I went to a Standard event on Thursday June 28.
I took "Hallelujah", W/U miracles.
2 Snapcaster Mage
3 Thought Scour
4 Feeling of Dread
4 Negate
3 Ponder
4 Entreat the Angels
4 Devastation Tide
4 Terminus
4 Temporal Mastery
2 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
15 Island
11 Plains
P.S. This is the first time I have played this deck.
Round 1: Played against RDW, got burnt to death really damn quick.
Sadly, I did not have a sideboard (seems to be a trend with me)
So, I was not able to protect myself with a witchbane orb.
G: 0-2, R: 0-1
Round 2: Played against a friend of mine, Aaron, and his U/G Mill deck.
I had some land problems game one and got dropped pretty quickly.
Games two and three I was able to draw into the miracles and take control with Tamiyo and Feelings of Dread (which is baller).
G: 2-3, R: 1-1
Round 3: Played against mono-black Zombies. He took me to three life before I drew a timely Devastation Tide. He played out his hand the next two turns into...back to back Terminus. I then drew into Angels, who had no trouble blocking the Zombies. Game two was even closer, my opponent got me to one life before I clawed back.
G: 4-3, R: 2-1
Round 4: Played against a RWG midrange? (there could have been more in the deck) In game one he had to Mulligan to 4, so he could not really apply any pressure. Game 2 was an actual game, I kept bouncing and tapping Blade Splicers and Restoration Angels. The turning point came when, during his turn, I thought scoured in response to his attack and drew Entreat the Angles, making 5. I didn't even block the Splicer and Golem. I swung for lethal in the next turn.
G: 6-3, R: 3-1
So, 3-1 with a 6-3 record. Good enough to win 4 packs!
I got exceptionally lucky with my draws in all of these games. Other than that, the deck performed pretty well, all things considered. Terminus is a BRUTAL card when it hits. Feeling of Dread was clutch in every match (except the first one) This deck was quite fun to play and was an excellent challenge to pilot. I look forward to playing this deck again.
Until next time.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Blue/White Miracle
I put together a Blue/White deck based off of the winning deck of the Avacyn Restored Pro Tour something or other. I do not remember the guys name, but this deck was his idea, not mine.
The goal is to keep the board clear or mostly clear, stall for a while, then dump a bunch of 4/4 Angels on the field and swing for lethal.
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Feeling of Dread
4 Negate
3 Think Twice
3 Ponder
4 Entreat the Angels
4 Devastation Tide
4 Terminus
4 Temporal Mastery
2 Tamiyo, The Moon Sage
15 Island
11 Plains
Sideboard
4 Ghost Quarter (For Wolf Ramp)
3 Demystify (not sure what for)
4 Second Guess (For counter heavy decks, to protect my miracles)
4 Midnight Haunting (More stall)
Feeling of Dread and Tamiyo are my main stalling cards.
I bring out Devastation tide and Terminus if things get out of hand.
I use ponder to stack my miracles correctly and think twice to cast them during my opponents turn.
(No one likes being Terminus'd as a response to their attack phase)
The chance of drawing a miracle every turn is roughly 27%. (or once every 5 attempts, this changes as the game progresses)
I am really surprised that Ponder or Snapcaster did not get the banhammer yesterday.
I will also try to play test this deck.
Until next time.
The goal is to keep the board clear or mostly clear, stall for a while, then dump a bunch of 4/4 Angels on the field and swing for lethal.
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Feeling of Dread
4 Negate
3 Think Twice
3 Ponder
4 Entreat the Angels
4 Devastation Tide
4 Terminus
4 Temporal Mastery
2 Tamiyo, The Moon Sage
15 Island
11 Plains
Sideboard
4 Ghost Quarter (For Wolf Ramp)
3 Demystify (not sure what for)
4 Second Guess (For counter heavy decks, to protect my miracles)
4 Midnight Haunting (More stall)
Feeling of Dread and Tamiyo are my main stalling cards.
I bring out Devastation tide and Terminus if things get out of hand.
I use ponder to stack my miracles correctly and think twice to cast them during my opponents turn.
(No one likes being Terminus'd as a response to their attack phase)
The chance of drawing a miracle every turn is roughly 27%. (or once every 5 attempts, this changes as the game progresses)
I am really surprised that Ponder or Snapcaster did not get the banhammer yesterday.
I will also try to play test this deck.
Until next time.
FatRamp / #3 Supersized
So, I was thinking he other day, using cards from the current sets I play (Innistrad, Dark Ascension, Avacyn Restored and M2013), what is the quickest way to generate the most amount of mana I can and what can I do once I have it?
With these thoughts in mind, I made this deck. (I have not decided on the name)
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Llanowar Elves (To be replaced by Birds or Druid from M2013)
4 Somberwald Sage
2 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
3 Moldgraf Monstrosity
4 Tyrant of Dischord
4 Ranger's Guile
3 Faithless Looting
4 Infernal Plunge
4 Vessel of Endless Rest
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Clifftop Retreat
9 Forest
7 Mountain
The objective of this deck is to drop something horrifying on Turn 3. (Gisela, Moldgraf, or Tyrant)
I feel like a turn 3 Tyrant would be pretty devastating. I use Ranger's Guile to keep them alive.
The dig is, how does this deck drop a turn 3 7-CMC creature. Well, it can do it in a couple of ways.
Option 1:
Turn 1: Forest, Pilgrim or Elf.
Turn 2: Land, Somberwald.
Turn 3: Land (preferably a Cavern)
3 (land)+1 (Elf/Pilgrim)+3 (Somberwald)=7
Option 2:
Turn 1: Forest, Pilgrim or Elf
Turn 2: Land, Vessel of Endless Rest
Turn 3: Land (preferable a Cavern), Infernal Plunge
3 (land)+1 (Elf/Pilgrim)+1 (Vessel)-1 (Cost of Plunge)+3 and sacrifice the Pilgrim/Elf (Infernal Plunge)=7
If you are on the play and you manage to drop a Turn 3 Tyrant, you destroy one of your opponents only two land and possibly their 1 or 2 drop. (Which should not pose a threat to Tyrant) Protect Tyrant with Ranger's Guile. His only downside is that he has no evasion.
If you drop Monstrosity, you can use faithless looting to fill your graveyard with other stupid big creatures and dare your opponent to kill Monstrosity.
Gisela is hilarious, with her out, the game is on a 2 turn clock. But Ranger's Guile needs to protect her, if only for a turn or two. Use Faithless looting to dig for some.
I play on playtesting this and UW Miracle (which I will put up a post about) tomorrow (if possible)
Until next time.
With these thoughts in mind, I made this deck. (I have not decided on the name)
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Llanowar Elves (To be replaced by Birds or Druid from M2013)
4 Somberwald Sage
2 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
3 Moldgraf Monstrosity
4 Tyrant of Dischord
4 Ranger's Guile
3 Faithless Looting
4 Infernal Plunge
4 Vessel of Endless Rest
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Clifftop Retreat
9 Forest
7 Mountain
The objective of this deck is to drop something horrifying on Turn 3. (Gisela, Moldgraf, or Tyrant)
I feel like a turn 3 Tyrant would be pretty devastating. I use Ranger's Guile to keep them alive.
The dig is, how does this deck drop a turn 3 7-CMC creature. Well, it can do it in a couple of ways.
Option 1:
Turn 1: Forest, Pilgrim or Elf.
Turn 2: Land, Somberwald.
Turn 3: Land (preferably a Cavern)
3 (land)+1 (Elf/Pilgrim)+3 (Somberwald)=7
Option 2:
Turn 1: Forest, Pilgrim or Elf
Turn 2: Land, Vessel of Endless Rest
Turn 3: Land (preferable a Cavern), Infernal Plunge
3 (land)+1 (Elf/Pilgrim)+1 (Vessel)-1 (Cost of Plunge)+3 and sacrifice the Pilgrim/Elf (Infernal Plunge)=7
If you are on the play and you manage to drop a Turn 3 Tyrant, you destroy one of your opponents only two land and possibly their 1 or 2 drop. (Which should not pose a threat to Tyrant) Protect Tyrant with Ranger's Guile. His only downside is that he has no evasion.
If you drop Monstrosity, you can use faithless looting to fill your graveyard with other stupid big creatures and dare your opponent to kill Monstrosity.
Gisela is hilarious, with her out, the game is on a 2 turn clock. But Ranger's Guile needs to protect her, if only for a turn or two. Use Faithless looting to dig for some.
I play on playtesting this and UW Miracle (which I will put up a post about) tomorrow (if possible)
Until next time.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
FNM 6/16/12
After a talk with a friend, I agreed with that friends assessment that the Heartless Summoning deck was WAY too slow.
I actually disassembled it. Instead I took RG Aggro to FNM.
I played a total of 7 games going 3-4 (0-2, 1-2, 2-0) with a 1-2 match record.
Round one I played against wolf ramp and was savagely beaten. (I only got two lands out)
Round two I faced a venser life-gain control deck. I won one game, but in the other two, I drew too few lands.
In Round three I faced a white equipment deck. I won easily because the player was kind of new to the game and made a lot of mistakes.
After FNM, I re-examined my deck. It is bad. It turns out I need more lands and more 3 drops.
There were some times when I would play turn 1 Llanowar elf and then turn 2 I would play Strangleroot Geist, but still have mana open. I only had 5 cards in the 3 slot, 2 Day break Rangers and 3 Wolfir Avengers. So, not too good.
To make matters worse, I consistently got into land problems (many games I would have 2 lands and a Llanowar as my only mana sources, this is very very bad)
So, I need to re-examine that deck, either to augment the 1 slots or the 3 slots. Until next time.
I actually disassembled it. Instead I took RG Aggro to FNM.
I played a total of 7 games going 3-4 (0-2, 1-2, 2-0) with a 1-2 match record.
Round one I played against wolf ramp and was savagely beaten. (I only got two lands out)
Round two I faced a venser life-gain control deck. I won one game, but in the other two, I drew too few lands.
In Round three I faced a white equipment deck. I won easily because the player was kind of new to the game and made a lot of mistakes.
After FNM, I re-examined my deck. It is bad. It turns out I need more lands and more 3 drops.
There were some times when I would play turn 1 Llanowar elf and then turn 2 I would play Strangleroot Geist, but still have mana open. I only had 5 cards in the 3 slot, 2 Day break Rangers and 3 Wolfir Avengers. So, not too good.
To make matters worse, I consistently got into land problems (many games I would have 2 lands and a Llanowar as my only mana sources, this is very very bad)
So, I need to re-examine that deck, either to augment the 1 slots or the 3 slots. Until next time.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
FNM Tomorrow
My normal online card retailer CoolStuffInc was out of Bonfire of the Damned. I bought a playset off of ebay. The seller delayed shipping for 3 days because he had work or something.
As a result, I cannot take Delver or RG Agggro to FNM. This leaves me with my other two deck choices. Heartless Bounce or Miracle Fog.
I have all the cards for Heartless Bounce. Here it is.
Creatures(23)
4 - Black Cat
3 - Borderland Ranger
3 - Mist Raven
4 - Acidic Slime
2 - Gryff Vanguard
3 - Havengul Lich
4 - Deadeye Navigator
Instants(9)
4 - Tragic Slip
3 - Negate
2 - Tribute to Hunger
Enchantments(4)
4 - Heartless Summoning
Lands(24)
2 - Evolving Wilds
3 - Forest
4 - Hinterland Harbor
6 - Island
5 - Swamp
4 - Woodland Cemetery
As with all of my decks (all constructed in the past 2 weeks) I do not have a sideboard as I am still getting a feel for the metagame, and I have not actually played this deck yet.
The idea is to race out creatures with Heartless Summoning, soulbond utility creatures (Acidic Slime, Mist Raven, Borderland Ranger, and Gryff Vanguard) with Deadeye Navigator to get board control. Black Cat/Tragic Slip/Tribute to Hunger is for early card removal. Havengul Lich allows me to recast Black Cat, effectively getting rid of one random card out of my opponents hand for 1B (2B if heartless is not in play) Once I have good control, I can use Acidic Slime to roast Heartless and swing for a bunch.
I am toying with the idea of replacing one Black Cat with another Gryff Vanguard. I will see if I can playtest this deck (albeit for the first time) in the next 30 hours or so.
As a result, I cannot take Delver or RG Agggro to FNM. This leaves me with my other two deck choices. Heartless Bounce or Miracle Fog.
I have all the cards for Heartless Bounce. Here it is.
Creatures(23)
4 - Black Cat
3 - Borderland Ranger
3 - Mist Raven
4 - Acidic Slime
2 - Gryff Vanguard
3 - Havengul Lich
4 - Deadeye Navigator
Instants(9)
4 - Tragic Slip
3 - Negate
2 - Tribute to Hunger
Enchantments(4)
4 - Heartless Summoning
Lands(24)
2 - Evolving Wilds
3 - Forest
4 - Hinterland Harbor
6 - Island
5 - Swamp
4 - Woodland Cemetery
As with all of my decks (all constructed in the past 2 weeks) I do not have a sideboard as I am still getting a feel for the metagame, and I have not actually played this deck yet.
The idea is to race out creatures with Heartless Summoning, soulbond utility creatures (Acidic Slime, Mist Raven, Borderland Ranger, and Gryff Vanguard) with Deadeye Navigator to get board control. Black Cat/Tragic Slip/Tribute to Hunger is for early card removal. Havengul Lich allows me to recast Black Cat, effectively getting rid of one random card out of my opponents hand for 1B (2B if heartless is not in play) Once I have good control, I can use Acidic Slime to roast Heartless and swing for a bunch.
I am toying with the idea of replacing one Black Cat with another Gryff Vanguard. I will see if I can playtest this deck (albeit for the first time) in the next 30 hours or so.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
The play-by-play
I wonder how easy it is to execute a play-by-play analysis of a game of Magic: The Gathering. Is this something that I can do in the context of a timed event? One option is to record the game in video, but will my opponent be open to that? I would like to provide this kind of analysis so that better players than me can be critical of my play and inform me when I make mistakes. (Starcitygames.com has videos played out on Magic: Online, but I have no desire to use that software after trying to run it for 3+ hours) Learning from mistakes is the best way to learn, in my opinion.
So flashback time. I went to FNM with a Red/Blue (RU) Delver deck. I do not recall the exact decklist, but it is ever-changing and I try to keep it up to date on Deckbox.org.
Round one I faced a Black/Red Zombie deck. This deck featured a lot of 2 power, one cost Zombies and some heavier creatures (such as Geralf's Messenger and Phyrexian Obliterator). I got out to an early lead with a transformed Delver and never looked back. In the next two games, the exact opposite occurred. I got lucky in game one and was simply outraced in games two and three. To combat this limitation (which would also be apparent in round four) I put in a few Bonfire of the Damned, for mass one-sided removal.
Round two I faced a younger player with a mono-white deck. His deck was not what I would consider great (but my own knowledge is very limited) but due to my low damage output (I drew no Delvers, only Invisible Stalkers) I was not able to maintain control with removal alone. On my final turn, I was at 1 life, my opponent was at 10, I top-decked a Runechanter's Pike, played it, equipped it, and swung for 11. Talk about close. Game two was not as close as I was able to get a delver going, use Zealous Conscripts to break "soulbinds" and easily took control.
Round three I faced a deck known as "Turbo-fog". The idea is that the player of TurboFog has around 16 fog-like effects (Fog prevents combat damage, for those not in-the know) and wins games by decking their opposition (with Jace's Erasure and mass card drawing effects). In both games, I came out way too quickly for my opponent and was able to counter the Fog-spells with Negate or Mana Leaks. Delver really showed his power here as he almost single-handedly won this match. This is also a game where a sideboard would have been useful. I was holding a lot of useless Unsummons in my hand.
Round four I faced another mono white deck. Unlike round two, this guys deck was quite good, IMO. My deck was not equipped to deal with the speed and ferocity of his deck, I did what I could, but I was severely outmatched. Hopefully, adding more Bonfire of the Damned to my deck can help alleviate these types of matches. (Seriously a Bonfire for 3 would have given me great board control)
I went 2-2 finishing with a game record of 5-4. I enjoyed myself and learned a lot, both about what decks are doing well and which ones are popular.
Until next time.
So flashback time. I went to FNM with a Red/Blue (RU) Delver deck. I do not recall the exact decklist, but it is ever-changing and I try to keep it up to date on Deckbox.org.
Round one I faced a Black/Red Zombie deck. This deck featured a lot of 2 power, one cost Zombies and some heavier creatures (such as Geralf's Messenger and Phyrexian Obliterator). I got out to an early lead with a transformed Delver and never looked back. In the next two games, the exact opposite occurred. I got lucky in game one and was simply outraced in games two and three. To combat this limitation (which would also be apparent in round four) I put in a few Bonfire of the Damned, for mass one-sided removal.
Round two I faced a younger player with a mono-white deck. His deck was not what I would consider great (but my own knowledge is very limited) but due to my low damage output (I drew no Delvers, only Invisible Stalkers) I was not able to maintain control with removal alone. On my final turn, I was at 1 life, my opponent was at 10, I top-decked a Runechanter's Pike, played it, equipped it, and swung for 11. Talk about close. Game two was not as close as I was able to get a delver going, use Zealous Conscripts to break "soulbinds" and easily took control.
Round three I faced a deck known as "Turbo-fog". The idea is that the player of TurboFog has around 16 fog-like effects (Fog prevents combat damage, for those not in-the know) and wins games by decking their opposition (with Jace's Erasure and mass card drawing effects). In both games, I came out way too quickly for my opponent and was able to counter the Fog-spells with Negate or Mana Leaks. Delver really showed his power here as he almost single-handedly won this match. This is also a game where a sideboard would have been useful. I was holding a lot of useless Unsummons in my hand.
Round four I faced another mono white deck. Unlike round two, this guys deck was quite good, IMO. My deck was not equipped to deal with the speed and ferocity of his deck, I did what I could, but I was severely outmatched. Hopefully, adding more Bonfire of the Damned to my deck can help alleviate these types of matches. (Seriously a Bonfire for 3 would have given me great board control)
I went 2-2 finishing with a game record of 5-4. I enjoyed myself and learned a lot, both about what decks are doing well and which ones are popular.
Until next time.
Up until now.
I began playing Magic when Fallen Empires was a new set. I stopped playing after Ice Age.
I began again during Tempest and stopped after Mercadian Masques.
I began again during Onslaught and stopped after Legions.
I began again when the Commander decks were released, but I limited myself to only Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH) which is the same format as commander.
Last week at FNM, I played in Standard (Type II) for the first time in roughly a decade (Since Masques).
Since I was (and still am) a big fan of Commander (EDH) I purchased a box of the 4 newest sets (M2012, Innistrad, Dark Ascension, and Avacyn Restored). I scoured the internet for decklists that matched the cards that I actually owned. I found that I owned 4 Delver of Secrets so I built a Blue/Red Delver deck.
And that, is "up until now".
I began again during Tempest and stopped after Mercadian Masques.
I began again during Onslaught and stopped after Legions.
I began again when the Commander decks were released, but I limited myself to only Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH) which is the same format as commander.
Last week at FNM, I played in Standard (Type II) for the first time in roughly a decade (Since Masques).
Since I was (and still am) a big fan of Commander (EDH) I purchased a box of the 4 newest sets (M2012, Innistrad, Dark Ascension, and Avacyn Restored). I scoured the internet for decklists that matched the cards that I actually owned. I found that I owned 4 Delver of Secrets so I built a Blue/Red Delver deck.
And that, is "up until now".
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