Please include what kind of event it was, game/match results for every round, and the deck/play quality of your opponents. Also, it would be helpful if you could explain how you sideboarded for each match.
Played Junk Rites in the Canadian WMCQ in Vancouver. There was a 116 player turnout with a large number of each tier 1 deck and a few interesting home brews thrown in.
This is somewhat of a bad matchup for our deck as they are quite prepared for it with multiple ways to steal our dudes and smash our face in. In this matchup my goal was simply to execute the game plan as fast as possible.
Game 1: 1-0
Got lucky with a turn 2 grisly salvage into a Rites and an Angel of Serenity and proceeded to win as he had no answers in the following turns
Game 2: 2-0
I sided in the acidic slimes and o-rings, taking out deathrites a mulch and an angel of serenity. He had a great start but wasn't able to finish me off as he kept drawing lands and I eventually got the craterhoof for the win.
Round 2 vs Bant Auras: 2-0
Game 1: 1-0
He had 2 invisible stalkers with a few enchantments out, but I was able to gain enough life with thragtusks and land an angel to win.
Game 2: 2-0
Sided in two Abrupt decays and took out the deathrites (this was a common theme and I will comment later). He kept a bad hand and never got to play...
Round 3 vs Lucky Charms: 2-1
Game 1: 1-0
This was a close matchup and I squeezed out the win after 2 angels of serenity hit the battlefield. However I didn't see anything in game 1 that let me know what type of UWR he was playing...which lead to my loss in game 2
Game 2: 1-1
He combo'd with the charms and had infinite life...not much I could do and I didn't side in the abrupt decays as I never saw the reckoners in game 1.
Game 3: 1-2
Side in the abrupt decays, mull to 5 and get mana screwed...it happens
Round 4 vs Naya Blitz: 3-1
Game 1: 1-0
Game 1: 1-0
Lotleth troll was amazing and single handily won me this game. The regen is just too good and he held off their army along with the lingering souls. I won when I was able to hardcast a top decked hoof.
Game 2: 2-0
Deathrites, a mulch and an angel out with 4 centaur healers coming in. This game was insane and went on forever. He had a very fast start that I was able to hold off for a bit with two healers, it got very rough and I was down to 6 before I landed a thragtusk. However I was in bad shape when he was attacking every turn with a frontline medic. This put me in survival mode and I was forced to use my unburial rites every turn rather than dig for an angel. I actually ended up drawing all 4 rites and cast my thragtusk 9 times before I was able to end the game with an angel.
Round 5 vs Jund Midrange: 4-1
Game 1: 1-0
I actually won this game with lotleth troll and deathrite shaman, slowly grinding him down as he had removal for any other creature I was able to cast.
Game 2: 2-0
Side out 1 rites and an angel for 2 slimes. He got mana flooded but was able to hold me off for a few turns before a field full of souls got pumped by a hoof.
Round 6 vs UWR Control: 4-1-1
This was the most frustrating match of the day, my opponent was playing very slow and the judge had to ask him to make a play several times. It was annoying and the judge should have given him a game or match loss for slow play but it didn't happen.
Game 1: 1-0
I had to mull to 5, but it was decent with 3 lands a rites and a grisly salvage. The salvage was awesome and netted me a lingering souls and craterhoof which proceeded to win me the game on turn 5.
Game 2: 1-1
After he cast 3 sphinx's revelation and continually wiped the board there was nothing I could do. It seems that in this matchup you have to win quickly or they just stabilize and grind you out.
Game 3: 1-1-1
I should have won this game if there was more time. I had 3 angels continually looped while he stalled me with multiple sweepers. It was frustrating that there wasn't enough time to finish him off, there was even a judge watching the match for 30 minutes so there wasn't much more I could have done to speed up the game.
Round 7 vs Prime Speaker Bant
I had to win this game to have a shot at top 8, no if's ands or buts, I HAD TO WIN.
This matchup was insane and the most fun I had all day.
Game 1: 1-0
We both mulled to 6, then he mulled to 5. It was a close game and I edged him out with thragtusks and resto angels.
Game 2: 1-1
Side in 2 orings and 2 acidic slimes, take out 2 deathrites, mulch and a thragtusk. I never understood how powerful this deck was until he went thragtusk into speaker into sphinx's and proceeded to destroy me with insane card advantage. This was a close game and left us with 5 minutes in the round
Game 3:
I kept a solid hand with a pilgrim, salvage, troll, craterhoof and 3 lands. While he was shuffling on a mull to 6 I proceeded to play my land and pilgirm for the sake of time. I played the troll and slowly whittled his life total down to 9 after discarding several creatures to the troll. He played a resto angel and thragtusk keeping him afloat. After playing my own thragtusk and trading with his and then trading tokens...he was at 7 and I was at 13. He had a wolfrun and was able to do 9 damage. I had two cards in hand, one was a craterhoof and one was an unburial rites, however I only had 4 lands in play. I needed to either draw the land or the creature to discard to troll for exact damage. He decided not to attack and leave his resto up to block. I drew the land and played the craterhoof for the win.
5-1-1
There were two people with 16 points and only one spot available for either of us in the top 8...I got 9th. It was very disappointing at the time, but now that I have had a day I am pretty happy with how I played. I made very few play mistakes and other than 1 match made the right calls for sideboarding.
As you may have noticed I barely used half of my sideboards cards, generally sideboarding in the orings and slimes. I never had to play the mirror match which made the md deathrites a bust. If I were to go back in time I would switch them out for 2 acidic slimes or restoration angels.
This deck is very strong and I will be playing it in any major event for the foreseeable future!
When you say you would switch them for slimes/angels, presumably you mean MB right? Second question, how did running both Township and Vault work for you? I personally ran Cavern/Vault, with the caverns coming in clutch multiple games, and vault being more of a win-more card, which I am now inclined to swap to a township. (At FNM this week I ran both, and everytime I had both available it was really a position where it didn't matter which one I activated) I am still torn between those two damn lands, vault/township.
Finally, I want to tackle your creature base. Did you find 4 AoS more effective than 3, or did you find yourself with the thought that next time you can cut the 4th for another card? Lastly, how did you feel with 4 Lol trolls, and no healers MB, primarily against aggro?
When you say you would switch them for slimes/angels, presumably you mean MB right? Second question, how did running both Township and Vault work for you? I personally ran Cavern/Vault, with the caverns coming in clutch multiple games, and vault being more of a win-more card, which I am now inclined to swap to a township. (At FNM this week I ran both, and everytime I had both available it was really a position where it didn't matter which one I activated) I am still torn between those two damn lands, vault/township.
Finally, I want to tackle your creature base. Did you find 4 AoS more effective than 3, or did you find yourself with the thought that next time you can cut the 4th for another card? Lastly, how did you feel with 4 Lol trolls, and no healers MB, primarily against aggro?
Yes, I would put 2 of either acidic slimes or restoration angels MB or maybe even 1 of each. I found that the Deathrite Shamans were not worth it MB.
Running both township and vault worked well. Township was very relevant vs the slower decks and vault was great against midrange decks. That being said, I would rather have a cavern than a township. Several times vs. blue decks I had no choice but to run out angels that I knew would be countered, having the cavern here would have helped greatly.
Your last 2 questions are connected. Because I ran 4 Lol trolls, I ran 4 AoS. When you have Lol trolls you always want to have an AoS to discard to it, having 4 ensures that this will happen more often. Another reason was that I wanted to execute the game plan (get an angel out as fast as possible) in as many game 1's as possible, 4 AoS lets you do this.
I found that in the aggro matchup, 4 Lol trolls were great and the regen was key in these matchups. It was quite backbracking in testing after sideboarding when you had 4 trolls and 4 healers. To be honest, I really think G1 is all about who wins the coin flip in this matchup. However with sideboard, G2 and G3 are quite winnable as you get the healers and decays.
Do you miss Obzedat? For me, he crippled all the control decks I played, especially when I put a cavern on him.
I found him to be rather lackluster. When you are play Obz and they are casting Sphinx's Revelation (almost every control deck has it) he becomes almost irrelevant as they usually gain enough life/draw enough cards to find an answer. Against aggro he is too slow and I rather play a thragtusk. Against midrange he is alright but I rather play a hoof or AoS.
If you have an open slot and you need a creature, then he can fill that spot. With my current list I don't feel there is room for him. Who knows, if the meta shifts and he becomes better than he may get a shot.
I guess my last question would be mana dorks; How did it feel not having any arbor elves? Also, with the decision to replace your DRS's you would be down to just 4 dorks, do you feel you could manage with just them?
I guess my last question would be mana dorks; How did it feel not having any arbor elves? Also, with the decision to replace your DRS's you would be down to just 4 dorks, do you feel you could manage with just them?
With no healers, I don't feel the need to consistently hit 3 mana on turn 2 and therefore no need to have more than 4 dorks. However, I do think that a 2/2 split of pilgrim/arbor needs to be tested as it may work better than 4 pilgrims. I found that I was playing 2 shocklands quite frequently to cast the troll even though I had a turn 1 pilgrim. With the arbor elf I would have been able to play a shock tapped and not take the extra 2.
My main reason for playing the 4 pilgrims rather than arbor elfs was to consistently have 3 white mana for AoS or to hit that turn 3 rites in the GY or turn 4 rites from the hand. In testing, it just sucked when you had an arbor elf but no forest. A 2/2 split might give you the best of both worlds.
Now I haven't played this deck at any FNM, only solitaire practice vs myself
I went 8-0 then 5-2 in top 8 mode came in 3rd of 64 people
Game 1
Homebrew Orzhov 2-0
Not much to say, they had a slow deck, lots of extort cards and not well constructed, new player though and a nice guy
Game 2 (Last times winner)
Bant Control (DeTora's 2nd list running AoS)
Match 1 (He knew I have only been back playing about 3 months, so was talking down to me, so I was playing with mah serious face on)
Got a great starting hand, T1 Dork, T2 Dork and Lotleth Troll, T3 Scrap AoS to troll and reanimate it, T4 throw Craterhoof to the troll and reanimate it, swing for the kill.
Match 2
Grindy game, SB in Decays, Obzedat, Slimes
went to 14 turns as he hit me with a RiP and couldnt find a decay to remove it but had enough creature drop to hold him back, eventually pulled a 4 tokens, 2 dorks craterhoof hardcast
Game 3 2-0
Gruul hyper aggro
Match 1
He had the full burst, triple BTE and a Mauler on turn 2. I had 2 Souls in my hand at the start and managed to T2 & T3 them, T4 Thragtusk, T5 Thragtusk and he just scooped. I was lucky to have the chumps to feed him
Match 2
SB in Faithmender and Abrupt Decay
T2 Souls, T3 Souls+Flashback, T4 he all in'd, Vault deathtouch cleared the board and I was left with 1 life after lifelink, T5 thrag + Flashback and he scooped
Game 4 2-0
Superfriends Control (I think it was bant from memory)
Match 1
AoS loop won this game for me
Match 2
SB in Sylvan Primordial and Acidics
Slower game for me but had enough to stall him. Hard Cast a Sylvan just before tamiyo ulti'd. Then resto flashed it the next turn (twice) to wreck his Jace and Garruk, he scooped
Finals!
Game 1 2-0
Junk Lifegain (I helped make this deck with a friend, trostani + obzi + conjurers + thrags and restos)
Match 1
We both stalled out on draw and flooded, both only had dorks until turn 7!
he managed to trostani then obzidat, I AoS'd to move Trost, he got a land, I mulched, hitting Rites, Crater and souls. Raised souls, rites the crater, swung for lethal
Match 2
SB in Acidic Slimes, Lord of Void, Faith Mender, Obzedat
he hit 102 life at one point, managed to grind him out
Reanimated a Lord of Void(no other target), stole a trostani, mulched into a Craterhoof, stole a Obzedat, and grinded him down from here, angel on obzedat netted me 24 life in one turn, was fun, not needed though.
Game 2 1-2
Reanimator (Local Veteran)
Match 1
He out raced me on the crater-rites
Match 2
Sided in 1 Void, 1 Sylvan, 1 Obzedat, 3 Acid
I beat him on the race (On Lord of Void), hit him for 7 exile, taking 3 AoS, 1 Crater and that was game
Match 3
He beat me to the Slimes, wrecked my land and it was all over from there
Game 3 (Playing for 3rd)
Another Bant Superfriends
Match 1
Turn 5 saw me with 6 spirit tokens, T6 saw a hard cast (ty dorks) griselbrand, T7 threw crater to a troll, and it was game
Match 2
he wiped the board when I had 3 thrags in play, flash back 4 souls then rites a Crater and it was all over
Finished 3rd. I am very glad I solitared a lot.
1st got a booster box+fatpack (reanimator whom beat me won this, he gave me 3 of the boosters as a 'good job' and because he loved the Lord move taking most of his threats)
2nd got 3 Fatpacks
3rd (me) got 2 fatpacks (pulled another Obzedat, a Reckoner and a Sphinx's (as I chose 1 RtR, 1 GTC)
MVP's:
Lingering Souls: Saved me vs Aggro, let of big Craterhoofs
Craterhoof: we all know how boss he is
Lotleth Troll: pitching fatties to him to rites won me games
Sylvan Primordial: Eats planes-walkers
Vault: Only triggered once, but it saved my ass and cleared the board (he forgot I had it)
Not so good
Lord of Void: Worked well once, but when I borded him in, I found I always had better targets
Gavony: Didn't use this ability once
I played in a PTQ in Santa Clara on Sunday. After trying GW Aggro on Saturday, expecting a lot of Junk Rites, I went back to Junk Rites. GW Aggro was a mistake because I faced 0 Junk Rites and went 1-2 vs. UWR, a deck I didn't expect to see. Well, on to Sunday...
Round 1 vs. Bant Midrange (rogue deck). Game 1, he gets me with a few creatures while I struggle to find colored mana. Only had the original Temple Garden, Vault, Cavern, and Gavony Township. Game 2, I crush him with Thragtusks while he has lands and Supreme Verdicts. Game 3 is nearly the same as game 2, but he has a few plays. 2-1.
Round 2 vs. Bant Delver This is the brother of the WMCQ champion. Game 1, he gets a little midgame pressure with Delver, but I have too many Thragtusk. When he does a Fog/Populate, he is in good shape, but I have another Thrag. Not to mention, I had some Resto Angel. Game 2 is similar for me, but his 5 card hand is super weak. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. Jund Zombies. Big PUNT here. Game 1, he does the perfect curve into Falken Aristocrat. I struggle to find a 2nd colored source. Game 2 has me with Rhox Faithmender, Thragtusk, Resto Angel, and more while all he has is Falken Aristocrat with a Gravecrawler and another Zombie. When I play Angel of Serenity, he scoops. Game 3 had a HUGE mistake. I am struggling to find a 2nd colored source when he has 2 Gravecrawler and a Blood Artist on his turn 4. I have Sever the Bloodline. He has a Blood Crypt and another mana open, but I feel like he is bluffing Searing Spear and doesn't have it. I make the greedy play of Sever on Gravecrawler and he responds with Tragic Slip on it. The Blood Artist ends up doing at least 7 damage to me in the game and when I don't draw Rhox Faithmender, his Falken Aristocrat ends up doing lethal. I really needed to kill the Blood Artist because I had a Lingering Souls in hand and in the GY to block for many turns. A really dumb play that cost me 3-0 at the time. 1-2.
Round 4 vs. Naya Blitz. Game 1, he just curves out to crush me. You can figure out the hands (Champ, BTE + Mayor). Games 2 an 3, I draw too many Rhox Faithmender, Thragtusk, Centaur Healer, and Resto Angel. I am at 44 life in game 2 when I drop Angel of Serenity just to speed up the win. Game 3, I am at 26 life and he has almost nothing after mulling to 5. 2-1.
Round 5 vs. Grixis Zombies. This was a VERY frustrating round for me. Game 1, I do my 1st keep of the tournament in game 1s. I keep on 3 land, 3 Mana Dorks, and Angel of Serenity. My 1st draw is another Angel of Serenity. His draws are pretty slow, but I don't draw 1 land the WHOLE GAME. On the turn before lethal, I draw a Grisly Salvage. Game 2, I keep a 2 land hand. I end up drawing all lands this whole game except 1 Lingering Souls. Consecutive Falken Aristocrats crush me with him at 11. 0-2.
Round 6 vs. RDW. I end up paired vs. an 11 yr old kid. He ends up making a few mistakes, which I showed him later. But I had too many Thragtusk and game 2 Rhox Faithmender joined the Fray. Pretty easy round despite game 2, Burning Tree Emissary into Flinthoof Boar. 2-0.
Round 7 vs. GW Land D. Game 1, he does a Bramblecrush to me on his turn 3. Luckily for me, I still have lands and draw them. I play them when I plan on using them and crush him when he stalls on 2 mana and 2 Mana dorks. I expected the Slime the whole time. Game 2, he does not get more than 1 Land D, and we battle with Thragtusks. I get enough and Angel of Serenity him. 2-0.
Round 8 vs. Esper Control. Game 1, he struggled to draw a 2nd White source and I put good pressure, while keeping good threats in hand. If I was a little more aggressive, I could have killed him a turn earlier. Game 2 was not really a game. He mulled to 5 and I Acidic Slimed him out of the game. 2-0.
Round 9 vs. Gruul. This was a good player that I played last Modern season who did 12 and 13 points of damage to me with 3 cards each after his draw step to win with his Affinity vs. my Caw Blade in Round 6 with us at 5-0. Game 1, he does a 1-5 curve, ending in Wolfir Silverheart bonded to Gyre Sage and with me only able to cast a Thragtusk, I concede. Game 2 and 3 have me casting Rhox Faithmenders, Thragtusks, Centaur Healers, Restoration Angels, and Unburial Rites on them when he'd +4/+4 his creatures to push damage. I got pretty safe on life, although I did make a mistake of attacking a Rhox Faithmender into 3 2/2s. 2-1.
I finished 7-2, getting 21st place out of 260ish players. My opponent who beat me in Round 5 got 14th place and a Box or $90 store credit. I got $35 store credit.
Overall, Junk Rites was a good choice. I made the HUGE mistake in Round 3 that probably cost me the Top 8. Mistakes like that can't be done and I've done greedy plays like that too often, assuming that my opponent has nothing. I also DID mulligan 7 rounds out of 9 in game 1s. I didn't mull in Round 5, when I failed to draw A land the whole game and in Round 8. I did new sleeves because I had problems before with semi new sleeves. I think I was overshuffling...
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Every game almost he was at the bottom of the deck for me bar one, so I can't really comment on how effective he is. In playtesting he has been a house, though AoS and Crater are generally my main reanimate targets, but in playtesting some games I have chosen him so as to get the HP back up. if he is uncontested on a flyer free board they can't do much to stop you stabalising
Round 1 Naya Human 0-2
Round 2 Mono Black Rats ? 2-0
Round 3 Mono-Green Aggro 2-0
Round 4 The Aristocrats 2-0
Final Record 3-1
Some brief notes: I am more than likely dropping 2 Troll for 2 Smiter, and I am debating on keeping AoS #4 or throwing him in the board in-favor of a MB Obzedat (my original setup) or decay #4.
I played in a "Super" FNM with 76 players. It was going to be 7 rounds of Swiss.
Round 1 vs. UW Flash. This guy has done very well here and also won 5 rounds in a row after this round. Game 1, I just have too much pressure for him and it keeps coming. Game 2, he kept a 3 land hand, I Acidic Slimed him, and he didn't draw more than a land this game. 2-0.
Round 2 vs. Junk Rites mirror. Game 1, he kept on 5 cards and had 1 land and Mana Dork. He Mulches into 4 land, but it is not enough as a hard cast late Angel of Serenity clears the path after we matched Thragtusk and Resto Angels. Game 2, he Slimes me and I am stunted enough to be stranded with 2 Angel of Serenity in hand. I lose to triple Resto Angel. My next card was Sever the Bloodline. Game 3, I Slime him enough and he doesn't have enough to get going other than 2 Thragtusk. Resto Angels and a topdecked Gavony Township put him at 1 life and he concedes. 2-1.
Round 3 vs. GW Aggro. This is the deck that beats me, but his version was different. Game 1 after a mull, he keeps on 1 land, Avacyn's Pilgrim. He fails to draw another land for way too long, but Thalia slows me from killing him with multiple Unburial Rites and goodies in the GY. Game 2, I keep on 2 land and Mulch. After 2 Mulch that got 1 land each, I start playing really good cards and have 2 Abrupt Decay for Silverblade Paladin and Loxodon Smiter. 2-0.
Round 4 vs. Naya Blitz. I keep a stupid hand with only Resto Angel and that's all I have as I lose to a nut draw from Blitz. Game 2, I have too many Rhox Faithmender, Thragtusk, and Resto Angel to lose. Game 3, he gets 2 Mayors to flip and also has Frontline Medic in the midgame. Luckily for me, I have enough Thragtusk and Unburial Rites, along with Resto Angel and Lingering Souls tokens to kill him with a comfy life total still. 2-1.
Round 5 vs. UWR. Game 1, he makes a play mistake of flashing Snapcaster Mage on Supreme Verdict during my combat, but I let him take it back. I was thinking about not letting him take it back because he was playing slowly and it would make me win earlier. I had 3 Angel of Serenity and 6 land in play including Cavern on Angel before drawing the 7th land. Then I win from here. Game 2, he gets Aurelia, the Warleader again and goes to work as I draw too many land late game and fail to see an Unburial Rites. This game really took forever and we had 4 min. left for game 3. I mull to 6 and keep on 4 land, Craterhoof Behemoth, and Unburial Rites. I draw all land and we go to time, ending on his turn 6 when his Thundermaw Dragon swings me down to 10 life. The guy's slow play cost him a win, but I would have obviously mulled again if I had to. 1-1-1.
Round 6 vs. Esper Rites. Game 1, I have 2 Angel of Serenity and he has 1. Game 2, we keep going with Angel of Serenities until he breaks it with Obzedat. I lose with 3 land in hand still. Game 3, I PUNT big time. We are going back and forth and I fail to kill a Liliana of the Veil. I do an Acidic Slime on his 3rd White source to keep him off Angel of Serenity, which I feel is the last card in his hand. If I do it on Detention Sphere on my 2 Thragtusk, I would have won with a topdecked Craterhoof Behemoth next turn. Instead, I knock him to 2 life, but he does Forbidden Alchemy on 6 land, binning Unburial Rites and Angel of Serenity and keeping his 4th untapped land. He stabilizes with the Angel on 2 Beasts and Behemoth. On the final turn, I draw Grisly Salvage, which had Angel of Serenity, but only 6 more mana were untapped. I lose a really disappointing game since I punted so badly. This cost me 1st place. 1-2.
Round 7 vs. Jund w/White. Game 1, he goes all in to knock me to 3 life with Olivia and some critters with 2 G/B sources untapped. I have 2 Unburial Rites in hand and finally Craterhoof Behemoth in GY and swing for over lethal with a Resto Angel and Behemoth. He lacked the Red sources to gain advantage and had only 6 mana total. Game 2, he crushes me with Thragtusks, Huntmaster, and Olivia Voldaren. Every time I Slime him, he plays the same land next turn. Game 3, I get turn 2 Lingering Souls and turn 3 Resto Angel. These end up doing lethal, much easier when I topdeck Gavony Township with 4 land in play on my final turn. He shakes my hand. 2-1.
I finish 5-1-1, 6th place and get 2 FOIL Prime Speaker Zegana. I lost out on 2 FOIL Cavern of Souls, which I really wanted because of the PUNT. Moral of the story - don't play stupidly. This mistake cost me 1st place and a mistake at the PTQ cost me (8-1) vs. 7-2. I was happy because I played well vs. Naya Blitz, but other than that, I didn't play particularly well.
The deck is really good and even when you get flooded, you always have that chance of a knockout punch. Although I sided pretty well, I did side out 1-2 Unburial Rites occasionally, guessing on hate, but saw only Deathrite Shaman the whole FNM as hate.
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Played in the smallest FNM I've seen here in a while; I believe 40 players. I had a really rough evening, which could have been much better with a win in the 6th round.
Round 1 vs. Dark Naya Midrange. He kept getting Huntmasters, which ended up killing usually Mana Dorks. However, I cast a 6th turn Craterhoof Behemoth instead of a 5th turn one so I could attack with a Mana Dork too. I should have played it safer, but he blocked with a flipped Huntmaster and a Wolf Token to remain at 1. He could only do 9 to me, leaving me at 3 though. Whoo... Game 2, his Huntmasters kept hurting my Mana Dorks and I could not ramp in time because I didn't get enough lands. He beat me with Angel of Serenity and Craterhoof Behemoth in hand. Game 3, I had 3 turns to kill him with an Angel of Serenity and 2 Lingering Souls tokens. However, with his lifegain from Huntmasters and casting an Olivia Voldaren on the final turn, I could not do lethal. I feel like I could have won if time, but he took quite a while playing. 1-1-1.
Round 2 vs. BUG Tempo. Game 1, I had 2 Thragtusk in my hand and when I cast them on turn 4 and 6, the game went a bunch in my favor. It really is a tough card for UG type strategies, at least in my playtesting. To the SB - I put in another tough card for them - 3 Abrupt Decay. We both mull to 5, me keeping on 1 land, 1 Mana Dork, Mulch and 2 other cards. I Mulch into 3 land and he doesn't find a 2nd land the whole game! Frustrating game for him as he just had 2 Deathrite Shaman. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. Grixis Midrange? This was an odd deck since I saw no creatures or PWs. I just saw removal. Game 1, my Thragtusks are too much. Game 2, I Acidic Slime him about 5 times and he is left with 0 permanents. I kept a hand with Mana Dork, 2 Acidic Slime, Thragtusk, and lands and drew Restoration Angel, Acidic Slime, Unburial Rites and the 4th land on time. 2-0.
Round 4 vs. Turbofog. This is a tough matchup, admittedly. I keep an odd hand and play 3 Mulches and just lands until turn 6. He ultimates Tamiyo before I can get any decent board presence. I wait to see his wincon, which is Jace, Memory Adept and is drawn and played safely. Fog that comes back because of an Emblem beats this deck. Game 2, I keep on Mulch and some GW lands. I don't draw A GB source this whole game and Mulch for a Cavern of Souls. I draw 2 Grisly Salvage. I lose to having only 4 lands in play, waiting for a GB source. He does Jace, Memory Adept to mill 3 GB sources. This was going to be a tough matchup and required a quick punch from me. Instead, I should have mulliganed both hands and known I would draw all land in game 1 and no GB source in game 2. I even cast a Lol Troll off Cavern of Souls just to play something on a turn. 0-2.
Round 5 vs. the Aristocrats. Game 1, I had turn 2 Lingering Souls and turn 3 Resto Angel. Then a Thragtusk later on. I basically drew the EXACT opposite as the previous round, the nuts. Game 2, I played Curse of Death's Hold (keeping a hand with Overgrown Tomb, Arbor Elf, Curse, 2 more lands, a Thragtusk, and an Acidic Slime) after he played Falkenrath Aristocrat and attacked with Boros Reckoner and Aristo. I end up Sliming his Vault of the Archangel a few turns later to avoid the possibility of First Strike, Deathtouch on 2 Boros Reckoner. The Curse beat him because he had dead cards in hand and only 2 2/2 Reckoners were not enough while I had Tusk, Slime, then another Tusk. 2-0.
Round 6 vs. Junk Midrange. This guy played Junk Rites last week, but because he got stranded with Angel of Serenity and Craterhoof Behemoth too many times, he dropped that package. A 5th turn Angel of Serenity lets me get through and he concedes. Game 2, he has 2 many Deathrite Shaman and Garruk Relentless gets him too many Acidic Slime while I find land tough to draw. I got Slimed out while unable to cast my own because lack of 5 mana sources. Game 3 is similar to game 2, but I make a huge mistake. I fail to use my 3rd Abrupt Decay in hand on his flipped Garruk Relentless because he has 3 cards in hand and I feel 1 is another Garruk Relentless. It isn't and 5 turns later when I kill it, he has Slimed me another 4-5 times. I had Angel of Serenity in the GY, but couldn't draw the 5th source for an Unburial Rites hard cast. It turns out that he had Purify the Grave in hand with many lands in play. I had an opening when he tapped out early, but I didn't draw a land and he didn't make that mistake again. I should have just used the Abrupt Decay the minute the Garruk Relentless flipped because it got him too much land Destruction. Since it was my last Abrupt Decay, I thought I'd save it and try to kill it with Resto Angel or he'd ultimate it to put me at 5 life, but I couldn't draw the land to play Resto Angel. Dumb mistake, but I would have been in for a tough battle because of his Purify the Grave in hand. 1-2.
I finish 3-2-1, which I probably could have won Round 1 if there was more time. The last round may have been won if I didn't Punt, so the deck is still good. I just need to work on the Pilot.
The Turbofog matchup is obviously bad, but you really hope to avoid those. With my 1st round tie, it may have set me up to play against one of the two.
I'm not sure if I want to do this deck next week or try GR Kibler. We'll see...
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Played this: http://www.mtgdecks.net/decks/view/50408
Except I had a Ray of Revelation in place of Vraska. My friend said that Vraska is better but I'm not sure. Vraska would have helped me in the match I lost. I went 3-1.
Round 1
Played against Jund, he didn't play that much. I won 2-0.
Round 2
Played against Bant control, splashing red for wolf run. Our games were pretty close. Game 1 went on a long time but I should have scooped. I won game 2. He won game 3. I got land screwed game 3 so I probably could have won if I had drawn lands on time. But I actually did get to play Magic in game 3. I just wish I drew lands sooner. I forgot which games they were but he had Jace, Architect of Thought out and kept +1'ing him, and had blockers up. He eventually got to eight counters and I was afraid of him using the ultimate because I have Angel of Serenity in my deck, and it would wreck my board. I also had to deal with a Tamiyo. Anyway, I killed the Jace. I'm not sure if I should be attack my opponent or Jace, but once I got Jace down to 2-3 counters I concentrated on my opponent.
Round 3
Played against RUG, he had removal for my small creatures but I was able to stick an Obzedat and he couldn't kill it. On one turn he blocked with a Snapcaster Mage, and attempted to Searing Spear Obzedat at the end of the turn, but I had a Restoration Angel so I could save it. I won 2-0.
Round 4
Played against mono red. He couldn't kill me by turn 5 when I played Thragtusk, followed by another Thragtusk. Game 2 he got the nut draw of Boros Reckoner and Blasphemous Act. Game 3 he attacked with two Ash Zealots and a Lightning Mauler, when I had a tapped Thragtusk in play and four mana open for Restoration Angel. After he declared attackers, I played the angel, blinked my Thragtusk, made a 3/3 beast, and killed all of his attackers. He played a couple Boros Reckoners one turn and the next, but I had two Abrupt Decays for them. Won 2-1.
So I think I did pretty well, but I think that I should have Vraska or Sylvan Primordial in my sideboard in place of Ray of Revelation for planeswalkers. I barely saw any graveyard hate. One of my opponents sided in a Ground Seal but never saw it.
Went 2nd last night, but this time I replaced Lingering Souls with Sin Collectors and Ray of Revelation with Vraska.
Round 1: Had to mull to 5 first game, lost, won game 2, mulled to 4 game 3, got three lands off a mulch. This game went to five turns and I couldn't win the game in time. I should have scooped game 1 for time.
Round 2: Played against werewolves, won game 1, lost game 2, sided in Acidic Slimes game 3 and destroyed his lands. Won 2-1.
Round 3: Played against a mill deck, won the first game off of double Angel of Serenity. Game 2 I played slimes and blinked them with Restoration Angel several times. Won 2-0.
Round 4: Played against bant hexproof. Won game 1 with mana dorks and Craterhoof Behemoth. Game 2 lost because I didn't draw any life gain, and he sided in Rest in Peace. Game 3, sided out my Unburial Rites and made my deck more midrange-y, and he kept in his RIPs. I won game 3 with Restoration Angels and Rhox Faithmenders.
I really like Acidic Slimes, and I'd like to find room for them mainboard. I may take out Centaur Healers for them, especially since some decks play Ground Seal mainboard. Sin Collector did some work against decks that had instants/sorceries, and a couple of them actually got Dissipated which is what I wanted.
1. Junk rights, 2-0. He ran Fiend Hunters and only 2 AoS. He had tons of Lingering Souls, Resto Angels, and Thragtusks, but Vualt pulled the win with masive life gain until my AoS showed up. His Fiend Hunter helped me more than him. Deathrite Shaman, Resto Angel+Acidic Slimes kept me alive in game 2. 2. Jund Home Brew?, 2-1. I stole game one with a quick AoS and early Sin Colectors. Game 2, I never got a Green mana source and died from Master of Cruelties and Searing Spear. Game 3, he got me down to 8 and I recovered with 2 Thragtusks+Resto Angel. AoS in hand (x3) took over when I had the mana finally. Sin Collector was the MVP in this match cause Gaze of Granet, Searing Spear, and Bonfires were removed to protect mana dorks. 3. RB Aggro (seems to be my weakness)- 2-0 (finally), I had opening hand of mulch, mana dorks and lands. I drew into Loxodon Smitter's and AoS(s) for game 1 easy win. Game 2 was close with his 2 huge Stromkirk Nobles, but survived it to AoS for safety. Early game Sin Collectors was huge in removing burn spells, but all my dorks were humans. 4. Grixis- 0-2, Sin Collector+Resto Angel was the MVP in keeping me alive for some competativeness. Problem was with all the "sacrifice a dude" spells he kept drawing. Game 1 he plays Sire of Insanity and then draws Nivmizet to kill all my mana dorks thus preventing me from playing my AoS in yard. Just not cool. Game 2 was worse. I had 3 sin collectors and Restoration Angel, but I could not get that damn green mana source. Lost to constant creature sacrificing, Master of Cruelties, and ending burn of Ral Zarek. Beware of this deck cause when it gets rolling; we can't keep up unless AoS shows up with a Cavern to make it stick.
Deck (lands are respectable with 2 cavern and 1 Vualt)
4 Restoration Angel (you always want to draw them thus x4)
3 Acidic Slimes (abosultely a jerk play early game targeting land and Resto angel for another
3 Thragtusk
3 Restoration Angel
4 Loxodon Smiter (helps me survive aggro, my alternative choice to Fiend Hunter)
2 Sin Collector
3 Arbor Elf
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
3 Mulch
4 Grisley Salvage
4 Unburial Rights
SB
2 Deathrite Shaman
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council (may -1 for Sigarda)
2 Sin Collector
2 Severe the Bloodline
1 Sigarda (may add another for Grixis)
4 Voice of Resurgence (showed up once early game against grixis game 2 for buying me a turn)
2 Abrupt Decay
THOUGHTS- Pithing Needle would be great for planeswalkers, Olivia, Nephelia Drownrad/Kessig, Aristocrats, and other stuff. Not sure what to side out for 2 of them. Abrupt Decay is becoming useless as more threats are being greater than 3cmc and need to be removed NOW. No craterhoof, Armada Wurm, or other big threats was actualy a help in keeping the AoS in draw chance a play consistency. Slaughter Games would neuter me but Sin Collector is there for that.
Round 1: Went up against an American Tempo build of Some kind. The deck ran a lot of humans in conjunction with detain, bounce, and countermagic. Was a little annoying at times but fairly easy to run over game one due in part to the fact that his countermagic didn't exile. Was able to stabilize by sticking a thragtusk and an Angel of serenity. Wasn't really sure how to side, so I brought in Smiters to push through the counters. He mulled to five and couldn't get enough lands game 2 and it was over pretty quick once hoof came down. Won 2-0
Round 2: Bant Enchants. This was probably the hardest match of the night. I don't know how many times I brought the same Thragtusk back from the grave but I must have gained upwards of 30 life. His Geist still hit like a freight train though and it was basically a race. He dropped me to 1 rather then lethal thanks to a well timed Abrupt Decay, and I was able to get him on the swing back. I took out my Angels and some of the rites plan to bring in Slimes and Smiters for game 2. Lost rather quickly when he soulbonded his Geist of Saint Traft and Silverblade Paladin, lost before I could mount any kind of resistance. Varolz really proved himself in game 3. I managed to throw him out their turn 2 off a pilgrim and was able to soak up a smiter and a lotleth troll from the grave after a salvage. As an 8/8 that could regen off the pilgrims I had down, Varolz was able to stare down his geists with Impunity. I knocked him down to eleven before I had to keep them back on Defense. Two Abrupt Decay dealt with Unflinching Courage and Spectral flight. Killed two geist and was brought down to 3 before he ran out of threats and I was able to swing through for lethal. Won 2-1
Game 3: I went up against Bant Flash this round. I had a pretty explosive start game with Lingering souls turn 2 off of a pilgrim, and a Varolz the following turn I was able to sneak a lot of damage through, as he dug through his deck with thought scours. Since he seemed to this quite rather proactively sometimes during his own turn, I assumed he was looking for lands. He took quite a bit of damage before he found his first verdict, I was able to restore my side of the board rather easily. Which if i remember likely forced a second verdict. He started swing back with worms after that. I managed to get an angel through exiling his board and part of grave. I played the Kessig wolf run that i had been holding as my last land drop, and swung for lethal through a Revelation. Game 2 I managed to resolve a Sire of Insanity when he was tapped out on for a verdict. He couldn't come back from that. Won 2-0
Round 4: Prime Speaker Bant. I went up against a lot of bant tonight. We both spent the early turns of game one establishing the board. Although I had a decent start and got in a fair amount of damage I can't help but feel that i was behind throughout the match. After i hit 4, it took me a bit to find my fifth land. I was able to sneak a Craterhoof out with a couple of dudes to buff, knocking his life into the single didgets. He started pulling away after resolving an Angel of Serenity and exiling most of my threats, he did leave behind a couple of wayward spirit tokens though, and was at 2 life. I played a Varolz into the field. If I gotten more mana earlier, i would have been able to scavenge a mana dork onto each spirit and swing for lethal. Unfortunately, i couldn't seal the Deal, and he resolved another angel. I couldn't really respond or come back after that. Brought in Thundermaws, slimes, and sires, and ditched the Abrupt Decays and part of the reanimation plan. Thundermaw was spectacular, taking rather large chunks out of the opponent with each appearance. Varolz also shined during this match. It kept the pressure on through board wipes, kept key creatures from getting exiled off of Selesnya Charm, and kept my top deck clear of Azorius charm castaways when i needed a good topdeck. Games 2 and 3 were both close but i was able to push through to victory. Won 2-1
Overall, the deck did rather well. Varolz was an all-star throughout the night, shining as a powerful card even in matchups that I thought he wouldn't be that great in. I think the splash of red gave me a bit more freedom of play even though the mana base was harder to nail down. Thinking of cutting ghost dad for something to make the enchants matchups a little less horrifying, though i don't know what yet.
This is the list I used to Top 8 in States (40 something people) yesterday. I probably could have have done better with some better side board decisions and a crucial error, but learned a lot. Without further adieu, here is the lists:
Don't remember much on this one. I do know Game 1 was out the gate for me, and him conceding as AoS dropped. Game 2,a greedy Resto targeting Sin Collector proved to be my downfall. Game 3 was a race with AoS proving to be a house once again.
Match 2: Junk Rites 2-1
He slimed me to death Game 1. Game 2 Deathrite and Obzedat outvalued him Game 3 wasn't even close dorks into mulch for turn 4 Angel of serenity into Angel serenity into his Angel into my third Angel of Serenity.
Match 3: 4 Color Control U/B/R/G 1-1-1
Game 1 Fiend Hunter and Sever kept him off his game plan of Nightveil Specter.
Game 2 was so long, i felt i should a have won, i came out the gate and ended stalling with him at 4 life dorks and lands for the top-decks, enough for him to stabilize. I final top-decked an Unburial Rites to close out but he was able to exile my Obzedat target with beckoning apparition.
Game 3 went to turns just before we started. i would have won, but you know sometimes you just plain don't get there.
Match 4: Esper Control w/ Misthollow 2-0
Game 1 turn 3 Obzedat is a thing,
Game 2 Out aggro'd him with Voices and Sin Collectors
Match 5: Naya Humans featuring Hamlet Capt.
Game 1 AoS ate his board. Stabilized for the win.
Game 2 ended up losing to Frontline Medic Battalion, biggest play mistake here was forgetting Thalia's Legend Rule, which would have let me stabilized.
Game 3 Fiend Hunter into Thragtusk into Thragtusk into Thragtusk was too much.
Match 6: Drew out for top 8.
Top 8 Match 1 Gruul Wins
Well this is where it got interesting. I apparently forgot to take the card I brought for a friend out of my box before deck check. So ya, stupid mistake, which ended up costing me big. So I start behind on a Judge Loss.
Game 2 both mulled to 5. Which happened to be my downfall. He begin to wreck my face as I did not hit my fourth land in time to wipe with Sever. So I ended up losing out. we played it out, and he ended winning 2-1.
Overall, I am happy with my results, learned some valuable information. I think the deck was meta'd very well. Some options I think i should have done was bringing in all my removal and dropping serenity's against aggro.
Please include what kind of event it was, game/match results for every round, and the deck/play quality of your opponents. Also, it would be helpful if you could explain how you sideboarded for each match.
BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
Wizards Certified Rules Advisor
Here is the list I sleeved up for the event:
4 x Avacyn Pilgrim
2 x Deathrite Shaman
4 x Lotleth Troll
2 x Restoration Angel
4 x Thragtusk
4 x Angel of Serenity
2 x Craterhoof Behemoth
Spells (15)
4 x Mulch
4 x Grisly Salvage
3 x Lingering Souls
4 x Unburial Rites
4 x Temple Garden
4 x Overgrown Tomb
3 x Godless Shrine
3 x Woodland Cemetary
2 x Sunpetal Grove
1 x Isolated Chapel
1 x Plains
1 x Swamp
2 x Forest
1 x Gavony Township
1 x Vault of the Archangel
2 x Acidic Slime
2 x Oblivion Ring
2 x Deathrite Shaman
4 x Centaur Healer
3 x Abrupt Decay
1 x Purify the Grave
1 x Gnaw to the Bone
7 Rounds of play
Round 1 vs Aristocrats: 1-0
This is somewhat of a bad matchup for our deck as they are quite prepared for it with multiple ways to steal our dudes and smash our face in. In this matchup my goal was simply to execute the game plan as fast as possible.
Game 1: 1-0
Got lucky with a turn 2 grisly salvage into a Rites and an Angel of Serenity and proceeded to win as he had no answers in the following turns
Game 2: 2-0
I sided in the acidic slimes and o-rings, taking out deathrites a mulch and an angel of serenity. He had a great start but wasn't able to finish me off as he kept drawing lands and I eventually got the craterhoof for the win.
Round 2 vs Bant Auras: 2-0
Game 1: 1-0
He had 2 invisible stalkers with a few enchantments out, but I was able to gain enough life with thragtusks and land an angel to win.
Game 2: 2-0
Sided in two Abrupt decays and took out the deathrites (this was a common theme and I will comment later). He kept a bad hand and never got to play...
Round 3 vs Lucky Charms: 2-1
Game 1: 1-0
This was a close matchup and I squeezed out the win after 2 angels of serenity hit the battlefield. However I didn't see anything in game 1 that let me know what type of UWR he was playing...which lead to my loss in game 2
Game 2: 1-1
He combo'd with the charms and had infinite life...not much I could do and I didn't side in the abrupt decays as I never saw the reckoners in game 1.
Game 3: 1-2
Side in the abrupt decays, mull to 5 and get mana screwed...it happens
Round 4 vs Naya Blitz: 3-1
Game 1: 1-0
Game 1: 1-0
Lotleth troll was amazing and single handily won me this game. The regen is just too good and he held off their army along with the lingering souls. I won when I was able to hardcast a top decked hoof.
Game 2: 2-0
Deathrites, a mulch and an angel out with 4 centaur healers coming in. This game was insane and went on forever. He had a very fast start that I was able to hold off for a bit with two healers, it got very rough and I was down to 6 before I landed a thragtusk. However I was in bad shape when he was attacking every turn with a frontline medic. This put me in survival mode and I was forced to use my unburial rites every turn rather than dig for an angel. I actually ended up drawing all 4 rites and cast my thragtusk 9 times before I was able to end the game with an angel.
Round 5 vs Jund Midrange: 4-1
Game 1: 1-0
I actually won this game with lotleth troll and deathrite shaman, slowly grinding him down as he had removal for any other creature I was able to cast.
Game 2: 2-0
Side out 1 rites and an angel for 2 slimes. He got mana flooded but was able to hold me off for a few turns before a field full of souls got pumped by a hoof.
Round 6 vs UWR Control: 4-1-1
This was the most frustrating match of the day, my opponent was playing very slow and the judge had to ask him to make a play several times. It was annoying and the judge should have given him a game or match loss for slow play but it didn't happen.
Game 1: 1-0
I had to mull to 5, but it was decent with 3 lands a rites and a grisly salvage. The salvage was awesome and netted me a lingering souls and craterhoof which proceeded to win me the game on turn 5.
Game 2: 1-1
After he cast 3 sphinx's revelation and continually wiped the board there was nothing I could do. It seems that in this matchup you have to win quickly or they just stabilize and grind you out.
Game 3: 1-1-1
I should have won this game if there was more time. I had 3 angels continually looped while he stalled me with multiple sweepers. It was frustrating that there wasn't enough time to finish him off, there was even a judge watching the match for 30 minutes so there wasn't much more I could have done to speed up the game.
Round 7 vs Prime Speaker Bant
I had to win this game to have a shot at top 8, no if's ands or buts, I HAD TO WIN.
This matchup was insane and the most fun I had all day.
Game 1: 1-0
We both mulled to 6, then he mulled to 5. It was a close game and I edged him out with thragtusks and resto angels.
Game 2: 1-1
Side in 2 orings and 2 acidic slimes, take out 2 deathrites, mulch and a thragtusk. I never understood how powerful this deck was until he went thragtusk into speaker into sphinx's and proceeded to destroy me with insane card advantage. This was a close game and left us with 5 minutes in the round
Game 3:
I kept a solid hand with a pilgrim, salvage, troll, craterhoof and 3 lands. While he was shuffling on a mull to 6 I proceeded to play my land and pilgirm for the sake of time. I played the troll and slowly whittled his life total down to 9 after discarding several creatures to the troll. He played a resto angel and thragtusk keeping him afloat. After playing my own thragtusk and trading with his and then trading tokens...he was at 7 and I was at 13. He had a wolfrun and was able to do 9 damage. I had two cards in hand, one was a craterhoof and one was an unburial rites, however I only had 4 lands in play. I needed to either draw the land or the creature to discard to troll for exact damage. He decided not to attack and leave his resto up to block. I drew the land and played the craterhoof for the win.
5-1-1
There were two people with 16 points and only one spot available for either of us in the top 8...I got 9th. It was very disappointing at the time, but now that I have had a day I am pretty happy with how I played. I made very few play mistakes and other than 1 match made the right calls for sideboarding.
As you may have noticed I barely used half of my sideboards cards, generally sideboarding in the orings and slimes. I never had to play the mirror match which made the md deathrites a bust. If I were to go back in time I would switch them out for 2 acidic slimes or restoration angels.
This deck is very strong and I will be playing it in any major event for the foreseeable future!
Finally, I want to tackle your creature base. Did you find 4 AoS more effective than 3, or did you find yourself with the thought that next time you can cut the 4th for another card? Lastly, how did you feel with 4 Lol trolls, and no healers MB, primarily against aggro?
Yes, I would put 2 of either acidic slimes or restoration angels MB or maybe even 1 of each. I found that the Deathrite Shamans were not worth it MB.
Running both township and vault worked well. Township was very relevant vs the slower decks and vault was great against midrange decks. That being said, I would rather have a cavern than a township. Several times vs. blue decks I had no choice but to run out angels that I knew would be countered, having the cavern here would have helped greatly.
Your last 2 questions are connected. Because I ran 4 Lol trolls, I ran 4 AoS. When you have Lol trolls you always want to have an AoS to discard to it, having 4 ensures that this will happen more often. Another reason was that I wanted to execute the game plan (get an angel out as fast as possible) in as many game 1's as possible, 4 AoS lets you do this.
I found that in the aggro matchup, 4 Lol trolls were great and the regen was key in these matchups. It was quite backbracking in testing after sideboarding when you had 4 trolls and 4 healers. To be honest, I really think G1 is all about who wins the coin flip in this matchup. However with sideboard, G2 and G3 are quite winnable as you get the healers and decays.
I found him to be rather lackluster. When you are play Obz and they are casting Sphinx's Revelation (almost every control deck has it) he becomes almost irrelevant as they usually gain enough life/draw enough cards to find an answer. Against aggro he is too slow and I rather play a thragtusk. Against midrange he is alright but I rather play a hoof or AoS.
If you have an open slot and you need a creature, then he can fill that spot. With my current list I don't feel there is room for him. Who knows, if the meta shifts and he becomes better than he may get a shot.
WU$50 Budget UW heroicUW
Modern
WR Boros Burn RW
Commander/EDH
(WiP) RNorin the TrollR
With no healers, I don't feel the need to consistently hit 3 mana on turn 2 and therefore no need to have more than 4 dorks. However, I do think that a 2/2 split of pilgrim/arbor needs to be tested as it may work better than 4 pilgrims. I found that I was playing 2 shocklands quite frequently to cast the troll even though I had a turn 1 pilgrim. With the arbor elf I would have been able to play a shock tapped and not take the extra 2.
My main reason for playing the 4 pilgrims rather than arbor elfs was to consistently have 3 white mana for AoS or to hit that turn 3 rites in the GY or turn 4 rites from the hand. In testing, it just sucked when you had an arbor elf but no forest. A 2/2 split might give you the best of both worlds.
I played this list
4x Angel of Serenity
2x Arbor Elf
3x Avacyn's Pilgrim
2x Craterhoof Behemoth
1x Griselbrand
4x Lotleth Troll
2x Restoration Angel
4x Thragtusk
Sorcery (11)
3x Lingering Souls
4x Mulch
4x Unburial Rites
4x Grisly Salvage
Land (23)
2x Forest
1x Gavony Township
3x Godless Shrine
1x Isolated Chapel
4x Overgrown Tomb
1x Plains
2x Sunpetal Grove
1x Swamp
4x Temple Garden
1x Vault of the Archangel
3x Woodland Cemetery
3x Abrupt Decay
3x Acidic Slime
2x Deathrite Shaman
1x Lord of the Void
1x Obzedat, Ghost Council
2x Rhox Faithmender
2x Sever the Bloodline
1x Sylvan Primordial
Now I haven't played this deck at any FNM, only solitaire practice vs myself
I went 8-0 then 5-2 in top 8 mode came in 3rd of 64 people
Game 1
Homebrew Orzhov 2-0
Not much to say, they had a slow deck, lots of extort cards and not well constructed, new player though and a nice guy
Game 2 (Last times winner)
Bant Control (DeTora's 2nd list running AoS)
Match 1 (He knew I have only been back playing about 3 months, so was talking down to me, so I was playing with mah serious face on)
Got a great starting hand, T1 Dork, T2 Dork and Lotleth Troll, T3 Scrap AoS to troll and reanimate it, T4 throw Craterhoof to the troll and reanimate it, swing for the kill.
Match 2
Grindy game, SB in Decays, Obzedat, Slimes
went to 14 turns as he hit me with a RiP and couldnt find a decay to remove it but had enough creature drop to hold him back, eventually pulled a 4 tokens, 2 dorks craterhoof hardcast
Game 3 2-0
Gruul hyper aggro
Match 1
He had the full burst, triple BTE and a Mauler on turn 2. I had 2 Souls in my hand at the start and managed to T2 & T3 them, T4 Thragtusk, T5 Thragtusk and he just scooped. I was lucky to have the chumps to feed him
Match 2
SB in Faithmender and Abrupt Decay
T2 Souls, T3 Souls+Flashback, T4 he all in'd, Vault deathtouch cleared the board and I was left with 1 life after lifelink, T5 thrag + Flashback and he scooped
Game 4 2-0
Superfriends Control (I think it was bant from memory)
Match 1
AoS loop won this game for me
Match 2
SB in Sylvan Primordial and Acidics
Slower game for me but had enough to stall him. Hard Cast a Sylvan just before tamiyo ulti'd. Then resto flashed it the next turn (twice) to wreck his Jace and Garruk, he scooped
Finals!
Game 1 2-0
Junk Lifegain (I helped make this deck with a friend, trostani + obzi + conjurers + thrags and restos)
Match 1
We both stalled out on draw and flooded, both only had dorks until turn 7!
he managed to trostani then obzidat, I AoS'd to move Trost, he got a land, I mulched, hitting Rites, Crater and souls. Raised souls, rites the crater, swung for lethal
Match 2
SB in Acidic Slimes, Lord of Void, Faith Mender, Obzedat
he hit 102 life at one point, managed to grind him out
Reanimated a Lord of Void(no other target), stole a trostani, mulched into a Craterhoof, stole a Obzedat, and grinded him down from here, angel on obzedat netted me 24 life in one turn, was fun, not needed though.
Game 2 1-2
Reanimator (Local Veteran)
Match 1
He out raced me on the crater-rites
Match 2
Sided in 1 Void, 1 Sylvan, 1 Obzedat, 3 Acid
I beat him on the race (On Lord of Void), hit him for 7 exile, taking 3 AoS, 1 Crater and that was game
Match 3
He beat me to the Slimes, wrecked my land and it was all over from there
Game 3 (Playing for 3rd)
Another Bant Superfriends
Match 1
Turn 5 saw me with 6 spirit tokens, T6 saw a hard cast (ty dorks) griselbrand, T7 threw crater to a troll, and it was game
Match 2
he wiped the board when I had 3 thrags in play, flash back 4 souls then rites a Crater and it was all over
Finished 3rd. I am very glad I solitared a lot.
1st got a booster box+fatpack (reanimator whom beat me won this, he gave me 3 of the boosters as a 'good job' and because he loved the Lord move taking most of his threats)
2nd got 3 Fatpacks
3rd (me) got 2 fatpacks (pulled another Obzedat, a Reckoner and a Sphinx's (as I chose 1 RtR, 1 GTC)
MVP's:
Lingering Souls: Saved me vs Aggro, let of big Craterhoofs
Craterhoof: we all know how boss he is
Lotleth Troll: pitching fatties to him to rites won me games
Sylvan Primordial: Eats planes-walkers
Vault: Only triggered once, but it saved my ass and cleared the board (he forgot I had it)
Not so good
Lord of Void: Worked well once, but when I borded him in, I found I always had better targets
Gavony: Didn't use this ability once
WU$50 Budget UW heroicUW
Modern
WR Boros Burn RW
Commander/EDH
(WiP) RNorin the TrollR
Round 1 vs. Bant Midrange (rogue deck). Game 1, he gets me with a few creatures while I struggle to find colored mana. Only had the original Temple Garden, Vault, Cavern, and Gavony Township. Game 2, I crush him with Thragtusks while he has lands and Supreme Verdicts. Game 3 is nearly the same as game 2, but he has a few plays. 2-1.
Round 2 vs. Bant Delver This is the brother of the WMCQ champion. Game 1, he gets a little midgame pressure with Delver, but I have too many Thragtusk. When he does a Fog/Populate, he is in good shape, but I have another Thrag. Not to mention, I had some Resto Angel. Game 2 is similar for me, but his 5 card hand is super weak. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. Jund Zombies. Big PUNT here. Game 1, he does the perfect curve into Falken Aristocrat. I struggle to find a 2nd colored source. Game 2 has me with Rhox Faithmender, Thragtusk, Resto Angel, and more while all he has is Falken Aristocrat with a Gravecrawler and another Zombie. When I play Angel of Serenity, he scoops. Game 3 had a HUGE mistake. I am struggling to find a 2nd colored source when he has 2 Gravecrawler and a Blood Artist on his turn 4. I have Sever the Bloodline. He has a Blood Crypt and another mana open, but I feel like he is bluffing Searing Spear and doesn't have it. I make the greedy play of Sever on Gravecrawler and he responds with Tragic Slip on it. The Blood Artist ends up doing at least 7 damage to me in the game and when I don't draw Rhox Faithmender, his Falken Aristocrat ends up doing lethal. I really needed to kill the Blood Artist because I had a Lingering Souls in hand and in the GY to block for many turns. A really dumb play that cost me 3-0 at the time. 1-2.
Round 4 vs. Naya Blitz. Game 1, he just curves out to crush me. You can figure out the hands (Champ, BTE + Mayor). Games 2 an 3, I draw too many Rhox Faithmender, Thragtusk, Centaur Healer, and Resto Angel. I am at 44 life in game 2 when I drop Angel of Serenity just to speed up the win. Game 3, I am at 26 life and he has almost nothing after mulling to 5. 2-1.
Round 5 vs. Grixis Zombies. This was a VERY frustrating round for me. Game 1, I do my 1st keep of the tournament in game 1s. I keep on 3 land, 3 Mana Dorks, and Angel of Serenity. My 1st draw is another Angel of Serenity. His draws are pretty slow, but I don't draw 1 land the WHOLE GAME. On the turn before lethal, I draw a Grisly Salvage. Game 2, I keep a 2 land hand. I end up drawing all lands this whole game except 1 Lingering Souls. Consecutive Falken Aristocrats crush me with him at 11. 0-2.
Round 6 vs. RDW. I end up paired vs. an 11 yr old kid. He ends up making a few mistakes, which I showed him later. But I had too many Thragtusk and game 2 Rhox Faithmender joined the Fray. Pretty easy round despite game 2, Burning Tree Emissary into Flinthoof Boar. 2-0.
Round 7 vs. GW Land D. Game 1, he does a Bramblecrush to me on his turn 3. Luckily for me, I still have lands and draw them. I play them when I plan on using them and crush him when he stalls on 2 mana and 2 Mana dorks. I expected the Slime the whole time. Game 2, he does not get more than 1 Land D, and we battle with Thragtusks. I get enough and Angel of Serenity him. 2-0.
Round 8 vs. Esper Control. Game 1, he struggled to draw a 2nd White source and I put good pressure, while keeping good threats in hand. If I was a little more aggressive, I could have killed him a turn earlier. Game 2 was not really a game. He mulled to 5 and I Acidic Slimed him out of the game. 2-0.
Round 9 vs. Gruul. This was a good player that I played last Modern season who did 12 and 13 points of damage to me with 3 cards each after his draw step to win with his Affinity vs. my Caw Blade in Round 6 with us at 5-0. Game 1, he does a 1-5 curve, ending in Wolfir Silverheart bonded to Gyre Sage and with me only able to cast a Thragtusk, I concede. Game 2 and 3 have me casting Rhox Faithmenders, Thragtusks, Centaur Healers, Restoration Angels, and Unburial Rites on them when he'd +4/+4 his creatures to push damage. I got pretty safe on life, although I did make a mistake of attacking a Rhox Faithmender into 3 2/2s. 2-1.
I finished 7-2, getting 21st place out of 260ish players. My opponent who beat me in Round 5 got 14th place and a Box or $90 store credit. I got $35 store credit.
Overall, Junk Rites was a good choice. I made the HUGE mistake in Round 3 that probably cost me the Top 8. Mistakes like that can't be done and I've done greedy plays like that too often, assuming that my opponent has nothing. I also DID mulligan 7 rounds out of 9 in game 1s. I didn't mull in Round 5, when I failed to draw A land the whole game and in Round 8. I did new sleeves because I had problems before with semi new sleeves. I think I was overshuffling...
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Every game almost he was at the bottom of the deck for me bar one, so I can't really comment on how effective he is. In playtesting he has been a house, though AoS and Crater are generally my main reanimate targets, but in playtesting some games I have chosen him so as to get the HP back up. if he is uncontested on a flyer free board they can't do much to stop you stabalising
WU$50 Budget UW heroicUW
Modern
WR Boros Burn RW
Commander/EDH
(WiP) RNorin the TrollR
Here is my current list.
2 Isolated Chapel
2 Godless Shrine
2 Forest
1 Cavern of Souls
3 Sunpetal Grove
4 Temple Garden
4 Woodland Cemetery
4 Overgrown Tomb
1 Vault of the Archangel
// Creatures
3 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Thragtusk
2 Restoration Angel
2 Arbor Elf
2 Deathrite Shaman
4 Angel of Serenity
2 Craterhoof Behemoth
4 Lotleth Troll
4 Grisly Salvage
3 Mulch
3 Lingering Souls
4 Unburial Rites
1 Cavern of Souls
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
1 Deathrite Shaman
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Acidic Slime
3 Centaur Healer
2 Sever the Bloodline
Round 1 Naya Human 0-2
Round 2 Mono Black Rats ? 2-0
Round 3 Mono-Green Aggro 2-0
Round 4 The Aristocrats 2-0
Final Record 3-1
Some brief notes: I am more than likely dropping 2 Troll for 2 Smiter, and I am debating on keeping AoS #4 or throwing him in the board in-favor of a MB Obzedat (my original setup) or decay #4.
Round 1 vs. UW Flash. This guy has done very well here and also won 5 rounds in a row after this round. Game 1, I just have too much pressure for him and it keeps coming. Game 2, he kept a 3 land hand, I Acidic Slimed him, and he didn't draw more than a land this game. 2-0.
Round 2 vs. Junk Rites mirror. Game 1, he kept on 5 cards and had 1 land and Mana Dork. He Mulches into 4 land, but it is not enough as a hard cast late Angel of Serenity clears the path after we matched Thragtusk and Resto Angels. Game 2, he Slimes me and I am stunted enough to be stranded with 2 Angel of Serenity in hand. I lose to triple Resto Angel. My next card was Sever the Bloodline. Game 3, I Slime him enough and he doesn't have enough to get going other than 2 Thragtusk. Resto Angels and a topdecked Gavony Township put him at 1 life and he concedes. 2-1.
Round 3 vs. GW Aggro. This is the deck that beats me, but his version was different. Game 1 after a mull, he keeps on 1 land, Avacyn's Pilgrim. He fails to draw another land for way too long, but Thalia slows me from killing him with multiple Unburial Rites and goodies in the GY. Game 2, I keep on 2 land and Mulch. After 2 Mulch that got 1 land each, I start playing really good cards and have 2 Abrupt Decay for Silverblade Paladin and Loxodon Smiter. 2-0.
Round 4 vs. Naya Blitz. I keep a stupid hand with only Resto Angel and that's all I have as I lose to a nut draw from Blitz. Game 2, I have too many Rhox Faithmender, Thragtusk, and Resto Angel to lose. Game 3, he gets 2 Mayors to flip and also has Frontline Medic in the midgame. Luckily for me, I have enough Thragtusk and Unburial Rites, along with Resto Angel and Lingering Souls tokens to kill him with a comfy life total still. 2-1.
Round 5 vs. UWR. Game 1, he makes a play mistake of flashing Snapcaster Mage on Supreme Verdict during my combat, but I let him take it back. I was thinking about not letting him take it back because he was playing slowly and it would make me win earlier. I had 3 Angel of Serenity and 6 land in play including Cavern on Angel before drawing the 7th land. Then I win from here. Game 2, he gets Aurelia, the Warleader again and goes to work as I draw too many land late game and fail to see an Unburial Rites. This game really took forever and we had 4 min. left for game 3. I mull to 6 and keep on 4 land, Craterhoof Behemoth, and Unburial Rites. I draw all land and we go to time, ending on his turn 6 when his Thundermaw Dragon swings me down to 10 life. The guy's slow play cost him a win, but I would have obviously mulled again if I had to. 1-1-1.
Round 6 vs. Esper Rites. Game 1, I have 2 Angel of Serenity and he has 1. Game 2, we keep going with Angel of Serenities until he breaks it with Obzedat. I lose with 3 land in hand still. Game 3, I PUNT big time. We are going back and forth and I fail to kill a Liliana of the Veil. I do an Acidic Slime on his 3rd White source to keep him off Angel of Serenity, which I feel is the last card in his hand. If I do it on Detention Sphere on my 2 Thragtusk, I would have won with a topdecked Craterhoof Behemoth next turn. Instead, I knock him to 2 life, but he does Forbidden Alchemy on 6 land, binning Unburial Rites and Angel of Serenity and keeping his 4th untapped land. He stabilizes with the Angel on 2 Beasts and Behemoth. On the final turn, I draw Grisly Salvage, which had Angel of Serenity, but only 6 more mana were untapped. I lose a really disappointing game since I punted so badly. This cost me 1st place. 1-2.
Round 7 vs. Jund w/White. Game 1, he goes all in to knock me to 3 life with Olivia and some critters with 2 G/B sources untapped. I have 2 Unburial Rites in hand and finally Craterhoof Behemoth in GY and swing for over lethal with a Resto Angel and Behemoth. He lacked the Red sources to gain advantage and had only 6 mana total. Game 2, he crushes me with Thragtusks, Huntmaster, and Olivia Voldaren. Every time I Slime him, he plays the same land next turn. Game 3, I get turn 2 Lingering Souls and turn 3 Resto Angel. These end up doing lethal, much easier when I topdeck Gavony Township with 4 land in play on my final turn. He shakes my hand. 2-1.
I finish 5-1-1, 6th place and get 2 FOIL Prime Speaker Zegana. I lost out on 2 FOIL Cavern of Souls, which I really wanted because of the PUNT. Moral of the story - don't play stupidly. This mistake cost me 1st place and a mistake at the PTQ cost me (8-1) vs. 7-2. I was happy because I played well vs. Naya Blitz, but other than that, I didn't play particularly well.
The deck is really good and even when you get flooded, you always have that chance of a knockout punch. Although I sided pretty well, I did side out 1-2 Unburial Rites occasionally, guessing on hate, but saw only Deathrite Shaman the whole FNM as hate.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Round 1 vs. Dark Naya Midrange. He kept getting Huntmasters, which ended up killing usually Mana Dorks. However, I cast a 6th turn Craterhoof Behemoth instead of a 5th turn one so I could attack with a Mana Dork too. I should have played it safer, but he blocked with a flipped Huntmaster and a Wolf Token to remain at 1. He could only do 9 to me, leaving me at 3 though. Whoo... Game 2, his Huntmasters kept hurting my Mana Dorks and I could not ramp in time because I didn't get enough lands. He beat me with Angel of Serenity and Craterhoof Behemoth in hand. Game 3, I had 3 turns to kill him with an Angel of Serenity and 2 Lingering Souls tokens. However, with his lifegain from Huntmasters and casting an Olivia Voldaren on the final turn, I could not do lethal. I feel like I could have won if time, but he took quite a while playing. 1-1-1.
Round 2 vs. BUG Tempo. Game 1, I had 2 Thragtusk in my hand and when I cast them on turn 4 and 6, the game went a bunch in my favor. It really is a tough card for UG type strategies, at least in my playtesting. To the SB - I put in another tough card for them - 3 Abrupt Decay. We both mull to 5, me keeping on 1 land, 1 Mana Dork, Mulch and 2 other cards. I Mulch into 3 land and he doesn't find a 2nd land the whole game! Frustrating game for him as he just had 2 Deathrite Shaman. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. Grixis Midrange? This was an odd deck since I saw no creatures or PWs. I just saw removal. Game 1, my Thragtusks are too much. Game 2, I Acidic Slime him about 5 times and he is left with 0 permanents. I kept a hand with Mana Dork, 2 Acidic Slime, Thragtusk, and lands and drew Restoration Angel, Acidic Slime, Unburial Rites and the 4th land on time. 2-0.
Round 4 vs. Turbofog. This is a tough matchup, admittedly. I keep an odd hand and play 3 Mulches and just lands until turn 6. He ultimates Tamiyo before I can get any decent board presence. I wait to see his wincon, which is Jace, Memory Adept and is drawn and played safely. Fog that comes back because of an Emblem beats this deck. Game 2, I keep on Mulch and some GW lands. I don't draw A GB source this whole game and Mulch for a Cavern of Souls. I draw 2 Grisly Salvage. I lose to having only 4 lands in play, waiting for a GB source. He does Jace, Memory Adept to mill 3 GB sources. This was going to be a tough matchup and required a quick punch from me. Instead, I should have mulliganed both hands and known I would draw all land in game 1 and no GB source in game 2. I even cast a Lol Troll off Cavern of Souls just to play something on a turn. 0-2.
Round 5 vs. the Aristocrats. Game 1, I had turn 2 Lingering Souls and turn 3 Resto Angel. Then a Thragtusk later on. I basically drew the EXACT opposite as the previous round, the nuts. Game 2, I played Curse of Death's Hold (keeping a hand with Overgrown Tomb, Arbor Elf, Curse, 2 more lands, a Thragtusk, and an Acidic Slime) after he played Falkenrath Aristocrat and attacked with Boros Reckoner and Aristo. I end up Sliming his Vault of the Archangel a few turns later to avoid the possibility of First Strike, Deathtouch on 2 Boros Reckoner. The Curse beat him because he had dead cards in hand and only 2 2/2 Reckoners were not enough while I had Tusk, Slime, then another Tusk. 2-0.
Round 6 vs. Junk Midrange. This guy played Junk Rites last week, but because he got stranded with Angel of Serenity and Craterhoof Behemoth too many times, he dropped that package. A 5th turn Angel of Serenity lets me get through and he concedes. Game 2, he has 2 many Deathrite Shaman and Garruk Relentless gets him too many Acidic Slime while I find land tough to draw. I got Slimed out while unable to cast my own because lack of 5 mana sources. Game 3 is similar to game 2, but I make a huge mistake. I fail to use my 3rd Abrupt Decay in hand on his flipped Garruk Relentless because he has 3 cards in hand and I feel 1 is another Garruk Relentless. It isn't and 5 turns later when I kill it, he has Slimed me another 4-5 times. I had Angel of Serenity in the GY, but couldn't draw the 5th source for an Unburial Rites hard cast. It turns out that he had Purify the Grave in hand with many lands in play. I had an opening when he tapped out early, but I didn't draw a land and he didn't make that mistake again. I should have just used the Abrupt Decay the minute the Garruk Relentless flipped because it got him too much land Destruction. Since it was my last Abrupt Decay, I thought I'd save it and try to kill it with Resto Angel or he'd ultimate it to put me at 5 life, but I couldn't draw the land to play Resto Angel. Dumb mistake, but I would have been in for a tough battle because of his Purify the Grave in hand. 1-2.
I finish 3-2-1, which I probably could have won Round 1 if there was more time. The last round may have been won if I didn't Punt, so the deck is still good. I just need to work on the Pilot.
The Turbofog matchup is obviously bad, but you really hope to avoid those. With my 1st round tie, it may have set me up to play against one of the two.
I'm not sure if I want to do this deck next week or try GR Kibler. We'll see...
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)http://www.mtgdecks.net/decks/view/50408
Except I had a Ray of Revelation in place of Vraska. My friend said that Vraska is better but I'm not sure. Vraska would have helped me in the match I lost. I went 3-1.
Round 1
Played against Jund, he didn't play that much. I won 2-0.
Round 2
Played against Bant control, splashing red for wolf run. Our games were pretty close. Game 1 went on a long time but I should have scooped. I won game 2. He won game 3. I got land screwed game 3 so I probably could have won if I had drawn lands on time. But I actually did get to play Magic in game 3. I just wish I drew lands sooner. I forgot which games they were but he had Jace, Architect of Thought out and kept +1'ing him, and had blockers up. He eventually got to eight counters and I was afraid of him using the ultimate because I have Angel of Serenity in my deck, and it would wreck my board. I also had to deal with a Tamiyo. Anyway, I killed the Jace. I'm not sure if I should be attack my opponent or Jace, but once I got Jace down to 2-3 counters I concentrated on my opponent.
Round 3
Played against RUG, he had removal for my small creatures but I was able to stick an Obzedat and he couldn't kill it. On one turn he blocked with a Snapcaster Mage, and attempted to Searing Spear Obzedat at the end of the turn, but I had a Restoration Angel so I could save it. I won 2-0.
Round 4
Played against mono red. He couldn't kill me by turn 5 when I played Thragtusk, followed by another Thragtusk. Game 2 he got the nut draw of Boros Reckoner and Blasphemous Act. Game 3 he attacked with two Ash Zealots and a Lightning Mauler, when I had a tapped Thragtusk in play and four mana open for Restoration Angel. After he declared attackers, I played the angel, blinked my Thragtusk, made a 3/3 beast, and killed all of his attackers. He played a couple Boros Reckoners one turn and the next, but I had two Abrupt Decays for them. Won 2-1.
So I think I did pretty well, but I think that I should have Vraska or Sylvan Primordial in my sideboard in place of Ray of Revelation for planeswalkers. I barely saw any graveyard hate. One of my opponents sided in a Ground Seal but never saw it.
Round 1: Had to mull to 5 first game, lost, won game 2, mulled to 4 game 3, got three lands off a mulch. This game went to five turns and I couldn't win the game in time. I should have scooped game 1 for time.
Round 2: Played against werewolves, won game 1, lost game 2, sided in Acidic Slimes game 3 and destroyed his lands. Won 2-1.
Round 3: Played against a mill deck, won the first game off of double Angel of Serenity. Game 2 I played slimes and blinked them with Restoration Angel several times. Won 2-0.
Round 4: Played against bant hexproof. Won game 1 with mana dorks and Craterhoof Behemoth. Game 2 lost because I didn't draw any life gain, and he sided in Rest in Peace. Game 3, sided out my Unburial Rites and made my deck more midrange-y, and he kept in his RIPs. I won game 3 with Restoration Angels and Rhox Faithmenders.
I really like Acidic Slimes, and I'd like to find room for them mainboard. I may take out Centaur Healers for them, especially since some decks play Ground Seal mainboard. Sin Collector did some work against decks that had instants/sorceries, and a couple of them actually got Dissipated which is what I wanted.
1. Junk rights, 2-0. He ran Fiend Hunters and only 2 AoS. He had tons of Lingering Souls, Resto Angels, and Thragtusks, but Vualt pulled the win with masive life gain until my AoS showed up. His Fiend Hunter helped me more than him. Deathrite Shaman, Resto Angel+Acidic Slimes kept me alive in game 2.
2. Jund Home Brew?, 2-1. I stole game one with a quick AoS and early Sin Colectors. Game 2, I never got a Green mana source and died from Master of Cruelties and Searing Spear. Game 3, he got me down to 8 and I recovered with 2 Thragtusks+Resto Angel. AoS in hand (x3) took over when I had the mana finally. Sin Collector was the MVP in this match cause Gaze of Granet, Searing Spear, and Bonfires were removed to protect mana dorks.
3. RB Aggro (seems to be my weakness)- 2-0 (finally), I had opening hand of mulch, mana dorks and lands. I drew into Loxodon Smitter's and AoS(s) for game 1 easy win. Game 2 was close with his 2 huge Stromkirk Nobles, but survived it to AoS for safety. Early game Sin Collectors was huge in removing burn spells, but all my dorks were humans.
4. Grixis- 0-2, Sin Collector+Resto Angel was the MVP in keeping me alive for some competativeness. Problem was with all the "sacrifice a dude" spells he kept drawing. Game 1 he plays Sire of Insanity and then draws Nivmizet to kill all my mana dorks thus preventing me from playing my AoS in yard. Just not cool. Game 2 was worse. I had 3 sin collectors and Restoration Angel, but I could not get that damn green mana source. Lost to constant creature sacrificing, Master of Cruelties, and ending burn of Ral Zarek. Beware of this deck cause when it gets rolling; we can't keep up unless AoS shows up with a Cavern to make it stick.
Deck (lands are respectable with 2 cavern and 1 Vualt)
4 Restoration Angel (you always want to draw them thus x4)
3 Acidic Slimes (abosultely a jerk play early game targeting land and Resto angel for another
3 Thragtusk
3 Restoration Angel
4 Loxodon Smiter (helps me survive aggro, my alternative choice to Fiend Hunter)
2 Sin Collector
3 Arbor Elf
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
3 Mulch
4 Grisley Salvage
4 Unburial Rights
SB
2 Deathrite Shaman
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council (may -1 for Sigarda)
2 Sin Collector
2 Severe the Bloodline
1 Sigarda (may add another for Grixis)
4 Voice of Resurgence (showed up once early game against grixis game 2 for buying me a turn)
2 Abrupt Decay
THOUGHTS- Pithing Needle would be great for planeswalkers, Olivia, Nephelia Drownrad/Kessig, Aristocrats, and other stuff. Not sure what to side out for 2 of them. Abrupt Decay is becoming useless as more threats are being greater than 3cmc and need to be removed NOW. No craterhoof, Armada Wurm, or other big threats was actualy a help in keeping the AoS in draw chance a play consistency. Slaughter Games would neuter me but Sin Collector is there for that.
Multiplayer Decks- Memnarch - Animar, Soul of Elements - Zur, the Enchanter - Atraxa, Praetors' Voice - Food Chain Tazri - Teysa Karlov
Modern BUMill and Bant Spirits.
Thank you Xenphire for the signature!
Round 1: Went up against an American Tempo build of Some kind. The deck ran a lot of humans in conjunction with detain, bounce, and countermagic. Was a little annoying at times but fairly easy to run over game one due in part to the fact that his countermagic didn't exile. Was able to stabilize by sticking a thragtusk and an Angel of serenity. Wasn't really sure how to side, so I brought in Smiters to push through the counters. He mulled to five and couldn't get enough lands game 2 and it was over pretty quick once hoof came down. Won 2-0
Round 2: Bant Enchants. This was probably the hardest match of the night. I don't know how many times I brought the same Thragtusk back from the grave but I must have gained upwards of 30 life. His Geist still hit like a freight train though and it was basically a race. He dropped me to 1 rather then lethal thanks to a well timed Abrupt Decay, and I was able to get him on the swing back. I took out my Angels and some of the rites plan to bring in Slimes and Smiters for game 2. Lost rather quickly when he soulbonded his Geist of Saint Traft and Silverblade Paladin, lost before I could mount any kind of resistance. Varolz really proved himself in game 3. I managed to throw him out their turn 2 off a pilgrim and was able to soak up a smiter and a lotleth troll from the grave after a salvage. As an 8/8 that could regen off the pilgrims I had down, Varolz was able to stare down his geists with Impunity. I knocked him down to eleven before I had to keep them back on Defense. Two Abrupt Decay dealt with Unflinching Courage and Spectral flight. Killed two geist and was brought down to 3 before he ran out of threats and I was able to swing through for lethal. Won 2-1
Game 3: I went up against Bant Flash this round. I had a pretty explosive start game with Lingering souls turn 2 off of a pilgrim, and a Varolz the following turn I was able to sneak a lot of damage through, as he dug through his deck with thought scours. Since he seemed to this quite rather proactively sometimes during his own turn, I assumed he was looking for lands. He took quite a bit of damage before he found his first verdict, I was able to restore my side of the board rather easily. Which if i remember likely forced a second verdict. He started swing back with worms after that. I managed to get an angel through exiling his board and part of grave. I played the Kessig wolf run that i had been holding as my last land drop, and swung for lethal through a Revelation. Game 2 I managed to resolve a Sire of Insanity when he was tapped out on for a verdict. He couldn't come back from that. Won 2-0
Round 4: Prime Speaker Bant. I went up against a lot of bant tonight. We both spent the early turns of game one establishing the board. Although I had a decent start and got in a fair amount of damage I can't help but feel that i was behind throughout the match. After i hit 4, it took me a bit to find my fifth land. I was able to sneak a Craterhoof out with a couple of dudes to buff, knocking his life into the single didgets. He started pulling away after resolving an Angel of Serenity and exiling most of my threats, he did leave behind a couple of wayward spirit tokens though, and was at 2 life. I played a Varolz into the field. If I gotten more mana earlier, i would have been able to scavenge a mana dork onto each spirit and swing for lethal. Unfortunately, i couldn't seal the Deal, and he resolved another angel. I couldn't really respond or come back after that. Brought in Thundermaws, slimes, and sires, and ditched the Abrupt Decays and part of the reanimation plan. Thundermaw was spectacular, taking rather large chunks out of the opponent with each appearance. Varolz also shined during this match. It kept the pressure on through board wipes, kept key creatures from getting exiled off of Selesnya Charm, and kept my top deck clear of Azorius charm castaways when i needed a good topdeck. Games 2 and 3 were both close but i was able to push through to victory. Won 2-1
Overall, the deck did rather well. Varolz was an all-star throughout the night, shining as a powerful card even in matchups that I thought he wouldn't be that great in. I think the splash of red gave me a bit more freedom of play even though the mana base was harder to nail down. Thinking of cutting ghost dad for something to make the enchants matchups a little less horrifying, though i don't know what yet.
4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
3 Fiend Hunter
3 Restoration Angel
4 Thragtusk
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
3 Angel of Serenity
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Abrupt Decay
3 Mulch
4 Grisly Salvage
3 Lingering Souls
4 Unburial Rites
4 Temple Garden
2 Godless Shrine
2 Woodland Cemetery
3 Sunpetal Grove
2 Isolated Chapel
4 Forest
1 Gavony Township
1 Vault of the Archangel
2 Sin Collector
1 Ready // Willing
2 Tragic Slip
2 Deathrite Shaman
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
1 Rhox Faithmender
1 Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice
1 Slayer of the Wicked
3 Acidic Slime
1 Sever the Bloodline
Basically went
R1 VS Bant Enchantments 2-1
R2 VS Naya Midrange 2-1
R3 VS Junk Tokens 2-0
R4 VS Wolfrun Bant 2-0
Enjoyed the list and thought it was really solid, but plan to cut the Lingering Souls. They just don't feel that good.
2 Godless Shrine
3 Isolated Chapel
2 Sunpetal Grove
4 Overgrown Tube
4 Temple Garden
2 Woodland Cemetery
4 Forest
2 Cavern of Souls
2 Deathrite Shaman
2 Arbor Elf
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
3 Voice of Resurgence
2 Fiend Hunter
3 Restoration Angel
4 Thragtusks
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
1 Acidic Slime
3 Angel of Serenity
4 Grisly Salvage
4 Unburial Rites
1 Sever the Bloodline
1 Voice of Resurgence
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Sin Collectors
2 Tribute to Hunger
1 Fiend Hunter
2 Garruk Relentless
2 Acidic Slime
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
Tourney 4-1-2 Overall Top 8
Match 1: Quirion Delver 2-1
Don't remember much on this one. I do know Game 1 was out the gate for me, and him conceding as AoS dropped. Game 2,a greedy Resto targeting Sin Collector proved to be my downfall. Game 3 was a race with AoS proving to be a house once again.
Match 2: Junk Rites 2-1
He slimed me to death Game 1. Game 2 Deathrite and Obzedat outvalued him Game 3 wasn't even close dorks into mulch for turn 4 Angel of serenity into Angel serenity into his Angel into my third Angel of Serenity.
Match 3: 4 Color Control U/B/R/G 1-1-1
Game 1 Fiend Hunter and Sever kept him off his game plan of Nightveil Specter.
Game 2 was so long, i felt i should a have won, i came out the gate and ended stalling with him at 4 life dorks and lands for the top-decks, enough for him to stabilize. I final top-decked an Unburial Rites to close out but he was able to exile my Obzedat target with beckoning apparition.
Game 3 went to turns just before we started. i would have won, but you know sometimes you just plain don't get there.
Match 4: Esper Control w/ Misthollow 2-0
Game 1 turn 3 Obzedat is a thing,
Game 2 Out aggro'd him with Voices and Sin Collectors
Match 5: Naya Humans featuring Hamlet Capt.
Game 1 AoS ate his board. Stabilized for the win.
Game 2 ended up losing to Frontline Medic Battalion, biggest play mistake here was forgetting Thalia's Legend Rule, which would have let me stabilized.
Game 3 Fiend Hunter into Thragtusk into Thragtusk into Thragtusk was too much.
Match 6: Drew out for top 8.
Top 8 Match 1 Gruul Wins
Well this is where it got interesting. I apparently forgot to take the card I brought for a friend out of my box before deck check. So ya, stupid mistake, which ended up costing me big. So I start behind on a Judge Loss.
Game 2 both mulled to 5. Which happened to be my downfall. He begin to wreck my face as I did not hit my fourth land in time to wipe with Sever. So I ended up losing out. we played it out, and he ended winning 2-1.
Overall, I am happy with my results, learned some valuable information. I think the deck was meta'd very well. Some options I think i should have done was bringing in all my removal and dropping serenity's against aggro.
EDH Decks
Thanks To DarkNightCavalier For the Sig!!!