guy I was playing with was fully tapped out, so I went all in for the alpha strike. He responds with alternate cost casting Spinning Darkness. I had never even seen the card before. I tapped 2 plains in response to cast Celestial Flare on my own creature targeted by Spinning Darkness to take the game!!
I was playing at Regionals back in the Mirrodin/CoK Standard, my deck was mono-g with Trolls and Equipment (SoFI, SoLS, Jitte) and I had decided to MD 3 Pithing Needle. In this match, my opponent game 1 gives me this weasly, snarky, arrogant laugh, and says "Sorry, but my deck just sometimes draws this hand." He proceeds to play Island, Chrome Mox + Imprint, Isochron Scepter imprinting Boomerang on the play, turn 1. I play a forest and Pithing Needle on my turn and to my absolute glee, this one play puts the guy on tilt for the rest of the match. In game 2, he tapped out on T3 to drop Vedalken Shackles. On my T3, I Splintered it, then a few turns later he taps out on my end step to either play Gifts Ungiven or some other card draw and I Boiled for his 6 Islands in response ( I had splashed for Boil and Cranial Extraction out of the board, as well as one Meloku main).
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Quote from Garland Greene aka the Marietta Mangler »
"Now you're talking semantics. What if I told you insane was working 50 hours a week in some office for 50 years, at the end of which they tell you to piss off... Ending up in some retirement village, hoping to die before suffering the indignity of trying to make it to the toilet on time. Wouldn't you consider that to be insane?"
"Define Irony: Bunch of idiots dancing on a plane to a song made famous by a band that died in a plane crash"
At the last legacy tourney I went to, I played lands. G1 was against Jund. He plays double Dark Confidant. He flips double goyf on his next upkeep. I have a few maze of ith keeping me alive. He plays double goyf, passes. I draw, land, go. He upkeeps double Bloodbraid Elf. With a few fetches, he drops down to 6. End of his turn, I Intuition for Grove of the Burnwillows, Punishing Fire, Punishing Fire, loam in hand, untap and burn him to 2. He kills one of his own bobs, untaps, upkeep... and flips Liliana of the Veil. Good stuff.
I don't exactly know how to define clutch, but one of my favourite stories is certainly not a topdeck story, so here goes.
3x Gatecrash draft. I've got a soso deck, mostly Gruul but running 4 nice blue cards because I ran out of playables. I'm up 1-0 in round 1 after a long game (my opponent was Orzhov), so I side in Mystic Genesis. I drew it early, but didn't have the mana to cast it until around turn 10. The turn after I get the mana for it, one of my flyers gets hit EOT by Executioner's Swing. I let it go and pass the turn. My opponent untaps and casts Sepulchral Primordial. I cast Mystic Genesis in response. My opponent completely tilts out, saying that he had such a sweet deck but got screwed. I won round 2, thanks to Hands of Binding, but got steamrolled by an awesome Simic deck in the finals (I was dead by turn 7 both games).
I'd probably have to say the biggest 'clutch' moment is any time you cast Doomsday in a bad situation and have to make up a new doomsday pile on the fly that you've never used before.
Lot's of cool, obscure tricks could be used when Damage still used the stack. My personal favorite was in TSP limited, swinging with a creature that your opponent had Temporal Isolatioend, putting damage on the stack, and killing your own creature to remove the damage shield and win.
My favorite in my relatively limited playing time is using zealous conscripts on a thrag, swinging with it, then killing it with my intrepid hero so I get the beast. Also, slayers' stronghold + intrepid hero is just amazing.
During combat (or after combat) I had to use one of Boros Charm's abilities.
I choose the wrong one or didn't have a chance to activate the right one. I should have given my creature Double Strike to finish. Instead I waited till Combat is Over to hit for 4 to the dome. Turns out he had 5 Life left and killed me on his next turn.
I'm playing against a guy playing Junk tokens I think... I'm playing UW control (before Aetherling came out) my only creature was a Stormtide Leviathan, we're both on low health and topdecking. He has a Sorin on the field and uses his ultimate to kill and steal my stormtide and passes the turn. I topdeck a divination, I draw two cards, Detention Sphere and Planar Cleansing. I detention sphere the leviathan, and then cast planar cleansing, which gets me back the leviathan.
I pass the turn, he topdecks a land, I go on to win the game
Playing against a Grow Deck in Legacy, I won two consecutive games after I was taken down to 1 while my opponent was still at 20. We laughed about it after the first time, but my opponent suspected I cheated (I didn't) after it happened the second time in a row. He certainly wasn't a happy camper, especially since he had won the first game. I don't recall the specifics, but I remembering drawing the cards I needed both times and quickly turning it around (I was playing Mono-black). Lady luck was certainly on my side in that match, although it was all downhill from there in the tourney.
Mine was in a Modern tournament, I was on UWR Twin and he was on Merfolk. He had me down to 6 life and had 8 islandwalking power on the board so was going to swing for lethal next turn. I had a Kiki-Jiki,Mirror-Breaker and 6 lands on the board, 2 Dispel in my hand. So basically I need to draw either a Deceiver Exarch or Restoration Angel to have a chance.
I topdeck the Restoration Angel, I go for it and he attempts to Mana Leak. My first Dispel takes care of that. Restoration Angel resolves, and I make a bunch of copies with Kiki. He then attempts to Echoing Truth all the Resto Angel copies, but Dispel number two counters that. I swing for lethal!
Not clutch persay, but I was playing against Jund back in Alara-Zendikar T2. I was running a URW Runeflare Trap deck, using Font of Mythos and Howling Mine, Time Warp, Twincast, and a ton of fogs. The plan basically was make my opponent draw a ton of cards, fog him when he tried to attack, and eventually Twincast 2 or 3 Runeflare Traps for the game. My opponent was someone I knew well at my shop, so he knew what I was going on with my deck. Game 2 he sideboards in Cranial Extraction, and promptly draws it naming Runeflare. Naturally I think I'm ****ed, but I figure I might as well keep going. A lot of turns, a Jace ultimate (original Jace), and all the fogs in my deck later, I successfully milled him.
Opponent throws down a Jace, the Mind Sculptor and starts fatesealing me. He gets to like 11 counters and sends a card to the bottom (I later find out it was just a Lightning Bolt).
I'm playing UWR in the semifinal of a GPT, the game is drawn at 1-1. I'm at 4, my opponent is at 6. He has an 5/6 Goyf and has started beating me down. I have 5 lands in play including a Celestial Colonnade. I top deck for the turn and its Scalding Tarn. I crack it and go down to three, getting an island. My opponent must have drawn blank, so I chump the goyf with my Colonnade. I'm sweating now, as I can't think of many ways to win.
Then I draw my card for the turn. It's an Augur of Bolas, the card I swapped in for a Clique as I couldn't find one. I see a Lightning Bolt and take it. He attacks and I block with Augur. I Bolt him as I only have one red. Then untap... and I see red and white! A Lightning Helix! I win! Oh wait, its a Arid Mesa.... I lose...
Rather unusually, my English fails me. Could someone explain what "clutch moment" means?
It has to do with the idiom of coming through in a clutch (i.e. getting out of a difficult situation, oftentimes with a last-minute solution). In this case it's for things like lucky topdecks or improbable plays that enable someone to win despite a very unfavourable game state.
Rather unusually, my English fails me. Could someone explain what "clutch moment" means?
Clutch moment is like a close call, where you will probably lose if you don't make exactly the right choice. It's a time when you get really nervous and hope the next card you draw or play will save you.
My favorite clutch moment involves the very end of a Mill versus Aurochs game. I was certainly going to lose to trample damage, but I had milled my opponent down to just about 5 or 6 cards. I was playing with Future Sight in play, nearly decked myself with card draw, and had one Elixir of Immortality out. With so many mill spells in my graveyard, I took a chance and cracked the Elixir and shuffled my graveyard into my tiny library, Future Sight revealed the top card, and it was a Mind Sculpt. It felt like Russian Roulette.
At one point recently at an FNM I won a game with UWR against Bant Hexproof in which I correctly determined that my only out was to mainphase Think Twice into one of two copies of Supreme Verdict. Sure enough there it was on top of my deck. I had been playing towards finding the Verdict for several turns (using mana to draw cards rather than addressing the board) so it was very satisfying.
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Thanks to Gabgabdevo for the awesome sig image!
I'm always looking for foil Madcap Skills and Ghitu Fire-Eater, [trade thread link forthcoming]
I was up against Esper Reanimator. It was the third game, and he was at 13 life when he played an Evil Twin against my board of Boros Reckoner and two mana dorks. He was two lands away from Angel of Serenity mana, and I had to kill him ASAP or he would stabilize.
On my turn, I first used Act of Treason to steal his Evil Twin (copying Boros Reckoner). I attacked with both creatures to deal 6 damage to him, then played a Domri Rade to make them fight each other. Both Reckoners died and I used their abilities to put my opponent down to one life, with two dorks in play threatening lethal damage (they didn’t attack because I needed their mana to make my play).
On his turn he played a land and passed.
On my turn I had nothing else to do so I attacked with both mana dorks. My opponent responded with a fused Far // Away, bouncing an elf and threatening to kill the other. Luckily, I had a Selesnya Charm in my hand that I used it to make a token to be sacrificed to the Far // Away, allowing my 1/1 dork to connect for lethal.
Playing Thada Adel EDH. I control Rhystic Study and Future Sight, with 1 blue card in hand, and I'm tapped out. Opponent casts Profane Command at me for lethal. She's got mana open. I ask, "Paying for Rhystic?" She says, "No."
I draw my card (some other blue card that was currently useless). I flip the top card of my deck. Commandeer. I exile my 2-card hand to take control of the Command.
After a board wipe We each only have our commanders on the field.
Varolz has a few counters on him and attacks. Do I block with Mirri? She would die and then I'd just lose next turn. If I don't block, I go to 20 commander damage.
The top card of his library is a Forest. In response to Scapeshift I mill him with Codex Shredder to reveal Sakura-Tribe Elder. I try again and reveal a Search for Tomorrows. My only shot now is to crack my Lantern of Insight to make him shuffle his library and mill blind with Ghoulcaller's Bell. I do that. I flip Valakut. I win!
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He plays Avenger of Zendikar with 12 lands in play and passes turn. I drop Massacre Wurm and win the game.
No one ever expected anyone to play massacre wurm.
3x Gatecrash draft. I've got a soso deck, mostly Gruul but running 4 nice blue cards because I ran out of playables. I'm up 1-0 in round 1 after a long game (my opponent was Orzhov), so I side in Mystic Genesis. I drew it early, but didn't have the mana to cast it until around turn 10. The turn after I get the mana for it, one of my flyers gets hit EOT by Executioner's Swing. I let it go and pass the turn. My opponent untaps and casts Sepulchral Primordial. I cast Mystic Genesis in response. My opponent completely tilts out, saying that he had such a sweet deck but got screwed. I won round 2, thanks to Hands of Binding, but got steamrolled by an awesome Simic deck in the finals (I was dead by turn 7 both games).
I don't always post about Rafiq of the Many, but when I do, I cardlink to the original artwork, and not the supplementary product version.
"I trust myself to do my duty, even unto death. It's what comes after that I'm afraid of."
"Just fight without fear. Your soul is protected by the hand of Avacyn and will never submit to evil."
Game 3.
During combat (or after combat) I had to use one of Boros Charm's abilities.
I choose the wrong one or didn't have a chance to activate the right one. I should have given my creature Double Strike to finish. Instead I waited till Combat is Over to hit for 4 to the dome. Turns out he had 5 Life left and killed me on his next turn.
Now that I think about it, also a Math Fail.
Standard
UR Control
Modern
Merfolk
Burn
Avacyn did nothing wrong!
Purify Innistrad!
#Purge
I pass the turn, he topdecks a land, I go on to win the game
I topdeck the Restoration Angel, I go for it and he attempts to Mana Leak. My first Dispel takes care of that. Restoration Angel resolves, and I make a bunch of copies with Kiki. He then attempts to Echoing Truth all the Resto Angel copies, but Dispel number two counters that. I swing for lethal!
WRG Burn
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I topdeck Red Elemental Blast.
He doesn't have the counter.
Then I draw my card for the turn. It's an Augur of Bolas, the card I swapped in for a Clique as I couldn't find one. I see a Lightning Bolt and take it. He attacks and I block with Augur. I Bolt him as I only have one red. Then untap... and I see red and white! A Lightning Helix! I win! Oh wait, its a Arid Mesa.... I lose...
It has to do with the idiom of coming through in a clutch (i.e. getting out of a difficult situation, oftentimes with a last-minute solution). In this case it's for things like lucky topdecks or improbable plays that enable someone to win despite a very unfavourable game state.
Clutch moment is like a close call, where you will probably lose if you don't make exactly the right choice. It's a time when you get really nervous and hope the next card you draw or play will save you.
My favorite clutch moment involves the very end of a Mill versus Aurochs game. I was certainly going to lose to trample damage, but I had milled my opponent down to just about 5 or 6 cards. I was playing with Future Sight in play, nearly decked myself with card draw, and had one Elixir of Immortality out. With so many mill spells in my graveyard, I took a chance and cracked the Elixir and shuffled my graveyard into my tiny library, Future Sight revealed the top card, and it was a Mind Sculpt. It felt like Russian Roulette.
Thanks to Gabgabdevo for the awesome sig image!
I'm always looking for foil Madcap Skills and Ghitu Fire-Eater, [trade thread link forthcoming]
On my turn, I first used Act of Treason to steal his Evil Twin (copying Boros Reckoner). I attacked with both creatures to deal 6 damage to him, then played a Domri Rade to make them fight each other. Both Reckoners died and I used their abilities to put my opponent down to one life, with two dorks in play threatening lethal damage (they didn’t attack because I needed their mana to make my play).
On his turn he played a land and passed.
On my turn I had nothing else to do so I attacked with both mana dorks. My opponent responded with a fused Far // Away, bouncing an elf and threatening to kill the other. Luckily, I had a Selesnya Charm in my hand that I used it to make a token to be sacrificed to the Far // Away, allowing my 1/1 dork to connect for lethal.
I draw my card (some other blue card that was currently useless). I flip the top card of my deck. Commandeer. I exile my 2-card hand to take control of the Command.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
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After a board wipe We each only have our commanders on the field.
Varolz has a few counters on him and attacks. Do I block with Mirri? She would die and then I'd just lose next turn. If I don't block, I go to 20 commander damage.
I choose not to block.
Next turn I top deck a Blanchwood Armor and swing FTW.
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