) & flash/blink creatures & haste creatures (Looking at BBE). Plus, you can stack the play as an instant. Koz does miss 3-toughness critters, but I don't see that as overly-prohibitive.
Otherwise, looks good buddy. Keep watching Russ on Twitch, and continue to tinker. I'll see you next week in the 2nd largest city in New England, Wormtown, Home of the 7 Hills, Wustah......Worcester.
Ray... Thanks a lot man. I stopped in to post/review my notes from my last league before I head to FNM and what a delightful surprise. I did my sideboard write up for tonight and of course I have all the Eidolons going in vs Affinity - hah. I'm going to get there early and I'll certainly work that, and the rest of the advice you so kindly provided, in. I want to provide a more thoughtful response - right now though I'm pressed for time, we launch at 7 and I wanted to get the League posting off my to-do list hah.
Same build as League 02. Trying to step into this one with thoughts about my nut draw. I want the moon effect primarily. I looked through my old matches and lands were key – as I would anticipate, or should. I think if I’m holding threats and two lands, I should not be afraid to go in on it with or without additional acceleration. Of course, ideally one of the other 5 is an acceleration piece, but if there’s not one there, there’s a 78% chance that I’ll hit one of them in the next two draws [http://stattrek.com/online-calculator/hypergeometric.aspx].
Match 01 – Storm [2-1]:
Game01 W – On the draw
2 Lands, 2 Bridges, Koth, Moon, Magus.
Storm signal received via Reef and sleight of hand. Turn 2 I have two lands down and 2 Bridges, Moon, Chandra, Magus, Koth and as I go to my draw I am reminded of the write-up I wrote in the beginning before I began the league. 78%. SSG is the draw – Turn 3 Blood Moon, he’s got no blue sources and Baral. Ritual is my next draw and I hold up because I can only get to three R and what’s Magus really going to do in the face of Baral. Baral beats until Turn 7 – Gemstone is the draw and as I’m writing this I was about to type Chandra kills Baral, but for some reason in the moment I was thinking I need faster damage. He was at 17 from fetches and shocks – so I went with Koth and got to work. Kept Chandra in hand when I drew Magus got to work with the squad on the ground FTW.
Sideboard: -4 Bridges, -1 Slag
+1 Spellskite, +2 Cages, +2 Eidolon
Game 02 L
SSG, Land, Gemstone, 2 Rabs, Abrade, Magus – On the Play.
Let’s get it – right? IDK man. Not today. Opponent mulls to 6 and comments that last game I was very lucky. Says he had 5 draws with 8 outs and didn’t hit once - :-/. Exile Rabs Turn 1 Moon – what’s up now huh? He goes Electromancer. Like a good boy I hold up on Rabs and Abrade Electromancer. Maybe I should have Abraded on his turn? IDK – doubt it. Rabs is going to work PnK in hand and we’re on Turn 4, I draw SSG. PnK is the play, I have him at 7 – he goes off.
Sideboard: No change.
Game 03 W
Gemstone, Ritual, Land, Chalice, Koth, Magus, Ballista. On the play.
He keeps 7, I rip Chalice on 1 turn 2. This game has an AWESOME moment haha. Turn 3 he cashes in some Storm shenanigans and empties for 8 Goblins. Last turn, I drew my one of sweeper, good ol’ Slag. Turn 3 the draw is Ritual. YESSSSSS. I guess I do get lucky sometimes. HAHAH. Rip the Slag and wipe the board – follow up with Magus he scoops.
Match 02 – U/B Mill [2-0]:
Game01 W – on the play
Land, Gemstone, Chalice, Koth, Rabs, Ballista – scry land to the top.
I mulliganed, 3 Lands, Mutavault, Rabs, Ballista, Abrade. Turn 2 he rips Glimpse the Unthinkable. On my draw step he rips Surgical on Chalice. It takes literally 3 minutes for him to come back – I jokingly say did you write it all down [on the Surgical search]? He says, “Nah screenshot” – Hah – I had the Mtggoldfish U/B Mill list open on my second monitor – Oh life. Back to business. Ballista on 1. He goes Mesmeric Orb. I follow up with Rabs on Turn 4 instead of Blood Moon. He had a basic island and swap down, so all I would have hit was a Watery Grave – I needed the speed of the Goblin Beast and his Motley Crew. He goes Fraying Sanity and I draw Koth. I had another Gemstone in hand, one on the battlefield and two lands down, sans creature count. I do what we all know how to – tap the Gemstone, float the mana, play the Gemstone, cast Koth, untap mountain, swing and get him down to 1. Remove the counter from Ballista FTW.
Sideboard: -4 Bridge, -1 Slag.
+1 Spellskite, +2 Spree, +2 Boil [oh please let me Boil someone for once!] Game 02 W
2 Lands, Gemstone, Koth, Ballista, Ritual, Abrade
Let’s get it. I exiled Ballista to respond to the Gemstone trigger and got to work. Land, Ritual, Rabs, Turn 1 – kickstart my heart – you. He goes mesmeric orb. Turn 2, me, draw is SSG. I go Land, SSG, Koth, -2, Abrade mesmeric orb. Swing with Rabs and 2 more. He’s at 10. Turn 3 he goes Bridge… 4 cards in hand – swing with the crew on the crackback FTW Turn 3.
Turn 1, Mutavault and Chalice on 1 met with Spell Pierce – oh no, my Kryptonite… Control… or so I thought. Land, Mutavault attack, he’s got Jeskai mana up, draw Gemstone. I see no value in Bridge, I lay off and next turn he does a land go. I try for PnK – Cryptic. I get on Mutavault beats, he bolts. I try to jam Koth – Snap, Cryptic. Turn 10 comes along I have bridge down and 5 mana. He goes Gifts, Unburial Rights, Emeria, names Red – GGs.
Mutavault, Ritual, Koth, Rabs, Moon, PnK. Scryed Chalice… to the top? What? Umm?
I mulliganed, Mutalvault, Ritual, Chalice, Chandra, Rabs, Bridge, Slag. Of course, I pay the price for keeping one land and that’s that with this game. He did his thing – Firewalker beats for a while and then he had the control game on lock down. At ease my fellow mountainfolk – next round is a great match-up.
Match 04 – Bogels [2-1]
Game01 W – on the draw
Land, Gemstone, SSG, Ballista, Rabs, Chalice and Chandra.
Pre-game I Gemstone with Ballista, he Leylines and follows up with the Gladecover. Buckled-up. I respond with Chalice on 1. Turn 2 I SSG into a Chandra and he scoops.
Sideboard: -2 Abrade, -2 Ballista, -1 PnK
+1 Spellskite, +2 Anger, +1 Eidolon, +1… yup of course I did… Hazoret
Game 02 L
2 Bridges, Koth, Mutavault, 3 Lands
Turn 3 he gets to work. 5/5 Bogel with all the goodies hits me and he’s up to 21. I had 2 bridges, Koth, Land, Gemstone and Hazoret in hand on Turn 4 and drew SSG. I could have played Koth, but I had no protection, so I knew Hazoret would be useless, but at least I could off load her now and maybe use the 3 mana ability if I need to after I bridge next turn. I draw a ritual, rip Koth, -2, rip Bridge, two cards in hand – YOU! Seal of Primo[w/e] is his next play, I have two cards in hand and Hazoret and Koth down. He blows the bridge, kills Koth with a 1/1 that just came off summoning sick and gets me for like 8 or 9. Chandra and Bridge two is my next play – empty handed…. LET’S GO!!!!.... ANOTHER SEAL! I use Haz to hold off his 1, but I had taken two licks from the beefy Bogel and was down to like 3. He gets at the player instead of at Chandra and let’s me tick it up. I get down to 1, play Magus to stop the 1/1 beats, Chandra at 6, tick it up, he’s at 50. He plays another Bogel, I get Chandra up to 7, but at 1 Life and two blockers, his three win.
Sideboard: No change
Game 03 W
2 Lands, Gemstone, Hazoret, Chandra, Moon and Anger.
Why not? He gets a Bogel going and gets Gaddock down too. Turn 3, I slow roll the Anger, because he’s on a Plains and a non-basic so Blood Moon and go. He plays Spiritdancer. YES MY PATIENCE IS REWARDED. I draw – Slagstorm… YESSSSSS. I anger he scoops.
Match 05 – G/R Eldrazi [1-2]:
I really wanted this one. I tried my best to focus on the lines and not get ahead of myself. I found the decklist immediately. Sighs…
Game01 W – On the play
3 Lands, Chandra, Chalice, Moon, Ritual.
He goes R/G painland and Hierarch. I go land. He follows with Temple. I must moon now, no shenanigans or I’ll pay for it via TKS. Moon go. He’s frozen. Hierarch beats for a moment, Chandra down… he double bolts it. I say, “Ah C’mon”. He responds, “You’re playing Prison, you don’t get to complain”. I retort, “Is that a Temple I see?”. He asks confused when he says “Who?”. Hah. I get Chalice on 1 and 2, Rabs down and working, Turn 7, he’s still at Hierarch and then he lands Eldrazi Obligator and goes to work with it. I get PnK, he gets another Obligator. I PnK both Obligators with a Thopter and a third drawn Chalice that I dropped on 0 same turn FTW.
This is where I’ll record missing the opportunity to board in Torpor Orb, and I will also record my confusion with my sideboarding, why did I go down sweepers? I think this was sincerely wrong.
Game 02 L
1 Land, SSG, 2 Chalice, Rabs, Chandra – Scry second Rabs to bottom.
I mulliganed 3 Lands, 2 Abrades, Ritual Chandra because I had no Blood Moon because I had no Blood Moon. I get the land I needed and get a Chalice on 1 down. He grudges it. He has a Hierarch and 2 Lands and Temple – Yup TKS takes my other Chalice. I get Rabs working but with a TKS out, ya know. I get Chandra down, kill TKS. He goes Smasher kills Chandra. Then goes another smasher and beats me down FTW. I think that’s why I boarded out my removal… its not good against a crew like Smasher and TKS.
I mulliganed, 4 Lands, Bridge, Ballista, Rabs. I liked this hand A LOT. I was so ready to tear it up and I was focused. Last game of the League – Let’s go. Turn 2 Moon. He goes Turn 2… MIND STONE…. NOOO. I get a Spellskite down to meet his Reshaper. He gets another. I go Ritual into Koth. He goes Grudge on Spellskite, lethal to Koth. I get Chalice on 1 down. He’s got another Reshaper…. GREAT. I go Rabs, he goes TKS. He goes Eldrazi Obligator, steals Rabs, FTW. Sad lose crew. But all-in all I enjoyed the League.
Alright crew. GL at your FNMs. I'll try to get some notes for a report.
For those who are building the deck or thinking about putting it together, it just got easier. With Chandra TOD and Hazoret being reprinted in the Challenger decks their prices will tank especially when they get closer to rotation.
Good afternoon everyone. FNM tournament report upcoming... I did not hunt down the Defense Grid... I was running tight on time but got there early enough to relax and talk my game plan over with a friend of mine. While doing so, I noticed another player, who I have previously matched up with - I was on Boros Burn and he was on Affinity. It was a very unfun game to say the least. I told my friend about the experience and the match-ups get posted... you know it. I'm playing him round one in a 20+ person LGS FNM.
I sat down and felt the heat immediately. The same, tense, inhospitable environment was established by him on his side of the table. I felt it creep over onto my side of the table and I left the moment. I saw myself at the base of our Pyro Prison mountain and I thought to myself... nah bro - it's my time. Took off my jacket, sipped my water and pile shuffled my deck for the second time after he had already presented during my FIRST pile shuffle.
Let's get into it... [my notes got weaker as the evening went on so the details won't be MTGO specific, but I hope I can convey the important aspects]
Match 01 - HomeBrew: Form of the Dragon Focused [2-1]
Game 01 W
I was on the play and started with a nice blend of Moon effects, SSG, 2 lands, chalice. I went land go on the play. He plays a path, and since I have a moon and two Magus I think screw it I'll eat a path and get my third land. I go Magus over Chalice on 1 first, because I really didn't know what he was on and if Chalice on 2 would be lethal I didn't wanna let that opportunity go by. I had Magus to apply pressure, and I had moon to lock up the effect if he kills my Maggies. He paths one, I follow up with the Chalice, then another, then Rabs and Chandra showed up. I only really saw Journey to Nowhere, a bounce land or two and a path. I wasn't sure what he was on so going to sideboarding I was light. I was light all throughout the evening.
I'll just hit that aside really quick. I know this may be a cardinal sin, but honestly often throughout the night I wanted to sideboard into my main deck more. Sometimes I would shave a PnK to get quicker, or get some more artifact hate [Abrade hello] into the main. I didn't really match-up against any run of the mill tier decks either.
Game 02 L
I'm a little more fuzzy about the details on this one. I know he got some ramp on via Blood Sun + Bounce Land synergy. I was beating him down with Rabs and a mountain, then he got Unlife down and Form of the Dragon and I knew how that story ended.
I was certainly down Bridges at this point, and likely Slags. I think I went up skite, Haz and Eidolon. I was worried that I had few answers for enchantments, so I thought the best answer was to get faster and get it down before he can make it expensive for me to operate via Thalia and Sphere of Safety or w/e.
Game 03 W
Here we go fellas. The work, the preparation, the attention to fringe details pays off HARDCORE here. We get it poppin' as usual and I'm on our fast flavor, but I remember thinking, damn I have no mana acceleration, but I can curve out into a Chalice on 1, Magus, Rabs, Koth type of line-up... let's do it. So I do so. I'm a little worried about Runed Halo, and honestly every time he started by naming Ballista, and I'd draw it the turn after he named it. So he names Ballista, then Rabs, but still takes Goblin beats. Then I get Koth going with a mountain. At this point I'm getting Goblin beats sans Rabs, and I add a mountain to the mix... After I swing with the Mountain its his turn... Runed Halo... naming.... "BRB I need a judge"... I've been here before... against Thopter Sword he Pithing Needled my mountain and I missed the opportunity punish his punt by saying "HA! I have have snow-covered mountains". Back to Game 03 from this FNM, he names Mountain, and I look down at my beautiful 2-2 split of Snow-covered Mountain and Full Art Amonkhet [the first set I played in sealed stuff with when I got back into magic after a 20 year hiatus] mountain. I draw Slag... yes... even sweeter. I rip slag off the top with 2 snow-covered mountains and one regular full art mountain. I go to plus the Koth and say... well I'll certainly use this to untap my SNOW-covered Mountain. He looks up and says "no... no way... is that seriously the interaction? you know that?" I say let's just get a judge... judge comes over and says "what did you name with Runed Halo? Oh Mountain? Well this card says Snow-Covered Mountain... so I think we know what we have here". I get in with the squad and get the match. YESSS. It was so sweet. Especially because I covered that FRINGGE ass tech.
I gotta come clean though and admit a foolish punt to share with you all. I fell into auto-pilot mode at one point in the match. Koth on 5, he has leyline of sanctity out, I"m like 8 points of damage away with at least 3/4 mountains.... I ultimate Koth.... ughh you what?!?!.. I ultimated Koth... c'mon a Koth emblem wins the game damn near on the spot.... oh.... the Leyline... umm... *Hangs head*... I didn't let it get me down though, I was all the way up after that match. And you know I walked around and saw plenty of non-basics so I was ready for Match 02.
Match 02 - 4C Delver [2-0].
Game 01 W
I made a bit of a misplay to start the game. I played Magus on 1 with a Chalice in hand. He used his fetch to bolt Magus, then he cracked it after the effect was lifted. He a delver down, and I followed up with something like a Chandra I think. Then a moon, then the chalice on 1, then he scooped.
I didn't really know how to sideboard here. I didn't see a ton of cards and this was a moment where I was like, yeah, my main deck seems like it's going to eat this match-up. Do I have any more blood moons or chalices or bridges or pressure? Maybe Eidolon, but everything was working, so I think I went down a PnK to get spellskite or Eidolon.
He took out all his removal.
Game 02 W
I got Rabs #1 going on turn 2 after he spell pierced my Chalice. Then he played a delver and I got Rabs down Turn 2... he answered Rabs #1... I played Rabs #2... he answered that, but still, tokens lingered. I played Rabs #3 and said he was shocked he answered the first two b/c he sided out his creature removal. Bagged up.
Match 03 - Amulet[?] Titan
Game 01 W
Chalice on 1 and Blood moon by turn 3 and he had all non-basics down. He got down some artifact and had some snake [all his cards were in Japanese]. I killed the snake and had a PnK or Chandra working.
Game 02 W
Much of the same. I kept a one lander here and I got the land on the Scry. It was meant to be.
Match 03 - MonoWhite Taxes
Game 01 W
We agreed to split the 1st place prize but I asked him to play it out. It was another slaughter fest. He had Aether Vile down, and he was able to get some shenanigans going with the end of his turn, flashing in kitchen finks, or Arbiter. But either way I got through with Planeswalker damage.
Sideboard: Turn up artifact hate, down PnK dialed down the moons too.
Game 02 W
Same deal... took it down early and fast.
SO THERE WE HAVE IT. 4-0*. My first ever modern LGS tournament victory. I've said goodbye to 2-2s and 3-1s with Burn and now I'm comfortably moving into 3-1s and now a 4-0. LET'S GO. I had an awesome time, I think I played well, but I did wonder about my light sideboarding. I was really happy with the 60. The only feeling I really had was go down bridge and get faster in that enchantment match.
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I love reading the old stuff to see how the deck has come alive. Its cool to be a part of the community and big shout outs to RayStack. Thanks for putting this all together... Anyway without further adu(?)
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Blood Moon
2 Magus of the Moon
4 Ensnaring Bridge
Accelerators
4 Desperate Ritual
1 Pyretic Ritual
4 Simian Spirit Guide
Pressure
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Koth of the Hammer
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Slagstorm
2 Walking Ballista
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2 Abrade
Lands
17 Snow-Covered Mountain
3 Gemstone Caverns
1 Mutavault
2 Shattering Spree
1 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Boil
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Torpor Orb
1 Spellskite
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
League 01
Match 01 – U/W Miracles [2-0]:
Game01 W
Chalice, Chandra, SSG, Rab, 2 Lands… Scry Blood Moon to top
Time walked with Chalice on one for turn one, then lucked into another SSG for Rabs on Turn 2. I had 3 lands, Chandra, ritual and Blood moon. I cast Blood moon to protect Chan. Opponent says he misclicked and meant to negate it. He left up counter mana, and I didn’t want to run Chandra into a counter, so I waited. Then he tapped down around half to play Auger on his turn. I made a mistake on my turn. I should have Ritualed prior to casting Chandra. He got it with a Censor, but also probably had some other type of counter. Ballista X=2 for the win.
Game02 W
2 Chalice, 1 Land, 1 Bridge, 1 Moon, 1 SSG, 1 Ritual
Ripped the moon off the top. He had an Island so I cast stuff into counters for a while. Held up on a Ritual and caught a Ballista. I cast it X=2 with the Ritual so I had mana leak cover. Terminus. Then I built up an army with Rabs and three goblins for the win.
Match 02 – B/G Tron [1-2]:
Game01 L
Chandra, Koth, Blood Moon, Two Lands, Ritual. Scry bridge to the top.
Chandra, Koth, Blood Moon Two Lands, Ritual was kept after mulliganing away Two Rabs, 1 Land, Koth, Ritual, Two Moons. I ran out Blood Moon turn 2 after he showed Tron. I likely misplayed here. I played a second blood moon. He followed up with an O-stone. I went with Koth and kept Chandra in hand because I thought Koth would do more damage faster and I could hold Chandra for later. I drew rabs and held off. He had mountain-tron online on Turn 5 and ripped the O-stone. Without Blood Moon he was able to rip Ugin and shut it down.
Sideboard: -4 Ensnaring Bridge, -1 Walking Ballista, Slagstorm -2, PnK -1
+3 Eidolon, +2 Shattering Spree, +2 Spyglass, +1 Spellskite
Game 02 W
Chalice, 3 Lands, Ballista, 2 Magus
Kept all 7. He played lands and hit stirrings on his Turn 1. By turn 5 I had 2 sprees and 1 spyglass in hand and 2 Magus and 1 X=2 Ballista on the field. Beatdowns.
Sideboard: No Changes.
Game 03 L
Chalice, Spyglass, 2 Lands, Ritual, Rabs
Turn 2 Chalice on 1 was late to the party. Stirrings and Star got through. I played Rabs, he responded with Karn and then grabbed the Chalice. I finished Karn with Rabs. I spyglass – he has Brutality and Sphere. I don’t know. He has 8 lands out, and I got burned so hard by Ugin earlier, and I have Rabs with 2 Goblins on the battlefield. I named Ugin. He rips Karn and wins.
Match 03 U/W Control [2-0]:
Game01 W
Land, Chandra, Moon, PnK, Magus, Ritual. Scryed to the bottom the second Ritual.
I kept after mulliganing Two Chalices, Moon, Rabs, Slagstorm, Land, Bridge. Got the land and turn 2 had Moon down. I got a Chalice on 1 down after he snap blocked my Magus. Second Rabs got down. Game over Turn 7.
Sideboard: -2 Abrade, -1 Bridge, -1PnK, -2 Slagstorm
+1 Spellskite, +2 Grafdiggers, +2 Spyglass, +1 Boil
Game 02 W
Gemstone, Mutavault, 2 Rituals, Moon, Bridge, Land
Turn 2 Blood Moon. Chalice on 1. I played bridge before Koth because he had mana up so I wanted to at least try to sucker out the counter. I spyglass Jura. We go back and forth for a while, MTGO error and freeze after you spyglass so I don’t remember the nitty gritty on this, but I do remember the opponent having a chance to snap back Sphinx’s Rev. I won the attrition match, but don’t recall if Koth was the key or not.
Match 04 – Mardu Pyromancer [0-2]:
Game01 L
Koth, bridge, magus, and 3 lands
I mulliganed 2 ritual, 1 moon and 4 lands. Inquisition and thoughtseize first three turns, I have a bridge and a land after all is said and done. K-command busts bridge and Bedlam and a bunch of elementals break through.
Sideboard: -2 Abrade, -1 Koth
+1 Spellskite, +1 Spyglass, +1 Torpor Orb
Game 02 L
Magus, Bridge, Rabs, Gemstone, 2 Lands
I mulliganed 1 Chalice, 2 Bridge, 1 Ritual, 1 Chandra, 1 Land, 1 Rabs. I scryed a land to the top – I don’t know why, I guess this is the space to record my feeling of doom in the matchup. Double Thoughtseize left me at a crossroad. Spellskite or Rabs on Turn 3, I picked spellskite hoping to protect against discard or removal on rabs. He K-commands spellskite and makes me discard the rabs – only card in hand. Bridge got down again, and I was hellbent. Got a second bridge down. Pyromancer built an army while I played land after land behind the bridge. Eventually he found the third K-command and shut it down.
Match 05 – Affinity [2-1]:
Game01 L
Mutavault, Land, Ritual, Bridge and 2 Abrade. Scryed Koth to the bottom.
I mulliganed Chandra, 2 Rituals, Bridge, Chalice, 1 Land, Abrade and I was on the play so I missed the opportunity to Chalice on 0, and I don’t think you’d ever know to chalice on 0 game 1 unless you saw an ancestral or something. I double ritualed to get a Chandra down instead of getting the bridge down. I wouldn’t have the rituals for both. Got the bridge down, chalice on 1 and a blood moon. He’s got the usual suspects, plating, drum, etched champion. Ornithopter and equips it with plating to circumvent the bridge.
Sideboard: - 4 Rabs, -1 Koth, -1 Koth
+2 Spree, +1 Spellskite, +2 Eidolon, +1 spyglass
Game 02 W
2 SSG, 1 Ritual, 1 Moon, 1 Eidolon, 2 Gemstones
I dropped Eidolon turn 1 because I couldn’t get the red mana on turn 2 for eidolon if I led on Moon. He thoughtseized my moon, but I was able to get a Magus down. He’s got an army, spellskite, overseer, all that. I chalice on 1 with an Eidolon and Magus. Slagstorm comes up. Eidolon got him down enough that I was able to Slag for the win.
Sideboard: No changes
Game 03 W
Eidolon, Bridge, Slag, Mutavault and 3 Lands
He had one land until turn 4 and all I had done was play Eidolon. He gets plating on a thopter and I get another slag and a koth, I play Koth and hold up with double slag in hand and 4 lands down. Eidolon and Koth get him down to 4 and yup, double slag for the win.
League 02:
Build
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Blood Moon
2 Magus of the Moon
4 Ensnaring Bridge
Accelerators
4 Desperate Ritual
1 Pyretic Ritual
4 Simian Spirit Guide
Pressure
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Koth of the Hammer
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Slagstorm
2 Walking Ballista
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2 Abrade
Lands
17 Snow-Covered Mountain
3 Gemstone Caverns
1 Mutavault
2 Shattering Spree
1 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Boil
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Torpor Orb
1 Spellskite
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
This was played post Jace unban. I figured there is likely to be an increased frequency of blue because of this. I decided to go down 1 Eidolon and up 1 Boil in anticipation of encountering more blue based match-ups.
Match 01 – Infect [2-0]:
Game01 W
Chalice, Ballista, Bridge, Moon, Rabs, Gemstone and a Land on the play.
He had two Ink or Blink whatevers down and I turn 2 Chalice and Turn 3 Moon and he scooped.
Sideboard: -1 Koth, -1 Abrade, -2 Rabs, -1 PnK
+2 Anger,+2 Eidolon, +1 Skite
Game 02 W
2 Moon, 2 Land, 1 Abrade, 1 Slag, 1 SSG
He said he missed clicked on 6, and mulled the wrong hand. I had Blood Moon down turn 2 and I ripped slag storm to kill his agent and heirarch. He was on 4 cards to start so it was slated.
Match 02 U/W Jace Control [1-2]:
... that's just the way she goes...
Game01 L
3 Lands, Rabs and Bridge [the 6 was 5 lands and Chandra]. Scry chalice to top.
The only real misplay I likely had this entire league was letting go of my opening hand, which was the following - Chandra, Koth, Bridge, Rabs, Ritual, Land, Gemstone. Chalice on one, he had Azcanta going. He got Gideon down. I got Rabs going to pressure Gideon. I didn’t see a moon effect until Turn 5 or 6 and he had cryptic left up to eat it up. I was out of gas and he durtled until he found Jace and shut it down.
Sideboard: -1 Koth, -2 Abrade, -2 Slag
+2 Spyglass, +2 Boil, +1 Skite
Game 02 W
Gemstone, Land, Rabs, Moon, Ritual, Chandra scry bridge to bottom
I mulliganed 2 Lands, Muta, Gemstone, Ritual, Rabs and Chalice. Got a turn 2 blood moon down. He got Jace down, I followed up with Chandra. I stuck Rabs, he dropped Snap and realized I was going to eventually get to his Jace because he had no white mana.
Sideboard: Same
Game 03 L
2 Bridge, SSG, Ballista, Rabs, Land scry ritual to top.
Mulliganed Bridge, SSG, Boil, 2 Rituals and 2 Lands and Land. I went Ballista on Turn 1 via the SSG instead of waiting for Rabs. I was thinking he had a path so I’d rather Ballista eat the path early game and unload Rabs afterward. I got land 2 on Turn 5 doom was imminent. I got a spellskite down, and Rabs stuck for a minute and then verdict wiped the board. Turn 6 I had Chandra down and two bridges in hand. He got a firewalker down and bounced my Chandra. I had to hold up on the ritual because he had counter magic up every turn. He casts Path on every blocker I try to set-up so I can play Chandra. Then I sneak a Spyglass after he Cryptic counters Chandra. I set it on Jace. He plays Jace. Eventually bounces the Spyglass back to hand. Then I’m stuck trying to sneak around a counter and get the spyglass down. He ultimates Jace for the win. I was GASSED after this match… it went to 2 minutes on both of our clocks.
Match 03 G/W ValueTown [1-2]:
This match got away from me. I think I became arrogant after the first game. I don’t know, it seemed like the easiest match-up. I was putting him on CoCo company of some sort so I went the cage route.
Game01 W
2 Lands, Abrade, Chandra, Blood Moon, Rabs – scry Chalice to top
Mulligan SSG, Ritual, Bridge, Chandra, Ballista, Bridge, Moon. Chalice on 1. Blood Moon on Turn 3 and he starts getting saucy with Voice and Excavator. Abrade the X and hold up on Rabs… Chandra, Rabs and Ritual in hand with 3 lands, Chalice and Moon down. SSG the draw, Chandra off Ritual, +1 for 2 mana and SSG for Rab down. Chandra’d his Voice and got a Koth of Chandra FTW.
Sideboard: -1 PnK, -1 Rabs, -1 Koth, -1 Slagstorm
+2 Cages, +2 Spyglass
Game 02
I boarded thinking that I need to shut off the combo – I can cage shut it down or I can shut down Ballista or Druid with Spyglass.
3 Lands, Cage, SSG, 2 Magus.
Turn 1 I drop the cage of course. Then I have Magus ready turn 2. He gets Pridemage down on Turn 2 and I have Spyglass now. I’m thinking okay I shut off Pridemage if I get a bridge, my moon effect is safe until he uses the plains he has to path my magus, but I have another in hand. So I’m comfortable still. I made a mistake by not abrading the pridemage when I drew it. Instead of the mage I hit the BOP he had. This cut him off all but white mana. He got a finks down, and had pridemage and finks applying pressure while I had just the two magus, cage down and spyglass in hand. I double block an exalted finks with two magus, and he follows up with a Knight and I have no defense.
I think loose and unthoughtful play cost me the game.
Sideboard: No Changes
Game 03
Gemstone, Chalice, Ritual, Chandra and two Bridges - Scry Abrade to Bottom
I mulliganed Bridge, Magus, Ballista, Chandra, Chalice, Spyglass, Land. He got Thalia down on turn 2 and I drew Magus. I was locked out and didn’t draw another land until Turn 5. He had an army assembled by this point and though I had great cards in hand I couldn’t afford to get any down.
Match 04 – Naya Zoo w/ 5C splash [Bloodbraid top end] [2-1]:
Game01
Game 02
Sideboard: -1 Abrade, -1 PnK, -1 Koth,
+2 Anger, +1 Spellskite
Game 03 W
3 Lands, Chalice, Rabs, Blood Moon and Bridge
I knew he was on some sort of Naya Zoo type build at this point. I don’t know what was wrong with my MTGO but I don’t have games 1 and 2 available. I’m pretty sure game 1 I beat him by just destroying all his creatures. And game two I think he was too fast and I was too slow. This is a good match up though – no counter magic, just creatures. Turn 2 Chalice on 1 and then I followed it up with Bridge to meet his Gofy and Heirarch. I got Rabs down and went to work. He blasted my Rabs, I had Chandra about to come down and then I drew a Ritual so I was able to get down to one card, blood moon and I got Chandra and Bridge down simultaneously. I used Chandra to kill the Hierarch because of the exalted jazz. Then I got a Chalice on 2. Chandra was back up to 5 when he hit Bloodbraid for not much. I Slagged the players, then got another Rabs down to build up an army while I got Chandra towards her ultimate.
Match 05 – Goblins mono red [2-1]:
This is another game where arrogance bit me in the ass. I think I was like oh man this is such an easy match-up and I forgot to actually play it out. I didn’t even side out the blood moons after game 1… I don’t know. I’m sorry. That was exceptionally stupid. I got it right for game 3 though.
Game01 L
3 Lands, Ritual, Gemstone, Bridge – scry SSG to bottom.
I mulliganed 4 Lands, Gemstone, Ritual, Rabs. He got a hasty 1/1 down and then followed it up with a Mogg War Marshal. On Turn 3 I had a Ritual that I used to Chalice on 2. I was at 18 life. I figured I could get the bridge down next turn and be fine. Had I held up the chalice on two I could have ripped bridge, but I would have had 3 cards in hand. Turn 4 I’m down to 7 after getting bushwacked. Land, Ritual…. OH! Chalice on 2… idiot… that meant I had two mana up and couldn’t play the bridge. Wow…. Wow… wow. He hit for lethal I had bridge and one card in hand.
Sideboard: -1 PnK, -2 Koth
+2 Anger, +1 Spellskite
Game 02 W
I remember sideboarding and wondering if Torpor Orb shuts off Bushwacker.
3 Lands, 1 Gemstone, Ballista, 2 Chalice
He got the guide going off the top. I Chaliced on 1 on Turn 2. On Turn 3 I ritual up into a X=2 Ballista, removed a counter to kill a War Marshal token. He got in with GG and War Marshal. I was with a Ballista and Chalice on 1 and 3 Lands on the battlefield. Hand was Chalice Land SSG, Magus and Gemstone. Chalice on 2. Chandra down, traded with his GG with Magus, used ballista to clean up another goblin. I had Chalices on 1 and 2 and Chandra down, played a Ballista FTW.
Sideboard: -4 Blood Moon, -2 Koth is current state
+2 Eidolon, +1 Spellskite, +2 Angers, +1 Hazoret
Game 03 W
Land, 2 Gemstone, 2 SSG, Anger, Magus
I skipped the Gemstone activation. I wanted to make sure I had three mana for Anger. GG got going for him and revealed a Slag for me. DOPE. I got a 2 for 1 with Anger on Turn 2 and then I got another 2 for 1 with Slag on Turn three – followed up with a Chalice on 1 – Magus in hand, 2 lands down. I got worried, because I had two Magus in hand and only 2 lands. Then Mutavault came up to save the day. He had three goblins down and I was at 10 with just a Magus to block, so I started trading. Over a few turns I trade 2 Magus for 2 Bushwackers. He got me down to 2, I had 2 Lands, Chalice on 1, Gemstone and Mutavault – Chalice in Hand. He has two 1/1s down. I have two life and the mutavault, so I can block, but I can’t tap out for a Chalice on 2 b/c I’ll die from the 2 1/1s – so I wait. For like 5 turns this goes on. Then I get a Rabs down and I eventually have enough mana to pop the Chalice on 2. Opponent comments that he has artifact hate, Shattering Spree likely, so he’ll break the lock, but he only has 2 cards in hand and one 1/1 at this point. Chandra goes down with Rabs and the two Chalices FTW.
I've been having a TON of fun playing this deck. I've been putting in the work reading up on the developments that everyone has made and I'll be sticking it to it. You can catch me in Worcester at the Classic on Sunday and playing in side events Saturday or in Danbury at the end of the month for the SCG.
Hope everyone's doing well.
DR
More voices are always better than less. I did the same thing when I picked up the deck, only there were 28 pages to read in this forum, so it was a bit easier, however, doing your homework will serve you well.
Have a question....what was your thought process in the 2nd Koth over Chandra #4?
Lastly, I've found the players online to be much better players than players in person. I think that's because you have to be really into this game to buy digital cards that wizards can just take from you at any time for any reason. Casual players won't play online because they have to buy the cards twice. So I expect you to do well in your paper tournaments or at least better than online. That being said, you've done well so far, so keep up the great work.
Last time I went to this event I didn't have Chalice in the deck. I lost to Black Tron and Thopter Sword McThingy Combo. I had never seen the Thopter Sword combo and this dude paused the match for a solid 5 minutes to conference with the judge about his ability to Pithing Needle Mountain so that I can't use them to pump machine gun damage. He named mountain, but I run snow-covered mountains and was so tilted I missed the opportunity to punish him for his punt. Well not this week, I have all 4 Chalices doubled Sleeved and ready to rock. Also fellow mountainfoil, for my 17 basics, I'm running 9 full art Amonkhet and 8 Snow-covered - just in case. I know, I know, its such a fringe case that someone pithing needles my Koth emblem, but eff it, why not hedge?
Stickball - sorry to say but the ONLY reason I have the 3/2 split is because I was on a spending SPREE with this deck hahah. I had to slow down somewhere and I had one Chandra, so $60 for 2 more on MTGO okay. But I have 4 in paper, and believe in that strategy whole-heartily. Also thanks for the competitive shake-down. You know I'm jealous of that 5-0... I'll step into a competitive this weekend to give myself the highest level of competition prior to the Worcester Open next weekend.
The tech I've been considering is I love PnK, but could that be an accelerator? I'm leaving PnK, but still think about how much I'd like more accelerators.
Also, I think Boil is maybe dumpster material imho. Believe me.. I'd love to Boil out the only 2 or 3 islands that my opponent has down, but if they're holding 2/3 islands, they're likely going to counter. That's just the experience I've had. So it's led me to consider swapping my 2 Boils for 2 Guttural Responses. Would it not be awesome to Gut a Cryptic Command when you have a surprise SSG in hand? That's my thought process there. Boil is too expensive and too late, but Gut gives me the chance to MAYBE land something against control, and it seems like that yields a nightmare for them.
All for now. I'll try to check in later and stay on top of it. Trust I'll be gettin' the homework done.
Keep burning.
DR
If you feel comfortable, let us know your name so we can follow you in the standings at the classic on Sunday. Before you play, I hope you get to read my tournament report from the Philly classic, specifically the part about being a better player in general.
Russ
Yeah I respect the Boil counter argument. I was just curious if anyone successfully boiled out 2+ Islands more than once? I was thinking Gut doesn't end the game, but if I tap out for Chandra with an SSG in hand and Gut in response to Cryptic, I think that might be game ending - or not - or they untap bounce Chandra and draw, then counter Chandra on the way back down.
But after talking to one of my playgroup members, I respect the line of Boil on their EOT and then enter my turn with hopefully their counter mana drained, or Ritual into it when no one is expecting it. I think I was misplaying it in my mind as sorcery speed. I'll stay true to the Boil, but I was def trying to get my ideas about Guttural into the atmosphere.
Ultimately, this will be my first real big tournament. I played an SCG IQ last summer, but I was on mono-red burn back then and didn't know ANYTHING. Now its real. All the tourny talk is def a help and I'm open to suggestions and tips from the whole mountain. I think you're right in saying that I'll need to win in multiple ways. I think sometimes I get a linear mind and think, I need to get X to win, instead of evaluating the array of possibilities that exist based on the match. I'm working on it. I'm working on staying off tilt too. I don't tilt often, but when i tilt, I am TILTED. Turn 1 basic Island - I AM TILTED!!! lol jk, but there's some seriousness to that. I'm working on controlling my nerves, but basically I'm just excited and competitive. If anyone is going to be at Worcester let me know in a post or message or w/e. Thanks for all your time, energy and the guidance.
And RayStack... I'm sure it goes without saying, after getting some of my hoemwork done, you're the man - Thank you. Dinner's on me if you happen to find me at the Worcester SCG next weekend [$50 cap tho, I graduated college in 2017 ]
Flames always on.
DR
You'll see from my tournament reports that boil has been huge when played. Sometimes you can't get a moon out and boil hits 5 lands or more. I've even boiled a grixis shadow player who tapped three lands to play a 5/5 zombie fish. in response, i boiled away ALL his lands.
Don't get comfortable with Chandra vs. UW decks. I've gotten turn one Chandra many times vs them and I've lost a good amount of those game. What, turn one Chandra and you still lost.....how can this be? Because Detention sphere is a card, that's how. Jeskai will burn it, UW can sphere it, so the Gutteral Response only guarantees it resolves, not that it sticks.
As far as playing is concerned, you are always winning. In your mind, you are always winning. You have to play the game that way and more often than not, you will win. Identify what you need to do to win the game, then play and ACT like that's gonna happen. There's an art and a science here and to perform well at competitive magic at a high level, you need to hone this skill. Every time the situation changes, you have to identify how you get out of it and then play like that's what going to happen. you opponent will feel like they are losing then make stupid plays out of desperation despite the fact they were ahead the whole time. Remember, this is a skill not taught by playing MTGO. the Jedi Mind Tricks don't work online, but are great in real life.
Lastly, play your lands last, especially vs decks with counterspells. There were many games I won where I had 5 land in play, and tried to drop a powerful 3 mana lock piece knowing that it was NOT the piece I needed, watched it get countered, then drop my 6th land and play the lock piece I really want. For example, VS a UW control opponent in the Philly classic, I had a bridge in play stopping all his colonnades. At the end of my turn, he bounced it with cryptic command and then took his turn, attacked with a 4/4 land, then passed, holding up cryptic mana. I had 5 lands in play and drew land #6. I drew my card and immediately cast the bridge again, stopping to ask if it was getting countered and acting like it was going to. I was like....bridge, is this resolving? with an expression like we all knew it was getting countered. Well, he took the bair and countered the bridge with his remaining 4 mana cryptic command. Then I dropped my land and played a blood moon. He had one island, no plains, and was out of the game right there. Colonnade stopped. Snap counter stopped because of one island. I won that game. Now, had I dropped my land first, he could have paused and thought....what if he has a blood moon. with only two lands left after playing bridge, that wasn't on his radar.
Lastly, don't get tilted. People who play this deck are not allowed to get tilted. we are turn one blood mooning people, turn one chalice'ing people, or turn on rabblemastering people. we GIVE the tilt, not the other way around. at the end of the day, someone has to win and hopefully it's us. If someone has a deck capable of stopping everything we do, like Jund for instance, then that's how it goes.
Hope this help
Russ
I'm down with the Jedi mind tricks and I'm going to re-read that post before FNM tomorrow to stay in that right mind set. I have 'The Art of War' on my To-Read List, after the forum pages from 21-50 lol.
Yeah the words of wisdom help. I'll do my best to stay off tilt and stay in the positive mindset. At the end of the day - I am winning. I love this deck. Yeah sure, sometimes I draw 18 lands and wanna throw the entire library, but I know better, I love turn 1 Blood Moon, I love turn 1 Chalice on the play, I love top decking bridge when I'm hell-bent... love love love it. Your technical notes are super helpful. I think sometimes I think the line, and maybe even see it, but having someone who has executed the line and polished the implementation give you the 411 helps the play stick. Like the too take out or not bridge call against some U/W Control build. I know where I stand on it, not because I've found myself in the scenario 50 times, but because I have read and thought about the points and contributions being made by all the voices in our discussion here. It takes a village and I'm thankful to have one that I can call upon.
I'm def ready for FNM and Competitive League this weekend... I hope the two Friendly post-ban 3-2s I've pulled down have maybe kept a few photons in our seemingly gloomy meta. But as far as my mindset for the meta goes - bring it. I got into the deck because all I see in modern are the greediest mana bases and I know how they get punished.
Moons up fellow mountainfolk - no one likes a cry baby.
DR
Was watching the lastest VS series today on SCG website and something clicked.....They were playing vintage and Ross Merrium led on a turn on, land, Mox, Defense grid...that could be better than boil. Costs two, potential turn one play, and we only play two instants that actually do anything (Abrade) on the opponents turn. Defense Grid could be a fantastic addition to our sideboard, even two perhaps. they don't have diminishing returns....meaning that once you have one out, the second one is not a dead draw, like blood moon. And, in a field of Jace, this might be the way to go. Making Cryptic command cost 7 is a big deal. I know someone suggested Defense Grid in the past, but Blue deck we're not as prevalent than as they are now. Anyway, give me your thoughts...is defense Grid good enough for our board? if yes, how many? The only match we really were just cold to last night was UR control. Lots is islands.
Let me know,
Russ
I'm in. I might not be able to grab one before FNM tonight. If I can, I will, if not I'll run Boil with the new mindset of jamming it on the opponents EOT to deplete their counter mana.
Last night was SICK. I loved watching the Pyro and bouncing my ideas off you live... get another monitor Stickball c'mon. I'm sure you can work it into the budget being an FA and all lol. Either way it was great to see, I get the notifications to my phone so I'll jump in whenever you're on.
As for the other deck - yeah whenever I have wandering eyes they do seem to head to the Hollow Vine type strategies sans random shenanigans. I passed out like match 2, but I did see when you dropped tons of creatures like Turn 1 or 2. ALL THAT SAID.... ya know... I'm faithful to Pyro Prison at this point in my life. I can't be tempted by jank budget land destruction decks, or Hollow One graveyard shenanigans. I'm locked in and trying to refine my skills with the deck so that my sideboarding is second nature and my ability to find and utilize the most proactive line is razor sharp.
Thanks for the great content, and I hope some of the others find time to check out your league from last night on Twitch.
*Insert sound of fire* [not like campfire sounds but like blowtorch type fire]
DR
REV
Maybe I'll take out one shattering spree for a defense grid. I keep going to shattering spree as my flex sideboard card of choice because Affinity is going to be less popular int he new meta (jund beats affinity the same way it beats us) and with playing 2 walking ballista, 2 slagstorm, and 2 abrade maindeck, I'm kinda already pre-boarded for that match. More testing tonight. I would get out to an FNM tonight, but not feeling great and taking a Z-Pac, which can be very unpredictable with how your tummy reacts. I think I figured out how to get twitvh to save my streams, so even if you can't tune in live, maybe you'll catch a replay.
Russ
I have been reading this post for a couple of months now, and I have been playing with a version pretty close to Stickballruss' stock deck list during that period too. This is my first time posting, but I wanted to say that I really enjoy reading the posts and playing this deck. Stickballruss' post this morning prompted me to post what I will be trying at a paper tournament tonight. I have been using Defense Grid as a sideboard option for a while now, and I really like it because it seems that everyone here in Atlanta plays control and I can never resolve Boil.
So, for tonight, I am trying something crazy. I have replaced the two main Magus of the Moon with two Spellskites and have replaced the two Walking Ballista with two Defense Grid. I will try to take notes and give an update on how things go this weekend.
Side note, just saw some spoilers for Dominaria. No details yet, but apparently Chandra AND Jaya Ballatd are going to be present. that's two bites at the apples for an efficient three-mana planeswalker, or maybe something that's better than Koth!
I'm pleased to hear from DevtheRevRyan again, and yes -- expect to see me at the Worcester Modern Classic on March 4th. I'll IM you soon beforehand, and join ya in the Top 8.
http://www.starcitygames.com/events/030318_worcester_fact_sheet.html
Thx for offer on dinner - kind - but, can't accept.
I carefully reviewed your (2) Tournament Reports and was impressed by your honest self-assessment and game theorying. The following are some notes on my understanding of where I might differ with your pivots. Experience notwithstanding, they're just suggestions. It's not helpful to state absolutes like "definitely/always/never" - otherwise, a discussion turns into a lecture.
Tourney 1
Round 2: G/b Tron - In the 1st game, you laid out a 2nd blood moon against an onboard Oblivion Stone. Indeed, you mentioned it was a 'likely misplay'. Probably. At Turns 3-5, that deck rarely has an answer for 1 moon before he'll have need to blow the O-Stone to take out the playfield. Best, to relay the 2nd one after the nuke, and hope he stalls on lands.
Round 4: Mardu Pyromancer - A whole lot of IDK going on here, for alllll us kin. It depends on your individual construction. I promote a pivot to defense. The rise of this deck has forced me to abandon Tormenting Voice builds, and add an extra Spellskite to my Stock List deck. One sideboarding maneuver that seems askew: take out Pia and Kiran Nalaar. It's a suicide mission to leave them in, and they'll do little damage throwing shock bombs over the bridge. The only real argument for leaving them in is to keep knocking down Liliana of the Veil - but that's a desperation play.
Round 5: Affinity - On sideboarding, I'd bring in all of your sweepers. And, I'd leave in Koth of the Hammer. Further, and this is something that I've discussed with a friend at my LGS that ran Pyro Prison on MTGO for months and competitively plays Affinity in paper (and does v. well), do not bring in Eidolon of the Great Revel. I know that you mentioned that Eidolon worked well for you that day, but generally he won't outrace typical affinity draws & he undermines your bridge turtle-down.
Tournament 2
Round 2: G/W Vizier/Coco/Chord [[read: Sweeper Discussion Evaluation]]- Versions of this deck were once our worst matchup. As it's evolved, so has my sideboard. The critical change was to move away from the Infinite Life tactic and towards the Walking Ballista/Rhonas the Indomitable game ending tactic - which occurred all at once on the opponents turn. This significantly reduced the effectiveness of Anger of the Gods, and raised the effectiveness of Return of Kozilek. Also, Damping Matrix became an avalanche of shushing Keanu 'Neo' Reeves on their Sunday parade. Sure, the Anger still helps, but let the Grafdigger's Cage shut off that final angle.
Surely Anger of the Gods has other premier matchups, right? Well, it punches Dredge in the goonies, but it's not a knockout. I consider Dredge to be a heavy favorite for us, anyway. Whereas, Return of Kozilek knocks down manlands (affinity/infect) & flash/blink creatures & haste creatures (Looking at BBE). Plus, you can stack the play as an instant. Koz does miss 3-toughness critters, but I don't see that as overly-prohibitive.
Round 5: Goblins - Yes. Torpor Orb does shut of Goblin Bushwacker.
Otherwise, looks good buddy. Keep watching Russ on Twitch, and continue to tinker. I'll see you next week in the 2nd largest city in New England, Wormtown, Home of the 7 Hills, Wustah......Worcester.
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Blood Moon
2 Magus of the Moon
4 Ensnaring Bridge
Accelerators
4 Desperate Ritual
1 Pyretic Ritual
4 Simian Spirit Guide
Pressure
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Koth of the Hammer
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Slagstorm
2 Walking Ballista
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2 Abrade
Lands
17 Snow-Covered Mountain
3 Gemstone Caverns
1 Mutavault
2 Shattering Spree
1 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Boil
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Torpor Orb
1 Spellskite
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
Same build as before.
Same build as League 02. Trying to step into this one with thoughts about my nut draw. I want the moon effect primarily. I looked through my old matches and lands were key – as I would anticipate, or should. I think if I’m holding threats and two lands, I should not be afraid to go in on it with or without additional acceleration. Of course, ideally one of the other 5 is an acceleration piece, but if there’s not one there, there’s a 78% chance that I’ll hit one of them in the next two draws [http://stattrek.com/online-calculator/hypergeometric.aspx].
Match 01 – Storm [2-1]:
Game01 W – On the draw
2 Lands, 2 Bridges, Koth, Moon, Magus.
Storm signal received via Reef and sleight of hand. Turn 2 I have two lands down and 2 Bridges, Moon, Chandra, Magus, Koth and as I go to my draw I am reminded of the write-up I wrote in the beginning before I began the league. 78%. SSG is the draw – Turn 3 Blood Moon, he’s got no blue sources and Baral. Ritual is my next draw and I hold up because I can only get to three R and what’s Magus really going to do in the face of Baral. Baral beats until Turn 7 – Gemstone is the draw and as I’m writing this I was about to type Chandra kills Baral, but for some reason in the moment I was thinking I need faster damage. He was at 17 from fetches and shocks – so I went with Koth and got to work. Kept Chandra in hand when I drew Magus got to work with the squad on the ground FTW.
Sideboard: -4 Bridges, -1 Slag
+1 Spellskite, +2 Cages, +2 Eidolon
Game 02 L
SSG, Land, Gemstone, 2 Rabs, Abrade, Magus – On the Play.
Let’s get it – right? IDK man. Not today. Opponent mulls to 6 and comments that last game I was very lucky. Says he had 5 draws with 8 outs and didn’t hit once - :-/. Exile Rabs Turn 1 Moon – what’s up now huh? He goes Electromancer. Like a good boy I hold up on Rabs and Abrade Electromancer. Maybe I should have Abraded on his turn? IDK – doubt it. Rabs is going to work PnK in hand and we’re on Turn 4, I draw SSG. PnK is the play, I have him at 7 – he goes off.
Sideboard: No change.
Game 03 W
Gemstone, Ritual, Land, Chalice, Koth, Magus, Ballista. On the play.
He keeps 7, I rip Chalice on 1 turn 2. This game has an AWESOME moment haha. Turn 3 he cashes in some Storm shenanigans and empties for 8 Goblins. Last turn, I drew my one of sweeper, good ol’ Slag. Turn 3 the draw is Ritual. YESSSSSS. I guess I do get lucky sometimes. HAHAH. Rip the Slag and wipe the board – follow up with Magus he scoops.
Match 02 – U/B Mill [2-0]:
Game01 W – on the play
Land, Gemstone, Chalice, Koth, Rabs, Ballista – scry land to the top.
I mulliganed, 3 Lands, Mutavault, Rabs, Ballista, Abrade. Turn 2 he rips Glimpse the Unthinkable. On my draw step he rips Surgical on Chalice. It takes literally 3 minutes for him to come back – I jokingly say did you write it all down [on the Surgical search]? He says, “Nah screenshot” – Hah – I had the Mtggoldfish U/B Mill list open on my second monitor – Oh life. Back to business. Ballista on 1. He goes Mesmeric Orb. I follow up with Rabs on Turn 4 instead of Blood Moon. He had a basic island and swap down, so all I would have hit was a Watery Grave – I needed the speed of the Goblin Beast and his Motley Crew. He goes Fraying Sanity and I draw Koth. I had another Gemstone in hand, one on the battlefield and two lands down, sans creature count. I do what we all know how to – tap the Gemstone, float the mana, play the Gemstone, cast Koth, untap mountain, swing and get him down to 1. Remove the counter from Ballista FTW.
Sideboard: -4 Bridge, -1 Slag.
+1 Spellskite, +2 Spree, +2 Boil [oh please let me Boil someone for once!]
Game 02 W
2 Lands, Gemstone, Koth, Ballista, Ritual, Abrade
Let’s get it. I exiled Ballista to respond to the Gemstone trigger and got to work. Land, Ritual, Rabs, Turn 1 – kickstart my heart – you. He goes mesmeric orb. Turn 2, me, draw is SSG. I go Land, SSG, Koth, -2, Abrade mesmeric orb. Swing with Rabs and 2 more. He’s at 10. Turn 3 he goes Bridge… 4 cards in hand – swing with the crew on the crackback FTW Turn 3.
Match 03 – Jeskai Gifts [0-2]:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-jeskai-gifts#online
Game01 L – on the draw
2 Landss, Mutavault, Bridge, Chalice, Koth, SSG
Turn 1, Mutavault and Chalice on 1 met with Spell Pierce – oh no, my Kryptonite… Control… or so I thought. Land, Mutavault attack, he’s got Jeskai mana up, draw Gemstone. I see no value in Bridge, I lay off and next turn he does a land go. I try for PnK – Cryptic. I get on Mutavault beats, he bolts. I try to jam Koth – Snap, Cryptic. Turn 10 comes along I have bridge down and 5 mana. He goes Gifts, Unburial Rights, Emeria, names Red – GGs.
Sideboard: -2 Slag, -1 Abrade
+1 Spellskite, +2 Cage
Game 02 L
Mutavault, Ritual, Koth, Rabs, Moon, PnK. Scryed Chalice… to the top? What? Umm?
I mulliganed, Mutalvault, Ritual, Chalice, Chandra, Rabs, Bridge, Slag. Of course, I pay the price for keeping one land and that’s that with this game. He did his thing – Firewalker beats for a while and then he had the control game on lock down. At ease my fellow mountainfolk – next round is a great match-up.
Match 04 – Bogels [2-1]
Game01 W – on the draw
Land, Gemstone, SSG, Ballista, Rabs, Chalice and Chandra.
Pre-game I Gemstone with Ballista, he Leylines and follows up with the Gladecover. Buckled-up. I respond with Chalice on 1. Turn 2 I SSG into a Chandra and he scoops.
Sideboard: -2 Abrade, -2 Ballista, -1 PnK
+1 Spellskite, +2 Anger, +1 Eidolon, +1… yup of course I did… Hazoret
Game 02 L
2 Bridges, Koth, Mutavault, 3 Lands
Turn 3 he gets to work. 5/5 Bogel with all the goodies hits me and he’s up to 21. I had 2 bridges, Koth, Land, Gemstone and Hazoret in hand on Turn 4 and drew SSG. I could have played Koth, but I had no protection, so I knew Hazoret would be useless, but at least I could off load her now and maybe use the 3 mana ability if I need to after I bridge next turn. I draw a ritual, rip Koth, -2, rip Bridge, two cards in hand – YOU! Seal of Primo[w/e] is his next play, I have two cards in hand and Hazoret and Koth down. He blows the bridge, kills Koth with a 1/1 that just came off summoning sick and gets me for like 8 or 9. Chandra and Bridge two is my next play – empty handed…. LET’S GO!!!!.... ANOTHER SEAL! I use Haz to hold off his 1, but I had taken two licks from the beefy Bogel and was down to like 3. He gets at the player instead of at Chandra and let’s me tick it up. I get down to 1, play Magus to stop the 1/1 beats, Chandra at 6, tick it up, he’s at 50. He plays another Bogel, I get Chandra up to 7, but at 1 Life and two blockers, his three win.
Sideboard: No change
Game 03 W
2 Lands, Gemstone, Hazoret, Chandra, Moon and Anger.
Why not? He gets a Bogel going and gets Gaddock down too. Turn 3, I slow roll the Anger, because he’s on a Plains and a non-basic so Blood Moon and go. He plays Spiritdancer. YES MY PATIENCE IS REWARDED. I draw – Slagstorm… YESSSSSS. I anger he scoops.
Match 05 – G/R Eldrazi [1-2]:
I really wanted this one. I tried my best to focus on the lines and not get ahead of myself. I found the decklist immediately. Sighs…
Game01 W – On the play
3 Lands, Chandra, Chalice, Moon, Ritual.
He goes R/G painland and Hierarch. I go land. He follows with Temple. I must moon now, no shenanigans or I’ll pay for it via TKS. Moon go. He’s frozen. Hierarch beats for a moment, Chandra down… he double bolts it. I say, “Ah C’mon”. He responds, “You’re playing Prison, you don’t get to complain”. I retort, “Is that a Temple I see?”. He asks confused when he says “Who?”. Hah. I get Chalice on 1 and 2, Rabs down and working, Turn 7, he’s still at Hierarch and then he lands Eldrazi Obligator and goes to work with it. I get PnK, he gets another Obligator. I PnK both Obligators with a Thopter and a third drawn Chalice that I dropped on 0 same turn FTW.
Sideboard: -1 PnK, -2 Anger
+1 Spellskite, +2 Shattering Spree
This is where I’ll record missing the opportunity to board in Torpor Orb, and I will also record my confusion with my sideboarding, why did I go down sweepers? I think this was sincerely wrong.
Game 02 L
1 Land, SSG, 2 Chalice, Rabs, Chandra – Scry second Rabs to bottom.
I mulliganed 3 Lands, 2 Abrades, Ritual Chandra because I had no Blood Moon because I had no Blood Moon. I get the land I needed and get a Chalice on 1 down. He grudges it. He has a Hierarch and 2 Lands and Temple – Yup TKS takes my other Chalice. I get Rabs working but with a TKS out, ya know. I get Chandra down, kill TKS. He goes Smasher kills Chandra. Then goes another smasher and beats me down FTW. I think that’s why I boarded out my removal… its not good against a crew like Smasher and TKS.
Sideboard: Same
Game 03 L
Land, SSG, Spellskite, Koth, Ballista, Moon - scry SSG up top.
I mulliganed, 4 Lands, Bridge, Ballista, Rabs. I liked this hand A LOT. I was so ready to tear it up and I was focused. Last game of the League – Let’s go. Turn 2 Moon. He goes Turn 2… MIND STONE…. NOOO. I get a Spellskite down to meet his Reshaper. He gets another. I go Ritual into Koth. He goes Grudge on Spellskite, lethal to Koth. I get Chalice on 1 down. He’s got another Reshaper…. GREAT. I go Rabs, he goes TKS. He goes Eldrazi Obligator, steals Rabs, FTW. Sad lose crew. But all-in all I enjoyed the League.
Alright crew. GL at your FNMs. I'll try to get some notes for a report.
RG BBE Ponza
UX Eldrazi Tron
UR Jace Breach
I sat down and felt the heat immediately. The same, tense, inhospitable environment was established by him on his side of the table. I felt it creep over onto my side of the table and I left the moment. I saw myself at the base of our Pyro Prison mountain and I thought to myself... nah bro - it's my time. Took off my jacket, sipped my water and pile shuffled my deck for the second time after he had already presented during my FIRST pile shuffle.
Let's get into it... [my notes got weaker as the evening went on so the details won't be MTGO specific, but I hope I can convey the important aspects]
Match 01 - HomeBrew: Form of the Dragon Focused [2-1]
Game 01 W
I was on the play and started with a nice blend of Moon effects, SSG, 2 lands, chalice. I went land go on the play. He plays a path, and since I have a moon and two Magus I think screw it I'll eat a path and get my third land. I go Magus over Chalice on 1 first, because I really didn't know what he was on and if Chalice on 2 would be lethal I didn't wanna let that opportunity go by. I had Magus to apply pressure, and I had moon to lock up the effect if he kills my Maggies. He paths one, I follow up with the Chalice, then another, then Rabs and Chandra showed up. I only really saw Journey to Nowhere, a bounce land or two and a path. I wasn't sure what he was on so going to sideboarding I was light. I was light all throughout the evening.
I'll just hit that aside really quick. I know this may be a cardinal sin, but honestly often throughout the night I wanted to sideboard into my main deck more. Sometimes I would shave a PnK to get quicker, or get some more artifact hate [Abrade hello] into the main. I didn't really match-up against any run of the mill tier decks either.
Game 02 L
I'm a little more fuzzy about the details on this one. I know he got some ramp on via Blood Sun + Bounce Land synergy. I was beating him down with Rabs and a mountain, then he got Unlife down and Form of the Dragon and I knew how that story ended.
I was certainly down Bridges at this point, and likely Slags. I think I went up skite, Haz and Eidolon. I was worried that I had few answers for enchantments, so I thought the best answer was to get faster and get it down before he can make it expensive for me to operate via Thalia and Sphere of Safety or w/e.
Game 03 W
Here we go fellas. The work, the preparation, the attention to fringe details pays off HARDCORE here. We get it poppin' as usual and I'm on our fast flavor, but I remember thinking, damn I have no mana acceleration, but I can curve out into a Chalice on 1, Magus, Rabs, Koth type of line-up... let's do it. So I do so. I'm a little worried about Runed Halo, and honestly every time he started by naming Ballista, and I'd draw it the turn after he named it. So he names Ballista, then Rabs, but still takes Goblin beats. Then I get Koth going with a mountain. At this point I'm getting Goblin beats sans Rabs, and I add a mountain to the mix... After I swing with the Mountain its his turn... Runed Halo... naming.... "BRB I need a judge"... I've been here before... against Thopter Sword he Pithing Needled my mountain and I missed the opportunity punish his punt by saying "HA! I have have snow-covered mountains". Back to Game 03 from this FNM, he names Mountain, and I look down at my beautiful 2-2 split of Snow-covered Mountain and Full Art Amonkhet [the first set I played in sealed stuff with when I got back into magic after a 20 year hiatus] mountain. I draw Slag... yes... even sweeter. I rip slag off the top with 2 snow-covered mountains and one regular full art mountain. I go to plus the Koth and say... well I'll certainly use this to untap my SNOW-covered Mountain. He looks up and says "no... no way... is that seriously the interaction? you know that?" I say let's just get a judge... judge comes over and says "what did you name with Runed Halo? Oh Mountain? Well this card says Snow-Covered Mountain... so I think we know what we have here". I get in with the squad and get the match. YESSS. It was so sweet. Especially because I covered that FRINGGE ass tech.
I gotta come clean though and admit a foolish punt to share with you all. I fell into auto-pilot mode at one point in the match. Koth on 5, he has leyline of sanctity out, I"m like 8 points of damage away with at least 3/4 mountains.... I ultimate Koth.... ughh you what?!?!.. I ultimated Koth... c'mon a Koth emblem wins the game damn near on the spot.... oh.... the Leyline... umm... *Hangs head*... I didn't let it get me down though, I was all the way up after that match. And you know I walked around and saw plenty of non-basics so I was ready for Match 02.
Match 02 - 4C Delver [2-0].
Game 01 W
I made a bit of a misplay to start the game. I played Magus on 1 with a Chalice in hand. He used his fetch to bolt Magus, then he cracked it after the effect was lifted. He a delver down, and I followed up with something like a Chandra I think. Then a moon, then the chalice on 1, then he scooped.
I didn't really know how to sideboard here. I didn't see a ton of cards and this was a moment where I was like, yeah, my main deck seems like it's going to eat this match-up. Do I have any more blood moons or chalices or bridges or pressure? Maybe Eidolon, but everything was working, so I think I went down a PnK to get spellskite or Eidolon.
He took out all his removal.
Game 02 W
I got Rabs #1 going on turn 2 after he spell pierced my Chalice. Then he played a delver and I got Rabs down Turn 2... he answered Rabs #1... I played Rabs #2... he answered that, but still, tokens lingered. I played Rabs #3 and said he was shocked he answered the first two b/c he sided out his creature removal. Bagged up.
Match 03 - Amulet[?] Titan
Game 01 W
Chalice on 1 and Blood moon by turn 3 and he had all non-basics down. He got down some artifact and had some snake [all his cards were in Japanese]. I killed the snake and had a PnK or Chandra working.
Game 02 W
Much of the same. I kept a one lander here and I got the land on the Scry. It was meant to be.
Match 03 - MonoWhite Taxes
Game 01 W
We agreed to split the 1st place prize but I asked him to play it out. It was another slaughter fest. He had Aether Vile down, and he was able to get some shenanigans going with the end of his turn, flashing in kitchen finks, or Arbiter. But either way I got through with Planeswalker damage.
Sideboard: Turn up artifact hate, down PnK dialed down the moons too.
Game 02 W
Same deal... took it down early and fast.
SO THERE WE HAVE IT. 4-0*. My first ever modern LGS tournament victory. I've said goodbye to 2-2s and 3-1s with Burn and now I'm comfortably moving into 3-1s and now a 4-0. LET'S GO. I had an awesome time, I think I played well, but I did wonder about my light sideboarding. I was really happy with the 60. The only feeling I really had was go down bridge and get faster in that enchantment match.