Good poll. I picked the casual competitive split option because I play competitive 1v1 as well as multi.
I must admit though, a well tailored banlist is important to me. I prefer a shorter but well thought out banlist, specific to format (1v1 instead of multi, etc) over a blanket one across all styles of EDH play.
So, is anyone else going to post a tournament report, CamWallin? I know Obsidian Dice and I both have given our stories, CamWallin, but it would be cool to hear what CamWallin had to say.
I'll put together a post in the next little while, but I'm under extreme pressure from work right now. I suspect I'll be working most of the weekend, but I'll try and find the time.
Damn software industry. Shouldn't complain though I suppose, I am grateful to have a job.
Hehe yea, I think CamWallin saw my build in action before and realized the just complete absurdness of the Imperial Recruiter -> Ulamog chain ;p
@Windreave Animar decks don't typically run Aluren because it's pure card disadvantage, and 4 mana is enough to cast a handful of creatures. It also hurts your ability to combo off of other cards ie: cloudstone curio, earthcraft, skullclamp, peregrin drake, primevil titan, survival of the fittest, eldrazi etc. You effectively slow down the combo a turn, and are down a card. The only upside is that you randomly make infinite Animars.
Jester is correct, the idea for ulamog as the win con was something I watched in action in his combo deck (which if you like animar is a brew you should definitely try out, it's very explosive and powerful). I had included the remainder of the combo in the deck already as I knew the power of the recruiter in scaling Animar, and ran specific infinite combos and bombs to take advantage of it, but none of them fill the job as easily and efficiently as an eldrazi.
I regretted heavily tearing him out after seeing how beautifully he demolished people in Jesters list, but that said, in a revised decklist he is certainly going in.
Re: Aluren: I cut it as a meta decision because as Jester said, it's pure card disadvantage, costs a significant amount of mana, has no direct general interaction by itself, and most importantly helps my opponents as much as it helps me. Against certain opponents, it could often help them more *cough*Edric*cough* than it helps me.
I managed a takedown of ObsidianDice in our rematch this evening 2 - 0 (2 - 1 sort of).
Game 1: Was a hard fight, we both landed threats and drew cards, ended with my dropping a Metamorph and curio and he conceded.
Game 2: He had some hard luck and drew almost no blue, while I managed to lotus cobra out a master of the wild hunt, skullclamp, and an animar card draw engine.
Game 3: He ramped up quickly and bounced my animar with snap, untapping gaea's cradle and powering out a mana leak protected time warp. Utterly destroyed me.
They were very fun games, and thank you to all my opponents who were great people and quality players. I'll write up a deck analysis in the next few days and we can all pick on combo/aggro/control Animar together!
Thank you very much Fzian for doing such an incredible job as T.O!
Is it me or I cannot see any Eldrazi in your list ?
Beside very nice list
You're correct, this list uses palinchron, the titans and king oliphaunt as it's win conditions. I regret heavily cutting Ulamog, as it and Eye of Ugin make this deck ridiculous. As I mentioned awhile back, once the tournament is complete I'll post a full deck analysis, then cuts and adds, and a new upgraded decklist.
Any reason you run Exarch rather than Pestermite? They do exactly the same thing, as per Kiki Combi. I've always found the evasion of Pestermite more useful than just a 1/4 wall, assuming you had you use them outside of the combo.
To be honest that choice was a very meta dependent decision. I playtested with pestermite, but with the meta I was facing i found 1 toughness either traded with a weak threat or died in a two for one removal a la fire/ice. A strong body stayed around. lightning bolt etc I didn't worry as much about as from a combo perspective they'd always just be able to kill Kiki.
I've realized a lot of things since the start of the tourney, and there are a lot of replacements I'm going to make. In a vacuum after the tourney, I'd play pestermite.
Does the animar just go for the beat down? Or is there something I am not seeing in his list?
And if so, aggro control seems the way to go.
Animar is combo leading into either powerful aggro/control finishers or infinite mana/damage, depending on which route fits the best. Imperial recruiter is a one card combo:
Recruiter -> metamorph -> manowar -> reuse metamorphic for 2 life per time pumping animar then finally copying recruiter again -> fierce empath -> eldrazi.
Alternatively you can go for Kiki and exarch, or game dependent answers. The deck is very resilient as it also has a strong aggro component as a backup, and runs some valuable control answers against decks that have to be disrupted.
All in all it's an extremely fun and consistent deck, but one that varies largely depending on the opponent.
Are there any updates on this? Usually, I'd expect the matches to be completed by now
Hey fzian,
Very sorry about the delay, Tabris and myself are in very different timezones, and I have heavy weekday work constraints. We expect to be able to play this coming Saturday, hopefully in the morning for PST. I'll confirm a time with him as soon as possible.
I hope this is ok. If you need us to play earlier, I might be able to play late at night my time this week, although if I lose then that is obviously the catalyst :D.... obviously.
I must admit though, a well tailored banlist is important to me. I prefer a shorter but well thought out banlist, specific to format (1v1 instead of multi, etc) over a blanket one across all styles of EDH play.
I'll put together a post in the next little while, but I'm under extreme pressure from work right now. I suspect I'll be working most of the weekend, but I'll try and find the time.
Damn software industry. Shouldn't complain though I suppose, I am grateful to have a job.
Brohoof!
Jester is correct, the idea for ulamog as the win con was something I watched in action in his combo deck (which if you like animar is a brew you should definitely try out, it's very explosive and powerful). I had included the remainder of the combo in the deck already as I knew the power of the recruiter in scaling Animar, and ran specific infinite combos and bombs to take advantage of it, but none of them fill the job as easily and efficiently as an eldrazi.
I regretted heavily tearing him out after seeing how beautifully he demolished people in Jesters list, but that said, in a revised decklist he is certainly going in.
Re: Aluren: I cut it as a meta decision because as Jester said, it's pure card disadvantage, costs a significant amount of mana, has no direct general interaction by itself, and most importantly helps my opponents as much as it helps me. Against certain opponents, it could often help them more *cough*Edric*cough* than it helps me.
Game 1: Was a hard fight, we both landed threats and drew cards, ended with my dropping a Metamorph and curio and he conceded.
Game 2: He had some hard luck and drew almost no blue, while I managed to lotus cobra out a master of the wild hunt, skullclamp, and an animar card draw engine.
Game 3: He ramped up quickly and bounced my animar with snap, untapping gaea's cradle and powering out a mana leak protected time warp. Utterly destroyed me.
They were very fun games, and thank you to all my opponents who were great people and quality players. I'll write up a deck analysis in the next few days and we can all pick on combo/aggro/control Animar together!
Thank you very much Fzian for doing such an incredible job as T.O!
You're correct, this list uses palinchron, the titans and king oliphaunt as it's win conditions. I regret heavily cutting Ulamog, as it and Eye of Ugin make this deck ridiculous. As I mentioned awhile back, once the tournament is complete I'll post a full deck analysis, then cuts and adds, and a new upgraded decklist.
Nobody seems to have answered you Windreave.
The colours only distinguish between which round of the top 8 it is.
Quarterfinals: Green
Semifinals: Yellow
Finals: Red
3rd place tiebreaker: Blue
Double post merged. -viper
To be honest that choice was a very meta dependent decision. I playtested with pestermite, but with the meta I was facing i found 1 toughness either traded with a weak threat or died in a two for one removal a la fire/ice. A strong body stayed around. lightning bolt etc I didn't worry as much about as from a combo perspective they'd always just be able to kill Kiki.
I've realized a lot of things since the start of the tourney, and there are a lot of replacements I'm going to make. In a vacuum after the tourney, I'd play pestermite.
Animar is combo leading into either powerful aggro/control finishers or infinite mana/damage, depending on which route fits the best. Imperial recruiter is a one card combo:
Recruiter -> metamorph -> manowar -> reuse metamorphic for 2 life per time pumping animar then finally copying recruiter again -> fierce empath -> eldrazi.
Alternatively you can go for Kiki and exarch, or game dependent answers. The deck is very resilient as it also has a strong aggro component as a backup, and runs some valuable control answers against decks that have to be disrupted.
All in all it's an extremely fun and consistent deck, but one that varies largely depending on the opponent.
Game 1 was very tight, managed to bleed away his life total over a long game.
Game 2 he was very unlucky and only saw one land all game.
I think he'll be posting a video of the games soon.
Hopefully some of you will be able to come watch me fold hard to the destroyer of worlds that is Nin.
Hey fzian,
Very sorry about the delay, Tabris and myself are in very different timezones, and I have heavy weekday work constraints. We expect to be able to play this coming Saturday, hopefully in the morning for PST. I'll confirm a time with him as soon as possible.
I hope this is ok. If you need us to play earlier, I might be able to play late at night my time this week, although if I lose then that is obviously the catalyst :D.... obviously.