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.
This was from last night's FNM, the list is pretty stock. Here is a link to it or you can look at in the Deck Garage thread: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/delver-43/
Round 1: GW Janky Beatdown
This was basically a bye, the deck he played looked more like draft deck than something you would see in constructed with things like the two drop Niblis that taps a guy when he attacks and Masoleum guard. He was able to apply a little pressure game 1 but Pike+Flipped Delver meant he wasn't winning the race. Game two I got a sword on an Invisible Stalker after he took 6 from a flipped Delver before O-ringing it.
Sideboarding: In- 2x Timely Reinforcments, +2 Revoke Existence
Out- -4 Mana Leak
2-0, 1-0
Round 2: Jund Beatdown
This guy was a regular and a solid player playing his homebrew that was actually pretty sweet. It played like the RG Aggro deck but it had a late game of Olivia, Falkenrath Aristocrat, and even Primeval Titan into Wolf Run. The black removal and his creatures going over the top of mine made it a tough matchup. I win game one because I probe him on 1 and see he doesn't have a second green so I know to counter the topdecked Birds of Paradise and Delver and Geist get there. Games 2 and 3 he curves out perfectly and I couldn't do much to stop him.
Sideboarding: In- 2x Timely Reinforcments, 1x Oblivion Ring, 3x Celestial Purge
Out- 1x Pike, 2x Gitaxian Probe, and some other bad cards I can't remember which
1-2, 1-1
Round 3: Delver Tokens
This was GerryT's build with Blade Splicers, Lingering Souls, and Intangible Virtues. I won both games because where the Tokens version has cheaper pump effects with anthems and Lingering Souls to make multiple guys with 1 spell, I have more consistency and Geist of Saint Traft. I made a serious misplay in Game 2 because I wasn't thinking straight when he casts a Timely and I end up wasting the Vapor Snag in my yard when I go to Snapcaster-Snag my own guy only to realize that I'm just paying 1 card and 1 life to do nothing (fortunately he had a guy for me to bounce and get some value). If I had been playing a durdle deck like U/B control a mistake of that magnitude would have cost me the game, instead I was playing Delver and double flipped Delver got there.
Sideboarding: In-2x Timely Reinforcements, 2x Revoke Existence, I don't remember if I brought in Batterskull or not.
Out- 4x Mana Leak, (1x Pike if I brought in Batterskull)
2-0, 2-1
Round 4: UW Humans
This match was the toughest of the night by far, both games I won I had to come from behind on the back of Sword of War and Peace. Game 1 He would have had me DoB the turn I won since he forget to attack with his Fiend Hunter and I topdecked a Sword to put myself out of range. Game two he gets to play Champion on 1 and Thalia on 2 and I spend the rest of the game durdling around the Thalia while I can't apply significant pressure and Champion gets huge. Game 3 I keep a hand that is land, land, Delver, Dismember, Dismember, Timely. Delver flips on turn 3 and gets 3 points in, but he has to spend his turn O-ringing buying me enough time for Dismember+Timely+Sword over the next few turns. Also being able to Vapor Snag the guy he puts Angelic Destiny on was nice. He stablizes with an online Moorland Haunt and double Honor of the Pure in play. But I had enough guys at this point that the Sword was playing offense and defense and grinded him out.
Round 5: U/B Control
I'd call this matchup 50/50 or even 45/55 in their favor when the control player is solid. But this guy is a friend of mine and usually plays some kind of beatdown deck so while he made most of the right plays, he made a lot of small mistakes that I was able to capitalize on. (We would have drawn, but he needed a win to top 8 and with a loss I was only getting in on breakers). Game 1 his first 3 lands were Drowned Catacomb, Drownyard, Drownyard. He stopped my early game with delver, but I resolved a sword and was able to end step a Midnight Haunting and equip for a big sword hit that he wasn't able to recover from. Game 2 I flipped a Delver after forcing him to use Ratchet Bomb on an Invisible Stalker and used a Midnight Haunting to force a Black Sun's Zenith from him. With him tapped out I resolved a Feast and Famine and was later able to Snapcaster Midnight Haunting. By the end of the game I had both War and Peace and Feast and Famine in play and while after the first hit I wasn't getting extra damage off War and Peace anymore, I was untapping with double leak in hand and he never played a sixth land until he was DoB.
Sideboarding: In- 2x Sword of Feast and Famine, 1x Dissipate, 1x Negate, 3x Celestial Purge
Out- 2x Gut Shot, 1x Pike, 3x Vapor Snag, 1x Sword of War and Peace (this was probably not correct)
2-0, 4-1
Quarterfinals: BUG Heartless
This guy was pretty new but his deck seemed to be constructed intelligently for a homebrew, he made bad keeps both games, Game 1 he was stuck on 2 lands, game 3 he kept Viridian Emissary and 6 lands. While I won easily, I don't think it was very indicative of how the matchup would go with him making the proper mulligans. I'd go into detail, it was really just two games of him durdling while I played out my hand and killed him.
Sideboarding- In- 1x Dissipate, 1x Negate, 3x Celestial Purge, 2x Revoke Existence
Out- 2x Gut Shot, 1x Pike, 1x Vapor Snag, 1x Geist of Saint Traft (he was playing Image and I needed to make a cut), 2x Gitaxian Probe (I think, but I don't remember.)
2-0, 5-1
We decided to split top 4 since it was very late at this point. I was extremely happy with how this deck performed, All-Stars include all of the equipment, Vapor Snag, and Midnight Haunting. The only things that didn't perform up to expectations would be Revoke Existence (mostly because I didn't draw it when I really needed it), and the extra counters in the board (though I never drew them either time I sided them in, I didn't really want to either). I would recommend this deck to anyone in a wide metagame because it is consistent, your draws are almost always live, and Delver of Secrets can give you free wins with a little luck (which you probably already know).
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Type 2 UBControlBU UWDelverWU BWUSuperfriendsUWB
Type 2 in development WBUCounterless Solar FlareBWU
Type 2 Retired UBWControlBUW RBVampiresBR GRValakutGR GElves!G GBEldrazi GreenBG
I went to FNM with a bad deck. Decided I would sleeve up what I owned for Delver, and bum a few cards off of a friend. Thankfully I know own the deck after trades after the tourney Saturday.
Round 1: Tempered Steel 2-1 (1-0)
Nothing great to speak of here. Game one involved me getting a Geist down on turn three, and then a Spectral Flight Turn four to get me the win. Game 2 I had what I thought was a nice hand. 1x Island, 2x Delver, and several sideboard cards. Sadly I didn't see a land till like turn seven. Game three was a little close, but the sided in Day of Judgment won me the game since I got a bit mana flooded. He did play two of those Cages where I couldn't use my graveyard. If it wasn't for that I'd won a lot faster. Top decking Giest and got there.
-4x Prob
-1x Gut Shot
+2x Day of Judgment
+2x Revoke Existence
+1x Divine Offering
Round 2: Black White Tokens 2-0 (2-0)
Game one went my way. Turn one Delver, and slowly swung for the win while protecting him and countering anything she tried to drop that had flying. Game two was extremely close. She went first and tossed a Champion of Parish Without a snag in my hand I had to play around it for the better part of the game. I had a Delver out turn one, but with her tossing down 2x Doom Traveler on me had the Champion crashing me hard. I kept her off Honor of the Pure, and a few spells. Lingering Souls helped me with chump blockers. She got me down to two life, but I top decked a Sword of War and Peace with her seven. Got it on Delver, swung and she had two cards in hard. Closest game I had all night.
-4x Probe
-2x Dissipate
-1x Gut Shot
-1x Angelic Destiny
+2x Sword of War and Peace
+2x Revoke Existence
+2x Day of Judgment
+2x Negate
Round 3: 5 Color Pod 2-0 (3-0)
It's really four color pod, but he's got a Phrexain Metamorph so we call it five lol Game one wasn't event full. I win the roll, and he mills to five. Turn one Probe. His turn Gut Shot his Mana Bird. Turn 2 pass, Leak his Emissary. Turn three Geist of Saint Traft. I protected him, and easily won the game. Game 2 I had the dumbest hand on earth. Turn one Delver with two ponders, a leak, two lands, and Snapcaster. I ended up casting three Mana Leaks in the game, and both ponder's. I had another Snapcaster in my hand, and had used 2x Vapor Snag. Also had a Sword of Feast and Famine coming up against him. He wasn't excited though. Really made him mad I casted three Mana Leaks lol.
-4x Prob
-2x Gut Shot
-2x Dissipate
+2x Sword of Feast and Famine
+2x Revoke Existence
+1x Divine Offering
+2x Day of Judgment
Round 4: Pod 2-0 (4-0)
I believe me and this guy where the only two that were 3-0's at this point. He was playing a Pod deck, but didn't get to see to much of it to really know. I went 2-0 in these and nothing exciting really happened. Got Delver down turn one in game one. Game two involved me casting Geist of Saint Traft and just swinging in while Vapor Snaging and so forth.
-4x Prob
-2x Gut Shot
-2x Dissipate
+2x Sword of Feast and Famine
+2x Revoke Existence
+1x Divine Offering
+2x Day of Judgment
I tried Delver Human at FNM and it was just sub-par for me. Changed a lot up for Saturday, and really liked it. Couldn't believe how great Geist of Saint Traft really is. Makes me wonder why people don't play Mono Green to be honest. Hexproof guys just get there. I'm really happy I went 4-0. Felt like I redeemed myself after playing a sub-par(to me) Delver Humans at FNM and going 2-4. The deck really seems to play smooth was well which I like. Snapcaster gives so much more value to cards, Delver can win alone, and so can Geist. Just really happy after my FNM results lol
I recently switched from Spirit Delver to standard UW Delver and went 3-1 and made top 8 at my first tournament with it. This report is from a Monday standard tournament of around 20 people. Everyone was a competitive player, and there were no scrub decks.
Game 1: My opening hand had 2 Invisible Stalker, 3 lands, 1 Gitaxian Probe, and 1 Ponder. I strongly consider mulling it, but I hoped that my Gitaxian Probe and Ponder would dig into something good--ideally a turn 3 Geist or fast Runechanter's Pike. I whiff on both cards, but he has 2 dead Oblivion Rings so I try to go the distance. I race his Champion+tokens, but I never draw more guys/equipment for my stalkers. I had just sleeved up the deck 30 minutes ago, so I honestly blame shuffling. I piled shuffled about 5 more times after this game. The game was fast, so my opponent didn't mind.
Sideboard:
-3 Mana Leak
-1 Negate
+2 Timely Reinforcements
+1 Day of Judgement
+1 Sword of War and Peace
Game 2: He has 2 Champion of the Parish, but throughout the game I draw into 2 Vapor Snag and 2 Snapcaster Mage which flash back both the Vapor Snag. Seesawing the Champions keeps him off balance enough for me to squeak through. My single Dismember got his Hero of Bladehold, which was probably the single most important play of the game.
Game 3: My hand is slow, but I have 3 lands, Day of Judgement, Sword of War and Peace, and Delver. I turn 2 flip, let him beat my down with T1 Champion, T2 Champion. Turn 4 he plays Hero of Bladehold, swings and passes. Salivating, I Day of Judgement him. Next turn I resolve a Geist of Saint Traft, and then the next turn Sword+equip. He O-rings the sword, makes tokens, and kills Geist. I play Stalker, pass. He resolves Intangible Virtue, swings. I play Snapcaster, Snag a token, he plays some guys, he goes to 5 I go to 7. I top deck Sword of War and Peace and win.
Round 2: Ub Control
1-0-0
Game 1: I probe him and he has lands, Doom Blade, Think Twice, and Forbidden Alchemy. I resolve a turn 2 Stalker, turn 4 Pike+equip. I have a large Thought Scour and Ponder chain, and Runechanter's Pike becomes huge. His Drownyards sit there useless. I win quickly.
Sideboard:
-3 Mana Leak
-1 Phantasmal Image
+2 Revoke Existence
+1 Dungeon Geists
+1 Sword of Feast and Famine
Game 2: An early Black Sun's Zenith kills 2 Delvers on turn 3. I cast Snapcaster Mage, flash back Ponder, but I don't get anything. He manages to land a Batterskull before I can get a clock on him, then casts Consecrated Sphinx the next turn.
Game 3: This game was very long. I probe him early and hold a Geist of Saint Traft for a long time, but I finally resolve it. I beat him down for a while and get him to three. He board wipes, plays Consecrated Sphinx. I play another geist, I put him on the defensive for a few turns, he eventually resolves the Batterskull and wins again.
Round 3: WB Tokens
1-1-0
Game 1: I turn 1 thought Scour (I think I milled 1 other spell), turn 2 Invisible Stalker. I hit him once, he casts Timely Reinforcements, and it's a race. I Ponder, and grab a Runechanter's Pike. I end up casting 3 Vapor Snag on one turn--I kill 3 guys, make him lose 3, and make him take 3 more from a Stalker equipped with a Pike. I won after that.
Sideboard:
-1 Dismember
-1 Phantasmal Image
-2 Mana Leak
+1 Sword of War and Peace
+1 Day of Judgement
+2 Timely Reinforcements
Game 2: I get a good start, but lack equipments. T1 Delver, T2 Stalker, T3 Geist. He resolves a T5 Gideon, and despite my best efforts I can't get out of a Gideon lock. He clogged up the board with too many tokens for me to get through with enough damage. He was able to kill most of my guys, and he swung while my other creatures were too busy attacking Gideon.
Game 3: He plays Lingering Souls early, I resolve a Geist. He double blocks with souls, I snag one in response and he takes 5. He casts Timely Reinforcements. I swing with Geist, he triple blocks (fast learner), and I cast Snapcaster and Vapor Snag my own Geist. He takes 4. He flashbacks Lingering Souls and it looks like he's stabilizing, but I Ponder, Thought Scour, land a few guys and win with 8 life left.
Round 4: Ub Zombies
2-1-0
Game 1: This had actually been my friend that I had driven to the event with. It was sort of a bummer because the loser would be out of the top 8, but we were happy for whoever did well. Anyways, I resolve an early Invisible Stalker and a Pike. He slips my T1 Delver, plays a T2 Highborn Ghoul, and resolves a Geralf's Messenger next turn. Thought Scour makes my Runechanter's Pike large fast, I use Vapor Snag and Snapcasters to bounce and chump block his guys (I let the Messenger go through). I win with 5 life left--he would have won next turn.
Sideboard:
-3 Mana Leak
-1 Negate
-2 Gitaxian Probe
+2 Timely Reinforcements
+2 Celestial Purge
+1 Sword of Feast and Famine
+1 Sword of War and Peace
Game 2: He casts a turn 4 Distress, so I Purge his Messenger in Response--he discards my Snapcaster. I play Blade Splicer which can block his Highborn Ghoul, stopping his clock. I Resolve a Sword of War and Peace and a Sword of Feast and Famine and just win.
Final Record:
Matches: 3-1-0
Games: 7-4-0
Top 8:
Match 1: Naya Pod
Game 1: This was a good Pod deck and he was a good player. He plays a T2 Strangleroot Geist swings, I Phantasmal Image it and swing on my turn. He plays Blade Splicer and swings again. I draw, Ponder, Delver (with no spells coming up) and pass. He swings, I trade with Strangeroot Geist, copy the Blade Splicer--he eot Galvanic Blasts Image. It was pretty much downhill from there for him, I never really got anything going. I saw a Huntmaster and a Birthing Pod as well.
Sideboard:
-3 Mana Leak
-1 Negate
-2 Gitaxian Probe
+2 Flashfreeze
+1 Celestial Purge
+2 Revoke Existence
+1 Divine Offering
Game 2: I get stuck on a Seachrome Coast, Plains, and a Moorland Haunt. I have a heavy blue hand that is too clunky to unload. I Ponder, but I fail to find another blue source. He Pods into a Acidic Slime and destroys my Seachrome Coast. I promptly lose.
All in all, I was very impressed with this deck. I came away with 2 draft sets so I can't complain. It was my very first time piloting it (although I've played against it a lot), so I maybe could have made more optimal deck/play decisions. Looking back, this is how I would change the maindeck:
-1 Phantasmal Image
+1 Geist of Saint Traft
-1 Midnight Haunting
+1 Thought Scour
-1 Plains
+1 Moorland Haunt
For the sideboard, I would take out 2 Dungeon Geists. The card is amazing, but I would rather improve my UB control matchup. Perhaps Surgical Extraction or Nihil Spellbomb would be a better fit. Dungeon Geist isn't that good against Consecrated Sphinx xD.
Had a really rough FNM here. There was 5-6 Rounds of Swiss.
Round 1 vs. GR Werewolves. Game 1, I put very little pressure early. He gets out a pair of Instigator Gang. I don't have any Mana Leak or Vapor Snag. I lose to 2 Moonmist, ending 1 turn short of damage. Game 2, I get out Sword of War and Peace after he Ancient Grudge a Ratchet Bomb and tapped out. I hit for a bunch. He flashbacked the Ancient Grudge, but I have another Sword of War and Peace in hand. The next game had his Ancient Grudge on a Ratchet Bomb and a Sword. Then after he drew another Ancient Grudge (I Gitaxian Probe'd him), I draw another Sword. He always leaves up Green and eventually gets there with a Reckless Waif and Immerwolf with 2 Full Moon's Rise. I was 1 damage short of winning, but trample got me. 1-2.
Round 2 vs. Naya Pod. He kept a 1 land, 1 Avacyn's Pilgrim hand. I kept a 3 land hand. Luckily for him, I didn't draw or have Gut Shot and he drew the lands he needed to Blade Splicer, Huntmaster, etc. I end up 4 damage short, just needing a Vapor Snag as I had 2 Snapcaster Mage. He made a comment about now he knows why Snapcaster Mage is good. Game 2, I come slowly. I wait out a Ratchet Bomb until he flips a Huntmaster. I kill Hunty, the Wolf, and a Blade Splicer token after I had blocked the Blade Splicer ealier with Snap. I am low on life, but he doesn't have much more until I have Flashfreeze and Snap/Flashfreeze. Game 3, I come slowly again. It still ends up in a topdeck mode. I didn't have Flashfreeze on time for a P Titan, but I Vapor Snag it and then Flashfreeze a Huntmaster the next turn. I Snap/ Flashfreeze, but all I have is Snapcaster Mages. He eventually gets me with a topdecked Strangleroot Geist and BoP w/ Gavony Township. I drop 4 lands from my hand that I had and he was surprised. 1-2.
Round 3 vs. Frites. Game 1, I get an early Delver. He does a turn 2 Mulch after I Gut Shot a BoP. He gets Unburial Rites and Elesh Norn. I save my Mana Leak for turn 4, Mana Leak Unburial Rites flashed, and do lethal when I draw my 5th land for Sword of War and Peace, equip, attack. Game 2, I kept a 2 land hand. After 1 Ponder, he does Surgical Extraction on Ponder. Although I draw 1 land this game, I can't find another, so I can't put much pressure. I Phantasmal Image an Elesh Norn. I have to do it again with another Image 2 turns later. Eventually Lingering Souls and a Huntmaster get me as I have no pressure. All I have is 3 lands, although I can Moorland Haunt a few times. I draw Dissipate after I had Mana Leak'd Unburial Rites hardcasted. So I have to use it on the flashback next turn. Game 3 is a pretty fun one, but very disappointing. I keep a 2 land, Ponder, Delver, Batterskull, Mana Leak, Gitaxian Probe hand. I play Delver. He doesn't flip; I Ponder and find another Delver to cast with a Dissipate and Ponder coming up. I make a crucial mistake of not saving mana for Mulch, which gets him a land when he was stuck on 2. He is stuck on 3 for a while, but gets Lingering Souls. I save my Delvers, then attack after I draw Gut Shot. He gets another Lingering Souls off flashback. I save the Delver. He gets the lands and Thrun. Meanwhile I am stuck on 3 lands. Basically I never see the 5th land in time for Batterskull. I end up drawing 4 Gitaxian Probe in a row (I should have sided a few out), stuck on 3 lands. Thrun gets me low and by the time I draw the 5th land before lethal, he had just drawn Faithless Looting and dumped an Ancient Grudge. I lose this game because of playing the 2nd Delver instead of saving Mana Leak for Mulch, which I knew right away that it was bad. Then 4 Gitaxian Probe in a row showed me my sideboarding mistakes just to rub it in that each move is crucial. 1-2.
I end up leaving early since at 0-3, I can't finish well and I can prepare for the GPT tomorrow. My 1st opponent was estimated 1650, 2nd opponent - 1650, 3rd opponent - 1775. I usually lose to less than average players. :sad:
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)
At my LGS, people usually don't play too much Delver (probably 5%). Today it was near 15%. I played Gerry T's list with a different SB.
Round 1 vs. uW Humans. These games were blazingly fast. We both mulled to 6. He got stuck on 2 land and had some 3 drops. I get a turn 2 Delver and flip. I get a 4th turn Restoration Angel and it is over soon after that. Game 2, I do Delver, Delver, Ponder. He does Champ, Champ, Gather the Townsfolk, Doomed Traveler, Honor of the Pure, Grand Abolisher. I cast an early Ratchet Bomb and eventually do Timely Reinforcements, then Ratchet Bomb 2 Champ but make a mistake of not also flashing in Snapcaster Mage in response to Grand Abolisher. I did put a counter on Bomb, but forgot to also flash in Snappy. Luckily I survive at 1 life, play Sword of Feast and Famine, equip and swing for exactly lethal. The guy told me that I beat his "god draw". 2-0.
Round 2 vs. RDW. I always play this guy in Round 2. Game 1, I keep 6 with 3 Island, Snapcaster Mage, and 2 other cards. I draw 3 straight Moorland Haunt and lose to a bunch of red damage. Game 2, I do an early Restoration Angel along with 2 Snapcaster Mage on Mana Leak. This hand gets me there as he has a Shrine that can pop me for 13 life with me at 15. He draws too many land. Game 3, I play an assortment of Timely Reinforcements, forcing him to Grim Lavamancer his own creature to not give me creatures. I get Ratchet Bomb on Shrine. He cracks for 3 damage, but Restoration Angel gets there again with 2 Snapcaster Mage. 2-1.
Round 3 vs. GW Aggro. Game 1 after a mull by me, he gets me to 1 life with Strangleroot Geist and Blade Splicer (token is Snag'd). I kill him with many 1/1 Spirits. Game 2, my hand is pretty poor again. His is too. We go back and forth until we are topdecking. I topdeck 3 land. He topdecks Sigarda, then Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. I scoop immediately but don't have much time left. Game 3, I keep a 1 land hand to save time. It almost doesn't get me there as he has Geist, Blade Splicer, Restoration Angel. I make a mistake that would have won me the game if we had time, but we ran out anyway. I needed 3-4 turns more. 1-1-1.
Round 4 vs. Uw Delver mirror. I get paired up. This is our LGS Delver player. He always does well and he's not the best player either. Game 1, we both mull. His Delver meets my Gut Shot. Eventually I get there drawing enough lands to Mana Leak his good stuff and put out my Geist of Saint Traft. After he put Snapcaster Mage to block, I Snapcaster Mage and Gut Shot. Game 2, he gets low on mana again and eventually when we are low on cards, I force out a Consecrated Sphinx. I draw into another and he scoops after that. 2-0.
Round 5 vs. Junk Pod. I get paired up again. This guy has been doing well recently so I give him a lot of credit for tuning his deck. Both games had early Delver. When I put Sword of Feast and Famine on Delver and attacked. He tried for Geist Honored Monk, but my Mana Leak that I had gotten after I Pondered, then shuffled, then Snapcaster Mage, Ponder. Game 2, I have early Delver and Restoration Angel. There is not much he can do after he does 3rd turn Birthing Pod and I reveal Divine Offering for the card to flip Delver. (I had another in hand) I get there with the 2 fliers. 2-0.
Round 6 vs. Uw Delver mirror. This guy has had incredible luck playing against me. He has beaten me with Naya 3 matches before, usually killing me by turn 4 or 5. I shuffle the heck out of his deck. I mull to 5 the first game. I get stuck on 2 land while he kills me eventually with a Snapcaster Mage and 1/1 Spirit with Sword of Feast and Famines attached to them. I made a mistake when I was going to have to discard by casting a Geist of Saint Traft, which was promptly Mana Leak'd. He put Sword and attacked next turn. Then 2 Mana Leaks later, I lose to Sword'd creatures. Game 2 I mull to 5. I end up winning when he gets stuck on 2 land and goes to the discard phase at least 3 times if not more. I eventually get Consecrated Sphinx through when he is forced to tap to stop my Spirits and Snapcaster Mage. He goes for Consecrated Sphinx on his turn, but before my draw step, I Vapor Snag his and we are on to game 3. I mull to 6 cards. I keep a hand with Moorland Haunt, Glacial Fortress, 2 Delver, Mana Leak, and something else. He does turn 1 Delver, turn 2 Delver. I drop 2 Delver on turn 2 after drawing an Island on turn 2 (Glacial Fortress tapped on turn 1). His flip. Mine don't. I try to flash Restoration Angel on turn 4 to block a Delver and keep me at 4 life. He does Mana Leak and I am pretty sure he has Vapor Snag for lethal so I scoop. He admitted that he DID have Vapor Snag. 1-2.
I finish 4-1-1, which was my best record at FNM in a while. I get 3rd place. Yay Delver!
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)
I'm not sure why I'm the only one that posts my tournament report here, but here goes. FNM; 45 players.
Round 1 vs. RDW. I don't get any early pressure, with my 1st creature (other than a 1/1 spirit from Haunt and Thought Scour) being a Restoration Angel. He gets a Koth and it takes a bunch to kill it. I know what's in his hand from Probe. I attack a 2 Loyalty Koth with 2 1/1 Spirits while RA goes at him. He uses Brimstone Volley to kill a Spirit, but I finish Koth off with a Gut Shot that I had just drawn. Game 2, I get out an early Delver, then Restoration Angel. I have the Mana Leaks when I need them, Leaking Koth and then Chandra. Probe made it easier. I won pretty easily still with Timely Reinforcments in my hand. 2-0.
Round 2 vs. RG Homebrew. This kid's deck was pretty weak to Vapor Snag. His Markov Blademasters are Gut Shot'd and he just has Increasing Savagery and small burn in his hand. I get him both games with a turn 3 Geist of Saint Traft. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. GW Aggro. I Gut Shot his Llanowar Elves. I do Gitaxian Probe. I Mana Leak a Champion of Lambholt (probably wasn't the smartest play). I get Geist of Saint Traft. He gets Thrun. The problem for him is that I have 2 Restoration Angel. He does a turn 5 Wolfir Silverheart when I'm tapped out and knocks me to 9 life with Thrun, but once I untap and Vapor Snag, I am all right. Game 2 he gets stuck on 2 land after a mull to 5. I eventually get there with a Delver, a Restoration Angel, and a 1/1 spirit. I still have Mana Leak and 2 Gut Shot in hand. 2-0.
Round 4 vs. Uw Delver mirror. This is our LGS Delver player. The same guy from round 4 last week. Game 1, I land the Geist of Saint Traft and his answers are killed or moved out of the way. Game 2, I lost to 3 Delver flipped and Runechanter's Pike. He does Mental Misstep twice on Gut Shot. I fail to see Ratchet Bomb and lose. Game 3, he gets there with 2 Sword of War and Peace. I fail to draw 2 Divine Offering and he gets there as my pressure comes late. 1-2.
Round 5 vs. Naya Wolf Run. This is our Wolf Run player, but he constantly changes things up to adapt to the metagame. This time, he tried several miracles. I keep a stupid hand with 1 Island, 1 Delver, 1 Gitaxian Probe, and 4 Mana Leak. I end up getting there as I draw 2 lands right away. Then after he Caverns a Titan, he gets several spells Leaked so he can chump block the Delver. I end up killing him with a 1/1 Spirit from Haunt as he can only chump the Delver at 1 life. I was at 6 from P Titan. Game 2, his mana is slow (tapped). I have Delver and Restoration Angel. He casts his. I Vapor Snag. Eventually I have a Delver flipped and a Geist of Saint Traft. He taps out for Gideon Jura on turn 6 (land cipt) while at 3 life. He didn't know that I can attack Gideon Jura with the Geist and Delver while hitting him for 4 with the Angel. I allow him to call a judge to make sure. 2-0.
Round 6 vs. MBI. This is 1 of the sons from the guy from round 5. Game 1, I have all the Gut Shot, Dismember, and Snap/Gut Shot that I need. I get out an early Geist of Saint Traft and ride it to a quick victory. Game 2, I fail to see any creatures except a Restoration Angel. I make a mistake of flashing it out to block Whispering Specter, leaving him JUST enough mana to Black Sun's Zenith my Angel. I would have been able to suit up with Sword of Feast and Famine and swing the next turn. I eventually scoop after 3 lands in a row with no Moorland Haunt. Game 3, I draw Gut Shot for Plague Stinger. Then when Whispering Specter and his Inkmoth Nexus come my way after I had just played lands for several turns, I do Divine Offering on his Inkmoth Nexus. I am hitting him with a 1/1 Spirit with Sword of Feast and Famine. I decide to use my last removal, Dismember on his Whispering Specter to prevent it from making me discard. I draw a Restoration Angel and it is over soon after that. He ends up getting hit 4 times from the Spirit with the Sword. He discarded 4 Lashwrithe and got stuck on 2 mana after the Nexus died. I go for lethal. He does Go for the Throat on Restoration Angel. I have Mana Leak in hand. 2-1.
I finish 5-1, 4th place. My opponent that beat me in Round 4 lost in the 6th round to finish at 5-1, 2nd place. There was another guy who had better tiebreakers than me. Early on when no one had dropped yet, I noticed a lot of people playing Uw Delver and RDW. I would estimate that 6 players were doing Uw Delver (not counting the Ur ones) and 6 players were RDW.
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)
I guess I'm the only one who posts here. Well, I am going to post another because who knows what will and what will not be banned. It was a 56 player FNM.
Round 1 vs. 4 Color Pod. This guy actually does pretty well here and I noticed he draws pretty well too. I Gitaxian Probe him to see Island, Forest, BoP, BoP. I have Gut Shot and SCM. I get both BoPs and he is stuck for a while. I land a Geist of Saint Traft, but he does Phantasmal Image immediately (must have drawn it). Eventually, I do the final nail with Sword of War and Peace. Game 2 is a really long one. I make a play mistake of stealing Daybreak Ranger instead of a bonded Nearheath Pilgrim when I Phantasmal Image his Zealous Conscripts. I'm pretty sure he would have been screwed after blocks. Game 3 with 5 min. left, I get Delver with Sword of War and Peace and a Restoration Angel. This is why the deck is so good. 2-1.
Round 2 vs. GW Aggro. Game 1 he comes out with the 1/1 "fight" dude. Then he does Nearheath Pilgrim. I have Snappy to flash and block. I kill Pilgrims until a late Delver goes the distance. Game 2, I kept with 4 lands. Big mistake. I Ponder twice and reshuffle because I don't see creatures. I draw mostly lands and can't find a creature. Game 3, he gets more Nearheath Pilgrims. It comes to a point after he did Sun Titan, Nearheath Pilgrim that I have Delver flipped, Geist of Saint Traft, and a Snag in hand. I Snag the Titan and swing to knock him to 1 life. Next turn, I draw Snapcaster Mage, but a 1/1 Spirit gets him anyway. 2-1.
Round 3 vs. Wolf Run brew. He had a lot of equipments, which was odd. Game 1, he ramps into a turn 4 P Titan with Caverns and there is not much I can do but Snag it. He gets there with a Wolf Ran small creature. Game 2, he gets a few creatures Flashfreeze, then SCM/Flashfreeze. He gets out 3 equipments, the last being a Batterskull. I Vapor Snag the token and swing for lethal. Game 3, he gets stuck on 2 mana. When I Gitaxian Probe him, I see a powerful yet risky hand. He only draws 1 more land this game and when he taps out, I swing for lethal with Geist of Saint Traft and Delver. 2-1.
Round 4 vs. Delver mirror. This is a very tough opponent who usually beats me in Modern with Delver (although I haven't played Modern for months). Game 1, he gets there. I am forced to Dismember 2 creatures. This gets me low enough for him to land Snapcaster Mage/Gut Shot for lethal. Game 2, I just draw the nuts. I don't remember what, but Geist got there after I moved his blockers out of the way. Game 3, he got stuck on 3 land. I went up to 6 mana drops with really great cards again. I think this was the best I drew this tournament and Delver got there after being snagged once. 2-1.
Round 5 vs. Delver mirror. Game 1, I get him with a bunch of Snapcaster Mages after Gut Shot on his Delver. I end up getting Angel and value. Game 2 is really long. He is beating me down with 1/1 Spirits but finally I stabilize where he has 1 card in hand, I have a Plains, Gut Shot, Dismember and a freshly drawn Island. He plays Geist of Saint Traft. I have no answer. The very last game, he tells a guy watching that this is his best hand this tournament. I do Gut Shot on Delver. I Mana Leak on his Geist of Saint Traft. I end up doing lethal with a Sword of War and Peace on a Delver, a Restoration Angel, and 2 Vapor Snag after he flashed SCM to stay alive (from 1 Vapor Snag). 2-1.
Round 6 vs. Delver "mirror" with Blade Splicer. I am the only X-0, but we have to play it out. Game 1, I kept a stupid hand with 4 land. I Gut Shot his turn 1 Delver, but get my Geist of Saint Traft through. He plays his just drawn Blade Splicer (Probed him earlier). I have no answer as he gets Sword of Body and Mind, then Sword of War and Peace on the Token. One Vapor Snag would have won this game as my Geist had SoWaP too. I draw only lands. Game 2, I get there when he gets stuck on 3 mana. I have too many answers in my hand by that point; Angel, Snapcaster Mage, Mana Leak. Game 3, I keep another dumb hand. I only have defense, but he gets out a Splicer that he drew. He ends up drawing Angel, then Phantasmal Image on Angel. I am forced to use my Dismember, despite knowing that he has Hero of Bladehold. He casts it next turn and when 2 Thought Scour and my draw gets me lands, he wins. 1-2.
I fall to 4th place, at 5-1. My final opponent got 1st and my Round 5 opponent got 2nd.
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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)
Game 2: He plays copperline - birds, i probe him and see 2 more birds and no lands with 2 huntsmasters. I quickly gut shot the bird and flip delver on two, he tries to burn it but I have mutagenic growth. He never gets huntmasters out.
2-0-0, 2-0-1
Round 4: Solar Flare
This is my buddy who played delver for a while. I win the toss.
Game 1: I blind flip delver on two and leak his lingering souls and day of judgement, SoFaF up the delver and smash his face in with it, having mana leak mana up the whole game ruined him.
Side: -2 gut shot, -1 dismember, -3 Geist of saint traft, -2 blade splicer, +2 Consecrated Sphinx, +2 DoJ, +2 phantasmal, +1 nihil spellbomb, +1 dissipate
Game 2: I flip delver on three after a ponder on two, leak a doom blade, play resto angel on four and leak the DoJ.
I mulled pretty aggresively here, going for 2 ish lands, delver and at least a leak. I feel like I need to get them low before their sun titan **** gets going. DoJ and Nihil after they get it off works pretty fantastically to ruin them.
2-0-0, 3-0-1
Game 5: U/B Zombies
I'm not sure how he got to 4-0 with how he played, to be honest.
Game 1: He keeps a 1 land hand. He plays fume spitter, I play delver and he kills it. He passes with no play, and I play a land and delver - ponder. He plays a gravecrawler and passes (only 1 land still), and I play splicer and he just scoops.
Side: +2 purge, +1 o-ring, +1 nihil, -1 dismember, -1SoWAP, -2 mana leak ( i assumed caverns)
Game 2: He plays fume spitter and passes. I play delver and pass. he untaps and tries to tragic slip, I play mutagenic and force him to sac the spitter. I pass turn two with vapor snag in hand, he plays an artist. I snag it EoT, play Geist of Saint Traft and pass. he plays geralfs and passes. I attack for 6 with resto angel mana up. he plays artist and gravecrawler, attacks for 3. I avoid restoration angeling here and take it, then he killing waves for 0. I take 4 more and drops me to 11. I EoT angel, then timely and get 3 soldiers and go up to 17. I attack for 9 taking him to 7, then purge the artist with my 5th mana. he plays two artists on his turn but can't sac anything so he attacks for 6, I go back to 11. I play and equip SoFAF and win.
Deck ran much smoother than it has before. I was happy that I only played 1 of the 5 solar flare decks at our FNM. Got first and got a Gisela and a Tibalt in my packs, plus that sweet acidic slime.
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Currently Playing:
Standard: UW HumansWU
Record - 49-19-3 - Retired, for now. WUDelverUW
Record - 29-10-1
Good job Einherjar! I've always hated the Turbo Fog archetype.
TCG Player "Diamond Event" in San Diego, CA. I believe there was 132 players, 8 rounds of Swiss.
Round 1 vs. Uw Delver mirror. This guy is really cool and although we've actually only played each other once before, we have our friendly rivalry. But we wish the best in other games. Game 1 is very close. I make a small mistake after my Restoration Angel was Snag'd. I knew 1 of the cards in his hand, but didn't know what he drew. I took a chance and flashed in Restoration Angel so that I could block 1 of 2 creatures. The card was Mana Leak. I was really low on life, but may have been able to stabilize by waiting till next turn with Leak mana up. Game 2, he answered my early Delver. Then he answered another with Snap/Gut Shot. I land 3rd turn Geist of Saint Traft. I Gut Shot the Snap and swing. I get through twice I believe. He draws the Image in time. After this, he draws 2 Delver and an Angel. I get a sided Feeling of Dread that I put 2 of vs. the mirror as recommended by a friend. It buys me time, but I just draw land after that. 0-2.
Round 2 vs. UB Tezzeret. This guy was a really nice guy. His deck was just no match for Delver, despite 2 Ratchet Bombs in each game. In game 1, he Ratchet Bombs to kill the Angel from Geist. Then he does Doom Blade on another Angel next turn. He gets another Ratchet Bomb. I purposely don't flip my Delver to get an extra point and win next turn by Mana Leaking several PWs in a row. Game 2, I Probe again. Since his hand is clogged with PWs, I Mana Leak removal and get through with Geist of Saint Traft again. After a Forbidden Alchemy, he puts Liliana of the Veil in his GY. He asks me if he can take it back. I don't let him, but I told him later that if he lands Liliana, I will just Moorland Haunt, sac, then attack Liliana with my Geist while Angel goes to him. It buys him 1 turn, if that. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. RG Aggro. This guy was probably a somewhat new player. Game 1, he telegraphed that he wanted to get Wolfir Silverheart in play. I let it through eventually after killing mana dorks to slow it. I chump his now 7/7 Wolfir Avenger, which had gotten me low, with SCM. I swing with Geist of Saint Traft and Delver for exact lethal. Game 2, I get hit with Strangleroot Geist a while, but have 2 Snag in hand and SCM. I get through with a midgame Delver and SCM. The turn before lethal, he makes a mistake of tapping out for a threat and to stop my threat. I have Vapor Snag for the threat when I knew the last card in his hand was Crushing Vines, which he had since a turn 1 Probe. 2-0.
Round 4 vs. UGr Wolf Run. This guy has played this for a while and is a really good player. I played him in the SCG Los Angeles in the top 8 with the same deck, just modified. He then got 1st place in that SCG in Legacy the next day! Game 1 is painfully slow. By the time I get pressure, he gets Titan/Glimmerpost. I fake Mana Leak the whole game while having multiple Vapor Snag. I eventually get lethal. He says he made a mistake of not casting his Karn, for fear of Leak. Game 2 goes back and forth. When he is at 4 life, he draws Whipflare, which gets my Delver. Then while he draws land, Frost Titan, Prime Titan, I draw land, Snag, land. He wins with Titans. Game 3, I land Geist of Saint Traft. I Snag his early Titan out of the way and swing for lethal eventually. He really needed Whipflare this game. 2-1.
Round 5 vs. RW Humans. This is a scary match for me, since when I playtest, it's 50/50. Game 1 is close. I lack Gut Shot, which owns cards like Lightning Mauler and Nearheath Pilgrim. However, I have 2 turns (5 and 6) to draw a 5th land to Sword of War and Peace, equip, win. On turn 6, I draw my 5th land (an Island) to Sword/equip and win while at 2 life. Game 2 is not close. I can't counter his Hero of Bladehold or Dismember it and after a Snag, it comes back and kills me. I had to block some creatures with Geist of Saint Traft to stay alive twice. Game 3 is also very close. He is the 1st to get Sword of War and Peace on Lightning Mauler. However, I come back with Sword of War and Peace on Geist of Saint Traft. (I saw the land coming up after Ponder.) We go back and forth with my Timely Reinforcement tokens chumping huge Champs. I swing for lethal the next turn, but I show him the Phantasmal Image, which I had saved and could have copied his freshly played Silverblade Paladin for a double striking Angel token anyway. The game was really close, but I got there. 2-1.
Round 6 vs. Naya Humans. This guy nearly came late, getting pizza. He offered me a slice, win or lose. He told me he was 4-0 vs. Delver today. Game 1, early Delver and SCM with countermagic gets me there. Game 2 he mulls to 5. He still nearly beats me. He does Champ, Champ, something else that I can't remember, then Mayor of Avabruck. After I chump with a few Timely Reinforcement tokens, I have enough to swing with Geist of Saint Traft for 4 + Snag in hand. This was a very close game and when I took a hit from a 4/4 Champ and 3/3 Champ to go from 19 to 12, it was looking somewhat grim. 2-0.
Round 7 vs. Uw Delver Splicer. These games are what Magic's about. Game 1, Delver into Geist of Saint Traft. I get a pretty good hand this game and his average hand doesn't get there. He kept at 1 Fortress, SCM, Angel, Image, Splicer, Snag, Probe. However, he did draw into 2 lands right away. He makes a comment about that being the best hand I can draw. It was damn good, but I don't know about the "best" hand. Game 2 is really close. He is swinging with Golem tokens. I am swinging with Delver. When I am at 1 and he is at 3, he uses his last card for SCM and does Gut Shot to me. Final, him 1, me 0. Game 3 is also extremely close. His hand is Caverns, Haunt, Island, Splicer X 2, SCM, Probe. This game is going back and forth. I Gut Shot and Snag a Blade Splicer and token. I Gut Shot and Divine Offering another one. He comes back with more. On his final turn with me at 5 and him at 3, he attacks me with 2 Golems, Blade Splicer, Phantasmal Image on Blade Splicer, and Snapcaster Mage. I have just 2 Snapcaster Mage untapped with 4 mana up and 2-3 cards in hand. When he attacks, I move my SCM around. I didn't tell him blocks, but he gets upset. So a judge gets involved and watches. I do Vapor Snag on a golem. He responds with Vapor Snag on my SCM. This REALLY confuses me, but maybe it was presumably to "remove" him as a blocker. I flash him back out and use my final mana to Vapor Snag another golem. Then he tells me that I block the SCM and Blade Splicer. I say no, I block the SCM. Mind you, I know his last card in hand is Divine Offering, which can't effect anything at this point. I take 2 from the Image and Splicer. I am at 2 life now (he Snag'd my SCM). Next turn, I draw and immediately swing with SCM for lethal. He says that this play mistake cost him top 8, which it did since he won the next round and finished 1-2 places less than myself (but I had 19 pts while he had 18 pts.). 2-1.
Round 8 vs. Uw Delver. ID to top 8.
I make the top 8 as the 8th seed. This gives me a chance to play a guy who used to play at my LGS. Now we both have moved on to other LGSs. He started around Shards of Alara, but has mades some big strides, including beating Brian Kibler in the Swiss today.
Top 8 vs. Naya. Game 1 goes like this. I have Delver. He does Avacyn Pilgrim into Borderland Ranger into Huntmaster of the Fells into O Ring on Delver. I attack with Geist, blocked with wolf token. I recast another Geist of Saint Traft. I got him to 6, but 3 lands in a row drawn ruin me. I still have 3 lands in my hand in the end while 2 Huntmaster, Ranger, and Pilgrims kill me. I feel badly because 1 Gut Shot on the 1st Pilgrim would have won me the game. Game 2, he gets out 2 Huntmaster of the Fells before I deal any damage. I do Timely Reinforcements. I eventually get a Geist of Saint Traft. I have Dungeon Geists on 1 of the Huntmaster. He doesn't flash out Angel because he thinks I may have Snag. I only have Mana Leak, but he has Cavern of Souls on Angel, which gave away that he has Angel early in the game. It didn't matter. Without casting the Angel, he just has too many creatures. I look at the 2 land in my hand with just Dungeon Geists and 1/1 Spirit on board and think about how to win. I wish I can cast both lands on the same turn so I can double Moorland Haunt, but I can't. I don't see any way out of this, 1 creature to his 5-6. I shake his hand and wish him luck. 0-2.
So, 6-1-1 in Swiss and 0-1 in the top 8. 6-2-1. I felt pretty badly for losing, but I feel like 99% of players would have done the same with his draws vs. my draws, so I can't feel too badly. Also I shuffled his deck pretty well. I guess I get 8th place. I'm the guy with the "Fail" T-Shirt, which I guess fits me.
(BTW, if you look on TCG Player, they did my deck list wrong. I had 3 Moorland Haunt instead of 3 Cavern of Souls. I didn't play Cavern at all.)
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)
Round 1 vs. Uw Delver mirror. This kid has done well in the past vs. me, but I have beaten him the last 3 times (ever since I played Delver). Game 1, I Probe him. I hit him with a 1/1 Delver for a while after Gut Shot on his Delver. I basically grind this game out and he is stuck on 3 mana, so he can't activate Haunt. I can and win with Spirits and Sword of War and Peace when he taps out. Game 2, I am hit with a Delver 4 times. I get a Delver on line and am behind in the race. I leave my Delver to block. When he Snags, I Snag his, then when he recast his, I Gut Shot it. He gets mana flooded, but no Moorland Haunt. I drop a late game Geist of Saint Traft (he has 3 in in GY). 2-0.
Round 2 vs. UW Metalcraft. Don't laugh. This guy is a really good player and a Level 1 Judge. He finished 4-1-1, tying in the last round today. Also he beat a Delver in Round 1. Game 1 goes back and forth. He is hitting me with an Argentum Sphinx and then keeping it as a blocker. With many creatures (from Day, etc) in my GY, I Haunt many Spirits. Although my Restoration Angel is tapped by Tumble Magnet with Contagion Clasp proliferate (hit my turn 1 Delver). I get enough Spirits and a late game Snapcaster Mage for exact lethal. Game 2, I sit on turn 1 Delver, Mana Leak 2 Day of Judgment. However, this is where he drops turns 6 and 7 Batterskull. My Delver doesn't do enough before 2 Batterskull get him back in the game. Even if I draw Divine Offering by now, I still lose. Game 3 is really close. He resolves Pristine Talisman, which I Divine Offering at EoT because I also have SCM and 2 Vapor Snag for Batterskull. When we are on turn 5 of turns, I cast Sword of War and Peace and swing him down to 1 life. I also have 1 more Vapor Snag on Batterskull token to win. 2-1.
Round 3 vs. Esper Control. Game 1 is bad. The 1st thing I play is a turn 8 Sword of War and Peace with 6 lands in play. This game goes back and forth and luckily he didn't play a threat early because even with a full grip, I didn't have Mana Leak. I draw into it on time and get there with Flash creatures and the Sword of War and Peace. Once I had to do Sword damage to Tamiyo to prevent her ultimate the next turn. He still made it to ultimate, but tapped instead since he only had Entreat the Angels and Batterskull. I Snag the token and swing for lethal with Restoration Angel equipped. Game 2, I basically Snag my Geist of Saint Traft in response to Day. Cast it next turn and win with Geist of Saint Traft. I end up drawing 2 more, so I wasn't really in trouble. Also Mana Leak on a hard caster Terminus. Didn't see Lingering Souls luckily, as this is easily my worst matchup. 2-0
Round 4 vs. Goblins. Game 1, he turn 1 Faithless Looting. This gave me some confidence since I expected to take 4 from Vexing Devil. I play Delver, but save Probe to not pay life. I do it next turn and only see Mountains and a Brimestone Volley. Basically this is not enough as I get a Snapcaster Mage and then on turn 4 I have enough mana to equip either. He chooses not to Volley and I basically get him with Sword. Game 2, I think I have him with turn 3 Sword again, but he does Ancient Grudge the next turn. He gets me pretty low, but Geist of Saint Traft gets me back. When I am at 10 and he is at 7 with 2 cards, I Sword again and equip. He concedes instead of blocking with Memnite. This confuses me, since I did have 3 land in hand, but I'll take the win. 2-0.
Round 5 vs. Uw Delver mirror. This is our LGS Delver player again. Game 1, I Mana Leak some stuff, land a Geist of Saint Traft, Gut Shot a SCM that tried to get in the way, and won with Geist of Saint Traft. Game 2, I Divine Offering a turn 2 Runechanter's Pike. I see Phantasmal Image and Geist of Saint Traft in his hand, so I can't play mine. Eventually he does Geist. I do Geist. This game, he has Moorland Haunt and I don't. He also has 3 Snapcaster Mage and my Ratchet Bomb was Mana Leaked. I lose to a hoard of SCM and Spirits with a late Geist of Saint Traft out for me and him at 13. Game 3 is really bad for me. I do a turn 0 Mental Misstep on his Delver and get out my own Delver. After 2 turns of not flipping and swinging, he does Gut Shot. This is all I do to him this game. I end up doing all 4 Ponder (shuffling because I see all land). I kept only a 3 land hand. I end up having 9 land in play when a late Geist of Saint Traft after we traded Geists earlier got it for him. Midgame with me at 6 mana, I did SCM. He had 4 mana. He did Mana Leak. I paid 3. He did another Mana Leak, which prevented me from using my last mana for Ponder. This won it for him because I needed another shuffle. Every time I Ponder, I see 3 land and shuffle. Then I would draw a land, but alas, no Moorland Haunt. I draw a late Delver, which doesn't stop Geist. 1-2.
Round 6 vs. Ur Delver. My opponent asks if I want to draw, but I feel like we'll fall too far in the placings. One of us is guaranteed 3rd if we play it out. Game 1, I get an early 3 Delver after I keep a 1 land, 2 Delver, 1 Ponder and 3 other card hand. He does a non-Miracled Bonfire of the Damned, but I have Moorland Haunt active. I get out a Spirit. He gets out 2 Delver, 1 with Pike. They both flip. I have to Snag the equipped one. I eventually get there with Spirits after SCM with Thought Scour EoT. Game 2, I do Mental Misstep on Delver. Then I play mine. It hits once, but then it's Snagged. He ends up Gut Shot on it when it comes back out, but Geist of Saint Traft lands. I have Snag mana up and am waiting. The Geist gets there as he draws 3 land in a row and can't filter them with Desolate Lighthouse because he didn't draw it this game. 2-0.
I get 3rd place. The two 5-0s drew in the last round. My opponent with Uw Delver drew with Naya, which he usually doesn't draw. But he felt like the Naya list could probably beat him.
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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)
Looks like there's not a lot of fresh deck reports other than FoodChainGoblins on Delver so I thought I'd add one since reading all your reports immensely helped me prepare for this tourney (mostly just been drafting lately). I didn't keep great notes so I'm going to try and recount to the best of my knowledge what I remember. It won't be an exact play by play but hopefully I'll remember more as I go.
So the night before, I tweaked my deck by adding in Blade Splicers. After testing with it Restoration Angels, I felt that it needed more blink targets that were more pro-active other than saving a creature from dying. The only pro-active use was really blinking a Snappy, but even then half the time, it was reactive. By adding in only two Splicers, the overall deck's synergy improved by 100x and put Resto Angels over the top. It's also just my play style too, I feel more comfortable having both pro-active and reactive options. I was never a great control player so having to decide to either be aggressive or hold back and counter/bounce/destroy stuff made me over-think things. This build takes away some of that over-thinking that I would get myself into.
Round 1 - GW Humans
This guy had a pretty fast deck but lacked the mana base required to keep it really good (no Sunpetal Groves, Razorverge Thickets, etc.). Having said that, this round didn't exactly go as I planned which is why losing to this deck was extruciating. Without getting into too much detail, game 1 I'm mana screwed and after two Ponders and drawing off Probes, I don't see any white mana sources until it's too late.
Game 2, I again get cut off from white mana sources but somehow manage a win off a turn two Snapcaster and Vapor Snags to follow. I'm not really sure exactly what his deck is at this point so I only board in 1 Phantasmal Image and three Timely Reinforcements, my thought process being that if he doesn't have cheap, easily accessible lands, then he probably won't have Thrun or any other legendary beat sticks.
So game 3 starts...and AGAIN, after many Ponders, no white sources, I'm stuck on 2 Islands and a Moorland Haunt. However I was holding my own until he lays down a Siguarda which I'm somewhat able to fend off for a few turns but it eventually spells death for me. So despite opening all three games with a Delver, I'm already down 0-1.
1-2
Round 2 - WBG Jank
Don't remember exactly what this guy was playing but a turn two Lingering Souls into a Sorin, Lord of Innistrad was pretty hard to overcome when yet again, I get shut off from mana, this time only having my white source but not seeing a fourth land. In all my testing with this deck, I've never had mana issues like I've been having up until this point. My turn two flipped Delver just can't go all the way. I Mana Leak a Primeval Titan but he sneaks in a Garruk Relentless and his token army overwhelms me. By the time I'm able to flash in my Resto Angel after finally getting a fourth land, it's too late.
Game 2, boarded in 2x Celestial Purge and 3x Timely Reinforcements. Finally, my deck is starting to iron out the bumps and my hand is a pretty sweet 7. To make it better, my opponent mulls down to 5. It was a pretty quick game, don't even remember much about it.
Game 3, my opening hand again is pretty nuts. First turn, Delver. Second turn, Delver. Third turn, Delver. Fourth turn, flip all three after he tried a DoJ which I Leaked. He can't fend off my Delver army and I added a Geist for good measure. There's light at the end of this tunnel.
2-1 making me 1-1 in the tourney.
Round 3 - Mono Green Beats
One of the more skilled players at the shop. Apparently got first the weekend before with this build. I open up with Probe only to see Dungrove Elders, Metamorphs and Silverheart and BoP. I have a Gut Shot in hand so the Birds will see a quick death but those big Elders have me worried. My draw off the Probe though gets a Delver which I play and pass. As expected, he plays a BoP on his turn and passes. I Gut Shot end of his turn. Flip Delver on my turn and keep Leak mana up. He plays a Llanowar Elves and passes. Next turn, he tries for an Elder but I Leak it. I'm slowly getting in with my Delver. I play a Geist with the hopes he'd waste a turn playing his Metamorph and leaving my Delver to beat again as I find more answers to his hand. He somehow sneaks in a Beast Within on my Delver. I let it through (cause no counters) but flash in Resto Angel at the end of his turn...yeah you're thinking exactly what I was thinking...total misplay on my part but thankfully it wasn't game-breaking. On my turn, I draw my 5th land, play and equip SoWaP to my Resto Angel and have just enough for lethal.
Game 2 I board in 3x Phantasmal Images for fear of Thrun, and also Divine Offering for possible Sword shenanigans. My opponent had to mull down to 6 while my hand was pretty nutty and I'd already be two cards up on him by the time I take my turn. Memory is a little foggy remembering this game but from my life total sheet, I can tell it was pretty quick. I think he couldn't draw a fourth land to cast his Silverheart and had to waste a Metamorph on my Blade Splicer (boarded out 3x of my Geist anyway), to which I just Snagged away his Golem token. So it was pretty quick and now I'm starting to feel a little more confident about my deck.
2-0, going to 2-1 overall.
Round 4 - RG Werewolves
Honestly, I've heard about people attempting werewolf decks but I'd never seen one or played against one. But a turn one Wolfbitten Captive as surprising as it was to me was also a little scary at the same time since I was completely unprepared for this. I Gut Shot his Captive, and play a Delver on my turn. Turn two, I think he played a Rampant Growth. Turn two I flip my Delver and leave Mana Leak mana open. I Leak something next turn (think it was a Mayor) and on my turn, Geist joins the party. I'm winning pretty handily here and a flashed in Resto Angel means I almost have lethal on the board. I untap and play a Probe seeing two Arc Trails, two Moonmists (dafuq???) and something else. Let me stop here and say that even though you think you know all the cards in the Standard pool pretty well, it would ALWAYS be to your benefit to read and then REREAD any card of which you're not used to seeing on a daily basis. If I would have followed my own advice, I wouldn't have epically thrown this game away on account of not reading Moonmist. Cause if I would have, I'd not have attacked with my Geist into a transformed Mayor as well as taking away any damage I made that turn. To be honest, maybe it was just fatigue at that point but I really think I would have done something entirely different. ANYWAY, he kills my Geist, takes no damage and then next turn, double Arc Trails to kill my Resto Angel and Delver. I make Spirit tokens looking for an answer but I run out of gas.
Game 2 I board in Images and Purges. My confidence is pretty shaken at this point and I begin to realize just how bad of a match up this seems to be. I open with a Ponder. He opens with a Reckless Waif. I Gut Shot the Waif and leave Leak mana up. He plays a Cavern naming Werewolf and plays an Immerwolf. I say "Mana Leak?" somewhat confused thinking he had inadvertantly thought Immerwolf was a werewolf. He says OK, that's fine. Then his next turn he lays Huntmaster. I'm in a bad spot here since I only have a Blade Splicer and Golem token on the board and I'm forced to play a Vapor Snag on my turn on his wolf token to keep his Huntmaster from transforming. On his turn he plays no spells and I have no other spells in hand. His Huntmaster flips, kills my Splicer and from there I just draw land and he basically goes all the way with his Ravager.
Overall I was really upset about this match. It was getting later in the day as all rounds had at least one other match going to time. But I really made a major misplay on the first game which I believe single-handedly cost me that match. Game two I lost outright but I'd have had at least another game to clinch the match if I wouldn't have made that bone-headed play on game 1.
0-2, going to 2-2 overall for the day.
So now the tourney cuts to the top 8 and I begin packing up my stuff being that there's lots of 3-1's and a few undefeated's and I was sure I wouldn't top 8. But lo and behold I make it into the 8th spot I guess because I had good tie-breakers. So on to the top 8:
Round 5 - Wolf Run Ramp
One of the more skilled players at the shop, I've never beaten this kid. He's doing the normal WWR turns 1-4 thing. Meanwhile I've flipped a Delver and have a Blade Splicer and a tapped Golem token on the field. He's got a Huntmaster on the field and I know he's going to play a Primeval Titan next turn from an earlier Probe. So I Ponder for an answer and see two Resto Angels and a SoWaP. Drew one Angel and setup my other Angel next turn with my sword to follow the next. He plays Primeval Titan getting a Wolf Run and a Blinkmoth. He attacks with his Huntmaster, I flash in the Resto Angel tageting my Splicer and block his Huntmaster, killing it. Next turn, I swing in the air with my Angel and Delver, no blocks. His next turn he holds back his Primeval Titan but swings in with his Inkmoth after some deliberation and says "what are the chances you have another Angel anyway?" His fears came true when I flashed in another Resto Angel again targeting my Splicer. I block the Inkmoth, he activates his Wolf Run for everything he has to pump the Inkmoth, to which I responded by I Vapor Snagging the Inkmoth. Frustrated, he scoops.
Game 2, I board in 3x Images and 2x Ghost Quarter hoping I'd see a Primetime to copy and get my 2x GQ. I get a pretty good hand but can't remember what exactly but I know there's a Blade Splicer and a Vapor Snag in the 7. He does his thing but doesn't play a sixth land and starts mumbling to himself about making some play mistakes as he plays a Huntmaster. I'm not sure exactly what he was referring to and I never asked. Meanwhile I've set up a decent board position with a flipped Delver and a Blade Splicer and have whittled his life down to 12. After Pondering and attacking with my Delver and a Golem token unblocked, I pass turn. He attacks with his Huntmaster. I block with my Blade Splicer and pump it with Mutagenic Growth, killing his Huntmaster. He plays a Solemn Simalacrum, getting his sixth land and passes. I draw a Resto Angel which gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling. It's nothing but attack city at this point and I'm not really worried about him drawing off a dead Sad Robot since I'm holding a Resto and Snag. He blocks my Golem with his Robot as he drops to 9. Next turn, he taps out to play Inferno Titan, targeting my Splicer and Delver. I flash in Resto Angel, blinking my Splicer, saving it from dying and getting another Golem token. My Delver, however eats it. But I couldn't care less. End of his turn, I Snag his Titan and then swing in for the game and match.
Top 8 – 1-0
Round 6 - Solar Flare
So at this point in the day I'm running on fumes and starting to get a bad headache. I just didn't have an opportunity to get out for food.
Game 1 is a game full of epic misplays on my part. I Probe first turn to see 2x Isolated Chapels, Evolving Wilds, Swamp, Elesh Norn, O-Ring, Day of Judgment and a Gideon. Off my draw, I pull a Ponder and see a Geist, Delver and Resto Angel. I play the Geist as soon as I can and then Leak his Day. End of his next turn, play a Resto Angel. He plays an Image, killing my Geist. He then plays Oblivion Ring which I let resolve. Then with him targeting my Resto Angel, in response I play Resto Angel to blink my targeted Resto Angel...what??? Yeah, can't target another Angel. So there's misplay #1. Then on his turn, he drops his Norn. I have no response. I draw a Delver and play it...it dies immediately cause of Norn. Duh. Misplay #2. So I pass turn holding a Dismember. He swings in with his Norn. I cast Dismember on his Norn and block with my Resto Angel, thinking I was going to do enough damage to kill his Norn. EPIC misplay #3. I paid four life to prevent four damage...brilliant. Throbbing headache, game out of reach and a little embarrassed, I scoop.
Game 2 I board in 3x Images, 1x Extraction and 1x Revoke Existence...and I also am given a Rice Krispy treat by my very generous first round opponent who was just there to watch matches...Greg, if you're out there, I owe you one! Anyway...this game is very different. I was on a mission to redeem myself from the horrendous previous game. Armed with some great hate out of the board and a tasty treat in my belly I felt good about this one. Don't remember all the details but after he played a Lingering Souls, I Extracted it. With a Snapcaster in hand, I was prepared to take out whatever else he had. Long story short, I Probed to see a hand full of juicy stuff but then realize he's cut off from any black mana sources and couldn't play half of it. I had Leaks and Snags in hand and healthy board position. Pretty quick game.
Game 3, I keep the same 60 as the game before. I'm able to gain a quick board position with first turn Delver, second turn flip, and a third turn Geist. He's got three Spirit tokens out holding down the fort. I attack with my Geist, he triple blocks my Geist in case one of them would get Snagged. He didn't foresee the Mutagenic Growth I played which was pretty back-breaking for him as I cleaned his board and still had my Geist to live another day. With all my mana open, I passed turn with a Revoke Existence, Vapor Snag, SoWaP and a Resto Angel. He casts Image killing my Geist and plays a Ratchet Bomb. End of his turn, I flash in Resto Angel and don't use its ability. On my turn, I draw an Image. I cast and equip SoWaP to my Angel. I attack with my flipped Delver and my Angel. He blows up his Bomb taking out my Delver. My Resto Angel gets in for 8. At this point, I'm pretty sure I have this game. I pass turn tapped out. On his turn, he plays Sun Titan, getting his Image back which brings out a Dead Weight from his grave put there earlier from a Forbidden Alchemy which targets my Resto Angel. He then plays a Nihil Spellbomb. Pretty good play for him and nice tech against Delver. Unfortunately, I had been hoarding Revoke Existence for some time now. He passes and on my turn, I destroy his Dead Weight, swing in for all but one damage and my Snag finishes him off.
Top 8 – 2-0
Round 7 - Heartless Architect
First place paid 20 packs, second place paid out 15 packs so we just decided to split. Being that my opponent and I had both been 2-2 going into the top 8, we were just so happy to take home packs. He was pretty beat too. But being that there had to be a "winner" we played it out for fun. Turns out a good decision by him cause I steam-rolled him. Partly due to some bad draws on his part and then game 2 him getting totally mana screwed. He kept hands he normally wouldn't had there been anything on the line.
So as for memorable plays, he gets out two early Perilous Myrs to my two Delvers which I can't for the life of me flip. I eventually get a Geist on the board. I attack next turn with my Geist and he double-blocks with his Myrs. I cast Mutagenic Growth taking out both his Myrs and him having to direct their triggered damage to me due to the Geists' hexproof (Mutagenic Growth is an ALL-STAR!). On his turn I Leak an Architect. On my turn, I finally flip my Delvers and take him down to 10. He casts a Treasure Mage on his turn, which I Snag away taking him to 9, and then attack for lethal next turn.
Game 2 boarded in 3x Images (seems to be a trend here) and both my artifact hate. He gets totally mana screwed...forget exactly what happened cause it was a blowout.
So after severely under-performing over four rounds, I'm able to sneak into the top 8 and walk away with a first place finish and 18 prize packs (store owner sold us the remaining 6 packs in the box we won at a discount). Not too shabby!
Here are a few observations:
-For some reason, I boarded out 1-2 Geists and replaced them with Images almost every game. Just always seemed like the best play as so many people were playing Metamorphs, Thruns and Images themselves to answer Geist, not to mention some scary Legendary creatures like Elesh Norn are lurking about. And there's just so many great enter the battlefield abilities in Standard now. Never regretted seeing an Image all day.
-Mutagenic Growth is nuts. If you're not playing it, seriously consider it. All you need is one. 9 out of 10 opponents won't even think to consider seeing it from you and once you do burn them with it, they'll be playing around it the rest of the match.
-I was the only Delver deck there playing both Splicer, Geist and Restoration Angel in my 60. In my opinion, if you're playing Restoration Angel but not Splicer, or vice versa you're missing out. Countless times I was able to blink my Splicer once and even twice, creating an unbeatable board state. And cutting Geist for Splicer just seems like a crazy thing to do.
-Never, ever board out Vapor Snag. It's probably the best card in the deck.
-I'll probably go up to 3x Gut Shot main. There were so many games where 1 point of damage was all I needed. Most times I got there with a Snag but with an extra "free" point of damage available, I'll have better chances at sneaking in that extra one (or two) damage to end the game quicker and not giving my opponent any chances to turn the game around.
-Moonmist is a card. Not one you'll see often but just in case, read it now and save yourself the embarrassment
Super FNM! FOIL 2 ofs; 62 players, 6 rounds of Swiss.
Round 1 vs. RDW. This guy got 4th last week, but admittedly was a bit lucky. Game 1, I Dismember an early Stromkirk Noble. He doesn't play anything else and after a Geist of Saint Traft was killed with Chandra's Phoenix, I got another Geist on board. Game 2, he doesn't do much but a Shrine of Burning Rage is at 12 when I kill him. I calculated a Pillar of Flame + saccing the Shrine would be exact lethal. He doesn't have it and loses to Delver and some Spirits. 2-0. Round 2 vs. UWR Midrange. Game 1, I get him down with Delvers until he Pillars them. I get him really low, but am at 14 life from my own Phyrexian mana. He ends up landing 2 late Snapcaster Mage. I run out of gas and after his last card is used to Dissipate my Ponder, I know a land is coming up and have 2 in hand. Two Bonfire of the Damned miracled, 3 Snapcaster Mage, and several Vapor Snag was too much. Game 2, I put more pressure. In the end, he just needs 1 more mana or another Vapor Snag to stop lethal, but he can't. 1/1 Spirits and Angel kill him. The last game, my hand is amazing - Island, Fortress, Delver, Mental Misstep, Ponder, Mana Leak, SCM. I draw into land and Mental Misstep on his Ponder. Then I Mana Leak his SCM so that even if he Mana Leaks, he has no mana for Ponder. I SCM/Mana Leak another SCM at 4 mana (same situation). My Insectile Aberration and SCM go the distance. I think I also Vapor Snag my SCM in response to removal. He gets mana flooded while I still have SCM and another Mana Leak in hand at 6 mana. This is what makes the deck so good. 2-1.
Round 3 vs. Uw Delver mirror. Game 1, he does Cavern of Souls. This hurts me as I draw 2 Mana Leak. Even though I knew his hand, his Angel ended up getting there after he had some defense. 3 Vapor Snags got me. Game 2, I get out Geist of Saint Traft. After it dies, I do another. He Snags the Angel token and blocks with Delver, but it goes the distance. Game 3 is just a nutty hand for me. I kept at 1 land, 2 Delver, Ponder, Probe, Snag, and something else. I draw into land and another Delver. I win at 3 land because the hand is too amazing. 2-1.
Round 4 vs. Naya. Okay, this is embarrassing to admit, but I'll be honest here. I kept a hand at 1 Moorland Haunt, 2 Gitaxian Probe, 2 Delver of Secrets, Ponder, Mana Leak on the play. Obviously that didn't get there. I draw a Plains the turn before lethal and he swarms. He had a pretty fast hand anyway. Game 2, I get out an early Sword of War and Peace and it goes the distance (can't remember the creature). Game 3, I kept on 3 land, Restoration Angel, SCM, Mana Leak, Snag. I end up getting stuck on 3 land, which really sucks when someone lands turn 2 Thalia Guardian of Thraben on their play. I Snag it, but with 2 Avacyn's Pilgrim and 3 land, I don't Mana Leak because he can pay it. I end up not seeing my 4th land until lethal, which sucks because Blade Splicer would have been awesome with Angel. I know 2 cards left in his hand are Sigarda and Inferno Titan, but the card he drew was O Ring for the Golem so his Silverblade Paladin and Thalia can punch through. This was disappointing because I threw away game 1 and didn't draw any land in games 1 and 3 until the turn before lethal. 1-2.
Round 5 vs. Mono White Humans. He said this was his 3rd FNM, but here he was at 3-1. Game 1, we are on a race. Luckily I have 2 Delver and enough Vapor Snag to win at 2 life. Game 2, I take some hits. We go back and forth after 2 Delver flip on turn 3. I end up attacking with 2 Delver and SCM Vapor Snag. The sad part for him is that I still had 2 Vapor Snag in hand. (but only 4 lands in play). 2-0.
Round 6 vs. Wr Humans. Game 1, he demolishes me with so many creatures. I get stuck with 2 Mana Leak after he has Cavern of Souls early. I race him with Delver, but he just has too many creatures and when Hero of Bladehold rears its ugly head, I lose. Game 2, I do Delver. Then Timely Reinforcements while at 1 life. I eventually whittle the last life points with 1/1 Spirits. Game 3 I get a pretty nutty hand vs. him. Timely Reinforcements after a turn 2 Delver/flip on 3. I get out Blade Splicer. Then Sword of War and Peace wrecks him. I eventually do SCM/Timely Reinforcements just to have enough blockers after he dropped me low with Zealous Conscripts. Sword ends up beating him as he doesn't have an answer. I still have Island, Geist of Saint Traft, Dismember, and something else in hand. 2-1.
I finish 3rd place (5-1) as the two 5-0s draw. I REALLY wanted 2nd place to get 2 FOIL Geist of Saint Traft to complete a playset (or 2 FOIL Tamiyo for 1st obviously), but my mull decisions in Round 4 were pretty poor.
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)
First deck report here for me, will try to do more.
Came into a 40man FNM, with prizes pools based on your match records. 5 rounds. I rolled in with this Delver list. 3 of our regular players went down to play at GP Atlanta, notably Joe Bernal, so I was feeling confidant going into this.
Note: The lack of Graveyard hate in my Sideboard just comes from the fact that there are no frites/solar flare/or other graveyard decks at my meta, but a lot of aggro decks, hence the 3 timely reinforcement. If I was to take this to a bigger event, I would definitely change this sideboard. Having two mental missteps mainboard was an idea that I wanted to test, but couldn't find a way to cut cards to make it 60, hence the 61 cards.
Round 1: Burning Vengeance
1st game of the night, feeling fresh. I open up with an hand of lands, mental misstep, geist, and a ponder. He goes T1 Vexing devil, I take the damage as I don't know if he is playing mono-red or something else. I go ponder, and do business. He went for a turn 3 burning vengeance which i allow, since I can play geist. I play Geist, and he gets there with an equipped Sword of Feast and Famine. I board out some mana leaks, geists (expecting him to board in image), gut shots, mental missteps and brought in negate, Gideon, sun titan, taminyo, and revoke existence, and celestial purges. Game 2, I get a really nutty draw of T1 Delver, T2 flip, and T3 Sword of Feast and Famine. I just keep delver alive by negating burning vengeances, mental missteping His vexing devils, and just gets in there with the Delver.
Thoughts: I would really would have liked to see more of what his list can do, since I know that he is a good player and a friend of mine. He didn't play the white version for lingering souls, which would really upset JadenCamelot here on mtgsalvation. He did get me to 10 game 1 with the Burning Vengeance triggers but could not get gas to race my geist. He did make a play mistake when he ghost quartered my only white source in game 2 and I float white mana in the first main phase. He then plays vexing devil and I ask him if he went to the 2nd main phase, which would clear the mana pools, and he said no, to which I purged his vexing devil.
2-0, 1-0-0
Round 2: UR Delver
Game 1, he wins dice rolls, and attempts to land a T1 vexing devil. I mental misstep that away and play a T1 delver off a gitaxian probe, revealing Chandra's Phoenix, Island, Vapor Snag, Incinerate, Arc Trail, and Mana leak. That was a pretty impressive hand for me, so I thought that this would be hard to fight through. I go T2 ponder, flipping delver to set up a geist (Cavern of souls pretty good) and pass the turn. He vaper snags my delver, which I allow. T3 he did nothing, obviously holding up his mana leak for whatever I do, so I go T3 geist with Cavern naming spirit which he attempts to mana leak. I knew at this phase that he really wasn't that strong of a player, and with backup and disruption, I carry the geist through game 1. I side out geists, mana leaks, and bring in timelys and Celestial Purge. Game 2, he lands a delver, I gut shot it, I get an angel out, he gets a chandra's phoenix out to which I celestial purge. I land a sword of Feast and Famine after leaking his mana leak and ride that with an angel to victory
Thoughts: UR delver was a good deck pre-AVR as I played it myself and liked it, but with Restoration angel and other AVR cards, I don't think this deck is any good. He didn't see any snapcasters during our games, which would definitely have helped alot in game 1. He also made some mistakes, such as attempting to mana leak a caverned Geist, and not holding on to that same mana leak from the FaF triggers.
4-0,2-0-0
Round 3: U/B Tezzeret (My brother)
I was really mad about this, since having to play my brother in round 3 is going to suck for one of us as his deck attacks the rg/naya dominated meta alot. I just told him that the winner of this match will go X-0 and the loser will go X-1, and wished him luck. Game 1, he wins dice roll and plays T1 nexus. I play Delver and pass. He go for the throat it T2, not letting it flip :(. I ponder T2, hoping to set up a sword of feast and famine into angel flash. He taps out for Tumble Magnet T3 (Remember Tumble Magnet Cawblade players? Good card) and I play sword. T4 he swings for 2 poision with his Nexuses, allowing me to safely flash in restoration angel and equip with sword. I start to beat down with the angel, getting the tumble magnet counters down, and gut shotted of his nexus. It takes awhile since tumble magnets are annoying and I do not want to over extend into his black sun's. He was forced to black sun my angel from killing him, to which I flash in another. It takes another 20 turns which involves him getting tezz out, sweeping a bunch of times, getting more tumble magnets out, but I get there with the angel and a snapcaster mage, dealing lethal by snagging an animated Inkmoth nexus. For the sideboard, I brought in everything except for the timelys, since I know that he runs wurmcoil engines and Thopter Assembly. Game 2 was a really wacky game. I kept a loose hand, and apparently he did as well. Our early game involves him not having any swamps or dual lands and me stuck on a glacial fortress for at least 10 turns. I land both swords, equip to a snapcaster mage, and start to be annoyed by tumble magnets again. He finally gets a swamp, and starts to use nephalia drownyard on me, milling pretty much all of my islands/dual lands >.<. I finally draw an island and land a taminyo, and carry her to victory as well as a double equipped snapcaster mage. I was able to negate and dissipate 2 black sun zeniths once i drew the island, and I locked down his tumble magnets with the taminyo.
Thoughts: His deck is really prepared to deal with aggro-based decks as well as delver-based decks leaving his deck vulnerable to control decks. Mental misstep was not useful in this matchup but I was fine with that as I was still able to prevent some banana slips ;). We both knew that he lucked out the 2nd game, and I told him that he will do better next round.
6-0,3-0-0
Round 4: Esper Midrange
Well, ****. This is the one matchup that I was afraid of, since the midrange decks was designed to beat delver. Luckily, I won the dice roll by rolling a double 6, and kept a very loose hands with probe, SoFaF, ponder, and lands. He mulls to 6 off an all land hand. I T1 probe and see leak, 2 angels, and lands and I think to myself damn, then play ponder, setting up cavern, angel, and snag. He T2 ponders and I play T3 SoFaF. T4 he plays land and I play Angel off the cavern, allowing for me to equip Angel to the sword. He is forced to chump block with his angels to stop the discard, and I play Delver T5, He misses land drop, and passes. I flip delver off mana leak, and he scoops, knowing that I got this since he had a sun titan in his hand. I side out gut shots, leaks, some geists and brought him revoke, oring, both images, and gideon. Game 2 involves me playing T1 delver into being go for the throated. The game progresses into him having 2 angels (one being an image), a splicer, and 4 spirits tokens off lingering souls, whereas I have angel, a flipped delver, and two images on blade splicer, netting me 2 golems. We both start stalling for awhile as he starts swinging with the angel and tokens and I just block the angels, letting the tokens go through. I topdeck a SoWaP, to which he resolves, and start swinging with the angel then passing sword back to my flipped delver. I get there after he tries to go for an alpha strike by flashing 2 more angels (0.0), which would be lethal except I had a vapor snag for his image. I had snapcaster mage and dismember in hand so I wasn't worried about it.
Thoughts: I felt like that I was lucky to win 2-0 in this matchup, as the esper player is a good player and one of the store employees that I am friends with. We discussed afterwards and he told me that he didn't play vapor snags, for which is why i kept in the mental missteps. I was able to misstep a ponder which aparently was crucial for me winning in game two as he could not find answers to the sword in play.
8-0,4-0-0
Round 5: ID
Final Thoughts and Ideas
There was 3 X-0 by round 5, and I was paired up because of my epic tiebreakers (100% winrate yo!). I ID'ed with my opponent, who was playing rg aggro that day. I got ten packs for winning, pulled nothing (unless you think pulling a descent into madness and a foil descent into madness in the SAME pack is a lucky occurrence) and got a free entry into next week's FNM.
About this deck, I felt fantastic with the addition of mental misstep, and I would advise all you delver guys to consider playing with this mainboard as the depth it gives to your counter suite is nice, whether u misstep a mana dork (won me games in practice matches before the FNM), or misstep cantrips and vapor snags. The fact that you have mental misstep forces your opponent to be really careful with what they do, allowing for you to control the flow of the game. My sideboard is tuned for this meta, for which I would not recommend for a PTQ or an SCG open. The lack of graveyard hate is not a good idea for a more established place. My brother finished 3-2, with his second loss against another delver player 2-1, and I felt sorry for him as he got unlucky game 3 in round 5. As for tuning my deck, I would probably either play around with the phyrexian cards in the deck for further tuning or just simply cut the thought scour ( I only played it once the entire time), and while it is a useful card, a 1 of doesn't justify its usefullness for the probability of drawing it in a game. I wasn't able to get a 3rd cavern of souls, so I just played with an extra island. Having a 100% winrate last night felt really good, and I hope that I can do well again next week. So please, let me know how the mental missteps goes if you decide to play it.
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Casual does not exist, only crappy decks
Standard: Looking for control archtypes to play
Modern: 4cc Gifts
Legacy: Loam Pox, Nic Fit
FNM tournament. It was very odd that only 31 players showed up, so 5 rounds of Swiss.
Round 1 vs. GW Midrange. I've played this guy many times before and he brews pretty tough decks. Game 1, I can't Gut Shot his mana dork. I land a Delver. He does Fiend Hunter on Delver. Then later on O Ring on Restoration Angel. I have no answers, Vapor Snag or Mana Leak. I eventually lose to some Golem token and some wolves from Mayor of Avabruck. Game 2, he kept a 2 land hand. Gut Shot mana dork. SCM + Gut Shot mana dork. He doesn't draw out of it and loses to a turn 1 Delver that flipped right away. Game 3 is one of the craziest games I've played in a while. I've only had probably 5 games like this in my lifetime. I have a hand with 2 SCM and Gitaxian Probe. I flash out a SCM so that Mayor of Avabruck doesn't flip. He has a pretty amazing curve. He ends up with a Mayor of Avabruck, Phyrexian Metamorph copying the back side of it while I have a Phantasmal Image copying the back side also. I end up drawing 3 Delver in a row late game. He gets Geist-Honored Monk out late. I draw into Sword, but between his Gavony Township and a few more creatures than me, he swings for near lethal. He's still at 17 life, so I concede on turn 3 of turns after all of my creatures chumped, leaving all of his alive (remember - Gavony Township). This was a VERY frustrating game because I drew 1 non creature spell (my only Probe that I left in) and if I had drawn Ratchet Bomb late or Sword of War and Peace early, he would have lost. Or flipped 3 Delvers, but couldn't because no Instant or Sorcery except the opening hand Gitaxian Probe. 1-2.
Round 2 vs. RG Infect. I've played against this guy many times before and he always seems to be borrowing a deck he's unfamiliar with. Game 1, I Probe to see Crag, Forest, KWR, Glistener Elf, Ranger's Guile, Titanic Growth, and Mutagenic Growth. Pretty amazing, but I have an early Delver. I save mana so that when he does pumps, I Vapor Snag. He does Ranger's Guile, but I also had another Vapor Snag. I chip away with the Delver and save my SCM for later. Game 2, he does 1st turn Glistener Elf. I kept a 1 land hand with Delver because it's amazing vs. him (Ponder, Mental Misstep, Probe, Delver, Seachrome Coast, Snag, Dismember). I Gut Shot the Elf, but after I Probe, I see him with 2 Mutagenic Growth. He fails to draw another creature and my Ponder set up Geist of Saint Traft nicely. After the game, I ask him why he didn't Mutagenic Growth the Elf. He admits the mistake, but didn't realize it at the time. I would have Misstepped it, but he could have done another. Turns out, he would have lost because on turn 3 after equipping the Livewire Lash, he didn't have a 3rd mana to keep Apostle's Blessing up against Snag. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. UB Zombies. I keep a 1 land hand. Luckily I Ponder into a few land. She does a turn 2 Smallpox. I get Delver going, then Geist of Saint Traft. She gets Geralf's Messenger and Image going with Blood Artist out, but I Snag with SCM, then swing with 2 SCM and Geist of Saint Traft with only a Blood Artist as a blocker and her at 6. I ended on 3. Game 2, I have the nuts. I play her enemy, Blade Splicer, which she copies and we trade tokens. I end up beating her with Delver and Geist of Saint Traft again, still saving a Celestial Purge and 2 SCM in hand. 2-0.
Round 4 vs. Heartless Grixis. This is the "combo" deck with Havengul Lich. Game 1, he does Slagstorm with Priest of Urabrask on Delver and Geist of Saint Traft. I cast another Geist of Saint Traft. He does another Slagstorm, but I have Vapor Snag for my Geist. I get it in there and it eats away life as I Mana Leak a Havengul Lich and Dismember a blocking Inferno Titan. If he didn't block with Inferno Titan, he would have been within 1 damage of killing me. Game 2 is much easier for me. I have a nutty hand with 2 early Delver. Then I have Mana Leak. Snapcaster Mage for Mana Leak. Then another Mana Leak. Then Restoration Angel, exiling SCM for another Mana Leak. I end up getting all of these, as well as Dismember on Havengul Lich (Heartless Summoning got out turn 2). 2-0.
Round 5 vs. Naya Pod. The reason I say Pod is because he said he plays 4 of them. Game 1, he spits out to many creatures for me to deal with. Only Sword of War and Peace can save me after 2 Bonfire of the Damned ruin my mid game Delvers. Game 2, I get out an early Delver. I Phantasmal Image his Thalia. I Phantasmal Image my flipped Delver. He does a Zealous Conscripts, but it is not enough since I had just draw Delver as a chump and played my Geist of Saint Traft from hand. I chump with both and swing for lethal. Game 3 was meant for me to win. He gets an early Strangleroot Geist, but no mana dork until turn 3. I get a 1st turn Delver, but he doesn't flip until turn 4 when I reveal Mana Leak. I already have Mana Leak and a SCM. I turn 3 draw Blade Splicer and this is where it turns. When he does Zealous Conscripts on the Golem, he gets blown out by my Restoration Angel. The following turn, I drop him to 1 life and I still have Mana Leak in hand (I used the other Mana Leak and SCM/Leak earlier). 2-1.
I get 3rd place (yes again; I suck) at 4-1. My opponent from round 1 draws in the finals to be 4-0-1.
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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)
Welp, only 20 guys showed up last week (Must be all the casuals waiting for M13 prereleases), so it would be only 4 rounds. I was at purdue university all day, so I just made it to the store 10 minutes before we started after 3 hours of driving. I played the same list as last time. So, I was playing tonight not being fresh. I was playing the same deck as above. I did not have time to change sideboard, but only 1 control deck and 2 wolf run deck showed up anyways
Round 1: Vs. Delver
This was against my good friend Wayne who is a fantastic Delver player. So game 1, I lost the dice and kept a fantastic hand of snappy, cavern, double ponder, lands and mana leak. But I was not able to draw any business (drew only lands the entire game), so I lost game 1. Game 2, I also had a good hand, but also drew only lands :/
0-2, 0-1-0
Thoughts: Well, I scrubbed out by bad draws, but I was hoping to play better. It happens, so I just let it go and prepped for the next match.
Round 2: Vs. Wolf Run Black
Game 1 involves me going T1 delver, T2 Delver into ponder, seeing lands and then proceding to just draw lands the entire game, never letting my delvers flip. He just goes over the top of me.
Game 2 was me not draw mana leaks, nor snags. I got into a board position where i was staring down a titan with 4 zombies, and restor out. He was playing heartless summoning so the zombies were only 1/1. I thought that if I suicided with my geist, I would at least get 3 points of damage through, putting him at one and then I would flash in my own restor to protect my geist against blocks. I only had one blue source so snappy into mana leak wasnt an option. Well, next turn he lands elesh norn and swings for lethal.
0-4, 0-2-0
Thoughts: Against wolf run, it should be an easy matchup if you can draw your tempo spells, but I couldn't.
Round 3: Bye
I was thinking of dropping but I just wanted more practice, so I stuck around to play more games.
0-4,1-2-0
Round 4: Vs Delver
Another delver mirror. At least I hope to not scrub out. Game 1 involves me landing key mental missteps and riding a geist to victory over sword. Game 2 involves him doing that instead. Game me then involved me doing that for my first win.
2-5, 2-2-0
Thoughts: He played righteous blow. Ok........
Overall
I wasn't too happy with my bad luck, but I got to practice some games, and was brewing up a bant midrange deck for post m13 (Thragtusk and restores aw yeah). I'll try to do better next week guys.
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Casual does not exist, only crappy decks
Standard: Looking for control archtypes to play
Modern: 4cc Gifts
Legacy: Loam Pox, Nic Fit
Deck is in my blog, mostly. Sideboard is ever changing.
Round 1: U/B Zombies
Game 1 he simply out races me, and has double verdict and slip for my flipped delver and GoST.
Game 2 I side in my SoFAF, Gideon, Purge, etc. I keep a double delver ponder hand, and get a flipped delver online by turn 3 (first one ate a slip). After beating with delver for a few turns, I'm at ~12 and he's at ~ 7. He's got an impressive board state, but I flash in angel to bounce my unflipped delver I had played the turn before and block just enough to swing lethal with GoST and Delver next turn.
Game 3 I get all my sideboard hate. I purge a geralfs and snap-purge a blood artist, then get GoST online with enough mana to flash in another snapcaster if he verdict's me. Saint Traft gets a SoFAF and swings for lethal.
1-0-0
Round 2: Glissa Puresteel
This guy has been tuning his glissa artifact deck for a while, it's surprisingly good most of the time, but a bit slow to start usually.
Game 1: Flipped two delvers on turn 3 and then sworded up on 5. Fast game.
Game 2: Flip two delvers on turn four with mana leaks aplenty in hand. These games didn't last long.
2-0-0
Round 3: Esper Solar Flare
Game 1: Long game. I flip an early delver that eats a doom blade. GoST gets image'd and he suntitan chains off too fast for my sworded angel to kill.
Game 2: I sided in my own images and DoJ's. I flip a turn two delver and promptly image it. I beat him down to 5 quickly before he DoJ's. End of turn I flash in angel and sword it up for the win.
Game 3: He sun titan chains again but I have DoJ for it, then surgical his sun titans. He scoops when I sword up my GoST.
3-0-0
Round 4: RUG pod.
Game 1: I get an early delver and he keeps a two land hand with birds. I gut shot the birds and flip delver on three, followed by a GoST. He doesn't draw land.
Game 2: I side in artifact hate and DoJ, he gets an early pod however and out-tempos me podding into Image, Aether adept to bounce my delver, then goes off with Frost Titan and Sphinx.
Game 3: I get two flipped delvers on turn 3 and he gets mana flooded after I leak his early pod.
4-0-0
Round 5: Naya pod w/ Entreat the Angels.
Game 1: This game is close and I can't remember it entirely, however I have just enough damage with GoST and Delver after snap-snagging his only flyer to kill him (his board was like, 2 wolves a birds bound with a silverheart and two blade splicer golems)
Game 2: He miracle's entreat the angels (which I was confused by) on turn 6 ish, when I had him at 3 life (he sided out his pods and was just playing naya aggro). I couldn't get sword to swing through.
Game 3: He overextends his mull to 6 with triple bird and Huntsmaster after bonfire'ing my delver on turn 3. I promptly DoJ him, then proceed to win on the back of a resto angel sworded up.
5-0-0
I got 7 packs for the night getting an Avacyn and a Vexing Devil. Played in the pre-release and got **** all for rares, but went 3-2 and got 5 packs with more **** rares.
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Currently Playing:
Standard: UW HumansWU
Record - 49-19-3 - Retired, for now. WUDelverUW
Record - 29-10-1
I don't know what it is, but I can't get 1st place. Only 39 players today at FNM.
Round 1 vs. Elves. Game 1, he draws the nut hand. I lack Gut Shot, as I always do vs. mana dork.dec. He Green Sun's Zenith for a Craterhoof Behemoth. Yeah, I'm bad, I didn't have Mana Leak or Gut Shots. I did still have 3 land in hand. Game 2, he does Cavern of Souls, Llanowar Elf. My Mental Misstep is dead. I draw too many lands again and he kills me with an overrun from Ezuri, Renegade Leader. I kept a 2 land hand and had 6 in play and 2 in hand at the end. 0-2.
Round 2 vs. GW Splicers. This guy really had no chance. I Gut Shot his BoP. I get 2 Delver right away with a Ponder too. They flip, I Mana Leak some stuff. Eventually he O Rings both of them. I flash in Restoration Angel and he and SCM get through when I Dismember his Restoration Angel. Game 2, all he resolves is a late Splicer. My midgame Geist of Saint Traft get there quickly. I feel somewhat badly because I've watched this guy have decent games against others, but his deck was seriously overmatched. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. Uw Delver mirror. Game 1, his Delver is Gut Shot'd. Then on turn 2, I Gut Shot another. He ends up getting stuck on 3 land after he played his 1st 3 land drops. I get to 7, but do Geist of Saint Traft when I'm at 6 mana. It gets there with a SCM. Game 2 is very close. He has Moorland Haunt. I don't. This wins him the game when I draw 3 land in a row. I had to pay so much life, bouncing my SCM with Vapor Snag, then doing Dismember on an Angel. He Snagged in response. I Vapor Snag SCM, then Dismember it again a turn later. He finishes me off with 1/1 Spirits. Game 3, I get a nutty hand after a mull by him. Delver, then Delver, backed with Mana Leak. Mental Misstep for his Gut Shot on my Delver. I just have too much early gas for him and he concedes early. 2-1.
Round 4 vs. Mono Green Aggro. He does a mana dork. I Probe to see Sword of Feast and Famine, SRG, Wolfir Silverheart, and some land. I end up doing Dismember and SCM/Dismember to stop the equip twice. My early Delver does work. I get him low enough with Delver and a SCM to Vapor Snag the Wolfir Silverheart and block the BoP with a 1/1 Spirit. Basically Moorland Haunt saves me and I draw Restoration Angel in time while at 3 life. Game 2, he gets out turn 3 Dungrove Elder. I do Ponder. Turn 2 Ponder, Ponder. Turn 3 SCM/Ponder. Turn 4 I do Divine Offering on his Sword of War and Peace. Turn 5, I do my own Sword of War and Peace. My life gain keeps me from losing to an unblocked Dungrove Elder. Eventually when he holds Elder back and casts Llanowar Elf, I Vapor Snag the Elf and attack with 2 SCM, 1 equipped with Sword, with him at 2 life. He was a little bit upset that he failed to see Rancor in either game. 2-0.
Round 5 vs. Br Zombies. Okay, this is what makes me a poor player. I keep at Seachrome Coast, Delver, Thought Scour, 2 Mana Leak, Vapor Snag, and Gut Shot. I Thought Scour 2 lands away. All he has is Gravecrawler. I get back into the game eventually stuck on 3 mana, which is enough for SCMs to get involved. Gut Shot + SCM/Gut Shot get rid of 2 Blood Artist. When everything is wiped, I cast Geist of Saint Traft. He plays lands and Brimstone Volley to put me at 4. Geist ends things quickly, although he surprised me with Go for the Throat on the Angel token when Geist and SCM attacked. I thought I had lethal, but got it next turn. Next game, I draw Blade Splicer, Phantasmal Image. Not much to say although he had a good curve. Splicer tokens blocked 2 Geralf's Messenger, while some creatures poked him to death. I eventually topdeck the 4th land for Restoration Angel on Splicer. This was after an early Killing Wave for 3. I ended up low on life, but pretty safe with 3 Golems, 2 Blade Splicer (1 Image), and Restoration Angel attacking for lethal after I Vapor Snag the Geralf's Messenger. I had just drawn Timely Reinforcements, but didn't need it. 2-0.
Round 6 vs. GW, I think. We ID since a win will give me the same placing. I am 5th place. The 4th place and 3rd place are playing, so I finish above 1 of them. The 1st and 2nd place ID, leaving them 5-0-1. I get 4th place either way, so I allow him to get 5th. He played the deck that gave me my only loss last week when I drew 1 Sorcery/Instant in a whole game. He ended up 1st place while I got 3rd place that week.
4-1-1 and I get to leave early. I will collect my prize next week.
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)
The changes that I made was just sideboard, swapping Talrand and Angel out for Garruk Relentless and Silverheart, as well as adding in timelys, gideons, and some good ol celestial purge. Only 20 guys tonight, our heavy hitters were out at St. Louis this weekend (I got no ride there T_T).
Game 1: Vs BR Vamps
This vamps list ran that new vampire lord, which I found to be soon annoying. Game one involves me fizzling out on hitting hard with dryad and him get enough fliers for the win. Game 2 was me celestial purging and riding SoFaF to victory. Game 3 followed in the same suit.
2-1,1-0-0
Thoughts: No fliers in this deck hurts alot. I was only able to win by simply riding SoFaF in games 2 and 3, keeping those vampires at bay. I was already grumbling about trying out a bant idea. Whatever, on to game 2
Game 2: Vs 5cc Reanimator
Well, this game was a demostration of the power of rancor and powered up dryad. Game one involves me getting dryad to a 5/5 and rolling to town, countering his target removal and sweepers. Game 2 followed suit.
4-1,2-0-0
Thoughts: His deck was just really janky, more janky than mine. Thats all i can say.
Game 3: vs Tokens
Game 1 involves him resolving 2 intangible virtues off my mana screw. Game was me dropping silverheart, pumping up dryad with SoWaP and swinging for win. Game 3 we just him having too big tokens.
5-3,2-1-0
Thoughts: No real answer to spirit tokens as my ratchet bombs were being borrowed by my brother.
Game 4: Vs Wolf Run
Game 1 was me comboing Dryad to a 6/6 by Turn 3 and winning 2 turns later with equipped swords. Game 2 was just him mulling to 4 and gging, allowing for me to take it 3-1 overall
7-3,3-1-0
Overall Thoughts: This deck is very, very flingy. When you get god hands, you win. When you don't, well this sucks. Rancor did not do anything at all for me, so honestly, I would not recommend this build to anyone, and would people like to try this, remember that rancor isn't that good with delver
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Casual does not exist, only crappy decks
Standard: Looking for control archtypes to play
Modern: 4cc Gifts
Legacy: Loam Pox, Nic Fit
With a Timetwister for the big prize in first place, and my eyes being set on taking this event down, I put my money where my mouth is and played the obvious best deck in standard that has no bad matchups. That deck is Delver. Whether you agree or not, is based on your level of delusion. After a few nights of testing against the other popular pillars of the format, I decided to register this decklist.
I started playtesting with Yuuya's decklist from the Grand Prix, and as you can see, I only made 3 different card choices than he did in the main deck. These changes were just based on helping reduce mulligan decisions without ruining the consistency of power. I believe this is the proper philosophy with Delver that most players are just in denial about, whether you side with Delver or not. The Delver player, whether on the play or on the draw, is in complete control of dictating the pace of the game. Until obviously the point of no return occurs, this is where most player based mistakes happen.
Delver is the second deck in my experience that has won me a game on the play with a mulligan to four (the other being Jund in SOA). That's truly saying something, that some elements of this decklist is in contention with Bloodbraid Elf, Putrid Leech, Maelstrom Pulse and Lightning Bolt. Where a mulligan is a proper decision, and the tools of recovery are at its best within the card pool.
Testing is where things got interesting. With the format exploding with Rancor+Dungrove, Red and Green becoming more powerful, Naya pod going insane with Thragtusk. I stuck to my trusty flying Wild Nacatl. So I insisted on playing the most amount of Mana Leaks with or without Cavern of Souls in the format to fight the diversity of the format. The problem was Aggro decks game 1, Strangleroot Geists, nor Huntmaster of the Fells are problems after good experience, but those two in combination and in succession can make things tremendously difficult.
We have seen Delver decks take on a control like playstyle post sideboard, or even just upgrade to a few Tamiyo as a method to fight against other midranged and control decks, and even place other bombs such as Hero of Bladehold in order to reactively combat board sweepers in various colors. I believe this is again, absolutely incorrect. Playing Delver as a predecessing Caw-Blade is a mistake, yet playing Delver as a stylized Red Deck Wins/Slight is also incorrect. Delver is a new median on the spectrum of aggro control, leaning more towards aggro than most would believe. Making correct plays, heavily depends on making correct calls on your opponent, which is why the importance of Gitaxian Probe is sought after.
Attended Knight was a card everyone angled their eyebrows at as a one of (which I regret not putting more like I wanted to). Attended Knight single-handedly won me 3 solid games against other aggressive decks. So why did I hesitate to not put more if I knew it was good in playtesting? Because I questioned myself, I questioned why I wanted the card, and I wondered if it really did everything I wanted it to against all the decks I feared. The truth of the entire tournament is that it did more work than Phantasmal Image against the decks in the field. This mid-limited pick in M13 was a complete force. I will explain what we found in testing.
Your natural enemies are red and green based decks, these decks vary from Naya, Birthing Pod, R/G etc. The other polarity of Standard includes various control tapout decks, which fold to a mere Negate and Revoke Existence. Surgical Extraction was considered as a sideboard slot as well to help against Frites and Sun Titan control based decks, but I believed my playskill would help me overcome those decks more than necessary sideboard slots against the more present grinding aggro-control dominant forces.
I won't go into much detail about my matches or my sideboard, but I will post what I played against, and the outcome of the matches with some general thoughts.
Round 1 vs. R/G Aggro Win 2-1
Round 2 vs. Naya Pod Loss 0-2
Round 3 vs. UW Delver Win 2-0
Round 4 vs Zombies Intentional Draw 0-0
--Placed 6th on tiebreakers--
Quarter Finals vs. Mono Green Win 2-0
Semi Finals vs. Naya Pod Win 2-1
Finals vs. Zombies Win 2-0
How to sideboard against R/G Aggro On the play
-3 Gitaxian Probe
-1 Restoration Angel
-2 Runechanter's Pike
+1 Gut Shot
+1 Dismember
+1 Attended Knight
+3 Phantasmal Image
Their best strategy is to use removal, and retaliate with Huntmaster and Strangleroot. Copy them, and Swing in. With the Addition of Thragtusk, you can gain massive amounts of tempo against the opponent with Phantasmal Image.
On the draw
-3 Gitaxian Probe
-4 Geist of Saint Traft
+1 Gut Shot
+1 Dismember
+1 Moorland Haunt
+3 Phantasmal Image
+1 Attended Knight
You don't need Gitaxian to show the opponents hand. If you cannot resolve a removal against their 1 drop with counterspell mana on your turn 3, then you will slowly lose control of the game once they resolve multiple 4+ mana costing creatures. All the while, you should realize that Geist of Saint Traft on the draw will do nothing but become a grey ogre for your mythic endeavours.
How to Sideboard against Zombies On the Play
-2 Gut Shot
-4 Vapor Snag
-1 Geist of Saint Traft
+2 Celestial Purge
+1 Attended Knight
+1 Moorland Haunt
+2 Timely Reinforcements
What most people don't realize, is that the number of 1CC cards in Zombies nearly rivals the amount in Delver. You will not be the primary aggressor in the matchup no matter how you slice it. This primarily has to do with the fact that the opponent controls eight 1-drop threats, and multiple permanent removal spells ranging between 1 and 2 mana. Resource grinding is a completely dangerous game that requires tremendous care to tread through. Yet once you hit that point, the zombies matchup sides in your favor.
On the Draw
-2 Gut Shot
-4 Mana Leak
+2 Celestial Purge
+1 Moorland Haunt
+1 Attended Knight
+2 Phantasmal Image
When you attempt to become the aggressor in the zombies matchup, your main focus is turning cards like Geist of Saint Traft into Char. Being aggressive and forcing your opponent to choose between a removal spell and recasting Messenger is your method of victory in the war of tempo.
Nice tournament report with lots of good info. I was mainly curious about Attended Knight. I'm actually running Blade Splicer in a similar role right now. It has more powerful synergy with Resto and can block sworded creatures if you don't happen to have a Snag available. Isn't that just better than Attended Knight?
Edit: Sorry if this shouldn't be posted here. Mods please move if there is another place where discussion of these decks belongs.
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"Two magi could trade spells all day and never crown a victor. The real battle is not one of power but of will. If your confidence breaks, so too shall you.”
Nice tournament report with lots of good info. I was mainly curious about Attended Knight. I'm actually running Blade Splicer in a similar role right now. It has more powerful synergy with Resto and can block sworded creatures if you don't happen to have a Snag available. Isn't that just better than Attended Knight?
The best and shortest way to explain why I chose Attended Knight was that Blade Splicer was extremely vulnerable against every matchup with removal. The token generated was also collatoral damage with Ancient Grudge being a popular sideboard card.
I should have explained this better in my original post, I remember posting an entire paragraph explaining this process. I will edit it in the future.
Went 3-2 in today's FNM with Delver. Audibled from Naya Pod after i saw 4 players playing Mono-Black Control...and Mono-Black was kicking my ass online so decided to audible (maybe wasn't best idea, but hey i wanted to try this deck out)
The list i played is in my sig. Its one i will definitely advocate as the deck was awesome. I misplayed a couple times as i need more practice vs. the green decks. all i lost to tonight was green: Naya and Mono-Green, both 0-2. I think i need better ideas on what to do vs. Them.
Control, however, i rolled. Talrand was insane vs. them and It can only get better. Maybe i should play Angel board but i liked how it was. Next week i may try Angel in the Geist spot as a test...we'll see.
Anyway:
Round 1: Mono-Black Control
Lookie here, maybe my audible will end up ok...
Game 1 i roll him with an aggressive draw. He doesn't cast Sorin's Vengeance the turn before he dies due to him thinking he had a turn to live. Fair enough...until i cast Pike.
Game 2 he removed a bunch of my creatures but Talrand made too many for him to kill. Once i had Pike i only played one creature at a time to start killing him off.
Round 2: RUG Control
Game 1 we both flood out. I play 12 of my 19 lands and he plays 13!! Talrand eventually pulls out enough creatures for me to pull it out
Game 2: I have a very aggressive draw and beat him down. Everything he plays i either Leak or Snag so he has literally no board at the End of the game.
Round 3: Naya Pod
Game 1: He gets stuck on land for 4 turns. I can't draw a Gut Shot tho, but after seeing his hand i decide to snag the Pilgrim...3times in a row. Maybe i should've leaked it (in fact i should've probably). He plays some dudes, i play some dudes with pike, and the turn before i kill him he gets me for exacties.
Game 2: He just capitalizes on me having a poor draw with a low land count. He then Elesh Norn's for the win...stupid Priority or i could've won (could've snagged the Wurmcoil before he podded it again. I guess he retains priority...fml lol. I knew i just had to try to see if he'd pass it cuz i knew i was dead)
Round 4: Esper Battle of Wits
Game 1: Turn 1 Delver, Turn 2 Flip Delver, Ponder, play 2nd delver. He has 1 land for 2 turns and draws white so he can't cast his Go for the throat. Over in 2 minutes.
Game 2: The game goes pretty long. I go down to 20 cards in my library between pondering and thought scouring. i could NOT find a Runechanter's Pike, and 1/3's and 2/1's beat him down for 20.
Round 5: Dungrove Green
I don't even want to talk about these games. I misplayed both and i think i could've won. Shows that without practice and after you just get cocky that you die to top decks...ya...
Anyway, 3-2. Could've done better but hey thats how it goes i guess. Talrand was bonkers, but i need more play vs. the green decks. I may play Naya next week, we'll see how testing this week goes.
ok so fnm went great 6-0 decks in the sig, same thing DXI is running except i've had alot more practice
Round 1 vs Naya
game 1 t1 delver gut shot his bird during his t1 , t2 flip delver hold leak mana open, and start the beats i just control the tempo of this match and its over in 6 turns
game 2 he gets off to a great start as i kept a slow hand i leak a key thragtusk, land a talrand and manage to untap with talrand, games over quick after that
1-0
Round 2 vs French Frites
Game 1 gut shot the mana dork on turn 0, delver t1 leak the t4 flashbacked unrites and its over shortly after and he's just shaking his head at me
Game 2 its not very interesting until t5 he casts unrites i leak it and then extract it and he scoops
2-0
Round 3 vs the mirror (this is a teammate he's running card for card)
g1 t1 delver t2 blind flip delver and drop double delver t3 blind flip both delvers and he cant believe i blind flipped all 3 delvers games over pretty quick he tries to fight back with talrand but i legend it out
g2 he rolls me his tempo was unstopable, t1 delver he gut shots it and drops his own on his turn he starts the beats holding leak mana open, and he's got a snag too i saw after i git probed him and i just get ran over
g3 its uneventful until t5 early turns we trade gut shots for delvers and i extract his snags on t5, i land a talrand he goes to snag it eot and i scour popping out the first of many tokens to come after a couple turns he just gets over run with tokens
3-0
round 4 vs r/g aggro
Game 1 i win the roll and start off with t1 delver into gutshot his mana dork his t2 i leave leak mana open his t2 he drops strangleroot geist thinking i'm bluffing, and i leak his geist t3 i finally flip the delver start the beats , on his t4 he drops huntmaster protected by cavern of souls i continue to beat him with delver he tries to pass hsi turn to flip delver but i scour eot, he tries it again next turn but i mutagenic growth the delver on the flip activation so i take 4 dmg but now i have lethal in the air b/c i'm holding snapcaster to replay mutagenic
game 2 this games over fast his t1 he drops mana dork i let it go i git probe him and see trip strangleroot geists, sword of war and peace, rest land, his t2 he drops strangleroot and attacks i gutshot the geist and extract it in response to its undying trigger and he scoops
4-0
Round 5 vs Mono black control
game 1 he kills off most of what i have but i manage to stick a talrand when i have 2 mana extra open he goes to kill talrand and i create a token, 3 turns later i have too many tokens up, and he gets ran over
game 2 i get a pike down early but he controls the board presence, i stick an augur and he doesnt kill it...i hook pike on it and start the beats, he finally is forced to kill the augur, and i flash in a snapcaster end of his turn and start to beat him down again, finally i am able to stabalize board presence with a talrand and its over quick
5-0
Round 6 vs mirror (another teammate) at this point we can draw but he's cocky........and i remind him i'm the one that built the deck he's playing..then i make him play it out
Game 1 he starts out fast in the first 3 turns getting a delver and dropping a pike thinking he's going to blow me out on t3 his delver blind flips he goes to attach pike and i snag it next turn i get my own delver down and i gut shot his when he replays it we go back and forth a few turns i legend out his talrand but i've got him on the ropes, he gets rid of my flipped delver and when i drop another he goes for gut shot and i growth then ponder he scoops his life total is too low to take a hit from a flipped delver and its over
game 2 he's in the serious mode now knowing i'm not puling punches in this
he gets a fast start but i have answer but after snagging his delver 3 times and having him blind flip it the 4th time i just run out of answers and he gets in for a win
Game 3 by this time everyone in the store is watching all the other games are pretty much over and we have a crowd
i'm on the play and start out slow even though i have a t1 delver i dont drop it i'm trying to force him into missplaying, he drops his t1 delver i gut shot it then scour myself t2 i drop delver and pass he drops augur searching for a gut shot but he doesnt find it, i scour again, t3 i flip the delver drop a pike t4 i probe him seeing no snag i hook pike up and start swinging with the flipped delver its over in two turns, its one heck of a night and great match
"Unfortunately, all of my test animals have died or escaped, so i shall be the final subject. I feel no fear. This is a momentous night."
--Laboratory notes, final entry
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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
Round 1: GW Janky Beatdown
This was basically a bye, the deck he played looked more like draft deck than something you would see in constructed with things like the two drop Niblis that taps a guy when he attacks and Masoleum guard. He was able to apply a little pressure game 1 but Pike+Flipped Delver meant he wasn't winning the race. Game two I got a sword on an Invisible Stalker after he took 6 from a flipped Delver before O-ringing it.
Sideboarding: In- 2x Timely Reinforcments, +2 Revoke Existence
Out- -4 Mana Leak
2-0, 1-0
Round 2: Jund Beatdown
This guy was a regular and a solid player playing his homebrew that was actually pretty sweet. It played like the RG Aggro deck but it had a late game of Olivia, Falkenrath Aristocrat, and even Primeval Titan into Wolf Run. The black removal and his creatures going over the top of mine made it a tough matchup. I win game one because I probe him on 1 and see he doesn't have a second green so I know to counter the topdecked Birds of Paradise and Delver and Geist get there. Games 2 and 3 he curves out perfectly and I couldn't do much to stop him.
Sideboarding: In- 2x Timely Reinforcments, 1x Oblivion Ring, 3x Celestial Purge
Out- 1x Pike, 2x Gitaxian Probe, and some other bad cards I can't remember which
1-2, 1-1
Round 3: Delver Tokens
This was GerryT's build with Blade Splicers, Lingering Souls, and Intangible Virtues. I won both games because where the Tokens version has cheaper pump effects with anthems and Lingering Souls to make multiple guys with 1 spell, I have more consistency and Geist of Saint Traft. I made a serious misplay in Game 2 because I wasn't thinking straight when he casts a Timely and I end up wasting the Vapor Snag in my yard when I go to Snapcaster-Snag my own guy only to realize that I'm just paying 1 card and 1 life to do nothing (fortunately he had a guy for me to bounce and get some value). If I had been playing a durdle deck like U/B control a mistake of that magnitude would have cost me the game, instead I was playing Delver and double flipped Delver got there.
Sideboarding: In-2x Timely Reinforcements, 2x Revoke Existence, I don't remember if I brought in Batterskull or not.
Out- 4x Mana Leak, (1x Pike if I brought in Batterskull)
2-0, 2-1
Round 4: UW Humans
This match was the toughest of the night by far, both games I won I had to come from behind on the back of Sword of War and Peace. Game 1 He would have had me DoB the turn I won since he forget to attack with his Fiend Hunter and I topdecked a Sword to put myself out of range. Game two he gets to play Champion on 1 and Thalia on 2 and I spend the rest of the game durdling around the Thalia while I can't apply significant pressure and Champion gets huge. Game 3 I keep a hand that is land, land, Delver, Dismember, Dismember, Timely. Delver flips on turn 3 and gets 3 points in, but he has to spend his turn O-ringing buying me enough time for Dismember+Timely+Sword over the next few turns. Also being able to Vapor Snag the guy he puts Angelic Destiny on was nice. He stablizes with an online Moorland Haunt and double Honor of the Pure in play. But I had enough guys at this point that the Sword was playing offense and defense and grinded him out.
Sideboarding: In- 2x Timley Reinforcments, 2x Dismember, 1x Oblivion Ring, 2x Revoke Existence, 1x Batterskull
Out- 4x Gitaxian Probe, 1x Pike, 1x Geist of Saint Traft, 2x Mana Leak
2-1, 3-1
Round 5: U/B Control
I'd call this matchup 50/50 or even 45/55 in their favor when the control player is solid. But this guy is a friend of mine and usually plays some kind of beatdown deck so while he made most of the right plays, he made a lot of small mistakes that I was able to capitalize on. (We would have drawn, but he needed a win to top 8 and with a loss I was only getting in on breakers). Game 1 his first 3 lands were Drowned Catacomb, Drownyard, Drownyard. He stopped my early game with delver, but I resolved a sword and was able to end step a Midnight Haunting and equip for a big sword hit that he wasn't able to recover from. Game 2 I flipped a Delver after forcing him to use Ratchet Bomb on an Invisible Stalker and used a Midnight Haunting to force a Black Sun's Zenith from him. With him tapped out I resolved a Feast and Famine and was later able to Snapcaster Midnight Haunting. By the end of the game I had both War and Peace and Feast and Famine in play and while after the first hit I wasn't getting extra damage off War and Peace anymore, I was untapping with double leak in hand and he never played a sixth land until he was DoB.
Sideboarding: In- 2x Sword of Feast and Famine, 1x Dissipate, 1x Negate, 3x Celestial Purge
Out- 2x Gut Shot, 1x Pike, 3x Vapor Snag, 1x Sword of War and Peace (this was probably not correct)
2-0, 4-1
Quarterfinals: BUG Heartless
This guy was pretty new but his deck seemed to be constructed intelligently for a homebrew, he made bad keeps both games, Game 1 he was stuck on 2 lands, game 3 he kept Viridian Emissary and 6 lands. While I won easily, I don't think it was very indicative of how the matchup would go with him making the proper mulligans. I'd go into detail, it was really just two games of him durdling while I played out my hand and killed him.
Sideboarding- In- 1x Dissipate, 1x Negate, 3x Celestial Purge, 2x Revoke Existence
Out- 2x Gut Shot, 1x Pike, 1x Vapor Snag, 1x Geist of Saint Traft (he was playing Image and I needed to make a cut), 2x Gitaxian Probe (I think, but I don't remember.)
2-0, 5-1
We decided to split top 4 since it was very late at this point. I was extremely happy with how this deck performed, All-Stars include all of the equipment, Vapor Snag, and Midnight Haunting. The only things that didn't perform up to expectations would be Revoke Existence (mostly because I didn't draw it when I really needed it), and the extra counters in the board (though I never drew them either time I sided them in, I didn't really want to either). I would recommend this deck to anyone in a wide metagame because it is consistent, your draws are almost always live, and Delver of Secrets can give you free wins with a little luck (which you probably already know).
UBControlBU
UWDelverWU
BWUSuperfriendsUWB
Type 2 in development
WBUCounterless Solar FlareBWU
Type 2 Retired
UBWControlBUW
RBVampiresBR
GRValakutGR
GElves!G
GBEldrazi GreenBG
Legacy
UWStonebladeWU
EDH
GWRhys the RedeemedWG
GWURafiq of the ManyUWG
GRWMayael the AnimaWRG
Creatures: 12
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Geist of Saint Traft
Spells: 26
2x Gut Shot
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Vapor Snag
4x Ponder
4x Mana Leak
2x Dissipate
4x Lingering Souls
1x Spectral Flight
1x Angelic Destiny
1x Swamp
1x Plains
1x Evolving Wilds
1x Darkslick Shores
1x Drowned Catacomb
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Glacial Fortress
3x Moorland Haunt
6x Island
3x Negate
2x Day of Judgment
2x Sword of War and Peace
2x Sword of Feast and Famine
2x Revoke Existence
1x Divine Offering
3x Celestial Purge
I went to FNM with a bad deck. Decided I would sleeve up what I owned for Delver, and bum a few cards off of a friend. Thankfully I know own the deck after trades after the tourney Saturday.
Round 1: Tempered Steel 2-1 (1-0)
Nothing great to speak of here. Game one involved me getting a Geist down on turn three, and then a Spectral Flight Turn four to get me the win. Game 2 I had what I thought was a nice hand. 1x Island, 2x Delver, and several sideboard cards. Sadly I didn't see a land till like turn seven. Game three was a little close, but the sided in Day of Judgment won me the game since I got a bit mana flooded. He did play two of those Cages where I couldn't use my graveyard. If it wasn't for that I'd won a lot faster. Top decking Giest and got there.
-4x Prob
-1x Gut Shot
+2x Day of Judgment
+2x Revoke Existence
+1x Divine Offering
Round 2: Black White Tokens 2-0 (2-0)
Game one went my way. Turn one Delver, and slowly swung for the win while protecting him and countering anything she tried to drop that had flying. Game two was extremely close. She went first and tossed a Champion of Parish Without a snag in my hand I had to play around it for the better part of the game. I had a Delver out turn one, but with her tossing down 2x Doom Traveler on me had the Champion crashing me hard. I kept her off Honor of the Pure, and a few spells. Lingering Souls helped me with chump blockers. She got me down to two life, but I top decked a Sword of War and Peace with her seven. Got it on Delver, swung and she had two cards in hard. Closest game I had all night.
-4x Probe
-2x Dissipate
-1x Gut Shot
-1x Angelic Destiny
+2x Sword of War and Peace
+2x Revoke Existence
+2x Day of Judgment
+2x Negate
Round 3: 5 Color Pod 2-0 (3-0)
It's really four color pod, but he's got a Phrexain Metamorph so we call it five lol Game one wasn't event full. I win the roll, and he mills to five. Turn one Probe. His turn Gut Shot his Mana Bird. Turn 2 pass, Leak his Emissary. Turn three Geist of Saint Traft. I protected him, and easily won the game. Game 2 I had the dumbest hand on earth. Turn one Delver with two ponders, a leak, two lands, and Snapcaster. I ended up casting three Mana Leaks in the game, and both ponder's. I had another Snapcaster in my hand, and had used 2x Vapor Snag. Also had a Sword of Feast and Famine coming up against him. He wasn't excited though. Really made him mad I casted three Mana Leaks lol.
-4x Prob
-2x Gut Shot
-2x Dissipate
+2x Sword of Feast and Famine
+2x Revoke Existence
+1x Divine Offering
+2x Day of Judgment
Round 4: Pod 2-0 (4-0)
I believe me and this guy where the only two that were 3-0's at this point. He was playing a Pod deck, but didn't get to see to much of it to really know. I went 2-0 in these and nothing exciting really happened. Got Delver down turn one in game one. Game two involved me casting Geist of Saint Traft and just swinging in while Vapor Snaging and so forth.
-4x Prob
-2x Gut Shot
-2x Dissipate
+2x Sword of Feast and Famine
+2x Revoke Existence
+1x Divine Offering
+2x Day of Judgment
I tried Delver Human at FNM and it was just sub-par for me. Changed a lot up for Saturday, and really liked it. Couldn't believe how great Geist of Saint Traft really is. Makes me wonder why people don't play Mono Green to be honest. Hexproof guys just get there. I'm really happy I went 4-0. Felt like I redeemed myself after playing a sub-par(to me) Delver Humans at FNM and going 2-4. The deck really seems to play smooth was well which I like. Snapcaster gives so much more value to cards, Delver can win alone, and so can Geist. Just really happy after my FNM results lol
Reping Hometown Hobbies in Huntington, WV
http://hometownhobbies.net/
Blue's Trading Shop
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=8105656#post8105656
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Invisible Stalker
1 Phantasmal Image
3 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Blade Splicer
Instants: 13
3 Thought Scour
4 Vapor Snag
3 Mana Leak
1 Negate
1 Midnight Haunting
1 Dismember
2 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
Artifacts: 4
3 Runechanter's Pike
1 Sword of War and Peace
Lands: 21
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Glacial Fortress
9 Island
2 Plains
2 Moorland Haunt
2 Flashfreeze
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Timely Reinforcements
2 Celestial Purge
2 Dungeon Geists
1 Divine Offering
2 Revoke Existence
1 Day of Judgement
1 Phantasmal Image
Round 1: UW Humans
0-0-0
Game 1: My opening hand had 2 Invisible Stalker, 3 lands, 1 Gitaxian Probe, and 1 Ponder. I strongly consider mulling it, but I hoped that my Gitaxian Probe and Ponder would dig into something good--ideally a turn 3 Geist or fast Runechanter's Pike. I whiff on both cards, but he has 2 dead Oblivion Rings so I try to go the distance. I race his Champion+tokens, but I never draw more guys/equipment for my stalkers. I had just sleeved up the deck 30 minutes ago, so I honestly blame shuffling. I piled shuffled about 5 more times after this game. The game was fast, so my opponent didn't mind.
Sideboard:
-3 Mana Leak
-1 Negate
+2 Timely Reinforcements
+1 Day of Judgement
+1 Sword of War and Peace
Game 2: He has 2 Champion of the Parish, but throughout the game I draw into 2 Vapor Snag and 2 Snapcaster Mage which flash back both the Vapor Snag. Seesawing the Champions keeps him off balance enough for me to squeak through. My single Dismember got his Hero of Bladehold, which was probably the single most important play of the game.
Game 3: My hand is slow, but I have 3 lands, Day of Judgement, Sword of War and Peace, and Delver. I turn 2 flip, let him beat my down with T1 Champion, T2 Champion. Turn 4 he plays Hero of Bladehold, swings and passes. Salivating, I Day of Judgement him. Next turn I resolve a Geist of Saint Traft, and then the next turn Sword+equip. He O-rings the sword, makes tokens, and kills Geist. I play Stalker, pass. He resolves Intangible Virtue, swings. I play Snapcaster, Snag a token, he plays some guys, he goes to 5 I go to 7. I top deck Sword of War and Peace and win.
Round 2: Ub Control
1-0-0
Game 1: I probe him and he has lands, Doom Blade, Think Twice, and Forbidden Alchemy. I resolve a turn 2 Stalker, turn 4 Pike+equip. I have a large Thought Scour and Ponder chain, and Runechanter's Pike becomes huge. His Drownyards sit there useless. I win quickly.
Sideboard:
-3 Mana Leak
-1 Phantasmal Image
+2 Revoke Existence
+1 Dungeon Geists
+1 Sword of Feast and Famine
Game 2: An early Black Sun's Zenith kills 2 Delvers on turn 3. I cast Snapcaster Mage, flash back Ponder, but I don't get anything. He manages to land a Batterskull before I can get a clock on him, then casts Consecrated Sphinx the next turn.
Game 3: This game was very long. I probe him early and hold a Geist of Saint Traft for a long time, but I finally resolve it. I beat him down for a while and get him to three. He board wipes, plays Consecrated Sphinx. I play another geist, I put him on the defensive for a few turns, he eventually resolves the Batterskull and wins again.
Round 3: WB Tokens
1-1-0
Game 1: I turn 1 thought Scour (I think I milled 1 other spell), turn 2 Invisible Stalker. I hit him once, he casts Timely Reinforcements, and it's a race. I Ponder, and grab a Runechanter's Pike. I end up casting 3 Vapor Snag on one turn--I kill 3 guys, make him lose 3, and make him take 3 more from a Stalker equipped with a Pike. I won after that.
Sideboard:
-1 Dismember
-1 Phantasmal Image
-2 Mana Leak
+1 Sword of War and Peace
+1 Day of Judgement
+2 Timely Reinforcements
Game 2: I get a good start, but lack equipments. T1 Delver, T2 Stalker, T3 Geist. He resolves a T5 Gideon, and despite my best efforts I can't get out of a Gideon lock. He clogged up the board with too many tokens for me to get through with enough damage. He was able to kill most of my guys, and he swung while my other creatures were too busy attacking Gideon.
Game 3: He plays Lingering Souls early, I resolve a Geist. He double blocks with souls, I snag one in response and he takes 5. He casts Timely Reinforcements. I swing with Geist, he triple blocks (fast learner), and I cast Snapcaster and Vapor Snag my own Geist. He takes 4. He flashbacks Lingering Souls and it looks like he's stabilizing, but I Ponder, Thought Scour, land a few guys and win with 8 life left.
Round 4: Ub Zombies
2-1-0
Game 1: This had actually been my friend that I had driven to the event with. It was sort of a bummer because the loser would be out of the top 8, but we were happy for whoever did well. Anyways, I resolve an early Invisible Stalker and a Pike. He slips my T1 Delver, plays a T2 Highborn Ghoul, and resolves a Geralf's Messenger next turn. Thought Scour makes my Runechanter's Pike large fast, I use Vapor Snag and Snapcasters to bounce and chump block his guys (I let the Messenger go through). I win with 5 life left--he would have won next turn.
Sideboard:
-3 Mana Leak
-1 Negate
-2 Gitaxian Probe
+2 Timely Reinforcements
+2 Celestial Purge
+1 Sword of Feast and Famine
+1 Sword of War and Peace
Game 2: He casts a turn 4 Distress, so I Purge his Messenger in Response--he discards my Snapcaster. I play Blade Splicer which can block his Highborn Ghoul, stopping his clock. I Resolve a Sword of War and Peace and a Sword of Feast and Famine and just win.
Final Record:
Matches: 3-1-0
Games: 7-4-0
Top 8:
Match 1: Naya Pod
Game 1: This was a good Pod deck and he was a good player. He plays a T2 Strangleroot Geist swings, I Phantasmal Image it and swing on my turn. He plays Blade Splicer and swings again. I draw, Ponder, Delver (with no spells coming up) and pass. He swings, I trade with Strangeroot Geist, copy the Blade Splicer--he eot Galvanic Blasts Image. It was pretty much downhill from there for him, I never really got anything going. I saw a Huntmaster and a Birthing Pod as well.
Sideboard:
-3 Mana Leak
-1 Negate
-2 Gitaxian Probe
+2 Flashfreeze
+1 Celestial Purge
+2 Revoke Existence
+1 Divine Offering
Game 2: I get stuck on a Seachrome Coast, Plains, and a Moorland Haunt. I have a heavy blue hand that is too clunky to unload. I Ponder, but I fail to find another blue source. He Pods into a Acidic Slime and destroys my Seachrome Coast. I promptly lose.
All in all, I was very impressed with this deck. I came away with 2 draft sets so I can't complain. It was my very first time piloting it (although I've played against it a lot), so I maybe could have made more optimal deck/play decisions. Looking back, this is how I would change the maindeck:
-1 Phantasmal Image
+1 Geist of Saint Traft
-1 Midnight Haunting
+1 Thought Scour
-1 Plains
+1 Moorland Haunt
For the sideboard, I would take out 2 Dungeon Geists. The card is amazing, but I would rather improve my UB control matchup. Perhaps Surgical Extraction or Nihil Spellbomb would be a better fit. Dungeon Geist isn't that good against Consecrated Sphinx xD.
Standard: N/A
Modern: AffinityWR, Delver WUR
Legacy: High TideU, ZombiesWBRG, 12post UG, Delver UR
Round 1 vs. GR Werewolves. Game 1, I put very little pressure early. He gets out a pair of Instigator Gang. I don't have any Mana Leak or Vapor Snag. I lose to 2 Moonmist, ending 1 turn short of damage. Game 2, I get out Sword of War and Peace after he Ancient Grudge a Ratchet Bomb and tapped out. I hit for a bunch. He flashbacked the Ancient Grudge, but I have another Sword of War and Peace in hand. The next game had his Ancient Grudge on a Ratchet Bomb and a Sword. Then after he drew another Ancient Grudge (I Gitaxian Probe'd him), I draw another Sword. He always leaves up Green and eventually gets there with a Reckless Waif and Immerwolf with 2 Full Moon's Rise. I was 1 damage short of winning, but trample got me. 1-2.
Round 2 vs. Naya Pod. He kept a 1 land, 1 Avacyn's Pilgrim hand. I kept a 3 land hand. Luckily for him, I didn't draw or have Gut Shot and he drew the lands he needed to Blade Splicer, Huntmaster, etc. I end up 4 damage short, just needing a Vapor Snag as I had 2 Snapcaster Mage. He made a comment about now he knows why Snapcaster Mage is good. Game 2, I come slowly. I wait out a Ratchet Bomb until he flips a Huntmaster. I kill Hunty, the Wolf, and a Blade Splicer token after I had blocked the Blade Splicer ealier with Snap. I am low on life, but he doesn't have much more until I have Flashfreeze and Snap/Flashfreeze. Game 3, I come slowly again. It still ends up in a topdeck mode. I didn't have Flashfreeze on time for a P Titan, but I Vapor Snag it and then Flashfreeze a Huntmaster the next turn. I Snap/ Flashfreeze, but all I have is Snapcaster Mages. He eventually gets me with a topdecked Strangleroot Geist and BoP w/ Gavony Township. I drop 4 lands from my hand that I had and he was surprised. 1-2.
Round 3 vs. Frites. Game 1, I get an early Delver. He does a turn 2 Mulch after I Gut Shot a BoP. He gets Unburial Rites and Elesh Norn. I save my Mana Leak for turn 4, Mana Leak Unburial Rites flashed, and do lethal when I draw my 5th land for Sword of War and Peace, equip, attack. Game 2, I kept a 2 land hand. After 1 Ponder, he does Surgical Extraction on Ponder. Although I draw 1 land this game, I can't find another, so I can't put much pressure. I Phantasmal Image an Elesh Norn. I have to do it again with another Image 2 turns later. Eventually Lingering Souls and a Huntmaster get me as I have no pressure. All I have is 3 lands, although I can Moorland Haunt a few times. I draw Dissipate after I had Mana Leak'd Unburial Rites hardcasted. So I have to use it on the flashback next turn. Game 3 is a pretty fun one, but very disappointing. I keep a 2 land, Ponder, Delver, Batterskull, Mana Leak, Gitaxian Probe hand. I play Delver. He doesn't flip; I Ponder and find another Delver to cast with a Dissipate and Ponder coming up. I make a crucial mistake of not saving mana for Mulch, which gets him a land when he was stuck on 2. He is stuck on 3 for a while, but gets Lingering Souls. I save my Delvers, then attack after I draw Gut Shot. He gets another Lingering Souls off flashback. I save the Delver. He gets the lands and Thrun. Meanwhile I am stuck on 3 lands. Basically I never see the 5th land in time for Batterskull. I end up drawing 4 Gitaxian Probe in a row (I should have sided a few out), stuck on 3 lands. Thrun gets me low and by the time I draw the 5th land before lethal, he had just drawn Faithless Looting and dumped an Ancient Grudge. I lose this game because of playing the 2nd Delver instead of saving Mana Leak for Mulch, which I knew right away that it was bad. Then 4 Gitaxian Probe in a row showed me my sideboarding mistakes just to rub it in that each move is crucial. 1-2.
I end up leaving early since at 0-3, I can't finish well and I can prepare for the GPT tomorrow. My 1st opponent was estimated 1650, 2nd opponent - 1650, 3rd opponent - 1775. I usually lose to less than average players. :sad:
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. uW Humans. These games were blazingly fast. We both mulled to 6. He got stuck on 2 land and had some 3 drops. I get a turn 2 Delver and flip. I get a 4th turn Restoration Angel and it is over soon after that. Game 2, I do Delver, Delver, Ponder. He does Champ, Champ, Gather the Townsfolk, Doomed Traveler, Honor of the Pure, Grand Abolisher. I cast an early Ratchet Bomb and eventually do Timely Reinforcements, then Ratchet Bomb 2 Champ but make a mistake of not also flashing in Snapcaster Mage in response to Grand Abolisher. I did put a counter on Bomb, but forgot to also flash in Snappy. Luckily I survive at 1 life, play Sword of Feast and Famine, equip and swing for exactly lethal. The guy told me that I beat his "god draw". 2-0.
Round 2 vs. RDW. I always play this guy in Round 2. Game 1, I keep 6 with 3 Island, Snapcaster Mage, and 2 other cards. I draw 3 straight Moorland Haunt and lose to a bunch of red damage. Game 2, I do an early Restoration Angel along with 2 Snapcaster Mage on Mana Leak. This hand gets me there as he has a Shrine that can pop me for 13 life with me at 15. He draws too many land. Game 3, I play an assortment of Timely Reinforcements, forcing him to Grim Lavamancer his own creature to not give me creatures. I get Ratchet Bomb on Shrine. He cracks for 3 damage, but Restoration Angel gets there again with 2 Snapcaster Mage. 2-1.
Round 3 vs. GW Aggro. Game 1 after a mull by me, he gets me to 1 life with Strangleroot Geist and Blade Splicer (token is Snag'd). I kill him with many 1/1 Spirits. Game 2, my hand is pretty poor again. His is too. We go back and forth until we are topdecking. I topdeck 3 land. He topdecks Sigarda, then Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. I scoop immediately but don't have much time left. Game 3, I keep a 1 land hand to save time. It almost doesn't get me there as he has Geist, Blade Splicer, Restoration Angel. I make a mistake that would have won me the game if we had time, but we ran out anyway. I needed 3-4 turns more. 1-1-1.
Round 4 vs. Uw Delver mirror. I get paired up. This is our LGS Delver player. He always does well and he's not the best player either. Game 1, we both mull. His Delver meets my Gut Shot. Eventually I get there drawing enough lands to Mana Leak his good stuff and put out my Geist of Saint Traft. After he put Snapcaster Mage to block, I Snapcaster Mage and Gut Shot. Game 2, he gets low on mana again and eventually when we are low on cards, I force out a Consecrated Sphinx. I draw into another and he scoops after that. 2-0.
Round 5 vs. Junk Pod. I get paired up again. This guy has been doing well recently so I give him a lot of credit for tuning his deck. Both games had early Delver. When I put Sword of Feast and Famine on Delver and attacked. He tried for Geist Honored Monk, but my Mana Leak that I had gotten after I Pondered, then shuffled, then Snapcaster Mage, Ponder. Game 2, I have early Delver and Restoration Angel. There is not much he can do after he does 3rd turn Birthing Pod and I reveal Divine Offering for the card to flip Delver. (I had another in hand) I get there with the 2 fliers. 2-0.
Round 6 vs. Uw Delver mirror. This guy has had incredible luck playing against me. He has beaten me with Naya 3 matches before, usually killing me by turn 4 or 5. I shuffle the heck out of his deck. I mull to 5 the first game. I get stuck on 2 land while he kills me eventually with a Snapcaster Mage and 1/1 Spirit with Sword of Feast and Famines attached to them. I made a mistake when I was going to have to discard by casting a Geist of Saint Traft, which was promptly Mana Leak'd. He put Sword and attacked next turn. Then 2 Mana Leaks later, I lose to Sword'd creatures. Game 2 I mull to 5. I end up winning when he gets stuck on 2 land and goes to the discard phase at least 3 times if not more. I eventually get Consecrated Sphinx through when he is forced to tap to stop my Spirits and Snapcaster Mage. He goes for Consecrated Sphinx on his turn, but before my draw step, I Vapor Snag his and we are on to game 3. I mull to 6 cards. I keep a hand with Moorland Haunt, Glacial Fortress, 2 Delver, Mana Leak, and something else. He does turn 1 Delver, turn 2 Delver. I drop 2 Delver on turn 2 after drawing an Island on turn 2 (Glacial Fortress tapped on turn 1). His flip. Mine don't. I try to flash Restoration Angel on turn 4 to block a Delver and keep me at 4 life. He does Mana Leak and I am pretty sure he has Vapor Snag for lethal so I scoop. He admitted that he DID have Vapor Snag. 1-2.
I finish 4-1-1, which was my best record at FNM in a while. I get 3rd place. Yay Delver!
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. RDW. I don't get any early pressure, with my 1st creature (other than a 1/1 spirit from Haunt and Thought Scour) being a Restoration Angel. He gets a Koth and it takes a bunch to kill it. I know what's in his hand from Probe. I attack a 2 Loyalty Koth with 2 1/1 Spirits while RA goes at him. He uses Brimstone Volley to kill a Spirit, but I finish Koth off with a Gut Shot that I had just drawn. Game 2, I get out an early Delver, then Restoration Angel. I have the Mana Leaks when I need them, Leaking Koth and then Chandra. Probe made it easier. I won pretty easily still with Timely Reinforcments in my hand. 2-0.
Round 2 vs. RG Homebrew. This kid's deck was pretty weak to Vapor Snag. His Markov Blademasters are Gut Shot'd and he just has Increasing Savagery and small burn in his hand. I get him both games with a turn 3 Geist of Saint Traft. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. GW Aggro. I Gut Shot his Llanowar Elves. I do Gitaxian Probe. I Mana Leak a Champion of Lambholt (probably wasn't the smartest play). I get Geist of Saint Traft. He gets Thrun. The problem for him is that I have 2 Restoration Angel. He does a turn 5 Wolfir Silverheart when I'm tapped out and knocks me to 9 life with Thrun, but once I untap and Vapor Snag, I am all right. Game 2 he gets stuck on 2 land after a mull to 5. I eventually get there with a Delver, a Restoration Angel, and a 1/1 spirit. I still have Mana Leak and 2 Gut Shot in hand. 2-0.
Round 4 vs. Uw Delver mirror. This is our LGS Delver player. The same guy from round 4 last week. Game 1, I land the Geist of Saint Traft and his answers are killed or moved out of the way. Game 2, I lost to 3 Delver flipped and Runechanter's Pike. He does Mental Misstep twice on Gut Shot. I fail to see Ratchet Bomb and lose. Game 3, he gets there with 2 Sword of War and Peace. I fail to draw 2 Divine Offering and he gets there as my pressure comes late. 1-2.
Round 5 vs. Naya Wolf Run. This is our Wolf Run player, but he constantly changes things up to adapt to the metagame. This time, he tried several miracles. I keep a stupid hand with 1 Island, 1 Delver, 1 Gitaxian Probe, and 4 Mana Leak. I end up getting there as I draw 2 lands right away. Then after he Caverns a Titan, he gets several spells Leaked so he can chump block the Delver. I end up killing him with a 1/1 Spirit from Haunt as he can only chump the Delver at 1 life. I was at 6 from P Titan. Game 2, his mana is slow (tapped). I have Delver and Restoration Angel. He casts his. I Vapor Snag. Eventually I have a Delver flipped and a Geist of Saint Traft. He taps out for Gideon Jura on turn 6 (land cipt) while at 3 life. He didn't know that I can attack Gideon Jura with the Geist and Delver while hitting him for 4 with the Angel. I allow him to call a judge to make sure. 2-0.
Round 6 vs. MBI. This is 1 of the sons from the guy from round 5. Game 1, I have all the Gut Shot, Dismember, and Snap/Gut Shot that I need. I get out an early Geist of Saint Traft and ride it to a quick victory. Game 2, I fail to see any creatures except a Restoration Angel. I make a mistake of flashing it out to block Whispering Specter, leaving him JUST enough mana to Black Sun's Zenith my Angel. I would have been able to suit up with Sword of Feast and Famine and swing the next turn. I eventually scoop after 3 lands in a row with no Moorland Haunt. Game 3, I draw Gut Shot for Plague Stinger. Then when Whispering Specter and his Inkmoth Nexus come my way after I had just played lands for several turns, I do Divine Offering on his Inkmoth Nexus. I am hitting him with a 1/1 Spirit with Sword of Feast and Famine. I decide to use my last removal, Dismember on his Whispering Specter to prevent it from making me discard. I draw a Restoration Angel and it is over soon after that. He ends up getting hit 4 times from the Spirit with the Sword. He discarded 4 Lashwrithe and got stuck on 2 mana after the Nexus died. I go for lethal. He does Go for the Throat on Restoration Angel. I have Mana Leak in hand. 2-1.
I finish 5-1, 4th place. My opponent that beat me in Round 4 lost in the 6th round to finish at 5-1, 2nd place. There was another guy who had better tiebreakers than me. Early on when no one had dropped yet, I noticed a lot of people playing Uw Delver and RDW. I would estimate that 6 players were doing Uw Delver (not counting the Ur ones) and 6 players were RDW.
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. 4 Color Pod. This guy actually does pretty well here and I noticed he draws pretty well too. I Gitaxian Probe him to see Island, Forest, BoP, BoP. I have Gut Shot and SCM. I get both BoPs and he is stuck for a while. I land a Geist of Saint Traft, but he does Phantasmal Image immediately (must have drawn it). Eventually, I do the final nail with Sword of War and Peace. Game 2 is a really long one. I make a play mistake of stealing Daybreak Ranger instead of a bonded Nearheath Pilgrim when I Phantasmal Image his Zealous Conscripts. I'm pretty sure he would have been screwed after blocks. Game 3 with 5 min. left, I get Delver with Sword of War and Peace and a Restoration Angel. This is why the deck is so good. 2-1.
Round 2 vs. GW Aggro. Game 1 he comes out with the 1/1 "fight" dude. Then he does Nearheath Pilgrim. I have Snappy to flash and block. I kill Pilgrims until a late Delver goes the distance. Game 2, I kept with 4 lands. Big mistake. I Ponder twice and reshuffle because I don't see creatures. I draw mostly lands and can't find a creature. Game 3, he gets more Nearheath Pilgrims. It comes to a point after he did Sun Titan, Nearheath Pilgrim that I have Delver flipped, Geist of Saint Traft, and a Snag in hand. I Snag the Titan and swing to knock him to 1 life. Next turn, I draw Snapcaster Mage, but a 1/1 Spirit gets him anyway. 2-1.
Round 3 vs. Wolf Run brew. He had a lot of equipments, which was odd. Game 1, he ramps into a turn 4 P Titan with Caverns and there is not much I can do but Snag it. He gets there with a Wolf Ran small creature. Game 2, he gets a few creatures Flashfreeze, then SCM/Flashfreeze. He gets out 3 equipments, the last being a Batterskull. I Vapor Snag the token and swing for lethal. Game 3, he gets stuck on 2 mana. When I Gitaxian Probe him, I see a powerful yet risky hand. He only draws 1 more land this game and when he taps out, I swing for lethal with Geist of Saint Traft and Delver. 2-1.
Round 4 vs. Delver mirror. This is a very tough opponent who usually beats me in Modern with Delver (although I haven't played Modern for months). Game 1, he gets there. I am forced to Dismember 2 creatures. This gets me low enough for him to land Snapcaster Mage/Gut Shot for lethal. Game 2, I just draw the nuts. I don't remember what, but Geist got there after I moved his blockers out of the way. Game 3, he got stuck on 3 land. I went up to 6 mana drops with really great cards again. I think this was the best I drew this tournament and Delver got there after being snagged once. 2-1.
Round 5 vs. Delver mirror. Game 1, I get him with a bunch of Snapcaster Mages after Gut Shot on his Delver. I end up getting Angel and value. Game 2 is really long. He is beating me down with 1/1 Spirits but finally I stabilize where he has 1 card in hand, I have a Plains, Gut Shot, Dismember and a freshly drawn Island. He plays Geist of Saint Traft. I have no answer. The very last game, he tells a guy watching that this is his best hand this tournament. I do Gut Shot on Delver. I Mana Leak on his Geist of Saint Traft. I end up doing lethal with a Sword of War and Peace on a Delver, a Restoration Angel, and 2 Vapor Snag after he flashed SCM to stay alive (from 1 Vapor Snag). 2-1.
Round 6 vs. Delver "mirror" with Blade Splicer. I am the only X-0, but we have to play it out. Game 1, I kept a stupid hand with 4 land. I Gut Shot his turn 1 Delver, but get my Geist of Saint Traft through. He plays his just drawn Blade Splicer (Probed him earlier). I have no answer as he gets Sword of Body and Mind, then Sword of War and Peace on the Token. One Vapor Snag would have won this game as my Geist had SoWaP too. I draw only lands. Game 2, I get there when he gets stuck on 3 mana. I have too many answers in my hand by that point; Angel, Snapcaster Mage, Mana Leak. Game 3, I keep another dumb hand. I only have defense, but he gets out a Splicer that he drew. He ends up drawing Angel, then Phantasmal Image on Angel. I am forced to use my Dismember, despite knowing that he has Hero of Bladehold. He casts it next turn and when 2 Thought Scour and my draw gets me lands, he wins. 1-2.
I fall to 4th place, at 5-1. My final opponent got 1st and my Round 5 opponent got 2nd.
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)Approx. 20 people this week.
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
3x Geist of Saint Traft
2x Blade Splicer
3x Restoration Angel
4x Ponder
4x Vapor Snag
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Mana Leak
2x Gut Shot
1x Dismember
1x Mutagenic Growth
1x Divine Deflection
2x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of War and Peace
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Glacial Fortress
2x Moorland Haunt
9x Island
2x Plains
2x Celestial Purge
2x Day of Judgement
2x Timely Reinforcements
2x Divine Offering
1x Dissipate
2x Consecrated Sphinx
2x Phantasmal Image
1x Oblivion Ring
1x Nihil Spellbomb
Round 1: Turbo Fog
I absolutely hate this deck, by the way.
Game 1, he's on the play and resolves a turn 3 Rites. I can't out aggro his fogs and he mills me.
Sided out splicers and vapor snags, brought in a spellbomb and dissipate, and I think O-ring.
Game 2, I just out aggro him, flip delver on two and leak his rites, he scoops quickly.
Game 3, same as the first, except we go to time.
1-1-1, 0-0-1
Round 2: B/W Janky Tokens
Not even going to explain, he was running Thraben Doomsayers and Cathar's Crusade. Over in 15 minutes.
2-0-0, 1-0-1
Round 3: Naya Pod
Game 1: He gets stuck on 2 lands after I gut shot his birds, delver and saint traft roll him.
Side: -2 snag, -1 dismember, -2 SoFaF, +2 Timely, +2 divine offering, +1 o-ring
Game 2: He plays copperline - birds, i probe him and see 2 more birds and no lands with 2 huntsmasters. I quickly gut shot the bird and flip delver on two, he tries to burn it but I have mutagenic growth. He never gets huntmasters out.
2-0-0, 2-0-1
Round 4: Solar Flare
This is my buddy who played delver for a while. I win the toss.
Game 1: I blind flip delver on two and leak his lingering souls and day of judgement, SoFaF up the delver and smash his face in with it, having mana leak mana up the whole game ruined him.
Side: -2 gut shot, -1 dismember, -3 Geist of saint traft, -2 blade splicer, +2 Consecrated Sphinx, +2 DoJ, +2 phantasmal, +1 nihil spellbomb, +1 dissipate
Game 2: I flip delver on three after a ponder on two, leak a doom blade, play resto angel on four and leak the DoJ.
I mulled pretty aggresively here, going for 2 ish lands, delver and at least a leak. I feel like I need to get them low before their sun titan **** gets going. DoJ and Nihil after they get it off works pretty fantastically to ruin them.
2-0-0, 3-0-1
Game 5: U/B Zombies
I'm not sure how he got to 4-0 with how he played, to be honest.
Game 1: He keeps a 1 land hand. He plays fume spitter, I play delver and he kills it. He passes with no play, and I play a land and delver - ponder. He plays a gravecrawler and passes (only 1 land still), and I play splicer and he just scoops.
Side: +2 purge, +1 o-ring, +1 nihil, -1 dismember, -1SoWAP, -2 mana leak ( i assumed caverns)
Game 2: He plays fume spitter and passes. I play delver and pass. he untaps and tries to tragic slip, I play mutagenic and force him to sac the spitter. I pass turn two with vapor snag in hand, he plays an artist. I snag it EoT, play Geist of Saint Traft and pass. he plays geralfs and passes. I attack for 6 with resto angel mana up. he plays artist and gravecrawler, attacks for 3. I avoid restoration angeling here and take it, then he killing waves for 0. I take 4 more and drops me to 11. I EoT angel, then timely and get 3 soldiers and go up to 17. I attack for 9 taking him to 7, then purge the artist with my 5th mana. he plays two artists on his turn but can't sac anything so he attacks for 6, I go back to 11. I play and equip SoFAF and win.
Deck ran much smoother than it has before. I was happy that I only played 1 of the 5 solar flare decks at our FNM. Got first and got a Gisela and a Tibalt in my packs, plus that sweet acidic slime.
Standard:
UW HumansWU
Record - 49-19-3 - Retired, for now.
WUDelverUW
Record - 29-10-1
TCG Player "Diamond Event" in San Diego, CA. I believe there was 132 players, 8 rounds of Swiss.
Round 1 vs. Uw Delver mirror. This guy is really cool and although we've actually only played each other once before, we have our friendly rivalry. But we wish the best in other games. Game 1 is very close. I make a small mistake after my Restoration Angel was Snag'd. I knew 1 of the cards in his hand, but didn't know what he drew. I took a chance and flashed in Restoration Angel so that I could block 1 of 2 creatures. The card was Mana Leak. I was really low on life, but may have been able to stabilize by waiting till next turn with Leak mana up. Game 2, he answered my early Delver. Then he answered another with Snap/Gut Shot. I land 3rd turn Geist of Saint Traft. I Gut Shot the Snap and swing. I get through twice I believe. He draws the Image in time. After this, he draws 2 Delver and an Angel. I get a sided Feeling of Dread that I put 2 of vs. the mirror as recommended by a friend. It buys me time, but I just draw land after that. 0-2.
Round 2 vs. UB Tezzeret. This guy was a really nice guy. His deck was just no match for Delver, despite 2 Ratchet Bombs in each game. In game 1, he Ratchet Bombs to kill the Angel from Geist. Then he does Doom Blade on another Angel next turn. He gets another Ratchet Bomb. I purposely don't flip my Delver to get an extra point and win next turn by Mana Leaking several PWs in a row. Game 2, I Probe again. Since his hand is clogged with PWs, I Mana Leak removal and get through with Geist of Saint Traft again. After a Forbidden Alchemy, he puts Liliana of the Veil in his GY. He asks me if he can take it back. I don't let him, but I told him later that if he lands Liliana, I will just Moorland Haunt, sac, then attack Liliana with my Geist while Angel goes to him. It buys him 1 turn, if that. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. RG Aggro. This guy was probably a somewhat new player. Game 1, he telegraphed that he wanted to get Wolfir Silverheart in play. I let it through eventually after killing mana dorks to slow it. I chump his now 7/7 Wolfir Avenger, which had gotten me low, with SCM. I swing with Geist of Saint Traft and Delver for exact lethal. Game 2, I get hit with Strangleroot Geist a while, but have 2 Snag in hand and SCM. I get through with a midgame Delver and SCM. The turn before lethal, he makes a mistake of tapping out for a threat and to stop my threat. I have Vapor Snag for the threat when I knew the last card in his hand was Crushing Vines, which he had since a turn 1 Probe. 2-0.
Round 4 vs. UGr Wolf Run. This guy has played this for a while and is a really good player. I played him in the SCG Los Angeles in the top 8 with the same deck, just modified. He then got 1st place in that SCG in Legacy the next day! Game 1 is painfully slow. By the time I get pressure, he gets Titan/Glimmerpost. I fake Mana Leak the whole game while having multiple Vapor Snag. I eventually get lethal. He says he made a mistake of not casting his Karn, for fear of Leak. Game 2 goes back and forth. When he is at 4 life, he draws Whipflare, which gets my Delver. Then while he draws land, Frost Titan, Prime Titan, I draw land, Snag, land. He wins with Titans. Game 3, I land Geist of Saint Traft. I Snag his early Titan out of the way and swing for lethal eventually. He really needed Whipflare this game. 2-1.
Round 5 vs. RW Humans. This is a scary match for me, since when I playtest, it's 50/50. Game 1 is close. I lack Gut Shot, which owns cards like Lightning Mauler and Nearheath Pilgrim. However, I have 2 turns (5 and 6) to draw a 5th land to Sword of War and Peace, equip, win. On turn 6, I draw my 5th land (an Island) to Sword/equip and win while at 2 life. Game 2 is not close. I can't counter his Hero of Bladehold or Dismember it and after a Snag, it comes back and kills me. I had to block some creatures with Geist of Saint Traft to stay alive twice. Game 3 is also very close. He is the 1st to get Sword of War and Peace on Lightning Mauler. However, I come back with Sword of War and Peace on Geist of Saint Traft. (I saw the land coming up after Ponder.) We go back and forth with my Timely Reinforcement tokens chumping huge Champs. I swing for lethal the next turn, but I show him the Phantasmal Image, which I had saved and could have copied his freshly played Silverblade Paladin for a double striking Angel token anyway. The game was really close, but I got there. 2-1.
Round 6 vs. Naya Humans. This guy nearly came late, getting pizza. He offered me a slice, win or lose. He told me he was 4-0 vs. Delver today. Game 1, early Delver and SCM with countermagic gets me there. Game 2 he mulls to 5. He still nearly beats me. He does Champ, Champ, something else that I can't remember, then Mayor of Avabruck. After I chump with a few Timely Reinforcement tokens, I have enough to swing with Geist of Saint Traft for 4 + Snag in hand. This was a very close game and when I took a hit from a 4/4 Champ and 3/3 Champ to go from 19 to 12, it was looking somewhat grim. 2-0.
Round 7 vs. Uw Delver Splicer. These games are what Magic's about. Game 1, Delver into Geist of Saint Traft. I get a pretty good hand this game and his average hand doesn't get there. He kept at 1 Fortress, SCM, Angel, Image, Splicer, Snag, Probe. However, he did draw into 2 lands right away. He makes a comment about that being the best hand I can draw. It was damn good, but I don't know about the "best" hand. Game 2 is really close. He is swinging with Golem tokens. I am swinging with Delver. When I am at 1 and he is at 3, he uses his last card for SCM and does Gut Shot to me. Final, him 1, me 0. Game 3 is also extremely close. His hand is Caverns, Haunt, Island, Splicer X 2, SCM, Probe. This game is going back and forth. I Gut Shot and Snag a Blade Splicer and token. I Gut Shot and Divine Offering another one. He comes back with more. On his final turn with me at 5 and him at 3, he attacks me with 2 Golems, Blade Splicer, Phantasmal Image on Blade Splicer, and Snapcaster Mage. I have just 2 Snapcaster Mage untapped with 4 mana up and 2-3 cards in hand. When he attacks, I move my SCM around. I didn't tell him blocks, but he gets upset. So a judge gets involved and watches. I do Vapor Snag on a golem. He responds with Vapor Snag on my SCM. This REALLY confuses me, but maybe it was presumably to "remove" him as a blocker. I flash him back out and use my final mana to Vapor Snag another golem. Then he tells me that I block the SCM and Blade Splicer. I say no, I block the SCM. Mind you, I know his last card in hand is Divine Offering, which can't effect anything at this point. I take 2 from the Image and Splicer. I am at 2 life now (he Snag'd my SCM). Next turn, I draw and immediately swing with SCM for lethal. He says that this play mistake cost him top 8, which it did since he won the next round and finished 1-2 places less than myself (but I had 19 pts while he had 18 pts.). 2-1.
Round 8 vs. Uw Delver. ID to top 8.
I make the top 8 as the 8th seed. This gives me a chance to play a guy who used to play at my LGS. Now we both have moved on to other LGSs. He started around Shards of Alara, but has mades some big strides, including beating Brian Kibler in the Swiss today.
Top 8 vs. Naya. Game 1 goes like this. I have Delver. He does Avacyn Pilgrim into Borderland Ranger into Huntmaster of the Fells into O Ring on Delver. I attack with Geist, blocked with wolf token. I recast another Geist of Saint Traft. I got him to 6, but 3 lands in a row drawn ruin me. I still have 3 lands in my hand in the end while 2 Huntmaster, Ranger, and Pilgrims kill me. I feel badly because 1 Gut Shot on the 1st Pilgrim would have won me the game. Game 2, he gets out 2 Huntmaster of the Fells before I deal any damage. I do Timely Reinforcements. I eventually get a Geist of Saint Traft. I have Dungeon Geists on 1 of the Huntmaster. He doesn't flash out Angel because he thinks I may have Snag. I only have Mana Leak, but he has Cavern of Souls on Angel, which gave away that he has Angel early in the game. It didn't matter. Without casting the Angel, he just has too many creatures. I look at the 2 land in my hand with just Dungeon Geists and 1/1 Spirit on board and think about how to win. I wish I can cast both lands on the same turn so I can double Moorland Haunt, but I can't. I don't see any way out of this, 1 creature to his 5-6. I shake his hand and wish him luck. 0-2.
So, 6-1-1 in Swiss and 0-1 in the top 8. 6-2-1. I felt pretty badly for losing, but I feel like 99% of players would have done the same with his draws vs. my draws, so I can't feel too badly. Also I shuffled his deck pretty well. I guess I get 8th place. I'm the guy with the "Fail" T-Shirt, which I guess fits me.
(BTW, if you look on TCG Player, they did my deck list wrong. I had 3 Moorland Haunt instead of 3 Cavern of Souls. I didn't play Cavern at all.)
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. Uw Delver mirror. This kid has done well in the past vs. me, but I have beaten him the last 3 times (ever since I played Delver). Game 1, I Probe him. I hit him with a 1/1 Delver for a while after Gut Shot on his Delver. I basically grind this game out and he is stuck on 3 mana, so he can't activate Haunt. I can and win with Spirits and Sword of War and Peace when he taps out. Game 2, I am hit with a Delver 4 times. I get a Delver on line and am behind in the race. I leave my Delver to block. When he Snags, I Snag his, then when he recast his, I Gut Shot it. He gets mana flooded, but no Moorland Haunt. I drop a late game Geist of Saint Traft (he has 3 in in GY). 2-0.
Round 2 vs. UW Metalcraft. Don't laugh. This guy is a really good player and a Level 1 Judge. He finished 4-1-1, tying in the last round today. Also he beat a Delver in Round 1. Game 1 goes back and forth. He is hitting me with an Argentum Sphinx and then keeping it as a blocker. With many creatures (from Day, etc) in my GY, I Haunt many Spirits. Although my Restoration Angel is tapped by Tumble Magnet with Contagion Clasp proliferate (hit my turn 1 Delver). I get enough Spirits and a late game Snapcaster Mage for exact lethal. Game 2, I sit on turn 1 Delver, Mana Leak 2 Day of Judgment. However, this is where he drops turns 6 and 7 Batterskull. My Delver doesn't do enough before 2 Batterskull get him back in the game. Even if I draw Divine Offering by now, I still lose. Game 3 is really close. He resolves Pristine Talisman, which I Divine Offering at EoT because I also have SCM and 2 Vapor Snag for Batterskull. When we are on turn 5 of turns, I cast Sword of War and Peace and swing him down to 1 life. I also have 1 more Vapor Snag on Batterskull token to win. 2-1.
Round 3 vs. Esper Control. Game 1 is bad. The 1st thing I play is a turn 8 Sword of War and Peace with 6 lands in play. This game goes back and forth and luckily he didn't play a threat early because even with a full grip, I didn't have Mana Leak. I draw into it on time and get there with Flash creatures and the Sword of War and Peace. Once I had to do Sword damage to Tamiyo to prevent her ultimate the next turn. He still made it to ultimate, but tapped instead since he only had Entreat the Angels and Batterskull. I Snag the token and swing for lethal with Restoration Angel equipped. Game 2, I basically Snag my Geist of Saint Traft in response to Day. Cast it next turn and win with Geist of Saint Traft. I end up drawing 2 more, so I wasn't really in trouble. Also Mana Leak on a hard caster Terminus. Didn't see Lingering Souls luckily, as this is easily my worst matchup. 2-0
Round 4 vs. Goblins. Game 1, he turn 1 Faithless Looting. This gave me some confidence since I expected to take 4 from Vexing Devil. I play Delver, but save Probe to not pay life. I do it next turn and only see Mountains and a Brimestone Volley. Basically this is not enough as I get a Snapcaster Mage and then on turn 4 I have enough mana to equip either. He chooses not to Volley and I basically get him with Sword. Game 2, I think I have him with turn 3 Sword again, but he does Ancient Grudge the next turn. He gets me pretty low, but Geist of Saint Traft gets me back. When I am at 10 and he is at 7 with 2 cards, I Sword again and equip. He concedes instead of blocking with Memnite. This confuses me, since I did have 3 land in hand, but I'll take the win. 2-0.
Round 5 vs. Uw Delver mirror. This is our LGS Delver player again. Game 1, I Mana Leak some stuff, land a Geist of Saint Traft, Gut Shot a SCM that tried to get in the way, and won with Geist of Saint Traft. Game 2, I Divine Offering a turn 2 Runechanter's Pike. I see Phantasmal Image and Geist of Saint Traft in his hand, so I can't play mine. Eventually he does Geist. I do Geist. This game, he has Moorland Haunt and I don't. He also has 3 Snapcaster Mage and my Ratchet Bomb was Mana Leaked. I lose to a hoard of SCM and Spirits with a late Geist of Saint Traft out for me and him at 13. Game 3 is really bad for me. I do a turn 0 Mental Misstep on his Delver and get out my own Delver. After 2 turns of not flipping and swinging, he does Gut Shot. This is all I do to him this game. I end up doing all 4 Ponder (shuffling because I see all land). I kept only a 3 land hand. I end up having 9 land in play when a late Geist of Saint Traft after we traded Geists earlier got it for him. Midgame with me at 6 mana, I did SCM. He had 4 mana. He did Mana Leak. I paid 3. He did another Mana Leak, which prevented me from using my last mana for Ponder. This won it for him because I needed another shuffle. Every time I Ponder, I see 3 land and shuffle. Then I would draw a land, but alas, no Moorland Haunt. I draw a late Delver, which doesn't stop Geist. 1-2.
Round 6 vs. Ur Delver. My opponent asks if I want to draw, but I feel like we'll fall too far in the placings. One of us is guaranteed 3rd if we play it out. Game 1, I get an early 3 Delver after I keep a 1 land, 2 Delver, 1 Ponder and 3 other card hand. He does a non-Miracled Bonfire of the Damned, but I have Moorland Haunt active. I get out a Spirit. He gets out 2 Delver, 1 with Pike. They both flip. I have to Snag the equipped one. I eventually get there with Spirits after SCM with Thought Scour EoT. Game 2, I do Mental Misstep on Delver. Then I play mine. It hits once, but then it's Snagged. He ends up Gut Shot on it when it comes back out, but Geist of Saint Traft lands. I have Snag mana up and am waiting. The Geist gets there as he draws 3 land in a row and can't filter them with Desolate Lighthouse because he didn't draw it this game. 2-0.
I get 3rd place. The two 5-0s drew in the last round. My opponent with Uw Delver drew with Naya, which he usually doesn't draw. But he felt like the Naya list could probably beat him.
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)Looks like there's not a lot of fresh deck reports other than FoodChainGoblins on Delver so I thought I'd add one since reading all your reports immensely helped me prepare for this tourney (mostly just been drafting lately). I didn't keep great notes so I'm going to try and recount to the best of my knowledge what I remember. It won't be an exact play by play but hopefully I'll remember more as I go.
So the night before, I tweaked my deck by adding in Blade Splicers. After testing with it Restoration Angels, I felt that it needed more blink targets that were more pro-active other than saving a creature from dying. The only pro-active use was really blinking a Snappy, but even then half the time, it was reactive. By adding in only two Splicers, the overall deck's synergy improved by 100x and put Resto Angels over the top. It's also just my play style too, I feel more comfortable having both pro-active and reactive options. I was never a great control player so having to decide to either be aggressive or hold back and counter/bounce/destroy stuff made me over-think things. This build takes away some of that over-thinking that I would get myself into.
Here's my list:
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Geist of Saint Traft
3x Restoration Angel
2x Blade Splicer
Spells:
4x Vapor Snag
4x Mana Leak
4x Ponder
3x Gitaxian Probe
2x Gut Shot
1x Dismember
1x Mutagenic Growth
1x Thought Scour
2x Sword of War and Peace
Lands:
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Glacial Fortress
3x Moorland Haunt
9x Island
1x Plains
2x Celestial Purge
1x Divine Offering
2x Ghost Quarter
1x Gideon Jura
3x Phantasmal Image
1x Revoke Existence
2x Surgical Extraction
3x Timely Reinforcements
Round 1 - GW Humans
This guy had a pretty fast deck but lacked the mana base required to keep it really good (no Sunpetal Groves, Razorverge Thickets, etc.). Having said that, this round didn't exactly go as I planned which is why losing to this deck was extruciating. Without getting into too much detail, game 1 I'm mana screwed and after two Ponders and drawing off Probes, I don't see any white mana sources until it's too late.
Game 2, I again get cut off from white mana sources but somehow manage a win off a turn two Snapcaster and Vapor Snags to follow. I'm not really sure exactly what his deck is at this point so I only board in 1 Phantasmal Image and three Timely Reinforcements, my thought process being that if he doesn't have cheap, easily accessible lands, then he probably won't have Thrun or any other legendary beat sticks.
So game 3 starts...and AGAIN, after many Ponders, no white sources, I'm stuck on 2 Islands and a Moorland Haunt. However I was holding my own until he lays down a Siguarda which I'm somewhat able to fend off for a few turns but it eventually spells death for me. So despite opening all three games with a Delver, I'm already down 0-1.
1-2
Round 2 - WBG Jank
Don't remember exactly what this guy was playing but a turn two Lingering Souls into a Sorin, Lord of Innistrad was pretty hard to overcome when yet again, I get shut off from mana, this time only having my white source but not seeing a fourth land. In all my testing with this deck, I've never had mana issues like I've been having up until this point. My turn two flipped Delver just can't go all the way. I Mana Leak a Primeval Titan but he sneaks in a Garruk Relentless and his token army overwhelms me. By the time I'm able to flash in my Resto Angel after finally getting a fourth land, it's too late.
Game 2, boarded in 2x Celestial Purge and 3x Timely Reinforcements. Finally, my deck is starting to iron out the bumps and my hand is a pretty sweet 7. To make it better, my opponent mulls down to 5. It was a pretty quick game, don't even remember much about it.
Game 3, my opening hand again is pretty nuts. First turn, Delver. Second turn, Delver. Third turn, Delver. Fourth turn, flip all three after he tried a DoJ which I Leaked. He can't fend off my Delver army and I added a Geist for good measure. There's light at the end of this tunnel.
2-1 making me 1-1 in the tourney.
Round 3 - Mono Green Beats
One of the more skilled players at the shop. Apparently got first the weekend before with this build. I open up with Probe only to see Dungrove Elders, Metamorphs and Silverheart and BoP. I have a Gut Shot in hand so the Birds will see a quick death but those big Elders have me worried. My draw off the Probe though gets a Delver which I play and pass. As expected, he plays a BoP on his turn and passes. I Gut Shot end of his turn. Flip Delver on my turn and keep Leak mana up. He plays a Llanowar Elves and passes. Next turn, he tries for an Elder but I Leak it. I'm slowly getting in with my Delver. I play a Geist with the hopes he'd waste a turn playing his Metamorph and leaving my Delver to beat again as I find more answers to his hand. He somehow sneaks in a Beast Within on my Delver. I let it through (cause no counters) but flash in Resto Angel at the end of his turn...yeah you're thinking exactly what I was thinking...total misplay on my part but thankfully it wasn't game-breaking. On my turn, I draw my 5th land, play and equip SoWaP to my Resto Angel and have just enough for lethal.
Game 2 I board in 3x Phantasmal Images for fear of Thrun, and also Divine Offering for possible Sword shenanigans. My opponent had to mull down to 6 while my hand was pretty nutty and I'd already be two cards up on him by the time I take my turn. Memory is a little foggy remembering this game but from my life total sheet, I can tell it was pretty quick. I think he couldn't draw a fourth land to cast his Silverheart and had to waste a Metamorph on my Blade Splicer (boarded out 3x of my Geist anyway), to which I just Snagged away his Golem token. So it was pretty quick and now I'm starting to feel a little more confident about my deck.
2-0, going to 2-1 overall.
Round 4 - RG Werewolves
Honestly, I've heard about people attempting werewolf decks but I'd never seen one or played against one. But a turn one Wolfbitten Captive as surprising as it was to me was also a little scary at the same time since I was completely unprepared for this. I Gut Shot his Captive, and play a Delver on my turn. Turn two, I think he played a Rampant Growth. Turn two I flip my Delver and leave Mana Leak mana open. I Leak something next turn (think it was a Mayor) and on my turn, Geist joins the party. I'm winning pretty handily here and a flashed in Resto Angel means I almost have lethal on the board. I untap and play a Probe seeing two Arc Trails, two Moonmists (dafuq???) and something else. Let me stop here and say that even though you think you know all the cards in the Standard pool pretty well, it would ALWAYS be to your benefit to read and then REREAD any card of which you're not used to seeing on a daily basis. If I would have followed my own advice, I wouldn't have epically thrown this game away on account of not reading Moonmist. Cause if I would have, I'd not have attacked with my Geist into a transformed Mayor as well as taking away any damage I made that turn. To be honest, maybe it was just fatigue at that point but I really think I would have done something entirely different. ANYWAY, he kills my Geist, takes no damage and then next turn, double Arc Trails to kill my Resto Angel and Delver. I make Spirit tokens looking for an answer but I run out of gas.
Game 2 I board in Images and Purges. My confidence is pretty shaken at this point and I begin to realize just how bad of a match up this seems to be. I open with a Ponder. He opens with a Reckless Waif. I Gut Shot the Waif and leave Leak mana up. He plays a Cavern naming Werewolf and plays an Immerwolf. I say "Mana Leak?" somewhat confused thinking he had inadvertantly thought Immerwolf was a werewolf. He says OK, that's fine. Then his next turn he lays Huntmaster. I'm in a bad spot here since I only have a Blade Splicer and Golem token on the board and I'm forced to play a Vapor Snag on my turn on his wolf token to keep his Huntmaster from transforming. On his turn he plays no spells and I have no other spells in hand. His Huntmaster flips, kills my Splicer and from there I just draw land and he basically goes all the way with his Ravager.
Overall I was really upset about this match. It was getting later in the day as all rounds had at least one other match going to time. But I really made a major misplay on the first game which I believe single-handedly cost me that match. Game two I lost outright but I'd have had at least another game to clinch the match if I wouldn't have made that bone-headed play on game 1.
0-2, going to 2-2 overall for the day.
So now the tourney cuts to the top 8 and I begin packing up my stuff being that there's lots of 3-1's and a few undefeated's and I was sure I wouldn't top 8. But lo and behold I make it into the 8th spot I guess because I had good tie-breakers. So on to the top 8:
Round 5 - Wolf Run Ramp
One of the more skilled players at the shop, I've never beaten this kid. He's doing the normal WWR turns 1-4 thing. Meanwhile I've flipped a Delver and have a Blade Splicer and a tapped Golem token on the field. He's got a Huntmaster on the field and I know he's going to play a Primeval Titan next turn from an earlier Probe. So I Ponder for an answer and see two Resto Angels and a SoWaP. Drew one Angel and setup my other Angel next turn with my sword to follow the next. He plays Primeval Titan getting a Wolf Run and a Blinkmoth. He attacks with his Huntmaster, I flash in the Resto Angel tageting my Splicer and block his Huntmaster, killing it. Next turn, I swing in the air with my Angel and Delver, no blocks. His next turn he holds back his Primeval Titan but swings in with his Inkmoth after some deliberation and says "what are the chances you have another Angel anyway?" His fears came true when I flashed in another Resto Angel again targeting my Splicer. I block the Inkmoth, he activates his Wolf Run for everything he has to pump the Inkmoth, to which I responded by I Vapor Snagging the Inkmoth. Frustrated, he scoops.
Game 2, I board in 3x Images and 2x Ghost Quarter hoping I'd see a Primetime to copy and get my 2x GQ. I get a pretty good hand but can't remember what exactly but I know there's a Blade Splicer and a Vapor Snag in the 7. He does his thing but doesn't play a sixth land and starts mumbling to himself about making some play mistakes as he plays a Huntmaster. I'm not sure exactly what he was referring to and I never asked. Meanwhile I've set up a decent board position with a flipped Delver and a Blade Splicer and have whittled his life down to 12. After Pondering and attacking with my Delver and a Golem token unblocked, I pass turn. He attacks with his Huntmaster. I block with my Blade Splicer and pump it with Mutagenic Growth, killing his Huntmaster. He plays a Solemn Simalacrum, getting his sixth land and passes. I draw a Resto Angel which gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling. It's nothing but attack city at this point and I'm not really worried about him drawing off a dead Sad Robot since I'm holding a Resto and Snag. He blocks my Golem with his Robot as he drops to 9. Next turn, he taps out to play Inferno Titan, targeting my Splicer and Delver. I flash in Resto Angel, blinking my Splicer, saving it from dying and getting another Golem token. My Delver, however eats it. But I couldn't care less. End of his turn, I Snag his Titan and then swing in for the game and match.
Top 8 – 1-0
Round 6 - Solar Flare
So at this point in the day I'm running on fumes and starting to get a bad headache. I just didn't have an opportunity to get out for food.
Game 1 is a game full of epic misplays on my part. I Probe first turn to see 2x Isolated Chapels, Evolving Wilds, Swamp, Elesh Norn, O-Ring, Day of Judgment and a Gideon. Off my draw, I pull a Ponder and see a Geist, Delver and Resto Angel. I play the Geist as soon as I can and then Leak his Day. End of his next turn, play a Resto Angel. He plays an Image, killing my Geist. He then plays Oblivion Ring which I let resolve. Then with him targeting my Resto Angel, in response I play Resto Angel to blink my targeted Resto Angel...what??? Yeah, can't target another Angel. So there's misplay #1. Then on his turn, he drops his Norn. I have no response. I draw a Delver and play it...it dies immediately cause of Norn. Duh. Misplay #2. So I pass turn holding a Dismember. He swings in with his Norn. I cast Dismember on his Norn and block with my Resto Angel, thinking I was going to do enough damage to kill his Norn. EPIC misplay #3. I paid four life to prevent four damage...brilliant. Throbbing headache, game out of reach and a little embarrassed, I scoop.
Game 2 I board in 3x Images, 1x Extraction and 1x Revoke Existence...and I also am given a Rice Krispy treat by my very generous first round opponent who was just there to watch matches...Greg, if you're out there, I owe you one! Anyway...this game is very different. I was on a mission to redeem myself from the horrendous previous game. Armed with some great hate out of the board and a tasty treat in my belly I felt good about this one. Don't remember all the details but after he played a Lingering Souls, I Extracted it. With a Snapcaster in hand, I was prepared to take out whatever else he had. Long story short, I Probed to see a hand full of juicy stuff but then realize he's cut off from any black mana sources and couldn't play half of it. I had Leaks and Snags in hand and healthy board position. Pretty quick game.
Game 3, I keep the same 60 as the game before. I'm able to gain a quick board position with first turn Delver, second turn flip, and a third turn Geist. He's got three Spirit tokens out holding down the fort. I attack with my Geist, he triple blocks my Geist in case one of them would get Snagged. He didn't foresee the Mutagenic Growth I played which was pretty back-breaking for him as I cleaned his board and still had my Geist to live another day. With all my mana open, I passed turn with a Revoke Existence, Vapor Snag, SoWaP and a Resto Angel. He casts Image killing my Geist and plays a Ratchet Bomb. End of his turn, I flash in Resto Angel and don't use its ability. On my turn, I draw an Image. I cast and equip SoWaP to my Angel. I attack with my flipped Delver and my Angel. He blows up his Bomb taking out my Delver. My Resto Angel gets in for 8. At this point, I'm pretty sure I have this game. I pass turn tapped out. On his turn, he plays Sun Titan, getting his Image back which brings out a Dead Weight from his grave put there earlier from a Forbidden Alchemy which targets my Resto Angel. He then plays a Nihil Spellbomb. Pretty good play for him and nice tech against Delver. Unfortunately, I had been hoarding Revoke Existence for some time now. He passes and on my turn, I destroy his Dead Weight, swing in for all but one damage and my Snag finishes him off.
Top 8 – 2-0
Round 7 - Heartless Architect
First place paid 20 packs, second place paid out 15 packs so we just decided to split. Being that my opponent and I had both been 2-2 going into the top 8, we were just so happy to take home packs. He was pretty beat too. But being that there had to be a "winner" we played it out for fun. Turns out a good decision by him cause I steam-rolled him. Partly due to some bad draws on his part and then game 2 him getting totally mana screwed. He kept hands he normally wouldn't had there been anything on the line.
So as for memorable plays, he gets out two early Perilous Myrs to my two Delvers which I can't for the life of me flip. I eventually get a Geist on the board. I attack next turn with my Geist and he double-blocks with his Myrs. I cast Mutagenic Growth taking out both his Myrs and him having to direct their triggered damage to me due to the Geists' hexproof (Mutagenic Growth is an ALL-STAR!). On his turn I Leak an Architect. On my turn, I finally flip my Delvers and take him down to 10. He casts a Treasure Mage on his turn, which I Snag away taking him to 9, and then attack for lethal next turn.
Game 2 boarded in 3x Images (seems to be a trend here) and both my artifact hate. He gets totally mana screwed...forget exactly what happened cause it was a blowout.
So after severely under-performing over four rounds, I'm able to sneak into the top 8 and walk away with a first place finish and 18 prize packs (store owner sold us the remaining 6 packs in the box we won at a discount). Not too shabby!
Here are a few observations:
-For some reason, I boarded out 1-2 Geists and replaced them with Images almost every game. Just always seemed like the best play as so many people were playing Metamorphs, Thruns and Images themselves to answer Geist, not to mention some scary Legendary creatures like Elesh Norn are lurking about. And there's just so many great enter the battlefield abilities in Standard now. Never regretted seeing an Image all day.
-Mutagenic Growth is nuts. If you're not playing it, seriously consider it. All you need is one. 9 out of 10 opponents won't even think to consider seeing it from you and once you do burn them with it, they'll be playing around it the rest of the match.
-I was the only Delver deck there playing both Splicer, Geist and Restoration Angel in my 60. In my opinion, if you're playing Restoration Angel but not Splicer, or vice versa you're missing out. Countless times I was able to blink my Splicer once and even twice, creating an unbeatable board state. And cutting Geist for Splicer just seems like a crazy thing to do.
-Never, ever board out Vapor Snag. It's probably the best card in the deck.
-I'll probably go up to 3x Gut Shot main. There were so many games where 1 point of damage was all I needed. Most times I got there with a Snag but with an extra "free" point of damage available, I'll have better chances at sneaking in that extra one (or two) damage to end the game quicker and not giving my opponent any chances to turn the game around.
-Moonmist is a card. Not one you'll see often but just in case, read it now and save yourself the embarrassment
-I will always bring a snack with me from now on.
Round 1 vs. RDW. This guy got 4th last week, but admittedly was a bit lucky. Game 1, I Dismember an early Stromkirk Noble. He doesn't play anything else and after a Geist of Saint Traft was killed with Chandra's Phoenix, I got another Geist on board. Game 2, he doesn't do much but a Shrine of Burning Rage is at 12 when I kill him. I calculated a Pillar of Flame + saccing the Shrine would be exact lethal. He doesn't have it and loses to Delver and some Spirits. 2-0.
Round 2 vs. UWR Midrange. Game 1, I get him down with Delvers until he Pillars them. I get him really low, but am at 14 life from my own Phyrexian mana. He ends up landing 2 late Snapcaster Mage. I run out of gas and after his last card is used to Dissipate my Ponder, I know a land is coming up and have 2 in hand. Two Bonfire of the Damned miracled, 3 Snapcaster Mage, and several Vapor Snag was too much. Game 2, I put more pressure. In the end, he just needs 1 more mana or another Vapor Snag to stop lethal, but he can't. 1/1 Spirits and Angel kill him. The last game, my hand is amazing - Island, Fortress, Delver, Mental Misstep, Ponder, Mana Leak, SCM. I draw into land and Mental Misstep on his Ponder. Then I Mana Leak his SCM so that even if he Mana Leaks, he has no mana for Ponder. I SCM/Mana Leak another SCM at 4 mana (same situation). My Insectile Aberration and SCM go the distance. I think I also Vapor Snag my SCM in response to removal. He gets mana flooded while I still have SCM and another Mana Leak in hand at 6 mana. This is what makes the deck so good. 2-1.
Round 3 vs. Uw Delver mirror. Game 1, he does Cavern of Souls. This hurts me as I draw 2 Mana Leak. Even though I knew his hand, his Angel ended up getting there after he had some defense. 3 Vapor Snags got me. Game 2, I get out Geist of Saint Traft. After it dies, I do another. He Snags the Angel token and blocks with Delver, but it goes the distance. Game 3 is just a nutty hand for me. I kept at 1 land, 2 Delver, Ponder, Probe, Snag, and something else. I draw into land and another Delver. I win at 3 land because the hand is too amazing. 2-1.
Round 4 vs. Naya. Okay, this is embarrassing to admit, but I'll be honest here. I kept a hand at 1 Moorland Haunt, 2 Gitaxian Probe, 2 Delver of Secrets, Ponder, Mana Leak on the play. Obviously that didn't get there. I draw a Plains the turn before lethal and he swarms. He had a pretty fast hand anyway. Game 2, I get out an early Sword of War and Peace and it goes the distance (can't remember the creature). Game 3, I kept on 3 land, Restoration Angel, SCM, Mana Leak, Snag. I end up getting stuck on 3 land, which really sucks when someone lands turn 2 Thalia Guardian of Thraben on their play. I Snag it, but with 2 Avacyn's Pilgrim and 3 land, I don't Mana Leak because he can pay it. I end up not seeing my 4th land until lethal, which sucks because Blade Splicer would have been awesome with Angel. I know 2 cards left in his hand are Sigarda and Inferno Titan, but the card he drew was O Ring for the Golem so his Silverblade Paladin and Thalia can punch through. This was disappointing because I threw away game 1 and didn't draw any land in games 1 and 3 until the turn before lethal. 1-2.
Round 5 vs. Mono White Humans. He said this was his 3rd FNM, but here he was at 3-1. Game 1, we are on a race. Luckily I have 2 Delver and enough Vapor Snag to win at 2 life. Game 2, I take some hits. We go back and forth after 2 Delver flip on turn 3. I end up attacking with 2 Delver and SCM Vapor Snag. The sad part for him is that I still had 2 Vapor Snag in hand. (but only 4 lands in play). 2-0.
Round 6 vs. Wr Humans. Game 1, he demolishes me with so many creatures. I get stuck with 2 Mana Leak after he has Cavern of Souls early. I race him with Delver, but he just has too many creatures and when Hero of Bladehold rears its ugly head, I lose. Game 2, I do Delver. Then Timely Reinforcements while at 1 life. I eventually whittle the last life points with 1/1 Spirits. Game 3 I get a pretty nutty hand vs. him. Timely Reinforcements after a turn 2 Delver/flip on 3. I get out Blade Splicer. Then Sword of War and Peace wrecks him. I eventually do SCM/Timely Reinforcements just to have enough blockers after he dropped me low with Zealous Conscripts. Sword ends up beating him as he doesn't have an answer. I still have Island, Geist of Saint Traft, Dismember, and something else in hand. 2-1.
I finish 3rd place (5-1) as the two 5-0s draw. I REALLY wanted 2nd place to get 2 FOIL Geist of Saint Traft to complete a playset (or 2 FOIL Tamiyo for 1st obviously), but my mull decisions in Round 4 were pretty poor.
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)Came into a 40man FNM, with prizes pools based on your match records. 5 rounds. I rolled in with this Delver list. 3 of our regular players went down to play at GP Atlanta, notably Joe Bernal, so I was feeling confidant going into this.
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Geist of Saint Traft
4x Restoration Angel
Sorcery:
4x Ponder
Instants:
2x Gut Shot
1x Thought Scour
4x Vapor Snag
3x Gitaxian Probe
1x Dismember
4x Mana Leak
2x Mental Misstep
1x Sword of War and Peace
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
Lands:
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Glacial Fortress
1x Plains
9x Island
2x Moorland Haunt
2x Cavern of Souls
1x Negate
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Timely Reinforcements
2x Celestial Purge
2x Dissipate
2x Phantasmal Image
1x Divine Offering
1x Revoke Existence
1x Gideon Jura
1x Sun Titan
Note: The lack of Graveyard hate in my Sideboard just comes from the fact that there are no frites/solar flare/or other graveyard decks at my meta, but a lot of aggro decks, hence the 3 timely reinforcement. If I was to take this to a bigger event, I would definitely change this sideboard. Having two mental missteps mainboard was an idea that I wanted to test, but couldn't find a way to cut cards to make it 60, hence the 61 cards.
Round 1: Burning Vengeance
1st game of the night, feeling fresh. I open up with an hand of lands, mental misstep, geist, and a ponder. He goes T1 Vexing devil, I take the damage as I don't know if he is playing mono-red or something else. I go ponder, and do business. He went for a turn 3 burning vengeance which i allow, since I can play geist. I play Geist, and he gets there with an equipped Sword of Feast and Famine. I board out some mana leaks, geists (expecting him to board in image), gut shots, mental missteps and brought in negate, Gideon, sun titan, taminyo, and revoke existence, and celestial purges. Game 2, I get a really nutty draw of T1 Delver, T2 flip, and T3 Sword of Feast and Famine. I just keep delver alive by negating burning vengeances, mental missteping His vexing devils, and just gets in there with the Delver.
Thoughts: I would really would have liked to see more of what his list can do, since I know that he is a good player and a friend of mine. He didn't play the white version for lingering souls, which would really upset JadenCamelot here on mtgsalvation. He did get me to 10 game 1 with the Burning Vengeance triggers but could not get gas to race my geist. He did make a play mistake when he ghost quartered my only white source in game 2 and I float white mana in the first main phase. He then plays vexing devil and I ask him if he went to the 2nd main phase, which would clear the mana pools, and he said no, to which I purged his vexing devil.
2-0, 1-0-0
Round 2: UR Delver
Game 1, he wins dice rolls, and attempts to land a T1 vexing devil. I mental misstep that away and play a T1 delver off a gitaxian probe, revealing Chandra's Phoenix, Island, Vapor Snag, Incinerate, Arc Trail, and Mana leak. That was a pretty impressive hand for me, so I thought that this would be hard to fight through. I go T2 ponder, flipping delver to set up a geist (Cavern of souls pretty good) and pass the turn. He vaper snags my delver, which I allow. T3 he did nothing, obviously holding up his mana leak for whatever I do, so I go T3 geist with Cavern naming spirit which he attempts to mana leak. I knew at this phase that he really wasn't that strong of a player, and with backup and disruption, I carry the geist through game 1. I side out geists, mana leaks, and bring in timelys and Celestial Purge. Game 2, he lands a delver, I gut shot it, I get an angel out, he gets a chandra's phoenix out to which I celestial purge. I land a sword of Feast and Famine after leaking his mana leak and ride that with an angel to victory
Thoughts: UR delver was a good deck pre-AVR as I played it myself and liked it, but with Restoration angel and other AVR cards, I don't think this deck is any good. He didn't see any snapcasters during our games, which would definitely have helped alot in game 1. He also made some mistakes, such as attempting to mana leak a caverned Geist, and not holding on to that same mana leak from the FaF triggers.
4-0,2-0-0
Round 3: U/B Tezzeret (My brother)
I was really mad about this, since having to play my brother in round 3 is going to suck for one of us as his deck attacks the rg/naya dominated meta alot. I just told him that the winner of this match will go X-0 and the loser will go X-1, and wished him luck. Game 1, he wins dice roll and plays T1 nexus. I play Delver and pass. He go for the throat it T2, not letting it flip :(. I ponder T2, hoping to set up a sword of feast and famine into angel flash. He taps out for Tumble Magnet T3 (Remember Tumble Magnet Cawblade players? Good card) and I play sword. T4 he swings for 2 poision with his Nexuses, allowing me to safely flash in restoration angel and equip with sword. I start to beat down with the angel, getting the tumble magnet counters down, and gut shotted of his nexus. It takes awhile since tumble magnets are annoying and I do not want to over extend into his black sun's. He was forced to black sun my angel from killing him, to which I flash in another. It takes another 20 turns which involves him getting tezz out, sweeping a bunch of times, getting more tumble magnets out, but I get there with the angel and a snapcaster mage, dealing lethal by snagging an animated Inkmoth nexus. For the sideboard, I brought in everything except for the timelys, since I know that he runs wurmcoil engines and Thopter Assembly. Game 2 was a really wacky game. I kept a loose hand, and apparently he did as well. Our early game involves him not having any swamps or dual lands and me stuck on a glacial fortress for at least 10 turns. I land both swords, equip to a snapcaster mage, and start to be annoyed by tumble magnets again. He finally gets a swamp, and starts to use nephalia drownyard on me, milling pretty much all of my islands/dual lands >.<. I finally draw an island and land a taminyo, and carry her to victory as well as a double equipped snapcaster mage. I was able to negate and dissipate 2 black sun zeniths once i drew the island, and I locked down his tumble magnets with the taminyo.
Thoughts: His deck is really prepared to deal with aggro-based decks as well as delver-based decks leaving his deck vulnerable to control decks. Mental misstep was not useful in this matchup but I was fine with that as I was still able to prevent some banana slips ;). We both knew that he lucked out the 2nd game, and I told him that he will do better next round.
6-0,3-0-0
Round 4: Esper Midrange
Well, ****. This is the one matchup that I was afraid of, since the midrange decks was designed to beat delver. Luckily, I won the dice roll by rolling a double 6, and kept a very loose hands with probe, SoFaF, ponder, and lands. He mulls to 6 off an all land hand. I T1 probe and see leak, 2 angels, and lands and I think to myself damn, then play ponder, setting up cavern, angel, and snag. He T2 ponders and I play T3 SoFaF. T4 he plays land and I play Angel off the cavern, allowing for me to equip Angel to the sword. He is forced to chump block with his angels to stop the discard, and I play Delver T5, He misses land drop, and passes. I flip delver off mana leak, and he scoops, knowing that I got this since he had a sun titan in his hand. I side out gut shots, leaks, some geists and brought him revoke, oring, both images, and gideon. Game 2 involves me playing T1 delver into being go for the throated. The game progresses into him having 2 angels (one being an image), a splicer, and 4 spirits tokens off lingering souls, whereas I have angel, a flipped delver, and two images on blade splicer, netting me 2 golems. We both start stalling for awhile as he starts swinging with the angel and tokens and I just block the angels, letting the tokens go through. I topdeck a SoWaP, to which he resolves, and start swinging with the angel then passing sword back to my flipped delver. I get there after he tries to go for an alpha strike by flashing 2 more angels (0.0), which would be lethal except I had a vapor snag for his image. I had snapcaster mage and dismember in hand so I wasn't worried about it.
Thoughts: I felt like that I was lucky to win 2-0 in this matchup, as the esper player is a good player and one of the store employees that I am friends with. We discussed afterwards and he told me that he didn't play vapor snags, for which is why i kept in the mental missteps. I was able to misstep a ponder which aparently was crucial for me winning in game two as he could not find answers to the sword in play.
8-0,4-0-0
Round 5: ID
Final Thoughts and Ideas
There was 3 X-0 by round 5, and I was paired up because of my epic tiebreakers (100% winrate yo!). I ID'ed with my opponent, who was playing rg aggro that day. I got ten packs for winning, pulled nothing (unless you think pulling a descent into madness and a foil descent into madness in the SAME pack is a lucky occurrence) and got a free entry into next week's FNM.
About this deck, I felt fantastic with the addition of mental misstep, and I would advise all you delver guys to consider playing with this mainboard as the depth it gives to your counter suite is nice, whether u misstep a mana dork (won me games in practice matches before the FNM), or misstep cantrips and vapor snags. The fact that you have mental misstep forces your opponent to be really careful with what they do, allowing for you to control the flow of the game. My sideboard is tuned for this meta, for which I would not recommend for a PTQ or an SCG open. The lack of graveyard hate is not a good idea for a more established place. My brother finished 3-2, with his second loss against another delver player 2-1, and I felt sorry for him as he got unlucky game 3 in round 5. As for tuning my deck, I would probably either play around with the phyrexian cards in the deck for further tuning or just simply cut the thought scour ( I only played it once the entire time), and while it is a useful card, a 1 of doesn't justify its usefullness for the probability of drawing it in a game. I wasn't able to get a 3rd cavern of souls, so I just played with an extra island. Having a 100% winrate last night felt really good, and I hope that I can do well again next week. So please, let me know how the mental missteps goes if you decide to play it.
Standard: Looking for control archtypes to play
Modern: 4cc Gifts
Legacy: Loam Pox, Nic Fit
Support Cockatrice. Object to Hasbros C&D: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=9845651
https://www.change.org/petitions/has...ckatrice#share
Round 1 vs. GW Midrange. I've played this guy many times before and he brews pretty tough decks. Game 1, I can't Gut Shot his mana dork. I land a Delver. He does Fiend Hunter on Delver. Then later on O Ring on Restoration Angel. I have no answers, Vapor Snag or Mana Leak. I eventually lose to some Golem token and some wolves from Mayor of Avabruck. Game 2, he kept a 2 land hand. Gut Shot mana dork. SCM + Gut Shot mana dork. He doesn't draw out of it and loses to a turn 1 Delver that flipped right away. Game 3 is one of the craziest games I've played in a while. I've only had probably 5 games like this in my lifetime. I have a hand with 2 SCM and Gitaxian Probe. I flash out a SCM so that Mayor of Avabruck doesn't flip. He has a pretty amazing curve. He ends up with a Mayor of Avabruck, Phyrexian Metamorph copying the back side of it while I have a Phantasmal Image copying the back side also. I end up drawing 3 Delver in a row late game. He gets Geist-Honored Monk out late. I draw into Sword, but between his Gavony Township and a few more creatures than me, he swings for near lethal. He's still at 17 life, so I concede on turn 3 of turns after all of my creatures chumped, leaving all of his alive (remember - Gavony Township). This was a VERY frustrating game because I drew 1 non creature spell (my only Probe that I left in) and if I had drawn Ratchet Bomb late or Sword of War and Peace early, he would have lost. Or flipped 3 Delvers, but couldn't because no Instant or Sorcery except the opening hand Gitaxian Probe. 1-2.
Round 2 vs. RG Infect. I've played against this guy many times before and he always seems to be borrowing a deck he's unfamiliar with. Game 1, I Probe to see Crag, Forest, KWR, Glistener Elf, Ranger's Guile, Titanic Growth, and Mutagenic Growth. Pretty amazing, but I have an early Delver. I save mana so that when he does pumps, I Vapor Snag. He does Ranger's Guile, but I also had another Vapor Snag. I chip away with the Delver and save my SCM for later. Game 2, he does 1st turn Glistener Elf. I kept a 1 land hand with Delver because it's amazing vs. him (Ponder, Mental Misstep, Probe, Delver, Seachrome Coast, Snag, Dismember). I Gut Shot the Elf, but after I Probe, I see him with 2 Mutagenic Growth. He fails to draw another creature and my Ponder set up Geist of Saint Traft nicely. After the game, I ask him why he didn't Mutagenic Growth the Elf. He admits the mistake, but didn't realize it at the time. I would have Misstepped it, but he could have done another. Turns out, he would have lost because on turn 3 after equipping the Livewire Lash, he didn't have a 3rd mana to keep Apostle's Blessing up against Snag. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. UB Zombies. I keep a 1 land hand. Luckily I Ponder into a few land. She does a turn 2 Smallpox. I get Delver going, then Geist of Saint Traft. She gets Geralf's Messenger and Image going with Blood Artist out, but I Snag with SCM, then swing with 2 SCM and Geist of Saint Traft with only a Blood Artist as a blocker and her at 6. I ended on 3. Game 2, I have the nuts. I play her enemy, Blade Splicer, which she copies and we trade tokens. I end up beating her with Delver and Geist of Saint Traft again, still saving a Celestial Purge and 2 SCM in hand. 2-0.
Round 4 vs. Heartless Grixis. This is the "combo" deck with Havengul Lich. Game 1, he does Slagstorm with Priest of Urabrask on Delver and Geist of Saint Traft. I cast another Geist of Saint Traft. He does another Slagstorm, but I have Vapor Snag for my Geist. I get it in there and it eats away life as I Mana Leak a Havengul Lich and Dismember a blocking Inferno Titan. If he didn't block with Inferno Titan, he would have been within 1 damage of killing me. Game 2 is much easier for me. I have a nutty hand with 2 early Delver. Then I have Mana Leak. Snapcaster Mage for Mana Leak. Then another Mana Leak. Then Restoration Angel, exiling SCM for another Mana Leak. I end up getting all of these, as well as Dismember on Havengul Lich (Heartless Summoning got out turn 2). 2-0.
Round 5 vs. Naya Pod. The reason I say Pod is because he said he plays 4 of them. Game 1, he spits out to many creatures for me to deal with. Only Sword of War and Peace can save me after 2 Bonfire of the Damned ruin my mid game Delvers. Game 2, I get out an early Delver. I Phantasmal Image his Thalia. I Phantasmal Image my flipped Delver. He does a Zealous Conscripts, but it is not enough since I had just draw Delver as a chump and played my Geist of Saint Traft from hand. I chump with both and swing for lethal. Game 3 was meant for me to win. He gets an early Strangleroot Geist, but no mana dork until turn 3. I get a 1st turn Delver, but he doesn't flip until turn 4 when I reveal Mana Leak. I already have Mana Leak and a SCM. I turn 3 draw Blade Splicer and this is where it turns. When he does Zealous Conscripts on the Golem, he gets blown out by my Restoration Angel. The following turn, I drop him to 1 life and I still have Mana Leak in hand (I used the other Mana Leak and SCM/Leak earlier). 2-1.
I get 3rd place (yes again; I suck) at 4-1. My opponent from round 1 draws in the finals to be 4-0-1.
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. Delver
This was against my good friend Wayne who is a fantastic Delver player. So game 1, I lost the dice and kept a fantastic hand of snappy, cavern, double ponder, lands and mana leak. But I was not able to draw any business (drew only lands the entire game), so I lost game 1. Game 2, I also had a good hand, but also drew only lands :/
0-2, 0-1-0
Thoughts: Well, I scrubbed out by bad draws, but I was hoping to play better. It happens, so I just let it go and prepped for the next match.
Round 2: Vs. Wolf Run Black
Game 1 involves me going T1 delver, T2 Delver into ponder, seeing lands and then proceding to just draw lands the entire game, never letting my delvers flip. He just goes over the top of me.
Game 2 was me not draw mana leaks, nor snags. I got into a board position where i was staring down a titan with 4 zombies, and restor out. He was playing heartless summoning so the zombies were only 1/1. I thought that if I suicided with my geist, I would at least get 3 points of damage through, putting him at one and then I would flash in my own restor to protect my geist against blocks. I only had one blue source so snappy into mana leak wasnt an option. Well, next turn he lands elesh norn and swings for lethal.
0-4, 0-2-0
Thoughts: Against wolf run, it should be an easy matchup if you can draw your tempo spells, but I couldn't.
Round 3: Bye
I was thinking of dropping but I just wanted more practice, so I stuck around to play more games.
0-4,1-2-0
Round 4: Vs Delver
Another delver mirror. At least I hope to not scrub out. Game 1 involves me landing key mental missteps and riding a geist to victory over sword. Game 2 involves him doing that instead. Game me then involved me doing that for my first win.
2-5, 2-2-0
Thoughts: He played righteous blow. Ok........
Overall
I wasn't too happy with my bad luck, but I got to practice some games, and was brewing up a bant midrange deck for post m13 (Thragtusk and restores aw yeah). I'll try to do better next week guys.
Standard: Looking for control archtypes to play
Modern: 4cc Gifts
Legacy: Loam Pox, Nic Fit
Support Cockatrice. Object to Hasbros C&D: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=9845651
https://www.change.org/petitions/has...ckatrice#share
Deck is in my blog, mostly. Sideboard is ever changing.
Round 1: U/B Zombies
Game 1 he simply out races me, and has double verdict and slip for my flipped delver and GoST.
Game 2 I side in my SoFAF, Gideon, Purge, etc. I keep a double delver ponder hand, and get a flipped delver online by turn 3 (first one ate a slip). After beating with delver for a few turns, I'm at ~12 and he's at ~ 7. He's got an impressive board state, but I flash in angel to bounce my unflipped delver I had played the turn before and block just enough to swing lethal with GoST and Delver next turn.
Game 3 I get all my sideboard hate. I purge a geralfs and snap-purge a blood artist, then get GoST online with enough mana to flash in another snapcaster if he verdict's me. Saint Traft gets a SoFAF and swings for lethal.
1-0-0
Round 2: Glissa Puresteel
This guy has been tuning his glissa artifact deck for a while, it's surprisingly good most of the time, but a bit slow to start usually.
Game 1: Flipped two delvers on turn 3 and then sworded up on 5. Fast game.
Game 2: Flip two delvers on turn four with mana leaks aplenty in hand. These games didn't last long.
2-0-0
Round 3: Esper Solar Flare
Game 1: Long game. I flip an early delver that eats a doom blade. GoST gets image'd and he suntitan chains off too fast for my sworded angel to kill.
Game 2: I sided in my own images and DoJ's. I flip a turn two delver and promptly image it. I beat him down to 5 quickly before he DoJ's. End of turn I flash in angel and sword it up for the win.
Game 3: He sun titan chains again but I have DoJ for it, then surgical his sun titans. He scoops when I sword up my GoST.
3-0-0
Round 4: RUG pod.
Game 1: I get an early delver and he keeps a two land hand with birds. I gut shot the birds and flip delver on three, followed by a GoST. He doesn't draw land.
Game 2: I side in artifact hate and DoJ, he gets an early pod however and out-tempos me podding into Image, Aether adept to bounce my delver, then goes off with Frost Titan and Sphinx.
Game 3: I get two flipped delvers on turn 3 and he gets mana flooded after I leak his early pod.
4-0-0
Round 5: Naya pod w/ Entreat the Angels.
Game 1: This game is close and I can't remember it entirely, however I have just enough damage with GoST and Delver after snap-snagging his only flyer to kill him (his board was like, 2 wolves a birds bound with a silverheart and two blade splicer golems)
Game 2: He miracle's entreat the angels (which I was confused by) on turn 6 ish, when I had him at 3 life (he sided out his pods and was just playing naya aggro). I couldn't get sword to swing through.
Game 3: He overextends his mull to 6 with triple bird and Huntsmaster after bonfire'ing my delver on turn 3. I promptly DoJ him, then proceed to win on the back of a resto angel sworded up.
5-0-0
I got 7 packs for the night getting an Avacyn and a Vexing Devil. Played in the pre-release and got **** all for rares, but went 3-2 and got 5 packs with more **** rares.
Standard:
UW HumansWU
Record - 49-19-3 - Retired, for now.
WUDelverUW
Record - 29-10-1
Round 1 vs. Elves. Game 1, he draws the nut hand. I lack Gut Shot, as I always do vs. mana dork.dec. He Green Sun's Zenith for a Craterhoof Behemoth. Yeah, I'm bad, I didn't have Mana Leak or Gut Shots. I did still have 3 land in hand. Game 2, he does Cavern of Souls, Llanowar Elf. My Mental Misstep is dead. I draw too many lands again and he kills me with an overrun from Ezuri, Renegade Leader. I kept a 2 land hand and had 6 in play and 2 in hand at the end. 0-2.
Round 2 vs. GW Splicers. This guy really had no chance. I Gut Shot his BoP. I get 2 Delver right away with a Ponder too. They flip, I Mana Leak some stuff. Eventually he O Rings both of them. I flash in Restoration Angel and he and SCM get through when I Dismember his Restoration Angel. Game 2, all he resolves is a late Splicer. My midgame Geist of Saint Traft get there quickly. I feel somewhat badly because I've watched this guy have decent games against others, but his deck was seriously overmatched. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. Uw Delver mirror. Game 1, his Delver is Gut Shot'd. Then on turn 2, I Gut Shot another. He ends up getting stuck on 3 land after he played his 1st 3 land drops. I get to 7, but do Geist of Saint Traft when I'm at 6 mana. It gets there with a SCM. Game 2 is very close. He has Moorland Haunt. I don't. This wins him the game when I draw 3 land in a row. I had to pay so much life, bouncing my SCM with Vapor Snag, then doing Dismember on an Angel. He Snagged in response. I Vapor Snag SCM, then Dismember it again a turn later. He finishes me off with 1/1 Spirits. Game 3, I get a nutty hand after a mull by him. Delver, then Delver, backed with Mana Leak. Mental Misstep for his Gut Shot on my Delver. I just have too much early gas for him and he concedes early. 2-1.
Round 4 vs. Mono Green Aggro. He does a mana dork. I Probe to see Sword of Feast and Famine, SRG, Wolfir Silverheart, and some land. I end up doing Dismember and SCM/Dismember to stop the equip twice. My early Delver does work. I get him low enough with Delver and a SCM to Vapor Snag the Wolfir Silverheart and block the BoP with a 1/1 Spirit. Basically Moorland Haunt saves me and I draw Restoration Angel in time while at 3 life. Game 2, he gets out turn 3 Dungrove Elder. I do Ponder. Turn 2 Ponder, Ponder. Turn 3 SCM/Ponder. Turn 4 I do Divine Offering on his Sword of War and Peace. Turn 5, I do my own Sword of War and Peace. My life gain keeps me from losing to an unblocked Dungrove Elder. Eventually when he holds Elder back and casts Llanowar Elf, I Vapor Snag the Elf and attack with 2 SCM, 1 equipped with Sword, with him at 2 life. He was a little bit upset that he failed to see Rancor in either game. 2-0.
Round 5 vs. Br Zombies. Okay, this is what makes me a poor player. I keep at Seachrome Coast, Delver, Thought Scour, 2 Mana Leak, Vapor Snag, and Gut Shot. I Thought Scour 2 lands away. All he has is Gravecrawler. I get back into the game eventually stuck on 3 mana, which is enough for SCMs to get involved. Gut Shot + SCM/Gut Shot get rid of 2 Blood Artist. When everything is wiped, I cast Geist of Saint Traft. He plays lands and Brimstone Volley to put me at 4. Geist ends things quickly, although he surprised me with Go for the Throat on the Angel token when Geist and SCM attacked. I thought I had lethal, but got it next turn. Next game, I draw Blade Splicer, Phantasmal Image. Not much to say although he had a good curve. Splicer tokens blocked 2 Geralf's Messenger, while some creatures poked him to death. I eventually topdeck the 4th land for Restoration Angel on Splicer. This was after an early Killing Wave for 3. I ended up low on life, but pretty safe with 3 Golems, 2 Blade Splicer (1 Image), and Restoration Angel attacking for lethal after I Vapor Snag the Geralf's Messenger. I had just drawn Timely Reinforcements, but didn't need it. 2-0.
Round 6 vs. GW, I think. We ID since a win will give me the same placing. I am 5th place. The 4th place and 3rd place are playing, so I finish above 1 of them. The 1st and 2nd place ID, leaving them 5-0-1. I get 4th place either way, so I allow him to get 5th. He played the deck that gave me my only loss last week when I drew 1 Sorcery/Instant in a whole game. He ended up 1st place while I got 3rd place that week.
4-1-1 and I get to leave early. I will collect my prize next week.
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)The changes that I made was just sideboard, swapping Talrand and Angel out for Garruk Relentless and Silverheart, as well as adding in timelys, gideons, and some good ol celestial purge. Only 20 guys tonight, our heavy hitters were out at St. Louis this weekend (I got no ride there T_T).
Game 1: Vs BR Vamps
This vamps list ran that new vampire lord, which I found to be soon annoying. Game one involves me fizzling out on hitting hard with dryad and him get enough fliers for the win. Game 2 was me celestial purging and riding SoFaF to victory. Game 3 followed in the same suit.
2-1,1-0-0
Thoughts: No fliers in this deck hurts alot. I was only able to win by simply riding SoFaF in games 2 and 3, keeping those vampires at bay. I was already grumbling about trying out a bant idea. Whatever, on to game 2
Game 2: Vs 5cc Reanimator
Well, this game was a demostration of the power of rancor and powered up dryad. Game one involves me getting dryad to a 5/5 and rolling to town, countering his target removal and sweepers. Game 2 followed suit.
4-1,2-0-0
Thoughts: His deck was just really janky, more janky than mine. Thats all i can say.
Game 3: vs Tokens
Game 1 involves him resolving 2 intangible virtues off my mana screw. Game was me dropping silverheart, pumping up dryad with SoWaP and swinging for win. Game 3 we just him having too big tokens.
5-3,2-1-0
Thoughts: No real answer to spirit tokens as my ratchet bombs were being borrowed by my brother.
Game 4: Vs Wolf Run
Game 1 was me comboing Dryad to a 6/6 by Turn 3 and winning 2 turns later with equipped swords. Game 2 was just him mulling to 4 and gging, allowing for me to take it 3-1 overall
7-3,3-1-0
Overall Thoughts: This deck is very, very flingy. When you get god hands, you win. When you don't, well this sucks. Rancor did not do anything at all for me, so honestly, I would not recommend this build to anyone, and would people like to try this, remember that rancor isn't that good with delver
Standard: Looking for control archtypes to play
Modern: 4cc Gifts
Legacy: Loam Pox, Nic Fit
Support Cockatrice. Object to Hasbros C&D: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=9845651
https://www.change.org/petitions/has...ckatrice#share
4 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Thought Scour
3 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
2 Gut Shot
1 Mutagenic Growth
4 Vapor Snag
4 Mana Leak
2 Runechanter's Pike
2 Plains
9 Island
2 Moorland Haunt
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Glacial Fortress
1 Moorland Haunt
1 Gut Shot
1 Mental Misstep
1 Attended Knight
1 Dismember
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Divine Offering
1 Revoke Existence
1 Negate
2 Celestial Purge
3 Phantasmal Image
I started playtesting with Yuuya's decklist from the Grand Prix, and as you can see, I only made 3 different card choices than he did in the main deck. These changes were just based on helping reduce mulligan decisions without ruining the consistency of power. I believe this is the proper philosophy with Delver that most players are just in denial about, whether you side with Delver or not. The Delver player, whether on the play or on the draw, is in complete control of dictating the pace of the game. Until obviously the point of no return occurs, this is where most player based mistakes happen.
Delver is the second deck in my experience that has won me a game on the play with a mulligan to four (the other being Jund in SOA). That's truly saying something, that some elements of this decklist is in contention with Bloodbraid Elf, Putrid Leech, Maelstrom Pulse and Lightning Bolt. Where a mulligan is a proper decision, and the tools of recovery are at its best within the card pool.
Testing is where things got interesting. With the format exploding with Rancor+Dungrove, Red and Green becoming more powerful, Naya pod going insane with Thragtusk. I stuck to my trusty flying Wild Nacatl. So I insisted on playing the most amount of Mana Leaks with or without Cavern of Souls in the format to fight the diversity of the format. The problem was Aggro decks game 1, Strangleroot Geists, nor Huntmaster of the Fells are problems after good experience, but those two in combination and in succession can make things tremendously difficult.
We have seen Delver decks take on a control like playstyle post sideboard, or even just upgrade to a few Tamiyo as a method to fight against other midranged and control decks, and even place other bombs such as Hero of Bladehold in order to reactively combat board sweepers in various colors. I believe this is again, absolutely incorrect. Playing Delver as a predecessing Caw-Blade is a mistake, yet playing Delver as a stylized Red Deck Wins/Slight is also incorrect. Delver is a new median on the spectrum of aggro control, leaning more towards aggro than most would believe. Making correct plays, heavily depends on making correct calls on your opponent, which is why the importance of Gitaxian Probe is sought after.
Attended Knight was a card everyone angled their eyebrows at as a one of (which I regret not putting more like I wanted to). Attended Knight single-handedly won me 3 solid games against other aggressive decks. So why did I hesitate to not put more if I knew it was good in playtesting? Because I questioned myself, I questioned why I wanted the card, and I wondered if it really did everything I wanted it to against all the decks I feared. The truth of the entire tournament is that it did more work than Phantasmal Image against the decks in the field. This mid-limited pick in M13 was a complete force. I will explain what we found in testing.
Your natural enemies are red and green based decks, these decks vary from Naya, Birthing Pod, R/G etc. The other polarity of Standard includes various control tapout decks, which fold to a mere Negate and Revoke Existence. Surgical Extraction was considered as a sideboard slot as well to help against Frites and Sun Titan control based decks, but I believed my playskill would help me overcome those decks more than necessary sideboard slots against the more present grinding aggro-control dominant forces.
I won't go into much detail about my matches or my sideboard, but I will post what I played against, and the outcome of the matches with some general thoughts.
Round 1 vs. R/G Aggro Win 2-1
Round 2 vs. Naya Pod Loss 0-2
Round 3 vs. UW Delver Win 2-0
Round 4 vs Zombies Intentional Draw 0-0
--Placed 6th on tiebreakers--
Quarter Finals vs. Mono Green Win 2-0
Semi Finals vs. Naya Pod Win 2-1
Finals vs. Zombies Win 2-0
How to sideboard against R/G Aggro
On the play
-3 Gitaxian Probe
-1 Restoration Angel
-2 Runechanter's Pike
+1 Gut Shot
+1 Dismember
+1 Attended Knight
+3 Phantasmal Image
Their best strategy is to use removal, and retaliate with Huntmaster and Strangleroot. Copy them, and Swing in. With the Addition of Thragtusk, you can gain massive amounts of tempo against the opponent with Phantasmal Image.
On the draw
-3 Gitaxian Probe
-4 Geist of Saint Traft
+1 Gut Shot
+1 Dismember
+1 Moorland Haunt
+3 Phantasmal Image
+1 Attended Knight
You don't need Gitaxian to show the opponents hand. If you cannot resolve a removal against their 1 drop with counterspell mana on your turn 3, then you will slowly lose control of the game once they resolve multiple 4+ mana costing creatures. All the while, you should realize that Geist of Saint Traft on the draw will do nothing but become a grey ogre for your mythic endeavours.
How to Sideboard against Zombies
On the Play
-2 Gut Shot
-4 Vapor Snag
-1 Geist of Saint Traft
+2 Celestial Purge
+1 Attended Knight
+1 Moorland Haunt
+2 Timely Reinforcements
What most people don't realize, is that the number of 1CC cards in Zombies nearly rivals the amount in Delver. You will not be the primary aggressor in the matchup no matter how you slice it. This primarily has to do with the fact that the opponent controls eight 1-drop threats, and multiple permanent removal spells ranging between 1 and 2 mana. Resource grinding is a completely dangerous game that requires tremendous care to tread through. Yet once you hit that point, the zombies matchup sides in your favor.
On the Draw
-2 Gut Shot
-4 Mana Leak
+2 Celestial Purge
+1 Moorland Haunt
+1 Attended Knight
+2 Phantasmal Image
When you attempt to become the aggressor in the zombies matchup, your main focus is turning cards like Geist of Saint Traft into Char. Being aggressive and forcing your opponent to choose between a removal spell and recasting Messenger is your method of victory in the war of tempo.
Nice tournament report with lots of good info. I was mainly curious about Attended Knight. I'm actually running Blade Splicer in a similar role right now. It has more powerful synergy with Resto and can block sworded creatures if you don't happen to have a Snag available. Isn't that just better than Attended Knight?
Edit: Sorry if this shouldn't be posted here. Mods please move if there is another place where discussion of these decks belongs.
Currently Playing:
U/W Delver
Thanks Hero's of the Plane
Modern
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xRxAffinityxRx
The best and shortest way to explain why I chose Attended Knight was that Blade Splicer was extremely vulnerable against every matchup with removal. The token generated was also collatoral damage with Ancient Grudge being a popular sideboard card.
I should have explained this better in my original post, I remember posting an entire paragraph explaining this process. I will edit it in the future.
The list i played is in my sig. Its one i will definitely advocate as the deck was awesome. I misplayed a couple times as i need more practice vs. the green decks. all i lost to tonight was green: Naya and Mono-Green, both 0-2. I think i need better ideas on what to do vs. Them.
Control, however, i rolled. Talrand was insane vs. them and It can only get better. Maybe i should play Angel board but i liked how it was. Next week i may try Angel in the Geist spot as a test...we'll see.
Anyway:
Round 1: Mono-Black Control
Lookie here, maybe my audible will end up ok...
Game 1 i roll him with an aggressive draw. He doesn't cast Sorin's Vengeance the turn before he dies due to him thinking he had a turn to live. Fair enough...until i cast Pike.
Game 2 he removed a bunch of my creatures but Talrand made too many for him to kill. Once i had Pike i only played one creature at a time to start killing him off.
Round 2: RUG Control
Game 1 we both flood out. I play 12 of my 19 lands and he plays 13!! Talrand eventually pulls out enough creatures for me to pull it out
Game 2: I have a very aggressive draw and beat him down. Everything he plays i either Leak or Snag so he has literally no board at the End of the game.
Round 3: Naya Pod
Game 1: He gets stuck on land for 4 turns. I can't draw a Gut Shot tho, but after seeing his hand i decide to snag the Pilgrim...3times in a row. Maybe i should've leaked it (in fact i should've probably). He plays some dudes, i play some dudes with pike, and the turn before i kill him he gets me for exacties.
Game 2: He just capitalizes on me having a poor draw with a low land count. He then Elesh Norn's for the win...stupid Priority or i could've won (could've snagged the Wurmcoil before he podded it again. I guess he retains priority...fml lol. I knew i just had to try to see if he'd pass it cuz i knew i was dead)
Round 4: Esper Battle of Wits
Game 1: Turn 1 Delver, Turn 2 Flip Delver, Ponder, play 2nd delver. He has 1 land for 2 turns and draws white so he can't cast his Go for the throat. Over in 2 minutes.
Game 2: The game goes pretty long. I go down to 20 cards in my library between pondering and thought scouring. i could NOT find a Runechanter's Pike, and 1/3's and 2/1's beat him down for 20.
Round 5: Dungrove Green
I don't even want to talk about these games. I misplayed both and i think i could've won. Shows that without practice and after you just get cocky that you die to top decks...ya...
Anyway, 3-2. Could've done better but hey thats how it goes i guess. Talrand was bonkers, but i need more play vs. the green decks. I may play Naya next week, we'll see how testing this week goes.
Thanks Hero's of the Plane
Modern
-------------
xRxAffinityxRx
Round 1 vs Naya
game 1 t1 delver gut shot his bird during his t1 , t2 flip delver hold leak mana open, and start the beats i just control the tempo of this match and its over in 6 turns
game 2 he gets off to a great start as i kept a slow hand i leak a key thragtusk, land a talrand and manage to untap with talrand, games over quick after that
1-0
Round 2 vs French Frites
Game 1 gut shot the mana dork on turn 0, delver t1 leak the t4 flashbacked unrites and its over shortly after and he's just shaking his head at me
Game 2 its not very interesting until t5 he casts unrites i leak it and then extract it and he scoops
2-0
Round 3 vs the mirror (this is a teammate he's running card for card)
g1 t1 delver t2 blind flip delver and drop double delver t3 blind flip both delvers and he cant believe i blind flipped all 3 delvers games over pretty quick he tries to fight back with talrand but i legend it out
g2 he rolls me his tempo was unstopable, t1 delver he gut shots it and drops his own on his turn he starts the beats holding leak mana open, and he's got a snag too i saw after i git probed him and i just get ran over
g3 its uneventful until t5 early turns we trade gut shots for delvers and i extract his snags on t5, i land a talrand he goes to snag it eot and i scour popping out the first of many tokens to come after a couple turns he just gets over run with tokens
3-0
round 4 vs r/g aggro
Game 1 i win the roll and start off with t1 delver into gutshot his mana dork his t2 i leave leak mana open his t2 he drops strangleroot geist thinking i'm bluffing, and i leak his geist t3 i finally flip the delver start the beats , on his t4 he drops huntmaster protected by cavern of souls i continue to beat him with delver he tries to pass hsi turn to flip delver but i scour eot, he tries it again next turn but i mutagenic growth the delver on the flip activation so i take 4 dmg but now i have lethal in the air b/c i'm holding snapcaster to replay mutagenic
game 2 this games over fast his t1 he drops mana dork i let it go i git probe him and see trip strangleroot geists, sword of war and peace, rest land, his t2 he drops strangleroot and attacks i gutshot the geist and extract it in response to its undying trigger and he scoops
4-0
Round 5 vs Mono black control
game 1 he kills off most of what i have but i manage to stick a talrand when i have 2 mana extra open he goes to kill talrand and i create a token, 3 turns later i have too many tokens up, and he gets ran over
game 2 i get a pike down early but he controls the board presence, i stick an augur and he doesnt kill it...i hook pike on it and start the beats, he finally is forced to kill the augur, and i flash in a snapcaster end of his turn and start to beat him down again, finally i am able to stabalize board presence with a talrand and its over quick
5-0
Round 6 vs mirror (another teammate) at this point we can draw but he's cocky........and i remind him i'm the one that built the deck he's playing..then i make him play it out
Game 1 he starts out fast in the first 3 turns getting a delver and dropping a pike thinking he's going to blow me out on t3 his delver blind flips he goes to attach pike and i snag it next turn i get my own delver down and i gut shot his when he replays it we go back and forth a few turns i legend out his talrand but i've got him on the ropes, he gets rid of my flipped delver and when i drop another he goes for gut shot and i growth then ponder he scoops his life total is too low to take a hit from a flipped delver and its over
game 2 he's in the serious mode now knowing i'm not puling punches in this
he gets a fast start but i have answer but after snagging his delver 3 times and having him blind flip it the 4th time i just run out of answers and he gets in for a win
Game 3 by this time everyone in the store is watching all the other games are pretty much over and we have a crowd
i'm on the play and start out slow even though i have a t1 delver i dont drop it i'm trying to force him into missplaying, he drops his t1 delver i gut shot it then scour myself t2 i drop delver and pass he drops augur searching for a gut shot but he doesnt find it, i scour again, t3 i flip the delver drop a pike t4 i probe him seeing no snag i hook pike up and start swinging with the flipped delver its over in two turns, its one heck of a night and great match
6-0 1st place
--Laboratory notes, final entry