Game 1 vs. Wr Humans
Drawing removal for each of his Silverblade Paladins worked well, and Garruk refilling my hand with Thragtusk on board sealed the deal. Game 2 he got a turn 2 Thalia and I couldn't draw removal. He ended up with four double-strikers. Game 3 I started with a hand of 2 Abrupt Decay, 2 Ultimate Price, and 3 lands. Killed every creature of his and an army of Garruk beasts went in for the win. 1-0 (2-1)
In: 1x Pillar of Flame, 2x Abrupt Decay, 1x Bonfire of the Damned
Out: 2x Rakdos Keyrune, 2x Rakdos's Return
Game 2 vs. BR Vampires
Game 1 he had me on the ropes with a Blood Artist, a Stromkirk Captain, and a Stromkirk Noble. I dealt with the Artist, then Bonfired the other two away. He was out of gas and flooded. Game 2 he got out two quick Bloodline Keepers which both ate removal. 2-0 (4-1)
Game 3 vs Bant Control
Game 1 I drew three Huntmasters while he had only two Verdicts and was stuck on four land. Game 2 he Verdicted away my board turn 5 then I Returned his hand for everything. I was sandbagging a Thundermaw to which he didn't find an answer. 3-0 (6-1)
In: 2x Underworld Connections, 1x Rakdos's Return, 1x Rakdos Keyrune, 3x Deathrite Shaman
Out: 3x Pillar of Flame, 2x Bonfire of the Damned, 2x Abrupt Decay
Game 4 vs BG Zombies
He got me down to 3 life first game but I stabilized with first clearing his board with Bonfire, the playing Huntmaster, Thragtusk, and Garruk in succession. Game 2 I exiled his Gravecrawlers and got a lucky kill on a Lotleth Troll with Abrupt Decay which sealed the deal along with double Hellkite. I am not a fan of this version of Zombies and it showed the first game as he just needed to topdeck burn to win. 4-0 (8-1)
In: 2x Sever the Bloodline, 1x Pillar of Flame
Out: 2x Rakdos Keyrune, 1x Dreadbore
Game 5 vs Selesnya Populate
The main reason he got to the last round 3-1 was nobody was prepared as I was against token hordes. He got mana screwed game 1 but Abrupt Decaying his token on response to a Rootborn Defenses feels really good. Game 2 he got three Centaurs out but they met a Sever. 5-0 (10-1)
In: 2x Sever the Bloodline, 1x Bonfire of the Damned
Out: 3x Dreadbore
In all I think the board needs tweaking but overall I am quite happy with the deck. I feel it is well tuned for the meta and hopefully it will serve me well going into GTC.
So the boys and I decided to head into Phoenix and play in a SCG IQ. It was a $25 buy in and it ended up having 56 players for 6 rounds. I thought I was pretty prepared but you know how these things go, one second you are prepared and the next you are a total chump. Here is the list I registered for the tournament:
ROUND ONE: I was matched up against a guy I had played once a year ago or so, but obviously we were playing different decks. Anyways . . . game one he won with 18 life. He was playing a straight-up Rakdos deck and while the hand I kept was a little loose, I ended up not even playing a creature till a turn four Thrag which just helped some. I made my SB changes and felt a lot more confident game two. Well . . . after turn two I drew nothing more than lands. On turn six he top decked a Hellrider and swung for 16 with my life @ 15. He won with 13 life left. I lost round one with a mana flood and was quite disappointed. I never did see a single SB card and was ready to quit already.
ROUND TWO: This round I figured I would play it out and pray for the best. I ended up playing a guy that actually worked at the shop that was hosting the IQ. However, he was pretty young and I hoped not all that experienced. Game one started out awesome with me getting perfect mana curve into Thrag and he ended up mana flooding somewhat. It ended with me having 26 life. He was Rakdos deck #2. Game two I was again stuck drawing a lot of mana and he just kept swinging away with his little dudes till he finally beat me about turn ten or eleven. He still had 14 life since I was playing defensive catch-up the whole game. I felt my deck was better though and looked forward to proving it game three. In game three we both basically got what we needed and were both hitting each other a lot, early. The difference was I Slaughtered all his Messengers on turn four and hit with RR for the win on turn eight. I felt a little vindicated that I beat (basically) the same deck I had lost to in the first game. I ended up with 15 life.
ROUND THREE: This game wasn’t really all that difficult. I was playing a guy who had a Bant Aggro type deck (or so he told me). Game one I dropped my Hanweir on turn three, he flipped and on turn four and five I swung with him and Aristocrat doing 18 damage on two turns. The whole time he was still just pulling/finding mana. I was kinda at a loss what to sideboard since he never played a spell and all I saw were his colors. I did my best and went to game two. Again, he got mana flooded and did Farseek to drop a Thrag at one point, but not near enough and I won on turn nine with 23 life. This was my third ‘aggro’ type deck and I was beginning to see a trend.
ROUND FOUR: Feeling confident with two straight wins, I saw I was matched up against a guy that I had never played before, but I knew who was extremely talented and good. The game began and I was soon to learn he was playing an Esper Control deck. Well . . . after only 20 or so turns, I was ahead on life with 29-8 and a ton of board presence along with Garruk about to be good so he conceded for game two. I SB my ‘control package’ and we were off for game two with not a lot of time left. It started out about the same and after eleven or twelve turns I was up 34-8 in life totals when we were put on turns. I was glad, actually. He had been using his bloody Nephalia to mill me and my library was bloody low since both UC and Garruk had been feeding me wonderfully. So, it was his turn four and he had me check cards in library; 14. He played Jace, popped me for 10, Nephalia for 3 and passed turn five to me . . . for the win. Boy was I disappointed . . . a bloody draw when I was one turn away from a win. Reflecting, I know what I could have done better. I actually should have been less control and more aggro to put the pressure on him and beat him down faster . . . but frankly, I just didn’t know that. I had actually never played an Esper deck so well constructed that worked that good before. I guess that good thing is, right before we left, I saw that he made top 8 and was playing for the win so that was good for him.
ROUND FIVE: Since I was the last game to finish in the previous round, they posted parings quickly and I kinda had to rush to my next spot and get my SB out of my MB. I am not saying this as an excuse, but sometimes you get real hurried trying to do this. Anyways, I got to the table and recognized my next opponent . . . a MTG veteran. I knew him from his reputation as always being a guy who played extremely tight and patient. So I felt hurried and saw who I was playing and that sinking pit in the stomach thing started. We began game one and he won the draw; Dragonskull Summit tapped. I immediately knew I was about to meet Rakdos deck #3. Well . . . after my mulligan and having to play three tapped lands, he won with all 20 life on about turn 5. I did my SB duty and still felt like crawling away before the next beat down. Yah I know it is a defeatist attitude, but boy did I feel defeated after the last round’s draw and what I was seeing in this round. So we began game two and what to my surprise, again, after turn two I drew a total of six straight lands. He was swinging for 17 and I had 6 life. I scooped, shook his hand and wished him luck. He ended up with 18 life (since I was able to attack just one time in two games). I was now 1-2 against Rakdos and feeling like I had a whipping put on me.
ROUND SIX: Well . . . this was the last round and I was glad. I just wanted to go and get something to eat and get ready for work. We sat down and game one began. He was (as I learned after it was all said and done and I asked him) playing a deck he called Terminal Misthollow. Some of you may know this deck, but I had no clue. So anyways, game one he basically doesn’t play much of anything but protection and draw type cards and I beat him in about ten turns with 22 life. I kinda SB for a control type deck. Game two is pretty much the same till around turn ten, again, and I am about to RR for the win . . . and he plays a Witchbane Orb. Well . . . since we are both top decking, we both play it out and he eventually beats me on about turn fifteen or sixteen with this nasty combo between Misthollow Griffin and Moorland Haunt. Boy was I ticked . . . I could have stopped it cold earlier with SG iffn I had known of the combo, but I didn’t. So with time ticking away, I rush for game three while he shuffles till the judge comes over to see what is going on. We then get it on and before you know it, time is up and we are on turns. I was only able to get past all his protection cards and get him to 9 life before we tied and I got draw #2 on the day. Boy was I disappointed.
All told, I finished the day 2-2-2 and finished in 24th place; not at all what I was wanting (of course). Sure I will be making changes for next week, but man did I want to at least make a top 16. However, on a good note, I won the very last raffle draw and got a SCG bag for one of my boys, a T-Shirt for another, a SCG dice bag for my wife and I got some cool dice and 3 SCG 1 month Premium cards. As you know . . . coulda been worse.
A few changes of note:
1. Took out Rakdos Keyrune: In my meta its best against opposing Thragtusks and board wipes, both of which were at a low at my FNM
2. No Dreadbore: No bant, but just in case I had it sideboard. (In hindsight I probably should've taken out Abrupt Decay as well).
3. No Shamans: Lack of snapcaster based tempo and frites.
4. 4 Nighthawks: A lot of GW/Zombies/Naya/Mono-red
Round 1: BR Vampires
This guy was a newer player and I knew he played B/R Vampires. It was a solid deck, it would've been an easy victory for probably a lot of other players, but we all know Jund has a tendency to let people set their game up.
Game 1 I traded creatures for removal. Garruk hit the table and it was over soon after that. 1-0
Game 2 I think I tried to get a little too cute setting up a hardcast Bonfire, he had 2 Bloodline Keepers in play and got to 5 Vampires and flipped them both and ended it soon after that. 1-1
Game 3 I forget Rakdos Return hits Olivia, Dreadbore, and another removal spell. I end up grinding out the win. 2-1
Round 2: Naya
I was up against up against one of the better players at the store, and I obviously know the concept of Naya. Thragtusk, Huntmaster, Resto... but after that I had no way of knowing what specific cards he plays. So I was playing around Selenya Charm that may or may no have even been in his deck.
Game 1 he plays Huntmaster, I play Huntmaster... then I ask him to remind me which Huntmaster dies in the event both flip at the same time. For those that don't know it's basically whichever player's upkeep it is loses their Huntmaster if they both were to flip (presuming the opposing player targets huntmaster with the damage trigger). A turn later he turns that dream into a reality and my huntmaster dies. I play Thragtusk and stabilize. He hits with Wolfir Silverheart soulbonded with his Ravager of the Fells. Silverheart obviously dies the turn after. And then Olivia jumps into the Fray and I nervously spend the next few turns ping + stealing with Olivia (during my turn because I dont want to run into Resto). I steal a Thragtusk, Loxodon Smiter and eventually Ravager and the game ends soon after. 1-0
Game 2 he plays Huntmaster, I kill it leaving the token in play. I proceed to take 2 for the next few turns. Then Loxodon Smiter joins in and he swings for the 4th time with the 2/2 token 12. I play Rakdos Return for 4. Thundermaw, Resto, O-Ring... all hit the graveyard. But I have no creatures in play to his 6 damage and he puts me down to 6... but Thragtusk stabilizes me and I pull the win out. 2-0
Overall 2-0
Game 3 Naya:
Again, same situation as the previous guy. Another good player playing Naya.
Game 1 I forget exactly how the game went down, but I remember ending it with Rakdos Return to deal the last 6 damage. The same double Huntmaster flip happened, resulting in him killing my Huntmaster during my upkeep... Silverheart jumped in but ate removal soon after. 1-0
Game 2 I get tech-d. Huntmaster hits me for a few damage, I stabilize with Thragtusk. he also plays Tusk and then Zealous Conscripts hitting me for 17 (I was at 19). The next turn I lose. 1-1
Game 3 Another Huntmaster (his). It flips, I stabilize with Thragtusk. AGAIN Conscripts hits the table and results in 12 damage putting me at 7. I'm staring down a Conscripts, Ravager and Conscripts and I have to figure out which to kill to give me better odds of a comeback. I realize I'm playing Naya and Resto + Conscripts against my 1 Thragtusk would definitely end the game (plus he has a huge grin on his face) so I go with killing Conscripts while he's tapped out. Turned out he DID have the Resto, but I still lost the game a few turns later. 1-2
Overall 2-1
Round 4: Mono Red
I'm playing against a good friend of mine this round.
Game 1: He mulls to 6, I mull to 5. But it was the best mull to 5 possible. 3 lands, Nighthawk, Thragtusk. He doesn't have the removal for Nighthawk, just 3 Ash Zealots which I keep blocking with Nighthawk. Thragtusk eventually hits the table and the game eventually ends. 1-0
Game 2: We both mull to 6. He plays a lot of creatures and wins. 1-1
Game 3: A very long game. Miracle Bonfire for 4 happens. But I drew a lot of lands, he drew a lot of lands. He popped his Crucible eventually, then top decked Stonewright and had exactly the damage he needed to win the game. 1-2
Overall 2-2
Round 5: BR... control?
Couldn't really figure out the theme of this guy's deck. It played removal, a few fast creatures... but then stuff like Rakdos Return maindeck. It seemed solid enough, but not when he has to spend 2 removal every time he wants to kill a Thragtusk. He told me he just got back into the game and didn't have basically any Innistrad cards and didn't want to spend the money when they were about to rotate out. Fair enough.... because the deck would've been a lot better if it had stuff like Olivia, Sever the Bloodline, etc to generate some of that advantage back.
Game 1... he gets stuck on 3 land. 1-0
Game 2... 2 Thragtusks eat most of the removal in his hand, and I grind out the victory. 2-0
Overall 3-2.
I was the only 3-2 to make it to the top 8... turned out my 2nd, 3rd and 4th round opponents all made it as well.
Top 8: UWR... Tempo? Flash? Control?
Game 1 I see U, W and R mana lands hit the table in the first two turns and think I'm up against midrange. But no Giest hits the table, no Pike or anything like that. He plays/flashes back Think Twice... but then it forces him to play a Resto or be forced to discard because he had 8 cards. Which allowed me to play Thragtusk with no fear of a counterspell. He drops Thundermaw and swings for 9. Two Nighthawks join the battle... he doesn't attack. I swing with my 3 guys. He blocks just my Thragtusk with Resto. At this point he's at like 6 life and I'm trying to end the game before Sphinx's Revelation hits the table... but alas it wasn't meant to be. He Sphinx's for 4 and puts himself back at 10... and 20 minutes later he finally closes out the game with Gisela of all cards. 0-1
IN COME THE CALVARY... I side in Duress, Slaughter Games, Underworld Connections and Deathrite Shaman... 11 cards. Taking out Bonfire, Huntmaster, Abrupt Decay and Searing Spear.
Game 2 he's mana screwed for basically the entire game. And I had a very removal heavy hand... so we both kind of sat there and stared at each other for 10 minutes. A few Auger of Bolas's got Sever'd. Then Underworld Connections jumps into the mix... and I get a Beast token and Olivia swinging. The game finally ends when he tries to flash in Resto for the block and I Ultimate Price it to keep it from blocking. 1-1
Game 3 Turn 4 Slaughter Games Sphinx's Revelation, Underworld Connections... 20 minutes later and 10+ Underworld Connections activations later GG. 2-1
I split top 4 for 27 dollars, buy 2 Angel of Serenity for when I eventually try and go 4 color with Jund.
After a few weeks of experimenting with Staticatster/Peddler, I decided this week to just go back to Jund. But I made a few changes from my old deck.
Well . . . I have to admit after last weekend, I decided to just 'try' something new so I spent just an hour or so and built a quickie sort of Human Azorius deck. I played it for four rounds of FNM and actually went 4-0 (8-1 in games) and won for a total of 7 RtR packs along with a promo. I also have to say I soooo missed my B/R/G buddies that as soon as I got home, I tore it apart and am done with it. Next week I hope to have just as successful a report but with my ‘normal’ deck.
Well . . . I have to admit after last weekend, I decided to just 'try' something new so I spent just an hour or so and built a quickie sort of Human Azorius deck. I played it for four rounds of FNM and actually went 4-0 (8-1 in games) and won for a total of 7 RtR packs along with a promo. I also have to say I soooo missed my B/R/G buddies that as soon as I got home, I tore it apart and am done with it. Next week I hope to have just as successful a report but with my ‘normal’ deck.
Please keep the thread clean, only tournament reports here
>20 man FNM, 3-1-0
My last weeks' showings were 1-3 and 2-2. Natural variance occurs, but putting Knight of Infamies and Hellkites to my SB, playing Searing Spears instead of Decays and putting Farseeks back in were also a part of my improved performance. Last week I also faced 2 Reanimator decks which was really the reason of my mediocre results.
A rather easy MU. Vampires are also a Midrange deck in the sense that they win via superior board presence. I lack flyers, but fortunately I am able to remove all the creatures that could threaten me. G1 I sever his Bloodline Keeper before it could've gone off. Even though I was on the draw and had to mulligan to 6, and fell slightly behind in the resource-war, I get good topdecks, playing 3 Thragtuskes in total. We both then run out of gas, until he starts to hit me with a VNH and slams a Vampire Nocturnus. Fortunately, I hit an Olivia and the game is soon over. G2 my opponent is capable of threatening me with a good start, but I manage to keep myself alive with removal and playing a Huntmaster of the fells. I remove his guys, play a Tusk, stabilize at 9 life points and play an Olivia to seal the deal.
0 - 2, GW aggro
I lose the roll and keep a hand that does too little too late. He goes off super fast with rancored Strangleroot geists and I don't get to play the threats in my hand. G2 I have a better start, I play a Lotleth Troll and remove his Paladin before it gets to bond with anything. Unfortunately I can't remember much else. The guy slams a SRG with a Rancor, which I blocked with my Troll to suck up 1 damage. I'm at 11 lifepoints or so, and game is looking ok to me, until he plays a Sigarda. My opponent now has a 2-turn clock, and I'm too far behind in the race and fail to topdeck a Bonfire. GG.
I didn't draw into my anti-gw -tech, which was unfortunate because the MU in general is very manageable for me, but sometimes you just have tolose.
2 - 1, UW Flash
This was my 3rd straight win against this guy. I get pretty decent hands, but I can't remember much about the games. Avengers were the bread and butter of this MU, they've always been. Lotleth Troll was also performing well. Rakdos's Return was the difference-maker in 1st and 3rd game, trust me.
2 - 1, Jund Midrange
The other Jund-player at the FNM. His build is a lot less creature-centric, and I'm obviously the beatdown in this MU. Game one I lose terribly, which was due to me not drawing any lands on time. Game two he slaughter games my Tusks which was a big blowout, since I had two in my hand at the time. He puts in a lot of pressure with Tusks and kessig Wolf Run, until I land a Keyrune, which forces him to hold at bay. I'm at a dangerously low life and a topdecked Bonfire would kill me easily, so I start to put pressure on him with my Lotleth Trolls. He Severs two of those, but I land a third one and an Olivia, and finally remove his Beast-token which allows my Keyrune to join the party as well. I finish him with a Rakdos's Fireball. G3 was my best one, I play Tusks and he spends his turns activating an Underworld Connections trying to hit lands or something else to play. Fortunately I'm able to put enough pressure on him, because I would have lost the long game hands down.
Regenerating Avengers and Trolls were pretty good in this MU. Olivia is the game-breaker of mirror-matches.
at long last another 3-1 showing & 15 credits made me really happy.
Decided to try a Garruk Relentless because I wanted the ability to tutor up an Olivia in the midrange mirrors as well as something that could spam a bunch of tokens against aggro.
Round 1: RakDW
Game 1: He played a bunch of little guys, I played Huntmasters and blocked them away, at a 2 for 1 +2 life each time. Eventually one of my Huntmasters stuck, transformed and beat down.
Game 2: I had control similar to last game. Then he played Falkenrath Aristocrat 3 turns straight... I used Sever the Bloodline on the first one
Game 3: He kept a 3 lander and had 9 land on turn 6...
Round 2: Naya Midrange
Game 1: Nighthawk dealt with his guys at good premiums, I won a Huntmaster flipping war, easy.
Game 2: We traded Huntmasters and Thragtusks, then I got out Olivia.
Round 3: UW Flash
Game 1: Awkward hand, my Garruk PH was countered t4, Thragtusk countered t5, then my Olivia was Azorius charmed twice as he beat down with two Resto Angels
Game 2: Managed to Duress his counters away, then RRed the rest of his hand away leaving him with only a Snapcaster, who fell prey to my Huntmaster.
Game 3: Pretty easy win, he never got much going as I drew a fantastic hand and kept drawing gas.
Round 4: Mono Red
Game 1: Manged to get a win by tricking him into thinking I had Thragtusk by naming Beast on a Cavern, causing him to drop his whole hand of Haste guys hoping to outrace and kill me turn after, then hardcast Bonfire for x=2 got a 4 for 1.
Game 2: Misplayed awkwardly, dropping my Huntmasters while I had 2 Rolling Temblor in hand...
Game 3: Easy win, kind of nothing noteworthy.
Round 5(Top 8) : Bant Control
Game 1: Lost horribly, my guys died and I lost all resemblance of CA.
Game 2: Turn 3 Duress revealing he had 3 Thragtusks and a Sphinx's Revelation in hand...take the Revelation, topdeck Slaughter Games! But then he won anyway because I couldn't get a threat down and lost to Tamiyo.
Thoughts
I no longer like Rolling Temblor in the board - it kills our own Huntmasters and doesn't do anything to many of the most important threats from Aggro.
Huntmaster is awesome.
Olivia is awesome.
Garruk Relentless is good in Midrange mirrors (flip it any time you can to get Olivia) not sure if its worth the slot though.
Too much hand disruption can be a bad thing if it prevents you from making a threat against control (probably not a huge problem)
2 - 0, GR Aggro
1 - 0 WIN
2 - 0 WIN
A rather easy MU. I get enough life gain and removal to stop my opponent. Olivia sealed the both games when she hit the battlefield.
2 - 1, Bant Enchantment
0 - 1 LOSS
1 - 1 WIN
2 - 1 WIN
Game one I stuck at 4 mana for 4 turns, with 2 Bonfires and 2 Thragtuskes in my hand. Those Bonfires could have won me the game. Game 2 I play Huntmasters and Thragtuskes but Feeling of Dread keeps me at check. He starts to race me and I'm on the edge, but I topdeck a Bonfire and seal the game. Game 3 he mulls to 5, I kill his only Loxodon Smiter, Huntmasters pings his owl later on and ride to victory.
0 - 2, Bant Control
0 - 1 LOSS
0 - 2 LOSS
I don't get hands fast enough. It was like I was ment to lose this game. Game one drags for ages and I'm doing okay, until he casts Revelations for 11. Game 2 I play a Duress and make him reveal a hand full of goodstuff. My Avengers start to beat him, but Thragtuskes and Jaces are enough to rip me apart. I didn't see any Slaughter Games or Rakdos's Returns, which basically made me lose.
2 - 1, 4C Midrange
0 - 1 LOSS
1 - 1 WIN
2 - 1 WIN
An odd deck. He plays no Angel of Serenities or Sphinx's Revelations. He leans heavily on Mizzium Mortars and Bonfire of the Damneds to keep his opponent's threats in check. This made the games very manageable for me, since Avengers, Trolls and Keyrunes are very good against board wipes. In both victorious games Olivia sealed the deal for me.
At FNM this week I ran the same deck as the one I did last week (posted a few posts back, so I won't bother reposting). Bonfires, no maindeck Shamans or Keyrune, 4 Nighthawks, 2/2/2/2 split between Sever/Decay/Spear/Price.
Round 1: BR Vampire Midrange
The guy played Olivia, Nocturnus... didn't see Bloodline Keeper but I won in 2 so it's possible he never drew it. Then the normal Vampire stuff (other than the 1/2 drops) and Rakdos Return. The games were actually somewhat close, but I think my removal was better and my creatures individually outclassed his. I was able get wins with Abrupt Decay by hitting his Vampire Captain and which let me trade very favorably in combat that turn. And then Miracle Bonfire winning a game at the right time to win the other. The guy played few duals, but he actually ended up T8ing despite that loss and winning his round of 4 match.
Overall 1-0 (won in two games)
Round 2 Mono Red
I played my friend again (same deck as last week). I really wish I had kept better track of everything that went down because it was epic. I remember game 2 I drew and played all 4 Huntmasters and a Thragtusk into a board of Pyreheart Wolf, Ash Zealot and Reckless Waif and eventually 3 Hellriders. Was able to timewalk him by playing removal on his Wolf before attacks were declared while a huntmaster and wolf token were in play... and yet he still wins and takes the match 2-0
Overall 1-1
Round 3 BW Exalted
One of the newer players... and it didn't help that she was mana screwed both games.
Overall 2-1
Round 4 Draw
We drew into the top 8. Yeah... 16 player tournament does that I guess.
Top 8...
Before the match he jokes about how it's a Jund v Jund mirror match. I take what he says with a grain of salt because I know he's the type that likes to make things up to try and get information from people.
Game 1 I see turn 3 Lingering Souls. Green, blue and white mana. Frites? Or 4 color control? Fortunately the game ends quickly. My Garruk gets D-Sphered... I Decay the Sphere and go to town with 2 Beast tokens. He plays a Garruk of his own to legend rule them both. Then Nighthawk joins the fun. He hits a nighthawk and one of the tokens with removal. I play the Olivia in my hand. Flash back Lingering Souls tries to stop the bleeding but I ping them both, then ping my beast token twice and end up swinging for 10. The game was over after that.
Game 2: He claims that I haven't seen what his deck can do. And at that point I'm still putting him on a weird non-combo version of Frites. I keep a 5 land (2 wolf run) hand with Olivia and Ultimate Price. Turn 2 Farseek for my opponent gets Blood Crypt... wait... what? Yes, he's playing 5 color control. The Lantern drops a few turns later, after he Slaughter Game's Thragtusk out of my deck (1 was in my hand). Olivia goes to town. Killing a Jace. Getting him down to 8. Then Garruk joins in on the fun. I get Rakdos Returned for 4 followed by Sphinx's Revelationed for 4 to give himself a little bit more breathing room and then Verdict's and plays a Huntmaster in the next turn. I play the only other Olivia in my deck. Debate whether or not to pop Garruk now or save him for next turn when I can Wolf Run Olivia and then Pop him. My opponent had 3-4 cards in hand at the time and easily had the means to kill either the Olivia or the Garruk next turn... but I risked it and just +1'd him. It panned out, and I hit Olivia for 5 with the Wolf Run, then popped Garruk and drew 8 cards. I would say that play probably sealed the game. He didn't have removal for Olivia, but it gave me the confidence to start ping+stealing his blockers and applying pressure knowing that I had a hand full of gas. Game. Set. Match. 2-0
It's customary at our store to split the top 4... my second in as many weeks. So everyone that made it (the guy I beat in round 1 and my friend and some other guy) won 22 bucks in store credit. I bought 2 Resto Angels (had to shell out some cash to get the 2nd). I'm primed to add white to the deck when Gatecrash hits.
Thoughts on deck/tournament: I lost to mono-Red for the 2nd week in a row. But I still feel like I'm good. I can't think of a move I could make outside of taking out a Garruk and a land and putting two Keyrunes back in. I would say a lot of my success has to do with the lack of UW/x tempo and Frites at our store... and it allowed me to focus my maindeck to beat midrange/control.
HOST: Xtreme Games
LOCATION: LINDENHURST , IL
EVENT: SCG IQ
ROUNDS PLAYED: 5, Cut to Top 8
MATCH POINTS: 3-0-2 Swiss, 0-1 Top 8 Bracket
PLACE: 3rd (OUT OF 19 in Swiss), 5-8th Top 8 Bracket
PRIZE: SCQ IQ Top 8 Pin, 6 Pack of RTR.
Round 1: Bye
Game 1: (WIN)
Game 2: (WIN)
-
Round 2: Jund Mirror
Game 1: (WIN)
Game 2: (WIN)
-
Round 3: Bant Enchant
Game 1: (WIN)
Game 2: (WIN
-
Round 4: 4c Human Reanimator
Game 1: (Draw)
Game 2: (Draw)
-
Round 5: Naya Midrange
Game 1: (Draw)
Game 2: (Draw)
- Cut to Top 8 Bracket-
Round 5: Azorious Aggro
Game 1: (LOSS)
Game 2: (LOSS)
Really got some horrible hands in the cut to Top 8 and kept a very questionable hand game 2..you live and learn I guess but it was my first major Top 8 in an event like this and the deck seemed to handle most of everything I was up against.
Well . . . we played Defender again for FNM . . . iffn you don’t remember, each person gets 2 packs and when you lose, your opponent chooses a pack. Once your two original packs are gone, you are out. I played in all 5 rounds and finished the night with a total of 5 packs. I ended up playing the only undefeated person left in the final round and smoked him 2-0, but still finished in 3rd place . . . will explain at the end. Here was my registered deck:
So round one I was matched against one of my good buddies MC. He was playing his typical B/G Zombies. Game one I was down to 4 life before I finally was able to wipe his board and take control of the field. I didn’t need to SB a ton (since I have redesigned my MD & SB more for aggro) but I still brought in 6 cards. Game two sucked . . . he literally played one creature and won the game. On turn two he dropped a Lotleth Troll and won the game. Sure it had a total of 3 Rancors on it at the end, but I just couldn’t get anything out or an exile threat fast enough to stop it. On turn three all he had to do was pitch a couple of Slithers, Scavenge, play a Rancor and he was swinging for at least 8 w/ Trample. Game three was two things, one was me having to mulligan and eventually only drawing 4 Lands in the game (and none represented black) and the other him playing a Messenger each on turns three, four and five. Yep, I got crushed. Sooooo, after round one I was already down to one pack and feeling pretty defeated. He took one of my two M13 packs.
Round two I was matched against a young lady named Anna and she was playing a G/R Werewolf deck. Unfortunately for her, in both games we played, I was able to draw a pretty quick mana base along with a ton of removal and she literally just plain ran out of cards in both games with no threats left. I actually didn’t SB since she didn’t have a SB and she flashed those big brown puppy dog eyes @ me . . . ;-). I took an Innistrad pack from her.
Before round three, I saw I was gunna play undefeated Damian and his Bant Control deck and texted my wife complaining about my first round loss, third round match-up and how I was gunna be out of the tourney so early. Damian is a ‘long-time’ player and doesn’t either play bad decks or make play errors . . . and I was an aggro heavy MD. So, we shuffled and game one was off. He basically didn’t play much till turn four or five and I had like the control nuts draw . . . and in only 20 minutes I won the game off of a RR fireball. Game two I actually SB a total of 9 cards. We shuffled and it was his turn to crush me. On turn 4 he played Sigarda and on turn 6 I saw the Angel of Serenity and scooped. I checked the clock and we had 13 minutes left. He did his typical old school player ½ hour shuffling bit (or at least it felt like it) and we were off for game three. I was able to pound out Liliana on turn three and after that it was just a race against time. We actually had just gotten to turns when he played his Orb and on my turn I made my only play error of the night and totally embarrassed myself by trying to play RR for the win . . . which of course I couldn’t with his Orb sitting there. I was fortunate I was still able to win on my next turn, but of course we were the only game still playing and everyone got to watch me play like an idiot. I grabbed a RTR pack and got ready for the next round.
Round four saw me matched-up against one of my sons. Since I know his deck so well, I was pretty full of confidence and swept him in two games. He tried his hardest, but I cut him off before he was ever able to get his 3-Color Populate deck rolling. Being able to SG his Parallel Lives on turn four made all the difference in game two. I pulled his last M13 pack and waited for the last round.
Round five pitched me against Gunner and his undefeated G/W Human Wild Defiance deck. It is hard to explain, and even though I had played and lost to him before, I just felt like I was going to crush him . . . and I did. In the two games we played, he was only able to attack and do 2 damage to me, in total. This let me snag another RTR deck and left me 4-1 (9-3 in games) and in 1st place (or so I thought). Well . . . after all the matches were done, the rankings were posted and I was in 3rd place . . . Gunner (who I just crushed) in 2nd and MC in 1st. As it turned out, we all had identical 4-1 records . . . MC beat me, I beat Gunner and he beat MC. I guess based on how we did against everyone else, the computer decided I should finish 3rd and that was that. I was still happy to have all the free packs though.
In thinking about changes, I just can’t say I want to make any. My only loss was to a traditional hard matchup for me and it basically happened due to him having a nuts draw game two and my mulliganing game three into nothing helpful. While I haven’t kept track, I believe my win percentage in games I mulligan is about 25%. Have I mentioned how much I hate to mulligan??? I also want to mention my champion on the night . . . and it was my one of Tragic Slip. I just can’t say enough how awesome it is to have an instant that can almost kill every creature in Standard, for just one B. Would I want 2??? Not yet, but will see what Gatecrash has in store.
Just reading the tournament report, it doesn't appear his FNM is very competitive. Playing one or two sub-optimal cards doesn't seem to matter too much when you're facing GR Werewolves or 3-Color Populate.
Just reading the tournament report, it doesn't appear his FNM is very competitive. Playing one or two sub-optimal cards doesn't seem to matter too much when you're facing GR Werewolves or 3-Color Populate.
To an extent you are correct.
A couple of months ago, one of my sons got hired at a comic shop with the job of integrating MTG, Pokémon, Yugioh, etc. as a part of the shop. The owner started playing Magic and took such a liking to it; he has expanded it greatly and is now hosting multiple tourneys a week and special events and the like.
I (up to that point) was usually playing at another shop that has a super competitive FNM. However, being the dutiful father I am, I now play at the new and growing shop helping new players and playing with a few of my 'older' friends that came over with me and etc. Of course that means there are times I play truly awful homebrew decks . . . but also times I am playing players who began in the '90s and are still uger competitive. I still like to get around though and in the last couple of months have played in IQs and GPs and while no super spectacular finishes, have never left completely embarrassed.
I added Hanweir Watchkeep quite a while ago when control/flash was all the rage. Since it may seem clunky or awkward, I typically have no problem getting it on the battlefield. Then . . . miraculously, somehow it transforms into a 5/5 that does nothing but attack, kill their creatures or Plains walkers, force them to use their removal early, etc. I can often get it out on turn three and the number of times my opponent has to ask to see the back . . . their little minds start to go into overtime and they suddenly have to change their strategy or their timing or their something to deal with it. I already have a slow deck so there are times this dude literally forces their hand while I gain a turn or two just to build and prepare. I know the 'experts' would tell you it is a throw away card, but I go by both effect and affect and this guy causes ripples in my way for both. I mean honestly, after you drop him on turn three, your opponent plays their land drop and . . . wants to leave their mana open to play in response on your turn or at the end of your turn . . . but do they dare??? What if they have removal and just use it, isn't your Hunt now just one turn safer when you drop on turn four or Thrag on five iffn they have to already sweep once or remove twice??? That is what he does . . . force them to make all those decisions and use their spells early and totally disrupt their play style . . . all for one odd little dude that was only a 1/5 w/ Defender (and he also does a ton of damage control from Zombies and stops Messenger all day long).
A couple of months ago, one of my sons got hired at a comic shop with the job of integrating MTG, Pokémon, Yugioh, etc. as a part of the shop. The owner started playing Magic and took such a liking to it; he has expanded it greatly and is now hosting multiple tourneys a week and special events and the like.
I (up to that point) was usually playing at another shop that has a super competitive FNM. However, being the dutiful father I am, I now play at the new and growing shop helping new players and playing with a few of my 'older' friends that came over with me and etc. Of course that means there are times I play truly awful homebrew decks . . . but also times I am playing players who began in the '90s and are still uger competitive. I still like to get around though and in the last couple of months have played in IQs and GPs and while no super spectacular finishes, have never left completely embarrassed.
I added Hanweir Watchkeep quite a while ago when control/flash was all the rage. Since it may seem clunky or awkward, I typically have no problem getting it on the battlefield. Then . . . miraculously, somehow it transforms into a 5/5 that does nothing but attack, kill their creatures or Plains walkers, force them to use their removal early, etc. I can often get it out on turn three and the number of times my opponent has to ask to see the back . . . their little minds start to go into overtime and they suddenly have to change their strategy or their timing or their something to deal with it. I already have a slow deck so there are times this dude literally forces their hand while I gain a turn or two just to build and prepare. I know the 'experts' would tell you it is a throw away card, but I go by both effect and affect and this guy causes ripples in my way for both. I mean honestly, after you drop him on turn three, your opponent plays their land drop and . . . wants to leave their mana open to play in response on your turn or at the end of your turn . . . but do they dare??? What if they have removal and just use it, isn't your Hunt now just one turn safer when you drop on turn four or Thrag on five iffn they have to already sweep once or remove twice??? That is what he does . . . force them to make all those decisions and use their spells early and totally disrupt their play style . . . all for one odd little dude that was only a 1/5 w/ Defender (and he also does a ton of damage control from Zombies and stops Messenger all day long).
Hanweir Watchkeep certainly isn't awful, but I'm pretty sure you'd still be better off without it I agree with ForgetFreeman here, but don't take offense. As long as you're winning, why bother to change anything. Although you could play at the more competitive store as well sometimes and make a report.
I might after Gatecrash . . . still undecided what I want to play but thinking of trying an Orzhov deck. Since all of this is still pretty new to me it is all kinda exciting and fun and depending on what comes in my Guild boxes and Gate boxes . . . who knows.
I absolutely didn't mean it in a bad way, just passing notice that it's not as competitive as some shops. I'm very happy to devote 2-4 slots to cards I'd like to test out in the deck and run it at my FNM, which is very competitive but it's nice to get the input of the other players and test versus tuned decks. This week I'm trying to look a little more at my removal suite with Tragic Slip MD and looking at the number of DRS I want to play.
Overall, it's a tight list and one or two cards you like isn't going to kill your wins.
I went 4-1 and took 2nd this week out of a total of 20+ players. Played an undefeated million Plainswalker deck in the final round and destroyed him the two games I won. He still took 1st since I had mana issues in earlier rounds which gave me more 2-1 wins than him, but my deck was very good. I lost only round to one of my kids and his Home brewed Populate deck that sometimes just wrecks me and he can win on turn 5. I will have GTC changes for next week and see what happens. I played the same deck list as last week.
4-0 FNM mixed players base
First two rounds where jokes and I played scrubs
Round one: UWR Gutersnipe deck with O rings 2-0
Round two: BW Extort deck, Looked more like a sealed deck than a constructed deck won 2-0
Round three: Naya Humans good player fun games. Game one was down to one life before I stabilized with Tusk, Tusk, Garruk won of his ultimate. I sided in 2 Rolling Temblor, 3 Pillar of Flames, and one Dreadbore. Took out Liliana, Rakdos’s Return and ThundermawGame two first few turns I killed everything she played and took over the game with Tusk and Garruk.
Round four: UWR Geist deck. Game one I keep a bad 6 of 5 lands and a Huntmaster Made a game out of it but lost. I sided in Liliana, Dreadbore and Rolling Temblor. I side out 2 Rakdo’s Return 1 Thundermaw and a 1 Huntmaster. I win this game off my removal and Thragtusk Liliana was very good here. Game three is much the same as Game two but We stall for a long time and then I come over the top with Nighthawk and Kessig Wolf Run.
This is the second week in a row that I have won FNM and I am thinking I need to Find a new deck. I won but the games where not fun and I did not really enjoy myself.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern GBRJund GBW Junk GBWMelira Pod GB Rock GRTron URStorm UR Delver URTwin RUG Twin UWR Twin UWRKiki Control UWR Control UWR Midrange URWBAffinity GRW Zoo RBurn
I'll be the first to admit my removal suite probably isn't optimal, but I figure I'm playing in FNMs mostly anyway, so as long as I have a variance of different spells I'm probably good, and Dreadbore can come out of the sideboard and be the card that replaces dead removal spells.
Tuesday there's a store that runs a tournament about 20 miles south of Houston. I happen to live within an hour of it and have that night off so I checked it out. It's a tournament that might average 8-12 people a week, and there are probably 3-4 solid players. The first two weeks I went I basically went undefeated with the sole exception of two match losses to mono red two weeks in a row. The guy proceeded to take first those two weeks. This week I won first, and while I didn't face tier 1 decks the whole way, I would say 3 out of 4 rounds I was facing at least a relevant archetype.
Round 1: UWR Tempo. I'm pretty sure this deck was as close to a net deck of the lists that top 8'd the last pro-tour. Reckoner, Resto, Snapcaster, Bolas, Revelation, instants. You know the drill.
Game 1: Nighthawks and Olivia's got hit by spears, then flashed back to hit other targets. When I tried to kill one of the mages, Resto jumped in to "counter" the spell and the game quickly got out of reach. 0-1
Game 2: This was the first time I had played this version of the tempo deck, I knew Reckoner was a force to be reckoned with (forgive the pun), so I sided in Dreadbores and Duress and sided out Bonfire and Searing Spear. I didn't initially bring it Slaughter Games or UC because I figured those were more answers to control than tempo. Game 2 I had a heavy removal hand, and I was pretty much able to kill anything that hit the table. Thragtusk joined the party (via Caverns), eventually a 2nd one was cast and that was enough to secure the victory. I remember making my fair share of mistakes in this one, not tapping mana correctly, etc but I had enough of a lead to secure the victory. 1-1
Game 3: I don't remember exactly how this one went. Other than Thragtusks hit the table, Wolf Run got to join in the fun. And eventually he was able to wipe the board but I finished him off with Rakdos Return. He got mad that he lost and left. 2-1
Round 2: Esper no Jaces (that I could see). I was initially really afraid of this deck because I know how easily Esper decks can mill Jund decks if we let them hang around. But it seemed like he was playing a version of the deck closer to UW flash than actual Esper.
Game 1: This game lasted a really long time, but I was able to put enough pressure on via Huntmasters to force him to Sphinx for 4 early. Eventually I got there.
Game 2: In comes my 8 card sideboard plan. I kept a hand with 5 land, Thragtusk and duress. Drew into Underworld Connections, and then proceeded to just go buck wild drawing cards. Never missed a land drop the entire game, and was basically holding removal the entire game so threats never stayed on the floor that long. Drownyard finally hit the table, and made me slightly more cautious about how I would draw cards. But then I played Wolf Run and had more threats than he had removal spells. He conceded. 2-0
Round 3 BW beats.
Bad deck is bad. It played stuff like Resto and Geralf's Messenger. Cute, but the exact type of deck that mine is going to eat for lunch. Slow enough to let me set up, but without the inability to go over the top to punish me.
2-0
Round 4 Saito Naya
The guy I was playing was outside when pairings were announced. Someone went outside to let him know he was playing "the Jund Guy". I'll take it... I guess I've deserved the title since I've basically been playing this deck since RTR Rotated in. We were both undefeated, and this store doesn't do a top 4 or anything like that because the swiss rounds essentially turn into an elongated T8 tournament anyway. So that meant the winner of this match wins first place this week.
Game 1: I mulled to 6 and kept a hand with Ultimate Price, 2 BG duals and I think a Nighthawk? Turn 2 BTE into nothing, Turn 3 Smiter eats a top deckd Abrupt Decay. BTE gets in for about 4 Damage until I play Thragtusk and Caverns naming Vampire (with no Red mana). And then next turn proceed to top deck Olivia... which gets hit with removal. Which leads to a second top decked Olivia. I never draw red mana, but I eventually just get there with my creatures. 1-0
Game 2: I had this guy on the ropes. I'm swinging into him with a Beast token (via Thragtusk) and Wolf Run. I'm at 21. Over the course of 3 turns he plays Gyre Sage, then Hellrider (swing for 7)... with a Sever in the grave I could flash back... I swing in with Wolf Run to put him at 2. Thinking "I'm at 14 and have removal I can play on any blocker he leaves up". Thundermaw Hellkite hits the table, Evolves Sage, gives him JUST enough power to win (5 + 3-hellrider + 3-sage + 3-hellrider triggers). Hellkite is 7 damage with Sage and Hellrider on the table. 1-1
Game 3: Turn 2 Boar. Huntmaster hit the table on my side and with a double block on the Boar it died. Reckoner hit the table and I responded with Garruk. He played Domri and fought the 2/2 token, sending the triggered damage from Reckoner at Garruk (bringing him to 2). Garruk didn't last much longer, and niether did Reckoner. I played Olivia with a Red and Black untapped, thinking I could use that mana to ping a beast token to make her bigger. I forgot about the Dreadbore in my hand and Domri on my opponent's side. He +1d Domri (now at 2 counters), revealing a Smiter which he played. Then he played Pacifism on Olivia... "wait, that doesn't stop it's abilities does it?" The look on his face told me he didn't even think about that until now. I had 7 mana. So I stole the Smiter and swung, killing Domri. He played Thundermaw Hellkite. I took the 5 and stole it next turn, swinging for the win.
2-1
It was slightly an empty victory because that was a pretty big misplay on his part. But he still had no answer to Olivia. He blew most of his wad killing Garruk so Olivia was able to come down safely and dominate. I think that card is going to be pretty important in that matchup with how little removal the deck tends to play.
I'll be the first to admit my removal suite probably isn't optimal, but I figure I'm playing in FNMs mostly anyway, so as long as I have a variance of different spells I'm probably good, and Dreadbore can come out of the sideboard and be the card that replaces dead removal spells.
Tuesday there's a store that runs a tournament about 20 miles south of Houston. I happen to live within an hour of it and have that night off so I checked it out. It's a tournament that might average 8-12 people a week, and there are probably 3-4 solid players. The first two weeks I went I basically went undefeated with the sole exception of two match losses to mono red two weeks in a row. The guy proceeded to take first those two weeks. This week I won first, and while I didn't face tier 1 decks the whole way, I would say 3 out of 4 rounds I was facing at least a relevant archetype.
Round 1: UWR Tempo. I'm pretty sure this deck was as close to a net deck of the lists that top 8'd the last pro-tour. Reckoner, Resto, Snapcaster, Bolas, Revelation, instants. You know the drill.
Game 1: Nighthawks and Olivia's got hit by spears, then flashed back to hit other targets. When I tried to kill one of the mages, Resto jumped in to "counter" the spell and the game quickly got out of reach. 0-1
Game 2: This was the first time I had played this version of the tempo deck, I knew Reckoner was a force to be reckoned with (forgive the pun), so I sided in Dreadbores and Duress and sided out Bonfire and Searing Spear. I didn't initially bring it Slaughter Games or UC because I figured those were more answers to control than tempo. Game 2 I had a heavy removal hand, and I was pretty much able to kill anything that hit the table. Thragtusk joined the party (via Caverns), eventually a 2nd one was cast and that was enough to secure the victory. I remember making my fair share of mistakes in this one, not tapping mana correctly, etc but I had enough of a lead to secure the victory. 1-1
Game 3: I don't remember exactly how this one went. Other than Thragtusks hit the table, Wolf Run got to join in the fun. And eventually he was able to wipe the board but I finished him off with Rakdos Return. He got mad that he lost and left. 2-1
Round 2: Esper no Jaces (that I could see). I was initially really afraid of this deck because I know how easily Esper decks can mill Jund decks if we let them hang around. But it seemed like he was playing a version of the deck closer to UW flash than actual Esper.
Game 1: This game lasted a really long time, but I was able to put enough pressure on via Huntmasters to force him to Sphinx for 4 early. Eventually I got there.
Game 2: In comes my 8 card sideboard plan. I kept a hand with 5 land, Thragtusk and duress. Drew into Underworld Connections, and then proceeded to just go buck wild drawing cards. Never missed a land drop the entire game, and was basically holding removal the entire game so threats never stayed on the floor that long. Drownyard finally hit the table, and made me slightly more cautious about how I would draw cards. But then I played Wolf Run and had more threats than he had removal spells. He conceded. 2-0
Round 3 BW beats.
Bad deck is bad. It played stuff like Resto and Geralf's Messenger. Cute, but the exact type of deck that mine is going to eat for lunch. Slow enough to let me set up, but without the inability to go over the top to punish me.
2-0
Round 4 Saito Naya
The guy I was playing was outside when pairings were announced. Someone went outside to let him know he was playing "the Jund Guy". I'll take it... I guess I've deserved the title since I've basically been playing this deck since RTR Rotated in. We were both undefeated, and this store doesn't do a top 4 or anything like that because the swiss rounds essentially turn into an elongated T8 tournament anyway. So that meant the winner of this match wins first place this week.
Game 1: I mulled to 6 and kept a hand with Ultimate Price, 2 BG duals and I think a Nighthawk? Turn 2 BTE into nothing, Turn 3 Smiter eats a top deckd Abrupt Decay. BTE gets in for about 4 Damage until I play Thragtusk and Caverns naming Vampire (with no Red mana). And then next turn proceed to top deck Olivia... which gets hit with removal. Which leads to a second top decked Olivia. I never draw red mana, but I eventually just get there with my creatures. 1-0
Game 2: I had this guy on the ropes. I'm swinging into him with a Beast token (via Thragtusk) and Wolf Run. I'm at 21. Over the course of 3 turns he plays Gyre Sage, then Hellrider (swing for 7)... with a Sever in the grave I could flash back... I swing in with Wolf Run to put him at 2. Thinking "I'm at 14 and have removal I can play on any blocker he leaves up". Thundermaw Hellkite hits the table, Evolves Sage, gives him JUST enough power to win (5 + 3-hellrider + 3-sage + 3-hellrider triggers). Hellkite is 7 damage with Sage and Hellrider on the table. 1-1
Game 3: Turn 2 Boar. Huntmaster hit the table on my side and with a double block on the Boar it died. Reckoner hit the table and I responded with Garruk. He played Domri and fought the 2/2 token, sending the triggered damage from Reckoner at Garruk (bringing him to 2). Garruk didn't last much longer, and niether did Reckoner. I played Olivia with a Red and Black untapped, thinking I could use that mana to ping a beast token to make her bigger. I forgot about the Dreadbore in my hand and Domri on my opponent's side. He +1d Domri (now at 2 counters), revealing a Smiter which he played. Then he played Pacifism on Olivia... "wait, that doesn't stop it's abilities does it?" The look on his face told me he didn't even think about that until now. I had 7 mana. So I stole the Smiter and swung, killing Domri. He played Thundermaw Hellkite. I took the 5 and stole it next turn, swinging for the win.
2-1
It was slightly an empty victory because that was a pretty big misplay on his part. But he still had no answer to Olivia. He blew most of his wad killing Garruk so Olivia was able to come down safely and dominate. I think that card is going to be pretty important in that matchup with how little removal the deck tends to play
.
Great report! How did Clan Defiance perform? I'm not a huge fan of that card... Also, is there a reason for no Lilianas?
Great report! How did Clan Defiance perform? I'm not a huge fan of that card... Also, is there a reason for no Lilianas?
It's a 1 of. One game last week it was the fireball that won me the game. I'm not that big of a fan of it right now but I'm still giving it a shot.
As for Liliana, I'm probably not going to include her until I start seeing Bant Enchants or a similar deck hit any FNM I go to. Right now it's a lot of Naya, Boros, Tempo, Control.
Round 1: W/G Aggro
Game 1: Abrupt Decays, non-overload Mizzium Mortars and a T4 Barter in Blood sweep his board. Huntmaster takes over the game.
Game 2: He drops a Arbor Elf followed by a Mayor of Avabruck. Non-miracled Bonfire for 1 takes both out. More removal and Thragtusks seal the deal.
1-0
Round 2: Naya Midrange (the player is probably the best in my area, lost to Yuuya Watanabe in GP Manila finals)
Lost both games, mainly due to Angel of Serenity. Managed to stabilise after his early onslaught in both games, but just could not handle a Angel of Serenity bringing them all back. Probably should have sideboarded in Slaughter Games naming Angel of Serenity.
1-1
Round 3: Rakdos deck wins
Not much to say about this, removal clears the board and Huntmasters/Olivias win the game.
They still die to removal. A timely (sideboarded) Rakdos Return in the 2nd game cleared his hand and got me the 2nd win.
3-1
Round 5: Naya Humans
This deck was stupidly fast, he'd already demolished 3 control decks before meeting mine.
Game 1: Killed a couple of his early drops, but he kept drawing threats and soon I was facing a board of:
2 Boros Elite
1 Frontline Medic <---- This guy is a real pain in the ass
1 Mayor of Avabruck
1 Lightniing Mauler
Miracled a Bonfire with 7 lands, which was enough to sweep his board even if he sacced his Medic.
Game 2: I sideboarded in another Bonfire along with more removal.
His T1: Boros Elite
My T1: Land
His T2: Lightning Mauler, soulbond with Boros Elite, swing for 3
My T2: Land, Farseek
His T3: Burning Tree Emissary, Lightning Mauler, soulbond, swing for 9
My T3: oh****oh****oh**** MIRACLE BONFIRE for 2!
4-1, which put me into 3rd place out of 22.
What I learnt:
1.) Bonfire of the Damned is still one of the best cards available to us versus aggro decks. It simply allows you to win games that you should not have won.
2.) Barter in Blood was always excellent. You'll definitely want 2 in your 75.
3.) Victim of Night is the best removal we have right now. I'm adding one to my SB.
4.) Angel of Serenity is a serious beating, one that we have few answers for. The best I can hope for is to hold a Victim of Night in hand and destroy it in response to the exile triggers, hence exiling the creatures forever.
I can't believe anyone is excited about this card. It is absolutely unplayable. I wouldn't even play her in LIMITED. Easily the worst walker printed since the green elf one. Absolutely terrible.
4-0'd, highest value rare I got in 8 booster packs is Blind Obedience. Gatecrash hates me and I hate Gatecrash, FML.
Speaking of...
I played at a relatively low key FNM this weekend. The usual store I play at was doing draft and I really wanted to play standard. It was a like a 12 person tournament, but I did learn a few things about the deck so I figure it's worth posting.
My deck is the same as it is a few posts above.
Round 1: Red/Black: The guy is new to magic. I had to actually give him some props on the deck (probably someone else's but I can't say my deck idea is original), it was basically budget mono red with black splashed in for removal. So he actually got to interact with my creatures and didn't just die when I played something bigger. Of course, I got lucky and drew into Wolf Run both games so when a creature stuck I just went to town with it dealing 7 damage a turn. 1-0
Round 2: Mono Red: Another relatively new player, but this deck was actually more dangerous as it played Hellriders and Ash Zealots and Pyreheart Wolf but no Reckoners. The first game he gets stuck on 3 land with Hellrider in his hand and the second game he was really close to a game win before I pulled it out. 2-0
Round 3: B/W... midrange/aggro? I play a good friend of mine. I hadn't seen his deck anywhere else, but I'm told it did well on the pro-tour. It plays Messengers and Obzedats and stuff like that. Game 1 was straight forward. My deck turned into a beatdown deck and just won. Game 2 he mulls to 3.... and wins. My hand was solid, but Obzedat hit the board and he never had to attack with him. And that's when I realized if he doesn't attack with Obzedat, I have no way of removing him from the board. This is probably going to make me switch number of Victim of Nights maindeck or sideboard. Game 3 I manage to win pretty solid though. 3-0
Round 4: UWR...flash? Tempo? So game 1 was pretty long, and the entire match came down IMO to my inability to put the guy on a specific deck style. I didn't see Boros Reckoner or Auger or Sphinx's Revelation, but I saw Snapcaster, all the tempo cards, Thundermaw Hellkite, Giest of Saint Taft, burn but then I saw maindeck Verdicts as well. I barely lose game 1. No clue how to sideboard. If he isn't playing Revelation, I have no need to bring in Slaughter Games from the board. The existence of Giest forces me to want to keep Huntmaster (otherwise he's really easy to board out and just go all out with the SG and Duress). But the potential to be playing to be playing the slower version of the deck made me want to bring in Underworld Connections and keep in Rakdos Return in the main. "Game 2... I keep a 5 land hand (probably stupid of me), relatively even match, but I get Revelation'd for 5 and the game gets out of hand after that. He tells me after the match that he's playing just the regular flash deck but without Pike and without Reckoner... and for some reason sided out Giest (which I guess technically was a good move because I kept cards in against it). 3-1
Top 4: Naya. This wasn't the regular Naya build that has been seeing play recently. But one that main decked Sigarda and Aurelia. It still played Smiter, Reckoner, etc. Game 1 he happened to play turn 5 Sigarda into Aurelia. A Garruk was able to stem a lot of the damage from that play by forcing him to attack him in the first combat step with one of the creatures. I only ended up taking 8 total. Then my double Thragtusk hit him back for 10, he didn't block... bringing him down to 2, and I Speared the rest of the damage. Game 2, Garruk sees play again and dominates. I pump out 2 tokens... then when he was at 5 counters I felt it was safe enough to -3 to draw 3 cards and get more ahead. He told me after the game that he had the Conscripts in hand and was hoping I would +1 so he could steal and ultimate him (which would've been game ending). I'd like to pretend that I intentionally played around Conscripts... but it was mostly luck, and not needing a 3rd Beast token... needing extra cards in hand instead. But I'll take the win.
Me and my B/W friend both won our top 4 games and we split first and second which was.... 7 packs total(I know, I know... this is why I don't normally go to this store). We proceeded to open 1 Stomping Ground, 1 Sacred Foundry, 1 Obzedat (completing a playset), 1 Deathpact Angel, and 1 Borborygmos Enraged.
Lesson's Learned: I probably want Victim of Night or Murder somewhere in my 75 so that I don't get Obzedat'd again. I need to stop playing at bad stores. Next week the store I normally go to starts running standard tournaments again.
I almost rocked my LGS' Game Day, losing in the finals and placing 2nd out of 15 players. The tournament was relatively small, but at least I got to fight decent players and pretty good decks too. The deck performed very well for me, apart from the unfortunate mulligan to 4 in the finals.
2 - 0, Jund mirror
We both play pretty similar lists, although he didn't have Lilianas. First game takes really long, and be both exchange resources. He Rakdos's Returns me for 4 in the early game which was pretty devastating. I am left with one card in hand which is also a RR, and I destroy his hand in return. I manage to play a Garruk and a Thragtusk, draw some cards and eventually manage to stick a creature that wins the game with a Wolf run. The second game is over a lot faster, with me curving out perfectly. Game ends with me having Liliana and Garruk in the play. I think winning this round was rather easy, since I have played with the deck a lot more and have better SB plan.
SB: -3 Vampire Nighthawk, -2 Victim of Night, +1 Olivia Voldaren, +1 Rakdos's return, +3 Slaughter Games
0 - 2, UR Stuffy Doll
This was the black horse of the gameday. I didn't think much of this deck but he won me pretty easily. G1 I keep a hand full of removal which was the same as having blanks. The game starts of really slowly, but his deck grinds the win. Liliana of the Veil is really good in this MU, but I drew her too late since he had another creatures to sacrifice, and the Stuffy Dolls and Chandra could kill her on the next turn. Game 2 is a lot closer one, but he has enough permission I can't make any meaningful plays. Blasphemous Act helps him to close the game.
SB: -2 Victim of Night, -2 Mizzium Mortars, -2 Rakdos Keyrune, -2 Searing Spear, -2 Abrupt Decay, +1 Rakdos's Return, +2 Barter in Blood, +3 Deathrite Shaman, +2 Slaughter Games, +2 Duress
2 - 0, The Aristocrats
I was pretty excited to play against this deck for the first time. Fortunately for me, my draws are way better and the games are laughably easy for me to win. He mulligans to 6 in both games and I curve out nicely with Vampire Nighthawks, Huntmasters, Thragtuskes and Olivias in both games. His first plays are Doomed Travelers which both are held at bay by Nighthawk, and eventually die to my removal. I won the second game with a Vampire Nighthawk that gets bumped by Kessig Wolf Run. All in all, the games were super easy. My creatures, removal and gameplan were super solid. Rakdos's Returning his hands in both games was HUGE.
SB: -2 Vampire Nighthawk, -1 Rakdos's Return, -1 Rakdos Keyrune / Rakdos's Return, +2 Barter in Blood, +1 Olivia Voldaren, +1 Vampire Nighthawk
2 - 0, Bant control
At this point I was super excited. The games had rolled out nicely for me so far. When I realized I'm playing against Bant Control, I almost burst in joy. Bant is definitely my best MU, especially with 4 Slaughter Games in my SB. I can't remember much of these games, except that I absolutely demoralized my opponent. I accelerated with Farseek, Destroyed his hand with Liliana and Rakdos's Return, and gained massive CA with Thragtusk and Garruk's -3. G1 he Played SR for 4, but I didn't really mind it since I got to draw 5 with Garruk right after that happened I eventually play Liliana which pings his Thragtusk and Beast-tokens to death and hit for million damage. Game 2 was like living the dream. I destroy his hands with Duress, Liliana and RR, then gain CA and kill promtply. My deck was ridiculuously favoured in this MU.
SB: -2 Olivia Voldaren, -2 Searing Spear, -3 Huntmaster of the Fells, +1 Rakdos's Return, +2 Duress, +4 Slaughter Games
Top 4:
2 - 0, UR Stuffy Doll
Same guy, this time around I win the games. He doesn't have as much permission, I play edicts and win the game with Wolf and Kessig Wolf Run.
SB: see above
1 - 2, Mono R aggro
Game 1 I mulligan to 4, keeping a 0-land hand and losing T4. I was obviously pretty disappointed. Game 2 I draw better and have the time to stabilize. G3 he gets to be on the play, and I'm one turn late and lose the finals. I had all the cards necessary to win in my hand, but don't get the time to play them.
Game 1: Win the die roll. He gets land screwed and I curve out nicely with Burning Tree, Flinthoof, Dreg Mangler.
Game 2: Side out Mortars, Abrupt Decay, for Duress, and Rackdos' Return. Again just aggro out.
Round 2 - Mono Black Discard 2-0 (2-0)
Don't remember a ton, but I was paired down. Against a kid playing all those 1 drop block discards and Duress and Mind Rot. He keeps a 1 lander game 2 and ends up casting 4 Shrieking Afliction which gets me to really debate for a second playing out 3 burning Tree Emissary T3.. I just aggro it out.
Round 3 - The Aristocrats 2-0 (3-0)
Game 1: I thought this matchup might be hard but he gets stuck on 2 lands game 1 and I out aggro.
Game 2: Side in Pillars and Deathrite.. not sure this is correct but I figure the other removal might not be important if it got attrition. Turns out Hellkite does the trick through a Restoration Angel.
Round 4 - Mono Red 2-1 (4-0)
Game 1: Lose the die roll. But manage to stabilize with Burning Tree Flinthoof.. Domri fight Ash Zealot lets me stabilize. Take the game down with Falkenrath Aristocrat (he couldn't burn it out with my creatures on board).
Game 2: I side in lot of removal and side out some Hellkites, Domri, .. I draw a removal hand but Reckoner puts me in a hard spot late game and I flood out on lands before being able to kill a 2/2 that eventually kills me.
Game 3: Falkenrath strong arms past a Boros Reckoner pretty much wins the game straight up.
Round 5 - Jund Midrange 2-0 (4-0-1)
At this point I draw in as the only 4-0. The opponent at 3-1 just wanted to top 8 since the store doesn't price split past 2nd. We play the games anyway.
Game 1: He gets stuck on lands (he keeps a double Farseek 1 Lander). I end up taking it down fairly quickly.
Game 2: Side out Ghor-Clan and bring in Rackdos' Return. Double Burning Tree, Manger, Hellkite, Hellkite.. pretty much wins after he tries to stabilize with a Nighthawk after the first one.
The deck felt really good.. I played a few other rounds between rounds since they were over so fast and wen 2-0 in both of those. One against 5 color control deck and one against Esper.. All together a good day. Mortars was rarely relevant, and Domri did miss most of the time, so it's possible the numbers aren't right on those.
4x Thragtusk
4x Huntmaster of the Fells
3x Thundermaw Hellkite
Planeswalkers
3x Garruk, Primal Hunter
Spells
3x Pillar of Flame
2x Abrupt Decay
2x Bonfire of the Damned
3x Ultimate Price
3x Dreadbore
2x Rakdos Keyrune
2x Rakdos's Return
4x Farseek
2x Evolving Wilds
2x Forest
1x Mountain
1x Swamp
4x Overgrown Tomb
4x Blood Crypt
4x Rootbound Crag
4x Woodland Cemetery
1x Dragonskull Summit
2x Kessig Wolf Run
2x Sever the Bloodline
1x Bonfire of the Damned
1x Rakdos's Return
4x Deathrite Shaman
2x Underworld Connections
2x Abrupt Decay
1x Pillar of Flame
1x Rakdos Keyrune
1x Dreadbore
Game 1 vs. Wr Humans
Drawing removal for each of his Silverblade Paladins worked well, and Garruk refilling my hand with Thragtusk on board sealed the deal. Game 2 he got a turn 2 Thalia and I couldn't draw removal. He ended up with four double-strikers. Game 3 I started with a hand of 2 Abrupt Decay, 2 Ultimate Price, and 3 lands. Killed every creature of his and an army of Garruk beasts went in for the win. 1-0 (2-1)
In: 1x Pillar of Flame, 2x Abrupt Decay, 1x Bonfire of the Damned
Out: 2x Rakdos Keyrune, 2x Rakdos's Return
Game 2 vs. BR Vampires
Game 1 he had me on the ropes with a Blood Artist, a Stromkirk Captain, and a Stromkirk Noble. I dealt with the Artist, then Bonfired the other two away. He was out of gas and flooded. Game 2 he got out two quick Bloodline Keepers which both ate removal. 2-0 (4-1)
In: 2x Abrupt Decay, 1x Pillar of Flame
Out: 1x Rakdos Keyrune, 2x Rakdos's Return
Game 3 vs Bant Control
Game 1 I drew three Huntmasters while he had only two Verdicts and was stuck on four land. Game 2 he Verdicted away my board turn 5 then I Returned his hand for everything. I was sandbagging a Thundermaw to which he didn't find an answer. 3-0 (6-1)
In: 2x Underworld Connections, 1x Rakdos's Return, 1x Rakdos Keyrune, 3x Deathrite Shaman
Out: 3x Pillar of Flame, 2x Bonfire of the Damned, 2x Abrupt Decay
Game 4 vs BG Zombies
He got me down to 3 life first game but I stabilized with first clearing his board with Bonfire, the playing Huntmaster, Thragtusk, and Garruk in succession. Game 2 I exiled his Gravecrawlers and got a lucky kill on a Lotleth Troll with Abrupt Decay which sealed the deal along with double Hellkite. I am not a fan of this version of Zombies and it showed the first game as he just needed to topdeck burn to win. 4-0 (8-1)
In: 2x Sever the Bloodline, 1x Pillar of Flame
Out: 2x Rakdos Keyrune, 1x Dreadbore
Game 5 vs Selesnya Populate
The main reason he got to the last round 3-1 was nobody was prepared as I was against token hordes. He got mana screwed game 1 but Abrupt Decaying his token on response to a Rootborn Defenses feels really good. Game 2 he got three Centaurs out but they met a Sever. 5-0 (10-1)
In: 2x Sever the Bloodline, 1x Bonfire of the Damned
Out: 3x Dreadbore
In all I think the board needs tweaking but overall I am quite happy with the deck. I feel it is well tuned for the meta and hopefully it will serve me well going into GTC.
Trade thread - not up to date
1 UNDERWORLD CONNECTIONS
ARTIFACT (1)
1 STAFF OF NIN
CREATURES (13)
4 THRAGTUSK
4 HUNTMASTER OF THE FELLS
3 VAMPIRE NIGHTHAWK
1 FALKENRATH ARISTOCRAT
1 HANWEIR WATCHKEEP
LEGENDARY CREATURES (2)
2 OLIVIA VOLDAREN
PLAINSWALKERS (2)
2 GARRUK, PRIMAL HUNTER
INSTANTS (4)
2 ULTIMATE PRICE
2 SEARING SPEAR
SORCERIES (13)
4 FARSEEK
2 RAKDOS’S RETURN
2 DREADBORE
2 BONFIRE OF THE DAMNED
2 SEVER THE BLOODLINE
1 SLAUGHTER GAMES
1 FOREST
1 SWAMP
1 MOUNTAIN
LANDS (21)
4 BLOOD CRYPT
4 ROOTBOUND CRAG
4 OVERGROWN TOMB
4 WOODLAND CEMETERY
3 CAVERN OF SOULS
2 KESSIG WOLF RUN
2 RAKDOS KEYRUNE
2 SILKLASH SPIDER
2 DEATHRITE SHAMAN
2 ABRUPT DECAY
2 DURESS
1 LILIANA OF THE VEIL
1 ULTIMATE PRICE
1 SLAUGHTER GAMES
1 ZEALOUS CONSCRIPTS
1 BONFIRE OF THE DAMNED
ROUND ONE: I was matched up against a guy I had played once a year ago or so, but obviously we were playing different decks. Anyways . . . game one he won with 18 life. He was playing a straight-up Rakdos deck and while the hand I kept was a little loose, I ended up not even playing a creature till a turn four Thrag which just helped some. I made my SB changes and felt a lot more confident game two. Well . . . after turn two I drew nothing more than lands. On turn six he top decked a Hellrider and swung for 16 with my life @ 15. He won with 13 life left. I lost round one with a mana flood and was quite disappointed. I never did see a single SB card and was ready to quit already.
ROUND TWO: This round I figured I would play it out and pray for the best. I ended up playing a guy that actually worked at the shop that was hosting the IQ. However, he was pretty young and I hoped not all that experienced. Game one started out awesome with me getting perfect mana curve into Thrag and he ended up mana flooding somewhat. It ended with me having 26 life. He was Rakdos deck #2. Game two I was again stuck drawing a lot of mana and he just kept swinging away with his little dudes till he finally beat me about turn ten or eleven. He still had 14 life since I was playing defensive catch-up the whole game. I felt my deck was better though and looked forward to proving it game three. In game three we both basically got what we needed and were both hitting each other a lot, early. The difference was I Slaughtered all his Messengers on turn four and hit with RR for the win on turn eight. I felt a little vindicated that I beat (basically) the same deck I had lost to in the first game. I ended up with 15 life.
ROUND THREE: This game wasn’t really all that difficult. I was playing a guy who had a Bant Aggro type deck (or so he told me). Game one I dropped my Hanweir on turn three, he flipped and on turn four and five I swung with him and Aristocrat doing 18 damage on two turns. The whole time he was still just pulling/finding mana. I was kinda at a loss what to sideboard since he never played a spell and all I saw were his colors. I did my best and went to game two. Again, he got mana flooded and did Farseek to drop a Thrag at one point, but not near enough and I won on turn nine with 23 life. This was my third ‘aggro’ type deck and I was beginning to see a trend.
ROUND FOUR: Feeling confident with two straight wins, I saw I was matched up against a guy that I had never played before, but I knew who was extremely talented and good. The game began and I was soon to learn he was playing an Esper Control deck. Well . . . after only 20 or so turns, I was ahead on life with 29-8 and a ton of board presence along with Garruk about to be good so he conceded for game two. I SB my ‘control package’ and we were off for game two with not a lot of time left. It started out about the same and after eleven or twelve turns I was up 34-8 in life totals when we were put on turns. I was glad, actually. He had been using his bloody Nephalia to mill me and my library was bloody low since both UC and Garruk had been feeding me wonderfully. So, it was his turn four and he had me check cards in library; 14. He played Jace, popped me for 10, Nephalia for 3 and passed turn five to me . . . for the win. Boy was I disappointed . . . a bloody draw when I was one turn away from a win. Reflecting, I know what I could have done better. I actually should have been less control and more aggro to put the pressure on him and beat him down faster . . . but frankly, I just didn’t know that. I had actually never played an Esper deck so well constructed that worked that good before. I guess that good thing is, right before we left, I saw that he made top 8 and was playing for the win so that was good for him.
ROUND FIVE: Since I was the last game to finish in the previous round, they posted parings quickly and I kinda had to rush to my next spot and get my SB out of my MB. I am not saying this as an excuse, but sometimes you get real hurried trying to do this. Anyways, I got to the table and recognized my next opponent . . . a MTG veteran. I knew him from his reputation as always being a guy who played extremely tight and patient. So I felt hurried and saw who I was playing and that sinking pit in the stomach thing started. We began game one and he won the draw; Dragonskull Summit tapped. I immediately knew I was about to meet Rakdos deck #3. Well . . . after my mulligan and having to play three tapped lands, he won with all 20 life on about turn 5. I did my SB duty and still felt like crawling away before the next beat down. Yah I know it is a defeatist attitude, but boy did I feel defeated after the last round’s draw and what I was seeing in this round. So we began game two and what to my surprise, again, after turn two I drew a total of six straight lands. He was swinging for 17 and I had 6 life. I scooped, shook his hand and wished him luck. He ended up with 18 life (since I was able to attack just one time in two games). I was now 1-2 against Rakdos and feeling like I had a whipping put on me.
ROUND SIX: Well . . . this was the last round and I was glad. I just wanted to go and get something to eat and get ready for work. We sat down and game one began. He was (as I learned after it was all said and done and I asked him) playing a deck he called Terminal Misthollow. Some of you may know this deck, but I had no clue. So anyways, game one he basically doesn’t play much of anything but protection and draw type cards and I beat him in about ten turns with 22 life. I kinda SB for a control type deck. Game two is pretty much the same till around turn ten, again, and I am about to RR for the win . . . and he plays a Witchbane Orb. Well . . . since we are both top decking, we both play it out and he eventually beats me on about turn fifteen or sixteen with this nasty combo between Misthollow Griffin and Moorland Haunt. Boy was I ticked . . . I could have stopped it cold earlier with SG iffn I had known of the combo, but I didn’t. So with time ticking away, I rush for game three while he shuffles till the judge comes over to see what is going on. We then get it on and before you know it, time is up and we are on turns. I was only able to get past all his protection cards and get him to 9 life before we tied and I got draw #2 on the day. Boy was I disappointed.
All told, I finished the day 2-2-2 and finished in 24th place; not at all what I was wanting (of course). Sure I will be making changes for next week, but man did I want to at least make a top 16. However, on a good note, I won the very last raffle draw and got a SCG bag for one of my boys, a T-Shirt for another, a SCG dice bag for my wife and I got some cool dice and 3 SCG 1 month Premium cards. As you know . . . coulda been worse.
4 Thragtusk
3 Olivia
4 Vampiric Nighthawk
3 Garruk Primal Hunter
2 Rakdos Return
3 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Sever the Bloodline
2 Ultimate Price
2 Searing Spear
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Farseek
3 Duress
3 Slaughter Games
2 Underworld Connections
2 Dreadbore
1 Sever the Bloodline
2 Deathrite Shaman
2 Pillar of Flame
A few changes of note:
1. Took out Rakdos Keyrune: In my meta its best against opposing Thragtusks and board wipes, both of which were at a low at my FNM
2. No Dreadbore: No bant, but just in case I had it sideboard. (In hindsight I probably should've taken out Abrupt Decay as well).
3. No Shamans: Lack of snapcaster based tempo and frites.
4. 4 Nighthawks: A lot of GW/Zombies/Naya/Mono-red
Round 1: BR Vampires
This guy was a newer player and I knew he played B/R Vampires. It was a solid deck, it would've been an easy victory for probably a lot of other players, but we all know Jund has a tendency to let people set their game up.
Game 1 I traded creatures for removal. Garruk hit the table and it was over soon after that. 1-0
Game 2 I think I tried to get a little too cute setting up a hardcast Bonfire, he had 2 Bloodline Keepers in play and got to 5 Vampires and flipped them both and ended it soon after that. 1-1
Game 3 I forget Rakdos Return hits Olivia, Dreadbore, and another removal spell. I end up grinding out the win. 2-1
Round 2: Naya
I was up against up against one of the better players at the store, and I obviously know the concept of Naya. Thragtusk, Huntmaster, Resto... but after that I had no way of knowing what specific cards he plays. So I was playing around Selenya Charm that may or may no have even been in his deck.
Game 1 he plays Huntmaster, I play Huntmaster... then I ask him to remind me which Huntmaster dies in the event both flip at the same time. For those that don't know it's basically whichever player's upkeep it is loses their Huntmaster if they both were to flip (presuming the opposing player targets huntmaster with the damage trigger). A turn later he turns that dream into a reality and my huntmaster dies. I play Thragtusk and stabilize. He hits with Wolfir Silverheart soulbonded with his Ravager of the Fells. Silverheart obviously dies the turn after. And then Olivia jumps into the Fray and I nervously spend the next few turns ping + stealing with Olivia (during my turn because I dont want to run into Resto). I steal a Thragtusk, Loxodon Smiter and eventually Ravager and the game ends soon after. 1-0
Game 2 he plays Huntmaster, I kill it leaving the token in play. I proceed to take 2 for the next few turns. Then Loxodon Smiter joins in and he swings for the 4th time with the 2/2 token 12. I play Rakdos Return for 4. Thundermaw, Resto, O-Ring... all hit the graveyard. But I have no creatures in play to his 6 damage and he puts me down to 6... but Thragtusk stabilizes me and I pull the win out. 2-0
Overall 2-0
Game 3 Naya:
Again, same situation as the previous guy. Another good player playing Naya.
Game 1 I forget exactly how the game went down, but I remember ending it with Rakdos Return to deal the last 6 damage. The same double Huntmaster flip happened, resulting in him killing my Huntmaster during my upkeep... Silverheart jumped in but ate removal soon after. 1-0
Game 2 I get tech-d. Huntmaster hits me for a few damage, I stabilize with Thragtusk. he also plays Tusk and then Zealous Conscripts hitting me for 17 (I was at 19). The next turn I lose. 1-1
Game 3 Another Huntmaster (his). It flips, I stabilize with Thragtusk. AGAIN Conscripts hits the table and results in 12 damage putting me at 7. I'm staring down a Conscripts, Ravager and Conscripts and I have to figure out which to kill to give me better odds of a comeback. I realize I'm playing Naya and Resto + Conscripts against my 1 Thragtusk would definitely end the game (plus he has a huge grin on his face) so I go with killing Conscripts while he's tapped out. Turned out he DID have the Resto, but I still lost the game a few turns later. 1-2
Overall 2-1
Round 4: Mono Red
I'm playing against a good friend of mine this round.
Game 1: He mulls to 6, I mull to 5. But it was the best mull to 5 possible. 3 lands, Nighthawk, Thragtusk. He doesn't have the removal for Nighthawk, just 3 Ash Zealots which I keep blocking with Nighthawk. Thragtusk eventually hits the table and the game eventually ends. 1-0
Game 2: We both mull to 6. He plays a lot of creatures and wins. 1-1
Game 3: A very long game. Miracle Bonfire for 4 happens. But I drew a lot of lands, he drew a lot of lands. He popped his Crucible eventually, then top decked Stonewright and had exactly the damage he needed to win the game. 1-2
Overall 2-2
Round 5: BR... control?
Couldn't really figure out the theme of this guy's deck. It played removal, a few fast creatures... but then stuff like Rakdos Return maindeck. It seemed solid enough, but not when he has to spend 2 removal every time he wants to kill a Thragtusk. He told me he just got back into the game and didn't have basically any Innistrad cards and didn't want to spend the money when they were about to rotate out. Fair enough.... because the deck would've been a lot better if it had stuff like Olivia, Sever the Bloodline, etc to generate some of that advantage back.
Game 1... he gets stuck on 3 land. 1-0
Game 2... 2 Thragtusks eat most of the removal in his hand, and I grind out the victory. 2-0
Overall 3-2.
I was the only 3-2 to make it to the top 8... turned out my 2nd, 3rd and 4th round opponents all made it as well.
Top 8: UWR... Tempo? Flash? Control?
Game 1 I see U, W and R mana lands hit the table in the first two turns and think I'm up against midrange. But no Giest hits the table, no Pike or anything like that. He plays/flashes back Think Twice... but then it forces him to play a Resto or be forced to discard because he had 8 cards. Which allowed me to play Thragtusk with no fear of a counterspell. He drops Thundermaw and swings for 9. Two Nighthawks join the battle... he doesn't attack. I swing with my 3 guys. He blocks just my Thragtusk with Resto. At this point he's at like 6 life and I'm trying to end the game before Sphinx's Revelation hits the table... but alas it wasn't meant to be. He Sphinx's for 4 and puts himself back at 10... and 20 minutes later he finally closes out the game with Gisela of all cards. 0-1
IN COME THE CALVARY... I side in Duress, Slaughter Games, Underworld Connections and Deathrite Shaman... 11 cards. Taking out Bonfire, Huntmaster, Abrupt Decay and Searing Spear.
Game 2 he's mana screwed for basically the entire game. And I had a very removal heavy hand... so we both kind of sat there and stared at each other for 10 minutes. A few Auger of Bolas's got Sever'd. Then Underworld Connections jumps into the mix... and I get a Beast token and Olivia swinging. The game finally ends when he tries to flash in Resto for the block and I Ultimate Price it to keep it from blocking. 1-1
Game 3 Turn 4 Slaughter Games Sphinx's Revelation, Underworld Connections... 20 minutes later and 10+ Underworld Connections activations later GG. 2-1
I split top 4 for 27 dollars, buy 2 Angel of Serenity for when I eventually try and go 4 color with Jund.
Well . . . I have to admit after last weekend, I decided to just 'try' something new so I spent just an hour or so and built a quickie sort of Human Azorius deck. I played it for four rounds of FNM and actually went 4-0 (8-1 in games) and won for a total of 7 RtR packs along with a promo. I also have to say I soooo missed my B/R/G buddies that as soon as I got home, I tore it apart and am done with it. Next week I hope to have just as successful a report but with my ‘normal’ deck.
Please keep the thread clean, only tournament reports here
>20 man FNM, 3-1-0
My last weeks' showings were 1-3 and 2-2. Natural variance occurs, but putting Knight of Infamies and Hellkites to my SB, playing Searing Spears instead of Decays and putting Farseeks back in were also a part of my improved performance. Last week I also faced 2 Reanimator decks which was really the reason of my mediocre results.
2 Deathrite Shaman
3 Farseek
3 Lotleth Troll
4 Wolfir Avenger
2 Rakdos Keyrune
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Olivia Voldaren
4 Thragtusk
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Sever the Bloodline
2 Searing Spear
2 Ultimate Price
2 Rakdos's Return
3 Bonfire of the Damned
24 Lands
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Olivia Voldaren
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
3 Knight of Infamy
1 Sever the Bloodline
1 Rakdos's Return
3 Duress
3 Slaughter Games
2 - 0, RB Vampires
A rather easy MU. Vampires are also a Midrange deck in the sense that they win via superior board presence. I lack flyers, but fortunately I am able to remove all the creatures that could threaten me. G1 I sever his Bloodline Keeper before it could've gone off. Even though I was on the draw and had to mulligan to 6, and fell slightly behind in the resource-war, I get good topdecks, playing 3 Thragtuskes in total. We both then run out of gas, until he starts to hit me with a VNH and slams a Vampire Nocturnus. Fortunately, I hit an Olivia and the game is soon over. G2 my opponent is capable of threatening me with a good start, but I manage to keep myself alive with removal and playing a Huntmaster of the fells. I remove his guys, play a Tusk, stabilize at 9 life points and play an Olivia to seal the deal.
0 - 2, GW aggro
I lose the roll and keep a hand that does too little too late. He goes off super fast with rancored Strangleroot geists and I don't get to play the threats in my hand. G2 I have a better start, I play a Lotleth Troll and remove his Paladin before it gets to bond with anything. Unfortunately I can't remember much else. The guy slams a SRG with a Rancor, which I blocked with my Troll to suck up 1 damage. I'm at 11 lifepoints or so, and game is looking ok to me, until he plays a Sigarda. My opponent now has a 2-turn clock, and I'm too far behind in the race and fail to topdeck a Bonfire. GG.
I didn't draw into my anti-gw -tech, which was unfortunate because the MU in general is very manageable for me, but sometimes you just have tolose.
2 - 1, UW Flash
This was my 3rd straight win against this guy. I get pretty decent hands, but I can't remember much about the games. Avengers were the bread and butter of this MU, they've always been. Lotleth Troll was also performing well. Rakdos's Return was the difference-maker in 1st and 3rd game, trust me.
2 - 1, Jund Midrange
The other Jund-player at the FNM. His build is a lot less creature-centric, and I'm obviously the beatdown in this MU. Game one I lose terribly, which was due to me not drawing any lands on time. Game two he slaughter games my Tusks which was a big blowout, since I had two in my hand at the time. He puts in a lot of pressure with Tusks and kessig Wolf Run, until I land a Keyrune, which forces him to hold at bay. I'm at a dangerously low life and a topdecked Bonfire would kill me easily, so I start to put pressure on him with my Lotleth Trolls. He Severs two of those, but I land a third one and an Olivia, and finally remove his Beast-token which allows my Keyrune to join the party as well. I finish him with a Rakdos's Fireball. G3 was my best one, I play Tusks and he spends his turns activating an Underworld Connections trying to hit lands or something else to play. Fortunately I'm able to put enough pressure on him, because I would have lost the long game hands down.
Regenerating Avengers and Trolls were pretty good in this MU. Olivia is the game-breaker of mirror-matches.
at long last another 3-1 showing & 15 credits made me really happy.
Youtube Channel
FNM, so who gives a ****?
3 Olivia Voldaren
4 Thragtusk
4 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Garruk Relentless
4 Searing Spear
3 Ultimate Price
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Sever the Bloodline
4 Farseek
4 Overgrown Tomb
3 Cavern of Souls
2 Dragonskull Summit
2 Forest
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Rootbound Crag
1 Swamp
4 Woodland Cemetery
3 Duress
2 Rakdos's Return
2 Rolling Temblor
3 Slaughter Games
2 Sever the Bloodline
Decided to try a Garruk Relentless because I wanted the ability to tutor up an Olivia in the midrange mirrors as well as something that could spam a bunch of tokens against aggro.
Round 1: RakDW
Game 1: He played a bunch of little guys, I played Huntmasters and blocked them away, at a 2 for 1 +2 life each time. Eventually one of my Huntmasters stuck, transformed and beat down.
Game 2: I had control similar to last game. Then he played Falkenrath Aristocrat 3 turns straight... I used Sever the Bloodline on the first one
Game 3: He kept a 3 lander and had 9 land on turn 6...
Round 2: Naya Midrange
Game 1: Nighthawk dealt with his guys at good premiums, I won a Huntmaster flipping war, easy.
Game 2: We traded Huntmasters and Thragtusks, then I got out Olivia.
Round 3: UW Flash
Game 1: Awkward hand, my Garruk PH was countered t4, Thragtusk countered t5, then my Olivia was Azorius charmed twice as he beat down with two Resto Angels
Game 2: Managed to Duress his counters away, then RRed the rest of his hand away leaving him with only a Snapcaster, who fell prey to my Huntmaster.
Game 3: Pretty easy win, he never got much going as I drew a fantastic hand and kept drawing gas.
Round 4: Mono Red
Game 1: Manged to get a win by tricking him into thinking I had Thragtusk by naming Beast on a Cavern, causing him to drop his whole hand of Haste guys hoping to outrace and kill me turn after, then hardcast Bonfire for x=2 got a 4 for 1.
Game 2: Misplayed awkwardly, dropping my Huntmasters while I had 2 Rolling Temblor in hand...
Game 3: Easy win, kind of nothing noteworthy.
Round 5(Top 8) : Bant Control
Game 1: Lost horribly, my guys died and I lost all resemblance of CA.
Game 2: Turn 3 Duress revealing he had 3 Thragtusks and a Sphinx's Revelation in hand...take the Revelation, topdeck Slaughter Games! But then he won anyway because I couldn't get a threat down and lost to Tamiyo.
Thoughts
I no longer like Rolling Temblor in the board - it kills our own Huntmasters and doesn't do anything to many of the most important threats from Aggro.
Huntmaster is awesome.
Olivia is awesome.
Garruk Relentless is good in Midrange mirrors (flip it any time you can to get Olivia) not sure if its worth the slot though.
Too much hand disruption can be a bad thing if it prevents you from making a threat against control (probably not a huge problem)
I got really hopeful with the 2 - 0 start, but in the end the night was "just" another 3 - 1. The list was exactly the same as last time.
2 Deathrite Shaman
3 Farseek
3 Lotleth Troll
4 Wolfir Avenger
2 Rakdos Keyrune
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Olivia Voldaren
4 Thragtusk
2 Sever the Bloodline
3 Searing Spear
2 Ultimate Price
2 Rakdos's Return
3 Bonfire of the Damned
24 Lands
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Olivia Voldaren
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
3 Knight of Infamy
1 Sever the Bloodline
1 Rakdos's Return
3 Duress
3 Slaughter Games
2 - 0, GR Aggro
1 - 0 WIN
2 - 0 WIN
A rather easy MU. I get enough life gain and removal to stop my opponent. Olivia sealed the both games when she hit the battlefield.
2 - 1, Bant Enchantment
0 - 1 LOSS
1 - 1 WIN
2 - 1 WIN
Game one I stuck at 4 mana for 4 turns, with 2 Bonfires and 2 Thragtuskes in my hand. Those Bonfires could have won me the game. Game 2 I play Huntmasters and Thragtuskes but Feeling of Dread keeps me at check. He starts to race me and I'm on the edge, but I topdeck a Bonfire and seal the game. Game 3 he mulls to 5, I kill his only Loxodon Smiter, Huntmasters pings his owl later on and ride to victory.
0 - 2, Bant Control
0 - 1 LOSS
0 - 2 LOSS
I don't get hands fast enough. It was like I was ment to lose this game. Game one drags for ages and I'm doing okay, until he casts Revelations for 11. Game 2 I play a Duress and make him reveal a hand full of goodstuff. My Avengers start to beat him, but Thragtuskes and Jaces are enough to rip me apart. I didn't see any Slaughter Games or Rakdos's Returns, which basically made me lose.
2 - 1, 4C Midrange
0 - 1 LOSS
1 - 1 WIN
2 - 1 WIN
An odd deck. He plays no Angel of Serenities or Sphinx's Revelations. He leans heavily on Mizzium Mortars and Bonfire of the Damneds to keep his opponent's threats in check. This made the games very manageable for me, since Avengers, Trolls and Keyrunes are very good against board wipes. In both victorious games Olivia sealed the deal for me.
For now, I would make no changes to my deck.
Youtube Channel
Round 1: BR Vampire Midrange
The guy played Olivia, Nocturnus... didn't see Bloodline Keeper but I won in 2 so it's possible he never drew it. Then the normal Vampire stuff (other than the 1/2 drops) and Rakdos Return. The games were actually somewhat close, but I think my removal was better and my creatures individually outclassed his. I was able get wins with Abrupt Decay by hitting his Vampire Captain and which let me trade very favorably in combat that turn. And then Miracle Bonfire winning a game at the right time to win the other. The guy played few duals, but he actually ended up T8ing despite that loss and winning his round of 4 match.
Overall 1-0 (won in two games)
Round 2 Mono Red
I played my friend again (same deck as last week). I really wish I had kept better track of everything that went down because it was epic. I remember game 2 I drew and played all 4 Huntmasters and a Thragtusk into a board of Pyreheart Wolf, Ash Zealot and Reckless Waif and eventually 3 Hellriders. Was able to timewalk him by playing removal on his Wolf before attacks were declared while a huntmaster and wolf token were in play... and yet he still wins and takes the match 2-0
Overall 1-1
Round 3 BW Exalted
One of the newer players... and it didn't help that she was mana screwed both games.
Overall 2-1
Round 4 Draw
We drew into the top 8. Yeah... 16 player tournament does that I guess.
Top 8...
Before the match he jokes about how it's a Jund v Jund mirror match. I take what he says with a grain of salt because I know he's the type that likes to make things up to try and get information from people.
Game 1 I see turn 3 Lingering Souls. Green, blue and white mana. Frites? Or 4 color control? Fortunately the game ends quickly. My Garruk gets D-Sphered... I Decay the Sphere and go to town with 2 Beast tokens. He plays a Garruk of his own to legend rule them both. Then Nighthawk joins the fun. He hits a nighthawk and one of the tokens with removal. I play the Olivia in my hand. Flash back Lingering Souls tries to stop the bleeding but I ping them both, then ping my beast token twice and end up swinging for 10. The game was over after that.
Game 2: He claims that I haven't seen what his deck can do. And at that point I'm still putting him on a weird non-combo version of Frites. I keep a 5 land (2 wolf run) hand with Olivia and Ultimate Price. Turn 2 Farseek for my opponent gets Blood Crypt... wait... what? Yes, he's playing 5 color control. The Lantern drops a few turns later, after he Slaughter Game's Thragtusk out of my deck (1 was in my hand). Olivia goes to town. Killing a Jace. Getting him down to 8. Then Garruk joins in on the fun. I get Rakdos Returned for 4 followed by Sphinx's Revelationed for 4 to give himself a little bit more breathing room and then Verdict's and plays a Huntmaster in the next turn. I play the only other Olivia in my deck. Debate whether or not to pop Garruk now or save him for next turn when I can Wolf Run Olivia and then Pop him. My opponent had 3-4 cards in hand at the time and easily had the means to kill either the Olivia or the Garruk next turn... but I risked it and just +1'd him. It panned out, and I hit Olivia for 5 with the Wolf Run, then popped Garruk and drew 8 cards. I would say that play probably sealed the game. He didn't have removal for Olivia, but it gave me the confidence to start ping+stealing his blockers and applying pressure knowing that I had a hand full of gas. Game. Set. Match. 2-0
It's customary at our store to split the top 4... my second in as many weeks. So everyone that made it (the guy I beat in round 1 and my friend and some other guy) won 22 bucks in store credit. I bought 2 Resto Angels (had to shell out some cash to get the 2nd). I'm primed to add white to the deck when Gatecrash hits.
Thoughts on deck/tournament: I lost to mono-Red for the 2nd week in a row. But I still feel like I'm good. I can't think of a move I could make outside of taking out a Garruk and a land and putting two Keyrunes back in. I would say a lot of my success has to do with the lack of UW/x tempo and Frites at our store... and it allowed me to focus my maindeck to beat midrange/control.
LOCATION: LINDENHURST , IL
EVENT: SCG IQ
ROUNDS PLAYED: 5, Cut to Top 8
MATCH POINTS: 3-0-2 Swiss, 0-1 Top 8 Bracket
PLACE: 3rd (OUT OF 19 in Swiss), 5-8th Top 8 Bracket
PRIZE: SCQ IQ Top 8 Pin, 6 Pack of RTR.
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2 Rakdos Keyrune
Creatures
2 Knight of Infamy
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Thragtusk
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
Legendary Creatures
2 Olivia Voldaren
Instants
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Ultimate Price
1 Searing Spear
Planeswalker
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
Sorceries
2 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Rakdo's Return
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Sever the Bloodline
2 Dreadbore
4 Farseek
2 Pillar of Flame
1 Forest
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Woodland Cemetery
1 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Rakdo's Return
3 Appetite for Brains
1 Underworld Connections
2 Slaughter Games
1 Dreadbore
2 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Deathrite Shaman
2 Liliana of the Veil
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Round 1: Bye
Game 1: (WIN)
Game 2: (WIN)
-
Round 2: Jund Mirror
Game 1: (WIN)
Game 2: (WIN)
-
Round 3: Bant Enchant
Game 1: (WIN)
Game 2: (WIN
-
Round 4: 4c Human Reanimator
Game 1: (Draw)
Game 2: (Draw)
-
Round 5: Naya Midrange
Game 1: (Draw)
Game 2: (Draw)
- Cut to Top 8 Bracket-
Round 5: Azorious Aggro
Game 1: (LOSS)
Game 2: (LOSS)
Really got some horrible hands in the cut to Top 8 and kept a very questionable hand game 2..you live and learn I guess but it was my first major Top 8 in an event like this and the deck seemed to handle most of everything I was up against.
WUBRGProgenitus
BGWUAtraxa, Praetors' Voice
BGW Ghave, Guru of Spores
BGRKresh, The Bloodbraided
BWRKaalia of the Vast
RWUShu Yun, The Silent Tempest
BUGrimgrin, The Corpse-Born
RDaretti, Scrap Savant
4 THRAGTUSK
4 HUNTMASTER OF THE FELLS
3 VAMPIRE NIGHTHAWK
1 FALKENRATH ARISTOCRAT
1 HANWEIR WATCHKEEP
LEGENDARY CREATURES (2)
2 OLIVIA VOLDAREN
PLAINSWALKERS (2)
2 GARRUK, PRIMAL HUNTER
INSTANTS (6)
3 ULTIMATE PRICE
2 SEARING SPEAR
1 TRAGIC SLIP
SORCERIES (13)
4 FARSEEK
3 BONFIRE OF THE DAMNED
2 PILLAR OF FLAME
2 RAKDOS’S RETURN
2 SEVER THE BLOODLINE
1 FOREST
1 MOUNTAIN
LANDS (22)
4 BLOOD CRYPT
4 ROOTBOUND CRAG
4 OVERGROWN TOMB
4 WOODLAND CEMETERY
4 CAVERN OF SOULS
1 KESSIG WOLF RUN
1 DRAGONSKULL SUMMIT
2 RAKDOS KEYRUNE
2 SLAUGHTER GAMES
2 DEATHRITE SHAMAN
2 DREADBORE
2 ABRUPT DECAY
2 DURESS
1 LILIANA OF THE VEIL
1 UNDERWORLD CONNECTIONS
1 STAFF OF NIN
So round one I was matched against one of my good buddies MC. He was playing his typical B/G Zombies. Game one I was down to 4 life before I finally was able to wipe his board and take control of the field. I didn’t need to SB a ton (since I have redesigned my MD & SB more for aggro) but I still brought in 6 cards. Game two sucked . . . he literally played one creature and won the game. On turn two he dropped a Lotleth Troll and won the game. Sure it had a total of 3 Rancors on it at the end, but I just couldn’t get anything out or an exile threat fast enough to stop it. On turn three all he had to do was pitch a couple of Slithers, Scavenge, play a Rancor and he was swinging for at least 8 w/ Trample. Game three was two things, one was me having to mulligan and eventually only drawing 4 Lands in the game (and none represented black) and the other him playing a Messenger each on turns three, four and five. Yep, I got crushed. Sooooo, after round one I was already down to one pack and feeling pretty defeated. He took one of my two M13 packs.
Round two I was matched against a young lady named Anna and she was playing a G/R Werewolf deck. Unfortunately for her, in both games we played, I was able to draw a pretty quick mana base along with a ton of removal and she literally just plain ran out of cards in both games with no threats left. I actually didn’t SB since she didn’t have a SB and she flashed those big brown puppy dog eyes @ me . . . ;-). I took an Innistrad pack from her.
Before round three, I saw I was gunna play undefeated Damian and his Bant Control deck and texted my wife complaining about my first round loss, third round match-up and how I was gunna be out of the tourney so early. Damian is a ‘long-time’ player and doesn’t either play bad decks or make play errors . . . and I was an aggro heavy MD. So, we shuffled and game one was off. He basically didn’t play much till turn four or five and I had like the control nuts draw . . . and in only 20 minutes I won the game off of a RR fireball. Game two I actually SB a total of 9 cards. We shuffled and it was his turn to crush me. On turn 4 he played Sigarda and on turn 6 I saw the Angel of Serenity and scooped. I checked the clock and we had 13 minutes left. He did his typical old school player ½ hour shuffling bit (or at least it felt like it) and we were off for game three. I was able to pound out Liliana on turn three and after that it was just a race against time. We actually had just gotten to turns when he played his Orb and on my turn I made my only play error of the night and totally embarrassed myself by trying to play RR for the win . . . which of course I couldn’t with his Orb sitting there. I was fortunate I was still able to win on my next turn, but of course we were the only game still playing and everyone got to watch me play like an idiot. I grabbed a RTR pack and got ready for the next round.
Round four saw me matched-up against one of my sons. Since I know his deck so well, I was pretty full of confidence and swept him in two games. He tried his hardest, but I cut him off before he was ever able to get his 3-Color Populate deck rolling. Being able to SG his Parallel Lives on turn four made all the difference in game two. I pulled his last M13 pack and waited for the last round.
Round five pitched me against Gunner and his undefeated G/W Human Wild Defiance deck. It is hard to explain, and even though I had played and lost to him before, I just felt like I was going to crush him . . . and I did. In the two games we played, he was only able to attack and do 2 damage to me, in total. This let me snag another RTR deck and left me 4-1 (9-3 in games) and in 1st place (or so I thought). Well . . . after all the matches were done, the rankings were posted and I was in 3rd place . . . Gunner (who I just crushed) in 2nd and MC in 1st. As it turned out, we all had identical 4-1 records . . . MC beat me, I beat Gunner and he beat MC. I guess based on how we did against everyone else, the computer decided I should finish 3rd and that was that. I was still happy to have all the free packs though.
In thinking about changes, I just can’t say I want to make any. My only loss was to a traditional hard matchup for me and it basically happened due to him having a nuts draw game two and my mulliganing game three into nothing helpful. While I haven’t kept track, I believe my win percentage in games I mulligan is about 25%. Have I mentioned how much I hate to mulligan??? I also want to mention my champion on the night . . . and it was my one of Tragic Slip. I just can’t say enough how awesome it is to have an instant that can almost kill every creature in Standard, for just one B. Would I want 2??? Not yet, but will see what Gatecrash has in store.
To an extent you are correct.
A couple of months ago, one of my sons got hired at a comic shop with the job of integrating MTG, Pokémon, Yugioh, etc. as a part of the shop. The owner started playing Magic and took such a liking to it; he has expanded it greatly and is now hosting multiple tourneys a week and special events and the like.
I (up to that point) was usually playing at another shop that has a super competitive FNM. However, being the dutiful father I am, I now play at the new and growing shop helping new players and playing with a few of my 'older' friends that came over with me and etc. Of course that means there are times I play truly awful homebrew decks . . . but also times I am playing players who began in the '90s and are still uger competitive. I still like to get around though and in the last couple of months have played in IQs and GPs and while no super spectacular finishes, have never left completely embarrassed.
I added Hanweir Watchkeep quite a while ago when control/flash was all the rage. Since it may seem clunky or awkward, I typically have no problem getting it on the battlefield. Then . . . miraculously, somehow it transforms into a 5/5 that does nothing but attack, kill their creatures or Plains walkers, force them to use their removal early, etc. I can often get it out on turn three and the number of times my opponent has to ask to see the back . . . their little minds start to go into overtime and they suddenly have to change their strategy or their timing or their something to deal with it. I already have a slow deck so there are times this dude literally forces their hand while I gain a turn or two just to build and prepare. I know the 'experts' would tell you it is a throw away card, but I go by both effect and affect and this guy causes ripples in my way for both. I mean honestly, after you drop him on turn three, your opponent plays their land drop and . . . wants to leave their mana open to play in response on your turn or at the end of your turn . . . but do they dare??? What if they have removal and just use it, isn't your Hunt now just one turn safer when you drop on turn four or Thrag on five iffn they have to already sweep once or remove twice??? That is what he does . . . force them to make all those decisions and use their spells early and totally disrupt their play style . . . all for one odd little dude that was only a 1/5 w/ Defender (and he also does a ton of damage control from Zombies and stops Messenger all day long).
Hanweir Watchkeep certainly isn't awful, but I'm pretty sure you'd still be better off without it I agree with ForgetFreeman here, but don't take offense. As long as you're winning, why bother to change anything. Although you could play at the more competitive store as well sometimes and make a report.
Youtube Channel
Overall, it's a tight list and one or two cards you like isn't going to kill your wins.
4x Blood Crypt
3x Dragonskull Summit
2x Kessig Wolf Run
4x Overgrown Tomb
3x Rootbound Crag
4x Stomping Ground
4x Woodland Cemetery
2x Abrupt Decay
2x Victim of Night
Planeswalker (5)
2x Garruk, Primal Hunter
3x Liliana of the Veil
3x Olivia Voldaren
4x Thragtusk
2x Thundermaw Hellkite
3x Vampire Nighthawk
Sorcery (11)
3x Bonfire of the Damned
2x Dreadbore
4x Farseek
2x Rakdos's Return
1x Dreadbore
1x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Ground Seal
1x Liliana of the Veil
3x Pillar of Flame
1x Rakdos's Return
2x Rolling Temblor
3x Slaughter Games
1x Vampire Nighthawk
Link to deck @ TappedOut.net
4-0 FNM mixed players base
First two rounds where jokes and I played scrubs
Round one: UWR Gutersnipe deck with O rings 2-0
Round two: BW Extort deck, Looked more like a sealed deck than a constructed deck won 2-0
Round three: Naya Humans good player fun games. Game one was down to one life before I stabilized with Tusk, Tusk, Garruk won of his ultimate. I sided in 2 Rolling Temblor, 3 Pillar of Flames, and one Dreadbore. Took out Liliana, Rakdos’s Return and ThundermawGame two first few turns I killed everything she played and took over the game with Tusk and Garruk.
Round four: UWR Geist deck. Game one I keep a bad 6 of 5 lands and a Huntmaster Made a game out of it but lost. I sided in Liliana, Dreadbore and Rolling Temblor. I side out 2 Rakdo’s Return 1 Thundermaw and a 1 Huntmaster. I win this game off my removal and Thragtusk Liliana was very good here. Game three is much the same as Game two but We stall for a long time and then I come over the top with Nighthawk and Kessig Wolf Run.
This is the second week in a row that I have won FNM and I am thinking I need to Find a new deck. I won but the games where not fun and I did not really enjoy myself.
GBR Jund
GBW Junk
GBW Melira Pod
GB Rock
GR Tron
UR Storm
UR Delver
UR Twin
RUG Twin
UWR Twin
UWR Kiki Control
UWR Control
UWR Midrange
URWB Affinity
GRW Zoo
R Burn
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Olivia Volderan
3 Garruk Primal Hunter
2 Rakdos Return
1 Clan Defiance
2 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Sever the Bloodline
2 Ultimate Price
2 Searing Spear
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Farseek
25 land (2 Wolfrun, 2 Caverns, no Stomping Grounds... yet)
3 Duress
2 Underworld Connections
3 Slaughter Games
2 Deathrite Shaman
1 Sever the Bloodline
1 Bonfire of the Damned
3 Dreadbore
I'll be the first to admit my removal suite probably isn't optimal, but I figure I'm playing in FNMs mostly anyway, so as long as I have a variance of different spells I'm probably good, and Dreadbore can come out of the sideboard and be the card that replaces dead removal spells.
Tuesday there's a store that runs a tournament about 20 miles south of Houston. I happen to live within an hour of it and have that night off so I checked it out. It's a tournament that might average 8-12 people a week, and there are probably 3-4 solid players. The first two weeks I went I basically went undefeated with the sole exception of two match losses to mono red two weeks in a row. The guy proceeded to take first those two weeks. This week I won first, and while I didn't face tier 1 decks the whole way, I would say 3 out of 4 rounds I was facing at least a relevant archetype.
Round 1: UWR Tempo. I'm pretty sure this deck was as close to a net deck of the lists that top 8'd the last pro-tour. Reckoner, Resto, Snapcaster, Bolas, Revelation, instants. You know the drill.
Game 1: Nighthawks and Olivia's got hit by spears, then flashed back to hit other targets. When I tried to kill one of the mages, Resto jumped in to "counter" the spell and the game quickly got out of reach. 0-1
Game 2: This was the first time I had played this version of the tempo deck, I knew Reckoner was a force to be reckoned with (forgive the pun), so I sided in Dreadbores and Duress and sided out Bonfire and Searing Spear. I didn't initially bring it Slaughter Games or UC because I figured those were more answers to control than tempo. Game 2 I had a heavy removal hand, and I was pretty much able to kill anything that hit the table. Thragtusk joined the party (via Caverns), eventually a 2nd one was cast and that was enough to secure the victory. I remember making my fair share of mistakes in this one, not tapping mana correctly, etc but I had enough of a lead to secure the victory. 1-1
Game 3: I don't remember exactly how this one went. Other than Thragtusks hit the table, Wolf Run got to join in the fun. And eventually he was able to wipe the board but I finished him off with Rakdos Return. He got mad that he lost and left. 2-1
Round 2: Esper no Jaces (that I could see). I was initially really afraid of this deck because I know how easily Esper decks can mill Jund decks if we let them hang around. But it seemed like he was playing a version of the deck closer to UW flash than actual Esper.
Game 1: This game lasted a really long time, but I was able to put enough pressure on via Huntmasters to force him to Sphinx for 4 early. Eventually I got there.
Game 2: In comes my 8 card sideboard plan. I kept a hand with 5 land, Thragtusk and duress. Drew into Underworld Connections, and then proceeded to just go buck wild drawing cards. Never missed a land drop the entire game, and was basically holding removal the entire game so threats never stayed on the floor that long. Drownyard finally hit the table, and made me slightly more cautious about how I would draw cards. But then I played Wolf Run and had more threats than he had removal spells. He conceded. 2-0
Round 3 BW beats.
Bad deck is bad. It played stuff like Resto and Geralf's Messenger. Cute, but the exact type of deck that mine is going to eat for lunch. Slow enough to let me set up, but without the inability to go over the top to punish me.
2-0
Round 4 Saito Naya
The guy I was playing was outside when pairings were announced. Someone went outside to let him know he was playing "the Jund Guy". I'll take it... I guess I've deserved the title since I've basically been playing this deck since RTR Rotated in. We were both undefeated, and this store doesn't do a top 4 or anything like that because the swiss rounds essentially turn into an elongated T8 tournament anyway. So that meant the winner of this match wins first place this week.
Game 1: I mulled to 6 and kept a hand with Ultimate Price, 2 BG duals and I think a Nighthawk? Turn 2 BTE into nothing, Turn 3 Smiter eats a top deckd Abrupt Decay. BTE gets in for about 4 Damage until I play Thragtusk and Caverns naming Vampire (with no Red mana). And then next turn proceed to top deck Olivia... which gets hit with removal. Which leads to a second top decked Olivia. I never draw red mana, but I eventually just get there with my creatures. 1-0
Game 2: I had this guy on the ropes. I'm swinging into him with a Beast token (via Thragtusk) and Wolf Run. I'm at 21. Over the course of 3 turns he plays Gyre Sage, then Hellrider (swing for 7)... with a Sever in the grave I could flash back... I swing in with Wolf Run to put him at 2. Thinking "I'm at 14 and have removal I can play on any blocker he leaves up". Thundermaw Hellkite hits the table, Evolves Sage, gives him JUST enough power to win (5 + 3-hellrider + 3-sage + 3-hellrider triggers). Hellkite is 7 damage with Sage and Hellrider on the table. 1-1
Game 3: Turn 2 Boar. Huntmaster hit the table on my side and with a double block on the Boar it died. Reckoner hit the table and I responded with Garruk. He played Domri and fought the 2/2 token, sending the triggered damage from Reckoner at Garruk (bringing him to 2). Garruk didn't last much longer, and niether did Reckoner. I played Olivia with a Red and Black untapped, thinking I could use that mana to ping a beast token to make her bigger. I forgot about the Dreadbore in my hand and Domri on my opponent's side. He +1d Domri (now at 2 counters), revealing a Smiter which he played. Then he played Pacifism on Olivia... "wait, that doesn't stop it's abilities does it?" The look on his face told me he didn't even think about that until now. I had 7 mana. So I stole the Smiter and swung, killing Domri. He played Thundermaw Hellkite. I took the 5 and stole it next turn, swinging for the win.
2-1
It was slightly an empty victory because that was a pretty big misplay on his part. But he still had no answer to Olivia. He blew most of his wad killing Garruk so Olivia was able to come down safely and dominate. I think that card is going to be pretty important in that matchup with how little removal the deck tends to play.
Great report! How did Clan Defiance perform? I'm not a huge fan of that card... Also, is there a reason for no Lilianas?
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It's a 1 of. One game last week it was the fireball that won me the game. I'm not that big of a fan of it right now but I'm still giving it a shot.
As for Liliana, I'm probably not going to include her until I start seeing Bant Enchants or a similar deck hit any FNM I go to. Right now it's a lot of Naya, Boros, Tempo, Control.
3 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Olivia Voldaren
4 Thragtusk
Spells
4 Farseek
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Dreadbore
2 Victim of Night
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Tribute to Hunger
1 Barter in Blood
2 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Sever the Bloodline
1 Staff of Nin
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
Lands
4 Blood Crypt
4 Stomping Ground
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Woodland Cemetery
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Rootbound Crag
2 Kessig Wolf Run
3 Slaughter Games
2 Duress
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Barter in Blood
2 Deathrite Shaman
2 Garruk Relentless
1 Vraska, the Unseen
2 Rakdos Return
Round 1: W/G Aggro
Game 1: Abrupt Decays, non-overload Mizzium Mortars and a T4 Barter in Blood sweep his board. Huntmaster takes over the game.
Game 2: He drops a Arbor Elf followed by a Mayor of Avabruck. Non-miracled Bonfire for 1 takes both out. More removal and Thragtusks seal the deal.
1-0
Round 2: Naya Midrange (the player is probably the best in my area, lost to Yuuya Watanabe in GP Manila finals)
Lost both games, mainly due to Angel of Serenity. Managed to stabilise after his early onslaught in both games, but just could not handle a Angel of Serenity bringing them all back. Probably should have sideboarded in Slaughter Games naming Angel of Serenity.
1-1
Round 3: Rakdos deck wins
Not much to say about this, removal clears the board and Huntmasters/Olivias win the game.
2-1
Round 4: Simic Undying.
Interesting deck this, Young Wolf, Zameck Guildmage, Master Biomancers, Fathom Mage and card draw. Abuses +1/+1 counters to draw cards with Zameck Guildmage's 2nd ability.
They still die to removal. A timely (sideboarded) Rakdos Return in the 2nd game cleared his hand and got me the 2nd win.
3-1
Round 5: Naya Humans
This deck was stupidly fast, he'd already demolished 3 control decks before meeting mine.
Game 1: Killed a couple of his early drops, but he kept drawing threats and soon I was facing a board of:
2 Boros Elite
1 Frontline Medic <---- This guy is a real pain in the ass
1 Mayor of Avabruck
1 Lightniing Mauler
Miracled a Bonfire with 7 lands, which was enough to sweep his board even if he sacced his Medic.
Game 2: I sideboarded in another Bonfire along with more removal.
His T1: Boros Elite
My T1: Land
His T2: Lightning Mauler, soulbond with Boros Elite, swing for 3
My T2: Land, Farseek
His T3: Burning Tree Emissary, Lightning Mauler, soulbond, swing for 9
My T3: oh****oh****oh**** MIRACLE BONFIRE for 2!
4-1, which put me into 3rd place out of 22.
What I learnt:
1.) Bonfire of the Damned is still one of the best cards available to us versus aggro decks. It simply allows you to win games that you should not have won.
2.) Barter in Blood was always excellent. You'll definitely want 2 in your 75.
3.) Victim of Night is the best removal we have right now. I'm adding one to my SB.
4.) Angel of Serenity is a serious beating, one that we have few answers for. The best I can hope for is to hold a Victim of Night in hand and destroy it in response to the exile triggers, hence exiling the creatures forever.
Speaking of...
I played at a relatively low key FNM this weekend. The usual store I play at was doing draft and I really wanted to play standard. It was a like a 12 person tournament, but I did learn a few things about the deck so I figure it's worth posting.
My deck is the same as it is a few posts above.
Round 1: Red/Black: The guy is new to magic. I had to actually give him some props on the deck (probably someone else's but I can't say my deck idea is original), it was basically budget mono red with black splashed in for removal. So he actually got to interact with my creatures and didn't just die when I played something bigger. Of course, I got lucky and drew into Wolf Run both games so when a creature stuck I just went to town with it dealing 7 damage a turn. 1-0
Round 2: Mono Red: Another relatively new player, but this deck was actually more dangerous as it played Hellriders and Ash Zealots and Pyreheart Wolf but no Reckoners. The first game he gets stuck on 3 land with Hellrider in his hand and the second game he was really close to a game win before I pulled it out. 2-0
Round 3: B/W... midrange/aggro? I play a good friend of mine. I hadn't seen his deck anywhere else, but I'm told it did well on the pro-tour. It plays Messengers and Obzedats and stuff like that. Game 1 was straight forward. My deck turned into a beatdown deck and just won. Game 2 he mulls to 3.... and wins. My hand was solid, but Obzedat hit the board and he never had to attack with him. And that's when I realized if he doesn't attack with Obzedat, I have no way of removing him from the board. This is probably going to make me switch number of Victim of Nights maindeck or sideboard. Game 3 I manage to win pretty solid though. 3-0
Round 4: UWR...flash? Tempo? So game 1 was pretty long, and the entire match came down IMO to my inability to put the guy on a specific deck style. I didn't see Boros Reckoner or Auger or Sphinx's Revelation, but I saw Snapcaster, all the tempo cards, Thundermaw Hellkite, Giest of Saint Taft, burn but then I saw maindeck Verdicts as well. I barely lose game 1. No clue how to sideboard. If he isn't playing Revelation, I have no need to bring in Slaughter Games from the board. The existence of Giest forces me to want to keep Huntmaster (otherwise he's really easy to board out and just go all out with the SG and Duress). But the potential to be playing to be playing the slower version of the deck made me want to bring in Underworld Connections and keep in Rakdos Return in the main. "Game 2... I keep a 5 land hand (probably stupid of me), relatively even match, but I get Revelation'd for 5 and the game gets out of hand after that. He tells me after the match that he's playing just the regular flash deck but without Pike and without Reckoner... and for some reason sided out Giest (which I guess technically was a good move because I kept cards in against it). 3-1
Top 4: Naya. This wasn't the regular Naya build that has been seeing play recently. But one that main decked Sigarda and Aurelia. It still played Smiter, Reckoner, etc. Game 1 he happened to play turn 5 Sigarda into Aurelia. A Garruk was able to stem a lot of the damage from that play by forcing him to attack him in the first combat step with one of the creatures. I only ended up taking 8 total. Then my double Thragtusk hit him back for 10, he didn't block... bringing him down to 2, and I Speared the rest of the damage. Game 2, Garruk sees play again and dominates. I pump out 2 tokens... then when he was at 5 counters I felt it was safe enough to -3 to draw 3 cards and get more ahead. He told me after the game that he had the Conscripts in hand and was hoping I would +1 so he could steal and ultimate him (which would've been game ending). I'd like to pretend that I intentionally played around Conscripts... but it was mostly luck, and not needing a 3rd Beast token... needing extra cards in hand instead. But I'll take the win.
Me and my B/W friend both won our top 4 games and we split first and second which was.... 7 packs total(I know, I know... this is why I don't normally go to this store). We proceeded to open 1 Stomping Ground, 1 Sacred Foundry, 1 Obzedat (completing a playset), 1 Deathpact Angel, and 1 Borborygmos Enraged.
Lesson's Learned: I probably want Victim of Night or Murder somewhere in my 75 so that I don't get Obzedat'd again. I need to stop playing at bad stores. Next week the store I normally go to starts running standard tournaments again.
3 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Olivia Voldaren
4 Thragtusk
PWs (5):
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
Instants & Sorceries (16):
4 Farseek
2 Searing Spear
2 Victim of Night
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Rakdos's Return
2 Rakdos Keyrune
Lands (24):
2 Kessig Wolf Run
22 Lands
4 Slaughter Games
3 Duress
3 Deathrite Shaman
2 Barter in Blood
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Olivia Voldaren
1 Vampire Nighthawk
Swiss:
2 - 0, Jund mirror
We both play pretty similar lists, although he didn't have Lilianas. First game takes really long, and be both exchange resources. He Rakdos's Returns me for 4 in the early game which was pretty devastating. I am left with one card in hand which is also a RR, and I destroy his hand in return. I manage to play a Garruk and a Thragtusk, draw some cards and eventually manage to stick a creature that wins the game with a Wolf run. The second game is over a lot faster, with me curving out perfectly. Game ends with me having Liliana and Garruk in the play. I think winning this round was rather easy, since I have played with the deck a lot more and have better SB plan.
SB: -3 Vampire Nighthawk, -2 Victim of Night, +1 Olivia Voldaren, +1 Rakdos's return, +3 Slaughter Games
0 - 2, UR Stuffy Doll
This was the black horse of the gameday. I didn't think much of this deck but he won me pretty easily. G1 I keep a hand full of removal which was the same as having blanks. The game starts of really slowly, but his deck grinds the win. Liliana of the Veil is really good in this MU, but I drew her too late since he had another creatures to sacrifice, and the Stuffy Dolls and Chandra could kill her on the next turn. Game 2 is a lot closer one, but he has enough permission I can't make any meaningful plays. Blasphemous Act helps him to close the game.
SB: -2 Victim of Night, -2 Mizzium Mortars, -2 Rakdos Keyrune, -2 Searing Spear, -2 Abrupt Decay, +1 Rakdos's Return, +2 Barter in Blood, +3 Deathrite Shaman, +2 Slaughter Games, +2 Duress
2 - 0, The Aristocrats
I was pretty excited to play against this deck for the first time. Fortunately for me, my draws are way better and the games are laughably easy for me to win. He mulligans to 6 in both games and I curve out nicely with Vampire Nighthawks, Huntmasters, Thragtuskes and Olivias in both games. His first plays are Doomed Travelers which both are held at bay by Nighthawk, and eventually die to my removal. I won the second game with a Vampire Nighthawk that gets bumped by Kessig Wolf Run. All in all, the games were super easy. My creatures, removal and gameplan were super solid. Rakdos's Returning his hands in both games was HUGE.
SB: -2 Vampire Nighthawk, -1 Rakdos's Return, -1 Rakdos Keyrune / Rakdos's Return, +2 Barter in Blood, +1 Olivia Voldaren, +1 Vampire Nighthawk
2 - 0, Bant control
At this point I was super excited. The games had rolled out nicely for me so far. When I realized I'm playing against Bant Control, I almost burst in joy. Bant is definitely my best MU, especially with 4 Slaughter Games in my SB. I can't remember much of these games, except that I absolutely demoralized my opponent. I accelerated with Farseek, Destroyed his hand with Liliana and Rakdos's Return, and gained massive CA with Thragtusk and Garruk's -3. G1 he Played SR for 4, but I didn't really mind it since I got to draw 5 with Garruk right after that happened I eventually play Liliana which pings his Thragtusk and Beast-tokens to death and hit for million damage. Game 2 was like living the dream. I destroy his hands with Duress, Liliana and RR, then gain CA and kill promtply. My deck was ridiculuously favoured in this MU.
SB: -2 Olivia Voldaren, -2 Searing Spear, -3 Huntmaster of the Fells, +1 Rakdos's Return, +2 Duress, +4 Slaughter Games
Top 4:
2 - 0, UR Stuffy Doll
Same guy, this time around I win the games. He doesn't have as much permission, I play edicts and win the game with Wolf and Kessig Wolf Run.
SB: see above
1 - 2, Mono R aggro
Game 1 I mulligan to 4, keeping a 0-land hand and losing T4. I was obviously pretty disappointed. Game 2 I draw better and have the time to stabilize. G3 he gets to be on the play, and I'm one turn late and lose the finals. I had all the cards necessary to win in my hand, but don't get the time to play them.
SB: -2 Rakdos's Return, -2 Rakdos Keyrune, -2 Garruk, Primal Hunter, +1 Vampire Nighthawk, +2 Barter in Blood, +3 Deathrite Shaman
----------------
My MVP was easily Rakdos's Return. That card is the nuts, it won me so many games today. All in all I was thrilled how good Jund Midrange is
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Played this list:
4 Stomping Ground
4 Blood Crypt
4 Overgrown Tomb
3 Rootbound Crag
3 Woodland Cemetary
2 Dragonskull Summit
2 Mountain
2 Kessig Wolf Run
Creatures(26):
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Gyre Sage
4 Flinthoof Boar
4 Dreg Mangler
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
2 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Thundermaw Hellkite
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Domri Rade
2 Garruk Relentless
3 Duress
3 Pillar of Flames
1 Giant Growth
2 Deathrite Shaman
2 Rolling Temblor
2 Slaughter Games
2 Rackdos' Return
Round 1 - BUG Control 2-0 (1-0)
Game 1: Win the die roll. He gets land screwed and I curve out nicely with Burning Tree, Flinthoof, Dreg Mangler.
Game 2: Side out Mortars, Abrupt Decay, for Duress, and Rackdos' Return. Again just aggro out.
Round 2 - Mono Black Discard 2-0 (2-0)
Don't remember a ton, but I was paired down. Against a kid playing all those 1 drop block discards and Duress and Mind Rot. He keeps a 1 lander game 2 and ends up casting 4 Shrieking Afliction which gets me to really debate for a second playing out 3 burning Tree Emissary T3.. I just aggro it out.
Round 3 - The Aristocrats 2-0 (3-0)
Game 1: I thought this matchup might be hard but he gets stuck on 2 lands game 1 and I out aggro.
Game 2: Side in Pillars and Deathrite.. not sure this is correct but I figure the other removal might not be important if it got attrition. Turns out Hellkite does the trick through a Restoration Angel.
Round 4 - Mono Red 2-1 (4-0)
Game 1: Lose the die roll. But manage to stabilize with Burning Tree Flinthoof.. Domri fight Ash Zealot lets me stabilize. Take the game down with Falkenrath Aristocrat (he couldn't burn it out with my creatures on board).
Game 2: I side in lot of removal and side out some Hellkites, Domri, .. I draw a removal hand but Reckoner puts me in a hard spot late game and I flood out on lands before being able to kill a 2/2 that eventually kills me.
Game 3: Falkenrath strong arms past a Boros Reckoner pretty much wins the game straight up.
Round 5 - Jund Midrange 2-0 (4-0-1)
At this point I draw in as the only 4-0. The opponent at 3-1 just wanted to top 8 since the store doesn't price split past 2nd. We play the games anyway.
Game 1: He gets stuck on lands (he keeps a double Farseek 1 Lander). I end up taking it down fairly quickly.
Game 2: Side out Ghor-Clan and bring in Rackdos' Return. Double Burning Tree, Manger, Hellkite, Hellkite.. pretty much wins after he tries to stabilize with a Nighthawk after the first one.
The deck felt really good.. I played a few other rounds between rounds since they were over so fast and wen 2-0 in both of those. One against 5 color control deck and one against Esper.. All together a good day. Mortars was rarely relevant, and Domri did miss most of the time, so it's possible the numbers aren't right on those.
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