I will be uploading daily events as they get played, so feel free to drop by and join in the chat (its in the r/x aggro subforum).
The deck:
So what is this travesty to manabases everywhere?
This is my attempt at tackling the current metagame. Whaaaaaaaat? Let me explain.
Some things to consider:
- Jund Midrange and Bant Control are increasingly popular. This has had the effect of pushing Zombies out of the metagame.
- In turn, these two archetypes are now increasingly tuning themselves to beat their respective mirrors and each other ~ they have less early interction and removal.
- For some reason, GW is still a real deck online, even though it is awful.
So ~ I need to beat Jund and Bant. Post-board, I need game against GW and Reanimator.
- I need to curve out. The games you win againt Jund and Bant involve doing a lot of damage early, then using different angles of attack to finish them off once they start to stabalize. This meant playing quality cards every turn. Hellhole Flailer got in because I wanted a proper curve; I cut some 1 drops because ironically, I think having too many 1 drops is a big weakness of the BR Zombie deck ~ theyre great early, but increasingly bad as the game goes on. By having more 2 drops, I am assured of higher quality topdecks ~ both Ash Zealot and Knight of Infamy are excellent cards.
- I wanted to maximize by aggression. With Jund tuning to beat midrange and control, and Bant doing the same, I wanted to take advantage of the archeyptal space they were ignoring ~ if they're not going to worry as much about aggro, I want to be aggro! This did mean running 4 Pillar of Flame because it is just the best spell we have to remove early blockers ~ we know it isnt that good now, but sometimes you just need removal and I didnt want to be waiting to hit 3 mana for Flames of the Firebrand.
- To help make the deck a little faster, I am down to 23 land, which meant dropping to a single Zealous Conscripts ~ which hurts, because the card is ridiculous.
- The mana base is taken from Sato's RakDW deck from japan; I am a little unhappy with it, but after ~20 matches it hasnt lost me a match yet. Games? Yes I initially wanted to include some number of Guildgates, but this deck is very consistently going 1-2-3-4 and they were hurting that. They could still prove to be a necessary evil.
I have discussed the sideboard; how it was built and how I use it extensively elsewhere, so look it up
Match 1 vs Grixis Control
Game 1: On the play, mulligan: 5 land, Pillar of Flame, Falkenrath Aristocrat
I like to be aggressive in Game 1, and this hand is very slow. While Aristocrat is the best card in the deck, it is a card that is strong when you already have the opponent on the back foot ~ where you already have a board presence to buy her extra lives. I didn't have that.
My opponent keeps his 7. I lead with Mountain into Noble (an opening which still might be the best in the metagame), after which he plays a tapped Steam Vents. I play the Dragonskull Summit, then Ash Zealot and hit him to 17. Let me explain why I played the Zealot and not the Knight (breaking the 'play haste guys last' doctrine). Steam Vents very likely suggests UWr Control or Tempo. Their removal is split between white and red cards ~ the red removal is cheap, the white removal is often expensive. Knight of Infamy is pro-white ~ so if my opponent has to use his red removal early (because it is cheap) he is stuck with white removal late, which is bad against the Knight.
However, he plays a Dragonskull Summit, undoing all my clever work, and Dreadbore's my Zealot. So much for that. I play the Knight and hit him to 14. So far I have only drawn land, which is OK, but potentially problematic. He plays a tapped Blood Crypt and passes the turn. I draw another Knight of Infamy and decide to hold it ~ playing it will not change my clock. He falls to 9 after my attack, and with a 4/4 Noble and the Knight in play, I am presenting a 2-turn clock.
Snapcaster Mage for Dreadbore on the Noble comes down; but my second Knight allows the first to attack past (I feel he should have chumped), taking him to 5. Pillar of Flame into Snapcaster into Pillar wipes my board, but when Hellhole Flailer comes down the turn after, he cannot regain any initiative. Jace Memory adept appears and starts t dig for answers, but I topdeck an Ash Zealot to finish him off.
Take out lowest impact cards for highest impact. Dreadbore answers his inevitable 'walkers or Niv-Mizzet; Rakdos's Return is just ridiculous. Traitorous Blood is a consideration, but he seems low on win-conditions ~ it is better against a Bant control deck with a lot more targets.
Game 2: On the draw, keep: Two Knight of Infamy, Falkenrath Aristocrat, two mountain, swamp, Brimstone Volley.
Not super fast, but decent early threats and a key card against this kind of deck (Aristocrat).
The first few turns are very uneventful. We each make our land drops, I get in a little bit of damage, he has some removal then taps out for a Rakdos Keyrune. Aristocrat hits him down low, and a Rolling Temblor leaves me with a 7/3 flyer...I hit him again and he shows me a hand of Pillar of Flame, some land and two Rakdos's Return ~ awkward!
1-0 (2-0, 1 win though Flailer).
Match 2 vs Bant Control splashing Red
Game 1: On the play mulligan: two brimstone volley, hellhole flailer, zealous conscripts, three land.
Borderline. The hand is OK, but very slow. With the metagame being ~45% Jund and Bant Control, I would be taking an auto-loss against these decks.
Keep: Blood Crypt, Two Rakdos Cackler, Knight of Infamy, Ash Zealot, hellhole flailer.
The classic aggro conundrum ~ can you keep the 1-lander? I say of course! Besides, how many 5 card hands are better than this? One land activates pretty much my entire holding, so I have to try.
Blood Crypt into Cackler meets a tapped Hinterland Harbour. Of course, being the lucksack that I am, I rip a Dragonskull Summit (effectively best possible) and play my Ash Zealot ~ I want as much damage as possible early before the inevitable sweeper, and the Knight is better post-sweep against his white creatures. I thought he was Bant Control, but he goes Kessig Wolf Run into Farseek, fetching Hallowed Fountain, then the next turn plays a Rootbound Crag...for my part I just play an unleashed Flailer and keep giving him the business ~ an Augur of Bolas hits Divination but then chumps; a Supreme Verdict the turn after is responded to with a Flailer sacrifice; Searing Spear when I untapped meant we were on to game 2. (That is another win due to Flailer's ability FYI).
Game 2: On the draw, keep: two Rakdos Cackler, two mountain, one swamp, brimestone volley, searing spear.
Close to the nuts.
I play out two Cacklers, and his Augur of Bolas gets speared. Another Augur slows me down to 2 damage a turn, but I am accumulating spells to play post sweeper while he struggles with land drops. He plays double Farseek and I hit him some more; then he plays Pillar of Flame and Thragtusk. I topdeck Zealous Conscripts and kill him
2-0 (4-0, 2 wins from Flailer).
Match 3 vs Mono Red
Game 1: On the play, keep: Mountain, Pillar, Spear x 2, Cackler, Zealot, Flailer
Obviously fringe because I only have a single red source, but I don't think you can get ahead mulliganing here ~ drawing a single land means I am very close to just nutdrawing him out of the game.
Mountain into Cackler is met by Mountain into Noble...hmmmm. Pillar of Flame takes out the Noble, but I don't draw a second land (I do draw a second pillar). He doesn't have a second land either, so he plays another Noble, which also gets killed by a Pillar. I don't draw a land. He doesn't draw a land either (yeah, both of us were finalists...) and plays a Cackler. I finally hit and play my Zealot; hitting him to 8. At this point, I have lethal burn in hand, and I am at 16 life ~ he kills my Zealot, I hit him with the Cackler then am able to kill him with two Spears ~ one on his endstep, one in my upkeep.
Sideboarding: -4 Knight of Infamy, +2 Flames of the Firebrand, +2 Dreadbore
This will be controversial, but I think Knight is the worst card in this matchup. It is most often going to be a 2/1 in defence, which is comically bad against a R/x Aggro deck. It makes your more vulnerable to Flames of the Firebrand. Instead, I thought it best to just bring in effective removal and play aggro-control.
Game 2: On the draw, keep: Stromkirk Noble, Ash Zealot, Hellhole Flailer, two mountain, dragonskull summit, Dreadbore.
Plenty of early pressure if he has a slower draw. Not vulnerable to Flames of the Firebrand. Dreadbore in case he is one of those psychos with Volcanic Strength.
We each play a turn 1 Stromkirk Noble. He does have Volcanic Strength and I feel filthy.
He kills my Noble with a Pillar of Flame and plays a Shred-Freak (I fall to 15). I now have three lines of play:
1)kill his Shred-Freak with Flames of the Firebrand
2)play Hellhole Flailer
3)play Cackler and Ash Zealot
I go for 3). I don't like killing the Shred-Freak because his deck is mostly x/1s and x/2s ~ I am likely to get a 2-for-1 next turn OR need Flames to kill a Hellrider. Playing Flailer is a fine play, but weak to most of his removal ~ he could have Mortars, Spear and Volley and I am not putting any pressure on. Playing two creatures plays around his removal best ~ if he has Flames, he can only kill 1 creature.
He hits me to 13 and plays a Cackler. I attack, he spears my Zealot. I Flames away his board. He passes, I equalise at 13-each and play an unleashed Flailer with a Searing Spear in hand. At this point, not only was he down a card from being on the play, but I have had two 2-for-1s;
He passes again, I hit him to seven; sacrifice flailer, searing spear you
Finished: 3-0 (6-0, 3 wins from Flailer...)
Thoughts:
- the deck run a lot better than I thought it might. I was drawing less weak cards late than I usually did with the old Dos Rakis.
- Flailer was very impressive. Not being able to block never came up, and the fling ability was often better than drawing a card. Solid body, puts a beating on fast. I think the metagame is much more favourable for him now than it was a few weeks ago.
- As usual, the sideboard plans came together nicely ~ the deck has so many angles of attack!
- the mana was never an issue in this event. Having played some matches both before and after, it has come up, but only very rarely. Interestingly, that Cackler can be cast off a swamp has let me keep a wider range of hands than I thought that I could.
I wholeheartedly reccommend this deck to any would be Dos Rakis players.
All this talk of Hellhole Flailer has me hot and/or bothered. I feel like the first time I tried him out, he was awful because I was trying to curve into Aristocrat every game. With everything slowing down, perhaps he's worth it for the extra reach.
And likewise to you! It's pretty strange, being able to pick so many different styles of red deck to play. I thought we were supposed to just play Lightning Bolt and drool on ourselves.
Played dpaine88's list in a SNM. Its been more than half a year since I played any sort of tournament. I never won the roll all night.
Round 1: Dos Rakis (2-1) Win
Game 1
Kept a pretty bad hand. Thought i could salvage it. So much land. Anyways, he punished me for it as he came out fast. I searing speared a hell hole flailer while he kept up the pressure. I conceded.
Game 2
I played strom kirk, zealot, zealot, hellrider. And it was on to game3.
Game 3
I burned most of his creatures. Flames of the fire brand helped me out here. He was stuck on 3 land. Kept tapping my creatures sideways, and dropped a hellkite. After the game he showed me his hand which included 2 falkenrath aristocrats, which cud have been lethal.
1-0
Round 2: Esper Control (2-1) Win
Game 1
Over extended. Ate a supreme verdict. He topped decked Entreat. Created 4 tokens. Brought out Restoration angels, and I never recovered.
Game 2
He kept blocking with snap casters targeting nothing. I kept the pressure up. He played verdict. I played thunder maw. He had no answer for it, and swung for lethal.
Game 3
Played stone wright, zealot, zealot, and shred freak. He unsummoned and blocked with snap casters. By then i had him to 8 life. He cast supreme verdict. I dropped a hellrider bringing him to 4. He cast a Lyev Skynight tapped my rider. I topped decked a traitorous blood. Stole his knight swung for 3, hell rider's ability activates, barely getting me through.
2-0
Round 3:UGB Control (1-2) Loss
Game 1
Kept a decent hand, but i kept drawing lands. He resolved a garruk relentless, stalled with lingering souls, brought out Vraska. Not much to say here.
Game 2
Played aggressively. He played lingering souls to stall, but my last 2 draws were brim stone, to deal exact damage.
Game 3
Pretty much the same as game 1. Dropped him to 4 he plays sphinx revelation back to 12. Drop him to 4 again with a morbid triggered brim stone and searing spear. Another sphinx revelation. He gets too far ahead, i lose.
2-1
Round 4: Selesnya Midrange (0-2)
Game 1
He goes t2 smiter>paladin>sublime. Not much I could do here.
Game2
I pair up with a stone-wright and a zealot. He keeps casting smiters. I dont draw the mizzium mortars i sided in, and am forced to kill 2 via burn. I drop him to 5 life but he drops the last 2 smiters, a thrag, and im stuck on 4 land with 2 zealous conscript and a thunder maw hell kite. I cud have dealt exact if i stole his smiter with my conscript. He was tapped out, and i didnt draw the land i needed.
2-2
Overall it felt good to play again, even though I obviously misplayed several times. Stone wright + Ash Zealot during flooding of mana really made a difference. Hope next week's SNM turns out better.
So far this season, I've been running American Control. I won with it in the second week of new standard, but since then, the meta in my store has gotten faster, with lots of midrange decks that play too many threats for me to keep control of the game. I've been haunting the Red Threads all week, trying to figure out what I wanted to play next. Way back in the day, I loved just jamming all the good red cards into a deck and killing people, so running this list was very much going back to my Magic roots.
Yes, this is 61 cards. It's a superstition. Just go with it. Went 3-1, placed 5th out of 18. Stupid lifegain...
Round 1 vs MonoB Trading Post, 2-0
Got paired up against a regular who had been running Esper Control. This week, he switched back to an updated version of the deck he was running post-rotation, using Vessel of Endless Rest for card draw and saccing to Trading Post. Neither game was in serious doubt. Game 1 I kept his board clear with Pillar and Thunderbolt (poor Vampire Nighthawk...), then overextended into a Mutliate. Luckily, I had a Thundermaw in hand and killed him turn 6 anyway.
Boarded in Annihilating Fire, Flames of the Firebrand and Tormod's Crypt for Cackler and Pillar. Second game I slow played, keeping only one or two threats on the board to avoid the sweeper. If he dropped a dude, I burned it. Took 12 turns, but I got there, double blasting him with Spear for the win.
Round 2 vs Bant splashing black, 0-2
Game 1 was annoying. I'd play a dude, he'd remove it. My opponent was playing Abrupt Decay and Dreadbore, plus Snaps. Once his Thrags came out to play, I couldn't turn it around. The last turn, I landed a Thundermaw, he used Sever to kill it.
Boarded Mizzium Mortars, Annihilating Fire, Tormod's Crypt and Zealous Conscripts for Cackler, Pillar and 1 Chainwalker. On the play, I went Noble, Zealot, Zealot and got him to four in six turns. Unfortunately for me, I stalled at 3 lands, all from my opening hand, all mountains. He dropped a Vault of the Archangel early, and cast Sigarda on turn five. He then started whacking me for more lifegain than I could do damage. I had answers for his clock, but couldn't play them. Literally one more land, and the Hellrider in my hand would have done the trick. Two more and the double Thundermaw definitely would have. That's variance for you.
Round 3 vs RDW, 2-0
Another familiar face to me, I knew he liked red decks. I also knew his red decks weren't very good. Game 1 lasted five turns. Turn two he cast Krenko's Command to make blockers for my double Nobles. I let him double block one of them, and killed one with a Spear before damage. Sided in Flames for Pillars, and one Mizzium just in case he had the Krenko and I somehow stalled out. Game 2 was almost as fast. Ash Zealot unblocked is stupid quick, especially paired to a Stonewright. Used Flames to kill his goblin blockers, won on turn 6.
Round 4 vs Grixis, 2-0
Another familiar face. I knew he liked Grixis decks, and was unsurprised to see him with a new list. He was using Scroll of Avacyn and Alchemist's Apprentice to replace the card draw artifacts of Scars Block. Neither game was in much doubt, as his deck was pretty durdly, built to combat the control decks that are really popular in my store. I bet he expected to see my control deck, too. Surprise! On turn 8, I topdecked a Stonewright game 1 to swing for exactly lethal. Sided in Flames, Zealous and Mizzium Mortars for Cackler, Thunderbolt and 1 Pillar. Took two turns longer, as he kept getting out the Apprentice to chump block and draw cards, but the end result was the same. Burned him with Spear for the win.
Thoughts:
I was never tempted to side Shred-Freak in, which tells me maybe he doesn't need to be there. Cackler came out in 3 out of 4 matches, which says maybe that slot is better filled with something else. No idea what, though. Hellion Crucible helped in round 1, offsetting the life gain of Trading Post until he was in range for me to double burn him. It was much less effective in round 2, where the token got removed by a Tribute to Hunger. If I go mono-red again, I'm definitely going to keep them. In that vein, I definitely want two more Hellriders, in place of the Thunderbolts, and might use Splatter Thug in place of Chainwalker. I'm strongly considering Dos Rakis for next week, especially after reading Z's post further up. That looks like a filthy, dirty deck. Rakdos's Return will really hurt all the control decks in my meta. Plus, being able to Slaughter Games those stupid Thragtusks looks like fun. We'll have to see what another week of testing and reports brings. But I'm pretty sure I'm going to stick with this style of deck for a while. Reminds me what I loved about the game in the first place.
EDIT: Maybe Torch Fiend in the side instead of Shred-Freak, to kill problem artifacts when necessary?
EDIT #2: Chandra somewhere in the 75? Maybe for the Thunderbolts?
Preface: This will be an atipical tournament report, i played in 3/4 tournaments at a convention called Lucca Comics & Games. The tournaments i played were 8 man constructed (Direct elimination: if you lose once you're out, if you win 1 you've got 2 boosters).
Ops i Almost forgot i played : Kazumasa Sato's Rakdos Aggro( the only one i had the cards for XD)
First Tournament i got paire with another Rakdso deck, but he draw the removal faster than me, so i scooped because he killed all my treats Both games.
Second Tournament: I got paired with a midrange jund for the actual game see above.
Game 3 : there is attrition war between me and him, i end up at 12 he topdecks a miracle Entreat the Angels (in casting the spell he taps out) but he was at 3 life......... a bad number for a red player opponent......because i draw flame of the firebrand and cast it with a flawless victory
Match 2 against G/B Zombies:
Game 1: My opponet plays a zombie i blast it with a burn spell, also ashen zealot + Hellhole Flailer win.
Game 2: i got stuck at two lands and everything i kep except cackler costs 3 or more, so he won.
Game 3 : he plays zome zombies i remove them, i cast he remove my hellole flailer. the i cast Ahen Zealot for 3 consecutive turns, he plays some 2/1 zombie with intimidate. At 5th turn i play falkenrath noble and that plus the zealot seal the game.
Match 3(last game) with W/B humans
Game 1: He plays a creature i Burn it, then i attack with stormkirk noble + Zealot Ashen. The game ends Quickly
Game 2 He plays a Knight of glory i burn it.
then i attack with a unleashed hellhole flailer he blocks it, i sack in response. He was to 3 life
He attack with a 1/1 Hexproof Unblockable creaure( the only creature on the field he coul block Knigth of infamy, i attack with Knigth of infamy that paired with exalted wins the game.
PS: Riccardo "Tex" Tessitori(Level 5 judge) was there.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
From Supernatural:
Sam: a demon summoning spell ? why?
Lucifer: to summon a demon (auto censorship here)
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The Wizard of Oz: A juvenile delinquent runs away from home, kills the first person she meets in a foreign land, robs her corpse, then promptly forms a gang with three complete strangers in order to kill again.
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Game 1: I just found out this guy I worked with also plays Magic. Never saw him at this shop before. I feel bad cause I've talked to him before, and I know he's a newb who way overvalues bad cards. Match breakdown: Game 1 I win the roll, keep a hand of Rakdos Cackler, Gore-House Chainwalker, Stonewright, Searing Spear, 2 Mountains and a Hellion Crucible. I drop the Cackler, who eats a Pillar on his turn. Gore-House Chainwalker gets through a bit, he plays Guttersnipe. Guttersnipe is promptly removed, and Stonewright comes down. Opponent is sitting at like 7 life. He topdecks a Bonfire and wipes the Chainwalker and Stonewright. Ash Zealot and Hellrider finish him off.
Sideboard Plan: No change, I'm really not interested in Guttersnipe nor do I really see him as a threat. I didn't see any other creatures in this game, so the Flames of the Firebrand were actually a good thing for him.
Game 2: He leads with a Stromkirk Noble. I play a Stonewright and pass. His Stromkirk grows a bit, turn 2 I play an Ash Zealot bonded to Stonewright. Noble eats a Searing Spear the next turn, and Zealot, Stonewright, and Hellrider eat him alive.
Round 2: Sligh RDW (2-1)
Game 1: The first of 2 RDWs I played tonight. Opponent wins the roll, opens with a Stromkirk Noble, into a Rakdos Cackler and another Noble, into a Rakdos Shred Freak. I don't have enough removal for all that, Flames of the Firebrand didn't make an appearance. Brimstone Volley finishes me off.
Game 2: I'm on the play so I just want to outrace him and control his little creatures enough to do it. I keep a hand that's something to the effect of: Target opponent dies on turn 4 if you draw a mountain or two. Target opponent died on turn 4.
Sideboard plan: I can't race him this time, so Rakdos Cacklers come out and get replaced by Hellkites and Devil's Plays. Nightbird's Clutches come out for an Annihilating Fire and a Mizzium Mortars.
Game 3: I mulled to 6 due to a 6 land hand. I keep a hand that's all removal with 2 Mountains. His creatures get removed in perfect order until I'm at 15 life and we're both essentially in topdeck mode, with me hanging on to a Thundermaw Hellkite and 3 lands on the board. I have to worry here, I didn't get enough value out of my burn and he got a few swings in with a Noble and 2 Shred Freaks. Stonewright is my first topdeck, so I drop him. Opponent plays a Vexing Devil, I pay 4 life. Stonewright gets him to 18. This continues for a few turns, I draw a Pillar to answer his Noble. I draw a Mountain, he draws a Rakdos Cackler and... unleashes it. Thundermaw drops next turn and beats face. He can't answer the clock, and Hellkite is bonded to Stonewright.
Round 3: Bant Control (2-0)
This was in my opinion a bad Bant control list. He ran Jace, Memory Adepts instead of Architects, Sphinx's Revelations, no Terminus(in his defense, he ran 4 Supreme Verdicts).
Game 1: I kill him on turn 5 with Thundermaw. He Sphered my Hellrider, but it didn't help. Flames of the Firebrand took care of the Centaur Healer he landed.
Sideboard plan: I assume he's running Thragtusks. Out with the Flames of the Firebrand, in come Traitorous Bloods.
Game 2: I keep a relatively slow hand with just a Gore-House Chainwalker and Hellrider as my creatures. Removal package is a Searing Spear and a Nightbird's Clutches. No problem. Gore-House Chainwalker gets a swing in(no Centaur Healer this time). Hellrider drops and gets Azorius Charmed back to the top. Ugh. Thragtusk lands halting my assault... except I draw a Traitorous Blood! Life loss negated. He drops Jace, confusing the crap out of me. He draws a card and has me mill 1. I draw into a mountain. I now have enough mana to drop Hellrider and make his Thragtusk not block with Nightbird's Clutches. This puts him at 3 life. He Dspheres my Hellrider, leaving me with just a Chainwalker. I topdeck a Devil's Play for the kill.
Further note: He only had one Angel of Serenity in his deck. This was a subpar control deck at best, I think he just wanted to show off his Thragtusks or something. His top-end creatures were Drogskol Reavers and Thragtusks, and he had lots of card draw and other do-nothing stuff.
Round 4: RDW splashing blue (2-0)
I like the idea of this deck, I really do. But sometimes throwing money at decks doesn't make them better. Snapcaster Mage doesn't belong in decks like these, IMO. He could never do anything worthwhile with the Mage without losing a ton of power.
Game 1: He wins the roll and opens with a Stromkirk Noble off a Steam Vents which he paid 2 life for. I drop a Stonewright and pass. Noble pumps itself up, and he Pillars my Stonewright. I draw into an Ash Zealot and drop her, ping for 2. Noble dings me again, making himself a 3/3. Which is perfect burn range for my Flames of the Firebrand. Presumably, he doesn't get anything worth noting until he's at 6 life from the Zealot. In his defense, neither did I. He finally Snapcaster-Pillars my Zealot, and a topdeck Hellrider goes the rest of the way after getting chump blocked by the Mage.
Sideboard Plan: None, I didn't see alot of creatures, so I don't feel that Pillars are necessary. Neither are Traitorous Bloods or Mortars.
Game 2: He gets a much better start this time, with a Noble -> Chainwalker -> Firebrand on my creatures. I Spear his Noble before it gets too much bigger, and take some more damage from a Chainwalker. I drop an Ash Zealot and leave her behind to block. His Chainwalker sits there long enough for me to draw into a Hellkite, who beats face for 2 turns until he's removed by a Searing Spear + Snapcaster Mage + Searing Spear combo. Flames of the Firebrand removes both of his critters and I whittle away his life for the next 5 turns while he does not too much.
Further notes: I'm not too sure how this guy went 3-0 before me. It was a decent RDW in a shell, but it had Snapcasters.
Round 5
Intentional draw to make sure we both make top 8. He was 3-1 before me, but if I beat him he was out of the top 8.
Round 6 GW Aggro (2-1)
The match I was dreading. Hopefully the Clutches will make a more serious appearance here.
Game 1: I'm on the play, and keep a good aggro hand not knowing what he was playing. A Turn 1 Avacyn's Pilgrim in answer to my Cackler has me worried... so I Spear it. Cackler goes in for 2, he plays... Thalia? Um, okay! That's annoying. She gets Speared too. Now I know I'm gonna be annoyed by this deck. His next play is a Loxodon Smiter. Followed by a Silverblade Paladin. You can see where this is going... long story short, I'm sitting dumb at 4 life. I finally draw an Ash Zealot to bond with my Stonewright in hand, and he drops an Ajani to give the Smiter flying. ><
Sideboarding plan: Cacklers come out. Mizzium Mortars come in. I didn't see a Thragtusk, but I'm gonna play it safe and assume they're in there. Traitorous Blood also comes in for Flames of the Firebrand.
Game 2: Stonewright, Gore-House Chainwalker, 2 Traitorous Bloods, and 3 lands. I'll keep. Luckily, he had a slow start, not playing anything until turn 3. The Smiter comes down, and gets Traitorous Blooded over to my side. He Soulbonds the Smiter to a Silverblade Paladin again. Nightbird's Clutches lets me evade the blockers. He leaves behind the blockers this time, since he's sitting at like 7 life. End of his turn I Searing Spear the Paladin and reveal my other Traitorous Blood.
No change in sideboard
Game 3: This game pretty much went down like Game 2. Only difference is I had to flashback the Nightbird's Clutches cause I didn't have the second Traitorous Blood.
VERY pleased with the Clutches performance in this match!
Round 7: Finals vs. Jund Midrange (2-0)
He was playing an older Jund Midrange deck using Nighthawks instead of Huntmasters. That's a mistake
Game 1: I'm on the play. Aggro mode activate. He Farseeks into a Thragtusk on Turn 4. I begin with a pretty fast hand of 5 creatures and 2 lands. Cackler into Ash Zealot into Ash Zealot. I keep the pressure on, he Thragtusks himself up to like 11 life. No problem. Thundermaw comes down and brings him back to 2 life(I suicide attacked). He Dreadbores Thundermaw, but it doesn't help. He plays Olivia, but she gets a face full of the Firebrand.
Sideboard plan: Creatures are his primary defense. In with 4x Traitorous Blood. I assume he was running Garruks, even though I didn't see them. Also assume he was running Huntmasters. Mizzium Mortars in. Cacklers out, Flames of the Firebrand out.
Game 2: Much slower game... He answers all the threats I drop, and he plays Olivia a little hastily. She eats my removal. He dropped a Thragtusk, but the Tusk got Traited and subsequently Speared. He removed the Beast after he got tired of getting beaten by his own creature. We both start top decking land after land... I finally get a Crucible to start pumping, and pump out a Hellion Token. At this point, he's sitting at 13 life. I draw into a Devil's Play which provides me a nifty 7 points to the dome. He's now at 6 life. He lands a Thragtusk, bringing him up to 11. Nightbird's Clutches let the Hellion through twice(Man I love this card!), bringing him down to 3. He finally draws some removal for the Token, but it's too little too late when I still have a Devil's Play sitting in the graveyard, ready to flashback.
Overall Analysis for the Night
Clutches were sometimes dead in hand. Most of the time that was against weaker/not-tuned decks. Against the tougher, well-tuned decks, it served amazingly and served me very well in the wins. I feel like I faced an overall weaker crowd than I've played before. The matchups were easier. I don't think people were drawing the right answers against me all night. 80% of the games I played were almost goldfish kills. Or maybe people just weren't expecting me. Or maybe I've just gotten THAT much better at piloting this deck.
Great Job!
and super helpful notes (:
I went 3-1 in my FNM. Loosing to a re-animator deck 2-1 on round 1 and the 2 games I lost he was at around 5 life. I agree with you on Nightbird's Clutches , won me 2 games and 1 against G/W midrange with 2 Thragtusk on the field "blocking" haha. He asked what the card did, turned the card for him to read and smiled with my Hellrider and 2 creatures on the field and he at 8 life points.
Similar to Nightbird's Clutches is Pyreheart Wolf and was a great addition to my SB for this kind of matches where they try to stall the game for a few turns, block and gain life. The undying is very relevant, the body is bad , but the effect wins games.
Round 1 : 0 - 2 vs Rites Re-animator
Game 1: I was on a fast hand but mana screw 2 lands until turn 5, so I couldn't get there on time when he landed a Thragtusk followed by a Angel of Serenity over my 3 creatures on the field. He ended up at 4 life and my burns never showed up.
Game 2: "Go Big plan " with heavier removal over my pillars and flames, got Thunderbolt. I got a pretty decent hand and when he started to stabilize around turn 6 with Thragtusk and Restoration Angel he was at 7 life but my Hellrider on the field plus a top deck Thundermaw Hellkite sealed the deal.
Game 3: No SB, kept the go big plan and same as game 1, I mull to 6, he's almost dead when BOOM! Angel of Serenity from flashback Unburial Rites at around 3 life followed by a Centaur Healer next turn. He exiled 3 creatures and I couldn't do anything about the big angel on the field. He gained 2 more life from a Deadrite Shaman and the clock got me. Never saw my Tundermaw
Round 2: Won 2-1 vs Aggro U/W Humans
Game 1 : Was a race to turn 4, I was on the draw , but my double Hellrider won on turn 5 and me at 4 life. Yay.
Game 2: Sb in the x3 Frostburn weird and left out my 1 drops to add more removal. Again on the draw we raced and I died to a 1/2 fying bird with double strike some turn and finished me up with Geist of the saint traft , not enough removal.
Game 3: SB in more creatures to race this time and make him unable to block with Pyreheart Wolf and SB out a bit of removal and kept the Weirds to hold him back until I could set up a Hellrider kill or similar. The Weirds ate a lot of removal because he could pass them with attackes so easily and I kept swinging with my Ash Zealot and finished him of with a Nightbird's Clutches plus a Hellrider for 7.
Round 3: Won 2-1 vs Esper Tokens
Game 1 : We both get mana screw but I win on turn 5 because my deck can handle 2 lands haha.
Game 2: He curves out perfectly and my removal is not enough, he has around x4 3/3 tokens and a planeswalker giving them death touch. I couldn't pass that, not even with a 7 creature attack on my Hellrider X). He gave them lifelink.
Game 3: He stumbles a little and when he stabilizes my SB all-star Pyreheart Wolf saves the day and puts him to five with a 4 creature attack over his x2 3/3 tokens with flying. He puts more tokens and passes. I drop a Hellrider and a swing for 5 direct, He tries to put them lifelink but is too damn late.
Round 4: Won 2-0 vs G/W/R midrange
So I know this guy,he own the store, he plays Thragtusk, Huntmaster , etc. I'm like oh well.
Game 1: As planned, he's on a slow start I try to race, and get him pretty low when Centaur Healer shows up. I have 3 creatures and I burn his blocker and put him back to 2 life. He gets a Huntmaster of the fells and passes. I have a Nightbird's clutches and win the game with my 2/2 creatures.
Game 2: I bring my Pyreheart Wolf and some Mizzium Mortars over Pillars and 1 drops and 2 drops. I'm on a slowish hand with 1 mizzium mortars, lands, 2 pyreheat wolfs and ash zealot. He gets mana screw a bit but gets out Healer on turn 5 followed again with a Huntmaster on turn 6. He is at 9 then at 3 when he killed my Zealot and Wolf, the 1st got a pillar and my Zealot a Searing Spear. I attack and pass, I get a bit of mana flood with 6 land in play and a Mizzium Mortars, Clutches a land in hand. He gets out a Huntmaster with the token and passes, I draw another land and overload the mortars to swing for 1 with the wolf and put him to 3. He plays a thragtusk and back to 8, I draw a Hellrider and swing over his unable to block Tusk from my 1/1 Pyreheart Wolf. He just reads the Wolf over and over again. Back to 2 , he plays another Tusk and puts him to 7, he passes, with 2 Thragtusk in play for blocking. I draw a Stonewright and play the Nigthbird's Clutches which he again reads over and over again, and I win over his 2 useless Thragtusk. Revenge from last FNM, hehe.
Other thoughts.
I know that Rakdos Shred-Freak is kind of weak , but the overall speed is significant on many matches and was SB out in some matches mainly for more removal or Pyreheat Wolf where he wasn't needed.
Frostburn Weird was a more personal choice for my meta ( 2 very aggro human decks, U/W and Boros plus a Zombies deck) and came in handy against U/W to stop the 2/1 until I could get removal when I was on the draw. He holds up nicely and had to be dealt with on top of my attackers so my opponent could keep attacking. My Ash Zealot was happy not being the 1st target against Oblivion Ring or Fiend Hunter . But in the end I might cut them for a more overall card vs the matches I have trouble.
I want to try the 3 Hellkite version and still adapt to my meta or might even try 1 MB Zealous because he alone can turn a game around.
I loved Clutches and Pyreheart, I might try a 2-off Pyreheart MB.
So kinda happy about this build but the limited sideboard options from pure red is getting irritating. So I might just switch over to that in the weeks to come. Still not 100% sure yet. The stability and consistency of this build is really great. The only deck I'm not confident against beating is GW or Naya/bant that has lifegain in it. Trhagtusk is the main reason I don't got 4-0 on Fridays.
So here is the matches.
Match 1
R/B zombies
I've got a really heavy zombie meta. So this was no surprise.
Game 1- I win the coin flip and go first. I mulligan a hand of all lands away to get a hand with 2 mountains, noble, ash, hellrider and pillar. Couldn't ask for a better hand.
Obviously start off with noble. HE plays something that can't block and I smile a little as I go into ash noble attack taking him down to 17. He takes a shockland hit to play double gravecrawler. He swings in for 2 dmg to me.
I draw into another land and put down stonewright and pair it with ash and swing in for 6 with him at no blockers so he's down to 9. He plays geralf and then scoops when I pillar it.
Sideboarding- none. I felt good and wanted to keep as is. I"d like some advice on sideboarding against zombies.
Game 2- It starts at a similar pace. He plays cackler and I mirror. He Pillars my cackler and swings in. I pillar his guy and play a stonewright. He lands geralf. I pillar it. It becomes very burn control for a little while till I land Thundermaw. After thundermaw I hit him with double brimstone for the win.
Conclusion. 2-0. I do well against zombies because I have haste in a ton of my creatures and pretty much all of their early creatures can't block even if they wanted them to. I feel we are just a little bit faster.
Match score 1-0
Match 2
UW humans.
Didn't expect this matchup for some reason....
Game 1- He wins coin flip but I still win because of speed. His deck didn't run that much removal and most of my cards are creatures so his thalia didn't do much good. IT was a lot grindier than normal but again hellkite wins the day always.
Game 2- don't remember what I sideboarded but he pretty much shut me down and beat me bad.
Game 3- Got a bad hand. Can't really say much. Probably should have mulliganed but I was at 5 and didn't wanna go down any further. Just...didn't get the land I needed which was rare. 2 crucible and 1 mountain with ash in hand.....
1-2
Conclusion- can't really blame the matchup on this specifically. But he sided in Plastine giant and when he landed that there was nothing I could do.
Match 3
TURBO FOG
Cannot believe this showed up or even did as well as it did. The whole thing was sphere of safety and a few fogs but no turbo. I sweeped both games because of double hellrider and plenty of mana. I just dealt 4 a turn every turn till I burned him out. Game 2 I got him down pretty far and then just used devil's play.
Match restuls 2-1
Match 4
Bant midrange.
I hated this matchup....
Game 1- I out aggro him pretty quick and didn't see a thragtusk. So yay.
Game 2- He lands double thragtusk and wolfir silverheart. Just kinda had to scoop.
Game 3- Similar story. I had him down to 3 but then thragtusk into thragtusk into Sigarda into wolfir. I saw none of my conscripts so I couldn't do much.
Overall 2-2 which didn't break me in the top 4. So not a horrible day but not a good day really.
@Yorutenchi
How is devil's play panning out for you? I contemplated using it for my sideboard. I kept flooding and a devil's play could have given me that extra reach.
Sideboarding- none. I felt good and wanted to keep as is. I"d like some advice on sideboarding against zombies.
-4 Gorehouse +2 Tormod +2 Annihilating Fire
The most common BR zombies that can block do so for at least 2, so siding out your 3/2 unleash for 2 artifacts that can remove Messengers and Gravecrawlers when they hit the yard and 2 spells that exile them is the way to go. You could side out the Cacklers, but if you're going to keep a dude with only 2 toughness, may as well be the one that is cheaper for you to cast.
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My Decks:
Innistrad-RTR
UWR Flash: 7-1, 1 FNM Win-A-Box
Rakdos Aggro: 20-8
UW Flash: 11-5
Boros Aggro: 3-1
Jund: 42-12-3, 4 TNM Win-A-Box, 2 Koopa Standard IQs, Gatecrash Game Day Champion, M14 Game Day Champion
@Yorutenchi
How is devil's play panning out for you? I contemplated using it for my sideboard. I kept flooding and a devil's play could have given me that extra reach.
I side it in for control. I play 24 land so most of the time I don't miss a land drop till turn 5 at the earliest unless I had a crap hand. I like to be able to sink my mana into something more stable than just a stonewright. I may switch to sledgehammer red but right now I like the speed of the regular RDW.
Also against control the most reach I have other than 2 for 1 against something is 5 and thats with a morbid trigger. So If I need to kill a griselbrand or something I need a bigger burn spell. But usually if its that late in the game and I can burn something out for 8 then I can usually just burn them to death. IT has good late game reach and flashback can be relevant.
The most common BR zombies that can block do so for at least 2, so siding out your 3/2 unleash for 2 artifacts that can remove Messengers and Gravecrawlers when they hit the yard and 2 spells that exile them is the way to go. You could side out the Cacklers, but if you're going to keep a dude with only 2 toughness, may as well be the one that is cheaper for you to cast.
Thanks. I probably should have done that. It didn't matter much thought. I drew good hands both games and I do feel we are just faster in the red based decks. But i'll remember that next time.
I side it in for control. I play 24 land so most of the time I don't miss a land drop till turn 5 at the earliest unless I had a crap hand. I like to be able to sink my mana into something more stable than just a stonewright. I may switch to sledgehammer red but right now I like the speed of the regular RDW.
Agree about the stonewright bit. Don't get me wrong. Pairing up with a Ash Zealot and swinging in for 7 feels good, but when a silver blade paladin is paired up with a Loxodon Smiter and i just need to deal 4, thats when i wish i had devil's play in hand.
He seemed to keep really slow hands and I rolled him game 1.
SB: +2 Flames of the Firebrand, +3 Mizzium Mortars; -4 Stromkirk Noble, -1 Brimstone Volley
Game 2 went quickly. He durdled with some keyrunes and played out Olivia and Thundermaw but I still steam rolled him.
1-0-0
Round 2 was BantHexproof.dec.
I got my bum handed to me. The 1/1 unblockable hexproof guy with Rancor and counters for half of what I played made it difficult. I got him to 1 but it wasn't enough.
G3 Flooded to 11 land but so did he. We traded blows back and forth until I made a Thundermaw stick, then a second. GG.
2-1-0
Round 4 was Grixis Control.
Went quickly. He just kind of durdled and I smashed him with Stonewright / Gore-house Chainwalker. The only real threat I saw was Olivia which ate a Searing Spear.
SB: +4 Rakdos Shred-Freak, -4 Pillar of Flame
G2 more of the same.
3-1-0
Round 5 was U/B control.
Don't remember much about this match. He didn't do much, but mill me with a land. I just smashed face. Do remember getting mutilated.
SB: +4 Rakdos Shred-Freak, -4 Pillar of Flame
See above.
4-1-0
Round 6 was GWB Reanimator.
He got the nut draw and had T4 griselbrand after I had him at 2.
Next game I keep a hand with two Stromkirk Nobles and a Tormod's Crypt. He plays out a human knight that can't block the vampires, and the Crypt keeps him from attempting to combo. Nobles beat him to death.
5-2-0
All in all a good day, and I earned 57 planeswalker points, the best of anyone in my playgroup.
I am particularly troubled by the Bant Hexproof deck. I was completely helpless. Anyone have any advice (other than splashing black, which I am considering)?
Yes i do play 61. I do that when i feel like my perfect land count would be between 22 and 23 on 60 deck, so i just play 23 on an 61 card deck.
Did 4-0 twice in this weekend.
First FNM:
MATCH 1: WU Humans (with GoST!)
SB Swaps
-4 Rakdos Cackler
-1 Devil's Play
+1 Knight of Infamy
+3 Mizzium Mortars
+1 Annihilating Fire
My gameplan: keep delivering damage via Stromkirk Noble, Knight of Infamy and Falkenrath Aristocrat while using Ash Zealot, Stromkirk Captain and Knight of Infamy to hold of the attackers. The burn suit were best used as removal in most cases. GoST + Spectral Flight is the biggest threat but it can be answered with Falkenrath Aristocrat on the defensive.
Lost second game because he did t3 GoST > t4 Spectral Flight and i didn't draw any Aristocrats. Won the other two games very easilly.
MATCH 2: WUR Midrange
SB Swap
-4 Pillar of Flame
+1 Knight of Infamy
+3 Annihilating Fire
My gameplan: rush him as soon as i can. He doesn't have any creature which stabilizes the table except for restoration angel, who can dealt with instant speed removal + first strikers. So turning creatures sideways and finishing with burn will generaly work if creatures are played in the right order (weakest to strongest in order to let your greatest threats away from burns). I avoided hands with too low threats in order to not let his burn spells stall my game.
Woned both games. The MU feels like a easier Jund.
My gameplan: Use the first strikers and knight of infamy to stall the game. Stromkirk Noble is very good once you have Knight of Infamy and Stromkirk Captain on the board. The opponent will be forced to block him or he might grow enough to even block Armada Wurm. Keep a eye on green tokens who can block knight of infamy and play on defensive until your Falkenrath Arisotcrat / Thundermaw / Mizzium Mortar show up.
Woned both games. The second one was tough as he dropped Armada on Turn 4, but Stromkirk Noble +
MATCH 4: Jund Zombies
SB Swap
-3 Brimstone Volley
+3 Anihilating Fire
My gameplay: depends on my hand. If i get a really agressive hand i might try to quickly finish the game once zombies are terrible at blocking. Otherwise i try to prepare for the top deck phase. Messager and Gravecrawler makes for a resilient deck but the first strike creatures deliver me a better board prense even through my opponent generaly have more cards in game. Stonewright proved to be deadly cause i could keep large amounts of damage even through i left most of my guys untaped to block. I avoided hands with too much knight of infamy and too little burn/ash zealot.
First game i couldn't deal with a large lotleth troll (6/5). I kept a slow hand (2 captains, 1 aristocrat) and paid the price. The second game was favorable to me because my opponent didn't draw the third black mana, even through he strated with three one drops. Last game we both kept good hands and he couldn't get past ash zealot + stromkirk noble. When he droped the aristocrat on turn 5 he was already beaten up to 9 HP. I burned his blockers on EOT and alpha striked on my turn. Stonewright was the MvP here, netting 9 damage alone across the whole match.
Second FNM: MATCH 1: WG Pump Aggro MATCH 2: WUR Draw-Go Control MATCH 3: Izzet Control MATCH 4: Dos Rakis
Match 1: It was some sort of Bant list. I won so quickly the first game courtesy of hitting Noble, Zealot, Nighthawk, Aristocrat, that I wasn't even sure what he was playing. Round 2, same deal.
Match 2: Izzet Burn. We traded off, and then Stonewright plus Nighthawk won the day. I took out the Stromkirk's in favor of 2x Dreadbore and 2xFlames. Round two played out almost identically.
Match 3: Identical to match 1.
To this point, I think it was a pretty soft tournament. I was 3-0 with 0 game losses and feeling pretty good about myself. Then I got into Red, White, and Blue with GoST.
Match 4: Round 1 I won with a good curve. I realized what I was up against and sided in the tribute to hungers, taking out the Nobles, except for one. I also sided in Slaughter Games and took out the Ultimate Prices.
He burnt/countered everything I put out then resolved the GoST. I Tributed it (feeling smart) and we went forward. Sadly, he still had enough counter/burn to take out everything I put down, stabilized, and got me with the Restoration Angels.
Game 3 I made a stupid mistake. I took out all the searing spears, put back in the Nobles, and 1 Flames. He managed to lock down the board with Dungeon Geists twice, and I had no answer. Eventually he used Zealous Conscript to kill me with my own Dragon. Sigh.
So, I think the deck is coming along. I want to take out a Noble in favor of another Stonewright, but other than that I'm not sure. The nobles make it quick, but sometimes I think I'd be better taking them out and moving to a full on Rakhammer style. Thoughts?
So last night's session of Monday Night Magic reminded me of New Coke. For those of you not old enough to remember Coke decided to change their recipe and hire a snappy pitchman (Max Headroom) to better compete with Pepsi.
Needless to say, it was a sales disaster. Thankfully Coke had the common sense to switch back to the old formula and re-brand the drink Coke Classic which led record sales and profits.
Last night I decided to try a new recipe to better compete with all of the Thragtusks in the environment. I brought New Coke to the tournament.
Somehow the Max Headroom in my head, with all of his stuttering chatter, managed to convince me this new syrupy nectar tasted better than the original. Well, this configuration performed about as well as New Coke tasted. AWFUL!!!
We had 17 people show up which meant 4 rounds of Swiss.
Round 1 - Green White Humans
Game1 - A Cackler, Zealot and Stonewright were enough to get the job done. He only had 3 land, two of which were Cavern of Souls, one naming Human the other Angel. He never really cast a creature so I put him on a Thragtusk/Mid Range Control Deck.
Game 2 - Wrong!!! He comes out with Champion of the Parish coupled with a few other humans and just stomps my face.
Game 3 - Side in Pillar and Flames of the Firebrand. Remove Pyreheart Wolf, Fervent Cathar and Nightbird's Clutches. The game consisted of him casting early weenies and me burning them away all the while chipping away at his life total with a weenie of my own.
Finally, he is at 6 life and he's trying to stabilize, but I have an active Stonewright. He's casting superior threats, but he has to keep blocking my bound Gore House Chainwalkers and Rakdos Cacklers because if he doesn't I can pump for lethal. Finally, he runs out of blockers and I think the Stonewright manages to pair with an Ash Zealot for the win.
Round 2 - Azorious Aggro
So I changed the deck to compete against Thragtusk control and I see aggro decks the first two rounds.
Game 1: He runs me over with dudes. I couldn't race him with my Stonewright, Gore-House Chainwalker and Pyreheart Wolf draw.
Game 2: Same sideboarding as game 2 of Match 1. I burn some early weenies and attack with a Hellrider. The following turn I attack with two Hellriders. He's at 11 then the board stalls. I have 1 Stonewright and 2 Hellriders on the board. I cast another Stonewright and pass the turn. He can't kill me by attacking and the crack back would kill him so he passes. He has ample blockers, but I attack anyway. Hellrider triggers deal 8 damage and the Searing Spear in my hand finishes the job.
Game 3: I burn some weenies but he manages to get a Geist of Saint Traft paired with a Silverblade Paladin which knocks me to 8. I kill the Paladin with a Searing Spear and attack with an Ash Zealot and a Rakdos Cackler which puts him to 6. I leave an Ash Zealot behind to block the Geist. He attacks with Geist. I block the Geist with Zealot, but take 4 from the angel token and he plays a War Falcon. I untap, play a Hellrider and swing with the whole team. He lets the first trigger hit him taking him to 5 then plays Faith's Shield naming red. He plays another Silverblade Paladin, binding to his War Falcon hits me for exactsies. Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. Well played sir.
Round 3: Bant Control
Game 1: Stonewright, Gore-House Chainwalker and Pyreheart Wolf go all the way.
Game 2: I keep a one lander on the draw. I'm holding two Rakdos Cacklers, Ash Zealot, Pyreheart Wolf, Searing Spear and Thundermaw Hellkite. Unfortunately, I don't draw another land the whole game. I cast two Rakdos Cacklers which get detained by a sphere. Thragtusks start grazing on the open landscape and that's all she wrote. Moral of the story, don't be greedy.
Game 3: This game goes back and forth. I cast hasty beats, get in a little damage, but then he has a removal spell. I've got him down to 3 life and I've moved into top deck mode. He's tapped out and I have at least 12 outs in my deck. Next two draw phases are Nightbird's clutches (did I mention the board was empty) and a land. Meanwhile, he casts Thragtusk and goes to 8 and then casts Restoration Angel, targeting Thragtusk, and goes to 13.
Round 4: Go home and watch the new episode of Castle.
So just like Coke I learned a valuable lesson. Don't change a winning formula.
Nightbird's Clutches may be fantastic against Green White Mid Range, but it's very underwhelming against Bant Control. Between Supreme Verdict and Terminus chances are the board is going to be devoid of any creatures so the card will be irrelevant.
Same can be said of Pyreheart Wolf. Casting non-hasted, three mana cost 1/1's is not what we want to be doing against a deck that is packing four Azorious Charms. Even Flames of the Firebrand is a more relevant card than Pyreheart Wolf in this matchup.
Where we really want to be against this deck is casting hasted creatures and X spells in the late game. If my Nightbird's clutches would have been a Conscripts, Thundermaw or Devil's Play I would have won the match.
I've dropped one Hellion Crucible from the Sideboard since two seems like the right number and added 2 Cavern of Souls. This will give you 26 lands post board making it easier to cast the 6 five drops against the control matchups and the uncounterability can play a huge factor against certain types of decks.
For reference here's Coke Classic and the sideboard I would run tomorrow:
4-0 at Wednesday Standard
I'm playing Ru with the splash for maindeck Syncopate and Essence Backlash in the board. !@#$ you Thragtusk. My other tech is that every single 2+ CC creature in the deck has haste, meaning that I'm insanely favored against control G1. It also allows me to put on a huge clock before the crucial turn when my opponent has to play Thragtusk or die; if I can counter him then I just win. Decklist
Round 1 - Bant Control
G1: I win the roll, curve out and kill him on turn 5 before he can play Thragtusk. His only relevant spell was a Detention Sphere on my Ash Zealot.
G2: He plays T3 Geist of Saint Traft and we race. He passes turn with 4 mana untapped, I Essence Backlash his Resto Angel and kill him. My blue source was the random Izzet Guildgate from the sideboard. Too pro.
Round 2 - GW Aggro
G1: He mulls to 4 and his only play is two Young Wolfs.
G2: He plays multiple Strangleroots and we race for a bit. He would have won the race if his Centaur Healer resolved, but I had the Syncopate and killed him with burn when I untapped.
Round 3 - Jund Midrange
This player has multiple PTQ top 8s and always plays top decks so I was pretty worried going into this match.
G1: He wins the roll and I get stuck on two land. I scoop when he Farseeks into Garruk, Primal Hunter and Olivia Voldaren.
G2: This time we're BOTH stuck on two land. Unfortunately he doesn't have Farseek and I'm on the triple Shred-Freak plan. He finally gets the mana to Sever all three of them, but a topdecked Ash Zealot finishes the job.
G3: He is on the play and Farseeks into Sever the Bloodline. I have a single Cackler on board and pass turn with 3 mana up. His Thragtusk gets Syncopated and it's his only threat. Thundermaw gets in for 5 then eats a Sever flashback. I finish him with burn.
I got really lucky in this match I think. He didn't draw too much gas. At the same time, Syncopate was super crucial in landing me that final win. If the Thragtusk had stuck, I very well could have lost that game as I was pretty low on gas myself.
Round 4 - Grixis Control
G1: Bunch of haste dudes, burn his planeswalkers, gg.
G2: Bunch of haste dudes, burn his face, gg. I think I Syncopated a Tamiyo.
I played like 10 games against this guy while we were waiting for prizes and I won all but one. I could have won that one too if I'd been a little more aggressive with my Thundermaw in hand. I waited a turn giving him time to topdeck Snapcaster for Tribute to Hunger. Since Grixis has almost no way to gain life, haste guys just wear him down slowly even if he kills them on his turn every time.
Changes for FNM will probably be Essence Scatter instead of Essence Backlash. Even though I love how it is a Lava Axe + counter vs Thragtusk, I won't always have 4 mana to cast it if my opponent ramps or I miss a land drop (which happens fairly often even with 24 land). Also, passing turn with 4 mana up is really suspicious in RDW, whereas I can play a 2-drop haste and have 2 mana up to Essence Scatter while just looking like I'm holding burn. Probably going to put another Izzet Guildgate in the board for when I board in the full suite of counters.
Other than that I'm super happy with the deck. It still manages an impressive T4-5 goldfish percentage, fights control easily with massive haste, and beats lifegain on the stack.
Oh yeah and Reckless Brute has earned his 4-of. I've been playing him for several weeks now and I really like the guy. He's on curve and kills Thragtusk. What more can I ask for?
Awesome report Ben ~ I think something very similar to your deck is the best Mono R deck and definitely one of the best decks in the format
Agree on the Noble ~ he has gotten quite a bit better recently. How would you change the deck (if at all)? If you could jot down some sideboarding notes for the guys looking to build a similar deck I am sure they would appreciate it.
Well done again!
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First things first,
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I will be uploading daily events as they get played, so feel free to drop by and join in the chat (its in the r/x aggro subforum).
The deck:
So what is this travesty to manabases everywhere?
This is my attempt at tackling the current metagame. Whaaaaaaaat? Let me explain.
Some things to consider:
- Jund Midrange and Bant Control are increasingly popular. This has had the effect of pushing Zombies out of the metagame.
- In turn, these two archetypes are now increasingly tuning themselves to beat their respective mirrors and each other ~ they have less early interction and removal.
- For some reason, GW is still a real deck online, even though it is awful.
So ~ I need to beat Jund and Bant. Post-board, I need game against GW and Reanimator.
- I need to curve out. The games you win againt Jund and Bant involve doing a lot of damage early, then using different angles of attack to finish them off once they start to stabalize. This meant playing quality cards every turn. Hellhole Flailer got in because I wanted a proper curve; I cut some 1 drops because ironically, I think having too many 1 drops is a big weakness of the BR Zombie deck ~ theyre great early, but increasingly bad as the game goes on. By having more 2 drops, I am assured of higher quality topdecks ~ both Ash Zealot and Knight of Infamy are excellent cards.
- I wanted to maximize by aggression. With Jund tuning to beat midrange and control, and Bant doing the same, I wanted to take advantage of the archeyptal space they were ignoring ~ if they're not going to worry as much about aggro, I want to be aggro! This did mean running 4 Pillar of Flame because it is just the best spell we have to remove early blockers ~ we know it isnt that good now, but sometimes you just need removal and I didnt want to be waiting to hit 3 mana for Flames of the Firebrand.
- To help make the deck a little faster, I am down to 23 land, which meant dropping to a single Zealous Conscripts ~ which hurts, because the card is ridiculous.
- The mana base is taken from Sato's RakDW deck from japan; I am a little unhappy with it, but after ~20 matches it hasnt lost me a match yet. Games? Yes I initially wanted to include some number of Guildgates, but this deck is very consistently going 1-2-3-4 and they were hurting that. They could still prove to be a necessary evil.
I have discussed the sideboard; how it was built and how I use it extensively elsewhere, so look it up
Match 1 vs Grixis Control
Game 1: On the play, mulligan: 5 land, Pillar of Flame, Falkenrath Aristocrat
I like to be aggressive in Game 1, and this hand is very slow. While Aristocrat is the best card in the deck, it is a card that is strong when you already have the opponent on the back foot ~ where you already have a board presence to buy her extra lives. I didn't have that.
Keep: Stromkirk Noble, Ash Zealot, Knight of Infamy, Mountain, Swamp, Dragonskull Summit.
My opponent keeps his 7. I lead with Mountain into Noble (an opening which still might be the best in the metagame), after which he plays a tapped Steam Vents. I play the Dragonskull Summit, then Ash Zealot and hit him to 17. Let me explain why I played the Zealot and not the Knight (breaking the 'play haste guys last' doctrine). Steam Vents very likely suggests UWr Control or Tempo. Their removal is split between white and red cards ~ the red removal is cheap, the white removal is often expensive. Knight of Infamy is pro-white ~ so if my opponent has to use his red removal early (because it is cheap) he is stuck with white removal late, which is bad against the Knight.
However, he plays a Dragonskull Summit, undoing all my clever work, and Dreadbore's my Zealot. So much for that. I play the Knight and hit him to 14. So far I have only drawn land, which is OK, but potentially problematic. He plays a tapped Blood Crypt and passes the turn. I draw another Knight of Infamy and decide to hold it ~ playing it will not change my clock. He falls to 9 after my attack, and with a 4/4 Noble and the Knight in play, I am presenting a 2-turn clock.
Snapcaster Mage for Dreadbore on the Noble comes down; but my second Knight allows the first to attack past (I feel he should have chumped), taking him to 5. Pillar of Flame into Snapcaster into Pillar wipes my board, but when Hellhole Flailer comes down the turn after, he cannot regain any initiative. Jace Memory adept appears and starts t dig for answers, but I topdeck an Ash Zealot to finish him off.
Sideboarding: -4 Pillar of Flame, -1 Brimstone Volley, +3 Dreadbore, +2 Rakdos's Return
Take out lowest impact cards for highest impact. Dreadbore answers his inevitable 'walkers or Niv-Mizzet; Rakdos's Return is just ridiculous. Traitorous Blood is a consideration, but he seems low on win-conditions ~ it is better against a Bant control deck with a lot more targets.
Game 2: On the draw, keep: Two Knight of Infamy, Falkenrath Aristocrat, two mountain, swamp, Brimstone Volley.
Not super fast, but decent early threats and a key card against this kind of deck (Aristocrat).
The first few turns are very uneventful. We each make our land drops, I get in a little bit of damage, he has some removal then taps out for a Rakdos Keyrune. Aristocrat hits him down low, and a Rolling Temblor leaves me with a 7/3 flyer...I hit him again and he shows me a hand of Pillar of Flame, some land and two Rakdos's Return ~ awkward!
1-0 (2-0, 1 win though Flailer).
Match 2 vs Bant Control splashing Red
Game 1: On the play mulligan: two brimstone volley, hellhole flailer, zealous conscripts, three land.
Borderline. The hand is OK, but very slow. With the metagame being ~45% Jund and Bant Control, I would be taking an auto-loss against these decks.
Keep: Blood Crypt, Two Rakdos Cackler, Knight of Infamy, Ash Zealot, hellhole flailer.
The classic aggro conundrum ~ can you keep the 1-lander? I say of course! Besides, how many 5 card hands are better than this? One land activates pretty much my entire holding, so I have to try.
Blood Crypt into Cackler meets a tapped Hinterland Harbour. Of course, being the lucksack that I am, I rip a Dragonskull Summit (effectively best possible) and play my Ash Zealot ~ I want as much damage as possible early before the inevitable sweeper, and the Knight is better post-sweep against his white creatures. I thought he was Bant Control, but he goes Kessig Wolf Run into Farseek, fetching Hallowed Fountain, then the next turn plays a Rootbound Crag...for my part I just play an unleashed Flailer and keep giving him the business ~ an Augur of Bolas hits Divination but then chumps; a Supreme Verdict the turn after is responded to with a Flailer sacrifice; Searing Spear when I untapped meant we were on to game 2. (That is another win due to Flailer's ability FYI).
Sideboarding: -4 Pillar of Flame, -1 Brimstone Volley; +3 Dreadbore, +2 Rakdos's Return
Game 2: On the draw, keep: two Rakdos Cackler, two mountain, one swamp, brimestone volley, searing spear.
Close to the nuts.
I play out two Cacklers, and his Augur of Bolas gets speared. Another Augur slows me down to 2 damage a turn, but I am accumulating spells to play post sweeper while he struggles with land drops. He plays double Farseek and I hit him some more; then he plays Pillar of Flame and Thragtusk. I topdeck Zealous Conscripts and kill him
2-0 (4-0, 2 wins from Flailer).
Match 3 vs Mono Red
Game 1: On the play, keep: Mountain, Pillar, Spear x 2, Cackler, Zealot, Flailer
Obviously fringe because I only have a single red source, but I don't think you can get ahead mulliganing here ~ drawing a single land means I am very close to just nutdrawing him out of the game.
Mountain into Cackler is met by Mountain into Noble...hmmmm. Pillar of Flame takes out the Noble, but I don't draw a second land (I do draw a second pillar). He doesn't have a second land either, so he plays another Noble, which also gets killed by a Pillar. I don't draw a land. He doesn't draw a land either (yeah, both of us were finalists...) and plays a Cackler. I finally hit and play my Zealot; hitting him to 8. At this point, I have lethal burn in hand, and I am at 16 life ~ he kills my Zealot, I hit him with the Cackler then am able to kill him with two Spears ~ one on his endstep, one in my upkeep.
Sideboarding: -4 Knight of Infamy, +2 Flames of the Firebrand, +2 Dreadbore
This will be controversial, but I think Knight is the worst card in this matchup. It is most often going to be a 2/1 in defence, which is comically bad against a R/x Aggro deck. It makes your more vulnerable to Flames of the Firebrand. Instead, I thought it best to just bring in effective removal and play aggro-control.
Game 2: On the draw, keep: Stromkirk Noble, Ash Zealot, Hellhole Flailer, two mountain, dragonskull summit, Dreadbore.
Plenty of early pressure if he has a slower draw. Not vulnerable to Flames of the Firebrand. Dreadbore in case he is one of those psychos with Volcanic Strength.
We each play a turn 1 Stromkirk Noble. He does have Volcanic Strength and I feel filthy.
He kills my Noble with a Pillar of Flame and plays a Shred-Freak (I fall to 15). I now have three lines of play:
1)kill his Shred-Freak with Flames of the Firebrand
2)play Hellhole Flailer
3)play Cackler and Ash Zealot
I go for 3). I don't like killing the Shred-Freak because his deck is mostly x/1s and x/2s ~ I am likely to get a 2-for-1 next turn OR need Flames to kill a Hellrider. Playing Flailer is a fine play, but weak to most of his removal ~ he could have Mortars, Spear and Volley and I am not putting any pressure on. Playing two creatures plays around his removal best ~ if he has Flames, he can only kill 1 creature.
He hits me to 13 and plays a Cackler. I attack, he spears my Zealot. I Flames away his board. He passes, I equalise at 13-each and play an unleashed Flailer with a Searing Spear in hand. At this point, not only was he down a card from being on the play, but I have had two 2-for-1s;
He passes again, I hit him to seven; sacrifice flailer, searing spear you
Finished: 3-0 (6-0, 3 wins from Flailer...)
Thoughts:
- the deck run a lot better than I thought it might. I was drawing less weak cards late than I usually did with the old Dos Rakis.
- Flailer was very impressive. Not being able to block never came up, and the fling ability was often better than drawing a card. Solid body, puts a beating on fast. I think the metagame is much more favourable for him now than it was a few weeks ago.
- As usual, the sideboard plans came together nicely ~ the deck has so many angles of attack!
- the mana was never an issue in this event. Having played some matches both before and after, it has come up, but only very rarely. Interestingly, that Cackler can be cast off a swamp has let me keep a wider range of hands than I thought that I could.
I wholeheartedly reccommend this deck to any would be Dos Rakis players.
Bonus Video Content
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All this talk of Hellhole Flailer has me hot and/or bothered. I feel like the first time I tried him out, he was awful because I was trying to curve into Aristocrat every game. With everything slowing down, perhaps he's worth it for the extra reach.
Watch my Twitch.tv stream.
Take the Ham Challenge.
Want to see me in action? Check out my stream! Currently broadcasting Boros Burn in Standard. Full archive available.
Want to play better magic? Come join us at diestoremoval.com
Watch my Twitch.tv stream.
Take the Ham Challenge.
Want to see me in action? Check out my stream! Currently broadcasting Boros Burn in Standard. Full archive available.
Want to play better magic? Come join us at diestoremoval.com
I feel like I stole it. I don't think it was really earned.
Fires :symr:f Salvation
There isn't really a deck equipped to beat your endgame ~ so if you get there they just die.
Want to see me in action? Check out my stream! Currently broadcasting Boros Burn in Standard. Full archive available.
Want to play better magic? Come join us at diestoremoval.com
Watch my Twitch.tv stream.
Take the Ham Challenge.
Round 1: Dos Rakis (2-1) Win
Game 1
Kept a pretty bad hand. Thought i could salvage it. So much land. Anyways, he punished me for it as he came out fast. I searing speared a hell hole flailer while he kept up the pressure. I conceded.
Game 2
I played strom kirk, zealot, zealot, hellrider. And it was on to game3.
Game 3
I burned most of his creatures. Flames of the fire brand helped me out here. He was stuck on 3 land. Kept tapping my creatures sideways, and dropped a hellkite. After the game he showed me his hand which included 2 falkenrath aristocrats, which cud have been lethal.
1-0
Round 2: Esper Control (2-1) Win
Game 1
Over extended. Ate a supreme verdict. He topped decked Entreat. Created 4 tokens. Brought out Restoration angels, and I never recovered.
Game 2
He kept blocking with snap casters targeting nothing. I kept the pressure up. He played verdict. I played thunder maw. He had no answer for it, and swung for lethal.
Game 3
Played stone wright, zealot, zealot, and shred freak. He unsummoned and blocked with snap casters. By then i had him to 8 life. He cast supreme verdict. I dropped a hellrider bringing him to 4. He cast a Lyev Skynight tapped my rider. I topped decked a traitorous blood. Stole his knight swung for 3, hell rider's ability activates, barely getting me through.
2-0
Round 3:UGB Control (1-2) Loss
Game 1
Kept a decent hand, but i kept drawing lands. He resolved a garruk relentless, stalled with lingering souls, brought out Vraska. Not much to say here.
Game 2
Played aggressively. He played lingering souls to stall, but my last 2 draws were brim stone, to deal exact damage.
Game 3
Pretty much the same as game 1. Dropped him to 4 he plays sphinx revelation back to 12. Drop him to 4 again with a morbid triggered brim stone and searing spear. Another sphinx revelation. He gets too far ahead, i lose.
2-1
Round 4: Selesnya Midrange (0-2)
Game 1
He goes t2 smiter>paladin>sublime. Not much I could do here.
Game2
I pair up with a stone-wright and a zealot. He keeps casting smiters. I dont draw the mizzium mortars i sided in, and am forced to kill 2 via burn. I drop him to 5 life but he drops the last 2 smiters, a thrag, and im stuck on 4 land with 2 zealous conscript and a thunder maw hell kite. I cud have dealt exact if i stole his smiter with my conscript. He was tapped out, and i didnt draw the land i needed.
2-2
Overall it felt good to play again, even though I obviously misplayed several times. Stone wright + Ash Zealot during flooding of mana really made a difference. Hope next week's SNM turns out better.
The decklist:
3 Ash Zealot
4 Gore-House Chainwalker
2 Hellrider
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stonewright
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Thundermaw Hellkite
4 Brimstone Volley
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
2 Thunderbolt
Land
2 Hellion Crucible
21 Mountain
3 Annihilating Fire
3 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Mizzium Mortars
3 Rakdos Shred-Freak
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Zealous Conscripts
Yes, this is 61 cards. It's a superstition. Just go with it. Went 3-1, placed 5th out of 18. Stupid lifegain...
Round 1 vs MonoB Trading Post, 2-0
Got paired up against a regular who had been running Esper Control. This week, he switched back to an updated version of the deck he was running post-rotation, using Vessel of Endless Rest for card draw and saccing to Trading Post. Neither game was in serious doubt. Game 1 I kept his board clear with Pillar and Thunderbolt (poor Vampire Nighthawk...), then overextended into a Mutliate. Luckily, I had a Thundermaw in hand and killed him turn 6 anyway.
Boarded in Annihilating Fire, Flames of the Firebrand and Tormod's Crypt for Cackler and Pillar. Second game I slow played, keeping only one or two threats on the board to avoid the sweeper. If he dropped a dude, I burned it. Took 12 turns, but I got there, double blasting him with Spear for the win.
Round 2 vs Bant splashing black, 0-2
Game 1 was annoying. I'd play a dude, he'd remove it. My opponent was playing Abrupt Decay and Dreadbore, plus Snaps. Once his Thrags came out to play, I couldn't turn it around. The last turn, I landed a Thundermaw, he used Sever to kill it.
Boarded Mizzium Mortars, Annihilating Fire, Tormod's Crypt and Zealous Conscripts for Cackler, Pillar and 1 Chainwalker. On the play, I went Noble, Zealot, Zealot and got him to four in six turns. Unfortunately for me, I stalled at 3 lands, all from my opening hand, all mountains. He dropped a Vault of the Archangel early, and cast Sigarda on turn five. He then started whacking me for more lifegain than I could do damage. I had answers for his clock, but couldn't play them. Literally one more land, and the Hellrider in my hand would have done the trick. Two more and the double Thundermaw definitely would have. That's variance for you.
Round 3 vs RDW, 2-0
Another familiar face to me, I knew he liked red decks. I also knew his red decks weren't very good. Game 1 lasted five turns. Turn two he cast Krenko's Command to make blockers for my double Nobles. I let him double block one of them, and killed one with a Spear before damage. Sided in Flames for Pillars, and one Mizzium just in case he had the Krenko and I somehow stalled out. Game 2 was almost as fast. Ash Zealot unblocked is stupid quick, especially paired to a Stonewright. Used Flames to kill his goblin blockers, won on turn 6.
Round 4 vs Grixis, 2-0
Another familiar face. I knew he liked Grixis decks, and was unsurprised to see him with a new list. He was using Scroll of Avacyn and Alchemist's Apprentice to replace the card draw artifacts of Scars Block. Neither game was in much doubt, as his deck was pretty durdly, built to combat the control decks that are really popular in my store. I bet he expected to see my control deck, too. Surprise! On turn 8, I topdecked a Stonewright game 1 to swing for exactly lethal. Sided in Flames, Zealous and Mizzium Mortars for Cackler, Thunderbolt and 1 Pillar. Took two turns longer, as he kept getting out the Apprentice to chump block and draw cards, but the end result was the same. Burned him with Spear for the win.
Thoughts:
I was never tempted to side Shred-Freak in, which tells me maybe he doesn't need to be there. Cackler came out in 3 out of 4 matches, which says maybe that slot is better filled with something else. No idea what, though. Hellion Crucible helped in round 1, offsetting the life gain of Trading Post until he was in range for me to double burn him. It was much less effective in round 2, where the token got removed by a Tribute to Hunger. If I go mono-red again, I'm definitely going to keep them. In that vein, I definitely want two more Hellriders, in place of the Thunderbolts, and might use Splatter Thug in place of Chainwalker. I'm strongly considering Dos Rakis for next week, especially after reading Z's post further up. That looks like a filthy, dirty deck. Rakdos's Return will really hurt all the control decks in my meta. Plus, being able to Slaughter Games those stupid Thragtusks looks like fun. We'll have to see what another week of testing and reports brings. But I'm pretty sure I'm going to stick with this style of deck for a while. Reminds me what I loved about the game in the first place.
EDIT: Maybe Torch Fiend in the side instead of Shred-Freak, to kill problem artifacts when necessary?
EDIT #2: Chandra somewhere in the 75? Maybe for the Thunderbolts?
Innistrad-RTR
UWR Flash: 7-1, 1 FNM Win-A-Box
Rakdos Aggro: 20-8
UW Flash: 11-5
Boros Aggro: 3-1
Jund: 42-12-3, 4 TNM Win-A-Box, 2 Koopa Standard IQs, Gatecrash Game Day Champion, M14 Game Day Champion
RTR - Theros
RDW 6-0 1 TNM Win-A-Box
Esper Control 7-4
Boros Burn 3-1
RW Devotion 3-1
Monoblack Devotion 8-4
Ops i Almost forgot i played : Kazumasa Sato's Rakdos Aggro( the only one i had the cards for XD)
First Tournament i got paire with another Rakdso deck, but he draw the removal faster than me, so i scooped because he killed all my treats Both games.
Second Tournament: I got paired with a midrange jund for the actual game see above.
Third tournament:
First Match against: UWRg Miracles
Game 2 : a little bit as above but i won, little by little between attacks an careful use of burn spells i won. Plus he draw lands and had nothing to counter.http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/images/icons/flags/us.gif
Game 3 : there is attrition war between me and him, i end up at 12 he topdecks a miracle Entreat the Angels (in casting the spell he taps out) but he was at 3 life......... a bad number for a red player opponent......because i draw flame of the firebrand and cast it with a flawless victory
Match 2 against G/B Zombies:
Game 2: i got stuck at two lands and everything i kep except cackler costs 3 or more, so he won.
Game 3 : he plays zome zombies i remove them, i cast he remove my hellole flailer. the i cast Ahen Zealot for 3 consecutive turns, he plays some 2/1 zombie with intimidate. At 5th turn i play falkenrath noble and that plus the zealot seal the game.
Match 3(last game) with W/B humans
Game 2 He plays a Knight of glory i burn it.
then i attack with a unleashed hellhole flailer he blocks it, i sack in response. He was to 3 life
He attack with a 1/1 Hexproof Unblockable creaure( the only creature on the field he coul block Knigth of infamy, i attack with Knigth of infamy that paired with exalted wins the game.
PS: Riccardo "Tex" Tessitori(Level 5 judge) was there.
Sam: a demon summoning spell ? why?
Lucifer: to summon a demon (auto censorship here)
====
The Wizard of Oz: A juvenile delinquent runs away from home, kills the first person she meets in a foreign land, robs her corpse, then promptly forms a gang with three complete strangers in order to kill again.
====
with R i'll burn you and with B youll'be maimed
Great Job!
and super helpful notes (:
I went 3-1 in my FNM. Loosing to a re-animator deck 2-1 on round 1 and the 2 games I lost he was at around 5 life. I agree with you on Nightbird's Clutches , won me 2 games and 1 against G/W midrange with 2 Thragtusk on the field "blocking" haha. He asked what the card did, turned the card for him to read and smiled with my Hellrider and 2 creatures on the field and he at 8 life points.
Similar to Nightbird's Clutches is Pyreheart Wolf and was a great addition to my SB for this kind of matches where they try to stall the game for a few turns, block and gain life. The undying is very relevant, the body is bad , but the effect wins games.
4 Ash Zealot
2 Rakdos Shred-Freak
2 Gore-House Chainwalker
4 Hellrider
4 Rakdos Cackler
3 Stonewright
4 Stromkirk Noble
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
2 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
2 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Nightbird's Clutches
1 Hellion Crucible
22 Mountain
1 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Pyreheart Wolf
3 Frostburn Weird
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Pillar of Flames
1 Hellion Crucible
The report:
Round 1 : 0 - 2 vs Rites Re-animator
Game 1: I was on a fast hand but mana screw 2 lands until turn 5, so I couldn't get there on time when he landed a Thragtusk followed by a Angel of Serenity over my 3 creatures on the field. He ended up at 4 life and my burns never showed up.
Game 2: "Go Big plan " with heavier removal over my pillars and flames, got Thunderbolt. I got a pretty decent hand and when he started to stabilize around turn 6 with Thragtusk and Restoration Angel he was at 7 life but my Hellrider on the field plus a top deck Thundermaw Hellkite sealed the deal.
Game 3: No SB, kept the go big plan and same as game 1, I mull to 6, he's almost dead when BOOM! Angel of Serenity from flashback Unburial Rites at around 3 life followed by a Centaur Healer next turn. He exiled 3 creatures and I couldn't do anything about the big angel on the field. He gained 2 more life from a Deadrite Shaman and the clock got me. Never saw my Tundermaw
Round 2: Won 2-1 vs Aggro U/W Humans
Game 1 : Was a race to turn 4, I was on the draw , but my double Hellrider won on turn 5 and me at 4 life. Yay.
Game 2: Sb in the x3 Frostburn weird and left out my 1 drops to add more removal. Again on the draw we raced and I died to a 1/2 fying bird with double strike some turn and finished me up with Geist of the saint traft , not enough removal.
Game 3: SB in more creatures to race this time and make him unable to block with Pyreheart Wolf and SB out a bit of removal and kept the Weirds to hold him back until I could set up a Hellrider kill or similar. The Weirds ate a lot of removal because he could pass them with attackes so easily and I kept swinging with my Ash Zealot and finished him of with a Nightbird's Clutches plus a Hellrider for 7.
Round 3: Won 2-1 vs Esper Tokens
Game 1 : We both get mana screw but I win on turn 5 because my deck can handle 2 lands haha.
Game 2: He curves out perfectly and my removal is not enough, he has around x4 3/3 tokens and a planeswalker giving them death touch. I couldn't pass that, not even with a 7 creature attack on my Hellrider X). He gave them lifelink.
Game 3: He stumbles a little and when he stabilizes my SB all-star Pyreheart Wolf saves the day and puts him to five with a 4 creature attack over his x2 3/3 tokens with flying. He puts more tokens and passes. I drop a Hellrider and a swing for 5 direct, He tries to put them lifelink but is too damn late.
Round 4: Won 2-0 vs G/W/R midrange
So I know this guy,he own the store, he plays Thragtusk, Huntmaster , etc. I'm like oh well.
Game 1: As planned, he's on a slow start I try to race, and get him pretty low when Centaur Healer shows up. I have 3 creatures and I burn his blocker and put him back to 2 life. He gets a Huntmaster of the fells and passes. I have a Nightbird's clutches and win the game with my 2/2 creatures.
Game 2: I bring my Pyreheart Wolf and some Mizzium Mortars over Pillars and 1 drops and 2 drops. I'm on a slowish hand with 1 mizzium mortars, lands, 2 pyreheat wolfs and ash zealot. He gets mana screw a bit but gets out Healer on turn 5 followed again with a Huntmaster on turn 6. He is at 9 then at 3 when he killed my Zealot and Wolf, the 1st got a pillar and my Zealot a Searing Spear. I attack and pass, I get a bit of mana flood with 6 land in play and a Mizzium Mortars, Clutches a land in hand. He gets out a Huntmaster with the token and passes, I draw another land and overload the mortars to swing for 1 with the wolf and put him to 3. He plays a thragtusk and back to 8, I draw a Hellrider and swing over his unable to block Tusk from my 1/1 Pyreheart Wolf. He just reads the Wolf over and over again. Back to 2 , he plays another Tusk and puts him to 7, he passes, with 2 Thragtusk in play for blocking. I draw a Stonewright and play the Nigthbird's Clutches which he again reads over and over again, and I win over his 2 useless Thragtusk. Revenge from last FNM, hehe.
Other thoughts.
I know that Rakdos Shred-Freak is kind of weak , but the overall speed is significant on many matches and was SB out in some matches mainly for more removal or Pyreheat Wolf where he wasn't needed.
Frostburn Weird was a more personal choice for my meta ( 2 very aggro human decks, U/W and Boros plus a Zombies deck) and came in handy against U/W to stop the 2/1 until I could get removal when I was on the draw. He holds up nicely and had to be dealt with on top of my attackers so my opponent could keep attacking. My Ash Zealot was happy not being the 1st target against Oblivion Ring or Fiend Hunter . But in the end I might cut them for a more overall card vs the matches I have trouble.
I want to try the 3 Hellkite version and still adapt to my meta or might even try 1 MB Zealous because he alone can turn a game around.
I loved Clutches and Pyreheart, I might try a 2-off Pyreheart MB.
le deck
2 Helion Crucible
22 Mountain
Creatures 24
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 stromkirk noble
2 Stonewright
4 Gore-House Chainwalker
4 Ash Zealot
4 Hellrider
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
4 Searing spear
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Brimstone volley
3 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Devil's play
2 Annihilating fire
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Zealous conscripts
2 Traitorous blood
2 Tormod's crypt
So kinda happy about this build but the limited sideboard options from pure red is getting irritating. So I might just switch over to that in the weeks to come. Still not 100% sure yet. The stability and consistency of this build is really great. The only deck I'm not confident against beating is GW or Naya/bant that has lifegain in it. Trhagtusk is the main reason I don't got 4-0 on Fridays.
So here is the matches.
Match 1
R/B zombies
I've got a really heavy zombie meta. So this was no surprise.
Game 1- I win the coin flip and go first. I mulligan a hand of all lands away to get a hand with 2 mountains, noble, ash, hellrider and pillar. Couldn't ask for a better hand.
Obviously start off with noble. HE plays something that can't block and I smile a little as I go into ash noble attack taking him down to 17. He takes a shockland hit to play double gravecrawler. He swings in for 2 dmg to me.
I draw into another land and put down stonewright and pair it with ash and swing in for 6 with him at no blockers so he's down to 9. He plays geralf and then scoops when I pillar it.
Sideboarding- none. I felt good and wanted to keep as is. I"d like some advice on sideboarding against zombies.
Game 2- It starts at a similar pace. He plays cackler and I mirror. He Pillars my cackler and swings in. I pillar his guy and play a stonewright. He lands geralf. I pillar it. It becomes very burn control for a little while till I land Thundermaw. After thundermaw I hit him with double brimstone for the win.
Conclusion. 2-0. I do well against zombies because I have haste in a ton of my creatures and pretty much all of their early creatures can't block even if they wanted them to. I feel we are just a little bit faster.
Match score 1-0
Match 2
UW humans.
Didn't expect this matchup for some reason....
Game 1- He wins coin flip but I still win because of speed. His deck didn't run that much removal and most of my cards are creatures so his thalia didn't do much good. IT was a lot grindier than normal but again hellkite wins the day always.
Game 2- don't remember what I sideboarded but he pretty much shut me down and beat me bad.
Game 3- Got a bad hand. Can't really say much. Probably should have mulliganed but I was at 5 and didn't wanna go down any further. Just...didn't get the land I needed which was rare. 2 crucible and 1 mountain with ash in hand.....
1-2
Conclusion- can't really blame the matchup on this specifically. But he sided in Plastine giant and when he landed that there was nothing I could do.
Match 3
TURBO FOG
Cannot believe this showed up or even did as well as it did. The whole thing was sphere of safety and a few fogs but no turbo. I sweeped both games because of double hellrider and plenty of mana. I just dealt 4 a turn every turn till I burned him out. Game 2 I got him down pretty far and then just used devil's play.
Match restuls 2-1
Match 4
Bant midrange.
I hated this matchup....
Game 1- I out aggro him pretty quick and didn't see a thragtusk. So yay.
Game 2- He lands double thragtusk and wolfir silverheart. Just kinda had to scoop.
Game 3- Similar story. I had him down to 3 but then thragtusk into thragtusk into Sigarda into wolfir. I saw none of my conscripts so I couldn't do much.
Overall 2-2 which didn't break me in the top 4. So not a horrible day but not a good day really.
How is devil's play panning out for you? I contemplated using it for my sideboard. I kept flooding and a devil's play could have given me that extra reach.
-4 Gorehouse +2 Tormod +2 Annihilating Fire
The most common BR zombies that can block do so for at least 2, so siding out your 3/2 unleash for 2 artifacts that can remove Messengers and Gravecrawlers when they hit the yard and 2 spells that exile them is the way to go. You could side out the Cacklers, but if you're going to keep a dude with only 2 toughness, may as well be the one that is cheaper for you to cast.
Innistrad-RTR
UWR Flash: 7-1, 1 FNM Win-A-Box
Rakdos Aggro: 20-8
UW Flash: 11-5
Boros Aggro: 3-1
Jund: 42-12-3, 4 TNM Win-A-Box, 2 Koopa Standard IQs, Gatecrash Game Day Champion, M14 Game Day Champion
RTR - Theros
RDW 6-0 1 TNM Win-A-Box
Esper Control 7-4
Boros Burn 3-1
RW Devotion 3-1
Monoblack Devotion 8-4
I side it in for control. I play 24 land so most of the time I don't miss a land drop till turn 5 at the earliest unless I had a crap hand. I like to be able to sink my mana into something more stable than just a stonewright. I may switch to sledgehammer red but right now I like the speed of the regular RDW.
Also against control the most reach I have other than 2 for 1 against something is 5 and thats with a morbid trigger. So If I need to kill a griselbrand or something I need a bigger burn spell. But usually if its that late in the game and I can burn something out for 8 then I can usually just burn them to death. IT has good late game reach and flashback can be relevant.
Thanks. I probably should have done that. It didn't matter much thought. I drew good hands both games and I do feel we are just faster in the red based decks. But i'll remember that next time.
Agree about the stonewright bit. Don't get me wrong. Pairing up with a Ash Zealot and swinging in for 7 feels good, but when a silver blade paladin is paired up with a Loxodon Smiter and i just need to deal 4, thats when i wish i had devil's play in hand.
Why did you play Confusion in the Ranks ?! and Hunted Dragon ?! It's so CONFUSING!
4 Ash Zealot
4 Gore-House Chainwalker
4 Hellrider
4 Rakdos Cackler
3 Stonewright
4 Stromkirk Noble
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
4 Brimstone Volley
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
3 Hellion Crucible
20 Mountain
2 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Mizzium Mortars
4 Rakdos Shred-Freak
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Zealous Conscripts
First round was Dos Rakis.
He seemed to keep really slow hands and I rolled him game 1.
SB: +2 Flames of the Firebrand, +3 Mizzium Mortars; -4 Stromkirk Noble, -1 Brimstone Volley
Game 2 went quickly. He durdled with some keyrunes and played out Olivia and Thundermaw but I still steam rolled him.
1-0-0
Round 2 was BantHexproof.dec.
I got my bum handed to me. The 1/1 unblockable hexproof guy with Rancor and counters for half of what I played made it difficult. I got him to 1 but it wasn't enough.
SB: +3 Mizzium Mortars, +4 Rakdos Shred-Freak; -4 Rakdos Cackler, -3 Brimstone Volley
G2 more of the same but the 1/1 guy into GoST, into Sigarda was gg.
1-1-0
Round 3 was Jund Control.
Had to Mulligan to 5 and couldn't recover.
SB: +3 Mizzium Mortars, +2 Zealous Conscripts; -4 Stromkirk Noble, -1 Brimstone Volley
G2 I went big and it paid off. I I played T5 Hellkite, he played T5 Thragtusk, I played T6 Conscripts ftw.
SB: +3 Mizzium Mortars, +2 Zealous Conscripts, +2 Annihilating Fire, +1 Flames of the Firebrand; -4 Stromkirk Noble, -4 Rakdos Cackler
G3 Flooded to 11 land but so did he. We traded blows back and forth until I made a Thundermaw stick, then a second. GG.
2-1-0
Round 4 was Grixis Control.
Went quickly. He just kind of durdled and I smashed him with Stonewright / Gore-house Chainwalker. The only real threat I saw was Olivia which ate a Searing Spear.
SB: +4 Rakdos Shred-Freak, -4 Pillar of Flame
G2 more of the same.
3-1-0
Round 5 was U/B control.
Don't remember much about this match. He didn't do much, but mill me with a land. I just smashed face. Do remember getting mutilated.
SB: +4 Rakdos Shred-Freak, -4 Pillar of Flame
See above.
4-1-0
Round 6 was GWB Reanimator.
He got the nut draw and had T4 griselbrand after I had him at 2.
SB: +4 Rakdos Shred Freak, +2 Zealous Conscripts, +2 Tormod's Crypt; -4 Pillar of Flame, -4 Brimstone Volley
Nut draws again. I removed his graveyard via Tormod's Crypt when he tried to use rites, but he still managed to play / reanimate Thragtusk 5 times.
4-2-0
Round 7 was Frites.
Once I realized what he was playing I started throwing things down trying to race. T4 + 5 Hellriders sealed the deal.
SB: +4 Rakdos Shred Freak, +2 Zealous Conscripts, +2 Tormod's Crypt; -4 Pillar of Flame, -4 Brimstone Volley
Next game I keep a hand with two Stromkirk Nobles and a Tormod's Crypt. He plays out a human knight that can't block the vampires, and the Crypt keeps him from attempting to combo. Nobles beat him to death.
5-2-0
All in all a good day, and I earned 57 planeswalker points, the best of anyone in my playgroup.
I am particularly troubled by the Bant Hexproof deck. I was completely helpless. Anyone have any advice (other than splashing black, which I am considering)?
10 Mountain
4 Blood Crypt
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Dragonskull Summit
1 Hellion Crucible
4 Stonewright
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
3 Knight of Infamy
4 Ash Zealot
4 Stromkirk Captain
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
1 Devil's Play
4 Searing Spear
3 Brimstone Volley
1 Hellion Crucible
1 Knight of Infamy
3 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Devil's Play
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Annihilating Fire
3 Traitorous Blood
Yes i do play 61. I do that when i feel like my perfect land count would be between 22 and 23 on 60 deck, so i just play 23 on an 61 card deck.
Did 4-0 twice in this weekend.
First FNM:
MATCH 1: WU Humans (with GoST!)
SB Swaps
-4 Rakdos Cackler
-1 Devil's Play
+1 Knight of Infamy
+3 Mizzium Mortars
+1 Annihilating Fire
My gameplan: keep delivering damage via Stromkirk Noble, Knight of Infamy and Falkenrath Aristocrat while using Ash Zealot, Stromkirk Captain and Knight of Infamy to hold of the attackers. The burn suit were best used as removal in most cases. GoST + Spectral Flight is the biggest threat but it can be answered with Falkenrath Aristocrat on the defensive.
Lost second game because he did t3 GoST > t4 Spectral Flight and i didn't draw any Aristocrats. Won the other two games very easilly.
MATCH 2: WUR Midrange
-4 Pillar of Flame
+1 Knight of Infamy
+3 Annihilating Fire
My gameplan: rush him as soon as i can. He doesn't have any creature which stabilizes the table except for restoration angel, who can dealt with instant speed removal + first strikers. So turning creatures sideways and finishing with burn will generaly work if creatures are played in the right order (weakest to strongest in order to let your greatest threats away from burns). I avoided hands with too low threats in order to not let his burn spells stall my game.
Woned both games. The MU feels like a easier Jund.
MATCH 3: Selesnya Tokens
SB Swap
-4 Rakdos Cackler
-4 Pillar of Flames
+1 Knight of Infamy
+3 Mizzium Mortar
+1 Hellion Crucible
+3 Thundermaw Hellkite
My gameplan: Use the first strikers and knight of infamy to stall the game. Stromkirk Noble is very good once you have Knight of Infamy and Stromkirk Captain on the board. The opponent will be forced to block him or he might grow enough to even block Armada Wurm. Keep a eye on green tokens who can block knight of infamy and play on defensive until your Falkenrath Arisotcrat / Thundermaw / Mizzium Mortar show up.
Woned both games. The second one was tough as he dropped Armada on Turn 4, but Stromkirk Noble +
MATCH 4: Jund Zombies
SB Swap
-3 Brimstone Volley
+3 Anihilating Fire
My gameplay: depends on my hand. If i get a really agressive hand i might try to quickly finish the game once zombies are terrible at blocking. Otherwise i try to prepare for the top deck phase. Messager and Gravecrawler makes for a resilient deck but the first strike creatures deliver me a better board prense even through my opponent generaly have more cards in game. Stonewright proved to be deadly cause i could keep large amounts of damage even through i left most of my guys untaped to block. I avoided hands with too much knight of infamy and too little burn/ash zealot.
First game i couldn't deal with a large lotleth troll (6/5). I kept a slow hand (2 captains, 1 aristocrat) and paid the price. The second game was favorable to me because my opponent didn't draw the third black mana, even through he strated with three one drops. Last game we both kept good hands and he couldn't get past ash zealot + stromkirk noble. When he droped the aristocrat on turn 5 he was already beaten up to 9 HP. I burned his blockers on EOT and alpha striked on my turn. Stonewright was the MvP here, netting 9 damage alone across the whole match.
Second FNM:
MATCH 1: WG Pump Aggro
MATCH 2: WUR Draw-Go Control
MATCH 3: Izzet Control
MATCH 4: Dos Rakis
Later i update the rest !
BGU Control
R Aggro
Standard - For Fun
BG Auras
4 Blood Crypt
3 Rakdos Guildgate
4 Cavern of Souls
9 Mountain
4 Dragonskull Summit
Spells
3 Ultimate Price
2 Devil's Play
4 Searing Spear
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
3 Thundermaw Hellkite
4 Ash Zealot
3 Stonewright
3 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Knight of Infamy
Artifacts
2 Rakdos Keyrune
3 Slaughter Games
3 Tribute to Hunger
2 Dreadbore
2 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Sever the Bloodline
2 Appetite for Brains
Match 1: It was some sort of Bant list. I won so quickly the first game courtesy of hitting Noble, Zealot, Nighthawk, Aristocrat, that I wasn't even sure what he was playing. Round 2, same deal.
Match 2: Izzet Burn. We traded off, and then Stonewright plus Nighthawk won the day. I took out the Stromkirk's in favor of 2x Dreadbore and 2xFlames. Round two played out almost identically.
Match 3: Identical to match 1.
To this point, I think it was a pretty soft tournament. I was 3-0 with 0 game losses and feeling pretty good about myself. Then I got into Red, White, and Blue with GoST.
Match 4: Round 1 I won with a good curve. I realized what I was up against and sided in the tribute to hungers, taking out the Nobles, except for one. I also sided in Slaughter Games and took out the Ultimate Prices.
He burnt/countered everything I put out then resolved the GoST. I Tributed it (feeling smart) and we went forward. Sadly, he still had enough counter/burn to take out everything I put down, stabilized, and got me with the Restoration Angels.
Game 3 I made a stupid mistake. I took out all the searing spears, put back in the Nobles, and 1 Flames. He managed to lock down the board with Dungeon Geists twice, and I had no answer. Eventually he used Zealous Conscript to kill me with my own Dragon. Sigh.
So, I think the deck is coming along. I want to take out a Noble in favor of another Stonewright, but other than that I'm not sure. The nobles make it quick, but sometimes I think I'd be better taking them out and moving to a full on Rakhammer style. Thoughts?
Needless to say, it was a sales disaster. Thankfully Coke had the common sense to switch back to the old formula and re-brand the drink Coke Classic which led record sales and profits.
Last night I decided to try a new recipe to better compete with all of the Thragtusks in the environment. I brought New Coke to the tournament.
4 x Rakdos Cackler
4 x Ash Zealot
4 x Gore-House Chainwalker
4 x Pyreheart Wolf
2 x Fervent Cathar
4 x Hellrider
2 x Thundermaw Hellkite
2 x Nightbird's Clutches
4 x Searing Spear
2 x Devil's Play
2 x Hellion Crucible
4 x Flames of the Firebrand
3 x Tormod's Crypt
2 x Thundermaw Hellkite
1 x Devil's Play
1 x Hellion Crucible
Somehow the Max Headroom in my head, with all of his stuttering chatter, managed to convince me this new syrupy nectar tasted better than the original. Well, this configuration performed about as well as New Coke tasted. AWFUL!!!
We had 17 people show up which meant 4 rounds of Swiss.
Round 1 - Green White Humans
Game1 - A Cackler, Zealot and Stonewright were enough to get the job done. He only had 3 land, two of which were Cavern of Souls, one naming Human the other Angel. He never really cast a creature so I put him on a Thragtusk/Mid Range Control Deck.
Game 2 - Wrong!!! He comes out with Champion of the Parish coupled with a few other humans and just stomps my face.
Game 3 - Side in Pillar and Flames of the Firebrand. Remove Pyreheart Wolf, Fervent Cathar and Nightbird's Clutches. The game consisted of him casting early weenies and me burning them away all the while chipping away at his life total with a weenie of my own.
Finally, he is at 6 life and he's trying to stabilize, but I have an active Stonewright. He's casting superior threats, but he has to keep blocking my bound Gore House Chainwalkers and Rakdos Cacklers because if he doesn't I can pump for lethal. Finally, he runs out of blockers and I think the Stonewright manages to pair with an Ash Zealot for the win.
Round 2 - Azorious Aggro
So I changed the deck to compete against Thragtusk control and I see aggro decks the first two rounds.
Game 1: He runs me over with dudes. I couldn't race him with my Stonewright, Gore-House Chainwalker and Pyreheart Wolf draw.
Game 2: Same sideboarding as game 2 of Match 1. I burn some early weenies and attack with a Hellrider. The following turn I attack with two Hellriders. He's at 11 then the board stalls. I have 1 Stonewright and 2 Hellriders on the board. I cast another Stonewright and pass the turn. He can't kill me by attacking and the crack back would kill him so he passes. He has ample blockers, but I attack anyway. Hellrider triggers deal 8 damage and the Searing Spear in my hand finishes the job.
Game 3: I burn some weenies but he manages to get a Geist of Saint Traft paired with a Silverblade Paladin which knocks me to 8. I kill the Paladin with a Searing Spear and attack with an Ash Zealot and a Rakdos Cackler which puts him to 6. I leave an Ash Zealot behind to block the Geist. He attacks with Geist. I block the Geist with Zealot, but take 4 from the angel token and he plays a War Falcon. I untap, play a Hellrider and swing with the whole team. He lets the first trigger hit him taking him to 5 then plays Faith's Shield naming red. He plays another Silverblade Paladin, binding to his War Falcon hits me for exactsies. Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. Well played sir.
Round 3: Bant Control
Game 1: Stonewright, Gore-House Chainwalker and Pyreheart Wolf go all the way.
Game 2: I keep a one lander on the draw. I'm holding two Rakdos Cacklers, Ash Zealot, Pyreheart Wolf, Searing Spear and Thundermaw Hellkite. Unfortunately, I don't draw another land the whole game. I cast two Rakdos Cacklers which get detained by a sphere. Thragtusks start grazing on the open landscape and that's all she wrote. Moral of the story, don't be greedy.
Game 3: This game goes back and forth. I cast hasty beats, get in a little damage, but then he has a removal spell. I've got him down to 3 life and I've moved into top deck mode. He's tapped out and I have at least 12 outs in my deck. Next two draw phases are Nightbird's clutches (did I mention the board was empty) and a land. Meanwhile, he casts Thragtusk and goes to 8 and then casts Restoration Angel, targeting Thragtusk, and goes to 13.
Round 4: Go home and watch the new episode of Castle.
So just like Coke I learned a valuable lesson. Don't change a winning formula.
Nightbird's Clutches may be fantastic against Green White Mid Range, but it's very underwhelming against Bant Control. Between Supreme Verdict and Terminus chances are the board is going to be devoid of any creatures so the card will be irrelevant.
Same can be said of Pyreheart Wolf. Casting non-hasted, three mana cost 1/1's is not what we want to be doing against a deck that is packing four Azorious Charms. Even Flames of the Firebrand is a more relevant card than Pyreheart Wolf in this matchup.
Where we really want to be against this deck is casting hasted creatures and X spells in the late game. If my Nightbird's clutches would have been a Conscripts, Thundermaw or Devil's Play I would have won the match.
I've dropped one Hellion Crucible from the Sideboard since two seems like the right number and added 2 Cavern of Souls. This will give you 26 lands post board making it easier to cast the 6 five drops against the control matchups and the uncounterability can play a huge factor against certain types of decks.
For reference here's Coke Classic and the sideboard I would run tomorrow:
4 x Rakdos Cackler
4 x Ash Zealot
4 x Gore-House Chainwalker
4 x Hellrider
2 x Thundermaw Hellkite
4 x Pillar of Flame
4 x Flames of the Firebrand
4 x Searing Spear
2 x Devil's Play
2 x Hellion Crucible
2 x Traitorous Blood
2 x Mizzium Mortars
2 x Grafdiggers Cage
2 x Tormod's Crypt
2 x Thundermaw Hellkite
1 x Devil's Play
2 x Cavern of Souls
Funny thing is, you're right on the frontier of the cutting edge technology I want to write about soon Talk about being ahead of the curve!
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I'm playing Ru with the splash for maindeck Syncopate and Essence Backlash in the board. !@#$ you Thragtusk. My other tech is that every single 2+ CC creature in the deck has haste, meaning that I'm insanely favored against control G1. It also allows me to put on a huge clock before the crucial turn when my opponent has to play Thragtusk or die; if I can counter him then I just win.
Decklist
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
4 Rakdos Shred-Freak
4 Reckless Brute
4 Hellrider
3 Thundermaw Hellkite
4 Searing Spear
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Brimstone Volley
3 Syncopate
Land
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
16 Mountain
1 Syncopate
4 Essence Backlash
1 Izzet Guildgate
2 Flames of the Firebrand
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Brimstone Volley
4 Pillar of Flame
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
Tournament Report
Round 1 - Bant Control
G1: I win the roll, curve out and kill him on turn 5 before he can play Thragtusk. His only relevant spell was a Detention Sphere on my Ash Zealot.
G2: He plays T3 Geist of Saint Traft and we race. He passes turn with 4 mana untapped, I Essence Backlash his Resto Angel and kill him. My blue source was the random Izzet Guildgate from the sideboard. Too pro.
Round 2 - GW Aggro
G1: He mulls to 4 and his only play is two Young Wolfs.
G2: He plays multiple Strangleroots and we race for a bit. He would have won the race if his Centaur Healer resolved, but I had the Syncopate and killed him with burn when I untapped.
Round 3 - Jund Midrange
This player has multiple PTQ top 8s and always plays top decks so I was pretty worried going into this match.
G1: He wins the roll and I get stuck on two land. I scoop when he Farseeks into Garruk, Primal Hunter and Olivia Voldaren.
G2: This time we're BOTH stuck on two land. Unfortunately he doesn't have Farseek and I'm on the triple Shred-Freak plan. He finally gets the mana to Sever all three of them, but a topdecked Ash Zealot finishes the job.
G3: He is on the play and Farseeks into Sever the Bloodline. I have a single Cackler on board and pass turn with 3 mana up. His Thragtusk gets Syncopated and it's his only threat. Thundermaw gets in for 5 then eats a Sever flashback. I finish him with burn.
I got really lucky in this match I think. He didn't draw too much gas. At the same time, Syncopate was super crucial in landing me that final win. If the Thragtusk had stuck, I very well could have lost that game as I was pretty low on gas myself.
Round 4 - Grixis Control
G1: Bunch of haste dudes, burn his planeswalkers, gg.
G2: Bunch of haste dudes, burn his face, gg. I think I Syncopated a Tamiyo.
I played like 10 games against this guy while we were waiting for prizes and I won all but one. I could have won that one too if I'd been a little more aggressive with my Thundermaw in hand. I waited a turn giving him time to topdeck Snapcaster for Tribute to Hunger. Since Grixis has almost no way to gain life, haste guys just wear him down slowly even if he kills them on his turn every time.
Changes for FNM will probably be Essence Scatter instead of Essence Backlash. Even though I love how it is a Lava Axe + counter vs Thragtusk, I won't always have 4 mana to cast it if my opponent ramps or I miss a land drop (which happens fairly often even with 24 land). Also, passing turn with 4 mana up is really suspicious in RDW, whereas I can play a 2-drop haste and have 2 mana up to Essence Scatter while just looking like I'm holding burn. Probably going to put another Izzet Guildgate in the board for when I board in the full suite of counters.
Other than that I'm super happy with the deck. It still manages an impressive T4-5 goldfish percentage, fights control easily with massive haste, and beats lifegain on the stack.
Oh yeah and Reckless Brute has earned his 4-of. I've been playing him for several weeks now and I really like the guy. He's on curve and kills Thragtusk. What more can I ask for?
Proud member of Fires Rf Salvation
Currently Playing:
BPack RatB
Modern:
WURRWU ControlRUW
Legacy:
UHigh TideU
UGTurbo EldraziGU
EDH:
RWURuhan Planeswalker ControlUWR
RGBProssh, Skyraider of KherBGR
Agree on the Noble ~ he has gotten quite a bit better recently. How would you change the deck (if at all)? If you could jot down some sideboarding notes for the guys looking to build a similar deck I am sure they would appreciate it.
Well done again!
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